“Well, a ham radio. You wouldn’t believe how bad it is across the country. There are horror stories from all over.”
Jake was shocked, “We have a ham available also. I’m surprised our man hasn’t made contact with you.”
“Well, to be honest, I’m only on it on weekend nights. The news just got too depressing. I should be on it more but to be honest, the rumors nearly tested my faith.” He then pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down his frequency and his call sign. “Give this to your operator and let him know I get on it around 10:00 p.m. on weekends.”
“I definitely will. Off the top of my head, I can’t tell you the frequencies he uses, but I’m sure he’ll contact you.
So, everyone here is doing well?”
“We had a couple not so fortunate. Two of our older folks passed away the other day. They had some serious health problems and when we tried taking them to the hospital in Harrisonville a few weeks ago; we couldn’t get through. There was a lot of chaos going on, and they had the town locked up tight. It wasn’t the police that stopped us but just some people that had set up roadblocks for their neighborhoods. We did find out though that it wouldn’t have done any good as the hospital caught on fire and there was no way to put it out.
We were going to try and find a doctor’s office, but we were warned that there were reports that people were hijacking operating vehicles. Anyway, we had no choice but to bring them back and we made them as comfortable as possible.”
“That’s a shame. I hope their families are coping?” Jake asked with compassion. He was going to tell them about Wit and Brandy, but he thought he better talk to us first. “Are you and your family doing ok?”
“We’re doing well, as well as can be expected anyway. My son was down in Arkansas visiting his wife’s parents. We’re worried sick about them, but they live on a farm down there, so we just have to keep faith that they’re ok.”
Blake said, “I know how hard that is. I think everyone has some family member that they’re worried about.”
“I know, it’s a common occurrence nowadays. Speaking of which, who are your friends there on the truck?”
“They’re neighbors of ours. They're just making sure everything is secure.”
He laughed, “I understand. They’re more or less acting as your guardian angels.”
“More or less. I see you all have some of your own.”
“It’s a shame, but nowadays you can’t be too careful. How did you hear we were set up this way?”
“Did you see that plane that flew over you earlier? That was a couple of our people. They were checking out the area.” Blake replied.
“Really? You guys have a working plane?”
Jake was getting a little nervous that Blake was revealing too much information. He trusted the pastor, but he knew other ears were listening.
“Yeah, it’s a pretty old plane, and that was probably our last flight as we’re out of aviation fuel and normal gasoline won’t work in it. But we had to try and get some information about the surrounding area.” He stated, hoping that would be very discouraging to anyone that may have some ulterior motives.
“Did you find out anything interesting?”
“Let’s put it this way. You guys have a Garden of Eden here compared to everything they saw in the area. The highways are littered with the dead, and the west side of Harrisonville is in terrible shape. As you said, the hospital, Walmart, and several other businesses burned down along with several neighborhoods.”
The pastor shook his head with sadness and replied, “God be with them.”
Trying to change the subject, Jake asked, “So, how does all of this work? Your shops I mean.”
The pastor smiled, “Well, I can’t take credit for it. We set up the tent, and the church basement for shelter for anyone that needed it and then slowly some of the locals started setting up little shops to trade what they have extra of for what they need. It kind of caught on and every few days more show up.”
“Wow! Sounds good. Do you mind if we look around?” Blake asked.
“By all means, that’s what they’re here for.”
As they walked towards the roadblock Blake could see the guards eyeballing them pretty well, so he asked, “Any restrictions on firearms?”
“Not really. Not if we know you anyhow. We know people would be uncomfortable not being able to carry a weapon, especially the first few times they’re here. About the only thing we ask is if we don’t know the people, they restrict it to sidearms only. That way everyone feels pretty well safe, as we have enough riflemen positioned that if we ever did get some bad seeds in here, they’d be able to handle it. That may be taking a chance, but we aren’t going to give up our basic freedoms because of fear of what could happen.
I know its probably strange hearing a pastor say this but, I feel sorry for the people that don’t have guns to protect themselves. You know, in the bigger cities, people that don’t have a way to protect themselves were turned into victims.”
“Sad but true,” Jake said with some sadness.
Blake got on the radio and announced that everything was secure, and they were going to take a look at the shops. Mike acknowledged them, and then I did as well.
The shops that were set up had anything and everything that they thought someone might trade for. Some were set up like a farmer’s market with garden vegetables; others had furniture, blankets, sheets, and even pillows. One had one type item only; Honey.
They approached, and there was a woman, probably in her forties, standing behind a table where she was setting up several jars of honey. You could tell this wasn’t store bought honey. Obviously, she had her own bees.
“How are you doing?” Jake asked
“Good, how are you? I recognize you, I think.”
“Might be, I’ve been around here forever. I live about five miles to the east of here.”
“Well, I’ve probably seen you at Walmart. I used to work there.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it. We were there a couple of times a week.” Then they all introduced themselves.
After the intro’s, Jake asked, “What do you trade for?”
“Well, just about any kind of food item or anything I can use to trade with someone else.”
“That’s good to know but we didn’t bring any food with us. We came here just to check things out and see how it works. The only thing I have with me is some ammunition. I doubt you’d be interested in trading for that.”
“Are you kidding me? Ammunition is like gold around here, as long as it’s a common size caliber. I see people trading single rounds for smaller items or even a meal.”
Jake looked at Blake, “I’m sure the women would want some honey, wouldn’t they?”
“Oh, I’m sure.”
“Well, let me ask you this. How much honey would you trade for a box of 30.30 shells?” Jake asked the woman.
“A whole box?”
Jake was surprised by the way she asked, and said, “Well, yeah.”
“For a full box, I’ll give you, six-quart jars.”
Blake chuckled, “Hell, do it.”
“Too bad you don’t have any 9mm,” and she raised her shirt a bit showing a 9mm handgun. “That’s what I carry, and I need some.”
“Really. Well, let me ask you this. How much would you part with for one box of 30.30 and one box of 9mm?”
She cocked her head, smiled, and asked, “Full metal jacket or hollow points?”
“Jacketed hollow points.”
“For that, I’d give you two cases. That’s 24-quart jars. Now, they do have honeycombs in them, but I even have the boxes to carry them in.”
Jake smiled, “Well, I think you have a deal.” He reached into his cargo pockets and pulled out the two boxes.
She smiled and started boxing the jars up, “I don’t know how much ammo you have to trade, but if you have more, come back on a weekend, there are several people that will trade for ammo. As I said, you can bring up ab
out anything, any type of food item, of course, ammo and there’s a few that will trade for silver coins. It has to be 1964 or before, but some will take em.”
“Well, thank you. We’ll definitely do that. Now, this isn’t going to run you low on honey, is it?”
“No. I have several hives. We’ve been selling honey for several years. Usually, my husband is here with me, but he’s helping a friend on some building project. His name is Calvin.”
“Well, next time we’re here, we’ll be sure to drop by and introduce ourselves and there will probably be a lot more of us. Thank you for the honey.”
“No, thank you. 9mm being such a popular caliber, not too many people want to get rid of it as they need it for themselves.”
“Well, that’s good to know. You have a good day.”
“You too.”
As Jake and Blake walked away, each carrying a box of honey, Blake asked, “Anything else you see you want around here?”
“Not right now but I look forward to coming back on the weekend.”
“I wonder why it’s mainly on weekends. It’s not like people have to go to work during the week, not at some job anyway.”
Jake laughed, “That’s right, I didn’t think of that. Probably just out of habit. Who knows?”
As they approached the roadblock, the pastor came walking up, “Well, I see you already found something. You’ll love that honey. I trade with her all the time.”
“That’s good to know. Hey, we’re so glad we came here today. We’ll definitely be back and probably in larger groups. We’ll probably split the groups up because we can’t leave our homes unguarded for very long.”
“I know, that’s a real shame too. God willing, let's just hope that things will start getting better soon.”
Jake had real doubts about things getting better but didn’t want to get off on that discussion, so he said, “Well listen, we have people waiting on us. You take care pastor, and we’ll definitely be back and see you.”
“Sounds good. You all take care. By the way, on Sundays at noon, we do have services here if you’re interested. I think more than ever, we all need to be as close to God as possible.”
“Isn’t that the truth. We’ll let everyone know. Take care.”
On the way home, Jake called and reported they were on the way, and they had a surprise for the ladies and kids. Nothing big but he thought it would be wanted.
When they pulled in, we all greeted them. When they pulled out the honey, the ladies were thrilled, and when the kids saw the honeycombs, they started begging for some. After permission from the parents and instructions not to make them very big, Kim and Mia handed out the comb to the girls. They loved it; as far as they were concerned, it was candy.
“This honey is going to come in handy. We can substitute it for sugar a lot of times, and it will be a lot better for everyone.” Kim stated.
“That will really be good on biscuits,” Angela commented.
Jake and Blake then told everyone how the market was set up and how the ammo was in high demand as well as any type of food product. Everyone looked forward to going, but Kim stated that we needed to wait until the weekend after next as we had several jobs to get done. We had potatoes and onions to harvest out of the garden, and we wanted to see how much, if any, that we could spare.
To be honest, I was kind of surprised that everyone didn’t want to go this coming weekend, but everyone seemed to agree with Kim. Mike even said, if we did go this coming weekend, he’d have to change the guard schedule a lot or half wouldn’t get to go. I thought the idea of us going as soon as we could was a great idea, as even though we had a great life compared to most, anytime we could have some fun it would be a nice break for everyone. But I wasn’t going to push it. If they wanted to stay and work in the garden, I wasn’t going to argue.
When Blake and Jake were ready to leave, Kim asked how much honey they wanted.
“Oh, that’s your honey. I traded your reloads for it.” Jake replied.
“Garbage! This honey belongs to all of us. I know your kids would love some. Now, unless you and your families don’t like honey, you’re taking some.”
Blake laughed, “Well if you don’t mind, I’ll take two.”
“Sounds good to me, also,” Jake said.
Kim laughed handing them the jars of honey, “You guys know better than to think that way.”
They both laughed, and we said our goodbyes.
Chapter Sixteen
September 25th
Not that one day was different than another anymore but the weekend arrived, and Kim and I both slept in, which I have to admit was nice. It was one of the few times that I wasn't awakened by something, whether it was pain or something going on. It seemed as though one night a week my body would allow me to do that.
I laid there with Kim, and we cuddled for some time. Like I said, sometimes when we do that it inspires me to want a little “hanky panky,” but this particular day it was just nice laying there holding her.
Finally, she said she had to get up and after about five minutes of me refusing to loosen my grip on her, she finally slipped out of my grasp.
“I don’t want to get up, but I don’t want to dump everything on the other girls.”
“Alright, I’ll get up too. I’m sure there is something that needs to be done.”
“No, stay in bed. You need the rest. How often do you get to just lay around?”
“You know what, you’re right. Maybe I’ll take another snooze.”
“Alright, I’ll bring you in a cup of coffee in a bit. Just take it easy.” She got dressed and went out the door.
I could hear several people talking, but it sounded like they were talking low, so I take it, Kim must have told everyone to keep it down. I stared out the window and watched a doe and two yearlings crossing the field as they always seemed to do about this time every day. Then it hit me that it was usually at around 10:00. I looked at the battery-powered clock, and sure enough, it was 9:52 a.m.
I felt guilty lying there as I knew everyone else was probably working, so I jumped up and threw on my Army jogging pants and opened the door. As soon as I took two steps, Kim came around the corner and asked, “What are you doing?”
I gave her a puzzled look, then smiled, “Going to the bathroom. Is that ok? Unless you want to bring me a porta potty.”
“Ok but go back to the bedroom when you're done, ok?”
I looked at her suspiciously, and then I heard whispering from the living room.
“What are you up to?”
“Just give me your word that you’ll go back to the bedroom, please?” Then cocked her head and gave me a sweet pleading smile.
They’re up to something, but I don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun…. so I agreed.
“Give me your word; you’ll go straight back to the bedroom and I’ll bring you a cup of coffee.”
I laughed, “Ok, I give you my word.”
I used the bathroom and then brushed my teeth and went back into the bedroom and got dressed. Soon the door opened, and Kim had a cup of coffee in her hand. I started to question her, but I had to have my coffee first. She immediately left the room, but as she was walking out, she stopped and looked at me, “Don’t come out until I come and get you.”
“Yes dear.”
I had no idea what they were up to, but after the last few days, if it brings everyone a little happiness, I would go through anything. These guys have been great, and I don’t know what we would have done if they hadn’t all shown up. Sure we had the supplies and Kim and I could’ve made it but not with the same zeal that we have right now. We’ve been through some hell and had to do some unspeakable things, but it was nothing compared to so many outside of our little community.
I stared at the coffee just thinking about the past and wondering about the future and then out of the blue it hit me how we had to be getting low on coffee.
“How stupid is that? I’m sitting here thinking of the hell goi
ng on and then I start worrying about coffee? How lame and selfish is that? But still, I can’t imagine being without coffee.
Ok, you're losing it, Vince. What are they up to out there?”
Thank God, Kim opened the door with a big smile, “You can come out now.”
“About time.”
As I walked out the door, I could hear whispering in the living room and as soon as I walked around the corner, everyone yelled, “Happy Birthday!”
Not only was all of our group standing there, but Blake and his family and Jake and his. There was a banner on the wall, made out of several sheets of copier paper that said, “Happy Birthday.” It was already September 25th.
Immediately, Mia, Brandy, and Angela came walking out of the kitchen with a birthday cake with one giant candle sitting in the middle of the cake.
Tag said, “They would’ve used birthday candles, but with that many candles we figured there was a chance it would catch the house on fire.” Everyone broke out laughing.
“Isn’t that the truth?” I said with a fake scowl.
Lulu asked, “How old are you today Vince?”
“Ugg! Don’t ask me that,… oh, today is my twenty-first birthday.”
Wit yelled out, “ Yeah right. You weren’t even that young when we first met you.”
Mike came up, “Happy birthday old man.”
“Can we help you over to your recliner?” Paul asked.
I acted as though I could barely walk and was inching my way towards the recliner.
Kim walked up and gave me a kiss, “Happy Birthday. I knew you would know we were up to something but we had to finish getting everything set up.”
“Well, I can’t say anything about your age because we’re just about the same age,” Jake remarked.
I smiled, “That’s right! I keep thinking you're so much younger than me because you're always active.”
“Well, when you raise foster kids, you have to be moving all of the time.”
I said with a laugh, “I bet that’s right.”
Blake walked up and smiled, “Well, if your just twenty-one today, that means you’ll want to go hit the bars for the first time doesn’t it?”
Into the Apocalypse Page 24
