by Eric Vall
“Yeah,” I nodded, and I fired up the truck. “It seems like this area hasn’t been picked over too much.”
“Hopefully the same goes for the bigger cities down this way,” the redhead smiled.
“I imagine most of them will be mostly intact,” I said, and I started off down the road back toward home.
“These run-ins with Canadians are becoming a bit much,” Anna said, and she pursed her lips.
“I don’t like it either,” I told her.
“Do you think our defense plan is enough?” she asked and she bit her lip.
“We’ll make sure it is,” I said.
“Winter is gonna be a bitch,” the redhead commented. “But at least we have more people to help defend.”
“That’s true,” I nodded. “That’s also more people to feed, and to keep track of too though. There’s always an upside and a downside.”
“Yeah,” Anna said. “But they’re all being helpful and growing food too, so I don’t really think the food will be a concern.”
“No,” I said. “But we’ll have to focus on comfort too. There’s a lot more people now, and a bit of comfort will go a long way, especially for those who are leaving the comfort of their homes to come to ours.”
“Right,” Anna nodded. “Maybe we should make an effort to find a few comfort items on each outing.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” I smiled.
“Obviously they’ll be secondary,” she said. “Necessity comes first, but I think we can fit in a few small things on our trips.”
“We have quite a bit of booze,” I said. “But I’m sure everyone would appreciate a nice stockpile.”
“I know I would,” Anna chuckled. “We could always raid the ski lodge too.”
“We need to leave it intact,” I shook my head. “That’s our backup plan.”
“We need a backup plan?” she asked with a raised brow.
“You always need a backup plan,” I grinned. “If shit goes south, we’ll all head there and hold out through the winter.”
“Ugh,” Anna groaned. “Sometimes I wish we could just go there forever. That hot bath is just sooooo good.”
“It is,” I laughed. “But comfort is our fourth pillar for a reason.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Anna said, and she rolled her eyes, then she turned to smile at me. “I know you’re right, I just would love a hot bath right about now.”
“Me too,” I grinned at her, and I thought of her naked in the tub on top of me.
“Are you eyefucking me?” Anna asked.
“Am I what?” I laughed.
“Eyefucking me,” she said with a serious face. “Fucking me with your eyes.”
“I didn’t realize there was a name for it,” I grinned. “But yeah, I guess I am.”
“Good,” Anna smiled. “It’s nice to know I still got it.”
“Oh, you definitely got it,” I grinned at her.
We drove the rest of the way home in comfortable silence. A few strands of Anna’s hair had come loose from her braid, they flowed wildly in the wind as we drove, and I couldn’t help but constantly look over at the gorgeous redhead. I was incredibly lucky to have stumbled upon these women, and I was damn lucky to have such a strong second in command, even in the army I served with plenty of men who weren’t as apt in tactical defense as Anna was, and I was proud to be the one who taught her.
I made the turn up the hill toward the campus, and Anna hopped out to pick up the spike strip at the bottom. When we got to the top of the hill, nobody was around, but after we parked and hopped out the girls came from behind the buildings to greet us.
“Hey!” Bailey called out, and she set her rifle down and made her way toward us.
“Oh my god,” Paige said, and she came running toward Anna. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” The redhead laughed. “It’s not my blood.”
“That didn’t take too long,” Tara said, and her eyes widened as she took in the full trailer. “Looks like you found some good stuff.”
“We did,” I grinned.
“Oh, is that sweet feed?” Bailey asked, and she moved to inspect the bags. “You didn’t happen to find any salt blocks, did you?”
“Yup,” Anna smiled.
“Do you even know what a salt block is for?” Tara asked Anna with a raised brow.
“Nope,” Anna chuckled.
“It’s just to supplement salt in their diet,” Paige shrugged. “I did some research.”
“Where’s Rolly?” I asked.
“He’s in the dorms looking at the area for the wood stove,” Bailey said. “Should we go get him?”
“No,” I shook my head. “Let’s unload this stuff first, then we can go grab him and start cooking some dinner.”
“Oh yeah,” Anna frowned. “I didn’t eat breakfast, and I kinda forgot I brought food today.”
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“Why don’t you guys go get a snack?” Paige suggested. “We can handle the offloading.”
“I can wait,” Anna said, and she grabbed a bag of feed. “Where should we put this stuff?”
“Let’s grab the hoses and mason jars first,” I said. “If the barn worked out for Rolly, then we can take the feed down there. No sense in offloading it twice.”
“Okay,” Anna said, and she dropped the feed bag and grabbed some hoses, then she headed toward Rolly’s shed and started a pile of hoses.
I grabbed a couple hoses and left them out, then I pulled out the troughs and Paige helped me carry them over to our makeshift horse pen. We hooked up the hoses to our pump and filled the horses’ trough halfway, then I grabbed a bag of sweet feed and dumped it into their feeding trough.
“I’m sure they’ll love that,” Bailey said, and she set a salt block in the horse pen.
“Well at least we know Winchester likes the salt blocks,” Anna laughed, and I looked down to see Winchester licking at the block.
Gray Lady wasn’t happy about him being in her pen, she pulled her ears back and knelt her head down to nip at him.
Winchester jumped, and backed out of the pen, but he kept his eyes on the salt block.
“Come here buddy,” Paige laughed, and she knelt down to pet Winchester.
“Let’s go find Rolly,” I said, and I headed toward the dorm rooms.
We found Rolly in the laundry room. He had moved the dryers away from the wall, and he worked on salvaging the ducting from the back of them.
“How goes it old timer?” I grinned.
“Pretty well,” Rolly smiled.
“How did that barn work out in town?” I asked.
“It looks good,” he nodded. “It’s got good bones, but it needs some patching up, and it’ll need to be cleaned out.”
“Okay,” I said. “Do you have a list of materials you’ll need?”
“Right here,” Rolly said, and he pulled out a small piece of paper from his front shirt pocket.
“Great,” I said. “We’ll work on getting this stuff tomorrow.”
“I have my list too,” Paige said, and she handed me another piece of paper.
“Good work,” I smiled. “Now let’s start some dinner, I’m starving.”
“Me too,” Anna sighed, and we headed out to the fire pit.
“I’ll grab us some drinks,” Tara said, and she broke off from the group as the rest of us went outside.
I started to make a fire, and by the time it was going Tara had returned with drinks in hand.
“Thanks,” I said as the platinum blonde handed me a cup. “What is it?”
“Vodka,” the busty blonde replied.
“Straight?” Paige asked with a raised brow.
“I brought a chaser too for you uncultured people,” Tara chuckled.
“I don’t think not wanting straight vodka makes you uncultured,” Anna said dryly.
“Yeah,” Bailey nodded.
“Not usually,” Tara said, “but this is good vodka.”
“Vodka is vodka
,” Anna shrugged.
“You have so much to learn,” Tara laughed, and she shook her head.
“You can teach me later,” Anna laughed. “Now hand me the sprite.”
“Only a couple drinks with dinner,” I told the girls. “The other groups will be here later, and we need clear heads to go over the plan.”
“Right,” Anna nodded.
“Besides,” Bailey frowned. “Isn’t it mean to not share?”
“It does seem a bit selfish,” Paige nodded.
“How about we offer them some after our discussion later?” Rolly suggested. “I’m sure a stiff drink will help everyone relax a bit.”
“Good idea,” I smiled at my team.
“We’re asking everyone else to share,” Anna shrugged. “We should share too.”
“Not the good vodka though,” Tara joked.
“We’ll leave that for you,” Anna assured her with a laugh.
“So, whose blood is that all over you?” Paige asked Anna as I threw a slab of meat from the shed in a pan.
“Yeah,” Bailey frowned. “What happened?”
“Just more Canadians,” Anna shrugged.
“Jeez,” Paige said. “I feel like we’re running into them so much now.”
“It’s only been a few times,” Anna chuckled, and she sipped her drink.
“Yeah,” Bailey said. “But Paige is right, it feels like a lot.”
“Well we’ve had a pretty eventful time of it lately,” Rolly smiled.
“Yes, we have,” I agreed, and I flipped the meat in the pan.
“God that smells so good,” Anna sighed.
“How many Canadians were there today?” Bailey asked.
“Four,” I told her. “Two of them gave up easily and left though.”
“I’m guessing the other two didn’t?” Tara asked with a raised blonde brow.
“Not exactly,” I smiled.
“Tav got super protective,” Anna grinned.
“Why?” Paige asked with wide eyes. “Did they hurt you?”
“No,” Anna shook her head. “But one tried too. He tried to attack me with a knife.”
“He didn’t get you, did he?” Paige asked, and she cocked her head as she took a closer look at the redhead.
“I’m fine,” Anna laughed. “His form was terrible. And he was trying to stab me through my vest.”
“Well your vest is bulletproof,” I said.
“Isn’t it stab proof too then?” Paige asked, and her brown eyes pulled together.
“To a degree,” I smiled. “Kevlar does make a stab proof vest too, but I’m not sure what the vests we have are classified as.”
“Doesn’t it have a tag?” Tara asked, and I couldn’t help but laugh, so she narrowed her eyes at me. “What? Most clothing has a tag, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” I grinned. “But typically, not military armor.”
“Well how was I supposed to know,” Tara muttered and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I’m sorry,” I smiled at the platinum blonde. “You’re just cute is all.”
“Yeah,” Anna nodded. “Like a five-year-old who believes in Santa Claus.”
“I don’t believe in Santa Claus,” Tara sneered playfully. “But I believe in bitches. ‘Cause I’m looking right at one.”
Anna burst out laughing, and the rest of the girls joined in, I laughed along too while I poured some canned beans and veggies in the pan with the meat.
“Hey,” Bailey said. “Isn’t Halloween soon?”
“Must be,” I smiled.
“Okay,” Paige grinned. “If you could be anything for Halloween this year, what would you be?”
“I’d be Marilyn Monroe,” Tara smiled, and she finished off her drink.
“I mean the hair would make that easy,” Paige nodded.
“But out of anything in the world, what would you be?” Anna asked.
“Well what would you be?” Tara glared. “Some serial killer again?”
“Isn’t that the whole point of Halloween?” Anna asked redundantly. “I mean, you gotta be something scary right.”
“Sexy is much better,” Tara shrugged.
“So, what would you be Anna?” Paige asked.
“I think I’d be that creepy Annabelle doll from The Conjuring,” Anna grinned.
“That thing is beyond creepy,” Bailey shuddered.
“What would you be?” Anna asked the pretty blonde.
“Hmm,” Bailey pursed her lips and thought for a moment, and I smiled, it was nice to have some normal conversations among all the chaos surrounding us. “I think I’d be Captain Marvel.”
“Wow,” Tara laughed. “First Harley Quinn, and now Captain Marvel, you’re, like, more of a nerd than Paige.”
“You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it,” Bailey laughed and stuck out her tongue at Tara, then she turned to Paige. “What about you?”
“I think I’d go with Jackie Kennedy,” Paige smiled.
“Didn’t think any kids your age would even know who that was,” Rolly smiled. “But if anyone does, I’m not surprised it’s you.”
“I’ve always wanted to be her for Halloween,” Paige grinned. “I could just never find the right costume.”
“What about you, Rolly?” I asked, since the old man had joined the conversation.
“Never was much into Halloween,” Rolly chuckled. “But if I had to pick, I’d say Frank Sinatra.”
“Not what I expected,” I laughed.
“That would be awesome,” Bailey grinned, and then she turned to me. “What about you Tav?”
“Werewolf,” I said confidently, and all the girls laughed at my quick response.
“Why a werewolf?” Paige asked through her giggles.
“I always liked them,” I shrugged.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Anna exclaimed, and she pointed at me. “Gotta be something scary.”
“Tav would be far sexier as a werewolf than he would be scary,” Tara commented, and she eyefucked me as I stirred our dinner.
“Dinner’s ready,” I laughed, and I moved to grab some plates and utensils.
We ate in silence and savored our dinner. I wasn’t the best cook in the group, but after a long day my cooking tasted as good as anyone’s, and I was in no mood to compare. As we ate, I thought about the discussion to come, and the best way to lay things out for the group, I didn’t think the civilians would be a problem, and I hoped that the farmers were willing to try things my way for the time being.
I heard the rumble of engines as I took the last bite of my dinner, and I realized I wouldn’t have to wait long to see how everyone would respond to the plan.
Chapter 4
We greeted the farmers and civilians as they arrived, and I ushered everyone into the library where the whiteboard was and lit some lanterns so we could see.
“Okay,” I started once everyone had a seat. “We have a solid plan, now we just have to figure out the details.”
“Let’s hear the plan first,” Betty said, and she sat holding hands with Rolly.
“Focus number one is our food and water,” I began. “We’re going to can our food, and Paige is finishing up our water filtration system, so we won’t have to boil water any longer.”
“You mean we’ll have fresh, drinkable water?” Donna asked with wide eyes.
“That’s right,” I nodded. “We’ll keep hunting and trapping as well, and we’ll preserve what we can with salt. If anyone gets too big of a catch, you can bring it here, and we’ll smoke it and send it home with you for now.”
“That seems good,” Jeff nodded, and he tugged on his red beard.
“I have a canning machine,” Betty offered.
“That would be great,” I nodded. “We also found plenty of mason jars to use.”
“What else?” Mike asked.
“We’re installing a couple wood stoves in the dorm building,” I said. “So, every group should be cutting down and splitting at least
two trees per day so we can stockpile wood for winter.”
“Do you want us to bring it here after it’s chopped?” Justin asked, and I noticed Marla was not with him, so I figured she must have stayed home with the boys.
“No,” I shook my head. “We’ll hold off on that and bring everything at once.”
“We went on a supply run today,” Anna added. “It would be helpful if we could have everyone make a list of clothing and shoe sizes so we can grab some winter gear for everyone.”
“Yes,” I nodded. “If we can do that this evening that would be best, so we have the list for our run tomorrow.”
“You’re going on runs every day?” Cathy, the sandy blonde civilian, asked.
“As much as we can until we have a good stockpile of resources,” I nodded.
“Also, we have decided we will try to find some comfort items on each trip,” Anna interjected. “So, if there’s any small thing that you would like to have, we’ll try to grab it if we see it, just know that necessities will always come first.”
The group smiled and nodded.
“What about the barn?” Dan, Betty’s grandson, asked.
“We found one right in town that is large enough for the animals,” I told him. “We’ll keep them there.”
“Are we going to need to lug water to them?” Justin asked.
“No,” I shook my head. “We got some hose and another spigot we’ll install down there.”
“Okay,” he nodded, but his eyebrows were still pulled together.
“We found a lot of sweet feed today,” Anna added. “And we’ll be looking for more on our runs.”
“Yes,” I said. “We’ll still need some hay too probably, but it will be a good supplement.”
“I have some hay in my barn,” Briar offered. “I don’t think I’ll be able to chop a lot of wood myself, so if you could trade me some for it, I’d be much obliged.”
“I think that’s a fair deal,” I smiled at the old man.
“I brought a list of useful medications,” Justin said, and he stood to hand me a piece of paper. “Marla made it.”
“Great,” I told him as I took the paper. “Tell her thank you.”
“What about defenses?” Cathy asked. “We need to make sure we’re safe up here.”
“Yes,” I nodded. “And we have a defense plan in place. We’ll make roadblocks, and we’ll have someone on guard at all times.”