Down the Hole

by Sally Six

  Down the Hole

  Other Books

  Our Changed World

  After the Dying Time

  After the Dying Time II: Gray’s Heart

  An Unexpected Life

  Our Special Family Recipes

  Shaken Sari

  Seeing the Fire

  The Empty Plains

  Ruby’s Time Out

  Ruby’s Legacy

  Have Mercy

  Down the Hole

  By Sally Six

  Copyright

  Down the Hole

  Copyright 2006 Sally Six

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction any resemblance to anyone is purely coincidence.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to my husband with gratitude for his encouragement in my endeavors.

  About the Book

  This is the story of a large family separated by hundreds of miles as they go about their different lives in the modern world.

  The father, Mike, and his wife, Ann, have tried to prepare their children for changes in life and disasters. They raised their children to know many of the old ways along with good hard work while encouraging education and knowledge. Mike has watched world events through the decades. He has seen how things even diplomatically have been going downhill like a stone rolling downhill faster and faster.

  Most of the now adult children have seen no reason to use this information learned from their parents. They didn’t realize that they are a product of their parents teachings anyway. Now may be the time that they will have to dredge this information from their memories as war and destruction have arrived on their respective doorsteps. They all find that they are part of a new terrifying world of lawlessness.

  Will They Survive

  The Bombs are dropping. The cars and equipment of the modern world are stopping at least for now. Families that have separated across this large country will struggle to keep body and soul together. These families will need to join with others to survive the coming weeks and months. Will they find people to trust and be able to ward off attacks of those that wish to control them as they become the Kings of this new world? Just getting to the different destinations where they will be able to survive is questionable at least for some of these families. The world had gone down the hole. Now they need to find one to hide out in and keep alive.

  Cast of Characters

  Parents: Michael Graham, 59 years old

  Ann Graham, 53 years old

  Their Children:

  Matt 37 and Cass 35 – children, Leroy 15, Lily 12, Lex 8, and Les 5

  Beulah 35 and Lee Reynolds 37 – child, Brian 13

  Olive 33 and David O’Dell 30 - twins, Tyler 12, William 12

  Ellen 33 (married name same as maiden name what luck) and Edward Graham 36 – children, Frank 13, Lori 11, Ken 9

  Elizabeth 29 and Bill Zellers 32 – children, Katherine 8, Kyle 3

  Thomas (Tom) 27 – children, Fred 8, Bitty 6,

  Titus 25

  Andrew 23

  Aaron 21

  Kate 18

  Grandparents:

  Louis and Fanny (McNeil) Graham

  Otis 60 and Betty 58 Graham – Edwards’s parents

  Friends and neighbors:

  Peter 37 and Margaret 35 O’Brien – children, Gary 12, Luke 9

  Gary Lopez

  Paul 55 and Nancy Wilson 53- son Gus 25

  Greg Meyers 68 and dog Turk

  Pricilla (Priss) Franklyn

  Crystal O’Keefe

  Penny McElroy

  Gale O’Conner

  Tracy O’Conner

  Asotin County Sheriff, Les Carter 40 and wife Lou Ann 37 – children, Brian 16 and Tess 13

  Barbara Yoder

  Double O Ranch in the foothills not far from Reno

  Gramps – Theodore O’Dell, 68 years old

  Juan Fernandez, 66 years old

  Duke (John Wayne) Ledbetter, 37 years old, his mother had loved John Wayne.

  Red (Adam) Fitzroy, 30 years old

  Prologue

  Reese looked around. “Let’s get on with this while we have the surprise on our side before they can do something to your people David.”

  They split up almost immediately and headed different directions. They all knew that they really didn’t have much time. As they were all headed into the trees as a scream came from where the wagons were further in the forest. David knew it was Olive, but he knew if he rushed in there he may get someone killed. So he held onto William who was about to run that way.

  “We can’t run in there son. That would spoil getting them all loose from those dirt bags. I know it’s hard, but we have to have patience in this. Now let’s get to where they can’t see us and wait for that birdcall.”

  David had a hard time keeping a steady pace especially when another scream sounded through the forest.

  Chapter 1

  It Begins

  October:

  The morning came all too quickly as normal. The clock had just come on with the quiet tones of country western music. It displayed 4:50 AM. It was pitch black outside as yet. Michael reached over to his nightstand with a groan and turned off the radio.

  “Oh man,” he said. “I must have slept wrong. I have a stiff neck.”

  Ann opened her eyes and mumbled. “Morning sweetheart, sorry to hear that.”

  “Good morning Ann, well another day.” He then rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom for his morning shower.

  Ann didn’t get out of bed until Michael came back to the bedroom to dress.

  She then threw on her bathrobe and made her way to the bathroom in their small home. Michael had already turned the kitchen light on. So she didn’t have to worry about running into anything in the dark. The cat decided to join her in the bathroom and rubbed against her legs.

  “Morning there Tank.”

  Ann moaned and groaned a bit as she moved. That was normal also these days. She went into the kitchen to make sure Michael’s vitamins and breakfast bar were laid out. She had put his lunch together last night. He didn’t eat breakfast while at home on work days. It was just too heavy for his stomach in the morning. On his way into town, he ate his homemade protein bar. That made things much easier in the mornings for her these days. She had made him beef vegetable soup for this week’s lunches. She tried to vary it from week to week. One week she gave him beans and some kind of meat. The next would be a stew then venison vegetable with lentils and so on. A lot of the things in it came from their garden this year. They had just finished getting in most of it this past Saturday. She had a couple weeks of canning to do and then a break again from that. It was so nice to be out here in the country again. They had been so tired of living in town. They could see more stars out here than they remembered the night sky held after living in town for so many years.

  They were basically starting over again. They had lost their car cleaning business four years ago because of the economy. They also lost their home in town along with it. Talk about a lesson learned. The bank had allowed them to rent their own home until a year and two months ago when the bank gave them one month to get out. The bank thought they would be able to sell it. It hadn’t. It was still sitting there for sale. Yippee, sorry but that’s how I felt about it.

  They still had their youngest daughter, Kate, living with them. She had moved up with them, but didn’t like living so far from town. No social life as she put it. Last spring Kate and her cat had gone down to Nevada to live with her sister, Olive and family. She hoped to find work in Reno, Nevada and get a new start. She hadn’t been able to find work here in the valley at all.

  Michael and Ann had been looking for a place to buy or rent for ten months before they got notice to move out from thei
r home. That was the last week of July. A week later they found this place. It had been on the market for only two days. They had been looking at one with a 2000 square foot house with a nice large basement and a few fruit trees with a broken down chicken coop. It had a garage that had been converted to a sheep shed. The barn had the second floor torn out of it so it could be used to fix cars or something, so it was nothing but a large shell. The land was nothing but scrub brush, ten acres worth. It was all but worthless for raising but maybe a five or 6 head of cattle on. Michael took a water sample the second time that they gone out to take a look at it. The well was a shared well and had E-coli in it. They would have to drill a private well if they got this place. The cattle that were grazing on the land were causing the problem. The well would continue to have a problem.

  That same day the realtor took them up into the Blue Mountains of Washington to look at a small house on 25 acres. It was only 1100 square feet, but was nestled in some big mountain maple trees with a garage 35 feet from the house. There was a barn up the hill. It was a good 200 feet away. They fell in love with it right off. They put a contract down on it two days later. It was the second time they went up. Michael had taken a water sample that first time right off to make sure at least the water was okay and it was.

  The place was really run down. It had been built in the 1930’s. It looked like it still had the same fencing that was put up then too. The wooden fence posts were rotted off at the ground. Metal posts had been put in half way in-between some of them to hold up the fence. Little by little they were getting the posts replaced and putting up new wire.

  So now they were house and land poor. They didn’t think it could be helped if they wanted a place of their own again. Land and homes were like they had gold on them or something these days. The economy was crap and the government was saying all was fine. Yeah in a pig’s eye. The taxpayers of the nation were still paying out the nose for the two hurricanes two years ago plus the new ones from last year. It was to the support those who were still hanging on saying they couldn’t take care of themselves.

  Many of the businesses in town were closing. Ann had noticed a floral shop that was closed for good last time Michael and her had gone to town to do their shopping. She saw that the doors were closed for business. A bagel shop had closed two weeks before. Two of the private Mini Mart type gas stations shuttered four months before that. A Pizza shop closed just a month ago. It seemed every time she went into town some of the stores had closed signs on their doors.

  Enough wool gathering as Michael was about ready to go. He came out and they had morning prayer. He collected his lunch box, breakfast bar, the eggs for the people at work who bought eggs from them and gave her a kiss. Then he headed out the door for the 40 minute drive down the mountain.

  Ann watched some news on Fox, threw a log in the stove and then about 6 AM laid back down for an hour or so before it was time to feed and water the chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese. That was all they had managed to acquire so far. The old chicken coop had been torn down, but that was way before they had put up their own. They found where the old outhouse had once stood also once upon a time behind the garage.

  A neighbor had offered them some things from an old burnt out trailer to help build their chicken coop with. They accepted. They had bought 4 geese, 2 turkeys and 4 ducks at the Co-op. Then they found someone close to town who was selling goslings for 50 cents apiece and a dollar a piece for ducks. Wouldn’t you know? So they bought 8 of their geese, 8 ducks and 2 peacocks from them last spring to go along with the 50 chickens that they had sent for from the McCurry Hatchery in Iowa. One thing that they wouldn’t have to worry about was eggs and chicken to eat.

  Ann got back up at 7:30 AM. She dressed to go out to feed and water the poultry. First though she was going to have to build a better fire in their living room wood stove. It had mostly gone out and inside the house the thermometer on the wall by their bedroom showed 59 degrees. If she didn’t do that now, it would just continue to get cooler and cooler in the house. There were still a few coals in the stove which helped a lot. It didn’t take long to get a fire going again.

  She went into the kitchen where her coat and scarf hung by the door. Her gloves and boots were on the back porch. She let the cat out as she went out the back door.

  So far they kept the feed in the garage in garbage cans. The garage was across the small bridge which covered the small creek that ran in the fall and spring. She was looking forward to having the feed transferred to the chicken coop in one of the fenced off sides that they kept chicks in.

  This weekend they were supposed to butcher some more of the roosters, 8 of the geese and 5 of the ducks. They didn’t need 7 male ducks. She didn’t know if they would get to the turkeys this weekend or not. The butchering would cut the feed down for them this winter. She went out the door. It was 40 degrees yet this morning. It wouldn’t get much warmer today. It was supposed to snow this week somewhere along Wednesday afternoon. She would be glad when they saved up enough money to put an extension on the water line that was in the back yard up to the chicken coop. Her hands got cold hooking the hose up and having to drain it so the water in the hose wouldn’t freeze at night. First she went up and let everyone out of their pens and into their yards. Then she went back out to get their feed.

  Ann scooped the grain and feed into buckets. She was headed back towards the chicken yard as she looked up. The chickens were gathering at the fence waiting for her. The ducks were down at the back of the chicken yard. They wouldn’t come close until she put some food out for them all. The geese were honking and wanted out of their yard. They got to wander around loose during the day and went back to their enclosed yard in the evening at dusk. She walked over and connected the hose and drug it over with her to the goose yard with the hose in one hand and grain bucket in the other. She had put down the chicken and duck feed buckets to gather up after she was done with the geese.

  Ann filled up their half barrel and plastic pool, poured their food in the two pans and headed back out with the hose to pick up the two other feed buckets.

  Ann collected the 3 duck eggs. The chickens had only lain two yet this morning. She stuck the eggs in her jacket pocket then got them all watered. They had two, five gallon waterer’s in the coop. There was a barrel cut length wise and a 6 foot plastic swimming pool for the geese, but blue instead of yellow. Good thing she wore her gloves this morning as it was getting chilly out instead of a bit warmer. Maybe that snowstorm was going to come in earlier than they said. The temperature seemed to be dropping. She went straight to the water pump when she was done. She didn’t want to forget to shut off the water. The buckets went back into the garage for the morning again.

  It didn’t take long and the eggs were all washed and put in the refrigerator. She went to get ready for a nice hot shower. That warmed her up right away. After her shower, she made herself some bacon, eggs and toast. When it was ready, she went over to the computer to check the net news, e-mail and see what was on Frugal Squirrel a web site. She talked to her friend, Rachel, in Iowa while she ate.

  ***

  Rachel and her husband, Brian, had a farm in northern Iowa. They were also preppers who had been trying to get supplies in excess for their farm in case they had to help feed others. They wanted to be a place of refuge for people to live. Anyone joining them could contribute their work to the farm to help themselves and others survive as well.

  Ann also had Fox news on while she was on the computer. She got up a few times and put wood in the stove, clothes in the washer and then the dryer. She was slower these days and had to pace herself with her work or she would pay for it for two to three days afterward. She was still having a hard time getting used to being like this even though she had the fibromyalgia for eight years now. She still remembered when she was healthy as a horse and could work for hours with no problem.

  Rachel was on the Internet message site and would go off while working once in a while with a chore and ta
lk typing to Ann here and there. They had become best friends though the years. They even got to visit once when Ann and Michael had gone back to Virginia to visit their oldest son and family and go to Michaels 35th High School reunion.

  ***

  Michael and Ann had scrimped and saved for that trip. A couple of their kids gave Michael and Ann some money so they had gas money. The trip was spent camping at State Parks overnight. That about killed them some days, but it was a great trip and visit when it was all said and done. It had taken nine months to make up financially for the trip as $3.50 a gallon for gas at that time was even expensive in that little Chevy Sprint.

  The morning went fast. Ann was letting a batch of bread rise by the wood stove, had folded a few batches of clothes and had gone back to the computer to talk to Rachel again this afternoon. It was now 1:30 PM. She had the clothes all washed. Some went on the clothesline to be hung. Michael’s good clothes for work were all out of the dryer and hung in the closet. Michael always called between 11:45 and 1:00 so she was always off the computer by then so he could call her. It was dialup out here. He had called about 12:30 PM today.

  Rachel had already finished feeding and watering her chickens for the day. She could spend a little time talking instead of feeling like yoyos getting up and down doing her work. She heard a truck come down their driveway where people could go around and out again. It was one of her egg buyers. That was great as the fridge was about half full. They needed to get rid of some. It was Greg Meyers from about eight miles away. He was getting company in from back east and needed about five-dozen eggs.

  As she went back though the living room after Greg left with his eggs, she turned off the TV as she went past. It was noise to her right now.