Emp Pitch Black

by Above Average Joe

  “Steve, I am just concerned about the cougar roaming around that might endanger our livestock.” I said.

  “We’ll just fortify the fence with barb wires to prevent cougars from preying against our livestock. The front gate’s fence should be set up on high walls. It’s just a minor repair. We’ll just put some barb wires on it.” Steve said.

  “How about putting live wires on the entire perimeter fence? 220 to 300 volts would be just fine to snap some electrocution both to cougars and human intruders.” Carl suggested.

  “Mixing some electric shock and barb wires would surely make fences tough and hard to cross but putting some adequately high voltages on our perimeter fences would surely eat a lot of electricity. This might be a major disadvantage to us.” I replied.

  “Ryan, I think Carl has a logical point.” Steve said.

  “Yeah Ryan. Power supply is never going to be a problem. If the sun would only shine sky high, we would have enough energy to keep our electrical fence working. Besides the generator is always available as a standby power reserve knowing that we have enough fuel to power it and also backing our supply with wind energy would be an awesome alternative for lengthening the lifespan of our power.” Car added.

  “What a nice suggestion you got there folks! We’ll see about that.” I said.

  “Carl, please check the engines of our trucks and make sure that their condition is roadworthy. Should the fuses be changed, please do. Stocks of fuses are inside the compartment of my Excursion. Also, don’t forget to recharge the fuses that you replace. You can ask Farah about the charger and stuff.” I said.

  “Okay, Ryan. I’ll do that.” Carl replied.

  ‘For the mean time, me and Steve wild do some full ocular inspection of the farm. Come on Steve.” I said.

  We begin our extensive probing within the farms boundary fences. It’s going to be a major overhaul. Two hectares of farm land is a lot to cover. Good thing that we have barb wire stocks inside the basement. If we would have shortages, we’ll just go to the hardware and trade something like our ammo and supplies.

  “What do you think about adding some windmills to make use of wind energy as an alternative?” I said.

  “That would be fine. We’ll just install four to five windmills and we are good to go. Herb has some windmills in his RV truck that he’s bringing along. Maybe we could ask him to have it installed to have another energy alternative.” He said.

  “Really? That’s great! Having four windmills is just fine to back up solar energy. Putting some electric shock in the fence would be no problem.” I said.

  “Me and Carl will be responsible for the wirings of electric shocks over these fences. We’ll just turn these on during nighttime because we’re awake by the day. While you, Herb and Nick and the other RV truck boys install the windmills.” He said.

  “Yeah, Tomorrow’s a big working day indeed. But that would be a nice suggestion.

  We continued our exhaustive area inspection as well as the situation of our close in neighbors. We spoke to some of our neighbors re-echoing what Noah said and the possibility of squatters and highway robbers that might attack homes and steal everything in between. Steve and I endeavored to alert our neighbors and eventually told them to pass the word as well as while told them to intensify their security measures. Maybe setting up a universal alarm let’s say a bell free perhaps will ultimately alert the whole neighborhood in advance. A neighborhood alliance is the best way to do it but we can’t worry about it now. There are a lot of things to be done.

  We continued our inspection and then decided to stop at Sheldon’s place. Seeing his face has sent Goosebumps on my nerves. Remembering him chasing me in that scary dream I had looks and feels so true. Once again, I am dealing with Sheldon; a very close friend and neighbor whose sarcasm annoys me. I could still remember his silly nonsense comments regarding the CMEs and EMPs. I could not just fathom his silly remarks.

  “Sheldon, this is my friend Steve. Noah dropped by a while ago to warn us that there are highway robbers roaming around fully armed and dangerous. They objective is to steal every food and water supplies as well as functional gadgets and machineries. Please beware and don’t be off guard.” I said.

  “Really?” he said.

  “Thanks Ryan. Well make sure that we’ll intensify our security and though we are undermanned, out ammo and firearms is enough. Thanks man.” He added.

  We said our goodbyes as we headed back to the hydroponics area. I still warned him. I still passed Noah’s warning on to them so that they will be aware. It’s not about the bullying I felt but its more than that. Sheldon is still my neighbor and I have to live with that. Somehow, I felt that its just my obligation to warn him.

  We said our parting greetings and walked away towards home. At least Steve has already his estimates regarding the barb wires that are to be installed while I gazed on the farm’s land area to find a perfect place for the windmills. We stumbled on something which is useful.

  “Steve, can you give me a hand on this?” I said.

  “Sure Ryan, what about it?” He said.

  “Help be dig out some cattail roots. I’ll be using this for the pond.” I said.

  “No problem Ryan.” Steve replied.

  It’s a hand to hand digging for the both of us. I didn’t bother to get some bolos to expedite the digging because the soil is not that hard and the cattail roots have not settled on a firm grip. I put it on aside and finally the digging is over. We headed back home to tell to Carl, Herb, Nick and the rest of the crew regarding our gamelan. The one hour and a half inspection is done --- time check, it’s now one fifteen o’clock in the afternoon. It’s not late for lunch after all.

  Chapter 11

  We finally arrived at home. It was past lunchtime but I don’t want to eat. The thoughts of intensifying our security measures preoccupy my normal state, even my appetite. The rest of the gang had finished their lunch an hour ago, that’s good. Steve on the other hand took notes as to barb wire estimates and the rest of the strategic plan follows after here. Lee, Susie and Farah are inside the house doing the chores, Carl is checking up on my truck while Herb and Nick were also checking up their RV trucks.

  “Steve,” I said. “Let’s have a meeting; it’s for the boys gathering only.”

  Steve must have read my mind. He called up the attention of Herb, Nick and Carl instructing them to meet up at the barn. I go back inside the house to get some wide tracing papers and ball pens for purposes of map reading and coordinate plotting. Hearing the voices of a group of females chatting while washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen is fun to watch. At least for now, things got back to normal. I didn’t bother disturbing them. Their amplified laughs are too interesting for me to disturb. I rolled the tracing papers up holding it by my left hand and placed the red, black and blue pens inside my pocket with my right then went on to the barn were the rest of the guys are waiting.

  I walked towards the venue --- the barn. The afternoon sunshine stings a bit prompting me to cover my head with my right hand. It is a fast brisk walk thinking that there is no time to waste. Steve didn’t tell the boys in advance. He waited for me to break the eyes. There are so many things to discuss and I want to finalize everything today to get a head start of pure work by tomorrow.

  “Let’s get inside in the barn” says, Nick. So we could discuss everything thoroughly. One by one we slid inside the barn to commence the meeting. Fortunately wooden tables with benches were all set up so we sit and talk. The livestock were safely caged and the barn is just cleaned up so odor wouldn’t be a problem. Herb got the rolled tracing paper and had it spread up.

  “We called you up so that we can have a consensus on one thing and that is how to intensify security measures against potential outsider attacks,” said Steve. “You must probably heard Noah’s warning a while ago right?” Everyone just gives its own stares and nods.

  “Alright, the farm is about two hectares of mostly flat land.” I said while d
rawing the coordinates on the tracing paper. “In order to secure our boundaries, the fence must be reinforced by barb wires and to be backed up with electrocuted connections and wirings to the fence for added stability and this includes voltage flow on the barb wires as well.”

  “Well, as I can see,” said Carl while scratching his head, “the fence is made up of concrete reinforced with cyclone wire fence and posts of two meter intervals at a height of 7.5 to 8.0 feet so adding a 220 volts of power on the fence is just great” Carl smiles. “However, the problem is the barb wires as we obviously need a massive length to cover all of the land area.”

  “May I cut in?” asks Nick. “I am definitely good at the electric fence thing, but what if intruders bring a highly insulated cutter that could withstand the high voltage?”

  “Good point Nick,” I said. “Any suggestions?” I ask as no one seemed to have anything in mind. “That issue can be resolved by building major defensive bunkers for ground defense and above it will be observation posts on top, like watchtowers equipped with a shooting platform and search lights as well to spot on areas at night.”

  “Ryan,” Carl called. “The tree house should also be a viable watchtower to defend the barn and its nearby boundaries, spotlights should also be included as well as a shooting platform. It would be a great camouflage knowing that there are sycamore leaves to cover disguise everything.”

  “That would be good Ryan,” said Herb. “But that’s not enough. We have to back our fences up with a sturdy alarm system if in case the barbs and electrocution fail. In this case, the men assigned in the bunkers as well as the observation posts will be alerted once it sounds.”

  “That is definitely a good idea,” said Steven while clapping his hands in delight. “I never saw that coming.” He laughs.

  “We have enough supply of barb wires stocked in here,” I said, while pointing at the stockroom inside the barn. “If in case we will come short of barbs, we can trade for it. We have a lot of farm assets to trade it out.”

  “So let’s plot the location of the bunkers.” I said as I draw down the farm’s floor dimensions on the tracing paper. As the owner, I know I have memorized all the locations in a bird’s-eye-view mode. The house, barn, pond, hydroponics tent, tree house, the drive and the main gate were already plotted giving us a strategic view to start a consolidation of our defensive tactics.

  “By the way Steve,” I said while tapping his shoulder. “What about the windmill thing?” I reminded him in a low toned voice. I don’t want anyone to hear me.

  “Oh, yes!” Steve laughed. “Herb, Nick, about your windmill paraphernalia, do you still have it?” he asked with a face smiling.

  “Yeah we have it stuffed inside our RV’s.” they simultaneously replied. “I have two sets and Nick has two also,” says Herb. “Very good,” says Steve. “Ryan and I have decided a while back to make use of wind energy as a backup power source.” Steve explains.

  “That’s true,” I said standing up. “Being dependent on our solar reserves is not that logical. Instead having another source, like the wind, in order to generate energy would be nice.”

  “I agree,” says nick while nodding his head. “I also agree,” says Herb. Having another energy source would be enough to power up the electric fence, the spotlights in the bunker, the hydroponics system and more.”

  Yeah,” says Nick. Like if there’s no sun and when the rains come, the wind generated by the weather will be effectively converted into energy so wither way, its going to benefit us.”

  I placed on some red star signs on the desired places were the observation posts and bunkers will be installed and after all the strategizing is done, we have collectively come up with the following, Steve reads:

  “All observation posts must have a shooting platforms as well as search lights;

  two observation posts on the main gate;

  one bunker on the drive way;

  one observation post on the hill for easier view equipped with telescopes and sniper rifles;

  one bunker at the back of the barn (the tree house being converted as an observation post;

  one observation post on each corner of the lot ( bunker 1 x 4 corners)

  electric controls must be placed inside the house with back-up circuit breakers inside the barn;

  Each will be divided into teams:

  1) Team Steve with Lee Guy and Susie will take charge in installing the barb wires, electrocution lines on the fence;

  2) Team Carl will take care of the installation of shooting platforms as well as the wirings of the observation post spotlights;

  3) Team Herb and Nick will take charge on the windmill installation; and,

  4) Farah and I will take charge of the observatory installation and bunkers.”

  “Thank you so much for lending your windmills. I really appreciate your time and cooperation.” I said after Steve finished reading the assignments.

  “Any other questions and concerns?” Carl asks. Everybody just shake their heads and so I had everything adjourned.

  There is nothing a lot more to discuss. Minor details of our security plan will be addressed on the field as we work. What’s important is we have addressed the major key points of our security measures. Adjustments will just follow as we go through it. The extended family ruled out to be an effective strategy to extract the best collective consensus. Seeing it as a burden is just an initial reaction for getting afraid for the unknown. We disperse like independent men bringing with us an ounce of hope that we have a large probability of survival. As they say, two heads is better than one, what we did a while ago was a hell of a job well done.

  I was left alone in the barn. Bringing with me the rolled blue print of our game plan. I secured the barn and locked it tightly as I looked on them drifting away towards their RV’s parked at the front of our house. The backdrop of the setting orange sun depicted nature’s beauty signifying the end of a day for a job well done. The intellectual side of life comes in during times of in dire need and I could not have done this without them. I visited the pond to check on the cattail roots planted nearby. The fishes are in their healthy. I’ll just transfer them to the tabs as soon as it needs refill. For now the work’s done --- the defense framework is officially laid down; to start tomorrow’s day with the purpose of realizing what we plotted is absolutely fun.

  I walked towards home but when I passed by the parked RVs, I decided to pay Marge and Amy a visit. Good thing both of them are just seated outside probably to gasp for fresh air. I did not know that Farah was there so I just accompanied her with the ladies.

  I just reiterated what happened in the meeting and how valuable their presence is for the completion and realization of our desired security measure. “Your husbands will just tell you the details,” I say in brief but concise words. Farah made them feel and understand that everything is for long term. Making feel that they are home is probably the most important element any host could probably give to keep the flow going.

  “We should always take responsibility of our comrades, we’re brothers her.” I say with confidence while Marge and Amy listened.

  “Buddy system.” Farah added. “This is what defines camaraderie. It’s taking full responsibility to each other because not everyone can be trusted out there.”

  There is too much risk. Let’s just be vigilant, cooperative and strong because this is not my home anymore, I sad. “Rather, this is our home now and this will be our home until we get through this.”

  The brief meeting concluded with a lot of safety notes warning both Marge and Amy to be vigilant especially that they are going to sleep inside their RV’s. I bid my goodnight to them while Farah ecstatically does that feminine cheek to cheek kiss ritual to both of them. I wish I could have done it too but never mind.

  We go up the house after seeing the RV doors shut and locked. We get inside the house and locked our doors. Dinner is not an option; we just want to sleep. Now it’s our time to rest and prepared for tomorrows
big day --- putting our plans into action.

  Chapter 12

  The day starts with the crowing the roosters and the roar of a heavy equipment engine --- its morning. My eyes open but I still choose to get some last two minute bedtime. The sky is still blue, darkness slowly conquered by the light. I just want to wait until the sun comes up. Farah is always the early bird. as always, she goes up first to prepare breakfast and early coffee drinks for the early mornings just to warm up. She is an excellent housewife. I pondered a lot of things especially the task that is waiting for us today. I placed my hands at the back of my head like a pillow not wanting to get up yet. I just want to anticipate what’s next in the hope of getting every detail realized. The scheduled renovation of our farm is not merely for aesthetics. The farms improvement is by far turning it into a fortress; an improvised military camp to defend not to attract, to repel, not to invite and to kill and not to be killed.

  My mind travels as far as it can complement the softness of the bed cushion backed up by the cold bubbly water trapped in between. At least here in my room, I get to feel the peace and the serenity that I truly deserve. I intellectually scanned the initial plan that we have as well as the division of labor that each team is going to share while thinking of extending the garden to accommodate our growing family. I know that it is a lot of work to get an early start is the only secret. All we have right now is that we sweat it out and work for free and as one for own sake.