Entering the kitchen, Bruce saw Lynn making breakfast. Lynn turned around hearing a baby babbling behind her. “There’s a bottle at your place on the table and I will get you some food for Paul,” Lynn told him smiling.
“It’s PJ,” Bruce reminded her as he headed for his spot. PJ was leaning out of Bruce’s arms reaching for the bottle before Bruce even sat down. “Knock it off PJ. I’ll give you your bottle,” Bruce said as he was sitting down putting the bottle in PJ’s mouth.
PJ grabbed the bottle like he had not eaten in weeks. Bruce fed PJ the bottle making him take breaks so he could breathe, which of course PJ did not like at all. Lynn sat down a plate of food and a bowl of oatmeal. Taking the bottle out of PJ’s mouth, which made him mad, PJ started yelling at Bruce. Ignoring the outburst, Bruce started mashing up eggs to feed PJ. With the first spoon full, PJ shut up and started eating, forgiving Bruce for taking his bottle away.
Debbie walked in as Bruce was feeding PJ. Walking over to Bruce, she kissed him on top of his shaved head, then, kissed PJ. PJ just regarded her with a scowl on his face like, ‘you are interrupting my food woman.’ Debbie grabbed a cup of coffee for her and Bruce. Taking PJ from Bruce, Debbie continued the feeding. During the exchange, PJ did voice his displeasure about having his food interrupted, again.
Thankful for the relief, Bruce dove into his plate as Debbie talked to PJ, shoveling food in his mouth. Within an hour everyone was up in the house and the barn, sitting at the tables eating breakfast. Bruce looked at the clock reading 7:30 feeling cheated. He would’ve liked to sleep late as the twins pushed chairs to each side of him. Smiling at the effort they showed pushing the chairs across the floor, Bruce sat them in the chairs and brought both of them a plate of food.
They each had on outfits that were a little big for them with flip flops. Danny and Buffy had gone through the clothes that were gathered from the houses the clan had grabbed supplies from. Lost in thought, Bruce was just staring at Debbie until he heard Mike calling his name.
“Bruce, can you hear me?” Mike asked for the third time.
“Yes I can Mike,” Bruce replied turning to look at Mike.
“I was saying Marcus called yesterday and said they found more survivors. Darrell brought over a map yesterday with the locations, Marcus didn’t want to say over the CB. They found sixteen more and they relocated to Marcus’s farm. Those survivors told them where others were. Most want help but a few want to stay put. Darrell told me they have over fifty people over there now and if we could, take in the others. Also the log fence around the house and barn is almost finished,” Mike told Bruce.
“After breakfast, we will have a meeting in the game room. Debbie said that Paul had some ideas he wanted to run by us. We can make plans then. Let’s just enjoy breakfast now,” Bruce said looking again at Debbie who was now playing with PJ. Mike nodded his agreement and continued eating.
Danny looked at Bruce and said, “I don’t know if I like PJ Daddy.”
“Why?” asked Bruce with a serious expression.
“He pulled my hair this morning at three o’clock, waking me and wouldn’t leave me alone until I fed him a bottle. That’s really unfair, I mean both you and Mom were there. Why’d he wake me up?” Danny asked Bruce, as he started laughing.
“Well, sleep in the Momma and Daddy bed you have to take care of the baby. It’s part of the job,” Bruce told her.
“Sleep, y’all killed me last night,” Danny informed him.
“Y’all?” Bruce asked.
“Yeah you and Mom could’ve got on the floor so I could’ve at least out run everyone as they tried to lay on me,” Danny replied between bites.
Bruce just looked at her with a traumatized expression, but said nothing. He was not in the mood for a teenage daughter argument today. Whatever he said was going to be wrong, but be damned if he was sleeping on the floor in his own room.
After breakfast, Bruce put on BDU’s grabbed his tactical vest and went down to the game room. After laying his vest on the coffee table and putting his rifle in the rack on the wall, he sat down in his chair and waited on everyone else. Bruce pulled out his notepad as the twins climbed in his lap. After everyone showed up, Bruce called the meeting to order.
“Ok everyone unless you have the floor or have been told by the person that has the floor you can talk don’t. For those of you new to this clan this is how we decide what’s going to happen. It is a limited democracy. You will get to speak your mind and add your input but it will be done in an orderly fashion. Since I have the twins in my lap, I’ll conduct this meeting sitting down. Nancy, how are the food stores coming with the added mouths and the chore schedules?” Bruce asked.
Nancy stood up looking at her notebook, “Well, Lynn has gone over our food list and is makin’ a menu months in advance. She has assured me the stores we have could feed the clan for one hundred days easily with replenishing from the garden. Lynn was having trouble puttin’ it in the computer. Lynn is now just writing it down and Debbie and I’ve been taking over putting it in the computer,” Nancy reported.
Damn we went from eighteen months to a hundred days with the extra people, Bruce thought. Jake spoke up looking at Lynn. “Why don’t you just write it down in the computer?” Jake asked Lynn.
“Jake, I can’t type worth a damn. I did try but I can only use two fingers,” Lynn replied to him.
“Well then, just write it down for the computer. Don’t type it,” Jake told her.
“You can’t do that with a computer,” Lynn told him. Everyone in the family groaned as Jake stood up and marched out of the game room like he had been insulted.
“Lynn, don’t ever tell him, you can’t do something with a computer,” Bruce told her when Jake had left the room. Then Bruce added, “The last time that was said in this house. Jake hacked into the Presidents e-mail. Just because someone said it couldn’t be done,” Bruce said turning to Mike.
“All I said was nobody could do it. How was I supposed to know it could be done?” Mike stated turning away from Bruce.
“That’s saying it can’t be done. He handed you a print out of the Presidents e-mail in less than an hour,” Bruce replied to Mike who was not looking at him or listening to him. Jake came back into the room carrying a touch pad notebook but before he could hand it to Lynn, Bruce spoke up.
“You can show her how to use it later Jake. Nancy, how about the chore lists any problems?” Bruce asked.
“Everyone is doing excellent. No missed shifts on chores or training.” Nancy informed him.
“Everyone, that’s great, let’s keep that up. Now Debbie how about guard duty?” Bruce asked Debbie who was trying to get her notebook away from PJ, fighting a losing battle. Rushing over, Danny and Buffy helped wrestle away the notebook and took PJ from her. At first PJ started crying, he wanted the neat chew toy back, but was soon being entertained by the girls.
“No missed guard shifts but Jake and Matt have brought up a valid point about adding another person in mission control. With warlord shooting any blues that get in the fields it takes one person just to operate that. They’ve been teaching people how to operate the UAV’s. If the UAV’s are up, it’s too much for one person. I’ve put Pam on dayshift only until I’ve released her for other duties. I’m not giving those with night duties time off but I am allowing for sleep time after their shift,” Debbie finished looking up at Bruce.
“Jake, you and Matt are to make a list of people who’re trained for UAV operation. They’ll pull four hour shifts in the morning and afternoon and we will add another for the warlord. We have thirty radios. I’m putting out a list today for fifteen people who’ll always have a radio unless in the house or the loft. Now Mike, what’s the news from the Snead farm?” Bruce asked after giving the boys their orders.
“They have over fifty people there now,” this news brought smiles from others in the clan. Mike continued, “They’ve been sending out scavenger runs every day. Since we brought them weapons they feel safer go
in’ out to gather supplies. I gave them another twenty thousand rounds yesterday when Darrell came over. Darrell gave me a map that they have marked out with places where survivors might still be. They got this information from others they’ve brought in. One of the locations is outside of Jonesboro. It’s what’s left of the Homeland camp after it got overrun. The survivors are in a large metal building on the outside of town that was used for supplying the camp with food and water. If the blues have not gotten inside then they’re ok. The rest are people holdin’ up in farms. Marcus said in his letter that they got this information from some survivors that escaped from the camp. All but one of the farms is too far away for them to get to easily.”
“Marcus doesn’t want to send out his patrols no further than fifteen miles out. The farm in question is twelve miles from him and has two families there. They have no fence, two guns, little food and water. They said that they would stay there. Marcus wrote,” Mike looked down at a piece of paper before continuing. “Bruce, will you see if these crazy, stupid white people will listen to you because they won’t listen to an old black man,” Mike read.
“This farm is fifteen miles from here with the two families totaling nine. The estimated count at Jonesboro is around thirty-seven with the other two locations having at least eighteen between them. I don’t think we will get those nine in Marcus’ letter to join us if they wouldn’t join Marcus. We estimate fifty-five at least, which I think is low. If they all come here with the forty one we have that’s ninety-six. It’ll start getting crowded here and this will put a huge strain on our supplies, like food. We go from a hundred days to less than fifty. I’m not sayin’ not to get them but I want everyone here to realize that. We will have to bring in more supplies fast if we get’em,” Mike said looking around the room.
The clan was talking in little groups with each other. They all wanted to help but they could survive here now without much trouble, adding that many mouths to feed to the clan would change the situation. Then Cheryl stood up asking to be recognized as her husband Paul was trying to make her sit back down. Bruce pointed to her as she slapped Paul’s hand.
“If these other people are brought here to your farm,” Cheryl stressed your, “would they work, like the rest of us?” Cheryl asked looking at Mike and Bruce.
“Cheryl, this is the clan’s farm now. We’re a big family here now. When each of you agreed to come here and stay, you became part of the family and clan. The answer to your question is yes. They either work or they are sent on their way,” Bruce told her with Mike agreeing.
“What if we send them out and a gang picks them up and finds out where we are? Every night on the HAM radio in mission control we hear peopling talkin’ about the lawless groups out there. Just two nights ago we heard someone get attacked while they were on the radio,” Cheryl told him.
Bruce was glad they were listening to the HAM radio and writing down everything but it also was a source of fear for them. Not having an answer for that he addressed Cheryl’s question. “I will not keep people here against their will, they want to leave then they can. If they become a danger they’ll leave but only their spirit, the body will stay behind. I will kill anyone who threatens this clan. We have safety here which is rare right now and I will not let anyone endanger that,” Bruce told her and Mike added.
“We’re not fools. Nobody will get a free ride here unless they’re sick or injured. Once they can work, then they will help or leave not taking any of our supplies with them. Now when Bruce and his patrol came back we gave them a day off to rest-,” Mike was saying as Maria interrupted.
“Yeah, but they picked a fight with every blue in central Louisiana, then, ran like a hundred miles through the day. If they wouldn’t have taken a day off, I for one would’ve thrown a fit,” Maria stated and everyone agreed with her.
“Thank you Maria and I might have you do that if the need arises. Now, if I would’ve gone and told Bruce that I needed him to attack a large group headed to us what would he have done?” Mike asked.
Angela replied without hesitation, “He would’ve taken off to fight, sleep or no sleep.”
“That’s right and that’s what we expect from everyone. If you can, do what is needed,” Mike said then continued. “Those that come here will be expected to do the same. We can use the extra help especially if we’re hit by a gang or a large mob.” The clan talked quietly amongst themselves until Stephanie spoke up.
“What do you and Bruce think about bringing more people here?” Stephanie asked Mike.
Mike replied, “I think if we can get some of these people, without endangering ourselves to much, then we should.” Bruce nodded his head agreement.
“That’s good enough for me,” Stephanie replied writing in her notebook.
“We only have room for around fifty as we stand right now. We’re gonna have to build a shelter for the rest. Or more accurately, they’ll have to build it,” Mike replied and everyone agreed.
“We’ll have to bring in even more supplies with that many more people and soon. Just remember boys, we designed this farm for just a small group. Don’t think I don’t want to help but don’t bring in more than we can supply and feed,” Nancy said as Mike sat down and Bruce spoke up again.
“Ok Paul, tell us what you have in mind,” Bruce said looking at Paul. Paul got up from beside Cheryl and walked in front of the fireplace.
“I have a list which I will go through one at a time. We need to expand our storage area, bring in more animals, expand our garden, reinforce the fence and add towers around the property. Now first the storage area that I have in mind will be underground. We will dig out five acres on the west side of the property. Digging the hole fifteen feet down then concrete the bottom and walls. Then cover it with a concrete roof and cover it with dirt. We can still put a garden or greenhouses on top with the three feet of soil there. That will give us over two hundred thousand square feet of storage area with a ten foot roof,” Paul was saying as Bruce and Mike started in.
“Hell yeah! Now we’re talking. You’re tha man Paul,” Bruce yelled out high fiving Mike.
“Go big or go home, baby!” Mike shouted high fiving Bruce. The twins held up their hands so Bruce and Mike could give them high five too.
“Boys,” Debbie shouted which made Mike and Bruce shut up.
“Don’t you think that two hundred thousand square feet is a bit big Paul?” Nancy asked looking at Paul. Having experience with dealing with Bruce and Mike’s adventures the women prepared for the verbal battle to rein them in. Very rarely did they get mad and scream at the two, they used common since.
“I told him it was,” Cheryl replied.
“Well, we don’t have to worry about cost and with that much space we should be ok for a long time to come for storage,” Paul replied looking down at his notes not wanting to look at Nancy or Debbie.
Hearing that Debbie almost wanted to laugh, she could hear Mike and Bruce say the same thing. “Cost isn’t what I’m talking about, just moving that much dirt then finding that much concrete laying around to build it, not counting the metal beams, will be challenging. You’re talking about thousands of yards of concrete for the floor and roof. We can’t begin to move that much concrete out of the city with blues and gangs about,” Debbie stated.
“Concrete won’t be a problem, there’s a warehouse outside of Castor that has several thousand pallets of eighty pound bags of concrete. The oil and natural gas drilling rigs store it there for concreting the wells. We have one back hoe and on a farm we have to go to for more animals there’s another one and a bulldozer. I can make those quiet too. Working straight, I believe we can have it done in under twelve weeks,” Paul said reading from his list not wanting to look up. He had already had this fight with his wife, and lost. Cheryl was used to this as well, like most wives.
Bruce spoke up, “Come on you two, it’ll be huge, like our own super warehouse.” Mike agreed with Bruce thinking about having a building that big on the property mad
e him tingly inside.
“Turn down the testosterone boys,” Nancy said looking at the duo then turning to Paul. “What the hell are we going to put in there? I’m not saying we don’t need to make another storage area, but two hundred thousand square feet? Don’t you think we could go with something smaller? We have a lot to do besides build a super boy toy storage area,” Nancy said. Watching Bruce and Mike, she felt like she was trying to talk her kids out of buying a stupid toy when they were young.
“Well, Bruce and Mike said they wanted an area to store large amounts of ammo and weapons,” Paul replied finally looking up at the two women trying to defend his idea since Mike and Bruce loved it.
A few minutes passed as Debbie scribbled in her note book. “I have run a few numbers through my head,” Debbie replied and Bruce mumbled, “Oh shit.” Debbie just looked over at him before she began. “The average ammo crate of 5.56 is 4’x5’x5’ and contains a little over eighty thousand rounds, weighing a ton. I know it holds more and the dimensions are a off but let’s round off for now. In a two hundred thousand square foot building you could have eighty rows with two hundred cases in each row. That’s leaving a big isle between each row. We’re not even talking double stacking yet. I come up with sixteen thousand crates, that’s over a billion rounds. There isn’t that much ammo nearby first but let me continue. If there was, you could still double stack the rows and still have over hundred thousand square feet of space to fill. I’m not even going to mention triple stacking. Now, is that not a bit much?” Debbie asked the three men with almost every woman agreeing with her. Only Danny, Mary and Buffy were with the Daddy’s. The twins just wanted more high fives and PJ wanted his chew toy that Debbie was writing in.
“Debbie, we wouldn’t have to worry about storage for a while,” Mike told her with a grin on his face.
Nancy spoke up, “Ok, I’ve just run a couple of numbers here myself. If we assigned fifteen people a day to work on this testosterone storage area, I put it over ninety days before completion. That’s with nothing but good weather.”
Blue Plague Survival Page 13