“What,” Aaron asked. He still sounded nasally.
“Amy is going to kill me,” he said. “She warned me after the ear thing if I bought you back messed up again I was done.”
Aaron grinned and then grimaced. “Hurts to smile,” he said. “A little anyway... Don't worry. She'll feel bad, after all you lost a finger.”
“Yep, but I bet she's gonna kick my ass as soon as she sees you.”
“Yeah, and you'll be getting your ass kicked by a pregnant woman too,” Aaron joked.
“You're not going to help me out? Tell her how it's not really my fault,” Conner asked.
“Nope. Take it like a man, Bro, take it like a man. Besides, she hits like a girl... Unless she's mad and then she has one hell of a straight right. Smacked me in the arm once when I wouldn't quit screwing with her. Arm hurt for a week.” Aaron smiled and then grimaced again.
“Sorry,” Conner told him. He turned around; everyone was waiting. “Let's go,” he said quietly. “Let's go.”
The Nation
“Okay,” Katie said. “What do you think?” She held up an off white outfit. A small pair of booties and a long gown. She was working on a second gown, but a second pair of booties rested on the quilt beside her.
Lilly took it from her. “It's nice, Kate. I like it,” Lilly said.
Amy's needles click-clicked as she added a blue and pink border to her gown.
Lilly held hers up, the yarn still attached. She had used the same off white yarn, but a different pattern of stitches, so that a pattern radiated out from the center to the edges. Katie looked at it closely.
“How did you do that,” she asked.
“I made two separate pieces,” Lilly told her. “Then I just joined them at the sides, see?” She showed her where the pieces came together.
“Clever,” Katie said.
Amy held hers up. The yarn she had used for the bottom was a variegated pink and blue. “Works for either or,” she said. She had also made little ruffles around the ends of both sleeves, and sewn small mittens to the end of each sleeve as well; capping them.
A slit on each side allowed the baby's hands to be free of the mittens.
“Wow. Too cool, Aim,” Katie said. “You have to show me how you did that.”
“Yeah, me too,” Lilly added. “I mean, what made you think of that?”
“How cold it might get. See the slit is right at the wrist. The ruffle overhangs it. It's really only about another half of the sleeve. It can be on or off the baby's hand. When it's on? You know, like going outside? There's a button hole.” She showed them the hole. “All I have to do is add the button. But you can button it closed so it stays on, or, I'll add another button to the other side that will allow me to button it open, but big fat plastic buttons with soft edges... Baby's like to chew,” she told them.
“I didn't see anything in the book like that at all. I saw mittens with strings, but nothing like that. That's what I want also though. Where did you get it, Aim,” Katie asked.
“It just came to me, you know, like your poetry and songs... Like that,” Amy told her.
“Well, I like it. That's how I'm doing mine too,” Lilly said.
“Yeah... You'll have to show us: I want it too,” Katie agreed.
In front of them the people were cutting down the field corn, stalks and all. The children were entertaining each other, the two older boys with them this time. One of the larger chests held cold lemonade this time. The other held water. A small fire kept coffee brewing, and two large spitted hams sizzled over the fire, about to be served up for lunch.
Katie set aside the gown, “Guess we better get ready,” she said. Amy got up easily. She reached down and helped Lilly to her feet.
“Honey, are you sure you are just six months,” Amy asked.
“Actually, no. It could be seven.” She counted in her head. “Yeah, it could be seven. It could have been February, or it could have been March. Sometimes I skip a month, and my life was a mess back then. It's easily as much as a month difference.”
“You didn't test to see,” Amy asked.
“No... I meant to: I just didn't. He and I broke up. Then he came back and I knew by then that I could be. I had missed, but stress can do that also, it has with me before, you know? And I didn't feel pregnant. I know that means nothing. When he came back he wasn't around long, and I finally got the message. He left and I skipped again so I tested and bang. There I was, knocked up, and him gone.” She laughed a little to throw off the seriousness of what it had meant to her at that time.
“Well, Lil. You got everything you need now, and nobody's going anywhere,” Amy told her.
Together they helped Katie to her feet.
“I wish, though, that this could have been Jake's,” Lilly said.
“The next one,” Katie told her. She patted one arm. “Wait until Conner sees me. I've turned into a cow since he's been gone. He hasn't even been gone two weeks and look at me!” Katie said.
“Twins, Kate.” Amy told her. She looked at her critically. “You just popped out in the front is all.” She considered. “Okay, you popped out on the sides as well.”
“Yeah, the sides too,” Lilly agreed.
“Oh, thanks a lot... Both of you,” Katie laughed. She began to slice a loaf of bread. “But, really, does it make my butt look big,” she asked. All three of them roared laughter at that.
Conner
On The Road
The livestock truck broke down two miles into the logging trail.
There had been a faint whine in the rear axle that had grown steadily louder as they traveled. Something inside the rear axle had finally let go with a loud metal clicking, ratcheting sound. That had quickly turned to a high pitched metal scream and all forward movement had stopped.
They were at a wide place in the trail. A stream, not much more than a few feet wide, and barely covering the rocky bottom, cut across the trail in front of them. A small clearing led away from it.
They had unloaded the truck and pushed it to one side of the trail. Just into the trees far enough so that it would not be in the way. It was certainly going no further the way it was, as they had pushed it into the treeline the axle shaft on the drivers side of the truck walked out a good six inches.
“Uh, that's a really bad sign, I'm guessing,” Conner said.
“That's no good at all,” Josh agreed as he got out of the truck.
“Yeah,” Dustin agreed. “Either the shaft has snapped or the clip that holds it is gone.”
“It's fixable though, right,” Conner asked.
“Nope,” they both said at once.
“How much farther to go,” Josh asked.
“Probably seventy miles or so,” Conner said.
“We need another truck,” Josh said.
Aaron and Adam had walked up and stood looking at the rear dual tires. Aaron looked at Conner and grinned. “Never say never,” he said, alluding to Conner's remark, and his own vow, that he would never go back out again.
“I could send someone,” Conner said.
“You could, but you wont,” Aaron said.
“Shit,” Conner said.
“Yeah,” Aaron agreed.
“There's another one just like her at the farm place, only new,” Adam said.
“Yeah... Saw it... Didn't want to go back there so I thought this one would work,” Conner agreed.
Adam nodded. “Probably a trade in... Probably because it had a bad rear end.”
“You are such a help, Adam,” Conner said.
Adam chuckled.
“Shoulda, woulda, coulda,” Josh said. “You can't second guess yourself.”
Conner nodded. “Aaron's right. I'll go back. If all goes well I'll be back early this afternoon,” Conner said. “Maybe late afternoon.” He turned and looked around at the others where they stood, leaning on fenders or sitting at the side of the road listening.
“I'm not stupid, so I'm not about to put a bunch of us in danger goin
g back out there... Aaron will stay here and keep things going. Besides, if anything else happens to him Amy will kill me... Or kick my ass, and I'm not sure which would be worse.” Several people, Aaron included, Chuckled. “Adam. I want you to stay and make sure things stay safe here. You're about the best shot we have right now. And that is because I'm taking Chloe, Dustin and Josh with me. Dustin for the brains. I don't want to pick another clunker. Chloe because she can shoot... Better than I can even. Josh because he knows more about these trucks than I do. Between him and Dustin I shouldn't be able to pick another bad one. Josh also shoots well...” He shrugged. He paused and waited for the quiet to come back. “Okay... Extra clips and let's bring a pair of those fully automatic rifles along too.... We'll be back early to late afternoon like I said.” He got into his pickup and got it turned around. A few minutes later Dustin and Chloe pulled up behind Conner with a second pickup truck, where his truck sat idling as he talked to Aaron.
“I'll be on six,” Conner told him and held up a VHF radio.
“Be careful,” Aaron told him.
“Yeah, well,” He glanced at Adam who stood to one side. “You guys watch these woods... Light out if you have to.” He dropped his truck into drive and pulled away. Dustin and Chloe followed.
The Nation
By early afternoon they were finished with the corn field. The wagon had been off loaded by the pool that morning, and they had been making trips back and forth between the first and second cornfields all morning long, loading up the wagon and taking it to the first silo.
Jake and Craig had kept a steady stream of corn and stalks coming. James and Arlene fed them into a long hopper that delivered the freshly created silage directly into the silo at the other end. On their end the hopper pushed the stalks and corn into a long screw mechanism that chewed everything they put into it into tiny bits.
The screw was run by the huge diesel engine Dustin had hooked into it. Their supply of diesel was still good, but James hoped to have a similar grinder working with Oxen power by next spring. He just needed to put Dustin's mind to it when he got back.
The top of the silo was vented; the bottom as well. They had made a giant post with spokes that was mounted in the center of each silo. The center shaft was nothing more than a whole tree sitting in a rock lined pit. The spokes smaller trees. But not much smaller. A man would never turn it, especially full of tons of silage, but a team of Oxen could, and would a few times a week, to allow the air to circulate through the silage as it dried out. That was the principal reason for the short silos. Any taller and nothing would have moved the silage at all. At least nothing they had on hand.
They worked to fill the first silo, then started on the second. They were nearly to the top of that silo when the raw material ran out.
Liquid was already seeping from the bottoms of the silos. A concrete channel directed the liquid into deep concrete pits in a closed room of the barn. That room was well ventilated too. There they would turn the liquid into grain alcohol so pure it would run a gasoline engine. James felt they should end up with a few hundred gallons of the stuff as a by product of making the silage.
Most of the silage would go to the pigs, but a fair portion of it would go to the cows as well. The horses would subsist on grain and hay. Standing hay fields, cut while the seed was still on the stalk. That would make up the majority of the cow and bison's diet too. The second stories of all four barns was nothing but storage, just waiting to be filled with hay.
What they had planted would never be enough, but there was so much standing hay, nearly as far as the eye could see, that they would have no problem filling all four lofts.
What they had planted would be a much higher protein yield than the stuff that grew wild. But as they harvested they sowed their own hybrid seed they had bought in with them. So all the yields in the following years would be higher in protein. There would be no shortage for people or animals: Once they had finished with the cornfield everybody headed back to the cave. Lilly, Katie, Amy and Janna began to get dinner ready, as well as look after the children, as the others made a steady procession up the stone ledge and into the far reaches of the cave to store the corn.
The remaining two fields of corn would come down by ear and be run through a coring machine, that did just that, left nothing but a core.
In between the second and third barns was what looked to be a huge concrete pad. But under the six inches of concrete it was hollow, about four feet high; rock lined walls and floor.
The corn would be spread on top, watched over by people. Fires started underneath to heat the stone and concrete, and the corn would be dried. The fires under the concrete had to be carefully regulated. Hot enough to speed the drying process, but not so hot that it cracked the concrete.
There were six huge concrete and stone storage containers that had been built in the fourth barn. That is where the finished product would end up. The corn would probably not take up more than two-and-a-half of the big rooms. But some silage would also be dried and used to fill the rest of the containers, as the silage worked down they would add the stalks from the remaining fields to it. As well as whatever they had in leftover hay that would not fit into the lofts. By the time most of the excess moisture had been drained or vented off, the silage would be a highly concentrated, high protein feed. Drying it out would stop it from working, and allow it to be stored for long periods of time: By the time the corn was put away, dinner was nearly ready to be served. People had gone down to the pool to clean up, or further down the stream to bathe.
There were two areas below where they drew their drinking water from that they used for bathing. The first place was for the women. It was close to the pool: Where the pool drained off, it had created a ten foot hole leading down to the valley floor. The area where the water fell was already elevated from the valley floor some twenty five feet, so in effect it created an area about ten feet wide, with a fairly deep bottom and wide stone ledges, since it was sunken down into the rock it afforded privacy.
The second area was slightly farther away, where the stream took a sharp right turn, pulling away from the side of the mountain and turned out into the valley itself where it meandered the rest of the way across the valley floor. The sharp turn had eaten into the rock about eight feet, which dropped the stream down even with the valley floor. The turn left a rock sheltered stone ledge on the inside corner of the turn that extended about twenty five feet before the rock sides fell away and the stream flowed into the valley proper.
Dustin had promised hot water, pipes, drains, real showers. Everyone knew it would take some work and that it was probably a few years off, but they all believed it would happen eventually. For now the cold water bathing was what they had and no one complained.
Dinner was pork chops, potatoes with creamy pork gravy, peas and pumpkin pies. Sourdough biscuits. Fresh cream for the pies and butter for the bread.
“Okay,” Katie said. “Now I see why I am getting so big.”
“Face it dear,” Janna told her. “You have two trucks parked in that garage.”
Amy nearly spit out a mouthful of the milk she had just swallowed. Katie laughed so hard tears squirted from her eyes.
Lilly choked back her laughter. “That will make your butt look big,” she gasped; wheezing with laughter.
“Janna, you are so funny sometimes,” Katie managed at last.
Eventually the laughter died down and they all tucked into the food.
Conner
On The Road
They had found the other truck that they needed, gassed it up, checked it over and they were ready to go. Josh had shut the truck down for a moment when the wind bought the sound of gunfire from the south. They would never have heard it if the truck had been running: If the wind had not carried the sound: Or if either of those things had not happened to coincide with the other, Conner told himself later. If he had not heard it, what would have happened? He hated to think about it, but he had heard it and so had the o
thers, and there was nothing for it except to go and check it out. After all, Jessie's group had gone in that direction just a few hours before.
They had made good time coming back off the logging trail. Even so, Conner opinioned, it had been four hours. It should be nothing to do with Jessie's group. They should be long gone. But what if they weren’t? If it was them they had to help, even if it was not them they had to help. The decision was made in seconds. No words were exchanged. Conner turned to the others and they were waiting on him.
“Okay... Let's go see what it is... Leave that truck here... We'll come back for it,” he finished. A minute later both trucks were speeding down the highway in the direction of the gunfire.
The Nation
The afternoon turned into late afternoon, and then late afternoon turned into evening. Katie, Lilly and Cindy played music in the main meeting area. They were short Dustin who played drums, and Molly who played guitar and also sang, but they sounded fine to everyone.
Katie and Cindy played their guitars and sang while Lilly added her flute to the melody. Katie did a version of A Minor, a song she had liked in the old world. And then she and Cindy did a song, 'Peace In The Valley', followed by two other songs, 'You Say' and 'Stones Across the Water.' All three were songs Katie had written and the three had been working on.
Cindy's voice was high, sweet and clear, and it complimented Katie's voice which was low, throaty and somehow sinuous. People often told her that she had a good blues style, the way she sang, the way she phrased her voice and her guitar style, which was all finger picked and dealt in a lot of minors.
The music went on and pretty soon they were doing requests for this song or that song from the old world. Twice they were asked to play more of their own music as well.
When the sun began to slip down below the mountains, some left for their posts or evening chores, but others stayed. Finally, Katie and Cindy called it a night.
“My fingers hurt,” Katie admitted. “And this kid is trying to kick my guitar right off my lap.”
Earth's Survivors: box set Page 99