The party that went out the next morning was the largest we had ever sent. If it could drive, it went. Three of the gun trucks and fifteen security personnel went along to protect them. I spent the day relaxing with Kat in our room. I was still upset with myself over the way my plan had fallen apart.
I thought it was a solid plan, simple yet effective. All it had taken to ruin it was a few strands of old fence and some bushes. If we'd had some type of night vision we would have been fine but batteries were a problem. We could find night vision goggles. As a matter of fact, we had several pairs but they used a particular type of battery and that battery would never be made again. So we did things the old fashion way. We stumbled around in the dark.
Late that afternoon, I heard the vehicles from the foraging party coming back in and I knew I needed to go down and see how things went but Kat and I were talking, I mean really talking for the first time in a long time, and I didn't want that moment to end. I knew Jim would have things under control so I'd go down later and check with him. See how things went.
I considered bringing up our son Alex. Kat had been talking about her parents and I thought this might be a good time. Unfortunately, I never got the chance. Outside our room, coming down the hall I could hear voice and footsteps moving with purpose. I heard Dave yell ‘wait a minute,’ then more talking I couldn’t understand. Kat and I looked at each other.
"Oh no, what now?" I said.
She shrugged her shoulders and I stood up as our door burst open.
Dave and one of his security guys, an older guy named Bob Thompson, came busting into the room. I was thrown off because both of them had great big smiles on their faces. I couldn't figure out what kind of problem there could be that would have them smiling like a couple of idiots. I didn't have to wait long because they both started talking at exactly the same time. I held my hands up. "Whoa, whoa, slow down. One at a time,” I said.
Bob looked at Dave." Go ahead Bob,” Dave said. “You found it."
Bob turned back toward me. "T-walls. We found a bunch of T-walls."
I was confused and looked at Dave for an explanation. "T-walls?"
His smile getting impossibly big. "Yea, T-walls. Thousands of them.”
Chapter 7
New Pioneers
I stood in the middle of my room looking at these two guy's smiling like a couple of kids and I felt like the idiot. "What’re you guys talking about? What’s a T-wall?"
"It's a concrete barrier. The ones I found are twenty-foot tall. They are about two-foot thick and about five-foot wide. They are designed to be placed side beside and they interlock. The base is wider front to back and they stand by themselves, like an upside down T. They make a hell of a wall,” Bob explained.
"That's right," Dave cut in. We had them in Afghanistan. You put them around a base and nothing can get through. They'll stop a semi-truck. And these are tall, so the Stinkies can't climb them."
"Right." It was Bob's turn now. "I was in Iraq as a contractor a few years ago. We had them there too. With T-walls we could make this place a fortress. Nothing could penetrate them."
I started to see what they were so excited about but I could see problems too. Namely, how to get them here. "If they are as big as you say and concrete, they've got to be heavy," I said.
"Oh, hell yeah," Bob replied. "I'm sure they weigh seven, maybe eight tons each. You can only put two on a flatbed trailer."
"So how do we get them here and set them up?" I asked.
Dave chimed in. "They’re already sitting on flatbeds and we'd need a crane to lift them into place."
"Okay. So I ask again, how do we get them here and how do we set them up?"
"All we need is one tractor to haul the trailers. We'd have to make a bunch of trips but we could do it and the crane’s sitting there on I-40 with them." Bob was really excited now. "You should see it. A line of trucks covering all four lanes of I-40 as far as you can see. I bet there are thousands of T-walls in that convoy. Enough to go around this place a dozen times."
Now they had me thinking. Yes, we could harden this place but we would still be stuck having to go out scavenging everything we needed. If there were enough to go around this place a dozen times, there would be enough to go around someplace bigger and better once. This idea had possibilities. I looked at Dave. "You think we could do this?"
"Hell yeah! It would take some work but it's doable."
I walked over to the desk and sat down deep in thought. I needed math skills. How big an area could we enclose with a thousand T-walls? If there’s a thousand could we find a suitable place that would support us? There was some real possibility here. That thought about the pioneers kept coming back. I looked up at Dave. "Pass the word. I want a council meeting tonight at 7 p.m. and not just you and Jim. I want everybody we normally go to for answers present."
He nodded and said he’d get it done.
Dave and Bob turned to leave and I called Bob. "You did a great job and I want you at the meeting tonight. There may be questions about these things and how we're going to move them. You know more about them than anybody else."
That brought another smile to his lips. They both started to leave and as an afterthought, I added, "And Dave, find me somebody that knows math."
He looked confused. "Math?"
"Yeah, you know, add, subtract, the size of an acre of ground. That stuff. Math."
He still looked confused but said ‘okay’ and they both headed out the door. I continued to sit at the desk, thinking. Kat had been watching me. "What’re you thinking?" she eventually asked.
"I'm thinking we need a Real Estate agent."
I only had an hour before the council meeting and I wanted to make sure I had my idea developed. I grabbed a pen and my notebook and started making notes. How big an area would we need to support the approximately two hundred survivors we had? I would have to get the exact number from Jim at the meeting.
Could we, with a suitable location, grow and raise enough food to sustain us? What would make a location suitable? Were there enough T-walls to contain said location? What other support would we need to be able to live? I knew that farmers had lived this way in the past. Surviving off of the vegetables and animals they raised. I knew in the years before the Event there had still been communities of Amish and Mennonites who lived without the conveniences we had taken for granted. So it was possible, but could we do it? Did we have the knowledge among our group to make it work?
Those were just some of the questions that came to me. I knew I wouldn't be able to think of everything. I hoped that between all of us we could come up with the answers.
The hour before the meeting flew by and I arrived late to the big conference room upstairs we used as a planning room. As I walked in, I noticed several more people than the regulars at council meetings. All the chairs at the large rectangular table were taken and people lined the walls. I saw Dave at one end of the table and thought about asking him if he had anybody watching the fence. I decided against it and started into my presentation as soon as I reached the head end of the table.
I didn't bother to sit, I just started talking. "Okay, I wanted this special meeting because we have several things to go over. So I'm going to dispense with the way we normally do this and get right to the point. I've been looking at this for a while and the fact is we can't continue to survive here."
I watched the group as they considered what I said. A lot of hushed discussions were going on along the wall and the people at the table were looking back and forth at one another. For most of them, except Dave and a couple of others, this was the first they'd heard of doubts concerning our survival.
I knew I could always count on Jim and he didn't let me down when he asked, "So what’re you planning to do about it?"
I smiled; this was the opening I had hoped for. "I'm glad you asked, Jim. I received some information today that might make it possible for us to move locations and increase our chances of surviving. While the foragi
ng party was out today they located a bunch of T-walls. I've got Bob Thompson here to explain what a T-wall is and I'll let him talk in a minute.”
I took a couple of breaths before continuing. “It’s important to find a suitable place that can sustain us for the long term. We knew when we settled this place it was only temporary and it appears that our time here’s coming to an end. The foraging has gotten more difficult. We have to travel further to find the things we need and it’s becoming much more dangerous because of the Road Gangs. The Stinkies we can handle, we haven't had a problem with them that we couldn't handle in a long time. The events of this week with the Road Gang go to show we need a more defensible place. A place that can provide us most of what we need so we can limit the amount of foraging trips."
I paused to let that sink in and see if there were any questions. Immediately, hands went up around the room. Doc Groves sat at the other end of the table, nearest the door. I hadn't seen him enter. He was apparently later than I was but he had his hand up and I picked him first.
"Scott, if I'm hearing you right, what you'd like to do is move us lock, stock, and barrel to a new location." I nodded my head. He continued, "This new location I take it, would be somewhere that we could either move in or build to suit our needs and then you see us starting to grow our own food. Is that right?" Good old Doc. He had nailed my idea right from the start.
"That's right Doc." Immediately the room went crazy. Everybody started talking at once and I could hear comments both for and against my idea. I had to get control back or we wouldn't get anything accomplished. I held up my hands and called for quiet. Dave finally stood up and yelled for everyone to settle down and let me speak.
I thanked him and continued. "The pioneers did it a hundred and fifty years ago. People lived that way right up until the day of the Event. We have been able to overcome everything this new world of ours has thrown at us. We can do this too." The room quieted down and I could see a few people nodding their heads in agreement.
I took this as a good sign so I went on. "If, and that's a big if, if we can find a suitable location, preferably not too far from here, it would be easier if it were relatively close. Anyway, if we can find a suitable location with land we can use to grow crops and feed our animals. A location that we can secure with these T-walls Bob found today and we can move there and find a way to feed ourselves. Well, it's the chance we've been looking for. A chance to be free of fear, maybe even a chance at a more normal life. I know it will take a lot of work. Maybe more than we can handle but I think we have to try. Surviving here day to day is only prolonging the inevitable. If we stay here, eventually we will fall apart as a group. We will run out of supplies. The Road Gangs will pick away at us and we will all eventually die, and the Stinkies, let's not forget that they are here to stay. Whatever we do it will have to be done knowing they will present a constant danger.”
I paused to catch my breath. I hadn't talked this much in years and I was surprised that the room stayed silent. They were waiting for me to continue. I had their attention, now I just needed to drive home the necessity of my plan. "The fear you’re feeling right now listening to my idea’s the same fear that the western settlers felt when they were trying to decide if it was a good idea to move west. They knew they would face hardship and privation. Indian attacks and starvation. We have already been through most of that. We've faced attacks, we've faced starvation. This is a chance to be free of all that for the first time in five years. So, I'm asking, can we do this? Shouldn't we at least try?"
The room remained silent as everyone considered my comments. Toward the front of the room a big guy with a beard and a barrel chest stepped away from the wall. I knew his name was Lawrence Davenport but everyone called him L.B. He was a quiet guy, big and burly. He'd been a HAM radio operator among other things and was the one that had talked to some of the other survivor colonies scattered around the country. I didn't know him that well but what I did know, I liked. L.B. stepped up to the edge of the table and cleared his throat, preparing to make a comment. "It's muy bueno. Hell yes, we can do it."
At once, everyone started trying to talk again only this time I heard many more positive comments than negative. I let them discuss among themselves a few minutes then got them quieted down again. "All right. There’re a lot of issues to work out before we even begin to try something like this. I'd like to start by having Bob tell us about the T-walls."
Bob stood up and explained what T-walls were and how they were used. He described their resistance to car bombs and rocket fire and how they interconnected so nothing bigger than a mouse could squeeze past them. He told of finding the trucks on I-40 about fifteen miles east of us and that they were already pointed west. I wondered where they had been headed before they had stalled on the interstate. If there were indeed a thousand of them that would mean there were five hundred trucks parked out there. That was five hundred trips to haul all of the loads to our new home, where ever that happened to be. Not a small undertaking.
After Bob finished with his explanation, I asked about the math expert I'd ask Dave to bring. A lady named Meredith Glenn stood up and said she had been recruited for that job. I asked the question that had been one of the foremost in my mind since I started with this idea. "Thanks for coming Meredith. The reason I needed you is to answer how big an area can we enclose with a thousand T-walls?"
Meredith considered my question a moment then turned to Bob. "How wide are these things?" she asked. Bob spoke up, saying that they were about five-feet wide. Meredith turned to me. "Well, at five-feet wide, a thousand would permit a perimeter of approximately five thousand feet." She did some calculations on a pad she had with her, then added, "Depending on the shape, a square, we'll say. That's one-thousand-two-hundred-fifty feet a side. That gives a square footage of about a million and a half square feet. An acre is forty-three-thousand-five-hundred- sixty square feet. So it would give you an area of roughly thirty-six acres." With her explanation finished, she sat.
That was not as big an area as I'd hoped. "The question now is can thirty six acres support us?" I looked around the room hoping someone would have an opinion.
Jim raised his hand and I dreaded asking him to go ahead but his opinions were valuable. I indicated for him speak. "While thirty six acres is not a large farm, by properly managing the space we could make it work,” he answered.
I asked what he meant by properly manage the space. "Well, yards for example. Before the Event we had large yards around our homes that were mostly ornamental—for entertainment. We don't need that and wouldn't have the ability to maintain it for aesthetic purposes anyway. That space could be used for individual vegetable gardens. That would increase our productivity,” he said.
I nodded, thinking he had a good idea. He continued, “Larger spaces could be used for larger crops and to provide grazing for our animals. Some crops could be raised outside the enclosure and keep the animals inside so they are protected. The Stinkies don't care anything about crops so the only risk would be from Road Gangs vandalizing the fields. This could be minimized by keeping them close to the walls and under surveillance by our security folks. It's not ideal but it could be made to work." I wanted to kiss him. After all the shit he had given me about other things, he came through on this.
I smiled ear to ear. "All right. It's not perfect but it still has a chance to work. What we need to figure out now is what we’ll need to make it work. We have the T-walls and say a suitable location can be found. Do we have the knowledge to construct the barrier and a gate sufficient to protect us? Do we have the ability to raise crops and livestock capable of feeding us? What other resources will we need to establish this ... this colony and to make it flourish?"
I had given them the problem now it was up to them to figure out the solution. I continued, "What I'd like to do is break into working groups. Give each group a particular problem to solve and see what solutions you can come up with."
I looked at Dave first. "Dave,
what kind of security plan would we need to protect a place like this? How would the defenses need to be constructed? Things I can see that will be a problem are the gate, any water courses that may penetrate the wall, and observation both inside and outside the enclosure." He nodded, hurriedly scribbling notes in his notebook.
Next was Jim's turn. "Jim, how do we organize the community? How do we manage the resources so it’s equitable for everyone? There will have to be space for food production but we will also need space for security force training, medical facilities and school, church, and community operations. Like a community center."
I turned to Doc. "Doc, I want your best advice on a procedure for bringing new people into our community safely. I have a feeling if this is successful, more people will turn up wanting to be a part of it and I don't want to turn people away if it can be helped."
I looked around the room again. "I know I'm forgetting things and I'm sure there’s plenty of stuff I haven't even considered. Please if you have ideas, do not hesitate to put them forth. If you think you can contribute to a particular group, feel free to invite yourself. If there needs to be another group, please feel free to start it. Group leaders, you will have to coordinate with the other groups. I know there will be questions that cross from one area to another. You guys know what we’re looking for, don't wait to be told to check out something. Just do it. We will meet back in here tomorrow evening at the same time to discuss your solutions." And with that, I turned the meeting over to the working group leaders.
The meeting broke up as people started converging on the different group leaders and those groups headed out to quieter places to discuss their particular problem. Once again, I was alone with my thoughts. Is this the right direction? I could be setting us up to fail and if we fail can we survive it? This leader stuff is tough.
We Go On (THE DELL) Page 8