“Yeah,” Alejandro said. “They don’t want tons of people moving to small towns that don’t have the infrastructure to keep them there. They are supposed to go to the tent cities...if they don’t all kill each other before they can get out,” he paused for a moment. “Is your mom awake yet? The doctor said to start the antibiotics as soon as we can.”
“Not yet. I was in there watching over her until I heard you guys get back,” Lea said. She turned to Will, “Your mom was making breakfast. It might be ready by now.”
They all made their way inside and Will and Alejandro leaned the rifles they brought with them to town against the wall near the front door. Alejandro went straight to the spare bedroom he and Juana were using. She was stirring and he anticipated she would be waking up any moment now. He took the bottle of pain medication from on top of the dresser and removed a pill. He pulled the new bottle of antibiotics out of his pocket and removed a pill and placed both of them next to her glass of water on the nightstand. He stood over her for a moment considering waking her and then decided against it.
Alejandro was carefully and quietly shutting the door as Lea approached from down the hall. He relayed in whispers that he wanted Juana to continue sleeping as long as she could. Lea let him know that food was already set aside for her for whenever she woke up and that breakfast was ready for the rest of them to eat.
*****
The coming days brought much improvement for Juana’s recovery. The redness receded and she no longer had a fever. Her spirits were on the rise. The exhaustion no longer dominated her day, however, the group still wanted her to take it easy.
Alejandro and Will were contemplating what work could be done around the property to make it safer. They didn’t anticipate much traffic around their location, however, they still wanted to take some precautions. They knew it would be difficult to keep a constant watch with only five people and they kept Juana out of their plans for the time being bringing their number of able bodies down to four.
“Do you think we need to keep watch day and night?” Alejandro asked Will and Beth. “We’ll be working on things around here and will be starting a garden soon enough. We’ll be outside a lot. If anyone is on watch at night then they’ll be sleeping for a portion of the day. That’s less work to be done gardening or hunting for food.”
Alejandro, Lea, Will, and Beth stood outside the house. Juana had settled down on the couch in the living room for a nap. They went out to keep the house quiet for her. They were enjoying the sunny day with milder temperatures. The week before, when life as everyone knew it changed, the weather had been bitter cold. They were happy with the reprieve, however temporary.
“We might not need to keep watch all the time,” Will answered. “I just worry about all the looting we see on the news. Maybe it’s my imagination getting the best of me. I mean, I know the house can’t be seen from the road, but I just wonder if that group that you ran into at the grocery store is sticking around this area. I hope they moved on. What if there’s more like them from Fresno that come up here to loot?”
“The news said there’s a CMA camp accepting people in the Fresno area,” Lea chimed in. “Looters might have less opposition in Fresno if a lot of those people move to the camp. They might have free reign of thousands of homes in Fresno. Or, hopefully, the would-be looters go to the camp and have no reason to go out and do that. Sorry, is that wrong to say? Wanting them to stay in Fresno and loot there. I don’t really want them to loot there. I just don’t want them here.”
Beth laughed. “We know what you mean, honey. I think we are all in agreement on that.”
“Those are all good points, Lea,” Will said. “I hope having a camp located there helps us out here. We’ll just have to keep our eyes open. Luckily the house is set back from the road. There is quite a bit of work we should get done, especially if we are going to get a big garden going. I hope Mary is correct that the grocery store should be kept stocked. It emptied so quickly last week that I don’t want to bank on them. We’ll have to make a run to the store in the next couple of days to see if they have anything yet.”
“What kinds of things need to get done?” Lea asked.
“For starters,” Will said, “I want to put a roadblock up on the end of the drive. I think people are less likely to come up here to attempt to steal anything if they have to haul it all the way down the drive. I’ve read signs can be a big deterrent in situations like this.”
“Signs?” the other three asked in unison. They all laughed at doing so.
“Yeah, signs that say, ‘Trespassers will be shot on sight’ and ‘Beware of dog’ or ‘Beware of the angry bull’. I’ve read in some prepper blogs that when people see signs like those, they’d rather not deal with a fight. They are looking to take the easy route and not have any opposition.”
Alejandro laughed. “I like it. The only problem would be if they are looking for a fresh cut of beef.”
Will smiled at the joke. “Good point. If things get bad enough then we’ll take down that sign.”
“What else do you think we need to do?” Beth asked.
“Oh,” Will began and paused. He scratched his head and looked past them in thought, “I’d like to check all the fencing along the road. We could also start breaking up the ground where we want the garden to go. There’s a good chance we’ll have some larger rocks to get out of the way.”
“We get the most precipitation in the fall, winter, and spring,” Alejandro said. “We might want to try to find a way to collect as much of it as possible. Maybe use tarps funneling to barrels? The summer months can get pretty dry and we’ll want to water the garden during those hot dry months.”
“Good idea. I didn’t think of that,” Will said. “We could tap into the downspouts from the gutters as well. We might be able to build something that directs the water straight to storage right at the garden. That way we don’t have to collect and carry a lot of large barrels.”
“Looks like we have our work cut out for us,” Beth said with a chuckle. “What should we start with? Blocking the driveway?”
“That’s as good as any,” Will said.
“We still want to be able to get out,” Beth said. “We should probably build a gate.”
“We could do a gate,” Will said. “I think between my stock of supplies and what we have around here, we shouldn’t need to go into town to buy anything.”
“Do you think we should be worried about anyone trying to ram through it?” Lea asked.
“That’s something to keep in mind while we build it,” Will answered. “Maybe we’ll use some whole logs in the construction so no one will want to attempt to ram it,” he said laughing. “In all seriousness, I bet we could make a spike strip as well. Lay it right on the inside of the gate and keep it camouflaged with branches or dirt or something.”
Will looked around at the others, widening his eyes to see if they liked his idea at all. Alejandro was nodding his head in approval. He put his hand up to his chin and looked down as if he was thinking about the idea or planning how to begin the project. Will looked to Lea and his mother.
“What’s a spike strip?” Lea asked.
“I was wondering the same thing,” Beth said.
“Oh sorry,” Will said, “I suppose I should explain it a little better. It’s those strips that the police put across a road to stop a car. They are spikes of sharp metal that will pop all the tires. They have some that are just a slightly raised bump where the spikes stay down so others cars can keep using that route. When the car they want to stop comes up, they put the spikes up.”
“Oh right. I know what you are talking about now.” Lea said.
“Do you think you can make it so we can still drive over the spot?” Beth asked.
“I’m pretty sure I can. We’ll have to put all the spikes on a bar that we’ll attach a lever to one end. We’ll lay them flat when we want to drive over. They’ll have to be set into the ground a little bit so when we lay the spikes fla
t, they’ll be below ground so we don’t accidentally pop tires driving back onto the driveway towards the house. Going that way will be driving towards the spikes. I think our biggest challenge building it will be finding enough pieces of metal to turn into spikes.”
“Will,” Alejandro cut in and then paused for a moment, “do you think a spike strip will stop someone? Or a group? To be honest, I think a spike strip will only slow someone down. I bet it’s groups out there stealing from people, not just a single person. If a group comes in and loses tires on one vehicle then it’s only going to slow them down. They’ll have more vehicles and people. I think we need something more than spikes.”
“Well, what do you think we should do?” Will asked. “A moat?” He laughed at his own suggestion.
“Yes!” Alejandro answered excitedly. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking. We dig out a section of that lower drive.” He pointed down the driveway. “Then we build a drawbridge. We’ll lower it and then open the gate to get out.”
“Guys,” Beth said, “can’t someone just walk around the spike strip and lower it or around a hole in the driveway and lower our bridge?”
“I guess that’s possible,” Alejandro said. “The point is for it to be a deterrent.”
“I’d just hate for us to do all this work when it might not be needed,” Beth said. “I think a chained and locked gate will do the trick. If we see a lot of people coming through this area then maybe we’ll reconsider. You can’t even tell there’s a house up here from the road. I also think if someone gets in through the gate and doesn’t realize there’s a hole in the driveway and their car drops in, we won’t have any way to get it out and out of our way. We could have trouble getting out if we need to.”
“We’ll just make it deep enough for the car to go completely in the hole,” Alejandro said with a big smile on his face. “We should at least do this gate first,” his smile faded as his tone turned more serious. “No question in my mind that the gate should be done before anything else. Since we know there is looting, I think security becomes a top priority.”
Will wondered to himself if Alejandro’s heightened desire for security was a result of Juana being attacked. He didn’t mind beefing up the security on the property. He didn’t want any more trouble for them than they had already dealt with. It was just a thought in the back of his mind.
“I’ll go see what materials we have to work with,” Will said. “I know I have some wood already. However, if we are building it to prevent someone’s truck blasting through it then I’m sure we’ll want to cut down a few good sized trees. Something this heavy will probably need a wheel to help it move and to support the weight. I think I have something that will work. I’m hoping we won’t have to go to the hardware store for anything. I’m guessing there is a good chance they might be low on supplies as well. You guys should head down there and check out the fencing along the road. Might as well make sure we don’t need to do anything while we are going to be down there working.”
Lea and Alejandro went in to check on Juana and let her know they’d be down by the road for a little while working. She was awake from her nap and she told them that she didn’t need anything from them and that she was now perfectly capable of managing most things on her own. Lea didn’t like her mother’s stubbornness when it came to her recovery. Lea had become too stressed and too overwhelmed with her mother being out of commission for so long and for such a reason. She couldn’t think of any time in her life that her mother had to deal with something like this.
They filled up several bottles they found in the kitchen with water and rejoined Beth who was waiting on the porch. They began the walk down the drive. The driveway went downhill through the trees before reaching the road. This made Alejandro grunt in dissatisfaction. He was realizing the climb he would be making back up the hill once they were done. He wished he had kept himself in better shape.
It didn’t take them long to walk the fence line along the road. They found a few spots that needed repair. Fencing had either come loose from the wood or a log was rotted to the point of near collapse. Will arrived in his Jeep, the back open to accommodate a load of wood he gathered from the shed.
“How’s the fence? Will asked as he got out of the Jeep.
Lea explained the few repairs needed on the fence. Will wasn’t too surprised. He had always tried to keep up with repairs on the property. He usually kept himself busy working for other people so he could make some money. He was pleased there wasn’t much to do for that project.
“I don’t think we need to take a trip to the store. I found a lot of heavy duty hardware in the shed. There’s obviously plenty of wood,” he motioned a thumb behind himself to the Jeep. “Of course, we still want some heavy duty logs that we’ll need to cut down. I was thinking that the gate should open outwards. We’ll have a log the gate will lock to and butted up next to that, set inside slightly, we’ll post another log that will be a block. That way the gate won’t open inwards.” He was using his fingers to demonstrate what he was picturing.
“Yeah, that way it makes it even harder to ram open,” Lea said with a smile.
“Mom, do you and Lea want to design the gate?” Will asked. “I brought down some paper and pencils. If you two do that then Alejandro,” he paused, “...I mean Al,” he said sarcastically as he looked over to Alejandro. “he and I can get started on bringing down a few trees.”
Alejandro was shaking his head and chuckling. “See, I knew you’d get it down eventually. I hope we have a chainsaw and not one of those two-man blades to get these trees.”
“Yes,” Will said. “Oh man, I think we’d break our backs trying to work one of those big blades. I’m pretty sure there’s one of those collecting dust in the far reaches of the shed. I’ve never used it, but I bet it’s grueling work.”
“That’s fine with me,” Beth finally answered. “Lea and I will draw out a design for the gate. We’ll figure out final dimensions once the posts are set. I don’t want you taking any of the trees around the driveway. Go over that way,” she pointed off away from the driveway, “if you can get your Jeep over there. Are you going to drag the logs back over using your Jeep?”
“That would probably be the easiest way to get them back over here,” Will said. “Hey, what do you think about getting the trees from across the road? That’s all power line easement and they cut down trees every year anyway to make sure they don’t get close to the lines. It’s a lot closer too.”
“That’s fine with me. I don’t think anyone will mind,” Beth said.
They began the project right away. Will and Alejandro took the wood, tools, and other supplies out of the Jeep and then drove it across the street and began scoping out which trees they wanted to select, bringing the chainsaw along. Beth and Lea drew out a few designs based on Will’s description. They brought the designs across the street for them all to choose one. After they all finally agreed on one, Lea took the post hole digger from the Jeep and began the back-breaking task of digging out the location the trunks were going to be placed. Beth started measuring out and marking the pieces of wood Will had brought.
Beth took notice that no vehicles had come down the road. It wasn’t common for many to come by, but it reminded her of the others that lived further down the road away from town. All but one of the houses would be empty. There were four other properties with homes on them. Three were summer cabins used by families that lived the rest of the year in San Francisco and Los Angeles and would most likely still be empty this time of year. The other full-timer was a retired farmer, Lewis, that had been a good friend of her husbands. Lewis had stayed a good friend of Beth and Will over the years. He had a large farm in central California for many years before retiring and moving up the road from them. He had lost his wife to cancer soon after the move. He had a surprisingly positive attitude for being alone. He kept most of his property up by his house empty of trees and full of crops. The excess he didn’t use himself or give away to a charity thr
ough his church, he’d sell at a farmer’s market down in Fresno. Beth began to feel guilty they hadn’t checked in on him. She decided they should check on him soon and walked across the street to talk to Will.
“Will,” Beth said, “I think we should check in on Lewis today or tomorrow.”
“Ohhh,” Will said as his eyes widened and he shook his head. “I forgot about him. I feel bad.”
“Me too,” Beth said with a frown. “I’ve always hated that he’s alone up here. Do you think we should see if he wants to join us here? He’d be a really good resource for our garden. He’s got a lot of knowledge about the best things to grow and how to get good quality food out of them. He’s always talking about that kind of stuff.”
“I doubt he’ll want to leave that place,” Will said. “His wife is buried there. He’s far away from everything too. He’s the last place before the four-wheel drive trail begins. He’s close enough to us that we can check on him often. We can always ask if he wants to join us, but I highly doubt he will.”
“I know,” Beth said with a sigh, “I still want the offer on the table.”
“How about I go check on him in the morning?” Will asked. “Before we get back to working on this gate.”
“I’ll go with you,” Beth said. “It’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen him.”
Chapter Seventeen
April 2037
Marcus followed Anthony and Kenneth into a make-shift room within a large, white, canvas tent. It was a much larger tent than the others surrounding it that sat centrally in a CMA operations camp. The room was made of glass partitioned walls to make a barrier for sound. It wasn’t sound proof, but it did the job to keep the contents of the meetings held there only amongst the people that were invited. The rest of the tent had row after row of cubicles surrounding the central conference room. Administrative workers filled this tent. They supported the regional higher-ups that were now running this part of the country. There were no refugees at this camp. This was a CMA employee camp. Just as they had been prepped for, the majority of WWNL’s operations were now based at this camp as well.
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