by Nathan Jones
“That's not exactly what I was getting at.” His dad shook his head, partly amused but mostly embarrassed. “I mean I heard what you two managed to do defending the town against the raiders, and it was pretty incredible. Only, um, you two have been married for a while now, right? Have you considered how that all works if you discover that Matt and Sam's kid can expect a Halsson playmate?”
Ah. “You mean, would she be out there defending the town if she gets pregnant?” Lewis asked. That really was was a pretty serious concern. “Yeah, the last thing either of us would ever want is to put our child in danger . . . it's hard enough knowing something might happen to each other. Luckily it's not a concern.”
His dad flinched, expression becoming grieved and sympathetic. “Don't tell me she can't-”
“What?” Lewis gave him an incredulous look. “No, Dad, not that at all. Holy cow. I mean I planned ahead there just like everything else. When we decide to have kids it'll be when the situation's a bit better for them. Until then we're taking the necessary precautions.”
“Well that's a relief,” his dad said with a sheepish grin. “And honestly I shouldn't be surprised.” He reddened a bit in embarrassment. “I should've realized you'd be prepared on that front, too. I guess I just didn't expect that, um . . .” he trailed off, obviously trying to think of a polite way to say it.
Lewis gave him a lopsided smile. “You didn't think your son the preparedness hermit would need prophylactics?” He laughed easily. “I'll be honest, half the reason I bought them was for trade, along with toilet paper and other things people might not've thought of when it came to their own preparedness efforts. Although I'm certainly not complaining about having them for personal use.”
His dad laughed too, although he still looked embarrassed. “Okay, okay! Since you've eased my mind let's go ahead and drop this awkward subject.” He clapped Lewis on the shoulder, looking over to where Jane and Mary were still sitting on the roof of the shipping container with their legs hanging over the edge, not talking but just seeming to enjoy each other's company. “I'm happy for you, son.”
Lewis also turned to look at his wife and sister, lowering his voice solemnly. “I wasn't sure I'd ever find someone, especially not after society collapsed. And especially not like her. I still have trouble believing my good fortune sometimes.”
His dad pulled him briefly into a one-armed hug. “It looks like you two make a great team. One that can handle anything the world throws at you. And once things settle down and it's safe enough you'll be great parents, too.”
“It's something to look forward to.” Lewis looked back down at the house they were pacing, getting back to business. “You know, these things are going to be a pain to build without a reliable source of materials. If we get our own logs we're going to have to cut down trees, limb them, drag them a reasonably long distance in large enough numbers to make walls, figure out what to do for a roof, and chink the inevitable cracks. And that's not even mentioning the challenge of figuring out how to keep the walls stable so they don't come tumbling down on our heads.”
“Right.” His dad wearily rubbed at his eyes. “You've got a bunch of books on portable hard drives, right? Got any on frontier-style construction?”
“Probably, but there's no hurry.” Lewis motioned over to the sack he'd left hanging from his bike's handlebars. “I've got a couple rabbits. How about we make some dinner?”
“A bit of fresh meat would be good,” his dad admitted with a wan smile. “Even just a few bites. We've had nothing but boiled wheat drizzled with vegetable oil and a bad mixture of spices for over a week.”
Lewis rested an arm on his shoulder to gently nudge him in the direction of the firepit between the shelter and the shipping container. It had been there for years, his first way of cooking food back when he'd begun work on the shelter, but recently they'd taken some time to improve it after things became crowded enough that the stove wasn't always available.
“We can tackle this later,” he said. “At any time, really. And if you want fresh meat and you're feeling up to it we can go hunting tomorrow. We've found some really reliable spots not too far from here.”
His dad let himself be led away, looking almost relieved to not have to face the challenge of building houses right then and there. He may have been in better shape than the last time Lewis had seen him, and his hair even seemed to have regained most of its blond coloring from the silver that had been taking it over the last several years, but after his ordeals since the Retaliation he looked exhausted.
He was due a rest, and now he could finally afford to take one. Lewis hadn't worked all this time on his shelter just for himself; his greatest hope had always been that it would be there for his family if they needed it. And now by some miracle they'd made it all the way from Norway and here they were.
Like he'd told Trev earlier, now that they had their families with them there was no reason to leave. No more slogs up to the hideout in the mountains, no more bicycle trips across the country, no more fretting over loved ones they couldn't reach on long winter nights.
Sure, depending on what the Gold Bloc did in the future the situation might not be permanent, but for the moment they had everything they needed right here.
* * * * *
Over the next two weeks the family settled in comfortably in the shipping container, able to get along in spite of the cramped conditions.
Although not quite as cramped as they could be, since Lewis and Jane began going out on almost daily overnight hunting trips. It was a thinly veiled excuse for the couple to give themselves the privacy and space they valued without making their loved ones feel like they'd pushed them out, but since the hunting trips usually brought back fresh meat and forageables nobody felt too strongly about bringing the issue up.
The couple's frequent absences also gave the family an opportunity to keep busy by taking on the duties they didn't have time for, including caring for the animals and the garden and cooking meals. Trev began volunteering for patrols again, since the need was still there even though things had been peaceful since the raiders were taken care of.
Mary volunteered for roadblock shifts, while Linda began watching the children in the group to free the adults for other duties. Jim refused to be babysat as part of that group, so they put him up in the observation post above the shelter most days to be a lookout, just in case. To prevent the almost-teenager from going insane from boredom, as well as to further his education, Trev loaned him his phone loaded with books and audio files from Lewis's collection to keep his brother occupied.
Whenever they could spare the time Lewis, Matt, Trev, Terry, and Alvin went up to the closest stands of trees in the nearby hills with Lucas and George to chop down trees using an assortment of saws and axes. After managing that exhausting feat they then had to limb the logs, then laboriously roll, carry, or drag them back to the shelter. That usually ended up being every few days, with whoever was available to go. In between those logging trips Lucas and George busied themselves constructing the first house.
It turned out to be far smaller than they'd planned, and looking even smaller because they dug the foundation a few feet belowground to reduce the number of logs they'd need for the walls. Instead of using nails or screws they held the walls up by burying three of the thinnest logs vertically on each side, arranged to hold a wall of stacked logs between two on either end and one in the middle on the other side, and finally using rope and cord to hold the crude system together. The end result was sturdy enough, and had the advantage of being very quick to build.
For the roof they simply pulled a tarp tight over a peaked framework and tacked it to the walls. It was watertight and provided shade, which were the main necessities, although in even the slightest breeze it tended to make a lot of noise flapping against the framework. Definitely a temporary solution, since over time sunlight would ruin the tarp, and before then the wind would fray it wherever it scraped or pulled and create holes and tears. Not to ment
ion that once the weather started to turn cold again the thin material would provide almost no insulation and the house would be nearly as cold as outside.
Still, it was sturdy enough and quick to build, especially since for the floor and the dirt portion of the walls they simply placed another tarp, with the edges tucked up and around the first of the stacked logs and the corners weighted down with rocks. Within eight days the first house was ready to be moved into.
There was a serious discussion about who the first structure should go to. Everyone agreed that that should be the family that needed it most, so the main question was which family that was. Or not exactly a family, in the case of Jane's group of women and children.
Matt and Sam and Lewis and Jane immediately excused themselves from the running. Ed and Mona Larson similarly turned it down, as did Tom and Alvin Harding, as being more space than they needed. Jane's group admitted that the house was probably too small for all of them, and anyway they felt more comfortable staying together in the shelter. Although they certainly wouldn't mind it being less crowded in there and having more chances for privacy.
That left the Smiths, the Lynns, or Lucas and Eva and Mary as candidates. Somewhat confusingly, none of the families were arguing for themselves to be given it, although they weren't flat out refusing the opportunity either.
With five people the Smiths could arguably get the most benefit out of the house. But in spite of that everyone agreed in the end that the Lynns should have it. The Smiths and Halssons all insisted they were newcomers and shouldn't be first in line, not to mention that with everything Terry and April had contributed to the town, working long hours in the clinic with little compensation, they'd earned a house for them and their boys. It would also ease crowding in the shelter.
With things decided, the Lynn family wasted no time moving out to the new house.
Before construction could begin on a second house Lewis argued that they should prioritize other projects first. The most urgent of those was a proper latrine, since the modest facilities in the shelter were woefully inadequate for so many people and the hastily set up outhouse over on the other side of the hill hadn't been dug deep enough. Another benefit to having a latrine was that they could then begin using the shelter's bathroom primarily for the shower.
Everyone who'd been helping with construction showed a surprising amount of enthusiasm for the latrine project, probably because it involved digging as a first step and they were all sick of chopping trees and hauling logs long distances. Even if digging was equally backbreaking at least it provided a change of pace, and they didn't have to go anywhere to do it.
Aside from town events like movie nights there weren't many breaks from the work that needed to be done. But one thing they could look forward to on most days was the news Matt and Chauncey fed them about Gold Bloc movements, which was somewhat good but mostly bad.
The slight good news was that the invaders had prioritized taking the territory in the center of the country, between the Chinese and Russian forces to the northeast and northwest, with the goal of meeting up in the center to go from there. It meant they were mostly ignoring the states farther south and closer to the coasts, so the remaining US citizens there had time to flee or even prepare to mount some sort of defense.
Unfortunately, for Aspen Hill it was very bad news, because it meant the town was smack dab between two gigantic armies that were pushing hard to meet up practically on top of them. And while the gains in territory the Russians to the east and Chinese to the west were making seemed comparatively slow, since the blockheads were taking their time fully consolidating an area before moving on, they were also ploddingly relentless. It was only a matter of time before they got to Utah.
Matt and Chauncey also had plenty of news about the remnants of the military who were setting up to hold the line in the Rockies. Word came fairly regularly about the movements of General Erikson in Denver and General Lassiter in Salt Lake City, often from soldiers speaking on behalf of the men themselves to anyone they could contact on the radio.
The military had been reaching out to towns, but mostly ones east of the Rockies in Colorado, around Denver, or west of the Rockies in Utah, around Provo and Salt Lake City. The towns in Sanpete County west of the Manti-La Sal mountains also reported being visited by convoys and having regular radio communication with Lassiter's officers, but so far the General hadn't found the time to make his way down to Carbon County. Chauncey admitted that he'd spoken briefly to an officer over the radio, but the man had simply advised him to wait until they could get to Aspen Hill.
But aside from worries about the outside world things were looking better by the day. Conditions at the shelter were steadily improving, with various projects to make things less crowded and more livable. The crops were growing well in the gardens, the livestock they were caring for were healthy and promised future prosperity, and the hunting and foraging were enough to keep them fed and their diet varied without forcing them to use too much of the wheat purchased in Newtown.
For the most part everyone was healthy and in good spirits. There were a few issues with some people not doing work they'd committed to do, or being too lazy and uninventive to find a way to contribute at all, but although there were the inevitable squabbles nobody had proven unhelpful and argumentative enough to cause serious issues.
Anyone who did have copious amounts of spare time was encouraged to head to town to see if there were ways they could help, and between the reconstruction and other projects there always were.
Fifteen days after the family reached Aspen Hill, content that everyone was settled in and had established a routine, Lewis finally got everything ready to do a task that'd been occupying his thoughts since they went after the sheep.
Going after the bees.
Chapter Nine
Abuzz
Jane had been very squeamish about the idea of capturing a queen to start a hive of their own every time Lewis brought it up, and for his part he was intimidated by the thought of tackling the challenge alone unless there just wasn't anyone else who wanted to help.
He'd been pretty confident he could find someone willing to help him, at the prospect of getting some honey for their trouble. But he preferred to keep it in the family, or at least the families living at the shelter. After their family got back he had a new opportunity to broach the subject, and as he'd hoped Trev was immediately on board with the idea.
His cousin was eager to go after a new source of food, especially a sustainable one, that he could take some pride of ownership in. And Lewis didn't blame him; Trev had been working diligently in the gardens, about the only venture he still had some stake in, but it obviously pained him that he didn't have anything to call his own like the animals the others had purchased, captured, or earned.
With that in mind Lewis was perfectly happy to let him take the lead in honey production if he wanted. If they managed to start their own beehive it would benefit from having someone's undivided attention, and Lewis already had enough on his plate.
Aunt Clair was interested in pitching in too, surprisingly. She'd known some local beekeepers around Greenbush, who she'd kept in touch with after initially approaching them with questions about pollination for her garden. She'd even toyed with the idea of raising her own bees, before deciding that the garden itself was enough work, especially when she could buy or trade fresh produce for raw honey from her friends.
Not only did his aunt want them to go after the honey and even try to capture a swarm if they could, she even offered to come along and help.
Decided, the three of them began planning their trip.
Capturing the queen from the large, well established hive he and Jane had seen in the tree probably wasn't going to happen, since it would be too disruptive to the bees. The best they could hope for there would be to collect the honey stores in a sustainable way and then leave it alone.
Luckily it was spring, and about the right time of year when new swarms split off
to form their own colonies. That was better for multiple reasons: it would be less disruptive since the swarm was already positioned to move, the swarm would get up and running in the new beehive more quickly, they'd have a much easier time capturing and moving it, and it would have a better chance of surviving the transition. With some luck and a bit of searching they might be able to find a new swarm hanging on a tree branch, which would be the easiest time to capture it.
They took the necessary precautions before setting out, doing as much research as possible and making the required preparations in the fourteen days before the planned trip up into the mountains.
First and foremost was scrounging up clothing to cover as much of their exposed skin as possible, including ties around the cuffs and collars to prevent the small insects from climbing in. For capturing the swarm if they did their jobs correctly the covering shouldn't even be necessary, but for harvesting the honey they fully anticipated they might get stung at least a few times even with some precautions. As far as they knew none of them were allergic, so that shouldn't be more than a minor discomfort.
For the main hive, which they planned to harvest honey from, they brought a metal pail they could fill with green leaves to produce smoke and calm the bees. They also brought a sturdy watertight sack to put the honeycombs in.
For the swarm they brought a spray bottle filled with sugar water so they could mist the wings of the clump of bees, making them too heavy to easily fly when they shook or scraped the swarm loose into the small wooden container Lewis and Trev had made. The container was dark and comfortably enclosed, with a mesh screen for a lid, and they hoped it would safely carry the swarm back with them.
It may have been a bit optimistic but they also spent some time building a box beehive, complete with niches for screens, to house the swarm once they got back with it. Trev volunteered to find a secluded, out of the way place a reasonable distance from the shelter where they could put it, using the criteria Lewis and his mom suggested, and once they'd come out to approve the location he set up the box there.