“Watch your mouth as you do it,” Nellie warned. “I have two bars of lye soap if you don’t.”
Very cautiously, Gerald started to explain to the five-year-old using tactful words and not describing the actual actions as the others came back in, not even smiling, glad they weren’t in trouble. “Well, little one, a hooker is a lady who…um…” He paused, wiping sweat from his brow, then a thought struck him. “A hooker is a lady who stands around, and when a guy wants a kiss from a stranger, he gives her lots of money, and she kisses him,” Gerald offered. As Gerald slowly explained, Michelle, Nellie, and Ashley smiled at his uneasiness. When he finished, Gerald prayed Olivia didn’t ask questions.
Making a disgusted face, Brittany said, “That’s nasty. Why would you pay a girl for kisses, Uncle Gerald?”
Relieved he wouldn’t have to explain further, Gerald admitted, “I’m stupid.”
Picking up her coffee cup, Nellie grinned. “I’m not going to argue. I trust that will be the last time you don’t watch your mouth with little ones around?”
Gerald nodded. “That is a guarantee,” he told her. “I think I would rather be shot at than have to do that again.”
Everyone laughed as they finished breakfast. Nellie kept the little girls and babies with her as the others left to get ready to start the day. Grabbing radios, Michelle, Nancy, Ashley, and Gavin loaded up gear on one of the UTVs and headed out.
Nelson, Gerald, and Matt got on another UTV, loaded it, and headed to the back of the five-foot cyclone fence around the yard. “Yard” was just a loose term for the area enclosed by the fence around the house and cabins. The yard was almost sixteen acres with a garden on the west side that was five acres. All three cabins had containers buried behind them with the back of the buried containers less than a foot from the fence.
Nelson stopped the UTV by the west back corner as everyone climbed out. Grabbing a tape measure, Gerald measured out twenty feet from the fence and Nelson drove a wooden stake at the spot. Measuring ten feet further back, Gerald held the tape in place as Nelson drove in another stake.
Letting the tape reel in, Gerald stood up. “Sorry about the hooker thing,” he said, looking at Nelson.
“Don’t worry about it,” Nelson said, walking over to the UTV and grabbing more stakes.
Moving down to the next spot, Gerald measured out from the fence as Nelson walked over, “You think Michelle is going to shank me?” he asked.
Putting the tip of the stake at the spot Gerald marked, Nelson said, “No,” and struck the stake. “Two months ago, Michelle got mad watching the news on TV and yelled out, ‘Motherfucker.’ The little princess heard that and wanted to know what that meant.”
“Oh, thank God I’m not the only one that did it,” Gerald sighed, measuring out from the stake.
“Hardly,” Nelson said, grabbing a stake. “I’ve had to explain several words to Gavin when I drove the family to Yellowstone. Not to mention why I kept holding up my hand, extending my middle finger.”
Tying a string to the first stake, Matt laughed as he walked over, running the string to the next stake and marking off the area. “You never learn to curse properly until you drive,” Matt stated as they moved down.
As they continued down the back fence, a low rumble crept up as Bernard drove the excavator over. Stopping inside the area they had marked off, Bernard sunk the big bucket and dug out a chunk of dirt. When the group reached the east corner, Bernard was halfway to them with an eight-foot-wide, nine-foot-deep trench stretched out next to the excavator.
Nelson looked over at the house to see Nellie sitting on the deck with the kids watching Bernard dig the ditch. The girls jumped up and down, cheering with each bucket of dirt. “Guess driving stakes and running string along the ground isn’t exciting,” Matt said, walking over beside him.
The three started working faster, trying to keep ahead of Bernard. When they reached the starting point, Bernard was turning the last corner. Gathering their equipment, the three climbed back in the UTV and headed for the barn. “Nelson, are you going to use that trailer you pulled here?” Gerald asked, stopping by the barn.
“No,” Nelson said, getting out.
“So you don’t mind if we use it?” Gerald asked as Matt hooked up a small trailer to the UTV.
Not understanding, Nelson shook his head. “Gerald, I don’t care what you do with it,” Nelson said. “I won’t be going to work again, and I don’t think that kind of situation will ever present itself again.”
Pulling the UTV over to one of the containers that Gerald had delivered, the three started unloading the paneling and boards on the trailer. “I want to hook it up to that old truck Bernard has,” Gerald said, pointing beside the barn at a 1966 Chevy pickup. The truck had seen much better days, and Bernard used it so he didn’t scratch up his new truck.
Before Nelson could answer, Matt interrupted. “What for?”
“I want to get some of those round bales Bernard’s not going to use, load them on the trailer, then drive the truck to a nice spot on the driveway. Then, using the tractor, turn the truck and trailer on its side like blocking the road off,” Gerald explained.
“Like someone wrecked instead of blocking the road off?” Nelson asked, grinning. “That’s a good one.”
Looking down at the little trailer behind the UTV, Matt noticed the trailer sitting real low. “Don’t think this tiny trailer can handle more,” he told them. “How will we drive out of here if we block the road off?”
“We will mostly be on UTVs, but if we need to, we can use the old logging trail in the very back corner. It leads to the Carrington’s driveway,” Gerald answered, carrying a ladder over.
“It’s covered in trees,” Matt protested.
Gerald shook his head. “It’s covered in shrubs that can be driven through,” he corrected, climbing in the UTV.
Nelson climbed in beside him as Matt jumped on the trailer, standing on top of the wood. “That’s not even a trail and would take the paint off my truck,” Matt called out as Gerald pulled away.
“Run and scratch your truck or die with a pretty one,” Gerald laughed out.
That hit Matt hard. “That is a good point,” he said as Gerald slowed beside the northeast corner of the moat. The berm across from them was very steep. Even if a person jumped across the moat, they weren’t landing on the berm with its seventy-degree slant and eight-foot height. It would take someone on hands and knees to climb up it on this side though the side facing the house was a gentle ramp.
Grabbing the ladder, Gerald lowered it into the moat and climbed down. Nelson looked at the vertical walls of the moat. “We need to shore up the sides,” he told Gerald. “One good rain, and we could lose three feet of depth.”
“I was planning to do that later, like winter or spring,” Gerald replied, looking up.
As Matt carried over the first of the lumber, Nelson shook his head. “We are getting to the end of summer. Fall can have some nice thunderstorms. It needs to be done soon, or we will have to re-dig the moat.”
“Need more lumber,” Gerald said, taking the paneling Matt passed down.
“We have Bernard’s sawmill,” Nelson told him, grabbing some lumber. “I really don’t want to crawl down there after we put those caltrops and razor wire in there.”
Not in the mood and knowing Nelson was right, Gerald replied, “Fine, we will start cutting down trees around us that will provide cover for an attacker.”
Hearing the excavator shut down, they looked up and saw Bernard had finished. Turning and looking at Nelson, Matt said, “You two keep coming up with more and we will be working on defenses for the next few years.”
“You have anything else to do?” Nelson asked, passing his stack to Gerald.
“Not really,” Matt said, shrugging. “I just want to find out what’s going on.”
“So do I,” Nelson replied as Matt passed down his stack.
“Gerald, what did you try to get a hooker to wear?” Matt ask
ed, breaking into a chuckle.
As Nelson walked over, he could see Gerald’s cheeks turning red. “A Leia slave costume,” he mumbled.
“Oh man, you’re a Star Wars geek like Nelson?” Matt asked.
“Yep,” Gerald replied, taking a stack from Nelson.
Matt laughed. “I’m a trekkie,” he announced. “Ashley died when I asked her dress up like Lori.”
Hearing that, Nelson stopped. “Did she?” he asked.
“It took her a few years after going to the conventions,” Matt acknowledged with a grin.
Bernard walked over, joining them. “You three talk too much,” he said, grabbing a stack of lumber.
Nelson slid down the ladder and joined Gerald. “Just discussing the moat,” he said as Gerald took a stack of lumber.
It wasn’t long until the trailer was unloaded, and Matt and Bernard left to refill it. Nelson and Gerald started putting the one-by-fours across the top of the moat. They tried spacing them four feet apart but immediately saw that wasn’t going to work. The paneling they laid across it bowed under its own weight, and they still had to sprinkle some dirt on it.
They took the paneling down, moved the boards closer, and put the paneling up. “I don’t have enough boards to do it this way,” Gerald said, looking up at the quarter-inch paneling over them.
“We can get one board, like a two-by-four, to brace from the ground to the center of each panel,” Nelson said. “It won’t be nailed, and if someone steps on the covering, they will still fall through, but we have to give it more support before we put some dirt on the covering.”
Gerald agreed with a nod. “Yeah, but now we need to get those trees cut down a lot sooner.”
The four continued until noon, when Nellie called over the radio that lunch was ready. Nelson and Gerald climbed out of the moat to find Matt and Bernard waiting in the UTV. They climbed in the small bed on the back as Matt drove around to the front of the house since the driveway was now the only way in.
Nelson turned and saw another UTV coming down the road with Zeus and Hera running beside it. “I think your dogs could pull that UTV,” Gerald said beside him. “I’m going to let Duke out of the cabin and wander around the yard.”
“They pulled the kids around the yard in a wagon,” Nelson said, laughing.
Matt pulled around the back, and everyone got out, grabbing rifles as Michelle pulled up beside them. Gavin jumped out the back, carrying his shotgun. “You need to get that boy a rifle,” Gerald said as he watched the others get out carrying ARs.
“I have one AR with a ten-and-a-half-inch barrel I’ll get for him,” Nelson said, walking over to a smiling Gavin.
“I really want everyone here to have a suppressed weapon,” Gerald announced. The group stopped and looked at him. “Think about it; if we’re all suppressed and we hear a gunshot, we know its bad guys.”
“We can do that tonight after supper,” Nelson said, liking that train of thought.
“I have a few extra,” Gerald said as the girls ran out the back door.
Nelson shook his head. “I have more than enough,” he said, wrapping his arm around Gavin.
Michelle walked over and stopped in front of Nelson. “I want that titanium suppressor,” she told him. “This damn thing already weighs a ton with all the extras on it,” she said, pointing at the AR across her chest.
“Take some off,” Nelson offered.
“Ah no,” Michelle said. “I like the extras, but I want to cut down on the weight if I can. That way, I don’t have to cut down on ammo.”
Letting his rifle hang down beside him, Nelson reached over, pulling Michelle into a hug. “Then I’ll put it on, hot stuff.”
“Matt and I only have one suppresser,” Ashley said, walking over to Matt.
“Baby, I got another one from that stuff I took from those agents,” Matt reminded her.
“Is it lighter?” Ashley asked, hopeful.
“Ashley,” Nelson said, turning toward her. “I have several titanium suppressors. I’ll put one on your rifle.” Ashley smiled as they went in to eat.
“How many cameras did you get up?” Nelson asked as everyone put rifles up.
“Six,” Michelle answered. “But we still need to run the cable out to them.”
Nelson walked over to the table and looked at Nancy, “I thought we were only putting six cameras inside the berm looking out. We change our mind?” he asked, not liking the change of plans.
“No, they will still go in,” Nancy said, sitting down. “We will have twelve outside covering areas Gerald said were avenues of advance and one watching the dam we are putting in.”
After the prayer, they started passing around food. “All the cameras outside are hardwired?” Nelson asked.
Nancy nodded. “Yeah, it’s too easy to jam wireless cameras,” she replied, filling her plate.
“We have enough cable to do that, not to mention cameras?” Nelson asked.
Gerald gave a snort. “More than enough, and before you ask, Nancy has the equipment to monitor all of them.”
As Michelle spoon-fed Devin, she turned to the table. “I’ve been thinking; are we still going to use the downstairs office to set up the monitoring and command area?” she asked, and Gerald nodded. “We really need it down in the basement,” she announced.
“Why?” Ashley asked.
“These walls don’t stop bullets,” Michelle said, turning back to Devin. “I know the berm is there, but we need to protect the area that calls out where the attackers are.”
“Good idea,” Nancy agreed. “I’m also going to put thumb scanners on the doors to keep the house locked down.”
Putting down his fork, Matt looked around. “Don’t you think we’re getting a little overboard?” he asked.
“No,” Nelson said, shaking his head. “I was just thinking of keeping them locked, but with kids, that doesn’t really work because they can’t keep up with a key.”
“I really don’t want to dig for a key if someone is shooting at me,” Gerald said.
“Me either,” Bernard agreed, shoving food in his mouth.
“We are in the country,” Matt pointed out. “With cameras up, how could someone sneak in?”
“Not easily, but they could do it, and if the doors are locked, they have to make noise getting in,” Gerald answered. “Matt, it’s just another layer of protection.”
“Man, we are going to be setting this up for a year,” he grumbled, picking up his fork.
“Bernard, we need to start cutting down some trees and get more lumber before we start on the dam,” Gerald said.
Thinking about it, Bernard nodded. “We can start tomorrow,” he answered.
Eating quickly, the group soon left, heading out to continue their work. It was late afternoon when Nancy and her group returned and helped put the panel coverings over the moat. Gerald and Nelson just moved the boards back to four feet apart to get as much covering up as they could.
When they ran out of lumber for the supports, Nellie called over the radio, announcing supper was almost ready. Tired, dirty, and covered with sweat, the group climbed out of the moat. As the others went inside the house, Nelson went to his basement and dug through the piles until he found the suppressors. Grabbing his short AR, Nelson headed inside the house.
Seeing the men and Gavin in the living room already washed off, Nelson gave them the suppressors. “I’m going to wash up,” he said, looking at them. “Go ahead and start putting them on.”
He stepped over to Gavin. “Here, son,” he said, handing Gavin the short AR. “Same rules apply; treat it with respect.”
Gavin took the rifle, grinning. “I will, Dad. Thank you.”
After supper, what rifles they hadn’t finished they continued to work on. It wasn’t long until Nelson found himself carrying Olivia home in his arms, sound asleep. “If I would’ve fallen asleep, would you have carried me home?” he asked, looking over at Michelle, who was carrying a sleeping Devin.
�
�No, I would’ve tied the dogs to you and let them drag you home,” she told him, smiling. “Gavin, watch where you’re going,” she said over her shoulder.
Nelson turned to see Gavin almost walk into the side of a UTV. His eyes were glazed over, and he was struggling to put one foot in front of the other. “We’re almost home, son. Then, you can sleep,” Nelson said, and Gavin just lifted his chin to acknowledge that he heard.
“We’re all taking baths before bed,” Michelle announced. “I have dirt in the crack of my butt, and I’m not in the mood to do laundry on muddy sheets.” Gavin let out a small groan behind them.
Nelson opened the door of the cabin, letting the others in with the dogs coming in last. He carried Olivia to her room, and when he walked out, he heard Gavin already in the shower. Nelson fed and watered the dogs in the kitchen, and he found Gavin’s rifle on top of the fridge. Nelson almost put his there but carried it the bedroom and set it on top of the dresser in case he needed it fast.
Still hearing the shower, Nelson stripped down to his underwear but stopped before going in the bathroom. Spinning around, Nelson walked back down the hall. He walked into the kid’s bathroom and pulled the shower curtain back to see Gavin asleep, standing up under the shower.
With a smile, Nelson grabbed the rag and washed Gavin down. Picking him up, Nelson dried him off and carried Gavin to his bed. When he walked in the bedroom, Michelle was already in the bed and snoring lightly. It didn’t take him long to shower, and Nelson was soon beside her, sound asleep.
The next morning, Nelson had some trouble waking Michelle for their workout. After she got up, he headed into Devin’s room to see Devin standing up in his crib, holding onto the side. A smile covered his face, and Devin let out a small, joyful yell upon seeing Nelson.
“Why haven’t you gotten ready, soccer ball head?” Nelson asked, walking over. Devin slapped the side of his crib, laughing. Picking Devin up, Nelson laid him on the changing table and put on a new diaper and onesie. Picking Devin up and tucking him under his arm like a football, Nelson carried him to the kitchen to see Michelle fixing a bottle.
Forgotten Forbidden America: Rise of Tyranny Page 24