“Mrs. Armstrong, I’m glad you came in. They are loading the truck with your order right now. I was just about to call you to let you know they will be on their way soon.” I asked her if it was too late to increase my order, and she responded that it depends what is in the warehouse. She invited me to come back into the warehouse with her, where we found the owner and an assistant loading a large truck.
“How much more do you want?” the owner asked me.
“Whatever you can spare. I suddenly have a bunch more animals than I did when I made the order, so I will take as much as you can give me. Oh, and I just inherited a family of pigs. If you can sell me any pig feed, I’d sure appreciate it” The owner instructed his assistant to go get the second truck. He seemed pretty nervous, and anxious to get finished, and I asked him if everything was OK.
“Actually, no, things are far from OK. This will be my last order to fill. My family and I will be packing up the rest of the store and headed over to South Carolina to stay with my family there. They have plenty of feed, so I am not planning to take any of this with me, just what little merchandise is left on the shelves. I just can’t afford to stay in business any more. Between the increased taxes, problems from the city, and the looters who keep breaking in and causing malicious damage, I just can’t deal with it. I think it is safer to head out now than to wait much longer. We will load both trucks with as much feed as we can fit onto the trucks. Do you want to put any in your Jeep?”
I told him whatever he could fit in the Jeep was fine with me, as I was headed home anyway. I paid the young lady for the additional feed, and began carrying bags of chicken feed out to the Jeep. I already had a number of bags loaded into the back, when four rather shady looking teen-aged boys approached the Jeep.
“Hey lady, it looks like you have money. Why don’t you buy us some lunch?”
I told them to go away, as I was too busy to mess with them. Suddenly, I realized they were moving closer and were splitting up, with two headed to my left and two to my right. I reached into my pocket and hit the panic button on my key. As my Jeep started alarming, the boys started to laugh and move closer.
“Stop right there,” I directed in my best military voice. I thought I saw a flash of metal in one boy’s hand – he was flashing a knife? Sure enough, he pulled out a nasty-looking switchblade. I reached into my waistband and pulled my Shield. “I brought a gun to this knife fight, and I know how to use it. I will give you to the count of three and then I start shooting.” The boys looked pretty surprised, but they turned and ran. As I was holstering my Shield, the owner and his assistant came running out, asking if I was OK. I told them not really, but that I just wanted to finish loading feed and go home. They helped me finish loading the Jeep, and then followed me home with their two huge overloaded trucks.
As we pulled up to the barn, the owner looked around at all of the activity, and said, “Your grandparents would be really proud of what you’re doing here. You know, I was good friends with your grandpa.” It only took a short while for everyone to pitch in to help unload both trucks. As the owner and his helper were getting ready to leave, he came over, shook my hand, and wished us all luck. I told him the same and wished him safe travels to get to his family. Although I was not comfortable having people from town see what we had going on the farm, I felt that this man was trustworthy and would not cause us any issues.
I found Bill as soon as the feed store trucks left and let him know what happened with the four teens. He told me not to go anywhere alone or unarmed. He said there have been hundreds of cases of people being accosted for money across the city over the last few days, and quite a few of those incidents have wound up with people being hurt. I asked him if I needed to file a police report, and he said no, that the police were stretched as it was, and since there were no shots fired or people hurt, it would just be a waste of time.
We were getting ready to start dinner when a strange RV pulled into the yard. I was surprised to see Judy driving, with Tim following behind in Tom’s truck. Judy parked the RV and hopped out.
“We decided we would ‘rent’ an RV for a while. If the economy collapses, I guess it will be ours. If things go back to normal, we’ll return it when we’re ready to go home. Tim, you are going to have to park this beast. I can drive it, but I’m not going to try maneuvering it around the other RVs!” Tim jumped up into the RV and pulled it around to where the other RVs were. Judy commented that she was happy they were able to get the RV, as there were not many left on the lot, and she knew housing here would be tight.
After dinner, I called everyone together in the living room. It was really crowded, but people squeezed in, sitting on the floors and anywhere they could. I told them about my experience in town and about Dr. Nolan. There were a number of tears, but also some expressions of relief, as we were not sure how we could care for someone so critically injured. I believe most of the girls were shocked to know I actually had to pull my weapon, and I made a point of telling everyone that every single one of them would need to learn to shoot and would need to carry, as it could be a matter of life and death. Sam and Mike asked if they could learn, too, and Marty jumped in and told them of course.
After talking about the loss of Dr. Nolan, talking about the bank being closed seemed almost like an afterthought. I was very concerned about the bank being closed. Even if there was some kind of major flood or something, I would expect at least the drive-through to be open, even if only for a part of the day, and the ATM to have cash to dispense. I suspected that there was a lot more to the bank closure than anyone was saying, especially after hearing about the stock market closing early. Everyone seemed to agree with me that it seemed as though we were tottering on the edge of the stability of our economy. Unemployment seemed to be out of control over the last couple of weeks, shops were closing, unrest was spreading throughout the community, and now something going on at the bank. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that something is happening!
I also let them know that I was now among the officially unemployed. Patty and Maureen both laughed and said that they also both called in today and quit. The director was not a happy camper, and when they told her they were quitting to help improve the hospital’s all important bottom line, they reported she used some unprofessional, non-therapeutic language. None of us were happy to be unemployed, but with the way things were going, I believed we were all happy to be here together.
Bill had stepped out of the room to take a call, and came back into the room at that moment. “That was one of my colleagues on the phone, giving me a heads up that there was a shooting at the hospital a while ago. There were protests all morning, and hospital security tried to get the protesters to move on, but instead someone shot the security guard. Other security responded, and by the time the smoke cleared, there were two security guards and four protesters dead, with several others injured. There was another shooting at the bank today. The bank is closed until next week, but several people tried to get in. They had the bright idea of shooting out the glass doors. Luckily, the doors are ballistic glass. They didn’t get in, but the ricochet off the glass injured one of the shooters.” I thought to myself that I was very glad I chose to drive away from the protesters and did not get in the middle of that crowd.
“Like I said a few minutes ago, it looks like things are rapidly deteriorating in town. I, for one, am really glad all of you are here. What still needs to be done to get everyone settled?” I asked. Tom stood up.
“I got all my animals moved over this morning, along with my personal belongings. There’s nothing much left at my place, so no need for me to go back. I’ve got a little bit of stuff to put into a conex, but the rest has been added to our common supplies. The two water storage tanks from my yard are installed and are filling as we speak. Thanks to Jon, Chris, and Tim, the diesel tanks are installed and filled. I’ll let Jon tell the story of how those tanks got filled!”
Tom sat down and Jon stood up. “Mom, I don’t know
if you remember Roger Fields that I was in scouts with, but he and I have stayed pretty good friends over the years. When I called the gas company, they said they were not filling any orders for private homes right now. Then I remembered Roger has been working for the gas company as a delivery driver. I also remembered that he has been dying to get an acoustic guitar, but couldn’t afford it. He’d come into the store and just drool over this one guitar in particular. I called him, told him I would pay for the diesel (of course), but would give him that specific guitar he was lusting after if he would deliver to me and Chris. The guitar he was wanting just happened to be one of the guitars that Carl gave me when I quit, so I gave it to him. It was a win-win situation.”
I told Jon what a great job he did, and asked if there was anything else. Jer raised his hand timidly, and reported that he and the boys got the armory camouflaged. He said that after they painted, they got some old branches and leaves and stuff to break up the square shape. Everyone laughed when Sam added, “Yeah, we camouflaged it, but you can still see where it is if you know where to look!” Chuck added that not only did the boys do a great job painting the outside of the armory, they helped paint the shelves and workbenches inside as well. He complimented the boys on the great job they did and thanked them for their help. All four boys were grinning from ear to ear.
Clark spoke next. “Maureen and I went back to the house today and packed everything up. It took three trips, but our stuff and our animals are all moved here. We also brought all of the food, medications, fixtures, and everything we could from my vet clinic. Our RV is a bit tight, though, with all five of us in it plus a lot of our stuff. We will probably be looking for some alternative sleeping arrangements soon.” I already had my notebook out, and I made a note to figure out something to give them some space.
Father Dan was the next to speak. “We got the antenna up and the radios hooked up. I’ve tested them and can get a great signal. We also installed some metal cabinets in the radio room in Jon’s basement, and all of the extra radios and walkie-talkies we bought have been tested and are stored in the metal cabinet. I have three spare ham radios I placed in the cabinets, too. I am hoping if there is any kind of EMP, we will be able to protect the radios. I got the rest of my personal belongings brought over today.” I asked Father Dan if he heard anything official on the radio concerning what was going on, but he just shook his head no.
James and Samantha reported they got everything from his practice. They were beginning to set up the infirmary, and were putting together education for all of us to have over the next couple of weeks. A few others reported on minor projects, and then Tom stood again. “Tomorrow morning, I’d like to raise the pole barn. If we could all meet at the pasture around 9 AM, I think we can get it done pretty quickly. We will be setting up a common dining/meeting area in the pole barn. I’m not sure how much space will be left over, but if you have need of space for a project, please let me know. Also, all of the RVs are now hooked up to the grid. Just so you all know, the solar is not hooked up anywhere just yet to protect the system from things like EMPs and grid problems. If or when the grid fails, hooking up the solar will take just a few minutes.”
I stood back up. “Is there anyone that needs to leave the farm for any reason in the next few days?” I looked around and everyone was shaking their head no. “In that case, Chris, would you close and chain the gate? Some of us tomorrow will go down to the road and try to wipe out evidence of all the traffic we’ve had coming in and out.
Frank stood up. “I think tomorrow after the pole barn and entry way are both finished, the security team needs to get together to take a ride around the perimeter. We have at least one area where the fence needs to be fixed, and we need to be sure there are not any other areas with fences down. Denise, can you ride with us tomorrow to check the fences and show us where things are on the far side of the farm?”
“Of course, Frank. I have some maps and drawings for you to use. I’ll give them to you later. If there is nothing else, then we should all probably try to get a good night’s sleep, because tomorrow is going to be another busy day! I’m going to put on a pot of tea and watch the news. Anyone that wants to stay and watch with me is welcome!”
I guess people were pretty tired, because Tom, Lisa, and Chuck were the only ones to stay to watch the news. I made a pot of tea, and we all settled in to see what the media would tell us tonight. The international news had a couple of stories about Greece announcing they were forfeiting on all loans they owed to the European Union. Several other countries in the European Union were threatening to do the same thing. There were massive riots in Germany, England, and France by the millions of Middle Eastern refugees there wanting more benefits and services from those countries, including wanting those countries to impose Sharia law. Kim Jung Un announced he now had a ballistic missile that could withstand re-entry, and he planned to test it soon. China announced they were promoting the yuan as the global currency, since the dollar was in trouble. Hmmm… first time the news even mentioned the dollar or our economy in a long time. A very brief mention was made about the stock market drop, but it was blamed on unrest from foreign investors. Then, surprisingly, there was a very short segment about the banks across the nation. The newscaster reported that all banks in the US were closed through next week due to some major computer issues – NOT HACKING, they said multiple times. According to the report, the computer program that links all banks together crashed and needs to be fixed. That sounded like a steaming pile of poop to me – but the newscaster assured the public that their money was safe, and the banks would re-open as soon as this computer issue was fixed.
I looked at Tom, Lisa, and Chuck and shook my head. Lisa commented, “It wont be long now. We need to kick things into high gear to be sure we are ready.” I agreed with her. On that note, we turned off the TV and went to bed.
Chapter 9
Today has been another busy day! We spent the first few hours on our two main projects: raising the pole barn and cleaning up the main entry-way. Of course, the “piece of cake” pole barn raising took twice as long as we thought it would, but at least it got done. The main entrance was a lot easier. We weren’t ready to completely close it off, but we wanted to make it look unused. We used the back hoe to remove all the ruts from tire tracks, and then created a shallow berm so the bar ditch of the road continued uninterrupted through where the driveway went. We added a couple of downed trees to hide the gate. Then, we grabbed baskets of old leaves, grass, and other stuff to spread over the area to make it all match. We also pulled up the mailbox. I don’t think there will be mail delivery once the Zombie Apocalypse starts! By the time we were done, you could barely see the gate, and it looked like just an old abandoned entrance.
After we finished the front gate project, I went back to the house to see what was going on. I found Judy, Grace, Patty, Gabby, and Janet in the storage room in the basement, putting away all the non-perishable food items that everyone brought with them. There was a surprisingly large amount of food, especially staples. I commented on the amount of food, and Janet remarked that I probably did not know that she and Marty were Mormons and practiced their church’s teachings of keeping a year’s worth of food on hand. She said Tom and James also had at least a year’s worth of food, and the others had a lot more than she anticipated. Gee, and to think I was worried about introducing Janet to prepping, and she was already doing it!
I was glad I was able to get the additional buckets, as they made storing items a lot easier. I noticed that the girls had a couple of vacuum sealers going, and things like pasta in small boxes were being taken out of the boxes and vacuum sealed. The vacuum bags were then stored with similar items in buckets or plastic totes. This protected the food from mice and any other critters that might want to chew through the cardboard and sample our food. Not as easy to chew through plastic! I was really impressed to see buckets being dated and newer items placed on the back of shelves to rotate food. Way to go, team! I asked
them what their plans were for the cardboard boxes that food was being stored in, and Judy suggested that we break the boxes down and have the kids cut them up. She said that the small pieces of cardboard could go into the garden as mulch, and we should just put them on the compost pile for now. The plastic wrappers would go into the trash pile. She wasn’t sure if the plastic could be burned or if it would need to be buried, but she told me not to worry about it, as they would figure it out! Hmmm….. that’s another thing to add to the list of things to do – figure out how we would manage garbage. Out came my notebook, and I jotted a reminder.
I had a laptop I kept in the basement near my supplies. When I first got serious about prepping, I set up a spread sheet based on information published on the net by the Mormon Church regarding supplies and food storage. I fixed the formulas so I could change the number of people to be fed or cared for, and the spreadsheet would auto-calculate the amount of each item needed. As quantities on hand get entered into the database, the spreadsheet also calculates how much more of a particular item is needed and creates a shopping list. Judy decided she liked this spread sheet, and was busily entering in amounts of the items being placed on the shelves.
Premonitions (Book 1): The Farm Page 12