Premonitions (Book 1): The Farm

by Anderson, Diana E.

  Red and Lynn headed over to the toy aisle, where they got several bicycles, bicycle trailers and baskets, helmets, and spare parts. While they were in the toy aisle, they also filled a cart with board games, puzzles, cards, legos, and dolls. They said that although these were not priorities for us, they were for the kids. They then headed over to the kitchen wares department, where they filled several carts with dishes, glasses, silverware, pots and pans, and anything else they could find.

  Jon, Chris, and Lionel headed to the back of the store, where they found a treasure trove of items, including another fork lift. They were able to bring out whole pallets of plastic-wrapped boxes of toilet paper, canned foods, fabrics, and other supplies. They also found a number of pallets of disassembled book shelves, desks, and other furniture.

  Tom, Marty, Tim and Jose went to the tool department and got whatever tools, blades, hardware, and paint were left on the shelves. They passed the camping and gun aisle, and saw that it had been completely stripped already. They did find a few bottles of Hoppes Number 9 that had rolled under a shelf, but that was about all. They continued to the garden center and were able to get a couple more barbecue grills and quite a few bags of charcoal.

  There was a Staples right next to Walmart, and we decided to see if we could get supplies to use for schooling the kids. We were able to find pens, paints, crayons, coloring books, notebooks, and tons of paper. In the back room we also found two dozen laptops and a case of solar chargers that had not yet been put out on the shelves. I guess people didn't think Staples had supplies for the Apocalypse, because it had not been looted like a lot of the other stores. We got a couple of heavy duty printers and a lot of ink. Tom and Marty hit the jackpot in the back when they found several cases of soft drinks and snack foods.

  Our last stop before heading for home was to a construction site we passed coming into town. The guys had noticed a semi truck with a portable concrete mixer attached. When we stopped, they checked under the tarp on the semi and saw it was loaded with big bags of concrete mix. Top hopped up into the semi and to try to get it started. While he was doing that, the rest of the guys took down the high chain link fencing surrounding the site and loaded it up onto the semi trailer, too. Soon, Top had the semi engine running, so we drove it and the mixer home.

  There were several other trips into town after that. One was to the feed store, where we were able to get all of the remaining feed and a lot of supplements and other animal care items that the feed store owner had not taken to South Carolina. Another trip was to a solar company on the north side of town. We were able to get several truckloads of solar panels, inverters, batteries, and everything else needed to bring power into whatever buildings we built. The Rangers went out one day and came back with a trailer containing four pre-fabricated sheds – the big kind with porches, garage doors, and windows. Another trip saw James, Lionel, Kiara, and Samantha, accompanied by the Rangers, head to the hospital to see if there was anything salvageable. They were able to find a lot of linens - sheets, blankets, towels and pillowcases, along with laundry carts and wheelchairs. The pharmacy was completely torn apart with nothing left, but they were able to find some medical supplies in the back of a store room. They were especially excited to find several cases of intravenous fluids in the store room. In the operating room James was able to find quite a few surgical instruments, along with a small steam sterilizer. They were also able to find two gurneys, which they brought back. They went by James' office building, but it had burned to the ground and did not have anything salvageable.

  The Rangers made a number of additional trips to get more of the prefabricated buildings. On another trip, they brought back four tanker trucks full of propane. They also got the manuals for how to pump propane from the storage tank into the trucks and from the trucks into household tanks. We set aside one corner of the pasture to hold all of our heavy trucks and equipment.

  Back at the farm, we now had supplies everywhere. All of the conexes were filled to the brim, as was a big part of the pole barn. Most of the construction materials were sitting outside covered by tarps. We figured it was time we sat down and had a planning meeting to decide exactly what we wanted to build and where we would put it. We decided to wait a few days until the Rangers were done with their foraging trips, and then we would all meet to decide how to proceed.

  While we were busy trying to salvage as much as we could, things had been happening on the farm, too. Lionel and Kiara had become a couple, and Anaya and Freddy seemed to always be close to wherever they were. Drake was a little resistant to joining the little family, preferring to hang around with the other young teens. He seemed to be happy that Anaya and Freddy were spending time with Lionel and Kiara. Lynn and Top also were now a couple. Red seemed to be spending a lot of time with Zoe, and, luckily, Clark and Maureen seemed to really like him. Scooter and Grace also seemed to be spending a lot of time together, and Marcie and Frank both seemed happy about that. The younger kids seemed to also be finding adults to pair up with. Billy and Allie Roland seemed to have adopted the Peters boys, since you hardly ever saw the adults without the boys tagging along. Of course, Allie is the motherly type and spends a lot of time with all the kids, and Billy is just another big kid himself! I think the romance that was the cutest, though, was Amy and Jimbo Wyatt. Amy is very slender and barely 5'2" tall. Jimbo is well over six feet tall. To see them together, they looked like Mutt and Jeff, but if they were happy together, well, that's what counted. Meanwhile, Tom and I have grown much closer. It makes me wonder, though, if the Apocalypse hadn't happened, would we still have gotten together? I guess for such a terrible situation, something good did happen thanks to the Apocalypse!

  Chapter 24

  The HAM radio had been unusually quiet for a couple of weeks. There were still people talking from distant places, but some of the folks on the west coast were not broadcasting much. Father Dan was still listening and keeping track of who was on the air. There had not been anything from the government for several weeks now. Father Dan reports daily on the things he does hear. Most of the country is experiencing a very hard winter, with freezing cold temperatures and a lot of snowfall. He is still in touch with most of the folks from my forum, and reports from all of them are similar. Towns and cities destroyed across the country, no evidence of any government efforts to improve things, tremendous numbers of deaths, and ongoing battles with gangs trying to overrun survivors.

  Mark spent time on the HAM every night, too. He was in contact with Rangers and other military personnel around the country. They all knew a war was coming to take the country back, so they kept in touch to keep track of each others' locations and what was happening around the country.

  The Rangers seemed to be done with foraging (at least for now), so we gathered everyone together in the pole barn to talk about what we needed to do. I asked Mark to start us out, since I wanted anything we did to have a sound defensive base. No point to building a bunch of shelters, only to find we could not defend them! Mark unrolled a large piece of paper and taped it to the wall of the pole barn.

  "This is the farm. I've also included the farm next to us that burned the day we arrived, the farm on the other side of yours, and all the property across the road from you with the for sale sign. I wanted to have this drawing in front of you so I could show you what I am proposing.

  "First, let me pass on to you that my military contacts tell me that there are some problems coming soon. Homeland Security is teaming up with UN troops to try to take over territory. They have already succeeded in taking over the corridor from Boston to New York City, through Philadelphia, to Washington, DC. They are moving the population out of the countryside to relocation camps in the cities. Once the towns in the countryside are emptied, they are razed. Of course, this doesn't make sense to me, since the cities are now cesspools, but apparently they are using these people in the camps as forced labor to try to clean up the cities. The goal seems to be have all the people in cities where they can be
controlled, and then use forced labor from the cities to do the farming. There is a pretty strong citizen militia resistance in western Pennsylvania that is keeping Homeland from moving further west, but we are not sure how long that will last. They have moved into New York State and are trying to get into Ohio, but the Pennsylvania Militia has been able to so far prevent that. We are really concerned about them moving south, as then they could circumvent the Pennsylvania Militia and move towards the west. In the far west, we now have UN troops from China in California, and they are doing the same thing, working with Homeland Security to round people up. Of course, in California, the people seem to be welcoming the Chinese, so we are just trying to keep them contained there. If Homeland on the east coast can move west and join up with Homeland and the Chinese on the west coast, though, we are in dire trouble.

  "When things went to hell, our Ranger battalions were spread out on various missions. Most formed small groups like us, and went to rescue family members. A number of others went to some of the larger bases around the country to try to protect military assets from the government take-over. Unfortunately, some also joined up with the Homeland troops against the rest of us. I am in contact with quite a few groups of military around the country. My commander has a force of about seventy troops – a combination of Rangers, a couple of Green Berets, and a group of Marines they picked up along the way." Mark paused for a moment, and everyone grinned as Frank yelled "Oooorah!"

  "They would like to base themselves in this area so that we can all conduct guerilla-type operations against our enemies. There are also a couple of smaller groups like my team that we could bring here as well. I am telling you this because I think it could impact your building plans. Here's what I would suggest. Take down the berm we currently have, and expand it out in all four directions to enclose living areas, animal areas and pastures, and an expanded huge garden area. Build housing units within this expanded berm. Then, I would suggest we build some kind of barracks structures here on the border of your neighbor's farm." He marked an area on the map to show the barracks area, as well as both the inner and outer berms. "That could house all the troops that Colonel Murphy is bringing, as well as any we can redirect here. Then, I would suggest we build ANOTHER berm around the whole area, topped with high fencing and support positions. This would put all of you within two strong defensive barriers, and would surround you with troops for defense. I would recommend the outer perimeter include your farm, the burned out farm, the property across the road, and the farm up the road in the other direction. I've spoken with the family at that farm, who are not doing well, by the way, and they would be grateful to join up with this group in exchange for letting us use their land. That would also give a lot of land to actually farm outside the inner berm but within the outer berm. We'll need that to continue to feed the animals and ourselves.

  "If we move the berms out, we'll have room to build more housing units. I would recommend instead of building individual houses, that we build something more like apartments with family group areas, but continue to do meals and such as a group. With a large group of additional soldiers, all heavily armed, I might add, we can get those berms done pretty quickly. We can also get a lot more conexes from the rail yard to give us more storage, and to give support to the inner berms the way you have your current conexes set up.

  "Now, I know this is going to raise a few questions, so let me try to tackle those first, and then I will shut up and listen to what you all think. First question, I can imagine, is how will we feed all those additional troops. COL Murphy has commandeered several storehouses of food from the military, and has them loaded in trucks that he would bring. I have no idea what kind of food he has, but I suspect at least two or three trucks are full of MREs – those are meals ready to eat, also known as Meals Rejected by Ethiopians." He paused and everyone laughed. "We would figure out whether the troops would set up their own meal facility or if they would share what food they have and do meals for everyone here. The next question I can imagine is, would this make us a bulls-eye for the enemy to find us. The answer to that is, it might - but we are a very successful and self-sufficient community already, and that in and of itself makes us a target. Having additional troops, weapons, and defenses will help protect us and the civilization we are struggling to preserve. The third question I can guess is where will we get all of the additional supplies we will need. I think that from now until we actually start building the berms, we need to do some major foraging every day. We need to check stores and abandoned homes for things like wood stoves, mattresses, and, well, you get the idea. The stuff is out there and is not being used. Let's get it and use it here for a good cause.

  "OK, I think I've said enough. What do you all think? Denise, this is your farm, so I think your opinion is very important."

  I stood up and faced the group. "I have to say that at first, the thought of being surrounded by soldiers was both scary and comforting. The more I think about it, the more I like your plan. This WAS my farm, but it is now our community, and I am not particularly worried about ownership of the land. I do want to be sure my grandparents' legacy lives on, especially for my grandchildren, so my only request is that if we give this place a name, we call our community Langston Farm." Everyone began to applaud and call out their agreement, so the community now had an official name. "Now, as for the suggestions of the berms, bringing in troops, and building housing, I agree completely. I would like to suggest that in addition to housing, we also build a large kitchen adjoining the pole barn to make life easier for our cooking crews. I would also suggest that we check out some of the rental places in town to get proper chairs, tables, and serving stuff. The only question I have is if any of the troops that would come have families. We would need to plan for additional housing above what we have here so those families could move in, too."

  Mark looked surprised. "If they have families, you would take the families in?" I told him, in my opinion, that would be the right thing to do. Of course, it would be up to a vote from the community, but I felt that would give the troops even more reason to keep us all safe.

  "So that is my opinion. Let's hear from the rest of you." Frank was the first one to put his hand up, and I pointed to him.

  "I think this as an awesome idea, but I have one caveat. I believe that the troops should also be responsible for helping train anyone who wants to join their ranks in sniping against the enemy. I also think we need to continue to be heavily involved in maintaining our security." Mark was nodding vigorously.

  "Yes, Frank, I think we should be training everyone, like they do in Israel. Everyone doesn't have to go snipe, as you put it, but everyone needs to know what needs to be done for defense of the community. I also think the community members have to be involved in security – and I would be the first to vote that you and Bill continue to head up security of the inner berm."

  Frank sat down, and I asked for additional questions. Clark raised his hand. "Denise, with all of the new animals, the barn is getting really crowded. I would like to suggest we expand our animal space - maybe we could move all of the pigs to a bigger building and let the goats move out of the barn to what has been the pig house. I also think we need to put an extension onto the barn to get more of the cattle under shelter without being so crowded. I am concerned that if they are too crowded, we could have some issues with illness crop up. I believe we will continue to bring in abandoned animals, and so we need to be sure we have the space for them. We might even want to consider putting up another barn after all of the rest of the building is done."

  "Clark, thank you for those suggestions. I agree completely with what you are suggesting. I think adding another barn and getting the pigs moved to their own building is a great idea. Are there any other comments or questions?"

  No one else offered any comments or questions, so I asked for a vote on the first issue. "Raise your hand if you are in favor of bringing in additional troops and our neighbors from the adjoining farm." I was in shock
- every hand was raised!

  "That vote carries. Now, let's vote on building barracks outside the inner berm." Patty stood up.

  "I think we need to make the inner berm big enough that the barracks can be just inside the inner berm. When soldiers are sleeping, they should be protected, and it is not like they have to go very far to get to the outer areas." I looked around and saw many heads nodding agreement, so I amended my motion for building barracks inside the inner berm. Again, every hand was raised. The third vote was to build a kitchen next to the pole barn. Janet was the first to raise her hand in favor of this. Everyone else followed pretty quickly. My next vote was on building apartment-like structures to accomodate families. Young Jeff raised his hand.

  "Denise, some of us don't have families...well, other than everyone here. Could we build a dormitory for those of us old enough to live on our own?"

  "Jeff, that's a great suggestion. All in favor of building a youth dormitory – totally voluntary, we're not going to force kids to live there – raise your hands." I noticed that most of the young people raised their hands quickly. The adults were a bit slower, but eventually, every hand was raised.