We assure him that we have more than one group to accommodate that many people, but we do have that many, and are able to accept that many more if we can find them. He says he knows he is asking a lot, but they are afraid they will be no better off than they were living in the cities, without some help. We assure them that we will do something to help them. We give them some advice to maybe get them through until some of us can get there, but he tells us they don’t have vehicles like we do, and they have no idea how to get any. We assure them we will have some help on the way shortly.
We call an emergency meeting of all the groups on Friday, after Thanksgiving. Our group has already discussed the situation, and we have some volunteers to go. Bob and Blake, along with their wives, say they will be happy to go. Trevor’s wife is expecting anytime now, so they don’t think it’s a good idea to go. Chip and Marty, along with their wives, say they could use a vacation. Those two, along with Troy have come so far from the first day I met them. That day they were running faster than Dayna could from the predators in the city. Now they are some of our best fighting men, as well as being able to do just about every job on the farm.
Sara, Gary, James, Jenna, Mike, and Morgan all ask if they could be allowed to go, because they want to see how that area survived the war. They will definitely be missed, but we’re pretty sure the other group needs them more right now. Doc McEvoy and his wife want to go along as well. They say they spent their honeymoon in Arizona, and feel like it’s time for a second one. Teddy wants to go to teach them how to hunt, but we assure him that we need him here. Andrew volunteers to go for that purpose, so they have a very good group of people to show them what we know. Just after everything is settled, and it’s decided that they will leave in the morning, we have a wedding that no one expected. Well, actually we have been expecting it for a while, but with Andrew leaving for an extended period of time, Lindsay told him in no uncertain terms that he is not going without her. She also told him she will not go with him unless they are married. So now they are married.
For supplies they are mainly taking only emergency rations, and twenty gallons of gas, just in case they hit a stretch where they can’t find any vehicles or stations to get it from. They are taking plenty of guns and ammunition, although we are sure they will be able to find plenty on the way, and when they get there. They are taking a small bus, and a pickup equipped with a small generator and a compressor. We have also started taking along a couple of extra tires, just in case. We learned the hard way that tires don’t last forever, and they can be difficult to find, when you really need one. They are also taking a short wave radio, so that they can keep in touch with us on the trip. Tim and I would like to be going on this trip, but we are needed by our families, so we will stay where we belong and leave this mission in the capable hands of our friends.
Hello everyone, Jon asked me to tell you about our trip to Arizona. I’m Doctor Donald McEvoy, please call me Don. My wife Emma and I are excited to be accompanying this wonderful group of talented young people to Arizona, to help some dear friends of ours there. We are starting out on Saturday morning, and are not exactly sure how long it will take to get there. We are not even sure how long it will take to teach them how to be as self sufficient as we are. When we heard of the group started by Jon and Tim, we couldn’t believe that anyone could be living as they claimed to be. When we found them, we were astonished at the progress they had made, and just how self sufficient they were. Since then we are continuously astounded by the things that our friends and families are able to accomplish.
Getting back to our adventure, most of our party has been on at least one trip except Emma and me, so this is rather exciting to us. Bob, who is the unofficial leader of this trip, is a very interesting man. He used to be called the Colonel, and very much looks the part, but after meeting Jon he dropped the title Colonel, and is now known simply as Bob. Jon is a most remarkable man, if you ask him he hasn’t done anything except help out a little in our community. However, if you speak with those who were the original group settling in Virginia, they will tell you he is the only reason they are still alive, and is the driving force behind our success. I have spoken in depth with Tim as well, and even he says that Jon is the one that made everything happen. Tim says he would like to be able to say he helped some, but it was Jon’s idea to join forces in the city, and to find a place where they could live without counting on others. Just like when they were in the world they came from, he was content to follow Jon and do whatever he could to help.
We are able to make better time than any of us anticipated, mainly because Bob knows the roads and is able to navigate us past the worst places, with little or no delays. So far we are able to find gas stations when we need them, and have even found food close to the stations. The first time we stopped for gas, we found a young couple with one child living in the city we stopped at. We drew them a small map how to get to the community, and they assured us they were heading there as soon as possible. We stop for the night at a motel that used to be part of a large chain. James and Jenna tell the rest of us that they have stayed here before, and room service is terrible. Those two are always joking around, but when there’s work to be done, you would have to look very hard to find someone working harder than they are.
Day two of our trip is uneventful, but interesting. We simply drive all day, except when we stop for gas, and to spend the night. It’s Sunday, so we spend part of the day reading the scriptures out loud, so our drivers can partake of the word as well. On day three we find another couple with a small child. We are too far from home to send them there, so we take them along with us. On day four we find five more people, and now our vehicles are becoming full, but none of us can just leave them to fend for themselves with winter coming on. I know you are thinking that they have survived this long without us they should be able to last another winter. Being a doctor, I have seen people healthy one day, and pass away the next. I for one will never turn anyone away that needs my help. We pull into the farm, of the group we are here to help, just before dark, on the fifth day. We were not sure what we would find, so we stopped at a store in one of the big cities on the way, and was able to get enough food for a few days anyway.
Clark, the leader of the group, is happy to see us, but is not quite so happy to see the people we picked up along the way. We assure him that we will take them with us when we leave, and will be responsible for their food and safety while we are here. We can see a huge difference in this group and ours. For one thing, they are settled in the lower mountains here in Arizona, and there is very little around it in the form of cities. The original founders of this group lived in a fairly large town, but all the food has been gone from there for quite a while. The farm they are living on does not have room for more than the thirty people who settled here. They do not have electricity, and most of the people are sleeping in the one barn on the property. We decide to sleep in our truck and bus tonight, and discuss possibilities in the morning.
In the bus we have a pretty lengthy meeting, discussing how best to help these people. One suggestion is to find a couple more vehicles, and bring them back with us. That would obviously be the quickest and easiest fix, but would not help any other people who may be living alone in this part of the country. By the time we get to talk to Clark and his wife Susan, we have a plan to propose to them. We get to tour the place in the daylight, and it doesn’t look much better than it did in the failing light last evening. Bob has been to this group and tried to prepare us for what we would find, but I don’t think any of us quite believed it. After breakfast and a tour, we decide to be totally blunt with them. We recommend that they move from this location to one a little closer to the desert, where there are still four seasons, but that are not as severe as in the mountains or on the desert.
Some of the group is afraid to make a change, so we tell them we will take their leaders, and go looking for somewhere that will give them room to live, and even to expand as they want to. We tell
them if we don’t find a place, we will help them fix this place up, and help them get some vehicles so that they are more mobile. On the way here we passed some likely places that our people are going to take them to first. It’s a good thing I came along, because they have several people that need medical attention. This is where we meet the young man who came here from the same world Jon and the others came from. We use the short wave radio which is a hand crank type and call our group back in Virginia. After making sure we are all right, and letting us know the people we sent to them arrived with a couple more people, they ask us what we think of our mission.
Sara outlines the situation very accurately. Tim and Jon tell us that if we think it would be best, to go ahead and bring them all back with us. We tell them that we fear if we do, that there will be nowhere for the others that may be in the area to go to, and they may perish. Jon tells us we should do exactly what we are doing, and find somewhere worth fixing up. He tells us what to look for and when he is done talking Sara tells him, “Yes daddy Zeus.” Even Jon laughs and says he gets carried away sometimes. Sara laughs and tells him if he wants to get carried away out here with us, he is more than welcome. We have all expressed that we would feel safer if Jon was here with us. When he is around we all feel that everything is under control. We have to end our discussion and see what we can do in the interim.
We ask if there are any cities or towns where we might be able to get some food and other supplies. Brian, the young man who came from the other world, says they have walked to all the towns within a day’s walking, and they are all just about empty of food. He also tells us he was a registered nurse in the other world, but he has nothing to work with here. Luckily I brought some medical supplies and herbs that I know help heal common ailments. Chip and Marty, along with James and Jenna, decide to go looking for a small city that is supposed to be about twenty-five miles away, at least according to our map. Some of the newer people say that there is a city over that way, so our guys figure they may as well go over to see what they can find.
The groups get back to the farm at just about the same time. The ones who went to look at another location seem to be somewhat uncertain about what to do. Our men and women, who went to the city nearby, had very good luck in finding food supplies, as well as winter clothing and other essentials. We have a meeting to discuss the proposed move with the group, and it really doesn’t look like they want to move. Clark keeps saying that they should be able to make it work where they are, and we are simply pointing out the weaknesses of their position. Still no closer to a solution, we decide to call the group back in Virginia to see what advice Jon and our council might have. As soon as Jon gets on the line, he tells us that if it was up to him, he would help the group improve their living conditions, and if the new people who have come to the group would like, we can help them start their own group somewhere else.
The new people all say they will be very happy to go to another location, where they can be self sufficient, because living here is not really any better than living in the towns. We were not planning to start two communities, but it looks like that is what we need to do. Chip and Marty say that there are plenty of good vehicles in the city they went to, as well as a farm store where they can get pretty much everything they need. When our team starts something, they are pretty much unstoppable until the project is done. Sara, Gary, and James start looking to see how this farm was powered before the war. Bob, Jenna, Mike, Morgan, and my wife and I go with the new people, to show them the farms we passed on the way here. All of the others get to work helping them find equipment in the barns, and checking out the area for the best fields to plant crops.
The new group is very much impressed with the farms we show them. The best one we saw on the way up has four houses and three barns on it. They are very similar to the group we settled back in Virginia. We spend a little more time exploring the area, and find a larger place just a couple miles away. The people wanting to move in say they can be happy in either location, so we recommend that they settle the largest group first, knowing that they can expand to the other location when they get big enough. The bigger location has six houses and four barns, along with several miles of farmland in three directions. There is game grazing in the fields of tall grass, and the woods are just about as close as they are to the original group in Virginia.
As in Virginia there are mountains in the distance, but right here it is quite nice. The temperature seems to be at least ten degrees warmer than it was up at the other place. Since they are at a higher altitude, it will probably be colder up there most of the time. While the people, who will be staying, get to work cleaning the houses, our team gets to work figuring out how to get electricity to the homes. Mike comments that he has never seen such wide spread use of windmills as a source of power. This world must have been ahead of our world in that technology, but since our world suppresses so much technology, that would cost the big companies money, it is hard to tell. Either way they find three windmills, two of which are still standing, but the vanes need repair to get them to turn properly.
Our group anticipated this, and brought enough supplies to totally rebuild all three, but they only need repaired to be functional. By nightfall, two of the houses are cleaned well enough for everyone to stay in them, and there is even electricity to those two homes. They found several hundred jars of canned vegetables and fruits in each house, just as we did, so they are already in pretty good shape. We found a map in one of the homes, that shows there is a city only about fifteen miles west of us. Jenna comments that although this state is similar to the one in the world they knew, the cities are not in the same locations here. That’s probably a good thing, because it will be much more convenient this way. A trip into the city shows that there are people living there, but the stores still have a large quantity of food in them. We see smoke coming from a couple of blocks over. When we investigate, we find a man with two women and four children, standing around a fire in a large drum.
We explain what we are doing and they decide to give it a try. They have nothing to lose. At a car dealership on the edge of the city, we find some excellent vans and trucks. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly our people can get a vehicle running, and get the tires changed. I get the honor of teaching Brad, who is the oldest member of the group, how to drive. He learns quickly and is beaming over his new found abilities. By the end of day two, our new group has four houses cleaned, and with electricity. They have a new van, and enough food to last at least a couple of months. They are also seven members stronger than they were yesterday. We made one discovery that is a big plus. These homes all use the electric baseboard heaters, so we don’t have to try to find any and hook them up.
While we were in town yesterday we found some guns, as well as bows and arrows, for hunting. Andrew and Chip came down early this morning to see how we are doing. Apparently the group up north is not doing quite as well as we are. They must get much worse weather up there, because the windmill on that property is totally busted, so they will have to build a new one, and the wiring in the house is pretty bad as well. Chip says that they believe that the place up there was not a self sufficient farm like the ones we live on, and this one. We found a short wave set in the barn, so we call up to see if anyone hears us. Apparently there is no one listening, so Bob volunteers to take Jenna back up to speak with the others, and so that she can see James.
Our group is proceeding to make this a home. By the end of the day, all six houses have electricity, and two of the barns. We were able to recharge the coolant system on a very large freezer in the largest barn. Just like back home it appears that these people butchered their own meat and prepared it here. Andrew and Chip promised the people here that they will teach them how to hunt, and take care of the meat tomorrow. It is so gratifying to see the faces of the people whose lives are changing so drastically. It reminds Emma and me of when we first joined the groups in Virginia. You can see the pride of accomplishment in all their faces, i
nstead of the desperation that was there. The fear and distrust of each other seems to be leaving as well. Working together toward a common goal can do that for you.
In the morning, we are getting ready to work on cleaning the barns. Chip took a look around yesterday and is excited about the farm equipment they have here. He and Andrew are taking Brad and Todd, who is the man we met in town, hunting this morning. The freezer seems to be working fine, so they figure now is as good a time to fill it as any. Brad and Todd ask why they don’t just shoot the cattle or deer that are in the field’s right near the houses. They explain that if they hunt those animals first, then they will have to go out farther all the time. If they go away from the farm first, the game will stay close, in case they ever need it. We have our walkie-talkies and within an hour we get a call to come and pick up a large steer, and a good sized deer. The men spend just about the rest of the day butchering the meat, and getting it hung in the freezer.
Towards the end of the day, we are surprised to see our people, accompanied by those from up north, pull into the driveway. We can tell by the looks on their faces that they are surprised to see the progress that has been made here. I would not blame the people here if they told the others they are not welcome, because that’s what they did to them. However I am pleased to see them welcome the other group and they are all excited to show them everything they have accomplished. We have a meeting of all of us from back home, where we find out that the group up north finally realized that where they were, is not adequate for what they want to accomplish. They are going to settle in the first location we found when we came down here. For tonight though they get their first taste of sleeping in a warm house, with electric lights. If there were any doubters among them, they have all been converted.
2nd Earth 2: Emplacement Page 23