Avalon: The Retreat

by Rusin, L. Michael

  They set another trap down the rail bed about a mile and a half. They rolled a number of large boulders into place and set them above the rail bed at a downhill slant. Once activated, they could be rolled toward the old track bed through the force of gravity. Braced by a log wall that could be triggered to fall by releasing the catch, the boulders would come tumbling down in a large and destructive mass on top of anything coming.

  A mile farther down was another one set and ready to fall, but the danger with using them was that the rail bed could possibly be taken off the side of the mountain, but that was unlikely. The main concern was that it would block access and make it difficult for the group to come and go as they pleased later. These were “last resort tactics.”

  They made sure they had backups for backups. Water was flowing in several areas, not just one. Food was distributed out and away from other food storage areas, not in just one place. Several weapons were stored in caches around the ranch with GPS locations recorded.

  Behind the main building about a hundred yards and exactly thirty degrees to the right on a compass course and then another half mile straight ahead was an old cemetery tucked back in the woods. Eli, his son, and his wife were buried there along with some unknown souls whose old wood markers were rendered unreadable.

  A large marble, and somewhat ostentatious, tombstone marked the grave of Slim Rankin. Off to the right another fifteen hundred feet was another huge meadow and in it stood the original homestead that Eli had built. It sat there in silence, keeping the dead company.

  Some members of the group decided to draw straws for the old place, and Chad and Linda won but changed their minds later and gave it to Sam and Crystal, who took it with great delight. They began the clean-up and remodel right away when they were not busy with their regular jobs. One of the things that kept Sam and a few others busy was a modification to the ash wagon.

  The manure piles were growing bigger every day and the intent was to use it out on the various fields as a natural fertilizer. They used the wagon to get the manure out there and then had to come up with a plan as to how they were going to distribute it evenly once it was there. Nobody was looking forward to doing it by hand so Perry came up with the answer.

  They designed a series of tines bolted onto two angle iron pieces that were also bolted together and fitted into the full width of the wagon bed from one side to the other. They made four, connected them to a geared mechanism below the wagon, and made them fast between the axles. As the wagon moved forward, drawn by the draft horses or the old tractor, the fixed gears moved to turn the shafts above and the four shafts rotated inside the wagon bed. Once engaged, the device rotated and threw the manure high into the air, distributing it evenly in a wide area. By disengaging the device, they could transport a wagon load out to the field before distributing the manure.

  They built side rails from an old dilapidated shed that was out behind the barn. A good sized load would cover a couple of acres each time it was used. The whole assembly could be taken off when not needed, and the flat-bed wagon could be used to haul just about anything from a load of lumber to a wagon full of food or alfalfa or whatever else was being worked on at the time. When they weren’t working on the wagon or fabricating iron parts in the blacksmith shop, Sam and Crystal worked on their new home.

  Everyone in the group had more than enough to do in terms of manual labor. Except for the weekends and sometimes then, they kept busy. If they weren’t preparing food to be cooked, cooking or baking, cleaning up, sweeping, dusting, or mending something, they were standing watch. There were cows to be milked twice a day and someone had to feed and water all the animals.

  Sentry standing was an important duty and everyone, except a very few, stood the watch. The Chefs didn’t have to stand watch because they cooked about twelve hours every day. Dan didn’t, Mike didn’t, Perry and Sally didn’t, and Dennis and Charlene didn’t, but the rest of the members did.

  The children worked as well, but on a lesser intensity than the adults. Some of the women were pregnant and their workload was reduced appropriately. Dan stayed busy doing medical chores and Mike patrolled the woods on horseback more or less on a daily basis to check for signs of intruder activity.

  The motorcycles were relegated to quick runs such as changing the watch out by the end of the road in the hidden bunker. Although they had enough gas in their stockpile, there was always backup of ethanol for combustible engines.

  Chapter 20 Lessons Learned

  The group attended a mandatory training session every other weekend. Mike wanted them to stay sharp. They participated in exercises, ran obstacle courses, honed their shooting skills, and applied a new twist each time to the hand-to-hand combat techniques that Mike had taught them.

  They practiced taking out a sentry with a knife by attacking vital spots to kill the enemy, which made Dan cringe. One such technique was to sneak up behind the enemy combatant and shove the knife blade down into the body by way of the shoulder area next to the neck. The attacker would hold the victim in a headlock and move the blade back and forth, severing the axillary arteries that run down the arm. This would allow them to take out a sentry without making a big mess. The bad guy would bleed out internally and keep the surrounding area clean.

  They viewed pictures of where that main artery is located by looking at a diagram in the Gray’s Anatomy and the Merck Manual. Dayna was an excellent artist and she made a few posters from paper grocery bags that they hung around for everyone to see. They also practiced patrolling, tracking, and moving by groups.

  They worked together in pairs and in groups of four to practice the team work and problem solving exercises, which were taken from the S.S. Nazi training exercises of World War II. For example, a team would approach a wide and long hole in the ground and use a board that was shorter than the crossing to get to the other side. The group was timed and had to determine how to get across the obstacle using just the board and their imagination. The U.S. Marine Corps had also actively used this training for decades at their Leadership Reaction Course at the Officer Candidates School in Quantico, VA.

  Some classes focused on getting across a fast moving body of water as an individual and as a part of a group. One class taught them how to build Monkey Bridges and another instructed on building a three rope bridge. There was an area out by the track bed that they used for rappelling fundamentals and rock climbing. In yet another class, they trained in the art of camouflaging both themselves and their equipment. All in all, the entire group stayed skilled and ready.

  Mike was preparing them for war and teaching them to protect not only their retreat but also each other. The most important element he taught them was teamwork.

  Dan, Roger, and Caroline taught classes on emergency war surgery and emergency medicine. They showed the group how to set up an I.V. and control the drip sequences. Everyone learned how to sew up wounds, and, on the larger wounds, how and why to leave a small “Irish Pennant,” referred by some as a drip, to allow the wound to trickle a little and heal from the inside out, as with penetrating wounds from a gunshot. Broken bone mending was emphasized and, more importantly, they were taught the art of stopping blood flow and dealing with a severed artery.

  It was emphasized in no uncertain terms that when and if they had to apply a tourniquet, it could be the first step in the amputation of that limb. It would be better to lose a limb than to die from bleeding out, which could take place in as little as three minutes. When heavy bleeding occurs, the pressure in the veins is reduced and when the veins collapse, they stick together like two pieces of tape. Once that happens, nothing else can be done to save the limb or the life.

  Christmas was coming the next week and the spirit among the group was high not only in anticipation of the holiday, but they were happy that all the bickering had stopped. The camaraderie within the group was as good if not better than any group of non-related people that any of them could remember. They considered each other as family and were there
to watch each others’ backs and survive the tragedy that was happening to the rest of the world. The group was also about to get larger because there were births that would happen soon.

  Dan and Caroline, assisted by Roger, made the hospital larger and organized it as well as any small town hospital they had ever seen. It was smaller, of course, but as effective and operational as any other. The operating room had mirrors on the ceiling to direct the light from the cluster of Aladdin lamps that hung in the center; they lit the area up as well as any electrified Operating Room. They also had a couple of generators stored away, but they preferred to manage without them.

  More often than not, they used solar panels to charge up batteries and used the generators as backup. They fired the generators up once in awhile just to make sure they were working, but other than that, they lived without them. The way things were happening out there in the world, there wasn’t much need for them anyway. There was no TV and the radio stations were all shortwave.

  The U.S. was trying to restart the government but it wasn’t going well. Most people had a huge distrust of politicians because of the former corruption, which had led to the current state of world affairs. Some felt they needed others to deal with what was going on around their own feet, so the parasites were at it again.

  Much of the military abandoned their posts and no one cared, or at least no one was left in charge that cared. Submarine sailors abandoned and scuttled their boats and left them to rust while some crews stayed with their crafts and continued to cruise the waters. Most of the subs were self-sufficient and many not only made their own water but hydroponically grew much of their own food. They were scattered all over the world in waterways that accepted their drafts. Occasionally, one sub made contact with another, or was heard from, but as the time passed, they became just another part of the old story.

  Someone in the group suggested starting a church. Those who wanted or needed to go to a church service agreed and they used the restaurant as the service area. They eventually shifted over to one of the private rooms off the main restaurant and turned it into a permanent church.

  The worship services were well-attended and, surprisingly, Stan Doyle, Beverly’s husband, was an ordained minister and he stepped up to officiate the services. Soon after, he was called on to pray over the body of one of their own… Bobby Larson, who was only forty nine years old. He died at his post out in the large tower behind the main building and was found when his watch ended. Bobby was a quiet man with the unique skills of a civil engineer. Dan attributed the death to heart failure.

  They prepared his body the way it was done in the pioneer days. No embalming, just a quick clean up. They displayed his remains in the small chapel and said words about this nice and gentle man whom everyone liked enormously. The next day, they transported his body by travois, and they said a final goodbye to their friend in Eli’s old family cemetery.

  Rest in Peace, Bobby!

  Chapter 21 First Christmas

  People walked around humming Christmas carols and the mood was festive. The women and children stayed busy decorating the main lounge with homemade everything. Preparations for the grand Christmas dinner and dance progressed smoothly. They connected a small stereo to a converter that would change the stereo from twelve-volt direct current to one hundred twenty-volt alternating current.

  Several people had brought Christmas music on CD’s to the retreat and there was enough music to keep the party going for days. Chad and Linda made taffy and some other treats that sat around in bowls or plates for anyone who was inclined to help themselves. The food was all sugar-free; they used natural honey from their bee colony to sweeten the delicacies.

  The fireplace in the lounge blazed, creating a warming and cheery atmosphere. Many of the people at Avalon went there to read or converse. Today there was a beautiful baby fir tucked off to one side that was decorated with trinkets, ribbons, and all sorts of ornaments.

  The only thing missing were the lights, and if one didn’t know it, they would never guess the rest of the world was in collapse and crawling in slime just to get by. Ice formed outside on the building and around the edges of all the windows. It was about eighteen degrees Fahrenheit outside, but the residents of Avalon were warm and comfortable.

  They slept under sheets in real beds at night and there was an ample supply of anything they needed. That stocking up of supplies that had gone on for many years was paying off with interest. If they needed to use the bathroom they could use the outside services but there were bathrooms in every corner of the retreat.

  The toilet paper went away quickly however, and they were down to a wet cloth to wipe with and another cloth to dry off. People were seen carrying their small bucket with fresh water and two cloths once in awhile or they used the facilities in their cabins, which was more private. If not having toilet paper was the worst of their inconveniences, it was nothing at all in the grand scope of things.

  The activities in the kitchen were frantic, as usual, but the two Chefs were so organized they had one system on top of another that made the processes go as smoothly as cold cream on a doorknob. There were always several people who turned out to help.

  Chad and Linda had developed a routine that had one of them working while the other was off, and the following day they reversed the routine. It worked out well and gave them ample free time to do what they needed to do for themselves. On the weekends others filled in and Chad and Linda were off.

  The duo cooked foodstuffs ahead of time and put them in one of the walk-ins. If something went awry with both of them, almost anyone could get a few meals prepared and organized on their own. The stoves were permanently burning so if someone was hungry, all they had to do was pull the pot out and set it on the stove to warm up their food.

  Many people commented that the food was sometimes better that way because the spices and herbs had ample time to sit in the food and permeate it appreciably. There was always food available for the watch standers once they were relieved.

  Roger was being trained as backup medical doctor under the tutelage of Dan and Caroline, who was moving beyond the requirements of a nurse; she was becoming a medical doctor in her own right.

  Likewise, Mike was training several people in his arts just in case something happened to him. Backups of all critical trades and occupations were essential in making the retreat more than just a home. It was in fact, under the surface, a domesticated tranquil veneer. In reality it was an armed military camp of trained soldiers.

  Everyone was developing fighting forms, which allowed them to stay in good physical shape and learn how to do the jobs normally performed by someone else. It was not only interesting for the people being trained, but it was a vital necessity for all of them.

  The theory of everyone being trained in all jobs came from the U.S. Navy’s system of cross training each crew member of a submarine to know and understand not only their own job, but those of their buddy on the left and on the right. Time moved forward, the training became a way of life, and people couldn’t get bored because there was no time for boredom. There never came a day when someone would hear, “I don’t know how to do that,” or “That isn’t my job.”

  If they didn’t know, they learned… and that was the end of it.

  The flat-bottom wagon was hitched to a team of draft horses for a trip to the coal outcropping located out beyond the back meadow where a small access was carved out of the giant fir trees a few years past. They burned coal in the main boiler that supplied steam to all the radiators in the cabins and in the main building itself.

  The barn had a few radiators to keep the cows content, the stables had several, and the old bunk house had some as well. The small house that Sam and Crystal were remodeling had a couple of stoves, and a cooking stove and heating stove were both in the parlor. It was winter, so all the stoves were fired up and burning twenty-four hours a day. Two teenage boys were designated as the “Fire Box Tenders.”

  The big consumer of t
he coal supply was the main boiler, which had taken a considerable amount of time to completely overhaul and get in working order. It needed constant monitoring and attention to be on the safe side. Not only did it have multiple relief valves incorporated on it, it also had a firebox dump under the firebox grates operated from a large handle that could be engaged by a single person.

  Once the coals were dumped into a large steel box, the red hot nuggets could be extracted from below the boiler, stopping the heat from continuing to heat the water. The dump box was mounted on wheels and could be pulled out from under the fire pit inside the stove by one person, to shut the system down in a matter of minutes, long before it could get hot enough to blow up. No fire, no danger.

  The main boiler was huge… about fifteen feet high and eight feet across… and it had a stack that towered another twenty feet above that. It was round and had massive rivets that held the plates together. It was a major chore to get the parts and materials to the retreat when it was overhauled but was well worth it in the end.

  A few of the men worked on it until they had incorporated a flushing system that washed down the stack internally and diverted the sludge to a holding pond that had another and then another so when one filled, the next would take on the debris and then overflow into the next. This caused the smoke coming out of the smoke stack to look no more ominous than steam emanating from it. That same clean up system was adopted for the kitchen smoke stacks as well.

  The large vent hoods over the cooking areas were fitted to a similar devise later and had a water spray system that, when activated, cleaned the stacks and the filters with hot water, thus removing any buildup of grease and creosote. The kitchen also had a spray system that could flood a particular area if there was a galley fire. A large tank made from wood and lined with plastic, looking much like a large laundry cart, was rolled over to the stove area, pushed under the hoods, and then used to rinse one vent at a time of any grease. Once cleaned, the stacks were serviceable for a couple of months and the process was repeated, all without electricity.