Fire From The Sky | Book 12 | Embers

by Reed, N. C.

  “The store will not open until we have everything ironed out and ready. We need to have a firm guide on how to price things, how to charge commissions for work or products, and rules by which we will operate. Things we can’t effectively run a store without. We will do our best to make it as soon as possible, but that’s not a date or a time frame. Just our best effort.”

  “Same goes for the banking. We’re working on it, but there are a lot of rules in banking and money handling, and we aren’t going to open any type of bank until we have a solid set of rules to run it by. That’s also a period. When it comes to money, no one is going to accept rule changes on the fly, and we wouldn’t expect you to. So, everything must be ready and waiting when the operation opens. We haven’t arrived at that point yet, but we are trying. Remember that the people trying to work all this out also have jobs to do, including working in the afore mentioned gardens.”

  “In case you aren’t getting the message, I’ve had it with the complaints and the pissing and moaning about why you can’t get paid for work that no one else is paid for. There’s not even a place to spend it yet! If you refuse to work, then you will not be fed at the farm’s expense, nor at the expense of your neighbors. We’ve never had a problem with this until I mentioned trying to make a return to normal. Now all of sudden, everyone ‘needs’ to get paid.”

  “I made sure to tell you who would get paid by the farm, and for what. The gardens, just as a for instance, are not a case of you working for the farm, but rather working for yourselves. Even the security forces and those who have other essential jobs still do their share in the garden labor, and they don’t get paid for it. This has been the way of it since we began. It’s not going to change.”

  “If it does change, it will be that everyone has their own garden and prepares their own food. That will probably be a lot more difficult for some, but that would be your problem and not mine. People don’t get paid for their garden at home, or didn’t before the Storm, anyway. I don’t imagine that’s changed any.”

  “I’m not going to answer any questions this time because you’ve got all the answers you need. Make sure your garden hours are recorded, and that you do them, or feed yourself somehow from now on. And I’m not kidding about finding a new place to live, either. We will not have any kind of uproar or trouble stirring on this farm. We’ve got too many problems as it is to allow more. Make your decisions and let me know what you’re going to do. That’s all.”

  -

  “Well, that was direct and to the point,” Greg commented as he took a seat in Clay’s office.

  “I hate to say I told you so,” Lainie sighed.

  “But you told me so,” Clay held up a hand to ward off her comment. “I know. I expected difficulty, but this is beyond me. It’s not everyone, thankfully, but it’s enough.”

  “Well, if this didn’t put an end to it, nothing else will I suspect,” Greg noted, his hands raised to his sides in a gesture of helplessness.

  “I’m tempted to cancel the whole thing,” Clay grumped. “At the very least to suspend it for a while. I shouldn’t have mentioned it at all, and if I had seen this much difficulty in it, I wouldn’t have. This all started with me wanting a store and trading post where we could trade with people outside the farm.”

  “We can still do that,” Greg shrugged. “Just have the trading post set up to do business with outsiders and leave it at that. Trading them stuff we have for stuff we want. I know Leon wants more alternators and generators from cars. I’m sure Darrell would want more spring steel, too. For that matter, I imagine that Gary and Sara would be interested in any firearms that aren’t working. Between the two of them I’d guess there isn’t much they can’t repair.”

  “Wouldn’t that just inflame the complainers even more?” Lainie asked.

  “We’ll blame the whole thing on them, though without calling them by name,” Clay shrugged. “We’ll still pay the people working for the farm but ask them not to bandy that about. There may come a time when they’ll be glad to have the silver.”

  “Asking for trouble with that last one,” Lainie sighed. “Again.”

  “That’s true,” Greg sounded like he hated to say it. “But the idea is sound. The store idea I mean,” he clarified.

  “I’ll think on it.”

  -

  The traffic going northward had trickled to a halt just days after Isaac Miller and his family had stopped at the farm. While there was no way to absolutely establish that the travelers were trying to escape further predation by the kind of gangs that had attacked the farm during the winter, Isaac himself had spoken to at least three households who had the same idea as he did; find somewhere else to be. A purely luck of the draw decision had led Isaac to the Sanders’ farm, where he and his family had found a new home. Others had kept going, hoping for greener pastures further away.

  With the Second Exodus, as it was now being termed, over, life on the farm returned to a semblance of normal as the Sanders and their ‘employees’ prepared for planting season. There was also an influx of new piglets and new chickens. Finally, both Bella and Petals were getting close to delivering litters of puppies sired by the giant Bruce. New protectors of the people on the farm. It was sure to be a busy time and that was despite the turmoil started over the store and the bank and ‘pay’.

  “I hate to say-,” Lainie started, almost in singsong.

  “Then stop saying it, okay?” Clay sounded somewhat exasperated. “I get it. You told me so.”

  “Somebody’s grumpy,” she teased. She felt completely justified after the way Clay had dumped the whole ‘golly, if you don’t do the bank and the store, who would I ever find better’ routine on her.

  “Somebody is fed up is all,” he corrected her. “Somebody also has to prepare for planting season. We’re about a week-and-a-half away from it, and there’s a lot more land to prep and plant this year. Not to mention security to plan for the operations.”

  “Sorry, Cowboy,” Lainie was genuinely contrite after hearing all that. “That is a lot to worry over. Anything I can help with?”

  “No,” he shook his head. “Thanks, but most of it will be Ronny and I driving and Dad and Robert supporting. Dee can drive, too, so she’ll probably be helping, and I think both Moses and Cliff have a little experience, but all that is up to Dad. I just go where he points and do what he says,” he chuckled.

  “Glad not to be in charge, are we?” Lainie laughed.

  “You have no idea.”

  -

  “So, what did you end up doing?” Clay asked as he and Lainie met with the twins and Millie Long.

  “We bought items from people on the farm who make different things, mostly clothing at the moment, but also wooden toys, and soap from Miss Lacey, of course,” Leanne began.

  “The Webbs have a ton of stuff they wanted to market, and they should do really well,” Leon continued. “Leather gear like gloves and pouches, ammunition bandoliers and even one backpack. Daisy and Jasmine are making home remedies for aches and pains, sore feet and treatments for corns and what not as well as some other stuff I’ll let these two fill you in on,” his face reddened a bit.

  “Better get over that, Ace,” Millie warned, and for once wasn’t joking. “They’re making women’s needs, and doing a pretty damn good job, too,” she then told Lainie. “I’ll show you,” she nodded to another part of the building and the three women headed that way.

  “Got something you wanna tell me, Deuce?” Clay asked. “Or should I say Ace?”

  “Not yet,” he muttered. “But maybe soon.”

  “Do I need to get a place ready for you and Millie to live in?” his uncle asked.

  “I don’t know, yet,” Leon admitted. “Have you thought about having a honeymoon shack or something?” he asked suddenly.

  “I have not, in fact, I don’t think anyway,” Clay frowned a bit, trying to remember. “But it sounds like a fine idea to me.”

  “It’s just…there are a lot of peo
ple starting to hook up around here,” Leon shrugged. “That’s going to continue, too. People will eventually want a honeymoon as well as their own homes. Just human nature.”

  “You’re right, it is,” Clay almost hummed. “That’s given me a lot to think on, Leon. Thank you.”

  “You bet,” the nephew smiled. “I wouldn’t think on it over long,” he added as a last warning, face red again.

  “Then I won’t.”

  -

  “Yeah, I’ve thought about that,” Gordon nodded. “Surprised it hasn’t come up before now, really.”

  “Everyone is too busy surviving,” Clay shrugged. “Or has been, anyway.”

  “That is true I suppose,” Gordon admitted. “Got any ideas?”

  “A couple,” Clay replied. “I thought we could build a smaller version of the Square up around the Plum farm. The well there is a good one and there’s other water there for horses and what have you. We keep the post manned around the clock so that gives them some security no matter who lives there. As for a honeymoon shack?” he snorted. “That I got no idea for, really. I mean I do for the house, just not for where to put it? You know of a good place?”

  “Before the attack in January I would have said yes and told you to put it along the pond in Number Eleven,” his father nodded. Number Eleven referred to Pasture Eleven.

  “Yeah, that’s a little too exposed,” Clay mused. “Maybe somewhere along the creek?”

  “Where would you put it that it wouldn’t be just as exposed if someone came on us from the north?” Gordon questioned. “Might never happen, but if it did and someone was there, it’d be bad.”

  “True,” Clay sighed. This was much harder than he’d expected. “Hey,” had a thought suddenly. “What about Ladybug Spring?”

  “What about-, oh, yeah,” Gordon caught himself, nodding. “Yeah, that would work okay. Take a bit of work to get it in shape for something like that, but once finished it would be easy to keep up. We’ve kept the water clean over the years, too.”

  Ladybug Spring was an old home place that was so old not even Leon the Elder had known who was there before the Sanders had arrived. The home was long gone, of course, but the spring remained, and had been watering Sanders’ cattle for years. Decades, even.

  “Would we need to block the cattle out, you think?” Clay wondered.

  “Just around the one side,” Gordon informed him. “Fence down either side to leave part of the spring open for the love birds,” he chuckled. “We can even get Ronny to dig it out a little and make a small wading pool for it. You know, when no one is newly married, that would be a fine reward for people who are doing good work, or else you could rent it out. Or both,” he shrugged.

  “Let’s get it built, first,” Clay laughed lightly. “Then we can worry about becoming landlords.”

  -

  “We’ll try to make this meeting short and sweet, though that’s never worked before,” Clay snorted. Jose Juarez, Greg Holloway, Sienna Newell, Faron Gillis, Triana Flores, Jaylyn Thatcher and Kandi Ledford all sat around the table, tablets in hand. This was their weekly supervisor’s meeting. Gordon had decided that he and Dottie need not attend, and that had been that. Sienna was representing the ‘garage’ in this instance, Jake being elbow deep in an overhaul.

  “Jose?” Clay started.

  “Security is set the way we planned it, with the towers all manned and equipped and the roving patrols beefed up as well as the response unit. We’ve got enough people to run three shifts, and even allow for time off in ones and twos. We’re considering splitting each shift into threes to allow a twelve-hour shift, with four hours for each team on patrol, on the towers and on response. If we did that, then each team could get a full day off, or maybe even two days, as the teams rotate. We’re still studying the details on that.”

  “I like that, if it can be done,” Clay nodded, thinking it over. “Allowing for some steady time-off would lend a sense of normalcy that we’re sorely lacking right now. If I can do anything to make that easier, let me know.”

  “Will do,” Jose nodded. “Otherwise, our gear and equipment are stored properly and in good shape.”

  “Greg?” Clay called on his friend next.

  “We have a steady patrol on call, ready to answer any kind of law-and-order issue, though there haven’t been any so far. Still, our walking patrols are being seen and doing a good patrol, so it’s a start. I am using a couple of people who signed up for the old Sheriff’s patrol to help pad the numbers, by the way. At some point we need to start getting out to the radio stations we set up and see how they’re doing. Otherwise, we’re good.”

  “We’ll try and work that in somewhere,” Clay promised. “Not a bad idea at all. And using who you need to from the old patrol is fine. Just make sure any duties it takes them away from are covered.”

  “Got it,” Greg promised.

  “Cece?”

  “Jake and Paci are overhauling a 939 right now,” Sienna reported. “I’ve been stripping the transmission from an old pickup, a Chevy, that runs but won’t pull right. If we can fix it, we can either use it or trade it. Thanks to our own efforts and the new arrivals we are in good shape for parts and tools both. All vehicles that are listed as ready for use are up to date on their service and so are most of those that are listed out-of-service. They’re down for other reasons that we’re working on, but if you needed them, they’re ready to go. The only real issue is covered storage for all the vehicles, and you have plans for that.”

  “Great!” Clay smiled at that. “Faron?”

  “As Jose said, we’re set,” Faron replied at once. “Other than examining the new shift, or at least the potential for it, our patrols are mapped out and in service, with alternating routes every two or three days, but never in a pattern. The towers are equipped with heavy weapons and if we ever face an attack like the one in January again, they will be able to blast it with 40 mike mikes as soon as contact is made. The big bunker is also now equipped to handle pretty much anything that can be thrown at us and constantly manned by people who know how to use everything in there. They are, by definition, not part of the regular rotation. That is their permanent assignment when they are on duty. We’re fully equipped and have no shortage of any kind right now.”

  “Good idea with the bunker,” Clay complimented. “I like it. Not everyone knows how to deal with that kind of equipment. Good deal. Let’s see…Triana?”

  Triana Flores blushed slightly as everyone turned her way. She had worked very hard since her arrival to make up for her attitude when she’d first visited the farm. Everyone had gradually accepted her presence and slowly learned to trust her as time wore on. She still walked on eggshells as the saying went, but she was becoming more comfortable with each passing day. Meetings like this one were helping her.

  “I feel like my reports are redundant,” she chuckled, and the others laughed with her. “There are no major problems to report, anywhere. There are always problems, of course, but they are simply the normal and run-of-the-mill sort of problems we’d have to deal with even in peace time. Things like the overhaul on the niner-three-niner,” she nodded at Sienna. “We now have a complete inventory, but I will let Lieutenant Ledford speak to that, since it was her work. For now, we have sufficient man, or woman, power to accomplish all of our tasks.”

  “Good news. I love good news,” Clay smiled again. “Jaylyn?”

  “All wounded are now out of the clinic, and all are doing well. Several are already back on duty and the rest are almost to that point and working hard to finish their rehab. We are good for manpower and supplies, thanks in no small part to the arrival of Lieutenant Flores’ folks, but as always, whatever you can find when you’re out and about is always welcome.”

  “Everyone has that word,” Clay promised. “And saving the best for last, Kandi!” Clay made an elaborate flourish, causing Kandi to turn beet red while everyone else chuckled, except for Sienna Newell, her roommate and best friend, who just fla
t out laughed at the blonde’s discomfiture.

  “We completed our inventory on all supplies and equipment outside of food stores, which was already finished,” Kandi studied her tablet closely. “I’m sending you a copy of everything,” she tapped her screen with a stylus and the two tablets connected with a radio signal and exchanged information.

  “While there are a few gaps in that inventory, that’s to be expected and is completely normal, even when the world was still working,” Kandi finally looked up, careful to avoid looking around her. “For now, we are completely able to meet all expected needs, and all contingencies that we’ve planned for. In fact, we have packages ready to go for each of those contingencies, including a scramble to put a patrol out. Sergeant Winfield and I review some part of those plans each day to try and anticipate what needs we might be called upon to meet. We are caught up at this time and with the part-time assistance in place, we are sufficient on manpower,” she concluded.

  “Thank you, Kandi, and I apologize for embarrassing you that way,” Clay told her, genuinely contrite. “I was simply glad to be almost finished, and hoped you were going to have a good report as well.”

  “It’s okay,” she smiled brightly, showing everyone why Shane Golden was enamored with her.

  “Well, with that all done, I think we can safely adjo-,” he stopped short as a shell-shocked looking Leon walked into the meeting.

  “Leon?” Clay asked, concerned.

  “We…we have a problem,” Leon told him softly. “We have a big, big problem.”

  “What kind of problem?” Clay asked, instantly on guard.

  “You’ll need to hear it for yourself,” he waved toward Operations. “It’s still playing.”

  “What is ‘it’?” Greg asked, getting to his own feet to follow.

  “Better for you to hear it yourself, I think,” Leon replied. As they neared the door, Clay could hear what had to be a radio transmission.

  “-heavy fighting is still raging outside of Chicago where rebels are dug in and seem determined to destroy the historic Windy City. Meanwhile, in other fighting, government units have encircled the last group of resistance in Pittsburgh and hope to have things there under control soon.