Survivors

by Alex Isaacs

  Friday night, my parents arrive with Rose, Jody, and the two Marie’s. I take everyone up early on Saturday morning, making sure it is a gentle ride. My mom says it is like flying in an airplane. We take my mom to see the farm, which will be theirs. My mom says it does not look like our home in the valley. My dad says once we move all our belongings up here, it will look like home. My dad looks at the farm, saying it needs a proper farmer to run this farm. My mom agrees with him. I offer to take mom to look out into space; she says no, this is enough for today. We head back to the base, Simon is waiting for us, my dad tells Simon he needs to get proper farmers up there running the farms. Simon says they can talk about it over dinner.

  My parents go with Simon, the Urbina’s, Jody, and the General out for dinner. When they return to Urbina’s house, I am there with the girls waiting to see what is going on. Simon tells my parents it is up to them; the offer is open to moving them. Jody and Rose say they will move to the CSV with my parents when they want to go there. I see my dad looking at my mom. She asks what about the kids and their schooling. I tell my mom we can get them to take their classes online. The army has it for their children that are in other countries on other bases. The General tells my mother he will set everything up on Monday for them to do their schooling online. My mom says she will sleep on it, giving everyone an answer in the morning.

  I take the three girls back to the base; I tell them I am thinking of moving to the CSV to work on my farm, my dad is right; they need proper farmers. The girls look at me; I tell them I am flying up there almost every day anyway, why not live there doing some more work. I see Jason, who gives me the thumbs up. He tells me the third floors are up on both houses for us now. I tell Jason I am thinking of moving up to the CSV to help with the farming. Jason asks if he should come with me to learn. I say it will be up to the General when I ask him in the morning. I have a bad night sleeping; I am excited to move to the CSV. In the morning, after breakfast, I go to see the General. He says he is going with Simon to see what my mother's answer is. I ask the General for permission to move to the CSV to help with my farm full time while still doing my other duties. The General smiles, asking me to get the girls and come to with him to see my parents.

  I get the girls; we meet everyone at Ann’s house. My mom comes out to talk; the General says he has an announcement to make. The General says he is permitting Alex to move to the CSV to take care of his farm, along with his other duties. If anyone else wants to move to the CSV, he will make all the arrangements immediately. I see my dad looking at my mom; he wants to move there as well. My mom asks the General about the school courses. The General looks at me, asking if I can find them online today. We go to Joe’s computer, finally finding them. The General comes over, sending a message stating his requirements. For a Sunday, I was amazed at how quickly they answered him. Now the General turns to my mother, saying it is all set up. My mother looks at my dad, asking how long will it take to move the furnishings from the houses.

  The General says by the time my parents get home, he will have his men there with shipping containers to put everything in them. Jody asks if she can move there now with my parents. The General looks around to Joe and Rose. Rose smiles, saying we might as well move there now also. Simon tells the General to get enough containers for the other families in the valley. First will be the Isaacs and the Jones to move. The General gets on his phone, giving the orders to start the move. Simon tells me we are lucky to have all those free shipping containers from your friend. Joe says he will get a container here today to begin there move. Rose hugs my mom and Jody, telling them she will see them on the CSV. Rose grabs Ann to get some boxes. I ask permission to help them move; the General says no, I have to fly everything up to the CSV along with Maggie and anyone else moving up from the base. Mandy lets Ann know she will get her things together to take with us today.

  My dad asks the General should someone be left in the valley to keep it operating. The General looks at Simon; I ask if my friend Kevin and Tanya can run the valley farms, he is living there now. Simon says he is okay with that. My dad says he will get him to run everything. My dad, mom, Jody, and the two Marie’s head to fly back to the valley. Joe tells Simon he will go back to the valley to move the remaining things to the CSV later after they are on board.

  I head back, excited to be moving. I do not have that much to move. I get my things together, letting Jason know about the move, anyone that wants to move can. I let Kelly know; she heads out to see the General. Jason begins to pack his things. We begin moving our things to the PSV, Kelly catches up to us, telling us to take more people with us, the whole battalion is moving up to CSV-2. Jason moves over to another PSV; we will need to make a couple of trips. We get up to the CSV with the first load of people from the battalion. The others go towards the crew quarters. Kelly and Jenny see the three of us getting ready to go to the farms. Kelly stops us asking where we are going. I say I have my farm to run, Jason says he is also going to run a farm now. Maggie says she is going to help her mom on her farm. Kelly laughs at Jason, saying you a farmer. Jason smiles saying yes; I am going to be a farmer, I also get a house to stay in to do my extra work.

  I see the look on the two girls' faces, a house to stay in, instead of the small quarters. They pick up their things, coming with the three of us. I ask where they are going. Kelly says she would like to try out the farming. I tell Kelly my mother will not like me having a woman in my house; Jason says Alex’s mom might like it that way with him. Kelly tells the two of us we can bunk together. I say no, Jason will be running a farm on his own; he has to be at the farm my dad gives him to run. Jason looks at me; he was hoping to get the farm near me, that we have made alterations to now. I tell Kelly she can move in with my parents for the time being. Kelly says no, they will bunk with the two of us; it will be like living in the barracks. We head to the houses; I can not argue with her all day on this. As we enter the farm level, the two girls come into my house. It is a mess; I have not moved everything yet. I ask who is staying with Jason; both girls say not them at the same time. Great, now I have two women staying with me. They look in the bedrooms; there are no beds in the house yet for them. The two girls say they will take my room; they do not mind sharing a bed until they can get more in for them.

  I decide to go upstairs to the third floor. I might as well camp out there where I can have some peace and have my things. I go back to help get the rest of the people in the battalion. Kelly has gone to organize everyone, taking Jenny to help set other things up for the battalion. After the last of our battalion is on the CSV. Jason comes over; we begin to move all the mini theatre things to the third floor, along with all the furnishings. Jason says this might not work out now for me; I say it will after my mom finds out about the two of them.

  In the next couple of days, my family is on the CSV. My dad asks who is staying in the farms; we need to get them into a routine. I tell my dad, who is where right in front of my mom. My mother calls the General, wanting to see him. The General shows up, my mother saying some of these living arrangements will not be acceptable. The General finds out what is going on, then asks my parents to look after it, they are in charge of all the farms. My mother talks with my dad then tells Jason to move in with my brother David to help with the pigs. My mother looks at Kelly and Jenny, telling them to move into the house that Jason has left. Ann and Mandy ask if they can move in with Kelly to help with the farm. My mother agrees after Kelly says they do not have that much experience. My mother looks at Kelly, asking if there is a preacher on the CSV. Kelly says yes, then asks why with a concerned look on her face. My mom says it is time for Marie and Peter to get married. Marie hugs my mom, then runs out to find Peter.

  Jason asks if it is okay for the engineers to put another floor on top of David’s house, he would like to set up an area for watching his astronomy class, then says that David can also use it for his classes. My mother says yes, now I wonder what Jason is up to now. We go to pick up more people
that are moving up to the CSV’s. George and his daughter are in the group I bring up. George says he wants his pregnant daughter on board now since my parents suggested the move. I ask George what they will say about being off. George says he is taking some holidays, wondering if I can help him get some supplies in for his daughter. They could be useful for any other mother on the CSV. I get his list, saying I will contact Scott about these goods. I suggest that we buy some of the items by ourselves. George says when his holidays are over, he will go back to work, staying in the valley.

  I go to Simon, letting him know about the list of goods we would like to get for some of our passengers. Simon says he has talked with George, handing me a dozen small gold bars. Simon then hands me a list, Jason has suggested some items as well for the farms. I see alcohol on the list; I ask Simon why alcohol. Simon says for medicinal purposes. Simon says that George will be running the train for us while he is off. Maybe Scott can help to get these items quickly for us. Simon then tells me the General is moving a medical battalion up the two CSV’s.

  I head back to talk with my mother; something is up, she moved onto the CSV quickly. I get her alone, asking why she came up here so quickly. My mother told me that Jody talked with her, saying that something might happen. Jody said she is moving to be with her family, suggesting that she move to be with me. I thank my mom, then head out to find Jason. I find out that he is also talking with Scott, getting some side orders in for us. Jason says that now that George is going to be available for the next few weeks, we will take advantage of it. Jason shows me his list; it is a little different from the list Simon gave me. Jason tells me that the jet is in Colorado, waiting to take us to see Scott, dropping George off at the train. I think about my courses, grabbing my laptop, and some hard drives to download them for now. We get George, flying down to Colorado. Jason calls Scott, letting him know that the two of us will be in town in a few hours with more items and cash.

  We drop George off, he getting the train ready to come to California. We take the jet to meet Scott; the jet will wait for us here. We get the motorhome, going to cash some more gold bars, Simon gave Jason some as well. We meet up with Scott and Jake, handing them the list, asking them to help us get these supplies quickly. Scott asks why the rush. Jason says his group is ready to move into there site in the mountains. We want to get as much as we can right now, stocking up ahead of time. Scott says his group would like to get more goods, but we do not have the money. I take out my cash, handing it to Scott, telling him we can get him some more. Jake looks at the list, saying he can get this directly from the shipyard in the next few days. Jake asks why all the beer and winemaking kits. I look at Jason; he says his people like to drink. We say goodbye; the containers will begin arriving at the rail yard in the morning when our train comes in. George must have called them as well.

  I talk with Jason about these extra goods of his. Jason asks if I want to have a beer at the odd time as he wants. I say maybe, but why the kits. Jason tells me that we cannot store that many cases of beer or wine on the CSV without someone finding it can we. He has a point; then, I go down the list. Jason has answers for everything. I also see that he has more food included on the list, specific items. I ask how we will get it on board, Jason smiles saying it is for the farms, no one will ask anything. We can store it in different places, returning some of the empty containers. The next day some of the containers go on the train. We cash in some more gold, giving Scott some more cash, he told us those containers are free, his man went to the docks acting like one of the foremen to get specific containers to go east today. He will go down again when your train comes back. I look at Jason; we might as well start moving the goods to the CSV. We fly back to the warehouse, letting the troops know of the train coming in, so they can empty it to send right back. The drivers can start to make trips to the base in Colorado.

  We fly to the base, finding that a few more drivers will help to move the shipping containers to the base. Jason has some more appliances coming now to the base. We make another trip to the CSV, taking containers that are waiting to go, along with some personnel from the medical battalion. The one container is full of popcorn for my machine. Jason laughs saying he forgot to tell me that. We move the container into a spot in the barn on my farm level. I will begin to empty it after my house is empty. The other container has food in it for the CSV, which helps to cover our movements. I find my house empty, Jason helps me to begin to move the boxes of popcorn to my house, putting them in different spots, every empty spot that is not needed, has boxes in it. We get some sleep; we need to head back to the Colorado base to begin the movement of containers.

  In the morning, I download my classes before heading out. We get to the base; some containers are in, the drivers will drive in shifts. One container has the appliances that we need for the other farmhouses. I take the load to the first CSV, dropping off the appliances, then go to our CSV to drop the rest. Jason has a couple of extra fridges for David’s house, some for beer, the other for the drinks for the kids. Jason has done our CSV first, then the second CSV, dropping the beds off for the farmhouses. We take the empty containers back with us. We come back to get another load, this time taking both to our CSV. One is Jason beer kits; the other is the goods for George and his pregnant daughter. Jason’s container goes to his level, Jason making sure it is locked up for no one to look into it. Mine has the goods emptied for storage. We head down for another load, more baby goods, and one container filled with the wine kits. We drop them off, Jason taking them to my parent's level for storing. I ask Jason if he is serious about leaving it on my parent's level. Jason says he is going to ask my mom if she likes to have wine sometimes. Jason says he is getting a container full of beer and wine for the bottles. Another will have more supplies for helping to bottle the wine and beer.

  We move some more of my goods out for the rest of the evening, nearly emptying the container. In the morning, Jason suggests we empty the container, putting the boxes here in the barn under a tarp. We do that, taking the empty container away. We head down, finding two of the containers that Jason was hoping to find. The one has the liquor in it; the other is full of beer and wine. Jason loads the liquor on his PSV, telling me to take the beer to my level for now. Jason heads to CSV-1 to drop, letting Simon know of the delivery. I drop the beer container on my level, making sure of the locks before heading back down to the base. We head down for another load; this has more food, we take them up to both CSV’s. That night, I ask Jason where he will store all those kits. Jason tells me he is working on it. He gets me to come to his house to see how things are going. The third floor is upon the house; he can now get his area set up. Jason asks if it is true that pigs will eat anything, I say yes. We look in the pig barn, Jason looking at the upstairs. Jason suggests that we go around each day collecting the leftover food scraps, which will cut down on the amount of feed we need to store in the upper level of the pig barn.

  We now head over to see my dad getting him to put the orders through for the daily pickups. My dad asks for buckets to help carry the food scraps each day to drop in a bin at the pig barns on each CSV. Jason writes that down on his list. We now head back to sleep for the night, Jason telling me we would visit Scott tomorrow. We head down, more containers of food are arriving, so we get a couple of other flight crews to do the deliveries today. We fly in to meet Scott; another load is on its way with George, which contains more food and household goods. Jason asks about some other video games, movies, and televisions. Scott says that his guy is getting more of these items this week, saying they will sell them to get some more money coming in for them. I ask if he needs more money from us. Scott says no, his guy is getting most of our stuff for free; he justs reroutes the containers to us. The shipyard will not notice it for a few weeks, Scott adding it is long gone by that time. Jason asks if Scott has a separate container he will put these items in now; Scott says he will set one out. Jason asks if we can drop a few things into the container today to go wi
th it to the train later. Scott tells us to call him later; he will go now, then give us the directions to drop our things off.

  We head out looking for the equipment to make the beer and wine in, getting four sets of each. We put it in the motorhome, then go to look for the buckets for the collecting of the food scraps. We find the buckets, buying what we can. We call Scott, meeting him to drop off the equipment. We will take the buckets with us to start the food collection. I ask Scott about more medical supplies, Scott says that it might be difficult to get for a week or two, but he will let us know when he can get the goods. We say goodbye, heading back to the plane, taking our buckets with us up to the CSV. We get back, taking the buckets to distribute around the CSV. David and Jason are getting along now; I thought they might have a problem with the work on the farm.

  The next morning, the crew in the landing bay are talking with Jason, he nods his head then we head off to bring the next loads of supplies up to the CVS’s. When we get back for the day, David is here waiting for Jason. I now wonder what the two are up to now. We go to the main farm level; Kelly has us now doing some training on my parent's farm. It is great for doing our runs, feeling like we are outdoors. The next couple of days are easy for us. On Thursday, Jason is making sure of his special cargo. I notice that the landing bay crew are helping Jason out, getting the container away to one the lift in the barn for the different levels. David is back down with Jason before we head back for another load. We get down to the base, Jason finding another container that he wants to take up. Jason asks for us to hurry so we can get another load up to the CSV today. We get up to unload; the crew is there waiting. They take the load, David making sure of the container to go with him, then we get fuel quickly. These guys are in a rush to help us out today.