A Long Road Back: Final Dawn: Book 8 (18 page)

     Glenna sniffed the air and asked, “What’s that smell? It smells like cow poop.”

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     Hannah laughed.

     “That’s exactly what it is. When Colonel Montgomery first paid us a visit a few months ago, he wasn’t very friendly. He demanded all of our livestock to help stock his breeding operation in San Antonio. He said he had the right to take them by authority of the United States government, but that we should be happy because we would be helping to feed the survivors in San Antonio and Bexar County.

     “We made the colonel a counter offer. We told him we didn’t mind helping the people of San Antonio and Bexar County. But that we weren’t going to give up everything we’d worked so hard for, for nine long years. We said we’d give him half of everything. Half the cattle, half the pigs, half the chickens.”

     “What did he say?”

     “He didn’t like the offer. He said he’d just come in here and take them by force. So we convinced him that we had armed men in all the barns, and would shoot every last animal, every last chicken, if he tried to take them by force.

     “He finally relented. He sent trucks to pick up half of everything. But he never knew that he didn’t get half. He actually got a quarter. Because they didn’t know about the mine. They also didn’t know that we put half the livestock and poultry into the mine before they even got here. They’ve been here ever since.”

     “Wasn’t that the name of the man who almost killed you in the helicopter crash? Colonel Montgomery?”

     “Yes. But it turned out he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. He came across as gruff and demanding, but he said he had to be that way. He said the survivors of the big chill were tougher than they once were, and didn’t take kindly to the government coming in and taking things. He said he had to make threats and be gruff to convince them he meant business.

     “He also said we were the only ones who ever had the balls to stand up to him and tell him no.”

     “So what do the animals live on? What do they eat and drink?”

     “Sami, Rusty and Mason take turns coming over here every day. Each morning they stop by the schoolhouse and one of the children gets to come with them to help. They gather eggs from the chickens and take them to Karen. They milk Lulu and give the milk to Karen as well.

     “Then they give the animals water from the water tanks. We’ve still got over twenty thousand gallons left in the water storage bay. It won’t be enough to survive another seven year freeze, but it’s plenty for the animals. When we put them in here, we brought in two hundred bales of hay and seventy sacks of chicken and swine feed. They’re still picking at it, and there’s plenty more in barn number two.”

     Mark added. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, ‘How can we live with that smell?’ Am I right?”

     “Well, now that you mention it…”

     “It’s not a problem. Up ahead, see that black curtain that goes from floor to ceiling in the main tunnel?”

     “Yes.”

     “It’s a vapor barrier. A smell blocker, if you will. There’s a second one exactly like it thirty yards farther. Between the two of them, they do a great job of stopping the smells from entering the part of the mine where we lived. And that applied not only to the livestock smells, but for the diesel fuel as well. In the main part of the mine you can smell the salty air, not unlike the smell of the ocean air. And you can smell the dankness from the lack of circulation of the air. But that’s about it.”

     They came into view of the livestock, and the cattle immediately got restless. The pigs started running around and squealing, and the chickens came running to gather at the front of their pen.

     “Don’t pay any attention to them. The crew has already been over here to feed and water them. The problem is, they’ve become accustomed to only seeing humans at feeding time. They associate people with getting fed. So anytime someone walks past they get all excited.”

     “Sort of like Pavlov’s dog.”

     “Exactly.”

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     Hannah reached out and very lightly touched Mark’s forearm.

     “Honey, I’m a little tired. Would you mind finishing the tour without me and picking me up on the way back?”

     “Are you okay? I knew this was too much walking for you to do, so soon out of the hospital.”

     “Oh, I’m fine. I just need to rest up for the long walk back through the tunnel. Unless you want to carry me back.”

     “I would, you know.”

     She smiled.

     “I know you would, baby. But there’s no need to. I’ll be fine if you just let me rest for a few minutes.”

     “Okay. We’ll be back in a bit.”

     Hannah sat on the stool that Sami and the others used to milk Lulu each morning and started talking to the chickens. She knew many of them by name. These were the egg layers, and as such had been saved from slaughter. Their time would come eventually, she knew. But in the meantime she had come to regard them a bit as pets, a bit as old friends.

     Mark and the others continued through the mine’s main tunnel, Mark explaining the purpose of each bay as they passed them.

     After viewing the fuel dump and the massive five thousand gallon diesel tanks lined up in a neat row, they passed through the two vapor barriers.

     “You’re right. It does smell much better over here.”

     Mark had to raise his voice as they passed the next bay.

     “This is the power plant. Sorry if the generator is a bit noisy. That’s why we had them set back fifty yards and put sound barriers between them and the mine. They run periodically throughout the day. They charge the bank of batteries, which are huge. Each of the batteries was made to power an electric forklift, carrying up to three tons, for up to four hours. So they carry a lot of juice. The generator charges the batteries, and everything else in the mine gets its power
from
the batteries. Each time the batteries are filled to eighty percent of capacity, the generator automatically shuts down and rests.”

     “Does the generator run at night?”

     “No. It never runs at night because of the noise factor. At night we doused most of the lights to conserve electricity, and the batteries had plenty of power for what we needed.”

     Marty saw a big blue and white sign that said “Walmart” and laughed.

     “And what is this?”

     “This is what we nicknamed our supply bay. We gave it that name because it had a bit of everything. This is where we put everything from socks to shampoo, shirts to blankets. Whenever somebody needed something, this is where they came.”

      Next came a bay with washing machines on one wall, positioned beneath large water tanks. Glenna looked for the dryers but didn’t see any.

     Marked seemed to sense the question on her face.

     “We had no dryers. The mine naturally stays around sixty five degrees, even when the temperature was below freezing outside. We made the decision early on that it was warm enough in the mine to dry the clothes on lines, the old fashioned way. So we chose not to use the massive amounts of electricity it would take to run a bank of dryers. Back in the back of the bay, where the lights are off, are a series of clotheslines, each with a different color of clothespin.”

     “Why different colors of clothespins?”

     “Because after a while the clothes that everyone brought into the mine with them wore out. Since we were all shopping at the same source, what we called our “Walmart,” after a while everyone’s laundry started to look more or less the same.

     “So the way we solved it was the different colored clothespins. We told everyone that when they hung their clothes on the line, to take one of the extra pins and clip it to the bottom of their shirt. That would not only remind them to go back and pick up their laundry later. It would also remind them which laundry to pick up in a sea of clothes that looked very much alike.”

     Glenna seemed satisfied, so they moved on.

     They passed a bay with a tiny greenhouse and another tiny building on which someone had mounted a sign which read, “SKOOL.”

     “Oh, that was something Sarah made when she was in a funny mood. The kids all knew it was misspelled, but they liked it anyway. That was the one room school where Karen taught the little ones basic math, spelling and science.”

     “Wow, look at that. That looks a lot like the dining room in the big house.”

     “Yes, it’s furnished exactly the same. When we ordered the game tables we ordered way too many of them. So when the complex was completed, we put half of them over there. It’s kind of hard to see, because all the lights are off back there. But directly behind the dining room is the kitchen. Full array of commercial ovens, a walk-in fridge and a walk-in freezer. When we were here before, even after adding two babies and Rachel and Roxanne, we never had to cook for more than forty three people. But we could have easily cooked for twice that many.”

     “What’s this? Looks like a big lounge.”

     “That’s exactly what it is. Our sleeping quarters over here were small recreational vehicles. Comfortable and cozy, but not a lot of room to relax. Also, we didn’t want to burn the electricity of thirty televisions each evening when four would do. Here we have a large panel TV and several couches for people to watch movies and old TV shows we recorded before the blackout. We have an impressive movie and TV show library, and even operated our own mini-cable station.

     “Back behind here are three smaller viewing rooms, each one sound insulated and seating six persons comfortably. If someone didn’t want to watch what was out here, they could go to one of the viewing rooms and watch something else.”

     “Are those books, back there on the shelves?”

     “Yes. Over five thousand books, ranging from Dr. Seuss to the classics. And several recliners, each with a small reading lamp.”

     “How much farther does this go on?”

     “Quite a bit farther, but we’re not going all the way to the end. I’m going to show you what a typical living bay looks like, then we’ll head back.”

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     They walked a bit farther and into Bay 8. Arranged around the bay were six Class C recreation vehicles, mostly Winnebagos. Two sat bumper to bumper on each wall. Two more sat bumper to bumper on the north side of the bay, effectively separating the living area from the rest of the shaft, which stretched another quarter mile into the mountain.

     In the common area was a picnic table and children’s swing set and slide. Carefully laid around the playset was artificial grass, thick and lush in a rich green color.

     “The fake grass was Hannah’s idea. I thought it was lunacy at first, but after a while I began to appreciate it as adding a homey feel to the place. For years it was the only grass we saw, so we learned to appreciate it.

     “You’ve seen pretty much all of it. We’ve got several more bays of living quarters, but they all look pretty much like this one. Any questions so far?”

     Glenna looked around, a worried look on her face.

     “No, but the whole place still makes me feel… closed in and cramped. Can we go back now?”

     “Sure. Let’s head back.”

     They walked at a leisurely pace back to the livestock bay to pick up Hannah, making small talk along the way.

     Marty asked how long Mark thought it would take to restock the mine and bring it back into full operation.