Grid Attack (Cyber War #2) (10 page)
The house was pretty old but looked to be in decent shape. You could tell he took care of his property and had pride in what he probably worked for his whole life.
“Just pull the truck down the side of this field to get to the pile.” Ralph said, motioning to the little gravel road that ran between his yard and a field full of corn stalks.
I looked around before pulling away and noticed only a small stack of wood between two trees in the back yard. I wondered if he was alone and had to work everything by himself.
From the house, the pile didn’t look that big. But as we got closer, it was apparent that there was at least two full truckload of wood that had already been split and seasoned.
If there was a wood fairy, she was granting me wishes right about now.
We loaded up the truck quick, as the three of us stacked the wood as high as we could and still be able to steer the truck. Since we were using a two-wheel drive I wanted to make sure we didn’t get stuck.
Before we left, I pulled the truck up to Ralph’s dwindling pile of firewood between the two trees. The guys and I quickly filled it up, making sure it was nice and stable and not so high that he couldn’t reach the top.
We figured it was the least we could do. The firewood we were able to get would last us quite some time compared to the food we gave him.
As we pulled out of the driveway and onto the road, I looked in the rear view mirror just in time to see him wave.
It was nice to find people that were easy to barter with. I just hoped we had enough food to last us all winter and to use for bartering for other supplies.
Since I didn’t really know to what extent Carol and Albert had planned for, I felt bad that we didn’t really bring that much food along with us, but brought Evan and Carl. Having the two extra mouthes to feed wasn’t something that was planned, but we would have to find a way to make it work.
As we drove back towards town, I said a little prayer that things would work out and that we would have enough food to get us all through the winter.
Carl and Evan were talking about what Carl was hearing on his HAM radio.
“Oh, man, that sucks.” Carl said. “People are talking about how there are thousands of people flooding Texas. Some are coming in cars and trucks but most people are coming on foot. The problem is that its too many people too fast. There isn’t any place to put them so there are tent cities going up everywhere and it’s creating lots of sickness.” He explained.
“That makes sense. People aren’t real smart when it comes to dealing with their own waste. If they don’t address it quickly, there will be a major outbreak that will wipe out a large portion of the population in no time. Especially, because the hospitals will always be full. And even though they have power, they can’t get the deliveries of food and medicine needed to handle that many people.” Evan said.
I was only half listening. My mind was on how to make sure we all stayed fed during the long winter ahead.
Just then, a deer shot out from the gully and ran in front of the truck. I slammed on my brakes but with the wood load, the momentum just kept pushing us forward.
We slid on the pavement right into the side of the deer, sending the deer flying and landing on the road in front of us.
“Holy shit!” I yelled as I watched it all play out as if it was in slow motion.
Once we came to a stop, everyone looked at each other and took a breath.
“You guys okay?” I asked. They both nodded.
We all got out of the truck and went to take a look. Surprisingly, the deer had been struck by the front corner bumper and did very little damage to the truck.
As we got closer to the deer, we could see he was hurt pretty bad. He was still breathing, but it was obvious his back was broken. The deer looked up at me with his black eyes and whimpered. I felt really bad for the creature.
But I also realized that this was an answer to my prayer. As sad as it was, the deer was big enough to give us meat for quite some time, contributing to the food stores. And since it was cold out, it would be easily stored in the garage away from critters and prying eyes.
I knelt down and carefully petted the deer on his neck. Then I pulled out my pistol and put him to rest.
Chapter 19 - Katherine
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A full truckload of wood and a deer? My husband had turned into Paul Bunyan and I couldn’t be happier.
I always thought the country life suited him better. He always though of himself as a city boy, but when we used to go to his parents property years earlier, he’d thrive the whole time we were there.
Rushing out to greet them, I heard them all laughing as they were joking about Tony’s answered prayer. I wasn’t religious at all, but I knew Tony believed. And I won’t lie…there were times when I wished I knew of a God to pray to. I just had a hard time believing in so much of what was being taught at the mainstream churches.
“I’m gonna have to get you a bunch of plaid flannel shirts.” I jested, poking fun at Tony for finding wood AND food.
He chuckled as Carl and Evan took the deer and strung it up on the tree behind the garage.
Out here, it wasn’t anything to see people gutting their kills in their back yards. In the city, you’d have someone calling the cops.
I began to see that having the extra help would really be nice, because my parents just weren’t doing as well as I had hoped. Mom was putting on a happy face, but she was in a lot of pain. She had been really working hard to keep things going, but trying to cook and eat without power was starting to take it’s toll.
While the guys were out getting wood, I had set up a makeshift outdoor kitchen on the deck, using the awning as our roof, but taking some tarps to hang around it to keep out the wind and rain. It would be safe to use the camp stoves and grill without the risk of burning down the house. Plus, we didn’t want to poison ourselves with carbon monoxide.
I also decided to build a couple of rocket stoves with some pavers, bricks and old grill grates. Having done this in the past, I knew it would work to give us extra “burners” to put pots on.
By the time I was done, we had a nice working setup that allowed us not to freeze to death and to cook outside without worry.
And now that I was there, I would be helping with any of the heavy lifting that mom was trying to do.
Albert had kept himself busy by making sure we had all the tools we needed to do whatever projects we had going and helping mom whenever she called to him.
I went down into the basement and found him tinkering with an old transistor radio he had found in one of the boxes in the garage. He and mom liked to go to yard sales for fun. They would find neat things they could add to their already bulging collection of things that weren’t needed, but it was something they enjoyed and gave them something to do in such a small town.
“Do you think you can get it to work?” I asked as I plopped my weary body down into a recliner and pulled a quilt over me to try to warm up.
“Maybe. These things could last a lifetime and this model was one that could pull in stations that other radio’s couldn’t.” He said proudly.
He went on to tell me about how the GE Super Radio was considered high end in it’s time. As he fiddled with some wires and tube looking things in the back, he pulled out a fresh package of batteries and loaded it up.
He pushed buttons and turned dials, trying to make it work, but it was dead.
“Well, so much for that.” He said as he sighed.
“Maybe not. I remember mom said there was a trick to making the older things work.” I said as I pulled myself up out of the chair.
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” he asked.
I grabbed the radio and gave it a good smack. With a flicker the lights came on and the it began to hum a little.
Albert and I both let out a laugh. It felt good laugh. It felt good to not be so afraid. I sat back down in the recliner and thought about how good things were finally going.
It was going to be hard work for sure. Life was definitely going to be different and we were going to have challenges. But I finally began to relax and felt as if everything was going to be alright.
Albert started searching the airwaves, trying to find any sort of signal. Since there was only AM and FM, we figured it would be just like before. Nothing but static.
Then, Albert found the signal that had the repeating Presidential broadcast. Only this time, it wasn’t the President. This was a new broadcast.
We had caught just the tail end when we got it dialed in clear enough to hear.
This is the Emergency Broadcast System. This is a message for all citizens within a 100 mile radius of any nuclear power plant. Please evacuate immediately. The power plants have all been in meltdown mode and can no longer be contained. It is eminent that all citizens move beyond the 100 mile safe zone as soon as possible. We will update this message with any further information once it becomes available.
Albert and I just stared at the radio. We listened to the recording two more times to make sure we heard what we heard.
My heart sank as I began to realize what I was hearing.
We were okay where we were now, but the people in St. Louis weren’t. There was one nuclear plant that was near the center of Missouri, just west of the city.
Once people realized that St. Louis was still inside the 100 mile range, they would all leave the city in a panic.
Most likely, that would lead them south, since north had more nuclear plants and it was the beginning of winter. And it would lead them straight to us.
I looked at Albert. He had tears in his eyes. I went over and gave him a hug.
“Don’t worry pops. We’ll be alright.” I assured him, knowing it was a flat out lie.
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Pick up book three to find out how it all ends!
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