Chapter 9

Alice smiled when she saw us. “We have satellite TV and good Internet. They didn’t have much any security so it was easy to poke around.”

I smiled back at her and nodded. “Alice, do you want to move?” She nodded. “I guess we need to plan that out and make it happen. We’ll need to get the old truck or find a new one.”

“It won’t be too hard. We can use the furniture here and all. So, it will just be clothes and personal items.”

I nodded.

Sarah said, “Hank, I hope the two of you will move here. I think you will be good neighbors for me. I would enjoy working with you.”

At that moment, my phone sounded with an incoming call. “Hello, this is Hank.”

“You’re a real person. I’m Bill Prescott. I saw one of your posters. We’re alone. My wife and I were sick and missed the eclipse. We need help but are willing to work. We sure would like for some people to be around us again.”

I said, “Bill, that sounds good. Roughly, where are you located?” I put the phone on speaker. Sarah and Alice were listening.

“Hank, we live in Social Circle. We saw your poster in Madison. We try to stay away from Covington because of a gang that has taken up there. We’re too old to engage in a running battle.”

“I understand. We almost got caught by them. They had called and we were uncomfortable with their words and tone. We were careful and escaped their trap.”

“My wife and I are in our fifties. We were teachers and took early retirements. We debated the eclipse but decided that watching TV while reading was more our forte. We have avoided crowds since we retired. We never had children so there was no push to get out. With all the people infected by the Z-rays, we have stayed inside with the doors locked. We have only left for food and gas. We have become worried about the future.”

“I have, too. I’m with my niece, Alice, and our friend, Sarah. We are just starting to make plans for the future. Sarah has a farm with cows and horses. We’re planning to move close to her. Unfortunately, there are a lot of vacant houses and farms.”

When would you like to meet, Hank?”

I looked around to see nods. “We could meet this afternoon or tomorrow at your convenience.”

Bill said, “This afternoon sounds fine. We would like to be around people again.”

I replied. “I don’t know Social Circle well. Where do you want to meet?”

“The square is good. It’s at the center of town at an intersection of the two main roads.”

Sarah mouthed “one hour.” Alice nodded. “We can be there in about an hour if that will work for you.”

“It does, Hank. Stella and I look forward to meeting you and your friends. Bye, Hank.”

“See you soon, Bill.”

I ended the call. I said, “Sarah, are you going to come with us?” I put a questioning sound to my voice.

“Hank, I would like to be with you, a lot.” Alice grinned.

“That works for me and Alice is happy about it, too.” I smiled. “Sarah, do you shoot?”

“I have. I just hadn’t thought about carrying now that the crazies are gone. With horses, we could easily out-pace them. I have a pistol for small varmints when I’m on horseback. I also have a rifle for deer and large targets.”

Alice said, “Good. Let’s get them and head out.”

That’s what we did. Her brother and his girl had gone somewhere in the house while we were gone. I could hear their activity slightly. We went back out and got in my car. Sarah said, “That’s why I might move over to your new place. They can be noisy.” She blushed.

“The house you showed us is certainly big enough for many of us. You would be welcome. I think you would make a good companion.” Sarah was pointing the way to drive to Social Circle.

I was driving at a peaceful speed so we could easily see whatever there might be around to see. Sarah directed me north and we crossed over Interstate 20 on the way to Social Circle. At our speed and the distance, it took most of the hour to reach the main square which was a nice intersection. There we met Bill and Stella. They were in their later fifties but seemed in good shape. Bill and I shook hands. Both he and Stella noticed Sarah’s good looks. Alice was a hit with them.

We sat down on some park benches to talk. Bill asked, “What sort of plans have you made, Hank?”

“Alice and I have been trying to plan. It was her idea to put up the posters though meeting Sarah was purely an accident though a fortuitous one. Alice and I had decided that we should move. We were in her parents’ house in a subdivision which wouldn’t work well without power and didn’t lend itself to farming of any kind. We were out looking and weree almost ran over by Sarah’s herd of horses that she was adding to those she had already. When you called, Bill, we were looking at a house that is next door to her house. I think it would serve well though it’s larger than we need.”

Stella said, “Perhaps Bill and I could become your neighbors. We had talked about living somewhere else. We had been thinking about growing food. Power wasn’t in our thoughts but you have now made us think about it. There’s no one to fix things or make deliveries anymore.”

I said, “That’s my opinion. It takes a lot of people to tend to the infrastructure and to make deliveries. I believe that over fifty percent of the people are gone now. Those of us left just aren’t enough to make it all work.”

Bill said, “I think it’s more like eighty percent.” We were all quiet for a few moments

Alice said, “That’s why Uncle Hank and I printed and pasted the posters trying to get some people who would be friends. We think we will need people to help in the future.”

Stella asked, “Alice, how old are you?”

“Thirteen, Ma’am.”

“You act quite mature. I enjoy talking to you.”

“Thank you.” She sighed. “I do think we need to make some plans. Missus Stella, what do you need to bring? The houses have furniture. Uncle Hank and I will go back to my parents’ house and gather clothes and personal items. Uncle Hank has already done this once. We are probably going to need another truck rather than this car. We lost our truck to the gang at Covington’s Kroger.”

Bill said, “We have an SUV. Stella will have to think through what we will bring. We don’t have guns though we can learn them. I think we will need the rest of this afternoon and tomorrow morning to get ready. We can then call for instructions if that will work.”

I said, “I think that would be fine. I do want to add another thought for us to consider. How will we communicate when the cell phones go out. If the power goes, the towers will eventually cease to work.”

Sarah said, “Hank, you do come up with some tough issues when you think about it.”