Chapter 7

[Janice]

We were airborne again after lunch and flew to Oklahoma City for the evening. We found the airport and landed. I taxied to the general aviation section. We were getting good at this. We left the plane and found fuel and refueled. Then, we looked around to figure out where we would eat and sleep this evening.

We found a lounge and put the cushions on the floor and rolled our sleeping bag over the cushions. There was an attached café and the natural gas worked. We would have an easy hot supper. I cooked supper while Bennie went out to roam around a bit. He came in and said, "People have been around here lately."

"How long ago?"

"More than a week and less than a month. They didn't seem to disturb anything. I think they were just going through the motions of checking the area out. That suggests they migrated from somewhere or came from the outlying area. We will crack the door open tonight so I can hear." We ate and then settled in for sleep.

They came just after dawn and were good but I could hear them. Bennie whispered, "Watch the plane from the door. I will get behind them from the left." He left making no sound. I rose and went to the door and readied my rifle. There was a delay as Bennie did something. I saw four figures standing together about twenty feet from the plane looking around. Finally, Bennie's voice boomed out, "We have you covered. We would prefer not to kill you but we can and will if we have to. Either raise your hands or shoot!"

They lifted their hands. One of them said, "We aren't carrying rifles. We want to talk. We just wanted to check out your plane and sit down for a talk."

Bennie answered, "Okay. We'll talk. Walk toward the light my wife will shine. Don't try anything." I had a flashlight and turned it on. I put it on the floor shining across the room toward the right. As they came in, I backed to the end of the room giving them space to come in without getting too close to me.

They entered the room and I said, "That's far enough. Have seats at the table." Bennie came in and took a position that would allow him to see them all. I grabbed a chair and pulled it closer and sat down straddling it with a pistol at ready. "Gentlemen, my name is Janice Sullivan and he's my husband, Bennie. We're from the communities of Preservation and Protection on an exploring mission." Our eyes had all adjusted to the light from the flashlight. I picked the one who had spoken outside and said, "Tell us your story."

He swallowed as he noticed that neither gun had wavered even a little. He said, "My name is Jerry Racin. They are Bill, my brother, Mack, and Joe. We live west of here just beyond Mustang. Most of us lived in or around Mustang before the Day. We have farms and ranches now and are doing pretty well. We have some electrical power but no planes nor people to fly them. We saw you folks land yesterday and wanted to find out more. We came over this morning and wanted to see the plane closer. We planned to wait until you came out to meet you. We didn't know you were a couple."

I said, "We're a married couple."

He said, "Yes, ma'am. A married couple. I'm married now, again. My first wife passed away from the virus. Sheila and I met while scavenging and have been together ever since. Bill's wife died, too, and he remarried. We both have two children now. Mack and his wife both survived, as did their children. Joe's wife died but his children made it. They help him on the farm a lot."

I asked, "How many are living around Mustang?"

He thought a moment and said, "There's about twenty couples and ten or so singles plus children. We are growing slowly. We try to watch the area. There have been a couple of marauding groups that we had to take on. There haven't been any problems for three years or so, now. Our biggest problem is the herds. The buffalo will go through a barbed wire fence. Then, the cattle follow. Either way, our crops are trampled and eaten. We are trying to build strong enough to stop them but I'm not sure we will ever be totally successful. A stampede can ruin a lot of land.

"Tell us about your place, please."

I said, "Preservation is a new community of a few hundred located primarily in the area around Carrollton, Georgia, southwest of Atlanta. My foster father is the elected leader of it.

"Protection is located in western Tennessee and has a couple of hundred living there. Pintlala is closely allied with us and is located south of Montgomery, Alabama. We stay in communication and have held onto much technology. All three have electricity. Airplanes are relatively new. We were exploring and found a few families who were located close to an airport and two brothers were fliers before the Day. They all moved to Protection.

"Bennie and I learned to fly and are the unofficial explorers for the communities as they grow. It's an awfully big and vacant land now. We had flown up to Hudson's Bay and are on our way back to Preservation. We haven't seen any people from Wisconsin on the way up until now."

The one identified as Mack said, "How do you have electricity?"

"Preservation does it with small hydroelectric generators. Protection has been able to maintain the power grid as has Pintlala."

"Would you help us with electricity?"

I replied, "We would be willing but Bennie and I are not experts on it. We have people who can help you. They could be flown out. Our job is to make contact with new people and survive."

Bill said, "You have run into bad folk?"

"Yes. It's why we are prepared to fight when we meet new people. We prefer not to fight but can. Bennie is pretty good at it."

The four men looked at my mountainous husband and nodded. I didn't mention that I was almost as good. Let them think a gun was my only means of protection. I thought I was ready to trust all of them but Joe. His eyes bothered me. He was almost as big as Bennie and bigger than the rest. My height and looks seemed to attract that type to their misfortune. I relaxed my vigilance intentionally to let them think I trusted them. Bennie looked like he was asleep but looks are very deceiving in his case. If there were going to be trouble, I hoped we would find out quickly if there were going to be a problem.