Chapter 16

Evie decided to go and help our spouses with the interviews. Since it was such a nice autumn day, I decided to sit outside for a while. I hadn't much more than gotten seated when Della came up and asked me if I'd like some coffee. I had to agree that sounded nice.

Della brought me a cup and asked if she could sit on my lap for a while.

"You don't have to ask that, Honey. If it's empty, then it's yours to sit on. I think you just want to sit there so you can fall asleep though," I teased.

Della giggled as she settled in. "I guess I have fallen asleep both times I sat on your lap. It's just that I feel so safe there that I relax."

This was the first time I had heard Della laugh. It made me feel good.

Della started telling me about her life before IT happened. She told me about her parents and about the school she had gone to. She'd had a boyfriend. Their dates had consisted of one of the parents taking them to a movie then picking them up when it was over. She said they'd kissed a couple of times, but had never done anything else.

We had been there for over an hour and I was really enjoying hearing what her life had been like when we saw a pickup truck with two men in it pull into the parking lot. "Della," I whispered. "I want you to slowly go over to where they are doing the interviews and get Glen and Homer to come over here. Don't run and don't call attention to yourself."

Della kissed me on the cheek, then wandered off as if she didn't have a care in the world. My estimation of her maturity went up two notches. When the truck pulled up, the two men got out.

"Howdy, I'm Cliff Adkins and this is Sal Neal," the driver of the truck said.

"Hi, I'm Ed James. It sure is a beautiful fall day, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Do you know who's in charge here?"

"That would be me. Are you interested in joining our village?"

"No, we're interested in you poaching in our territory."

I could see Homer and Glen approaching from the corner of my eye. "Poaching? We haven't killed any animals in the area except for some dogs that were attacking us."

"Poaching people," Adkins said. "We have started our own town over on Hog Run near where the old cement plant used to be and you are stealing people we need for it."

"I'm glad you have a community going," I said. "If we are going to rebuild civilization, we're going to need all we can get. Most if not all of the people gathering here aren't from this area though. We made a trip through a little over a month ago putting up signs. We put up signs all the way into Maine and all the way west into Missouri. People are coming in from all over the east and Midwest."

"The point is," Adkins said, "You're still recruiting in our area. We don't like it, so we're asking you to move along."

"You really should consider coming in with us, Mr. Adkins. We have a lot to offer, like full time electrical power. Read one of our flyers."

"I have read your flyers. It seems to me like you are a bunch of nigger lovers. That's not something we want. Now, I'm asking you again to move along."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Adkins, but we can't do that. When we put up those signs we made a commitment to people to be here on the first of November. We plan to do just that."

"Listen, fuck head, I tried being polite, but that didn't work, so now I'm telling you. Get the fuck out of here before the end of the day, or we'll run you out." Adkins stormed back to his truck, followed closely by Neal.

I looked over at Glen and Homer when the truck had pulled out and said, "I think we have a problem."

I had Homer and Glen get everyone together while I called for Jim on the CB. Jenny was the one to answer and she said she'd get him and would be back in a few minutes.

While I was waiting for Jim, I filled my family in on what was happening. "I don't know how many there are in their group," I said. "I haven't seen any signs or anything, so I would assume they are all local. That probably means there aren't more than twenty or thirty of them."

"So, what are we going to do?" Tina asked.

"I'm not sure yet, Love. I want to talk it over with Glen and you and a few others. Glen should have everyone together in a few minutes, then we can talk."

The CB announced that Jim was ready to talk, so I filled him in on what was happening. "Is there anyone over there who might be able to help with tactics?" I asked.

"The only people over here with any military experience that I know of are Rob and Betty. Since both of them are pilots, I doubt they have much knowledge of tactics. I'll ask them though."

"Great. I'm not sure how many of them there are, but we may need to get some people over here. At the very least, I'd like to get some M-16s and plenty of ammo."

"That's not a problem. Anything else?"

"Not that I know of. Everyone has gathered together here so I need to talk to them. I'll call back later."

I quickly explained to everyone what the situation was and asked for any suggestions.

"Can't we just leave?" Albert Finney asked.

"You can, Al. I can't. I made a commitment to people when I put those signs out. I said I'd be here to meet them on November first."

"Al Finney, if you're thinking about leaving, you're going to do it without me," Meg Akers said.

"No, I wasn't thinking about leaving, at least I wasn't thinking of leaving by ourselves. I just wondered if we could all leave," Al said.

"Okay, does anyone have any suggestions of how we can prepare for this?" I asked.

"Circle the wagons," Mike said.

"What do you mean?" someone asked.

"When the pioneers were heading west, if they were attacked by Indians, they pulled their wagons into a circle to give themselves something to hide behind to fight," Mike told them.

"We have something better than that," Glen said. "A bullet can go right through the sheet metal of an RV. We have a Wal-Mart store with concrete walls. It'd take a pretty large weapon to penetrate the walls of this building."

"Okay, so what do we do about the RVs?" I asked.

"We can either leave them in the parking lot, or we could move them down to the high school. It isn't too far from here. Actually, I think moving them would be the best idea. It would give them less cover to shoot from," Glen said.

"Okay, that makes sense. Any other suggestions, people?"

"Yeah, why don't we get Rob over here to do a scouting run in his whirlybird? It might give us a better idea of how many of them there are if we can find their camp," Glen said.

"That's an excellent idea. Okay, I'm going to get on the CB to the village. Glen, organize people to get the RVs moved out. We're also going to want to make sure we have plenty of food and water in the store."

"We'll take care of getting the food and water," Al said.

"Does anyone here know where Hog Run is located?"

"Yeah, I do," James Smith said.

"Would you be willing to take a helicopter ride and point it out to the pilot?"

"Sure thing, Ed."

I went into the RV and got back on the CB. I asked for Rob and he came on immediately.

"Hi Ed. They're loading the S-76 with weapons and we'll be able to take off in a few minutes. Would you like for us to bring some people too?"

"Not at the moment, but I am going to ask you to take a reconnaissance flight for us. If we can figure out how many buildings they are occupying, maybe it'll give us an idea of how many of them there are."

"Not a problem. In that case I'm going to bring Betty with me. She's had training in that kind of thing."

"Good. Get here as soon as you can."

We had fifteen RVs to move and around fifty people. Mike took over getting the RVs taken to the high school and transporting the people back to the store. I asked Homer to see about some kind of barricade to go across the windows at the front of the store, as the glass went almost to the floor.

By shortly after noon Homer had a barricade up that would have taken armor-piercing shells to penetrate. Mike had moved a few of the RVs into the automobile service bay, including ours, and had closed the doors so they weren't immediately apparent. The rest of the RVs had been ferried to the high school.

We did a big barbecue for lunch and everyone stuffed themselves. Della had claimed a place on my lap while I ate and afterwards I talked with her for a few minutes. "Della, would you consider going back over to the village with Rob until this is over?"

Della looked like she was going to burst out crying. "I'd really rather stay here with you."

"It's okay Della, you don't have to go. I was just thinking it would be safer for you. Would you and Tiff stay with Syl in the RV then? Syl will need the company since she can't help with the fighting."

"I'll do that, Ed. I can shoot a gun you know."

"What type of guns have you shot, Della?"

"Shotguns and rifles mostly. Dad had an old revolver he'd let us shoot sometimes, but not very often."

"Okay, tell Tiff and she'll get you a shotgun. You can use it to protect Syl."

Della was smiling when she went in search of Tiff.

Rob and Betty came in shortly after that. Everyone helped them unload the guns and ammunition then Tina took everyone behind the building and gave them a short course on how to use an M-16.

Rob, Betty, James, Glen and I went up in the helicopter to look around. James told us to fly up route 52 for a couple of miles and we'd see the remains of the old cement plant. Rob kept to a fairly high altitude so if anyone shot at us it would be ineffective.

We turned left at the cement plant and followed the paved road. In less than a mile we found what we were looking for. They had basically taken over a trailer park.

It was almost impossible to tell how many people were occupying the park. There were probably twenty or thirty who came out to look up at the helicopter. Almost all of them were women.

They had brought in a large diesel powered generator to supply the park with electricity. I couldn't tell what they were doing for a water supply for a while, and then I spotted a water truck at one end of the park. One of the buildings looked like it might be a community center or something similar. There were a dozen Harleys and a couple of pickup trucks parked around it. No one was visible around the building, but I did think I saw movement at a couple of the windows.

We hung around for a few minutes, hoping to see more of the inhabitants of the trailer park, but no one else showed themselves. "I think we've seen all we're going to see here, Rob. Let's get back to camp."

Rob turned the chopper and headed us back toward our camp.

"Okay, so what did we learn?" I asked after we were all sitting around in front of the Wal-Mart store.

"Well," Betty said, "We saw approximately thirty people around the trailers. I only counted three men. We saw a large building with a dozen motorcycles and two pickup trucks parked outside. There was movement at a couple of windows. I also saw movement in three of the trailers."

"Okay, I didn't see the movement in the trailers, nor did I count the men. Anyone else?"

"It looks like they're trying to keep some things working. The generator is a huge one, I'd say around 1000 Kva. It would probably supply power for the entire trailer park. The water truck doesn't seem to be connected into the water system, so I'd say they are carrying water for drinking, cooking, and bathing. That's not too bad right now, but when winter comes, it's going to be a bitch."

"I didn't see any signs of defenses," Glen said. "At first glance I'd say they were a peaceful community. If it weren't for those idiots who came by this morning, I'd say we should contact them."

"It is kind of a strange situation, Glen. I was sort of getting the same feelings, but I was afraid I was just being naïve. So, what does everyone think we should do?"