Chapter 17: Preparing

The next morning I was out back first thing helping unload the trucks. It seemed everyone decided to get some sleep and leave the trucks for tomorrow. Well, they were all full that was for sure, everything from TV's & DVD players to children's learning toys. They must have had an entire truck dedicated to game systems and games. Since nobody was there to help me unload I headed to breakfast; I arrived at the cafeteria to find it packed. At least my girls saved me a seat so I grabbed some food and sat down.

"Looks like we're running out of room," I said.

"Yes it does. We are going to need to expand soon. Kris & Kristy have a few ideas about automating some of the cooking processes. They will need a bigger kitchen too," Patricia said.

"Has Gloria had enough help?" I asked.

"Yes, plenty of volunteers, too many sometimes. There is only so much room in the kitchen," Patricia said.

"Well, if Kristy can work out the problems in producing our type of food, life will be much easier," I said.

"They don't seem too hopeful about that, it has something to do with cell structure or some other scientific term, and they are just not equipped to do it," Patricia said.

"They need to learn to make hotdogs," Amy said.

"I will make sure I tell them for you Amy. That and hamburgers," I said.

We finished eating and headed out to the trucks with everyone else and Mike took over.

"Ok everyone, thanks for the help you are about to give. Now just out of curiosity, after the storm is over how many of you plan on moving down into the city?" Mike asked.

There was a lot of mumbling among the crowd and a couple of people tentatively raised their hands.

"You know I was wondering," Frank said. "Justin, would it be possible to plot out land next to your house and later have the drones construct us our own houses?"

"Sure, that is a great idea. I would prefer them to be large lots so we don't crowd ourselves but that is a great idea."

"Well if that is a possibility, I sure won't be leaving for one of those old dilapidated houses anytime soon," Frank said.

"Will everyone get that option?" someone asked.

"Sure everyone will. We would need to start a list. It may take a while to get around to everyone but you are all welcome here as long as you want," I said.

"Then were staying," someone said.

Everyone yelled out that they were staying

"Well ok then, I guess we might as well unload everything and then we can sort it in the storage area. So let's take two trucks at a time and unload them and then bring them back up." Mike said.

"Ya we still have a few days so we might make another run or two," Frank said.

We spent the next six hours unloading trucks and partially filling the storage area. I noticed the ladies left part of the way through. I thought they might be making last minute plans for the weddings. We all missed lunch and decided on an early dinner. After dinner I was dragged off by some ladies and given instructions on tomorrow; the weddings were to be held just after lunch. The ceremony was a simple one and I was happy about that, only about 30 minutes. After my briefing I went out front to relax a bit. I was only on the swing for a few minutes when Patricia pulled me to bed.

The next morning when I got up, Patricia was already gone but Kristy was there with some clothes for me to wear. I jumped in the shower to make myself presentable and then got dressed in the outfit Kristy gave me. I then went to the cafeteria for breakfast. We had pancakes again, I'll live. After breakfast I was escorted to the front porch and a few minutes later Mike joined me.

"You get kicked out to?" I asked.

"Looks that way. Oh well I guess we wait," Mike said.

Kristy showed up about an hour later and handed me a box and I opened it. Inside were two rings that appeared to be solid gold, one was thin and one was larger. There were small diamonds; it looked like, all around the ring.

"Kristy these look great, thank you so much."

"My pleasure, the rings are very special as you will find out. I will let you figure it out on your own," she said and disappeared.

"Great, I can't wait; I like surprises."

"Maybe the ring works like Viagra whenever you're wearing it," Mike said and laughed.

"No don't even think that, I would have to hang it on a chain around my neck."

When it was about lunchtime I was told we would be eating after the wedding. About 1:00 we were both led around the back of the house. Well, they had been busy. The area was set up for the wedding but there were no chairs, just lots of decorations and people. The wedding went off without a hitch. To my surprise and happiness, Patricia had set it up for Kristy to marry us. After our ceremony we stayed for Mike's and then we all had lunch together. After lunch Patricia hauled me off to our suite and there we stayed till the next morning.

Well, that night I found out what was so special about the rings; they allowed us to share emotions when we were close together. That was an interesting experience. Even though we went to bed at noon the day before, we still slept in till 10:00 the next day. We did get up in time for lunch and ate everything in sight. Mike and Linda showed up while we were eating and looked worse than we did. Oh well, we have priorities today, we need to get a few things done. "Kristy," I called.

"Yes Justin," she said.

"We only have two days left, do you think I can get off the ranch now or do I need to wait?" I asked.

"You may go, I don't see any reason for you to need to stay any longer," she said.

"Ladies, how would you like to go for a trip? We can go scouting in the chopper," I said.

Everyone thought it was a great idea so I found Mike and told him we were going to take the chopper scouting for animals and if we found enough we would be calling for help. He said that would be fine, just let him know how many people we needed to help. So the ladies and I got ready for our first flight. I had no idea how to fly but I guess Kristy could teach me. Besides, the chopper did just fine with a dog at the controls.

"Don't forget Buddy, Daddy," Amy said.

"Very good Amy, I almost did."

When we got out back the chopper was warmed up and waiting. We climbed in and I followed Kristy's instructions to take off. Sure, I knew she was only letting me think I was flying but it felt good anyway. Ok, on to our first stop. We headed southwest to Norco to check on the cows. When we arrived it appeared someone had put tarps out to keep the sun off of the cows. They still appeared to have water and food. We were hovering when I noticed a man and a woman come out of the house, the man had a rifle in his hands.

I got on the speaker and said, "Hello, we are not a threat, please don't shoot, would it be all right if I landed and we talked a bit?"

The man went in the house and came back out without the rifle and waved us over to an open field. We moved over to the field and landed, after shutting down we all got out. I walked over to the house and shook hands with the man and his family.

"How you all doing, my name is Justin Lake," I said.

"Howdy my name is Mark Fitz. This is my wife Sheila and my daughter June."

"Well, as I said I'm Justin Lake this is my wife Patricia Lake and our adopted daughter Amy Lake and our friend Jenny and last but not least our pet Buddy," I said pointing to the cat.

"What kind of cat is that?" June asked.

"It is a Lynx. Feel free to play with him, he is harmless unless were threatened," I said.

"Well what can we do for you folks?" Mark asked.

"Well we were planning on coming down here and checking on the animals. If they were ok, we were going to bring some trucks down and take them home with us. But we didn't expect anyone to be around down here. How have you been doing without power?"

"Were ok, we have a generator and our refrigerator runs on propane, we have found what we needed by foraging so far."

"Well do you know of any vacant dairies where we could get some cows from? We have electricity and everything we need. We were just hoping for some fresh milk once in a while."

"There are only a few of us left in the area, how many people you have with you?"

"Just under 500."

"Damn that's a lot, where are you at that has electricity?"

"We're up in the mountains by Big Bear, its much cooler up there. We have several wind generators and a few other goodies that give us plenty of power at the ranch. We plan on rebuilding the city eventually, the word is its going to get hotter and I wouldn't want to be in the valleys or desert much longer. It's also safer up there from the fallout."

"Fallout?"

"Ya when the power failed the reactor at San Onofre had problems and, well, it's a smoking pile of rubble now."

"Oh shit, is it safe here?"

"Ya, we checked when we came into the area but if the wind changes too much who knows?"

"You wouldn't have room for 40 or so more people would you?" he asked

"We can make room for more GOOD people, I don't need any deadbeats though, just good people."

"Well I guess we should round everyone up and have a meeting and see what they think." he said and sent his daughter off in the truck.

"Sounds good. Say you wouldn't happen to have any cold milk would you?" I asked smiling.

We went inside and had some fresh milk. It was different than store bought but it was great. We talked more about the weather and what was going to happen; he seemed like a nice guy. He was a veterinarian and owned this particular dairy; they had always been survivalists and had stocked away stuff for a rainy day. As I was talking my com unit beeped.

"Yes," I said.

"Its Jessica. We lost you on visual a while ago, I just wanted to check in," she said.

"Were fine, just met some new friends, it appears the cows were not the only ones home. We may end up adding 40 or so more to our group."

"Ok, keep me updated," Jessica said.

"Someone from home?" Mark asked.

"Ya, Jessica. She was in the Special Forces and takes care of our security for us," I said.

"You have lots of problems in that area?" he asked.

"Thankfully, no, at least not yet. Given time the stores will run out of canned food. When that happens some people will do anything they can to take what others have. We have a good community going but we can't feed an entire state," I said.

"Yeah, I understand. We were waiting for that day ourselves, the cows would be an easy target for anyone with a gun," he said.

We were talking when people started arriving and Mark introduced me to everyone. Once everyone was here he started.

"Ok friends. Justin here came down from Big Bear in search of cows because he was thirsty; he planned on just taking the cows because he didn't believe anyone would be around. Since we are here he has offered to let us all move up to his ranch in Big Bear. I'm sure you can guess it will be much cooler up there and he says they have full time electricity. In addition, he has informed me that we are safe right now; however, when the power went out the reactor at San Onofre had a meltdown. If the winds change too much we could be in trouble. What I called everyone together for was to find out if anyone is interested in moving," he said.

"That will be day's worth of work, but it would be nice to have a semi normal life again," someone said.

"If you decide to move in with us we need to have everything important moved by tomorrow midnight," I said.

"Why tomorrow?" Mark asked.

Hmm, I had to think of something believable but what? "Part of the heat wave is being cause by some odd activity by the sun, the last news we were able to pick up said something about a solar flare hitting the planet on Monday. The flair was going to be very large and could easily destroy electronics like an 'EMP'. That is one of the reasons we took over this ranch. It has a large underground area we are storing stuff in to keep it safe," I said hoping nobody was smart enough to catch on to my lie.

"Will this solar flare have an effect on us?" someone asked.