Chapter 30

The restructuring of leadership seemed to strengthen the group in the weeks that followed. Bryan's stress level went from oppressively huge to manageable as his duties shrank from total care to simply feeding everyone. Silver, having been delegated the task of food inventory, had found the vault full of stored food to be both a monumental task and a challenge. For the first time since the financial crisis had hamstrung her company, Silver now had both a purpose and a daunting task.

The purchase of the two additional properties, which came through three weeks after the attack, helped to solidify their position as well. The state had relinquished almost five hundred acres around the farm on the south side of the road, and the old Dennison farm on the north side had already been all but purchased. With more territory to cover and officially lord over, Bryan had opted to expand their growing capacity as far as it would reach.

With the help of the kids he had created hundreds of grow beds both inside and outside the walls. A field across the road to the north had been tilled and planted with all of the spring wheat Bryan had been able to come up with. Hugelkultur beds, created by covering piles of rotten wood with soil were very effective for growing potatoes. Every live spud that they could find went into the patches.

Entire patches of greens and brassicas were planted in hopes that they could sustain themselves through the winter on the stored produce alone. Thankfully Bryan had acclimated to the growing seasons and knew with some certainty what each plant species needed and when.

In addition to the garden beds, Bryan had used a tactic which was relatively unknown in the western world: seed balls. Seed balls were, in their simplest form, simply seeds that were encapsulated in clay and manure and broadcast on the ground. The capsule of specially mixed earth would protect the seed inside from birds, insects, and other unfavorable conditions until the temperature and moisture were correct for germination. With this, wide swaths of property were seeded with hardy plants which could hopefully out-compete the native flora. It was a gamble, but one that could generate a bit of extra food with no real upkeep.

The living situation had gotten more compact as the group began to get familiar and comfortable with one another. All of the kids, teenagers included now resided in the children's wing of the house, many of them double bunking to a room.

The travel trailer had been converted into a sort of command center and construction had begun on a secondary house for Rob, Amanda, Jack, Jamie, Derek, and Callie. Without a sound source of lumber it was eventually decided to construct the building from cob, an adobe-like substance.

In building a cob house, lots of straw or other roughage is mixed with the native clay and packed in layers into the sun to dry and accept the next layer. Cob, being a building material that was used in England in the mid-sixteen hundreds had stood the test of time in countless old houses and cottages. Bryan had investigated the use of cob extensively before settling on the Post-Shoring-Polyethylene construction method and was able to produce a basic knowledgebase of how it was done.

A bit of trial and error and the cob house was under way. There were three separate living sections being constructed around a central living area and adjacent bathing facilities. There was no need to put cooking facilities in since the main house's kitchen was the hub for all meals on the farm anyway.

For the most part everyone was friendly, cooperative, and working well together. There had been a bit of friction when the four teenagers paired off into couples, but that had been mostly anxiety on the part of their parents about what teenagers do. It had been decided that they would do what they would do with or without their parents' blessings and that trying to stop them was just bad for morale all around.

As it was, Amber and Matt had been the first, as Bryan had predicted to become open with their shared affection. Now they could be seen walking hand in hand, and sneaking the occasional kiss when their duties allowed and they thought no one was looking. In all honesty, they were a cute couple together and seemed to be genuinely in love.

The other couple Bryan had a bit more of an issue with. Maggie and Billy had quickly become close friends after Callie had given birth to Serenity. Maggie had an affinity for babies and Serenity was cute as far as babies went. For the first two weeks after the child was born Maggie had pawned off all of her chores except kitchen duty to spend with new mother and baby.

Maggie and Callie had been civil before but became the best of friends after a short time. Billy and Callie hadn't been the closest of siblings prior to the baby being born, but Billy also seemed mesmerized by the small dark haired cherub and spent quite a lot of time with the girls as well. In no time at all, the three of them were thick as thieves and seemed to be inseparable. Then a few nights later Bryan walked into the shed to put a few tools away and caught their first kiss.

"It was as if she had gotten tired of waiting on him and made the first move herself," Bryan told Silver later. "She was the one that instigated it. That much was clear."

"Hmmm," Silver mused. "Takes after her mother I see." She glared menacingly at Bryan. "You didn't stop them or anything?"

"No," he admitted. "I was as embarrassed as could be. I just quietly backed out the door and left them alone."

Silver patted him on the cheek. "You are a good dad."

"I don't know about that," he said, his feelings on the subject somewhat clouded.

"It was her first kiss. You didn't ruin it."

He shook his head doubtfully.

"Don't worry," she said. "I will have the talk with her."

Bryan sighed, glad on one hand that it wasn't he that had to have the talk, and yet distressed that "the talk" was needed at all.

Security, in the capable hands of Derek and Rob, had stepped up quite a bit as well. First and foremost the outside tunnel ends were monitored twenty four hours a day. They were watched from hidden locations inside the compound and were traded off by the teenagers and older kids.

Secondly, the tunnels were secured with thick wooden doors that had to be opened from the inside. They were studded with screws pointing outward so that pressure could not be applied to the door in the narrow tunnel without causing a great deal of pain or noise.