Chapter 12

Ted said, "Yes, we did. We lost four older couples but had no real difficulties. Todd and Cindy have been busy. I saw the girls heading up that cut. Bill said you had marked a place up this way."

"Yes, we have but have also decided to move. We found another place about two hundred yards further up with a chimney. Fred and Millie should have a look but we will incorporate the chimney into our cabin." Ted nodded.

Nancy said, "Eve, I don't think you told us everything about the sisters."

Eve blushed. She said, "I told the truth as far as I told it. The two jerks were unwelcome and we sent the sisters with you for protection."

Nancy said, "And to keep them from wearing Ted out." She chuckled.

Eve blushed even more and Ted looked apologetic. Eve said, "You are right. They aren't virgins to say the least."

"I think John and I will invite you two over for supper and desert. We'll let Pat and Lisa have you two for desert."

Eve chuckled. "I guess you have been playing with them."

Nancy responded, "Not really. We only found out after we killed their two unwanted suitors. They had followed us so we had to deal with them. One decided he was interested in me when we confronted them. It was a fatal error on his part. You didn't know but I have a black belt in Karate."

Ted whistled. "They had vanished and we figured they went after the girls."

John said, "They did. It was their last mistake.

"Anyway, that's over but you owe us for foisting off two sex maniacs on us without telling us."

Ted and Eve both chuckled. He said, "I guess we should have warned you but it wouldn't have mattered. They wanted you two a lot. Besides, they wanted to surprise you two."

John said, "Well, they did." All four of them laughed.

Now that the parties were reunited, building began in earnest. The first group building finished had been a shed for Todd and Cindy. They were building the tools that were for everyone's use in building the village. Fred and Millie explored the chimney area that John and Nancy wanted for their home.

It took a week of intensive work for them to go over the area and declare their examination complete. In the end, they declared that it was at least a thousand years old. The protected nature of the location had allowed the chimney to still stand after so many years. Fred found four skeletons; two adults and two children. He said that all indications are they died years before the building fell down. They agreed that the town was more interesting and said that they wouldn't dig any more at the house site.

With help from a few others, John and Nancy with the sisters cleared the site for building. They were trying to set up a first building to use as a template for future residences. John wanted to build a strong foundation and planned upon the snows he feared would come. He built a shed roof that was high enough for an additional story. All the walls and roof were thick and well insulated against the cold of winter and the slight heat of summer. There was no glass for the windows but all of them had thick shutters for the inside and outside. A ladder was built to access the loft.

The only curious thing about the house was the door. There were two with a small room between them. John explained that it would be a "mud room" to allow cold weather gear to be stored and to give an extra layer of protection from beasts or men. The cabin also had a covered porch.

Fred and Millie found signs suggesting that the people living here before had farmed and John wanted to reclaim that land for the same purpose. He cleared a small area around the house to give clear lines of fire should that ever be needed.

As fall began, the Settlers as they now called themselves were well on their way to building enough buildings to shelter everyone for the winter. A cold cellar was built into the hillside of the valley for food storage. It wasn't ideal but would give a safe place to store food in a somewhat controlled environment. Cindy and Marin had trained a number of women in making dried meats. Hunting parties were out every day to gather food. Nancy and the sisters learned how and did their own in addition to working for the group's benefit.

John, Frank, and Joe, Marin's husband, set up a smoking shed and smoked meat. They found that lacking salt was an issue. The smoked meat was hard and lacked taste. They finally decided that it was an idea to keep in mind for the future but not for right now.

Bill and Joyce built a house down from John and Nancy's as did Frank and Marge and Ted and Eve. They spent more time finishing off their houses than any others spent on theirs. John had and expressed concerns to the other three couples about some of the other cabins' flimsier construction. He finally said, "I know it's their choice and I may sound paranoid about the weather and the wolverines but those would be our threats."

After that, he let it go feeling that his vindication might come later.

In late October, the first hard freeze hit and everyone woke up to the thought that firewood would be a good thing to have. John and Bill, with help from Frank and Ted, had been felling trees for their fields. All the wood was cut, split and carried to a simple storage rack centrally located to the four cabins. They had also built a covered cooking area for their common use.

Things were going well. The sisters slept at any of the four cabins bringing their own brand of entertainment and exercise though John and Nancy continued to lovingly refuse them most of the time. They also had a couple of guys each interested in them. There would have been more but they made it clear to each one that they weren't going to stop making the rounds of the four cabins. Some men decided they couldn't compete in that scenario and faded from the scene.

Todd and Cindy also built a cabin close to the four and people began to call that area and its inhabitants the Flight Deck. Many meetings were held there since the five couples were considered the leadership of the Settlers.

It was November when that first snow came. There had been a cold rain for two days before reminding everyone to think about better coverings. When the water in buckets outside froze, it looked exciting at first to have some cold weather since most of them had prepared for it.

By Thanksgiving, the snow stayed. People were starting to suffer from the cold and game was harder to find.

John was considered the best hunter. He had abandoned his rifle to a place on his mantle along with its remaining ammunition in favor of a long bow. He talked with Todd at length about bows and building them. His bow required a lot of strength to pull but he could shoot an arrow accurately over a hundred yards. His hunting was not as successful as it had been during the summer and fall but he still had more success than any other hunter.

At Christmas, the celebration was quiet and a foot of snow was and had been on the ground. John's reason for building his foundation higher to get the cabin off the ground made more sense every day. With Cindy's help, the Flight Deck had warm boots lined with dried grasses. John had had the only real pair of boots on the plane and many of the Settlers didn't want to go to the trouble of making clothes and shoes other than the people on the Flight Deck.

Fred and Millie had returned from the town though had no additional news about the land's history. They had three couples that had been helping them. All indications were that a great calamity occurred over a thousand years ago. The civilization was destroyed and all the people seemed to have died. Fred and Millie hadn't seen any signs that anyone had come to conquer the devastated areas. Fred said, "We don't know about Europe or even any other area outside of our explored spots but it appears that mankind deserted the area and maybe the continent after this fight. Nothing we have seen suggests any later occupation by people until our coming."

One night having the cabin to themselves, John asked, "Nancy, have you ever thought about children?"

"I have but was waiting for two things."

John waited in silence for thirty seconds. He finally said, "Okay, I surrender. What were the two things?"

Nancy grinned at him in the light of the fire. She said, "First, I needed a husband. He had to be a man who would be my hero but not try to dominate me. The other would be a stable place to live.