He woke up several times, and each time his body told him to go back to sleep, he wasn’t ready. He heard Kara and Bekka’s conversation, he smelled the coffee, and he heard Kara help Bekka onto the walker with the seat on it to help wheel her into the shower. He almost got up then, but he knew he needed more sleep. Finally, his body let him move and get up.
Garen knew he had a lot to think on and put in order, and fast. He stepped back into the shower to wake up and help focus his mind. He had already shown he could still react as stuff happened, but he was also kicking himself for everything he had forgotten, missed or flat out done wrong. From struggling to find a path in the first few moments fleeing the water, to something as simple as forgetting to remind people not to use polarized sunglasses, all of these things could have got someone killed and did get the love of his life hurt. The other part of his brain fought back, reminding him that although non-polarized glasses may have enabled her to see a trip line easier, they weren’t expecting trip lines in the National Forest. Once he had calmed that debate somewhat, his thoughts turned to the lists of lists it had started last night. Safety, water, shelter, food. It all came back to that.
He knew that if this were one of those prepper books, they would have a thousand years of food stored, sixty acres of food planted, 100K of stabilized fuel, and two dozen friends to defend the twenty foot walls around their perimeter. He wished it WAS one of those novels, and everything would turn out right in the end. Unfortunately, he knew the reality of the situation. He figured they may have, as long as everything worked and they didn’t get picky, up to two years of food, between stacks of freeze dried, cans, bags of beans and rice and such to augment their standard pantry and freezer. If they weren’t greedy and depopulate the land, they could plus up some with fishing the pond, and harvesting some wild game, but he knew the population will be fragile and everyone else will be trying to hunt them for themselves. That would be the big danger, people coming to look for food and stumbling into their area. The thorn shrubs were only really thick near the road and gate. They were gradually adding cuttings and plants each year but it was a slow process and they were not a wall around the land, but more of a suggestion.
Water wasn’t an immediate concern however. Between the well, the roof catchments, and the spring, they were set for water.
Shelter was a complicated task. As long as nothing got to them, they had everything they needed for quite some time at the house. They had a secure, efficient house, with plenty of supplies, designed to be used off the grid. It had battery banks for storing the energy from the solar array. It had enough ways to heat it, and cool it. The walls were thick enough to protect them from all but the most potent small arms. They had enough weapons and ammo to make most people regret thinking they were an easy or soft target. But they had to sleep sometime. They couldn’t go onto a continuous war footing that would wear them out fast. This place wasn’t built to be a fortress, it was built to be a comfortable retirement home and property to get away from the crowds and get back to calm.
So, if they were forced to leave the house, they did have a few other options. The training building had most of the elements for that. They could live in it, there was water, shelter and cooking facilities. But what if they had to go farther? What could they do? They did have the Airstream that he had lived in when they were building this place. It was in the training building. It might be a good idea to get that restocked and prepped in case they had to go farther. But where could they really go with it? Low slung, they would have to evacuate via a road. It was also too long to maneuver down the back route they had come in on as well. Then it hit him. What about Jim’s beast?
Garen hadn’t touched that thing in quite a while. He knew the engine was good. John had it rebuilt when they ‘converted’ it into a generator to sneak it past the EPA. The damn thing was a seventeen liter twelve cylinder diesel engine. It had all the power to carry anything they had on it. The Airstream John had bought for it was rough but all the plumbing and electrical has already been stubbed, waiting for John to make up his mind what he wanted it to look like inside. If it looks like they may need an evacuation vehicle, it was the best candidate. It’s not like John would mind. It might be time to start thinking about how to finish it out.
Garen’s thoughts slid sideways to his house guests, both the old one and the new one. Kara slid right back in where she had left off when they moved her to her spot by the sea. There was no disruption with her. Too many private and personal sharing’s, too many good times and bad times to have any problem there. John had always picked on them good naturedly that they should have been Mormon, then the three of them could be married. If John even knew the half of it, it would make his head swim.
Allyson was another topic all together. She was smart, and although a bit slow on the uptake shifting her mindset, Garen felt she was starting to come around. He had to admit it was unrealistic to expect her to automatically think like they did. It took years for that to happen, so they would have to be somewhat patient. The one problem nagging at the back of his head with her was Bekka had a very short fuse for what she perceived as bullshit, and not adapting to what should be an apparent reality shift could set off her temper. That would be bad. The other thing nagging at him, ok he had two problems, was potential of tension between Kara and Allyson. Whether there was an emotional attraction for Allyson from Kara, there was a physical attraction. He knew that Kara would do her best to keep herself in check, but the possibility of tension could emerge. He wanted Allyson to have nothing making her uncomfortable while she was here. Things would be stressful enough without adding any of that into the mix.
Another element of concern was the tendency to potentially treat Allyson like a kid, even though she was damn near young enough that she could be. Being condescending would shut down learning and cooperation. This was to be avoided at all cost. He and Kara had seen enough promise that they brought her here. So they needed to focus on training someone in new skills, not treat them like a kid on their first day at boot camp.
He finished drying off, got dressed and came out into the kitchen. There was still coffee so he poured a cup and came over to the radio desk where Bekka was busy writing notes, drinking iced tea and petting Torden on her lap.
“Hey, cute stuff. I sent the kids to the movies. They will be gone awhile, want to get frisky?” Bekka leaned her head back at his words and got a quick kiss before her reply.
“Frisky better start with this Foley taken out and a pain pill. These ribs hurt like a fiend.”
“So I guess vigorous calisthenics are out as well?”
“Yup”
“Let me get the syringe and something to clean you up with so we can at least get the Foley out, and I’ll bring a pain pill so you can stay on top of it. I’ll take a raincheck for anything else.”
“Sounds like a better plan, mister. Kara said they should be back in time for a late lunch, so you have a little longer to plot out our next steps, to include a training plan to spool up Allyson for stuff.”
“Gotcha, be right back.”
