Story Market Day

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Part 7

Bekka


It’s been a hectic few weeks. Has it only been that long? It seems like a life time since we have had everyone home. Back where they belong. Our little hovel is becoming quite the community. Is it good? It’s something only the future can tell.

Paige, Sabine and Andrea were anxious to get into their new home and start their new life. Now that Garen and Kara were back, they packed up and enlisted all the help they could get to move. With two pregnant women they needed all the help they could get.

There was lot of lifting and moving of stuff at Zed’s to clean up Marta’s sewing room for Paige. Once we had it clear, we moved some beds around and moved some beds in that Doug and a crew retrieved from one of the Ranger cabins down in the main camp. It was a lot of work but it was worth it. It made all of them happy and it got them out of our area into one of their own. I’m not going to lie. We needed some normalcy too.

Out in the park helping Paige and the rest move, Angelique finally got to spend some more time with her father without life-or-death frantic missions or back-to-back training sessions interfering. I’m not sure how she is handling everything though. It has been a whole lot of stuff happening in her life these last six or eight months.

Speaking of Angelique, she’s a lot quieter than she was when Garen first picked her up in the forest. Sometimes the happy smiling kid pokes through and is a sight to behold. I wish it would happen more though. Maybe as time goes by and we have a little bit of break, maybe she can find some peace with what she has seen and become.

Kara has been spending a lot of time with Sabine. I know it’s because of Christian. Andrea understands I think, but it doesn’t keep her from feeling left out and feeling like a third wheel. She’s probably a little jealous that she can’t share in that part of Sabine’s life.

She’s also jealous of the time Kara spends with Sabine because it’s time away from her. I just know Andera looks at Paige and knows how Paige would give anything for just one mor minute with Henrick. She doesn’t want to lose precious time with Sabine. I know that look. I’ve seen it on Kara many times.

I hope Kara and Sabine can explain it to Andrea in a way she can understand. It will be hard since from what I know of Andrea, she can be possessive, stubborn, protective and even a bit childish.

Sabine is a strange one. I haven’t figured her out yet. There is so much behind her eyes. She has a hell of a story to tell I’m sure and one day I might get to hear some of it, or maybe not. What I do know is Kara has part of it and now maybe they can help each other.

The good thing about her is her medical knowledge. Now Garen has someone to share the medical burden with and I get a break from him talking over my head. It’s fun to watch him making cheat sheets to keep up with her and hitting the books at night. I laugh at him sometimes “Now you know what you do to me and Kara and Angelique and Allyson.”

Speaking of Sabine and Angelique, it was funny. One day, when we were moving stuff, they were standing together. When I looked at them standing there together, they looked so much alike. Same tall lanky features, same jet-black hair and the same fierce look on their faces sometimes. They could almost be mother and daughter or siblings.

Daughter. Siblings. Angelique and Emilia seem to be getting along. There was a bit of tension there for a while. I’m not sure what caused the problem with them for a week or two, but it all seemed ironed out now.

Doug and Heidi seem happier now that they have let themselves move forward in a relationship. Come to think of it, that might have been the root of Emilia and Angelique’s issue. If so, neither told me.

With Emilia back in the forest, I have been going down to see Larrissa, Karl, Isadora and the kids more often now. Whenever I am there, Olivia is stuck to my hip like glue. I guess I never told her she didn’t have stay close to me anymore. Its ok though. I love the little squirt. I hope she isn’t making a hero out of me. I’ve been teaching her little things, Hera too, like how to shoot their little pistols. I’m glad their family agreed to let me teach them. I sure would have hated to take the gun away.

David has been working some with Brody and Ruby, swapping knowledge on cows and goats. Isadora has been teaching Hera and Ashley canning and baking. Karl, Penny and David have worked hard at getting soil prepared and crops in the ground.

In the end, I think Larrissa, Karl and Isadora will end up merging their two endeavors into one large, successful operation. Maybe we will be able to get some food from them if the crops are good.

Our own land is going to produce a bounty as well. We have quite a few trees planted when they first made the subdivision years ago augmenting the native ones here on our land and in the forest nearby. We may not have a lot from them this year or even next year, but each year the harvest will get bigger. We never worried about them before. They were just great to have and something to pick every now and then. Now, they will become something to work and depend upon.There are several native and other variety lost types out in the nearby forest. Emilia and Angelique are spearheading locating and identifying them. I am getting with Isadora and Larrissa about how to make the most of whatever we find.

Doug and Angelique are identifying native resources we can tap, like cattail for starch. Doug is digging around the old maps with Zed and Jesse, looking for the old villages and homestead sites. At these we hope to find maybe persistent leftovers growing where they used to be cultivated. Angelique said something in one of the gatherings that galvanized us all.

Angelique pointed out we were behind the curve on food production and gathering. There are no grocery stores open around here, and sooner or later, the larder will run dry. We needed to get on this earlier, and we missed the boat. Most of us don’t know anything about this. We have a whole new thing to learn. It will be nice to get away from all the medical, trauma, tactical and stuff we have been doing. It will get us back in touch with the earth. It might help us rejuvenate our spirits some.

While everybody else is planning food. I am leading the plans to search the areas around us better. Garen wanted to scavenge things left behind at other places. For this I have Kara and Allyson to help me and keep Garen on task. We want to go slow and steady.

Soon, in about a month or two, we will have another group of people here from the south; the other half of Paige’s group. What trouble will come our way with them. I guess we had better get some rescue teams ready.

Doug, Jesse and Zed are planning for them to use the lower Ranger camp. There are plenty of solid houses and other infrastructure ready for the taking. They just have to be prepped. Doug will tell us what we need to do to help.

A light rain is falling on the curved glass of the solarium as we sit in the hot tub. It’s just the five of us. Allyson and Angelique are no longer outwardly self-conscious as they slipped into the hot tub with Garen, Kara and I. These are our house mates, our family. We have a lot of work ahead, starting with getting the lower camp ready for our next arrivals.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Doug and Heidi’s Cabin


Doug and Heidi were sitting at the table having dinner. They had the place all to themselves for a change. Emilia was up helping Karl and Isadora with planting preps and reviewing her homework with Garen this week and Angelique wasn’t visiting right now. There were no visitors planned, no emergency missions going on, and everything was stable for a change.

“I know one thing for sure,” Doug said around a forkful of food.

“Yes?” Heidi thought she knew what was coming.

“We don’t send those two down to do cleaning unsupervised again.”

“Well, at least Emilia and Angelique admitted they got distracted gathering the maps and books for the homestead hunts.” Heidi laughed at the mock fierceness of Doug’s tone.

“There is that. At least it wasn’t just screwing off and playing video games I guess.”

“Yeah, you know we got good kids.”

“Kids hell! Angelique is as tall or taller than her mother! Thank God she takes after my side of the family for her temperament and drive though.”

“At least you got that with her. Mine takes after me! God help us all when she hits her twenties! I know what a hellion I was at that age.”

Doug grinned at the thought of how wild Heidi must have been, then cringed as he thought about it from a parent’s point of view. Ouch!

“That’s OK. She has far too many things to do to much time to get into trouble.”

“Fat chance. She’s up at Garen’s studying and helping Karl. There’s plenty of time with Brody right next door.”

“Brody’s a good young man,” Doug countered “he won’t do anything inappropriate with her.”

“I’m not worried about Brody starting something. I worry more about Emilia getting carried away and talking herself into going too far.”

Doug could see the real worry at the core of Heidi’s comment.

“She will probably go a little far and scare herself, but better somebody like Brody than some high school punk under the bleachers for his bragging rights.”

“Yeah, and Brody is appropriately afraid of pissing us off.” Heidi grinned like a shark headed for lunch. “I think Emilia learning about how to help birth babies will also help keep her focused on at least protection if not abstinence.”

“Well, at least she has Brody to set her sights on. I was worried about Angelique and Emilia butting heads over him, but Angelique told Emilia she wasn’t after him.”

“She told me that too. I don’t know…maybe she’s more attracted to Ruby?” Heidi saw Doug wince. “Don’t tell me you would have a problem if she went that way.”

“No, not directly. It’s more about societal friction and headaches it might bring. I told her long ago to just make sure to not confuse love for lust.”

Heidi laughed. “What society? The only ones we have to worry about are the people we let into our little clan! If there’s problems with that, I’m sure Kara or Sabine or Andrea would rearrange the mindsets of anyone who gave Angelique grief!”

“Speaking of them, Did Sabine give you any more info on why they didn’t come down to help today?”

“No. All she said was Paige had a flu bug or something and with her and Andrea unable to lift, they would go down in a couple days and do more of the sweep and mop type of stuff.”

Doug frowned. Paige sick? Still sick or sick again. They had been here a little over a month and Paige seemed to not be healthy yet. It was like Zed’s place was the main infirmary. Sabine and Andrea pregnant, Sabine recovering from serious gunshot wounds, Zed hobbling around in a cast from his broken leg, Paige still not recovering quickly from her horrible flu and coma. Jesse was the only healthy one.

“Maybe we aught to swing up there in a day or two and see if they need anything.”

“Maybe, but not today. Today we have the cabin to ourselves” Heidi said as she stood up.

“Definitely not today.” Doug said as he followed her towards the back of the cabin.
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
In the Connexes by the Training Buildings


Allyson, Kara, and Angelique had the task this week of sorting and consolidating stuff in the storage connexes. It was to be a deep clean and organize. There was stuff they might need later, stuff they could have used a month ago and some stuff they didn’t think they ever might need, but until they went through it all, it was just a big mystery.

One of the first tasks was emptying one of the connexes and bringing it into the big bay of the training building. This they tucked into a far corner against the wall. It was their new ‘arms locker’ to store any weapons related stuff not already up at Garen’s or over with Paige or Doug. This would hold the racks of dissimilar weapons scooped up along their activities, along with ammo and magazines. This is also where some of John’s boat anchors ended up. Racks and bins for the extra armor and web gear from the Center hung on one wall of the arms room Connex as well.

They gathered everything that looked like clothes into the big bay and sorted it by type and size. Pants, shirts, shorts, jackets, dresses, shoes, the stacks and piles grew as they hunted in all the Connexes.

Another Connex was for all the household stuff they found. Blenders, mixers, dishes, ironing boards and so on and so forth. They had enough stuff to start up a couple households between the bedframes, chairs, tables and the rest.

The racks of wood and other raw materials from the main workshop in the training building got another. This got a lot of the clutter out of the bay and gave them more room to maneuver vehicles and other large projects.

As they dug deeper and deeper, they kept finding neat little tidbits, some useful, others just interesting. The carousel horse from Terry’s Connex they moved to the entranceway of the training building as both a decoration and to make room for other things.

One of those ‘other things’ was a pile of parts project of Garen’s they found. At first glance, it looked like an old school 70’s era geodesic playground jungle gym of tubes and parts. As Kara pulled and dug, she was able to identify it as some sort of unfinished or half destroyed sand rail like the one they were running all over in the past several months.

When she asked him about it, his eyes lit up. With Paige and Zed’s help and brains, he might be able to finish that project. It would give them another light and efficient vehicle to do a lot of these errands and such without pulling out one of the fuel hogs.

By the end of the week, they had made a huge dent in the clutter, freed up a lot of storage space and, more importantly, had a better handle on the resources at hand. All of their efforts they saw as part of their pride in new ownership. As Kara kept reminding them, they were part owners of all of this so they might as well start taking care of it and planning their way forward.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Zed’s Cabin


Andrea and Sabine were sitting around the breakfast table when Paige came out of her room.

“Why’d you guys let me sleep in?”
“You obviously needed it.” Sabine said without looking up from her book.

“But I shouldn’t be this tired. I didn’t do that much yesterday.”

“Let’s see, over the last two days you moved boxes, swept the workshop area, helped Zed reorganize the workshop for your tools and helped Jesse and Zed break down the deer Jesse brought back. That’s a crapload. You are still building your strength back up.” Andrea pointed out.

“It shouldn’t be taking this long to get back to full health.” Paige looked at Sabine. “You checked me out. I’m over my flu and should be healthy so why am I still weak and drained all the time?”

Sabine looked up from her textbook and notes. She could see Paige was really starting to worry. That wouldn’t be good for her. Sabine looked at her mental calendar, counting the days and weeks. It’s been what, eight to twelve weeks at the outside? It might be time. She glanced over at Andrea before she made her decision.

“It’s perfectly normal. Your body is working overtime trying to get you healthy and keep you healthy.”

“Then why am I feeling wiped out and like crap? I’m hungry but can’t eat for shit. I take three bites then I feel full. I get dehydration headaches even though I’m pounding down water like crazy. I’m tired and sore all over like I still have the flu. What the hell is going on with me?”

Rather than answering her, Sabine stood up and walked over to the couch where her book bag was. She reached inside one of the pockets and pulled something out before she walked over to where Paige stood at the end of the table waiting for her answer.

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Paige. This was all to be expected. I figured it out when you were sick, and we held off on telling you. We wanted to wait until you were through the most delicate part and not put the stress on you. Well, I guess now is the time.” She handed Paige a small ziplock bag.

Paige looked at what was in the bag. A small, used pregnancy test wand.
 
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Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
Zed’s Cabin


Andrea and Sabine were sitting around the breakfast table when Paige came out of her room.

“Why’d you guys let me sleep in?”
“You obviously needed it.” Sabine said without looking up from her book.

“But I shouldn’t be this tired. I didn’t do that much yesterday.”

“Let’s see, over the last two days you moved boxes, swept the workshop area, helped Zed reorganize the workshop for your tools and helped Jesse and Zed break down the deer Jesse brought back. That’s a crapload. You are still building your strength back up.” Andrea pointed out.

“It shouldn’t be taking this long to get back to full health.” Paige looked at Sabine. “You checked me out. I’m over my flu and should be healthy so why am I still weak and drained all the time?”

Sabine looked up from her textbook and notes. She could see Paige was really starting to worry. That wouldn’t be good for her. Sabine looked at her mental calendar, counting the days and weeks. It’s been what, eight to twelve weeks at the outside? It might be time. She glanced over at Andrea before she made her decision.

“It’s perfectly normal. Your body is working overtime trying to get you healthy and keep you healthy.”

“Then why am I feeling wiped out and like crap? I’m hungry but can’t eat for shit. I take three bites then I feel full. I get dehydration headaches even though I’m pounding down water like crazy. I’m tired and sore all over like I still have the flu. What the hell is going on with me?”

Rather than answering her, Sabine stood up and walked over to the couch where her book bag was. She reached inside on of the pockets and pulled something out before she walked over to where Paige stood at the end of the table waiting for her answer.

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Paige. This was all to be expected. I figured it out when you were sick, and we held off on telling you. We wanted to wait until you were through the most delicate part and not put the stress on you. Well, I guess now is the time.” She handed Paige a small ziplock bag.

Paige looked at what was in the bag. A small, used pregnancy test wand.
Better look for experienced early childhood daycare people too. That's these 3 and not counting normal pregnancies which could come from other relationships.

Not a usual growth industry in dystopic fiction but, burgeoning young love and all . . .
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
“Wait! How? When? You’re messing with me!” Paige didn’t know what to think. "This isn't possible!

Sabine wrapped Paige in a hug, rapidly joined by Andrea.

“It’s possible. We figured it was probably either right before we left or during the trip here itself. When you got sick and passed out while you were picking Bekka and Olivia up, Garen and I put a Foley in and his standard is ‘any girl gets a Foley, gets a dipstick’. That’s how they found out about me, and that’s how we found out about you.”

Paige didn’t know what to say, what to think. Pregnant? She was pregnant? She and Henrik were going to have a kid! Oh God! Henrik. Why wasn’t he here with her, damn it! She was so in her own head she didn’t really hear what Sabine was saying, the first time.

“What?”

“I said I was waiting until after at least the 8th week, like we tried to do with Andrea. That’s when the risk of miscarriage starts dropping off. With you being sick, it is working overtime now trying to catch up.”

“I’m so happy for you! It’s been so hard not telling you!” Andrea blurted.

Paige sank into the chair as Sabine and Andrea released their hugs.

“This is a good thing, right?” Sabine asked her.

Paige was still overwhelmed. Pregnant?

“Who all knows?”

“Outside us? Garen, and he may have told Bekka, or maybe not. That’s about it.”

“What now?” Paige was in some sort of stupor. Andrea had the reply.

“Now? Now you have a baby about two or three months after Sabine and I do, that’s what now.”

Paige thought back to when she was unpacking the trailer, about how she cried finding Henrik had made three cribs. He must have known, somehow. She was crying again. Mostly tears of joy she hoped. They were having a baby.
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Thank you. Picking up odds and ends now. Action starts soon?
I’m sure something will happen, but as Griz has pointed out before, got to lay the groundwork and get everyone back up to speed for this location. We’ve been away from here except for a couple cameos for two books now

Proper Time On Target requires adjustments of flight time so all the shells arrive at the same time
 

txs

Contributing Member
I’m sure something will happen, but as Griz has pointed out before, got to lay the groundwork and get everyone back up to speed for this location. We’ve been away from here except for a couple cameos for two books now

Proper Time On Target requires adjustments of flight time so all the shells arrive at the same time
Would this be the author's equivalent of "sit down, shut up and hang on"? Thank you sir.
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
I’m sure something will happen, but as Griz has pointed out before, got to lay the groundwork and get everyone back up to speed for this location. We’ve been away from here except for a couple cameos for two books now

Proper Time On Target requires adjustments of flight time so all the shells arrive at the same time
Indeed.
Poorly coordinated ToT is highly undesirable :)

Particularly by we grunts
 
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