Chapter 21
Just because the newlyweds didn’t leave the apartment for two days didn’t mean they spent the entire time in bed. On the contrary, mostly they sat and talked, watched movies together and generally enjoyed spending time together, just the two of them.
When they finally did emerge, Pam was radiant with happiness, and Jack seemed more relaxed than the others had ever seen him. Mel thought it was cute the way they both walked around with a grin on their faces all that day, but she didn’t comment on it.
For her part, Pam was deliriously happy. She’d been a little afraid on their wedding night, but Jack had been slow and gentle, being more concerned with her happiness than his own. The result had been an experience beyond anything she’d ever imagined, and way beyond anything her friends had ever talked about when she was in school. Thinking about it, she realized that what Robin had said was most likely true. When done right (in marriage), and when both people were serving God, sex truly was a thousand times better than if she’d just ‘done it’ with anyone who was available.
As it was now early September, and Jack knew winter would be there before they knew it, he decided that the livestock would need better quarters for the long cold months ahead. Sitting down with the others, he sketched out what he thought would be needed. The rest of the group offered suggestions as he went, and they finally agreed on how to go about the project. After a trip into Mountain Home for supplies, they got to work. Two weeks later they were almost done, and everyone was impressed with what they had accomplished.
The animal barn sat on top of the number three silo. This was one of the storage silos, and didn’t open anymore. There was however an access port that used to be used to fill the liquid oxygen tanks for the missile. That would give them access to the structure without having to walk through the snow that usually started some time in November. It was through this access port that they also ran the water and electrical lines, ensuring that the water pipes wouldn’t freeze. The barn was built large, and divided. The bull had his own area, built out of heavy steel pipe and angle iron, to make sure he didn’t break out. The cow area had one section set aside for milking, and another for calving. Dividing the cow and bull areas was a feed trough set up with an automatic feeder. They’d found it at the co-op in town and it would provide just enough for all the animals each day. The hopper was filled with enough feed to last for six months. Next to the trough was a water tank, also accessible by both sides.
Going through the back wall one entered the pig house and chicken coop. these two sat side by side and also had automatic feeders and waterers. Doors to separate outdoor yards were set in both sides, and could be closed during cold months. All the pens had concrete floors, and there was a hose available to allow the group to hose down the pens to help keep the place clean. Heaters attached to the walls would keep the temp above sixty degrees automatically, and all Jack and the others would have to do was wash the floors down every few days and collect the milk and eggs.
Almost finished, Jack and Eric had been wiring in the lights when Jack’s pager started buzzing. Dropping what they were doing, the two men raced down the access port and to the intercom at the entrance to the silo. Hitting the button, Jack called for someone to go to the control room and see what had set off the alarm system. A moment later Pam called back and told them that they’d gotten a message in on the radio.
Jack had forgotten all about the automatic signal they were sending out, as there had never been a reply. Telling Pam they’d be there in a minute, he and the boy started off towards the power dome at a trot.
Arriving out of breath, he saw the message on the monitor next to the radio.
“G6WZZMJ calling whoever is sending out the automatic signal. Please respond.”
Sitting in front of the terminal, Jack typed “hello? Can you hear me? Who are you? We’d about given up hope of finding anyone else around, this is the first time anyone’s called us on the radio.”
After a moment, more words appeared on the screen. “Well I’m not surprised, as this frequency is usually only used for air traffic. I just happened to be bored enough to be monitoring it when I heard your automatic signal. My name’s Michael and I’m in upstate New York.”
“Hello Michael” Jack typed, “my name’s Jack, and I’m in southern Idaho. How are things where you are? Is there anyone else there with you? Have you contacted anyone else?” He was full of questions. To actually be communicating with someone across the country was amazing to him after so many months of silence.
“Well, things aren’t too good here Jack, I don’t imagine they are many places anymore. There are five of us here, myself, my wife, and our three kids. As for contact, I’ve spoken with several groups around the world, but no one has the ability to do more than just talk.”
“Did you say your wife and kids? How did you all manage to survive the plague together?”
“Well, I guess they aren’t really my wife and kids, although I think of them that way now. Jennifer I met about three months ago, and she found two of the kids along the way to where I’m at. The other child, Eddie, I found in his parents house not long after everyone around here died. I know they’re not really my family, but it makes it nicer to think of them that way.”
“Sounds like they’re family to me Michael. You said things aren’t so great there, why is that? Is there some way we could help?
“I don’t see how. We were doing great at first, but we live in a very rural area. At first I went all over looking for folks, and used up most all the gas I could find doing that. Now that we’re all together here, we’ve gone through the food quickly and there’s no more around. We don’t have enough gas left to go looking for more, and it’s too cold to walk, especially for the young’uns. By my figuring we should have enough to get us through to January…after that I don’t know what’s gonna happen.”
Thinking for a moment, Jack said “Michael, I need to discuss something with my people here. Could you call me back on this channel in about two hours? We may be able to do something to help you all out.”
“Are you serious?! Sure, I’ll call you back…what could you do?”
“I’m not sure at this time, let me talk it over with my people first.”
“Ok, talk to you in a couple of hours then… G6WZZMJ out.”
Switching off the radio, Jack looked at the others and suggested they go into the dining room where they’d be more comfortable and discuss an idea of his. Getting up, everyone filed out.
An hour later they were still ‘discussing’ Jack’s idea. Actually, discussion was too nice a word, in reality this was an argument.
“I just can’t believe you want to bring them here Jack, especially after what happened with Doug.” Mel said, throwing her arms up in frustration. “Didn’t that whole episode show you how dangerous it is to open ourselves to outsiders?”
“Mel, calm down, have a seat and let me say my piece…please.” Jack was weary, this wasn’t going as he’d thought it would.
Pam, Eric and Robin hadn’t said much, mostly they just sat on the sidelines and watched, but Eric was decidedly with Mel on this one, he didn’t see any reason for them to open themselves to that sort of danger again. Thinking about what had happened before, he put his arm around his wife and drew her close.
“Look, first off there’s no reason to get upset, I just want to put it to a vote. And I won’t do anything until we have a unanimous decision, so just relax.” Jack started. “Next, I have two main reasons why I want to do this, and after I list them we can vote. If just one here is against this, we won’t do it…fair enough?”
The others looked at each other, nodding. Mel sat down, still looking upset, but willing to listen anyway.
“Ok, reason number one. These people need help. They had no reason to lie to us as we’re thousands of miles away and they never thought we could do anything for them in the first place. They need help or they’re not going to make it through the winter. As Christians, our duty is to God first, and one of the things He tells us to do is help each other. As for the danger, as long as we are doing His work, we’re supposed to look to Him for protection, setting aside our fear and trusting Him to take care of us.”
At this, Mel spoke up. “What about what happened with Doug, why didn’t God take care of us then Jack?”
“Who says He didn’t? How do any of us know that without God’s direct intervention, Doug wouldn’t have dragged Robin off into some dark corner, like in one of the storage silos, and then raped her? If he’d done that, there’s no way any of us could have gotten to her in time to stop him, and she’d be in a much worse condition now, if he didn’t kill her outright. It’s obvious to me that God wanted us to witness to that man, which is why he came here to begin with. But God also was watching out for us, and that’s why Doug was stupid enough to attack one of us in an area where the others would be close by.”
Mel wanted to keep arguing, but she saw enough truth in what he said to keep her mouth closed.
Continuing, Jack said “now for reason number two. Robin and Eric are going to have a baby soon. Pam and I are working on that as well.” At this, Pam blushed. “So tell me…who’ll our kids marry when they get old enough? Each other, right? But who will THEIR kids marry?”
Jack paused a moment, letting the others think about that for a second.
“According to experts, it takes at least six hundred unrelated people of child bearing age to provide enough genetic diversity to allow a society to grow. Without that many, the descendants will eventually end up marrying their close relatives, and the society will die due to mutations resulting from compounded genetic defects, including retardation and sterility. The only way to avoid this is to get as many different people of child bearing age together as possible, at least six hundred, but preferably several thousand.
“Look, letting others in here may have its dangers, but is that any reason to deny our descendants the chance to exist? Think about out grand kids, and our great-grand kids, don’t they deserve a chance? Well, we’re the ones who get to decide if they get that chance or not, and that decision involves just what we’re discussing right now…whether to gather as many people as we can and bring them here, or not.”
“Ok, I’ve said my piece, why don’t we all pray and think about this tonight and vote on it in the morning…ok?”
The others sat there stunned. They had never even considered the children or their future, only thinking about what was best for themselves. Realizing their own selfishness, they got up and went out of the room to pray and think about what they’d heard. Jack took the opportunity to call Michael and ask him to call back the next day, then went to his apartment.
The next morning Jack and Pam walked over to the dining room. The night before, when he’d gotten up to the apartment, Pam had been in tears. As he’d stepped off the elevator she’d gone to him, hugging him and asking him to forgive her for being so selfish.
“It’s all right, you didn’t know.” He said, trying to comfort her.
“But you were right, Jack, and the rest of us were wrong. We HAVE to get other people here, I see that now. If we don’t our children won’t have any future at all.”
Glad that she’d seen the light and hoping the others did now as well, he had continued to comfort his wife until they went to bed.
Entering the dining room, they saw that everyone else was there as well. Mel looked embarrassed, and Eric still looked unsure, but Robin smiled at them when they walked in, and Jack thought that everything would probably be all right.
They decided to vote before breakfast, and as Jack had hoped, it was unanimous in favor of bringing Michael and his family in.
After they ate, Jack got on the radio and made contact.
“Michael, my people have reached a decision and would like to invite you and your family to come stay with us. We have a large shelter I put together before the plague, and it has room for dozens of people, and food and supplies for a long time.”
“Wow, that’s a generous offer Jack, but there’s no way. We can’t even get into the towns in this area, how would we ever get to Idaho?”
“Don’t worry about that, we’ll come get you. Is there an airport near you?”
“Well, I believe there’s one about thirty miles south, in Rome. I think it has a paved runway, but I’m not sure.”
“That sounds perfect, where exactly are you from there?”
“We’re near an area called ‘Michigan mills’. It’s right at thirty miles NNW of Rome. I can give you the coordinates if you want.”
Jack got the coordinates and asked Michael to hold on a second as he looked it up on the terminal. Finding it, he typed “ok, that looks good. We could be there in the morning if that was acceptable. We’ll land at Rome and come up to your area by helicopter, if that’s ok.”
“Sounds great.” He hesitated, “I have to ask one thing though…what’s the catch?”
“Tell me, are you a Christian?”
“You better believe it.”
“How about the others there?”
“Jennifer is, and we’re raising the kids that way as well.”
“Excellent. Well, to answer your question, the catch is we live with the Bible as our guide here, and we would expect your group to do so as well. Also, as this is my shelter, you’d have to be willing to live under my authority, although we make most decisions as a group.”
“What would happen if we didn’t agree on something?” Michael wanted to know.
“Well, if we couldn’t work out our differences, we’d either bring you back to where you are now, or take you anyplace else you wanted to go, within the same distance.”
“Sounds fine to me then, and yes, we’d love to join your group.”
“Ok then, we’ll be there some time tomorrow morning. I’m sure you’ll hear us when we arrive.”
“Great, we’ll be looking for you in the morning, G6WZZMJ out.”
They spent the rest of the day getting ready for the trip. Knowing they would need to refuel at least once in order to make it home, and that it was too risky to take the chance that a fuel truck would still run, Jack took the Huey into town and found a gas powered pump at the local fire department that could be used to pump flammable liquids. It put out a hundred gallons a minute with the four inch lines that came with it, and he figured they could completely refuel the plane in about an hour and a half. Returning, he secured it in the C-130, then went into the hangar and brought out the Viper.
“Why are you messing with that?” Pam asked.
“We need more firepower than the Huey can provide hun’, in case these people aren’t so friendly after all. The wings come off easily, and we can put them back on and be ready to go within half an hour after we get there.”
“Cool.” The girl said.
Getting the wings off, Jack and Eric pushed the plane up the ramp and secured it inside the transport. Next they brought in the wings and tied them down as well. Lastly, they moved the Huey itself into the plane, using the winch to get it up the ramp. When it too was secured, they went inside.
Jack had reconsidered the design of the small plane and its gun. Removing the rear control stick and moving control to the front cockpit only, he’d made it so that someone in the rear could reload the gun. They had since placed two more ammo cans in the rear area, giving them a total of three hundred rounds of fire power.
Thinking about the situation, he decided they would have to break with protocol and have everyone go on this trip. Robin would have to be in the Viper with Eric in order to reload the gun if it were needed, and Mel and Pam would have to stay with the plane for security. Realizing they would need more firepower than just the H&K’s if anyone made a concerted effort to take the plane, he considered his options and finally decided to dis-mount the M-249’s from the Kestrel and have the girls use them. That would give them an impressive amount of firepower and should allow them to hold out until he or Eric could get back.
Hoping all the bases were covered, he went inside for the night. Letting the others know they would be leaving at 2am, he headed for bed.
At five past two in the morning, the group took off. Quickly climbing to altitude, Jack set the auto-pilot and went back to the cabin to eat breakfast with the others. The cargo plane wasn’t the most comfortable aircraft they could have chosen, but they made do. After hours in the air, the auto-pilot buzzed to let them know they were coming up on their destination, and Jack and Eric went up front to check out the area and bring them in.
Scanning the area in the dawn light, they didn’t see anything moving. Lining up on one of the two concrete runways, Jack brought the plane in, coasting to a stop and parking with more than enough runway ahead of them to take off again.
After getting the Huey and Viper out and bolting the wings on the little jet, the men flew over the airport in the chopper, looking for a fuel truck. Finding one, they set down and went over to it to see if it would run. To their amazement, it cranked up after Jack attached the jump-start box to its battery. Getting in, Eric drove to the plane, as Jack brought the chopper back.
The truck had a little over a thousand gallons in it, and after putting that into the plane, they had to make several trips to the tank farm to refill it. The tank farm pumps didn’t work of course, so they used the portable pump they’d brought to fill the truck. Within three hours they had the plane fueled and ready to go, and Jack was feeling much better about the situation. Getting into the Huey again, he got into the air and headed towards Michigan Mills. A minute later, Eric and Robin took off as well, so they could be in the area when Jack landed and offer air support if it were needed.
A few minutes later, after flying over farm land and a few houses, Jack came to the coordinates Mike had given him. Hovering next to a farmhouse, he saw the front door open and a middle-aged man step out. The man wasn’t armed so he set the bird down, making sure it was pointed at the house and the trigger for the rockets was armed just in case this was a trap. As he settled, the man approached, keeping his hands away from his body so as not to make Jack nervous. When he was a few feet away, Jack opened the door and stepped out, sticking out his hand to the man.
Shaking the offered hand, Mike said “Jack, I presume?”
“Michael. It’s good to meet you in person. Where’s the rest of your family?”
“They’re inside. I wasn’t sure you wouldn’t turn out to be hostile, so I had them get into the basement while I came out to meet you.”
“I understand perfectly Mike, as you can see, we too took precautions.” Jack said, indicating the armed chopper.
Continuing, Jack said “well, if you’re convinced that we’re here to help, get your family and get aboard…it’s a long flight home and I’ll feel better when all my people are together and in the air.”
Mike walked back into the house, and a moment later he emerged again with a young lady and three small children. All of them were carrying bags of belongings, and they walked out to the helicopter and climbed aboard, with Jack’s help. When they were all set, Jack called Eric and told him to return to the plane, then he took off and headed back as well.
Everything went as planned, and as they were flying back, the two groups got to know one another. Mike turned out to be forty-six, and his wife was twenty-three. The kids were Allison, age eleven, Robert, age nine, and Eddie, who was seven. None of them was related by blood, but they were indeed a family, and they acted like it.
Finally landing at the complex, Jack suggested they get everyone settled inside and put the equipment away in the morning. Everyone agreed, as it had been a long day, and after getting the new additions settled in their own apartment, everyone turned in for the night.
