American Revenant (Book 2): Settlers and Sorrow (20 page)

“I think that’s our cue to get to work for the day. 
Everyone take time to think about what we’ve discussed.  Go over it with anyone
who wasn’t here, let them know that we’ll be listening to everyone’s
opinions.” 

Chapter
28

“I know you wanted to put the bridge just past the
Woodland Grove turnoff, but what if we put it just before that?”

“What are you thinking, Rick?” Gordy asked.

Rick stood in the middle of Highway E with Gordy,
Mike, Jimmy and Alex, looking in the direction of Highway 79.  The men had come
out to survey the area and review the plans for the cattle guard drawbridge.

“Look down that way; you see where that driveway
angles up to the house in the trees there?  If we block the road there, maybe
fell some trees or drop a semi-trailer there, then we can use this house,” Rick
told them, pointing out the small white house that sat near the junction of
Woodland Grove and Highway E.  “That closes off the Grove road from E.”

“Use the house for what?” Mike asked.

“We have several people living in the house, and they
take turns manning a small guard post we build right here beside the bridge.” 

“Not a bad idea, Rick,” Alex offered. “You would have
constant supervision of the most direct route into town.”

“Exactly, which is why I’m suggesting it.”

“Ok, sounds good to me, but what do we do about this
field here?  If we do this right here then they can just drive right around the
bridge, which defeats the point of building it.”

“Well, Gordo, I think we trench across the field until
we can build a wall along it,” Mike said. 

Gordy shook his head, wondering how they would ever
complete all the work they wanted to do without heavy equipment.

“Ok, I think it’ll work, but we need to start on it
right away.  You guys realize that this is going to take a ton of work to make it
happen right?”

The other men knew, and let Gordy know they were
willing to dig in and get it done.

“Alright then, let’s make this happen.  Alex, take a
couple of people with you and find us those cattle guards.  We need to get some
people with sledgehammers down here busting up the road, starting today.  We
can drive around the work, through the field, until we get it done, and then
start working on the trench to block off the rest of the area.”

Alex took Garret and Calvin out in one of the pickups
to find the cattle guards. 

Mike and Jimmy assembled a pile of sledge hammers, a
couple of large breaker bars, and several pick-axes, as well as various
shovels.  Both men dreaded the difficulty of the work, but looked forward to
throwing themselves into something constructive. 

Dean, Rebecca, and Rick joined them at the dig site,
and together they marked off the area they were going to remove for the cattle
guards.

Starting near the edge, they began breaking off pieces
of the bituminous surface layer.  Within several hours time, and by changing
out workers, the group managed to pry loose and break up the topmost layer.

Once they reached the bituminous binder layer of the
road everyone stopped to take a break for food and water.  Rick stood staring
at the cut up area of the pavement as he scooped unheated ravioli and sauce
directly from the can.

“I don’t think we need to go as deep as six feet,”
Rick said to Jimmy, who had just walked up beside him.

“I was wondering about that.  If we go that deep it’ll
take a lot more work to shore up the sides, and it would be kind of overkill
really.  Nothing will be able to drive over that gap once we get done, anyway.”

Rick nodded, “Yeah, kind of what I was thinking.  I
think we might dig this at an angle too, four feet at the deepest, on the guard
side of the trench, angling up to the road.  If someone is idiotic enough to
try driving over it they’d end up nose down in there, and unable to back the
vehicle out.  But having that angle there will make it so we can easily pull
whatever gets stuck down there out with one of the trucks.”

“Sounds good, Rick.  Should make digging it out a
little faster too.”

Both men turned at the sound of a horn coming from the
direction of Highway 79.  Alex was coming down the road, honking the horn
twice, once, twice, the signal they had agreed on before he left that
everything was ok as they returned.

The old pickup truck drove around the dig area and
pulled up next to Rick and Jimmy on the grassy area beside the road. 

“Looks like you found ‘em pretty easily,” Rick said,
as Calvin, Garret and Alex climbed out of the vehicle.

“Yeah, I didn’t think they would be difficult to
find,” Alex said.  “This pair was actually sitting in a barn about four miles
up the road, they’re almost new.  I’d guess that whoever had them intended to
replace the ones they had in use.”

“If you found them four miles away, why have you guys
been gone for nearly three hours?”  Jimmy asked.

“Well, we found something else,” Calvin told him.

Jimmy raised his eyebrows, looking from Calvin to
Alex.  “Well, what’d you find?”

“I’m not even sure if I can make it run, but we found
an old Case 580 CK.  It was probably used for digging out ponds, or burying
utility runs, pulling old stumps, things like that.”

“Ok, a farm tractor, that’s cool,” Rick said.

“Not a farm tractor, a back-hoe and front loader.”

“Oh hell yes, we damn sure need that!  What do you
need to work on it?” Rick asked.

“I’ll get some tools from Dad’s old shop, take these
two back out with me and tinker with it for a while, maybe get lucky.”

“Ok, that sounds good to me.  Let’s get these unloaded
and you can head back out.  Did you guys clear the place before you started
poking around?”

“No, didn’t think we needed to since we hadn’t planned
on going in the house.”

“Before you go back out head up to the Camp and let
Gordy know what’s going on.  You should’ve had bite guards on.  Get some and
wear them.”

“Sure thing, Papa Rick,” Calvin said, smiling.

Cal, Alex, and Garret squeezed back into the truck and
headed for the Camp.  Rick and Jimmy tossed their food trash aside, picked up a
shovel and pick-axe and joined the others at tearing up the rest of the road.

The work seemed to go a little easier for everyone, as
they shared the news of the back-hoe find.  Much of the work that needed done
around the Camp could be done much faster if they had heavy equipment.  People
said a silent prayer for Alex, hoping that he had the skills to get the old
tractor running.

Chapter
29

Gordy had driven out to see Daniel Brenger, with Jimmy
and Dean along for the ride, as soon as the drawbridge was completed.  He spent
a little time with the man, explaining what they were doing to make the tiny
town of Saverton secure for everyone there.

The cattle man agreed to bring his livestock and move
to the area, seeing that it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. 

They took two days to transport all the cattle as well
the personal belongings Daniel chose to bring with him. 

Everyone agreed that the horse farm would be ideal for
the purpose of protecting the livestock, and set Daniel up in the house.

Several crews worked long hours removing the carcasses
of both zombies and horses.  Fires burned for several days from burning all the
bodies, filling the sky with dark black smoke.

Once Daniel was settled in, and the cattle were tended
to, he jumped right in, helping out wherever he was needed and quickly making
friends among the group. 

Several people made another run to New London, Dean
and Rebecca included, emptying out the feed store there.  They took everything
they could find, even if they had no use for it at the moment, such as goat or
chicken feed.

Everyone spent the next week in the Camp, working on
the wall, tending gardens, or going through all of the stuff they had brought
back from the New London stores.

Everyone except Alex and his crew of two men, usually
consisting of Garret and Calvin, though Louis went one day when Garret didn’t
feel well, and Everett went just for the ride.

Alex gave a lot of his knuckle-skin to the tractor,
but it was worth it when he came rolling up to the Camp late Thursday afternoon
in the lumbering piece of equipment. 

Calvin drove the truck slowly behind, honking the
‘all-clear’ signal as they approached the gate.  Alex parked the mostly-rust
colored tractor outside the Cambrey house, not wanting to take it up the
graveled hill until the tires could be aired up.

People came running down the hill to the house,
cheering at the find. 

“Holy crap, man, you actually got it running,” Mike
told him, as he reached out to shake Alex’s hand.  He received many handshakes,
pats on the back, and even a few hugs.

“Tires are almost flat, but we can get the large air
compressor in Dad’s old shop going, even if we have to rig it up, and fix them
easy enough,” Alex told the assembled group.

“This is excellent, Alex, you’ve done something beyond
wonderful for the group, everyone thanks you and owes you a huge debt of
gratitude.”

“Not necessary, Gordy, but thank you.  I did this for
everyone; it belongs to all of us.”

That evening everyone celebrated around a large
bon-fire outside the main house.  Beer was brought up from the concrete pool,
where it had been left in the water to chill, and a bottle of whiskey was
brought out of their stores.

The group celebrated how much they had accomplished in
such a short time, reveling in their success.  For a moment in time, these
people enjoyed themselves.  They did not think about zombies, or monsters that
wore the masks of men.  They all felt safe, they had an abundance of food and
were growing more every day, water was plentiful and so was wild game.

These people took the time to relish the fruits of
their labor, knowing that with sweat and strength and community they could
solve anything.

Despite all hardships and heartache this group of
survivors had suffered, some were even able to find love.

“Mom, Dad, can we talk to you?”

Gordy tilted his head back, trying to look past the
glare of the fire at his son.  Dean and Rebecca did not see that Gordy had
reached down between himself and his wife, grasping Jan’s hand tightly.

“Sure thing, Deany-Meany, what’s up?”

“Deany-Meany?  Wow, now that’s a nickname.”

“No one’s called me that in years, since I was about
ten I think,” Dean said.  He tried to scowl at his Dad, but could only find a
smile.  “You better not start calling me that, either, woman,” He said to
Rebecca.

“Ha! I just might, but only when you’re being a
meany.”  Rebecca poked him in his ribs, causing him to jump and fight back a
laugh.

“Ok you two, save it for later,” Jan told them.  “What
did you want to talk to us about?”

“Well, I was thinking, I mean, we were thinking…” 
Dean stumbled over his words, suddenly nervous about having this discussion
with his parents.

“What Captain Eloquence is trying to say here is; we
want to shack up together in one of the houses down in the town.”

Jan and Gordy both burst out laughing, more at Dean’s
expression, with his huge eyes and hanging jaw, than at what Rebecca had said.

“Oh my god, Becca!  Don’t say that to my freakin’
parents!”

Still laughing, Jan said, “I can’t tell you we weren’t
expecting it.  Are you two sure about this?”

“Yes, we are, Mom.  We actually want to get married,
but since we don’t have a preacher that would be difficult.”

From across the fire Evie shouted, “Alex has been a
youth pastor for the past two years!”

People began to laugh and clap, hearts swelling with
joy.  Gordy grinned at his son, standing up to shake his hand and hug Rebecca. 
“As long as you’re sure about this, then that’s ok with me.  Just let me say
this, ok?  The world may be different, but marriage is something to be
treasured.  Don’t take it lightly, either of you.  If you do this, plan on
doing it for life.”

“Really, Gordo?  ‘Doing it for life’ is what you want
to say right now?”  Laughter swelled around the fire, and Gordy felt a flash of
delight that Jimmy sounded like his old self for a moment.

“Jimmy?”

“Yeah, Gordo?”

“Keep being a dick, Jimmy.”

“Sure thing, man.”

Many continued to celebrate well into the evening,
enjoying the rare moment of complete happiness.  For a short time the group was
able to abandon thoughts of the hungry dead and evil living, and give themselves
over to the shared joy that is the heart of a strong community. 

Tomorrow was a new day and each new day brought with
it new discoveries about the world they now lived in.