An Old Man And His Axe: A Prepper fiction book of survival in an EMP grid down post apocalyptic world (Old Preppers Die Hard 1) (13 page)

“I am going to get me two six packs, Becky, warm beer beats no beer I guess, but if we soak it in the lake awhile it should be passable cold to drink by this evening.” Farley said while pointing in back of Barnett at what appeared to be a sandbox.

“What is in that?” Farley asked.

“That’s a salt fish experiment we are working on. I have cured hams before but never tried fish. I say it’s not ready yet for sale.” Barnett said before Frasier voiced his opinion it would never be ready with a look like he didn’t appreciate having the overtly fragrant stuff around.

“I might try that sometime if you get your technique down right, how much are worms?” Farley asked.

“The same as usual, $2.99 a tub.” Frasier said.

“Seems like if beer went up worms would go down but that’s ok. I tell you what, I don’t need worms for fishing, that is, I need me some worms for my garden. How much would you sell me a pound sack for?” Farley asked trying to get into the wholesale or agriculture end of the business.

“Well we don’t usually sell them that way.” Barnett said eying him curiously.

“I used to buy red wigglers off EBay for about $16.00 a pound. Could you see your way to doing that pricing maybe? It’s not like a lot of people will have the gas anymore to drive over here and buy fishing worms.” Farley added.

“You got a point there, I tell you what, if you will take bed run I will do it and I will throw in some bedding and worm eggs to boot, o.k.?” Barnet said before telling Frasier to fill the order.

“That will be fine, hey you like old coins? I have some silver Mercury dimes I might be willing to trade.” Farley said.

“I don’t care anything about them except for the silver value in them. I will give you 20 times face which is an excellent price, if you will take it.” Barnett said happy he was getting silver for worms.

“That’s a pretty fair price you are offering but it doesn’t take into account the inflation we are experiencing as in what a can of beer costs these days.” Farley said starting to dicker.

“Well son, I might be able to give you a bit more if you are talking about buying a lot of beer. How many dimes are we talking about?” Barnett said looking at him shrewdly.

“Well you are offering two bucks a dime and you doubled your beer prices, four bucks a dime would be more in keeping with that kind of math would it not?” Farley countered.

“That would be, let’s see.” Barnett said getting out a pen and doing some calculations on the back of a brown paper sack to arrive at a per six pack price.

“Two and a half dimes a six pack or 10 dimes per case. I got a five dollar roll of them so that would be 5 cases of beer you would owe me.” Farley said giving the man a blank stare.

“Damn boy, you a mathematician or something? Hang on.” Barnett said and continued to do his figuring.

“What kind of beer you want?” Barnett said raising an eyebrow over his reading glasses.

“I don’t know, Budweiser, Coors Light, You got a particular brand of beer you want, Becky?” Farley said looking over his shoulder and trying to get her agreement on his choices with a wink.

“Sounds good to me Farley, you will be drinking most of it anyway.” Becky said acting catty.

“Damn, wasn’t expecting that.” Farley dead panned and grinned at Barnett who thought it was funnier than hell the woman had taken him to task.

“O.k., 5 cases of beer and a roll of dimes leave you owing me a total of 16 bucks for the worms, how do you want to take care of that Farley?” Barnett said with his hand out to receive the roll of dimes.

“Pay the man, Becky!” Farley said shocking her into fumbling in her purse and motioned for Jeremy to help him load the beer.

“Farley, that’s coming out of your allowance!” Becky said stopping his smirking and playing heading out the door with three cases but he took it in stride and gave her a comical quizzical look.

“Don’t you owe me for an advance on your allowance, Jeremy?” Farley said including the boy in the game to his great embarrassment and Becky’s surprise at the not so subtle allusion that they were a team.

“Uh yea, guess so, Farley.” The boy stammered as Farley went back to wearing a bedeviling smirk.

“You’re an asshole Farley.” Jeremy muttered while they were trying to find a place to put all that beer in the van.

“Hey, you owe me 20 bucks you told your momma you gave me!” Farley fired back.

“Well I, uh , damn it Farley you shouldn’t have put her on the spot like that.” Jeremy complained.

“Look who is telling who not to put somebody on the spot. I will give her back her money if she fusses. I had a hundred dollars invested in those dimes pre grid down and you know she is going to be drinking some of it with me anyway. She can handle her booze son, I don’t know what happened last night but I thought I was the one getting drunk under the table last night but we won’t be tying one on like that again anytime soon. I don’t have much cash and if I did where would I spend it? That was a fluke that place was open. Now go back in there and carry them worms for her before we get in trouble for that and I am going to do a little more instigating.” Farley said nodding his head in the direction of Frasier who was doing something in a shed in back of the building.
 

Farley walked around the back of the store and started shooting the breeze with Frasier who had not accepted him as a kindred soul and wasn’t worried about where his gun was laying.

“Hey, you reckon we can talk Barnett out of a couple beers to drink inside or outside and socialize a bit? I know I just bought a shitload of beer but I figured if I started playing with him about that beer being “skunked” because it was once cold and now heated up he would offer us a free one unless it was true.” Farley said.

“Damn, you kind of slippery, ain’t you? But that sounds like fun and might work. That guy is a skin flint though and pretty prideful so you need to finesse him a bit. Make him think it’s your idea and get that pretty wife of yours to bat an eye or something at him if it doesn’t offend you. You all live on the lake full time or are you just moving back here for this disaster?” Frazier said finishing his count and shoving an over full bag of worms in Farley’s direction.

“Hum, how to handle that little delicate question. Farley thought. Well they had been playfully fussing at each other like they were man and wife or at least close boyfriend and girlfriend and Jeremy had been playing his part regardless if he knew what was going on or not, so Farley figured it was best to let this farce go as long as it lasted. Lake folk and country folk could be kind of weird if they all the sudden figured they had been had or you weren’t really part of their community.

“That’s not my church married lady if you know what I mean. Don’t bring up any Kryptonite so she can get a hold of it because she can get kind of persnickety about our relationship, but that’s a good boy and she is a good woman if you catch my drift.” Farley said trying to look like the doting boyfriend he wasn’t. The less folks know or could guess at the better off they were at the moment he guessed.

“Let me ask you a personal question if you don’t mind.” Farley said cautiously.

“What’s that, buddy?” The big man said sliding the protective screening back on the worm bed and looking calmly at Farley.

“Now this is in confidence and I don’t mean to be prying or nothing but what are you all eating? I ain`t had anything decent since I cut the backstrap off a deer last week and that boy eats like most teenagers do and don’t understand he can’t consume mass quantities no more if you know what I mean.” Farley said looking for some insight.

“We get by; I already told you we don’t have any food for sale. You need to go take your worms up front to Barnett so he can tell me you cashed out.” Frazier said clamming up and losing his air of friendliness.

Farley regarded him for a moment before venturing did they still want to do the skunked beer routine before the man’s demeanor gave him more hesitation.

“You can try the beer thingy you want, like I said he is kind of tight but I wouldn’t push it.” Frazier said regarding him.

“Damn, that boy looks like he is missing his meds or something too. I best leave this alligator alone and fish in a different pond.”  Farley decided.

“I appreciate the chat brother, let me go round up the family and we will be moving on. Hey, wait a minute, I forgot the basic reason I come back here to talk to you for a minute, how much you reckon Mr. Barnett would take for a croaker sack full of worm castings?” Farley tried.

“I don’t know, you will have to ask him.” Frazier said using his bulk to try to intimidate Farley to get out the door and quit looking around like he was spying or something.

“Well hang here or come on and go with me and let me see if I can make a better deal. Nothing beats worm manure to grow tomatoes or roses I always say.” and Farley set off towards the backdoor of the place and thought better of it when Frazier didn’t follow and headed for the front.

“Something wasn’t right about how the man had lost patience with him but this wasn’t Farley’s first rodeo with weird country types and he blew off the inquisitive questions of  what he had in mind by entering the front door instead of just leaving when he passed the van with Becky and Jeremy waiting on him.

“What you else do you need, son?” the old grump in back of the antique cash register asked as he reentered the building.

“Damn he was only gone a second what did Becky do to piss off the old bastard? Everyone was getting along fine a minute ago.” Farley wondered.

“I need some bank line, you got any?” Farley asked as Frazier reentered through the backdoor.

“Yea, it’s over there in the back corner, you need tarred or nylon?” Barnett said eying him with apparent disdain.

“What the hell did Becky do? I had that son of a bitch eating out of my hand a minute ago.” Farley thought returning the man’s cold stare.

“I need about 350 lb. test, I am thinking I want to run some lines on the Coosa River and if one of them big channel catfish grabs my sets I don’t want to lose everything because I wasn’t ready.” Farley said evenly watching the pair in back of the counter.

“I don’t have anything that heavy, we don’t sell gator rope. You might find you some 180 or 125 back there, if you think you can use it.” Barnett said as Farley headed that way.

“Your woman isn’t very respectful by the way; she called me a fat bastard for catching your son thinking about stealing.”

“Thinking about stealing what?” Farley asked dumbfounded and immediately mad at Jeremy.

“He was poking around in the condom section and I told him those weren’t for him and come back out here where I can see him. You got to watch them young boys, you know.” Barnett said.

“If he wasn’t actually taking anything then you were wrong for accusing him. Most likely he was looking at those things because he asked me about some I had in a survival kit I gave him and I told them they were for collecting water.” Farley said eying the man angrily.

“Survival kit, huh? I never heard that one before.” The man said suspiciously.

“Yea, you put a condom in a sock and you got you a canteen. How much is the bank line?” Farley asked keeping an eye on Frazier who seemed to share the old mans suspicion of shoplifting.

“That will be 8 bucks, tell you what make it 3 bucks and tell your lady and the boy I am sorry o.k.?” Barnett said not too meaningfully.

“O.k., sorry for the misunderstanding.” Farley mumbled and threw three dollars on the counter and picked up his line and left.

6

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

They were the only car out on the highway, that wasn’t that unusual on a normal day and Farley had not expected anyone to be out except maybe some hunters or possibly a straggler or two like him bugging out to the lake. All the houses he had seen on this trip had been still, no folks out in the yard or sitting on porches but it was obvious most were occupied with cars in the driveways.

Farley had trouble wrapping his head around what he called the “Great Exodus” that was still occurring even now. People all over the world had but one thought, who am I going to share the end of the world with? What place offers my best chance for survival? People in the cities moved in with relatives in the country, parents moved in with their children or vice versa to face this disaster together.  People thought about what one person or another do I want to spend the end of days with and made commitments and promises they had never considered before the big awakening had occurred.

Farley called it the big awakening because the flood of emotions that came after the lights out disaster occurred had made people focus eventually on what was really important in life. They reexamined what it was to love and be loved, what it was to care and be cared for. Most folks learned more about themselves than they ever could imagine as they confronted fears both old and new, as well as what their own personal meaning of what hope was.

Some found solace at first in their religion and became distraught when they started questioning their beliefs. Other people became self destructive both to themselves and their families focusing on deep abiding anger or self pity about the world no longer being fair with them. Time, countless hours of time to analyze and question the meaning of this new life that they found themselves in and were totally unprepared for, allowed people to do a lot of soul searching.

Regrets we all have things that we have said or done, things we should have said or done weighed heavy on everyone’s mind until the concept of just surviving another dark day took over. The disaster was the great equalizer in many ways, the divisions between rich and poor were no longer measured in bank accounts and electronic goods. Fine houses and fine furniture doesn’t mean much when your kitchen cabinets are just as empty as everyone else’s but the rich still survived and the poor still coveted their goods.

Like any disaster or war torn area, business still functioned in black market goods and human misery compounded but this time the big reset for civilization was not just technology and spirituality, it was price of life itself.

“I recognize where we are at now, there is a gas station at that crossroads coming up.” Farley said slowing down to pull over.

“Well, that gas station got pretty well ransacked.” Farley said looking at the glass door broken in and various sorts of debris strewn about.

“Are we going to look around to see if they left anything?” Jeremy said, looking highly interested.

“It is dangerous to be seen hanging around such places and worse to go inside one. There is nothing we want here.” Farley said pulling back out on the road.

“I didn’t think I would find this place again so easy. As I remember it, we should come up on a boat repair place. They have a boat storage yard; we should find us some gas there unless everyone got the same idea to scavenge there. Then there is a sandwich shop and up the road from that is a bar. I don’t remember much more than that but I can find my way from here.” Farley said searching his mind for landmarks.

“Look, there is a deer!” Jeremy said pointing to the side of the road as one slowly bounded off.

“That’s a good sign, could be that folks over this way are not out hunting that much or he would be holed up back in the deep woods. Hard to say though, it’s pretty common to see deer on the road on this end of the lake. There is a big stretch of power company timber land back here and the Air Force has some kind of resort taking up a lot of acreage not too far up the road. That might be an interesting place to look around at, it’s not like anyone would be on leave these days and vacationing there. Matter of fact when we get done looking over my place I think we will head that way. They should have some rental boats and I need a boat as well as some gas.” Farley said.

“I want me a canoe!” Jeremy said before his mom firmly told him there was no way he was going to end up with one to which Farley just smirked at him.

“You know that’s not a bad idea, Jeremy, I am sure they have some and also some small outboard run abouts. With the gas situation the way it is a canoe might be the ideal thing to have on the lake. They probably have some of those pedal boats over there too you can mess about with if nobody is around.” Farley said thinking about the few facilities he had seen.

“Sounds like this might turn out to be a fun day after all.” Becky said relaxing a bit.

“Well, we can’t let our guard down and we need to be on the lookout for folks out here scavenging just like us.” Farley reminded everyone.

“There is that boat yard up ahead, doesn’t appear to be anyone about unless someone’s inside.” Farley said looking at the empty parking lot.

“The chain is busted on the gate.” Jeremy observed.

“Looks like someone got here before us.” Becky said.

“Yea, they did, might be some gas on one of them boats in the racks but I don’t feel like climbing around them at the moment. Let’s go look at that Air Force place, ever since I remembered it I been thinking about it.” Farley said looking over the seat at Becky.

“Sounds fine to me but I don’t like all this sneaking around even though I know it’s necessary.” Becky said worriedly.

“I don’t like it much either but like you said it’s a necessary evil.” Farley agreed.

“I can climb them boat stacks, Farley.” Jeremy said not put off.

“I might get you to help me later on; right now I want to try for some easier pickings.” Farley replied and backed the van out and started heading towards the campgrounds.

“This place is a bit out of our way but I think it’s well worth the trip. It sits pretty much off on its own road with nothing for a few miles in either direction. I doubt if it’s staffed or has any military police around but who’s to say until we get there and have a look.” Farley stated.

“What is the military doing these days, Farley? Any ideas?” Becky asked.

“That’s a good question; I have been thinking about that some myself. The two biggest military bases we got close to here are training bases so I imagine they will just shut them down and transfer the personnel elsewhere. That’s why I am reasonably sure that resort area will be vacant. I read where a lot of the strategic bases can generate their own power now so those type of facilities are probably overstaffed and on high alert. How long they will be able to feed all those soldiers and family dependants I have no idea. The government has enough emergency power act laws that they can pretty much commandeer whatever they want but with the grocery store trucks not moving and the gas not flowing, logistically speaking I don’t know how long they can hold things together.” Farley said contemplating.

“After talking to you, I am having second thoughts on going to Mobile.” Becky said broaching the subject.

“Are you thinking about staying up here?” Jeremy asked, very interested in what his mother had in mind.

“Well, could be, I was thinking about all those relatives of ours piling up out in the country most likely if they don’t have somewhere else in mind. There will hardly be any room for us and you know how nobody much gets along anyway.” Becky said.

Farley didn’t say anything, he didn’t much like the sound of that but he couldn’t really blame her. They couldn’t survive on the lake alone on just fish and it sounded like she was asking him to adopt her and that kid or something.

A noticeable silence fell over the van as they traveled along. Farley tried to make small talk and act like he was mostly interested in the houses they occasionally saw on the side of the road versus commenting further at this time on Becky’s statement.

“The entrance to that place is somewhere up ahead. You see that sign over there, that blue and white military warning sign?” Farley said pointing to a Property of The U.S. Government on the side of the road. “It’s got a pretty big entrance just like you’re going to a regular campground or whatever that you can see from the road but I don’t know if they’ve got regular security gates up there or not. I imagine that these days they probably have a little guard shack or something with a MP guard if there’s anyone around, but I can’t see them stationing anybody out there. They probably shut it down on day one of the grid going down. There is a sign coming up here on the left that says the resort is 1.2 miles. Tell you what, if there are cops there I’m just going to get out and talk to them and see if there’s any news. Otherwise, we’ll just go on in.” Farley said getting closer to the entrance.

Farley got up to the big log sign saying Blue Creek Resort hanging above the road and slowed. Across the road was a heavy iron pipe gate that was padlocked shut. You could see not too far distant a ticket office just like you’d have in a regular park and no sign of any other military structures.

“It doesn’t appear that there’s anybody back there.” Farley said examining the padlock on the gate. “Oh this isn’t shit; cheap ass military put in all these iron bars and got a cheap Wal-Mart lock on it. Ya’ll excuse me I’m about to use my axe as a door key.” Farley said grabbing the axe. He had learned a thing or two in the Army about getting into that type of lock when he or somebody else lost their keys. Normally every barracks has a big pair of bolt cutters around for that but you can also do the knock the hell out of it on the right side and the things will spring open.

“Neat trick, Farley!” Jeremy said admiringly when after three or four hard whacks Farley finally sprung the lock.

“I’m going to drive the van through. You close the gate and stick that busted lock back on it so that it looks like it would be hard to open.” Farley said as he proceeded to put the axe up and drive through the gate.

“I fit the lock on there pretty good, Farley; it still looks like it’s locked.” Jeremy said.

“Thanks, Jeremy. Now they might just have that other gate locked and if there is a gatekeeper or a military policeman present, depending on which, we can guesstimate what kind of reception we may get. If we don’t see anybody at first, we can find a place we can hide this van a bit and walk around maybe so we can hear vehicles coming while we’re exploring and hide. Does that sound o.k.?”  Farley questioned and everyone agreed.

“They won’t arrest us or anything, I am pretty sure. They might be upset we broke their lock up there but maybe we can tell them the lock was already broken off of it. I should have tried one of those side road gates. Matter of fact, I should have tried to come in here that way to begin with but I wanted to see if they had anybody on the main gate first. Oh well, we’re here now.” Fraley said slowing at the small cabin-like information booth at the camp’s entrance.

“What are you doing, Farley? You are not going to break into there are you?” Becky asked.

“No, I’m getting us a couple of maps for this place. Nice of them to supply them for us.” Farley said reaching into one of the plastic bins in the facility.

“Here ya’ll go. If we get separated for some reason, don’t go wandering off too far. We can meet up at this washroom here.” Farley said pointing at it.

“O.K. now, off we go!” Farley said and commenced to drive very slow listening and looking around the place.

“Should be a camp store over here on the left according to the map.” Farley said as they started approaching a turn in the road. Farley pulled into the parking lot and immediately noticed one of the panes of the glass in the door was broken in. He got out taking a quick look inside the store and seeing that it was pretty much looted of anything edible noted it still held lots of fishing gear and souvenir type stuff.

Farley got back into the van and told them of his findings and then he stated that the store being looted like that could be a good or bad thing.

“What do you mean, Farley? It’s a bad thing if it’s been looted or is that a good thing?” Becky questioned.

“Well, it’s a good thing in one way because if there was somebody here or had the military police been around they would have had somebody clean that mess up and secure the door some way. It’s a bad thing that the store is already looted because the folks could of put their own lock on that gate and be staying around here somewhere.” Farley said sticking his rifle up on the dash and reaching for his pistol.