Post Grid: An Arizona EMP Adventure (19 page)

“Kelly, get my nurse bag there by the front door, would you?” called Emma as Kelly and Jared headed out the front door.

“Lynn, Jess, let's get a move on,” Emma shouted and the two ran out the front door, letting the screen door slam behind them. The kids ran to the cart and scampered onto its bed as Kelly helped Jared along. When they reached the wagon, Rich helped Jared up by having him step onto his clasped hands. Kelly pushed him from under his good shoulder as Jess pulled him awkwardly onto the wagon. Dennis put both of his hands onto the deck of the cart and hoisted himself up. Emma drove the flatbed contraption. Kelly observed quietly, amazed at how easily they had fallen in together as a group.

The cart bumped down the road. Dennis watched with a smile on his face as Jess and Lynn laughed each time they were thrown into the air. Kelly happily sat glued to Jared, steadying him.

The wind rustled through the trees, water trickled down the stream bed in a fine ribbon, and the sun shone brightly, as it often did in Arizona. Emma pulled into the rutted driveway that led to the Johnson ranch. Dust swirled up from the path where every wheel and foot made contact with it. All of the Sunflower families were there, from what Emma could tell. Most came on foot, some by bicycle, and there were a few carts pulled by horses. There was even one doctor's buggy that the King family had spent countless hours restoring for use in Old West parades. That investment was certainly paying off now.

Emma's clan dismounted the cart from every side like ants exiting a hill. Jess ran toward Mr. Johnson and a few of the other men that were standing near the door to the red, good-sized pole barn.

“Hi, Mr. Johnson,” Jess said.

“Hi there, boy,” Bill said. “I was just telling old Cliff here how I hoped you were coming today. You sure were a great help out there on the road. A nice young man.” Bill switched his attention to Emma. “Where did you come up with such a fine-looking group?”

Emma grinned in pride. “Bill, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Kelly. This is Jared, and you know Dennis. He's Lynn's father.”

“Why, yes, I do and it's nice to see all of you. Dennis, you have a fine daughter. She's a hard worker and strong too.”

“Thank you sir, I quite agree,” Dennis said, putting his arm around Lynn's shoulders. Fatherly pride showed on his face, and Lynn beamed, keeping her gaze on her father.

Bill turned to face everyone gathered around the barn. “Our nice young men went to Fountain Hills and brought back piping,” he said, pointing to the pile of PVC and coils of flexible tubing on the ground next to him. “Everyone in need, please meet here tomorrow morning at 0800, or as close as you can figure it, so we can make a plan and get it installed. We should all go in,” Bill said, making a sweeping motion toward the barn.

The crowd proceeded toward the small door to the barn. There were no windows, and each person was momentarily blinded by the darkness. The floor was dirt and a dusty cloud rose from it as more and more people entered. Bill moved to the far side of the barn and pushed open a door, twice his height and ten feet long, suspended on rollers. Light flooded in, illuminating the entire barn. Pallets and stacks of goods were piled all around the perimeter. Gasps escaped from the neighbors who had not seen it before.

After a few minutes, when all had had a chance to take in the sight, Bill addressed the audience. “Now folks, a lot of good people have collected what we could find from the trucks on the roadway. We took what we thought might be useful with the intention of sharing it among those in our little community. Each family that was able sent someone to help. It is not our intention to split hairs about how much work was contributed. We want our hamlet to stay a tight-knit group. This means we will be divvying up our finds by the number of people in each family. Everyone gets an equal share despite what they may have contributed to finding this wonderful collection. Those who weren't strong enough to scavenge will be expected to contribute in other ways. We all have skills and it's time to put those skills to use.”

He paused, glancing around the group to see if there were any objections. When no one appeared concerned with the allocation of goods, he continued. “One-of-a-kind items will be shared by the community. After all is said and done, we'll get working on a barter system so you will have a chance to trade items you don't think your family will use for items that others may want to trade. If anyone has a particular need, now is the time to speak up.”

“We're going to need some blankets,” Janet Nickels called out. “We usually use this place in the summer and weren't prepared to spend the winter here. If this power outage is permanent, heat will be a problem too.”

“Okay,” Bill said. “Anyone who can give the Nickels a hand, please meet them out by the corral fence after the meeting.”

“Anyone else?” Bill asked. The room was quiet, so he proceeded. “Now, I think that most everyone is here. Anyone know if we're missing anybody?”

“Charlie Best isn't here,” Bill's wife, Patty, said. Charlie was the diabetic that lived over the creek and kept to himself.

Ted Matherson spoke up. “I think the Branhams packed up and left yesterday for town.”

“Anyone else?” Bill asked. The gathering fell silent. “Well, if that's all we have for missing persons, I'll turn the floor over to Dennis. He'd like to make an announcement.” He stepped aside as Dennis moved forward.

“Thank you Bill, and thank you all for your generosity in accepting us into the community. My daughter, Lynn, and I will be holding a Bible study session tomorrow at ten in the morning. Normally, we would be at synagogue then, but one has to adapt to current conditions. You are all welcome. We'd like this to be a nondenominational service. We're just interested in meeting with others who choose to take time for the spiritual realm.”

“What do you plan on studying tomorrow?” Patty called out.

“We put some thought into this today and after some discussion, we finally agreed that the place to start should be 'in the beginning,'“ Dennis said. “Any takers?” Several folks spoke up and said that they would like to come.

“Let's have it here, where there is plenty of room,” Patty said. “The boys could drag a few bales of straw in. We could turn it into a modified classroom.”

“We'll see you here at ten tomorrow,” Dennis said.

Bill retook the floor. “Okay, let's get busy. The Branhams leaving throws my count off. The way I have it figured, that leaves us with twenty-four souls. Let's leave their portion over there,” Bill pointed to a corner. “We can trade from their items, which will mark the beginning of our first general store. The count of every item is on each stack of goods. We'll start here at the front and work our way around, dividing everything. If it doesn't divide evenly, put the remainders on the Branham's pile, or should I say the store pile. If everyone will help, we can get this stuff hauled out to the driveway in no time.”

After sorting the goods, Emma's group had the cart loaded with an eclectic mix of foodstuffs in cans and boxes. There were only three five-pound bags of flour. There were a few hardware and cooking items as well. The loaded cart waited in the driveway. Emma realized that even though the pile was large, so was their group.

Emma said to Lynn, “I think we should go by Charlie's house and check on him. He's a diabetic. We'll let the others get Jared back to the house. I think this has all been a little much for him.”

Jared protested, saying he was fine, but Kelly could see he looked tired. With a little rearranging of the load, everyone found a place to ride and headed back to the house.

As they walked, Emma took the time to teach Lynn about diabetes and insulin. Lynn listened intently as the pair made their way down the road.

“So you mean he will die without the insulin and you can't make any for him?” Lynn stressed the word
die
in that whiny teen voice she could put on.

“That's right, but maybe we can get some insulin and other drugs before then. The government should have stockpiles somewhere, I suppose,” Emma said wistfully, with little conviction.

“I hope you're right,” Lynn said a little breathlessly. “I was worried about food, but I guess others have it worse. I thought insulin had to be refrigerated?”

“It should be, but it's not as fragile as some would make out. If it's kept at room temperature, the manufacturer states it will last for twenty-eight days. I have a feeling it's actually quite a bit longer. Insulin does have preservatives in it, but when the proteins start to break down, it will become less and less effective.”

A few minutes later, Emma and Lynn walked up to the gate in front of the Best house. Charlie's old dog stood slowly, stretching, then wagged his tail and let out a few happy barks from the porch.

“Charlie?” Emma called.

Mr. Best appeared at the front door. “Howdy, Emma,” he said in his methodical voice. Emma had never known him to talk any slower or any faster. He was dressed in a T-shirt and overalls. His greying blond hair was on the longish side.

“We didn't see you at the Johnson's and thought we should stop by.”

He came fully out through the screen door and settled into a lawn chair on the porch, putting a hand on his dog's head and patting it. The dog panted with what could be described as a dog smile on his face.

“Well, I ain't dead, yet,” Charlie replied with a forced chuckle.

“Bill was planning on using his wagon to get your share of the scavenged food to you,” Emma said.

“That's very kind of him, but I'm pretty well set. Other folks need that food more than me. Just let Bill know he can divide up my share with the rest of you.”

“That's mighty kind of you, but you don't know how long this might go on.”

“Like I said, I'm well off. Let's leave it at that.”

“I'll let Bill talk to you about it. Is there anything we can do to help since we're here?”

“No, I've got things under control. Thanks for offering.” Without any further fanfare, Charlie rose and went into the house, leaving the dog where he sat.

“Pretty rude, don't you think?” Lynn asked.

“No, that's just Charlie's way,” Emma replied. “Likes to be self-sufficient.”

They started their walk back to the barn. “That's the Branham's place over there,” Emma pointed to a red house across the creek. “We'll have to see if they're back up here in a couple of days, or if they have gone for good.”

“Gone where?”

“I don't know—maybe they had a house back in the city? Maybe they had family they needed to take care of or something.”

“Could be. I hope... “ Lynn stopped and looked puzzled. “I don't know what I hope. I was going to say that I hoped they made it back to the city okay, but then I was going to say I hoped they made it back here okay. Which one do you think is best?”

“No way to tell, Lynn. I'm here and here seems okay right now. From what I've heard of the city, it
doesn't
sound okay.”

The two walked on. After some time, Kelly and Jess came bumping along atop the cart, heading back toward the Johnson's.

“Dad and Dennis got the well fixed!” Jess called, obviously proud of their accomplishment. “No more latrines. We can flush in comfort right into the septic tank.”

“Now that's some of the best news I've heard in ages,” Emma rejoiced. “Did you get the stuff put away?”

“Nope, just unloaded out front. We left everybody else home to haul it in, except Jared of course. We high-tailed it back here to get you and the rest.”

Emma glanced up at the rapidly setting sun. “We still have two more loads to fetch.
Dang,
I'm tired.” Her face looked drawn.

Chapter 9

The morning light bouncing off the steep mountainsides woke Kelly. She groaned and rolled over, not quite ready to face the day, but rose and dressed in her best cowhand outfit. She brushed her long blond hair, putting it into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck.

The house was quiet. She stole from her room and headed for the kitchen, but when she reached the living room, she was greeted by Jared's voice.

“Morning, beautiful.”

“Morning yourself, han—huh, huh,” she stopped before she could complete the word
handsome
and feigned a half-cough to cover the last syllable. “Did you sleep well?”

“I've slept on many couches in my time and this one is, by far, the most comfortable,” he said. His response was too overly enthusiastic to be true.

“I know that couch, and you're full of it,” she said as she watched him struggle stiffly into a sitting position.

“Yeah, it's your mom's house, I daresay you do.”

“I'm sorry,” Kelly said. “The sleeping quarters are a little tight around here at the moment. I'd say that you could go to the men's quarters shortly, but I don't think they have any better digs for you up at Rich's place.”
Besides, I like having you here
, she thought to herself.