Chapter 16

BK left as if sensing I didn't want to chat. I put my computer in the case and went to my unit. JB waved as I went out the door and I nodded back at him. Driving to the school, I looked around at all the landscape changes we had made to try to make the town safer. I was surprised at how much we had accomplished in the two days we had been working at it. I went to the side parking lot at the school, looked out across the back of the school beyond the ball field, and couldn't see anything but sand. All the brush had been cleared and the arroyos had all been filled in so there would be no surprises from that direction. I looked up at the roof and one of the kids up there waved at me and gave me the all clear sign. I waved back and smiled to myself thinking what a difference between these kids and the ones I was used to from the bigger cities.

When I got close to the door, I could smell the food and realized I hadn't eaten anything all day. I went in and headed for the line to fill a plate. Before I got halfway across the floor, Shelly yelled and motioned me to the table where Barry, BK and her brother were sitting. When I walked up, I saw a plate piled high and she motioned towards it. "'Bout time you got here, Pops. I been guarding your food from Dad. Sit down and eat, and then we need to talk."

When I looked at her in shock, I got that ornery grin of hers in return. I just sat down, listening to chuckling from BK and Barry. Zeke came over and sat down, sipping his cup of coffee, which seemed a part of his hand wherever he was. I quickly ate and sat back, sipping my own cup as Shelly cleared the plate away.

Zeke: Thom, after what happened today, me and some of the other old fellas had a kind of mini meeting. You know you can't do what you had to do today without having it affect you in the long term. Barry is not like us old timers and I doubt he could even do it if he had to. What I am trying to say here is the next time it happens, we decided we would draw straws to see who would go out. We been there already as you have, and although like you, we hate the idea, we all realize it has to be done until this stops spreading. Thom, you and Barry have done a helluva job getting all of us ready for this, but we all wanted you to know you are not alone. This is our town too, and we need to help carry the load as well as the guilt of the aftermath. So far we have been pretty safe, but as this goes on our danger of being attacked is gonna go up. I talked to some of the radio operators in some of the states close to us and from what they said, those things are starting to spread out into the countryside and are starting to eat wildlife if they can't find humans. I was afraid this was going to happen and I finally got in contact with a buddy who lived outside of Nogales. He says those things are pretty much the only thing living there, at least on the south side of the border.

He says he watches them on a regular basis and they seem to be getting organized somehow. I think that sooner or later they will start this way. The Army and Border Patrol are gonna have their hands full then, and we will be on our own most of the time after that happens. I got with our radio operator and we have a separate room for all our radio equipment. We are monitoring everything we can and the news from around the country is not good. The outbreaks of new cases seems to be dying down, but in the bigger cities it is still going strong with people getting sick and changing. Some of the countries, like Australia, have been killing them as fast as they change, and have pretty good control over their bigger cities. The European countries are in total denial and losing people by the hour from this sickness. The only country doing something other than Australia is Russia. They have no tolerance for the sick and are putting them in big warehouses and strapping them to beds. If they die and change they are immediately shot and taken to a burning area to be disposed of. Mexico is overrun with the animated and they are spreading out to the countryside. The Army down there has quit shooting them and seems to be moving south rather than face them. They have abandoned the population who has survived. From what Kittrick has said, this bunch this morning were the first to have tried to move to a town so far. He says there are several other bunches who are moving around, but they seem to be disorganized. Kittrick said that bunch from Steins have stopped at an old ranch and seem to be trying to draw water from a well there. If it's the old Haney place, that well is deep and still has good water. That's about all the news I have for now.

Barry: Well, first I want to apologize for my daughter calling you Pops. For some reason me and Brenda can't understand, she has somehow decided that you are her grandfather since both of hers have passed, so don't be upset with her. We tried to talk to her, but she said if you didn't like it you would have to tell her. We are rotating all the barricade guards so that they get time with their families and they all seem to like how I am doing it. So far there haven't been any big problems, other than a few personality clashes, and I have got them straightened out pretty well. Thom, everyone in town has had nothing but good things to say as to how we have things set up. The women have nothing but praise for you and the men are all behind you a hundred percent. We have set up the mines and claymores like you said. The maps showing where they are at are posted in both the truck stop and the school in the radio room here. Thom, I have racked my brain, but I can't think of anything else we can do to make us more secure. Now I think BK had some things to add, so I will shut up.

BK: I don't have much to add other than we have enough reloading supplies to do all the ranch rifles a thousand times over. I spread the word among the ranchers for them to bring all their reloading supplies in and now I have more stuff than I have ever seen, even in a commercial store. I can reload everything except for the fifties and the AKs. I could do them too if I had the bullets for them. Ole Harp moved all the food and canned goods from his store here as well as about a hundred 12 volt batteries. He said he has hundreds of tires and a complete changing machine as well as patches and we are welcome to use if we need them. That warehouse of his has a complete machine shop in it and all the stuff to do about any type of milling we need. I walked through it and couldn't believe some of the steel stock he has inside. When I looked at some of the milling machines, I was surprised because they aren't old but all modern equipment, including some laser cutting machines for different applications. They are all hooked up and ready to use, and he has a huge diesel generator as a backup. So far we are in good shape for ammo, but soon we will need brass for some of the more common rifles and pistols. We have about 40,000 rounds of .22s for the kid's rifles. Thom, they all seem to have the Ruger 10/22s, and they are damned good with them. Hell, Shelly and her brother can put a group at 30 yards that a dime would cover. I ain't ever seen so many dead shots with a .22 like these kids.