Saturday Survival Serial – Volume 3, Week 2

This is week 2 in volume 3 of the Saturday Survival Serial. To learn more about what the Saturday Survival Serial is, click here. To start at week 1, click here.

RR and Tyler walked over to where Jimmy, Amie, Ryan, and Jessica were discussing the rising water. They had seen it already and just came back from walking upstream to see what the condition of the stream was. Jimmy waved to them as they came up to the stairs of Jimmy’s porch.

“Good morning,” he said.

RR smiled up at everyone and replied, “Good morning. I assume you are talking about the rising water situation?” When the others nodded, he continued. “Tyler and I went upstream. There is a lot of debris that will get washed down. If it gets caught up, the water will take the easiest route and that could mean some serious problems.”

“We think we have a way to make sure the path of least resistance is not on our side. If we take a few guys with some axes and a come-along set, we can clear it out on the other side. If we clear it out a  half mile up and half mile down from camp, the chances of there being some kind of build up are lessened. It also makes the path of least resistance on the other side. One thing you can count on is that the waters will rise further. It is completely possible that by tonight, the levee will be breached. Then again, I’m not from here but I do know flood waters.”

Jimmy took it all in. It was a solid plan. His level of respect for these newcomers ticked up a notch. They had taken it upon themselves to check out the situation and came up with a solution. He nodded.

“Sounds good. Most people don’t realize Michigan is on wetlands. Without all the pumps going and sewage lines being maintained, this Spring is going to be a real mess. How many people do you need and how long will it take?”

“How fast can people chop down brush and trees?”

Jessica laughed. “My husband is the fastest tree chopping, wood splitting person in camp. The problem is, he absolutely hates doing it.” Jimmy, Ryan, and Amie laughed at the inside joke.

RR smiled and replied, “If we could get another four to six people, that would be enough to get at least the upper half mile done today. If we had ten to twelve, we could get the whole thing done.”

Jimmy’s smile faded as RR went on. He sighed and ran his fingers through his ever graying hair. Too much work, not enough people. The garden needs to be fertilized and sown, buildings need to be repaired – not to mention milling the materials to do the repairs with. It never ends.

“We are stretched thin enough as it is however, since the camp itself is being threatened, I think we can get the people needed. I want to get this done as quickly, and safely, as possible.” He turned to Jessica, “Looks like the patrol is delayed pending flood control.”

The crew was assembled and worked until dark on the project. They weren’t able to get the whole mile completed, even with all the extra hands. The sun may have been shining but it was still cold when the wind blew. It was that odd part of the season where it was easy to get overheated and take your jacket off, only to get chilled and put it back on. The work was hard and more than one person knew they would be sore the next day. They were all grateful for the warmth of the The Hall and huddled around the central fire pit.

After they had warmed up and gotten a bowl of soup from the large pot, RR told Jimmy they would only need another four people to finish the job the next day. Jimmy nodded and asked for volunteers. Once that had been settled and meals finished, he went to find Jessica to talk about the patrol heading out tomorrow morning. After the bowl of ‘soup’ he just ate, he would do just about anything for some fresh fish.

*************

Shannon tightened the clamp around the edge of pipe and stood back to admire her handy work. All of the muck in their water source had been clogging up the lines. Though she hated the forced labor and prison-like conditions, she always got a sense of satisfaction from a job well done. Of course, if they had been paying attention like she told them to in the first place, she wouldn’t have had to spend her morning on this one project.

She gathered the tools and started walking back to Supply to check them in. Heaven forbid any of us have tools to use against them, she thought to herself. Being treated like a criminal or just plain untrustworthy was more than insulting. It was demoralizing. She supposed that was part of the plan…Keep the masses busy and subdued. Of course, the threat of being taken out on a ‘mission’ and shot works to keep people in line, too.

It had been 3 days since the announcement was made about the settlement plans. Almost everyone she talked to about it had signed up. The rumor mill said the U.N. officers were surprised by the amount of people who wanted to be part of it. There was a whisper, too, that since there were so many interested, they might make a second colony in another location. At this point, Shannon didn’t want to believe any of it but she couldn’t deny the hope she felt.

She walked into Supply and handed the tools over. The soldier grabbed a clipboard and made a big show of methodically checking over every piece. He pointed to a mark made on the wrench she used.

“This is scuffed up. These tools have to last a very long time. We can’t have people just treating these like they are disposable.”

Shannon snapped and gave the man her most incredulous look. “Are you kidding me? Tools are meant to be used. Which I did. To fix the water intake situation so you could flush your fancy toilet.” The military had flushing systems in their barrack-style housing. Everyone else used honey buckets.

The soldier bristled at her tone. “If I were you, I would be thankful to even be alive right now. Do you have any idea how many people would fall on their knees in gratitude for what you have here? I will have to make a report about this. You are dismissed.”

Shannon grinded her teeth to the point of making her jaw ache as she turned around and stomped out of the building. Please let me make it on the list, please let me make it on the list. She chanted to herself. She had no idea how long it would be before they heard anything about it or when they expected to move people. It can’t come soon enough.

At dinner that night, she sat with her usual group of people. They had all come in on the same bus together, though their lives before were anything but similar. She had been an engineer, Dale was a radioman in the Coast Guard, retired, Edgar could work on anything with a motor but preferred the kind that flew, and Joli (short for Jolene) was a chemistry professor. Their skills were all tapped for setting up this deployment camp and all of them had signed up to be part of the settlement. It was all they could talk about lately.

“Just to see a horizon on a regular basis again, that would be wonderful. I am so sick of walls,” declared Joli. She kept her voice down so as not to gain any attention. Complaining about anything was frowned upon and there were some soldiers who specifically watched for even hints of being unsatisfied with their situation. Those kind would almost bounce with glee when they brought the complainant before the officers to be drilled about their dissent. In the early days, people who complained too loudly were killed in sight of everyone to make an example of them for the rest.

“We need information,” said Shannon. “I can’t stand the idea of waking up everyday wondering if it will be the one we get to learn who is going, where they are going, and when. Think you can work something, Dale?”

The older gentleman leaned back in his seat with a small smile on his face. “I might be able to switch a few channels here and there, see what I can learn. It’ll take a few days though.” Dale worked with communications in various tasks. Originally, his skill was used to set up and enhance the radio systems for the whole camp. Now, he filled in on relaying messages and could be heard grumbling about being a message boy.

Shannon grinned and thanked him. “Better to wait a few days for something instead of weeks or months.”

************

“Denise!” The voice rang out across Main Camp. “Denise, come quickly!”

Denise was the sister of Captain who led Main Camp. She helped to keep things running smoothly and was the go-to when things went awry. Especially with Captain still recovering from a heart attack a couple months ago. He was getting stronger but she could see that he would never fully regain his previous health and vigor.

She trotted over to the chicken coop. “What is it, Daniel?”

He pointed to a corner of the coop under the nesting boxes. “That is our second dead chicken in the last three days. There is no sign of predators getting in and attacking. I have no idea what is going on and we can’t afford to lose any more hens!” His voice was on the verge of panic.

Daniel was what some would consider a little on the slow side but Denise realized early on that he wasn’t slow, just very precise and methodical. He thrived on schedules and took his duties seriously. Tending the rabbits and chickens was a perfect place to put him due to his attention to detail.

“OK, calm down. We will get this figured out. If it isn’t a predator, it could be some illness. Perhaps their water is bad, maybe some feed rotted, there are lot of reasons. Head on over and start reading about chicken ailments from those old books we found. There’s bound to be something in there.” She knew she didn’t have to tell him to hurry while still making sure he covered everything. She knew he would not sleep until he had figured it out.

Denise patted him on the shoulder to calm him. “I know you will get to the bottom of it. Let me know if you need anything.” She smiled and turned to walk back to the central building in camp. She didn’t want to let him see how worried she was over the death of the chickens. She heard him call her name again and turned to see him trotting over to her.

“What about the dead one? Should we butcher it? It’s still warm and we could use the meat.”

Denise shook her head. “I don’t think it would be safe. We don’t know what killed it.”

“What if we pressure cooked it? That should kill off anything harmful, right?”

Denise wasn’t sure about it. Technically, the pressure cooker did get hot enough to hard boil any pathogens out. There was also the very real need for meat. Their stocks had fared better than Center Camp’s but with all the extra people, they were also on two meals a day rationing. There were a lot more children at this camp and the kids ate three meals a day. She could ask the doctor about it but he was at an outlying homestead, delivering another baby. A whole chicken would feed a lot of mouths when stretched out in a soup but is it worth people potentially getting sick?

THIS POLL IS CLOSED. CLICK HERE FOR WEEK 3!