Lynn, Bannerman, and Frank leaning against the railing next to me. The clothing racks, shelves and such have been removed from the interior on the first and second floors clearing out much of the space. The stuffed animals have also been removed from the large centerpiece in preparation of removing it as well. The weapons racks and weapons have been installed along a wall with several shelves shifted to accommodate other items. Cots have been laid out in rows along the top floor with spaces between them to give the appearance of privacy.
“You’ve done a marvelous job,” I say to Bannerman who mostly coordinated the efforts.
“Thanks, Jack. We have the kitchen working and running water. This place has a well and a pump and so, as long as we have power, we’ll have that benefit. Frank has a base radio up and running and is training some of the folks we picked up and has scheduled shifts,” Bannerman responds.
“Very nicely done. All of you,” I say nodding in appreciation.
“Sergeant Connell assigned teams for supply runs and we should be good for a while,” Bannerman adds. “At least we won’t have to worry about water in the interim. Oh, and we found an employee break room and small locker rooms complete with a couple of shower stalls.”
“Nice,” I say listening to his report.
“Jack, there is one thing you should know and something we may have to deal with somehow,” Lynn chimes in.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“We lost another soldier,” she says.
“How?”
“It wasn’t through any night runner action. He was from Mullins’ team. He was outside on lookout while the others went in for supplies. When they came back out, he was gone. His rifle was leaning against the building but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. They searched the area and called out but never found him. I think he just had enough and walked off,” Lynn says. Bannerman and Frank nod in support of her view.
“We’ll have to brief the team leaders to be on watch for changes in personality or a sudden quietness with folks. Sometimes it will seem easier to just give up rather than put up with the stresses of surviving another day,” I say with a sigh.
“We’ll keep on the lookout for him,” I add. “How have the doors held up?”
“Remarkably well. We have visitors every night but they’re not showing any signs of wear so far. We’ve been checking them daily,” Bannerman answers.
“Good. Okay, we should talk about our plans for the future and start prioritizing our needs. We can do this with just us or with the team leaders. What does each of you think?” I ask.
“I’m okay either way,” Bannerman answers.
“I think we should keep it to ourselves. I feel time is of the essence and we can prioritize more quickly if we keep the group small,” Frank adds his opinion.
“I’m in agreement with Frank,” Lynn says.
“I think that’s probably better as well. What about adding Drescoll to our group?” I ask.
“I’d be perfectly content with that,” Lynn responds with the others nodding.
“Okay, let’s make sure everything is shut down tight and let’s get together after we eat,” I say. Everyone nods and we separate; Lynn to see to the doors and security, Frank to continue his training with those on the radios, and Bannerman to see about getting food ready for everyone to eat.
We all gather in the restaurant dining area and eat some of the canned food that has been warmed up. There’s a feeling of wholeness and completeness with everyone in our group gathered. I still feel the loss of Nic deeply within and wish she were here to see a semblance of normalcy return; being able to eat with one of the first feelings of safety we’ve had. I say a silent prayer to Nic and the feeling of loss returns but without the same intensity. The time it took to get to this point of security and normalcy seems so long in the making; the losses, the close calls, the fears.
Little Robert passes by carrying a tray of food, with Mike hard on his heels and Kathy right behind him, “I’m sorry about your daughter, sir,” he says on passing.
“Thank you Little Robert,” I respond patting his head. Mike looks at me, then to Little Robert and, with a small whine, follows the food.
Gonzalez and the rest of Red Team move a table next to ours and plop themselves down. She then relates the story of getting Carrie and that she seems to be recovering completely. “We’re glad you’re back, sir,” she says finishing her story and bites down on the spoonful of food she had been holding.
“Well done and I’m glad to be back as well,” I say.
We eat with the murmur of conversation drifting around the room. The first metallic bangs against the front security doors announce the arrival of our night runner friends outside. The sound startles everyone with the suddenness of it but it’s also become an expected part of the night. The bangs bring silence to the room before the murmuring and conversations pick up again. I turn to see Horace’s Blue Team along the far balcony on watch.
“Cressman is down with Bravo on the first floor as well,” Lynn says seeing the direction of my look and knowing my thoughts.
I nod and turn back to my food, actually tasting it for the first time in days. Not that it’s a gourmet but it’s nice to have some senses return. I feel a touch ashamed of being absent; for not being here for the group after dragging them across the world with the lure of a sanctuary. It feels like a weakness of not being able to handle anything that comes about. Not that losing Nic or the feeling of the intense grief feels like a weakness, just that I should have been able to handle it better. Part of my mind tells me that those words are just BS but that’s how it feels nonetheless.
Plates are gathered and returned as individuals finish. Teams that are done replace Horace’s and Cressman’s teams on guard duty so they have a chance to eat as well. Bannerman, Frank, Drescoll, Lynn, and I gather to the side of the second floor away from everyone else to talk. I have Robert and Bri with me to listen in.
“This process of building a wall is going to be a mammoth undertaking and we’ll need other things done as well,” I say starting our discussion. “I feel though, that this should be our highest priority besides maintaining the level of security we already have.”
“It’ll only be a matter of time before they find another way in or hammer those bloody doors down,” I add with the sound of night runners pounding against the steel roll doors outside. It does sound a little diminished from the previous nights but my mind was in such a fog that I’m not certain.
“So what are you thinking?” Bannerman asks.
“Well, my overall thinking is there are miles of those concrete walls along the Interstate up by Tacoma. We should send two teams up there to get them; one for security and the other to disassemble them and load them up. The team supplying security will leave two members out for that and the others will be driving the transports. That means we’ll need a large supply of fuel for the vehicles. We’ll need other supplies as well so two teams will be assigned to Bannerman to see to what we need. One team will be needed to erect the wall here,” I say.
“That’ll be a lot of equipment we need,” Bannerman says.
“That’s true. I think we’ll need two cranes back here, one to offload the trucks and one to move the parts into place. I see using four large semi’s to cart the materials back given the manpower we have for this and one crane to move the wall partitions from their places and to load them,” I reply with Bannerman taking notes.
“We should be able to find those easily enough. Finding people who know how to operate them will be a different story,” Bannerman says finishing with his jottings.
“It’ll be a learning curve, that’s for sure. But what hasn’t been lately,” I say. “I was thinking Black and Green Teams could be up gathering the partitions and transporting.”
“You want my team and me up getting the wall?” Lynn asks.
“Well, I was thinking your team could be up doing that but I want you to put together a training program for
