"Stay out of this, Nate, and stay inside the fence. After we talk, they might be invited in."
I ignored his continuing, mindless, do-gooder banter as I squeezed through the tight opening before turning back to Mitch. "Keep your dad inside the fence. Use whatever force you have to. I don't want or need him out here." Mitch grinned at my outburst but nodded. He knew my opinion of his father's new found religion and even agreed as much as his relationship with his family would allow.
Several people exited the truck cab. I saw two women and three kids before meeting Tim halfway. We shook hands as his group gathered around us. "Is this all that's coming?"
"No... six adults stayed with our other trucks and a trailer. One of the pickups ran out of gas. We knew they were low on fuel when we started out, thought we'd find enough on the way to get here."
Tim was embarrassed and stared at the ground. I'd previously judged during our talks that he wasn't much of a planner and lacked a high level of motivation.
I clasped him on the shoulder and laughed. "Don't worry about it. I'll send a truck with a fuel tank in the back to bring them in. Since you're all here, can I assume you and yours accept the rules we laid out to you?"
Tim nodded. "Yeah, we're good with all that." Tim's wife, Georgia, clasped my hand and thanked me. She smiled as tears streaked down her lean cheeks.
"How far out are your other people and trucks?" I asked.
"About forty miles. Ronnie can ride along and give directions to where they're stranded," Tim said. He thrust his chin at a tall, lean boy about halfway through his teenage years. He had Tim's features.
"We'll show you to your rooms after you drive in and park. After supper, Doc will examine each of you. Tomorrow we'll help unload your trailers and get you moved in." I asked Paige and Mitch to show them around while I found people to make a rescue run.
Supper was delayed for half an hour until the other new members arrived. Altogether, we'd gained nine adults and three kids between the ages of ten and fifteen.
For an hour after supper, our group mingled with the new members. Finally, our five-year-olds became too wild, and my family went to our rooms.
After the three kids were bathed and in bed, Kira said, "I took a new headcount; we have fifty-one adults, ten children of school age and four toddlers. We're bursting at the seams and don't have room for more people." We sat on the couch.
"I don't intend to recruit more people because we'll soon be leaving here, within the next year I'm positive. Besides that, I'm unaware of any other groups within three hundred miles.
"The gasoline tank contains a little over a thousand gallons, and two of the diesel tanks are empty. The other has about ten thousand gallons. If we conserve the diesel carefully it may run the vehicles and the electric generators that long. We need to be gone before the tank goes dry. When that happens, the electric goes off and the pumps for the deep water wells shut down. Shane suggested converting to solar or wind power at the new site. But eventually the parts for those would wear out and we'd not have the infrastructure to replace them. I don't think it's worth the initial effort for the power we'd get in that time." I wasn't sure she heard me. "You seem preoccupied this evening."
"Yes I am.... I know a move is necessary," Kira replied, "but I hate the thought of giving up Deliverance. This is where I met you and where we started our family. If that damned diesel storage tank at Keck Energy in Des Moines hadn't caught fire, we'd have several more years before we'd be forced to move." She was thoughtful before asking, "Do you have a different location in mind?"
"Nothing definite yet. But I want to talk to you about the Missouri Ozarks where your dad had that cabin until he died. It's more isolated and far enough south that it would be somewhat warmer in the winter. Are other cabins close by for the rest of our group to claim and move in?"
"There were cabins all along the river. I assume most of them are empty. Upstream there were several large private lodges and a couple of resorts."
"I don't think large lodges are practical; they're too hard to heat with wood fires. What about farm ground? Is tillable land close by?"
"Not a lot. But there was some on the ridges maybe a quarter mile away. Wait―there was some bottom land that had been cleared. It would be to the north of Dad's cabin and closer than the ridge properties."
"We'll go there soon. I'll want to take you, Shane, Ed, John, and Doc when we go. Our group will need at least twenty-three small cabins; or fewer if they're large and some of the relatives are willing to double up."
She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. "Are you done with that issue for now?"
I nodded, curious about her obvious detachment.
"There's something you need to know. Rumors are circulating that Brittney Holescheck is pregnant."
As usual, I only saw half the picture on social issues. "So I guess there'll be a wedding soon. Who's the lucky groom?"
"It's more complicated than that. Dean Thibodaux is rumored to be the father. I don't think Rhonda knows about it yet."
"Oh Jesus, that hot tempered redhead will throw a conniption fit when she learns about this. She has one hell of a violent temper. She's always
