protection.
“And as I said, there is arable land inside the fort where we can grow vegetables. Plus, there will be plenty of fish, and there is a considerable amount of game, from rabbits to possum to alligators.”
“Alligators?” Marcus said. “Alligators as game?”
“Fried alligator tastes . . .”
“Like chicken, right?” Willie interrupted, and the others laughed.
“Wrong,” Jake said. “It’s a lot better than chicken.”
“How are we going to get there?” John asked. “What I mean is, how will we get enough gas to drive that far? For that matter, if there are going to be these roving gangs you are talking about, I’m not sure I want to drive through them. I saw what IEDs could do in Afghanistan, and there we were in up-armored Humvees, or even armored personnel carriers. I wouldn’t want to face one of them in a car.”
“We aren’t driving down, we’re flying. We’ll take one of the helicopters from Fort Rucker. I don’t think the Army will miss it.”
“We may have a problem there, sir—I mean, Jake,” Marcus said. “For the last month, people have been stripping the helicopters down pretty good. I know for a fact that we don’t have one flyable ship on the entire base.”
“I know that too,” Jake said. “But that’s where you and John will earn your keep. We’re going to take parts from as many aircraft as we need in order to get one that is flyable.”
“What about fuel?” Marcus asked.
Jake chuckled. “Clay, you want to handle this?”
“Several weeks ago, when the major saw this coming, he asked me to find some way to put a little fuel aside as an emergency. I have fifteen fifty-five-gallon drums of JP-4 hidden away.”
“Wow! That will top off the tanks, and give us one hundred ten gallons extra,” John said.
“That’s right,” Jake replied.
“I have a question,” Deon said. “There are already a lot more civilians roaming around the base than there are soldiers—looking to see what they can rip off. If they see us building a helicopter, they are likely to give us some trouble.”
“We’ll find a secure hangar to build the helicopter,” Jake said. “And, from this day forward, we will wear no uniforms. That way if anyone sees us messing around out there, they’ll think we are no different from them, we are just trying to find something to trade.”
“May I make a suggestion?” Deon asked.
“Of course you can.”
“Wherever this hangar is, I think I had better provide a little security.”
Jake smiled. “I was hoping you would say that.”
“You going to move out onto the base, Jake?” Clay asked. “Because if you don’t, this drive back and forth to town is going to get long, and use up what gasoline you have left”
“I am going to move onto the base. In fact I think we should all bivouac together in the hangar. But before we leave town, I suggest we go on a scavenger mission. We need to round up as much useful supplies as we can.”
“From what I have heard, people have been looting stores for the last three weeks. I doubt there is much left,” Willie said.
“Mostly they have been stealing canned goods, packaged foods, that sort of thing. Some of them have even been stealing TV sets, though God only knows why since there is no more television,” Jake said. “We need to be a little more discriminating on what we take.”
“Like what?” John asked.
“I’ve made a list,” Jake replied. Opening a drawer on the bar that separated the kitchen from the dining room, he began reading from the list. “A multi-tool knife, compass, flashlight with the windup generators, first-aid kits, blankets, matches, a lighter or lighters if we can come up with them, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, whistles and signal mirrors, nylon cord—that we can get from parachutes, and we’ll use the parachute canopies as well. I already have two parachutes laid aside. Anyone have something they would like to add?”
“How about MREs?” Deon asked.
Jake smiled. “Are you enjoying these?”
“Yeah, but I’m weird, I always have liked MREs.”
“Good, because we have fifteen cases of them down in the basement. That’s one hundred eighty meals, which will last us for a little under two weeks if we have no more than two meals per day.”
“What happens at the end of that two weeks? Marcus asked.
“Fish, game, whatever wild vegetables we can come up with. If we haven’t found a way to be self-sustaining within two weeks, then we probably wouldn’t make it anyway,” Jake said. “Any other suggestions?”
“How about some tablets and pencils?” Julie asked.
“Yes, very good idea.”
“How about toilet paper?” Karin added. “I mean this roughing it goes only so far.”
“Toilet paper is good,” Jake said. “But no matter how much of it we round up, there is going to come a time when we go through it. Then we’ll have to come up with something else.”
“Well, hell, Jake, if we can’t find enough food, maybe we won’t even be needing any toilet paper,” Marcus said, and the others laughed.
“I’d rather face the problem of having to find toilet paper,” Clay said.
“Me too,” Willie agreed.
“If we are going to maintain this helicopter once we get down to Fort Morgan, we are going to need a full mechanic’s toolbox, as well as some special tools,” John said.
“If I have guessed right about you, you have your toolbox hidden away somewhere,” Jake said.
John smiled. “Yeah, I do.”
“We’ll also be needing some replacement parts, especially filters, gaskets, and so forth,” Marcus added.
“And at least one machine gun to mount in the doors,” Deon said.
“You’re right, an M240 machine gun might not be a bad thing to have once we get down to the fort,” Clay said.
“Where are we going to find those?” Marcus asked. “Weapons were about the first things to go—a lot of soldiers sold them to civilians.”
“I know where there is an untapped armory,” Deon said. “M240s, M16s, pistols, ammunition. I don’t know anything about repairing helicopters, and I don’t know if we are going to have enough food to sustain us. But I know for a fact that we will be heavily armed.”
“Good man,” Jake said.
“What about radios?” Willie asked.
“I’ve been anticipating this for a while now,” Jake said. “I have two Midland Radios, XT511 base camp emergency crank radios with GMRS two-way radio technology—AC, DC or hand-crank charger for BATT5R batteries.”
“Wow, you went all out, didn’t you?” Willie said.
“I’m reasonably sure there will be some, at least, shortwave radio out there. If there is, we will need to access it and, perhaps, to communicate with others like us.”
“What about money?” Marcus asked.
Jake shook his head. “Money is only as good as the government that backs it,” he said. “And as of now, we have no government.”
“Gold coins?”
“No. Gold might be good if there was a viable market. We not only don’t have a government, we don’t have a market. When you go ‘shopping’ tonight, just take what you find, but don’t take it from anyone else unless you barter something for it. I am all for our survival, but I’m not ready to put someone else at risk.”
“When do we get started?” Clay asked.
“We start now,” Jake replied. “We’ll go into every store and abandoned building in town. Also, the mall. Clay, you want to pass out the arms?”
Clay nodded, then walked over to the corner to an olive-drab B-4 bag. “I don’t have as big an armory as Deon
