Mechanical Issues

[Nomad_Medic]

...and that is 3:09 of my life I'll never get back.

[FlashDaddy]

Video=NO
Story=Yes!
Need=MOAR STORY!

[Nomad_Medic]

The next few hours passed in a blur for everyone. The snow fell wet and heavy as supplies were moved, sleeping quarters arraigned, and people began settling in.

Dan and Fred had a slightly shorter distance to carry things, going only to the trailer in the barn. The trailer itself was nearly 40 feet long with two slide outs that James helped the men position. It had a master bedroom, a smaller bedroom with bunk beds, a large kitchen, and a sitting area. While neither man expected to make use of the washing machine or the oversized water heater, the bathtub was a welcome sight.

Dan moved equipment into the trailer while Fred began to organize things. It didn’t take him long to adapt to working single handedly. The work was made much easier by his constant companion, Festus. All Fred needed to do was tell the little dog where to take the things he pointed at and Festus would set to it. Dan was amazed when he found the animal pulling items from the open backpack and carrying them to the master bedroom.

“I hope you don’t mind, Festus and I are sett’n up in the forward bedroom. He figured you wouldn’t mind sleeping on a bunk for a couple days before you hit the trail.” Fred said, nodding to the second bedroom.

“That’s fine,” Dan said absently, throwing his medical bags onto the top bunk.

Fred looked at him for a moment then went back to work. Dan patted Festus who was intent on a heavy pair of boots. The dog paused just long enough to deliver a wet lick before renewing the fight.

While Dan and Fred worked in the trailer, Ned and Ann moved into their new home. The bunkhouse was roughly as deep as a two car garage and twice as long. The single door opened into a large room. To Ned’s eye it looked like the 12 feet on the end of the building near the door had been framed in to create Jeremiah’s room. At the far end of the room were two sets of bunk beds, four wall lockers, a card table, and several chairs. At the midpoint of the building a stove made from a 55 gallon drum sat with a good store of firewood stacked nearby.

The couple had very little they were worried about freezing and soon met Dan and Bill moving food stores into the house. Ted had helped Bill bring in his, Janice’s, and Hannah’s few things before going to finish his evening duties. The last load was put into the pantry under Mary’s direction as the Sun reached the prescribed time.

Dinner was prepared on the large wood cookstove in the kitchen. Despite James insistence that everyone be there to help with dinner, it took about three minutes for Mary to send the men off on other tasks. These included lighting several lanterns, refilling the woodbin, carrying in extra water from the springhouse, and generally anything that kept them out from underfoot.

Jeremiah’s watch at the gate ended uneventfully and he soon joined the others in the house. He had enough time for a cup of strong smelling tea before Bridget instructed everyone to wash for supper.

The group filed through the kitchen, first stopping at the double sink to wash and rinse their hands. They then filed along the counter filling their plates buffet style with a large beefsteak, fried potatoes, chunked and roasted pumpkin, and a small serving of canned fruit. When everyone was seated around the long table, Jeremiah said Grace and they ate.

Looking around, James said to the group,”These aren’t good times but at least we’re in good company. We have a lot to get worked out but I think we’ll pull through if we stick together. Now, I’m not sure what you folks are used to but we’ve pretty much been liv’n by the Sun around here. You’re welcome to stay up but once we get these dished put up, we’ll be heading to bed,” he said indicating his family.

“It’s been a long day for all of us and we’ve got a lot to do in the morning,” replied Ned. “I’m not far from the bed myself.” The others nodded their agreement.

The dishes were taken to the kitchen. There, Mary again supervised while Ted, Bill, and Ricky washed them. In no time flat everything was clean and put away.

The night was a pleasant one for everyone. The fireplaces in the house kept everyone toasty even though Janice and her family used more blankets than the others. Jeremiah had banked the fire early in the day then rekindled it immediately after dinner so the bunk house was warm for Ned and Ann. While the trailer kept the wind at bay, Dan and Fred relied on their gear to stay warm. In Dan’s case, this was inside one sleeping bag with two others thrown over the top like duvets. Between Festus and his Wiggy’s FTRS Antarctic bag, Fred slept soundly with his sleeping bag unzipped.

Dawn proved James wrong with no signs of an overnight freeze. In true Colorado fashion, the morning broke clear and warmer than the previous several days. The wind had tapered off through the night and the heavy snow blanketed a landscape with few drifts.

By the time that Ned’s family emerged, the inhabitants of the ranch were already in full swing. Tracks leading through the snow showed where someone had moved off towards the gate. More trails indicated there had been quite a bit of activity around the barn. Smoke curled from the main chimney and everyone moved quickly to the house.

Dan glanced at the barn and saw several eyes peering back. Four horses either stood outside pawing at the snow or stared out through the open stall doors. Looking past the six closed stall doors, he could see several cows milling around a round bale feeder in a pen that must open to the back of the barn. When the horses saw he neither carried hay nor was coming their way, they quickly lost interest.

Bridget met the others in the dining room. She pointed out the fresh rolls and homemade raspberry jam that Mary had left for breakfast.

“Janice went with Mom and Dad to stand watch at the gate for a bit. Dad said that we should get you unloaded and that he’d like you to stick around the house. I think he wants your help with something,” she explained.

Dan noticed that no mention was made of the other men in the household. Not sure what to make of it but assuming they wouldn’t have abandoned a pregnant woman, he joined in for breakfast.

The rolls were more than they appeared at first glance. The dark bread was filled with various nuts and several coarse grains. They filled bellies very well and everyone enjoyed them.

Not long after breakfast, James, Mary, and Janice returned. They met everyone where they sat at the table.

“Let’s get you folks settled in. Janice tells me you’re quiet the mechanic Ned; we’ll clear some stuff in the shed and you’ll have a decent place to work. I’m not interested in running a kolkhoz here but life would be a lot easier if we combined our resources. You’re welcome to keep whatever you want in your space but if you’d like we can keep the weapons together. Same for stuff like booze and seeds and such. After lunch I’d like to go check something out and I’d like you two along,” said James indicating Dan and Ned.

“What do you have in mind?” Ned asked.

“That pickup you rode up in belongs to Mic Higgins. He’s got a big spread over near Tarryall. Ever since his oldest boy overdosed a few years back he’s had it in his head to help every deadbeat and dirtball he comes across. Sometimes it works well, other times not so much. It sounds like he may have come to some trouble and I mean to go check on him.”

Ned looked at James. “Tarryall? You mean the reservoir? Isn’t that a ways out from here?”

“It’s less than ten miles as the crow flies. I figure we’ll ride down there in Mic’s truck and take a look around. If all is well, we’ll give him back what’s his. If not, well, then we’ll have to figure things out,” continued James.

“And how would we get back if we left the truck?” Dan asked though he was beginning to get an idea.

James shrugged. “Ricky and Jeremiah, took a couple spare horses and started that way about an hour ago. They’ll layup and keep an eye on the place until we get there. If we have to leave the truck, then we’ll just ride back.”

Ned shook his head. “That counts me out. You won’t see me up on a horse, no thanks.”

“Long as them boys didn’t take a herd of spun up stallions, I think I can manage a little ride. Besides, I’ve got lots of experience setting and watching,” said Fred.

James looked skeptically at the injured man. “You sure about that?” When Fred nodded, he went on, “Alright, it’s your neck. Can you use that pistol you’ve been wearing?”

“Yessir, and I’ll bring something with a bit more reach. I may not be able to shoot fast with one hand but I will ventilate what I shoot at,” he replied.

“Okay then. Well, let’s get things taken care of here so we can look in on the neighbors,” said James.

And with that, they went to work.

They started unloading the vehicles, leaving the bulk of the trailer until the end. Concentrating on one rig at a time, the process went quickly. After a brief discussion, it was decided that the supplies from both the households and Fred’s semi would be added to those already in place at the ranch.

Mary once again took charge of the organization, showing the group to the appropriate storage areas. Some, like the well stocked bar along one wall of the great room, were obvious. The new stores of alcohol doubled the supply on hand but easily fit into the cabinets built into the back side of the bar. Others, like the hidden weapons store behind a false interior wall in the master bedroom, were not so obvious. The ten foot by three foot space was accessible through a hidden door in the side of a coat closet from the great room. An oversized mirror opened from the master bedroom side to provide a second entrance. The majority of the ammunition and all but the weapons the group had carrier for the last several days were added to those already in wall racks.

Though Fred chose to place his personal weapons in his bedroom, he found an excuse to follow James and Dan into the ‘armory’. He was pleasantly surprised by what he found.

“Yawl have a big problem with critters out here?” he said, eyeing the two heavy barreled bolt action rifles.

“Not really, coyotes on occasion. I’ve always enjoyed shooting and have been adding to the collection for a few years. At one time I thought I’d try a safari so I picked up a Remington 700 chambered in .375 H&H. I liked it so much, I bought that beast next to it. That CheyTac is a fine piece of work but I doubt I’d ever drop that kind of money on a rifle again. I’ve had a bit of work done to both of them and they are fun for punching holes in coffee cans at the 500 yards. Ricky keeps asking to shoot them but I think I’ll keep him on the 7mm for now.” James explained.

Dan was looking at the collection with envy as well. Four AR style rifles stood in the rack along with three bolt action rifles. Looking closer he saw that the AR’s were identical Bushmaster rifles in .223. The bolt actions were Remington BDLs like the one he had seen Ricky carrying the day before. Looking closer he saw that two were chambered in .30/06 Springfield and the third in 7mm. Several other rifles occupied a rack along the floor. Looking at the bores, he guessed them to be .22s. A third rack held several shotguns including a pair with side by side double barrels. Looking closer, he noticed each weapon had a mate, save for the .375s.

Turning to James he said, “Two is one…”

“…and one is none.” James replied with a smile.

Dan smiled back and was turning to ogle the handguns racked on a small shelf when James squeezed past him. After stepping around several stacked ammunition cans, he reached into an open box.

Withdrawing his hand, he held something wrapped in black webbing out to Dan.

“I can’t imagine that ol’ boot keeps your pistol real secure. If your gonna be on horseback, you want secure. That is setup as a thigh rig, something Ricky talked me into and I hated, but you can work with it and put it on your belt if you like. That pistol ought to fit just fine,” said James.

With a quick thanks, Dan tucked the holster into his jacket pocket. Hearing Mary’s third call from the kitchen, the men reluctantly left the confines of the small room. Mary and Ann, both with knowing smirks on their faces, prodded the men back to work.

While Ann, Janice, and Mary unloaded the last few items from the Blazer, James showed the men the area he planned to give Ned. Looking things over closely, they decided to move the travel trailer outside the shed. Once Ned’s car trailer was emptied, it would be positioned on the opposite side of the travel trailer thus providing wind breaks on both side and freeing up floor space.

The slide outs were stowed and Fred eased the single running truck into position. Everyone was tense as the farm truck took the weight of the trailer but it sagged only minimally. After much jockeying under James direction, it was soon sited.

While James and Fred worked with the travel trailer, the others began making space in the shed. The dead four wheelers were pushed into position near the immobile tractor. Ned was happy to point out the chain hoists hanging from the rafters knowing they would come in handy for heavy lifting.

Having taken the food from the trailer the night before and already having moved the firearms and ammunition into the house, only Ann’s sewing supplies and the tools remained in to be unloaded. The cloth, treadle machine, and the related kit were moved into the bunk house. At that point, the women’s offer to make lunch was happily accepted.

The next hour was spent moving the tools and hardware into the shop. Ned knew he would need to spend several days organizing things. When that was done, the shed would truly be a shop.

At Fred’s suggestion the pickup was once again pressed into service. After the Blazer was disconnected and pushed out of the way the farm truck was hooked to the car trailer. This was then shimmied, wiggled, and backed into the shop. From there it was a relatively simple matter to winch the tool chest into a stable position in a corner of the building.

The only snag happen when they positioned the car trailer next to the travel trailer. Because they all agreed it would be best to have the large loading door near the front of the shop, the trailer could not be backed into position. Once they disconnected the car trailer, there was very little weight on the rear tires of the pickup and the tires spun in the mud. Fred quickly stopped and shut the truck off, knowing that continuing to sink in the soft soil wouldn’t help anything.

When they found they couldn’t get adequate traction by digging or by forcing boards under the tires, they decided to use the tire chains from Mary’s pickup. Using the highlift jack salvaged from Ned’s Jeep, they carefully lifted the rear tires one at a time and put the chains in place. Boards were also laid under each rear tire giving the truck eight feet of unimpeded running room before the rear tires were once again in the mud.

Everyone stood clear as Fred started the engine. After all the time spent rolling in the mud, it was almost anticlimactic as Fred easily steered the truck in a wide circle and drove back onto the gravel of the driveway.

The chains were quickly removed and thrown into the bed of the truck should they be needed again that day. The fuel tank was topped off from the gas stores and the men retired to clean up.

When they were alone in the trailer, Fred asked Dan, “Hey Doc, can you take a look at my chest before we head out? I want to be tops if we run into trouble.”

As Fred’s shirt came off Dan noticed a small amount of blood on the dressing he had applied earlier that day. Inspecting the wound, he could see some redness but no significant swelling, or discharge along the wound edges that would indicate infection. None the less, he quizzed Fred about how he felt, asking about any fever/chill sensations, extreme fatigue, or dizziness. He also used the mercury thermometer he had saved from his parents home to confirm Fred’s temperature was fine. Pronouncing him fit to fight, Dan decided to clean the wound before redressing it and for that they would need things from the house. He quickly changed into the camouflage clothes Bill had given him and slid the USP into the new thigh holster. While he collected clean clothes for Fred to change into when they finished, he realized he hadn’t seen Bill all day.

In answer to James’ questioning look when Fred walked into the house shirtless, Dan explained he just wanted to be extra cautious since the wound was so extensive. He then asked Mary to bring four cups of water to a boil. After twenty minutes he removed the water from the stove to let it cool.

While he waited, Dan joined the others in the meal of roast beef sandwiches, extra rolls, and apple pie. The water had cooled to a comfortable temperature by the time he was finished.

Knowing that the liquid chlorine bleach in Mary’s laundry room would lose its antibacterial efficacy before the powdered chlorine from the hot tub, he measured out three fluid ounces. He mixed this into the water along with half of a teaspoon of baking soda.

“This stuff has been around for a long time. It’s called Dakin’s Solution and it should help keep the bugs down. I want to clean you up with this full strength stuff twice a day for the next four or five days. After that we’ll probably go half strength once a day until the sutures come out somewhere between nine and thirteen days from now,” he explained. “I’m just going to wipe the area down to, hopefully, keep the surface bacteria from getting a foothold.”

“You’re the boss; I’m just here for the show.” Fred smiled back.

Soon Dan had finished gently irrigating over the surface of the wound and wiping the surrounding tissue down. The antibiotic ointment was reapplied and the dressing replaced. Fred let Dan help him into a fresh set of clothes though sighed deeply as the sling and swath were replaced and cinched tight.

James asked both Dan and Fred if they needed any weapons or ammunition for the road. Neither man did so after brief goodbyes and wishes of good luck, they made ready to depart.

They didn’t expect trouble but in true Boy Scout fashion they went prepared. As Fred would be the least effective if they were required to fight from the truck, it was decided he would drive. James knew where they were going so he would ride in the cab with Fred, armed with one of his Bushmasters. Dan would ride in the back of the truck with the Sig. He was also bringing his aid bag. All three men carried their sidearms. The afternoon had warmed nicely and they expected to have a comfortable ride.

As they drove out of the ranch, Dan’s earlier wonder about Bill was answered. He could be seen sitting near the signal barrel, binoculars scanning the valley ahead of him. A horse was grazing nearby on a picket line. As Bill’s shape faded behind him, Dan wondered if he would ever see the ranch again.

[Nomad_Medic]

Fred kept the truck at a steady thirty miles per hour as he negotiated the county roads. The previous night’s snow was melted in all but the most sheltered of areas. Cattle could be seen intermittently dotting the landscape but the group was otherwise alone.

In the cab, James filled Fred in on his plan.

“Jeremiah and Ricky should have reached the reservoir a few hours ago. They both know the area and Ricky has a spot he’s been tying out horses while he fished the lake for years. Nobody will find the horses there. It’s about three quarters of a mile south to the Higgins’ fence line. There’s a low ridgeline in that area where they should be setup to watch the ranch. That’s where we’ll meet them before we go in. Now, take that next left.

“This road runs along the property line so we can drive fairly close to that ridge. I think Dan will stay with the truck while you and I join the fellas. If things look safe, Jeremiah and I will come back down and ride in with Dan in the truck. If not, then I guess it depends on what we see. Either way, I’d like you to stay up on high with that long gun of yours. If it’s safe for Ricky to bring the horses up, I’d like you to wait until he’s down there along with us before you come down. And Fred, if anything happens, you get my son home safe.” James finished.

“I’ll take care of the boy sir, don’t worry about that.” Fred replied.

Thirty minutes after leaving the ranch, James had Fred pull over. They were on a relatively open section of road. On the right side, a four strand barbed wire fence separated them from a low ridgeline.

Dan hopped out of the bed almost before the vehicle had stopped. He scanned the area and saw they were alone.

“Dan, we’re going up that hill there to meet up with the boys.” James explained.” Keep an eye on the truck and we’ll be back in a bit.”

Fred had lowered the tailgate and slid the rifle case and small duty bag to the edge. Working quickly with his one good hand, he opened the case and passed two magazines to Dan.

“Can I get you to load these for me?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure. That’s not what I thought it was,” replied Dan, indicating the rifle.
“You thought I had a pool cue in here, that’s just silly. Nope, nothing in here but my lil’ McMillan. This bum arm makes me real happy I decided on a magazine fed rifle.” Fred explained.

Dan soon had five rounds loaded into each magazine. While he did, Fred worked his way into a tactical vest with James’ help. The men were soon ready and headed up the hill. Dan watched them for several minutes before they disappeared among the rocks then made himself comfortable and waited.

Fred and James moved quickly uphill. The climb was much more difficult than Fred had expected without the use of his left arm but he managed to only fall once. He brushed himself off quickly, glad when James said nothing.

When they neared the top, James motioned him to wait. James then moved a short distance along the tree topped ridge and disappeared into the cover. Several minutes later he reappeared and waved Fred forward.

They found Ricky and Jeremiah in the trees looking out onto the ranch below. The two had laid a brown tarp on the ground and both lay atop thick blankets. Ricky didn’t take his eyes from the scope of the rifle propped atop a stained bag when the other men joined him. Jeremiah slid from the mat farther back into the trees where he could speak to James and Fred.

“There’s nothing down there Boss. We’ve been setup here for nearly five hours and the only things moving are crows and the curtains sticking out a kitchen window. Looks like there was a fire and I think there might be a couple fresh graves on the edge of the garden.” Jeremiah reported.

Fred nodded and crawled next to Ricky on the shooting mat. He slowly setup his rifle and peered through the Leupold Mk 4. He would occasionally whisper something to the boy who would quietly answer.

“A fire fits with what these fellas told us they heard. Seems like Higgin’s ran into some real trouble here. Well, somebody had to dig those graves. If Mic is still down there, he can’t be in a good way. Dan’s waiting down below with the truck. You and me will hike down there then the three of us will drive onto the property. If it’s all okay, Ricky can fetch the horses and Fred there can hike down and join us.”

With that, James clicked his tongue at the two watching the ranch. He waved Ricky to his side where he explained the plan. The young man nodded his understanding. James gave his son a firm squeeze on the shoulder then turned and left.

In a few short minutes, the men were loaded into the truck and on their way. This time, Dan drove and Jeremiah rode in the back of the truck. It took only a few minutes for them to negotiate the roads that followed the fence line and to turn into the Higgins driveway.

At James direction, Dan slowly rolled to a stop about 300 yards from the house. Leaving the truck idling, both men stepped out of the truck and stood behind the doors. Jeremiah stood in the bed, his rifle laid across the roof. For several minutes, nothing happen.

The horn blasted three times and echoed into the gentle breeze. Even Dan, whom had pressed it himself, jumped at the sound. Again, there was no reply from the house.

“Alright, let’s check the place. Bring the truck over there by that red Ford. When we get there, Dan I want you to go around back, I’ll try the front door, and Jeremiah, you stay up there and keep an eye out. Don’t get trigger happy but we don’t know who might be around so be careful,” said James.

Dan did as James had instructed and soon found himself at the rear door of the ranch house. His view looked through the kitchen onto the front of the house. Dan could see smoke stains and charring to a room near the front door. He heard James call out Mic’s name then pound on the door. After hearing no answer, Dan saw James open the front door and step into the house. Dan did the same, entering the kitchen.

The two quickly checked the house and found both floors empty. The fire had started in what looked to be a formal living room. The big picture window was missing though no glass was on the front porch making Dan think the window had broken inward. After mentioning this to James, they found a melted brown bottle at the base of a heavily damaged wall.

“They threw a Molotov cocktail through the window,” Dan said with conviction. “It started a fire but wasn’t enough to burn the place down.”

James nodded, “But where is everyone. The beds upstairs are made up, theirs food in the pantry, it doesn’t make sense for Mic and Beth to be missing.”

Dan had been walking around while James spoke. “Come take a look at this. What’s that look like to you?”

James looked at the brown stain on the floor at the base of the stairs. “I’d say somebody tried to clean up a big puddle of blood here. There’s another one like it but bigger out on the porch.”

Dan nodded then suggested they check the other buildings. They turned off the porch and walked past two freshly dug mounds. Each bore a cross; a hat hung from one mound and silk flowers in a vase decorated the foot of the other. One read ‘Michael Henry Higgins III May 13, 1982- May 2, 2010’, the other ‘Elizabeth Margret Higgins September 3, 1946- May 2, 2010’.

“Ah Hell, not Beth too!” cursed James. Looking skyward, he said, “Mic’s whole family? How much can a man take?”

That question was answered a few minutes later. After losing one son to drugs, another to a knife in the dark, and his wife that same night, Michael Henry Higgins II had endured more than he could take. After burying the two people he loved most, he climbed a ladder and hanged himself to death. Dan and James found him suspended from a rafter, twisting in the breeze.

[FlashDaddy]

Great post, those are powerful images.

[Nomad_Medic]

Dan and James cut Mic down and laid his stiff body on the barn floor. When Dan saw James bow his head at his friend’s side, he quietly slid out of the barn. He checked the remaining outbuildings and found them empty. When he returned to the barn, James stepped through the door and met him.

“You’ve checked those buildings?” he asked, a rasp of emotion remaining in his voice. When Dan nodded, he went on. “We need to get Mic in the ground and get the boys on their way in. I’ll go get Jeremiah, see if you can find a couple shovels.”

Dan moved back to the shed where he had seen a store of hand tools as James walked to the pickup. He was there talking with Jeremiah when Dan carried two shovels, his rifle slung over his shoulder, out of the shed. James turned and walked back to the barn while Jeremiah removed a square of dayglow yellow cloth from inside his hat. He then waved this over his head several times until he received a response from the ridgeline. The flag that Ricky waved from the hilltop was dayglow orange and yellow. Jeremiah then hopped from the truck and joined the others at the body.

Thirty minutes later they laid Mic into a grave next to his wife. James had built a simple grave marker that matched the others and hung a belt with a rodeo buckle from it. Fred joined the three at the graveside as the mound was finished.

Jeremiah spoke, “Dear Heavenly Father, we ask that you except into Your hall Michael Henry Higgins as you have done his sons and wife. Mic lived his life by your words and the words of your son. He gave of himself and taught others to seek solace in your embrace. We ask that you forgive his transgressions and look upon him with the love you showed when you gave your son for our eternal salvation. We ask this for our friend Mic as we ask it for ourselves. For we all must pass from this world and ‘Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.’ We ask this in your name, Amen.”

Dan and Fred drifted away as the two men that knew Mic stood in silence at the graveside. Dan explained what they had found.

Looking around the ranch Fred wondered aloud what would happen with the house, equipment, and supplies.

“I’ve known, or rather knew, Mic and Beth for over ten years. They wouldn’t care for this stuff rot’n and going to waste. We’ll salvage everything we can,” said James as he and Jeremiah walked up to the others.

He went on. “Ricky will be in with those horses soon. We’re going to load Mic’s horse trailer with as much hay as we can then Jeremiah, I want you, Dan, and Ricky to drive it back to our place. You unload and come back in the morning. Fred and I will look things over real well and get an idea of what we are taking. When you come back, bring Mary and Bill. Ricky will be staying home so he and Ted can keep an eye on things.”

The boy arrived a few minutes later with the horses. James had him take them into the barn and settle them for the night. That task finished, James, Fred, and Ricky disappeared into the farmhouse. James soon reappeared and helped the others finish loading .

They were closing the gate on the trailer when Fred and Ricky walked out of the house. Fred had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder with several barrels sticking out of it. Ricky was carrying a cardboard box and these were both put in the bed of the truck. While the truck and trailer where hitched, James brought two more boxes out. Soon the trailer was hitched and the truck loaded.

The group returning to the ranch climbed into the truck. Jeremiah drove with Ricky in the bed. While the trailer would block his view to the rear, he would still be well situated to utilize the Bushmaster that his father handed him. Jeremiah would use the side mirrors to scan their back-trail so he could alert Dan if anything was amiss. Thus situated, they left the Higgins ranch.

The return trip was as uneventful and took only slightly longer with the trailer. When they reached the gate, Jeremiah stopped the truck and again waved the cloth square from his hat. The banner that replied was bright orange and white.

“Mrs. Mary seems to be on lookout,” he said as he climbed back behind the wheel.

“You each have different colored flags?” Dan asked.

“Yes sir. Mr. Duncan had us all start doing it a while back. The colors stand out when we’re spread all over the place. We normally just use the radios but we found out the hard way they can get busted.”

They backed the trailer up to the large front doors of the stock barn. Bridget and the two other couples joined them as they removed the boxes and bags from the pickup bed. Jeremiah gave a brief description of what they had found, speaking primarily to Bridget.

“Ricky, think you can handle the lookout point until dark?” Bridget asked her brother.

“Yeah, I guess so,” was his less than enthusiastic reply. “The stuff in these boxes is for me, can I put it in my room first?”

“I’ll give you a hand,” said Dan when she answered yes.

They carried the boxes inside while the others began unloading the hay. Ricky explained that his father had instructed him to get several changes of clothes from the younger Higgins’ bedroom. The boxes contained what could very possibly be Ricky’s wardrobe when he outgrew his current clothing. The firearms recovered from the Higgins ranch were left in the duffle bag and placed into the armory.

Ricky took one of the other horses from the barn and rod off to relieve his mother.

While Dan stepped into the line to help unload the trailer, he got his first good look at the inside of the barn. Along the side closest to the other building were the horse stalls. Each of these was roughly twelve feet square with a door that opened to the outside. They were all fronted with a half wall that also had a gate. There were ten stalls along the side of the barn. The rest of the building looked to be divided into several other distinct areas. The far end had been made into a large pen that extended outside the barn. This was where Dan had seen the cows that morning. Looking closer, he could see that this pen was actually split in half. Several horses watched the hay being unloaded with interest from the side opposite the cows. The area they were stacking hay was a large open space with high fencing along the perimeter. They were stacking bales on pallets next to a much larger pile.

“I don’t know a lot about horses but this looks like the arenas where my daughter competes with her dog.” Dan said to Bridget as he paused for a breath.

“Yeah? What type of competition does she do?” she asked in return.

“We have Australian Shepherds and she competes mostly in herding. Believe it or not they compete to herd ducks, sheep, and cows. It was pretty unnerving the first time I saw my then ten year old and her little dog take on three cows. But they have fun,” he explained.

“Competitions like that really are good fun. Dad had the barn built extra large so I could practice for the cutting horse meets I did back in high school. Mom and Dad used to come to all my competitions. That’s why they have the big camper; we’d tow that and one of the other parents would tow the horses. After I moved out most of this,” she said waving her hand around at the barn “…was empty space. Two years ago a preacher from California and his wife opened a summer bible camp a couple miles from here. They pay Dad to board the horses over the winter so he gets a little use out of the space.”

Mary arrived from her stent at the gate. She was dressed in a well worn pair of Carhartt bib overalls with a faded green thigh length coat by the same maker. One of the bolt action rifles projected from the scabbard on her horse. She said her hello’s then called Jeremiah to follow her as she removed and stored the horse’s tack.

Dan and the others stacked the final bale as Mary and Jeremiah rejoined them. Dan and Bill both volunteered to help Jeremiah and Ted with the chores for the evening. Over the course of the next hour Dan learned that the cows in the barn were several new heifers James had purchased a week before the Event. They had all calved over the previous two weeks. He was also shown how to draw water with the hand pump in the springhouse and the pipe system Jeremiah and Ricky had installed to get water to several large troughs in the barn. It didn’t eliminate having to carry buckets to each stall but it cut the distance by two thirds.

They finished in the dark and were met by Ricky as they wrapped up in the barn. Jeremiah offered to help Ricky take care of the horse and the ranch hand and the boy stayed while the others returned to the house.

They were greeted by the smell of a rich stew Bridget and Janice had prepared. Ned had refilled the wood for all the stoves and had started fires in each. It wasn’t long before the entire group had gathered, listened to a short prayer by Jeremiah, and tucked into the meal.

With dinner complete and cleaned up, everyone gathered in the great room. They each went over some of what they had accomplished during the day and a plan was set for the morning.

As Dan walked to the camper, he noticed that the Auroras had faded sometime in the last few days to weak smears in the night sky. He couldn’t help but wonder what that meant.

The following day started early with the requisite chores around the ranch being shared out among the group. Ricky and Jeremiah were more than happy to show the others what needed to be done to tend for the animals. While many of the tasks were identical to what they had done the night before, some were new.

Today, as on alternating days throughout the winter into late spring, extra feed would need to be taken into the pasture land for the range herd to get at it. Before the Event this meant loading a pickup with bales of hay and driving it to the base of the foothills. It was now a much slower process that involved using two of the more docile horses to drag a few bales at a time to the herd. James had realized he would need to coax the cattle closer to the ranch early after losing the use of the truck. They had been taking the hay shorter and shorter distances and now they only transported it about two miles. Two people would work on this for several hours throughout the day, making sure to not over-work the horses. After Ricky’s explanation, Bill volunteered to lend a hand and it was agreed that he would join the boy in this task. Ned looked at the wooden skids that the ranch had been using for this and quickly decided he could come up with something better.

Over breakfast plans for the day were roughly lined out. Mary, Jeremiah, a Dan would return with the truck and trailer to the Higgins ranch. Ted would begin the day at the gate to be relieved around lunch time by whoever was available. Ann and Janice planned to continue getting things organized in their new living quarters, splitting their time between the bunk house and the room the Sullivan’s had moved into.

Soon everyone had dispersed to their tasks. The three heading to the Higgins ranch loaded up with Jeremiah behind the wheel and Dan in the back. The ride was once again uneventful and in no time they were pulling into the ranch. Smoke curled from the chimney and Fred met them with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand.

“Well, nice to see you are ready to defend yourself,” joked Dan as he hopped from the back of the truck.

“Yup. Me, Folgers, Mr. Duncan, and Mr. Remington have this place pretty well covered. He had you folks glassed about the last quarter mile of that road. Now, you gonna keep griping or yawl want some go juice?” Fred finished.

The group joined James in the house. It was obvious that the men had used their time at the ranch well. Boxes, bags, and even feed sacks had been pressed into service to carry the things the men had collected. The now bulging carriers were now stacked around the room waiting to be loaded. This included several boxes of ammunition, presumably for the rifles removed the night before.

James explained that he, Jeremiah, and Dan would continue moving hay from the barn. Fred was to begin sorting things in the outbuildings, as much as his injury would allow. He had asked that Mary join them to check the areas that had already been packed as well as to go through Beth’s belongings.

When James finished, Dan told the others he wanted to first check Fred’s wound and dressings, and then look for more clothing for himself. When that was finished he would meet the others at the trailer. They all agreed and were soon involved with their individual chores.

Fred’s chest wound had bled a little but the stitches all appeared to be intact. Using a clean towel and some iodine he found in the bathroom, he cleaned the area around the laceration. He conservatively painted it onto the area, left it in place for about ten minutes, then wiped most of it off. He explained that iodine left for too long, especially under a dressing, can cause significant irritation. He then used several bandages he had brought specifically for this purpose to rewrap everything. Dan had also brought Fred a change of clothes.

After finishing with his patient, Dan went into the younger Higgins’ room and looked through the clothing there. It was obvious that Ricky had selected things that were on the smaller end of the clothes available. Dan was fortunate that other than needing to shorten some of the pants, he was able to wear much of what he found. It didn’t take him long to cover the bed with clothing ranging from coats to socks. He wrapped the load in the bedspread and deposited it with the other goods being salvaged.

Before he joined the others at the trailer, James waved him aside. Brushing loose hay from his shirt, he asked Dan, “You had a chance to think on my offer?”

“Yes Sir, I have. I’m worried about my family. There’s no way to know what things are like out there and I’ve run just about every scenario I can think of through my mind. But we’ve been preparing for something like this for a long time. Lynn’s a smart, strong woman and I know she’s going to be alright for a while. If I can get on the trail by the first week of September I have about a 50/50 chance of beating the worst of the winter storms, or at least getting a good ways before they come on in full. If you’ll set me up like we spoke about then I guess I’ll stay and look after Bridget until the baby comes.” Dan said.

“I’m glad to hear that son,” James said as he extended his hand. When Dan shook it, he continued, “Now let’s get this trailer loaded.”

The rest of the day was spent transferring load after load between the ranches. When Dan and Jeremiah arrived with the first load of hay, they met Bill and Ricky returning from their second trip to feed the range cattle. It was an easy decision to drive the extra two miles to drop several bales instead of continuing to use the horses. Once the feed was dropped, the remaining bales were unloaded into the barn and the process was repeated.

Dan and Jeremiah moved two more full loads of hay. James continued to help load and Ted and Bill to unload. By the time the two had moved the last of the hay into the trailer, they were tired to the core. James told them to enjoy a few minutes rest while he and Mary loaded things from inside the house into the empty half of the trailer.

Dan took the opportunity to look in on Fred. In the hours that had passed, Fred had completely gone through the smaller of the two buildings. This had been a shop where someone had obviously enjoyed wood working. While most of the power tools wouldn’t be of any use, a large stack of hand tools had grown outside the door. There were several boxes of nails and screws in the pile as well. Upon seeing these, Dan reminded Fred not to overdo it.

Leaving Fred, Dan looked into the smaller outbuilding. This one was much older and looked to have been a catchall point. Along one wall were rakes, shovels, and other assorted yard tools. He found several dusty cardboard boxes of empty beer bottles and a broken carboy; the legacy of a onetime interest in home brewing. Nothing else he could see caught his eye. That was until he realized that the entire back of the shed opened, garage door fashion.

The fact that the doors in the back opened wide enough to accommodate a car but not the ones in the front of the building intrigued him. Quickly pawing through the assorted junk he realized that nothing useful was there. Still curious, he went outside.

When he walked around the rear of the building he was surprised by what he found. He had never been a fan but the license plate bracket on the tie-dyed Volkswagen bus identified it as a ‘Fifty-Three Splittie Baby!’ Even with four tires barely holding air and an engine missing major parts, the little van had potential in Dan’s eyes.

By the time he returned to the house, Mary and James had finished loading the truck and trailer. As this would be nearly the last load, Mary joined Dan and Jeremiah for a ride home. Once again the truck was unloaded and then it returned for a final trip from the abandoned ranch.

It didn’t take long to load the last of the goods. The household items took up little space as did the tools from the two outbuildings. The four men all agreed that lumber would be very useful and all the loose boards from the property were added. Sections of fence wire, a cord of split and stacked fire wood, and an empty rabbit hutch were thrown is as well. When James asked if they thought they were done, Dan spoke up about the van. While his skepticism was apparent, Jeremiah’s assurance that with a little creative lashing he could tow it behind the trailer seemed to be enough for James. The three healthily backs managed to get the van pushed into place and secured to the trailer, albeit backwards. The steering wheel was lashed to keep it straight and the convoy-of-one set out.

Though tired from the labors of the day, Dan agreed to ride back with James and the horses. They arrived home just as the sun set. Dan helped to stable the horses, used a bathtub full of warm water that some kind soul had prepared for him, and ate a large meal. It all went by in a blur and as he nodded off he hoped he was doing the right thing by waiting in Colorado.

[FlashDaddy]

Good post!

As Dan walked to the camper, he noticed that the Auroras had faded sometime in the last few days to weak smears in the night sky. He couldn’t help but wonder what that meant.

Yeah, what would that mean? Will the government in hiding come out, now that the EMP risk to their sheltered equipment is fading? Will the Russkies be paratrooping in?

[Nomad_Medic]

Here is a bigger chunk, it'll probably be a bit before more gets put up.


The following day began as most days on a working ranch do; by caring for the animals. This was followed with breakfast where the group discussed the needs and plans for the day. As James finished lining out the duties, Dan asked a question.

“We brought a whole bunch of hay and grain over from the other ranch yesterday. Why was it there? I saw the trailer and barn but no animals.”

“Mic kept his herd up in the national forest on a lease he’s had for years,” said James.

Ricky joined in. “He’s got this funny looking kind of cow too. They’re not as big as our Herefords and they look kinda like panda bears.”

James smiled at his son. “A couple years ago Mic sold off most of his commercial herd; he said he was getting too old to deal with that many critters. He had Herefords like most of us that are selling to the big outfits. Anyway, he was getting into a niche market and found a breed that has a leaner beef. The tree huggers down in Boulder were willing to pay big money for it, especially since it was ‘free range’. I can’t remember what the proper name is, he just called them Belties.”

Ann could see where this line of thinking was headed. “What happens to them now?”

“I hadn’t really given it too much thought but I suppose we could bring them in. Now that you mention it, Mic started with these because they can live pretty well off graze along. That herd was only about 70 head strong when I helped him run them out to the lease last summer. His plan was to leave them out over the winter if it didn’t get too bad. I’ll bet they’re still hanging around the valley we drove them to in the fall.” James explained.

“I don’t know anything about cows,” began Dan, “But the ones you have are huge. They’re the commercial kind right? So it stands to reason they are like most other commercial breeds of animals; they get big quick on a pretty steady diet and they eat a lot? Maybe this other kind would be better now that getting food for them is going to be harder.”

“That has some merit but until we know the state of that herd, this gum flapp’n is useless. Jeremiah, I think you, Ricky, and I will go take a look. If the herd is there, then somehow we’ll have to round them up. We should be able to drive them down here and put them in the calving pen. It’s about time we turned the cows and calves loose anyway,” pronounced James.

Mary laughed. “You think the three of you are going to get that herd down here by yourselves? James, you need more bodies up there and you know it.”

“You’re right dear but, no offense, Ned won’t ride, Bill got on a horse for the first time in his life last summer, Fred’s in no condition to ride, and Dan’s about like Ted; he might not fall off and kill himself but he aint ready to chase cows through the brush,” he responded.

Rapidly losing her sense of humor, Mary continued. “Well, dear, last time I checked, pushing cattle didn’t require you to be able to write your name in the snow. You know damn well I can do it and if Janice uses her pump, Hannah will be fine for a couple days. You’ve seen her ride; she can do this if we show her how to motivate a cow.”

James ran his hand down his face, knowing she was right. Looking across the room at his sister, he asked “You up to some hard, dirty, work there Janny?” When she nodded, he continued. “Okay then. I guess the five of us are headed to the hills. Let’s plan to leave tomorrow after breakfast. The valley is about three hours away. We can get there and get setup then take a look before dark. Then we’ll round up what we can and drive them back the day after tomorrow.”

“Hey dad,” Ricky interrupted.”I’ve been out hunting that way, if we follow a couple trails I know, I can get us there in about an hour. We won’t be able to bring the herd back that way but…”

“That’s good son, that’ll help a bunch. I still want to keep our time frame the same but the earlier we’re home the better. We’ll plan for two days in the field and I want enough food and water along for an extra day. Mary, can you handle the provision side of this? Jeremiah and Ricky will get the tack and camp kit together. Ted, Bill, and Dan, there are a few things I’d like done in the barn before we bring another 70 head in here. I’ll line them out then you can get them squared away over the next couple days. Ned one of those things is to plumb in some more water troughs. I’d appreciate it if you’d take that on. Dan, for now I’d appreciate it if you’d head down to the gate; one of us will break you around lunch. Alright then, let’s get started,” said James.

The crew split up and began working on their assigned chores. Details were finalized, plans made, and gear packed. Fred volunteered to relieve Dan and after showing James he could indeed ride well enough with one arm, went to the gate. On the way he grabbed a couple of the burritos that were served for lunch.

He joined Dan and the two ate and discussed things on the ranch and life in general. Dan explained the deal he had worked out with James and Fred agreed it was a good choice. When they finished lunch, Dan returned to the ranch house.

The group going after the cattle spent the afternoon going over the horses closely and brushing up on the skills they would use in the coming days. Several unhappy cows were pressed into services for Janice to learn the fundamentals on with Bridget offering valuable coaching.

The others either continued ongoing projects or helped Ned get the new water troughs installed. By the time the evening chores were done, the plumbing was complete and the troughs filled.

Fred joined the group just after dark and they ate another hearty meal. Over supper, Fred asked the group.

“Anyone notice the sky tonight?”

Dan replied, “Yeah, hardly any Auroras up there. I guess the storm has passed.”

“That’s what I was thinking too. That’s not the only thing; I saw a plane out there today. It looked like it was following the highway headed up from Denver,” Fred explained.

“I see,” said James. “I’d be surprised if there hasn’t been traffic out there on the highway for the last few days. Things down there have got to be getting pretty rough, I imagine there’s a Golden Horde heading to the hills about now. Even so, I think while we are gone yawl should stay close to the ranch house. No sense in posting a body down at the gate, it’s not like you’ll have reinforcements to send if something happens. I do want someone posted up in the loft with a good rifle. In the morning well lock the big gate and I’ll show you the impact target for the bridge. There are a couple other surprises in the driveway I can explain too.”

They finished the meal and soon had thing cleaned up. Everyone retired early, for many of them this would be there last night in a warm bed for a while.

The day started early with a sense of anticipation in the air. The morning chores were quickly completed while Ned, Dan, and James secured the front gate.

As the men walked the long driveway, James pointed out several defensive features previously not shown to the newest members of the group. Many of these were intended to be manually placed by the gate guard as they fell back to the house. There were several nefarious items that fell into this category. Ricky had spent hours pounding nails through scraps boards of various lengths and shapes. These had been set into the ditches along the driveway and hidden from view. If they were needed, some would be left in the ditches and others pulled onto the roadway. In three spots where fence posts on opposite sides of the driveway lined up, the posts had been replaced with six inch well casing. James explained that these were set several feet underground with cement bases and were then filled with more cement. These could be used as anchor points for the cable that lay coiled in waterproof boxes at the base of the posts. When strung across the road, they created an obstacle that would stop anything that was smaller than a large truck, at least temporarily. It was obvious the James had considered the need to defend his home long before this Event.

James explained that the rest of the defenses had been thought out but not placed before the recent events as they were highly illegal. Most of these were explosive based. At the bridge where they had stopped the first day, he showed them what he had disarmed before they drove across. The men walked to the creek bed and he pointed out the two thirty gallon steel drums. Sitting nestled against them was the coffee can they had seen previously. Four wires were attached to the can. Two snaked from above and another pair disappeared into the soil.

“Those drums are filled with ANFO and the little can has two sticks of dynamite. There is a pressure switch of sorts buried across the road up top. I played around with a few different designs to get it right so it SHOULDN’T go off for anything weighing less than about half a ton. Either way, I haven’t had it turned on the last few days. I’ll show you how to do that now but we’ll wait to set it until we are on the way back to the house,” explained James.

They moved away from the bridge and James pointed to what looked to be a reflective road marker. Up close they could see that instead of a fiberglass post, this was a four by four inch piece of steel. The bottom was set into a wooden box at ground level which James removed the top from. He pointed out each of the parts as he explained them.

“This battery and key control the whole setup. You can see that this wire runs to the post which acts like a big switch. When the post is hit hard enough, it will move against one of these poles here and complete the circuit. I put four in so no matter which way it moves, it will make contact. This is wired into blasting caps in the dynamite. This setup will let us blow the bridge from the house.”

“That is a pretty long distance for a shot, especially if someone is shooting back or its dark.” Dan said.

James agreed, “Yeah, we had planned on running Romex to wire it in but I just hadn’t gotten around to buying it before we needed it. It’s something to upgrade when we get the opportunity.”

In several other places James showed them more devices. The majority of these were directional and to be triggered up close. Several improvised cannons loaded with shrapnel had been made using more well casing. These had been set along the portion of the driveway that passed close to the ridge and would pour destruction down onto the roadway. Each was fired by striking a metal plate with a hammer. This drove a pin into a 12 gauge primer which detonated the smokeless powder charge. They were crude but potentially lethal.

The three soon reached the gate where they moved a heavy pipe crossbar into place, blocking the road. This locked with a heavy padlock recessed into the gate column. With this done, James had another surprise.

Returning after a short walk into the woods, he hooked a come-along onto the cattle guard. He attached the other end to a large tree that was almost too far away to reach. With all of the men taking turns on the come-along, the heavy cattle guard was soon winched out of the roadway and into a ditch. The loose grass and brush thrown over the top wouldn’t hide it from a detailed search but it camouflaged it enough for James. What was left was a gap that ran the width of the roadway, four feet deep and almost twice as wide.

“Geez, you could just about use this as a fighting position,” commented Dan.

James chuckled, “I guess so. I sure wouldn’t want to try to make a stand here though. Falling back could get you hurt baaad with as little cover there is around here. The rocks on the uphill side might help but the reason they’re there is to keep someone from driving around the gate. Over there, it’s so wet 90% of the year they’d sink if they tried.”

It took them half the time to get back to the house even stopping to rearm the bridge explosives. Breakfast was ready when they arrived and in almost no time everyone had eaten there fill.

“I am really looking forward to the garden veggies,” commented Mary. “I like beef as much as the next girl but this is getting to be a bit much.”

The rest nodded their agreement but they all realized they were better off than most.

Those staying agreed to take care of the breakfast dishes and everyone set to the final preparations for the cattle hunting trip. Last minute instructions were given, goodbyes said, but in no time five mounted ‘horsemen’ moved off away from the ranch.

Ted and Dan began the tasks in the barn that James had outlined. These mostly involved moving supplies around to allow the new cattle more room inside the arena. The men drove several T-posts into the floor and installed welded wire cattle panels around the newly stockpiled hay. When they were finished, there was still a stack of the 16 foot panels and the hay pile was well protected.

While Dan and Ted worked in the barn, Ned and Bill worked in the shop. Under Ned’s direction, the remaining equipment had been positioned and they had begun building work benches and tables. There were several piles of new and used lumber available so they were able to build work areas, storage shelves, and cabinets. With the plans that Ned had sketched up, they would be carpenters for several days before they could move onto other projects.

Ann and Bridget were working together on living accommodations. Several large swaths of cloth had already been sewn into a single curtain and hung in the bunk house, giving Ned and Ann some privacy. Today they were removing the top portion of the interior walls in the upper floor bedrooms inside the house. This would allow the warm air that rose from the fireplaces to circulate along the ceiling and into the previously closed room. Ann would be doing the majority of the labor while the pregnant Bridget assisted.

This left a very bored Fred to his own devices. After Ned and Dan detailed the defenses they had been shown that morning, Fred and Festus went on a walkabout and looked them over. When they reached the gate they detoured first to the Lookout Point/Observation Point then continued around the edge of the valley the ranch sat in. The going was slow as Fred took care not to slip and damage his healing tissue. The wound itched but was staying closed well and the sutures would soon come out. Dan had seemed satisfied with the progress during their regular checks. He had completed half of the circuit as lunch approached and he returned to the ranch.

It wasn’t long before the group assembled in the kitchen for an informal lunch of sandwiches of thinly sliced beef on fresh bread and a can of green beans. Dan and Ted had finished in the barn though everyone else was eager to get back to their projects. Lunch was finished quickly and Dan caught Bridget while they cleaned up.

“I supposed your Dad mentioned I’ll be sticking around until Junior there shows up,” he said, pointing at her large belly.

Bridget nodded, “Yeah, he worries too much but I do appreciate your staying. Ted does well with animals but he’s not much of one to see people pain.”

“I’d like to get a little bit of a medical history and such if you don’t mind. I’ve caught a few babies but I’m no obstetrician. My wife is a birth doula so I can offer a few techniques that might help but this is still going to be on you,” Dan explained.

“I have time now if you’d like,” she replied. “We can pop into my parent’s room if need be.”

“Nah, mostly I’d like to talk and get a plan together,” he replied.

Dan spent the next several minutes getting to know Bridget’s medical and pregnancy history. She had always been healthy and athletic so had no chronic medical conditions. This was her first pregnancy and she had been seeing her OB/GYN regularly who had found nothing to worry about. She was feeling the baby kick and move regularly. In fact all her complaints were to be expected from a woman 25 weeks pregnant. Dan promised to teach Ted the massage techniques he had learned from his wife to help with her back pain but there was little he could do for her sore breasts.

They agreed to get together every four days for regular checks. Dan didn’t expect there to be many changes in a four day period but he also didn’t want to take any chances. He used the blood pressure cuff and stethoscope Fred had given him free access to and did a brief physical exam. When asked if she had any questions, Bridget posed one.

“I have about another 20 days worth of prenatal vitamins left. Mom and Dad gave me a big bottle of multivitamins, what’s the difference in the two?”

Dan considered that for a moment. “I think the biggest thing is the folic acid content, with the prenatal ones having more. We can either find some natural sources to supplement the multivitamins, or alternate the two tablets.”

“What are natural sources for folic acid?” asked Bridget.

“I’ve kinda been into herbal medicines for a few years but don’t know that many different herbs in depth. One of my favorites would fit the bill well if we can find it though. Have you ever seen Stinging Nettle around the ranch? It’s dark green and covered with fine hairs that irritate the skin. Besides than that, most any dark green, leafy vegetable will have a fair bit and so does liver if I remember right.”

Bridget smiled, “Yeah, we have nettles. Ricky found a big patch by getting deposited there by an unhappy horse a couple summers ago. It’s up the valley a little ways, near the creek. I know Dad would slaughter another cow if need be for the liver but…yuck.”

“Then I guess one of us should go look and see if we will be able to start harvesting nettles or if you get to learn to love liver.” Dan replied.

With that, they wrapped up. Ted had stepped in to help Ann and Bridget. Ned and Bill returned to the shop where they had been making much faster progress than they thought they would. Dan caught Fred as he and Festus were leaving to resume their walk.

The dog and the two men moved away from the ranch house and hiked at a steady pace along the valley floor. The men walked in silence, observing the world around them. Dan noticed several areas where green shoots were breaking through the ground. He had always been amazed at the natural world in Colorado. Even as the snows fell, new plants emerged. He found old stalks of several wild herbs he had hoped for including Mullein, Yarrow, Fireweed, and Yucca. He knew many more would be appearing over the next few weeks. Some of these would supplement their food stores, others could be used medicinally.

Dan was bent over looking at a clump of vegetation when Festus took an opportunity to get some attention. Fred walked over as Dan pet the beast and asked, “What’s yer plan with that VW?”

Dan straightened, “I was thinking with a little hacking, it could be made into a wagon of sorts.”

“I don’t think it will work as well as you’re hoping,” Fred replied. “Their suspensions aren’t real robust. Most of the cobbled together trailers I saw in Africa were made with a truck axel of some sort, usually with a set of leaf springs on top.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I had a couple other ideas in mind anyway. The engines on those old Volkswagen had a bunch of magnesium alloy parts in them. That Mg could come in handy, especially when I am on the trail and need to get fire going in a hurry. I also have a couple plans for the aluminum but I need to think that through a little more. All the windows are intact and when it warms up a bit that wouldn’t make a bad place to hang a hammock and sleep. For that matter, if we do it right, we could probably set the interior up as a green house or a solar dehydrator,” explained Dan.

“Those aren’t bad ideas. Unless you really feel the need, I don’t see any reason for you to move out. That camper is plenty big for the three of us. Now, as another greenhouse, yeah, I think that one’s tops. We really need to get some stuff growing soon.”

Dan shook his head in agreement as they continued. As they walked, Fred pointed things out. He showed where the cattle had worn a clear trail into the valley from higher ground and how that would make an obvious assault path for an attacker. They continued and he pointed out areas that they would not be able to see from the ranch and several good spots for LP/OPs. A small two track path wound out of the valley to the south though it didn’t appear to have been used for a long time; they would ask where it went later.

They finished their hike in late afternoon and walked to the shop. Ned and Bill had been hard at work and had accomplished a lot. Several long benches had been built and positioned against the walls. These were in use as the men laid-out, cut, and assembled storage shelves. Seeing more labor, Ned didn’t hesitate to put Dan a Fred to work. It wasn’t until Ted came out near sunset and told them dinner was almost ready that they stopped.

The evening routine resumed and it wasn’t long before dinner was eaten, the dishes cleaned up, and the group was saying their goodnights. As they walked to the camper both Dan and Fred noted the clear view of the stars for the first time in several days.

It was mid-afternoon when Ricky rode into the ranch compound. Ted had seen him approaching and Bridget had used the family’s flag code to confirm who it was. The boy cantered to the barn and was met by everyone but Ann who was busy in the kitchen.

With the exuberance of youth, Ricky swung down from his horse. He explained that the cattle had been rounded up and were cooperating as they were herded back. His father had sent him ahead to ensure the barn was ready to receive them. Ted, Dan, and Ricky were moving a third bale of hay into the arena when the first of the herd arrived.

Dan had only seen cattle drives in old Western movies and was amazed at the energy he felt as the cattle where cajoled into the barn. The mass of moving bovine responded quickly to the whoops and pushing of the horsemen. James and Mary hemmed the herd in on either side while Janice and Jeremiah pushed them from behind. It wasn’t long before the animals were secured inside the barn, most either eating or drinking.

The cattle themselves were very different than the Herefords James kept. Where the Herefords were huge animals with fine coats, the Belties were much smaller and almost shaggy. It was obvious that while living in the woods the herd had not been able to get as much food as the big commercial animals, though Dan assumed they would fill in more. He also noticed that none of the new animals had horns.

Everyone pitched in to get the mounts fed and stabled. The gear, save the weapons, was stacked in one area to be cleaned, serviced, and stored later. As one, they all moved to the house.

Ann greeted them with fresh cinnamon rolls and hot coffee. She felt that the crew had earned the sweet pastries, even if it had taken the last of her cinnamon. When she told this to the riders, Mary laughed and showed her two large pails marked ‘spices’ in the back of the pantry.

“James loves cinnamon; we have about 20 pounds of it stored in different places around here,” Mary explained.

Janice ducked out to attend to her baby as James described the trip for those left at the ranch. They had reached valley without incident and setup a base camp. It was obvious the cattle were in the area but it took them several hours before they located the main herd. It seemed that the pond in the original valley had frozen over and the cattle had moved on looking for fresh water. They had found this in a nearby valley with a small flowing stream that Jeremiah was confident stayed open year round. The riders had watched as cattle drifted out of the wood line and came to the stream to drink as the sun dipped below the horizon.

The next morning, the group broke camp in the dark and was on the herd at first light. One of the bulls had ‘gone feral’ and charged Mary as she pushed cows from the edge of the herd together. She dodged the animal’s first two charges but James shot and killed it when it charged a third time. It took them the rest of the morning to consolidate the herd. Camp was reset in the valley with the water source and the group slept with the herd.

They again packed up in the dark and started work with the sun. The rest of the day had been spent moving the animals out of the valleys and back to the ranch. Nothing major had happen along the way though James’s horse had slipped on a patch of slick mud. Neither horse nor rider had been injured but it was pretty obvious Mary enjoyed pointing out that James was the ONLY one to have fallen during the trip.

“So now we have right at 50 Belted Galloway’s and I think four or five will calve soon. On top of the 300 head I already had, we’ll have plenty of beef. I am a little worried about feed though. I’ve been thinking a lot about our talk the other day. I don’t think we can support many Herefords for very long. It’s getting on towards spring so we can halve the hay feedings now and in a couple weeks stop all together. But looking at these scrawny critters from the woods, they will need to be hayed until well into summer if they are gonna survive next winter. So, we’ll keep the Belties up here in the barn for a while then turn them out. Now for the hard part; I want to cut the Hereford herd by 90% before the snow flies next fall.” James said.

The room was silent. The implication of what James had just said was not lost on anyone. No matter how it was done, getting rid of 270 cattle was going to be a lot of work.

“Well,” began Mary, “We have enough jars and lids to put up one, maybe two animals and still have enough for vegetables in the Autumn.”

“How much salt do you have? We could preserve some in salt. And we could build some sort of industrial sized dehydrator to jerk a bunch,” offered Dan.

“That is a start but I was thinking about something a little grander. I’d like to drive them to market,” said James.

“What market you thinking, Boss?” asked Jeremiah.

James shook his head. “There in lays the problem, no market exists, yet. The need is there, and I am sure there are folks that will be willing to make it worth the effort, but how do we get together with them?”

When no one spoke, James continued. “Give that one some thought. Otherwise, anything happen here while we were gone?”

Bridget gave a very brief overview of the tasks that had been done and James went on. “Those of us that have been in the woods ought to get cleaned up then we’ve got tack to stow. I think my lovely bride, and most-excellent-cowgirl, and I are gonna take first crack at the tub.” Taking Mary by the hand, the two went towards the master bedroom with its large bathroom. Ann called out that there was hot water started in the kitchen.

The rest of the group broke up and went back to ongoing projects. All the men that had not gone after the cattle had spent the morning working in Ned’s shop and returned to the nearly completed project, except Bill. He wisely chose to spend time with his wife and child. Bridget and Ann had finished opening up the walls and even installed a large flap that could be swung back and forth to help circulate the air. They picked up the last of their tools and gave the Sullivan family some privacy.

It wasn’t long before James and Bill joined the men working in the shop. By this time, ‘working’ was a pretty relative term. Having installed the work benches, cabinets, and shelves, they had unpacked much of Ned’s mechanical supplies. At some point, a short break had turned into ‘let’s find a couple chairs’ which then became ‘this could be a comfortable place if…’. With the help of Jeremiah, an old couch, a cable spool table, and several serviceable if mismatched chairs had been located.

“Would you look at that, here I thought we were building a shop and you boys made a clubhouse,” admonished Ned as James walked through the door.

James chuckled, “Since when was there a difference?”

Everyone laughed and Ned replied, “Well if we’re gonna host club meetings here, I expect you all to help keep me in firewood for the stove. And don’t look at me like I’ve lost my marbles, it’s GOING to be right here.”

They all assured Ned they would as they moved out the door towards the barn. James was the last to go and turned to Ned, “This looks great, I hope you can make good use of it. I really do want you and yours to feel at home here and I think we’ll be able to do alright together. I have a couple projects in mind I’d like to discuss tonight.” Ned agreed and James left to help with the tack.

It didn’t take long to sort through the equipment that had been used on the trip. The lightweight tents were hung to dry and sleeping bags were aired out. Cooking gear was taken to the house for thorough cleaning. Jeremiah showed Bill and Dan how to use the sewing awl to repair a halter that had begun to come apart. Fred and James stood back and discussed the defensive improvements Fred had in mind while the work went on.

Ricky joined the group as they stood watching the Belties mill around in the arena.

Unconsciously emulating his father as he leaned against a post he asked, “Dad, they used to use cows to pull wagons didn’t they?”

“Yup,” replied James. “They used them for all sorts of stuff. When cattle become beasts of burden, they’re called oxen. A lot of folks would use a pair or more of steers but a pioneer’s milk cow could double as a plow animal and when she got old, they ate her. Why?”

“I was thinking about it the other day when we were hauling feed out for the range herd. It would be good to make them haul their own food instead of using the horses,” said Ricky.

“You should ask Jeremiah about oxen, he worked that show ranch up near Cheyenne for a long time before he signed on with us. I think they had a team. If he’s willing to help and thinks you two can make it work, get together a list of what you’ll need and we’ll see about it,” James continued.

Ricky beamed, “Really? Cool Dad, thanks.”

Ricky cornered Jeremiah as he left Bill and Dan to finish repairing the halter. The old hand and the boy walked off together towards Jeremiahs room, Ricky chattering away. Fred and Ted joined Bill and Dan in the tack room as they finished the halter and looked over the accumulated tack hung in the room designated for it. James could see Ted explaining what certain items were for and watched as the foursome laughed at some unheard jest. Over the bawling of the cattle, he could hear Ned hammering on something in the shop. With a deep sigh, he thought towards the future and felt better about it than he had in days.

[FrANkNstEin]

moar!!

[what_Ever]

Fabulous story!

[confusedyeti]

Great job nomad, keep it up. How long did you spend in Colorado on a cattle farm?

[Nomad_Medic]

I'm glad you folks are enjoying the story.

Cyeti- While i lived in Colorado (mostly down in the Denver Metro but also a couple years in Conifer), I've never owned or worked with cattle. So, if yawl find errors in the cattle details, please do point them out...

[Nomad_Medic]

It wasn’t long before the evening chores had been finished and the group gathered for their meal. Everyone ate heartily of the Sheppard’s Pie, apple sauce, and wheat rolls that the ladies of the combined households had prepared. The dishes were quickly cleared, cleaned and put away through communal effort.

“Well, that’s us I think,” James said, looking at his wife. “Tomorrow we’ve got another full day so I’d suggest the rest of you turn in as too.”

No one argued and the group made their way to there individual rooms. As they walked into they camper, Dan asked Fred, “You ready for the rack or you feel like staying up for a bit?”

“I’m actually not that tired; my life doesn’t involve a whole lota labor like yawls does, at least until I get this wing back in use.” He replied, indicating his slung arm.

“Just a few more days and the stitches will come out. You’ll be able to start using it a little then and we can take the sling off. That is only if you can keep from overdoing it; that muscle injury will take longer to heal properly.”

Fred shrugged, “If that’s what you say Doc, that’s what it will be. You a cribbage player?”

When Dan nodded yes, Fred and his sidekick ducked into his bedroom. A minute later, like a bullet, Festus bounded out of the bedroom and straight to Dan. In his mouth he carried a small cribbage board that hinged in the middle making it only slightly larger than a pack of cards.

Dan sat down at the table and set up the board. Fred appeared a moment later with the cards and the men began playing. Manipulating the cards with one hand was a bit awkward for Fred at first, and Dan did all the shuffling, but the two were soon moving through the game smoothly.

As they played, their conversation wandered all over. They spoke of the things they had done and the places they had been. They talked about equipment they wished they had with them, supplies they would like to find, and things they wanted to build.

“…was assigned to the 10th over at Carson. That’s it!” Fred interrupted himself. “I think I might know where we can find a market for James’ cattle.”

Dan nodded in response. “You thinking Fort Carson over in the Springs? I’m a bit rusty on my geography but I think that might be doable. I was wondering about Fairplay up the road; that is a decent sized town with a lot of mouths to feed. Let’s talk with the Boss about it tomorrow.”

When they finished their third game, both agreed it was time to call it a night. The game was stowed away and the men were soon asleep.

The next day after breakfast they had their chance to talk with James about the potential markets they had come up with. He quickly discounted Fairplay as a steady market as it had a population of less than 1,000 but liked the idea of dealing with the military in Colorado Springs, if it could be done safely. He went on to explain why it couldn’t be done safely, yet.

“That’s a good ways to drive a herd and there are a lot of things that could go wrong. Wherever we go, we’ll want to use roadways, at least to begin with. To get to that base, we’d have to get through Woodland Park and Manito Springs which are both sizable communities. And that’s not even considering that the Army may just decide to confiscate them if we got them there.”

For now, I want to see if we can work something out in Buena Vista, it’s about half the distance, and hold the Springs as an alternate. Mary and I were talking last night. We need to get in touch with the rest of the ranchers around here and see how folks are fairing. I am sure quiet a few of them have been looking at there herds and wondering how they are gonna feed them too. In a couple days, we’re going to go on a little tour and see what there is to see.”

James continued, “Right now we have a couple other things to take care of. We are using too much water on sanitation right now. Besides the fact we have to keep lugging buckets inside to flush the toilets, I don’t see us getting that septic tank pumped in the near future. I sure as $#1t aint gonna bail it out by hand. I think it’s time we dug an outhouse.

“I’m going to pull rank and Bridget will still be able to use the upstairs bathroom so she doesn’t have to waddle outside to empty her pregnant bladder. The rest of us will just have to make due.”

There were no protests so he continued. “We’re going to improve our water situation another way if I can come up with a decent tank. I’d like to install a holding tank in the kitchen that can cover our daily needs. Ideally, we could pump water straight from the spring house to it, and then have it available throughout the day. That way we’d just be expending the effort to fill the tank once a day by working the pump instead of bucketing it from the springhouse or that new trough. Ned is working on a plan for that but since we still lack some critical components, this is just a heads up.”

“Since we’re talking about plans,” Mary said, “It’s time to seriously look at the garden. We cannot put anything in the ground for a couple more weeks but we need to start some seeds in the greenhouse if we heat it somehow. We also have a stack of windows behind the bunkhouse that I was planning to use for a larger greenhouse at some point. It would really be a good thing if we could make that happen ASAP.”

Dan spoke up. “We haven’t had anyone on the gate for the last several days and you say you haven’t had anyone out this way since this all kicked off. Do we need to continue with someone down there?”

“I think we need all hands on these projects for now. I want everyone to continue to go armed, and that means long guns or shotguns within quick reach with handguns worn, but we’ll leave the gate as it is. If anyone see’s something suspect, fire three quick shots in a safe direction and the rest of us will come running. I think that’s the best we can do with our limited manpower,” replied James. “We all know what needs to be done; who’s doing what? I’ll be on outhouse duty since I know where I want it.”

Fred reminded the group that the weapons that had gone on the cattle drive ought to be cleaned and volunteered himself, with some assistance from Bridget, to do so. They assured Dan, after he object that a pregnant woman shouldn’t be exposed to lead fouling and cleaning chemicals, that she would only assist in the takedown and reassembly that Fred couldn’t do single handedly. When she agreed to wear rubber gloves, Dan capitulated.

Bill, Ned, Ted, and Dan would join James working on the outhouse and Ricky and Jeremiah would join them after haying the range herd. Mary and Ann would begin in the greenhouse and steal labor from the outhouse project as needed. The women had earlier agreed that the best thing for everyone involved would be for the men to not be involved in the food preparation. They were rotating through that responsibility daily, with each woman lending extra help when it was needed. Today was Janice’s day to cook.

Everyone split up to get started with Dan briefly checking in on his two patients. Fred’s wound was healing well and Dan decided the superficial sutures could be removed.

Dan had Fred lay down flat on his back and, using a pair of tweezers and a tiny pair of scissors, he cut the sutures free. He took extra care to only cut one side of the loop then pulled the remainder of the suture through by the knot. Two sutures were crusted to the wound by the yellowish dried plasma that often seeps from wounds. These were soaked free and pulled just like the rest. Dan kept careful count of how many sutures he removed and compared that number to the note he had made when he put them in. Satisfied he had removed as many as he put in, he cleaned the now closed wound. Then Dan used an ampoule of Tincture of Benzoin to paint the adhesive within an eighth of an inch of either side of wound. He explained to Fred and the watching Janice and Bridget that the Benzoin would help the Steri-strips stay in place longer. He showed them the strips he retrieved from Fred’s medical kit. Each was three inches long and one quarter inch wide and looked remarkable similar to strapping tape. Dan used the scissors to cut the strips, still on their backing, in half. Each strip was then lifted off the backing with the tweezers and one end was placed on one side of the wound. Dan then applied slight tension to the strip, pulling the skin taught and reliving tension from the still healing wound margins. The one and a half inch long strips distributed the pull very well. He repeated this all along the wound leaving a small gap between each strip. These strips would be left in place to fall off on their own over the next several days.

When he was finished with Fred, he asked Bridget a few questions. She had nothing new to report, no bleeding, pain, or new swelling. The baby had been very active lately and it was a quick conversation.

When Dan joined the others he found the outhouse project had been split into two teams. Ted and James were working with shovels to excavate a hole that was roughly four feet wide by eight feet long. They had scratched out the top foot of the hole and were throwing the loose dirt into a wheelbarrow. Ricky was standing by the wheelbarrow, obviously having finished with the range herd while Dan was inside, to dump it in a pile a few feet away.

The other team was working on the fabrication of the structure. Ned and Bill were working to measure and cut the lumber that Jeremiah was carrying to the worksite. As the parts for each section were cut to size, they were built near the hole to be lifted into place when ready.

Seeing Dan, James tossed the shovel to him and stepped out of the way. He drank deep from a water jug then conferred with the carpenters for a moment. Satisfied that everyone was building the same building, he joined Jeremiah in scavenging lumber for the project.

By midday, a ladder was required to climb out of the nearly 12 foot deep hole. The tight confines meant that one man used a shovel to fill a bucket which was then passed up out of the hole. Everyone agreed the hole was deep enough for several years of use and the digging phase was declared done just before Janice called the crew for lunch.

When Janice saw the first of the ‘moles’ as she labeled them, she decided that ‘Today is a picnic day.’ While the sweat and soil covered men were sent to clean up, the picnic table on the screened porch was set. By the time the majority of the dirt had been brushed off and hands and faces were scrubbed clean, the meal was laid out. Everyone enjoyed the chipped beef in thick brown gravy with roasted potatoes and canned peas.

Fred told the group the weapons were cleaned and he had also gone through the rifles from the Higgins Ranch. They had added three .22LR rifles, a bolt action .30-06 with a nice scope, two pump action shotguns, and a pair of .22 revolvers with cylinders for magnum shells. There were also several boxes of rounds for each weapon as well as another 60 rounds for the .45-70.

Ann suggested they used some of the windows to build hot frames for the garden. There were nods around the table, except from Ted.

“What’s a hot frame?” he asked.

“It’s a kind of heat generating planter box,” Ann explained. “We’ll dig the ground out a bit and backfill the hole with manure. Eventually we’ll want to put soil over the top of that but for now we will set the trays with the starts in them right on top of the manure. We’ll build a box around that then put a window on the top. That will keep the heat in and let light through. If we keep an eye on it, we shouldn’t cook the plants and we can get some things started right away.”

James asked, “You have any other garden plans yet?”

“Besides a honk’n big greenhouse?” asked Mary. “I don’t expect any more hard frosts so we can plant potatoes. That means we can use a couple shovel operation technicians to dig trenches for us. We can prep a couple areas for some direct sow things like carrots, radishes, and lettuce, but I want to wait a couple more weeks before we put them in the ground. We’ve already started planting some of those seeds that came from Fred’s truck. But we really need that greenhouse up as soon as possible. Thinks like tomatoes and squash just won’t do well enough here to make it worth it if they aren’t in a greenhouse.”

“We’re running out of lumber Boss.” Jeremiah added.

“Yeah, I noticed. I thought we had more around than we do. We can strip some from the Higgins place but that is going to be another labor drainer.”

“But we need…” started Mary.

“I didn’t say we weren’t going to do it,” James interrupted. “Just that it was going to be a lot of work. And we’ll need to use the truck to haul stuff back. AND it’s an hour drive round trip with no load, so make it at least one and a half hours with a trailer.”

Everyone sat back and thought of the long list of things they needed to do.

“Right, well, let’s get one project finished then worry about the next.” James said after the pause just stretched and stretched.

The grubby work crew returned to the outhouse and the women cleared the table.

While the hole had been progressing, the outhouse itself had been taking shape. The walls, floor and roof were all framed and ready to be set in place. The group all grabbed an edge and maneuvered the base frame over the hole. Ricky had used a brace and bit to bore several holes through the four by four base frame. Pieces of rebar and scraps of pipe were pounded through these to stake it down. The fierce winter storms that scoured the area would easily have blown the structure away without them. To this base framed walls were lifted into place. From the beginning it had been designed as a ‘two-holer’ so a dividing wall leant strength to the little building. After the wall frames were in place, Ned and James began sheeting the walls while Bill and Dan worked on the roof.

With the heavy lifting done, Ricky, Jeremiah, and Ted reported to the garden. Ann and Mary had marked out the areas where they wanted holes dug for the hot frames and the rows for the potatoes dug. Ricky and Jeremiah took the first digging shift while Ted filled the wood bins inside the house. When he was finished, he relieved Ricky who then refilled the house water stores by hauling bucket after bucket into the house.

Ned and James were putting the finishing touches on the outhouse while Bill and Dan carried windows from the stack to the garden. The women had laid out six hot frames and the windows were soon stacked in the garden to be placed when needed. Ted and Jeremiah handed off the shovels for Bill and Dan to finish the last potato rows and went to collect the lumber and tools needed to build the frame portion of the hot frames. They were able to find nearly everything they needed near the outhouse as more lumber had been collected than was used for that project.

“Wow, you guys have been busy!” Ricky said when he returned to the garden to find the adults taking a breather. “What can I do?”

Bridget, who had been helping Ann and her mother plant seeds in the trays, smiled at her nephew. “You ever heard the expression ‘Crap rolls downhill.’? Well Ricky, you’re the shortest guy in the crowd,” she said with a laugh.

“What? Ahhh, really?” Ricky groaned.

“Com’on kid, it won’t be the first time we’ve shoveled cow pies. Besides, we need to clean out the arena anyway.” Jeremiah said as he cuffed the boy on the shoulder.

Taking the wheel barrow and a pair of shovels, the pair headed towards the barn.

The garden projects had gone faster than expected so Mary put Dan and Ted to work cutting the potatoes that had been designated as seed for planting. Every seed had to have an eye and about two cubic inches of potato. These would be left out overnight to allow the cut edges to dry then planted in the trenches. Each piece would be placed about 18 inches from the one next to it with the eye up. As these grew up, soil would be mounded around the plants to stimulate then to produce more spuds. In the fall, when the surface vegetation had died back, the potatoes would be dug and stored in a cool dark place in the house. In some areas they could be ‘stored’ in the ground but the cold temperatures in this part of Colorado made that impractical.

Dan and Bill had made sure to bring six windows of the same dimensions to the garden so each box was three feet wide and six feet long. When Bill asked Mary about the old sized, double paned windows with the archaic crank openers, she explained that they had come from a school that was being demolished in Fairplay a couple years before. Even though he needed to scab together scraps to make the long sides, Bill was able to quickly knocked together the frames while the others cut potatoes. The only variation in size was in depth ranging from ten to fourteen inches deep, depending on what lumber he had been able to use.

Despite the earlier teasing, everyone not busy helped Ricky when he brought the wheel barrows of manure to the boxes. The sun was just touching the hilltop when the last load was dumped into the final box to be filled.

The chill in the air hurried everyone along as they cleaned up from the day’s labors. The tools were quickly stored where they belonged and the animals fed and watered for the night. Soon clean, tired people gravitated to the kitchen.

The group dug into the pasta that Janice had prepared with olive oil and herbs. She had breaded thinly sliced pieces of beef in flour with garlic powder and finely ground Italian herbs, and then pan fried the meat until it was nicely cooked. The rolls that night had a hint of cheese flavor thanks to a touch of powdered cheese flavoring she found in the stored foods. Two cans of pears rounded out the meal.

The hungry group devoured the feast and soon had the kitchen put back together. It wasn’t long before they all drifted off to their quarters for the night. Within an hour of finishing the meal, they were all asleep.

Breakfast the next morning found several sore and achy bodies at the table. After a minimal amount of grunts and groans, James laid out the tasks for the day.

“Okay crew, we hit it hard yesterday and I don’t wanna kill anyone today. Having said that, there is always work to be done so… I saw you boys got a start on cleaning out the arena yesterday but we need to finish that off, along with the horse stalls. Mary and I will be heading out tomorrow to check in on some of the neighbors. Fred, I’d like you to come with as a another pair of eyes. As such, we’ll get that kit together this afternoon so we can leave tomorrow after breakfast. I also understand there is some more work to be done in the garden so let’s get to that as well.”

The way I see it, if we buckle down again today, you all should be able to pretty much relax tomorrow. That barn is going to take a good part of the day since we won’t be using a tractor so we best get at it.”

Mary pulled Ted aside to help in the garden while the rest of the men made their way to the barn. They were soon all hard at work. While some raked the manure into piles, others would shovel it into the wheel barrow to be hauled outside. The man running the wheel barrow was kept moving and they frequently switched on that back breaking job. Even so, it didn’t take long to see the single wheel barrow was creating a bottleneck.

Ned spoke with James then disappeared to his shop. Soon the sound of hammer against steel could be heard.

The group in the barn finished the horse stalls and decided to break for lunch. The consensus was they had about two hours worth of work left to get the arena finished up. James and Dan walked to the shop to let Ned know they were breaking for lunch and were both surprised by what they found.

Ned had built a flat bed cart that was a cross between a barrel dolly and a wheel barrow. In the scrap pile behind the shop he had found a pair of twelve in spoked wheels with solid tires. They were narrower than he would have liked and would probably sink into soft ground, but having two as opposed to one, made the cart pretty stable. He demonstrated how the angle of the single handle would allow two men to lift the legs of the cart and move it around as long as the ground was relatively smooth. The deck was built from an old road sign and was roughly six feet by four feet. When Ned and Dan walked in he was sliding the first removable sideboard, made of wood, into place.

“That’s great Ned, we’ll be able to move a lot more with this than that little wheel barrow.” James said.

Ned chuckled, “The key is going to not let the boys overload it. It’ll hold darn near a cubic yard but I imagine that would collapse the undercarriage. For that matter, I’m not sure a cubic yard of cow poo wouldn’t collapse the guys trying to haul it.”

“Too true, too true. Well, let’s head in and see what your wife has put together for lunch. We’ll get a chance to try it out soon enough.” James finished.

Lunch turned out to be a simple affaire of baked potatoes, fried steaks, and canned corn.

Finishing a bite of meat, Mary turned to James, “I was out in the cool room today and I think we to should go ahead slaughter a couple more cattle soon.”

Dan asked, “Don’t you have to finish cows before you slaughter them? And what about aging the meat?”

“You can finish them off to add fat but you don’t have to. We used to feed a steer on corn for a couple months then slaughter it but quit a few years back. We decided it just didn’t make enough difference to justify the cost. As far as aging, yeah most of it’ll have to hang to be any good. We built the cool room into the spring house for just that reason. It’ll be pretty full and we’ll can more than normal, but I think we can put up a couple yearling steers.” James said. Turning to Jeremiah, he continued, “After lunch I want you and Ricky to head out to the range herd and cut out a couple decent steers. Bring them back and put them in the arena. Dan, I’d like you and Bill to put together a little cattle panel pen; I’ll show you where.”

All involved nodded there understanding and finished with lunch. None of them being in a hurry to rush back outside, they all helped in clearing the table then putting up the dishes. While drying the dishes, Mary let them know that she and Janice would finish the garden chores in a short time and that Ted was free to help in the barn. Soon afterward, they were all back to work.

Dan, Bill, and James used cattle panels and t-posts to make a sixteen by eight foot pen in one corner of the barn with the narrow end acting as a gate. After their previous work with the cattle panels, it went quick and smooth.

The majority of the barn had been raked clean that morning. All that left it was load and haul the manure to the compost pile. Ted started straight into this. When Ned completed the cart, he and Ted used it instead of the wheelbarrow.

Once the pen was finished, James joined Mary in the house to prepare for the next day’s journey. Dan and Bill took over from the others and soon the barn floor was clean.

Ranch life leaves little time for rest. No sooner had the Bill commented on how nice it was going to be to sit down than Ricky and Jeremiah arrived driving five Herefords between them. Three of the animals were most definitely not steers. They were all moved into the outdoor coral and the riders dismounted as Dan closed and latched the gate.

Ted was the one to voiced the question on the three men’s minds, “Why so many, I thought we were talking about two?”

Ricky’s smile threatened to split his head. “The others are going to give me my oxen. Dad said I could train some if Jeremiah would show me how. So, when we started to cut out the steers and these three cows came with them, we decided to bring them along. Hopefully I can get a couple boys out of these but if not there are going to be a lot to choose from. I don’t think Dad realizes how close most of the girls are to dropping calves; we’re going to have to get them all up here soon.

The older hand smiled and nodded. Before he could say anything, Ricky went on, “I better talk to Dad and see where he wants these girls.”

Ricky bounced off, his feet barely touching the ground. Jeremiah shook his head. “The boy’s lost his head over these dang cows. Can you fellas help me put up his horse? And well need to drive them steers into the pen so they don’t trouble the cows.”

The men were able to move the cattle from the coral into the new pen by shouting and waving their arm. The five animals seemed content enough to stand and stare at nothing in the pen. The Belties looked across the area at their new neighbors but soon became bored and wandered into the afternoon sun.

The horses were led to their stalls and their tac removed and stored away. They had all been brushed down and watered when Jeremiah called the men to him.

“I want to show you fellas something. Thunder picked up a little bit of a limp as we came into the yard. It wasn’t much so I didn’t stop then and there, but if your mount limps, you need to take a look at it.” Stooping to the horse’s right front leg, he went on. “You wanna run your hands down his leg his leg like this, pressing hard enough that he’ll tell you if it hurts. And be careful, horses aint much for words; they’ll tell you with a swift kick if you aint careful. Since that didn’t do nothing, most likely it’s his hoof.”

The old hand moved around the animal and lifted its foot, catching it between he legs. Examining the shoe, he pointed out a rock that had wedged itself between the hoof and the steel of the shoe. “Yup, he picked up a stone. If a horse runs on this or it’s left to irritate him too long, he’ll go lame. There’s no excuse to let that happen.”

Jeremiah slid the large knife from his belt. “I wouldn’t use nothing pointy like this if I hadn’t been doing it since I was a kid. I don’t wanna see any of you doing it either. You need to clear a stone, you use a hoof pick.” As he spoke, he expertly popped the rock loose.

He let the horse’s foot drop, straightened, and turned to the group. “Horses are good animals but a little thick. They’ll let you run them to death, colic up if you over water them, and spook easy. But if you take care of them and do the thinking, they’ll get the job done.” With that he led the animal into its stall and latched it shut.

Ricky returned and he and Jeremiah moved three horses across the arena to join the large group. This left three empty stalls. Using a few quickly placed cattle panels, they were able to rig a squeeze chute and chase the pregnant cows, one at a time, into each of these stalls.

Once again, the day was coming to a close and evening chores called. They set to with budding familiarity and aptitude. Each man was getting more comfortable and quicker with the mundane skills needed to keep the ranch going. Even so, it was tough work at the end of a long day. They were all happy when the chores were finished and they could sit down to a hot meal.

Good conversation is a great garnish for good food. They talked of the day and of the past. Ricky shared his excitement over his oxen project and Bridget told of the baby clothes Ann had patterns for. The talk turned to past exploits a Dan’s adventures offshore. Fred and even Jeremiah added their parts and everyone enjoyed themselves.

The laughter and conversation died down and James brought them all back to the present.

“I suppose we ought to lay out the plan for the next few days.” He began. “Fred had most everything done by the time Mary and I came in so we’re all set to head out after breakfast. We’ll probably be gone a couple of days and I’ve written up a list of the ranchers we are going to try to visit with. If we’re not back in four days, this will give you an idea of where to look. Then, unless the weather gets nasty, we’re also going to head out to Hartsel and take a look. Then we’ll come back, roughly following the highway.

“While we’re gone, Bridget will be calling the shots. Anything she’s forgotten around here, I’m sure Jeremiah will remember,” he pause to see if anyone would object. As expected, no one did.

He continued, “I’d like you all to start getting those steers slaughtered and put up. I doubt you’ll be done with it before we get back. It’s going to be a lot of work but both the kids and Jeremiah have done plenty of ‘em before. After supper, Mary will go over some of the finer points of canning with you ladies. I figure you’ll use darn near all the jars we have put by.”

No one had anything to add so the group split up. Ann had canned hundreds of pounds of salmon and moose while living in Alaska but the reminders that Mary gave were appreciated. She was very impressed when Mary showed her the forty-one quart All-American pressure canner.

It wasn’t long before everyone was stifling yawns and decided to get their heads down for the night.

The morning chores and breakfast passed without incident. In no time at all, everyone was outside to see the travelers off. After hugs and handshakes were passed all around, the group mounted up and began to move out.

They rode three abreast as they left the barnyard down the driveway. James rode to the left of the group on the tall brown gelding he preferred. He had carried the Remington 700 in .375 H&H in the custom scabbard strapped to his horse’s right front shoulder. As always, he wore his big six shot .45 Long Colt revolver on his hip, canvas jacket on his back, and his Stetson on his head. Opposite the slung rifle, a lariat hung on a thong and a small emergency pack was strapped behind his saddle.

Mary, with a pack horse in tow, rode her favorite Paint in the middle. She was likewise kitted out with an emergency pack and lariat. The scabbard on the right side of her horse held Ned’s Benelli. It had been chosen over the pump shotguns for its speed on follow-up and Fred’s shotgun would have required them to remove the fore grip and sight rings. They did transfer the bandoleer to this shotgun. The 9mm Springfield Armory XDM-9 that she favored rode in its holster on her hip.

Fred rode the grey horse James had chosen for him. It had a mellow demeanor and had been trained long ago to not spook at the sound of a gunshot. While he also carried the emergency equipment, it was tucked inside a small three day assault pack secured behind his saddle like the others. The scabbard his horse wore carried his McMillan though the scope made it impossible to draw quickly. There would be no reason for him to do so since he carried an AR-15 slung across his back. The previous afternoon he had built a three point sling that held the weapon securely yet still afforded the movement he needed. He had left his Kimber 1911 at the ranch in favor of a 9mm that he and Mary could share magazines for. Even though he didn’t care for the 9mm in anything but a sub-gun, he heartily approved of the Springfield platform. Fred had agreed with James that the ability to share ammunition and magazines was worth any knockdown power sacrificed by taking the smaller round.

The blond mare that followed Mary carried their supplies for the next several days. They had packed relatively light and could have done without the forth animal. James had explained that he wanted to bring it along as a spare remount if need be and that they may end up carrying extra things home. Since it wouldn’t cause any hardships, nobody disagreed.

Those staying behind watched until the riders disappeared around the bend in the driveway.

Jeremiah was the first to speak, “We best get to the butchering, there’s a lot of work ahead of us.”

Bridget took charge of the other women and began preparing to receive the meat from the men that would be slaughtering. They went into the house and setup the canner and grinder. The knives that Jeremiah had honed the previous evening after the others had gone to bed were separated between those needed for the slaughter and those used for the butchering. Mary had explained that today they wouldn’t be getting the majority of the meat as that would need to hang in the cool room for at least a couple weeks. Today they would process the fat that wouldn’t be ground, start stewing the ‘scraps’ and bones, and put up broth. She had explained that very little would go to waste; even what most considered offal would be used.

As they began, Ann surprised Janice with a gift. Handing the folded cloth to the young mother, she explained, “I know you want to keep Hannah close and this should help. She’s starting to roll and be more active and I know you don’t have a play pen. We can tie the corners off and set it up close but out of the way. If I can find some dowelling, or even some broom handles, we can make a frame for it.”

Janice began to tear up as she looked at the new prize. It was a single piece of soft flannel four yards long. Ann had folded this to create a box shape and sewn a quilted bottom to it. This created a cube three feet tall and three feet wide with an open top. In several places along the sides and corners she had sewn ties that could be secured to items to give the pen support. She had also includes several cords to extend the reach of the ties.

“It’s wonderful, thank you so much!” Janice said as she gave Ann a hug.

The pen was setup in an out of the way corner and Hannah, content after her morning feeding, was soon dozing.

Outside, Jeremiah had taken charge of the others. He had two men carry the stainless steel table from its storage place in the barn to the frame that had been built between house and the spring house for this purpose. Ricky hung the chain block while several buckets of clean water were placed conveniently near the processing table. Janice delivered several metal bowls to collect the meat into as well as the slaughtering knives. Muslin bags to cover the meat as it aged were brought from their storage place as were the meat hooks to hold the larger pieces.

It wasn’t long before the first steer was roped and led to the slaughtering area. Having been without water for the previous several hours, he went straight to the bucket placed under the gambrel for just that reason. Jeremiah dispatched him with a single shot behind the ear.

The men went straight to work, quickly using the gambrel and chainblock to hoist the animal off the ground. A bucket was placed under its head and the throat cut to bleed it. The blood flowed in a great torrent though most of it was caught. When the bleeding had slowed to near nothing, Ricky took the bucket in the house where the women would process it into black pudding.

Even though Dan was the only of one the group new to the ranch that had butchered animals before, all six of the men took turns working on the animal. Soon the guts were removed to the wheelbarrow and the hide was being trimmed away. The heart, liver, kidneys and tongue were soon taken inside. The suet was collected into another bowl. Jeremiah and Ricky showed the others how to cut the animal into pieces that could easily be carried by two men. The meat was rinsed with fresh water then placed in the bags. Ricky was in charge of organizing the cool room and he expertly directed the placement of each piece as it was carried inside.

The men had been so absorbed in there work they lost track of time. They were caught off guard when Ann arrived with a large platter of beef heart sandwiches on fresh rolls. Despite working hard, the coolness of the day had chilled them all and the warm food was welcome.

The majority of the meat had been hung with only the ribs and several other boney parts left when Jeremiah said, “Well, now for the hard part. Let’s get as much meat off these as we can to be ground or stewed.”

The next two hours were spent stripping as much of the meat from the bones as they could. Ted admitted he was amazed by the large pile they collected this way.

Ricky was in charge of the hide as he was the only one that had tanned leather before. He laid the hide over a fence beam and scraped as much meat and fat off as he could. With the help of the men, the hide was then put into one of the spare water troughs with wood ash and water in it. It would remain there until the hair slipped and he could flesh it in earnest.

Dan carried a large pile of bones to the kitchen and was shown where to put them. He was amazed by the work going on there. The pressure canner was steaming away on one corner of the woodstove, its pressure weight gently rocking occasionally. Next to it a large stewpot boiled. He could see the ends of several bones already sticking out of it. As he watched Janice poured a large handful of dehydrated carrots in to join the onions, seasonings and potatoes. He could see several quart jars of stew already processed and cooling on the counter.

When he returned outside, Jeremiah sent him and Bill to begin the evening chores. Ricky soon joined them while Jeremiah, Bill, Ned, and Ted cleaned the processing area for the night. It was a weary crew that made its way into the house.

No respite was to be found there though. Bridget sent Ricky and Ted off for more firewood as they had used almost everything that had been stacked in the kitchen. The other men were sent to change into clothes clean enough to cook in. Before long they all returned to the kitchen. Everyone was then given a chore. Bill and Janice labeled each finished jar of stock, stew, or ground meat, and put them in the pantry. Ned and Ann were cutting the majority of the suet into one inch by one inch cubes. Ted was working at the hot stove adding the fat to a large pan with water in it. In rendering the fat great care had to be taken to keep the pan hot enough to melt the fat, but just. While Dan and Ricky worked on washing, drying, and putting the dishes away, Jeremiah was carrying hot water to the bath in the master bathroom. Bridget supervised the chaos and as jobs were finished, redirected people. As hands became free, she began cycling people off to the bath. It wasn’t long before the last batch of stew was pulled from the canner, a batch of bones was set to boil overnight for a rich stock, and the kitchen was all but empty.

Jeremiah stayed behind and began cooking supper for the exhausted group. Once the others saw what he was doing, everyone joined in. That is everyone but Bridget who was taking her bath. In no time the fresh liver had been fried and a garlic sauce made. The last of the rolls from earlier, canned fruit, and canned green beans rounded out the meal.

Bridget walked out of her room ready to cook. She was happily surprised to find the meal setout on the table. Eight hungry mouths joined her without hesitation. Jeremiah said a blessing over the meal and a quick prayer for the family that was not with them. And then they dug in.

While Ricky and Bridget knew better, the others had not expected to enjoy the liver nearly as much as they did. The garlic sauce had complimented the liver especially well and was one of Jeremiah’s specialties.

Everyone was exhausted and the meal finished quickly. They all pitched in and soon had the dishes cleaned and put away. Bridget checked the rendered fat and decided it would need to be cooked more before it was done so Ricky took it to the cool room for the night. They said their good nights and were all soon asleep.

The next morning’s breakfast was oatmeal with dried berries and nuts, and black pudding. The black pudding was new for most of the group but enjoyed by all.

The day began in earnest when the morning chores were completed. It progressed much as the previous day had and a rhythm was soon established. Jeremiah spoke with Bridget over lunch and Bill and Ted were taken off butchering duty to begin grinding some of the lower quality pieces that had chilled overnight. The men took turns with one turning the big number #32 grinder while the other fed meat and fat into it. Ned soon joined them and under Bridget’s direction lightly seasoned and browned much of the ground meat. This was packed into pint jars and pressure canned to be used later.

Jeremiah and Dan worked on deboning the last of the second steer while Ricky began picking up the worksite. Once he had the second hide soaking with the first, he collected the tools they had used throughout the slaughtering process and thoroughly cleaned them. He was applying a light coat of olive oil when Jeremiah and Dan finally finished.

The three finished cleaning up and were soon standing over the wheelbarrow brimming with the unusable parts.

“Where do you want to dump these?” Dan asked.

“I think we’ll wheel the whole thing into the pickup and drop it out a ranch road I know. Normally we’d use the tractor to dig a hole and bury it but obviously we aint doing that. I don’t see the need to break our backs digging one by hand neither.” Jeremiah replied.

Using a board for a ramp, with both Jeremiah and Dan to push on the incline, they managed to get it loaded and strapped into the pickup bed. By they the sun was dipping close to the horizon and Ned, Bill, and Ted joined them to help with the evening chores. After a short discussion, it was decided the waste would be dumped the following morning.

Janice used the some of the ground beef and fresh bread crumbs to make meatloaf for dinner. Once again it was a relatively quiet meal with tired folks eating while thinking of bed. In no time at all, they had each made it to there room and were asleep.

Dan was awakened in the middle of the night by a noise he couldn’t identify. Festus was standing on the back of the bench seat, his nose pressed against the glass and a low growl rumbling in his chest.

Dan quickly grabbed his USP and crept to the window. The clouds blocked any moonlight that might have been out and the world around him was pitch black. He heard a metallic sound and a dull thud. Not knowing if James and the others might have returned in the middle of the night or if there were prowlers on the property, he slid a headlamp into his pocket and cautiously edged out of the camper. Festus tried to follow but Dan was able to keep the Terrier inside.

Hearing the metallic squeak again, he slowly made his way across the driveway. The light wind that blew at him carried the smell of blood and wet, slurping, sounds to him.

As he neared the pickup, the metallic squeak repeated itself and he recognized it as the truck’s springs protesting under a load. Whoever was here was in the truck! Confident that it wasn’t James, he made his way around the yard and approached the cab in a crouch.

When he was just forward of the door in a position with a full view of the cab, he stood and pointed his weapon through the windshield. In order to see the thief whom Dan was sure was trying to steal the truck, he turned on the light. In the same instant it took to recognize the cab was empty, movement in the bed caught his eye. Dan took two quick steps towards the bed with his weapon leading.

[akraven]

Oooh not good facing a bear (?) that close.

[FrANkNstEin]

Moar!?!

[Laager]

Looking good! Interesting story......looking forward to MOAR!

[Nomad_Medic]

Those two steps put him directly in the path of the young black bear that he had startled. The bear, that had spun to face the light, bolted for freedom straight ahead. His path just happen to be straight through Dan.

Dan hadn’t expected to have 400 pounds of terrified predator aimed at him and had no chance to bring his gun on target. He instinctively pulled the trigger once as the animal crashed into him, barely slowing as it plowed through him. The impact with the ground knocked the breath from his lungs and Dan was unable to do anything but gasp for air.

Ted and Bill appeared on the porch in seconds. The beams of their powerful flashlights locked onto Dan as he tried to sit up and figure out what was going on.

Bill ran to Dan’s side and took cover next to the truck while Ted scanned the area.

“Oh Christ, you’re hurt! Dan, how many are there? What happen? We heard a shot! Where are you hit?” Bill spewed the words almost as one.

Dan was finally able to take a breath and reply. “I’m fine; I just had the wind knocked out of me. It was a bear; that was me shooting.”

“What? A bear? Okay. You’re all bloody, where did he get you?” Bill went on.

“Huh? Oh, this isn’t my blood. In fact, I think its cow blood.” He stood and shone his light into the bed of the pickup. “Yeah, he was eating.”

“Dan, is that you by the truck? We heard a shot.” Jeremiah called from in front of the bunkhouse.

“I’m fine, it was a bear.” Dan called back.

Jeremiah yelled for everyone to stand down and lower their weapons. They all met on the porch of the main house and Dan described what had happen. After explaining it, Jeremiah pointed out that the blood on Dan’s shirt looked to have come from the paws of the bear.

“Boy, Smokey must have looked like Superman coming out of that truck. You got really lucky he didn’t feel like defending his dinner. Do you think you got him?” the ranch hand asked.

Dan played the event back in his mind. “I doubt it and even if I did we’ll never find him in the dark if he made it very far.”

“Ted and I will take a quick look around then move that truck down the drive a bit. I never should have kept if here tonight; I know better.” Jeremiah replied.

“Oh well, I shoulda paid closer attention in school but that doesn’t matter either. How about I move the truck while you guys check stuff out?” asked Dan.

“You, sit.” Ned said, pointing at his son. “You two take a look and Bill, park the pickup about half way to the bridge.”

As they turned to leave, Jeremiah told Ted, “Be careful, we might have an injured bear running around. If you see anything, call out.”

The men nodded and followed the older mens’ directions. No sign of the bear was found in the dark and the truck was safely parked well away from the house. By the time they were done, everyone was in the kitchen. Dan had explained what had happen to the rest of the family and assured his mother he was fine. At Bridget’s suggestion, Festus was brought into the main house and Dan and the little dog slept on the couch.

The next morning dawned bright and crisp. Jeremiah offered to let Ricky drive if he would help clean out the truck and the two set off immediately after breakfast.

Dan and Bill, armed with a shotgun and the .45-70, went to inspected the property. They found a few bloody footprints leading away from the house but no sign that the animal was injured.

The others went through the normal morning chores. Ann declared today a house cleaning day and anyone not wanting to dust, wash, wipe, or scrub needed to make themselves scarce. With no need for subtler hints, Dan, Ned, Ted, and Bill moved outside.

None had a clear idea of what needed to be done so Bill suggested they organize the remained of the scrap lumber pile. It didn’t take long as the outhouse project had put a considerable dent in it. Appreciating how the organization would make future projects much simpler, Ned talked the others into doing the same with the scrap metal pile.

As they sorted, Ned began pulling specific pieces aside. He had the guys carry an old water heater, several leaf springs, and all the rebar they found into the shop. When the pile was finished he used the available hands to help him with his newest project.

He explained that he wanted to build the shop stove. Laid horizontally, the water heater would become the stove body set on the leaf springs as legs and the rebar would become a grate. It would support the logs and keep them from sitting directly on the bottom of the stove. This was necessary to keep the metal from burning through too quickly and to allow air to get to the logs.

Dan offered a couple suggestions. He pointed out using the high carbon steel for the legs, which could be tempered to make tools, would be a waste when they had other options. He also suggested a way to add a flat top to the stove that would allow them to keep a pot of water heated for drinks. Standing in the cool morning watching there breathe steam as they spoke, they all agreed that would be a good idea.

Dan returned to the scrap pile and found three pieces of square tubing that would work well for the legs of the stove. It reminded him of a project he had undertaken at home and he set it aside.

Ned started marking where he wanted pieces cut using the hacksaw or cutting torch. Ted started out on hacksaw duty and he went to work on the leg pieces. They were quickly cut to length and Ted turned his attention to the rebar. While he had been using the hacksaw, Bill had been busy with the water heater. He had stripped off the sheet metal and insulation. He used the torch to cut out the opening for the door and made the cuts they wanted to allow heat to circulate against what would be the flat top. Ned had found a flat piece of steel that he bent to the shape he wanted. It took him little time to gas weld the butted edges together making the box a solid piece. He considered welding the box to the body but decided it would use too much gas and bolted it in place instead. When the rebar was cut and set inside the body, Bill had another suggestion. Instead of welding the rebar into a grate, he found an old bed frame in the pile. He then used the hack saw to notch the angle iron on the corner in such a way that the rebar fit into the notches. After making sure the bars sat how he liked, he fit bolts through the angle iron, securing it to the body. When the bars were set in place, the logs would sit about five inches above the bottom of the body. Jeremiah and Ricky returned to find the stove nearly complete. All they needed was a set of hinges and a stove pipe of some sort to complete the project.

“Looks like it will get the job done, even if it’s a little rough around the edges,” commented Jeremiah. “But why didn’t you want the one from the Higgns place?”

His question was met with blank stares all around the room. Ned’s chin hit his chest and the group erupted in laughter. They agreed they would go after the wood stove at the other ranch as soon as they could.

It was Ricky that suggested a use for the project that had absorbed their morning. “I read a thing in history class about Indians up in Alaska that used to dry fish in a big shed to keep them over the winter. Could we use that to make a bunch of jerky?”

“I know a lot of Natives that still do that,” said Dan. “We could probably jerk a lot but we don’t have a building to use and there isn’t much wood left.”

“We could use that van you drug home I’ll bet. If we pull the engine and stuff the stove in there we can vent the smoke up into the van itself. We can use the windows in the front to control the temperature. It would just mean we need to strip it really well. In fact, we could probably used the hinges from the hood for the door here.” Ned pointed out.

They talked it over and decided to run the idea past the women at lunch. While they talked, the group had moved from inside the shop into the sun in the driveway. Ricky called out and pointed down the driveway at the four horses that approached.

Jeremiah told them all to get their rifles and get to cover. Ricky was set into the house to alert the women just in case it wasn’t the rest of the Lost Park Ranch crew.

The horsemen stopped at the bridge and two removed their hats. The flags that waved proclaimed that it was indeed James and Mary. Jeremiah stepped out to the middle of the driveway and waved his flag in return and the riders continued up the road at a trot.

They came into the parking area and they could be clearly identified. Everyone, but baby Hannah who was sleeping soundly in her new play pen, met them as they dismounted.

None looked worse for their excursion though Fred proclaimed his butt may never have feeling in it again. The horses also looked healthy but stared longingly towards the barn. Bridget went back inside to tend lunch while everyone else helped with the horses. They were quickly unloaded, including some things they hadn’t left with. James directed where things were to be put and promised to fill them in on the trip over lunch.

Lunch was leftovers from the previous day and nobody complained. They were all eager to hear the story of the last three days but waited patiently for James to begin.

“The trip went well, better than I expected actually. We left here and started with the Johnsons up at the Double Bar $. They’re doing okay but are having a tough time since the quads don’t work. Mike and one of the hands hiked out to the herd and they look okay but they haven’t been able to get feed out to them. We’re going to take the pickup up their way and lend a hand. They didn’t have much to say but they were personable. After that we popped into the Burnwood place. I swear Frank and Gert hardly even noticed anything strange was going on. They told me they have plenty set by and they’re doing well. When I told them we might not be able to buy much food, Gert just said ‘Oh well, be like it was during The War I guess. Just need a bigger garden.’ Tough ol’ coots they are. We went by the Troutes but nobody was around so we left a note but Ken and Jackie Krenshaw put us up for the night. We had a long talk and have a few plans we are going to get together. I’ll get back to that though.

“The next day we crossed 285 and made our way to the Miles ranch up there by Jefferson Lake. They’ve been having trouble with some folks that seem to be squatting at the campground. Greg says they came by asking for a handout and got pretty rude when he sent them off with a few canned goods. They came back and shot his dog and burned down a shed. That wouldn’t have been such a big deal but it was the pump house. The fire burned so hot it destroyed the pump and cracked the well casing. The ash has fouled the water. He’s not sure but he thinks they may have been stealing his cattle for food and he’s not willing to ride up there alone to check. Can’t say I blame him, not with Shirley and the boys at home. When we finished at the Miles place, we headed back towards the highway. South Park is pretty much deserted and it looks like some of the places right along the highway may have been looted. Beats me what people were looking for at the service station; maybe gas I guess. Anyway, Mary had us make a little detour and we found a gold mine, literally. I forgot about it but there has been a group that has been setting Old Town South Park up as a sort of museum. For years now they have been hauling buildings there and stocking them with Gold Rush era furnishings. All sorts of things that would be really handy right now. Having found all that stuff in tact and locked up tight, we went into Fairplay to see what plans had been made for it. Well, Fairplay isn’t as bad as I imagine Denver is but they are starting to have trouble, especially with highway people. They’ve setup roadblocks and the Park Country Sheriff’s have deputies there along with a sort of militia. They let us in after we were able to show local addresses but wanted to disarm us. Fred stayed at the roadblock with the weapons and horses and we went in on foot.” James paused, took a drink, and nodded to his wife.

Mary took up the story. “Things are breaking down in Fairplay. Their sewage and water system need power to function and it took them a while to get a handle on that. The Mayor and the three Sheriff’s deputies that live there have been able to get the high school setup as a shelter of sorts. They were able to get some wood stoves into the gym and they have about 150 people living in the school. There are a couple wells within a few blocks of the school and they are getting water out of them somehow. The majority of people are still living in there own homes and trying to scrape by. But the Mayor is, and rightfully so, worried about food. We offered him a partial solution to that problem and he accepted. We’ll be driving 30 head to town in four days. In return, we own Olde Town South Park. That will all be hauled back here though where it’s all going to go, I don’t know.”

James resumed, “After making this deal, the Mayor got a lot more hospitable and let Fred into town with all our kit. One of the deputies is a single fella and had a big house so he let us stay there last night. He and Fred seemed to hit it off real well. He told us a bit about the folks in town and how things are going. They’ve had between three and five deaths a week since the Event. Some just died, others were suicides, but the majority have been due to the weather. They had a family of six go down from probable carbon monoxide poisoning and three times that from hypothermia. People just don’t respect the cold. And they had a gang roll through town before they had the roadblocks in place. They lost a deputy and two civilians in the firefight. He figures the total population is somewhere around 500 as it sits.”

He also told us a few things he probably wasn’t supposed to. The Sheriff has been in touch with the Base Commander over in the Springs. This wasn’t just a solar event. It seems that when the damage from the solar radiation began to become apparent, some folks took the chance to get even on some old grudges. There were multiple HEMP explosions over the US and Europe. Nuclear explosions happen in D.C., New York City, LA, and Savannah, Georgia within a week of the most powerful of the solar flares hitting the Earth. They either don’t know or aren’t saying if those were bombs or missiles or what. The federal government, and probably most world governments, are in total disarray. We cannot expect any help on that front.”

Dan let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. Everyone looked pale and the couples in the room had unconsciously moved towards each other. He thought of Lynne and his family and felt a tightness in his throat.

“Like I said, we talked ,” James went on. “We came here pretty much straight from town. As you saw, we were able to do some trading along the way. Mom swapped her little backup pistol to Jackie Krenshaw for some seed packs and that aloe plant. The hens are a gift from the Miles family. But those aren’t the half of it. I mentioned we talked for a while with the Krenshaws. We talked about forming a rancher’s collective. It’s a sort of mutual aid group and corporation in one. We’d work together to take care of our herds, negotiate stock sales, and generally help each other out. So, on the way back we stopped in at all the ranches we talked with the day before. I made it clear that even though the Burnwoods don’t have any stock, they would be full partners if they were interested. The Troutes were back in from checking the herds and we got a chance to speak with them. Nobody was willing to commit on the spot and we didn’t expect them to. We agreed to provide transport for one member of each household to a meeting to be held on neutral ground in a week to talk things out further. And we have one more, big, piece of news.”

Mary picked up again. “Greg and Shirley Miles are good people. Ricky and Caleb have been pals since they moved here two years ago and Jerry, their youngest, is cute as a button. Shirley is scared and so is Greg, even if he won’t admit it. They’re living off stored water and a few rain barrels for the animals. It’s not a good situation. In fact, Shirley told me they were probably going to have to move even before this thing hit. They just couldn’t cover the mortgage with the recession. So, they are going to move down here. They’ll bring half a dozen horses and almost 40 chickens along with the goats whose milk Shirley makes cheese and soaps from. Besides, we need more hands around here, especially once we start planting and harvesting.

We’ll have to do a bit of rearranging and building but I think it will work out. Greg has been building houses for 20 years and already has some ideas for what to do here.”

“And they have a fair bit of food,” James continued, “So it’s not as though we’ll be supporting them. Anyway, it’s decided. We’re going to start moving them this afternoon. Right now, I’d like to see the cool room and get a rundown of what has happen around here. Bridget you up for a walk?”

The young woman shrugged. “I can go out there with you but I imagine Jeremiah has a better idea of what you want to know. Besides, I’m cooking today and need to finish a couple things for dinner, especially if we have four more mouths to feed.”

“So be it.” James replied as he stood.

The two men walked out the door and the others moved off. Mary began filling the bathtub with hot water and Ricky and Ted were quick to refill the buckets as they emptied.

Dan walked with Fred back to the camper where Festus showed Fred he had been missed. Dan asked about the wound on Fred’s chest but was assured it wasn’t hurting, he hadn’t overdone it, and that all was well.

“What do you think of James’ plans then?” Dan asked.

“I think he’s on the right track but I may not be the most, um, objective person to ask.” Fred replied with a wink. At Dan’s blank look, he went on. “I put the bug in his ear about the Rancher’ Association while we were on the road. These folks need to band together if they want to stay alive. Did you know that in Special Operations, we spend as much time teaching the indij how to work together as much as we do bringing extreme violence to bad people? Well, at least we did before the Sandbox. But if you look back at places like ‘Nam, the A-Teams were out there getting the locals to band together for a common goal and teaching them how. And if you look at pioneer times here in the states, hell, in this state, you won’t find isolated ranches or homes that thrived. It was communities that were organized and working together.

He took a long drink from a water bottle and went on, “As far as the other stuff, we’ll have to see. The deal with Fairplay is a good one. We’ll be able to save that equipment and it gets some of the cattle out of here. I think we’ll be working with the town a fair bit in the future and good relations are going to be important.

“The other deal, that family moving down here, I don’t know. They seemed like good people and they have kids so it’s not like we could leave them in harms way. I think I may take a look at what is happening up at that lake while we work on getting the Miles family packed up. Speaking of that family, I wanted to run something by you… This trailer is pretty big for the two of us and with that family moving down here, what do you think of letting them have it?”

Dan didn’t hesitate before he answered, “Yeah that makes good sense to me. I am sure we’ll be able to find a chunk of floor to crash out on somewhere.”

“Exactly my thought. Festus, you good with letting the kids have these digs?” the man asked his companion.

Hearing his name Festus let out a bark and executed one of his favorite tricks, a standing back flip.

Fred laughed and threw him a piece of jerky from his pocket. They talked for a minute more about where they would sleep then Dan left him to relax for a few minutes.

He met Jeremiah and James in the driveway as they returned from the cool room. James turned to him as he walked up to the pair.

“Jeremiah tells me yawl have been busy. Great, I didn’t really expect you to get both steers put up. You got real lucky with that bear though and we’ll need to keep an eye out. I think most of these new projects are going to need to wait until we get the Miles clan moved in though.”

“Well, when I walked out your wife was getting a bath heated up so I think she may have plans for you.” Dan chuckled.

The men walked in and found that to be the case. Mary was scrubbed clean and hustled James off to the tub. She called over her shoulder, telling Dan to let Fred know the bath would be ready for him in just a few minutes.

True to her word, the couple reappeared fifteen minutes later. The hot water was topped up and Fred took his turn in the hot water. The others smiled when his heart felt sigh was heard three rooms away as he slid into the water. They laughed until they held their sides as he belted out his rendition of ‘The devil went down to Georgia’.

It wasn’t long before he rejoined the group looking refreshed. They gathered around the table and James laid out the plan for the next few days.

“Ned, Jeremiah tells me you want the woodstove from the Higgins place for the shop. We’ll get it but I want to wait until Greg gets here. He may want to salvage lumber from there and we need to make the most of each trip. I like the smokehouse idea too but this move has priority. The Miles boys can sleep with Ricky for now but Greg and Shirley will have to sleep in the greatroom until we can sort something else out.”

Dan looked at Fred who interrupted, “We was talking about that and figured that family would be better suited in the camper. If that’s okay by you of course.”

“If you boys are sure, then that’ll make things a bit easier. You can have the couch in here if you can keep a handle on your attack beast.” James answered.

“Festus would be fine but we talked about it and since it’s just sleeping we can really crash anywhere.” Fred answered.

“The three of them can sleep in the bunkhouse with us until we set something more permanent up.” Ann said.

James nodded, “Done then. When we finish here, you boys get your stuff cleared out of there and stowed in the bunkhouse. After that you join Ricky and Ned behind the barn. We need to get setup to take in Greg’s cows. He has segregated out ten that will calve in the next week or so but the rest of his herd will join ours on the range. You boys are going to make up a few more pens. We need to get our mommas up here soon too. After the pens are done, we need to figure out something for a chicken coop. Oh, and something for those goats too. Give that some thought and let me know what you come up with. I’m hoping to not have to disassemble pens up the hill but it might come to that.”

Jeremiah, you, Bill, Ted, and I are going to take the trailer and go up to the Double Bar $ and move some feed for them. We’ll go from there to the Miles place and get a load together and bring the family down. I want to be back here before it gets dark. I’m hoping that we can have them totally moved in here before we need to drive the cattle up to town.”

Fred spoke up. “Can I throw in a couple points? I’d like to go with you up to the Miles place. I still can’t do a lot of lifting but I wanna take a sneak over to that lake and see what is what there. I’ll pack to be out overnight but shoot for getting back to Greg and Shirley’s just after nightfall. And speaking of that, if you move the family out of there, what’s to keep the people up at the lake from moving in? I think we ought to plan on leaving some people up there to protect the place until the move is complete.”

James considered that. “Okay, Bill, you stay here and help with the new coral. We’ll leave as soon as Fred is ready then.”

“We’ll be out to help on the coral once we finish up in here.” Mary said with hand on hip, indicating Ann.

“Dear, I am sure your help would be greatly appreciated.” James replied, realizing he had excluded a big part of there workforce, again.

James scanned the faces before him. They all held looks of determination, hope, and a little fear. All but one.

“What’s wrong son?”

Ricky lifted his eyes from the floor, “Does Caleb HAVE to sleep in the camper? It’s been forever since I got to see any of my friends; can’t he sleep in my room? Jerry can even come and we’ll be good, I promise.”

Mary slipped her arm around her son’s shoulder and kissed him on the top of his head. “I am sure his mother will be fine with the boys sleeping in your room, at least tonight.”

The boy smiled at his mom and said, “Really? Cool!”

With that James put both his hands on his knees and stood. “Okay then, let’s get to it.”

The group quickly moved on to the tasks they had been given. Each carried their weapons as James had instructed and began preparing to leave.

Bill followed Dan and Fred to the camper and helped Fred gather his things. It didn’t take long and Fred soon joined the others that would be going off the ranch at the truck.

When James and Ricky looked over the area behind the barn, they realized space for more animals was going to be very limited. The mothers waiting to calve would have free run of nearly all the space left in the barn and it would still be tight. Expanding living space for the stock would be added to the high priority list, a list that desperately needed to be written down.

Ned and Jeremiah had attached the horse trailer to the truck and topped off the fuel from the dwindling stores. The rest of the group met them in the driveway. A couple last minute changes were made to the roster. Mary decided Shirley would want another woman there and Ann agreed to go without hesitation. Dan, who James had overlooked earlier, was told to stay at the ranch and help wherever he could.

The group going to the neighbors loaded up with Jeremiah driving. James joined him in the cab and the others rode in the pickup bed.

As the truck rolled out the driveway, Ricky called out, “Okay guys, lets get the barn setup,” sounding many years beyond his thirteen.


The twenty minute ride to the Johnson ranch was uneventful. When Jeremiah turned off the county road onto a long driveway bordered by barbed-wire fences, the ranch house could be seen at the crest of a small rise. At James’ direction Jeremiah stopped the truck at the base of that crest.

James had walked only a dozen paces from the truck when another man appeared at the top of the hill. The man waved when he recognized the elder Duncan and they were soon stopped in front of the house.

The Double Bar $ Ranch was larger than Lost Park Ranch. The main house was a large log home with beautiful stone columns flanking a massive entry door. Large windows with etched images of mountains, elk, and pheasant, looked out at upon the driveway. Several outbuildings were scattered around the property. One of these was a large shop where half a dozen identical pickups, none more than two years old, were parked. A man in greasy coveralls extracted himself from under the hood of one as Jeremiah shut the truck off.

Several other people approached as the vehicle came t a stop. No weapons were aimed at them but everyone was armed. The man that had waved them up swung a gate closed, completing a circle around the truck and trailer.

Fred scanned the men from the bed of the pickup and mumbled, “This should be interesting.”

James opened the door and walked up to a man that stood out from the others. It wasn’t just the fact he was three steps closer to the truck that set him apart. Where the other men’s worn jeans, Carhartts, and Stetson’s spoke of a working life, this man looked like a Dallas cowboy. Dallas as in the TV drama, not the city in Texas. His black Wrangler’s looked brand new, his matching black shirt with pearl buttons pressed, and his bolo tie comical. The smile he wore looked as genuine as a politician’s promises.

“Jimmy, the boys said you had stopped in, sorry I missed you,” he said, “I was out checking the fences, you know how it is.”

James gave him a quick nod. “Yeah, I know how that is. I tend to look as worn out as Joshua over there does when I’m finished. Glad to see you’re nice and spry, even at your age.”

The belly laugh Mike gave was no more genuine than his smile. “You old dog, neither of us are pups any more are we? What can I do for you? Looks like you brought some friends.”

“Mike, we both know why I’m here. Let’s cut the crap, huh? Billy told me yesterday you were having trouble getting feed out to your stock so we’re here to lend a hand.” James said, keeping his tone level.

Mike’s false smile never wavered. “Yeah, we’ve had a bit of a snag. The boys had been using Tom’s old beater pickup since all the ranch trucks died. But then a few days ago it quit too. Brian tells me he’s not sure he can get it running again so now I’m in a bit of a lurch.”

“I know. A couple of my people can ride out with the boys here to drop feed; that’s why we’re here. Billy, why don’t you unhook my horse trailer and we’ll hook onto your flatbed, I see you loaded it all up.” James said, never taking his eyes off Mike.

The man that had closed the gate and was now standing near the trailer looked to his boss before moving. When Mike gave the nod, he called to two other men around the yard and they moved to unhook the trailer.

“Jeremiah, why don’t you and Fred give these fellas a ride? Ted, Ann, and I will wait here with Mike until you make it back safe and sound.” James yelled back over his shoulder.

“You boys be careful out there, I’d feel terrible if something were to happen to folks lending a hand on my property,” Mike called to the truck.

James very subtly let his right hand drift to his pistol. Looking Mike straight in the eyes, he said. “It truly would be a shame if something were to happen.”

Ted and Ann climbed from the truck and joined James at the foot of the porch. It only took a minute to get the pickup hooked to the loaded hay trailer. One man joined Jeremiah in the cab when Fred said he would rather ride in the bed of the pickup. Billy spoke with two other men who climbed aboard the hay trailer while he climbed in the bed with Fred.

The man in the cab directed Jeremiah through a gate near the barn into the pastureland beyond it. As the truck left the driveway, the door to the house opened. The young woman that stepped out looked gaunt, even wrapped in a heavy sweater. Her eyes were red rimmed and her hair unkempt. Her arms were crossed over her chest as if to keep her emotions penned inside.

“Dad, we have guests? Why haven’t you invited them in?” she sniffed and leaned against the door frame. “Hello Mr. Duncan, who are your friends?” she continued, looking at Ted.

James’s smile was tempered by concern. “Elizabeth, this is Ted, Bridget’s fiancé and this is Ann, a friend of the family,” he introduced the others.

Mike’s plastic face crumbled when he saw young woman. He stepped past the others to her side. Putting one hand under her arm, he guided her back into the house, motioning the others to follow.

Ted closed the door behind him as Mike lowered Elizabeth to the couch. The woman rolled herself into the plush corner with her knees drawn up, not quiet in a fetal position but close. Mike pulled a blanket over her and gently tucked it behind her shoulders. Elizabeth closed her eyes and said, “Please give me a minute, I think I may have overdone it getting up so quick.”

‘You boys go in the kitchen, I’ll sit with her,” Ann ordered the men.

Mike looked like he was going to object until James reached over and gave his shoulder a firm squeeze. The men looked at each other for a moment then walked into the large kitchen.

They gathered around the table and Mike spoke. “She showed up here on foot two days ago and this is the first time she’s been up other than using the bathroom. I don’t know what happen to her or why she’s so sick. I don’t know anything about taking care of sick people but she’s not getting any better. I need to get her to a doctor James.”

Mike's voice was almost pleading. Ted prompted him to keep going, asking what had happen to her.

Mike shrugged. “She moved over to The Springs and took a job with Wells Fargo a couple years ago. I think the only reason she stayed her as long as she did was because she thought I was going to loose it after Rachael, that was my wife, died. She has been back a couple times but seemed to be doing well. Anyway, she was living with some soldier over there. Then this… thing happened and I didn’t hear from her until she showed up looking like this.”

Ann called from the other room asking for water. Mike grabbed a plastic bottle from the counter and the three walked in the room. He handed it to Elizabeth who started to guzzle it. Ann stopped her and told her to sip.

“I’m sorry, I’ve just been so sick for the last few days,” the girl apologized.

“Its okay kiddo, what happen to you?” James replied.

She took a deep breath and began, “I live over in Colorado Springs. One morning we woke up and nothing worked. My boyfriend Andy is…was, a soldier at Fort Carson. His commander told them it was something to do with the Sun and frying computers; I don’t really remember. After the second day the bank told us to stay at home since the computers run everything. One of the other branches had been robbed and the Manager was worried about us. At first at wasn’t too bad, you know, kind of like a camping trip. But then people started getting crazy. Because we weren’t married, I couldn’t move onto the base when Andy was ordered to. I think the Mayor asked the Army for help because pretty soon the police and the Army guys took over all the stores that had food. People weren’t happy but the government people were just trying to get things organized. Pretty quickly they opened some shelters and started helping regular people.”
Most of the Army trucks and tanks and stuff were still running and they were going out and bringing food and people back into Colorado Springs. Everyone was hungry but not starving. They setup pumps to get water from the wells and people were doing okay.”

But then one of the food groups didn’t come back. Andy was sneaking out to see me and he told me they had been attacked by a Mexican gang that had been big in Pueblo. People stared getting scared. Then about three weeks ago that gang moved into the south part of Colorado Springs. Andy said the military couldn’t find all of them and it was like fighting in Baghdad. He said these guys were trained like Special Forces or something and were really dangerous. We could here gunfights and explosions from that side of town. They even stared some big fires and shit anyone that tried to put them out. A lot of the city just burned up. Then they started blowing stuff up and killing people on the ‘safe’ side of town. I was really scared.”

Andy knew I grew up out here and figured I would be safe on the ranch. One night we snuck away from town. We had backpacks full of food and camping gear and what we needed to hike here. He said he was going back after he got me to The Ranch but I know I could have made him stay. He had his Army rifle and we were being careful so I wasn’t worried.”

I was pretty worn down from the lack of food so it took three days to get to Woodland Park. I wanted to go into town but Andy said it was too dangerous. We camped in the woods then snuck past the town at night. The sun was just starting to come up when we can out on this side of the town limits. We had been climbing through the trees all night and we were both really tired so we went back down to the highway. That was what got us into trouble.”

The people in Woodland Park must have decided they didn’t want anyone coming or going because they put up roadblocks. We came out of the woods about thirty feet behind one. As soon as we hit the pavement the guys at it saw us. They didn’t say anything, they just started shooting. Andy pushed me into the woods and shot back. We were running and could hear them chasing and shooting at us. Andy made me drop my pack and told me to keep going.” She paused, took a shuddering breath, and went on.

“I ran. I could hear him shooting and them shooting then everyone was shooting. Then there were no more shots. I kept running. After a while I didn’t hear anything but I was so scared and tired and Andy and I….” she trailed off into barely controlled tears.

Ann put a hand on the Elizabeth’s leg and her father slide to the couch next to her. She sobbed for a minute, took another breath to collect herself and continued. “I don’t think Andy made it. I found a dirt road and crawled into a culvert to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night. I was so cold. I had on my good thermals but I didn’t have anything else. I knew I was still really high up and if it snowed I’d be in big trouble. So I waited until the sun came up and started moving North and West. I knew I’d eventually hit the Park and if I did I’d get home.”

I just kept walking. I found a few pine nuts like Bridget and I used to collect as kids but that was all I had to eat. At first I was worried about drinking from the streams but I had to, I was so thirsty. After the first one didn’t make me feel bad, I drank every time I could; it made me feel less hungry.”

After a few days I found an abandon Ranger Station/Fire Tower thingie. I was so hungry and tired. There was an axe and I used it to break the door in. The place was pretty empty but it had a stove. It started to snow while I was there so I made a little fire. There were two of those Army food bags, MERs or whatever, in a metal box. I tried to eat a whole packet of spaghetti but I got sick after half of it. I eventually was able to eat and slept there that night.”

It didn’t snow too long and the weather was good the next day so I kept going. It was the day after I left the Ranger Station that I started getting sick; I guess about a week ago. I can’t stop going to the bathroom and it’s so gross. Sometimes my belly hurts really bad and I have to just lay down.”

It made it really hard to keep going but eventually I came down into the Park. I think I was north of Spinney Mountain Reservoir. I don’t remember most of the rest of the way here. I know I thought about going to your place Mr. Duncan, but I never saw the driveway. I think I was hallucinating. Somehow I made it here a couple days ago. I’m doing better now that Dad has been giving me food but it’s still going right through me. And nothing tastes good and I’m still so weak and….” Again she trailed off into a bout of crying.

While Ann and Mike comforted her the others sat quietly. Ted was the first to speak, “Elizabeth, I’m not a doctor but I have almost finished veterinary school. Can I ask you a couple things about this sickness you’re going through?”

When she nodded, Ted continued, “The diarrhea you’re having, what does it look like? Is there any blood in it? Is it mucusy or anything like that?”

The girl looked slightly embarrassed but answered, “It’s really watery, yellow, and it really smells bad.”

“Okay, anything else? Have you been throwing up?” he asked.

“I did when this started but not so much anymore. When I was, and even when I burp now, it really burns; that and it tastes horrible. It’s like rotten eggs or something,” she replied.

Ted considered her words. “I had something like that a couple years ago and your story would fit. Those sulfur belches, I remember them. I went on a whitewater rafting trip in Montana one summer. I was fine while I was there but a few days after I got back I started getting cramps, diarrhea, and those belches. It was mostly just really annoying in my case but I eventually went to the doctor. He told me it was Beaver Fever; Giardia. I did a short course of an antiparasitic tablets and was all good afterwards.”

“I have a couple half full bottles of antibiotics in the bedroom; maybe one of those would work,” Mike said.

“Antiparasitics and antibiotics are different and antibiotics can make diarrhea worse,” Ted explained. “I bet Dan would know what we need. I’m not sure where we can get it though.”

“The pharmacy in Buena Vista might have some. We could take your truck and go buy it,” Mike said.

“Maybe but I doubt they would let us buy anything with cash,” James said. “We have some resources available and Ann’s son is a paramedic. He’s back at my place and we can see if he’ll come up. But I was serious; I have things that need to get done today. When the boys get back from the field, Jeremiah can run down and get Dan. I hate to bring this up now but we’re running low on fuel, so if you can help us out I’d greatly appreciate it.”

Mike began to bristle then looked at the emaciated form of his only child on the couch next to him. “Whatever you need, just help her.”

Elizabeth leaned in close to Ann and whispered something in her ear. Ann listened then nodded to the girl.

“Mike, where has Elizabeth been sleeping?” she asked.

He pointed her at a doorway across the room where she quickly disappeared. She came out carrying double bagged garbage sack. Mike directed her to a plastic bucket on the porch that held two other such bags where she promptly deposited it. She turned to the men and said, “Would one of you gently carry this young woman to the bedroom please?”

Without a word, Mike scooped his daughter up and carried her to the bedroom followed by Ann. Mike reappeared a moment later at the same time as the sound of a motor could be heard.

The men walked out onto the porch as the pickup returned through the gate it had left by. Jeremiah and Billy rode in the cab and the others in the bed of the truck. The trailer was nowhere in sight. They pulled up in front of the horse trailer.

Jeremiah once again shut the truck off and everyone exited it. The atmosphere was much less tense than before but a sense of expectation filled the air.

Mike boomed out to the group, “You get that load staged where you wanted Billy?” When Billy shook his head, he went on “These folks have helped us a bunch today and they’re offering more. All they’re asking is for a bit of fuel and we’ve got plenty of that. Brian, top off the tank for ‘em.”

While Mike had been speaking, James had walked to where Fred and Jeremiah stood. He briefly explained the situation and instructed the two men to get Dan and bring him up to the Double Bar $. Jeremiah left to help Brian fuel the truck and Fred followed James back to the porch.

As they neared the bottom stair, James asked how the trip had gone.

“Went slicker than greased goose poo. They had a pretty decent road that we followed for about five miles to the base of the foothills. We pulled the trailer off to one side of it and dropped about half the bales over a few hundred yards. We covered the rest so they say they say they’re set for another week or so. These guys seem fairly decent. Their bossman has kept them fed so they’ve stuck with him but they’re a bit worried about what’s going to happen down the road.” Fred answered.

“Mike’s a decent enough guy though he gets pretty full of himself sometimes. It’s gotten worse since the cancer took Rachel. Lizzy and Bridget rode together in high school so we used to spend lots of time with each other at competitions. Now Lizzy is back here and if we can get her healthy, that should bring his head around. If not, I’m not sure what that’ll do.”

Once we get Dan up here, I want to get up to Greg’s place. We’re gonna be short of daylight and may not get a lot done, but we can make a start at it. I’d still like to get everyone back to out house tonight.”

Fred nodded and looked back at the truck. Jeremiah had finished fueling the truck and started it up. He pulled in front of the house and dipped his head towards the two men. Fred shook James’ hand said, “I’ll be back,” in what may have been the worst Terminator impression ever.

[akraven]

Great addition Nomad Medic! I like the mountain setting and having the paramedic's experiences. I will be interested to see how you incorporate the historical displays.

[FlashDaddy]

Hey, I need a story fix! MOAR story, please.

[Ike]

Moar please!

[Nomad_Medic]

Ned and Dan followed Ricky into the barn, even before the trailer was out of sight. Bill had been pressed into service in the house. The boy explained the things his father wanted done and they began setting up the remaining cattle panels. It wasn’t long before they realized they didn’t have enough to for the original plan. After rejection several ideas, they came up with a one that was workable. Unfortunately it meant disassembling some of their earlier work. They eventually had things setup to house the new cows and horses in the barn. They even moved a pair of horses out of their stalls, cleaned them out, and goat-proofed them for the incoming herd.

When the barn chores were done, they stocked the house with as much firewood and water as they had space for. That didn’t take long and they were soon being run out of the house. It was made clear that making provisions for four more people was tough enough without ‘you guys underfoot’.

“Unless you two have a better idea, why don’t we work on the VW smoker?” Ned suggested.

They conferred with Mary and it was decided the bus would be placed near the end of the garden. This put it close to the kitchen but out of the way. The three men pushed the lightweight vehicle into place. Ricky immediately began stripping the interior out while Ned worked with the cutting torch to remove the engine and transmission. Dan started removing the front wheels and lowering the vehicle to the ground.

It didn’t take Ned long to cut the engine and transmission free so the three could drag them clear. The terminal crack in the engine block showed why the bus had been abandoned. Dan moved on to help Ricky and they finished pulling anything that looked like it would give off noxious fumes or catch fire when heated. Ned continued to carve a space for the stove out of the back and floor. When he finished, Dan removed the rear wheels. This lowered the bus the rest of the way to the ground.

The men were taking a water break when they heard the sound of an engine. They quickly dispersed to covered positions around the driveway.

Jeremiah let the truck coast into the driveway, the engine idling. Both he and Fred made sure to keep there hands in plain sight and made no sudden movements until the others acknowledged them.

Fred quickly explained the situation at the Double Bar $, starting over when Mary joined them in the driveway. Dan readily agreed to help and gathered several supplies. At Ned’s suggestion, and with Fred’s agreement, he brought along Fred’s medical kit.

Dan squeezed into the cab for the ride to the Johnson’s ranch. Along the way, Fred and Jeremiah described what had happen earlier that afternoon. Fred passed on what little information James had given him, including Ted’s conclusion it might be Beaver Fever. Jeremiah filled the others in on the history between the Duncans and the Johnsons.

“Elizabeth and Bridget were pretty good friends in high school. She and Bridget competed on horses a lot and the families were pretty close. When Bridget moved away for college the kids didn’t really stay in touch. Then Rachael, Lizzy’s mom, was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed after a few tough months. They had a nurse out there at the ranch to make her comfortable for the last little bit but I hear she was in a lot of pain. That was really tough on both Mike and Lizzy. Nobody saw much of Mike for a while and Brian pretty much ran the place. He eventually must have come outa whatever funk he was in ‘cause he took things back over and the ranch took off. Eventually Lizzy moved out and that’s about all I know.

The men rode in silence for the next few miles. Jeremiah slowed as they neared the ranch and they were quickly waved up to the main house.

James and Mike met them on the porch. After quick introductions Dan was led into the back bedroom where his mother and the young lady were.

The horse trailer had been hooked up and James was eager to get moving when Dan walked out onto the porch.

Mike looked at Dan expectantly and asked, “Well?”

“I’m not 100% sure but I’d say it’s probably Giardia. If I remember right, it usually doesn’t come on as quick as Elizabeth described though. From the story Mom gave me, I’d guess her immune system was pretty well fried due to lack of food and exhaustion and that is why it hit her so hard.” Dan looked stretched his back. “I may end up wishing I had saved it but I started an IV on her and am trying to get her hydrated up. She’s resting now but I think I better stay with her for a while.”

I don’t have much for reference material and I’m operating in pretty new territory here. If I remember correctly, Giardia not only flushes you out, it can prevent your body from absorbing nutrients from what you do eat. I need to get some anti-parasitics in her as soon as I can. Herbally, I remember reading that tobacco and black walnuts have been used but I doubt we have any walnuts and I don’t think I can get her to eat tobacco. She needs a medication called metronidazole or Flagyl.”

“Do you have it in that bag you took in?” Mike asked.

Dan shook his head. “No, that bag is setup for a lot but not this. And I don’t remember seeing it anywhere back at the Lost Park either.”

The men grew quiet. James broke the silence first, “Mike, we’ll do whatever we can to help Lizzy out. I hate to be this way but I made a commitment that I cannot break. My people and I need to get going. But I think I might still be able to help. If I can get someone to town, are you willing to swap for this medicine?”

Mike answered without a pause, “Whatever it takes. I’ll pay whatever it takes to take care of my little girl.” He turned to Dan, “And if you’ll stay here with her, I can make it worth your while.”

“We’ll talk about that later. Let me write down what I’m looking for. The sooner you can get it the better.” Dan said then walked back into the house.

He returned a minute later, along with Ann, and handed a slip of paper to James. Flagyl or metronidazole 250mg three times a day for 5 days was printed on the sheet.

“I don’t care if the tablets are higher doses but I need to be able to give at least 250mg three times a day for that long. So if they are 500mg tabs instead of 250mg, I need eight tablets instead of 15. That make sense?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’ve got it. We’ll see what we can do.” James said. “You sure you need to stay here? I’d like to keep you close,” he continued.

“It would be best for me to stay here for now.” Dan replied. “I’m fine, just get back with those meds as soon as you can.”

He gave his mother a quick hug before she started down the stairs. Jeremiah was already in the truck and soon James and Ann were sitting in the front with the other two men in the back. In no time they were disappearing through the gate, headed for the county road.

The trip to the Miles’ ranch took them across Highway 285 then onto another county road. Thirty minutes after leaving the Double Bar $, they arrived.

James got out of the truck where the long driveway met the county road. He scanned the house through his binoculars and when he saw a familiar face, waved. The man on the other end returned the wave.

By the time the truck and trailer arrived, the heavy pipe gate near the house was secured open. James introduced the group to the man that had unlocked it.

Greg Miles was not a big man. Fred guessed him to be five foot eight and one-hundred and sixty pounds. Unlike the other men in the group whose beards were short and often complained about, he wore a beard that he had obviously cultivated long before the collapse. When they shook hands, Fred could feel the wiry strength in his callused palm.

The sound of a door slamming made the group turn towards the barn. A teenage boy close to Ricky’s age latched the door he had just come out of. Like his father, Caleb Miles was not tall or heavyset. He looked like a typical young man waiting to grow into himself and trying his hardest to be as old as the men around him.

Greg led the others into the large house. Inside things were in various states of being packed into whatever containers were available. There they met the remaining members of the family. Shirley Miles was built like her husband and obviously of Irish decent. Her light-skinned, freckled, face was framed by red hair. This ginger complexion was mirrored in Jerry, the shy five year old that stayed close to his mother.

With introductions finished, plans needed to be made. Greg explained that they had the expectant cows in the barn but the range herd was at the end of the property closer to town. He also had his shop ready to go but they would need more time to prepare the house.

“We really only have time for one run before it gets dark. I’d like to take the four of you, the cows, and whatever else we can get loaded in the next hour and head home.” James said.

“Well that won’t work.” Shirley replied, hand on hip. “The girls will need milking tonight then again in the morning, I’ve got a ton of work to do in here, and we’re not going to leave this place full of things we need, empty, for those bastards up at the lake to steal.”

“Now dear, we talked about this…” Greg started.

“No, you talked, I listened. I talked, you didn’t listen. And I’m not abandoning this to those vultures,” she finished, waving her hand around the room.

“Would this work? We take the cows, the goats, the boys, and you back to the ranch tonight. Your husband and Fred stay here tonight and in the morning we make another run.” Ann asked.

Shirley looked at her sons and considered. After a moment she agreed and looked to Greg and James, “I can do that. James, I really appreciate what you’re doing for us, I really do. I just hate the thought of loosing so much. Does this sound okay with you?”

James put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “It’s okay, we’ll make it work.” Turning to the group, he went on, “Let’s get started. We’ll load the cows first then the goats. Jeremiah, Greg, and I, will work on that. I’d like the rest of you to start loading the truck. Get what you’ll need for clothes and whatnot for the next few days loaded in the bed of the pickup. After that start loading food; and don’t forget to leave enough room for people to sit.”

As the men walked towards the barn, Fred questioned Greg about the troubles he had been having with the people at the campground.

“A little while after things went bad, a couple people walked up while we Caleb and I were out in the barn. They were an odd pair but at the time I didn’t think much of it. One was a big old boy with a bunch of tattoos on his arms. Not to insult, but pretty much your stereotypical redneck. The first thing I thought when I saw him was that he looked like that comedian, Larry The Cable Guy. I probably wouldn’t really have given it much thought but he was a total opposite for the guy he was with. That guy looked like an LL Bean add with lots of shiny new gear. Anyway, ‘Larry’ did all the talking and ‘Bean’ just looked nervous. He told me there were a few families stuck up at the campground and the Ranger had disappeared. They were running out of food and they were hoping I could help them by butchering one of my cows for them. I told them that wasn’t going to happen but I could give them a little something. I sent Caleb in the house and Shirley put together a good sized pile of canned food. When Caleb brought the box out, ‘Larry’ flat out ordered ‘Bean’ to pick it up and start carrying it back. He then started telling me how it would really be a good idea for me to just ‘kill that cow’ for him. When he made a vague threat on my family, I ran him off. A couple weeks later I was out checking fences when Blue started barking at the treeline. He took off before I could stop him and those bastards shot him dead. I found him near a spot where the fence had been cut and up in the treeline I found the carcass of one of my cattle.”

A few nights later, I heard something out by the barn. Instead of stumbling around in the dark, I fired a couple shots in the air. At least two people shot back and for some reason the burned down my wood crib. These people are idiots but they seem to be dangerous idiots.”

Greg went on to say he hadn’t seen any signs of the thieves in ten days.

To that, Fred let out a slight chuckle, “At least one of them is about three-hundred feet from the end of your driveway.”

Greg started but Fred continued before he looked, “Don’t try to spot him; he’s not great but he’s camouflaged fairly well. I saw a flash of sun off his scope or binos when he was checking us out. He shouldn’t have swung it back and forth while he looked us over.”

The group arrived at the barn and walked inside, hiding them from any prying eyes.

James had been listening in to the conversation and gave Greg a quick summary of Fred’s background and his plan.

“I think Ted ought to stay down here with Greg tonight while I go take a look up there.” Fred said.

“The house sits pretty out in the open. How are you going to sneak out of here if they are watching?” Jeremiah asked.

Fred grinned, “I’m gonna ride out. If we back the trailer up to the barn, the driver’s side can’t be seen from up there. I’ll hang off the sideboard on the side of the trailer. About a quarter mile down the road, there’s a small creek. You’ll need to stop on that little bridge for some reason and I’ll slip off.”

There were nods all around and they agreed it was a good plan. They quickly put it in motion and were soon coaxing animals into the trailer. While the cows were loaded, Shirley and Caleb milked the six does. As soon as the milking was done, the does and there offspring were put into a separate section of the trailer. It was decided that the billy would travel by himself in a later load.

The group working in the house began by piling several duffle bags and backpacks next to the truck. Then case after case of home canned goods were carried out and stacked in the bed. The fruits, soups, meats, and vegetables were stacked several cases high around the edges of the bed. It wasn’t long before the bags were added and the loading pronounced done.

Everyone gathered inside the barn at James request. He explained Fred’s concerns and his plan. After a short discussion, they agreed that Ted and Greg would stay at the Miles ranch, Fred would carry out the reconnaissance overnight to return the following day, and the others would go back to the Lost Park Ranch.

While seating was organized in the truck, Fred excused himself to a back corner of the barn. He removed a set of well worn woodland pattern fatigues from his pack. These were quickly slipped on and his assault pack removed from his larger bag. Knowing the three liter water bladder was full, he checked that his field-stripped MREs, extra socks , and other items were secure and would not rattle. The last thing removed was a lightweight load bearing vest, also in woodland camouflage. Many of the items in his pack were duplicated in the vest but it also included four magazines each for the AR and the Kimber. He finished up by applying a dark layer of camouflage paint to his face and slipping a cover over his pack, hiding its solid black shape.

Caleb was in awe when the man rejoined the group. He ogled Fred from his boonie cap to his boots, obviously gearing up for a serious case of hero worship. Fred caught the look on the boy’s face, and looked at him with a stern face. Extending the finger of his gloved right hand at the boy’s chest, he hit him with an order only a teenage boy could truly appreciate.

“Pull my finger.”

Everyone in the group laughed though the women’s were for a whole different reason than fart humor. Men, they never do grow up, do they?

Minutes later, Greg locked the gate as the truck and trailer moved down the driveway. He and Ted watched until it turned onto the county road then began the evening chores.

Fred rode on the step in front of the trailer’s fender. His footing was stable and his right hand wrapped tightly around a piece of rope he had tied to a bar in the trailer. He was totally sheltered from view from the opposite side of the road.

As the truck neared the bridge, Shirley let a blanket she had been holding slip from her fingers. The wind quickly caught it and threw it to the side of the road behind the trailer. She turned and slapped the roof several times and Jeremiah slowed the truck and stopped it on the bridge as planned. While Caleb jogged back and collected the blanket, Fred slipped off the trailer. As soon as Caleb returned, the truck continued on its way.

The bridge was in fact a large culvert. Fred was able to slip down the bank at an angle he hoped would remain below the line of sight of an observer near the ranch. He wasn’t concerned about being seen himself so much as and tracks or scars in the dirt being visible.

Fred moved quickly through the culvert and took in the creekbed in front of him. The small stream obviously ran much higher later in the year. The spring runoff was just beginning so he had a wide path that was sunk several feet below the surrounding prairie. He glanced at the sun and saw it was diving towards the horizon. Knowing it would be dark soon, he found a pile of long-dry debris that had accumulated several feet above the waterline and tucked himself down into it. He would lay here and make sure he hadn’t been seen. Once it was dark he would move towards that lake.

An hour and a half later he was confident no one else was in the immediate area. He rose and stretched. Fred set off at a quick pace up the draw of the streambed as much to warm up as to cover ground. The streambed soon led him into the woodline about a mile from the ranch.

He moved over that distance with easy by walking along the edge of the trees where the undergrowth was thin. As he neared the area he had seen the reflection from, he slowed to a stalker’s pace and began working his way closer.

It wasn’t his eyes or even his ears that alerted him when he was close. It was his nose. The ripe smell of human excrement permeated the air and led him to an empty observation post.

A quick scan by the weak light of the stars told him a lot. This area was regularly being used to spy on the Miles ranch almost directly opposite it. The brush had been hacked from around the spot to make space for a log that was obviously being used as a seat. The ground was worn bare in spots as careless observers had scuffed the ground and the smell of unburied waste made the area reek. He even found shavings where a less than diligent watcher looked to have passed the time by whittling points on a pile of sticks.

No more care had been given to hiding the trail to and from the observation post than had been given to the hide itself. It was easy to see the trail of disturbed pine needles and broken brush leading farther into the trees. Fred checked his gear and weapons once again and followed the track.

Even after the conditions he had seen already, he was surprised when fifteen minutes later he saw a light flashing in front of him. Fred crept slowly forward making sure not to look directly at the light and using his peripheral vision to watch for movement. Moments after he saw the flashlight moving through the trees, he saw it hit the ground and the light flicked off. This was followed by a string of curses.

Fred knew this would be his best opportunity to surprise whoever was in front of him. He quickly covered the distance between then not bothering to move very stealthily. The man in front of him was cursing louder and still groping in the ground for the flashlight when Fred spoke.

“Hows about you stand up real slow and put those hands up? We need to talk a bit.”

The man jumped as Fred began talking and began looking all around him. After the brightness of the flashlight, he had no chance of seeing the camouflaged Fred in the darkness. Besides that, Fred was behind him.

The man growled back a rather uncreative two word explicative and tried to bring the slung rifle he carried into his hands. Fred had expected nothing less and took two steps forward and struck the man with the butt of the Kimber where his shoulder met his neck.

Unlike in the movies, this didn’t knock the man out nor did Fred expect it to. As planned, the metal base of the pistol struck the top of the clavicle while the meaty part of his hand connected with the muscle of the shoulder. This sent a shock of pain down the man’s right arm and numbed it. The force of the blow also knocked the man to the ground. Fred delivered a hard kick to the man’s ribs then pressed the barrel of his pistol into the man’s ear.

“Now why did you go and do that? All I wanted to do was talk. And look; now you made me kick your ass.” Fred spoke evenly. “Here is how this is going to work now. You ‘n I are gonna to talk. To keep you focus on our conversation, I’m going to remove some distractions.”

Fred made the man lay face down in the dirt and put a knee in his lower back while he was searched. The pistol remained pressed to the man’s skull the whole time. When he finished searching the man’s back, his jacket was stripped off. Fred then had him rise onto his knees. The man followed Fred’s directions to slowly lift his tee shirt until it covered his face. This blocked his vision and would entangle his arms should he try anything while Fred searched the man’s front side. After removing a Leatherman tool, a lighter, and a chewing tobacco can from the man, Fred made him take off his boots, socks, and belt.

Satisfied the man concealed no other weapons and confident he had his attention, Fred set about getting information.

“Its going to be a cold night and if you make this quick, you’ll probably get to see the sun come up. You are going to answer my questions, I have no doubt about that and neither should you. I’ve seen Taliban hard cases crack after ten minutes and the guys playing those strings followed rules. You and me, we have no rules. I can and will do anything I want to you to get what I want. Do you understand all that?”

The man grunted a “Yeah,” in response.

Fred continued, “Good. Who are you and why were you watching that ranch?”

The man mulled the question over. For a moment Fred thought the man was going to resist but he spoke, “My name is Art Smith. Me and Ted and Davie was up here fishing when them funny lights in the sky started up. One day everything was fine; the next the truck don’t start, the genset don’t start, nothing works. It was cool at first but then we run outa beer. We couldn’t get into town and that Ranger bitch wasn’t no help. So, um, we’ve just been, you know, staying up at the lake.” He was obviously uncomfortable as he finished.

“Keep going,” Fred instructed. Art’s eyes had adjusted enough to see Fred gesture with the barrel of the .45.

“Yeah. There was some other folks up there and we all teamed up. Ted and one of them yuppies walked down to the ranch one day but those folks hardly give us nuthi’n. We were getting tired of fish so we, um, borrowed a cow. I mean we had to eat, right?” Art looked around as if to collect his thoughts. “We was worried them folks might get angry so we was just watching to make sure they didn’t sneak up on us and, you know, start no crap.”

Fred didn’t believe most of the man’s story. There were still things he wanted to know.

“What did the Ranger have to say about you taking the cow? And how many people are in the camp right now?”

Art squirmed, more upset. “That Ranger, um, she just took off. Left us the keys to her cabin and everything. She must not have cared a lick about us and them other folks.”

There aint many up there. Me, Ted, Davie, them three yuppies, and a couple old coots. I aint seen them old timers in a few days though.”

“Is everyone staying in the Ranger’s cabin then?” Fred asked.

“Nah, that’s just for me and the boys. Those old farts have a camper thing and them others have a couple tents. Well, they did last I saw. One of them little fairy boys mouthed off to Ted the other day. He might not be around no more since that chick with him is one fine piece of tail.” The man sneered.

Fred pressed on, “How far is it to the campground?”

“Aint far, it’s just along the path. Look, I’m gett’n cold, can I have my jacket back or somethi’n?” Art whined.

Fred looked at the man. He had no illusions that the story was true or that the Ranger had left these thugs her cabin. While he had used violence plenty of time before, he tried to reserve it for times when it was truly needed. This was one of those times.

Art was knocked out cold when Fred’s boot connected with his temple. Fred rapidly tied a set of 550 cord handcuffs and secured the man’s hands behind his back. He drug the unconscious man to a tree and tied his feet securely to it. A gag using Art’s own belt finished the job.

Fred looked over the items he had pulled off Art. Not interested in trying to move with Art’s rifle, he stripped the bolt from it and slid it into his pack. If he came back this way, he might recover the rifle. The multitool also went into his pocket. Looking at the unconscious man trussed to the tree, Fred felt a pang of pity and draped the jacket over his prisoner.

The tic-toc of time passing made Fred move quickly up the trail. Once again it was a scent that told him he was close his destination. Woodsmoke in the crisp Colorado air is unmistakable.

Ahead of him he could make out the campground. The small Ranger’s cabin was roughly thirty yards away and off to his left. A National Park Service truck was parker in front of it. Closer and directly in front of him he could see two tents setup behind a small Subaru Forester and a truck and trailer was off to his right. Smoke came from the chimney of the cabin. At the tent site he could see three people sitting at a campfire but there was no activity at the camper. He continued to scan the area and saw several vehicles that looked to have had their windows knocked out.

Movement caught his eye at the campfire. One of the group separated and began walking towards him. Knowing he couldn’t be seen, Fred tried to see where they would be going. It didn’t take long for him to deduce they were headed for the outhouse about fifteen feet from him.

Seeing a second great tactical opportunity that night, he quickly covered the ground to the outhouse. Using another Hollywood stunt, he threw a stick into the area he had been standing. When the walker jumped and turned towards the sound, Fred slipped inside the outhouse.

His ruse must have worked as no cries of alarm were raised and ten seconds later the door opened. Fred sprung as soon as it did. He had been lucky in that this building was handicapped accessible and thus had enough room for a wheelchair inside. Fred used this space to his advantage. He grabbed the front of the jacket with one hand and pulled the surprised man into the outhouse. His other hand clamped over his target’s mouth then he flung the man backwards against the wall. As expected this knocked the air, and the fight, out of the man.

“I don’t want to hurt you but I need you to be quiet. I’m going to take my hand off but if you scream or fight I will leave you in a pile of your own guts. Understand?” Fred hissed in the man’s ear.

The whites of his eyes showing, the man’s head bobbed up and down. Fred released him and he collapsed to the floor, sucking air.

“My God, who are you? We don’t have anything let; those animals took it all!” he gasped from the floor.

In a stead voice Fred commanded, “Keep your voice down. I’m here to help.”

“Help? Help?!? If you’re here to help why did you beat me up?” the man began.

“Nothing for that, I needed you to talk and do it quickly. I don’t have much time; tell me who you are and what’s happening here.”

“Okay. I’m Jake Mc Corkle. My girlfriend, her brother, and I came up here from Denver to do a little camping and fly fishing about…geez I don’t know, six weeks ago. We were having a great time until the Northern Lights showed up. After that happen, none of the electronics worked. It didn’t take long for people here to get scared and start leaving. Probably a dozen people hiked into town. We couldn’t though because Shannon sprained her ankle the first night after everything went bad. So it was just us, these three rednecks, and the Thermans. Joy and Harry Therman were a couple of retirees that wouldn’t have been able to make the walk. Oh, and Ranger Evans.”

Jake took a deep breath and continued, “A couple days after everyone left Ted, the head wingnut in the Redneck Squad, decided he Ranger Evans was hiding food in the cabin. You see, he had been making little waves here and there but with the group here, I think he was afraid to push things. Anyway, he and his pals were pretty drunk and started yelling at Ranger Evans. She tried to talk to them, she even offered to let them in the cabin to look for food, but they weren’t listening. One of them hit her then they were all hitting her. Those animals beat her to death!”

It hasn’t gotten any better. We have been spending the day out on the lake trying to get enough fish to keep them off our backs and ourselves fed. Two of them took off a while ago and came back with these huge pieces of meat but they kept it all. This morning we went over to check on Joy and Harry and found them dead. Joy left a note. It said Harry was out of his medicine and wasn’t going to make it. They took a bunch of sleeping pills and some wine.”

So, like one of them has been going off into the woods and watching that ranch down there. They are talking about sneaking down and stealing more food. I think Art is the one there now but I’m not sure; they make it a point to screw with us when they come back. The other two are up in the cabin.”

Look, you have to help us. Those guys really are animals and they have been looking at Shannon and stuff and I’m really scared they are going to hurt her. I don’t know how long we can keep this up.”

“Why didn’t you people stand up to them when there were a bunch of you? Even now, there are three of you.” Fred asked.

“Dude, they have guns. Not like yours but they have a rifle and a pistol. Oh and the one they took from Ranger Evans.” Jake replied.

Fred didn’t give voice to the thought that ran through his head. But it has always been the job of the sheepdog to protect the sheep from the wolves. And so he would.

[FlashDaddy]

Go Fred!

Thanks for the post. Its a good story.

[223shooteresc]

Fred is a bad bad boy and the rednecks are about to find out I am afraid, good stuff

[akraven]

Great chapter. Thank you!