Engineering Home: Book 11 of The Survivalist Series Read online

  We sat quietly for a little while, just enjoying the cool morning air. Then Dad asked, “What’s on the agenda for today?”

  “Well, I guess we need to find you guys a house to live in.”

  “What about that one on the other side of you?” Dad asked, pointing in the general direction.

  “That could work. Let’s walk over there and look at it.”

  Before the power was turned on anywhere, we would go around to each structure and turn off the main breakers. You never know what could happen, what may have been left on or running in a house, so it only made sense to make sure everything was off. Dad and I went through the house. I’d been in it several times before, but this time we weren’t just looking for stuff we could use, but at the overall condition of the place.

  “It’s a big place. We don’t’ really need this much space,” Dad said.

  “It is big. But, what the hell. Not like you have to worry about a big power bill,” I replied with a smile.

  “I reckon not,” Dad replied as he looked around. “It’s kind of weird, though. Being in someone else’s house.”

  “It ain’t someone else’s house. It’s yours now.”

  “I guess so. Let’s go get mom and see what she thinks of it.” Dad replied.

  “Let’s make sure the power works first,” I said as I headed back towards the laundry room where the panel was mounted.

  Much to our relief, the power flicked on when I clicked the breaker. We went through the house testing things to ensure all was well and found that the AC wasn’t working. Cooling wasn’t an issue now, but the heat soon would be. The only other thing we found was that the fridge didn’t work either. That was a disgusting event because I pulled the door open without thinking and was hit in the face with a putrid smell that seemed to have a physical presence. It felt as though it settled on my skin, and I couldn’t wipe it away.

  Coughing and gagging, as Dad laughed at me, I said, “What the fuck. Why’d I do that?”

  Still laughing, Dad asked, “Why in the world did you open that thing? After this long, what did you think would be inside it.”

  “From the momentary glimpse I got, it appears to be a really fucked up science experiment. How can a fridge with no food grow shit like that?”

  “We don’t need a fridge anyway. You guys all eat together over at Danny’s, right?” I nodded in reply, and Dad added, “Then we’ll just haul that thing out of here. We don’t have anything to put in it anyway.”

  “Good idea,” I managed as I gagged again. “I’ll look at the AC and see if I can sort out what’s going on with that.”

  “No rush. We don’t need it right now,” Dad replied as he stepped into the bathroom off the hallway. I heard the toilet flush, and he came back out smiling, “That’ll make the Momma happy.”

  “A flushing shitter is a wonderful thing.”

  “It’s what separates us from the savages,” Dad replied.

  We walked back over to Danny’s place so he could bring Mom over to show her their new home. I stopped on the porch, where several people stood gathered up, and asked what was going on.

  “We’re just going to take a ride,” Ian replied as he secured his plate carrier.

  I looked around. Ian was there with Jamie, Jess, Doc, Perez, and Lee Ann. “Just bored, or out flying the flag?”

  “Both,” Jess replied from where she sat on the porch beside Doc.

  “What are you guys taking?”

  “The old man’s Hummer,” Doc replied.

  “That’s gonna be crowded,” I said.

  “We’ll manage,” Jess said as she pressed in close to Doc.

  It made me smile to see them. Their relationship had been slow in the making and was still taking time to mature, which was good. Because if it did turn into something, I knew it would last. Just the thought of anyone finding happiness in the current situation was a reason to be celebrated.

  I looked at Lee Ann and asked, “You tell your mom what you’re up to?”

  She nodded, “Yeah. She knows.”

  I looked at the Hummer sitting in the driveway. A SAW jutted out the turret. “Looks like your guys have it under control. You have radios?” Both Jamie and Perez held one up, and I nodded. “Y’all be careful.” I needed some breakfast.

  As was the norm, the house was full of people. Danny had a fire going in the fireplace, probably not needed, but it did make the place feel cozy even if it was a little warm. Mel spotted me as soon as I came in and asked, “You hungry?”

  “You know this! Man!”

  “Well, take a seat, and we’ll get you fixed up,” Kay said.

  I slid into a stool at the kitchen bar, and Mel pushed a bowl in front of me. “Hot damn!” I said, “biscuits and gravy!”

  “And it’s so good too!” Little Bit shouted from the table where she sat with her bowl.

  Dad managed to get Mom to leave the kitchen as I ate, which was no small feat. I guess being back in a functional kitchen with running water and the like excited her. But then, I would imagine she was probably more excited about the working toilets than anything. As they went out the door, I heard the Hummer startup.

  “You know Lee Ann is with them?” I asked Mel, gesturing with my head in the direction of the truck.

  “Yeah. She said she wanted to go. She’s getting bored.”

  Sarge came in from the back porch with Jace and Edie, clinging to a leg. He held his coffee cup over his head as he made exaggerated strides with the little kids hanging on and squealing. Taylor intercepted them in the dining room, reached down, and grabbed Edie under her arms.

  “Alright. That’s enough, you two monsters. Let’s go.” She said as she tried to pull the little girl away.

  She held on for dear life, and it wasn’t until Sarge reached down and ruffled her hair and said, “Alright, you two. That’s enough for now. Old men can only take so much playing,” that she relented.

  Taylor finally got the kids’ attention directed somewhere else, and Sarge could refill his cup. When he turned to the counter where I was sitting, I asked, “You have a radio on you?”

  Taking a sip of coffee, he reached behind his back and pulled one out. Then, holding it up, he replied, “Right here. Where’s yours?”

  “I’ll go get it. I didn’t know anyone was going to town today.”

  “You do now. What’s your next excuse?”

  Pretending to be deep in thought for a moment, I said, “Probably that I broke my radio over some old asshole’s head.”

  “You shouldn’t talk about your Daddy like that.” Although you gotta admit, the old bastard was quick.

  Finishing my breakfast, I carried the bowl to the sink and rinsed it out. Mel asked, “What are you doing today?”

  “We’re going to take mom over to see the house on the other side of us. I think it’ll be good for them. We’ve already checked it out, and it’s in pretty good condition.”

  “That’d be nice, having them right next door.”

  “That’s what I thought,” I replied.

  “Hey, momma!” Dad called out. He’d referred to her as momma for as long as I could remember. When I was little, I remember being in an Oshman's sporting goods store in a mall. You know, back in the day when you could still go to the mall and buy a gun. Anyway, we looked for her and my sister and couldn’t find them. So he stood in the middle of the store and shouted, momma! Momma! She came running, embarrassed at the display. But it worked.

  It was second nature to her now, and she simply looked up when he called. “Come on, want to show you our new house,” he said.

  As we walked over to the house, she commented on how things worked around our little community.

  “I can’t believe you have so much. Running water, more food than I could’ve imagined. Kay is a sweetheart.”

  “It’s been a lot of work, and a lot of things have happened to allow this to be,” I replied.

  “Where did you find Kay?” She asked.

  “Sh
e was in a FEMA camp that we took down. So her and a couple of the other women and even one of the DHS guards came here.”

  Dad looked at me with utter shock. “You took down a FEMA camp?”

  “Yeah. It wasn’t what they were advertised to be. It’s not like we wanted to. It just had to be done, and there was no one else to do it.”

  “What happened to all the people?” Mom asked.

  “Some of them are probably still there. It was a very nice camp; they were just doing some horrible stuff there. The guards that survived the assault were sent to a detention center in Frostproof. But they never made it. Someone ambushed the convoy, and some soldiers were killed.”

  “Where’d they go?” Dad asked.

  I shrugged, “No idea. We haven’t seen them.”

  “Hard to imagine you overthrew a camp like that,” mom said.

  Now I laughed, “We’ve done a hell of a lot more than that. We took out a DHS base and a Russian forward deployment point. Granted, we had some help from the Air Force on that one.”

  “The Air Force?” Dad asked.

  “Oh yeah. The chair force is still around. Just operating in a minimal capacity.” He seemed to dwell on the answer.

  “This is a huge house,” Mom said as we walked up onto the porch.

  “It is,” I admitted. “But it’d be nice to have you guys next door, and the place is in pretty good shape.”

  Opening the door, I stepped inside. Mom followed me in and took a long look around. Then, after a long minute, she asked,

  “Dave and his wife. They were older and didn’t have any kids at home. They went to the camp but weren’t there when we changed management.”

  Dad snorted, “Changed management. That’s one way to put it.”

  Mom wandered into the kitchen and tried the faucet. It coughed and spat, and in a moment, water began to flow, and she shut it off.

  “Toilets work too,” Dad offered.

  “That’s all I care about, honestly. If I don’t ever have to use a five-gallon bucket again, I’ll be just fine.”

  She reached for the door to the fridge, and I nearly broke my legs trying to get to her as I shouted, “No, no, no, don’t open that!”

  “We’ll have to get rid of that. It doesn’t work,” Dad said.

  Mom wrinkled her nose, understanding the implication. “We don’t need it anyway.”

  “What do you think?” I asked.

  She took a long look around the house before replying. “It’s nice. But it feels weird being in someone else’s home.”

  “It’s not someone else’s. It’s yours if you want it. We can take out anything you don’t want.”

  She walked across the living room and into the master bedroom. After inspecting both the bedroom and the bathroom, she came back out. “I need to do some cleaning. Wash the linens and things, but I think it’ll work. I just can’t get over the feeling of being in someone else’s house. There’s still clothes in the closet.”

  “At this point, I seriously doubt they’re coming back,” I replied.

  Mom looked a little uncomfortable. She held her arms close to her side as she looked around the place. “It still feels a little strange.”

  “Look at this way. Some of the clothes might fit. And we sure don’t have much right now,” Dad replied.

  I hadn’t thought of that. They didn’t bring much with them. I looked down at dad’s feet and saw his shoes had holes in them. Mom’s looked a little better, but they were pretty worn as well.

  “I think that’s a good idea,” I chimed in. “Go through the clothes and stuff and see if you can use any of it. We have more as well.” Then, looking at Dad, I said, “We also have a huge pile of boots.”

  He cocked his head and asked, “Where’d you get them?”

  I shrugged, “Some are worn, some are new. I’m sure we have a new pair that will fit you.”

  He caught onto my deflection and said, “I’d like a new pair of boots. Didn’t think I’d see anything like it in my lifetime.”

  “What about cleaning stuff?” Mom asked.

  “That, we will have to get a little creative about. But we do have some stuff. For example, we make soap and also vinegar.”

  “Better than nothing,” she replied and then looked around and asked, more to herself than to either Dad or I, “Wonder if this place has a vacuum?”

  I knew then she’d be alright and said, “Come over to Danny’s when you need the cleaning stuff. I’ll leave you two to get things sorted out here.”

  Dad nodded, “We’ve got plenty to do for now.”

  Perez sat in the web seat of the Hummer’s turret, smoking, of course. Jamie drove; poor Ian would probably never see the steering wheel of another vehicle and rode shotgun. Jess, Doc, and Lee Ann all crammed into the back. They’d left the market in Altoona where there was little more than the usual trade going on and were headed into Umatilla to check on things there. As they passed a two-story brick house just outside of town, a rifle shot cracked close overhead.

  Perez nearly choked on his cigarette as he ducked the round, and Jamie jerked the wheel. Getting back up into the turret, another shot cracked close by, and Perez saw movement by the house. He swung the SAW towards the house and opened fire in long, tearing bursts. Several people scrambled around the brick two-story as the bullets ripped into it, sending chips of brick, wood, and glass raining down on them.

  Doc was sitting on the driver’s side in the back and had to lean across the two girls to see the house. What he saw shocked him, and he started beating on Perez’s leg and yelling, “Ceasefire! Ceasefire!” Then he hit the back of Jamie’s seat and shouted for her to stop. Perez let up as the truck skidded to a stop in the middle of the road. Doc was immediately out and running towards the house.

  Another shot rang out, and Doc held his hands up, screaming, “Cease fire!” As loud as he could. The scene went quiet, except for a woman screaming. Doc ran towards the house and slid on his knees to a woman sitting on the ground cradling a small boy in her arms. His face was ashen, and he was breathing in quick short gulps, his mouth working unnaturally as his lungs searched for air. He stared straight into the bright morning sky, unblinking.

  Doc quickly cut the boy’s blood-soaked shirt off. The wind was sucked out of him when he saw the hole on the left side of the little boy’s chest. For his size, the wound was enormous, and part of a lung protruded from it. Doc found the entry wound behind his left arm. He watched as the boy took one more gulp of air and gave a final crackling, bubbling exhale. His chest ceased moving, and the woman began to wail even louder.

  The sound of Jamie screaming brought him out of his stupor, and he looked up to see her red, tear-covered face standing over him, pointing her rifle towards the house. Jumping up, Doc looked around. Everyone was out of the truck, weapons trained on the side of the house. He held his hands up and shouted, “Stop! This is all wrong! Just stop!”

  “That fucker killed Perez!” Jamie screamed through sobs.

  Stunned, Doc looked back at the truck to see Perez’s body slumped over in the turret. His immediate instinct was to run to his fallen comrade. But the rivulet of blood pouring from the open door told him it would be a wasted effort and instead turned to see who they were pointing their weapons at.

  In the heat of the moment, Doc hadn’t noticed the small, dark-skinned man clutching the rifle wide-eyed to his chest. Or the fact he was talking a hundred miles an hour in Spanish. The woman at his feet was also going on in Spanish, and Doc couldn’t understand a word of it. But he put himself between the man and his distraught friends. Then, holding his trembling hands up and speaking softly, he said, “This has been a terrible mistake. Lower your guns.”

  Jamie, now openly crying, replied, “He killed Perez, and I’m going to kill the bastard!”

  Doc took a step towards her, “Jamie, he shot Perez after Perez shot his son. Perez was still alive when I got out of the truck. The last shot killed him. I don’t think this guy was shooti
ng at us.” He slowly and deliberately reached out and put a hand on the muzzle of her weapon. Any resolve she had to kill the man evaporated, and she collapsed on the ground, bawling. Ian dropped to her side and whispered gentle words into her ear in a futile attempt to console her. Janie stiff-armed him, and Ian fell on his ass.

  Doc turned to face the man, still gibbering, and held his hands up. He motioned to the rifle and for the man to put it down. He spoke slowly, saying the same as he did. The man looked at the old bolt gun, then at Doc, then at the group of people gathered in his yard and leaned the rifle against the house. Then, swallowing hard, he quickly went to the woman’s side and dropped to his knees. They spoke to one another in Spanish, and he began to cry along with her.

  Doc looked over his shoulder at Jess and Lee Ann, who looked on in shock. “Either of you speaks Spanish?” Both shook their heads slowly, and Doc walked towards the Hummer. As he passed Jess, he quietly said, “Very slowly, walk over there and get that rifle. Don’t clear it or anything. Just secure it.”

  He stood momentarily looking into the truck and the pool of blood on the ground beside it. Then, hesitantly he reached in and grabbed the inside of Perez’s thigh. Then, after a moment, he gripped the other. His head dropped and shook slowly from side to side. Then, pulling the radio from his vest, he took a deep breath and pushed the PTT button.

  CHAPTER 2

  There was total confusion over the radio when I turned it on. I was standing in the bedroom and had just picked it up. The truck had just left. What the hell could possibly happen that quick? The old man was screaming about QRF and wanting confirmation from people.

  “What the hell’s going on?” I asked over the radio.

  “The truck has had contact. There’s casualties!” Sarge shouted back.

  My knees got weak, and I asked, “Who?”