Mountain Home

[Christian for Israel]

Chapter 24

Jack stood beside the freshly dug grave. Looking at the newly expanded group around him, he spoke. “Lord, we commit the spirit of our young brother to you. Please take care of him and keep him safe, comforting him in your presence, until we are all together with you in Heaven.”

Closing his Bible, he picked up a shovel and, assisted by some of the new people, began refilling the hole. Robin had been an emotional wreck since they’d arrived the day before, and now she was crying freely. As the first shovel full of dirt landed on the body of her love, she collapsed, weeping uncontrollably. Pam and Mel moved close and helped the young girl up, carrying her back inside the shelter. Jack was also crying unashamedly, as were most of the rest of the group. Quickly filling the grave and mounding the dirt on top, the group went back to the garage silo to put away their gear. Jack intended to go into Boise later that day and look for an appropriate monument for his friend’s grave, as soon as he could find the strength to do so. For now, simply walking seemed to take every bit of strength he possessed, and making his way to the dining room, he collapsed into a chair, the tears still flowing down his cheeks.

A little while later Mel walked in and sat across from him. “I don’t know Jack, I’m worried about Robin. She’s taking this much harder than I would have thought. She hasn’t eaten since she found out, and only sleeps when we give her something. I don’t want to give her too much for fear of hurting the baby, but at the same time I’m afraid that all this stress will cause problems also. I just don’t know what to do.”

Jack shook his head, “we have all that medical equipment, and no doctor to use it. I don’t know what to tell you, maybe in time she’ll come out of it.”

“Maybe,” Mel said, not sounding hopeful.

Pam walked into the room, “well, she’s asleep, and without pills this time. I guess the stress finally caught up with her.”

“Well that’s hopeful,” the older woman said. “Maybe with time she really will be ok.”



Later that day Jack asked the new people to get together with him. They met in the rec room on the third floor of the dome, and Jack told them he had several things he wanted to discuss. “First off,” he said, addressing the group, “while I know that you all have seen enough fighting to last a lifetime, one of the rules we have here is that all adults are to be armed at all times. We consider anyone to be an adult as long as they act like one, no matter how old they are. But along with that authority comes responsibility, and part of that is helping with the defense of this shelter. Hopefully we won’t ever have to defend this place, but we have to be ready just in case. Therefore, I need to know, how many of you have experience with guns, and how much?”

Donald spoke up first, “all of us except Edward and Cindy have learned to use rifles and pistols, the group we were with insisted on it. They were too young as far as the group was concerned, which is why they never learned.”

Jack knew that Cindy was the girl who had awakened him at the airport in Darwin, she was ten, and Edward was nine. He agreed that they were too young to be involved in shelter defense, and told them they were dismissed and could go find Mike’s kids and play if they wanted. After they had left the room, he told the others he needed to verify their skill, and asked them to assemble topside in half an hour.

Riding the elevator up, he noticed the chill air. Realizing that winter was on the way and that they wouldn’t be able to get outside much more, he determined to get everything they needed to do, done before the end of the week. One thing they had to do was assign people to tend the animals. They would have to round up the cows soon and get them into the barn, where they could stay warm and dry.

Thinking about all they needed to do, he walked over to the group. A little over two hours later he was satisfied that they all could handle themselves in a fight, and issued battle packs to each of them. As they were walking back to the elevator, Jack asked Donald “does anyone in your group have any experience with livestock?”

“Actually, I do.” He replied. “I worked on a cattle ranch for three years, and I believe some of the others have done some farming as well.”

Happy with this bit of news, Jack told him he needed to know who had experience, as they would soon need to barn their animals and he needed someone to take care of them for the winter. Don said he’d get right on it, and went to talk with the others.

Returning a few minutes later, the young man reported that besides himself, Wendy, Matthew and Jason had all grown up on farms. Also, Ellen had spent a couple of summers at her uncle’s ranch, and was used to caring for chickens and milking cows. Jack was delighted to find so much experience, and asked Don to oversee the care of the animals.



Later that week they got the cows and the bull into the barn, and not a moment too soon as it started to snow the next day. The storm kicked off the season right, dropping a foot and a half of cold white stuff over the next three days. On the morning after the storm, as he was sitting in the dining room eating, Jack was surprised to see Robin walk in and sit next to him. This was the first time she’d emerged from her apartment since the funeral, and all of them had started to worry that she would never recover from the shock. Looking at her, Jack saw that she had dark patches under her eyes, and she looked like she had been crying again just that morning.

“Robin, it’s good to see you up, we’ve all been worried about you.” Jack said as the girl sat down.

Looking at him, she said “I want to know how it happened…everything. I need to know, I can’t explain it, I just need to know.”

Seeing that she wouldn’t be put off, he slid his plate away and looked her in the eye. “We had landed in Hawaii and were coming back from checking the fuel truck. I guess we had gotten lax because we hadn’t had any trouble since that trip to David’s place, and we’d let our guard down. I blame myself for that, more than anyone I should have known how dangerous it was flying into a totally new area like that. Looking back, I keep telling myself that I should have stayed away from the buildings…and I never should have allowed any of us to just walk around as if everything was normal…I’m sorry Robin, what happened was my fault.” Jack looked down, the tears coming again.

Seeing his pain, she put her hand on his arm. “It’s not your fault Jack, it could have happened anytime. Eric loved flying with you, did you know that? He thought flying was the greatest thing in the world. He wasn’t even that upset that the plague killed everyone, he said that, if it hadn’t, he’d never have gotten the chance to do what he did. We both are grateful to you for that, along with everything else you have done for us.” She trailed off.

Jack pulled himself together and said “I’m so sorry Robin, I wish I could change what happened, I really do.”

“I know you do, so do I. but we can’t. I’ve been praying all morning, and God has shown me that everything happens for a reason, and even if we don’t understand why, we have to trust Him that He has a purpose.”

Amazed at the faith displayed in one so young, who had already gone through so much, Jack simply looked at her, tears still running down his cheeks. After a moment, the girl got up and moved closer to him, hugging him and saying “we’ll be ok, God will get us through this.”

Holding on to the girl, Jack dried his eyes and said “You’re amazing, after everything that’s happened to you, you’re still able to think of my feelings. You’re a good example for the rest of us, of how to think of others no matter what we’re going through ourselves.”

Moving back to her seat, Robin smiled slightly and said “I learned it from God Jack. I learned it by watching Him.”

Realizing that she was going to be ok after all, as long as she continued to lay her burdens at God’s feet, he suggested she eat something. Robin admitted she was starving, so Jack went to the counter and fixed her a plate. Soon Jennifer and Mel joined them from the kitchen, and the group was able to move on to other subjects.

Jack announced that he needed to go out and brush off the wings of the C-130, now that it had stopped snowing, and asked if anyone wanted to help. Just as Mel and Jen were saying they had a pile of dishes to do, Robin asked if she could go. Jack thought that was a good idea, work would give her something to think about other than Eric. Telling her to get dressed and meet him at the hangar, Jack got up to follow his own advice.

An hour later, with the job completed, Robin was feeling better. A couple of the new people had heard what they were doing and immediately went to help. With their aid, they got done sooner than they’d expected. As they were walking back inside, the new kids started throwing snow at each other and at Jack. At first Robin just watched from the sideline, but when Jack caught a snowball in the face, she smiled for the first time in a week. Getting into the spirit of the game, she also started throwing snowballs at the others. They were hesitant at first to return the favor, but realizing this was just what she needed, they soon were pelting her with snow as much as each other. Finally tiring, they decided to go inside and get warm, Robin as much as anyone enjoying the companionship.




The rest of the winter they spent in the shelter. Mike had made contact with several hundred groups by the time the snow had melted. And the group was making plans to bring as many as possible to their home during the coming year.

Mel spent the winter months setting up a school for the children. Assisted by Pam and Jennifer she was using the encyclopedia and other programs in the computer, and had turned the rec room into her schoolhouse, at least during the day. At first the younger kids resisted school, remembering how much they had hated it before. But this was completely different. They found that learning was actually fun, as long as the one teaching didn’t try to push them or hold them back. Mel had homeschooled her own kids before the plague, and was well aware of the reason kids didn’t like public school. She did everything possible to ensure that her students enjoyed themselves while learning, and that they each were able to learn at their own speed.

By late winter Robin was bulging. Mel was amazed at how big she had become, but she seemed to be perfectly healthy. Except for needing help getting out of a chair or her tendency to waddle when she walked, she was as active as ever. Pam also appeared to be pregnant, and glowed, especially when Jack was around. The group had no way to be sure when either girl would deliver, but they knew Robin would be soon.

One evening in early March, Jack and Pam were spending some quiet time together in their apartment when Robin’s voice called out from the intercom. “Please…somebody help me…”

Looking at each other in alarm, they raced down to the girl’s place. They arrived just in time to see Mel emerge, helping the girl to walk.

“What’s going on!” Jack demanded.

Relax,” Mel said “her water broke, that’s all. I need help getting her to the clinic, I’d feel better delivering her there.”

Understanding immediately, Jack got on the other side and helped get her to the clinic. After getting her inside, Mel told Jack to go get Donald. Thinking that made no sense whatsoever, he looked at her questioningly.

“He’s got experience delivering cows, it’s the closest we have to a mid-wife.”

A moment later he told them that Don was on his way. Standing off in a corner watching the women get Robin into position on the bed, he felt completely useless. Finally noticing him, Mel said “GO Jack, you’re not needed here and you’d just be in the way.”

Not wanting to argue and glad for the excuse to be elsewhere, Jack beat a hasty retreat.

A moment later Don arrived. He took one look at Jack and grinned, finding it funny that he looked as if he were about to pass out. Stepping inside and smiling, he told Pam that her husband looked like he needed some help as well, then he moved over to Robin and checked her out. Looking up at the others he said “this may take a while, but everything seems to be going along fine so far.”

At this point the girl let out a scream of pain, shocking him and making him realize that she definitely was not a cow. Suddenly getting nervous, he continued to monitor her condition, but this time with a seriousness the others had never seen before.

Outside, the others had gathered. Standing with them, Jack was nervous, but very glad that he wasn’t needed inside. Finally Mel came out and told them that it might take all day, and that she would let everyone know over the intercom when anything happened. Hearing this, the group broke up. Jack, for his part decided to go to the dining room and see if there was anything to snack on. Pam had been restricting his snacking lately, claiming that he was getting fat, and now that she was occupied, he thought it the perfect chance to go off his ‘diet’.

Hours later, after an uncountable number of screams from the direction of the clinic, Pam’s voice came over the intercom. “Ok everyone, it’s all over. You can come down to the clinic for a short visit if you like, but Robin needs her rest, so make it short.”

Getting up, Jack walked quickly over to the door of the clinic. As he walked in he looked to Pam. Noticing a dab of chocolate at the corner of his mouth and giving him a disapproving look, she said “she had twins! Two little boys.”

“How are they? Is Robin ok?”

“All three are doing just fine.”

“Twins huh? Wow!”

Just then Mel pushed the curtain back and Jack saw little Robin lying there with a baby in each arm. Smiling at her, he said “hello mommy, how are you doing?”

“Ok I guess, just sore as heck.”

“Have you decided on a name for them yet?” he asked.

“Uh huh. This one came first,” she said, indicating the one on her right. “His name’s Eric, after his father. And this one, “she nodded to the other one, “his name is Jack, after you.”

Stunned at her revelation, Jack sat down hard next to the bed. “I don’t know what to say, I’m honored Robin.”

Suddenly a tear rolled down the girl’s cheek. “I only wish Eric had been here to see this.” She said.

Jack couldn’t respond. He simply nodded his head.

[DocOutlands]

Realizing that she was going to be ok after all, as long as she continued to lay her burdens at God’s feet, he suggested she eat something. Admitting that she was starving, Jack went to the counter and fixed her a plate. Soon Jennifer and Mel joined them from the kitchen, and the group was able to move on to other subjects.

Oh, no - that sentence will not do. The participle "admitting" refers to the subject of the main sentance, in this case Jack. Obviously, Jack is *not* she who is hungry. Therefore, it needs reworking. Off the top of my head:

Realizing that she was going to be ok after all, as long as she continued to lay her burdens at God’s feet, he suggested she eat something. Once Robin admitted she was starving, Jack went to the counter and fixed her a plate. Soon Jennifer and Mel joined them from the kitchen, and the group was able to move on to other subjects.

Actually, that whole section right thru there feels like it needs some polishing, but it would take me a little while to have any more constructive suggestions than this one.

Keep going - great stuff! Oh, and Rebec whimpered and moaned a lot during the last birthing (unassisted homebirth, y'all), but it *was* #4 delivery for her, so maybe twins on your first delivery hurts a lot more. Definitely something you should ask around about, tho.

[Christian for Israel]

screaming is more dramatic. :lol:

as for your other suggestion, edited. if you have any more, please let me know.

[DocOutlands]

Sure it's more dramatic, but for those of us who have been part of much more quiet births (all three of Rebec's that I was present for), it makes us stop and break our chain of story. I've talked with Rebec about it and she's fine with the screaming - in fact, she didn't realize she *didn't* scream! :D

[Christian for Israel]

Chapter 25

Near the end of March, Jack and Pam celebrated the first anniversary of their meeting. As both felt this was a personal thing, they kept it low key and simply spent the evening together in their apartment, talking about all that had happened over the past year.

A few weeks later, as the snow began to melt, Jack called a general meeting in the dining room. When everyone had arrived and found a seat, he called for their attention.

“We have several things we need to take care of this spring if we’re going to bring more people here this year. As I see it, the only practical way of moving people efficiently over the distances involved is to fly them, but I can’t do that alone. Therefore, I want to know who here is interested in learning to fly, and who would be interested in going with the others to provide security. Next, we will need to find some light aircraft that we can use to train pilots, as well as bring a couple more C-130’s here from Gowen to use to transport folks. One other thing we need to do is go back to the army reserve base in Boise and get some more M-249’s, along with some heavier armaments, so that the smaller groups that will be going on these trips will be better able to defend themselves.”

Looking around the room, Jack saw several people had questions. Nodding to Donald, he said “yes?”

“How many pilots do you need?”

“Well, I’d really like everyone to learn. We all know that it’s a dangerous world out there, and we may very well lose people if we try this. We all need to be proficient in as many skills as possible so the loss of one of us won’t deprive the rest of the group of a needed skill. But for this job, I’d like at least nine people qualified to fly the C-130, a pilot, co-pilot, and a security person. That way, if a pilot is injured or killed while away from here, the other two can still fly home.”

Ellen, one of Donald’s group, spoke up next. “How old do you have to be to be a pilot?” she wanted to know.

Jack knew she had just turned fourteen a week earlier and smiled as he replied “as long as you can reach the controls and handle the aircraft, I don’t care how old you are. Remember, everyone who acts like an adult and can handle the responsibilities of an adult IS an adult in my book.” The girl smiled at this, and he asked “any other questions?”

Pam spoke up, “how many people are we talking about Jack?”

“For right now, I want to concentrate on the North American continent. As Mike has informed me, there are about eight hundred people in the US and Canada who have made contact with us. Undoubtedly there are others also, but they simply don’t have access to radio gear or have other reasons for not talking to us. If we can expand by several hundred people this year, then next year we can try to bring in people from other countries also.”

Seeing that there were no more questions, he asked “How many want to be pilots. At the question, everyone’s hands went up. Smiling, he said “great. We’ll get started just as soon as the snow’s gone. Until then I’d like Mike, Donald, and one other to go with me into Boise to get more weapons and ammunition this afternoon.”

With that the meeting broke up. Everyone wandered off in little groups, talking excitedly.

That afternoon, Jack, Mike, Donald and Matthew took off in the Huey for Gowen field. The flight only took a few minutes, and soon they were at the army reserve building. Walking inside they saw that the storage rooms were still locked, and there was no evidence that anybody else had been there. Jack still felt uneasy in the area, but had faith that they could handle any problems they ran into.

Opening the storage area that held the machine guns, they loaded up a dozen SAW’s along with twenty cases of ammo. Looking further, they found several cases of M-203 grenade launchers that mounted on rifles and got them too, along with a dozen cases of grenades for them. When all that was loaded aboard the chopper, there was barely enough room for them, and they decided to head back and unload before looking for more.

An hour later they were back, and this time they came across a room that held anti-tank missiles, and a few more Browning machine guns. Taking two more Brownings and half a dozen AT-4 rockets, they decided they had enough and went looking for light airplanes they could use for trainers. Jack knew there had been a civilian flight school at the airport somewhere, and after looking for a while they found it. Sitting on the flight line, still covered with snow, sat three Piper Tomahawks and a Cessna 152. Landing, they got out to inspect the planes. Jack was delighted to find the Tomahawks, as the little plane was designed as a trainer. It had flight characteristics similar to much larger aircraft, and would be the perfect beginner craft to train his people to fly the large C-130.

After inspecting the aircraft, they decided they looked air worthy enough, and made plans to return as soon as the snow was gone and try to get them back to the complex. Having taken care of everything they needed to do, the men got back in the chopper and headed home.

By the first week of April they had gotten all the Tomahawks to the complex and begun flight training. The little planes had been structurally sound, but they’d had to replace the gas and engine oil to get them to run. Jack had filled a hundred gallon fuel bladder he had with stabilized fuel from his tank, and carried it to the airport, bringing Mel, Pam and Robin along to fly the planes. Draining the old Avgas from the tanks, they refilled them from the bladder. Next they found a good supply of oil in the flight school office, and replaced that as well. After they got the planes cranked and running, Jack found out that the batteries were too old to take a charge. Not wanting to have to jump start them every time they wanted to fly, he and Pam made a trip into town and found a battery supplier that had dry lead acid batteries in stock, along with a good supply of sulfuric acid to fill them with. Putting one in each plane, they were ready to go. After an hour of instruction on the flight characteristics of the little planes the girls got in and took off, followed by Jack in the Huey.

Back at the complex, they spent the rest of the day instructing the others, including Mike and Jennifer, on the basics of flight. The next morning they began taking the students up and within two weeks, all but one of them had soloed.

Deciding it was time to move on, Jack began instruction in the Greyhound for the better students, while the girls continued to work with the others. A few days later the last of the students, Rebecca, soloed and everyone was moved on to the larger Greyhound.

Jack saw that things were progressing well and, turning over instruction in the Greyhound to Mel and Pam, he started working with Mike and Donald in the Huey. He’d been concerned that he was the only one qualified to operate a real helicopter (the Kestrel didn’t count as it was more like flying a fixed wing), and wanted others to know how as well, in case something happened to him.

One evening in early June, as they were getting ready to eat dinner, the lights all over the complex went out. The group heard the generator kick in, and a second later the lights came back on, only half as bright as before. Jack came to the conclusion that something had happened to the power dam, and it would be necessary for them to fix it if they wanted to operate at full power from then on.

The next morning he took the Huey, along with Mike, and went south to the dam to have a look. Following the power lines, they ran into the problem about five miles from the dam. The lines ran over a series of hills at one point, and apparently one of them had suffered a mudslide due to the spring thaw. Landing, the two men got out to take a look. The slide had knocked down one of the towers, and buried a couple hundred feet of line. Realizing that this was going to be a major job to fix, they got back into the chopper and continued on to the dam.

The dam itself looked to be ok, and they soon figured out how to disconnect the flow of electricity so the powerhouse wouldn’t overload itself and so they’d be able to repair the damage without electrocuting themselves. Going back outside they saw that the lines headed off in two directions, and figured they could use the ones going to the factory as replacements for the ones that were buried. Back at the shelter, they informed everyone of the situation what they’d need to do to fix it.

The next morning they got a crew together and headed for the site of the trouble. As they were taking off Jack remembered something that had been troubling him, and set the bird back down again. Getting out without explanation, he headed over to the box where the power lines entered the shelter. Opening the box he disconnected the switch, cutting the complex off from the incoming lines. The last thing he wanted was for power from the generator back feeding the lines and electrocuting one of them as they worked at repairing the damage.

Returning to the chopper he told the others what he’d done. Giving him nervous looks, they asked if he’d forgotten anything else that might kill them, and he replied that he hoped not. This did not reassure them very much, and everyone was nervous as they finally lifted off.

At the site Jack saw immediately that the tower would have to be replaced as well, to keep the lines off the ground. Looking at the mess of dirt and rocks, Mike said “Jack, there’s no way we’re ever going to clear away enough of this mess to erect a tower, not by hand anyway.”

Knowing he was right, Jack replied “what do you suggest?”

“What we really need is a bulldozer. Also, a backhoe would be useful for digging footings, and we’ll need them if we’re going to mount that tower properly.”

“There’s no way we can get that kind of equipment in here Mike, we’re miles away from any kind of road.”

“What about flying them in?”

“Not likely, not with the Huey at any rate, its only rated at a ton or so in a sling load.”

“Could we find another helicopter, a bigger one?”

“I guess we could look, anyway.” Jack replied at last.

With the crew seeming more discouraged than ever at the size of the job, they returned to the complex to figure out what to try next.

That evening Jack got on his computer and checked the business directory for the surrounding area. Finding a logging outfit that mentioned having a heavy lift helicopter in Boise, he decided to go back to Gowen field the next day and try and locate it.

Spending the better part of a day looking through civilian hangars, Jack was beginning to worry that they’d never find what they were looking for. Finally, about an hour before they’d have to head back for the day, he got a call on the radio from Jason saying they thought they’d found what he was looking for. Getting directions, he arrived a few minutes later. As he walked into the hangar, a grin appeared as he gazed at an enormous helicopter. Jason walked up and asked “what is it? Will it be good enough Jack?”

“It’ll be perfect!” He answered, “it’s a Sikorsky Skycrane. They used to use these in Vietnam to move tanks around. If I remember right, it can lift about ten tons.”

Turning back to the weird looking craft the boy said “it looks like it’d break in half if it tried to fly.”

“I’ll admit it’s strange looking, but it’s just what we needed also.”

After spending the rest of the hour getting it ready, they managed to get the massive chopper started and idling before returning for the night. The next day Jack took his two student helicopter pilots with him as he went after the Skycrane. Getting the ship running they took off and headed to a local heavy equipment dealer and found a twenty foot shipping container. This they secured between the legs of the chopper and began filling with everything they thought they’d need for the job. Then they flew it to the complex and told the work crew to get in the container as well, as there wasn’t room for them in the cabin. Finally they took off and headed off towards the site of the mudslide.

Arriving, Jack set the container down near the work site and Mike got out to open it, letting the work crew out. Telling them to get everything set up he returned to the cabin of the helicopter and Jack lifted off, this time to get a small bulldozer. The men eventually settled on a D6 Caterpillar and got it running. They also worked on a backhoe, and planned to return for it as well. Slinging the D6, they carried it to the site, and Mike stayed behind to run it, as he had a little experience. By the end of the day they’d prepared the site for the tower. Having brought their camping equipment so they didn’t have to waste time commuting to the site, everyone got ready for bed.

Over the course of the rest of the week they disassembled one of the towers from the factory side of the powerhouse, and transported it to their site. Bringing in concrete mix and water, they poured the footings, them erected the tower. Finally, they salvaged enough line from the dam area and spliced it into the line running to the complex. After everything was set, Jack flew to the complex and closed the switch that connected the outside lines to the shelter and returned to the dam to complete the connection. A few minutes later he got a call from Pam saying the lights were on and everything seemed to be working ok.

Gathering his crew, they left the equipment where it sat and went home. Arriving over the complex they saw that the others had prepared a hero’s welcome for them, and landing, they took advantage of their new status.

[DirtPirate]

Bringing in concrete mix and water, they poured the footings, them erected the tower.

[Christian for Israel]

yeah, there were a couple errors in that chapter...sorry. :lol:

[Christian for Israel]

Chapter 26

With the power restored, the group was able to get back to pilot training. After a week away from flying, most of the students needed a couple of days to get back into it, and there were several close calls. Finally though, everyone seemed to be back to where they were before the power problem.

After everyone soloed in the Tomahawks, Robin moved up to instructing in the Greyhound as Jack pulled Mel and Pam to check them out in the C-130’s. After a week of practicing in the big cargo plane, they were ready and took over training of the others, freeing Jack to continue teaching rotary craft to his two students.

By the end of June both Mike and Donald had soloed in the Huey, and Jack decided to ferry them up to Gowen field and try to acquire more helicopters. Flying over to the army reserve area, they landed and went to make a thorough examination of the hangars so they would know for sure what they had to work with.

Most of the hangars had been used to house craft down for maintenance, or small fixed wing planes, but the last one they looked in had two Black Hawk’s inside.

“Oh man, will you look at that! Beautiful!” Jack exclaimed upon seeing them.

The Black Hawk didn’t have the range of the Huey, and was about as fast, but it could sling load four times the weight, or carry twice as many passengers. Knowing they could really use these ships, the men went to work getting them ready for flight.

“One problem with these is they were meant to be flown by two people.” Jack informed the others. “That means we can only take one back at a time. Mike, why don’t you fly the Huey back while Donald and me grab one of these?”

“Suits me,” he replied.

Climbing into the right seat of the Black Hawk, Jack started the engines and brought the rotor up to speed. When Don was belted in and ready, they took off and followed the Huey back to the complex. Landing and shutting down, they jumped aboard the Huey and returned for the other one.

Jack realized they’d need two more pilots if they were going to use both Black Hawks, and asked the others who else wanted to learn to fly them. He wasn’t a bit surprised when Mel and Pam volunteered, but was a bit taken aback when Robin did also. He still wasn’t used to the new assertiveness of the young girl, but saw that she was determined. Taking her aside, he said “Robin, I’m delighted that you’re interested in getting involved in everything, but I’m concerned about the twins. As young as they are you won’t be able to devote much time away from them for training, you’re already extending yourself to the limit training the others in the Greyhound. Would you be too upset if I suggested waiting until next spring to learn to fly the choppers? That way the kids will be old enough for you to take the time you’ll need to learn.”

Looking at him for a moment, she replied “I guess so Jack, I just don’t want to get left behind here.”

“I understand, we’ll try not to let that happen, ok?”

“Ok,” she said, looking slightly embarrassed.

With that handled, he returned to the others. “All right, as soon as everyone has soloed in the C-130’s, we’ll begin training in the Huey. Until then Mike and Don will build air time in the Black Hawk and handle any short range jobs that are needed.”



During the winter they had put together a list of the groups around them that wanted to be moved to their area. Not all the groups wanted to join them, and that was fine with Jack. He offered assistance to all of them, whether they wanted to join or not and as a result had fostered goodwill among their neighbors. As the first crew was formed for the cargo plane, Jack started sending it out to bring people in. he also got the others to go back to Gowen and bring in three more planes. That way, even if all three crews were out, they’d have one plane in reserve.

By the middle of July people were beginning to come in, and the group got them settled in the shelter to begin with. Jack was well aware that the shelter couldn’t hold too many, and already they had tripled the number of people living there. He proposed to the group that they retake and settle Mayfield, twenty miles to the north. It would have to be cleaned up to begin with, he explained, including disposing of the bodies of the former residents, but it would allow them to move into ready made houses, at least for the first few hundred people. After that they would have plenty of room for expansion.

One of the new people asked how they were supposed to get power and water up there, and Jack suggested they extend the power lines from the shelter to the town. “Once we have power restored up there, we’ll work on getting wells dug and pumps installed.”

This seemed to satisfy people, and they agreed. Jack explained that they’d need to plant crops next year (they had planted a large garden for the complex that year, but it wouldn’t feed all the newcomers), but for now they could ship in food from the grocery warehouse in Boise to feed everyone. This was agreed upon by all present, and they made plans to go the next day and start cleaning up the town.

The next morning Jack, Mike and Don used the choppers to shuttle in thirty three of the new people to begin the clean up. They had left the young children at the shelter, and taken anyone twelve and older to help with the task. Mike had trained Allison, his daughter, to use the radios and the girl was maintaining contact with folks all over the country. Everyone that wanted to join the group was told that first they had to agree to the rules, but no one had a problem with that. Everyone understood that kids in this new world had to grow up fast if they wanted to live, and they all saw the wisdom of living by the morality of the Bible, even if they weren’t all believers.

That first day they spent cleaning up enough houses for the group to live in while they completed the job. Almost every house had mummified corpses inside, as people naturally had stayed home as they got sick, and had died there. The job was gruesome, but they soon got over it. One of the good things was the bodies were light, as most of the moisture had evaporated out of them. As the bodies began to pile up in the street, Jack and Mike flew back to the complex and got the Skycrane in order to fly up to the site of the power line repair and retrieve the backhoe and dozer to facilitate the digging of mass graves. By the end of the day they had cleaned up five houses and buried the bodies in a vacant lot nearby, and were ready to stop for the night. Jack flew back to the complex and picked up a hot meal that was waiting for him, and brought it back to the town for all the workers. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits, despite the nasty job they’d done, and as soon as they’d eaten, they found places to bed down for the night.

Knowing they’d need a watch posted, Jack had asked James and Susan to get some sleep during the day and fulfill that roll during the night. He wanted to give the new people a good night’s rest as he knew the next day would be a hard one.

With new groups coming in daily, the job of removing and burying the bodies was over sooner than expected. By the end of the second week it was done, and there were more than a hundred people living in the town. With the job now completed, Jack got crews together to string power lines. In town they were usually able to use existing power poles, but in areas they had to simply mount insulators on trees. He knew this wouldn’t hold up forever, but it would give them the time they needed to build better supports later. This part of the country didn’t have many trees however, and outside of town was mostly open plains. Instead of trying to build supports for the power lines, they decided to find a trencher and conduit if they could and put the lines underground. That presented problems of its own, including the fact that the frost line was about four feet deep in this part of the country, and the line would have to go in below that point.

At the heavy equipment lot in Boise they found a trencher that was capable of digging as deep as eight feet and got it running. Sling loading it to the town with the Black Hawk, they started searching for suitable conduit. That proved to be easier said than done, and they couldn’t find exactly what they were looking for. What they did find was six inch PVC water pipe the city had stored on their lot, and decided to thread the lines through that. It wasn’t the best solution and sure was a pain in the butt to work with, but it sure beat building and installing hundreds of power poles.

On the day that power was finally restored to the town’s power grid, there was a celebration. There were almost two hundred people living in the town at this point, from all over the country. Most had been without electricity for the entire year and a half since the plague, and many had been hungry and sick as well. This return to civilization was a welcome relief after so long, and everybody went all out.

During that first night however, there were three houses in the town that caught fire. No one was living in them at the time, and they simply burned themselves out, but the people were afraid, fearing that someone might be trying to attack them. After investigating the fires they realized that the cause was electrical appliances left on when the lights went out. With the restoration of power some of these had come back on, eventually overheating and starting the fires. With their new understanding, the people shut off power to all but the neighborhood they were living in at the moment, and formed a crew to go through all the houses and turn off every appliance until such time as the house was again occupied. This seemed to solve the problem, and there were no more unexpected fires in town.

By early fall the town had grown to more than seven hundred people. As winter was approaching, Jack’s people ended the exodus flights for the year and helped the towns people get organized for the winter. So far crime in town was unheard of, but they insisted that all of the residents be armed and formed some of them into patrols that roved the surrounding area, watching out for trouble. The towns’ people also organized a town counsel to make decisions. At first they tried to get Jack to run it, but he declined. He had no desire to get involved with other people’s daily lives, although he was honored that they trusted him enough to ask.

Sitting with Pam in their apartment, her belly big with their first child, Jack confessed to her that he wasn’t sure whether this town was God’s will or not.

“I’ve been praying about this for the past year, and still I get no answer hun. In my mind I know that genetic diversity is required to have a growing society, but in my heart I’m still not sure it’s God’s will.”

“I understand your concern Jack, and I’m not sure what to tell you. I know the Bible says that God filled the world with people from just Adam and Eve, and that He could do it again if He wanted, no matter how many people we had here.”

“But the difference Pam is that Adam and Eve were created perfect by God, genetically perfect. There were no bad genes to cause trouble if brothers and sisters married and had children. After sin came into the world and brought genetic problems with it, that changed, and that’s when God changed things and said that incest was wrong.”

“But that doesn’t explain away Noah and his family Jack, scripture says that there was so much sin in the world that God destroyed everyone with the flood. Even if Noah were perfect genetically, what about his wife? Or his sons’ wives? Surely there were genetic problems in them, yet God still repopulated the world from just those eight people…couldn’t He do it again?”

“I guess so hun, but all I have right now is science. Anyway, I can’t see anything wrong with gathering folks together, whether for diversity or just to help each other live. There’s no doubt about it, the more people you have, the easier a job is.”

“I guess you’re right Jack, I don’t see where bringing everyone here will cause any problems either. I guess you should just do what you feel is necessary, at least until God tells you one way or another.”

With that, they got up and headed for bed.

[DocOutlands]

During that first night however, there were three houses in the town that caught fire. No one was living in them at the time, and they simply burned themselves out, but the people were afraid, fearing that someone might be trying to attack them. After investigating the fires they realized that the cause was electrical appliances left on when the lights went out. With the restoration of power some of these had come back on, eventually overheating and starting the fires. With their new understanding, the people shut off power to all but the neighborhood they were living in at the moment, and formed a crew to go through all the houses and turn off every appliance until such time as the house was again occupied. This seemed to solve the problem, and there were no more unexpected fires in town.

Why didn't they just throw the main breaker at each house until a new family moved into it and cleaned it up? I've forgotten the timeline, but when exactly did the lights go out here? Before or after the die-off? If before, no problems. If after, then wouldn't the fires have already happened between the homeowners dying and the power failing?

[Christian for Israel]

it was never really set forth in the timeline doc, but i'd guess the power grid probably went down during the die-off, but before everyone had passed. likely there weren't many people still using appliances when it went down, but then, there weren't many fires either.

yeah, flipping the breaker would have been smarter...i'm surprised someone on the clean up crew didn't suggest it. :lol:

any thoughts on what they're doing?