Russian Doomsday Page 13

“I just realized it’d be good to get these down as soon as possible,” she said as she put them down. “I’m so glad this isn’t a damp basement, but nice and cool. These are the emergency non-GMO seeds from eBay that I ordered. There are 15,000 seeds in each package.”

  “That’s a hell of a lot of seeds. We won’t use those next spring, will we?” he asked.

  “No. Here, look in the box.” She tilted the box and he looked down in it. There were several larger mylar packs with the emergency seeds, then there were numerous packets of seeds. “We have regular heirloom seeds for that. Next spring, we can start them in the house. But with the emergency seeds, we have our own seed bank.”

  “Cool. What kinds do you have?”

  “Let me see… there are tomatoes, green pepper, zucchini, sugar pumpkin, broccoli, cabbage, corn and a bunch of others,” she grinned.

  “I don’t like broccoli, but the rest I’m good with. And if I’m starving, I’ll eat broccoli, I guess.”

  She laughed at him and set the box on a shelf. “At least the emergency seeds are good for ten years. I will order more next spring. Maybe just order one packet of emergency seeds each year.”

  “Yeah, and maybe, if the crap hits the fan, we can use some of those seeds for barter.”

  “That’s a good idea, Pike, it really is. I think we should put all our garden supplies down here for now, you know, the planting cups and pods.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t believe we are here. I was almost afraid we wouldn’t make it.” It was the tenth time since they’d arrived that she said it.

  “Me too. I keep thinking I’ll wake up back in St. Marys. But it isn’t a dream. We are here. Tell you what. I’m going to run into town to get a pizza. How does that sound? We can kick back for the rest of the evening and relax.”

  “Oh, that sounds good, Pike, I’ll hook up the TV while you’re gone. Clear us a little room.”

  She laughed as they headed back upstairs. It felt weird to know that he’d be coming back to his new home with a pizza. He was sure the newness would wear off, but for now, he wanted to enjoy it.

  Maryville, MO, 7 September 2018

  Margo woke early the next morning, Pike was across from her on the couch. She had the pink zebra blanket around her. She smiled as she looked at Pike’s sleeping face. He looked exhausted. After the pizza last night, he had set about putting a lot of the food stores into the basement. He’d cleared a lot of space.

  She looked at the time and knew he should get up. He’d wanted to go to the hardware store this morning. She nudged his feet a little and watched his face. She had to nudge a little harder, and then his eyes began to open. A slow grin spread across his handsome face.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead. I thought I’d better wake you. You said you wanted to go by the hardware store?”

  “Oh yeah, thanks. Do you have to work today?”

  “Yeah, but if there isn’t too much going on, I’ll come home.” She grinned. “That sounds good. Home.”

  “I know. It was as if time was working against us. I was going crazy and all I could think about was, ‘If we could only get into the cabin, it will be okay.’ Now we are home.”

  “Yeah, we’re here now. I am going to also drop off the keys to my apartment.”

  “Sounds good. Home sweet home.” He smiled and stretched, his feet nudging her.

  “You were right about this couch,” she said. “It was so comfortable. I don’t think I’ve slept this well for a long time.”

  “Told you. Oh, and I found a nice wooden box for your seeds. It will be nice and dry to keep the seeds stored.”

  “Thanks, Pike. I’ll put them in there for safe keeping. Okay. I will see you later this afternoon.”

  She got up and went to her bedroom. She smiled when she heard Pike talking to Binx. Then she heard the front door and figured he had let Binx outside. She went to the shower in her master bathroom. Pike had graciously taken the other bathroom. She took a deep breath and let it out. She was home.

  Later that day, Margo sat on the steps. Pike had surprised Margo earlier with several large bags of worm casting from the hardware store.

  “I figured I might as well start today with getting things we may use. Besides, it was on sale and I couldn’t pass it up. If not now, then later.” He’d grinned and blushed. She was getting to know Pike all over again. This time he wasn’t a geeky kid, but a grown man.

  She watched him surreptitiously as he stacked wood. He was sweating from working so hard today. A small part of her had worried that it might be a mistake living with him when he first suggested that they buy the cabin together. Buying a home was a huge investment, and also a lot of stress and responsibility. She’d not known him well enough to know how it would go, co-owning a home.

  But it hadn’t been a mistake. He was a wonderful man, and, she had to admit, she was starting to have more than just friendship feelings for him. She wasn’t sure if it was from all the tension about finding a place to be safe or working together for a common goal, but he was living up to the hype, walking the walk.

  She’d met a lot of men over the years, and most of the time they were all talk. No. Scratch that. All of the time. Except Pike. If he said he was going to do something, he did it.

  “That’s a nice woodpile out back,” Pike said coming around the house. He was filthy, and looked very happy.

  “At least we’ll have plenty of wood for the winter,” she said, wiping her brow once more and looked out over the lake. It was peaceful and quiet. Wood ducks swam close in to the shore in front of them. The mournful song of the loon rang out over the water, and the hair rose on Margo’s arm. It was beautiful, and she thought she’d never tire of hearing it. It was a mournful sound, sad and primitive. It had frightened her the very first time she’d heard it, as she hadn’t known what it was back then. Then she’d found out it was a water bird and had been enchanted. Now she could listen to them all the time.

  Near the edge of the lake were stands of birch, dogwood and elm. In the back of the property were massive oaks, maples, a couple sugar maples and pines, juniper, and even some pecan trees. A family of jays squabbled at a woodpecker, who’s resonant drumming filled the quiet air.

  “I almost hate to talk, it’s so peaceful here. If nothing ever happens, I think we made the right decision either way,” Pike said softly.

  Looking over, she smiled at him, and he blushed. She reached a hand out, took his larger one and squeezed. “I think we made the best decision. I don’t think I could have found a better home. Thank you for making this happen. There’s no way I could have done this on my own,” she told him softly, her face glowing with happiness.

  He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles gently. “I can’t think of anyone other than you that I’d want to spend an apocalypse with. I hope it never comes. But if it does come, I think we’re in a good place.”

  She looked around. “I think we should find someone to deliver a couple more cords of wood. Though we do have woods around us, I think it would be a shame to cut them down. Not to mention that, as of now, we don’t really have axes or saws. Plus, we wouldn’t be able to use the wood until the following year,” Margo said, her mind wandering on things that need to be done.

  “Yeah, you’re right. We can also store some in the basement. We can keep that solely for if the EMP hits and we have nuclear fallout. We’d have wood that wouldn’t be contaminated. Though I’m not really sure about what happens if you burn nuclear logs. But if it were winter, we could wait until the fallout dissipates but still keep ourselves warm. It’s difficult to think of every contingency. The more I think we get done, the more there is to do. It’s like doing a house renovation; you start with one thing, then something else needs fixing.” He laughed.

  He’d let go of her hand, and she felt slightly bereft. She turned her head and watched a painted lady butterfly flit around the honeysuckle that bushed around the side of the cabin, its bright orange colors playing hide and seek between the
green leaves.

  “We just have to breathe, Pike, we just have to breathe. If we can do that, I think we’ll make it,” she said softly, and smiled at him. Her eyes etched around his handsome face. His pale eyes were bright.

  “I can breathe now, finally. I don’t feel that overwhelming panic that’s been sitting on my shoulders. Would you call me a big baby if I cried?”

  She laughed and patted him on the back. “I’ve been on the verge of crying all day. Every time I go to the barn or to one of the outbuildings, or into the basement. It’s hard to explain.”

  “You don’t have to. I feel the same way. I think it must be like being on the Titanic when it was sinking. All they wanted to do was get to safety. You didn’t know if that big thing was actually going to sink, but something told you ‘GET OFF!’ And then you do, you’re one of the lucky few that gets on a lifeboat. And you sit there and watch the huge ship go down, taking all those other people with it,” he said, his eyes shimmering with tears. She could feel the sting of tears in her own eyes.

  “Yes, that’s exactly it. That’s a perfect way to say it. At the end of the day, you might actually have a chance at living.”

  Maryville, MO, 30 September 2018

  Sayer and Joy walked around the cabin with wide smiles on their faces. Sayer had to admit, the kid had done a good job in choosing a home. The cabin was solid, well built. He liked the outhouse, and had looked down the hole. It was deep, and at the moment there wasn’t any smell. He suspected it may have been years since it had been used. It would be very handy to have: no compost toilet needed. It was fifty feet away from the cabin and over one hundred feet from the lake.

  He looked around the forest and inhaled. The air was fresh, no car exhaust, no noise from boats… though he could hear an outboard some distance away. Noise traveled far on water. They’d found an old well that had been coved over with large stones. There was another, a narrow metal one, that had been dug and set up near the cabin.

  “You think this well might still have water in it?” Sayer asked, indicating the stone well.

  “I don’t know. Maybe we should spend a day moving these rocks and send a bucket on a line down and see how deep it is,” Pike suggested.

  “Yeah, that would be so cool to have an old-fashioned well. It would also be a good source of drinkable water that you wouldn’t have to boil, and you wouldn’t have to depend on some kind of power to run it,” Joy said, excited.

  “If it does have water, I think we should keep it covered at all times, just in case of nuclear fallout,” Margo said. She was carrying a basket of eggs she’d just collected from the chicken coop.

  “Good thinking,” Sayer agreed. “That would really be crappy, having a great source of water only to have it polluted with nuclear fallout.”

  A rooster suddenly crowed, and everyone turned. A white leghorn rooster came around the corner of the cabin, several hens following him. “Nice rooster,” Sayer laughed.

  “We got them last week,” Pike laughed. “I built the chicken coop with help from one of the guys at work. We have that boy and seven hens, and one bantam hen. We went to a farmer’s market and they were selling all kinds of chickens, goats, and pigs. You name it, they had it there. Binx thought he could take the rooster on, but he found out otherwise. Now he just follows them around, eating their poop.” Pike laughed.

  They watched as the dog, even now, followed several hens around, eating their droppings. “At least he doesn’t roll in the poop. Ewww,” Margo said, scrunching up her face into disgust.

  “The lady there said that if we wanted our own chicks, we’d need a bantam hen: they brood the best,” Margo said, her cheeks flushed with excitement. “She’s already sitting on six eggs. We are excited that we might get some babies. We get about four or five eggs a day.” She held up the basket to show Joy.

  “What kind of chickens are they?” Joy asked, her hand shading her eyes. Sayer smiled softly as he watched Joy’s face. She was so lovely.

  “The rooster is a White Leghorn, we have two blue Cochins – they’re the really fat gray girls with big butts. There are three Gold Lace Wyandots – those are the pretty ones with black-edged feathers. Then we have two Speckled Sussex hens, they’re very friendly,” Margo said, grinning.

  “Wow, you guys have really made this place nice,” Sayer said, very impressed. “You’ve not been here long, but from what you’ve told me, you’ve done a lot of changes and enhancements.”

  “We also found some wild grapes growing, along with wild blueberry bushes and blackberries. There is a huge bramble cluster in the woods, spread around the property. I’m hoping I can try my hand at making jams and jellies next year,” Margo said to Joy.

  “Oh, I have some wonderful old-fashioned recipes I can give you. You don’t have to use as much sugar either. I really love your place, and it suits you. It is very homey and peaceful. It feels like a place one wants to be.” She grinned her gap-toothed grin, her dark eyes crinkling into triangles.

  “I brought you guys a housewarming gift, Pike,” Sayer grinned. “Can you help me get it out of the truck?” Both men walked to the old Ford truck and Sayer let the back tailgate down.

  There were hand tools, shovels, hoes, a handsaw, a two-handled saw and an axe. Pike grinned at Sayer. “Oh man, this is awesome! These things were on my wish list. Thanks, thanks so much,” he said, his face glowing pink with delight. Seyer smiled and smacked Pike on the back with his broad hand. He liked the younger man.

  “Margo mentioned it when Joy asked her what she thought would be a good housewarming gift.” He laughed and slapped Pike on the back again.

  Sayer helped Pike take the tools to the small barn. The barn was the newest structure on the property. “I’ve been storing a lot of supplies out here, like paracord, plastic, nails, duct tape, tarps, and wood. I went around looking in dumpsters at building sites and dumpster-dived for the wood. Free is good.” Pike laughed and waggled his eyebrows.

  “That’s a good idea! I wish I’d thought of that, I’ll start keeping my eyes open for construction sites. You never know what you’ll need, and the wood is new, even if cut in different lengths,” Sayer said. Once more he was impressed. They’d not been in the cabin long, but he could see that they’d been going at full speed to get to where they were so soon.

  “I want to show you the solar equipment room. I think you’ll like it,” Pike grinned hugely, his eyes nearly disappearing into his cheeks.

  They walked back to the cabin, and Sayer saw the women talking by what looked like an overgrown garden. Upon entering the cabin, he took note of the homey decor. It was an open concept cabin; the kitchen opened up to the living room, and there was a large wooden farm table at which to cook, satin smooth from years of use. The kitchen cabinets were cherry, their warm color accented by a white counter that looked like granite. He noted the large farmhouse sink. He knew Joy would love this.

  They walked to the back of the cabin, and Pike opened a door. The room was little bigger than a closet, and had shelves with banks of batteries on one wall. Beside an electrical panel was the inverter. What struck Sayer was, the entire room was silver. It was lined floor to ceiling, like a mosaic of metal. Even the floors and the ceiling were covered. The seams were even sealed with some kind of metal tape.

  “My faraday cage. At least, I hope it will be safe if there is an EMP. In between the sheets of metal, we put thinly-rolled copper sheet and sandwiched them. I figured it couldn’t hurt. We aren’t using the wind turbine at the moment, as it’s exposed. If we do have an EMP, it will be useless. So, we built a faraday cage of sorts around the mechanical housing of the turbine. If there is an EMP, we can take the cage off and, hopefully, the wind turbine will work,” Pike said, a huge grin on his face, “Besides, the solar panels give us plenty of power.”

  Sayer whistled. “Dude, you’ve been busy as hell. I feel like a slacker. Geez, I should really feel ashamed of myself. I must bow to you. A friggin’ awesome job.” He pantomimed a lo
w bow.

  Pike laughed. “Sayer, I have to tell you, I’m scared shitless about the POSEIDON torpedoes. It was a wakeup call. It’s been all I can do not to just work 24/7 to get us in a place where we feel safe. We’re getting there, and we’re starting to feel like we’ll make it. There will always be stuff we feel we need to do, but each day it’s a little less stressful. I am sleeping better at night, not so many nightmares.”

  “I hear you brother. I have to say, I’m really impressed with the work you’ve done and all that you’ve accomplished in such a short time. You’ve done very well,” Sayer said, and meant it. If the shit were to hit the fan tomorrow, these two would be okay. They could survive.

  Topeka, KS, 30 September 2018

  Robert stood on 10th and Garfield Avenue. Stormont Vail Hospital, in the heart of Topeka, was at his back. He had his Bible in his hand and was preaching for all he was worth. People walked around him and he felt their looks. Some held pity, some ambivalent, most hostile.

  He warned them vehemently, and repeated the same verse over and over, Joel chapter 2, verses thirty to thirty-two.

  “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.”

  His voice was hoarse, yet he kept repeating his message. He’d had a dream, and in that dream he’d been told to tell people that judgement day was coming. If he was honest, he didn’t know if it was God telling him to, or his need to preach. He’d been so lost without his congregation. But, he went out each day, stood, and repeated his message.

  He was growing thinner. He hadn’t been eating well, and had become very depressed and despondent. But when he was out here, he felt like his old self. He promised himself that he would continue until people started heeding his call.