Tempest of Tennessee (Episode 1): Tempest of Tennessee Page 7

  In the Causley’s drive, I jumped from the bed and told John, “I’m going to the barn to fetch more weapons and ammunition. Park your truck in your garage.”

  “We’ll have to move boxes out of the way. I normally park in the driveway.”

  “Then move the boxes, you don’t want your truck seen. Other people may know old vehicles might run. Let Vikas and his family do the shifting. I want you to get your shotgun and watch the road.”

  John nodded. “I should have brought it with us.”

  ************

  In the barn, I moved bales of straw to get to the weapons and ammunition. I figured a pistol each for all five adults would do it. I gathered five of Billy’s nines and put those in a burlap bag along with extra magazines and ammo.

  At the house, I found the men and children gathered at the dining room table. From chatter and clatter, I knew Bella and Preeja were in the kitchen. I placed a pistol in front of John and Vikas and then fished four magazines and ammo from the bag.

  “Load the magazines. Vikas, if you need instruction, watch how John does it.”

  Rather than distract Preeja and Bella who were probably cooking, I sat in a chair and proceeded to load magazines for the women.

  As I worked, I became aware of two sets of eyes watching my every move. Vikas and Preeja’s children possessed the beauty of youth, open faces and wide-eyed expressions.

  “What?” I said to them.

  The girl said, speaking with only a slight accent, “Sunil says you are a killer. That you shot Sachin to lifeless.”

  I guess I was expecting chitchat, not an accusation of murder, But murder it probably was. If not dead, I doubted Sachin would recover from the shot.

  “What is your name again?”

  “My name is Sunia.”

  “Sunia, I shot a man who wanted to steal the truck from us. If I didn’t we would still be in Lexington where it is not safe. I am sure Sachin would not care about us.”

  The boy, Sunil declared, “But you killed him. I play often with his son and I know Sachin is a good man.”

  Vikas spoke, “Sunil, your manners. Miss Tempest took a great risk to bring us here. Sachin was not good when good was required. Apologize this moment.”

  “Please Miss Tempest. I did not mean disrespect.”

  Accepting the apology, continuing to slide bullets into place, I replied, “I didn’t want to shoot Sachin. I asked him to move but he raised his pistol… Look around the table. We are loading pistols because the world has changed, has become dangerous. Many people who were once nice will become bad people and wish us harm. We must protect ourselves.”

  Sunil said, “You are not much older than I. Perhaps I also should have a pistol.”

  I assessed the boy. Slim, a bit shorter than me, he seemed so much younger, though only three years separated us. “Sunil, when we have an opportunity we’ll see how you handle a pistol.”

  Vikas placed his second loaded magazine on the table. “Neither I nor Preeja have fired a weapon.”

  “We’ll have to do something about that.” Then waving to the kitchen, I asked John, “Are they cooking dinner. It seems a bit early in the day.”

  John pointed. “Look out the window.”

  I did and realized that the sun had set. The first day of the apocalypse was ending. Looking at the light fixture hanging above the table, I wondered that electricity still flowed.

  Aloud, I asked, “Did anyone think to buy candles?”

  Of course, none of us did, but John said he had a few on hand.

  ************

  Vikas and family made sleeping pads on the living room floor. I opted for the couch, but sleep eluded me because worry flooded me. I hadn’t seen a flash in the sky, but judging from the failure of electronic devices I was sure an atmospheric nuclear explosion had occurred. I wondered how widespread the effects of the EMP were. I knew I had a book at my cabin that covered the effects of the different aspects of nuclear war.

  There was another reason I wanted to be tucked safe at my cabin in the woods. It worried me being so close to the road. I simply didn’t trust many of the locals to react sanely to what I was sure to come, the complete breakdown of governance, at least on the local level.

  I knew it was only a matter of time until we were attacked, robbed, possibly killed for our food and other supplies. Within days, maybe already, the store shelves would empty of anything edible. Hungry people are dangerous people.

  Even if we moved back into the woods onto the WMA, after they killed the deer within easy reach, hunters would eventually explore every inch of it. Worry chased me into sleep.

  I woke. The sound of people chatting and moving about erased the remnants of fading, unpleasant dreams. Pulling the covers from my face, the Popat family were feet from me sitting foursquare around their Parcheesi-board.

  Vikas saw I was awake. “Good morning. We woke but let you sleep. We play the game to pass time. There is much to do today, yes?”

  Pushing away the covers, I sat on the couch and answered, “Yeah, we have much to do. What time is it?”

  Vikas checked his phone. “It is eight a.m.” He continued speaking. “Already I have gone outside and used the radiation detector. The readings are normal. In the bags from work are alarm clocks, the ancient kind that use a spring. We will need them. This morning there is no electricity to recharge our cells. When they die, that will be all for them.”

  The failure of the grid didn’t surprise me, but my mind went to the freezer compartment of the Causley’s refrigerator and their chest freezer.

  I was surprised not to see the old ones. “Are John and Bella still asleep?”

  Preeja answered, “No, Miss Tempest, they are in their garage sorting food. We offered help, but Bella said they wanted time alone to talk.”

  Replying to Vikas’s statement about the phones, “If your phone operates, why can’t—…? Never mind, the EMP probably took out the towers or maybe the satellites. For a while, you can recharge it if you have a car charger. Even in the vehicles that won’t crank, the batteries likely have charge.

  John and Bella must have heard me speaking because I heard John call, “Tempest, join us in the garage. We need to talk.”

  Preeja said, “Perhaps they wish to discuss where our family should go from here.”

  I don’t blame her for thinking the worse, but the worse was not my agenda. “No Preeja, I am sure it concerns something else. We didn’t bring you here to cast you out. Where would you go? John and Bella are good people.”

  As I entered the garage, I saw they’d opened the garage doors to allow in daylight. John pointed to the appliances visible through the open bi-fold door at the rear.

  “The power went out during the night. In the refrigerator and freezer is the majority of our food. Other than the shopping we did yesterday, we have very little non-perishable food.”

  Bella said, “I have plenty of jars and lids. If we hurry, we can preserve most of it; the vegetables and meats.”

  She was telling the truth about jars. On the shelves above the appliances were boxes holding different sizes. “That’s a good idea. Last night I was worried this might happen; that the grid would fail. We’ll all pitch in and get it done.”

  John said, “Yeah, we’ll get it done, but that’s not why we wanted to talk to you. Bella and I discussed this and we want your opinion. We think it would behoove you if you and the family moved into the forest. It won’t be long before town people and locals alike run out of food and come scavenging. If you all stay here we’ll have to keep a lot of food on hand.”

  Shaking my head, I said, “Then we’ll all move to the forest.”

  Bella shook her head back at me, “Hon, we can’t risk exposure to winter cold. We’re too old for roughing it and we’re not healthy enough. Here we have our wood heat and propane for cooking.”

  “But what will you do when the scavengers come?”

  John said, “Here’s what we think. To limit loss, we’ll nev
er have much food on hand at a time. When they come, we’ll simply let them have it. Push comes to shove; I’ll feed em double-ought-buck.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  Bella took my hand and squeezed it. “Tempest, honey, we can’t live even a short while in the forest.”

  “But my cabin is finished. I have heat—.”

  John chuckled and said, “I love your little cabin, you did a great job rebuilding it, but seven people… no way. Besides, we’d have to use your outhouse. I can’t picture myself or Bella sitting to do our business in an outside shitter during near-zero weather.”

  Still casting for negatives, I asked, “What about water.”

  John erased that concern. “The hand pump of our original shallow well still works.”

  Bella said, “Our minds are made up and all we’re doing is wasting time we should be giving to the thawing food.”

  John took my free hand, “Tempest, we’re old and near our end, but you and Vikas’s family are young with life ahead of you. Here’s what Bella and I think. If scavengers and marauders come visiting, they’ll rape you and Preeja and then kill the bunch of us.”

  Bella took over, “That’s right, honey, that’s the picture we see, but two old people, they’ll probably just take our food and leave.”

  John gave my hand a squeeze and released it. Bella’s hand had decided it owned the one it held. John spoke further. “This is what we think the day should be. Bella and Preeja will stay to do the canning. I’ll be here with my shotgun in case trouble comes.

  “You, Vikas and the children should make sure that all the food is hidden, I think buried in the hay bales will keep the canned goods from freezing and bursting.

  “Now think about the size of your tiny cabin. The five of you could crowd into it for a while. I know you were saving the piles of disassembled material to build a house on land you bought, but don’t you think it better to use it now; to move it back near your cabin and build a bigger space?”

  Without doubt, the circumstances of our lives had changed and I agreed with him about the material, but I had concerns. “It’s really cold out to be building and I doubt it’ll warm soon.” Then, on second thought, I said, “We should be discussing this with Vikas and his family. If they are in danger staying here in the house, rather than moving into the forest, they may want to make different plans.”

  Bella released my hand. “By all means, let’s hear what they have to say. Let’s take jars with us.”

  John bade Vikas and Preeja to gather with us at the dining table. After John presented his concerns about the proximity to the road and the possible alternative of moving back into the forest, Vikas voiced concerns of his own.

  “We have never attempted to be in a forest, always we live in towns and cities. It is true that because of us as Indians we are in danger from people who hate us because we are different.”

  “Do you have an alternative plan?” John asked.

  Vikas shook his head. “I have not enough information about conditions to make plans. Perhaps one of the different radios I took from Amazon, especially the shortwave, will have stations that function.”

  John startled us all by loudly exclaiming, “By god man, if you have a shortwave, get it out.”

  The canvas bags were against the dining room wall closest to me. I rummaged through the bags, setting as I found them, several radios onto the table.

  Returning to the table, Vikas was already unboxing one. To me, he said, “We will need batteries. I put different sizes in the bags.”

  Back to the bags, I went. Sitting and laying the packs on the table, Vikas reached for the triple A’s and inserted several into the radio’s battery compartment.

  Snapping the battery cover in place, Vikas said, “This radio has many settings including UHF and VHF.”

  “Does it have a scanning function?” John asked.

  “Yes, it has manual and auto tuning.”

  Vikas turned on the radio and the dining room filled with an irritating burst of static noise. He lowered the volume and pushed buttons. Other than changes in the tone of static, over the next couple of minutes, with us hanging onto hope of hearing a human voice, nothing came from his efforts.

  Vikas switched off the radio. “Perhaps there is much residual ionization from the atomic explosions but that should dissipate quite rapidly.”

  John reached for the radio and scrutinized its face. “It has a lot of frequencies. We’ll try again later, but we’re back to the original question concerning your immediate plans.”

  Vikas rubbed his face as if to relieve tension. “I doubt the possibility of us returning to our homeland in the near future. I do not believe returning foreign nationals to their countries will be a concern of the government.

  “We have no other option. Our fortune is with you. We appreciate asylum and will do our part in all endeavors. I fear we will need much direction. We have zero skills for living in the wilds.”

  Preeja partially disagreed with his assessment concerning their skills. “Living in the wilds, yes, but we are not completely lacking in skills. I overheard part of the conversation from the garage. At my mother’s side I learned the art of preserving food in jars.”

  Bella stood from the table. “That is wonderful. I can help at the beginning, but there is a lot of food in the refrigerator and freezer, more than my arthritic body can handle. We need to get to it before it begins to spoil. We’ll do the meat first.”

  Preeja stood to join her. “I wish I had my spices.”

  Bella chuckled, “You’ll find my spice collection is extensive.”

  “You have curry?”

  Bella nodded, “Yes, but let’s go easy on it. If you guys will bring in more of the jars and lids, we’ll get things ready in the kitchen. Stack the jars on the table here. We’ll need the breakfast table.”

  Preeja followed her through the opening into the kitchen. John turned his attention to us. “Let’s get the jars and then plan your day.”

  ************

  Hard work took the edge off the cold temperature, but it took three days to move material to a building spot near my cabin. The children worked as hard as Vikas and I. The last part of the third day, we spent staking out the corners for a twenty-by-twenty cabin, setting in place cinder blocks and making the sill band for the floor joists. Vikas and I had discussed the best options for the structure and we decided to leave the floor open with no walls to make it easier to heat.

  Standing around the fire in my burn barrel, Vikas praised his children. “You are a credit to your parents. With your help we will soon have a home in this beautiful forest.”

  I heard his words, but my mind was on what John had related over dinner last night. Yesterday an old model Chevy van arrived at my father’s house and he along with several other men went inside. They were in there for over an hour. John said that they came out, they stood near the van talking, and several times pointing toward the Causley’s house.

  I shared John’s opinion that my father was planning something, most likely to show up in force and take what was mine. John thinks a gang will come at night. My own thought is if they come, it will be in daylight so they can see what they’re doing.

  I made a decision, pulled myself to the present and said to Vikas, “We’ve all worked hard, but Sunil and Sunia bringing material to us worked harder than we did.”

  I waved back along the trail we’d worn in the undergrowth carrying lumber and other supplies. “Tonight I’ll be sleeping at the barn. You all heard what John said about the meeting at my father’s house. I’m worried sick that something is about to happen.”

  “You do not want us with you?” Vikas asked.

  “I don’t want your children there if trouble does come, and we can’t leave them alone here. You’ll have to stay.”

  “You are correct, but I worry what you can do, a girl alone. Will you go now?”

  “Yeah, I’ll need to make a bed before it turns dark.”

 
Walking to the barn, I met Preeja coming to join her family.

  “Good afternoon Miss Tempest. The preserving is complete. How goes the house building?”

  “We’re moving along. When you get there, you’ll see what we’ve done and get an idea about the size of the place. Tomorrow we begin the actual construction, putting up walls.”

  “I will be happy for that view.” Her smile left her face. “John’s heart medicine is depleted and Bella is not vigorous. I think worry is energy taking from her. I think it is John, always with the shotgun in his hands. I did not realize they are so old. Today I learn she is sixty-eight and he seventy-two.”

  “I’ll check on them before I make my bed in the barn. I’ll have to figure out how to get more medicine for John.”

  At the Causley’s, answering my knock on the door, John called, “Who’s there?” instead of opening it. “Me, Tempest,” John, shotgun in hand opened the door and stood aside to let me pass.

  I asked, “Was there any more going on at my house today?”

  “No, no one came today, but late last night the Van returned with another car following it, an old Ford. The van wasn’t there but a short while. They left the car behind, parked in their garage. Early this morning your father drove away. He had your sisters in the car with him.”

  “If he’s gone, I’m going to see Mama and Grandma. One of them will tell me if Daddy’s planning something underhanded.”

  John nodded, “That’s a good idea, but don’t let him catch you there.”

  “I won’t. Where’s Bella. Preeja thinks the stress is getting to her.”

  “It is. She laid down right after Preeja left. I have to tell you, Preeja’s been a heaven send to us, helping with the cooking and cleaning. It's gotten to where bringing in firewood is hard. My inhaler is empty and the cold air robs my breath.

  “Old ticker’s acting up too. I’m rationing my medicine, but that’s something the doctor warned me about, she said not to skip a pill because I’m supposed to keep it at a level in my blood.”

  “We’ll need to get more medicine for you. Does Bella need medicine?”