The Burning Fields (Surviving the Fall 5)

His journey through the national forest was peaceful and serene, far more so than he had expected. Aside from the occasional vehicle that had to be avoided he encountered almost no issues related to driving in the wet snow and slush. By early afternoon the snow on the highway was nearly gone and there were bare patches in many of the fields as well. Fuel was, as it had been ever since nearly running out after leaving Nellis, his primary concern. The lack of vehicles along the road was troublesome particularly since every one he encountered was either destroyed, ran on gasoline instead of diesel or both.

Rick drove as conservatively as possible, trying his best to balance speed with efficiency. By the time he exited the national forest, though, he had burned through a full tank of fuel and half of his reserves. He was starting to get worried about the lack of fuel when a small gas station appeared immediately after the “Thanks for Visiting” sign at the edge of the national forest.

With no guardrail in place and a clear path between the highway and the gas station Rick turned the wheel and bounced across an open field as he made for the station. He was about to pull in and park in front of the station when an uneasy feeling crept its way up his back and made him turn sharply to give the station a wide berth.

With the evening sun hanging low in the west Rick circled around the gas station at a decent clip, leaning down and looking through the narrow passenger window and front windshield at the station. Instead of a darkened interior like he had expected the inside of the station was lit with a wavering glow like that from a fire, candles or some other non-electric source.

A short sign sitting near the gas station that would have normally contained prices was instead covered with thick pieces of cardboard onto which a message had been written by hand in black marker.

We have fuel. Do not come inside. Park in front and we will trade. Try anything funny and you won’t live to regret it.

The last sentence made Rick snort in amusement but his smile quickly faded when he saw a metal barrel that had been set up next to the sign. The barrel was obviously meant as a warning to those who might try to take advantage of the station’s owner as it was riddled with bullet holes that varied in both size and pattern.

“Oh yeah.” Rick shook his head as he circled the building again. “This is legit. Let’s just stop at a place that promises to shoot me if I do anything ‘funny.’ Great. Just great.” Rick flicked on his GPS unit and thumbed through the options to look at the stored database of information about food, rest stops and gas stations along his route. The station he was at was the only one for another fifty miles or so and given his lack of fuel he wasn’t sure he had any choice but to stop and hope that the author of the sign was sincere.

Chapter 4

The Water’s Homestead

Outside Ellisville, VA

Dinner and the time spent reading and quietly talking with her three children afterward ended up taking far longer than Dianne had initially thought it would. By the time she was ready to talk about her fortification plans with Mark it was late enough that she decided to save it for early the next morning.

Mark dutifully took the first watch shift, staying awake and watching through the upper windows and the security cameras for almost four hours. When his time was up he woke Dianne and she continued the watch through to the next morning. The storm that she had anticipated arriving overnight never manifested and, much to her relief, the morning brought a cloudless sky with plenty of light for the solar panels.

After a quick breakfast and setting up Josie and Jacob with their schoolwork and cleaning tasks for the day she sat down with Mark at the kitchen table and broke out a spiral-bound notebook from a drawer. “I’ve been keeping notes on possible fortifications we can make around here. We probably should have started them before that guy ever showed up but I keep thinking every day that…” Dianne trailed off and sighed, gritting her teeth as she fought back a tear.

“I’m sure he’s fine out there. He’s probably trying to get back here right now.”

“Yeah.” Dianne wiped the edge of her eye with her shirt sleeve and focused her attention back on the notebook. “Anyway, we don’t have enough supplies to try and surround the entire property with something to keep people out. I think that would be pointless anyway given how much sq

uare footage there is and how few of us there are. So things like tall fences, walls or razor wire extending all the way around everything are all out of the picture.”

Dianne flipped through her notebook and Mark pointed at a sketch of the property she had drawn. “So you think we should fortify each building individually instead?”

“Yeah. Or the entrances at a minimum. Basically make it a huge pain in the rear end for someone to break in and steal stuff.”

“How so?”

“Reinforcing the barns’ big sliding doors and the smaller doors with lumber and extra locks. Make it so that they’d have to bring in a bulldozer to get through the doors. We could also take some of the razor wire we picked up and staple it to the outer windows on the house to make anyone think twice about breaking through the boards.”

Mark tapped on the edges of the sketch. “What if we took some of the long pieces of lumber and made moveable half-wall type things with whatever wire and spikes we can come up with? We can put those out in the driveway and around the generator shed and the solar panels.”

Dianne uncapped a blue ballpoint pen and drew in some squiggles along the driveway and around one of the small buildings behind the depiction of the house. “That’s a very good idea. I don’t want to put anything too far out on the driveway, though, because anything visible from the end of the road would just draw more attention to us.

“I think if we put some nails and razor wire on boards and stretch them across the drive after the gate that would be great. And we definitely need to add them around the generator and solar panels.” Dianne wrote a few notes to herself on the page and patted Mark on the back. “Nice thinking, kiddo.”

“Where do you want to start?” Mark stood up from his chair and grabbed his shoes from near the back door.

“I think our safety is the first priority so let’s start with the house. Jacob and Josie will be busy for a few hours with school and cleaning. We should be able to get the windows reinforced and then we’ll all get to work on the outbuildings after lunch.”

Twenty minutes later, after changing into double-layered shirts with jackets and thick leather gloves, the pair set to work unraveling the razor wire. A staple gun made it easy to attach to the boards on the windows and after a few mishaps and a short time of experimenting to figure out the best way to coil and attach the wire they were soon moving along at a rapid pace. It took the rest of an hour for Mark and Dianne to finish up and when they were through they walked around the house to examine their work.

Each of the several windows on the ground floor had been completely covered in thick, looping strands of overlapping razor wire. The wire was stapled to the boards and to the siding of the house as well, making it so that anyone who wanted to try and break through would have to risk getting cut up first. The back porch was left as-is though Dianne noted that she wanted to reinforce the front door later in the afternoon before taking care of the outbuildings. With only two entrances to the house free of impediments and deterrents the building was beginning to look less like a home and more like a fortress.

“Mom.” Mark scratched his head as he talked. “This place looks like a prison camp now.”

Dianne laughed and nodded. “Yeah, it does, doesn’t it? Still, it should make someone think twice about coming in.”