I collected my ruck from the bedroom and gathered the boys up explaining the plan to them. Both of them were excited to attempt to fix the drones. It could mean great things for our family’s future if they succeeded. I had them gather their own rucks, and put them in the bed of the truck along with mine. I always kept a bug out bag for each family member just in case. Fortunately, they remembered to grab them plus whatever food and supplies they could fit in Chad’s truck when he came over to get them. Of course he didn’t think Chad would’ve let them forget it anyways, being extremely survival-motivated.
After a number of hugs from their mother and Mamo, the boys climbed into the truck. After I said my own goodbyes, leaving Dog there with Denise, I pulled the truck out of the garage. When we got to our house, not much had changed. There wasn’t any more damage that I could see from the last time I was here. With the boys in tow, I pulled my firearm and quickly cleared the house ensuring no one was squatting in it. I stepped into the garage and unlocked the garage door from the motor. I pulled the pins I had always secured to the tracks and slid the garage door up.
The boys, knowing exactly where the cabinets were buried, started pulling boxes and bags of household stuff away from the area. The whole process with the three of us took about ten minutes. Upon reaching the cabinets, we pulled the doors open and saw our emergency tote bins and five gal buckets were still there. I had stocked the totes with a variety of survival necessities. Medical supplies, extra cloths and blankets, and plenty of hygiene items including soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste. Other totes contained food items such as canned soups and sauces, beans and vegetables, dried pastas and dehydrated and freeze dried meal packs.
In a very heavy tote, I kept manuals of various types. They ranged from military manuals, such as my basic soldiering book, my Air Assault training manual, demolitions, first aid, basic rifle marksmanship and many more. I also downloaded many manuals and articles on various skills such as blacksmithing, depression era survival skills and cooking, bush-craft survival, farming, bee keeping, hunting, traps and snares, game and livestock processing, leather drying and tanning. Even manuals on wild edibles and medicinal plants. I had even taken the time over the years to print out hundreds of pages of information that would be lost if the grid shut down.
On top of the manuals, I had rolled up several topographical maps I had ordered from the U.S. Geological Survey or USGS for short. You could go online and find any location in the United States and purchase that topographical map. In addition, you could purchase the corresponding maps of the surrounding areas. With my land navigation capabilities, I found it prudent to have maps of our area in case we needed to bug out.
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In the lidded buckets, I kept dry goods sealed in airtight Mylar bags. Among them are beans, rice, flour, sugar and blessed coffee. I also had one bucket that was most critical to our family’s future food production. This was a bucket filled with hundreds of seed packs of various herbs, fruits and vegetables. If we could take over the school, and get the fields turned into crops, we could harvest in about a month using Alex’s overgrowth spell. From there we would have a never ending supply of seeds for the future. And of course, I couldn’t leave my fishing gear behind.
After loading everything up in the truck bed, we drove to Mom and Frank’s house. I continued to be even more wary of the people and movement I saw, figuring I was a huge target with a loaded truck. The only caveat being that no one could see through the totes and buckets. They had no clue I carried at least a few months' worth of food for a small family. Thankfully nothing disastrous happened on the trip to mom’s house. Upon arrival, I radioed the house, as had become the custom, and had Alex drop the bramble wall allowing the truck in.
While the boys greeted their grandmother and Frank, I pulled Alex aside and asked him how it’s been out here. “It’s actually not bad," Alex said. We’ve seen a few people here and there but that bramble wall has scared them I think. People know something magical is at this house. It has thorny vine whips that grow from random places and a plant wall that seems to grow out of nowhere, Alex said chuckling. Everyone has basically kept their distance.”
“I’ve helped Frank smoke whatever meat was in the freezer so it won’t spoil. Let's just say we won’t be short of jerky for a while. We’ve boiled some of the water we saved in the tub to refill one of the five gallon jugs we've used. We still have a couple of days of water at least. After that we're going to have to cart it from the canal a mile or so down the road.”
“Hopefully that won’t be a problem anymore after tomorrow night," I said. Let's talk to the rest of the family and I’ll explain the plan.”
I gathered the group and explained the plans we were putting into motion. Mom and the boys were excited to see what they could do with the drones. They opened the container up and pulled out the parts and tools they thought they would require. Soon the dining room table looked like a regular workshop.
Alex pulled me aside and asked, "Are you sure you don’t need me tonight? You know I can help."
“No son, I replied. But I'll need you when we take the school. Without knowing how many people are at the school, we’re going to use every advantage we have. For now I want you here protecting your grandparents and your brothers.” Alex reluctantly agreed. Seeing that everything I was supposed to accomplish was taken care of, I said my goodbyes again and told them all I would see them tomorrow. Pulling the truck out, and ensuring the wall was back up before I left, I headed out again, back to Chad's house.