I heard the door open and looked at the clock, it was 3:35 am. Melody came in quietly, slipped out of her clothes and slipped into bed with me.

       I asked, "What was that all about?"

       "It was Stephanie, she had a miscarriage."

       "What happened?"

       "She told us not to tell anyone."

       "I won't. But wasn't it you that told me she was pregnant in the first place?"

       "Yes, but…"

       “C’mon, you know I like to know what's going on here in the compound so I can head off any problems."

       "Oh… Okay, but please don't tell anyone, even Der. Okay?"

       "Okay."

       "When I got there, Marsha was comforting her. I held her hand while Stephanie told us what happened. She said she was having sex when all of a sudden, she started feeling cramps and stopped. She went to the bathroom and got really sick. The cramps increased until she was in spasms and she was bleeding. And then, all of a sudden, she saw her baby come out, all bloody, in the toilet!"

       "That's terrible! I can see why you didn't want to tell me!"

       "She panicked, pulled the baby out of the toilet and wrapped it in a towel and then ran over to Marsha's with it and banged on her door."

       "Who was the guy?"

       "She wouldn't tell us, but she has a reputation for sleeping around and never told us who the father of the baby was."

       "Anyway, she wanted Marsha to revive the baby, but Marsha told her it was too young and probably dead.

       "To appease Stephanie, who was hysterical by that time, Marsha put the fetus on oxygen, but its color didn't return and, although it looked like a baby, it was in no way developed enough to breathe on its own. I arrived by that time and got Stephanie away from the fetus. I held her and comforted her. Told her that we would bury the baby in the morning. Marsha gave her a sedative and she fell asleep."

       "Will that hold you up in the morning? You're riding shotgun again."

       "I hope not. It shouldn't take long to dig a small grave and make a marker. I think Stephanie has begun to understand. We'll see."

       "Okay, I'm going to try to get some more sleep. I hope you can, too."

       We were both up at 5 am. There was a lot to do before heading out for the Valley again. This time, the convoy would be double in length and we would have four refrigerated trucks carrying fish and seafood. We planned to bring them back full of butchered beef, pork, mutton, goat, geese, turkey and chicken. As well as more live animals, grain, vegetables, fruit and nuts.

       It was 10:15 am when we got everything rolling from the port. The path created by our earlier trip and others taking that route made it a lot easier this time and we reached the fork in the road where the 99 was closed and it was still closed. But we were greeted with open arms by the sheriff and the community with the roadblock this time.

       They were in need of just about everything that they hadn't gathered from tolls, so this time we gave them a thousand pounds of fish and seafood, and promised that we would give them a similar amount of Valley trade goods on our return. Everyone in the village came out waving they were so happy.

       The sheriff said they had heard from people who tried to take 99 covered up to 5 feet deep in some places with mud and debris and couldn't make it through. But they were systematically working on getting the road opened because they didn't want to be bothered with starving people from LA anymore. Some had arrived only to die. They ended up giving more to those people than they took in tolls. Most returned to the city when they heard what was up ahead.

       It was 8:30 pm and already dark when we pulled into Grandpa Ralph's place, but the lights were on and when he saw Derek, Gramps cried.

       "Oh, Derek! I heard about your parents. Come here, boy. Give an old fool a hug! My how you’ve grown since the last time I saw you! You both have become such men… I'm so proud of you both."

       Melody and I joined Derek in the hug. Tired as we were, we didn't get to bed until late with all that he had to tell a roomful of us as we drank some local wine relaxing in the living room knowing we had a tough couple of days ahead.

       "Gosh, you guys have sure got somethin’ goin’ on. The Meyer boys have got together with other farmers in the area and when they heard you were comin’ have decided to all come together with what they have to trade in Eunice tomorrow so you don't have to go around t’all the farms. Should make transferrin’ goods a whole lot easier."

       I answered, "That's great news, Gramps. It will save a lotta time. We’ll have to save the salmon and sushi tuna we have for Rich and Cy. It's the best we have this trip. Have a little for you, too, Gramps." I chuckled and patted him on the knee next to me on the couch.

       "One more thing, boys. We've been hearin’ word outta Fresno that they was wantin’ to get the trucks rollin’ again East to Las Vegas, Phoenix and Albuquerque where they hear survivors need food. Some parts of town are still under gang control and local farmers have been talkin’ about goin' there and cleanin’ ‘em out so that business can start up again after all we been through."

       "When are they planning to do this? Derek asked.

       "They'd like to do it tomorrow, but with all that perishable food they can't. Cy told me that they could use all the man and firepower they could get, so if you could bring some from Los Angeles that would be a big help."

       Derek offered, "We've got a tank, but it would be a long drive and a lot of diesel to get all the way here with it."

       "Don't have to. There's a fella off 99 with a lot of surplus military vehicles. They are plannin’ to use ‘em. Some of ‘em is in workin’ order. Could use someone who knows how to drive and fire a tank. Land of Goshin’ Drake! You can?"

       "Sure can. You should see what it does to one of those little pickups with the machine guns mounted on the bed. Here, I have pictures…Derek projected pictures of the pickup that tried to get into the compound that he hit with an exploding shell from the tank on the wall.

       "I can’t imagine, Sonny. Had no idea you was military."

       "I'm not, but I'm a fast learner. We also have lethal drones."

       "How soon can you come back and join us?"

       "That depends." I cautioned. "Let's talk it over with the Meyers brothers tomorrow, but I'm sure we can help. If we're going to use the ordinance that guy has, we might need a couple of days to get it ready to roll."

       Finally got to bed sleeping wherever we could in a houseful of sleepers and only one bathroom. 

       When we arrived at Eunice the next morning, about 20 farmers had come with all manner of food, alive, butchered, fresh, frozen, packaged and in bulk. All the drivers and their loaders/unloaders all participated in the bargaining right off the backs of the trucks and trailers. In some cases, we were given live animals for little in return because farmers told us they couldn't maintain them without farmhands, so many now dead from the pandemic.

       By 3 o'clock in the afternoon the whole convoy was loaded and ready to leave. But I wanted to find out about what that military surplus guy had if we were going to come back in a week and use some of that equipment to fight the gangs in Fresno. Several of us unhooked from our trailers and followed Cy, Jr. to where the guy was--about 20 miles from Eunice.

       When we arrived, Cyrus introduced us to Bob Holcomb, the owner of Bob's Surplus. Bob was in his 70s and said, "I'm too old to get in the fight, but I'm afraid of what's happening in Fresno, so whatever you do to get rid of those gangs is all right with me. And you can use my equipment to do it."

       Derek and I were impressed with what Bob had. Not only did he have three fully operating tanks and two halftracks, he also had some smaller, more mobile rocket launchers and the like, as well as some surplus munitions. It looked like all we would have to do would be to take a day or so to train our guys on how to drive and fire the equipment safely. There wasn't time for what it would really take to train them. But Cy and the other farmers wanted us in the fight and we were willing to help out.

       We left early the next morning and by 3 pm were glad to be back at the port loaded with food and animals from the Valley. After unloading, Melody, Drake and I, along with others from the compound who went along, returned to the compound with more chickens, another cow and three more goats along with grain to feed them.

       At supper, we were glad to hear that Stephanie was feeling much better and back helping Marsha with both taking care of any medical needs as well as teaching young kids in the morning.

       But while we were gone, our new sheriff had his hands full.                      

Copyright 2023 © Ronald W. Hull

10/9/23