Conflicted Home (The Survivalist Book 9), A American [top android ebook reader TXT] 📗

of the truck. We rode around back and loaded all the cases from the cart into the bed of the truck. We found Alex sitting under the entry when we returned. He stood up and walked out to the truck. Aric had already unloaded his guns. The rifle was a Ruger 10/22 with only four rounds in the rotary magazine. The Taurus revolver had two .38 special rounds in the cylinder. I felt bad for Alex, wandering this world with only six bullets.

We handed him the guns back. I told him I’d put his ammo on the curb and asked he not load them until we were completely out of sight. He laughed, “I’m not about to try and shoot it out with you two. You’ve got more ammo in that rifle than I’ve ever seen.”

I laughed, “I appreciate that. Come to the armory in Eustis tomorrow and we’ll give you some food. What size shoes do you wear?”

He looked down at the tattered loafers on his feet and replied, “Nine and a half.”

“I’ll bring you a pair of shoes too. You going to try and make it back to Canada?”

The pain on his face was obvious. “There’s no way that will happen. It’s a couple thousand miles and I’ve only managed a couple hundred so far. I was in Miami when all this started.”

Aric snorted, “Shit, if you made it out of Miami alive, then there’s nothing to stop you from making it back to the Great White North.”

Alex smiled halfheartedly. “Maybe. But finding enough food is really hard. Plus, I have to hide every night to try and sleep. I’ve had some bad experiences. I was beat unconscious twice, everything I had was stolen, and it wasn’t much. I’ve learned the hard way not to trust anyone.”

“Alright, Alex, we’ll see you in town tomorrow,” I said as I got back in the truck.

As we pulled away, Alex stood in the sun watching us go. I imagined he was thinking of how that truck could easily transport him to Canada. If he could get gas for it, which he wouldn’t be able to. So, in reality, all it would do is make him a target for others that weren’t thinking it all the way through either.

“I feel bad for the poor guy,” Aric said as he drove us back towards Altoona. “Imagine coming from a country where things are probably still normal and being caught here in this shit.”

“I would imagine there are millions of folks like that.”

“Never really thought about it. But you’re probably right.”

As we were approaching Umatilla, I pointed to a couple of Hummers sitting on the side of the road and told Aric to pull over. There were three Guardsmen standing under the shade of a large oak tree on the side of the road. Stopping the truck, I walked over to a power pole and looked up. Terry, the engineer, was on it towards the top. He’d used climbing hooks to get up there and was cutting a sideline loose from the mainline.

Scott was under the pole acting as his groundman. I looked around and asked, “Where’s Baker?”

Scott glanced up at Terry before answering. “She’s over at a SECO yard trying to get a bucket truck running. They took a couple of mechanics with them. Damn thing won’t start.”

“Having the truck would be helpful,” I replied.

“You’re damn right it would be! I got spoiled with it.” Terry shouted down from the top of the pole.

We stepped back as he unhooked his belt from around the pole and started to climb down. This was always the hardest part. Getting up was far easier. Getting down had its own unique problems. Improperly setting a hook on the way down would lead to a fall, as you didn’t know it wasn’t good until it cut out. At least going up, the other hook would still be set, and you could test your weight on the next one. Most falls happened while coming down.

He was breathing hard and sweating like a seeing-eye dog at a Korean barbeque when he got to the ground. “It’s hotter’n a cookout in hell in July up there!” He exclaimed.

I laughed. “That’s pretty damn hot. How goes the work?”

He pointed up the pole. “One down. Several hundred to go.”

“He’s just pissed it’s his turn to climb today,” Scott said. “There aren’t that many more we need to cut. We may be able to have power into Eustis next week.”

“No shit?” Aric blurted.

“Yeah. We’re going to get power to the armory and the courthouse for now, but that’s it,” Scott said.

“That’s plenty for now. We’ll be able to move the clinic out of those tents and into the courthouse building as well,” I said. “Now, for the important question. What’s it going to take to get it out to us?”

“That’ll take a while longer. But we’ll get there. It’s a long run of wire that will need to be cut free,” Terry said.

“Well, I’m looking forward to it,” Aric replied.

“Got some good news as well,” I said. The two engineers looked at me expectantly. “We went up to Eglin and picked up an ass-load of food.”

“What?” Terry asked.

“You went all the way to Eglin Air Force Base?” Scott asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. We took a couple of trucks and brought a load back. Ammo too.”

“What kind of food did you get?” Terry asked.

“All kinds of stuff,” Aric replied.

“Flour, rice, canned meat and vegetables. There’s hygiene stuff. All kinds of shit,” I added.

“Where the hell did all that come from?” Terry asked.

“According to the Army, it’s coming from Europe, Canada and Australia.”

“Damn. It’s about time,” Terry said. “Me and Scott were talking about that. Wondering when we’d start to see the international community helping us.”

“Yeah,” Scott added. “We sure as shit did it long enough. It’s about time those countries helped us out a bit.”

“Well, it’s starting to come in. We’ll be bringing a bunch of it to town tomorrow.”

“Sheffield know about this?” Scott asked.

I shook