Small Town Survival -Three

3

The morning sun rose bright and early and found Gracie and Sammie already up and eating breakfast.

They noticed that phones and electric were still not on yet and the police radio was out also. Quickly they looked over the panty and cellar. They didn't open the chest freezer; but, went ahead and took the list that was taped to the top of what the contents were.

They went outside to milk the cow and put the fresh milk in the spring house. It would stay cold there for a couple of days in the cold clear water. The spring house was small rock shed-like building that was built over a strong natural spring. It had a rock basin inside that collected the water then "piped" it out to the house or barn areas. There was a cover built over the rock basin to keep it clean. The cover had a section with hinges that opened so that one could put things directly into the water to keep cool. All the run off was sent to the animals troughs and then on to the gardens. It's a really nice set up with water always circulating.

After taking note of what was in the barns and garage, Gracie said it was time to get ready to head back to town.

"Will my parents be there today?" asked Sammie.

"I don't know. We will just have to go and see" answered Gracie.

They packed themselves a good lunch and headed back to town to find out what was going to happen.

Town was in an uproar! There were bikes, horses and even a couple of older motorcycles and tractors all over the town square.

People were hollering to each other and talking in small groups. Seemed like most everyone who lived with 10 or so miles was there.

"Ok, everyone quiet down. We need to get things going. First of all everyone needs to come over to this side of the steps who has any kind of medical training. Sadly, Dr. Houchinson was killed last night when some thugs broke into the clinic trying to get some of the medicine kept there," said Mayor "Fuzzy" Feregrins.

The crowd erupted in anger. Dr. Hutchinson was a good doctor, for a girl.

"Now listen, the perps didn't get anything, the good doctor managed to protect the clinic. The perps didn't make it either. We have all the medical supplies locked up tight and we also have the grocery store guarded. Here's where else we stand: First off, we are on our own. From what Tucker says, and he's managed to talk to a couple of people across the country and even one in Canada, this is a worldwide event. Someone let loose a hell of a bomb or I guess I should say bombs. All to together they set off what we call an "electromagnetic pulse". So, it's gonna be back to the basics for awhile. A long while.

"Second: although we are kinda off the beaten path so to speak, there will be bad people coming through. A lot of people will be heading out of the cities and I wouldn't be surprised if we get visitors from Memphis or even Little Rock. As far as we know, the prisons and jails could be being emptied. So, we need to have everyone with any kind of gun experience or military experience or any kind of fighting abilities over on the south side of the court house. We are going to organize us a town militia.

"Third: Everyone left over; your job is to inventory everything we have as a town. Food, supplies, everything. Make sure everyone is accounted for and make sure everyone has decent food and shelter. We need to especially check on those who are older, alone, or usually need help. We did have some loss of life at the nursing home. It seems that the EMP stopping all of the heart pacers also. Many of the residents there had them. We need help putting them to rest and we would like to do this today.

"Finally folks, We WILL get through this -together. We WILL defend our homes and We WILL do so in a way that benefits us all! No one will be left out, unless that is their wish."

"Does that include the Baxter Boys too mayor?" Hollered someone out of the crowd. There were giggles all around.

"Yes, even the Baxter Boys are going to pull their weight. If anyone doesn't want to cooperate, they will have to be on their own. We have good people in this community! We have always pulled together; this won't be too hard if we work together. We CAN do this! We have to; we have no choice if we want to survive. Ok, now let's get into our groups and each group needs to pick 5 leaders to get things organized. Let's do this folks and God bless us all!"

Gracie took Sammie with her over to the medical group since she had extensive training in Natural Health. They quickly got organized and picked their five leaders. They decided on some mandatory rules that everyone needed to follow about keeping clean and making sure that all water was boiled before drinking or washing if it ended up coming from a source that is not usual. Gracie ran over to the library and picked up pens and paper to write the instructions on. Too bad the copier wasn't working, she thought.

Gracie suggested that she keep the library open so people could look up how to do things and write down any directions they felt they needed. Plus, she could have short classes on how people could forage and get their gardens going, since there was still time to get a garden in.

The groups organized until lunch time and they all broke out their lunches and the whole town had a big picnic in the town square.

Gracie and Sammie still hadn't seen or heard anything about her parents. So it was decided she would just stay with Gracie until they found out where they were.

Maggie and Tucker came over to where Gracie and Sammie were eating to join them.

"Ok Tucker, you knew something was going to happen didn't you? After all, you had us stock up on a lot of things this past month or so. Tell us what you know" said Gracie.