Some one is shaking me. I am tired, leave me alone I want to sleep. Whoever it is they are insistent that I wake up damn it. I open my eyes in the dark and there is my son with a candle in his hand. He is shaking me. He looks upset and very worried. I ask him what is wrong and he points to his ears. It's his way of telling me to put my hearing aids in. As soon as I sat up and put them in he says "Sis and the kids are here and they look bad." I grabbed my robe and put it on along with my houseslippers and went into the livingroom. There stood my daughter, her boyfriend and my grandchildren. As soon as my daughter saw me she broke out in tears and ran toward me grabbing me with all her might. She was crying her heart out and trying to talk but all I could get out of her is that she killed a guy. I asked her what happen but she could not stop crying long enough to tell me.
I walked her over to the couch and sat down with her and then asked her boyfriend what happened. He said they had been trying to get here for 3 days but there were so many people out in herds attacking cars and dragging the people out and beating them, killing them and robbing them of what all they had. A small herd attacked them and my daughter had no other choice but to throw the car in reverse and floored the gas to get away from them. In the process she backed over a young guy who was behind the car. They were pretty sure he was dead because she had run over him with the front tire when she backed up. They managed to get away but my daughter was having a hard time with what she had to do in order for them to survive.
After I had finally got my daughter to settle down by talking calmly and quitely to her I told her I know she felt bad but she need to realize that in taking that young man live she saved her own life and the lives of her children and her 5 month old granddaughter. I asked her to think about what would have happened to Kyle her 3 yo son and her granddaughter if that herd had managed to pull all of them out of the car. Chances were high that her boyfriend and the kids would have been killed and maybe even her but her daughter would have been taken, raped repeatedly and then if not kept as a slave she would have been killed. She had no other choice but to do what she did and it was that young man's fault for putting himself in that position so he was the blame for his own death. Not her.
Once I got her settled down and she had quit crying I had a really good chance to look them all over. They all looked very haggard. Their faces had a shallow look on them and they were all a lot thinner. I asked them when was the last time any of them had eaten. JR (daughter's boyfriend) spoke up first. He said that Kyle had been eating dry cereal, crackers and bug juice for the last few days and the baby had been drinking formula and eating baby cereal but the rest of them had not eaten in 4-5 days. He couldn't remember for sure.
I went into the storage room, grabbed them each an energy bar I had stocked up on. some instant mashed potatoes and a can of potted meat. I gave the three adults and Kyle the energy bars and told them that those would tide them over while I fixed breakfast and gave my daughter the potted meat and the potatoes and told her to fix just enough potatoes for the baby then to put the rest back in the storage room. I can trust my daughter to do what I ask. I then went and got dressed and gathered up the things I would need to make breakfast. There are now 13 of us now so I am going to have to be real careful about how far I can make the food last until we can start growing the garden again but this morning I need to fix a big breakfast because my daughter and her family need food badly. They are weak from hunger.
I grabbed two pint jars of my home canned corn beef, two quarts of canned potatoes and the two loaves of bread I made yesterday from the storage room and put them in my basket. I keep a big wicker basket just for carring things out to the garage to fix meals. I went into the kitchen and got out 2 dozen eggs from the refrigerator. Got out all the pans I needed for cooking and was getting ready to go out the the garage. It was earlier than I normally fix breakfast but almost every one was up because they had heard my daughter and her family arrive. Jen was the only one still in bed and before I knew it her husband had gone and woke her up and told her to hurry up and get dressed because there was an emergency and her help was needed.
I had to find another basket to load up because everything would not fit in the one. After I got both baskets loaded, my son and Jr each grabbed one and my nephew Mike grabbed a five gallon jug of water and we all headed out to the garage. My daughter and Jen followed us. My granddaughter stayed in the house to feed the baby while my sil took care of Kyle and Amy while John and my bil took over guard duty.
Jen got the coffee and tea water going while I started opening jars and putting the food in pans. Once the first pot of coffee was done I had her take it into the house and pour coffee for all who drank it, put the rest in the big thermos and come back out and make another pot. Once I got the food cooking my daughter and Jen took over while I and the guys went in the house to set up more tables and chairs for every one to eat. Thank goodness I still had my two 5 foot long folding tables and all those extra chairs I had stored through out the house. We had enough for everyone to set together for a meal. I asked my sil to get the butter and jelly out of the refrigerator and the milk for the kids. It's a good thing I had stocked up on tons of powered milk because we are going to need it for the kids.
Because we had a lot to get done today I had gotten out paper plates and cups to use to save on water and dishes. All that would need to be washed was silverware which could wait. After breakfast was over everyone started to get up to start their chores. I asked them all to sit down because we had matters to discuss and chores could wait for the day.
Water was going to become an issue real quick with this many people in the house. BIL came up with an answer for that. Since he had well water if we let him and a couple of the younger guys take the generator to his house they could use the geny to get the pump working and fill all the containers we could gater up with water. I did not like the idea of letting them or the geny go because of the herds that were out now but we had no other choice so I agreed and long as John did. Next up was heat. It's getting colder out and snow will be here soon. With 3 small children in the house we need to work on getting more heat in here and the kerosene won't last all winter. I had the stuff to make a rocket heater for the house and the instructions for building it. My son, Mike and JR said they would build it that night.
Next up was sleeping arrangements. I did not have enough beds for everyone and even with my sil's air matteresses we still didn't have enough beds. My sil solved that problem by telling her husband to grab the two matteresses off their beds and all the couch and love seat cushions at their house when they went for the water. Good thing he has a big pickup so he could haul it all. Next up was where everyone would sleep. There is no way I can heat the upstairs and its going to be to cold for people to sleep up there soon so we needed to figure a way for everyone to sleep down stairs. My hall way is huge so there is enough room to put a twin bed and a small crib there for my granddaugther and her baby. They would still be able to get heat. My bil and sil would be fine where they are because they would be able to get heat. That left my son, my daughter and her son and boyfriend and Mike and his wife. Since there was 3 of them I gave my daughter, Mike and Kyle the room hubby and I had been sleeping in. John and I took the livingroom. My son said he could bring down his twin bed and set it up in the diningroom. That just left Mike and Jen. Mike said they would stay in the little bedroom as long as they could because it was small their body heat would add to the warmth of the room and since it would be right above the rocket heater that should help to.
The last issue was a bathroom. With no water coming through the lines any more we can no longer use the toilet. And the bucket we had been using was just not going to be enough. The guys came up with the idea of building an out house out in the corner of the yard furterest away from the garden. The only problem with that was I did not have enough wood to do it. My bil solved that problem to by saying they would take his shed apart at his house and use the wood from it to build one. They could use the geny to power the tools they needed to build it.
With all those problems discussed and solutions choosen we went on to the chore list. My sil would be watching the kids, teaching the older ones to read and write and do light house work while the rest of us women did the cooking, laundry and other household chores. JR would help Steve (my son) and Mike with the chores they did. Guard duty would now be split into 3 shifts. John and Dave ( my bil would take day shift, Jr and I would take second shift and Steve and MIke would take 3rd shift. No one liked the idea of me being on guard duty because they said I had to much to do as it was and because of my hearing so it was decided the rest of them would take turns holding guard duty with JR. So that settled that.
With everything decided we gathered up all the empty containers we could find and loaded them up in the truck along with the geny and two gallons of gas then Dave, Steve and Mike went to go get water. My daughter, JR, Nikki (my granddaughter) and Jen unloaded my daughters car and brought in all they had been able to escape with which was not much. We sat up as much of the sleeping arrangements as we could till the guys made it back with the rest of the matteresses then I gathered up something for dinner tonight. I also made more bread dough and placed it near the kerosene heater to rise until time to bake it. With all the extra work everyone is having to do today they are going to need a lot of carbs so I will make a big pot of spaghetti tonight. Enough for everyone to have a big helping and I will make a pineapple upside down cake for dessert. I have gotten quite good at baking in my gas grill.
Some one is missing in my daughter's group. I figure none of them are ready to talk about it yet so I will give them a few days before I ask to see if they bring it up themselves. We can all tell they have been through a lot so none of us are asking any questions. Hopefully we will find out soon as none of them are really saying much of anything right now and they are all walking around in a state of shock. They have went through a whole lot more terror then just the young guy getting killed. We can tell that. But what we have no idea.
I walked her over to the couch and sat down with her and then asked her boyfriend what happened. He said they had been trying to get here for 3 days but there were so many people out in herds attacking cars and dragging the people out and beating them, killing them and robbing them of what all they had. A small herd attacked them and my daughter had no other choice but to throw the car in reverse and floored the gas to get away from them. In the process she backed over a young guy who was behind the car. They were pretty sure he was dead because she had run over him with the front tire when she backed up. They managed to get away but my daughter was having a hard time with what she had to do in order for them to survive.
After I had finally got my daughter to settle down by talking calmly and quitely to her I told her I know she felt bad but she need to realize that in taking that young man live she saved her own life and the lives of her children and her 5 month old granddaughter. I asked her to think about what would have happened to Kyle her 3 yo son and her granddaughter if that herd had managed to pull all of them out of the car. Chances were high that her boyfriend and the kids would have been killed and maybe even her but her daughter would have been taken, raped repeatedly and then if not kept as a slave she would have been killed. She had no other choice but to do what she did and it was that young man's fault for putting himself in that position so he was the blame for his own death. Not her.
Once I got her settled down and she had quit crying I had a really good chance to look them all over. They all looked very haggard. Their faces had a shallow look on them and they were all a lot thinner. I asked them when was the last time any of them had eaten. JR (daughter's boyfriend) spoke up first. He said that Kyle had been eating dry cereal, crackers and bug juice for the last few days and the baby had been drinking formula and eating baby cereal but the rest of them had not eaten in 4-5 days. He couldn't remember for sure.
I went into the storage room, grabbed them each an energy bar I had stocked up on. some instant mashed potatoes and a can of potted meat. I gave the three adults and Kyle the energy bars and told them that those would tide them over while I fixed breakfast and gave my daughter the potted meat and the potatoes and told her to fix just enough potatoes for the baby then to put the rest back in the storage room. I can trust my daughter to do what I ask. I then went and got dressed and gathered up the things I would need to make breakfast. There are now 13 of us now so I am going to have to be real careful about how far I can make the food last until we can start growing the garden again but this morning I need to fix a big breakfast because my daughter and her family need food badly. They are weak from hunger.
I grabbed two pint jars of my home canned corn beef, two quarts of canned potatoes and the two loaves of bread I made yesterday from the storage room and put them in my basket. I keep a big wicker basket just for carring things out to the garage to fix meals. I went into the kitchen and got out 2 dozen eggs from the refrigerator. Got out all the pans I needed for cooking and was getting ready to go out the the garage. It was earlier than I normally fix breakfast but almost every one was up because they had heard my daughter and her family arrive. Jen was the only one still in bed and before I knew it her husband had gone and woke her up and told her to hurry up and get dressed because there was an emergency and her help was needed.
I had to find another basket to load up because everything would not fit in the one. After I got both baskets loaded, my son and Jr each grabbed one and my nephew Mike grabbed a five gallon jug of water and we all headed out to the garage. My daughter and Jen followed us. My granddaughter stayed in the house to feed the baby while my sil took care of Kyle and Amy while John and my bil took over guard duty.
Jen got the coffee and tea water going while I started opening jars and putting the food in pans. Once the first pot of coffee was done I had her take it into the house and pour coffee for all who drank it, put the rest in the big thermos and come back out and make another pot. Once I got the food cooking my daughter and Jen took over while I and the guys went in the house to set up more tables and chairs for every one to eat. Thank goodness I still had my two 5 foot long folding tables and all those extra chairs I had stored through out the house. We had enough for everyone to set together for a meal. I asked my sil to get the butter and jelly out of the refrigerator and the milk for the kids. It's a good thing I had stocked up on tons of powered milk because we are going to need it for the kids.
Because we had a lot to get done today I had gotten out paper plates and cups to use to save on water and dishes. All that would need to be washed was silverware which could wait. After breakfast was over everyone started to get up to start their chores. I asked them all to sit down because we had matters to discuss and chores could wait for the day.
Water was going to become an issue real quick with this many people in the house. BIL came up with an answer for that. Since he had well water if we let him and a couple of the younger guys take the generator to his house they could use the geny to get the pump working and fill all the containers we could gater up with water. I did not like the idea of letting them or the geny go because of the herds that were out now but we had no other choice so I agreed and long as John did. Next up was heat. It's getting colder out and snow will be here soon. With 3 small children in the house we need to work on getting more heat in here and the kerosene won't last all winter. I had the stuff to make a rocket heater for the house and the instructions for building it. My son, Mike and JR said they would build it that night.
Next up was sleeping arrangements. I did not have enough beds for everyone and even with my sil's air matteresses we still didn't have enough beds. My sil solved that problem by telling her husband to grab the two matteresses off their beds and all the couch and love seat cushions at their house when they went for the water. Good thing he has a big pickup so he could haul it all. Next up was where everyone would sleep. There is no way I can heat the upstairs and its going to be to cold for people to sleep up there soon so we needed to figure a way for everyone to sleep down stairs. My hall way is huge so there is enough room to put a twin bed and a small crib there for my granddaugther and her baby. They would still be able to get heat. My bil and sil would be fine where they are because they would be able to get heat. That left my son, my daughter and her son and boyfriend and Mike and his wife. Since there was 3 of them I gave my daughter, Mike and Kyle the room hubby and I had been sleeping in. John and I took the livingroom. My son said he could bring down his twin bed and set it up in the diningroom. That just left Mike and Jen. Mike said they would stay in the little bedroom as long as they could because it was small their body heat would add to the warmth of the room and since it would be right above the rocket heater that should help to.
The last issue was a bathroom. With no water coming through the lines any more we can no longer use the toilet. And the bucket we had been using was just not going to be enough. The guys came up with the idea of building an out house out in the corner of the yard furterest away from the garden. The only problem with that was I did not have enough wood to do it. My bil solved that problem to by saying they would take his shed apart at his house and use the wood from it to build one. They could use the geny to power the tools they needed to build it.
With all those problems discussed and solutions choosen we went on to the chore list. My sil would be watching the kids, teaching the older ones to read and write and do light house work while the rest of us women did the cooking, laundry and other household chores. JR would help Steve (my son) and Mike with the chores they did. Guard duty would now be split into 3 shifts. John and Dave ( my bil would take day shift, Jr and I would take second shift and Steve and MIke would take 3rd shift. No one liked the idea of me being on guard duty because they said I had to much to do as it was and because of my hearing so it was decided the rest of them would take turns holding guard duty with JR. So that settled that.
With everything decided we gathered up all the empty containers we could find and loaded them up in the truck along with the geny and two gallons of gas then Dave, Steve and Mike went to go get water. My daughter, JR, Nikki (my granddaughter) and Jen unloaded my daughters car and brought in all they had been able to escape with which was not much. We sat up as much of the sleeping arrangements as we could till the guys made it back with the rest of the matteresses then I gathered up something for dinner tonight. I also made more bread dough and placed it near the kerosene heater to rise until time to bake it. With all the extra work everyone is having to do today they are going to need a lot of carbs so I will make a big pot of spaghetti tonight. Enough for everyone to have a big helping and I will make a pineapple upside down cake for dessert. I have gotten quite good at baking in my gas grill.
Some one is missing in my daughter's group. I figure none of them are ready to talk about it yet so I will give them a few days before I ask to see if they bring it up themselves. We can all tell they have been through a lot so none of us are asking any questions. Hopefully we will find out soon as none of them are really saying much of anything right now and they are all walking around in a state of shock. They have went through a whole lot more terror then just the young guy getting killed. We can tell that. But what we have no idea.