Chapter 12

We talked for a while and finally decided upon the perimeter. We would cut well south to Macon and head north. Sarah played with her laptop and found a store in Macon! We all liked that idea since it gave us hope of avoiding the Atlanta area.

My new truck had a hitch receiver on it. We went back to the dealership and went through the parts department hoping to find the piece to slide into the receiver. There were plenty of hitch balls of various sizes. In the service area, we found wrenches to change the balls out; I could now pull a trailer. I knew of a place on I-20 but wanted to avoid that area. We loaded up with a couple of hitches and balls. I wasn’t worried about trailer lighting because there just wasn’t traffic.

We left a day later swinging well south before heading westerly for Macon. We went armed and ready for trouble though hoped for quiet. The trip was uneventful. The store was in the northern part of Macon. It was a storefront with a warehouse in the back. They hadn’t kept much inventory. We were lucky to find the generator we wanted. We managed to load it into into the back of the truck but it took up most of the bed. There were more parts and pieces that we wanted so we went in search of a trailer.

We found a nice one at a big box home improvement store. It was big and could carry a lot with its two axles. We hooked it up and went into the store to get some useful items like web tie-downs and other equipment including a clamp-on jack. I attached it close to the tongue and grabbed a plastic box for the rest. We loaded some wood and a number of bags of cement into the trailer. We went back to the store and loaded the rest of the materials into the trailer and tied it all down. We stopped to eat at a fast food restaurant. We found enough good food for us though the bread was not good. We got back in the truck and were finally prepared to head back to the house. Sarah saw a Kroger and wanted us to stop and get food. She hoped it would have food we hadn’t found locally.

Not only did we find food but we also found people who drove up as we were loading our finds into the truck and trailer. Alice and Stella saw them and warned the rest of us. We were ready for trouble but hoping for friends.

Alice and I stepped out, armed but with our right arms raised for peace while the other three of us kept to cover. Three people got out of the SUV. It was a man and woman and a teenage fellow. The man held his hand up for peace and we met them in the lot. All three had pistols in holsters and the teenager was also holding a rifle though not pointing it at us.

I said, “I’m Hank Rivers and this is my niece, Alice Rogers. Sarah Hopkins and Stella and Bill Prescott are also part of our party.”

The man said, “Glad to meet you, Hank. I’m Jim Stevenson. This is my wife, Jane, and our son, Trevor. We live close by. Where are you from?”

I said, “We’re from Newton county south of Covington. As you can see, we’re preparing for the power outage that we expect sooner or later.”

Missus Stevenson sounded surprised. “What do you mean? The power is fine.”

Sarah nodded. “It is now but power outages happen and there’s no one going to fix them. All the workers are zombies or eaten.”

She looked at Sarah. “We hadn’t gotten to that thought. We thought we were being prepared by checking the stores and carrying weapons. Were you preppers before the Eclipse?”

Sarah chuckled. “No. We didn’t even know each other then. I lived on a hobby farm with my parents and taught school. I was sick during the Eclipse. I met Hank and Alice who were searching for a more farm-like place. Since then, we’ve fought off a gang preying on people. We’re trying to think for the long haul.”

Jim Stevenson said, “Let’s go somewhere where we can sit and talk. We’ve been trying to avoid being seen while out in public. The crazies or zombies are not fun.”

Alice said, ‘There’s a Taco Bell. We can go there and fix soft drinks and snacks.” That’s what we did. We entered and sat down to talk.

Alice served us soft drinks from their machine. She served chips with the help of the Stevenson’s son, Trevor. He seemed quite willing, even eager, to help Alice. I didn’t blame him. I thought Alice an attractive young lady. They sat together at a table.

The adults talked. Jim wanted to know what we were planning. Sarah said, “We’ve been talking about that. This situation is unprecedented. The preppers had some thoughts about what to do but I didn’t think they really considered things thoroughly. We don’t know that we have either but are trying to think things through.

“We are thinking first about power and then about becoming farmers. Food in the stores won’t last. After it runs out is not the time to try to accomplish growing food. We will need a tractor and fuel for it. I think diesel will outlast gasoline before it degrades.”

I said, “The area in which we are living now has plenty of room for farms. We know we can get along for this year. Next year will find that time for farming will bear results. We figure power is more important right now so it’s first. Houses aren’t designed for use without power. The house we’re in is big but needs power for air conditioning and for its well.”

Jane said, “I don’t think our house would work well without power. It’s all electric. We don’t have a lot of land for farming either.” She sighed. “Jim, perhaps we might join up with Hank, Sarah, and their friends. I would like some people around, too.”

Jim said, “I agree. I think Hank and Sarah have some good ideas. Hank, it would take us about a day to pack. We could start out day after tomorrow.”

“That works. Let’s trade numbers. We’ll show you the route to take to get close. We’re concerned about the gang still in downtown Covington even though we’ve hurt them badly.”

We did those two things plus got to know everyone better. Alice seemed to be making a real connection with Trevor. I hoped they would come out successfully to our place. We took our leave and traveled back to our house arriving by dusk. There didn’t appear any likelihood of rain so we left the truck and our purloined trailer outside and loaded. We went inside to prepare dinner.

Sarah asked, “Alice, how’s things with Trevor?”

Alice smiled fiendishly. “I’ll tell you but then you have to tell us how things are with my uncle. Our little family here wants to know.” Sarah blushed bright red.

Alice grinned and then said, “Things with Trevor are going well. We’ll have to see how well they do on the trip and when they get here. I like him. He said good things while we talked at the Taco Bell. I’m more comfortable with his outlook for the future than Arnold or Kevin. Now, what about you, Sarah?”

Sarah grinned, “I didn’t meet anyone today who might be a love interest.”

Alice asked, “Do you know anyone who might be a love interest to you?”