Conflicted Home (The Survivalist Book 9)

unexpected sight. A bucket truck was sitting on the side of the road with its bucket up in the air and a man in it. As we got closer, I could see it was Scott, one of the engineers. We rolled to a stop beside the truck and I got out to a smiling Baker.
“Like my new truck?” She asked.
I was slack-jawed and nodding. “Where did you find it?”
“Cecil actually found it. I think it belonged to the city of Eustis. It took the mechanics over at the armory about an hour to get it running.”
“No shit? That’s going to make the job of getting power back up so much easier.”
She looked up at Scott working in the bucket and nodded. “You like this better than climbing those poles?” She shouted.
He looked down. “Hell yes! We’ve already done more work today than we did in three days prior.”
I looked at the lines they were working on. “What are you doing? Cutting the side lines?”
Baker nodded. “Yeah. We’re just trying to get a solid line into town. We can always come back and add sidelines in later.”
“Good call. This is awesome. Is there anything going on in town? I don’t really want to go in there if I don’t have to.”
She shook her head. “No. Shane is doing a pretty good job. Between him and Mitch, they keep everything under control. That, and it’s so damn hot, no one is doing anything. During the day, the town is virtually deserted.”
“Good. That’s how I like it. I guess we’ll drive by the farm for a minute before heading back home.”
“They’re pretty busy over there right now,” Baker said. “Crops are coming in and they’re trying to harvest it as fast as they can.”
Terry was standing at the rear of the bucket truck, acting as Scott’s ground man. “They need to hurry or the people in town will get it before they can.”
“What the hell are they stealing it for?” Aric asked. “It’s for them!”
“It’s the whole bird-in-the-hand argument.”
I shook my head. “Everyone is just out for themselves. I imagine it’s even worse now since they all saw that mushroom cloud. I’m sure panic is probably pretty high.”
Terry snorted. “Some people have gone bat-shit crazy.”
“You guys need anything from me?” I asked.
“No,” Baker replied.
I waved Jess on and we headed towards the farm. Since I wasn’t driving, it gave me time to really take in the scenery. I’d driven this road many times since the Day, but it was like I was seeing it for the first time. As though I’d been away for a long time and just now returned.
Grass was now growing quite far out into the road. The roadsides were a tangled mass of vegetation. Some of it so tall it was falling over on itself. You couldn’t see far off either side of the road because of the tall weeds and even small trees that were now crowding the roadside.
I tapped Jess on the shoulder and pointed to a church that had been under construction before things changed. Jess pulled onto what was once the dirt driveway, but now was nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the field surrounding the construction site. All manner of building supplies was still stacked as though it were waiting for the crews to return to work. But it didn’t look new now.
Time had taken its toll on the materials. Rust and dust covered every surface. Vines creeped their way up from the ground and were taking over pallets that were now unrecognizable. But I could see what I was looking for and pointed it out to Jess, and she weaved in and around the piles and stopped.
“That’s a lot of copper,” Aric said, looking at the long stack of copper roofing intended for the church.
Climbing out, I said, “Sure is. And it’ll make a great still.”
Fred and Aric got out and walked over to the stack. “What are you making a still for?” Fred asked.
“We can use it for a number of things. But right now, I’m going to use it to make vinegar.”
“That’s why you got those grapes from Gena,” Aric said.
I nodded. “And the honey from Mario. I’m going to give it a shot.”
“Are we going to take this now?” Aric asked looking at the war wagon. He was clearly wondering how in the hell we would load a twenty-foot-long three-foot-wide sheet.
“No. I’ll come back with some tin snips and cut it up so we can get it out of here.”
“I want to go inside and look around,” Jess said.
“Go ahead. I’m going to hang out here,” I replied.
Fred chased after her, saying, “I’ll come with you!”
The girls ran off and Aric and I climbed up on top of the stack of copper. While he sat dangling his feet, I stood up and looked around. It was a bit of a vantage point over the tall weeds and I could see all the across the field behind the church. To the west ran the train tracks that used to serve the orange juice plant. I was shocked to see the field full of corn.
“Holy shit. Who planted that?” I asked as I looked across it.
Aric stood up. “Wow. That’s a shitload of corn. It’s funny how early on no one wanted to work in the fields. Now look at it.” He sat back down.
I sat down beside him. “From the sounds of it, there’s plenty of people wanting to get into the field now.”
“Yeah, so they can grab as much as they can carry and take it home.” Aric shook his head in irritation. “Why can’t they just wait? The food is for them. All they have to do is wait for it to be harvested and they’ll all get some.”
“Hunger is a powerful motivator. Especially if you have kids,” I leaned in and bumped him, “as you’re about to find out.”
He nodded. “I’m worried about that. What are we going to feed the baby?”
“I think Fred has the necessary equipment