Chương 26: Chapter 25: Staging Logistics

I headed back into the bedroom to grab my get-home-bag, then gathered the boys in the hallway to explain the situation. The moment I mentioned the broken drones, their eyes completely lit up. They were genuinely excited to see if they could get the components working again. In a world where the rules had fundamentally broken, having an eye in the sky could mean everything for our family's security. I told them to grab their own rucksacks and throw them into the bed of the truck along with mine.

Over the years, I had made it a strict rule to keep a fully stocked bug-out bag for every single member of the family just in case of an emergency. Fortunately, the boys had remembered to toss their gear, along with whatever extra food and supplies they could carry, into Chad's truck when he originally picked them up from our place. Of course, knowing Chad and how incredibly survival-motivated he was, I doubted he would have let them leave the house empty-handed anyway.

After a round of tight hugs from Denise and Mamo, the boys headed out and climbed into the cab. I said my own quiet goodbyes to my wife, leaving Dog behind to keep watch over her, and backed the truck out of the garage. When we pulled up to our primary house, the neighborhood was eerie but unchanged. I didn't see any extra structural damage from the last time I'd driven through the area.

With the boys trailing closely behind me, I drew my handgun and executed a quick, cautious sweep of the interior, clearing the rooms to make absolutely sure no one had decided to squat in the place while we were gone. Once the house was deemed secure, I stepped into the garage, pulled the safety pins I always kept wedged into the metal tracks, disconnected the automated chain from the motor, and manually slid the heavy garage door up. The boys didn't need to be told twice.

Knowing exactly where our emergency cabinets were buried under the clutter, they immediately started hauling heavy boxes, storage bins, and loose household gear out of the way. With the three of us working in tandem, it only took about ten minutes to clear a path. When we finally swung the cabinet doors open, I let out a breath of pure relief. Our emergency tote bins and sealed five-gallon buckets were completely untouched. Over the years, I had meticulously stocked these totes with essential survival gear.

Some were packed with extensive medical supplies, spare clothing, heavy blankets, and an abundance of basic hygiene items like bars of soap, bottles of shampoo, toothbrushes, and tubes of toothpaste. Other bins were packed tight with dense food items—canned soups, pasta sauces, beans, canned vegetables, dried pasta, and dozens of dehydrated or freeze-dried meal pouches. In one of the heaviest totes, I kept a massive library of paper manuals.

They spanned a wide variety of subjects, including my old military soldiering handbooks, my Air Assault training manual, guides on demolitions, advanced first aid, and basic rifle marksmanship. Beyond the military stuff, I had spent years downloading and printing out articles on essential historical skills—things like basic blacksmithing, depression-era survival cooking, bushcraft, traditional farming, beekeeping, hunting, setting traps and snares, processing livestock, and tanning hides.

I even had detailed field guides on local wild edibles and medicinal plants. I'd taken the time to physically print out hundreds of pages of information, knowing it would all be lost the second the digital grid went dark. Tucked right on top of those manuals were several rolled-up topographical maps I had ordered directly from the U. S. Geological Survey.

Anyone could go onto the USGS website, locate their specific region in the United States, and purchase highly detailed terrain maps of their town and the surrounding counties. With my background in land navigation, I had always considered it common sense to keep physical maps of our area in case we ever had to bug out on foot. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Inside the tightly lidded five-gallon buckets, I kept our bulk dry goods sealed in airtight Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. We had buckets of beans, rice, flour, sugar, and—thankfully—plenty of coffee. But the most critical bucket in the entire collection was a single container filled with hundreds of survival seed packets for various fruits, vegetables, and herbs. If our plan to take over the high school worked, we could turn those open fields into massive crop rows.

With Alex's unique overgrowth spell, we could potentially harvest a massive food supply in about a month, ensuring a never-ending supply of seeds for the future. And, of course, I made sure not to leave my fishing rods and tackle boxes behind. Once we had everything loaded securely into the bed of the truck, we took off toward my mom and Frank's place. I found myself driving with an elevated level of caution, keeping my eyes glued to the rearview mirror and scanning every bit of movement on the sidewalks.

With a truck bed loaded to the brim, I knew I looked like a massive target for anyone looking to score supplies. The only saving grace was that the totes and buckets had opaque lids; passersby had no earthly clue I was transporting several months' worth of food for a small family. Fortunately, the drive passed without any major issues. When we reached the edge of the property, I picked up the radio to alert the house.

A moment later, Alex used his abilities to drop the massive barrier of thorny brambles, clearing a path for the truck to roll into the driveway. While the boys ran inside to greet their grandmother and Frank, I pulled Alex out to the side yard to get an update on how things were holding up here.

"It's actually been pretty quiet out here," Alex said, a slight chuckle escaping him as he looked back at the fence line.

"We've seen a few small groups of people drifting by here and there, but that bramble wall completely terrifies them. People can tell just by looking at it that there's some kind of magical element protecting this house. It's got these thick, thorny vine whips that visibly twitch and grow out of random spots, and a massive plant wall that looks like it sprouted overnight. Everyone has basically given us a wide berth." He gestured toward the back porch where a faint trail of woodsmoke was drifting into the sky.

"I've been helping Frank smoke whatever meat we had left in the freezer so it doesn't spoil in the heat. Let's just say we aren't going to be running short on jerky anytime soon. We also boiled a batch of the water we saved in the guest bathtub to refill one of our empty five-gallon jugs. We still have a couple of days of clean water left at least. Once that runs out, we're going to have to start carting empty containers down to the canal about a mile away."

"Hopefully, water won't be an issue for us after tomorrow night," I said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Let's head inside, gather the rest of the family, and I'll lay out exactly what we're planning." I brought the whole group together in the living room and walked them through the strategy we were putting into motion. Mom and the boys were incredibly eager to get their hands on the damaged surveillance gear to see what they could accomplish. They immediately unlocked the shielded storage container, hauling out the specific electronic components, soldering irons, and precision tools they figured they'd need.

Within twenty minutes, the entire dining room table had been completely transformed into an active engineering workshop. As the boys started tinkering with the wires, Alex caught my eye and pulled me over to the front door.

"Dad, are you absolutely sure you don't need me to tag along with you guys tonight? You know I can help back you up if things go sideways."

"No, son," I replied softly, keeping my tone warm but firm.

"I need you to sit tight on this one. But I am absolutely going to need your unique abilities when we make our move on the high school tomorrow. Without knowing the exact headcount of the people occupying that campus, we are going to need to utilize every single advantage we possess. For tonight, your primary mission is right here—protecting your grandparents and keeping an eye on your brothers." Alex clearly didn't like being left behind, but he understood the logic and gave me a reluctant nod.

Seeing that all my primary tasks for the afternoon were fully taken care of, I said my goodbyes to the family, promising them I'd be back tomorrow to check on their progress. I pulled the truck out of the driveway, waiting long enough to ensure Alex had raised the defensive bramble wall securely behind me, and pointed the truck back toward Chad's house.