Grant’s calm and confidence was exactly what Lisa needed. She wanted him to be in the safe volunteer fire station with her. But she was watching everything that he was doing and had to admit that he needed to be doing all that. Organizing, motivating, training. Leading. She was proud of him, but she just wished he could excel at something else, like being a lawyer in a nice subdivision without gangs and food shortages. With law and order and a prosperous economy. She wanted the old days back. Most of her thoughts kept coming back to that. She desperately wanted “normal” back.
Finally, the break of dawn came. It was such an awesome sight. Now Grant understood the phrase, “Pray for dawn.” It meant there wouldn’t be a fight that night. People were now thoroughly restless. It was obvious an attack wasn’t coming right now.
Or was it? Dan reminded people that dawn is one of the most likely times for an attack. Defenders are tired from being up all night and that crack of light helps attackers see. Motivating people was getting harder and harder the longer they were there in a constant state of readiness.
The sun was finally up all the way, and it was morning. People were really tired now. Quite a few fell asleep right where they were. The two-hour nap thing kind of broke down.
Dan and Rich motioned for Grant to come over. “I think it’s time to let half of them go back,” Dan said. “What do you guys think?”
Grant looked at Rich. He was glad to be included in leadership decisions like this, but was very conscious that he had no military or law enforcement training. Grant was trying very hard not to overstep the authority he had earned.
Rich took the cue. He appreciated that Grant was focusing on political and organizational things instead of trying to be the big boss, especially on military matters. “Oh, yeah,” Rich said, “we need to get them back. They’ll just fall asleep on us and our command authority will be lost.” Grant just nodded. He was thinking the same thing.
Dan said, “Rich, half of each squad can go? Sound good?”
Rich nodded.
“I’ll get some trucks down here,” Grant said. He went to Heidi, who was asleep, and had her radio Chip to send down several trucks. It was the CB, which was not secure, so Grant didn’t say, “Come pick up half our guards.”
People were getting hungry, too. It had been a long night. Grant told Chip to have the Grange ladies cook up a big-ass breakfast.
“Way ahead of you, Grant,” Chip said on the CB. “I’m smelling hash browns as we speak. Mmmm.” Hash browns sounded so good right now. Extremely, mind-blowingly good.
Grant asked Rich and Dan, “How does a 7:00 p.m. Grange meeting sound?” That would give both halves of the guards a chance to take a nap. “I’d like,” Grant continued, “to tell everyone about the semi of food and my plan for distribution. Well, actually for not distributing it now. We need to talk about the weaknesses we learned from this. Like an alert system, a transportation system, and anything else I’m forgetting. I want a quick vote on the semi situation because we have the glow of victory right now. I want to use that to get my plan for waiting until winter to distribute the food voted on. Any objections?”
Rich and Dan shook their heads. Sounded good to them.
Chapter 123
Community
(May 13)
Grant was tired. Again. He managed to stay awake to work on the transition of half the guards back to their homes. He made sure only half of a squad was left. He encouraged people to leave the ammo they brought, but wouldn’t stop anyone from taking theirs back. Only a few reclaimed their ammo. No one reclaimed their mags from the magazine bank. That was a good sign.
Lisa and the medical team were some of the first to go back. They were tired and would have things to do at the Grange. Lisa smiled at Grant and said, “See you back at the ranch.” She seemed to be holding up well, given how different last night had been from anything she’d ever experienced. Or ever imagined.
Everyone was hungry. Staying up all night burned a lot of calories, especially for Grant who was constantly walking around and directing things. He realized that they needed to have meals on hand next time. The Grange ladies could get out of the danger zone, but they needed to have meals to leave behind. Lesson learned. No one would die from being hungry for breakfast. But the next full alert situation could last several days. They would come up with a plan.
Grant was finally done with the wrap-up. He got on a truck with half the Team, Bobby and Scotty, and rode up to the Grange. Bobby and Scotty were quiet, unlike most truck rides where they were jovial. They were dog-ass tired.
There were a lot of people at the Grange. Many of the guards who had been at the gate and come back a few hours before were still there. The Grange was becoming a community hang out. The guards were telling and retelling stories to the residents.
When Grant walked in, some people started cheering. Someone yelled, “Nice head fake, Grant.” That made him smile.
But what really made him smile was the smell of hash browns. And, he couldn’t believe it, bacon and sausage? The Grange ladies had some of those big silver serving containers with the can of sterno burning at the bottom, like at a hotel buffet. Wow. It was the best breakfast he’d ever had.
Grant didn’t want to be a hog, but he made three trips through. He felt better and better with each plate. So did everyone else. He went back into the kitchen to thank the ladies and get to know them.
“Where’s all this food coming from?” he asked. The logistics and organization guy in him couldn’t help asking.
“Well,” one of the ladies said, “we’ve been asking our neighbors for things. We got a bunch of frozen sausage and even some bacon. Eggs are running thin, but we got some from the Meyers who have a bunch of hens out on Frog Lake Road.”
Another lady, Janet, said, “People are just bringing food to us here. It’s kind of nice to see.” Grant knew this wouldn’t last long. People would start to keep the food for themselves as things got tighter. But for right now, it was great.
There was something about working for the community and then having the community supply food in return. It reminded Grant of high school when he’d go sandbagging during a flood and the community would feed the volunteers. It wasn’t like working for money. There was something more personal and gratifying about having someone make him a meal than just the food on the plate. Grant felt like this is how things were supposed be. Not that people were supposed to have the collective feed them. But that people, who would normally rely on themselves and their families, would share a meal with those who were helping them. Grant realized that this is how most of the world operated and always had. Community. Not the collective, but a genuine community of people voluntarily helping each other. Voluntarily. With no government telling them they had to.