A Distant Eden (4 page)

Each ham radio in the survival packs had a pre-tuned antenna kit and a power inverter that would allow the radio to be operated off of car batteries. They were wrapped in heavy layers of foil to keep them from being damaged by an EMP. Included was an index card with instructions on how to set up the antenna and to listen and transmit on a specific frequency every night at 9:00 pm for ten minutes. Adrian wasn’t given a radio, but he was provided with a laminated card that fit in his wallet with the frequency and time, so if he was able to get to a radio he too could be in contact.

The food packages Roman provided his children consisted of pinto beans, cornmeal, salt, lard, and a folded solar cooker. He had long ago determined that the best, and cheapest, survival rations were cornbread and beans. He had read a great deal about survival food. He recalled from his own childhood the stories that his parents and grandparents had survived the depression primarily on cornbread and beans. Research confirmed that the combination provided all of the essential amino acids, protein, carbohydrates and fiber that a person needed. Throw in some lard to cook with and to add calories and a person could live forever on it. Salt was another necessity that people needed once they were away from processed foods.

The other benefits were that the cornbread and beans were readily available at the grocery store, and they were dry goods that if properly stored could last for decades. The lard at first didn’t seem like it would last, but with the preservatives that were added, storage was not a big problem, assuming cool temperatures were maintained. Heat would shorten the storage life considerably.

Roman and Sarah bought one pound of salt, ten pounds of pinto beans, five pounds of cornmeal and one pound of lard every time they bought groceries. These were placed into brand new paint cans purchased at the hardware store. Salt was poured into sandwich bags; the bags were left partially open and placed in the bottom of the cans, and then a piece of dry ice on the salt, then the contents on top of it. As the dry ice evaporated, it forced the air out of the can as it was replaced by carbon dioxide gas. The salt would absorb moisture and the carbon dioxide gas was less damaging to food than oxygen.

On alternate shopping trips, they purchased one pound of granulated sugar, ten pounds of polished white rice, one pound of coffee, one pound of baker’s chocolate, miscellaneous spices and one pound of lard. These were for variety as well as having the survival benefits of high calories. Just like the cornmeal and beans, these were packed in the same manner.

When the ice was gone, the lid was placed on, the outside marked with the date and the contents, and then it went into the root cellar. This only took a few dollars each grocery run, and a few minutes of time to prepare. Within a short time, Roman and Sarah had put away a five-year supply of food for their entire family, as well as having supplied each child with three months of emergency rations. Most survivalists felt secure with a one-year supply of food. Roman believed they were mistaken.

For decades, Roman had been gardening. One of the lessons he learned was that it took three years to build a good garden. It took time to mend and build the soil into a fertile condition. It also took time to learn how to grow food. Things like which plants grow best in the area, which plants grow well with other plants, when to water and when not to and much more. A person who thought he could start a garden and live off its produce in one year was fatally wrong.

A garden in the first year after the collapse would draw starving people to it, and they would raid it until it was gone. Against so many raiders, the gardener wouldn’t stand a chance. Maybe the second year, depending. But not the first.

Then there were factors beyond human control. Drought, hail storms, insect infestations, flood, fungal infections...there were a lot of things that can wipe out a garden overnight.

So all that considered, Roman thought a three-year supply of food to be the absolute minimum, and since it was so easy to collect and store, why not five years?

He also purchased a fresh supply of garden seed each year. The seeds he purchased were vacuum-sealed in tins, which he stored in his freezer to extend their useful life span. The seeds were purchased from a company that specialized in survival seed packages, and were comprised of a variety of non-hybrid vegetables. Non-hybrid seeds were important. They grew plants that produced seeds that would breed true to type. Using the seeds from each harvest, you would get the same crop year after year. But hybrid seeds would not do that. The seeds you got from them would not create the same plant, and you were likely to end up with something not worth having.

Roman had broken survival down into three categories: immediate, mid-term and long-term. Stored food would ensure immediate and mid-term survival. The seeds were the long-term investment. He didn’t think it would be advisable to plant a garden for at least a full year, possibly longer. Gardens in the immediate aftermath were going to be magnets for people starving to death, people who would gladly kill anyone for a bite to eat. There would be no point in drawing people like that to you.

He got up, dressed and went to the freezer. It was stocked with meat and vegetables, but also with two dozen one-gallon milk jugs that had been cleaned, filled with water, and frozen. The jugs, being solid chunks of ice, would melt slowly inside the freezer, providing about a week of cold enough temperatures to keep the meats from spoiling. The jugs would also supply clean water as they melted; very useful now that his water supply would be cut off. The freezer wouldn’t be opened more than necessary.

Thinking about the upcoming days made him ravenous, so he removed a large package of breakfast sausage and went to the kitchen and made breakfast for the two of them.

After breakfast, Roman began setting up a water filtration system. He lived on the bank of a large clear river. This was both a boon and a problem. It was a boon right now because the river not only supplied all the water they could use, but fish and mussels too. They could probably survive pretty well off a few fish traps. But it was a problem in that they lived on the bank of the river; the dam at the lake fifteen miles upriver controlled the flow down here. The dam might operate a while longer, but sooner or later the operators would leave in search of food. Once the dam stopped operating, it presented only a small obstacle to future flooding. Roman and Sarah could live on the bank while the river was domesticated, but when it turned feral—and it would soon—the river would periodically flood over Roman’s house, wiping him out. He would have to move.

Clean water is a major key to survival. Making water clean enough to drink is not difficult. It only needs to be heated to one hundred sixty degrees Fahrenheit for six minutes to pasteurize it. Boiling isn’t necessary. A simple solar box, made of cardboard lined with foil, could be constructed quickly and easily and would heat water, even in the winter, sufficiently to pasteurize it. That was one of the reasons for the solar cookers that Roman had placed in his children’s kits—along with, of course, cooking. The other reason was for cooking the cornbread and beans. The solar cooker could cook a pot of beans in a few hours, as well as bake the cornbread. These simple cookers readily reach temperatures of three hundred and seventy five degrees, year round.

Conversely, they could also be used to make ice on cool clear nights when they operated in reverse as heat dissipaters. By pointing them at a clear sky on a cool night, the night sky acted as a heat sink, pulling heat out of the water in the “oven.”

For immediate water cleanup, Roman had put water-purification tablets into the children’s kits. These were easy to use and effective. Though the power loss would prevent pumps from supplying water, in some cases houses were downhill from a sufficient amount of piping and would continue to receive water by gravity, at least until the pipes were drained. Therefore, as soon as they thought they might have need, Roman told his children to get out the pots and pans and any other water storage containers and stock up with as much water as they could, filling bath tubs and washing machines and sinks as well. With water and food in the house, they could hole up for as long as the water lasted. The more water they stored, the longer they could hold out.

Once the stored water was gone they needed a plan on where to get more water, and that is where purification tablets came in. Leaving the house for water was dangerous, so they had to figure out where to get it and to be ready to go at night and well armed.

Roman’s kids had been brought up with guns and hunting all their lives. Although they lived in the city, they were well armed and more dangerous than most people they would meet. Most people, but not all. There would be some out there they would need to avoid.

Roman continued to set up his water filtration system. It would clean the debris out of the water by filtering through sand. It was a simple system that would work until he settled down somewhere else and made other arrangements, like a well. For now, all they had to do was carry water in buckets from the river and pour it through the sand box, and then pasteurize the water either in a solar cooker or by using the sun’s UV rays. Roman had recently learned that a simple method to pasteurize clear water was to place it in one or two-liter clear plastic bottles, zip-lock bags, or mason jars laid horizontally and exposed to sunlight all day. The sun’s UV rays would kill live organisms in the water.

In the modern world, people were mostly sedentary. With that lifestyle, the average number of calories needed was around two thousand. In the new world, that would change. Life would not be sedentary for those that survived. Just carrying water up the riverbank was going to burn a lot of calories. Roman’s calculations on survival food were built around four thousand calories per day. That was a lot of cornbread and beans to eat. That was the main reason for the lard; it provided a heavy dose of calories in a small amount of space. In the pre-grid-breakdown world, lard wasn’t considered a health food by anyone, especially since it was partially hydrogenated. In the new world, it was essential, and the hydrogenation made it possible to store it. Nutrition ideas were about to change radically.

Jerry, age 45, his wife Karen, and their three children lived in a two-story house just inside the Dallas city limits. The neighborhood was upper middle class. The houses were of an older generation and had been reclaimed from years of neglect. Jerry’s home, originally built in the early 50s, was typical of that era. It was built on a pier and beam foundation with skirting around the crawlspace. It had central heat and air added years after it was built. Jerry and Karen loved the house; it had character and room for their busy children.

Their house was near the high point of the neighborhood. The roof was steep pitched and had dormer windows. The attic area had been converted into living space. The view from the upper and dormer windows was good, covering nearly the entire neighborhood with only a few blind spots.

When the power went out Jerry was at work, Karen was at home, and the children were all in school, a couple of blocks from home.

Karen heard a series of explosions and went outside. On the horizon, in the direction of the airport, were great plumes of black smoke. She also saw that there were many houses on fire in all directions.

Attempting to call Jerry, she discovered that the phones were not working. The same was true of the battery-operated television and weather radio; though still functional, there was no reception.

Karen, having been around her father-in-law’s weirdness for several years, was innately aware that this could be a worldwide event. She put on a coat and went out to the car. It wouldn’t start, so she continued on foot to retrieve her children from school.

The closest was the middle school, and as Karen arrived she discovered it was still remarkably quiet and well-organized. She signed her daughter out at the reception, and she was collected by two student runners. When her daughter arrived she was flushed and had a fever.

The elementary school was another two blocks east. It was closer to chaos than organized. It took her longer to collect this child, as there were no students old enough to act as runners. As the four of them walked home, Karen noticed how eerily quiet the neighborhood was. There were no cars moving anywhere. No mechanical sounds at all. She stopped and visited with three neighbors who were standing outside, looking around, confused. No one knew what had happened. No one had any solid information; just wild speculations. Everyone was bewildered about their cars not running and worried about no radio or television reception. The power outage seemed the least of their worries.

When they were back home, Karen got the children busy with chores and homework. Then she sat and waited for Jerry.

Jerry acted much as his father had. He realized there was more to this than a power outage. Just as his father had nagged, he too had spare fuses wrapped in foil in his car. Today he was happy they were there to get his restored 1969 Thunderbird moving again.

Even with stalled cars everywhere, Jerry was able to move along because there was no other traffic. When he arrived home, he and his wife sat and talked about what they knew and what they suspected. Jerry’s sister Shirley and her husband Dave and their two children lived in a loft apartment in the downtown district. They enjoyed the modern urban life style. When their dad had forced the three-month food supply on each of them, Shirley didn’t have a place to keep it, so she’d asked Jerry to store it for her. Jerry had put the containers in the crawlspace under the house with his. It was out of the way and in a cool place, much like a root cellar.

When visiting with one another the conversation had sometimes drifted to their dad’s “apocalypse obsession,” as they called it. They considered it a harmless quirk of his character, one that they humored. In those conversations they had casually decided that if worst ever came to worst that Jerry’s house was better located and situated for survival. Should it ever happen, then Shirley, Dave, and their kids were to head over to Jerry and Karen’s house to stay while they jointly determined their next moves.