The day after T.K.’s burial, Ken went down to the basement to take inventory of the supplies and equipment that they had pre-positioned. Because the keys to their wall lockers were long since lost, Todd opened the lockers with his “universal key”—his pair of red-handled bolt cutters.
Almost everything was just as they had left it. The only things that had been disturbed were some of the Laytons’ bulk food containers. A few of the five-gallon plastic buckets containing wheat, rice, rolled oats, and powdered milk had been used. These items had been stored outside the locker. The Laytons did not object, as this represented less than 10 percent of their stored food. Ken told Todd that he had expected to find that their gear had already been divided up between the group members. Todd replied, “Are you kidding? We always knew that resourceful individuals like you both would make it here. It was just a matter of time.”
Layton was overwhelmed by the sight of their stored gear and food. He was so excited that he asked Terry to come downstairs and see it all. She hobbled down on her homemade crutches. They spent ten minutes examining the contents of their two lockers, punctuated by “Ooohs” and “Ahhs.” Nearly all of the Laytons’ gear was still in excellent condition. One exception was a partially full bucket of wheat, which was full of weevils. It was set aside for the chickens.
All of the rest of their buckets of wheat were fine, since Terry had used the dry-ice packing method years before. In this method, a five-gallon pail was poured nearly full of grain, and then a large chunk of dry ice was dropped in.
Then she would wait while the dry ice sublimated, displacing the air in the container with heavier carbon dioxide. Once the dry ice was nearly gone—less than the size of a quarter—she would seal the lid. The other exception was their box of Cyalume chemical light sticks, which were past their expiration dates. After unsuccessfully testing five of the light sticks, Ken discarded the entire box.
Terry also had doubts about most of their supply of vitamins and medicines, which like the light sticks, were well past their expiration dates. She set them aside and commented, “Mary told me that most expiration dates are very conservative. Some pharmaceuticals do lose strength, but can still be used if dosages are increased. I’ll ask Mary about titrating them. I remember her telling us about that at one of the group meetings way back when.”
After having spent nearly three years living out of their backpacks, their cache of supplies seemed like a treasure trove. By relative standards, their wall lockers appeared to have everything that they could ever need or want.
Pointing to the heap on the floor, Terry proclaimed, “Look at all this: dozens of pairs of clean socks, two pair of new combat boots apiece, six sets of DPMs, and all this ammo. We’ve got over nine thousand rounds; sheets and blankets; real toilet paper; eight cases of MREs; your spare riotgun and my little Remington 600 .308 bolt-action. Our reloading press and components. What are we going to do with all this stuff?”
Ken hugged Terry and affirmed, “Honey, we’re going to start living the way that we should have lived for the past thirty-three months. I feel like we’ve come home.”
Terry gazed into Ken’s eyes and said, “We have come home, darling. We’re home now, safe and sound.”
The next day, Todd called for a meeting where new sleeping arrangements were discussed. It was decided that in deference to Terry’s injured knee, Ken and Terry would get the Grays’ bedroom temporarily. The basement would be reorganized, and yet another partition would be added to provide a sleeping area for Todd and Mary. To provide more privacy, the new partition was made out of wall lockers and half-inch plywood. At the same time, similar partitions were built replacing the blanket partitions that had been used by the Trasels and the Porters. Like the Porters, the Grays would sleep on folding cots. A few months later, after Terry was confident walking without crutches, Todd and Mary got their old upstairs bedroom back, and the Laytons took their place in the basement.
Soon after the meeting, Lon reminded Mary about a sore tooth he had reported two days before. Lon said that the pain was getting worse. With the assistance of Margie, and referring to her copy of Where There Is No Dentist, Mary extracted the tooth. Mary had a good supply of Lidocaine, and had had the foresight to buy a set of dental tools before the Crunch, so the extraction was not painful. Mary was surprised, however, how much force it took to remove the molar. Thankfully, it came out in one piece, using her tooth-extracting pliers. The procedure turned out to be a valuable experience for Mary Gray. It was the first of nine teeth that she would pull in the next few years.
Three weeks after T.K. was buried, Todd and Lisa got together to decide how to dispose of T.K.’s gear. Because he hadn’t written a will, they did not know how Tom would have wanted his possessions distributed. They came to the conclusion that most of it should go to the Carltons and the Porters, as they had arrived at the retreat with little more than the clothes on their backs. T.K.’s AR-15 and Anshutz bolt-action .22 target rifle went to Della. His M1 Garand rifle, stainless steel Colt Gold Cup .45 automatic, and Remington 870 were given to Lon Porter. His Colt Commander and Ruger 10/22 went to Rose.
Because they were both almost the same size as Kennedy, Della and Rose split T.K.’s six remaining sets of DPM fatigues and two DPM smocks. Most of T.K.’s field gear was divided between the Porters and Doug Carlton. His New Lile fighting knife was given to Lon. His Bronco was given to the Laytons.
All of T.K.’s books went into the Grays’ library shelves, which were long hence communally browsed. Kennedy’s food and ammunition supplies were divided equally between the Porters and Carltons. Dan Fong asked if he could have T.K.’s TrinitY Fisherman utility knife, as something to remember him by.
Todd filled his request immediately.
Kevin Lendel, who had practiced from time to time with T.K.’s Benedict crossbow, asked if he could have it. He too got his wish. This left only a few odds and ends, which Todd and Lisa divided almost at random amongst the militia members. The only things that Todd set aside were T.K.’s journal, photo album, Bible, and Catholic Missal. He hoped to return them to Kennedy’s brothers someday, assuming that they were still alive.
CHAPTER 21
Federales
“Diplomacy is the art of saying, ‘Nice Doggie,’ while you’re looking for a rock.”
A farmer five miles west of the retreat radioed to say that she had spotted a twin-engine airplane at low altitude heading toward Moscow. Early the next morning, Roger Dunlap called in to say that they had heard from Moscow that the same plane had brought a representative of the provisional Federal government, and that a speech was planned for late in the afternoon at the Pullman-Moscow airport.
Most of the militia members at Todd’s retreat wanted to go. They piled into the open back of Todd’s Power Wagon, leaving behind the Porters and Nelsons to provide security in their absence.
On the drive into Moscow, they passed dozens of people on foot or on horseback heading toward town. As they wheeled up to the side of the Pullman-Moscow Air Terminal, they could see a gray painted U.S. Army Beechcraft C-12 parked on the taxiway. Doug pointed out the fact that the white painted tip tanks on the plane did not match the rest of the airplane. He commented out the corner of his mouth, “Those tanks probably came from a Beechcraft Super King Air. It’s the commercial counterpart of the Army C-12.” By the time that the address began, more than four hundred people had gathered in front of the airport terminal. The fall air was crisp.