“Thank you, for that,” Cooper said in greeting him.
“It was the least I could do. Gus was smart enough not to tell me about that gathering he organized. Fortunately, I received word.”
“Just in time, I think,” Cooper returned.
“Yes. Just. Pack of fools.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
“So, are you really leaving?”
“Yes, we are. I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay here now. Frankly, I don’t want to. It’s clear too many would leave me hanging. And, to be true, I wouldn’t raise my rifle for too many of ‘em anymore.”
Calvin nodded in understanding, “Where will you go?”
“Somewhere safe,” Dranko responded, still unsure of the other man’s intentions.
“Is there room for one more?” Calvin asked.
Cooper’s face fell open in surprise, “What? You want to come?”
“Yes I do, if you will have me. I do not have anyone here, and after what I saw this morning, I am disgusted.”
“You are surprising the hell out of me,” Cooper said, laughing.
Calvin remained serious, “It should not surprise you. I respect what you have done by risking everything to tell the world the truth about this plague and how it started. Besides, it is clear things will be bad for a while and it is more important than ever to be around people you can trust.”
“And, who are handy with a rifle,” Cooper joked.
“Yes, that, too,” Calvin smiled.
“Well, it’s beyond fine with me for you to join us. But, it’s Dranko’s place,” he said, turning to his friend.
The corner of Dranko’s mouth upturned, “Let’s see. Lily’s coming, too,” as he began counting on his fingers.
“Lily?” Cooper quizzed.
“Yeah, she came by while you were talking to Jake. Her son is out in Estacada.”
Cooper nodded, allowing Dranko to continue. He dropped the charade of counting, “Of course, it’s fine with me. I wasn’t looking forward to trying to get that AK-47 back from you, anyway,” he said, laughing.
Calvin grinned, “That part was simple. You could have had it when you had pried it from my cold, dead fingers!”
Dranko smiled for a second, then turned serious, “One thing you should consider, Calvin, where we’re going, there are very few people who are….well…umm…not white.”
Calvin looked at him in disbelief and then burst out laughing, “Really, Paul? I have lived in Portland a long time. Going from seeing my fellow black folks once a week to maybe once a month will be an adjustment I think I can handle.”
The others fell in, laughing.
As it subsided, Cooper grasped his hand and pulled him into an embrace, “Thank you.” After the tense morning, Calvin’s support washed over him, like a tonic. The two men exchanged a warm look of camaraderie.
“We need to make a list of what to take with us and get moving on packing,” Dranko said as Cooper and Calvin separated.
Cooper turned to him with an impish grin, “I’m guessing you have such a list typed up and ready to go?”
Dranko looked back sheepishly, “I do have something we can work off of for this situation.”
Cooper burst out laughing, while wide smiles graced the faces of Angela and Calvin, “You do think of everything, don’t you? I bet you had a list ready to go even before the outbreak of the Brushfire Plague, didn’t you, you sorry bastard?”
“Sure as shit, I did! And, if you don’t like it, sue me…once the courts open up again, that is.”
“Oh, I like it. It just cracks me up that you are ready for everything; including fleeing your home,” Cooper returned.
“That’s funny, because I think it’s absurd that you’d live in the Cascadian subduction zone and within range of Mount Saint Helens and you haven’t thought about how you might have to leave your home for an extended time!”
Cooper cocked his head to the side, “Point taken. Why don’t you grab your list and we can all meet back here in five minutes and divide up responsibilities for the gathering and packing?”
The group nodded in agreement, as Dranko moved toward the door to exit.
When Dranko returned, he had a copy of his list for each of them. They gathered around the large oak table that dominated Cooper’s dining room. He distributed the lists and each person began intently reviewing them.
“You will see that the list is divided into sections by the Survival Triangle,” Dranko began. Noticing the blank stares that looked back at him, he hastily added, “The Survival Triangle is a basic concept in being prepared to survive natural disasters or other breakdowns of normal life. There are three major things you need to stay alive: food and water, shelter, and a means to protect yourself and your supplies.”
Cooper nodded, “That makes sense. We should go through this list and identify if one of us has the item, who is on point to get it, and any changes or modifications we need to make as we go through it, right?”
Everyone indicated agreement and Dranko added, “This list was also designed for a unit of four people. Given we have five, we will have to make allowances.”
“Let’s try and double things, just to be safe,” Angela offered.
“I agree, that is a good idea,” Calvin answered. Cooper and Dranko nodded, as well.
They set to work and began the tedious task of reviewing the list and taking assignments.Not surprisingly, Dranko already possessed most things on the list. They agreed that Angela would help Dranko gather the items on his list, since it was much longer than everyone else’s.
The discussion over which firearms to bring, and which to leave behind, quickly turned into a debate. Dranko kept pushing for ‘caliber standardization’; meaning that their weapons should all use the same ammunition to make supplying them easier. Cooper argued strongly for a wider variety of weapons so that they had the ‘right tools for different situations.’ After ten minutes of back and forth, Calvin offered a compromise that everyone was satisfied with. They would standardize on two rifle calibers: 5.56mm for the battle carbines that most would carry and 7.62 for the FAL that Cooper carried and two hunting rifles that could double as poor man’s sniper rifles in a pinch. For pistols, they would standardize to the common 9mm round, except Cooper insisted on retaining his pistol that fired the fast moving, and penetrating, .357SIG round. Finally, they agreed to bring three shotguns that fired the ubiquitous twelve-gauge shell.
“This means I’ll have to swap out the AK-47 for one of the AR-15s, right?” Calvin asked.
“Actually, we can swap it for an M4. After we had defeated those soldiers who attacked us before we hit Ethan Mitchell’s place, I distributed one M4 to each barricade, but I kept four on hand in reserve. I haven’t had time to distribute them.”
“What’s an M4?” Jake asked.
“It’s what our soldiers carry. It’s an updated version of the M16,” Dranko answered.
Cooper stroked his chin, “So, we can easily take those four M4s without even having to argue with the neighbors about it?”
“I think so,” Calvin answered.
“That will be some good firepower to have on hand as those are selective fire,” Cooper added.
“Selective fire?” Angela asked.
“You can fire it semi-automatic; one pull of the trigger means one bullet downrange. Or, you can put it on ‘burst’ fire and one pull will send three bullets at the bad guys,” Cooper offered. Angela and Calvin both nodded in understanding.
They continued reviewing the list until Calvin had a question, “Paul, you have on this list not one, but two, portable bucket toilets. With only five of us, why take up the space of having two?”