Deadland Rising (part 3 of the Deadland Saga)

Fortitude (Chapter 16)

For the next several days after the gas lines blew, new fires popped up from old embers. After we buried the dead-those we could find-in the frozen ground, we worked frantically to repair fences and turn the silo into New Eden. With over three hundred people working in the silo, we had indoor plumbing in three days, and had the water drained from the lower levels in ten days.

Within two weeks, we had the fences repaired so the wild dogs couldn't get through. But, they didn't give up. Once the smoke dissipated, the numbers of wild animals trolling outside the fences grew. One of the best parts about the silo was that we didn't have to hear the animals' howls at night.

The silo was huge, but much of the space was open air and not set up in any kind of livable configuration, at least not yet. There were nowhere near enough rooms for any semblance of personal space. At least the dormitory rooms had been completed, and we had enough beds to require only two sleeping shifts. Three weeks after the gas line explosions, we fell into a comfortable routine of living in the silo.

Everyone stayed in the silo with the exception of Dr. Gidar, his assistants, and the two zed kids. They were set up in one of the few remaining buildings-a tiny, old house-using a generator to power their medical equipment and lights. The only heat in the house was from a wood fireplace. No one liked taking fuel from the silo generators for Dr. Gidar's house, but New Eden's residents liked the idea of the zed kids in the silo even less.

The busyness of working in and around the silo helped take our minds off what we'd lost, but it wasn't nearly enough to make us forget. If Clutch wasn't barking out orders, he didn't speak. Losing Marco threw Clutch back into that dark place where he'd close himself off from everyone. He developed a knack at not coming to bed until after I'd fallen asleep and getting up before I woke.

Deb acted much the same as when she lost Tack, the father of her unborn child: she buried her emotions and went on. She had contractions nearly every day, and Dr. Edmund told her she needed to lower her stress levels. I imagined that was tough for Deb to do when she watched her fiancé burn alive a few weeks ago. Her gaze revealed the losses she'd suffered, and I prayed she'd be able to keep it together long enough to carry the baby full-term.

"Here." Zach handed me a box of toilet paper before grabbing one for himself.

We were on duty, but things had changed because New Eden had shrunk from a town sitting on three square miles to a town of two city blocks, with each block-the silo and the buildings-sitting nearly a quarter mile from each other. The squadron and security forces had been merged, and our shifts were as much working on the silo as keeping the peace.

Zach and I carried our loads up a flight of stairs, I dropped off a half dozen rolls of toilet paper at the first bathroom, and we continued up the next two floors.

"We're lucky Justin thought to store everything in the silo," I said while Zach placed rolls by the next bathroom.

He chuckled. "Yeah. Good thing he didn't listen to me. I told him he should've stored everything in a building. I kept telling him that, with our luck, this silo would probably flood in the spring and ruin everything."

"Unfortunately, we didn't keep enough in the silo," Justin said as he walked up the stairs and overheard us. "We had only one radio with the range to reach the capital, and it's a melted mess of wires and metal. Being separated from everyone else is a bit unsettling." He sighed. "I know, I have to be patient. I'm sure they'll send someone down here to check on us and get us hooked back up." He looked at the boxes we carried and then looked back up at us. "Are you heading topside?"

"Yeah," I replied.

He smiled. "Can you bring this to the lab? Dr. Gidar said he needed more Q-tips."