Aurora Sky: Blackout (Completed)

Chapter 13

Isaac and his crew arrived back at the farm at ten in the morning. The sun tried to shine through the dark colored clouds, but only a faint circular beam could be made out above. If Isaac didn't have a clock, he would have guessed it was just before dawn.

As he drove in, he saw the loading trucks parked along each side of the fence surrounding square property being emptied. A few sections of the fence were already under construction and were being covered with plywood. He thought, I wonder how long this is gonna take, as he scanned around the four corners of the farm. He remembered from the blueprints that each side of the square was four hundred and eighty feet in length, and each section in between posts was ten feet long. By his judgement, thirty feet was in the process of being covered.

Warren and Jonah were using some of Isaac's toolsets and power tools to nail the plywood while Paul and Jess carried materials to them. The rest of the group teamed up unloading the first batch of plywood while Cameron walked from truck to truck, taking notes and counting the stacks of lumber and plywood and giving instruction to those with him as he did his math. When Cameron heard the sound of Isaac's truck, he waved him over. He slowly drove the forest green Tahoe through the yard and parked next to his companions.

"That's good right there! Let's get those drills and screws out!" Cameron yelled waving his raised hands in. He went behind the SUV to the trailer and waited for Isaac. When the two met, he looked over Isaac and gratefully said, "Thank God you had this fence put in." He couldn't agree more.

The two opened the back of the trailer and wheeled out the carts. They tossed out the brown leathered work gloves and ponchos for everyone to wear, along with screws, nails, drills, hammers, post diggers, and everything else needed for the barrier. Everything that wasn't needed was wheeled back into the trailer to be taken back to the house. Larry, who sat in the Equinox, volunteered to sort and stash the grocery carts since he couldn't physically handle the work of building the wall.

"Let's go tell the others to get over here and help," said Larry eyeing the house. He looked back to his son and asked, "Isaac, ride over with me real quick would ya? My back is killing me and I don't think I can push the carts in the house."

"Sure thing, Pop."

Before Isaac and Larry took off for the house, Cameron stopped them. He came to the passenger window and asked them, "Could you two do a few things for me while you're at the house?

Isaac responded as cheerfully as possible. "Of course, Cam. What do you need?"

"Couple of things: Charge some of these power tools. Run the extension cables out here so we can set up the table saws. And grab every bucket you have, and fill it up with water for us while you're at the house. Oh, and your ladders in the garage."

"Yeah, sure. I'll be back in a few minutes. Holler at me if you need anything else from the house."

The father and son sped in their separate rides across the field and into the driveway. Isaac opened the garage door for Larry to back the trailer in. When he had parked, Isaac unlocked the trailers gate and wheeled in the carts into the garage one at a time. Larry went to work immediately by taking out drills from their packages to charge them in surge protectors on the workbench in the back of the garage. Then he began stashing batteries and flashlights into open cabinet drawers next to the bench, finding and creating room for everything else they had taken this morning.

As Larry worked busily in the garage, Isaac grabbed the only two buckets he possessed and went into the house. Everyone was in the living room when he arrived, but his mother and nieces were the first to greet him, asking if everything went alright. Isaac assured them everything went according to plan, but omitted the small little detail about the mass of infected that could have easily taken him, the others, and the trailer full of supplies.