AFTERMATH

CHAPTER FOUR

They had all the cement poured into the foundation molding and were laying out the first section of two by fours to be put together for the framing. Krycek was showing them how to do it when someone let out a shout. "Hey! The soldiers that went to New Mexico are back and there's a lot more of them!"

Martinez, Andrews, and Miller, soldiers from their group came into camp with ten bedraggled Special Ops men they had found in the hills above Santa Fe.

They all sat down and ate a hearty meal while Andrews described the events of the last several days. It took them three days to make it down to New Mexico and another three to connect with the ops men. They had been on a survival training mission north of the base when it all happened. They had headed back towards the base when they heard the explosions and saw the fires in town. When they saw what was going on with the aliens lining up group after group of soldiers and setting them on fire, they backed tracked into the hills and waited. There were ten of them between the ages of twenty three and twenty seven.

The trip back to the valley took five days. They had a hard time finding bikes for everyone and had to take turns running and riding for the first two days. They were all pleased and relieved to find a place of safety and were shocked to hear what was actually going on. No one could get their minds around the fact that there actually were aliens and they had been caught in a sneak attack and scores of people were being killed.

"The quickest way to take down any big nation is to wipe out its communication system." Krycek said. "The government has been told this for years that communications was the vital key and that a more advanced system should be worked out but they'd rather spend the money on studying the sex lives of African sea turtles than developing a more secure communications system."

"So nothing is working? Nothing at all?" One of the Special Ops men asked.

"I don't know. We haven't tried anything and we're not going to. I destroyed all our cell phones and forbidden anyone to touch a phone while we're in town. It would be the easiest thing in the world for a transmission to be traced and bring them right to our door step."

"So how do you communicate among yourselves?" An SO man asked.

"We yell a lot or we send a runner." Krycek answered.

"And you haven't been in contact with anyone else; this group is all people who were on that plane?"

"That's right. You're the first we've seen."

"Well, what are your plans? Are you just going to sit here and wait it out?"

"That's what I vote for!" Harry piped up.

"We thought maybe you could help us find our families?" One of the ball players said.

The SO men looked quizzically at Krycek.

"We need to do something but we don't know what." Krycek answered. "We know they are hauling people off in trucks. We've seen that but we don't know where they're taking them or if they are even still alive. What we need is information. Where these people are being taken, if there is any possibility of getting any of them out, if there is some main list somewhere where with the names of the people being held and if there is anything at all that can kill these beings."

"That would certainly be good to know. All right men," the head SO man said, looking around at his men finishing up their meals. "What do you say we give these nice folks a hand and see if we can come up with the information they need?" They all nodded in agreement, anxious to finally be doing something positive even though this was nothing that they had been training for.

"What are you thinking?" Krycek asked.

"I'm thinking we'll head out tomorrow morning. We've picked up some road maps along the way and we'll break up into five two-man teams and fan out over the country side and see what information we can come up with. It's going to take quite a while with just bikes for transportation but we'll get as much of the information as we can for you. Oh, and if we find any stragglers along the way, do you want us to send them back here or leave them on their own?"

"Send them here," A chorus of voices said.

Krycek nodded in agreement. "Yes, send them here, but we've got to have some way of knowing that you sent them before we'll let them in. If these aliens are smart enough to carry off this invasion, they will be smart enough to figure out how to disguise themselves as humans if they decide they want to track us down.

"You mean a pass word or something?" The head SO asked.

"Yes, but it has to be something they would never think of." Krycek said.

"How about 'open sesame'?" Harry offered.

"Too obvious." Several said.

"I know." One of the ball players said. "A word that means nothing to anyone. How about 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'?"

"That's not a word!" Krycek grinned.

"Oh yes it is! It's from Mary Poppins." One of the women said. No one would ever think of that, it's perfect."

"My God, supercalifrala…. I can't even say it. If I get caught outside, I won't be let back in." Krycek laughed.

"It's easy. It's part of a song." A few of them began singing the song. "Once you learn the song, you get the rhyming words down and you won't forget it. In fact its one of those songs that once you hear it you can't get it out of your head for days!"

"Ok, this is your show -- whatever word you want to go with. Just make sure you confirm your final decision with me before you leave."

"Don't worry, Krycek. I'll teach you the song." Harry piped up. We wouldn't want to keep you out of the valley. At least not until you get that building of yours up."

The next morning the SO men were fitted out with the best bikes, spare tires, a bike repair kit, and food and water for several days. They already had binoculars, knives and some survival gear. As they were leaving the leader asked Krycek, "Is there any limitations on who we bring or send back if we find anyone? I mean, age, physical condition, etc.?"

"No. We'll be here for anyone who needs us. Just make sure you teach them that stupid little song you decided on. We're in the process of building some barracks and we'll build as many as we need. We are in need of a few special types though so if you do get to bring someone out, we're in desperate need of a doctor. We have two nurses but we could really use a doctor. And a plumber, and electrician, anyone with construction experience, farmers, cooks. Anyone who knows anything at all about solar power or how to build and set up a windmill or a water powered generator. Anyone you think might help us establish a working settlement here."

"It looks pretty damn good to me already and you've only been here a few weeks."

"We have made a lot of progress but we need to make a lot more before winter comes."

"OK. We're off. I don't know what we can come up with but we'll give it our best shot."

"Listen, if you get caught, tell your men not to struggle. Put your hands down at your sides and keep your eyes down. Don't argue or give them any reason to do anything other than take you prisoner. One angry word or belligerent move and they burn you. There is no talking with them, no reasoning with them. You give them any trouble at all and you're ashes. You can always work on an escape plan later."

"I hear ya. Thanks. I'll tell my men."

"Good luck to you then." Krycek said and held out his hand. The SO man took it for a minute then turned and left.

Krycek and his team geared up for the thirty mile bike ride in for construction supplies. Five of the women went with them riding with their bikes in the back of the wagon.
This time they loaded the wagon with plywood and cartons of screws, bolts, nails etc

The women asked for and were granted permission to search for more clothing. They also thought of the men and brought back large packs of T-Shirts, underwear, and socks as well as sweat suits in all sizes for the men as well as more clothes for themselves and the other two women who stayed behind. All this they loaded in their back packs then set about loading groceries in their bikes.

They found a small family style restaurant in town and in the back found large containers of coffee, flour, sugar, salt and some spices and herbs that Bobby had asked them to look for. They got baking powder and soda, dried yeast packets, and plastic jars of peanut butter and jelly. More produce was also found but their bikes were full so they went back and found the wagon loaded and waiting for them and told them about the produce. Krycek agreed they should get it while they could and took the wagon over to the restaurant and loaded several huge bags on top of their load then they headed back.

The women were becoming more accustomed to carrying the load of the back packs and the weight of the bicycles so the trip back, though long, went very well. All five women agreed they would be willing to do it again the next day -- getting to ride over in the wagon made all the difference in the world for them. The men had the strength and stamina for such a long ride but it was very hard on the women.

The weather was perfect for the ride, the low sixties, and when they returned they were all of good spirits and after dinner were ready to tackle the framing. Krycek had set it up so that it was all done in sections. The fifty foot sides were done in five ten-foot sections. The front and back were done in three sections, a three-foot section for the door, and two eleven foot sections for either side of the door.

These sections had been all laid out on the ground beside where each was going to go
and the two by fours bolted together. Holes had been drilled in the bottom two by four that corresponded with the bolts sticking up out of the concrete foundation.

It was time now to stand up this house of cards. Everyone was at hand. Several had two by fours and were instructed to stand by and when a section was stood up into place, they were to wedge the two by fours against them to help hold them in position until they were bolted to another section. They started on the front left hand side with two teams – one on the side section and one on the front section. A ten foot four by four had been bolted in an upright position at each corner.

Three soldiers and two ball players were on each team. When the word was given they took the section at the top and walking under it as they lifted it, slowly raised it into an upright position. Now came the lifting. They did it one corner at a time, half of them lifting the other half of them steadying it. Others jammed two by fours underneath and helped lever the section up onto the foundation; the imbedded bolts sliding nicely into the holes drilled for them. The other end was done the same way and the braces were hammered into place. The same was done with both sections.

Ladders were brought in and men scurried up them and bolted the top of the sections to the main four by four while others put washers and nuts on the bolts that protruded from the cement, through the bottom two by four of the sections. In no time they had one corner standing. A round of excited applause went up but Harry scoffed.

"First wind comes along it's all going to come down. What you're building there is a death trap."

"Harry, why don't you go play cards somewhere." Someone said.

"Ok. Krycek told the group. You see how easy that was? Now let's do the other front corner then we can work our way to the back."

One of the women sidled up to Krycek and said in a low voice. "It does look really unsteady, Alex. Do you think it will be safe?"

"Sure it will, Holly. Once we get all the sections connected. Each one will give the others more strength. You'll see."

"Well I trust your judgment." she said and went back and got another two by four from the stack to be ready for the next bracing. The rest of the sections went up easily. The only ones that they had difficulty with were the final two pieces, the doorways. They had been made a little too big and had to be taken apart and trimmed down a few inches each in order to get them into place. This was finished up by lamp light well after dark and half of the teams had already quit and gone to bed.

By the time Krycek crawled into his tent, he was too tired to even open his sleeping bag and slept on top of it. The entire framing all around the sides had been completed and he was very proud of what they had accomplished. He also worried about what the next day would bring. The next day they would be making no supply runs. It was time to start with the roof sections. They had been lucky to find them already assembled in the lumber yard. It would just be a matter of lifting them up into place, one by one and securing them finally with the large two by twelve header boards. Krycek shuddered a bit at the thought of the job ahead of them but they had gotten this far. He would see to it that the job got done – with that his last thought, he passed out.

They all ate a hearty breakfast the next morning and were more than a little subdued thinking about the job ahead of them. Putting up a roof! Could amateurs really do that? They were about to find out.

Krycek explained to them that while it appeared daunting it was really quite easy. The roof sections weren't all that heavy, just huge and awkward to handle requiring at least four men. Two could lift and carry one easily as they already knew; carrying the twenty five foot sections over the pass. It was the climbing the ladders with them and securing them that made this part difficult.

Ropes were tied to the top for people on either side helped keep the piece upright. Once they made it to the top of the ladders they would set the large piece of A-shaped framing down on the bolts that were waiting on the top two by four header boards that had been secured all around the top and then it would be bolted down.

Someone with a level will tell the rope holders when the section was perfectly vertical and the ropes would be secured to the side frame. Two by fours were placed on either side to brace it temporarily. The second section went up and was secured and sixteen inch spacers were nailed between them on either side at the base and half way up the A frame. This firmed the first section up considerably.

Section after section went up until all were in place and they stopped for lunch. All of them amazed at what they had accomplished.

After lunch it was time for the header board – that was a fifty two foot long set of two by twelves that were bolted together in sections so it would be easier to handle as they were extremely heavy. There was a long deep slot in the top of each roof section for the insertion of the header board and it took most of the afternoon getting these raised up, inserted into place, and bolted down. By four o'clock they were finished and stood staring at the framed building in awe.

"We did it! I can't believe it," one of the women said.

"It's really not all that complex," Alex said. "Just a lot of hard work and with as many as we have on the job, it makes it all go a lot faster."

"It reminds me of a set of dinosaur bones I saw in a museum once." Harry said.

"I'm surprised they let you in a museum, Harry." Someone said.

"I'm surprised they let him out." Someone countered and they all laughed.

"Ok. Next step is all these little gadgets." Krycek said and dropped several boxes of galvanized metal pieces in their midst.

"What's this?" Someone asked picking up a couple of the bent pieces.

"Storm ties." Krycek answered. He carried one over and showed them how the bent piece fit over two pieces that had been joined. He took the power screw driver and a hand full of screws and secured it to the structure – four screws on either side. "We need these on every joint, inside and out."

"Now you're talking! This is something that I can do!" One of the women grabbed up a screwdriver and a handful of ties and started. Others followed and the structure was covered with the metal ties, inside and out. They stopped only for a quick dinner then got back to it. They finished at dusk.

"Can we take these braces and ropes down now?" Someone asked.

"Not yet. Let's get the plywood up tomorrow first. That will secure the building for good. No sense in taking any chances." Krycek answered.

"Well there's secure and then again there's secure." Harry scoffed and shook his head.

"You'll see when the first storm hits, Harry. You really think your tent will protect you from, say ten feet of snow?"

Harry's face went pale. "You really think we'll get that much snow in here?"

"I know it's hard to think about snow when it's June but yes, we could easily get that much snow or more." Krycek said.

"Your little tent would be covered completely, Harry." Someone said.

"At least we wouldn't have to listen to his bitching any more." Someone else said.

"Hey, I helped too. I carried stuff over here, I carried water; I did lots of stuff. I got as much right as the rest of you to a place inside that building." Harry said and stomped off to his tent.

The others laughed and someone said, "Hey, did you notice? He's now calling it a 'building' instead of a death trap."

"Yeah, I noticed. I guess he thought we were just going to stand pieces of plywood up against each other and call it a building." Krycek said.

"This is going to be wonderful!" Holly said, walking the expanse of the building. So much room in here. We should build another one so you men can have one too." She joked.

"Now just a minute here!" the men demanded.

"Maybe she thought this place was just for the women." Krycek said.

"The women and Harry. He's got a right to a place in there too." Someone said and they all laughed.

The worst was over with now and the rest of it would be a piece of cake. The next morning he instructed them on how to start putting up the plywood and he took off with a team for more supplies.

In town he loaded up with tar paper, shingles, and boxes and boxes of caulking while the others raided the grocery stores for more food. His load was just about complete when the two farmers came galloping up on horseback.

"Hey, you found some more horses." Krycek greeted them.

"We found another wagon too. It's out front with two more horses. There's a chicken coop over the other side of town in the back of one of those houses. We thought we'd take some chicken wire and wood and make up something to carry them in. We can collect them on our next run."

"That sounds great. Fresh eggs again. The gang will love that. Bring the wagon in here and we'll grab some more supplies."

"Actually, it's already pretty much loaded." Randy the older brother said. "We filled it with some seed for winter oats for the horses and a bunch of seed potatoes and tomato plants."

"Good idea." Krycek allowed. "We need to think about the animals as well. Have you got room for the chicken wire and wood? I think we can put some more on here if we need to. We can get the rest of this stuff that we need tomorrow. If you have any extra room at all, you can throw some groceries in."

"Yeah, we've still got room. We also found a couple more cans of gasoline we loaded up too."

"Great. We need all we can get for the generator."


The next day they stayed in camp and worked on two different projects. Finishing up the plywood, and mixing up cement for the floor. They sectioned off the floor area with one by fours on edge and filled them up one at a time. By evening, they had the floor poured, and the entire structure covered with plywood.

It was really beginning to look like a building now and they ate their dinner and talked excitedly about furniture. Krycek assured them they would have no room for anything other than bunk beds right now and possibly some shelves between them. Everyone was more than happy with that.

"Where do you plan on getting that many bunks?" Someone asked.

"We're going to build them." Krycek said as he sipped his coffee.

"Build them?" Someone questioned.

"If we can build a building, bunk beds should be easy." Someone else said.

"There's nothing to them really. The lumber yard has a ton of four by fours in eight foot sections. All we need to do is cut grooves in four of them and insert pieces of plywood. Nail in a few braces to keep the plywood in place and voila – you have bunk beds." Krycek said.

"And what about mattresses? Are we going to have to make those too?" Someone asked.

"Naw. There should be plenty of them around. Just like everything else, we'll make a run into town and get what we can find. We'll try the closest town first and see what we can come up with in the homes around there. Then we'll hit the larger town for the rest if we have to. We may end up having to some of us sleep on air mattresses. I saw some of those at the general store. We may also have to bring in some larger mattresses and cut them down. We'll just have to wait and see what we can come up with. But don't worry. Sooner or later everyone will have a mattress."

"What about a way to heat the place. Has anybody thought about that?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Harry. It's in the plans."

"Well, I'd like to hear about it. You going to put a fire pit in the middle of the building or something?" Harry again.

"I was thinking more along the lines of wood burning stoves. You know, those old pot-bellied things they used to have in the movies?"

"Where in the hell do you plan on coming up with one of those; you gonna order it from Sears?" Harry again.

"There are some in the store room over at the lumber yard. There's also a couple of real nice wood-burning cooking stoves there. All still in their crates."

"Cooking stoves!" Bobby and two of the women gushed. "Real cooking stoves?"

"Uh huh. The picture on the side of the crates looked real nice. They're big; eight burners each and they each have two ovens." Krycek knew his surprise would have that response.

"Why don't we bring them over here now? Oh what I could do with a real stove!" Bobby pleaded.

"They're cast iron, Bobby. First rain and they'll rust up. I think it's best if we just leave them where they are until we get the building up. It will also be a heck of a lot easier bringing them through the tunnel than trying to carry them over the pass." Krycek said. "Here, take a look at this." He took out a diagram he had made in his note book. Everyone gathered around to take a look. "There are twenty five of us so we'll need thirteen bunk beds to start out with. We line them all along one wall. Ladies, we'll curtain your area off once we get to it. Here at the front end, we can set up a temporary kitchen and set our tables up along this other side. We can curtain off places in the front and back and bring the port-a-potties in." A shout of 'Hooray' went up by all. "I figured we'd place four pot bellies right down the middle of the room." He pointed to tiny circles he had drawn on his diagram.

"Who's going to have to go out in the snow and gather up all the fire wood? Me, I suppose!" Harry again.

"Harry, if we're lucky, we have about three months before first snow most likely. I suggest you get started and bring in all you can find now before it gets too cold." Krycek said.

"There's a lot of it out there but most of it is too heavy for me to carry." Harry said.

"Ok, you locate what you can, and someone will come out with the chain saw and cut it into smaller pieces."

"That'll work." Harry agreed. "Thanks."

"We can build some racks to hold the wood," the farmers offered.

"That will be great, Randy.

On and on the planning went. On and on the trips into town went. They occasionally saw trucks and laid low in the bushes until they passed. It didn't take long to work out the schedule. The aliens were patrolling the two towns, once a week.

They were in town one time when their guard came tearing in with the news that a truck was coming. They pulled their wagon into the lumber yard out of sight of the road and they all hid their bikes and stayed out of sight, trembling in fear as the truck rolled through. Two men per truck, a driver and a spotter who just looked around as they drove through. They didn't even stop; they just drove up and down the streets and then went on their way. Once this schedule was determined, they never went into either town on those days of the week, the day before or the day after.

Aluminum siding was brought in and installed then came insulation for the walls and ceiling which was stapled up between the two by fours after everything was sealed with caulk, then paneling was installed over everything. The metal framework was installed for the ceiling and the white panels were put in place. The two doors were a stubborn challenge but they managed to get them installed along with the small rectangular windows that were placed high along each side wall. Two larger windows were installed in either side of the doors. A leveling resin mixture was poured over the floor and filled in all the cracks between sections as well as smoothed the rough surface of the concrete. They had to wait three days for it to set.

There was just one more thing to do before he would consider the building finished and that was to hang the US flag from the over-hanging beam in front and with a bucket of paint in one hand and a brush in the other, Alex painted a big number one above the doorway. Everyone yelled and cheered and they recited the National Anthem. It was a very solemn moment and it affected them all deeply.

The night they finished, they celebrated with Coke Cola, cooled in the stream. They raised their cans high in salute and sang songs and stayed up late. Everyone was congratulating each other and for a time they had Krycek up on their shoulders carrying him around. They bombarded him with requests for new projects to tackle. The cooks wanted the stoves brought in first, the women wanted the mattresses brought in first and he disappointed them all by insisting that they bring the plywood and four by fours in first and get started on the bunk beds. He reminded them that at any time people could start showing up there singing that stupid song and they would need places to sleep more and more people.

The next morning the two wagons and nineteen bike riders set out for the thirty mile trip, the women and their bikes riding in the back of the wagons, bikes in one wagon and the women in the other.

Both wagons were filled to capacity with plywood and four by fours. The bikes were loaded with groceries and their back packs loaded with more clothing.

Krycek explained in detail how to put the beds together and they went together simply enough and in one day they had their bunks all made and several extras in hopes of new comers needing them.

The next day's trip they went to the closest town and started on their mattress hunt. Almost every house had twin beds in at least one bed room; some had them in two or even three. They had come back with thirty mattresses. When they got back, they found that those who stayed behind had already started moving their things onto bunks. Lanterns had been hung all along the center of the room. The back of the room had been set up for the women. Two bunks on each side of the room facing each other and the port-a-potties had been brought in. Charlene and Deborah who had remained in camp, were busy trying to secure shower curtains between their area and the men's.

Krycek was very pleased with the results but told the women he had brought back canvas tarps they could use to curtain off their area, reminding them that shower curtains could easily been seen through. A rope was strung across the ceiling and laced through the grommet holes at the edge of each tarp giving them plenty of privacy when they were pulled closed. They could come up with a way to fasten it shut themselves.

They were enjoying moving into their building when Parks and his team came in, covered with dirt and announced that they had broken through the tunnel! It was all now just a matter of carrying the remaining dirt out of the way and shoring up the last section and it would be ready for use. It was decided that no trip into town would be made the next day; instead they would concentrate on the tunnel.

As fast as the dirt was cleared away, the ceiling and sides of the tunnel were shored up with a double layer of heavy duty beams and thick plywood. Cement would be added later on for even more stability. The dirt and debris had made a nice sloping ramp from the mine entrance to the floor of the valley and they were busy tamping it down when someone said. "Did you hear that? It sounds like singing."

They all quieted and listened. "…if you say it loud enough, you'll always sound precocious, SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPICALIDOCIOUS."

"Someone's here!" They all ran from the mine and saw heads popping up over the pass, two men, two women and four children, ranging from ages nine to twelve.

They all waved and yelled welcome and hugged them as they made their way down. Some of the group scurried over the pass and brought back their bicycles. They explained that the two families had been away camping when everything happened. They had met one of the Special Ops team and given the password and instructions on how to get there.

Everyone went back to camp and cleaned up. The new comers were amazed by the building and had been told there was nothing but tents here. They had brought tents and what supplies they could carry and Krycek noticed that each of them had plastic waste baskets secured over their back fenders. They told him the Special Ops team recommended the bikes and showed them how it was done. All of their bikes had sleeping bags secured to the back of the seats. They had made a good job of it.

Bobby had made a hearty meal of spam stew and every one ate with great pleasure.

"We haven't had a hot meal in days. We have a little stove but we were too afraid to use it. We didn't want any cooking odors to carry in the wind to any of those monsters." One of the women said.


"Oh, I almost forgot. We were told to give you this." One of the men said and handed Krycek several pages torn out of a small notebook. The first page was a letter from the Special Ops man explaining that they had found these two families in the woods east of Salt Lake City. He said they were ex-Marines but maybe we could forgive them for that. He said SL City was in ruins but he found an Army base near there that the aliens had taken over and hundreds of people were being held there. They had managed to sneak in and copy a list of names with ages and occupations. There were none with the occupations listed that they had asked for. They said the fence was wired for electricity but it was easy to get in and out of with a simple by pass system. He said further that he was heading on to California as their families were both there, one in San Francisco and one in LA. If they found their families, they would head back to the valley with them, if not they would continue on and they would gather names from any other internment camps they found.

The next several pages were covered front and back with names and occupations.

"Good, good! This is exactly what we need!" Krycek said and read the letter to the others. They all chuckled at the ex-Marine joke and even the soldiers assured them that there was nothing to worry about as long as they didn't get into any football games. He scanned the list of names closely and there were none that could be of immediate use to them. They were mostly, business men, housewives, students and teachers.

After dinner and a lively getting-to-know-one-another discussion, they made their way to the bunk house as a light drizzle started. The new comers were given bunks. The women and two little girls' were set up in the women's area as two more bunk beds were moved in behind the curtain for them. The men and boys stayed up front with the other men.

"Look, Mommy, beds. Real beds to sleep on!" The little girls were excited, the women overcome with relief were wiping away tears.

The rain out side started in earnest then and one of the little girls said, "Mommy, I gotta go!"

"Oh, honey, it's pouring! Can't you wait a few minutes and see if it stops?"

"Over here," Marcia said and showed them the port-a-potty behind the shower curtain.

"Oh, a little toilet! Look Mommy, a little toilet!" The little girl exclaimed. "Can I use it, please?"

"Certainly sweetie. Help yourself."


The two mommies hugged the women then and couldn't hold the tears in any longer. They talked for hours about how frightened they all were and what an ordeal it had been riding their bikes so far.