Chapter 104: 104
“Well, my husband is a little shy so I’ll introduce him. His name is Matthew James Payan. 47 years old and he’s British-Filipino unlike me who’s a purebred Filipina and my name is Marisha Ann Payan. My husband is a Photographer though he likes to hunt game when we camp around and I’m a Psychology Professor. Well, used to be, considering the circ.u.mstances now. That’s about it and I’d like to keep more of our stories later because I might run out in the future.” she gracefully said with a smile.
They sat down as a few close to them that haven’t introduced themselves greeted them as well.
“Okay, let’s start the meeting now.” I said.
We discussed about the food situation first. Everything is still brimming and it’s still continuing to increase from the scavenging missions from before and from our farms and animals. Add to that the haul that Kaley’s parents brought. Charlotte has planted a few seedlings outside the farm area that we built before. Some of them are green onions, lettuce, baby carrots, spinach and peas. We still get daily eggs and milk from the animals and we concluded that part of the discussion.
We next discussed about the building phase. Anthony made a small smelter like he told us and he actually hooked a propane tank on it and he started on melting a few scrap metals like aluminum to small cylindrical blocks. He showed me a few of them and he said that we could melt it again if we want to use it but we need some sort of mold if we want to make something out of it. The problem with this small foundry is like the description says, it’s small. He’s now writing up a blueprint to make something larger for us. The barn was discussed shortly as well as the SUV.
Before we moved to another topic, Ken approached me.
“Hey man, check this thing that I’m working out on while I watch the CCTVs.” he said to me.
“You’re making our own server here, right? With this setup, we could also reach the other houses with this. We might need to start small though. Nevertheless, this is great.” I replied.
“The problem with this is we need the hardware for this setup. This is not in a rush, just place this thing in the back burner.” he explained.
“That’s true. We could get the hardware for this at a mall in the Bulacan area but going there is a bad idea for now. Well, we just need a dedicated PC first but I would like to grab th-” I got cut off.
“Hey, in English nerds?” Oscar interrupted.
“Let’s just say that we’re bringing back a small version of the Internet. To be precise a few things that we’ve saved over the years. I had several drives in storage that not only contains manuals and instructional videos, it contains every little bit of what we have before: Music, Art, Movies, Books, Novels, Comics, Photos and etc. There are much more in the drives I got but if we start small, we could at least catch a break by seeing what we have before or learn new stuff by yourselves since I can’t teach everyone all the time.” I said with an excited smile.
Everyone’s grew excited when they understood what we two are trying to do.
“How much have you stored in your drives then? I only brought about 20 Terabytes worth.” Ken asked.
“Hah! Definitely much more than what you brought. We’ll talk about this later. Good job man!” I gave him a fist bump.
“Anytime man.” he replied.
Lastly, we talked about increasing out territory for a bit. I assigned Oscar to lead that group. It’s only up to my old house though there will be lots of houses to check first since the houses on that part are more squeezed together and there is another squatter area that needed to be taken care of. The priority is to build the fence first then clear the area after. I’m probably gonna get Jude to stretch his bones since he will be guarding the group that would make the fence. After a few questions that are easily answered, we ended the meeting.
After we ended the meeting Oscar approached me.
“Kid, you owe me.” he said.
“Hmm? What are you talking about?” I was confused.
“Hah! You’ll see tomorrow, but remember, you owe me.” he said with a grin.
“C’mon old man! You know I need to know this sort of things before I sleep! You’ll keep me awake all night!” I exclaimed.
“Hah! Nevermind that, but yeah, you owe me.” he said as he walked inside his house.
My scalp started to itch now as I started to scratch it furiously.
“This old man, what did he do now?” I asked myself.
I went ahead to my room and Kaley followed from behind.
“Hey, I thought you were gonna sleep with your parents today?” I asked.
“No, I already did this afternoon with mom. It’s really nice having them here. Besides, if we all slept in the same bed it would be catastrophic since I move a lot.” She said.
“I never really noticed though; you’ve never hit me once in your sleep. The only time I remember you moving is when Olivia slept with us when we watched a horror film.” I said.
“Really? Olivia would always say that I would sometimes punch her…” she trailed.
“Hah! Maybe because you’re always hugging me when we sleep? Do you like my smell or something? Maybe, you’re just so in love with me you’re not able to subconciously?” I joked.
She tried to flick my ear with the wound but I immediately avoided it. Her smile when she’s a bit angry is a view I can’t get enough of.
“I’m joking! I’m joking!” I said as she chases me.
We changed to more comfortable clothes after we cleaned the guns that we used earlier.
“Hey, can we watch a movie before we sleep?” Kaley asked.
“Sure, what do you like to watc- wait. I’ll just pick randomly… we’ll take hours before you pick one.” I said as she giggles.
We we’re sitting upright on the bed while I leaned my back to the wall. I was hugging her from behind while she held my hand under the blankets. The temperature lowers because of the air conditioner so I hugged her closer. I could smell her hair and I could feel the warmth of her body. It comforts me as I hug her as I feel a bit drowsy already.
The movie that played was a classic animation from Hayao Miyazaki. I was surprised to learn that this was her first time watching ‘H’s Moving Castle’. She was captivated by how beautiful it was made and she barely spoke since she’s so focused into it.
“That was really beautiful.” She said.
“The person who made this has a lot more movies like this and it’s all good.” I said.
She smiled then she gave me a quick kiss. We slept soundly while the night quickly passes.
I woke up a bit early and she’s still sleeping. Her beautiful face is the first thing I see and I just stared at her. I slowly picked up my phone to take a picture of her and I made sure that the flash is off so she wouldn’t wake up.
It’s still an hour before 6:00 AM so I went outside to check on the people watching the gate. It was Johnny, Jay and Matthew. They noticed me walking up the stairs to the catwalk so they greeted me while I pulled myself up from the usual spot that I always sat down to.
“Mornin’ kid.” Johnny said.
“Morning too. How’s the watch?” I replied.
“Well, it’s okay I guess. We barely use the guns now because of the fence. A quick thrust with a crowbar or something does the job.” Johnny said.
“How’s your status on the other houses then?” I asked Jay and Johnny.
“Well, it’s manageable. We got rooms for everybody and it’s more comfortable than the one at Elsewhere. We got lucky on picking a good house. My wife likes the quiet and the sound of water since it calms her down.” Jay replied.
“Same with us. Moving away from your home is a very stressful thing to do. I installed some of the panels that you brought and the water tanks. We can’t be too prepared, can we?” Johnny replied as well.
“That’s right. How about you then? Slept well?” I asked Matthew.
“I never really get much sleep nowadays. How’s my daughter that you took away from me doing?” he asked.
“Took away? Hah! She’s still sleeping. I took a picture of her though.” I said as I showed him my phone.
“What?! Why would you do that you creep?! Delete that!” he bellowed.
“Nope. I have more but I won’t show you.” I replied as I immediately pocketed my phone.
The two with us helplessly smiled while they watch us banter.
“Matthew, If I may?” Johnny said.
“Hmm?” Matthew said.