Chapter 163: 163
I suddenly got flashbacks when I went to basic training as a special case before. They would drill into you everything and would break you into pieces and finally build yourself back up a new person.
“Are those guys in the army?” Allan asked.
“Hmm? *munch* not exactly. They’re a few cadets from the different branches of the military.” I replied.
“But why is Oscar the one training them?” Lois asked.
“Are you really asking that? The old man has been in the US Army far longer than you’ve lived. Besides, can’t you see how excited he got?” I replied.
“They all look really young. Will Oscar be the only one training them?” Jenny chimed.
“They really do. Mostly, yes. He’s getting really old and even if he’s really strong, he needs a break every now and then.” I replied.
“His memory is slowly slipping. There were small signs of it. Better to make him stay here as much as possible or on any chance that he goes out, I will be present. We can’t be sure if he’s already turning senile or it is another case. I wonder if I’ll lose my ability to remember everything when I get old?” I thought to myself.
We thought the small show was over and all of a sudden, Johnny came out of his house as well wearing his service uniform too. He has fewer medals than Oscar but his face shows excitement as well. He’s carrying an old Mosin Nagant while he subtly marches towards where Oscar brought the trainees in.
“Oh boy… those twelve are gonna die.” I muttered.
“Hey, are they receiving special training then? Can I join?” Aubrey chimed as well.
“Hmm? Sort of. What I’ve been doing with you all is building a huge foundation of a building. I’m been letting you get in knowledge from everything that we needed to survive. In their case, it would be mostly combat oriented. You can join them if you want, I see no problem in that.” I replied.
She went down and slowly made her way by catching up to Johnny.
“She wanted to join the Army bro.” Lois chimed.
“Her? She mentioned that?” I replied.
“Yeah. We’ve been talking with each other every time we’re here and she made a mention of it.” Jenny said.
“Well, that’s good. Not everyone wants to learn everything or have the capacity to do it. There would be things a person would be good at or bad at.” I said.
I said my goodbyes to them and I approached Raphael in the workshop.
He’s checking his blueprint and I took a glance on it.
“That’s why you’re taking so long.” I said with a smile.
“Heh! Like what you see dude?” he smirked.
I can’t understand a few bits of it since it’s beyond what I know but looking at the title: “Ratatat Motherf.u.c.ker ver 1.113” with several erasures on the version number means that he made several revisions on his design to make it work.
What he explained to me is that from the materials on hand, he would first make a frame that is the right size for the sunroof. The frame will carry the whole thing that in no way would impede the user when he uses it. There are several things that it can’t do from what we wanted it to do. It can’t spin all around and it could only do a 0 degree – 270 degree turn at the maximum. It would be elevated properly to avoid the bullets hitting Oscar’s SUV when someone actually fired it. He will attach a tube where the casings would fly out so we could easily collect them after use. So far, as far as a mounted gun does, with the materials on hand, it would still be a force to be reckoned with.
“Well, we can’t have everything from the materials and tools that we have. This is still good though.” I thought to myself.
Tatiana and Jared finally reached home and they came back with what they have missed from their previous run.
“Bro, we found several metal barrels like these there and a few are being hanged by a thin rope. Is this where really those mushrooms come from? Well, we actually saw a few growing in them. I just can’t believe it could be farmed like this.” He said.
“This thing can be harvested forever, correct?” Tatiana asked.
“Actually no, these kinds of bags would be used in 4-5 months before we make another batch an we could harvest them every 10-12 days. Very easy to make one too. Now where to put these things…” I said.
Charlotte came from outside the gate and she talked with Amanda, Alex’s mother if she could place the fruiting bags over their house instead. There are several hundred bags available and it wouldn’t fit in the greenhouse.
“I asked Arthur to make a small shed for it to be placed on so kindly drive them in my house so I could arrange them later. I used to know someone that introduced me to this but I never had the time.” Amanda said.
Charlotte rode with them to the house where to put it and Chris came up to me with a disgruntled expression.
“Sky…” he trailed.
“Hmm? What’s the problem?” I asked.
“Charlotte is mad at me…” he trailed again.
What happened was Chris volunteered to go outside with Tatiana and Jared since Kaley and I was missing from our usual group. Aside from Chris, Kris also came with them and they did a fine job and listened to Tatiana’s orders. The problem he’s facing is that Charlotte got mad at him for going out.
“What did she say to you then?” Kaley heard some gossip and joined us.
“Absolutely nothing. She treats me like I’m dead! She has never spoken a single word to me ever since we came back the first time…” he replied.
“Well she’s just really worried with you. That’s why she’s not talking to you.” Kaley replied.
“But I just want to start helping out with everyone! If she’s worried she should’ve told me not mop around all day! It’s crazy!” Chris replied.
“She’s mad, well, you always help her around on everything that she does so maybe she don’t want you to go outside and help her instead. You see Chris…” Kaley said.
Kaley tried to explain her side of the situation but I pulled Chris to the side, “Try this. *whisper* *whisper*”
I whispered a few things to Chris that made him look at me that I’m a crazy person. Kaley was confused as she saw Chris marching outside like a robot.
“Now what did you tell him?” she asked.
“Heh, a guy thing. We’ll see what happens.” I replied.
Time passes and everyone in the compound gathered to our place for lunch. The new people introduced themselves while I’m the one who introduced the trainees which are almost looking like they participated in the world war.
We had the same mushrooms for lunch covered in batter and then fried with a soup on the side eaten with rice.
While we’re eating, Earl approached me.
“Hey, I checked the radio station and I’m sure I can run it. I need someone to work with me inside though.” he said.
“Juan could help him, I think…” I thought to myself.
“Really? How did you do it?” I asked.
“I uh… I just turned it on…” he trailed.
“…” everyone else listening.
“F.u.c.k.i.n.g knew it!” I thought to myself.
“Oh.” I replied with lifeless eyes.
“What do you want me to broadcast then?” he asked.
“Hmm… I may need to work on a script to be recorded and played over and over but I want you to check their own recordings there and remove any indication from where we are broadcasting at the moment. I want to help people in their troubles but if all of them flock here, it will be another problem.” I said.
“Oh yeah, are we also gonna take people from the camp on the Meycauayan DDR Camp?” Earnest chimed.
“Not at the moment, no.” I replied.
“I see…” he trailed.
“I’m sorry dude, like I said, we can’t take everyone. I figured that you may know people that might be there but we’ll pay a visit there if the situation here became stable.” I explained.
“Stable?” he asked.
“Like the time when I started visiting all of you. I made sure that this place can run on its own before I set out. It was actually easier than I thought since I managed to get most of you here in a single day. Now we wait for everything to settle down first like a snow globe before we make any bolder moves. We always need to play it safe as much as possible since we only have one life.” I said as he nodded.
I looked at everyone and I made a faint smile.
“It really pays off if you have made preparations beforehand. Things could be much worse if Oscar and I was the only one in this compound.” I thought to myself.
We finished eating and I cracked my knuckles and neck once more.
I gathered my group and I planned out our route for another run outside.