Chapter 142: Someone’s There!

Wayne fell silent for a while after hearing Jack's question, his gaze slowly drifting into the distance.

"My father was a real farmer in the old world."

He spoke slowly. His father had once owned a modest farm where he grew grain and vegetables and kept some livestock. Farming no longer relied on manual labor the way it once had. Machines handled most of the planting, irrigation, and fertilizing, so his father spent most of his time checking on the crops and maintaining the equipment.

After the disaster, everything changed.

Without power, all the machinery stopped working, and the once-reliable water supply gradually dried up. His father had to take the family and leave the farm, moving from settlement to settlement. Whenever he found somewhere that could be planted, he did what he could to clear a small plot, though nothing he planted ever survived.

"My father always said that even if the machines were useless, we still had the knowledge in our heads."

Wayne had followed his father around a lot as a child. His father taught him how to tell seeds apart, how to check soil, and which crops could stand drought. He also taught Wayne to recognize different tools and pieces of farm equipment. Whenever they came across an abandoned farm or an agricultural supply store, his father would point at the machines and explain what each one did and whether it could still be used with parts missing.

Back then, though, Wayne hadn't taken any of it seriously. He had heard plenty, but little of it had actually stuck.

It was only after his father died that he started regretting not paying attention.

"Most of what I know is theory," Wayne told Jack frankly. "If you asked me to farm, I probably wouldn't be much better than anyone else. But if I see tools, seeds, or equipment, I can probably recognize some of them and have a rough idea how they're used."

Jack nodded thoughtfully.

It wasn't much, and Wayne was hardly an agricultural expert. But in a world where most people couldn't even identify a farm tool, being able to recognize them was far better than knowing nothing.

"After your surgery, once you've recovered, go live at the agricultural supply center with Justin and the others," Jack said. "You can help us figure out which of the equipment there still works."

"No problem," Wayne said without hesitation. "I was planning to stay there anyway. I've already had a rough look at the equipment, though I never checked it carefully. When some people wanted to tear it apart for weapons, I'm the one who kept stopping them."

"Is there a lot of equipment there?" Jack asked. "All I saw were big machines, and I had no idea what they were for."

"A lot of it. Big, medium, and small, plus plenty of gear for growing things. The gray-white powder they brought over earlier is one of them."

Jack nodded and didn't press further. He sat beside Wayne and chatted with him about the problems of growing crops after the disaster.

Meanwhile, Justin and the others had reached the electronics mall ruins.

The two CUEVs stopped near the entrance. The four climbed out and unloaded the insulated cooler, then added ice and a little clean water to each fluid pouch. Once the cooling vests had started running, they put on their goggles, masks, and gloves and headed inside.

There were still signs that the area near the entrance had been cleared. Collapsed shelves and scattered appliances had been pushed to either side, leaving a narrow path down the middle.

They didn't stay together. As agreed before leaving, they split into two groups.

Justin and Wesley would look for the cable Jack needed. Tom and Chen would go the other way and look for the fixed RCCUs.

They didn't waste any time and soon disappeared in different directions.

The electronics mall was far larger than any of them had imagined. Rows of display areas stretched into the distance, flanked by freestanding showrooms and side corridors. The signs overhead had faded beyond use, and only a few of the larger sections could still be made out.

Justin and Wesley followed one of the main aisles inward and passed several display areas, finding only household appliances and loose parts. The few cables they saw were short lengths attached to the appliances, nowhere near enough to reach the agricultural supply center.

"How long is this going to take?" Wesley asked, staring at the display area ahead that still showed no end.

"We'll just keep looking," Justin said. "We'll find it."

They moved on, checking any area that might hold installation materials, but they didn't find a single full roll of cable.

On the other side, Tom and Chen were working their way through the display areas, looking for storerooms with new stock. They passed plenty of doors leading to the back, but most opened onto ordinary storerooms. Appliances were stacked in batches, the cartons printed with different images and text, and picking out an RCCU wasn't easy.

They searched several storerooms and looked over a lot of unopened equipment, but still found no RCCUs. More passages and sections lay ahead, with no end in sight.

As time passed, both groups pushed deeper into the mall without finding what they needed.

And there was still a huge area left to search.

Back at the shelter, Jack and Wayne talked for a while longer. Only when Megan had finished packing up did the two of them leave the shelter and head for the underground clinic.

They went down the steps into the underground space, and Jack soon spotted Warren on the far side. Warren was directing several people who were digging out the ventilation shaft. They took turns working upward with their tools, and the clay they cleared was carried aside and piled with what had been dug out earlier.

When he saw Jack and Megan, Warren walked over.

"I was just about to ask you something."

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"Do you want a floor down here?"

Jack was surprised. "Where did that come from?"

"Not a proper floor," Warren explained. "We'd take apart some pallets and lay the boards down in a single layer."

He pointed at the ground.

"The floor looks fine now, but with this many people walking around every day, dirt will get tracked everywhere. And once the beds and tables are brought in, they might not sit steady."

He went on, "It would also be easier to clean, and easier to move the beds."

Jack looked down. The ground had been smoothed, but it was still a little uneven, and it was already covered in footprints and bits of loose clay.

He made up his mind quickly. "Then let's do it."

Megan nodded. "Keeping the clinic floor clean matters more than almost anything."

"We'll do the floor, then," Warren said. "The bed frames can be made from pallets too."

"How many more pallets will we need?" Jack asked.

"Quite a lot." Warren glanced across the underground space. "Bring as many as you can."

"All right. I'll arrange it now." Jack turned to Megan. "Coming back with me?"

Megan shook her head. "I'll stay here. The lights are settled, but I still need to think about how to arrange the beds and medical supplies."

Jack didn't say anything more and went up the steps alone.

Outside, he drove a CUEV back to the trading post, called over a few people, and had them load pallets and take them to the underground clinic.

Underground, Megan continued walking the space with Warren. The sound of digging came from the ventilation shaft, while Walter and Colt picked up their camping lights again and began installing lights and wiring according to the plan they had just made.

Once the pallets were on their way, Jack went straight back to the convenience store and into the warehouse.

He remembered there being some inflatable mattresses in there, though he wasn't sure how many, so he started searching through the camping supplies.

At first, he found only two rolled-up single mattresses. But after he moved aside a few boxes in front, he discovered a lot more behind them.

"This many?"

He pulled them out one by one and set them to the side, then counted them again.

There were more than ten.

They had all been deflated and rolled up neatly, so even stacked together, they took up very little room. It was no wonder he'd never noticed how many there were when he used to organize the warehouse.

Even more surprising, there were more than a dozen sleeping bags nearby.

He picked one up. It came in a storage sack and could be used the moment it was opened.

"Well, that settles it. We even have blankets now."

He'd been wondering where to find enough mattresses and bedding once the bed frames were finished. With the inflatable mattresses and sleeping bags, the problem was already solved.

Jack sorted the mattresses and sleeping bags and carried them outside. Once that was done, he left the convenience store and headed back to the underground clinic.

Justin and Wesley kept searching for some time. They still found no full rolls of cable, but they came across plenty of switches, sockets, connectors, and mounting brackets.

They didn't recognize all of it, but they knew that wiring a building would require such things. They collected everything that was still in intact packaging to take back with them.

They moved on and checked several more areas. When Wesley pushed open one of the doors, he stopped in his tracks.

Inside the room stood several rows of metal racks, all of them loaded with rolls of cable. Some were only the size of a washbasin, while the larger ones were about as big as car tires. Several thicker, heavier rolls sat at the back.

"This should be it."

Justin hurried to the nearest rack and studied the labels. Neither of them could read everything, but the pictures on the packaging gave them some idea of what each was for.

Some of the rolls were small, about the size of a washbasin, and one person could lift them easily. Beside them were thicker cables, and their packaging showed air conditioners, refrigerators, and large appliances.

The cables on another rack all had the same type of connector. Each roll was about the size of a car tire, and when Justin lined up two of the connectors, it quickly became clear that the cables could be joined section by section.

The cables at the very back were thicker and heavier still. Each roll was as large as a big tire and wrapped in a heavy protective layer. The two of them had no idea how those were meant to be used, so they decided to take the lighter ones and leave it to Jack and the others to judge.

"We'll take the light ones first," Justin said. "We can come back for the thick ones later."

He and Wesley picked out several of the lighter rolls, added the sockets, switches, connectors, and mounting hardware they had collected, and began carrying everything back to the entrance.

Tom and Chen, meanwhile, had found a storeroom full of RCCUs. Identical cartons ran along two rows of metal racks. Some of the outer packaging had been damaged, but plenty of boxes were still intact.

They opened one of the cartons and found a fixed main unit, a wall-mounting bracket, a controller, and connecting hardware. After that, they picked out several RCCUs in undamaged packaging and began carrying them to the entrance in batches.

When Justin and Wesley arrived at the entrance with the cable, Tom and Chen were just coming out, carrying another RCCU between them. Several of the same cartons already sat beside the two CUEVs.

Justin set down the cable and looked at the boxes.

"You found them?"

"We did," Tom said. "There are a lot more, but two CUEVs can't carry them all."

"Let's go take a look," Justin said.

The four of them returned to the storeroom.

Unopened cartons filled the metal racks on both sides, and a line of text was clearly printed on the outside of each box.

Residential Climate Control Unit.

Boxes of the same packaging ran along both rows of racks, all the way to the back of the room. Some of the outer packaging was damaged, but there were still plenty of intact ones.

Justin walked a little way down the racks, then looked back.

"Are these all RCCUs?"

"They should be," Tom said. "The boxes come in different sizes, so they might be different models."

Once he had seen the situation in the storeroom, Justin turned to Wesley.

"Let's go. We'll get back to hauling cable."

Wesley nodded and headed for the door.

He had only taken a few steps when his gaze happened to sweep across a corner of the storeroom, and he froze.

Several cartons were stacked there, and behind one of them, a hand was sticking out.

Wesley jerked back a step and nearly crashed into the shelf behind him.

"Someone's there!"

Justin and the others spun around and looked where he was pointing.

The hand hung motionless beside the box.