The tanker trucks are under the driveway canopy because they represent how long a siege we are ready to handle. We have much more water and fuel in jerry cans, but the image of 50K-liter triple-axel tankers would make ‘the man’ think in terms of months instead of days. We would rather ‘the man’ not learn that potential timeline with just a cursory view of our compound. Pico Pico Houses are rectangular cubes normally 40 inches by 80 inches by 52 inches high. These dimensions come from standard pallet sizes: a 48x40 and 32x40 are combined side-by-side. The houses come unassembled (floor, sides, ceiling, all stacked on top of each other), and are less than two feet high in that form. In an eight-foot high container or box truck, you could potentially get two per 40x48 floor space, or ten in a 20-footer, or twenty in a 40-footer. We have less than 160 people, so need eight 40-foot containers dedicated to this, or have them dispersed in the box trucks. We spread all supplies around fairly evenly in case any trucks were attacked or crippled somehow. But they all arrived safely. With the perimeter setup, the solar awnings deployed, and the containers all verified, about half of the group starts assembling houses while the other half rests or patrols. Although we use power wrenches to assemble the Pico houses, there is enough freeway noise combined with a large distance to any slumbering households to make us as quiet as a bat.
RAZORS At 7 a.m. Two of the vampires start getting calls from their clinics. Of the two-dozen vampires, only these two are on the Tu-Th-Sa at 6 a.m. shift. They are from different clinics, so finding a replacement should not be a problem or particularly noticed. But the nurses say the vampires should come at the last (2 p.m.) shift, and they will bump the other vampires to earlier slots. - 78 -
