Sharecropping The Apocalypse: A Prepper is Cast Adrift (39 page)

“No, not for me David, you go ahead, it’s still a bit early in the day and the very thought of that batch of shine you cooked up doesn’t sound so good to me at this particular moment. I might take you up on one later though to help maybe settle my nerves a bit however.” Julie said as she watched David fix himself some shine and coke and remembering that this stuff was more potent than normal as he had redistilled the batch many times to up its alcohol content and make it the equivalent of gasohol if he ever needed to pour it in the gas tank to get home instead of drinking it.

A 50/50 mixture of ethanol alcohol or in David’s case, what he had made which was some basically home brewed triple distilled top shelf vodka run back through the still and taken to the state that it could be mixed with gasoline to run any vehicle built after 1983. It was also good for dewatering fuels in gas tanks or making a maltov cocktail should some obscure need arise.

“Whoo! Hoo! This stuff sure isn’t Ancient age sipping whiskey. It has a pretty good bite to it I mean to tell you.” David said grimacing as the raw alcohol concoction hit his throat and had him exhaling as loudly as he could with pursed lips.

Julie didn’t scold him or giggle too much at him for his antics and his indulgence. That was just David’s way sometimes, he was going to do it regardless and she had seen him take one drink and put it down to handle a task   and never finish it as well as have many more after the first until the sun come  down and was working on coming up again to party with an old friend.  . It was his crutch to lean upon to ponder upon a point until inspiration or a answer was decided upon at other times. Dumbed him down and let him think he was quoted to say. He could not drink anything alcoholic for a month if he was busy on a project that had his interest or he might arbitrarily decide that this was a party month and he would just think on something. You never could tell what he had decided on when he hollered that it was “ Five o`clock somewhere! He even had a big clock on his wall that was stopped a few minutes after 5 to evidence that fact if it needed pointing to.

“That’s better I think, but next one is coming out of Crick’s whiskey I brought with me. As for what I am going to do at the moment is I am just going to sit right here and pretend that I am having another one just like the other one in a honky-tonk bar somewhere with Crick sitting alongside and figure out what he might be thinking about this situation if I can.” David said adding more coke to dilute the fire and take the edge off his 16 ounce drink and then he settled back in his chair with a satisfied smile. He and Crick had pondered the problems of the world and prepping in general over such libations a many a time and he sort of knew how the man’s head worked.

“
Now then Mr. Crick you old prepper we have had this little conversation before , what do you think I am going to do in this situation and what do I think you might do.” David mused before Julie reminded him to watch his drinking and pay more attention to the present.

“Watch out that extra strong stuff doesn’t sneak up on you David. I take it that you’re not too worried about who ever that was you were hollering at earlier?” Julie said warning David not to get too buzzed off the over potent joy juice and wondering if she should be looking out more for whoever that might of been if David seemed to be getting too unduly distracted or possibly a bit drunker than he imagined he was later.

“Nah darling, I am not too worried much about that raggedy scoundrel much at all at the moment. Who ever that was is probably still running. But, don’t you worry; I AM still thinking about them. The back of that khaki kind of floppy fishing hat of theirs and the white fluff from the holes in the jeans was about all I saw in a blur as for any details that I can remember. I can’t even tell you what color their skin was or how much they weighed exactly. It was just whoosh, zip and a glimpse of them going around the corner of the chicken coop and off into the woods. I am assuming by the way that they were dressed that they got to be a local person and not to well off at that. Or for that matter they were not any kind of a hunter or woodsman just happening by because of the choice of clothes they had on to be out tromping in the woods. Otherwise we would have seen a bit of camouflage. Maybe it was a neighbor from around here somewhere that came to see Clem and Bertha to borrow some eggs or something?” David said and then made exaggerated head shaking motions and squinchy eyes after another sip of his drink that he hadn’t quite put enough coke in yet to tone down the fiery fumes of the white liquor in his red solo cup.

“I didn’t even see half that much of them David so I really can’t help you form any kind of a true description for them, about all I saw were a leg and a shoe going around a tree and that was it.” Julie declared.

“You didn’t happen to notice what kind of shoes they had on or the type of tread on them did you? Slick bottoms, tennis shoe soles or hiking boot treads would be a good thing to know.” David said looking at her intently hoping she had noticed some detail to give him another definitive clue.

“Well no, not really I am sorry to say. I couldn’t tell you if they were wearing boots or regular shoes, seems to me about all that I saw a wisp of faded brown. I don’t think I would say they had on tennis shoes over wearing leather ones, no it was just too quick to say what I saw.” Julie said searching her memory of the brief mental image she tried to pull up in her head.

“Well they certainly appeared scared enough whatever it was they were wearing and that is worrisome, because scared people don’t think straight and you never know there real motives or reasoning sometimes until it’s too late. If someone was messing around out stealing eggs or a chicken then they would have certainly hightailed it out of here like that. I tell you what, oh well, damn it never mind, we may as well go back there. Darn it, I thought I was going to be able to sit here for a bit and enjoy this drink in peace for a moment but it appears now we need to go on a mission. The answer to this little quandary we are discussing is probably as simple as just going back and looking into that chicken coop a bit closer. I should have taken the time and done it while I was all ready there.  If we found a forgotten or discarded wicker basket or maybe a gunny sack left on the floor that could have told me a lot. This ain`t the kind of drink I want to hurry up chug on down if I can help it and I think it might still be best to wait a bit before going back so if you don’t mind  indulge me in some more conversation before we go back there and play detective.” David said knowing Julie would be mentally evaluating his decision and reasoning to wait something out instead of charging over to check it out might mean something other than he just wanted to sit around and finish his booze.

She remembered his instructions about the need for patience with certain situations because it was just wise to do and particularly remembered the example of it he had taught her about deer hunting. David had explained to her not to let her exuberance of wanting to check out a freshly shot deer for example override the wisdom he had taught her about the nature of such game and the need to wait sometimes. A deer David had told her was first to be respected as a dangerous animal, more than one unwary hunter had had his ass kicked or even been killed by messing with what they thought was a dead deer.

At first Julie thought when David started to relate his hunting stories that he was trying to play a prank or joke on her in some kind of way as to how such a beautiful and docile looking creature could ever be aggressive towards a human let alone kill someone unless it was in pain and got a lucky antler stab in.

David had however changed any misguided notions she might of still had of Bambi cuteness when he explained the deer’s fighting style to her and even provided  a YouTube video of a 265lb misguided photographer who ended up in the hospital from messing with one when it was rutting season. Dumbass had sprayed himself with deer attractant.

Julie had always thought that a deer’s horns were its primary weapon but David quickly corrected her and explained the creatures knew boxing like a kangaroo and those hooves could be razor sharp.

Another favorite thing of a deer in a fight was the two front hooves at once mustang stallion style stomp on you from the rearing back on its hind legs position. What’s odd about a deer is that they can stand on two legs and go backwards and forwards in their Chinese Kung Fu fighting Mantis stance and stay up in that position much longer than you would think. It appeared to be their favorite style of engaging taller humans in a game of fisti cuffs that the human was likely to lose.

When David had showed her the first YouTube outdoor amateur video of someone actually engaged in a battle with a deer and the statistics about how many people nationwide in the media had actually been attacked by deer her opinion of the sweet lovable creatures had changed.

They were indeed deadly and were not going to necessarily run at you like a bull or a goat and use their horns. They would rear on their back feet like a bear and say bring it to them or they were going to carry it to you like a bar fight with a redneck in some backwoods saloon and you better be ready for it.

Although deer generally are docile and timid animals that do not attack humans, the deer population explosion, due to human activity, has greatly increased deer-human contact. In addition deer have been forced to live in close proximity to humans and as a result they have lost their fear and become more aggressive toward humans, especially when feeling they themselves or their young might be threatened.

With the ubiquity of phone cameras, the Internet abounds with disturbing video of deer violently attacking people and pets.

The next thing David told her to admire and respect was that a deer when shot was often able to run 50 to a hundred yards or more on pure adrenalin alone whether they were just wounded or already dead away from the threat or attacker and then they would stop. If you pursued a wounded deer and they thought danger was after them they could start back up and run for miles before they expired.

If you were sitting up in your deer stand or hunkered down in a hide or blind and you just shot a deer, wait even if you saw the perfect shot take the beastie down. If he runs he will pause and if no pursuit is noted he will stay in one place and bleed out and you will have less of a chase or distance to pack out the meat. Give the animal a chance to die in peace and the meat tastes better. David told her that those that hunt with dogs find out that animals that are chased taste different than those that can expire without relentless fear or anger driving blood to the surface of the skin etc.

Poke the son of a bitch with your gun barrel at a distance before inspecting it in case life remains was also a caution he had given.

Your attitude can provoke a deer in rut or a doe with fawns. Deer are territorial during these times. If you turn away and retreat, an attack is much less likely than if you stand your ground or move toward the deer. If all else fails you can puff yourself up to look bigger and shout and raise hell waving your hands and arms.

Surviving a
Deer Attack

If you still are attacked, try and protect your head and face. If possible grab the antlers or front legs.

In the case of whoever that was had run from them, David was probably waiting until they got far away or if they were going to get help or others to wait for them to approach him so he could watch them carefully at a distance he chose.

David and Julie sat on the porch and watched the road leading towards them for about 15 minutes before loading up everything and going back to the first house. Nothing untoward was evident in the chicken coop or around the house so once again there was nothing to do but watch and wait. The hours passed slowly as they talked about setting out off the plantation to try and find a road to the river and try and locate Crick or attempt to see what was going on over at the island.