Things were pretty much the same for most of Jake’s first year at college. Izzy made the rounds, cared for her horses and continued to amaze both George and Ernie. George obsessively amassed supplies and provisions at auctions, closeout sales and through his contacts. And Ernie oversaw the operations at the ranch. George counted the days, reviewed his research and waited. They all waited. Meanwhile, outside the walls of the ranch, life went on.
All he needed to do was plant the idea that the children could be safe there, should the worst happen. While Twin Pines was a relatively small community of about 10,000, it wasn’t a particularly close-knit community. But still, people talked with one another and increasingly, people found themselves, embarrassingly, talking about worst-case scenarios. George was almost always mentioned. And even while dismissing the crazy idea that something terrible was going to happen, in the back of their minds, they all wondered what George had built out at his ranch. It was all George could have hoped for.
George and The Chief stood on the promontory and surveyed the ranch. It had taken the better part of 15 years, but it was finally complete. George counted the 20 individual bunkers, and he mentally traced the paths of the underground tunnels. Then he looked at the various structures, all constructed with reinforced concrete slabs covered with false facades that mimicked typical farm housing, sheds, storage and utility buildings. He felt a tremendous sense of pride and the satisfaction that comes from a long, hard-fought journey that has come to a successful end. He looked at Ernie and smiled, extending his hand.
“I think we’re done, Ernie.”
“What’s going to happen to the kids?” Peter asked.
“The kids?” George was no longer smiling.
“Yeah. You’ve painted a really grim picture that totally makes sense. But with all of these people dying and marauders running rampant, what happens to little children? Kids?”
George stood up, scratching his head. “Good question.” He looked right into Peter’s eyes. “What do YOU think will happen to the kids?”
“I don’t know. I guess they’ll all die alongside their parents?”
As his life pumped out of his body through his multiple wounds, Get-It Petit was grateful to have enough energy to ask a single question of Grant, as he stood over him. “Why? I thought we were friends…”
And, as the last 30 seconds of his life ticked by, he smiled at Grant’s response. “We were never friends, dude. It was always just business.”
Using his military experience, Ernie’s simulations started with him assuming the role of the attackers. He meticulously planned his attacks to take full advantage of what he perceived to be Fort Porter’s most obvious weaknesses. Then he would figure out ways that a small force inside Fort Porter would deal with the attack. When Izzy was 9 and Jake 12, Ernie and the whole family spent several hours every Sunday evening playing the simulations as a game.
The entire project had been coming together for George so easily that he ceased being surprised at his good fortune. From finding Ernie to buying the cement depo to investing in the company that made their wind turbines, everything had seemed like it was destined to be.
By the end of the days-long battle, the Union Army had lost over 1500 soldiers while the Fort Wagner had lost only 36. While the fort was eventually abandoned by the South after a prolonged siege, it was never taken in battle, and this was the most important thing to George.
He would be a Helio-Anthropologist, perhaps the first. And, if his theories were correct, he would probably be the last.
Isabelle Porter looked at the young man’s face slowly and carefully, remembering all the things she had loved about him.