LOSS System: Last Store Standing

The next morning, Jack divided everyone into several groups based on the arrangements they had made the night before.

Cass, Reed, Gordon, and Harvey took four members of Nolan’s group to the CUEV factory. After bringing back more vehicles, they would stop at the agricultural supply center to install cargo beds, then continue to the electronics mall for Portable Climate Control Units and electrical components.

Once the convoy left, Megan began teaching Marg, Helen, Martha, and Grace basic first aid.

Ruth and Edith took charge of lunch and dinner, with anyone who had time lending a hand. Jack had already provided them with bread, canned beef, and potatoes.

Lydia remained in the temporary treatment room to care for Erin.

Seeing how busy everyone was, Susan and Ray used the Polar Pulse Ice Synthesizer to prepare plenty of ice, then filled several buckets with water. When Ava heard what they were doing, she insisted on helping deliver it.

The three loaded the buckets and cups onto a cart and pushed it from one work area to another. At each stop, Ava handed out cups of ice water to the people working there.

Warren soon found Jack and handed him the revised plans.

“I’ve finished the changes. Take a look.”

The twelve two-person compartments that had occupied most of the sleeping area the night before were gone. In their place was an open space large enough for the tents, with a basic washroom and toilet area in one corner.

Warren pointed to the plans.

“The shelter will be fifteen meters long, eight meters wide, and about two point four meters tall. The tents will go on this side, with the main passageway running down the middle. The common area will be on the other side, along with the food and drinking water.”

“How many wooden pallets will we need?” Jack asked.

“Around five hundred and fifty. That includes any material lost during construction, plus some extra in reserve.”

“No problem. I’ll have them prepare that many.”

“We’ll decide how many Portable Climate Control Units to install and where to place them once the shelter is built,” Warren added.

Jack went over the plans once more.

“Let’s do it this way.”

Warren took the plans and left to choose a suitable location for the shelter. Walter and Colt gathered the electrical cables and components they had sorted the day before and began working on the wiring around the trading post.

Jack assigned Aaron, Eli, Roy, Harris, Dale, and several others to dismantle the wooden pallets brought out the previous day. Vane and Marlin continued bringing more from the storage room.

Meanwhile, Hal and Mort opened the brick kiln and began removing the finished bricks. The final count came close to Hal’s earlier estimate, at just over eighteen hundred.

After checking the results of the first firing, Hal adjusted the mixture, and he and Mort began preparing the second batch.

The others continued dismantling pallets.

When Jack returned from the kiln, he found them still working under the sun. Aaron’s clothes were soaked with sweat. Harris had just pulled another board loose when Ava handed him a cup of ice water. He drank more than half of it in one go.

Jack looked around the work area.

“Stop for a moment.”

Everyone looked over.

“Let’s put up a canopy first,” Jack said. “The heat wave isn’t even here yet. I don’t want any of you collapsing before it arrives.”

He returned to the storage room and soon came back with a canopy and several ropes. The others set down their tools and helped him put it up.

Before long, the entire pallet-dismantling area was covered in shade.

Jack inspected the setup, then remembered the Portable Climate Control Units they had brought back the day before. He moved two energy cells beneath the canopy and made several more trips to bring over ten units, arranging them around the work area.

Once everything was connected, Jack switched them on.

All ten Portable Climate Control Units started together, sending cool air beneath the canopy from several directions.

“We’ll leave them running and see how long they can operate continuously,” Jack said. “The results should give us a better idea of how many units the shelter will need.”

Marlin arrived with another stack of wooden pallets just as a cool breeze reached him. He set them down and laughed.

“Who would’ve thought dismantling pallets would come with ten climate control units?”

“Of course,” Jack said solemnly. “We’ve always provided excellent working conditions.”

Everyone laughed.

Jack picked up a tool and joined them. Soon, the sound of wood being pried apart filled the shaded work area again.

Not long afterward, Warren came looking for him.

“I’ve chosen the site. It’s about fifty meters from the trading post. We can start whenever you’re ready.”

“All right. I’ll have the finished boards taken over.”

Jack called Aaron over and asked him to bring a CUEV to transport the dismantled boards. He then headed to the site with Warren.

The chosen location was relatively flat, with little rubble in the way. After some basic clearing, it would be ready for construction.

Jack surveyed the area.

“Once the boards arrive, take a look and decide how we should use them. Let’s try to get construction started today.”

“No problem.”

Aaron soon arrived with the first load.

After checking the boards, Warren called his son, Grant, and Thomas over.

“Sort out the suitable pieces and start assembling the support columns.”

They were about to begin when Jack stopped them.

“Wait.”

“Is there a problem?” Grant asked.

“No. Come with me and help carry a few things.”

Grant and Thomas followed Jack back to the convenience store without knowing what he had in mind.

A short while later, Jack returned with another canopy. Grant and Thomas followed behind him, each carrying an energy cell.

Warren understood immediately.

Together, they put up the canopy over the construction area. Jack then brought over another ten Portable Climate Control Units and arranged them around the site.

Once everything was connected, the ten units came to life, sending cool air beneath the canopy from several directions.

Grant and Thomas promptly moved their tools into the shade and began assembling the support columns.

Elias arrived to find the entire construction area cooled by ten Portable Climate Control Units.

He watched for a moment.

“Is all this really necessary?”

“Of course,” Jack replied. “We have no idea how many years these units have been sitting in storage. We should test as many as possible while we still have time.”

“He has a point,” Warren said. “Better to find out now if any of them don’t work than after the heat wave arrives.”

Elias looked around at the ten units humming away.

Jack continued with a perfectly serious expression.

“Besides, we already have the equipment. Why leave everyone suffering under the sun?”

Elias gave him a knowing look.

“That’s your real reason, isn’t it?”

Jack turned away and pretended not to hear him.

“Warren, I’ll leave things here to you. I’m going back to check on the pallets.”

“Wait. Give me two more people,” Warren called after him. “While Grant and Thomas assemble the support columns, I want someone to dig the postholes. That way, we can raise the columns as soon as they’re ready.”

Jack turned back.

“How many holes do you need, and how deep should they be?”

“Thirty holes, each about forty centimeters deep.”

“Thirty?” Jack asked. “We need that many support columns?”

“We’ll need two rows inside the shelter, ten columns in total,” Warren explained. “The other twenty will support the perimeter, including the corners, the middle sections of the walls, and both entrances. The shelter is fifteen meters long and eight meters wide. Any fewer than that, and the structure won’t be stable enough.”

He indicated one of the marked spots on the ground.

“Each hole should be roughly forty centimeters square and forty centimeters deep. Once the columns are in place, we’ll pack clay around them layer by layer.”

“All right. Give me a moment.”

Jack headed back to the convenience store.

Before long, the sound of a small motor drew their attention. Jack was slowly making his way toward them in the children’s excavator.

Warren had already marked the first row of postholes, while Elias stretched a line between the marked points according to his instructions. Both men stopped when they saw the tiny excavator approaching.

Warren didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh.

“I asked you to find two people to dig the holes. Instead, you brought back an excavator, and a children’s one at that.”

“Don’t underestimate it. It’ll still be faster than digging by hand.”

“Fine. Let’s see what it can do.”

Jack drove the children’s excavator beneath the canopy, positioned it over the first mark, and began digging.

The first posthole didn’t take long. Once it was finished, Jack lined the excavator up with the next mark and continued.

Thomas watched him work for a while.

“I never thought that children’s excavator would actually come in handy. We treated it like junk back then. When we brought it here to trade with Jack, we were worried he wouldn’t even want it.”

Warren’s son, Grant, was assembling a support column beside him.

“That excavator used to belong to you?”

“It did,” Elias said. “We traded it to Jack. Bringing it here was Thomas’s idea.”

Thomas gave an awkward smile.

“None of us knew what we could offer back then. I thought we might as well bring it over and see if Jack would give us some food for it.”

“What did you get?” Warren asked.

Jack had just finished the second posthole and overheard the question.

“Those three idiots, Cass and the others, originally asked for only five loaves of bread, two bottles of water, and a box of anti-inflammatory medicine. Then they lowered their own price to three loaves and one bottle of water. Can you believe them?”

Warren shook his head.

“To us, that machine really was useless. None of us had electricity. Even three loaves of bread and a bottle of water would’ve been a good trade.”

Grant looked over.

“So what did you actually give them? Five loaves or three?”

“I’m not that stingy,” Jack said. “I gave them two loaves of bread, twenty potatoes, ten bottles of water, a box of anti-inflammatory medicine, and a bag of salt.”

Grant stopped what he was doing, and even Warren seemed surprised.

“That much? You gave them salt too?”

Thomas laughed.

“That’s why Marg and the others couldn’t believe it when we brought everything back.”

“Jack was being generous,” Elias said. “None of us expected to receive so much.”

Jack kept digging as they talked. By the time the conversation ended, several more postholes were finished.

He was lining up the excavator with the next mark when he spotted Colt hurrying toward them.

Jack stopped the machine.

“What happened?”

Colt came straight to the point, ignoring the sweat running down his forehead.

“We have a problem.”