Chapter 39

“To keep people out,”Josh said.“We don’t get many stragglers now,but for the first year after 5-20-20,we had quite a few people wander down the road.Not all of them were friendly,so we put up the barricade,and built a fence across the end of the valley.A determined person can climb the fence,but it will stop most people.”

“That’s why you have a checkpoint at the other end of the valley,isn’t it?”Caleb said.

“Dead in the black,kiddo.We’re pretty safe here in the valley,and we like to keep it that way.”

They were driving back down the valley,but were taking a side road here and there.

“I see lots of farms,”Jethro said.“Does everybody farm?”

“Most of us have at least a small vegetable garden,”Jake said,“but not all of us are full-time farmers.”

“Yeah,”Josh said.“Jake and I,and a bunch of other men,spend most of our time out on scrounging missions.”

“Looking for stuff you can use,right?”Caleb said.

“Yeah,”Jake said.“That’s how we’ve survived.”