Chương 40: Sun-Dried Bricks

Jack stared at Elias, momentarily unable to process what he had just heard.

"Clay?" Elias nodded firmly.

"That's right. Mort noticed it first. We checked it ourselves, and we're almost certain." Jack immediately set aside what he was holding and headed toward the pit with Elias. At the pit, Jack crouched down and squeezed a handful of wet soil between his fingers. He checked it again, then looked over the muddy ground below.

"It really is clay." He stood and turned to Elias.

"Then we may need to rethink the fence." Elias smiled. With so much clay beneath the pit, they no longer had to rely entirely on wood.

"Bricks," they said almost at the same time. Jack was about to turn to Mort when Mort spoke first.

"I've seen people make bricks before, and I know the basic process. I can handle that part." Then he raised a more practical problem.

"But does anyone here know how to build a kiln? Even if you manage to build one, what are you going to use for fuel?" He looked between Jack and Elias.

"You can't make fired bricks without either of those." The excitement drained from both their faces. They had been so focused on the clay that neither of them had considered what came next. A kiln was already a problem, but fuel would be even harder to find. There were barely any trees in the wasteland, and gathering enough wood for an ordinary fire would be difficult, let alone enough to fire an entire batch of bricks. Jack looked down at the clay in the pit and sighed.

"We got excited too soon." Elias shook his head, but Cass spoke up from beside the pit.

"So we can't fire the bricks. That doesn't make the clay useless." He pointed toward the wet ground below.

"At least we know it's here. We can always figure out what to do with it later." Jack looked back at the pit. Cass had a point. The clay was not going anywhere. Even if they could not fire bricks now, they could still use it somehow. At worst, they could build directly with the clay. A solid clay wall would still be better than a fence made from wooden pallets. And with the heat out here, it would probably dry quickly. Jack paused. Why did they need to fire the bricks at all?

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"I've got it," he said.

"We don't fire them. We dry them in the sun." Elias turned to him.

"Sun-dried bricks?" Jack nodded.

"We make a few molds, press the clay into blocks of roughly the same size, and leave them under the sun until they're completely dry. Then we stack them and use wet clay to seal the gaps." Elias considered the idea.

"That could work." He turned to Mort.

"What do you think?" Mort looked down at the wet clay for a moment.

"It should work, as long as the blocks don't crack while they're drying. But they won't be as strong as fired bricks."

"If they aren't strong enough, we'll make the wall thicker," Jack said.

"We have plenty of clay, so there's no need to conserve it. Let's make a test batch first. Once the bricks are dry, we'll see whether they're strong enough to use." Mort and Elias both agreed. Jack then turned to Mort.

"You found the clay, so I'll give you credit for that." Mort waited for him to continue.

"I'm willing to remove your restraints, but the apron, goggles, and gloves come off first," Jack said.

"From now on, you'll also be responsible for making the molds and drying the bricks." Mort looked down at his equipment.

"Do I have a choice?"

"No." Mort was silent for a moment before accepting it.

"You're the boss. What you say goes."

"Good." Jack turned to Vane.

"Take his equipment, then untie him." Vane hesitated and looked to Elias. Elias studied Mort briefly, then nodded.

"Without the apron and the rest of his gear, he shouldn't be much of a threat. Besides, we still have guns." With that settled, Vane removed Mort's industrial apron, goggles, and work gloves before untying his ankles. Mort flexed his arms and legs, then used the handcart to pull himself upright. The wound in his abdomen kept him bent forward, making his already hunched posture even more pronounced.

"Can you work like that?" Jack asked. Mort nodded and made his way to the pit, where he crouched to examine the wet clay.

"We'll need molds first. We can make them from the pallet boards, but I'll need nails and a hammer." He glanced into the pit.

"Who's going to dig up the clay?" Jack looked at Cass. Cass pointed at his injured thigh.

"You don't seriously expect me to dig like this, do you?" Instead of answering, Jack went back into the convenience store. He returned a short while later carrying the fully charged remote-controlled excavator and handed the controller to Cass.

"Can you dig now?" Cass slapped his forehead.

"How did I forget about this thing?" He took the controller without further complaint.

"All right. Leave the digging to me." Mort stared at the miniature excavator.

"That thing still works?"

"It should," Jack said.

"Let's find out." Cass switched on the controller and carefully pushed one of the levers forward. The miniature excavator rolled toward the pit, its tracks pressing shallow lines into the wet ground. His first attempt with the bucket was not particularly smooth. The machine scraped across the surface and collected more muddy water than clay, forcing Cass to adjust the angle and try again. This time, the bucket sank into the softened earth and came back up with a heavy clump of wet soil. Cass immediately grinned.

"It works." He guided the excavator away from the edge and emptied the clay onto a clear patch of ground beside Mort. Mort reached down and broke the clump apart with his hands. He checked the texture, removed several small stones, and pressed some of the clay between his fingers.

"This should work," he said.

"But we'll need to clean out the stones and mix the wet and dry soil properly before putting it into the molds." Cass turned the excavator back toward the pit and began digging up another load. While Mort and Cass got started at the pit, Jack and Elias returned to planning the fence. The discovery of clay changed both the materials and the size of the enclosure. They could still use the metal shelves as a frame, then build the wall around them once the first batch of clay bricks had dried.

That would reduce the number of bricks they needed while giving the finished wall more support. With clay no longer in short supply, they also decided to extend the fence farther beyond the convenience store than originally planned. Jack crouched down and sketched the new boundary in the dirt with a stick. Elias stood beside him, pointing out the lower sections of ground and the places where drifting sand was likely to collect.

Partway through, Jack paused and looked toward Mort, who was still examining the clay beside the pit.

"Should we ask Mort to come over too?" Elias followed his gaze.