Patton groaned. “Dad, Grandma and I already cleaned the rooms. I don’t want to do it again.”
“I don’t mean like that,” Matthew said. “I’d like you to go through the rooms to see if you can find anything useful.”
“Like what?” Patton perked up.
“Like mini sewing kits. First aid kits. Soaps, toothbrushes, toothpaste, anything that you and Allison think would be helpful or have a purpose. Think of it like a treasure hunt.”
Patton turned to look at Allison with wide eyes. “We should start in the cellar.”
Allison grunted a negation. “That’s not part of the hotel rooms, dummy.”
“But it hasn’t been explored yet!”
“Don’t fight over it,” Matthew said. He felt as though Allison was a bomb with a very short fuse. “Use your imagination. Have fun with it.”
Allison crossed her arms and looked at her cereal, picking out and eating the marshmallows. Concern filled Matthew. Usually his daughter had a bit more fight in her. A bit more life in her. She was beginning to look listless, as if all her energy had been sapped. He’d have to question her after breakfast.
He looked to his father. “Dad, I think you and I should survey the grounds. We can get a sense of what we need to do to better defend ourselves. Maybe we can find spare materials to construct a gate. I think it would be a good idea to really understand the property limits and where we should start to fortify the place.”
Before David could respond, Jade cleared her throat. “What can I do?” she asked.
Matthew paused. He wanted to blame her for everything that was going wrong. He wanted to demand that she admit that she was outside earlier, that she was acting like a ghost and trying to scare Kathleen. He bit his lip, and tried to force the explosive feelings away, but the mean streak refused to leave.
If Jade wanted to stay, then she could prove her worth.
“There’s a shovel in the back shed,” he said. “Why don’t you get it and start digging a latrine? We’ll need it since the toilets stopped pumping in water for us to flush.”
She won’t do it, Matthew thought. She knows I’m testing her. There’s no way she’ll do something like that. She’ll give up and leave.
Jade paused for a moment and then tightened her ponytail. “Actually, I wondered if we might consider making a composting toilet instead.”
Matthew couldn’t help but laugh at himself. He was being a jerk and Jade was taking it in stride.
“How would we do that?” David asked.
“We would need sawdust. Essentially, you put the sawdust in a bucket and then put that bucket inside a latrine. Then, when it’s full, the sawdust can be composted. It’s much more sustainable.”
“What would we do with the compost?” Patton chimed in.
“Most likely use it in a garden,” Jade said.
“That’s so gross!” Patton said.
“We might even be able to use it to trade,” Jade continued. “The soil would be really rich. Others might be looking for something like that. I’m not sure how good the soil is around here, but it might be a commodity.”
Patton uttered a loud belly laugh. “You want us to trade our own poop?”
“Patton,” Matthew admonished. “Behave.”
“That’s smart,” David mused. “How did you learn about that?”
“I read it in one of the books in the hotel’s library,” Jade said. “I couldn’t sleep last night either, so I went exploring. I found the library full of books that might be useful to us.”
Surprise filled Matthew. He’d forgotten about the tucked-away library. “I can’t believe I forgot about that,” he said out loud.
“It’s not a big deal,” Jade said, as if apologizing for his oversight. “There’s lots of books about the local flora and fauna. A couple about the history and folklore of the area. You know, the stuff most hotels have for their guests to get a sense of the area.”
“Thinking outside the box,” David said and tapped his temple. “Good on you.” He gave Matthew a meaningful look, and Matthew fought the urge to roll his eyes. Yes, okay, Jade has some good skills. Don’t rub it in, he thought.
“I’d forgotten all about those old books too,” Ruth murmured. “Maybe when we’ve finished up our chores for the day, we can divvy up the books for everyone to look through. There’s got to be more information that we will find useful. Jade’s already given us a way to improve the place.”
Jade ducked her head, as if Ruth’s praise had made her shy.
“If you don’t mind, Matt, I’d like to learn more about the composting toilet,” David said. “Would you mind if I skip out on assessing the property line with you?”
Matthew studied his father for a moment, unsure what to say. He’d wanted to talk with David one-on-one about Kathleen and Allison. The property line survey seemed like the perfect time to do so, but he understood that David might be keen on keeping an eye on Jade.
“You don’t really need to do that task with me, Matt,” David added. “But if you’d like me to join, I will.”
“I think you should work with Jade,” Ruth seconded. “I don’t want you to overstress your heart. It will be good for you to get out and learn, but not to dig. Let the young ones do that.”
David let out a long-suffering sigh. Matthew mentally smacked himself. He’d been so focused on his own problems and wanting to talk them out with his father that he hadn’t taken into consideration David’s heart. It was foolish of him to suggest that David accompany him. David had been through so much already.
“That sounds like a good plan,” he finally said. “But, Dad, if your chest hurts you have to rest.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Jade said, and gave a sharp nod to Matthew.
Matthew grudgingly gave her a nod back in agreement.
“I’m not a child,” David grumbled and began to stack their used cereal bowls. “I don’t need to be watched.”
“Not sure about that, old man,” Jade said.
“Just watch out for each other,” Matthew said and put his cereal bowl in the pile. Ruth shooed David away and picked up the dishes, heading for the kitchen. David and Jade stood and the two of them began to head for the back door.
“I’m gonna grab my backpack,” Patton said, “so I can bring back all the treasure we find.” He bolted up the stairs toward his bedroom.
Matthew stood up and pushed his chair in. Allison hadn’t budged from her spot. She poked at the remaining cereal. He touched her shoulder gently. “Can I talk to you?” he asked. “Outside?”
She glanced at him as if still in a daze and then slowly got out of her chair to follow him. She moved as if she were doing things against her will and all she really wanted to do was lie down and sleep. “What is it?” she asked.
Matthew motioned her outside and shut the broken front door behind them. Standing on the porch, he studied his daughter and didn’t like what he saw. “I wanted to ask you about your journey here. You learned a lot about what Grandpa and I went through yesterday. But how was yours? Did anything happen?”
Allison refused to meet his eyes. She shifted from side to side. “I don’t feel like talking about it,” she said. “You should just ask Mom.”
“I tried to,” he said and leaned in to try to catch her gaze. “She said she didn’t feel like talking, either.”
“Well, there’s your answer.” Allison kicked the toe of her shoe against the floor. “If anything important happened, Mom would’ve said something.”
Once Matthew had felt concern about his daughter, but now it transformed into alarm. Allison was retreating further inside herself. She felt so out of his reach. “Honey, you know you can confide in me,” he said. “If something happened, I’m here for you. For whatever you need. But I need to know what happened to you and your mother.”
“Mom will tell you,” Allison repeated.
Matthew was about to push her more when Patton burst through the front door. He bounded down the
steps with his backpack slung over his shoulder. “Allison, what are you waiting for?” he demanded. “Let’s go.”
“I gotta go,” Allison mumbled to Matthew. “I’m sure we’ll be back with weird stuff instead of things that are actually helpful.”
Matthew didn’t smile, even though he knew she was pretending to be her old self. “You can talk to me whenever, you know,” he said, hoping this last bit of reassurance would help her open up. “It can stay between us.”
“I know,” Allison said. Her tone didn’t inspire much confidence.
“Okay, then,” Matthew said and looked at Patton who was watching their exchange with interest. “Listen to your sister, Patton. Don’t fill that bag full of rocks or dead insects or something.”
Patton began to list off reasons why dead insects were helpful while Matthew walked off the porch and toward the property line. “No bugs!” he shouted over his shoulder and turned back toward the tree line.
Better get started.
As Matthew reached the tree line, he felt a moment of calm wash over him. Finally, he had a moment to himself where he wasn’t worrying over his children or his father, or concerned with Kathleen’s aloof attitude. It was just him and nature.
Birdsong and the chirping of insects filled the air. He looked up to watch big fluffy clouds float by. The mountains looked like a touchstone in the distance. Immovable. Always there, even when the things he’d once thought were immobile had disappeared. As he walked around the property’s edge, he began to make notes and look for flat spots of earth that would be a good place for a garden.
This was something he would never have done before. He’d most likely have been too busy setting up the hotel with social media accounts and calculating profit versus loss on promotional costs. Assessing the property would be something he would have hired someone else to do. It would have been a task that took too much of his precious time.
Now, it was one of the most important things he needed to do. He felt as though he were connecting with the land in a way. Surveying what was his and what was part of the wilderness. It filled him with a certain kind of pride.
The old fence mainly acted as a property marker. Still, the posts seemed strong, if a bit weather-worn. He didn’t notice any rot. They could also cut down some of the trees, or perhaps make use of their branches, if they needed wood. It would help them fix the door and reinforce the fence to make it stronger and sturdier.
A secondary shed stood apart from the main house, near the back of the property. Matthew knew it was where the lawn maintenance tools used to be kept, back when the hotel had a full staff with gardeners.
The door was stiff when he tried to open it, but finally he was able to push his way inside. The shed was dim and full of dust, but a big riding lawn mower sat in the middle, covered with a sheet of rough burlap. He figured the mower was most likely dead. Puttering around the shed, Matthew was happy to find canisters half-full of fuel. He mused that the mower might also have diesel inside of it that he could siphon if needed.
He also found shears, a rake, a shovel, and a myriad of other gardening and landscaping tools. That would be helpful for when they got the garden off the ground. He decided to leave the tools where they were since they’d been safe for this long in the shed.
He left the shed and continued to take stock of the fence. In the distance, the log sides of the hotel looked golden-blonde in the sunlight. The hotel appeared smaller from this angle, and Matthew finally realized how large the property actually was. When he’d bought the hotel, the acreage had just been numbers and a calculated cost. He never really had a full grasp of how much land they’d purchased. He’d known, logically, but he hadn’t known in the way that showed experience.
Thus, it would be easy for anyone to slink onto the property. That morning, he had thought Kathleen a bit paranoid and seeing things. Yet now that he realized that anyone could sneak on and off without them noticing, it suddenly made him worried.
He couldn’t hear birdsong anymore. The buzzing bugs had gone momentarily silent. A chill ran up his spine. Who knew what kind of people were moving around the property undetected? Who knew who might be watching him right now?
It made more sense that Kathleen had seen someone. It scared him that she hadn’t said that person had left. His skin began to crawl. He began to walk faster, looking over his shoulder. He couldn’t shake the notion that the hotel had a target painted on it and that soon people would be arriving to take it from them. He forced himself to finish his rounds and then made a beeline back toward the hotel. David and Jade were surveying a portion of land near the house. When David saw him, he raised his hand in hello.
As Matthew got closer to the hotel, the feeling of being watched faded. He saw that the root cellar door against the foundation of the house had been thrown wide open. The excited voices of his children floated up from inside it. Yet the fear that had haunted him from his outing made him imagine that their excitement was actually shouts for help. He ran up to the cellar and shouted inside, “Allison? Patton? Are you okay?”
Scuffles. Loud footsteps on a ladder. Allison’s head popped up out of the door. Dirt was streaked across her cheeks, but it seemed that the life was back in her eyes. “Dad,” she said, “you won’t believe what we found.”
“Actual buried treasure?” he asked.
She grinned. “Even better.” She looked past him and said, “Grandpa, you’re gonna love this.”
David shared her smile. “I can’t wait.”
Matthew eased into the cellar, descending the ladder steps carefully. David followed him. When Matthew was fully inside, he blinked in the dim light of the room and his mouth opened in surprise. A long workbench filled the room. Old open plastic containers full of different sized nails and bits had been lined up on one side of the bench. On the other side were hammers, a measuring tape, and screwdrivers. Hand saws, axes, and bigger hammers were perched on hooks along the wall. An awl and plane sat in one corner next to a pile of scrap wood.
“What the…” Matthew trailed off.
“Whoever owned this place before must’ve been a woodworker,” Patton said, as he unrolled a set of blueprints. He looked thrilled, as if his chore had truly turned into finding gold.
David gasped beside Matthew. He pushed past and went to the bench and began inspecting other items. “Wow,” David said, “this is amazing. There’s a tumbler here so we can collect our used bullet shells and clean them to reuse them. I think if I can figure out some of this equipment, we’ll be able to make our own bullets even.”
Matthew came closer and peered at the items on the workbench. “Don’t you need gunpowder, though?” he asked. “I don’t know much about making bullets, but wouldn’t that be dangerous to have?”
David frowned. “I don’t see gunpower either.” He looked around and his frown melted away. “Look, though, there’s rock salt over there.”
Matthew followed his line of sight and saw the bags propped up against the wall. “What does that mean?” he asked. “That we’ll be able to keep our driveway ice-free during the winter?”
“No,” David said, looking excited. “We can use rock salt in the shotgun cartridges. It will ruin the gun in the long run, but if we pack the salt in carefully, it will work in a pinch or in an emergency. It will be great for defending ourselves when our actual bullets run out.”
Matthew’s elation at their find suddenly disappeared. He hadn’t quite realized that bullets were a finite resource. It wasn’t like he could go down to the store and pick up more. His mood darkened when he thought of all the things that he’d once counted on that would soon be useless. Soon, he’d have a gun that couldn’t shoot. He’d have a toilet that wouldn’t flush. He’d have a refrigerator that wouldn’t cool. All these appliances. Suddenly useless.
He took a deep breath and tried not to feel overwhelmed. Patton watched him with a pinched expression on his face. “Dad?” he asked. “Are you okay?”
Matthew plastered
a smile on his face. “Of course I am. Patton, this is better than buried treasure. Better than dead things. Better than insects.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Patton said, and turned back to uncover what else the cellar had in store for them.
9
Kathleen remembered the moment she saw the man watching the hotel from the tree line.
Nightmares had left her tossing and turning until she finally got up to get a drink of water. She had paused to look out the window and marvel at the bright shine of stars and moonlight lighting up the hotel property. It had been so long since she’d taken the time to enjoy the night sky, and now that there wasn’t any electricity drowning out the natural light, the whole world seemed transformed. It was then that she saw movement along the property’s edge.
Terror had rushed through her and had left her paralyzed. She’d stood there, gripping an empty bottle of water, and listening to the rapid thump of her heart. For a moment, she wondered if the man could be a deer or even a rabbit, but then the grasses shifted again. Moonlight illuminated a clear shape. It was a man.
She couldn’t see much else of him. Just the bow-legged stance and a face obscured by shadows. He’d paced along the tree line, but he never actually crossed onto the property. Kathleen didn’t know what he was waiting for. Was he looking for someone? Jade, perhaps?
She considered waking Matthew up, but from the deep rumble of his snores, she knew he was fast asleep. He needed his rest for what was to come. She’d bitten her lip and decided that she would wait, watch, and sound an alarm if the man took one step closer. She had to keep her family safe, and if this was the best way to do it, so be it.
Kathleen didn’t know how long she stood next to the window. All she knew was that her world became a smear of time where the stars were suddenly replaced with a rose-pink dawn. As the sun crested the mountains, the man slipped away into the woods and didn’t return. Then, suddenly, Matthew had his hands on her shoulders and was asking if she’d been awake all night. Blearily, she realized that was the truth.
EMP Catastrophe | Book 2 | Erupting Danger Page 7
