by Eric Vall
“Okay,” I said. “I don’t like it, but I guess nobody will leave tomorrow.”
“Good,” Tara said, and she poured herself a glass of wine. “You’ll like the surprise, I promise.”
“I hope so,” I said.
It was sweet of the girls to want to plan something, but I was still on edge about the North Korean invasion, and I doubted that whatever they did would take my mind off of it.
“I’ll take first watch tonight,” I offered.
“Alright,” Tara said. “But wake me up for second watch.”
“Tara offering to take watch duty,” I said with a raised eyebrow. “This surprise must be good.”
“It is,” the platinum blonde said.
The girls stayed on the roof awhile longer and chatted, and then everybody headed to bed, and I was left alone with Winchester who had opted to stay with me. I think he knew that I was stressed because he came over and climbed up in my lap as I stared out at the stars.
If the North Koreans had in fact invaded, it would only be a matter of time before we ran into them. From what we had seen at the guard camp, it didn’t look like our military was doing too well, and I had no idea if any of the other stations had survived or not, but I had to keep to our plan and protect my tribe. That was all that mattered.
Chapter 15
The next morning I woke at dawn like usual, but no girls surrounded me, and even Winchester was gone. I stretched out and grabbed some clothes before I headed downstairs and found Tara and Anna sitting by the fire.
“Where’s Paige and Bailey?” I asked as I took a seat.
“Hunting and checking traps,” Anna said, and she poured me a cup of coffee and handed it to me.
“Thanks,” I said, and I took a drink of the dark liquid. “And Rolly?”
“He’s on guard duty,” Tara said. “I’m making us some breakfast.”
“Okay,” I said, but my suspicions were growing. “So are you two going to tell me what’s going on today?”
“Nope,” Tara said.
“Just relax,” Anna said.
“Relax?” I asked sarcastically.
“Yeah,” Tara said, and she rolled her eyes. “Do you not know the meaning of the word?”
“I don’t think I do,” I chuckled, and I looked out in the courtyard. “Did Betty leave?”
“Yeah,” Anna said.
“Is she helping with the surprise?” I asked.
“Yes,” Tara said, and she handed me a plate of grits and venison. “Now eat and relax.”
“Alright,” I said, but I narrowed my eyes at the girls. “I’m going to figure it out, you know.”
“I don’t think so,” Anna said with a grin. “It’s a pretty clever plan.”
“I’m a pretty clever man,” I said and I grinned back at her.
“Don’t try to figure it out,” Tara pouted. “You’re going to ruin all the fun.”
“Well you better give me something to do then,” I said, and I took a bite of my breakfast.
“Go chop some firewood, preferably with your shirt off,” the platinum blonde said, and she rolled her eyes at me once more.
“Or you could go read a book in the library,” Anna suggested with a smile.
“I think I’ll cut trees,” I said, and I took another bite.
“Of course you will,” Tara chuckled. “The point was for you to relax.”
“Cutting trees is relaxing,” I said.
“Maybe for you,” the platinum blonde muttered, and she filled up bowls for the rest of our group.
“What was that?” I asked jokingly.
“I said,” Tara laughed, then she spoke loudly and slowly. “Maybe for you.”
“Don’t pick on him too much,” Rolly called down with a laugh. “I can’t afford for him to dump you and leave us.”
“As if,” Tara chuckled, then she gave me puppy dog eyes. “You’d never leave us, would you Tavvy?”
“Never,” I said. “But don’t call me Tavvy.”
“Deal,” the platinum blonde snickered.
I figured at that point I wasn’t going to get anything out of the girls, so I finished my breakfast, and went to feed the animals but found that it was already done, so I grabbed an axe from Rolly’s shed and went to chop down some trees.
It was a beautiful clear morning, and I found myself whistling as I walked toward the woods. The birds were chirping happily in the trees, the air was cool but the sunshine gave me warmth, and after a few trees I took my shirt off before I hauled them to the shed to chop.
“So sexy!” Tara catcalled me and whistled as I dragged the trees to the shed.
“Not looking too bad yourself,” I chuckled.
“Not looking too bad?” Tara scoffed, and she put her hand on her hip.
“My apologies,” I said, then I whistled at her. “Hey baby, can I get your number?”
“That’s more like it,” she smirked.
“Did you get something good out there?” I asked when I saw that Paige and Bailey were back.
“Oh yeah,” Paige said.
“What’d you get?” I asked, and I walked toward the girls.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Anna said, and she ran over to me and tried to push me back the other way.
“What?” I laughed. “I can’t even see what they caught?”
“Nope,” the redhead chuckled, and she tried to spin me around but I wouldn’t budge so she looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. “Can you help me out here?”
“What do I get out of it?” I teased.
“How about a kiss,” the redhead said.
“I’ll take it,” I said, then I looked to the other girls. “But I want one from all of you.”
“Fine,” Paige said, and she rolled her eyes. “But then you have to promise to stay away from the fire pit.”
“Deal,” I said.
“I won’t gripe about giving you kisses,” Tara said, and she ran over and planted one on my mouth.
“Good to know,” I said. “Who’s next?”
“Me,” Bailey said, and the blonde kissed me softly.
“I guess I’m next,” Paige said, and she planted a firm kiss on my lips.
“That leaves me,” Anna said, and she pulled me down to give me a hard, exaggerated kiss that ended with a ‘muah’ sound, then she turned me around and gave me a push. “Now get outta here, Stud.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” I laughed.
As much as I hated surprises, I was enjoying conning kisses out of the girls, especially since they knew they wouldn’t be able to stop me if I wanted to get over to their makeshift lair where they were scheming.
It was almost noon by the time I finished chopping the wood, and now and then I looked over to see the girls still plotting and moseying about, but every time I looked over they would yell at me to stop spying. Even Winchester had chosen to hang out with them.
I started stacking the wood I had chopped, but just then Rolly called down to let us know that some of our people were on their way up.
I continued to work as I wondered who was coming up the drive, and if it was part of the surprise. Was there a meeting? And was the meeting the surprise?
Just then two trucks pulled up, and all the farmers and civilians piled out.
“Hey,” I called as everyone made their way out of the vehicles.
“Hey,” Briar called.
“Briar,” I said, and I walked over and clapped him on the shoulder. “How are you feeling?”
“Oh, I’m alright,” the old man said with a shrug.
“So is anybody going to tell me what the surprise is?” I asked quietly.
“No, no, no!” Tara shouted, and she came running toward us.
“We’re under strict orders,” Donna said, and she gestured toward the platinum blonde.
“Yes,” I heard Cathy say, but she stopped and stared at me as she got out of the truck. “Oh, my.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, then I followed her eyes to my ba
re chest. “Oh, uh, I’ll put a shirt on.”
“Or don’t,” Merideth said, and she bit her lip.
“That’s enough, ladies,” Tara said, and she rolled her eyes. “Follow me to the fire pit.”
“We can’t even look?” Cathy teased.
“Oh, you can look,” Tara said as she walked away. “But no touchy.”
“Fair,” Cathy said, and she turned back around to check me out once more.
“What am I?” I laughed. “Just a piece of meat?”
“A good looking one,” Tara teased back.
I looked around and realized I was left with the men only, except for Betty, but she excused herself to go up to the roof with Rolly.
“Hey,” I called over to the girls. “What are all of us supposed to do?”
“I think I have that covered,” Jeff said, and he pulled an old football from behind his back.
“Well, alright,” I said. “Let me finish stacking this wood then I’m game.”
“We’ll help,” Mike offered, and everyone reached to grab some wood.
Whatever the girls were up to, if it involved me playing football, I couldn’t complain too much.
“Would you mind if the boys played with us?” Justin asked after we were done stacking wood, and he gestured to his two boys that were sitting with Marla and the other women.
“Not at all,” I said. “I would be upset if they didn’t play.”
I looked over to the young boys and realized how much they had grown since I first met them. They were both still very young, maybe five and six or a bit older, but they each had the jet black hair of their father, and shy demeanors of their mother.
“They’ve gotten so much bigger,” I said to Justin after he called them over to us.
“They grow like bad weeds,” he said with the proud smile of a father.
“Apparently,” I chuckled. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice sooner.”
“They’re both shy,” he said. “And they’re not involved with the discussions, so I don’t blame anyone for not noticing them too much. We all have a lot going on.”
“What are their names again?” I asked. “I’m sorry, they’re normally just referred to as the kids.”
“Mitch is the older one, and Frank is our youngest,” Justin said happily.
“What are we doing?” Mitch asked quietly as they both stopped in front of us.
“We’re going to play football,” I said, and I leaned down to look the boys in the eyes. “Do you know how to play?”
Both of them shook their heads.
“That’s alright,” I said. “We’ll teach you.”
“We’ll play touch football,” Jeff added, and he tossed the pigskin in the air and caught it.
“Yes,” I said with a nod. “So all you have to do is touch the other person to get a down.”
“What’s a down?” Frank asked.
“We’ll get to that,” I said with a wink. “We’ll learn as we go. The most important thing is to go after the person who has the ball on the opposite team.”
“Can we be on dad’s team?” Frank asked, and he twisted his little shoe in the dirt.
“How about this,” I said. “You can be on dad’s team, but I can tell you’re going to be a good player so that won’t be fair. Mitch, would you mind being on my team?”
“Let’s do it,” Mitch said, so I raised my hand for a high five, and he enthusiastically whacked me with his small hand.
“Justin,” I said, and I raised an eyebrow at him. “I guess we’re captains, you want to pick first?”
“Sure,” Justin said with a grin, but Frank tugged on his shirt so he leaned down and let the little boy whisper in his ear. “We’ll take Jeff.”
“Well, alright,” Jeff said, and he high fived the young Frank who grinned at his first draft.
It didn’t take long for the boys to get the hang of the game, and they were quick on their feet. It was amazing what a little football did for their shy attitudes, before long they were high fiving all around, laughing, and using all their might to take down their opponents, which often was them attaching themselves to the football holders leg, then yelling ‘got you!’ or ‘you’re out!’
My team was one touchdown ahead when I saw that Frank was talking to Justin and pointing at the ball. I realized that he hadn’t scored a touchdown yet, so I called a huddle with my own team.
“Okay,” I said. “Frank wants to score a touchdown.”
“We should let him,” Mitch said.
“Are you okay with that?” I asked earnestly.
“Yeah,” Mitch said with a shrug. “I got to play soccer before... and I scored a goal. It felt pretty good. He should feel that too.”
“You’re a good brother,” Mike said.
“You are,” I agreed.
“Thanks,” the young boy said proudly. “We gotta make it look good though. Frank doesn’t like it when I let him win.”
“Good call,” I said with a grin. “Mitch you go after him and get close, but act tired.”
“I’ll fake fall down,” Mitch said, and he nodded his little head seriously.
“Even better,” I chuckled. “Everyone else go after the other guys.”
“Got it,” Joe said.
“Alright, break!” I yelled, and I clapped my hands.
Just then I heard cheering, and I looked over to see that some of the girls had moved to the sidelines and were cheering us on. They had split themselves into two groups to support both sides, and I caught Tara’s eye and gave her a wink.
“Blue 42!” Frank yelled in his little adolescent voice, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Hup hup hike!”
Justin threw him the ball, and I ran toward the black haired man while the rest of my team took down the other men. Frank was on his way toward our goal, and his cheerleaders were yelling him on while Mitch chased him.
It was close, but just before he reached the makeshift touchdown line Mitch faked a fall. Frank turned around to help his brother, but Mitch yelled that he was okay and to keep going, so Frank scored the touchdown, and Justin ran to him and picked him up.
“You did it, little man,” I said as I made my way over and stuck my hand out. “Good game.”
Frank paused for a second, then he grinned and grabbed my hand.
“Good game,” he said. “Maybe you’ll get me next time.”
“Maybe,” I chuckled.
“Good game, boys,” Tara said. “But it’s time for the surprise.”
“Is it whatever that delicious smell is?” I asked.
“It is,” the platinum blonde replied with a grin. “Follow me.”
The girls led us up to the roof where they had created a makeshift long table out of fold out tables, and they had thrown a sheet over them to help sell the classy appearance. But the most impressive part was what was on the table, there was a Thanksgiving feast laid out before us. A large perfectly browned turkey sat in the middle, and around it were bowls of stuffing, vegetables, rolls, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, and yams.
“This is incredible,” I said as I took in the smell of the food. “How did you manage to get all this done?”
“You’d be surprised what a group of women is capable of,” Tara said with a wink.
“And you guys were pretty preoccupied with your game while we set up,” Paige chuckled.
“I didn’t even see you guys bring chairs or tables over here,” Jeff laughed.
“We even set up a kids table for Mitch, Frank, and Winchester,” Bailey said, and she pointed to the corner of the roof where there was a small card table set up with two chairs and a pillow on the ground for Winchester.
“Cool,” Frank said, and he grinned at the black headed dog. “Come on, Winchester!”
The boys ran over to their table, and Marla brought over a pitcher of Kool-Aid and poured them each some.
“Make the kids’ plates first,” I said with a smile as I watched the two boys gulp the red drink and c
ome up for air with small red moustaches.
“In the meantime, how about something to drink?” Anna asked, and she gestured to another card table that held five or six bottles of booze.
“Yes, please,” Rolly said.
“Me too,” Betty said excitedly.
“This all looks so good,” I told the girls.
“Tav,” Marla said, and she held out a carving knife to me. “Would you like to carve the turkey?”
“It would be my honor,” I said, and I took the knife.
Once the boys and Winchester were served, and all the adults had served themselves a drink, we passed around the dishes and fixed our plates, I was just about to dig in when Tara stood up.
“Before we eat,” she started. “I’d like to say a few words.”
“Of course you would,” Anna teased, and Paige elbowed her.
“As I was saying,” the platinum blonde said, and she took a second to glare at the redhead. “I’d like to thank everyone for being here today. I know it isn’t actually Thanksgiving today, but I want you all to know that I’m so happy to have you as part of my new apocalypse family. So I propose a toast, to new family.”
“To new family,” everyone said in chorus, and they clinked glasses and took a celebratory drink.
“While we’re at it,” Justin said, and he stood up. “I’d like to thank all the beautiful women here for cooking for us today, especially my gorgeous wife.”
“Suck up,” Marla teased, and everyone chuckled.
“I’d also like to thank the men here for teaching my boys an American tradition today,” he said with a soft smile. “So, as Tara said, to new family.”
“And to the next generation,” I added, and I nodded to the boys who stuffed their faces with turkey.
“To new family and the next generations,” Marla said, and we all raised our glasses once more.
“Might I make a toast as well?” Cathy asked, and she stood up hesitantly.
“No need to ask,” I said. “Everyone feel free to make as many toasts as you’d like.”
“Well,” Cathy said. “I want to thank everyone here on behalf of myself and all of us from the guard outpost. I know that you all had a community here before we came along, but you welcomed us with open arms, and you have no idea what that means to me, and to all of us. So here’s to new family, next generations, and a growing community.”
