Brotherhood of Fire

by N. C. Reed

  “Never thought about that,” he admitted softly.

  “Every time we slaughter a cow, or a hog if we can get some, or a deer or anything else that has a hide we can use, we 'll need someone who can make it usable. That's you, Mister Webb. We need leather for all kinds of things and there's no more going to a store for it. We have to get it on our own.”

  Webb looked over at his wife who was looking at him, hands clasped before her. It was clear she wanted to go and see, and certainly wanted her son healed. It was the look in her eyes rather than anything the Sanders men said that convinced him.

  “Reckon we 'll go, then,” he nodded. “How we gonna get our stuff and all of us over there?”

  “Let me worry about that,” Leon smiled. “We 'll take you three on today if you want so Seth can start healing up. Give you an idea what we're going to try and do. Meanwhile, I suspect once your boys come outta the woods, they can see to packing you up, right?”

  “I guess,” Webb grinned. “Let me call 'em in and let 'em know what's doing. Some of them might want to stay here anyway. Hadn't thought of that.”

  -

  It was Deborah Webb who convinced her flock of children and children-in-laws, one of whom was clearly expecting, to go and make a new home somewhere. As Webb and Leon stood hammering out the details, Tandi eased up to Clay.

  “Not to be a downer here, but. . .where are they going to stay until we get their new house made?”

  “Trust in the twins, Tandi,” Clay grinned.

  -

  “How many people?” Leanne asked, shock plain on her face.

  “The entire Webb clan, so. . .fourteen in all,” Clay told her.

  “Where are we supposed to put fourteen new people?” Deuce exclaimed. “Whose idea was this?”

  “Old Man's,” Clay grinned.

  “Figures,” both twins muttered. “Well, we have tents of course,” Deuce continued, looking at his sister.

  “And with the vehicles out we would have room in building One,” Leanne nodded. “But it would be uncomfortable probably. And there's only one bathroom there. One toilet and one shower.”

  “They're bringing their bedding and what-nots,” Clay reminded her. “How big are these tents?”

  “Well, we have. . .six, I think, four-man tents and…four two-man tents,” Leanne went over the inventory in her head. “And we have two large, three room cabin tents, too. But. . .they're all designed to be set up . . . no, they're not,” she corrected herself. “The smaller tents are domes that don't have to be staked just to stay up. The larger ones, we 'll have to check.”

  “We 'll work it out,” Clay nodded. “And we've got three days before we go and get them.”

  “Oh, well, if we've got three whole days. . .” Leanne rolled her eyes. “Thanks so much for dumping this on us, Uncle Clay.”

  “Got to earn your keep somehow,” he winked. “And besides, no one else around here but you guys and your minions could handle it.”

  “Minions?” Deuce looked confused.

  “Jonathon and now Janice,” Clay reminded him. “You're gathering a following, guys.”

  Clearly neither twin had considered that before.

  “We have minions,” the two said at the same time.

  “Let’s don't be abusing that, now,” Clay warned, suddenly fearing he had created a monster.

  “We won't,” the two chorused as they hurried away.

  “Oh, boy.”

  -

  “Deborah, this is amazing,” Patricia told her as she lanced the wound on Seth's leg to drain it. “Your poultice kept the infection near the skin instead of letting it drop into the blood stream. Where did you learn it?”

  “My grandmother taught me,” Deborah's quiet pride shined. “She grew up in a time when doctors were rare and money rarer. They had to make do with what they could.”

  “Can you teach us how to do this?” Patricia asked her. “To be honest, you could probably support yourself in years to come by making these.”

  “I can show you,” she agreed readily.

  “We 'll find a way to pay you back,” Patricia promised. “Money isn't probably any good anymore, since there's nowhere to buy anything, but. . .I 'll find something.”

  “I will owe you for helping Seth,” the proud woman shook her head.

  “No, actually, you won't,” Kaitlin told her. “If you're going to live here, then this is part of it. This clinic is here to care for us all. For that matter, you should probably be working here,” she grinned.

  “I'd not know what to do,” Deborah looked stunned at the thought.

  “You knew what to do here,” Patricia indicated the leg wound she was now cleaning. Seth was half out of it thanks to a healthy dose of the nitrous. Patricia had known that cutting into a wound with such a terrible infection would be incredibly painful and so deemed the use of the precious gas to be justified here.

  “Well, yes, but I've seen this before,” Deborah explained. “I wouldn't know what to do for-”

  “Can you deliver a baby?” Patricia asked suddenly.

  “Well, yes, provided there aren't too many difficulties, I can,” Deborah admitted.

  “There's one woman here so pregnant that she looks like a watermelon at the end of summer,” Patricia told her. “There are at least two more women in the area that are not quite so far along and I was told you have a daughter-in-law that is showing as well.”

  “I do,” Deborah said proudly. “My first grandchild.”

  “Well, there's two things you can either do or at least help with,” Patricia said as she began to scrape the wound on Seth Webb's leg. Without the nitrous to dull his senses he would have had to be tied down.

  “Not to mention that every time we use a poultice for something, someone else will have to make it,” Kaitlin chimed in again. “And we have to start sooner rather than later using the herbal remedies as well. We really could use your help,” she said frankly.

  “I . . . I suppose I could try,” Deborah finally nodded. “But I've never worked out of the house since Joshua and I married,” she admitted.

  “He 'll be too busy to notice at first I'd say,” Patricia grinned.

  -

  “You what now?”

  “We're going to start cutting logs to make some cabins,” Leon repeated as he and Joshua Webb rode on Clay's ATV, Clay and Lainie sitting up front. “We're planning ten or twelve cabins to start, built in a square, with a central bath-house and kitchen,” Leon gave the other man a copy of a rough plan the twins had sketched out.

  “And who is it that's gonna build these cabins?” Webb asked.

  “All of us,” Leon shrugged. “There will be a few that won't be able to help. Your boy Seth, for one,” he added. “While Patricia assures me his leg will likely heal just fine, he won't be dancing for a few weeks as it heals. Patricia and the other medical people won't be helping, nor will any of the children. Angela and Deborah won't be, though I hear Patricia wants Deborah to work in the clinic and Angela, bless her heart, cooks for half the people here. Then there's Clay's outfit, with two men always on duty and another on call-”

  “I get it,” Webb nodded, holding up a hand. “So, me and the boys will be working on this to start.”

  “Some of you anyway,” Leon shrugged. “I admit I don't get too tied down in the nuts and bolts of things. But no, you won't be.”

  “And why not?” Webb asked.

  “You 'll be riding with me, looking for new townspeople,” Leon grinned.

  -

  “Well, this is a fancy contraption,” Joshua said, looking at the tent he and his wife would share for the evening. “And that bed looks comfortable,” he glanced inside.

  “It's an air mattress,” Leanne smiled. “More comfortable than my bed, actually, but. . .I can't get it inside my room.”

  “Well, your loss be our gain it looks like, Missy,” Joshua smiled back at her. “And we thank you for the accommodations.”

  “It's our pleasure,�
�� Leanne replied. “Is there anything else I can get you?”

  “Mamma?” Joshua looked at his wife.

  “No, I think we're set, thank you Leanne,” Deborah smiled at Leanne as well. “You're a pretty thing,” she added and Leanne blushed to her shirt line.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Webb,” she murmured. “You've been invited to Gram's for supper and that should be in an hour. There's a shower in that bathroom and we turned on the hot water heater. We don't run them all the time but we try to get a good hot shower two or three times a week. Grab it while you can!”

  “We 'll do that,” Joshua nodded. “Thank you.”

  After Leanne was gone, Joshua and Deborah made their way to the small bathroom, discussing what each had seen that day.

  “They have a very nice clinic, and there is a nurse as well as Leon's grand-daughter-in-law and young Maseo,” Deborah told her husband.

  “Well, the boys, some of 'em anyway, will be helping build cabins for us to live in whilst I help Leon recruit, as he called it.”

  “I like not being alone so much,” Deborah told him honestly. “With all that's happened, we are so cut off from everyone and everything. It's so much harder than it was before, Joshua. I really do think this is better for us, and the living isn't anything we aren't used to.”

  “I thought of that myself,” he agreed. “So long as you like it I can't see a reason not to do it. How was Seth doing when you left him?”

  “He was still groggy from the gas they gave him but his leg was clean and he was getting the medicine he needed. That's another thing. Left to just what I know, Seth would likely have passed. I don't like that and I don't want to chance it again. I think we're better off here than at home.”'

  “I already said I agree,” Joshua smiled slightly. “So, we let them send a truck to get the rest and then once we settle in we get to work before cold weather really hits.”

  “Yes.”

  -

  “Well, that's a start,” Leon looked very proud of himself. “Joshua and his family are fine folks and hard working too. Honest as the day is long.”

  “Why are we bringing still more people here?” Alicia demanded. “Weren't we planning to stay isolated?”

  “That plan went up in smoke the minute Abigail decided she wanted to be a prisoner in town,” Clay told his sister, ignoring the flush of his niece's face as well as her muttered objections. “Led good old Peyton and his thug posse right to our door.”

  “That was not my-” Abigail began.

  “It was absolutely your fault, since he came here specifically looking for you,” Gordon cut her off at the knees. “Now hush, the grown-ups are talking.”

  Stung by the rebuke from her grandfather, Abigail left the meal house in a huff, followed a moment later by an apologetic looking Samantha Walters.

  “Do you really have to keep antagonizing her?” Alicia asked Clay and Gordon. “All she did-”

  “Shut your mouth,” Clay's anger was vibrant as he growled across the table. “All she did was get a good man, a great friend to me, killed. Don't you dare minimize that by saying she shouldn't suffer for it. And if you say anything bad about John I swear I will put you down.”

  The vehemence in his tone drew the eyes of everyone still at the table. Leon smirked openly while Gordon looked concerned but not upset. Angela's eyes grew wide at the threat but she knew not to try and intrude when Clay was so mad.

  Alicia looked at Ronny who raised both hands in supplication.

  “I think you told me to stay out of your family affairs,” he told her flatly. “Minding my own business, I think you called it. And I just remembered I left my business in my other pants.” He rose and started for the door, but when he got there he paused and looked at Clay.

  “Please remember that I have two children still at home,” he told Clay, winking at him when no one else was looking. With that he went through the door and disappeared into the dark. Clay's anger dissipated in the face of his brother-in-law's humor but he fought to keep his face angry looking.

  “Well now,” Leon almost crowed. “How 'bout that? Reckon you done pissed him off, too!”

  “As I was saying,” Clay went on as if the last two minutes hadn't happened, “that plan is toast. With so many knowing where we are and that we were well set for this difficulty, we've become a target. That wasn't supposed to happen. It has, though, and we can't undo it. From here forward we can expect trouble on a regular basis rather than expect it sporadically at first and increasing as time goes on. What Leon is doing is about the only plan we can make, now.”

  “If people are gonna know we're here no matter what, then we may as well be well known,” Leon nodded. “As in let it be well known that we ain't putting up with crap like what Tobias Peyton tried to pull. I'd love to say I'm surprised, and I am a little but…Pepper hired him awful sudden and Pep was about as racist as they come. He had that one black deputy he kept on nights and called him Token for short, if you recall. Seemed strange he'd hire a black man as his detective like that, but I was sorta hoping that he had turned a corner. Maybe not.”

  “Anyway, we got to grow, and we got to be self-sufficient. If we can eventually start trading with other folks for services they got, that's fine, but we need to be able to feed and take care of ourselves, meet our own basic needs if you will, without no outside help. People like Josh Webb and his family can help with that, and will.”

  “So, all that work ends up being for someone else after all,” Alicia complained. Carefully.

  “Alicia, I have yet to see you doing any work other than spending my money after you knew the disaster was on its way,” Leon told her, his tone frosty. “And I'm sick to death of hearing you. If you can't add something pertinent to the conversation then why don't you go and find Abigail so the two of you can play dolls or something and let the grown folks do the thinking and planning, huh?”

  “Did you just use 'pertinent' in a-”

  “Do you want me to kick your shins off?” Leon growled and Clay threw up an apologetic gesture as he grew quiet in the face of Leon's wrath.

  “You talk down to me and then act like children?” Alicia snarled, her face red. “Have you ever thought that if you treated me like an adult I might just act like one?”

  “Ever thought that had you grown into an adult I'd have treated you like one all along?” Leon hit back just as hard. “I been waiting for years for you to get your act together, Ally, but I can't wait no longer. When we need you with us, you're against us. Every time. No matter what we're trying to do, you take the opposite position, I think sometimes just for spite. When the world was still spinning that wasn't a problem, it was just annoying. Now? Now it's a problem. It's time to grow up and see that this family has to pull in the same direction or we ain't gonna make it.”

  “Abby messed up,” Gordon put his oar in the water. “She acted like a child and she's being treated like one until she at least makes an attempt to act as an adult. Clayton placed a large degree of trust in her, as did the rest of us. And we thought she was equal to it, especially after she worked so hard helping prepare. She accepted responsibility and duties just like any other adult. It's not our fault that she threw that trust away.”

  “She tried to save her best friend,” Alicia kept her voice calm.

  “And cost me mine after I told her that's what would happen.” Clay wasn't taking that.

  “That could have happened anyway if you were doing something similar, cou-”

  “The rifle that killed John was the one I had given her,” Clay cut Alicia's statement short. “I took it off the body of the man who killed him. I trusted her and gave her a valuable tool that she could have used to help defend this farm and this family. She handed it over to the enemy and cost me my best friend and a good soldier that this group needed.”

  Alicia closed her mouth abruptly and eased back into her seat. It took her a minute to collect herself.

  “Clayton, I am so sorry,” she said sincerely. Her wo
rds could not have shocked the table more.

  “I thought you were just being a dick to her because she didn't do what you told her,” Alicia continued softly. “I thought you were the one being childish,” she admitted. “I'm sorry,” she repeated.

  “I lost my childishness in the middle of my second firefight,” Clay told her. “When I was three years younger than she is now.”

  “Not your first firefight?” Gordon asked in surprise.

  “I spent most of my first firefight scared shitless, too afraid to move let alone worry about being childish or not,” Clay shrugged. “Getting shot at will do that for you,” he reminded his father.

  “So, it will,” Gordon nodded in agreement.

  “I didn't know you got shot at so much,” Alicia told him, looking at her brother in a new light. “The news doesn't report that.”

  “Like I said, the news reports what the government gives them and that's about it,” Clay shrugged. “And the government doesn't tell you that it's losing your sons and daughters every day in a war without end. Just the way it goes.”

  “I hope you will accept my apology,” Alicia stood once more. “I still don't like having so many new people around, but at least now I see why it's necessary. Whatever you need me to do, I will. Just let me know. Good night.” With that she left quietly, not looking back at her stunned family members.

  Typically, it was Leon who spoke first.

  “On top of everything else, now we have to deal with aliens.”

  “Aliens?” Clay couldn't stop himself from asking.

  “That is not my grand-daughter,” he pointed to where Alicia had disappeared into the dark. “Clearly she's been taken over by a body-snatching alien of some kind who didn't study her behavior long enough.”

  It took a minute, but laughter filled the outdoor kitchen as the others finally got it.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  -

  Over the next three days Clay carried Leon and Joshua Webb around the community looking for certain people with certain skills. Leon's list, supplemented now by suggestions from Josh Webb, was a very carefully chosen group, all who would bring something needed to the table with them in exchange for what the group could offer them.