Dark Destruction (EMP Lodge Series Book 4)

by Grace Hamilton

  “Yes, I do remember him saying something about how all the clay down by the stream would be good for the bricks. Do you think it’ll work?”

  Megan started to get excited. “Yes! He said it was like nature's cement. We’ll mix the clay with grass. The grass will act as tensile, adding more strength to the clay bricks. He said he wanted to make large bricks, which would work best with tall grass. The grass in the meadow is what he had talked about using.”

  Wyatt studied the drawing for a few minutes.

  “This would require a lot of bricks. Is there enough material to make that many?” Wyatt asked.

  Megan shrugged.

  “We could certainly use bricks and rocks. We could make mortar like we used on the cabin. I don't know where any bricks are laying around, but there are definitely enough rocks.”

  “I know where there’s a whole pile of bricks,” Wyatt said quietly.

  Megan knew exactly what he was talking about. The bricks at Linda and Harry's house. The place where Jack and Greg died. The house had been built with stone and a huge brick chimney, which had been damaged in the explosion.

  “That's far. Anything closer?” Megan did not want to revisit that place ever. It was still a raw nerve.

  “Let's talk to Brenda. She knows this area like the back of her hand. She’ll know where to find more bricks and materials if there are any around here,” Wyatt said, clearly not wanting to push the issue.

  They sat in silence, listening to the sounds of the birds. In the distance, Megan convinced herself she could hear the water. She couldn't possibly, but in her mind, she envisioned white water rapids tearing down the mountainside waiting to flood their home.

  “We should probably get something other than daydreaming done today,” Megan said standing from the bench.

  Wyatt didn't move.

  “Should we? I kind of lost my steam with the thought of losing everything. What's the point of filling the root cellar or starting on another cabin if it is all going to be wiped out? We could be out scouting for a new place to live instead of spinning our wheels here.”

  Megan put her hands on her hips and narrowed her gaze. “Wyatt Morris. Don't you dare start getting negative. You have to stay positive. Everyone is looking to you for guidance and will take their cues from you. If you are not convinced this will work, they won't be. They may panic. We can't do that to Willow.”

  “I know, I know, it's so risky! What if it doesn't work? What if the water floods the area and we have to run for our lives? I have to think of the risks. If we chose to leave now, we could come back when it was safe.”

  “Wyatt, we don't know if it will ever be safe. There are always going to be problems. Granted, this is a big one, but if we can build the dike, we can eliminate this one menace. We will take every new threat as it comes. There is no point in borrowing trouble,” she said, sitting back down next to him.

  Wyatt stared at her.

  “You know, it wasn't more than a few months ago, our roles were reversed. You were the one who would stress out over every potential threat. Now, I am.”

  She leaned in and kissed him. “You made me strong.”

  “And you’re making me strong.”

  “Okay, then. Are you good?”

  He stood. “Yep. Let's go find Brenda. Hopefully, she will have some secret stash of bricks. I would like to present a solid plan to the group at dinner tonight. Give everyone the night to digest it and make their own choice to leave or stay.”

  “I hope they stay. I don't want anyone to leave and, to be honest, we need every person here to pitch in to get this done. If the four or five that want to leave do go, we could be in bad shape,” Megan explained.

  “We'll figure it out,” Wyatt said, his earlier apprehension dissolved.

  They found Brenda upstairs, cleaning weapons. The woman was meticulous about the guns insisting they needed to be cleaned regularly to ensure they were always ready to use.

  Megan quickly gave Brenda the rundown of their plan and she nodded in excitement when Megan explained their need for bricks.

  “I know a place. It’s a burnt-out house between here and my old cabin. The fireplace and the chimney are the only thing left, although it was crumbling last I saw it,” Brenda explained.

  “That sounds like exactly what we need. The bricks don't have to be perfect. We can use plenty of mud to fill in any broken pieces,” Megan said.

  “We have that sled. We will load bricks and drag them back,” Wyatt said.

  “You need to assign the tasks, Megan,” Brenda informed her. “The only way this will work is if everyone does their part. You, we, are undertaking a monumental task.”

  “I know. We will, but we don't even know if everyone is on board yet. Once we find out who is willing to stay, we can come up with teams for each task,” Megan replied.

  “They should stay,” Brenda said in a way that suggested that anyone considering leaving was not making a wise decision.

  Megan shrugged. “It's their choice.”

  Brenda didn't look convinced.

  “Thanks, Brenda. I'll count on you to lead the way. Even if a few people do choose to leave, we can still try to save the lodge but first, we need those bricks.”

  “Sure,” Brenda said, returning her attention to the guns.

  Megan and Wyatt left the woman to her work. Despite Wyatt's earlier declaration, there were plenty of things to be done around the lodge. They couldn't ignore the chores. Megan wanted everything to be as normal as possible.

  There was washing to be done, a new outhouse to be built, and Wyatt was going to finish building the new smoke house.

  “I'll see you in a bit,” Wyatt said, kissing her before walking out the door.

  Willow and Rosie were at the table, rolling out the pemmican. Megan hated the stuff, but she knew it was a necessity. It was a little better than eating jerky when they were out hunting. With the scouting missions they were planning, it would come in handy. If they had to leave the lodge and leave their food supplies behind, it was going to be a necessity. The pemmican would store for months without any refrigeration.

  “Just one pan?” she asked, surprised. Usually they made several.

  “No, we still need to grind up that other dried venison. We are using the last of the dried blackberries. Hopefully we will get to replenish our supply,” Rosie answered.

  “Do you need any help?” Megan asked.

  “Sure, you can start grinding that venison with the pestle. It doesn't have to be a powder, but as ground up as you can get it,” Rosie instructed.

  “Okay.”

  Megan had never actually helped make the pemmican in the past. It was something Rosie had experimented with months ago and had slowly been improving her recipe. It wasn't the worst tasting food in the world, but it certainly didn't make Megan want to ask for more.

  They chatted about the weather and how much the kids were growing while they worked. The doom and gloom was avoided. Megan knew Rosie was purposely avoiding the topic to keep Willow calm.

  “We’re all in need of some shoes,” Megan commented. “I know the kids are outgrowing theirs and the rest of ours are falling apart.”

  “The next run into town, we will add it to the list,” Willow said. “We’ll need baby clothes as well if we can find any.”

  Megan was glad Willow was looking to the future. That was a good sign.

  “I’m glad cloth diapers were so trendy before the EMP. Hopefully, we can find some of those as well. I'm sure the disposables are all wiped out by now,” Megan said,

  Rosie smiled. “Ah, yes. The good, old-fashioned way of diapering. It isn't quite as bad as it was made out to be. It will certainly be more laundry, but we will manage. We should probably look for another toilet plunger as well. We are going to need a third bucket for washing diapers.”

  Willow sighed. “I can’t believe I’m going to have a baby in this world. It's so primitive.”

  Megan agreed. “Yes, it is. It will be in
teresting for sure, but we'll figure it out. They say it takes a village to raise a child and you will have more than enough helpful people interested in baby cuddles.”

  “So long as that includes diaper changes, I’m good with that,” Willow quipped as the women laughed.

  They all went back to their tasks, thinking about the needs of an infant and how they would manage without stores, doctors and hospitals.

  “I think I have this about as ground as it’s going to get,” Megan said, showing Rosie.

  “Yep. That’ll work.”

  Rosie grabbed the large mixing bowl and dumped in the ground, dried meat and the dried berries that had already been ground into a fine powder. The equal parts were stirred together. Picking up the pot of rendered fat from the woodstove, she slowly poured it into the powdered mixture. The fat was from the deer they had just harvested.

  Rosie stopped pouring. “Does that look like about a third portion?”

  “I think so,” Megan said, hoping it didn't have to be exact.

  Rosie added a little more before calling it good. “If you could mix that all up for me, I'll grab another pan.” Rosie put the pan on the counter. “Pour that in and I’ll smooth it out.” Megan did as she was told while the older woman supervised.

  “There,” Rosie said, wiping her hands on the apron she was wearing. “We'll let these two pans dry overnight and cut them into bars tomorrow. You're going to need them for all those runs you’ll be making,” she said, winking at Megan.

  Megan smiled. She appreciated Rosie's confidence in her ability to save the lodge from certain ruin.

  “I can't wait,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.

  “This stuff is far better for you than gnawing on that jerky. It’s a bit more balanced and will give you more energy. Jerky is not a meal,” Rosie lectured.

  “I know and I appreciate it. Thank you, Rosie,” Megan said with sincerity.

  Megan started walking to the door, she wanted to look at the garden and get an idea of how much work needed to be done. If they were going to stay here, the garden soil had to be turned. They were going to have to divide their time between building the dike and taking care of the other important, necessary chores around the lodge.

  There would be no stopping at dark.

  Megan sighed heavily hoping everyone was up to the task. It would be rough. The kids were going to have to help as well. She hoped she could present her plan in a way that would convince every member of the group to stay and pitch in.

  Even one person leaving would make it that much harder on those who chose to stay behind. She would do her best to take on as much of the extra work as possible, but she could only do so much.

  Her fate and the fate of the lodge would be decided in a few short hours. She had to keep busy or she would go out of her mind worrying about how the group would vote.

  She ventured outside to find Wyatt. Pounding some nails would keep her busy and allow her to release some of the tension coiled up inside her.

  “Hey,” she said when she found him.

  Wyatt had made good progress on the smoke house.

  “Wow, you moved fast on this,” she told him as he stacked another log on the side wall.

  “It's easy. I just need to complete this side wall and put on the roof.”

  “Can I help?”

  “Sure, hand me one of those pieces of wood and I will nail it up to finish this side,” he directed.

  Megan picked up the old and abused two-by-four that had seen better days. They had been collecting scrap wood, but were about out. Lumber was hard to come by and this summer, they planned on scavenging as much as they could.

  They worked together to finish the third side of the wooden structure.

  “We'll use some of those short branches for the roof,” he explained. “If we can find any scrap pieces of metal siding, we will put that on, but we won’t need much to keep everything dry inside.”

  “What about the door?” she asked.

  He pointed to a small, thin piece of old USB board.

  “It'll work, for now. The wood isn't treated, so it won't hold up through winter, but I am confident we’ll find something better.”

  Wyatt grabbed his pocketknife and cut two chunks of rubber from one of the old tires they had found. The rubber made excellent door hinges and they’d used it on the cabin built for the guys. It had been one of Jack's ideas.

  “Does it need a floor?” Megan asked, not sure what Wyatt's plan was.

  He had created a square foundation with some of the cinder blocks that were used as a makeshift workbench in the small tool shed.

  “No. We'll build the fire in this bottom area here,” he said, pointing to the square opening below the wooden structure. “The smoke will rise and fill this area,” he pointed to the building he had finished.

  “How are you going to add the wood? If you open the door, all the smoke is going to escape.”

  “I’m using this brick as a door to the wood burning box.”

  She watched as he slid the extra brick into place making the wood structure look like a tiny house sitting on a foundation.

  “Doesn't it need a vent or something? The smokers I’ve seen always have a chimney.”

  “This isn't exactly airtight,” he chuckled, “but I already cut a small hole in that piece of wood.” He pointed to a hole on the side of the structure about halfway up. “I put it on the side because a chimney at the top would allow all the smoke to escape right out. This way, the smoke rises with only a small amount escaping out the side.”

  “This is great, Wyatt. I can't believe how fast you put it up. I was thinking it would be an all-day project.”

  Wyatt stepped back and looked at his handiwork. “The smokehouse Jack wanted to build was about three times this big. He had planned to make one out of logs, like a mini log cabin and would have been big enough for a person to walk in. We don't have that kind of time. If everything works out, we can plan to build a bigger one in fall. Then we can smoke several large chunks of meat at the same time.”

  Megan nodded in agreement. This could all be for naught. She hated to think he had put in all this effort only to have it washed away.

  “Well, is it ready to use?” she asked, excited to get the deer meat going.

  He shrugged. “I think so. I'll go chop up that wood if you want to cut the meat up. I need to make some brackets to slide those shelves on. I’ll grab the shelves from the refrigerator in the kitchen. It isn't like they’ll be missed. They should fit in here perfectly.”

  “Great idea. I'll get started on the meat.”

  Megan worked fast, slicing thin strips as well as some larger cuts of meat. This would be their trial run. There would be a learning curve as they figured out how long each cut of meat needed to be smoked to be safe to store and eat later. She hoped there would be some telltale sign to let them know the meat was bad. She couldn't imagine trying to deal with E. coli or some other nasty bacteria caused by eating rotten or poorly stored meat.

  As she worked, she thought about the many possibilities. They could smoke fish, which would allow them to do a big catch one day and have food to eat for weeks after. They could harvest numerous turkeys and grouse and smoke the meat. Without refrigeration, it was tough to make anything last. They were constantly hunting or relegated to dried meats.

  The smoked meats would help change up their diet, even if the meat were still dry. The flavor would be different at least. She sighed; it was the way life was.

  She cut another slice and wondered if they would ever live in a world where things like refrigeration and power were readily available. When the EMP first happened, she kept waiting for the lights to come back on. Everyone assumed it was a temporary problem that some guy, somewhere was working to fix.

  The days stretched into weeks and here it was a full year later and it didn't look like anything was ever going to change. There was a niggle of hope life would go back to the way it was, but with each passing day that hope
faded.

  One day, there would be power, but she had no idea if it would happen within the foreseeable future. While the engineers and scientists all knew how to get the electricity going, they needed equipment. To make the various transformers, they needed to manufacture the parts. The manufacturing companies needed power to operate.

  “What are you shaking your head at?” Bryan asked, walking towards her.

  She sighed. “I was thinking about the future. I kind of got myself into a chicken and egg conundrum.”

  “What?” he asked, totally confused.

  “We have people on this earth that know how to generate electricity and get it sent out to the power lines and so on, but can they figure out how to fix what's broken without using electricity to make new parts?”

  He shrugged. “I'm sure somewhere; there is a room full of bigwigs trying to do just that. It will probably take years, but eventually someone is going to figure it out. I would guess electricity will be the norm again in a few years.”

  “You think so?” she asked, fighting back the excitement.

  “Oh yeah. The infrastructure is there. It needs repair, but it’ll happen. We need to hang tight until it does. I'm sure countries around the world that weren't impacted by the EMP will have what we need to get up and running.”

  “Will they be willing to help us?” she asked.

  He laughed. “That's a good question. Considering we still don't have lights yet, I am guessing there are some issues.”

  “Hm, I guess we'll see.”

  “Okay, I'm going to relieve Albert,” Bryan said walking away.

  Megan stopped what she was doing and thought about what an electrified world would mean. Would she still be with Wyatt? Would she move back into her old house? Since she hadn't paid the mortgage in a year, was it even her house still? A million thoughts raced through her mind. She had a feeling not all those people who called themselves preppers thought about the recovery and rebuilding aspect of things. All those people who had survived and made up new homesteads, would they be allowed to keep the property?

  It all made her head hurt. She would worry about all that if the time came. Right now, she needed to focus on getting through tomorrow and the next tragedy.