“I’m light,” Patton volunteered. “I’m small. I can do it.”
A broad smile crossed Wyatt’s face. Patton frowned. When he looked at his father, he saw that same smile. Patton frowned more. “What?” he demanded. “I can help.”
“I appreciate the enthusiasm,” Matthew said, sharing a wink with Wyatt that Patton didn’t like at all. Was his Dad laughing at him in that parent kind of way? “But it’s too dangerous for us, not to mention for a twelve-year-old. Why don’t you go and see what Allison is up to?”
“Allison is in the garden,” Patton said. “I don’t want to garden.”
“Gardening is a very important skill,” Wyatt said. “It would be helpful for you to know how so you can teach us old dogs new tricks.”
Okay, now Patton really felt like he was being made fun of. He ignored Wyatt. “Dad, that’s not helping enough. It would just be digging in the dirt and listening to Allison talk about dumb girl stuff.”
“What counts as dumb girl stuff?” Matthew asked.
“I don’t know. Boys?”
A great belly laugh erupted from Wyatt. “Just you wait, kid. Someday soon, you’ll be more than content to having a bunch of girls talking about you.”
“Dad, c’mon,” Patton said, feeling embarrassed, but he didn’t quite know why. The other guys in the group were beginning to whisper with each other, and that same broad smile that had moved from Wyatt’s face to his father’s face now seemed to infect all of them. It spread like wildfire around the group until they were all grinning at him in a soft, affectionate way. It only made him feel like they thought he was too dumb to get the joke.
“I’m sorry, Patton. But no. Maybe when you’re older,” Matthew said and Patton knew he’d lost this particular battle. He knew when his father took that tone that there was no use trying to convince him otherwise.
“Fine,” Patton said, more sharply than he intended, and walked away from the group of men. A low chuckle seemed to follow him, and he resented everyone in that group even more. He’d been kidnapped, after all, and lived to tell the tale. Was that why the guys wouldn’t let him help? Because of that?
His stomach hurt. He wanted to punch something as he walked back to the hotel. Maybe Grandpa could help him out. Grandpa had a way with Dad. Maybe he could convince Matthew that Patton could help out after all. He stomped up the front steps to the hotel and into the lobby, heading for the back hallway and the suite where his grandfather was resting and healing. His mother intercepted him, walking toward him with a grim look on her face. The hurt in Patton’s stomach increased.
“Hi honey,” Kathleen said, “how are you doing?”
“Going to see Grandpa,” Patton said.
Kathleen’s face collapsed into worry. It was a look Patton was tired of seeing on his mother’s face. “Your grandpa is having a rough day. I think it might be better if we give him some space and come by to see him later,” she said.
Patton wanted to put a hole in the wall with his fist. “Why?” he demanded hotly. “Is something wrong with him?”
“He’s just having a bad day,” Kathleen reiterated, as if Patton could understand what that meant. Patton had bad days all the time. This day was shaping up to be a bad day, too.
“Maybe I could cheer him up, then,” Patton said.
“I know you like to talk to him about everything under the sun, but he needs his rest,” Kathleen said.
“And am I not restful?” Patton shot back, feeling that hurt in his stomach start to turn into fire. Turn into anger.
“That’s not what I meant. He’s recovering from a heart attack. The medical care is so much more complicated to understand. It’s not just physical healing, but mental and emotional healing as well. I know he’d love to see you, but I think we should give him space right now.”
“I can help him, Mom,” Patton said. “He always loves seeing me.”
That worried expression collapsed into one of sorrowful pride as Kathleen said, “Patton, I know it’s hard for a boy to understand, let alone handle…”
“I’m not a boy. I’m almost thirteen! I can handle anything!”
Kathleen’s face took on that overwrought appearance, as if she was on a slippery slope and losing her grip quickly. “Patton, please. Just listen to me and do what I say. Why don’t you go out and help Allison with the garden? I’m sure she would love your company and you can put that restless energy to good use.”
Ugh.
“I don’t want to talk with Allison,” Patton said. “I want to talk to Grandpa. I don’t want to help Allison. I want to help Grandpa.”
Kathleen opened her mouth and then looked behind him, almost as though she might be saved from this conversation. Patton whipped around to see his grandmother walking down the hallway with a plate full of salted venison from their storage and canned vegetables. Patton recalled a small hunting party from the gun club going out and bringing back half a deer for the Riley family, something like a trade for the use of the well. A show of good faith, David had said when Patton had explained why they had a new type of food to eat.
Kathleen tutted. “That red meat isn’t going to be doing David any favors.”
Ruth looked apologetic. “I know, Nikki has said it more than once. But at least he eats it without a fuss, and there’s not much else we can give him.”
“We need to think about what other kind of protein we can feed him that won’t worsen his cardiac issues,” Kathleen mused. “Are rabbits considered lean? Any kind of birds?”
Patton sighed, feeling forgotten. It was as though she never listened to him when he told her about his Boy Scout field trips. He remembered learning about the local flora and fauna during a field trip where they went outside and tried to identify what counted as wildlife around the Chicago public parks. “Yes, Mom. They are,” he said. But it felt as though he’d suddenly disappeared and gone invisible. “It’s summer,” he continued, loudly. “This is when we usually see lots of rabbits out. ’Tis the season.”
Ruth smiled at him. “Did you learn that in school?”
Ugh. He felt like everyone was treating him like a child, but he knew his grandma didn’t mean any harm. He forced a smile back at her. “Boy Scouts. Long time ago.”
Kathleen ushered Ruth inside David’s room where Patton glimpsed his bedridden grandfather arguing with Nikki. “We should tell the hunting party to start shooting for those,” she said to Ruth, as if Patton’s advice had floated down from the heavens instead of coming straight from her own son.
“They might think it’s beneath them,” Ruth said, entering the room and leaving Patton standing alone behind them. “They’re usually after bigger game.”
Huh. Interesting.
Patton slipped away, an idea forming in his mind. Beneath them? He’d see about that.
12
It was a quick sprint from the front of the hotel around to the back, where his father and the well restoration crew had moved from debating to working together to clear the space around the well. He waited patiently while his father and a couple of other guys hefted the fallen tree further away into the woods. When Matthew returned, he wore an annoyed look and raised an eyebrow at Patton.
“Back so soon?” he asked, as if warning Patton not to get in the way. “It’s really dangerous here. It would be better if you were somewhere else and not underfoot.”
“I’m not here to be in the way,” Patton said, feeling the embers in his stomach blaze hotter, ready to catch fire. Why couldn’t anyone see that he was here to help and not be in the way? He’d show them. “I wondered if I could go to the gun club. Wyatt can take me when he goes back?”
“Why do you want to go to the gun club?” Matthew asked even as Wyatt finished hauling some long branches off to the side, and headed to join them at the sound of his name.
“I want to get out of here,” Patton said. “See if I can get to know the other boys at the gun club.”
Ugh. He hated using the word boy, but it would app
eal to both his father and Wyatt, who had now officially joined their conversation.
Wyatt looked at Matthew with a shrug. “I can take him. I need to go back to the club as it is to grab a block and tackle. I wouldn’t mind escorting him there and introducing him.”
Matthew almost looked relieved. “That might be a good idea,” he said, turning to look at Wyatt. “You sure you don’t mind?”
“Not in the least,” Wyatt said. “Heading that way anyway, might as well. The kids at the gun club are really friendly. It will be good to get him out and socialize. Hang out with kids his own age. He’s climbing walls as it is.”
Patton didn’t know what walls he was climbing, but his plan was working easier than he thought. When he got to the gun club, he wasn’t going to meet any kids at all. He was going straight for the shooting range and taking an immediate lesson on hunting. But whatever got him to the club in the fastest, most efficient way. He didn’t want to fight with his father, not with all these other men around him. Judging him. Probably thinking he was just “that kid that got kidnapped.” Ugh.
“Okay,” Matthew said and then turned to look at Patton seriously in the eye. “But you behave, Patton. You obey Wyatt as though he were me or your mother. He’s in charge, okay?”
“Yessir,” Patton said, just like his grandfather had taught him.
“Don’t leave the gun club without an adult, either,” Matthew added. “You need someone to walk with you to the club and back to the hotel. Got it?”
“Yessir,” Patton said.
“All right, let’s go,” Wyatt said, clapping Patton on the back and giving Matthew a thumbs-up. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Thanks,” Matthew said again and then focused his attention back on helping the rest of the well restoration crew clear the ground.
Patton smiled to himself. The first act of his master plan was complete with no one the wiser. He would get to the gun club, slip past Wyatt, and head to the shooting range. Someone would be there to help instruct him and possibly let him rent out a gun for the day. He didn’t know if that was actually how a gun club worked, but when he was in Boy Scouts, you had to rent out equipment all the time. He figured it would be something like that. It didn’t matter. He’d figure it out when he got there. Maybe he wasn’t the grizzled warrior after all, but the black-cloaked rogue, sneaking in and out of places without a trace.
The sun beat down on him as he and Wyatt crossed the property line of the hotel and headed down the mountain. A constant wind kept the sweat from beading on his brow, and Patton let out a small sigh of satisfaction. The walk helped calm the fire that had been brewing within him, and the exercise reduced the itchiness that demanded he do something. Wyatt kept up a good pace, pushing Patton to keep up. The silence wasn’t something he was used to, so he decided to try his rogue-like ways of persuasion to get some information out of the Marine.
“How hard is it to learn to shoot?” he asked, kicking a rock out of the way and hoping he sounded cool as a cucumber. Just a kid curious about guns, like most boys are. That was all.
Wyatt put a hand on his chin as if contemplating Patton’s question. “Not hard at all with enough practice and guidance. Jade’s already given you a beginner’s lesson, hasn’t she?”
Patton nodded. “Yeah. It was awesome. She helped show me how to aim and respect the weapon, along with overall gun safety. I want to get better at it.”
“This was before you were taken, right?” Wyatt asked, sounding strangely light, as if he were walking on glass.
Ugh. There it was again. Patton was that “kidnapped kid.”
“Yeah,” he said shortly and then hoped to refocus Wyatt on something that didn’t make the ache in Patton’s stomach return. “She also mentioned going on a deer hunt. That I had the talent to be really good at it.”
Okay, so Jade might not have actually said those things, but adults had so much they needed to remember all the time, that it was worth the tiny white lie.
Wyatt made an interesting sound in the back of his throat. “Is that so? I’d believe it. Jade has a good eye for finding those who can respect both the sport and the weapon. Plus, you seem to be an attentive student.”
“But since I’ve been home,” Patton continued, not wanting to bring up the kidnapping any further, “it’s like no one has the time to teach me anything else. Everyone’s helping my grandpa or working on the well or gardening. It’s like I have to do everything myself.”
Whoops. That went a little bit too far. He didn’t mean to admit that. He glanced at Wyatt to see how the Marine would react.
Wyatt looked thoughtful. “That is frustrating,” he said, and Patton relaxed a bit. “I know that while the gun club does have its own hunting crew, it sounds like you might be eager to start one on your own. A lot of priorities have shifted and some of those tasks aren’t as fun or exciting as hunting. I know gardening can be unappealing—”
Ugh. Gardening. Again.
“—but that doesn’t mean it’s not important. We’ll need a sustainable food source that can come back year after year. Hunting is great, but you also have to take into consideration that your prey are living and breathing animals. They need to grow and learn and live, too. If we hunt too many of them too quickly, they won’t come back to this area. If we don’t give them time to repopulate, we won’t have any meat for the next year or the year after that. It’s not just about hunting, it’s about an offering and a gift from those animals to sustain us. Does that make sense?”
“Yes,” Patton said, feeling overwhelmed with all the knowledge, and yet at the same time kind of in awe of it. “But I don’t want to just hunt deer. I want to hunt rabbits too.”
“Rabbits are a good starting place,” Wyatt commented. “They’re more difficult and a different kind of hunting technique than a deer. Not as much meat on their bones, though, to feed my crew or your family.”
“But all we bring in is big game,” Patton said. “Wouldn’t it be helpful to have someone who can bring in smaller, different types of meat?”
“I suppose,” Wyatt said slowly. “What’s wrong with big game, though? Do you not like the taste?”
“It’s not that. My grandpa shouldn’t be eating so much red meat. My mom and Nikki said it’s not good for him. That it could affect his cardiac recovery.”
He’d heard that grown-up term enough times that he felt he could use it, even though he didn’t quite understand the deeper meaning of it. He hoped that Wyatt would take him seriously if he used the phrase. If he could talk like an adult, maybe they would respect him more. They turned down the road that led to the gun club, switching from pavement to gravel beneath their feet.
“I just thought that since he needs a different kind of meat that I could, you know, get it for him,” Patton said lamely and felt a wave of failure wash over him. He’d revealed too much again. His plans were blowing up in his face. He couldn’t stop talking. It was as though all his hopes were spilling out of him in the comforting space Wyatt had provided for him to actually speak his truth. “That I could maybe learn how to hunt smaller prey,” Patton finished and wished he knew when to shut up.
Wyatt didn’t respond. Fear filled Patton. He bit his lip and fought back a wash of tears. He hoped Wyatt wouldn’t judge him. God, he hoped that with his whole being. The gun club loomed in front of them. Patton could see people milling in and around the property, doing the same kind of tasks that his family was doing around the hotel.
“That’s very honorable of you,” Wyatt finally said as they crossed onto the gun club’s property. “I know you want to help David more than anything. And you want to find where you belong. But Patton, I want to be crystal clear. Under no circumstances will you be allowed to shoot a gun when we get to the club.”
At the beginning of Wyatt’s speech, Patton felt as though the Marine understood him. That maybe he and Wyatt were talking about the same thing. But at the end, Patton’s hopes plummeted. Wyatt saw through him,
and Wyatt still thought of him as a young child who shouldn’t be allowed to do dangerous things, even though they lived in a dangerous world. The ache inside of Patton’s stomach—the fire that had dulled to a few simmering coals during the walk—roared to life.
“Why?” Patton eeked out, knowing that if he dared say more, that anger might come out as screaming.
“I can’t give you permission to do so,” Wyatt said, as though it were the simplest explanation in the world. “I’m not your father. You didn’t get Matthew’s express permission. Plus, I’m getting the feeling you played both of us and that you were going to go to the gun club not to make friends, but figure out how to get a gun. That means that you don’t respect the rules. You don’t respect the weapon. And you don’t respect the sport. Your intentions are honorable, but you need to make sure that your actions match them. Right now, they don’t.”
They walked up the road to the front entrance. Wyatt raised his hand to knock on the door, but then turned to Patton. “You’ll always be welcome here,” he said. “If you need to get away from your family or need some space or even a change of scenery. I want this place to be part of your home, just as I am starting to see the hotel as part of my home as well. But I can’t let you touch or shoot a gun until you talk to your father about what you just told me. Lying or playing mind games isn’t going to get you anywhere. You need to come clean about what you really want and how you really want to go about doing it. Does that make sense?”
The anger blazed inside of Patton until he felt as though he couldn’t stand to be around Wyatt anymore. Yet that anger had no outlet and so all he could do was nod. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have tried to do that.”
“Okay,” Wyatt said. “I’m not going to talk to your father about this. Let’s just do what we came here to do, and I’ll introduce you to some of the boys here. How’s that sound? This can stay between you and me.”
EMP Catastrophe | Book 3 | Erupting Chaos Page 9
