The EMP Lodge Series: Books One to Three

by Grace Hamilton

  “I should probably get going.”

  Wyatt laughed and rolled his eyes at the ridiculous statement. “Your daughter is lying in bed, unconscious. Are you going to scoop her up and leave? Or maybe you are going to leave her in our care?”

  She glared at him and he swore he saw smoke coming from her nostrils. She was mad. It was a very attractive look on her, which made him grin. Damn, he had it bad. He really liked this woman.

  “Just relax. Let her heal. Take a bath. You will feel better. There’s no reason for you to rush out the door.” He leaned forward and touched her arm, “I think you know we aren’t going to hurt you. We want to help. We aren’t crazy.”

  A snort from Albert who was lighting the stove interrupted the moment.

  “Albert, quit acting like a grumpy old man,” Wyatt scolded as he fought back his grin at Megan giving Albert the look of death, “He is putting on a show. He isn’t quite as mean as he wants you to believe. Ignore him.”

  Megan looked to Willow and Jack who had been quietly talking in the corner of the kitchen.

  Willow spoke up, “A hot bath is a luxury that you do not want to pass up. Especially when you’ll have all these handsome men, carrying buckets of water for you. I bet you’ll feel better.”

  An elbow in the ribs from Willow prompted Jack to respond, “Yeah, it’s no problem. Chase will get the fire going and we will heat the water on the stove. It will take about an hour.”

  “See, it’s settled. You are going to take an almost hot bath. My mom will keep an eye on Caitlin and hopefully, with my mom’s magic, she will be on the road to recovery in no time,” Wyatt assured her.

  Megan conceded. “I’m going to go check on Caitlin first, and then I will help carry the water. There is no way I will let you guys wait on me hand and foot.”

  Wyatt winked, “Of course not.”

  He watched as she slid off the stool. She was sore. He could tell by the way that she winced when her feet hit the ground. A bath would definitely do her some good. He had a feeling she had been on her own since this started, which was a huge burden for anyone let alone a single woman with a child.

  It was time she leaned on others. With each of them helping out, the burden was so much easier to carry. So much so, Wyatt couldn’t imagine trying to survive without his family.

  Wyatt had to admit that he was lucky. Not only was he close to his family but they’d always been of like mind when it came to prepping. While his father had been the instigator in all of it, his mom had always made a point of choosing more natural products over the convenience of store bought. Wyatt had long suspected that it had more to do with her upbringing than anything else did. One of several siblings growing up in a very poor household, from what his mom used to say, his gran had made foraging for food and herbs a game and despite often not having enough food on the table, they always knew they were loved.

  When she had married his dad, he would laughingly tease her about some of her more frugal ways reminding her that she didn’t have to worry about money anymore but he’d quickly grown to appreciate her efforts. Especially when he decided to buy the land for their cabin and was able to pay cash for it.

  Dale Morris had purchased the entire fifty- acre plot fifteen years ago to keep others from building around him or any kind of logging operations from removing the concealing trees. The location was extremely remote and because it was completely off the grid, there were no utility bills. In fact, most of the building had been built without permits, which meant records showed it was nothing more than a parcel of undeveloped land.

  More importantly, the elevation meant the harsh winter weather would act as an invisible fence and without any real roads to the property; it would be secluded and safe; at least for the time being.

  Wyatt and his father hadn’t been to the cabin in some time. They had plans to go up in spring to take another truckload of supplies, but everything happened before they were ready. In fact, they had planned to have a big family reunion at the cabin and spend a week hanging out, living off the land, and getting in some practice for when the time came they had to live there. They’d waited too long. The time was now and they weren’t totally prepared.

  The family had come up with a plan to get there and after about two weeks of walking at night to avoid the crowds and taking what they could find from abandoned homes and rapidly emptying store shelves, they had made it. Only to find Megan and Caitlin had beaten them there.

  Wyatt could understand loss, which was why he admired Megan’s protective behavior and absolute tenacity at managing to carry her daughter up the hill to the cabin and to break in without any tools. He felt the same way about his family. Wyatt thought back to the moment he came home to see his father lying dead on the floor of the living room. It was something he vowed never to happen again. He still kicked himself for leaving his parents alone. He knew better, but assumed it would all be okay. Never again would he leave the people he cared about to fend for themselves.

  The loss of his little sister, Wynona, had created his strong need to guard the people he cared about. It’s what drove him into the military and later the SEALs. He learned a hard lesson in life at the ripe age of thirteen.

  Wyatt had been playing basketball with his nine-year-old sister in the driveway of their home. The ball had rolled into the street and she ran to get it only to be hit and killed by a speeding car. Wyatt’s memories of his little sister lying dead in the street and then his father lying dead in the same house the family had lived in for more than thirty years was excruciating.

  He had let his guard down for a short time and another loved one had been ripped away from him. It made him extremely vigilant over the people he had now. They were his family and there was no way he would leave them alone to fend for themselves.

  Wyatt shook himself out of the funk that threatened to grab hold and tumble him into a pit of despair and grief. All that mattered was what was right in front of him.

  He watched Megan limp into his bedroom and decided she was going to be under his protection whether she liked it or not. He could protect her and Caitlin. That was now his mission.

  Megan turned back right before she went through the door. She met his eyes, held them for a few seconds before turning back. You aren’t going anywhere Megan Wolford, he silently vowed.

  6

  Megan held her breath as she sank into the tub of water. The burning sensation coming from what must have been a hundred cuts and scrapes on her arms, legs and chest would pass soon. Once the stinging stopped, she exhaled and simply reveled in the feel of warm water caressing every inch of her body. Cold baths had been the norm for three months. But this, this was a little bit of heaven.

  A girl could get used to this.

  Megan allowed herself a few minutes to soak and relax. Then it was all business. Willow had given her a razor, which was another luxury Megan had been without since everything went dark. She thought back to all of the little things in life she had taken for granted. Baths, shampoo, conditioner, razors were things she realized she never wanted to do without again.

  Coffee, she thought to herself. Add coffee to that list.

  She washed her hair twice and added a heaping amount of conditioner for good measure. It felt good to do something so normal and being clean felt even better. Megan wanted to stay in the tub for hours, but felt as if she was taking advantage of their hospitality.

  When she walked back into the kitchen area, it was empty. Megan could hear Willow upstairs with Ryland. Wandering up the stairs, she saw them sitting on one of the sofas. They looked so comfortable. It made her envious of what they had.

  “How was the bath?” Willow asked.

  Megan smiled, “Fabulous, just like you promised.”

  Willow smiled back and nodded, “I told you.”

  Megan looked at Ryland, who was hunched over and intently writing in a notebook.

  “We are doing some math. With no schools, I figure it is up to us to teach the kids thes
e days. I’m no math whiz, but I can balance a checkbook. Or I used to be able to,” Willow explained. “I am, or I guess was, a teacher before all this happened. A little school each day makes us both feel more normal.”

  Megan nodded, “Good idea. We were doing a little reading and some math at home as well. You have plenty of books to keep everyone busy.”

  Willow stared out the window, “It’s amazing how much we took for granted, isn’t it?” A wistful looked crossed her face as she stared out at the treetops.

  Megan couldn’t agree with her more. In an instant, life had changed. No one went to work, school or anywhere for that matter. The only cars that ran were the older ones, but considering those were all gas-guzzlers, it didn’t do much good. The gas pumps didn’t work.

  Everything stopped. No electricity, communications, internet. Nothing. It was a very strange, scary new world and people had lost their minds. It wasn’t safe out there. The isolation made average people prey for those who were unscrupulous and looking to benefit from the tragedy that had befallen the world.

  “I’ll let you guys get back to it.” Megan stopped on the first stair, “Willow?”

  The woman lifted her head to look at her in question.

  “Do you like it here? I mean, do you feel as if you and your son are safe?”

  Willow smiled. “Of course. I would trust no one else with my own son. Rosie, Wyatt and all of them, really are reliable and trustworthy. Rosie is an excellent mother and grandma and she has managed to keep us all alive and well long before this happened. Caitlin will be fine,” she said with confidence. “You could stay, you know.”

  Megan winced. This place was a fantasy. It wasn’t hers and she felt wrong for intruding. They had worked hard to make it what it was. Was it fair for her to show up at the door and expect them to take her in? She didn’t think so.

  Depending on others had only ever led to heartache for Megan and she wasn’t prepared to start now. Especially, not now.

  “You’re too kind, Willow. Thank you again for the bath and all the soaps.” Calling over her shoulder as she walked back downstairs, “Have fun doing your math, Ryland.”

  Wyatt watched as Megan came down the stairs. She was moving a little better and he was amazed at the transformation. She was wearing a clean pair of jeans, cinched up at the waist with a belt that was too big.

  She was a little on the thin side, but she didn’t look unhealthy. Her hair had been brushed and pulled back into a ponytail. Wyatt had to admit he was tired of seeing women resort to that hairstyle. He missed the days of long, flowing hair, but understood the reason behind it. The women today were forced to do a lot of manual labor and long hair would definitely be in the way.

  Megan smiled at him and he felt his heart skip a beat. She was gorgeous. He loved the confidence and independence she exuded.

  “So, are you busy?” he asked, not sure if she would actually want to do anything.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m busy waiting.”

  He laughed, “Well, I know how to help you pass the time and keep your mind occupied while we wait for your daughter to wake up. Come on.”

  She didn’t look convinced, but she nodded her head again, and followed him outside. “Okay, I’m all yours.”

  Wyatt smiled. If only that were really true.

  “We are going to make a solar dehydrator today.”

  “Really?” she sounded impressed, which boosted his confidence.

  Pointing to the supplies, he had already laid out. “Yep. So, we are going to use these two-by-fours to make a box. It won’t be perfect, but that doesn’t matter. We have enough to make a couple dehydrators, so just follow my lead.”

  He handed her a hammer and pointed to an old coffee can filled with obviously used nails. He showed her how to construct the box with the wood before he grabbed the window screens that were propped against a tree.

  “Now, it isn’t ideal, but we are going to use this silicone to attach the screens to the bottom side of the boxes.”

  He added a thin layer of the sticky goo and pushed the metal frame against the wood. Megan repeated the action on her own box.

  He glanced across to see how she was doing and caught the scrunched up look on her face as she worked with the used nails. Some were a bit harder to use but she still managed.

  “We can add legs to the boxes, but we don’t have that many pieces of wood that are all the same length. Instead, when it’s time to use the dehydrators, we will place them on rocks, which will serve as the base that holds the screen off the ground.”

  Megan looked from Wyatt to the box frames, “That’s it?”

  “Well, when it’s time, we will slice up our fruit, vegetables, and hopefully meat, nice and thin. Then we’ll lay them on the screen and then place the windows over the top.”

  He pointed to where he had grabbed the screens. There were two different size windows. One had a crack.

  “We pulled those out of a house in town. It had been completely trashed, but the windows were fine. A crack isn’t going to hurt the dehydration process.”

  “That’s awesome,” she said with real excitement, her eye bright. “I can’t wait to see how it works.”

  He flashed his most charming smile, “Stick around and you can.”

  The words didn’t have the effect he was going for. Instead, her eyebrows furrowed. “I’m going to check on Caitlin.”

  Wyatt watched her walk away before turning his back to the cabin and giving himself a mental face palm. Nice one, dude.

  The rest of the day flew by. Megan had grabbed a few books from upstairs and spent the time reading to her unconscious daughter. She remembered stories about how comatose patients could sometimes hear their loved ones talking to them and she hoped that was the case. Rosie had drifted in and out to check on the girl. Occasionally she would bring in more tea and between the two of them, they slowly got it down Caitlin’s throat.

  By nightfall, Megan was tired and growing more worried about her daughter. She wasn’t waking up. Rosie promised it would happen; they just needed to have faith. Megan’s faith was quickly evaporating. She needed to do more than read stories.

  She found Rosie in the kitchen stirring a pot on the stove. There were several empty jars lined up on the counter with wicks inside, standing straight up. Megan forgot her original reason for coming to find her.

  “What are you doing?”

  Rosie smiled, “Making candles. All the little nubs and pieces from the candles we have burned are all thrown into a pot and melted down again. I even collected some broken crayons when we went through town. Now they will be colorful candles!”

  Megan watched as she poured a rainbow of melted wax into each of the jars careful to hold the wicks up as she poured.

  “There, done. Now they need to sit overnight and we will have fresh candles for tomorrow night.”

  “Wow. What will you do when you run out of wax?”

  Rosie shrugged, “Well, we do our best to conserve. Anytime we make a run into town, we collect what we can. I have an entire box full of wicks sitting on the shelf. I can keep making candles as long as we keep collecting wax.”

  “Then what?”

  Rosie shrugged, “Well, people have been making candles for hundreds of years. I have a book upstairs that explains how to use tallow or even beeswax. Eventually, we would like to get some honey bees.”

  “Seriously?” Megan couldn’t believe the ideas these people had.

  “Yep. It’s on the list of things we want to accomplish by next year. The trick is finding a colony. Then we will have plenty of bees to pollinate our garden and an endless supply of honey. Don’t even get me started on how important honey is! And of course, wax.”

  Megan blew out a breath, “Amazing. You guys have really thought this out.”

  Rosie looked up from her candle making for a moment, “Did you need something else, dear?”

  Megan had almost forgotten why she had come out in the first place.
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  “Actually, yes. I know you are doing everything you can for Caitlin, and I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but is there anything else we can do?”

  Rosie sighed, giving Megan’s arm a gentle squeeze, “Oh, sweetie. I can’t imagine how worried you must be. We can certainly try something else in the morning. There are some other plants we could try, but I don’t have them in my pantry.”

  “I’ll get them.”

  Rosie smiled. “I will make a list of some plants that may help and show you what they look like.”

  Megan had never considered herself a particularly patient person. Life had taught her that if you waited for others to help, you would be waiting a very long time. She was relieved to know that Rosie had other ideas to help Caitlin and she couldn’t wait to head out to find the plants. Being active was far easier than sitting around watching her daughter deteriorate, which she didn’t want to consider. Not now. Not ever.

  7

  Wyatt had volunteered to take Megan into the forest to search for the plants first thing in the morning. He knew the area well and had a good idea where the plants his mom wanted would be.

  Megan had told him that she would take any help she could get if it meant making her daughter better and he was all for that. Granted, Wyatt knew that meant she’d plan to leave as soon as possible; something he hoped to change.

  Wyatt was already dressed and ready to go before the sun rose and was surprised to see Megan stumble out from the bedroom dressed.

  “You ready?” he asked, smiling at her. He liked the idea of them being the only ones up.

  “Yep, let me grab my pack.”

  Wyatt had donned his own backpack. The list of plants he was supposed to get, or try to get, was in the side pocket of his cargo pants. He loved his cargo pants. It was a military thing he supposed, but the luxury of lots of pockets made it easy for him to carry all the gear he needed to survive should he become stuck in the forest. When he had first laid eyes on Megan wearing cargo pants, he was automatically impressed. The girl was smart.