The EMP Lodge Series: Books One to Three

by Grace Hamilton

  Jack came in with a load of wood that he set down near the stove. “You ready?” he asked.

  Kyle smiled, “Sure am. I was just talking with your mom about maybe helping you guys get an aquaponics system going here.”

  That got Jack’s attention. Kyle knew he would change his attitude if he could prove his laziness was actually him being productive.

  “You will have to tell me more about that. It is something I have heard about, but never thought to attempt,” Jack said with real interest.

  Kyle stood, “It will give us something to talk about while we wait for the fish to bite.”

  Jack had produced two poles, the net Kyle had asked Wyatt for, and a tackle box.

  “We are set. I have no doubt this is going to be a successful fishing expedition,” Kyle said grabbing the tackle box and a pole. “Is there a fillet knife in here?”

  Jack looked at him in question.

  Kyle decided to check for himself. No knife.

  “Rosie, do you happen to have a sharp knife in your kitchen that we could use?”

  She nodded, “Yep. Let me grab it. Do you need one or two?”

  Jack started to say two, but Kyle quickly cut him off, “One will do fine.”

  Rosie looked at Jack. He hesitated before nodding his head.

  With that, the two men headed towards the stream where they planned to follow it down the mountain to an area where Jack’s dad used to fish. Kyle walked behind Jack who led the way. Jack stopped suddenly when he heard a noise in the trees. He turned to Kyle and motioned for him to get down. They both crouched down, but there was very little groundcover along the bed of the stream. Jack did a duck walk into the trees and Kyle followed him.

  “What is it?” Kyle hissed.

  “I heard voices. Sounded like a couple of guys. It can’t be Megan and Wyatt, they have to be miles away from here by now and Albert and Chase are on the other side of the property today,” Jack explained.

  Kyle realized the voices could very well be his men. He had told them he was going scouting and would be back in a day or two. They were probably looking for him. He couldn’t let Jack know he had his own group. Jack would tell the others and they would boot him out before he could get rid of the woman and child.

  “I didn’t hear anything.”

  Kyle was hoping to dissuade Jack from investigating.

  Jack stayed crouched for another couple of minutes. Kyle’s heart started to beat faster as he thought about what would happen if his men found him. This was turning into a disaster!

  “Hmm, maybe I was just hearing things. I don’t hear anything else. Keep your ears open though, we don’t want to surprise anyone. Could get us killed.”

  Kyle grunted a response. Jack didn’t know how right he was.

  22

  Megan and Wyatt had covered a lot of ground and he could tell she was getting frustrated. Despite hours of searching, they hadn’t found the milk thistle they needed. Every time they saw one of those prickly purple flowers, she would run to it only to discover it was the common thistle.

  He did his best to encourage her, but he knew she was losing hope. Last night, Rosie had told him Caitlin was slipping away. She was getting very little fluid in her and it wouldn’t be long before her kidneys shut down. He had been trained how to start an IV in the field, but they had yet to find a setup.

  If they couldn’t find the milk thistle, he was going to go back into town and do some searching. It would be risky, but they had little choice at this point. Anything important to Megan had become important to him and he would readily walk the twenty miles to the next larger town to raid the clinic he knew was there. Wyatt was not going to give up and he knew Megan wouldn’t either.

  Megan started walking really fast again. He walked behind, waiting for her to groan in frustration. Instead, he saw her start spinning around in circles with her hands up and shouting to the heavens.

  She must have found the milk thistle. He ran over and looked at the plant in all its glory. It was surrounded by a small group of other milk thistle plants in the gravel that ran alongside the highway. It was the most beautiful sight he had seen. When she reached out to grab it, he quickly stopped her by grabbing her hand.

  “You don’t want to get stabbed by those prickly leaves. Let me grab the scissors and the container.” He reached into his pack and pulled out the items, carefully cutting the purple flowers from the top of the plant like his mother instructed. It was the tiny brown seeds they needed. He cut them all, just in case they would need more.

  Megan scanned the area; “I think I see more!” she called out excitedly

  She darted about twenty feet away jumping up and down as she laughed. She was giddy and it was becoming contagious. He was happy for her and Caitlin. Sealing the container, he walked to where she was stood unmoving, her head hanging low.

  He gently pulled her around to face him, “What’s wrong?”

  She looked up at him and he could see tears in her eyes.

  Megan shook her head and smiled. Before he knew what she was going to do, she grabbed him and hugged him. Wyatt dropped his pack and wrapped his arms around her slim figure. They stood that way for several seconds while he relished the contact between their bodies.

  Megan pulled back, but didn’t break contact. Wyatt wasn’t going to miss his chance, he quickly kissed her. The kiss was short and sweet, but she didn’t pull away. She didn’t slap him. They looked at each other before Megan put on her all-business face and told him she had found more milk thistle. She wanted to collect it all just in case Caitlin needed more than Rosie thought. Anything left could be saved for future use.

  Wyatt did as she asked. Following along behind her, he snipped off the purple flowers in every patch she pointed out. The walk back to the cabin was done at a rapid rate with Megan setting the pace. She didn’t want to stop to eat and, more than once, she went in the wrong direction and Wyatt would gently correct her by walking in the right direction. Megan would quickly fall instep behind him, but she was in such a rush, she usually ended up getting in front of him and before he knew it, she would veer off course again. It was funny and endearing, but in a real survival situation, if she was on her own, it could be incredibly dangerous.

  “Megan,” he said softly.

  “Yeah,” she responded, slightly out of breath from her jogging pace.

  “Remember that bag I told you about?”

  She slowed her pace a little, “Yes?”

  “I know I said I wasn’t going to push and, while we would all like you to stay, I would like you to stay. I’m going to add a compass to the bag. You need to know the cabin is northwest from town. Just in case you ever want to find your way back to me, us, follow the signs to town and then use the compass to find us. If you are at the lake, we are due north from there. Okay?”

  She turned, hands on her hips, “Are you saying I am bad with navigation?”

  He started laughing. “I’m not saying you are bad at it. I’m just saying you could use a little practice. Okay, a lot of practice.”

  She tried to look mad, but she started laughing. “Okay, thank you, but like I said before, you really don’t have to do that. I’ll be okay.”

  “Just so you know, there’s also a gun in the bag.”

  When she started to argue that she didn’t need it, he held up his hand. “You never know. You need to be able to protect yourself and your daughter, Megan. This world is no joke. You know how to use it. It isn’t dangerous to carry a gun.”

  She sighed, “Fine, but I doubt I will need it. It will just be extra weight. That’s if I even need your bag.”

  Wyatt wasn’t so sure about that, but had to accept she had managed for three months on her own. He wasn’t going to give up on convincing her to stay. He knew she was going to stay for a while to let Caitlin heal, but he hoped that once she saw the benefit to them sharing the duties that kept them alive and the camaraderie in general, she would stay for good.

  “I’m thi
nking about a goat.”

  Megan stopped, turned and looked at him as if he was a goat. He realized what he said probably sounded a bit odd. He had a real knack for saying the dumbest things around her.

  “I mean, I remember Kyle said something about helping a family deliver a goat or something. I think we should see if we could barter some of what we have to get a goat. I have never actually had a goat, but imagine if we could get a dairy goat. Fresh milk. My mom could make cheese,” his voice trailed off as he thought about everything they could do with fresh milk.

  “Why not just get a cow?” Megan asked.

  “We don’t have the fencing for a cow, yet. And, a few goats would be easy enough to raise, care for and ultimately breed. I think,” he added as an afterthought.

  He was going to talk to Kyle about what it took to take care of goats and, if he knew of any in the area. He wasn’t going to tell the guy they had things they could trade for a goat, but wanted to see if he could get any leads.

  They needed to think long term. A renewable source of food and more bartering items. A goat kid could be worth some meat, veggies or even some building supplies. He imagined being able to trade cheese for eggs and other food. That sparked another idea. They needed chickens. He would have to do some scouting to see if there were any neighbors willing to trade a couple of hens.

  “You look pretty pleased with yourself,” Megan said before turning back and heading up the hill at breakneck speed.

  He laughed, “I just had a few ideas. I know Chase was talking about building those fences on one side of the property, but what if we made that into a pasture? We could have chickens and goats and, oh! We could even have pigs. Megan, come on, you have to get excited about the idea of bacon. Pork chops, steak, sausage.”

  She laughed, “Are you hungry? You seem to be pretty hung up on food.”

  He realized he was a little hungry, but the thought of a farm was her fault. He was thinking of the future. Their future. He was thinking of building a little homestead that included her and Caitlin. Having animals meant having a steady supply of food. It meant they didn’t have to rely so much on hunting and would have a fresh food source.

  His mind whirred as he thought of all the possibilities and the supplies they would need to build a shed or barn for the animals. They had a busy few months ahead of them. Wyatt hoped he could count on Megan to stick around and help.

  Kyle heard them before he saw them. He knew Jack heard the men as well. He sighed; this was not going to end well for Jack. He was already trying to think of what he was going to tell the rest of the group about how Jack died.

  “I know you heard that,” Jack whispered.

  Kyle nodded, “I did. How about you stay here and watch my line and I will go check it out.”

  Jack argued that he would check it out, but Kyle insisted. He grabbed the fillet knife that had been sitting on a rock. They had already caught quite a few small brook trout. They had done some fly fishing upstream, but moved downstream and were just letting the flies float.

  He walked upstream a bit. The voices were growing closer. He slid the handle of the knife up the sleeve of his jacket, being careful not to slice his hand open. The stream was still a bit too wide for him to cross without sinking to his waist. He waited behind a few trees prepared to motion his men away. Hopefully they would understand his hand motions and take the hint. They weren’t the brightest people in the world.

  He heard rustling through the trees. He waited and watched.

  A tap on his shoulder had him spinning around with the knife out, ready to kill whoever was behind him.

  It was Jack. Both men froze. Kyle had the knife inches from Jack’s neck. It was at that moment the voices became clear.

  “What the hell is going on?” Wyatt boomed. Kyle could hear splashing water and knew Wyatt was coming across the stream.

  Kyle looked back at Jack, “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know it was you. I heard the voices and thought someone was going to ambush me from behind.”

  He dropped the knife and Jack took a step back his eyes wide as he stared at Kyle in shock. Wyatt came up the bank and headed straight for Kyle. Jack quickly jumped between them.

  “Stop, Wyatt. It isn’t what you think.”

  “Isn’t what I think? He had a knife to your throat, Jack!” Wyatt pushed his little brother out of the way. “You want to tell me what is going on Kyle or should I just drown you right here?”

  Kyle had to think fast. There was no way he could take both of these guys—one of them alone would easily overpower him. “I didn’t know it was him!”

  He did his best to look horrified and scared at the same time.

  Jack quickly explained the situation. He told Wyatt, Kyle was checking out the noise when he snuck up behind him, startling him.

  Wyatt didn’t look convinced, but stepped away from Kyle. Megan was still on the other side of the stream and had made no attempt to follow Wyatt. It wasn’t exactly the best place to cross.

  “Did you find what you needed to cure the little girl?” Kyle asked as casually as he could. He was hoping they would say no. He’d overheard Rosie talking about the risk of the girl’s kidneys shutting down. Without the necessary medicine, she could very well die on her own, which would make things much easier even if it were taking too long.

  Wyatt nodded, “Yeah, yeah we did. We better get going. Jack, you good?”

  Jack smiled, “Yep. He tries to fillet me again I will knock him on his butt.” The words were said as a joke, but they all knew it was a message for Kyle. “We are going to fill up the buckets so we can all eat well tonight.” He picked up the knife from the ground. “Oh, and Wyatt, I want to talk to you about aquaponics. Kyle here has been filling me in on how to get a system going.”

  Wyatt didn’t look interested, “Alright, we’ll talk about it tonight. I need to get to the house.” Wyatt went back across the stream.

  Kyle watched as he bent close and quietly talked to Megan. She looked up at him once, but quickly looked away when he stared back at her. Let them gossip. He wouldn’t be around much longer, but they would certainly remember him.

  23

  Megan and Wyatt ran the rest of the way back to the cabin. Once they could see the cabin in the distance, Megan surged ahead with Wyatt close behind her. She burst through the small front door shouting, “Rosie!” Gasping for breath, she rested her hands on her knees, taking long, slow breaths to slow her heart rate down.

  Rosie had been out back but quickly appeared in the kitchen, “What’s wrong? What it is?” she asked trying to keep the terror out of her voice.

  “We got it!” Megan shouted tugging the pack off Wyatt’s shoulder and fumbling to open it. She wasn’t worried about staying quiet. If her shouting woke Caitlin up, that was even better.

  “Oh, praise God!” Rosie put down the basket of laundry and quickly grabbed a pot to fill with water as Megan still fumbled with the pack. Wyatt stilled her shaking hands and opened the backpack. Pulling out the container, he handed it to Megan who rushed it over to Rosie.

  Megan paced a steady course around the kitchen and living room waiting for Rosie to prepare the tea. She silently wished that the woman would work faster as she shook the tiny seeds onto the counter, then ground them up to add to a cup of boiling water. It took about ten minutes, but Megan swore it was hours.

  Wyatt followed the women into the room where Caitlin lay almost lifeless. Duke lifted his head a mere few inches before staggering off the bed and heading for the door. Megan noticed, but didn’t pay much attention to the dog. She was focused on her little girl. She sat behind her and propped her up so Rosie could give her the tea.

  They all stared at the girl. Rosie’s laugh broke the tension.

  “It isn’t instant. We need to give it some time to work on the liver and clean out the poison. I’m going to go finish that laundry,” she said walking out the door.

  Megan cradled her daughter, quietly humming a tune and pleading with her t
o open her eyes.

  “Wyatt!” Rosie called with alarm in her voice. “Wyatt, you better come take a look at Duke.”

  Megan met Wyatt’s eyes. The alarm in Rosie’s voice put her on edge. She pulled Caitlin a little closer to protect her from whatever it was that scared Rosie.

  “I’ll check back with you two in a bit,” Wyatt told her, giving Caitlin’s head a gentle pat. “Holler if you need us.”

  Megan nodded and watched him leave. She prayed her daughter would wake up soon. Rosie had warned her that giving too much of the milk thistle could actually make her daughter sicker. If this didn’t work, she didn’t know what else to do but she would be damned if she let her daughter die.

  It was so painfully obvious that Caitlin was slipping away. Her mother’s instinct was screaming at her to fix her baby. She was trying, she just didn’t know how. Megan was so grateful for the help of the others; their friendship and simply being there had helped to get her through the past few days. Without them, she imagined she wouldn’t even be functioning at this point.

  Wyatt bent down and rubbed Duke’s head. The dog was seriously ill and he couldn’t figure out why. The poor guy had barely made it out back before he began vomiting.

  Duke laid down and groaned.

  “Stay here, buddy, I’ll get you some water,” Wyatt told him, standing up to go get his bowl.

  Wyatt had no idea what could have happened. Duke had been fine up until about a week ago when he first became listless. Kyle said he couldn’t see anything wrong with him but something wasn’t right. Duke had stopped eating altogether and now was vomiting. He looked around, hoping Ryland wouldn’t see his dog in such bad shape.