by Kate Morris
The McClane Apocalypse
Book Eight
Kate Morris
Ranger Publishing, Copyright 2017
Ranger Publishing
Copyright © 2017 by Ranger Publishing
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file
ISBN 13: 978-1981148448
ISBN 10: 1981148422
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the fans of the McClane series. Your letters, emails, and shout-outs on social media are encouraging and so uplifting. Thank you for supporting the series and following McClane family.
As always, please support veteran causes and companies like Black Rifle Coffee Company and Article 15. Just don’t get yourself an Article 15.
Kate
Chapter One
Paige
A week has gone by since the tornado came through and altered their lives and caused them again to rethink what safety and security truly mean. There were funerals held for the people of Hendersonville who were killed, and two unscheduled clinic days to help with the injured and infirm who were affected by the storm. The clean-up process on the farm has been a slow one as the men have had to go on runs for supplies and to help some of the people in town. There was substantial damage to numerous homes, especially the roofs. Today she is helping at their clinic and is happy to be spending some time with her friend Sam. Paige has missed her greatly since she moved away.
“It was really sad,” Sam is telling her about the funerals she attended. “I didn’t know most of them, but their families were devastated.”
“I’m sure,” Paige says with a nod as they scrub down the countertop in an exam room. She adjusts the red bandana on her head to keep her hair back. They have mostly been busy with injuries caused by the storm and then with people getting hurt handling debris during the clean-up efforts. She can’t imagine losing Simon to a damn storm after having been through so much just to get to him.
“How’s Cory doing?” Sam asks.
“Better, not slowing down, though, like the doctors have advised him to do about a hundred times.”
What she doesn’t say is that he has become a machine. He hardly sleeps, works his fingers to the bone, and stays up on watch duty every night. He pulled his stitches twice and had to be resewn back together. Herb told him that if he kept it up that the barn wasn’t going to be the only thing on the farm that resembled a patchwork quilt.
“That’s hardly a surprise,” Sam says.
“Simon’s doing well, too,” Paige offers and watches her little friend’s face fall just slightly before she recovers.
“Oh, good. That’s good. I’m glad everyone is doing well.”
“Are you two ok?” Paige asks. “It just seems…”
“Yes, fine,” she interjects. “I’ve just been so busy at Dave’s.”
“Yeah, I know,” Paige agrees. Since their clinic was destroyed entirely, leveled according to the men who went over to take a look Her uncle decided to temporarily treat patients at Henry’s farm again. Henry’s kitchen is serving as a patient exam room, but they are still going to hold joint clinic days with the McClanes in Pleasant View every other week. Her uncle had been out of his mind with worry about Sam, too, during the tornado. Paige can only imagine. Dr. Scott just got her back, so she can relate. Paige likes Sam’s uncle very much, but there is something truly sad lurking behind his guarded eyes. She doesn’t know much about him, but she would guess that he has a dark history hiding behind the brave front and professional doctor facade he puts off.
Paige suggests, “You should come over and stay for a visit.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Paige,” she says and turns her back to her, the swoosh of her black ponytail reminding Paige of Cory’s stallion’s thick tail.
“Why? It would be nice to have someone to visit with again,” Paige says. “Everyone’s so busy rebuilding the farm and running here and there trying to gather materials. They haven’t let me go on any runs with them, either. Cory says I bring him bad luck.”
Sam chuckles. “Well, he does have a point.”
Paige joins in and laughs at herself. “Reagan said if I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have any at all.”
“Probably true. Of course, I think that’s most of us now.”
“Not you,” Paige argues. “You bring good luck to the people around you. And happiness, too, Sam. Everyone loves you.”
Sam smirks as if she does not believe this.
“We could gather all the girls and have a girls’ night in like we used to.”
“That’s only because a girls’ night out is just us going out to the barn, not a nightclub,” Sam teases.
Paige laughs. “Huntley’s been missing you, too. He mopes around a lot.” Her brother does the same, but Paige isn’t going to reveal that to Samantha. He mopes, he grouses, he complains a lot, and worst of all, Simon hides from her and everyone else. He’s never around when they have a rare, free moment of time in the evenings when it’s simply too dark to continue working outside.
“I miss Huntley, too, but with the clinic being destroyed, we’re going to have to start all over again. We’re in for a long process to get another one reestablished.”
Paige shakes her head with disgust, “Any idea yet on where it’s going to be located?”
“Not sure,” Sam tells her. “Dave and Henry and my uncle have been holding a lot of meetings about it. I don’t know where it’s going to be- at the farm or in town or just another nearby house. Who knows? Problem is that the house that got demolished was the closest one to Henry’s farm. I don’t think they want my uncle and me to set up a clinic in town. Hendersonville isn’t as well-fortified as here. Plus, Uncle Scott wants to live in the new clinic in case we’re needed in the middle of the night or something. Also, I think he wants his own place again.”
“Yeah, that must be hard for both of you,” Paige says. “I mean living around so many people, strangers.”
“Sometimes,” Sam confesses. “They’ve all been so nice, though. But my uncle was staying most nights in the clinic instead of with the other men in the men’s barracks. He said he could work and study and do more research there because it was quiet. Everyone’s nice, but it’s just crowded.”
“Not the same as family, your family, the McClane family,” she unambiguously hints, earning a laugh from Sam. “You need to come for a stay. Plus, you never even got those herbs you need,” Paige reminds her.
“I think my herbs got a little wind-whipped,” Sam quips with a smile.
“No doubt,” Paige agrees. “Such a shame. Sue’s been working
so hard to get the greenhouse put back together.”
“So much work.”
“Yeah, but Simon’s been helping her,” Paige tells her and then quickly adds so as to not upset her friend, “And Cory’s been repairing the building and the roof. The roof took a hard hit.”
“Yeah, I saw,” Sam nods. “I hope they’re able to get more glass to do the repairs so that it all works the same way again. The herbs and the greenhouse are so important. Plus, it’s nice to have fresh herbs all winter long for teas and cooking.”
“You’ll have to come over and get your starts soon,” Paige reminds her.
“Maybe. We’ll see,” Sam says with a smile that doesn’t hold promise.
Sam gathers a tray of instruments that will need to be sanitized and leaves the room. Paige recognizes a blow-off when she hears one. Sam doesn’t want to visit the farm, which leaves Paige to assume it is because of her brother. He’s working at the clinic with them, too, today, but Simon’s been in other rooms with Herb. Sam has stuck mostly by her uncle’s side, but Paige has floated from room to room helping where she could.
She can’t blame her friend for extracting herself from an engagement on the farm with them, one in which she doesn’t wish to participate because Paige has been doing the same thing with Cory. She has used the best evasive maneuvers she knows to steer clear of his company lately. The way she felt about him during the tornado, huddled inside the protection of his arms was not something she ever wants to feel again. He wants more from her than she could ever give, ever allow herself to give, either. It has been one of the hardest choices she’s made in a long time. Not being around him is difficult, especially when every cell in her body wants his companionship. It wouldn’t be fair to Cory because he has made his intention known as far as where he sees their relationship going. Wedding bells are not in her future. They’re never going to be. She just tries to focus on helping out on the farm and giving him lame excuses as to why she can’t sneak away with him. For the last week, it hasn’t been too difficult because everyone’s been so busy repairing the buildings and doing farm work. Her own slippery skills in avoidance are the reason she so easily recognized Sam’s evasion.
Paige takes the bucket of cleaning supplies and stacks it on a shelf with similar items in the storage room.
“Didn’t pass out today, I see,” her brother says, startling her.
“Hey!” she scolds. “That was a one-time thing. I don’t know what was wrong with me.”
He frowns and steps closer. “Probably stress, sis. You always put a lot of pressure on yourself. You don’t have to go on runs or even work here if it bothers you. We’ve got the clinic covered. Dr. Wallace even brought a nurse with him.”
“And Sam, of course,” Paige corrects him. Her brother still refers to Sam’s uncle as Dr. Wallace instead of Dr. Scott or just Scott as the man has corrected many times. “But I think Sam’s closer to being a doctor than a nurse by now. She’s so smart.”
He doesn’t answer but nods, hangs his head, and turns away to place a tray of instruments on the counter.
“Don’t you think Sam would also make a great doctor?” she pries.
“Sure,” he says not turning around. “Of course, she would, but she doesn’t have any interest in furthering her studies and becoming a doctor. She told me she’s studying with her uncle, but that she’d much rather be doing art. She just likes helping out at the clinic. Her brain doesn’t work like that. She has a love of music and art and animals…”
“And kids,” Paige adds slyly.
“Yes, she is good with children,” Simon admits. “They all love her.”
“They aren’t the only ones,” she tells her stubborn brother.
He levels her with a look, “Sam is a good person. Of course, everyone loves her.”
“Even you?”
He scowls and turns his back to her.
Paige, not to be put off so easily, says, “She’ll have lots more practice with kids because there are so many that her uncle’s going to be giving care to once all those women give birth. Heck, maybe he’ll be taking care of Sam’s kids someday soon, too.”
This gets his attention, and he whips around to regard her keenly. “She’s a bit young for that, don’t you think?”
“No, not at all,” she says as nonchalantly as she can manage. “Lots of women are pregnant right now, many her age. What is she, twenty-one, twenty-two?”
“No, she’s just turned twenty.”
“Hm, old enough,” Paige says. “Mom had me when she was twenty-five. No matter. Maybe you’ll get to learn pediatrics with her uncle.”
“Why?”
“Reagan told me the other night that they are going to have you do an internship or residency thing with her uncle very soon. I guess they want you to go over and stay on Dave’s compound and help them out with getting a new clinic established, too.”
“We talked about that before, and I told them that I wouldn’t be any help in such matters.”
“That’s not what Reagan said two days ago to me,” she counters.
“I don’t have time to go over there and help them,” he protests as Reagan walks through the door.
“Doesn’t matter,” Reagan replies as she places a box on a shelf. “Grandpa and I talked about it. If you could go over there for a few weeks, it would help them a lot. They lost the whole clinic they just about had ready to open. Plus, you could work with Dr. Scott learning peds. He’s a great source of pediatrics study for you.”
“I can’t drop everything and go over there.”
Reagan snorts. “We can hold down the fort and afford to lose you for a few weeks. We’re suspending clinic day for the two weeks you’ll be gone. It’s more important to get their clinic ready. Dave and his group have helped us out a lot. We owe them.”
“Cory’s a lot handier than me when it comes to construction. He should go.”
Reagan is quick to say, “We talked about that, too. His going over there is a possibility. He could do construction with Henry and his men on whatever building they find to turn into a clinic, and you could work with Sam and her uncle to get the place ready. And do your internship with him, so to speak.”
Paige didn’t know Cory was going to need to leave the farm, too. She was glad the family might send her brother over to work with Sam’s uncle because she thought maybe she and Simon might be able to work out their problems. Paige knows he’d be safe there, too. However, Cory leaving is another thing altogether. She would miss seeing him every day, but it would help her with the avoiding him plan. Her heart is torn.
“You’re right,” Simon says reluctantly and with guilt. “We do owe them. Dave’s done a lot for our family, and he always sends men over to help keep watch on you guys when we’re all gone looking…uh…on a supply run.”
She knows her brother means to say looking for the highwaymen. Everyone knows that’s what they are doing when they go on runs. The tornado has placed a wrench in their search for those marauders, but she’s sure they will continue the hunt soon. Paige has to admit, she’s kind of glad they are taking a break from searching for them and are, instead, working on repairs.
“Good, then you’ll go over and help them set up a practice? Again?” Reagan adds for good measure and to lighten the mood. She knows he isn’t happy about this.
“We’ll see,” he says, leaving her to guess that he doesn’t like the idea.
Her brother and Cory went yesterday with wood signs they made from the tornado-torn barn siding and pieces of plywood lying around the farm and pounded them into the ground beside the freeway. They were painted with a warning for people to stay off the main roads and beware the highwaymen. She hopes people heed these warnings as the messages could save their lives. Dave’s men also did the same. They hit the main freeways with six signs from each of the four groups that went out. There was a plenteous supply of scrap metal and wood to make them after the tornado. Dave’s town was hit much harder than theirs, so he had even
more raw materials to make their own. Paige is now concerned that once the highwaymen spot the signs, they’ll know that people are aware of and are communicating about them. They’ll want to take retribution against the ones warning people of their dangerous existence. However, they must alert people that dangers await them on the roads. They cannot stand by and allow it to continue happening without doing something about it.
“Just go do it,” Reagan states decidedly to her brother as she is leaving the room. “Arguing with you isn’t something we have time for, Professor.”
Paige chuckles. Her friend is blunt, to say the least, and Simon does not seem to find her amusing.
“It is a good idea,” she reminds him. “They need our help. This clinic is a lifesaver for this town. Plus, if her uncle ends up being influential in their town like Doc is here, then they really need it set up soon. Sam said the devastation in Hendersonville was really bad. I feel so sorry for them.”
“Yes, we all do,” he states simply and swipes a hand through his auburn hair.
“I can help, too,” she offers, trying to lift his spirits.
“Maybe,” he says. “Not if Cory’s going, though. Then you can stay on the farm.”
“Simon,” she warns. “Stop.”
He turns and hits her with an accusing stw33ware that makes Paige feel like a jerk for her recent deceptions where Cory is concerned. She tries not to cringe. She doesn’t particularly like all the sneaking around they’ve done, but she also can’t seem to stop having those longings for him.
“Just stay away from him,” her brother says. “I don’t like the way he’s always looking at you and…”
“You have no worries there,” she lies again. “I do try to steer clear. He’s annoying.”
“Yes, he is,” Simon agrees as Sam comes into the room with them.
“Did you hear the news, Sam?” Paige asks.
