by Kate Morris
Kelly looks at John, who nods with understanding.
“Can we have a few minutes?” Hardy requests, getting another nod from John.
They walk away, leaving Simon and his group to await their decision. It doesn’t take long before Melora and Hardy return with an answer.
“We’ll go, but only if we can keep our weapons. You aren’t disarming us,” she says with a stubborn raise of her chin.
“We’d never do that,” John says. “More guns and trained fighters, the better. But we will put you through the ringer and make sure you are trained the way we specify, and if you can hack it and want some responsibility in town, then you could even sign up for guard duty.”
“Awesome,” Hardy says without pause. Melora elbows him.
“And we don’t want anyone interfering with the kids. We’re in charge of them. Not you guys.”
“No, ma’am,” Kelly says. “We’ve all got enough kids of our own that we don’t need to raise yours, too.”
Hardy chuckles and says, “I don’t know about that. I could use the extra help.”
A few of the other older teens laugh, as well.
“Well, they’ll be welcome to join the school, and there are always chores in town that the kids get to help out with,” John says. “It helps them have a sense of belonging and purpose.”
“It’s run in a way that people help out and barter what they can,” Kelly explains. “If you have a skill that would help someone, then maybe they have food or firewood that they’ll share. You’re expected to take care of yourselves, but since you’re leaving this place, then they’ll help you out until you get on your feet.”
“We’ll need time to pack and gather everything,” Hardy says. “Our garden is in full bloom right now. I’d like to take as many plants as we can.”
“You can give us directions to the place, and we’ll just head there in a few days,” Melora suggests.
“Ma’am, I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself if we came back and found the same scene as we just did at the country club,” Kelly says. “We’ll help you pack. We’ll work together and get your group outta’ here.”
“Cool,” Hardy says before she can object to the offer.
They split up and work in teams helping their group, and Simon sticks by Sam since he doesn’t know any of these people. Some of them are their ages, but most are just little kids. He finds out from Hardy that Melora is his cousin, and that they are orphans. All of the children are orphans, as well, and rescued and taken in by Hardy and Melora when they found them wandering alone in cities. They have moved around a lot, too, going from one location to the next hoping for improved safety. Fort Campbell was their fifth move in the last year. They are responsible for the underage children in their care and take the job very seriously. Simon believes them to both have a lot of honor, and he respects them for what they’ve done.
It is nearly nightfall when they get on the road for home, which feels good to be doing so. They help them pile into vehicles and the back of the pick-up with him, Sam, and the woman and two children from the country club. They only had one, running vehicle, a mini-van, which is filled to the brim with children and belongings. Hardy and Melora have ATV’s, which they are also transporting two kids each on the backs of. A few of the teens have dirt bikes and are carrying kids on them. Now their only goal is to get them to Pleasant View safely in such a sizable, conspicuous caravan without being attacked by the highwaymen.
Chapter Fifteen
Reagan
Nearly two weeks have gone by since the guys brought back the people from Clarksville. Sam left the next day, which made everyone sad and Simon grouchy. John took Cory and has spied on the camps in the woods multiple times, but the people who had lived there are gone, disappeared like apparitions in the mist. They aren’t sure if the people moved because they realized that they were found or if they were killed by the highwaymen and actually weren’t a part of that group to begin with, which they’d assumed they were. Their possessions are also gone, leading them to believe that they have uprooted and left their homesteads behind because they realized they were being watched. John and Cory tracked through the woods and could not find their trail. They likely left using the main roads, but even Cory has not figured out which way they’ve gone. So, for now, they must wait and keep searching for the highwaymen. Reagan knows that soon the men are planning an ambush, but first Grandpa had insisted that he travel to Fort Knox to visit with her worthless father, even though she’d tried to persuade him not to go.
Derek, Cory, and Paige have taken her grandfather to Fort Knox, which had also pissed off Simon that she was permitted to go. However, Derek had the final say on the matter and felt that Paige would be a valuable asset to the team. Plus, she wanted to go because she was curious about the base and their daily operations. Reagan agreed that it was a good idea for her to tag along, which only further irritated Simon. He’d even volunteered to take Cory’s place, but with Grandpa leaving, Reagan needed his help with the clinic day that her grandfather would be missing. Sam and her uncle are also joining them for a combined clinic day and are bringing pregnant women again.
Lucas went with them, too, which had pissed off Gretchen, so she is in an especially bad mood. Grandpa had offered her to go with them, but her new sister had refused, which makes Reagan wonder why she didn’t at least want to see her mother. The girl definitely dislikes their father, but Reagan thought G would’ve wanted to see Lucy. Perhaps she is angry that her mother left the farm with their father.
She and Simon are working on starting files on all of the children from the Fort Campbell group, as well. Some of them were sick with a flu of some sort, and others were malnourished, underweight, and even anemic. Hardy and Melora were doing the best they could to keep their little group thriving and alive, but the children still need medical care and a more well-rounded diet. Melora told Reagan earlier today when she’d brought another sick boy in to the clinic that their diets mostly consisted of wild game, whatever vegetables they could grow, and any berries they could find. The children remind her of Paige when she’d first arrived on the farm. The McClane family has already donated crates of supplies and food, especially grains to the large home they’ve opened up for them near the clinic. Others in town have also given them things, as well as Paul and K-Dog, who brought over their own offering yesterday once their group had heard of the Campbell Kids, as everyone is now calling them.
In the hallway scribbling notes on a chart, Simon walks up to her and says, “Third kid I’ve seen this morning that had that cough.”
“Yeah, I’ve had two. It’s from whatever flu they’ve got. Hopefully, our antibiotic solution will kill it.”
“Well, getting some hot tea and nutrition into them should help, too,” Simon remarks as he makes his own notes.
“Right,” she agrees. “Did you dose a fever reducer, too?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answers.
“Make sure Sam gets weights and heights on these kids. We don’t want to forget because we won’t be able to tell six months down the road whether or not they are growing at the correct rate.”
“She is, although I don’t get the impression from Melora that they are going to stay here in town permanently.”
“We’ll see,” Reagan says with skepticism. “We lure them in with the idea of a hot plate of food and a warm place to lie their heads, then we hook ‘em for high taxes and condo association fees.”
Simon chuckles, knowing she is making a joke.
“I think they were lured in by the fact that they don’t have to worry about being murdered by the highwaymen.”
“Yeah, well that, too,” she agrees with a grin. “Back to the grindstone.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he says and turns to see another patient that Sam has shown into his exam room.
Reagan and Sam’s uncle are working alone, and she has paired Sam with Simon since they are both still learning. When they are finished treating the childre
n, they work as a team and manage to get through the long line of pregnant women.
One of the women from Dave’s town of Hendersonville is due any day now, and Reagan worries that she’ll not have medical care when it happens. Sam’s uncle and probably Sam will likely be the only ones close by to offer assistance. Reagan makes a note on her chart which she’ll convey to Dr. Scott before he leaves.
She’s also pretty sure that one woman from their town has preeclampsia, which is very dangerous. Her blood pressure is high, she’s only thirty-one weeks, and she’s complaining about pain in her back. It could all be pointing to kidney problems, high blood pressure and the typical symptoms of preeclampsia. Reagan is going to run a protein test on her in a week and see if her urine comes up positive. They may need to induce her labor soon and hope for the best. If they don’t take action, she could have seizures or even die. They will need to do a risk assessment and decide if labor induction is the right step. They’d rather lose the baby than the mother, and they don’t have the same medical science at their hands that they had access to before the fall. Saving this woman’s life will take priority over her child.
She is making her final notation for the day when a sudden cramp strikes in her lower stomach, which is as large as a beach ball. Likely it is just more false labor, but she’ll have to monitor it just to be sure. She’s only thirty-five weeks, so this is too soon for full-blown labor. Her body has become its own science experiment. Lately, she’s been craving Twinkies. It’s not even a food she ate before the fall, let alone after. Reagan doesn’t even remember the taste of one, but her body wants it. Her system seems to vacillate between the sweet, creamy goo of a Twinkie filled with artificial ingredients and preservatives enough to last through the next three apocalypses and the salty brine of pickles and whole, raw carrots from the garden, unwashed, unpeeled and sprinkled with salt. Bizarre, inexplicable cravings are a rather annoying side effect of this alien invasion.
The cramping subsides quickly, and she finishes her work before joining the other doctors in the reception room of the clinic.
“I have a few files to give you to study,” Reagan tells Scott.
He seems overwhelmed with the caseload he’s already handling at their new clinic. Sam told her that it is operational, albeit a little rustic and unfinished. She goes over two of the high-risk patient files with him, and he leaves to pack their gear into the back of a truck.
“Sue said you might come back to the farm tonight?” Reagan asks, wanting it to be true.
“We talked about it,” Sam tells her.
Reagan doesn’t miss her blue eyes shift suddenly to Simon, who looks away quickly as if he hadn’t been eavesdropping with keen interest on the topic. Reagan would like to club him over the head with her clipboard.
“To get the herbs?” Reagan inquires slyly.
“Yes, I still haven’t collected much.”
Simon interjects to add, “Well, the tornado destroyed so much. It’s a lot better now. The plants are all producing modestly. I think it would be a worthwhile trip to take some back with you.”
“Cory said he’d give you a ride home in a couple days since he has to come that way with Kelly on a scouting trip,” Reagan says.
“Oh, good. I guess just a few days wouldn’t be so bad,” Sam agrees with an unsure nod.
She leaves to speak with her uncle who is standing next to the truck talking with Dave’s men who brought them.
“Real hot, Simon,” Reagan chides.
“Excuse me?” he asks with a perplexed expression on his gentle face.
“Plants producing modestly, a worthwhile trip? Good grief, that’s hardly gonna get her in the sack,” she teases.
“Reagan, really,” he admonishes. “That’s disgusting.”
“May be disgusting, but someone out there’s thinking about all the ways he can get Sam to fall for him. As a matter of fact, I think we both even know of one for sure.”
His strong jaw tightens and flexes, the muscles of his neck straining from the effort. She knows he dislikes Henry, although John assured her that the man is decent and good-hearted and that Simon’s loathing of him is purely one of jealousy and frustration.
“And I’m not trying to seduce Samantha,” he continues. “She’s my friend, and I just care about her. And I care about her getting a good supply of herbs.”
“There you go with the sexy talk again,” she jokes and clenches her own teeth when another cramp seizes her stomach, causing the muscles to tighten.
Simon is at her side in an instant, “Are you alright? What’s going on? How far apart are they?”
“Not far apart. Not contractions. Just the usual.”
He looks at her with skepticism and narrows his blue eyes. “Are you sure?”
“I think I’d know,” she informs him as the tightening subsides.
“This is your first…”
“And last!” she corrects. “Don’t get that screwed up. First and last. Period.”
“Perhaps. But what I meant was that maybe you don’t know. I mean, you certainly know when it comes to your patients, but you don’t have practical application to apply to your own symptoms.”
“If you think I’m letting you do a pelvic exam, you are out of your freaking mind.”
He chuckles and pushes his glasses higher on his nose. “No, thanks, Dr. McClane Harrison. I’ll pass, but perhaps your grandfather can do a cervix check tomorrow when he returns.”
“If they return. This is my father we’re talking about here,” Reagan alludes. “He’s the master manipulator of the situation. He’ll probably convince Grandpa to stay a few weeks.”
“Not with Derek in charge of their trip,” Simon says pointedly.
“True. He’s not going to be in the best of moods having to take Grandpa up there in the first place.”
“I know how he feels,” Simon agrees with an angry nod and a firm set to his full mouth.
“He’ll keep his distance, Simon,” Reagan tells him, trying to thwart his worries about his sister. “Don’t worry about Cory. He’s not a total asshole, at least not most of the time.”
“Says you,” he remarks sullenly.
“You’ll have to forgive him sooner or later. We all live on the same farm and have to get along.”
“Which is exactly why I wanted to move into town with Paige,” he points out.
“Right, but she doesn’t want to, and it’s not fair to make her. She’s family now. You both are. We don’t want anyone to leave. It’s bad enough that Sam did. If you guys both move, too, we’ll be crying the blues.”
“You wouldn’t.”
She laughs and closes the front door, locking it. “No, I wouldn’t, but other people might. Or maybe they wouldn’t. What do I know? You are an annoying little shit. They might start cheering.”
“Gee, thanks. You’re a real self-esteem booster. As a matter of fact, you should write books about it.”
“I just might,” she teases as they approach Sam and her uncle.
“I’ll tell Henry you’ll be home in a few days,” Scott is saying to her as he hugs Sam.
Reagan immediately looks at Simon, who seems like a teapot ready to blow steam.
She jumps in to help the situation. She’s not John, but at least Reagan can try. “So, you’re staying?”
Sam steps back from her uncle and nods. “Yes, he said I should go to the farm to get the herbs. We need to get them transplanted into the greenhouse. It’s ready. The men have added a new section just for the herbs.”
“Oh, great!” Reagan says with way too much enthusiasm as she tries to lighten the situation and, more importantly, calm Simon’s simmering temper. “Simon, why don’t you take the truck and deliver the supplies we brought for the Campbell Kids? Maybe Sam could help since she’s staying.”
“All done, little Doc?” Kelly asks as he strolls over to them.
“Yep, you?”
They’ve been helping when they can with tornado repairs to buil
dings and homes, library repairs from the fire, and finishing the remaining sections of the town wall. It is difficult for them to find the time since summer is the busiest season on a farm, but they help where and when they can, even if it is only on clinic days. Kelly and John also conducted a meeting this afternoon in the town hall with the sheriff and his deputies. Condo Paul and K-Dog even came over for it. They are devising a plan, scheming and hatching a good one to ambush the highwaymen, beat them at their own, sick game. She hopes the situation is resolved soon. Reagan is tired of hearing about the violent murdering of people every time her family or husband returns from a trip. She just hopes the intel they’ve received on these peoples’ numbers is incorrect. There would be no way to defeat that many, especially if they are heavily equipped and armed.
“Yes, ma’am,” Kelly answers.
“Plotting and planning?” she jokes.
He nods. “Sewing and patching?”
“Pretty much,” she returns. He ruffles the curls on the top of her head before walking away. “Where the heck is John?”
“Oh, he’s coming,” Kelly says over his shoulder before rounding the corner of the clinic. She knows he’ll double check the locks again. “Saw him talking outside the courthouse with some of the people from town.”
Reagan decides to walk down to the meeting and see what’s going on. She is assailed once more with a mild contraction but is still able to walk through it. Definitely not labor. Usually, if a woman can talk through a contraction, they aren’t severe yet. She’s still walking, so it can’t be a real one. Just more Braxton Hicks getting on her nerves.
She spots her husband easily in the crowd of people gathered near the steps of the community building, and he’s answering questions about the highwaymen. She also notices a dark-haired woman in a long, flowing gypsy skirt standing so close that Reagan wonders if her arm is around the back of John. She is gazing up into his eyes with a bold and brazen longing. Her spaghetti-strap camisole top is low cut and revealing her assets. Reagan recognizes her as someone they let into their town from the former Sheriff Jay’s side of the village, a woman they’d taken pity on because she was a single mom of two small boys. The way she is looking at her husband, Reagan wonders if they shouldn’t have forced her to leave with Jay and the rest of his people, after all.
