Days of Want Series (Book 3): Turmoil
Page 22
“Rank and Lugnut,” he replied.
Beth looked around for the pair and, finally spotting them, she ran over and threw her arms around them.
“Thank you so much. I cannot tell you how much this means to me.”
Rank looked to Ryan with a smug look on his face and then smiled to Lugnut.
“I’m so glad to see you, Beth,” Ryan said, holding out his hand.
Beth swatted it away, reached out, and gave him a hug.
“Thank you for getting my kids here safely, Ryan. I…”
“I know,” Ryan said, interrupting her.
Buster suddenly took off barking again. Maddie turned and saw Roger and two women approaching them. In his arms, Roger had a dog carrier. Maddie’s eyes widened.
“What? You brought him?” She asked her mom as she took off, running toward Roger.
“Jack. Oh my God, Jack. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, buddy,” Maddie called as she ran.
“Hi, Roger,” Maddie said, kissing him on the cheek, as she took Jack from his arms.
As Maddie set Jack’s carrier on the ground to take him out, Buster ran up barking and growling. Maddie grabbed Jack out of the carrier and held him tight. Buster sniffed Jack’s butt and Jack turned and growled at him. Buster backed up and ran back over to Harmony. It appeared his bark was worse than his bite.
Maddie carried Jack back over to where everyone was gathered.
“I can’t believe you brought him,” Maddie said, unable to stop smiling.
Harmony walked over and patted Jack’s head. Buster sat on Beth’s foot, begging for attention.
“Hi, big fella,” Beth said, reaching down and rubbing him behind the ears.
“Mom, this is Harmony and her dog, Buster.”
“Hi, Harmony. I’m happy to meet you,” Beth said, pushing Buster off her foot.
“And this is Jacob,” Maddie said, suddenly feeling her face flush. “He is the Texas County Sheriff.”
Beth tilted her head and the corners of her mouth drew up slightly. She looked to Jacob and them back at Maddie.
Maddie knew that look. Beth stepped forward and extended her hand to Jacob.
“I’m pleased to meet you, Sheriff,” Beth said, a broad grin spreading across her face.
Maddie rolled her eyes and turned so Jacob wouldn’t see her blushing. She hated her mom’s sixth sense that always knew Maddie’s business even when she didn’t.
After introductions were made, everyone but Roger, Lugnut and Jacob retreated inside the cabin. As Harmony, Dawn, and Krista finished the breakfast Beth had started cooking, Maddie, Zach, Beth, and Jason all went into the living room. Beth sat in the middle of the sofa with Maddie on one side and Zach on the other. She held each of their hands in her lap. Across from her, Jason sat on the edge of the leather chair with his hand on top of Beth’s. Maddie wore a broad smile and tears streamed down her face as she listened to how her mother had fought her way home to them.
Reluctantly, Maddie gave her mother the abbreviated version of her journey out of Chicago. Jack straddled her shoulders and licked her face as they laughed about Zach preparing for the zombie apocalypse with his Darrell Dixon cross-bow and motorcycle.
“Yeah, I haven’t ridden it since my birthday. Ryan said it was too loud,” Zach complained.
“What I said was that you need to push it through the woods and only start it when you reach Slabtown Road, so no one will know you came from the cabin,” Ryan called from the kitchen.
Zach rolled his eyes.
“Same thing,” he said, his voice low.
After they ate their mid-afternoon breakfast, everyone but Beth, Jason and the kids went about doing their daily chores.
“I’ll take Mom and we can feed the animals,” Maddie said, taking her mother’s hand.
“Animals?” Beth asked.
“Ron gave…”
Maddie stopped and fought back tears.
“Ron gave us some baby chicks and kid goats. They’re in the barn. We…” Zach said.
“Ron died. I got him killed,” Maddie blurted out.
Beth’s mouth dropped open. She placed her arms around Maddie and held her tight.
“Maddie, it was not your fault. He would have gone after Mrs. Ousely and Anna, regardless of anything you did. He did what he felt was right. He was just like that,” Zach said.
Maddie shook her head and turned toward the barn.
“You want to hold the chick, Mom?” Maddie asked, changing the subject.
She knew the truth. No matter what Zach said, she knew that her impulsiveness had gotten him killed. She wouldn’t let that happen ever again. She didn’t ever want to lose anyone else.
“I’d love to see the chicks. Jason, you coming?” Beth asked over her shoulder.
“No. I’ve seen them. I think I will let the two of you spend some quality mother-daughter time.”
“You just don’t want horse poop on your loafers again,” Maddie chuckled.
Jason looked down at his feet.
“And there is that,” he laughed.
Maddie stared at her mom’s bruised and battered face. She knew she’d been through a lot more than she told them about. Maddie knew her mother had withheld the disturbing details. She’d done the same.
“So, Maddie, tell me all about the new sheriff. He’s cute, huh,” Beth said, turning to face Maddie.
“There’s nothing to tell. He’s the sheriff.”
“And he’s your age—and he’s cute.”
“He is? I hadn’t noticed,” Maddie said, trying to conceal a smile.
Beth placed the fuzzy little chick back into the box and looked around the barn.
“It finally looks like a real barn rather than a warehouse. I’d forgotten how much room there was in here. It has been so long since I’ve seen it without crates of food and supplies stacked to the rafters.”
“There are still a few crates way in the back. Mostly canned goods that won’t fit in the pantry. We found a whole crate of canned peaches,” Maddie said with a broad smile on her face.
Beth walked over to the tool bench that ran along one wall. She bent and looked under it. She picked up a milk crate of fuel stabilizer and set it to the side.
“You haven’t dug up the radios yet?” Beth asked, looking up at Maddie.
“What? No, we didn’t know where they were.”
“They should be right there,” Beth said, pointing to the spot where she removed the crate.
Maddie ran to the front of the barn, retrieved a shovel and dug around the concrete box just as Zach, Rank, Lugnut, and Ryan arrived.
“Just in time, give me a hand here,” Maddie said.
“What do you have there,” Lugnut asked, taking the shovel from Maddie.
Maddie looked at Zach.
“The radios.”
“What? I don’t remember Dad putting them there,” Zach said.
“He didn’t. I did,” Roger said as he entered the barn. “When we closed up the cabin last, we buried most of what was left in the barn. I left you a map.”
“Where? I don’t remember that,” Zach asked.
“On the back of the poster in your dad’s office with the inventory your dad kept.”
Zach tilted his head to the side then looked down at his shoes.
“I forgot.”
“Let’s get that puppy out of there and see those babies,” Rank said nudging Lugnut.
As the guys fiddled with the radios, flashlights and night vision glasses, Maddie grilled Roger on the location of the caches he had buried. She was anxious to add them to their inventory. With the growing number of people, they would need to know how much food and supplies they had before winter set in for good. Nights in late September in the Ozarks could be chilly. Before long, the cold, wet winter will make life difficult. Knowing what they had to make it through would relieve a lot of stress.
“Breaker, one-nine, good buddy of mine. This is the Bandit,” Lugnut called into the radio. “I got a
smoky in a plain white wrapper!”
“This is so much better than the duck calls,” Rank said, clipping a radio to his belt.
“Yeah, and these babies are top of the line. We’ll be able to see anything that moves with these,” Zach said, pulling a pair of night vision goggles over his head.
Roger pulled a pair of AN-PVS-7 night vision goggles from the box, and four sets of hands reached for it as he yanked his hand back. Maddie swiped it from him and held it up over her head.
“This here is mine,” Maddie chuckled.
A collective groan filled the barn.
Roger reached in and pulled out another set and clutched it to his chest.
“Not fair,” Zach said, bending over to look into the box.
He slowly reached in and pulled out his dad’s Schmidt and Bender PM II 3–12×50 sniper scope and looked up at Roger.
“Where is the rifle?” Zach asked.
“With the others. You’d know if you’d brought the map.”
“I haven’t seen the poster since we moved. I thought it went to storage with rest of the stuff from dad’s office,” Zach said, looking to his mom.
“It’s in the basement back in Clarkson Valley,” Beth said.
“I hope you remember where you buried everything, or these bozos will dig up the whole hundred acres.”
“I wouldn’t want to contribute to deforestation. How about we use this second map?” Roger said, pulling a folded piece of paper from the concrete box.
Before he had even withdrawn his hand, Lugnut had yanked the map free from his grasp and was headed for the door, Rank and Zach in tow.
As Maddie slipped on her boots and holstered her pistol, she stared down at her mother. The purple bruise on the left side of her face now had greenish edges. Maddie fought the urge to touch it. She was still in shock that her mother had really made it home. Against all odds, they had all made it, even Jason.
Six females were now occupying the cabin. Maddie had always had her own room and bathroom for that matter. She’d never shared a room, let alone with six women. She wasn’t complaining, though. She was happy to have more people to pull guard duty and help prepare for winter.
Maddie slung her rifle around to her back and poured herself a thermos of coffee. Even though her mom had made it home and they had more people on watch, Maddie still hadn’t slept well. It might have had something to do with their conversation with Todd a few days back about the prison and the military's plan to leave it unguarded.
She’d spent the night tossing and turning trying to think of how they could secure the prison. Rank and Lugnut’s suggestion, although extremely effective, would have run them afoul of the judge and the governor. It shouldn’t have been their problem. It was, after all, a state and county issue, but with over six hundred of the most dangerous criminals in the state being housed only twenty miles away from the cabin—and potentially free to just walk away within days, it wasn’t something they could ignore.
“Hey, good morning, Maddie Sue,” Roger said, startling her out of her stewing.
“Good morning, Roger. Where are you headed?” Maddie asked, pointing to the crossbow in his hand.
“I’m going to teach Zach how to hunt with this thing. Bullets are a finite commodity. We can make arrows.”
“You can?”
“Sure. This is a primitive tool used for centuries to feed people,” Roger said, holding out the arrow.
“Oh yeah, I guess you are right. I’ve just never known anyone to make their own arrows,” Maddie said, taking a biscuit from the basket on the warmer shelf above the stove. Mugsbie rushed in from the living room, sat at Maddie’s feet and stared at her food. After tearing off a piece and giving it to the dog, he trotted off back to sit with Ryan on the sofa. Maddie smelled the aroma of marijuana and wondered if Ryan was smoking for pain relief now or pleasure.
“I know a guy over near Spring Creek who makes the best arrowheads. He made me this knife out of bone. He used to make a pretty good living selling primitive handmade tools.”
“That would be someone to trade with. Ron had mentioned someone in the Amish community that he was going to speak to about trading goods for training. They’ve always sustained themselves without modern technology.”
“Yeah—I just hope we have something to barter with that they need.”
Roger sheathed his knife and adjusted the strap to the crossbow as he headed toward the back door.
“Someone should ride over there and talk to them. I bet Jacob knows who he was referring to. Maybe the two of you could go,” Roger said, winking at Maddie.
Maddie’s face flushed, and she looked over her shoulder to make sure Jacob hadn’t heard. When she turned back around, she gave Roger a dirty look.
“What?” Roger said, with a shit-eating grin across his face.
Maddie rolled her eyes and tossed a kitchen towel at him.
“You know you like him,” Roger whispered and raced out the door.
It wasn’t that riding over to visit the Amish community with Jacob was a bad idea. It was a great idea. It was that everyone was teasing her over their non-existent relationship. She didn’t have time for that shit. There was just too much to do. Someone needed to address the prisoner issue. They had to expand the cabin or build more housing structures somewhere close by. They couldn’t last all winter thirteen people and three dogs all crammed inside the cabin. She wasn’t looking forward to their first winter without electricity.
“Morning, Maddie,” Harmony said, as she opened the firebox door on the wood cook stove.
“Hey, Harmony. I think we should make a duty roster again and rotate chores. Unless you want to be stuck in the kitchen all day, every day, cooking for thirteen people,” Maddie said.
Harmony thought for a moment. A broad smile crossed her face.
“What?” Maddie asked.
“As an only child, I’ve always prayed for a big family.”
Jack growled from down the hallway, then barked. A second later, Buster came tearing into the living room and through the kitchen, whining.
“You’ll learn. He’s not a toy, Buster,” Harmony chuckled.
“Thirteen people and three dogs. I hope we can find someone who knows how to build more cabins so we can spread out before we all start barking at each other,” Maddie said.
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Also By T. L. Payne
Sudden Chaos: A Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival Short Story
Turbulent: Days of Want Series Book One
Hunted: Days of Want Series Book Two
Look for Uprising: Days of Want Series, Book Four in August 2019!
Turmoil
Days of Want Series Book Three
Copyright © T. L. Payne 2019
All Rights Reserved
Cover design by Deranged Doctor Design
Edited by Shaky Rock Publishing
Proofreading by Kristin Masbaum
This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events is purely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.
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ayne.com
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Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
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Also By T. L. Payne
About the Author
About the Author
T. L. Payne is the author of the fast-paced post apocalyptic survival series, Days of Want. T.L. writes full time from her farm in the beautiful Mark Twain National Forest in South Central Missouri.
When not writing or doing research for her next book, she enjoys hiking, camping and searching for treasure with her metal detector. You may occasionally see her chasing down wayward sheep in her pajamas and muck boots. If you do, don’t laugh. Well, maybe a little.