EMP Lodge Series (Book 1): Dark Retreat

by Grace Hamilton

  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 these 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 bo
x. 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.

  “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.

  They both walked to the bedroom where Caitlin slept and Megan had just vacated. Duke was still on the bed, snuggling close to his new friend. Megan reached under the bed to grab her backpack. He knew the instant she discovered his secret when a can of corn rolled out from under the bed. The strap of her backpack must have been hung up on it.

  She raised an eyebrow in question.

  “You caught me. I like to sneak canned corn.”

  She looked perplexed as she quirked an eyebrow up waiting for him to continue.

  “I hide food under the bed.” Beds really, but he wasn’t going to tell her all of his secrets. Under the beds, in the false floorboards and even in that wood coffee table upstairs. Half the books on the shelves were there to hide the food and other supplies tucked behind them.

  “When people are scavenging for food, they don’t typically look under the beds.” He shrugged his shoulders and grinned, “You didn’t.”

  She pushed the corn back under the bed. “You’re right, I didn’t. But I will from now on.” Wyatt could have sworn he saw the hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She turned to walk out of the bedroom, “I won’t steal your corn, though.”

  Once Megan donned her pack, they headed out, with Wyatt leading the way. At first, Wyatt thought he should take it slow. The woman had a rough trip up here a short two days ago and he didn’t want to push her. They moved deeper into the forest in relative silence. He thought about making small talk, but other than the weather, he didn’t know what to say.


  He froze when he heard Megan quietly shush him. Wyatt went on alert. She must have seen someone. He turned back to see her standing stalk still, looking off to the left. He followed her line of sight, but saw nothing.

  “Rabbit,” she mouthed.

  Wyatt raised his eyebrows. The woman was afraid of a rabbit?

  Megan rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. “Stay,” she told him. He felt like a dog.

  He watched with curiosity as she reached for the knife she had sheathed at her hip. This was going a little too far. He moved towards her. The rabbit she had been watching bolted and ran between them.

  “I told you to stay put,” she growled.

  “What were you going to do to the thing? Spear it with your knife?”

  Megan rolled her eyes again. She stomped into the area the rabbit had been, looking at the ground the entire time. She picked up a fallen tree branch and snapped it in two. Wyatt watched with rapt interest as she propped up a heavy rock on the branch. He knew what she was doing; setting a deadfall trap.

  He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. She quickly tore up some green leaves and pushed them to the back of the V the rock made against the ground. She walked around the area, making several more traps.

  “Wow,” he said for lack of a better word.

  She looked at him with irritation, “I probably could have speared him, just so you know. It wasn’t my intention, but sometimes you can get close enough. You never pass up an opportunity for a meal. My dad taught me that.”

  Wyatt couldn’t hide the surprise. “Did you hunt with your dad a lot?”

  She nodded. He noticed the wistful look on her face and instantly regretted bringing up something that probably brought her pain. Maybe her dad had been with her in the beginning as well.