EMP Lodge Series (Book 1): Dark Retreat

by Grace Hamilton

  Rosie shrugged, “Dale always took care of us and he still is. His foresight will be what keeps my grandson alive,” she said wistfully.

  “And what he created is absolutely beautiful and functional,” Megan offered, as Rosie wiped at her eyes.

  “That it is.”

  Rosie walked to one of the barrels that had a short hose connected to a spout. She opened the valve and water flowed from the hose into her pitcher. “The water in here has been boiled already. We boil water anytime we use the woodstove so we always have a decent supply. Chase is fixing the rain catchment system my husband built years ago that will go into another set of barrels.”

  Megan was very interested. She had tried to do something similar, but didn’t quite understand how to make it work.

  Rosie turned off the spout and stood. “Come, I’ll show you.”

  She put the pitcher on the lid of a barrel and walked back outside to point out the gutters connected to a downspout. Around the corner of the home, there was another row of barrels. The barrel directly under the gutter had a spout leading into the top of the lid.

  Rosie explained that when it rained or the snow melted, it went into the gutters and drained into the barrel. A screen was placed between the opening in the lid and the spout to filter out all the leaves and pine needles. Once a barrel was filled, it was moved out of the way to make room for another. Apparently, some of the gutters had holes or had been pulled away from the house because of heavy snow and Chase was fixing them all back up.

  “This is amazing. You guys have a great thing here,” Megan said, trying to hide the envy in her voice. Once she found some place to live, she was going to do something similar she decided.

  “What will really be great is when they get the plumbing working again. That is on the boys’ to do list. There is a cistern up on the hill behind the house that uses gravity to push water through the pipes. There is a catchment system on it too. Wyatt can show you all that up there. He hasn’t gotten to it yet, but he thinks the screen is plugged or something.”

  Now Megan was impressed. This family was born to survive. “Seriously?”

  Rosie chuckled, “Yep. That will be a real luxury, but for now, it isn’t our priority. The old outhouse will do just fine. At least until the weather starts getting cold again.”

  The women walked back into the kitchen. Megan was ready to get this magic tea made and her daughter better.

  Rosie explained how each of the plants would work. The Dandelion would help cleanse the kidneys and keep her organs from shutting down. The Echinacea would help boost her immune system, as would the pine needles she had brewed into a tea.

  She’d had to leave the majority of her vitamins and other homeopathic medicines behind when they left Spokane, but she wasn’t too worried because the forest provided the plants she needed to take care of her family. Like pine needles, which were full of vitamin C and a necessity during the winter and, of course, flu season.

  “Normally, I wouldn’t put all of this in one cup, but I think we need to give this girl every bit of help she can get,” Rosie said chopping up leaves and tossing them into the pan of water. “I did some checking in my books and I am stumped. I think it has to be a virus or some kind of bug that has taken hold. Hopefully, her immune system will get a boost and be able to fight back and the dandelion will help push out whatever is making her ill. We should know if it’s working after a day or so, maybe sooner.”

  Megan racked her brain and could not think of anything that her daughter could have eaten that would make her ill. As much as she wanted to believe her daughter knew better, she also knew kids were curious and didn’t always listen.

  “Are you thinking something like E. coli or dysentery?” Megan asked in shock.

  Rosie added a teaspoon of raw honey to the tea after she ran it through a strainer several times. The woman explained it would make it taste a little better and the honey was an excellent healing agent and antibacterial. If there was something nasty in there, the honey would help kill it off and the rest would push it out. Megan was at her mercy and simply took her word for it.

  Megan sat behind her daughter, propping her up while Rosie used a syringe to drop a little liquid in her daughter’s mouth. Caitlin was semi-conscious and able to swallow the tea that would hopefully save her life.

  Once half the cup was down, Rosie told Megan it was a waiting game now. It would take a couple of hours for the tea to do its work. Megan tucked her daughter in, patted Duke on the head, and wandered back out to the kitchen. She could see Wyatt and Jack outside standing over some rope, tools, and what looked like a huge, heavy roll of barbed wire.

  Megan wandered outside to get a closer look.

  “Hi, guys. What are you on the fence about?” Wyatt chuckled as Jack shook his head.

  Suddenly Chase appeared straight out of the ground and set some jars down. Megan yelped in surprise realizing there was a hole in the ground. She had walked right past it when she came through the back door yesterday.

  “Root cellar,” Wyatt said in explanation. “Everything was tucked away in the root cellar. My dad had expressed the importance of hiding their goods from the squatters and looters a long time ago. The root cellar was camouflaged by the trees and the door was painted a brownish yellow color that blended in with the surroundings. You could see it if you knew where to look, but for the person casually walking by, it didn’t stand out. When we close it back up, we make sure to kick dried leaves over the top and usually add branches if we’re were going to be gone.”

  Looking at the contents of the jars, Megan realized they were home-canned vegetables.

  It was Jack’s turn to offer an explanation. “Willow is going to make a stew with that rabbit you guys brought back. The fresh meat will be appreciated since all we’ve been eating is freeze-dried. Too bad, you couldn’t have caught a second one.”

  Megan wished the same thing. One rabbit usually fed her and Caitlin for two meals, if they were careful. Granted, she didn’t have vegetables to add to the meal

  “Did you already clean the rabbit?” Megan asked. She had forgotten all about it in her anxiousness to get the plants to Rosie.

  Wyatt shook his head, “Not yet, Jack wants to show Ryland how to do it. We’ll take care of it before we leave.”

  “I can do it,” Megan said, taking a step toward Wyatt.

  Jack and Wyatt exchanged a glance and then both looked at her in amazement. In unison they asked, “What?”

  Megan laughed, “I can clean and process the meat I get. You guys take care of your fence stuff and I will show Ryland.”

  Wyatt and Jack looked at each other again, “Sure. Thanks,” Jack replied.

  “Yes,” Wyatt blurted out. When Megan looked at him in confusion, he clarified, “In answer to your question, yes, we are building a fence.”

  “Oh, around the house?”

  Jack spoke up, “Pretty much. We need to set up a perimeter. There is no way we can fence in all fifty acres, but we can provide some additional security in the area surrounding the house. The barbed wire just makes it a little more difficult for the Average Joe to get through.”

  Megan nodded her head. “Oh, good thinking. Okay then, I’ll let you get back to it.” From everything she had seen and what Rosie had told her, it was clear that they were making their safety and security their number one priority. Megan knew she could learn much from these people but she doubted she’d be around long enough to take it all in. As soon as Caitlin was awake and ready to go, they were gone.

  9

  Wyatt watched as Megan took another look around the property before heading back inside. He hoped she saw how much they were doing to protect their people. Each of them had the same goal—to survive. He couldn’t imagine her leaving and facing what was out there all alone. He didn’t want to think about it.

  The attack on his parents and their trek to the cabin revealed just how nasty the world was. Many of the houses had been burned. There was evidence of d
eath at every corner. The bad guys were running things and the good guys were forced to hide out. She wouldn’t last long on her own. He had to make her see that.

  The guys filled the wheelbarrows they had used to cart supplies up the old service road from town. Chase was the expert in this area and had come up with a plan to make the area they were calling home a little safer. After what had been happening in towns and to their own family, no one wanted to take any chances.

  There had been a lot of discussion about the area they wanted to reinforce. Jack wanted to fence in about ten acres. His outline created a bit of a rectangle shape around the house and included a portion of the creek that ran through the property.

  While Chase agreed with Jack, they really needed to keep the area around the house the most fortified emphasizing that fencing in the garden and soon-to-be barn area was of utmost importance. Their supplies were limited and they could put in more fencing as time and supplies allowed. Having several barriers between the outside world and the house was the ultimate goal.

  For now, they were only going out about two hundred feet on three sides and using the base of the mountain as a wall on the backside. The small stream that flowed through the east corner of the property was included in the main perimeter. The water would ultimately serve as irrigation for the farm they would need to sustain them.

  Chase, Albert, Jack and Wyatt all headed out to start on the west corner. Since they didn’t have any T-posts or actual fence posts, they were going to use the trees around the property as fence poles. In some cases, they were going to have to dig down to set logs that had been cut from fallen trees, which was hard labor and required all of them pitching in.

  “Are you going to ask her to stay?” Jack asked as he stretched the barbed wire. He didn’t have to direct the question at Wyatt. They all knew he had the final say.

  Wyatt shrugged, “I think she should stay. I don’t think she wants to stay, but it is the smartest move for her.”

  Albert was busy tying some tin cans together on fishing line. “You need to think long and hard about that. You can’t trust anyone these days.” He connected the cans to another length of fishing line that ran under the barbed wire. “I don’t care if she is pretty.”

  Chase laughed, “Albert, a pretty girl is always a good thing to have around.”

  Wyatt didn’t laugh. “It isn’t like that. She is smart. She knows how to hunt and trap. I haven’t seen any of you guys bring home fresh meat.”

  Jack nodded, “There is that.” He unrolled another row of barbed wire between the trees while Chase and Wyatt wrapped the top layer at about the six-foot mark. “And she is pretty,” he added with a laugh.

  “What about Caitlin?” Wyatt asked. “Are you going to tell me any one of you would be okay sending a little girl off into this world with only her mother to look out for her?” Wyatt’s blood started to boil. He couldn’t believe any one of the men he had been living with the past couple months could be so heartless.

  Albert finally caved in. “Wyatt, this one is on you. If you think she is an asset, you go right ahead and ask her to stay but keep in mind, you don’t know her. She may be a plant. She may be with a group already and trying to see what we have.”

  “I think it is safe to say she isn’t working with anyone. She does seem kind of cranky,” Chase grinned. “They probably kicked her out.”

  That got a chuckle from all the guys. Wyatt was going to ask her to stay, but he had a feeling she wasn’t going to be too keen on the idea. He vowed to convince her otherwise.

  The men worked for several hours, pulling barbed wire tight and setting various booby traps along the way. The cans would serve as an early warning system. Intruders wouldn’t see the fishing line under the thick wire.

  If they tried to stretch the wire, it would shake the tin cans, which had pebbles in them, causing enough noise hopefully to alert them. Their goal was to create the illusion of an easy entry point. The corner that boxed in the stream was the best place to funnel anyone that was trying to get in. The clear line of sight from the house meant Wyatt’s sharpshooting skills could pick them off easily.

  While the guys worked to run more barbed wire, Wyatt thought he heard a noise. The rest of the men had moved down the line a bit and were busy stretching wire and talking about what they missed most. Since the guys were perennially hungry, most of their conversation centered around food. When Jack brought up the roasted pig he and Willow had eaten on their honeymoon in Hawaii, they shifted the conversation over to favorite barbeque restaurants and burger joints.

  Wyatt tuned out the conversation as he scanned the area and thought he saw movement through the trees. He put down the hammer he was using and quietly walked through the trees, following the stream.

  He froze the second he saw what had drawn his attention. It was Megan. She had stripped down to her underwear and bra and was taking a mini bath in what had to be very cold water. His first thought was why would she choose a cold bath after just having a warm bath yesterday, but figured she might actually like the cold water.

  He watched for a few seconds before he realized what he was doing. He quietly and quickly spun around and headed back to his work on the fence. His heart was racing. He felt bad for spying. Guilty even. But she was beautiful. It was hard not to look.

  Wyatt started back towards the guys when he felt the hairs on his neck stand up tall. He stopped moving and breathing, taking a second to focus his senses. He didn’t hear or see anything, but he felt something.

  He slowly released his breath and turned to face the woods on the other side of the stream. Straining his eyes, he watched to see if he could detect movement. Nothing. Wyatt stayed put for several minutes. He trusted his gut and knew there was something out there. What he didn’t know was whether it was friend or foe, human or animal.

  Scanning the area again, he could no longer sense anything out of place, assumed it was probably a wild animal and chalked it up to too much hard labor.

  Walking back to the guys, he thought about Megan bathing in the stream and couldn’t help grinning. If she found out that there was something worth trapping near the cabin, he would bet she’d be annoyed with him for not telling her.

  KYLE GRICE STOOD on the opposite side of the stream, deep in the woods. He had heard men’s voices and followed the sound. He had become a master at stalking prey and was confident in his ability to move through the forest without being detected by the average person.

  His journey north had been one of desperation. This apocalypse had given him the opportunity to start over. He could be anyone he wanted to be and Kyle intended to become the leader of this entire area and that meant he needed to be viewed in a certain way. As far as the people who were desperately loyal to him knew, he was a grieving widow from an upstanding family. He was a man of integrity and more than ready, willing and able to be their leader in this scary new world.

  Kyle had been making his way north from southern Oregon for the past couple months. Along the way, he had managed to acquire a completely new identity and managed to represent himself as a humble man of means with strong leadership skills.

  In reality, he was a smooth talking conman with the uncanny knack of charming wealthy women out of their money without them even realizing what was happening. He had so many different identities; it was hard to keep them all straight. When the world was turned upside down and inside out, he was given a clean slate. He could be plain old Kyle Grice, the man from Portland, Oregon, who had made a nice living working as a car salesman before opening his own dealership. That was basically true.

  It was a story he crafted and cultivated. The people he had met loved the idea of an underdog making something of himself. His story had evolved as time went on. Not only was he a wealthy businessman, but he was also a humanitarian. It helped solidify his role as a leader. People trusted him because he had been a good person before the collapse.

  Unfortunately, his plan to build an empire of survivors with him as
the leader was threatened by one little brat. A brat he planned to silence before she could tell anyone her story. He had already decided her mother needed to be taken care of as well, just in case the little girl had blabbed.

  Kyle peered through the trees and saw one of his targets. It was the mother. He had been tracking them for the past three days. She was quick considering that kid of hers had to be pretty sick or dead by now. He was hoping dead. Maybe she was. Maybe that was why the mom was out here alone.

  He heard the men’s voices again and walked through the trees, following the stream. He froze when he spotted four men. He crept closer, trying to hear what they were saying. They were talking about a woman. He could only assume the woman and child he had followed out here to the middle of nowhere had holed up with them.

  He needed to find out where they were camping. From there, he would figure out a way to get the little girl and her mom away from the men. This was a job he had to do. If any of his followers knew about Jessy McCaulin, they would abandon him or worse.

  He had worked too hard to gain their trust to lose it over something so trivial. Unfortunately, Jessy didn’t think it was quite so trivial and had questioned his actions threatening to tell the others. Kyle couldn’t allow that, not after everything he had been working towards. Shooting Jessy had been an easy decision.

  Kyle didn’t regret killing the young man. His only regret was not being more careful who was watching. While he didn’t mind getting blood on his hands, he much preferred to get someone else to do it for him.

  He thought back to the first time he experienced the high of being in control of other people. He had only been eight years old and had learned how easy it was to manipulate and control people. Money talked. People would do just about anything for money.

  The two boys who bullied Kyle every day for being poor made his life miserable. At least until Kyle had been lucky enough to stumble upon a wallet that had ten dollars in it. Back then, that was a lot of money. He had taken the money, found two of the biggest kids on the block and paid them to beat up the bullies.