EMP Lodge Series (Book 1): Dark Retreat

by Grace Hamilton

  Megan could understand that. Hugging her legs, she tried to shift. Her butt was frozen and it was making her cold enough to start shivering.

  She looked over at Wyatt; he didn’t appear to be cold at all. It was then she noticed he was sitting on a pile of pine needles.

  He noticed her looking at him, “What?”

  “Aren’t you cold?”

  Shaking his head, he pointed to his seat, “You never sit directly on the ground,” he told her, if not a little arrogantly.

  Megan growled, “You could have said that.”

  He shrugged his shoulders, “You’re the expert hunter. I thought you would know that very basic rule. The ground will zap your heat. It’s like sitting on a block of ice.”

  “Whatever,” she said standing up. “There’s nothing happening here. Let’s do some more scouting.”

  He grinned, “What you really mean is your butt is frozen and you need to thaw out a bit.”

  “Yes, Wyatt. I’m cold. I’m sorry for scolding you earlier. You got me back, now let’s do this.”

  His grin almost made her laugh, but she remembered they were trying to be stealthy and she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

  Wyatt stopped and pointed to a spruce tree on a hill. It appeared to be the only one in the area filled with pine trees.

  “Megan?” He said her name in such a serious, somber voice, it made her stop moving and pay attention.

  “Yeah?”

  “I know you still want to leave after Caitlin’s better. I get that. Know that we do want you to stick around. I want you to stay.” He looked a little awkward, “I like your company, you have a lot to offer the group and it truly would be safer for you and your daughter. However, if you do leave and find you run into trouble, come to that tree. I will leave a bag with some supplies in it, just in case.”

  Megan wanted to say don’t worry about it, but if she were to go out on her own again, a bag of supplies in an emergency could save the life of her child. She couldn’t turn down his offer.

  “Thank you, Wyatt. I really appreciate that. Truly.”

  There was a comfortable silence as they tracked and meandered about the mountain, looking for signs of deer. The occasional hoots of an owl and birds singing made her feel at peace. She loved being in the woods. Being in the woods with Wyatt was even better. She appreciated his strong presence and really thought they could become good friends or even something more given time.

  As the sun got higher in the sky and the hour grew later, Megan gave up hope of taking a deer.

  “Well, we won’t be eating steaks tonight, but we can check those traps and look around for more game trails,” she told him, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

  Wyatt had packed along the traps he had told her about the day before along with more snare wire. She was hesitant to use the massive traps that could easily snap off a human leg, but she understood the importance of stocking their pantry. Whatever they could get would ensure the group was fed another day. They may not get a big animal, but many little ones were better than nothing, he told her.

  She agreed. They stayed busy setting traps and scouting for signs of wildlife. They worked together as if they had been doing this very thing for years. She showed him how to set the traps and conceal them with leaves and branches. Megan felt like she had just provided a ton of information about hunting, tracking and trapping. She was glad to see that Wyatt didn’t appear overwhelmed or bored. He was absorbing it all and listening to every word.

  Megan couldn’t help but feel a kinship with the man she barely knew. Wyatt was an excellent learner and a great teacher. While hunting was her area of expertise, navigation was not her strong suit. She was embarrassed to admit she had always relied on her GPS on her excursions out. Wyatt could be standing anywhere and know exactly which way was north and he could measure distance with his eyes. He was her own personal navigation system and she loved it.

  His presence gave her confidence. Megan had to admit, being around Wyatt was a double-edged sword. His comfort and security was addicting. It wasn’t something Megan wanted to get too dependent on.

  She had been there, done that with Derick and that had turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Her life had revolved around her ex-husband. She depended on him and when he broke her heart and left her, it nearly killed her.

  Right then, she’d vowed never to trust or depend on another human being as long as she lived. They were unreliable. It seemed to be a pattern in her life. Megan wasn’t going to let it happen again and decided if she only relied on herself, she wouldn’t be disappointed or hurt by others. Her bruised and battered heart couldn’t take any more letdowns.

  “You okay?” Wyatt asked looking at her with concern.

  Megan was embarrassed. Her little trip down memory lane had produced a few tears. She hated when that happened. Old hurts that never fully healed could sneak up on her at any time. It really irked her.

  She shook her head, “Yes, sorry, was just thinking.”

  Wyatt didn’t look completely reassured, but didn’t press her.

  “You about ready to head back?” he asked.

  She looked around, “Yeah. I need to get to that school. So, I’ll check on Caitlin and then head out.”

  “I’ll go with you,” he told her.

  Megan sighed, “No, thanks. I’ll be fine.”

  Wyatt laughed, “Do you know where it is?”

  That made her pause for a moment, “Basically.” She was trying not to be offended by his suggestion she would get lost. She wasn’t that incapable. “I can follow a map. If you could sketch out a general idea, I’ll be fine.”

  Wyatt didn’t say anything leaving her with the feeling he was still going with her. She couldn’t be mad. Megan saw the way he was with his family. The need to protect those closest to him seemed to be ingrained in him and a part of her was touched that he felt the same way about her.

  14

  Wyatt wasn’t going to let Megan head off alone. The woman didn’t understand the safety in numbers motto. He was going to have to work on driving that point home. For now, he would settle to learn a little more about who she was before everything went south.

  When he asked her about her life before, she seemed hesitant at first to open up. He promised her he wasn’t asking for her deepest darkest secrets. When she said she had worked as a paralegal, he was impressed. She seemed so outdoorsy, he couldn’t imagine her in pumps and business suits, but the look did appeal to him.

  “You?” she asked interrupting his vision of her wearing a pencil skirt and killer heels with her thick black hair up in a messy bun. He knew it wasn’t practical, but a guy could dream.

  “Oh, well, I joined the Navy right out of high school became a SEAL and got out after ten years. I worked SWAT in Chicago for five years and moved back home about a year ago.”

  He had seen more death and bad human behavior than he cared to and wanted to have some peace. “Chase and I were in the Navy together but he got out after only four years and opened a security company. When I came back to Washington, I went to work for him.”

  Megan nodded and looked intrigued. “That’s a pretty impressive resume,” she told him. He could hear the admiration in her voice, which of course made him puff his chest out just a little more.

  They talked more about what their normal day was like before everything went dark. It was enlightening and helped make her more of a person than the woman he found sleeping in his bed a few days ago. She was smart, pretty, athletic, and most of all, humble.

  “Was it hard leaving?” Megan asked.

  He knew she was talking about their trek from Spokane.

  “Losing my dad was the worst thing that had ever happened to me, which is saying much considering how much death and violence I’ve seen in my life. The world has become incredibly dangerous and it’s important that we band together to survive. More so since we don’t have much needed lifesaving medical inte
rventions anymore.” Wyatt paused. He had almost mentioned Caitlin but thought better of it. He wanted her to stay, not to push her away.

  Megan pursed her lips and he could see her shoulders tightening, so he quickly changed the subject.

  “What’s the one thing you miss that will tell me something about you that I couldn’t guess?” he asked her hoping to distract her from what looked like thoughts of leaving again.

  When she mentioned that she missed watching baseball, he knew at that moment that they were meant to be together. He loved baseball. She revealed she was a huge fan of the Mariners and always had been, even through their not-so-good years. Wyatt had always been a fan and had made it a goal to get over to Seattle to see their games whenever he was home.

  “Why baseball?” he asked out of curiosity. He couldn’t see her watching a game in the stands with peanuts and beer in hand. He wondered if it was her husband that got her into the game. She didn’t wear a ring, but it was hard to ask a woman about her relationship status.

  She shrugged, “I’ve always loved baseball. Of course, me being a girl and all, I had to play softball throughout junior high. I quit when I was a sophomore and decided to change to swimming. I still played a little ball though. In fact, you are looking at the top hitter in the district.” She said the last with a big cheesy smile, causing him to laugh.

  “Swimming, huh? Once the weather warms up, I’ll have to take you down to the lake and see how good you are.” He paused, gave her a crooked grin, “I was Navy. I bet I can beat you across the lake.”

  She laughed, “You’re on, but I want to put out a small disclaimer; I haven’t done any real swimming in years.”

  When she looked wistful, Wyatt decided to jump in. All in. He needed to know. “So, are you or were you married? Attached?”

  He knew instantly it was a sore spot.

  She rolled her eyes, “I was married and attached. Unfortunately, Derick was not.”

  Wyatt knew what that meant. Her husband was a cheater. “What an idiot.” The words came out before he knew it. He had meant to keep that to himself.

  Megan raised an eyebrow, “I’m going to assume you were talking about him and not me. Although, the term applies to both of us. I should have known and he should have known better.”

  She turned to take in the view from the small hill they had climbed. “It’s all in the past. I got Caitlin out of the deal and learned to be more independent. I lost myself when I was with him. I didn’t work. I didn’t do anything. He was my everything and I was his nothing. It was a huge mistake, but it taught me a lot.”

  Wyatt hated Derick. The guy he’d never met conjured up intense feelings of rage within him. He had hurt this beautiful woman who seemed nothing short of perfect to him. His natural instinct was to protect her. To heal her heart.

  “I’m sorry,” was all he could say. Megan turned her head to look at him giving him a sad smile. If he hadn’t seen her lips move he wouldn’t have heard her whispered thank you.

  He didn’t know what else to say and he truly was sorry she had to go through that. “You ready to head back?” They had been walking for about thirty minutes, not really going anywhere. They were simply enjoying the beautiful day and the company. It felt good to talk about something other than their current reality.

  Megan nodded, “Yep. I want to check on Caitlin and then get to that school.”

  On the way back to the cabin, Wyatt asked her how she had managed these past couple months. She explained how she had stayed home. When her neighbors started to disappear, she had locked the doors and stayed inside most of the time, only making trips outside to her backyard to use the toilet. When she told him about a group of men that had torn through her neighborhood, demanding allegiance, he suspected they might be the same group that had killed his father.

  He was amazed that she had managed to flee and live on the run for so long with a little girl to care for. The woman had a fighting spirit, which he suspected was driven by her instinct to protect her daughter. She wasn’t some wilting flower. Even with her limited survival skills, she had managed to keep going.

  “Can I teach you some basics about wilderness survival? Maybe some self-defense moves as well?” Wyatt asked. He didn’t want to pressure her into doing something she didn’t want to but if she ended up leaving, he wanted to make sure she could take care of herself.

  He had made sure everyone in his group knew how to build an emergency shelter from branches; how to start a fire by creating a fire bow using a long stick with paracord attached, another stick as a spindle and flat branch of piece of bark as the fireboard; and the basics of water purification. He wanted to make sure they could survive on their own should they ever be lost or separated from the group.

  Megan perked up, “That would be amazing!” she said with a great deal of enthusiasm. “I would really appreciate it. You never know how much you don’t know until you are trying to survive.”

  She stopped walking. “I’ve been lucky that no one has tried to hurt us. Thankfully, most people have left us alone.”

  Wyatt stuck out his hand, “You show me more about hunting and trapping and I will show you survival skills.” When she shook his hand, he added, “No freeloaders,” and gave her a teasing smile.

  “You would all be vegetarians without me,” she quipped.

  “You’re probably right,” Wyatt laughed. “But, we do need to give you some basic self-defense skills in case someone decides they want to take that deer you shot or wants to make you his new wife—whether you like it or not.”

  He meant to keep it light, but he was very serious. This was no place for a beautiful woman to be alone and unprotected. His dad was a very capable man and he hadn’t been able to survive an encounter with the people who wanted his food.

  “I know. My dad always told me it was better to get away than to fight an attacker,” Megan explained. “His trick was a good, swift kick to the groin and then run like hell.”

  Wyatt flinched, causing her to laugh. “Maybe I can just tell the attacker what I am going to do and that will be enough.”

  “Definitely won’t be enough, but you are on the right track. This is something I have learned.” He stepped closer to her. “Let’s say you are attacking me. You have about three seconds to take action. Never think about what you are going to do. Just do it. Ready?”

  She nodded. He could tell she was a little nervous.

  “If an attacker grabs you from behind, don’t try to pull away. Chances are the person will be stronger than you are and ready for you. First thing you want to do is lift your leg to stomp on their foot but when you do, make sure you drag your heel down the front of the shin and then land as hard as you can on the top of their foot. Not their toes as some people might be wearing steel-toed boots. On the foot itself. If you have a hard heel, twist your foot as you grind down for better impact. If you stomped on them hard enough, they should release you or loosen their hold enough that you can turn around. At that point, you want to give a swift knee to the groin. Your attacker is going to automatically hunch forward. So tap that foot down, get some speed and use both hands to grab the attacker’s head while, bringing your knee back up.” He demonstrated the motion. “See?”

  “Oh my! That looks painful,” she cried as he pretended to drive his knee into an invisible person.

  “Come on, let’s practice.” Holding his hand out, Wyatt had Megan come closer to practice the moves with him. “Now, in case you need to deliver a killing blow, after you kick them in the groin, instead of trying to break their nose with your knee, you’re going to use the palm of your hand.” Wyatt demonstrated how to slam the palm into the nose with the intent of breaking it and then, follow up with a forward thrust but, instead of throwing a punch, his fingers were curled against his open palm and pointing toward the sky. “If you hit them hard enough, you can cause bone shards to enter the brain through the sinuses causing a kill shot and, if for some reason you can’t, jab your fingers into the per
son’s eyes to temporarily blind them.”

  She looked horrified. “I don’t think I could do that,” she said honestly.

  “I understand it seems harsh and a little over the top, but your life depends on you getting away. You need to disable your attacker as long as possible. A bleeding nose, watering eyes and breathless from the first blow will give you at least ten seconds, hopefully more.” His voice had deepened as he talked and he watched her with an intensity he hadn’t felt since his years on the Chicago police force. He was definitely all business as he made her practice the steps with him over and over until it felt almost like a dance.

  Breathless, she stopped to take several deep breaths. “I get it. I hope I never have to do anything like that though.”

  “That’s enough for now, but I will show you more moves that you can do to protect yourself. Your dad was right; always get away if you can. Going hand-to-hand is never the best option. You will get hurt, even if you do win. If you are in a true wilderness survival situation, the smallest cut or injury could become life threatening. Hurt the bad guy and get away. Period. Whatever you do, don’t stop to see how much damage you may have done. Just go,” he reiterated.

  “Got it. I promise I will run as fast as my legs can carry me if I ever meet a bad guy in a dark alley.”

  She was teasing him, which was fine, but he truly hoped she understood how serious the matter was. Her life could end up depending on it.

  Megan pulled out her water bottle, only to discover it was empty. Wyatt saw her sigh and put it back in her pack.

  “How about we start right now?” When she looked at him in confusion, he explained, “I am going to show you how to use that water bottle to make a water filter. Then you can drink the water from the stream.”