EMP Lodge Series Box Set | Books 1-6

by Hamilton, Grace

  Megan was instantly intrigued. She had of course heard of herbal remedies, but to be honest, in a world where modern medicine was five minutes or a phone call away, she’d never taken the time to learn about it. Thank God, this woman did.

  Rosie walked to the door, holding it open, waiting for Megan to follow.

  Megan took a second to give Caitlin a kiss on the forehead. “Mommy will be right back, sweetie. I’m going to get you some medicine and we will get you all better soon.”

  She followed Rosie into the kitchen to find the men were in a heated discussion and it was obvious they were talking about her.

  “She isn’t going anywhere,” she heard Wyatt say. She assumed he was the leader of the merry band of misfits judging by the way the others seemed to listen to him.

  The old guy, Albert, she remembered, chimed in. “They all look sweet and innocent. You don’t know her. She could be here to scout out what we have. Best to send her on her way.”

  The younger brother stood there shaking his head. “I don’t know, Wyatt. We don’t have enough food for us let alone two more mouths to feed.”

  Rosie cleared her throat. “Jack, can you have Willow and Ryland come in here.” She paused and looked at each of the men, making eye contact. “Megan and Caitlin are our guests and you will treat them as such.” The look was one that left no room for argument. Megan herself had used a look like that on a number of occasions with her own daughter. Granted, her daughter was seven, these two appeared to be in their thirties. Under different circumstances, she probably would’ve laughed at how effectively Rosie brought them under her control. Evidently, even as adults, they still listened to mom.

  Chase was the first to look away. Wyatt slapped him on the back. “She always gets you with that look, man.” Wyatt laughed, but stopped the second Rosie put a hand on her hip.

  The older woman looked at the man standing next to Wyatt. “Chase Jackson, I’ve known you since you were five and I know you’re a good man. Act like it,” she said firmly.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Chase glared at Wyatt before stalking out the broken back door.

  “Mom, are you sure about this?” Jack questioned.

  The answer was another stern look that told him she wasn’t going to argue. Jack turned and quietly headed for the stairs. Megan could hear voices coming from up there and hoped it was only his wife and child. She was already uncomfortable being so outnumbered.

  Albert spoke up. “You watch your back, Rosie.” He glared at Megan. “It don’t matter how young and pretty they are. You can’t trust anyone these days.”

  Megan had enough. “Look here, old man, I don’t trust you. Maybe you’re the one people should be worried about. You stay away from me and my daughter and we’ll stay out of your way. We stopped to rest and look for medicine. So you needn’t worry, we’ll be gone as soon as I can get her out of bed.”

  The tall, obscenely handsome Wyatt grinned, revealing a set of straight white teeth. His gleaming smile against his tanned face with a dark five o’clock shadow would’ve probably landed him on the cover of a magazine in the old days.

  He was gorgeous. Dark hair cut short with steely blue eyes. He must have some Irish in him, she mused. His mom had a full head of strawberry blonde hair, which meant he got his looks from his dad. The younger brother, Jack, favored his mother with light blonde hair, which was a stark contrast to his older brother.

  He had to be at least six feet tall and had clearly been in excellent physical shape before the collapse. He was hard all over. His shirt stretched over a broad chest and what could only be described as a washboard stomach. Oh, this guy was a lady killer she decided. Megan vowed right then to keep her distance.

  He stepped around the center island in the kitchen. “I’m Wyatt Morris. I’m truly sorry for earlier. I’m sure you know what it’s like out there. You can’t be too careful.”

  Megan shook his extended hand. “Megan,” she said flatly. “It’s fine. I don’t particularly care to have guns pointed at me or my child if you could remind your buddies of that, we will get along fine.”

  He laughed. “Got it. To be fair, you did break into our house. And you were sleeping in my bed.” He quickly added. “I don’t mind, but it was a little alarming. It isn’t like we get a lot of drop-by visitors up here.”

  She glared at him.

  “Wyatt that is enough. Use your manners, young man.” Rosie had opened a cupboard and grabbed the jars of what looked like dried weeds that Megan had found earlier. “Get some coffee made, would you please. Make extra, I think we could all use an extra cup this morning.”

  Megan watched as Wyatt walked out the door she’d busted open last night. Before he did his mother’s bidding, he’d given her one last look. It was a little unsettling. She hadn’t been looked at with what she could only call interest in a long time. She shook off the sensation and turned her focus back to Rosie.

  In a lowered voice, Rosie asked Megan if she needed to take care of any calls of nature. Megan couldn’t help but blush. The luxury of indoor plumbing was a distant memory. She’d become very adept at taking care of things outside. Around here, that could be very awkward with so many people roaming about.

  Rosie grabbed her hand. “Follow me.”

  Megan hesitated. She was long past the need to go to the bathroom in a herd. Those days were long behind her and she didn’t want to make it a habit again; especially with a complete stranger.

  Rosie smiled. “We have the next best thing to indoor plumbing.”

  They walked outside and about fifty feet away from the back corner of the cabin was a miniature version of the cabin, tall peak and all. In the center of the peak there was a half-moon cut from glass. The universal signal for an outhouse. The trees around the outhouse provided some privacy and seclusion.

  “Everything you need is out there. My husband built that when he was building the cabin. He said a man could sleep under the stars, but certain business needed to be taken care of under a roof,” Rosie said with a gentle laugh.

  Megan thought she detected a catch in her voice as Rosie talked but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why someone would be emotional about an outhouse even if it were a mini replica of their home.

  Rosie went on to explain that the outhouse was fine for spring and summer, but once the snow really started to fall, they would have to resort to a composting toilet in the house. Megan hadn’t even realized the toilet in the bathroom on the ground floor wasn’t an actual toilet.

  She listened as Rosie explained how they collected the sawdust and pine shavings when they cut the wood to build the cabin. They had also loaded up on sawdust that her husband had gotten free. When Megan involuntarily grimaced at the idea, Rosie quickly assured her it wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it was better. She never had to clean the toilet!

  A composting toilet sounded a little icky, but Megan was sure it would be better than trying to use the outhouse in frigid temperatures. Rosie assured her there was no smell and no one saw anyone’s business.

  Now that Rosie had mentioned it, Megan realized she definitely needed to visit the outhouse or as the older woman called it, the privy. Megan was ecstatic to see the place was equipped with a small sink, soap and of course, toilet paper. There was a jug of water sitting on the floor that she assumed was for washing hands.

  Never again would she take a toilet for granted.

  She washed up and headed back inside. Rosie grabbed a pencil and a little notebook from a drawer and walked around the island to one of the stools.

  “You’ll have to forgive the crankiness around here this morning. We were out scavenging for supplies yesterday and couldn’t make it back before dark and we were forced to spend the night in the woods. Even though the snow has cleared, as you know, it’s still cold at night. I was never one for camping much preferring the coziness of a cabin with a warm bed and a fireplace and I know Willow feels the same. I suspect my grandson is the only one truly enjoys himself when we have to
sleep outside,” Rosie explained as she sat down. “Have a seat. Let’s go over what happened.”

  Megan pulled out a stool, leaving one stool in between them. She was keeping her guard up and wanted some distance between herself and the people she wasn’t quite sure about yet.

  She explained how Caitlin had been fine. She’d been healthy and her usual bubbly self while they headed north. They’d been managing okay, living off the supplies they had. Megan had done a little trapping, her specialty, each day and cooked some kind of meat each night. Since they were coming out of winter, there’d been plenty of snow and rain to catch and purify for drinking. Caitlin knew to stay close and never wander off.

  Megan thought back to the day her daughter had first gotten sick. Caitlin had come to Megan, who’d been skinning a rabbit she’d trapped and asked for a drink. She drank an entire bottle of water and asked for another. At the time, Megan had assumed she’d been playing hard since there were some children where they were camping and it’d always been so easy for her daughter to make friends. Megan realized she’d been focused on her task at the time and Caitlin had been quiet. Did she wander away from camp?

  Rosie nodded her head. “Does she go out wandering, maybe picking berries or what not?”

  “No, she knows better than that,” Megan replied confidently. “She’s a picky eater and I don’t see her eating anything she doesn’t know.”

  “Did she vomit? Have diarrhea? Cough?” Rosie asked in a very clinical manner. “Does she have any cuts anywhere that could’ve gotten infected? Did she happen to have a cold or anything before the symptoms started.”

  Megan took a second to think back. “That night she said she felt icky and vomited a few times. I don’t think she had any diarrhea. And she hasn’t been sick and no cuts.”

  Rosie nodded and wrote in her little notebook. “Fever? Just acting off in general?”

  “Actually, she did start to act very strange. Like she was drunk, really. She didn’t have a fever until about half way through the day yesterday.”

  Megan explained how Caitlin had been walking, albeit slowly, for the first part of their trip up here, but then became so lethargic and weak, she collapsed. “I assumed she was dehydrated. I tried to get her to drink water, but she fell asleep and I haven’t been able to wake her since.” The hitch in her voice was involuntary.

  Rosie reached out to rub her back as Megan fought back tears. Talking about her daughter’s sudden, unexplained illness made it all too real.

  Megan waited and watched as Rosie made notes and occasionally stopped to stare at the page for a few seconds in deep thought. “Could she have eaten undercooked meat or maybe something bad in general?”

  Megan shrugged. “I don’t think so. I do a lot of hunting and trapping, but I always cook the meat really well. We’d been living off the food I had in the pantry before we left. It wasn’t much, but I don’t think any of it was bad.” She paused. “I haven’t been sick.”

  Wyatt had walked in and was listening to the story. Megan met his eyes and she saw warmth and comfort. She was sure he was a good guy, but one could never be too careful. Ever since her husband had cheated on her and left her for another woman, Megan had pulled back from society in general and most definitely men.

  That was more than two years ago. She didn’t trust her own instincts anymore. No way did she want to feel that kind of pain and loss again and chose to focus on her daughter rather than finding more heartbreak.

  “Okay, now we have somewhere to start,” Rosie said getting back to business.

  Wyatt broke eye contact and bent down to the propane stove. He turned on a burner and used a match to ignite the stove. Megan watched. She wished her house had propane. She’d been heating water over a fire in a pit she’d made after the collapse. Starting a fire in the rain hadn’t been fun. The EMP had happened in the middle of winter, which made going outdoors to start a fire miserable. Propane would’ve saved her a lot of trouble and could’ve helped keep them warm.

  This house and all its amenities seemed very normal. Wyatt set a full percolating coffee pot on the burner and turned back to the women. The coffee had been in a jar, shoved behind all of the cans of spoiled food. Megan realized it was back there for a reason. They’d hid it on purpose, in case someone like her broke in.

  “I’m going to start with a bit of Feverfew tea,” Rosie explained, picking up one of her jars. “This is going to break the fever and hopefully make her feel a little better in general. I would like to talk to her about what she may have eaten or what she’s feeling. I’ve found that simply breaking the fever can help kids feel good enough to start getting the fluids they need to get better.”

  Megan raised an eyebrow in question when she saw the jar full of what appeared to be dried grass and weeds.

  “With that range of symptoms, it could be food poisoning, especially if there weren’t any other symptoms like the standard sore throat, sniffles or a cough,” Rosie continued.

  Megan shook her head. “I hope not. I’m always very careful and usually char the meat to make sure it’s safe.”

  Rosie nodded. “Hon, not that kind of food poisoning. It could’ve been something like her picking up a rock or playing in the dirt and the germs found their way into her system. You know kids. They can pick up germs in a heartbeat.” As she talked, Rosie smiled, glancing over at Wyatt. “You said you’d been camping out, which means you were around wild animals that carry all sorts of fun diseases.”

  There was a noise behind them and Megan spun around on the stool. A woman and child were walking down the stairs. Beside the boy stood a very large, intimidating dog. The woman was average looking. Brown hair pulled back into a messy ponytail revealed a pair of light brown eyes. She wore no makeup. No one did these days. Her small frame was dwarfed by the oversized plaid shirt she was wearing over jeans that were a couple sizes too big. Megan assumed she’d probably lost weight since all of this had started. Everyone had.

  Next to her stood a boy that was a miniature version of the man, Jack, whom she’d met earlier. There was no denying who this kid’s father was. Many people said the same thing about her and Caitlin. It always amused her how one parent’s genes could be so strong. They squeezed out the other parent.

  Rosie jumped off the stool in a move that defied her age. “Megan, this is Willow, Ryland, and the furry beast is Duke. Guys, this is Megan and her daughter’s name is Caitlin. They’re going to be staying with us for a while.”

  Ryland looked around the room, clearly looking for Caitlin. Duke didn’t have to use his eyes to find the intruder into his domain. He put his large black snout into the air, gave a good sniff and bounded off towards the bedroom where Caitlin lay.

  Megan jumped off the stool and ran behind the dog that looked to be a German Shephard mix. Her heart was racing in fear for her baby. When she got to the room, she stopped in her tracks at the door. The dog had jumped on the bed and was slowly and oh so gently sniffing her daughter. Caitlin moaned. The dog’s ears shot straight up into pointed peaks as he stared at the girl.

  “Duke, Duke, come here,” Willow called with authority. The dog ignored her. He was completely focused on the little girl in the bed.

  “I’m sorry,” Willow said to Megan. “He is harmless, just curious.”

  Megan nodded, but kept a close eye on the dog as it continued its very thorough inspection of her daughter. Once he was finished, he spun around on the bed a few times and plopped down beside her. Duke gave a big moan and put his head on Caitlin’s belly.

  Megan looked at Willow in question.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I think he wants to protect her. He usually sleeps like that with Ryland.”

  Wyatt once again managed to sneak up behind her in complete silence. It was amazing how a man that size could move without making a sound.

  “She’s good. Duke will keep a close eye on her. No one is getting in this room without his approval.”

  Rosie called out. “Coffee is ready.
Let the girl rest.”

  They all returned to the kitchen. Rosie handed out the coffee like an experienced waitress.

  “You sit here and let the caffeine hit. I’m going to give Caitlin some of this tea.” When Megan moved to go with her, Rosie put up a hand. “Sit, rest, she’ll be fine.”

  Wyatt spoke up. “She’s been giving us horrible herb concoctions most of our lives. They taste bad, but I can honestly say we haven’t had to visit doctors much in our lifetimes. She knows what she’s doing,” he assured her with a nod.

  Megan nodded. “Okay. Thank you.” She grabbed the cup of coffee and took a sip. It was delicious. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, relishing the aroma of fresh coffee. A little stronger than she was used to, but the caffeine racing through her veins was invigorating.

  It was the little things she missed.

  The glorious silence was interrupted by Chase and Albert returning. Albert was carrying a stack of wood, grumbling about something Megan couldn’t make out. Carrying the wood to the huge woodstove set between the kitchen and dining room so the rising heat would help heat the upstairs, he dropped the armload of wood with a loud thunk.

  It was then Megan realized it was chilly in the house. She’d been full of adrenaline since she’d been awakened and hadn’t noticed the cool air.

  Chase added a bucket of kindling to the hearth before heading to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. Jack came in last, carrying a large bag and set it on the counter.

  Willow walked over and gave him a quick kiss. Megan watched the couple go through a routine that seemed so normal. It was odd to see a married couple drinking a cup of coffee together when the world around them was crumbling a little more every day. They had each other, their healthy child and a rather large family. They had it all. The entire group seemed to function as a unit. They each had a job and seemed happy to do it.

  Megan sighed and quietly chided herself for being sappy. These people may have each other, but they also had to deal with people like Albert. The guy was surly. Even now he was stalking into the kitchen, yanking open a cupboard door and attempting to pour himself a cup of coffee. She and Caitlin were better off on their own.