6
Megan was sitting up in bed when Wyatt finally came in. She had been waiting for what seemed like forever. He had to do what he referred to as “making the rounds” before he went to bed. Wyatt was the real leader and he made it a priority to make sure every person in the lodge knew he was their friend going to great lengths to talk to everyone one-on-one at least once a week.
With the latest crisis at hand, Wyatt would be busy calming people down and answering questions—even if he didn't have the answers. It was one of the traits Megan admired most about him.
That night at dinner, no one had any suggestions or ideas about how to fix the dam. With no training or equipment, they were at a loss as to what to do, leaving them at the mercy of the dam. Megan hated the idea and refused to accept the fact the lodge was in serious jeopardy.
“Hey,” she said, watching him walk in the door. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Hey,” he replied. “I'm beat.”
“I bet,” she waited for him to strip down to his boxers and crawl into bed.
He sat up next to her. She needed him to talk to her about what he was thinking.
“So, a dam breaking. That's intense,” she said, trying to keep the mood light.
He chuckled. “Intense is certainly one word to describe it. I am trying to figure out how this is all going to go down. I mean, my dad did a lot of planning and preparing to live off the grid and be totally self-reliant, but this, this is not one of those things I thought about. I don't think he did either.”
“I don't think any of us thought about things like infrastructure.” Dams were certainly not on her radar. “Can you imagine the larger dams? I mean those things used to be monitored 24/7. Now, there is no one there to watch for those cracks or to hear the alarms that would have sounded to alert them to a problem.”
Wyatt nodded in agreement.
Megan thought of the road into town. They hadn't been down the mountain since fall, but she imagined it would be in bad shape as well. If the United States ever managed to get the power back up, the infrastructure was going to be a huge hurdle. It would be costly as well. That wasn't going to be easy for a country that had been brought to its knees.
Infrastructure required funding. That funding typically came from taxpayers. Taxpayers would be out of jobs. Megan couldn't see things getting back to normal in her lifetime.
The thought of the work after the power was restored was overwhelming. She strongly doubted the world would return to what it was prior to the EMP before Caitlin was an adult. It was going to be a very long road.
“Do you think it’s going to break?” Megan asked.
“I do. I think it will break. I don't know if it will happen tomorrow, in a couple of months or maybe a few years. I know nothing about dam construction.”
Megan was quiet for a few moments while she processed what he said.
“What are our options?” she asked. “You can tell me. I know you have an idea about this. I get why you didn't tell the others, but you can tell me.”
He shrugged. “The safest bet would be to pack up and leave.”
Megan groaned. “Really? That is what we are looking at here? You don't think we can do something?”
“I’m hesitant to put any of you at risk. I mean, we could try and figure out a way to stop the flood. Like, put up a rock wall or something like that, but I don't know how effective that will be. It’s a lot of water, Megan. I can't even begin to guesstimate, but I would venture to say hundreds of thousands of gallons.”
Megan thought about telling Wyatt about her experience in Louisiana several years ago, but figured it didn’t have any bearing on this situation. The flooding of the Mississippi River in 2011 had been horrible. She happened to be in Louisiana when things started to get dicey and had volunteered to help fill sandbags. She’d been lucky enough to be attached to workers with the Army Corp of Engineers, but the extent of her experience involved doing exactly what she was told and when.
She didn't want to stress him out by giving him more to think about. She knew him well enough to know he needed time to evaluate the pros and cons without her own two cents.
“Let's sleep on it,” Megan suggested. “We know there are at least two options. We leave and hope to find a house or several houses to accommodate our group or we stay and take our chances. Neither sounds all that appealing.”
Wyatt looked like he was going to say something, but didn't.
She fell asleep thinking about how she could help save her lodge family. There had to be a way.
When Megan woke up the next morning, she was convinced she had the answer. Wyatt was still sleeping, but she couldn't wait to tell him. She had to tell him now!
“Wyatt, I think I know what we can do!” she said with a great deal of excitement.
He blinked several times. Heavy bags and bloodshot eyes indicated he hadn't slept at all last night. Megan felt a twinge of guilt. She had slept fine and hadn't even realized he was having such a rough night.
“What's your plan?” he asked, stifling a yawn.
“Let's hold a group meeting so I can explain it all then, but in a nutshell, we build a dike to keep the water from hitting the lodge. It’ll divert it down the hill and into the river going right by us.”
Wyatt raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to build a dike? Isn't that something typically done with bulldozers and a bunch of other machinery?”
“Typically, yes, but we have managed to do things like build a long cabin without the help of any electric tools. I mean, think back to the old days, before bulldozers. They had to build canals to water their crops and things like that.”
“I think that is a little different than what you’re proposing.”
She shrugged. “A little, but the idea is the same. We have to do something, Wyatt.”
“I'm gonna need some coffee to get my brain functioning. Then maybe I can get a better handle at what you want to accomplish. All I see is us at the bottom of Mount Everest, preparing to climb with no experience, training or gear.”
She chuckled. “I don't think it’s quite that bad.”
He didn't look appeased.
“I'll go get the coffee started. Everyone will probably be up soon enough. I’m guessing they probably had a rough night's sleep,” Megan said, throwing on a pair of worn jeans and a blue t-shirt. She put on her tennis shoes that had seen better days. She looked down at her feet and thought about how badly she needed new shoes. They all did, really.
“Get dressed, take a deep breath and I'll see you out there,” she said before giving him a quick kiss and leaving the room.
As she had suspected, Rosie was already pouring steaming water into two cups.
“Willow didn't sleep well?”
Rosie shook her head. “Not at all. Her anxiety is in overdrive. I am hoping this chamomile and lavender tea will help calm her down.”
“I want to have a group meeting. I have an idea that may work. If Willow is up to it, I would love to have her there. It may help allay her fears about leaving the lodge.”
“I will let her know, but if she can fall asleep, I want her to get some rest,” Rosie said, carrying the tea up the stairs.
Megan filled a pot and put it on the woodstove that was cranking out the heat. Rosie must have just stoked the fire. It was really cooking. She pulled off the pot of water that had already been on the stove. It was nice and hot already.
Pouring water into her own cup, she added some tea. Leaving it on the counter to steep, she headed out to wake up the men out in the long house.
The long house had been a major success. Albert found it to be plenty comfortable and turned his room over to Evan and Tara after Harry, Linda and Emma moved on. She gently knocked on the door.
“Chase?” she said when she didn't hear anything.
“What?” came the gruff reply.
“When you guys can get up and moving, I would like to have a group meeting to talk m
ore about the dam situation,” she said through the closed door.
Garrett, Bryan, Albert and Chase had made it very clear the house was their domain. She didn't want to step on any toes or violate anyone's privacy. It was too valuable a commodity.
Brenda was the only one who didn't have a room. They had given her a small corner in the upstairs sitting area, but the woman always said she didn't need a room. Megan had a feeling that wasn't the case and Brenda was “embracing the suck.” It was a military motto Brenda borrowed quite often.
“We'll be in shortly,” Chase called out.
Megan smiled in victory. Now, she needed to get her thoughts organized so she didn't sound completely crazy when she delivered her plan to the group.
Evan and Tara were standing at the counter, sipping from their own cups when she walked back in.
“We heard,” they said in unison when she was about to inform them of the meeting.
“Great.”
Once everyone was inside and properly caffeinated, Megan started the meeting. She looked around at the bleary eyes. No one had slept well.
The meeting didn't go as she had hoped. There were many grumpy faces staring back at her when she smiled at them all.
“Before we start hashing this out, does anyone have anything they want to say?” Megan asked, hoping to get the conversation started.
Everyone started talking at once. They were all scared of the unknown. There weren't any real ideas being thrown out. They were all in fight or flight mode. Running away from the problem wasn't an option. They couldn't give up everything they had fought so hard for.
Chase, Tara, Brenda and Rosie were all set on staying. Garret, Bryan, Albert and Evan wanted to leave. Wyatt was still on the fence. Megan wanted to stay and fight. It wasn't in her nature to give up and walk away.
Willow walked down the stairs and Chase jumped up and gave her his seat at the table.
They all looked at her disheveled state; her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen. It was obvious she had been crying most of the night.
Megan felt such pity for her friend. Willow was dealing with so much and adding this latest problem to her long list of worries seemed so unfair.
“I won't leave,” Willow said, barely above a whisper. “This was Jack's home. I can't leave. This is where his grave is. It's where his very essence is. I can't leave,” she stressed the last sentence.
Megan felt her own heart squeeze. She understood what Willow was trying to say. Even if Jack's body wasn't buried on the property, they had built a small memorial in the fall with plans to expand it in the spring.
It had been a place for Willow to grieve and feel connected to her late husband. It gave all of them a place to go and 'talk' with Jack. Megan had been a frequent visitor to the site as had Rosie and Wyatt. Everywhere anyone looked around the lodge, Jack's handiwork was apparent. It felt like he was here, even if it wasn't in the physical sense. She couldn't imagine leaving it all behind to be destroyed. It would be like losing him all over again.
No one spoke for several long minutes. It was Wyatt who broke the silence.
“I think we need to think about how well we could do in another area on this mountain. This is a rocky area. The ground is full of clay and hard granite. We wouldn't be able to grow our own food for at least a year if we were to establish a new home or camp somewhere else in this area,” he explained.
“What do you mean?” Megan asked.
“My dad knew this wasn’t an ideal place for growing food. After we used a rototiller on the garden area, we added lime to break up the clay before he had ten inches of top soil trucked in to lay across the top. This soil is special. You won't find it anywhere else in this area. Every year, my dad would add more soil and more manure and compost to make it nice and fertile. We worked that soil hard last year, preparing it for this year. This year we should have excellent crops, which we absolutely need to fill our food supply.”
Albert slammed a fist onto the table. “We’re damned if we do and damned if we don't.”
Wyatt nodded. “Pretty much.”
“What if we went to another area altogether?” Bryan asked.
That earned some raised brows.
“Anyone here can do anything they want. No one is tied to this place. I know we have all become very close, but leaving is your prerogative. No one is going to disown you or think poorly of you if you want to go in search of greener grass. I'm sure it’s going to happen eventually anyway,” Wyatt stated.
Everyone looked at each other as if they were now realizing they weren't truly connected. They had formed a family, but it wasn't as if they were committed. Any one of them could leave. Megan didn't want that to happen.
She jumped up from the table.
“Wait! Please don't plan on taking off just yet,” she said pleading with each of them to listen to her. “I was in Louisiana during some heavy flooding and I volunteered to help with the flood defense efforts. I got to see what the experts did first hand. I think I have an idea that could allow us to stay at the lodge without jeopardizing our safety.”
Wyatt looked at her in surprise, “You were in Louisiana?”
She nodded. “Yep. I was planning to move there and was interviewing for a job and looking for a place to live when the Mississippi River flooding started. Needless to say, I decided to stay in the northwest. If I had moved down there, well, I wouldn't be here today.”
Chase laughed. “Well thank the stars, the fates or whoever you want that you’re here. Our little group wouldn’t be the same without you and Caitlin.”
She gave him a warm smile. “Thanks, Chase. I appreciate that. Anyway, I helped fill sandbags and watched the experts build dikes and walls to divert the floodwaters away from the communities. They, of course, had a hundred or more people on hand and heavy machinery, but maybe we could do something similar here.”
Wyatt was nodding in excitement.
It was Bryan who burst the bubble and shattered the hopes they were all building up in their minds.
“Those defenses failed. Thousands of people still lost their homes,” he said.
His statement quickly destroyed the elation in the room over the prospect of coming up with a solution.
Megan knew Bryan was right and didn't blame him for speaking up. The flooding had been devastating, but it could have been far worse. Wyatt already explained the flooding at the lodge might not be severe since the water could take so many different paths.
“Fair point, but we’re not looking to hold the water back. We want to divert it,” Megan replied.
Wyatt chimed in. “We need to make a decision soon. I think Megan has offered up a valid solution. It will take a little more planning and every one of us helping, but it could work. I understand if some of you still want to go. Take a few hours to think it over. We need to make a decision by tomorrow morning at the latest.”
Megan suddenly felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. If they did vote to stay, that meant she had to come up with a viable solution to building a dike to divert the water from the lodge. She knew nothing about what it took to build a canal. They didn't have the big backhoes she saw them use in Louisiana. They didn't have those bags to fill.
It was then she realized she might have posed an impossible solution to the group. In her mind, it was such a simple plan. When she thought about the amount of work that it would take to make it happen, it wasn't so simple.
What if she failed?
Megan couldn't fail. She knew what it was like to count on someone, only to be let down in the end. She didn't want to be that person. She wanted everyone to feel confident and trust her. This was not only important to their survival at the lodge, but it would prove something to herself.
“Duke, let's go take care of business,” she said to the dog.
He jumped up from his spot by the woodstove and quickly trotted to Megan's side.
She walked outside with her four-legged friend, anxious to unload her burden on the only liv
ing being that could handle the weight. Duke was an excellent sounding board. He wouldn't get his feelings hurt or feel any worry about what she told him.
Talking out her own problems and concerns always made her feel better, but she didn't want to add any more to Wyatt's plate. Everyone in the house had their own worries. This problem was hers to handle.
“So, Duke, do you think we can do it?”
The dog barked.
“I hope so, too, buddy. I don't want to move. I don't think there is anywhere that will ever be the same. I know people always say change is good, but I really like it here.” She talked to the dog while she walked to the outhouse.
He waited patiently until she emerged from the small wooden building. She continued up the hill behind the lodge. In her mind, she was going to check on the orchard trees, but really, she needed to move and think. Her mind was trying to process everything and walking helped her figure things out.
Duke had taken Jack's place in a lot of ways. Jack had been there when she wanted to talk things out. Now, when she couldn't talk to Wyatt, she relied on Duke. He didn't always have the best advice, but he was a superb listener.
“We’ve got a big job ahead of us. I pray we can save this lodge.”
Megan stood on top of the hill staring at the roof of the lodge below. The open area around the lodge stretched into thick trees. It was a sight that gave her a lot of comfort. She couldn't imagine living anywhere else.
She HAD to save the lodge.
7
Vlad pressed the cigarette tightly against his lip while he used his hands to twist the wires into the C-4. He knew smoking was bad for his health and had gotten him to where he was today, but he saw no point in stopping now. While doing so might prolong his life by days or weeks, it wasn't going to cure him or add years to his life. That ship had sailed a long time ago. Better to enjoy his vices while he still could, rather than make himself miserable.
EMP Lodge Series Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 64
