Fire From The Sky | Book 12 | Embers

by Reed, N. C.

  “Rotate the ready squad and the tower personnel together, in teams, each with a shift commander. Let them get used to working together. We should be able to manage three teams, full teams, and have a few hands left over. Work a shift on watch, a half-shift on the farm, and then have some training and down time along with time to rest. The only problem I can see is there’s no real way for us to give people a day off occasionally except in twos and threes at best. That will hurt morale if we have to keep it up for long. But, in the short run, it’s workable and will fill our needs nicely.”

  Everyone in the room was looking at Gillis as if they had never seen him before. The silence was deafening and finally Gillis couldn’t stand it anymore.

  “What?” he looked from one face to the next.

  “Damn,” Mitchell Nolan was the first to break the silence. “That’s a hell of an idea.”

  “I agree,” Jose was nodding as he studied the map. “One I had not considered, because I was blinded by my desire to keep the already established patrols and posts and simply add another layer of defense over them. Any objections to this idea?” he looked at the rest. Heads shook around the table.

  “Very good, then. Let’s look at this and determine where we need to place our sentry posts.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Olivia Haley walked with only slight trepidation as she approached what had once been the home of Leon Sanders, known far and wide as The Old Man of Calhoun County. There were others older than he had been, but there was only one Old Man Sanders. Political power, thumb atop the criminal element, enforcer of his own moral code of ethics, and possibly the most charitable individual in a five-county area, though he would have denied that with his dying breath. He had been what her father, wherever he was now, called one hell of a man. A legend, literally, in his own time.

  With the death of Leon, his grandson Clayton had become the mainstay of the farms, a place where so many now made their home since the night the sky had caught fire. Since the night her mother had died, leaving her alone with her two small sisters to fend for themselves and leaving their father who knows where with a truck load of no telling what. An over the road truck driver, her father had made a comfortable living for his family of five, but it required him to be gone a good deal of the time. He had been gone the night everything had turned off, somewhere far to the west, perhaps on his way home from a run to California. She had resigned herself to the fact that she would likely never know. Nor would she likely ever see him again.

  She had buried her mother with her own hands in the backyard of their home, then spent the winter taking care of her sisters and worrying constantly over them. She had gone about as far as she was able when the most unlikely thing in the world had happened. Hiding in a fire station because it had gas heat, she had encountered a group that had come to take the small fire truck from the station, hoping it would run so they could use it to fight a huge wildfire. Among that group had been Gordy Sanders and Kade Ramsey, two schoolmates she had known all her life.

  The two had convinced her to return to the Sanders’ Farm with them, where she and her sisters would be safer and much better off than they were on their own. Having already nearly starved herself into illness to keep her sisters healthy, Olivia hadn’t required much convincing.

  She had known the Sanders her entire life, having attended the same church as Gordon and Angela Sanders, the current patriarch and matriarch of the Sanders clan. Good people who were charitable to a fault, Angela had instantly taken Olivia and her sisters into her home without a second thought, treating them as well as she might her own grandchildren. Angela in particular had been a godsend to the teen girl, patient and understanding as Olivia had worked through the trauma of the months she had lived on her own with her sisters.

  Nightmares, sleepless nights, stomach issues brought on by months of not nearly enough nutrition as she gave most of the food she could scrounge to her much younger sisters, Angela Sanders had been there through it all, her soft, firm voice and kind hands soothing her, holding her as she cried her eyes out.

  Kade Ramsey had also been there for her, and she had gradually come to care deeply for the eternally happy teen who had made it his life’s mission to make her smile, and then to laugh, going to great lengths to accomplish both. But then Kade had perished defending the farm from attackers disguised as soldiers, shot and killed in the street as he disabled one of the vehicles that was showering the farm with machinegun fire. And her heart had broken all over again.

  Angela Sanders had once more been there for Olivia along with many others as Olivia Haley had yet again endured a devastating loss. Even now, months later, she felt his loss keenly.

  She had worked hard since arriving at the farm, currently working to assist Angela with the seed garden, the plots and greenhouses that were home to the plants that were literally the lifeblood of their future. Every plant they were nurturing would produce new seeds, seeds that would reproduce after their own kind, allowing the farm to continue to feed not only themselves, but also many others. Something they had already been doing even at their own expense, though with little enough thanks for doing so.

  She was also assisting Doctor Thatcher with the plants that would make the medicines needed for the farm residents in the future. Olivia had studied chemistry at a college level even while still in high school and had impressed the doctor with her knowledge. At present Olivia’s work in that regard was much like her work in the seed garden; maintaining the plants and ensuring they remained healthy and viable. Soon enough, however, the plants would come to full maturity and when they did, the real chemistry would begin.

  But now, she had been asked to visit Byron House, also known as Brick, at Leon Sanders’ house, where the huge man made his home. Brick and a young woman around Olivia’s age named Janice Hardy had come to the farm along with Clay Sanders’ girlfriend, Lainie Harper, who had been taken under Leon’s protection when she was still underage and on the run from an abusive mother and stepfather. Leon and Brick apparently went way back, as the saying went, and the big man had moved in with Leon once everyone had arrived at the farm. Janice had as well and had spent the remainder of Leon’s life doing all she could to make life easier for the Old Man, the only true father figure she had ever known in her short life of fear and abuse.

  Olivia hesitated for a moment at the foot of the steps leading up to Leon’s house, her trepidation returning. Byron House was a dangerous man, and one who could seem to see right through a person. He had noted some of the things she had done to try and make the fire station safer for her and her sisters, noting that many of them were things that a girl her age would not normally know. She had admitted that her grandfather had taught her many things, and that she had learned others from books that he had. Nothing else had ever been said about it, but Olivia had a hunch that she was about to hear more from Brick on the subject now.

  Deciding that hesitating would not help her, Olivia took a deep breath and started climbing.

  -

  Inside the house, standing at the window overlooking the steps, Brick stood beside former soldier Kandi Ledford as they watched the teen girl climbing toward them.

  “Brave young woman,” Brick noted, moving away from the window before Olivia could spot him.

  “She is,” Kandi agreed, moving to take a seat. “Her body language screams reluctance, but she’s still coming.”

  “She could not have survived the winter, or kept her sisters alive, if she were not both strong and courageous,” Brick said firmly.

  “Why are you doing this, anyway?” Kandi asked.

  “We have changed how we teach the youngsters,” Brick shrugged. “She knows a great deal and is closer to their age. I want to see how much she knows, and if she is willing to share it with the others.”

  “Can’t others teach that stuff?” she asked, curious.

  “Of course,” he replied easily. “But it will be better coming from someone their age who has used it to surviv
e, proving that it will help them as well. It will help Olivia as well, I think. She still suffers from post-traumatic stress, though she is afraid to admit it. I think she fears that she will be separated from her sisters.”

  “As if Mrs. Sanders would let that happen,” Kandi made a sound that might have been a very delicate snort of derision. Before either could speak again, there was a knock at the door.

  Brick opened the door to find Olivia waiting, her face carefully neutral.

  “Easy, now,” Brick said gently. “Come in, please, and take a seat,” he waved her inside. “I have asked Lieutenant Ledford to be with us so that you would perhaps feel less uncomfortable. I hope you do not object?”

  “No, I don’t mind,” Olivia replied, her words coming out in a rush. She moved to the nearest chair and sat carefully, right on the edge of the cushion.

  “Olivia, there’s nothing wrong,” Kandi assured her, recognizing her nervousness. “The fact is, we need your help. Brick needs to explain what’s going on and then talk to you about how you can help. Okay?”

  “How I can help?” Olivia’s nervousness turned to confusion. “Help with what? What can I do?”

  “You had booby-trapped the fire station to protect yourself and your sisters,” Brick noted, no preamble of any kind.

  “Yes,” Olivia drew the word out, nervousness and confusion now warring with each other.

  “You told me that you had learned from your grandfather, I believe?” Brick continued, ignoring her discomfort rather than continue to call attention to it.

  “Yes,” Olivia repeated, nodding slowly. “I did.”

  “I’d be very interested in knowing what else you learned at his feet,” Brick smiled, and Kandi was surprised by the gentleness the smile revealed.

  “Why?” Olivia asked. “What could I know that would interest you?” She didn’t stress the word, but she clearly knew of Brick’s reputation.

  “We are teaching the youngsters a new set of skills, you know,” he stated rather than ask. “While those lessons are going well, they are always expanding. A growing knowledge base for living in the world as we find it now. Tell me; would it be easier, more comfortable for them to learn these new things from someone like me? Or from someone such as yourself, closer to them in age, who has already used them to good effect while on your own?”

  Olivia didn’t reply at once, seeming to digest the words slowly, a look of disbelief slowly forming on her face.

  “You want me to teach…what, exactly?” she temporized.

  “I want you to share what your grandfather showed you with the others,” he replied, watching her reaction. “But, as I said before, I’d first be very interested in knowing what else he taught you, or that you perhaps learned on your own. I walked around the fire station before we tried to load the fire truck, checking the area. There was a pile of small animal bones some twenty feet from the building, where they wouldn’t be seen unless you walked right up on them. I assume you were using snares to trap small animals for food?”

  “Yes,” Olivia kept her answers short. “I was.”

  “Olivia, honey,” Kandi broke in, “if you’re nervous and want to leave, then go ahead and go. No one is trying to force you to do anything. You know what happened to little Bobby, yeah?”

  “He got bitten by a copperhead,” Olivia nodded, glancing at the door before looking back at the blonde.

  “Because of that, we’re now expanding the lessons that the smaller kids are being taught,” Kandi explained. “I want you to think about something. If your sisters had been alone, could they have made it even a few days before someone found them? Assuming anyone was looking to start with?”

  Olivia’s heart seized at the thought. The two had barely made it with her there to help them. Alone?

  “No,” she admitted quietly. “No, they couldn’t. They didn’t…don’t, know the things I do. My grandfather died before either was old enough to learn anything like that.”

  “The goal is to make sure that if something happened and any of the children were isolated or alone, then they would have the skills to take care of themselves until they could find their way back here, or we could find them,” Kandi finished, sitting back in her chair. “How to build a shelter, safely build a fire, find clean water or clean it themselves and so on. We want all of them to be able to do those things and anything else we can manage to teach them.”

  “That’s a good idea,” the teen admitted, her mind now racing as she began to recall everything she had learned, either from her grandfather or from the books he had left her.

  “We would like for you to help teach them,” Brick said again.

  “Some of the rest of you have to know that stuff,” she shook her head in mild disbelief. “I mean, some of you were soldiers! You were a soldier, Miss Ledford!” she looked at Kandi.

  “Just Kandi, sweetie,” the blonde smiled brightly. “And yes, I was. But you know what? After I went through basic, I ended up in what we called Sustainment Command. A supply clerk, to put it simply. I didn’t continue into any combat specialty because of that. I knew a good bit about computers and tracking programs and the Army decided that meant I was needed in Supply. Which meant that was where I went, and where I stayed. I would imagine you know much more in terms of survival skills than I do. In fact, I’m learning a lot of those things myself, right now. Just in case.”

  “And please remember what I said earlier, Olivia,” Brick said gently. “Would your sisters, for example, rather learn from someone like myself, or perhaps Clayton or one of his men, or from you, or else someone like you? Someone closer to their age, someone more familiar to them and less intimidating. Less threatening. Someone they can identify with as they learn from them. They can look at you and what you’ve achieved and believe that they can learn to do it as well, because you did the same thing when you were their age.”

  Olivia thought about that even as her mind balked at the idea of so much responsibility. She had avoided as much responsibility as possible sense arriving at the farm, having been responsible for her sisters throughout the winter before. She felt guilty about it at times, but not guilty enough to change it. Working in the seed garden and assisting Doctor Thatcher with the medicinal plants was plenty enough responsibility for her.

  But this….

  What if her grandfather had shirked that responsibility and never bothered to teach her anything at all? What would she have done without the knowledge he had given her? The skills to survive, and to take care of her much younger sisters?

  “As I said, you don’t have to do any of this if you don’t want to,” Brick injected into her thought process. “We are simply looking for options, and for the best possible ways to teach the young how to survive.”

  “I…I don’t know if I can do it,” Olivia managed at last. “I really don’t. I can try. That’s all I can promise is that I can try. Maybe I can do it or maybe I can’t. I won’t know until I try it. But I need to have someone with me, or at least watching,” she insisted. “Someone to catch a mistake I might make. I don’t…I can’t deal with thinking they might suffer because I made a mistake.”

  “Completely understandable,” Brick nodded.

  “Absolutely,” Kandi agreed at once. “Tell ya what,” she smiled again. “Why don’t you settle back in that chair and get comfortable, then tell us what you can remember learning from your granddad? Give us an idea of what you can do. Would like something to drink?”

  Olivia sat deeper into her chair, nodding as she did.

  “Please.”

  -

  “Not that way,” Seth Webb said gently, catching Anthony Goodrum by his jacket.

  “What? Why not?” the slightly older boy asked, almost angry. “It’s clearly closer this way!”

  “And it crosses this creek,” Seth nodded, pointing to the slender blue line running along the map. “In this cold, if somebody fell in, they’d have hypothermy ‘fore we could blink.”

  “‘Hypothermy’
?” Millie asked, eyebrow raised. “You mean hypothermia?”

  “What I said,” Seth nodded without looking her way. “Look here,” he drew Anthony’s attention back to the map. “Creek bends here and runs down and away from where we need to go. It’s a little further along, but there’s less risk. See what I mean?”

  “Yeah, I do,” Anthony nodded, anger gone as he studied what he was told. “I didn’t think of that,” he admitted.

  “I hadn’t fell into a creek in winter myself, I might not have neither,” Seth chuckled.

  “What did you do?” Millie asked. “When that happened, I mean,” she clarified.

  “My brother Matty was with me, or I was with him,” Seth shrugged, the memory stinging a bit. “He built a fire and a shelter and got me inside, warmed me up. Not for that, I’d have died.”

  “Damn,” Anthony said softly.

  “Anyway, let’s bear west a bit and avoid the water if we can,” Seth abruptly got back to the present.

  “Lead the way, Maestro,” Millie grinned. “Seems like you’re the one with the answers here, not us.”

  -

  “Here, here, here and here,” Gillis made pencil marks on the map in front of him. “I think that would cover the arc almost perfectly as well as give adequate time for the response team to spin up. The terrain actually favors us rather than the attacker, at least in this expected direction, since there’s very little concealment for them to take advantage of.”

  “What about behind us,” Jose pointed to the area west of the farm headquarters, down the country lane that divided the Sanders’ land.

  “Our detachment at the Plum House can catch a good deal of any movement behind us,” Gillis mused. “But I agree it is a weakness. The only thing I can see to do is place a tower behind this house here,” he pointed to where Leon’s house was indicated on the map, “and another roughly here,” he pointed to a field southwest of the cabins on the Hill.