“After you,” Nate said, opening the tent flap. Sammie crawled in and Nate zipped her up. She turned to see him sitting outside the tent screen.
“What are you doing?” she asked half-jokingly.
Nate smiled.
“This is a two-person tent, but we aren’t married,” Nate said, trying to act very serious.
“Are you serious? You will freeze out there!” she replied, trying to unzip the flap.
“I won’t freeze, I can sleep near the fire in my bag,” then he realized his bag was inside the tent. He was not being serious, but he also didn’t want for this environment to be the place for their first intimacy.
“You mean this sleeping bag? Just get in here. I promise I will keep my hands to myself,” she said, laughing as she managed to figure out the zipper.
Nate crawled inside the tent. It was roomier than he recalled. He stretched out his long frame, and soon Sammie lay down beside him. They were face to face now using their arms as pillows.
“So…here we are, face to face; in the middle of the deep woods alone,” Nate said.
Sammie leaned in and kissed him. Nate didn’t say another word, but returned her kiss. Then after a few more seconds, Sammie turned over and spoke.
“You mentioned the word marriage…so good night Nate,” she said, giggling now.
Nate just laughed to himself. She was a wild child and he loved it.
“Yes, I did. Good night,” he replied.
Nate closed his eyes, trying to ignore the fact that a beautiful woman was lying next to him. He knew it would be worth the wait. He tried to think about other more pressing things like Ben’s condition. Ben had become attached to Sammie; probably more than she knew. Nate could see the three of them as a family, and now he had to keep Ben safe and well. He was glad that destiny brought him into contact with Gene that day.
*****
Back at the house
Ben wasn’t doing much better; in fact, his cough was now producing yellow green mucus. Mattie hoped she wouldn’t see any signs of it tinged with blood, but she knew it may just be a matter of time. The fever was slightly up now. She gave him everything she could to reduce the fever and applied cold compresses. She kept him hydrated, and even used natural herbs to try to fight the illness. Anything she could do to support his immune system, she would try. It was late, and Ben needed to rest. She waited till he was nearly asleep before laying down herself. She said a silent prayer for Ben. She also prayed for the safe return of Sammie and Nate. She finished her prayer with one more added on wish. She asked God to bless Sammie and Nate in their newfound relationship. It was funny, she thought to herself, that neither had formally announced they were exclusive with one another, but it was so obvious.
*****
The next morning offered up bright sunny skies with bitterly cold temperatures. Nate could see the fire was nearly out, and the drifts on both sides of the tent were substantial. Sammie was still sleeping, and he let her continue to do so for a while longer. Nate rolled over and was looking through his small EDC bag he always carried everywhere with him. He still had a small tube of toothpaste and a small brush. He also saw something else…his old flip phone. He opened it and to his surprise it still had a charge. After arriving to Wyoming, he had placed it on a solar charger. He didn’t know why, but in his mind, he figured to give himself a sense of normalcy. He scanned through the phone and contacts. It was nice to see something powered up and still working even with the cell towers not being operational. He heard Sammie rolling over and he did the same.
“Rise and shine, pumpkin.” He had started calling her that because of the color of her hair in the sun light. She was mostly red, but it seemed a little orange like a pumpkin at times. Also, she hated the nickname.
She pretended to knee him to get his reaction to jump. It worked.
“Next time it will be real, buddy,” she said with a sly grin.
They didn’t waste any time in cleaning up the camp and loading the four-wheeler. Nate wasn’t sure exactly how much further it was to the cabin Mikhail had given directions to, but he knew he wanted to get back home as soon as possible. Within thirty minutes, Nate and Sammie were gone from their temporary camp and back on the trail which was covered now, even more, by snow. Nate looked carefully for the landmarks that had been given to them, and slowly each appeared. First was a tree that was laid oddly across the trail, then another mark was a small creek that was now frozen. Apparently, it was safe to cross since it was shallow. They made it across the creek with no issues. It seemed they were traveling downhill now for some distance. After about an hour, they reached a clearing, and up ahead they saw one standalone small shack. That was the shack – the last mark that let them know they had reached the property where the cabin was located. Nate stopped to look around.
“This is it. I’m sure,” he said to Sammie.
“Doesn’t look like anyone is around,” Sammie said.
Nate agreed.
Nate drove across the field slowly until he turned a corner seeing, off in the distance, the remains of a large tail section and the crash of a plane in the woods not far from the cabin. The tail section was that of the Russian plane that brought the invaders.
“Why didn’t he tell us this is where he’d crashed?” Sammie asked.
Nate didn’t have an answer. It would be something he would ask on the way back. For now, Nate drove by the once smoldering pile of twisted metal and debris.
“I’m not sure,” Nate replied as he continued to the cabin. The cabin was a custom type in appearance. There were two snow-covered cars in the driveway. One was a Land Rover; the type with a high dollar value. The other was a Lexus SUV. Both were totally covered in snow and looked like they had not been moved in sometime. Nate shut off the four-wheeler. The sound after that was the sound of silence; it was awesome coming from the valley. The random sounds of birds and a few distant elk, sounded off; but that was it.
“It is so beautiful here. This looks like a place where someone would go to be alone on vacation,” Sammie suggested.
“Yes, it does. I would bet whoever lived here had some money based just on the custom home and cars. I guess after the collapse, they left or where already gone and never made it back,” Nate stated.
“True, but do we ever get to truly go back after all of this?” she asked.
That was a great question, Nate thought. He hoped someday things would return to a better way than it was before.
“Alright, let’s go see if anyone is home,” Nate said, walking up the snow-covered steps. There were no tracks anywhere. There was no sign of anyone being at, or in, the cabin. If someone were inside, they would be very cold without a fire going. Nate noticed at the other end of the long wide porch there were several cords of firewood. He was sure there was more around the back. The cabin was massive, probably over 3,000 square feet. At least it was big to him.
He slowly turned the front door handle and it came open with a nudge. It was a massive, tall, heavy wooden door. When they stepped inside, the first thing they saw even caught Nate by surprise.
As they walked into the cabin, the first room was where the fireplace was located. Around that were several chairs and a few recliners. In both recliners where the frozen bodies of two Russian soldiers who appeared to have been injured at some point and died from those injuries. Both men had a bottle of Russian vodka still in their hands. One of them had their eyes pinned to the front door and that was what surprised Nate as they came in. He even removed his side arm moving in front of Sammie to block her from the threat.
“Oh my,” she said.
Both men were wearing the same gear he had seen before. Nate looked over to the fireplace and could tell there had been a fire burning at some point a few weeks earlier. He figured to himself that this was the reason Mikhail was returning to the cabin. He just never mentioned it to Audrey.
“Well, let’s check out the rest,” Nate said, keeping his pistol out. They walked into the la
rge open concept kitchen; leaving behind the two frozen men. The place was laid out with a large marble kitchen island. On the island were several opened boxes of snacks and some cereals. The fridge door was wide open with nothing in it. Someone had already cleared and cleaned it out. Sammie stayed near Nate as he made his way slowly clearing the cabin room by room. The next room was a pantry in appearance. Inside they found many opened cans of food with a few hundred more unopened. It appeared someone had been eating straight from the cans at one point.
“Look at all of this food, Nate,” Sammie said, getting a little hungry, regardless of it being someone else’s rations.
“Let’s keep going,” Nate said, grabbing her hand. He felt weird doing this, but he was on a mission. They cleared a few smaller rooms and came to what was likely the master bedroom. Nate opened the door to see what appeared to be two people in the bed under the covers sleeping.
“Hello?” Nate said, holding his weapon up pointing at the two figures in the bed. They didn’t move. Nate studied the two carefully and lowered his weapon. He moved closer and slowly placed his hand on the covered back of the one closest to him.
“They are dead,” Nate stated firmly while looking closer at the two. Sammie stayed back. Nate pulled back, but kept the two remains of a very old couple shielded from Sammie’s eyes. Nate could tell they had been dead for many months. There were some pills near the other side of the bed. The female appeared to be very thin. The male was much heavier. Nate walked over to the other side after covering the two up. He picked up the small medicine bottle from the nightstand.
He tossed the bottle with meds still inside over to Sammie. She read the medication.
“These are Cancer pills, Nate,” she said.
Nate picked up another bottle. He tossed it over to her again. She read over the label.
“Very strong sleeping pills,” she replied.
“I would guess, but could be wrong, that she had Cancer, and he couldn’t deal with her death and followed her,” Nate said and watched as Sammie’s eyes fill with tears. She turned and walked into the bathroom. Nate made sure both were covered up well for now. He said a silent prayer for them both.
Nate walked into the bathroom and found Sammie still upset. She was a nurse and had seen death, but not in this manner; not so personal and in your face. She saw people go home and never return. She felt horrible for them.
“Are you ok?” Nate asked.
Sammie turned and explained what she was feeling.
“I understand; sometimes we do a job and never see the after effects or how it affects people. We just keep doing the job. Sammie, that’s what we have to do now, the job.”
She looked at Nate then noticed behind him a very large medicine cabinet filled with medication bottles. She walked passed him and started looking at the bottles. There were so many half-used and full bottles. Some were rare medications, while some were pain meds – very strong ones at that.
Nate didn’t speak while she was looking over them all. She stopped on a few bottles.
“Found something…this will work. She must have had bacterial pneumonia at one time.”
Sammie tossed the full partially used bottle to Nate.
“I think there are enough there for Ben to complete a treatment.”
It was an antibiotic commonly used for pneumonia.
“Thank God,” Nate said.
“Nate, we should take all of these. Better to be in the hands of people who know how to use them than others.”
Nate agreed.
Sammie found a bag in the kitchen. Nate was outside looking at the two vehicles. He found the keys in the nightstand in the master bedroom. He opened the doors on the Land Rover and it started right up. The fuel gage indicated it was on full. The car still smelled new and Nate looked at the mileage; it had less than 200 miles on it. The temporary tags were still on the vehicle. He decided to borrow it for now. He wanted to return when the weather was warmer with help and bury the couple and the two soldiers. Someday, maybe the couple’s family might return and at least they would find that someone took the time to properly pay respect to the dead.
Nate pulled out the hand-written map and then compared it to the map Sammie had. The nearby roads would eventually reconnect them to roads that lead to Gene’s main road. It was going to be a little bit of a trip taking this route, but it was faster than if they stayed on the four-wheeler. He was sure Sammie would love being in a warm new vehicle. It was already running and defrosting the snow from the vehicle. Nate headed back inside.
“I have a surprise for you,” Nate said.
Sammie was standing in the pantry doorway wishing she could bring all the food with them.
“I bet you wish we could take that,” Nate commented.
She nodded.
“Come follow me,” Nate said.
Sammie followed Nate to the front porch. Nate pointed out to the running SUV.
“We can take every can,” Nate whispered into her ear.
Chapter 13
Warm Buns
They found a few boxes of clothes in one of the smaller bedrooms. They piled the clothes on the bed and used the boxes to load the food cans. The house really didn’t have much in it, and Nate wondered if the husband had moved his wife out and away in a last-ditch attempt to try to heal her. He would never know for sure, but he wanted to think it was something so beautifully sweet. Nate was walking past another room that he realized he hadn’t check. The door was near the master bedroom and closed. Sammie was still loading the boxes with food as he checked the room.
Inside, he found a safe; probably a gun safe. He figured it was locked, and didn’t bother it. It was one thing to take food and borrow a car, but he would draw the line at breaking into a safe. It appeared, from closer inspection, that someone had tried already. He walked away from it and noticed the pictures on the wall. The room was like a man cave, but that it had become a shrine to his wife. It was full of very old photos from the ‘40s when they were both very young and in love. He found a picture of the man in an Army dress uniform. He was a Lieutenant. He was standing next to George S. Patton receiving a purple heart. Other tidbits of the time passed since the Great War dotted the walls in the room; most of the pictures where of the Lieutenant and his wife while on journeys.
Nate was happy that the man was now on his last and forever journey with his wife. The times they had seen over the years, they could now share in eternity. Nate closed the open shutter and then the door to the room. He then walked over to the master bedroom door and slowly closed it, but not before standing at attention to the long time ago soldier who gave him his freedom today.
*****
“Well, I think I have it all boxed up,” Sammie said to Nate as he walked back into the kitchen area where she had them on the marble surface.
“Well, I am ready if you are. I’m sure the Land Rover is more than warm by now,” he replied, grabbing two of the biggest boxes in his arms and carrying them out as if they didn’t weigh a pound. Nate was eager now to return. He wanted to get Ben well, and he had other plans as well. Being in this house gave him a few more reasons to not let the current situation bring him down any further.
There was once a generation that for nearly five years sacrificed so much in the eyes of evil around the world, and had won the battle with far less that anyone had now. This collapse was temporary; he knew that now. The real test would be how he and the people around the world recovered and grew from the pains it caused.
They loaded their gear off the four-wheeler into the rear of the SUV and all the food into the back seats. Nate walked back up to the door and removed the keys he found in the home. He closed it up and locked the door. He headed back down the steps, and climbed inside the soft leather seating that seemed very warm.
“I think we have heated seats,” Nate said.
As Sammie sat her rear end down on it, she sighed in comfort.
“Oh, that feels so good,” she said. The dash had a larg
e screen with navigation. Sammie looked up to see a very large moon roof covered in snow.
“Let’s not open that,” Nate jokingly stated.
Sammie rolled her eyes. Nate placed the Ranger Rover into gear. He didn’t realize it was the better edition until he was inside. The snow on the driveway was no match for the four-wheel drive system the vehicle offered. He was looking forward to the drive home now.
“Hang on, Snoopy,” he said as he took off fast on purpose like a teen driving his four-wheel drive truck through a muddy field for the first time.
Sammie was plotting out the way back, being a little familiar with the roads in the area when she saw Nate reach up and start playing with the large screen. He scanned through radio stations until he found one that was playing music. It would be a while before he could tell if the station was live, or if it was some station that was up but only on limited power ability like a few days earlier before Ben became sick.
“Hey, look we have navigation,” Nate said, not thinking it would work. Nate, for fun, entered his address back in Fritch Texas.
“Holy crap…it works!” Nate yelled. Sammie dropped her map and pushed his hands away to see the link up and the soon to follow direction to the cabin Nate had back in Texas. The satellites apparently were still functioning just fine. He never had a GPS or a navigation system to test until now. Sammie programmed in her parents’ address, and in seconds, the route was displayed on the screen.
“Is there anything in the glove box to listen to?” Nate asked.
She opened the box. Aside from the owner’s manual, there was a very large caliber old revolver inside. Nate reached over and slowly removed it, not knowing if it was cocked; he could see that it had ammo in the cylinder, but wasn’t certain if it was ready to fire.
“That is a beauty,” Nate said, slowly pulling it out, being careful to keep his hand off the trigger area. He pulled over for a second to examine the gun. It was a Colt Python six inch .357. Nate owned a few .357s, but never shot one that was nickel platted. It was not cocked. Sammie reached further into the compartment and retrieved a leather holster that was still in the original packaging. For some reason, the owner had never got around to putting the gun into its new home. Nate would take control of that. He opened the package and removed the holster. He slid the weapon into the tight cold leather.
Defending Home Page 13
