Viral Misery | Book 3 | Revelations
Page 36
Suddenly, Sarah turned to run her eyes over the Slayers, looking for one built for sex and ready to fire a few shots at them to let them know Joseph was hers. Spotting a blonde who fit that description, Sarah might have done it if Samantha hadn’t stepped in front of her. “He’s yours, Sarah. Don’t worry,” Samantha grinned.
Feeling better but going through the people at the ranch, “Anyone at the ranch built like that?” Sarah asked, just so she could give them a warning.
“Yeah, dummy,” Samantha laughed. “The one you refer to as your mother-in-law.”
Sarah couldn’t help but give a shiver at the implications in her mind. “No, there’s no Oedipus complex involved. Joseph wanted someone with the will of his mother. I don’t know how Arthur and Wendy met, but I can guaran-damn-tee you Wendy’s body is what caught Arthur. She’s pretty, but she’s the definition of a body built for sex. Wendy grew into her persona with Arthur, but her fucking body caught his ass, I don’t give a shit what that man says. I’m a nurse practitioner and would diagnose Wendy as a nymphomaniac, but Wendy didn’t turn into that until Arthur.”
“You haven’t asked how they met?” Sarah asked. “They met at a party.”
Shaking her head, “Oh, there’s much more to the story, girl, and if you ask you don’t really get the story, you get a nice tale. If you let them tell you, then you get the real meat and potatoes story,” Samantha schooled her.
Looking Samantha in the eyes, “You just called your buddy a nympho,” Sarah pointed out but seemed a bit nervous.
“Shit, Wendy told me the second day we talked that she was. She admits it rather proudly,” Samantha said with a slight grin. “It took a week or so before I believed it, and now I certainly do.”
“Um,” Sarah mumbled, trying to think of something to say before Samantha figured out Sarah had something else in common with her mother-in-law. “What are Pops, Jason, and Joseph talking about?” was all she could come up with.
“Have no idea,” Samantha replied with a grin. Out of the corner of her eye Sarah saw the grin as Samantha looked at the side of her face, and Sarah was certain Samantha already knew.
Turning to Samantha with fire in her eyes, “How in the hell did you know?” Sarah whispered harshly. “Does Joseph talk about it?”
“Not that I know about, and on the ranch we would all know,” Samantha told her, trying not to laugh. “You do realize mine and Jason’s room is across from Joseph’s, don’t you?”
With her cheeks turning red and not from the cold, “You can hear us?” Sarah gasped.
Nodding, “OOOOHhhh, yeah,” Samantha replied.
*****
Pulling his dad away before Sarah had started talking to Samantha, Joseph stopped and turned to Arthur. “Dad, this place is shit,” Joseph declared as Jason walked up. “Yes, they have structures to live in and fields for their horses, since that’s what the Slayers use to patrol, but there isn’t a stream,” Joseph said, pointing to the west at a tiny stream running down a gentle slope into the valley to a manmade lake.
Dropping his hand, “That’s not a stream they can get power from, and the closet one is seven miles to the west. Even if we build a fence to enclose what they need, the land between there and here will take too much effort to make it useful,” Joseph said, then pointed at the resort and all the outlying buildings.
“Dad, if an enemy ever gets close, they can’t defend this even with five hundred shooters. Where it’s at in the valley gives all the advantages to the attacker!” Joseph cried out as Jason looked around.
“I keep having to remind myself you’re Arthur’s son because no Navy pilot could ever point that out,” Jason said. “But you’re right.”
“Yeah, so?” Arthur shrugged.
“Dad, heeellllooo?” Joseph sang out. “These are teenaged girls here, who the fuck do you think is going to get hit around here first? The Pretty Little Liars are at that 4-H camp and shit, I could hold off a company of Army Rangers with just twenty trigger pullers there. They can hold off an attack until help arrives and it would take hours, even under the best of circumstances, for the attackers to move in. Here, even if they had a fence up now, if an enemy got in, by the time the Slayers called us, they’d be in deep shit. And before we could roll out, most would be dead or captured.”
“You really think I don’t know this, son?” Arthur asked.
Squaring off with Arthur, “We aren’t using them as bait,” Joseph stated firmly.
Holding up his hand, “That was never my plan,” Arthur assured him. “But I don’t tell people where they have to live even if it is stupid. Defensively, this place is just about as bad as you can get. But from a teenager’s, and not just girls, any teenager’s perspective, it has everything they need.”
“I want you to ask them to move,” Joseph told him.
“Hold up,” Arthur snapped. “We can’t take in five hundred girls even if we split them up between everyone and I can assure you, they wouldn’t go for that.”
“No,” Joseph said, shaking his head. “I want you to ask them to move to the castle.”
Arthur just stared at Joseph for several minutes not saying or doing anything. “Dad,” Joseph called out softly, reaching out to tap Arthur’s shoulder. “You okay?”
“You want to give them your castle after I threatened to shoot anyone in our group who tried to call dibs?” Arthur asked in shock.
“It’s not mine, Dad,” Joseph said, but did grin. “I have a home. That castle could be held for months and there’s a river down in the valley that’ll give them more power than we can make.”
“Son, it’s winter, and you’re talking about uprooting them and moving them twenty miles to set up all over again,” Arthur pointed out.
“No, the Witchers had food stores and the castle’s already set up. Granted, it’s got to be cleaned, but that’s it. You, Jason, and I can go over and show them how to put in cameras and where guards need to be so it can’t be taken like we did.”
“You really think the others aren’t going to take some of that food?” Arthur asked.
Nodding, “Yes, I told them the castle was mine, and thank you for capturing it, but the stuff in there belongs to me,” Joseph answered.
Turning to Jason, “What do you think?” Arthur asked.
Motioning to Joseph, “He’s put some serious thought into this, and his reasoning’s very sound. Any gang who saw it was only young girls here… Oh, they’d be willing to sacrifice lots of bodies to take ’em. At the castle, the Slayers could hold them off for weeks,” Jason offered.
“You talk this over with Sarah?” Arthur asked.
“Pfft,” Joseph puffed out. “She told me we weren’t leaving the house, even to build one on the ranch, until we gave you three grandbabies. She told me we had a home and I agreed with her.”
“Your son shows amazing intelligence when it comes to women,” Jason confessed.
Nodding, “Learned from Dad and Mom to choose my battles wisely, and make sure what I was willing to fight for was worth the cost,” Joseph told him.
“Glad you learned,” Arthur laughed. “If that’s what you want, it’s fine. But you’ll tell the Slayers, not me.”
Realizing his dad wasn’t going to give away something he’d cherished his entire life, Joseph nodded. “I’m going to make a condition that they keep a room open, so Sarah and I can visit.” When Arthur nodded, Joseph gave a relieved sigh and headed off to talk to Linda.
As Joseph walked past Sarah, everyone from the ranch was shocked when she just walked over and kissed him, because Sarah didn’t really show affection in public. “I hope Joseph knows Samantha and I will be using that room sometimes,” Jason said, and Arthur nodded in agreement.
“Chloe!” They heard a girl scream and Arthur’s pistol was out, turning in the direction of the scream.
“Milly!” They heard screamed back by a voice they knew was Chloe.
They saw purple hair running toward the throng of Slayers and one girl w
ith brown hair running toward Chloe. Holstering his pistol, “Chloe can’t move out till she’s twenty,” Arthur dictated.
“I want to see someone make her try even then,” Joseph challenged. “I don’t care who that is, they aren’t important enough for Chloe to give up what she’s found.”
Turning to Joseph, “Chloe will ask you if that girl can move in before she’ll ask me. You tell Chloe you think you can convince me,” Arthur told him and just walked off.
“Damn, he’s cool,” Jason laughed, and headed toward Samantha.
“Yep, I have the best Mom and Dad ever,” Joseph smiled.
THE END
of
Book Three
Other books in this Series
Viral Misery-Book One
Viral Misery-Miracles
Viral Misery-Revelations
Other Series by Thomas A. Watson
Blue Plague
Dark Titan
Stolen Liberty
Thanos
Forsaken World
Forgotten Forbidden America
Vengeance in Blood
Bonner Incident
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