The Off Grid Survivor Box Set: Complete The Off Grid Survivor Series Books 1-4

by Connor Mccoy

  Deaden took one long step to the right, out of Liam’s path, but the young man swiftly barred her way again.

  “Cap, I am warning you to back off and sit down right now,” Liam said.

  “Liam, stop it!” Sarah jumped from the couch. “Here, let me go in there and tell Carla what’s going on.”

  But Deaden’s eyes locked onto Liam. “You better be careful, Mister Drake. Contrary to what you think, you’re not dictating the rules of this game.” She nodded her head in the direction of the front door, to the soldiers waiting outside.

  “My dad wasted more guys than the goose-stepping thugs you’ve brought to my door, so bring it on if you feel brave enough,” Liam said, quietly.

  “Liam, enough!” Sarah seized Liam’s right shoulder. “There’s no harm in letting her just say hi to Carla. We’re all with her.”

  Any further discussion was interrupted when the door to the kitchen popped open. Carla leaned out, with little Conrad in her arms. “Hi,” she said with a smile. “Captain Deaden, right? Everyone’s voice is carrying, and I’d thought I’d step in before someone kills somebody.”

  Deaden’s lips curled in a half smile. “Wise decision. You know my name, and I think I know yours now. Carla Drake?”

  “Carla Emmet. Not Drake…” She smiled at Liam. “Not yet.”

  Deaden’s smile vanished. “Really? Well that’s unfortunate. You seem like a nice woman. Perhaps Liam has certain questions he hasn’t yet worked out, but that’s not unexpected for men his age.”

  “Well, I don’t know what most men his age are like, but I do know Liam is just fine for me,” Carla said, still smiling, but with a tinge of irritation in her voice. “So, what’s your story? Are you coming here to take us away?”

  “I’m here to set the stage for your safe relocation, Miss Emmet. Contrary to whatever Conrad Drake has told you, I’m not here to harm anybody. In fact, he seems to have fostered an atmosphere of paranoia and fear. That makes me wonder about how the rest of you are faring.”

  “I, and my son, and my Liam, are all faring very well,” Carla said, “So, I have nothing more to say to you.”

  “I am curious. Indulge me, please.” Deaden took one step closer to Carla. “Why did you and Liam decide to…have a baby?”

  Carla narrowed her eyes while keeping her smile. “You might call it a spontaneous act of love.”

  “In other words, you had passionate sex without thinking about it,” Deaden said.

  Liam cut back in front of Deaden. “Okay Cap, you’re really treading in bad territory.”

  However, Deaden stepped a little closer to Carla, this time brushing hard against Liam to get by. “Was this before or after the solar EMP hit?”

  “Captain!” Liam shouted.

  “Really, this is too much,” Sarah added.

  Carla’s smile started to fade. “Before, if that’s really important.”

  “Well, that makes you two only slightly less stupid than I would have thought. I mean, bringing a newborn into this world? Rather insane, if you ask me. It’s not like you can go down to the grocery for formula and diapers anymore. In fact, if you go to the grocery today, you’re probably more likely to be robbed, or shot, or stabbed, or raped…”

  “Captain!” Sarah shouted.

  “This isn’t a place for children anymore, Miss Emmet, not until it’s been pacified, and all the dregs of the planet are driven back into their holes, which could take quite a long time. But like I said, you didn’t know what was about to happen. So, I trust knowing what you know, that you’re not going to make another mistake…”

  She stopped talking. Hard metal was suddenly pressed against the side of her head.

  “My family is not a mistake.” Liam pressed a pistol against Deaden’s skull. “Now, you have very, very outlived your welcome here. So, I suggest you and your goons get off my property right now.”

  Deaden didn’t say anything. This time, not even Sarah raised a voice to object to her son’s actions. She definitely was backed into a corner.

  “Your property? I think the elder Drake runs this place, so I think he decides when my visit is over with,” Deaden said.

  Loud footsteps drew their attention. Conrad pushed open the hall door, with Camilla behind him holding a shotgun. “Well, I see you got along well with my family, Captain. Though count me shocked you didn’t wind up with a gun to your head sooner.”

  “If you think this is funny, you have a sick sense of humor. Now call your son off so I can continue,” Deaden said.

  “Call him off? Why would I do that? You heard the man. Get off his property,” Conrad said.

  “Like I said, if you think this is a joke…” Deaden began.

  “It’s not a joke. Someday this homestead will be his. He wants to act like the man of the house. Well, I consider it welcome practice. So, if he wants you to go, do as he says, and hit the road. You have no business here, not today and not tomorrow.”

  Deaden straightened up. “Very well. I can see you’re as unreasonable as I thought you would be.”

  Liam withdrew his gun. Deaden turned and marched toward the front door, with Conrad close behind.

  “Word of advice for the future, Captain,” Conrad said as Deaden stopped to allow him to open the front door. “Don’t insult a lady or her decision to have a child. Both will get your ass in big trouble.”

  Deaden took a step backward, toward the open doorway. “Sarah tells me you saved her from mobsters in Redmond. If you’ve seen how terrible it is out there, how can you justify encouraging your son to have babies under your roof?”

  “Someone’s going to have to pick up this mess after we’re dead and gone. Otherwise, we’re fighting for nothing,” Conrad said.

  “Well, I can see you’re not fit to make these kinds of decisions, Mister Drake. I will be back tomorrow. Consider this fair warning.” She backed out onto the porch. “Prepare however you like.”

  Conrad, remaining at the doorway, watched her march across the porch, then down the steps to her waiting men.

  “Dammit!” Liam repeated, his voice growing louder as he retreated toward the den. “Dammit! What was I thinking?”

  Conrad followed hot on his tail. “Liam, what’s the problem?”

  “I could have gotten us all killed,” Liam said as he burst into the den. “If I hadn’t been so hotheaded, if I didn’t draw my gun…”

  “You didn’t shoot her, son.” Conrad emerged into the room, with Camilla and Sarah following. “You did the right thing. Deaden crossed the line big time. You showed her we’re not a bunch of doormats, and we don’t take shit from anyone. These people will roll right over us if we let them.”

  Liam leaned against the biggest table in the room. “She got to me. Trash talking me and Carla, going after Mom…”

  Conrad glanced at Sarah, who turned her head to the side.

  “It was mental manipulation,” Camilla said to Conrad. “You were damn right about these people.”

  “Hey!” Tom barged in. “They’re gone. I kept tabs on them until they were out of sight.”

  Conrad turned around. “And they didn’t do anything funny while they were out there?”

  Tom shook his head. “They sat, talked a bunch of garbage about the people they’ve run into so far.” He peeled off his coat as he talked. “Didn’t really sound like a bunch of good guys to me.”

  Conrad narrowed his eyes at Tom. “Good to hear. Glad to see these sons of bitches didn’t escape your notice.” He kept himself from adding, this time. Part of him thought chewing out Tom over not noticing possible spies was an error. After all, could Conrad reasonably have expected Tom to pick out well-trained soldiers who accustomed to hiding themselves in the wild?

  After placing his coat over his shoulder, Tom approached Sarah. “Hey,” he said, “are you alright?”

  Sarah folded her arms. “No. Not really.”

  “Did they do anything to you?” Tom asked.

  Sarah pivoted and then walked to th
e open door. “I…I need some time.”

  Tom followed her out of the room. “I’ll come with you,” he said.

  Conrad turned to Camilla. The pair exchanged a few looks, knowing what Sarah had been through. Was the woman feeling guilty, hurt, violated for revealing so much?

  “So, are we going to throw a party for these guys like we did for Kurt?” Camilla asked.

  Conrad placed his right arm onto the table and leaned on it. “Well…” he began.

  He didn’t complete his sentence. The intense pain that shot up his arm wouldn’t allow it.

  “Dammit!” Conrad raised his arm and then cradled it tightly.

  “Dad!” Liam rushed over to him. “Are you alright?”

  Conrad couldn’t answer right away. How the hell did that happen? Conrad had placed greater strain on his right arm than that, so why did it hurt so much now?

  “Guess old age is catching up,” Camilla said, likely trying to cover for Conrad’s unexplained outburst.

  “It’s…it’s nothing too bad. Guess I leaned on it wrong.” Conrad wished he had that sling right now.

  “That’s one hell of a bad lean, Dad. I’ll get Doctor Ron,” Liam said.

  “No. No, the man’s busy.” Conrad let out a pained breath. “Turns out this thing was hurting me for a while and I asked him to run some tests.”

  “Really?” Liam asked.

  Conrad nodded. This was as much of the truth as he planned to reveal. It would have to do. “Yeah. Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s nothing, but it always helps to have a doctor under your roof, right?”

  Liam nodded. “Yeah. No kidding. Look, if you need anything, just tell me.”

  “I’ll be alright. Hey, why don’t you go talk to Carla? She’s a toughie, but she’s likely rattled after running into Captain Iron Britches.”

  “Sure, sure. You’re right.” Liam turned and hurried from the room.

  Not a few seconds after Liam left, Conrad turned and muttered a collection of f-bombs.

  “I guess that hit you pretty bad,” Camilla said once Conrad had gotten that out of his system.

  “Of all times,” Conrad whispered, “damn it all. I’m supposed to be getting better, but this thing is flaring up even more lately.”

  “Maybe it’s the damn weather,” Camilla said.

  “The cold’s playing hell on me? Yeah, probably. I had Ron hurry up a test for me. That’s why he didn’t get to see Captain Deaden. Damn shame. I knew he wanted to talk to her.”

  “Probably a good thing he didn’t,” Camilla said.

  “Yeah, she’s a viper. Trying to drive wedges between us. But you heard her going out, this isn’t over.” He rubbed his arm. “And I’m in bad shape. God knows I might not be able to get us out of this one.”

  Tom presented the steaming hot cup of tea to Sarah, who sat on their bed, her head hanging over her lap. “Your favorite,” he said gently.

  She took it. “Thank you.” She sipped. Tom had prepared the tea while Sarah told him the whole story.

  “I’m sorry it didn’t work out like you wanted,” Tom said.

  Sarah sipped again. “Listening to her say my grandbaby was a mistake. It was horrible. But that wasn’t the worst of it.” She turned to Tom. “Liam said I lied about Conrad, you know, during the divorce. And he was right.” She dropped her head against his shoulder. “But it still hurt hearing him say it.” Tom slid his hand against Sarah’s shoulders. “I know. But it sounded like a real pressure cooker. I’m sure he didn’t mean it the way he said it.”

  Sarah bowed her head. “Tom, I’m afraid my baby hates me.”

  “I’m sure Liam doesn’t.”

  “You sure?” Sarah raised her head. “You sure he doesn’t resent me? Do you think he’s ever forgiven me?”

  Tom gave his next words some thought. “I know he wants you in his life. I’ve worked with him. I hear him talk. I’ve never heard him say a bad thing about you.”

  Sarah looked down at the cup still in her hand. “I feel like I don’t belong anywhere.”

  Tom wrapped his arm around her. “Baby, you belong anywhere you want to. And don’t forget, where you go, I go.”

  Sarah pulled him closer. “Thanks.”

  Conrad shut his bedroom door with his right arm, which turned out to be a big mistake. Pain shot up his arm once again, and he cried out. “Goddamn it!” Damn fool, he thought. Don’t you ever think any more? Stop using that arm so much if it hurts!

  Ron Darber jumped from his seat and reached out to help Conrad, but the rancher drew back like a wounded animal ready to pounce viciously. The doctor instead waited for Conrad to settle down.

  “The damn thing’s been hell on me,” Conrad muttered. “Guess you can get too old to go under the knife.”

  Darber leaned against the small table. He had holed up in here scrambling to finish up the latest round of tests. The whole table was blanketed with medical tools, including a scalpel and a few glass beakers with solutions. “You may need to go under it again,” the doctor said.

  Conrad turned to look at his friend. “What?”

  “I wrapped up the test a few minutes ago.” Darber strung out his words. “You’re not going to like it.”

  “Ron, I’ve got an army out there ready to storm in here like Attila the Hun, so anything you say probably isn’t going to shock me.”

  “The cancer has gotten into the bone of your right arm,” Darber said. “For the moment, it seems to be localized in the radius, but I don’t know how long that will last.”

  Conrad nodded. “I see. Well, I guess that’s the end of the game, isn’t it?”

  “If the cancer hasn’t gone any further, and I’m not convinced it has yet, we can try one more thing.” Darber sucked in an anguished breath. “Amputating your right arm.”

  Conrad’s stomach suddenly felt sick. He hadn’t expected to hear that. Oddly, receiving a death sentence would have been easier than the horrifying thought of being a chopped-up man.

  “It could work.” Darber cast a glance at his medical tools on the table before continuing. “Of course, the risk is substantially greater. You could die during the surgery, and there’s always the risk of infection. And, of course, the recovery period will be much longer and more difficult. You’re a strong man for your age, but even you could take a major hit health-wise. Ideally, you would be back on your feet, just learning to adjust with only one arm and hand to work with.”

  “But I also could be stuck in bed for God knows how long trying to get myself back together.” Conrad grimaced. “Well, as much of myself that I still have left. But I wouldn’t be able to guard my home like I did before, would I?”

  “It’d be very difficult,” Darber said. “And there’s no guarantee the cancer still wouldn’t return. But there’s still a chance for you to survive, perhaps for much longer.” The doctor smiled a little, as much as he could under the grim circumstances. “Plus, I think your family rather would have a Conrad with one arm than to not have him at all.”

  “We may not have much of a choice there, Ron. I didn’t get a chance to give you the details on our meeting with Captain Deaden, but it didn’t turn out well. I don’t trust this bunch one damned bit. Tom overheard some bad talk among the soldiers, and our lady captain has a problem with raising new babies in this new world.”

  Darber nodded. “I hate to bring this up in light of how your talk went, but the ALA might have the resources that can save your life, get you through the surgery and recovery.”

  “Ron, you know that’s a non-starter. I’d be a prisoner, in practice if not officially,” Conrad said. Although, silently, he couldn’t deny it sounded like an option that would work. “I go with them, it’s saying goodbye to this home for good. They probably wouldn’t even allow me much freedom.”

  Darber sighed. “Maybe. But I can’t guarantee you anything from this point forward. I run the odds in my head and it’s always a coin toss.” He shook his head. “I would feel like I’d be killing you if I tried to d
o it.”

  “C’mon Ron. I take the risks. You’re just the tool.”

  “Really?” Darber’s face tightened. “And if you die, I have to live with that moment every day for the rest of my life. No, Conrad, I’m not a tool. I’m a human being. This doesn’t just hurt you if it goes badly. Other people will live with the consequences of what you choose.”

  “Hey, I didn’t mean to put you down like that. I’m just being straight that it’s not on you if I don’t make it,” Conrad said.

  Darber gazed at one of the beakers on the table. The small culture inside was likely the one that helped diagnose Conrad’s current condition. “I’ll do it if you want the surgery. But you must realize things are going to change, whether we want them to or not. As much as you may want, you might not be able to stay here. I know that burns you up inside, but I have to be frank about this.”

  Conrad gripped the folds of his bedsheets. As much as he despised the thought of it, Darber was correct. “Yeah. Yeah, of course, you have to be. Look, this isn’t an easy choice to make, Ron.”

  “Maybe it’ll help if you talk it over with Camilla or Liam.”

  Conrad sighed. “I’ll decide when to tell them.”

  “Alright. But don’t take too long,” Darber said. “Time is of the essence.”

  Conrad rose from the bed. “Don’t worry.” He smiled. “Whatever I choose, it’ll be quick enough.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Conrad stirred in bed. His arm remained in its sling, undisturbed. Camilla snoozed beside him. He envied her ability to fall asleep much easier. Still, having her here filled Conrad with a measure of peace that would have been fully driven out by the news of his health and the ALA.

  If this was all about a year ago, if it was just me, it wouldn’t matter. I could stand out there and go out in a blaze of glory. But so many depend on me now. Conrad also admitted he had too much to live for now. He didn’t feel like dying just yet, but he might be a dead man walking, even if he got through this crisis with the ALA.