Stranded Box Set

by Theresa Shaver

  Looking into his eyes at that moment, something clicked into place. It was an oh, of course moment for her and she finally saw her future was with Quinn. Tearing her eyes away from him she caught sight of Cooper. He was just turning away but she caught the look of loss on his face and felt sadness for him. He would have seen it on her face. Her choice had been made and it wasn’t him.

  Chapter Thirteen

  They stayed up late into the night going over the finer points of the plan before finally crashing and sleeping as late as possible. They would try and nap as much as they could the next day as they would be staying awake and running through most of the next night while they worked to free the farms. It was just past noon when Alex and Emily stumbled out of their bunks and joined the others for some food. Quinn, Josh, and the other two boys had pulled all of the weapons they had accumulated out of the white cargo van and laid them out on the ground for an inventory. When Emily, David, and Lisa got their first look at all the weapons and ammunition cases, they were speechless. After putting aside the eight assault rifles for the group's use, they were left with thirty-five of the powerful weapons to hand out to the town’s men. There were also various shotguns, hunting rifles and handguns they’d picked up along their travels. They would be liberating the guard's weapons as well, so Quinn suggested that they hold back some of the assault rifles at camp in case something went wrong and they needed them in the future.

  Once they’d decided what they were taking to hand out to the released men, they started to load the farm truck. The plan was to drive the truck and the three ATVs as close to Quinn’s farm as they safely could before continuing on foot. When Quinn and Alex’s farms had been secured, they would go get the vehicles and move them up closer before hitting Emily and Josh’s properties. They would need them later in the plan to get in position to take out the roadblocks on all sides of town.

  While the boys loaded the truck, Alex, Emily and Lisa made food. They used both ovens in the two campers to make batch after batch of buns that they mixed cut-up canned ham in, as well as huge batches of pancakes. They wanted to be able to give the men something to eat after freeing them so they would have some strength to help attack the rest of the guards. It wasn’t much, but it felt good to have something to feed the people they were going to rescue, and it kept them busy so they didn’t dwell on what was coming that night.

  Cooper and Dara had gone to scout out the final roadblock that was missed the day before. It was better to confirm the number of guards there instead of just assuming there were four.

  Alex’s head came up from the camp stove when she heard Dara call out. She and Cooper came into the campsite and went to the map to mark in the numbers before Dara walked over to Alex. Alex frowned when Cooper avoided looking her way and tried to think of what to say to him. Dara leaned over and took a deep smell of the browning pancakes before giving Alex a light hip bump. When she got no response from her friend, she followed Alex’s line of sight until they rested on Cooper, who had dived into helping load the truck with the other boys.

  “You’re going to have to talk to him, Alex. Everyone saw the look between you and Quinn last night. It was obvious that you two are in love. Cooper’s not in a very good place right now. He still blames himself for what happened to the town and now that he knows you’ve chosen Quinn, he’s in a dark place,” Dara told her with compassion.

  Alex looked away from Cooper and flipped pancakes as she thought about what to say. She came up empty and huffed out a breath.

  “What do I do? How do I explain to him that how I feel about Quinn just clicked into place? I don’t want to hurt him but I can’t change how I feel!”

  Dara rubbed her back in sympathy. “I know Alex, and the timing sucks, but you have to talk to him. Just be honest with him. Cooper’s a really great guy and he will understand. But, Alex? You need to do it now before we leave. We need his head in the game tonight.”

  Alex nodded and took a deep breath before handing the spatula to Dara and walking over to Cooper. He looked up at her as she came close and then quickly looked away and started to walk in a different direction.

  “Cooper, please, can we talk?” she asked.

  He came to a stop and she saw his shoulders slump from behind before he turned to face her. His eyes were filled with resignation as he looked at her. She waved her hand at the nearby trees.

  “Let’s take a walk.”

  He only nodded and followed her on to a game path deeper into the forest. Once they were out of sight from the camp, she sat down on a fallen tree and patted the spot beside her, asking him to sit with her. He kept his hands in his pocket, and his dark-blue eyes were unreadable before finally sitting down with a sigh. Alex pulled a piece of long grass from the ground and fiddled with it as she tried to think of what to say. She gave up and dropped it to the ground before starting with the easier issue.

  “Why do you keep blaming yourself for what happened to our town?”

  His eyes showed surprise at the topic, as it wasn’t what he thought she was going to say, and then he frowned and looked away without answering so she kept talking.

  “Would you blame Dara for her mom being a drunk? Or Lisa? Her mother’s ice-cold attitude and working with the gang?” When he only shook his head, she asked, “Then why do you blame yourself for your dad’s actions? He made those choices, not you. You were thousands of miles away when it happened. How can you be to blame for any of it?”

  Cooper scuffed his feet in the dirt and still didn’t look at her when he replied. “In my head, I agree with you, but my heart feels guilty like somehow I could have stopped him or made him a better person. I don’t know…it’s weird! I just can’t stop feeling guilty. Besides, no matter what happens tonight and tomorrow no one in that town will ever forget who my father was and they will always blame me in some way.” He finally turned and looked directly at her. His eyes were sad but resolved. “When this is all over, I’m going to have to leave. I can’t stay here Alex. I’m sorry.”

  She scowled at him. “What are you talking about? You can’t leave! Where would you go? Cooper, this is your home!”

  He slowly shook his head and a small smile crossed his face at her outraged tone. “It’s not. It’s not my home anymore, Alex. You didn’t hear the venom in that girl’s voice when I told her my name. That’s just a small sample of what it would be like living here.”

  Alex got up and paced around in frustration. She turned to him and threw her hands up.

  “They will know that you’re a hero! We’ll tell them about how we made it across two countries and we wouldn’t have been able to do that without you having our backs the whole way. We’ll tell them how you fought to free them and their families! They’ll know you’re nothing like your father!”

  Cooper had leaned back and was admiring her angry tirade. She was so pretty and full of life. His feelings for her surged and he forced himself to finish it.

  “It’s not only that, Alex. I’m in love with you and it would kill me to see you with Quinn every day.”

  Alex froze at his words and a soft “oh” escaped her as she felt her eyes prick with tears. She fought to find the words to explain.

  “Cooper, I…it just, I didn’t…Arggg!” She spun away from him and kicked at a tree in frustration at the hurt she could see in his eyes. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before trying again.

  “Quinn has been beside me since we were little. It feels like he’s always been there and last night…I finally realized that he hasn’t just been beside me, but inside of me too. My heart, he fills my heart. I’m so sorry.”

  Cooper leaned forward and picked an early spring daisy. He stood up and walked up to her and handed it to her.

  “Never apologize for love, Alex. You and Quinn were made for each other. I’m happy for you. I mean it!” he said as she gave him a questioning look. “You guys are the best friends I’ve ever had. We’re going to take back the town and kick some butt. We’ll figure ou
t the rest later, okay?”

  Alex nodded and leaned in and kissed Cooper on the cheek. “Thanks for being such a great guy, Cooper. I’m so glad you left Disneyland with us.”

  Cooper smiled at her. “Me too. You should go on back. I just need a few minutes, okay?”

  Alex nodded and held up the daisy and winked at him before turning and heading back to the campsite. Cooper sat back down on the fallen tree and watched her go. He was grateful for her support but he knew there was nothing left for him here. Once they had the town back, he knew he would slip away and try to find somewhere else he could call home.

  When Alex walked back into the campsite, her eyes went to Quinn and she felt a quiver in her stomach at the look he gave her. She tore her eyes away from him and went to help the girls fill plastic bags with all the food they’d made. She hoped there would be plenty of time in the coming days for her and Quinn to deal with the emotions they were feeling. Right now, though, they needed to focus on the plan.

  They spent the rest of the afternoon trying to nap to get rested up for the night ahead. After a filling supper of stew and baked buns, they loaded the last supplies they were taking and headed out. Alex drove the farm truck with Lisa and Emily in the cab beside her. Cooper and Dara sat in the bed of the truck while Quinn, David, and Josh followed behind on the ATVs. Alex kept the truck’s speed down so the boys could keep up, and also to keep the noise down. Her shoulders were tense and her hands sweated on the steering wheel. She was so worried that they would get caught at this crucial stage. Her shoulders relaxed with relief when they left the pavement and headed down a dirt road to where they would leave the vehicles. When she came to the end of the road, she flipped the truck around so it was pointed back the way they’d come and shut it off. She left the keys under the floor mat so they would be easy to find when they came back for the truck later that night.

  They had given themselves plenty of time to get to Quinn’s farm before dark. They would be carrying a lot of supplies through the trees and they wouldn’t be able to move as fast as before. The boy’s backpacks were filled with ammunition, and the girls had food and water. Everyone slung as many rifles as they could and they covered what they left behind in the truck with a tarp. Walking through the trees being so weighted down was a challenge, and it was slow going. They took breaks and after an hour they finally came to the clearing where their tree house was built. After a quick look to make sure it was clear, the group entered it and dumped the supplies against the trunk of the tree in relief.

  Quinn, Alex, and Josh left the others there and carried some of the supplies to the spot that she and Emily had used to spy on Quinn’s farm when they’d scouted it out. There was still an hour before the sun went down and they wanted to take a look at the farm before they lost the light.

  Alex scaled the same tree and used the binoculars to scan the farm yard. There was no butchering going on this time and she could see men walking in from the far fields to the barnyard. They were setting up tables and Alex guessed that they were getting ready to feed the workers their nightly meal. There were only four guards in the yard that she could see, but the other two might be bringing people in from the fields. Alex tried to find Quinn’s grandfather in the men crowding into the yard but he wasn’t in sight. Her pulse went up when her mind flashed to the pit at the dump filled with elderly people. She silently prayed that the guards were smart enough to know the value of Harry Dennison’s vast knowledge of farming. Her breath left her in a whoosh when she finally spotted him standing by a water trough that was being filled with water by a hand pump. She watched for a while, as men came up and scooped water out to wash off some of the dirt of the day before heading to the food line. When Harry turned his head in the direction of the trees, Alex felt like he was looking right at her. She knew that was impossible and the sun was going down behind her, with no tell-tale reflection coming from her glasses this time. A small smile crossed her face. Harry knew someone had been watching them a few days before and he was looking at the trees in hope that someone was coming to help them. She wished she could give him a signal but in a few hours it wouldn’t matter anyway. He would be free.

  Alex swung her glasses away from the man and did another search for the two missing guards. When she saw them walking behind the last of the men coming in from the fields, she dropped the glasses back into her shirt and climbed back down the tree to Quinn and Josh. The smile must have still been on her face because they gave her a weird look so she told them what had happened the first time with the binoculars and how Harry had warned her with a hand gesture. Quinn just smiled but Josh started to laugh.

  “I’ve got five bucks that says your grandpa doesn’t even blink an eye when we open up that barn later. I’ve got another five that says he asks us what took so long!”

  Alex snorted a laugh and threw her arm around Quinn. “Can’t you just hear him? ‘Did you bring me back a bottle of Crown from the duty-free store at the border?’”

  Quinn dropped a kiss on Alex’s head. “God, I miss him. I can’t wait for this to be over,” he murmured against her hair.

  Josh beamed at him like a proud father. “Look at you two! If this was high school, you’d be king and queen of the rebels!”

  Alex rolled her eyes at him and pulled out the binoculars and offered them to Quinn. “Do you want to go up and take a look?” she asked, waving at the tree.

  He flexed his healing leg and looked up into the branches before nodding. “It’s been a while, but yeah, I think I can do it.”

  Josh gave him a disbelieving look. “Dude, if you fall out of that tree right before the big raid, you’re going to be pissed!”

  Quinn gave him a withering look and took the glasses from Alex. “At least I won’t break half the branches on the way up and down, you lumbering fool!”

  Josh lifted his nose in mock disdain. “What can I say? I make my presence known wherever I go,” he said in a haughty, high-class voice.

  Quinn didn’t respond but a smirk crossed his face as he turned and studied the lowest hanging branches. Josh gave a long-suffering sigh as he came over and cupped his hands to give Quinn a lift up. Once he was over the first branch, Quinn quickly disappeared from view. Alex sat down next to the supplies and stifled a yawn. The waiting was draining and she just wanted to get moving with the plan. She pulled out some jerky and handed a piece to Josh. They worked on the meat for a while and Alex got tired of Josh shooting her looks so she asked him,

  “What?”

  He looked up into the tree and not seeing Quinn, gave her a devilish grin. “About time!”

  Alex shook her head and asked again, “What?”

  “You and Quinn! It’s about time. I’ve been waiting for you two to figure out you belong together for a few years now.”

  She raised her eyebrows at him. “Really, sort of like you and Dara? How long have you been sitting on those feelings? Hmm?” she asked sarcastically.

  Josh ducked his head and his cheeks flushed red before he mumbled, “Just sayin’!”

  He was saved by the rustle of leaves above as Quinn made his way down the tree and joined them. Quinn had a light in his eyes that made Alex smile.

  “Did you see your grandpa?” she asked him.

  “Yup! He was getting a bowl of food and then he turned and looked right over here before going into the barn. He definitely thinks something’s up. The guards put a beam across the doors of the barn once all the workers were inside. I counted six of them before they went into the house. Let’s go get the others and get back here. I want us all to move forward to the tree line and watch for a bit before we lose all the light. We need to make sure that they aren’t doing patrols. When we hit them, it would be great if they were all in the house.” He paused and bit his lip in thought. “Emily said Dr. Mack told you guys that there were some men on your farm that stayed in the house with the guards, right?”

  Alex made a face in disgust. “Yeah, he said there were ten men that worked for the gu
ards for extra food. Why? What did you see?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing. The only people that went in the house were the six guards. I guess nobody here sold out.”

  Josh smirked. “More like, nobody wanted to cross your grandpa! Can you imagine having to face him every day if you picked the wrong side? That would just be stupid!”

  Alex nodded her head in appreciation. “He’s right, Quinn. Harry’s probably the most respected man from here to Red Deer. No one would want to be on his bad side if they could help it.”

  Quinn laughed softly, “Grandpa might be old but he’s definitely a force to be reckoned with. Anyway, that leaves us with just the six guards to take out. Josh, you and I’ll stay here and Alex can go back to get the others and then we’ll get in place. We need a little light to see by to get ready so let’s get going.”

  Alex swung her rifle onto her back and took off through the trees to get the rest of the group. She was happy to be moving and anxious to start the plan they’d come up with. It was just the first step in freeing the town, but the next step was freeing her father.

  She and the others made it back to Quinn and Josh just as the sun was setting. The forest was dim and getting darker by the minute. Quinn went over the first part of the plan one last time.

  “Okay, it’s almost go time guys, so pay attention. We’ll move to the tree line until we can see the house. It will be dark but there should be lights in the windows, either lanterns or candles so we’ll be able to see it. We stay still and watch for an hour to let them get settled in, then at my signal, we move in. We use the barn, shed and anything else we come across as cover until we can get up beside the house. Leave the barn alone. Don’t try and make contact at all. The last thing we want is to give ourselves away. We can deal with opening the barn after we have the guards secured. Once we get to the house, we need to be completely silent. We need to try and find out where they are in the house, so I’m going to do some window peeking. Hopefully, they will all be on the main floor and we can split into two groups and come in from the front and back door. If any of them are upstairs we’ll have to split up even further and send some of us up. We won’t know until I can get a look inside.”