“Don’t be afraid to eat the little cracklings you will have floating in the fat when it’s cooked. Just be sure to strain the small pieces out before you make the pemmican or it will spoil fast,” Carlos had written.
While John was busy talking about their accomplishments, Lucy and Mary needed to continue with their creation. They didn’t know if they could leave it to sit for any length of time, or if they needed to finish it right then.
Lucy sat trying to decipher Carlos’s handwriting. With her finger she scanned down the page, her eyes following along. “You’re kidding me. How can this be?”
Every head turned to look at her. She shifted uncomfortably on the bench, “Sorry, I was talking to myself. I was reading the rest of the recipe, and it says right here, that if we did this right, it would not spoil for a very long time if ever. He said it doesn’t have to be refrigerated, just sealed in an airtight container.”
“That can’t be good. Everything spoils if it’s not refrigerated.”
Sam looked at John and laughed, “I don’t think the trappers or Indians had refrigeration.”
“And we learned in school they used pemmican as travel food and the trappers and settlers learned to make if for themselves,” Lucas told them.
Lucy stirred the renderings, and she saw what Carlos had been writing about. The mixture of particles and fat no longer bubbled as it cooked. “Do we have a strainer?”
Mary raised her eyebrows, “I don’t think so, but if Carlos made this recently he would have one.”
“Tell me where and I’ll go and get it,” Lucas volunteered.
Mary told him, and with a nod from John, Matt went with him. “No one goes anywhere alone or unarmed. How many times do I have to say this?”
“Now John, they’re right here on our property. Surely we’re safe here now.”
“Maybe for right now we are, but we thought the same thing last week when those men killed and butchered our cattle. We have to be more careful in the future.”
“How could we know they were here? You said yourself, you didn’t expect people would be out in the weather.”
“Oh come on Mary, if we had some kind of security going, we wouldn’t have lost any of them. I want it to be second nature to carry a firearm even if you’re going to the outhouse.”
Everyone was getting used to the back and forth that went on between Mary and John. Sam had commented to Gina that they had always been like that and to take it with a grain of salt.
Gina wondered what had happened to the fierce woman she had met when they had first approached the cabin. The Mary they had now was far different from the woman they had first met. Gina wondered if they were all getting too complacent. She thought that maybe John was right, but carrying a gun to the outhouse seemed a little excessive.
They could hear Lucas and Matt returning long before they ever reached the building. It was hard to believe they were involved in the apocalypse, as loud as they were.
John grimaced as we listened to their approach, “Sometimes it’s hard to believe he’s a teenager, he acts so adult, and the next second he sounds like a little kid. I just don’t know how to get through to him we need to be quiet.”
“I’ll talk to him if you want,” Sam offered. “Sometimes it comes easier to hear it from someone else besides your own father.”
“I guess you would know,” John laughed.
“I wasn’t that bad!”
John cocked his head and looked at Sam through one open eye, “Tell that to the old man. Why, I remember him having to dunk you in the stock tank…”
Mary cleared her throat loudly, and everyone laughed taking the hint from Mary.
Gina looked at Sam, silently asking for the rest of the story. He grinned back at her and winked. She couldn’t tell if he would elaborate or not, but it was obviously something not meant for the children’s ears.
“Lucy, this is ready. What does Carlos say we do next?” Mary had strained the fat and now had about two quarts of crystal clear fat.
Lucy read the page of the journal and turned it over to mark her place. This is where we can mix anything dried into the meat. She went and looked in one of their food totes. “We have these freeze dried packages of,” She paused to read the labels, “Strawberries, blueberries, and apples or dried bananas. We can mix a little of each in or do you want to keep them separate?”
“Let's just make up one batch tonight, and you pick one. I hate to waste the fruit if this batch is a failure.”
Mary pulled the pan of dried meat out of the oven. She looked at it with a critical eye, “It looks dry, in fact maybe too dry.”
Lucy looked at the pan, “I don’t think it can be too dry. He said to mix whatever dry ingredients in with the meat and then measure it out. It’s a two to one ratio. Two of the meat to one of the fat.”
Mary set the bowl of the pieces they had strained out of the fat on the table. “Carlos said these are good to eat.”
Lucas and Matt both reached for the bowl. When Lucas stuck his piece in his mouth, a look of pleasure crossed his face as he crunched. Matt followed suit and then grinned as he chewed. “It’s good. Kind of like those pork rinds we used to get at the store.” He reached for another piece.
Mary had chopped the dried strawberries into small pieces and then used a rolling pin to turn it into powder, and Lucy mixed it into the meat until she had a good blend. Mary poured the measure of hot fat into the meat and berry mix while Lucy stirred. She frowned down into the bowl, “Is that it? We’re done?”
“Nope, it says that now we can add peanut butter or honey or syrup. I put the honey on the table.”
Mary nodded and using a spoon, put several tablespoonfuls in while Lucy continued to mix it. The mixture had begun the thicken as it cooled.
“Do we have a pan to put this in, or what? Carlos said we can put it in a pan and cut it into squares when it’s cool, or we can shape it into balls. Then we just put it somewhere cool until it hardens and it’s done.”
Mary spread it out in a cookie sheet using a spatula. As it cooled, it became thicker, and Mary realized she needed to spread it quickly before she had one large lump of pemmican.
Looking at their handiwork, they both leaned over and sniffed it. “It smells like fruit, I guess. It sure doesn’t smell like the first batch.”
Mary laughed and agreed, “This smells good, unlike the first batch. I think we got the first one too hot and maybe burned it a little bit, and I don’t think we had the meat dry enough either.”
“Trial and error. I don’t think the trappers or Indians got it right the first time either.”
Mary looked into the Dutch oven at the amount of processed fat they had left. She used both hands to rub her back and groaned. “I don’t suppose we can wait until tomorrow to finish this? My back is killing me from bending over.”
Lucy sighed, “As much as I’d like to say yes, I don’t know, and Carlos doesn’t say. I think we should put that fat back on the stove to keep it hot while I make up some more powdered fruit because he does say fruit powder.”
By the time they finished the pemmican, they had two cooky sheets, one of strawberry and honey and one with banana and peanut butter and everyone, but Gina, Sam, John, and Ben had gone to bed.
Using the tent for their family meals and cooking had seemed the best option. Putting the sleeping cots inside of Sam’s man cave provided a place for everyone to sleep out of the elements, but little room to gather and inconvenient if someone had gone to bed early. They had no privacy other than using the bathroom for changing and personal uses, but they were all protected from the outside elements.
With Ben, Lucy and Abby in the trailer down below and Janice, Mike and their kids in the rescued trailer they all had a warm place to sleep.
After cutting a hole in the roof for the stovepipe, the small pot-bellied stove from the building had been moved to Mike’s trailer to heat it. The biggest problem they now faced was the over-heating. The smallest of fires pro
vided more than enough warmth to keep the family warm.
They no longer had a heat source in the man cave, but with ten people sleeping in the room, they created their own heat. They knew once winter really set in they would have to figure something else out, but they only slept in the room, so right then a heat source wasn’t an issue.
John and the men had set the tent up under the roof of the hay shed, and with the extension of some used pipe and tools that Carlos had, they were able to run the pipe up and through the metal roof. Hay bales were stacked up four bales high around the outside of the tent for insulation.
When the fire in the cook stove had been banked for the night, Lucy filled their cups with the last of the coffee and sat down at the table.
“Do I get the feeling that this meeting or whatever you call it was planned?” Lucy looked around, and it seemed to her that everyone wore a look of surprise.
“It wasn’t planned, but maybe it’s a good idea. It doesn’t seem like we’re all together at the same time. Seems every time I turn around Sam and Gina are headed off somewhere.”
John laughed when he said it to take the sting out of his words, but Gina wondered why he would mention them if he didn’t believe them. Granted, she and Sam had been gone, but for the benefit of the group. They had salvaged goods, rescued the goats and chickens and at the same time done some reconnaissance of the surrounding area. Did John feel they weren’t doing their share in setting up their camp? Could he really believe she and Sam would rather be traipsing around the country than helping to secure their camp…”
“You’re frowning, and I’ve learned that is not always a good thing,” Sam whispered to her.
Gina leaned close to Sam, “I just realized something about myself, and it took John’s words for me to see it.”
“Tell me after,” he said and nudged her knee with his.
Gina realized that Ben was missing and she hadn’t seen or heard him go. She looked at Lucy. Lucy had always been good at reading Gina’s expressions and didn’t disappoint her today.
“Ben went to find Andy and Journey and let Mike and Jance know we still have some coffee.”
Gina nodded. When she looked at Lucy, Gina was amazed how well her friend was doing. Not only with her physical handicap, but with her personal life as well and she practically glowed, and Gina saw a determination in Lucy’s eyes she had never had since Gina met her.
Gina had no idea if it was because she had found that her own inner-strength had returned, or because of the addition of Ben and Abby in her life.
They had apparently provided something that she and Journey could not. Gina was okay with that. Obviously, Lucy was happy.
Gina hadn’t given any serious thought to her and Sam, but he seemed to think they had something, and Gina was pretty sure that Journey and Andy could be labeled a couple. Gina shook her head and laughed silently, two months ago, they had been at the end of their three-week vacation, oblivious to the events that had devastated the country. Now two months later, they had saved lives, taken lives, seen how low mankind could sink, and formed a camaraderie with people they may have never noticed back in the real world.
Mike put his head in the tent opening, “Ben said you wanted to see us?”
John waved them in. He and Sam had their heads together and seemed to be quietly arguing. Gina had been lost in her own thoughts and hadn’t noticed or felt the tension that now filled the tent. She looked at Mary, who was standing behind John. The concern on her face worried Gina, and she could see the hard line of Sam’s jaw. Gina wondered how he was able to speak with his jaw clenched as tightly as it was.
The two men sat straight, glaring at each other. She couldn’t imagine what either of them could have said to upset the other, but they were probably all going to find out. Their discourse was interrupted by voices outside the tent. Gina sighed, still wondering what had upset the men.
Janice and Mike came in followed by Ben, Andy, and Journey. Gina didn’t have to ask what Journey and Andy had been up to. Their flushed faces said it all. Gina gave Journey her best, “I know what you were doing!” face and grinned at her. Journey covertly stuck her tongue out and rolled her eyes. Gina almost burst into laughter because it was such an un-Journey mannerism.
They had all agreed that no one had perfected the technique of the eye-roll as well as Gina. Anymore, she wasn’t even conscious of using it, but knew that she did.
As soon as they were all sitting, they looked to John. He cleared his throat, “It has been brought to my attention,” he glared pointedly at Sam, “That we not only need to take our security seriously but that we need to find out what's going on around us. My brother seems to think we’re going to be attacked in our sleep.”
“Dammit John! That’s not fair, and you know it. Look what happened with the cattle. Those guys could have easily assaulted us while we slept.”
“But they didn’t, and we took care of them. They won’t be bothering anyone ever again.”
“At least not that bunch, but what about the next and the next after that? Or did you think they are going to be the only group out there with the idea of killing and stealing what they want?”
“You forget, that we are out here in the middle of nowhere. The closest big towns are more than fifty miles away. I don’t believe for one minute that our neighbors have been reduced to killing just to survive. No, actually I won’t believe it. They are not animals!”
Sam looked at Gina, and she felt as if his look was asking her permission to reveal the depravity of their neighbors. As much as she hated the idea of verbally reliving the nightmare at Matt’s, maybe they had been wrong to not say anything in the beginning. As much as she found it repugnant, Gina nodded, but held her hand up to stop him.
Gina looked around the table, “What Sam is going to tell you is just about the worst thing you will ever hear. Mary, Janice,” she met both of their eyes, “You may not want to hear once he gets started, but you need to listen anyhow.” Gina nodded at Sam to go ahead.
Gina tried to close her ears off to Sam’s words. She didn’t need to hear it again, she relived it most nights already. Gina looked around the table witnessing the expressions of horror and disbelief in front of her. She saw John’s face when he realized that Sam was talking about his closest neighbors and not a casual acquaintance from over the hill. The parents, of one of their own.
“You can’t breathe a word of this to Mathew!”
“Gina’s right. He can never hear of this. It is over and done with.”
John nodded along with the rest of the people around the table. Gina saw when John’s spine stiffened and she wondered if he had finally come to realize how tenacious their predicament was.
Gina thought that John should have been the natural patriarch of their group. Him being older would be the first reason and having the most to lose, simply by having a family to protect, the other.
Gina had seen a vulnerability in him, in his words and his inability the past few days to make a decision or assume the role as head of the family. He hadn’t found the strength to assign the kids to specific chores, and they had all scrambled to do whatever they found necessary without having a set plan.
With Gina and the others being left over the top of the rise when the men went down, they hadn’t witnessed what had happened. In private, Sam had told them John’s role in dispatching all of the men. Gina knew there was more to the story by the haunted look in Sam’s eyes and had pressed him until he finally confessed the story of the woman and girl. Sam said it had taken something out of John to see that the women had been stripped, tortured, beaten to death and then raped after the fact. John had taken the women’s deaths personally.
While John had seemed to be okay, or as okay as a man could be after killing seven men, it was obvious it had been his rage and a heat of the moment reaction. His heightened adrenaline level had allowed him to do what he would never have done under normal circumstances. Once he had had enough time to dwell on it, Gin
a would have been surprised if he had not been plagued by nightmares and feelings of guilt.
She had spoken with Journey, and while neither had been psych nurses, they had worked with enough veterans to recognize post-traumatic stress disorder. The lack of direction, the inability to make decisions and carry a thought from start to completion. Black shading around his eyes confirmed he hadn’t been sleeping.
It seemed to Gina that the past couple of days, that Sam had stepped in to fill the role of leader. He spoke with conviction when he stated his views on transients which would include neighbors and probably anyone not already associated with their group.
Later, walking down to see the horses, Sam reached for and took Gina by the hand. He put it in the crook of his arm and smiled at her.
“What happened to John’s talk with Mark? I thought he was getting over feeling so depressed, but lately, he almost seems worse.”
“I haven’t talked to John or Mark about it, but you’re right. I’m not so sure if it has anything to do with those guys. I think it’s all about the future.”
Gina chewed on her bottom lip, thinking about what she wanted to say. “I saw him counting our bullets yesterday. He had them all laid out according to caliber. And to tell you the truth, I was wondering about them myself.”
Sam sighed, “It isn’t good. We have about a thousand for the AR’s and two hundred for Ben’s M4. I still haven’t figured out how he got that, but I’m happy that he does. There are still the two boxes of shell you have for your 30-30, and we’re okay for 9mm and the 45’s.”
“That sounds like an awful lot of ammunition to me. I don’t think we ever took the boxes of 38 bullets out of my bags. There should be four or five boxes of them, and at least one full box and a partial for my 357.”
Sam laughed, “If it gets as bad as John thinks, we won’t have enough for good defense. The only good thing is we’re off of the beaten path by being back here.”
Beyond the New Horizon (Book 2): Desperate Times Page 21
