Endless Winter Box Set: Books 1 - 4

by Theresa Shaver

  Lance joins the discussion. “I think Calgary might be something we should take into consideration for the future. We’re going to have to stay at the camp at least until we can harvest everything we’re growing but that doesn’t mean that it has to be our permanent home. If those soldiers truly are going to be a threat to us we should consider a few different contingency plans. After we finish here today and make it back home, we should sit down with the others and have a meeting about it. Now that we know where they are and what they’re doing, that makes me concerned about what’s going to happen this winter. Right now we haven’t had reason to have many campfires but once the weather turns were going to be running our fires day and night to stay warm. That’s going to send up a smoke trail that anybody who’s watching will easily be able to find. Yes, I definitely think we should have a meeting with the others and maybe look at relocating once the harvest is in. it would be a lot easier for us to make a move on our own terms rather than be forced out if we have to run from an attack.”

  We are all silent after that as each one of us contemplates what it would mean to our group if we have to go to battle against those soldiers. It is not too long after that when we come over a rise in the road and I can clearly make out the skyline of Calgary’s downtown skyscrapers and tower. Lance slows the truck down until he spots a break in the guardrail where emergency vehicles used to be able to cross the median and pulls to a stop. I look through the windshield and see about twenty feet ahead of us a faded and vandalized sign, welcoming travelers to Calgary. Just past that, I can see two huge ski jumps on the side of a hill with large, expensive looking houses above them on a ridge.

  We get the six travelers out of the back of the truck and cut off the zip ties securing them before sending them on their way. Five of them walk away without a second glance back at us but Megan turns and gives us a sad little wave before running ahead to catch up with her companions. As we all get back into the truck, I take another look at the skyline of the city and wonder if all my planning to relocate to the summer camp had been a mistake. Maybe we should have headed here in the first place. But then again, who knows how many survivors make this city their home and if it wouldn’t have just been trading one war for another.

  Chapter Eleven … Skylar

  It only takes us fifteen minutes to get back to the overpass where we ran into the travelers but now I’m impatient to get this over with and get back to the camp. This no longer feels like a fun scavenging run. We always assumed that some of the soldiers would make their way to the growing fields but now having it confirmed and knowing it’s some of the worst of the soldiers leaves me feeling sick to my stomach that at any time our camp might be detected and attacked by them. I can’t seem to shake the feeling that we’ve been living on borrowed time this past month and a half. We knew all along that we might have to defend the camp but the encounter with Megan has thrown a switch in me and I can’t help but feel an urgency to do something, to prepare more for what might happen. It’s amazing how just one short hour ago I was content with the way things were going and had hope for a continued peaceful existence at the camp when now all I want to do is rush back, rip everything that’s ripe from the gardens, pack up all our stuff and get out of the area completely.

  The tension in the truck tells me I’m not the only one having these thoughts as Lance drives slowly down the street with industrial buildings on either side. He drives past three different RV dealerships and the chain link fenced lots filled with rows of campers surrounding them as we check out the rest of the area. We come to the end of the road and as he turns the truck around to go back, I spot something that might save us a lot of time here. I point to the building that caught my eye.

  “Look there! Hearth Custom Fireplace Designs. Maybe they’ve got what we need?”

  Lance applies the brakes and leans closer to the windshield to get a better look at the sign on the plain industrial building before leaning back with a small smile.

  “Good eyes, Skylar. That might be even better than propane heaters. It makes sense that they’d be out here on the outskirts too. They probably have a forge in there somewhere for the metal work and the yard would give them the space they needed for the natural stone for the hearts. If these guys stocked pellet stoves then it’s our lucky day!”

  He drives up into the parking lot and pulls in sideways in front of the doors before putting the truck in park.

  “All right, two of us go in and clear the building and two of us stay out here as lookouts. If they have what we need, I will drive the truck around to the back and hopefully they’ll have a loading dock we can use. Everybody stay on alert. There’s no sense letting your guard down now.”

  Marsh and I volunteer to stay outside to keep a lookout while Lance and Joslin head inside after prying the front doors open with a crowbar. We take a few minutes to scan the area and when we find nothing moving we lean against the side of the truck facing the road. Marsh keeps sending me looks from the corner of his eyes until I finally get tired of his hedging and ask him, “What? If you have something to say, just say it!”

  He scuffs the toe of his boot against the pavement a few times in hesitation. This is so weird! I’ve never seen Marsh this way before. Usually he’s pretty blunt and willing to say the craziest things to get a reaction. Whatever it is that he wants to say to me must be important to him. He finally lets out a deep breath and turns to me.

  “So… um… Has Joslin, like, ever said anything to you… About me?”

  I have to bite back my first reaction which is to bend over belly laughing. This is so teenage drama that it’s hard to contain. But then I remember how I felt when I first met Rex and how idiotic I felt over my crazy feelings for him. So instead I keep my smile small and feel him out a bit more about this.

  “What about Sasha? I thought you had a thing for her.”

  He rolls his eyes at me and then looks away with the shake of his head. “I kind of came to the conclusion that Sasha’s always going to be my little sister. And in case you haven’t noticed, since you and Rex have kind of cemented the couple thing, she’s turned her puppy dog eyes on Jackson.”

  I make a, “hmm” noise in the back of my throat before replying. “I see, so you’re just going to move on to the next available girl, is that it?”

  His head swings back my way with an outraged expression. “What? No! That’s not how it is at all. I really like Joslin. She’s so smart and cool, not to mention how pretty she is. I swear when she hits me with those cool gray eyes I just freeze in place. Even if there were ten other available girls around I’d still be interested in her!”

  I hold up my hand in a stop gesture. “Okay Romeo, cool your jets. I was just checking! I really like Joslin too and I just wanted to make sure that you liked her for the right reasons. As for her mentioning you, no, she hasn’t said anything really but I have caught her looking at you a few times with a bit of sparkle in her eyes. I’ll tell you what, because I never got to have a normal teenage social life, I’ll play high school drama for you. Once we get back to camp, I’ll feel her out on what she thinks of you. Once I have some answers, I’ll write it down in a note and I’ll pass it to you discreetly during study hall. Most likely they’ll be a box or two for you to check asking if you want to go out with her!”

  The glare he sends my way at my teasing breaks through my restraint and I end up bending over and getting that deep belly laugh I held back earlier. He’s saved from saying anything else when Lance pops his head out of the doors and calls our names.

  “Hey you two, come on in here and help Joslin pack up some of this stuff. We found everything we need so I’m going to drive the truck around to the back to load it all.”

  Marsh gives me one more unimpressed look before stomping away past his dad into the building. Lance has a confused expression on his face when he turns to me.

  “What was that all about?”

  I shrug my shoulders and roll my eyes. “Who knows? Teenage boys a
re weird!”

  I can’t help but giggle at his completely baffled look as I sail past him into the store. I find Marsh and Joslin back in a storage room where they’re muscling a weird-looking stove onto a dolly. Joslin points at three more similar looking models and uses the back of her hand to wipe sweat from her forehead.

  “Lance wants us to take four of these as well as all those bags of pellets over there. There’s another couple of dollies just down the hallway if you want to bring them in and start stacking the bags. He also wants us to grab any ducting or pipework they have here to go with these.” She looks around the dim room with a pleased smile. “These are such a great find! The brochure for these bad boys says that each one of these forty pound bags of pellets will burn for 24 hours and that the fire is almost smokeless. There’s a bunch of pallets of these bags in the back area of the store but we’re going to have to try and find more if we can. Lance says that he thinks most of the big box home improvement stores carry them so we’ll probably have to make another scavenging run but this time we’ll have to go into the city for it. Keep your eyes open for a phone book and grab it if you see one. Sadly I can’t google the closest locations to us,” she says with a laugh.

  We get to work loading up all the bags that the store contains. Joslin and I work on the bags while Marsh and Lance focus on the heavier stoves. We’re all tired and sweaty not to mention hungry by the time we get the last of it loaded into the back of the cargo truck so we take a break to hydrate and eat a quick lunch.

  Lance drains the last of his water and stuffs the bottle back into his pack to be refilled once we’re back at the camp and then looks at us.

  “So even though we found what I think we’ll need for heating, I’d like to do a run through of the RV places as well. I’d like to grab all the propane bottles that we can find as well as any camp stoves they have there. We’re already here so it makes sense to get everything we can. You can never go wrong with having backups for your backups!”

  I take the last bite of my cheese and tomato sandwich that Belle had packed for us for lunch and amuse myself by watching Marsh trying to covertly steal glances at an oblivious Joslin. I was only teasing him when I said that I had seen her sending him secret glances so I’m a little bit surprised when it actually happens. When Marsh leans over to close his pack, Joslin takes the opportunity to look at him. Her eyes might not be full of stars and little hearts but there’s definitely interest in her gaze. I laugh to myself as I head over and climb into the truck. The way things are going we can have ourselves a regular TV teen drama on our hands. Rex and I could be the reliable couple that stays together through thick and thin. Marsh and Joslin could be the couple that never has the courage to declare their feelings for each other even though the viewers know they’re meant to be. And knowing Sasha, her and Jackson could be the couple that breaks up and makes up on every episode. I have a silly grin plastered across my face when Joslin climbs in beside me.

  She gives me a look and a small smile in return and asks, “What? What’s so funny?”

  I shake my head innocently and say in an announcer’s voice, “These are the days of our lives… Teen Edition!”

  At her completely confused expression I just give up and laugh out loud. Lance gets in beside me behind the wheel and looks from me to Joslin and then shakes his head.

  “Uh, Skylar, are you feeling all right?”

  I laugh even more at that and just motion for him to get going. Although I still have concerns about the General’s men being in our area, it’s nice to just be happy for a little while, even if it is over something as silly as teenage romance.

  We make quick work of scavenging the RV centers with Lance and Marsh focusing on hauling out as many propane bottles as they can find. Joslin and I focus on the accessories in the parts stores attached to the dealerships. We grab huge amounts of RV toilet paper as well as tarps, tie downs and even some fishing gear that was on display. The best find by far though comes at the second RV location. They have an entire display set up with cast iron cookware to be used over an open fire and alongside that are two racks of dehydrated campfire meals. There is everything from cornbread with jalapenos to beef stew with dumplings. I’m completely shocked that not one item seems to have been taken from those racks when there was enough food on them to last a person a good month. It probably won’t go more than a week with the number of people we have, but it’s still a real bonus of a find.

  Once we have scavenged all three locations, we load back up into our now mostly full cargo truck and head back to the highway toward the camp. For the first part of the drive everyone is in a good mood from the successful day of scavenging but the closer we get to the exit to the growing fields the tenser the mood in the truck gets. I think we all hold our breath when the sign for the exit comes into view until we were a good two miles past the area. I don’t know what I was expecting to happen, maybe a bunch of soldiers shooting at us, but nothing did. We didn’t hear gunfire and we didn’t see anyone anywhere near the road. By the time we reach our exit to the camp I find myself exhausted from all the different emotions that I have run through today and I’m ready to spend some time just relaxing and having fun with either Ben or Rex.

  When we pull up to the gates, it takes a few minutes but Jackson appears up on the guard platform we built by the gate and gives us a thumbs up before disappearing again to climb down and open them for us. The first thing I see when we pull through is Rex stationed behind Ben and Matty at the swing set where he’s alternating pushing them. All the tension of the day flows out of my body at seeing the people I love the most, safe and sound. That thought makes me pause for a moment. As I stare at a smiling Rex who’s started walking our way, I realize that not all of what’s going around is teen drama after all. It’s love. Holy Frack! I’m in love with Rex! The craziest part about that is…I’m totally okay with it.

  Chapter Twelve … Rex

  Skylar seems different since she got back yesterday. When she looks at me now it’s almost like her gaze has more depth to it. Whatever it is, I like it. It makes me want to be with her even more than I did before. She’s the last thing I think about when I close my eyes at night and the first thing I think about when I open them in the morning. I’m not really sure what that means for a relationship but I know I want more of it.

  I’m leaning up against the wall in the dining room, waiting for everybody to come in so we can get our meeting started. Lance said he wanted to talk to us all about some contingency plans and what we’re going to do in the future. I’m not sure what that means because as far as I know, things have been going really well here and we’re on track to have a decent harvest in the next month but I’m open to anything as long as we’re all together. I push off from the wall when Skylar comes through the door of the kitchen drying her hands with a towel. Joslin’s on her heels doing the same thing. It was their turn on clean-up crew so they’ve spent the last half an hour washing dishes and scrubbing pots. When her eyes lift and meet mine across the room, her footsteps falter for a moment and then quicken as a beautiful smile spreads across her face. This is crazy, we just saw each other over breakfast so how can I feel like I missed her. I stop thinking about my feelings when she reaches me and leans against my chest and just let myself feel my feelings instead. She leans back from me, grabs my hand and leads me over to the table where Joslin has settled. We sit down just as everyone else comes into the room and joins us.

  Lance has his serious face on as he takes his place at the end of the table with Ethan beside him. Marsh, Sasha, Belle, and Jackson quickly join us and take seats at the table. We all turn to stare at Lance expectantly and wait for him to begin. When he sees that he has our attention he starts the meeting.

  “Yesterday was a success. We found exactly what we need for an alternate heat source for this coming winter but we will have to make at least one more scavenging run to get extra pellets for the stoves that we found. We won’t be able to find what we need around
here anywhere so we will have to go into the city to find them. That presents us with a bit of an opportunity. Before I get to that, I want to share the information we received from some of the people we ran into yesterday.”

  “One of the soldiers was pretty forthcoming with what happened after AIRIA shut the bunker down. It was pretty much exactly what we expected to happen but now it’s been confirmed that some of the more dangerous soldiers are at the growing field, and apparently, they’ve conscripted a bunch of the people the General was going to use as his labor force. I’d like to say we could go and free those people, but honestly, I’d rather stay out of that fight. I know some of us feel slightly responsible for their fate but the honest truth is that we’re not. Skylar was gracious enough to let those people into the bunker to start with but they’re not our responsibility and I don’t want it to become our fight. So that being said, my concerns are that those soldiers and people are fairly close to us and may pose a threat if they discover us here. So far we’ve been very, very, lucky that we’ve managed to stay off their radar but if for any reason they should come this way, we might be facing an attack from them. That brings me back to the possible opportunity I mentioned. We may want to consider relocating completely.”

  Sasha is the first to respond. “What!? No, no we’re safe here, this is our home. I don’t want to go back out there. Nothing good has happened to any of us out there!”

  Belle puts an arm around her daughter and pulls her closer, trying to calm her, before she turns her head to ask Lance a question.

  “Do you really think that’s necessary? This is a very good location for us. We have everything we need here and we’ve been perfectly safe since we got here. If we move now, we will have lost all the work we put into making this place sustainable and we will be going somewhere that we have no idea what the dynamics are. We could be walking into a totally different set of problems!” Her voice increases in volume until her last sentence is almost panicked.