by Jeremy Lock
Chapter 85
Miranda lay in bed quietly crying to herself. She had never been so hurt in all her life. How could he not tell her he had a family? She let herself fall for him and then to find this… and he hid it from her, which was even worse. And he clearly loved the woman; he told the picture that he loved her. How could she have not seen it? Was it all a ploy? The kiss they had shared was the most amazing and most passionate she had ever experienced. How could he fake that? How could she have been so stupid? Maybe she could go live with the other group. She couldn’t stay here, not with him. She spent nearly the entire night awake with the thoughts running through her head over and over and over. She finally couldn’t lie in bed anymore and got up. She went outside and watched the sun slowly rise and lighten the dark forest. It was absolutely beautiful and the day seemed to be perfect. How could that be when she felt so awful? She was pulled back to reality by the sound of the cabin door closing. A sense of dread consumed her. James walked up and handed her a cup of coffee.
“Thanks.” She said coldly.
“Could we please talk about what’s going on?” James pleaded.
She wanted to scream. She wanted to slap him and call him the bastard that he was, but she couldn’t. She got up, coffee in hand and headed back into the cabin closing the door behind her.
James sighed as he sat down on a log. What the fuck was going on? He couldn’t take this much longer. He decided to get to work and keep his mind off of the situation as much as possible. He knew how his brain worked. If he sat here his brain would churn and churn until he couldn’t keep it inside anymore. Then he would blow up and say something stupid, something hurtful and that was the last thing he wanted to do.
James went to work butchering the deer and then cutting a good portion of the deer into thin strips that he could smoke. He started a fire outside until he had a good set of coals and then moved them into the makeshift smoke house. Next he pulled a healthy stack of the hickory out of the bucket they were soaking in and set them onto the hot coals. He kept enough coals outside to keep a fire going and built that back up. It would keep him warm while he tended the smoker and he would have to keep adding hot coals into the smokehouse fire. Finally he added as many strips of venison onto the hangers making sure there was enough room between them to allow the smoke to circulate all around them. He wrapped up the tarp around the fire and let the smoker do its thing. With the remaining meat, he kept a couple roasts to trade with Sean’s group and the rest he hung outside off the roof of the cabin. He took one of the back straps of the deer and brought it inside to cook up. He threw the meat on the stove and immediately headed back outside. He was angry and decided they needed some space. He couldn’t believe how she was treating him. He had treated her with nothing but kindness and she repaid him by treating him like absolute crap for no reason. He adjusted the opening on the bottom of the smoker to allow a little more air it and let the fire burn a little hotter. Then he began loading up the gear he would need for the trip to the next valley. Once the meat was cooked he split the piece in half and gave one half to Miranda and kept the other half for himself.
“If you’re coming with me we need to leave in 30 minutes.” James said.
“Ok and thank you.” She said as she took the food from him.
“I don’t know what I did to piss you off but I’m sorry. “
She just looked back at him with anger in her eyes.
You know what, fuck it; I can’t deal with this bullshit anymore. James told himself.
“I don’t get it. I have treated you with nothing but respect since I met you. I’ve given you a place to live; I’ve given you food to eat. Hell I saved you from those animals in case you forgot how we met! I don’t deserve to be treated like a piece of shit; I’ve done nothing to deserve this shit.” James said forcefully, his frustration apparent.
How about the fact that you have a family, you son of a bitch!” she replied letting her anger to the surface.
‘What the fuck are you talking about?!” James replied.
“I saw the picture, James! The picture of your wife and kids that you hide in your pocket! I saw it the other night! You know you played me pretty damn well. I thought I had fallen in love with you and then I come to find out it was all bullshit! You have a wife, you have kids, what was I going to be? Just a play thing? Some slut to entertain you until you got home?!” Miranda screamed.
James sat on the cot holding his head in his hands. Miranda stood looking over him like a beaten opponent in a boxing match.
“My family is dead.” James replied in a quiet muffled voice.
“What?” Miranda replied, not quite hearing, not quite believing what she had heard.
“My family is dead!” James nearly shouted as he stood, tears freely flowing down his face. “My wife and my two children are dead! They were killed in a car accident three years ago!”
Miranda just stood there in shock trying to come up with the words to say but nothing came to her. She stood there helpless and James stared at her, his face wet with tears and anger in his eyes.
“I…. I….” Miranda started.
James didn’t want to hear another damn word and stormed out of the cabin and off into the woods.
Miranda sat down on the cot and broke down. All of the emotion from the past day came out. How could she have ruined something so perfect by being so selfish? Why couldn’t she have just asked him about the picture? He was never going to forgive her. How could she have been so stupid? As she sat there and cried all she could do was ask the questions to herself over and over.
James stormed out of the cabin and he was angry, as angry as he could ever remember being. How dare she stick her nose into his personal business? Why couldn’t she just ask him? Didn’t he deserve damn respect of her talking to him before jumping to conclusions? Maybe she wasn’t who he had thought she was. The woman that he thought he loved would never be this insensitive. He made up his mind. He headed back to the cabin. He would pack all her stuff up and he would leave her up at Sean’s. He would ask Sean to help her out, find her a place to stay, but he couldn’t live with her. How could he live with someone who had so little trust in him?
Chapter 86
Jason awoke a little later then he had expected. The addition of the Walters definitely complicated the sleeping arrangements and reinforced the fact that they had to find something else for housing. He found the coffee already made and poured himself a cup. It would really suck when we run out of coffee. He thought. He walked outside and found everyone already at work. Sean and Bill had gotten the cow settled in the small corral area the night before but it was very tight so today they were expanding the space as best they could. Allie and Teddy were feeding and checking on the animals. Jessica and Cassidy were hauling firewood up to the trailers. And he learned that Jeff had gotten up early to set some snares and to do some hunting. He was going to try and snare some rabbit and squirrel to add some variety to their diet. Jason went back inside and finished setting up the ham radio. The day before he had gotten the antenna set up high on the ridge above them. Within an hour he had the radio on and was scanning through the channels. He came across something, listened for a moment and then headed outside. He had everyone squeeze into the small trailer to listen to the radio announcement.
This is the Vice-president of the United States. It is with great sorrow that I address you. We have suffered the greatest terror attack in the history of the world. We have been attacked by a foreign enemy who has struck a great blow to our mighty nation. From what we understand a nuclear device has been detonated high in the atmosphere above the mid-west which created a devastating electro-magnetic pulse that has covered the entirety of North America. We believe that the device was a collaboration between Iran and North Korea and was designed to destabilize our country. I can confirm that the President was in flight back to Washington DC when the device was detonated and that Air Force One has crashed. We cannot confirm that the President is dea
d, however he has not been heard from since the time of the attack. In accordance with the 25th amendment I as vice-president shall discharge the duties of the Commander-in-chief until such time as the condition of the President can be determined. I ask every citizen to remain calm in the face of this emergency. This is a time to take care of each other, to protect your neighbor and your fellow man. This country has been through hardships before and what makes our country so great is that our people will stand together and confront these problems with resolve and unity. I can assure you that the government is doing everything in its power to resolve the problems created by this attack and we hope to return back to a normal way of life in short order. I have already ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to move resources into most cities across the country and they should be arriving soon. I ask that everyone comply with their requirements as it is for the greater good. In addition I have called upon all federal law enforcement agencies and the US military to assist FEMA in any way that they can. I also request that all governors’ across this great country instruct their state and local law enforcement agencies to assist their local FEMA units where they can. This is a time for all Americans to come together. As we pull ourselves out of the ashes we shall become more resolute and a better country because of it. God bless each and every one of you and God bless America!
The group sat in silence for several minutes. When the message began to replay Jason turned it off. There was really nothing in the message that they already didn’t know. They learned that it was Iran and North Korea who had attacked them and that FEMA was deploying to the cities, that’s about it.
“Well that was pretty useless.” Sean noted to the rest of the group.
“Yeah, pretty much.” Jason agreed.
“At least we know there is some kind of government left. Maybe there is a chance that things can be kept under control.” Jeff said on a positive note.
“You really think that?” asked Sean.
“No, I know they can’t control the entire country. Just thinking positive.” Jeff replied.
“Well, let’s get back to work. We can check the radio again later, maybe there will be more information.” Jason stated.
Chapter 87
James returned back to the cabin after a 15 minute walk to cool off. He was still mad but better than he had been before. As he approached the cabin he could hear Miranda crying inside. Just like almost every other man in the world, seeing a woman cry made you want to fix the problem. It was made especially difficult with Miranda because he did love her. On the other hand, he was still angry. She clearly didn’t trust him and he didn’t deserve that. He had treated her like a perfect gentleman, he had been nothing but kind to her. With one misunderstanding she had pushed him away without explanation, without communication. She had treated him like crap completely out of the blue. That’s what bothered James the most. He needed to be able to talk to her and her to talk to him. Here was a prime example of why it was so important. He headed inside to face her and to hold his ground, even though he wanted to give in.
“We need to get going.” James said as he walked in.
Miranda sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded. She got up and got ready to leave.
James pulled out the Remington 700 hunting rifle and handed Miranda her AR15. They each always carried a handgun on them but the long guns had a much better range and could be used to hunt if the opportunity arose.
Within five minutes they were walking together towards Jason and Sean’s.
“You know I am so sorry, right?” Miranda asked him.
“I know.” James replied.
“Can you forgive me?” Miranda asked.
“I… I don’t know.” James replied.
“Ok” Miranda replied as she held back tears.
“You don’t get it do you? It’s not that you’re upset; it’s not what you said. It’s how you did it. I have treated you like gold from the moment I met you. I’ve given you everything that I can. I am not a perfect man, in fact I’m far from it, but I’ve always treated you well. I’ve never been good with women, I’ve never understood them. When my family died part of me died with them and for that reason I have never let anyone get that close to me since. Until I met you. When you saw me looking at that picture it was me asking her for permission to move on with my life. It was not an easy decision for me to make, but I made it. I went to bed that night and woke up to a completely different person. You pushed me away, you wouldn’t talk to me, and you treated me like crap. I can see why you would be concerned with what you saw, but why couldn’t you just talk to me? What did I do to deserve that? Did I ever give you a reason not to trust me? If you don’t trust me and you can’t talk to me then I don’t think I can do this.” James said, letting it all out.
“You are a good man, and I care about you too. I don’t know why I pushed you away like I did. I guess I didn’t want to get hurt. All I can say is I’m sorry. I don’t understand myself so I don’t expect you to understand me. But I am sorry and I hope you can forgive me.” Miranda replied solemnly.
“I will always care about you, and I will never purposefully hurt you. I can’t say what the future will hold for us, but I will always care. This is not easy for me. I am attracted to you like no one I’ve ever been attracted to before. There is nothing more that I want in this world then to be with you, to make love to you. It has been a very long time since I’ve been with a woman and I fantasize about it every night. But I can’t just forget what happened and I don’t know if we can ever make this work with this between us. I want it to like nothing I've ever wanted before but I just don’t know. Ever since that kiss I have wanted nothing more than to kiss you again, to feel your body, your skin against my skin, all the passion, but it’s just so complicated now.” James said.
Miranda started to reply but James cut her off.
“There is no easy answer. I need some time to figure everything out. Whatever happens between us please know that I never mean to hurt you. I am a broken man, I’ve felt too much hurt and I need to protect myself from it. If we are meant to be together it will happen. I believe that, but we’re almost there and I don’t think either of us wants to walk into their place looking like a disaster. We will be ok no matter what happens, so don’t be upset.” James stated and gave her a hug.
He wanted to kiss her, he wanted nothing more than to forgive her, kiss her, and make love to her right here and now, but he couldn’t and he knew it was a stupid decision but they continued walking on.
Chapter 88
As James and Miranda crested the ridge and came into view of Jason and Sean’s camp they both waved. With everyone outside it wasn’t long before they were spotted and the waves were quickly returned. Jason and Jessica walked out to greet them both. They met the two about 50 yds. from camp and started walking in with them.
“What brings you two up this way so soon?” Jason asked.
“Well, I was hoping to trade some meat here for some canned vegetables. I'm pretty much out and we’re going to be very short on vitamins without vegetables.” James replied.
“I’m pretty sure we can work something out. We are pretty well stocked on vegetables and it would save us some time from hunting.” Jason replied.
“We may also be able to get you some fish, although I don’t have any tackle, maybe we could trade something for that if you have any?” James asked.
“We’ve got fishing stuff. We can make something work.” Jason replied.
“That’s awes….” James words were cut short by an earsplitting gunshot.
In an instant a normal day became complete chaos. James watched Jason fall to the ground and immediately went into action. He pushed Jessica and Miranda toward cover, knocking them both to the ground in the process. He drug them both behind the tractor and to cover. Jessica tried to pull away and get back to Jason but James wouldn’t let her.
“There’s nothing you can do for him!” James yelled to her having alr
eady noting the blood on his forehead. It was a headshot and they were dealing with a sniper.
“But he needs help!” Jessica screamed.
“Yes he does, but there is a sniper out there, you will be a sitting duck! Let’s make things safe and then you can go help him!” James screamed. Giving her some hope would at least keep her alive.
Two shots and a big blast registered in James’ mind before he was knocked to the ground. It felt like someone hit him with a baseball bat in his left shoulder. He rolled around and saw one man face down in front of him and a second man punching Miranda in the face, knocking her unconscious. James pulled the .357 revolver and shot the man in the face. He looked at his arm. It was a mess of blood and ripped clothing. He could move it but it hurt a lot. He looked at the first dead man, the sawed off shotgun answered his confusion. James just hoped it was bird shot. Another volley of shots brought him back to reality.