He found the coiled cable lying on the rocky ground, right where he remembered. Picking up one of the thick coils of cable, he realized it weighed a lot more than he had initially expected. And when he looked at Ennis, he realized the man was probably not going to be able to carry one of the coils.
True to expectation, Ennis reached down and struggled to lift the cable. “These are heavier than they look.”
Nash nodded. “Grab that spool of wire. I think this will be enough cable. We only need it to run the small pulley near the bottom of the turbine. The rest of it seemed to be in good shape.”
Ennis grabbed the wire before reaching down and picking up a roll of duct tape. “You can never have too much duct tape,” he said with a smile.
Nash chuckled as he started walking, the cable weighing him down. It was going to be a long hike back to the house, and over rough terrain. He’d taken easier terrain while traveling before, conserving his supplies, which was another reason he’d taken so long to get from the mine to Ennis’ house, but it only made sense to go straight there now. His arms, shoulders, and back were going to be aching by the time they got back.
“How long have you lived up here?” Nash asked, trying to make conversation and keep his mind off the pain in his shoulder.
“I only started living up here full time about a year ago. Before that, I had an apartment in the city. I still went into Denver on occasion to work, but most of it I could do from here. I wonder, with all that’s happened… Does this mean I’m retired?” he mused aloud.
Nash laughed. “I think we’re all retired for the time being.”
Ennis nodded beside him, and caught his eye as they walked, his expression going more serious. “I’m glad you came along. I know I could have lived in the house for a long time, but I was really going stir crazy in there,” Ennis said.
“I’m happy I could help, and I’m happy I came along, as well. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.”
“I guess what they say about needing a community to survive the apocalypse is true,” Ennis said quietly.
“We’ll all have to work together—even Wendell,” he added pointedly.
He was hoping Wendell would move on soon, though. Nash got the idea Wendell wasn’t at all who he said he was, even if Ennis had known him for twenty years. For now, Nash would keep his guard up around the guy.
After several hours of walking with short breaks along the way, the house came into view just as the sun began setting. Nash left the cable sitting outside on the front stoop and dropped to his knees to crawl under the door first. He was hoping to have enough cable to take care of the door. For now, though, all he could think about was drinking, eating, and resting his aching body.
“You’re back!” Wendell greeted them from his place sprawled out on the couch with a book in his hands. He was wearing a pair of sweats borrowed from Ennis and a t-shirt. Nash had to fight back the urge to scream at the man for being so lazy. Still, he kept his frustration in check and headed for the kitchen to fill a glass with water, drinking heartily before refilling it and downing the second glass.
He could hear Ennis and Wendell talking in the other room, but ignored them and focused on replenishing his body. Tomorrow, he would get to work on fixing the broken cable on the turbine and restoring full power to the home. That would be his immediate contribution to their little tribe. He was still waiting to see what Wendell brought to the table.
31
Austin rode ahead of Amanda, driven on by the latest news they’d gotten of the Loveridge group. They’d come across a small family living in a tiny cabin off the grid. It had taken some convincing, but the family had admitted to seeing the band of revivalists a short time ago. They’d confirmed Savannah was with them, and it had buoyed Austin to know she was alive and well, and within reach—kind of.
“Austin, slow down!” Amanda called out.
“We’re close,” he shouted back.
“Yes, we are, which means we’re going to be on them soon, but they could be anywhere. The family said they were sticking to the trees,” she argued. “We need to watch for them. They’re going to be hiding.”
Austin ignored her, riding on and knowing he was close. He couldn’t stop now. He couldn’t wait to wrap his arms around his little girl and hold her tight. More and more, he was furious with himself for ever leaving her in the first place. He should never have met Callum. He should have been at the trailer and waiting for her that night.
Even as he heard Amanda call out again behind him, he saw a young woman up ahead. She was bent over, picking something up from the ground.
“Hey!” he called out.
She shot upright, stared at him for a moment, and then took off running into the trees. The reaction wasn’t exactly what he’d been hoping for.
“Now you scared her!” Amanda scolded him, riding up alongside side him.
“I didn’t mean to.”
“I told you to slow down. You know they’re skittish,” she lectured. “That family said they were keeping a low profile, which is good and you know it. It’s not like they’ll recognize you on sight.”
Austin shot her a glare. “I get it.”
“You look scary with all that facial hair and that wild look in your eye,” she continued.
“Alright, alright, I get it. I’ll slow down, but we do need to hurry so we can catch up with her. She has to be part of the revivalist group,” he insisted.
Amanda looked after her as if to question the conclusion but didn’t end up disagreeing. “We don’t know that for sure, Austin. We’ll ride up to the tree line, but then we’ll have to walk the horses through,” she advised.
He nodded, heading for the area where the girl had disappeared into the trees. He slid off Raven as soon as he got there, pulling the reins over the horse’s head to use them as a lead even as he stepped into the trees, only to be met with a gun in his face. He put up both hands, eying the kid with long black hair. He recognized him—he thought. He was a lot thinner and his eyes were hollow, but it had to be the kid Savannah had been crushing on.
“Malachi?” Austin asked.
The kid blinked at him, and then pressed the gun forward another inch toward him. “Who are you?” the kid asked, his eyes wild as he looked behind Austin.
“I’m Savannah’s father. This is my friend, Amanda,” he said slowly.
“How do I know that?” the kid asked, the gun shaking in his hand.
“I’m Austin Merryman. Savannah left me a note in our trailer indicating that she was traveling with your family to my brother’s place,” he said evenly, fighting to remain calm when he knew his daughter was so close.
Malachi stared at him another moment before lowering the gun. “I’m so sorry!” he burst out, tears suddenly streaming down his pale cheeks.
Several people emerged from the trees behind him before Austin could think of how to respond, including a frail woman who went to Malachi and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
“You’re sorry?” Austin repeated, his mouth suddenly very dry as he looked at the woman with dark hair the color of Malachi’s.
The woman turned to look over her shoulder. “Gretchen, get the note for Savannah’s father,” she whispered.
Austin looked from her to the boy. “Where’s Savannah?” he asked, his voice low.
Already, he knew something was horribly wrong. If Savannah had been with them, she would have showed herself already. His stomach churned, and he literally felt weak in the knees.
“The man took her!” he wailed.
He could hear the sound of his own blood rushing in his ears as the world tilted a little. Amanda’s hand on his arm helped ground him, and he swallowed the lump in his throat and dragged in a breath.
“The man took her? What man? When? Where?” he asked, needing answers and wanting them right then.
The woman, Gretchen, rushed forward, handing Austin a piece of paper.
If you want to see your daughter alive again, br
ing IT to the David Tower in Denver. You know what I’m talking about. Don’t wait too long.
Austin read the note several times. “When did this happen?” he asked through gritted teeth, cursing Callum for dragging him into a seriously dangerous situation and inadvertently putting his daughter’s life at risk.
“Last night,” Malachi answered. “I woke up. I heard her scream, and I tried to follow, but he was on horseback. By the time I got our horse to chase them, they were already gone. I searched everywhere.”
Austin closed his eyes, knowing he couldn’t blame the boy. It was his own fault that his daughter was in danger. It had been his actions that had led to this.
“Austin, can I talk to you for a second?” Amanda asked, tugging on his arm.
He turned to face her. She used her head to gesture away from the small crowd of about ten people. He followed, already having a pretty good idea what she wanted to talk to him about.
“What?” he snapped, going on the defensive.
“What is this it the man is referring to?” she asked, her eyes staring into his.
He took a deep breath, knowing he owed her a real explanation. She’d been patient with him long enough, and never pressed him about how he’d come to be in the water. It was time to confess.
“That night you found me, I was meeting someone. He handed me a USB drive, and a second later, a man on an ATV opened fire on us. He was killed. I dove over the side of the bridge to escape being shot, and the next thing I knew, you were pulling me out of the water,” he explained. “I wanted to tell you before, Amanda, but… well, I wasn’t sure it made sense. By the time I trusted you, I didn’t want to inadvertently put your life in danger.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Do you still have this USB drive?”
He slowly nodded. “I do.”
“What’s on it, Austin, and why did a man kidnap your daughter?”
He shrugged, staring her directly in the eyes. “I don’t know. I haven’t exactly had access to a computer. You’re going to have to trust me on this. Callum wanted me to look into it and make the information public—we knew each other in college, and he knew I was a journalist who, at one time, had a reputation for exposing cover-ups and whistle-blower territory. I had no idea that I or my daughter would be in danger when I went to meet him.”
She held his eye for another second, but then her expression softened, which he took for her giving him at least a modicum of trust. “Where is it?” she asked.
He patted the front pocket of his jeans. “Here.”
She eyed it, and then asked pointedly, “How do you know it even survived the water?”
“I don’t. It was sealed inside a plastic case. When I checked it at your house, it was dry as a bone.”
“This friend of yours, who was he exactly?”
Austin took a deep breath and glanced back to Malachi and his group. “Look, I know you have a lot of questions, and I do, too, but I don’t have the time to stand around here playing twenty questions. I need to get to Denver and get my daughter back.”
“You can’t go into war with a single sidearm!” she protested with a raised voice.
He turned back to look at the group then, knowing they’d have overheard her; sure enough, all of them were watching them intently. He met Malachi’s eyes and saw the real grief there before turning back to face Amanda. “I can’t leave her there.”
“You said your brother’s house was close. Let’s go there first. We’ll gather some guns and see if we can get him to come along. We need all the help we can get,” she said.
He swallowed, not wanting to tell her what he’d already decided. “You can’t come,” he stated.
“I’m not letting you go alone,” she shot back.
“Amanda, I don’t know what’s on this drive, but if the man is willing to kidnap my daughter after trying to kill me once already, and succeeding in killing my friend, I can’t let you go with me. It’s too dangerous.”
“And I’m not letting you do this alone. You’ll die. I did not save you and travel halfway across the country to let you go and die and leave me alone in the middle of nowhere!” she hissed.
He stared at her another moment, and then turned to mount Raven. “I need to get to my brother’s,” he growled.
“Austin, wait! You can’t leave me, and what about them?” Amanda practically shouted.
“I don’t have time to wait around. I’m going now!”
She stood there staring at him in that way that told him she wasn’t going to back down, her hand on Raven’s harness to hold her still. The woman was stubborn and obstinate.
He looked back toward the road, struggling with his own instincts. He was fond of Amanda, and he wanted her along. He just didn’t want her hurt. At the same time, he owed her his life, and couldn’t abandon her with the revivalists. He owed her the promised land, or in this case, Ennis’ house.
“Fine,” he snapped.
She smiled. “And them?”
He dismounted and stalked back towards Malachi. “Did Savannah tell you where her uncle’s house is?”
“She didn’t really have an exact address. She said she would know when she saw it.”
Austin groaned—he should have known and doubted she ever would have found it, despite what she’d told the boy. “Do you have a pen, paper, pencil, anything?” he asked, not hiding his frustration.
The woman who’d been standing next to Malachi nodded at Gretchen, and the woman ran back in the direction she’d gone before the woman in front of him extended her hand to Austin. “I’m Tonya Loveridge, Malachi’s mother.”
“It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for taking care of my daughter this past month,” he said, finally remembering his manners. For better or worse, these people had been there for his daughter when he’d been unable to take care of her. And the danger she was in now was his fault, not theirs.
“Of course,” she said with a wan smile.
The same woman who had brought the note returned with a notebook and a pencil. There were only a few clean pages left in the spiral notebook, and he could see someone had been using it as a journal of sorts. He quickly sketched out a map that would lead them to Ennis’ house, promising them they could at least take a rest there and have a meal; he’d help them however he could, he assured them, after all they’d done for Savannah. He had a feeling his brother was going to kill him when he found out there was a whole group of people on their way, but he’d cross that bridge when he came to it.
“This is the way to the house. If you leave now, you should be there by late this afternoon if you don’t stop. I’m sorry, but I can’t wait—I need to get there,” he said, hoping they understood.
“Of course, please go and save her. She’s been a blessing to have along on this journey,” Tonya said quietly. “We’ll be praying for you.”
He looked at Malachi. “Thank you for keeping her safe,” he said.
Malachi nodded, not saying a word. He could see the fear and heartache in the kid’s eyes, and knew the boy had feelings for his daughter. He’d deal with all that later, though, when he had her back, safe and sound. Then, he would ground her for life and forbid all contact with boys until she was at least thirty.
“Let’s go,” Austin said, turning back to Amanda and the horses.
“It was nice to meet you all,” Amanda said with a wave before heading away from the crowd.
Back on the road, Austin gestured to Amanda to hurry. “We’re not far,” Austin said, kicking Raven into a trot.
“Are you sure you want to travel on the road?” Amanda called out behind him, and then she was beside him, keeping pace on Charlie.
“I’ll shoot anyone who gets in my way,” he replied.
His brother’s house was way out of the way, but close. They’d stick to the roads, however. Austin needed them to help refamiliarize him with the area. The last thing he wanted was to find himself lost in the mountains while his daughter was locked up by a dang
erous man. He knew the roads were treacherous, but he didn’t have the luxury of going through the forest, not when there was a chance he could get turned around. He’d been serious when he’d said he would shoot anyone who got in his way.
32
Wendell didn’t like the kid, and it was really that simple. He stood outside, leaned up against the side of the house watching Nash and Ennis work to get the wind turbine running. The kid was cocky, and thought he was smarter than everyone else. He wasn’t. He knew a little bit about physics and whatnot, sure, but who really cared about any of that in this day and age? The jerk had invited himself to stay with his old friend even though he didn’t know Ennis like Wendell did. He had no right to crash at the house and eat Ennis’ food and sleep in one of the beds.
Not to mention the fact that he was buddying up to him, which was all the more clear as Wendell watched Ennis and Nash talk. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he didn’t like how chummy young Nash was getting with Ennis. The two men were doing something, though, pointing and gesturing when Nash finally fist-bumped him.
“It worked!” he exclaimed.
Ennis slapped Nash on the back before throwing his arms around him and giving him a big hug. Wendell glared, his lip curling with disgust as he watched the exchange.
Ennis turned to look at Wendell then, finally. “It worked! We’ll have power tonight!” he shouted, jumping up and down.
Wendell forced a smile. “Great!”
The two of them came down the hillside, both of them laughing and chatting as they moved. Then they froze, looking up at Wendell just as he heard what they did. There was a loud commotion coming from the front of the house. Wendell moved away from the wall to see what it was even as they hurried forward.
“What is it?” Ennis called out, now jogging down the hillside.
Wendell held up two fingers. “Two people on horseback!” he called out.
Survive the Chaos (Small Town EMP Book 1) Page 23