Evergreen (Book 5): The Nuclear Frontier

by Cox, Matthew S.

  “Yeah…” Harper turned to look at the girls. “You two okay?”

  Madison nodded once. She didn’t look too frightened.

  “Yes.” Lorelei grinned. “You said scary people might wanna hurt us, so if I didn’t know someone, I hadda stay safe ’til you said is okay ta hug them.”

  “Yep!” Harper scooped her up into a hug. “You did great!”

  “Think he would’ve hurt us?” asked Madison.

  “Umm. Hard to say.” Harper stared at the trees where the guy disappeared, relieved to see no trace of motion. “Maybe not on purpose, but he didn’t look like he knew what he was doing… and he’s waving a blade around.”

  Madison shivered. “Great. Another crazy guy with a knife.”

  “Sorry.” Harper bit her lip.

  “Not your fault.” Madison hugged her, too.

  Cliff checked the fish bucket. “Looks like we got enough here. Let’s pack it in and I’ll go over how to clean and gut them.”

  Madison grimaced.

  He smiled at her. “You don’t have to watch if it bothers you. Just saying… if things go really bad, it’s much easier to feed yourself by fishing than start up a farm all alone.”

  “Yeah. I know.” Madison slouched. “Fish don’t bother me as much as other animals. I can probably watch, so I know how to do it if I end up somewhere all alone. I’d still prefer to eat weeds and stuff, though.”

  Wow. Lorelei didn’t hug a random knife-wielding stranger and Madison is willing to learn how to gut fish. The world has gone crazy.

  Harper gave the girls a quick squeeze, then picked up her fishing rod for the long walk home.

  15

  Search Party

  The Wednesday following the fishing trip, Harper awoke to a strange feeling.

  She slipped a hand under her T-shirt nightgown to rub her stomach. A general, but mild, sense of ick lurked in her gut.

  Ugh. Is it about time for the monthly visitor, or is this because we’ve been eating lake fish for three days in a row? Hope the little bastards aren’t radioactive.

  She nudged Madison and Lorelei awake.

  The girls bounced out of bed, neither showing any signs of being sick, overtired, or in a bad mood. After a quick round of rock, paper, scissors to decide who got the bathroom first, Lorelei ran across the hall. Madison bounced in place. Harper decided to hold it until the kids finished. She threw on a fresh T-shirt and the same jeans she’d been wearing for the past five days. Having to wash clothes in fire-heated water made her cut down on doing laundry to twice a month.

  Please fix the electricity. I’m not ready to go full Wild West.

  Renee mentioned one of the books she’d read about textiles having a story about an old trick of warming rocks over a fire, wrapping them in towels or blankets, and taking them to bed for warmth. Sounded like something they’d have to do come winter if Jeanette and her team couldn’t fix the transformer.

  She meandered out to the kitchen, still scratching at her stomach—and stopped short at the end of the hallway. The light bulb in the lamp beside the couch glowed. She ran over to it, wiped her eyes to make sure she didn’t see things, then let out a scream of joy.

  Jonathan ran in the back door from the yard, wide-eyed. “What happened?”

  “The power’s on!” She pointed at the light.

  “Yes!” He jumped around.

  Madison skidded to a stop at the end of the hall, looking frightened. “Why did you scream?”

  Again, Harper pointed at the light. “We have power again!”

  “Sweet.” Madison grinned.

  Jonathan went back outside.

  “Where are you going?” called Harper.

  “Was getting firewood. I’m gonna put it back on the pile since we don’t need it,” yelled the boy.

  Harper ran over to the fridge. It had already become cold, suggesting power came back up sometime in the middle of the night… definitely an odd thing to happen from solar panels. The town must have some sort of huge battery. Alas, they’d already eaten the fridge empty to avoid wasting food. She’d have cooked eggs due to the power being back, but they didn’t have any on hand. She also didn’t feel like running all the way to the farm to get some.

  True, Rosie lived in a small coop in their yard, but without a rooster, hadn’t been laying. Madison already schemed a way to bring home one or two more chickens to keep her company so she didn’t get lonely.

  “Toast it is.” Harper reached for a frying pan.

  Wow. How messed up is it to feel like a millionaire just because the electric stove works?

  “Lore!” shouted Madison from the hallway. “You need more than underpants on.”

  “Turn around,” said Jonathan.

  “Aww.” Lorelei sighed.

  Jonathan entered the kitchen, laughing. “Hey, where’s Dad?”

  “Uhh…” Harper added bread slices to the frying pan. “Not in his room? He had night patrol yesterday.”

  “No, he’s not in his room.” Jonathan dragged a chair over to the cabinets so he could climb up to grab a mason jar of strawberry preserves.

  “Strange… not sure where he went. Maybe Carrie’s?”

  Jonathan set the jar on the table, then darted out the back door.

  Madison and Lorelei entered the kitchen. Harper asked Madison to watch the toast while she ran to the bathroom. Her little sister managed not to light the kitchen on fire—or even burn toast—before she got back.

  A few minutes later, Jonathan returned. “He’s not over Carrie’s. Sorry. Now she’s worried.”

  “Hmm. Weird. I’ll check with Walter before I start my route today.”

  The four of them finished off the whole—admittedly smallish—jar of preserves on their toast. After breakfast, Harper walked the kids to the farm, where they’d help out until noon or so, then backtracked into town rather than cross Route 74 into her patrol area. She headed for the militia HQ, specifically Walter’s office.

  Though he’d gone fully grey, the man wasn’t old enough to feel like Harper’s grandfather, only having turned fifty-one a few months ago. Still, he had a particular kind of laid-back friendliness that made him feel more like a relative than a boss.

  She knocked on the doorjamb as she walked in. “Mr. Holman? Got a quick second?”

  “Sure, Harper. What can I help you with?” He looked up from the notebook on his desk, smiling at her.

  “It’s probably not a big deal, but I can’t find Cliff. I know he was on an overnight patrol, but he should be home asleep by now. Wondering if you needed him on a special project or something.”

  Walter tapped a finger on his desk, thinking. “Hmm. No. I can’t think of why he wouldn’t be home this morning. No one reported any trouble. He and Roy did go on a ‘long patrol’ last night. I don’t imagine Cliff or Roy would get lost.”

  Oh, no… She fidgeted. A ‘long patrol’ meant they went several miles out from Evergreen, following an extended border as sort of an early warning of potential threats. While it didn’t necessarily mean something bad happened, being miles away from town put them out of airhorn range if they needed help. Even rifle shots might have gone unnoticed from so far away in the middle of the night.

  Outwardly, Harper remained calm despite the sudden worry she’d never see Cliff alive again.

  “Where did they go?”

  “Northwest quarter.” Walter got up from behind his desk, waved for her to follow, and went to the outer room with the big wall map. He traced his finger around in a line. “They’d have gone out on Squaw Pass Road, followed it west, then kept going south where it hits 475. Followed it until it intersected Upper Bear Creek Road, and taken that east back to Route 74 by the lake. It’s a hair over twelve miles. Four hours if they walked fast. Six to eight if they took their time. Could be, they saw something and stopped to check it out so they might just be running late.”

  She stared at the map, tracing the route with her gaze. “He and Roy have gone on that walk a few tim
es. He’s always back before sunrise. Something happened.”

  “You’ve got a look in your eye like you’re about to ask what I think of you going out to look for him.” Walter set his hands on his hips. “Saving Private Ryan moment.”

  “Uhh, I really hope not.”

  He chuckled, lifting his gaze off the floor. “I mean, it’s a question of how many lives do you risk for two. If something did happen to them, it might also happen to anyone who goes looking for them. Or it might not.”

  “Yeah…” She looked off to the side. “It’s wrong not to try.”

  “Agreed.” Walter patted her on the arm. “Little early to assume the worst. It can be a long walk if they had to do anything more involved than hiking the roads. But, waiting until it’s obvious something’s wrong could be bad. If you want to take a search party out after him, I’m not going to object. But… take a search party. Don’t go alone.”

  Harper nodded. “Okay. I won’t. Thanks, Mr. Holman.”

  “Gah, you make me feel old.” He chuckled. “Are you ever going to feel comfortable calling me Walter?”

  “I suppose it’s probably time for me to grow up and stop feeling like a high school kid.” Kids don’t blow bad guys’ faces off. “Gonna feel weird but since you keep asking me to, I’ll try.”

  “Stay safe out there. Take two or three with you, not the whole militia. Leave some for the town.” He winked.

  “Sure thing, Walter.”

  “There ya go.”

  She offered a weak smile. Calling a man older than her father by his first name felt surreal. In all the upheaval of the world devouring itself, her turning eighteen and officially becoming an adult hadn’t really registered in her mind. Then again, ‘official adulthood’ lost most of its meaning. Earl gave beer to fifteen-year-olds. No one cared about driver’s licenses anymore, and a couple of sixteen-year-olds (Beth and Jaden) effectively considered themselves married. Neither of them had killed anyone.

  Mom always said being an adult would sneak up on me. Didn’t quite expect it to happen so soon.

  Harper hurried out of the militia HQ and headed back to the farm. Going off in search of Cliff risked her life, even if it wouldn’t take her too far away from town. She couldn’t simply disappear on Madison, Jonathan, and Lorelei. If she ran off and ended up dead or worse, kidnapped, they’d never know what happened. She also couldn’t simply wait and hope Cliff merely stopped for a nap. If he needed help, he’d get it. After everything he’d done for them, she more than owed it to him.

  Madison, Jonathan, and Lorelei looked up at her, fear in their eyes.

  She’d gathered them from their respective farm chores for a meeting beside the chicken barn, but stumbled over how to explain the situation to them. The kids apparently took her hesitant silence as a worst-case scenario. Jonathan appeared ready to cry, perhaps expecting her to say they’d found Cliff dead.

  “Dad and Roy went on a long patrol last night. Means they walked out a couple miles and went in a quarter-circle around northwest Evergreen. They aren’t back yet, which worries me.”

  “Uh oh,” whispered Lorelei.

  Madison’s expression turned somewhat grim, almost a ‘here we go again’ look.

  “What now?” asked Jonathan, his voice teetering on the edge of tears.

  “Hey, don’t panic yet.” Harper pulled him into a hug. “Maybe they just found a cabin or something with a stash of supplies or walked unusually slow. We don’t know anything bad happened to them. I’m going to grab a couple more militia and go retrace the route they followed last night.”

  “Okay.” Jonathan exhaled. “Please be careful.”

  “Don’t let the bad guys get you.” Lorelei hugged her.

  “You promised not to die,” said Madison, avoiding eye contact.

  “I did, and I intend to keep my promise.” Harper hugged Madison, though her sister didn’t unfold her arms. Crap. She’s angry with me. “Going to take a couple militia with me and it’s not far. We’ll be back in a few hours. Not like we’re marching a week to another town. It’s the area right west of Evergreen.”

  “Okay,” muttered Madison.

  Ugh. Am I being stupid for doing this or is she being needy?

  “You three be good, and stay safe.” Harper tried to project confidence so the kids didn’t sense how worried she’d become about Cliff. “The farm can be dangerous.”

  “Yeah. Kyle had a metal blade stuck in his leg the other week.” Madison stared down at her sneakers. “They carried him right in front of us.”

  “Ack. Why didn’t you say something?” Harper blinked.

  “Because I’ve seen more blood when you shot the jerks in Lakewood. Kyle getting hurt was just an accident.” Madison offered a blasé shrug.

  Harper delayed for a moment or two more, reassuring the kids she’d be absolutely careful. Finally, they appeared willing to go back to their tasks. Maybe I shouldn’t treat Maddie like a glass faerie so much. She’s tougher than I give her credit for. Grumbling mentally at herself for being too sensitive, Harper fast-walked away from the farm, intent on finding some militia willing to go with her.

  “Harp?” called Logan.

  She stopped.

  He jogged over. “You look like something’s wrong. What’s up?”

  “It’s Cliff…” She explained the situation. “Going to grab a couple people for a search party and trace the route.”

  “Cool. I’ll go.”

  “You’ve already been shot once.” She poked him in the side. “Don’t want you to get shot again.”

  “Not my plan.” He took her hands, staring into her eyes. “We’re family, right? Gotta stick together.”

  “You don’t have to impress me to get into my pants. I’ve already made the decision.”

  Logan flashed a roguish smile. “I’m so looking forward to it. Wish we had more time together.”

  Perhaps she had been nervous about the idea and not exactly making time when she could, but she’d address the issue once the current crisis ended. “Okay. Not going to stand here and argue when Cliff might need help fast.”

  They hurried down Route 74 toward town. At the approach of running footsteps coming up behind them, Harper looked back—to find Madison sprinting down the highway.

  Crap. Here it comes.

  Rather than burst into tears or cling, Madison stopped a few paces away, her expression determined. She seemed a little winded from the run, but kept her voice controlled. “I’m going with you. He’s our dad now and I don’t want to lose him, too. I gotta help.”

  Harper’s lip quivered. She hadn’t quite realized how attached her little sister had become to Cliff. Losing him could easily send her straight back into the semi-catatonic state she’d been in for weeks after their parents died. A small glint of worry in her kid sister’s eyes said she also feared Harper disappearing, too.

  Hearing Madison say she didn’t want to lose another father stabbed Harper in the feels. “I’m sorry, Termite.”

  “No way. I’m going.” Madison pushed at her. “Go. We’re wasting time. Walk.”

  “Not that. I’m sorry Dad died. I choked.”

  Madison stopped trying to shove her and stared for a moment. “It’s not your fault.”

  “I choked. I could’ve shot the Lawless f—bastard.”

  “No, Harp.” Madison leaned against her. “You can’t even step on bugs. Even Dad didn’t think you’d be able to shoot a person. He gave you the Mossberg because it’s so big and loud you’d scare people away just by pointing it at them.”

  Harper sniffle-laughed. “I’m pretty sure he didn’t want me to just wave it around.”

  “Well, Dad also knew you could shave a mole off a pig’s backside at thirty feet with a twelve-gauge.” Madison winked.

  “Termite, I don’t know if I can protect you out there and do everything else. It’s so stupid for you to go out there away from the protection of town.”

  “I know,” said Madison. “But you’re my bi
g sis and we are gonna stay together no matter what, okay? I can’t sit here being scared when I don’t know what’s happened to you.”

  “What if there’s something dangerous out there? Cliff’s way better at this soldier crap than us. I don’t want you to die.”

  Madison narrowed her eyes. “I don’t want you to die, either. Why don’t you stay home and let the other militia people look?”

  It’s just a long walk around town. I don’t have time to argue with her.

  “All right. Fine. C’mon.”

  Madison’s expression said ‘wow, really?’ for only a second before she again put on a look of pure determination.

  Logan gave Harper side eye.

  “Yes, I’m serious,” muttered Harper as she resumed fast-walking down the highway. “It’s not far and we’re wasting time. I make her stay and she’s worried sick about both of us. She’s got every bit as much reason as me to go after Cliff.”

  “She’s ten,” said Logan.

  “Kids her age fought in the Civil War.”

  He exhaled hard. “Doesn’t make it right.”

  “Umm,” said Madison. “I’m not fighting in a war. We’re trying to find Dad.”

  Harper put an arm around her shoulders. “If you’re scared, you can stay in town. I’ll find him.”

  “Not scared. What makes you think I’m scared?”

  “Thought it took you a bit to work up the nerve to follow me. You could’ve asked to go right away.”

  “Umm, I didn’t want to say it in front of Jon and Lore. They’d both want to go, too. And you’d never have let all three of us go. You’d have asked Jon to keep an eye on me and left me behind.”

  Harper chuckled nervously. “Probably.”

  She rushed back to their house on Hilltop Drive long enough to grab a spare Beretta 92 from Cliff’s room. After checking it to make sure it was loaded and on safe, she stuffed it in a nylon holster and put the belt on Madison.

  “Whoa.” Logan pointed. “Are you seriously giving her a gun?”

  “No. I’m letting her borrow it,” muttered Harper. “It’s not a gift.”