“It works!” cheered Haley.
Barret carefully poured the water into a large plastic jug that she had brought out. As soon as he had it poured, he turned to Tanner and offered his hand.
“You, sir, have just saved our lives.”
Shaking his hand, Tanner said, “Nah, you’d have figured something out. Country folks always do.”
“I’m not so sure. Truth is, I was getting ready to go out hunting for water from other houses, and that might have gotten me killed. This keeps me here with my family where I belong.” There was something about the way that he said family that sounded a little pained.
Tanner nodded. “Glad I could help.”
Barret set the bailer bucket beside the well and guided everyone back up toward the house. He and Haley went inside, promising to return with some honey. When they came back out, instead of honey, Barret was carrying two white bee suits and a metal smoker can.
“We’re happy to give you as much honey as you can carry, but I was talking with the missus, and she thought that your daughter might be interested in seeing how we harvest it from the hives.” He glanced over at Samantha. “What do you say? Would you like to learn about bees?”
“Does it involve getting stung?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.
He chuckled. “Not at all. These suits and gloves will protect us.” He turned back to Tanner. “Would you mind if I show her how it’s done? It might come in handy one day.”
“Sounds like a great idea.” Tanner could teach her many things, but harvesting honey was not one of them.
“If you wouldn’t mind, Mr. Raines,” said Haley, “perhaps you could help me with something inside the house? That’s okay, isn’t it, Barret?”
He looked at his wife for longer than the question required, but then offered a heartfelt nod.
“Yeah,” he said. “I think he’d be the perfect one to help.”
Haley’s hands were shaking as she clung to the screen door, watching her husband cross their thirty-acre farm.
“If you’re uncomfortable with my being in the house,” said Tanner, “I’m happy to wait outside.”
“What? Why would you say that?”
“You seem awfully nervous.”
She forced a smile, but it didn’t begin to hide the fact that something was bothering her.
He sighed. “I really hope that you and your husband aren’t up to something, because I can promise you that it won’t end well, for either of you.”
Tears came to her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For making you worry about something like that. We’re good people, honest.”
He nodded. “All right. Then, what’s bothering you?”
“I, uh—I have a favor to ask you, and I’m nervous. That’s all.”
“What’s there to be nervous about? You said you needed my help with something. So, I’ll help.”
She turned to face him.
“It’s not that easy.”
“I have been known to do difficult things from time to time. Let’s hear it.”
She smiled, and this time it was more genuine.
“Yes, your daughter told me about some of the difficulties you’ve faced. She thinks you hung the moon.”
“That doesn’t sound like my Samantha.”
“She also said that you’re big and sweaty and have the morals of an absolute degenerate.”
“Now that sounds like her.”
“Even so, you’ve got one special bond with that kid.”
“We do all right.”
“You know… you and Barret are about the same size.”
Tanner sucked in his gut.
“More or less.”
“My husband’s a wonderful man.”
“Why do I sense there’s a ‘but’ coming? Is he beating on you or something?”
“Oh, God, no! Barret wouldn’t raise a hand to me if his life depended on it.”
“What is it then?”
She paused. “Do you think I’m pretty?”
Tanner felt his face flush.
“What kind of question is that?”
“A simple one.”
He shrugged. “You’re all right.”
She smiled. “You’re not much of a flatterer, are you?”
“What’s this about, Haley?”
“Would you…” She swallowed. “Would you be willing to take me to my bedroom?”
Tanner began to push past her.
“Sorry, darlin’, you got the wrong guy.”
“Please,” she said, grabbing his arm. “Hear me out.”
“You’re not the only lonely woman in the world, but believe me, a fling with a stranger isn’t going to scratch that itch. Not for long anyway.”
“It’s not like that.”
He stood in the doorway, waiting for her to explain.
“We, my husband and I, we want a child.”
Tanner suddenly felt like someone had punched him in the gut.
“We’ve tried for years. Something’s wrong with his… you know, his seed. We planned to see a specialist, but then the pox hit. Now…” she looked down at her hands. “Now, there’s nothing for us. No family, ever.”
“Look, lady, I’m not going to impregnate you, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Why not? Are you… fixed?”
“Bite your tongue, woman.”
“I thought all men liked sex. Am I too ugly for you?”
“Yes, men like sex, and no, you’re not too ugly. Truth is, my standards have always been pretty flexible. Even if they weren’t, you’re no ugly duckling.” He couldn’t help but let his eyes wander over her tight figure.
“So, what’s the problem?”
“This isn’t about sex. Not really, it isn’t. Plus, I’m not the kind of man to…” He hunted for the right words. “…to take liberties with another man’s wife.”
“But, it wouldn’t be—”
“Besides, even if I said yes, you’d have to live with that guilt. It would eventually come out, and your husband would never forgive you.”
“You don’t understand. My husband and I both want this.”
“Excuse me?”
“He and I discussed every possible option, and this is the only way we’ll ever have a child. He’s a good man, a proud man, but he wants a family more than anything in this world.”
Tanner took a step back into the kitchen.
“You’re telling me your husband is okay with you having sex with another man?”
“Not just any man. But with you, yes.”
“He told you this?”
“He did.”
“I don’t believe you.” Even as he said the words, he knew that she wasn’t lying.
“Go out and ask him. It’ll embarrass him, but he’ll tell you the same.”
“I’m not going out to ask your husband if he’s okay with my sleeping with you.”
She placed both hands against Tanner’s chest.
“This isn’t easy for me either. I swore an oath to be faithful to my husband. But I’ve accepted our situation, as has my husband.”
Tanner hunted for words, and not finding them, stood speechless.
“Look, Mr. Raines, the favor that I’m asking is the single most important thing you could ever do for us. More important than the water. More important than anything.”
“Talk about causing performance anxiety,” he mumbled.
She smiled and pressed up against him.
“I’m sure you’d do fine.”
Tanner started looking for a way out.
“You don’t even know that it would work.”
“Not a hundred percent, I don’t. But the timing is perfect. My cycle—”
He raised a hand. “I live by a strict policy of not talking about women’s cycles.”
She laughed and shook her head.
“Sissies, every last one of you.” She reached down and took one of his hands in her
s. “Please, I won’t bite.”
“I’ve heard that before.”
She smiled, and this time it was more relaxed, filled with hope of a happiness that might yet come to be.
He let out a sigh. “This is nuts. You know that.”
“Yes, but will you do it anyway? Will you help us to have a family?”
After a fencing match between morality and lust that lasted much shorter than it probably should have, he yielded.
“I’ve always been a man who knows when to say yes.”
She brought his fingers to her mouth and kissed them.
“I promise I’ll try not to make it too terribly unpleasant.”
He grinned. “That, darlin’, was never my concern.”
The Jenkins had quite the beekeeping setup. At the far end of their farm stood three tall wooden hives, each made up of several smaller boxes stacked on top of one another. A flat metal cover capped each hive to keep the rain out.
“The first thing we need to do is get the smoker going,” Barret said, dropping the suits to the ground and inspecting the metal can.
“Does the smoke hurt the bees?” Samantha didn’t like the idea of gassing anything to steal their food.
“Not at all. It just calms them down a bit.” He packed some dry hay into the smoker and lit it. As soon as white smoke started puffing out, he said, “We had better put on the suits now. The smoke helps, but bees can still be rather unpredictable.”
She picked up the smaller of the suits and carefully slipped it on. The hood came all the way up over her head, allowing her to see through a thin fabric mesh. When they were both ready, Barret led her closer to the hives.
He tipped up the cover on the first hive and gently blew smoke down into the box. Samantha saw a thick matting of bees inside.
“My goodness!” she exclaimed. “How many bees are in there?”
“A hive of this size has about fifty thousand bees.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of bees. How much honey do they make?”
“It depends on how busy they’ve been. We usually pull about a hundred pounds of honey from each hive.”
“A hundred pounds! That’s more than I weigh.”
Barret smiled. “Bees are very hard workers.”
“I would say so.”
He puffed a little more of the smoke into the hive, and she leaned around to get a better look.
“Where do they put it all?”
“The honey is in the smaller supers up top. The brood combs are down below. That’s where the queen lays her eggs.”
“We’re not going to bother the queen, are we?”
“Oh, no. If we did that, we’d be asking for trouble.” He lifted off the topmost lid, revealing a row of wooden trays filled with honeycombs. “Each of these is called a frame.”
“Is that where the honey is?” she said, pointing to the honeycombs.
“That’s right.”
“But if we take their honey, won’t they starve?”
“Not if we leave them some.” He grabbed one of the frames and lifted it out. A small cluster of bees still clung to it, but he gently brushed them back into the hive. “Here,” he said, holding the frame out to her. “We’ll use that empty super over there to carry a few of these frames back to the house.”
When Samantha took the frame from him, she nearly dropped it.
“It’s so heavy!” she exclaimed, grabbing it with both hands.
“It should be,” he laughed. “It’s full of honey.”
She studied the front of the frame. The top of the honeycomb was covered with a white substance that looked like soap.
“What’s the white stuff?”
“That’s beeswax. The bees use it to cap off the honey.”
She rubbed it with her finger.
“How do you get it off?”
“We cut it off with a knife and then use an extractor to spin the honey out. If you don’t have an extractor, you can scoop it out and use a strainer to filter the wax. That way is slower, but it still works.”
“And that’s it? You don’t have to boil it or anything?”
“Nope. Honey is one of the most natural foods you can eat. The stuff you’d get from stores was heated and filtered to make it all look and taste the same. But real honey, like this…” he said, holding up a second frame, “this stuff is full of flavor and nutrition.”
Samantha looked down at the frame of honey, thinking that it was too bad that Tanner wasn’t there to enjoy the lesson. The poor guy was really missing out.
As Tanner slipped his jeans back on, he felt a bit like a thief in the night—only he had taken something far more valuable than the family’s silverware. Haley Jenkins lay on the bed, her legs propped against the headboard with the hopes that gravity might help with getting pregnant. While the sex had been enjoyable enough, Tanner found the whole thing to be a bit too much like a visit to the local sperm bank.
She looked back at him with her head hung upside down. There was a happy glow to her eyes and cheeks.
“You okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine. Just feeling like I need to ride out of here before your husband arrives and catches me with my hand in the cookie jar.”
She smiled. “You’re not in the cookie jar. At least, not anymore. Besides, I told you, Barret’s okay with this.”
“You say that now, but no man wants to come home to find a smile on his wife’s face and a man sneaking out the back door.”
She swung her legs down and sat up.
“You know, you’re right.” She started to slip on her clothes. “We should make ourselves presentable.”
Tanner tucked in his shirt and sat on the edge of the bed to put on his boots.
Haley slid up next to him and gently kissed him on the cheek.
“Thank you.”
“I would say anytime, but I’m afraid that wouldn’t sound right.”
“No,” she said, giggling, “it most certainly would not.”
As soon as they were dressed, they hurried back downstairs. By the time Barret and Samantha returned with the honey, they were sitting on the porch, sipping hot coffee. Two mason jars of honey sat on a table beside Tanner.
Samantha hurried toward him, smiling from ear to ear.
“You really missed out. Bees are so cool! There are thousands upon thousands of them out in those boxes. We blew smoke on them and then stole a few of their honeycombs. You’d have loved it.”
“Why? Because it involved stealing?”
“Exactly!”
He stood up and tousled her hair.
“Glad you learned something. But I’m afraid it’s time we hit the road.”
Samantha looked back at the wooden super packed with honey-filled frames.
“But Mr. Jenkins was going to show me how to get the honey out.”
“Another time.”
She had learned to read the difference between when Tanner was suggesting something and when he was carving it in stone. This was more of the latter.
“All right.” She turned to Barret and offered a little wave. “Thanks for showing me the beehives.”
“My dear, you are most welcome.” He set down the super and stepped onto the porch. For a moment, Tanner thought there might be trouble, but Barret only extended his hand. “And thank you for helping us… with everything.”
Tanner met the man’s stare and found that there was no malice in it, only relief.
“My pleasure” didn’t seem appropriate, so he said only, “It was an honor.”
“One other thing,” Barret said, leaning in close.
“Yeah?”
“Kindly do me a favor and let us be from here on out.”
Tanner nodded. If Haley were to become pregnant, the last thing either of them needed was for the biological father to stop in for a glass of sugary iced tea.
“Believe me,” he whispered, “you’ll never see us again.”
Chapter 13
Mason unfolded the map and plac
ed it on the tailgate of his F150 as Captain Artz, Corporal Rodriguez, Private Cobb, and Cadet Second Lieutenant Priscilla Bell gathered around. Leila had gone inside the makeshift headquarters with another officer to search for additional information on the depot. Several of the other cadets were keeping Bowie busy by throwing a collectible softball they had found inside one of the offices. The ball had been signed by a handful of famous players, including bombshell Jennie Finch, but the blue ink was now smudged with dog slobber and grass stains.
Captain Artz leaned down and circled a collection of white rectangular buildings. Each was surrounded by a concrete blast wall and spaced several hundred feet from its nearest neighbor—typical Army precautions in case something should go boom.
“We know that these three igloos are where Commandant Franks and his team first began their search. What happened after that is anyone’s guess.”
Mason studied the map. The Radford Army Ammunition Plant was split roughly in half by the Little River, a meandering waterway that traveled between Bluestone Lake in West Virginia and Claytor Lake in Virginia. The river looped around a portion of the depot, carving off a thick fingerlike extension. The buildings that Captain Artz had circled were on that finger, and to get to them would require crossing an eight-hundred-foot bridge. The bridge was one of only two ways across the river, with the other crossing located nearly all the way back at the town of Fairlawn.
“The bridge is an obvious choke point,” he said, tapping the map with his finger. “If we get cut off there, we’ll never make it back.”
“I only have four other cadets with working firearms,” admitted Artz. “But if you think it’ll help, I can position them on the bridge to prevent your escape from being blocked.”
Mason recalled the massacre he had witnessed at Richmond Hill. Expert soldiers equipped with state-of-the-art weapons had been chewed up like hamburger meat. A few cadets with plinking rifles weren’t likely to make much of a difference against a horde of the infected. Still, a few rifles pointing at the enemy were always better than none.
“Position all four on this side of the bridge. If the enemy tries to come across or block our retreat, it’ll be up to those cadets to stop them.”
Captain Artz nodded. “I’ll go with them to ensure that it’s done right.”
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