Wyatt nodded in agreement. “You got it. Meet out front?”
“Meet out front.”
Wyatt turned and hustled out the door. Matthew retrieved his pistol and another handgun for Jade. Double-checking that they were loaded and ready for action, he holstered his. He didn’t like being so suspicious of others, but he couldn’t trust Samuel. Going out without protection would be a stupid mistake. Every fiber of his being told him that he had to be on his guard. Opening the front door, he saw Jade and Wyatt waiting for him. He gave Jade the gun and the holster. As she settled it around her waist, they looked out across the property again at the small group of men now turning onto the walkway and breaching the hotel’s property.
“I’m ready,” Jade said and without a second look, Matthew started to walk out toward the group. A thousand things ran through his mind about what he should say and do in this situation, but he figured the easiest way would be to be himself and not take any crap from Samuel and his men. He had promised that these people could have water and help. Matthew would keep that promise.
This wasn’t a shakedown. This wasn’t Samuel attacking them. This was simply Samuel taking Matthew up on his offer to get fresh water for his people.
As he got closer to Samuel and his company on the hotel’s driveway, Matthew was able to see that the men carried two buckets each, of varying sizes. Some were larger round containers. Others were repurposed milk jugs. Others held small well buckets that might last a day if the water was rationed carefully. The men looked lean, sickly, and unwashed. Matthew couldn’t understand why they hadn’t brought many more containers to carry water in. That being said, he didn’t understand why there weren’t more people with Samuel to collect fresh water. With their buckets and jugs, they would barely be able to distribute water among their compound members in Galena.
“Glad to see you took me up on my offer,” Matthew said, but he kept his hand on the butt of his gun.
Samuel paused and looked around him as if waiting for an army to emerge out of the woods and attack them. “You sure your offer still stands?” he asked suspiciously.
“Yes,” Matthew said. “Under our supervision, we will escort you to the well. You’re free to take as much water as you need to help your community.” He paused and eyed the containers the men had brought with them again. “It doesn’t look like you brought much, though.”
“Wasn’t sure if the offer was actually genuine,” Samuel shot back.
Matthew gritted his teeth and tried to keep down a swell of anger. He understood that, he supposed. Samuel didn’t trust him and his family. Thus, it was highly likely that Samuel had poisoned the people in his compound against Matthew’s family and those living up at the hotel. It checked out that the compound members would travel light and without many people, in the event Matthew went back on his word. If Matthew was going to forge a new relationship with Samuel and his community, he had to be a good neighbor first. He had made the first gesture of goodwill. Now it was time for him to prove that he could be trustworthy. Then, hopefully the other members of Samuel’s compound would come back with more containers to take more water.
“Well, it is,” Matthew said. “And I suppose if you need to borrow more buckets or containers to haul more water back to Galena, you’re welcome to those. I wouldn’t want your people dehydrating because we weren’t able to be civil to each other.”
Samuel eyed Matthew up and down. His eyes then drifted beyond Matthew to take in Jade and Wyatt, who both stood silently during the exchange. He glanced at the woods again and then nodded slowly. “I appreciate the offer,” he drawled, “but we brought just what we need. You don’t need to worry about us. I know how to take care of my people.”
Matthew tried to hide his exasperation with a shrug. The other men behind Samuel seemed oddly quiet, as if they were scared to make a peep while Samuel was talking. He wondered if Samuel ruled the community in Galena with an iron fist. Perhaps Samuel used the same tactics he’d employed when he took over the hotel and tried to force Ruth and Patton into servitude.
He bit his lip and stomped down on the desire to ask Samuel’s men if they were all right. He heard his father in the back of his mind saying that he couldn’t play the hero, especially not now. Maybe, if they could establish trust between the hotel and the community, then Matthew could work out a new solution to fix Samuel’s compound’s living situation. As of right now, he needed to make sure Samuel was on his best behavior and that no one on the hotel came to any harm. In a way, these men were Samuel’s men. Matthew had to let that go.
“All right then,” Matthew said and motioned Samuel to follow him around the hotel to where the well was located. Wyatt and Jade naturally split and flanked the group of Samuel’s men. Jade took up the rear and Wyatt walked to one side, keeping a close eye on the others. Matthew took the lead, and as much as he hated having his back turned to Samuel, he knew Jade and Wyatt would protect him as much as they could.
He walked by the garden and noticed that Allison, Patton, and Lauren were absent from it. Jade had most likely shooed them back inside when she learned that Samuel was on his way. He appreciated her quick thinking and once more felt glad that Jade was part of their family. She’d made sure no one was milling around the property while Samuel and his crew were here. Without the hustle and bustle of people doing tasks, it almost made the hotel feel like a ghost town. Matthew was so used to seeing activity on the grounds, that not having members of his own family or the gun club doing some kind of chore seemed odd. Whatever the case, he steered Samuel and his men clear of the garden just to avoid a possible sneer from Samuel. He didn’t want Samuel to see how they’d already begun to recover the garden and start thinking that he should destroy it again.
When they reached the well, Wyatt and Jade came around to stand next to Matthew in front of it. Matthew gestured to the redone exterior, courtesy of Shawn. “The water is good,” he began, “but I’d still recommend boiling it before you drink any of it. There is still dirt and muck that is mixing with it and we don’t have the means to test any of it for parasites or bacteria. Better to be safe than sorry, but boiling it should be fairly easy.”
The men looked at Samuel. Samuel chewed on his lip and made a sound of agreement. His eyes darted from Matthew to Jade and Wyatt before scanning the tree line.
Matthew frowned. Was he even listening? He didn’t want Samuel’s men to take the water back to Galena and drink it without proper precautions. He didn’t want to be on the hook if something went wrong and someone in the community fell ill. He didn’t want to be responsible for one of the kids getting some kind of parasite. “Like I said, the water should come up clear, for the most part,” he reiterated. “But you’ll still want to be safe.”
An uneasy silence followed his proclamation. Then, as if finally coming to a decision, Samuel took a step forward and tore his gaze away from the tree line. “Thank you for your concern,” he mumbled, but it seemed to lack his attention to cruelty. Why did it seem as though Samuel was distracted?
Matthew nodded and moved aside, walking away from the well to let them have access. The forest was behind him. Jade and Wyatt followed until the three of them were behind the group. Samuel’s hulking figure peered into the well, and once more Matthew had that uneasy feeling that Samuel wasn’t thinking about the well water at all. Something else seemed to be on his mind. Could he be planning to poison the well? Was there something he could drop into it that would ruin the water for good?
One of the men following Samuel stumbled on an exposed tree root. The man beside him reached out to steady his arm, but the bucket he was holding jostled hard against his leg. The bucket made a strange thunking sound. Matthew’s heart stopped in his chest.
Why would an empty bucket sound as if it distinctly had something inside of it? These men weren’t here for the water. They were here to…
Matthew’s eyes flew up to Wyatt’s. It seemed as if their thoughts passed seamlessly from one to the other. They b
oth grabbed Jade—Wyatt gripped her arm, while Matthew wrenched her shoulder back, pushing the three of them into a tumble on the ground. Jade squawked with surprise and landed hard on her back just as Matthew saw Samuel whip around with guns in his hands. The Galena community men parted like the Red Sea, giving Samuel a clear shot. Samuel was aiming straight for them.
It felt like the world had gone into slow motion. The blasts from Samuel’s gun deafened Matthew for a moment, but at the same time, he strangely heard the pfft of the bullets whizzing by where they had been previously standing.
They’re trying to kill us, Matthew thought as he scrambled backward. Jade was faster than both of them, and she leapt to her feet. Matthew wasn’t sure if she shot off a round before she was grabbing Matthew’s shoulder and dragging him to his feet. One of Samuel’s men grunted with pain and fell to his knees. The other men fumbled with their containers and pulled out weapons of their own. The roar of gunfire filled the air, and the ground around Matthew’s feet puffed up in more explosions of dirt. Wyatt uttered a low growl of frustration before the three of them were running back toward the tree line.
Jade pushed Matthew in the arm when he almost ran into her, and he realized that she was zig-zagging through the sparse expanse of flat land before they dove into the woods, making it difficult for Samuel to anticipate her movements. Picking up on the technique, Matthew bolted in a similar pattern and swerved into the trees, hoping to change his position and lead Samuel’s men away from the hotel. Behind him, he heard Samuel’s men curse and the sound of them running in pursuit. His breath wheezed in his lungs. Blood roared in his ears. Every instinct he had was telling him to escape and to lead the gunfire away from his family at the hotel rather than closer to them. Fear seemed almost secondary to the need to run, until he realized that the need and fear were the same thing.
He thought he heard the sound of gunfire following him, and for a moment that need and fear turned into terror. What if Samuel had men posted further into the trees, waiting to take them out? Was that why he had been watching the tree line so diligently? But there was nowhere else to go. They had to find cover. Running for the hotel would leave them too exposed. This was worth the risk.
Wyatt grunted next to Matthew when his shoulder hit a low-lying branch. Concern filled Matthew. Usually the Marine was unflappable, but that small grunt said more than a thousand words. Wyatt had been hit. Matthew didn’t know where or how bad, but they couldn’t stop running. They had to keep moving if they wanted to stay alive.
29
Kathleen reached across the dining room table and began to stack the dirty bowls, plates, and coffee cups from breakfast into a pile. What passed for coffee sloshed in one of the porcelain cups that Matthew—or maybe it was Wyatt—had left behind. She noticed that Patton had eaten every scrap from his plate, leaving it nearly clean. Allison had done the same. Once, the two of them might have been pickier about what they were served in the morning, but now they wolfed it all down without complaint. Even Allison had moved from drinking water to sipping on the crushed nuts and herbs Kathleen had been experimenting with to create her coffee-like concoction.
As she continued to clean, she saw Ruth meander out from the kitchen into the dining room. Her eyes were red and watery, but her bun was neat and tidy. Kathleen was pleased to see her. Ruth had been bedridden since David’s passing. Kathleen knew that Ruth didn’t have any regrets about her marriage with David, and that she wasn’t flagellating herself for past deeds, but she and David had been together for thirty-plus years. To suddenly have a partner of that long standing no longer be part of your every day… Kathleen couldn’t imagine it. She understood that Ruth would always be marked by David’s death, but she seemed to be recovering from it better than expected and emerged from her room to pick at breakfast and sip her tea and stare out the window at the mountains.
Kathleen smiled at her mother-in-law. “How are you?” she asked, trying to mask the worry in her voice.
Ruth gave her a weak smile back. “My hands are cracked and raw from cleaning pots without lemon-scented detergent, but I’ll manage. I wish we had more lotion around than the hotel stuff. I hate to say it, but it doesn’t do much.”
“Maybe we will need to learn how to make something like that, too,” Kathleen said as she lifted the dirty plates. “It’s my turn to put my hands into soapy water. Sounds like you already did the big pots.”
“Let me,” Ruth said, taking the plates from her. “I’m already wet and covered in suds.”
“I can dry,” Kathleen said.
“Deal. But first we should clean the table up.”
Kathleen nodded and felt relieved to have the banter between her and Ruth return. They hadn’t always been close, and had butted heads more than once, but it was almost like normalcy was returning now that Ruth was taking on tasks and helping out. Together, they made a trip to the kitchen with their hands full of dishes and dumped them into the bucket of sudsy water for cleaning.
“Let them soak for a minute,” Kathleen said, waving her hand at it. “There’s more upstairs.”
As they walked back up and piled utensils into a serving dish, Kathleen heard the front door open and shut. She looked up. She hadn’t been expecting Patton and Allison until at least lunchtime. The garden would have taken up their whole morning. Matthew was with Wyatt at the well. The Marine had been spending a lot of time at the hotel and was pretty much considered one of the family. Kathleen always made sure to cook extra just in case he popped his head in asking for a cup of tea or a glass of water.
When she saw Nikki round the corner and come into the dining room, she relaxed. “Hi,” Kathleen said and was pleased to see that Ruth even gave the doctor a small smile. “Long time, no see.”
Nikki looked apologetic. “I know,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I guess I haven’t been around much…”
“Not much to be around for,” Ruth said. “It makes sense that you have more important things to do at the gun club.”
“Thank you for understanding,” Nikki said and she paused. “I do hope you’re all okay. I wish I could have done more. It’s just...it’s always hard to lose a patient.”
“You did everything you could have,” Ruth said firmly, and Kathleen wondered if she might start crying before Ruth changed the subject. “What can we help you with now?”
“I wondered if I could grab some of the leftover medical supplies from David’s room,” Nikki said. She spoke too fast, as if she was nervous. “I was hoping I could take them back to the gun club. I’m trying to start a supply cupboard system that anyone can use and understand the drugs and equipment. You know, set up a check-in, check-out system. I hoped I could take the rest of it back with me. If that’s okay.”
Kathleen felt her heart twang. The poor woman obviously felt as though she’d failed David and thus, by proxy, had failed the Riley family. The way she stuttered and looked so worried must be because she was concerned about stepping over a line or angering them. “Of course,” Kathleen said and gave Nikki a generous smile, hoping to show the doctor that no one at the hotel held any ill will toward her. “We haven’t actually been in the suite since David passed, so everything is most likely where you left it.”
“We should have brought the supplies to you,” Ruth added as she wiped at her eyes with her elbow. “I don’t know what we were thinking. We should have known you’d need them.”
“Oh, no worries,” Nikki said with a wave of her hand. “It’s been hard on everyone. I wasn’t expecting anything of the sort. If you don’t mind, I’ll just head in the room and take inventory. Shouldn’t be long.”
“Feel free,” Kathleen said as she dropped a moist towel on the table and began to scoop up the crumbs left over from breakfast.
Nikki lingered for a moment, but then nodded her thanks and turned to walk toward the suite of rooms. Ruth and Kathleen continued to clean up, but their familiar chit-chat had taken a backseat to thoughtful silence. Kathleen was thinkin
g how quiet the hotel seemed without David’s vivacity, and she knew that Ruth felt the same. He would always be in their thoughts.
Together, they finished clearing the table, took the used dishes to the kitchen, and dunked the rest of the dishes into the bucket. Ruth plunged her hands in without a second thought and scrubbed the dishes vigorously before handing the rinsed plates over to Kathleen. Kathleen dried and stacked the cleaned plates in their cupboards. It was strange how she found herself handling them so delicately. Before the EMP, if she cracked a plate or chipped the edge, she would feel terrible, but the feeling never lasted. After all, she knew she could always go and pick up a new set at the store and upgrade to a new color. Sometimes, she’d buy new dishware simply because she wanted to change styles. Yet now she realized these plates would be the only plates they would have for a long time. The forks and spoons would become old friends and be reused time and time again. The mugs—from the ridiculous campy ones with dumb logos on them from trips, to the more delicate porcelain tea cups that came with the hotel—were just as precious as the tools used to fix things that broke around the hotel.
Once the kitchen was cleaned, both she and Ruth walked back upstairs. Kathleen wiped her dry hands on her arms, hating how cracked her skin looked, and frowned. Ruth was right. They needed to figure out how to make lotion or some kind of salve to save their skin.
Kathleen expected to see Nikki waiting for them in the dining room, but the doctor was nowhere to be found. Kathleen peered around the room to check if Nikki was waiting for them by the front door, but she was still absent. Kathleen frowned. Nikki would have said goodbye at least. Kathleen was sure of it. Even though she hadn’t been by the hotel since David had passed, they were close enough to warrant a hello and a goodbye. Kathleen felt a pang of disappointment in her heart.
EMP Catastrophe | Book 3 | Erupting Chaos Page 19