The EMP Lodge Series: Books One to Three

by Grace Hamilton

  It was a relief not to say anything and he went about cleaning up and repacking his gear to leave by the door for when he went back out in the morning.

  After another quiet dinner, they had to have a conversation about the search for tomorrow. Megan was certainly trying to pick up the slack, but she wasn't exactly mobile. She couldn't haul wood or help remove the plastic from the greenhouse. No one wanted to make her feel any worse about the situation but they had to think of the needs of everyone in the house.

  It was decided Wyatt and Chase would go out. Willow insisted she go along. Jack was at first hesitant, but her eyes and ears were as good as anyone else. Jack had to stay behind and get that mudroom put up. Albert would split wood while Ryland stacked it.

  The following morning, everyone got to work, including Megan. She was down to using only one crutch and was moving around much better so long as she didn’t overdo it. Placed on laundry duty, the women worked as a team. Rosie took care of dumping the bucket of water and hauling the clothes to the woodstove for Megan to hang on the rack.

  Then it was more candle making, before it was time to show Megan another new skill—how to make soap. This one intrigued Megan the most. Prior to the EMP, she knew people who made all kinds of pretty soaps and sold them at a high price in specialty shops and craft fairs.

  Apparently, Rosie had done that kind of thing too, but didn't see the cost effectiveness of buying all the expensive ingredients and going through the hassle of making her own. Today, it was a necessity.

  When Rosie had explained why she’d saved all the fat from the animals they’d harvested recently, Megan was appalled. Despite her initial reaction, Rosie promised her she would never know she was washing her body with the fat of an animal by the time they were done. Megan wasn't convinced, but figured she would go through the process and see what she could learn.

  “Grab that big stainless steel pot,” Rosie instructed.

  Megan did as instructed, although it was a bit awkward carrying anything while trying to maneuver on crutches. Her ankle was still too sore to hold her weight.

  “Now, you cut the fat chunks into small pieces while I grab the bucket of ash from the stove.”

  Megan learned long ago not to question her new family no matter how absurd some of their choices tended to be. They seemed to know what they were doing.

  She chopped the fat, trying not to think of rubbing it all over her body or in her hair, while watching Rosie. Wyatt's mother had made one of the old freeze-dried food buckets into a strainer of sorts. There were tiny holes punched through the bottom.

  Earlier, Rosie had heated ash mixed with fresh rainwater on the woodstove in an old enamel cookpot. Now that it was cool, she poured it into a big glass bowl covered in a square of cloth cut from a cotton t-shirt. Since they didn’t have cheesecloth to use, the t-shirt would have to do, she told her.

  “What is that for?” Megan asked unable to hold back her question.

  “This is lye,” Rosie said holding up the smaller bowl of liquid that had just been strained through the shirt.

  “Really?”

  Megan had heard of lye of course. It was the stuff they used in soaps and detergents.

  Rosie nodded, “Yep. If we were making larger batches, I would let the ash water sit overnight but considering how much ash we end up with and will have by the end of winter; I’m not worried about having enough to make soap with.”

  “I'm all done with this part,” Megan pointed to the pot that contained the chunks of fat.

  “Great, we will put this on the stove to melt down. It will probably take an hour or so. Once it’s melted, we can strain it through another cloth so we only have the clear liquid left. Once everything is ready, we can then marry the two together and start to make soap. Do you have anything else you wanted to do while we wait?” Rosie asked her, covering the pot with a lid to trap in the heat.

  Megan shrugged, “Not really. I'll go see if Jack needs any help. Holler when it's time to do the next step. I want to see how you are going to make that into soap.”

  “I will, dear. Be careful. You don't need to overdo it.”

  “Yep, I know.”

  Megan was able to walk around inside the lodge without the crutches, but she still used them when she went outside. Navigating over the bumpy ground was becoming easier and she couldn’t wait until she was back to normal. Thankfully, her leg didn't feel like a lead ball dragging her down. The pain was still there, but not nearly as bad. The key was keeping it elevated as much as she could. Standing upright still made it throb.

  “Hey, Jack,” she said when she saw him standing outside the back door.

  He was staring at the ground, which was littered with wood and various construction supplies.

  “Hey,” he said without looking up.

  Megan waited. She knew that look. He was thinking.

  “Okay,” he said, looking up and clapping his hands together, “Got it!”

  She smiled, “Got what?”

  “I was trying to do a little math to figure out how many of these branches I would need to frame the walls.”

  She nodded. Jack was an intelligent guy and was always working out problems in his head. He rarely had to sit down and use pen and paper to get through an equation. Megan was not quite so blessed in the math department. All that arithmetic to come up with spacing made her head hurt. She usually left it to Jack and then happily followed his direction.

  “Can I help with anything?” she asked, hoping he would say yes.

  He thought for a moment. She knew building was typically something a person did while standing on both feet, but figured she could hold the wood while he nailed or something.

  “Sure,” he finally said. “I'm going to lay out the frame. As I move along, it would be great if you could hold the wood up while I nail it to the bottom board.”

  Megan was thrilled. She needed to help, even if it meant doing something as simple as holding a piece of wood upright.

  They worked together in silence until Rosie popped her head out the back door.

  “Megan, are you ready for the next step in our soap making?”

  Megan was secretly thrilled to be getting back inside and hopefully, into a chair. The throbbing had become a little too much to bear and she knew she’d been on her injured leg too much today. It didn’t matter how good she felt, she still needed time to heal.

  Rosie gave her a knowing look as she hobbled by, trying not to wince. Rosie quickly pulled out a chair, ordered her to sit, and disappeared into the bedroom.

  “You have to take it easy for a few more days,” she lectured gently lifting Megan's wrapped ankle and placing it on another chair with a pillow cushioning it.

  Megan sighed in relief. Rosie pulled off the sock that was stretched over her foot.

  “You see this?” she said angrily. “Your toes are very red, turning purple. When you feel your heartbeat in your toes, sit down!”

  Megan winced as the woman fussed over her. Rosie took her doctoring duties seriously and did not tolerate uncooperative patients. She didn't want to lose a foot or a leg and promised to obey.

  Rosie brought the pot to the table. “Since you were busy outside, I went ahead and mixed the lye with the tallow, which is what’s left after melting and straining the animal fat.” Megan peered inside; it was a creamy color, thick, and looked a lot like Crisco; only not as white.

  Rosie brought two old bread pans to the table. They didn't use the bread pans for baking because they were too thin to handle on the heat of the woodstove.

  “Use the ladle and spoon the soap into the pans,” Rosie instructed.

  Megan did as she was told.

  “Now, we will let this sit overnight. In the morning, we will cut it with a knife to make bars.”

  Once again, Megan was thoroughly impressed.

  “That is amazing.”

  “Next spring, we need to collect some lavender and other fragrant flowers. We can mix it into the soap to get some
nice, pretty colors, and smells.”

  “Oh, that would be awesome. And some mint,” Megan added. She loved the refreshing smell of mint and it always made her skin feel so alive.

  “Definitely. If we do end up getting a couple of dairy goats, a little milk goes a long way for making soap. The goat's milk will leave your skin nice and soft. I imagine after another long summer in the sun working in the garden, we could all use a little skin pampering.”

  Megan was excited. The group had talked a lot about getting some goats. It was the next step in their sustainable living. They had to keep moving forward and chickens and goats were definitely on the agenda.

  Wyatt stopped and stared out over the area that stretched out below him. He was back at the very spot Caitlin had vanished. The steep, rocky hillside that led to the meadow below was inches from his feet. He imagined Megan standing in this same spot, captivated by the beauty below.

  She had told him she just knew deer would be down there. He looked to the left. The slope was a little easier to navigate, but it would still be a difficult climb down. He couldn't believe Megan had managed to climb up that hillside with a seriously sprained ankle. The woman was tough.

  Wyatt took a few moments to try to see beyond the tree line in the distance that surrounded the meadow. That is where he needed to go. It wasn't on his search grid, but the maps didn't give them too many details about the land itself. If he were living off the land up here, he would want to be close to the meadow. There was likely a camp on the other side.

  Checking his watch, it was already after noon. Leaning back, he looked at the sky, it was cloudy, but the weather was mild. He could make it across the meadow. He needed to see what was beyond those trees.

  The journey down the hill was slow. Wyatt spent a long time looking for any signs of Caitlin. Megan had told them she saw Caitlin tumble down past her.

  Wyatt stayed close to the tree line on the left. This is where Megan had climbed up the hill, using the trees to gain support. He looked at the trunks to see if there were any signs of blood that would indicate Caitlin had hit one of them on her way down. Nothing.

  He kept moving, keeping his eyes on the ground and scanning the area for a sign Caitlin had been there. He heard a noise and whipped his head to the right. Two beautiful deer were in the meadow. One was looking around while the other one grazed.

  As he watched the deer, his subconscious started nagging. He had seen something. What was it? He slowly turned his head back to the left.

  There! Up ahead he saw pink. He ran towards it and whooped with glee when he discovered it was a piece of pink material. Snatching it off the branch, he looked at it recognizing the material from Caitlin's coat. Tucking it in his pocket, he took a moment to orientate himself. The tree with the bloody bandage was through the trees on his left. Caitlin may have been a little confused and headed in the wrong direction. Someone found her, bandaged her and then where?

  Wyatt spent some time searching for more clues about what happened to Caitlin on that fateful morning. He couldn't see any tracks. Walking in a semi-circle back and forth, widening his search, he searched for more clues.

  It was the most frustrating thing he had ever encountered. A little girl didn't simply walk into the forest. Well, maybe typical little girls did, but Caitlin was smarter than that. She knew better. The past six months had given her a lot more knowledge about the forest than an average eight-year-old would have.

  Wyatt checked his watch; he had spent a couple hours searching this one area. Now, he didn't have enough time to get to that far tree line and back home before dark. He would take Chase with him tomorrow and head east. It was about a two-hour walk from the lodge. With the days growing shorter that only gave them about eight hours of daylight.

  If they left at dawn that would give them about four hours search time plus travel to and from the location before it got too dark to see. Walking through the forest with a flashlight was tough business. He couldn't afford to trip over a root or log and hurt himself.

  Wyatt started the trek back, alone with his thoughts. He missed Megan. He hoped she was willing to talk to him and would welcome him back in their bed. It had been a lonely few days and even lonelier nights without holding her close.

  13

  With Chase already back for close to an hour, Megan anxiously waited for Wyatt's return. She no longer expected him to walk through the door with Caitlin, but a part of her remained hopeful that her daughter would be found safe. It had been four long days since the mudslide and about that long since she had talked with Wyatt instead of yelling at him. Megan knew she was wrong for putting so much pressure on him.

  The guy had been out from dawn to dusk every day, working himself to the bone to find her. Megan wanted to apologize for being so awful. She knew he was trying and had nothing to do with her getting lost in the first place. Her injury and feelings of helplessness were tearing her up inside. If she were able, she would have been out there side by side with the guys searching for her daughter and probably forcibly returned home in the evenings but at least she would be doing something.

  While the Morris family had welcomed both her and Caitlin into the family and she’d slowly come to accept that working as a team was far more beneficial than going it alone, at times like this, it killed her to rely on others.

  She was the one who was a total mess and poor Wyatt happened to be the one person in this new world she could lean on and be a total bitch to.

  Her heart skipped a beat when she heard his footsteps. Even when she was mad at him, she always felt a little zap of electricity race through her veins when she saw him.

  He came through the door, looking like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Megan waited for him to look at her.

  When he finally lifted his eyes, he scanned the room. She knew he was looking for her.

  Rosie and Willow had been standing in the kitchen, preparing dinner, but suddenly decided they heard Ryland calling them from upstairs. Albert decided he was in need of some time outside and needed Jack and Chase to help him as the men quickly left the room.

  Megan stood up with the help of her crutches. When Wyatt finally looked at her, she gently tilted her head, motioning for him to go in their bedroom. At first, she thought he was going to say no, but instead he crossed the room stopping in front of her. She stood there, unsure what to expect when he kissed her.

  Instead of waiting for her to hobble into the room, he picked her up and carried her knocking the crutches to the floor, breaking the silence that had settled over the house.

  Striding into the room, he kicked the door shut and carefully laid her on the bed. Joining her, they laid together, not saying a word for several long minutes.

  “I should have taken my boots off,” he finally said.

  Megan laughed, propping up on her elbows and looking down at their feet. There was dirt all over the pretty yellow bedspread she had handpicked on one of their outings to town.

  “Oh well, it will wash.”

  They both started to talk at the same time. Megan held up a hand to silence him.

  “Let me. I'm sorry. I’ve been awful these past few days. It isn't your fault. You’ve been amazing and I appreciate that. You have to be the most patient man on this earth.”

  Wyatt started to disagree, but she shushed him again.

  “Seriously, Wyatt, I do appreciate all that you are doing. I am mad at the situation. Frustrated I can't get out there and help search.”

  “There isn't anything you can do that we aren't doing,” he assured her.

  “I know, it’s just, I hate being stuck here. I hate that she isn't here. I hate that I feel so helpless!”

  “I get that. I do. It’s part of what I love about you. Now, don’t get too excited but I wanted to show you this.” Reaching into his pocket, Wyatt pulled out the bit of pink material.

  Reaching for it excitedly. “This is from Caitlin’s jacket, I’m sure of it,” Megan exclaimed. “Where did yo
u find it?”

  “Where we think she landed after the slide. I realize it isn’t much but at least we know we’re looking in the right area,” Wyatt told her as she hugged him.

  “Thank you, Wyatt.”

  Not bothering to hide his yawn, he looked at her in surprise. “For what?”

  “Giving me a little more hope.”

  They lay together on the bed for close to an hour. She missed being held. He was her rock. Megan could hear the others in the kitchen and figured they better get up for dinner. Hopefully, they hadn't held up the meal, waiting on the two of them to emerge from the bedroom.

  Megan started to ask Wyatt if he was hungry when she realized he was asleep. The man was clearly exhausted. She considered taking his boots off for him, but didn't want to disturb him. Instead, she lay perfectly still with her face pressed against his chest. The soothing sound of his heartbeat lulled her to sleep.

  She didn’t know how much time had passed when Megan felt the change in Wyatt's breathing. He was awake. She knew he couldn't be comfortable wearing those heavy boots.

  “Go ahead. Get comfortable,” Megan said in the darkness.

  “Okay.”

  He quickly shed his boots and clothes and climbed back under the covers. She leaned over, kissed him and settled back in against his bare chest.

  Wyatt woke early, feeling refreshed and energized. His night with Megan had restored him and given him the hope he needed to keep going. He was positive today would be the day he would find Caitlin and return her to her mother's arms.

  Chase clearly hadn't had such a good night's rest. He stumbled down the stairs, his hair sticking up in various places around his head. The glow from the candle he was carrying gave his face a yellow pallor and highlighted the heavy bags under his eyes.

  No one was sleeping well. Chase had been going just as hard as Wyatt had the past week and was clearly exhausted. Wyatt considered telling him to stay home, but knew his suggestion would be ignored. Chase would be insulted.