Her eyes darted to the shed. The man had ignited two fires and was working on a third at the corner of the shed. It would go up in a flash.
She frantically looked around for Wyatt. She needed him. She needed his gun and his guidance. He would know what to do. No, he would have already done it.
Megan closed her eyes, begging for mercy and praying for divine intervention.
30
“Please don't make me make this decision,” she whispered. A tear slipped down her cheek as she thought of her options.
She loved Jack. He had become her best friend next to Wyatt. Wyatt loved Jack. Willow, Rosie and Ryland all flashed through her mind. She couldn't leave them without their brother, husband, son and father.
She thought about the four men trapped in the burning shed. Evan had Tara, but the other men were single. Would their absence be as big a loss as Jack’s? They had the remaining explosives too—and with McDaniels holed up, that may be their only way to get at him.
Were four lives more valuable than one? Four lives that were outsiders a couple weeks ago, or someone who she now considered family?
That wasn't her call to make. She knew deep down what to do, but she couldn't.
It was truly gut-wrenching. Her insides felt like they were being twisted into knots as she weighed the importance of each of the men's lives. She didn't want to admit it, but she had grown fond of each of them.
Every one of them held a place in her heart and each of them deserved to live. Who was she to make this decision?
She cursed the fates for putting her in such an impossible situation.
When she opened her eyes, her decision had been made.
She aimed the rifle, paused and then pulled the trigger. It all felt like it was happening in slow motion. The recoil from the rifle threw her shoulder back as the gun bucked. Megan held her breath as she watched her target.
He dropped. The torch fell to the ground. At the same moment the man with the torch fell dead to the ground, there was another explosion.
“Jack!” she screamed.
Megan sobbed as she watched the area where Jack had been, explode in a fiery inferno.
“I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.”
But her attention was soon drawn back to the barn. The two small fires that had been lit were quickly growing. The shed was going up in flames with the group trapped inside.
She had expected to see them run out. When they didn't, she knew they were trapped inside. The man had trapped them and was going to burn them alive.
Megan looked around, trying to find a way to get to the shed without getting shot. The fire burning out of control where Jack had been hit would provide her enough cover. It was the long way around, but she had to try.
Megan raced towards the fire and then behind it. She couldn't stop herself from looking to see if by some miracle Jack had survived. There was a small depression in the ground in the exact spot she had seen him last. There was no possible way he could have survived. With his injury, he couldn't have run away fast enough.
There had been gunshots, but she had no idea if they were aimed at her or someone else. She chose the area where Brenda and Greg had sheltered as her next destination. She made it.
It was then she saw Greg's lifeless body.
“No!” she cried out.
Her mind was trying to process it all. Jack, Greg and Brenda were all dead. She hadn't seen Wyatt in a while.
What if he was lying dead somewhere or shot and needing help?
Yelling brought her back to the task at hand. She realized it was the men inside the shed screaming for help. Megan was not about to let Jack's death be for nothing. She would not let those men die.
Megan raced past Brenda's body lying on the ground, but didn't stop to check on her. Stopping for even a second could cost more lives.
She reached the shed and quickly found the door. It wouldn't budge.
“Dammit!” she shouted. “Hold on, guys. I'm trying!”
Megan looked around for a rock to hit the lock on the door. She found one and started pounding on the lock.
It wasn't doing any good. The heat from the fire was making it difficult for her to stay close.
She looked back to the man holding the smoldering torch. He didn't have a gun.
Megan scanned the area. Her eyes landed on a shovel lying on the ground a few feet away from the barn.
The fire had engulfed one side of the shed. She grabbed the shovel. Using the head of the shovel like an ax, she continued to hit the wooden door. She thought back to how she’d thrown herself against the lodge door when she’d first found it and eventually broke it down with sheer determination.
Just when she thought her efforts would be futile, the wood cracked. She hit it again, splintering the wood. A few more good whacks and she had made a good size hole.
“Get back,” Chase shouted.
She complied and the large man came crashing through the door a few seconds later.
He went right back in, coming back with Bryan, who was nearly carrying Garrett. Evan was right behind them.
They were all coughing. She prayed her efforts weren't too late.
“We're fine,” Chase said, before launching into another coughing fit.
“We need to get out of here,” Evan said. “Where is everyone else?”
Megan looked at Chase. “Jack's dead.”
All four men looked at her with shock and sadness.
“Wyatt?”
She shrugged, “I don't know. He took off after McDaniels.”
“Let's move,” Chase said, heading towards the back of the house.
Garrett seemed to recover with the fresh air and managed to walk himself.
“There's a barn back here. If McDaniels was running, he would probably head there,” Chase said leading the way.
Behind them the fully engulfed shed fire created an orange glow. Bodies were strewn about the area—but one was walking towards them.
“Behind us!” Megan alerted the group. She was hoping one of them still had some bullets.
“Brenda?” Bryan said in disbelief.
The woman was holding her arm across her stomach. Bryan ran to aid her.
“Where are you hit?” Megan asked. She had seen her drop and had run right by her thinking she was dead. She suddenly felt a twinge of guilt.
“Shoulder. I'll live. Where we headed?” she asked, all business.
“Barn. We need to find Wyatt and see if he took out McDaniels,” Chase answered.
The gunfire was sporadic now.
“Are they shooting each other?” Megan asked. “If we're all here, who else,” she stopped.
Wyatt. Wyatt was unaccounted for.
“Greg?” Evan asked as he looked around.
Brenda shook her head, “He didn't make it.”
Evan looked away, trying desperately to hide his grief.
“That's a lot of gunfire. We better go check it out,” Chase said.
“Hard telling if they’re aiming or just shooting. They aren't the sharpest tools in the shed,” Bryan mumbled. “They came out of the house shooting blindly.”
When they reached the barn, they spread out, just in case there was anyone holed up inside.
Megan was given a handful of bullets.
Chase held up three fingers, silently counting down. On three, they burst through the large double doors, guns at the ready.
Megan nearly wept with joy when she saw Wyatt kneeling in front of an elderly man and woman and a little girl.
“You're alive!” she wailed.
His face was grim as he untied the couple and little girl who clung tightly to the older woman.
“Meet Harry and Linda. This is their house. And this little cutie is Emma, their granddaughter,” Wyatt informed them as the couple nodded their heads. As soon as the little girl was untied, she hugged her grandmother tight.
“McDaniels?” Chase asked.
“He is hiding in some shack behind here,” he r
eplied. “I heard yelling and came to help. I just happened to stumble on these two.”
The old man rubbed his hands together, trying to get the circulation moving.
“It's an outhouse,” Harry informed them.
“Perfect. Who has the dynamite?” Wyatt asked like he was asking for the remote to a television.
Megan was in awe of his ability to be so calm. He was acting as if he did this on a daily basis. That's when she realized he actually had done this on a daily basis. This was a job he had done on many occasions.
“I have some,” Bryan offered.
“Good, let's plant it and blow him off the face of this earth. It seems fitting he will die in a pile of—” Wyatt stopped, looking at the elderly woman in front of him.
“Got it,” Bryan said. They all knew what he was going to say.
“I'll cover you,” Chase said, following Bryan out the door.
“Stay here,” Wyatt ordered Megan and Brenda. “You know what to do if one of them tries to come in.”
“Yes, sir,” Brenda replied.
Megan turned to the couple. They looked like walking skeletons. Their fragile skin was stretched tight across their bones. There was bruising on their faces and arms. They had been sorely mistreated. It was a miracle they were alive. Emma appeared to be healthier, at least physically but the look of terror on her face told a different story.
“We'll get you out of here,” Megan said with a soothing voice.
The old woman was crying.
“Thank you. Bless you all. Bless you,” Linda repeated.
Megan couldn't imagine the horrors they had been through as she looked down at the little girl who looked to be Caitlin’s age but instead of her daughter’s dark straight hair, Emma’s was blonde and curly.
Seconds later there was a spurt of gunfire followed by a massive explosion that shook the rafters in the barn. Wyatt, Chase and Evan had, hopefully, found McDaniels.
Brenda looked up, “We need to get out of here. They may have gotten a little carried away with the dynamite.”
Just then Wyatt came through the door, “Time to move.”
Evan and Chase ran in and each grabbed one of the elderly couple and Megan grabbed the child.
Megan could smell the smoke. Their explosion had started a fire. They didn’t need to be dealing with a forest fire. Sparks rained down on them as they ran away from where the explosion had gone off.
The group ran around the back of the house, using it as cover.
Megan felt a few raindrops and hoped it would be enough to extinguish the fires burning all around them.
Her wish was granted. The skies opened and released a downpour of rain.
“In here,” the old man said.
He opened a door and they found themselves in the garage.
An ATV was parked towards the front.
“Does that work?” Wyatt asked.
“It has been. These guys have been using it for the past couple months. I heard it running yesterday.”
Wyatt looked around. Megan knew the instant he realized Jack wasn't with them.
He looked at her, asking the question.
She looked at her feet, gathered the courage to meet his eyes.
The pain she saw when he got her silent message was nearly more than she could stand.
Chase put a hand on his shoulder. Everyone else looked away.
“Greg?” he asked.
Chase shook his head, delivering yet another blow.
“Later. Let's finish this,” Wyatt said with such conviction it snapped everyone to attention.
The rain that had been pounding against the roof and the ground outside came to a sudden halt stopping as fast as it had started.
He looked at the group, before designating Brenda to stay in the garage with the couple and child.
“Guard them. We'll clean up the rest of the garbage out here and then we are getting out of here,” Wyatt told her.
The rest of them walked out, hugging the side of the garage wall. There were four men standing in the center of what would have been the yard. They all looked a little shell-shocked.
When they saw Wyatt, they all dropped their weapons and held up their hands.
“We don't want any problems. We were just obeying orders.”
Wyatt glared at them, his weapon trained on the one that was talking.
“We can go with you. We can fight for you. We don't have anywhere else to go.”
Crack!
The man looked shocked as the bullet pierced his chest. He looked at Wyatt before falling face forward to the ground.
Chase raised his gun when one of the men made a move to grab the gun he had dropped. Wyatt shot him in the head. The other two men were executed within seconds.
Megan knew this was his way of avenging Jack's death. A week ago, his actions would have shocked and maybe even scared her. In this moment, she wished she had been the one to do it.
“Spread out. If there are any other survivors, kill them. No questions. They are not coming back with us,” Wyatt ordered.
They split up. There were a few single gunshots, but when Megan didn't hear a semi-automatic gun, she breathed a sigh of relief.
After nearly an hour of searching around the area, she heard Wyatt whistle. He wanted everyone back at the house. She was relieved she had not come across any of McDaniels’ men.
Wyatt had the garage door open.
“We are loading this up,” he pointed to the ATV. “Brenda will take Linda and Emma back to the lodge. Harry will walk back with us.”
“Load it up?” Bryan asked.
“Food. We take what we can load and try to make a trip back. If not, we'll come back in the spring. Most of it is ours from their little raid.”
Everyone got to work, packing as much as they could onto the ATV and the small trailer they found in the garage before filling their packs. Megan didn't want to ever come back.
She helped Harry pack a few things in a backpack. He insisted on carrying something. She worried even a five pound pack would be too much for his emaciated body, but he was a fighter. She knew how a strong will to survive could drive a person to do things they normally wouldn't be able to do.
She herself had experienced it and wasn't about to deny this man that same gratification.
31
The walk back to the lodge was somber. Wyatt had radioed Albert, telling him the coast was clear and he could take the women and children back to the lodge. Albert didn't ask about the outcome or any details. Megan had been listening to the conversation, wondering what Wyatt would say. It was a brief conversation.
They moved much slower than they had on the trip over. Each of them lost in thought. Megan fought back the tears that threatened to flow every time she thought about Jack.
Wyatt had requested Brenda not tell his mom or Willow about Jack. That was something he needed to do in person.
Megan felt the guilt as heavy as the pack on her back. She could have saved him. She was the one who chose to let him die.
Did she dare tell Wyatt what happened?
He would never forgive her, surely.
Megan looked up and stared at the sun burning high and bright in the sky. The fog had burned off and the blast of rain had washed the area clean once again.
There hadn't been a clear day in weeks, but today, it was beautiful. The gloom that clung to her made it impossible for her to appreciate it.
On a normal day, if the sun had been this inviting, she would get the kids together and play a game of baseball. She wasn't sure she or the kids could ever enjoy the game again. It would always bring back memories of the game that had ended in gunfire and Jack being stabbed.
“You okay?”
“What?” Megan realized Wyatt was talking to her.
“Are you okay?”
“Oh, yeah, I don't know, lost in thought I guess.”
His expression had been fixed since he learned about Jack. There wasn't anger or sadness. It was just s
et in a permanent, all-business look.
“You?” she asked, already knowing he would say he was fine.
“Ready to get home. Kind of. I'm not really looking forward to that reunion.”
Megan gulped back the giant lump in her throat.
She didn't know what to say. Sorry was inadequate. She should apologize because it was her fault Wyatt's brother was dead.
“Are we close?” she asked instead. It seemed like a safe subject.
“Yeah, probably more than half way.”
The sound of an ATV engine made Megan's stomach drop. She reached for her gun. Wyatt put his hand on the barrel as she raised it up.
“It's probably Albert or Brenda coming back to get Harry. I asked her to. He's pretty weak and I don't think he can make it much farther.”
“Oh,” she said, lowering the gun, feeling her pounding heart return to a normal rhythm.
Brenda appeared up ahead, steering the four-wheeler towards them.
“Harry, you go on back with, Brenda. We'll be there soon enough,” Wyatt instructed.
At first, Megan thought the man would argue, but he must have known he didn't have the strength to carry on.
“Thank you. I appreciate all you have done, Wyatt. Your dad would have been proud,” he said, crawling behind Brenda on the ATV.
“How's the arm?” Chase asked Brenda.
“Fine. Rosie put some stuff on it and bandaged it up. I told her to hurry so I could get back out here.”
Brenda looked at Wyatt, “There were a lot of questions.”
He nodded, “That's fine. Let them know we will be there after dusk I imagine.”
“Yes, sir. You ready?” she asked the elderly gentleman who was clinging to her waist. His head was resting against her back.
“Ready.”
“See you in a bit, Harry,” Wyatt called out before Brenda fired up the engine and took off.
Megan didn't want to return to the lodge. How could she possibly face Willow?
Her mind flashed to Ryland. Ryland's dad had been killed. The boy looked up to his father and now, he was going to grow up without a dad.
The EMP Lodge Series: Books One to Three Page 57