“I will teach you everything I know, little sister, and I will find a way for you to learn how to swing.” Tucker kissed the top of her head.
She kicked her legs and beat her fists, babbling away as if everything she said made sense.
“I know, sister. You will.” Tucker moved away then to start rolling up his sleeping bag.
“What do you know, Sweetie?” Kris asked when he didn’t elaborate.
Tucker stopped, looked at her, and then went back to rolling up his bag. “That’s between my sister and me.”
Kris bit her tongue. She didn’t like secrets and her curiosity screamed at her to make him share what he meant. A brother and sister should have their bond, though, even if it didn’t make any sense to her. It could come out eventually, and until then she would do her best to respect her son’s wishes for privacy. Yet, she wondered at what it could be that he heard in his sister’s babbles, and what exactly he thought she would be doing.
~6~
Blake knew it would be hard to get Kris to leave, but he hadn’t expected the entire camp to be upset. Yet, person after person came up to ask if they could stay. They offered up their own homes, half their rations, goods, tools, and more. Blake didn’t get it. Why were they so important?
He graciously thanked each one for their offers, and despite the pleading in Kris’s and Tucker’s eyes, he stood firm in leaving. Promising to come for another visit soon did seem to appease most of them, including his wife and son. Even he felt a little comfort with the idea of visiting again.
He hadn’t realized how much he had missed male companionship. Not that he needed it on a daily basis, but having it available when he did eased some of his stress. This visit proved to him that he could fully trust Arland, something that came hard for him to believe.
He would help Arland find a suitable location for his camp. If nothing else, then he would know where they were, and his family would know, too. He was serious when he said he would want Kris to go to the camp if something ever happened to him. She would be safer there than on her own. So, why then did he not want to join them?
He could no longer say it was the safety of the bunker because ironically the bunker might just be what led people straight to them. He shook his head and wiped down his face.
“You okay?” Kris asked from beside him. “You’ve been quiet ever since we left camp.”
Blake blinked a few times, realizing that he had lost himself in all his planning and ponderings. What had he missed? What if someone had ambushed them? He admonished himself with a growl.
“It’s okay, I didn’t mean to interrupt your thinking.” Kris slowed her pace to ease behind him where Tucker hoofed it.
He had been going at a breakneck pace, and no one complained. Tucker’s face had turned red, and he grunted with each big step up the hill. Kris labored as well with her pack full of herbs and food people sent them off with, and of course their Mercy, who she soothed quietly.
“She needs to eat?” Blake asked looking back at his family, hating the fact he had pushed them so hard without realizing it and without the need to do so.
“It’s okay. I can readjust her and nurse while we hike.” Kris started rearranging the wrap.
“No, a break would do everyone good.” Blake took her pack off her and set it against a tree.
He then turned to Tucker who had already removed his pack and walked off to sit in a beam of light on a rock. Blake continued to watch him while he took off his own pack. It seemed that they all had things on their minds today.
“Any idea what has our boy being so contemplative?” Blake asked Kris as she got herself in a comfortable position to nurse a fussing Mercy.
She blew out a breath, waited until he met her eyes, and then said, “He had another vision.”
“It’s burden I wish he didn’t carry.”
“Me, too.”
“Did he tell you this one?” Blake squatted next to her, enjoying the feel of his muscles stretching.
Kris nodded. “He said we’re all leaving, Arland’s camp and us.” Her voice caught, and Blake reached out to touch her face.
“Whatever happens, we will face this together.” He repeated her words.
Her eyes moistened as she nodded, attempting a small smile. “Will you talk with him?”
Blake rose. “On my way.” He looked down at his beautiful wife nursing their miraculous daughter. Life sure wasn’t turning out as he had thought it would, but he had to admit he wouldn’t change it. “As long as we’re together, we’re going to be okay.”
Kris smiled before he turned to talk with Tucker. The boy sat with his eyes closed and face upturned toward the sunlight. He didn’t want to intrude upon his serene moment, so he stopped and soaked up the silence as well.
In a life where you didn’t know what would happen next, taking the time to appreciate where you were was vital for your peace of mind. Blake had learned that years ago, but seeing his boy already using that wisdom settled him. Tucker would be okay. He would be able to hold this burden, as much as Blake wished he could take it off his shoulders.
“It’s peaceful here, isn’t it?” Tucker’s words broke into Blake’s contemplation. “It is. I’m glad to see you enjoying it.” Blake climbed onto the rock next to him.
“We’re moving.” Tucker said it straight forward as if it were happening in the moment.
Blake nodded. “Your mom told me you had another vision. Why don’t we break it down?”
Tucker turned to him. “You believe me?”
“Of course I do, Champ. So we were with Arland’s camp?”
“Yes, sort of. I still felt apart, and we were ahead of them.”
Blake nodded. “Do you know when this will happen?”
Tucker shook his head. “I don’t want to leave, Dad.”
“I know, son. Me neither, but if you saw it, we should prepare. I’m sure there’s a good reason. Now let’s look closer to determine how much time we have. Could you tell what time of year it was? If it was cold or hot? What did the trees look like? How old did your sister look?”
Tucker closed his eyes and stuck the tip of his tongue out of the corner of his mouth. “The oaks have no leaves. We are bundled up. I can see our breaths, and there is snow in the shade. Mom is carrying Mercy in her wrap. She smiles at me...she has a tooth!” Tucker’s eyes open. “Little sister is going to get a tooth.”
“I’m sure she will get plenty.” Blake smiled encouragingly at his son even though his mind went a million miles a minute. It sounded like this winter. They didn’t have much time. A heaviness settled on him. He didn’t want to leave their home either. “You did well, Champ.”
Blake patted his son on his back and handed him a chunk of jerky and his canteen. “Eat up and rest up. We’re more than half way home.”
Home. What would they call home after they left? He pondered what it meant as he settled himself beside Kris.
“When will Mercy get her first tooth?” Blake asked.
“Tucker got his around six months. Why?” she asked while handing him their daughter.
He took her in his arms and sat her up. Her goofy toothless grin and milky drool made him smile. “Do you think visions can be changed?”
Kris didn’t respond. She watched him, biting her lip. Mercy did respond, a babble of response, her eyes intense and purposeful. Too bad he didn’t speak baby. He felt for sure she had the answer.
~*~
Kris still played Blake’s question in her mind even three weeks later. Could a vision be changed? She laid Tucker’s baby picture reverently on top of her wedding dress with a few other special mementos. There were some things she wanted to ensure would survive. If they really did leave, one day maybe Tucker or Mercy would return and find these treasured keepsakes.
“Say it again, Sweetie,” she told Tucker as he dangled a toy in front of Mercy.
She liked having the house to be in during cold days like today, days that reminded her how lucky they were to h
ave all they did, and how much she would miss it.
“Little robin listen to me, start at the twisted tree and count to three. One. Two. Three. See the apples high in the boughs, follow them down two rows.”
“Good, Tuck. Keep practicing. It’s important that you can remember these rhymes.” Kris knew he understood, but she hoped repeating the words would cement them into him to the point he couldn’t forget.
The rhymes just might save his life one day.
Blake came through the door, dirt smudged across his face and no coat despite the cold. He stopped to say hi to the kids before he came over to her.
“This just about ready? It’s time to close up the hole.”
Blake had decided they should stash their extra supplies in underground caches. In that case, if the bunker did get raided, they would still have a good supply to draw from.
“Do you remember this day?” she asked, holding a picture of herself and him standing near a waterfall along granite slabs.
“Like I could ever forget.” He smiled at her in a way that made her remember why she said yes all those years ago. “That’s the day you agreed to deal with me for the rest of my life.”
“For the rest of mine,” she said.
“Oh, no you don’t. You aren’t leaving me here alone.” He pulled her into his arms.
Kris wanted to melt into him and disappear from the ordeal they faced. Reality crashed into her serene moment with Mercy’s fussing.
“She’s not happy today, Mom.” Tucker earnestly tried to interest his little sister with the giraffe toy they had found in his room.
“No, she’s not.” Kris gave Blake a quick peck before pushing away to pick up her sweet, fussy girl. “Yes, I think I am done with that for now. We have two more caches right?” she asked Blake while bouncing Mercy.
“Yes, at least two more.”
“Can I come help, Dad?” Tucker said as he rose off the ground and puffed out his chest. “I’m strong and can carry a lot.”
“I know you can, Champ. You can use those strong muscles to carry the bag your mom just packed.” Blake nodded to the bag and grabbed a couple others.
“How long are these going to remain underground?” Tucker asked as he met his dad by the door.
“As long as needed,” Blake said, his voice giving away his despondence. He glanced at Kris with a sad smile before taking the bags and her son out with them.
Kris focused on Mercy, pushing away thoughts about why they had to bury their treasures and extra food underground. She wished they had their jeep or at least a wagon or something so they could take it all with them. She sighed. They didn’t have any idea of where they would go yet or even what would cause them to leave all they had prepared to hold them out during an event like this.
Mercy whimpered, chewing on her finger.
“What is it, sweet girl?” Kris looked at her finger to make sure it was okay and noticed an increase in drool. Her breath caught and she examined Mercy’s gums. They were red and swollen on the bottom in the middle...right where her first tooth would erupt.
They should have two more months at least! Kris ran her finger along the gums, and sure enough, she felt the sharp edge of her first tooth pushing under the surface.
Mercy cried and tore her head away to put her finger back into her mouth.
“I’m sorry, Honey. I know that hurts.” They didn’t have any teething gel or the ability to freeze a teether. How would she help her daughter through this for the next year? She wished Laurie were here. She would have some remedies from the forest.
As if her prayers had been immediately answered, she heard the monitor beep. The area on the northeast perimeter lit up. Probably Arland and hopefully Laurie coming for their promised visit. Yet, her heart raced, knowing the threat coming toward them. They had to be careful.
She held the radio up to her, breathed out to calm herself, and contacted Blake. “You there?”
“We’re here,” Tucker responded.
“There’s a breach on the northeast perimeter.”
“Probably Arland, but I’m sending Tucker back and will investigate,” Blake said.
“Be careful.”
“You, too. In fact, meet Tucker at the bunker and lock yourself in, just in case.”
“You really think that’s necessary?” Kris asked.
“For my peace of mind? Yes. Please, Krista.”
“I’m going,” she grunted into the radio as she packed all of Mercy’s things into a bag and headed out the door.
“Thank you,” Blake’s voice crackled over the walkie-talkie.
“Just radio as soon as you see it’s Arland, okay?” Kris requested, knowing she would be worrying until she heard the visitors were their friends.
“10-4, over and out.”
“Love you. We always return to each other. Over and out.” Kris needed to hear him say it.
“We always return to each other. Out.”
Tucker was waiting for her with the bunker door open. “Do you think Arland brought Ethan with him?”
“It’s a long trip for a little guy,” she said as she ushered him in ahead of her. She handed the bag down and secured Mercy before climbing down the steps while closing the door behind them. The finalizing whoosh of the door closing would never be her favorite sound. Yet, with the thought of having to leave the safety the bunker offered, she realized that she had come to depend on it as much as Blake.
What would they do for safety out in the forest or wherever they went?
~7~
As Blake closed in on the northeast perimeter, he moved stealthily from tree to tree. He hoped that the intruders were just their friends. Friends. He liked the sound of that. Yet, there was a tingle of warning that made him cautious. Life had taken a turn in the last month, again.
He had accustomed himself to their new survival way of living and became almost comfortable on their land. He had become complacent, though. The idea that people traveled toward him and his family with the intention to take all that he had prepared for themselves, left him in the constant need to be on the watch and take nothing for granted.
The sound of leaves crunching made him suck in a breath and freeze behind the tree he had been approaching. Every muscle tensed, his breathing stilled, and all he could hear the pulsing of his own racing heart. Then he heard another step and another, before the person paused again.
The sound of labored breathing reached him. They had to have just climbed the bank at the edge of his property. It would leave even the fittest person breathing hard. The leaves and pine cones that littered the ground made walking silently difficult. Blake did his best to peer around the tree to see if the person was friend or foe.
He slowly pulled out his pistol and flicked the safety off. Being prepared could be the difference between life or death. It wasn’t as if he wanted to scare Arland if it was him, but if it wasn’t, not being ready might mean his family being left in jeopardy without him. The idea left him leveling the pistol as he stepped silently toward the person who seemed to be waiting at the top of the hill.
Blake kept his eye on the incline as well for he could hear one or two others trudging up with smaller steps.
“You’re almost there, Ethan. Think about how excited your friend, Tucker, will be when he sees you.”
Blake breathed out a sigh and holstered his gun as he heard Laurie encouraging her son. Then he stepped out from behind cover.
“That he will be. Welcome,” he said from beside Arland.
Arland stepped back, a hand on his chest. “You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days.”
“Not my intention, my friend.” Blake reached out a hand to him.
Arland clasped it and pulled him into a hug. “Good to see you, Blake.”
“Hello, Blake,” Laurie called up from about three-quarters up the incline.
Blake bounced down to them, gave Laurie a quick hug, and hoisted Ethan to his shoulders. “Tucker is going to be so impressed
that you walked all the way here.”
Ethan giggled. “I walk long way to play.”
“Yes, you did. I’m proud of you.” Laurie smiled and nodded her thanks to Blake.
“I am, too, Ethan. You have a strength of mind that will serve you well.” Arland told the boy as he and Blake came alongside him.
“I am survivalist!” the boy said with while making big muscles.
“That you are,” Blake said, bouncing him on his shoulders. “We’re almost there. Kris and Tucker will be—” He stopped so abruptly Ethan crashed into his head and wrapped his little arms around Blake’s face. “Sorry there, buddy. Just got to make a call.”
“A call?” Arland asked.
Blake held up his walkie-talkie. “You there?”
“We’re here,” Tucker returned.
“Tucker!” Ethan cheered.
“We have visitors with one very special one.” Blake squeezed Ethan’s foot and started walking again.
“Did Arland and Laurie bring Ethan?!” Tucker’s voice crackled through, excitement making static.
“Why don’t you all come out and see.”
“We’re on our way! Oh, over and out.”
“Over and out, Champ.” Blake stored the walkie-talkie back on his belt loop. “I think you just made Tucker the happiest boy in the forest.”
“No. I the happiest boy!” Ethan clapped his hands and squealed before grabbing back onto his head.
Blake couldn’t help but appreciate the cheer the visitors brought to his day. Maybe he wasn’t quite the lone wolf he thought he was.
“How long you guys staying? I’m sure the camp needs you.” Blake asked.
“We’re hoping for at least a night, maybe two depending on how much we can accomplish. David has really proved himself quite the leader after his run in with you. Between him, Mitchel, and a few other council members, they’ll be fine. We have runners ready in case they need us.”
Grant Us Mercy (Book 4): Grant Us Mercy Page 6