by Tara Ellis
She wasn’t taking the bait to start a deep conversation. That wasn’t why she’d volunteered to ride with him into town. All Danny wanted was a few minutes of near-normalcy with her father. Although another storm was getting closer, the weather was holding for the moment. The sun was warm on their backs, the birds were singing, and little white fiber clouds from the cottonwood trees floated in the air around them. It was all set against the vivid backdrop that was the valley of Mercy. Every direction Danny turned, there were more majestic mountain ranges, the bases blanketed in evergreens. They rose to startling heights, bare rocks jutting up to form various craggy outcroppings that looked like they touched the sky. Except for the browning of certain types of trees, the wilderness appeared immune to the death and destruction that was raging in the rest of the world.
“It’s easy to forget here,” Tane said, accurately reading his daughter’s silence.
Danny only nodded. She was afraid to speak, because then it would all be real again.
“You still haven’t said anything about your mom or grandparents.”
There it was. Danny took a collective breath. “I’m sorry.”
Tane audibly sighed and it made Danny cringe. Her father had a way of saying more without any words. “I’m not fishing for an apology, Danny. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on inside your head. I need to know you’re okay.”
“I’m sitting right here.” She looked out at the passing scenery, anywhere except her father’s face.
“That’s not what I mean.”
Danny clenched her jaw, and the bump on her forehead ached like a beacon that was still active in a storm. “I don’t know what you want me to say. Are you upset that I’m leaving to go on the ambush?”
“You mean the raid?” Tane asked, his displeasure obvious.
“You don’t want me to go,” she accused, still watching the passing trees.
“I don’t understand why you would want to go, but I’m not going to ask you to stay. You’d only resent me.”
He was right, just not about the resentment. She closed her eyes, shutting out the sun and forcing herself to look inward. Danny had spent the past three weeks fighting to get to Mercy under the pretense of reaching her father because he needed her. Now that she was there and discovered how well he was doing, maybe she was continuing her search for…what, a purpose?
“Not everything has to be a fight.” Reaching out, Tane took her hand and Danny felt like a child again, when the simple touch of her father made her fears fade away because she knew she wasn’t alone.
The emotion was so powerful that it created a stabbing pain in her chest and stole her breath for a moment. He was right here. Her dad. Her family…her reason.
“I’m so sorry, Makua Kane,” Danny whispered, using the Hawaiian name for father, something reserved for times of endearment. Leaning against her dad’s broad shoulder, she squeezed his hand in acknowledgement. “I have thought of mom, and grandma and grandpa. I believe in my heart that they’re okay.”
Tane squeezed her hand back. “Your heart has always had some pretty accurate radar. What is it telling you now, keiki?”
Danny grinned. It used to infuriate her when her father called her keiki, or child. “It’s telling me that I need to remember what brought me here in the first place. Not to seek revenge for what happened along the way.” When her dad glanced at her hopefully, she dropped his hand and gave him a quick hug. “You don’t need to ask me to stay. My place is here, with you. I’m sure Tom and Bishop will have all the help they need.”
Tane’s smile was big and contagious. “You know, once we are caught up with the water today and have the second wagon and shelter at the spring built, we won’t need the extra help.”
“Already trying to get rid of me?” Danny joked.
The road leveled out as they reached the bottom of the hill, and Danny could see the school building and beyond it, what used to be a gas station. There were several people milling around it and the large parking lot across from it, where lines were forming for water. She was surprised at how many people there were. Even for a town with a population of around six hundred, it was clearly a monumental task to keep them all fed and provide them with fresh, drinkable water. Danny couldn’t imagine what it must be like in the larger cities after so much time.
Tane gestured to the school. “Dr. Olsen could really use some help at the clinic. She’s a great physician and there’s one other nurse aside from Mayor Patty, but no one who has the sort of training in emergency medicine like you do.”
“What about the fire department?” Danny asked, not sure what she thought of the idea. “I know they’ve got to be small, but don’t they have any EMTs?”
“Whoa,” Tane called out to the horses as they approached their destination in the parking lot. “I imagine Chief Martinez must be certified, but I’m not sure about any of the others. They’ve only got a few responders and have really struggled to figure out a workable system.”
Danny mulled it over as she jumped down and stretched out her legs. She watched while several organizers approached the wagon and immediately began to fill smaller containers full of water. Within minutes, they formed a type of water brigade and it didn’t take long before the tank in the middle of the lot was filled enough for the line to start moving as people got their shares.
They did it without a lot of talking, and the water was handled like the precious commodity it was, so no more than a few drops were spilled. Danny was impressed with the camaraderie. There wasn’t any pushing or shoving, or arguing over who got there first or that they wanted more. Although, she noticed there was a uniformed police officer standing by and watching. Danny imagined that things might have been a bit rougher in the beginning, and there was bound to be someone who wasn’t as cooperative every once in a while, but to see what they’d accomplished was inspiring.
Strolling to the far side of the lot, Danny looked up Main Street and to where the fire station was located. She’d driven past the building numerous times over the past couple of years, but had never been inside. Thinking about getting back to the basics of being a responder had a certain appeal to it. Standing there, seeing the actual people of Mercy working together for something better sparked a flame that had long ago burned down to nothing more than a smoldering ember.
Danny wanted to help them.
Chapter 15
ETHAN
Miller Ranch, Mercy, Montana
The storm broke loose without much warning, and wind-driven rain lashed out at Ethan’s face and tugged at his hat. The sky danced with the same odd-colored lightning as before, giving him flashbacks from when the tree fell on him. It was hard to believe that had only been four days ago.
Ethan struggled to control his horse and he had to admit he was thankful his dad insisted he not ride Tango. Tango wasn’t trained for working around cattle, although Ethan had argued the best way to teach him was to just do it. It wasn’t taking much to establish his arm still hurt, even when riding a well-trained cattle horse. Tango would have already dumped him. Several times.
“Ethan!”
He looked to where his dad was calling him, and saw that several cows had broken off from the main herd and were pressing up against a section of weak fencing. The rain was coming down so hard that it was difficult to see, even though it wouldn’t be dark for a couple more hours.
Ethan urged his horse forward and together, he and his dad managed to corral the frightened cattle back in with the rest of the cows in the upper field. They weren’t far from the lake and a decent distance from the barn. It was going to be a long, cold ride back once they were done.
When the storm had picked up speed and drawn closer late that afternoon, his dad pulled him from his work at the spring. The ranch still had to be their first priority and they couldn’t risk losing any of the cows. Especially not with them calving. Bishop and the others stayed to try and finish the covering before the rain hit, their group dinner cancelled.
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“Let’s ride the line!” Tom called, already turning back to the fence.
Line rider would be Ethan’s primary job, now that he was back at the ranch. It was a tedious, lonely job of riding for miles, every day, checking the barbed wire fencing that marked the edges of most of their property. It would entail patrolling the boundary, turning back any stray cattle, and making what would likely be countless repairs. He would also always be checking on the condition of the grazing fields and water supply.
With such a huge spread, Miller Ranch usually employed two fulltime hands, one of whom did nothing but ride the lines. Ethan had helped the summer before and actually enjoyed it, except when there was bad weather. At the moment, his dad was only referring to the upper field, which was where most of the calving cattle were at since the lake provided them with a constant supply of water. Normally, they’d be down closer to the barn.
Thinking of the hired hands reminded Ethan of his conversation with Sam earlier that day. “Sam said he’s going to stay in the bunkhouse!” he shouted to his dad, curious what he’d think about it. The bunkhouse was basically a room added on to the back of the barn. It was drafty and sparse, but had two beds and a good woodstove.
“I know,” Tom answered, as they moved nimbly along the back of the field. “I guess he and Bishop have decided to become roommates.”
“You gonna try and talk them out of it?” Ethan asked. While he hated to think of Sam basically living in a barn, it would be really nice to have his room to himself.
“No point in trying.” Tom had to shout to be heard over the wind. “Bishop insists on giving me my room back, and I’m pretty sure Sam has already started to refinish the floors. They’ll probably have it shaped up in no time, and then you’ll want to move out there, too!”
A bolt of bluish lightning pulsed directly over them, branching out across the ravaged sky to strike at the side of the mountain, no more than a few miles away. Ethan ducked instinctively as the thunder crashed almost simultaneously. His horse lurched sideways, and he watched as his dad’s reared up, screaming and eyes rolling.
“Whoa, Lilly!” Tom shouted, nearly coming unseated. The sure-footed horse sidestepped and then slipped in the pooling water before finally stamping her hooves and snorting loudly, while Tom expertly handled her, talking soothingly all the while.
Ethan was always enthralled when watching his dad on a horse. It was like the animal was an extension of him, instead of something he rode. Ethan was a good rider, but he knew he’d never match his dad’s skill.
A gust of wind slammed into him, and Ethan turned his face into it, noticing the change in temperature. It was markedly warmer and coming from the opposite direction. His dad picked up on it, too.
“It’s shifting,” Tom said, his voice carrying more easily in the sudden lull as the wind died just as rapidly as it came.
Ethan watched in stunned amazement as the boiling clouds overhead began to lift above the undercurrent to form mammatus clouds, as Sam had called them. Fat, drooping bubbles like the underside of a frozen pond. The whole system moved to the east and took the rain with it, which could be seen as a wall of water working its way up and over the distant ridge.
In the storm’s abrupt wake, the setting sun from the opposite direction burst through and cast long arms of light to chase after it. With the lightning still dancing among the retreating clouds, the contrasting images were like an apparition from another world.
“So, this is what it’s going to be like from now on?” Tom said from below him. Ethan looked down to find his dad had dismounted and was staring up at the sky while talking, unable to look away.
Ethan dropped to the ground next to him without answering. There really wasn’t anything to say. They were powerless to control any of it and had no option other than to accept it for what it was.
Tom shook his head and then removed his cowboy hat to push the hair out of his face. Ethan was surprised he hadn’t cut it yet, and he’d never seen it so overgrown. With the beard and left-over bruising, his dad had never looked more the part of a rugged cowboy. “We’ll just check the rest of this back fencing and call it good. Looks like there’s clear skies now. For a little while, at least.”
“I’ll ride the north line tomorrow,” Ethan offered, as they began to walk their horses. With over five thousand acres, it came out to roughly eight square miles of land. He could easily spend most of his time on the one task.
“Sounds good,” Tom agreed. “Except we’re going to need to get the rest of the hay cut as soon as possible.”
Ethan groaned. Cutting and baling hay was hard enough when you had working farm equipment. The idea of going at the field with a sickle and ball of twine made his hands ache. “How much did Grandma get done? And is it possible to get that old tractor running? I mean, how many electrical parts can be in it? It’s ancient.”
Tom chuckled and replaced his hat. “Mom only got the first quarter of the crop done. She was two days into it when the gamma ray hit. And as to the tractor, I guess Bishop has spent several hours going over it with the same thought. He’s got some parts on our most-wanted list for the Pony Express riders, but it’s not very likely we’ll ever get them. Unfortunately, being so old makes it harder, because even when the power was on, finding spare parts for it was a trick.”
Ethan kicked at a rock and watched it roll through the grass that was heavy with rain. The ten acres of hay was what they used to feed the cattle over the winter, and to supplement the grass year-round. With the acid rain effects already starting to show, there was no telling what would happen to the crop in the years to come, or if there would even continue to be a crop. It reminded him of the conversation earlier that day with Sam.
“You hear about the whole indoor farming thing?”
Tom tugged at a loose stretch of wire and then went back to Lilly for his tools to tighten it up. “Sam mentioned it when I saw him this afternoon. He’s going to talk about it more tomorrow at the council meeting, but I don’t see how we could possibly grow enough hay inside anywhere.”
“Henry’s Hollow,” Ethan offered. “It’s got to be close to three acres, don’t you think?”
“I’ve got a farm out here to worry about,” Tom said, twisting the wires tight while deftly handling the tools. “We need to focus on saving the hay that’s already here, and that means getting an early start on cutting tomorrow. Don’t worry about the line for now. Bishop and I will help with the hay tomorrow, so we should get a good jump on it before we leave.”
Ethan looked back when his dad stopped talking and saw that he was staring at him, waiting for a response. “Okay…I’m sure Chloe will help me.”
“Ethan, we haven’t really talked about what’s happening with the ambush.”
Ethan studied his dad’s face for a moment, gauging his reply. “What’s there to talk about?”
Tom shoved the tools back in the leather saddlebags and then frowned at him. “I know you’re probably expecting to go, but I need you to stay here.”
“Still trying to protect me,” Ethan muttered before walking away. He didn’t even want to go, but the fact that his father continued to treat him like a child was frustrating.
“Of course, I am,” Tom said, his voice rising. Falling in step alongside him, he reached out to stop Ethan. “I’m your dad and I’m always going to protect you. That’s my job. But that’s not what this is about. I know you can take care of yourself, Ethan, you’ve proven that. More than once. You might even have a valid argument that you’ve done a better job than me these past few weeks.”
Ethan grunted at that and even grinned a little. “Honestly, Dad, I wasn’t planning on going.”
Tom looked at him in surprise. “I figured I’d end up having to chain you to a fence somewhere.”
Ethan’s smile faded. “I’ve seen enough death. I know we need to stop these guys, and I’m probably being a coward. But, as much as I wanted Decker to die, and even dreamed about different ways to do it,
when I saw him dead, I didn’t feel any better. I just felt empty and I don’t want to feel that way anymore.”
“That’s not being a coward,” Tom said, in a way he’d never spoken to Ethan before. It was how he talked to Sam, or Danny, or the other people he respected. “I need you here to take care of your grandma, and to watch over the farm. She’s lost too much and I can’t intentionally put you in harm’s way. We can’t do that to her.”
As Ethan nodded, Tom reached out and pulled his hat off, ruffling Ethan’s hair the way he used to do when he was little. It was such a simple gesture, and one that spoke of a time back when they were always together and before the world had gone crazy. Ethan stepped forward and welcomed the strong embrace of his dad as he took one long, shuddering breath. He finally understood that being a man wasn’t necessarily about being a rock. Sometimes, like his dad, he was beaten down or even wrong, but his dad was still there. He was always there.
Reluctantly, Ethan moved out of his dad’s arms. He was ready to step up and be there for both his dad and grandma, and the people of Mercy who were counting on their farm to help keep them alive.
“It’s going to be okay,” Tom said, his voice raspy.
Ethan drew from his dad’s strength and the knowledge that he always followed through on his promises.
Chapter 16
RUSSELL
Mercy Clinic, Mercy, Montana
Danny Latu was like no other creature Russell had encountered before. Her deep voice first caught his attention when he entered the clinic and heard her talking with Melissa. But it was her dark, exotic features that captivated him. As he drew close, he saw that he was only a couple of inches taller than her and her shoulders were nearly as broad as his. Yet, she somehow managed to look feminine.
“Father Rogers,” Dr. Olsen beamed when she saw him. “It’s good to see you. I wasn’t sure if you’d be by this morning.”