“Good idea. We want to spread our risk for the group as a whole.” His dad moved around to him and clapped him on the shoulder. “Two teams at a time until the weather turns.”
“Will we be walking or taking the truck?”
His dad turned to Sean. “What do you think?”
Sean thought about it and said, “The truck will be able to cover greater distance and carry more so we should use it first, but may have to switch to the horses when there’s snow.”
“Excellent.” His dad took a deep breath and rubbed his hands together. “Everyone, get as much rest as you can today because we have a lot of work to do starting tomorrow.”
“Nice shooting!” Cole smiled at her.
Elly grinned and lowered the rifle. “I’ve duck hunted a couple of times. I used to date a guy who was huge into hunting and fishing. I usually stuck to fishing, but a few times he got me out in the duck blinds. I even bagged a few.”
“Excellent. I think we could get some geese if we’re lucky.”
“Are they up here year round?” She thought they all flew south in the winter.
“Some usually stay, but that was probably because people manage to keep some retention ponds ice free in the winter. With everyone gone, who knows if the geese will stay?” He scanned the sky as if he expected to find the answer written in the clouds. “Anyway, they should still be here for another month. By January, they’ll be gone for sure.”
Suddenly it hit Elly that she had no idea of the date and not being familiar with Wisconsin, couldn’t guess by the weather. To her, it felt like mid-winter. Frost sparkled on the grass every morning, and the water buckets had a film of ice on them in the morning. The thermometer stuck to the side of the house had registered as low as twenty degrees midday and snow had dusted the island twice so far. “How soon will that be?”
“January?”
She nodded. “And Christmas. When is Christmas?”
Cole’s head dipped as he scuffed at a lump of dirt. “Three weeks. I’ve been marking days on a calendar. I even charted out calendars for the next five years.” He shoved his hands into his jeans, his thumbs hooking on the edge. “It gave me hope to plan for the future.” The corner of his mouth turned up, and she was reminded of Hunter’s bashful smile.
She returned the smile. “The kids should have something to look forward to besides just survival.”
His toe worked the clump of dirt loose and sent it tumbling down a slight incline. He nodded. “Yeah. I know. Before the fire I was thinking we could have a nice meal, maybe wrap up a few of the things we each have stashed away, but now?” His voice lowered until it was almost inaudible. “Now, we don’t have anything to spare for Christmas dinner.”
“We’ll get something. I know it. And for gifts, we could make something. Everyone here has been learning new skills. It’ll be fun to give a few simple gifts to each other. Especially the children.”
Zoe and Lucas seemed to have adopted Elly and Cole as their parents. Elly understood why they had warmed to her since she had found them, but Cole was a mystery. He lived in the main house while Elly, Jake, Joe, and the kids lived in the largest cabin. He was kind to the kids, but they watched for him to come in from whatever chore he was doing, mobbing him when he came in the door like he was their dad just home from the office. They were more reserved with Sean, treating him more like an uncle. Joe was like a grandfather to all of the younger set.
As soon as Cole had recovered enough, he and Hunter had made repairs to the cabin, ripping the insulation out of the attic of one the houses nearest the horse barn, and using it to make the cabin snug and warm. The window frames were all caulked, sealing out drafts.
With Sean putting every hour into working on the windmill, Cole had dug through some of the books they had, along with picking Sean’s brain and his own ingenuity, which Elly noticed he never gave himself credit for, and had turned three old metal trashcans they had scavenged from a park on the mainland, along with some pipes from an older home and the back of an old washer, and cobbled it into a fantastic stove for her cabin. It radiated heat in all directions so it had turned their cabin into a cozy home. As long as they had wood, they wouldn’t freeze. She had taken racks from an extra baker’s rack from the next cabin over, and had a place to hang wet clothes to dry quickly. Jenna had liked the idea so much she had done the same in the big house.
“Speaking of the kids, I promised Lucas I’d go check their house to see if their dad had shown up.” Cole loaded the rifle and took aim. The loud crack of the gun didn’t make her jump like it had last time and she ran down the path to the target, a crude cutout of a deer they had tacked to a tree. Her shot had already torn off the front leg. Coles had hit just behind the shoulder. If it had been a real deer, it would have been right in the heart.
She waved to him. “Nice shot!”
He approached, rotating his left shoulder gingerly and stretching his arm out.
“Is your shoulder bothering you?”
Cole stopped in front of the target, scrutinizing his shot as he replied. “It’s not bad. Good thing I’m not left-handed, or shooting this rifle would be a lot worse.” He slanted her a grin as he fingered the hole in the deer. “I might just bag one after all.”
“Not me though.” She frowned at the mutilated ‘leg’ on the ground.
“Hey, you hit him though. You’re getting better, too.”
“I wish we had enough ammunition so we could all practice more.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“So, Jenna’s staying back with the kids and Joe?”
Cole nodded and held a hand out for her. Surprised at the gesture, she took it as they walked back to the beginning of the shooting range they had created. The range was off limits for everyone except for the two who were practicing. Cole had set up a schedule and the last four days, everyone had several turns.
His hand was warm in hers and she nudged him as they walked. He glanced down at her, his eyebrows raised in question. Elly pulled back on his hand, until he stopped and faced her.
“Cole, since you’ve been back from your excursion, you’ve barely spoken to me. I thought maybe you were angry with me for bringing the kids back.”
His eyes widened. “Are you serious? Why would I be angry?”
“Because of the risk, and because of our resources being limited.”
“What kind of man do you think I am?” His jaw clenched as he released her hand. He looked away before he faced her again. “What do you think is the point of all of this?” He spread his arms to encompass the whole island. “Yes, I wanted to save my family, but like you, I was trained to think globally. I want more than just us to survive. I want humanity to survive. And what’s more humane than giving refuge to a couple of orphaned children?”
She reached for his hand again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I know you’re a good man, Cole.”
His shoulders relaxed, but she saw the hurt lurking in his eyes as he said, “Elly, you should know that I could never turn my back on kids in need. Lucas and Zoe… they’ve come to mean a lot to me.”
“Stop!”
Cole slammed on the brakes. “What?”
They had only driven a mile or so north of where they had docked. They had stopped first at Lucas and Zoe’s house to check for their father, and as Cole expected, he wasn’t there. Still, Cole had left a note updating whoever found it that the kids were fine and that he would be checking back again in the near future. He didn’t put a date because he had a feeling most people had lost track of the days. Instead, he recorded the approximate temperature and weather of the day so that in the event that the father returned soon, he might guess what day it had been by recalling the weather.
Jake sat in the passenger seat and looked at Sophie, his eyebrow raised, obviously as perplexed as Cole had been. He had thought about trying to find some deer on tracts of the farmland north of the town.
“We had a swampy area like this near my house and I us
ed to play in it all the time.”
Cole turned in his seat as she scooted to the passenger side of Sean’s vehicle. “And… ?”
She glanced over her shoulder, her cheeks turning pink. “I used to pretend I was one of my the characters in my favorite book. She used to forage—it was a book set in the ice age—anyway, I learned about cattails. Did you know they’re edible? I even cooked some once. They didn’t have much flavor, but then again, I suck at cooking.”
He looked out at the cattail covered slough. “Of course! We can gather some on our way back. Great catch, Sophie.” His mindset about food had to change. He had to stop thinking of it as something he could get from a supermarket, and start looking at the world around him for sources.
“I could start gathering some now.”
It was no secret that she was squeamish around dead animals. Sean had bagged a buck a few days before and had gathered everyone around to demonstrate butchering and how to field dress the animal. Sophie had turned green. “I wish we could, but we don’t separate the teams. We all hunt, and then we can all gather, okay?”
She swallowed and nodded.
“I suck at hunting, Cole. Maybe one time we could send a team just to forage?” Jake sent a sympathetic look at Sophie.
“You don’t suck at hunting, Jake. Neither of you do. You’re both inexperienced is all. There’s no reason either of you shouldn’t be able to get something.” Both had done well with their shooting lessons. Jake credited his years of video games while Sophie had just shrugged and said it was beginner’s luck.
“Thank you for pointing out the slough, Sophie. I’m sure we can get a lot of ducks and geese here. When we come back this afternoon, we’ll get the cattails, and take a look around, then let the others know. Maybe tomorrow we can concentrate on hunting birds. I wonder if Buddy would be any good at retrieving?”
A few geese for Christmas, only a week away, would be very welcome.
They drove a little further and stopped the SUV, parking it along the side of the road in a stand of weeds. He hoped that if anyone came along, they would just assume it was one of the many abandoned vehicles all over the place. It was still early, the sky just a faint pink in the east. He hoped some deer would come to feed on the standing corn, so they tramped along the side of the field.
“Hey, is this a deer hoof print?” Jake squatted, almost on one knee as he traced something in the mud.
Cole moved beside him. “It doesn’t look quite right.” He didn’t know what animal had made the print, but felt as if he should know.
Jake peered at it, then laughed. “It’s not a deer—it’s from a pig!”
“How do you know?” Cole looked for any more prints, but none were as clear as the one they were examining.
“My dad lived in Florida, remember? Well, sometimes we drove up to Georgia to spend a weekend in the mountains. The grocery stores there sold pigs’ feet. It always creeped me out.” He chuckled. “They looked like they’d leave a print like this one.”
“I think you’re right.”
“So, if we see a pig, do we shoot it?” Jake asked.
“Yes. Pigs are definitely fair game.” With the buck that Sean had gotten and a doe Cole had shot a few days ago, they weren’t quite as desperate as they had been, so Cole had given Sophie and Jake the lead in this hunt. They had participated in four hunts each now, and were quick learners. He was confident both would eventually get their first kill. Jake was eager for it, but Sophie, not so much.
“Remember, you to have to work together. My job today is to scout the area to make sure nobody else is around.”
Jake studied the ground, his demeanor as serious as Cole had ever seen it. “We know. Come on, Sophie. I think the tracks lead this way.”
Cole trailed behind them, scanning in all directions to make sure nobody else was around. Sean’s group, which included Hunter and Elly today, had gone south. Piper and Jenna had stayed at the island to watch the children and process the deer they already had. Most of it was smoked, some of it dried just like Native Americans had done. The town’s library had been scavenged for books on how to preserve the meat so that before the first hunt they would know what to do with whatever they killed. Even with Sean and Cole’s hunting experience, the processing of the meat was a mystery to both of them. They had always taken their kills to shops to be processed after field dressing the carcasses.
Salt and spices had been scavenged from a diner in the middle of town, but even better had been the stash of flour found in a can in a store room above the diner. If they managed to kill a few more deer, they just might make it through the winter.
Jake quickened his pace, his eyes on the ground as he followed a stream, while Sophie crept beside him, her rifle ready. He pointed at something on the ground and said something to Sophie. She drew back suddenly as if repulsed and when Cole caught up to them, he saw the source of her disgust. A pile of feces steamed beside the water. If it was from the pig, that meant the it had come along very recently.
They all froze when they heard a series of grunts. Cole’s instinct was to move forward for a shot, but he held back, letting the kids take the lead. They had to learn. Jake bent, his manner stealthy as he eased through the brush. He was a natural. Sophie wasn’t quite so smooth, and froze at the snap of a twig under her foot.
A stand of scrubby trees ahead separated the field from what appeared to be a farm field. It was hard to tell these days with everything overgrown, but the dried, tan leaves of corn stalks stood taller than most of the surrounding weeds. If a pig went in there, Cole didn’t know how they were going to ever spot him.
Jake motioned that the tracks led into the corn field. Cole turned to make sure nobody was creeping up behind them, then went right to watch from the corner of the field. If either the pig or the kids emerged from one of those sides, he would see them. He wouldn’t go into the field. He’d stay behind them and be ready in case the pig came his way. It was on the tip of his tongue to call out to them to make sure they didn’t shoot each other, but he remained silent. They had been trained to only shoot what they could see and identify.
After fifteen minutes, Cole wondered what was going on. At first, he’d been able to see their progress through the field by the sway of the cornstalks, but they were in too deep for him to see now.
About five more minutes passed before there was a sudden rustling in the corn, grunting and squealing that moved away from Cole. A few seconds later, Jake shouted his name. Cole bolted in the direction of the shout. The field was several acres and he tried to follow the ruckus that moved towards the far corner of the field from what he could see. He came to the end of his side, and spotted the kids a hundred yards away. Ahead of them, a handful of pigs raced up a small rise. Jake stopped, took aim, and fired. The pigs disappeared over the rise as Jake stood, his shoulders slumped. Sophie caught up to him, passed him and stopped on the top of the rise.
Cole jogged up to Jake as Sophie returned.
“I told you I suck at this.” Jake bent and picked up stone and hurled it over the rise.
“Whoa, you found game and trailed it. That’s half the battle,” Cole gasped out as he sucked air.
“Yeah, but I wasted a bullet.”
“I missed the other day, too.”
“But you got the doe.”
His breath returning, he chuckled. “So that just means I miss half the time.”
“I miss one-hundred percent of the time.”
Cole sighed.
“At least you got close enough to shoot. I was way behind you.” Sophie huffed, one hand on her knee, the other clutching the rifle as she bent and tried to catch her breath.
“Come on, let’s keep going. It’s still early.” He pointed west, figuring they’d eventually circle back to the vehicle.
“But the shot probably spooked everything.”
“Cole? Can we get some of this corn?” Sophie pointed at the stalks. “It’s dried on the stalk and would be good for the goats a
nd chickens.”
He’d hoped to find corn already picked sitting in the silo or grain bin somewhere, but she was right that the animals could use it.
They spent about fifteen minutes filling their packs before setting out for the SUV. The next half-hour, Cole took the lead, letting Jake watch their rear. The kid was too dejected to concentrate right now. The stream veered west, but then turned south. Sophie remained quiet, and it wasn’t until he heard splashing behind him that he realized she had ventured down into the stream. Cole stopped and watched her for a minute as she bent, her gaze on something in the water.
She reached down and pulled something up, brushed it off, then grinned and held whatever it was aloft. “I knew it!”
“What?”
“It’s a freshwater clam.”
Jake caught up to Cole and exchanged a puzzled look with him.
Sophie turned and waved at the stream. “We used to hunt for them up north when I was on vacation. Some old lady who lived up there showed me how to find them one summer when I was bored at the lake.” She laughed. “It became like a treasure hunt, and whatever I found, we turned into a chowder.”
“Clam chowder?” Jake’s eyes went big.
“Yeah, sorta.”
Cole smiled. “I’m up for some chowder.” He waded into the water. “Show me what to look for.”
She showed them how to find the clams and even though they all ended up pulling up plenty of stones at first, as they made their way upstream, they each found a dozen or so. Sophie pulled a gallon-sized plastic bag from her backpack with a zipper seal, filled it with water, and dropped their catch into it. “Gotta keep them alive until we’re ready to use them.”
Sympatico Syndrome Trilogy Box Set Page 40