Not only did the chore take most of the day, it used a lot of wood for the fire for heating the water and afterward to dry the clothes. The house had to be warm for the clothes to dry quickly. On the plus side, there was the benefit of adding moisture to the very dry air.
“Is this basket ready to hang?” Piper came out and pointed to a basket of jeans that had already been through the wringer.
“Yeah. I still have towels and sheets to do, then we’re done.”
Piper examined her reddened hands. “Thank God. I’m getting chapped.”
“Why didn’t you wear your rubber gloves?” Elly dropped a sweatshirt of Cole’s into the wringer and pulled the handle. There was something satisfying about seeing the dirty water squeezed from the material. She removed the item and tossed it into the rinse water.
“I hate wearing them.”
Elly started to chide her, thinking it was youthful vanity to not be caught wearing unstylish thick yellow gloves. After all, Jake always seemed to find a reason to be near the pretty young woman, but Piper shrugged. “I can’t help seeing Uncle Cole wearing gloves like them when he went out to where Trent was in isolation, after he...” She bit her lip and didn’t finish the sentence.
“Oh, hon. You saw him?” She hadn’t arrived on the island yet, but Cole had told her how hard it had been, emotionally, to retrieve his nephew’s body and safely remove it for burial.
“I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to…I don’t know…I guess to just get one last look at my brother. Uncle Cole had said that it wasn’t safe to go near the body, but I thought maybe I could see something when he opened the doors. I couldn’t see anything, but I saw Cole’s reaction and for some reason, the gloves just stuck in my mind.”
“I’m sorry. Memories are crazy like that.”
Cole grabbed his jacket. The first whisper of spring warmth beckoned him outside and he couldn’t resist the call. With his standoff with Elly weighing on his mind, his concentration was shot anyway. Icicles hung from the eaves and dripped onto the deck. While barely above freezing, it felt warmer due to the bright sunshine and lack of wind. He took a deep breath and spotted Hunter and Mike out on the ice in the bay. Hunter had said he was going fishing to try to bring in something fresh to eat. He wondered if he’d caught anything and decided to join them. He hurried to open the door for Piper as she approached with a full basket of steaming clothes in her hands. “Let me get the door. Need some help?”
“Nope. I’m fine. Elly might need a hand though.”
Cole zipped his coat and pulled on his gloves then joined Elly. “I’m sorry about earlier.”
Elly shook her head. “You don’t have to be. I’ve been thinking—”
“Help!”
The voice carried faintly over the ice, but Cole was already two steps towards the ice before he pinpointed the source of the cry. Only moments before Cole had noticed Hunter and Mike fishing, their forms were dark against the white backdrop, now they were gone and all he could see was a dark lump lying prone on the surface. “What the hell…”
Elly was at his side and gave a gasp. “I think someone fell through!”
“Get Sean and Jake!” Cole burst into a sprint, his speed hindered by the piles of hard, grainy snow, slick where it had melted on top. As he passed the fish cleaning shed, he remembered rope hanging inside, stored there over the winter. He made a quick detour and grabbed it. The distance of a few hundred yards seemed as vast as the expanse of Antarctica as Cole raced, slipping and sliding over the ice.
It was Mike who lay on the ice and Cole’s heart almost stopped. “Where’s Hunter?”
“I’m…here…Dad.” Hunter answered, his head bobbing in the water as he tread water. Mike lay almost spread-eagled face down on the ice, one hand braced out from his body as the other seemed tangled in Hunter’s coat.
Cole’s knees almost buckled from relief. There was still time, but only if they moved quickly. While the air was just above freezing, hypothermia would set in within a matter of minutes in water this cold. He circled to the other side of the hole, testing the ice before getting too close. He couldn’t rescue his son if he became a victim as well. When he was as close as he dared, he tossed an end of the rope close to Hunter. “Grab the rope!”
Hunter reached for it, but ended up pushing the rope away. If he’d been wearing gloves, they weren’t on him now and his movements were clumsy. Cole gathered the rope again, and tossed it even closer. This time, Hunter snagged it.
“Okay, Hunter, wrap your arm up in it good, and I’ll bring you to my side. When you get to the edge, try to kick your legs to get horizontal on the edge. Got it?” Hunter said something that sounded like yeah, but his teeth chattered so hard, Cole couldn’t be certain.
When Hunter was ready, Cole said, “Mike, you can let go.” It was the hardest sentence he’d ever uttered in his life, but circling to bring him over to Mike’s side to allow the other man to hang on too could put too much stress on the ice there. He spotted a web of cracks and fissures on that side and worried Mike would also fall in also.
Sean and Jake hollered that they were on the way, although Cole wasn’t sure what they could do.
Hunter followed Cole’s directions as Cole kept the line taut and moved back. Hunter had his chest up on the ice when that piece broke off too. “Damn it!” The sharp tug on the rope bit into his forearm where he’d wrapped it, but he barely noticed.
Mike moved to Hunter’s left and, lying flat, he reached out, grabbing Hunter’s left arm. “Cole, this time, I’ll lift while you pull.”
Hunter still kicked as Cole had instructed, but the kicks were weaker. The cold was taking a toll. Cole set his jaw and hauled back just as Sean and Jake reached them. Cole’s boots slipped on the ice and he started skidding, with Hunter backsliding. Then Sean’s arms locked around Cole’s waist and he started pulling him back. Mike lifted and Hunter was on the ice. They continued to move back until he was safely away from the edge. Jake had moved around to Mike’s side, and grabbed the man’s feet and hauled him away from the edge too. It was then Cole noticed how wet Mike was. His coat had soaked up the water while he’d been on the ice holding Hunter’s jacket.
Cole kneeled beside Hunter and unzipped his son’s coat. “We have to get you out of these wet clothes.”
Hunter sat up, nodding as he tried to shrug the jacket off. Cole unzipped his own coat and put it on his son just as Elly and Jenna reached them, each carrying several blankets.
“Can you walk?” Cole hardly felt the cold as the exertion had him sweating.
Hunter nodded and between Jake and Cole, they had him on his feet, although he shook so hard, he couldn’t take a step.
“Stand back a second, Cole.” Jenna draped a blanket over Hunter’s shoulders, pulling it up to cover his head as well, leaving only his face showing.
Elly had gone to Mike, wrapping him in a blanket as well. “Are you okay?”
Mike nodded, clutching the blanket. “I tried to get him out, but I couldn’t grip him tight enough to haul him up onto the ice.”
“Oh no. Did you break your stitches?” Jenna moved from Hunter’s side to Mike’s but he had the hand tucked beneath the blanket. “I’ll check it out when we’re back at the house.
Sophie is probably going crazy right now. I had her and Piper stay and heat up water. It’s a good thing we have a big fire going already for the wash.”
Sean helped Mike as Cole and Jake each took one of Hunter’s elbows and assisted him back to the island. Halfway there, Cole started shivering hard, the heat from the exertion gone.
“Here you go, Cole.”
He turned as a blanket draped over his shoulders. Elly straightened a fold and smiled at him. “Better?”
“Much. Thank you.”
Jenna tucked a quilt around Hunter and he tried to thank her but his jaw was too tight. It felt frozen in a clench he couldn’t relax.
He sat on a recliner his dad had pulled near to the stove before he’d rushed out to
get more wood. Hunter huddled into several layers of quilts, a mug of hot chocolate clutched close to his chest, and Buddy sitting with his head resting in Hunter’s lap. Every time Hunter looked at him, the dog’s tail thumped against the floor and his whole body wriggled. The poor dog had been stuck in the house and had been barking like crazy until Hunter had stumbled in. Buddy hadn’t left his side since. Hunter took a careful sip between shivers. The last thing he wanted to do was spill the precious contents of the mug. “Where did you get this?” He thought all they had left to drink was water or a watery coffee, tea, and mint mixture.
Jenna glanced around as if checking for anyone listening, then smiled with a hint of sadness. “I’ve had a canister of the powdered mix in my room. It was something I grabbed at the last minute when we were leaving our home. The kids, but especially Trent, always loved that stuff. I know it’s not real hot chocolate—just the powdered stuff—but your cousin sure did love it.”
Hunter nodded. “I remember Trent always asking for it on Christmas Eve.”
His aunt bit her lip and busied herself with wiping up a few specks of the powder on the table. She blinked hard a few times before smiling at Hunter. “He sure did. At our house, Santa didn’t get milk and cookies. He got hot chocolate and donuts. Trent figured Santa needed something warm, and donuts were a little different than cookies. He always wanted to be a bit different.”
His dad entered with yet another armload of wood as the rest of the men followed him, also laden with enough wood to last for days. “Jenna, could you check out Mike’s hand?”
Mike, almost as wet as Hunter, had changed clothes at his cabin and had returned sans mask and Hunter looked at his dad and mouthed the word. His dad shook his head. “It’s been long enough. Elly and I discussed it and while we were going to wait one more day, that was just out of an abundance of caution. We’re as certain as we can be that they’re safe now.”
Jenna dragged a rocking chair from the living room, shoved it close to the stove, and patted the back of it. “Have a seat, Mike. You can get warm while I look at your hand.”
Mike protested. “It’s fine. You were gonna take the stitches out tomorrow anyway.”
“True, but we might need to throw a little tape on it and butterfly the wound to keep it closed while it finishes healing.”
It seemed he was about to protest even that until Jenna pressed a mug into his hands. “Drink this first before I re-dress your hand.” Then Mike grinned.
After depositing his wood in the bin, his dad looked at Hunter and sighed. “I guess this means no more fishing until the ice melts completely. It also means it’s time to return the vehicles to the mainland. And also get the horses back there before they’re stuck here when the ice melts.”
Steve had met them coming off the ice and had contributed an armload of wood. He leaned against the kitchen counter, nodding. “I told Mike we should be heading back to the mainland soon. It might harden again, but no guarantees.”
“But what about the horses?” Sophie brought another blanket from somewhere in the house and tucked it around Hunter’s feet and looked up at him. “Getting warm?”
He nodded. As he warmed, fatigue threatened to overwhelm him but he struggled to keep his eyes opened. He wanted to hear this conversation.
“Good.” She planted a kiss on his forehead, her lips searing like a branding iron against his skin—but in the best possible way.
His dad stuck a few more pieces of wood into the stove then brushed his hands against each other, his head cocked. “What do you mean? I just said we’d get them back to the mainland.”
Sophie turned from Hunter. “But what about food and water? If the ice is unsafe to cross, how will we keep them fed and watered? Or the garage clean?”
Mike and Steve exchanged a look, with Mike nodding as if they’d come to some agreement. Steve said, “We owe you all for helping us out. We’d be happy to head to the mainland and stay there with the horses until the ice melts and you all can come back by boat.”
His dad glanced at Hunter, then back to Steve and Mike. “Mike saved Hunter, so any debt you guys felt you owed is paid in full as far as I’m concerned.” He turned his gaze to the rest of the group. “If no one objects…” he paused, allowing anyone to voice dissent, but everyone shook their head or shrugged that they had no objections, and so he continued, “I’d welcome any help you could give us with the horses. I’m not sure what plan they’ll play in our future, but we can’t leave them here on the island.”
Sophie smiled at his dad. “Thanks for thinking of the horses, Cole. They mean a lot to me.”
The horses meant a lot to him, too. They had carried Hunter and Sophie safely across a few hundred miles on their journey to the island.
Steve cleared his throat. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something, Cole.”
His dad took a cup of hot tea from Elly. “Thanks.” He blew on it before he took a sip. “What’s on your mind?”
“Our buddies are dead set on heading to Florida but we’re not sure we want to go with them.”
Hunter blinked and struggled to straighten in the recliner. He definitely didn’t want to miss this.
“No? How come?” His dad sounded cautious but curious. He hid it well as he sipped his tea but Hunter was used to his nuances.
Steve’s mouth quirked to the side as he appeared to be searching for words. “Our group is great. Don’t get me wrong. Fun bunch of guys. But that’s just it. They’re acting like this whole thing is a big joke. I went back to check in the other day to see how everyone is doing since it’d been a few days since you’d been there. Do you know they ended up burning down a couple of houses? Just for the fun of it.”
Hunter’s jaw thawed enough for him to speak. “Was that at the house we went to? It had a nice fireplace but maybe the fire got out of control when they were cooking over it.”
Steve shrugged. “That’s what I thought, but the way they were talking, it was clear they were just goofing around. Now, I know the houses’ occupants are long gone, so it wasn’t the loss of the buildings that bothers me, but their…attitude? Since the pandemic first hit, we were all treating it like a great extended fishing trip. We’re all a bunch of bachelors since the guys who had families left early.” He stopped, clearing his throat. “We never saw them again.”
His dad rubbed his chin in thought. “So…what are you saying?”
Mike leaned forward. “What Steve is trying to say is that we’re wondering if we could stay with your group.” His gaze swept the room. “I know it hasn’t been long and we’ve been isolated this week or so, but you all have a great group. Lots of cooperation. We would rather be with you guys than with them. All they want to do is have fun and destroy stuff just because they can.”
After including everyone in their group in a look, his dad said, “We aren’t even sure where or what we’re doing come spring. Maybe travel west?”
Hunter struggled to stay awake, but the shivering had finally abated and despite his efforts, his eyes slid closed. Distantly he heard his dad say something about traveling west in the spring.
8
Hunter sliced through the deer’s hide, admiring the size of the buck he’d taken down. It was his third deer, including the one he’d killed in the fall, but this one was, by far, the biggest. He didn’t even mind the latest cold snap so much anymore—not when it meant fresh meat for everyone.
The animal had wandered to the island over the ice and he wondered if the howls of a pack of dogs he’d heard earlier in the morning had been the reason for the buck’s flight from the mainland.
Hungry and bold, a pack had come up to the house the night before, but Buddy had sounded the alarm before they were too close, and Hunter and his dad had fired a few rounds over the dogs’ heads, scaring the pack off. For now.
In the first few months after the pandemic, dogs had wandered around but usually fled when approached. Hunter guessed that people in the final throes of the virus had frightene
d the animals and now they were shy around humans.
Early on, food had been plentiful for them, what with all of the deceased lying about. Hunter suppressed a shudder as he recalled stumbling upon a scene of a pack of dogs devouring human remains last summer. He didn’t think he’d ever look at dogs quite the same way again—except for Buddy, of course, who was still just as sweet and loyal as ever. Most days, Buddy accompanied him, but with the wild dogs so close, Hunter had opted to leave him in the house while he went out checking snares he had set on the far side of the island. He got the idea for snares from a book he’d taken from the library in the fall, and though it had taken a bit of trial and error, he had finally managed to snare a few rabbits, one possum, and a couple of squirrels. All of them ended up in the stew pot.
Today’s haul had only been one rabbit, and after resetting the snares, he’d been returning to the house when he spotted the tracks and followed them into a clearing. He’d taken down the buck with a swift arrow right behind the shoulder. The deer had taken one leap forward before collapsing.
After field dressing the deer, he tied the rabbit to his belt with a bit of cord. As he secured it, he marveled at how different his life had become. Last year at this time, he was worrying about preparing for mid-terms. His pockets would have contained a wallet, car keys, and his cellphone. Now, he had none of those on him. Instead, he carried a hunting knife in a sheath on his belt and in addition, a multi-tool pocketknife. No wallet. No car keys. No cellphone.
On his left side, he had a pouch hanging from his belt that held matches, a lighter, fishing line, a few hooks, two needles, a few different weights of thread, cord, and a few plastic garbage bags, and a roll of white medical silk tape.
The tape had several uses. It was strong enough to tape objects together, but could also be used to butterfly a wound together. Jenna had shown them all how to do it. If he had to, he could rip off the bottom of his t-shirt to use as a bandage. After his dad had been shot, Hunter listened to all of Jenna’s instruction with far more attention than he had ever paid to his economics instructor.
Sympatico Syndrome Trilogy Box Set Page 60