EMP Lodge Series Box Set | Books 1-6

by Hamilton, Grace

  She smiled. “Sure do. It’s still pretty dark and we wouldn’t be able to see tracks or even animals at this point.”

  “Can you imagine what it’ll be like if you actually get a deer?” Rosie asked in excitement.

  Wyatt smiled. “That’s the goal. Steak, jerky, stew...we’d be set for a while.”

  Megan spoke up. “How will you preserve the meat if you do manage to get big game?”

  “As much as I’d love to keep it fresh, for now, we’ll have to dry it.” Sipping appreciatively at his coffee. “It’ll give us a chance to use those fancy dehydrators we built.”

  Megan smiled as she accepted the coffee cup Rosie handed her. “I should’ve known you would have a plan. You’re definitely prepared for this new way of living.”

  “As much as I hate to say it, much of it is wishful thinking right now,” Wyatt told her. “But we’ll get there.”

  Rosie was staring out the small kitchen window, which faced out towards where the garden would go. It was high enough and small enough a person couldn’t fit through, but it allowed some natural light in. “We need a smokehouse like my daddy used to have.”

  Wyatt agreed. “We’ll add it to the list, mom.”

  They had so much to do. His dad had worked tirelessly for years preparing this place, but it seemed like there was always something more to do. Admittedly, it was hard to plan to live like this when you never had to experience it firsthand.

  His generation and even his parents’ generation never had to worry about finding food or living without electricity. It was a strange, new way of living and it required everyone to have an open mind and be ready to roll with the punches.

  “When fall and winter arrive, we’ll be able to keep some of the meat fresh. We have an old, gutted refrigerator ready to go. We’ll bury it in the ground and pack around it with snow and ice.” Wyatt added. “With the average temperatures in this area during the winter, it’s easy to keep meat frozen. Albert is concerned about bears making a meal of it, but we don’t have the lumber needed to build a proper elevated structure for it. We have to do what we can with the supplies available to us.”

  They each drank their coffee in silence for the next several minutes. Wyatt imagined they were all thinking the same thing—meat. Fresh meat. Enough to fill their bellies. The rabbit had been great, but a single rabbit divided between eight people didn’t go far. They had to step up their hunting. It couldn’t be a hobby or something they did when they had the time. It was going to have to be at the top of the list, every single day. And if Megan chose to stay, her hunting and trapping skills would be more than an asset, it could mean life or death.

  13

  “You ready?” Megan asked.

  Wyatt put down his cup. “Yes, let’s grab the rifles.”

  Wyatt led her to a small closet, moving the coats out of the way; he revealed a small arsenal of rifles and smaller handguns. Handing her two rifles, he moved the boots sitting on the floor, which concealed a hollowed out area in the floor filled with boxes of ammunition. Megan realized the floor inside the closet sat a little higher than the floor outside the closet. She wouldn’t have noticed the subtle height difference if she hadn’t seen him purposely move the boots.

  “Wow,” Megan exclaimed. “You really have found ways to hide things in relatively plain sight.”

  “We wanted to be ready to live up here should anything happen. Hiding our weapons in case someone broke in when we weren’t here makes sense. Our lives may very well depend on these weapons.”

  He grabbed some extra ammo and turned to her. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get quite as much food stockpiled as we wanted. Getting that garden going and hunting are really our top priorities.” He put everything back in place. “I’m counting on you to teach me everything you know about hunting. My family’s life depends on it,” he said with complete earnestness.

  She held his gaze. “I get it.” She reached her free hand out to lay it on his arm. “You did great here, Wyatt. You took care of your family and you will keep taking care of them. I have a feeling you’re a natural hunter. You’ll all be eating hearty meals in no time.”

  The duo set off, heading towards the area Megan had come across the day before. She explained to Wyatt how a deer trail is the best indicator of wildlife. The sun had started to rise, giving them enough light to see. In the heavily wooded area, it was still a little dark, which provided them some cover should a deer happen to wander into sight.

  Megan tried to hide her frustration, but Wyatt’s noisy steps were making her a little crazy. They would never find deer or even a squirrel at this point.

  “Um, Wyatt?” she said in a hushed voice.

  “Yeah,” he said in his natural voice.

  Megan grimaced. He couldn’t see her face because she was walking in front of him. She stopped, turned and held her arm up. She paused, trying to think of how to tell him he sounded like a bull in a China shop.

  “Your mom said you were a former Navy SEAL, right?”

  He nodded.

  “So, I’m sure you did tactical missions and stuff like that, right?”

  Again, he nodded, looking a little unsure.

  She put her arm down. “You need to treat hunting like one of those stealth missions. Animals are far more alert than any human, so you need to be extra stealthy.”

  He stood there for a second looking at her. “Are you saying I’m being too loud?”

  “Yes!” she hissed.

  He started to laugh, but it was muffled by her quickly putting her hand over his mouth.

  “Wyatt,” she whisper yelled. “Seriously. I want some steak. Do not deny me a steak.”

  His eyes sparkled and she could feel his lips against the palm of her hand stretching into one of those big, heart-melting smiles.

  “Got it, little Miss Huntress. I know better. I wasn’t thinking,” he said by way of apology.

  Megan nodded and turned around, ready to start tracking again. She could feel his eyes on her and knew he was silently laughing at her little tantrum about wanting steak. It was a moment of weakness, she decided. She was hungry.

  Megan stopped in her tracks and motioned for Wyatt to come closer. She pointed out the hallmark signs of a game trail. Wyatt squatted down and saw the small indention of hoof prints. The trail was nothing more than a muddy line leading into the trees.

  She indicated he follow her. She stopped again, pointing at the ground. Deer scat. They were definitely on the right track. She stopped again, pointing out some young birch trees that looked like they were stripped on one side. She quietly explained these were signs of rubbing. Deer rubbed their antlers against the trunks of trees. They were close.

  “That’s where they’re bedding down,” she whispered close to his ear. She pointed out a dense area in the trees that showed signs of something heavy lying in the area. Using her head to motion him, they walked about one hundred feet away from the trail.

  “We’ll sit here and wait,” she explained, sitting on the cold ground. It was chilly out, but she’d gotten used to the cold.

  “You comfortable with that gun?” he asked, referring to the rifle she was holding a little anxiously.

  She nodded. “Yeah. It’s been a long time. Hunting with an unfamiliar gun is a little weird. It’s probably best if you take the shot if we see anything.”

  Wyatt nodded. “I agree. While getting in a bit of target practice might be a good idea, we don’t want to call attention to ourselves by needlessly shooting off guns and the way sound travels, we’d have to travel several miles for a bit of target practice. Doesn’t seem worth it, but I can guarantee that one is sighted in. We took care of it when we first got to the cabin.”

  Megan scanned the area, looking for any signs of deer moving about. This was their feeding time. They sat and waited but Megan couldn’t resist asking. “How is it you don’t have much experience hunting?” she whispered to him.

  Wyatt shrugged his shoulders. “You’d think I would bu
t growing up, my brother and I preferred sports and dad never insisted we learn. While we both can handle most every type of gun, we don’t have any practical hunting experience. Well, more importantly, tracking. I can follow a man’s footsteps fine, but the nuances of finding a game trail are all new to me.”

  Megan could understand that. Hugging her legs, she tried to shift. Her butt was frozen and it was making her cold enough to start shivering.

  She looked over at Wyatt; he didn’t appear to be cold at all. It was then she noticed he was sitting on a pile of pine needles.

  He noticed her looking at him. “What?”

  “Aren’t you cold?”

  Shaking his head, he pointed to his seat. “You never sit directly on the ground,” he told her, if not a little arrogantly.

  Megan growled. “You could’ve said that.”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “You’re the expert hunter. I thought you’d know that very basic rule. The ground will zap your heat. It’s like sitting on a block of ice.”

  “Whatever,” she said standing up. “There’s nothing happening here. Let’s do some more scouting.”

  He grinned. “What you really mean is your butt is frozen and you need to thaw out a bit.”

  “Yes, Wyatt. I’m cold. I’m sorry for scolding you earlier. You got me back, now let’s do this.”

  His grin almost made her laugh, but she remembered they were trying to be stealthy and she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

  Wyatt stopped and pointed to a spruce tree on a hill. It appeared to be the only one in the area.

  “Megan?” He said her name in such a serious, somber voice, it made her stop moving and pay attention.

  “Yeah?”

  “I know you still want to leave after Caitlin’s better. I get that. Know that we do want you to stick around. I want you to stay.” He looked a little awkward. “I like your company, you have a lot to offer the group and it truly would be safer for you and your daughter. However, if you do leave and find you run into trouble, come to that tree. I’ll leave a bag with some supplies in it, just in case.”

  Megan wanted to say don’t worry about it, but if she were to go out on her own again, a bag of supplies in an emergency could save the life of her child. She couldn’t turn down his offer.

  “Thank you, Wyatt. I really appreciate that. Truly.”

  There was a comfortable silence as they tracked and meandered about the mountain, looking for signs of deer. The occasional hoots of an owl and birds singing made her feel at peace. She loved being in the woods. Being in the woods with Wyatt was even better. She appreciated his strong presence and really thought they could become good friends or even something more given time.

  As the sun got higher in the sky and the hour grew later, Megan gave up hope of taking a deer.

  “Well, we won’t be eating steaks tonight, but we can check those traps and look around for more game trails,” she told him, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

  Wyatt had packed along the traps he’d told her about the day before along with more snare wire. She was hesitant to use the massive traps that could easily snap off a human leg, but she understood the importance of stocking their pantry. Whatever they could get would ensure the group was fed another day. They may not get a big animal, but many little ones were better than nothing, he told her.

  She agreed. They stayed busy setting traps and scouting for signs of wildlife. They worked together as if they’d been doing this very thing for years. She showed him how to set the traps and conceal them with leaves and branches. Megan felt like she’d provided a ton of information about hunting, tracking and trapping. She was glad to see that Wyatt didn’t appear overwhelmed or bored. He was absorbing it all and listening to every word.

  Megan couldn’t help but feel a kinship with the man she barely knew. Wyatt was an excellent learner and a great teacher. While hunting was her area of expertise, navigation was not her strong suit. She was embarrassed to admit she’d always relied on her GPS on her excursions out. Wyatt could be standing anywhere and know exactly which way was north and he could measure distance with his eyes. He was her own personal navigation system and she loved it.

  His presence gave her confidence. Megan had to admit, being around Wyatt was a double-edged sword. His comfort and security was addicting. It wasn’t something Megan wanted to get too dependent on.

  She’d been there, done that with Derick and that had turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Her life had revolved around her ex-husband. She depended on him and when he broke her heart and left her, it nearly killed her.

  Right then, she’d vowed never to trust or depend on another human being as long as she lived. They were unreliable. It seemed to be a pattern in her life. Megan wasn’t going to let it happen again and decided if she only relied on herself, she wouldn’t be disappointed or hurt by others. Her bruised and battered heart couldn’t take any more letdowns.

  “You okay?” Wyatt asked looking at her with concern.

  Megan was embarrassed. Her little trip down memory lane had produced a few tears. She hated when that happened. Old hurts that never fully healed could sneak up on her at any time. It really irked her.

  She shook her head. “Yes, sorry, was thinking.”

  Wyatt didn’t look completely reassured, but didn’t press her.

  “You about ready to head back?” he asked.

  She looked around. “Yeah. I need to get to that school. So, I’ll check on Caitlin and then head out.”

  “I’ll go with you,” he told her.

  Megan sighed. “No, thanks. I’ll be fine.”

  Wyatt laughed. “Do you know where it is?”

  That made her pause for a moment. “Basically.” She was trying not to be offended by his suggestion she would get lost. She wasn’t that incapable. “I can follow a map. If you could sketch out a general idea, I’ll be fine.”

  Wyatt didn’t say anything leaving her with the feeling he was still going with her. She couldn’t be mad. Megan saw the way he was with his family. The need to protect those closest to him seemed ingrained in him and a part of her was touched that he felt the same way about her.

  14

  Wyatt wasn’t going to let Megan head off alone. The woman didn’t understand the safety in numbers motto. He was going to have to work on driving that point home. For now, he would settle to learn a little more about who she was before everything went south.

  When he asked her about her life before, she seemed hesitant at first to open up. He promised her he wasn’t asking for her deepest darkest secrets. When she said she’d worked as a paralegal, he was impressed. She seemed so outdoorsy, he couldn’t imagine her in pumps and business suits, but the look did appeal to him.

  “You?” she asked interrupting his vision of her wearing a pencil skirt and killer heels with her thick black hair up in a messy bun. He knew it wasn’t practical, but a guy could dream.

  “Oh, well, I joined the Navy right out of high school became a SEAL and got out after ten years. I worked SWAT in Chicago for five years and moved back home about a year ago.”

  He’d seen more death and bad human behavior than he cared to and wanted to have some peace. “Chase and I were in the Navy together but he got out after only four years and opened a security company. When I came back to Washington, I went to work for him.”

  Megan nodded and looked intrigued. “That’s a pretty impressive resume,” she told him. He could hear the admiration in her voice, which of course made him puff his chest out a little more.

  They talked more about what their normal day was like before everything went dark. It was enlightening and helped make her more of a person than the woman he found sleeping in his bed a few days ago. She was smart, pretty, athletic, and most of all, humble.

  “Was it hard leaving?” Megan asked.

  He knew she was talking about their trek from Spokane.

  “Losing my dad was the worst thing that had
ever happened to me, which is saying a lot considering how much death and violence I’ve seen in my life. The world has become incredibly dangerous and it’s important that we band together to survive. More so since we don’t have much needed lifesaving medical interventions anymore.” Wyatt paused. He’d almost mentioned Caitlin but thought better of it. He wanted her to stay, not to push her away.

  Megan pursed her lips and he could see her shoulders tightening, so he quickly changed the subject.

  “What’s the one thing you miss that will tell me something about you that I couldn’t guess?” he asked her hoping to distract her from what looked like thoughts of leaving again.

  When she mentioned that she missed watching baseball, he knew at that moment that they were meant to be together. He loved baseball. She revealed she was a huge fan of the Mariners and always had been, even through their not-so-good years. Wyatt had always been a fan and had made it a goal to get over to Seattle to see their games whenever he was home.

  “Why baseball?” he asked out of curiosity. He couldn’t see her watching a game in the stands with peanuts and beer in hand. He wondered if it was her husband that got her into the game. She didn’t wear a ring, but it was hard to ask a woman about her relationship status.

  She shrugged. “I’ve always loved baseball. Of course, me being a girl and all, I had to play softball throughout junior high. I quit when I was a sophomore and decided to change to swimming. I still played a little ball though. In fact, you’re looking at the top hitter in the district.” She said the last with a big cheesy smile, causing him to laugh.

  “Swimming, huh? Once the weather warms up, I’ll have to take you down to the lake and see how good you are.” He paused, gave her a crooked grin. “I was in the Navy. I bet I can beat you across the lake.”

  She laughed. “You’re on, but I want to put out a small disclaimer; I haven’t done any real swimming in years.”

  When she looked wistful, Wyatt decided to jump in. All in. He needed to know. “So, are you or were you married? Attached?”