After the EMP (Book 8): Hope Stumbles

by Tate, Harley

  Larkin exhaled. “Leaving the bunk rooms. He was looking for Dani.”

  Ben pushed past Larkin and out the door.

  Walter stood up. “We better get out there. Ben’s liable to shoot first and not bother to ask a damn thing.”

  “Then God help him, because he won’t stand a chance.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  TRACY

  Clifton Compound

  Near Truckee, CA

  4:00 p.m.

  A shiver racked Tracy’s frame and she rose up onto her toes to peer over the hood of the truck. “Any chance we can get inside?”

  Daniel blew warm air into his hands. “I’ll catch holy hell from Ben if I do.”

  “Why? You’ve got someone on patrol. I don’t have a weapon. No one’s going to be happy if we freeze to death.”

  After a moment, he relented and tugged open the driver’s door. “Get in. I’ll turn the engine on for a few minutes to warm it up.”

  Tracy climbed up and fell into the passenger seat. As soon as the first hint of heat spread from the vents, she pulled off her gloves and warmed her hands. “Thank you. I was close to frostbite.”

  He nodded. About Madison’s age, Daniel had a quiet way about him. He reminded Tracy of Peyton. A kind giant. She glanced at the rifle. Even the gentle ones had to fight now.

  “Are you from here?”

  He jerked up, her question bringing alarm to his eyes.

  She held up her hands. “Just making conversation.”

  He twisted in the seat and leaned his wide shoulders against the window. “Yeah. Born and raised. Ben is my uncle.”

  Tracy nodded. She could see the resemblance in the blocky head and square frame. “Did you always want to be a farmer?”

  “Not a chance.” He laughed and the tension eased from his neck. “I was in school to be a landscape architect.”

  “Really?”

  “University of Nevada, Reno. Two years left when it all… ended.”

  Tracy swallowed. “You’re the same age as my daughter.”

  “Was she there, too? I might know her.”

  Tracy shook her head. “We’re from California. She was at UC Davis, studying agriculture.”

  They fell into easy conversation about the Clifton property and Madison’s work clearing the ground for their first farm. Then it was on to Anne’s skills canning and preserving and Brianna’s knack for getting into trouble.

  Daniel’s eyes brightened the more Tracy talked. “You guys sound like us.” He smiled at the seat. “Ben’s always saying Craig talks too much for his own good and Heather’s too softhearted.”

  “Is she the nurse?”

  He nodded. “My older sister.”

  “Where are your parents?”

  Daniel’s face fell. “They were on vacation when the lights went out. Their first cruise.” He looked out the window. “I like to think they’re still in the Bahamas, oblivious to all of this here.”

  Tracy nodded. She’d lost a lot of people, too. “So why the pharmacy?”

  Daniel looked up, trying to put together the words. “Ben thinks this is all temporary. That as soon as the government is up and running again, the country will put itself back together.”

  “So you’re protecting the pharmacy for the future?”

  “He says hospitals will need medicine and doctors and researchers will use what we save to create more.”

  Tracy ran a hand through her hair. “What if that doesn’t happen? What if the government never comes back?”

  Daniel chewed on his lip. “I don’t know. I guess it’s all ours.”

  She nodded and looked away. They seemed like good people, but Ben was either delusional or naive. The government wouldn’t rebuild. At least not in the way he thought. Even if people in Washington, DC were putting their lives back together, how long before word reached the West Coast?

  A year? Two? Ten?

  By then new governments would form. People would cobble together new communities and towns. Walter even heard on the radio that someone was trying to get steam locomotives up and running. It would be a new industrial revolution with supply lines powered by what made America great two hundred years before.

  She tried to smile at Daniel. “I hope Ben is right and we do rebuild.”

  “But you don’t think it’ll happen?”

  Tracy chose her words carefully. “Over the past nine months, I’ve seen some of the worst humanity has to offer. I’m not sure we can go back to what we had before.”

  Daniel’s face fell.

  Tracy hated to be the bearer of depressing news. She reached out and patted his shoulder. “But I hope it does. You’re doing a good thing with the farm.”

  He nodded. “Sometimes, when I’m asleep, I dream of the world the way it was before. I’m sitting in my dorm room, snarfing down a delivery pizza, playing Xbox with one of my friends.” He faltered. “Then I wake up and I realize it wasn’t real.”

  Tracy knew exactly what he meant. She still dreamt of their house in Sacramento, sipping tea on the back porch and waiting for her husband to come home. Then there were the harder dreams: watching Madison graduate from college, a wedding, grandchildren. A future.

  She swallowed.

  Daniel pointed at the road. “Is that one of yours?”

  An ATV came barreling down the snow-covered gravel, flinging rocks in its wake. Tracy nodded. “That’s Brianna. They must be done.”

  Tracy clambered down out of the truck and the cold air stole her breath. She couldn’t wait for spring.

  Brianna stopped the ATV ten feet from the truck and put it in park before climbing out. “I talked my parents out of shooting anyone, although they thought about making an example out of me for a minute.” She grinned and kept talking. “We’re welcome to come in.”

  “And the vaccine?” Tracy turned to Daniel.

  He nodded. “It’s all yours.”

  Tracy exhaled. Finally. She hurried to climb in the back of the truck. Daniel honked and John appeared out of the tree line. Together, the three of them followed Brianna back to the Cliftons’ home.

  It took five minutes to bump down the drive, hop out, and find Madison in the cabin where she left her in what felt like a lifetime before. She smiled.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “How are you, honey?” Tracy rushed to her daughter’s side.

  “Good.” Madison stuck out her leg. “It’s healing.”

  The bite had shriveled into a prune-shaped scab. Tracy turned to Daniel.

  He held a box out to Tracy. “It’s four doses. The standard protocol for post-bite inoculation.”

  She took it with gratitude in her heart. “Thank you.”

  After reading the instructions, she pulled up Madison’s sleeve. “This is going to hurt.”

  Her daughter braced herself and Tracy sank the needle deep before plunging. The vaccine disappeared into Madison’s arm and Tracy exhaled. She felt like she’d held her breath for two days.

  “When will we know if it worked?”

  Tracy turned to Brianna who stood nearby, watching. The young woman shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess when she doesn’t get symptoms?”

  “According to the directions, you get another dose at day three, seven, and fourteen.”

  Madison tilted her head toward Daniel. “Who’s he?”

  In her rush to inject her daughter, Tracy forgot she didn’t know anything about the past fifty-four hours. “He’s from a nearby farm.” Tracy waved him over. “Daniel Jacobson, meet Madison Sloane, my daughter.”

  He stuck out an awkward hand and Madison shook it. “Pleased to meet you.”

  “Thanks to his uncle, we got the medicine.”

  Brianna crossed her arms. “You mean in spite of.”

  Madison’s head swiveled as she looked first at Brianna and then Tracy. “Is there something more to the story?”

  Tracy stood up. “We can fill you in later. Right now you need to rest.” She fluffed Madison’s pil
low and waited until she lay back down before turning to Brianna. “Let’s all meet in the cook cabin. We should talk.”

  Brianna glowered at Daniel. “Him, too?”

  “Everyone.” Tracy motioned for Daniel to join her and together they stepped out into the trampled snow. She zipped up her jacket and pointed at the main cabin used for cooking. “Let’s all meet here. You, Craig, John, and all of us.”

  He kicked at the snow. “What for?”

  She waited until he looked up, and she smiled. “Because I think this could be the start of something beneficial for everyone. It would be a shame to waste it.”

  Daniel rubbed his hair. “Ben should be the one to make that decision.”

  “I know. But you should have a voice in the matter, too.” Tracy knew if she convinced the younger Jacobson, it would carry weight with his uncle. How much, she wasn’t sure. But it never hurt to try.

  Tracy was tired of always thinking the worst of others, never relying on anyone except their tight-knit little group. Ten people in the middle of the forest couldn’t rebuild a single town let alone the United States. It would take banding together.

  Ben Jacobson might not be perfect, but he was the best option they had come across in nine months. She wouldn’t give up until he either categorically refused or the Cliftons walked away.

  Daniel walked over to the truck where his brother and cousin waited and Tracy headed inside the cook cabin. Anne and Barry stood in the window, watching. She smiled at them both. “There’s a few gentlemen here that I’d like you to meet.”

  Barry nodded without a hint of a smile. “Brianna says they can’t be trusted.”

  Tracy exhaled. “I think they can. It’s early yet, but they’re doing something special. We should think about an alliance.”

  Anne leaned into her husband. “Let’s at least meet them. We can always make up our minds later.”

  “Fine.” Barry turned and set his mug on the counter. “But we’re not agreeing to anything until we meet the head of their operation.”

  Tracy agreed. “That sounds fair.” She stepped back outside and ushered the boys in. “Come on in, fellas. Meet the Cliftons.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  COLT

  Unidentified Farm

  Near Truckee, CA

  4:00 p.m.

  Colt put himself in the shoes of a smug jerk like Ben and tried to figure out where Dani might be. So far, he was striking out. All the obvious choices turned out to be duds.

  Creeping past a fence line separating one animal pen from another, he heard a yip. Strange. He hadn’t seen any dogs on the property before. He shrugged. Maybe they were indoor dogs like Lottie.

  Colt kept going. The barking intensified. All at once, a ball of brown and gray fluff skidded through the snow in front of him. The little thing jumped up and pawed his shins.

  “Lottie?” Colt scooped up the little dog in amazement. “How’d you find me?”

  One touch of her paws and he shoved his gun in his belt. “You’re freezing.” He rubbed her feet one at a time and tried to warm her up. She wasn’t having it.

  “What is it, girl?”

  She wriggled out of his arms and back into the snow, but she didn’t stay. Instead, she took off, barking and yipping and carrying on. Every few leaps, she turned to check if Colt was coming.

  He didn’t have the faintest clue what the dog was doing, but following her was better than wandering. Lottie scurried over clumps of melting snow to a concrete block building painted brown.

  “It’s a shed. You can’t possibly want anything in there.”

  Lottie pawed and barked at the door.

  Colt pushed it open, expecting a wall of tools. He found the opposite. “What on earth?”

  He entered the room, frowning at the gurney and the chairs and the desk in the corner. Lottie barked for attention at a second door.

  Colt hurried to open it. At the sight, he dropped his hand and the door almost swung shut on his face. It can’t be. “Dani?”

  Lottie leapt from the floor onto an empty chair, scrambled over to a bedside table, and up onto a hospital bed where Dani shrieked in glee.

  A woman with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and eyes the same brown as Ben’s turned around. “Who are you?”

  Colt swallowed.

  “It’s okay. That’s Colt.” Dani ruffled Lottie’s fur. “And this is Lottie.” She laughed and Colt gripped the doorframe to keep from falling.

  Dani is alive… and she’s laughing. He almost forgot what it sounded like.

  He stepped up to her. “How are you?”

  “Good. A little woozy if I try to stand.”

  “Then don't.” The woman stuck out her hand. “Heather Jacobson.”

  Colt hesitated. “Ben’s wife?”

  Her eyes went wide for a beat before she laughed. “No. Niece. God help me if I marry someone like him.”

  The anger and rage that he’d used to break free and find Dani melted like ice on a hot car. Heather wasn’t anything like her uncle. He stuck out his hand and she shook it. “Pleased to meet you.”

  “I hear you’re the troublemaker.”

  “Is that a problem?”

  Heather’s eyes flashed. “Not necessarily.”

  He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly off-kilter. It had been a long time since he’d talked to a woman he didn’t know. Especially a pretty one. “Planning on turning me in?”

  She laughed. “A guy who runs in with a five-pound dog and a grin a mile wide? Not a chance.”

  He protested. “She’s seven pounds at least.”

  “Hello?” Dani leaned forward, waving her hands about. “Girl with a gunshot wound over here.”

  Colt turned. He had time to get to know Heather later. Dani would need rest and recuperation. He searched her small frame. “Where were you hit?”

  “My thigh.” Dani pulled down the covers and pointed at a large bandage. “Heather says a few inches over and I’d have bled out in minutes.”

  “It missed the femoral artery completely.” Heather focused on the bed. “My brother felt terrible about it. Said he panicked.”

  Colt would deal with the shooter later. He was focused on Dani’s recovery. “She lost a lot of blood. I thought—” He didn’t finish.

  “The snow and freezing temperatures helped. It slowed everything down. Her heart rate, the blood loss, all of it.”

  “Who knew snow was good for something?” Dani picked up Lottie’s feet and frowned. “Where are her booties?”

  “Back in the Jeep, probably.”

  “Didn’t you get them?”

  Colt shook his head. “I didn’t go back for her. She found me.” He smiled. “And you.”

  Dani picked up the little dog and nuzzled her face. “That’s because you’re the best dog ever.”

  Colt pressed a palm to Dani’s forehead. “You should rest.”

  “I’ve been resting ever since I woke up.”

  “Colt’s right, you shouldn’t be walking.”

  “Colt can carry me.”

  He held up his hands. “Not a chance. Ben’s liable to shoot me on sight.”

  Heather set down her stethoscope with a thunk. “I’ve got the next best thing. Wait here.”

  She disappeared out the door and Colt leaned toward Dani for a hug. “There was a while there where I thought I lost you.”

  “Sorry.”

  “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  “Me, too.” She fidgeted in the bed. “Last thing I remember, you were in a standoff with that Ben guy. I thought we were all going to die.”

  Colt swallowed.

  “Heather said he’s in charge.”

  “That’s right.”

  Dani chewed on her lip. “We’ve been talking and she told me about the farm and what they’re doing here and what her life was like before.” She glanced at the bed. “She’s nice.”

  “Seems that way.” To see Dani open up to a stranger tugged at Colt’s heart. The girl
had been through so much, he wasn’t sure she’d ever accept anyone except their ten-person family. He encouraged her to continue with a squeeze of her hand.

  “All those things I said before, about burning the place down and not caring about the people here—”

  Colt knew what she was going to say, but he waited until she found the courage.

  “I was wrong. We should have tried to talk to them from the beginning.”

  Colt reached out and ruffed her hair and Dani batted him away. He wanted to tell her that he was beginning to agree and that maybe he shouldn’t have been so quick to judge, but the door opened before he could.

  “All right. It won’t be the smoothest ride, but I’ve found a solution.” Heather smiled at Colt. “If you can carry her outside, I can give you both a tour.”

  Ten minutes later, with blankets and pillows and Lottie balanced in Dani’s lap, they were situated in a four-seat ATV. Heather cranked the engine and smiled at Colt from beneath a fur-trimmed hood. “So how much of the farm have you seen?”

  He zipped up his jacket and thought it over. “The barns, the silos, the three fenced-in animal areas.”

  “So you haven’t seen the orchards?”

  Colt shook his head and they took off, bumping over snow and gravel and hard-packed earth until they crested the nearest hill. Trees in organized rows stretched down the other side.

  “This is all yours?”

  Heather nodded. “Apples, mostly. They do the best with harsh winters.”

  “Wow.” Dani leaned forward from the back. “Think about all the things Anne could can. Apple pie filling, applesauce, apple butter, spiced apple rings, apple jelly.”

  Colt laughed. “Would you even eat half of those?”

  “Beats canned peas.”

  Heather groaned. “I’ll agree with you there. Those things smell nasty.”

  The ATV ambled down the hillside and Heather launched into a description of their farm in the summer months. They harvested everything from wheat to corn to beans and okra. An entire field was devoted to pumpkins and squash and in the fall they canned so many pickles they had to drive to Reno to scavenge for jars.