Resurrecting Home Read online

  A PLUME BOOK

  RESURRECTING HOME

  A. AMERICAN is the national bestselling author of the Survivalist series. He has been involved in prepping and survival communities since the early 1990s. An avid outdoorsman, he has spent considerable time learning edible and medicinal plants and their uses as well as primitive survival skills. He currently resides in Florida with his wife of more than twenty years and their three daughters. He is the author of Going Home, Surviving Home, Escaping Home, and Forsaking Home.

  ALSO BY A. AMERICAN

  Going Home

  Surviving Home

  Escaping Home

  Forsaking Home

  PLUME

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) LLC

  375 Hudson Street

  New York, New York 10014

  USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China

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  A Penguin Random House Company

  Copyright © 2014 by A. American

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  American, A. (Angery)

  Resurrecting home : a novel / A. American.

  pages ; cm. — (The survivalist series ; Book 5)

  ISBN 978-0-698-18720-7

  1. Survivalism—Fiction. 2. Wildfires—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3601.M467R47 2014

  813'.6—dc23 2014038066

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Version_1

  Contents

  About the Author

  Also by A. American

  Title page

  Copyright page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Here we are again. A lot has happened since Forsaking

  Home. This book is dedicated to you, the reader. If not

  for the incredible feedback, encouragement, and enthusiasm

  you guys provide, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Thank you.

  Additionally, Resurrecting Home is dedicated to my dad, who

  retired this year, finally. Congrats, Old Dude, and I look forward

  to a lot more time together. Lastly, I want to offer a dedication

  to Mrs. Roach—not her real name, but she and many others

  know who she is. She beat breast cancer this year and is

  on the road to recovery. Our prayers are with you.

  We have a battle cry for her that I offer to anyone

  dealing with any form of the disease: fuck cancer!

  Chapter 1

  Being home felt good, even if it wasn’t our home, per se. The house next to Danny and Bobbie was as good as we were going to get, considering our own home was trashed. The guy who owned this house had left it during the mortgage crisis, lucky for us. We tried to make the best of a less-than-perfect situation, and so far, so good. Mel and the girls took it all in stride, which I was thankful for. Little Bit hardly commented on the change in location, and Lee Ann and Taylor didn’t grumble, a teenager’s way of saying they were okay with it. Just being back in the old neighborhood provided a sense of normalcy and familiarity we hadn’t had in months. For that, I was grateful. Our little community had grown so much in the past few weeks, with the arrival of Fred and Jess, who were slowly getting settled. Now that there were plenty of bodies willing to help with the cleanup, progress in the neighborhood was moving along nicely. Everyone pitched in without being asked. We’d been at it for a couple of days now and things were really starting to come together, particularly in our house.

  Danny’s house was another story entirely. He and Bobbie always kept an orderly home, unlike mine, where everything had a place, and that place just happened to be wherever I laid something down. Seeing their home in such a condition was hard on them. They never said much about it, but I knew otherwise. I could tell from some of Danny’s exasperated looks and Bobbie’s sighs that the never-ending cleanup of the house was getting to them. Given that, I tasked everyone to pitching in one summer day. It was a hot day—the days were getting hotter and hotter as summer began to stretch out into longer days—but everyone took it in stride. I was in charge of dragging out what was left of their shattered lives and dumping it in the truck.

  Turning the wheelbarrow up, I dumped another load into the bed of the little red truck—the same one Reggie had acquired from the kid. We’ll never know for sure if he had anything to do with Reggie’s niece or not: both of them are dead now.

  Thad had gotten the little rig running and backed it up against Danny’s back porch as we cleaned. Watching the dust settle, I thought about Reggie and how we discovered the truck. It seemed so long ago that I’d walked to the dry bed of Baptist Lake and found those bodies, or what was left of them. I can still see Reggie’s face when he said he had to “take her to her momma.”

  Now the truck was being used around the neighborhood, albeit sparingly, as gas was a premium worth more than gold. As I worked, I could hear the voices of my friends as they helped clean out the trash from the inside of Danny and Bobbie’s place. We had been at it for a couple of days, sorting out what was worth saving and what was beyond salvage, and hauling the latter out. The truck made life easier, but we still had to figure out what to do with all the debris. The trash man certainly wasn’t coming on Thursday and there was no way to get to the dump, so we had to divide the haul into what could be burned and what couldn’t. If it wouldn’t, we hauled it off to a pit on the back of Danny’s property.

  A hand landed on my shoulder. “Break time’s over.”

  I looked over to see Thad standing beside me. “Yes, sir, boss!” I said with a smile and wheeled the barrow back into the house. Thad smiled and shook his head as he followed me inside.

  It was quite a scene inside. Mel, Taylor, and Lee Ann were going through the kitchen, putting broken dishes and various electric kitchen appliances in stacks along with the silverware and cooking utensils that were scattered all over it. Bobbie was kneeling down on the floor, wiping her forehead with the back of an oversized work glove. Danny pushed a shovel into the pile in front her, and she used her hands to push more into it and it was dumped into the bin.

  When we began the cleanup, the floor was littered with everything from broken dishes and furniture to general dirt and grime. The house had been thoroughly trashed, searched from top to bottom. Whoever had gone through the house had ransacked every drawer, closet, and cabinet. In most cases the contents were tossed onto the floor, then walked over repeatedly. The worst was the malicious destruction of furniture and other household items. It made me mad to think about someone coming into another person’s home simply for the sake of destruction.

  “What’d you guys decide to do about this sofa?” Jeff asked, lounging on the tor
n and slashed settee.

  “Take it out—we’ll burn it,” Danny said.

  “If we put a sheet over it, we could still use it,” Bobbie said.

  Danny shook his head. “I don’t know, it’s pretty torn up.”

  “What else are we going to sit on?”

  Danny shrugged. “I guess you’re right. Let’s keep it, at least till we find something better.”

  Jeff jumped up. “All right, so the sofa stays, but I gotta say, man, this recliner has seen better days. Let’s toss it. Thad, wanna grab the other end of this chair?” he said as he made his way toward Danny’s beloved recliner.

  With a smile I looked at Danny. “Should we observe a moment of silence?”

  “I can’t watch. Just get it out of here.”

  Thad laughed as he and Jeff hefted up the chair and waddled toward the door. With most of the floor now swept clean, I grabbed a bucket and filled it at the sink, marveling at having running water again. Using a crusty mop that was lying in the kitchen I began to mop the floor, starting at the front door.

  “I don’t want any footprints on my clean floor!” I shouted as I swept the sopping mop back and forth.

  “So should we use the back door, then?” a voice asked from behind me.

  I turned to see Jess and Fred on the porch. “Hey! How’s it going in your new place? Getting settled in?”

  “We’re getting there. Fred wants a favor,” Jess said.

  Fred asked with pleading eyes, “Can you take me to the camp, please? I want to go see Aric.”

  “Uh, sure, just let us finish up here and we can take a ride over there. Are you going to stay there or come back?”

  Fred nodded her head. “Oh, I’m coming back. Hopefully Aric can too.”

  “All right, then, just give us a bit to wrap this up here and we’ll head out.”

  “Thanks so much. I really appreciate it, Morgan,” Fred said with a smile.

  Thad and Jeff were on the back porch, having unceremoniously dumped Danny’s chair in the truck. I glanced over to see Thad hugging Jess. It brought a smile to my face, remembering when we all first met.

  “Careful, Jess, how do you know you can trust that guy?” I shouted, still swinging the mop back and forth.

  She turned her head and stuck her tongue out at me, which made me grin.

  Fred was looking around the living room. “Wow, you guys have really made a lot of progress in here.”

  Bobbie had gotten to scrubbing the floors on her hands and knees. She looked around the house. “You should’ve seen it before all this happened. It was spotless. Danny and I worked so hard to get it in shape. It’ll never be the same again.”

  “Hey, at least you’ve still got your house,” Mel said, examining a blender sitting on the counter. “Besides, we all know that you and Danny will have this place spic and span in no time. Y’all are like Martha Stewart.”

  Danny looked up slyly. “Except for the insider-trading-and-going-to-prison part,” he said, getting a laugh from me and Thad.

  Fred chuckled. “Whatever I can do to help, I’d be happy to. Mel, how’s your place working out?”

  “I like our new house, Fred!” Little Bit said brightly.

  “Me too, my room’s bigger. You should come over and see it soon,” Lee Ann said. In the past few weeks, the older girls had been getting along with Jess and Fred. Lee Ann’s mood had improved considerably since they had become part of her community. It was nice to see her connecting to girls closer to her age.

  “Oh, I think it’s a little early for visitors, but soon enough, you and Jess should come through. We are neighbors now, after all. Speaking of neighbors . . . have you guys seen Brandy and Tyler today?” Mel asked.

  “Yeah, we saw them on our way over here. They’re doing the same thing you guys are—cleaning up,” Jess replied.

  Little Bit jumped. “I want to go play with Edie! Mom, can I go?”

  Mel chuckled. “Go ahead, you can go play.”

  Little Bit leapt up in the air, pumping her fist, and took off at a run for the gate. Jess and Fred laughed at the sight of her little legs running.

  Fred was shaking her head. “Where does all that energy come from when they’re so young?”

  Bobbie looked up from her scrubbing. “I want to know where it goes as you get older.”

  Thad laughed. “If you figure that one out be sure and let me know.”

  We worked for another hour or so. The extra hands helped to move the process along more quickly. With all the damaged furniture and trash removed, the place looked a lot better—almost back to normal. Danny looked around the living room, nodding to himself approvingly. Bobbie was still hard at work scrubbing the counters, a frustrated look on her face. It would take a little longer for her to feel at home.

  Seeing how things were coming together, I figured it would be a good time to run to the camp. Sarge’s plan to take the camp without a fight worked out, almost. He’d been wounded by Aric in a terrible mistake that he’d paid for in return. With the Guard now in control of the camp I wondered about the fate of the DHS troops now under their control. It seemed to me unlikely that they could keep them locked up for too long. Having to feed and care for them as well as the possibility of an uprising made for a very touchy situation. It was an issue I hoped Sheffield and Livingston were working on.

  “Danny, you want to go up to the camp with me?” I asked.

  He looked around again. “Nah, I’m going to stay here, there’s still a lot to do.” I could see him doing a mental checklist of everything that needed to be done.

  “I’ll go with you,” Thad volunteered.

  “Right on, brother,” I said. “Let’s head out of here in five,” I said, nodding to Jess and Fred.

  “How long will you guys be gone?” Mel asked.

  “Not long, we’re just going to check on Aric, maybe bring him back here if he’s up to it.”

  “Which one is Aric, again?” Mel asked.

  “He’s the DHS guy that helped Jess and Fred get out. He was trying to bust them out of the jail when Sarge and the boys showed up. I guess Fred’s got a thing for him.”

  Bobbie pursed her lips. “Just what we need, someone else to feed.”

  I looked at her and smiled. “We’ll be fine—we know how to make do. But speaking of food, how are we doing on it? How much do we have left?”

  “Not much,” Mel said. A worried look crossed her face. “Morgan, I know you want to help people out, but the more people we bring in here, the less food for everyone else. You gotta remember that.”

  I sighed. “When I get back, we’ll do an inventory of everything and see where we are.”

  “That won’t take long,” Bobbie said sarcastically.

  I smiled sweetly at both of them. “Ladies, we’ll be sure to have everything covered. You ready to go, Thad?”

  He nodded and picked up his shotty from the table, heading toward the door. I kissed Mel on the cheek and followed him out, cutting through the fence to my place. Rolling toward the gate, Thad said, “Mel and Bobbie are right. We’re going to have to do something about food.”

  I nodded in agreement. “We need to try and get a garden started here with what seeds we have left. It’s a shame we planted some already at the river,” I said.

  “They won’t go to waste, at least. Sarge and the guys will take care of them.”

  “I know they will, but that doesn’t help us much right now. We gotta think of some alternate means.”

  Thad snorted. “Alternate means. Story of my life.” I punched him on the shoulder. “We’ll get that garden going ASAP. There’s only so much to hunt. Plus, I think the cold weather is pretty much over,” Thad said.

  I nodded. “It’ll take some time, but it’s worth it. In the meantime, we use what we have. And we’ve got the pigs and chickens. There’s fish in Danny’s pond, but they won’t last forever if we press it too hard.”

  “You still ain’t answered my question: What are we going to do?�
�

  I looked at him. “I guess we’re going to have to get used to being hungry,” I said with a halfhearted laugh. “Seriously, though, it’s going to be tough. It’s going to take a lot of work to keep everyone fed.”

  “I think we’re up to the challenge.”

  As we rolled to a stop at the end of the road, Fred and Jess climbed in, chatting excitedly. I looked back at Fred, then over at Thad and smiled. Fred had made a decent attempt at cleaning up her face and brushing her hair. She looked excited, like a schoolgirl.

  It was a short ride to the camp, mostly spent brainstorming with Thad over food supplies. When we reached the gate, Fred bounced up and down in her seat, but Jess appeared more reserved, a serious look in her eyes. I knew the camp had painful memories for both of them, but I was happy that Fred got to have a little moment of happiness.

  The Guardsmen at the gate waved us through, and I could immediately see that the camp had a different feel now. It was more relaxed, but there was still an air of tension over the place. I don’t know if I could ever shake that feeling, knowing what had gone down here. I could tell by Jess’s face that she couldn’t either.

  As we drove around, we took in the sights. There were still work crews scattered around, though their numbers were smaller and there was no armed guard standing over them. It looked as though an inventory of sorts was going on, with substantial piles of crates and boxes piled around being counted.

  A side-by-side ATV stopped beside us as we rode through the camp. Ian sat back with a foot up on the roll bar, grinning like a shit-eating dog. Jamie was beside him, her head rocked back. I stopped beside them. “What’s up, Gomer?” I asked.

  Ian grinned. “Not taxes. Hard dicks will always be up, though.”

  Jamie slapped him lightly on the head. “Shut up, Ian.”

  Thad and I both laughed. “You two are still up to your antics, I see. What’s going on around here? You guys doing an inventory?” Thad asked.

  Ian nodded. “Yeah, trying to see what’s here. These federal boys have a load of shit piled up.”