Home Coming (The Survivalist Book 10) Read online

“Have you checked it?”

  I shook my head. “No. It ain’t ready yet.”

  “I want to check it.”

  “Then go check it,” I replied, annoyed. My elbow was throbbing. Wasn’t a damn thing funny about it.

  Dalton looked at the house. “Is Mel in there?”

  “No, she and the girls are over at Danny’s.”

  “Alright. I’m gonna go check it out.”

  “I’ll be done in a minute and I’ll meet you inside.”

  Dalton wandered off towards the house and I wrapped up connecting the battery. Once it was reconnected, I checked the other one to make sure it was also good and climbed in behind the wheel of the truck. Holding my breath, I turned the key. The truck turned over a couple of times before catching. The old Cummins rumbled in its typical way, blowing some smoke for a bit before settling down to a smooth idle. Satisfied that the truck would run, for a while anyway, I shut it off. Closing the hood, I headed for the house.

  Dalton had the cheese cloth off the big crock. He was on his knees looking down into it, a finger in his mouth. “How is it?” I asked.

  Without looking up, he replied, “Tastes like shit.”

  “Shit like vinegar? Or shit like shit?”

  “It’s sour. But it ain’t vinegar. Not yet anyway.”

  “I told you it wasn’t ready yet.”

  He pulled the cheese cloth back over the open top and stretched my homemade rubber band around it. Standing up, he looked down at the crock. “This chemistry crap isn’t that much fun.”

  I patted his back and said, “It’s like the old Heinz commercials, patience.”

  He looked over his shoulder at me, “I ain’t got any.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, me neither.”

  We walked back outside. I had some tools to put away. “What are you going to do today?”

  Dalton stopped and looked up into the trees. “Not much. Nothing really planned. I was over at the old man’s place this morning and he’s in a bitchy mood.”

  “About what?”

  He shrugged, “Something on the radio. Said it sounds like there are other units operating in the area and he’s trying to figure out who the hell they are and why he doesn’t know about them.”

  I laughed. “That old fucker needs to relax.”

  As we talked, Aric pulled up on a four-wheeler. “Nice wagon,” Dalton said.

  Aric looked over his shoulder and replied, “I like it.”

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “Thad was going to come help me get the water tank up on the roof of the house. I stopped by his place but didn’t see him.”

  “Did you knock on the door?” I asked.

  “No. I didn’t want to bother them. Ya know.”

  I laughed. “You got a point there.”

  “Yeah, you already got the prize out of your box. He’s probably still eating cereal,” Dalton added.

  Aric and I looked at one another, then I slowly turned to look at Dalton. “What in the hell are we talking about?”

  Dalton looked at me, then at Aric. “You mean neither one of you knows what I mean? You don’t get it?”

  I shrugged, “I get it. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

  Dalton looked at Aric and asked, “Do you get it?”

  Shrugging, Aric replied, “Kinda.”

  Dalton shook his head. “You people are hopeless.”

  “Right now, I’m waterless. Can you guys come help me get the tanks up there?”

  “Sure, why not,” I said. “We’re not doing anything right now.”

  Dalton looked at Aric, “Chemistry is a slow process.”

  Aric looked at me for more. “Ignore Gigantor this morning. He’s off his meds.”

  We were at Aric’s house working on the tanks when Thad showed up. We’d already managed to get the two barrels on the roof and were cutting a piece of plywood to make a platform for them. A two-by-four would be screwed to the plywood on the down slope side to give the barrels a flat place on the roof.

  “Well, well, look who’s finally out of bed!” I shouted down from the roof.

  Thad smiled and waved as he climbed out of the little red truck. “Hey, guys. Sorry I’m late. I got tied up.”

  Dalton was leaned over the piece of plywood about to cut it with a Skill Saw as a small Honda generator hummed in the background. He straightened up when he heard Thad.

  “I didn’t know Mary was into that kind of thing. Who gets tied up, you or her?” Dalton belly-laughed.

  Aric and I both started to laugh. I whistled loudly from the roof, just to add to Thad’s embarrassment. He opened his mouth to say something and stopped. Instead, he just put his face in his hands and shook his head. This, of course, got us to laughing even harder.

  “Don’t worry about them, Thad,” Dalton said. Sensing some relief, Thad looked up and smiled before Dalton continued. “I can teach you some knots if you need.”

  Aric and I both started to laugh again, and Thad shook his head. “You boys is a mess!”

  “What’s all this racket out here? I thought you guys were supposed to be working?” Jess said from the porch. She was leaning against a post and Fred was beside her. Aric looked up, “Hey, babe. You look better. Are you feeling better?”

  Fred nodded, and Jess replied, “She’d feel better if she didn’t have to pee in a bucket.”

  “She should he happy she has a bucket to pee in!” I shouted down from my perch on the roof.

  “And having a window to throw it out!” Dalton added with a laugh.

  Jess leaned out from the porch and looked up. “Who’s up there?”

  “I’ll never tell!” I called back.

  “Don’t make me come up there!”

  “Ain’t nothing up here but work. I think I’m safe,” I shouted and leaned out where I could see her.

  I had a big smile on my face and Jess rolled her eyes. “I should have known.”

  “If you don’t mind,” I said, “we have work to do.”

  “Then quit goofing off and get to it!”

  “You talk like you’re the one that’s married now,” I said as I rubbed my chin. “When’s that going to happen anyway?”

  Jess gave me the finger and disappeared. Aric looked up, “I think you pissed her off.”

  “She’ll get over it. Now, hand me that bucket of blackjack.”

  Dalton cut the plywood and the two-by-four for the platform. While he and Aric worked on that, Thad climbed up onto the roof. I was using a scrap piece of wood to spread the black tar on the shingles where we would screw the platform down. The drums would sit on the roof over the porch, but we still didn’t want any leaks. Dalton passed the platform up and Thad and I secured it to the roof once the tar was all in place. Eventually, we would pipe it into the house. For now, we used a garden hose and connected the drums to a hose bib on the side of the house.

  “I’ll go get the water tank and we’ll get this thing filled,” Thad said. “It’s at Danny’s. I left it there with a hose running in it to fill it. Should be about full now.”

  “While you do that, we’ll get the barrels secured,” I replied.

  To give the barrels some support and to keep them from being blown off the roof if they got low and a wind kicked up, we used some additional two-by-fours to strap them down. I called down measurements to Dalton that he’d cut, and Aric would pass up. When I finished, there was a piece of lumber running up the outside of each barrel that was screwed into one running across the top. Just something to keep them from tipping off the roof.

  When I finished, I took off my hat and wiped my forehead with a bandanna. It was hot, and it wasn’t even noon yet. “It’s hot as balls up here,” I called down.

  “It ain’t just up there. It’s hot everywhere,” Dalton replied.

  “And only going to get worse,” Aric added.

  I looked up into the sky, then around the neighborhood. “You know, we should go swimming.”

  “Smashing idea!” Dalton
shouted back.

  “Yeah!” Aric replied. “Let’s go to one of the springs or something.”

  “Alexander isn’t that far away,” I said. “Last time we were there, there was only one person. And he’s not around anymore.”

  “What happened to him?” Dalton asked. I looked down with raised eyebrows and he got the idea. “Ah,” he replied with a knowing nod.

  Thad pulled up with the tanker in tow. As we were getting the hose up to the roof, we told him about the idea to go to the spring.

  “When you want to do that?” He asked.

  “Today!” I shouted.

  Thad laughed. “You think them women are going to be ready to do something like that today? With no notice?” He laughed again and said, “You better rethink that idea.”

  “He’s right,” Dalton said as he pulled the starter rope on the trash pump to push the water to the barrels.

  As we were discussing how the ladies were sure to put the squash on our idea, Sarge pulled up in his Hummer. Getting out, he walked over to the porch and looked around. After a minute, he shouted, “Morgan! We need to go to town.”

  “What for?”

  “We need to talk to Sheffield. I have an idea to get rid of those commies once and for all.”

  “What do you need me for?” I asked.

  He looked up at me and shook his head. “Because I said so!” Then he looked around and asked, “Where’s your rifle?”

  “At the house. I don’t need it here to put a water barrel on the roof.”

  He looked around the other guys and asked, “Where the hell are your rifles?”

  Dalton held up his AK. “Got mine, Top.”

  Aric looked at the house and said, “Mine’s in there.”

  Then he looked at Thad and asked, “What about you? You leave yours at home too?” Thad smiled and nodded slowly. The old man shook his head and started in on us. “What fucking good are they going to do you at home? When you need it, there ain’t no time to go get it! What the hell’s wrong with all of you? Is there some collective case of dumbass going on here all of a sudden?”

  “Calm down,” I said. “What the hell’s wrong with you this morning? Someone piss in your coffee?”

  “Calm down? You want me to calm down? Tell me this then, dickhole. What’s happened in the last couple of days to make things different? So that we don’t need to keep our rifles close?” He looked around, but no one said anything. “Did you forget what happened at the park?”

  That pissed me off. “No. Some of us helped dig the grave.”

  The old man pointed at me and shouted, “Did you enjoy it? Do you want to dig more?” When I didn’t answer, he continued. “If you don’t want to dig any more graves, then you assholes better get your shit wired tight! Now get your ass off that roof! We got to go to town.”

  I climbed down and walked over to the Hummer without saying anything to him. I climbed into the truck and waited. He spoke with the rest of the guys for a minute, then got in behind the wheel. Looking over, he asked, “You all butt-hurt now?”

  “Hardly,” I shot back.

  “Then stop moping like a fat kid that had his candy stolen.”

  “I’ll make you a deal. You shut the hell up and drive and I’ll stop moping,” I replied with as much sarcasm as I could muster.

  “No deal. I’m not going to shut up. We need to talk,” he replied as he started the truck and backed out of the driveway.

  Thad was looking at us and I waved at him. He smiled, shook his head and waved. Without looking over, I asked, “What the hell do you want to talk about?”

  As we bounced down the road under a cloudless sky, he said, “We’ve got to get rid of those fucking commies.”

  “That’s your job,” I replied with a snort.

  The old man looked over at me, total disgust on his face. Then he focused back on the road as we rounded the corner and headed towards Danny’s house. After a moment, he spoke. In a voice nearly devoid of inflection, he asked, “What in the hell’s gotten into everyone lately? Mikey is not acting like himself. All of you out this morning and not a damn gun among you.” He looked over and genuinely asked, “What the hell is going on?”

  Looking out the window, I replied, “We’re tired. The attack on the park was hard on everyone.”

  “So, what are you going to do? Sit down and wait to die? Hide under the covers and hope the monsters go away?”

  Finally, I looked over at him. “It’s just that every time we get a leg up, something happens to knock us down. It’s kinda depressing.”

  Sarge stopped the truck in the road. “But you can’t just give up. You know, in the Before, there were a lot of people that were always looking for someone else to handle their shit. Always waiting for the government to come take care of them. Those days are gone. You have to take care of your own shit now. All you have to rely on is yourself and your friends. And we’re lucky. We have an awesome group of folks here. Think about them and taking care of them, just as they are you.”

  “You really think you need to tell me that?”

  “No. But I do think from time to time you need to be reminded.”

  I thought about that for a minute. He was right, and I knew it. But it was also easy to want to forget it all for a while. “Well played,” was all I replied.

  Sarge smiled and said, “Glad to have you back, old buddy. Now, let’s go talk to Sheffield about getting rid of those commies.”

  “Stop by the house so I can get my kit.”

  The old man looked over and smiled, “Did you actually think I was going to take you to town like this?”

  We pulled into the yard to find Mel and the kids out front. They were all looking up into the trees. I got out and looked up, asking, “What’s going on?”

  Little Bit pointed up and said, “Something is making a ruckus up there.”

  I smiled and rubbed her head, asking, “A ruckus huh? Where did you learn that word?”

  Mel laughed and said, “I asked her the same thing.”

  Little Bit shrugged, “Listen to it. It’s making a ruckus.”

  There was a squeaking coming from somewhere in the tree. From over my shoulder, Sarge asked, “What’s this now?”

  Little Bit took his hand and said, “Something’s up there. Can you hear it?”

  Sarge smiled as he looked down at her and replied, “Sure can. What do you want to bet it’s a baby squirrel?”

  Little Bit’s face lit up, “Really? It’s a baby?” Then she and Edie held hands and jumped around shouting, “It’s a baby! It’s a baby.”

  Sarge pointed up into the tree and said, “There it is, right there.”

  I looked up and spotted the tiny gray form squirming around in a clump of leaves. Little Bit took a sharp breath and said, “Oh no, it’s going to fall!”

  We all watched as it wriggled around and did indeed fall. Mel and the kids all let out a squeal. Without thinking, I pulled my hat off, reached out and the little guy dropped right into it. There were cheers from everyone as I took him out of the hat. The poor little guy had ants all over him and I wiped them away and looked him over. His eyes were still closed, but he did have a coat of fine fur and looked good, other than the ants.

  “Can I hold him! I want to hold him!” Little Bit shouted.

  Handing her the tiny creature, I said, “Be careful.”

  Mel knelt down beside her said, “Gentle, be real gentle with it.”

  Edie and Jace gathered around to rub its head with a finger as they all giggled and squealed. Little Bit looked up at Mel and asked, “Can we keep it?”

  Mel scooped it up from her hand and held the little guy up in front of her face. “I don’t know what we’d feed it.”

  “That’s easy,” Sarge replied, “Baby formula. He won’t eat much, and we can spare enough for the little guy.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Mel replied. “I have an eyedropper I can feed him with.”

  “What are we going to name him?” Little B
it asked.

  “I think you already did,” Mel replied. Little Bit looked up confused and Mel said, “Ruckus! Why don’t we call him Ruckus?”

  The kids all laughed out loud and Little Bit danced around, “I love it! We have a baby squirrel named Ruckus!”

  “That’s a fine name for a limb rat,” Sarge replied with a smile.

  Mel took the little rodent into the house and the kids followed her. Sarge looked at me and said, “Hurry up and get your shit.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I replied as I headed into the house.

  Mel was in the kitchen with the kids. She’d found a box and was putting a couple of small towels in it for the baby limb rat. “Hey, babe, I’m going to town with Mr. Personality out there.”

  She looked up and smiled, “Alright.”

  “We won’t be long.”

  She held the squirrel up in front of her and in a babyish voice said, “Ok, we’re going to go find you some food.”

  I grabbed my gear up and dropped the vest on over my head as I headed out the door. Sarge was waiting in the truck when I climbed in and we headed down the road. Sarge slowed as we came to the bunker where a couple of Guard guys were on duty. We had six of them here and they were all good people. They seemed to genuinely enjoy being here as opposed to the armory.

  “What’s up?” I asked Chris Yates. He was a good guy to have around as he was a medic and took some of the pressure off Doc.

  “Just enjoying the sunshine.”

  I laughed, “You’re in the right place for it! Where’s Wallner?”

  “He’s goofing off somewhere. He has the night shift later.”

  I nodded. “Good deal. You guys need anything?”

  Chris shook his head, “No, we’re good here.”

  Sarge leaned forward and barked, “Good! Then get your ass back to work!”

  I rolled my eyes and Chris smiled, replying, “Roger that, Top!”

  As we rode towards town, I asked, “So what’s up? What are you thinking about doing with those commies?”

  Sarge glanced over before starting into it. “What happened at the park was just the opening salvo. The commies are going to try and drive a wedge into the community. To sow distrust and fear. That way, when they decide the time is right, they’ll step in as the saviors. This is the exact same shit we did in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, just pick a place.”