The McClane Apocalypse Book 4 (16 page)

“Really?”
“Yeah, sure. Samantha and Huntley are orphans like me, too. The
McClane family is really cool, sis.”

“It’s just so weird,” she
remarks.

“Why is that?”

“Because it’s just a lot different out
there than it is here,” she admits. “People are mostly afraid of
each other and weren’t exactly helpful. We had a lot of problems
with bad people.”

“We’ve had our own problems with them,
too,” he says.

“Yeah?”

Simon nods solemnly and just gives her
hand a gentle squeeze.

“Some of the people we had problems
with were Aunt Amber and her friends,” Simon laments.

“Seriously?” she asks. “Didn’t she
bring you here?”

“Yeah, she brought me here. Thank
God,” Simon tells her. “But those men and the other women who were
with us were…”

He shudders and can’t stop the bad
memories of that band of wretched people from entering his
thoughts.

“What happened?” she
presses.

Simon first looks to make
sure they are still alone before continuing, “They were bad, Paige.
I mean
really
bad
. They abused women, abused the little
kids with us, killed innocent people to steal from
them.”

“Oh my God, Simon,” his
sister says and lays a hand
on
his shoulder.

“Amber was a part of it,
too,” he says and has a hard time meeting her eyes. “They had a
plan to come here and take over this farm. Doc McClane’s wife,
Grams to everyone here on this farm, her brother was a part of it.
They were going to kill all the men and take over the farm. I think
that’s what they planned. I never heard it discussed, but the
McClane family let them stay here. Then that group eventually
staged a coup and tried to kill them. It all worked out for the
best, though. Nobody was killed. I mean, nobody in the McClane
family was killed. They asked us to stay here no questions,
no
strings
attached. They wanted to help us.”

“That’s horrible,” she
says.

“Yeah, no kidding.
Grams’s
brother,
Peter, was how we found this place. He was as evil as them. That’s
how that girl with the dark hair, Samantha, came here, too. She was
with our group, sort of.
As
I said, they were really horrible, disgusting
people.”

“What happened?” she inquires
hesitantly.

“The Rangers- that’s John and Kelly
and Derek- they killed them all. Well, they let three of the
harmless ones go. Cory killed Aunt Amber. You know, Kelly’s brother
that isn’t here?”

She nods with understanding and
squeezes his hand.

“He’s my best friend,” he explains and
has to hold it together over the absence of his friend.

“Amber was going to stab Kelly, so
Cory shot her,” he says. “He’s like that, sis. He’s so protective
of everyone on the farm. You’d like him.”

“Where is he?” she asks.

Simon can’t answer, so he shakes his
head instead. Paige just nods again.

“And our cousin, Bobby, was killed,
too,” Simon says and her head snaps up.

“That’s actually not
surprising,” she says and raises her fair eyebrows in jest. “He was
always one step away from prison or being killed by someone. One of
my friends at my high school graduation party told me that he tried
to sell her cocaine. He was always a loser.
Ran
in the family. That’s why Dad
never wanted us around them.”

“Yeah, not surprising at all I guess,”
Simon agrees. He doesn’t get further into explaining Bobby and what
role he had in destroying Sam’s life or his own pathetic inability
to stop it.

“Everything’s so different
now,” Paige despairs.

“I know,” he says and pulls her close
by her thin shoulders and holds tight. “We can talk later tonight
when everyone goes to bed.”

“Is there an extra room for the four
of us? We can just share one room. It’s what we’re used
to.”

Simon chuckles.
“
Not only
is there an extra room, there are quite a few. Some of them
have bunk beds, too. But I sleep out in a cabin. It’s where Cory
and I stay. Kelly and Hannah and their little girl sleep here in
the big house, down the hallway off of the kitchen. That’s what we
call it, the big house. Doc sleeps here, of course. Reagan and her
husband John also live here up on the third floor
of
the attic. They
have a little boy, an orphan. His name’s Jacob. He’s a lot like
Maddie. He doesn’t even know they aren’t his real parents. Heck, I
guess there are a
lot
of people here that you’ll have to get to know.
Sue and Derek and their three kids live in the other cabin out in
the woods that we all built. There’s plenty of room here for you
guys.”

“Can I stay with you and this Cory
kid? Is there room?” she asks politely.

“Of course, but you might
want to stay in the main house for a while. It’s a lot nicer than
the cabin,” Simon says and tries not to flinch at the mention of
his best friend’s name. “Cory’s not here anyways. I’ll tell you
later about that, too. Stay in the big house for a few days. I
might be out in the barn for the next twenty-four hours because we
have a
mare
getting ready to give birth. Plus I don’t have a shower out at
the cabin.”

Her brother chuckles. Paige
nods.

“You’re gonna help a horse have a
baby?” she asks with raised eyebrows.

“There’s a lot we need to talk about,”
Simon adds.

Dinner is
called
and they
all manage to crowd into the dining room but have opted for the
children to eat at the island in the kitchen and on the furniture
in the music
room
. Doc leads off with a prayer, and
Simon notices that Paige’s group grasps hands and bow their heads.
He suspects they are even more thankful on this evening than any
other in a long time.

“This is amazing,” Gavin comments as
he helps himself to beef stew.

“No kidding,” Talia remarks as she
takes a biscuit.

Everyone serves themselves as
conversations ebb and flow around them. Talk turns like it normally
does to what needs done on the farm.

“There’s a tree on the patrol path,”
Sam mentions.

“On it,” John says
determinedly.

His wife smiles at him. He leans over
and kisses her forehead and sweeps a loose tendril of curls behind
her ear.

“I can help,” Reagan says.

This gets a chuckle from her husband.
“You can watch, half pint. But I’ll get it.”

Reagan gives him an impudent frown,
but it’s really more of a grin.

“I’ll help,” Simon offers.

“Nah, hang out with your sister,
Simon,” John counters. “You two have a lot of catching up to
do.”

“I’ll help you, sir,” Gavin chirps
up.

This is a good thing to
hear. He’s offering to help with something
already,
and he’s only been on the
farm a few hours. The visitors’ group with whom Simon had been
traveling when he’d first
arrived
on the McClane farm had never
offered to help with anything. As a matter of fact, they’d
insisted
that he
and Sam and the
ten-year-old
twins do all of the work. Simon notices that Kelly
and John nod to one another in accord.

“Great,” John says. “We’ll do it after
dinner.”

“Good. Thank you for the
assistance, Gavin. That is much appreciated,” Doc says
cordially
as he
passes the soup tureen to Sam.

She always sits right beside Simon and
does tonight. She’s still wearing her slim, khaki-colored riding
pants and a bulky green sweater. Her long black hair is pulled back
in a ponytail. Tonight his sister sits on his other side since
Cory’s gone.

“We’ll get the chores done
tonight after dinner since we’re eating earlier than
normal
,” Kelly
says as he hands the basket of biscuits to Hannah, placing it
gently into her hands.

“Momma,” little Maddie says from her
position on Talia’s lap as she tugs at Paige’s sweater.

“Yes, honey-bear?” Paige asks the tiny
girl next to her.

“What’s this?” she questions with avid
curiosity and holds up a biscuit.

“It’s… it’s a biscuit,
honey-bear,” Paige answers brokenly and inhales sharply. “You’ve
just never had one before. Eat it. It’s
…
good.”

Simon catches the look on
his sister’s face before she hangs her head. Her expression is one
of quiet dignity and gratitude on a level that most people could
never understand. Her shoulders
shake,
and she covers her face with her
hands as she weeps softly. Simon immediately turns her where Paige
sags weakly against him and buries her face in his
chest.

“It’s ok, sis,” he comforts
her. “You don’t ever have to be alone again. I’m
here
and I’m not
going anywhere and you’re safe. You’ll never be hungry again, not
while I’m still around.”

The rest of the family is
silent. A pin could be heard dropping. He glances around, while
still comforting his sister, and sees that Sue and Hannah have both
teared up, as well. Reagan hasn’t, but John has put his arm around
her for support. They give him space to help his sister. Her
friends have also stopped eating. Gavin is comforting Talia in a
similar manner. They have been through so much to get here. A plain
biscuit has shed light on the depth of their struggle. Her reaction
to this simple food item has allowed the McClane family to be privy
to their
arduous
journey.

“Simon’s right, Paige,” Sam finally
says with her usual kindness. “We all take care of each other.
You’ll be safe here.”

Simon knows that she is
likely remembering her own violent past and cruelty at the hands of
the motley crew who’d
kidnapped
her. The same crew with whom
Simon had hitched a ride.

Paige straightens again and
nods.

“Sorry,” she says on a
sniffle.

Simon hands her a handkerchief which
she gladly takes.

“Nothing to be sorry about, young
lady,” Doc says soothingly. “You’ve been through an ordeal like
none of us has experienced. But Simon and Samantha are correct.
You’ll be safe here. You don’t need to worry anymore.”

They resume their meal without
bringing up her breakdown. Simon’s grateful and he’s sure that his
sister is, as well. He notices that she doesn’t eat much, but it’s
probably not a bad idea regardless. Her stomach is unused to such
heavy, hearty foods. Gavin, however, doesn’t need much
encouragement to help himself to seconds of the beef stew. The meal
wraps up and Talia volunteers to help with the dishes and clean-up
while Simon takes Paige on a tour of the farm.

The women have loaned Paige
and Talia clothing and hats and coats while their old articles are
being
laundered,
if they are even salvageable. She pulls on a dark
navy blue wool jacket and a scarf and gloves. Gavin and John are
pulling
on their outdoor clothing
and shoes
to go out and cut up that
tree.

“We can do this tomorrow if you’re
tired and just want to rest,” Simon proposes as they walk across
the back lawn.

“No, I’m
fine
. It’s good to
get out. That house was kind of hot. I’m not used to that much
heat,” she tells him.

“Oh yeah. I guess that
would feel hot. Last week the gas gelled up, so we’re using
firewood. The gas isn’t always too reliable anymore, so we’re
always chopping
firewood
. And yeah, it gets pretty warm
in there. My cabin’s toasty warm, too. Cory and I have a small
wood-burning stove out there,” he adds.

“Not like Arizona. I miss the warm
weather,” she recalls sadly.

“Yeah, this was hard to get used to at
first. Doc wonders if the warm weather out west and down south is
still as warm as it used to be or if it changed,” he
says.

“I can tell you that the weather in
Georgia and the Carolinas is still the same,” she informs
him.

“That’s good,” he says. “That means
that the nukes haven’t disturbed our atmosphere here in the
states.”

“How do you guys have
electricity? I haven’t seen that in a while. A few homes here and
there have it, but if you try to approach them
….
well, you just don’t try to
approach them if you know what I mean,” she says.

“Solar power, so we always have to be
really careful when there’s not much sun for days on end in the
winter,” he tells her. “What about the disaster centers and the
military bases? Didn’t they have it?”