The McClane Apocalypse: Book Two (4 page)

“I think when John comes back, that us guys are going to go do a little turkey hunting if that’s all right with you, Herb,” Derek says as soon as the prayer is finished. Grams says it today and makes sure to ask God to watch over her “little angel” and John. Is she getting senile? Does she even know Reagan at all?

“Yes, Derek, I think that’s a very smart idea. We don’t want to butcher chickens that are laying and until we can get those replaced with new peeps then we’ll need meat in the freezer. In November, we’ll butcher that steer in the west pen, too. And we need to get the heifers over to the bull and get them bred if we’re going to have more calves,” Doc tells them.

“Yes, sir. When John gets back we’ll get all of that done. It’ll give me a couple of days to get the hay finished, and Cory can get that fence mended out where the bull is. Grams says that you saw where a tree was on the horse fence?” Derek asks.

“Yep, saw it through the binoculars this morning. Those high winds last night didn’t help with anything. Hope they died down by the time Reagan and John left this morning,” Doc answers.

“Me and Cory can cut that up right after the morning patrol,” Kelly volunteers. Patrols are the most important thing that happens each day on the farm. They are essential in keeping everyone safe, the farm secure and the outlying perimeter monitored.

“That’s ok, Kelly. Just go without me and I’ll stay. Me and Derek can get it done while Doc drives the tractor,” Cory offers, trying to do his best and help as much as he can around the farm. For a city kid, he surely has adjusted to farm life quickly.

“Uh, ok,” Kelly answers.

“Unless you think you might need help,” Derek ponders in between bites of eggs-over-easy, cooked in bacon grease- the best way known to man. They also have heaping piles of grits with butter, as usual, fried potatoes, sausage gravy and some kind of warm bread with raisins and apple pieces in it.

“Nope, he won’t need help! I’m going with him. I’ll watch his back,” Hannah quips and receives multiple sets of eyeballs staring at her, not that she’d know it. But Kelly does and he wonders what her grandfather thinks of him. Or what he thinks of him being alone with his granddaughter, his helpless one, out in the middle of the wilderness behind his farm.

“Oh, that will be so good for you, Hannah. You need some fresh air, honey. You’re always toiling away in that hot kitchen with me,” Grams answers.

Doc doesn’t say much but chews thoughtfully. He’s always quiet and contemplative, especially when it comes to his granddaughters, Kelly’s noticed. He’s interrogated terrorists in sleeper cells that were easier to interpret than the doc.

“Yeah, Hannah, it’ll be great for you to get some... fresh air. That’s really nice of you, Kelly,” Sue adds in for good measure as if he needs her bossy approval. Her eyes twinkle with merry orneriness.

“We’ll also need to butcher a hog this fall,” Doc starts back up without so much as missing a beat. If he has any reservations about Kelly taking his blind, vulnerable granddaughter with him for a two hour patrol ride this morning, he isn’t expressing them. Unless it is just something he doesn’t want to get into in front of the rest of the family.

“Do you know how to do that, Herb?” Derek asks.

“I’ve never done one myself but the Reynolds boys do know how. We’ll have them over and if they want, we’ll butcher two and give them one. I’ve got a feeling this winter will be difficult for them. We may need to help them out whenever possible and check on them from time to time,” Doc suggests.

“I agree. They seem like good people, and they’ve been through a lot,” Derek states and fills his glass with milk for the second time.

“Yes, they are good people, Derek,” Grams confirms it.

Kelly is more concerned that John will kick Chet Reynolds’s ass the next time he’s around him, or worse. From what he gleaned from his friend upon their return from the Reynolds farm the other day, John hadn’t been real keen on Chet Reynolds or his overly long looks at Reagan- not that his friend has any rightful claim on her, either.

“Em, how would you like to help me in the kitchen after breakfast since Hannah will be gone?” Grams asks his little sister.

He guesses that Mary McClane needs about as much help in her kitchen as General George Patton needed help running his Army. Kelly is more appreciative of this moment than any other since coming to the farm. With the exception of when he’d kissed Hannah, of course.

“Um, sure, Grams. I’d like to help. I’m not good at that kind of thing, though. I don’t know anything about cooking or kitchen helping,” Em answers honestly and fidgets in her chair nervously. Her hair is standing on end. Damn, he needs to take care of that before he goes outside. Her hair is a bit on the long side, and it is difficult for her to get it all brushed right or, perhaps, she just doesn’t care anymore. Maybe Cory had a point when he said that she needs to be around the women at the farm.

“Oh, well, it’s time for you to learn. Right, Sue?” she asks. Kelly can tell that she’s trying hard to engage everyone with Em.

“Yep. All of us girls at the farm learned the basics in kitchen skills. Well, all of us meaning me and Hannah, that is. Reagan never had the patience. Big shock, right? Sometimes she would bring gross things to the kitchen, though, and try to dissect them on the counter. But that’s not a story for the dinner table, I suppose,” Sue divulges, and everyone laughs and agrees with her about Reagan. Kelly can’t imagine Reagan standing still long enough to cook or eat something.

“I’d like to help out, ma’am,” Em tells Grams shyly. If anyone on this farm can help with Em, it will be Grams. She’s just good at getting people to talk and feel welcome. She’d certainly done so with Cory, John and himself.

“Good, it’s settled then,” Grams tells her. “And, Sue, you can take Justin and Arianna to the garden to pick corn and tomatoes. I think we’ve still got a few rows of cucumbers and peppers still blooming so we might get them put up, too.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sue echoes Em with a smile but also shows her respect for her grandmother at the same time.

“When I get back I can help, too. I want to get that basil picked and hung in the barn to dry,” Hannah chirps up beside him.

She hasn’t braided her pale blonde hair yet today, and it hangs long and loose, concealing most of her soft facial features from him. When it’s loose like this, he can see that it reaches nearly to her waist in her shapeless, potato sack style dress that he hates. Why couldn’t another woman in the family have picked out her clothing for her instead of Grams, who he’d found out did it all through a mail-order catalog? What the hell was the catalog anyways- “Nuns Are Us”? Kelly’s pretty sure this wasn’t an accident- this choosing of dowdy, old-fashioned clothing for her gorgeous granddaughter.

“It smells sooo good in the barn with all the lovely herbs drying in there,” she says in her ridiculously cheerful voice.

She sounds and acts like a fanciful cartoon character from one of Em’s old Disney movies with princesses who sing to animals and some such nonsense. Hannah McClane isn’t about to allow the modern apocalypse ruin her day. She is ridiculous. Unfortunately, she is also fascinating, beautiful and smells heavenly. She’s also almost nine years his junior.

“Yes, it does, Hannah, and I know you and Maryanne will make good use of them this winter. My girls are the best cooks in the state,” Doc praises to which everyone, especially the men, heartily agrees.

She turns to face her grandfather, flashing him a brilliant smile, revealing a slightly crooked third tooth on her top row of teeth that Kelly has never noticed before. Hideous. Well, not actually, but he thought he’d give it a try to make himself dislike her in some small way. That is turning out to be an impossible task because he’s been trying for the past few weeks. Even her crooked tooth is cute. Damn. He has to get her out of his head, and his brilliant plan to take her riding this morning isn’t gonna help with that, either.

“All right, kiddos, let’s get this cleaned up,” Sue remarks as the meal concludes. Kelly stands abruptly, almost knocking over his chair, wanting to get out of there.

“I’ll come down to the barn in an hour, Kelly,” Hannah calls to him as she realizes he’s grabbed up his place setting and is leaving the room.

“No,” he snaps, and everyone stops what they’re doing to look at him, including her grandfather. “I... I’ll come back to the house to get you. I don’t want you to fall and get hurt.”

Everyone immediately goes back to clearing the table, ignoring Hannah and him, and resumes picking up their own dishes. That is, everyone except for Sue who is smiling like she knows something everyone else doesn’t. He’d like to choke her sometimes. Kelly decides against it for the sake of future relations with her family and stalks off to get his boots back on and go to the cow barn to work, but not before he grabs his rifle by the back door first. None of the men go anywhere on the farm without weapons. They all carry on their hip and also usually a rifle with a sling or a shotgun. Even Cory carries a sidearm and sometimes one of Doc’s Mini 14’s. Kelly and John had taken Cory to the back of the farm, far from the possibility of anyone near any of the roads hearing them and shot at a few targets. It became quickly apparent that his brother’s shooting skills were up to par. Next, Kelly will practice with Em while Derek has plans on taking Justin with him soon. It’s irrelevant that they are five, seven, twelve and seventeen. No kid is too young to learn how to shoot, not anymore. They will also be schooled on the proper cleaning of their weapon and eventually how to field strip and/or make repairs to them.

Once he’s back in the barn Kelly can rationalize why the hell he’d agreed to take Hannah with him on his morning patrol ride. Naturally the only thing he can come up with is the fact that he lusts after her nearly every second of the day and for hours on end every night. He shovels manure with a vengeance as if that will take his mind off of Hannah, but of course it doesn’t. He is screwed. There is no way she is letting him out of this, and he only has his own dumb ass to blame.

Chapter Three

John

This is the most grueling trail ride he’s ever taken with her. It is literally up one hill and down the next, and his hind end is killing him. The few miles they normally ride around the farm is nothing compared to this trail ride from Hell. If he never rides another horse the rest of his life, it’ll be too soon. His petite riding companion, however, doesn’t seem to notice or even appear too uncomfortable. Of course she is the toughest woman he’s ever known, so that probably helps. Also, she doesn’t like to seem weak, especially around him, even though he’d like nothing better than to cherish and protect her.

John urges his mare in beside her as they crest the top of a deep ravine. They have managed to stay ahead of the storm, but the rumbling of thunder seems to be gaining on them.

“By my estimation we should still have at least three or so hours to go,” John tells her as they cross a meadow that is littered with the landscaping of oil well pipelines that sprout up out of the ground like the white tentacles of some deep sea serpent, except these are heavy duty steel.

“Yeah, maybe two hours if we can push on faster,” she says, ever the hyper spaz. She’d probably like to run at a full tilt gallop the rest of the way. Moving slowly is not something she seems to excel at.

“Need something to drink?” he asks as he digs around in the sack attached to the back of his saddle for a bottle of water that is actually just spring water from the farm that they’ve filled the bottles with. It’s ok with him because the spring water at the farm has a sweetness to it that he’s come to like. Doc had taken Kelly, Derek and him out to inspect the different spring water sources on the farm last week and had explained how they need to make sure that there are little lizards roaming around the springs to keep them clean and purified. It seemed repugnant at first, but he’s come to understand the importance of them and also the water-borne illnesses that a person can contract from contaminated water sources.

“No,” she replies simply. She’s also not much of a talker unless you get her started on something that has to do with medicine like a gory surgical procedure or something.

“What are you, a camel?” he teases because he’s not sure she’s drunk anything but the travel mug of hot tea she brought with her first thing this morning. That was many hours ago. She needs to stay hydrated. It was something he learned in the Army. The body can do some pretty nasty things to itself if it isn’t properly hydrated. Being a brainiac young doctor she should also know this. They’d stopped twice to use the non-existent restroom facilities of the forest to which she’d threatened to cut off his dick if he came anywhere near where she was relieving herself. He’d ardently believed her because of the dagger on her hip and had not strayed from his assigned area, an area that
she’d
assigned him, of course. They’d eaten muffins with some kind of fruit in them earlier this morning and had each had a sandwich on homemade rolls which were heavenly. Everything the women on the farm cook is wonderful.

“What are you, a jackass?” she remarks in her usual sassy tone. He’d like to snatch her from her saddle and kiss her senseless, but he’s also not wanting shot by that .45 on her thigh.

“Nice. I ask you if you need a drink because I’m concerned about you and you call me a jackass,” John tells her, hoping for a little guilt. He’s not stupid, though. He’s fairly sure he’s not going to get any. When he glances her way he just gets a nonchalant shrug in response.

They ride a short distance before she speaks again. “Are... are you worried about everyone back at the farm?”

It’s rare for her to talk about anything to do with feelings, so John figures he’d better pounce on the opportunity. It could possibly lead to talking about her feelings for him, but he highly doubts it. He’s also not sure he wants to hear any of her opinions of him, either.

“Nah, don’t worry about them,” he explains. “Derek and Kelly will look out for the farm. Plus, Cory seems to be able to handle a rifle fairly well.”