Conflicted Home (The Survivalist Book 9) by A American (learn to read books TXT) 📕

your shit together. We’ll be back in a little while.”

As I opened the door, before the truck even stopped, I replied, “I’ll be ready.”

I pulled my poncho off on the porch before going in. No sense in making a mess inside. Mel was lying on the couch. Little Bit was on the floor with paints spread out in front of her and papers scattered around her. Taylor and Lee Ann were on the floor in front of the fireplace watching a movie on the iPad. They were sharing a set of earbuds, each having one stuck in an ear.

I leaned over the back of the couch and kissed Mel on the head. “I have to go pack. They’ll be ready to go soon.”

She scrunched into the pillow she was lying on and replied, “I already packed you a bag. It’s on the bed.”

I looked into the bedroom to see my bag sitting at the foot of the bed. “Thanks. Then I can just chill out with you guys for a little while.”

“Where you going?” Little Bit asked.

“To see some Army people.”

“How long you going to be gone?”

I got down on the floor beside her. “Not long. What’cha painting?”

“A school. That’s the teacher and that’s the blackboard.”

“It’s a nice-looking school.” I looked at her and asked, “You miss school?”

She shrugged. “A little, I guess. I miss my friends. I miss having kids to play with.”

I roughed her hair. “You will again, someday.”

“Hey!” She shouted as she patted her hair back down.

I sat up and leaned against the couch. Mel put her arm around me and I rested my head on it. I fell asleep there and woke up when I heard a horn. Little Bit was patting my leg saying, “Daddy. Mister Sarge is here.”

I smiled at her and pulled her into my lap. “I guess I have to go.” I hugged her tight. “I love you.”

She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed as tight as she could, grunting as she strained. “I love you too!”

“Aahg, you’re going to pop my head off!” I cried. She laughed and I tickled her. “Be good for mommy.”

“I will,” she replied and kissed me on the cheek.

I crawled over to the girls and lay in front of them, putting my hand on the iPad. When they looked up, I said, “See you two later.”

“Can we come?” Lee Ann asked.

“No. You’re going to have to help out here.”

“We never get to do anything fun,” Taylor replied.

“Be good for mom and help out.”

“We will,” Lee Ann replied.

Mel was waiting by the door with my bag. She handed it to me and said, “Get back home in one piece.”

I kissed her and replied, “I will. Promise.”

“I put a bunch of that jerky in there for you.”

I leaned in and hugged her, giving her another kiss. “Thanks, babe.”

Chapter 4

Sarge was standing on the porch when I came out. “I was about to knock on the door.”

“I was coming. Calm down.”

He pointed to the Hummer and said, “You drive.”

Grunting, I replied, “What happened to sleep on the way?”

“Improvise, adapt, overcome.”

“What? You a Marine now?”

As I got in on the driver’s side, he replied, “Question my heritage like that again and this’ll get ugly.”

Dalton was sitting in the back seat and in his famous cockney accent, shouted, “Top of the mornin’ to ya guvna!”

I looked over my shoulder at him and asked, “What the hell are you so chipper about?”

“Just glad to be alive.”

I asked Sarge, “Which way are we going?”

“Let’s try and take I-75. It’ll be a lot faster; and with this weather, maybe it’ll keep the slow thinking types from trying anything.”

“That just means any we do come up against are committed to their endeavors,” Dalton added.

Sarge pointed and I put the truck in gear and pulled out as he replied, “We’ll just have to show them the flaw in their logic then.”

As we passed the bunker, I saw it was manned by the Guardsmen we had picked up yesterday. At least here they had a tarp to get under out of the rain. They waved as we passed and it made me wonder if they were unhappy at not getting to go, or relieved they got to stay behind. Or if they even knew what we were up to for that matter.

“You tell those guys what we’re doing?” I asked.

Sarge shook his head. “Nope. They don’t need to know.”

I drove down 19 and hung a right onto 42. It was a straight shot to highway 441 in Summerfield. Just like 19 that we drove often, this one was clogged with debris. Nothing the trucks couldn’t handle, but the absence of traffic and maintenance was obvious. Tree debris littered the road. Piles of leaves, twigs, sticks and some large limbs were everywhere. Dirt was also piled in places where it had been washed in by the rains. This was magnified by the rain we were currently experiencing, as rivers of water ran along the sides and crossed anywhere the pitch of the road changed.

But it was an easy drive and I wasn’t particularly worried about being waylaid. The rain, this volume of rain anyway, would surely keep people inside. It’d rained all night and only the most dedicated would be watching the roads. And it wouldn’t be particularly profitable for them either as their potential victims would also be seeking shelter. So, I relaxed and settled into the drive. The fact the Hummer was up-armored certainly helped.

We made it to Summerfield without seeing anyone on the road. I spotted a couple of faces watching us from porches as we passed by, but that was the entire sum of people, and they made no effort at action of any sort. It was an odd sensation to turn out onto highway 441 with no traffic. It was a major artery and had always been busy. But today, it was empty, save the abandoned cars lining the sides of the road.

“Wonder who pushed