EMP Catastrophe by Hamilton, Grace (best ebook reader for pc .txt) 📕

“Why not?” David asked, his face flushed with a mixture of confusion and irritation. “What do we have to lose?”

“Everything!” Matthew hissed. “Don’t you see? This could be Samuel trying to set us up. He’s a local. We’re nothing but strangers in this place who only have each other. Samuel could’ve enlisted some of his friends and be lying in wait for us. Dividing us. This is nothing but a trap. We don’t have any friends out there. No one is on our side, Dad.”

David shook his head. “Matt, I’ve always wanted you to learn to be cautious, but I didn’t think the lesson would make you so paranoid.”

“I’m not paranoid,” Matthew said and heard the thunder of anger in his tone. “You said that about Kathleen, too. Look.” He scrunched the letter into a wad of crumpled paper in his hands. “She was right. I doubted her because you couldn’t see anything beyond what you wanted to see. This isn’t like the Army, Dad. We aren’t going to make allies. People don’t want to willingly help us.”

David’s face hardened and Matthew knew his words had struck like arrows. “Even you can’t deny that we need supplies.” David’s voice was flat.

“Yes, you’re right on that point. Is that what you want to hear? We need food, but I won’t risk my family on someone who doesn’t even have the decency to sign their own name. Carpenter Country? What does that even mean? It all sounds like a sure way to get us killed or make us homeless. I’m putting my family first. This stays and dies here.” He threw the note on the ground.

David looked at it mournfully.

“This stays between us,” Matthew continued. “I don’t want anyone to know about it. Not Mom. Not Kathleen. Especially not Jade. No one needs to be alarmed. I don’t want anyone getting ideas about trading or, worse, getting spooked and starting to believe we’ll be attacked. If this Carpenter Country wants to trade with us, they can come to our front door and ask. Not by sending us a creepy, unsigned letter, tied to a rock, demanding we come to them.”

David shook his head. “Matthew, this is a mistake.”

Matthew turned away from him “Not a word. Especially to Kathleen. Leave it alone.”

“And what if she asks?” David asked hotly. “Your wife isn’t an invalid. She deserves to know. So does your mother. We’re supposed to not keep secrets from each other. Especially about something like this that affects the well-being of everyone.”

“I don’t care. We’ll say that we didn’t see anything or that whoever must’ve been out here tucked tail and fled before we caught sight of them. Blame me if you have to, but don’t mention anything else.”

“Matthew—”

“Dad, I said leave it.” Matthew spun on his heel and began to walk toward the hotel. He hated sounding so sharp with his father, but David needed to see that the uncertainties outweighed the potential gains. Nothing good could come of this.

He kept telling himself that all the way back to the hotel. It didn’t alleviate the dread knotting his insides.

16

Kathleen clutched the railing of the porch as she watched Matthew and David rush out toward the property line. Her heart had gotten tangled in her throat, and she could feel it pounding against her neck. She’d been so foolish. She should have been outside with them, not sulking in her room, marinating in her shame and hopelessness. She should have been the one pushing Allison and Patton behind her and standing as a barrier between her children and danger. As much as she disliked Jade, the young woman had done what Kathleen hadn’t been able to do. Protect.

Ruth and Jade turned back toward the house slowly, as if moving through molasses. Ruth tugged on Patton’s arm to break his gaze on his father. Jade lingered next to Allison, waiting for her to follow. Kathleen tore her gaze away and searched the edge of the property for another glimpse of the shadowy figure, but she felt in her gut that whoever she’d seen had most likely escaped into the woods. No one would stick around after hearing so many gunshots.

Ruth and Patton climbed the porch steps. Kathleen’s mouth went dry as she continued to stare at Jade. Jade acted like a pillar for Allison, something steady and patient that waited for the teenage girl to lean on when she was ready.

Kathleen hated to admit it, but Jade was the better woman. They’d both lived through…defending themselves against unsavory types. While Jade was out here, digging trenches and educating the Rileys on self-defense, Kathleen had holed herself up in her room and tried not to let her anger lash out at everyone. She’d been unsuccessful so far at that too. She couldn’t bring herself to open up to Matthew. Just thinking about it made any forming words harden inside her like concrete blocks. Little things set her off, and she constantly felt as though everyone was judging her. That they saw through the flimsy protective layer she’d drawn over herself, and decided that down to her core, she was just another ugly person here at the end of the world.

Not Jade, though. Jade had faced her fears.

Kathleen wished she could feel respect for her, but instead, she only felt a despondent jealousy inside her.

But now that Jade had put herself between a perceived threat and Kathleen’s family…well, jealousy could only extend so far. And Kathleen had enough self-respect to give thanks where it was due.

Ruth eyed Kathleen as she guided Patton into the hotel. She glanced back with a knowing look on her face and said softly to Kathleen, “Make nice.” She disappeared inside the hotel.

Jade had finally gotten Allison to break away from her spot on the lawn. Together they walked up on the porch. Allison kept her head down as she stepped inside, but Jade eyed Kathleen warily, as if she expected Kathleen to bite her head off.

Which…wasn’t an