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

wind or carried in by both man and beast littered the once tidy entry. I pushed the door open fully, the hinges squeaking audibly as I did.

The house was dark and dank. Unlike Mandy’s house with its numerous windows, there were few openings for natural light. I clicked on my flashlight and used it to guide my way into the house. Here too was more evidence of people, many people, having been through the house. I bypassed the living room and went straight to the kitchen. This was Edith’s space.

The cabinet doors hung open or were broken off altogether. The oven door hung open slightly and something there caught my eye. A dish towel hung from the handle. I stepped over to it and touched it. It was stiff and rough. I thought for a moment about taking it. I could clearly see Edith swatting James with it. But I decided to leave it where it was, as a testament to the sweet old woman. Though no one would know it but me.

I did a quick inspection of the rest of the house, relieved when I found no bodies. “I want to go out and see if James’s tractor is still here.” I said as I went out the backdoor.

Here, the yard was like the front. Overgrown and weed-choked. I could see into the little shop behind the house and the tractor was not there. For some reason, it made me feel better. Thinking there was no way James would leave it behind and wherever it was, he must be as well. A naïve idea of course, but it made me feel better. I decided I would remember them as I knew them and not allow my mind to go to that dark place.

“We better get back before that old geezer out there loses his shit,” Dalton said.

I nodded, and we started back around the house. “I prefer to think they’re alright wherever they are.”

Dalton stoically replied, “Better that way.”

Sarge was holding court out on the road. Doc came towards us as we approached, asking, “Everything all right?”

“Yeah. I just wanted to see if these folks were still here. I stayed here when I was walking home. They were really nice people.”

Doc looked past us to the house and asked, “You want me to go and see if I can find anything?”

I shook my head. “No. I’d prefer to think they moved on and not that they were left to rot in that house.”

Doc stared at the house for a minute before replying. “They probably did move on.”

I gripped Doc’s shoulder and nodded, “That’s what I thought too.”

“You see everything you needed too?” Sarge asked. I nodded, and he added, “Good. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get the hell out of this rain and on to the house.”

I smiled, “I’m ready. You know, just this side of Perry is the rest area where I ran into Jess.”

“Do you need to stop there and take a stroll down memory lane too?” Sarge asked.

I laughed and replied, “We can go as long as your old-ass prostate can hold out.”

“Get your ass in that truck,” Sarge snorted as he turned to go to the Hummer.

Slipping the truck into gear, I pulled out behind the old man. We continued towards Perry and it wasn’t long before I saw the rest area. I thought it looked like shit back then, but damn. It was a real mess now. But there were no people. Seeing it again brought a smile to my face. I could see Jess standing there with that look of desperation. I could only imagine what would’ve happened to her had I not relented and let her go with me. Even if she was an annoying little shit at that point.

The roadblock into Perry was still there, though it was no longer manned and appeared it hadn’t been for a very long time. We had to stop and wait for Mike to drive around us and push some of the cars out of the way with the Stryker. Something he did with way too much enthusiasm.

“Knock that damn caterwauling off!” Sarge shouted into the radio.

“Sorry, boss!” Mike called back. “But this is the most fun I’ve ever had with my clothes on!”

“That’s enough, shithead!” Sarge called back. “Morgan could drive that truck through there sideways!”

Mike did as instructed, kind of. In his own way, he stopped. When the Stryker stopped moving, it was sitting on top of a Honda Accord. Mike came back over the radio, laughing, “Stopped, boss!” The howls of laughter from him, Ted and even Doc, I think, were clearly heard. I could just see Sarge’s head hanging as he asked, why me, Lord?

Mike’s handy work had drawn a few people out to see what all the noise was. They stood in the rain taking in the show. As I rolled past them, I waved and a young woman under a broken umbrella smiled and waved back. We didn’t see anyone else as we passed through. But Perry looked as though it were inhabited. The Walmart parking lot still had the remnants of the relief efforts from back then. The big military tents were still there, a couple of them. Conex containers sat with their doors open, rusting in the rain.

In rapid succession, we passed the spot on the side of the road where Thad was camped when we came across him. The little lake where Thad had his snake encounter, which brought a smile to my face. And then the little patch of woods that led to the unfortunate encounter where Jess nearly shot my head off. It was a stark reminder of just how long it took me to walk this far. Days and days on the road. And this wasn’t even half way yet. There were so many days yet to come when I had made it this far. And yet, here we were in mere hours.

As we passed through Cross City, I picked