Home Coming (The Survivalist Book 10) by A. American (ebook reader .TXT) 📕

of the DVDs we had. It had been part of our preps, to buy lots of movies as a distraction should this very thing we’re living through happen. And now, with a working player, we were watching movies.

It’s funny the sort of thing you want to watch when you’ve been living such a different life than what you were used to. The first movie we watched was The Wizard of Oz. We moved on from there to Super Troopers when Little Bit was in bed. Comedies are what everyone wanted to see, and Caddy Shack was on deck.

Hearing the laughter from Mel and the girls was like music. Sure, there was the occasional reason to laugh. But having everyone in the room all laughing hysterically was amazing. And we kept it going until late into the night. Little Bit fell asleep, as did Taylor. Once they were asleep, Lee Ann said she wanted to watch something else. I tossed her the remote to the player and told her she could watch whatever she wanted as I was going to bed.

I picked Little Bit up and carried her to her bed and Mel woke Taylor up and got her headed to bed as well. Once we were in bed, Mel asked how long I really thought it would take to go to Mom and Dad’s.

“Looking at the map, it appears to be about twenty river miles. I figure it’ll take five or six hours to cover that distance, depending on what the river is like. It could happen quicker, but I’m planning on there being problems.”

“What kind of problems?”

“The river being blocked and having to stop and chainsaw out blowdowns, that sort of thing. I’m sure there will be people on the river. Hopefully they’re just trying to scratch out a living and won’t be interested in us. But if they’re looking for a fight, we’ll have plenty of shit with us for that too.”

“Danny is going with you?”

“Yeah, him and the old man. I wanted to spend some time with Danny and I think Sarge just wants to go on a Hobbit adventure. Can’t say I blame him.”

Mel rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling. “I think it’s good to get Danny out. He’s been really withdrawn lately. You two spending some time together, away, will be good for him.”

“That’s what I was thinking. I could use a little break too.”

“What are you going to do if they’re not there?”

I thought about that for a minute. It’s something I’d considered as a worst case. “I don’t know. I don’t where they would go. I just hope they’re still at the house. I want to bring them here.”

“It would be good to have them around. I know the girls would like it.”

“And I can stop worrying about them.”

Mel reached out and squeezed my arm. “Get some sleep. You have to get up early and you have a few long days ahead of you.”

“What are you guys going to do while I’m gone?”

“The girls and I are going to keep an eye on the kids for Danny. And I’m going to try and ride on the patrols to town. I think we really need to do more of that. Get out there where people can see us, so they know we’re around.”

I patted her thigh. “I’m really glad to hear you’re getting more involved in this.”

“You’re not worried about me and the girls going out and doing patrols?”

I laughed. “No. I think you gals can handle yourselves. I know Lee Ann can.”

“I’ll probably spend some time with Janet too. I like her. Not having Bobbie to talk to has been rough and Janet kind of fills that void. She’s easy to talk to and we have a lot in common.”

“That’s great. I think you should talk to Erin too, Travis’s wife. She’s a nurse and they seemed like a great couple. I really liked Travis. He seems to be one of those guys that can do anything.”

“Like Dalton,” Mel replied.

With a chuckle, I replied, “Yeah, like Dalton. But not nearly as dangerous. Which reminds me. On your patrols, take him with you. Not that I don’t think you can do it, but he’s been doing it longer and he’s wicked good at it. Remember what we said, you want the deck stacked in your favor. And Dalton is an entire deck of aces.”

“If he’ll listen to me, I’ll take him along.”

“Just tell him you’re going. He’ll go along. I’d feel better about it.”

Mel leaned over and kissed my cheek, “Get some sleep and make sure you get your ass back home to us. We need you.”

“And I need you guys. Love you, babe.”

“Love you too, goodnight.”

I was up long before sunrise navigating the house by the glow of a red headlamp. I didn’t want to wake anyone up, so I moved quietly. Since I already had everything packed, the only thing I really needed to add was my thermos of tea. After filling it, I grabbed the gear by the door and slung it over my shoulder before gently closing it.

I was walking up the driveway when I saw another light heading my way. It was Danny, wearing a headlamp. I waited for him and we walked out the gate together.

“Feels like we’re going hunting this morning,” I said.

“Yeah. Hunting doesn’t feel the same now. You know, it used to be fun. Something you did to get out in the woods on the weekend. To get away.” He looked around and added, “That’s every day now.”

“I feel you. But this is still a little exciting. For me anyway. I’m really hoping Mom and Dad are there and we can find them.”

“I hope so too. It’s been a while since I’ve seen them.”

“As long as we don’t run into any problems on the river, this should be a pretty easy trip. Just go up river and pick them up and bring them back.”

“Let’s hope it’s boring.”

The Hummer was waiting at