Forsaking Home (The Survivalist Series) (18 page)

“Good thing he didn’t know I was watching, or he would have really been scared.”

The couple came to the edge of their campsite and stopped. They were looking us over when a little girl about Ashley’s age grabbed her mother’s hand. “Mommy, can I play with her?” she asked, pointing at Little Bit.

Her mother looked at Ash, then at us. “Uh, I don’t know.”

Mel looked up. “Oh, they can play. They both could probably use some time around other kids.”

The woman smiled. “Okay”—she looked down at her daughter—“go ahead.”

The little girl ran up to the buggy. “You wanna play with me?”

Little Bit looked up at Mel, who nodded at her. She smiled and jumped out of the buggy and they ran back toward the tents.

I smiled at them. “We should all be more like kids.”

“Kids are lucky, they still retain a little of their innocence,” the man said, sticking his hand out. “I’m Tyler, and this is my wife, Brandy.”

We did a quick round of introductions and they invited us into their camp. We took seats on a couple of logs they’d dragged around the pit. Brandy was very obviously uncomfortable with the amount of weaponry sitting across the fire from her. Everyone except Lee Ann and Little Bit had at least one firearm, and Danny and I each had two. I couldn’t blame her: I’d be nervous too.

“Where are you guys from?” Mel asked Brandy.

“Daytona, not too far from the beach.”

“Did it get bad there?” Danny asked.

“Yes and no. It was weird. The beach always draws a lot of transient types, so that became an even more serious problem. But the biggest issue was resources. There were so many people there, and not enough to go around,” Tyler said.

“What about you guys, where are you from?” Brandy asked.

“We live nearby,” Mel said.

“Must be nice not to have to leave home,” Brandy said.

“It hasn’t been easy. We’ve had our fair share of problems too,” Danny said.

“That’s a nice Ruger, Tyler,” I said, pointing to the rifle in his lap.

“Yeah, she wasn’t real happy when I bought it”—he smiled at her—“but it was worth it in the end.”

“Yeah, sadly, guns are necessary tools these days.”

“Mom, sorry to interrupt, but I have to use the bathroom,” Taylor said.

“Oh, use the one right over there,” Brandy said, pointing to a nearby restroom. “It’s the one we use. It’s pretty clean.”

“Lee Ann, go with her,” Mel said. Lee Ann didn’t reply, but did get up and walk away with her sister. As they walked, they came across the two younger girls, squealing and running. Ashley and Tyler’s daughter came running through the center of the camp, being chased by a little boy.

“What’s your daughter’s name?” Mel asked.

“Her name’s Edie, and her brother, the monster over there, is Jace,” Brandy answered.

“They look like a handful. How old are they?”

“Edie is seven and Jace is six.”

This got raised eyebrows from Mel and Bobbie. “Wow, you’re brave,” Mel said with a laugh.

“Yeah, well”—Brandy looked at Tyler—“it wasn’t supposed to be like that, but it happened.”

Tyler laughed. “It’s always my fault. If I remember right, you were there too.”

Now I laughed. “Amen, brother, amen!”

We talked for some time about what’s happened since that fateful day. They told us about their time in Daytona, of people taking over resources that should have been available to all and demanding payment in exchange for drawing water from a lake. There were also gang fights, wars as they called them, to control such resources. I asked about the beach, if they ever tried to get there to fish, but Tyler said it was impossible to get on the beach, even as a local. As we grew more comfortable, I told them of my trip home and about the raiders.

“I’ve heard of the camp. We traveled with some people who were trying to get there. They said it was the answer to all of the problems they were dealing with,” Tyler said.

“Yeah, I don’t think it lives up to the advertising,” Danny said.

“That’s why we’re here and not there. I’d rather take care of my family myself.”

“What’d you guys do for work before all this went down?” I asked.

“I worked for the county in maintenance and Brandy was an elementary school teacher.”

Bobbie looked at Brandy. “Oh my. What was it like in the school?”

“Horrible. Despite all the preparedness crap they talked about, all the drills they did, they were totally unprepared. Even if it’d only been a couple of days, they weren’t prepared.”

“What’d they do with all the kids?” Mel asked.

“That whole shelter-in-place thing is such a joke. The first day there was nearly a riot because the administration wouldn’t release kids to their parents. We had used an electronic system for ID verification, and since it didn’t work they didn’t know what to do, and, of course, there was no backup. The water went out way faster than I would have thought, and things just got worse from there.”

“Where were your kids?”

“They were in day care. I managed to get home and then went to pick them up on an old two-stroke motorcycle I had. It wasn’t an easy trip, but we did it,” Tyler said.

“What happened to all of your students?” Bobbie asked.

“Tyler came to the school to let me know he had the kids. Once I knew they were all right, I stayed to try and help in the classrooms. They finally started letting kids go when their parents showed up with guns. I mean, I can’t blame them, I would have too. But when I left, there were still six of my students there.” Her voice grew softer. “I don’t know where their parents were. It was really sad. I hated to leave them.”

“Wow, I can’t imagine how horrible it must have been to leave those kids behind,” Mel said.

“It was awful. But I had my own kids to think of.”

“It became clear the situation was only going to get worse. I went there every day to bring stuff to Brandy. After a few weeks, I knew we had to go. It just wasn’t safe,” Tyler said.

“How’d you guys get out of Daytona? I mean, you couldn’t all ride on that motorcycle,” Bobbie said.

“I traded the Suzuki for that cart and some other stuff,” Tyler said, pointing to a two-wheeled cart attached to a mountain bike. “Between that one and the kids’ cart we were able to get out of town pretty quickly.”

“If it wasn’t for that cart, I don’t know how we would have hauled everything. We already had the kids’ trailer, which made life easier,” Brandy said.

“So you guys ride from place to place on those?” Danny asked.

“Yeah, we’re looking for a place to call home, so to speak. But it’s hard, because every time we find a nice place, there is either someone already there or people show up and we leave because they put off a bad vibe,” Tyler said, then jutted a thumb over his shoulder. “Where’d you guys get that rig out there? Looks pretty sweet.”

“It’s not ours, belongs to a friend,” I said.

“Looks military.”

“It is.”

“Man, that’d be nice, but I guess gas would be an issue.” Tyler stared thoughtfully into the coals of the fire then looked up. “You guys remember that show
Doomsday Preppers
? I used to watch that and laugh at those people. I thought they were all so crazy. But they were right. Everyone called them crazy, but they’re probably the best off out of any of us.”

“A lot of them were nuts,” Danny said.

“Not just them, but all those people, they called them Preppers, Survivalists, or nut cases, but they were on to something. I wish I’d have been one of them.”

“Hey, man, you’ve done a pretty damn good job so far from the looks of it. You’re here, your family is healthy. It isn’t about what you’ve got, but what you’re capable of,” I said.

“I’d be capable of a lot more if I had more, though,” Tyler said with a laugh.

“Wouldn’t we all.” I chuckled. “How long have you guys been here?”

“Four days so far.”

“You plan on staying put?”

“As long as we can. There’s water, fish in the lake, and plenty of firewood,” Tyler said, waving toward the tree line.

“How is the fishing in the lake? We were talking about that when we were driving in,” Danny remarked.

“Great so far.”

“Are you guys hunting at all?” I asked.

“A little, but I don’t have much ammo left. I’m down to ten rounds for the Mini 14. I have a little .22 too but only a few rounds left for it.”

I looked at Danny, who gave a knowing nod. I pulled a mag from my vest and started to strip rounds from it. Tyler looked on, unsure of what I was doing at first.

“Here, Tyler, take these for now,” I said, holding the rounds out.

Tyler looked at Brandy, then back at me. “I can’t take these. I have nothing to offer in exchange.”

“This isn’t a trade, man, you’ve got a family to protect.” I gestured toward my family. “I can relate.”

Tyler stuck out his hand. “Thanks, Morgan, I really appreciate it.”

“We’ll be by in the next day or so with some .22 ammo too,” Danny said.

“Wow, I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s uncommon today to see someone willing to do anything for someone else,” Brandy said.

“We don’t have much ourselves, but we can spare a little ammo. Nowadays, you need it to feed and defend yourself. It’s a modern necessity,” Danny said.

Tyler nodded. “Sad but true.”

“It’s starting to get late. We’re going to head home,” I said as I stood up.

“It was nice to meet y’all,” Mel said with a smile.

Danny and Bobbie said the same, and Brandy shared her sentiments as well.

“Come on, Ashley, we have to go now,” Mel called out.

The kids were sitting together stacking sticks like a log cabin. “Aw, come on, Mom, can’t we stay a little longer?”

“No, it’s time to go.”

She pouted and stomped her way over, then ran back and hugged her new friend.

After rounding her up, we headed back to the buggy, where the older girls were hanging out. Tyler and Brandy came over to say good-bye.

“Thanks again for the ammo. I really appreciate it.”

“Yes, thank you,” Brandy added.

“No problem. You guys be safe,” Danny said.

They waved as we pulled out. Mel leaned forward and commented, “They seemed pretty nice.”

Bobbie agreed with her. “I hope they’re going to be all right.”

“That’s why I gave them the ammo. I hope it wasn’t a mistake,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Mel asked.

“You know, people aren’t always what they appear, but since they don’t know where we live I’m not worried about them.”

She looked at me like I was nuts. “They’re just a couple with two kids. They aren’t going to hurt you.”

“I guess you forgot the story I told you about my trip home, when that couple with kids nearly killed me.”

She didn’t say anything, turning instead to look out the side of the buggy. I stopped on the way back to pick up the greens I had pointed out to Chase. They’d make a nice addition to dinner.

We made it back to the camp without seeing anyone on the road. Pulling up to the camp, I saw Jeff sitting by the fire, poking at something inside of a pot.

“What’s in the pot?” I asked Jeff as we all sat down.

“Some more limb rats. Thad and I went out to check the snares. We took .22s with us and managed to shoot a bunch, so we got a good dinner going for tonight.”

Cool,” I said, then looked around. “Where’s Thad?”

Jeff jerked his head toward the pigpen. “He’s back there. We cut up a cabbage palm and he’s throwing it to the hogs. He brought in the net earlier. There weren’t many fish.”

A few minutes later, Thad walked up, carrying something.

“Hey, Little Bit, come see what I got,” he said. As he got closer I could see what it was—a tiny piglet.

“It’s a baby piggy!” she shouted when he knelt down. “It’s so cute! Are there more?”

Thad was smiling. “There’s six more with the momma. You want to come see them? We need to get him back so he can eat.”

Little Bit started hopping up and down. “Yes, yes, yes, I want to go see them.”

We all walked over to the pen to find the momma pig lying under a small tree nursing her brood. The piglets were a mass of tiny bodies all trying to get to a teat. The girls were gushing over them. Little Bit wanted to get in the pen. As Thad leaned over and gently laid the piglet on its momma’s side, he said she needed to wait a few more days. She frowned but was quickly transfixed.

“I didn’t even know she was pregnant,” Danny said.

“Me neither,” Thad said with a smile, “but I’m glad she was. In a couple of months we’ll have a bunch of pork.”

“Yeah, we could butcher one of the others now that we have more,” I said.

“Yeah, it’ll be nice when they get a little bigger. Maybe barter with someone,” Danny said.

I laughed. “Barter for what?”

He shrugged. “Dunno. Guess we’d have to find someone to barter with first.”

“How was the drive?” Thad asked.

“Good, Chase is still hanging in there. Those boys all left, though,” I said.

Thad raised his eyebrows. “Really? Wonder where they went.”

“No idea. He doesn’t have any idea either,” I said.

“We went over to Clear Lake and met a couple over there with two little kids,” Danny said.

Thad nodded. “Where’d they come from?”

“Daytona. They rode bikes all the way here,” I said.

“Pretty long ride, especially with two kids.”

“They had a couple of cool little trailers, one for the kids and one for all their gear.”

“That’s a good idea.” Thad nudged me and smiled. “Bikes would have been nice on our trip home, wouldn’t they?”

I laughed. “You ain’t lying, brother. I would have given almost anything for a bike back then.”

“What’s in the pot on the fire, Thad?” Mel asked as she walked over.

“Just boiling some squirrels. Tonight we’ll have squirrel and grits,” Thad said with a smile.

“That should be interesting. But I’ll trust your instincts, chef,” Mel said with a wink.

We went back over to the fire over Little Bit’s protests. Soon, everyone gathered around the tables for dinner, the light of the oil lamps illuminating our surprisingly delicious meal. This was a nice habit we’d gotten into—everyone coming together to eat and talk. The real reason for it was that we had to prepare communal meals and that forced everyone to eat at the same time, but it developed into something that we all looked forward to. It was a very happy circumstance, something that was needed in these unsure times.