The Journal: Raging Tide: (The Journal Book 4) (8 page)

“You got that right.” I put everything back
in the bag, with the thermometer upside down as a reminder to me to
sterilize it. “Have you eaten or drank anything since?”

“No, I can’t keep it down,” he said.

“Well, I doubt this food poisoning will kill
you or it would have already, but the dehydration might. You need
to start drinking fluids. I’m going to give you a shot of
antibiotics and that should help combat the gut infection.” I
swabbed his arm down with an alcohol pad and injected the
antibiotics like Mark had taught me. “I’ll help Annie mix up some
rehydration fluids that will bring your electrolytes back in line.”
I stood up and moved toward the door, motioning for Annie to follow
me.

“He’s sick, but he’s not going to die,
Annie. We need to stop the dehydration though, and soon. Do you
have any kaopectate? And we’ll need some baking soda for the
electrolyte solution.”

“I… I… don’t know,” she stammered.

“Let’s go into the kitchen and see what we
can find.” Once in the other room, I turned her toward me. “Annie,
where are your parents?” I could see Jim had followed us and was
leaning against the door jamb listening.

“Out back,” she repeated with her lip
quivering. “We buried them in the backyard under the apple
tree.”

“What happened, Annie?”

“About a month or so after the big
earthquake some men came around. They were very mean and they
wanted all of our food. My dad had to shoot one that was trying to
come in the house. That’s when everyone starting shooting, even my
mom. First she made me take the twins into the basement to hide.
When everything was quiet for maybe a half hour, I came upstairs.”
Her mouth scrunched up and the tears slid down her cheeks. “They
were lying on the floor, all bloody. The men were dead too, but dad
made sure they never came in.” She lifted her chin and
swallowed.

“Did you bury them by yourself, Annie?” I
asked softly. This poor girl had been through a great deal.

“No, Glenn heard all the gunfire and came
over. His place is down the road a bit. He helped me move them out
of the house so Jared and Jodi wouldn’t see them. Then I mopped the
floor before I would let them out of the basement.” Annie looked up
at me with pale, spiky wet lashes.

“You did real good,” I said and gave her a
hug, catching Jim’s eye as I did so. “Now we need to make Glenn
better. Where did your mother keep the medicines?”

“There’s some in the bathroom cabinet, but
there’s not much,” she said, leading me to a different bathroom
than the one Glenn was using. I opened the mirrored door and found
a bottle of aspirin, a box of Band-Aids, some Neosporin, and some
toothpaste.

“Any place else she may have kept things,
Annie?” I asked. She looked down at her feet. “Annie?” I
repeated.

“Mom said we should never tell anyone about
what she had saved for us. She said most everyone would try to take
it from us.”

“Let’s go back to the kitchen for now and
mix up something for Glenn to drink,” I wasn’t going to push her,
not yet. “We need some baking soda, sugar, salt, some powdered
juice drink and water.”

“We ran out of bottled water a few days ago.
I’ve been bringing some up from the creek, but it’s dirty and the
twins won’t drink it unless it sits for a couple of days,” she
said.

“Jim, would you get that gallon of water
from the cooler and bring in the Berkey Traveler, please?” I turned
back to Annie. “Okay, so do you have the rest?”

“Oh, sure,” she said, opening cupboard doors
and setting things on the counter.

With the water Jim brought in, I mixed one
pint with one teaspoon of salt, and one quarter teaspoon of baking
soda, and stirred it. “Here, give this to Glenn and make sure he
drinks all of it,” I said, handing it to Jim, then I set the water
filtration unit on the counter. “Where is the creek water?”

Annie’s eyes widened. “What’s this?”

“This makes any water drinkable by filtering
it.”

“We have one of those!” She reached for a
door off the kitchen and stopped. “You’re not going to take our
stuff, are you?”

“No, Annie, we are not. We have our own and
don’t need yours,” I reassured her, and she opened the pantry door.
We both stepped in.

“Oh. My. Your parents were preppers, weren’t
they?” I said, glancing at all the supplies.

“That’s what Mom said they were, and
reminded me they were not hoarders!”

“No, preppers are not hoarders, Annie. They
are people who want to take care of themselves and the ones they
love and believe in being prepared for bad times. And that’s very
good. Now, show me where you saw the water filter.” She opened
another door and we stepped into a smaller room. I spotted the
Berkey immediately, and lifted it off the shelf and handed it to
her. I took the cover off the top to see the ceramic filters were
missing. On the shelf beside the now empty slot was a stack of what
I needed. I took three and we went back to the kitchen.

“Didn’t you know what this was for, Annie?”
I asked.

“No, my mom said I didn’t need to know yet,
that she would show me when it was time. Then she died.”

“Do you know how to use any of those
things?”

She shook her head. “I’ve been cooking a lot
of macaroni and cheese, tuna fish, and soups. The twins haven’t
complained.”

“Okay, then you need some lessons. Watch how
I do this.” I took one of the filters and fitted it into a hole in
the top unit and attached it with a plastic wing nut from
underneath. “The filters can break so you have to be careful. Try
it.” I had her do the next two. “This unit looks like it will do
two gallons. The first water to go through can’t be used for
drinking, since it’s washing out loose particles inside the
filters. After that though, it will be good. You will only have to
do this once for every new set of filters, and each set is good for
ten thousand gallons. It will be a long time before you have to
replace these unless they break.” I poured the creek water into the
top unit.

“Oh, thank you, Allexa, the twins will be so
happy!” She turned and gave me a hug.

“Now, while that drips through, let’s mix up
another batch for Glenn to drink to rebalance his electrolytes. We
need three-fourths a teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of baking soda,
four tablespoons of sugar, three-fourths quarts of water, and one
cup of juice, or all water and a tablespoon of powdered juice mix.”
Annie measured while I stirred. “Where
are
the twins,
Annie?” I asked casually, seeing Jim at the door again.

“Oh, I told them to stay upstairs in their
room until I call them down. They play for hours by
themselves.”

“Can I see you for a minute Allex?” Jim
said.

“Sure. Annie, why don’t you take a glass of
this into Glenn?”

Jim and I stepped outside. He leaned against
the front fender of the Hummer, crossing his arms. “Does this mean
we’re sticking around here for a few days?”

“I think we should. Her mother left them
stocked really well, and with many manual appliances that Annie
doesn’t even know what they’re for much less how to use them. When
it comes to protecting their children, preppers are no different
than anyone else, Jim, but not showing Annie how to use what is in
that room has jeopardized their lives. One or two days, Jim, that’s
all I need to show her most of what’s there,” I pleaded with
him.

He sighed. “I suppose I can busy myself
cutting them some firewood.”

*

“That dripped through really fast!” Annie
said when she saw the top unit almost empty of water.

“Fresh filters are like that. It will slow
down some over time. You won’t have any problem getting ten gallons
of drinking water every day as long as you make it part of your
routine,” I told her. I had her lift the second bucket of creek
water to pour in, and then stopped her. “This looks dirtier than
the first bucket.”

“Yeah, I just brought it up this morning and
it hasn’t settled yet.”

I asked her to get me a pillow case, which I
fitted over the top unit of the Berkey, and we poured the dirty
water in.

“Wow, that caught a lot of the dirt, didn’t
it?” Annie exclaimed.

“Yes, so remember that. Depending on how
dirty the water is it might need to be pre-filtered. These ceramic
filters
will
filter that out, however it will clog them up
quicker and they’ll need cleaning more often. A little extra work
now will save you a lot of work later.” I turned to her and said,
“And Annie, remember too, that no matter how clean the water looks,
it
must
be run through this filter before drinking,
understand?”

“Yes, we learned about microbes, germs and
such in school.”

While Annie went down to the creek for two
more buckets of water, I wandered through the pantry and selected a
couple of appliances to show her their function. I also spotted a
shelf with various over the counter medications and thankfully
found some kaopectate which I gave to Glenn to help stop the
diarrhea.

“I’ve been wondering what those are for,”
Annie said, setting the buckets of water on the floor.

“This one is a grain grinder, this is a
pasta press, and this is a pasta drying rack,” I explained, setting
up a tinker-toy like device. “I know it’s only four o’clock,
however I think it’s time we start working on dinner.” I could hear
Jim outside with the chainsaw and knew he would be hungry soon.
Glenn would soon be ready too for some solid food.

I showed her how to mix up fresh pasta, and
while it rested, we selected a couple of jars of home canned meat
and veggies. We then ran the pasta through the press, cutting it
into ribbons, which Annie carefully draped on the drying rack.

“I wish I could make us some pizza,” she
lamented, putting the last of the pasta in place.

“You need cheese for that,” I said.

“There are more things down in the cold
cellar. You want to see? I’m sure there’s some cheese too. Can you
make us a pizza?” she asked in awe, sounding much younger than her
sixteen years.

We took a battery lantern and descended the
wooded stairs into darkness. In a glass closet, obviously meant to
keep the humidity regulated, were a couple of wheels of cheese
coated in wax and several blocks of creamy white mozzarella still
in air-tight wrappers. I handed one of the blocks to Annie, and
then checked out the second glass cabinet to find ropes of smoked
meat.

“I’m impressed, Annie! Where did your folks
get all of this?”

“They made it. Dad did a lot of hunting last
fall. He and mom made lots of sausage and she canned a bunch of it
too,” she replied, pride lacing her words. I cut one of the
narrower links off and we went back upstairs.

I decided the pasta dish could wait until
tomorrow. These children needed something to give them more
confidence in us.

*

“Can we come out now, Annie?” a little voice
called from behind a closed door sometime later.

Annie walked over to the door and opened it.
“Yes, you can. We have company, so both of you behave!” she
instructed the two redheads peeking out. “Allexa, this is Jared and
Jodi, my brother and sister. They’re seven years old.”

“Well, hello!” I said, smiling at the two
youngsters. Obviously not identical twins, they still looked a
great deal like each other.

“It sure smells good in here!” Jim said as
he walked in. The two kids scampered behind Annie.

“Allexa showed me how to make a pizza on the
woodstove!” Annie exclaimed, and the twins jumped up and down in
excitement, obviously forgetting their wariness of Jim. Jared was
the first to pause.

“You two are soldiers!” he said in awe.

“Yes we are,” Jim replied. “I’m Colonel
James Andrews, and this is Lieutenant Allexa Smeth.” He walked up
to the little boy and held out his hand. Jared tilted his head back
and stared. Jim’s six foot two frame towered over the little boy.
To his credit, Jared stuck his hand out too, which made Jim
smile.

The military fatigues were so comfortable to
wear I had forgotten I was wearing them. No wonder Annie was a bit
submissive: we intimidated her. Just then, Glenn staggered from the
other room.

“Your color is better, Glenn, how are you
feeling?” I asked.

“You stink!” Jared interrupted, wrinkling
his little nose.

“Perhaps you can get some water for Glenn so
he can wash up,” I said sternly. Annie took the twins by the hands
and helped them fill buckets of creek water. As they walked out the
door I heard her chastise Jared for being rude.

“Yes, ma’am, I’m feeling much better. I
don’t know what you made me drink, but it sure did the trick,”
Glenn finally answered.

“Good, because I think you’re very much
needed here and those three can’t afford to lose you!”

*

It was a very shallow bath for Glenn with
two buckets of cold creek water and one of hot I had heating on the
stove for washing dishes. He definitely smelled better when he was
done though. Later, when there was more time, I would see what else
was in the pantry that could be used to make a bucket shower for
these kids.

The six of us sat at the big kitchen table
and ate the pizza covered with jarred spaghetti sauce, mozzarella
cheese, and what turned out to be summer sausage, not the pepperoni
I thought it looked like. The little ones guzzled the clean water
and ignored the tomato sauce on their chins. Glenn had more of the
electrolyte mix and Annie sipped her water. Jim retrieved a bottle
of wine from the Hummer and the two of us enjoyed the relaxing
meal. It almost felt…normal.

“Glenn, where are your parents, if I may
ask?” Jim said casually.

“Well, sir, a couple of days before the men
attacked here, they attacked our place. I had been out hunting and
my dad was there alone. He didn’t stand a chance; those guys in the
orange jumpsuits overwhelmed him. When I got home that evening, the
men were sitting on the porch drinking my dad’s hooch, smoking his
cigars, and wearing his jackets. I saw they had just tossed my dad
in the yard, so when they were inside and it was really dark, I
snuck in and took his body to bury it. I’m sure they thought a
coyote had dragged it off.” Glenn paused to sip his drink. “I have
another hunting blind that’s not too far from the house, and I took
the deer I had back there and hung it high in a tree to cure. I
stayed in the blind for three days, cooking only at night after
those guys drank themselves to sleep. I would watch them from a
thicket of brambles during the day. Then one morning they left,
taking all the rifles my dad had and the rest of the food. Several
hours later I heard all the shooting over here.” He took a deep
breath and looked up at the ceiling. “I’ve been sweet on Annie
since we were kids,” he looked at her and she blushed, “and the
thought of those men hurting her made me mad! By the time I got
here though, everyone was dead. I dragged their bodies into the
woods for the wolves.”