The McClane Apocalypse Book Three (24 page)

The next morning, the boss reports at
breakfast, which he shares with her while sitting on the cement
curb near the med shed, that the woman isn't doing better. She and
Doc expect the pregnancy to miscarry even though she is far enough
into her second trimester that the baby possibly could've survived
if things hadn't fallen apart in the country. Unfortunately there
are no neonatal intensive care units still available where this
baby could have received proper medical attention, and they have no
way of doing so on the farm.

Reagan's mood is sullen and angry, so John
suggests a quick run before she goes back to work. Sam agrees to
keep an eye on the shed, and Derek is only a few feet away working
on a new solar panel that they'll take over to the Reynolds to show
them how to manufacture one of their own. The plan is to also take
one to the condo community that they've helped to establish for the
same purpose. Those people need a source of power, as well. There
are quite a few young children living in that condo and taking care
of them will be made much easier with a source of power. The
visitors, however, are holding up any sort of forward-moving
progress until they get the heck off the farm. None of the men want
to leave the farm for even a minute while those people are still on
it.

Reagan leaves her pistol with Sam, which
surprises John since she has had it strapped to her thigh or waist
since he's met her. She even shows the skinny young girl how to use
it just in case. By the looks of her, John doubts that she would do
any such thing. The kick of that .45 would just about knock Sam on
her butt she's so slight. John has his pistol and two extra mags
which will be plenty enough to keep them safe. The run is only to
help alleviate some of the stress and pressure Reagan has on her
right now.

As they jog alongside of each other, John
lets her keep to her own thoughts until they reach the steep ridge
where he helps her to the top. She's replaced the shorts she used
to wear with a pair of black Ohio State University sweatpants with
the letters across her derriere. It only draws his attention there
even more than normal, which is rather hard to do since her
derriere is one of his favorite topics of interest. He is wearing
his camo pants and no shirt since he'd been helping Kelly at the
barn on one of the wagon's wheels.

"Have you learned any more from Sam about
those people?" he asks as he tugs her to the top of the hill. This
is where they normally slow down until they get to the well-trodden
path again.

"Not really. She's pretty backwards. Of
course, maybe she's not and she's just depressed or something. Or
maybe they've threatened her not to talk to us."

"Do you think that could be it?" John asks,
feeling his temper rise at the idea of Sam being cajoled by any of
those people.

"I don't know, maybe. Some of those dudes
seem like real shit-bags," she puts so delicately.

John just chuckles at her, earning a glare
of wrath.

"You've got a point, even if it is a bit
crude," he teases and gets a punch to his left shoulder. "That
Huntley kid is a good little boy. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, unlike his shithead father," Reagan
says on a snort of derision.

"No kidding. I don't trust that one at all,"
John admits as they come to the edge of the woods again. It's
blessedly cooler with the leaves providing a blanketing of shade
above them. So far the fall weather in Tennessee seems much milder
than in his home state of Colorado.

"I don't think we should trust any of them,
even the women. That dark-haired one, Amber, is always giving me
and Sue nasty looks when we run into her outside or near the water
pump at the barn. She's got a really bad attitude toward us. Kind
of disrespectful if you ask me since she's squatting on our land,"
Reagan tells him.

She doesn't have to, though, because John
has already noticed this. That woman is pea green with envy over
the women on the farm, and he's not sure if it is some sort of
predisposed problem within her or that she is just an angry person
in general.

"I caught her giving a look to Hannah, too.
Luckily poor Hannie couldn't tell," he says as they come across a
fallen tree on their path. "This is gonna need cut up. Must've
fallen in the last couple of days. I don't remember it being down.
Watch out for that poison ivy, Reagan."

She climbs over the tree with his help, and
John holds onto her hand as she hops to the ground in front of him.
When he tries to continue holding her hand as they walk, Reagan
predictably pulls away. She is so frustrating sometimes. She is
also content to pretend the kiss in her closet weeks ago had never
happened. The one, solitary time he'd tried to bring it up she'd
shut down and walked away.

"I don't like Levon or Buzz, either. What
the hell kind of name is Buzz anyways? Idiots," she condemns.

"I think Buzz Lightyear has a prison record.
Some of those tattoos are the kind that are offered while in the
clink. I bet some of those other men are also ex-cons," John says
with a sigh. Why can't they just throw them out? His patience is
wearing thin.

"Wouldn't surprise me. I'm sure Frank's been
in trouble, before this I mean. Who knows what the hell they've all
done since? Probably don't wanna' know," she expresses with a
groan.

"Yeah," John simply agrees. She's more
astute than most people, and sometimes he forgets this about her
and her giant brain.

"And your stripper girlfriend had to have
done something to lose her kid through the court system. It's very
hard to take a kid from their mother," she reminds John.

"No kidding," he agrees, but frowns at the
'girlfriend' remark. He decides to let this one go.

"And Simon's stuck with that skank Amber
because that's all the family he's got now," she goes on.

"What do you think your family is going to
do about the kids?"

"I know Grams is going to want them to stay,
but I don't know how we could do that. Huntley is that asshole
Frank's kid; Sam is with who knows who because she sure as shit
won't say; and Simon is the nephew of Amber. I think we're screwed
on this," Reagan remarks with distaste.

Kids are important to her, even the ones who
aren't actually related to her. Everyone on the farm feels a
certain sense of protectiveness and obligation to all kids. If
their sense of honor had been strong before, then it has multiplied
by a thousand since the world has torn itself apart.

"We'll figure something out. I think us guys
are just waiting for your grandpa to make the call, and we'll get
it all handled," he says with confidence.

"I know," Reagan returns quietly.

They come through the woods behind the farm.
When they get to the barn, Cory is waiting for them with Simon, and
he's holding a horse by its halter and lead rope. He looks
worried.

"Reagan, I'm sorry. We were riding, and I
didn't see a hole. Think it was a groundhog hole and she stepped in
it and now she's limping and I'm really sorry," Cory blurs together
in a rush.

Reagan takes the halter from him and her
mouth purses with a concerned pucker.

"Let's get her inside and have a look out of
this sun. The flies are getting her out here anyways," Reagan says
calmly.

John follows her into the horse barn where
Reagan hooks the limping mare to a cross tie. John quickly removes
her saddle and pad. The bridle is next.

"Is she gonna be ok, Reagan? I'm really
sorry. She didn't fall down or anything, just stumbled," Cory
explains nervously.

The two boys are looking sick with guilt,
but Reagan is more composed than John would've thought. He knows
how much her horses mean to her. Simon, on the other hand, is
literally sweating.

"Her ankle's a tad swelled," she explains.
"She's pregnant. Did you know that? She's not that far along, so
the fetus should be fine. We bred her before you guys got here.
We'll have to play it by ear, but this happens. Horses step in
holes all the time. Don't worry about it, Cory. I'll take care of
her before I go back to the med shed. We've got it."

Her hands glide along the horse's leg and up
higher and then down again. She's being unusually nice and very
understanding.

"If you two were riding, then who's watching
the shed?" John asks of Kelly's brother.

"Kel's over there with Doc," Cory answers
quickly. "They're working on something outside the shed. Think Doc
wants to make some improvements to the shed so that if something
like this sickness the visitors brought happens again, they'll have
a better facility to handle it."

John turns to Reagan, who is still working
with the mare. She nods and confirms Cory's story.

"Yeah, we need something better than the
shed for this sort of shit. This isn't gonna get it. We need more
beds, more sanitizing equipment, supplies like that."

"Do we need to make another run for any of
it?" John asks with concern.

"Probably," she answers nonchalantly. "It
would help to have some of the supplies that were still at that
hospital. Sterilized hospital gowns, dividing curtains, other
equipment."

"Ok," he agrees. "But you aren't going this
time."

"Whatever," she returns angrily and scowls
up at him from her squatted position. "I didn't say I was. He wants
to take the pick-up truck with the cattle trailer attached so you
guys can haul more. I think Grandpa's talking about making the trek
once those people are gone."

They all three look to Simon to see if
they've offended him. He is just nodding right along with them as
if he is with
them
and not the visitors. The boy has
obviously made his choice if he gets to have an opinion on the
matter.

"Ok, well then that's settled," John says.
"We'll take care of her, Cory, if you and Simon want to head up to
that pasture and get the hay brought in. Find Derek and ask
him."

"Yes, sir. We'll get it done. Come on,
Simon," Cory says to the other boy before they both take off at a
jog.

"So is she really going to be ok, or were
you just saying that?" John asks her once the boys are out of
earshot.

"There's some heat coming out of it," she
says.

She props on one knee by the horse's hoof.
She has no fear of these animals that are about seven times the
size of her.

Reagan murmurs nearly under her breath, "I
do think she'll be ok, though. We won't be able to let anyone ride
her for at least a week, maybe longer. She's gonna be sore for a
few days, but we can apply some medicine to it. Stay with her and
I'll go get it from the cabinet in the cattle barn."

She flees from the barn before he can even
comment. He sometimes wonders if she even wants anyone's comments,
or if she ever realizes that there are other people in the same
room with her. She has some definite quirks, but to John they just
make her who she is, who he has come to care so deeply for.

When she returns with a tub of
greenish-yellow goop, she takes off the lid and slathers it on the
horse's ankle and calf area—or whatever technical horse terms they
were called. After she's done, Reagan puts the mare in a stall, and
at her direction, John gives her two flakes of hay to keep her
busy. Then the boss uses the indoor hydrant and pump soap to rinse
the liniment off of her fingers and palms, which she says can burn
and irritate skin.

John hears male voices outside of the barn,
and they aren't any that he recognizes from their family. He
touches Reagan's arm and puts a finger to his lips.

"…bullshit they don't give us more," says
one male voice.

"Yeah, I mean look at this place. And it's
too fuckin' hot to be out here luggin' water back and forth, man,"
says another.

"Fuck yeah. I want those kids to get their
asses back to our camp to do it again," says a third and deeper
voice.

"I've got mine. See ya', fuckers."

This man leaves the group. Reagan moves to
go past John, but he holds her back. Her green eyes meet his and
John can see the uneasiness settling in. It makes John wonder how
women out in the world, unprotected by a sanctuary like the McClane
farm are surviving on their own. It creates a stabbing punch in his
stomach that spreads like pin pricks throughout his body. Women
shouldn't have to live in fear.

"Man, he's a dick," the first one says and
the other laughs.

Apparently these people don't even like each
other all that much. John's not too keen on any of them,
either.

"This shitty weather's too hot to be doing
all this work," says the first one again with the complaining.

"I'll tell you what's hot. That chic with
the scar on her face, the one that Jasmine said is a doctor is the
hot one."

At this comment Reagan sucks in a breath.
John stills her with his hand on her shoulder as he feels a vein
working in his neck from clenching his jaw so hard. This is the
city trip all over again. This overhearing of men whispering
lasciviously about women and sharing their sick thoughts in the
apocalypse is enough to make John want to take out his knife
again.

"Nah, too scrawny for me. I think that one,
the taller one with the dark hair, is hot. Or that blind one. She's
hot, and she wouldn't see me comin'," the man says on a laugh,
referring to Sue and Hannah.

"She'd smell you first," the other one says,
and they both laugh.

"Yeah, but I think they're both with two of
those Army dudes. The only one I ever see by herself is my little,
hot scarface," the second one says.

So far they haven't said anything
threatening but are just commenting on the women in the McClane
family. It's harmless but still angering John because when he looks
behind him at her face she is clearly frightened. He's tired of her
being scared of men. He'd like to just go out and shoot these two
in the head but doesn't think that the grandparents would like it
too well if these men's brains were on the barn wall.