The McClane Apocalypse Book Three (34 page)

"Not to mention the rains that have hit so
hard this summer," Hannah comments.

"We told them almost a week ago that they
could go on a scouting run for a new place to live or to search for
food and supplies, but they haven't gone once," Kelly adds.

"That's bullshit," Derek says under his
breath.

"I know," Kelly agrees. "Why the heck aren't
they making an effort to go out and get supplies and food? They
can't just eat pancakes and the apples from the orchard here. That
crap's gonna run out soon, and then what are they going to do?"

"Bum off of us would be my guess," Sue
comments with derision.

Derek tells them all, "That ain't happening.
Not when they've got able-bodied men out there who could easily be
making runs for provisions. I don't know what their deal is, but
they aren't staying and they aren't getting any more than we've
already offered."

Kelly nods in the dark. "Right. I agree. I
think they're getting way too comfortable as it is. They half-ass
picked the corn anyways. It's not like if they stayed, they'd be
any help. They gotta go for sure."

Sue continues, "Sam also said that it was
usually her and Simon and the twins who had to get water for the
adults. They also made them clean up the RV's and pack them when it
was time to move on. And yes, Hannah, I agree completely. They
could've been sanitizing themselves and those nasty RV's with hot
water. Anything would have helped that."

Her disgust at the visitors and their lack
of cleanliness is obvious. Kelly can attest to their
spring-cleaning skills. He'd been in that RV looking for weapons
that first day when they'd arrived, and it had been foul to say the
least. He's pretty sure that some of these people have lived this
way before the world fell to shit. And to expect kids to do
everything including cleaning, cooking and from the snippets he's
been able to understand, also raid houses for food and supplies is
just beyond his comprehension. How would a kid know how to take
safety precautions to not get themselves shot or killed? It's not
like they are trained soldiers.

"And Simon's hands are blistered all the
time and rough as a cattle rancher's," Kelly comments. "I know it
isn't from the work he does with us 'cuz we gave him some leather
work gloves to use like we do."

Derek scoffs in anger. "That skank probably
only agreed to take in her nephew just so that they'd have another
worker in the group. I sure as shit don't see any of the rest of
them doing much."

"I know what you mean, man," Kelly agrees
with a nod as he sets his empty saucer on the lacquered oak stand
beside him. "That kid's too skinny for his height, too. And I bet
it isn't just his natural physique. He's skinny like he's missed a
lot of meals."

Hannah jumps in with enough anger to light a
fire. "That's just ridiculous! How can they not be doing the same
amount of work as children? And to not feed them adequate portions?
I think you're right on that, Kelly. Sam told me in the kitchen the
other day about hiding food from them when they got some here and
there, so I think you're right. I think they've probably all missed
a lot of meals. I guess only Rick has looked after them at all. Are
they serious? I just assumed they were working just as hard as the
kids and taking care of them since I can't see them for
myself."

Sue scoffs this time. "Trust me, Hannie. You
don't want to see what they do or what any of them looks like,
honey. Besides, not everyone's like us. We wouldn't feed ourselves
before our children or make them work harder than us, but that's
not how everyone in the world is. Some people are real dirtbags,
Hannah."

"Speaking of… here comes some of the hadj
pack," Derek says quietly.

He rises from his seat, moving toward the
top of the stairs. Kelly joins him there as Bobby the young punk,
Rick and Uncle Peter amble up.

"Can we help you gentlemen?" Derek asks.

He shows more calmness than he must feel
after that conversation about the way they treat the children.

"Where's the kids?" Uncle Peter asks.

There isn't much concern in his tone but
also not a lot of malice, either, which is lucky for him.

"Huntley is in the sick bay now, in case you
haven't heard, Uncle Peter," Sue tells him.

She has not risen from her chair. It is
almost insulting, but Kelly's quite sure it also isn't by accident
to be so.

"Yeah, we heard," Rick says. "Is he gonna be
ok? Do you guys know how he's doing?"

"Reagan's been working with him most of the
day, and Grandpa's on it now. He's doing better than the other two
were," Sue explains.

This man actually seems genuinely concerned
for Huntley. This is the one who'd sneaked food to the kids
according to Hannah.

"Maybe if I can find some berries or pick
some more of those apples, that'll help him if he can eat them. You
know fruit's supposed to have vitamins and all," Rick offers.

Kelly detects a Southern accent. He wears
his hair buzzed close to his head. He is about the same size as
Derek, but lacks the bulk in his physique that comes with having
food for survival.

Derek takes over with the patient update.
"The docs have said that it's good to catch it this early on. I
guess they have a better chance of stopping it with the medicine
they have."

"Man, that's good news," Rick says. "That
would've been bad if that little guy would've died like his
brother."

"Oh yeah?" Sue asks from her seat. "Then why
the hell did you guys make that kid sleep outside the RV last night
when he said he didn't feel good?"

Rick is visibly puzzled by this information
and looks to his partners for help.

When he gets none, he says "I don't know
what you mean, ma'am."

"We were told that he slept out in the cold
last night when he first came down with it," Derek states this and
steps down one step lower.

"Sir, listen, I didn't know anything about
that. I swear," Rick tells them with a pleading look on his dark
face. His eyes soften, and he seems genuinely regretful. He
whispers to his friends, "Did you guys know that?"

Neither of them responds, which gives Kelly
all the answers he needs.

"What kind of medicine?" Peter inquires.

Kelly finds his offhand question
strange.

"What?" Kelly asks. The squirrely uncle jams
his hands into the front pockets of his dirty khakis. Apparently he
is also not making good use of the soap his sister gave him.

"You said Herb and Reagan were giving him
medicine. What kinds?" Peter asks again with more clarity.

"Medicine," Kelly answers him definitively
so as to put an end to that line of questioning about what supplies
they might have in the shed. It is nerve wracking enough worrying
about these bums going into the shed for drugs that don't belong to
them or can't help their need in the first place without having
them verbally nosing after the specific types the family is
harboring. The punk kid doesn't take the hint as easily.

"He asked you what kinds you got?" Bobby
insists.

The kid has more gumption than he should,
being in front of Kelly and Derek. This is the one who'd physically
man-handled Samantha today and got mouthy with Reagan. Kelly
noticed Sam's bruises at dinner but had not commented. He and John
had made brief eye contact. It was all that was needed.

"I said medicine. That's all you need to
know, kid," Kelly says firmly. "What are you, a pharmacist?"

"No, I just wanna' know in case the rest of
us gets sick, too," Bobby returns on a blatant lie. "Got any
painkillers out there?"

"Why?" Derek asks.

He can tell that the Major's patience is
waning, so Kelly adds, "You got a case of the gout or
something?"

The kid just shifts his weight from foot to
foot and sniffs hard.

"Look, I was just concerned about where Sam
and Simon might be," Rick interrupts a potential hot spot. "I just
wanted to make sure they're ok."

"They're fine," Hannah says icily from the
dark. "They'll be staying with us from now on while you're here
because they are doing work for us, work that cancels out
your
rent."

Whoa! Kelly didn't think she had something
so rude and nakedly insulting in her. Good. She needs to have a
little righteous anger where these people are concerned. It might
just keep her safer when Kelly isn't near her.

Rick stammers out a hasty answer, "Oh, ok.
That's no prob. Hey, I just wanted to check on them. I mean, if I
you need me to do work…"

"No, it isn't ok!" Bobby interjects.

The mouthy punk steps forward past Rick, who
tries to stop him. The kid just flings off Rick's grasp in
irritation and swears at him under his breath.

"And why is that?" Derek asks.

Kelly isn't sure this is going to end well.
He takes a step closer to Derek.

"'Cuz she sleeps out there with the rest of
us. That's why. Because I said so," Bobby stupidly argues and then
nails his own coffin. "And what's it to you, old man?"

What the hell is wrong with this kid? Derek
just laughs obnoxiously. He is hardly old at the age of thirty-two,
but this juvenile delinquent apparently doesn't know what the 'old
man' is capable of. He didn't climb to the status of Major by being
a puss.

"You want me to show you what this old man
can do to a scrawny lump of shit like you, kid?" Derek
antagonizes.

"No way, man," Rick jumps in.

Rick stops it before it starts with a firm
hand to Bobby's shoulder. He whispers something about "military" to
the young man. The kid is fairly large for his age and probably
used to bully other kids who were smaller than him. But he is in no
way, shape or form any sort of match for Derek. Hell, Kelly's
pretty sure Cory could kick this kid's ass. There is something
caged and feral about Bobby, though. And he definitely seems like
the kind of kid who had probably spent some quality time in juvey
before this started. Cory is a lot softer around the edges and
maybe too kind in general. He's going to talk to his kid brother
tonight about staying away from this little bastard.

"The kids won't be back over to the camp
anymore. Their duties here keep them busy," Kelly explains with a
tad more patience.

"There's too much work for us to do out
there without them," Peter whines.

"What?" Derek asks incredulously.

"Yeah, dude," Kelly agrees. "There's about
five of you men and two women."

"I know, but it's a lot of work carrying
water and trying to do everything else," he rambles on. "We're
trying to work on the RV, getting it running and stuff."

"You'll manage, Uncle Peter," Sue
conclusively settles it.

And because Kelly can't resist, "Why haven't
any of you gone on a run?"

"What do you mean?" Rick asks.

"Go off the farm, on a run for supplies and
food, or to scout out a new place to crash when you leave here?"
Derek confirms the message.

"For one, you took our damn guns," Bobby
says in a louder voice than everyone else.

"Don't get whiney," Derek tells him. "You'll
get them back when you leave."

Bobby shoots Derek an instant glare filled
with hatred for the reprimand.

"And if you wanted to go on a run, we
could've given them back. But you don't have any bullets anyways,
so how were they going to help you?" Kelly asks. None of them
answer.

"You don't necessarily have to have your
guns back to go on a supply run," Derek enlightens them.

"Well, we've been busy working on the RV,"
Peter says lamely.

Derek just crosses his arms over his chest.
He is obviously not impressed. Kelly's a little concerned that he's
about to give Great-uncle Peter a hundred push-ups for the
stupidity of his comments.

"I never heard anything about it," Rick
tells him and Derek.

"You were out pickin' apples like a bitch
when they told us to go and look for someplace else to live," Bobby
clarifies.

The punk also effectively insults him while
he's at it. Rick doesn't say anything back, though he easily has a
good thirty pounds on this kid and at least three inches of
height.

"We probably should," Rick says with a nod.
"We obviously ain't welcome to stay on here, so we should look for
somewhere new before winter sets in on us, right?"

Again, there is no answer from Peter or
Bobby, who apparently don't agree with Rick.

"Nah, Herb ain't gonna toss us to the curb,"
Peter says, showing his IQ again.

"Uncle Peter, Grandpa has made it very clear
and so have the men that you guys can't stay here," Sue says.

Kelly notes the touch of sad kindness in her
voice as if she is speaking to an imbecile.

"Aw, little Susan, he ain't gonna throw us
out. He ain't like that. He ain't cold-hearted like that. He'll
come around," Peter says.

Sue regards Kelly with an expression of
shock. She clearly can't believe that they are trying to reason
with this moron.

"It's happening, man. Deal with it however
you need to, but it's happening," Derek tells them.

"You guys just think you're so much better
than us, don't you?" Bobby asks and then spits on the ground.

"It's not a matter of being better than you,
son," Derek tells the kid.

"I ain't your fucking son, asshole," Bobby
retorts with spite.

"Well, punk, this is our farm, and we aren't
leaving it and you
aren't
staying on it," Derek says
harshly.

Maybe this is what they need to hear from
them. Maybe this will bring it home. Kelly isn't convinced. Maybe
he's just fatigued of this situation with these people and wishing
they'd all get the hell out.

"Fuck all of you," Bobby says.

The kid spits again, trying to hit Derek.
Lucky for him, it doesn't. Rick tries to stop him, but the kid
shoves the bigger man with fury before walking away.