An older woman, probably in her late fifties or early sixties, raised her hand, drawing Amanda’s attention. She was petite in stature. Amanda had almost not seen her at all. In fact, she barely remembered seeing her over the past week—she’d simply blended into the background of the others.

  “I’m Audrey. I’m no one special. I was bored and thought I’d see what the tent revival was all about. I’m a widowed, retired school teacher. The most exciting thing that ever happened to me before all of this craziness was an unplanned fire drill,” she said with dismissive laugh.

  Everyone laughed in return as Audrey motioned to the figure next to her to take his turn.

  “All right, Nash, let’s move on to you,” Amanda said.

  Nash, Ennis, Savannah, and Wendell all got the chance to say their piece as they continued, and Amanda felt the change in the group dynamics almost immediately. Everyone seemed more at ease, which was exactly what she’d hoped would happen.

  Amanda took a breath when the introductions finished, and then she got started. “This is great. I’m glad we’ve taken a minute to breathe and get to know each other. I wanted to talk to all of you about our future here, together. I think we need to be prepared for there to be others who want to try and take what we have here,” she began, hoping to approach the situation with kid gloves.

  “You think we’re going to be attacked?” Gretchen asked.

  “What if it’s people like us who need somewhere safe to stay?” Bonnie asked.

  Austin stood up again, waving down the voices who’d begun murmuring. “We need to be careful, cautious about who we open the door to. That’s all. What Amanda is trying to say is that we need to be prepared for those who don’t want to join us, but wish to take from us, and possibly even try to hurt or kill us,” Austin clarified.

  Jordan nodded. “We saw it first-hand. We know what it’s like out there.”

  “Exactly,” Amanda breathed out with relief, glad that someone besides her and Austin had chimed in to offer support, “and I know you suffered some tragic losses. I want to show you all how to defend yourselves in case there’s an attack, whether you’re here or out taking a walk in the woods, or if you do choose to move on,” Amanda explained.

  Tonya looked down at the mostly full plate of food in her hands before looking up at Amanda, her eyes full of sorrow. “What happened was tragic, but I cannot hurt another person. I can’t take a life.”

  Malachi moved over to her blanket before Amanda could think how to reply. “Mom, I don’t want to lose you. You have to learn to fight. Dad would want you to. He was prepared to do whatever it took to keep you and me safe,” Malachi insisted.

  Tonya only shook her head, her eyes remaining on her uneaten food.

  “I understand that most of you have strong beliefs,” Amanda said gently, “but this is truly a life or death situation. Sadly, there are going to be fewer good people and a lot more bad guys.”

  “I won’t hesitate. I’m willing to learn,” Ezra announced.

  “Good, we need people to step up,” Austin said. “None of us want to hurt someone. However, if it comes down to my life or my daughter’s life, or any one of yours, I will do whatever it takes,” he finished, his voice leaving no room for argument.

  “I think we can learn self-defense without raising a weapon,” Gretchen offered. “Right?”

  Amanda shrugged. “Do you think you can outrun a bullet? Self-defense is designed to disable an attacker and give you time to escape. If your attacker has a gun, the stakes are high. You have to be able to disarm your attacker and disable them. You don’t want them coming after you a second or third time. Self-defense is worth spending time on, but it’s not everything.”

  “I can’t shoot one of God’s children,” Tonya insisted, sounding more alive than Amanda had heard her since she’d first met the woman.

  “Tonya, I understand your convictions, I do, but what if that person was going to hurt your child?” Audrey asked.

  Tonya looked at the older woman, who appeared to be very meek. Audrey was the last person Amanda had been counting on for support, and the shocked faces surrounding them suggested she hadn’t been the only one surprised to hear her speak up.

  “I’d pray,” Tonya replied in a soft voice.

  Wendell made a loud scoffing sound, earning glares from everyone.

  “Look, this isn’t something any of us wants to do,” Amanda said loudly, “but I want to live. I know you all do, as well. You wouldn’t have walked over a thousand miles and dealt with all that you did if that weren’t true. You are not ready to lie down and give up,” Amanda added, her voice rising as she spoke.

  A moment passed in quiet, but there were nods all around.

  “When do we start?” Jordan asked.

  Amanda looked at Austin. “Tomorrow?” he suggested.

  “Sounds good to me,” she breathed out, looking around. “We’ll start with some basic self-defense. Ennis will teach you all how to use a gun. Ammunition is too valuable to do a lot of target practice, but it’s important you know how to use one, how to load it and how to be safe,” she said, watching the hackles on a few of the revivalists go up.

  Ennis got to his feet. “I know you guys don’t like guns. That’s okay, but something I taught my niece and something we learned from our father,” he said, looking at Austin, “is you need to know a gun. You need to be comfortable with it. You need to know how to use it and how to be safe around one. That’s all we’re asking. Trust me, I think those of you who were in that cornfield and either saw or heard about what Savannah did have to agree that things would have been much different had she not had the knowledge.”

  Everyone remained quiet as his words sank in. It was the hard, cold truth. They could hate guns all they wanted, but they were a necessary evil.

  “He’s right. We have guns here. I don’t want someone to pick up one of the guns and not know what to do with the thing. That is far more dangerous,” Austin added, and Amanda was thankful that even Tonya nodded in response to that comment.

  Ennis cleared his throat. “I understand some of you aren’t sure what your plans are for the future. I get it. I’m not pressuring you—we’re not pressuring you, either way—but you will need to decide if you want to stay here or move on. If you want to stay, you are welcome to, but everyone has to work together to keep this place safe.”

  “Move on?” Audrey asked, looking a little confused.

  Ennis nodded, looking at his brother. “Yes. I believe some of you had intentions of going to Salt Lake City or further west to Seattle. We aren’t forcing you to stay here. If you want to move on, I’ll give you a supply of food to take with you on your journey.”

  “He’s right,” Austin chimed in. “You only have a few months before the weather changes. If you are all planning to stay here, we need to think long-term housing, food, water, and so on. Winter in the mountains is going to be tough.”

  “Are you asking us to leave?” Tonya asked quietly.

  “Absolutely not!” Amanda answered quickly. “We’re just saying that we all need to plan for the future, wherever that future will be, and that’s going to be hard to do until we know how many people plan to stay here around the house.”

  “Mom, we’ll talk about it later,” Malachi said, his voice low and soothing.

  Amanda looked around at the faces of the others, waiting to see if there was an immediate answer. It looked like they were all on the fence. She understood the feeling. Since talking with Austin earlier, she knew he was hesitant, as well. It was to be expected, she supposed. They were running scared, and they’d been on the move for long enough, planning to move on until they got here, that it had become a sort of autopilot setting. Coming here hadn’t been like buying a house in a neighborhood you had scouted ahead of time and then settling in. Everyone there knew everything could change in the blink of an eye. Nothing was certain.

  What was playing out now was the fight or flight instinct, but in slow motion. Stay or go—that was the decision all of them were facing. What if the grass was greener on the other side? What if there was a refugee camp in Seattle that would provide protection from the faction trying to take over the world? Or, what if this really was the best option?

  “So, just a lot to think about, everyone, but we’ll start working on weapons tomorrow. And self-defense,” Amanda added with a nod to Gretchen, who smiled back at her. After all, that couldn’t hurt. “Everyone have a great night, okay?” she offered, and there were nods all around as people began to speak to those who were close by. She heard murmurs about guns and travel, and ‘this world,’ and tried to take comfort in the fact that at least they’d gotten the conversation started.

  “You okay?” Austin asked quietly.

  “Yes, I just suddenly had a very clear understanding of your apprehension to stay.”

  He grimaced. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.”

  The briefly relaxed mood they’d experienced after the introductions had evaporated, though. The group broke apart, a few going inside to take care of the dinner dishes and the rest going for walks or retiring for the night.

  “Well, that went over like a lead balloon,” Amanda said on a sigh.

  He shrugged. “It had to be said. I don’t want to live with a bunch of people relying on me to do all the dirty work while they sit back and pray.”

  She laughed. “I don’t think that’s exactly what they were expecting, but I’m not sure anyone was thinking about it one way or another.”

  Austin shook his head, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the house bathed in oranges from the setting sun. “Well, it’s not gonna happen, and everyone needs to start thinking and being a part of the group if they’re gonna stay. I’ll protect my daughter, you, my brother, but I’m not going to put my life on the line if they aren’t ready to fight for themselves. If they want to stay, they’ll learn to fight.”

  5

  The stove was coming together off to the side of the clearing, where they’d made a habit of eating their nightly meal together. It had become a sort of courtyard for the inhabitants of the house. Austin piled another one of the semi-flat rocks he had collected onto the box he’d made from rocks of mostly equal sizes. He’d dug a hole in the ground first, which would serve as the heating element where the fire would burn. He’d been lucky enough to find a nice, stone slab that was about two inches thick and two feet wide. The stone’s surface only went about a foot deep, but he was hoping to use the rack from the oven in the house to extend the heated surface.

  He’d already made walls, as well, stacking rocks on top of one another to run about a foot high around the rectangular hole, and he planned to use another oven rack across the top as a roof, with more rocks to anchor it. There would be enough air gaps for smoke from the fire below to escape while trapping in most of the heat. The oven was something he’d seen in his mind, and Nash had agreed it made sense, but he honestly had no real idea if it would be effective. He hoped so, though—it certainly looked like it would be a useful tool, and seemed more impressive than he’d expected it to, now that he was pretty much done.

  Taking a breather and drinking down some water, he took a seat on a log over on the side of the house, where he could watch Amanda working with the women from the revivalist group, showing them some basic self-defense moves. He looked on proudly as Savannah helped demonstrate. After their meeting last night, he hadn’t been sure any of them would actually participate. It was a pleasant surprise to see them all listening and watching Amanda intently.

  It was a mild day, sporadic clouds blocking the heat of the sun and making it far more comfortable to be outside in the middle of the day, so he stayed where he was. He’d at least wait till Amanda took a break, he decided, wanting to talk with her about something she’d mentioned earlier.

  “Why don’t we demonstrate on Dad?” Savannah asked.

  Austin blinked. “What?”

  Amanda grinned. “I think that sounds like a great idea!”

  He scowled at her, but reluctantly stepped into the impromptu ring, eyeing the women who were about to unleash their new moves on him. It wasn’t exactly how he had anticipated his day going.

  “Okay, the first scenario we’re going to practice is an attack that you can see coming. Austin is going to approach you and try to grab you. I want you to think back to The Karate Kid and the moves you saw there. If you don’t know the movie, think of your hands as clocks,” Amanda explained, demonstrating a half-circle motion with each her arms. “An attacker who’s trying to grab you is going to go for your hand, wrist, or forearm. The windmill is going to keep him from getting a grip on you. This is also an effective way of defending your face from being hit.”

  He and Amanda demonstrated such an exchange, using different approaches before each of the women took their turn fending off his attempts to grab them.

  Amanda applauded everyone as they congratulated each other, and then went on. “The next option is one we all know—a kick to the groin area. I don’t care if your attacker is male or female; a solid foot to that area is going to send them to their knees. Once that happens, you either run or you get in a few more good blows to the face, using your knee,” Amanda said.

  Austin winced at the idea of even gentle demonstrations, and then let out a purposely exaggerated sigh of relief when Amanda motioned him back to his log to observe. Released, he added, “Don’t stop with one kick, ladies. If you see an opening, take it. This is a good way to get an attacker to drop a weapon if they have one.”

  Amanda nodded, and then faced the women again after she’d had them practice some hard kicks into saplings. “Next, we’re going to talk about the heel of your palm. Punching someone hurts, and you can injure your hand if you don’t do it right. Instead of making a fist, use the heel of your hand and shove it at your attacker’s face. Eyes, nose, mouth, jaw, wherever you can hit, do it,” Amanda ordered them.

  “Don’t forget, you have built-in weapons on your body,” Austin told the ladies.

  “Weapons?” Audrey asked.

  “Your elbows, knees, and your head are your built-in weapons. Use them to your advantage. An attack from behind can be fended off by a few sharp elbow thrusts to the rib cage,” he said, rising again to demonstrate how one might jerk their elbow sideways. “A knee to the face, shin, or groin is brutally painful. If you’re pulled against an attacker from front or behind, slam your head against their face. It might sting you, but your head is going to do some damage,” Austin told them.

  Savannah was smiling. “Yep. I’ve used that move to get free from people a couple of times now,” she said proudly.

  Austin swallowed down emotion—some sort of mix of pride and horror over the fact that his daughter could say such a thing now, and so casually—and sat back down as Amanda took center stage again and eyes went to her.

  “Exactly. It doesn’t matter how big or small you are; it’s about using your weight to launch an attack and hitting soft targets,” Amanda confirmed.

  Moving on from there, everyone got in more practice as Amanda educated and guided each of the attacks and more demos, taking it slow and easy on the ladies as they got familiar with the moves. When everyone had broken a real sweat and Amanda declared they were done for a day, it was Audrey who stepped forward to thank both her and Austin.

  “You’re welcome. I hope it has helped give you confidence,” Amanda said. “Hopefully, you’ll never have to use any of these techniques, but if you do, you’ll be ready.”

  “I always said I was going to take one of those classes they offered at the senior center. I never did. I’m glad to learn now,” she said with a smile.

  “Amanda is an excellent teacher,” Austin commented. “You’re lucky you had her.”

  Audrey winked. “She is that and so much more, huh?”

  Austin chuckled as Amanda blushed, not giving the woman the response she was clearly angling for. When everyone had left, he turned to face her.

  She was looking at him expectantly. “What’s up? I know you didn’t come over here to watch me show them how to escape a chokehold.”

  He shook his head with a small smile. “No, not quite. Ennis told me you guys want to hide the horses. That’s a good idea, and I’m done with the outdoor stove—for now, at least. I’ll go with you to scout a location.”

  She sighed out loud. “Thank you. I don’t worry about them wandering off—they’re too lazy and attached to people for that—but I worry about them not having any shelter from rain, and I’d like to make sure we have a place to hide them when strangers are around.”

  “Are you talking about a barn or something permanent?” he asked.

  “I don’t know about building a barn today,” she said sarcastically.

  “But you are talking about a permanent structure?” he clarified.

  She shrugged. “They need shelter. As you said, winter will be here before you know it.”

  “I get it, but I think we can get by with doing something temporary for now.”

  “Temporary?” she questioned.

  “There’s other stuff that needs our attention more than a full barn, Amanda. We need to scout the area, see if there are people close, get an idea of local resources, and know our options for escape, should something happen,” he said. “We need to prioritize. I know the horses need shelter, but we also need to make sure there isn’t an impending attack. Soldiers could be out there right now. Putting our time and energy into building a barn could cost us everything.”

  She stepped closer to him, one hand reaching out to take his. “Austin, I know you’re feeling anxious about staying here—we all are—but on the other hand, this place is too good to pass up. We can take steps to make it more secure.”

  He stared into her eyes. “But what if they come for us anyway?”

  “Then we fight,” she said simply. “We can’t focus all our time and energy on what’s on that USB drive. We have to live. The only way we live is by taking care of things like hunting for food, and building and planning for the future.”

 

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