Austin nodded. Malachi could see the strain on his face, though; the little wrinkles at the corners of his eyes looked more pronounced than he’d seen in the past week. He looked rather relieved now that there seemed to be no argument from Tonya about staying away from the city, but Malachi knew that this new information would also mean he’d be more worried than ever about supplies.

  “Can you talk with the others and let them know I’d like to have a meeting, the entire household, tonight?” Austin asked, his voice weary.

  Malachi nodded. “I will. Before or after dinner?”

  Austin turned to Amanda, as he tended to do. She shrugged. “I think after dinner would be better—people will be in a better mood to listen.”

  “After dinner it is. We’ll need to eat in here. It looks like it’s going to rain,” Austin commented as they left the kitchen.

  “Oh! I’ll get the buckets and pots ready!” his mother exclaimed, hurriedly brushing her hands of flour.

  “I’ll help you, Mom,” Malachi said, already moving into action.

  It was something they had talked about during the last rainstorm. They’d realized they’d missed an opportunity to catch water, extending their supply. Now, he opened the lower cupboard and pulled out two large stockpots while his mother went for the empty buckets in the pantry. Together, they walked outside towards the edge of the house.

  “This should be good enough,” his mom said, placing the buckets on the ground under the corner of the roof.

  “Should I put these next to the buckets?” Malachi asked.

  “No, let’s put those at the back corner. We’ll get more water from the roof at the inside corner of the roofline,” she said, pointing to the area where the roof formed a small L shape.

  He placed the pots on the ground. “This should work. Do you think we’ll fill them?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “Depending on how much rain we get. Your father and I, back when we were first starting out on the road, we used to do this when we were dry camping. Every time we thought it was going to rain, we put out every empty pot and bucket we could find!” she said, smiling at the memory

  “Why not fill up at a park?”

  “They would charge us! Plus, we liked the idea of being resourceful. I never realized those hard times would actually pay off. I learned a lot back then,” she said fondly, patting him on the shoulder as they headed back toward the house’s entrance.

  “What do you think he would want us to do?” Malachi asked, unable to shake the feeling he was letting his father down.

  She sighed and came to a stop beside him, looked up at the sky and then into his eyes. “I think your father would want us to be safe and survive. I don’t know if this is our future, but it is what is best for all of us right now. I think we need to pray on it and let God guide us.”

  Malachi nodded, not feeling all that confident in this guidance system. It seemed to be quiet as of late. He felt stranded at sea, floating adrift with no real plan.

  “How will we know?” he asked after another moment.

  She smiled. “We won’t know. We let our hearts lead us. Malachi, I want you to know that while I believe you are the true successor to your father’s ministry, I am by no means putting the weight of the future on your shoulders. I do not expect you to make decisions for all of us. The others—Gretchen, Drew, Audrey, and the rest of them—they can make up their own minds. Some of them have relied on your father for a long time and are still looking for that guidance. You and I, we’ll make decisions together, but you can in no way feel responsible for everyone. You remember that, alright?”

  He let out a breath, and then leaned in to give her a tight hug. “Thank you. I want to do right by Dad. I want to make him proud.”

  “You do, and you will,” she assured him, patting his back. “Put this in God’s hands and let’s worry about today and maybe tomorrow,” she said as she pulled back from him, meeting his eyes so that he could see the familiar serenity he was used to observing in her slowly coming back.

  He smiled at the sight of it, thrilled to finally feel sure that his mother was healing from her grief, to the extent that she could. He’d been worried she would give up altogether and leave him all alone in the world. She was coming back, though, and he sensed she was a little stronger than she’d been before. Together, the two of them could take over the ministry and hopefully continue to spread the Word, even if it was more dangerous than ever to do so.

  19

  The kitchen and dining area were packed, with some of the household even sitting on buckets of freeze-dried food. The news about what they had seen had spread, and everyone was waiting to hear a plan for what happened next. And Austin knew what he thought should happen, but he wasn’t a one-man army. The decision had to be left to a democracy if they were going to avoid frustration all around.

  Ennis was barely talking to him since their last confrontation, which had made things more than tense. He glanced to his right as everyone settled, catching eyes with Ennis as he stood next to him, making sure his place as the leader of the house was well-established. The two of them would be a united front in leadership, at least, though Austin felt sure everyone in the room could read the lasting tension between them. And it wasn’t as if they agreed on what needed to happen next—they only agreed that it was the two of them who had to step up and force the group to plan for the future.

  “I’m sure you’ve all heard what happened on our trip last night,” Austin started, looking at the faces around the room.

  “Right, but what does it mean for us?” Harlen asked.

  “It means we need to do everything we can to hide up here,” Ennis replied.

  Austin looked at him. “That’s one option.”

  Ennis raised his eyebrows. “Don’t tell me you really think we can fight against the multitude of forces present in the city?”

  Austin shrugged. “I don’t know about all of them, but we do know there’s one driving force behind what’s happening there.”

  “I think hunkering down, keeping our heads low, and avoiding any trips to the city is the best option,” Wendell said, having the nerve to actually stand up as if that would make his opinion more valuable.

  Ennis nodded. “Exactly. We have what we need right here. We don’t need to mess with the city.”

  “I don’t want to go back to the city, but we don’t have everything we need,” Austin argued, looking around to meet everyone’s eyes and make sure they were taking in the whole of the situation. “We need medicine. We’ll need more clothing, supplies to build housing, a sustainable food source, and everything else required for day-to-day living.”

  “I thought you said we can’t go back,” Malachi said, confusion on his face.

  Austin took a deep breath. “I don’t think it’s safe, but I’ve been thinking about it some more, and I think we could go back to the outer suburbs or head south to some of the smaller towns. That first trip we took, to the luxury suburbs, we didn’t run into any issues.”

  “It would take a day or two to get to any of the towns south of here,” Ennis replied.

  “We have the horses,” Amanda replied.

  Ennis shook his head. “That’s stupid and dangerous. You could lead people right back to the front door.”

  “You think we should hide up here and never leave?” Harlen asked, one bushy brow raised.

  Ennis nodded, though his hesitation was clear. “I’m not saying never, but why leave? Why tempt fate?”

  “I don’t know if I can get on board with that. What if I decide to leave?” Harlen asked.

  Austin looked at Ennis to see what his response would be. Ennis actually turned to Wendell, which infuriated Austin. He didn’t see Wendell as a leader. He didn’t even think the guy was a valuable member of the household—he certainly had yet to prove himself as such.

  Ennis cleared his throat. “Obviously, you are free to leave at any time. My only request is you not tell anyone about this place. And if you think to come back, you’ll need to be careful you aren’t followed.”

  “How is that fair?” Ezra asked.

  Austin traded looks with his brother but could see that he was just as confused as he was. “Fair?” he questioned.

  “If he leaves, and we all stay and build the cabins and do what it takes to make this place better, why does he get to come back in after the hard work is done? I think there should be a vote about who gets let in after they’ve left,” Ezra argued.

  Austin took a moment before he nodded. “He makes a good point, assuming someone left for more than a day or two.”

  “Well, it isn’t his house and he doesn’t get to make the rules,” Wendell snapped.

  “And you do?” Amanda shot back.

  “He’s my guest,” Ennis replied, shooting a glare at Amanda. “And… yeah, that makes sense. We can decide on some time frame. If someone disappears for whatever amount of time we decide on, then they’re considered out. We’d all have to decide to let them back in.”

  Austin shook his head at the debate—they were assuming this place was safe. He raised his hand to stop the discussion and met his brother’s eyes. “Back up for a second. What if we use the information we have on this group to shut them down?” Austin asked, looking at Nash as he finally brought up the idea that had been festering in the back of his mind.

  “How could we use information?” Drew asked.

  “There has to be some member or organization of our old government in place somewhere. We find them and give them the information about the tactics this NWO is using. There’s more information to be deciphered in the files. The answer might be there,” Austin reasoned.

  The expressions on the faces of the people sitting around the room told him well enough that they didn’t like the idea. He could admit it was an idea lacking any guarantees, but it had merit. He turned to look at Amanda, expecting her to have his back.

  She only shrugged. “I think you have the right idea, but we’d have to find those people and then we’d have to hope they have the resources to fight back against this group. And we’d be putting ourselves in danger to do it.”

  Austin let out a sigh. “I just hate the idea that we sit back and do nothing. We know what they are planning to do. We’ve seen the death and destruction they’re causing. Are you all really okay with letting it happen? Some of you were very adamant we go into town to help people. What if we could help the entire world by shutting this thing down?”

  “I don’t think we’re a strong enough group to do anything to stop it,” Tonya commented in a soft voice.

  Gretchen looked at her and smiled, reaching out to put her hand on Tonya’s. Then she faced Austin, and although she spoke gently, it was clear she spoke for most of the revivalists. “I agree. You all know how much we wanted to do something to help, but we have talked about this, and we believe there will be a time to help those who have survived… but that time isn’t now. We cannot be of any help spreading the gospel if we are dead.”

  “I’m not talking about helping a few individuals or preaching to anyone,” Austin told her flatly. “I’m saying we need to do something to stop this whole thing—to literally bring light back to the world.”

  Ennis made a choking sound. “Oh, you’re going to save the world single-handedly? You always did think of yourself as a hero.”

  Austin made a move towards Ennis, but Amanda stopped him, reaching out and grabbing his arm.

  “I don’t think Austin wants to be a hero. We all want a chance to go back to a normal life, right?” Amanda asked.

  “Yes, but how we can do that?” Tonya asked.

  Austin shrugged, ignoring his brother for the moment. “I don’t know, but I know sitting up here with our heads in the sand isn’t the way to get that done. What about the future? Do we want to leave this mess for Malachi and Savannah to inherit? We’re not going to live forever, and I for one do not want to leave my daughter in this world to try and survive with the way things are looking now. We’re talking about the end of freedom. Our kids will be forced to be indentured to that group or killed. Do you want Malachi to be forced to be one of their soldiers? He would be commanded to kill or be killed.”

  “That seems a little dramatic,” Wendell scoffed.

  Austin turned to glare at him. “Really? And what about supplies? Let’s talk about what you care about, huh? What do you think happens when we run out of booze, Wendell? Are you going to go into the city and find some or are you going to dry out?”

  Ennis gave him a dirty look but didn’t say anything. Wendell snapped his mouth closed, his lips forming a tight line. His dirty little secret wasn’t really a secret at all. Everyone in the house knew he’d been hitting the bottle hard, whether Wendell realized everyone was aware of it or not.

  Tonya held up her hand as if to stop the in-fighting, and met Austin’s eyes. “Of course, I don’t want to imagine a future that involves Malachi killing others, but we cannot be the only ones who’ve survived and are in hiding. Our military has to be around, somewhere.”

  Austin smirked. “Yes, I’m sure they are. I’m sure we met some of them, too; they were wearing a different uniform and pledging allegiance to a different leader.”

  “We can’t change the world, Austin,” Ennis snapped.

  “Why can’t we?” he shot back.

  Wendell made another scoffing sound that nearly pushed the last button of Austin’s already frayed nerves.

  “I think it makes sense to wait it out,” Harlen chimed in again.

  “For how long?” Austin asked in all seriousness. If they were going to put a hold on acting, then he wanted a date—something to work towards.

  “As long as it takes. We’ll hunt, we’ll fish, and we’ll trap and build new shelters,” Ennis said. “If the pioneers could do it, we can!”

  There were a lot of nodding heads and smiles around the room. Austin took it all in with a pit opening up in his stomach. They had this romantic notion about the pioneer days. Like this was a new start instead of a dangerous ending. He felt like finding a history book and reminding them all about how hard it had been in those glorious pioneering days, and just how many people had died while trying to survive. And they’d been prepared.

  “That is one way to look at it. I’m hopeful we can do it,” Gretchen replied with a hopeful smile on her face.

  Fine for her, but it was hope Austin didn’t feel. He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in the house. He didn’t want his daughter to have to spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, waiting to be kidnapped or killed by the soldiers. He didn’t want her to worry about getting a cut that could become infected and kill her because she had no access to medicine.

  “How long do you think it will be before they start searching the mountains?” Austin asked, looking at his brother.

  “I don’t know, but I guess we better figure out how to defend this place a little better.”

  “I agree,” Harlen chimed in.

  “Me, too,” Drew added.

  From there, it was a resounding yes to Ennis’s plan to try and hide in the prepper house for as long as possible. Austin had to content himself with the fact that, at the very least, nobody was arguing that defense was unnecessary. But as the group broke into clusters of people talking hopefully about what could be done to safeguard their little piece of heaven, he couldn’t even bring himself to participate. It felt, to him, like welcoming in danger.

  “Alright then. I’m going to bed,” Austin muttered, walking out of the kitchen.

  He half-expected Amanda to follow. She didn’t.

  Alone, he headed upstairs, exhausted from the long journey and the lack of sleep the night before. He was ready to crawl into bed and sleep off the irritation at the situation. It felt wrong to him.

  He couldn’t remember whose turn it was to take the bed in the room, and opted for one of the beds on the floor. He was tired enough that it wouldn’t bother him a bit to sleep on the hard floor. A soft knock on the door followed by the door opening grabbed his attention. He looked up and saw Nash coming in. He looked as tired as Austin was.

  “I’m with you,” Nash blurted out, stripping off his jeans and climbing into another one of the set-ups on the floor.

  “Really? How so?” Austin asked.

  “I think we have information that could shut this whole thing down. Do I think we’d be saving the world? No, but I do think we would stop these people from taking it over, and maybe give the good guys a chance to fight back,” he said.

  Austin felt relieved to know he had at least one person on his side. “So, what do we do? How do we get it into the hands of someone who could do something about it?” Austin asked.

  “I don’t know—yet. I’m going to keep digging into that information. There has to be something that will reveal their Achilles’ heel. Once we find it, we exploit it.”

  “When Callum gave it to me, he told me to give it to someone in Washington. That’s a long way away,” he muttered.

  “Yeah, but we aren’t far from Cheyenne Mountain. Maybe we get there and see if it’s been overrun. There’s a chance our government and military are still operating, but that they’ve been pushed underground. The information might help them understand what they’re up against,” Nash explained. “Maybe your friend only told you to take it to Washington because that was the closest option where you could find major government he felt could be trusted. Or because he thought your contacts were there.”

  Austin thought about it. “You could be right, and I think that’s a better idea than sitting around and waiting for the other shoe to drop. They have to realize we can’t sit here and wait for something good to happen. This place isn’t that secure, and doing nothing will result in nothing.”

  “We’ll figure out a plan soon. For now, we keep this to ourselves and go on like nothing is different,” Nash said, his voice revealing his exhaustion.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81