The McClane Apocalypse: Book One (55 page)

“Reagan, Sue, you two need to wrap it up so that she can get some sleep,” Grandpa says from the doorway.

Apparently Reagan will have to reconcile this problem in her own mind. It is unfortunate that Sue can’t help her or give her advice on the subject because it would have been something that their mother would’ve been so good at. She firmly believes that if their mother was still alive she’d know how to fix Reagan. She’d been so in tune with her girls, so close with them.

They head to the hall, where Grandpa grabs Reagan swiftly and hugs her. Reagan doesn’t pull away, but she grimaces where Grandpa can’t see. She gives him a quick pat-pat on the back, and he releases her. Derek has already departed, probably taking care of the children with Kelly and Grams, which leaves just the four of them.

“See ya’ in a few days,” Reagan says to Sue and sprints up the stairs before Sue can hug her, too. John laughs quietly behind his hand, and Sue smiles and shakes her head with disbelief. Grandpa turns to John next and hugs him, which is surprising to Sue.

“Take care of my girl, John,” he says.

“Guard her with my life, sir,” John swears vehemently, and the fierce look in his eyes almost frightens Sue because the depth of feeling John has for her sister is so intense. The thought of John giving his life to save Reagan scares the hell out of Sue. She just wants both of them to return safely to the farm. She’s not willing to give up either of them because she loves them so.

“Take care of yourself, too. Come back safe, son,” Grandpa says next as if he feels the same anxiety as Sue had at that moment.

“Yes, sir,” John answers solemnly, and they shake hands. When they release each other’s hands, Grandpa turns to Sue, pats her shoulder and leaves.

“Sue,” John says and opens his arms to her, which she steps into readily.

“Be careful, Johnny,” she whispers, squeezes and steps away before she loses it.

“You got it,” John returns and leaves her to take the stairs two at a time to the third floor.

Too pent up to sleep, Sue sits in her rocker in the music room again to quietly reflect on the coming days. She won’t sleep until her sister and beloved brother-in-law come home safely. None of them will. John and Reagan are an integral part of the family dynamic, and the family will never recover should they not return. If John radios for help from Kelly and Derek, then there will only be a slim chance of them getting there in time to offer assistance even if they take a vehicle, unless John has a safe place to take Reagan and hide.

“Miss Sue, Derek needs help with Justin,” Cory says from the door. Never a moment’s rest on the farm! “Isaac’s fussing and Justin doesn’t want to get his shower. He says he doesn’t need one.” Cory says this last statement on a laugh.

“I’m coming, Cory,” she answers with a smile. Never a moment’s rest but also some of the best memories of her life are being made here.

Epilogue

Herbert McClane

He awakens at half past four because he can’t seem to stay asleep. Whenever sleep had eluded him in the past, which was quite often, he found that research and study would help. However, it’s probably not going to help much this time. He’s far too worried about his granddaughter and John to find sleep anyways. If John Harrison wasn’t such a highly trained soldier, then Herb would’ve never agreed to allow him to take Reagan with him to the city.

Pulling on his robe and slippers, Herb leaves his room and heads to the kitchen for coffee before he will hole up in his study for some busywork. As he’s pouring himself stale coffee because the family can’t afford to dump it and make fresh every day, Herb peers out at the horse barn where a dim light from inside spills into the small barnyard in front of it. There is a thick coating of silvery, eerie fog which has settled in on the valley and shrouds his farm and the rolling hills in mystery.

A moment later Reagan and John extinguish the lights, exit the barn and mount their respective horses. The pack horse is being tugged along after John’s. They ride silently away as the mist swallows them whole. Herb has a stab of regret hit him square in the chest as Reagan disappears from his line of site. His granddaughters are the most important people in this world to him with the exception of his Maryanne. He’s always been so protective of his girls. He’s always been able to take care of them. This feeling of absolute helplessness does not sit well in his gut.

Working on research is a long way off as he sips at his coffee, so he decides to sit on the back porch swing until sunrise. Hopefully inspiration will come to him here as he watches the first gray streaks of dawn come across the horizon above the tall pines and oaks of the forest surrounding his farm a little over an hour later.

““Morning, Herb,” Kelly says as he comes onto the back porch to pull on his work-boots. He’s a hardworking, loyal man and has earned Herb’s respect since coming to his farm to live.

“Kelly,” Herb says simply. The young man keeps looking behind him back into the kitchen as if he’s anticipating something or someone.

“Gonna start the milking, sir,” he says, though Herb already knows this. Kelly and his brother both work their tails off around the farm and, for this alone, he’s grateful to have them.

“Good morning, Kelly!” Hannah says brightly to which Kelly laces his boots more expediently and only acknowledges Herb’s granddaughter with a pained half grin and a strange shake of his head.

He finally murmurs, “Good morning, Miss Hannah.”

“Good morning, Grandpa,” she says with her normal good cheer.

“Good morning, honey,” Herb tells her. His little Hannah could light up a room with her jubilant, joy-filled demeanor. “You’re up even earlier than usual.”

“I couldn’t sleep. I’m too worried about Reagan and John,” she says with such ease, not caring of how openly she exposes her tender feelings to the world.

“They’ll be fine, Miss Hannah. John won’t let anything happen to your sister,” Kelly tells her before Herb can even appease her. There’s a deep furrow between Kelly’s thick, black brows. He obviously doesn’t like to see Hannah in distress. It’s not the worst thing. Herb is glad that this big soldier should be so concerned about his innocent granddaughter.

“I’ll just be glad when they come home. I don’t like any of the family to be away from the farm,” she confesses as she twines that braid around her slim fingers just like Maryanne does.

“They’ll be back,” Kelly promises before he leaves for the barn, but not before he turns back once to look at her over his massive shoulder.

Hannah goes inside and a half an hour later, Maryanne joins him on the swing with their new great-grandson swaddled in her arms. She simply takes his hand in hers as they swing quietly for a while. No words are necessary. They’ve been married long enough to read the other’s mind.

One by one the children bound out the back door, slamming the screen door as they go. They run for the coop to let out the chickens and resume their play from the previous day like they do every day it seems. The sun is fully crested over the cow barn as he and Maryanne continue to sit and swing. The children’s squeals and giggles of merriment warm his heart and work to slightly lessen the stress he feels. Children are like that. They can heal you if you just let them.

He can’t stop the worry over his entire family that slowly creeps back into his heart as he watches the little ones play with carefree abandon. Justin chases a chicken as the girls swing to and fro on the swing-set. Herb wonders what their lives will bring, what future they’ll have. But he knows that as long as they stick together, everything will be better and everyone will be safer. Whether or not Kelly will stay on his farm, however, Herb isn’t sure. Likely, he will leave soon, though Hannah will be broken hearted over it. But Kelly Alexander is an adult man and Herb doesn’t have the power or authority to make him stay.

He has no doubts about Derek and Sue even if they build the cabin in the rear of the property. They’ll never leave here, and for this Herb is thankful. Derek is a good man who is helpful with security and has always been a good husband to Sue and a good father to their children.

His biggest concern for the future is Reagan. He’s starting to have his doubts that she will ever fully recover from her ordeal at the university. She’s so intelligent, beyond even Herb’s intellect, but this seed of fear that has taken over his granddaughter is so deep that he’s afraid she will always be damaged from it. Perhaps John will be able to work through her difficulties with her since he seems to be a man of many scars, as well. He is also a good man, John Harrison, but his demons have planted a darkness inside of him that Herb can see when the man’s guard is down. If anyone can help his granddaughter, it might just be John. Getting her to see or accept this is not something Herb is sure will ever happen, though.

But for now he has his family and they are safe and together, and all he needs is for two of them to come home safely again from the city. He’s content to sit and rock a while longer as he ponders the future of his family. He holds his Maryanne’s hand tightly and it gives him a bit more fortitude to find some positivity to this bleak, new world. She’s so much like Hannah, breathing life and hope into everything and everyone around them.

Lately he’s had a lot of time to think about everything that’s happened in the world and how it will affect his life, his family’s lives. He feels confident that the McClane family will go on, will survive these strange times. Survival is the only thing any of them can do now. And for now that’s all that any of them can focus on. Survival and family and staying together on this farm are all they have left.

Look for Book Two of The McClane Apocalypse

Coming July 4
th
, 2014!