The McClane Apocalypse: Book Two (3 page)

“A lot of people did that when it first hit. They just picked up and left. Guess they felt safer being away from the cities, which is probably smart,” Kelly tells him

“It was weird. I just saw him the day before, and he was tellin’ me how he’d always had a crush on Allison Daniels at school and that he wished he would’ve asked her out before all this shit happened ‘cuz her and her family went to live in Indiana with her grandparents. Everybody had a crush on her. She was a typical cheerleader type. You know- blonde, pretty, dumb- the kind of girl you’d want to stick on your arm just for a day or two but that dumb-blonde crap would get old real quick? I remember when I got home that day, Dad got mad when he found out I’d sneaked out my window to go and meet up with my friends. We kind of had an argument. He said it was stupid and not safe to do that kind of crap anymore- that we had to be more careful. Little did I know. Guess Dad knew, though. I knew he’d been talking to you, getting updates on what it was like out there, but I think he was trying to protect me and Em. I just thought he was being a pain in my ass. Now I wish he could be a pain in my ass again,” Cory says quietly.

“Yeah, he was good for that; protecting people from the bad, the negative,” Kelly tells his brother and finally stands, taking the bucket full of milk with him. He unhooks his cow, leads her back to the corral in the barn and frees her. She immediately joins up with the rest of the herd and her own baby. He stands next to Cory while he finishes with his own cow and lets him talk a while longer.

“So after I couldn’t find Mike I tried a couple of my other friends’ houses, but they were the same or worse. Some of them were gone and a couple were...,” he says and doesn’t go any further. He doesn’t need to. Kelly knows it’s painful to remember this nightmare. He’s gotten pretty good at suppressing disturbing memories over the years. Men couldn’t be in the military during one of the most war torn times in history and not get into some situations that left them with lifelong nightmares.

“Anyways, I took Em back to the hiding spot behind our house to wait for you like you said to. We’d see headlights driving real slow at night, and I kept hoping it was you and John. But they’d keep on going or sometimes they’d stop and people would run in to the houses real quick and run right back out like they were just lookin’ for something,” Cory says with confusion.

“Probably drugs, Cory. We ran into a lot of that, too, when we were on missions here in the states after the shit hit. I’m just glad we weren’t deployed overseas still. I had a couple friends who weren’t able to catch a flight out and now they’re stuck. But we saw a lot of junkies trying to scavenge for drugs. The drug addicts in our country literally ran out of drugs in about a week and were in a real bad detox. Having California and some of the other big drug importing states gone into the ocean, they ran out of their suppliers, so they were getting desperate and resorting to ransacking drug stores and people’s houses for drugs,” Kelly explains.

“We sure were glad when you guys showed up, though. Man, I just kept thinking: what the hell am I gonna do with Em if Kelly doesn’t show? I sure as shit didn’t know. I mean I think I could’ve taken care of myself- you know, just kept on the move and stolen food and crap I’d need. But Em’s another situation altogether. She’s just a little girl, my little sister,” Cory reflects, showing the maturity that Kelly knew his brother possessed.

Sure, when they all lived their normal lives, he and Em would argue and fight over kid issues, especially with Cory being so much older than Em. He didn’t like her in his room; he didn’t like her bugging him when his friends were over, that kind of thing. Kelly remembers going home on leave and those two would be at each other and his stepmom would be pulling out her hair. She used to lecture them about how they’d come to appreciate and take care of each other someday. Someday came a lot sooner than anyone had ever anticipated. Now Cory is fiercely protective of Em.

A few minutes later, Cory finishes and turns out his cow, and they walk toward the house for the morning meal.

“Cory?” Kelly asks.

“Yeah?” Cory looks up at Kelly, and Kelly realizes that his brother has grown at least an inch taller this summer. Time flies and it’s hard to notice the little things when you’re just trying to stay alive. If Cory has a growth spurt like some boys have at the age of eighteen, like Kelly had, along with all the other ones, then he might just end up being taller than him. It’s hard for Kelly to think of his kid brother being taller than him someday. He’d been deployed so much, missed so much of him growing up.

“Do you wanna’ stay here, man?”

“What do you mean? I thought we were. I don’t wanna’ go anywhere, Kelly. I like it here, and so does Em,” his brother says in an agitated, defensive tone, which instantly makes Kelly feel like shit.

“I just thought maybe we’d take up at the Johnson farm. And me and you and Em could start over there, make a new life for ourselves,” Kelly says, which makes Cory stop in his tracks and put his arm out to his brother to stop him, too.

“No way, Kel. We don’t want that, man. If you feel like you don’t want to stay here, then we could build one of those cabins like you and Derek were talking about, but I don’t want to leave this place. Why would you even want to move?” Cory asks disbelievingly. His words come out in a rush as if he’s panicked. His dark eyes narrow with worry and concern over the idea of leaving the farm, and he runs a hand through his shaggy mop of black hair.

“It’s just an idea, bro. Don’t worry about it. I was thinking more in the spring or something anyways,” Kelly lies smoothly. There’s no sense in going on with this conversation if it causes his brother so much anxiety. The kid has been through enough already.

“Ok, yeah, later or something. Not yet, ok? Em likes it here, and she likes hangin’ with the other kids. And, besides, she needs to hang on to being a kid as long as she can, Kelly. She’d be stuck with just me and you if we moved,” Cory reflects as they walk up the back porch steps, and Kelly is once again reminded of how much his kid brother feels a strong sense of responsibility toward their young sister.

Em just having the two of them is something Kelly hadn’t considered at all when he thought of setting up a life outside of the farm for him and the kids. Em needs to be around the other children, even if Derek and Sue’s kids are younger than her. They do all seem to get along despite their age difference, which is refreshing, and Kelly has even seen Cory pushing the kids on the swings, walking them around patiently on the horses and chasing them through the barn aisles. When there aren’t any other kids to choose from with whom to play or hang out, then they tend to work things out on their own. Plus, Em needs to be around women. It is Kelly who doesn’t need or want that inconvenience, especially when it comes to one woman in particular. And he can hear her humming in the kitchen as he removes his dirty boots, leaving them on the wide, covered back porch.

“Good morning, Miss Hannah,” Cory says as he goes ahead of him through the door.

“Good morning, Cory,” comes her sing-song, airy greeting. It’s like a knife to the gut, and he groans.

“You ok, man?” Cory asks as Kelly walks into the kitchen.

“What? Oh yeah... um, just a sore back muscle is all,” he lies to cover for the real reason behind the groan, which he thought nobody would hear.

“Oh? We have a good liniment for that, Kelly. Hannah can rub it in after breakfast,” Grams says/demands. “My Hannah has some magic in her hands, she does.”

“Yeah? Sounds good huh, Kelly?” Cory razzes, knowing how he feels about Hannah. His brother is a lot more observant than he gave him credit for, and Kelly has been trying to be more reserved, less heart on the sleeve around Hannah because of it. Cory is just fueling the fire and being a pain in the ass.

“No, I’m fine. I don’t need any,” he replies tersely. Hopefully they’ll leave him alone.

“Wouldn’t be a problem for me, Kelly,” Hannah jabs. She’s a sly thing, he’s learned, and likes to get at him when and where she can. As he sets the pail of milk in the pantry, where she is measuring out ingredients, probably flour or something, he can see just her profile and that she has a foxlike grin on her mouth.

“I’m fine, thank-you. Don’t need your liniment crap,” he grinds the last sentence out quietly through his teeth, trying to dissuade her.

“Oh, don’t be silly, son. Herb said there’s a downed tree laying on the horse fence that needs dragged away after breakfast, and you’re going to have even more sore muscles if you don’t do something about it,” Grams admonishes. Hannah isn’t the only woman on the farm with supersonic hearing abilities.

“Yeah, Kelly,” Hannah whispers mischievously. He’d like to take her with her rebellious smile over his knee. He’s never felt the need to spank anyone before, not even Em when she’d gone through her bratty toddler stage, but Hannah McClane is sure bringing out a barbarous need in him to do so.

“Shush,” he whispers sternly as he bends over. “You aren’t rubbing anything on me.”

“Hey guys, what’s going on? Who needs liniment?” Sue asks. “I have it up in my room if you need it. Had to use some on Derek the other night. These old war horses have a lot of sore scar tissue. Oh, and Derek’s just getting old.”

She’s a major pain in his ass, too, when she pokes her nose in where it doesn’t belong. She’s the oldest of the three McClane sisters and seems to take that role very seriously. She’s extremely protective of her younger sisters.

“Hey!” comes Derek’s protest from the other room. “Getting old? That was kinda’ harsh. I’ll show you old.” They are in full jest mode in the kitchen, and Sue is squealing like Derek’s grabbed her.

“I mean it, Hannah. Drop it,” he whispers and leans in to smell her hair. If she knows he’s doing it, she gives no indication of it. Why the hell is he even doing it? Why can he not stop? God, does she smell sexy. It’s a good thing she’s blind or she might actually be fearful of the intensity in his eyes.

“What are you going to do for me if I do?” she asks haughtily. What the hell? Is she bribing him?

“Wh... what do you want?” he asks and hates the helplessness he hears in his voice. He doesn’t take well to sounding impotent, even if it is over a beautiful woman.

“Take me with you on the morning patrol. I heard you tell Cory yesterday that you and he would do the morning patrols over the back of the property until John and Reagan come back. So let me go, too,” she speaks in hushed tones.

Of course she’d heard. What doesn’t she hear? The family in the other room has moved on to the topic of chicken butchering and replenishing the hens who aren’t laying eggs anymore.

“How do you... I mean, how would that work? Can you ride?” he asks uncomfortably.

“Sure, Kelly, I could run a horse right into the broad side of a barn. Silly! I ride behind you!” she makes fun and laughs heartily. She’s the only one who makes light of her blindness. Well, other than Reagan, of course. He’d almost torn into Reagan for it once, but then realized that it was simply the way they were, their sibling hazing. Hannah gets at her rotten sister just as much, maybe more.

“I’m hungry, Mommy!” yells Arianna as she, Justin and Em race into the kitchen in their usual flurry of noise. The rugrat beasts have risen at last.

“Hannah, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he tells her complacently. Her eyes take on a sadness which is almost more than Kelly can stomach.

“Reagan used to take me rather frequently, but she’s always too busy now and I don’t like to be a burden to anyone. I love riding,” she murmurs and shakes her head. “It’s ok; you don’t have to take me.” Great, now he feels like a bigger piece of shit.

“Take you where, honey?” Sue noses from the doorway. Kelly glares over Hannah’s head at her annoying sister. Her brown hair is pulled back in a ponytail that swishes when she walks.

“Nowhere. It doesn’t matter,” Hannah answers her, and Sue turns to leave again because baby Isaac, bless his soul, starts to wail from the other room. Sometimes, Kelly just loves that little dude.

“Here, kids, start carrying platters into the dining room,” Grams shouts above the melee of the children and adults.

“Smells great, Maryanne,” Doc tells his wife in the kitchen.

Even though Kelly is only thirty or so feet from the rest of them and standing just inside a small room with an open door, he feels like they are on an island alone in the middle of the ocean. Hannah always has this effect on him, like it is just the two of them even when they are all together in the music room at night and the kids are playing noisily and the adults are talking loudly so as to be heard over the kids, while John strums at his guitar or argues with the half-pint, Reagan, the bane of his existence.

She reaches overhead on tiptoe with a small glass jar labeled “vanilla,” feeling for where it goes when Kelly takes it from her, easily placing it in its correct, empty spot. Their fingers brush for just an instant which makes him want to throw her to the floor and have his way with her. She also has this effect on him, but he manages to get his self-control in check.

“Be ready to go an hour after breakfast,” he tells her so that the rest of the clan can’t hear. She turns swiftly, almost bumps into his chest, and her face lights up with unabashed glee.

“Really? You’ll take me with you?” she says excitedly with a broad smile.

“Yeah, I said I would so just have your butt ready to go. I’m not going to wait around all day for you to make like ten damn pies or something, either. So be ready!” he brusquely answers to which she aggravatingly laughs at him again.

“I thought you liked my ten damn pies,” she says jauntily. It’s the first time she’s ever sworn in front of him. Hell, it’s probably the first time she’s ever sworn. He grins stupidly and chucks her under the chin.

“Well, maybe make two,” he relents.

And with that, Kelly stalks from the room, bumps into Sue, apologizes and continues toward the dining room in a fit of righteous anger. Why the hell had he said that he’d take her? She’d given him the perfect out and then he went and screwed it up by agreeing to let her go with them. What an idiot! What the hell is wrong with him? She gives him one sad story and a pair of puppy eyes, and he changes his whole conviction so easily? What a puss.