Chapter 15 #2
Melly raised her hand. “Are there people in need of care? I understood there was a nurse practitioner—”
“Doris Hampner and she’ll be glad to see you. It’s a big responsibility watching over all the folks here and I think she’s burned out.”
“We’re only here for a day,” Jeff said immediately.
“But I’ll see as many people as I can,” Melly rushed to add. “After I have a chance to consult with Ms. Hampner of course.”
The housekeeper nodded and folded her hands on her apron. “All right, I’ll leave you to settle in if there aren’t any questions?”
“Thank you for making such a fuss over our arrival,” Tamsyn said, feeling she was supposed to be the primary guest and spokesperson.
Mrs. Christie had given her the master bedroom, which embarrassed Tamsyn a bit, since she felt Jeff and Melly should have it, as he was in command. She’d share with Cody of course.
“Dinner’s in forty minutes now,” Mrs. Christie said as she lingered on the threshold. “Mr. Norwood likes people to be prompt to the table.” With a wave she descended the steps and walked away.
“Being here is like we’ve gone back in time to before the outbreak,” Tamsyn said, looking at the faces of her companions. “They’re trying hard to keep life going as if nothing had happened, aren’t they?”
“I’m guessing he has the resources to do that,” Jeff said. “For a while. Unless he’s putting on a show for us, which doesn’t make much sense.”
“I’ve visited here before, although it was a long time ago, and it was the same,” Tamsyn told him.
“Mrs. Christie was younger. Well, we all were. My Dad was here on a buying trip. He wanted to add to our herd’s gene pool and strengthen the bloodlines.
” Her throat ached with unshed tears. Memories were assaulting her.
Cody came to her, taking her elbow and then giving her a side hug. “We’d better get a move on if we’re going to show up at this guy’s dinner table on time as ordered.”
“Why am I tempted to be late just to see what happens?” Ryan quipped.
Jeff shook his head. “Bad idea. This guy’s the ruler of his isolated domain here and I want to pick his brain on the situation in this area so no offending him unless we have to.”
Tamsyn and Cody ascended the stairs to the master bedroom suite, closing the door behind them when they reached the room. “You doing okay?” he asked her.
“I’m working on it,” she admitted.
Pulling her in for a hug, Cody rubbed her back. “You’re doing fine. I know the captain appreciates your getting us in here for intel gathering.”
“Right now I’d like to take a long bubble bath in the tub in there and then spend a few hours in this bed with you,” she said.
“But the feast awaits,” Cody said with a rueful grin. “Do you suppose he’ll feed us beef?”
She laughed. “Undoubtedly, even now in the middle of an apocalypse, Perry will want to show off the quality of his product. I did too—remember that dinner I fixed for you and the others?”
“The steaks were awesome,” he replied, rubbing his stomach. “Best I’ve ever had. I’m sure Perry can’t do better.”
The dinner was long and cozy, although there were quite a few people at the table.
Perry sat at the head of course and he insisted Tamsyn sit to his right.
One of his sons ended up at the foot of the table and her group and his family were seated alternately around the gleaming wood.
Zach had managed to be placed next to Fleur, the AGcycle riding daughter and Jeff was opposite Tamsyn with Melly next to him.
She had the oldest Norwood son for her dinner partner and Cody was down the table next to Esme, one of the younger daughters.
Perry informed her Esme was in charge of his drone fleet and other tech aspects of running the ranch and had been in line for a cushy job in the capital city running a government high tech center before the flu hit.
Jeff told their story, of how he and his team were retired Special Forces soldiers, come to the planet to take up veterans’ acres and ranch.
Tamsyn didn’t think Perry was buying the story any more than she had when they explained it to her but he courteously allowed the captain to continue, relating how the soldiers had set the planetwide warn-off beacon and escaped the capital city in the ‘borrowed’ APC’s.
She was sure he glossed over a lot of things, including details she remembered him sharing with her at her ranch.
Melly briefly interjected her share of the tale, being a newly licensed doctor coming home to Randal Four to take a job at the hospital in the capital but instead landing all unknowing in the middle of the apocalypse.
Her parents had died at home and her brother had survived in a shelter her prepper father had built.
“Jeff and the guys saved my life,” she said, “When a swarm of the infected came at us from the spaceport terminal. It was close but we made it to safety.”
Tamsyn gave an overview of what had happened to her town of Rosewater and a laconic recap of the events on her ranch, culminating in her sending the two school buses full of refugees off to safety while she fled to her own ranch, meeting Melly and Jeff and the others on the way.
“And now here we are,” Jeff concluded. “On our way to our veterans’ acres claim to set ourselves up to survive the apocalypse.” No mention of his greater mission, to get to the root cause of the infected situation and take action to resolve it.
“How about you?” Tamsyn asked Perry as he toyed with his glass of wine. “What happened here?”
“First inkling of what was going on came when the buyer from Amalgamated Foods came on his regular quarterly trip,” Perry said.
“We didn’t know it at the time but he’d been bitten.
He was staying in the guest house and the maids reported he was terribly ill.
Hadn’t turned yet of course. I drove him to the hospital in Millersville myself, took two of the hands with me.
I didn’t care for the situation there, nor for how he was treated, or what we weren’t told.
The hospital was overwhelmed with people bringing in sick family members and friends.
Whole situation stunk to high heaven. When I got home I started putting the word out quietly to my family and a few close friends to get their asses up here to the ranch before it was too late.
” His hand clenched around the stem of the wineglass and Tamysn was afraid it was going to snap.
“Some people ignored me. Others didn’t make it.
We had a couple arrive who’d been bitten or scratched, had to deal with that.
” He swallowed a gulp of the wine like it was water.
“New graves in the family cemetery up there on the bluff. Clearly the government was covering up the severity of the situation. I tried to warn you and the other ranchers, tried to get us connected as a group to organize the north here to survive.”
“I remember,” she said. “The holo network went down in the middle of what you were saying.”
“It was cut off. After that I concentrated on what I could control which was this place and my people. I gave the employees the option to bring their close family members in if they wanted to and then we closed up tight. No one else allowed in and if anyone leaves they know they can’t come back.
I intend to hold onto what we have come hell or high water or swarms of infected. ”
“From what I saw on the way in, you’ve got good defenses set up,” Jeff said.
“We’ve been caught by a swarm a time or two so we’ve seen them in action.
For all they shamble and stagger, get enough of them in one place and it’s like being swarmed by bugs.
Relentless. Standard combat techniques don’t work on mindless killing things. ”
“You didn’t see the full extent of what I’ve got ready,” Perry said, lips curving as if he’d pulled off a coup, keeping his secrets from their eyes.
“I’m ready for that bastard Ruger to look my way, or the good people of Millersville to get covetous.
What’s here is mine and I’ll defend it and my family and my people to the death. ”
There was a strong murmur of approval from those at the table as his sons and daughters, in-laws and the ranch foreman agreed with the sentiment.
“Ruger? Is he the guy who committed atrocities in Verder’s Ford?” Jeff asked.
“The same. Blowhard from the south, came up here with a gang of bullies and established himself in the town at first. Took it over eventually, executed the mayor, the town council and a few others as you saw.” The old rancher made a sound of disgust. “Damn fools in the town were taking in refugees without a concern for who they might be allowing into their sheep pens. A wolf like Ruger had no problem getting in and then showing his true colors.”
“And what’s the situation in Millersville?” was Jeff’s follow-up question.
“They did take a lesson from what happened in Verder’s Ford,” Perry said with grudging approval. “Mayor in Millersville is pretty smart. He’s made it into a fortress town and they’re picky about who they let in. Once in, you don’t get out. He’d be happy to have you and your fancy vehicles.”
The captain laughed politely and drank his wine. “Not happening.”
“Road to Glastine goes through the town, as I’m guessing you know.
Only other way is to try and make it around the town going overland.
They’ve set up a corridor for passage through the edge of Millersville but hardly let anyone go through.
They ain’t friendlies in that town, not now.
Too many incidents. Ruger’s attacked them once, testing their defenses if you ask me and they fought him off. ”
“And you sent my two buses full of innocent people there?” Tamsyn couldn’t disguise her anger.