Lamp Black: Second Edition, Disaster, Preparedness, Survival, Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 2) (15 page)

“Go ahead, Dog. Was that you that just drove by . . . over?”

John could hear the emotion and curiosity in Jenna’s voice. “Yes,” he replied, “I meant to tell you earlier. I need to stop at . . .” He released the talk button and looked at Adam, “What’s Corbin’s call sign?”

“Bird,” replied Adam.

He rekeyed the mike and said, “We need to stop at, Bird’s house to get a few things. Do you want me to drop off Snake? Over,” finished John.

“No, no, everything is fine here. We’re just wondering what you’re up to . . . over,” replied Jenna.

“I don’t want to talk about it over the radio, but we’re stopping for supplies. I’ll explain everything when we return. Over,” said John.

“OK, but please be careful. I’ll call to check on you guys in a few minutes.”

“OK. No worries. We love you. Dog, out.” John dropped his hand from the vest mounted radio and looked at Adam. “Corbin will be staying with us for a while, so we’ll need his clothes. His room is upstairs . . . the first one on the left. Don’t go into any other bedrooms, OK, Adam?”

Adam nodded.

“Just Corbin’s room,” continued John. “I’ll give you a couple garbage bags for his stuff. I just want you to load up all his clothes, clean or dirty, nothing fancy, no dress stuff, just his useful clothes. And grab his bedding, pillows and blankets. Any questions?”

“Yes, sir. What about his other stuff, you know, like his pictures, and toothbrush,” asked Adam.

“Do what you can, but don’t worry too much about what he needs beyond his clothes. We have everything he might need . . . more than enough for him to be comfortable. But unless you want to share your clothes, grab what you can and stuff it in a bag.” John saw concern begin to line Adam’s face, and he reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. “No worries, son. We can always come back with Corbin when the opportunity presents itself. For now, just do the best you can.”

“OK, dad. Hey, how long do you think Corbin will be staying with us?” asked Adam.

As John backed into Corbin’s driveway, he said, “As long as he wants.”

“Cool,” said Adam.

“Perhaps, but let’s keep in mind the conditions of his arrival. He just lost both his parents, so he’s probably not going to think it’s cool,” said John, as he set the vehicle’s parking brake.

“You’re right, dad, I didn’t mean it like that,” said Adam.

“I know. Just be sensitive to his emotions until he comes to terms with everything. OK. Are you ready?” asked John. Adam nodded. “Good, then let’s get busy.” John jumped out, secured the pistol belt around his waist, and slipped his tactical vest over his shoulders. Adam followed him in, but John could feel his son’s apprehension about entering a house where a dead person remained. Adam was growing up much faster than John wanted, but he was proud of him, how he was dealing with so much change. John grabbed the box of contractor-grade garbage bags from the garage, and pulled five from the roll. He handed them to Adam while reiterating his instruction to only grab what he thought Corbin would need. He watched Adam climb the stairs, flashlight in hand, and turn into Corbin’s bedroom. Satisfied that Adam was on track with his mission, John turned his attention to the kitchen.

“First the food,” he said aloud. John started by putting everything from Beth’s pantry into the same heavy-duty plastic garbage bags he gave to Adam. When he finished, he had four loaded bags sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. He found little else of interest in the kitchen, at least in terms of food, but he did collect Beth’s well-seasoned set of cast-iron skillets. He hesitated to leave Beth’s spices, but decided he could always come back and get them if Jenna wanted them. After a last quick look through the cupboards, John moved into the entryway and called up to Adam, “Adam, I’ll be in the garage!”

“OK, dad!” replied Adam.

John was rummaging through a toolbox when Adam joined him in the garage. “I’m done with Corbin’s stuff. Do you want me to take the bags to the truck?”

“I do, but we should load it with the kitchen stuff first. Can you manage that?” asked John.

“No sweat, dad,” replied Adam, and he turned to leave.

John reached up and pulled a box down from the shelf above the workbench. It contained what looked like a loose collection of cables and wire, but they were cut into measured lengths and capped with lead crimps. “This is interesting,” said John.

“What’s interesting?” asked Adam, as he walked over to look in the box.

John dumped the box onto the workbench and said, “What do you think this stuff is?” he asked, as he held up a single loop of cable.

“I don’t know,” said Adam, “It looks like some kind of . . . tool part, like a lawnmower cable or something.”

“You’re right, it’s a tool, but not what you think. It’s an animal snare,” said John. He saw Adam’s confused but interested expression. “It works something like this,” said John. “You position the loop somewhere near the ground, like by a tree or something that can serve as an anchor, and when an animal moves through the loop, head first, it draws the cable tight around its neck. And this piece here,” said John, as he pointed to a small metal bracket that was threaded through the cable, “locks the cable in place so the animal can’t back out of the loop. It becomes tighter and tighter the harder the animal pulls on it. They strangle themselves,” finished John. He then demonstrated the mechanics of the snare around his wrist.

“So it chokes them out?” asked Adam.

“Yeah, you can say that,” replied John.

“Why not just shoot the animal instead?” asked Adam, incredulously.

“Well, shooting makes noise, for one. Also, you have to see them to shoot them.” John dug through the box and pulled out a smaller snare
made of thinner cable, and a spool of wire. “Here, see these, they’re for smaller animals, like squirrels and game birds.”

Adam held up the largest of the snares and asked, “What kind of animal do you think this one is for?”

John, who was still tinkering with a smaller snare, looked at it and said, “Something big, like a dog, or a boar.”

“Wow! Really, that would be cool to see,” replied Adam. “Can I have them?”

“What . . . the box of snares?” John watched Adam nod and replied, “Everything we take from this house belongs to Corbin. Besides, maybe he already knows how to use them. But we’re taking them because they might come in handy,” said John. He reloaded the box and handed it to Adam. “Put this in the truck, too.”

John searched the rest of the garage, but found nothing he needed or didn’t already have. He returned to the living room and quickly passed through the downstairs area, carefully looking for anything useful. When he completed his circuit of the entire downstairs, John caught Adam’s attention, “Adam! How are we looking for space in the truck?”

“Good, dad. We still have plenty of room.”

“Are you done loading the food?”

“Just put the last bag in. Why?”

“Good. Do you see this bookshelf here?” asked John, as he pointed to the floor to ceiling bookshelf standing next to the fireplace.

“Yesss,” replied Adam, drawing out his reply like a snake. “Why?”

John shook his head. “While I’m upstairs, I want you to go through this library . . .”

“Library? That’s not a library.”

“Adam, really? Will you let me finish?

“Sorry, dad.”

“As I was saying, go through these books and look for something useful. Look for any ‘how-to’ books. You know, like books on construction, wood working, gardening, stuff like that. Anything that we can use in the weeks and months ahead.”

“Oh. I get it. Good idea, dad.”

“Thanks, Adam.” replied John, sarcastically. “Remember, don’t come upstairs until I call you.”

Adam dropped to the floor and immediately began to examine the many different colored bindings that sat on the shelf before him.

“Adam?” repeated John.

“Got it, dad,” replied Adam, as he pulled a book off the shelf for a closer inspection.

Just like me
, though John. He left Adam to his task and climbed the stairs two at a time. He stopped at the top landing and shined the flashlight down the hall. He wasn’t excited about having to reenter the master bedroom, knowing what was waiting for him in there, so he decided to search the other two unexplored bedrooms first.

John found the bedroom on the left side of the hall set up like a media room. A large-screen, LCD TV was mounted on the far wall. And below it, on a small table, sat a disc player and Xbox console. John found an extensive collection of DVDs and video games in a cabinet, and made a mental note to have Adam collect a few movies and games for Corbin. He scanned the rest of the room with the narrow beam of his flashlight. Other than a large, dark blue, leather couch, which was the only piece of furniture in the room, John had only one place left to examine. John opened the closet door and examined the contents. It was filled with blankets, pillows, file boxes, and an assortment of other odds and ends, such as wrapping paper and board games; nothing vital for Corbin’s survival.

John left the media room and crossed the hall to examine the last unexplored bedroom. He turned the handle and was surprised to find it locked. Without hesitation, John took a step back and, as he had done with Darrel’s chest earlier that day, he kicked the door with a powerful thrust of his right foot. His boot made contact with the door, just to the left of the handle, and it crashed opened with a boom. John’s kick tore the latch plate from the frame, and cracked the inside trim, but it felt good to spend a little pent up energy. He heard Adam run
up the stairs, and he decided not to get angry with him for ignoring his order not to come upstairs until called for. John realized he should have told Adam what was about to happen before kicking in the door.

Adam reached the top of the stairs. And when he saw his dad standing in the hall, he relaxed and asked, “What was that? Is everything OK?”

John looked at him and said, “Yup, just unlocking a door.”

Adam looked at the door and said, “Wow! Can I unlock the next one?”

John laughed. “Sure, the next locked door we come to I’ll let you take a crack at it. Did you find anything downstairs?”

“I’m still looking, but I found a couple of books you might be interested in. Do you want me to bring them up?”

“No. Finish looking,” said John, and then he pointed to the room across the hall. “But when you’re done, I want you to bring a bag up and collect a few DVDs and video games for Corbin.” Adam turned to walk away and John added, “Nothing ‘R’ rated.”

“Got it, dad. No ‘R’ rated movies. I’ll be back in a sec.”

“That’s my boy,” said John, and he turned his attention back to the room. He shined his flashlight around the room in a practiced search pattern, methodically taking in all the details of the dark space. He didn’t quite understand why the door was locked, other than the fact that it seemed to be Corbin’s dad’s man-cave, but that didn’t seem to justify the room being locked with what he saw. The room was sparsely furnished. A small bookshelf and coffee table sat near a comfortable looking tan leather recliner that was sitting by the window. Like the media room, it was sparsely furnished.

Hanging on the walls were two large, mounted buck heads, and a black bear head. Their glass eyes unblinking as John passed his flashlight beam over them. Above the bookshelf, also mounted on the wall, was a trophy sized large-mouth bass. The dark green rug on the floor gave the room a strange safari-like feeling, which John thought was a bit overstated for what could have been an otherwise
comfortable room. Corbin’s dad was obviously a sportsman, that was obvious, but it still didn’t explain why he felt the need to lock his room. John wondered if Corbin liked going in the room without his dad’s permission.

As soon as John opened the bedroom closet, he had a much better idea of why the man kept it locked. The closet was filled with a neatly stored assortment of archery and fishing equipment. Three compound bows and a cross-bow hung from custom racks on one wall. Fishing rods were neatly stowed in deep-pocketed, angled shelves under the unused clothes rod. A variety of fishing reels and tackle was also stacked neatly on the shelves in a variety of wooden and clear plastic containers. John also saw, and was impressed, with the man’s high-end collection of camouflaged hunting clothes that were folded and neatly stacked on the top shelf.

Corbin’s dad was apparently obsessed with hunting. It helped John understand him a little better, and perhaps even explained a possible reason why he would kill himself.
Maybe
, thought John,
he was so distraught with the disaster - thinking it was the end of all hunting - that he would rather be dead than never hunt again
. While that was one possible motive, it still didn’t explain to John why the man would want to kill his wife.
Did he want her to join him in death?
For John, who always looked for a story, it did shed some light on the dark event. Back in the moment, John hollered, “Adam! Do you have any garbage bags with you?”

“Coming,” yelled Adam from downstairs.

John heard Adam run up the stairs and enter the room. He paused at the closet door and said, “Wow!” He pointed to the very high-tech looking crossbow and said, “I want to shoot that one.”

“So do I,” answered John. “Do you think Corbin knows how to use this stuff?”

“I don’t know, dad. I don’t know that much about him. We just play Xbox together, that’s really about it.”

“Are you finished downstairs?”

“Just about. I found a few books that I think you’ll like. I found one on traps and snares.”

“Really? That’s excellent. Good work. Anything else?”

“Yeah, I found one on skinning animals. Oh, and one on how to make wooden toys, but it looks pretty old.”

“Well, when you’re finished down there I need you to come back up and grab a few things from the media room. I’ll pack up in here, then you can take everything down to the truck while I search the master bedroom. I’d like to leave in about fifteen minutes.”

“Roger that, dad,” replied Adam, and he turned to leave.

John wrapped the bows in the camouflage hunting clothes and slid them into individual plastic bags. He considered taking the fishing equipment but decided against it, at least for the time being. He didn’t know how long it would take for the water to clear itself of the ash, but he knew it would take a long time for the fish to recover, if they ever did.