The McClane Apocalypse Book Five (10 page)

The seating arrangements have been set
up to make better use of
space,
but it’s still crowded. He’d rather just go eat in the
kitchen or on the back porch or out in his cabin, but he knows that
it would break Hannah’s heart. Hurting her would be too much.
Pissing her off could be detrimental to his health.

Reagan had told him that Hannah took the loss
of Em very hard and has been depressed for months. She also said
that since he’s been home, she’s seen a slight improvement in
Hannah’s attitude. He’d lob off his left arm to take away her grief
if it would work.

“Paige has an idea for the wall,” Derek says
when the prayer wraps.

Cory helps himself to roasted chicken
baked with fresh herbs from the garden. He grabs a roll, too,
before the bread basket gets passed by him. He missed the
home-cooking when he was gone. This is so much better than a
rabbit
on a spit over an open fire. Damn
Dog also appreciates the table scraps more than she did his crispy,
charred fire pit disasters.

“Go ahead, Paige,” Doc encourages.

“Well, I’m thinking that we have a good
amount of reinforcement going on inside with the support braces,
but what if we used cement barriers on the outside?” she
suggests.

“Where would we get something like that?”
John asks.

“Out by the freeway. There have to be some
still out there that we could move into town,” Kelly says.

“Either that,” she says, “or we could cut
telephone poles and bury them about three feet, leaving three to
four feet or more sticking out of the ground. That would stop a
vehicle from even getting close.”

“Right,” Cory jumps in as he helps himself to
roasted potatoes and carrots. “Stagger them, too, to create an even
wider margin of intimidation.”

“Exactly!” Paige says. “We also need to
discuss what we’re going to do on the south side project.”

She certainly does chirp up when she’s
talking about construction projects, Cory’s noticed. He hates to
admit it, he really hates to admit it, but her drawings of the wall
build have helped immensely. It helps them stay on track and avoid
errors. They can’t afford setbacks or wasted materials. She’s a
very talented architect. He’s never telling her this. Hell freezing
over wouldn’t even get it out of him.

The south side is the other end of town where
they are having more difficulty with the wall because of the
terrain. He’s still thinking about her flat stomach and couldn’t
give a hoot about the wall.

“We need a bulldozer or a tractor with a
loader,” John says.

“I know, but that’s probably not gonna
happen. We need to conserve gas,” Derek corrects.

Kelly adds, “We may just have to do the best
we can over there. The wall just might not be as strong on that end
of town.”

“What are some of our alternatives?” Doc
throws out.

Paige jumps in, “If we cut off three streets,
then we could shorten the distance of the build and not need to go
that far.”

“That would likely eliminate a good ten homes
full of families,” Doc says.

“Right, they’d just have to condense into
other houses in the enclosed sector or bunk up with other
families,” she adds.

Doc shakes his head. “I don’t think they will
go for that. I know at least two of those families out there.
They’ve been living in Pleasant View for decades. We’d be asking
them to leave their homes unattended, which would likely also leave
them open to being raided and looted.”

“We need a different solution,” Derek
says.

Cory is remembering Paige’s smooth skin on
her stomach and wondering what it would feel like under his
hands.

“Cory!” Kelly grumbles as if he’s said his
name ten times.

“What? What’d I miss?” he asks.

“Did you see anything that people were using
in any of the walled-up cities out there that could help?” his
brother asks with a deep scowl of impatience.

“I don’t know,” he admits but then adds, “Why
don’t we just put up chain link fencing or whatever we can find and
then top it off with razor wire? I mean, if it’s good enough for a
prison, it’s good enough for our town.”

“Would that work?” John asks almost
rhetorically.

Doc purses his lips in contemplation. Kelly
and Derek look to one another.

“I think it would,” Paige answers.
“It’s a high spot, high on that hill with the drop-off on the other
side which is what’s making it so difficult to work around. So it’s
not likely that someone could ram through it in vehicles. Of
course, unless they have a tank or something. But the problem is
the fencing structure itself. It wasn’t ever going to be as stable
as the heavy duty materials we’re using everywhere else in the town
because we can’t get a good support system to hold it up. So, maybe
your chain link idea would work, knuckle-dragger. It’s not going to
stop bullets, but it should
prevent
humans from walking right through down on the south
side.”

“It also wouldn’t stop sniper fire,”
Cory says as he stuffs bread into his mouth to stop himself from
returning her insult. He stares openly at Paige, thinking about her
face, criticizing the angles and arches. Ok, so Sam is right. She
is rather beautiful. Her eyes dart around nervously seeking
approval from the family. She
clearly
doesn’t feel like she fits in with everyone yet.

“No, but hopefully the people doing patrols
would be alerted to something like that before it ever happened and
can sound the alarm to people in town,” Reagan says.

Jacob is at her side begging to be excused
from his dinner in the other room so that he can go outside with
the other kids to play. She kisses his cheek and sends him on his
way.

“A wire fence is going to be easy to cut with
the right tools or equipment,” Kelly says. “It’s not the same as
trying to come through a solid sheet of steel or plywood like we’re
using elsewhere.”

“We’ll just have to make sure that we
brief the people doing the patrols in town that the south side area
will
need to be covered
more
frequently than the more secure areas,” John offers.

“Ok, great,” Reagan says. “Now where the hell
are we gonna get razor wire and chain link fencing?”

The men look to one another.

“We’re gonna have to hit building supply
centers,” Cory offers. “See if they have anything left like that.
If not, then we could get it from a prison or military
installation. When I was at the armory, it was acres upon acres of
fencing. We could yank it out of the ground and take it.”

Hannah pipes in, “That could be dangerous. I
don’t think you should go as far as that would take to gather those
kinds of supplies.”

Kelly quickly grasps her free hand,
since Mary had insisted on sitting on her mother’s lap and is being
held back from grabbing everything in sight by Hannah’s
other
hand
. She’s a handful
already. Cory is mad about his tiny niece. She’s a feisty, adorable
runt.

John adds, “We could hit Fort Campbell for
chain-link fencing and supplies if it hasn’t been looted or taken
over. As long as it’s still abandoned.”

“Where’s that?” Hannah asks nervously.

“Not far, Hannie. Just up the road in
Kentucky,” John answers.

“It’ll be ok, baby,” Kelly consoles Hannah
gently. “We’ve gone there before. It was empty.”

“Right, Hannie,” Reagan says. “These guys
will be just fine. They’ve done runs enough damn times over the
years. They’ve got it down to a fine art.”

“I don’t know,” Hannah says weakly. “And stop
cursing at the dinner table like a heathen,” she adds not so
weakly.

“I can go, too,” Paige offers.

Cory chokes on his drink of water. Then he
laughs obnoxiously. It can’t be helped. “Yeah, right! Like we’d
take you with us.”

“What?” she counters defensively. “I’m good
at sneaking around. Gavin and I did that all the time. How do you
think we got our own supplies?”

“Sneaking around?” John asks.

She replies, “Yes, sneaking, being
stealthy. That’s what we did. That way we didn’t have to fight it
out with people because we didn’t always have ammo or even a gun,
let alone a bunch of
them as
you
all have.”

“Well, we don’t worry so much about
being stealthy, so you can stay here,” Cory
chides
.

“You aren’t
really
trained, either, sis,” Simon adds, getting a
glare from his sister. “We don’t let anyone go with us that hasn’t
been trained. You know that. We’ve just been very busy, but we’ll
get you trained.”

“I’m sneaky, though. I’ve survived almost
four years on my own with my two friends and a toddler!”

“You need training,” Reagan says. “Trust me,
I’ve seen you shoot.” She laughs bawdily.

Paige grins, exposing dimples in her cheeks
and says, “Ok, so I’m not the greatest with the guns, but I can
help.”

“Cory and Simon can work with you on shooting
and learning our operating procedures,” John says. “I wouldn’t have
a problem with you going if you are trained by them.”

“This isn’t going to be something that
we can haul back in one load,” Kelly adds. “That is a
vast
amount of square footage that we
have to cover on that side of town. It’s going to take multiple
runs. If you do the proper training, then maybe you’ll get to go on
one of them. Plus, we should have townspeople going on runs for it
without us, too.”

“All right,” Paige agrees with a nod.
“I want the training anyway. I don’t
want
to be the only loser on the farm who can’t
protect it.”

“I don’t know about that!” Sue says. “You did
pretty well the night it was attacked by the Target freaks.”

“I got taken
for
hostage!”

Doc quips, “Minor detail.”

Everyone laughs, and the family moves
on to a more uplifting topic. Cory doesn’t like the fact that Paige
was taken hostage by anyone, that any man had felt brave enough to
grab her. He would feel the same about anyone on the farm, but
Simon’s sister had been assaulted. Nobody should have the balls to
even step foot onto McClane land, let alone man-handle his best
friend’s sister. She’s a skinny twerp. It’s bullshit that she was
hurt. The escapees have a bounty on their heads, a bounty set there
by him. Revenge is the payment
on
this bounty. And he’ll have his.

Hannah eventually says, “Your friend stopped
by yesterday when you were in town.”

“Talia? How is she? How’s Maddie?” Paige
asks.

“They’re doing great. She is getting along
quite well with Bertie, and Maddie is adjusting to living over
there. Chet’s crazy about her, about them both,” Hannah relays.

“We should have their wedding next weekend as
we originally planned,” Doc says. “No sense in delaying it just
because of the wall build. If they are going to live together over
there, then they ought to be married. It’s only right.”

And for this reason alone, Cory doesn’t
tell anyone about his situation with Evie Johnson, their neighbor’s
widowed daughter. He also won’t mention his relationship with
Jackie from the armory. Doc would flip his lid. Cory has visited
Evie once since he’s been
home
but hasn’t met with Jackie. She’s living
in
a house full of people and her small son. He
thinks that breaking it off with her soon would be for the best. It
should go well since they hadn’t made a commitment
to
their relationship being serious or
long-term. At least he thinks it should go well. Women are mostly a
mystery to him and highly illogical.

“I guess we better get it figured out and
planned then,” Sue says. “Some of us women can go over tomorrow to
talk with Bertie and Talia.”

The conversation finishes and so does
their dinner. The table cleared and the rush to complete whatever
chores didn’t get done yet ensues. Cory moves his stallion to the
second horse pasture since Reagan told him that there is a mare
in
season
over there. Keeping the
herd going is imperative. It’s also important to
breed
the horses for use in trade. His stud blasts
through the gate, spotting his mate waiting for him. Soon the
screaming and fighting and eventual mating will happen. They don’t
need an audience.

On his way back, he spots Paige trying to
open the gate to the horse pasture closer to the barn. She’s
attempting to turn out a mare that was locked in the barn
recovering from a cut on her hip. The woman is having zero luck.
The other horses have bunched up at the gate on the other side. It
happens. They just want to see what the other mare is up to and
greet their friend.

“Get back, you stupid pricks,” Paige hisses
under her breath at the horses.

She
apparently
thinks nobody is around to hear her
expletives. Cory chuckles and steps into her line of sight,
startling her. She’s barely got the mellow old mare she’s handling
under control. Good thing she doesn’t have Jet. He’d literally give
her a run for her money.

“Need some help?” he offers.

“Hell yes, I need help! What’s it look
like?”

He snatches the lead line out of her hand and
gives it a sharp snap with his wrist near the horse’s jaw. It’s
enough to settle the mare right down.

“Back, back,
good
girl,” he urges the
mare
a few steps away from the gate and then
unlatches it. “Just show them who is the
boss
. That should be easy for you. They were
probably pissed at you for calling them pricks. These
are
mares, after all.”