Chapter 10The Home Front II - Thursday, June 28th
While Fic was heading towards Erwin, Lori, Shane and Britney sat in the living room. Across from them sat a man. His name was Jim Henry, and he lived about a half a mile away. Lori knew his parents. He was a year older than Shane. Even with him sitting down, you could tell he was tall and skinny. His sandy brown hair was sticking up in numerous cow licks. Something Lori remembered he had always had since he was a young boy. He was dressed in camo hunting clothes and was wearing a sidearm. An AR-15 was next to his chair, leaning at the ready. “I really could use y’alls help in patrolling the area.” He was saying. “My boys and I plan on keeping the area safe from those rogue army units and that takes manpower.” He continued.
“I’ll help.” Shane said excitedly. Lori looked over at him with a sharp look. She didn’t like his excitement. This was real danger, not some video game shoot-'em-up.
“I’ll be the decider of that. I need more information.” Lori said. Shane gave her his own defiant look.
“Well ma’am, we’re just trying to keep the area safe.” He repeated. “We patrol from the mountain to the river and from the highway up our road about three miles. We check out anything we find that is suspicious and take care of problems we find.” He explained.
“How do you take care of them?” She asked.
“Whatever it takes.” He said, looking over at his AR-15, then back at Lori. “We will give y’all food for helping out. It’s the least we can do.” His smile was a little scary. He had big teeth and showed them all, but the smile didn’t go into his eyes. They actually looked a little creepy.
“We would keep Shane well protected. We all protect each other. His shooting skills would be an asset. We also try to take game when we are out on patrol. We have been keeping everyone fed.” He continued his pitch.
“Mom, I really want to do this.” Shane said. His voice almost on the whiney side, but not quite yet.
“I’ll help too.” Said Britney. “I’m actually a better shot than Shane.” She winked at her brother, who smirked and shook his head in the negative. She was right, but his ego wouldn’t let him admit it to an outsider.
Jim moved his gaze to Britney, and that creepy smile broke out on his face again. “That would be nice. We can use any help that is offered. I’ll even put you two together, it that is what you want.”
Now both kids were looking at their mother. She sighed. “Alright. We have to man the home front until your father gets back. A little more venison wouldn’t be bad either. Our garden is doing pretty good, so I can do some trading of our veggies for other things that we are running low on. We need flour and some chicken feed and a few other things. If you come across some, we have eggs, spinach, lettuce, some strawberries and some of our tomatoes are almost done.” Her starting this barter process was her way of letting the children know that she was allowing them to join the Blue Mountain Patrol, as Jim was calling it.
“We have some handguns, but if you can bring your own long guns or shotgun, it would help a lot.” Jim said.
“When can we start?” Shane asked, the excitement was betrayed in the pitch of his voice.
“You can come on patrol with me tonight.” He replied. “We leave at dusk.”
Lori looked at her two kids and wondered if this is what John would do. She immediately answered herself that he would. She was certain of it.
She sent her thoughts out into space to try to find her husband. Was he making his way back? She thought for a moment and then nodded her head. She was certain of it.