Nathan Jones - Shortage

Another thing he learned was that Jane’s dad had been killed by those same bandits a few days before the attempted ambush, and she had taken over leading the group even while grieving his death. If Matt hadn’t had reason to respect her after seeing how she’d protected her group at the mouth of the canyon, he certainly would’ve started after hearing how the refugees talked about her.

He hoped she pulled through.

To his relief just after he finished his meal there was a commotion behind the curtains where Terry was working on Jane, suggesting that the redheaded woman was awake and still had some fighting spirit left in her. A few moments later April emerged. “She insisted on talking to you, Matt.”

With a glance at Catherine, who nodded, Matt followed his sister back into the impromptu operating room.

Jane was propped up on the cot, one that had been designed to allow for reclining, with her shoulder bandaged and her arm bound to her chest in a sling. “What’s going on?” she demanded.

Matt came to stand beside her. “We brought you to Aspen Hill. There’s a bowl of soup waiting for you, and you’re welcome to rest here until you’re strong enough to join your group in whatever lodgings we find for them. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to find you a house you can have to yourselves, but we should be able to find enough people willing to take in one or two of you to accommodate the group. Ben, the refugees’ informal leader, has been doing a good job—”

Jane shook her head and cut in firmly. “No. We’ll camp out if we have to but we’re not splitting up. And we’re not staying with refugees, either.”

Matt supposed he couldn’t completely blame her for her suspicion. “The refugees have become regular citizens since moving into town. You’ll be safe with them, I promise.”

“I don’t care, we’ll stay together.”

“All right.” Matt hesitated. There was something he’d been considering since Razor’s attack, especially after the refugee camp north of town was abandoned. He hadn’t talked to his family about it yet or even made up his mind, but it might provide a solution. Still, he couldn’t make any promises until he’d explored the option further. “I’ll talk to our Mayor, Catherine Tillman, about letting you all stay here in the storehouse until we figure something out. We’ll do our best to find a solution everyone can live with.”

Jane hesitated, then seemed to relax a bit. “I suppose beggars can’t be choosers. Thank you for helping us, by the way.” She turned to Terry. “And thank you. We would’ve had a lot of trouble dealing with a gunshot wound and you probably saved my life. Sorry for snapping at you earlier.”

“I’ll go get you that bowl of soup,” Matt said, ducking through the curtains. He also wanted to talk to Catherine about his idea.

But when he entered the larger room he saw Catherine already busy speaking excitedly into her radio. Matt heard a confirmation through it, the continuation of a conversation he must’ve missed while talking to Jane, and the Mayor turned to give him an excited look.

“Matt! That was Pete and Evan, still patrolling the western border. They’ve spotted your father!”

Matt stopped dead, almost unable to think as a surge of stunned surprise, happiness, and overwhelming relief poured through him. He was still processing the news when Sam barreled into him and threw her arms around his chest, grinning up at him joyfully. Matt clutched her to him as he stared at the radio that had brought this news. “He made it? He’s okay?”

Catherine nodded, still beaming. “Tired but unhurt as far as Evan could see. And he’s got a loaded wagon with him.” The Mayor came over and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Looks like you’ve got a lot to be grateful for tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving.”

When Catherine described the wagon as “loaded” it was a bit of an understatement. The narrow bed was stacked high enough to be top-heavy and altogether had to weigh a couple hundred pounds. His dad had covered it all in a tarp and tied it down, both to keep everything inside from spilling out and to at least partially hide the contents from unfriendly eyes.

Matt and the entire rest of the family met his dad at the edge of town, amid much hugging and celebration. His dad looked exhausted and even thinner than he had before he left, but other than that he was fine.

On the way back he briefly detailed his trip, although there wasn’t much to say. He saw a few people on the way up and even briefly stopped to chat with someone who had a cabin along the road he was walking along. The visit was friendly enough, if wary, although from then on he tried harder to avoid notice in case someone was curious about him dragging an empty wagon behind him and decided to follow.

Those fears were never realized, and he met no one at the cache or on the way down, which luckily he was able to find without too much trouble thanks to Trev’s ruined car, which had been gutted by fire since Matt and Trev had passed it with April and her family. He did have to be a bit careful while digging up the food since refugees continued to walk along Highway 6, in smaller numbers but far more ragged and desperate, and he did most of that at night in the dark.

In truth his greatest enemy on the trip was his own body. On the way there he was beset by weakness and found almost no food to sustain him, and little enough water. Once he arrived he had to rest for a day to recover his strength, and was somewhat ashamed that he had to eat more in order to have the energy to tow the loaded wagon back down.

That took by far the longest out of anything, twice as long as the trip up, and would’ve been impossible if he wasn’t transporting food and water. He tried to limit what he ate, thinking of the family going hungry back at home, but he found that if he skimped he quickly exhausted himself and barely made any progress, and finally decided it was more important to get the food there fast than to save a bit extra. There was always more at the cache.

His dad was shocked to learn everything that had happened in town while he was gone, and while he was delighted that Ferris had left and Razor was gone he still grieved that he hadn’t been there to protect his family and town during the attack. He was very proud to learn of everything his son had done, although Matt tried to keep the story accurate as the rest of the family exaggerated his heroics. His father was proud of Terry as well, and approved of his decision to open a clinic.

All in all the rest of the day was a celebration. They had their first real meal in weeks, and while Matt did excuse himself to get back to his duties defending the town, and Terry and Sam did a shift in the clinic over the afternoon, that evening they took the time to rest and appreciate all they had. They also made plans for the future, first and foremost retrieving the rest of the cache.

Matt had his own plans formulating, which he’d briefly spoken over with the Mayor and gotten her approval for. He didn’t want to say anything yet until he’d used the key she’d given him and checked things out, and until he was sure it was a good option he wanted to save it as a surprise for his family.

He’d tell them tomorrow, after Thanksgiving dinner.

As the evening settled into night his mom, April, and Sam began talking over preparations for the holiday meal. Matt agreed that when he went into town in the morning to repay the food they’d borrowed over the last week he’d try to trade some wheat for meat, to give the meal more variety. Although he doubted turkey would be on the menu.

Too bad they weren’t in Sanpete on the other side of the mountains, where he’d encountered dozens of turkey sheds stinking up the air on some days while driving to other places in the area. Then again, it was anyone’s guess whether any turkeys remained with such critical food shortages.