“That’s exactly why you need me. I can watch your back. I can’t stay locked up in this cabin forever. Please, I’m so bored in here. I’ve already done that Starry Night puzzle six times.”
“I’m sorry, but you’re still a kid. Maybe after we take care of the cult, you can come out with me. But for now, I think it’s best you stay put. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you.”
“I’m not a kid. Not anymore. Not since all this happened. I’ve seen stuff. And I’m tired of standing by while everyone else does all the work. I can help. I want to help protect our family.” Kyle’s face was set with determination.
Luke’s eyes glittered with pride. His son was right. He wasn’t a boy anymore, but he wasn’t a man either.
He turned to Liz, who shrugged. “He does have a point, honey. We can’t keep him locked up in here forever. It’s a changed world out there. He helped defend this place before you came back. He wants to feel useful.”
Luke sighed. “All right. Grab your coat.”
“Really?” A huge grin spread across Kyle’s face as he jumped up out of his chair.
“Under one condition.” Luke held up a finger and looked down at his son gravely.
“Anything.” Kyle nodded, barely suppressing his giddy excitement.
“You do everything I say, without hesitation, right up until we’re back in this cabin. When we’re out there, I’m not only your father, I’m also your commanding officer. Understand?”
Kyle nodded in agreement.
“That means my word is law. So even if you don’t understand why I tell you to do something, you do it anyway. Immediately. You can ask me why after you’ve done it. Got it?”
Kyle nodded vigorously.
“All right, then. Let’s go patrol the perimeter.”
Outside, Kyle could see his breath in the cool night air. There was a thin, soft layer of snow over everything. It would be easy to spot footprints in it, easy to find the cult guys if they were around.
“First thing to remember is to close the door quietly.” His father gently pressed the door shut without a sound. “Seems obvious, maybe, but you don’t want anyone out there to know you’re coming.” Luke took a few steps off the porch and stopped to crouch down and motioned for Kyle to do the same.
He spoke in a low whisper. “Now, it’s dark out here. You might want to immediately turn on your flashlight, look around to make sure no one’s lurking out there. But that’s not what we do. What you need to do is take a minute and breathe.” Luke took a deep breath in slowly through his nose and blew it quietly out in a long stream through his mouth. Kyle mimicked his father.
“When you get out here in the dark, especially if you’re alone, your adrenaline will start to pump. Your heart will race, and your mind will follow. That’s not a good way to patrol. That’s a good way to get yourself killed. So the first thing we do is calm ourselves down. We sit here and breathe awhile, ease our minds, let our pulse settle a bit.”
Kyle crouched next to his father and matched his slow, steady breathing. He listened intently as a few snowflakes drifted down around them.
“Not only are we settling our nerves, but we’re also letting our eyes adjust to the darkness. Flashlights are great in a pinch. They make it easy to spot someone hiding in the woods, but they make it even easier for them to spot you.”
“Makes sense.” Kyle nodded as he committed everything his father said to memory.
“One of the keys to survival is patience. Strength, smarts, grit, determination, planning—these things are all important. But often patience is what separates those who make it from those who don’t. Sitting here, completely still, you might see something before it sees you. Movement draws attention more than anything else. So, to have the upper hand, sometimes we have to be still.”
“Patience. Got it.” Kyle nodded again, but he was antsy despite himself.
Finally, his father stood to walk slowly toward the tree line and motioned for him to follow. Luke stopped a few feet inside the woods and held up his hand for Kyle to do the same.
“We patrol a few feet inside the treeline because most people will observe a target from about here. Close enough to watch and listen effectively, but with little risk of being spotted.” His father’s voice was barely audible as it reached Kyle.
“You think people are watching us?” He tried to match his father’s low, gruff tone, but his voice came out squeaky and thin.
“I don’t know. That’s the trouble with crazy folk. You never know what they’re going to do. Best to expect the worst. Also, best to see them before they see you. That’s where silence comes in. What you want to do is tread very deliberately. Each step, you place your heel down first, real soft. Then you roll the outside of your foot down, slowly place the rest of your sole down, and finally your toes.” He exaggerated the movement to demonstrate the technique.
Kyle imitated him and placed his foot down silently on the snow. “Like this?”
Luke smiled. “Exactly like that. That’s good. Now we do that all around the tree line until we get back to where we started. Try to picture every step before you make it, but also keep your eyes and ears open for anything unusual around you. The key to patrolling effectively is to leave your mind absolutely open. You want to be completely available to perceive anything that happens.”
Kyle followed his father as they paced silently around the perimeter of their little cabin property. The whole time he was on edge, ready to find any bad guy who might be hiding
