The people he saw were thin and disheveled. If they were looking for food, they were looking in the wrong place. They should be out in the woods. He’d brought down a buck that morning, it had been in the pasture and he’d been out at the chicken coop. He’d used the AR15 and brought it down. It had been impromptu, and he’d not had a choice. Trish didn’t have a hunting rifle. The AR15 did the trick however and they had a deer carcass hanging in the barn.
He stopped chopping and wiped the sweat from his face with a gray checkered bandana. He looked down at Jewel, who was contently gnawing on part of an antler. He’d taken a hand saw and cut the antlers off and then had divided the rack, into three large shares for the dogs. He had to shut the barn, to keep the dogs out. He left the deer to bleed out, he’d already gutted the animal, setting aside the heart, kidneys and liver for the dogs. The rest of the gut pile had been taken off property and buried.
He’d been able to find quite a bit of deadfall and had hauled it back. They still had plenty of wood in the barn, but Hogan knew that it was a finite resource. The woods surrounding Trish’s property had plenty of future wood, and the deadfall was easy to source. Besides getting wood for the fire, he’d also wanted to get out and walk the land and surrounding area. Keeping busy was hard sometimes, there wasn’t a whole lot to do. Keeping watch was important, but it was also incredibly boring. It also gave his mind time to wander and think about his wife and girls. Painful and frustrating. He spent his days roaming the property, reading books, hunting food. A lot of times, hunting was a bust. But today, the deer had come to him. He picked up another chunk of wood and raised the ax and brought it down.
The ax had been dull, and he’d found it and a rasp in the barn. The ax was old, he was sure the previous owner had left it behind. There was quite a bit the previous owner had left behind. With the rasp, he sharpened the ax. He’d also found lubricant and had cleaned the ax up. He paused, hearing a vehicle approach. The dogs got up, excited and wagging their tails. He smiled. They recognized Trish’s truck. He buried the ax head in the stump and walked toward the front of the house. Perhaps he’d make some venison steaks for dinner. He noticed that Trish’s shifts were taking their toll.
With the woman stealing food, Trish had stopped taking food to work. That, Hogan was sure, was taking its toll on her body. She’d lost weight in the last couple of weeks.
“You need to eat at work. Keep the food on you or hide it. But you need to eat.” He’d urged.
“It’s just so hard, she watches everyone and everything. She gives me the creeps.” Trish had remarked. Hogan smiled, thinking about when Rina had been caught and her nose and fingers broken. Served her right, he thought grimly. The truck pulled into the carport and Hogan noticed that the plastic had come off the window. He’d have to re-tape it. When Trish got out of the truck, he knew something was wrong. Her legs were wobbly, and she was pale as death.
He went to the gate and called the dogs away; he didn’t think she’d want them jumping around her.
“Trish, what is it? Were you attacked again?”
“There…I was..” Trish stammered.
“Breathe, take a deep breath. Good, you’re safe, and it’s okay.”
“I was c…cc…coming home from work. There was a roadblock and they were turning people back. Jesus, Hogan, I almost didn’t get out of there. They’ve shut the city down. No one in or out. If you’re in the city, you’re screwed. The only reason I got out was…” She laughed in near hysterics, tears streaming down her face. She held a shaking hand up to her mouth and clamped it over her mouth.
“Jesus, what?” Hogan asked, afraid what it might have cost her.
“I lied, I said I had three babies. That my neighbor was going to leave them. I was hysterical, crying. The woman believed me. Thank god. I couldn’t help it. I was so afraid, and I just wanted to come home. I used the story you had told at the gun shop. I just elaborated a bit.” She ended, a tremulous smile hovering on her lips.
Hogan pulled her in for a tight hug. Her body shook badly, and he tightened his grip. Christ, what would he have done, had she not come home? They were more than fifty-five miles away from her work. Where would she have gone?
“I wonder where they would have put you?” He asked, leading her to the front porch. The sun was fading, but it was above freezing. He sat her on the glider, his arm still around her. He could feel her body heat, radiating off her. She felt too thin.
“Honestly, I think they would have sent me to the Hive. There was at least a couple dozen injured in
