EMP Catastrophe , Hamilton, Grace [phonics readers txt] 📗

neck, and he felt a slow, sharp stinging pain. “She’s being difficult, isn’t she?” Colin said to Patton. “Maybe, when I’m done with you, I’ll see to her and make sure she tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me god.”

I’m sorry.

“Max is my uncle,” Patton whispered.

“There’s a good lad,” Colin said, and the hovering presence over Patton lifted. It seemed as though he could breathe again. The sharpness against his neck eased back, even if he could still feel the blade edge every time he swallowed. “You’ve raised a good boy, ma’am,” Colin told Ruth. “I think I’ll take him for a walk. He seems like he knows the place. Maybe he can tell me a bit more, help me get to know it all better.”

“You will not take my grandson,” Ruth commanded. “You have what you want, now give him to me.”

“Grandson, huh?” Colin tutted. “You’ll get him back tonight. Tell Max he has until sundown to meet me at the gas station next to this quaint town’s welcome sign.” Colin snickered in amusement. “He would have passed it staggering up the hill after his little car accident.”

“I’ll tell him,” Ruth said, “but I can’t promise he’ll show. Please don’t take my grandson. You can have me instead. I’m sure he’ll come either way. The boy can run faster and tell Max sooner than I can. You’d be better off holding me hostage.”

Hostage. Patton’s stomach dropped. Guilt wrapped around his insides like black thorny vines. What kind of warrior got taken as a hostage?

Colin made a negative sound. “I don’t think that’s how this will play out, ma’am. I appreciate your imagination, though. Tell Max that if he’s not there, this kid will pay for his crimes, and he does have so many crimes.”

“Don’t you dare hurt him. He’s an innocent boy, he hasn’t done anything to you. Please take me instead—”

“Sundown,” Colin snarled and the blade dug back into Patton’s neck. Patton began to hyperventilate as he felt a trickle of blood move down his skin. “The welcome sign. The gas station. Tell Max. Now turn around, ma’am. We have to be on our way.”

Tears flowed freely down Ruth’s cheeks. “Please,” she whispered. “Please don’t hurt him.”

“Don’t make me ask you again,” Colin said.

Ruth’s eyes fell on Patton, and Patton felt every ounce of love she had for him in his heart. He wanted to be strong. Needed to be strong.

“What did I say?” Colin said.

Ruth’s chin wobbled, and she let out one gut-wrenching sob before she turned around. Her shoulders shook. Colin backed Patton up past the property line and further into the trees. Shadows crossed Patton’s face, and the last thing he saw before the wood swallowed them up was the tense, jagged line of his grandmother’s back, as sharp and dark as the mountains backlit by sunlight.

24

Matthew pulled on his coat and stepped onto the porch. You could cut through the tension in the hotel with a knife, he thought with a grimace. He’d spent his night awake, going over his actions and words of the last few days, trying to walk in Jade’s shoes to see life like she did. He oscillated between feeling justified in his choices and chastising himself for being too hardheaded and stubborn. He couldn’t figure out if he was the good guy or the bad, and at some point when the moon had drifted halfway across the night sky, he decided life couldn’t be broken down into black and white. He and Jade were two different shades of gray, and he would have to live with that.

He wanted to apologize to her again, but he knew she didn’t value his words anymore. He knew he could be arrogant sometimes, dismissive of others’ experiences—hell, just look at Kathleen’s old roommate Rhonda, he’d called her crazy as soon as he learned about her prepper background—and it seemed those old habits were rearing their ugly heads with Jade as well.

At the same time, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had done his best under the circumstances. His need to protect his family outweighed any sense of empathy he might have for Jade. He couldn’t shake that. So while he realized he needed to be a bit more compassionate, he couldn’t quite bring himself to say he’d done everything wrong. He’d done what he could for his family. He would continue to do so.

But a long night full of deep contemplation meant he needed some fresh air. It was early morning, but already the Riley clan was stirring and getting ready for the day. Kathleen had spent the night checking on Max on-and-off. Matthew smiled. He was glad to have his brother-in-law back home. Max and Kathleen had a somewhat strange relationship. It seemed to him as though one minute they were thick as thieves and the next they stood on opposite ends of the spectrum. He didn’t have any brothers or sisters, so he didn’t completely understand it, but it gave him the feeling that Kathleen could gossip and bad-mouth her brother all she wanted, but if anyone else did, they would face her sisterly wrath. Having Max at the hotel, she could get back on the old merry-go-round of picking on him, and that seemed to give Kathleen a distraction from her own struggles, a purpose to focus on. For a little bit, she had that familiar glimmer in her eyes.

Outside, the sharp, clean mountain air filled his lungs. He breathed in deep and decided to take a stroll along the fence perimeter. It had become habit at this point to check the fence line and search for any indication of trespassers. After the Carpenter Country incident, Kathleen had reported no one lingering around the property or spying on them, but Matthew knew that Wyatt was one man out of a million on this planet. Anyone could meander up to the hotel with ideas in their heads. Better to be safe than sorry.

Summer had