Year One (Chronicles of The One #1)(59)

“Give him some time, Max,” Lana whispered when Eric walked out. “They haven’t been here long, either, so it’s natural just to want to hold on to the relief. The rest? It’s a lot to take in, a lot of adjusting.”

“Taking in and adjusting is what’s going to keep us alive.”

“I don’t want to shoot things.” Shaun flopped down. “Maybe I could fish. My dad and I went fishing every summer.”

He shoved his glasses up to cover eyes that glimmered with tears. Then Joe raced in from the mudroom with Eddie behind him. Shaun brightened, slapping his thigh to invite the dog over.

*

After breakfast, Eric and Allegra volunteered for cleanup, and Max joined Kim and Poe on their scouting expedition. Lana held Eddie back to check his wounds, change his bandage.

“I think it’s healing pretty well, but I don’t think we should take the stitches out yet.”

“They’re starting to pull some. That’s probably good, I guess. Closing things up.”

“Keep taking that antibiotic we got from that drugstore, and I’ll take another look tomorrow.”

“Yes, ma’am, Dr. Lana.” He pulled his shirt back on, looked around the stone-tiled bathroom. “This is some place. I’ve never been inside a house like this. Fan-cee. Eight of us in here, along with Joe, and we don’t feel crowded. But…”

“Supplies don’t just regenerate. Max will find more.”

“A lot of deer in the woods. Rabbits, too. Some streams close by where fishing’s probably good.”

“I get a little queasy at the idea of shooting a deer or a rabbit, which is hypocritical since I’ve cooked both.”

“Don’t much like it myself, but you gotta do what you gotta. This is a good place to be for now, but it’s a fact we’d be better off finding a place where we could grow some crops, keep a couple of milk cows and some chickens. And more people. More hands to work, more hands for defense.”

“I know Max feels the same.”

“And, Lana?” He stepped to the door, glanced out, eased it shut. “There’s more going on out there than deer and rabbits.”

“What do you mean?”

“We walked a ways, right? Me and Joe. Felt good to be out in the air. And back in the woods I came across this like, circle of stones. Not like a campfire, exactly, but that’s what I thought at first. But the ground in it, that was black and burnt but, no ash, no charred-up wood. And Joe, he got the shakes and wouldn’t go near it. I got ’em, too, I admit it.”

Rubbing idly at his wound, he kept his voice low.

“You know how the hair on the back of your neck stands up, and you get that cold right up your spine?”

“Yes.” She experienced it as he spoke.

“Like that. Spit dried up in my mouth. We backed off because, man, it just wasn’t right. It just wasn’t, you know, natural. I’ll cop all the way to wimpy, but I won’t be walking back that way.”

“You think it was magick, dark magick.”

“I don’t know about that stuff, but I know it wasn’t right. I didn’t want to say anything in front of everybody. Just don’t know them yet, right?”

“Tell Max—just Max. He and I will go out there.”

“I wish you wouldn’t. Man, I wish you wouldn’t, but I think you’ve, like, gotta. And if you’ve gotta…” He sighed. “I gotta.”

“When he gets back then. For now, can you use a washing machine?”

“If I have to.”

She patted his cheek. “I was thinking you could wash the clothes we’ve been wearing on the road while we have soap, water, and a machine. It’s a nice machine in a nice little laundry room. You should hang them up to dry once they’re washed, save the generator.”

He let out a puff of air. “Yeah, okay. I guess I can do my bit.”

While he did, Lana assigned herself to take inventory. She wrote down categories, amounts, pounds, number of cans. Then sat down to calculate how many meals, portions, days, weeks, what they had would last.

She glanced up, smiled, when Allegra came in.

“You and Eric sure know how to shine up a kitchen.”

Graceful, she all but floated over in jeans and a bright red sweater. “It’s the least we could do after that amazing breakfast. I might have to join Poe in the gym if you keep cooking like that.”

Allegra wandered to a window. “They’re not back yet?”

“No.” Lana glanced toward the window. “Not yet.”

“I’m sure they’re fine. It really hasn’t been all that long. I have to say I’m glad I’m not out there trudging through the snow. What are you doing?”

“Inventory—starting with food supplies. I’m going to hit other basics like toilet paper, soap, lightbulbs, whatever else I can think of.”

“Oh, we have plenty, don’t you think?” Strolling back, Allegra tapped one of the cans. “It’s not like we’re going to stay here forever. It’s fine right now—middle of the winter—but it’s so isolated. We’ll go stir-crazy. I’m going to open a bottle of wine—something we have plenty of, too. Hey, it’s five o’clock somewhere. Have you seen the wine cellar?”