Essential Beginnings (22 page)

Henley tilted her head to look at the man’s face, but she couldn’t identify him. He had blond hair that contained a slight curl on the ends with a scar that slanted diagonally across his nose and very thin lips. He wasn’t handsome, but instead he contained that classic boy-next-door type of appearance.

“No, I haven’t seen him around here before.” Henley waited for Mav to say something else, but he remained silent. She looked over to find Jeremy scouting the open land behind her and she couldn’t help but turn around to make sure nothing was there. She certainly didn’t like the feeling that someone was watching them when they had more important things to worry about. “Mav, did you hear what I said about Rat? He’s decided to stay at his campground, using the mine as a shelter against the ash…and people are actually joining him.”

“If that’s their choice there’s nothing we can do about it now.” Mav stood, appearing to make a decision that had nothing to do with what she’d just told him. “Jeremy, go get Dylan and Jason Wicks. We’ll need their help transporting this guy up to the lodge.”

“Dylan has a pickup truck, so we can load him in the back.” Jeremy shifted the strap of his weapon over his shoulder, wincing when the movement must have jarred his head. “I’ll go see if I can find them. They were at their father’s farm trying to figure out what they were going to do with the animals.”

“What are we going to do with
him
?” Henley asked, wondering where Mary McClend was at right now. She was a nurse that worked rotation in Metaline Falls, but Henley couldn’t remember seeing her since they’d gotten news of the eruption. “Do you want me to find Sheriff Ramsey?”

“I’ll talk to the sheriff.” Mav turned to look at the field behind her, once again making Henley somewhat apprehensive that they were being watched. “Jeremy, tell Dylan to bring anything fit to butcher up to the lodge. We can use all the fresh meat we can get. It’s unlikely this guy was alone, so the faster we get the townsfolk up to the lodge, the better. The predators are gathering quicker than I thought.”

Henley could see the worry etched into Mav’s brown eyes, so she lifted a hand to his cheek. Her touch got his attention and he gave her a small smile of reassurance before leaning down to brush his lips over hers. The casual intimacy made everything seem okay and she leaned into him, placing her head on his chest. His warm arms wrapped around her and she hadn’t realized she’d been so cold.

“Are you holding up okay?” Mav asked, stroking a hand over her back. Henley closed her eyes and nodded, taking a few moments to shut off her thoughts as he told her what had taken place. “Jeremy came to me when I tried to get into the hardware store and he told me what had happened. It’s odd that he’s not carrying any identification, and Jeremy said that he wasn’t that good at fighting hand to hand. He was able to catch Jeremy by surprise, but he was able to get the upper hand when he turned around and used the butt of his rifle as a weapon.”

“I haven’t seen Mary, so for all we know she’s still in Metaline Falls.” Henley leaned back but she kept her arms around Mav’s waist. She wasn’t ready to let go of him. “I’m assuming Jeremy hit him pretty hard for him not to be waking up yet. What are we going to do with him once we get him back up to the lodge?”

“We’re going to put him in the brig inside the bunker. Sheriff Ramsey can babysit him until he wakes up and tells us what we need to know.” They both heard voices coming from the road and when Mav turned his body to the side, Henley was able to see that Jeremy had brought not only Dylan and Jason but the sheriff as well. “It looks like he already knows about his new prisoner.”

“Mav, what’s this about some stranger trying to knock out Jeremy?” Sheriff Ramsey walked closer and then slowed his steps when he saw the body lying on the ground. “Any idea of who he is?”

“No, but this isn’t the kind of trouble we need right now.” Mav kept his arm around Henley’s waist, both of them standing side by side. “Neither is what Henley told me about Ratliff. How many people did he dupe into staying in that damn old abandoned mine with him?”

“Not many,” Sheriff Ramsey replied, leaning down to take a closer look at the stranger. He studied the man’s face before letting out a long whistle of astonishment. “Mav, I think I know this man.”

Mav stiffened next to Henley and she braced herself for what Felix was about to land at their feet. There had been too much chaos in the last forty-eight hours that they didn’t need anything else to add to their worry list. Felix looked up at them and revealed another setback, making her wonder what they were going to do next.

“If I’m not mistaken, this is Stanley Ratliff’s middle son.”

M
av didn’t like
leaving Henley alone to accompany Sheriff Ramsey to Ratliff’s residence up at the campgrounds he owned and operated. Between Jeremy, Dylan, and Jason, they’d been able to load Trevor Ratliff’s body into the back of Dylan’s truck and then transport him behind the sheriff’s vehicle. According to Felix, Trevor had left around his eighteenth birthday and had never returned to Lost Summit. There’d been some falling out with the father and son after Rat’s wife had lost her battle to cancer, but Rat hadn’t spoke of his son in years. From first appearances it seemed that Trevor had gone down the wrong path, but they wouldn’t know more until he woke up. Rat’s other two children lived in other states and returned for visits every couple of years.

This was such a waste of time that Mav’s anger rose with each passing mile out to the turnoff for the campgrounds. He would have rather been by Henley’s side as she helped Elijah, Lola, and her daughter up to the lodge. Henley had taken his Jeep as transportation with the thought that he’d catch a ride back with Felix. Ernie and Paul Lockton had taken what supplies the grocery store owner had kept for himself up to the lodge, allowing Stanley and his crew to clean out half of the shelves for their refuge. Everyone should have been able to effectively clear out of town, but here he was about to have another run-in with Ratliff.

“Just let me do the talking,” Felix muttered, grabbing his sheriff’s hat and positioning it on his head just so. “Rat was already agitated when he left town. This isn’t going to make him any happier.”

Mav didn’t give a shit how Rat felt at the moment. The man was being a jackass for trying to prove he knew better than Tank. This wasn’t a competition. This was about survival and the handful of people who followed Stanley’s lead would end up dead if they didn’t start to think for themselves very soon.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Mav got out of the car and went around to the back of Dylan’s truck. Lo and behold, Trevor Ratliff was starting to come to. “Felix, he’s coming round.”

“Trevor, wake up. You’re lucky you’re alive after the stunt you just pulled.” Mav could hear the sheriff talking to Rat and it wasn’t long before both men were walking his way. Mav wanted answers and he wanted them before this man’s father prevented it. “You want to tell me what you’re doing here?”

“Damn, that hurts,” Trevor muttered as he placed a hand to the side of his head. He squinted up at Jeremy, who rode in the bed of the truck to ensure that Trevor didn’t come to and try to make a run for it. “You have a hell of a swing.”

“You got what you deserved.” Jeremy didn’t seem too forgiving at the moment and it dawned on Mav that these two men must have known each other when they were boys in school. There didn’t seem to be a lot of love lost though. Mav tilted his head to tell Jeremy to hurry this up. “Trevor, what are you doing back here? I didn’t even recognize you.”

“Jeremy Jenkins?” Trevor slowly sat up, wincing at the pain his movements caused. He gave Jeremy a curious look. “Shit, I didn’t even know that was you. I just saw two armed men and I figured something had happened to the town. It’s total chaos out there, man.”

“Two?” Mav asked, knowing full well the only one who’d been stationed as a precaution at the front of town had been Jeremy. “Where did you see the other sentry?”

“He was around thirty feet from Jeremy but looked to be about six feet tall.” Trevor’s face was still clouded in pain, but a look of apprehension mingled into his features when Rat’s voice became rather loud and the man himself came into view. Mav stepped back, still wanting answers but assuming these two needed a moment. “Dad. It’s been a long time.”

Stanley abruptly stopped a few yards away and he appeared sentimental for the first time since Mav had known Ratliff. He was always trying to one-up every other man in town and that had included his sons, from what Mav had heard. He hadn’t been privy to what had made Trevor leave Lost Summit, but Mav understood the need to be home in times of a crisis. To Mav, that was here as well.

“Trevor.” Stanley surveyed the crowd, not pleased that his son’s homecoming was being witnessed by quite a few people. He didn’t address it either, but awkwardly motioned with his hand toward Trevor’s wound. “What happened to you?”

Mav stiffened and waited for the truth to come out, which would only perpetuate the tense situation they’d all been placed in. He glanced toward the mine’s entrance, seeing that Stanley was currently having people take rations and other items inside the tunnel. Didn’t he realize that he needed a fuel source, electricity, water, and heat, along with numerous other vital elements to be able to last in there for the length of time needed before the National Guard would be able to drop supplies off to the survivors?

“Nothing,” Trevor said, sharing a look with Jeremy and slightly relieving Mav’s stress. He wasn’t sure why he would protect Jeremy, unless it was to prevent Rat from finding out that he’d been bested. Mav wanted answers as to where the other stranger had gone that was armed. “I must have slipped and hit my head. Jeremy helped me out and gave me a lift. Looks like you’re holing up in the old Pine Peak Silver Mine.”

“We are.” Stanley appeared to be more composed now that his personal life wasn’t on display and gave the sheriff, along with Mav, a look of disgust. “You’ve come just in time to lend a hand before the ash cloud arrives and it gets too bad around here.”

“Stanley, your son should see Mary. I don’t know if she’s up at the lodge yet or if she got stuck at the hospital in Metaline Falls, but his head took the brunt of the fall,” Sheriff Ramsey said, keeping up with the pretenses as he stepped closer to show his sincerity. “Why don’t you let me take him up to…”

“Trevor, I need to know who that other man is that you saw on the east side of town.” Mav kept his voice as low as he could while Ramsey kept Stanley occupied. There was something wrong with this picture all the way around and Mav wouldn’t feel comfortable with the security of their camp until Berke, Owen, Mason, and Van arrived. “Can you describe him?”

“He was tall, built, armed, and dressed in black.” Trevor shrugged in regret at not being able to share more. At least, that’s how it appeared to be. Mav still couldn’t understand how Jeremy wouldn’t have seen or heard someone else that close to his vantage point. He trusted Jeremy over Trevor Ratliff, but it appeared that was all the information that the boy was going to share. “That’s all I can tell you. Sorry.”

Black. The color clicked now, reminding Mav of Kellen Truman’s outfit this morning. Mav had assumed Kellen had gone directly back to the lodge. Henley mentioned that he was aware that Fairchild wasn’t accepting any more civilians, but that she hadn’t seen him after that. Could Truman have some of his friends in the area like Mav suspected? He was glad Henley was armed, but he still felt the need to get back up to the lodge.

“Sheriff, we need to go,” Mav announced, cutting into the heated discussion that had risen to another level all because Stanley didn’t want his son anywhere near Ernie. It was getting old and Mav certainly wasn’t going to lose any sleep over Rat’s poor choices. It was unfortunate it would be too late for the others by the time these people wised up. “Jeremy, you’re welcome to ride with us or catch a ride with Dylan and Jason.”

“I’m going to go with Dylan and Jason to help out their father with the rest of the animals. He’s opening up the pastures and allowing them access to the higher ranges to the north, although we’re transporting most of the chickens, a few pigs, and a couple of cows up to the lodge to help sustain us for the length of time we’ll be up there.”

“We’ll need all the help we can get. Make sure to load up plenty of grain feed for the chickens,” Mav replied, ignoring Stanley as he walked past him to the sheriff’s vehicle. Felix was close behind him, removing his hat before he got in on the driver’s side. Neither man spoke until they were on the main road and heading back toward town. “Someone is watching the town and they’re armed. I have no idea if this has anything to do with Kellen Truman but we need to find out.”

“He’s not just going to come clean with us if he’s behind something, Mav.” Felix coasted through town, seeing if any of the townsfolk were still around and if they might need help. The only person they saw was Mr. Jenkins, who waved at them that he was fine and would meet up with them soon. Mav didn’t need anything extra with regards to guarding the lodge now that everyone would be located in one area. He would put people on rotation twenty-four seven to provide security for those on the property, as well as one person monitoring the security cameras that Ernie had rigged around the key bunker security points. “Let me handle it until I inform everyone that I’ve deputized you.”