EMP Catastrophe | Book 1 | Erupting Trouble Hamilton, Grace (read book .txt) 📖

boil water, all the while using the salt to keep things mostly clear of spoilage. She took a deep breath, surprised all this old-school methodology was coming back into use. She placed everything on the counter. “We’ll can what we can,” she said. “You might know a thing or two about meat preservation, but we’ll be using my mother’s recipes to keep these veggies.”

And hopefully, we won’t need them, she thought to herself as she began clearing her work space. Hopefully, the electricity would come back on soon. Hopefully, David and Matthew would walk through the front door at any moment and make fun of her for flying off the handle and going into canning mode because of the state of the freezer. Hopefully, they’d be able to jump the car, or do whatever magic they could to make it start again and she could throw out the whole canned batch in favor of fresher foods. Hopefully.

“Can you teach me, Grandma?” Patton asked, hopping up on the stool to watch her.

“Of course,” she said. “You’ll be in charge of the meat, I hope you know. Maybe you can spot a place we can smoke or let the meat dry out.”

“Okay,” he said, and spun on the stool, his eyes wide and taking in everything in the kitchen in a new light.

“Hey,” Ruth said, calling him back as he began to investigate what the kitchen had to offer. “That was quick thinking on your part. Figuring out what to do with the meat. I would’ve thrown it in the refrigerator, and we might have lost it all.”

“We still might,” Patton said with a grin. “But if we do, don’t tell Mom, okay?”

“I’ll take the blame.” Ruth winked. “Don’t worry about that.”

“You’re the best, Grandma,” Patton said as Ruth turned back to the spread in front of her. Here goes nothing.

12

The roadblock of stalled cars seemed to fill the interstate from here to eternity. Matthew and David stuck to the shoulder, navigating around off-kilter vehicles and sharing a power bar in tense silence. The nuts and ground grain stuck to the roof of Matthew’s mouth, making him yearn for water, but he couldn’t quite let himself have any. Every sound that wasn’t the familiar shuffle of their hiking boots crunching on pavement had him jumping. Ever since Cheese and Chris had threatened them, Matthew felt on edge, suspicious of even the shadows. It made him irritable.

The worst part was that Matthew now understood David’s hesitations and fears. After the adrenaline had worn off from his almost fist fight, Matthew felt queasy. His dad was right—he had been reckless. He could have gotten them both hurt or killed. Still, he couldn’t let those fears rule his future. He couldn’t give in to the train of thought that everyone stuck on the interstate was an enemy, that everyone meant them harm.

Yet that was becoming harder and harder as the journey went on. Especially with his father’s disapproving silence painting the air between them.

Several miles passed with only a few rest stops in between. Matthew’s legs began to ache, his calves tight from walking, and he attempted to stretch, all the while giving thanks to Jordan for suggesting the hiking boots. They started to break in the longer Matthew wore them, the stiffness loosening and creating a comfortable cradle for his feet. David’s cheeks had a red bloom of sunburn, and Matthew wished they’d picked up some sunblock too. He found himself wishing for a long list of things on this trek.

“How are you feeling?” Matthew asked, breaking the thick silence. He hadn’t seen David rub his chest for a while and could think of nothing else to say but start up small talk. He had a sneaking suspicion David hadn’t taken a rest because of his stubbornness.

“Good,” David said. “Tired. I don’t want to think of how much further we have to go.”

“Agreed. I can’t believe cars are stalled all the way out here. I don’t understand what happened.”

“Me either.” David worried at his lip. “Listen, Matt—”

“Tommy? Tommy!” A loud scream cut David off and Matthew whipped around, searching for the source of the voice.

“Tommy! Where are you!”

Matthew squinted down the interstate and saw a man dodging between cars. “Tommy, if you can hear me, say something!” the man shouted.

“Don’t even think about it, Matthew,” David snapped, all semblance of reconciliation evaporating. “You know what happened last time. Lots of people are trying to take advantage of each other. This looks too…” David waved his hand around, “hysterical.”

“Or he’s lost someone.” Matthew rounded on David, already feeling the fight bubbling to the surface between them. “If something had happened to Kathleen or the kids or god forbid, you, I’d be the same way.”

“Might be a trap,” David answered.

“Sometimes, Dad, I don’t even know you.” Matthew turned back to the man and began moving through the cars toward the younger man still shouting for Tommy.

“Hey!” Matthew waved at the stranger “Are you all right?”

The shouting man stopped, considering, and then beelined for Matthew with a short wave back. “I’m looking for my son,” he said, coming closer to Matthew. The man wore a striped button-up shirt and dark-washed jeans, as if he were heading to a low-key event. “He’s seven. I left him sleeping in our car to try to clear a path for us to get out of here, but it’s like he’s suddenly disappeared. I can’t find my way back. I can’t believe I lost my car. I can’t believe I lost my son.”

“All the cars start to look the same after a while, don’t they?” Matthew said. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you find your son. What does he look like?”

“He’s probably still in our car. It’s a VW Beetle, bright white, I just had the thing cleaned. I can’t believe I left him in the car, but he was fast asleep. My wife is going to kill me if I’ve lost him.” The man’s eyes filled with tears, and a look