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

“I’m Ruth, and this is my grandson, Patton.” She noticed the overalls were oil- and grease-stained, his name embroidered in white over his left breast pocket. Ruth’s nose wrinkled as she took his hand, smelling the familiar scent of gin and underneath that, a dark smoky hint of whiskey.

“What’s wrong with the van?” Patton asked, looking into the engine with interest.

“From the looks of things, the alternator is fried. Hadn’t been replaced in a long time and that tends to happen. I was heading up to see if the city-folks at the River Rock hotel needed any help, but then I came across this van and thought I’d see what I could do.”

“That’s very kind of you.” Ruth gave him a small smile. “We thought the goods in the van might spoil, so we planned to save what we could and leave a note. Do you know who the van belongs to?”

“No idea, but I’d be more than happy to help you fine people out.” Samuel grinned. He had to be younger than Matthew, but time had not been kind to him. Gray peppered his reddish-brown hair. Wrinkles lined his forehead. The yellow tinge to his skin that could only come from heavy drinking left Ruth feeling uneasy. The black-red stain from the store flashed through her mind.

“Oh, that’s fine. Now that you’re here looking after the van, I don’t feel so worried about the food going bad. I’m sure you’ll have the vehicle working in no time.” Ruth put her hand on Patton, who looked up at her in confusion. “Let’s head back home. Nice to meet you, Samuel.”

“Feeling’s mutual,” he said. “Honestly though, some of the food will spoil. Take some of it at least, I insist. I’ll stick around and let the owner know.”

Ruth felt caged, but she didn’t want to oppose this man in any way. She couldn’t understand why she felt so hesitant around Samuel, but nodded anyway and filled their reusable bags with milk, eggs, bacon, vegetables, and things she could can if needed. Then she waved goodbye without another word, hating the worry that filled her. Samuel was probably just being kind and most likely thought Ruth rude, but she didn’t have the energy for niceties. She didn’t have energy to combat her instincts telling her to be on her guard. Reminding her that anything could happen to anyone. That the red-black puddle in the grocery store came from somewhere and it wasn’t because someone was feeling kind.

Nothing wrong with being careful, she told herself. Nothing wrong with trusting her gut.

23

As soon as Ruth shut the hotel door behind her, she slid the lock into place and felt a sudden sense of overwhelming calm. Her reaction to Samuel had been silly, but as they’d walked back to the hotel, she finally understood why he’d made her feel so uneasy.

Even though his smile had looked more like a leer and he’d reeked of alcohol, what right did he have to offer her goods from someone else’s van as if he owned them? She was furious at herself for taking them. If the van’s owner demanded she repay him, she’d do it tenfold. For some reason, she’d felt threatened by Samuel, and her response made her seethe with anger that she hadn’t stood up to him. With a sigh, she followed Patton into the kitchen and began unloading the truck goods. They’d taken far more than she’d thought. In her daze, she hadn’t noticed that they’d procured a good-sized haul. The food would keep them stocked up for a long time.

“The lights still aren’t on,” Patton said, as he laid out more cucumbers and carrots as if they would can them immediately. “That’s weird, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Ruth said, laying out fruits in the same manner. She could make freezer jam with it.

“That Samuel guy was weird too.”

“I thought so too, but why do you say that?”

Patton shrugged and it struck Ruth again at how mature he had become over the last few days. “He kept looking at you in a way I didn’t like.” Patton took a deep breath, as if uncertain his next statement would be welcome. “Grandma, I think we should make the hotel unwelcoming. I don’t want people like Samuel coming up here, thinking he has an open invitation because he helped us. I watched this King Arthur movie once, and they put up defenses around their castle just in case of attack. We should do the same.”

Ruth paused, sad that Patton’s carefree attitude had begun to slip away. “Do you not feel safe in the hotel?” she asked.

“I do, but I wish we had a moat.” He glumly folded the reusable bags.

Ruth ran her hands through Patton’s wild hair, pulling him into a hug. She hated that he didn’t feel safe, but if he needed some sort of additional security, she’d do anything in her power to give it to him. The only thing was that she had no idea what to do. The run-down hotel had always been a family-owned property from what the estate executor had told them, and he’d been happy it was going to pass into the hands of another family focused on developing a small business. The Riley clan had been pleased with the reduced price, despite the estimated renovation costs, but now the creaky floors and bad seal on the windows seemed less like something they had to fix and more like a security risk. “Patton, I’m so sorry you feel unsafe. I don’t know how to make the hotel more secure. We can lock the doors, but otherwise, I’m at a loss. Do you have any ideas?”

Patton turned thoughtful. “A security system, maybe?”

Ruth laughed. “I’m not sure anyone will be available to install one.”

“Get creative, Grandma. I meant we could make one. Like with bells.”

“Or cans,” Ruth said, noting the soda cans that lingered in the trash. Anything that made noise could