husband, “but I do, and I will. If I know
you at all I know you will too.”
Gordy
knew she was right, but said nothing.
“I’m
giving him what pain medication I can, but he refuses to take it most of the
time. He just tells me that we should save it for when someone really needs
it. I’ve got him on antibiotics, but Gordon, we’re going to run out of those
fast if we have any more injuries like Dean’s. Eventually we’re going to need
more of everything medical.”
Gordy
nodded, thinking that supply runs would have to be made into Hannibal, possibly
even Louisiana. “I’ll do what I can for medical supplies. Once we get everything
moved to Oko Tipi you should see about setting up a dispensary, and getting an
inventory of everything we have and all that we’ll need. You might consider
enlisting Lynn, or Tam to help you out with that.”
Jan
nodded, and Gordy stepped in for a kiss. She put her arms around him, hugging
him tightly for a moment, and Gordy leaned into the hug, needing her as much as
she needed him.
Gordy
spent a few painful minutes talking to Dean. It was painful for both of them,
though for different reasons. It hurt Dean to talk, and it hurt Gordy to see
his son in so much pain.
After
leaving Dean, he found Jack helping pack up one of the jon-boats. “Hey, Jack,
have you seen Calvin?”
“Yeah,
just a minute ago, I think he was headed for the latrine.”
“You
think you could spare a few minutes? Let’s go find him; I have a task for you
two.”
They
met Calvin a minute later, returning to camp.
“I’ll
be glad when we have a bathroom, or at least an outhouse,” he said, “I hate
using that dug out ditch.”
“You
and me both, man,” Jack said.
“Calvin,
I want you and Jack to take care of something, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure,
what’d you have in mind, Dad?”
“Gather
up a couple of long guns, and handguns, a box of MREs and some bottled water.
Get about two hundred rounds of ammo for each gun, too. Find something
airtight if you can, then take the whole thing to the center of the island, and
bury it there.”
“Leaving
behind an emergency cache?” Calvin asked.
“Exactly.
Just in case someone ever needs to come out here, whatever the reason may be, I
want there to be something out here for them. We’ll tell everyone about it
once it’s done.”
Jack
and Calvin went right to work on their project, and Gordy rejoined everyone
else in packing.
Chapter 8
The
first boat went over at mid-day, carrying Jack, Gordy, Jimmy and Sam, but very
few supplies. They tied up at the same location as before, leaving the boat
while the four men walked to Jonathan Cambrey’s house.
Gordy
was a little surprised to find Jonathan alive when they got to his house. He
had felt certain that the old man would have simply lain down and died after
what he had been forced to do with his reanimated wife.
The
four men declined the offer of food and coffee, begging off due to the amount
of work they had to do. Jonathan understood, and offered his home as a place to
rest if anyone needed a break. The men were pleasantly surprised when the old
man also offered the use of his truck to help them move
“I’ll
even drive it for you. Might be a good thing for me to get out of this old
house for a bit,” he told them.
The
men agreed that instead of using the jut of land where they had been tying up
the boats, they would push right up to the