Lamp Black: Second Edition, Disaster, Preparedness, Survival, Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 2) by Kenneth Cary Read Free Book Online Page B

it wasn’t necessary since John always carried his pistol. He surrendered to her decision long ago, but hoped she had a change of heart since their run-in with Darrel.
    Adam burst into the garage and said, “Mom said to bring it in.”
    John’s eyebrows went up and he said, “Really?”
    “Yeah. She said something about keeping it in her closet, or something like that,” said Adam.
    “OK. Hold this,” said John, as he handed Adam a black plastic gun case. He grabbed a box of .380 ammo and handed it to Adam. “Go ahead and load your mom’s magazines, but don’t put one in the pistol. Let her do that.”
    Adam nodded. He moved to John’s work table and quickly got to work. Adam could assemble and disassemble all the weapons in John’s collection, and he could do it blindfolded. It was a drill John enjoyed as a Soldier, and Adam loved it as much as he did. John’s old platoon sergeant would field strip a Beretta 9mm, an M16, and an M60 machine gun, and then throw all the parts into a wooden footlocker. It was Johns challenge to put them back together while blindfolded. Sometimes he would have the best time, and sometimes not, but the drill was an excellent way for him to learn the weapons. It also took all the mystery out of them.
    “All loaded, dad. But if you want me to close the box I’ll have to load mom’s gun. Do you want me to go ahead and put a magazine in?” asked Adam.
    “No, keep it out. Just hand it to your mom when you give her the box. Go ahead and take it to her now.” Adam went to leave and John called after him. “And Adam, be sure to let her know you didn’t load it. OK?”
    “OK, dad.”
    While Adam was inside, John pulled out two oil lamps, and two 100-hour candles from a footlocker under his work bench. The 100-hour candles were prefilled, plastic containers fitted with a candle-sized wick. Filled with liquid paraffin, they were single-use, but very functional in an emergency. The lamps, on the other hand, had to be filled. John didn’t store them filled because they had a tendency to leak if tipped, but the fuel also evaporated, which made them dangerous to store filled. John filled one lamp and lit the mantel. He adjusted it to a smokeless level, and was satisfied with the warm yellow light that filled the garage. It didn’t provide the accustomed level of illumination, but it was better than draining his flashlight batteries. He also had hand-cranked LED and propane lanterns, but they were in the shelter, which was pretty much inaccessible, at least for the time being.
    He liked the propane lanterns because they produced a bright, white light, but their thin mantels were fragile, and they consumed fuel that could be better used in other ways, like with cooking. At his last count he had thirty-two small propane bottles, but he wanted to save them for when and if they had to move. The last thing John wanted was to carry the small propane bottles on his back, but it was still better than carrying lamp oil.
    Adam returned and John handed him a burning lamp. “Take this to your mom, and get my brass whaler’s lantern from the bookshelf in my den.” Adam nodded and ran off again. “Thanks, Adam. You’re a good man!”
    John looked through the other camping supplies he had stored in his garage, and pulled out one of his LED headlamps. He forgot all about the headlamps, which were perfect for hands-free operations in the dark. He didn’t see anything else that he needed from his camping supplies, but he did need a few things from his weapons supply box. He walked over and unlocked his weapons “A” box, and removed two holsters, a Kydex one for Adam’s Glock, and one for his Sig Sauer. He saw his tactical thigh holster and wondered if Adam would like to use it, but then thought better of it. He trained Adam to draw from a waist-high holster, and knew it wasn’t the right time to experiment with a new method of draw or carry, even if Adam thought it would be cool.
    While serving