Home Coming (The Survivalist Book 10) by A. American (best business books of all time .TXT) 📗

“No, no. Your mom isn’t the same as she used to be. She’s got a gun and won’t hesitate to use it. And she’s not going to recognize you with that beard.”

I nodded. “Yeah, guess I should let you go first.”

We waited under the carport to get out of the sun as Dad opened the door and called Mom, telling her to come outside. Then he stepped back and stood beside me. The door opened, and Mom looked out. Surprised, she stood there for a minute looking at everyone.

Her eyes worked across everyone’s face. Then her eyes landed on me and she asked, “Morgan?”

I stepped towards her and replied, “Yeah.”

She rushed out and wrapped me up in a strong hug. She cried hard as she held me tight. And it made me cry as well. She held me for a long time before finally letting go enough that I could look at her. Her eyes were full of tears and she looked smaller than I remembered.

Shakily, I managed to say, “Sorry it took so long for me to get here.”

“I didn’t think we’d ever see you again,” she sobbed.

“I’m here now,” I replied as I hugged her tightly.

She hugged me firmly again. “I’m just so happy to see you. We talked about you often, wondering where you were, how you and the girls were doing. We were so worried.”

“We’ve been fortunate. Very fortunate.”

“You guys want something to drink?” Dad asked.

“I’m good,” I replied and that was echoed by Sarge and Danny.

I took a quick minute to introduce the old man to mom. “Mom, this is Linus.” I started to reverse it, saying, Linus, this is Mom. But I’d never used his given name and it just felt, well, weird.

He smiled and held out his hand, “Linus Mitchell, ma’am, pleasure.”

“Karen,” she replied. Then asked, “You’re staying for dinner aren’t you?”

“I figure we’d stay the night,” I replied. “But, there’s something we need to talk about.”

“What?” Dad asked.

Several lawn chairs were sitting in the shade of the carport. It was just too damn hot to sit inside, so most people lived in the shade outside.

“Let’s just sit down for a minute.”

We all took a seat and Mom and Dad looked at me expectantly. Before I could say anything, Mom asked, “Are Mel and the girls ok?”

“Yeah, yeah, they’re all fine,” I said and looked at Danny. “We’ve had some losses. But for the most part, we’re alright.”

“What do you want to talk about?” Dad asked.

“I’d like you guys to come back with us. Looking at you both, I can tell things are hard. At home, we have food, lots of it. We have power and vehicles with fuel. Things aren’t as hard there and I want you to come with us. That’s the reason we came, to check on you, but really to bring you back with us.” Dad looked at Mom, but neither replied. “I want you guys to be there with the girls. I don’t want to leave here and it be another year before I see you again.”

“But, we have friends here,” Mom said. “We’ve all been working together, and it’s not been easy.”

“Trust me, we can relate. It’s not been easy for us and I know we had more going for us than you did. I realize you’ve got friends here. You’ve lived here forever. But you’ve got family that needs you guys too. I need you. I need to know you’re alright.”

“Butch,” Sarge started. “We’ve had some seriously hard times. You asked how I met Morgan. He was carried into my house unconscious. He’d been shot in the head and a couple of his friends brought him to me.”

Mom looked at me, her eyes wide as saucers. “I was in Tallahassee when this all started and had to walk home.”

“You walked home from Tallahassee?” Mom asked. I simply nodded.

“How’d you get shot?” Dad asked.

“It was an accident. One of the people that carried me to Linus’s house, a young woman, got scared and pulled the trigger. Luckily, it wasn’t major.”

Dad looked at Mom and said, “I know we have a lot of friends here, but Morgan is right. We have family and things aren’t getting easier here. That last attack by the raiders nearly got in here. We may not be able to hold them off next time.”

“You’ve been attacked here?” Sarge asked.

Dad nodded. “Yeah, twice. Everything was fine for a long time. No one bothered us. But we’ve been hit twice in the last month. Last time, they almost made it in. All we have is a bunch of old folks here.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Sarge replied. “And I hate to say it, but it’s all the more reason you should come with us.”

Dad looked at Mom and she shrugged. “I would like to see the girls, but I’d hate to leave everyone here,” she hesitated for a moment.

“I get it, Mom. I understand community. If it weren’t for the one we’ve built, we wouldn’t be here now. As important as community is, the basis of it is family.”

“You’re right,” Dad said. He looked at Mom and took her hand. “I think we should go.” He looked over at me and then back at mom and continued. “I can’t imagine what it took for them to get here and it may not be possible for Morgan to get to us again. I think we should go.”

Mom looked around, “We have so much here. What do we do with it? How much can we take?”

It made me smile. The way her mind worked. Her first concern was for her house. Mom and Dad aren’t very materialistic. They have things they need, and everything they have has a purpose. So, Mom was curious what she was going to do with it all.

“Mom, you pack what you need. We’ll make room for it. There’s plenty of room.”

“So, you want to leave in the morning?” Dad asked. I nodded.