Conflicted Home (The Survivalist Book 9)

smiled. No one said a word. I could feel the apprehension everyone felt, and I wanted to do something to try and lift everyone out of it. As we stepped up on the porch, I asked, “Who wants to watch a movie?” In reality, all I wanted to do was to go to bed.
Little Bit perked up immediately. “I do!”
I patted her head. “I bet you do. What do you want to watch?”
She started to jump up and down. “Lion King! I want to watch The Lion King!”
In my head, I groaned. But I smiled and said, “Me too. Let’s go watch The Lion King.”
Opening the door, the girls went in and Mel grabbed my arm and asked, “You sure? You don’t want to just go to bed?”
“I do, babe. I really do. But everyone seems so bummed. I think a movie will take the girls’ minds off the situation.”
She nodded. “You’re probably right.” She stopped and shook her head.
“What?”
She chuckled and said, “I was just thinking about picking through the five-dollar movie bin at Wal-Mart. Never imagined just how important those movies would be.”
Putting my arm over her shoulder, I said, “Yeah. But that movie didn’t come from there. We paid full price for it.”
She looked at Little Bit who was already putting the disk into the laptop, and said, “Maybe so. But it was worth every penny we paid for it, whatever it cost.” Then she looked at me and asked, “You want a glass of tea?”
“What kind of question is that? Hell yes, I want a glass of tea!”
“Sit here, dad!” Little Bit shouted as she climbed up onto the couch.
I plopped down beside her as Lee Ann and Taylor both came from their rooms with pillows under their arms and arranged themselves a place on the floor. Mel came in with my tea and handed it to me before sitting down. So, for the next eighty-nine minutes we all forgot about the flash in the western sky. Gone from our minds was the cancerous cloud that climbed ever higher into the atmosphere. Instead, the magic of computer-generated animation took us all to a happier place and time. Even if it was a little annoying.
When the movie was over, everyone went to bed quickly. Little Bit wanted to sleep with us but we convinced her she was going to sleep in her own bed, and I followed her to her room and tucked her in. Lee Ann climbed into the top bunk as I was kissing her little sister goodnight. She was way too big for such nonsense. But when I stood up, she stuck her arms out and I stepped up onto the rail of the lower bunk and gave her hug.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she whispered.
“Me too,” I whispered back and kissed her head. She smiled and I turned off the little battery lantern they were using in their room.
Going into Taylor’s room, she was sitting in her bed reading, using a small triple-A flashlight to see the print. “You alright?” I asked from the doorway.
She looked up from her book but didn’t reply. After a moment of thought, she asked, “Are we going to be alright?”
I went in and sat on the edge of her bed and patted her leg. “Yeah. I think so. It was far away.”
She thought for a minute and said, “I’m glad you’re OK. Mom was so worried. She was mad too.” She paused as though she’d said something she shouldn’t, then continued. “She said you do too much, that some of the other people around here should be helping out.”
I half chuckled. “Yeah, I know she thinks that. But I’m just doing my little part. Other people are helping. Aric was there when it happened. We all have to do our part, you know.” She nodded and I asked, “You think I’m doing too much?”
She shrugged and rocked her head, “No. Not really. I mean. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Now I laughed. “And on that I think we can all agree. ‘Cause I don’t want to either!”
She smiled. “Goodnight, dad.”
I leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Goodnight, baby.”
Mel was already in bed when I got to our room. I sat on the side of the bed and pulled my socks off. I felt kind of grungy and said I was going to take a quick shower.
“I bet it will be. That water’s going to be cold,” Mel replied.
Laughing, I replied, “I bet it is.”
She was right. It was damn cold! But it felt good to scrub myself clean. In the process of so doing, I realized our piece of soap was nearly gone. We needed another piece and I hoped that there still were some pieces to be had. After toweling off, I went back to the bed and sat down. While drying my hair, I asked, “Where’s my stuff?”
“What stuff?” Mel asked.
“You know, my gear. My rifle and pistol and stuff.”
She pointed at the closet, “Your guns are in there. That vest thing had a lot of blood on it.”
“Ok. Where is it?”
“You’re not going to wear it again, are you?”
I rolled over on my side and looked at her. “Hell yes. It’s my armor.”
“Lot of good it did you.”
“This time, maybe. Next time, it could save my life.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them.
Her eyes narrowed, and while she already wasn’t in a good mood, me saying next time was a really, really bad idea. “Really? Next time, huh?” She shook her head. “You’re not going to be happy until you’re dead, are you?”
I held my hand up. “Babe. Bad choice of words, I know. Not what I meant.”
She nodded very animatedly. “Oh, it was? So now you don’t think it’ll save your life next time?”
I dropped my face into the pillow and shook my head. I’ve been married a long time and know when I’m beat, so I sat up, smiled and leaned over and kissed her cheek. I