Hell Happened Read Online Free Page A

chair beside him where Jeff usually sat and Mike filled the last chair.
    As usual, Monica dug in to the food before everyone had fully sat down and adjusted their chairs. It was a decent meal of large-mouth bass caught by Randy, Eddie and Tony early that morning, baked potatoes from the larder, some fresh asparagus Kellie had picked and a bundt cake with a sugar icing made by the former soldier Terrill. There was cold milk fresh from the 20 cows Jerry kept in the barn.
    They filled their plates in silence except for the clatter of serving utensils on the steel serving dishes.
    It was Jerry who eventually broke the silence as to why he was so angry.
    “Jeff and Tony went Odenville to scout out a place that was supposed to have more ammunition and some heavier weapons,” Jerry explained. They had nearly used up the ammunition for the AR-15 Jerry always carried with him. They had another 30 rounds for the Browning 12 gage and 50 for the Remington 700. Randy’s weapon of choice was a Ruger Model 77 .30/06 with a 3x8 low-light scope. “I didn’t want to send them, but they’ve been cooped up here for two weeks and they wanted to get away and do something beside work the gardens and build this place up.
    “I shouldn’t have let them go, but Jeff was becoming a pain in the ass and I thought he might do us some good,” Jerry said between mouthfuls. “I told them to take the quads and stay off the main roads, and I know I said to be back by six. Tony went along because I know I can trust him to be smart and he gets along better with Jeff than anyone else.”
    Kellie was the first to voice a positive spin. “Maybe they ran into some trouble and had to hide out. I’m sure they’ll show up. If not tonight, then in the morning. You know they are both smart enough to find shelter before dark.”
    “ Dammit , I should have sent them with the truck with the radio in it so if they had trouble they could have called us,” Jerry said with recrimination.
    “Jerry, you don’t know that would have been safer. The next time we go foraging, we’ll see if we can’t find some of those long distance walkie-talkies,” Kellie said.
    “We’re not survivalists and we’re all doing the best we can in the worst possible situation.”
    “Yeah, well,” Jerry allowed, “like you said, we never had to do this kind of stuff before and the only reason I’m in charge is because I accidentally made this place.” He used his chin to point around the small dining area. “I was thinking of retiring here in 15 or 20 years and watch the sun set for the rest of my life.
    “I didn’t think I’d be making life and death decisions for other people and just hoping to make it through a day to make it to tomorrow.”
    “We’re all in the same boat, Jerry. I used to be a teacher of special needs children, and every day I asked myself if this was all they would become,” Kellie said. “And now all of them are dead and nothing I did in my life has meant anything.
    “I spent four days walking with Molly,” she said referring to her multi-breed little mutt, “and would have walked until I died or until someone killed me because I was ready to die. Everyone in my life was gone. Every mistake I made didn’t mean anything anymore. I was a clean slate when I came across your field,” Kellie went on, distracting Jerry from his sulking thoughts. “We’re all new at this and you’re doing the best job anyone could ask of you.”
    “Thanks,” he grumbled, not really mollified, but amendable to her words.
    “Yeah dad,” Randy added after a few seconds of silence. “What she said.”
    Randy had never been an articulate kid. He wasn’t the smartest kid in school and failed a few classes, forcing him to take summer school twice. He’d never been very talkative unless it was something to do with video games. He was a large boy, topping his six-foot-tall dad by two inches and 60 pounds.
    The seven of them ate in silence for a while longer. Usually