Surviving the Refuge (Survivalist Reality Show Book 2) Page 10

  “Very cool. This is awesome,” Regan said, genuinely impressed with the whole process.

  “Oh, coconut oil is also a natural sunscreen. Wolf’s stockpile isn’t going to last forever with this Florida sun, and the last thing I want to deal with is sunburn.”

  “You’ll have to convince Fred to let you use whatever you make after it winds up in his storeroom,” Regan joked.

  “I’ll make my own and keep it to myself if he tries to ration it with the rest of the sunscreen! Much easier, and it will moisturize my skin,” Tabitha said with a grin.

  Regan laughed, agreeing with Tabitha’s declaration. Fred had been taking the monitoring of the storeroom ultra seriously—it wouldn’t hurt to make their own supplies where they could.

  8

  The house had felt empty without Lily’s presence; even if she rarely spoke, her absence left a hole in the group dynamic. Regan couldn’t help but be worried about her, feeling a bit like a mother hen. Wolf was the one who’d assured her it would be okay, but Regan could tell he was a little concerned and only putting on a brave face. Clearly, the decision to let Lily stay overnight at her friend’s house had not been an easy one.

  He was confident Heather, the mother of the boy Lily was visiting, would keep his daughter safe. The town she lived in was quiet and peaceful for now and Heather would have the kids locked down in the house by dusk.

  The night before, after he’d returned home without Lily, he’d been grilled by everyone. It had actually been pretty sweet that all the adults had taken Lily under their wing and thought of her as one of their own, though Regan had been able to see the surprise on his face when the questions had piled on. Still, Wolf knew the mother of her friend, as well as the young man who Lily considered to be one of her best friends. Geno had nearly had a conniption fit when he’d found out Lily was staying the night at a boy’s house, but Wolf had assured him it was completely platonic.

  Tabitha and Regan had exchanged a knowing look when he’d announced that bit of information. There was likely a crush on one side of that platonic friendship. Ultimately, though, it had been Wolf’s decision and he’d wanted to do something to make Lily happy. Regan understood that and hadn’t questioned him—even if she couldn’t help worrying about Lily being off the island by herself, for any length of time or for any purpose.

  “Are you okay?” Regan asked Wolf as she walked into the dining room.

  He’d been sitting at the dining table, staring off into space. “I am. Just getting lost in thought.”

  “I can see that. Are you going to be heading out to pick her up soon?”

  He didn’t get a chance to answer. Geno and RC had come through the back door, neither man looking pleased. Regan groaned, dreading what was to come next. It seemed clear something was wrong and, usually, she found herself being blamed for whatever had happened.

  “We need you out here,” RC said, his voice grim.

  Wolf rose from the table and stepped past Regan, almost as if he sensed they might be about to blame her for something. “What’s wrong?”

  “One of the solar panels is missing a huge chunk,” Geno complained. “It’s crazy.”

  “How would that happen?” Regan asked, knowing there hadn’t been a bad storm since they’d last checked the panels.

  RC shook his head. “I don’t know, but it’s going to cut into our available power. We need to make some adjustments to what we use on a daily basis.”

  Wolf cursed under his breath and hurried out the door, heading for the roof where the panels were mounted. Regan was left alone in the house and didn’t bother to follow, knowing she’d only get in the way of the men since she didn’t know a thing about the solar panels. Tabitha was already working on her garden, and Fred had gone out to get a better feel for the layout of the island—everyone having been surprised by his decision to finally leave the house and do a little exploring.

  For her part, Regan had already checked the aquaponics and had nothing pressing to do. She looked out the large window in the open kitchen and dining room, and decided to hit the water. It was a beautiful day with a nice, gentle breeze. The humidity wasn’t so bad, either, making it a perfect time to master her sailing skills.

  She stopped to tell Tabitha where she was going, not wanting anyone to jump to the conclusion she had run away with the sailboat.

  “Hey,” she said, watching as Tabitha made a ditch in the dark soil with her fingertip before sprinkling seeds in and covering them with dirt. “I’m going to try sailing. I want to practice my skills.”

  “By yourself?” Tabitha asked, not looking up from the dirt.

  “Yes. I won’t go far.”

  “You’re coming back, right?” Tabitha asked, only half-teasing.

  Regan grinned. “If I don’t come back, it isn’t because I didn’t want to. It means I got sucked out to sea and am headed for China or wherever the ocean connects to—or else the boat sank. Or, pirates got me and I’m walking a plank somewhere.”

  Tabitha giggled. “Alright, we’ll send out the search party if you’re not back by dinner. Be careful. Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

  “I’ll be okay; the weather seems clear and it’s not too hot today. I’d like to try and do it on my own, and a little me time sounds nice after the stressful day yesterday.”

  Tabitha looked up and smiled at her. “I understand. Have fun.”

  Regan headed toward the dock, excited for her big solo adventure. She was looking forward to a little time alone out on the water, and only hoped her stomach did better than it had the first time around.

  Out on the dock, she carefully untied the rope before climbing into the boat, already feeling confident about everything she remembered. This felt almost natural, she couldn’t help thinking.

  She unfurled the sail and headed out to the open water, putting her face up to the sky and inhaling the fresh scent of the sea. Regan practiced steering and putting the sails up, getting a feel for the way the boat handled and keeping her eye on the island so that she didn’t lose track of where she was.

  After a few hours sailing and relaxing, she felt more ready to tackle the problems on the island. Confident she had gotten the hang of things, she decided to head back in. She didn’t want to worry anyone, and certainly didn’t want anyone to think she had taken off.

  Back at the dock, she noticed the little rowboat that was usually pushed up on the shore was missing. Wolf had to be picking up Lily, she assumed. After tying up the sailboat, she sat in the shade next to the dock and decided to wait for them to return.

  Soon enough, the sea grapes rustling in the wind caught her attention and Regan stood up to walk over to the wildly overgrown bushes, delighted to see there were several bushels that had turned purple.

  They were ready to pick and eat! Regan reached out and grabbed a few, excited to sample the first bite. Wolf had told her they were similar to grapes in flavor and were a nice sweet treat. As she chewed around a seed, she found that she had to agree. And then, another thought occurred to her as she stared out at the large patch of sea grape bushes. Wolf had told her that, when the sea grapes started to ripen, it was officially hurricane season.

  “Of course,” she mumbled, popping another grape into her mouth.

  She had a small backpack with her, and decided to use it to carry back some grapes for everyone. Anything to stall heading back to the house. The time alone had done her a lot of good, and she didn’t want to spoil it by running into Geno and his attitude. She was also looking forward to seeing Wolf, and hoping the time away from the island would have improved Lily’s mood. She wouldn’t wait here all evening for them, but a bit more time spent on the beach collecting these grapes wouldn’t hurt.

  And yet, it wasn’t long before she saw a bright red canoe coming around the northern side of the island. Her immediate instinct was to hide. If someone discovered them on the island, they could be dealing with some serious issues. She dropped to her knees, hiding in the tall
grass and sea grape trees that bordered the beach above the dock as she watched the canoe move closer. Upon its approach, though, Regan saw the craft held Tabitha and Lily. She stood up from her hiding place, relieved to see their friendly faces. Well, one friendly face.

  She waded out to help pull them in and onto the sandy beach. “Where’s Wolf?” she asked.

  Lily made a snorting sound. So much for the time away improving the attitude, she thought to herself. Regan ignored Lily’s snarky response and focused on Tabitha, immediately recognizing the look of worry on her friend’s face.

  “What happened?” she asked, suddenly concerned something had happened to Wolf on the mainland. Regan looked back at Lily, who also appeared to be upset.

  “What happened?” Regan demanded more loudly, her heart beating fast against her chest as her mind whirred with the many possibilities that could explain Wolf’s absence.

  “The boat was stolen,” Tabitha mumbled.

  Regan blinked. “What? Where’s Wolf?” she repeated, feeling as if she was missing a big piece of information.

  “He was busy with that solar thing and couldn’t get away. I went to get Lily for him,” Tabitha explained.

  Regan’s shoulders drooped as she let out a long breath of relief. “Oh, thank God. You had me worried.”

  “My dad’s fine,” Lily snapped. “We’re in trouble, though.”

  “Trouble? What do you mean the boat was stolen?” Regan asked, finally focusing on the actual problem.

  “Someone took it,” Lily said, the familiar sound of snark back in her voice.

  “How?” Regan asked.

  “Heather and I were chatting,” Tabitha explained. “Heather is Tyler’s mom. Anyway, she has a huge garden and offered to give me some seeds to start some of my own medicinal herbs here on the island. I tied up the boat and we walked to her house, which is fairly close to where we left it. There was no one around—it was seriously like a ghost town over there. When we came back, the boat was gone with the gun he insisted I bring with me for protection.”

  “What? You left the gun on the boat?”

  “Not on purpose. You know I’m not comfortable carrying a firearm and what if someone saw me? Things could have been worse.”

  “Crap,” Regan muttered. “I told Wolf it wasn’t safe to go over there.”

  “It’s perfectly safe!” Lily barked. “Please, Regan, seriously—don’t tell my dad not to let me go again,” she pleaded, her voice much friendlier now that she was realizing her tiny bit of freedom could be taken away.

  Regan softened, knowing how important her friendship had to be, not to mention her need to escape the island on occasion. Regan could empathize, especially after spending most of the day completely alone.

  “I won’t,” she promised.

  “We better get back to the house and let your dad know you’re home safe. Then, we’ll tell him about the boat,” Tabitha added, clearly dreading what was ahead of her.

  “Whose canoe?” Regan asked.

  “Heather’s. We borrowed it to get back. We have to get it back to her tomorrow,” Tabitha answered.

  Regan walked with Lily and Tabitha up to the house. They were quiet as they moved, all of them dreading the reaction that was sure to come. With the motorboat out of commission, that left only the sailboat, which wasn’t exactly the most inconspicuous mode of transportation for going to shore.

  “Hey!” Wolf greeted his daughter with a warm smile. “Did you have a good time?”

  His smile faded when he got a closer look and recognized the devastation on her face. He looked at Tabitha and then Regan. Regan really wanted to throw up her hands and declare her innocence, but knew it wasn’t the time. She would stand by her friend.

  “What’s wrong?” RC asked before Wolf could say more, walking out of the house to greet the women.

  “Let’s go inside and get you out of the heat,” Wolf said, wrapping a strong arm around Lily’s shoulders.

  The group of five walked inside, none of them saying a word.

  “We lost the boat,” Tabitha announced as they walked into the living room.

  Geno had been lounging on the couch when they walked in, but quickly sat upright. Fred, who was at his usual place at the kitchen table with his open notebook, dropped his pencil and stared open-mouthed at Tabitha.

  “You lost the boat?” Wolf asked, as if he couldn’t possibly have heard her right.

  Tabitha nodded her head. “Yes. I’m sorry, but it’s gone. We looked all over.”

  “Were you on the boat when you lost it?” RC asked, looking over Tabitha and Lily as if confused by their dry clothing.

  Tabitha shook her head. “No, we were with Heather and Travis at their house.”

  “You left the boat unattended?” Fred demanded.

  “It wasn’t like we left the keys in a car!” Lily snapped, defending Tabitha. “We left it on the beach while we ran over to their house to grab something. We were gone maybe ten minutes, and the boat was right where Dad and I have left it before. When we came back, it was gone.”

  “You left it sitting on the beach exposed?” Wolf asked.

  Lily shook her head. “No. We put it where you did, just like always. It was hidden in that little snug.”

  “And you were only gone for ten minutes?” Wolf questioned.

  Geno had come to stand near his wife, taking her hand in his to offer his own support. Once again, Regan watched him with his wife and reminded herself he wasn’t a bad guy. He was simply protective, which tended to make him a little overbearing. Seeing him like this with her, when Tabitha was clearly in distress, put him in a different light than what she was accustomed to.

  “I swear, Dad,” Lily said, her voice breaking. “We walked over there, grabbed the seeds, and went right back.”

  RC had been listening intently. “Someone discovered where you’ve been hiding the boat,” he stated with his usual calmness.

  “What does that mean?” Geno asked. “Someone knows we’re out here?”

  RC shrugged, frowning. “It could. Or, someone watched you pull up to shore and waited to take the boat.”

  “How did you get back?” Wolf asked.

  “Heather let me borrow her canoe.”

  Wolf nodded. “I’ll take it back tomorrow and talk to some of the locals. They might know something.”

  “Shouldn’t we be thinking about beefing up the security here?” Geno chimed in. “If someone was watching you row to shore, they know you came from somewhere. It’s only a matter of time before they discover we’re out here.”

  “We’ll step up our security patrols,” Wolf agreed.

  Geno scoffed. “You mean the ladies foot-soaking, gossip patrols?”

  Regan shot him a glare. “We patrol just like the rest of you.”

  Geno rolled his eyes as if to say their patrols were somehow lacking compared to his. She had to bite back her anger. Verbally sparring with him would solve nothing.

  Lily’s face paled. “We’re in danger?” she whispered, looking more vulnerable than Regan had seen her since they’d met.

  “We’ll be okay,” Regan said, hoping to reassure her.

  “You don’t know that! You can’t possibly know that for sure!” Lily wailed, running out of the room, but instead of running out the front door, she ran to her bedroom and slammed the door.

  The rest of the adults all stood around in disbelief, staring at one another.

  “I’ll go to shore with you,” Geno said after another few seconds passed. “We can look around and see if we can find the boat.”

  RC was already shaking his head. “The boat is gone. Finding it would be nearly impossible. It would be best if we focused on fixing the boat we do have. We also need to do a thorough perimeter check,” he said, looking directly at Regan, then Tabitha. “This should happen at least once a day, preferably twice to make sure no one watched Lily and Tabitha return. You can go with Wolf in the sailboat so he’ll have a way to get back, but there’s n
o point in searching for the lost boat. Consider it gone.”

  Wolf nodded his head. “You’re right. There’s no way we’re going to find the boat. We’ll have to do without it.”

  Tabitha put a hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

  “It isn’t your fault. Someone must have been watching me yesterday. I wasn’t paying attention. I should have known,” Wolf said, reaching out and touching her shoulder. “This isn’t on you, Tabitha.”

  Tabitha nodded her head as Geno wrapped his arm around her. The two headed for the screened-in patio for some privacy and Regan took a deep breath, hating the tension she could feel in the room. With nothing else to do, she took her backpack into the kitchen and carefully removed the sea grapes she had collected, leaving them in a bowl for everyone to enjoy. It seemed like a small offering, but she hoped it would make at least one of them happy.

  “I’m going to check the aquaponics,” she said then, and quickly left the room, extricating herself from the situation. There was little she could do to make it better. RC, Fred, and Wolf could hash out what to do.

  As she walked to the greenhouse, she thought about the missing boat. It had been a risk to take it to shore. Wolf had been confident that the little sleepy town would be immune to what had been going on in the city, but things had changed.

  What made things worse was that he’d insisted he knew a lot of the people and was friends with them, and she knew how he had to be feeling right now. Regan was well aware of what it felt like to be betrayed by those you thought you could trust. Wolf’s trust and beliefs about his favorite town had just been violated. She felt bad for him, but also vindicated in her instinctive nature of not wanting to trust anyone. Wolf had lectured her about being suspicious and jaded. Now, she knew she had been right to be concerned about those trips to town.