The party had been winding down, but when Matt and Sam came in and she gave the news to the rest of the family by happily displaying her engagement ring everyone exploded into a new celebration. Aaron and Paul were overjoyed that their Aunt Sam was really going to become their aunt, and they kept randomly coming up and giving her hugs for the rest of the night. So did his mom and sister, for that matter.
When things finally wound down and everyone went up to bed Matt and Sam stayed on the couch for their usual quiet evening conversation, where they seriously talked about things like wedding dates and what their future together would hold. Both agreed that there was no reason to drag the engagement out too long, although there were things they had to consider when it came to the timing.
One thing was going to get the cache. Matt had planned to bring Terry and go for it right after they finished moving, leaving his dad, mom, April, and Sam to watch the shelter. He’d been thinking in terms of the trip delaying the wedding, but Sam insisted that she wasn’t going to be left behind to worry about him this time. He tried to argue about the danger and that they didn’t want to take too many people and leave the shelter unprotected, but she wouldn’t budge.
“I’m going,” she insisted. “Besides, with three people we’ll be able to pull the wagons faster, and if we fit everything in two of them we’ll always have the third person free to stand guard.”
Matt couldn’t argue with that, or the fact that Sam was better able to protect them now. While he’d been recovering from Razor’s wound over the last week he’d finally got a chance to give Sam her wish, when he not only offered to teach her, Terry, and April to shoot but practically insisted they learn, and as soon as possible. He’d taken the time to do a bit more target practice himself.
There wasn’t much ammo to spare for it, but thankfully learning to hit things with a rifle, especially a good heavy one with a bipod, good recoil absorption, and a scope like his dad’s reclaimed .30-06, was easier than learning to shoot a pistol. He planned to leave that rifle behind for defending the shelter and see if he could borrow a lighter rifle for the trip, to go along with the shotgun he’d given Terry and his own .40, as well as the revolver Sam had claimed from the looter that he’d also helped her practice with: although she was still working to get over anticipating the recoil her aim with it wasn’t terrible.
He hoped to borrow an assault rifle in the .223 caliber, but even with that lighter firearm he was a bit concerned about Sam being strong enough to aim the rifle while standing, or even in a kneeling or crouched position. Out on the range just outside of town they’d practiced with his dad’s large caliber rifle resting on a sturdy support, kneeling or prone. He’d have to help Sam get used to holding it in the aiming position long enough to shoot, and with any luck on the trip she could work at it and strengthen her arms enough before she really needed to use the weapon.
All of this was reasoning himself around to accepting her offer to come along. All other considerations aside, Matt honestly didn’t want to leave her for any amount of time either. He knew it would be risky, and the thought of her coming to harm made his heart freeze, but the route his dad had found was a fairly safe, isolated one. And arguably nowhere was truly safe these days.
So he told her yes.
The next morning they got packing. To his surprise when he went to tell Jane’s refugees that they’d soon have a home Tom Harding insisted he and his son would help them move. Matt thanked them but refused, since they couldn’t pay the father and son for their help, but the two men weren’t motivated by that. They wanted to get their group moved in as soon as possible, antsy staying in the town storehouse under the suspicious eyes of the men guarding the supplies in the backroom.
Matt still refused, although politely. They wouldn’t be taking any furniture and what they were taking would only need a few trips with the wagons, their own plus the one they’d borrowed to go after the cache. It wasn’t that he necessarily distrusted the man or his son, but he wanted to keep the location of the shelter a secret both for his family’s sake and out of respect for Lewis and Trev. Instead he encouraged them to join a hunting party and find food, and that soon enough their group would be able to move into a furnished house.
Jane was showing small signs of improvement, with every indication that she’d be up and about after a reasonable amount of time with no permanent damage. When Matt talked to her she offered to join the town’s defenders on a patrol route once she was strong enough, as well as any available hunting parties too on her days off.
After what he’d seen from her Matt had no issue with the idea, but since he’d turned over protection of the town to Chauncey Watson in his absence he told her to seek him out once she was healed. He also warned that he was taking the town’s doctor so she needed to really make sure she was healed before pushing herself.
Their neighbors were oddly incurious, both about them moving and about Matt and Terry’s planned trip. Not that Matt and his family spread either of those things around, but those they did tell didn’t even ask where they were going or why. Matt didn’t know whether to be worried or relieved by the lack of prying, although he trusted that Catherine had things in hand if anyone turned out to be untrustworthy.
When they took their first load out to the shelter his dad climbed the hill to check the observation post first thing. He loved the way it had been set up so the two people the recessed space accommodated could either lie prone or kneel with rifles firmly planted on a low, sturdy sandbag wall that ran the entire way around the shallow hole. His dad even joked semi-hopefully about the chances of a deer finding its way past the hunting parties and wandering right in rifle range of the relatively isolated shelter. Especially at night.
Matt appreciated the thought, but he wouldn’t complain if four-legged animals kept their distance if it meant the shelter was spared the approach of two-legged animals as well.
While they unloaded and went for the next load of possessions his mom got to work in the shelter, lighting a fire in the big stove at the back of the room and opening the vents to air the place out. The next time Matt and the others brought a load out they found the sleeping area curtained off into rooms and everything they’d already brought packed away in chests at the foot of the heavy cots in each room. They were able to unload the wagons directly to where the things were supposed to go on that trip, which took slightly longer but meant less work overall.
It turned out that even though they were moving from the home they’d lived in most of their lives, when it came down to it his parents didn’t have too many possessions they strictly needed to take with them. They brought photo albums, the fine dishware and silverware, their clothes, some of their blankets, other personal things, and anything else that might prove useful. But in the grand scheme of things a lot of their possessions they left behind, packed into boxes up in the attic trusting that Jane’s group would respect their property, but not terribly concerned if any of those nicknacks were stolen.
As for the furniture, his mom definitely didn’t want to lose it, but she had to trust that the refugees would take care of everything while living there. She had a long conversation with Jane about it before the redheaded woman’s group moved in, and seemed satisfied with things after that.