He turned back to Allison. “Okay. I’m going to do something like I did before except I am not going to touch you. You don’t have to worry about trying to catch my hand. I just want you to close your eyes, concentrate on the sounds around you and call out if you feel my presence behind you. I won’t stay in one spot. I’ll move away and come back until you sense me. Are you ready?”

  She nodded and closed her eyes.

  Will moved slowly toward the back of the group. After a moment, he walked up behind Allison. He stood still for a few seconds before moving away. He approached again, then backed slowly away. Once more, he moved toward her. This time, just as he reached her, she raised her hand.

  “Are you there?” she asked.

  Will grinned. “Good job!” He clapped. “Tell us exactly what you heard.”

  Allison smiled weakly. “Actually, I didn’t hear anything. I felt shivers down my back kind of like when you feel that someone is watching you.”

  Riley, who stood to the side, chuckled. “You heard,” he said. “You just didn’t put it together.”

  “That was amazing!” Will said. “Are you willing to try again?”

  Allison shrugged. “I’ll try.” She closed her eyes.

  Will moved around the room, coming close to Allison before moving away. He approached her three times before picking up a blanket from the couch and spreading it between his outstretched hands. When he approached Allison again, Allison raised her hand. “Are you there?”

  “Good job!” Will said. “I used a blanket to help me. Can you tell us what you heard or felt?”

  “Well, I was trying to hear the music get softer or something but that’s not what happened. I don’t know how to describe it. It just sounded a little deadened. But it was barely noticeable.”

  “Bingo!” shouted Riley.

  “With practice,” Will smiled, “you will be amazed at what your ears can see.”

  He turned to the group. “Anyone else want to try?”

  Paul raised his hand. “I’ll try.”

  Will tried approaching Paul first without the blanket. When Paul did not respond, Will suggested that he stop trying to listen behind him. Then he used the blanket and Paul was able to detect him four times in a row.

  “It’s funny,” Paul said when he rose from the chair. “I’m so used to listening for noises behind me, but now I’m trying to not listen and it works.”

  “Who else wants to give it a try?” Will looked around the group.

  Missy Funderburg nudged Erin. “Do it.”

  Erin moved away and glared. “You do it.”

  “I’ll do it if you do it.”

  Erin shrugged. “You go first.”

  Missy jumped up and quickly took the chair. She looked up at Will. “Can you just start with the blanket?”

  Will picked up the blanket. “Close your eyes,” he said.

  With her eyes closed, Missy was not able to detect a change in sound. After six tries, Will touched her on the shoulder. “Keep practicing,” he said. “Sometimes it takes a while.”

  He turned to Erin. “You’re up next.” He smiled.

  She stood and walked to the chair. “Use the blanket,” she ordered.

  Erin immediately recognized his presence on the first attempt. Will dropped the blanket. “Close your eyes again. We’ll do it without the blanket.”

  Again, Erin recognized his presence as soon as he stepped behind her.

  “Very good,” Will said. “Do you mind if we make it a little harder by turning the music down really low?”

  She shrugged.

  Riley walked behind the group and turned the speaker down.

  Erin closed her eyes and Will slowly approached. She called him out as soon as he stepped behind her.

  “We have a pro here.” Will grinned at Erin. “Practice this. Help others if you can. You were amazing.”

  Erin shrugged, but the grin on her face showed it meant a lot to her. She took her seat with the group.

  “Anyone else?” Will asked.

  No one volunteered.

  “Make Jaden do it,” Erin suggested.

  “Want to?” Will asked, looking at Jaden.

  She shook her head. “Not today.”

  Will nodded at Riley who moved to the back of the group and turned off the music.

  “All right,” Will said. “What we learned today is something that we learn by practice. Like riding a bike. Very few people can jump right on a bike and ride it without practicing. Erin is the exception to that rule. She got it right away. Good job, Erin.” He looked at her, causing her to squirm a little in her seat.

  “Practice on your own or let me or Riley know if you want help. I’ll be happy to spend some time with anyone who wants to learn. And, with that, we have work to do. Good job, everyone.”

  Riley followed him out of the bunkhouse.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The days stretched into weeks. Routines were established and followed. Mornings began with Mary and Allison cooking breakfast. Usually breakfast consisted of eggs provided by Allison’s chickens. More often than not, the eggs were scrambled. This allowed the women to stretch the eggs to feed more people. They used any leftovers from the previous night and fresh vegetables from the garden to ensure the group was fed a hearty breakfast.

  Jaden chopped vegetables and kept the tables supplied with drinks and bowls of scrambled eggs.

  The men who were heading out to start security detail were the first to show up for breakfast. Other group members filtered through as they got up and prepared for the day ahead.

  After breakfast, the children went to ‘school’ using textbooks Allison had procured from town. The back corner of the bunkhouse now housed a large white board, a book case, and several tables, as well as a couch. Lisa Grant and Karen Funderburg led the children. The older children helped with the younger. Only two or three hours were spent on learning, but to everyone’s surprise, the children learned faster than they ever had attending the public schools before the solar flare.

  Several times a week, Will Mead met with the class. He explained what was happening and how they were working to keep the community safe. Sometimes he gave lessons.

  One of the favorite lessons for all was the firestarter lessons. The children and any adults who had a free moment gathered and learned different techniques to start fires. Occasionally they took a morning to go out to the arena and practice their skills. The children kept the storeroom stocked with readily accessible fire starters for the group which they had learned how to make from Will’s class.

  Afternoons were spent either helping in the garden, learning new skills, or just spending time doing what they wanted - as long as they stayed in or very near the bunkhouse.

  Each morning Jean, the neighbor, rode her ATV across the field and delivered fresh milk. Allison had a special stainless-steel pot that she used to pasteurize the milk before they drank it.

  “It kills pathogens like E Coli, Salmonella, and Listeria,” she explained. “While I trust that Don and Jean are vigilant about cleanliness, I just don’t want to take any chances of one of us getting sick.”

  She poured the raw milk into the stainless-steel pot and set the pot on the stove. Using her thermometer, she slowly heated the milk to 145º. She showed Jaden how to keep the temperature at 145º for a half hour. While they waited the half hour, Allison prepared a larger pot with the coldest water she could. This required going out to the well and drawing water for washing which they left for one of the men to carry in to the tack room.

  Once the well water started running cold, they collected the cold water in the larger pot. When the raw milk had been maintained at 145º for thirty minutes, they removed the pot from the stove and set it inside the pot of cold water.

  “We want it to cool as fast as we can,” Allison explained. “And we need to keep it cold, but that’s not really a problem since we seem to use it all up quickly.”

  Will Mead and Shane Riley made a trip to their old homes in Rockford and returned with items they had salvaged.

  One chilly morning, thunderstorms kept the entire group inside. Will Mead and Shane Riley gathered the men in the arena to learn to throw knifes. The older children, upon hearing the lesson that was being taught, pleaded to be allowed to learn as well.

  Allison insisted that they would need their parents’ approval. Bill was happy to hear that his daughter would be learning another useful survival technique. Paul’s mother, Belle, also thought it was a great idea. Other parents were not as enthusiastic so Jaden and Paul were the only children in the class.

  Will used the hay bales that Jaden’s target was pinned to. The knife he held looked nothing like the knives Jaden had ever seen. It was a lot longer than she imagined a throwing knife would be. It looked to be about a foot long. It did not have a handle. Instead, it was all one piece. Half was sharpened and the other half, although it looked similar to the sharp half, was more rounded allowing it to be held safely by the gripping end.

  Will held it in the air. “This is called a balanced knife. You might have also heard of handle-heavy knives or even blade-heavy-knives. A handle heavy knife is usually thrown by holding the blade. A blade heavy knife is thrown by holding the handle. I prefer throwing a “balanced knife”

  He held his hand out and pointed his index finger toward the group and then centered the knife across his finger where it balanced perfectly.

  “Balanced simply means that the weight is centered. Now, the weight of my knife is about 12 ounces and the length is 12 inches. Longer knives make a slower rotation. Heavier knifes are easier to control and they fly straighter, but throwing them will take more power so we will let everyone try a few throws with the heavier knives. If we need to.” He looked at Jaden, “We can start you out on a lighter knife. Once you get stronger, the switch to a heavier knife is easy.”

  Jaden felt her face grow warm. “If you throw a heavy handled knife by holding the blade and a heavy blade knife by holding the handle, how do you hold a balanced knife?”

  Will smiled. “Good question. You can throw it from either the blade or the handle. It’s up to you.”

  He looked around the group. “What I think we will work on here is throwing from about ten feet or fifteen feet. Once you get proficient at that, you can adjust your throw and move further away. I trust my aim from about 25 feet, but it took me a long, long time to be able to do that. For longer ranges, a balanced knife thrown with no spin is a much better choice.”

  “I’ll demonstrate by throwing a few times, then we’ll split the group up and Riley can work with four of you and I’ll work with the other five. Are there any questions before we start?”

  Bill Gordon cleared his throat. “Is this something that we might use in combat? Personally, I can’t see how bringing a knife to a gunfight is a smart idea.”

  Several men chuckled.

  Will chuckled as well. “No, this isn’t a combat class. Knife throwing is more for entertainment. However,” he held his finger in the air, “at least once I’ve taken out the bad guy by throwing a knife.”

  He looked at Jaden. “A bad guy had a hostage with a gun to her head. He got the drop on us. I had two team members with me. The bad guy told us to drop our weapons.

  “Now my team members knew that I had my knives. They looked at me and I gave them the nod. I had a knife in a sheath between my shoulder blades. We all laid our weapons in front of us and put our hands on our heads. The bad guy said to kick the guns away. While he was watching us kick the guns away, he didn’t notice my hand slide down and grab my knife. He never knew what hit him.”

  “Cool!” Paul exclaimed. He turned to Jaden and grinned.

  “Well,” Will said. “I wouldn’t exactly call it cool, but it saved us and saved the hostage. Killing someone - even a bad guy - takes a little something from you. But sometimes it just has to happen.”

  Paul’s grin faded. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “No problem. I just want you and everyone here,” Will looked at each of the men in the group, “to understand that it isn’t inconceivable that there will come a time that you will have to take a life. If that happens, I’m confident that there will be no other choice. But, if that happens, you need to understand that it takes a little of you away. You will never forget it. It’s a very hard thing to do and it never gets easier.”

  He locked eyes with Riley who nodded.

  “Now,” Will smiled and held up his knife, “is anyone interested in learning to throw knives? Just as an entertainment skill.”

  “Bring it!” Sam Smith shouted. “I guarantee I’ll beat Dave.”

  Dave Galen laughed. “We shall see.”

  Jaden lingered in the back while the men lined up to take their turns with the knives. Most of them men failed to get the knife to stick in the target. A few completely missed the target.

  Jaden watched and listened to Will giving instructions and tips. When her turn came, she went through everything she heard Will say. She raised her arm and let the first knife fly. It stuck in the target well below the bullseye.

  “Try it again,” Will encouraged. “Throw it exactly like you did the first time. This time, let it go a little sooner. You want to let it go at the top of your arc.”

  He stepped back and nodded. Jaden took a breath, let it out and threw.

  This time the knife was closer to the bullseye.

  “Do it again,” Will commanded. “Think about the top of your arc. Release the knife at the top.”

  Jaden threw again. This time the knife flew over the target and hit the wall with the handle end.

  “Now you can get an idea of the perfect release point,” Will said. “Before you were releasing it too late. This time you released it too soon. Can you try it again and release about halfway between those points?”

  Jaden bit her lip and nodded. She grasped the knife. When she let it fly, it stuck in the target just above the bullseye. Will cheered.

  “Look at this, Riley.” He turned to his friend and pointed at the target.

  “Well, look at this.” Riley pointed at the target he was managing. Two knives stuck out of the bullseye.

  Jaden looked to see who had been throwing. Paul stood at the throw line with a shy smile on his face.

  “Well, well. Looks like the two kids are going to be our competitors.” Will walked to Jaden’s target and retrieved his knives. “Want to go best of three? Jaden against Paul?”

  Jaden looked at Paul who smiled and shrugged.

  Will handed her three knives. He leaned over and whispered. “Okay, we haven’t talked about your foot placement. It’s actually pretty good, but try throwing the first knife with a smaller step. If that hits the bullseye, stay with that step. If it doesn’t hit the bullseye, do it like you were doing it before. You’ve got this!” He gave her a thumbs up before stepping away.

  Jaden darted a glance back at Paul. He stood watching her.

  “Go ahead,” she said.

  “I’m just thinking,” he replied. “How about we make this a little more interesting with a little wager?”

  “I got nothing to wager,” she snorted. “And I don’t think you do either.”

  “Well, we could wager chores or something.”

  Jaden snorted again. “I do everything around here. I don’t see you doing much. But, if you want, let’s wager that if you win, I’ll do your laundry - which I already do. I’ll fix your meals - which I already do. And, I’ll clean the outhouse in the mornings - which I already do. What will you do if I win?”

  Paul shrugged. “Not laundry or cooking. But I can clean the outhouse for a week if you beat me. And if I win, you have to call me ‘your majesty’ every time we talk for a week.”

  “You’re on.” She didn’t move. “You go first.”

  “One at a time and take turns?”

  “No, throw all three and then I’ll throw mine.”

  He stood at the throw line. Jaden saw him bite the inside of his cheek. He took a breath, let it out and flung the knife. It stuck in the target just inches outside of the bullseye. His second throw landed inside the bullseye. His third throw was several inches to the right of the bullseye.

  He smashed his fist into his open hand. “Dang! That should have been right in the center. Okay, Jaden. This should be easy.”