Free Reclamation (Best Laid Plans Book 4) by Nathan Jones Page A

almost unfathomably long distance to go like this, and while they might get stronger as time went on they also had to worry about possible injuries or illness that would slow them down. Not to mention sheer exhaustion.
    It would be pointless to say he'd told them so when he hadn't had a say in the matter at all, even though he was the only one with any real experience going on difficult journeys with bikes
and
on foot hauling wagons. With the decision already made throwing in his opinion now would just make everyone more miserable. All he could do was shoulder his burden and do his best to keep everyone's spirits up as he got them physically and mentally prepared for a long, long trip.
    At the very least he could estimate that in the month and a half or so it would take them to get home at this pace they'd only eat through a quarter of their 2,400 pounds of wheat, leaving them with roughly 1,800 if all went well. They'd have to work much, much harder to get that food home, but once they did they'd be in a better position than if they'd made the journey on bikes with nothing at all.
    He just hoped Aspen Hill didn't desperately need them for something before then, and the pursuing Gold Bloc troops really were so bogged down by their conquests that they didn't have time to trawl smaller roads out in the middle of nowhere.
    But it was pointless to worry about anything but the trip ahead, so he positioned his right shoulder more firmly on the pushbar and continued on, each laborious step taking him and his family closer to home and safety.
     

Chapter Three
Meadows
     
    It was Lewis's idea to go out the third day after the Retaliation.
    He and Jane were more rested than they'd been in over a month. The evening they'd spent with Matt and Sam had turned into binge watching movies until he and Jane both fell asleep on their beanbag chair and, he assumed, his friends shut everything down and headed off to bed themselves.
    Knowing that they didn't have to worry about a patrol anytime soon had led to a surprisingly restful night, where he slept far longer than he usually would have, and when he woke up in the morning he found Jane going over her gear and happily joined her doing the necessary repairs and maintenance on his own, a much more thorough job than he'd been able to do for a while.
    That was just the beginning of the day, since being free from patrols didn't mean that there weren't still plenty of things to do. Stuff they hadn't been able to give their full attention to before now, since most of their time had been spent sleeping or walking their routes outside of town.
    The gardens needed work, and looking after the traps while they were there, and they had the rabbit hutch to work on and hunting that could be done. There was also plenty still to do to make the shed a bit more comfortable and secure to live in. And while they were at it, it couldn't hurt to think about building a new structure to relieve the crowded conditions inside the shelter itself. Matt's family and Jane's group were enduring the situation with good grace, but there were definitely no objections to the idea of expanding the living space.
    And it would be nice to spend more personal time with his wife without feeling like it was being stolen from more pressing issues. He cherished the time they spent patrolling together but it wasn't exactly restful or relaxing. The previous night had been a nice change from that, definitely something he could get used to.
    If nothing else he had his radio and current events to keep up on, although that was a depressing way to spend the time these days. Or he could delve into his hard drives for a book to read or listen to.
    All of that was far too much to do in one day, and a lot of it would require ongoing effort. But he'd gotten a good start on it, enough that he felt a bit more comfortable setting everything aside for a full day to do something else. Something he and Jane had both been wanting to do, and now that they