Hangovers and roosters simply do not mix. Groggy and grumpy were words that aptly applied to me that next morning, happy and cheerful were simply not in my vocabulary. I dragged my ass out of bed and shivered in what felt like very early spring cold while I restoked the firebox, the heat started to come up but Michelle still grumbled and burrowed down further under the blankets.

I’d forgotten that I’d have to deal with the Michelle situation soon also, a comfortable fling with a friend had suddenly turned into what appeared to be a live-in girlfriend with simple a flash of a lightning bolt. I wasn’t sure that this was a good thing.

I made my way outside and stoked the central fire with coals from the coal bucket, it caught quickly and I turned to the other bedrooms. I was heading towards Matilda’s tent with the coals bucket when she came out, I simply handed her the bucket and asked her to take care of Sonya as well; bless her heart she merely nodded and didn’t speak. My head hurt.

The central fire going I let the chickens and dogs out and went up to look after the livestock. I went through another bale feeding them and we’d picket them out later but that solution would need some work also. Unless something extraordinary happened again we were going to be here for a long time. Oscar had provided a stack of hay with the rental and there were a few rolls stacked over at the end of the field but it wasn’t enough.

There wasn’t enough dog food either, maybe I could supplement with a little hunting; I did have cold storage so I didn’t need to wait for fall. Should be lots of rabbits in a month or two, that would help; unless something happened my dogs would have to learn to hunt.

I checked the brook and my freshwater intake hadn’t been damaged in yesterday’s fun; thank the heavens for small favors. All of the rig’s vital signs were good but we still didn’t have any sort of signal. My brief exploration yesterday said we were still in the same location but everything else had changed. Gods that made my brain hurt to think about.

I came back to the camp with an arm load of split wood to the lovely smell of fresh coffee. Fuck, that also – we needed to slow down our coffee consumption or I’d be having dandelion tea for breakfast in the mornings, not my idea of fun. So yeah, we needed a conversation and a solid inventory check.

Sonya and Michelle were up and about, I sat down at the table to enjoy my coffee and a cigarette while I searched our library for anything I could find to give me an idea of what to do. My headache was slowly retreating and Matilda brought me a lovely plate of eggs, sausage and potatoes, it was just what my body needed.

I decided we were here for an extended term at the least and started to build a to-do list; I worked on the list out loud with the ladies as they joined me with their breakfast plates. Well, everyone but Sonya joined in working on the list, while Sonya professed loudly and absolutely that we would be rescued soon. Matilda simply stared at her and slowly shook her head. Apparently a massive forest showing up overnight was a problem Matilda had on her “Insurmountable Obstacles” list, probably right there behind volcano, tsunami and Armageddon.

Michelle, Matilda and I tried to ignore Sonya and focus on that little problem called survival. Michelle mentioned that she’d like to try fishing the brook, she thought there might be something there if she could fashion a rod for herself. I told her I had a bunch of stuff because I had planned to learn how to fish, it was worth a try. I also knew there were two rivers nearby, but I wanted to scout first before we sent an expedition down to fish the river.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Sonya was growing increasingly incensed that we wouldn’t listen to her, as she loudly reasoned I could just fly the drone down the river until I found a city then somebody would come and save us. Nothing we could say would calm her and she left the table to sit by the fire and jab angrily at her non-responsive phone. I retrieved the satellite phone from the electronics bay and handed it to her. “Try that,” I said, “we haven’t checked it yet.” Five minutes later she threw it down angrily in my lap and screamed “You disabled that too didn’t you!!!”.

“You arranged all this to force me to sleep with you just like those two sluts!” She was shrill, angry and desperate.

She stomped off into the camper and slammed the door.

Heck, I’d thought fishing was a great idea.

The table was silent as we listened to the banging and screaming from inside of the camper. Interrupting her fit wouldn’t help anyone, I just hoped she didn’t do any serious damage. She had been under terrible emotional stress even before this whatever happened. Aside from restraining her, there was nothing we could do.

After a minute or two I spoke up and said I’d go hunting and see if could pick up some spare meat that way. I already knew Matilda would be out gathering herbs, fruit and wild veggies; we could use the library to learn basic preservation and start putting up food.

I told them I’d keep exploring with the drone if nothing else just to keep us safe but that I also needed to start putting up wood. We were going through our fuel and didn’t want us caught out if winter came back unexpectedly.

I was fuming angry at Sonya but I was trying to keep it under wraps; we had to remain calm and plan forward while we tried to figure out what had just happened. It wasn’t easy to achieve all that with a hangover monkey on your back. I started cutting down wood lengths for our micro wood stoves when the hangover monkey struck, my gut clenched up and I raced for the camper toilet.

The camper door was locked; I pulled out my keys, opened the door and rushed for the bathroom with Sonya screaming “Get Out” at me the entire time.

Next came the blissful agony of release, the penance for alcohol abuse to my body. My colon loudly and odorifically made itself known. Thankfully a long and drawn-out penance was not required, and my session had almost ended when I heard the camper door slam and then my truck start up and drive away. “Fucking Hells Bells!” I thought, then cleaned myself up and went to go fetch my truck; I hoped against all odds she hadn’t done anything really stupid.

Matilda was working at the table and pointed down the field road, but she wasn’t moving so I assumed nothing horrific had happened yet. I handed her my pistol and then walked down the road to recover my truck and put the fear of god into Sonya.

The truck was parked idling in front of the Linden tree when I finally caught up, I couldn’t see any damage and it wasn’t stuck, so while I was angry, I wasn’t upset. That came next.

As I walked up to the driver's side door Sonya started screaming at me through the window. “Get away from me you rapist asshole!” were the first words out of her mouth. That set me off.

She was trying to lock the doors when I grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. I reached inside and grabbed Sonya by the back of the neck, I jerked her out of the driver’s seat and threw her rolling out into the grass.

I turned and stalked towards her, she saw the look on my face and started crawling backwards across the grass; a look of fear was in her eyes now.

I stopped walking and simply glared at her and then said in a clear, business voice, “You’re fired.”

I turned and walked to my truck, climbed inside and slowly backed down the field road to the camp site and parked the truck.

I got myself a drink of water, retrieved my pistol from Matilda, and went back to cutting wood.