VD We're Stuck Here 80
Chapter 80
It did not take long for the group to gather in the kitchen again where the aroma of the roasting coffee was enticing. They set to work cooking food and setting items on the table. They had fresh milk and cream. There was butter from the sunken ice house, although there was no ice or snow left. Bread, baked the day before, was toasted over the fire in the hearth and slathered with the butter and some apple butter Barbara had made. Because there were quite a few fresh eggs, each person had some in the manner they liked. And they still had the makings for grits. Freya and Barbara did their best to keep up the food supplies.
"I looked at the hole behind the barn," Barbara said to the group. "It's getting bigger."
"More than yesterday?" Rebekah asked, using one of the linen napkins that had belonged to Mrs. Anderson to wipe her lips.
"I'm pretty sure," Barbara said, nodding.
"Kol and I will see about making the wooden barrier bigger," Elijah said, nodding.
"If the dome collapses completely, we'll have to watch out for wild creatures trying to get to our animals," Freya muttered. "The calf and the chickens are vulnerable."
"They will have to be kept inside at night," Elijah said. "Let us keep an eye open for other places where predators can get inside."
"I'm so tired of this place," Kol said, stuffing toast with apple butter into his mouth. There was nothing wrong with his appetite.
"You've said that a thousand times, Kol," Rebekah snapped at him. "None of us is overjoyed with our situation."
Barbara smiled and reached out to lay her hand on Kol's arm. "It's not so bad."
"You are one of the bright spots, darlin'," he said with a grin.
After breakfast, he and Elijah went to the barn to find a board with which to enlarge the hole cover. They had tools, and thanks to the witches, they had nails. Always, regarding everything, they never used up the last of something. Freya and Barbara needed at least one of everything that needed to be duplicated. They had made a mistake when the cow had gone dry. They had not started duplicating the creamy cow's milk, and suddenly there was no more milk. Sarah and John had been kind enough to brings some each week until the cow had her new calf and a new supply of milk. And with the bull gone, the hay supply was lasting longer.
After lunch, Kol went to the barn to look for certain tools. There were a lot of them, either in the barn or in the cellar. What he was looking for were set on a work bench where he had left them. He regularly had to trim the horse's hoofs, which grew continuously like humans' fingernails. The animal had long-since lost the four horse shoes he had been wearing when the family had arrived. Kol had left him bare-footed ever since.
Soon, Barbara joined him. She smiled to herself as she observed his upper body because he had taken off his shirt. She had not seen men's bodies unclothed, other that Kol's and Elija's, but she was sure that her Kol had the nicest back and shoulders and arms. He was bent over, holding one of the horse's hind feet on his thigh as he used the heavy hoof nippers.
"Come on, Harry! Quit leaning on me," he admonished the horse, which stood placidly, but was taking advantage of the man trimming the edges of his hoof. Harry was tied to the fence and was almost falling asleep. He flicked an ear toward Kol, but didn't stop leaning on the man's thigh. In another minute Kol switch to a big rasp and smoothed the hoof edges. Then he let the animal's leg return to the ground.
"All done until next time," he said, running his hand along the horse's neck. Harry was his favorite animal on the farm, although he often laughed at the antics of the calf. After running his hand along the horse's shoulder, he removed the halter from the horse's head and let him wander off.
"For an old horse, his muscles are in good shape," Kol said, watching the animal.
"He's not the only one," Barbara said with a giggle and she ran a hand down Kol's back muscles.
He spun around and put his arms around her and lifted her up against his chest. She giggled again until he put his mouth to hers and kissed her deeply.
"Let me put these tools back in the barn," he said as he put her down. "Come help me, darlin'."
"My pleasure, sir," she said with a grin, and she picked up the rasp.
While Kol had been trimming Harry's hoofs, Rebekah was on the back porch churning cream into fresh butter. It was not her favorite job, but it gave her time to daydream. Among other things, she wondered what would become of the intimate relationship she was having with her older sister when they returned to normal life. If they ever did. Although Rebekah didn't mind that sort of intimacy, it was not her first preference. In truth, she often thought of the good times she had once had with Marcel. She was never sure why she had fallen in love with the African American when they were teenagers. It had been a time of slavery in America and their relationship had been a forbidden one. But it had endured, even when she had not seen him in a long time. When she wasn't angry with him, she still loved him. She hoped he was not being cruel to her brother Nik, whom he was holding prisoner. Perhaps she would never know. If Hayley didn't find a cure for the sick Mikaelson bodies in the caskets, their existence might cease.
These thoughts were beginning to depress her and she was relieved when Elijah joined her on the porch.
"Would you like me to give you a break with that?" he asked.
"Why not?" she said. She let go of the dasher handle and he took hold of it and began to move it up and down.
"I believe we are losing our strength," he told her.
"Churning butter isn't that hard!" She liked to tease him sometimes because he was always so serious.
"That is not what I meant. When we first came here, we realized that we did not have all of our strength. I am sure we have slowly lost more throughout our confinement."
"I agree. Not that my chores tax my strength. But like churning this butter, I'm sure I would not have felt any strain like I do now. I hope we don't just waste away before we get out of here. Do you think that's possible?"
"I do not know what to expect," Elijah admitted.
There was the sharp report of a gun being fired. Both Rebekah and Elijah were startled by it, as was Freya, who came quickly from the privy. Then they heard Kol's voice shouting curses and they could tell he was injured. In a moment all three of them were running past the stone wall and toward the barn. From the wall they could see someone outside the dome running toward a horse. The person was carrying gun.
Kol was on the ground just outside the barn. He was yelling curses and writhing in obvious pain, while Barbara was kneeling beside him. His three siblings assumed he had somehow been shot.
A/N I know this is a short chapter, but I have been busy with reading and editing a book for my friend. And the Christmas season is upon us with all its shopping.