The next morning i woke up to shouting outside the Rv. I got quickly and put my clothes on before putting on my shoes and weapons about this time Dean was also waking up and so were the other boys. Ethan was now crying because of the loud noises that were going on. I passed Dean his pants as well as Matt his. I knew that Sam would stay asleep since he slept like rock usually but that would have to change if he wanted to survive this new world. I could closely hear that it was Lori and Shane that were the ones arguing and they decided to do it in front of our Rv.
I didn't know what the hell gave them that idea because I for one wasn't happy to my kids being woken up because of some petty argument between two lovers and that is exactly what this was a lovers spat. I rolled my eyes as Dean and Matt sat down in the living room as I turned on the Tv for us to watch something. I passed a crying Ethan to Dean so that I could make him his bottle for the morning since he wasn't going back to sleep after being woken up. I handed Dean the bottle to feed Ethan while I went to warm up some pot-tarts since I didn't feel like cooking. I grabbed me a pack of hot fudge sundae, Matt wanted blueberry, and Dean picked cherry which I hated.
I popped mine and Matt's in the toaster first as they were warming up I poured three glasses of milk for us to drink with our breakfast. I got mine and Matt's out of the toaster and put Dean's in before carrying Matt's pop-tart into the living area on a paper towel with his glass of milk. I did the same with Dean but put it on the table between the two seats. Matt had taken up in the make shift chair that we made using a pillow against the back of the booth. I grabbed my pot-tart and milk as well before we sat down and re-watch the Blindspot episodes we had already seen to make sure we haven't missed anything plus it was easier that trying to find something new that we all wanted to watch.
I looked at the clock and saw that it was barley 6:00 but the sun was already starting to rise so everyone was starting to wake up. I listen to Shane and Lori as they started to argue for the third time today and they were about to wake Ethan up again. I got up after eating half my pop tart and set my glass of milk on the counter along with my pop tart before putting on my shoes and hunting belt that held everything I carried like my hunting knife holders since I carried two hunting knifes one on each hip, Gun hostler for my gun and it had a spot for a flashlight but I usually didn't carry one since it weighted my pants down. I then put all my weapons one before opening the door.
"Hey do you mind taking your lovers spat some where else my kids are trying to sleep. You already woke Ethan up once and your about to again." I told them rudely I was since an tried of hearing them argue.
Neither of them said anything they just walked off in different directions. I saw that the whole camp had been watching them and some of women moved out of Lori's way as she stomped over to her tent and went inside. Shane on the hand took up watch on Dale the old man's Rv for while. I notice that again Carol was having to cook for the whole camp while one of the other mothers watched Sophia who was playing with her kids. I hated that Carol got stuck cooking all the time for the whole camp when Lori just sat on her ass most the day and did nothing. She couldn't even watch her own child during the day instead she went off with Shane to have sex in the woods leaving it to Dale or some one else.
I waved Glenn over since I wanted to talk to him about running into the city as group. I was hoping he was willing to take Dean for me otherwise he would have to go alone that wasn't something i wanted him to do. Glenn also knew the city better than anyone in camp. Glenn came over to where I was standing by the grass since the dogs had snuck out to go to the bathroom. I notice that Glenn was dragging since he was still waking up and hadn't ate breakfast yet either so that might also be why. I watched as he almost tripped walking across the camp ground area and that made me laugh.
"Well Good morning Glenn." I told him trying not to laugh.
"Morning." He mumbled
"I have a question for you. When is the next time your making a city run." I asked him.
"Later this week Lori is already biting about not having her lotion that she likes." Glenn told me.
"Dean needs a partner to go to the city with so he can stop at a small shop on the outskirts of the city it's called Toys for my Babies." I told him.
"O yeah I sometimes park the car in the alley way near that store. I guess that Ethan needs more toys then." Glenn told me before asking me the question.
"No he needs toys that a little more advance then the ones he has plus we wanted to get some toys all the way up until he was a toddler so we wouldn't have to worry about more toys any time soon." I told Glenn.
"Yeah he can go but it won't be until the end of week Thrusday maybe Friday." Glenn told me before hurrying over to where Carol just finished breakfast.
"Okay remember the deal about getting us some supplies on the Run right." I told Him as I lead the dogs back to the trailer.
"Yeah I remember I get you and your family the few things you need while in return I get to leave with you once we have to leave this place." Glenn repeated the deal to me.
"And don't tell Shane or Lori about this arraignment." I told him as Opened the Rv door to let the dogs inside.
"I know" Glenn told me before walking away with a nod of his head.
I went back in the Rv with the dogs to find that Sam was now up and Matt went to put one of his tee shirts on while Sam was already dressed for the day in a button up short sleeve shirt with a short sleeve white underneath shirt on as well. I grabbed the rest of my breakfast and sat down to watch tv together for a few hours before we got up and moving for the day. I knew their was a couple things to be done but not many. We wanted to get firewood and start spend more time outside the Rv. I was finishing up my pop tart and so was Sam who was eating his last bite. I cleaned up the breakfast mess and put the dirty glasses in the sink washing them out.
I started the load of dirty swim clothes from the day before and next would be towels. I made sure to wash Ethan's baby food jar out before sticking it in the pantry with the other jars for when we found berries, fruit, veggies, or nuts to canned later on while we were traveling. I had Dean put Ethan down so we could work on his motor skills since he was a developmental baby. I played peek-a-boo with him which he loved while giggling, laughing, and reaching out for me as he should be.I had Matt and Sam work on some school work while I worked with Ethan showing him different black and white pictures and waiting until he got bored with one picture by looking away before changing it to a new one.
I had the older boys working on their Math since it was the subject that they were both really good at. Dean helped them out if they got stuck while I worked with Ethan so he wouldn't get behind in his development since he was growing fast. I knew that the new toys he was going to be getting would help a lot. I knew that Ethan was right on track development wise I just worried now that we wouldn't be able to get him everything he might need since everything seemed to be in short supply these days. I picked Ethan up in the air tossing him up and catching while he giggled and laughed at me happily. I stopped after 3-4 times not wanting him to get sick.
Next I stood him up and only let him hold on to my fingers. I was trying to get him to stand up on his own longer than he already was. He could hold it for a couple seconds but that was about it. I watched as I moved my hands to under his arms and let him go but leaving my hands there to catch him if he fell. He stood up for a good 20 seconds before falling which was his best yet. I could feel that the boys had quit working and were watching him as he got better and better at it. I stopped after about 5 minuets of doing this. I sat him down and put his different kinds of toys in front him to play with while I got up and checked on everything.
I went over to where the boys were working and saw that they had both done several pages in their work books so I let them switch over to their home made flashcards that I had made them. There were several stacks that I had made them especially since all this started I was making them harder and harder on them. One stack was different animal foot prints, anther was different medicinal plants that can be found in the wild, another was edible plants and berries found in wild, another was different types of guns and the ammo that could fit them. That was all that I had made so far the guns and ammo one was new I had jut finished up a couple days after all this started.
It was hard to believe that we had already been here at camp almost two weeks. I knew that Shane's group still thought help was coming but it wasn't and I just hoped they realized it before it was to late for them. I went to the door and picked up my bow before calling out to Dean that I was going to take the boys hunting while he held down the fort for awhile. Sam jumped up excitedly as he rushed over to put on his boots before grabbing his bow off the wall. Matt followed in pursuit but he knew that this was mainly a learning experience for Sam since I knew that Matt was good at shooting a bow already and he was just going for extra protection.
I watched as he helped Sam get his quiver attached so that he could reach it easily.I grabbed my bug out bag but let the boys leave theirs since we weren't going far. I called the dogs to come but they weren't interested. Hunter wanted to stay by River's side since her paw was still hurt and it was Lady's job to protect Ethan so she would stay behind with him. i went over and kissed Dean goodbye before exiting the Rv. Sam was bouncing up and down as we headed towards the woods it wasn't until Shane like always wanted to know what we were doing and started to head our way that he calmed down. I didn't stop for Shane as he tried to catch up with us and we passed by the main camp and they were all watching us like I was crazy for taking my kids hunting.
"Wait hold up you can't go out into the woods alone with two children." Lori cried after she could tell that I wasn't stopping for Shane.
"Why not their my kids." I told her as we reached the main camp fire.
"Because it's dangerous out there and it's not being a good mother." She said getting shocked looks from the group.
"And what makes you think that you're a better mother than me, because what I can tell is you have plenty of weapons laying around but not once have even tried to show any of the kids how to safely use them. My son's know how to use a knife, gun, and bow properly and won't have to depend on men to protect them they can protect themselves." I told her
"there just kids it's our job to protect them." Lori demanded.
"What happens when you die then who protects them. They have to learn to protect themselves so that when Me and Dean are long dead they can survive this new horrible and violent new world we have to live in now." I told her as I gave Sam a gentle push towards the tress.
"Go on you earned this trip now go get your lunch or you won't eat." I told Sam.
"How could you tell your son that" Andrea a blond ask stepping forward.
"Matt take your brother to find his lunch and don't help him this is his lesson to learn If he can't kill anything then he doesn't need to eat." I told motion towards the woods.
"Matt don't go past the marked trees out their or the big boulders that is your stopping point." I told him as I handed him his gun.
"I know mom this is the same lesson you taught me and your father taught you and his before him and so on it's tradition." Matt told me understanding fully.
"Call out if you need me. I will be here." I told watching as they entered the woods alone.
"Andrea our Native American traditions are very different than yours so don't question how my people raise our children. We raise them rather they are a male or Female all the same way and teach them the same thing. in our tribe a female is seen as stronger than men since she bears children and raise them while men hunt and fish but so do women we just have the children to also look out for as well." I told her explaining the basics.
"This tradition that Sam is learning now is that if you can't catch your own food or provide it then you don't eat simple as that. It makes us better hunters because of it." I told her as I sat down on a tree stump by the fire while I whittled a spear with my knife.
"That's seems harsh." Lori mumble but everyone still heard her.
"Maybe but he can feed himself from the woods can you." I question her.
"Ask Daryl even if he is not raised the same way I was but he was taught the same lessen you find your own food or don't eat until you do." I told her back as I was sharping the edged of my spear until I was happy with it them moved on to another one.
It was about 10 minuets later Dean joined me around the camp fire with Ethan and Lady with him. I smiled as I took Ethan who was happily chewing on a carven wooden toy that I had made him since he would start to teeth more as the coming months came. I knew that Dean knew about my culture and respected it. He might not of been raised in the same way but he agreed that our children should be since it would teach them many life lessons in the future. I laid Ethan down near the fire but far enough away that he wouldn't get burned.
"What the hell are you doing move that baby away from the fire." Lori screamed at me as she tried to move to get him.
"Stop he knows not to go near it he learned that months ago. He knows that it hurts him." I told her making her watch as when he got to close that heat got really hot he moved away from it.
"I told you Lori our children are taught early on how to protect themselves some of the first lessons they learn is to only cry when they need something, fire is hot, water is cold, and to eat when food is given to them. It may sound harsh to outsiders but it is all we know and Ethan knows that mommy and daddy give him everything he could ever need in life he has to earn his wants." i told her as Lady grabbed Ethan's pants as he got to far from her for her liking.
"Lady stop let him explore." I told her petting her on the head which got a whine from her.
"Momma, Momma, Momma, look what I got." Sam cried come out from the woods with a big rabbit in his hand along with the some of the blood marking his face as his first kill.
"Well done my little hunter I see Matt marked you with first kill. Let's get this cooked up and you can finished the tradition by eating it's heart." I told as I handed him the knife.
"Now your next lesson is to learn how to prepare your meal you can hunt all the animals you want but unless you know how to skin and gut you kills you can't eat them. That then makes them a waste to mother nature and you have killed for no reason and we don't do that." I told explaining to him.
"I know momma animals are gifts from mother nature herself and we don't waste them or one day she will stop providing them for us to kill and eat." Sam told me finishing up me teaching himself.
"Well done you have been learning after all." I smiles as I showed him where to cut but let him do it.
Some of the group seemed disgusted with the way I was teaching Sam but choose to keep their mouths shut. After Sam skinned and gutted his rabbit which made many of the group choke and gag at the sight of it but not Sam or Ethan who was curious so I let him touch and smell a little drop of the blood and even taste it but he scrunched up his nose at the taste and went back over to play by Lady. who was patiently waiting for her portion of the guts to eat. It was amazing how quickly they learned their lessons. I knew some kids who had to take lessons two or three times before completing them but my kids seem to pick up on things faster or maybe I was a better teacher.
"Good job for your first time. You will get better the more you do it. Now take the meat and put it on the spears that i made for you to cook the meat on." I told him handing him the 6 sticks that i had made to hold the meat.
"Momma isn't this part bad for Lady so I should go burry it as a gift back to mother nature." He told me showing me the bad part of the guts.
"Correct Sam but first you must give Lady her gift for protecting the tribes youngest member." I told him motion to how she kept Ethan from wondering to far by grabbing him by the back of his pants and dragging back over to us.
"Good, now come little one and lets give mother nature he gift." I told him as I took him over to the trees before digging a hole for him to put the guts and rest of the rabbits body in.
"Now Sam when you get Matt's age you will start learning how to preserve the skin and turn it into hides so you can make rugs, gloves, clothing, or even jewelry out of it. That will be Matt's next lesson which will be your fathers job to teach him." I told him.
"Sam something important you must understand is that many people will question your teachings and say that they're wrong or cruel but they are part of your past and your people so that makes it a part of you. Your Father's tribe originates from the middles east so they carry those customs when they moved here to America. My people have been here from the viking ages so we also carry those customs so that is why some of them seem strange. We as tribes change customs and traditions over the years but some have to be taught a certain way or the meaning doesn't come through correctly. Do you understand what i'm try to tell you." I ask Sam knowing the whole group was listening in on our talk.
"Yeah momma our traditions and customs may seem harsh or cruel but it's the way we have survive for hundreds of years. These customs and lessons you teach me are the way of our people so we need to keep learning them so they will live on." Sam told me back surprising everyone with his answer.
"Correct now since it was your and Matt's hunt you and Matt cook the meat for the tribe." I told him handing him the first two sticks of meat and the same with Matt.
"Wait so your people date back to when vikings were killing each other. No wonder your customs are so cruel and strange." Lori said to us which made me mad.
"Lori please shut up. I don't question how you teach your kids so don't question how I teach mine. Because I promise you there are many things that you do that is stupid and reckless but you and no one else see them but that doesn't give me the right to question them." I told her rudely.
I spoke a prayer to bless the food in Native American as they cooked the meat to complete the custom and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation over the hundreds of years. I swapped out the sticks with cooked meat with raw meat that Matt and Ethan had. I let the meat cool off before taking it off the stick and putting it on a plate that Dean had brought out of the Rv when he went to put Ethan down when I was talking to Matt about our people and where they come from. After all the meat was cooked i stood up in front of where we were all sitting as a group.
"Attention, Samuel Aidan Black today you have complete the hunting tradition so now you have rightfully earn the right be called a Hunter. I present you with your prize the heart of your kill you must eat a bite to complete the custom and be know in the ancestors eyes as I true hunter." I told him as I handed him the raw heart of the rabbit.
Everyone in the group became disgusted with what was happening and were about to say something when another woman step forward and she also looked Native American and told them that it is bad to interrupt a ritual while it was happening. I smiled as he ate his bite of heart and you could tell that he didn't like it but he knew that it was something he had to do. After eating a piece of the heart I gave him a can of soda that he had earned before handing him the first bite of meat. Matt got the second bit of meat and the rest was evenly given between all four of us.
"Now you must wear the blood of you kill the rest of the day young hunter." Dean stepped in and told him as he wiped his mouth off but left the blood from the rabbit on his forehead and cheeks.
I walked forward now that we were fully done with the custom. I hugged him as I picked him up and spun in a circle with him as I told him how proud I was of him for doing the ritual so well. I let him drink his can of soda and eat his meat as I listen to him talk in between bits telling me about the hunting trip and how he killed the rabbit. I was happy and proud to hear he had doubled check to make sure the rabbit wasn't a momma just like I had always taught him. Never kill a baby animal unless you have to and Never kill an animal that has a baby with her no matter what it was against tradition to do so. After we finished eating the meat that Sam had caught we went to get the Top Secret Puzzle folders from the Rv.
We could work on them and school work outside in the fresh air. I sent Dean inside to get them out of the bench storage area for where they store activities like puzzles, books, movies, Tv series, games, toys, and that kind of thing. I also had him get Ethan and his sling and diaper bag so he could stay out here with us. Of course that involved getting Ethan his bottle and baby food jar for lunch since he would be eating when he woke up. I was sitting down at the picnic table that was free and near our Rv when I heard Lori telling Shane who had been on watched when I talked about all this and did Sam's Hunter ritual and test. Shane didn't look happy about what he was hearing but didn't say anything he just listened.
I was brought out of thought when Dean sat Ethan down on the table since he was in his carseat asleep still along with a the boy's English books, notebooks, pens, and pencils for them to do their school work. I set Ethan beside me on the ground in the shade by me leg so he wouldn't get sunburned. I had them doing sentence diagrams which they hated but needed to know along with picking the right word or words that went on the line in the paragraph that they had to read and answer questions about. While they were doing that I was checking their answers in their Top Secret Puzzle book and they had took their time and got them all right.
I was surprised they were both doing so good by themselves. I heard Ethan start to whine in his carseat so I lifted the blanket protecting his face from the sun and saw that he was awake and trying to look around. I smiled at him which made him smile as i picked him up from the carseat and sat him on the table so his legs were hanging off. He sat up by himself really well. I opened the diaper bag and saw that he was getting Apple and blackberries baby food today. I knew that he like both Apples and Blackberries the question was would he like them together or not. I started to feed him and he met me every bite with his mouth as he opened his mouth for the spoon to go in.
He was really liking the baby food flavor. I stopped and burped him halfway through before giving him the rest of the jar of baby food. I burped him again afterwards before putting him back in his carseat so that he could play with the toys that I had hung down from the handle so he had something to play with while me, Matt, and Sam finished up on homework. Dean had went out to check the traps and collect some fire wood for our small fire area in front of our Rv. I wanted to get the boys use to being outside more and inside less over the next couple months. I wanted my boys to be spending all their time outside verse inside.
"After you boys finish up the English workbook pages I gave you. I want you each to pick out a book from the Rv you want to start reading to me as your reading assignment and everyday we will read a couple chapters out loud as English homework. After each reading your first chapter in your book you can go play." I told Matt and Sam.
I was checking each of the boys Math notebooks while they worked on English. I was coming up with new problems while using their Math book at the same time and still changing it up. I was coming up with some more problems for the next couple days or trying to at least but after a while it got to the point that you were out of number combinations. I stopped after coming up with 50 problems for them to work on the next day. I was writing down the last problem in Matt's book when Matt passed me his English notebook and went inside to find his reading book. I started to check his answers and notice real quick that he was getting the singular and plural third person pronouns mixed up.
I stop grading the page and put it to the side to ask him about it before moving to help Sam work through his problems. I waited until Matt came back with his Veronica Roth series 'Divergent' book in hand. I called him over and showed him where he went wrong on the first 5 problems and he quickly saw what he did wrong and took the notebook so he could fix his answers. Sam got up slowly and he passed me his book and went to get his book of choice. I looked through Sam's and found out of the 50 problems only 7 were wrong so I was proud of him. When Sam came back I helped him by working through the problems with so he saw where he went wrong.
On over half the problems had had multiplied wrong so I made a personal note in my notebook where I kept track of where the boys were in their schooling. I would need to make multiplication cards for Sam since he was getting some of his facts wrong. I saw that Sam had a picked out City of Bones which surprised me more than anything since it was more of Matt's type of book. I had already read some of the book and knew that he wouldn't like it.I had him go pick a book more his age and he gave me a frown before going to do so. This time he came back with a Judy Blume series first book which was 'Tales of a fourth grade nothing' It was a good choice for him.
I had Matt take Ethan who had fallen asleep in the sun back to the Rv for me. Before he finished working on his Math problems while I listen as Sam started to read the book out loud to me. I did this so his reading and vocabulary would get better as time goes on this way. Plus it was one of my favorite memories with my mother was reading with her every night before bed if I wasn't to tired. So I wanted to pass than on to with my kids and the end of world wouldn't keep me frog giving my kids good memories.