Stone Family (eBook)

Survival Begins

Jeremy Gooch (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
456 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
9798317806873 (ISBN)

Infos

All Malcolm wanted was a simple life with his family, but when tragedy strikes his family, he feels there is only one solution, to leave society. Malcolm takes his family to the mountains and learns how to become a survivalist. With an autistic son and a young daughter, they encounter many different circumstances that push them to their limits both physically, mentally, and spiritually. Malcolm will do anything to protect his family, and he proves it time and again. He wanted a simple life, but life chose to make it anything but simple as he tries to raise his children. Malcolm and his children will take you on an action-packed adventure all while trying to navigate the struggles of being a good parent and fighting personal demons. Home defense comes to a very literal sense as Malcolm protects his children from the many dangers the world holds.

Jeremy came from humble circumstances, growing up in a blended family with eight children in the home. He was pushed to use his imagination for play and loved reading a variety of books. Later, he was one of two children of his family that graduated from college. Jeremy earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science and was a member of the Golden Key Honor Society. After marrying Katie, he went back to school and received his MBA, making him the only person in his family to have obtained a graduate degree. Subsequently, with a desire to exercise his imagination to entertain himself and others, Jeremy turned his attention to writing. Using his wife and children as inspiration for the main characters of his book, Jeremy was able to tap back into his creative side and let his imagination take flight into a world of action and adventure. Jeremy has a deep love for the mountains and the outdoors, and he enjoys the simple things in life. He enjoys reading and listening to stories about survival and preparedness. This helped spark and fuel his passion to write an action-packed and adventure-filled work of fiction.

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When a tragic event pushes Malcolm to a breaking point, he feels that he has no choice but to leave society with his two young children Atticus and Belle. As Malcolm hopes to find solitude in his off-grid home, life has other plans for him and his children. From facing down wild predators to defending his home from evil men that would stop at nothing to destroy him and his family. Malcolm and his children become survivalist, developing skills and abilities that Malcolm hopes to keep them safe from the evils the world has to offer. But somethings you can never quite be prepared for. This book will take you on an action-packed adventure. Every chapter will leave you wanting more. Place yourself in the shoes of Malcolm as he has one objective in life and that is to protect and prepare his children for anything. Or look through the eyes of Atticus and Belle as they face down challenges and learn how to reintegrate themselves back into society.

Textauszug

Chapter 1
Living a Nightmare

It was early March, a somewhat gloomy day in Utah where Malcolm, Ann, Atticus, and Belle Stone lived. There was still a little snow on the ground, and it was spring break for the local schools. Atticus, who was in kindergarten at the time, had the week off. Ann woke up early to straighten her long dark brown naturally curly hair before going into work, as she had several clients for therapy appointments that day. She loved her work as a therapist, even more than her exercise routine, having specialized in EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. This was a technique that helped those that have experienced various types of trauma in their life. Malcolm always loved to look at his wife; her fair skin, dark brown hair, and brown eyes always captivated him. He worked in middle management for a healthcare company, having studied various degrees due to his love of learning about the human body. He ultimately ended up with his MBA, wanting a more flexible schedule that allowed him to work remote now and again. Today he decided to stay home for the day to be with the kids. This gave their nanny, Josie, the day off, as she was having her spring break as well from the local university.

Ann was running a bit late for work that morning, due to her straightener giving up the ghost before she could finish her hair. While quickly pulling out of the garage, she glanced down the street and noticed what looked to be a work van with no windows. This caused her to pause as she stared at it for a few moments. She liked to call these vans “creeper vans,” as they were the ones in movies that are used for child abductions. She tried not to think much of it, but she noticed that someone was behind the wheel just sitting there. She had a sick feeling, like she was being watched by the person. As she turned away from the van, she watched in the rearview mirror, half-paranoid they would follow her. When she shook the tension and uneasiness, realizing she wasn’t being followed, she thought about Atticus and Belle.

Malcolm received Ann’s text that the kids should not play outside without his observation due to a “creepy van.” He responded with a thumbs-up and told the kids that they would have to play inside for the day. Malcolm took a few minutes to look out the window and see what Ann was talking about. He noticed the van about a half-block away and tried to write down some information on it, but there was not much to go on except that it was roughly a twelve-passenger van that was a dirty white color. Looked like a late 1990s Ford Econoline. No noticeable damage on the front, and unfortunately, he couldn’t make out the plates, but he thought it did look like a Utah plate.

Other than the creepy van, it was a typical day, with Malcolm periodically checking on the kids and working in the office. With his tall, six-foot three frame, he could come off a bit intimidating, but he had a small pooch belly giving him the dad bod look, which ruined some of the intimidation factor. He ran his hand through his light brown hair, which but he kept short to appease Ann, as he stared at another Excel spreadsheet. He let out a big breath as he glanced at some dumbbells he kept in the office to get his blood moving again when he had been sitting too long.

He always left the door to the office open so he could hear what was going on. The kids stayed inside, as requested by Ann, and played in their toy room. They did, however, watch a few of their favorite cartoons throughout the day. Malcolm and Ann tried to limit screen time; they viewed having too much as unhealthy. However, Malcolm needed some alone time to work and felt the kids needed as much variety as they could get since they were stuck inside. He liked his children playing outside, he felt that it was healthier both physically and mentally.

Atticus was six years old and a high-functioning autistic. He had multiple types of therapy which got him to be able to speak, but his social interactions still lagged; he only played by his sister and other children, not with them. He was a real skinny kid, like his dad was at his age, with lots of energy. He jumped and skipped around the house stimming, with gestures that he would perform repeatedly every day, like tucking his elbows to his sides and flapping his hands, and today was no different. His hair had started turning dark quickly, and his deep blue eyes with long, dark eyelashes could have made him a child model.

Belle was a bright, blueish green-eyed four-year-old with blonde hair, slightly wavy like her mom’s. Malcolm heard her trying to engage her brother, but she had little success with her play time with him. She loved to run around and follow her older brother everywhere he went. She was very affectionate, always telling her family members that she loved them. Malcolm pictured her smile as he listened to them; it always melted his heart. This same smile always brightened Ann’s day when it had been long and rough.

When it was time for lunch, Belle and Atticus showed up at the office while Malcolm was in a meeting. Belle made her appearance on the meeting by crawling into his lap.

“Daddy, I’m hungry.”

Atticus stood in the background. “Me too.”

Malcolm was afraid that this meeting would interfere with lunchtime, which was why he had prepped for this. He put himself on mute and asked Atticus and Belle, “Well, what do you want for lunch?”

Their popular responses came out of their mouth. Atticus led the charge: “Dinosaur chicken!” (chicken nuggets shaped into dinosaur patterns)

He was followed by Belle: “Mac and cheese!”

Malcolm responded, “You got it, let’s go get you some yummy food.”

He slipped on his wireless headphones and unplugged his laptop. They all headed toward the kitchen together. Atticus, needing to be the leader, was sure to push himself around his daddy’s leg.

Malcolm placed his laptop in a spot where he could see what was going on and continued to listen to what was happening as he told Atticus and Belle, “Okay, let’s go sit at the table while I get lunch ready.”

With that, he turned on one of their cartoons to keep them engaged and he went back to the kitchen. He investigated the refrigerator to see if there was any leftover mac and cheese. “Dang it,” he whispered to himself, as he couldn’t find any. Now he was going to need to make a new batch. He pulled out the dinosaur chicken from the freezer and placed some on a plate to heat in the microwave. As the chicken was heating up, he gathered the ingredients to make mac and cheese from a box.

By the time the kids’ lunch was ready, Malcolm’s meeting was over, so he decided to take his own lunch break. As Atticus and Belle sat eating and watching their show, Malcolm decided to look outside to see if that creepy van was still hanging out. Oddly, it was still sitting in the same place. Malcolm didn’t like that it was still there, so he told the kids that he had to go outside for a few minutes and would be right back. He grabbed a light jacket and put his shoes on before heading out. As he got closer to the van, he saw two people sitting in the front seats. When he got within a few hundred feet, the van started up and took off rather quickly, taking a side street instead of passing him.

He cursed at himself because he forgot to check out the license plate. He went back inside and decided to report it to the local police. He didn’t like how the people in the van were acting. The dispatcher on the other end of the phone said they couldn’t do much, but if the van showed back up to not approach it and just call them back and they would send an officer to investigate.

Slightly frustrated, Malcolm hung up the phone and decided he was just going to take the rest of the day off, feeling stressed and worked up from the whole situation. He decided to take Atticus and Belle out for a walk around the neighborhood. He wanted them to get outside anyway, but he was more concerned about seeing if that van was still around. While the kids were distracted, he went and put on his 9mm Sig Sauer handgun, the one he occasionally used for a concealed carry.

As he walked around the neighborhood, he ended up weaving back and forth through the streets but didn’t see anything suspicious. Feeling relieved, he slowly made his way back home. As he came around one of the corners, he saw the same white van, this time parked in front of his house. He pulled out his phone to dial 911, but the van’s tires slightly squealed as it took off again quite abruptly. Now Malcolm was on edge, as he knew something was up.

How did they know I was out of the house? Malcolm thought to himself. He picked up his kids and, as quickly as he could, got to his home and did a walk around to make sure that no windows or doors were broken into. He had locked the doors before he left, making him feel confident that unless the windows or doors were broken, no one would be inside. At this time, he realized how many potential entry points his home had, with multiple doors and many windows. The thought continued to raise his blood pressure.

Since nothing was broken, he took the kids and set them up in the front room again with another show. Once Atticus and Belle were distracted, he discretely pulled out his gun and started moving through the main floor, checking every room. He locked the door to the basement to create some security as he moved to the second floor. His plan was to clear the basement last. His heart was racing, and he could feel himself getting sweaty as he slowly moved about his home with his gun in front of his chest. Slowly he cleared each...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 23.6.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kinder- / Jugendbuch
• ISBN-13: 9798317806873 / 9798317806873