Strengthen What Remains (Book 2): A Time to Endure (3 page)

The trucks rumbled by in a seemingly endless
procession. The noise made it difficult to talk, Zach scooted close to Maria. “The
two were shot just on the other side of the culvert.”

“I’ve got to see them. I’ve got to know….” Slowly
she moved forward.

Watching her, Trevor nodded and then followed her
into the darkness of the tunnel.

Zach held his breath. The soldiers were just a few
feet from them on the road. With an inward sigh he eased from the concealment
of the bramble and followed the woman and old man.

The two men were as Zach had left them, one on top
of the other. Trevor gently rolled them apart.

Zach needed no confirmation of their death. While
Trevor felt for a pulse on each, the young man climbed the bank and carefully
peeked through the thorny blackberry bushes as the trucks and jeeps came back
from the lake and turned down the narrow county road.

Trevor sighed. “They’re dead.” He stood silently
for a moment. “But at least we know they aren’t Caden or David.”

Maria shook her head. “They were loved by someone.”

Trevor nodded as his face grew tired and seemed to
droop. He slumped to the bank beside the two bodies. After a few moments he
said, “This place isn’t safe. We need to head back to the house.”

Maria closed her eyes and shook her head. “We
can’t leave them like this.”

Zach slid down the bank and stopped beside the
other two. “I think the soldiers are trying to get around the lake by using the
logging road.”

Trevor shook his head “They can’t. We dug out the
culvert and hid it.”

“They’ve got a bulldozer,” Zach said. “Could they
make a temporary road across the stream?”

Trevor rubbed his chin and stared at the ground. “Maybe,
but what can we do about it?”

The young man shrugged.

The older man turned toward the house. “Let’s head
home. After the fighting is over we’ll tell Caden where to find these two—but I
suspect he already knows.”

Zach followed, but stopped abruptly. “The soldiers
had a radio.” He pointed to the bramble. “Could you use it to contact your
people?”

Maria frantically searched for the device and
found it before Trevor or Zach got there. She fumbled with it and then put it
close to her lips. “Caden, hello or come in. Please Caden, come in.”

From the radio came an anxious voice, “Maria? Is
that you?”

“They shot two of your men near the farm. We came
to help, but they’re dead.”

The radio crackled. “Get away from there!”

“I will but I’ve got to tell you—the convoy is
heading down Hops Road. I think they’re going to the logging road where the men
removed the culvert.”

There was a long pause. “Roger, thanks. Now, get
away from there!”

Maria stepped toward the culvert with the radio,
but Trevor stopped her. “If they catch us with military equipment they will
shoot us as spies. Leave it here. If we’re caught we can say we’re just locals
trying to get home.”

She nodded and set the device beside the bodies.

The trip back to the farmhouse was uneventful and
quiet. Zach heard only a single car pass on the road as they returned along the
gully of the stream. Approaching the farm he saw Sheriff Hoover’s car in front
of the house.
What now?
He hung back
as Trevor and Maria walked up to the officer.
Apparently this family has a better relationship with the police than
mine.
Slowly he advanced until he could hear the conversation.

“…don’t believe it,” the sheriff exclaimed, “They
murdered two guardsmen?”

Trevor nodded. “They did.”

“Nuclear terror attacks, looting, and chaos and
now, just when I thought things might return to normal, American soldiers shoot
their own countrymen. The world has turned upside down.” Hoover shook his head.
“Well they’re out of town now. Most of them have headed down the county road. I
don’t know where they hope to go.”

Trevor looked in the direction the convoy went.
“Could they use the bulldozer to build a dam, maybe a temporary road, or maybe
narrow the stream and use logs to build a short bridge?”

“I’m no engineer, but…maybe.” The sheriff kicked a
rock as he seemed to consider the idea. “We need to warn Caden.”

“We did,” Maria explained about the radio.

“I wonder if we could keep them from coming back.”
Trevor said. “Block the county road and the highway like we did before.”

The sheriff smiled. “We couldn’t do it as well as
before, but we could make it difficult for them.” Sitting in his patrol car he
advised dispatch to secure two dump trucks. “Use one to block the highway at
the narrow spot near the top of the hill and bring the other to the Westmore
farm.” He took a deep breath and then continued. “They killed two of the local
guardsmen just west of town.”

“Roger, Sheriff. The bodies of two other guardsmen
were found east of the city limit along the highway.”

Hoover sighed. “Notify the auxiliaries, the
Legion, VFW and the guys who volunteered before. If they want to help, have
them come to the Westmore farm. Out.”

He hung the microphone back on the radio and, with
furrowed brow, stood beside his car.

As the sound of gunfire echoed across the valley,
they waited.

“I called Mom.” Vicki walked up to Zach. “She
wants us to stay put till the soldiers leave.”

He nodded. “She makes sense—when she’s sober.”

Vicki walked off in a huff.

Using his binoculars, Trevor scanned the area. “I
can’t see any lookouts.”

“Wouldn’t they be hidden?” Maria said.

“Probably. They are trying to conceal their
movements from Caden, but they haven’t bothered hiding from us. I don’t think
they’re concerned about the civilians—that’s their mistake.” Trevor pointed to
the highway. “The dump truck is coming.”

Zach looked in that direction. Police and other
cars followed the truck.

The parade of vehicles rumbled up the dirt
driveway to the Westmore home and formed an arch around part of the house and
barn like the circling of wagons from a different era.

Soon a small crowd of people waited at the edge of
the porch. Trevor moved to the top of the steps while Hoover stopped at the
bottom.

Trevor told the assembled men about the two
guardsmen that were killed along the highway. As he did he pointed to the spot
in the distance. “Two more were shot east of town. They may be soldiers, but
they no longer respect our laws, our traditions, or our Constitution.
Furthermore, they are trying to kill those among us who are standing up for
those principles. We want to keep these men out of our town, like we stopped
the looters after the nuke attacks.”

There was a murmur of agreement.

During the chaos of the terrorist attacks Zach’s
girlfriend, DeLynn, had suggested that he volunteer as a guard on the blockade,
but his mother had called him a kid and said, “I won’t have you messing with
guns.” So he watched and did nothing while others saved the community.
This time I won’t ask her. DeLynn will be
proud of me.

Hoover nodded slowly and then walked up the steps.
Standing beside Trevor on the porch he said, “Ben Franklin once said, ‘We must
all hang together or, we shall all hang separately.’ Everyone needs to
understand, once we engage the army there will be no turning back. Either we
succeed, die trying, or die as traitors.”

“We’ll succeed, just like we did before,” someone
said.

Again, there was a murmur of agreement and the
crowd dispersed toward the vehicles.

Zach walked with the flow. This time he was
determined to be part of the action.

At the edge of the cars, an old man with a
scraggily gray beard stood beside an ancient red pickup. “Do you have an extra
gun?” Zach asked. “I’d like to help.”

The old man looked at him with a skeptical eye.
“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

He rubbed his beard and looked at the boy doubtfully.

“I was going to enlist this summer.” It was a lie,
but Zach told it with all the conviction he could muster. He saw two military
type guns in the cab and hoped that the man would not give him one as he had no
idea how to use it.

The man reached behind the seat and grabbed a
rifle. “Here,” and handed it, and a box of ammo, to him.

Zach knew it was a hunting rifle, but knew nothing
about the caliber or where the safety was located. “Thanks.” He jumped in the
back of the pickup. He slid down so no one, especially his sister, would see
him.

Another man, about the same age, joined the first in
the cab.

Zach examined the gun. It was a Remington .270
caliber, single-shot rifle. As the pickup pulled away from the farm and bumped
along the dirt driveway he figured out how to load it.

All Zach could hear was the dump truck and other
vehicles as the pavement ended and the convoy rumbled onto the dirt logging
road. With each passing minute his heart beat harder in his chest.
The soldiers are going to kill us. Why did I
want to come along?
The gun he had wanted just moments ago now felt heavy
and foreign.

Over the rumble of engines came the sound of rapid
gunfire. His stomach churned. He considered jumping from the back of the truck,
but pride overruled fear.

He turned to look as the pickup slid to an abrupt
stop on the gravel. Momentum threw Zach up against the cab. Metallic thuds and
pings told him the pickup was taking fire.

The old man cursed and flew from the truck as
glass rained down on Zach. The other man in the pickup was dead, his shattered,
bloody head hung out the broken rear window.

Zach’s eyes fixed on the crimson spectacle for
several moments. Then he forced himself to peek over the edge. His muscles were
stiff and unwilling to move like the time he fell into an icy pond.

“Come on boy. Better get to cover or….” The old
man flew back and slammed to the ground. A blood stain grew on his chest.

Zach flung himself out of the truck and quickly scurried
along the ground toward a large tree. Once behind it he stared away from the
battle frozen by fear.

He leaned hard against the rough bark as if
somehow he could merge with it and disappear.
The two soldiers killed by the creek…the two men from the pickup…four
people dead right in front of me—all in a few hours!
Then he realized the
rifle he had been given was still in the truck.
How long before they find it and kill me?
Tears welled in his eyes.
Images of DeLynn, her flowing blonde hair and deep blue eyes, flashed through
his mind.
Will I ever see her…hold
her…kiss her again?

He forced himself to peek around the edge of the
tree. The battle floated in his tears. About a dozen police and civilians
formed a line along the cars and trucks as they fired down the hill.

Limbs fell from trees.

Dirt flew in the air.

Men fell.

Zach prayed.

Gradually the pace of fire slowed.
 

As the gunfire lulled, Zach wiped the tears from
his face and ran forward, determined to retrieve the rifle. Fear made his feet swift
and his body low to the ground. Nearing the pickup he scooped up a black
military-style rifle. His momentum brought him to the truck with a thud.

His heart raced, but time seemed to crawl as Zach
sat with his back against a rear tire of the truck. He examined the rifle. The
receiver was open and no bullet was in the chamber.
Is there ammo in the magazine?
He pulled on it, but it didn’t
budge. The only thing he knew how to use was the scope, but he didn’t want a
close up view of the battle.

He wanted to do something, but didn’t know what.
Fear planted him where he was. Three yards away was the body of the old man who
gave him the hunting rifle.
Why did I
come?
He fumbled with the assault rifle.
I don’t even know how to use this thing. What can I do?

When only a few shots echoed along the narrow
valley, Zach mustered his courage and stood just high enough to reach into the
bed and retrieve the hunting rifle. He had already loaded it, but looking at
his shaking hands he wasn’t sure he could hit anything with it. He prayed the
letup in gunfire signaled an end to the battle.

In the distance he heard someone shout, “Your position is hopeless.
Throw down your weapons and you will not be harmed.”

Several moments passed before he heard a woman shout, “We surrender.”

Zach stood, wondering which side gave up.

“Pile your weapons in the road and line up along the shore,” the voice
in the distance commanded.

As several police and civilians moved toward the river, Zach followed.
He slung the military rifle across his back and held the other in his hands.
The men with him moved cautiously forward with rifles at the ready.
Did we win?