“Oh, God, Bryan, I thought I lost you,” she murmured. “And now Wade’s gone. What is my sister going to do?”
“She’s going to raise those beautiful children of hers, and remind them of their wonderful father,” I said with complete sincerity as I stroked her hair. “Dorothy’s hurting right now, but we’ll be there for her. All of us.”
Eventually, our whole contingent made our exit from the battle-scarred emergency room. In my case, Mike went out and got my Datsun and drove it around to the parking pad outside the blown open plexiglass doors. I was riding with Nancy, but she was driving this time.
As I stepped out into the overcast gloom of the late afternoon, with no sun in sight, I looked around. The world looked the same, but I felt different in some way I couldn’t explain. My mood mirrored the weather, though I noticed the cold much more intensely than before.
I reached for the door handle, and nearly cursed as the flesh of my palm burned at the touch, and once I had the door open, I left a layer of skin behind on the frigid metal.
“Jeez,” I exclaimed when I got in the passenger seat, rubbing my frost-burned hand. “What’s the temperature out there?”
“Dropped down to about twenty degrees,” Nancy explained as she closed the door on her side and restarted the engine. We huddled close around the anemic heater for the ride home, and I noticed my earlier mournful mood was replaced by a more generalized worry as I thought about the first bite of frost from this winter. Cold severe enough to freeze your skin to metal wasn’t something we routinely saw this far south, and certainly not so soon. I thought about the calendar and realized we hadn’t even made it to the first official day of winter, but winter was most definitely coming early this year.
That made me think of another area we’d shaded in on the calendar, since we didn’t have an exact date to work with. By our calculations and based on what Major Andy had let slip, we could expect the arrival of the first of our three celestial visitors sometime in February. Depending on what transpired after that, the shortest month in the year might turn out to be our last month on Earth.
With that thought in mind, I wondered if I could follow through on my earlier brave words to Nancy. I resolved to spend what time we had left loving her, and to hell with whatever came next. We would face our fate together. Strangely, I felt a sense of peace fall over me as we made our way home.
EPILOGUE
We laid our friend to rest on a cold, blustery day barely twenty-four hours after his death. Due to the frozen state of the ground, Wil and Shawn volunteered to prepare the grave using the backhoe attachment on one of Wade’s tractors. It was a somber ceremony, and I nearly broke down again after the Bible reading when the mourners all sang ‘Amazing Grace’ to conclude the services. The freezing wind made sure none of us lingered out in the field selected as the grave site. On a low hill overlooking one of the frozen ponds, Ethan revealed this vantage was one of Wade’s favorite places to watch the calves play in the springtime.
Dorothy was still nearly inconsolable after the funeral, and the arrival of Wade’s mother, Esther, seemed to be the only thing that could calm down the young children in the Husband household. Wade’s sons, at thirteen and ten, tried to put on a brave face, but they were clearly hurting. Nancy, at my insistence, spent time with her sister as she gradually seemed to pull herself together. I was secretly heartened to find out that despite my own sense of guilt, Dorothy didn’t hold me to blame for Wade’s death. If anything, she held herself responsible, which fueled her own continued grief. I could only hope she would be able to let go of that poisonous belief, but with my own lingering feelings, I didn’t hold out much hope.
Sally and I were pressed into detailing our observations to the gathered families over the following days as the local radio station delivered a somewhat different take on the whole action. In addition to Wade and Deputy Hamlin, we’d suffered no other deaths amongst the defenders, though from the outside it might have appeared a bit different, so I understood the reporting. Others, not in the know, would count Deputy Willis, the two turncoat volunteers, and three National Guard troops to bulk up the losses. PFC Reisinger, who had been originally assigned guard duty on the loading dock, was not found amongst the dead or wounded, so he was listed as Missing in Action.
Sheriff Stringer and Sheriff Bastrop made the trip out to our combined farms to both pay their respects to the Husband family at the funeral. Later, the two returned to debrief Sally and me on our experiences and observations taken from the fight at the hospital. None of the members in our little group had left the farms in the week since the battle, so we were generally unaware of the turmoil generated in the nearby communities over this brazen raid.
For the powers that be, Sheriff Stringer revealed he would be preparing a separate, confidential report, detailing the actions of our rogue NG contingent, as well as the connection between these raiders and the ones preying on trucking in Albany County and elsewhere. The idea of having a well-supplied and funded criminal organization in our county of nearby had both sheriffs clearly concerned. I wondered if they had been affiliated with Landshire, but none of our searches through his maps or other paperwork even hinted at such a relationship, so we kept our mouths shut on that topic.
As for the dead National Guard corporal, Sheriff Stringer had revealed that the likely murder weapon had been found in the possession of Deputy Willis, but forensics on the fatal slug remained backlogged. For the time being, the sheriff of Jasper County was proceeding with the assumption that Willis had not the only rotten apple he had in the department, but a real investigation would take time and outside resources.
Sheriff Stringer also decided he would force the administrators, without too much pressure on his part, to close the hospital for the time being. Again, on the surface, the closure would give the community the opportunity to perform needed repairs to get the facility up and running again. In fact, the sheriff confided in just me and a few others that he would not be willing to risk any more of his personnel until the state provided him with a proper security contingent to protect the hospital and staff. The staged riot at the high school, which ended up resulting in the deaths of six hostage takers, three hostages, and another deputy, was causing Sheriff Stringer enough grief for his department without adding a corruption probe. Sheriff Stringer would force the state to provide some of those State Guard troops to watch over the hospital, or else the facility would stay closed.
Some decisions were made on the spot, like closing the hospital, while others would take weeks to work out. I listened to the sheriff vent and rage over his losses while Sally and I sat in the living room and sipped hot drinks. Sheriff Bastrop watched and listened, but he didn’t have much to add. He’d been over at the Husband house after Wade’s funeral while Sheriff Stringer had only stayed for the services, and Sally and I had already filled him in on all we knew at that time.
With Willis and Hamlin dead, and Aranda still recovering from his surgery, that only left Paulson, Sally and, grudgingly, me, to undergo the necessary questioning as the only law enforcement bodies on site. Paulson, recovering from his wounds at home, couldn’t get away from Sheriff Stringer and the deputy gave him his report first. Now was just our time in the barrel.
During a break in our debrief, I talked Julie into inviting Brandon in as a reserve deputy, since the man not only participated in the defense, but he also had a military officer’s eye for detail. I later heard Brandon had agreed to accept the invitation while threatening to get even with me for involving him in yet another fine mess.
Since Paulson and the others in Jasper managed to fill in many of his questions, Sheriff Stringer only went over the bare bones of the action, but I made sure to heap praise on Deputy Aranda for his quick actions in holding the line. As for Hamlin, all I could say was that he had met his end bravely, and that he’d was present during the initial attempt at seizing the emergency room. I left out the part about him being a dumbass because I didn’t want to speak i
ll of the dead, or risk getting on the already-irritated Sheriff’s bad side.
Afterwards, he said he might want to follow up with us later. I told him to be sure and call ahead when he came over to the house, because we were going to stay home for the foreseeable future. He didn’t know how to take that, deciding to act like we were joking. That was fine, but I was completely serious.
After Sheriff Stringer left, our own sheriff stuck around to talk about a few things, or so he indicated.
“Major Andy sends his best,” our sheriff started off. “Said he couldn’t imagine how you guys managed to hold out against those odds.”
“You just heard the story,” I replied tiredly. I wasn’t sleeping good, and the nightmares had returned with a vengeance. Now, in addition to seeing my wife and son die over and over again, I was kept up nights with visions of my more recent dead.
“Anything on those prisoners, Sheriff? I noticed Sheriff Stringer didn’t say a word about them,” Sally asked, her hard eyes probing the lawman.
“Julie’s report, the real one, not what was announced over the approved news sources, revealed they found all three of them had criminal records.”
“Yeah, the guy I shot in the leg let it slip he also spent a stretch in Florence, just like those other guys,” I revealed, and Bastrop gave me a shocked look.
“That wasn’t in the report,” Bastrop exclaimed. “Just that their fingerprints came back as hits. I need to talk to Uncle Andy about this.”
“That’s fine, but what I really want to know is where they’re based. I didn’t get a chance to chat with the prisoner like I wanted.”
“Trust me, I’m sure the State boys are trying to get that information out of him right now. Martial law means the gloves are off for something like this. Those guys really are domestic terrorists pulling this kind of crap. Especially now.”
I shrugged. “Just let me know when you get the location. I’ll go with you.”
“Okay, Bryan,” Sheriff Bastrop responded, but he seemed a bit nervous at my request.
“Why would you want to do that? I know you are worried about your security right here.”
I leaned back in my seat, looking to around to make sure it was just the three of us in the room.
“Because some of them got away,” I replied levelly, “and I want to make sure every stinking one of them is rotting in the ground before the next meteor hits us. I might not live through the next impact, but I’ll rest easier knowing those bastards aren’t around to pick up the pieces.”
“Yeah,” Sally chimed in, hooking a thumb in my direction. “What he said.”
“Also, let me know if those investigators run into a brick wall with their interrogations. I can guarantee if they let me ask my questions, they’ll talk. They might not survive the process, but I will get the information we need to wipe them out once and for all.”
From the sheriff’s expression, I could tell he thought we might be a little deranged, but he agreed to let us know if he heard anything. Good enough. Maybe my ghosts would let me sleep this night.
END OF BOOK THREE
AFTERWORD
To all my readers, please accept my apology for the delay in getting this book out to you. I came at up with this idea for a story, and in my head, I always saw it as a trilogy. Everything was trucking along great for the first two books, except for a small editing problem that had a paragraph ‘recycled’ in it from the first book that I was using as a placeholder. None of us caught that before the book went for formatting. But I digress.
Everything was rocking along nicely on this, the third, book, when I started to realize I had a problem. Simply stated, this story wasn’t going to wrap up in three volumes. I couldn’t do it, no matter how hard I tried to twist the story. At that point, because I’m a hardhead, I had to go back to the drawing board and rethink some things. That resulted in some delays and setbacks, and then we had Covid-19 come from out of nowhere to shut things down.
I know a lot of writers used this period to get some of their projects done. I wasn’t one of them. Instead, I sat and worried and tried to work while I wondered about my family and friends.
I don’t care what you believe or where your politics lie, as of the time I am sitting down to write this, we have a death toll of 290,000 Americans reported. I live outside a major metropolitan area in Texas, which currently has had one of the highest infection rates behind California, and I live in Harris County, which has the highest rate in Texas. For all of you people out there with a preparedness mindset, this is the time when you hunker down and try to wait for the outbreak to burn itself out.
Of course, it was during this time that my wife and I both had our own separate health issues crop up, and let me tell you, going to the emergency room under these conditions is a test in itself. On top of that, my office had two outbreaks of Covid that resulted in shutdowns and periods of work from home. During all this, my writing slowed to a crawl as I tried to separate the disaster on my computer screen from the one going on outside my window.
Do I think this virus is dangerous? You betcha. Especially to people who already have health concerns, the numbers are not great. However, my biggest concern is how this pandemic has managed to create an economic tsunami in this country. For all the talking heads, on both sides of the political spectrum, are spouting happy talk, I see the closed stores and the mounting unemployment figures. We are facing a recession at best, and I fear it is only going to snowball in the coming months.
Anyway, that is a subject for another day, but right now I am focused on a more pleasant topic, which is the book you hopefully just finished. Please leave a review. They help the artificial intelligence I affectionately call Skynet, the entity that secretly runs Amazon, to match up my books to potential future readers. The review doesn’t have to be long in order to help out this struggling indie author.
Finally, I want to thank my beta readers, without whom this series wouldn’t be possible. They read the early drafts, got back to me with their comments and corrections, and generally gave me the incentive to move forward with finally finishing this book. If it is any consolation, the fourth book is well under way since I had to split up the story like I did. So, my thanks to Clarke, Leslie, Tina, Kimberly, Lizah, and the rest of the crew.
Finally, thank you to my friends who let me borrow their names for characters in this book, so thank you to Staci, Dan and Shawn. And yes, we did call him Big Cat in high school.
Will Allen
December, 2020
Characters of Note
Bryan Hardin-45 oldest son
Collette ‘Calley’ Hardin (Dec’d)
-Charlie, son,10 (dec’d)
Mike Hardin-39 Michael Albert Hardin
Wife-Marta-36
Children- son Thomas “Tommy” 11 daughter Tamara 10
Beatrice Muckleroy-Marta’s mother 67 years old. Lives in Denton, TX
Nicole “Nikki” Hardin Parker-31 bank officer in San Marcos, TX
Husband-Patrick Parker-32 EMT
Children- Rachel-11 Hunter 8
Mary Brewer and Charles Brewer-Mary is daughter of Melissa Hardin Adams (dec’d), sister of Tim Hardin (dec’d)
Sally Dwyer-mid fifties son Billy (19) worked at the feedstore in town and now head horse wrangler
Bart Myers-Mike’s old Army buddy and source of their advanced warning.
Neighbors-
Wade Husband-36 farmer and building contractor
Wife-Dorothy-34 registered nurse-works in Jasper at St. Joseph’s Hospital
Children-Mark 13 Isaac 10
Esther Husband-matriarch (56 year old)-Donnie Husband (dec’d)
Doyle Husband (Donnie’s brother) 53-Brigitte
Nancy Prentiss (Dorothy’s sister) 32, daughter Lisa (12)
Earl and Lynette Lovett, daughter Heather
Shawn Tyler-Winnie (wife)-kids William (16), Keisha (13), Courtney (10)
MacKenzie ‘Mac’ Dunbar-Sharilyn (Shawn’s sister)-Tara (daughte
r 11)
Brief Description of the Husband Clan and Relations
Esther Husband-matriarch (56 year old)-Donnie Husband (dec’d)
Doyle Husband (Donnie’s brother) 53-wife Brigitte
(3 kids in their teens and early twenties)-own a chicken operation other side of the county
Esther and Donnie’s Children
Wade (36)-wife Dorothy
Wade-constructionDorothy-nurse
(2 sons-10, 13)
Ethan (34) -wife Margie
Ethan-long haul truck driverMargie-book keeper
(3 kids-6, 9, 12)
David (33) -Rhetta
David-welder/ironworkerRhetta-stay at home mom
Barbara (30)-Keith
Barbara-beauticianKeith-mechanic
(1 child-4)
Susanne (30)-Wilton Huckabee
Susanne-elementary school teacherWilton-tow truck driver, former Marine
Greg (28)- wife Casey
Paige (27)- husband Anthony
Other Townspeople
Sheriff Terry Bastrop
Bud Collier-works at the feed store with Billy Dwyer
Sheriff Bernard Landshire (dec’d)-Bastrop’s corrupt predecessor
District Attorney Mel Fellows
County Judge Alan Peterson
District Judge Gerald Wilkins
Rudy Polinsky-accused rapist who beat the wrap even after being railroaded by the Sheriff
Butch Kaminsky-Bryan’s lawyer
Felix Wilson-owns the feed store
Debbie Stone-owns Stonehouse Diner
Buddy Cromwell-New Albany chief of police; now a Captain in the Sheriff’s Department
Barbara Thompson-early fifties; Bryan’s secretary
Jasper County Sheriff Julian “Julie”Stringer
Sergeant Keith Millwood, Jasper County Deputy Sheriff
Layout of the farms on the road
North to South
Tertiary Effects Series | Book 3 | Bite of Frost Page 39
