Wade Wilcott gave Ben the finger.
Ben gave him two in return and the line of state troopers could not contain their laughter at his gesture.
“Drag that dead man off the porch and bury him. Then burn these houses to the ground,” Ben ordered.
“How do you know Wade won’t get a few miles out and then turn around?” Governor Thomas asked.
“Because he knows I won’t hesitate to shoot him if I ever see him again,” Ben replied. “You can forget about Wade Wilcott. He won’t last long in Missouri. You’ve seen the last of the Wilcott clan.”
“Thank God for that,” one of the senior troopers said.
As the first warm breezes of early spring blew in, the Rebels began making plans to pull out of West Virginia. They all knew their toughest job lay ahead of them, in the northeast.
Cecil had approved and signed a non-aggression and cooperation pact with Simon Border . . . but even as he signed it, he knew it wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. He knew that someday, the Rebels would have to fight the army of Simon Border and the WUSA.
President Paul Altman and his staff and cabinet left the SUSA and moved into the new capitol of the NUSA, located in Indiana.
The once most powerful nation in all the world was now split into three nations . . . with the entire northeast section of the country up for grabs.
Hundreds of miles to the south, Mexico, Central America, and South America had exploded into violent civil war. No one really knew what was happening in China, but much of Europe was settling down and digging out of the ashes of war and unrest and beginning to rebuild.
Parts of Africa were ablaze in civil war, as was India and Pakistan.
On an unusually warm day in early March, Ben shook hands with Governor Harry Thomas and climbed into the wagon. He looked back at Jersey.
“I’m not going to say it,” Jersey grinned.
“Aw, come on, Jersey!” Ben urged.
She laughed and shouted, “Kick-ass time!”
And the convoy pulled out, to write another page in the rebuilding of America.
Author’s note: that list does indeed exist.
SURVIVAL IN THE ASHES
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1996 by William W. Johnstone
Cover design by Open Road Integrated Media
ISBN 978-1-4976-2326-2
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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Chaos in the Ashes Page 24
