Praying for War: The Collin War Chronicles

by W. C. Hoffman

  Collin was skeptical about that claim. “And who might you be?”

  “I am Brady, leader of the Vipers.”

  “Brady,” Collin repeated softly. The name sounded familiar. He looked hard at the man. He couldn’t recall his face, yet something was familiar. With a grunt, he said, “Brady, I advise you to take your men and leave this valley. Forever. If you attack Goshen again, I will end you.”

  Brady tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at Collin. “Attack Goshen?”

  “We will destroy you if you attack Goshen again.”

  “My, my, general. We wouldn’t need to attack Goshen, even if we wanted to. I could have my Vipers control these fields and the entire valley. You wouldn’t have grain to feed your livestock. Without the livestock you’d lose a large portion of your food supply. Don’t think that I don’t know about your greenhouses and indoor gardens either.” He folded his arms over his chest. “If we wanted to cripple Goshen, we could destroy the dam, and sit back while everything those people have worked to build is washed away.”

  “Of course we could raid your town, kill the men, capture the women and wrest away the small amount of control the Council has, but despite what that pastor of yours has told you, we are not the monsters,” he continued. “We haven’t attacked Goshen in years. In the short time span since you awoke from your coma, we haven’t attacked a single time.”

  “You must take me for a fool then because I woke up to your snakes trying to attack me,” Collin said.

  Brady lowered his hands and clasped them behind his back. His head drooped, tossing his hear down over his face. It waved back and forth as he shook it. “No, no, no. I’m afraid you have it all wrong, General. We did not attack the hospital,” he said, looking up at Collin. “We were on a rescue mission.”

  “Horseshit, Anna could sneak out anytime she wanted to. There was no reason for a rescue mission.”

  “That mission was never about saving Anna,” Brady said. He spread his hands out wide.

  Collin frowned. “Who were you trying to rescue then?”

  “The mission was to save you...dad.” Brady pointed at him and smiled.

  He was sure he hadn’t heard Brady clearly. Collin tried to speak but his mouth was suddenly dry and the words didn’t come to him.

  Brady took a step forward, looking at him intently. “The mission was to rescue you, dad.”

  Collin looked him over; it was hard to see with the long hair and beard, the grime on his face and his wardrobe. But he would be about the same age as his son, if...

  Can it be? He thought. It hardly seemed real. Yet the words rang with truth. Warmth spread through him, tingling down his limbs and heightening his senses. Was this his son? Every day since he’d awoken, Collin had wanted to find his family but he’d been redirected and used as a weapon against his own flesh and blood.

  The boy from his dreams had grown into the man before him.

  His son. Brady War.

  Collin gasped and leaned forward. “My son.”

  Brady leaned forward and enveloped his father in an embrace.

  “I’ve been waiting so long for this moment, dad,” Brady said, squeezing tightly.

  “Me too. I thought I’d lost you forever,” Collin said to Brady. Then he remembered something. “But the boy...the boy in the field.”

  “He’s my son, Hunter. Your grandson,” Brady said, pulling back. Tears of joy streamed down the small window of skin above his beard, and wet his whiskers. He held his father by the shoulders and smiled at him. “Now, do we battle or would you like to stand down your men and meet your grandson?”

  Collin burst out laughing and a tear fell into his mouth but the bitter salt was nothing compared to the rush of emotion that he felt.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Under the golden light of sunrise, Collin walked slowly toward the bridge over the Goshen River. Kobyashi and Dr. Horner walked beside him as they approached the crowd gathered near the crossing.

  Collin looked at the bridge, a symbol of what they were about to do.

  The crowd parted to let the three of them through. The remainder of the council had met after the revelations the night before and decided to call a town meeting at the bridge first thing in the morning. Word had spread quickly.

  Collin looked over his shoulder and looked at the faces in the crowd on the Goshen side of the river. He smiled and nodded at them, knowing that he was doing the right thing for their future, for everyone’s future. For the survival of the town, the country, and the human race.

  As he started to walk up the arched bridge, he took a deep breath and despite himself, said a small prayer.

  When he reached the apex of the bridge over the Goshen River, he climbed up onto the railing so everyone could see him. He looked upon his people with the stern but loving gaze of a father. On one side sat the town, with its residents crowded around the bridge. On the other side, were the Vipers, led by his son, Brady. They were so numerous that they had filled the rows between the sprouting crops so that others began to ring the edge of the forest and line the river’s edge.

  Collin felt a deep sense of calm as he stood atop the railing. Below him on the bridge, stood Kobyashi and Dr. Horner. They were united in their cause and in their plan for the future of the two factions.

  Brady led hundreds of Vipers, warriors and civilians alike, to the doorstep of Goshen. It was a stunning sight to see how many people could have come against them. Collin turned to look at the town’s residents. Most of them watched the Vipers, people that, for nearly two decades, had been their mortal enemies. Their faces reflected their internal struggle: fear, hope, distrust, anger, and curiosity.

  The two sides were present and accounted for; each side staring at the other. So, Collin raised his arms for their attention.

  In one hand, Collin held a radio. Koby had disconnected the other radio from the explosives rigged to blow up the very bridge they stood on. Instead, Koby connected it to a speaker system, effectively turning it into a makeshift PA system. He pressed and held the button on the radio. He was about to talk, but stopped.

  He smiled and released the button.

  He took a deep breath to steady his nerves and started over. He held the button and said, “Welcome everyone. Thank you for coming out for this vital and historic moment.”

  Many of the people surrounding the bridge found the strength to break their stares and focus on Collin.

  “Over the years, our two groups have grown apart. We were, and still are Americans, yet people in power have needlessly separated us. We have survived the terrible tragedy of the fever and in the process; we’ve been pitted against each other. Vipers versus Eagles. Goshen versus outsiders. And because of this, many terrible tragedies have transpired. Many precious lives have been lost.”

  “Goshen was full of secrets before I awoke. Since then, many of the secrets have been revealed.” Collin held the radio before him in both hands, as if he was at a candlelight vigil. “But I believe there are more to come. Things have not always been as the way they seemed. In fact, many of the things that we thought we knew about Goshen, the Vipers, HAGS, and even the fever were lies. That much is painfully, tragically clear.”

  He paused for a breath, and to let it all sink in.

  “Since I’ve woken up, I’ve learned to adjust to a new way of life. Many things have changed but some are still the same. One of the most surprising developments has been the fracturing of our society.”

  Heads nodded in agreement. Collin had overheard conversations in the cafeteria and he knew how they felt. No one liked the way things had turned out. Yet they allowed themselves to be steered in a direction that chalked up the abhorrent behavior to survival.

  “Now we have an opportunity to unite our two sides.”

  Murmurs spread through the Goshen side.

  Collin eyed the crowd with a sympathetic look on his face. Then he keyed the radio and raised his voice.

  “I’d like to call Brady War to
the bridge,” Collin said, looking across the bridge at the man who had turned out to be his son. Their eyes met and they both smiled.

  He climbed down to meet Brady.

  The leader of the Vipers, Goshen’s enemy for more than a decade was now about to shake hands with the presumptive leader of the town.

  Brady smiled and extended his hand to Collin. Their hands clasped firmly and both men shook heartily.

  “We welcome you to Goshen,” Collin said to his son. It broadcast from the speakers and the crowd stirred, but no one protested.

  Kobyashi and Dr. Horner started clapping. Slowly, more and more people joined in. Collin looked around and most people on each side looked hopeful. On the Goshen side, he noticed a few backs as several residents walked away from the bridge.

  Collin climbed back up onto the railing so everyone could see him clearly. With a bright smile, Collin looked at the people on both sides of the bridge. His people.

  He raised his hand above his head to calm the clapping.

  “We are on the brink of a great leap forward. Uniting against HAGS, with a common cause of survival, we will race into a more secure future for our families. But make no mistake...” Collin’s voice trailed off as the steady whoomp-whoomp-whoomp of helicopter blades reverberated through the valley. He found his voice and finished his sentence, “Everything is about to change.”

  Just then, three helicopters, flying in formation, crested the mountain peaks backlit by the sun.

  Even without seeing the markings on the choppers, Collin knew who it was.

  “HAGS.” Koby muttered.

  Collin nodded slowly as the choppers approached.

  Thank You

  Thank you for reading Praying for War. Find out what happens next in Living for War, book two of The Collin War Chronicles, coming soon.

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