Strengthen What Remains (Book 2): A Time to Endure Read Free Page A

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