Families First: A Post-Apocalyptic Next-World Series Volume 6 Battle Grounds by Lance Ewing (ereader for comics .txt) 📕

waiting helicopter. We sent our friends Nancy and Danny off with well wishes and a get-home-free card if they didn’t find what they were looking for.

Three hours later, long after The West’s funerals were done, I got the word from Vlad.

“Nancy and little Danny are safe and sound with their family, both hers and Jake’s. They laid their dragon slayer to rest in the family plot.”

All was not right with the world, but it was better than yesterday—that I would swear to.

* * * *

I slept well that night, as I’m sure we all did, waking up early. I had meetings all day. It seemed strange, like something we used to do in our Chiropractic offices. We had three when the power went out, and before then, my business partner and I spent our days going from one to the other, in meetings most of each day. Now we were not talking patients, numbers, stats, or finances but literally life-changing strategies that, if they failed, wouldn’t produce a bad collection month but quite literally the end of days for us all.

Most meetings were with the Ranch crew, Samuel and Jessup. The Colonel would be back to pick him up tomorrow, so today was the day. I had often wondered what happened to him and his family, figuring they would perish defending their ranch. He gave us insight I honestly had not heard before, about how things really worked now. Samuel just nodded his head in agreement, as if he had already heard everything about the Chinese plan with the UN—as peacekeeping invaders to take over our country and export everything, from food grown on our soil with our own equipment, and eventually local labor, to timber, natural gas, coal and minerals. Half of it was brand-new to me. At least I knew it wasn’t just some random guess or crazy conspiracy theory, and the other half I already knew.

* * * *

I made good on the Scotch—or was it two? It was good to see Jessup, and I introduced my boys to a real cowboy.

“Like that guy in City Slickers, right?” asked Hendrix, referring to the character Curly, played by Jack Palance.

“Yes, that’s right, son. Just like him, but even tougher!”

“And don’t you forget it!” said Jessup, in his lifelong smoker’s voice.

“No, sir…I mean yes, sir…I won’t forget,” Hendrix replied, finally getting it out.

I put my hand on his sandy-colored head and told him he was a good son.

* * * *

Joy and I spent the evening with just us and the boys. We brought supper home and ate as a family. I was as relaxed as I could ever remember, even in the old-world. Sure, we would have other fights down the road, but not today.

“I’ve got a free day coming up,” I told her. “I want to take the boys up on the mountain and show them a few of my favorite spots.”

“We can’t just take off, hiking around up there!” she said.

“Yes, you’re right, I guess. That’s why we’re taking the four-wheelers. I’ll take two on mine, and you can take one on yours. What do you say?”

“No way, Jose! That guy named Jimmy got killed up there—and not too long ago, either.”

“Right now is probably the calmest it’s ever going to be on the mountain for a long time,” I pointed out. “Can I at least talk to Mac about it?”

She conceded on that plan but no more. We vowed to take each step one day at a time and not lose the specialness of a simple family dinner by candlelight.

* * * *

“How do you think this is going to go?” asked Joy the next morning.

I didn’t have to ask what she meant, as it was the topic of the day amongst nearly all of the adults.

“I don’t know. After Hurricane Rita, other cities saw evacuees from New Orleans; thousands were put up in FEMA trailers, like they’re doing now.”

The entire afternoon, trucks went by—with trailers full of trailers, ironically. All headed for the reservoir and moved into tight neat rows.

“They look like the same trailers they put in Lake Charles, Louisiana, after Hurricane Rita. There were thousands of them, as a whole community was built right across the road from my sister’s place. First, it was okay, as everyone seemed relieved to be somewhere—anywhere not flooding—but then it changed. Over the five years or so that they were there, trailers fell into disrepair and the community as a whole was no longer a safe place for children. There was an entire security force designated to that one neighborhood. That’s my concern for here,” I told Joy. “I’m not saying they are bad people, including those migrating to Lake Charles, but when you put a large population of people together all at once who don’t know each other, things can get dicey quick. Then they have to work the land and grow food, and what if they refuse? What then?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Joy responded. “I was thinking the same thing. Either way, they will be here sooner than we think.”

* * * *

At the same time as we were speaking, Mac was having a later-than-usual meeting with the Council, John, Bill, Samuel and Cory to back him up as needed. While they had all reluctantly agreed with the Colonel on the new plan, the details needed to be sorted out and a majority of issues voted on. Mac was to remain head of security for the Ranch, and now The West property as well. His team would remain intact and answer only to him.

Cory would regain his title as Chief of Police of Loveland’s town, if only for the sake of clout, as he would be responsible for overseeing the new Valley inhabitants. His son, Cameron, would act as deputy, as well