Then Came War полностью

Leaving the boy alone with his art and box, Ben left The Tap. In his mind he was convinced that Tyler was mistaken. There was no way Lana was at the fire hall with a militia meeting taking place. No way. Not when she had agreed with him that it would be best for them to seek sanctuary in a new country.

Colonel Hayes made a special point to go to Brendan once more and shake his hand. There was a general air of excitement in the hours before dawn. Things were about to happen.

The strike was precise, the colonel told him.

They were able to use bunker bombs to get into the tunnel system and then Special Forces took out an extra two hundred plus soldiers not killed in the raid on the tunnel base.

The strike at the base camp in New York was the trumpet sounding off.

Things were going to change.

And they would change quickly, too. By dawn, a whole new phase of the war would begin.

Because of that, the colonel had Brendan transported by air to Ohio.

He apologized to Brendan for not being able to keep him close to the action, but it was uncertain how it would go.

The colonel was confident that the front lines would move east, but there was always that chance that things could go wrong.

Brendan understood. He understood a lot. He even understood why he would be kept at an Army camp. It was not only for his protection but also to guarantee his silence.

She did it in seconds. Perhaps that was a slight exaggeration, but Harry bragged to all about Lana’s ability to take apart a revolver, put it back together, lock and load a matter of seconds.

Lana was teaching a younger man how to properly hold a revolver and keep his stance when Ben came in.

He stared at her across the fire hall.

Harry saw this and approached him. “Hey, Ben. I thought you were at The Tap.”

“And I thought my wife was sleeping.”

“Nah, no one sleeps at night.”

Ben gave a single nod. “I see. What’s going on Harry?”

“She’s showing Bryan over there how to handle a revolver.”

“I see that. I mean, why?”

Harry scratched his head. “Maybe you need to ask her.”

“I will.” Ben walked to his wife. He was torn with emotions.

When last he spoke with her, she was on the same page as he was. They were leaving America. The attack on American soil was not their problem. It was poor politics.

War solved nothing.

Guns solved nothing.

Fighting was a waste of time.

But there his wife stood, holding a gun like a pro.

“Lana,” Ben softly called her name.

She didn’t look at him, but she did stop what she was doing. She whispered something to the young man and then took a deep breath and faced Ben.

“Hey, Ben.”

“What… what’s going on?”

“I thought you were at The Tap.”

“And I thought you were sleeping.”

Lana walked over to him. “I stayed for the meeting.”

“And they did what to you? Brainwash you into being a militant?”

Lana chuckled. “Hardly.”

“Lana, put down the gun. Let’s go.” He held out his hand to her.

Lana put down the gun, but she didn’t take his hand.

“What are you doing?” Ben asked.

“Ben, listen to me.” Lana stepped up to him. “I think… I think we need to stay here. To stay put and fight, if need be.”

Ben laughed. “You’re insane. You know what we planned.”

“And I know what we need to do,” Lana whispered. “Ben, listen to me. We are at war. If we don’t bear arms when needed and stand up and defend our country, what kind of message does that send?”

“It says we’re sane,” Ben stated. “Lana, listen to me. The enemy, whoever invaded and attacked the United States, took out two whole states. You want to stay here in this little town with two hundred people and lift your guns to the air, toss some homemade bombs and hope for victory? You saw how many planes they had. You saw what they can do. They aren’t going to come into this town to take it. There’s nothing here they want. They’ll come in to this town to kill everyone. Homes can be rebuilt but they can’t be rebuilt without people. People are our best resource. They’ll take out our resources.”

“It’s not about the town, Ben,” Lana argued. “That’s not the point.”

“And what is?”

“This is our country. It’s our land. Ours, Ben. They can’t just come and take what’s ours. And we certainly can’t just let them take it without a fight.”

“A losing fight,” Ben inched up to her. “Lana, this is ridiculous. They will wipe out this town. If you stay here, and if they come, you will die.”

Lana lifted her head. “Then I’ll die fighting instead of running.”

“Why?” Ben tossed out his hands. “Why would you take that attitude?”

“Why wouldn’t you?” she argued adamantly. “They killed my family and your family, too. They destroyed everything around us that we love. That’s why we have to fight. That is what this country is founded on.”

Ben shook his head. “Was all you said to me about Canada a lie?”