***
The Grand America is just the way he left it. One good thing about the Utopia goons is they didn’t believe in scorched earth; they pretty much left the whole city intact except for Temple Square. Even the generators still work to let Hunter take the elevator up to the fifth floor.
He taps on the door to room 521. Before the door has opened fully, Casey bolts through it to kiss him hard on the lips. Her advance is forceful enough to press him against the wall of the hallway, where they continue making out like a couple of teenagers in the back of a car at a drive-in.
“Gross!” Polly shouts.
Casey finally pulls away from Hunter, but she takes his hand in hers. “You’re not supposed to peek, young lady,” Casey says.
“But Mommy—”
“Go watch your video.”
“Fine. I don’t wanna see your gross stuff anyway,” Polly grumbles.
Casey runs a hand through his greasy hair and then smiles. “You really need a shower. It might take a little while for the hot water to run, but I can think of some things we can do in the meantime.”
“Not while Polly is around, I hope.”
“I’ll send her to visit Jan. She’s just down the hall.”
“Good idea.”
“Then you can tell me what you’ve been up to the last week.”
“I’ve been…around,” he says.
“All they’d tell me is you went flying out of here like your ass was on fire when you found out Shelley took all the threes out of here.”
“I was trying to find them. I thought maybe I could spot them from the air.”
“But you couldn’t.”
“No. He pulled a fucking Houdini on me. He made three hundred women disappear just like that.”
“I’m sure we’ll find him.”
“That’s what everyone keeps saying.”
“You don’t believe it?”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“Why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you?”
He looks around the hallway and then sighs. “Can we talk somewhere a little more private?”
“Fine.” Casey leads him into the hotel room. Polly is watching a cartoon on the TV, at least until Casey says, “Honey, why don’t you go visit Miss Brown?”
“But I wanna watch the movie!”
“You can finish watching it later.”
“But Mommy—”
Casey seizes the remote to press the stop button. She ejects the disc to hand it to Polly. “I’m sure Miss Brown will let you play it in her room. Mr. Hawking and I need to talk.”
Polly mutters something under her breath as she stomps out of the room. Hunter is sure this isn’t going to improve relations between him and the little girl. And in a way he would have liked her to stick around to act as a buffer between him and Casey.
Now he has no choice but to sit on the bed next to her. He takes a deep breath and then says, “I know one of the women in those tubes. Her name is Misuko. She’s from Okinawa. I met her during the war. And, well, we were…together. At least until she left to go to Yokohama to help with the outbreak.
“I looked for her there, but I couldn’t find her. I figured she must be dead by then. I had to leave, to fly some people back to the States.” His voice trails off and he shrugs helplessly. “I moved on with life. I stayed in that lodge for two years and then…then I met you.”
“And then you found her.” Casey lets go of his hand to hug herself. “Now I see why you went off the deep end. You love her.”
“I do love her. And I love you.”
“Uh-huh. So I’m the consolation prize, right? You can’t have her but you still have me.”
“That’s not how it is—”
“Maybe it’d be better if you didn’t have either of us for a while. I’m sure you have lots of important Sky Ghost stuff to do anyway.”
“Casey—”
“You’re just as bad as Andre—Polly’s father. The son of a bitch who ran out on us when she was two. He didn’t leave a note or anything, just walked out the door one morning and never looked back. Soon as you find this Misuko girl you’re going to do the same thing.”
“I’m not. I’d never—”
“You’re not going to get the chance to.” She points to the door. “Get out.”
Hunter can see from the steel in her eyes and the red in her cheeks that now is not the time to try to discuss this with her. Instead, he gets to his feet to trudge out of the room. He turns to say goodbye, but she slams the door in his face.
***
Though he’s not in the mood for celebrating, he shaves, showers, and puts on a fresh flight suit before heading to the party at the convention center. The party is to celebrate the victory over Utopia as well as the women and children returning to start their new lives. Someone has rigged up a banner over the convention center doors that reads, “Welcome to New Salt Lake!”
He’s not sure that name will stick, but it’s better than Utopia. Besides the banner, they’ve scavenged balloons, streamers, and bunting, all of the old red, white, and blue. Hunter can’t help feeling a surge of pride to see those colors again; it seems like the only American flags he has seen for the last two years have been left to rot on flagpoles.
Before he can get too morose, someone grabs his arm to thrust a bottle of beer into his hands. “Hey, man, I didn’t think you were coming,” Trip says. He taps his bottle of beer to Hunter’s. “I thought you’d really turned into a ghost.”
“Not yet.” Hunter is grateful for the beer after living in his cockpit for the last week, followed by the ugly scene with Casey. What he really needs is something stronger. “How are things going here?”
“Fine. Just fine. Cleaned up the dead zeebs they left and that mess in the square. That was some ugly shit.”
“I saw.”
“I thought that Bertha would just blow sky high, but she did a hell of a job on those fuckers.”
“She sure did.”
“Anyway, I been practicing on that Harrier. Taking it nice and slow, but I’m getting the hang of those take offs and landings. Won’t be too much longer and I’ll be as good as you with her, Mr. Sky Ghost.”
“I knew you were a quick learner.”
“Course it’s not the same as flying that X-29. I still dream of taking her up.”
“Maybe you’ll get another chance someday—just not for a while.”
“That’s how it is?”
“That’s how it is.”
Trip shakes his head and then guides Hunter into the main convention hall, where most everyone except those on guard duty has gathered. “Man, if Pops saw this, he’d probably get all misty-eyed. All this togetherness and whatnot.”
“I’m sure he would have loved it,” Hunter says. It’s too bad General George didn’t get a chance to see the survivors of Snowcap Mountain back together again. Like Trip said, the general probably would get sentimental about it, at the community they’re rebuilding yet again.
On a makeshift stage, Wayne taps a spoon against his glass of beer to get everyone’s attention. After about thirty seconds the room finally settles down. “All right, now that I got your attention, I just want to welcome you to what someone has described as New Salt Lake. We can vote on a new name later, but right now we’ll just go with it.
“Anyway, I hope you’re enjoying these refreshments our hosts left behind before their sudden…departure.” There are scattered chuckles amongst the crowd while others shake their heads sadly at this bad joke. “None of this would be possible without one man in particular and I hear he just got back in town. Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Major Hunter Hawking! Come on, Sky Ghost, get up here.”
Trip claps him on the back and then gives him a little shove to propel him forward. He receives more pats on the back, handshakes, and even a couple of kisses as he makes his way through the crowd, to the stage. He’s not really in the mood for a speech, but it’s obviously important
to everyone here that he says something.
He clears his throat and then takes a deep breath. As if in sync with him, the crowd silences itself. Wayne passes a microphone to him to speak into. “Hi everyone,” he says, feedback erasing most of his words. He tries again, “Hi everyone. I’m glad I can see us all together again under these circumstances.
“We’ve been through a lot in the past few months. Sometimes it’s hard to believe six months ago I was still at a hunting lodge, thinking I’d never see another living person again. I had given up for the most part. I’d given up on life…and love.” He stops, seeing Casey at the back of the room with Polly. There’s nothing in her face to indicate forgiveness just yet. “I had given up, but one man found me and made me believe again. That man was General Gray George, Jr. He was a friend, a mentor, and a second father to me.
“General George is the one who made me believe again that we could rebuild, that we could take back what we had lost. Even after he died, I never really lost faith in that belief. And now, today, as I look on all of you, I believe it more strongly than ever.
“We are going to take back this country from the monsters. Not just the undead, but the living ones like Reverend Shelley who are trying to destroy what little is left. But he’s not going to succeed, not so long as we stick together, the way we did to take back this city. We can rebuild. We will rebuild. We will make this place great again. God bless you all and God bless the United States of America!”
There’s a roar of approval to this that doesn’t fade for nearly ten minutes. The roars turn to screams as the sound of explosions comes from outside. There’s a lot of pushing and shoving at first to get to safety, but soon it becomes about getting a better look at the sky. The screams have now become oohs and aahs at the fireworks lighting up the sky.
Someone takes Hunter’s hand. He turns to see Casey at his side at the top of the convention center steps. “That was a good speech. You really believe it?”
“With all my heart.”
About the Author
Patrick "P.T." Dilloway has been a writer for most of his life. He completed his first story in third grade and received an 'A' for the assignment. Around that time, he was also placed in a local writing contest for a television station, receiving an action figure in lieu of a trophy, thus securing his love with the written word. Since then, he's continued to spend most of his free time writing and editing. In the last twenty years, he's completed nearly forty novels of various genres. When not writing, P.T. enjoys reading and photographing Michigan's many lighthouses. In order to pay the bills, he earned an accounting degree from Saginaw Valley State University in 2000 and for twelve years worked as a payroll accountant in Detroit.
Also By the Author
Chances Are Series:
Chance of a Lifetime
Second Chance
Last Chance
Girl Power Series:
Girl Power
The Impostors
League of Evil
Stories, Volume 1
GAIA: Rogue State
Tales of the Scarlet Knight Series:
Dark Origins
A Hero’s Journey
Time Enough to Say Goodbye
The Hazards of Love
Change of Heart
Betrayal Begets Blood
Future Shock
Living Sacrifice
The Heart of Emma Earl
Children of Eternity Series:
Forever Young
Young Family
Young Hearts
When You Were Young
Sisterhood
Awakening
The Night’s Legacy
Higher Power
The Best Light
The Naked World
Liberation Front
The Leading Men
The Changing Seasons
Chet Finley vs. the Machines of Fate
Another Chance (Faces of CHANCE #1)
Army of the Damned (Sky Ghost #1)
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Part 2
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Part 3
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Epilogue
About the Author
Also By the Author
Army of the Damned (Sky Ghost #1) Page 32