Praying for War: The Collin War Chronicles

by W. C. Hoffman

  The mines they stole, he thought.

  He went around the far side of the boulder, skirted the claymore, and followed Brady toward one of the largest cave entrances.

  Set back into the mouth of the cave, less than ten feet by Logan’s estimation, was a stonewall built of carved blocks, similar to the walls that hid the meadow. Another wooden door, carved like the one they blew up, served as the entrance to their lair. On either side of the door were crude, empty sconces for holding torches, made out of what looked like wire clothes hangers.

  Brady looked over his shoulder to see if he was following. The man smiled at the look on Logan’s face. He reached out and pushed his thumb down on the large latch to open the door. This door didn’t squeak at all as it swung open. Major Logan stepped through the door and was completely unprepared for what he saw.

  Inside, the cave was well lit and bustling with activity. He felt like he was watching ancient history, because the scene in front of him looked just like something pulled from a history textbook about 11th century Europe.

  “My God, man. This is incredible,” Major Logan said.

  A Cheshire cat-like smile spread across Brady’s face and he waved for him to follow, beckoning him inside. “Welcome to the Viper’s Den.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Collin War strode down the hallway, feeling numb and hollow inside.

  He received word that he was needed in Doris’ room.

  She’d fallen victim to the fever when the supply of BT76 ran short following the Viper bombing of the Eagle’s Club. Like dozens of others, the fever quickly took hold of Doris. She was bed ridden as her body fought desperately against the disease that would eventually consume her.

  Shafts of light kindled motes of dust drifting through the air. White tile passed beneath Collin’s feet, but he barely noticed any of it. He was lost in thought about his friend and wished that if there was a God, that He would do something to help her. She didn’t deserve this.

  Collin turned down another hallway and continued toward Doris’ room.

  One more turn, past an abandoned nurse’s station brought him within thirty feet of her room. It was immediately obvious which room was hers, even if he hadn’t already known.

  Several families stood outside her door, glowing white candles in their hands. Flower blooms and twigs twisted into hearts decorated the doorway. Collin slowed his walk as he fought back a flood of emotion.

  Doris had managed the kitchen and the women’s auxiliary at the church. At some point or another, she had touched everyone’s life in Goshen. Her outgoing personality and caring demeanor made her the unofficial grandmother of all of Goshen. Losing her would leave a hole in many people’s lives.

  Collin approached the door slowly, cautiously, as if his presence or any quick movements would disturb the peaceful vibe emanating from the room. A small crowd of people stood around Doris’ bed, murmuring softly in conversation.

  Koby sat in a chair beside her bed, rubbing an ice cube on Doris’ lips. It was the only way she could take in fluids orally. It helped to keep her mouth from getting too parched.

  Koby turned his head, spotted Collin, and nodded at him. Collin could see his friend’s eyes were red rimmed. The two of them had been close.

  An I.V. stand on the far side of her bed dripped steadily. Pastor Pendell stood next to it with a bible clutched lovingly to his chest.

  Goshen’s love for their friend was on display. Friends had decorated her otherwise plain hospital room with early spring flowers in makeshift vases and a lovely collection of handmade cards. All of the curtains were open, exposing the beauty of the river and the valley.

  If I have half as good of a view when I die, I will be a happy man, he thought. The depth of compassion Goshen showed was surprising to Collin. Even with all the years of death and the constant struggle, people still respected those who stood on death’s doorstep.

  In the middle of it all, Doris lay on her bed. The heart monitor beeped slowly, but steadily. Her cheeks were flush, but she looked peaceful. Collin was happy for that; he didn’t want his friend to suffer.

  Collin looked around at the people standing in the room, nodding and smiling, chatting and mourning. Then he spotted Dr. Horner standing back behind Koby.

  Spot lit from above, in her white lab coat, Dr. Horner had an angelic glow about her. An exhausted, sad angel. She leaned against the wall the way a wilting flower does in a vase. At that precise moment, she looked much older than she was.

  Collin understood more acutely than most that Julie carried a great weight on her shoulders. The survival of the entire town, fear for her daughter’s well-being, not to mention the inevitable loss of a dear friend were atrocious burdens to bear. He respected her tremendous composure and bravery. Few could forge ahead the way she did.

  Collin walked right over to Julie and gave her a hug.

  “We’ll get her back,” he whispered.

  Dr. Horner tilted her head to look at him, realized that he meant they would get Anna back from the Vipers, and nodded her thanks as tears welled up in her golden brown eyes. Collin hugged her again as tears began to run down her cheeks.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  After a brief embrace, they pulled apart and she dabbed her eyes on the sleeve of her lab coat. She sniffed and composed herself, slipping back into doctor mode with practiced ease.

  Walking over to Doris, she checked her vitals and made a few quick notes on a chart that hung at the foot of the bed.

  “How long does she have, doctor?” Pastor Pendell asked.

  “She’s putting up quite a fight, the tough old gal,” Dr. Horner said. “Not much longer though. Her oxygen levels are dropping.”

  “Isn’t there anything you can do?” asked Betty, one of the ladies from the women’s auxiliary.

  Dr. Horner’s posture drooped slightly. “No. Not yet,” she said, with a slow shake of her head.

  Yet? That sounds hopeful.

  He went over to stand next to the bed. Doris lay still. Her chest rose and fell slightly with each breath she drew in. Collin leaned over and whispered in her ear.

  “I’m sorry I failed, my friend. I couldn’t help you like I promised,” he said. He brushed a piece of her curly white hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead. “Please forgive me.”

  Collin took her hand in his. It felt light and fragile as a feather. A tear slid down his cheek. He rubbed his chin, wiping it away before anyone could see. With one final reassuring squeeze, Collin released her hand and stepped back.

  He looked up and saw that Dr. Horner was watching Pastor Pendell. Pendell in turn looked at everyone in the room and smiled.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s clear the room for a few moments to give them some privacy. Please accompany me down the hall,” Pastor Pendell said. “We have delicious, fresh brewed coffee available, thanks to Kobyashi.”

  The townsfolk looked agreeable to the suggestion and many of them looked relieved. It wasn’t a stretch to think that spending time with the pastor was preferable to spending it in the company of a dying friend. People gathered their things and began to shuffle out of the room.

  Pastor Pendell waited for the crowd to leave before he followed them out. He paused in the doorway, with his hand on doorknob, and fixed Dr. Horner with a stern look and said, “Do it.”

  His voice was firm and commanding.

  Collin looked away from Pastor Pendell confused, and suspicious, then glanced at the doctor. The door swung shut before he’d gathered his wits enough to ask the obvious question.

  “Do what?” Collin asked.

  Dr. Horner ignored him and turned to Koby. He was still sitting beside Doris, holding her hand.

  “Do you want to stay for the procedure?” she asked him.

  “What procedure?” Collin asked, growing agitated.

  Koby looked up at her with bloodshot eyes and said, “I’m not leaving her side.”

  “Very well.”

  “Godda
mnit! What is going on here?” Collin looked between Koby and Julie. “One of you tell me.”

  Neither one answered him.

  “Doctor, what the hell are you going to do?” Collin stepped forward and grabbed the edge of Doris’ bed, defensively.

  She continued to ignore him, which infuriated Collin. His pulse forced blood racing through his body. It hummed in his ears. His breaths came fast and his hands began to jitter.

  “Koby. C’mon, man. What’s going on?”

  Koby just leaned over and kissed Doris’ pale hand.

  Dr. Horner reached into a pocket in her lab coat and pulled out a small, white box. She held it in the air for Collin to see. He instantly recognized it as the type of box that held BT76. When Julie pulled out the vial, the liquid inside was green, rather than blue.

  Collin took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

  “What’s that?” he asked, realizing as he said it, they would probably continue to ignore him. Collin clapped his hands together as a thought struck him. Excitedly, he said, “The treatment. You did it?”

  She finally looked up at him, a slight smile played on her lips.

  “You completed the treatment,” Collin said, letting out a breath.

  “I wouldn’t go that far. Success rates have increased from the paltry seventeen percent we saw before, to just over seventy-seven percent,” Dr. Horner said. She tilted her head slightly to the side. “That was on live cells that had been exposed to the pollen, not on people who had already succumbed to the fever.”

  Collin understood that it was a different situation but still felt hopeful. “That’s still good news.”

  “Who knows? It’s extraordinarily unlikely the treatment will revive her,” Julie said. “However, it could stabilize her condition, giving us time to continue to develop the treatment. Either way, what we really need right now is a miracle.”

  She walked over to the I.V. stand with the medicine in her hand. She raised the vial of green fluid and looked at it in the light. Dr. Horner paused and looked at them both in turn.

  “Pray for her. She needs all the help she can get.”

  Collin nodded solemnly.

  “It’s not going to hurt her, is it?” Koby said. He was now cradling her hand in both of his. His thumb ran over her wrinkled hands with a tenderness Collin never expected to see from him.

  “No. She shouldn’t feel anything.” Julie carefully uncapped the needle, inserted the point into the vial to draw out the medication. Then she flicked the syringe a couple of times and squeezed until a small squirt of green fluid sprayed out. Julie nodded in satisfaction, eased the tip into the main I.V. line, which ran into Doris’ arm, and slowly depressed the plunger on the syringe.

  The serum swirled as it mixed with the I.V. fluid, diluting as it slowly crept toward Doris’ arm. Dr. Horner emptied the syringe into the line, then pulled the needle out, and walked over to toss it into the garbage can. It landed in the can with a loud thump that set Collin’s teeth on edge.

  She cringed and looked at them with an apology written on her face.

  At that point, it became a waiting game.

  Dr. Horner sat down in a guest chair and Collin sat sideways on the window sill, alternately watching Doris and enjoying the view of the valley. Everything outside looked peaceful, relaxing, and safe. There was nothing to indicate that the air was filled with death, pollen carried on the wind swirling, seeking a victim, uncaring when it found one, and stole away their life.

  Doris began to breathe slightly heavier. Both Collin and Koby looked at the doctor. She nodded her head.

  “That’s to be expected. Her body is having a boost of adrenalin,” she said.

  Dr. Horner stood up, looking exhausted, and checked her patient’s vitals. “Everything is normal so far.”

  She slumped back into her chair, seemingly melting into the chair like butter on fresh toast.

  Collin turned back to the view. His eyes followed the jagged line of the mountain peaks to the West. He wondered what things looked like from up there. Collin still hadn’t been outside of the town. The most expansive view he had was from the top of the dam as Major Logan’s spotter.

  He wondered what Major Logan was doing at that moment. Had he found the medication? Were the Eagles fighting the Vipers? Had they found Anna? Was Logan dead?

  Nothing was certain. That was the worst feeling of all - uncertainty.

  Doris began breathing ragged and heavy. Panting as though she’d run up a mountain, Doris was also moving on the bed, something between a twitch and a hard shiver. He stood up and stepped closer to the bed. Dr. Horner was already out of her chair and standing with her hands on the edge of the bed.

  “What’s happening to her?” Collin asked.

  “There’s a war raging inside her,” Dr. Horner said. “Her cells are fighting the new cells and whichever side wins will determine her fate.”

  “Goddamn it, Julie. You said she wouldn’t even feel it,” Koby said, his brow furrowed deeply in concern.

  “She shouldn’t be able to. This is mostly her body reacting to the treatment. It doesn’t mean she’s in pain,” she said. Her tone wasn’t as confident as the words she spoke.

  Sweat beaded on Doris’ forehead. Koby stood and patted her forehead with a cloth. “Is there anything we can do for her?”

  Dr. Horner shrugged. “Keep her comfortable? That’s about all we can do.”

  Doris was twitching and jerking on the bed. Her movement was unnatural and disturbing. Collin was unsettled by the sight of her suffering. He wished he could help her.

  If only they had one more vial of BT76. None of this would be happening.

  A groan escaped Doris’ lips and her back began to arch. Her head leaned back, pressing into the pillow. Then she bolted upright, an ear-piercing scream forcing them all to cringe and cover their ears. Her eyes snapped wide open. They bulged as though they were going to pop out. Her mouth contorted and stretched wide open as she wailed like a horribly injured animal. Her body jerked back and she flopped up and down on the bed.

  Collin and Julie both cursed.

  Koby fought to help Doris as tears streamed down his face.

  Dr. Horner was scrambling to find something in one of the cupboards.

  Collin rushed to the side of the bed opposite Koby. He tried to keep Doris from striking something as she flailed and jerked on the bed.

  “Doc, you better hurry up,” Collin shouted.

  The door to the room flung open and Pastor Pendell rushed in. When he saw Doris jerking around, he froze. He winced at her cries then proceeded forward slowly like a frightened child.

  Dr. Horner rushed over to the bed and jabbed a small needle into Doris’ shoulder. Her twitching and screams didn’t ease up.

  Pastor Pendell begin to mutter something, but Collin couldn’t hear what it was above the awful din.

  Doris bolted up again. Her face twisted into a crimson mask of rage.

  Pastor Pedell stepped forward and held out his hand with his palm facing her head. “Go with God, in peace.”

  The scream warbled and changed to a deep growling, “NOOOOOOOOO!”

  Doris’ eyes rolled back in her head and her body slumped back in the bed. She was still and silent.

  In the sudden silence, Collin realized how hard he was breathing. Koby was sobbing. Dr. Horner was cursing and muttering to herself.

  Koby leaned forward, looking closely at his friend. Collin placed two fingers on her throat to feel for a pulse. No steady thump coming from her carotid artery. No pulse at all. Doris was gone.

  Collin raised his hand across the bed and placed it on Koby’s shoulder. He choked up and tears filled his eyes.

  Koby shook with grief, but reached up carefully and closed her eyes. He leaned forward and tenderly kissed her forehead.

  Collin remembered what Pastor Pendell said before he left the room earlier. Do it, he told Julie. It had been his choice to give Doris the serum.

  Collin turned his
head and glared at Pastor Pendell. “How dare you.”

  Pastor Pendell fixed his dark brown eyes on Collin and stared.

  “This is your fault.” Collin stood back and pointed at the body of his friend.

  The pastor shrugged.

  “All she wanted to do was die peacefully in her sleep. She told me so. She said given the circumstances, it wasn’t such a bad way to go,” Collin said, his voice rising to an angry bark. He jabbed his finger at the pastor. “You stole that from her. You! You forced her into this situation and then took away the last comfort she had. You are not a man of God, you are a monster.”

  Pastor Pendell leveled his gaze at Collin. “That is regrettable, Mr. War. However, I want you to remember one thing.”

  He shifted his stance and pulled the Bible out from under his arm. With both hands, he held it in front of him like lion tamer holds a chair. He glanced down at the book then back at Collin.

  “Only the saved will be saved.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Brady led Major Logan past interior defensive positions. They turned down a hall, which opened up into an expansive chamber with a tall curved ceiling. Sunlight filled the cavern from a roughhewn hole cut in the center of the ceiling.

  Major Logan looked around in awe. He’d never seen anything like it before.

  Brady stopped in the middle of the chamber, directly underneath the skylight. A ring of light glowed around him.

  Unsure, how things were about to go down, Major Logan stopped a few feet away and looked around the room for anything suspicious. Everything appeared to be copacetic.

  Across from him, Brady smiled. Then he stepped out of the light to approach Major Logan.

  He threw his hands wide and wrapped the major in an embrace.

  “Good to see you again,” Brady said, giving Logan a hearty slap on the back.

  “Yes, it’s good to see you too,” Major Logan said, returning the embrace with a nervous chuckle. He hadn’t been sure if Brady would still honor their deal but it seemed so. “Quite a place you have here.”

  Brady pulled back and smiled at him. He nodded and turned, gesturing forward. “Let’s walk and talk. You can see how much things have changed since the last time we met.”