“She’s with Nicole now,” Dale said soothingly. “That’s gotta count for something.”
Brooke and Caleb appeared and Dale drew his daughter into a bear hug. “You know, for a moment I was sure you had betrayed us.”
Her eyes fell. “I just couldn’t bear to see the people in town suffering anymore. Part of that meant handing out any supplies I could get my hands on. And it also meant handing them the weapons and ammo I was supposed to bury. The townspeople were usually overlooked and left to rot. The more I got to know them personally, the more I understood how eager they were to help. I was sure that when the time came, they would come through.”
“In the Old West,” Dale said, pride beaming from every pore, “when outlaws came into town, sometimes the only thing standing between order and chaos was a band of armed citizens.”
The moment was broken by a commotion near the sheriff’s office. Private Vega and Private Ahiga had a prisoner. Only when they drew closer did Dale see that it was Fernando.
“Found this one hiding in a cupboard under a sink in the sheriff’s office,” Vega said, laughing.
Others began to form a circle around them. Fernando’s eyes darted around fearfully until they settled on the scaffold next to him.
“That’s right,” Dale said, watching the cartel boss’ terror grow with every passing second. “You know exactly what’s coming, don’t you?”
Chapter 35
The following morning Dale awoke to the sound of Duke barking. In bed beside him was Sandy, who pulled the covers over her face. Dale rose to check it out.
“Don’t go,” Sandy begged, reaching for him.
Dale grimaced and went to the side window instead, leaning out and finding no one around. He went back to bed and slid under the covers.
“I’ve got something to tell you,” Sandy admitted.
“Please don’t let it be bad news,” he told her. “After everything we’ve just been through―”
She smiled and her entire face seemed to radiate. “I’m pregnant,” she said.
Dale’s jaw came unhinged. “After last night?” he asked stupidly. “I mean, how can you be sure?”
She swiped at him. “Of course not from last night, you goof. It happened before. I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive.”
Wow, the news was wonderful, albeit unexpected. He cradled her in his arms. “Wait a minute, yesterday you were on the front lines.”
“Yes,” she snapped back. “And I wasn’t going to tell you earlier because you would have tried to stop me.”
Dale shook his head. “Darn right I would have.” He paused, letting the information sink in. “A son, at my age. I thought that was only for rich guys.”
“Who says it’s a boy? And you are rich, at least in the ways that truly matter.”
Duke’s barking grew more frantic and Dale threw on a shirt, stepped into his jeans and grabbed the assault rifle resting against the wall.
“Stay here,” he told her.
“Uh, not on your life,” she barked back, getting dressed.
Hearing the rumbling of approaching vehicles, Dale went out through the garage. Zach and Brooke had also stirred awake and followed him.
“What’s going on?” Zach asked, looking like a man who hadn’t slept in days. He was still hurting over the loss of Travis and Dannyboy. Besides, after staggering home from Memorial Park, all of them had simply passed out from sheer exhaustion.
Heart pounding against his chest, Dale watched as a column of military vehicles thundered past the house. He counted at least thirty of them.
Pistol on his hip and assault rifle in hand, Dale and the others hopped into the pickup and followed the military vehicles into town.
When they arrived, they found the column stopped along Coronado Boulevard. The lead vehicle had drawn even with the sheriff’s office. Dale and the others parked and ran inside.
Major Gruber and another army officer turned.
“Major-General Kurt, this is Dale Hardy,” a rather stunned Gruber, said introducing each of them in turn.
The Major-General was short and round with a strong chin and graying hair. They shook hands.
“We’ve been receiving an SOS from Encendido for a few weeks now,” he explained. “What’s left of our military is scattered across most of the country. It took some time assembling even this modest force. When we finally made contact, a radio operator named Skinwalker informed us of the situation.”
Zach nodded to the non-functioning clock on the wall. “You boys are a little late, don’t you think?” he said sarcastically.
“I see that, but you appear to have handled yourselves quite well. Other units like ours are reforming as we speak to help shore up our southern border. If President Lopez’s goons so much as step over that line, we have full authorization to pursue them across the border.”
After their conversation, Dale went outside where a host of locals were disassembling the scaffold. Others were burying the dead at the northwest edge of the park, hammering in wooden crosses for each grave. Cartel and Brigade dead, however, were being loaded into trucks to be dumped in shallow pits dug in the desert.
A few hours later, after helping to lay his friends and comrades to rest, and feeling confident that the cartel would not be back, Dale returned to the house with Duke. He set his rifle and pistol on the kitchen table and downed a tall glass of water. Feeling the cool liquid run down his throat, Dale couldn’t help but face the fact that he had been wrong. Since the earliest days of the virus, his daughter Brooke had been eager to lend a helping hand to those in need while Dale’s almost obsessive focus had been on keeping his family safe. It seemed a difficult thing to argue against. Who wouldn’t want to protect the ones you loved? But now, with the clarity of hindsight, Dale could see that the more rigid he had become, the more Brooke had opposed him. He had done his best to disabuse her of her young idealism, often with little success—something he had chalked up to a father’s failure to get his point across, maybe even to a daughter’s stubbornness. Not that he could blame her. As they said, sometimes the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
A knock at the garage door startled him. Dale silenced the dog as it began barking. He went over to find Randy poking his head in. “There you are,” Randy said.
Dale stopped and regarded him without saying a word.
“I come in peace,” Randy said, holding up two ice-cold beers, a rare and mysterious sight.
“Where’d you get those from?” Dale asked in awe.
Randy put out his hand. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”
Hesitating a moment, Dale gritted his teeth and shook.
“Can I offer you anything?” Dale asked.
Grinning, Randy asked, “How about a bottle opener?”
Dale laughed as the two men made their way to the kitchen.
Dale popped off the bottle caps and poured two fine-looking glasses of beer. They tapped each other’s glass in a cheers.
From downstairs came a faint sound.
“You hear that?” Randy asked.
Dale headed to the basement, cracking the door. The sickly-sweet odor of death that greeted him made the blood rush up his neck. How could he have been so careless? In the heat of all that had happened yesterday, they had forgotten to remove the Brigade soldier from the basement.
Mortified, Dale said, “Give me a minute,” and headed down the stairs. Not surprisingly, Duke began to follow him, but Dale ordered him back. He didn’t want the dog anywhere near the body. The thought of dragging him out with Randy’s help was not only macabre, it was downright embarrassing.
Then that voice came again and Dale suddenly understood where it was coming from. Someone was calling him on the shortwave.
“Dale, are you there?” the voice said.
The basement was dark, except for the desk lamp on the floor, which cast a sickening glow over the dead man’s face. How could he have been so careless? Maybe because he had never experienced a full-blown
battle before. He set the lamp back on the desk and replaced the chair.
“Dale, are you there?” It was Sandy.
He pushed the actuator on the mic and spoke. “I’m here, Sandy.”
“Listen, we have a problem.” She sounded frightened and out of breath.
“Calm down, what’s the matter?”
“It’s Betty Wilcox, she’s been murdered.”
Dale grew quiet for a second. “That’s not possible. We just saw her this morning.”
Suddenly Dale’s pulse began to quicken. His eyes flitted toward the stairs and the man standing in his kitchen. There was only one person he knew who would want to harm Betty. And one other who would stand up to expose his crimes. With Betty dead, that left only one obstacle between Randy and the power he’d once wielded: Dale.
The basement door creaked open and closed. Through the shadows, a pair of feet began slowly descending.
Dale turned up the volume as Sandy’s voice filled the basement and snapped off the light.
“Dale? Are you still there?” she called out in the gloom, the only light bleeding in from beneath the door.
By the time Randy made it to the bottom step, Dale could just make out the shape of the FX rifle he was carrying.
Randy didn’t try to explain his motives in a long-winded speech, he simply opened fire, the sickening glee on his face illuminated by the intermittent muzzle flashes. Bullets ripped into flesh, painting the walls with blood. Dale slumped over, dead. But Randy wasn’t done. On he came, continuing to unload, seemingly intent on desecrating Dale’s body beyond reckoning. Soon, the weapon clicked empty and Randy stood in near darkness, his chest heaving. Murder was a drug to him and Dale the ultimate hit.
Dale’s penlight flickered on from the corner of the room and shone into Randy’s frightened eyes. Randy barely had time to shout, “No!” before Dale emptied the pistol he had taken off the dead Brigade grunt.
Dale went over and switched on the light. The Brigade soldier he’d lifted into the chair was back on the floor, dead a second time. A few feet away, Randy drew in his last breath and grew still. For the first time, his eyes were peaceful and almost kind.
Chapter 36
One Month Later
Hundreds of Encendido residents were gathered at Memorial Park to hear an important speech by the newly appointed mayor. Seated in the front row were a number of familiar faces.
Sheriff Keith Harris rose first.
“Major Gruber and C Company will be leaving us shortly,” Keith began. “And I thought it fitting we said a few words of thanks for everything they’ve done for us. Not long ago, we were beset by maybe the worst plague to ever strike the human race. In the aftermath, as some of us tried to rebuild, others sought to take advantage of our weakened state to impose their own will. But for a few brave men and women, that tyranny would have gone unchecked. Many of those who couldn’t be here paid for that freedom with their lives. Let us bow our heads a minute in honor of their sacrifice.”
Those gathered did so and when they were done, Keith returned to his seat, winking at Dale as the two men passed one another.
Dale stood and reached into the inside pocket of his suit for his prepared remarks. He opened them and as he did, the crowd hushed into silence.
“I spent all morning working on this,” he admitted, crumpling the papers into a ball. “But I think it’s best I just speak from the heart. When Vickie Meeks set out to fight for Encendido, she did so with a single goal in mind. She wanted to restore the civic institutions and democratic ideals which once made our community so great. Even after she became the one many of us knew as Nobel, several folks disagreed with her approach. They believed that in times of crisis, what our town truly needed was a leader with absolute authority. She fought to prove them wrong and died cradling that truth.
“I stand before you now as your appointed mayor, a role I was handed, but not one I earned. Our town has gotten along rather well since the cartel was cast out, but there is still much that needs to be done. In the past, I allowed myself to be blinded from seeing the error of my ways. It took my twenty-one-year-old daughter Brooke to show me how pig-headed I could be. With that in mind, I’m hereby transferring control of the aquifer on my land to the town of Encendido. This resource will be for all to benefit from. In a month’s time, I’ll also be stepping down to enable a proper election. For myself, I look forward to returning to a more simple and peaceful life. This is the way Nobel would have wanted it. And I’m happy to help fulfill her wishes. Thank you.”
He waved to the crowd as they rose and applauded.
Zach was the first one to approach him. “I didn’t see that coming. Giving up the well, stepping down. You’re a bigger man than I am.”
Dale laughed. “Not really. If anything, I’m getting exactly what I want. In a few months from now, Sandy and I will be having a baby. That’s a full-time job in itself.”
Zach grinned, an expression tinged with sadness. He couldn’t help remembering those he had lost.
“What about you?” Dale asked, trying to change the subject.
“It’s probably time I moved on. I’m getting tired of this dusty patch of land. I may head out east to Florida and build myself a little shack by the ocean. Fish for my supper and fall asleep listening to the waves rolling in.”
“Sounds nice. Can I come?”
“Not a chance,” Zach said, punching Dale’s shoulder.
The two men burst into laughter.
Sandy and Brooke came over next and hugged him.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” his daughter asked. “I mean, the people need you.”
Duke nuzzled up to his leg, wagging his tail. Dale scratched his head. “The people have everything they need. Besides, I figured since you’re the one with all the contacts, maybe you ought to run for the job.”
Brooke grew quiet, imagining what it would be like. The smile spreading on her face confirmed it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
As the crowd began to disperse, Walter tugged on his sleeve.
“Gaugamela,” the old man said, enigmatically.
“Pardon me?” Dale replied, confused by his strange comment.
“Alexander the Great. Even through all of the chaos, I still recognized the maneuver.”
“That wasn’t all me,” Dale admitted. “In fact, I kept wishing the whole time you were there to help us out.”
Walter was flattered. “There comes a time where the teacher is no longer needed.”
The two men shook hands, Dale holding on tight.
“Needed or not,” Dale said, “you’re always welcome.”
Thank you for reading Defiance: Judgment Day!
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Summary of Defiance Series:
After surviving a deadly virus, Dale Hardy and his family are beset by the newly minted authorities in Encendido, Arizona. His aquifer is the only remaining source of water in the area and the town wants control of it. Sheriff Gaines and Mayor Reid have a long history of questionable dealings and Dale decides to stand up against their demands. Soon, Deputy Sandy Hartman uncovers proof that corruption isn’t the only thing the Sheriff and Mayor are guilty of. They’ve murdered innocent people in order to gain power and they’re ready to do it again.
A series of armed confrontations ensue, forcing Dale to fortify his property, transforming it into a veritable castle. Frustrated, Sheriff Gaines and Mayor Reid call on a drug kingpin south of the border who attacks Dale’s house and is only narrowly repelled. But following their defeat, the cartel men don’t leave. Instead, they decide to take control of the town, killing Mayor Reid and lording over the local population with increasing cruelty and violence.
Sheriff Gaines’ oppression, combined with the arrival of the cartel, leads to the emergence of various resistance groups in town, each with their own visions for the future and strategies for getting the
re. It falls in Dale’s lap to bridge the gap and unite the factions. When the army shows up on the verge of a major operation to take back Encendido, it looks as though the town’s problems have been solved. Far from it, they’ve only just begun…
If you enjoyed Defiance,
then you’re sure to love The Last Stand Series:
Last Stand: Surviving America’s Collapse (Book 1)
Last Stand: Patriots (Book 2)
Last Stand: Warlords (Book 3)
Last Stand: Turning the Tide (Book 4)
Other books by William H. Weber
Long Road to Survival (Book 1)
Long Road to Survival (Book 2)
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Defiance: Judgment Day (The Defending Home Series Book 3) Page 17