G Hopf - The Long Road

Barone watched from a distance as his captives were assembled. He found a mirror and looked at himself. He straightened his cover and ensured his uniform looked good. Once he was ready he marched over to Pelsom, who stood at the top of the marble stairs that led into the rotunda.

“Colonel Barone, what is this?” Pelsom demanded.

“Senator…”

“I’m the governor. I’m not a senator anymore!”

“Senator Pelsom, I asked you one simple question and you didn’t answer it. You could say I’m being petty, but weren’t you being petty years ago?” Barone said loudly.

All in attendance were staring in amazement at the spectacle they were witnessing.

“I have been forthright with you. I’ve given you everything! What do you want?” Pelsom screamed. He could sense that his life was in the balance.

“A fucking apology! Something! You know what you did years ago to that young Marine in my command. He was doing his job when he shot that terrorist in the mosque. But what did you and your political allies do? You persecuted him. You had your friends in the media drag him through the mud. Then, when that wasn’t enough, you and came after me because I was his commanding officer!”

“We were conducting an investigation! We were doing our job!” Pelsom fired back.

“So what the fuck is your job? What was your job then? You didn’t like the war, so you found a useful incident to politicize it. I don’t know where that Marine is today, but he left the Corps after that. Then you set your sights on me. You wanted to make political points. Have you ever been in combat? No! But you can judge those who have been from your comfortable and protected world. Well, Senator, that protection is gone! The rough men who stood ready and gave you your cushy life are here now asking for a fucking apology!” Barone screamed.

“I represented a constituency that was against that war. I did my job!” Pelsom responded with equal vigor.

Barone looked at everyone and yelled, “We loved this country, but you took it all for granted. Now it’s gone. Even in its collapse you expect us to protect you while you look down on us. Well, the sheepdogs are tired of being kicked.”

“Colonel Barone, if you want an apology—”

“Shut up!” Barone yelled then pulled out his pistol. The rage built in him. His speech had brought out years of repressed anger.

Many in the group gasped upon seeing Barone brandish the pistol.

“Colonel Barone, I’m sorry. We must now come together as a country. We can’t look to the injustices of the past. I made a mistake back then. I’m sorry, I was wrong,” Pelsom begged.

“Senator, now realizing your life is truly near its end, you beg like a bitch. You don’t even have the fortitude to stand by your beliefs. You are pathetic, and your kind is not welcome in this new frontier,” Barone said as he walked up to the governor and placed the pistol against his head.

“Please, Colonel, I’m so sorry. I was wrong then. It was all political. We just wanted to embarrass the president. We didn’t mean to harm you. I swear. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“Fucking typical politician. You’re pathetic,” Barone said, then squeezed the trigger.

40 miles east of Barstow, California

“Do you know how to handle that?” Samantha asked Eric, who stood behind the .50-caliber.

“You bet. I’m good,” Eric answered her, rubbing his hand across the feed tray cover, almost caressing it.

“Frank! Let’s go!” Samantha yelled.

Frank was saying good-bye to his wife, Gretchen. Shaken by Nelson not having returned, she feared for her son’s life.

The group had waited until first light to search for Nelson. Not wanting to walk into an ambush in the darkness, they chose to wait.

They knew he must have been taken by those people. Lexi had been very open about her experiences with Rahab’s group.

Insisting on helping out, Lexi had armed herself with two pistols holstered in shoulder harnesses and was carrying a Ruger Mini-14 rifle. She hadn’t ever been around guns before, but she insisted on taking the rifle, so Mack quickly explained how to use it. He was impressed with her eagerness to go into the fight. He also didn’t mind looking at her.

Samantha was going and taking Frank, Lexi, and Eric. Mack, Seneca, Melissa, and Beth would stay behind with the kids. Samantha was ready to face the people in the base and to see if Gordon and Hunter were there.

They started the Jeep and Nelson’s truck and were pulling away when to the north they spotted a dust trail coming toward them.

Frank called out, “It’s Mack’s car! It’s Nelson!”

Samantha felt like a weight had been removed from her shoulders. She turned off the truck and got out.

The little Gremlin was traveling at high speed; the dust trail followed it for a hundred yards, drifting slowly in the air.

“Thank God he’s okay,” Frank said.

Nelson pulled the small Gremlin beside the Jeep and got out of the car.

He had a blank expression on his face.

“What happened? Where were you?” Samantha asked as she walked up to him and touched his shoulder.

Nelson didn’t answer. He looked around the much smaller group but didn’t ask about the others. He then turned and faced Samantha.

“Nelson, what’s wrong?” she asked, seeing how strangely he was acting.

Not saying anything to her, he looked at each person in the group.

All had their eyes locked on him.

“Son, what is it?” Frank asked, walking up to Nelson.

“Sam,” Nelson said, now looking at her again.

The uneasy way Nelson was conducting himself finally sank in for her. The pit of her stomach tightened, and she knew he was about to disclose something horrible.

“Sam, I, ah, I found them.”

“Where are they? What do you mean?” Samantha asked, her voice trembling. She turned and looked in the car.

She placed her hand on her mouth when she saw what looked like a body wrapped in sheets in the backseat.

“Oh no. No. Please. No,” she said quietly and almost unintelligibly.

Nelson stepped forward and embraced her.

“No. No. Who is that?” she asked.

“Sam, let’s go sit down and I’ll explain.”

Pushing him away angrily, she yelled, “Who is that, Nelson?”

Choking back tears, he answered, “It’s Hunter.”

“Noooo! Oh my God, noooo!” she cried out as her legs failed her. Her breathing became labored as her cries ebbed and flowed.

Nelson didn’t know what to do. He, like the others, just stood and watched her grief.

She reached over and opened the car door. Fumbling with the seat adjustment, she screamed again, “Nooo!” She brought the front seat forward and crawled into the car.

Her cries paralyzed the group. No one knew what to do.

She cradled Hunter’s body in her lap and unwrapped the top of the sheets to expose his face. Her tears splashed onto his cold, pale face. She gently wiped the tears away and petted his head.

The group watched Samantha hug, talk to, and kiss Hunter.

This went on for an uncomfortably long time, until Haley’s sweet voice shattered the paralysis.

“Momma? Where are you, Momma?”

Samantha snapped out of her state and hastily crawled out of the car and closed the door.

“Here, honey. Mommy’s over here,” she said, wiping her cheeks. But not having wiped her hands off, she inadvertently smeared Hunter’s blood on her face.

Haley ran up but stopped just short of hugging Samantha. “Mommy, what’s on your face?”

Samantha quickly wiped, but her wet hands only made it worse.

“Mommy, is that blood?”

Beth Holloway ran over to Haley and directed her away from Samantha.