work jeans and a plaid shirt. Without any consideration, he raised an army-issued M-16 and practiced his policy of preemption. Three loud slaps smacked the air and bullets riddled the Explorer.
Stone yelled, 'Friendly!'
'Bull shit!' Brewer fired another volley.
Again, the shots missed but Jon knew how to handle a weapon. He would find his mark, sooner rather than later.
'Jon! It’s me, Trevor!'
'I don’t know any Trevors!'
The tires on the Explorer exploded flat.
Trevor realized the problem.
'Jon, it’s me! Richard Stone! Dick Stone!'
The gunfire stopped. The rain went tap-tap-tap on the hood of the Explorer.
Lori Brewer’s voice called from inside the home, 'Rich? Rich is that you?'
Trevor rested his rifle on the soggy ground and held his empty hands above the hood of the Explorer.
'It’s me,' he stood, blinking as drips of rain splashed on his face.
'Jesus Christ, Dick, why didn’t you say something?'
– 'We’re in good shape,' Jon Brewer proclaimed as the three sat in his dark living room.
Trevor’s nose found an odor hinting of sewage issues. Just a hint.
Jon spoke confidently of their situation, ignoring the glare from his wife as he droned on.
'I’ve got another case of MREs, and our well is working good. I’ve got two more clips for my rifle and plenty of shells for the. 357.' He waved a hand in the air as if dismissing Armageddon as a mild inconvenience. 'We can hold out indefinitely. Where are you staying?'
Trevor licked his lips.
'I found a little place at Harveys Lake. Kind of cozy. You might like it. Why don’t you come with me and check it out?'
Trevor knew- he knew — Jon would hear none of it.
'Dick, maybe you should just stay here.'
'Tell you what. Why don’t the two of you come back and help me load up my junk and bring it here. I have some odds and ends that might be useful.'
Lori jumped before her husband could decline the suggestion.
'That sounds great.'
Jon shrugged, 'Whatever you say, Dick.'
– 'Wow,' Jon glanced around the cabin. 'Nice RV. Where’d you get it?'
'I found it,' Trevor admitted.
They bounced and swayed on the country roads. Rain still splashed against the windshield, but the drizzle slowed.
'What about these dogs, Rich?' Lori asked as the canines laid quietly to the rear.
Lori understood what her husband had yet to comprehend. Oh, she did not know the whole story but she understood that the Richard Stone behind the wheel of the motor home differed from the Richard Stone who, in the old days, would acquiesce to her husband’s aggressive demeanor. She knew the old Richard probably would not have survived the Apocalypse.
Something had changed; a paradigm shift. Her husband simply did not see it yet.
Trevor answered, 'Oh, there were three big kennels within a couple miles of this place I’m staying at. They all came from those kennels.'
The Winnebago eased around the Harveys Lake perimeter road.
Stone asked a question of his own, 'So you say your unit got over run?'
Jon grew as solemn as Jon ever gets.
'Yeah. We were hit by, like, a horde of some weird looking things.'
Trevor watched the road but he listened carefully.
'Man, I held my ground as long as I could,' a nervous laugh. 'But it was pretty bad. The command center got destroyed, ammunition ran low; I must have killed a dozen of the things.'
'I see.'
'So, anyway, I managed to get free. I think everyone else was dead. I grabbed a couple crates of supplies from the depot and threw them in the Explorer.'
'Must’ve been quite a trip back,' Trevor said.
'Yep. Saw all sorts of weird shit. Nothing I couldn’t handle, though.'
Lori made a fake-choking noise and said, 'I’m sick of MREs. I didn’t join the army, you know?'
Jon changed the subject.
'So Dick, I got some ideas on things we need to be doing. You stick with me and I’ll get us through this okay.'
'That’s my hero,' Lori chimed in light heartily even as she sensed the brick wall her husband raced toward.
Lori had known Richard ‘Dick’ Stone nearly her entire life. The man in the driver’s seat of the RV resembled Dick Stone and sounded like Dick Stone. Yet she knew-instinctively knew-he had become something more.
At the same time, she loved her husband dearly, no matter how often he annoyed her. His dominating personality helped keep her headstrong ways in check. In a sense, they were the only two people in the world who could put up with the other.
Sometimes they fought and screamed and she even threw a dish at him once. However, he had never hit her or pushed her around, despite how high he towered above her. She had a sharp enough wit to put him in his place and he was smart enough to keep her wit from hurting his ego.
At the same time, if not for him she would have told off one too many bosses or loan agents or friends over the years. He could make her tone it down a notch…sometimes.
The RV rounded a bend, drove along the iron fence, and swung up the driveway after the gate rolled open.
Lori gasped, 'Geez, some place.'
Jon said nothing.
The motor home parked next to the mansion. Trevor led the group out, including the K9s. Lori heard Richard tell one of the Elkhounds, 'Assembly' before it galloped away.
'Wow, um,' Jon stuttered as his eyes darted from sight to sight including the blond girl on the porch peering at the new arrivals from behind a thick pillar.
Trevor said, 'I have a few things to pack up to take over to your place: a couple of Humvees, some dirt bikes, several thousand gallons of fuel, an armory, tons of fresh, frozen, and preserved food; oh, and we might want to take the helipad in case we come across any choppers.'
Lori smiled. No, she smirked at her friend.
Dozens of K9s assembled on the lawn in rows by breed. Dozens.
Trevor grew deadly serious.
'Your army is gone.'
Jon, his jaw unhinged, gaped at the dogs organized as smartly as U.S. Marines at a Memorial Day parade.
'This is my army.'
Trevor pointed at the Rotties.
'Heavy infantry.'
He waved a hand toward the Elkhounds.
'Reconnaissance.'
Then toward the Dobermans.
'Military police.'
'I–I…' Jon stammered. 'Wow.'
'This is how it is. We were friends but that was the past. Things have changed. A lot. More than you realize. I have a job to do. You can be a part of that. I want you to be a part of that. I need people like you. But there are
