One Man's War Read online

  A PERMUTED PRESS book

  Published at Smashwords

  ISBN (Trade Paperback): 978-1-61868-428-8

  ISBN (eBook): 978-1-61868-427-1

  One Man’s War copyright © 2014

  by Thomas Wolfenden

  All Rights Reserved.

  Cover art by David Walker

  This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

  Dedication

  I’d like to take this time to dedicate this novel to my father, Walter J Wolfenden. Dad, I know that I didn’t turn out exactly the way you had wanted me to, but I hope you’d be proud of me. I try to emulate you in everything I do now, and I know that as hard as I try, I’ll never be able to walk in your shoes. You are sorely missed.

  I’d also like to take this time to thank two other men who made me into the man I am today, Drill Sergeants Adams and Gann, A Battery, 4th Training Battalion, Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Like my Dad, you two made me into the man I am today, and I will forever be grateful.

  There are a lot of people I need to thank, and the list is voluminous. I do want to thank Elizabeth Winegrad, for her permission to use the word ‘Clipazine’ [Clipazine Trade Marked ™ and Copyrighted © 2012 Elizabeth Winegard. All Rights Reserved.] Without that single word, this novel would have never made any sense at all. Also, I’d like to mention my Little League coach, who once told me I threw baseballs like I was lobbing hand grenades. Little did I realize, a few years later, how prophetic and useful that would be.

  And lastly, but certainly not least, I want to thank my beautiful partner, Catherine Higgins. Without your continued love and support, I would have never have had the strength to sit down and write this story in the first place. Thank you, baby, I love you!

  Other novels by

  Thomas J Wolfenden:

  One Man’s Island

  Foreword

  Over a thousand light years ago, a sun, in a far distant part of our Milky Way Galaxy died in a huge Supernova. It took eons for the effects of that stellar blast to reach Earth, in the form of a Gamma Ray burst along with a vast electromagnetic pulse, which killed off almost the entire human population in one fell swoop, along with most of the domesticated animals, leaving only a handful of survivors.

  Recently back from what he thought was his last battle, Sergeant Major Timothy Flannery, Pennsylvania Army National Guard and Philadelphia Police Officer, finds himself alone in a decaying necropolis that once was his home.

  Struggling to survive and keep his sanity, he first meets a mild-mannered University Professor, Paul. But soon after meeting this other survivor of that terrible night, things go terribly wrong for Paul, who was brutally tortured and murdered. Tim, unable to save Paul, kills his assailants, and makes preparations to leave Philadelphia.

  He escapes the city just in time, before a lighting strike in one of the older neighborhoods turns into a huge conflagration, engulfing the historic town in a firestorm.

  Traveling westward, he makes it to West Virginia, where he finds a waif of a girl, Robyn. He takes her in, raising her as his own, and after a harrowing winter in the Appalachians, the unlikely pair continue on their trek westward, where they come across more people, hell bent on making life difficult for them.

  After Tim rescues Robyn from two kidnappers, they find the wreckage of Air Force One, and sifting through the rubble in an overgrown soybean field, find ‘The Football’, the codes for the United States nuclear arsenal. This they safeguard, knowing their finding it was somehow important.

  In Nebraska, they meet a kindly old Native American, Dawn Redeagle, who, through tales of Native Folklore, they gain new perspective and also find a safe haven. In Williams, Arizona, they set up a nice homestead for themselves, and Robyn grows into a fine young woman.

  It was then, years afterward, that they come into contact with two more people, Izzy Ginsberg and Flight Lieutenant Holly MacFarland, RAF. Holly and Tim fall deeply in love with each other, and the four people now travel all the way to the South Pacific, to a tiny Atoll named Volivoli, with the help of another survivor, Lance Corporal Juan Jimenez, USMC.

  Before they reach the atoll that was supposed to be their final place, their new home in paradise, they’re confronted with a new evil, a rogue US Navy officer, who has been terrorizing the entire Pacific Ocean for several years.

  It was on this tiny atoll, with the generous help of another soldier, Sergeant First Class Jerome Williams and his men from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, they have a final confrontation with evil, and find out what they were meant to do with The Football.

  This is their continuing story…

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Dedication

  Foreword

  Chapter 1: The Big Kahuna

  Chapter 2: Hail to the Chief

  Chapter 3: Absolute Power

  Chapter 4: East Bound and Down

  Chapter 5: A Brave New World

  Chapter 6: Anchors Aweigh!

  Chapter 7: Probable Cause

  Chapter 8: Pieces of the Puzzle

  Chapter 9: A Long Summer

  Chapter 10: Fair Winds and Following Seas

  Chapter 11: An Empty Vessel

  Chapter 12: Where the Buffalo Roam

  Chapter 13: A Rumor of War

  Chapter 14: Charlie Mike

  Chapter 15: Reinforcements

  Chapter 16: Spies like Us

  Chapter 17: Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

  Chapter 18: Hammer & Anvil

  Chapter 19: Stand To

  Chapter 20: Contact

  Chapter 21: Follow Me!

  Chapter 22: Surrender Terms

  Chapter 23: Voyage of the Resolute

  Chapter 24: 750 Grains of Diplomacy

  Chapter 25: Hit and Run

  Chapter 26: The End of the Line

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Chapter 1: The Big Kahuna

  Tim was waiting on the porch for the taxi he’d called to take him to the airport. He and Connie had just had another blowout fight and now he was sitting there, chain smoking and fuming. How many times had he tried to explain to her that he didn’t have a choice, he had to go?

  He heard the front door open and he turned to see her head pop out.

  “That’s right. Just sit out there and wait for your ride. Go ahead and run away from your responsibilities again!” she spat angrily.

  “I’m not running away!” he shouted, his anger beginning to boil over. Why she always had to drag these arguments out into the public and broadcast it to the entire neighborhood, he had no clue.

  “Yes you are, mister big Army man! Sergeant Major! You do have a choice!”

  “How many times do I have to go over this? You knew when you married me this might happen.”

  “But not six goddamn times! Do you know what it’s like to sit at home here, watching the goddamn news every night wondering if you’re going to come home in a box?”

  He had no answer to that and hung his head.

  “That’s right! You don’t have a clue what it’s like!” she finally spat. “You had a choice the last time you reenlisted. You didn’t have to do that, did you?”

  He was about to explode, and he wished the taxi would show up before he did something stupid.

  “It’s all honkey-dory when I’m going to weekend drills, right? You love my extra pay from the Guard too. How else would you get your fucking nails and hair done all the time?” he finally said angrily.r />
  “That’s not true!”

  “Yes it is! You love the extra money and you sure know how to fucking spend it,” he spat, standing. “And speaking of hair, what the fuck did you do this time? It looks like you got your head stuck in a blender!”

  “I like it,” she said.

  “I don’t. I can’t believe you paid good money for that,” he said, looking at what once was beautiful long, natural honey-blond hair, that was now cropped severely short and spiky, and was dyed an almost unbelievable purple color that Tim was sure would not be found in nature.

  Connie backed up a little in fear, her hand on the doorknob, ready to slam it shut. “I take care of this house when you’re away playing soldier, goddamn it! You don’t give a goddamn about anything but your goddamn unit!”

  “Don’t you understand the Brigade needs me?” he said in exasperation.

  “They don’t need you! You’re expendable. Once you’re gone, they’ll find some other knuckle-dragger to take your place! They don’t care about you!”

  “They’re family.”

  “Oh! They’re fucking family, are they? What about your fucking family right here?” Connie said, her eyes ablaze.

  “I have to go!” he shouted, tossing his burned out cigarette onto the postage-stamp sized lawn.

  “Well, you go then! See if I care anymore!” she shouted, slamming the door in his face. He looked at the door for a moment and turned to the street, where the bright yellow taxi was pulling up in front of his house. Down Leon Street, peering south, Tim saw a blinding flash of white light, which soon dimmed to reveal an angry black mushroom cloud roiling up into the stratosphere. He stood there next to the taxi, frozen in place, watching the rising cloud, when the shockwave from the blast engulfed him…

  Tim woke with a start. He was slightly disoriented, and the dream left him bewildered. He’d not thought about Connie for years, but the nuclear blast was still quite vivid in his mind. An involuntary chill swept over his body, and he was immediately covered in goose bumps.

  He wasn’t sure if it was the dream, or the temperature in the room. He saw that the window was open, and the early morning sunlight was streaming in, filtered by the fronds of an immature coconut palm outside. Smelling the air wafting in through the open window, he detected the faintest hint of rain on the cool breeze.

  It must have rained overnight, he thought. He sat up a little and winced at the now dwindling pain in his side. He looked down and saw the suture scar was almost completely healed, but it was going to be a nasty one, ugly and red, gashed in his lower abdomen like an angry lightning bolt that went all the way to his groin. He reached over to the other side of the bed and through the messy sheets, he could still feel her warmth, and smiled.

  “Ah! You’re awake I see,” Holly said, entering the bedroom wearing only one of Tim’s T-Shirts and carrying two mugs of coffee. She walked up to the bed and handed him one of the mugs, which he took with a smile. Holly then walked around the bed and climbed in the other side, careful not to spill her cup. He breathed in the aroma.

  “You have to love this Kona coffee,” he said.

  “Aye, I’ve never had better! So how are you feeling today?” she said, taking a sip of her coffee.

  “Better. Still itches some, but I’m getting my strength back, little by little.”

  “Oh, I think your strength is coming along just fine, judging by last night’s performance,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.

  He laughed in reply and looked out the window. “Babe, do you think I’m expendable?” Tim asked in an unnaturally soft voice, looking away from her, not daring to look back.

  “Where did that come from?” she responded, setting down her mug on the bedside table, pulling her hair over her shoulder and leaning into his arm, pulling him close.

  “Eh, just had a thought is all.”

  “To me you’re priceless, Sweetheart. And I’m sure Robyn would say the same thing.”

  He reached around and pulled her close, leaned in, and kissed the top of her head. “That makes me very happy. You’re pretty damn special to me too.”

  “Another dream?” she asked.

  “Yeah, nothing to worry about. It was something from another lifetime.”

  “Are you sure?” she insisted, knowing how bad some of his dreams were. She’d been awakened by his shouts of terror before, but had never told him so, or pressed him about them. She knew he’d tell her if he thought it would help. I’m sure the last month hadn’t been so pleasant, after everything that had happened on Volivoli.

  “Yeah, babe, I’m sure. So what’s on your agenda today?” he said, deftly changing the subject.

  “Our young Mr. Jimenez thinks he may have found our ride home, so I’m going over to Hickam with him.”

  “Did he find another Hercules?”

  “Aye. It will need some work, but he thinks he should be able to get her flying,” she said, sipping her coffee and eyeing Tim over the rim.

  “How long, do you reckon?” Tim asked.

  “I’m not sure. Depends on what Jimenez thinks.”

  “I don’t think the house back in Arizona is going anywhere.” Tim sighed.

  “Aye, I miss it there. Not that living here in Hawaii is all that bad,” Holly said.

  “Yeah, it is nice here, but there’s something about that place. It’s like home. Funny, it’s the first place I felt at home, even before the Event.”

  “I never felt so at home before I met you and Robyn.”

  Tim reached over and rubbed Holly’s belly, feeling the now noticeable bump. He smiled. “So, how’s the little trooper doing today?”

  “He or she is doing wonderful! Izzy said we’re both in fine health.”

  “That’s good news,” Tim said, putting his coffee cup on the night table and sitting up. “I think I’ll get dressed and get something to eat.”

  “What would you like for breakfast, Sergeant Major?” Holly asked, pulling the T-shirt over her head, exposing her firm, round breasts.

  “You keep on doing that, I may never leave the bedroom!”

  “You are naughty! I’m getting dressed, so behave yourself!” Holly stated, sticking her tongue out and tossing the T-shirt at him. She pulled on a pair of jeans and found another shirt to put on. “You get dressed yourself, and come out and I’ll make us some breakfast.”

  “Yes ma’am!” Tim said, standing at attention and giving her his best salute.

  He watched her walk out of the bedroom silently. As he got dressed, he couldn’t help but wonder about the former residents of this little bungalow. Who were they, and what did they do before the Event? Were they dead and gone, like all the rest?

  Jerry had found the place for them, and had purged it completely of the former occupants’ personal affects before they’d moved in, for which Tim was enormously grateful. Even after all this time, it still saddened him that so many were dead.

  Billions upon billions dead, all over the world, in the blink of an eye. Had it really been almost seven years? He shuddered involuntarily and finished dressing.

  Walking out into a narrow hallway, Tim made his way to an equally tiny kitchen with a breakfast nook. Holly poured him another cup of coffee, and he sat silently, looking out the window that overlooked a small beach. He watched the waves break over the sand, while Holly cooked breakfast, and after a short time she brought him a steaming plate of what Tim was elated to see was fresh waffles.

  Now, only if there was real butter and maple syrup, he thought silently.

  He resigned himself to fake bottled syrup and margarine, laughing a little to himself at the thought of those items lasting until the next Ice Age.

  “What’s the smile for?” Holly asked, sitting down at the table opposite from Tim.

  “Oh, I was thinking about how this syrup will probably last until the next Ice Age.”

  “That it probably will,” she agreed. “It would be nice to have some fresh,” she added, pouring a liberal amount on her still
steaming waffle. “At least this mix is still good.”

  Tim sliced up his waffle and ate a few bites, wiping the corner of his mouth with a paper towel. “So tell me more about the Herc.”

  “Juan has been exploring all over the base, and there’s three Hercules in hangars that he thinks he can cannibalize to make one plane airworthy.”

  “Is Robyn with him?” he asked.

  “Aye, he picked her up earlier this morning. He said he’d be around later to pick me up.”

  “She’s been spending a lot of time with him,” Tim said flatly.

  “Tim, she’s a woman now, and he’s a nice chap. Give him a chance,” she countered, pointing her fork at him, a piece of waffle on the end dripping syrup.

  Tim laughed, “Holly, I do like him. I just like breaking his balls. She’s a big girl.”

  “He’s frightened of you, Sergeant Major.”

  “Good!” he stated, forking another piece of waffle into his mouth. He finished chewing, swallowed and then added, “I think it’s nice that she likes him. And I know he adores her.”

  “Then stop being so mean to him,” Holly laughed.

  “When pigs fly,” he said with a wink.

  “Speaking of pigs, Jerry said there was a bloke on the other side of the island that had rounded up some wild pigs and is trying to breed them. Hopefully we’ll have some fresh bacon soon!”

  “That would be nice,” Tim agreed. “Jerry said he’d be stopping over today.”

  “He’s nice too. I think everyone here is fab.”

  “He’s been a lifesaver. He’s got everything well organized, and now that we don’t have to worry about some crazy psychopath terrorizing the whole ocean, I think it won’t be too long before he’s got the whole island back into some shape of a civilized society,” Tim said, mopping up the last of the syrup with the last bite of waffle.