Read Online One Year After: A Novel by William R. Forstchen - Free Book Online

were leaning against the hood of the Edsel.
    “What do you think?” Makala whispered.
    “Well, I didn’t expect the extension. I’m highly skeptical that a central government can secure our communities. We understand the nuances and threats better than they ever can. If they had shown up with a million extra rations as a reserve for the winter ahead, some farming equipment, electrical generators, additional communications gear, some tech people to help us get things up and running, or a darn-good, fully stocked field medical unit that can move from community to community, now those would be blessings I’d be overjoyed to see. That’s the kind of help I was hoping for, not this pulling out of those we need the most not just for defense but also for rebuilding.”
    “All of those would be great,” Makala replied. “I don’t like the idea of them being plucked from our midst, and six weeks from now, they’re thrown into some godforsaken no-man’s-land fighting Posse groups in New York or the nightmare in Chicago.”
    He sighed as they headed to the car where Ed and Grace stood, weapons slung, both of them relieved to see John and Makala out of the building and heading their way.
    “If everything he said is true, it is essentially a lawful order of the emergency government. But to go against it?” Makala said.
    He shook his head ruefully. “I was a military man once, Makala. I swore an oath to defend the Constitution, and as long as that point held, I followed orders, even when I didn’t like them. I feel caught in the middle with this thing. This is about Elizabeth but also about damn near every other family I feel responsible for.”
    “Let’s go home and try to calm things down first. He certainly didn’t volunteer to come with us. And once we get back, you have that postponed appointment with your friendly dentist, Doc Weiderman.”
    The mere mention of it reminded him of the damned toothache. The crisis of the moment had diverted him from the pain, but mention of it was a forceful reminder.
    She gave him that reassuring nurse smile that usually meant what was coming would not be pleasant. He sighed and nodded.
    “What do you think?” he asked.
    “About your tooth or Dale?” she asked.
    “Dale.”
    She took his hand and squeezed it. “I think he’s full of shit.”

 
    CHAPTER THREE
     
    “Come on in, John; no more dodging now.”
    Richard Weiderman was an old friend from long before the Day—the family dentist who had taken care of his kids and had even belonged to the town’s Civil War Roundtable group. Richard took delight in giving talks on what medicine and dentistry were like back then, and that knowledge had put him into an important position after the Day. Gone were pneumatic-driven, high-speed dental drills and suction tubes, and the mere sight of a Novocain needle always creeped John out.
    When John came in for checkups, he used to nervously joke with Richard about a favorite comedy musical that featured an insane dentist who winds up getting fed to a man-eating plant. Everyone had some sort of dark joke about dentists, but on the other hand, all were darn grateful for their existence and took it as an ordinary part of their lives even if it was a few unpleasant hours a year in the chair.
    No longer. Richard’s supply of Novocain and other anesthesia had immediately gone into the town’s emergency supply. He had become more than “just a dentist” during the battle with the Posse, helping to patch up facial wounds and repair shattered jaws and agonizing wounds to the mouth. In the year and a half after those dreadful days, he had resumed his practice, using what had been a hobby knowledge of dental history to put himself back into business. In the basement storage room of a long-deceased dentist, he found a foot-powered treadle drill and a variety of dental tools not used in a hundred years. From a hidden reserve in a jewelry store, he snatched up thin sheets of hammered-out gold