Chapter 3
“We can’t go back to Rocky Start,” I said to Rose.
We were in a cheap motel room, not far from the Asheville hospital where Pike had undergone successful surgery on his leg. It was the only lodging available at the moment as the town was full of refugees from the flooding in the mountains.
For four hours yesterday, I’d led a small convoy out of town, picking our way along the two-lane hardtop.
It had sometimes narrowed to one lane as the Little Melvin tore away at the edges, but we’d made it to Bearton just in time before the road was completely washed away.
The going had been easier after that, no longer next to the river.
We’d made it to Asheville and Pike had been rushed into surgery.
The Ferrels had followed us, unveiling a brand-new high clearance four-wheel drive electric mail truck we’d never seen before.
It seemed they’d been saving it for a rainy day.
Fortunately for them, they’d kept it charged up.
Luke had brought Jackie in his electric van after they made sure no one was left in town.
“We have to go back,” Rose said.
I pointed at the muted TV which was showing signs of destruction throughout the Smokies. “The road’s gone, Rose. Rocky Start is going to be a ghost town until they open it back up.”
“The cottage?” she asked.
“We won’t know.”
We’d worked on it all winter and now it was probably worse than when we’d started renovating the abandoned place.
A single tear appeared in Rose’s left eye.
Why the left, I wondered, which was a stupid thing to think at the moment.
I took her in my arms and told her that everything was all right, but, really, it wasn’t.
“It was in bad shape before,” I said. “So we start over. Make it even better.”
Rose shook her head and pulled away to look at me. “Not for a while. The town comes first.”
“Nothing can be done with anything until the roads are repaired and we can bring in heavy equipment,” I told Rose.
I didn’t add that without Herc acting like God in DC protecting Rocky Start, we were at the mercy of civilian governments in two states that for years had been held at arm’s reach.
Wrapped in every victory is the bitterness of the price paid.
And Rocky Start was very low on both Tennessee and North Carolina’s priority list for help.
“How long before we can go back?” she asked.
“Months,” I said.
I’d been deployed overseas in various disaster areas. It was always worse than it looked on the screen and right now what we were seeing on the screen was pretty damn bad.
“Oh hell,” Rose said, summing it all up.