Free Fifty Years of Peace (Abrupt Dissent Series) by Charlotte Andrews Page A

her, and if she squinted, she could make out the tiny square of the Two Star Ranch’s cleared fields. She knew what George was feeling. With each step, she worried more and more about her grandfather, and spent longer and longer looking down at the views of the ranch.
     
    After another hour, they reached a cluster of thick-trunked pines split by a granite ridge that rose from the mountain. George led her through the left copse of trees to a narrow channel that wrapped around to the eastern side of the mountain.
     
    “Mom, Dad, it’s me,” he called as the path opened onto a small clearing sheltered by a rock overhang. It was an excellent shelter completely hidden from New Louisville. She saw blankets and other signs of habitation, but no one was at the camp.
     
    Then the floor of the clearing lifted in front of her. Startled, she jumped backward.
     
    “Dad!” George called and ran toward a man who wore what looked like a cape of pine needles as camouflage. He’d been lying in a small depression, covering them with a sniper rifle.
     
    “George!” the man answered as he struggled to his feet. His left arm hung in an improvised sling, and she could only imagine the pain of lying down on such a wound. George hugged his father gingerly, then helped him remove the needle covering. His father was a lean man, bearded but pale. She could see blood spotting the sling at his collarbone, and knew the pain would have been intense.
     
    “We need to work on your noise levels son. I heard you coming five minutes ago. Now who’s this?”
     
    “This is Jenny dad. She helped me in town, and Assemblyman Arnold came after her. Her grandfather had some old tech, but I’m pretty sure they took him.”
     
    George’s father held out his good hand and shook Jenny’s.
     
    “I’m sorry we couldn’t meet under better circumstances, my name’s Aiden. My wife, George’s mother, is Lenora.”
     
    “Dad, where is mom?”
     
    His father’s face fell.
     
    “She’s not doing well George.”
     
    Limping over to what looked like a pair of heavy pine boughs that had grown enmeshed between two trees, George’s father untied a cord, and the branches fell to reveal a small green tent. Inside, an unconscious woman lay under a pile of blankets. Rags stained with crimson had been tied across her stomach, and her chest barely fluttered.
     
    George knelt at her side and rested a hand on her forehead.
     
    “She’s cold dad.”
     
    George’s father nodded.
     
    “The bullet hit something inside. She’s…she’s going to need surgery to survive George.”
     
    The boy covered his face, and Jenny saw that he was crying. Everything that he’d held back the last two days was coming out, and his father knelt and held his son close with his good arm. She wanted to hug him, to comfort him, and tell him everything would be ok, but she wasn’t sure that was true.
     
    “George,” Jenny said, “I know Doc Stinson in town, and he can help; he’s a friend of my grandfather’s. It should only take a day to get to town and back if I don’t sleep.”
     
    “I’m coming with you,” George said. “We’ll go right now.” He pulled away from his father and started checking his gear.
     
    Jenny set down the saddlebags.
     
    “There’s food here for a week. It shouldn’t take more than a day to…”
     
    “George…” Aiden said. He was wincing, leaning on the butt of his rifle for balance. “I’m not sure how much longer I can hold out.”
     
    George looked from Jenny to his father. She knew what had to be done.
    “It’s all right George,” she said. “You stay here. Now that I’ve been here, I’ll know how to get back. Plus, I know the town so it’ll be easier for me to get in without being seen.”
     
    “No, you can’t go,” George said. He was staring at his mother, a look of utter defeat on this face.
     
    “It’ll be dark soon.”
     
    “I can find my way with the stars. Grandpa showed