Free An Undeclared War (Countdown to Armageddon Book 4) by Darrell Maloney

John asked, “Do you think it’ll keep others away?”
         Scott gave pause and answered, “I hope so. But if it doesn’t, I don’t mind killing a hundred more. If that’s what it takes to keep from losing any more of our own.”
         The men took a rest break under an old oak tree in Tom’s front yard, before going to retrieve the Bobcat.
         After being allowed to creep unattended into the brush, the machine had driven over Tony Pike’s head and kept going. A hundred yards later it finally got stuck in a bar ditch, and ran until it exhausted all its fuel.
         They planned to get Tom’s old F-100 farm tractor and use it to tow it out of the ditch, refuel it, and then put it back in the corn field.
         But it would have to sit in the ditch a little bit longer.
         Linda called on the radio.
         “We’ll be ready in about twenty minutes or so. Why don’t you guys start heading over this way?
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    -16-
     
         The group had tossed around dozens of ideas. Some they discarded outright, others they tried and then discarded. Still other ideas they kept.
         They wanted to make this, the first funeral service at the camp, dignified and respectful. Yet they wanted it to be something that would have touched Joyce’s heart- that would touch Joyce’s heart. For there wasn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind that she was up there watching.
         The casket wouldn’t fit in the house, because it wouldn’t make the turn into the kitchen without standing it upright. That would have been okay when it was empty. But taking it out that way, with Joyce’s body inside it, just would not do.
         So Tom and Jordan placed the empty casket on the back patio and the women went to work lining it with cozy comforters. In Sara’s words, “So she’ll be toasty warm until they approve her ticket to heaven.”
         The teddy bear was little Misty’s idea. “It’s always good to have a friend along on a long journey, so you can have someone to snuggle with and talk to.”
         It had been Misty’s security bear up until that time. She’d never gone anywhere without it to that point. Wouldn’t sleep without it, and sometimes even dragged it to the dinner table.
         Hannah wasn’t so sure at first.
         “Are you sure you’re able to give Teddy up?”
         Misty looked at her and in the biggest voice she could muster, said, “Mom, I’m not a child anymore.”
         And in a sense she was right. Joyce’s death changed all of them in various ways. They wouldn’t realize for months how they’d all become a little bit more hardened, a little bit more cynical, and a little bit more suspicious of strangers.
         But in other ways, Joyce’s sacrifice would change them for the better. They now knew that any of them could be gone in the blink of an eye. And that the time they had together wasn’t unlimited, and needed to be cherished. Every single one of them secretly vowed to themselves to make more of their relationships with the others. In the months ahead, they would love harder and show affection more freely.
         After the casket was prepared, Tom very gently carried Joyce downstairs in his arms. Linda and Hannah had dressed her in her favorite blue dress. They even managed to wash and style her hair while Jordan was digging the grave and Tom was building the casket, although doing so was a monumental task.
         It wasn’t one they minded, though.
         There was no way to cover the bullet hole with makeup. So Joyce would go to heaven with a band aid on her head.
         “You don’t think she’ll mind, do you?” Hannah asked.
         Linda responded, “I don’t think so. Not at all.”
         Tom and Jordan could have carried the casket to the grave site by themselves, but Linda and Hannah insisted on helping. Misty, Rachel and