Hard Rain Falling (Walking in the Rain Book 3) by William Allen

their light.
    The corporal, Towson, wanted to quiz me like Private Grady did earlier, and since I was going to traveling with these guys in a few days, I gave him short but complete answers. He, too, wanted to know how things were out there, and I could tell he was hoping to hear about how the ‘Recovery’ was progressing.
    I’d heard that term repeated several times, the Recovery, like some central authority was out there stringing new electrical wires and systematically fixing the water plants somewhere. It was like wishing on a falling star, or whispering a prayer in the night. I stressed that I’d only seen a snapshot of the middle of the country, but what I saw wasn’t good. My message was clear: we would need to bootstrap ourselves into whatever recovery was possible. I hated always being Debbie Downer and wanted to talk about what they had seen.
    “OKC is a cinder, man. Oh, some parts escaped the fires but probably three quarters of the city suffered at least some damage from the crashes. Too many flight paths ran right over the city.”
    “Yeah, out towards O’Hare was bad. Fortunately it was raining in Chicago on the day, but still, there were so many planes on approach when it happened. I didn’t understand at first.” I stopped talking then, remembering how the streets had shuddered with each impact like a mini-earthquake. The idea that my teacher thought there was any way help was coming after a week of fires and looting never ceased to amaze me.
    “So I heard you have your own all-girl squad,” Towson quipped. “They any good?”
    He gave me a stupid half leer, like I was carting my own playthings around for my amusement.
    I gave him a grim smile in return. He might have thought he was being funny, but from my perspective he was showing his ass.
    “Corporal, they’re alright,” I allowed, “for not having that much experience.”
    “How about you, kid? You any good?”
    I caught Jay’s frown at the question. He spoke up in a stage whisper, thankfully intercepting my mouth from moving before my brain engaged. Sometimes that happened when I lost my temper. Before the lights went out, I had a long fuse, but since… well, I was a little more volatile. I wanted to chalk it up to missed meals and lost sleep, but I feared the change might be more fundamental.
    “Tommy, leave it alone. I heard this guy’s killed more men than cancer since the lights went out. Please, just don’t.”
    I blinked, and so did Corporal Towson. Pushing off from the side of the Bradley, I decided I’d done enough today. Suddenly, I wasn’t mad anymore, but just tired of being around curious—and annoying—people. Jay was nice enough, but I didn’t need to see Towson or Halloran any more. Be seeing them plenty on the road.
    “Master Sergeant, I’m pushing off today unless you need something else,” I called into the bowels of the track.
    “Take off, Luke. We got this.”
    As I walked by the two soldiers I caught Jay’s eye and gave him a nod, then for some reason I decided to invite him for dinner.
    “Jay, if you got any time this evening, come see us over at Barracks Fourteen. Our mess hall is next door and they start serving at 1930. Later.”
    Private Grady looked shocked by the invitation, but he quickly agreed.
    I had planned to leave even before Corporal Towson’s questions and comments got my temper going. His snide comment about the all-girl squad had rankled more than his question as to my competence. Really. I knew I lacked the training to be a real soldier. My training, before the lights went out, was for something else and after; I was just scrambling to survive.
    The weeks spent at the Keller farm had helped me grasp how much I still needed to learn; especially working with Nick and Scott. Nick worked with me on small unit tactics, both in the field as part of the militia and by passing me off books—mainly field manuals—to read. For my part, I gently steered him away from using the term militia,