Chapter 14
THE TREE line disappeared, revealing only charred ruins.
“Holy hell.” Eric’s soft whisper seemed louder than anything in front of us.
Frayville had a dozen homes burned to ash and charcoal spars, a couple store windows shattered, a whole bunch of abandoned vehicles and empty streets, and willow trees that grew melons. We had damage from neglect and weather, but the town still stood. Leaving town, we’d passed through vacant farms with idle black topsoil, into the beginning of the hardwood forest surrounding the town.
And after a quarter mile of heavy-crowned oaks and maples, we’d emerged into the aftermath of war.
Rain-soaked ash and trees burned to stumps of black charcoal filled the land all the way to the distant horizon. Nothing moved out there. No birds. No animals. No
