A Hard Rain: Book Two Of The Shift Trilogy

Chapter 6

Charlottesville, Virginia

Greater Monticello

December 2012

Rita, Akil and Ezra bundled on their coats and headed out of the resurrected early 20th century hospital to the turn-of-the-millennium parking garage where their horses waited for them. Her mount, a handsome quarter horse, neighed indignantly next to Akil's horse. Those two got along like the Turks and Greeks.

"It's okay, Prius," she soothed while brushing a dusting of snow from his mane.

Akil mounted his horse, a monster draught horse. Clicking his teeth he urged him down the ramp, "C'mon, Hummer."

As the three crossed the town, Rita took in the view. The old downtown area had been completely consumed in the fires. Most of the buildings had either toppled over themselves or had been demolished in resettling the land. Despite the snow, work teams were out in force erecting new homes along the pockets of town that had survived the fires. Prius clopped up and down the hilly roads, avoiding the ice patches.

Along the way, they passed an old pickup truck with the hood up. The driver was fanning the smoke from the engine, trying to see what he could do to resolve the mechanical malfunction. Truth was there was little he could do. The forty-year-old Chevy had been consuming grain alcohol and Hempanol substitutes for years now. The imprecise mixtures were far less efficient and far more corrosive than gasoline. There were mechanics working on building new diesel engines that would run on Hempanol, but without an industrial base to machine new parts, there was no standardization for interchangeable parts.

Although most of the fraternity houses and bars had been wiped out, much of the main campus of UVA remained intact enough to be salvaged. Thomas Jefferson's pride and joy endured the inferno better than most of the more recent structures. Sheriff Lucille Schadenfreude had appropriated the Rotunda, the crown of the campus where the flag of Greater Monticello with the blue chalice and orange flame shaped like a bow on a green field waved. Built during Thomas Jefferson's waning years of life, the classical Greek columns seemed to hold the echoes of centuries. Rita felt it was rather presumptuous for the former district attorney to send her deputies to take the Rotunda when Monticello made its first furtive steps back into Charlottesville a few years ago. But as pushy as Lucille could be, she proved herself as one of the most capable lawmen or lawwomen she could ever hope for. After handing the reigns to a deputy, Rita and crew stepped into the warmth inside the Rotunda.

"Reverend!" Lucille Schadenfreude greeted Rita as she, Akil and Ezra entered an impressive office that was once used for ceremonies. Lucille gave a cursory kiss on the cheek, something that had become a common greeting in Monticello over the years, which Rita didn't mind. She found it more welcoming than the "man hug" style of their friends in Rochelle and Culpeper to the north. The Fredericksburg Union's greeting was rather cold, limited to a slight jerk of the head and a curt "sup."

Lucille Schadenfreude certainly didn't look like sheriffs in the real world. The brunette wore a stylish pair of glasses that Rita swore was just an affectation to contrast her no nonsense face to the more evocative attire she wore, ski tights and riding boots with a pistol strapped to her thigh. At the edge of civilization, who was going to call the fashion police, especially considering that she was the law in these here parts? Rita had to admit though, if anyone could get away with it, Lucille could. Every time she saw Lucille, she was struck by how familiar she looked. And then it hit her. The glasses, the hair, the smirk! She looked like that Saturday Night Live girl, the one who did the news. Rita forgot the comedian's name but she loved her.

"How's Miss Lemay?"

Rita sighed heavily. "It's too early to tell. The bullet didn't hit any vital organs. But infection is what we're concerned about now." Rita chose not to mention the prognosis about her arm. She felt it wasn't her place to announce something like that, especially since Neko herself didn't know it yet.