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end of the driveway. Like she had said, the chimney stood and was wrapped in kudzu. A fountain and courtyard were to the right of the house, covered in vines. Out in the field over to the right stood a single white FEMA trailer.
    â€œHome sweet home,” Ava said.
    â€œAt least y’all were smart enough to get the high ground. But that thing is liable to take off in the wind anytime, like Dorothy and that dog.”
    â€œNo it won’t. We filled it up with cinder blocks in the places we don’t need. Like the bathroom. And you can’t see it right now but we got cinder blocks all the way across the top.”
    Aggie studied the trailer. Looked around and studied the darkening landscape.
    â€œThere’s gotta be a better way to hold it down,” he said.
    â€œMaybe, but that’s worked so far.”
    â€œIt wouldn’t be much fun to have to keep carting cinder blocks out here.”
    â€œWe don’t have to. We got enough.”
    â€œI’m saying if you had more trailers. They’re all over the place. All you gotta do is hook them up and drag them out here. Have a whole little neighborhood.”
    â€œFor who?”
    He didn’t answer but instead took the vodka bottle from her hand. He drank and gave it back. Touched the cut on his head where the blood had clotted and he grimaced.
    â€œWas Bub right about you?” she asked. She leaned back against the door, gathered a strand of hair in her fingers and twisted it.
    â€œWhat part?”
    â€œAll of it.”
    â€œThen yep.”
    â€œYou really handle them snakes? Don’t they bite?”
    â€œIf you don’t handle them right.”
    â€œAin’t it scary?”
    â€œNo more scarier than anything else in this world. Look around.”
    The sky had turned dark now and the rain beat like a thousand drums. The truck rocked a little in the wind and pellets of hail joined the rain.
    â€œWhat about the preaching part?” she asked.
    â€œWhat about it?” Aggie said and he reached out and touched the Bible on the seat. He took in a deep breath and let out an extended sigh. Ava reached over and touched the top of his hand. Reached over and stroked Aggie’s leg. Around them the devastated land and the violent storm and seemingly no mercy. Aggie stared out the window. He envisioned this place populated with his own people. Governed by his own rules. With his own plan for the new world. He had lost one congregation but he could find another and this time they would love him whether they wanted to or not. Even in the dark, he could see what he wanted to see. And it was time to begin again.

8
    COHEN DROVE THE winding back road in the final, faint light without his headlights. He smelled the coming rain and the tattered Jeep cover slapped as he moved slowly in first gear. The shotgun leaned against his leg and knocked against the floorboard and he wished he had a pistol, something easier to handle in a tight space. He sat forward with his face close to the windshield. He came around a bend, passed through a strip of road he had cleared himself with his chainsaw and he stopped. Up ahead was the crossroads, a four-way stop. The four cinderblock buildings at the crossroads were once a gas station, barbeque joint, small grocery, and a bait and tackle shop, but now the buildings sat empty and all had been sprayed with graffiti and were missing windows and parts of roof.
    Two trucks sat at the crossroads. Shots fired and Cohen saw the white blasts from the barrels in the darkening night. They appeared to be firing back at something. The headlights came on and three or four men crossed in the beams. They went to the back of a truck and let down the tailgate. They slid something to the back and one man took one end and another man grabbed the other and Cohen saw the bend in the middle and he knew it was a body. He swallowed hard and took hold of the shotgun barrel.
    Cohen watched as they laid the body down