Holding Their Own: A Story of Survival by Joe Nobody Read Free Book Online Page B

husband. Bishop was alive … but her mother was dead. She just sat stunned, watching the television with hot tears of both relief and remorse rolling down her cheeks.
     
    Bishop drove toward home. He didn’t know what else to do. He was in extreme pain, and it was becoming harder and harder for him to catch his breath. Somehow, he kept on course, navigated the traffic, and ended up in his driveway. He managed to open the door and thought at least Terri wouldn’t have to search for his body. He started to get out, but the step down out of the truck was his undoing, and he did a full-face plant into the grass. The neighbors will think I stumbled home drunk and passed out in the yard.
    Terri heard Bishop’s truck pull into the driveway and was on her way out the door when she saw h im fall. She rushed to his side yelling, “Bishop, are you all right?”
    “Well babe, there were these three big guys at the bar, and, w ell…you should see the other dudes.”
    “Bishop, this is no time for jokes.” Terri’s tone was unmistakable.
    “Terri,” Bishop said with serious eyes, “I am sorry baby, but your Mom is dead. I tried; I really tried, but she is gone. She didn’t feel any pain.”
    Terri said, “Bishop, we can talk about that later. I am so relieved you made it home. Let’s get you taken care of.” She tried to help him up, but his weight was too much for her. She ran across the street and rang the neighbor’s doorbell. With help from friends, they managed to get Bishop into bed, and a nurse friend came over to check him out. Terri decided to call for an ambulance and have Bishop taken to a local hospital, but was informed by the dispatcher that every available ambulance in the city was being diverted to the medical center. She decided to drive him there herself, but he would have none of it, half-heartedly vowing to kick anyone’s ass who tried to move him from the bed.
     
     

Houston , Texas - July 31, 2015
Aftermath
    Bishop had been lying in bed all day, watching the news and letting Terri take care of him. He was actually feeling a bit better, but needed to get both his shoulder and ribs checked out. The cable news channels were covering the Houston explosion from every possible angle. Over 1,200 people were dead, and another 650 were injured. The fires were still burning, and the Houston Fire Department was struggling with a combination of poor water pressure and a lack of manpower. The department suffered from cutbacks just like every other city agency in the last few years. The mayor had asked for help from Dallas and other nearby cities, but so far those departments had responded with only token assistance, as they were shorthanded, too.
    The initi al reaction by several experts was that the whole affair had been a terrorist attack. The 24x7-news coverage concluded that the explosion was a truck bomb and that a sleeper cell of jihadists had taken advantage of the crowd gathered in front of the hospital and detonated the weapon. Bishop didn’t buy it. The crowd at the hospital had been impromptu and compared to a football game or other event, had been quite small. If a terror cell were going to stage an attack, why go after such a small crowd?
    Wall Street reacted poorly to the news. Already down by over 50% since the start of the depression, stocks plunged even further in anticipation of additional attacks and the reaction of the US government. The president had done what presidents always do and expressed sorrow, while pledging to bring justice to those responsible. America was already a war-weary country, and the vast majority of the population blamed 16 years of war for a large part of the current economic situation. While all but a skeleton force of US troops had been pulled from foreign battlefields, the money had been spent. Money that many believed would have been better utilized at home.
    The prospect of more war , combined with an already unemployed and frustrated people, brought out