THE TOWERS FAMILY SAGA
        Episode 76
The flare sizzled in the
black sky, bathing the
canyon in a ghostly red.
Robert didn't flinch as
the light revealed three
figures near the ridge.
"Minnie, get the girls
inside the iron unit!"
he barked, his voice the
command of the sergeant
he had been in '64.
The drone dipped low,
its rotors screaming like
a banshee in the wind.
Virginia grabbed Shirley’s
arm and pulled her back
into the library’s gut.
"We’re staying with you,
Dad!" Dorothy yelled,
clutching a heavy metal
flashlight like a club.
Robert stepped toward the
perimeter of the light.
"The maps are gone!" he
shouted into the dark.
"I melted the keys and I
buried the old ghosts!"
A man stepped forward,
the red light of the flare
glinting off his glasses.
It wasn't the suit from
New York, but someone
from the old FDC days.
"You can't bury the
physics, Robert," the
man said, his voice thin.
"That satellite code is
the only thing that can
track the new fallout."
Robert felt the weight of
his family behind him.
The radical honesty was
his armor against the
temptation of the power.
"I'm a builder now, not
a watcher of the sky."
"If you want the ridge,
you'll have to take it
from a man with nothing
left to lose but his soul."
Minnie stood at his side,
her hand steady on his.
The man looked at the
iron walls of the unit
and the five fierce women
guarding the threshold.
He saw a strength that
no offshore account or
satellite could provide.
"The world is coming for
your peace, Towers," the
man warned, retreating
into the desert shadows.
The drone banked hard and
vanished over the rim.
The flare sputtered out,
leaving the family in
the deep, silent dark.
Robert felt the adrenaline
drain from his limbs.
"Is everyone okay?" he
asked, his voice rasping.
"We're here," Barbara
said, her breath coming
in short, sharp bursts.
The saga was a circle of
fire in the Arizona night.
They were the Towers,
and the siege was just
a test of the mortar.
The orange dust settled.
The family stood tall.
The morning was coming.

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