Mother mother tell your children
That their time has just begun
I have suffered for my anger
There are wars that can't be won

We're getting ready to go. Heading out to the edge of town, everyone trying to say goodbye without really saying goodbye.

Eric seems a lot more focused now. Mom, a lot more… ruthless, telling me good luck, giving her blessing as we head off to war. Good old dad was cutting it close, but knew better than to leave things unsaid. Especially today.

Father father please believe me
I am laying down my guns
I am broken like an arrow
Forgive me
Forgive your wayward son

Everybody needs somebody to love
(mother, mother)
Everybody needs somebody to hate
(please believe me)
Everybody's bitching
'cause they can't get enough
And it's hard to hold on
When there's no one to lean on

My family has a history on the subject of war. My father, my grandfather, and me, though dad never knew it.

I look over the small map I drew from memory, from our visit to Black Jack. The United States divided.

During the Civil War, the whole nature of western combat changed. The stakes were higher, because it was deeply personal. The enemy was someone you knew, the land was somewhere you grew and cultivated, and it was six-to-one and pick 'em, who would own it tomorrow.

The winners pulled it off because they realized this first. They burned enemy crops instead of capturing it. They cut telegram lines to cut them off. They wrapped train tracks around tree trunks.

They starved the enemy out. They took every inch of earth, and held it. Lincoln figured it out first, and his generals made it happen, their names immortalized because they understood how sharply the stakes had been raised. Because when the battle was simply for your own home, you had to win. Both sides had to win, and it could have lasted forever as a result.

That's the nature of warfare.

Dress it up however you want, maybe there's glory in there somewhere.

But this is different. This is real. This is pure. It's ugly, it's desperate, and win lose or run away to do it over another day, we will be burying our brothers tonight.

But this is honest. This is ours. This is our home. This is Jericho. Not their home, ours.

Faith: you know you're gonna live thru the rain
Lord you got to keep the faith
Faith: don't let your love turn to hate
Right now we got to
Keep the faith
Keep the faith
Keep the faith
Lord we got to keep the faith

Mimi kisses Stanley passionately and steps away. Stanley looks after her as he picks up his rifle. Bonnie is at his side a moment later, gives her big brother a hug. Mimi steps to the left as Bonnie walks away from him, guarding her new surrogate little sister. It's sweet.

Dale is talking quietly to his men. His men, the fighters under his command. The thought alone makes me smile. Skylar adds a comment of two and they all draw weapons. Skylar stays behind and says something to him quietly, kisses him goodbye.

Dale and Skylar. They've grown. They aren't kids anymore. Childhood was a forever ago. They're soldiers now. Who would have seen Dale Turner as a force to be reckoned with in this world?

Gray. At any other point in history he would have made a great Mayor. But no. Not now. This isn't an abstract. This isn't something on paper. You can yell and scream, turn tragedies into re-elect campaign sound bytes… but not today. This isn't a place. This isn't a name on the map. This is Jericho.

Emily. She is on my left, looking at me. Searching for words, not finding any, understand each other anyway. I never should have been away so long. Yet still she stays at my side. There are days I want to just slap her for it, and other days when I feel eleven feet tall with her help.

Tell me baby when I hurt you
Do you keep it all inside
Do you tell me al's forgiven
And just hide behind your pride

Everybody needs somebody to love
(mother, father)
Everybody needs somebody to hate
(please don't leave me)
Everybody's bleeding
'cause the times are tough
Well it's hard to be strong
When there's no one to dream on

Jonah. I can't see him but I know he's out there. Jericho's not his home, but Emily is on my left, and I know he's not gonna run out on us.

Stanley. Damn. This is getting hard. One of my oldest friends. We grew up together. He dated Heather briefly, and somehow they're still best buds. I send up a quick prayer to anyone who may be listening, wishing Emily and I get there one day. He grew up six hours ago. Not his parents, not his sister, not the fallout… today he watched people gunned down around him, and vowed to marry the woman he loves. He's so… grown up now.

Like me.

Briefly, I think of when I came back, just before the bomb went off. Dad and I, barely looking at each other.

"When are you going to realize I'm thirty-two years old?"

"When you do."

New Bern is coming for us. Cars are parked across the road, people lining the barricade, looking at me.

Message received father.

Constantino is on the line. The radio is passed to me.

"I'm sorry about your father. Jake, you're outnumbered, and you're outgunned. There's too many of us and we're too desperate to give up. You cannot win this. I'm giving you one last chance. Walk away, put your guns down, and return to town. No one else will be harmed."

Silence. I don't move, but inwardly I seethe. That bastard has the nerve to say that my father's death was a simple mistake, then demand that I hand over his home, OUR home, before the body gets cold?

We are outnumbered. We are outgunned.

But we live here.

This is ours. This is our home. This is Jericho. Not their home, ours.

I lift the radio to my lips. There is really only one thing to say. "NUTS!"

I see a grin on Eric's face. I see confusion on all the others.

I hear confusion through the radio as well. "Sorry, didn't get that?"

"You can go straight to Hell." I clarify. "And about my father? You're the one I'm coming for."

From somewhere I can hear my father give a war cry of exultation.

Faith: you know you're gonna live thru the rain
Lord you got to keep the faith
Now you know is not too late
Oh you got to keep the faith
Faith: don't let your love turn to hate
Right now we got to
Keep the faith
Keep the faith
Keep the faith
Lord we got to keep the faith

They're looking to me now. Waiting for me to inspire them. I was never any good at inspirational speeches, never any good at making people feel good, and hopeful. That was my father's gift. That's where I start. "My father expected us to make a stand here. To defend our home. That's what we're gonna do."

I see people nodding. I see grim determination. This is our home. The world burned around it but we kept it together, by our sweat, blood and loss, the walls of Jericho held. We have earned the right to keep this scrap of land. They know it as well as I do, because they earned it too.

"Get ready!" I yelled.

They snap to it. Electricity fills the air.

I have a rifle, I aim down the road. I can hear the engines.

I am not alone. This is my team. This is my family. This is Jericho.

Walking in the footsteps
Of society's lies
I don't like what I see no more
Sometimes I wish that I was blind
Sometimes I wait forever

They line up, taking position.

Trusting me. Watching me. It's not the first time I've had people listening to me in combat. But this is different. This is my home. All of them are my home. All of them my family.

For a wild instant, every war movie cliché goes flying through my head. Don't fire till you see the whites of their eyes. Fight them on the beaches. Fight them in the streets. Damn the torpedoes.

Adrenaline firms my shaking grip on the rifle. I hear my grandfather's voice.

"Jake, our commander said to take that hill. It was suicide but we did it. Our unit was chewed up, but we did it."

I had asked him why, if it was so dangerous, so suicidal.

"Because when you're fighting for something, you take the risk. You don't follow the order because you agree, or because it's easy, or because you're sure it'll work out. You follow the order because your commander has the moral authority to say that you won't live out the day, but the cause is just, and the sacrifice is necessary."

It's the nature of warfare.

We can see them now. There are so many of them. "Wait!" I order them. No sense in wasting ammo we cant buy replacements for.

Dress it up however you want, maybe there's glory in there somewhere.

But this is different. This is real. This is pure. It's ugly, it's desperate, and win lose or run away to do it over another day, we will be burying our brothers tonight.

But this is honest. This is ours. This is our home. This is Jericho.

To stand out in the rain
So no one sees me cryin'
Trying to wash away the pain
Mother father

There's things I've done I can't erase
Every night we fall from grace

Here they come. "Wait!" I tell them again. Eric is at my elbow, itching to pull the trigger.

Bailey. Stevenson. Clark. Meek. Green. Stevens. Richmond. Sullivan. Mitchell. Hawkins. Anderson. Turner. Reed. Beyer. Grayden. Hart. Adams. Scott. Taylor. Kohler.

I know all these names. I know all these faces. I grew up with all of them. Dammit dad, how did you ever make these choices?

My brother. My mother. My love. My neighbor. My teacher. My employer. My barber. My best Friend.

Trusting me. Following me.

Forgive me Stanley. You may not live out the night. But the cause is just, and the sacrifice necessary.

It's hard with the world in yours face
Trying to hold on, trying to hold on

"NOW!" I roar.

And the world erupts.

Faith: you know you're gonna live thru the rain
Lord you got to keep the faith
Faith: don't let your love turn to hate
Right now we got to keep the faith
Faith: now it's not too late
Try to hold on, trying to hold on
Keep the faith

Author's note: Song is Bon Jovi's "Keep the Faith"