In the shattered Tennessee valley town of Smoky Creek, a handful of elderly survivors have outlasted the war that erased their families, their neighbors, and nearly the entire town. Hidden among collapsed buildings and secret rooms propped up from within, they scrape together a precarious life of rationing, hidden gardens, cards, checkers, and rough humor, preserving the outward appearance of death to keep enemy planes from striking again. Ben moves through this ruined refuge with practiced care, checking hidden rifles, tending the dead, and carrying the grief of graves that are also his own. But Smoky Creek is more than a place of survival: it is a community of stubborn pride, mourning, and quiet defiance. Ben and Susan cling to a fragile domestic peace, while the others argue, reminisce, and shield one another from unbearable truths. When a jet appears overhead, the town's ancient bodies move with sudden purpose, and their rifles bring it down. In the wreckage that follows, Ben confronts the moral weight of their resistance and the terrible legacy of a century built on bombs, loss, and war. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.
