“HAROLD MANNERLY!” The captain yelled from atop his speckled gray horse. “This is Homeland Defense! Come out here and talk to us!”

Silence. Not a sound came from the farmhouse, the barn, or the endless rows of crops. The six horses of our patrol were fidgeting nervously.

“HAR-”

“Shut the fuck up, out there!” A gravely voice yelled from the barn. “I fuckin’ heard ya!”

“Sir, you are ordered to present yourself!” The captain said in his command voice, turning his horse towards the barn in a trot.

“What are you bastards doing here?” Harold said, walking into the sunlight with a pistol on his hip.

“We’re here for your sons, sir. Any males between fifteen and forty two have been drafted for the war.”

“Except for the blind, crippled, and crazy?” said the eldest son, Jacob as he stepped from the house with a shotgun.

“No, they’re the Homeland Defense Corps.” said the youngest son as he stood up in a row of half-grown corn with a rifle in his hands.

“To guard the women, kids, and old men.” Harold smiled.