The Scarlet Plan

by Rick W. Warren

  Convert walked over and threw his arms around her neck. Tears streamed down his face as he said to her, “It’s done, Marie. It’s done.” They cried together at the table. They could finally rest.

  Post-Game Show

  The Sun Rises

  Three Weeks Later

  1

  As the days passed into November, the city of Galesburg began to rebuild. When it was all said and done, Galesburg had millions of dollars in property damage and seventeen people had died in the fire and riots. The people mourned over the tragedy. Local churches and organizations did everything they could to bring relief to the victims and give memorials for those who died. There were many stories of local heroism and generosity. Although the city had been greatly harmed, the Scarlet wasn’t able to break its spirit. Like a phoenix, the city would rise again from the ashes, but it would never be the same.

  Emma’s story had exploded all over the country and many of those responsible had been apprehended. Ten out of the twelve shadows were arrested. Eric was nowhere to be found and Lance was discovered to have died in a truck accident during the fire. Emma wrote everything she knew about the Scarlet. Most people were amazed that they existed, but there were others who mocked it as conspiracy theory. The acolytes arrested at the barn were currently in jail, but unfortunately evidence was sketchy and they got some good lawyers. What bothered Emma the most was that there were other acolytes who got away with their identities unknown. They were still out there and she wondered what they would do next. The Thinker was held without bail and he refused to talk about anything. He had no idea what the Scarlet wanted to do with him, but he knew it wouldn’t be good. As for the Cleaner, he was kept in solitary confinement, not for his safety but for the safety of everyone else.

  As for Aaron, the church never voted on him, but he resigned anyway. He knew what they were capable of doing and he couldn’t allow it to happen to him again. He was heartbroken over leaving, but knew it was what he had to do. He had received a severance of six months because the congregation demanded it. They knew what happened to Aaron wasn’t right. Even though he had left that church, he didn’t want to leave Galesburg. Taking Emma’s advice, he applied for Jack’s old position at his church and they were excited to have him. In just three weeks, Aaron was now the new pastor of Grace Trinity church.

  The guys loved that school was still out because it had burned down and they hung out regularly after they finished their home lessons, which took way less time to do. Shortly after the fire, they had gone to visit Clayton at the hospital. The doctors didn’t know if he would walk again, but he was alive. Clayton laid there and refused to talk to them. His bitterness had only grown from his experience. The guys, however, wanted to show grace and they came to visit him anyway.

  They took the news of Aaron’s departure hard. They loved him and didn’t want to see him leave. To their delight, though, their families decided to leave Faith Community and go to Aaron’s church instead. They surprised Aaron as they tackled him in his office before church on his first Sunday there. “I guess I can’t get rid of you guys, can I?” He said.

  “Nope,” Trent said. “We’re battle brothers now. You can’t leave us.”

  Aaron smiled. “I really am glad you’re all here. Why should I get any sanity, right?”

  Emma walked into his office and laughed as she saw all of them. “You may want to comb your hair, Clark. Church starts in ten minutes.”

  “Sure thing, Ironside,” Aaron said as he squeezed her hand.

  “Don’t you mean, Ironhide?” Mark asked.

  “Dude! It’s Ironside! The Transformer is Ironhide!” Trent said.

  “But I thought Ironside was a superhero.”

  “What?”

  Aaron and Emma turned and walked into the hallway as Trent and Mark continued to argue. “Lock the door when you’re done guys. I’ll see you in church.”

  2

  On Monday morning, three weeks after the fire, Convert walked into the kitchen as Marie was trying to open a jar of jelly. “Could you help me get this lid off? I can’t make it budge.”

  “Sure thing,” he said as he grabbed it. He turned the lid and it stayed tight.

  “Man, I miss my super strength,” he said as he laughed. “I can’t even open a jar of jelly.”

  As the man had told Jack and Marie, their special gifts had left them as soon as the Scarlet were taken into custody.

  “Well, that means that the threat is gone, though, doesn’t it?” Marie said.

  “Yeah, but it’s hard knowing they are still out there. The Scarlet was bigger than Galesburg. I think I’ll always be on guard.”

  “And I have confidence that God will always be guarding us as well. We were never promised that life would be easy. We were just promised that God would be there with us.”

  “Thanks, Marie.”

  “For what?”

  “For loving me when no one else did, you and Jack both.”

  “The blessing is as much mine as it is yours.”

  Convert gave her a hug and walked outside the back door. He saw the lone tire on the fence post and walked down the back steps towards it. He could see his breath in the cool mid-November air as he approached the tire and brushed the frost off of it. As he did, he noticed inside the tire a piece of paper that he had not seen until now. He reached in and opened it up. What he read instantly brought him to tears.

  It said: I’m proud of you, Convert. You did it! Stay strong in Christ. You never know what might be ahead. I love you. Jack.

  Convert laughed as the tears fell off of his face. Jack had left him one last message, and now for a second time, he actually called him Convert. Convert looked at the tire, he looked at the house, and then he looked at the sky. It was a beautiful morning and the sun was brilliant as it rose. He didn’t know what the future held, but he knew that God was in control of it.

  November 14th, 2018

  Acknowledgements

  Although I am the author of this story, I certainly didn’t get here alone. I wanted to take the time in this section to thank those who helped me along the way:

  To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: All glory goes to You. Everything I have is because of You and may my life be pleasing to You always! This book is here because of You!

  To my wife Kristen: Thank you for your continual encouragement and belief in me. Without your help, I would not have been able to write this and I celebrate any success it brings with you.

  To my 5 children: You are my treasures and my motivation to always do more. I hope you can be proud of this work. Always stay faithful to Jesus!

  To my Mom and Dad: Thank you for the foundation you raised me on. I have learned to love others and stand for the truth because of the example I learned from you.

  To Holly White: Thank you for your willingness to read my manuscript and for the encouragement you gave. I greatly appreciate it!

  To the People of the City of Galesburg: You are what makes my hometown awesome and I wish nothing but blessing and prosperity in the future for all of you.

  Finally I want to thank you for reading this! The fact that you took the time to engage in this story is an honor to me and I hope you have grown closer to God because of it.

  Author’s Note

  When I think back to the beginning of this book, I have to go back to my years in college. That was when Convert popped into my head. There were two things I thought about when it came to his character: 1) his testimony and 2) how he would deal with the death of Jack. This concept floated around in my mind for a long time and eventually (in between research papers) I sat down to write out his backstory. There was a problem, though. I couldn’t write it. It wasn’t because I didn’t know what to write; it was because it was simply too sad to write. At that time in my life I was finishing my college degree, my wife and I were expecting our first child, and I needed to find a jo
b. I know it sounds weird, but my life was already scary and emotional enough as it was so I just couldn’t mentally handle Convert’s story at that time.

  Eventually, I became a youth pastor and the story continued to grow in my mind. Aaron appeared as well as Emma and eventually Jordan, Josh, Trent, and Mark. I knew I needed to get these characters on paper. Not only that, but the setting of the book was also calling out to me. It had to be in Galesburg. I was homesick because it had been my home for the first 24 years of my life (I went to college late) and my closest friends and family still lived there. Galesburg was more than just a setting for me; it was a place that I loved and still do today.

  Years continued to pass, however, and yet I still couldn’t get this story out. Once again, it was as if there was too much going on for me to stir up the emotional energy to write this the way it needed to be written.

  Eventually in 2012, my family and I were able to move back to Galesburg and I became a pastor in the area. It really was a dream come true. One day my wife brought home a decorative sign that she found. It was a painted board with the name Galesburg on it and written over the name Galesburg in cursive was a quote by Annie Danielson. It said, “Home is where your story begins!” I loved it.

  In fifth grade, at Gale school, my English teacher had a writing exercise where she would post a bunch of pictures on the wall and we would have to write a story about one of them. Once we wrote it, we had to share it with the class. I used to love writing these stories because I loved the opportunity to imagine and create new worlds based off of one concept. The sign my wife bought did that for me and compelled me to getting back to this novel. This story began to be something in my mind that had to be written, even if it never got published. This story had to be told and these characters had to finish their journey.

  It still took me a while to really crack down, but I remember going to sleep at night with these questions in my head. What about the Cleaner? How will the Scarlet be stopped? These were questions that had to be answered.

  Well now they are and this book is one of my proudest achievements. The story is finished and now the world can read it. My hope is that this novel, if anything, opened your eyes to the greatness of Christ. In all that I do, my hope is that He is glorified. He is the ultimate hero of this book.

  As for Convert, Aaron, Emma, Jordan, Josh, Trent, and Mark, there are still more stories to be told. I look forward to the future when we can see where life leads them next and I hope that you are here to join us on that journey!

  The remnant remains!

  Rick W. Warren