“You know our uncle. I don’t think he even remembers all the people who once worked for us. Maybe you should ask him to remove that troublesome priest.”
Tepiltzin shook his head. “He won’t do it. He never dismisses anyone that he makes a priest. Our uncle is the avatar of Xipe Totec. I don’t even think he’s fully human anymore since the Flayed One speaks directly through him. And that bothers me.”
“What bothers you?”
Tepiltzin looked away. “That it may not have been our uncle who made Coaxoch high priest. Maybe it was Xipe Totec who made the decision himself.”
10. The Stranger Cometh
Kansas
It was mid-afternoon when the silver bus number 160 drove into downtown Wichita. Tara Weiss was sitting by herself near the back row. In contrast to the constant rains of the South, the weather here was bright and sunny. Tara was surprised there was a free transportation service operating throughout the city. They had observed a number of buses going to and fro from designated stops that started from the outskirts. All one had to do was to sit in the bus stop and wait. A shuttle would drive by every few hours and she hopped aboard the one that said DOWNTOWN WICHITA on its front. Tara tried giving a few dollars to the driver but he just waved her off the moment she stepped on board. Since the vehicle was half-empty, Tara was pretty much by herself throughout the whole journey.
On their way towards the center of the city, the bus made a fuel stop at a local gas station. That was when she got a little bit scared, seeing armed SOL troopers and military vehicles standing by outside. The few passengers that had gone out of the bus were approached by the soldiers and it looked like they were being asked some questions. Tara had thought about getting down onto the concrete pavement to stretch her legs, but then decided that she didn’t want the extra hassle of being interrogated, so she just stayed put. One soldier looked up at the vehicle windows and stared at her. Tara just made a faint smile and looked away. After about half an hour, the driver got back on the bus and they were off again.
Much of the city seemed quiet, almost peaceful. It was as if the Glooming had never touched this part of the country. Other than the occasional military patrols and the small groups of soldiers on every other street, Tara felt that this might just be the safest place in the entire world. Then she noticed a number of people being rounded up. The bus had stopped on an intersection and that was when she witnessed a heavily armed police unit bust down what looked like the front doors of a warehouse. As traffic was halted by a convoy of empty school buses that parked near the building, Tara could hear screams coming from the inside and the sounds of fighting. A few minutes later, a number of people were led out in handcuffs and were pushed into the waiting school buses. Once the three vehicles were filled, they were then escorted by a small convoy of Humvees and normal traffic was resumed. Since there weren’t a lot of cars on the streets, the shuttle was able to make up the time as it drove to the next bus stop and picked up more passengers.
Just as they halted at the third stop, a large group of soldiers began to board the vehicle. That was when Tara decided to get off. She got up from her seat and made her way to the front. She walked past a number of military types that were busy chatting with each other as they carried around their olive green duffel bags. Tara figured that they were just using the bus to go someplace but being around so many of them made her nervous. The driver didn’t seem to notice her as she got off while a number of soldiers were still getting on board.
As the bus drove away, Tara started walking down the street while she looked around. Even though there was a façade of normality, she could see that many businesses in the area had been boarded up and shuttered. A lot of billboards and advertising posters had been torn up and replaced with banners for the Rock of God Church. She remembered listening to the pastor’s radio broadcast as she travelled the southwest with a man named Larry. Even though it had happened almost a year ago, to her it seemed like a distant memory. Larry was dead, murdered by another man who soon died at the hands of mythical creatures. Not long after that, she met a brujo, who then instructed her on how to conquer her fears and self-doubt. Then she learned how to travel across the other worlds with the help of the trickster god.
The streets were mostly deserted. A few small groups of people would sometimes gather at the intersections before they were broken up by a passing police car. As she kept on walking, Tara could sense a palpable fear in the air. The people who she passed would look at her nervously before going about their business. Nobody seemed to be smiling. It was as if they were all waiting for something terrible to happen. A few clothing and convenience stores were open, and she noticed they were manned mostly by older folks. Most of the younger ones were either in the military or were somewhere else that she didn’t know about. The whole city seemed to be one big lie, and yet everybody believed in it.
A loud cawing coming from across the street momentarily surprised her. As Tara turned, she noticed a raven perched on top of a nearby diner. Although it seemed that every one of those black birds all looked alike, she sensed that it was the trickster and it was leading her onto something. As per the plan, it was keeping her under watch, just in case she got into trouble. Thrusting her hands into the side pockets of her denim jacket, Tara waited until two cars drove by before crossing the now empty street. She looked up at the black bird for a brief moment before pushing the restaurant doors open.
It was a typical fifties-style diner. Streamlined white plastic furniture and stainless steel molded in Art Deco style. Imitation red leather padding on the seats and stools. Checkered marble flooring. Glass walls so that the whole place could be seen from the outside, like an aquarium. An antique vinyl jukebox sat unplugged near the door. The place was nearly empty, except for an old couple at the far side of the restaurant. She saw a heavyset cook with a crewcut come in and out through the port-holed double doors that evidently led to the kitchen.
A middle aged woman in waitress attire approached her with a smile. She had blond curls and wore a bright blue dress with a white collar. There was a small white cap on her head and a black cross hung on the base of her neck. A white apron was tied neatly in front of her uniform, just like in the movies. She was carrying a large brown tray with a pot of coffee on it. “Good afternoon. Feel free to sit wherever you want, we’ve got plenty of room. I’ll be right with you in a minute.”
“Thanks,” Tara said as she smiled back. She thought about picking a booth to sit in, but then figured it would be less of a big deal since she was by herself. In the end, she just sat on a stool by the counter instead. There was a metal stand with a half dozen menus on it so she just picked one out and started to read it.
A few minutes later, the smiling waitress walked up to her from behind the counter. “What can I get for you today?”
Tara squinted her eyes as she pored over the menu. “Um, how about a milkshake? A strawberry flavored one, please.”
The waitress bit her lip. There were a lot of wrinkles at the edges of her mouth and her makeup looked old and worn. “I’m sorry, hon. All I can get for you is a vanilla milkshake. We haven’t been able to update our menu since you know when.”
Tara kept smiling as she nodded. “Okay, a vanilla milkshake is fine by me.”
“Coming right up, do you want anything else?”
Tara shook her head slightly as she put the menu back with the others. “Not right now, thanks.”
“Okay, be back in a jiffy.”
As the waitress walked back into the kitchen, Tara looked around again. The old couple at the far end seemed to be minding their own business. As she tried to look over to where the kitchen was, she noticed that the cook was staring at her through the stainless steel shelves that separated the cooking area and the counter. Trying to give herself something to do, Tara picked up the menu once more and pretended to read it, hoping that the man would stop looking at her. She didn’t like being stared at and it was making her self-conscious.
&
nbsp; After a few minutes, the waitress came back with a tall milkshake and set it on the counter in front of her. “Here you go, enjoy.”
Tara thanked her before picking up the long spoon set on the counter. She scooped up the cherry sitting on a bed of whipped cream and popped it into her mouth. Although the fruit obviously came from a can, Tara couldn’t help but close her eyes as she chewed on it, her taste buds enjoying the tart, sweetened juices of the cherry. The plastic straw that came with the shake looked like it was reused, but she didn’t care at this point as she started to slurp the thick contents down her parched throat. It wasn’t the best milkshake that she had ever tasted, but it had been a long time since she had a treat like this and she sipped at it slowly, enjoying every bit of the creamy, sweet goodness that, for a brief moment, took away her worries and problems. Even though the ice cream tasted like it came from a powdered mix and the whipped cream smelled funny, she still enjoyed the heck out of it. The next few minutes were a complete ecstasy for her as she slurped it all down to the bottom of the parfait glass.
When she had finished, the smiling waitress came back. “That was good, huh? Can I get you anything else? A cheeseburger maybe?”
Tara was tempted, but her concern for her brother was at the forefront again. “I’m good, thanks. How much for the milkshake?”
“That’ll be ten dollars. I know it’s expensive, but that’s pretty much the way things are right now.”
Tara suppressed her surprise as she started rummaging through her pockets. It was a good thing she didn’t order anything else, or she might have trouble paying this bill. She took out two crumpled five dollar bills and placed them on the counter. “Okay, here you go.”
The waitress frowned as she held up the old bills. “These are Fed dollar bills, you don’t have any of the newly issued Kansas dollar bills?”
Tara’s heart sank. A few days ago, both she and Patrick Gyle rummaged through several abandoned houses to find some expense money. She had thought they hit the jackpot when Gyle tore open a wall safe in an abandoned office that still contained some wads of cash. Now it looked like it was all but useless. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m kinda new here.”
The waitress was becoming suspicious. “Didn’t you go through the processing center? When you register as a citizen of Christian Kansas, they give you an identity card and exchange all the old dollar bills into the new currency. Can I see your ID?”
“I don’t have one yet, sorry.”
The waitress narrowed her eyes. “Where are your parents?”
Tara shifted uneasily in her stool. She was never a good liar. Her friends and father always figured it out when she did. “They’re uh, over at the processing center right now. They just gave me ah, some money and told me to go get something to eat. Then they told me to come back to them right after. I’m sorry, I didn’t know about the new dollar bills.”
The burly cook came out from the kitchen and stood beside the waitress. He had a white collared t-shirt and a long cooking apron that covered his torso. “Something wrong, Laurie?”
“Nah,” the waitress said. “This girl just came in to pay with the old dollar bills. The deadline to turn in these bills was supposed to be last week, but I figure Bob over at the bank ought to still accept this.”
The cook stared deeply into Tara’s eyes. “You new here, honey?”
Tara blinked. Her palms started to get sweaty. “I-I, yes. My parents are over at the processing center and they’re waiting for me. Is it okay to pay you with those bills?”
The waitress smiled again and nodded. “It’s okay, hon. I think we can accept this. Which processing center is your parents at?”
Tara’s throat was pretty tight. She didn’t know the answer to that one. “Um, the big one. I forgot what it was called.”
The cook’s eyebrows began to furrow. “There’s two of them. The Century Convention Hall and the Intrust Arena. Which one is your parents at?”
Tara nodded. Thank goodness they gave her a choice so she could make a guess. “Ah, the first one, the Century Hall. I need to head over there right now.”
“Okay, hon,” the waitress said. “You can head over to the bus stop at the end of this street and take the number eleven bus. That should get you over there in a few minutes.”
Tara grinned as she got out of the stool and headed for the doors. “Thanks, I hope to see you again.”
“You too hon, bye,” the waitress said to her just as she went through the doors.
Tara walked briskly as she moved towards the opposite direction from where they told her to go. That didn’t go well. Gyle told her to keep a low profile and she just screwed up. She didn’t look back even though she knew they were staring at her from the glass walls of the diner. What she could do was maybe get some distance before boarding another bus so that she could get lost in another part of the city. Just as she rounded an intersection, Tara heard a siren to her right. She stopped in mid stride and slowly turned.
It was a police car sitting idly by the road. Two uniformed men were sitting in the front and stared at her through the windshield. The police officer on the driver’s side gestured at her to come closer. Tara swallowed back the rising bile on her throat and moved towards him.
“Hi there,” the officer closest to her said. “Can I see your ID?”
Tara shrugged. “I’m sorry, officer. I don’t have one. My parents are still being processed at the Century place.”
The officer nodded and looked at her with dead serious eyes. “Uh huh, no one is allowed to wander these streets without proper, state-issued identification. I need you to come with us. We’ll take you over to the processing center.”
Tara looked away for bit before looking back at them again. “Look, I can go there by myself. I’m sure there are others you can help.”
The other officer got out of the front seat. “I’m afraid that wasn’t a request, girl.”
Tara sighed. This was going to take longer than she thought.
The drive to the processing center near the banks of the Little Arkansas River took only a few minutes. The two policemen escorted Tara until she was past the entrance and handed her over to Immigration Security. A uniformed security guard then ushered her into the main processing hall. The Century II Performing Arts Center once held concerts for theatres and orchestras, but ever since the State of Kansas had declared its independence, its exhibition and expo halls were laid out with cots for the growing number of people who needed to be sorted through. A number of folding tables were set up in the center of the convention hall and were manned by immigration officers to process the tens of thousands of refugees from the other states. It was in these centers that they would be weeded out and only the most religious of Christians that were loyal to the ROG church would be eligible for citizenship.
Tara was sitting down on a metal folding chair. The security guard that met her in the building lobby was hovering by her side. Sitting across from her and writing on a clipboard was a processing officer.
The processing clerk was a rotund woman who wore thick glasses and was dressed in office attire. A black wooden cross hung on her neck. She kept her eyes on the form that she was filling with a blue pen. A laptop with a long, snake-like cable was on the table beside her. “Can I have your name and age, please?”
Tara sighed and crossed her arms. Might as well get this over with. “Tara Weiss. Fifteen.”
“The names of your parents?”
“Brian and Claire Weiss.”
The clerk just kept on writing, it was as if she was talking to a computer. She didn’t even bother to make eye contact. “What city and state are y’all from?”
“Phoenix Arizona,” Tara said softly.
“What is your parent’s religious affiliation?”
Tara frowned. She was getting antsy. “Look, I’m here to look for my brother. His name is Timothy Weiss. He was in care of Matthew and Melissa Olsen. Can you check on them? The last information I had was that they were on the
ir way here.”
“I still need your parent’s religion.”
Tara rolled her eyes. Might as well lie about it so she could get this done faster. “They’re Christian, okay? Now could you please check on Timothy Weiss? We got separated. I need to know if he’s here somewhere.”
The processing officer adjusted her glasses for a bit before writing down what she said. “I need to know the church that you and your parents belonged to. What kind of denomination is your Christianity too.”
Tara shook her head. She noticed that the security guard had already walked away. That made things easier. “Look, I don’t know what church we belong to. But we’re Christians. Isn’t that enough?”
“So your family doesn’t go to church? How do you know you’re a Christian then?”
“I just know,” Tara said. “We would study the Bible every evening.”
“Where are your parents now?”
Tara shrugged. “I don’t know. We got separated just as we got here. Can I check your registry? Maybe they already signed up or something.”
The lady sighed as she turned slightly to her right and started typing on the laptop’s keyboard. Then she started clicking on the computer mouse before looking up at Tara. “I can’t find your parent’s names on our database anywhere.”
“What about my brother? Timothy Weiss.”
The processing officer shook her head as she kept staring at the laptop. “Nothing on that name either.”
Tara thought about it for a few seconds. “Maybe they changed his surname to Olsen. How about Timothy Olsen?”
The woman typed on the laptop again. “There’s a Tom Olsen, but he’s a senior citizen. That’s about it. I’m sorry.”
Tara sighed. “Are you sure about this? Is your list complete?”
The lady crossed her arms and stared at her. “Look, I have a link to our national database on all the citizens we have at present. It looks like none of them are here. Since you’re a minor and a Christian, then we can still process you. I can see if I can match you up with a family that’s willing to take you in, but that might take a few days. It will take a few more weeks once we get approval, but I’m pretty sure I can make you into a citizen. In the meantime I’ll assign you to a cot here. There are bathrooms just outside the auditorium and there is some food near the lobby area. It looks like you could use some rest.”
A World Darkly (Wrath of the Old Gods Book 3) Page 15