by Jaspre Bark
She steered Bertha round the obstacles as best she could. After a little while the bridge Greaves mentioned came into view and it was even smaller than the pass, a tiny rocky outcrop that connected the pass with the plateau beyond. Bertha would only just fit across it. There wouldn't be any margin for error.
As they came to the end of the pass another tremor hit. Linda hung on to the steering wheel to keep from falling out of her seat. The rumbling stopped. It was followed by a rattling cascade. Greaves looked out of the passenger window. "Rock slide," he said. "On the other side. Drive, quickly!"
Linda kicked it up a gear and sped along the little bridge. It was like driving through an oven. Either side of them was a huge drop into a river of molten lava. The rock slide chased them along the bridge. They could hear it rattling along behind them at first, then it caught up and Bertha began to lose traction on her back tires, slowing as the rock slide engulfed her. Her underside clattered and clanged with the debris that rattled around her. They reached the front wheels and Linda lost control.
They were carried along by the movement of the rocks for a few feet as Linda fought to regain control. Bertha veered dangerously to the right. Linda twisted the wheel as far to the left as she could, but she didn't have any grip.
Bertha's front wheels left the edge of the bridge and spun madly in mid air. The front end tilted forwards and the molten lava below swung into view. Linda's stomach turned over with sheer fright. The heat was so intense she let go of the steering wheel.
The rockslide kept on coming, it spilled over the edge of the bridge and dissolved as it hit the lava below. Linda had never seen something as solid as rock actually dissolve before. Anna started praying at the top of her voice as Bertha teetered. One more surge from the rocks and she would be gone and all of them with her.
Cortez grabbed Greaves and Anna and ran towards the back of Bertha. The vehicle rocked backwards and straightened up. Linda slammed the gear stick into reverse and hit the accelerator. The back wheels caught a tiny bit of traction and moved Bertha back a few inches. Not enough to put her front wheels back on the bridge however.
"Quick," said Linda. "You've got to get out."
Greaves tried the door but couldn't open it. "It's jammed shut. Must have been the rock that hit us."
Cortez put his shoulder to it and pushed but the door didn't move.
"Pop the back window," said Linda. "You can crawl out of that."
Another wave of rocks inched them further over the edge. Linda revved as hard as she could to stop them falling.
"Hurry," she said. "I can only buy you a few seconds, even with my foot to the floor."
"But that means you'll…" Anna couldn't finish the sentence.
"Go," said Linda as Greaves and Cortez pushed the back window out.
"I can't leave you," said Anna. "Not like this. You've got to come."
Rocks were surging all around them pushing the vehicle further and further forward.
"We'll all die if I come. Besides, a captain always goes down with her… erm, ship."
"You can't!" said Anna, trying to wriggle free of Greaves and Cortez as they pulled her back towards the window.
"You ever think that maybe this is God's purpose for me? Don't fuck with the master plan. Go build your new Eden and build me a big statue. Git."
Greaves and Cortez manhandled Anna out of the window. Bertha lost traction on her back wheels and started to rock again as Greaves and Cortez jumped clear.
Linda took her foot off the peddle and turned to look back. For a split second she thought about running for it, but she realised she'd never make it. Time seemed to slow down as her heartbeat sped up. Everything moved in slow motion.
So much for no-one to hold me back or rely on me, she thought. What was that Cortez had quoted from the Qur'an? 'Did you then think that we had created you in jest?'
"No," Linda muttered to herself. "But you sure have a sick sense of humour you old bastard."
Bertha began to topple. Linda patted her dashboard. "Okay sweetheart. It's just you, me and the open highway to Hell."
I hope it's quick, was the last thing she was aware of thinking as Bertha went over the egde. The windscreen turned to gas. Linda's skin and lungs turned to cinders as the lava claimed Bertha and practically everything the four of them still owned.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"But you don't have to burn in the fiery lakes of hell," said the Prophet. He was looking straight at the camera. It felt as though he was addressing you directly. Picking you out from the thousands of viewers across the country and looking right into your soul.
The image started to flicker. Colt rapped the top right hand corner of the ancient portable set in his office and the image fixed itself.
"Just like a woman see," he said over his shoulder to Tom and Carl.
They were sitting on the other side of his desk, looking kind of anxious. Colt had his back to them and his feet up as he watched the show.
"You gotta know how to treat it right. How to tell it what to do. Then it comes around."
"Do we have to sit through all of this?" said Tom. "I thought we came here to talk."
"You'll sit for as long as I want and watch whatever I tell you. You're on my turf now."
"The Lord said unto his disciples that he would make them fishers of men," the Prophet continued. "Well brothers and sisters, I don't pretend for a minute that I'm anywhere near as important or blessed as those first followers of Jesus. In fact, considering these are surely the last days, then it's fair to say that I'm probably among the last. But I content myself with the Lord's own words from the sermon on the mount. 'The first shall come last, and the last shall come first'. So like those twelve disciples did after the Lord God visited tongues of fire on them, I'm casting my net wide. I'm hoping to catch your soul and the souls of everyone you know.
"I'm hoping to do this because I've felt the blessed love of Jesus pluck me out of the rivers of sin and deliver me unto His Father's table. Where He was seated at the right hand. I'm hoping to net your souls for God because I have felt the blessed joy and fulfilment of His sacred love swell every ounce of my being. Swell me until there was too much to contain in just one man. Swell me until I had love to give away. Love to share. Share with everyone irrespective of creed, colour or kin.
"Because the sacred love of Jesus isn't something you can just keep all to yourself. Oh no, like the Lord told the rich man in the parable: 'You cannot store up riches for yourself in heaven.' Well I'm telling you brothers and sisters, you cannot store up God's love for yourself. You cannot salt it away for a rainy day or a comfortable retirement. You cannot hide it anywhere. You just got to keep on giving it away to everyone you meet.
"And you know what?" said the Prophet lowering his voice, coming on all intimate with his viewers. "Let me tell you the most miraculous thing about God's love. The more of it you give away – the more of it you get. That's right brothers and sisters, the more of it you get. It's like the whole flipside of the rotten economy that God tore down when he sent His plague. And that's why, when the world as we know it ends, and money disappears – we still got, and always will have, an abundance of God's love!"
The studio audience went wild at this. Clapping and stomping, cheering and whooping while the choir rattled their tambourines and crooned in harmony.
The first three shows he did, it was just the Prophet all by himself with the cameras. Then he started bothering Colt to bus in his followers to watch and to let him put together a choir.
Colt had resisted at first, he hadn't seen the point of it. But the Prophet had won him over and Colt was a big enough man to say he was glad that the Prophet had. Everybody who heard about the show was clamouring to get reception. They now broadcast as far east as Ohio and as far south as Alabama.
In every State where the show was broadcast, folk were reinstating the old chapters. They were desperate to come back to the fold. To start hanging the banners of the Apostolic Church of the R
ediscovered Dawn over what was left of their towns and cities. And here were Tom and Carl, crawling back on their hands and knees, desperate to strike any kind of deal to hang on to their territories. Let 'em wait a little longer, thought Colt. He wanted to make sure the Prophet preached what he'd been told.
"Now brothers and sisters," said the Prophet. "This is a very special show. Since I last spoke to you, God has spoken to me. That's right I have had a vision direct from the Lord himself. Now I hope those of you who've been watching us from the start won't mind if I let those who may be joining us for the first time know a little about my past.
"When the Cull happened I was in a coma. I wasn't expected to ever wake up again. My brain was supposed to have been irreparably damaged. A day before they were due to switch off my life support machine, the plague took the entire hospital. It was then that God reached down and lifted my soul up to heaven. He revealed to me the shining splendour of His sacred city. He showed me the sacred purpose He had for each and every soul left on the planet and He sent me back with a mission. I was to spread His holy word to every man, woman and child left alive.
"I woke up in a hospital full of corpses. I was the only living person in the whole building. I left that place and I began to preach the word, just as God had commanded. To be honest with you, I hadn't had much truck with religion before I fell into a coma. But as soon as I woke the words just came to me. And they've been coming ever since. So have the visions of the future.
"The past few months have been dark months for God's children. We've found ourselves under attack by a savage and heathen foe and it's taken every bit of patience and understanding we have to reach out to these people with love and forgiveness in our hearts. I have to admit I knew despair many times. I called out to the Lord to send me a vision. When none came I am ashamed to say I was angry at my Lord and I railed against Him. In my foolishness I forgot that He does things in His own time because He alone knows the right time for things to take place.
"Two days ago I was struck by the most vivid vision the Almighty has ever sent. I saw a sacred crusade. An army of God's chosen people marching towards Montana, to the site of another great massacre by the same foe who attacks us today. On the site where the Little Bighorn river used to flow, the army of God's followers will meet with an army of the godless UTN.
"I saw all this come to pass, and I saw an angel appear in the sky above the two armies. This angel had once been a woman, a good Christian woman whom the Lord had elevated above all other beings. I saw this angel turn herself into a bright and shining star, like the star that guided the Magi to Christ when He was laid in a manger. Then I saw God's people delivered from the hands of their attackers without a single drop of blood being spilled. What's more I saw a new Moses rise up to deliver them unto a new kingdom, just as the Israelites were delivered from the hands of the Pharaoh."
As the Prophet had been speaking, the choir had been singing a single quiet note in the background. Now that note rose to a crescendo as they opened their throats and sang loud. The Prophet raised his voice too. "All this will come to pass brothers and sisters," he intoned. "I promise you, as your friend and your brother in Jesus Christ I swear I speak only the truth. Don't forget to come back and join us again next week for The Tomorrow Show. Where we're working towards a brighter tomorrow with an eternal future in Christ."
The choir burst into one of their rousing hymns at this point and Colt clicked the set off. He'd never been one to enjoy hymns or even music too much for that matter. Well the Prophet had said what Colt had told him to say, he had to give him that. But once again, even though it was a call to arms, he'd found a way to dress it up with peace and love and Christian forgiveness. He had a way of twisting the most simple messages like that. Even still, Colt had to admit it sold. And what it was selling was an increase in Colt's power base, even if he didn't see eye to eye with the Prophet's beliefs.
Colt's God had always been the vain and jealous God who says 'vengeance is mine'. It was the God he'd been brought up to believe in and you didn't have to look too far in the Bible to see Him at work. But the Prophet had a way of taking His works, whatever they were, and putting a 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone' kind of spin on them. No matter, the Prophet could be called into line if he ever went overboard on this whole forgiveness and understanding line of his. He certainly delivered the support Colt needed. Wyoming was now Colt's for the taking.
Colt turned to the men in front of him. "Well gentlemen. What did you think? He's some preacher ain't he?"
"If you like that sort of thing," said Carl. "I prefer a bit of fire and brimstone myself, and I'm surprised to see you've gone all 'Jesus loves you' to be honest Colt."
"That's Mr Colt to you Carl. And I ain't going all 'turn the other cheek' on you, don't you worry about that. What the Prophet's peddling, that's what people want to hear these days. He's the new face of the Neo-Clergy. They want to hear about healing rifts and uniting behind a common cause against a common enemy. Good news in dark times. He's brought the people back to our fold and he's brought you back to me on your knees."
"I ain't on my knees," said Tom "I don't kneel for any man."
"I don't want you to kneel," said Colt. "I want you grovelling on your belly with your face in the shit."
"Look," said Carl, sensing a row about to flare up between Tom and Colt. "You got us in a corner Mr Colt. I admit that. But I'm a man who can do business and I believe you are too. I know the price is a little higher than when you first came to see us, but I don't want to lose what I've built up, so I'm prepared to pay it. So is Tom here. We just need to keep from getting riled so we can start talking turkey. What kind of terms are we looking at?"
Colt smiled a big fat smile. "Well now," he said, "I reckon it's time to get down to business. The price is quite simple gentlemen. I want Benny Cooper's shit-eating head on a plate. Literally on a plate. You can carve up his territories however you want. But I want that two bit fucker dead and I want you to bring me his head. I'll make certain you can start collecting your tributes again but I want half. Plus I want half of all the men under your command."
"Right," said Tom, barely concealing his sneer. "That'll be for this holy war you're pushing. That's the real message behind the nigger's sermon. Not this peace and love you reckon everyone wants at the moment."
"Now you watch your mouth boy," said Colt. "Don't nobody use that kind of language when they're talking about my men. Way I see it, most of the world's dead and it's a bit late in the day to be digging up old racial divisions."
"Is that right? So how come you're about to go to war with the redskins? Answer me that, huh? If your war ain't about the old racial divisions then what is it about?"
"This war ain't about race," said Colt banging his desk. "It's about faith. Those redskins got all kinds of races working with 'em now, white, black, brown even Chinese. I'm at war with these heathens because they hate everything we stand for, they spit on our beliefs, they murder our women and children and they want to steal what our great, great grandfathers fought and died to leave us over two centuries ago. I don't give a shit what your colour is, you attack me and mine and you're gonna pay for it."
"Okay Mr Colt," said Carl holding up his hands to quiet everyone down. "Now ol' Tom here, he don't mean nothing by what he's saying. He's just a bit sore cos you got us by the balls is all. Now as I said, we came here to do business, but you gotta admit your terms are a bit steep. Is there room for negotiation?"
"What do you have in mind?"
"How about thirty per cent of our tributes and twenty-five per cent of our men?" said Carl. "Now I understand you're putting an army together but we got a revolt on our hands, a revolt you helped to start. We need all the men we got just to put it down."
"You play ball with me," said Colt, "and you won't need to put the revolt down. Don't play ball and I'll just wait till this revolt's over and come in and take everything anyway."
"Now there is some truth in w
hat you're saying," said Carl. "But if it was gonna be that easy for you I reckon you wouldn't have bothered talking to us. I'm sure you're a reasonable man. Of course you want the best deal you can get, but so do we. Way I see it, we're gonna be working quite closely together from now on, and a little bit of give and take never hurt nobody's relationship."
"Okay," said Colt. "Forty per cent of your tributes, but I still need half your men, there's no way around that. That's my final offer. Take it or get out. And don't even think about letting Cooper live."
"Well now Mr Colt," said Carl. "I reckon ol' Benny's had it coming for a long time. You can consider that side of our bargain taken care of."
"So we have a deal then?"
"I reckon we do at that." Carl leaned forward to shake the hand Colt offered him. Tom was staring down at the floor like a sulky teenager. Carl kicked him. Tom glowered at Carl and shook Colt's hand with reluctance.
"Congratulations boys," said Colt. "You just joined the winning team."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
This was an historic occasion. Cheveyo could not remember a time, since The Cull, that the councils of every tribe in the land had gathered for a sit down.
That they gathered in the Valley of the Chiefs on the reservation of the Apsaalooke, or the Crow tribe as they were termed by others, was also significant. Although it had suffered intense seismic disturbance following the nuking of Billings, this was still the largest Native American reservation in the country. What's more it was right in the heart of Montana, a mere twenty miles from the Neo-Clergy occupation of Lame Deer.
To meet here was not only a declaration of solidarity with their enslaved brothers and sisters, it was also a sign of just how powerful the UTN had become. They could march into a State that was seething with animosity towards them, where no Native American would be safe travelling alone, and they could set up camp mere miles away from a Neo-Clergy stronghold.