"I'm not against religion," Jamie said, raising her voice over the hubbub. "Though the aliens obviously exploited our religious beliefs. I'm against a nonhuman power deceiving us on a massive scale."
"Why would they do that?" someone cried out. "What do they have to gain?"
"We don't know," Jamie answered. "Maybe we're reality television for them. Maybe they have some noble reason like saving us from a disaster. But it still should be our choice after being honestly told all the facts. That's not what happened now, despite all the Last Days' emphasis on freely choosing heaven. Maybe some of you would choose to live life here even knowing it's an illusion, but don't you have the right to know the truth and then make an informed decision?"
Debates large and small rumbled through the crowd. Jamie decided she'd said enough. Hammering them over the head with more arguments might turn them against her.
As if sensing her thoughts, Tom Lambert moved in beside her.
"Anything more you want to say, Commander Shepherd, before we open the floor to questions?"
"No," said Jamie. "I think – I hope – I made my point."
"Okay." The Mayor turned from her to face the crowd, raising his voice. "Commander Shepherd is ready to reply to questions. I'll call on you one at a time. Please, no more shouting out of turn. Let's try to keep this orderly."
Lambert pointed out a young man, the one who'd shown off his pregnant mate.
"If this is a virtual reality," he said, "where are our bodies?"
Jamie hadn't seen that coming. "We don't know. They could be aboard their ship. It was big enough to hold a lot of people."
Mayor Lambert pointed to a woman who looked like Marilyn Monroe, who asked: "What do you expect us to do, even if we believed you?"
"Wake up?" Jamie's smile wasn't mirrored by anyone she saw. "Seriously, we're working on that. One idea is that extreme stress might do it. Or maybe just enough people believing it's an illusion? I think that's the first step – just knowing this isn't real."
Tom Lambert continued to call on people for the next half-hour. Sometimes someone snuck in multiple questions. Sometimes they just offered counterarguments. One guy said he didn't care if it was virtual reality – it still beat the heck out of the real world. Someone asked why Jamie thought she had any chance of defeating such an advanced race, and she reminded him about the Object pointing to their superpowers as antidotes to that. An elderly-looking woman, one of the very few who hadn't assumed a youthful façade, asked if Jamie believed in Biblical prophecies. When Jamie replied she was an agnostic, the woman curled her lips and said, "Of course you are," as if that refuted all her points.
They broke off the questioning for a much-needed food break – and there was plenty of food to break for: beef and bison steak, pork ribs, sweet corn, yams, potatoes, green beans, berry and other fruit pies, brownies. It definitely qualified, Jamie conceded, as a heavenly smorgasbord. Turned out that here, as on Earth, human beings had rightful dominion over all the creatures, which unlike people were not immune to death. Hunting was encouraged, and the game was plentiful, they were told. Also, fields filled with crops and sacks full of seeds had been waiting for the first arrivals. The makers of the place, Jamie decided, might favor industry and self-initiation but had no objection giving the new residents a leg up.
The debate continued on the courthouse's large lawn. Jamie and her people – plus Rick Lambert - settled at one picnic table, but dozens of people stopped by while they ate with more comments and questions and more than a few critical remarks. Jake had some choice replies, telling one pregnant couple that "your alien overlords will be pleased to see you're breeding" and a belligerent young man who was obviously a septuagenarian in disguise to "stop whining about how 'blessed you are' and face the fact this is all made-up bullshit for weak minds."
Jake wasn't winning a lot of converts, but Jamie was tired of all the arguments and just wanted to eat. She watched Rick's father circulating through the crowd, further discussing the issue.
"What's your dad's take on all this?" Jamie asked Rick.
"I'm not sure," he said. "He's a lot more religious than I am. But then we lost Mom nearly ten years ago, and he's not all that happy that there's no indication they'll ever be reunited here. That's bothered a lot of people here – relatives and friends they've lost with no prospect of ever seeing them again. Brian Loving says something about their being a 'final reunion', but that seems kind of vague."
"I probably should've harped more on that. Also read Loving's material more closely."
"We've been kind of busy to read that quack's bullshit," said Jake.
"Until yesterday we never even considered the possibility of coming here," Tildie pointed out. "We didn't even know 'here' might exist until Las Vegas."
"What happens next?" Jamie asked Rick.
"The Council will take a vote on whether your group will be allowed to live within city limits or do business with any resident of Eden."
"They have the authority to decide that?" Jay asked.
Rick shrugged glumly. "It's what the people here agreed to in the town charter. The idea is to 'keep the riffraff out.' That happened when they realized there actually is some riffraff coming in here."
"I don't believe this place," said Jake. "Don't they see how absurd that is?"
"It introduces a rather interesting paradox," Steven stated.
"Paradox, my ass," Thomas Mayes grunted. "Just the usual bunch of privileged peckerheads votin' to keep things lily-white. You all noticed there ain't no brothers or sisters here, didn't ya?"
Jamie looked to Rick. "How do you think that vote will go?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say they'll pass a no-contact resolution."
"Doesn't matter," Horner growled. "We're outta here anyhow. We gotta find Ice Queen."
"That's right," said Jake. "Screw these people."
Rick glowered at him. "They happen to be my people, jarhead."
"Well, you're fucking welcome to 'em, grunt."
By the time they'd finished eating, Rick's dad had retired inside the courthouse with his eleven-person council. One food table was serving beer from a keg, and Jake and Greg availed themselves of it liberally, as did Belinda. Even Jamie and Tildie tried a glass. It had a strong fruity, fermented taste that made Jamie work to avoid an impolite grimace, and was so dark it resembled oil. But under the circumstances it brought a welcome buzz.
Tom Lambert and his council didn't emerge from the courthouse until the sun was drifting low over the western horizon. The vote, they learned from Rick's somber-faced father, was 10 – 1 – the Mayor abstaining - in favor of banning the DARE agents not only from the city but also from "Eden County," which included the countryside a few miles in every direction. The residents of Eden would be forbidden any form of social or economic contact with Jamie and her team, beginning at eight A.M. tomorrow morning. They were welcome to stay with Rick or elsewhere in the area until then. Tom Lambert did not specify the consequences of defying this ruling. The three people who'd been banished previously had simply left.
"Here's to the holy rollers of Eden," said Jake, raising his glass of beer. "They serve good grub anyway."
"Hear, hear," Belinda muttered.
"I'm sorry," said Rick. "But not too surprised. Though I was expecting a closer vote. You put on a pretty convincing speech up there, Jamie."
"Not convincing enough."
"It convinced me." Rick smiled. "Though I was already mostly in your camp. When you think about it, this place really doesn't make sense. I have a feeling as time passes your words will eat away at people's faith."
Brian Loving swung by, all smiles, his beard and long brown hair almost fully restored. He affected a sympathetic expression – or maybe did feel sympathetic, Jamie thought – as he wished them good luck in finding Denise Rogers and in their "fruitless quest."
"Sometimes, people just aren't ready for their lives to be good," he said. "Aren't ready to accept the Lord's bounty. I think th
at's why this place is a long ways from the paradise people imagined it would be – as I imagined it would be - even though the Father's servant made it clear to me that we weren't ready for true paradise."
"Loving, you're so full of crap," said Jake. "You should think about opening a fertilizer business with all the gardens and farmland around here."
Brian laughed and patted the former Marine on the shoulder. The withering look he received made him withdraw his hand and take a hasty step back.
"You'll see, brother," he said. "You'll see. You all will. In the fullness of time and by the grace of God."
"I thought you were starting to question all this yourself," said Jamie, feeling an unexpected disappointment in the Last Days former leader.
"Jamie, when someone gives you the world, you don't question Him."
Brian Loving departed with a final, cheery wave - no doubt eager to embark on his new glorious life, Jamie thought sourly. She'd given everything she had to convince these people of the obvious truth, and might as well not have spoken at all. Though maybe Rick was right that her words would eat at them. At least they hadn't failed with him, and maybe not with a few others here.
"You're welcome to spend the night at my place," said Rick. "I'm going to see if I can scrounge up some food for you to take tomorrow."
"You could come with us," said Tildie.
"I thought about it." Rick glanced at Jamie, a half-frown forming. "But I don't think I'd be any help. I don't know anything outside Eden. I've heard rumors and that's about it."
"What rumors?" Jake asked.
"A city to the north that models itself after the Middle Ages – no modern technology allowed – colonies of Indians...sorry, Native Americans...a kind of Disneyland place to the north where people devote themselves to recreation..." He shrugged. "But I've put down roots here. They might be a bit close-minded, but they're good people. I may be a pariah for a while because of hanging out with you and believing you're probably right, but if I walk away from this place they might very banish me, too, and I don't want that, not with my dad being here."
"I understand," said Jamie. Relief mixed with her disappointment. She didn't want to be responsible for getting him banished but still, they were a small, unarmed band in a foreign and possibly hostile land. Another strongly built former military guy wouldn't be the worst thing to have along. Even if it was all just an illusion...
A FURTHER reminder that this was not a conventional heaven were offered by a thunderstorm in a middle of the night. Jamie woke up wondering if they were under an artillery attack with cannons booming all around them. But it was only an electrical storm – the king daddy of all electrical storms – as if the heavens themselves were being torn asunder in righteous rage over the sacrilegious apostates lying in the grass below.
Rick emerged and hustled them into his cabin, where they huddled together like corkwood on the pine floor and awoke with crying joints and groans of pain just as they had the morning before. Two nights, Jamie thought, that definitely not been made in, well, heaven.
"Good thing these are just virtual sore joints," grumbled Jake, rubbing his back as he rose.
"And that we won't catch pneumonia and die," added Tildie. "Or maybe that would be a mercy?"
Rick served them all breakfast from a bucket of oatmeal he'd cooked on his grill. Not the most flavorful, but it warmed them up. He also handed out a few canteens filled with spring water. The skies had cleared a little, but lightning and thunder still played phone tag between dark clouds, and the sun was an anemic presence in the sky.
Rick shook hands with them all, wishing them good luck and a safe journey to wherever they ended up. He paused at Jamie, regret in his taut smile, and she brushed aside his handshake, surprising herself as much as him as she pulled him in for a hug. She was sure Zachary would understand.
They set out with a sense of adventure and anticipation northward, where Rick had heard "Disneyland" was – surely a good bet for Denise. Yet slogging through wet meadows and dripping trees and cringing at the occasional lightning strike, their wonder at being in a new world surrounded by gorgeous vistas grew old with startling swiftness. First, no sense of wonder or beautiful scenery could erase the reality that walking for mile after mile was hard work. Second, they had little clue where they were going. "North" was a broad concept; there was no guarantee they'd run into the alleged recreation city. Third, even if they found Denise and the city, that didn't solve their return-to-Earth issue. But as Jamie's dad had often counseled after her family's death, you just had to place one foot in front of the other. And then repeat.
The clouds slipped away and the sun turned up the heat, transforming the cloudy, cool day into a humid sweat lodge. Jamie thought that surely body odor was taking virtual reality a step too far.
They stopped at a lake, went for a swim, refilled their four canteens, and hung their outer garments out to dry.
"Is it like perpetual summer here or what?" asked Jeremy.
"I don't think anyone's been here long enough to know," said Jamie.
About then a bear the size of an SUV lumbered up along the beach, sniffing the air and regarding them with a distinctly disapproving mien.
"Holy fuck," said Jake, rising slowly from sunning on the sandy beach. "That's a grizzly."
The group shuffled to their feet by slow degrees. The bear made a displeased huffing sound.
"I can't remember," Tildie whispered. "Are we supposed to walk casually away or stand tall?"
"Or play dead?" Jay suggested.
"What a bunch of wusses," Hulk Horner grunted. "There's twelve of us and one of him. My daddy and me used to hunt these critters with bows. They're almost all cowards. We bunch together and stand strong and he'll run off with his tail between his legs."
They gathered around Horner in a jittery group hug. The grizzly cocked its head at them, showing no sign of being impressed.
"Get lost!" Horner shouted at it. The bear responded with a deep, chest-vibrating growl. "That's it."
Horner reached for a large rock. Jamie started to talk him out of it, but he was already winding up like a baseball pitcher and letting it fly. The rock hit the creature flush on its snout.
With a roar, the grizzly bear charged.
As Jamie and the others broke off their group hug and ran for their lives, she had to hand it to Horner: he stood his ground, tall and confident, right up to when the bear hit him like the cliché express freight train and he went down in a puffy cloud of sand and dust.
Jamie and the others skidded to a stop. For a petrified moment, no one knew what to do. Then Horner's screams – mostly insults aimed at the bear's mother – jolted them into action. Jamie moved first, snatching up a branch and charging in, thrusting it at the bear. The grizzly whirled on her with mind-blowing quickness for its size and a swat that shredded the branch and nearly dislocated her right shoulder. Jake launched a soccer ball-sized stone for the bear's head which landed on Horner's chest instead.
"Son of a bitch!" Horner wheezed.
The bear swiped him across the face, claws ripping away flesh, and Horner went silent. The others pelted it with rocks and Tildie poked it with a long, sharp stick. The grizzly spun on her, and Tildie stumbled backwards, landing on her back. The bear lunged for her, but met a three-pronged branch wielded by Jeremy. The others closed in with more branches – the limb in Jake's hand thick enough to qualify as a spear.
At last, the beast had enough. With a furious shake of its head and a rasping roar it backed away from Tildie, who was playing dead, and lumbered back into the lush forest from which it had emerged.
Hulk Horner lay in what appeared to be a wreath of blood, arms and legs splayed out, his face a gory Halloween mask. Surprisingly – at least to Jamie - he was conscious. Even more surprising, he was grinning – a truly macabre grin, since much of his upper lip was missing.
"See..." He spoke with a sibilant lisp, as if parodying some flaming gay guy, which he often did. "Told you...sta
nding strong would work."
Jake dropped down at his side. "Dude, you look like Leonardo DiCaprio in that movie..."
"The Revenant," said Tildie. "I took great pity on all those poor CG Native Americans."
"You okay?" Jake asked, reaching out for a torn arm but not touching it.
"What?" Horner sputtered out a laugh. "I don't look okay?"
"Better than usual," said Tildie.
They sat down in a circle around their wounded comrade. Luckily, no one else had been injured. Tildie had a few scrapes and bruises from falling on some rocks. Jamie's right shoulder throbbed. Not much of a penalty for going head to head with a grizzly. Except for Horner. No one seemed to know what to do.
"Can I get you something, buddy?" Jake asked.
"Cold beer?"
"I wish."
"Let's get him out of the sun, somewhere more comfortable," said Jamie.
They carried him to the nearest shade and lowered him on a patch of soft grass. Jake and Belinda took turns dribbling water from a canteen into his mouth.
"If I...don't make it..." Horner choked out some water. "I want you to promise me something."
"You'll be fine. Ain't you heard? You can't die here."
"But if something goes wrong..."
"Just say the word, buddy." Jake leaned closer to him.
"I want all my earthly possessions, my bank account, back pay...to go to Wilma."
"Who the hell is Wilma?" He looked to Belinda, who smirked.
"It's his pet parakeet," she said. "He showed me pictures of her."
Horner was grinning at him, a chuckle burbling up through his lips. Jake gave him a furious scowl, shaking his head.
"Parakeet? I'll promise you something, you crazy son of a bitch. You'd better live, because if you don't I'll make that bird my bitch."
Horner hacked out a gurgling laugh, and a smile broke through Jake's furious mask. Some of the others, including Jamie, smiled with him uncertainly. It seemed unlikely, she thought, but who could be sure a freak like Horner wouldn't leave everything to his dog? Only Thomas Mayes let out an appreciative belly laugh.
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