Two on the left, approaching.
Now one on the right. Coming fast. Ambush. Shit, they don't believe! Ray spun toward the two approaching from the left and raised his Smartround gun.
"Ray, it's me. Lower your gun, man."
Sal's voice.
Ray aimed his gun to his right to see Sal inching his way closer, carefully.
"You still with me?"
"Of course, Ray."
"Others are approaching!" Ray said quickly, quietly, spinning away from Sal.
"It's Steve and A in front of you. I'm gathering up the believers like you said. We're with you. Lower the gun, Ray."
Ray didn't lower his gun. He waited. Steve and Adriana appeared in front of Ray with their hands in the air—both close enough to have heard Ray and Sal's conversation.
"Okay, guys, put your hands down."
Adriana and Steve lowered their hands and slowly stepped closer to Ray. "What's the plan, Ray?" Adriana asked. Ray pointed his Smartround gun toward the tents, where the rest were sleeping. "You three follow me," Ray ordered.
They followed Ray over to the tent where Rydel and John were being watched by Jack and Carrie. Ray approached the entrance flap to the tent and gave the signal for the three behind him to surround the other tents. Ray made sure they were all in place before lifting the flap and entering the tent. The storage tent was smallish but had enough room to stand up straight. Once inside, Ray was greeted by Carrie and her gun.
Carrie lowered her sidearm at once. "Sorry, Ray. I just started nodding off a bit. You surprised the shit out of me."
Ray lifted his weapon and shot Carrie in the chest. Not propelled back by the blast, Carrie stood eerily still with her eyes wide, stunned that Ray had shot her. She looked down at a new blemish on her upper chest—a sedation Smartround. Carrie looked back up at Ray with fluttering eyes.
"The dose is being administered slowly so you can talk to her. But she's gonna fall. Catch her, Jack."
Off to the side of the tent, out of his sleeping bag, Jack hurried over and caught Carrie in his arms before she hit the ground. She stared up at Jack—terrified.
"You're okay, Carrie. You got shot with a sedation Smartround. So I know you can't move, but you can hear me for a little while longer here. You're fine."
Carrie's eyes slowly opened and closed—the drug inside her taking over. Jack dragged Carrie over and placed her beside John Adams, laid out on the floor of the tent. Turning toward Ray, Jack's eyes locked on Ray's Smartround gun—the gun aimed in his direction. Jack shook his head slightly like, You don't trust me?
"Ben said that you are with me, Jack. Kinda hard to believe, though. I thought you didn't believe in a god of any kind."
"I believe in you, Ray. The way you look out for us. The way you've always looked out for me. Maybe I am wrong about my beliefs. I know one thing, I trust you when my life is in your hands. I have for three years. If you say we are a go here—that this has to be done and we're here for a reason—how can I turn my back on you? I can't."
Ray gave Jack a handful of S-7 syringes.
"You remember everything Stevens said on how to use S-7, right?"
"I do," Jack said.
"Use S-7 on Carrie while she's still conscious, and have her forget everything here tonight. Implant in her mind that after finding Rydel, she returned to her tent and slept for the rest of the night. Be ready to do the same with the others who want to stop me. You got it?"
"I got it."
Ray waved at Rydel to follow him.
Out of the tent, the two walked for twenty minutes, reaching the mountain's precipice. Rydel stood by Ray's side while Ray scanned the land below with his binoculars.
"I told Lazarus to bring Him here."
"Lazarus may have a hard time doing that because of the Other, Ray. But it was a smart move by you, sending him after Jesus."
"The other?"
Rydel broke his gaze away from the moonlit land below and stared blankly at Ray.
"What, Ray?"
"You said the other, Rydel. What did you mean?"
"Sorry, that's not what I meant to say, I was thinking something else. A lot of thoughts going through my head with what has to be done here. I'm just tired. Lazarus will be fine. He will find Jesus and bring Him here."
Jesus and Lazarus
The hut where Jesus and His apostles slept had nothing more than four walls and a roof. They rested on rollout mats on the ground inside the empty hut scantily lit by moonlight and starlight piercing through dime-sized holes around the edge of the roof. The hut didn't seem to have a door until one opened near the far corner. The light of the moon found its way in as a flap at the bottom of the hut opened and a shadowed man slithered inside on his belly. The flap fell, and the hut went dark. The man stood and walked directly toward one of the thirteen men sleeping on the floor. The shadowed man knelt beside Jesus Christ and shook His shoulder.
"Jesus."
Christ touched the hand on His shoulder.
"Lazarus."
"Come with me, Jesus."
Lazarus helped Jesus off the ground and led Him to the flap of fabric so the two could exit the hut.
Alone, under an oak tree with a thick trunk and wind-swaying thin boughs, Jesus and Lazarus faced each other at arm's length. Lazarus pulled Jesus's hood over His head to hide His appearance and surveyed the barren land around them, making sure the two were still alone. Confident all was well, Lazarus placed both hands on Jesus's shoulders.
"There's a man with an ability like yours—he knows of things to come. He told me your life is in danger."
Jesus touched the hands of Lazarus resting on His shoulders. "I know this, Lazarus."
At a loss for words and on how to feel about Jesus's knowledge of the danger He was in, Lazarus's mouth slowly dropped open. He was then able to utter a response.
"You know?"
"Yes."
"Leave with me—now!"
"I cannot leave."
"Why?" Lazarus pleaded.
"I must face what is to come. If I were to turn my back on all of this and walk away, the Message would be lost."
Lazarus dropped his hands from Jesus's shoulders and pulled Him closer in a desperate embrace. Lazarus stepped back, placed a hand on Jesus's face, and began to weep.
"Listen to me! Listen to me! Please! You have to come with me, Jesus! You have to—"
Jesus reached out and touched Lazarus on the side of his face. Lazarus was about to speak once more but abruptly stopped, his mouth still slightly open. His unblinking, trance-like eyes now stared back at Jesus.
"Do not go back to this man. Go home. Forget all this."
Jesus eased His hand away from Lazarus's face.
"Go, my friend. Go now."
Lazarus turned from Jesus and walked away. Jesus pulled back the hood of His cloak, revealing His face to the night, a face outlined in a patchy beard and dark skin from being in the sun. Wide nose, hair parted down the middle and reaching His shoulders, and soul-baring brown eyes.
Jesus looked up, the star-studded sky filling His line of sight. He smiled and slowly closed His eyes.
The Other
Ray stood on a mountain peak in the darkness, scanning over the land below with his Smartround gun. He switched to his binoculars, bumping into Rydel standing right beside him. Ray lowered the binoculars and turned to Rydel.
"Shit. He's not showing up."
"What do we do?" Rydel asked.
"We can't wait any longer. He's tagged, but he's out of range. Forget him for now. Let's get back to the camp."
The two walked down from the high point and made their way back to the camp. Ahead of them, those who believed in Ray's new mission were located near and around the other burning fire pit, away from the tents. Adriana and Steve appeared as barely seen shadows at opposite sides of the fire, patrolling with their Smartround guns. Ben, Jack, and Sal sat cross-legged on the ground in front of the fire until they noticed Ray and Rydel approaching. The thr
ee rose and jogged over to meet them.
"He didn't show, Ray?" Sal quietly asked.
Ray shook his head and headed toward the fire with Rydel. Ben, Jack, and Sal followed. At the fire pit, Ray spoke into his headset for Adriana and Steve to join them. Out of the blackness, the two appeared, firelight falling over them. The popping, spark-swirling fire was all that could be heard while Rydel and the rest waited for Ray to speak.
"Lazarus is gone. Not sure if our message got to Jesus. I doubt it. So we are going to Him."
Ray looked over the faces of each member of his now-slimmed-down Unit and pointed toward the tents.
"Jack's going to use S-7 on the others so they will forget about our conversation before. After that, the rest of you will take them down lightly—set the rounds for thirty-six hours. I don't want them down longer than that."
They all waited for Ray to give the order to move as he paused for a few seconds.
"Go."
Jack silently moved toward the tents. The rest of the Unit believers raised and checked their Smartround guns and, as one, followed in Jack's footsteps.
After a minute, Ray pointed a finger at Rydel, wordlessly instructing him to stay by the fire. Rydel didn't move or say a word. Ray made his way toward the tents. He had taken all of six steps when Todd suddenly appeared and began walking across the camp opposite from where the tents were set up. Ray rushed toward Todd, who spun around, upon hearing Ray approach. Now at close range, Ray pointed his gun inches away from Todd's face.
"You're gonna kill me, Ray?" Todd asked—shock on his face and in his voice.
Ray all at once realized he was pointing his Beretta M9 at Todd's face, not his Smartround rifle. Taken aback by the fact he had just aimed his sidearm at one of his own, Ray lowered the gun to his side and clumsily searched for his Smartround rifle slung over his shoulder. Raising his rifle, Ray pointed it at the emptiness now before him. Todd had run off into the blackness encircling the camp.
Ray sprinted into the dark—coming to a stop after only ten seconds. He had no way of knowing which direction Todd had run off to and no way to track him through his Smartround gun; Todd was unarmed. Ray waited in the darkness for a few seconds, breaking down in his head what had just happened, and then ran back.
Ray entered the camp and stopped. The ones loyal to Ray waited outside the tents—the last order he gave minutes ago completed for the most part. Steve approached Ray, shaking his head.
"Ray, Todd isn't here."
"He got away. We can't track him. He wasn't armed, and his damn chip is not like Rydel's."
"What now?" Steve asked.
Ray waved a hand for everyone to follow him.
At the fire pit, Ray placed a couple of logs into the flames while the Unit stood and waited for orders. Finished with the fire, Ray paced back and forth a couple of times with his arms folded over his chest, coming to a stop next to Rydel.
"Tell them, Rydel."
Rydel looked over the faces in front of him glowing in firelight.
"I have the man Clopas tagged. He'll know where Jesus will be tomorrow afternoon. It would have been easier if Lazarus could've led Jesus here so we could protect Him, but it did not work out that way. So…we now have to go find Him. I'm sure all of you might be questioning what we are doing here. But by helping me, and now Ray, you'll be saving the lives of over seven billion people in our time."
Finished with what he had to say, Rydel lowered his head and stared at the fire before him. Ray took a knee by the fire pit, looking up at the four men and the one woman remaining from his Unit.
"We're gonna get a few hours' sleep, refresh. We can't go out like this. Then we leave before dawn." Ray got to his feet and tapped Jack on the shoulder. "Jack, take first watch. Everybody else to their tents."
Adriana, Ben, Sal, and Steve entered their tents. Jack started his patrol of the camp, passing the tents as Ray called out to him quietly.
"Jack."
Jack turned and walked over to Ray.
"Todd's gone. But he's probably close. Watch for him and the way he would enter a camp like the one we have set up here. Okay?"
"On it, Ray."
__
An hour into his patrol, Jack found himself back at the fire pit, close to the tents. He added wood to the fire, because Ray insisted on sleeping outside instead of in one of the tents. Right beside Ray, Rydel slept as well. Ray had told Jack he didn't want Rydel more than an arm's reach away from him. It was cold, both were in slim sleeping bags, but the fire was burning well now with the added wood. They were good.
Jack turned to check on the rest when the sound of shifting rock stopped him dead in his tracks, the sound coming from behind the tents in front of him. From the darkness between two of the tents, three small rocks rolled out and landed by Jack's feet. The rocks stopped at the same time and angled up toward Jack—as if pointing at him—then fell over. All three tents billowed from a screeching wind finding its way over and around the camp without warning.
He was all at once frightened.
The rocks just fell from above the mountain. And a sudden gust of wind drifting over the camp happens all the time in locations like this, Jack tried to convince himself. But it felt different. The wind blasting in his face felt ice-cold, and it fucking hurt. He focused on the billowing tents as another rock flew out from the darkness, passing over the tents and landing by his feet.
Is it Todd, trying to draw me out?
No, Todd was too smart for that—he would never toss rocks as a way of distracting and taking out a member of the Unit.
Jack knew this was something else.
Bullied. He was being bullied—the overwhelming feeling made Jack's face flush with anger. Images of when he was a nine-year-old boy flashed in his head. A group of kids tormenting him by throwing rocks over the fence at his new home after his mother and father divorced. The kids knew about his family somehow, calling his mother a whore, calling his mother and him by name. He was never able to see their faces but could tell by their voices that they were about the same age—nine or ten years old. He wanted a friend, or friends, from the new neighborhood—but ended up bullied and bloodied instead.
And just like that day, a small rock hit Jack on the side of his nose, and he felt the trickle of blood. Enraged, he set out to hunt his tormentors down this time.
Revenge for the two of us, Mom.
Jack slipped between the narrow space separating the tents in front of him and saw the man immediately. A hooded man in a black cloak stared down at him. The black outline of the man—it had to be a man by the broad shoulders and other distinguishable subtleties—stood on an overhanging mountain ledge above, about thirty yards away. The moon lit the man in a halo of white light, the black shape standing as still as the rock, which seemed to be a part of him, under his feet.
Jack eased his way forward. He aimed his Smartround gun at the man and shouted out to him without the use of his translator.
"Come down from there. Now."
The shadowed man pointed at Jack, his index finger slowly moving in a come-hither gesture. Jack stood motionless, near-loss-of-bladder-control frightened. The man reached down from the ledge, almost touching the ground with his hand. Impossible! Just an odd way that the light from the moon is hitting the man—a shadow, is all. Jack tried reasoning with himself of just what he was seeing until the hand slowly rose in front of him and rested on his shoulder. His whole body went numb.
"Come closer, Jack."
The voice of the man on the ledge was like nothing Jack had ever heard before. It was as if spoken from another place, not of this earth—the voice calm but menacing, soothing but evil. Jack looked down and watched himself walk closer toward the man, having no control over his body. He tried to scream but could not. He screamed in his head for his body to stop walking, which resulted in his legs running toward the man, his back arched backward trying to keep up with his legs. Back bent, running up the side of the mountain, Jack reached the man on t
he ledge and skidded to a stop, standing erect.
With his arm back to a normal size, the man in the black cloak reached out his hand once more.
"Take my hand, Jack."
__
Ray woke an hour before dawn. The fire in front of him still lit, but dying. His eyes searched and found Rydel still asleep in his sleeping bag. He looked for Jack around the campsite, unable to spot him. Ray glanced down, unzippered his sleeping bag, and got to his feet.
Jack was suddenly there, standing rock-still, staring at Ray from across the fire. It was as if he came out of nowhere. Having glanced away for only a few seconds so he could free himself from his sleeping bag, Ray could not fathom how Jack seemed to appear right in front of him.
Jack dropped to his knees in front of the fire as his head and body slumped forward. Ray hustled over and grabbed Jack by the shoulders before he fell into the fire, then tilted Jack's head upward so he could face him.
"Jack—you okay?"
Jack looked at Ray with a blank expression. Drool began to run down each side of his face from his open mouth. He then wept.
"I've seen him. He's gone now, but I've seen him—I have seen him!" Jack rambled to Ray.
"Who, Jack?"
"The One," Jack said, speaking slow and softly.
Ray reached under Jack's arms in a bear hug, lifting him to his feet, and touched the side of Jack's head with his hand to calm him down.
"I know how you feel…coming into contact with Him. You believe now. That's a good thing, Jack, a good thing. Because now it's time to save Him."
__
Ray had Rydel and the rest ready to move out in under ten minutes. Ray led the way as Rydel and the others followed him. The sky behind the group bloomed in a shade of deep purple on the horizon. The seven walked silently on their way to Jerusalem, met by a strong wind that swept over and rippled the hooded cloaks they wore.
Save Him Page 18