The shadow of a man trailed the group. As the man stepped slowly closer, the black hooded cloak he wore reached back to the horizon, dragging a black shadow across the land. The man, at least a hundred yards behind Ray and the others, reached out his hand toward the group and touched Jack’s back without Jack or anyone else noticing. With a hand resting on Jack's shoulder, the man in the black cloak followed the group on their journey to the Holy City.
The Road to Jerusalem
The seven walked with their hooded heads lowered and were now joined by others traveling on the dirt road leading toward Jerusalem. Ray whispered into his rifle under his cloak. His Smartround gun recorded what he said and sent the message to the others. Each one received the message on their Smartround gun, feeling the screen slide out from under their cloak.
Keep your heads down. Do not come into contact with these people. Translators in place but off for now.
All got the message and followed Ray, keeping their heads down and distancing themselves from the people on the road. Ray was being pragmatic—if there was any truth in what John and Will were saying, the only contact they wanted was with Jesus Christ. How could that cause disaster back home?
As they closed in on the city, Ray turned and raised his arm slightly, holding out his hand for everyone to stop. He walked off the dirt road, slipping between two leaning Joshua trees, and waved for the others to join him. A good fifty yards away from the dirt road, surrounded by sun-dried bramble up to his knees, Ray pulled back the hood of his cloak, revealing his face, as the others made a circle around him.
"Okay, Rydel, where's this man Clopas?"
Rydel looked under his cloak at the Smartround rifle that he'd tagged Clopas with and then looked back up at Ray, lifting the hood of his cloak off his head.
"He's here, inside the city. I've got him."
Ray placed his hood back over his head, as did Rydel. Back on the now-deserted road, Ray led the six toward one of the city's stone entrances, where a man stood alone near the side of the arched passageway leading inside. He wore a perfectly unblemished white cloak, the hood covering his head and face. Ray walked past the man first, and Rydel and the rest followed.
The man began to laugh.
All seven turned toward the man standing by the side of the entrance. Ray and the five from his Unit stepped toward the man. Rydel spun around and ran off into the city. Not noticing Rydel fleeing, Ray and the others continued closing in on the man. The laugh—there was something about the man's laugh. Ray and his Unit believers pulled back their hoods and removed their Smartround guns, not caring if anyone saw them. They all felt it—the man was wrong.
The man's white-hooded head swung left and right, scanning over the group as the six moved his way. The man raised his head and folded back his white hood.
All six stopped at the sight of him.
The man resembled all the popular art and drawings of Jesus Christ—except for the eyes. The man's cerulean eyes seemed to glow, possessed with pure evil and hate. The man took a step forward, and the six took two steps back, instinctual fear controlling their bodies. The man smiled at them with a manic grin on the Jesus Christ–like face he was hiding behind and spoke in English.
"He dies."
The man turned his back to the six. There was not a soul near him as he made his way inside the city. Just inside the entrance, the man's head spun completely around, his neck extending down his back, slithering like a serpent, its blue eyes glaring at Ray and his believers. The man with the Jesus Christ–like face dropped to his knees—his arms unnaturally wrapping around his back—clasping both hands together in a mock prayer. Then he sprang back up to his feet and turned away. As he walked ahead, laughing, his head and neck returned to normal.
They couldn't move.
As the fear wore away, Ray looked over the members of his Unit.
"Rydel," Ray muttered.
All now noticed that Rydel was gone. Ray ran toward the city's entrance while pulling the hood of his cloak back over his head. The others did the same, following Ray through the stone entranceway and through the city.
"Over here, Ray!"
The six turned to see Rydel standing next to a street vendor's table. Heads lowered, Ray and the others rushed over. They formed a complete circle around Rydel so no one in the city could see him, all six staring down at him. Ray leaned in closer, up in Rydel's face.
"Why the hell did you run away? Did you see that man by the entrance?"
"I did, and it wasn't Jesus, Ray—"
"No shit, Rydel!"
Sal held out his hands and waved them, motioning for the conversation to slow down. "Hey, hey. Hold on. I don't know what you two saw, but he sure as hell looked a lot like the guy from religion class at first. Then I don't know what the fuck happened to him."
Rydel looked at Sal. "The week in time we're in, knowing now that Jesus is really here, then you have to understand that the Other is here as well."
Not a clue as to what Rydel was referring to, Sal threw his arms up in the air at Ray. "The hell's he talking about?"
Ignoring Sal, Ray kept his eyes on Rydel. "Clopas, Rydel! Tell me everything about how this man can help us."
"He worked with one of the disciples. He will meet this man today to supply food for him. Clopas—having no idea of its importance—will know where the Last Supper will be."
Ray grabbed Rydel by the shoulder. "Lead the way. Go."
Ray held onto Rydel's shoulder while Rydel led the way through the city streets.
__
Clopas kept moving throughout the city. They did not reach him until evening at an open-sided tent selling fish. Three men worked in the tent. Ray let Rydel loose, and Rydel turned on his translator. He walked over and stood before Clopas, who was bent over at the table in front of him. Rydel tapped Clopas's shoulder, and Clopas looked up at Rydel with eyes wide with relief. He reached over the table laid out with dried fish and hugged Rydel tightly. After the men separated, Clopas placed his hands on Rydel's shoulders. The two then conversed in Aramaic.
"Clopas, you need to show me where the follower Simon, the fisherman you worked with, had you bring the food for his supper tonight."
"He answers to Peter now, he told me, but yes, I now know where they are, my friend!"
"I know you do, Clopas."
Rydel looked over his shoulder at Ray and the rest of the group. Face hidden under the hood of his cloak, Ray lifted his head slightly, giving Rydel a curt smile.
"Have him lead the way."
Through winding, tan, stone-layered streets lit by the light of the setting sun, Ray, Rydel, and the Unit believers followed the man Clopas. The group reached a narrow, abandoned road. Clopas turned to Rydel and the others behind him.
"This way. We are not far now."
The group followed Clopas up the road bathed in deep orange sunlight, passing alleyways left and right. From an alley on the right, a small boy stepped out in front of Clopas, the child's face sprinkled with blood. The boy took two stumbling steps and fell to the ground. Clopas picked the boy up holding the child out in front of him. The boy stared at Clopas in obvious shock—his eyes vacant, looking past Clopas at nothing. Clopas touched the boy's face with both hands, and the boy's eyes suddenly came to life. The boy began to plead with Clopas.
"Wild dogs attacked us. They're killing my mother and sister. Save them!"
Clopas turned to the group behind him.
"We must help!"
Rydel grabbed Clopas by the arm and yelled at him through his translator.
"Keep moving, Clopas."
"The boy's family needs help!" Clopas begged.
The boy abruptly sprinted back down the alleyway and was gone. Ray ran after the boy. No! Not like in the alley with the woman. I will help.
Rydel turned off his translator and screamed out to Ray. "Ray—don't!"
Ray stopped just shy of entering the alley and gave out orders:
"Adriana, Ben, wait outside the alley h
ere. Let no one in." He shot a look over his shoulder at Sal and Steve. "You two, come with me."
Ray waved for Jack to come closer. "Jack, follow Clopas and Rydel. We'll track you—just get to where Clopas is leading us."
Ray ran into the alley after the boy. Sal and Steve followed. After only seconds of running, Ray suddenly stopped, seeing the boy up ahead, the listless child standing within a shaft of sunlight. Sal and Steve joined Ray. The three cautiously stepped closer, and as they reached the child, their eyes fixed on something resting by the boy's feet.
"What is that?" Sal asked Ray.
Before them, the boy stood over the carcass of a bloodied animal. Looking closer, the three could make out that it was a decapitated dog. The boy looked down at the dog with eyes wide open.
Ray could see that the boy was succumbing to shock and reached out to him. As he placed his hands on the boy's shoulders, they sank into the boy's body. The child melted into the ground before the three—sucked down into the earth, it seemed—and erupted back out of the ground to the left of Sal and Steve.
The boy glanced at Sal and Steve and then laid his now-hate-filled blue eyes on Ray. "He dies!" the boy screamed in English to Ray.
Eyes locked on the boy, Ray barked out an order to Sal and Steve. "Move out—now. Go!"
Not needing to be told twice, Sal and Steve took off. Ray slowly walked toward the boy. The boy darted away from him, his face caving in, growing older and menacing. Ray took another step closer to the boy-thing as it scampered away. The boy-thing dropped to the ground and started to crawl. Reaching the dead dog, it used its hands like claws to rip inside the headless animal—pulling out bloody clumps from inside the dog, throwing them at Ray. The boy-thing screamed at Ray in a man's deep voice.
"He dies! He dies! He dies!"
Ray turned and bolted from the boy. He caught up with Sal and Steve back where they had entered the alley, and the three ran out into the street. Adriana and Ben rushed up to them, noticing the horrified look in their eyes and the expression of fear on their faces.
"You guys all right?" Adriana asked.
Sal and Steve nodded unpersuasively at Adriana. Ray took a few steps away and spoke through his headset to Jack. "Jack, we're on our way."
Jack's voice came back immediately through Ray's headset. "Hurry—we have a problem."
__
Ray and the rest ran up the slanted street, spotting Jack and Rydel standing alone off to the side. Ray reached the two and abruptly came to a stop in front of Rydel.
"Where's Clopas, Rydel?"
"They took him," Rydel said, his voice desperate.
"Who?"
"Soldiers, Ray," Jack said, shaking his head, angry with himself. "We came running up the street here, and Clopas ran into a soldier, knocking him over. They took him away. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to intervene like you said when we first got here."
"Which way did they go, Jack?"
Jack pointed at the uphill street behind him.
"Straight ahead. I lost them as they reached the top of the street. I think—"
Ray put a hand on Jack's shoulder, moving him out of the way. Eyes alert, he tracked a group of men farther ahead on the rising street. Eleven men, shadowed by the lowering sun, followed another man. Ray took two slow steps ahead, his eyes tracking the man being followed by the single-file group of men.
He looked over his shoulder at the others behind him.
"It's Him. It's Christ."
Ray took off, running up the street, as Rydel and the others rushed after him. With the group of twelve in their sights, Ray, Rydel, and the others trailed behind them. They tracked the group of men as they left the city, the sun fading away. The group of men out in front, and the pursuing group in their wake, walking in step with one another.
As night arrived outside the city, Jesus led eleven of His followers into an orchard-like area surrounded by gnarled, bent olive trees. Jesus ducked under a grouping of trees and walked on, followed by three of His apostles. The other apostles broke off in different directions, sinking into the darkness beyond the trees. Ray, Rydel, and the others followed Jesus and the three apostles, keeping them in sight, trailing them carefully.
Todd
Todd walked back into the camp, seeping out of the darkness like an apparition, and came to a stop. He looked toward the barely lit tents in front of him and back at the blackness behind him. He knew they were gone; he had seen them leave. But Ray was good. Superior. Did he leave someone behind in the shadowed areas around the camp, maybe behind the scantly lit tents flapping in the wind?
Todd took two steps forward and stopped, almost waiting to be taken out by a Smartround. But nothing happened. He took two more steps toward the tents, five more, and still nothing. Todd ran the last twenty feet, reached the tent they'd placed John Adams in, and entered. Inside the tent, Todd took a knee next to the colonel on the ground. He removed a needle from the right pocket of his cargo pants and stuck it into a protruding vein on the colonel's right arm.
John Adams's body shot up into a sitting position, legs straight out, eyes wild. The colonel glanced at Carrie on the ground and then stared at Todd beside him. He looked down at the needle sticking out of his arm. His mind and body adjusting to such sudden consciousness after being shot with a sedation round, the colonel ripped the needle out of his arm and threw it on the tent floor.
"Guess I was right, trusting you with this…situation?"
Todd rubbed his hands over the stubble on his face, getting himself ready to brief the colonel.
"Ray, Rydel, and half of the damn Unit went to save Him. The rest have been shot, like Carrie here, with sedation rounds. Good thing I had to piss when I did, or I'd be sedated as well. Do you have any more of the drug to wake the others, sir?"
"Only two syringes."
"We should wake—"
"No. The last two syringes are for us in the event we get shot. Even the ones who disagree are probably too loyal to Ray."
Todd stood up—eyeing the colonel. "You think I'm any different—my loyalty?"
"No. I know how you feel about Ray. But I also know you're fucking sure as shit Rydel has lost it and is starting to take Ray with him."
John lifted himself up and stood in front of Todd.
"What's next, sir?" Todd asked, waiting for orders.
"We find them before they find Him."
__
Fifty yards behind a moonlit Jesus and the three men with Him, Ray, Rydel, and the others stood on rock-strewn high ground, awaiting Jesus's next move. They looked on as Jesus and the apostles with Him walked toward a dirt path. Jesus came to a stop. He placed a hand on the face of the man to His left and gently tapped the shoulders of the two men to His right. The three bowed their heads and walked away. Jesus watched them leave and then walked down the dirt path into a dense area of trees with outreaching, twisted branches. The path's overhanging branches of foliage swallowed Jesus as He vanished inside the greenery.
Taking this in from his view above, Rydel started to walk after Jesus. Ray quickly reached out and pulled Rydel back by the hood of his cloak.
"Wait, Rydel. We're looking for a way to get Him alone, if we can. Let's make sure no one else joins Him again."
Ray motioned for Ben to use his binoculars to track Jesus.
"I got Him, Ray."
Through his binoculars, Ben could see Jesus kneeling alone on a large stone in front of a cluster of bushes and trees.
"We ready, Ben?" Ray asked.
Ben nodded. "He's clear, Ray. We can…hold on…movement in the bushes around Him."
Ben jerked his head to the right with his binoculars fastened to his face and pointed a finger below. "In the bushes, Ray, coming for Him. Three teams." Ben ripped off the binoculars. "Shit—it's an ambush."
Ray snatched the binoculars away from Ben and took in what was happening below. He spotted Jesus praying alone with His head bowed. Out of the cluster of trees and bushes in front
of Jesus, armed guards with swords and protective black armor surrounded Him. Jesus did not lift His head until the guards led a man in a tan cloak toward Him. The man in the tan cloak pointed a finger at Jesus, knelt down next to Him, and kissed Him on the cheek.
Ray observed all this through the binoculars. He motioned for Ben to lead the way, throwing the binoculars back to him. Ben secured the binoculars around his head and ran—zigzagging downward around bushes and through crowded trees.
Ben reached the spot where he last saw Jesus through the binoculars. And the only man left was the one who had pointed Jesus out, now kneeling on the ground, heart-wrenching sobs coming out of him. Ray caught up to Ben and brushed by him. Ray grabbed the man off the ground, lifting him up so he could meet the betrayer's eyes.
"Why did you do it?" Ray screamed at the man in English. The sobbing man stared at Ray, not understanding a word he said.
Ray glanced back at Ben. "Ben?"
Ben began searching again through his binoculars for Jesus and tracked Him down in seconds. "Got Him."
Ray slapped the man in the face, and the man fell to the ground. Behind Ray, Ben slipped through the dense trees, and Rydel and the rest followed him. Ray stood over the man for a moment, waiting for him to look up. The man finally did, trembling. Ray spat in his face, turned, and sprinted away.
Ray reached the others, with Ben leading the way. Ahead, on a dirt road, the soldiers pushed, punched, and laughed at Jesus.
They were leading Him back to the city.
__
Seated in a room inside his pillared, lamplit palace, Annas looked up at Jesus standing in front of him. Finished with his questions, angry at Jesus's curt answers, he stroked his gray beard and kept his piercing blue eyes on Jesus. Frustrated, the old man waved his hand, waving Jesus away.
Save Him Page 19