“But fight me you will, Roy. And hold that sword you will.”
Daniel raised the sabre up in front of his face and respectfully saluted his opponent.
“En garde!”
He came at Roy with a traditional fencing stance. Roy had no stance of his own. He held the sword as if it were a baseball bat, waiting for his opportunity to let it crack. Daniel closed the distance, and Roy swung his rapier with everything that he had. Daniel effortlessly parried the strike and delivered a riposte straight through Roy's rib cage and up into his heart. Roy touched at the wound and looked at the blood, letting out a shocked exhale of breath.
“I didn't want this,” said Roy.
“No one ever does,” said Daniel.
Roy fell to his knees and then to his face. Someone handed Daniel a cloth, and he used it to wipe the blood from the blade as he turned back to the terrified three who remained on their knees. There were no more thoughts about trying to run after that.
“As you can see, I am a fair man. Each of you will have an opportunity to survive this night. We are always recruiting and adding to our ranks, but the work we do is not easy. It requires people with a certain kind of fortitude. Only the bravest and the strongest are truly worthy of serving the Lord in these exciting times. I must find out which of you is the strongest. I must test you all.”
Daniel presented a revolver and placed a single bullet in its barrel. He put the gun on the ground in front of John and Tracey and took a step back.
“One of you is going to kill the other,” he declared.
“No,” said John with a firm shake of his head. “We won't do that. We're a family.”
“I don't see that you have many options, John. Either one of you kills the other, or all three of you die by our hand. There is another option where you take that gun and put the bullet through my head, but as satisfying as that might sound to you, all three of you will still die. So, what will it be?”
They were both shaking and crying. Little Sam shook his head over and over, thinking about what life would be like without a parent in a world such as this.
“What does God have to do with this? How could this be what he wants?” Tracey demanded.
“It is not for you to know his mind. It is for you to follow instruction. If no one has picked up that gun in the next thirty seconds, I will kill you all. Do you understand?”
Tracey bit her lip and nodded with her eyes closed.
“Tracey, listen to me,” said John. “I want you to grab that gun and kill me.”
She shook her head with her eyes still closed.
“No. No, I can't.”
“You have to. Sam is going to need one of us. You have to be strong and do this for me.”
She continued to shake her head.
“Tracey. Look at me.”
She opened her eyes and faced her husband. Tears streamed down both their faces. He reached out and tenderly caressed her cheek.
“It's okay.”
John reached out for the revolver and placed it in Tracey's trembling hands.
“We'll do it together.”
“Mom, no!” Sam shouted.
“Quiet Sam,” said John. “This is hard enough on your mother as it is. She needs all of her strength for this.”
John helped to guide Tracey's finger up to the trigger and then rested his own finger on top of hers. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead before helping her to place the gun under his own chin.
“I love you, Tracey. I love you, Sam. Always remember that I love you both.”
They pulled the trigger together, and John's brains exploded out of the top of his skull like a rocket ship on its way to the moon. Tracey dropped the gun, fell to all fours and wailed. Sam crawled over to his mother and hugged her tight. She turned to hug him back and cried into his shoulder. Daniel Blanc gave a slow and steady applause, and the rest of the Salvationers joined in.
“Congratulations, Tracey. You survived. That takes you one step closer to staying alive. You might even be strong enough to survive round two.”
Panic set into her face as she gripped tightly at her boy.
“No. You promised. You said that you would let us live if I... if I killed him.”
“Correction. I said that you would have the opportunity to live. That opportunity is still there.”
Daniel picked up the revolver and placed another bullet in its barrel.
“What you did took an awful lot of strength, Tracey. But only the strongest can serve with The Heirs of Salvation as we purge this sinful Earth. It will either be you or your son. It will not be both.”
He placed the revolver on the ground in front of them once more.
“How do you sleep at night?” she asked with hatred in her eyes.
“In the arms of the Lord.”
Tracey and Sam both just stared at the gun, neither of them moving. Daniel began a count, and Tracey nodded to herself as she came to terms with what had to be done. She picked up the revolver and got to her feet.
“Mom? Mom, what are you doing?”
She pointed the gun at her son's head.
“Just one more time,” she said. “Just one more and I'm done. I'm so sorry, Sam.”
“Mom? Mom!?”
She closed her eyes again and focused on finding something deep inside of herself, but she never got the chance to find it. She hit the ground with a thud as Daniel Blanc came up from behind and clocked her in the head with the butt of his sabre. He looked down at Sam’s shocked and terrified face.
“Kid, your mom is crazy.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Governor Barnes' hands were tied together by a rope that was also tied to the back of Remy Laveau's Ford Mustang. The car ahead of the Governor travelled at walking pace, but every now and then Remy would hit the accelerator and forcibly pull Governor Barnes face down into puddles of dirt. Governor Barnes would pick himself up, dust himself off and start the process over again as people honked their horns at him and shot at the ground before his feet. It was a long few miles of this, and the Governor now staggered about on unsteady legs, his lips crying out for water, his body for rest. They were in the home stretch now as they passed the hanging angel statues that swung in the rain. New Sodom loomed on the horizon. It was the closest the Governor had been to New Orleans since his exile during the founding of New Sodom.
When they passed through the gates, Beth rushed to meet the group as fast as her crutches would allow. The rain soaked her down to the bone and Remy couldn't tell that she was crying until he got out of the car.
“Beth, what's wrong?”
“Twelve people. He killed twelve people.”
His eyes went wide.
“Who?”
“The cop that arrived yesterday.”
Remy's head went into his hands.
“I should have had him killed once we had the information.”
“He’s not dead, but… Raimond took care of it.”
They locked eyes and Remy nodded a firm understanding about what the meaning of that statement was.
“Did everyone make it back?” she asked.
“We lost fifty-three,” he said sombrely.
“Mother of mercy. So many lives.”
“We got them all, Beth. Every last one of them. Even him.”
Remy pointed a thumb back in the direction of the dirtied up and bruised Governor Barnes.
“Congresswoman,” Governor Barnes said through his ruin of a face. “So nice to see you again. Still taking up hopeless causes? From what I can see, you barely have a leg to stand on.”
He snickered to himself, but Beth wasn't having that. She hobbled over to where he stood and beat him with her crutch. She hit him in the legs, in the back, and every other surface that he turned in her direction. Princess stepped across and grabbed Beth's crutch before she could strike with it again.
“Go ahead. Let her finish,” said Karina as she walked up on the scene.
“There’ll be
time for that,” said Princess. “For now, we lock his ass up tight and let him sweat a bit.”
A couple of armed Sodomites approached at a gesture from Remy.
“Take him to the lock-up and see that he gets there in one piece.”
They severed his rope from the Mustang and roughly pulled the Governor out of sight.
“I want him to pay, Remy,” said Karina.
“And he will. Do you really think I plan to slap him on the wrist? We need to make preparations so that everyone can see. He's wronged us all, Karina. Not just you. This is bigger than any one person. Everyone must know that the man that killed their friends and their family has been brought to justice. They need to see it with their own eyes so they can move on and heal.”
“Fuck you, Remy. Don’t you dare tell me how I’m supposed to handle this.”
Remy’s jaw tensed at the insult.
“I know that you are hurting right now, so I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
Karina slapped Remy hard across the face. He looked back at her in stunned surprise.
“You didn’t hear me? I said, fuck you. Darnell’s dead and that asshole’s still alive. And here you are lecturing me about how the death of Tom Barnes is bigger than me. Fuck you.”
“Darnell was my friend too.”
“Then start acting like it.”
She stormed off before Remy could respond. Everyone looked to Remy for a reaction, but he didn’t show one. He stood there as still as a statue with eyes that looked far into the distance.
“You want me to talk to her?” asked Princess.
Remy shook his head.
“No. Let her be angry. I get it. I’m angry too.”
“Want me to talk to you?”
“I think I just want to be alone for the rest of the day.”
Remy turned away from Princess and walked to be by himself. He thought about all of the people that had died because of his leadership. The crown had never rested comfortably on his head.
Nancy stood under some shelter, gripping her clipboard tight as Gus approached.
“You look more shaken up than I do,” he said.
“You get so comfortable sometimes that you forget that death is all around us, but then it always makes sure to remind you eventually.”
“Don't fear the reaper, Nancy. We were already dead the moment we were born, and nothing has changed.”
“I wish I had no fear, but I do. Life will go on whether I’m scared or not though, so I guess that I must go on too. I'll need the names of everyone that died so I can do a full census when everyone is settled. I'll add their names to the wall of the lost and see what pictures I have in storage.”
“Cormac Brady,” said Gus. “We lost Cormac Brady. You can start with him.”
Nancy’s eyes welled up as she looked up at Gus.
“Oh Gus, I'm so sorry.”
“Don't be. Shit happens. Not much to do but honour his memory. Speaking of which, do we still have that cocaine that he brought here yesterday?”
“Yeah, it's in one of the trucks a little further up. Why?”
“I'm gonna honour the man in a way that he would have wanted.”
“That involves cocaine?”
“That involves cocaine.”
An avalanche fell out of a brick and formed a snowy mountain on top of a wooden barrel landscape. The mountain was cut into lines that looked like freshly dug graves with soil made up of cocaine. Gus found an old twenty-dollar bill and used it for the only purpose it was now suitable for. The coke hit the back of his nose like a shotgun blast. He reloaded and blasted the other nostril. He pinched at his nose and took a moment to let the initial kick fade. He could already feel the bitter drip as the drug hit the back of his throat like battery acid. He held the rolled up note out to Nancy.
“Snort to the fallen, Nancy.”
“I don't know...”
“We could all be dead tomorrow, but today we'll live for them.”
Nancy took the twenty and snorted a line of her own. Gus nodded his approval as he took the pack of Marlboro Reds he had recovered from the battlefield out of his front shirt pocket. He lit one up and let out a satisfied exhale as the cocaine pumped through his body and made his heart beat a little faster. Wally Walters approached with his nose sniffing at the air, his shoulders hunched and submissive like a pet dog.
“Hey Gus,” he said at the sight of the big man.
“Wally,” said Gus with a nod. “Have you come to do a line? We're saluting Cormac and the other fallen.”
“Cormac's dead? That's - that's very sad, but no, I'm not here for cocaine. It's just that I can't help noticing that those are Marlboro Reds that you're smoking and I...”
“Wally,” Gus cut across.
“Yes, Gus?”
“Fuck off.”
“Sure thing, Gus.”
Wally Walters skulked away, his face that of a man trapped in an elevator with a ripe fart.
“Don't suppose I could have one?” asked Nancy.
“Sure,” said Gus without a moment’s hesitation. “Take the whole pack. I actually prefer Pall Malls.”
Nancy laughed as she helped herself to the cigarettes.
“Laughter. Now that's a good sound at a time like this.”
“Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...”
“It's quite alright,” said Gus as he cast his eyes over the large group in front of him. “Folks could use a little easing of the tension.”
Many of the people in front of Gus still wore the faces of shock from all the things they had seen that day. Gus cupped his hand around his mouth and called out to them all.
“Hey everyone! Stop moping and get the hell over here. We're all alive, and I have something for all of the living. A gift from the dead.”
One by one a queue formed in front of the cocaine frosted barrel top. The twenty changed hands faster than in a red light district as people lined up to salute their fallen comrades.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Night came to New Sodom, and its people went to their places of comfort to reflect on the day that had passed. Gus arrived home after the effects of the cocaine had worn off, and little Sasha jumped up into his arms. He kissed her on the cheek and hugged her tight like she had never been hugged before.
“You came back, just like you said,” she squealed into his ear.
“Well, of course I did, sugar pie. How could I not with Mr. Winks looking after me?”
Gus presented the teddy bear to Sasha with a beaming smile on his face, and she held it close.
“Why does he look like he's been in a fire?”
“That's because he has, little darlin'. We walked through the fire together and came out the other side, all so we could come home to you.”
“I love you, Gus.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.”
Old Betty emerged from the comfort of a reclining chair and hobbled over on her cane.
“How was she?” Gus asked. “Did she behave herself?”
“Oh, she's a little angel.”
“No,” said Gus. “She's definitely not that. She's all human, and that is better than what any angel could hope to be.”
“I suppose that's true. If you don't mind, I believe Mr. Sandman is calling me. I'm going to retire for the evening.”
“Of course. Thank you so much for watching over Sasha while I was gone. Tell you what, I'm going to pull in some favours with Nancy and get the ingredients to make the best pie you've ever tasted. How does that sound?”
“It had better be good, young man. I've eaten a lot of pie in my time.”
Betty said her goodbyes, and Gus scooped Sasha up into his arms.
“And what about you, little missy? It's about time that we got you and Mr. Winks to bed as well.”
“I'm too excited to sleep. Read me a story.”
“What story would you like me to read?”
“Debbie Danger and the Dastardly Dog,” she said excitedly.
“As my Queen commands.”
There was an impromptu movie night in the Mister Sister drag queen bar. The bar's generators powered everything as Mel Gibson stood large on a projector screen. He looked up from an overturned car wreck as a man with a red mohawk angrily screamed in his direction. An arrow bolt was embedded into the arm of the man with the red mohawk. He grabbed hold of it as Mel Gibson watched, and then pulled it out with an almost sexual ecstasy. Raimond entered the bar and shook his head at the sight of what was on the screen. He walked up to Princess who was busy serving drinks.
“What's this shit?” he asked as he helped himself to a bourbon.
“Mad Max marathon,” said Princess. “They were Darnell's favourite movies. They're a little too close to reality for my taste.”
Raimond looked at the people watching the movie and spotted Karina sitting out on her own. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, and the tears flowed freely as she watched the action up on the screen. She had changed the paint that she wore. Her face was now a painted skull, done in the style of the Mexican day of the dead celebrations. On her bicep was a painted black armband with Darnell's name written upon it in gold lettering. Princess noticed that Raimond's attention was focused on Karina and she didn’t like it one bit.
“You leave her alone, Raimond. That girl's been through a lot today. We all have.”
“How about you concern yourself with filling up people's drinks, and I'll concern myself with what I'm going to do.”
Princess scowled at Raimond as he grabbed the bottle of bourbon.
“I'm taking this.”
Raimond walked away from the bar and took a seat over by Karina. She hardly seemed to notice.
“Would you like a drink?” he asked as he offered her the bottle of bourbon. She ignored him and kept her eyes focused on the projector screen.
“More for me,” he said as he took a sizeable gulp. “I heard about what happened. Damn shame for him to go the way that he did, but at least he went out fighting.”
“I don't want to talk about this right now, Raimond. I just don't have the energy. Let me watch the movie in peace.”
Raimond nodded as if he understood what she was feeling, but made no move to leave.
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