by T A Williams
“Have you all seen any Chinese or Korean soldiers around here?” Crimson asked.
“Nope, they pulled out of this area a long time ago.”
“Any bands of raiders or troublemakers we should know about?”
Jane again shook her head. “None that I can think of.”
Ben noticed the group from behind them was slowly approaching and a few of the people on both sides of the street took a few steps toward them. The grip on his rifle tightened and he noticed Chavez doing the same thing. Crimson began to say something when she glanced up and paused. In one quick motion Jane reached down into her jeans and pulled out a rusty pistol and aimed it right at Crimson’s head. Each member of his unit had their rifle at the ready in seconds. At first they were all aimed at Jane, then as the crowds began to gather and the knives and hatchets began to reveal themselves, the guns spread out to the others.
“Back down,” Crimson yelled. “We will open fire.”
Ben happened to glance up and saw the window just above them filled with two men, each armed with crossbows, one of which was directed squarely at him.
“We’ve got bogeys in the windows,” Ben said over Crimson’s shouts.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Ty said as his gun bounced from person to person.
“Jane, you are dangerously close to losing a lot of people right now,” Crimson said, keeping her attention on the woman.
Jane nodded her head calmly but a bead of sweat made its way down her face. “That’s possible, but we can prevent that if you all will just put down your guns.”
“Not going to happen,” Crimson said.
Two more men emerged from the crowd of people with crossbows in hand. Ben took in a calming breath and surveyed the area. They had Jane in front of them with a pistol and four men with crossbows. If they were able to take them out without losing a single person they would still have to hit over two dozen more people who were armed with various sharp weapons. Things didn’t look good.
“Look, we’re not stupid. You all have some pretty powerful weapons there. Chances are you could take out a large chunk of us, but I don’t think you could take us all,” Jane said. “You put down your weapons and no one has to get hurt.”
“What do you want?” Crimson asked.
“To take you to your lost friends.”
“You took them prisoner?”
“We didn’t do anything to them,” Jane said.
“I hope you see why we might find that hard to believe,” Crimson said through gritted teeth.
The crowd had finally separated itself. There were nearly two dozen people armed with sharp weapons that had stepped forward. The rest of the crowd had either stepped back and went to safety or were standing just behind them with clenched fists.
“There is a very powerful group around these parts. They number in the hundreds, if not thousands, and they are extremely well armed. They have your friends,” Jane said.
“Ok, so why in the hell are you holding us up, then?” Ty asked. “We’re the freaking U.S. military; I think if anyone could help you out with them, it’s us.”
“Because they intend to turn us over to them,” Crimson finished.
Jane’s jaw clenched but she nodded.
Crimson dropped her rifle, realizing this was a battle that wasn’t worth the risk. The rest of the unit did the same. “The war is over. The remaining Chinese forces are on the run and in bad need of supplies. You all don’t need to help them.”
“They are not with the Chinese,” Jane said.
“American?” Ty asked.
The woman nodded. “They’re known as The Forgotten.”
Ben
Ben sat on his knees on the broken sidewalk with his back against an old postal service drop-off box. His hands were tied behind his back and the rest of his unit, Ty, Crimson, Dex and Chavez, were bound next to him. Three men stood watching them with their crossbows hanging down at their sides.
“I take it we have a plan here?” Dex whispered.
“No talking,” one of the men shouted.
As the sun began to set Jane came walking up with several others escorting her.
“You don’t have to fear these people,” Crimson said. “We can help protect you.”
“The Forgotten protect us,” Jane said as she stopped a few feet from them. “They request very little from us and provide us with everything we need.”
“Why are you handing us over to them?” Ben asked.
“That is the only thing they request from us, people.”
“People? What the hell are you talking about? Why do they need people?” Ty asked.
“The Forgotten have…a strong belief system. Their beliefs require certain things and one of those things is people. We provide them a single person every month and in return they provide us with protection, food and supplies.”
“And if you don’t provide them with people?” Ty asked.
“Then they take one of our own,” Jane said matter-of-factly.
“What they hell do they need people for?” Ty asked his face dripping with sweat and a look of panic on his face. “What do they do eat them?”
“They sacrifice them,” Jane said.
“When we don’t send word back to our base they are going to send an army down here and the Forgotten, along with all your people, will be wiped out,” Crimson said matter-of-factly.
“I don’t think you understand. Your armies and the Chinese armies were already here and they left a lot of stuff behind. The Forgotten have all those things now. Your army may come but I wouldn’t be so certain they can take them.”
“Why do they sacrifice people?” Ty asked.
“For their God. I don’t ask too many questions. I let them do their thing and as long as we provide them with a single person every month, they let us do ours,” Jane said.
“You gave them the other unit and they sacrificed them?” Ben asked.
Jane stood there for a moment and wiped the sweat from her face. She dropped her head down and stared at the ground. “More than likely. They don’t do it here. They have outposts all over this area but their main base is a couple of days’ drive from here. I’m pretty sure that is where they do their…sacrifices.”
“It’s not too late,” Ben said, trying to make eye contact with Jane. “I’m sure you all have been out here with little to no help for a long time, but we are here to help. They may have a lot of people and a lot of weapons but we have more, and we have people who know how to use them. You keep doing this and they keep getting stronger and it’s only a matter of time before they take you all.”
Jane glanced around and then shook her head. “You don’t betray them. You don’t talk bad about them. They are everywhere; they hear everything.”
One of the men stepped forward. “Their leader is bulletproof. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Bullet after bullet hit him and he just stood there and laughed. He has powers and his people have powers.”
Jane lifted a hand and the man stopped talking.
“We can protect you,” Ben tried again.
“Nothing can protect us from them.” The sound of cars approaching floated down the street toward them. Jane looked up, a look of strain and resignation on her face. “They are here.”
Ben
Two black trucks pulled down the street towards them. One was hauling a large trailer. As the trucks approached, the crowds of people thinned as many ran inside nearby buildings, while others backed up until their backs were against those same buildings. Even Jane stepped back a couple of feet and her cool demeanor seemed to be blown away by the breeze. The trucks stopped twenty yards away and the engines turned off. For a moment there was only the clicking of the truck engines cooling and then the driver side door of one of the vehicles opened. The popping sound bounced off the building walls. Out stepped the palest man that Ben had ever seen. His long hair stretched down beyond his shoulders and was whiter than any cloud in the sky. The man walked toward them and his beard wa
s the same color. The only other color in his face was the dark red coming from his eyes and the dark black tattoo of a cross on his forehead. Eight other men stepped out; they wore white camouflage fatigues with ammo strapped all over. Each had an assault rifle in their hands and another on their backs. Each of them had the same tattoo of a cross on their foreheads.
“It’s him,” Jane said under her breath and took another step back.
The white-haired man saw them and smiled without showing his teeth. While the others were armed he was not, with only a jean vest barely covering his pale white skin. He stepped forward until he was a few yards away from them. His eyes scanned each of them, and Ben met those eyes but couldn’t get a sense of what was behind them.
“You have provided another sizeable donation, Mrs. Jane.” The man’s voice was soft. His eyes met hers and Jane dropped her own.
“I…I didn’t know you would be here,” she said.
“Am I not welcome in your village?” the man asked.
“No…It’s not that, Prophet, it’s just that I would have made sure we had something ready to eat for you,” Jane said, her voice cracking.
“Don’t be silly, you have provided so much for us. I refuse to take anything else from you. What is this, another five souls?”
“Yes sir.”
“With the donation you previously provided, you all are going to be good for a couple of years now it seems,” the man laughed a fake laugh that died almost as soon as it left his mouth. “I can assure you that God is aware and is very pleased. He will watch over you and provide, and I promise I will do the same.” The man Jane referred to as the Prophet raised his hand palm up towards them and his men stepped forward and picked up Ben and his unit and led them over to the trailer, where they shoved them in.
Ben went in knees first and rolled onto his side on the wooden floor. The trailer door remained open and one of the men stood there watching them.
“Ok, now do we have a plan?” Ty asked quietly.
“Give me time,” Crimson said.
“That seems to be one thing we are running out of,” Dex said.
After a few moments two more men appeared and stepped inside the trailer. “Go to the back and don’t move.”
They scooted to the back and before they closed the door, the white-haired man stepped inside.
“Tell Brother Scott to head out. I’ll stay back here for the first part of our trip.”
The trailer door closed behind him, leaving the unit inside with the albino man and two of his men. As the trucks started up and began driving down the street the man stared at them, not blinking. His red eyes were hard to meet and the blank expression on his face left what he was thinking a mystery. The silence hung in the air.
“I’m sure you all are wondering why you are here?” he asked.
“They told us,” Crimson said, trying to sit up tall. “You plan to kill us.”
The man frowned and shook his head sadly. “Is that what they told you? After all this time they still don’t understand. They will one day; everyone will. First let me introduce myself. I am the Prophet and I have been asked to lead the people known as The Forgotten.”
“We are soldiers of the United States of America,” Crimson said. “By holding us hostage you are declaring war on this land’s government; is that what you want?”
The Prophet smiled. “You still follow that antiquated idea? Groups of people selected and purchased by wealthy donors and businesses to push forward their greedy agendas? We all followed these people and look at where it got us. Let go of that failed experiment.”
“Let me guess, you know a better way to rebuild this country?” Ben asked.
“No, this country, this very world, can never be rebuilt. It is past the point of no return. For too many years we placed our trust in technology and false idols while turning our backs on the one true power. And in a single moment all of that was taken away and what happened then? Did the people turn back toward the one true God? No, they fell even deeper into sin. All of the good in this world has left.”
The man rubbed his hands together for a moment then slowly opened them and stared down at them. “I have seen the wonders of God. When the power went out the world stared down at their ruined devices instead of up toward God. But I looked up and you know what I saw? I saw the true followers of God rising up into the sky to meet their Lord and Savior.”
“If you’re so righteous, why weren’t you with them?” Dex asked.
“I wasn’t righteous,” the Prophet said with a frown. “I was a sinful man, a bad man. But at that moment I realized there was more to the world, that we had all been led astray.”
“You were given a group of soldiers a few weeks back. If you are not sacrificing people, where are they?” Ben asked.
“They are at peace.”
“So you killed them?” Crimson asked.
The man shook his head sadly again. “They are released from their torment, just as you all will soon be. We were left behind by God because we didn’t hear his word. He has forgotten us, but we have not forgotten him. This world is filled with sinful souls who still refuse to see his light. To show him there are still those who believe in him, we are cleansing it, and in doing so, we hope to earn a way back into his heart.”
“By killing people?” Ty asked.
The man stared at Ty until Ty looked away.
“I am sure all of you mean well. You are trying to rebuild a world that never worked in the first place. You don’t realize it but by doing this you are returning the world back to the very thing that destroyed it. We won’t allow it. But we are not mad; we are forgiving. We are still willing to help release you from your pain.”
“And if we don’t want to be saved?” Crimson asked.
“We will hold you up to the light; where you go from there is up to your soul.”
The Prophet nodded toward one of his men who stood up and stuck his head out of the trailer and yelled toward the front. After a few moments the truck pulled over and the door to the trailer was opened. The Prophet stood up and walked to the door and then turned back toward them.
“Fear is only natural but try to rest easy. We are saving you from this wretched place.” And then he walked out and the door closed, leaving them with the two guards.
Ally
It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
Ally stood there on the hill with the cool ocean breeze blowing through her hair as she looked out at the endless blue of the ocean. She remembered seeing the ocean in old movies but none of them did it justice. The smell of salt filled her nose and the sounds of kids playing hit her ears. She watched as a group of five girls, roughly the same age as her, ran down the beach and jumped into the waves. They laughed and screamed as if they didn’t have a care in the world.
Behind her was a small town of refugees that they were trying to convince to move to one of the new safe zones. For the last several weeks this had been their purpose. A small group of them, accompanied by a half-dozen soldiers, traveled to all the known safe zones to provide information on the new settlements. They promised homes, security, food and infrastructure. Those that agreed were put on a list and a few weeks later the soldiers would help them transfer to one of the new settlements. Many of the refugees were excited and ready to move on to something better, but there was also a large contingent that refused to leave. Ally had no interest in trying to talk people into leaving their current home for a new home. The concept of a home was slightly strange to her. She liked their house in their current safe zone. They had fixed it up and she had her own room, but it was still nothing more than a building to her. Part of her could still remember the house in the country where her family lived right after the power went out. It was old but there had been plenty of room to play, yet it was still nothing more than a building. Before that, the place they had lived when her mother had gotten sick was also a blur. She had shared a room with Joseph then and she remembered it seemed small,
but couldn’t remember much else. Those places were just buildings.
She watched as the girls splashed around in the water, screaming and laughing. Ally walked down the small hill and squatted down, running her hand through the warm sand. Part of her yearned to run out there and join them but she knew that was ridiculous. First off, she didn’t even know them so there was no reason they would want to play with her. They lived in the same world as her but they were different. They were carefree because they were ignorant of the dangers all around them. They depended on their parents to watch over them, never realizing they were one tragic event from being on their own. And then the only thing they would be good at was splashing around in the water, waiting to die. Ally turned away from the splashing waves and screaming girls. She was made for this world; they were not.
Adam was standing on the other side of the hill watching her. Adam and Dena fulfilled their duties in recruiting the refugees but once they had shared all the information, they switched to search mode. They asked around for any information on their daughter. So far there was still no trace.
As she approached he stepped in front of her. “What’s up, buttercup?”
“Nothing, just looking at the ocean.”
Adam pushed his glasses farther up his nose. “The sight of the ocean typically has the reverse effect on people.”
Ally glanced behind her at the girls playing. “They’re dumb. All they do is play and it’s going to get them killed.”
Adam sighed and shook his head slowly. “You’re special, Ally, and I’m not just saying that to say it. You’re more capable than most people twice your age. You’re more capable than I am.”
“I know.”