~~/*\~~ Satau ~~/*\~~
Pharaoh sent everyone out of the room once they got there. The entire Court was dismissed. It was a useless attempt to save face; not having the surrender be done with an audience.
“Does he think nobody will notice when the Hebrews leave?” Satau commented.
“Of course our people will notice. The question is, will they care?” Jambres returned quietly. “More than three quarters of Egypt have lost their employment, or had their trade paralyzed at this point. Most people couldn’t afford domestic slaves anyway. The ones that can are fully informed about what’s going on, because even if Pharaoh denies it, the Hebrews are willing to tell anyone who’ll listen.” Jambres sighed. “Our people are fed from the Temples already, but… At this point, it just has to be over, whoever wins.”
“Father.” Satau said carefully. “How does this play out, exactly? The barley and flax were destroyed by the hail already. The only reason the wheat didn’t go with it is because it’s not close enough to harvest yet… but we both know that’s next.”
Jambres said nothing.
“Every time I’ve spoken to Takarut about this, his answer is always the same: This stops when Pharaoh gives the word. What happens if-”
Jambres didn’t even look at him, but his foot swept out under his robes and kicked Satau hard in the ankle. With the entryway to the Throne Room filled, nobody noticed, but his words were getting loud enough to be heard. Satau wondered why it mattered. Everyone was thinking the same thing.
Moses and Aaron emerged from the Throne Room. Those present fell silent instantly. None of them knew how to ask, none of them wanted to speak first. They hadn’t been summoned back into the Throne Room, so there was nothing to do but stand there.
Aaron spoke to them on Moses' behalf. “As soon as we leave the City, Moses will raise his hands before Jehovah. The storm, the hail, the thunder… It will all stop at once. Not because you demand it, but so that you may know that the Earth belongs to Jehovah.”
Moses spoke also, making a rare comment directly to the Court. “Jehovah God has given me word that even now, Pharaoh will go back on his word. His heart will grow hard again; and he will refuse to let my people go. I don’t yet know what comes next, but I will be seeing you again.”
Satau squeezed his eyes shut. It wasn’t over.
~~/*\~~
Even as Moses and Aaron left the Palace, Pharaoh was back on the Throne. The Court had been dismissed, but his son had returned. “Father? May I enter?”
On the Throne, listless, the King waved the Prince over. “Just you.”
The Prince came over, seeking assurance, looking for a lesson that would make it all clear. “We’ve spoken many times about how sometimes a King has to make tough decisions. Even immoral ones.” He spread his hands. “Here’s what I don’t understand: Why does the news about our own people listening to the warnings scare you? I know you’re not in charge of Moses, but you’re still King of Egypt. Our people are still under your command. If the Hebrews leave, then you’re left with Egyptians… including the ones that listened to Moses.”
The King blinked slowly. “Yes.” He acknowledged. “But if they are listening to Moses… Our Priests, our Generals, none of them have come up with a counter-attack that works. Dissent from slaves can be put down or ignored. Dissent from our people is something more insidious. Hunting them down… We’ll never know if we got them all, or if they have any further plans.”
“Father, Moses stopped being Egyptian forty years ago. He’s from Midian now. How many people are left in Egypt that even know his story? Our people are the ones you care about. You are Egypt. If they’re siding with Moses, then they’re enemies of the state. What our people know of anything comes from the Palace. What our records remember comes from the Palace. What our people think comes from the Palace. Is that not what it means to be a living god?”
The storm seemed to grow louder for a moment, thunder cracking ominously.
Pharaoh didn’t seem to notice, beaming at his son, his equilibrium restored. “You’re right, of course. It’s not about how much Moses or even Jehovah can do. It’s about the control I exert over the situation regarding our own people. Our people are our chief concern.” He actually laughed. “You’ll be a fine Pharaoh, my boy.”
~~/*\~~
Moses was long gone before Pharaoh called the Court back in. He was unaware that Moses had addressed them on his way out, as he gave his side to his people. “I have made Moses see reason enough to stop this storm. He knows what is required, and the consequences. He has no real regard for the powers he’s meddling with, and it will lead him to ruin.”
Silence.
Finally, Jambres spoke. “He has hinted that there may be another… ‘demonstration of power from Jehovah’, if we cannot reach a greater understanding.”
“I will not negotiate with criminals.” Pharaoh said tightly. “And they are criminals. I’ve noticed the rhetoric is changing among our people, and that must stop now. Tell the Scribes, the Archivists, and the people making announcements on your behalf to remember what this really is: A rebellion against the laws of our land.”
“My lord, perhaps the time has come where we should rephrase the question.” Jambres said diplomatically. “Consider it an economic war: If this was a trade situation with a prosperous enemy nation-”
“It’s not. It’s a list of demands from slaves.”
“Slaves that are in good health, well fed, and have animals and stores. Something Egypt cannot say.” The Queen said suddenly. “Not anymore.”
There was a long moment of silence. The entire Throne Room was in disbelief as the Queen suddenly took a side. She was right, but she was the only person in the Court likely not to be killed for saying it out loud. At least, not right away.
Queen Ramla spoke again in the stunned moment of silence. “Whatever else may be going on, we can’t pretend they are just a bunch of lazy slaves refusing to work. If this were an ordinary rebellion, and they took out our harvests, our animals, suspended our trade… It would be a military campaign. But they never stirred from Goshen. They’ve got something backing them up. Something fighting a war for them. And it’s something we clearly can’t counter, whatever it is. It’s long past the point where we should be taking this seriously, because our people clearly are.”
Feeling hopeful with the Queen seemingly on his side, Jambres tried again. “If this was an important trade deal, with all food and livestock in the land on the line, would we be so quick to refuse negotiation?”
“We’ve rationed before.” The King countered. “Egypt’s finest hour, more than a hundred years ago, was when my forefather foresaw seven years of famine coming, and Egypt’s power and wealth grew accordingly as the world depended on us to feed them. Our people have it in them to ration again. These plagues have always had their seasons-”
“Respectfully, my King; but the season is the problem.” Faas insisted. “The Nile, then the livestock, then the farms? If this war continues to rage on for another few months, then we won’t be able to plant another crop.”
“If these sorcerers think I’ve surrendered, They’ll change their minds when I kill every single person they’ve ever met in their entire life.” Pharaoh barked viciously.
Dead silence. The angry tone meant there was no chance at talking him down.
General Aadesh tried anyway. “My King, the last time we planned violent retribution against Goshen, the plague of boils incapacitated our entire army, and government staff. The kingdoms on our borders have heard of what’s going on in Egypt, and the fear of getting caught between you and Moses is the only reason they haven’t invaded us already. If they find out the boils and sores have returned, they might just take advantage of it… Which will surely happen if we send our armies against the Hebrews.”
Phraoah glared. “Who said anything about the Hebrews?”
~~/*\~~
The trials began that afternoon.
First there were the tutors. Moses had been in Egypt eighty years before, and there were very few left who had taught in that time. The one or two that remembered the lessons were fellow students in his class. They testified that Moses was a good student, but rejected all lessons of the gods. They were put to death.
Then there were the household staff from those times. Pharaoh’s Throne Room was part of the Palace, but the Kings all had their own residences. Usually half a dozen or so, that were torn down when one King left power. It was symbolic of the Pharaoh's life being temporary, but his rule being eternal. But it meant that a Royal could have many attendants across several homes. Those that had looked after Moses during the first forty years of his life were older now. They were all put to death.
Then there were the guards who had missed it as Moses entered Goshen. The Masters that were in charge of whoever was supposedly hiding him and Aaron. The other Egyptians who had quietly traded for more water when the Nile turned to blood. The ‘informants’ that had been taking Egyptian money but were unable to provide an exact location. The search teams who had been unable to find him between Plagues. All put to death.
~~/*\~~
Tzioni shook Leahe awake. “Come on, girl. We’ve been summoned to work.”
Leahe blinked, surprised. “By who? The foreman-”
“Is gone. We have a new foreman now.” Tzioni said seriously, holding out a few scraps of dried fish from the night before.
Leahe groaned and rose to get dressed. It wasn’t a surprise. Several of the domestics reported that their masters were being much nicer to them as the plagues went on. Some of them were asking about Jehovah, wondering if they could win enough favor with Him to be immune to the Plagues, without giving up their position in Egypt. Sooner or later, there would be a backlash against that.
With one hand missing, Leahe kept hauling water by carrying a donkey’s yoke across her shoulders. She still had enough arm to keep it balanced, and one hand to carry a cup to distribute water.
The new Foreman was pockmarked from badly healed boils and sores, with a permanent scowl on his face. Egyptians were becoming uniformly exhausted and broken down. Some reacted by becoming harder and angrier, if only because it felt more powerful than despair.
“I’m told that your previous foreman was becoming more lax, intimidated by recent events.” The new Foreman snarled as his workers assembled. “As a result, he’s been removed, permanently. You’ll find I am stronger than he was. You’ve forgotten your place, and I’m here to remind you. Double shifts for the next week! And if anyone so much as mentions Moses’ name while we’re working? I’ll personally cut your tongues out!”
~~/*\~~ Ryder ~~/*\~~
“It doesn’t feel right to be sitting still for this, boss.” Karla said seriously. “Things are happening really fast out there.”
“We’ve got our teams working around the clock trying to find the most relevant stories.” Dion told them. “We’ve got enough human interest to fill three times as much airtime as we’ve got. Coalition forces have conquered four-fifths of the Black List in half the time they expected. The System might be coming apart, but the world is coming together in the aftermath.”
“That’s good to know. Maybe the public would like to know too, while they’re being held up for the bandaids in their pockets.”
“Karla, I’ve told you before: The reporter isn’t the story.” Dion said seriously. “I don’t mean to make light of what you’ve gone through, but you guys have already gotten a lot closer to the action than our lawyers are comfortable with.”
Ryder finally spoke up. “We get that, Dion, but we’re sitting here, watching the news. We can’t even help out on the research with the phones going up and down.”
“Coalition Press Office says that’s a temporary measure. They jam all comms, including the cell towers, whenever they’re about to make a raid. A measure they brought in partially because the press was recording while they acted.”
“Don’t you dare blame us!”
“I’m not. We’re small potatoes compared to some of the field teams reporting on this. I’m just saying, there’s a sea of public support behind the Coalition. If you point a camera at them, you better be sure what your story is going to be.”
Karla and Ryder traded a stunned look. This was the opposite of what they’d come to expect from Dion.
“Alright, if you don’t want us reporting on the Coalition, what about the human interest?” Karla suggested. “We’ve found enclaves here and there of people who are banding together. Not Holdouts, or Preppers. Just… People who have figured out how to live off-grid, until the grid stabilizes. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to let people know there are ways to handle the supply crisis.”
“She’s right, boss.” Ryder put in.
“We’ve got a community that sprung up outside the city. It’s less than an hour’s drive from here. They’ve taken in a hundred starving families, and turned it into a Co-Op.”
“The streets are getting dangerous, Karla.”
“So’s the Airbnb that’s not really ours to rent anymore. We’ve been at gunpoint in both places.” Ryder put in.
“...fine. I’ll see if I can fit it in somewhere in the ‘C’ Block. Give me five minutes of usable footage, one interview. No ‘Prepper’ stuff. Make it a feel-good story about community and cooperation.”
“You’ll have it in before sundown.” Ryder promised, and disconnected. He looked to Karla. “So, what’s the real reason?”
“The place we’re talking about is where my mom and sister are. I called her back after the break-in and she’s begging me to come. At least they have food and trustworthy people.” Karla confessed. “And it’s halfway between here and the station. Mom says they’ve got a place to fuel up cars. If the streets seem safer afterward, then it’s a chance to get home.”
Ryder grinned. “Then let’s move.”
~~/*\~~
As they drove, Ryder switched on the local news. The government had taken over most of the media, to coordinate the information coming in during their search for Holdouts, but local radio stations still used volunteers, who reported on what they were hearing down at street level.
“...smaller companies who refuse to pay the austerity measures mandated by the Government. Most of them can’t afford the mandated relief package to their employees, so most of them are shutting down for the duration of the supply crisis. I’ve also been handed a note from the local switchboards, begging people to stop making nuisance or prank calls to emergency services. Hundreds of fake calls have come in as a protest of the way law enforcement has handled the food riots. Since the police can’t get food and medical supplies in either, they’ve been resorting to seizing property from anyone suspected in Contraband activities…”
“The guy who robbed us at the Airbnb, he wasn’t a gang member. He was a desperate man, who hoped the house was empty while he raided a medicine cabinet.” Ryder commented, looking sick. “If the cops are shaking people down for food, then we’re all in a street fight now.”
Karla reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll be okay.” She promised. “We’ve made it through worse than this. This Co-Op we’re going to? It wasn’t set up by the government, or the Coalition, or a mega-corporation. It was just… People finding each other and wanting to help each other through the lean times. Maybe desperate people are always going to make life hard, but most people just want to go their way and not hurt anyone. This farm we’re going to? My mom saw the world going bad, and responded by making things grow, and feeding her friends.”
Ryder couldn’t help the smile. “You’re good to have around on the bad days, Karla. Have I ever told you that?”
Karla smiled. “Now if only I could get on the air and have everyone know it.”
Ryder checked his GPS and made the turn towards the Co-Op. “Well, it sounds like a good place- ohno.”
They had come into view of the Co-Op Community. It was burning.
~~/*\~~
“Karla! Don’t!” Ryder hissed after her, trying to pull her back in the van quickly.
She pulled free of his arm and ran to the burning buildings. “Mom!” She shouted desperately.
There was no answer. The only sound was the crackle of flames. Ryder climbed out his own door to follow her, scanning around. The ‘farms’ were wrecked, with whatever edible food they produced ransacked and stolen. There were a few farm animals, already slaughtered and quartered for meat.
Ryder had covered a warzone once or twice. He recognized all the marks of small communities being pillaged for resources. He scanned for vehicles, and saw none, except their news van. Whatever had happened here, it was over. Whoever had attacked them, they had taken what they needed and left. The community farm had its own vehicles, all of them were stripped for parts and burned, lined up on the edge of the property.
It wasn’t like a normal farm. The amount of earth being used for growing was in patches, laid out in a pattern. Ryder had seen similar patterns when he was reporting on city farms, using rooftops gardens or backyards to grow food. This was small. Personal. Twenty people at most, scratching out food for themselves when the world wouldn’t provide them with any.
Ryder moved automatically, pulling out his phone, and recording the scene as he followed after Karla. As she peered inside the burning building, the smoke and flame keeping her out, the tears streaked her smoke-stained face.
“Mom!” She yelled again into the smoke. “Where are you?!”
“Karla!” He called over to her. “Check the vehicles. If there were survivors, they’d leave. There’s nothing left for them here.”
Karla’s face changed, as his words sank in. “I know my mom’s car!” She nodded, and turned to run over to the burning vehicles. “Put that camera away and come help me, dammit!”
He followed, still recording, as she ran to the row of burning vehicles. Karla got there first and started to scream. “No! NO!”
Hearing the note of pure horror in her voice, he put his phone away at last and ran to her. “What is it? What…” Then he saw the bodies. Four of them, all gunned down from behind. Karla was staring at the two women. “Is… is that them?”
Karla slumped into the dirt, sobbing. She couldn’t answer him, hands covering her face. Ryder had no idea what to say, but he pulled Karla to her feet, forcibly turning her away from the bodies. She barely noticed, but sank her eyes against his shoulder, trying to block out what she had seen, as she wept.
Sick for her, he hugged her automatically. “Come on. This place isn’t safe. We have to call it in.”
They went no further than the van. He put his jacket around her in the front seat, and went around to the back to make a call. “Dion, we can’t run the story. The community farm’s been hit by someone.”
“Doesn’t that make it a better story?”
Ryder turned away from his anchor’s stifling sobs and hissed into the phone. “Karla’s family was here. We found the bodies.”
Dion cursed fluently. “Right. What are the police saying?”
“No police. There’s nobody here. The place has been ransacked and torched, and nobody’s left.”
“...are you very sure about that?” Dion said, suddenly worried. “What if they’re still there?”
The sound of Karla sobbing was coming through clearer now, as shock wore off and true grief set in. “Dion, this is happening. I have to get back to her, so make a choice fast.”
“I’m taking you both off rotation for a few days. Get her home, or at least somewhere safe.” Dion agreed. “Look after her. It’s still chaos out there, so don’t leave her alone. I’ll take care of informing the authorities.”
~~/*\~~
Lost in her thoughts, Karla jumped half out of her seat when Ryder slid into the driver’s seat next to her. “I’m taking you home.” He said shortly. “Streets might be safe, might not. Either way, you need to be somewhere familiar. Dion says to look after yourself for a while.” He checked the fuel gauge. “It’ll be close.”
Karla jerked forward, stopping him from starting the engine. “W-What about my mom and sister?”
“We’ve reported the attack. The circuits are still jammed. Dion is trying to get the authorities out here, but there’s a lot of places being ransacked right now, so it might be a few days before the coroner-”
“It’ll be weeks, Ryder.” She cut him off. “We saw smashed windows on every street. We got mugged over whatever we had in our fridge. We covered the mobile incinerators that rolled through New York during the Pandemic. I know what happens when the world runs short of graves.” She gestured out at the smoking ruins. “We’re miles out of town. I can’t leave my family rotting in the sun until someone finds them.”
“...okay.” Ryder said, feeling the nausea settle into his throat. This was going to be messy, but he was under orders to take care of her until things calmed down. “I’ll… find a tarp, or something. Something we can wrap them in.”
“It’s a farming co-op.” She sniffed. “Even if they torched the buildings, I’m betting we can find a few shovels.”
~~/*\~~
There were other bodies, but most of the victims had been caught in the buildings, and the fire took care of the remains.
The ground was good growing land, and relatively easy to dig. They knew the two women. The other two bodies with them were strangers; but it didn’t feel right to leave them. Ryder dug a shallow pit for all of them, and called Karla back when he’d covered them over. Lacking anything else, he used the shovel for a marker. He was breathing hard, soaked with sweat from the exertion. Karla came up beside him, holding his hand. “Someone should say something.” He rasped.
Karla had made a living finding the right words to say. Something that would put grief or shock in a manageable setting, reduced and packaged for an audience. She’d made a name for herself finding the spark of hopefulness during the most trying times. Her voice slipped into a ‘reporter on the scene’ modulation easily, but her tears kept falling slowly.
“My family, and the people they had found here, wanted nothing of the world. They wanted only to make something good. Something simple. Something honest. I think that most of the world is like that.” She sniffed. “But after a career following breaking news, I have come to the conclusion that even if only one person in a hundred wants cruelty and greed, there’s nothing the ninety-nine honest men can do to save themselves from evil. Because evil doesn’t care about consequences and destruction; and goodness does.” She choked back a sob. “Mom, I’m sorry the world wasn’t worthy of you, and I pray-” She caught herself and scanned around instantly, making sure nobody had overheard her mentioning ‘prayers’ in public. “-and I hope that one day the world becomes filled only with people like you and your friends here.”
Ryder listened to her speak for the dead, it felt like he was meeting a total stranger. The sudden and deeply personal loss had broken through her determined spark of optimism. Ryder found himself comparing the moment to the last funeral he had attended, for his mother. There’s no ‘good news’ here. No promises of ‘real life’.
He found himself comparing it to his father’s Church. Those prayers had been by rote; more dogma and ritual than anything else. But they’d have at least a few words of heaven welcoming an honest soul…
For the first time, Ryder caught a glimpse of what a world without God was actually going to be like, and it made him quiver inside.
~~/*\~~
To make their journey back to their hometown, and Karla’s apartment, she monitored the social media feeds while Ryder drove, figuring out the safest routes. Protests had turned to riots, and were now focused on looting, as everyone realized they were left with no savings.
“It looks like the Coalition is suspending Due Process in most countries.” Karla commented, face drawn. “We’re back to frontier justice. They could just execute rioters now, if they really wanted to. They shot looters during the war, right?”
“Only way to restore order, I guess. If the world’s food supply is shutting down, you can’t reward a criminal with free meals and accommodation.” Ryder guessed.
“Remember when Prison was considered the worst option?” Karla drawled. “It was a week ago, right?”
He gave her arm a squeeze. “I got an idea. Instead of driving yourself crazy with doom-scrolling, how about we figure out a way to get you home safe?”
~~/*\~~
“These stories are amazing.” Del said in awe. “Witnesses don’t post about their locations or circumstances on social media anymore-”
“Which probably doesn’t make that much difference.” Nate admitted, mostly to himself.
“-but the stories making their way around via email chains are incredible.” Del continued without missing a beat. “The problems we’re getting? Civil violence? Power and water? Economic collapse? It’s happening in a lot of places. But the brothers are all stepping up. A lot of them are reduced to delivering messages and food by hand, but they’re all finding ways. Some of these stories about avoiding danger, or escaping the gangs and looters are downright miraculous.”
“I’d wager that’s exactly what they are.” Alvin responded with a wry grin. “Share a few?”
~~/*\~~
It was oddly fun. They were sitting around, sharing miraculous stories of being found just in time, or kept safe in the most unlikely of ways. The world was flying apart, and their little group couldn’t stop smiling.
After they told each other uplifting stories, Alvin played a recorded talk that he remembered, and then invited each of them to share a Bible story that gave them comfort. It was a meeting without a schedule, or a program.
Del kept up with the impromptu study until his phone beeped, and then went dark. “Aaand, my phone’s dead.”
“Mine too, ten minutes ago.” Nate put in. “Not to ruin the mood, but the last news alert I got said there’s a major hurricane forming out over the ocean. It apparently sank a few container ships. They’ve had to reroute the supply lines around this massive storm, and there’s no way to restock shelves before they sit empty for a few weeks.”
“A few weeks is all it will take.” Alvin agreed.
“Back in college, I minored in world history.” Nate told those around him. “Turns out food was the major commodity for most of human civilization. The idea of preserving most foods was unheard of until the industrial age. The policy of farming in one country and shipping it to another country for supermarket shoppers? The idea of a self-service food market open in every town only started in 1916. Out of all human history… Those supply lines are not as reliable as you might think.”
Del let out a hard breath. “All the movies and books about the end of the world… Turns out one badly timed storm over the shipping lanes could be the tipping point.”
~~/*\~~
“Well. We actually made it.” Ryder said softly.
Karla sniffed. “Yeah. Never been so glad to be home.” She unlocked the door for him. “You… leaving?”
“I’ve been following the reports. My street is pretty much on fire now. Riots got too close, and the fire trucks pulled out. I might not have a home left-”
“Stay here. Please.” She asked immediately, already weaving on her feet. Shock from the day was finally hitting her all at once, now that she was home again. Minutes later, Ryder tucked a nearly unconscious Karla into bed gently and slipped into the next room, calling the newsroom again.
Finally, he got through. “Dion?” He was quietly thrilled. “I’ve been trying to reach you for hours.”
“Yeah, the power and phone coverage keeps going up and down. Nobody’s sure if it’s power lines being knocked out by rioting, or walkouts at the power and phone companies, but it’s been going for a while. How’s Karla?”
“Sleeping. She’s been exhausted since we found her mom.”
“Grief. It’s a normal enough reaction.”
“Listen, I got a tip off from a friend in the army.” Ryder said briskly. “He says that the Coalition is taking in anyone who wants to join up, and the numbers are growing as people walk out of… well, everywhere.”
“Coalition can provide rations, which is more than most organizations can do right now.” Dion sounded exhausted. “They say as soon as the FRA is finished, they’ll be turning everything they’ve got over to civilian shelters.”
“Right, but my source says that Coalition commanders are faking their numbers. They get six hundred new volunteers, and requisition enough pay and rations for a thousand people? That’s four hundred paychecks and ration packs the commanders get in their pockets.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Ryder froze. “Doesn’t matter?”
“Doesn’t matter. They won’t let it on the air. And even if they did, it’s not like anything can be done about it. The Coalition has been given its full authority by every functioning government left on the planet. Until the FRA is completed, they can do as they please.”
Ryder blinked. “But… but don’t people have a right to know these things?”
“Ryder, the Coalition is the only authority on the planet that isn’t… how shall I put this? Falling apart completely.” Dion told him. “We inform the public, and what are they going to do? Our government can’t do anything about it, even if they wanted to, even if they could try.”
Ryder wove on his feet. “Well. That’s probably going to get worse before it gets better.”
“Most things do.” Dion agreed. “But it was the only way something like the FRA could ever get done.”
“Is that really the top priority right now?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Dion asked, genuinely surprised at his question.
Explosions rumbled in the distance, far enough away for the windows to rattle, but not break. Ryder went to the window. “Looks like a service station just went up in flames.”
“Yeah, I’ve been hearing about that. Fights are breaking out over fuel. The supply shortages are hitting everything thanks to the hurricanes. Good news is, most service stations don’t have a lot of fuel left to burn.”
Long silence, Ryder glanced back at Karla’s door, to make sure she was still asleep. “Boss, how does this all… play out?” He asked finally. “Because it looks to me like there’s been a total breakdown of civic services, a complete standstill of shipping, and most of the raw material is lost at sea, while the majority of the food supply has been seized by men with guns.”
“There’s always been disasters to clean up.”
“Yeah, but there’s always been a place to direct the cleanup from.” Ryder countered. “This is… everywhere.”
Hard silence.
“I’ve covered the last Global Financial Crash, a hundred natural disasters, a handful of brutal wars… The world has come through worse days than this.” Dion said finally. “The point is, after centuries of going at it like animals, the world is finally united behind something. My grandfather was around when the U.N. was founded, and nobody expected it to be anything of consequence. For fifty years, I watched the U.N. do nothing but condemn wars and ask politely for rogue nations to stop being mean. Yes, it’s war. But it’s a war to unite the human race at last.”
(Author’s Note: Revelation 13:4 and 8 use the word ‘worship’ to describe the devotion of the world during the Tribulation. Also, the book ‘Pure Worship of Jehovah -- Restored At Last’ says in Chapter 6, Paragraph 10: “God’s Word indicates that individual supporters of false religion will survive the coming destruction of religious institutions. Fearful, these survivors will join other individuals of all ranks who will be searching for a hiding place.” For the purposes of this story, I combined both thoughts.)
“Yeah.” Ryder sighed, not really interested in arguing the point. “United.”
“It’s been a long day, kid. Get some sleep if you can.”
“Yeah. I think you’re right about that.” Ryder yawned and disconnected. The couch was comfortable enough, and he was feeling the stress of the day too. He looked around for somewhere to plug in his phone and was asleep before he found one.
~~/*\~~
In her bedroom, Karla listened in, eyes still closed. He had surely thought her asleep already, but she wasn’t there yet. She reached one hand over to the rubbish bin beside her bed, and pulled out a piece of paper that she’d discarded days before, the last time she’d been at home.
The pamphlet was the one Maggie had talked about in the newsroom. Everyone she knew had seen them, or at least found one in their mail. She had no idea how any group could have covered the whole city so quickly, but she’d barely looked at it.
She pulled the pamphlet out, and read it twice carefully, tearing up. She crushed it again, and threw it back to the rubbish, and then settled into her familiar pillow, closing her eyes. God? She prayed for the first time. It's still legal to talk to you like this. I never… It would be hypocritical… She shook her head a little and started again. I’ve signed the Renouncement. I made a public statement that I do not think You should have any say over how people live. Does that mean that my mother and sister are in Hell now? Or for that matter, are they just… gone? It's not a new question, but for the first time, we’ve gone to war to make sure Heaven and Hell have no power over any of us… And this pamphlet says it was too late for them anyway…
~~/*\~~
Ryder woke to someone tugging on his arm. It was Karla, still looking scared, still in her pajamas. He sat up, not saying anything. The lights were out, and the smoke billowing from streets away gave the thin setting sun a hellish orange glow. She tugged his hand again, and he willingly followed as she led him into the bedroom, pulling back the covers for him.
He hesitated, and she pushed him gently to the bed with one hand, still not saying anything. He settled under the cover, and she slid in beside him, settling her head on his shoulder. They lay like that for a few minutes, before he felt her lips on his cheek.
“Karla...” He started to say.
She shushed him. “I needed a friend today.” She kissed him softly. “I needed someone to care about me.” Another kiss.” “Someone I could trust.” Another kiss. “Thank you for being that person.”
Strung out, nerves raw, and half wondering if it was indeed the end of the world, Ryder kissed her back, and they let the world be far away for a night.
~/*\~~/*\~~/*\~
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