Walter Greatshell - Apocalypso

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Ray said.

“How dare you! He’s doing God’s work, and if you could see how he suffers to obey our Savior’s will, you would keep your stupid mouth shut!”

“I saw his men killing women, Ashleigh.”

“You saw them saving women! You saw women being sent to Paradise rather than eternal torment. It’s a blessing! Women bear the burden of God’s anger, and it is our duty and our privilege to sacrifice ourselves for the good of Man! It is the only way to expunge ourselves of Eve’s sin.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I will not stand here and have godless witches like you tell me what-”

Fran stepped in. “Okay, that’s enough, Ashleigh. This kind of thing gets us nowhere, so let’s just all agree to disagree and move on.

They finished eating in silence.

Ray was awakened by someone banging on the door of the trailer. When he tried to get up, he almost fainted from a rush of dizziness and nausea. His left arm hurt, and when he rubbed it he found a bandage in the crook of his elbow. The whole thing felt bruised. Dragging himself into the hall, he heard Fran answering the front door.

“What is it, Elaine?” Fran asked, yawning.

“There’s someone outside the fence asking to talk to a Raven Despineau.”

“Outside? Who?”

“I don’t know; I’ve never seen him before. A new guard. He says he’s a friend of hers.”

“What’s going on?” Ray asked.

“Someone wants you outside. A man.”

Deena and Ashleigh now appeared. “What the hell’s going on?” Deena asked.

“Some man outside is asking for her.”

The girls were very intrigued.

Shivering with cold and fright, Ray put on his vest and shoes and wrapped a comforter around his shoulders, then he and the others trooped along the frosty path to the main gate. The girls whispered among themselves. The moon was bright, silvering the State House dome on their right and downtown on their left. Straight ahead, the shopping mall was a high, dark cliff. As they entered its shadow, no one spoke, their breaths puffing from their hoods like empty thought balloons. There was someone at the fence, just a hooded black shape.

Goaded ahead by the others, Ray walked the last fifty feet alone. “I’m Raven Despineau,” he said warily. “What do you want?”

“Ray? It’s me, Todd!”

“Todd! Thank God. What’s going on?”

“I can’t talk long. Did you find Sandoval?”

“Yes.”

“Did he tell you what’s going on?”

“He said there was going to be a rebellion against Dixon.”

“That’s right. There’s going to be a surprise attack on Chace Central, and Barnstable want us to run our diversion to draw Chace’s disciples into a trap.”

“When is it all happening?”

“Sometime before dawn. All the Prophet’s forces are involved, so just be ready to pitch in as soon as the gate goes down. Everybody’s pretty high on this plan, but I just want to let you know that if the whole thing falls apart, and it looks like we’re about to eat major dirt, I’m busting you out of here, and we’re running for it.”

“Running where?”

“I thought we’d head south, see if we can give a heads-up to those people at Xanadu.”

“How are you planning on us getting there? The roads are impassable.”

“Same way we got here-by bike.”

“Oh, Jesus. All right, is that it?”

“That’s it. Just go inside and wait for my signal.”

“What’s the signal?”

“You’ll know it, trust me.” Then Todd was gone.

Ray went back to the others and explained the situation.

Fran and Deena were excited, but Ashleigh was silent. The one named Elaine, an older, heavyset woman with the title of Night Matron, said, “Even if this guy’s telling you the truth, which I doubt, we would be fools to do what he says. We have a good thing going here, everything we need, and I’m not about to just abandon it for some wild-goose chase. We wouldn’t last five minutes out there on our own. This isn’t a prison; these fences were put up to protect us! You Munies might not care about that, but the rest of us do.”

“Oh, I agree,” Ray said. “It’s a stupid idea.”

“What?” Fran exploded. “Are you serious? You’re the one who said we were going to get the hell away from here, and now you’re just going to wimp out like that?”

“I’m sorry, Fran. I was just daydreaming; I didn’t think anyone would take it seriously. Of course we can’t leave.”

“That’s fucked up, dude,” said Deena.

Elaine said, “Girls, you should listen to the advice of your new roommate. It’s a nice fantasy, but the truth is, a man will say anything to get into your pants.”

“Men,” Ray said, shaking his head.

“Men,” Elaine agreed.

“Elaine, do you by any chance happen to know my uncle Jim?”

“Of course I know the Prophet. He’s the one who asked me to come get you.”

“Oh… cool. Well, say hello to him for me, would you? And please tell him that Barnstable says hello.”

“I certainly will.”

Elaine returned them to their trailer. As soon as she was gone, Ray jumped into action.

“All right, ladies,” he said, rifling through the kitchen drawers, “we have to arm ourselves and be ready to fight our way out of here. I need your help-move!”

“What are you talking about?” Ashleigh asked.

“Obviously, nobody’s going to help us, so we have to help ourselves.”

Disconcerted by the abrupt mood swing, the three were wary of believing anything Ray said, but Fran and Deena reluctantly went along with it. Ashleigh sulked, praying for their souls.

The trailer held very little in the way of weapons, so Ray hoped no one would dare interfere with them as long as they were wearing their vests. And since Xombies couldn’t touch them either, they should be able to simply walk out of the compound once the electrified outer fence was down. As the hours passed, exhaustion set in, and they dozed.

They were awakened by a burst of gunfire, then a series of explosions.

“Shit, it’s time,” Ray cried. “Everybody up, it’s time!”

Throwing a mattress over the inner fence, they boosted each other over and hurried to the main gate. All the other women were out and about, chattering anxiously, but there was no sign of Sandoval. Along the street, generators chugged into action; electric wires fizzed; sirens blared. Spotlights swept the field and beamed across the dome of the State House. From inside the building there were muffled alarms and gunfire. For a moment, the shooting increased… then just as quickly it petered out. Skate-troopers zipped purposefully up and down the street, then simultaneously changed direction as their radios crackled instructions to report for an emergency security inspection. As they skated away, they killed the generators, leaving silence and dark in their wake.

Ray and the girls waited by the fence, shivering. It seemed to get colder as the sun came up.

“Is that it?” Fran asked.

“I think that’s it,” Ray said miserably.

“Damn.”

Deena said, “Well, let’s go inside, I’m freezing.”

“You go ahead,” Ray said. “I’m going to wait a few more minutes.”

Fran and Deena left, leaving Ray alone with Ashleigh.

“There’s no need to wait for me,” Ray told her, trying to control his voice. If Barnstable’s coup had failed, then Todd was probably dead… and Sandoval would be next. “Go back inside. I just have to give it a little while longer.”

“There’s no point,” said Ashleigh.

“You never know.”

“No, I do know. Your scheme didn’t work because I warned them about it.”

“What?” Ray’s brain fumbled for purchase. “What are you talking about?”