Ash: Rise of the Republic (11 page)

The entire neighborhood turned out at the
signal, crowding onto rooftops to watch the procession slowly roll
down the highway past the street we had blocked with the
semi-trailer. There were twelve pickup trucks, five or six armed
men in each. Their faces were grim as they stared my neighbors
down. I left my perch and calmly walked to the gate to meet them.
Deb, Mike, and several others moved to join me but I gestured for
them to wait behind the gate. I walked a few paces forward and
stood with my weapon ready, my finger near the trigger.

My former truck, much worse for wear and
coated with grime and ash, slowed to a stop at my signal. The
driver’s side passenger door opened and a thin, balding man in a
dirty business suit stepped out. He held a wide grin on his face
and a thick book in his left hand. Stepping briskly toward me, he
extended his right in greeting.

“God bless you sir, my name is Nathaniel.
Reverend Nathaniel Jerrick. I stopped in to ask if you have a
moment to talk about the Lord,” His booming voice seemed designed
to carry to everyone present.

“Well that depends: did your crew disable
the power plant down and murder all those people last night?” I
replied, ignoring the proffered hand, keeping my own close to my
weapon.

“Well of course we tore down the
abomination, that is our mandate, but it isn’t murder to
exterminate the vermin who worshiped in its halls.” His reply was
jovial, he turned to look at the men in the trucks. Some of them
chuckled.

“Mandate?” I growled. I could hear angry
muttering behind me.

”Direct from the Lord, our god. As you know
very well, the Rapture has come and passed. I was initially
saddened to find myself left here with the sinners, but it turned
out that God had a plan for me. You see, He is going to build the
Kingdom here on earth, but before He does that, the planet must be
cleansed of the corruption of man. He sent one of his angels to
command me to gather a congregation of the damned to carry out His
Will. Every soul who repents and assists me in carrying out my Holy
Instructions shall be forgiven and ascend to Heaven with me when
our work is complete. These fine men,” he swept an arm toward the
line of trucks, “have all confessed their sins and enlisted in the
project. We call ourselves the Redeemed Fellowship for the
Transition. “Tell me, brother, do you and your fellow Christians
seek eternal salvation?”

“I think you should go,” I responded through
clenched teeth, knuckles white on the stock of my rifle. “This
isn’t the rapture, it’s geology. A fucking volcano erupted. You
crazy son of a bitch, you can’t go around slaughtering people and
tearing up our infrastructure because you’ve been off your meds for
too long!”

“Non-believers have frequently blamed divine
revelation on mental illness. I can assure you that is not the
issue here. My mandate is very real. I’d love to sit down with you
and take you through the facts.” His smile began to fade.

“There are dozens of religious people
standing behind me, not one of them has started killing sinners or
hallucinating angels. They know this is a natural disaster. They’ve
been doing the Christian thing and helping their neighbors. We
don’t want any trouble, but don’t take that as a sign of weakness.
If you threaten us believe me we won’t hesitate to sweep you off
our porch. Please just go.”

“Brother, you don’t seem to understand. Your
houses represent the corruption of man. I am bound by my Mandate to
destroy them, brick by brick. I am merely offering you a chance to
join us and guarantee yourselves an eternity in paradise.” His
jovial tone was gone now. His voice was still loud, but there was a
grim tremor in it.

“Well shit, if you put it like that…” I gave
him a sudden smile, my turn to be jovial. “Maybe we could work
something out. Can you give us a couple days to talk things out
amongst ourselves?”

“Of course, Brother! Nothing would give me
more pleasure. I know you’ll make the right decision. The reward is
too great to pass up! We shall return in two days time.” He said,
cheerful again. He turned to go. When he opened the door to the
truck, I saw a familiar face sitting behind the passenger seat.

“Reverend, wait!” I called out suddenly.

He turned back with knowing smile. “Have you
chosen the right path so quickly Brother?”

“Not a chance.” I pointed at the small
figure behind him. “That little brat in the backseat is a murderer
and a thief. He needs to answer for his crimes. For that matter,
one of the things he stole was the very truck you’re riding in.
Justice needs to be served if you want us to join us. The little
shit killed four innocent people in cold blood.”

“You can see him too?” His mouth was hanging
open in shock. The boy leaned over to whisper in his ear. “Ah I
see, the Angel has shown his form to you so that you might more
easily repent and join our cause. You are mistaken sir. This boy is
the physical manifestation of the Archangel Zadkiel. It is he who
appeared to me, bringing gifts of food and transportation from
heaven. With his help I have recruited my fellowship. The so called
‘crimes’ you accuse him of were all part of God’s intricate plan.
The souls of those sacrificed sing with the Heavenly Hosts now. I
bid you farewell. God be with you Brother, may he guide you to the
path of the righteous.”

With that he slammed the door of the truck
and the column rolled away, slowly disappearing around a bend.

I spun around in fury and marched straight
through the gate. I gestured at those who had gathered there to
follow me.

“Everyone to the Meeting House as soon as
possible. Leave a few sentries, we can fill them in later.” I said
as I passed them.

Once my neighbors had settled in to the
ranks of chairs we had arranged in the living room, I called the
meeting to order.

Mike perked up first, “You’re not actually
considering joining them are you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I just wanted to buy
some time. He looked like he was ready to give the order to attack
right then and there. But while we’re on the subject, we need to
get something clear right now: I need to know if anyone is
harboring any doubts about this. If you didn’t overhear our
conversation, I’ll give you the gist: This psycho thinks he was
left behind after the rapture to clean up the earth so that god can
build a new kingdom or something. He’s offering salvation to anyone
who joins him. Now you know I’m not religious, but many of you are.
I won’t think less of you if you feel like he may be a genuine
prophet. If you have any doubt at all please feel free to join him.
I promise there will be no hard feelings. He’ll be back in two
days. If anyone wants to leave let us know now.” In the crowd,
people gazed right and left, but no one volunteered.

“Good. Glad to see we’re all going to be
rational about this. Let’s talk strategy…”

After an hour we had a plan. We would
resist, of course, but we would also be ready for defeat. The
construction group would begin strengthening our defenses
immediately. Our perimeter was too large and our force too small to
physically defend every point, so we decided to build fighting
platforms on the roofs of several strategically placed houses. When
the attack came, the younger children would stay in the meeting
house under guard of the two senior citizens in the neighborhood.
The vet and two assistants would be stationed there too in a
makeshift field hospital that was set up in the master bedroom.
Casualties would be brought to them as they occurred. Every other
able-bodied neighbor was assigned a spot on one of the fighting
platforms.

There were two golf carts in the
neighborhood, once used for joyrides on drunken nights in happier
times, which we would employ to shift fighters quickly to where
they were needed. The guard post at the gate was left unmanned and
a number of vehicles were parked behind across the road to keep the
Fellowship from bashing through like they had at the power
plant.

A number of glass bottles were put into
service for use as incendiaries. A quantity of our precious
gasoline was siphoned from a few of the vehicles to fill them, and
several old towels were cut up as fuses. Each fighting platform
which faced a road was supplied with five of these.

We also laid plans for an escape. We loaded
up fifteen of the more capable vehicles in the neighborhood with
supplies, ammunition, and personal belongings. The majority of the
food and water was loaded into the big box truck we had taken the
first night. We had enough fuel to get twenty miles with the dozer,
though most of the vehicles would make it much farther if the
terrain was right. Our plan was to head down the highway leading to
town, plowing the ash in front of us. To that end, I had Scott
Maldridge clear a path through the yaupon thicket behind my house.
If we needed to leave, it would only be a short ride across the
pasture before we reached the highway.

We left the dozer at the edge of the woods
to plug the gap. Two of the retreat vehicles were stationed near
the meeting house, the rest were lined up on the street near the
escape route, keys in the ignition. We set up a signal for the
retreat. If the battle went their way, several of us would stay at
our posts while the rest got the children to the convoy. We would
join them if we could once they were safe. If the enemy followed
us, we would have to fight a fierce rearguard action, but we hoped
that the narrow confines of the trench cut by the dozer would keep
their attacks concentrated.

Our preparations were finished by the next
afternoon. The sentries reported no sign of Fellowship trucks on
the roads. Several of us decided that, since it might be our last
night in our peaceful little neighborhood, we would break out a few
of our precious cases of beer and have an old fashioned block
party.

While the older neighborhood children kept
watch from the new fighting platforms, we settled into lawn chairs
in the street in front of the meeting house. By midnight, most of
the neighborhood was reeling drunk, laughing and enjoying
themselves.

****

I woke up with a start the next morning. It took a
moment to identify my surroundings. Soft morning light was
filtering through the blinds. The last thing I remembered was a
golf cart race around the block. Cursing our stupidity at wasting
batteries, and cursing alcohol in general, I creaked out of bed and
stumbled to the coffee pot before remembering our lack of
electricity. With a sour stomach and a pounding head, I went in
search of Deb and breakfast.

I found both at the meeting house. Several
kind neighbors had taken it upon themselves to scramble a huge mess
of eggs over a propane stove in the garage. With muttered
gratitude, I spooned a healthy portion into a bowl that Deb handed
me. I was soon joined by a few of my drinking partners. I had
flashes of some of them holding on for dear life to the competing
golf cart as we careened around the circle the night before. We
grinned sheepishly at each other as we downed the greasy eggs,
heads beginning to clear.

By noon, we were ready. Everyone was
thoroughly armed. Ammunition was piled in the fighting platforms.
My neighbors took their assigned stations. I climbed up to the
central guard post to wait. The two kids stationed there were the
youngest of our fighters. They were both armed with small varmint
rifles.

"Have you shot those things before?" Their
hands were shaking. They were visibly nervous.

"I kilt a rabbit and an armadillo," the boy,
Josh, said proudly, barely hiding a waver of uncertainty in his
voice. The girl, Amy, shook her head. Her lips were drawn and her
face was pale. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"You know you don't have to do this." I
tried to be gentle. "No one would think less of you."

"I want to defend our home. Daddy said those
men are coming to kill us all..." She broke off, tears welling
up.

"Sweetheart, there's no need for you to
fight anyone. We've got sixty crack shots in this neighborhood,
those men won't even get close to you. I'll tell you what, the best
way for you to help defend this place is to keep a sharp lookout.
You keep those eyes peeled. If there's fighting in one spot I want
you looking somewhere else. People are going to be focused on
what's in front of them, I need you to be watching their backs.
That goes for both of you. Can you do that for me? If you watch our
backs I promise no one will get close enough for you to have to use
that thing. You remember the signals right?"

She nodded, wiping her eyes with a sleeve,
"one blast for North, two for East, three for South, four for
West."

"Perfect, and which way is North?"

She pointed, more confident now.

"You'll do just fine. Once the reverend
shows up I'm going to go down there to speak with him. You two will
be all alone up here, but I know you'll be brave. We're all
counting on you."

I smiled at each of them. Josh puffed up his
chest, Amy dried her eyes, and the three of us turned to look out
over the grey landscape. I had to put up a brave front for the
kids, but inside I was terrified. I had never been in a real
firefight. I glanced at a few of the other platforms, everyone was
restless, some were shaking. We were all just as green as the two
brave kids next to me.

Hours passed, there was little conversation.
Everyone was keeping to themselves, minds racing, the dread
beginning to pile up. I hoped that adrenaline would help to clear
our heads, but there was no way to find out until it was too
late.

Late in the afternoon, one of the sentries
near the road shouted in warning. He pointed down the highway at
two figures, one tall, one short, proceeding on foot down the
trench we had carved with the dozer. I motioned for Amy to sound
the appropriate alarm and then climbed down.