Overthrown Book 13

[day late]

Overthrown, The Death of America

Book Thirteen

By

Travis O. Dean

Chapter One

The overhead lights in the barracks flashed to life, followed by the grating voice of the Platoon Sergeant.

“ALL RIGHT LADIES! Roll out of those sacks. Gear up, saddle up, lock and load!”

Dean looked at his watch. It was two-thirty in the morning. His head was just starting to hurt from his celebrations of just a few hours ago. He had reached his twenty-second birthday yesterday and had partied well into the night. Why, oh why did the higher command always plan these raids for the dead of night? Couldn’t they just plan to grab those Christians at a more decent hour? That’s what he would do. Even soldiers needed their sleep. At least in the daylight they could see any of them that tried to escape and stop them. But no, command thought hitting them in the dark was the way to go. Even if some of them got away, they
would be captured later. In another dead of night raid, which he would be awakened for at another inconvenient time. These raids always came at a time when he really wanted to sleep.

“Hey Dean, come on, roll out and hit the street man. We don’t want the Sarge coming back here just for you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m moving.”

“Move a little faster. The Sarge doesn’t like to be kept waiting you know.”

“I know, I know. Give me a minute, will you? I’m still half in the bag.”

Dean managed to climb out of his bunk, even if somewhat unsteadily, and opened his wall locker to get his uniform. He noticed that, even in his condition, he wasn’t the last one out of bed. Willie, who slept in the next bunk over was just starting to rise. By the time Dean had pulled his pants on Willie had finally managed to become vertical and opened his wall locker. But instead of pulling out his uniform he reached for a gallon sized bottle of booze. He spun the cap off, with practiced ease, upended the bottle for three large gulps and returned it to the locker. He then went out of the sleeping bay, headed for the latrine. Dean continued to dress while his head began to pound and was just finishing tying his first boot by the time Willie returned. He stuffed his other foot into the second boot and was
tying it as Willie took three more hits from the bottle, put the cap back on and then began to dress himself.

Dean worried about Willie’s drinking. He wasn’t concerned about what it was doing to Willie that was his problem. He was more concerned with what might happen if Willie was really looped when they went on one of these raids. If he wasn’t in shape to do his duty, someone might get killed. Maybe HE would get killed. But it wasn’t his worry that belonged to the Sergeant. If the Sergeant said nothing about it, then he couldn’t. All he had to do was make sure Willie didn’t get him killed. Since, they didn’t serve in the same squad that wasn’t a problem for the most part. It would only be a problem if Willie’s squad was covering their flank. But even then, if Willie was too bombed to do his job there were others who would catch up the slack. Or at least he hoped they would. You never knew. Maybe Willie would stop a bullet with his back and it would be reported that he was killed in action. Which would be true, the report just wouldn’t say which side the bullet came from.

Dean pushed his concerns from his mind as he shrugged into his web-gear, buckled the belt around his waist, checked his canteen to insure it was full and headed for the arm’s room to get his weapon. Along the way he pulled a couple of aspirin from his pocket and washed them down with a sip from the canteen. He didn’t bother looking at the pack that was attached to the pistol belt. He already knew it contained at least two meals, two pairs of dry, clean socks and an assortment of things he might need, either in a fight or just to stay alive. And staying alive was THE most important thing on his mind. After getting his weapon, Dean drew the standard basic load of five hundred rounds of
ammunition for his rifle. He really didn’t want to take on the extra load. It was just more weight for him to carry. After all, most of these Christians never raised a hand against them. They just marched into the vans and busses waiting for them, all the time praying to Jesus to come and rescue them. It was his observation that Jesus never showed up. He just could not understand how anyone could put their faith in something or someone that never did anything for them, except ignore their pleas. He would never understand such blind faith in something that did no good for anyone.

Dean, in full kit with weapon, fell out into the street and got into formation. He stood in the dark, slightly chilled by the night air and waited for the Platoon Sergeant to show up. The coolness of the night actually helped ease his suffering. When he finally did, Dean was somewhat angry. The Sergeant was in a sharply creased uniform, his chin shaved clean, his demeanor the same as always and he was clearly bright eyed and bushy tailed. Because of his birthday celebrations, Dean felt only a little better than death slightly warmed over. Still, he snapped to attention when the order came and waited for the usual berating treatment from the Sergeant.

The Sergeant walked up and down the lines of men, inspecting them all by eye. Twice he climbed all over men for not having their boots polished to his satisfaction. Once he spent quite some time addressing the shortcomings of one man. Shortcomings which were physical, mental, genetic and ancestral because of a weapon that wasn’t clean enough for him.

“I suppose you’re going to not only kill yourself with a weapon this filthy, but the men on your right and left as well when it blows up. FALL OUT, clean that thing and get back into formation. You have three minutes.”

“But Sergeant, the arms room Sergeant said it was okay.”

“Do you see him here? I thought not. Fall out and clean that thing. You now have two minutes and forty-five seconds.”

The man did as he was told. He moved to the front steps of the barracks, sat down, broke out his cleaning kit and went to work. Dean was happy when his weapon passed the Sergeant’s critical eye. But the Sergeant leaned close and told him,

“You’re starting to look like a girl. When we get back I want your hair high and tight within an hour.”

“Yes Sergeant.” Was Dean’s only response, he knew his hair cut was well within regulations. But if the Sergeant wanted it shorter, it was best to please him. He would visit the post barber once they got back. The Sergeant finished his inspection of the men and moved to the front of the formation. He turned to face them and spoke of the mission ahead.

“All right, you ape’s. Listen up. This is a simple mission. You will be transported by truck to the disembarkation point. From there
you will be led to the place of operations. Once there, you will surround the building and capture everyone inside. You will go room to room in your search and miss no one and nothing. We know how many people are inside. If the count comes up short one or more of you will take their places. So don’t screw up. You aren’t worth what you are paid, but it costs the government a lot to get you trained to the barely acceptable level you have reached. If we have to train replacements, that is going to make the government upset. They will want me to explain why that happened. That will make me upset with you. Trust me you don’t want that to happen. Now, fall out and fall in on the trucks.”

The platoon turned as one man and began to move in an orderly fashion to the waiting trucks. This drill had been done countless times before and each man moved according to well practiced routine. Dean climbed aboard the truck waiting for him. As always he was the third man from the tailgate on the right hand side of the truck. He thought how he could so easily do this in his sleep he had done it so often. Still, he sat there and waited as the other trucks loaded up with men and weapons. In less than five minutes each truck was filled and they began their journey. Dean leaned back against the side of the truck, hoping that he might be able to get a few more winks of sleep, to ease his pounding head, before he had to go into action.

Action! That was a joke. There was never any real action. This wasn’t like it had been during the war. All they had to do was surround the building, order the Christians out, load them into the waiting vans and busses, or cattle cars as they were called and ship them off to the re-education camps. Okay, sometimes some of them would make a break for it and be shot down. But
that wasn’t like combat. It was more like target practice. Those sheep never fired back. They just ran like the cowards they were. He almost wished for some real action. The kind where you either won or it didn’t matter anymore. That kind of thing made a man feel alive. But that kind of action went away when the war had ended and the ‘space brothers’ had arrived.

While he rode along in the truck Dean’s mind began to question the entire situation. He wasn’t stupid, but some things were beyond him. One for example was, why did the ‘brothers’ seem to hate the Christians and Jews so much? True they had wanted to ban all forms of religion, but they really seemed to have a passion about wiping out the Christians and Jew completely. But at the same time they seemed to be the most harmless of them all. Whenever they raided one of their hideouts, the Christians or Jews would, for the most part, meekly submit and get on the busses. Some few would always try to run for it. Sometimes they actually managed to escape, but that number couldn’t be more than ten percent of the total. Maybe the ‘brothers’ didn’t like them because of their passiveness. That was possible he supposed.

A short time later the truck slowed and turned into a parking lot for them to disembark. Dean put his questions out of his mind to concentrate on the raid. After all, it was the old poem said, ‘Theirs was not to reason why, theirs was but to do or die.’ He was just happy that the ‘die’ part hadn’t yet to find him. Now as long as Willie didn’t do anything to change that, all would be good and maybe he could get back to bed by four A.M. before he had to get up again at five-thirty to start the regular duty day. He was grateful that the aspirin had started to kick in and the pounding
in his head was easing a bit. He hoped tonight was going to be an easy raid, but prepared himself for the worst.

Heather and Margret her sister, ‘Mags’ to her friends, stepped out of the safe house they had been sheltered in. It was getting close to three in the morning, yet neither of the young women could sleep. Speaking quietly so as to not wake anyone else, they agreed to step out into the night for some fresh air. It really wasn’t a house, it was a warehouse. It had the benefit of multiple rooms that could be used as sleeping bays by multiple people. Girls and women were placed together in some of them, men and boys in others. Occasionally there were families that would occupy rooms with other families. It was all quite crowded and hopefully only a short stop until a safe place could be found for them to hide on a more permanent basis.

“What is it, Mags?” Heather asked her sister. “Usually neither of us has trouble sleeping. But tonight, here we are wide awake and walking around outside.”

“I don’t know about you, but I have this feeling that something bad is about to happen. It doesn’t matter how much I pray or how hard I try, I just can’t find peace on the matter. It’s like The Lord wants us out of here. But where would we go?” Mags answered.

“I’m sorry to hear you say that. I have the same feeling. You’re right. I feel like everything is about to change, and not for the better.”


“That still leaves the questions. Where do we go and how do we get there?”

“I think we need to pray about it.”

“I have been.”

“Then one more won’t hurt. Come on, I’ll start.”

Before the sisters could even begin to pray, a large rock thumped into the ground near them and rolled towards their feet. Looking in the direction it had come from they saw a young man, halfway hidden by bushes signaling them to come to him.

“Aaron, what are you doing?” Heather demanded.

“Shh, come here, quietly and quickly.” He almost whispered.

“Why?” Mags wanted to know.

“Look.” Aaron pointed down the street. The girls looked and could plainly see a group of soldiers headed right for the warehouse. It
was obvious, their secret was out and the government was moving in on them.

The girls half ducked and ran as quickly as they could to Aaron. He pulled them into the brush and quietly herded them further away from the warehouse. They had moved about twenty yards into the brush when Aaron called a halt to their flight.

“Get down and be quiet. If we make any noise they are going to find us.”

“Then we should keep running.” Heather said.

“They’re too close. They’ll hear us. Just stay down, stay quiet and pray like you never have before.”

The girls followed his directions, and were soon glad they did. Several soldiers were spotted moving through the woods between them and the way they had been moving. If they had continued on, they would have been caught. The soldiers passed them and moved to the back of the warehouse. They took up positions just inside the line of brush and aimed their weapons at the building. Soon several vehicles pulled into the parking lot around the building and searchlights came on, turning the night into almost daytime brightness. A loud speaker sounded.

“You in the building, you are surrounded. Drop any weapons you have and come out with your hands up. Anyone surrendering will not be harmed. Anyone resisting will be shot on sight. Come out now, or we WILL come in and find you.”

Silence was the only answer at first. Then a man’s voice came out of the building.

“Give us time. We have some old folks in here. They don’t move to fast and a couple of them have to be carried. We have children too.”

“Then carry the old ones out here right now, or we will come in and make sure there is no resistance.”

“For the love of God, you wouldn’t shoot unarmed civilians.”

“You stupid Christians, I’ve done it before. What makes you special? Now get out here RIGHT NOW, or we will fire.”

“We’re coming, we’re coming. Hold your fire.”

The door to the warehouse slowly swung open. A white flag on a pole was the first thing to appear. It was followed by a middle aged man holding it.


“Don’t shoot. We surrender.”

“Get your sorry butts out here where we can see you.”

The man waved at the group behind him and slowly they began to emerge from the door.

“Put anyone over fifty-five on the left. The rest of you, move to the right.” Was the command given.

Soon the division was completed and a head count begun. The Sergeant was expecting to find thirty seven people. He wasn’t pleased when the count found only thirty two.

“It looks like we have a few resistors inside, men. Go find them and bring their bodies here.”

The order was clear. Anyone found inside the building now was a target, not a prisoner. Dean moved in with his squad. Methodically they went from room to room, checking each one as well as the floors for trap doors and the walls for hidden compartments. They were almost halfway done when Dean and Willis entered a room to find an old man on a bed. He looked at them and said,

“Have mercy. I can’t walk. I will do what you ask, but I need help.”

“Don’t worry about it old man.” Willie responded. “You don’t have to move no more.”

With that, Willie shot him twice in the head. He grinned at Dean.

“Shoot man, taking out these resistors is getting easier and easier.”

He then moved to the next room. Dean moved to the body of the old man. Cradled in his hands was a Bible. For some reason he picked it up and opened it to the presentation page. The writing there read;

‘To Mags, on your conformation day. May The Lord always watch over you and keep you from harm.’

Dean looked again at the old man. He hadn’t been afraid. He only wanted a chance to comply, given his infirmity. What was it in this stupid book that made people act like that?

“Time to go.” Aaron whispered.

The girls started to follow when Mags spoke up.

“I can’t believe it.”

“What?” Heather asked.

“I lost my Bible.”

“Then let’s hope whoever finds it needs it more than you do. Let’s go.”

[day late]

Chapter Two

It had been an easy night as Dean had hoped. Command had told them that there were thirty seven Christians in the warehouse. Thirty two had surrendered and two more had been shot for resisting arrest. That meant only three had escaped somehow. It was possible that they had left before the unit had arrived. If that were true then they couldn’t be held accountable for that. These places always had people coming and going. Getting an exact count was nearly impossible. But most importantly, nobody in his unit had even been shot at, let alone injured or killed. Still the loss of three people bothered him. He didn’t want to be selected to take the place of one of them. He went to the Platoon Sergeant.

“Sergeant, we were supposed to get thirty seven people tonight. Now I know that no one got by my squad, but what about the other three?”

“The other two, you mean.”

“Sergeant?”

“Soldier, do you really think that the government is going to waste time, money and personnel to chase after shadows? Yes the count was thirty seven, but one of them was ours. We aren’t going to detain that person. That means only two got out. That is an acceptable loss, considering that our agent went with them to
find another safe house. Don’t concern yourself with that. Your squad did well tonight and I will report that to higher. Right now you need to get your gear squared away and grab some rack time. We may need you early. If not, do something about that hair.”

“Yes Sergeant.”

Dean returned to his bunk, stripped off his web gear and got out his weapons cleaning kit. True he hadn’t used the rifle, but simple exposure to the elements was bound to have caused dust to settle in the barrel and his sweat could cause rust on the outside of the rifle if not properly cleaned and oiled. As he worked on the weapon, twice he felt a bump on his arm from something in his pocket. Bothered by the disturbance he checked to see what it was. Dean was shocked when he found Mag’s small Bible there. He didn’t remember putting it in his pocket. He was certain he didn’t want anyone else to see what was there. The simple possession of that book could get him into deep trouble. He quickly closed the flap on the pocket and continued with his cleaning. He hoped that nobody had seen that book. He wondered when and why he had picked it up. But what was more important was what was he going to do with it now?

He certainly couldn’t keep it. Not that he wanted to keep it. This book would do nothing but get him into trouble and possibly shot. But he couldn’t just walk over to the garbage can and throw it in. In the barracks like this someone was bound to see him do it. If he waited until ‘lights out’ it was still likely someone would notice. If they checked to see what he was doing, he’d be caught. He
could try to hide it in his wall locker until he was off duty and dispose of it then. But what if there was an inspection? It would be found and he would have to explain it, which he couldn’t. Dean slept in an upper bunk, so hiding the book under his mattress was out. Maybe under his pillow, but then there was the same danger of an unannounced inspection. It began to look as if his best option was to leave the book in his pocket and when he undressed put the clothes in the laundry bag tied to the end of his bunk. There were a number of places between his bunk and the washing machines and dryers where he could quietly get rid of the troublesome thing. That was his best course of action, but it would have to wait until morning. Nobody did laundry at four A.M. Dean finished cleaning his weapon and returned it to the arms room. He returned to the barracks, undressed then stuffed his clothes in the laundry bag along with their disturbing contents and crawled into his bunk. Try as he might, he couldn’t get more than a couple of minutes of sleep at a time for the rest of the night. Knowing that he could be discovered at any moment ruined his sleep.

Five thirty and ‘first call’ came far too soon. Dean groaned and climbed out of his bunk. He opened his wall locker, pulled out a fresh uniform and began to dress. Willie, who was still very much under the influence of alcohol looked at him strangely.

“Hey man, why are you putting on a clean uniform? You know we have PT first thing in the morning.”

“I brushed up against something with thorns in the dark last night. I’m not going to spend the rest of the day being eaten up by those things.” Dean lied.

“Oh yeah man. I know what you mean. Did I ever tell you about the time I stepped on a cactus?”

Willie had told him, of course. Every time he told the story he had more and more thorns in his foot and had to walk further and further distances to get help. Dean was sure that one day he would be told how the foot had to be amputated. Still in order not to raise suspicions he let Willie tell the story once more with no comment. By five forty-five they were on the street in front of the barracks doing their morning exercises followed by the usual two mile jog. Shortly after six forty-five, they returned to their starting point and were released to clean up and get breakfast. They had done their exercises in t-shirts which were not soaking wet with sweat. The men went inside, changed them and put on the shirt to the uniform of the day. Then one by one they made their way to the mess hall to get their morning meal.

With the worries Dean had on his mind, he didn’t feel much like eating. But he decided that the last thing he wanted was for anyone to notice he was in any way different. He got his usual scrambled eggs and bacon with toast and a large mug of coffee. As always the eggs were a little runny, the bacon not nearly crisp enough and greasy, the toast was burnt, but the coffee was hot, strong and black. He added some sugar to it and sat down to eat. He tried to join in the chatter around the table about the previous night’s raid but actually said very little.


“Hey Dean, why are you so quiet? Didn’t you have any fun last night?”

“Not really. I was on the flank and nobody came out anywhere near me. The only excitement I had was when the Sergeant sent me and Willis in to clean the place and Willie was the one who capped the resistors.”

“What, are you getting slow in your old age, letting a juicer like him pop those guys?”

“Nah, it’s nothing like that. He just was the first one in the rooms where they were hiding, that’s all. It could happen to anyone.”

The other soldier nodded in understanding.

“I know what you mean. We had a raid about three weeks before you transferred in. None of them wanted to surrender. When we were clearing the building there was this one really fine looking babe. I mean FINE looking, boy. But I was the last one in the room so the other guys got to her first. Then you know what happened? When the guy in front of me got finished he somehow let her get his sidearm. The girl shot herself, right there in front of me. I didn’t even get a chance to drop my drawers. Such a waste, boy I’m telling you. She would have been really good for us during R&R.”


Dean nodded in agreement with him and went back to his meal. With his mouth full he didn’t have to speak. He listened to the other men both joke and complain about the mission. He heard them laugh and joke about how the men were beaten into the busses, some with broken bones and all with bruises. The noise got louder as they commented on how the women and girls had screamed and cried as they were sent to different busses and were separated from the men. They also complained about how it was unfair that if the women were outside, they were immediately herded onto the buss, but if they were inside the higher command didn’t care what happened to them as long as they didn’t escape. Dean was almost finished eating when the orderly for the companies First Sergeant walked up to him and spoke.

“Hey, Top wants to see you right after formation. Don’t keep him waiting.”

Dean said he would be at Top’s office as soon as he was dismissed, as a chill ran up and down his spine. Had they found the book? Was he going to be arrested and maybe executed? He didn’t know and had no way to tell. If the Platoon Sergeant had found it, it was likely he would drag Dean to the Top Kick’s office by himself. That way he would get the credit for a job well done. But who knew? Maybe Top had given orders that Top was to be the first one to ‘have a talk’ with any resistors. That had happened before with other units. Dean did his best not to shake as he thought about how to explain having that hated book in his possession.


After breakfast the company formed up in front of the barracks to get their orders for the morning, as always. Dean was singled out as someone that was needed in headquarters and relieved of duty for this morning. Once dismissed, Dean headed for his appointment with dread on his mind. He was surprised when the Platoon Sergeant caught up with him and spoke.

“Soldier, Top has some very serious things to talk with you about. You’d be best advised to just keep your mouth shut and answer him only when asked too.” He said gruffly.

Dean was certain. They had found the book. Now he was going to pay for his mistake and it was such an innocent one. Maybe he could get off light if he could convince them that he was just trying to gather intelligence while on the raid. It wasn’t until later that he realized what he had picked up. Maybe that would work. He hoped so. The two men entered the headquarters building and when straight to the First Sergeants office. The Platoon Sergeant knocked on the door and was told, “Come in.”

“First Sergeant, this is the man you wanted to see.”

“He doesn’t look like much. Are you sure he can do the job?”

“I am First Sergeant. He’s the closest thing I have to those resistors. He doesn’t curse much, only drinks occasionally and at
this time, with him looking more and more like a girl, it should only be a couple of weeks before his hair is long enough.”

“I’ll take your word for it Sergeant. Soldier, take a seat. I want to talk to you about a very special mission.”

Relief flooded through every part of Dean’s body. They hadn’t found the book. But then what was this all about? Dean sat in the nearest chair and waited.

“Soldier, higher command has run into a problem. It seems that our infiltrators into these resistance groups are becoming a little too well known. Four of them were spotted as they tried to join one or another of these groups. Three of them were killed and the fourth is in a coma. We need fresh faces to find these groups, infiltrate them, then report back their location so they can be rounded up and dealt with. Higher wants it and the ‘space brothers’ demand it.

I won’t lie to you. This is a risky business at best. If you get caught, there won’t be any rescue mission to get you out. You will most likely die. But it is an important job and one that has to be done if we are going to convince the ‘brothers’ that we are worthy of their help in rebuilding this nation. We NEED their help in rebuilding, I’m sure you know. Because of the nature of the mission, I can’t order you to accept it. But I can promise you that successfully completing a mission brings with it certain rewards. For every group you infiltrate and turn in you will receive promotion, which brings increased pay and privileges. If you
complete fifteen missions you will have the right to retire with full benefits and high rank at an early age. What do you say?”

“I’m stunned First Sergeant. Don’t get me wrong but I mean why me? I’ve been told by former girl friends that I wear my emotions on my sleeve. Don’t you think that will give me away?”

“Not necessarily. Those Christians act the same way. And we aren’t going to send you in cold. You heard the Sergeant say that your hair will be long enough that you won’t look military in a few weeks. You will use that time in training for the mission. By the time you are sent out, you will be ready. You may even want to start a beard to help your cover. So what do you say? Will you volunteer?”

Dean’s head was swimming. He had gone from being arrested to being handpicked for secret missions in a matter of moments.

“First Sergeant, I really don’t want to leave the platoon. We’ve been together for so long. But I realize how important this job is. It’s a lot to think about. Can I have an hour to think it over?”

The First Sergeant leaned back in his chair. “Of course. If you had jumped at it, I would have wondered if you WERE the right man for the job. After all, like I told you, if anything goes wrong, you are on your own. That’s risking a lot, I would expect you to think about it first. Very well, you have one hour and then report back to me. Dismissed.”


Dean stood and he and the Platoon Sergeant left together. They had just left the building when the Sergeant spoke to him.

“I don’t know how much it means to you, but right now you are a specialist fourth class. If you complete four missions you will outrank me.” He clapped Dean on the back and grinned at him. A very unnatural look for him, Dean thought. “Son, if you make it back from ten missions, I’ll probably have to salute you. That’s just something to think about.”

“I will think about it Sergeant. If you don’t mind, I’d like to spend this time in the barracks for some peace and quiet while I make up my mind.”

“Of course, of course, you go right ahead. You’re on detached duty anyway. Just make sure you don’t keep Top waiting. He isn’t a patient man.”

“I won’t Sergeant, and thank you.”

Dean’s boot steps echoed very loudly he thought as he walked through the empty barracks. He returned to the bay where he slept and carefully inspected the laundry bag. It hadn’t been touched. They hadn’t found his secret. Instead of automatically getting to book out and getting rid of it while he had the chance, he sat on the bunk below his and considered things. Somehow, it
seemed he had gotten away with it. He would be transferred to another unit for special training, which meant that nobody there would know him. Surely during the transfer he would find some way, somehow to dump that book. He could achieve rank quickly as long as he was caught and retire early with a full pension. He would have most of the rest of his life to do what he wanted and be answerable to no one, IF he lived through it all. But he wasn’t too concerned about that. He was young, strong, fast on his feet, good in a fight and a good talker. There wasn’t any reason that he could see not to take the job. The thought of his Platoon Sergeant saluting him caused a smile to cross his face. This job was nothing but benefits as far as he could see. And if he died, well the possibility of death was a part of every soldier’s world. You just learned to live with it. But not everyone got a chance like this.

Then there was the matter of the ‘space brothers’. If they learned about what he had done, surely they would provide him with rewards of their own. Who knew or could even guess what they might be? He had heard stories about such rewards. Usually he considered them to be just tall tales. But what if there was truth to them? After nearly an hour, Dean stood, straightened the bed he had been sitting on and began to pack his duffel bag. He got the book out of his laundry bag and returned it to his pocket. From long practice the packing went quickly and he was soon on his way back to Top’s office. For a day that had started so questionably, it was turning out to be one of the best days of his life.

“Mags, why are you so upset? We can find you another Bible someplace.” Heather asked.


“That was my conformation Bible. It’s special to me. On my conformation day I could have sworn that God showed me that it would always be mine, and now I’ve lost it.”

“Listen girls let’s keep that kind of talk quiet, okay?” Aaron said to them. “Having someone overhear you is the last thing we want. Heather, are you sure the next safe house is this way?”

“No, but our contact point is. Nobody wants to give away the addresses. That’s why we send a message first, then they contact us.”

[day late]

Chapter Three

“Margret, I know the book was special to you. But it is just a Bible. They all have the same words printed in them. Can’t you make do with another one?” Aaron asked.

“Well, mine is a King James, not one of the more modern versions and I know, and you’re right. But it meant something special to me. By the way, call me Mags.”

“Okay, Mags, I understand it was special. But we have to keep moving. A lost Bible is sad, but a lost life is worse. And remember what The Bible says,

Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

If you lost that Bible, then someone who needs it will find it. Of that I’m sure. Heather, how do we make contact with the safe house?”

“As I said, we don’t. They make contact with us.”

“How do they do that?”


“You go to the rest room in that gas station.” She pointed across the street.

“What are you talking about?”

“You get into the first stall, then you write 123 Oak Street on the upper right hand side of the wall and you write three behind the address. That lets them know how many to expect. After that, you leave. In a couple of hours you go back and see what someone else has written. THAT’S the address we go to.”

“And that will be the safe house?”

“No. That will be the place they check us out to see if we are for real or just imposters.”

“Why wouldn’t we be real?”

“There are a lot of spies out there who would like nothing better than to find out who and where we are.”

‘Yeah, that makes sense. You’re sure it’s this gas station?”

“As sure as I can be all I know is that’s what I was told. You better get moving, have you got a pen or something?”

“Yeah, I’ve got one. But why don’t you go since you know all about this?”

“Because, people might think it a little strange seeing a woman go into a men’s rest room.”

“What if I wasn’t here?”

“Then I would do something else. Aaron are you going or not?”

“I’m on my way. No need to get like that.”

Aaron moved away from the sisters towards the gas station rest room. As he did Mags leaned towards her sister and said,

“You were a little harsh with him, don’t you think?”

“Mags, before we got separated from Mom and Dad I promised them to do everything I could to keep us safe. Aaron was just being a pain and asking too many questions at exactly the wrong time. We don’t need to be seen standing here in the street. People will get curious and start asking questions that we don’t
want to answer. Either that or they will just call the cops to check us out. We don’t want that to happen for sure. We needed him to get moving fast. So I had to push him a bit, that’s all.”

“I guess so, but I think you could have been nicer about it. He’s kind of cute.”

“You think every single guy is cute.”

“Not all of them, just the ones that are.”

“Mags I can’t remember the last time you told me a guy was ugly.”

“I told you that about a month ago. Don’t you remember Cecil?”

“Cecil wasn’t ugly. He was disfigured when he got burned during the war. I can overlook something like that.”

“I’ll bet you wouldn’t kiss him.”

“How could I? Half of his mouth was messed up by the burn. I don’t think he could have puckered up if his life depended on it.”

“Well, maybe not but you have to admit that Aaron is kind of cute.”

“I’ll admit he isn’t ugly, but he isn’t my type.”

“You’re just too picky.”

“Maybe, but you could stand to be a little more picky yourself. Come on, let’s go over to that coffee shop and get a cup. Just standing here is going to make people notice us.”

“What about Aaron?”

“When he comes back we can call him over. There is nothing strange about that.”

The girls walked over to the store and ordered two small cups of coffee. The shop was almost empty. With the way prices were most people couldn’t afford anything more. But with the way prices were the people working at the shop were happy for even that small amount of business. The coffee was delivered to their outside table and paid for. After the waiter had gone back inside Heather told her sister,

“Sip it slowly. We don’t know how long this is going to take Aaron.”


“What do you mean? All he has to do is write on the wall.”

“What if somebody is in the first stall when he gets there? He has to wait until they leave and not look suspicious while he is doing it.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that.”

“That’s okay now let’s talk about something that won’t make us look suspicious.”

“All right, how did Mom and Dad die? You were there, and I wasn’t.”

Heather gazed into her cup for a few moments before answering.

“Are you sure you want to know this? It isn’t pleasant and you might feel bad about Dad.”

“Heather, you’ve never told me what happened and I want to know. I have a right to know. They were my parents too. So what happened?”

Heather sighed and with a heavy heart began the tale.

“The Russians dropped some paratroopers behind the American lines. They landed very close to our house. There weren’t any of our soldiers anywhere near us. All we had were the local cops, and they were outnumbered by at least fifty to one. They didn’t last long. The Russians moved into town and started going from house to house. They killed a lot of people just because they were there. Dad saw them coming down the street and got that M-16 that the Army gave him. He told Mom and me to stay inside and went out onto the front porch by that brick wall we had. He knelt down behind it and started shooting. I think he was hoping that our neighbors would do the same thing, but they were too scared. They just tried to hide or run away. Dad was out there by himself.

After a little while, Dad came back inside and told us,

“I can’t stop them. There are too many. Joyce, Heather, I can’t let them take you.”

It was weird. Mom looked at Dad and said,

“I know Lloyd. Just do it.”

“I love you Joyce. Please forgive me.”


“There’s nothing to forgive. I love you too.”

Mags, Dad shot Mom right in the head. He looked at me and said,

“Heather, please understand this is a better way than letting them take you.”

Dad pointed the rifle at me and I knew he was right, but I couldn’t help it. I ducked into my bedroom before he could shoot. Just at that time the Russians reached our house. One of them threw a grenade into the living room and it killed Dad. I don’t remember much after that. I hid and prayed. Somehow they didn’t find me and left for the next house. I hid for a long time after that. I didn’t come out until after dark. Then I made my way into town and found you. You know everything that has happened after that.”

Margret remained quiet for a long time after hearing the story. She slowly sipped her coffee and thought about it. After several minutes she spoke.

“You’re wrong Heather. I don’t feel bad about Dad. I guess he did the only thing he could to keep something worse from happening. I wish the three of you had run for it. Maybe if you had we would all be together right now. But Dad wasn’t like that. He always said he would rather die on his feet than live on his knees. Dad
did everything he could to protect our home, Mom and you. That’s nothing to feel bad about.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. I was so worried that you would hate Dad for what he did. Oh look, here comes Aaron.”

The girls put down their cups and waited for him to get to their side of the street. When he had, they called to him and waved him over to them.

“Girls, it isn’t wise to attract so much attention.”

“Aaron, what we did shows we have nothing to hide. It’s exactly the kind of thing everyone else does. Relax a little. Do you want a sip of my coffee?” Heather said to him.

“Do you take cream?”

“No.”

“Then no thanks, I do.”

“Aaron, take a sip. Or at least pretend too. That’s what normal people do.”


“Okay.” Aaron picked up the cup and sipped it. Then he got a look on his face of absolute disgust. “How much sugar did you put in that thing?”

“Just two teaspoons.”

“In a small cup? It’s a wonder you don’t have diabetes.”

“Oh hush. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to drink it. How did things go over there?”

“I had to wait for a guy to get out of the first stall. I swear my hands have never been this clean. I spent several minutes just washing them so I wouldn’t attract attention.”

“But you left the message.”

“Yeah I did. So what do we do now? You said we would need to wait for a few hours.”

“We are going to finish our coffee and then we will all go window shopping.”

“Window shopping, are you serious? We need to get off the street, not parade up and down it.”

“Aaron when people try to hide they attract attention. But if we just walk around like everyone else does, we look just like everyone else. Window shopping has become the national past time since nobody has the money to do anything more. Didn’t you know that?”

“Don’t get me wrong, but walking up and down the block with two blondes that they are looking for doesn’t seem real smart to me.”

“If what you said was true, you would be right. But you’re wrong.” Heather told him.

“What do you mean?”

“Mags and I are natural brunettes. When they started looking for us we dyed our hair. It makes a world of difference in our appearance.” Heather reached into her handbag, pulled out her wallet and flipped it open to a picture of the two of them during happier times. “Don’t you think?”

Aaron looked at the picture and at the girls. They seemed to be different people.


“I’ll say you look different. You don’t look like the same girls at all. What made you think of that?”

“It’s called ‘hide in plain sight’. If you have to move around, then you don’t try to completely change the way you look. You do things that will make people say that you kind of look like yourself, but obviously it can’t be you. Everyone who knew us before knew us as brunettes. Now they see two blondes walking down the street and they say ’Don’t they look like Heather and Mags? It’s not them of course but they sure do look like them.’ They become so sure that we are not us, they never even question it.”

“I’ll be. I would have never thought of that. Can you think of a way to make myself look different?”

“You could start by getting rid of that mustache.”

“What about using a false nose or something?”

“I wouldn’t suggest that. A false nose looks like a false nose unless it is done by a professional makeup artist. You don’t have to do anything major, just do enough to make people doubt what they are seeing. For example, you tend to have bad posture, you sort of hunch over at the shoulders. We need to find a back brace that you can wear under your shirt. That will make you stand
upright. People will say it looks like you, but that guy doesn’t have a mustache and he stands up straight, so it can’t be you.”

“It looks like I have a lot to learn.”

Dean arrived at the training facility with four other men and a woman. He had his duffle bag over his shoulder. The first thing he heard was a command he thought he would never hear.

“All right people drop those bags and strip off those uniforms. If you have any personal items you have to keep, grab them now. From this point on you will dress, act, think and speak like civilians.”

“Sir, I don’t have any civilian clothing.” A man at the end of the line said.

The man who had given the order was dressed as a civilian, so his rank couldn’t be determined. He walked over to the man who had spoken.

“What’s your name?”

“Corporal Dunsten, Sir.”

“First name?”

“Charles.”

The man then reached out and hit Dunsten as hard as he could in the face, knocking him to the floor.

“I TOLD YOU! You will dress, act, think and speak like civilians. Civilians don’t have ranks, Charles. I am John. You will address me as such. Make that mistake again and you will pay for it. All right, everybody strip to your shorts. Clothing will be provided later. Behind you are small ditty bags. All personal items will be placed in there and carried with you at all times. If you lose them, I don’t care. So don’t come crying to me. Now strip.”

Dean grabbed one of the ditty bags and placed his personal items into it, to include the undiscovered Bible. He then joined the others in removing his clothing and remained in line for inspection. ‘John’ walked down the line of volunteers looking them over carefully. Stepping behind them he walked the other direction, checking the labels on the underwear each of them were wearing. He stopped with Dean.

“Strip off those jockey shorts.”

“Si…I mean, why John?”


“They have a military issue label in them. Get rid of them right now.”

“Okay, John.”

Dean did as he was told, and felt terribly exposed standing there nude from the waist down. John looked at the label and called to another man standing nearby.

“We need size 30 jockeys for this man.”

The other man reached behind a counter and pulled out a pair of underwear. He tossed it to John.

“Put these on.” He told Dean. “We don’t need you walking around showing off what Mother Nature gave you.”

Happily, Dean ripped open the package and put on the garment. As he did so, John walked back out in front of the group.

“Lady and gentlemen, from the moment you walked in here there is no longer any rank. I am John. I know Charles and I will learn the names of the rest of you as we go along. I AM NOT your superior officer, I am your boss. You will forget every military
custom and courtesy you ever learned. YOU WILL become just like the people out there walking the streets right now. People, you have volunteered for a very dangerous assignment. I will tell you now that only twelve percent of our volunteers ever get to the retirement stage. Of the five of you, I expect that four of you will make a mistake somewhere along the line and you will die. So let us be clear. If any of you think that you cannot carry out this mission, say so now. You will be returned to your unit with no marks against your name. You may return to the same duty that you have preformed up to date. If you chose to continue, you will run the risk of detection and elimination every day you serve in this assignment. Is there anyone here who wants to opt out?”

Dean stood mute, as did the other four. John waited a full two minutes before speaking again.

“Very well. We have five volunteers. All of you are already screwing up. We are civilians. We do not stand at attention. That’s what soldiers do. Fix it.”

Dean slid his right foot to the side and crossed his arms over his chest. The others made similar adjustments to their posture.

“That’s better.” said John. “But YOU.” He pointed at Dean. “You’re fine from the waist up but the lower half of your body looks like you are at ‘Parade Rest’. Don’t be so stiff. Put all of your weight on one foot or the other and relax the one without the weight.”

Dean did so and realized that unlearning all of the forms of military procedure were going to be more difficult than he thought. He raised his right hand.

“John, can I ask a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you really think that people are going to notice something so trivial?”

“Name?”

“I’m Dean.”

“Let me tell you something Dean. When this outfit was started we went out in teams. My partner and I infiltrated a group like the ones you will infiltrate. We were at a meeting one night when Mark made the mistake of standing just like you were. He was spotted and detained for questioning. During that questioning the label on his underwear was checked. Like you, he was wearing military issue. They killed him and went looking for me, since we had infiltrated together. I took a bullet in my left leg escaping from them and barely managed to get out of there with my life.
All of you must remember. The people you will be hunting KNOW they are being hunted. That makes them very cautious and very
alert to the smallest detain. One mistake is all it takes and you will never get the chance to retire. Now, all of you go through that door and we will get started on your training. And DON’T march!

[day late]

Chapter Four

Dean was more correct in his assumption than he knew. After having been in the Army for years all of the marching, training in customs and courtesies and all the rest of it had been ingrained so deeply they were second nature to him by now. Even with that in mind as he turned to go to the door the ever sharp eye of John was on him and the rest of them.

“Hold it, hold it. All of you get back over here. Don’t you people listen? I said don’t march.”

“But John, we aren’t in step.”

“Name?”

“Molly.”

“Molly you may not be in step, but every one of you is using the standard military thirty inch stride. You might as well be on parade. And when I told you to go to that door all but one of you executed a ‘right face’ movement. Mistakes like that will get you dead. Civilians take whatever length stride they feel like. They scuff their feet as they walk. They are relaxed because nobody is watching them to make sure they do it right. They stick their hands in their pockets as they move along. They will pick their noses or scratch some part of their body. And they don’t do ‘right
face, left face’ turns. Now all of you try it again. You are civilians now. You have nothing to do and not a thought in your head. Be that way. Now go through that door.”

Suitably embarrassed and chastised the group turned more casually and headed for the door. Passing into the next room they found five tables stacked with neatly folded civilian clothing. There was one table for each of them. Next to the tables was an assortment of back packs or small suitcases. John once again spoke.

“That was better, but you all need to work on it some more. That’s okay I’ve got you for the next six to eight weeks. When you leave here you will blend in so well with the rest of the population that you’ll never be noticed. You, Dean isn’t it?”

“Yes John.”

“This is your first test. What is wrong with what is in front of you and how do you fix it? Remember you’re a civilian now.”

Dean thought carefully about the question as he looked at the clothes. He thought about the civilians he had dealt with on the raids he had been on. Then it hit him. He reached out and began to wad up the clothes in front of him, getting rid of the sharp creases and wrinkling them badly.

“WHAT do you call yourself doing?” John demanded.

“John, every time we went on a raid there was not a single civilian in ironed clothes. Every one of them was wearing wrinkled clothing. Irons use electricity and that’s expensive these days. The most people will do is hang their clothes to dry after washing and hope the wind will blow out most of the wrinkles. These are too clean and well ironed to pass on the street.”

John smiled at him.

“What do you know? There is some intelligence in that skull of yours. Lady, gentlemen Dean here is exactly right. If you go walking down the street in those clothes the way they are, you will be spotted before you reach the end of the block. I want every one of you to follow his example. Tell me Dean, which of these bags would you chose to carry your clothes?”

“Today a lot of people are migratory. They might have been displaced by the war, or assigned to war production in some other place. Now they are trying to just get home. Most of the civilians I have seen use back packs and travel light.”

“Very good, there is hope for you. You keep that up and you might last four missions. Select what you are going to take with you and put it in the pack.”

Dean thought about it and picked up the ditty bag. He opened it and dumped the contents into the bottom of the pack. But he wasn’t quick enough. John stopped him.

“What was that book?”

Without waiting for an answer or permission he reached into the pack and pulled out The Bible.

“What are you doing with this?”

Dean answered at once and lied as convincingly as he could.

“John I was sent on one last raid after I volunteered for this mission. While I was clearing the building I found this. I thought that if I’m going to be infiltrating Christian groups it would be a good idea to know how they think and why they think that way. I mean, come on, no reasonable person can doubt that the ‘brothers’ created us. Not with everything they’ve shown us. So I thought that book could explain a few things. It could show me why they are so badly deceived and help me get inside their heads, so to speak.”

John looked at him for a moment before speaking. When he did, he nodded his head in agreement.

“Dean, you DO think ahead. I like that. You just might make it to ten missions. As a matter of fact each of you is going to be given one of these things for those very reasons. We will be studying various passages so that you can give the right answer to any question they ask. For example, have you ever wondered why they don’t just lie about their faith?”

“I did. It seems to me that would be the best way to avoid arrest.”

“To normal people like us that would be correct. But those people are anything but normal. They honestly believe that this book is the real true Word of God. When we start that class I’ll show you something but for now just remember this. This book teaches them;

Mat 10:32 ¶Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

So you see, they can’t deny their God. They believe they will go to Hell if they do. That’s why they never deny being Christian.”

“I never knew that.”


“Well you know it now. So tell me, are you a Christian?”

“Oh no way John, I always thought those people were just too narrow-minded.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. Now, back to your packing, what are you going to take?”

“I will wear one pair of jeans and pack another. I’ll also carry two light shirts for warm weather and a heavier long sleeve shirt for cold weather. None of them will be new, but have that well worn look to them. But I’ll be wearing one of them so there will be only two of them in the pack. After that, I’ll put in a light jacket, a blanket, some socks and an extra pair of underwear. Any remaining space will be taken up with food.”

“Why not take any weapons or ammunition?”

“The war is over and there isn’t a real need to carry them now. Besides, if I’m supposed to be a Christian I should be depending on God to look out for me. I would be expected to turn the other cheek and all that kind of thing. Not carrying a weapon proves I’m peaceful and not a threat to anyone.”

“That’s very good reasoning, but many Christians carry a small handgun with just a few rounds of ammo. Most of the time they move through the wilderness and there are still snakes out there. Don’t worry, you will be provided with one. Why have you selected those clothes?”

“The jeans are the most common type of pants out there today. They are tough and last a long time. The type of shirts and jacket I chose I believe are self-explanatory.”

So it went for the next several weeks. John drilled his infiltrators much like a drill sergeant drills the new recruits he gets in basic training. Yet at the same time it was the exact opposite of what the military taught. The service taught their people to stand erect and speak clearly. John taught them it was expected for them to stoop their shoulders a little bit. Instead of walking with precision, they learned to occasionally drag their feet. They learned not to look a person in the eye all the time they were talking or listening, but to glance around or look down from time to time. One of the hardest things for Dean to remember it was permitted for him to have one or both of his hands in his pockets from time to time. Before long Dean found himself beginning to change. He no longer sat erect in his chair, but leaned back and made himself as comfortable as possible. Instead of the straight line marching with a precise stride, he stooped his shoulders a bit and sort of wandered in a generally straight line, pausing now and then to gaze in a window or look at something lying in the street.

After two weeks of this training he was beginning to become quite sure of himself. Until the day came when John showed him he still
wasn’t ready. The five infiltrators had been called to one of the rooms on the base. Dean was leaning back in a chair with his feet propped up on another one. The other four were acting just as relaxed and unconcerned as he was. They looked around as the door opened and John stepped in. With him was one of the ‘brothers’. John didn’t even pause.

“Group, ATTENTION.”

At the sight of the alien, all of them reverted to their former lives and snapped to attention. John looked disgusted.

“IDIOTS! I need spies and they send me idiots. When are you people going to learn that civilians don’t obey orders like that?”

“But John, surely with your guest we would be expected to show respect.” Charles said.

John shook his head and spoke to the ‘brother’.

“I apologize. They have only been here a short time and still have much to learn.”

The alien casually waved his hand. “Think nothing of it. We made you creatures of habit so that those things that help in your survival would be repeated. The things that don’t help with it
would be eliminated. These people are simply performing as they were created to do.”

John turned back to Charles. “You are a Christian civilian now. You believe the ‘brothers’ are evil. You do not stand and show respect. If at all possible you run away.”

Dean noticed that at the mention of the name Christian, the alien had flinched as if he had been hit. It made him wonder why, but John was still talking.

“This ‘brother’ came here today to see the newest group of infiltrators and how you are progressing in your training. I only wish I could have shown him people who were ready to go, or nearly so. Instead I have to show him you. Trust me, I will remember this embarrassment.”

“Speak softly John.” The ‘brother’ advised. “As you said they still have much to learn.” He turned his attention to the group. “Are there any questions that I might be able to help you with?”

Charles spoke up. “Sir, why is it that the Christians hate you so much?”

Again Dean noticed the very name had a physical affect on the ‘brother’ but said nothing.


“What is your name?”

“Charles.”

“Very well, Charles let me explain some things to you. First we have chosen names from among you since in many cases you couldn’t pronounce our real names. I have chosen the name Mitchell, please use it. The next thing is that name you used for those people is offensive to us. Since the one they follow came from Nazareth, we prefer the title Nazarenes. Use that went you speak to one of us. To answer your question, they do not hate us, they fear us. We are proof that everything they believe in is a lie. That threatens them. They think that if we created them then there is no Heaven for them to go to when they die. And if there is no Heaven, then they have wasted their lives for nothing. Does that answer your question?”

“Almost, Mitchell, but can you tell me what it is in this book that makes them think you are evil?”

Charles pulled out the Bible he had been given to study. Dean saw that this time the ‘brother’ actually took half a step back to get away from the book.

“Charles, put that book on the table behind you and come here. Then I will show you why they think us to be evil.”


Charles turned set The Bible on the table and casually strolled over to the alien, and stood before him. Mitchell turned to John.

“I understand that not all of your volunteers survive their training. Is that true?”

Puzzled John answered, “Yes that’s true.”

“I see.” He turned back to Charles. “The reason they believe we are evil is that we require strict obedience to our ways and laws.”

With that he suddenly and with savage strength back handed Charles in the head so hard that his neck was instantly broken. He fell like a sack of potatoes. Mitchell looked up from the body to the remaining four.

“Never, EVER bring one of those books with all of its lies and fairy tales into the presence of one of us. We are offended by it.” He again spoke to John. “Are these others any less thick in the brain than this one was?”

“They all are. Charles was close to being washed out anyway. This is no loss.”



“I certainly hope they are better. We need to have all of the Nazarenes rounded up as quickly as possible.”

“It will be done, Mitchell.”

“Good, carry on with their training.”

Mitchell left them alone. John spoke to them.

“What Charles just did was stupid. He knew as you all do that the ‘brothers’ are easily upset by anything to do with those people. Don’t make his mistake. Now, each of you grab an arm or leg, pick him up and follow me.”

They did as required and followed John to a large hatchway located in a little used hallway. John opened the hatch and lifted it upwards.

“Put him in there.”

As the four slid the body of Charles into the hatch, Dean heard a low growling noise coming up from somewhere below them.

“What’s down there, John?” He asked.

“Guard dogs. They have to be fed and it’s good if they know what human flesh tastes like.”

Stunned by the implication Dean and the others made their way back to the classroom where they would continue to learn the art of infiltration. Each of them convinced that they would not fail in their studies. The price was too high. One other thing was on Dean’s mind. He didn’t know if the others had seen it, but he saw fear in the eyes of the ‘brother’ when The Bible had been brought into view. What was it in that book that could cause this alien race to be afraid? And his reaction to the book could have been caused by nothing but mindless fear, it was so extreme. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind as he slumped into a chair and began to learn more of what he had to unlearn.

“So was there an answer?” Heather asked Aaron once he had returned to the sisters after checking the men’s room.

“Yes, but it doesn’t make much sense.”

“What did it say?”

“It said; Library, N-F, A-C 3, 7 P.M.”

“That makes perfect sense.” Heather told him.

“I don’t get it.”

“It means we are to go to the non-fiction section of the library at seven o’clock and wait in the row with authors whose names begin with the letters A to C. The number three was to show that’s how many people they are expecting. You see?”

“But, why the library? I mean even in good times not many people spent a lot of time there.”

“These aren’t good times. Even though those creatures are slowly getting the power back to something fairly reliable, the only things on TV and radio is what the government wants us to hear. If people want any real entertainment, the library is just about the only thing left. It is also a very public place. That means they can make contact with us and nothing will seem out of the ordinary.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense. But how will they make contact? It’s not like they can walk up and ask us if we are the Christians they are looking for.”

“That’s true. So we have to be open to anyone who talks to us. We have to really listen to what they say.”


“But what will they say?”

“I have no idea. But whoever it is will say something that will get our attention. Then we need to talk with them and be careful not to say too much because they might not be the people we want to meet.”

“So what do we do now?”

“It’s almost six. I suggest we start for the library right now and make sure we are in the right place at the right time.”

The three of them made it to the library right on time and went to the section indicated and waited. After half an hour a young woman walked up to Aaron and asked him.

“Can you help me?”

“I can try. What’s the problem?”

My friend found a piece of a puzzle in the men’s room at the gas station. I came here to find the answer for it. Maybe you know what it is.”

“Let me see it.”

She held out a card, on it was drawn an arch.

“That’s all I have.”

Aaron looked at it, pulled his pen from a pocket and drew another arch. Together they made the sign of a fish.

“Do you think that is the answer?”

[day late]

Chapter Five

“That’s an interesting answer.”

“Where did your friend find the puzzle piece?”

“I was in the rest room of a gas station.”

“I think I know the place. Isn’t it across the street from a coffee shop?”

“Yes it is.”

“So what do you think of my answer?”

“I think it sounds pretty good. By the way, I’m Mary.” She held out her hand to him.

“I’m pleased to meet you Mary. I’m Aaron, and I have some friends I’d like you to meet.”

“How many friends?”

“Only two of them, and they are sisters and both women like you.”

“I’d love to meet them.”

Aaron led Mary back to the place where Heather and Mags were seated.

“Ladies, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. This is Mary. She is interested in puzzles that people find in all kinds of places, like gas stations. Mary, this is Heather and her sister Margret.”

“I’m pleased to meet you both.” Mary said. “Tell me, are you interested in puzzles like the one I showed to Aaron?”

“Well, we haven’t seen the one you showed to Aaron, but we do like that kind of thing.” Mags told her.

“Let me show it to you.” Mary answered. She pulled a card from her pocket and drew an arch on it. Then she handed it to the sisters. “Can you complete the puzzle?”

The young women looked at it, and then at each other without a word being said. Mags addressed Mary.

“Can I borrow your pen?”

Mary handed it over and like Aaron she completed the puzzle and gave it back. She then asked,

“What do you think of that?”

“I think it is the right answer, but you have to tell me something.” Mary leaned closer to the women and quietly asked, “Who is Jesus Christ?”

Mags carefully glanced around to be certain they would not be overheard.

“He is the only begotten Son of The Father, He was born of a virgin, …”

Mary stopped her with a wave of her hand. Turning to Aaron she said,

“You continue this.”

“He lived a sinless life and died on the cross for our salvation. He was raised on the third day and ascended into Heaven where He waits for the day of His return.”


Again Mary waved her hand. She looked at Heather.

“You finish it.”

“On His return we will reign with Him as kings and priests. What is this all about?”

“We have to be sure about you. If there had been only one of you that person would have given the entire answer. Since you are together, I had to get each of you to give me part of it. Now I feel more comfortable.”

Heather looked surprised but said,

“I guess the makes sense. So what happens now? Do we go to a safe house or something?”

“It’s ‘or something’. When we leave here I’m taking you to a place where you can be checked out a little better.”

“Why? Didn’t we give the right answer?”

“I think you did, but I could be mistaken. The last perfect person to walk this Earth rode a colt into Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. All right, this is how we have to work it. I’m sure you’ve noticed groups of more than three people attract attention. So we are going to break up into two groups. Since you two are obviously sisters it’s only natural that you would walk together. Aaron and I will pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend and leave together. The two of you will follow us about twenty feet or so behind us.

This next part is important. If anything happens, like the military or police stopping us, you two just keep on walking. Act like you’ve never seen us before. Then get out of sight as soon as you can. If you can, go back to the station and leave a message in the last stall in the women’s restroom. We’ll do what we can to get to you. If it happens the other way around, Aaron and I will have to just walk away and leave you. Understand?”

The sisters nodded. Mary looked at Aaron, smiled and said,

“The war may be over, but there is still a nine o’clock curfew. So my handsome boyfriend, we had better get going.”

“As you wish, my lovely lady.” He answered and gallantly held out his arm for her. Mary took it, snuggled close to him and they started to leave the library. Mags looked at Heather.

“That sure seems well planned out.”


“I’m sure she’s had to do it before. Come on, we don’t want to lose sight of them.”

When the sisters reached the front door of the building, Heather thought they might be a little too close for comfort. She stopped for a moment and casually stretched as if she had been seated inside for a long time. Glancing around she saw no sign they were being watched. She signaled Mags and they walked down the steps, turning at the bottom to follow the other couple. The girls couldn’t help but see that Mary was making it obvious, she and Aaron were in love and out for an evening stroll. She stayed close to him and would occasionally laugh at something he had said. She then snuggled closer and slipped her arm around his waist. Aaron did the same and they kept on slowly moving down the street.

For reasons unknown to her, Heather actually began to feel a little jealous. She didn’t know why. It wasn’t like she and Aaron had ever meant anything to one another. They had barely gotten a chance to know each other before the raid that put them out on the street. Mags commented on the performance, which didn’t help at all. Eventually she decided that even though she knew it was nothing but a show, Mary was acting like she had something Heather hadn’t had for quite some time. Namely a man of her own to hold her like Aaron was holding Mary. Her last boyfriend had gotten caught in another raid some six months ago. She still missed him and felt slightly resentful over what she was watching.

The only eventful thing that happened during the walk was when a police car slowed and pulled alongside Aaron and Mary. One of the officers in the car was heard to say,

“Okay you lovebirds, it’s eight-thirty. You need to get this off the street in the next half an hour.”

Mary turned to him, answering.

“That’s exactly what we are doing Sir. We are going back to Michael’s house right now.” Her smile was quite genuine.

“Alright, just don’t get distracted and take too long about it. I know how it is. I was young once too. I don’t want to see you spending the night in separate cells.”

The car then increased speed and headed down the street.

“That was close.” Mags said.

“I know. There for a minute I thought we were going to have to spend the night in that restroom.”

They continued walking for another five minutes before Mary guided Aaron to the front door of a house. She calmly walked up
to the door, turned the knob and entered with him right behind her.

“What do we do?” Mags asked. “Do you think we should knock or just walk in?”

“I say do like they did. Just walk in like we own the place. After all, we are expected.”

The girls weren’t prepared for what they found as they entered the home. Mary was laying on a couch with Aaron standing over her, gently patting her hand.

“What happened?” Heather wanted to know.

“As soon as we got inside she said she’d thought we had, had it and then just passed out. It’s a good thing I was close by otherwise she would have hit the floor. Can one of you look around for some water for her?”

The sisters looked around, found the kitchen and got a glass of water. Aaron took it and poured a few drops into his hand. After setting the glass down, he dipped his fingertips into it and sprinkled them on Mary’s face and her eyes fluttered open.

“What happened?” she asked Aaron.


“You fainted. Are you all right? Can you sit up?”

“I think so.”

“Let me help you.”

Taking her hand he gently lifted her into a sitting position.

“Here, take this but sip it slowly until you are sure you’re all right.”

“Thank you.” She said.

“It’s what Jesus would do.” Aaron told her smiling.

Behind them there was a small sound. Only Mags heard it.

“What was that?”

“What was what?” Heather wanted to know.

“I thought I heard something.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Mary told her. “This is an old house and it makes all kinds of noises. Why don’t all of you have a seat so we can talk a little more?”

Still concerned about Mary, Aaron seated himself beside her on the couch. Heather and Mags took chairs that were nearby. Mary began to ask questions about where they had come from and how they had known how to contact the group she was with. Soon the four were deep in conversation. Three of them were completely unaware of the two men standing behind the two way mirror hanging on the wall.

“Boy Cliff, that Mary sure is good. They really believe her. And it looks like we have at least one winner out there.” Martin whispered to the other man.

“What makes you so sure?”

“You heard that guy. Giving Mary the water is what Jesus would do. Remember what He said about that?

Mar 9:41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.


That kid wouldn’t have said that unless he knew The Bible.”

“Maybe, but that’s a little thin and we can’t afford to make mistakes. I’m going to reserve judgment until I’ve heard some more from them. Now let’s be quiet and listen.”

“You’re a fine one to talk. You’re the one who scuffed his foot and almost gave us away.”

“Just be quiet, okay?”

Dean sat on his bed as he thought about the day’s events. There was much to think about. If he wanted to continue in this mission he still had to learn how to speak like a civilian. It the service things were short and to the point. Civilians tended to ramble on before getting to it. He needed to overcome that shortcoming. Suddenly the image of Charles lying dead on the floor came to him again. Was that to be his fate if he didn’t measure up to expectations? Why was that ‘brother’ so frightened and violently disturbed by that book? He looked at The Bible in his hands, and wondered how it could cause such a reaction if it were just fairy tales as he had been told. He opened the book at random and his eye fell on one verse.

Luk 10:17 ¶And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.


He knew that Christians considered the ‘brothers’ to be supernatural. They even called them demons or fallen angels. But that was nonsense, wasn’t it? He continued in the passage.

Luk 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Luk 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Luk 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Now THAT proved that this was just a book. Nobody had been able to stop him from hurting them when wanted too. Dean relaxed at bit at the thought and The Bible slipped from his hand. Confident he would find more to prove this was just another piece of fiction, he picked it up and decided to read whatever passage it had opened too.

Mat 7:21 ¶ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

He paused after reading it. That would mean not everyone who said they were a Christian really was. It was kind of like Willie. He said he was a soldier and had everything he needed to prove it. But in truth he was just a drunk who had found a way to earn a living and nobody really cared what he did as long as he didn’t fail when it was important. And then there were always some of those people they just couldn’t seem to catch no matter how hard they tried. Were they the ones that were REAL Christians? He stared at The Bible for a long moment. He had heard that some people called it a ‘living’ book that could talk to him if he simply read and studied it. It certainly seemed to be talking to him at that moment.

Dean drew back and hurled the book across the room. It hit the wall and fell open to the floor. He lay down on his bed, resting his head in the palms of his hands. This was just too much. It was a BOOK! How could it talk to him? This was ridiculous. He again thought about Martins reaction to the book. That was ridiculous as well, wasn’t it? After all, the ‘brothers’ traveled through space. Their technology was so vastly superior to that of mankind. Why would a book cause them any concern when they could probably wipe out the entire planet in a day if they wanted? But it had gotten Martin mad and frightened enough to kill Charles.
Something here just didn’t measure up. The ‘brothers’ claimed to be the creators of man and now after the war, man’s salvation. But they hated that book with a passion. Why? Dean got up and retrieved The Bible, determined to find something that would prove it wasn’t real. He once more looked at where it had fallen open.

2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

His jaw dropped open. It was known by all that the ‘brothers’ seemed to have a faint glow around them at all times. It couldn’t be that this thing was really trying to tell him something. That just didn’t happen.

“Okay book, I know what people say about you.” Dean said aloud. “If you want to talk to me you’re going to have to prove it. Everything up to now has been coincidence. Now you are going to show me what I’ve heard is real or its nothing but stupid bad luck.”

He closed it and flipping its pages with his right hand he stopped at random. Looking down he read.

Rom 10:14 ¶ How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Rom 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

He stood there for a long time almost burning a hole in the pages with his eyes. Eventually, he closed the book and set it gently on the desk. Turning off the light Dean made his way to his bed. He undressed and lay down on it. Words and images churned in his mind. It was a long time before he finally drifted off to sleep, still not willing to believe what had happened. The morning came much too soon.

“Dean, what’s the matter? You look like you haven’t slept.” John said as he joined the remaining four at breakfast.

“Honestly, after yesterday I did have some trouble sleeping.”


“Listen Dean, you just put Charles out of your mind. He was the kind who wouldn’t make it through his first mission.”

“Oh I know he was a little slow, but that isn’t it.”

“Then what is?”

“It’s Martin and the way he reacted. I mean I know that what the ‘brothers’ tell us is true. So why was he so off the wall?”

“I see. It’s like this Dean. The ‘brothers’ are here for peaceful purposes. But they know our history. It is the Christians and the Jews who have started more wars and other troubles than any other religion. Take America for example. They had two groups of Christians one was English and the other colonists fighting for control. Many people died. During the Westward expansion, Christian whites butchered lots of Indians. In both World Wars, the same thing happened again. So you see Dean, the ‘brothers recognize Christians and Jews as the greatest threat to our world. They are also the most stubborn when it comes to accepting the truth. The ‘brothers’ would love to have them wake up and smell the coffee. They don’t WANT to kill them, just to convert them to the truth.”

“That makes sense.” Dean said. “So that’s why we capture them instead of just burning down the building they are in.”


John clapped him on the back.

“Now you’ve got it. I knew my faith wasn’t misplaced in you.”

Smiling, John left Dean to his breakfast.

[day late]

Chapter Six

John might have been sure that his faith wasn’t misplaced in Dean, but Dean wasn’t. As strange as it seemed, that book did appear to be talking to him. John had said the ‘brothers’ were on Earth for peaceful reasons. At one point while in class, he had mentioned that the ‘brothers’ were there to elevate mankind, to take them to the next step in their evolutionary process. To take them to a place where they would almost be like the gods their forefathers had worshipped. It all sounded so wonderful. But at the same time they were far less than peaceful with the Christians and Jews. The news broadcasts were constantly filled with stories and video’s of them being rounded up and put on busses, often with beatings to encourage them to move faster. There had to be a hundred or more people a week taken away. Yet, it was only rarely that any of them were ever heard from again. Even more rarely was actual armed resistance, although that was beginning to happen more often. Those ones were just killed, when they could find them after the fight, but what had happened to the rest of them? Were they still locked away in some prison camp? If they were, how long could they be held if they refused to see the light?

During his time helping with the round-up’s Dean had heard stories about what had happened to the long term prisoners. Some of the stories he could believe. Execution was the logical end of a prisoner that wouldn’t change his ways. But there was one man who told him a story he didn’t believe at the time and still couldn’t believe that such peaceful creatures as the ‘brothers’ could actually do.

Ricky had been handed a great honor. He had been chosen from the men in Dean’s outfit to actually serve on one of the ‘brothers’ space ships. True, he was only going to be working in the galley helping to prepare meals for them and washing the dishes afterwards, but he would be on one of their ships. His every desire could be instantly met. To hear him tell the story there was no shortage of women on the ships. Any one of them that he wanted was provided for him in his off duty hours. Ricky said he had taken advantage of the privilege, more than once. Still he had only lasted for about a month before requesting transfer back to his unit. In a private conversation he had told Dean everything.

“Man, you had everything from what I’ve heard. You had light duty, even if it was K.P. All you could eat, comfortable bed, women, and I’ve even heard that when you weren’t on duty they didn’t care how much you drank. So why did you give it all up to come back here?”

“Let’s just say I didn’t like their eating habits.”

“What, did they eat with their mouths open?”

“It’s not how they ate. It was their choice in food.”

“Are you going to tell me they are all vegetarians?”

“No, they are cannibals.”

“What?”

“They eat US. Don’t you get it? They won’t touch a vegetable. But they like human flesh, raw and bloody. Haven’t you ever noticed their teeth? They have two sets of them. But that isn’t the worst part.”

“It’s not? Then what is?”

“About twice a week sometimes more they want their meat still breathing when it is brought to them. You wouldn’t believe their screams and the way they beg, first to be let go and then to be killed.”

“You’re saying they will eat us alive?”

“So far they are only eating the Christians and Jews. But, I have to wonder, what happens when they run out of them?”

“I can’t believe this.”

“I know that’s why I haven’t told anyone but you. And if you tell anyone I said that, I’ll call you a liar.”

Dean thought about the story now, in light of what had happened to Charles. The Christians claimed the ‘brothers’ were evil incarnate. He remembered stories he’d heard as a child about how such creatures were supposed to have a violent temper. Martin had certainly showed himself to have one and all over a book. He had been downright pleasant until Charles made that mistake and then it was like someone had turned on a switch. How could anyone change so much, so quickly? He didn’t understand. As he had been thinking about it, Dean had been flipping through the pages of The Bible. He looked down and read what was before him.

Jhn 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

He shook his head. How was it possible for this book to be coming up with the answers to his questions each time he had them. He knew there could only be one answer, but didn’t want to admit it. That answer meant everything he had been taught to believe in was a lie. But then how could there be some kind of all knowing and all seeing God who would allow things such as what were happening now and during the war, to happen? It made no sense. And it certainly seemed that the Christians didn’t know how to be normal.

They didn’t drink or get close and cuddly with the opposite sex. They didn’t know how to take advantage of situations for their own benefit. Dean wasn’t all that bad. He didn’t steal, unless you wanted to count helping himself to whatever he could grab during a raid. After all the Christian former owners weren’t going to complain. It was more like salvage. If he didn’t get it while he could, somebody else would take it. Then there was that time he had found Willie passed out while on duty. He had done the right thing. He got Willie out of sight and took his place for a while. Of course Willie did pay for his kindness for the next couple of months in the way of doing things for Dean whenever asked. But everyone did that. As the old saying went, ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’. If Dean was smart enough to come out on the better end of the deal, that wasn’t his fault. All in all, he felt that he was doing pretty well for himself. He had things tucked away here and there that were worth a pretty penny, and now he had this cushy job that would let him retire early with high rank and full benefits. And it had been made clear to him that one of those benefits was that he would never suffer from a lack of female company, without the burden of getting married. He could even trade a woman in when he got tired of her. What did these Christians and their God have to offer him? Unthinkingly, he had been turning the pages to his Bible this way and that. He stopped and with some amount of fear read what he saw.

1Co 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

1Co 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

1Co 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Dean dropped The Bible. This COULD NOT be happening. It didn’t matter if those people called it ‘The Living Word’ or not, it was just a book. John had given him a red letter edition of The Bible. That meant everything that Jesus was supposed to have said was printed in red. Dean thought that since this Jesus was at the center of it all, he would look at what He had to say. If there was anything to Him and this book actually WAS talking to him, then Jesus would have to be the one to tell him so.

“Okay book, this is your last chance, and you only get one chance. You show me what Jesus has to say about all of this, IF He is really there.”

Angrily Dean thumbed through the pages until he found the first section printed in red. He closed his eyes and stabbed a finger down onto the page before him, wondering what he would do if the book spoke to him again. Looking down, he read the words.

Mat 7:7 ¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Mat 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Dean stared at the book for a long time. This was just impossible. There was no Jesus, and this book was full of myths and stories. There couldn’t be any truth in it. He had to think about this. This could not be happening, but it was. He set the book down with the decision that he wouldn’t look at it again except for in his class. He wasn’t ready to give up everything he believed in just because of a strange set of coincidences.

In was a few days later when John once again walked in with Martin. This time there was no command of attention and the four simply continued with the final stages of their training.

“What is happening now and how are they doing?” Martin asked.

“A long time ago it was discovered that the best way to use a soldier was to find out what he was best at, give him that job and never ask for more than that. In this case we have taken that idea and applied it to our people. Molly here was raised in New York City. So it follows that she will be most effective in working in the larger cities and towns we have left after the war. Now Dean was something of a country boy. He wasn’t raised on a farm, but his family wasn’t living in the city. Naturally he will be most comfortable in dealing with those kinds of environments.”

“I see. That is very wise of you John. How is their training coming along?”

“Dean is our most promising student. In testing, so far, he has continually done better than everyone else and has always asked the most important questions. But the rest of them aren’t that far behind him.” John was beaming with pride.

“Very good, may I speak with him personally?”

“Certainly.” John said cheerily. “Dean, the ‘brother’ would like to have a word with you.”

Dean stood and ambled over to the two with a gate that reminded John of someone walking down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. He looked at them casually, then looked down and began to dig the toe of his shoe into the nonexistent dirt.

“Ya’ll wanted to say something to me?”

Martin looked at John. “Is this behavior consistent with what you call a country boy?”

“Yes it is. They are very casual, but at the same time very proud.”

“If he is that proud, why doesn’t he look at me?”

Dean glanced up and answered for himself. “I don’t need to look at you to hear what you’re thinking, by the way you speak. Besides if you look at a man the wrong way he just might get the wrong idea and try to start something.”

“I see. Your people have some strange ideas about what is appropriate.”

Dean noticed that Martin seemed to be uncomfortable in talking with him, but continued on. “There’s nothing inappropriate about it. If you are meeting a man for the first or second time, he might think you are a bit too proud and take offense. If you act respectful, he’s more likely to deal with you than fight with you. In the south respect is everything.”

Martin spoke to John. “There is something about this man that makes me uncomfortable. Are you certain about him?”

“Very certain. What is disturbing you, if I may ask?”

“I sense him to be one of the Nazarenes. Yet at the same time he isn’t. I can’t figure it out.”

“I think I know what the problem is. Let me put your mind to rest.” John looked at Dean. “Are you a follower of the Nazarene?”

“No John, I’m not.”

“What were you doing just before we came in here?”

“I was reading that book they use.”

John looked back at Martin. “That is your answer. Dean is a very intense student. You must be sensing his studies. You just heard him say he’s not one of them, and if he was you know he would have to confess it.”

“What were you reading?” Martin asked him.

“I was just trying to figure out why those people don’t do what they say that book tells them to do.”

“In what way?”

“The book tells them to obey governmental authority, but they don’t do that. If they did, they would have to give up their beliefs and recognize that you ‘brothers’ are the ones who created us. It’s a contradiction that I’m trying to make sense of.” Dean knew better that to quote the actual scripture which read;

1Ti 2:1 ¶ I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

1Ti 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

“Perhaps you are right, John.” Martin said. Then turning back to Dean he asked, “It may help you to understand that those people recognize two governments. The first type are the ones on Earth and the second is in what they believe comes in the afterlife. They believe the one that is supposed to come later is the one to be obeyed. Study that and you will find your answer. Are there any other questions you have about the Nazarene’s?”

“There is one. They are always talking about love, love, love. But they don’t seem to have a lot of love for you. Why is that?”

Martin smiled. “That is one of the reasons we must find a way to make them believe the truth. You see, after your race took root and began to grow we left certain instructions with them. One of them was that everyone should love their fellow man. But those people have twisted it into saying they should only love others like themselves. We are not like them, so they do not love us. Have you ever noticed how most of the violence of this world has been caused by the Nazarenes?”

“John set me straight on that one. And after looking into it, it is easy to see how right he is.”

“Very good, I see now that John was correct in his estimation of you. Please return to your studies. And remember, if you ever have a question about anything, ask John. He has received personal instruction from us.”

“Thank you, I will.”

Dean left Martin and John to their discussions. He noticed that none of the others had been called over to talk with Martin and it gave him a sense of pride to have been singled out in that way. Shortly Martin left and John came to him.

“Dean, my boy you have made a new friend. Martin was favorably impressed by you. You keep it up and when your missions are done I’m sure you will get the highest upgrade on your chip.”

“What chip?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Once you retire you will be implanted with a microchip, in your right hand. That chip will tell anyone with a scanner who you are and what benefits you will receive. Everything will be taken care of by the government. And I mean everything. Housing, cars, food and even women will be provided in recognition of your service. Eventually everyone will have a chip, but yours will be above almost everyone else.”

“Thank you, I’ll make sure not to let you down.”

“I’m sure you won’t.”

Later that evening, Dean returned to his room. The Bible was just where he had left it. He sneered at it, certain that he now had a question it could not answer.

“Okay book, what do you have to say about this? I’m being offered everything a man could want in exchange for my service. They will put a chip in my hand and anything I want is mine. So what do you have to say about that?”

Dean decided to err on the side of caution. He opened The Bible to just the last few pages in it. Blindly pointing to a passage he looked down and read,

Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Right hand? Wasn’t that what John had said? He briefly thought about how Martin had questioned him earlier and how uncomfortable he seemed to be. It was true, Dean wasn’t a believer, but everything was pushing him in that direction. He undressed and went to bed. As he laid there he considered everything. Finally, he decided that tomorrow was soon enough to decide. Maybe he would find a test the book wouldn’t pass. But if it did, then the choice was obvious.

[day late]

Chapter Seven

Unwilling to believe the “Living Word” was exactly that, Dean read as little as possible during his last two weeks of training. The things he had read continued to go round and round in his mind, as if they were demanding both his attention and a decision. During his class on how to refute the scriptures his distraction was noticed by John who questioned him on it.

“Dean, you don’t seem to be all here today. Is something troubling you?”

“Honestly yes. I’m sure we will find Nazarenes that are on the fence. It will only take a nudge to bring them over to our side and they can provide information we can use to find more of them. But, after all we’ve learned I’m still looking for something that I can use to prove to any of those kinds of Nazarenes that this book is nothing but fables. But for every single thing I come up with, there always is another something that can give them an answer. It’s like trying to grab a greased pig. Just when you think you have them, they slip away.”

“In truth that is a good analogy. The way they have written the book gives them an out for any question. I’m sure you’ve heard the old question about ‘if God is all powerful, can he create a rock that is too heavy for Him to lift?’. They know that if they say yes, then God isn’t all powerful, He has limitations. If they say no then he isn’t all powerful because He can’t create a rock that big. So what do they say? They will tell you that the question is wrong, because God is a spirit and spirits walk through rocks, they don’t pick them up.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. With answers like that, you just can’t pin them down and make them see the truth.”

“It’s also why you shouldn’t even try. If you try to make them see the truth the ‘brothers’ have shown us, you will give yourself away, I guarantee it. Then we will have nothing and you might well wind up dead. But there is a way to guide them to the truth. Don’t attempt to convince them, but plant seeds of doubt instead. Then let them convince themselves.”

“How do I do that?”

“You’ve been on a number of raids. I’m sure you’ve noticed that we never get them all. There are always a few who get away. At least one of those people is going to be our agent. The others will be ones the agent believes can lead him or her to the next group. Once the escape has happened the agent will say something like they don’t understand how God could allow such good people to be captured or something like that. Even if that Nazarene has an answer, the question is going to linger in their minds. Before long they will begin to wonder if maybe they haven’t believed a lie.”

“And then I can convince them?”

“Not necessarily. They might view it as what they call a crisis of faith and eventually return to their old ways. That is why you have to let them do their own thinking and guide them to the answer you want them to have. You never tell them the truth that we know. You always deny the ‘brothers’ and everything they want to do for us. You behave as a good and faithful follower of the Nazarene, but one with questions. One thing they all have in common is the belief that only God has all the answers. So you questioning His reasons will pass un-noticed, as long as you don’t question Him, since they all do it. By asking the right questions at the right time you can get some of them to finally see reality. Not many, but some of them, and they will lead us to more of them.”

“So, you are saying I lie to them.”

“Not at all, I’m saying their own self doubt will do more for you than anything the ‘brothers’ could ever do. They reject everything our friends have to offer, believing it to be evil. So don’t offer it, even by suggestion. You don’t lie to them just make them think in different ways, by asking these questions, so that they will change their own minds. Have you got it?”

“I think I do, thank you John.”

Clapping Dean on the shoulder, John said, “Good man. Oh, by the way. I want you to know that as of about a week ago I became convinced that you are going to be one of the few who actually complete fifteen missions and get to retire. Then I’ll be saluting you.”

As John turned to leave, Dean called to him. “John, what was your rank before you started doing this?”

John smiled. “I was a Staff Sergeant and a drill instructor.”

With the way John had given his all in the instruction of the four of them, Dean had no trouble believing it.

It only took half an hour for Aaron to realize that he, Heather and Mags were being put through a most gentle but very complete examination. Mary’s questions begged for answers and were asked in such a way that they seemed perfectly normal. Yet at the same time were quite probing. For example she had asked him where he had come from. Without thinking he had told her the truth. He had come from Georgia. Mary then said that she knew some people down Atlanta way, and asked if he might have known them. He instinctively answered that he was further south than Atlanta. Mary had then smiled and said he must be from the farm lands down that way. He had answered that no, he wasn’t a farm boy. He had been raised near Macon. It was at that point he understood what was going on and made the rest of his answers and comments very noncommittal. And he began to truly listen to what Mary was saying and how she said it. Unknown to him, the change in his actions and words were being noted.

“Mark, I think that young guy is on to Mary.” Cliff said as they watched through the mirror.

“Why do you say that?”

“At first he was trusting and honest. Now he is being evasive. Mary must have made him suspicious somehow.”

“I don’t see how.”

“Neither do I, but he is acting differently.”

“Do you think he is a plant?”

“No. I don’t think he was sent by the government. But he just might be thinking that Mary was. If that’s true, we may have to break in and keep her from getting hurt.”

“We aren’t supposed to do that.”

“I know. But I’m not going to let him hurt Mary. She is just too valuable to us.”

Aaron spoke to Mary in a polite, but stern way, trying to find out if they had indeed reached a safe place or were just being strung along until the authorities could arrive. “Tell me Mary, when do we get to meet up with the rest of the church members around here?”

Mary looked at him. “You don’t.”

“What do you mean? I thought we were being taken to a place with fellow believers, a place of safety and refuge.”

“You are and you aren’t. We will do everything we can to see to it you are as safe as any of us, but the reason we are still active and free is because of our security measures. We operate using the cell system.”

“What does that mean?” Heather asked.

“It means that we don’t hold services. But by passing the word between cells, we all pray for the same thing at the same time. No matter where we are. We don’t sit and listen to the pastor preach, but we read transcripts of his sermon.”

“I don’t get it.” Mags said. “How can you call yourselves a church if there is no fellowship?”

“There is fellowship of a sort, we just don’t gather in one place to do it. Let me explain. All of you have admitted to being in one or more groups that got raided. Then you made your way into another group. The thing that probably got your groups caught is someone noticed unusual numbers of people coming and going from the same place. So we don’t do that. Messages asking for prayer or help are passed from one cell to the next. If say, prayer is needed, on a certain day and time, that information is included in the message.”

“Aren’t you worried that the message might be intercepted and read?” Aaron asked.

“Not really. All of our messages are coded. Say, Michelle wants some potatoes delivered to number 100 East Street, the real meaning is that Michael needs hand grenades delivered to 200 West Street.”

“How do you get hand grenades from potatoes?” Heather wanted to know.

“Think about it. Doesn’t a grenade look something like a potato?”

“But this town doesn’t have an East or West street.” Mags said.

“That’s right. And we don’t usually deal in things like hand grenades. That was simply an example. You must understand that if the need isn’t prayer but some physical need instead, that information is passed on in code. But most of the really important things aren’t written down at all. They are memorized by the person carrying the message.”

“But if the person carrying the message is caught, then they learn everything.” said Aaron.

“No they don’t. The messenger knows the message, not the code. That means they get nothing but meaningless phrases and no way to understand what they are all about.”

“Wait a minute.” Heather interrupted. “You said we won’t get to meet anyone else because of secrecy. So how do the messengers know who to contact?”

“It works like a pyramid. At the top is one cell of say three people. Each of those people starts a cell of their own. So you have gone from three to nine people. The people in the top cell know each other and the people in the cells they’ve started, but they don’t know the members of the other cells. Let’s call the first cell Adam and Tom, Dick and Harry are its members. Now Tom starts cell Baker. In Baker are Mike, Sam and Clifford. Dick and Harry don’t know those three, and vice versa. Now if Dick hears something that could be trouble for Baker he tells Tom. Tom tells the Baker cell and they do what they have to do. Now turn it around. Mike has problems getting food, so he tells Tom. Tom takes the problem to cell Adam and they find an answer. This way, things get done, but nobody knows who did what. So if anyone in any cell is captured they can only turn in a limited number of people. We do keep in contact by various means, so if someone falls out of contact the people they know go into hiding to avoid capture.”

“It sounds kind of complicated.” Mags said.

“Not after you get used to it. Let’s bring it closer to home. There are three of you. That’s just the right number for a cell. Some cells are larger but none smaller. You will be cell Karl. The only one you know outside your cell is me. If any of you is caught you can only be forced to identify three other people. But once you drop out of contact, we will know it and make sure the cells above and below us know it. That way we can be on the lookout for anyone who is watching for us and do what we have to do to avoid being seen. But if you aren’t found out, then each of you starts a cell of your own. You will know each other, and the members of the cells you create, but not the members of the other people’s cells. See how easy it is?”

John walked into the room. He was pleased to see the casual way in which he was treated. No one snapped to attention. All four of the infiltrators simply glanced at him in a bored fashion and then went back to doing whatever it was that they had been. That pleased John as he walked over to the group to address them.

“Lady, gentlemen, I am pleased to announce your training is almost at an end. You have only two weeks to go. But there is one problem we must overcome. Dean, you are our most promising student. You tell me why we shouldn’t put all of you out on the street right this moment.”

Dean glanced at the others, his eye missing nothing. Their attitude was right. They were wearing just average clothes, so they should have no problem blending in. But the suspicious part of his mind made him look again. He spotted it. Looking at John he said,

“We’re too clean and well fed. Most of the people on the street are hungry and have been for some time now. They are not too concerned with their appearance. They are more concerned with filling their bellies.”

“Exactly right, on both counts. With most people wearing dirty clothes, we can’t send you out all clean and polished. You’d be spotted in an instant. And your bodies have a healthy look to them. There are many, many people out there getting by on one meal a day or less. You four have obviously been eating quite well.”

“What do we do about it John?” Molly asked.

“Ah, now that is the question. Fortunately we have an answer. As we speak, your rooms are having the beds taken out of them. A small amount of dirt is being put on the floor and you will sleep on that floor for the next two weeks. You will use different clothing each night, until all of it is a bit soiled. There will be no more use of the washing machine and dryer. If your clothing becomes too dirty, you will wash them by hand in the bath room sink and hang them up to dry. Showers will be restricted to once a week, and that will be in cold water.

This next part is the one you are not going to like. Starting right now, you are restricted to two meals a day and those will be at half rations. After four days, to adjust to fewer calories, you will receive one meal a day at half rations. In two weeks we will have you well on your way to looking and smelling like those people out there. Not only that, your body will be accustomed to operating with less food. On the outside, that is the norm. Are there any questions?”

Dean felt an odd twinge on being informed that there was someone in his room. IF there was anything to this “Living Word” concept, what would happen if his Bible started talking to the person or persons in his room? Then he decided that wouldn’t happen. It wasn’t as if the book were actually using verbal communication. For it to speak to you, you had to read it. What was that verse he read?

Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

He knew that everyone who worked in this place had been strictly taught not to even touch The Bible, for fear of its corrupting influence. There was little chance that anything would happen. He smiled to himself and found it oddly comforting knowing that the last thing anyone would steal from him was his Bible. The thought brought him up short. Was that book getting to him? Why should he be comforted by the knowledge that nobody would take it? The smile faded as John continued.

“We are proud of the four of you. You have all done well in training. Please don’t think of this as any kind of punishment. It isn’t. What you will have to live through for the next two weeks is only being done to provide you with a deep cover. So that no one looking at you will think you are anything but what you claim to be. During the day, your quarters will be much too hot. At night they will be far too cold. You will have to look after yourselves the best way you can. That is what these resistors do, so you must do it as well. If any of you want to shave, then you better find a really sharp rock. One last thing, you will no longer have each other to confide in or to complain to. Resistors spend a lot of time alone. For that reason, from this moment on you will be isolated from each other. My friends, you must learn how to act on your own without any chance of outside help.”

The following two weeks were miserable. Dean was always too hot, too cold and always too hungry. And John hadn’t mentioned the physical labor that they were put through. It wasn’t bad enough that they had to go day to day in dirty clothes. John had them working in the yard of the compound, doing hard physical labor. He pointlessly had them each move a very large and heavy stone from one end of the yard to the other. He did allow them to make anything that might help them in their work, but the job had to be done. Dean recalled a show he had once seen that showed people moving large stone blocks on logs, used as rollers. He did the same now and had his stone at the other end of the yard before the others were even halfway.

On his graduation day, Dean was half starved, dirty, tired and not in a very good mood. He was given an assignment and sent into a nearby town. John advised him.

“Try the soup kitchens and places like that. Those Nazarenes are always trying to help others less fortunate than themselves. That would be a good place to start.”

Dean began walking down the road towards his assignment.

[day late]

Chapter Eight

As Dean wandered down the road he thought about where he should go and who he should be looking for.

“I want all of you to remember. These Nazarenes are always doing the goody-goody kind of thing.” John had told them. “When you go out, you should try any kind of ‘soup kitchen’ or other place that is taking care of refugees. Like places that will offer refugees a bed for the night so they don’t get arrested for violating curfew. Now you must realize that most, if not all, of the people you will meet there are going to be just plain citizens doing what they can to help out the less fortunate. But those are the same places that attract our enemies. Their religion requires them to do what they can to help others, so those are good places to start.”

“John, how do we determine which ones are Nazarenes and which aren’t?” Molly had asked.

“There is no sure way. However, those people usually pray before they eat. You need to watch for that.”

“Wait a minute.” Dean had said. “They know they are being hunted. You surely can’t expect them to fold their hands and bow their heads before they eat.”

“No, we don’t expect that. But if you notice someone who gets their food and sits at the table looking at it for a few moments before beginning, then there is a good chance they are praying silently over their meal. It’s not a guarantee, but it is a good sign that this is a person you want to make contact with in order to find the rest of them. Another good sign, on the servers’ side, is someone who is a soft touch and gives out more food to an individual than they are supposed to give.”

Dean decided to head to the nearest place of public assistance. They would be feeding those who were moving from place to place after the war. Nobody ever asked too many questions at those places because everyone had a tragic story to tell. After a while the servers just got burned out on all the tales of woe and stopped asking. He had no doubt that he could pass as a refugee due to the treatment he had endured the last two weeks of his training. His clothes were dirty and wrinkled from sleeping on the floor. And he knew he had that certain kind of hungry look, just because he was hungry because of the restricted diet that had been forced on him. He made his way to a ‘soup kitchen/shelter’ that easy to find. The line of people outside waiting for something to eat went around the block.

It took him more than two hours just to get within sight of the door. Dean used his time wisely. He spent the hours observing those around him, listening to their conversations, such as they were, while avoiding being engaged in them himself. Even with his experience as a soldier, he was shocked at just how far these people had slipped during the war. All of them, like himself could stand to have a shower. Even a cold one if that was all they could get, which was quite likely given the still sporadic nature of electrical power. Clearly many of them had been in the same clothes for days and possibly even weeks. Dean was surprised at the number of children in the line. What didn’t surprise him was the way parents and especially mothers kept their children close while making sure that the children were in line in front of them. The parents knew there could well be a shortage of food, and if that happened they wanted the children to eat before they did. Besides, what might make a decent meal for a man or woman would at least make almost a meal for two small children. As he reflected on his days of training where the food was both hot and plentiful, Dean truly felt sorry for these miserable refugees. They struggled from day to day to find enough just to stay alive, and it seemed to him that most of the parents in the line hadn’t eaten as well as their children for a very long time.

Most of the conversation he heard was of the type he expected. People complained about the long lines and how much time it was taking. He noted one old man who made no secret of his displeasure.

“Back in the day, when I was in the Army, they could feed a crowd like this in no time. You just got in, got your food, ate and got out to make room for the next guy. Why can’t they do that here?”

“What are you talking about old man?” Another line waiting man had asked. “You don’t know what’s going on inside there.”

“That’s what you think. I’ve been in this line three times in the past two days. I’ve seen what happens inside. Folks get in, but they take their time about eating and then they sit around talking for half an hour before getting out. THAT’S what is taking this line so long to move. They ought to run those people out of there as soon as they finish so the rest of us can get something.”

The comment sparked other conversations along the line, some of which Dean gave his full attention, whenever he could hear them. One such conversation invited him to pay a little more attention than the others did.

“I don’t get it.” A man a little in front of him said. “If these so called ‘space brothers’ are so all powerful, high and mighty then why are we still living like this? It makes me wonder about everything they claim to be.”

“Now you sound like one of them Christians. Are you saying that they DIDN’T create us? For that matter are you one of those Christians that caused all of this?”

“I’m no Christian, but let’s face it. If those aliens were everything they claimed to be, if they are as concerned for us as they say they are, then why aren’t they doing more to help people? Think about it. It has to take a lot of power to move those ships through space. Why can’t they just hook up some lines to the power plants that are here and shoot the juice down the line? If they would supply power to the farms and the cities, we wouldn’t be half as bad off as we are now. People could have a warm and comfortable place to sleep at night. Farmers could get back into production and we would have more food. Supermarkets could open again, and with power there would be a lot more jobs so a man could work and take care of his own.”

“So what makes you think that the power they use to fly around the stars would work in an electrical generator?”

“I don’t know that it will. But if they are so smart they should be able to figure out a way to do it.”

“Give it up, sorehead. They are here doing a lot of things for us and asking for nothing in return. Don’t you think if they could do more they would?”

“I’m not so sure they would.”

“Oh, just shut up. You don’t know nothing about them. They are here and they are helping. What are you doing?”

“I’m just like you. I’m doing everything I can. I’m just saying they could do more and they aren’t. It makes me wonder why.”

“Just shut up before we make you shut up. You’re doing nothing but trying to start trouble and we already have enough of that.”

If the man hadn’t openly denied being a Christian, Dean would have been interested in learning more about him. But he had. Still Dean was interested to see if anyone even looked like they agreed with him. Anyone who might deny the ‘brothers’ was a potential Christian, and those were the people he wanted to find. Unfortunately except for the one man, everyone else was convinced that the ‘brothers’ were doing their best to help mankind. Many of them then went on to rant about how if things were really going to improve all of the Christians and Jews simply had to be gotten rid of. After all, the ‘brothers’ had stated that there was only so much they could do as long as there were those who didn’t admit that they were their creators. That started a whole new round of debate about the best way to find and eliminate the threat the religious people represented to the rest of humanity. This almost caused a fist fight to break out when certain line standers complained that the government wasn’t working hard enough on the problem.

“Come on man.” One man stated loudly. “It isn’t like those people walk around trying to convert everyone in sight. They are hiding so they won’t get killed. What do you expect the government to do? Are they supposed to ask everyone in the country about what they believe? They don’t have the manpower for anything like that. And even if they could, what is there to keep those people from lying about it?”

Dean knew the answer to that question, but decided to keep it to himself.

“They may not be able to do that, but what’s to stop them from checking the records of every church they can find. That would give them a lot of names, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, right and after all the moving around that people did during the war where do you suppose the government should start looking? I know for a fact that over half the people in the place where I used to live left to be with family members. If those families had to move to stay out of the line of fire, they could be anywhere by now. That is IF they are still alive.”

“Well at least they would have their names. They could check those at places like this. Or any place that keeps public records for that matter.”

“Man you take the prize of being an idiot. Listen to me. Before the war I was a counselor for troubled kids. I tried to help them get their lives straightened out. Do you have any idea how many of them had one or more phony names and an I.D. to go along with it? Don’t bother guessing, I’ll tell you. Over forty percent of them had fake I.D.’s. And back then it was a lot harder to get one than it is now. All they have to do is walk into any police station or post office, give a false name and claim they came from an area that had been over run and captured and BOOM, they get a brand new I.D. with a brand new name and just disappear into the wood work.”

“Well, what about fingerprints? That would tell the government who they really are.”

“Like I said, you get the prize. That would only work if the government had to take their fingerprints for some reason, like getting arrested or a top secret clearance. But if they were never arrested or worked for the government, nobody ever took their prints.”

As Dean listened to the arguing he realized that several of the line standers could be arrested for their disrespectful and even hateful comments about the ‘brothers’. But that wasn’t what he was assigned to do. Still it was known that people of like minds often gathered together, even if they didn’t agree on everything. That thought made him decide that getting a little closer to the men who had spoken out against the brothers might not be a bad idea. It could well lead somewhere. His thoughts were interrupted by the man guarding the front door to the soup kitchen.

“Alright the next five, it’s your turn. Try to get out as fast as you can and make room for others.”

“Why didn’t you say that to the hundred or so people in front of us?” the complainer asked loudly.

“Friend I’ve been saying that all day long. It’s not my fault if people don’t listen. I can’t help what happens inside, my job is here. So if you want to eat, shut your trap and get inside. Otherwise you can go to the back of the line and think about it.”

The complainer glared at the door guard for a moment, but said nothing and entered the building. Dean was the last of the five to make it through the door before it closed behind him. Picking up a tray, plate and some plastic silverware he made his way slowly down the serving line. He was careful to notice that the servers behind the counter all wore badges that identified them as government employees. To a person they looked tired, sweaty and seemed to be wishing they were someplace else, but this was their assigned duty and even this job was better than no job. He directed his attention to the food that was doled out to the men in line. Some of it was actually hot, but most of it simply warm or warmed over. It wasn’t as much as he would have liked to have had, but it was more than he had been getting during his last weeks of training, and hopefully a little more nutritious. He satisfied himself with that. The one thing that did please him was the coffee was hot, strong and black. Oddly enough there was also sugar to go with it, but no cream.

Dean shuffled down the row between some of the tables. He was looking for the complainer, trying his best to look like he wasn’t singling the man out. Dean soon spotted him and had the perfect reason to sit down nearby. It was one of the few seats available. Dean noticed the man sat just looking at his food for a moment. That was one of the clues John had told him to watch for. Yet this was the man who flatly denied he was a Christian. He sat opposite from him and opened the conversation casually and noncommittally.

“What’s the matter? Did you find something in this slop I show know about?”

The man glanced up, smiled slightly and said, “No, I was just trying to remember the last time I had this much food all to myself.”

Dean looked at his own plate. It was half of an old fashioned mess kit, which was divided into two compartments. One side held a brownish looking food, while the other much to his surprise held corn. The portions were small, but adequate. Yet this guy couldn’t remember the last time he had, had this much all at one time. As a soldier Dean had complained as loudly and often as anyone else about the quality of their chow. In training, meals had been much better, until the final two weeks. Now this man was surprised at how much he was getting. That was when Dean realized that things really were bad outside government service.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to get this too. I’m Dean, by the way.” He held out his hand.

The other man took it and they shook briefly. “I’m Vince. Come on, we’d better chow down before someone either tries to take it or they throw us out of here.”

They ate in silence for a few minutes. Dean shoveled in the thin lukewarm stew, or that is what he thought it was, and took small bites out of a thin stale piece of bread he had been given. He thought he saw a greenish spot of mold on the bread, but with as hungry as he was he paid it no mind and bit down anyway. After swallowing the mouthful Dean spoke softly to his companion for the meal.

“I heard what you were saying outside.”

Vince looked at him suspiciously. “What about it?”

“Oh, nothing except I think you’re right. If these ‘brothers’ are so grand and glorious, and so very concerned about our well being, why aren’t they doing more to help us?”

“If you think that, why didn’t you say so outside?”

“Because I’m hungry and I’m not stupid. I could see how many people were standing up for the ‘brothers’. You were on the losing end of that argument before you ever started. You know what I mean? You almost got sent to the end of the line just because you said what a lot of people think.”

“That’s true. Whatever happened to freedom of speech?”

“Well, if you ask the government we still have freedom of speech. We can say anything we like, as long as it isn’t against the ‘brothers’ then it is hate speech and that’s illegal.”

“Dean my friend, you just said a mouthful. We can say whatever we want as long as it is what they want us to say. I have to admit I miss the days when a man could speak his mind and not worry about what others might think about it.”

“You’re not the only one. But these days you can only do that with people you can trust.”

“So who do you trust?”

“Me? I’m not from around here. I was helping out up near Fargo during the war, and now I’m trying to make my way back down to the Atlanta area. That’s home.”

“I’ll tell you what. You seem to be a man with his head on right. After we finish why don’t you come with me? I think we can work out something that will help us both out.”

“Why not? I’ve got nothing better to do.”

Soon the men finished and headed towards the stack of empty trays and dishes to leave theirs for cleaning. On the way out, Dean did notice one thing that he wanted to look into. There were two blond girls sitting together and a young man nearby. Clearly they were trying hard to look as if they didn’t know each other. It made him curious.

[day late]

Chapter Nine

“So, where are we going, Vince?” Dean asked.

“Some folks I know are having a little get-together this afternoon. We are always on the lookout for others to join us. I thought it would be a good idea for you to meet them and them to meet you.”

“I thought that all public meetings were banned under martial law.”

“Yes and no. Any kind of political meeting is banned. Churches have been banned, but the powers that be know they can’t have a total lockdown. People need a release for their frustrations. So think about it. What kind of thing is there where you can have large numbers of people get together and vent their frustrations in a way that is harmless?”

Dean did think about it. This was something John had never covered. Then it came to him.

“We’re going to a high school football game.”

“Right on the first try. The government figures nobody is going to do anything that will endanger their children. Not only that but the parents of the players aren’t going to let anyone endanger their kids.”

“But they hold those games at night. That would mean a whole lot of people violating curfew.”

“I guess you’ve never been a father. They used to hold them at night. These days since they don’t know if there will be power for the lights, they let school out early and have the game before sun down.”

“Well you’re right about that. I never found a woman that I wanted to marry. So this is something of a surprise to me. But don’t people get suspicious of a bunch of men talking instead of watching the game?”

“We’ve figured ways around that. It’s not like we are having some kind of board meeting. We break up into small groups and talk to each other. Then after a while a person will leave his group and go sit with another. One person from that group leaves and heads somewhere else. That way each group knows what the others are talking about.”

“And what do you talk about?”

“Pretty much the same things you and I were talking about.” Vince paused in thought before he continued. “Dean, I have to ask you something, even though I’m fairly sure of the answer now. Tell me, what do you think about how things are going right now?”

“It’s like the old saying. Things are tough all over. Especially with all the damage we got during the war.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean with the way the government is doing things and the way they bow and scrape to the aliens.”

“Let’s just say I liked the way things were before the war. Back then I man could speak his mind, he could go where he wanted when he wanted, stay as long as he wanted and nobody had the right to say a thing about it.”

“That’s pretty much how all of us feel. Nobody likes being told where they can and can’t go, what they can or can’t do or what they can or can’t believe.”

Dean spoke softly to Vince “Does that mean you really are a Christian?”

“No, I’m an atheist. But to tell you the truth, I don’t have anything against Christians. Before all of this I knew quite a few of them. They always treated me right, and never did anybody any harm as far as I know. Shoot, the ones I knew didn’t even cheat on their taxes. I don’t know why the ‘brothers’ have it in for them, but it seems to me that they are taking things a little too far. Live and let live is the way I see it.”

“What about the others in your group?”

“I never ask and they don’t tell.”

“So what do you guys figure on doing about things?”

Vince again paused before answering. “Dean you seem alright and I like you, but we just met. Some questions will have to wait for answers. For all I know you could be some kind of government spy trying to find out what my friends and I are doing or not doing. Don’t ask too much too soon, you’ll only get disappointed.”

Dean realized that he couldn’t try to get too much information too quickly and fell silent as the men made their way to the high school stadium. It wasn’t much as stadiums go. Seats were on the east and west sides of the field, while the north end was completely open and the south end was taken up with locker rooms, a small broadcast booth and concession stands. The game would be starting in about twenty minutes, Vince told him and they made their way to the bleachers on the west side. Vince explained to him,

“We sit over here so it’s harder for the people on the other side to see what we are doing with the sun in their eyes. That way we just have to keep a lookout for the people on this side.”

It was a simple and reasonable precaution Dean thought but he knew that if this group was being watched the precaution was just about useless. At the very least there would be others, like him mixing in with the crowds on both sides of the stadium. The two moved to a central place in the bleachers near the fifty yard line for the best view of the game, just as most people would do. While not being crowded, the seats held a respectable number of people in separate groups. Clearly many of them were family groups that were there to watch a son or brother play that day. Dean saw that while there were law enforcement officers there, they seemed to be ignoring the ban of groups larger than three when it came to the families. Shortly before the game began a man walked over to Vince, slapped him on the shoulder and said,

“Vince, I’m glad you could make it to the game.”

“Oh you know me. Any excuse to get out of the house and watch a game.”

The man chuckled and became very serious as he looked at Dean.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Paul.” He held out his hand.

Dean closely looked at the man. He obviously had seen some hard times, judging by the scars on his arms and the burn mark on the side of his face. Dean shook the hand and simply replied.

“I’m Dean. Nice to meet you.”

“Have you known our friend Vince very long?”

“Not very long, we met at the soup kitchen a little while ago.”

“THAT place? Most of the people that eat there are either down on their luck or refugees. Which one are you?”

Paul’s brashness was something Dean could easily become offended by, but he decided to use the question to try to get the man on his side.

“A little of both I’m afraid. I was serving near Fargo during the war. Now I’m just trying to back home down Atlanta way.”

Unconsciously, Paul rubbed the burn scar on his head.

“You were in Fargo, huh. I heard there was some pretty tough fighting going on up there. You seem to have survived it pretty well untouched.”

“I said I was near Fargo. Actually I’ve got a bit of a back problem, so they didn’t put in on the line. The doctors said I couldn’t carry all of the gear I would need. So I was driving supply trucks out of Lisbon to bases along the eastern half of the Dakotas.”

“Did you ever transport any of the wounded out of the front line areas?”

“That’s something I don’t talk about.”

Dean was amazed at how easily the lies rolled off his tongue. The contained just enough truth to be believable, but not enough facts for anyone to pin him down on something. Just as John had taught him to do. He carefully watched Paul for his reaction. That would tell him if he had been successful or not. Paul absently rubbed the burn scar again, and then his face split into a grin.

“I don’t remember you, but I remember those trucks. Before I got hit they kept us from being overrun more than once. And a lot of our guys wouldn’t have made it if you guys didn’t become makeshift ambulances. Thank you.”

“If it weren’t for you guys on the line we wouldn’t be talking right now, so thank you.”

Paul clapped him on the shoulder and spoke to Vince.

“He seems alright. What have you told him?”

“Just that he isn’t the only one who prefers this country the way it was before the war. And that there are other folks that don’t believe everything they say about the aliens.”

“That’s enough for now. Let’s get to know him a little better. Dean have you got a place to sleep tonight?”

“I was going to try to get a bunk at the shelter. Then see about getting some kind of work tomorrow. I need to earn some money so I can keep making my way south.”

“You don’t want to sleep there. Those people will steal everything you’ve got just because you have it and they don’t. I’ll tell you what, after the game you come back to my place for the night. I’ll have the wife throw something together and we can talk some more.”

“I wouldn’t want to put you out.”

“Don’t worry about it. It wouldn’t be the first time. I’ll meet you after the game. Vince talk with him, I’ll make sure others do during the game. The two of you stay here, I’ll send them over.”

Paul was as good as his word. During the game Dean met several men and women who would come by, sit down and chat for a while and then move on. The entire thing was done quite casually. It didn’t take long for dean to understand that each person he met was asking questions about different aspects of his life. It was all done politely but the questioning was very detailed. It was no wonder these people had managed to remain undetected by the government, they were unassuming but very cautious. Dean found that between questionings he actually had time to enjoy the game and root for the home team. He still didn’t know if they were just malcontents who cried on each other’s shoulder or if they might just be the beginnings of a resistance group that could cause trouble. Either way, none of them showed any sign of being Christian. That would mean he was wasting his time with them. But it was only his second day after leaving training. John would not be disappointed.

Surprisingly the game was over all too soon and Dean was making his way out of the stadium with Vince when Paul came up to them.

“There you two are, I was afraid I was going to miss you. Dean, take a walk with me. I have to tell you that the people I spoke with are very favorably impressed with you.”

Dean accepted the invitation, said good bye to Vince and began walking with Paul towards his home. The men chatted along the way and again Paul was favorably impressed with what he heard. Once they had reached his home, Paul ushered Dean into the home and announced loudly.

“Honey, we have company for the night.”

“AGAIN?”

“It’s important.”

“It always is.” A woman of middle age came out of another room. She looked at Dean briefly and turning to Paul and said, “Well, at least he looks nice.” She turned to Dean and said, “I’m Venice. Welcome to our home, even if my husband forgot to tell me you were coming.”

“It’s not his fault, Ma’am. I am a friend of Vince and your husband thought it would be better for me not to spend the night in the shelter.”

“I can’t argue with him about that. The shelter is no place for decent people to spend the night. Are you hungry?”

“I could use a bite or two, but I don’t want to put you out.”

“It’s all right. We usually have enough for one or two extra. That’s why I keep this guy around. He’s a good provider.”

Without waiting for Dean’s reply Venice started back for the kitchen. She commented over her shoulder,

“It’s not fancy, but you will have your fill.”

Then she was gone. Paul smiled.

“Don’t let her nature fool you. My wife loves company and she really is a great cook. That’s why I keep her.”

“I get the feeling there is more to it than that.”

Supper was on the table almost before Dean could get comfortable in the home. As promised it wasn’t fancy, but it was filling and tasted good. Being a soldier, Dean had no idea that anything could be done to improve the flavor of Spam. But he found out it could be improved, with the addition of a few spices grown in the family garden. The vegetables were also grown in Paul’s back yard and were tasty. Somehow iced tea was provided, surprisingly with just enough sugar to take off the bitter edge. He asked about that.

“How did you get sugar for the tea?”

“It’s not sugar. I know a guy who is a bee keeper. I trade my services for his honey.”

“Not to be nosy but what services?”

“I’m a carpenter. I’m sure you can imagine that a lot of people would love to get their hands on his honey. So I build fences to keep people out and enclosures to store the honey in. He is more than happy to give me some of the honey, because he makes a lot of money selling the rest. So tell me Dean, what do you do?”

“Honestly, I was trying to figure out what school I could get into and what my major would be when the war started. Since then I’ve driven trucks and that’s about all.”

“Do you have any skills, besides driving, that might be employable? I know a few people and while decent jobs are hard to come by, I might be able to get you in somewhere.”

“Not really. Before the war my folks wanted me to concentrate on getting an education. They didn’t want me working and taking my mind off of that. I did have an old motorcycle that I used to get around on. And when I say old, I mean OLD. That thing had points and a distributor. I used to tune it up myself, to save money.”

“That might be more useful than you think. After we got hit with the EMP bombs, those kinds of vehicles are the only ones that work anymore. Let me check around and see what I can scare up.”

“You know I’m just passing through.”

“I also know that traveling costs money and you don’t have any. Is there any reason for you not to stay here for a while, make a few bucks and then move on?”

“No, I guess not. I have no idea if my family is still alive or not.”

“Then it is settled. Dean I mean no offense, but after you finish eating, well you could stand a shower.”

“Believe me, I know. No offense taken. But everything is in short supply these days. Are you sure you don’t mind me using your soap?”

“The question is can you stand to use our soap? It’s homemade and won’t leave you smelling like roses, but you won’t smell like you do now.”

“I’ll take it.”

Dean was shown a room where he would spend the night and then shown the bathroom. He enjoyed his shower. True the water was only lukewarm and Paul told him the supply was limited so he didn’t take any longer than he needed. But by the time he was done, he felt better than he had in quite some time. After dressing in his cleanest dirty clothes Dean went to the room where he was told he would sleep that night. He found Paul sitting there with Dean’s Bible in one of his hands, and his snub nosed pistol in the other. He looked at Dean strangely.

“Dean, I want you to know I’m not a nosy individual. A man has a right to privacy.” Paul said. “Venice thought she would do you a favor and see about cleaning some of your clothes. She found these. You realize that I should have turned you over to the government before you got out of the shower, don’t you?”

Dean had been given a hand signal to identify himself as a government agent before he had been sent out. He used it now as he crossed his arms across his chest. The signal was not returned.

“I know. Why haven’t you?”

“You already know. We don’t like the way this country is going. Now I don’t care what you do or don’t believe. But having a Christian in our ranks is an unacceptable risk. The government may or may not know about us, but they know about you. If you get caught, it is only a matter of time before you turn over the rest of us. I will not take that risk.”

“So, what are you going to do? Are you going to kick me out of here after curfew?”

“No. I’ll give you a bed and breakfast, but then you are on your way and on your own. If you ever mention me or anyone you’ve met, we will call you a liar. Understand me?”

“Yes I do, and thank you.”

As soon as curfew was lifted in the morning, Dean was on his way to the soup kitchen. That early the line was short and he quickly got in and got something to eat. Looking for a place to sit, he noticed the same two girls and guy he had seen the day before. He decided to sit near them. He placed his tray on the table and paused for a moment before eating, as if he was praying. From the corner of his eye he saw his action noticed by the girls. One of them nodded to the young man.

[day late]

Chapter Ten

Aaron looked at Mags and mouthed the words, ‘Are you sure?’ She nodded at him and mouthed ‘We’ve got to start somewhere’. Mary had explained to the trio that they would be expected to begin their own cells, and do what they could to help other Christians and Jews to avoid the government work camps. Her experience had taught her that in these days of widespread hunger, the only people who paused before eating were those who were praying. The man she had seen was a little older than she, Heather and even Aaron, but appeared to be praying before he began his meal. Most people would simply dive in and eat as much as they could as quickly as they could. She, Heather and Aaron had found a way to avoid the tale tell marker by praying as they were being given the food.

Aaron got up from the table to deposit his now empty plate and used silverware on a conveyor belt that took they into the dish room for cleaning and eventual reuse. He then got a cup of very weak coffee, added a little sugar and returned to the table. This time he walked over to where Dean was seated.

“Mind if I have a seat?” he asked.

“Not at all, I could stand a little company. I’m Dean.”

“Nice to meet you Dean, I’m Aaron. Have you been around here very long?” he said as he seated himself.

“No, I just walked in and got my breakfast.”

“I meant have you been in this area very long. You see I’m like everyone else I guess. I’m looking for work and I hoped you might know a good place to start.”

“I’m afraid not. I just got into town a couple of days ago and I’m in the same boat as you. I need to work so I can make enough money to get back to Georgia. Hopefully my folks are still alive and I can find them.”

Aaron nodded his head, knowingly. “I understand. My family is, or at least was, in South Carolina. I haven’t heard from them in a long time. I don’t know if it is because of poor communications or the Russians did something to them. I’m trying to head that way myself but have the same problem. A lack of money.”

“Well, I wish I could be more help, but maybe there is something I can do. Obviously the people who are doing the most hiring are the ones working on rebuilding after the war. If you have a trade they can use, you might want to start there. What do you do?”

“I’ve done a little bit of a lot of things. I’ve washed dishes, bagged groceries, driven trucks delivering different things. I even worked as a janitor in a church for a while.”

Aaron waited to see what kind of a reaction the statement would cause. Dean lowered his voice and spoke softly.

“That might not be a good thing to advertise these days.”

Aaron also lowered his voice. “I think you’re right. But I noticed you seemed to be doing a little spiritual stuff before you began to eat earlier.”

“What do you mean?”

“Were you praying before you started eating?”

Dean looked at Aaron, with surprise on his face. To his amazement the emotion wasn’t faked, as he realized he actually had said a brief prayer before eating. He didn’t know if it was because of his training or if that book, HIS Bible, was beginning to have an effect on him. He was suddenly shocked to understand that HIS Bible had somehow become important to him. He wasn’t really a believer, but there could be no doubt that The Bible WAS talking to him.

“What if I was? Are you going to make trouble for me? I’m not a pacifist.” Dean’s meaning was clear.

“I won’t make trouble for you. In fact we might just have some things in common.”

“Such as?”

“I pray before eating my meals as well.”

“I see. Are there any more people like us around here? It would be nice to know some kindred spirits.”

“Let’s just say that this conversation should be held in a less public place. You never know who might be listening.”

Dean’s stomach churned as he realized that Aaron was talking about him.

“You’re right. Well I’m about done here. Maybe we can find someplace where we can talk. And who knows, maybe we can find a job as well.”

“I think both of those would be good. And I know a place where we can talk privately.”

Mary had given Heather, Mags and Aaron an address to go to when they had left her that morning. They hadn’t been there yet, but it was an address they knew was in a ‘good’ area of town. There wasn’t too much crime and people tended to mind their own business. Even if the neighbors questioned them, Mary had provided proof that Heather and Mags were related to the previous owner of the home.

“That sounds good.” said Dean. “I’m done here, why don’t we go now?”

“There is one small problem. Well it really isn’t a problem. It’s more of a concern. I’m here with two friends. If we all leave together the cops might have questions. After all, groups of more than three are forbidden. But if we leave first and they follow us, then there is no problem for the cops to check out.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I don’t want you to get nervous when you notice two young ladies following us.”

Dean smiled. “I’ve never had a woman, young or old, follow me down the street. But that doesn’t sound like something to get upset about. I’m ready when you are.”

“Then let’s go.”

Dean and Aaron got up and made their way out of the soup kitchen and into the street. Because of Aaron’s warning Dean used the windshields of cars parked on the street to look behind him and eventually identified the sisters. It took nearly an hour, but the men finally made it to the address that had been given to the trio by Mary. Like many areas, many of the homes had no occupants. They had moved out during the war to be closer to family, drafted to fight or maybe even killed during the war. Their homes stood, usually fully furnished yet empty and available.

In this case the home was a small two story house with the windows covered from the inside. By some miracle all of the outside glass had remained intact, meaning there would be no damage from the weather done to the inside. Aaron had expected the door to be open and was dismayed when he found it locked. He made a quick search of the area near the door looking for a key. If there was one there, it was hidden better than he could find. He stood there thinking about what to do when Heather and Mags showed up.

“What’s the problem?” Heather asked.

“The door is locked and I can’t find a key.” Aaron answered.

“Maybe we should look for one.” Mags said.

“Mags, that wouldn’t be a bright idea.” Aaron told her. “I’ve already looked. If the people around here see all of us searching for one, it is bound to raise suspicions.”

“Then what do we do?” she wanted to know.

“We fake it. Do either of you have a couple of bobby pins in your purse?”

“I do.” Mags answered.

“Then make it look like you are giving me a key and hand them over.”

The young woman went into her purse, grabbed the pins and handed them to Aaron. Dean watched him keenly over his shoulder to see what he was up too. Aaron straightened out one of the pins, stripped off the plastic blob on the end of it and bent about a quarter of an inch of the pin to a forty-five degree angle, upward. This he quickly stuck into the lock and quickly raked the keys that actually do the locking a couple of times. He then put the other pin into the bottom side of the lock and bent it almost ninety degrees. With the second pin he applied a light rotating pressure to the lock. With the first pin he reached all the way to the back of the lock and began to feel for the pins one at a time. He pushed them up and into their unlocked position. He could feel them click into place and would move from one to the next. It took a couple of attempts, but the tumbler finally began to turn under the light rotating pressure he had placed on the other bobby pin. He used that pin to completely turn and open the lock. He turned the door knob and with a flourish, waved the sisters inside the home. Once they were inside he prompted Dean to follow them. He again used the lower bobby pin to rotate the key slot to its original place, entered the house and finally closed the door and locked it again, behind them. Once the door had closed Mags turned to Aaron.

“WHAT did you just do?”

“I picked the lock.”

“You did that with bobby pins? What are you some kind of government agent or super-spy?” Heather demanded.

“I’m neither of those. Can we agree that I haven’t always been a Christian and leave it at that? I’m not too proud of some of the things I’ve done.”

That brought Heather and Mags up short. They both knew that they had been forced to do things in the recent past that they were not happy about either. Things like leaving the last shelter they had been in without warning the people inside what was about to happen was the first thing to come to mind. Dean interrupted their dark thoughts.

“Honestly, that looks like a handy skill to have. Is there any way you can teach me?”

“To be truthful, I thank God that wasn’t a more modern lock. Some of them are designed to be unpickable. But that was an older lock so I could do it.”

“What’s the difference and how can you tell?”

“Some locks have a small vertical slot next to the key hole. When you see that, you know you are not going to pick it. If that slot isn’t there then you have a chance. With enough practice you have a good chance.”

“But doesn’t that take lock picks and things like that?” Mags asked.

“Using those is the easiest way, but it actually can be done with those pins. It just isn’t easy.”

“It looked pretty easy to me.” Heather commented. “You didn’t work on that lock for thirty seconds.”

“All I can say is that The Lord was with us, not just me. He wanted us off the street, so the lock was easy. That tells me we need to be careful and keep a sharp lookout for a while.”

“Let’s see if we can get these blinds and curtains open and have some sun light in this place.” Heather said.

“Don’t do that.” Aaron countered. “We don’t want to be attracting attention to ourselves right away.”

“I hardly think anyone is going to notice the blinds going up.” Heather countered.

“Aaron is right.” Dean offered. “Do you know how a rabbit stays alive?”

“I never thought about it. By running away I guess.”

“Not quite. Running is its way of escaping danger. A rabbit stays alive by noticing every little change in its environment. The only time it isn’t alert is when it is asleep. After the war, the gangs, the food riots and everything else that has happened, the people outside this door are just as scared as rabbits. The people inside this door are that scared as well. Think about how closely we watched for anyone that might even look at us funny. They know what every house on this street looks like. Changes to the way they look attract attention.”

“What if they saw us come in just now? They are going to know we are here.” Mags said.

“Maybe a few saw us, but with Aaron using a ‘key’, that gives us some cover. It made us look normal. But people who didn’t see us get in and are just passing by every day will think it is strange that someone is here. They will be the ones to report us to the cops. It’s best if we just sort of let the neighbors get used to seeing us and then make changes.”

“How do we do that?”

“By going outside for short periods of time and doing normal stuff. This place hasn’t been occupied for some time by the looks of it. So what we need to do is find something that will give us the names of the former owners. When one or two of us go out to do yard work or pick up the trash in the yard, we wait for the neighbors to ask who we are and what we are doing here. Then we tell them something like we are relatives of the owners who have been displaced by the war and that say, you two ladies are cousins of the owners. You were displaced by the war and you came here looking for help. Once the neighbors get to know us, they will swear to the authorities that we are just normal folks.”

“That might work.” Aaron said. “What made you think of that?”

“You’d be surprised how much you can get away with if you misdirect the attention of people. That’s what this will do.”

“Why do you think it WILL work?” Heather demanded.

“Let me just say that Aaron isn’t the only one with things in his past he doesn’t want to talk about.” Dean couldn’t help but notice the confrontational way Heather spoke to him. He wondered if she were looking for a flaw in his story.

“Well if we aren’t going to open the windows, we really should do something about all of this dirt and dust.” She said to everyone.

“No, don’t. Not just yet.”

“Why not?”

“The trick to making a story believable is to live it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our story is that we have just finished a long trip to get here. Now if we had, would you dive right into cleaning or would you settle into a bed room first? And maybe get some rest.”

“When you put it that way, I’d rest first.” Mags said.

“Then let’s see what can be done about sleeping arrangements. In a place like this, the bed rooms are usually on the second floor.”

The four of them went upstairs and found there were four bed rooms. One had a queen sized mattress and the other three had single sized mattresses. It was quickly decided that the sisters would share the larger bed, while Aaron and Dean would each claim one of the smaller rooms. Dean took one of the rooms facing the street and Aaron took one on the back side of the house. Dean dropped his pack on the floor and fell into the bed. It was so comfortable compared with what he had been sleeping on recently. He could have stayed there all day. As he laid there Dean thought about his new companions. They seemed like decent people. He couldn’t see why anyone would blame them for the state of the world. He knew he had to make a choice about what he was going to do, so pulled his ‘talking’ book from his pack and flipped it open.

“Okay, God. I have to make a choice. I’m supposed to turn these people over, but I can’t see why I should. If this book really is talking to me, show me now.”

Dean glanced at the page open before him.

Exo 32:26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.

“So, You are wanting me to decide which way I’m going to go with this. Is that it?”

Dean turned a few pages and read again.

Jos 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Dean closed The Bible and set it aside. He wanted to seriously consider what he had read. Both passages had a sense of urgency to them. Well, there was nothing urgent pressing them now. He could take a day or two. Or so he thought.

All four of the group were startled to hear sounds of some kind of a commotion out on the street. There was a window in the hall between the rooms that looked out to the street below. Heather went to it, only to be sharply called back by Dean.

“STAND BACK! Never put your face in a window unless you WANT to be found.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If you stand in front of the window, you can see, but you can also be seen. Stand back in the shadows and whoever is down there won’t see you, but you can see them.”

Heather backed away, but clearly didn’t like the way Dean had spoken to her. At this point, he didn’t care. Heather’s carelessness could have gotten them caught. He did everything he could to see what was happening. Then he saw. There was a group of men going house to house, pounding on doors and demanding answers from whoever answered. On their arms they wore a band with a cross inside a red circle with a slash going across it. They bore the letters C.E.T. Dean knew what that meant. He had heard about them in training. Christian Extraction Team. They had the authority to go anywhere and do anything in their search for Christians.