Speaker 1: Chapter six, Sasha, history is a messy thing class. Even
Speaker 1: a question as simple as when did the Second American
Speaker 1: Civil War begin doesn't have a clear answer. Some scholars
Speaker 1: say the first shots were fired during the failed Montana
Speaker 1: Seccession Movement of twenty forty. Others will name the Dallas
Speaker 1: Water Riots of forty one or the bombing of the
Speaker 1: Diamond Building six months later by leftist militants. You can
Speaker 1: make a good evidence based case for any of these.
Speaker 1: Mister Dane was a good lecturer, with a rich baritone
Speaker 1: voice and a habit of animating his lectures with vibrant
Speaker 1: hand gestures. He was Sasha's favorite teacher and one of
Speaker 1: her favorite people. Mister Dane was a heathen, of course,
Speaker 1: but he was still a sweet man. She appreciated his
Speaker 1: even handed perspective and his commitment to the unbiased study
Speaker 1: of history. It broke her heart that no one else
Speaker 1: in her Advanced Placement Continental History class seemed to appreciate him.
Speaker 1: The other twenty four students stared ahead with slackened aws
Speaker 1: and unfocused eyes. They were all deep in their decks,
Speaker 1: messaging friends, browsing snap bids, or playing whatever game was
Speaker 1: popular right now. Decks were far too entrenched in modern
Speaker 1: life for schools to force them off during class time. Instead,
Speaker 1: the school filtered the WiFi and forced students to download
Speaker 1: apps that restricted access during school hours. This had led
Speaker 1: to a thriving underground trade and apps that countered the
Speaker 1: school spyware and covertly lifted the blocks. The district I
Speaker 1: T Team was locked in a perpetual losing battle to
Speaker 1: spot and crack these programs. But on a practical level,
Speaker 1: the teachers, like mister Dane, just had to accept the intrusion.
Speaker 1: The students didn't ignore him entirely, but very few of
Speaker 1: them gave him their full attention. They didn't give anything
Speaker 1: their full attention. Really. Most of her peers went through
Speaker 1: their days half reading two or three conversations, playing games,
Speaker 1: and scrolling through several social media feeds, even when they
Speaker 1: were out in the world surrounded by people. Pastor Mike
Speaker 1: called it the death of Joy. That was the name
Speaker 1: of the essay and revelator that had first turned Sasha
Speaker 1: on to the heavenly Kingdom. He'd railed against distraction culture,
Speaker 1: which he said not only robbed mankind of a relationship
Speaker 1: with God, but it also robs us of the little moments,
Speaker 1: the quiet joys of living are drowned by a flood
Speaker 1: of data. It's a mosquito bite on the human soul,
Speaker 1: and the masses have convinced themselves that the abatement of
Speaker 1: discomfort from scratching this itch is the same ashappiness. All
Speaker 1: around her classmates scratched their itches while mister Dane lectured.
Speaker 1: He looked so lonely up there, They all looked lonely.
Speaker 1: So mister Dane cleared his throat in an attempt to
Speaker 1: pull at least a few of his students out of
Speaker 1: their stupor. As we close this unit, I'd like to
Speaker 1: ask you all a simple question. What should we call
Speaker 1: the war that split the United States? Your textbook calls
Speaker 1: it the Second American Civil War. In the Northwest, and
Speaker 1: the Christian States they call it the Revolution. By next Monday,
Speaker 1: I'd like each of you to upload an essay arguing
Speaker 1: which name is more appropriate. One thousand words please. The
Speaker 1: bell rang. The other students got up slowly in twos
Speaker 1: and threes and made for the door. Sasha was one
Speaker 1: of the first up, but mister Dane called to her
Speaker 1: before she reached the exit. Miss Marian, would you mind
Speaker 1: holding back. A moment, Sasha stiffened. She glanced involuntarily up
Speaker 1: to one of the government's propaganda posters on the wall.
Speaker 1: It showed a young man with a brightly colored backpack,
Speaker 1: surrounded by burnt out buildings in rubble. A green rocket
Speaker 1: hung above him like the sword of Damocles, an instant
Speaker 1: away from impact. Next to the young man were the
Speaker 1: words think again, step back, Yes, sir, she asked. As
Speaker 1: she approached his desk. Mister Dane fixed her with a
Speaker 1: kind smile. He looked around forty, although that was no
Speaker 1: guarantee of anything. His eyes and lips were creased with
Speaker 1: smile lines. Though she liked that about him. You seemed
Speaker 1: a bit distracted to day, Sasha. That's not uncommon for
Speaker 1: most of my students, he gave a slightly forced laugh.
Speaker 1: But you're normally so engaged. I just wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure everything's okay. Over the last year, Sasha had started
Speaker 1: building up a dock pile of what she called defensive smiles.
Speaker 1: She had one for when her parents were worried, another
Speaker 1: for her few friends, and another for the school administrators.
Speaker 1: The smiles were calculated to reassure everyone that she was
Speaker 1: still normal. Sasha, and she certainly wasn't planning to escape
Speaker 1: to the heavenly Kingdom. But she'd never worked up a
Speaker 1: smile from Mr Dane. She genuinely enjoyed his class, so
Speaker 1: it hadn't seemed necessary. She just decided to go with
Speaker 1: her friend smile and hope that worked. I'm okay, I'm
Speaker 1: just you know, inspiration head her. The news today is
Speaker 1: so scary. What's happening down in Texas. I'm worried. Mr
Speaker 1: Dane visibly relaxed. Ah, yes, I can see why you'd
Speaker 1: be troubled by that. I think it's taken everyone a
Speaker 1: bit by surprise. He paused and struggled with his words.
Speaker 1: I expect it must be somewhat more difficult for you
Speaker 1: than the rest of the class. Being a Christian. Her
Speaker 1: smile faltered a bit. She knew she was supposed to
Speaker 1: act like one of the tame preachers the government trotted out,
Speaker 1: the men and women who'd Christianity was all about peace
Speaker 1: and love. They'd say that the Lord's truth could coexist
Speaker 1: with the equal truths of other faiths and with the
Speaker 1: secular world of the am fed. That all felt wrong
Speaker 1: to her, but a little irritation was worth avoiding suspicion.
Speaker 1: My faith is stronger than a handful of terrorists, she
Speaker 1: said to mister Dane. There are a lot of Christians
Speaker 1: in the secular forces. You know they'll when in the end,
Speaker 1: won't they. Mister Dane's smile remained unchanged, but his eyes
Speaker 1: bored into hers. Sasha was more comfortable with eye contact
Speaker 1: than most teens, but she found this deeply uncomfortable, invasive.
Speaker 1: Even after several long seconds, he spoke, I fear it's
Speaker 1: going to be a long, bloody fight before that happens.
Speaker 1: We're very lucky to be insulated from all that madness,
Speaker 1: you know, he sighed. An eleventh grader, However, a Jefferson
Speaker 1: I was killed fighting in Dallas yesterday. The news just broke.
Speaker 1: Sasha hadn't been aware, but thank God for him and
Speaker 1: his sacrifice. She thought, that's awful, She said, I can't
Speaker 1: imagine what his parents must be going through. No, you can't,
Speaker 1: he agreed, And then mister Dane broke eye contact. He
Speaker 1: looked down at the ground, and his voice dropped an
Speaker 1: octave as he asked, did you know I had a son?
Speaker 1: Genuine surprise passed over Sasha's face. No, sir, I didn't.
Speaker 1: He shrubbed and gave up on his smile. It wasn't
Speaker 1: much more than a ghost now, Anyway, I married young,
Speaker 1: I was a dad at nineteen, and by the time
Speaker 1: he was nineteen, the whole country was coming apart. He
Speaker 1: reached down to his desk and picked up a small,
Speaker 1: rather battered looking red button. It had the letters r
Speaker 1: J printed in lower case letters across the front. Mister
Speaker 1: Dane stared at it. Something twitched under his left eyelid.
Speaker 1: He bit his upper lip. He was silent for a
Speaker 1: long beat, and he swallowed and looked up at Sasha.
Speaker 1: Do you know what this is? No, she said, reluctant
Speaker 1: and pretty certain. She ought to have known. In the
Speaker 1: years leading up to the revolution, there were a lot
Speaker 1: of different activist movements founded and spread by anonymous radicals.
Speaker 1: They'd organized flashed demonstrations and co ordinated direct action campaigns.
Speaker 1: The pins were one sort of I D badge, so
Speaker 1: when you showed up for a flashed demo, you could
Speaker 1: quickly identify your comrades. He shook his head ruefully. It
Speaker 1: sounds silly now. All I can say is, at the
Speaker 1: time it made sense, and it felt meaningful. The anonymous
Speaker 1: voice I listened to was a guy named Red John.
Speaker 1: He had all these videos about history, politics. He explained
Speaker 1: the whole world and what was wrong with it in
Speaker 1: a way that just felt right. I started playing his
Speaker 1: stuff for my boy Mikey when he was thirteen or fourteen.
Speaker 1: I just wanted him to know what was going on.
Speaker 1: I thought I was doing the right thing. Mister Dane's
Speaker 1: eyes looked watery and heavy with the ghost of old tears.
Speaker 1: He seemed to have trouble keeping his voice steady. Mikey
Speaker 1: grew up believing hard, and when the fighting broke out,
Speaker 1: he was young and strong and so very ready to
Speaker 1: fight for the world he believed we all deserved. Mister
Speaker 1: Dane set the pen back on the desk with its
Speaker 1: cover facing down. His eyes were red. He died in Denver,
Speaker 1: mister Dane said, and his voice broke a little shot
Speaker 1: through the head. When the National Guard pushed into Westminster,
Speaker 1: Sasha put a hand on mister Dane's shoulder. It was
Speaker 1: an instinctive move, blessedly honest. She silently thanked God for
Speaker 1: this moment of connection to the educator she so admired.
Speaker 1: He smiled back at her, thank you. I don't mean
Speaker 1: for this to be a lecture. I don't think those
Speaker 1: tend to work. Just he glanced back at the table.
Speaker 1: Just be careful about putting your faith in charismatic men
Speaker 1: and their ideas. I will, she said. A minute later,
Speaker 1: as she left the classroom, a notification pip lit up
Speaker 1: on the top right corner of her vision. She wink
Speaker 1: clicked it and saw a message from brother Andrew bus
Speaker 1: stop twenty three a four thirty p m. The rest
Speaker 1: of the day passed normally enough. In the afternoon, they
Speaker 1: had an assembly about the suicide of a classmate. It
Speaker 1: was the third this year. Principal Hargrave delivered the same
Speaker 1: platitudes they'd all heard a hundred times. There was a
Speaker 1: lot of talk about suicide hot lines and chat rooms.
Speaker 1: Of all the counseling services the school had available, Sasha
Speaker 1: knew none of it would help. Almost twenty percent of
Speaker 1: teens in the m FED would attempt suicide every year.
Speaker 1: That number ticked up a few tenths of a percent,
Speaker 1: and the government had no idea how to stop it.
Speaker 1: Pastor Mike blamed the rash of suicides on the emptiness
Speaker 1: of secular life. The spiritual whole at the center of
Speaker 1: capitalism and the self worship had fed. Sasha thought he'd
Speaker 1: hit that right on the money. Even the United Christian
Speaker 1: States still engaged in global capitalism and doing so that
Speaker 1: a dark God in permanent opposition to the Lord Almighty.
Speaker 1: Pastor Mike again, she knew Principal hargraves lectures were pointless,
Speaker 1: but she sat through the assembly and gave the right
Speaker 1: smiles to the right people. The rest of the day,
Speaker 1: she focused on her studies as best she could, despite
Speaker 1: the growing anxiety in her gut. Two weeks ago, she'd
Speaker 1: read a Pastor Mike article and revelator, don't talk yourself
Speaker 1: out of Heaven. It had clearly been written for the
Speaker 1: conflicted faithful just like her. I've received messages from hundreds
Speaker 1: of you who say I'd love to open myself up
Speaker 1: to martyrdom. But I'm a doctor, or a police officer
Speaker 1: or an engineer, and I think I can do more
Speaker 1: to glorify God where I am right now. Brothers and sisters,
Speaker 1: these are the doubts of the serpent. Don't be fooled.
Speaker 1: No one stays in comfort because they want to bring
Speaker 1: glory to the Almighty. Our Lord does not speak to
Speaker 1: us from comfortable places. He spoke to Moses in a
Speaker 1: desolate desert, from a burning bush. He delivered his greatest
Speaker 1: sermon atop a mountain. Jehovah wants our souls to be
Speaker 1: so on fire with devotion that our own lives mean
Speaker 1: nothing before his flame. The heavenly kingdom is that cleansing flame.
Speaker 1: What a gift it is here now in your lifetime.
Speaker 1: What a tragedy it would be to miss this chance
Speaker 1: at salvation. She recited that passage again and again throughout
Speaker 1: what she now knew would be her last day at school.
Speaker 1: The words steadied her as she waved goodbye to mister
Speaker 1: Dane at the end of the day. These are the
Speaker 1: doubts of the serpent, they calmed her. When she looked
Speaker 1: into her backpack, which held the small go back she'd
Speaker 1: put together that morning. It was just a change of
Speaker 1: clothes and a handful of hygiene items that seemed woefully inadequate,
Speaker 1: but anything more would have looked suspicious. Leaving, I'm leaving.
Speaker 1: It was only now, on the cusp of leaving, that
Speaker 1: Sasha realized how much she was going to miss movie
Speaker 1: night with her friends. Central heating in the winter, reliable
Speaker 1: internet access. Our Lord does not speak to us from
Speaker 1: comfortable places. It took her an embarrassing amount of time
Speaker 1: to find the bus stop. She was scared to use
Speaker 1: her deck. She'd shut it off as soon as she'd
Speaker 1: left school, and she didn't know the city bus system
Speaker 1: very well. She'd taken buses to school for years, but
Speaker 1: her parents car had always driven her around the city.
Speaker 1: She was ashamed of how anxious she felt about riding
Speaker 1: a city bus. Here she was on her way to
Speaker 1: a war zone and possible martyrdom, scared of public transit,
Speaker 1: Be strong and courageous and do the work. She recited
Speaker 1: David's advice to Solomon, do not be afraid or discouraged
Speaker 1: for the Lord God, My God is with you. That
Speaker 1: helped a little. Thinking of Alexander's smile, his green eyes,
Speaker 1: and the strong lines of his jaw helped more. Sasha
Speaker 1: didn't like admitting that to herself. It felt too carnal,
Speaker 1: almost sacrilegious, but she knew that what mattered to God
Speaker 1: were her actions. Even if her flight to Zion wasn't
Speaker 1: done with a completely pure heart, God would forgive her
Speaker 1: her sacrifice to build the new Jerusalem. Wo outweigh the
Speaker 1: sinful part of her mind that couldn't stop imagining how
Speaker 1: Alexander's strong arms would feel when they finally wrapped around her.
Speaker 1: She waited at stop twenty three. A four thirty came
Speaker 1: and went by four forty five p m. Her chest
Speaker 1: burned with barely restrained panic. She was sure the people
Speaker 1: passing by all knew her secret plans. A pair of
Speaker 1: police officers passed her at one point. One of them,
Speaker 1: a woman not much older than Sasha, flashed her a smile.
Speaker 1: For a long time, she was convinced it had been
Speaker 1: a sign that her communics had been intercepted and the
Speaker 1: police or the FBI were onto her plan. But the
Speaker 1: police didn't come to stop her, and after a quarter
Speaker 1: hour that felt like days, a brown sedan rolled up
Speaker 1: to the bus stop. Its window peeled down, and Sasha
Speaker 1: locked eyes with a careworn young man in the back.
Speaker 1: Sasha Marian. He asked yes, She said, are you brother Andrew?
Speaker 1: As I was with Moses, so will I be with
Speaker 1: That was the pass phrase Alexander had told her to expect.
Speaker 1: It was all Sasha could do to stop from bawling
Speaker 1: right then and there. She got in the car, The
Speaker 1: man inside was exactly what she'd have expected of a
Speaker 1: man and brother Andrew's profession. He had long, straw colored
Speaker 1: hair and a ragged beard. There were deep pockets of
Speaker 1: exhaustion under his brown eyes and well creased smile lines
Speaker 1: around his lips. He wore a simple black suit with
Speaker 1: no tie. Everything about the way he looked and the
Speaker 1: way he dressed spoke of quiet devotion and humble service.
Speaker 1: Here finally was a man of God. Not a pressed,
Speaker 1: preening dandy like the pastor at her father's church, not
Speaker 1: a hip, young pretender like the Baptist minister who had
Speaker 1: given a speech on inclusion at her school last year.
Speaker 1: Here was a real, road weary man of the Lord.
Speaker 1: I know how you must feel right now, Sasha, he said.
Speaker 1: You're relieved. You never thought you'd make it this far.
Speaker 1: You didn't know if you'd have the courage to take
Speaker 1: the final leap of faith. But you have now, child,
Speaker 1: and your soul is secure. Sasha melted. The knot of
Speaker 1: anxiety that had been twisting in her guts suddenly untied itself.
Speaker 1: Her eyesight blurred, and she realized that she'd started to cry.
Speaker 1: It was all she could do to look over to
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew and whisper thank you. Together they drove to
Speaker 1: a little, white walled suburban house, maybe five miles away
Speaker 1: from the only home she had ever known. The car stopped,
Speaker 1: but Brother Andrew gestured for her to stay in the
Speaker 1: vehicle while he stepped out and knocked on the door.
Speaker 1: Another man, shorter and balding, stepped out. They both hustled
Speaker 1: back to the car, their eyes darting left and right.
Speaker 1: As soon as they made it inside, the car sped
Speaker 1: off fast enough that the acceleration pushed Sasha back in
Speaker 1: her seat. The new man sat across from her in
Speaker 1: the autonomous car, second row of bench seats. He was older,
Speaker 1: in his fifties. If he hadn't taken any juven treatments,
Speaker 1: he had tired eyes with deep bags beneath them. While
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew radiated calm, self satisfaction, this man seemed nervous
Speaker 1: and a little frantic. He clutched a small briefcase with
Speaker 1: white knuckled hands. Sasha smiled in an unconscious attempt to
Speaker 1: call him. He smiled back. Brother Andrew spoke, Miss Marian,
Speaker 1: this is brother Brian. He's going to disable your deck.
Speaker 1: It's the only way we can get you across the
Speaker 1: border to our people in the Christian States. Brother Andrew
Speaker 1: smiled and put a hand on Brother Brian's shoulder. The
Speaker 1: other man took this queue to open up his suitcase.
Speaker 1: He started to assemble something small, silver and intricate. Brother
Speaker 1: Andrew kept speaking. All it would take is one phone
Speaker 1: call from your parents or your school when the police
Speaker 1: could spot your precise location from the GPS unit in
Speaker 1: your deck. This car is a dead zone, so you're
Speaker 1: safe inside it, but as soon as you exit, you'll
Speaker 1: be back on the map, so we need to remove
Speaker 1: your deck before that happens. Will it hurt? Sasha remembered
Speaker 1: how it had felt when they had first implanted her deck,
Speaker 1: like having a new tooth forcibly inserted into her jaw.
Speaker 1: She'd been four or five at the time. Her head
Speaker 1: had hurt for days. Brother Brian didn't look up from
Speaker 1: his briefcase as he answered her. Yes, I've got a
Speaker 1: topical anesthetic, but nothing stronger. It'll hurt. Soha nodded gravely.
Speaker 1: She had anticipated this. A little pain was a small
Speaker 1: price to pay to become one of God's elect few.
Speaker 1: She thought of Paul and Silas stripped and beaten with
Speaker 1: clubs on the orders of a heathen magistrate. God shows
Speaker 1: his love through salvation. We show ours through sacrifice. The
Speaker 1: memory of Pastor Mike's words helped ease her fears she'd
Speaker 1: miss her deck, but Alexander had said there'd be replacements
Speaker 1: in the heavenly Kingdom. In another minute, Brother Bryan had
Speaker 1: finished assembling the tool. It looked like a cross between
Speaker 1: a syringe and a handheld shot back. At Brother Andrew's urging,
Speaker 1: she moved over to sit on the bench seat next
Speaker 1: to him. Now lay across my lap an angle your
Speaker 1: temple towards Brother Brian. A pang of fear flitted across
Speaker 1: her heart. These were men of God, but they were
Speaker 1: also men she didn't know, who were much older and
Speaker 1: larger than her. She had to fight down the urge
Speaker 1: to panic and flee your trusting these men to smuggle
Speaker 1: you across a border. Dummy. She hesitated for a few
Speaker 1: sweaty seconds, but eventually Sasha nodded and laid down on
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew's lap. Her heart beat so loudly that she
Speaker 1: could hear it crashing in her skull like ocean waves.
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew put his strong hands on her. He tightened
Speaker 1: his grip. He's holding me down, she realized, and although
Speaker 1: he tried to restrain her in a comforting way, the
Speaker 1: liquid mass of panic in her chest almost boiled over.
Speaker 1: There was a sudden, sharp pain as Brother Brian plunged
Speaker 1: the needle in through her temple, and then a dull,
Speaker 1: throbbing feeling like a migraine. Sasha felt dizzy, disoriented, and
Speaker 1: then nauseous in turns. She blacked out for a few seconds.
Speaker 1: When she came back to herself, she realized she had
Speaker 1: been vomiting. The floor of the car was coated in
Speaker 1: the remains of her lunch. Some of it had gotten
Speaker 1: on Brother Andrew's pants leg. Brother Brian looked disgusted, but
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew was all smiles and comfort. Jesus, here's your
Speaker 1: suffering sister. He knows what you are giving up in
Speaker 1: his name. You will reap the dividends of this investment
Speaker 1: in your soul. He helped her up and guided her
Speaker 1: to the opposite bench, where she laid down and continued
Speaker 1: to clutch her throbbing head. She drifted off or passed out,
Speaker 1: and when she came to the interior of a car
Speaker 1: had been scrubbed clean, leaving behind only a brown stain
Speaker 1: and the lingering smell of sick and antiseptic. Sasha guessed
Speaker 1: an hour or more had passed, although without her deck
Speaker 1: it could have been more. They were in the woods now,
Speaker 1: driving along a country road. Brother Andrew explained that they
Speaker 1: were just a few minutes away from the border, and
Speaker 1: almost as far as an automobile could take them. Soon
Speaker 1: they'd stop in the town of Franklin, right on the
Speaker 1: border of the UCS, and she'd meet the men who
Speaker 1: would help her on the next stage of her journey.
Speaker 1: The main border stations are blanketed with cameras, Brother Andrew said,
Speaker 1: but we're right in the thick of the Blue Ridge
Speaker 1: Mountains here. They can't watch every inch of them. We
Speaker 1: have some coyotes here who know where the holes are.
Speaker 1: One of them will spirit you across. Coyotes, Sasha asked.
Speaker 1: It's an old term, he said, A coyote is someone
Speaker 1: who helps smuggle people across national borders. Usually the phrase
Speaker 1: has somewhat mercenary connotations. But the men we work with,
Speaker 1: our true believers, soldiers in the Army of God. You
Speaker 1: needn't fear Miss Marian. A few minutes later, they rolled
Speaker 1: into Inkland. She'd never heard of the place before, but
Speaker 1: a quick look around told her most of what she'd
Speaker 1: needed to know. Most of the buildings were empty, the
Speaker 1: storefronts were boarded up, The city hall was in disrepair,
Speaker 1: and the skeleton of a once mighty Walmart supercenter dominated
Speaker 1: the south side of town. There was clear fire damage
Speaker 1: around its roof and entrances. Twenty or so years ago,
Speaker 1: when the Civil War had been at its height, Franklin
Speaker 1: had swollen with refugees. When the war had ended, the
Speaker 1: refugees had gone elsewhere, and the city had been left
Speaker 1: gutted and exhausted in their absence. The car stopped outside
Speaker 1: of a public park. Sasha noticed that the grass was
Speaker 1: overgrown and the sidewalks around it were cracked and broken.
Speaker 1: She shared a quick prayer with brothers Andrew and Brian,
Speaker 1: then they bid her farewell. The car pulled away and
Speaker 1: Sasha was alone. She'd been told to find a park
Speaker 1: bench and wait just a few minutes, so that's what
Speaker 1: she did. A few minutes turned into ten, then fifteen,
Speaker 1: then twenty. Sasha began to worry again. That was when
Speaker 1: she really started to miss her deck Normally, she'd have
Speaker 1: been able to catch up on the latest news from Zion,
Speaker 1: read one of her favorite issues of Revelator, and maybe
Speaker 1: even touch base with Alexander. Without it, she only had
Speaker 1: the throbbing pain in her head to keep her occupied.
Speaker 1: Sasha's mind wandered to the rolling mountains on the horizon.
Speaker 1: She'd never spent so much as a night out camping before.
Speaker 1: The wildest animal she'd ever seen was a squirrel, and
Speaker 1: there are bears out there that scared her more than
Speaker 1: the prospect of being arrested, or even the fear of
Speaker 1: what might happen to her nearer to the fighting. Dying
Speaker 1: alone in a drone strike or from a sniper's bullet
Speaker 1: would be quick and expected. Given where she was going,
Speaker 1: She'd spent a lot of time thinking about dying from
Speaker 1: sudden violence. It had acquired a patina of romance in
Speaker 1: her mind's eye. But dying on some mountain to a
Speaker 1: slavering monster from another age. Sasha shuddered, seized by a
Speaker 1: chill entirely at odds with the extreme heat of this
Speaker 1: August day, it was a hundred and nine at least.
Speaker 1: Sasha rooted through her bag and pulled out a small
Speaker 1: leather bound bible she'd received as a Christmas gift from
Speaker 1: her dad two years ago. She opened it at random
Speaker 1: and found herself in the Book of Jonah. In my distress,
Speaker 1: I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From
Speaker 1: deep in the realm of the dead, I called for help,
Speaker 1: and you listened to my cry. She read on through
Speaker 1: the rest of Jonah's cries to the whale, vomiting him
Speaker 1: up on to the shores near Nineveh. The word of
Speaker 1: God calmed her. She grew so engrossed in her scripture
Speaker 1: that she was taken completely by surprise when the coyote
Speaker 1: found her on the park bench. Miss marian, a man's
Speaker 1: voice weathered in gravelly, said from behind her, you'd serve
Speaker 1: us both whale by putting that book away. This is
Speaker 1: not a safe place. She looked up the coyote. He
Speaker 1: was older than she'd expected, in his mid forties at least.
Speaker 1: He had a mop of greasy blonde hair, a round face,
Speaker 1: kind blue eyes, and a slight paunch that spoke more
Speaker 1: to his age than in activity. He had thick biceps
Speaker 1: and forearms that bulged with corded muscle. His thighs were
Speaker 1: large too, he had the look of a man who
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time on his feet. Mister, she asked, Jonah.
Speaker 1: He said, you can call me Jonah. And again the
Speaker 1: knots and her stomach melted away. She rejoiced inside over
Speaker 1: and over her faithed flag, and over and over the
Speaker 1: Lord had sent her signs of his love and approval.
Speaker 1: That's what trusting and reason gets you, she admonished herself.
Speaker 1: Fear and pain, God is watching out for me. Her
Speaker 1: childish fear of bears faded away. Suddenly the world and
Speaker 1: her future felt bright and exciting again. After years of delay,
Speaker 1: she was finally on the doorstep of Zion. Jonah, I'm
Speaker 1: ready to go. You lead the way and I will follow.
Speaker 1: It took about an hour for Sasha to decide that
Speaker 1: she liked camping, and then two more hours to decide
Speaker 1: that she never wanted to camp ever again. By the
Speaker 1: time they stopped for the night, she'd gouged herself open
Speaker 1: on half a dozen different tree branches, smashed her left
Speaker 1: toe into a rock, and somehow managed to draw every
Speaker 1: allergin on the East coast into her nose. The headaches
Speaker 1: from her improvised surgery and her throbbing sinuses warred for dominance.
Speaker 1: She couldn't sleep, food had no taste, and her hands
Speaker 1: were too grubby and generally snotty to allow her to
Speaker 1: read the able. Jonah was not as talkative as brother Andrew.
Speaker 1: He'd given her a brief rundown of things to avoid
Speaker 1: out in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He'd told her how
Speaker 1: to recognize timber rattlers, diamondbacks, and copper heads, although for
Speaker 1: some reason she had much more trouble retaining that information
Speaker 1: than she'd had memorizing the Pythagorean theorem or the date
Speaker 1: and importance of the Battle of Hastings. She was supposed
Speaker 1: to watch for pointy heads, she knew that, but every
Speaker 1: time a snake slithered past her, it moved way too
Speaker 1: fast for her to tell the shape of its head.
Speaker 1: Other than that quick lecture and a few admonishments for
Speaker 1: her to step lightly, Jonah hadn't said much. He'd given
Speaker 1: her food each night, protein bars and nuts. Mostly, he'd
Speaker 1: been kind enough to let her snuggle with the heated
Speaker 1: blanket he'd brought along. She knew she'd gotten snot on it,
Speaker 1: but he never complained. When they settled into camp on
Speaker 1: the second night, Sasha was surprised to see her coyote
Speaker 1: start to gather wood and build a fire. He laughed
Speaker 1: when he saw the dumbfounded look on Sasha's face. He
Speaker 1: pulled out a small yellow bottle of lighter fluid, squirted
Speaker 1: it onto the wood, and then lit the edge of
Speaker 1: it with his lighter. The fire leapt to life, burning
Speaker 1: away at the pine needles until they caught the smaller
Speaker 1: sticks and limbs stacked round in a small box. Next,
Speaker 1: he pulled two silver pouches out of his backpack and
Speaker 1: handed them to her. The labels informed her that one
Speaker 1: contained chicken and dumplings and the other Macaronian cheese. Her
Speaker 1: mouth was watering before the first and tonight, Miss Marian,
Speaker 1: you get a fire and a hot mail. We're over
Speaker 1: the line. And that was how Sasha learned she'd crossed
Speaker 1: the border into the United Christian States. She had successfully
Speaker 1: fled her country and the secular rule of law entirely.
Speaker 1: The u c S wasn't a true godly state, not
Speaker 1: by her standards. It's multidenominational acceptance was a denial of
Speaker 1: the harsh truth of God's love. Not everyone who called
Speaker 1: themselves a Christian truly lived in such a way as
Speaker 1: to earn God's gift of salvation. But just being in
Speaker 1: a country that acknowledged the primacy of God Almighty in
Speaker 1: their law and public policy was enough. For now. There's
Speaker 1: no abortion here, she thought, with awe. No atheists on
Speaker 1: television mocking the Lord no callow acceptance of premarital set.
Speaker 1: She felt a thrill at being in a place that
Speaker 1: was so much closer to her conception of right. It
Speaker 1: didn't even matter that she was still stuck in the woods. Jonah,
Speaker 1: she asked, do you live here most of the time? Yes.
Speaker 1: He had a quiet, soulful voice that made him seem
Speaker 1: even older than he looked. What made you decide to
Speaker 1: start smuggling people out of the am Fed? She stared
Speaker 1: into the tree line as his hands stuffed thin sticks
Speaker 1: into the base of the growing fire. Sasha watched his
Speaker 1: jaw clinch and unclinched, as if he was mentally rehearsing
Speaker 1: his response before he said it out loud as a
Speaker 1: United States armor arranger. Once been a Christian my whole life,
Speaker 1: though Southern Baptist, grew up in a country just as
Speaker 1: lost to sin and vi us as yours is. And
Speaker 1: when the fighting started, I saw an opportunity to bring
Speaker 1: my nation back to its godly roots. Hands emptied, Jonah
Speaker 1: rooted around his bag and pulled out a kettle. He
Speaker 1: filled it with water from a heavy fabric bag and
Speaker 1: placed it on a flat rock near the edge of
Speaker 1: the fire. Then he stood up, gestured for her to follow,
Speaker 1: and walked over to a nearby copse of trees. A
Speaker 1: in a local militian Marietta near Atlanta, he said, most
Speaker 1: of us are vetts like me, neither Baptist or Pentecostal.
Speaker 1: He crouched down next to a tree that had been
Speaker 1: cracked in half by lightning. It was dead and very dry.
Speaker 1: The ground around it was littered with tree limbs and
Speaker 1: thick slabs of bark. He started gathering up some of
Speaker 1: the larger pieces. Mom, get down are and elk. Some
Speaker 1: of these are a little damp, but we'll stick them
Speaker 1: around the edges to dry out. Most important thing right
Speaker 1: now is to get some middle in size logs in
Speaker 1: there so we can build up a little bit of coals.
Speaker 1: Sasha wiped a runnel of snot from her face and
Speaker 1: knelt down to help. Jonah continued his story while they
Speaker 1: filled their arms. Anyway, things heated up. The army started
Speaker 1: calling in their deep reserves guysla maidmen out for Dagham
Speaker 1: near a decade. That was after the fidsnot Dallas, so
Speaker 1: go an active duty again didn't sound good to anyone.
Speaker 1: He lifted away a fallen limb and revealed a massive log,
Speaker 1: roughly the size of Sasha's torso. Jonah shifted everything he'd
Speaker 1: gathered over to his right arm and then hafted the
Speaker 1: log with one hand. He nodded at Sasha's much smaller pile.
Speaker 1: We've probably got enough, he said it. They headed back
Speaker 1: to the campsite. She could see Jonah was doing that
Speaker 1: twitchy jaw thing again, thinking carefully about every word. I
Speaker 1: grew up real patriotic, you understand. I love my country,
Speaker 1: fought for it down south. But I also grew up
Speaker 1: with a Confederate flag on the back of my dad's truck.
Speaker 1: I wasn't on board with those Marxist who started the
Speaker 1: Civil War, So when Governor Galen had his referendum on secession,
Speaker 1: well that fell right. I was on board with the
Speaker 1: u c S back before it was even born. They
Speaker 1: sat around the fire again. Jonah started to add in
Speaker 1: larger branches. He slowly built the fire in a U
Speaker 1: shape around the flat stone. Now, it is never a
Speaker 1: fanatic when a church most Sundays, But I had jew neighbors,
Speaker 1: a couple of Muslims in the unit. Good guys, wasn't
Speaker 1: real political, you know. But Pastor Elgin's gave a speech
Speaker 1: only time I saw him in person. He said, diversity
Speaker 1: wasn't making us strong anymore. A melting pots all well
Speaker 1: and good, but the quality of the soup depends on
Speaker 1: the recipe. That made sense to me. He sat back,
Speaker 1: popped the kettle onto the rock, and looked over to Sasha.
Speaker 1: The ideal was a Christian recipe would make for a
Speaker 1: stronger nation, but the U c s wound up being
Speaker 1: a Dago and prosperity gospel pile of nonsense better in
Speaker 1: the Amphid. Sure, maybe we've got a less queer politicians,
Speaker 1: less rich Jews running things, but it's still corrupt here.
Speaker 1: Sasha wasn't really sure how to handle this disclosure. She'd
Speaker 1: run into similar attitudes among believers online, uncomfortable references to
Speaker 1: Jewish gay or gay Jewish conspiracies. That sort of nonsense
Speaker 1: had always gotten on her nerves, but she'd written its
Speaker 1: purveyor's office edge lords and trolls. Part of her thought
Speaker 1: they might be CIA plants hell bent on making the
Speaker 1: Kingdom look bad, but she knew they didn't speak for
Speaker 1: the actual heart of the movement. Sasha wanted to speak up,
Speaker 1: but she held her tongue. The fact that Jonah had
Speaker 1: been nothing but kind and respectful to her didn't change
Speaker 1: the fact that he was twice her size. Who knew
Speaker 1: what he might do if he got agitated. Sasha fought
Speaker 1: for calm and recalled a specific passage from Revelator and
Speaker 1: one of their guides for young women immigrating to the Kingdom. No, daughters,
Speaker 1: that our Lord made your brothers and husbands both long
Speaker 1: of body and quick to anger. It is your job
Speaker 1: to soothe, not in sight. And if his wrath falls
Speaker 1: upon you in a sudden burst, remember the forgiveness and
Speaker 1: patience of our Lord. Let his example guide your reactions.
Speaker 1: So she smiled at Jonah and said, tonight, I'm happy
Speaker 1: enough to be in a godly land. He smiled back.
Speaker 1: Sasha hoped God was proud of her for being meek
Speaker 1: as Mary. When she thought about it that way, the
Speaker 1: rest of the night was surprisingly tolerable. The food wasn't
Speaker 1: good by her normal standards, but it was hot and savory,
Speaker 1: and after days of protein bars, it was exactly what
Speaker 1: her suffering stomach needed. Sasha wasn't aware of when she
Speaker 1: drifted off to sleep. Jonah woke her up the next morning,
Speaker 1: not long after the crack of dawn. He handed her
Speaker 1: a box of wet napkins and walked off into the
Speaker 1: woods for a few minutes while she cleaned herself off
Speaker 1: as much as possible. When she was done, he led
Speaker 1: her down the mountain and into a small town on
Speaker 1: the border. It was Sasha's first real look at life
Speaker 1: in the UCS, and it did not disappoint. In the
Speaker 1: twenty or so minutes they were outside, she saw nine churches.
Speaker 1: There were crosses on every house in a dizzying variety.
Speaker 1: She saw Bible quotes printed on windows of shops and cafes,
Speaker 1: and the strangers who passed them in the street all
Speaker 1: flashed warm smiles. A few offered their blessings. Sasha had
Speaker 1: never seen such public display of religion. She floated through
Speaker 1: those first few minutes on a cloud of giddiness, unlike
Speaker 1: anything she'd ever known. The architecture and the environment were
Speaker 1: similar to what she'd grown up with, but everything else
Speaker 1: seemed alien and the most exciting way possible. Sasha felt
Speaker 1: so light she did almost feel the Holy Spirit lift
Speaker 1: her up. Her gleeful reverie only ended when Jonah led
Speaker 1: her up to the door of an unassuming brownstone house.
Speaker 1: They were taken in by another man, whom Jonah had introduced,
Speaker 1: a Saul. Saul looked a little younger and a lot
Speaker 1: less weathered than Jonah. He had the thin arms and
Speaker 1: stooped posture of a lifelong scholar, and his conservative, button
Speaker 1: up white shirt made him look more like a youth
Speaker 1: pastor than a people smuggler. Welcome sister, he smiled, but
Speaker 1: his voice was more haggard than warm. You want to
Speaker 1: get inside, please, There's no sense tempting the law. Saul's
Speaker 1: house was hated to the rafters with toilet paper, jugs
Speaker 1: of water, bends of freeze, dried food, and bags upon
Speaker 1: bags of clothing. The house had almost no furniture and
Speaker 1: no decorations aside from a large wooden cross above the hearth.
Speaker 1: There were a couple of stools arranged around a crate
Speaker 1: on the ground, which seemed to have served as an
Speaker 1: improvised coffee table. Saul sat them down, left for a moment,
Speaker 1: and came back with a hot French press filled with coffee.
Speaker 1: I'd suggest drinking your fill. It's hard to come by
Speaker 1: in the Kingdom right now, most things are. I'm afraid.
Speaker 1: I'm not scared of hardship, she said, a little too loud.
Speaker 1: You sound like a little kid. Keep your stupid mouth
Speaker 1: shut or they'll think you can't handle it. Saul was
Speaker 1: conspicuously silent, but Jonah spoke up. She handled yourself well
Speaker 1: out in the woods, he said, not bad for a
Speaker 1: city girl. Didn't have a lott a woodcraft, but did
Speaker 1: have an open heart. He took well to it, ma'am.
Speaker 1: Saul chuckled as he began to pour in hand out
Speaker 1: cups of coffee, first to her and then to Jonah.
Speaker 1: Sasha wasn't entirely sure why, but she waited until both
Speaker 1: men had taken their first SIPs to take hers. She
Speaker 1: didn't know much about coffee, but she was pretty sure
Speaker 1: that wasn't the beverage at its best. Would you like
Speaker 1: to pray with us, miss Marian, Saul asked, Of course.
Speaker 1: He extended his hands out on either side, so did Jonah.
Speaker 1: Sasha took Saul's left in Jonah's right. Heavenly Father, Saul began,
Speaker 1: bless this young woman who comes to you with a
Speaker 1: full heart from a land of sin and shirk. She's
Speaker 1: given up all pretense of control and yielded herself fully
Speaker 1: to your grace. Lord, Please guide her in this next journey.
Speaker 1: We pray that she makes it safely to your kingdom
Speaker 1: and into the arms of her husband to be. Sasha
Speaker 1: almost peid. Where did he hear that she and Alexander
Speaker 1: hadn't even met yet, there'd been no proposal. Was he
Speaker 1: just speaking in the general hope that she'd get married,
Speaker 1: or had Alexander told him something? May she obey him
Speaker 1: as she does you, Heavenly Father, and may you quicken
Speaker 1: her womb like Rachel, so that she delivers a new
Speaker 1: Joseph to our cause. That didn't sit well either. Sasha
Speaker 1: wanted children very badly. She knew they were in her future,
Speaker 1: but not now, certainly not soon enough that she'd be
Speaker 1: praying for them already. She was grateful that they had
Speaker 1: their heads bowed in prayer. If any of this had
Speaker 1: come up in conversation, first, she was sure she'd have
Speaker 1: reacted an obvious shock, but Sasha calmed herself, thought of
Speaker 1: her duty to God, and centered her mind just as
Speaker 1: the prayer ended. And may I say, my lady, it
Speaker 1: is a brave thing you're doing, Sasha said, as he
Speaker 1: reached for his cup and took another sip. Even here
Speaker 1: in God's country, not many are willing to answer the call.
Speaker 1: Oh sure, they'll all tell you it's the drone strikes
Speaker 1: that scared them. I can do more good by working
Speaker 1: my job and sending money, as if the Lord asked
Speaker 1: Abraham to sacrifice a bag of gold in his name.
Speaker 1: Saul kept talking, but Sasha's attention drifted the spot on
Speaker 1: her head where the deck had been itched. All of
Speaker 1: a sudden, she scratched it, and for the second time,
Speaker 1: she found herself truly missing the gadget. If she had
Speaker 1: her deck, she could call Alexander and find out what
Speaker 1: was going on, But instead she just squirmed a little
Speaker 1: in her chair and hoped the men didn't notice how
Speaker 1: uncomfortable she'd become. Miss Marian You all right, Jonah had noticed,
Speaker 1: of course he had. Sasha cursed herself and then cursed
Speaker 1: herself again for cursing. Sorry, I'm kind of tired, even
Speaker 1: with the coffee, and I'm um worried about my friend
Speaker 1: in the Kingdom. She definitely stretched the word friend too much.
Speaker 1: Do you think i'll be able to find a deck
Speaker 1: once I'm there? I've heard a lot of different ma'am.
Speaker 1: That was Saul, and his voice had no more feigned mirth.
Speaker 1: You're about to be smuggled illegally across a heavily fortified border.
Speaker 1: There are all sorts of worldly goods in the heavenly Kingdom.
Speaker 1: Were not poppers or savages. But as to whether you'll
Speaker 1: get a deck, well, that rather depends on what our
Speaker 1: Lord wants for you. Sasha lowered her head a little
Speaker 1: in submission. There wasn't the time to press further. Maybe
Speaker 1: that time would never come. You knew there'd be sacrifices,
Speaker 1: she reminded herself. How are you going to smuggle me
Speaker 1: across the border? She asked. Saul finished his coffee and
Speaker 1: set his mug down on the makeshift table. I'll show you,
Speaker 1: he said. He let her pass the living room and
Speaker 1: into a spacious and very chilly garage. They're a trio
Speaker 1: of workers with face masks were busy sealing up large
Speaker 1: crates of unfinished wood. She couldn't quite make out the
Speaker 1: words stamped on the sides, but the blocky font looked military.
Speaker 1: There was a time when it was easy enough to
Speaker 1: sneak the faithful across on foot, Saul explained, but international
Speaker 1: concerns have forced the government to take a rather hard line.
Speaker 1: I'm afraid this is the best way to get across
Speaker 1: the border. Wait. Sasha's gut went sour. She felt the
Speaker 1: acid in her stomach churn a greasy boil. Are you
Speaker 1: trying to tell me I'm going to be nailed inside
Speaker 1: a crate? Saul's face turned. There was no pretense any more.
Speaker 1: He was disgusted with her. Sasha didn't really know why.
Speaker 1: All she'd done was asked questions. But then Jonah was
Speaker 1: there with a hand on Saul's shoulder and a calm
Speaker 1: voice in her ear. Think of this as a blessin,
Speaker 1: said Jonah. Most people never test the blind part of
Speaker 1: blind faith. He was right, darna it, and there was
Speaker 1: something freeing in the idea of just giving herself up
Speaker 1: to Providence. She'd done everything God had asked of her.
Speaker 1: Now he would either deliver her desire on or the
Speaker 1: arms of the law. Either way, she'd done everything she
Speaker 1: could to obey the call of her faith. All the
Speaker 1: little sins of her life, the cursing and the anger,
Speaker 1: and those dark, gnawing desires she still struggled tamp down.
Speaker 1: Those would all be forgiven. She was truly giving herself
Speaker 1: to Christ now, so nothing else mattered. You're right, she said,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I questioned it. I'll do whatever it takes
Speaker 1: to reach the heavenly kingdom. She took another hard look
Speaker 1: at the cramped wooden box and the piles of aid
Speaker 1: supplies surrounding it. How was she going to fit there?
Speaker 1: Whatever it takes. Hey, everybody, Robert Evans here. I hope
Speaker 1: you just enjoyed the chapter you listen to. I hope
Speaker 1: you enjoyed the chapters to come. If you would like
Speaker 1: to read the text version of this book either on
Speaker 1: the web or on your e reader as an e
Speaker 1: pub you can find those on the website a t
Speaker 1: r book dot com. So again, the free ad free
Speaker 1: e pub and the text of every chapter will be
Speaker 1: on a t R book dot com. Thanks