Chapter 19

Vince went around the corner of the building and took a quick look at the unprepared army. He couldn’t recall ever hearing of a more unprepared battalion than the one he was looking at right now.

Both men and women sat around talking in groups like they were waiting for a concert to begin. He saw others still introducing themselves to others as they shook hands or compared their catalog numbers on their forearms.

He felt sorry for them; they knew not what was to befall them.

Chris handed the megaphone to Vince and they made their way to a center clearing in the crowd, where a decayed weeping willow remained. He found the button and turned it on.

“May I have everyone’s attention, please,” he called to the crowd, who silenced almost immediately. He saw that some had to hush their friends who were still talking.

“Thank you.” He paused and looked around again. “You’re all probably wondering why you’re here,” he began and saw the expected nods. “My name is Vincent Hopman. Many of you have already met Chris Fergenson and Karl Ramses. We called this meeting because, frankly, we are the last of the human race.”

Again, Vince saw the nods. “In a matter of hours, we plan on launching an attack against Orion.”

There came gasps from some and smiles from others.

“We’ve survived twenty years of oppression by striking back in small numbers. Now we must prove to the beast that we will survive. We will multiply and flourish. The human species will not die out!”

Now the entire crowd was in an uproar with excitement.

“I’m not going to lie to you; we don’t know how many Dreamkillers Orion has, but I know we will conquer. Even now there is a young woman, Mykella – my daughter – who is destined to fight Orion, and she’s on her way there to fulfill her prophecy and save mankind.”

“If God hasn’t saved us,” shouted a faceless man in the crowd. “How do we know that this Mykella will?”

Vince turned and looked at Chris. He didn’t know how to answer.

She took the megaphone. “We don’t.”

Karl grabbed the megaphone before Chris could say anything else. “I believe that God has brought us together. Truth is; I believe that God has chosen Mykella over all of us.”

“Look,” replied Vince, who used his own voice instead of the megaphone. “We’re not here to change anyone’s beliefs or faiths. Right now, we have the chance to make a stand. If we stand together, we will win back our freedom.”

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A new silence befell the crowd. Vince knew that not all of them had heard what he had to say, but he knew his words would filter through the crowd soon enough.

“You need to rest. We will move out in several hours,” announced Karl.

Gasps arose from them again, which did not surprise Vince.

“We’re not even organized yet,” shouted a woman. A lot of people agreed with her as they nodded their heads.

“That doesn’t matter,” said Vince and then smiled at a thought. “In fact, that might work on our behalf. If Orion suspects an attack, then he’s sure to expect some sort of an organized battalion. With us being as unorganized as we are, we’re sure to confuse his Dreamkillers.”

Chris thought this over. She didn’t like it, but Vince might be right.

“All we really need,” continued Vince, “is a front line and a back line getting behind the Dreamkillers, ready to attack.” This has been the first time he had really put any thought into strategy, and now that he thought about it, he thought that it might actually work.

Maybe Mom’s premonition could change, he thought.

He turned and looked at Chris as the crowd dispersed and went about their business and he gave her a sympathetic grin. “How did we ever get ourselves into this mess?”

“We didn’t get ourselves into anything,” she replied. “This was all Orion’s fault. If he could have let everything go and die when he should have, none of this would be happening right now.”

Vince sighed and watched as Karl dropped the megaphone down on a step leading into the backdoor of the apartment building, and he sighed. “Do you really think we can do this? Win?”

“Vince, I don’t think our mission is to win.” She looked around at the crowd. “It is Mykella who needs to win. If she wins, we all win.”

Vince smirked. “It’ll be a short victory if we’re all dead.”

“Vince,” she began and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. “Has it ever made you think that Heaven is blocked? Maybe Orion has locked the gates once he learned the mysteries of the universe?”

Vince shrugged his shoulders. He had never really seen it that way; he was only thinking that she was to fight Orion – he thought it was simply straight forward.

She ushered him to the back porch. “Have you ever thought that, maybe, Mykella is the Second Coming? That perhaps she is the one to reopen the gates of Heaven?”

Vince reached up and began massaging his temples. “Jesus; don’t let anyone else hear you talking like that. There’s sure to be an insurrection before we even begin.”

She sat down on the step. “You don’t think it’s even remotely possible?”

“Yes, actually I do,” he answered and sat down next to her. “But we don’t need to go telling everyone else. They have a very strong faith and we don’t need them broken.”

“What? That man claimed to have little faith in God. What if He has sent Mykella like he had sent Jesus? People then said it couldn’t happen, what makes now any different?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he said and turned to her with tears in his eyes. “Yes, I do believe that she was sent. And I’ve raised her as my own for twenty years. Look what they did to Jesus. I couldn’t take that.”