Chapter 27
God's Perfect Noose
The kids made it in right before daybreak after hiding in the woods all night. They couldn’t move safely for fear they’d roll off the mountain in the dark. They moved far enough away so they knew they wouldn’t be found when daylight came. They all heard more shooting and the explosions. Poor Missy was very upset, thinking about her dad and Bambi. It was hard to tell whom she was most concerned about.
The kids taking turns watching over Enya saw them first. As they ran to greet them, they woke the camp. A small crowd of kids walked together with them towards the arena as Nash watched from a short distance. Enya stayed in the same spot with Freckles all that night. As God had asked, Nash left her alone.
"She’s totally demoralized by this," said Nash.
"We thought she might be," said Keel. "It was hard seeing him get killed that way. He protected us and made sure we had the healing oil. He may have saved us all. We think he may have known that starting the jeep at that time would get us caught. Maybe God told him. Anyway, the word’s out. Everyone knows what Dar-Raven’s intentions are now. That means they have nothing to lose. I expect they’ll make their move soon."
"What happened to him? I can’t get close enough to tell?" asked Nash.
"He was shot three times. He didn’t have a chance," answered Keel. Keel kicked the dirt in anger when he thought about it.
Maggie came flying over the treetops carrying Bambi. When Nash saw Bambi, he asked, "What in the world is that?"
"It’s Bambi, Missy’s dog. Don’t ask her why they call him Bambi," advised Keel.
"Who’s Missy?" he asked while watching this strange looking girl in bare feet walking along with Anne and Carey.
Nash was amazed at Maggie’s speed. She was approaching at what he believed was at least 75 miles an hour. He heard Maggie singing something, and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
He smacked his head to clear himself, but he was right, he heard, "I can’t go 55."
He thought, "Some angels are a little dizzy, dingy, ditzy."
Missy saw Bambi and was jumping up and down hollering, "Don’t drop him! Please don’t drop him! He’s my baby! Hey, Bambi! Hey, baby!" She was waving at him, and his tail started motoring.
Maggie brought her safely to Missy. "Your dad’s okay, Missy. He got shot, but he’s okay. I healed him up."
Maggie turned to Irish, walking up fast and said, "I stayed at her dad’s place last night. I had to heal up too," she spoke while pointing to places in her clothing soaked with blood.
Irish smiled, "I’m sure you got some good, tender loving care, didn’t you?"
Maggie smiled sheepishly, "Well, my hubby blew the transformer to distract them and saved Ted’s life, for sure. Isn’t that great?"
"Maggie, I’ve known you for over 2000 years, but I never knew your hot button was your hair. Who would have ever known? That trick with the dog was special."
"Maggie bowed to the semi-compliment and said, "Wasn’t it just dandy? Such a sweet puppy. Isn’t he a cutie?"
Irish rolled her eyes and turned to respond to some kids waving their arms at her and Nash. These kids were in charge of short-wave transmissions and were very upset as they shouted, "They’re coming! The soldiers are coming, Irish, Nash!"
"Where?" asked Nash.
The teenagers spoke rapidly, "They’re coming up the Westside on the main road and straight up under the cross."
"What now, Miss Irish?" asked Nash. Her foreknowledge of things was his best weapon right now. "I only need 50 of the five-year-olds to go to Sewanee, no more. Hey, girls, you got them ready?"
Irish’s girls came out with what looked like small bow and arrows. They looked more like wooden toys than weapons. "You need to stay here with Enya, Nash."
Keel came running up. The whole camp knew about the attack now. "Did I hear you say five-year-olds is all we need? How’s that?"
Irish smiled, "Never take more than you need, Keel."
Somehow, Keel knew she was right. David only took the pebbles. But, this was a well-equipped army. Those funky looking bow and arrows didn’t look like they could stand up to a single pull. He looked at a couple of angels pulling long strands of their hair and twisting them onto the bows as they strung them.
There were honking sounds coming down the path. It was Sister Bernard driving Scott’s Suburban. She could barely see over the steering wheel as she came screeching up to the arena.
"The soldiers are coming Irish, Nash, Keel. Can you help? Can you call Aaron and his guys back? Please help us! We can’t fight them; if we do; they’ll kill us all! You have to help us! The newscast let them know we were only pretending to believe their story!"
"She’s right," said Keel, "they’ll take over Sewanee. No one will be safe. All because, they helped protect us kids."
Irish looked at all of them, "God knows that folks. There’s no sense in trying to remind Him. I told you to take the kids. My angels are going to go with the five-year-olds. They know what to do."
"The five-year-olds? How can...?" then she saw Irish with her finger over her lips. She got the message. "Okay, then let’s load up. Get as many as you can in the Suburban, and we’ll move out. Where do you want everyone?"
"I want ten kids and ten angels on the road above the gate. I want the rest at and around the cross facing the soldiers."
They all started gathering up the kids. It took five trips; and by the time the last kid arrived at the cross, the soldiers were half way up the mountain. They weren’t in a hurry, only moving casually as if they were taking an afternoon stroll.
The kids moved strategically along the ridge, and the kids on the road took a position on a steep incline with the gate some hundred yards below them. The angels stood behind each child, but the angels purposely couldn’t be seen by the soldiers.
The people from Sewanee gathered, expecting to see Aaron’s group. When they saw the kids, they started fussing at Sister Bernard. "Those kids can’t do anything. What kind of joke is this, anyway?"
The soldiers saw the kids standing high above them with their little bow and arrows. They laughed, some so hard that they lost their balance and slid down the mountain several yards. A group of five soldiers dropped their pants and were wagging their rear ends at the kids.
Lydia whispered to several of the kids, "Shoot the arrows."
They did, and they went limply into the air, then turned like guided missiles and stuck three of the soldiers in their exposed buttocks. They rolled down the mountain in pain and shock. There was only a little tip of the two-foot arrow showing. The other two pulled up their pants, then took out their binoculars to see what was up. All they saw were these little kids with bow and arrows.
The people from Sewanee applauded while others continued to grumble, "That’s not going to stop them when they start shooting."
"It’s time!" shouted Lydia.
Sister Bernard approached her, "Time for what? The battle?" Sister Bernard looked up into the clear sky and saw nothing.
"Keep your folks back from the edge of the mountain. Have them get near trees or something they can hold onto. We’ll take care of the kids."
Each angel got the kids to put the arrows in place and helped them point the arrows skyward. Upon command, the soldiers watched as the kids shot arrows into the clear blue.
"Hey, they’re trying to do some hunting or something?" The soldiers laughed hysterically.
The arrows shot up over 1,000 feet and returned to earth as huge slabs of rock as big as houses and Volkswagens. They crashed on the mountainside, tumbling down and taking everything and everyone with them. The kids shot again; and by this time, the soldiers got the idea. Over one third the army was in disarray. How could they defend themselves against falling rock?
The kids on the road had even greater and more dramatic results. Their rocks had more trees to land on since both sides of the road were more heavily timbered. They saw rocks t
he size of locomotives falling on the trees near the road, bringing everything down on the soldiers. After the third round, the kids had dismantled
over half the army and only a few were progressing up anymore, but they were trying to hide from the next volley. On the final firing, the kids at the cross didn’t point directly up into the sky but at a degree over the campsites below. That’s where all the gasoline and supply trucks that included a majority of the fleeing soldiers were located. The rocks hit the trucks, but they didn’t bounce, just buried them and flattened them in unearthly sounds of crushing metal and explosions as fuel tanks ignited and burned. Before long, there wasn’t a soul left on the mountain. They had moved what was left of their army away from the mountain to Cowan.
They radioed Dar-Raven. "What do you mean rocks from the sky? Are you afraid of a few hailstones? God always uses things like that. Oh, as big as houses, crushing everything. I see, well have a nice day. I’ll get back to you," spoke Dar-Raven in shock.
Alex overheard, "You having another bad day?"
"More than that, terrible. First, I have an heir-servant angel, who kills two of my men on the Westside last night and made a dog mutilate another. I can’t even trust the lambs, now. Then, these five-year-old kids are firing arrows into the sky, but they're coming down as giant slabs of rock. Man, you got to admire the ingenuity, but boy it hurts. It hurts bad. Well, I got another surprise for them. I have the group out at Exit 134 poised and ready to go. I would much rather have the Westside soldiers. They have a reputation for being more ruthless than the petty thieves, but they’ll have to do."
"This is Commander Dar, come in. Do you read me?" Dar-Raven was yelling on his short wave.
"Yes, this is Lieutenant Bridger. What can I do for you, Commander?"
"It’s time to earn your keep. I need for you to send the men to occupy Sewanee. Burn All Saints while you’re at it, will you? I want you to send a group of your soldiers to Sanctuary. Round up as many kids as you can. If you get any resistance, kill them. Anyone you can’t get onto transports when you run out of room, kill them anyway."
"Commander, got it! Will do, right now! Over and out!"
The lieutenant put his unlit cigar back in his mouth and looked casually down the interstate to the clump of ashes where Lucky had been standing earlier today. The lieutenant and several others with military background were cons assigned for special duty just like this.
His corporal assistant asked, "Who was that?"
"Oh, him? Oh, it was Commander Wacko. Hey, is the church in Altamont sending over another Gospel quartet tonight? Gosh, I like that old Gospel music. Reminds me when I was a kid."
"What did the commander want?" the young corporal asked, feeling his part a little too much.
"Oh, him, he wants us to kill everybody. You know, I almost miss prison food, don’t you?"
"Are you?" asked the corporal.
"Am I what?" answered the lieutenant
"Kill everybody?" The boy was confused, and the lieutenant noticed.
"Hey, corporal, I’m not killing anyone. I have a little more common sense than that. You see that clump of ashes over there?" He pointed to Lucky’s campsite. "Well, he’s the only killer in this group. Why don’t you go ask him what he thinks about killing now? Got the picture?" The lieutenant continued to rest his feet up on his outside desk while leaning back in his swivel chair. He pulled his hat over his eyes and took a nap.
"Yes sir, Lieutenant," the corporal shivered all over thinking about what happened to Lucky. Now that was a message.