***
In the large vacant lot across the alley from his ramshackle house, twelve-year-old Roddy Barnett finished preparing the altar. The sacred red cloth and the black candles were in their proper locations, as were the carving knife and electrical cord. A stick of incense wafted its fumes beside a plastic sandwich bag of smoked herring. A ritual bowl containing “holy solvent” completed the accoutrement.
Roddy glanced around to make sure there were no witnesses. Of course not – everybody in the neighborhood feared to enter this place of holiness, and any strangers who happened by quickened their steps to avoid it. The local kids had dubbed it “Mean Field” and gave the place a wide berth.
Roddy poured holy solvent into a bag, then shoved the bag up to his face and inhaled. Immediately, his consciousness began ascending to a higher level. He repeated the inhalations, each time ratcheting up his spiritual perceptions.
When he lowered the bag, the world around him was in sharper focus with brighter colors, heightened reality. And behind this mundane world, Roddy could detect the presence of another reality filled with deep mystery.
Would this be the day when he finally broke through to it?
The stray cat made its way toward him through the discarded cans and broken glass. Roddy smiled; the creature meowed with hunger, begging for a handout. Roddy pulled a morsel of fragrant herring out of the sandwich bag.
“Come here, my lamb,” he said, waving the herring.
The cat approached, sniffing cautiously.
“Come on,” Roddy coaxed, “I won’t hurt you.”
The hungry animal was very close now. In a flash, Roddy seized it and began wrapping the electrical cord around its neck. The creature howled with mortal terror. Roddy felt the sharp jab of claws.
“Damn you!” He gripped the cat’s neck hard, nearly breaking it. “You’ll regret that!”
He brought the struggling animal to the twisted little “sacrificial tree.” The cat was going to have a slow, agonizing strangulation hanging there. Then, just before it died, he’d give it a false reprieve. It would be time for the carving knife then.
Roddy was fiercely aroused. Never before had he felt such brutal emotion surging through him. His groin throbbed with power. He thought of the new, red-headed girl at school – thought of how it would feel to crush her neck in his hands. The exquisite pleasure of listening to her screams! Then ...
A mighty voice boomed from directly above him.
“QUIT WASTING TIME, RODDY!” it said. “I HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS FOR YOU.”
Roddy looked upward in astonishment and fear. An overwhelming light blasted from the sky, bathing his face with ecstasy. A crimson mist hovered in this light, and within the mist, a fierce red eye gazed down upon him.
The cat struggled out of Roddy’s slackened arms and ran away.
“Yes ... w-what is it ... Father?” Roddy said.
The Heavenly Father materialized above him now, filling the space around the red eye with His divine presence. Roddy gaped in amazement. This was nothing like the sublime and majestic Sistine Chapel figure Roddy had seen in the history class video at school. He looked more like an old bunko artist or child molester – like that weirdo ice cream man the cops hauled away earlier that summer.
The Heavenly Father wore a cynical smile, and his eyes were not kind. Roddy grinned – this was so much better than that pompous figure painted on the chapel ceiling.
“Fucking A!” Roddy exclaimed.
“THE END TIMES ARE AT HAND, RODDY,” the Heavenly Father intoned. “YOU MUST LEAD A REMNANT OF MY PEOPLE TO SALVATION.”
“Uh ... sure thing ... Dad,” Roddy said. “I got nothing else planned.”
The Heavenly Father jabbed a finger down at him. Roddy recoiled, then hesitantly raised his own finger.
“YOU ARE THE NEW MESSIAH!” the Heavenly Father boomed.
A bolt of lightning passed from the Heavenly Father’s finger tip into Roddy’s. Roddy jerked back with the recoil, then fell on the ground. He lay on his back convulsing amid the rubbish.
Finally, he became still.
“ARISE RODDY, TAKE UP THE MANTLE, UPHOLD THE GREAT CAUSE,” the Heavenly Father commanded. “DO NOT FAIL!”
The divine presence abruptly disappeared, like a bursting soap bubble, leaving Roddy alone and stunned. He struggled to his feet and gazed up at the empty sky. Had any of this really happened – or was it just his imagination running wild?
But then a bunch of raucous crows appeared, seemingly from nowhere. They flew directly above, and one of them pooped on Roddy’s head. He wiped the bird droppings away, examined his hand rapturously.
“A divine omen!” he cried.
Star listened with total absorption.
This guy is amazing! her super-charged, hyper-sexed persona thought.
This guy is totally wacko! her icy, calculating persona thought.
“So I left home immediately, without bidding farewell to my earthly parents,” Roddy was saying. “Their purpose in the divine plan was fulfilled and they returned to their iniquity.”
He droned on about the early days of his mission. How he attracted his first converts, including the man who would be his legal guardian until he reached maturity – Charles Camp, a.k.a. the chief acolyte. How they spread the good news to an unbelieving world. How Sister Reedy appeared, at the behest of the Heavenly Father, to provide the strong female role model that had been lacking in his life.
Role model? Star’s interior bitch thought. I’ll bet she rolled you every which way!
“The Cause then directed me to the place known as ‘Mech City,’” Roddy said.
“Oh my!” Star gasped as her rational persona momentarily gained the upper hand.
Roddy paused. He fixed his penetrating gaze upon her.
“Is there something you do not understand, child?”
“I-it’s nothing, Roddy,” Star said. “Please go on.”
He resumed speaking, thrilled at the emotional outburst he’d drawn from the fantastic woman machine.
“Mech City proved to be a sinful place, not open to my message,” he said. “A legion of unbelievers drove us away with fire – but even that was part of the Heavenly Father’s plan.
“We left and shook the dust from our feet. We wandered for years like the lost tribes of Israel – until my vision located this place of power for our final refuge. We had to fight off unbelievers who sought to eject us. Never again would we be driven from our holy temple! We waited here, ensconced in the temple’s nether regions, as chaos reigned around us.
“We emerged into a dead world. We combed the lowlands for food and supplies, but it was all too soon. My people were not ready for salvation yet, many wanted to abandon the Cause. Imagine that! But, as always, the Heavenly Father had a plan – He sent the one called Rackenfauz and his demon birds.
“‘Save us, Father!’ my people cried and fled back into the nether regions. I knew the old fool was no threat, but I used him to keep my people hidden away for months where they could contemplate their sins and repent their disloyalty ...”
Star remained seated tensely on the couch, listening with rapt attention to every word. Her air-head ditz persona had returned squarely to the fore.
Roddy was gesturing wildly now, flinging an imaginary robe around in dramatic arcs. The effect was electrifying. Star could barely restrain herself from leaping off the sofa and tearing off the messiah’s clothes. The narrative reached a thunderous conclusion.
“And with the dawning of this new and purified age,” Roddy shouted, “those who believe in me will inherit the earth!”
24. Scrappers & True Believers
As the messiah was relating his bizarre tale, Bert and his gang of scrappers crept in through the castle door, clubs raised, glancing apprehensively around the entry hall.
“Keep those weapons out of sight,” Bert said in a hushed voice.
The scrappers lowered their clubs and held them close to themselves, c
oncealing them as much as possible.
“Play dumb with any humans we meet,” Bert said. “We need to get into that detention room.”
“What then, Chief?” a scrapper asked.
“We take out as many as we can,” Bert said, “starting with the blue guy.”
A murmur of approval coursed through the gang.
“We’re with you, Chief.”
“Let’s smash ‘em!”
They moved toward the main tower staircase.