Mort day 6 – the horde

It was beautiful in the early sunlight, the spires and broken antennae of the ruined skyscrapers shone in the morning sun. 

It was, however, probably late afternoon, when we finally entered Savior city.

Through the bars on the windows, I could see rusted husks of cars scattered everywhere and broken gray buildings reaching into the sky. Most of the streets were cracked and smashed, with weeds sticking out where they could find room and everywhere was littered with debris ranging from boulders larger than the bus I was in, to tiny shards of glass that twinkled in the sunlight. All of this was, of cause, obscured by the mess of geeks that was milling around.

The streets were teaming with them. Around every corner and in each alley I could see the living dead wandering aimlessly about. The bus sped through the city at a brisk pace rocking and swaying every time it hit a geek. The speed made it impossible for the geeks to follow, but still, they would all turn their heads and start walking in our direction, when they heard the bus approaching. There was something interesting about the geeks, the way they seemed to walk as one. So even though they made me sick to my stomach, I couldn’t help but stare. That was until we came across our fist horde.

We had been driving for a while when the bus suddenly started to slow down. I was sitting near the back of the bus and had been occupied by the tallest building I had even seen, when I noticed that we were stopping. The people in front started to freak out, which made me stand up in my seat. My heart sank into my stomach as I saw what was right in front of us; a gathering of geeks were spread across the road, standing shoulder to shoulder. There were so many standing so close together that they formed a wall, that even our row of buses, couldn’t have broken through. As a watched, the first line of the geeks started noticing us and wondering in our direction. A sense of unease started to rise in the bus. We were the first bus in the convoy, so we would be first to be attacked. If we stopped now, the bus would be overrun for sure.

I could hear the bus driver curse into his communicator and start backing the bus up. The hurried course correction happened in lurches and then the bus suddenly stopped. The bus-driver started to scream into his communicator once again, but there was no help to be found. Through the rear window I could see the other buses start to back away, The horde continued to advance. 

The Bus-driver was in a blind panic as he started pulling on every one of his instruments. People inside the bus was mirroring his sense of dread as the geeks began to to swarm the vehicle, banging on the windows and pushing on the armored sides of the bus. Little by little we were being surrounded by geeks.

I had my head down, praying for help, when the sound pierced the air. It was a high pitched wail, that made my ears hurt. It went on and on, but I had no idea where it was coming from. I had shut my eyes and put my hands over my ears, when the wail finally stopped. I looked up, light headed, my ears still ringing, and was amazed to see that most of the geeks had lost interest in our bus. In fact they were walking right past us without even noticing the bus. They were all walking towards the tall building I had been looking at only a couple of moments earlier.

It took a while, but eventually most of the horde had passed and we could start driving again. During the migration of the geeks, the bus driver must have figured out what was wrong. There was nothing but silence in the bus.

I had thought that this kind of horde was something special, but I was quickly proven wrong. As we drove deeper into the city, we encountered more and more of these ghostly congregations. They appeared as land mines, out of nowhere, some of them on the move, others, standing completely, eerily, still. Luckily, we were never swarmed again.

Mort day 7 – sector one

There was a collective sigh of relief when we could finally see the safe zone up ahead.  

I don’t know what I has expected, but what I saw definitely wasn’t it. The recruiters had told us that Savior city was a land of promise and beauty. What I was looking at was a maze of geek covered fences that held in dilapidated buildings, some of them covered in scaffolding. Between these mammoth ruins were small huts made from anything and everything bunched together in tight groups all around the place.

The bus rode through a landscape of home made huts, destroyed skyscrapers and broken structures before suddenly arriving at something much nicer. The shift was so sudden it took my breath away. I didn’t know it at the time, but what I was seeing for the first time, was sector 1. It seemed like the plague had missed this part of the city. The buildings were nicely painted, the hedges were neatly trimmed and we even drove past a group of kids playing around.

Before long, we arrived at a very nice, but kind of modest square. At one end was a large church, decorated with all kinds of gargoyles, at the other was a large river flowing with murky water and in-between were all the of citizens of sector 1. I remember feeling overwhelmed, that they would all come to say hi to the new arrivals. For a second I dared to believe that the recruiter might have been telling the truth, maybe Savior City was aptly named.   

The roar that came from the crowd as I stepped off the bus almost felt like a physical hit. The people greeting us seemed nice and welcoming as they gathered around us. I was handed the good book  and ushered into a the large church along with the rest of the new recruits. After the ride in, I was both exhausted and excited. I perked up even more, when I noticed that there was cake. Actual, honest to god, cake. They were kind of small square lumps, hard as bricks, but they were probably the greatest thing I had ever tasted. 

I sat down on one of the long wooden benches with my cake and the glass of milk that accompanied it, a little way away from every one else. Even though, we had ridden the bus together, I didn’t really feel comfortable around any of them. Anyway, I had my cake, so I was pretty content.

About halfway through my glass of milk, a small kid came up to me and sat down. He was a wiry little guy with sandy colored hair, who walked like he owned the place.

“Hey” he said conversationally, as he sat down.

I took some time to swallow, then said “hey”

“you’re one of the new ones, aren’t you? You’re kind of a big guy, huh? So, how do you like the city?” he asked. I noticed that he didn’t have any cake with him.  

“Umm…” I said, a little wary of this guy “I guess it’s OK. A little scary though, with all the geeks”

“Yeah, I guess it can be” he said looking at me in an odd way“where are you from?”

“I’m from New Jerusalem, why?” I asked suspiciously.

“lucky you, that won’t matter though. You are going to sector 4 like everybody else… unless you parents were big shots. Were they big shots?” he said, shooting me an appraising look.

“No… my mom washed… I mean she wasn’t a big shot” I said feeling increasingly uneasy about this guy.

“well, That’s great!” he said, a smile growing creeping across his face. “I mean not for you, but you know…”

We sat in silence for a couple of seconds, while I ate the rest of my cake.  

“OK!” the guy announced suddenly“I think, we just became best friends”

“We did?” I asked incredulous.

“we did” he affirmed with a smirk“I’m Desmond, by the way”

“yeah, Hi Desmond. I’m Mort” I said, hoping he would leave me alone soon.

“Mort, what kind of name is that?” he asked, wrinkling his nose.

“it’s better than Desmond” I shot back and then added “it’s short for Mortimer”

“Mortimer it is then” Desmond said, sounding like we had just made some kind of business deal. 

MORT day 8 – sorting

I should have known it wouldn’t last.

I was wishing I could have another piece of cake, when I noticed a guy pushing his was to the alter up in front. He couldn’t have been more than a couple years older than me, but he was wearing a uniform and a holding a sheet of paper very firmly. 

The guy made it to the alter and a high pitched wail from the sound system quieted everybody.

“Hi there, new recruits” the guy said into the microphone. “We are happy to see that you have arrived here in one piece” a couple of sniggers followed this.

The guy looked nervously over the crowd, then gained his composure and said “I am here to give you your sectors and your work assignments. After I have read the final name you will report to the pastor for you assigned sector and he will show you where you will be staying”

“well, I guess that’s my cue” Desmond said next to me.

“your what” I asked absentmindedly.

“My cue to leave, I’ll see you back at sector 4” and with that he got out of his chair and walked towards the exit. 

I was about to call out or maybe get a guard or something when the guy at the alter  cried out “ Anniston, Taylor. Sector 3. construction!”

It took me a second to figure out what was going on. Desmond had talked about sectors, but he hadn’t mentioned work assignments. I thought back to my recruitment meeting, but the recruitment officer had just told me I was going to become a settler, nothing more. 

Panic started to rise in my throat as the guy called out “Cafrey, Jake”. 

People were already starting to look around, trying to figure out where they would live and what they would do. I was looking behind me, to four people standing at the back of the church, looking very menacing, when I heard “Dolores, Mortimer. Sector 4. Exterminator”

My head whipped around, to see the guy mechanically reading the list aloud.

He had called me an exterminator. What did that mean? Were I going to be taking care of the rat problems in the city? Was I going to be a janitor?

My head was swimming with questions, none of which I were likely to get answered, as the guy read the rest of the list. All I could do was look around panicked. 

I noticed that I wasn’t the only one who was taken off guard by this turn of events, several of the kids behind me were looking just as panicked as me, and one girl had started sobbing loudly.

The guy finally finished his list and walked away from the alter. There was a moment of silence as everybody took in what had just happened. Then a commotion as some people got to their feet, confused as to what they were going to do.

“sector 4, over here” The yell came out clear in the relative quite of the church. 

My head whipped around to see pastor Masters yelling at the top of his lungs.  I was standing at the end of a procession of people, all representatives from their own sectors. He seemed to emanate authority, much more so than the small pale woman to his left, who was the pastor for sector 3. I inched my way through the crowd towards Pastor Masters.

MORT day 9 – the speech

Pastor Masters stuffed the group of frightened teenagers into yet another bus. This was one smaller,  unarmored and had wooden seats. It was nothing like the big things we had arrived in. Once we had settled in, Pastor Masters stood up. 

He didn’t speak loudly, but no one had trouble hearing his voice as he said “welcome to Savior City. I am pastor Masters, the leader of your sector. You will address me as Father or Pastor. We will be driving to you new home, the Makers and I hope you will be very happy there”

With that he sat back down and the bus lurched into motion. 

The ride back to sector 4 had an odd sense of deja vu to it. It was like experiencing the last hour in reverse. We rode through the pretty part of town and on through the nasty part of town, to the place by the fences where we had gotten our first glimpse of Savior city. 

All hope I had of Savior being any better than New Jerusalem were quenched as I looked at the ruins of broken city interspersed with patches of shantytown.

The bus stopped by the fence, where several withered geeks were staring at us with eyeless faces. Pastor Masters got up and walked out and the entire busload of people followed suit. The mass of teenagers, myself included huddled together, in front of the bus, as pastor Masters turned around. 

Silhouetted against the barrel fires of sector 4. The pastor looked even more intimidating than he ever had in the church, I got the sense that this guy probably wasn’t someone you wanted to mess around with.

“this” Pastor Masters said, gesturing to the city behind him “is sector 4, your new home. There are a couple of things you should know.”

“First, there are sirens stationed around the city. These are meant to distract the geeks, so they don’t come knocking on our door. I believe some of you are acquainted with those” 

I gulped as I recalled the horrible incident a couple of hours earlier.

“The siren” Pastor masters continued over the murmur of kids talking “will sound 3 times a day, it is your job to listen for it, because that means meal time. The meals are served in the mess hall. There are no substitutes for missed meals.”

“Second, there are rule sets hung around the city.” the pastor gestured to a poster that hung on a building behind him “you are expected to learn these rules, and learn them well. If you overstep your bounds in any way, you will be punished” Pastor Masters looked very stern as he leaned in and said “and I oversee all of the punishments”

“third, you will be expected to show up every day for you assigned work. The exterminators will be working at the fences and the sifters will be working in the sorting halls. You are expected to show up everyday, if you do not, you will be denied meals.”

Several people started talking at this, a sigh even escaped my lips at this; I had been worrying about what I was going to be doing. I looked over my shoulder at the geeks. I guess they could be dangerous in large numbers, even if they were weak. But the few that stood by the fence; I think I could have taken them out myself.

Pastor Masters glared at us for a while as the murmuring died down, then he straightened himself and said “once again, welcome to Savior City, the makers and I hope that you will learn to love it here.” with that he turned on his heels and started to leave.

A sense of unease traveled along the group. Was there something he had forgotten to tell us?

Finally, a young girl with fiery red hair piped up. “Umm… Pastor, Father, Sir, where… umm… where are we supposed to sleep?”

Pastor Masters didn’t even turn around as he said “figure it out”

 

MORT day 10 – figuring things out

When pastor Masters turned his back a full blown panic swept through the crowd. Several people started crying, a few of the guys started yelling at each other and some of the more street wise kids set off at a run towards the more habitable buildings. I just stared blankly at the space where The paster had been, not quite putting together what had just happened.

I had been looking forward to Saviour City. This place was supposed to be everything I was dreaming of, you know, sunshine and honey… and now I was stranded in the middle of a ruin, with people I didn’t know and supposed to just “figure it out”.

The commotion around me was getting louder so I deciding that this might not be the best place for me. I started to wander off in no particular direction, hoping that I might find some shelter there.
I had just made it out of sight of the group, when I sank to the ground, next to the remains of a huge truck.

The whole thing was washing over me; the helplessness, the hopelessness and the overwhelming sense that I had been better off with my mom. At least there I had been sure that I would have a roof over my head and something that resembled food every day.

Here I was expected to work with god knows what, in a place that one could barely call a city with nowhere to sleep.

I was holding my head in my hands, taking in deep gulps of air and trying my best not to cry. My mind was a whirl of images and emotions, all competing for attention.
“hey” the voice was faint and it took me a while to react.

“hey, Mortimer” I lifted my head, looking around for someone. The only thing I could see around me was broken bits of building. I was sure that I was loosing my mind, I turned my head back down, when I heard it again “hey Mortimer, back here.”

I looked over my shoulder and there was Desmond, looking a bit worse of wear, standing on the other side of the truck.

“where did you come from” I asked, a quiver still in my voice.

“I was on the bus with you” he said, looking me dead in the face.

“no you weren’t” I countered. I hated liers, also I had been looking out for him on the bus, and he definitely was not there.

Desmond looked at me for a while, sizing me up it seemed, then relented “OK, I wasn’t on the bus”

“then what were you doing in church” I asked, confused.

“looking for you” Desmond said, matter of factly.

“for me” I asked tentatively.

“Yeah, I needed a best friend, and you are it” he said.

“Umm, OK…” I said, feeling kind of weirded out.

We stayed like that for a while, not saying anything. I was about to get up and walk away from this weirdo, when Desmond, probably sensing the mood, said “I can help you, you know”

“How?” I asked incredulous.

“I have lived here a lot longer than you have, I know things. Like what gang you need to avoid and where to sit in the mess hall or when and where you’re supposed to go to work” Desmond listed.

I hadn’t thought of this. With all that had happened, it had never occurred to me that I would have to figure out how to live in Savior… with the gangs and all.

“Also, I have a house you could stay at” He added, almost as an afterthought.

I had been looking down at the ground while he talked, but at this my head snapped back. I didn’t like this guy, but it was between this and sleeping in the street.

I got to my feet slowly.

“just for tonight” I said, hoping beyond hope that this kid wasn’t as creepy as he seemed.

Desmond smiled wryly at me. He stepped around the busted truck and stuck his hand out towards me.

“Or however long you want to stay” he added still smiling.

We shook hands

 

MORT day 11 – Desmond Dietrick Denver

“MORT!” Bishop Black shouted and I jumped awake.

“What did I do?” I blurted out, before I realized that I has fallen asleep during bishop Blacks sermon. The people in the seats in front of me looked up, clearly startled. I could feel my face go red as I realized that the Bishop was reading from the good book in Latin. I settled back into my seat.

If bishop black was reading Latin, it meant that he was near the end of the sermon, I had almost slept through it. It wasn’t like me to fall asleep like this.

The Bishop ended his animated speech in latin and looked over the congregation in sector one.

“That, kids, is all for today. You make sure to be good and remember” there was a sharp intake of breath as the entire cathedral said “the dead live, but so do we” along with the bishop. This had become kind of a tradition, since the bishop ended all of his sermons the same way.

The broadcast ended with another blasting of horns and the crest of Savior City was shown again on the screens.

I was about to get up, when I realized that I was one of the few people was. People were rooted to their seats looking down at the alter, where pastor Masters was walking back microphone. I had completely forgotten the mission.

Savior City was so large and broken that there was no way for the makers to know what was out there. So once a week they chose one person to assemble a team to go out and scan an area. They did this in a rotation, so that each sector only had a mission once a month. The mission was really dangerous, and it was not uncommon for people to go missing, but if you managed to make your way back to the safe zone in one piece, you would move up one sector.You had to sign up for a mission and you were only eligible if you didn’t get caught breaking the rules.

Desmond had made me sign up for the mission one the second day I was n savior city. He had told me that we were going to be moving up in the world. Considering where we were, I had countered that there was nowhere to go, but up.

I sat up a little straighter as pastor Masters approach the alter. For once every one in the cathedral seemed quiet and very alert.

Pastor Masters’ voice came over the PA again. He looked tired as he announced in a monotone “the person chosen by the bishop to go out on a mission is Desmond Dietrick Denver”

a moment passed, where nothing happened. Usually the kid who’s name had been called would have risen and shouted for joy or gotten a lot of hugs from his friends. Nothing happened.

“Desmond  Dietrick Denver” Pastor Masters said again and my heart sank.

Desmond wasn’t there, he didn’t make it to the sermon, he was to busy waking me up.

MORT day 12 – the rescue

This was bad, this was really really bad.

Down in front, Pastor Masters was waiting. I was going to have to be quick about it if I wanted to help Demond out. I had to say something, they had to know that he wasn’t abandoning the mission. I didn’t know what happened if someone didn’t show up and claim it, but I didn’t want to find out.

I stood up and took of sprinting down the stairs. I made it to the entrance of the first floor, just as I heard Pastor Masters irritably say “where are you Desmond? You know you can’t…”

I slammed the door open on the first floor and sprinted towards the alter. I could see heads turning in my direction as people started to notice the deranged kid, trying to make his way to the alter.

At the alter, Pastor Master was calling a guard over. I realized that I had to stop this right now. “HERE!” I yelled, and immediately wished I hadn’t. Every eye in the entire cathedral turned in my direction and I stopped cold.

I didn’t like being the center of attention. I hated myself for not remembering that 2 seconds earlier.

“Finally!” Pastor Masters barked “Come up here” He said with a stern look.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and took a step forward. “It’s going to be OK” I muttered to myself over and over again. The walk the rest of the way to the alter was excruciating. For the first time since I had been in Savior city, no one made a sound as a missioner made his way to the alter. There was no cheering, there were no hateful catcalls, there was just complete silence.

Pastor Masters grabbed me roughly by the arm the second I was in reach.

“this brave boy, Desmond Dietrick Denver, Is going to go out into…” he exclaimed.

“I-I’m not Desmond” I said in a low voice.

Pastor Masters stopped, looked at me sideways and then asked “what?”

“I’m, kinda, not Desmond” I said again, this time with even less effort. My gaze was trained on my feet. I could hear snickers coming from somewhere out in the crowd.

“well, who the hell are you” Pastor Masters demanded.

“Umm… Mortimer Maxinburg” I said timidly.

Pastor Masters seemed too perplexed to be angry. He just stared at me. Never in the time I had been in Savior City, had anyone attempted to take someone’s place on a mission. It was kid of unheard of.

“what do you mean?” Pastor Masters said, finally.

“well, Desmond didn’t make it to the sermon today and I thought…” I trailed off wishing I knew how to finish that sentence.

Masters took a second to understand what I was saying, then, like lightning, he hit me across the face. The hit took me so off guard that I lost my balance and fell to the floor.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!” Pastor Master screamed down at me. “did you think you could just come up here and replace your boyfriend? Was that what you thought? What kind of idiot are you?” and honestly, at that moment, I was asking myself the same question.

Pastor Masters sighed deeply and then added, “could you take him away” to one of the guards and then to the rest of the sector he said “You’re dismissed” which was a very uncommon way to end a sermon.

MORT day 13 – isolation

I don’t exactly know what I was thinking. Maybe I wasn’t thinking… I just didn’t want Desmond to think I had abandoned him.

A guard had dropped me off in the isolation. It was a small grimy room, with nothing but a toilet, a wooden bench and a tiny window, set up to high for anyone to reach. We called it the isolation, but really it was where the guards put someone they thought needed protection. If someone actually got into real trouble, they were sent to sector one. I had no idea what happened there, but people didn’t come back. This wasn’t that bad, though…. was it?

I mean, I hadn’t actually do anything wrong. I was just trying to help. They must be able to see that. All I did was try to help Desmond out.

I tried to get my mind off my predicament by thinking about the mission. That was the only good thing to come out of this… if they let us go, that was.

I mean the mission were dangerous and all. In fact, it was not uncommon for People to die on missions. Officially “went missing” but that’s just a nice way of saying dead. Still that rarely happened and it certainly wouldn’t happen to us. Desmond was great at getting people to do thing. He had a way with words that made people see the whole world his way.

He would be able to recruit anyone to go, he just had to convince them that joining was a free pass to sector three ad a better life.

It was good I had him, because I don’t think I would be able to recruit anyone, especially after the stunt I just pulled. In fact, I would probably have to lay low until the mission, to avoid being beaten up…. that was assuming we were still allowed to go.

I was sitting on the wooden bench, looking up at the, when the door opened. A streak of light hit my feet as it did.

“are you coming?” a female voice said.

I looked up and saw a guard. Her uniform was white and her face was covered my a helmet.

“Yeah” I muttered, as I got to my feet.

The walk to the interrogation room was short. I kept thinking that I could make a break for it, if I could just find an open door to dart into or a pathway to duck down, but there weren’t any and too soon we were at the interrogation room.

The guard opened the door for me, which led to a small dark room furnished with a table, two chairs and a large mirror on the wall. I was barely in the door, when I got another chock.

“Desmond!” I exclaimed, relief flooding my face.

He was sitting there, looking smaller than usual. He had his head in his hands and looked severely grim.

he shot me a look, which wiped any resemblance of joy off my face.

“what did you do?” He said, as I took a seat next to him.

“I don’t know…” I said, a little flustered “It’s just… you weren’t there and I thought they might…” I trailed off.

What had I thought would happen. They would give away his mission? I had never heard of that happening.

“this is a real mess you’ve gotten us into. You know that, right?!” I could feel Desmond’s anger like a physical presence in the room.

It occurred to me just how angry he must be.

MORT day 14 – the verdict

Desmond had every right to be angry.

First I overslept, causing him to miss the sermon and then I pulled this stunt, and neither of us knew what kind of punishment was in store for that. As far as I knew, no one had ever interrupted the sermon before. But then again, I had only been in Savior for 7 months.

I looked over at Desmond, but he didn’t meet my eyes.

I was just about to apologize, when pastor Masters walked into the room. somehow the pastor was  even more intimidating this time, than he had been during the sermon. I didn’t think it was possible to me any more scared of him than I was at the alter, I was wrong.

The pastor took a seat in front of us and cleared his throat.

“so, what do I do with the two of you?” Pastor Masters said in a terrifyingly steady voice.

Both Desmond and I were still as the grave. I started to stare at a scratch in the surface of the table, hoping that Pastor Masters would chose to be merciful, though something told me that that wasn’t his style.

“You” he points a finger at Desmond “were late to the sermon, which you know is severely punished…” the pastor took a breath and then added “and on the day that you were chosen to go on a mission, that was really unfortunate”.

“now you” Pastor Masters moved his finger in my direction “decided that you could what? Take his place” again he pointed at Desmond “if you stepped in” I gulped and looked more intensely at the table.

“unfortunately” the Pastor continued “this is out of my hands”

I looked up, puzzled. For the first time he met my eye, but there was no joy there.

“I have talked it over with the Bishop and he seems to think that what you did was an act of bravery” The pastor looked me square in the face as if to say “but we both know it wasn’t”

“So, he has chosen to spare you punishment, assuming that Mortimer here” the accusing finger came back around to point at me “accompanies you”

I didn’t dare looking at Desmond, this was too good to be true. We were going to get off scott free, we just had to do the mission, this was better than I could have hoped for.

It seemed pastor Master could sense our elation, because he continues his little rant.

“Now, Desmond” again the finger switched position ”you still have to be punished for your tardiness” with this, A smile crept onto the pastors lips as one evaporated from mine. “You have to do overtime in the sifting hall, which will be every night this week. You will both show up next sunday for deployment where you will be given the required…”

“wait a second” Desmond said in an almost inaudible whisper.

“yes” the master answered, not seeming the least bothered by the interruption.

“are you saying that I have to work every night. When will I have time to recruit?” Desmond sounded grim, but determined. Pastor Masters’ smile widened, which made me feel sick.

“oh, you won’t have any. Recruiting is up to this one” he said cooly and pointed the finger back at me.

 

MORT day 15 – attacked

“how does that feel, loverboy?!”

The punch sent the air rushing out of my lungs. Three guys were holding me up against the trashcans behind the mess hall. My attackers were from the geek killers, I knew because they were all wearing red headbands, the official sign of the GK.

“lets see if we can make him cry” one of the guys said, Just before he punched me in the jaw.

One of his friends was holding me up by the shoulders, making sure that I stayed on my feet, which was not a given at that moment. I wanted to sink into a ball, I wanted them to go away, I wanted for this all to be over, but none of those wishes came true as one of the guys kneed me in the ribs. The pain was overwhelming and for a moment I couldn’t focus on anything but the pain.

It had been like this since I had pulled my little stunt at the cathedral. I guess I never knew just what a horrible place Savior city really was.

The guy holding me by the shoulders let go and I sank into a ball on the ground, hoping this meant that it was all over. I could not have been more wrong, as one of the guys landed a kick in my stomach. How was I going to make it to the mission on sunday if this continued?

As one of the guys started beating my back with a stick, I wondered how I had lived in Savior for 7 months and not experiences any of this until now… No that was untrue, I knew how, I just couldn’t believe it.

Desmond had sheltered me for all of this time, I just couldn’t figure out how. He has not big and he was not intimidating. I knew he had a complicated history with the geek killers (one which he refused to talk about) and I knew that he could talk himself out of almost any situation, but to keep me safe, that would have taken some kind of magic on his part. And why me, I was nobody special. What had made me stick out on that day in the sector one cathedral?