She bowed her head. “I will, Lord. I trust You.”
With the exception of Brianna, the group was none too happy when Tori returned and announced they would continue into the big city. Doubts began to rise again as they started on their way, but Tori did her best to shove them aside. There must be something in Atlanta the Lord wanted them to do or see, something so life-changing that the enemy had sent a tornado to keep them away.
She glanced over her shoulder at Aaron, talking with Sara. The old man was becoming a nuisance. Instead of supporting Tori, instead of praying along with her for God’s will, he was contradicting her every move, introducing doubt among them. Yet…even now as he looked up and smiled, she saw no malice, no subterfuge surrounding him. She had a gift. She could see evil in the spirit realm, but for some reason when it came to Aaron, if he was on the enemy’s side, she was blind to it.
Or maybe she was just too paranoid.
Could be due to the thousands of demons she spotted every day lurking around buildings, sitting on rooftops, swirling around and through the people she saw. Only her constant prayer seemed to keep them at bay. That, along with an angelic escort she could not see but sensed was with them. The thought made her smile.
By mid-afternoon, the sweltering heat drained every last bit of their energy. Sara was struggling, Aaron’s hobble was more pronounced, and Callie whined more frequently.
The eerie hum of a drone, no,threedrones, filled the air. The crafts swept in before Tori could dive for cover, hovering over them like vultures, the demonic red light of their cameras… staring, analyzing, mocking. Having grown accustomed to the mechanical monsters, they all froze. If the drones decided to shoot them, there was nowhere to run anyway.
But once again, the flying freaks took off as if they weren’t worth their time.
Which made Tori all the more nervous. It made no sense. She and Thomas had to be on the top of the NWU’s hit list. Yet none of the cameras, drones, or surveillance cyborgs had reported them.
Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
That’s when she saw them. At first they looked like old telephone poles or windmills lined up beside the road in the distance. But the closer they got, the more her stomach dropped and her heart shrank. Finally, her breath caught in her throat.
Crosses extended as far as the eye could see.
With people hanging on them, crucified.
???
“Wait!” Thomas shouted after Tori as she marched toward the horrid scene. She’d instructed everyone to head down one of the side streets to their left while she went on to investigate. But what was there to investigate? Nothing but agony and death.
He’d done his best to usher the others away from the scene, but he couldn’t allow Tori to witness the sight alone. Yet now as he caught up to her and she stopped before the first cross, Thomas had a hard time keeping the bread in his stomach.
A man, or what was left of him, hung lifeless on the cross, nails piercing his hands and feet while ropes tied about them kept him upright. Wounds covered his emaciated body—gashes, open sores, and bruises. His head hung down to his chest, strands of hair covering his face, which was probably a good thing. Written on a sign nailed above his head were the words:
Deviant. Follower of the false God, Jesus.
Sinking to her knees, Tori dropped her head into her hands and sobbed. Since they started on this trip, he’d rarely seen her cry. No doubt she wanted to be strong for the rest of them. Yet now, all her fears and sorrows spilled out onto the dirt before this man’s cross.
Forcing down his own horror and nausea, he knelt by her side, swept an arm over her shoulder, and held her while she cried uncontrollably. He didn’t know what to say, what to do, so he just held her, like he’d done so many times before. This time, the abomination before them was so much worse than anything that had happened in her past.
In truth, Thomas was having a hard time with it, himself. How could an NWU that spoke of peace, reconciliation, and reformation perpetrate such a loathsome punishment against another human being? Sure, the Deviants were troublemakers who held back society. Sure, they needed to be caught and reconditioned, and those who couldn’t be reprogrammed had to be eliminated. He’d come to grips with that long ago. There was no swifter and painless death than by the guillotine. But this? This was beyond barbaric, beyond anything that resembled human decency.
More importantly, how could he have worked for and with people who could do this to a fellow human?
He scanned the line of crosses extending so far into the distance there seemed no end to them. There had to be hundreds, maybe thousands, a warning to all who entered the city.
Tori cried for what seemed like an hour, alternating between leaning forward with her palms in the dirt and hugging herself. Finally, her wails reduced to sobs and she sat upright, trying to catch her breath. Leaning her head on Thomas's shoulder, she let out a final cry and said, “It’s just so hard, Thomas. It’s so hard. I don’t know how to go on.”
“But youwillgo on.” He rubbed her arm. “You will. Because you’re strong, Tori. You always have been. You just never knew it.”
She half-laughed, half-cried and looked up at him. Sunlight sparkled in her moist eyes. He ran a thumb over her cheek, wiping away her tears. “I’m sorry, Tori. I…. ” He swallowed. “Had no idea the NWU committed such atrocities.”
She nodded, starting to glance back up at the man, then must have thought better of it. Instead, she scanned the row of similar crosses stretching into the distance. “I know, Thomas. It’s okay. These people are in heaven now, receiving a crown and many rewards for their sacrifice. They did not love their lives to the death…”
Thomas withheld a huff of disbelief. What kind of God required such a sacrifice in order to be rewarded?
“Come on. Let’s get back to the others.” He helped her stand, and when she fell against him, he turned her away from the cross and hugged her tighter than he had in a long while. They stood there for several minutes. Honestly, Thomas could hold her like that all day. It felt right. It felt good. He loved that she leaned on him now, that he could be of some help.
Finally, she pushed from him, and he eased a lock of hair from her face and kissed her forehead. Then turning, they headed back.
