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He was sitting in a dark room along with several hundred others. They were surrounded by floor to ceiling glass walls glass walls that he couldn’t see through because the other side was completely black. Those around him were making lewd jokes, laughing and kidding around. Suddenly the lights behind the glass exploded with brightness, then hundreds of naked unkempt women came screaming towards them. Startled, all were deathly quiet for a second until the first wave of women smashed into the glass walls. Then there were screams from the boys, some got up and tried to run but there was no where to go as the seats were in circular order and somehow they had been closed off with the glass walls.
Some of the new men just sat in their seats shaking and crying. Some pissed their pants and a few shouted for quiet. Yelling that they should calm down because no one could get through the glass wall. The boys looked at the women throwing themselves against the wall and thought how disgusting they looked as they hit the wall their breast flattened out and became distorted and as they pressed against the glass they all looked like freaks. Some of the women had open sores and all were filthy and some had excrement all over them. They kept smashing against the glass in a frenzy trying to get at the boys. Thirty women smashed against the wall at one time. Now most of the boys were screaming and were scared shitless. The women relentlessly smashed against the glass and the cracking noise got louder each time they hit it and finally they smashed right through it and streamed through the hole and grabbed any one they could get their hands on literally tearing them apart.
Then he saw Olivia, and she was strangling the boy in front of him. He yelled her name and she looked at him with a crazed look in her eyes and came toward him with her arms extended as if she was going to strangle him and he was yelling, “ no, no, Olivia it’s Me Joshua” but she wrapped her hands around his throat squeezing so hard he couldn’t make a sound. He tried to fight back but couldn’t move, the light was fading she was killing him and then he woke up. He had this dream every night since Sergio told him how they put all the remaining women in the zoo. They said for observation and protection, but actually to be used in a demonstration he graphically described. Then he told Joshua they were going to get to visit the zoo very soon. The dream always made him think of Olivia. Whenever he thought of her he remembered how he ended up here living with Sergio and Raphael.
Joshua remembered what still seemed like yesterday when he lived with the Clan in the Montana wilderness. He recalled how his mother told him how just before she was forced to flee to the wilderness; she had been overjoyed because Angel (his father) had just asked her to marry him. This went beyond her expectations as Angel was the prophets’ son and in line to lead the church if he remained single. This proved how he loved her; he was willing to sacrifice his place in the hierarchy for her. They had been friends from childhood and got along fine until Romulus stuck his nose in and tried everything to keep them apart. There grew a mutual animosity between Lydia and Romulus that cooled when she went away to college and then law school, but became heated after she finished school. There were two reasons other than his natural aversion to women that Romulus’s animosity toward Lydia grew heated. The first was that Angel was attracted to her, the second being she now headed a woman’s rights organization that was fighting the church about its policies toward women. She had natural leadership abilities that blossomed as soon as she became a member of this organization.
She frequently discussed church policies with Angel; she sincerely believed he shared her feelings of disdain for its policy toward women. He often said, “When I lead the church there will definitely be equitable treatment of both sexes.” During these discussions he often told her, “I know my father feels as I do toward women, but he’s constantly reminded of Gods command, he feels he can’t go against this and he’s conflicted over it. I sometimes hear him praying, asking God for guidance.”
Lydia asked, “Angel, when you tell your father we’re getting married how do you think he’ll take it?”
“I’m sure he’ll be happy for us, he may worry about the reaction from the church membership though.”
A few days after Angel had announced their engagement; she narrowly escaped a kidnapping by using wing chun, (one of the martial arts she was expert in) The two assailants were bloody when they finally turned and fled. She strongly suspected Romulus was somehow involved, but didn’t mention it when questioned by the police because the church was influential in all government agencies. The police wanted to know how a small woman like her could have driven off two assailants, she told how her father, because of the violence he had witnessed perpetrated on others had insisted she learn self-defense from her earliest years.
She was aware of the existence of the camps being constructed throughout the country to house women and this was the main focus of her organization. She knew once they were segregated it wouldn’t be long before the church would find a reason to exterminate them. This was one of the reasons Romulus was so angry with her, she was confounding his well-laid plans. She intimately knew how the church functioned and that although The Prophet was technically the leader he was highly influenced by Romulus.
She was watching the TV broadcast of her father and The Prophet When they were both assassinated. They were shot and blown to pieces by three women; retribution by the men was swift and widespread. She guessed Romulus was behind this action. She needed to get away once the government decreed that all women were to be rounded up and placed in retraining camps for their protection. She couldn’t go to her father’s funeral, this was upsetting to her but her lifelong training of meeting adversity head on prevailed and she did the right thing by fleeing. She decided it would be better to live in the woods than to be locked up like an animal. She had to flee with only the clothes she was wearing because the men were everywhere grabbing women and loading them onto buses, vans, trucks, or whatever was available to use.
She was wearing jeans and a jacket that day and was able to secure a baseball cap to put her long hair under; she at least resembled a man from a distance. They had roadblocks set up and were pulling women from cars as they tried to get out of the city. She just walked until she got to the woods. As she was about to enter the woods she had unconsciously removed her hat and run her hand through her hair. A truck with three men had seen her do it. They pulled up beside her and yelling obscenities, jumped out and came running at her. The first to reach her was in his early twenties and looked fit so she kicked him directly in the balls as hard as she could and he dropped screaming. The other two were upon her by this time. Her training took over and she stuck her fingers into the eyes of one and pulled her hand back and hit the second under the nose with the edge of her hand and felt something break as she did. She picked up her hat put it back on stuffing her long hair into it. All three were in agony and were not about to pursue her; she jumped into their truck and drove away. She was already outside the city and she didn’t worry about roadblocks. She headed straight north until she ran out of gas. She searched the truck but found nothing useful and started hiking into the woods.
It was her second night sleeping in the cold when O’Malley found her. Father O’Malley a Catholic priest who had been living in the woods for several years now, came upon her sleeping under a tree and tried gently to awaken her. She lashed out and kicked his feet from under him and pounced on him. As he hit the ground she grabbed his Adams apple in her right hand. Squeezing it very hard and raising a rock in her left hand she told him, “I’m not going to any fucking camp! Understand?” O’Malley managed a slight nod that he did and she relaxed her grip on his Adams apple and he croaked, “I only wanted to invite you to sit by my fire to get warm,” he said.
She didn’t know what to make of this, a strange man in the middle of the woods inviting her to his fire. She looked around and saw no one else. Instinctively she decided to trust him. She released him and stood up. The priest brushing himself off did likewise. “Come” he said, “let’s get to the fire before it dies.” She followed him and not thirty yards from where she had been sleeping was the entrance to a series of caves, “This is where I live and there’s plenty of room,” he said. She entered the massive cave and sat by the fire. He took a kettle that hung over the fire and poured the liquid from it into a cup and handed it to her. “Drink it,” he said, “it tastes almost like tea and is nourishing.”
“What is it she wanted to know?” “Tea made from wild roses,” he replied. “Roses? I never heard of rose tea.” He told her that the fruit of roses are used for tea and are very high in Vitamin C. “But lets drink it and then I think we should introduce ourselves.” She quickly drained her cup and was surprised that it tasted so good. He held the pot out and she offered her cup for a refill. “I’m father O’Malley” he said, “ and you are?” “ Lydia Davis and I’m very pleased to meet you father.” “ Well I don’t know if I can say the same” he replied while rubbing his throat in mock pain. She laughed and said, “please forgive me, I have been practicing martial arts since I learned to walk. Now it’s almost instinctive for me to react when I’m surprised like that.” “What brings you to my neck of the woods,” he asked laughing at his feeble joke.
“Father it looks like you’ve been here for a while. Do you know what’s going on in the world right now?”
“ No he replied to be honest I don’t want to know.”
“You’re the one who asked what I’m doing here.”
“O.k. then please explain to me what are you doing sleeping in the woods without any camping equipment whatsoever?”
“I can’t explain that without mentioning what’s happening outside the woods.”
“ All right I guess I’m going to have to hear what the men are up to now.”
“ Well I’m sure you’re familiar with the Prophet, and probably don’t know he’s been assassinated.”
“ What he exclaimed! Dead the Prophet is dead! How can that be he’s god’s messenger?”
“A woman killed him because of the RTE Church’s policies. They are rounding up all the women and placing them in so called retraining camps for their protection, so the government claims.”
“How can they do that? Is it even legal?”
“Yeah, it’s been legal to round up citizens since the Patriot act,” she answered.
“I can understand you not wanting to go to any retraining camp. I believe you’ll be safe here. If you’d like you can pick out a cave for yourself and stay here. We’re hundreds of miles from civilization and the only people any where close is a ranch on the other side of the mountain and they never venture this way. At least not in the years I’ve been here.:
“ Thank you she said, I have nowhere to go and thought I’d die in the wilderness, that was preferable to being locked up.”
He rinsed her cup and filled it and one for himself then said, “let’s drink to our new partnership.”
She picked it up and wanted to know what they were about to drink? “Wine my dear dandelion wine. The flowers make a fine wine and I use the rest of the plant for medicinal purposes.”
“ I can see I’m going to learn a few survival skills from you father.”
“ We’ll make it a fair trade as I can learn some fighting skills from you. It appears I may need them one of these days.”
“What about you Father O’Malley, what are you doing living here in the middle of nowhere?”
He answered, “when I heard about the males giving birth in 2006 and 07 I thought they were some publicity stunt. When that new church started to recruit members so quickly I decided to read their doctrine and it see what all the men were clamoring for. At first I thought it was just another cult and would soon fade, as they all seem to. Then I read about the Return to Eden Book found By Nicholas Callahan and his parents, how it was authenticated by the worlds leading experts. I regret that I did, but I read the translation of that book and couldn’t believe my eyes. It can’t be true I thought. After reading the documentation and the medical reports on the birth of two babies by two different men one of them being supposedly a virgin birth I was so shaken that I actually thought of committing suicide. I knew that God frowned upon that. I couldn’t accept the new revelations that appeared to be true because they went against what I believed my whole life. I decided to live as a hermit so I wouldn’t infect others with my viewpoint on this new philosophy.”
“ Well you’ve a neighbor now and you’re not a hermit any longer and you definitely won’t infect my views.”
He took her deep into the cave and she was astounded to see a network of caves, the floors of the caves are covered with flowstone that resembles spilled paint. Numerous caves stretched into the mountain. She saw some of the most beautiful rock formations, a multitude of crystals shimmering like diamonds on the walls. See through mineral curtains hang from the caves roofs. Then there is a lake that looked to be bottomless filling one of the many rooms. There is a rushing river going through the lower level and the sound of the water is soothing. She picks a cave for herself near enough to the river so she can hear the soothing sound of flowing water.
A week after she had moved in they were on a plant hunting expedition trying to find enough plants for food to last through the winter when they came across Herman’s camp. They smelled the aroma of roasting meat before they saw the tent. “Slow down,” O’Malley said, “we better be careful it could be they’re hunting for any who got away.” They watched from a distance as a man came out of the tent and went to the fire where there was a hunk of meat roasting. He picked up one end of the spit and moved the meat to a dish he held in his other hand. Lydia and O’Malley’s mouths were watering at the sight of hot cooked meat and were trying to decide what to do next when they heard a baby crying. The man set the meat down and returned to the tent. They moved closer to enable them to see well. The man re-emerged from the tent carrying a bundle in his arms which it turned out was a crying baby. He started playfully throwing the baby into the air and catching it. Soon the cries turned into giggles and the man sat on a stump with the baby on his knee and picked up the meat in one hand and started to eat it when Lydia stepped on and broke a branch that made a loud crack.
He set the baby down reached into the tent and pulled out a rifle raised it to his shoulder and shouted, “who’s there?” No one answered and he remained ready to shoot until the baby started crying again. He set the rifle against the tree trunk and picked the baby up. They watched as he pre-chewed some meat, took it from his mouth and put it in the baby’s mouth. “What should we do” asked Lydia?
“We can’t announce ourselves without probably getting shot so let’s just get out of here.”
They went back to the cave wondering how that meat would have tasted. They have been living on plants and an occasional fish they caught using the pantyhose she was wearing when she arrived.” I wonder what he could be up to here in the middle of nowhere with a baby wondered Lydia aloud.”
“Maybe he’s a kidnapper holding the baby for ransom,” O’Malley suggested.
“No, I don’t think so. Did you see how loving he was towards the infant? A kidnapper wouldn’t be like that.”
“ Well lets spy on him for a while and we’ll see what he’s up to because we can’t be found, I mean you can’t be found,” said O’Malley They watched him for several days and saw that he knew how to trap animals for food. They watched him fish and pull fish after fish from the water and only keep the largest ones throwing the smaller ones back. He always had the baby and rifle with him wherever he went. One day he was intent on catching a big fish and the baby began crawling toward the water and there was a drop off from the rock overhanging the river where the baby had crawled. She wanted to scream but didn’t because she thought he would shoot her. The baby saw a duck swimming by close to the rock reached for it and fell into the water. Without thinking Lydia rushed to the river, jumped in to grab the baby just before it got swept away in the fast moving water. The man had heard and was standing on the riverbank with his gun pointed at her. “Put that dam thing down,” she said,” Can’t you see the baby has almost drowned.” He dropped the gun, grabbed the baby, hugged her, and said “Thank you whoever you are.” “I’m Lydia,” she said, ‘and this is father O’Malley.” Who by now had arrived at the scene. He held out his hand to Lydia, ”I’m Herman and this is my daughter Olivia. I need to change her clothes before she catches cold.” he said and walked back to his camp with them following.
When they got there he stripped Olivia, dried her and dressed her in animal furs. “I like her outfit, “Lydia said. Herman replied, “she’s growing so fast that all the clothes I have with me are to small for her. So whatever I catch for food I cure their skins and use fishing line and a needle to sew her new clothes.” “Looks like you did a good job.” O’Malley said. That rabbit skin sure looks good on her. Herman replied, “I used to teach survivalist skills for a living and I guess that’s why I’m here.” “How long have you been here?” O’Malley asked Herman. “I came when they started rounding up the women there was no way I was going to let anyone put my wife and daughter in any retraining camp.” “Where’s your wife Lydia asked?” A look of sadness passed over his face as he answered; “they killed her while we were escaping.”
“ How’d that happen?”
“ The road was blocked and we were trapped, she decided if she ran they would chase her and Olivia and I could get away. When she told me what she was going to do I said no way! But she pleaded that she could save our baby and I’d be better able to care for her because of my skills if we did get away. She ran and they chased her like she said they would and when they caught up to her she detonated an explosive device she had taken from my ordinance and killed several of the men along with herself. Now how about your self’s?” They both told their stories and he nodded his head in understanding.
He told them, “I’ve been hunting, and I’ve observed several women that are camping out here in the woods all alone. I’m thinking of the old saying that there’s safety in numbers. If that cave complex is big enough maybe we should round them up and get a little community going?” “Sounds like a good idea” O’Malley said, “Guess my days as a hermit are really over though he mused.” They found seven women total in the next few days and each and every one had fled rather than be put in a camp. They were all cautiously approached and all agreed on being safer together than alone and before long there was eleven occupied caves in the complex.
The women accepted O’Malley because they knew he was celibate, but they were all wary of Herman. As they would be of any man after what had happened. He soon proved invaluable to them all by teaching them all to fish and trap animals for food and fur. They soon realized that the days of buying clothing and food were gone from them forever. Now they had to make clothes any way they could and hunt their own food. Lydia was a natural leader and she trained all several hours a day in the martial arts and Herman trained them with all the survivalist tricks he knew.
They functioned well together during the day as a team and in the evening after gathering around a communal fire to eat and discuss plans for the next day. They started calling themselves The Clan because one of the girls mentioned their lifestyle reminded them of a movie she had seen called The Clan of the Cave Bear. This was ironic because a bear moved into one of the caves years later and tolerated the humans as long as they didn’t get to close. Most nights several of the girls would sing together and it had a soothing effect on all when they did. Afterwards they all returned to their own caves to dream!
A month went by and Lydia told O’Malley, I don’t quite know how to tell you this, just tell me. O.K. I’m pregnant. O’Malley’s jaw hung open in surprise “how’d that happen?” he asked.
“ I was already pregnant before I got here,” she said. “The thing is I don’t know what to do now.”
“ Seems to me you don’t have much of a choice but to have the baby.” “I know but out in the woods without a doctor or hospital.”
“Surely you know something about delivering a baby?” he said.
“Well I do know how to tie an umbilical cord she laughed, my father showed me how to do that.”
“ Well then what more is there to worry about?”
Seven months later Joshua arrived. A perfect baby boy and they guessed he weighed around nine pounds, as there was no scale to weigh him, Lydia did get to tie the cord.
The years rolled by and Olivia and Joshua grew up being best friends. Herman had taken a wife and the six other women besides Lydia had paired off in relationships. They were concerned that father O’Malley would be offended. He heard of their concern and gathered them together and told them how can I be offended when it’s a human loving another human rather than loving a machine like the church members do.
All the women took turns teaching the kids whatever they knew and as a result of this various knowledge they got a good education without any books. They used tree bark and charcoal for writing and drawing. They also used colors they were able to make from some earth pigments and various plant colors to decorate the cave walls that weren’t covered with crystals. They couldn’t build any structures for fear of being discovered. They often wondered what was going on in the world but didn’t want to chance finding out. They discussed going to Canada many times and always decided it was to risky to expose themselves and risk capture to get to a destination where they didn’t know what kind of reception they’d get.
Joshua was adventurous and by the time he was ten he had climbed to the other side of the mountain and observed the men living there. He told the Clan what he had seen and was questioned intensely because everyone was curious. O’Malley said, “the first thing we need to know is did they see you?”
“ No of course not” replied Joshua. “I camouflaged myself as a tree and stood still for a few hours watching them come and go.”
“ What were they driving asked one of the women?”
“ Horses” he replied. “I didn’t see any powered vehicles nor did I see any roads leading in or out.” “It must be one of those back to nature communes that were popping up all over before the assassination, ”said one of the women. “Yeah when the guys thought all they needed to survive was a key and a prayer room.” “Oh they have prayer rooms all right.” Joshua said. “I heard it several times while I was watching they would ask each other where are you headed and the reply always was, to the prayer room what is a prayer room?” he asked. “It’s a sealed off area where men go to use their Return to Eden Keys as no one likes being observed while doing it.”
“ What’s a key” he asked?
“You’ll find out when you’re a little older,” his mother told him.
In the four years since he went to the other side he had been back numerous times to watch the men and they all appeared harmless.
He followed Olivia as she left the cave where she lived and headed towards the lake. He knew she liked to bathe in the warm afternoon sun. Olivia was the only young female he had ever seen. He wondered if all the younger females would look like her with large breast, rounded hips, soft looking lips and big eyes. She was wearing the remnants of a sheet as a dress. “He knew what a dress was because his mother showed him pictures in some old magazines that one of the women had taken with her when she ran.”
Joshua watching her hips sway and her breast juggle could feel his penis growing while watching. This happened every time he saw her and he liked the feeling. This started happening two years ago when he turned twelve. Up until that time he and Olivia were the best buddies there could be. Since they were the only two kids in the whole clan they almost had to be. When he got his first erection she noticed and laughed at him. “You got what they call a boner.”
“ What’re you talking about,” he asked while holding his hand in front to block her view.
“That’s what they call it when a man gets excited she said.”
“A man” as soon as she said that he pulled his shoulders back and felt really proud because he knew men ruled the world. “O.K. Olivia, you’re right I’m a man now and you need to do as I say,” as he reached for her. She punched him with all her might hitting him in the jaw. The power of the punch knocked him flat on his butt and she broke out laughing and said, “not yet Josh.” He remembered that with embarrassment to this day. But that was two years ago and he has grown and become much stronger so he knew that wouldn’t happen again.
She was getting close to the lake and started taking the sheet off and now Joshua was getting very excited watching her as she threw the sheet on a branch. Then stood on a rock with her hands above her head and slowly turned around and waved to him. ”Hi Josh, I knew you were there all the time. Come on in” she said as she dived into the lake. Josh quickly dropped the wolf skin he was wearing and dived in after her. They swam to the far side and lay side by side on the sand. He leaned on his elbow and looked at her and the water glistening on her made it the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. He leaned over her and softly touched her lips with his. She responded by grabbing his penis in her right hand and said, ”Josh you have become a man she said squeezing and stroking his penis. She helped him along, as he didn’t know exactly what to do. When he finished he was filled with wonder at how pleasurable it was. “Let’s do it again,” he said and she laughed and said “we’ll do it plenty more times don’t worry. I just need to get back now my father needs me now!”
Just then he heard a whoop and a party of menmen (That’s what his mother called the men who lived without women.) rushed them from the surrounding trees. He fought with all his ability but being unarmed he was soon overwhelmed. He knew who they were because they lived on the other side of the mountain where they had a ranch and when he went hunting he would often spy on them. They had seemed so docile then. Now they appeared absolutely vicious looking as they were dressed in camouflage clothing with their faces painted black. “What’s going on he shouted at them.”
“ Don’t worry sonny their leader said. We don’t want you, go on get out of here.” He was tempted to run but he thought, “If they take Olivia I’ll never see her again” thinking of her being taken away caused his stomach to turn in agony. When the leader told him to go the men holding him released their grip on him so he was able to grab a pistol from the belt on the little one holding him. He shot the two who were holding Olivia. He dropped the gun grabbed her and jumped into the water.
He heard one of them yelling, “don’t shoot. We need the female alive.” Joshua and Olivia swam as if their lives depended on it and they did. The menmen were fully clothed and decided it would be easier to ride their horses to the other side than to swim after them. They quickly mounted; leaving the two wounded maybe dead men behind and raced to the other side of the lake. Joshua and Olivia ran as soon as their feet touched ground on the other side and were both completely naked and never gave it a thought. The menmen were trying to cut them off but Joshua knew the woods and raced through the trees where the horses couldn’t follow and they had to dismount to pursue them.
The Clan had prepared for an event such as this and Joshua knew just what to do and that was to lead them into the cave where the bear lived. By doing this he knew they would follow and when the bear rushed them they would step back and fall thousands of feet. He knew the bear would rush them because that’s what it always did to scare them away when they would go in there to look at the cubs. They knew better than to step back but they knew this would be the natural thing to do when confronted by an angry bear. The path in the cave narrowed to less than a foot and right there was the den. Joshua knew if he made a sharp left right there he could climb out because that’s what they always did when the bear rushed them. There were only eight of them now and they were only twenty yards behind as he and Olivia entered the cave. They both had been here many times and knew exactly where to go. They waited until the menmen were almost upon them then entered the cave so that their attention would be on them and not their footing. Olivia screamed as she rushed by the bear and her cubs. The bear roared rose up and started forward. Three of the menmen who by now were very close to the bear stepped back in fear and plunged to their deaths. Two of the remaining five pulled out their pistols and shot the bear and this just seemed to make her angrier and she charged them knocking the two leaders over the edge. As the bear turned one of the menmen raised a rifle and shot point blank into the bears face and she slowly sank backwards and fell over the edge. Now we’ll get that bitch shouted the big one. Joshua made a sharp left and he and Olivia climbed out as fast as possible.
There were three left and right behind them now, Joshua would lead them to the mine which was set up with boulders ready to fall by jumping on a lever that would move the key rock holding the others back. The clan had set these rock piles just in case something like this happened. Josh and Olivia had played in these mines and caves all their lives and knew every hazard, entrance and drop off there was. So it was easy to lead the three who were still chasing after them into the mine and once they were far enough in Joshua jumped on a lever and tons of boulders rolled onto the menmen and all was silent. Olivia was shaking and crying with relief. Josh pulled her close and tried to comfort her. After she calmed down he said, “ We need to gather up all their horses and whatever belongings they left. Yeah she said, but what about the bear cubs? They have nobody to help them now and they need to be taken care of. After all, their mother helped us. She said, after we get the cubs let’s go back where you shot those two and get their clothes and boots too. Good idea he said. It’s too bad there are so many rocks covering these ones or we could have used their boots too. Olivia went back to the cave to rescue the cubs.
Joshua rushed back to his cave to tell his mother who was the clan leader what had happened.
She got terribly upset when he told of what had happened. They’ll come looking for the ones you killed,” quick get everyone to help round up the horses they were riding, we can use them to get away from here. As soon as that’s done we’ll meet in the big cave.
Josh got the rest of the clan that consisted of Olivia’s father seven women and Father O’Malley. He gathered all nine of them and sent the priest along with Olivia’s father Herman to find the horses of the ones who followed them to the cave and he took the seven women with him back to the lake to find the two he had shot and their horses. He returned the same way he had been chased in order to find any thing the chasers had discarded. When they got to the lake they found only one body and no horses. One of them must have been only wounded he thought and taken the horses with him.
Unknown to Joshua he was being watched by the wounded man who had scattered the horses and climbed a tree. From his vantage point he quietly watched. He had called on his cell and told his boss what had happened and was told to sit tight until he got there with the rest of the hands. The man gave him the co-ordinates from his GPS. The boss then called Romulus who was the supposed second in command of the RTE Church but actually was number one because he had The Prophet’s son in protective custody since The Prophet was assassinated. Romulus always dreamed of having the power to change the world and he wasn’t about to let anything interfere. He was the one offering the reward for Lydia’s capture. “You what,” he yelled when he heard that he had sent twenty horsemen to capture the whole bunch. ”Horses? What’s wrong with helicopters, ATV’s, or anything else that’s faster than a horse?” “Well” the boss replied,“ we live in a heavily forested area and don’t use any of them.”
“ I’ll send some out,” replied Romulus. He called church security and said, “I think we’ve found her,” and gave the co-ordinates he had gotten from the ranch owner.
Quickly stripping the corpse of his clothing. Joshua claimed it for his own and put on the clothing as he was still naked. Trying to put on the boots he found his feet to big to fit them so he gave them to the women and after several tries one of them found the boots fit her and was overjoyed to get them. The shoes she had worn when she escaped to the mountains had worn out years ago and she had been making moccasins for herself and the others from the animals they killed for food. Joshua found the pistol he had used and then thrown away, there was four bullets left in it and the belt he was now wearing held another twelve. He felt something in the shirt pocket and pulled it out to see what it was. As soon as he took it out and looked at it he heard a loud scream “CIGARRETTS!” I dream about one every night cried the woman who had screamed and Josh threw them to her. Look for matches will you she asked. He searched the pockets and found a folded page and a cell phone. He put the cell phone back in the pocket and unfolded the paper. When he looked at it he was amazed to see a much younger picture of his mother with the words WANTED with a list of crimes his mother had supposedly committed. Then on the bottom it said REWARD $25,000,000 for the apprehension of this woman. He turned it over and saw a hand drawn map pinpointing the series of caves inhabited by their clan.
They must have been watching me while I was watching them and followed me back here and seen my mother. This was shattering to him to find out his mother was wanted and he had led these people to her. We better get back he thought and figure out what’s going on. They threw the naked body in to the lake and headed back.
Later as they sat around a fire in the big cave his mother was taking inventory, Joshua told her he had a pistol with ammunition and a cell phone. Give me the cell phone, and she stuck it in her pocket. How many horses she asked and was told they had gotten a total of eight horses with saddles and blankets. That’s a problem she said because there’s twelve of us. “I’m staying to take care of the bears,” Olivia said.
“No” Lydia said (That was what everyone called Joshua’s mother) “they’re looking for females not men so if anyone stays behind it will be the men.” “Well said the priest. I’ll volunteer to take care of the cubs because I don’t know how to ride any way.” “I didn’t even think of that Lydia moaned. O.K. a show of hands, how many can ride a horse?” Three of the women raised their hands. “I make four,” Lydia said. “We’ll each lead a horse with the inexperienced riders on it. The priest is staying so that’s eleven of us on eight horses we need to go now!” “Wait,” Joshua said, what about weapons and food?”
“ Bring you’re hunting spears and bows and any guns you got from the menmen. For food we’ll find it on the way now hurry we need to go.”
He would have laughed when he tried to mount one of the horses and ended up flat on his back if the situation wasn’t so dire. His mother told him to always mount up from the left side. “You scared the horse mounting on the right, because he’s not used to it.” The other riders all got mounted after trying several times and figuring whom was riding with whom. They finally got going carrying nothing but what weapons they had. In his memory this was the first time Joshua had worn machine made clothes and they were very restricting. They hadn’t gone far when they saw a group of horsemen coming towards them at a run. “Quick to the canyon,” Lydia said. They took off as fast as possible. The approaching horsemen numbered about twenty and Lydia knew she could lead them to the dam, but was torn because she had never taken a life and hoped she never would have to. She figured they were at least ten minutes away. When they got to the canyon she made her decision because she knew if they got captured, life as they knew it would be over. She told Olivia’s father to lead the seven women and Olivia to the top of the canyon. “Joshua you come with me, she commanded.” Once the women had started up the trail to the top, Lydia and Joshua wiped out the tracks the horses left behind. Then laid leaves and twigs on the trail so the coming horsemen wouldn’t see the trail leading up and keep on going straight like she wanted them to.
She and Joshua rode as fast as they could straight up the canyon, which soon turned into a narrow passage surrounded by walls of solid rock. Straight ahead they galloped for about two miles. They came to the dam that was thirty feet high but was only around twenty feet wide jammed in between solid rock walls that were at least forty feet high.
They jumped off the horses, Lydia said; “you know what to do Josh,” and he scrambled up the rock wall on one side while she ascended the other side. They had cut hand and footholds to the top while they were building the dam. Once at the top Joshua could see the water backed up behind the dam the clan had built. There were many trees growing almost right to the edge. He went straight to a rope holding a massive tree trunk in position. It was obvious that when he cut this rope made from twisted vines the tree trunk would swing in an ark that would hit the dam squarely in the center. He could see his mother standing by the other swinging ram as they called the tree trunks.
They had a view of the passage and saw the horsemen now moving cautiously toward them. The horses she and Joshua had been riding were wandering aimlessly around the bottom of the dam and just then one of the riders shouted, “there they are!” and they all came as fast as they could. When they got close enough to see the two horses were rider-less they came to a halt. That’s when she yelled to Joshua. He cut the rope and watched as the giant tree trunk arched through the air and hit the dam dead center. It made a tremendous noise when it hit and he could see the dam had moved when hit but it didn’t break. It did start leaking and by this time the riders below were looking at the water pouring through and turned to run. Just then the tree trunk that his mother had cut the holding rope came swinging into and right through the center of the dam and the water poured through. He could see the horses and riders being washed down the gully by the torrent of water. He grabbed a rope that the clan had left hanging from the tall tree by the waters edge and with a good run and jump he swung to the other side of the canyon. He landed almost at his mother’s feet. I don’t think they’ll follow us any longer. “I don’t think they’ll ever follow anyone again,” he said.
“Unfortunately our horses are gone along with our pursuers so we better start walking.” Lydia said. They got to the top and found the nine others waiting for them. They had a box seat view from up here and were able to see what had gone on below and told Lydia that none of the men escaped.
Good she said,” let’s get down there and see if any of the horses are still alive. If we find any dead men get their boots and clothes.” They found four horses alive and one man. The rest had washed far down the canyon and they didn’t want to take the time to look for them. Lydia felt it was imperative to get far away from this location as soon as possible. “What about the man Joshua asked?”
“Is he alive?” Lydia wanted to know. Josh kneeled beside the man to see if he was breathing and just as he put his ear to the mans nose to feel for breath, he was grabbed by the hair and a gun stuck against the side of his head. Lydia screamed and the man looked at her. While he was distracted Joshua took the knife he had used to cut the rope from his belt and thrust it into his throat. The man just dropped his gun and grabbed for the knife, but it was to late as Joshua twisted it and pulled it free. The man lay back in the puddle that was now turning red from his flowing blood. Joshua had been trained by Lydia to defend himself since he could remember and had no qualms about killing in self-defense. They stripped him and found another pistol he was carrying. This time the boots fit Joshua.
They now had ten horses and could make better time. They set out to make as much distance from this spot as they could before night when they would have to rest. They were heading for Canada because now that they’d been discovered they might as well take the gamble and hope Canada was still a free country. Lydia said it was an international border and whoever was going to follow us wouldn’t be able to cross legally. Of course she didn’t know if that would stop them or not but she had nowhere else to go.
They found a cave after dark and made camp. While riding Joshua using his bow and arrow had shot four rabbits that were now roasting over the fire they had built. Tinky the lady he had given the cigarettes to had been sure to bring fire-making tools with her and that was fortunate as no one else had. After devouring the rabbit meat she lit a cigarette from the fire, inhaled deeply and a look of satisfaction spread across her face. She passed it around and almost everyone took a drag a few choking on the smoke.
Joshua asked, “Would someone please tell me what’s going on?”
Lydia replied, “It was a long story and he should sleep so they can leave at sunrise.”
“ Well condense it then, don’t leave me wondering what the heck is going on. Why are we being pursued and by who.”
She hesitantly started telling him, “it’s a long story Joshua and it’s very complex. When I came to the cave, the country was in an uproar because Romulus took charge after the Prophet was killed and he saw the opportunity to utilize his dream of ridding the world of women.”
“Why would he want to do that?” Joshua wanted to know. Lydia told him about how Romulus held misogynistic views. She believed this stemmed from his mothers rejection that she heard him telling her father about by putting her ear to the heating vent in her bedroom that was above the office. She would often listen to conversations between her father and Romulus. She overheard how his mother’s rejection frustrated him to an unbearable degree. With his rejecting mother there was overt cruelty and pain, rage and humiliation. She knew this is very dangerous for the next generation of women because she had studied psychology. He may hate women so much that his contempt exceeds all limits she told Joshua. When Romulus grew up to be a man his anger towards his mother was displaced toward all women. This displaced aggression is really a deep desire that he wished he could have acted out on his mother for all the pain she had caused him.
Romulus went on to tell her father of his childhood while she listened. How his father a weak man who was dominated by his mother and had insisted on naming him Romulus after the founder of Rome and this was the only time he ever stood up to his wife on any matter. His father loved reading about ancient Rome and the power men had over women. He would repeat these stories over and over as Romulus was growing and they became part of his consciousness. His father would often tell him about the founder of Rome, Romulus and his father who was Mars the God Of War and that Romulus was the first ever King Of Rome. He told him how Romulus had spread the reputation of Rome as an asylum to all that desired a new life. Because of this, Rome attracted a population of exiles, refugees, murderers, criminals, and runaway slaves
Romulus not only created the Roman Legions and the Roman Senate, but also added citizens to his new city by abducting the women of the neighboring Sabine tribes. Romulus would become ancient Rome’s greatest conqueror, adding large amounts of territory and people to the dominion of Rome. After his death, Romulus was deified as the god Quirinus.
Romulus told her father how he spent a lot of his adolescence daydreaming that he would follow in the footsteps of his namesake and make this country an asylum for homosexuals. A country ruled by men for men where there would be no prejudice against any man. What about the women my father wanted to know and the reply he gave was, “we’ll follow God’s will.”
“He was with the Prophet from the very beginning and together they founded The Return to Eden Church. I’ll tell you about the Prophet from the very beginning and that starts with the Callahan’s and their baby. I need to give you a lot of background information because it’s a complex story. She starts….