“Never throw shit at an armed man,” John said.
“Niven’s Law,” said The Preacher.
The morning after the Angels killed a thousand people in Balboa Park, the three of us were huddled in the café, drinking coffee and trying to figure out what we had just seen.
“I didn’t throw anything at anybody,” I said. I was still scared clean through and I hadn’t slept much – I kept expecting Arhiziel and his Host to break down my door. I kept seeing those cops come apart like rag dolls. I hadn’t yet started to get mad, then, I think I was still in shock.
“Niven’s Second Law, Van”
“What’s that?”
“Never stand next to somebody throwing shit at an armed man.”
Makes sense. This Niven guy should probably amend his law to ‘don’t shoot at Angels either.'
It had been a grim twelve hours by then, since we’d made it back to the café. The Preacher had slept on the couch upstairs (with the curfew and martial law and everything else it didn’t seem safe to let him go home). We’d been open for an hour, but nobody had come in. Martial Law, people were staying off the streets. Military trucks had been going by all night, and about 7:00 AM one pulled up at the corner down the street near the highway entrance and soldiers got out, Guardsmen, and started setting up a checkpoint. That was nearly a month ago, and the checkpoint appears to have become a permanent installation since then.
If nothing else, the Angels have effectively ended the war in the Middle East – at least for us, though it doesn’t appear to have done much for the sectarian violence between Sunni’s and Shia’s. If anything, I say its worse – everybody’s trying to get in their last licks before Judgment Day I guess. But they’re going to be doing it without us I guess. Where we’re going to get our gas from is another story.
The troops have been returning home here in California for the last two weeks, and being redeployed in the cities. LA is practically an armed camp from what we understand (John has a cousin up that way and he talks to her on the phone when it’s working). There are checkpoints throughout San Diego, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. These guys have spent the last twelve months manning checkpoints and doing patrols in the Triangle. They’re used to shooting first and not asking any questions. Though I think most people are glad to see them for now.
I personally haven’t seen an Angel or those giant Nephilim since that day in the park. But rumors are everywhere. Supposedly they’ve set up some kind of base in the park. The Army has the whole place surrounded, from the Cabrillo Bridge across to Pershing and north of the Zoo. Who’s feeding the animals, if anybody is, I don’t know. I guess they tried to truck a bunch of them out to the Wild Animal Park up near Escondido, but the Army stopped them before they were finished. The Army won’t let anybody near the place, and so far the Angels have left the Soldiers alone.
We keep hearing rumors of Angels or Nephilim on the streets, but we haven’t seen them. Rumors are that there have been miracles, and more killings, and people just disappearing, but nothing for sure. There was a woman on the local news last week who was sobbing and hysterical, claiming that she’d been raped by Nephilim. It sounded fishy to me, but according to what I’ve read, that’s what Nephilim did back in the day, and I guess a lot of people believe her. There was a mob outside the city office demanding that the government do something. What exactly they expected, I don’t know. The news said that the woman had spent time in a mental institution and that she had ‘emotional problems,’ but that she had been assaulted. Then the next day they said none of that was true and that she hadn’t been assaulted.
I saw this bit in the opinion section on the Tribune Online:
Bearing false witness is a sin! [she’ll] be called to Judgment when JESUS returns, which will be SOON! She must be brought before HOLY Arzheil (sic) and judged. The Rule Of Man Is At An End! ALL sinners and atheists will be JUDGED unless they accept the LORD as their savior NOW!
There were a hundred more comments exactly like that and only one disagreeing.
I fear for the future, I do.
Posted by VanDerDecken at 3:58 PM
3 comments:
My cousin's oldest boy just returned with his unit from Iraq. No warning, just pull chocks, drop your gear and head for the flight line. He was a sweet kid the last time I saw him. Eight years old, small and kinda frail but he obviously changed over the years. He became a world class athelete on the baseball diamond, on the track and when he left high school followed in his Daddy's foot steps and joined the Marines before there was talk of a draft. He would have joined anyway.
She says he changed. Became hard and distant. His once warm smile was replaced by a cold sneer. He made it back to Pendalton alright but they pushed him off the plane and on a truck and down to San Diego to man the border.
Now there's talk of disolving the border guard and pulling these kids back to the camp. Kids, that's what these poor guys really are. I had enough of seeing 19 year olds with M-16's in my day and now they are right down the street and more heavily armed.
I thought about turning in the police machine pistols the other day but, thought it was better to hold on instead of explaining where they came from. Who's gonna know to track an abandoned weapon anyway. Not like I'm gonna join the neighborhood watch with one of these strapped to my hip tomorrow.
Martial law sure has a way of biting into the profits. I better get some sleep before I have to open tomorrow. Keep working the routine, let the world work it out and stay under the RADAR. What would I do if I got called up? Well I'd rather wait for the letter than think about it.
All that concern for murdered bystanders is a day late and a dollar short. What about the innocent bystanders that were hurt and killed the last time you stood in a public place with a gun?
Mouse, we never used guns - but if you are who you say you are, you should have known that.
I spent a lot of time listening to bullshit artists, and I know one when I smell one.
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