all god's orphans
Chapter 23

By the time Millie saw Penelope again, she had washed her face and was walking arm in arm with her soldier boyfriend towards the Wal-Mart. Everybody was going to listen to the Thorsten Gallagher show. Seeing her there pretending that everything was fine enraged Millie. The general was going to get away with it. He could assault any girl he wanted and he would get away with it because he was in charge around here. Everyone works for someone else, her father had once told her. She was pretty sure that the general wouldn’t want the military or the government to find out he was running around forcing himself on young women. Surely they would remove him from command, she told herself. The vague shape of a plan was beginning to form in her head as she made her way to her bunk tent. Inside, it was dark and empty. It was about thirty feet long with an aisle down the center and six cots on either side. Usually it would be full right now, but tonight she had the place to herself.

Her mind drifted back to the sex magazine in the general’s office. A couple of the pages featured ads with naked men. She had only caught a glimpse, but she could still see oiled abs and beefsteak cocks whenever she closed her eyes. She looked around, pulled the blanket up to her chin, and slid a hand between her legs. A grin rippled across her face as the shock of the touch hit her in the small of the back sending shivers up her spine. This won’t take long, she thought.

Finally being able to rub one out had relaxed Millie into a blissful slumber that lasted until the sun was up. A thin beam of light cut through the dust in the air, hitting her right in the eye. She groaned and rolled over in her cot before the realization that she had overslept woke her straight away. Why hadn’t anyone woken her up? The tent was empty and she figured they were all out gathering food or water or whatever it was they did. She never bothered to ask. Groggily, she made her way to the opening of the tent, steeling herself for the chewing out she was going to get for sleeping past sunrise.

As she made her way through the camp, it began to dawn on her that something was amiss. Where was everybody? Normally, she couldn’t walk ten feet without banging into someone, but the place was empty. Were they still at breakfast? If she’d missed breakfast, she was going to be extra pissed.

She poked her head into the other girl’s tent directly across from her group, but it was empty. Usually there would be at least one of the girls taking the day off after complaining of aches and pains. She never did. Millie couldn’t stand the idea that these fake soldiers might consider her weak. The cots were undisturbed, as though no one had slept in them and the girls’ belongings were stacked neatly beneath and on top of each bed. They must still be at breakfast, she told herself. Where else would they be?

The “banquet” tent as it was called was easy to spot. It was the only white one in the camp and they had put it near the street that ran in front of the shopping center. This made it easier to get food and supplies in without having to carry them. She wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, but the general did seem to have a knack for organization.

On her way to that side of the camp, she passed the general’s trailer. Strangely, there were no guards standing outside his door. They were almost always there. She could see white fragments of the banquet tent appearing and disappearing as she walked towards it through the maze of the camp. As she drew nearer, she expected to see a line of people waiting outside to file past the breakfast line, but it was gone. Shit. She’d missed breakfast. Shit.

She hoped there might still be some food left so she went inside to check, but to her surprise, the interior of this tent was just as empty as all the rest. The mess from last night’s dinner had been cleared away and there should still have been people in here cleaning or eating, but there was no one.

Panic was slowly building in her chest, making her heart beat harder and faster than was comfortable. Her hands started shaking and her knees felt weak. Where else could she look? She knew the answer, but it didn’t make her feel any better. With a growing sense of dread she made her way to the back of the shopping center, knowing all too well what she might find in the field there.

They’d done it before. A few towns back when supplies ran low. Since then it had become the standard operating procedure. “Martial Law” is what the general called it, but she called it barbaric. They had taken the prisoners, some of whom had actually hurt people, but others who had done nothing so violent, though Millie knew not what. Probably stolen something. They had lined them up as the general talked about sacrifice and justice. Then, they had been shot by a firing squad.

When the shots came, Millie couldn’t hear them of course, but the sight of the bodies dropping made her queasy. A lot of the girls threw up, but Millie was thankful she had not. She understood the need for this on an intellectual level. Times were tough. Maybe this was even a war. It wasn’t even that she necessarily disagreed with what the general said, but seeing it in practice was a different matter altogether. Since that day she had tried not to think about it, but it was all coming up to the surface with a vengeance. The closer she got to the edge of the buildings, the more she wanted to turn back. If she weren’t deaf, she might be able to hear them from here. The speech. The shots. But she would be granted no such mercy. She was going to have to see.

This end of the shopping center was bracketed by a Chinese restaurant and she reflected on the fact that she’d never eaten Chinese food. Her parents wouldn’t take her, even on her birthday when she was supposed to pick. They’d make her pick Shoney’s. Fucking Shoney’s. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

She stood near the corner and steadied herself. She had suspected they’d chosen this particular Wal-Mart because of the field behind it and now she was worried she’d been right. She peeked around the corner hoping she wouldn’t find anything and when she didn’t, a new fear arose. Seeing nothing at first, she then stepped out completely so that she had a full view of the empty field where she’d worried there were executions taking place. There was nothing and no one. She wasn’t sure which she preferred. She couldn’t think of anywhere else to look and realized the only way she could get any kind of view was to go up on the roof of Wal-Mart.

She walked towards the entrance trying to keep calm. Maybe they were having church services. But it wasn’t Sunday. Maybe they had decided to leave and nobody told her. That thought made her sadder than it should have. She didn’t really like these people, but without them, she was alone, and that idea scared her more than anything. She didn’t want to be alone. She was getting close to the glass doors of Wal-Mart and still she had seen no one. The front doors had been wedged open and as she entered, one question was answered as dozens more erupted in her mind.

There, in the middle of the store where they had pushed all the merchandise aside to make room for their little listening party, was the entire camp, lying on the floor as though they had fallen asleep. Bodies lay everywhere in a haphazard pattern, like the victims of Jonestown. Millie stumbled backwards and screamed in terror, the noise ringing in the blank space like a church bell, though she couldn’t hear it.

As the echo of her scream clambered around the big box, several people began to stir from their obviously deep sleep. For a moment, Millie was just glad that they hadn’t committed ritualistic suicide to think about anything else, but she soon realized the truth. She had seen this same blank look on the faces of everyone around her the morning after the comet was supposed to hit. Some of them were now turning those blank eyes towards her and it made her uncomfortable. How had this happened, she wondered. It struck her all at once what to do. Immediately she left the Wal-Mart and went straight to the general’s trailer. He would be a pod person now, too, she reasoned, and she would find the letter, get the guy who it belonged to, and get outta Dodge. Bounding up the stairs to his office, she threw open the door, half-expecting him to be sitting at his desk, but the room was empty. Several of the maps were gone, as well as most of the documents from his desk. She tore through the drawers, but the letter was gone, as well as the porn mag. A mirthless laugh rippled in her chest as she realized that he counted a nudie magazine among those things that he considered important enough to pack before abandoning camp.

Behind his trailer usually sat his black SUV, but it was also gone. This, in itself, wasn’t terribly unusual. The general often left the camp for long stretches as he scouted other areas or checked in on other units. Had he left before or after the rest of the camp went blank? Millie couldn’t say. It was suspicious, nonetheless. On the wall behind his desk hung a huge map of the United States. There were pins and marks dotting it at different places and she recognized two of them as being camps. The one before this was marked in addition to the one she was in at the moment. There were others all steadily leading West. If the general had fled, he had gone that direction. That was fine with Millie. She had seen enough of the eastern seaboard to know that it had fallen. It couldn’t be any worse out west, she reasoned. Besides, that’s where her brother was, as far as she knew.

Pinned to the corkboard, she found several keys. Each was labeled with a store name and the word “office”. The good thing about the scenery of their camps never changing was that she knew the routine by now. They always chose these shopping centers, not only because that’s where the pilots usually dropped the food crates, but also because they offered numerous options for corralling and holding civilians. They had used the back offices as makeshift jails on a number of occasions and she hoped that they had placed her man in one of them this time. She would need his help.

As Millie hurried towards the sporting goods store, she saw Penelope standing out front, staring up at the sky. She stopped in her tracks and watched her for a moment. Penelope’s face was turned towards the sun and her eyes were closed, letting the warm light fill her face. She seemed to be lit from within by a peace she had not previously known. Millie watched her for a moment and was glad that at least the horrible memories would no longer plague her, but her anger at the general suddenly swelled. He was still free to use and abuse people. It didn’t matter if they wouldn’t remember or not. Millie remembered. She found the back office of the storeroom locked and turned the key to open it.

Inside, Grey and Kite stood holding hands. They didn’t look happy to see her, she thought. Why don’t they understand that they’re free? She motioned for them to follow her, but they didn’t move. Millie didn’t have time for this. Frantically, she waved her arms to try and get them to follow her. Eventually, they exchanged a worried glance with each other and obeyed.

Outside, they were greeted by a strange sight. The camp, which was usually abuzz with activity, was now full of people simply standing about. Most of them didn’t even bother to look at Kite and Grey.

“What’s going on?” Kite asked, but Millie didn’t hear her. She was leading them around the shopping center and into various tents. Millie would grab a duffel bag, fill it with supplies and then hand it to one of them to carry. Confused, Kite and Grey followed her. They had no idea how this fit into their impending execution, but Millie ignored all of their questions. Every so often, she would turn to them and seem on the verge of communicating, but every time she changed her mind and simply turned back to gathering supplies.

After a while, they had filled one of the SUVs completely. They had food, maps, camping gear, and anything else they might need. Several other members of the camp had gathered at their vehicle simply because they saw something happening there. Like lemmings, they seemed to hope that Millie would tell them something. At the front of the throng was Penelope, a quizzical look on her face. Millie knew that Penelope didn’t understand what was happening and she also knew that any attempt to explain it would be pointless. Instead, she held Penelope’s shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. She hugged her tightly and made a silent promise to make the general pay. Penelope merely smiled weakly.

Millie gestured for Grey to get in the front seat. As he did so, Kite followed him. Millie tried to stop her, pointing fervently at the sidewalk, but Kite didn’t understand. Millie eventually gave up and the three of them squeezed into the big front seat of the SUV and Millie steered west. As they hit the highway, they passed a sign that said, “Thanks for visiting lovely Alexandria! Come again soon!” Millie floored it as Grey and Kite sat in silence wondering when they were going to die.

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