The Son of Man

by CW Johnson

  Tacoma looked around them, quietly turned and disappeared back into the brush.

  “Where ya’ goin’?” Todd shouted as loud as he dared. “Tacoma, where’d you go?” He stood looking out into the night. “Tacoma?”

  No one answered.

  "Well, if that don't shake the rag,” he said, still staring out into the night. He shook his head, turned, and carefully made his way back towards the brush. “That’s it?” he said over his shoulder into the darkness. “One little fence and you do the quick step on me? Thanks compadre, for all the help.”

  He spotted a moonlit rock and sat down. He listened to the crickets chirping amidst the hush of nearby trees being gently pushed around by the warm evening breeze. The wail of a far-off cat rose and fell. A dog barked repeatedly in the distance.

  “Think,” he said out loud. “How do I get around this fence?” He found a chew-stick, pushed it into his mouth and began chewing.

  Tacoma’s sudden unexpected departure had left him feeling strangely vulnerable. He had been completely open to Tacoma’s directions…without question. Tacoma had insisted they were traveling in the right direction. But now, Todd wasn’t even sure where he was, or for that matter, where he had to go. “Take control, dammit,” he said out loud. “Tacoma said Vanderbilt was on the other side of this fence. All I need to do is get on the other side of the fence. How hard could that be? There has to be an entrance to the freeway somewhere… Maybe I should walk along the fence. Sooner or later, I’m bound to run into some sort of opening.”

  “Tacoma!” he barked one more time. He sat listening for a response.

  Nothing.

  “A goodbye would’ve been nice,” he told the wind. “See you later, kiss my butt… something.” Finally, he stood and looked around himself, walked to the fence and tried to pull the bottom out enough to allow him to crawl under. It was no use. The fence was pulled too tight.

  He decided to try to follow the fence and see where it led. A sound just in front of him and slightly to the right stopped him mid-step. He glanced around for something, anything he could use as a weapon. Another noise made him duck into the brush but it was too late. A dark figure, silhouetted against the moonlit sky, moved from the brush and was now towering over him as he crouched in the grass.

  Todd yelped. The shadowy figure jumped back, brandishing a board. Todd threw his arms over his head, anticipating a crushing blow.

  “When we get out of here, bro,” Tacoma said, stepping around Todd, “you should consider some serious cowsling.” He moved back up the embankment toward the fence.

  Todd lay in the grass, his heart pounding. “You scared the hell out of me!” he yelled, finally catching his breath.

  “You scared me too, man!” Tacoma yelled back. “Look, I brought a board for us to use—“

  “Shut up!” a crusty voice blared from somewhere in the thicket.

  Tacoma ducked and moved back towards Todd. “Who was that?” he whispered.

  “Who’s there?” Todd hollered.

  “Somebody who’s gonna’ git killed, if you two don’t shut up!” the raspy voice answered. The thicket fell silent for a moment. “Is that you Tacoma?” the voice asked finally.

  Tacoma looked at Todd and back out towards the dark brush. “Who’s that,” he said cautiously, “who’s askin?”

  “It’s me, Paisley.”

  “Paisley, how did you get here?” Tacoma said as a figure appeared from behind a bush.

  “Same way you did I’m thinking.” Paisley gradually made his way towards Todd and Tacoma.

  “How long have you been there?” Tacoma said.

  Paisley snorted. “Long enough.”

  Todd recognized him as one of the inmates at the prison.

  “Ain’t you Hector’s fish?” Paisley said, looking at Todd.

  Tacoma pointed at his own face. “You might’ wan’ be careful.”

  Paisley frowned when he saw Tacoma’s recently broken nose. He looked at Tacoma for a moment, then at Todd, then back at Tacoma. “He do that?” he said cocking his head towards Todd.

  Tacoma shrugged and nodded.

  “Well there ya go,” Paisley said, grinning. “It’s always the quiet ones.”

  “What are you doing here, bro?” Tacoma asked again.

  “I got let out, same as you,” Paisley said, sitting down next to Todd. “Me, Talbot and Bill Pandit took out towards the city just like most the boys. We got to the freeway and found all the cars sittin’ in their tracks, all lined up for miles in all directions…and not a soul around. It was damn scary I tell ya. It’s like the world just come to an end…Not a soul in sight. Anyways, we got to the other side and ran head on into the National Guard armory of all places. I guess they had to protect their guns or something cause right off, they start shootin. Then these dogs come a runnin after us. Talbot and Bill Pandit run off one way and I went the other. I made it here. I don’t know if they made it or not. The dogs didn’t come after me so I figured they musta’ took out after them.”

  Paisley pushed his feet out in front of him, leaned back on his elbows and continued. “The way I’m seein’ it, we need to stay right where we’re at till daylight. If we don’t move around, or make a lot of noise, nobody’s gonna’ bother us. It’s when you come up on em out of the dark, it freaks em out I’m thinkin.”

  Paisley turned and quickly looked Todd over. “You didn’t git out with the rest of us, did ya?”

  Todd glanced back at him and turned his eyes away. “No.”

  “They let you boys out after us so’s there wouldn’t be too many of us out here at one time, that’s what I’m thinkin’.”

  Todd looked at the ground and shook his head. “No,” he said softly, “that’s not it.”

  Paisley stared at Todd. “What ya mean?”

  Todd stood. “I gotta get out of here. I have to get to Vanderbilt.”

  “Vanderbilt? The school? …Why?”

  Todd turned, and began making his way back towards the fence.

  “Why’s he gotta’ go to Vanderbilt?” Paisley asked Tacoma.

  “I don’t know, bro,” Tacoma said. He turned to face Todd. “Hey essey, why are we going to Vanderbilt?”

  “I gotta meet somebody there,” Todd said as he moved away.

  “Whoever it is, ain’t there now, I’m thinkin,” Paisley said, scratching his bald head. “Nothin’s the same as it was.”

  Todd continued moving up the embankment.

  Tacoma ran up behind. “Here, that’s why I got this board, bro.” He moved to the fence and quickly lay face up on the ground, his head facing the fence. He laid the two-by-four horizontally over his body and pushed the top end under the fence. After considerable effort, he was able to wiggle himself under the chain link using the two-by-four as a shield. He stood up on the other side, brushed himself off and pushed the board back under the fence for Todd.

  Todd glanced at Tacoma’s bleeding knuckles. “That looks painful.”

  “It hurs’, but it works, bro,” Tacoma said, still brushing himself off.

  Todd lay down, positioned the two-by-four over his body and pushed the board under the fence. “Like this?”

  “Yeah, bro, like that,” Tacoma said. “Now jis’ push yourself through, under the board.”

  “Ouch!” Todd yelped, as the board pressed against his face.

  “No essey,” Tacoma said, laughing. “Turn your head, man.”

  “This is messed up,” Todd grunted, struggling to get under the jagged chain-link. “This is painful.”

  “Keep going, bro,” Tacoma said. “You’ll be out very fast.”

  Todd stopped to catch his breath. “I think my shirt is caught on the fence. I have to pull back out and try again.”

  Paisley stepped up to the fence. “You want me to pull on yer legs?”

  Uh, yeah, I s’pose, but not too hard.”

  Paisley reached down, took hold of Todd’s legs and gave them a pull.

  “Easy, easy!” Todd yelp
ed, turning his head to keep the chain-link from pulling his nose off. “Let me do this myself.”

  Paisley backed off and stood back watching.

  Todd finally managed to get out from under the fence. He stood for a moment, brushing himself off. “Is my nose bleeding?” he asked Paisley.

  “Don’t think so. Can’t really tell…too dark.”

  “What did you all do to get under the fence?” Todd said.

  Paisley frowned and shook his head. “Oh us? We went through the hole.”

  “What hole?” Tacoma yelled.

  Paisley pointed south. “That hole. It’s about fifty feet that a way I’m thinkin.”

  “Tu eres una persona tan mensa!” Tacoma hollered. “Why didn’t you say to us this before?”

  Paisley shrugged.

  Todd, still brushing himself off, glared at Paisley.

  “What?” Paisley asked.

  “Where’s the hole?” Todd demanded.

  Paisley grunted at Todd indignantly and gestured down the fence. “Just go that-a-way,” he said. “No need to get motional.”

  Todd left paisley and moved down the fence until he found the gaping hole. He easily stepped through and was on the other side.

  “Aren’t you coming with us, bro?” Tacoma said, looking back at Paisley.

  “No, I’m stickin’,” Paisley hollered back.

  “Ok, bro, if that’s what you say,” Tacoma said over his shoulder as he and Todd made their way up the steep incline. They stopped when they reached the waist-high concrete embankment bordering the freeway.

  Paisley was right… Highway 24, a six-lane freeway, was now gorged with haphazardly abandoned automobiles pressed against one another as far as could be seen in both directions.

  Tacoma and Todd exchanged glances. “Iss so quiet,” Tacoma said. “Iss weird. Where are all the lights?”

  “That night the rocket blew up in Florida,” Todd said, “everybody just walked off their jobs and went home. I figure that’s what happened here. There ain’t any lights cause nobody is at the power plant.”

  Tacoma shook his head. “How could it be like this already, bro? The Presidente made his speech only this morning. All this has happened just since this morning, bro.”

  “Everybody’s flipped out,” Todd said. “They all know if they don’t get out of here now they won’t be able to later…Once everyone hits the coasts. There just ain’t enough ships and planes in the world to get everyone out, not even close.”

  “So, what does that mean, bro? Are we jus’ gonna die?”

  Todd turned to look at Tacoma. “Yeah, we’re gonna’ die. I thought you knew.”

  Tacoma stared back.

  Todd thought of Maria, how she had reacted that night. “I gotta get over there,” he said, pulling himself to the top of the concrete embankment. He stepped into an open car window and onto its roof. Tacoma followed. They made the short leap to the roof of another car and to the hood of an abandoned eighteen-wheeler. They looked out across the freeway and quickly ducked down. Paisley had been right again. The brightly lit National Guard armory lay just beyond the freeway.

  “We can’t go that way,” Todd said. “We’ll have to double back somehow.”

  “Where did they get all those lights, bro? Everywhere else iss dark.”

  “They must have a generator,” Todd said, silently sliding off the hood of the semi.

  Tacoma joined him and they quickly made their way back. By the time they reached the fence, Paisley was gone. They moved back into the brush and found the railroad tracks overlooking the airport.

  “Which way now?” Todd said. “It feels like we’re moving in circles.”

  “I think we are essey.” Tacoma pointed west. “Tha’ way, bro, we gotta’ go tha’ way.” He turned and began following the railroad tracks. Todd fell in close behind.

  The sounds of the barking airport dogs soon faded into the distance as they made their way into the dark night. As they moved through the trees bordering the tracks, Todd thought about the day he and Maria had spent on the Cumberland. He wondered if he’d ever see that beautiful smile again. She would be over eight months pregnant now. How was she holding up? He wondered if she ever thought of him.

  He looked up into the glowing full moon and imagined Maria doing the same. “Tell her not to worry old moon,” he said softly. “Tell her I love her enough for the both of us and not to be afraid.

  “Tell her I’ll find her, even if it takes me forever.”

  ~~~

  Maria sat looking out the window onto a parking lot surrounding a sprawling apartment complex. “Where are we?”

  “This is where we’ve been living,” Michael said.

  Maria turned back towards Michael. “Why did you allow it to go that far? I’ve never been so terrified in my life.” She was sitting in the back seat of Santana’s limo.

  “I’m sorry, Little Miss,” Michael said from the extended port-side seat. “It had to play itself out. It was necessary for those men to complete their atrocity. Their special place in Hell is awaiting them.”

  “There is such a place?”

  “Oh yes, more horrible than anyone can imagine.”

  “If there is such a place as Hell then—”

  “There’s a heaven,” Michael said quietly.

  Maria was silent for a time before speaking. “So it’s true then? It’s all true about the baby?”

  “Yes,” Brother Michael said, smiling. “Your son is the only begotten of the Father. He will be the greatest man who ever lived.”

  “I thought he already was…when he was…you know, Jesus.”

  “This time, he will fulfill his destiny. This time, his life will be even greater.”

  ~~~

  Barney looked at Mallory and whispered. “Who is this broad?”

  “She must be important,” Mallory said.

  Barney and Mallory had been sitting at one end of the limo for an hour, watching Brother Michael gush over this pregnant girl.

  “Look at that,” Barney said, trying not to be heard. “He’s holding both her hands like she’s some kinda’ queen or something. Look at the way he’s looking at her. I think he’s in love.”

  Michael looked their way. “Shhh.” Mallory whispered.

  ~~~

  “Look at that moon,” Maria said staring out of the limo window. “It’s hard to believe the world is about to end.” She looked at Michael and leaned forward slightly. “Or is it?”

  Michael smiled. “I can’t understand how the Father could allow such a thing to happen now, but he hasn’t revealed these things to me, at least, not yet.”

  Maria sat back slowly and looked out at the moon. “Any chance that…has the Father told you where my husband is?”

  “No,” Michael said softly.

  “Is he…alive?”

  “I don’t know, Miss, but I do know we can’t wait for him. We must go now.”

  A tear slipped down Maria’s cheek. “He’ll look for me. If he’s alive he’ll look for me.”

  “Yes I know, but we must think of the baby. I have… acquired a jumbo jet. We can leave now, but I don’t know for how long.”

  “Do we have to leave tonight? Can’t we wait a little longer? Maybe Todd will—”

  “It won’t be good if people find out about the plane,” Michael said. “Everyone wants to leave. If they see the plane, they’ll try overtaking us and take it by force.”

  Maria wiped tears from her eyes. “With you around, I’d like to see them try.”

  “I only do as the Father instructs me. I have no strength of my own.”

  Maria began crying. “I’m so confused. I know my baby is supposed to be born in Omaha, Nebraska, I just know it. And I know we are supposed to be a family, me, my baby and…Todd…Todd—”

  “It just can’t be, Little Miss. Maybe there’s an explanation. Maybe the Father was warning you not to go to Nebraska knowing it would be the point of impact. Our finite minds can so easily be confused.�
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  “I suppose you’re right,” she said, looking out the window at the moon.

  Brother Michael signaled Barney, who turned and rapped on the driver window. The window immediately went down.

  “Yes, Brother Michael?” Pete said.

  “Try to get us to the plane.”

  “Ok, Brother Michael.”

  The window went up and the big car silently began moving out of the parking lot.

  ~~~

  “El es un menso!” Tacoma growled. He and Todd had stumbled into a moonlit clearing. Stretching out before them was a mammoth railroad yard with acres of tracks lined up side by side. Countless rows and clumps of darkened old railroad cars littered the yard like monstrous scattered toys. The two men silently moved through the ghostly train cars, finally re-emerging fifteen minutes later on the other end of the yard.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Todd said.

  “I think iss that stupid Army place again, essey.”

  “We have to be traveling in circles,” Todd said, getting irritated. “How are we gonna get out of here?”

  “We should keep going, bro. Maybe we’ll find a road before we get to the Armory.”

  “I hope so,” Todd said. “We’ll never get to Vanderbilt at this rate.”

  They looked for a promising set of tracks and began working their way west towards the armory. The light of the moon glistened off the worn rails winding out ahead of them before disappearing into the distant shadowed forest. A quarter mile up the tracks Tacoma stopped “Look, essey, there’s a road.”

  “Good,” Todd said. “Which way do we go now?”

  “Wes’, always wes’,” Tacoma said over his shoulder.

  After some time, the two men reached the moonlit road. They left the tracks and moved west till they found a road sign that read: 'Armory Drive.'

  “Damn it,” Todd groaned. “We’ll never get away from that Armory.”

  Tacoma was making his way further up the road and had stopped to wait for Todd to catch up. “Look at that, bro,” he said as Todd moved up towards him.

  Todd looked up the road in the direction he was pointing. “Oh come on, that’s that freeway again!”

  “No,” Tacoma said. “Tha’s a freeway, but iss a different one. Tha’s Highway 65 and wes’ bend is right ower there! We’re almost there, bro!”

  ~~~

  “We can’t move on this road,” Pete said from the driver’s seat of the limo. “All these parked cars are blocking the way.”