Defilade

by Chris Lowry

James tilted his head to one side.

  "I haven't had a cookie in years," he sighed. "I miss chocolate chips. And the Generation Suit?"

  "That what you call it?" Lt glanced down at his armor, face still hidden inside his helmet.

  He didn't want to take the chance and give one of these folks a free pot shot at him.

  "I only saw pictures from before, but that's what they were called, right?"

  "Gen One," Lt corrected. "First generation of this model. We have us a Pede back at my camp that knows how to work them."

  "Pede? Is that another nickname?"

  "Nah, his name is Doc," said Lt.

  "Pede means Ph.D," Annie explained. "An engineer, I think."

  "This one is from space," said Eli.

  James glanced at Annie.

  "An orphan from space?"

  "Something like that. I'm from the Bezos."

  The group around them, the ones who could hear at least, glanced up at the blue sky as if they could spy the giant vessel floating in orbit.

  "There is still a ship up here?" James turned his eyes from the sky to the woman in front of him.

  "Ships," she corrected.

  "Thirteen," Lt added.

  "Like the Apostles," James clasped his hands together and grinned even broader.

  "I thought there were only twelve of them," Lt asked.

  "Yes, plus Jesus," said James.

  He turned to the women arrayed on the steps behind him.

  "It's a sign," he said. "It's what we've been praying for."

  He rushed past Lt and Annie and grabbed Eli by the arm.

  "Did you tell them? Is that why you brought them here?"

  Lt and Annie exchanged a glance.

  "He's good at finding things," said Eli. "He found the Suit. He found the Space men."

  "Woman," Annie corrected.

  "Spacewoman," Eli offered a tight grin in apology, the hardness of his eye flickering for a moment as a pain crossed his face.

  "Do you think he can? They can?" James asked.

  Eli shrugged.

  "It won't hurt to ask."

  "Look," Lt said. "We're in sort of a hurry, so if you could just get down to it, we can make our statement and get going. We ain't just out for a walk in the fucking woods."

  James ignored the gasp from the people around them.

  "I suppose you're not," he said. "We're going to feed you. We should do that much, at least, though it's not much. It is fresh, though, and well prepared. And we'll explain while we eat."

  "You hungry?" Lt asked Annie.

  "I could eat," she nodded.

  "Clean water. Food that ain't grown in your own shit. I hope this don't spoil you too much, Warbucks."

  "We'll eat in my home," said Jim.

  He made a motion with his hand and three of the women on the steps disappeared inside.

  "Eli, can you keep them entertained while I go pray?"

  "You could just tell us what the what is," said Lt. "Save the prayers for after you have an answer."

  James smiled and clapped his hands.

  "No, I need to pray on the before and after," he said.

  He too went inside the Church. Lt turned to Eli, who cradled the rifle in the crook of his arm and waved them to follow.

  "He think we're the answer to his prayers or something?"

  Eli stopped and took a deep breath through his nose. His hard eyes flashed.

  "We hope you are."

  CHAPTER TEN

  Brother James sat at the head of a long oak plank table set across three sawhorses. Wooden chairs of mismatched patterns were lined around the wood, space for James and the other men from the camp.

  Annie couldn't help but notice she was the only woman at the table. The only other women in the Church served the food, poured clear water into glasses and withdrew to the walls to wait.

  And listen, she noted. They were listening.

  Eli was there, along with the man who was with him when they were captured at the bridge.

  She knew technically that she was the one who was captured, that Lt in his armor just came along for the ride so she wouldn't get shot or hurt.

  She also noticed he was nice enough not to say anything about it yet, but she was sure it would come up.

  It was just his way.

  There were four others besides Eli and the other man. They stared at her with a mix of open admiration and trepidation, as if she was a ghost from the past visited upon them by their sins or omissions.

  Annie supposed she must seem like a ghost to them, a relic of the past.

  "This looks good," Lt said. "Let's tuck in."

  He grabbed a plate and began to pile roasted vegetables on it. There was no meat, no bread, just what they could grow in the crops around the building.

  But as promised, it was fresh. Okra. Squash. Cucumbers. Tomatoes. Beans.

  "We pray first," Jim said.

  "Don't let me stop you," Lt said as he plopped a helping of beans on the corner of his plate. "Put in a good word for me."

  "You won't pray with us?"

  Lt stopped with four slices of tomato speared on the end of his fork frozen in the air.

  "Nah, I won't do that."

  He dropped them on his plate and went back for sliced cucumber.

  "Put one of these in your water glass," he told Annie. "Won't taste like piss, but you'll like it anyway."

  "That joke's getting old," she said and popped a slice in her water anyway.

  "Don't you believe in our Lord the Savior," James persisted.

  Lt stared at his plate like a man who had tried to avoid a conversation, one that had arrived despite his hope that it wouldn't.

  "Look Reverend Jim, I went to church before all this started. I noticed a lot of folks had a take it or leave it attitude and I suppose I may have had one of them myself. But if you think God created the Universe-"

  "He did. He created the world and all that is in it."

  "See there, that's where I got a problem with it," said Lt. "Cause if you think that, if that is true, then God made man, and he made the Lick. And if God made the Lick, then I got no use for him."

  He waited to see if James or any of the others would respond, but they kept quiet. Lt sliced one of the tomatoes and popped it in his mouth with joy.

  "I got to tell you, we been eating mostly squirrel when we get to eat on patrol. This here tastes like a little slice of paradise, if you don't mind me saying that."

  "I'm glad you enjoy it," said James. "Do you mind if we pray?"

  "It's your house, Reverend Jim. I don't care if you pray, or whatever you want to do, so long as it don't interfere with what I want to do."

  "Which is nothing," said Eli.

  He looked neither bothered nor disturbed by Lt's lack of religion. He waited with his head bowed, eyes open as James offered up thanks for their bounty.

  Then the others began to prepare their plates from the assorted dishes on the table.

  "Do you think we had that same attitude in other wars before the aliens came?" James asked Lt.

  "What? That God made the Muslim, so we should just accept it?"

  "Yes," said James.

  He picked at the food on his plate but didn't eat any.

  Annie sat beside Lt and kept popping small bites into her mouth.

  She had a ton of vegetables grown in space, but Lt was right. They tasted slightly different. Less flavor than food grown in earth soil.

  "Ain't got a problem with Muslims," said Lt as he finished the food on his plate and pushed it away from him. "Ain't got a problem with the couple of billion humans that were born and died before the Jews started talking about God, and the Church took it over two thousand years later and added Odin to it. Ain't got a problem with the godless Chinese, or the Africans or hell, anyone or anything that don’t think or believe the way I do."

  Lt's eyes flashed as he pointed at Jim.

  "But I do have a problem with the Licks. I got a big damn problem with them.
And if you traffic with them, then I've got a problem with you."

  James sat back in his seat.

  "I do not," he said. "I do not traffic with the aliens, as you put it. But I do believe God has a plan. And if I believe that, which I do, then they are a part of it."

  Lt opened his mouth to respond, but James held up a hand to forestall him.

  "I may believe," he said. "It does not mean I enjoy, or do not wish it otherwise."

  Lt closed his mouth and grunted.

  "You know what Reverend Jim, I'm an asshole. I'm sorry bout that. I shouldn't have been snapping at you like that, and after you invited us to the dinner table. I'm a poor guest, and I apologize. Long as you hate the Licks, we should get along fine."

  James shook his head and grinned.

  "My prayers are tough to reconcile with our current reality sometimes," he confessed. "But I am blessed."

  "But you got a problem," Lt said as he let his eyes lock onto Eli's flint colored orbs before turning back to James.

  "Yes."

  "Then why don't you tell us what you want found, and why you think we can do it."

  James turned his gaze on the wall.

  "We're simple farmers," he stated. "As you can tell, we don't have much. God has blessed us."

  There were murmurs of Amen and agreements from the men at the table and the women against the wall.

  "But?"

  James smiled as he looked at the ceiling.

  "But we have an issue and we need your help."

  "Lost something?" Lt asked.

  He picked up the glass of water and swirled it around.

  "Is that armor comfortable?" Eli asked.

  "Honest?"

  "Is there any other way?"

  "Yeah, it's like a fucking second skin, Abe. Doc said the nano injections, little robots in my bloodstream, talk to the computers inside the suit."

  "You're a cyborg?" James asked.

  "I don't think so."

  "But robots are in your bloodstream."

  "Micro-robots," Lt held up his fingers and held his thumb and forefinger a hair's width apart. "And I don't feel them at all."

  "I remember reading about the technology," said James. "Fascinating. And now it's back when we have no technology left."

  "Except a space ship," Eli said as he glanced at Annie. "According to her."

  "First of all," said Annie. "We don't have a space ship. We have a lander. And the only we who have a lander is me."

  "Beg pardon," said Eli. "I only meant that humans had it back. Courtesy of you."

  She lowered her head in a nod, not quite an agreement, but an acknowledgement.

  "Two pieces of the past in our lives in the same day," James said. "It is as if our prayers have been answered."

  "What were you praying for?" Lt asked.

  "A miracle," James and Eli said at the same time.

  "I ain't that," Lt sniffed. "So why don't you tell me what you're wanting and let's see if we can help you out."

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  "I want you to kill someone," said James.

  Lt squinted at him across the table.

  Sunlight filtered through a stained glass window over the raised alter, casting rainbow hues across the floor that inched toward them.

  The table had several thick and uneven looking candles resting on plates, mounds of wax bunched on the bottom like glue.

  Windows along the way let in light, enough that most of the room was illuminated, but the way James sat in the chair at the head of the table, his face was cast in shadow.

  Lt glanced at Eli, then at the women against the wall.

  "They in this room?" he asked.

  He shifted the blaster out of his lap where it rested and rested it against the edge of the table.

  "No, no," James said and leaned forward, moving his thin face into the light.

  Lt noted he wore a look of sadness, a look of guilt, and the words that tumbled from the man's mouth a moment later confirmed he did not ask an easy request.

  "I wish I didn't have to ask," said James. "I've even asked some of the men here to do it."

  Lt nodded toward Eli.

  "He looks like he could kill any man you wanted. Have him do it."

  "I can't," said Eli and studied his hands which rested in his lap.

  "You were ready to kill us."

  Eli shrugged, but didn't look up.

  "The gun was empty."

  "All of our guns are empty," said James.

  "Who is it?"

  James reached up, grabbed a glass and took a sip of water.

  He glanced at the wall and the women lined against it.

  "My brother," he squeaked.

  "You want me to kill your brother?" Lt grunted.

  James nodded.

  "You got a reason for this, or is this just some Cain and Abel shit?"

  "He's killing us," said James. "He's destroying our community."

  "I'm gonna need to know the how of it," said Lt. "See, I've got a mission of my own, and I appreciate the food, and hospitality. And I know Warbucks sure did enjoy clean water for a change, but you ain't convinced me yet that you need me. That you need my help. What you need is a bullet."

  He stared at Eli for a moment.

  "And a backbone."

  Eli sighed, raised his hard eyes to stare into Lt's blue pupils.

  "He's my son," the man answered.

  "This your dad?" Lt asked James.

  "My brother's father-in-law."

  "Look," Lt pushed back from the table and stood up. "I'm a simple man. I like things black and white, not this gray shit. I kill Licks. I kill humans who turned bandit or collaborate with the enemy. I'm not an assassin to go popping off a runaway kid."

  "He killed my daughter," Eli groaned.

  "And her child," James stuttered. "And others in the group. Eight so far. Five women and three children."

  "He's killing all these people, and you ain't tried to kill him back."

  "We would," Eli's groan turned to a growl.

  "Then what's the problem?"

  "We can't find him."

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Murder.

  They wanted him to murder someone.

  A person.

  A human.

  He had killed before. Killing didn't bother him. There were just some humans who were just like Licks.

  Better off dead.

  But murder? He couldn't recall having had done that before.

  “Are you going to do it?” Annie asked.

  He stared at the wiry haired girl he had first seen come out of the woods and watched her watch him from the gardens.

  “I think they're asking a lot,” he said.

  “You don't think you can do it?”

  “No, that's not the question. I'm quite capable. I'm just trying to decide if it's worth it.”

  They set together for a few moments, letting the sounds of the space surround them.

  Soft voices murmuring as people worked the crops, the thwack of hoes in dirt, and somewhere to the right, to the side of the Church, the laughter of children at play.

  “Let me tell you a little something about me,” he said without looking at her.

  “I'm going to do something I don't normally do and that's give you a little insight into my psyche. Like I said I'm a simple man, there's not much to me. But before the aliens came, I had a wife. I had a little girl. And then the Licks showed up took out all of our medicine, all of our technology our infrastructure, everything. So, when they get sick the Licks took everything away that could make them better. That's why I kill him. That's why I'm going to kill every last one of them son of a bitches. But I got me a little gray area when it comes to morals. I don't have a problem killing Licks. I don't have a problem killing bandits. Collaborators, no problem. Turns out when I'm thinking about it, I won't lose any sleep killing a man that killed his wife and kid. Won't bother me a bit. You can make of that what you will.”