((OOC:
Boogie Nights))
On Interstate 10, in the minivan, the Liberation Front marches on, not a single quitter among them.
It just all happened so fast, is what Lucy says.
What? asks August.
In less than two months, Raul cuts in from the passengers seat, every precedent of the western legal system has been overruled. The bill of rights went out the window. We went from peaceful happy lives to, he gestures around the van, Stolen minivans.
The triumvirate went into place just as fast, says The Sandman, he is a professor of ancient civilizations and although his specialty is Egyptology he is not unfamiliar with blatant power grabs, The same sort of high powered reactionary thing; it happens like the Reichstag burning, overnight.
The Romans didnt have the internet or broadcast television, points out Lucy.
And we do? asks Raul, with a laugh. There arent even cars on this interstate anymore, only the occasional trailer hauling military supplies or foodstuffs, everything is locked down completely.
Enormous, metallic Ricky laughs, The Romans were still more than a few steps behind us, they didnt have any guns.
Fair enough.
There are tanks on the interstate, they discover, turning a corner. Army tanks, deployed around here to look for dirty no good mutants.
Raul curses, after a minute so does August.
There are three tanks, probably two dozen troops between them. Raul smiles, patrols, its not funny, but he laughs at how quickly it all turns around, tanks on the interstate.
Poor schmucks.
The lead tank turns into motor oil, a lot of motor oil, like, the amount of motor oil that is equivalent to the mass of an Abrams M1A2 Tank, which is to say a great deal of motor oil. Shots are fired, and Alice swerves the van off the road. But the tanks cannot advance into the oil slick, the soldiers slip and slide in it.
The van flips, the quickness of the turn and the distribution of weight make it inevitable, bodies flip and twist involuntarily, it is clear who had the foresight to buckle up.
Ricky didnt. He is thrown out the top of the van as soon as the right side hits the ground.
Raul did, and when the van is done sliding he shouts out, Its not over yet, and turns the windshield to water, watching it splash away. Firing pins, one at a time, he ducks out from the cover and turns them to graphite.
Ricky launches himself over the van and into the crowd, grabbing the main cannon of the second tank and bending it with his cybernetic arms.
As the last tank finally points its cannon at the overturned van Alice disables it with a high voltage electric bolt before ducking back down out the drivers side window.
The soldiers are still there though, and even if the guns dont work they intend to make trouble, they charge at the van.
And suddenly all fall asleep in the street.
Raul does a doublecheck, he did not think that Simon had been buckled in, and in fact the Sandman is still unconscious in the wrecked van.
Out of the swamp a man in loose overalls, an ancient rifle slung over his shoulder, emerges saying, Good work poppy.
Raul approaches the man, Who are you?
Better question is who are you? Messin up them Fedrals like that.
We are some of the most wanted men in the country right now, our reputation usually precedes us, Raul says, They call me the Alchemist, this is my Liberation Front. Although I assumed I would have heard about such a strong militant mutant group in Louisiana before I got here, my question stands.
Well, overalls spits into the swamp, Strictly speakin we aint a mutant organization. Strictly speakin we aint militant neither. Poppy here has the gift, and he points to another figure, a darker phenotype whos ragged clothing could only be described as heirlooms at this historical juncture, But we dont all. We just steer clear of em Fedrals. Dont seem to be your friends neither though, so I reckon Teddy wouldnt hold with me bein so rude that I dinna invite yall to a proper introduction. Hell, this here is America.
Were all Freedom Fighters at heart.
Im pretty sure the Federals are tracking us though, they might know how to find us, I wouldnt want to put you in danger.
Overalls laughs, I like you. You know, I think Teddys gonna like you a lot. Dont you worry bout none of that, with your van all messed up like that, just follow me.
Simon and August are getting up out of the wreck with the help of Lucy, who had been buckled in. Simon rubs his head as Ricky pulls him up over his shoulder.
Yeah, Teddy would just never let me hear the end of it if I went around bein that rude. Yall are busted up, you need a hand.
He helps August to his feet although August is a little stunned and jumps back before standing on his own feet.
Lets go then, Raul says, turning the rest of the car into water, leaving no trail.
-
At the edge of the encampment, Lucy and August begin trading worried looks. Nothing more than that though, they feel stuck inside their own heads, it scares them a little.
Overalls, his name is Wayne or so he claimed, greeting all of the guards and bouncers with the same hearty hello.
At the center of the camp there is a large log cabin with many rooms and many occupants, smaller cabins encircle it as though it were a migratory Great Plains encampment built in the model of the Anglo settlers. A tall campfire sits at the middle and a sturdy tent sits over a small bandstand with an organ. Every detail has been constructed with the utmost concern for long term stability, and then it had all come shut, cut off from the rest of America on purpose.
It is clear who Teddy is, Teddy is at the center of it all, You know, he says before they even have been properly introduced, Kuklos is a Greek word that means Circle. Seven generations ago my ancestors formed their Kukulos Klan, their circle of brothers right here, and we were abolitionists, helpin to free our fellow men.
Well, one of the cousins, Forrest or someother, gets out of here, goes to fight for some Confederate army. Well, my predecessor, Grand Warlock Thurgood, he said to that boy, Look, even ifn they were to win some war, wouldnt make no Fedrals go away. Just bring Fedrals comin from Richmond, I dont care what color the damn suit is. Is what he said.
The man is grotesque, pockmarks all over his face, deep scars from some untreated jungle ailment. Copper orange hair, not quite an albino, he wears long robes and his eyes seem clouded as if by cartaracts or, again, perhaps owing to a lack of proper treatment of some disease.
Well, Forrest he wasnt a good listener. Went and took our circle of brotherhood outside this swamp when his war was over, turned it into something truly horrible and hateful. Now, Raul, my friends, I think that we can all understand what it is to see something beautiful and free and compassionate be corrupted.
But do not lose hope.
Who are you? Raul asks, befuddled.
He smiles, Call me Teddy, I am the Grand Warlock of this Circle of Brothers. I keep this place safe, he looks at August and Lucy, That means that it is a no peeking zone for you two. But also, we should be safe from this
. Agatha
apparition. And any electronic surveillances they might try.
How do you know all of that? Alice asks.
He laughs, You have only had the gift for a single generation! Do not expect to be better practiced than we are, those of us who are gifted, we were taught by our parents to use our gifts, to work alongside our brothers.
I sense good in you. Your intentions can benefit to others, perhaps tonight, we shall offer you di-rection.
-
There was moonshine in the evening, after they had been shown the farming techniques that a telekinetic could employ, and the animal husbandry techniques that the Warlocks of Teddys line had perfected with their psychic prowess. Healing mutants, there were mutants here who could heal on a touch and they had attended to Simon and looked over everyones wounds.
The natives seemed to like the place, they called it their Eden. And then, at night, moonshine and cigarettes, Teddy came up to Raul.
You need to relax.
Raul does not trust this man; he is much too powerful to trust, What do you know about what I need to do?
Go in Peace, brother, serve the Lord.
Rauls jaw drops, What?
But remember, Jesus did ask us to refrain from violence while building his kingdom. You have been straying from what you know is right.
They look off into the bonfire, sip their moonshine.
After a few minutes Teddy says, I reckon that its because youve been in a panic, too much of a rush to think things out. But we cant be having whats going on now, there has to be a more
delicate method, dont you agree?
Something less sloppy?
Raul is quiet until he finally says, Whats the point of me even saying anything to you?
Id appreciate if you helped me understand you. You are a powerful figure, I think you have potential, I want to help you shape this nation. But Raul, you need help, look at what its like out there.
What can you do for me?
We have more in common than you think, out of the robes the Grand Warlock fishes out a crucifix.
Catholic clansmen? Raul laughs.
Teddy laughs right back, Ole Forrest messed our message straight up.
Teddy points at his eyes, We have healing mutants, do you wonder about these?
What is it?
Teddy shrugs.
Why havent they fixed it yet.
It is a test, Teddy says, Sent from God.
What?
Do you know what it is to know the mind of a virus? To see its thoughts and understandings as clearly as I see yours now? Do you know what it is to negotiate with such a being? It will give you a lot of respect for
life.
Here, Teddy says to him, pulling him aside, I want to show you something.
Agatha banished from this place, it was a pleasant little Eden. August and Lucy mingled awkwardly, short of their mind reading crutches that had gotten them through so many conversations. Children climb up Rickys mountainous form; Alice and Simon also make friends quickly and can be seen being dragged to and fro by various close knit cliques who competed for their attention.
Here, Teddy says, showing Raul a vat, and taking a dropper out and pulling some up, My pappy, well, he met some of those hippies a whiles back. Shame the reputation those people have, good Americans them, true to the spirit. He obtained a certain chemical recipe from them, its become something of a mainstay here, try some.
Raul must be drunk, all of the sudden he can taste two drops of the strange substance on his tongue.
Teddy pulls up a chair near the fire and directs Raul to it.
Give me your tired, your poor, Teddy says, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Raul finds it so unnerving that he would flee, flee from someone who is inside his own head all the time. But it is too hypnotic, he cannot look away.
Forget about the bay of pigs, mining Panamanian harbors, overthrowing democratically elected officials, the dirty wars. Let it go, Raul. We cannot change them, we can only change the future, you only keep these relics to justify all the terror.
Blood wont wash away blood. Remember Christ, think back to the persecuted peoples who fled here. The Puritans and Quakers and all the good servants of Christ who wanted only to do their best, all of the radical political thinkers exiled to the corner of the world, rarely by their own choice, think back to the Revolution. The first Revolution, he points at Rauls kerchief.
Forget all the cowboys and empire builders, dont let them taint the whole picture. Think back to the hundreds of millions of forward thinking citizens who have been inspired by this glorious dream to bring this whole globe into the future, and who have done so despite the best efforts of all those robber barons.
Fight for them, and know that they are everywhere, that they are soldiers and that they are officers, that every scrap of collateral damage is someones life. And if they are not compassionate, forward thinking people then who do you think they will look to when they need help? It cant be so sloppy.
Raul cannot really remember the rest of the evening.
-
When they wake up there is a tractor trailer with a sleeper cab that the populace of Eden had brought out of hiding somewhere in the bayou.
Raul wakes up in quite a strange mood, more than a little confused. Drinking water, still a little confused about concepts like gravity.
He shakes his head, Teddy is right in front of him.
Good morning traveler.
Raul has to rub his eyes and shake his head again, We have to keep moving.
I know.
Of course, Raul sighs.
Youre the last one to wake up, I made them leave you alone. You need your sleep. The rest are already in the trailer.
It had been a brief experience, but for some reason Raul ascribed some magnificent significance to it, and he was struggling to explain why. The humans and mutants working together in a working community, the inclusion and joy, it was the pinnacle of southern hospitality.
He opens his mouth to thank the Grand Warlock but Teddy raises his own hand to stop him.
All wanderers need stars to travel by, Go in Peace.
Serve the Lord, replies Raul.
