[A thing worth noting is that much of the water supply to the Jordan River has been diverted. For this scene, or the scene in Left Behind on which it is based, to take place something would need to happen that would completely change the way the Jordan River is. Hence the mention of a bizarre and unnecessary public works project.]
[Also, spoiler alert, Cameron is trans* in this story. I meant to have the reveal be at the end of World War III but I wasn't following Slacktivist when that happened.]
“I’m not the one who should be afraid just now, ma'am,” Michael said. “I have twice within the last 48 hours fired this weapon into the heads of people I’ve believed were enemies of God.”
Well fuck. Cameron had been enjoying the surrealism of traveling by boat on the Jordan River. She'd been to the region before the bizarre and unnecessary public works project that had turned the trickle into a navigable waterway.
The entire thing had been a pleasant dreamlike journey. Now she had a fundamentalist murderer pointing a gun at her. An ordinary murderer she might have had better luck working with, but since she'd transitioned she didn't think she could make it passed fundamentalist muster. Even if she convinced this person she wasn't an enemy of God now, what would happen if he noticed some tell indicating that her body wasn't exactly cis.
Cameron was getting used to hiding that, but she knew from experience in other areas that the pressure of having her life hang in the balance tended to make her too nervous to remember, much less cover, all of the pertinent details.
"Ok, I have questions."
"I'll be the one asking the questions."
"On what did you base the determination they were enemies of God? Why does God need you to defend him? Wouldn't your time be better spent with more terrestrial human affairs? Has it ever occurred to you that, as a murderer, you might yourself be an enemy of God?" Cameron walked as she spoke. Hoping that the questions would keep Michael's mind occupied enough that he wouldn't fire.
He was sputtering with outrage when she reached her destination: the edge of the ship. At least he wasn't shooting.
Cameron didn't know how deep the man made river was, so she jumped overboard when she would have preferred to dive. A shot rang out. Cameron didn't let herself stop to even think whether or not she had been hit. She just put the adrenaline to use getting away.
When she was confident she was safe, and able to tell that she hadn't been shot, she thanked someone (she wasn't sure if it should be God or the manufacturer) that her phone was waterproof, and placed a call.
She didn't like having to rely on the other side, but she didn't know who the local authorities were, while they would, and she did know that even the Antichrist wasn't a fan of murderers. In general at any rate. Murderers who worked for him were another matter entirely.
I actually read this at Fred's... started quasi-following it again to catch your stuff...
ReplyDeletePhone! Really, the best phones probably are manufactured, or at least designed, by God, right?