Chapter 21
I estimated six hours to make it to the Holy Compound, and I make it in just over five.
I had to stop at the abandoned township to siphon off more gas to fill up the motorcycle and pray the filled tank will be enough to take me there and back.
I don’t make a single stop from the township to the spot beyond the river where all the stories I’ve heard said the Holy Rollers’ compound was built.
My gas tank shows a little more than half a tank when the large walled community comes into sight, which I take as a sign that any god left in existence is on my side and not theirs.
The compound, however, is twice the size I was expecting.
It’s enormous. The largest community I’ve seen since one city after another fell after Impact.
As soon as I catch my first glimpse, I veer off the road and find a trail through the nearby woods.
The road I’ve been following was never a large one.
It’s not the kind that droves or large gangs would ever take.
But the Holy Rollers travel in groups of two or four, and the last thing I want to do is run into any of them.
The trail is not much of a trail. After a while, it’s too overgrown to even get the motorcycle through.
So I hide the vehicle in the underbrush, gathering up dried leaves and dead branches to cover it completely.
Then I strap my rifle on my back, check my spare ammunition for both the rifle and the handgun in my holster, hook my canteen full of water on my belt next to binoculars, and follow the trail uphill.
I chose well. Not only does the trail keep me out of sight in the woods, it also leads up one of the higher hills in the area. When I reach the top and clear the thick trees, I can see all the way down to the river and the Holy Compound, which clearly used to be a small river town.
Now it’s a fortress. The inner wall is higher than the walls around any other community in this region.
It surrounds the town proper, and inside that perimeter are some large central buildings of two or three stories, a huge church with a tall steeple, and a lot of smaller structures that are clearly houses built with cookie-cutter sameness.
In between the tall inner wall and the outer wall is a huge farm with wide fields for planting, an impressive greenhouse, and large pastures of cows, goats, horses, and sheep.
On closer inspection with my binoculars, I also see chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs.
Also a handful of animals that look like alpaca.
And a large pond I’d guess is for cultivated fish.
There are more houses scattered through the farm, and on the far side is the largest building in the entire compound. I can’t see inside, so I have no idea what it’s used for.
No wonder people are willing to give up their independence and submit to a hard-line moral regime to join up. That place down there is like a fantasy of safety and provision in the middle of a hard, uncertain world.
I’d guess there are at least a thousand people living in the compound. There are guards posted at both the inner and outer walls.
If Burgundy is inside there, I’m not sure how I’ll ever find her.
And even if I do, how the hell will Micah and I ever get her out?
I’ve given myself an hour to scout things out, but after that I’ll need to start back home if I want to reach the township to gas up and then return to Micah, Molly, and the camper before dark.
But that gives me plenty of time to do a more thorough inspection. I start on the east end and use my binoculars in slow, steady sweeps up and down the visible parts of the compound.
I’m close enough that, with my binoculars, I can see details of people outside the inner wall.
But most of the people are in the center, and the height of the wall keeps me from seeing much of anything inside there except the tops of the buildings.
Plus all I have to go on with Burgundy is the face I recall from the old photo of her Micah carries in his pack.
She was in college back then. It’s been years of difficult living and deprivation. Who knows what she looks like now?
Plus every woman I catch a glimpse of is wearing exactly the same kind of plain dress.
Gross. It’s like some sort of Handmaid situation down there. Worse than I imagined.
No matter how stupid their choices might have been in the past, no woman deserves that.
But I continue my methodical sweep, growing more and more appalled and frustrated when all the women look the same except their size and the color of their hair.
I’m about to give up when the view through the binoculars catches the smallest glimpse of pink hair.
Pink hair.
Micah told me last night that Burgundy had pink streaks in her hair when he last saw her. Depending on the product she used, they might still be there. I cut back to find the person I just passed over, but I have trouble locating her again.
There’s a whole group of women sitting around in a courtyard near the largest building. Their dresses are worse than the others I’ve seen. As shapeless as potato sacks. They’re positioned in almost a circle and appear to be sewing.
I make a choking sound in bitter amusement at what appears to be a nightmare sewing circle.
I move my view from face to face, but I can’t find that pink hair again.
Maybe I imagined it.
I’m in the middle of doing a second circuit to double-check when another woman comes out of a nearby building and sits down at an empty spot in the circle.
I check her. Her face is pretty with strong, even features. Her hair is long and dark brown, and the bottom half has a few streaks of faded hot pink, the color grown out and dimmed but still recognizable.
Burgundy.
It has to be.
I knew it.
Now I can drive home and tell Micah. From there, we can figure out what to do.
I only have a few minutes left of the hour I gave myself. I inspect her only long enough to confirm that she’s healthy, her face is similar to what I remember from the photo, and the bottom half of her hair is indeed streaked with pink.
I straighten up and am leaning over to retrieve my rifle, which I set on the ground so it wouldn’t get in the way, when I hear someone shouting.
It’s close. Way too close.
I drop my binoculars and pull out my handgun, clicking off the safety as I peer down the hill.
A group of three men have seen me. Holy Rollers from their neat shirts and khakis. They’ve all got automatic weapons.
I have only half a second to make a decision. If I shoot one, the other two will kill me before I can pull the trigger again.
On a different day, in a different situation, I’d rather die than be taken by those men.
But Burgundy is inside the outer wall down there, and Micah is waiting for me at home.
If I let myself get killed, both of them will be left alone.
I’m not going to do it. Not while there’s a chance of getting out of this mess.
Instead, I holster my gun and raise my hands above my head, walking toward them with the tentative hope they won’t notice my binoculars and rifle out of sight in the tall grass.
“Oh thank God!” I exclaim in a wobbly voice I’d never use for real. “Thank God! You’re good men, aren’t you? You’re from down there? You’re not going to hurt me?”
All three men have beards. The oldest has white hair. “No, young lady,” he says. “We won’t hurt you unless you misbehave. What are you doing with that big gun?”
“It was my daddy’s. I took it for safety. But I don’t really know how to use it. Do you want it?” I take it out of the holster again and offer it to the men on an extended palm.
I wouldn’t normally consider myself much of an actor, but adrenaline sure helps. My hand and voice are both shaky. I’m doing a good job here.
They’re buying it.
But only the older man lowers his gun as he reaches for mine. The other two keep their weapons trained on me.
They might have heartlessly narrow worldviews, but they’re not stupid.
“Were you headed toward our compound, sister?”
“Yes. I heard you take good care of women. You’re not going to… to… take advantage of me, are you? I’ve kept myself pure all this time.”
That last bit I throw in from a random bit of inspiration, and it’s definitely the right thing to say.
The older man smiles. “You’ll be more than welcome in the safety of our walls. We welcome all women who want to walk the narrow way.”
“I do. I really do. Thank you so much.”
“Come on back with us then. We’ll introduce you, and you’ll be safe. No one will take advantage of you. You’ll have the time you need to get used to our ways in the Training House, and then we’ll find a good man for you to marry.”
The Training House. Nothing would sound worse than that to me.
“That would be wonderful!” I’m aiming a wobbly smile at all three of them. “Thank you so much.”
If only one man left the others to escort me to the compound, I would have been able to get away. I’m convinced of it. I’d take him by surprise and kill him before he knew to expect it. I had to give up my gun, but I have a knife in my ankle holster. That would have been enough.
But all three of them escort me instead, and they keep their weapons at the ready the whole time.
Trying to escape would be the end of me, and I’m not ready for my life to end yet.
I’ve only recently discovered I have a lot to live for.