Marching As to War: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel by Justin Watson Read Free Book Online Page B

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had shown up for a while, I found Riley standing back from the crowd. I walked
over slow and stood next to him. For a little time, we were quiet, just
watching Jane. It was up to me to speak first, and I knew it.
    “Thought about what you were saying last night.”
    “Yeah.”
    “About shitting or getting off the pot.”
    “I recall.”
    “Well . . . I’m shitting.”
    Riley laughed. “Damn, but don’t you just have a way with
words. Must be all that education you got.”
    Grinning, I didn’t say anything. Riley was quiet too. We
stood there for a while watching Jane and the crowd. It was nice, this feeling
of being in this together--whatever this was.
    It was close to sunset when we were finished for the day.
Jane was working her way through the crowd toward the camp, when a man walked
up with a folded piece of paper. He handed it to me and said, “It’s for the
girl. Urgent.”
    I took the message to Jane.
    She was at the edge of the crowd when I reached her. She
took the paper, unfolded it, and looked at it for a long moment.
    “I can’t read,” she said.
    I took it and read aloud. “General Winslow wishes to meet
you. Please come to his residence as soon as possible.”
    She took the message from me and looked at it again. She
whispered a few words I couldn’t hear. Then she turned back to the crowd and
held the paper up in the air. “Let us praise God for the mountains He moves
when we have faith,” she shouted. “Charles Winslow, the leader of our people,
will meet with me. I’m sorry. I’ll not be with you again, for now God has other
work for me. Go home and tell everyone that a new day has dawned. Please keep
me, our people, and our leader in your prayers. In God’s name, we will
prevail.”
    The crowd burst with excited talk and shouts. Those closest
to Jane hugged her. Others hugged whoever was standing close by. I heard
snatches of shouted prayers. It was that time of day, when for a few moments,
the light of the setting sun becomes golden. I looked at the joyful faces, the
faces that had made the important men on the hill pay attention to this
unimportant girl. The moment was golden.
    I looked for Riley and saw him standing apart. He didn’t
look happy. I went over to him.
    “Good news,” I said.
    “Great news,” he said.
    “So why don’t you look like it’s great?”
    He squinted and scratched his beard. “Can’t help thinking of
something my mama used to say.”
    “What’s that?”
    “‘Be careful what you wish for, cause you might get it.’”
    I turned back to the crowd. The golden light had faded.

CHAPTER 7
    Everyone in camp knew we were going to see Winslow. Silent
and curious, they lined the path and stared at Jane as she walked up the hill.
Riley and I followed along a step or two behind.
    Campbell was
waiting at the entrance to the building and greeted her. Then he told Riley and
me, “You’ll wait here.”
    Jane pointed at me and said, “No. He has to come.”
    I’m not sure who was more surprised, Campbell or me.
    “Why?” Campbell
said.
    “He has to come,” she said.
    Campbell paused
and seemed to make some sort of calculation. He said, “All right, Jane.”
    After Jane and I handed our rifles to the guards, Campbell
took us inside. We went through an anteroom and down a hallway to a set of
double doors. As we went in, Campbell
turned to me and pointed to a spot just to the left of the doorway. I
understood he wanted me to stand there and say nothing, do nothing. That was
fine with me. I had no business being there.
    The room was square and had a nice rug on the floor. There
were maps hanging on the walls and shelves filled with books. The room made me think of how dirty I was and how bad I smelled.
In the corner nearest me, a Lieutenant sat at a small writing desk. Campbell
turned and started speaking with him. On the other side of the room, six men
were standing, talking to one another. One man was taller than the others,
thick through the middle,