~Title: Tribulations in the Tribeworld
~Author: Happydapy (Savannah Larsen)
~Rating: I don't think it would be anything more then PG-13.
~Synopsis: Because of a mysterious virus all of the adults are dead (in other words the premice of the TV show The Tribe hence the posting on Fanfiction.net) and various kids in gangs called tribes try to put the world back together.
~Feed back: Always wanted and always apprieciated. Email them to Happydapy@cs.com. Flames are read and then laughed at.
~Disclaimer: I don't own "the virus" or the whole idea of tribes, but every charecter in here is either owned by me was used by perimission and is owned by ppl on the Tribeworld Bulletin board. I don't remeber everyone who gave me charecters but i remember a few: Kyle and Mara belong to Ben_Walker.
~Special thanks to: Christopher Matusiak for editing the whole damn 89 pages of this story I have written so far, and my friends for reading this.
~Author's note: Umm this has an overtone of Christianity in it and if you are offended by religion please be mature enough to not read instead of reading then getting pissed and flaming me.
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"HONEY you have to go, but always remember that God created you and loves you."
"No Mom, I don't want to go."
"Look you must go. Your father is dead and I am dying. Pack up all the stuff you think you need to survive and leave. It's much too dangerous here. The tribes will move in soon. Take the family bible and keep it; give the others away. Other people will need to know God in order to get through this. Try to find a place to live and, if possible get out of the city."
"OK, I will do that."
Moonshine's mother closed her eyes and passed away. Her mother was one of the last adults to contract the virus. Her father, who had protected the house from invading tribes, had died a week ago and Moonshine had been busy protecting the house and taking care of her mother. Moonshine's mother had been a nurse, her father, a man of the cloth. Moonshine knew her mother was right and decided to pack up and leave. She found her father's army surplus backpack and duffle bag. She decided that the backpack would be more portable and took that. She gathered up all the medical books, all the Bibles, a dictionary, and her 5 favorite books. She gathered up all the batteries. She gathered up all the non-perishable foods in the house and packed those. She filled all the bottles in the house with water and packed those. She packed all the toiletries in the house, along with her make-up. She got all the jewelry in the house so she could trade if she had to. She got all the medication in her house along with a first-aid kit. She got clothes and shoes and a warm blanket. She got the last picture they had taken as a family and was about to go when the thought of protection crossed her mind. So she got all the knives in the house and packed those along with a spoon and candles and matches. The last thing she packed was a 5 year calendar. She got the fruit out of the pantry and decided to pack that.
She took one last look around her house.
"This is the house I grew up in. I learned to walk here, I learned to ride a bike in the yard. I don't want to leave." she said. "DAMN THIS VIRUS" she screamed.
She went to the den and got the family photo album and packet that also. Then she saw a group of females coming up the driveway, by their tribal markings she knew they were from the Nefarious Puellae. She had a huge vocabulary and had taken Latin in school, so she knew their name meant evil girls. Which they were. When Moonshine saw them she ducked down and went out the back entrance. She almost made it down the lawn, separated by a line of trees from the driveway when one of the nefarious Puellae saw her.
"GET HER!" the tribe member said.
They all ran after her and she made it down the lawn and onto the street. She was running as fast as she could and almost outran them when she fell. They were gaining when she tried to get up and they were almost there when she hit her head, her nose started bleeding. She kept her head down, praying and preparing to die when she heard a gunshot and a familiar voice.
"Hold it right there. If you come any closer I will shoot each and everyone of you," a male voice shouted. One of the tribe members still came toward her. He shot once in the air. The tribe member kept going. He shot her in the toe. She fell over and hit her head on the ground and was knocked unconscious. The Nefarious Puellae walked away, leaving their fallen tribe member behind. Moonshine was still with her back to the male who saved her. She was about to turn around when he started to talk.
"Are you alright my name's-"
"Theodore Martin." She had finally remembered who that voice belonged to . She had liked that guy, and in some ways she still did. She hadn't seen him though since they closed down the schools five months ago because almost all the parents were either dying or dead. She turned around and looked at him and he looked good. He used to always where shorts and these weird shirts all year. Now he was in dark blue dress pants and a polo shirt. His hair was Blue and he had no tribal markings.
"Yeah... Do I know you?"
"Yeah you do. It's Moonshine"
"OH! Moonshine. I didn't recognize you because you lost all that weight and died your hair. By the way it isn't Theodore anymore. Its Genesis."
"T- I mean Genesis, do you know what that is?"
"Well it was the thing that made that planet regenerate in that Star Trek movie and also it's the first book of the Bible."
"Do you believe in it?"
"Yep. I got saved. I was looking for a tribe and wandered into a church for the night. There was a tribe there and I started talking to them and they invited me into their tribe. I accepted. Later I overheard a Bible study and it just made sense. I went in and started talking to them."
"What tribe is it?"
"The Saved."
"Do you think I could join?"
"Well I'll bring you and they can talk to you and decide."
"Great. We should move on. The Nefarious Puellae will be back to this house. There were a few things that could be useful that I had to leave behind. Would you carry them to that church with me?"
"Sure."
Moonshine and Genesis went into her house and grabbed her dad's duffle bag and filled it with all the perishable food, her dad's riffles, ammunition, and some more of Moonshine's books. They set off down the road and were almost to the church when there was a girl screaming help while some of the Nefarious Puellae were hitting her with sticks. Moonshine and Genesis looked at each other and screamed "Hey leave her alone". Half of the Nefarious Puellae turned and ran at them. Genesis shot his riffle in the air to warn them. The Nefarious Puellae kept running at them. Moonshine got the riffle out of the duffle bag and aimed at the closest Nefarious Puellae and shot the her in the kneecaps. Genesis did the same to another Nefarious Puellae. Then the girl started kicking her way out of the circle. She grabbed another riffle out of the duffle bag and did the same to another Nefarious Puellae. They kept on doing that until less than half of the Nefarious Puellae were still standing. The rest of them ran.
"Thanks," the mystery girl said.
"Your welcome, what is you name?" Genesis asked.
"Galaxy."
She was wearing Bellbottoms with jewels all over them; a black shirt with "I am the resurrection and the life" in pink. On her feet were pink combat boots. She had a handkerchief that is black on her head. She was bleeding and bruised but she could walk.
They probably weren't beating her for very long, Moonshine thought.
"Do you have a tribe?" Genesis asked.
"No, I had just ran away from the Nefarious Puellae and they found me. As you can see they don't take kindly to people leaving their tribes. Once you join, it's supposed to be for life," she replied.
"Well come with us. You might be able to join my tribe The Saved. At the very least we could give you a warm meal and a place to sleep tonight."
"Okay I will."
"Good."
They kept on walking until they reached the church. It was the church that Moonshine's father used to preach at before he retired. They went inside and Genesis went to the rest of the tribe and talked to them for a few minutes. One of the people of the tribe came towards Galaxy and Moonshine. She was wearing a long black skirt and white shirt with big blue cross on it. White tennis shoes were on her feet. She said her name was Willow. She showed them to an office and said she would call them out one at a time to be interviewed. She shut the door and went away. When the door closed, Galaxy started shaking.
"Where will I go if they don't accept me into their tribe? I will have to go out on the streets and I won't be able to survive another attack if the Nefarious Puellae get me."
"I'm almost positive they will accept you. If you don't get in I'll go with you. I just couldn't let a person who is in so much trouble just go out on their own."
"Thanks for the offer but I couldn't do that to you. I know what they do to people who hurt their members, I've seen it. They will be on the lookout for you and they will try their hardest to capture you and make you die a slow, painful death."
"AND THEN we had no choice but to run away," said Nambel. She was the girl who had picked the short straw and therefore had to tell their leader Fire why not only they hadn't brought back Galaxy's dead body but why half the people that were sent out did not come back.
"You are a disgrace! You will be punished for what you did, you and all of the ones who came back form the mission!" screamed Fire. "Now go and get together all the people who went on the mission and drag them into this office!"
Nambel nodded and left the room. Fire was not very happy. She had sent out those girls for an easy mission and they failed.
"How am I going to punish them, " she said to herself. "Well we have a rack... No, too many of them; whipping post... maybe, yes whipping post. Twenty-one Lashes for each. And for the leader of the mission, thirty-one lashes and be in the stocks for a week." She heard a knock on her office door and asked who it was. The person replied "Nambel, and the others you requested."
"Get yourselves in here." They all came in and stood around her desk, their heads bowed at their leader. First she would torment them. She got out her whip and told them to close their eyes. She went around her desk and was behind the tribe members and repeated what she had said before to herself about how to punish them. Then she was behind the leader, whose name was Sara.
"What was the mission I ordered you to complete?"
"T-T-To kill Galaxy and bring her back here as an example of what happens when you try to run from this tribe."
"Was it completed?"
"N-N-No, Fire."
"What happens when missions don't get completed?"
"People get punished."
"Correct," Fire replied. Whoosh. CRACK!
Sara screamed out in pain.
"Now Sara you know we don't scream after punishments it isn't allowed. What is the punishment for crying out when you are punished... Jamie?" Jamie was the second in command on this mission.
"One more Lash."
"Correct now Jamie come here and punish Sara for what she did."
"Okay." Jamie went over and took the whip from Fire. Jamie smacked it very hard against Sara.
"Now everyone here," said Fire. "You failed a mission and when you fail a mission you are punished. Now Jamie here looks like a good punisher. She will be administrating the twenty-one lashes you all get for failing."
Jamie smiled, thinking that she wouldn't get punished... but alas she was wrong.
"As for Jamie and Sara they will get 31 lashes and be put in the stocks for a week, The punishment will be in front of the whole tribe and will happen tomorrow for now you are to go to your rooms and are not to come out until I lead you to the whipping posts tomorrow. You may all go except Sara and Jamie." They all left except for Sara and Jamie who bowed their heads and stood in front of Fire.
"After your punishments you will go out and get those people who shot at you. Also, get Galaxy. You will find them and bring them to me. I haven't impaled anyone in awhile and I think that will be the perfect deterrent to messing with the Nefarious Puellae. If you fail, don't come back, because I will kill you and it won't be pretty.
WILLOW CALLED out Moonshine's name. Moonshine walked out of the office and found herself in front of a table with all the tribe there and Willow at the front.
"Okay. Moonshine we are going to ask you a few questions and you can ask us a few questions and then things go from there. The first question is going to be from our inventory officer, Andrea.
"Can you collect food or have you brought a large amount of food with you?"
"I can collect food and I have brought a sizable amount of food with me including things that we should eat in like a day or two like fruits and vegetables.
"Moonshine the next question is from our temporary priest Michael"
"Have you ever given a sermon or written one for someone else to give"
"I have done both my father was a priest, in fact he was a priest here for about 35 years"
"Okay Moonshine I have one more question. Why did God allow the virus?"
"Well he allowed this I think because he wanted to test us. And even if this wasn't the reason He has his reasons and who am I to speculate what they are or why it occurred.
"Okay well do you have any questions for us"
"Umm yeah I do. Is there a leader of this tribe?
"No we all vote and have meetings and at these meetings things are assigned to us." Willow answered.
"What will you do with me if you don't accept me into your tribe?"
"Well we will let you appeal the decision and defend your case and if the answer is still no we will let you stay for a week. At the end of that week we would have to ask you to leave. We would of course send you off with food and directions to another Christian tribe."
"That's all the questions I have."
"Ok then could you please go back to that office and tell Galaxy we are ready for her."
Moonshine did that and was very nervous the whole time that Galaxy was having her interview. When Galaxy returned she had some news.
"They are going to talk it over and vote. In the meantime we are to wait in here and eat some of the food you brought."
Time passed very slowly for Moonshine and Galaxy while they waited in that office but outside there was a heated discussion.
"We should let Moonshine and Galaxy in. We could always use more healthy tribe members."
"Moonshine should be allowed in but Galaxy should go. She is too much of a risk to us."
The argument went on for two hours. The voices were never high enough for Moonshine and Galaxy to hear and that annoyed Galaxy. But then there was a decision.
Willow came into the office and said "We have made a decision. Come with me to hear it." Galaxy and Moonshine followed Willow.
"We as a tribe have decided to let you both in. Go see Andrea she will get both of you rooms."
Moonshine and Galaxy went over to Andrea and she brought them to the inventory room. They put the stuff they were giving to the tribe stuff in there but kept their personal stuff. Andrea gave them each a pillow, a blanket, and a mat. She looked at the spare room list and led them behind the altar into what looked like where they used to hang the choir robes.
She lead them each to a room and then said " Please get unpacked and then come and meet everyone."
Moonshine and Galaxy did so. While meeting everyone they find out that the tribe is in need of a new project. Then Moonshine went over to Genesis and started conversing with him.
"Hey Moonshine."
"Hi."
"Enjoying the party?"
"Yeah. The people here are so nice. I'm so lucky you saved me. Oh... Did I ever thank you for that.... I hope I did... if I didn't... thanks! I can't believe how much life has changed since I've seen you. Well besides what you've told me what's been happening with you? Where's Elsbeth? Weren't you two going out?"
Genesis's face went from happy to hurt when Moonshine mentioned Elsbeth's name. Could it be because they broke up or was it something I really didn't want to know? Should I ask about it? No, that would be too nosey, Moonshine thought.
"She died giving birth about a month ago. She had come to me after school closed and told me she was carrying my child. Since her parents were dead, I let her stay at my house," he started to get misty eyed. "The baby was still born."
"I am so sorry." Moonshine hugged him and he broke down sobbing in her arms. She held him for awhile and then they let go of each other. She guided him to a water basin and took a little of her water and poured it in there so he could wash his face.
SOON AFTER the public punishing Fire went back to her office and sat down. She started to think about Sara and Jamie.
Sara and Jamie won't complete their mission. I know they won't. This way I'll get rid of them both. They will have broken the biggest rule we have and for that the rest of the tribe be out to kill them. Who owes us a big favor? Ah yes Kyle does. That cute bounty hunter. He will be able to get this done after Sara and Jamie leave and before they get back. This way I will be sure that they will not come back. I'll send out two of my best girls to search for him.
She got up and went out of her door and went to the rooms of the 4 girls she wanted. First she stopped at Snowflake's door. She knocked and then entered. Snowflake was tall, slim and very beautiful. Her hair was long blonde and curly. Today she had on a black lacy corset, a denim jean skirt with a slit that went up to where her pink underwear showed, and strappy sandals. She used to belong to a tribe called the Gypsies. But she ran away because she had caused the death of her best friend and couldn't face the tribe. She went to the city and one day while Fire was out on her walk she spotted Snowflake. Fire snuck up and grabbed and dragged her back to the Nefarious Puellae HQ. Fire originally planned to make Snowflake her slave but as time went on they developed an odd type of friendship and Snowflake no longer had the slave status after about a year. Contrary to what most of the other tribe member thought Snowflake enjoyed no special privileges from this friendship-like relationship except for no longer being a slave, in fact Fire was most severe with Snowflake.
"Come with me Snowflake I have an important assignment for you." Fire and Snowflake went to another room.
"Sal come with me, " said Fire. Sal was another girl Fire had forced into the NP. The NP caught a small group of Mall Daemons. She ordered all the men in that group killed and that only left Sal. The Mall Daemons were one of the NP's many enemies.
She brought them back to her office and told them about the mission. They set out at once and then Fire went out to the stalks where Jamie and Sara were only starting their long sentence. She went to the pail of dog food they fed the people in the stalks and made Jamie and Sara eat a handful each out of her hands. Then she got out her whip and whipped Jamie and Sara.
"Yes this is what happens when your missions fail. Be sure not to fail the one you will start at the end of this punishment." She laughed and went back into her office.
"COME ON Galaxy wake up. We can't be late to the meeting. It's going to be an important one. We are going to be assigned our jobs at this one. Come on WAKE UP," Moonshine said while forcefully shaking Galaxy. Galaxy's eyes popped open and she got up and threw on some clothes and they high tailed it out of their room and to the meeting place. Moonshine sat between Genesis and Galaxy. Michael called the meeting to order.
"We have two things to do at this meeting. One to tell Moonshine and Galaxy what their assignments in this tribe will be and two is to figure out what we should do to bring more souls to Christ in this city. First thing. Moonshine and Galaxy we have decided that you will both have the same job. Your job for the next month is to help Melanie gather herbs from the forest so that we can make herbal remedies. She will show you the right ones to pick and we have some books that you can study."
Moonshine looked over at Melanie. She was of medium height and had looks that most girls would have killed for. The shimmery white eye shadow and black eyeliner she had on was done perfectly. Her waist-length wavy hair was parted on the side and had a rose pinned in it. She was wearing a peach and black lace corset, black satin pants and chunky black shoes. Moonshine had talked to her at the get together and found her quite knowledgeable and had liked her second they met.
"Okay the second thing we need to do is brainstorm ways to bring more souls to Christ. Does anyone have any suggestions?"
"We could talk to people about Jesus and if they express an interest we could give them Bibles. There are enough here and I have five extra from my house," said Moonshine.
"I like it. All in favor?"
Twelve hands went up including Moonshine's.
"Good its unanimous. Since you thought of the idea you will be running the program. When do you want to have the meeting about it?" asked Michael.
"How about three hours from now? Could everyone bring any spare Bibles they have and a bag that you can carry and, if need be, run with."
"Okay, meeting adjourned," Michael said.
The three hours went quickly as Moonshine and Galaxy went to Andrea to get their permanent room assignments. Both Moonshine and Galaxy's new rooms turned out to be old Sunday school classrooms. As Moonshine and Galaxy unpacked and got settled in time, tick-tocked by. Soon it was almost time for the meeting so Moonshine got her duffle bag and all of her Bibles except the family one her mother had told her to keep and went to the meeting place. When the meeting began she called the it to order.
"I need everyone to bring their spare Bibles up to the table in the front so I can count them." Everyone did so and when she was done counting the Bibles she announced the results.
"We have twenty Bibles to start with. I'm going to split you up into groups and you will either be sent to different parts of the church or into the city to find Bibles. The Bibles we need range anywhere from the coloring book versions to the King James Version. I understand that the city is very dangerous so the city groups will be groups of three and the church groups will be groups of two. I am going to ask that all city groups bring some form of protection. One city group will consist of Genesis, Andrea, and me. We will search sector 27. The other city group will be made up of Lemon, Pritchard, and Rosemary. You will search sector 26. Michael and Galaxy will be searching all the Sunday school rooms and the rest of the rooms on that floor. Willow and Melanie will search this floor of the church. Emily and Madrid will search the top floor of the church. We will meet back in this room in two hours so go and be careful.
FIRE HEARD a knock on her door.
"Who is it?" she barked.
"Snowflake"
"Get in here"
Snowflake, Sal and Kyle walked through Fire's door.
"Snowflake and Sal you are dismissed."
They bowed their heads at Fire and left the room.
"Okay what do you want?" asked Kyle
"I need you to bring 3 people to me. I have a picture of all three because the girls I put out on the mission for some reason took a picture of them. Most of the time they aren't too bright but every now and then something smart comes out of them. Now I want you to bring them to me. There is to be no killing. You are only to kill in self-defense on this one. Do you accept?"
"Yeah I do but this is going to be a little more expensive then my usual job. You need three people who have shot at least 5 of your girls. Oh and by the way you're girls crawled away and are now in the abandoned library. I give them about a month before they're dead. Now I figure about 5 cans of food, 1 box of aspirin, and 4 bottles of water upon delivery will be sufficient."
"5 cans of food, one small trial size bottle of aspirin and 2 bottles of water," bargained Fire.
"Done. Now I should be able to do this within three weeks to a month. If it takes longer then six months then the deal is off. If you could tell me which direction they were seen heading in I will be on my way. I will check in with you every 2 weeks if I have no lead and if I do have a lead don't expect to see me."
"They were seen heading for sector 27."
He walked out of the office.
"I SAY we raid the Nefarious Puellae headquarters and kill them all," suggested Ricochet, the Mall Daemons weapons officer.
"No too much energy and besides we are slave dealers not slave killers. I say we raid them and catch as many as possible," suggested Primrose, the one responsible for making sure they had enough slaves to sell each tribe as they had meetings with most of the tribes in the city.
"Look we are low on slaves and there are only a few days until the next meeting. And you know how they get when we don't have enough slaves," said Primrose.
"Then why don't we just comb the streets for slaves I don't even know why I allowed you to be second and third in command. That is what we will do this week now: Primrose you take one group and comb sector 27. Ricochet you take a group and search sector 29. I will take a group and search sector 26. We will meet in three hours to put the slaves in the cages. Now go!"
"OKAY LET'S go to the bookstore on Bloodroot street they should have what we are looking for," Moonshine directed.
"Okay," said Genesis.
They walked along at a quick pace. The store was really run down, the windows broken and the door gone. Moonshine motioned for each of them to get to either side of the door and motioned that she would go through it. Moonshine got out her pistol, Genesis held up his sword, and Andrea held up her axe. Moonshine went through the door cautiously and carefully checked around. She went down all the aisles and was about to go down the last at the last one when she heard a rustling. She crouched down low and turned the corner poised to shoot.
"YOU SEARCH the three on this side of the hall and I'll search the three on the other," suggested Galaxy.
"Agreed," responded Michael.
Galaxy walked into the first room and from the looks of it decided that it was the pre-school classroom. She looked through the bookshelves and found many Bible coloring books. They each had names on them in masking tape. Galaxy pulled of the masking tape and looked around. She found an illustrated children's Bible and put that in her bag as well. She was about to look in another bookcase when she heard some glass breaking and a man's voice screaming.
"I'LL TACLE this half of the pews you tackle the others," suggested Willow. They went through grabbing the Bibles and the hymnals out of their holders and putting them into their bags. When they were done that they decided to go outside for a little break and they went over to the sign that should have read: "May the Lord Bless you in this time of need. The church is closed down because of the laws about adult gatherings. Study the Bible and remember He is the Way the truth and the Life. Spread the word." Instead what it said made both of them scream.
"YOU TAKE this hallway and I'll take that one," Emily said.
They did so and started their search. The first room Emily went in had Christmas pageant clothes and nothing more. The first room Madrid went into was a room with a few boxes in it. She looked through the boxes and found copies of old sermons. I'll have to remember where these are. The next room had candles and incense in it. Madrid made note of where they were and moved on. The next room Emily went into had boxes and shelves. She looked through them and found that it was choir, organ, and piano music. She also found a set of hand bells. She took note of where this stuff was and moved on to the last room on her side of the hallway when she heard a scream and ran to the stairs. Madrid was falling down the flight of stairs.
"LET'S GO to that dollar store on Redrum Lane. They have tons of stuff," suggested Lemon.
"Then let's go to that Christian bookstore on Kilbourne Boulevard." said Pritchard.
They proceeded to the dollar store and when they got there they found that it had been raided but sure enough the books where left untouched. They went in and Rosemary and Lemon got all the Bible coloring books and children Bibles and they even found 10 adult Bibles, while Pritchard was going through the rest of the store and looking for useful stuff. He found two boxes of aspirin, 5 cans of food, and a can opener. They left and were walking toward Kilbourne Boulevard, when they saw a group of Mall Daemons. The Mall Daemons were dragging along three tied up kids and were coming toward them quite quickly. They looked for a place to hide and couldn't find one. They only had a few seconds before the Mall Daemons would see them so they held up their baseball bats and got ready for a fight.
THERE WAS someone in front of Moonshine looking at the books on the shelf.
"Turn around and put your hands up. If you don't I will shoot." Moonshine barked.
The person, who turned out to be a guy, turned. He was about four inches taller than her and wore kaki pants and a blue polo shirt. He had a bright orange vest on over his shirt. He looked vaguely familiar, then it clicked.
"Oh my goodness! Braden Larock is that you?" Moonshine practically screeched.
"Yeah but it isn't Braden anymore its Orpheus." he replied.
"Where did you come up with that name?" said Moonshine.
"Roman mythology. He's the guy who looked back at his wife in the underworld and she died again."
"Do you have a tribe?" asked Moonshine
"No I have been looking for a tribe that has some sort of moral structure and it I haven't found any."
"You should see if you can join mine. Right now we are on a Bible search so we can give them to people we meet."
"Do you think they will accept me?"
"Probably. But if not you can at least have a warm meal and a place to sleep for the night."
"I'll come with you."
"Can you help us?"
"Sure. What do you need help with?"
Moonshine turned toward the door and said "Galaxy, Andrea its fine you can come in now. I am in the last isle to the left." She turned back to Orpheus and started speaking to him again.
"Well you have to find Bibles and just put them in your bag and bring them with you. We have about another 20 minutes before I would like to start back to the church."
All four of them went through the bookstore and found all the Christian literature and filled their bags with it. Then they headed back to the church.
GALAXY RAN towards Michael's voice. He was in a room with another kid. The other kid had a knife against his throat.
"What do you want?" Galaxy asked
"Food, Give me food NOW or he DIES and I mean it," he said.
"Okay I'll get you food so just wait a minute and I'll get some."
She ran up to the food storage. She got a paper bag and put in a box of cereal and a box of instant potatoes. She ran back to the classroom and gave it to the kid. He went out the window and off into the city. Galaxy went over and hugged Michael.
"Were you hurt ?" asked Galaxy.
"No just a little shook up. We should go up stairs."
"When everyone comes back we should tell them."
"Ok"
They went up stairs and unloaded the Bibles they found and Galaxy went and made Michael a hot cup of green tea.
They talked it over and decided to pray for him.
MADRID STOPPED falling. Then the screaming began.
"AAAHHH" Madrid was screaming in pain.
Emily ran down the stairs. She got to Madrid and checked her out. She had taken an EMT course before the virus struck and knew what she was dong. Madrid had sprained her knee. Emily Helped her up and Helped her to the meeting place. Emily sat her on a pew and ran to get a chair. She got one and brought it to her. She helped Madrid up and into the chair. Emily then went to the medicine cupboard and got some Ibuprofen. She gave it to Madrid along with some water and an apple.
"What happened?" Emily asked.
"Well I was thirsty so I decided to get some water and started down the steps when I tripped. I'm so clumsy."
WITH ROSEMARY'S bat raised high she braced for the impending battle. Then a totally unexpected thing happened. They just walked by! As they walked by the leader, whose name was Nastashia, was saying something. Rosemary heard a bit of it.
"If we are not back soon those idiots will try to put the slaves they caught into the cages and they won't use any help and the slaves will escape and we will have 5 tribes pissed off at us because we said we would have slaves and do not. We won't get their business anymore and they will come after us because we don't give them what they want"
Rosemary started whispering to Pritchard.
"We should get out of here. Later when we get back we should tell the group about this and maybe we could do a covert operation and free some of the slaves."
They headed back towards the church.
WILLOW AND Melanie stopped screaming and Willow read the sign aloud again in disbelief. The sign said: We know you are in there "The saved" its only a matter of time before we break in and kill you. After we have chopped you up and drunk your blood and ate your flesh, we will take your food with all the hate possible, -The eViL ones.
They screamed again when they saw Moonshine and her group and Rosemary and her group coming back. Melanie and Willow told them to run in and then Willow locked the door after they got in.
"EVERYONE GET IN THE MEETING PLACE WE NEED TO HAVE AN EMERGENCY MEETING!!!!" Willow screamed.
Everyone came running into the meeting place and Willow told them what they had read on the sign. Moonshine took control of the situation.
"Okay we need to leave in the morning, get to another sector. We can find another church and live there. We need to pack up everything we have and pack up everything that could be of use here and then leave. Oh and this is Orpheus I was thinking he could join the tribe. Right now he has a virtually empty bag and it can be strapped to his back so he can hold two more bags. Each of us should take a backpack and at least one bag. Some things will need to be left behind Michael and I will make the tough decisions of what goes and stays if you ask us to. All in favor of my ideas"
10 hands went up.
"Then I guess we need to start packing."
Everyone scattered and Moonshine went to her room. She packed up what she had and still had room in her backpack and a completely empty duffle bag. She went and filled half of her duffle and the other half with Bibles. She was the first one done packing and asked Orpheus to come to her.
"Could you please fill half of your bag with of food and the other half with Bibles. Then could you search the church for another bag or two and fill each one in the same way please. Thanks."
He went off and did as she asked. Then almost everyone came up to her and she asked them to back up asked "Please go search the church for useful stuff and if you have room in your bags could you pack the stuff you found? Thanks."
Then Michael said something very unexpected.
"I suggest we make Moonshine our leader once we get to our new place. She won't be a dictator but will have some power. Always running the meetings but most things will be voted on. All in favor?"
10 hands went up. It was carried.
Soon everyone was packed and ready.
"Okay lets head to sector 25. We will go along and the first church we see that is uninhabited we will make our place of living."
FIRE WALKED over to the stocks and unlocked them.
"Now go get what you need for the mission."
"I thought we go a day off." said Jamie. Fire took her whip and whipped Jamie 3 times. Jamie had tears streaming down her cheeks but didn't say anything.
"When I say go you go!"
They made their way to the room they shared and someone was there waiting for them. It was Nambel.
"Fire hired a bounty hunter to do your mission 5 days ago. You didn't hear this from me but if you come back empty handed you know what she does right?"
"Okay thanks." said Jamie. "We need to pack and just the bear essentials and leave."
Sara agreed.
They packed up and Fire watched them leave.
Nambel walked up to Fire.
"I did what you wanted, I told them."
"Good. Now I need you to tell these ten tribes," Fire handed Nambel a list "there is going to be a tribal gathering at Kennedy park. It shall be four days from now. You also must tell everyone you meet there is to be one and where it is. Tell them to bring things to trade and there will be a leaders meeting. Tell me who was interested when you return."
Nambel went on her way.
"ARE WE ready to leave?" said Moonshine. Everyone nodded. "Wait we don't look like a group. We need tribal markings. I propose a brown cross on our right cheek and a blue WWJD on the left cheek. All in favor?"
13 hands went up.
"Good. Now here are 5 brown eyeliner pencils and 4 blue ones," She passed them around. "Please draw those on each other and do it quickly. We need to leave." As the tribe was drawing their symbols on each other Nambel walked into the church.
"There is to be a tribal gathering four days from now at Kennedy Park. You are invited. Bring things to trade. There will be a leaders' meeting, at which all leaders of the tribes who come are expected to attend. Do you wish to attend?"
"We need a few minutes to decide. Could you please wait in the next room?" asked Moonshine.
"Yep," replied Nambel.
Nambel went into the other room, sat down and waited. She recognized at least one of the members of this tribe. She knew Galaxy. The other two looked like they were the ones that had started shooting at them while they were trying to beat Galaxy. Nambel would tell Fire and maybe she might even get a reward out of this. Nambel had been waiting for a long time to be a leader of a mission. Maybe this would be the ticket.
Back in the other room everyone had started talking at once.
"I know it's a trap, it has to be," said Genesis.
"Did you see what tribe she was from? The NP means she is from the Nefarious Puellae!" said Willow
"I think it would be cool to go." said Emily
"Umm.... guys should we vote on this?" Moonshine asked. "all in favor of going?"
11 hands went up.
"Okay that's a majority I guess we're going." said Moonshine. Moonshine walked into the other room and told Nambel they were going to be in attendance.
"Okay. What is your tribe?"
"We are called The Saved."
Nambel nodded and went out the church door.
Moonshine went back to the group.
"I think we need to leave now. I propose the first church we see we go to. I don't think we need to get out of the city, does anyone think we need to?" Everyone shook their head. "Is everyone done with eye lining pencils?"
Everyone nodded and the eye lining pencils were handed back to her. She applied the tribal markings to her face. When she was done the tribe gathered up their bags and walked out the door.
"WE SHOULD do it tonight. We need the food and they appear to have a lot of it. They are allowing members to join so they must." said Vile. He was second in command of the eViL Ones.
"Why wait until tonight? I say we go now," replied Malice who was the weapons officer in the tribe.
"NO! we will not do it tonight or today. We will do it the day after tomorrow. We have more pressing things to consider today," said Alessandra who was the leader of the tribe. "What are we going to bring to trade? The only thing I can think of is weapons. We have an over abundance of them. So we will bring them. Now Vile wash off the tribal markings and go over to the Mall Daemons HQ an tell Nastasha about the tribal meeting. Tell them you heard the rumor that at this gathering they were making deals and had decided not to invite the Mall Daemons. Say also that you think that they are one of the most powerful tribes and they NEED to be there. DO NOT tell them the Nefarious Puellae are running it. They are sworn enemies. Now that is all."
"PRIMROSE HOW many slaves did your group capture?" asked Nastasha.
"Ten," she replied.
Nastasha made note of this on her pad of paper.
"Ricochet how many did your group catch?" she asked
"Seven," he replied.
She noted this also on her pad of paper.
"I captured six."
She did some tallying up on her pad of paper.
"That means added to the slaves we have already captured we have thirty-three. After we accept the best two into the tribe, take out the pregnant slave so her kid can be our slave also or it can become part of the tribe. We will cross that bridge when we come to it. And keep five for our own slaves. That leaves us twenty-five to bring to the tribal gathering. Thank goodness someone told us about that tribal gathering. We can get rid of them and get some profit out of it. Now to choose the two best slaves. Primrose and Ricochet pick out the strongest slave, and the most intelligent slave out of your groups and I'll do the same and we will have a bit of a competition and the best two will become part of our tribe."
They did so. Then they gave each person a broom. They were told to hold the broom out parallel to the ground. Then they were told that the first two who put the broom down would loose and the four left be brought to a different test.
The six that were chosen held up their brooms for twenty minutes then the first slave dropped his broom. He was shoved back into the cage. The five remaining held their brooms for another ten minutes. Then the next slave dropped her broom. She was shoved back into a cage.
"Good you four have passed the first test. Next comes the intelligence questions," said Nastasha.
The slaves were led into another room. There they were lined up and told they would be asked questions. They were also told if they answered a question wrong they would be put back in the cages.
"State the Pythagorean theorem," Nastasha told the first slave in line.
"A squared plus B squared equals C squared," answered the slave.
"Correct! Go to the back of the line."
"What is the log of ten?" asked Nastasha.
"One," replied the slave.
"Correct! Go to the back of the line."
"In the equation x squared plus seven equals 88 what does x equal?" asked Nastasha.
"Seven," answered the slave.
"WRONG it was nine. Primrose take this one back to the cages."
"Husband is to resources as what is to what?" asked Nastasha.
"As conserve is to energy."
"Correct! Go to the back of the line."
"If an two angles are supplementary and one angle has a measure of 45.987 degrees what is the measurement of the other angle?"
"134.012," replied the slave.
"WRONG it was 134.013. Ricochet take this one back to the cage," There were only two left and Nastashia started talking to them.
"Now the two of you who are left will become Mall Daemons. I need to know your names."
"Faith," replied a girl who was short and stocky and had bright orange hair.
"Eliza," replied a girl who was skinny and about 5'4" in height. She had brown hair and baby blue eyes.
"Okay Faith and Eliza. Come with me you will need different clothes and we will need to put our tribal marking on both of you."
They went to the room where all the clothes were stored and Nastasha allowed Faith and Eliza to pick out clothing.
Faith picked out an outfit which consisted of black boots, black leather pants, black belly shirt, floor length black leather jacket, and a belly chain. Nastashia drew a blue trapezoid on both of Faith's cheeks.
Eliza picked out a red tube top, black pants and a golden belt. She also picked out red boots. Nastashia drew the same tribal markings on Eliza.
"Now I'll bring you to the room you both will share."
They went up a flight of stairs to a room that looked like it used to be a conference room.
"This will be your room for the next three weeks. After that time if one of you would like a room to yourself you must talk to me I will see what I can do. There will be a meeting tomorrow at 10:00am. Be there on time. For now you can look in the supply room and get things for your room."
THE SAVED went out the door and down the street. They walked for awhile seeing nothing. After about half an hour of walking they saw a big group of people surrounding a telephone pole. Moonshine asked the rest of the group to stay behind and she cautiously walked up to the group and took a peek at what was happening. There was a girl tied to the telephone and people were taunting her and hitting her and throwing things at her. She was tall and thin with purple hair. She wore a long denim skirt with a tie-died belly shirt. She had a belly chain and a tattoo of a ring of purple flames around her belly button. She had one purple combat boot and one pink one. Moonshine went back to the tribe and told them what was happening.
"Is it okay if I stay behind and try to rescue her?" asked Moonshine "I'll be really careful and wait for everyone to leave. They are probably going to leave her there to die. I just can't let someone die that way if I can help."
Everyone nodded. Genesis told her the route they were going to take so she could catch up with them. Then the rest of the tribe walked off down the road. Moonshine waited for about two hours then the group got bored and moved on leaving the girl still tied up to the telephone pole. Moonshine waited a few minutes so she knew the group wasn't coming back and then went over and tried untying the girl. She failed many times until she finally stopped and looked in her backpack for anything sharp to cut the ropes. While she was looking she started talking to the girl.
"Hi! I'm Moonshine. What's your name?"
"Shannaria."
"What exactly did you do to them to make them tie you up?"
"Nothing. I was just walking around looking for a place to spend the night tonight when they saw me. I ran as fast as I could away from them but they still caught me. They tied me up and took my stuff." Moonshine found a knife in her backpack and started to cut the ropes. When she was done she helped Shannaria to untangle herself.
"What tribe are you from?" Moonshine asked.
"I don't have a tribe."
"Why don't you see if you can join mine? At the very least you can have a meal and a place to sleep tonight."
"Which tribe is yours?" asked Shannaria.
"The Saved" replied Moonshine.
"Why aren't you with your tribe?"
"Well we are looking for a new place to live and we walked by you and I decided to stay and try to help you. Now we need to catch up with them."