They were all in Lisa's house, which had become the haven for believers for two reasons. One: Lisa was an inspiration to them, because she was the first to get injured for Christ and she was also the author of the journals, and two: Her house was huge, with a basement that could be, and had been, converted into a Church. Lisa's dad was a minister of the local church before it got shut down, so they could have service Sunday's and Wednesday's without a problem. The techies were in charge of projecting the words of songs and power points that went along with the message on the screen, the musician's of the group led the worship, and their were regular human videos.
The regular services had been going on for four months without incident by the grace of God. But sometimes, Satan gets his way.
It was a Wednesday service, and all the believers were relishing in the presence of God when the door was broken open and police officers stormed in. It wasn't the first time they had come. Everybody knew Mr. Beldon's job, and the most logical place to hold secret services was the Beldon house for its large size. However, the times before someone had seen then coming, so they were able to abruptly halt the service and look like they were doing something else, usually watching a movie that was carefully non-Christian. This time they had been caught doing something illegal, and their was no way to hide it. They were all arrested then and their, and Susan and Alex's computers were confiscated for evidence.
"You are being arrested on the charge of illegal Christian worship. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…" The chief of police started reading them their rights, while the other officers were slapping hand cuff on their wrists.
"Lord, help us!" Was the thought of the small band of Christians, who, even though it wasn't mentioned, had the right to be terrified. All of the high-schoolers looked towards Mr. Beldon, their spiritual leader, to see that he was crying silently, but they also saw his lips moving in a silent prayer. That was enough to give them some grain of hope, as was Eva's next action.
Silently, almost so silently they weren't sure if they were really hearing it, Eva started to hum. Joe, who was closest to her, recognized it and picked it up. Soon all of them started humming, which turned into singing. It was a song that gave them great comfort considering the words of the song.
Amazing, grace, how sweet, the sound
That saved, a wretch, like me!
I once, was lost, but now I'm found.
Was blind, but now, I see!"
Quiet!" The chief of police offered.
"It's been a while, Brad." Mr. Beldon said. "We've missed you in church."
"I said quiet!" The officer, now known to be Brad, one of the ushers at the church, yelled. The small band ceased their song, but it had done its job; it gave them peace. And their wasn't one person in the band of believers that didn't sing it in his or her mind. So, in cuffs and before the eyes of the entire town, not to mention the news cameras, the small church was led into the squad cars. They went quietly, for the most part.
At the site of the news cameras, Angel, ever the evangelist, screamed, "Jesus is the only way to salvation! Accept him into your hearts and join the family of believers!" That comment got a rousing "Amen!" from her friends. Even in this situation, the Lord was there, even though he didn't free them from their imprisonment, He did give them a way to spread His message through Angel; who had taken advantage of five words the reporter said as they were being herded out: 'We're coming to you live…'.
At the station, they were searched and interrogated. When the officer's had searched Susan and Alex, they found the pocket-sized devices that enabled access to their computers from anywhere.
"What's this?" A female cop asked Susan.
"A pen-drive."
"Never seen a pen-drive like this. They usually don't have so many buttons."
"It's specially designed."
"By whom?"
"A friend of mine."
"The boy who had an identical device?"
"Yes." She hadn't told a lie. Alex really had made them, and an alternative use for them was as a pen-drive.
"You know that we could easily find out if your lying."
"Then I guess it's a good thing I'm telling the truth." The cop then pulled out her laptop and turned it on, only to find out that everything on there was password protected.
"What's the password?"
"Which one?"
"To access the computer!"
"If I told you, that would defeat the purpose of having a password, now wouldn't it.
"You said 'which one?', how many passwords are their?"
"One for every document."
"And you expect me to believe you know all of them?"
"That's your choice, but I won't tell you my passwords."
"Listen, kid, if you cooperate, this will go a lot smoother."
In other interrogation rooms, the others were going through similar problems.
Allis, the youngest and most vulnerable of the group, was in tears because her interrogator had grilled her so hard and asked so many questions in so many different ways trying to make her contradict herself.
After hours of this, they were all thrown into different cells.
"Is everyone all right?" Lisa asked.
"Tiered, and I have a huge headache, but other than that I'm all right." Alex answered. Allis only nodded.
"Allis? Are you all right?" Mrs. Beldon asked, seeing the girl's expression.
"I'm fine." Allis whispered.
"Wait, where's Susan?"" Alex asked, worried for his childhood friend.
"I don't know, I thought she was in here." Lisa said.
"She doesn't handle police stations very well. Before she started making fire walls, she turned herself in for her crimes. She served her time, which would have been longer, but the judge gave her a lighter ruling because she was a minor and she had turned herself in willingly. But ever since then she's had a huge fear of police officers." Alex said somberly.
Five minutes later, half an hour after they had been put into cells, Susan was brought in and thrown none-to-gently in her cell.
"Maybe next time you'll be more cooperative." The officer told her before walking. But before they could ask Susan if she was okay, the chief walked in.
"We've just received word from the Governer that we don't have to be gentle to you Christians." He said coldly before turning around and walking out.
"Susan, are you okay?" Alex asked.
"Lord, help me!" She cried before breaking down in tears.
"What happened?" Lisa asked after the outburst was over.
"I wouldn't tell them what they wanted to know. They wanted to access my computer, but I didn't give them the passwords."
"I gave the wrong password and the hard-drive blew, now even I can't turn it on until it's fixed and then reformatted and I do a lot of other stuff to it." Alex said.
"Mine doesn't do that, so I can't give them the passwords, it's essential!" Lisa said, her fear evident.
"Because of the power points?" Lisa asked, not sure why those would be that big a deal, but still, you never know.
"Our computers have programs on them that haven't been designed yet. That's why we always insisted you didn't look when we turned them on and continue to not look until we've put up what we wanted."
"It's also why I made the site on your computer, Lisa."
"Well what can you do? You heard what Brad said, they can beat us up and get away with it if we don't cooperate." Allis said.
"Let's ask God for guidance." Mr. Beldon said quietly. That was an idea that they could all agree with, so they took turns praying out loud, asking the Lord for strength to bring them through this ordeal.
Then, Eva started to sing the song 'I Am Free', and they all picked up the chorus.
I am free to run!
I am free to run!
I am free to dance!
I am free to dance!
I am free to live for You!
I am free to live for You!
I am free!
I am free!
AN: Well, I hope that this satisfies any anger that you might have with me for not updating in so long. All disclaimers apply
