Chapter 91
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On her walk home Eve called her father, let him know she was okay. He told her not to come to work today, just go home and stay safe. When she got home she was alone. Eve almost wished Karen was here. Then Eve realized she didt't know where her step-mother was. She called Karen's cellphone. Karen also said she was safe, would stay with a friend tonight. Eve could actually hear the other boy's voice on the other end. Karen and Zack hadn't even been married three months and she was already cheating on him. Eve turned on the news. She was afraid what it would say, but felt she had to know these things. There had already been seven shootings in elemantary schools today. Many schools were evacuated, it was unclear if there might be more shootings. All these shootings were inspired by the lunatic preacher named Samuel. They wanted to protect these children from being corrupted by an ever-increasingly evil world and send them to Heaven. It was unclear if these attacks were coordinated or not. These killers might have been inspired by halloween. They thought this was based on ancient pagan sacrifices, felt children were more subseptible to Satan on this night. Samuel was still in hiding, posting his sermons on youtube. There might've been more killings today because it was halloween, but others might come later. 993 days until impact. It was becoming less likely that Eve would survive that long. That night Eve was checking her e-mails. One sender she didn't recognize. Despite her parents' warnings Eve opened it. It was a video, one of Samuel's sermons. Apparently recent, the preacher praised the school shootings.
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Samuel: My friends, I know it is hard to look into an innocent child's eyes and end it's life. But this is ultimately to protect these children. A parishoner once asked me, how could God kill the first-born of Egypt? The alternative would've been to let them grow up in an evil society that practiced slavery and human sacrifice. They would've become corrupted and damned. This was not the cold blooded murder of his enemies, this was protecting innocent children. It is not a coincidence that for thousands of years less civilized and immoral societies sufferred higher instances of infant mortality. Some now compare our actions to those of the nazies or suicide bombers. I do not know what was on the minds of those individuals. If they knew that they were ultimately sending those children to Heaven, God rewarded them. But if they thought they were sending those children to oblivion, or Hell, God punished them. Therefore, I encourage all to spare these innocent children from evil. Send them into God's loving arms and he will reward your struggle.
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School resumed on Tuesday. Security increased to prevent shootings. The guards checked Eve's bag. Because she had no weapons they let her keep the contraband. Ten school shootings in one day, and the preacher who inspired it was still at large. Eve remembered hearing of a few hootings, even before 2/4. America had experienced school shootings since 1764. But never had this many happenned all at once. There were rumore that president Mason would take certain measuers to prevent future attacks. Heavier monitoring of suspected terrorists, ending all private ownership of fire-arms, blocking the media from supporting Samual's crusade. Eve couldn't understand any journalist supporting a preacher whose goal was the murder of children. Amy feared some of this could lead to the suppression of opposition groups that posed no threat of violence. Eve understood her friend's logic, but over 100 children had been slaughtered in a few hours, all over the country. Having seen some of those children's bodies o the news, Eve was fine with Mason doing whatever he had to do to prevent more tragedies.