Journey

The servants of Satan and his brethren are devouring each other. Truly, this is a sign that the time for God’s will to be done is drawing near. 

Thus, I find myself here, beginning a new post once more. Perhaps it is finally time to tell our tale.

I remember when young Laura’s family first joined the congregation. They were so full of the light of God. It was not long after their arrival that God spoke to me, not just in spirit but physically through the Holy Bible. As I was selecting passages for the next service, I turned the pages of the sacred text only to discover one that had not been there before, yet was part of the book as surely as any other page. I felt the presence of God as words began to appear on this page, telling me of the coming trials; that we had been chosen and that Satan would soon be at our door. I tried to guide my flock, to ready them as best I could for the battle ahead. 

Some of them departed; confused by the change in the mass. They refused to hear the new word of our Lord and believed me to be, at best, overzealous and at worst, mad. I was saddened by their departure but I could not leave the faithful unprepared. Still others, hearing of my new teachings, joined to take their place.  We agreed upon a plan and a meeting point in case we were separated. In the meantime, I made provisions for us. I am ashamed to say that I took money from the church for an emergency fund along with food and basic supplies but I felt it was better spent protecting the followers. 

Those who listened to me were devout in their faith and kept perfect attendance at church until the fateful evening came. One of the ones who had left before came bursting into the church in the middle of the mass. He was bleeding, terrified and begging for help because the devil was after him. I knew it was time to leave. I calmly told the flock to gather the supplies from the church’s storage room, get into their cars and leave. While they were occupied with that task, the lost sheep approached me, still begging for my help. Tucking the Holy Bible under one arm, I used the other to support him, trying to get him out to my car. We were almost there when he was torn from my grasp. Satan stood before me, the poor lost soul caught in his unholy limbs. I commanded the devil to relinquish the soul and to leave us, in the name of God.  His filthy limbs snapped outward, ripping the man apart. I felt I would faint but I continued to pray, stopping only to yell at those who were running towards us in an attempt to help me to follow the plan themselves. Satan stood silently watching me. Once everyone was on their way, I got into my car and followed. Satan did not, or perhaps could not, interfere further.

We drove late into the night until we reached our meeting point. We slept in our cars and in shifts so that there was someone on guard. That was our plan. I awoke to the screams of my flock. Jerome, the one who had been keeping guard when I fell asleep was gone. In his place there was a bag. Someone had cut it open, releasing what I can only assume to be his remains onto the ground. In mourning and terror we fled, trying to keep as close together as possible. This was a terrible mistake. 

We were followed, not by Satan but by his children. We had scarce made camp when they attacked; eager to serve their vile master. Knowing that simple weapons would do nothing against Satan, we had only brought two shotguns and some hunting knives with the expectation of needing to catch our food when the supplies ran out. As such, they were packed away in the cars when we were attacked. There was such confusion that came on so suddenly, that I cannot tell you what happened or from whence our attackers came; only that we were unprepared for a human threat and so we could only run when the sounds of gunfire broke out. 

Two died trying to protect their children; Laura and Christopher, the parents of young Laura and Lacey. I remember Laura shielded her daughters with her body as she pushed them into my car. Then she lurched forward and fell back, dead. She had been shot. I drove forward, yelling at the two screaming girls to shut the open car door. They did so even as they cried that their parents might still be alive. I tore off down the road with the others. It was then that Satan appeared before my car. In a moment of panic, I swerved. We avoided him, but the car behind mine did not. They were wrenched from the road and thrown. God forgive me, we could not stop. I can only pray that they died swiftly. I contacted those who were left; ordering them to scatter. Our meet point would be the same but we could not all take the same route as we were too easily followed that way.

The attack had left us with less supplies and with the realization that we needed weapons. When we finally met up again, after the wounded had been tended to, it was agreed that we would sell off my car to help cover the cost. One of my flock members spoke up to say that he had family with less than savory connections. He would take my car to them and trade it for what we needed. I was unsure of whether to trust him, but we were desperate and I did not know how we would acquire what we needed otherwise, so I agreed. He and some of his family met us at the next meeting point, as promised. We did not get much, but it was better than what we had. 

Soon after, God spoke to me through the sacred text once again, telling me that we had to travel to the island in the east of the country. We agreed to split the funds and supplies and to split into groups, each would travel in different directions at first, but eventually converge on the chosen land. My group arrived first. The remaining vehicles were either sold or hidden depending on their condition after we arrived. We tried to do what we could to ensure we had money for basics like food for however long it took to enact the next step. We took to living out of an abandoned building while we made our plans. It would be a horrible risk, but we had no other choice. We had not yet reached our true destination. Still, we kept faith that God would guide and protect us. In the meantime, we had not seen Satan or his cursed servants since we arrived on the island, so we thought we would be safe enough to take some time to rest and heal and mourn. That was foolishness on my part. I truly blame myself for what happened.

Forced to scatter and regroup, we realized that we could wait no longer, so we rushed to our destination. We paid the owner of a small tour boat to bring us where we needed to go. We could not afford to give him much, but being a devout man himself, he agreed to take us and vowed silence. Again, I was unsure as to how trustworthy he was. Thankfully, his heart was open to the light of God and after hearing the new word of our Lord, he told us he would return with his family, which he did.

It was not easy. There was much work to be done if we were to survive and we had to consider our limited supplies but we could all feel that we were home. We created a protective border around our new home by building crosses and placing them in four corners with a St. Benedict Medal hung on each. I blessed some water, to make it Holy and sprinkled it between each cross. We took advantage of the isolation to train with the weapons we had. We also worked to repair the buildings that stood abandoned here when we arrived and to erect a greenhouse with which to grow food. This took time, however and sheltered though our home was by the landscape, the winter was harsh. The members of my flock that the foul child of Satan and her associates murdered before they could reach the island were to bring extra supplies with them. As such, if the owner of the boat had not come with us I don’t think we would have survived. He pooled his money with what little we had left and brought supplies back that kept us going.

We faced another trial when the sickness came but through our suffering we kept our faith and soon enough we found ourselves rewarded. Since that time, we have not felt hunger as the Lord has nourished us. We still grow food to eat but it is not needed by us like it once was. Instead, the bulk of it has been given to those who have since joined us here, for they are not yet as we.

God has spoken to us, His will shall be done.