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“Then it’s our choice. What is yours?” Travis asked firmly. “Are you staying or going?”

Mary clenched her hands at her side. Around her, the followers that had made their stand with her looked uncertain and looked to her anxiously.

“We will not stay and bear the judgment of the fornicators, idolaters, and pagans. ”

“Fine then,” Bill said. “I bet we could give them some supplies and a few vehicles, couldn’t we?”

“I don’t see why not,” Nerit said in her ever so calm voice.

“Any objections?” Travis asked. He felt a little calmer now that most of the fort had sided against the extremists.

No one raised their hand.

“Then we will be leaving immediately,” Mary said firmly.

Her tall, imposing husband nodded his head grimly and motioned to the others to leave. Slowly, the thirty or so people filed out of the room.

“We have seen the enemy,” Eric whispered, moving closer to Travis.

“Yeah,” Travis whispered back. “Yeah. ”

It took a few minutes for things to settle down. Slowly, some sort of calm returned. Juan kissed his kids and moved up to help set up the large maps and plans they had prepared. He looked pale and grim.

Travis returned his gaze to the people staring up at him and took a deep breath. “The fort is about life. It’s about a new beginning. It’s about building a new world out of the old. It’s about not making the same mistakes of the past. We may not always get along or share the same opinions about things like religion or ethics or what have you, but we gotta respect one another or we’re going to rot away at our core and end up destroying everything we have no

w. And what we got is a chance to fight for what is ours and to keep growing stronger. I am not a perfect man. I am. . . yeah. . . a sinner. I fall short of the mark a lot. But I believe in a God that will honor those who work hard to do what is best for everyone. I think He…or She…whatever you believe God is…has been helping us along. I’m not a highly religious man, I admit to that, but I believe in the goodness of the human heart and the integrity of the human spirit. And I think God does, too. ”

Tears stung his eyes as he finished and he took a deep breath as applause filled his ears. A few black women shouted, “Preach it!” A few old fogies said, “Amen. ”

“So let’s get to planning and doing and let the good Lord lead us on,”

Travis said.

He caught sight of a few women waving their rosaries at him and the Hindu people smiled at him. The lone Muslim gave him a thumbs up and the one person from Mary’s group who had chosen to stay behind gave him a firm, stern nod. Beside him Katie was smiling proudly and he felt himself blushing.

“I’m going to turn this over to Kevin now,” Travis said and stepped back.

He felt relieved to some degree and smiled over at Eric, who nodded with approval.

Juan held up the first poster board and Kevin stepped forward. “Now, this is what we have to do…”

3. The Unexpected Guest

Nerit felt bone weary as she entered her small hotel room that she now considered her home. Her old dog was asleep next to the bed, snoring loudly. He was sleeping more and more in his old age and she didn’t blame him.

Kevin lingered in the doorway, watching her with some concern. She favored her leg as she walked now that she was out of view of the fort populace. She always made sure that no one could see how much her arthritic hip hurt her. It was important to her that people see her as indestructible, to trust her and her abilities.

“We should get you some medicine for that,” Kevin said after a beat.

“Hospitals aren’t safe,” Nerit answered as she sat down in the large recliner tucked into the corner of the room and slowly exhaled.

Leaning against the open door, Kevin shook his head at her. “You’re a bull-headed woman. ”

“Yes, I am. ” Nerit smiled.

Her old dog woke up and tottered over to her and laid his head on her knee. Scratching him behind the ears, Nerit slowly relaxed into the chair.

“Makes it hard to take care of you. ”