“Ben Raines.”
The little girl reached into a leather pouch on her belt and removed a plastic-covered picture. She compared the picture to the man then turned to face the large knot of young people, now hundreds strong. “It’s him!” she called.
The little girl fell to her knees and every boy and girl in the column followed suit. Ben stood open-mouthed, astonishment evident on his tanned, rugged features.
“What the hell?” Ben muttered.
Wade crawled toward Ben. Clearly embarrassed, Ben tried to motion the young man to his feet. But the young man would have none of that.
“Get up!” Ben whispered hoarsely. “What are you doing?”
With his eyes downcast, Wade called out, “All praise Ben Raines.”
“What!” Ben whispered, aware that his people were looking strangely at him.
“All praise Ben Raines,” the hundreds of young people echoed.
Ben lost his temper. “Now just a damn minute!” he yelled. “Everybody here-off your knees. Get up and face me.”
Ben handed his Thompson to Ike and the eyes of the young people all followed the shifting of the old SMG. More than a few sighed audibly. They now viewed Ike in a different light.
Ben motioned the young people up from their prostration, feeling a bit foolish as he did so.
Reluctantly, and with fear on their young faces, the kids rose to their feet.
“You young people do not worship me!” Ben said, his voice carrying over the crowd. “Nobody worships me. I won’t have it. It’s silly. Where in the world did you young folks get such an idea?”
“It… it is written,” Wade stammered out the reply. The seemingly fearless young man now seemed genuinely afraid standing facing Ben.
Ben looked hard at the young man. “Written? Where is it written that I am to be worshipped?”
“An old man told us,” Wade said. “I mean … he didn’t exactly say it like that, but he talked real funny-old-time like. And he said that to worship a false god was a sin in the eyes of the Lord. I told him that maybe that was so, but that there wasn’t but one man I would ever bow down to, and that was Mister Ben Raines.”
Ben nodded, and to the young people, the nod appeared sagely. Irritation flashed across Ben’s face. “Was the man’s name the Prophet?”
The crowd of young people drew back, as if much afraid. They knotted together, touching, seeking comfort by physical contact.
“Yes,” Wade said, standing his ground, but looking very much like he would rather cut and run.
Ben looked at the young spokesman. “What did he say or do when you told him that?”
“He… said that perhaps you… Ben Raines … might be the man to do the job at hand. But that on your head would lie the … the con-con-was he struggled with the unfamiliar word-“the consequences should you try but fail.”
“All right. Now tell me this, young man. What do you think the old man meant by that?”
A look of confusion passed over the young man’s face. He finally shrugged his shoulders. “That you are a god-what else?”
“He was wrong,” Ben said. “And you are wrong in thinking you should worship me.”
“No, sir.” Wade’s reply was softly given, just audible
to Ben’s ear. “No, sir, I don’t think so. Arid none of the people who are with me think so, neither. Mister Ben Raines, I have traveled all over this land,” Wade stated. “I have been to both big waters, east to west. I have been from Canada down to Texas, and I have personally seen with my own eyes what some people have built in reverence to you.”
Ben stirred. Those rock and stone monuments he had heard about but never seen. He did not know how to reply to Wade. A strange emotion moved deep within him. Stirred, turned, then became still as Ben took a deep, calming breath.
Wade said, “You have many, many followers, Mister Ben Raines. We are but a few of them. You have people who revere you living in small pockets all over this nation. But for the most part they are afraid to leave the safety of their tunnels and caves.”
Tunnels and caves! Ben thought. We have people in this nation who are living in tunnels and caves? A society of darkness?
Wade said, “Those people would join you, sir. But they are afraid.”
Afraid of whom? Ben thought. Or what? “When did all this start?” Ben asked.
Again, Wade shrugged his shoulders. “I … don’t know, Mister Ben Raines. Right after the war come to us, I reckon. Long time, judging from the age of some of the tributes to you.”
“How did you and your … group avoid President Logan’s relocation efforts and Al Cody’s agents all these years?”
Wade smiled. “We know the ways of the mountains and the deep timber, Mister Ben Raines. We are as
much at home in the wilderness as you are in your house. Have you ever tried to capture sunlight or a moonbeam and hold it in your hand?”
Ben returned the smile. He liked this young but very tough and capable young man. He felt Wade and his people would be good allies. “No, I haven’t attempted to do that, Wade. I should imagine it would be very difficult.”
“Yes, Mister Ben Raines. Very difficult.”
“We are going to the east, Wade. Moving over into Tennessee and Georgia and North Carolina. Would you and your people care to join us?”
“That is why we are here, Mister Ben Raines. And that is why Ro and his people have come.”
“Ro?”
Wade pointed to the second column of boys and girls. And to a tall young man who stood at the forefront. “Ro.”
Ben nodded and stepped toward Ro. He extended his hand, but the young man backed away, refusing to accept the gesture of friendship.
“It is not permitted, Mister Ben Raines,” Ro told him.
“What is not permitted?” Ben asked, an edge to his voice as he became slightly irritated.
Ro looked at him and smiled a secret smile. “It is as the old man said: You do not yet know who you are. But still, it is not permitted.”
He bowed and turned to his people. He said something Ben could not understand. The language sounded very much like pidgin English.
Dear God, Ben thought. Have we reverted to this-already!
Ro turned again to Ben. “We accept your invitation to join your following. We will follow you wherever you lead. For now, where do you want us to camp?”
“Bed them down, Buck,” Ben said. He looked at Wade. “This is Sergeant Osgood. He’ll show you where to bunk and then we get you bathed and fed and clothed and have our medical people look you over.”
“We are at your command, Mister Ben Raines,” Wade said. He turned to his group and spoke to them in the same pidgin English Ro had used. The young people turned, falling into a loose formation. Ben stood and watched them march off, following a clearly embarrassed Buck Osgood.
“I feel like a damned pied piper,” Buck said.
The same strange ritual was conducted by Ro, making Ben feel more set-apart than ever. He knew, felt a very dangerous precedent being set, or had already been set on this day. But how to combat it? He didn’t know. But he knew he had to come up with something very quickly.
“For a god,” Gale said, walking to Ben’s side, “you have some pretty good moves in the sack, Ben. Did you learn all that on the slopes of Olympus?”
Ben almost choked on his cigarette. “Jesus, Gale! I didn’t find it amusing.”
“I didn’t either, Ben. What are you going to do about it?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Tunnels and caves, Ben?”
“That’s what the young man said.” He looked at Cecil and Ike and Juan and Mark. “Any of you people ever hear about a subterranean culture that worships me?”
“Nothing, Ben,” Cecil said. But Cecil could never lie worth a damn.