The Salvation State by Marcus Damanda

Author:Marcus Damanda
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: scifi, suspense, young adult, science fiction, teen, series, ya, dystopian, new adult, editors pick
Publisher: Evernight Teen

Chapter Thirteen

Ghosts and the Vigilant

The banner bar read: Rebecca on the Run. Televisions across the country showed it, along with a timer that counted up instead of down. On Saturday at almost two in the afternoon, it stated 0 Days, 11 Hours, 38 Minutes.

Ruth had everything set up and ready to go before the first media trucks arrived. Now, as the news crews clustered respectfully behind the tape barrier that separated them from the vigil, she prepared for her first interview. She checked her appearance in the door mirror of a police cruiser and went through the questions she would provide the correspondent, running down the list with a critical finger.

She peered over the paper at the drama she had orchestrated.

At every possible point that Rebecca might eventually emerge out of the New Sinai woods, the residents of Damascus Teenage Retreat were stationed. She’d managed to conscript dozens of the boys from Prodigal Sons as well. By camera time, most of the signs and posters for the makeshift vigil had already been finished. They were now held aloft, their words broadcast through all the major networks.

Praying for you, Rebecca!

You are not alone.

Rebecca, come home!

And, most importantly: Rebecca, you are not forgotten.

“Not” was in bold as well as capitals. It was by no design of Angel Island, nor by any of the Second Salvations community, that the children who were taken there came to be known as the “Forgottens.” It was another casualty of unregulated Internet chaos, a term that had randomly taken hold ten years ago or so.

It tainted their image, even though everyone knew the vast majority of the so-called “Forgottens” had nowhere else to go. It conjured fear, when what ought to make people afraid was the prospect of so many kids let loose on the street without guidance.

For the most part, people were appreciative. They were doing the Lord’s work, and on a nonprofit basis at that. But there were some—a statistically insignificant number, it must be said—for whom the term “Forgottens” led their estimations of Second Salvations camps dangerously close to the truth.

I will turn this story, she said to herself over and over again. This will be the best thing that has happened to us in years.

For the next several hours, the kids who were holding signs—carefully chosen from among the crowd, and just as carefully prepped—would talk to the cameras. At night, if she should stay in the woods for so long, there would be candles for Rebecca and her parents. And all throughout, there would be prayers and the singing of hymns. The cameras would not see Rebecca herself until she gave up, though it would have been easy to show her. It might even be a good move to show her without seizing her, making a grand display of Angel Island’s benevolence.

But there was inside work too. DC was handling that. Poor little Rebecca had no idea what was in store for her if she should make them wait beyond nightfall.

It started to rain.

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