for you.”
“Were they grey robes? With blue?”
“Yeah,” she said. “You saw them?”
“I think so. Right before I was attacked the second time.”
She looked at him, confused. “Second-”
“The crazies attacked me once, tried to grab me, but I managed to get away. That’s when I came across the men you just described and while I was watching them, the crazies came back and took me to where I was when the men showed up to rescue me. Did the guys in the robes tell you what they were doing?”
“No,” she said, “and I didn’t ask.”
“I don’t like it,” he said.
“Right, you already said that. But what don’t you like, Elliot? They’re nice and friendly and-”
“But don’t you feel it? Like there’s something we’re not seeing, something under how nice and friendly they are? I keep getting images in my head, Evajean, like there’s a sickness here I haven’t found yet.”
“That’s crazy.”
“What’s crazy? Those people in the street we saw? The boy we ran into? Those crazy fucks who kidnapped me, took me to that cave? The whole world’s crazy now and it’s been crazy for, goddamn, for a long time.” He turned to face her directly, grabbing her shoulders. “You know what those guys you found were doing in the woods? With their table? Some kind of ritual, is what. I saw them, setting a chest on that table and putting a rock in a hat. One of them stuck his face in that hat and then he lead them all to goddamn buried treasure . What do you think these people do here, with their church and their shelves of Bibles? It’s a cult, Evajean. That’s why they’re so happy. Everyone in cults is always so happy.”
“Elliot-”
“Until they kill themselves or put poison gas in the subways. Shit, the one I talked to after they rescued me, he called what they did to the crazies in the cave-and you should’ve seen what they did except you don’t really want to, trust me-he said it was ‘blood atonement.’ How friendly and helpful is that?”
29
“I’m sure you heard it wrong.”
“They killed people with shovels, Evajean.”
She sighed, loud and annoyed. “What did you want them to do?” she said. “Leave you there in that- was it a cave? In that cave?”
Elliot couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t getting it. Frustrated, he stood up and inspected the books on the shelf. The Pearl of Great Price. The Doctrine and Covenants. “Look at this,” he said, taking one and holding it out to her.
“So they’re Mormons,” she said. “So what? There are a lot of them. They’re like Presbyterians.”
“I don’t like it,” he said again. He dropped the Book of Mormon onto the couch and sat down. “Aren’t they the polygamists?”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “They don’t do that anymore.”
The dog nuzzled up against his thigh and whined. “You need to take him out,” Evajean told him. “No matter what these people are into, I don’t think they’ll appreciate our dog pooping on their floor.”
Elliot gathered up the dog and carried it out to the garden in the front of the house. He let it roam while he looked over the town, trying to pin down what exactly had him so on edge. The violence, yes, but wasn’t that expected? You can’t fight off a cave full of crazies without drawing some blood. The blood atonement comment, however, was out of place even there-and clearly ominous. It could be a religious thing, maybe, now that he knew that’s what this community was about. Mormons were friendly people, though. He’d had them stop by his door, young kids overdressed for the heat, with funny tags indicating he should call them “Elder.” He’d chatted with them briefly, politely, and they hadn’t come across as any odder than the Jehovah’s Witnesses passing out Watchtowers or Girl Scouts selling cookies.
He could see some of them, walking through Nahom, carrying baskets or armfuls of firewood. The town was like an Amish place he’d visited with
“Were they grey robes? With blue?”
“Yeah,” she said. “You saw them?”
“I think so. Right before I was attacked the second time.”
She looked at him, confused. “Second-”
“The crazies attacked me once, tried to grab me, but I managed to get away. That’s when I came across the men you just described and while I was watching them, the crazies came back and took me to where I was when the men showed up to rescue me. Did the guys in the robes tell you what they were doing?”
“No,” she said, “and I didn’t ask.”
“I don’t like it,” he said.
“Right, you already said that. But what don’t you like, Elliot? They’re nice and friendly and-”
“But don’t you feel it? Like there’s something we’re not seeing, something under how nice and friendly they are? I keep getting images in my head, Evajean, like there’s a sickness here I haven’t found yet.”
“That’s crazy.”
“What’s crazy? Those people in the street we saw? The boy we ran into? Those crazy fucks who kidnapped me, took me to that cave? The whole world’s crazy now and it’s been crazy for, goddamn, for a long time.” He turned to face her directly, grabbing her shoulders. “You know what those guys you found were doing in the woods? With their table? Some kind of ritual, is what. I saw them, setting a chest on that table and putting a rock in a hat. One of them stuck his face in that hat and then he lead them all to goddamn buried treasure . What do you think these people do here, with their church and their shelves of Bibles? It’s a cult, Evajean. That’s why they’re so happy. Everyone in cults is always so happy.”
“Elliot-”
“Until they kill themselves or put poison gas in the subways. Shit, the one I talked to after they rescued me, he called what they did to the crazies in the cave-and you should’ve seen what they did except you don’t really want to, trust me-he said it was ‘blood atonement.’ How friendly and helpful is that?”
29
“I’m sure you heard it wrong.”
“They killed people with shovels, Evajean.”
She sighed, loud and annoyed. “What did you want them to do?” she said. “Leave you there in that- was it a cave? In that cave?”
Elliot couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t getting it. Frustrated, he stood up and inspected the books on the shelf. The Pearl of Great Price. The Doctrine and Covenants. “Look at this,” he said, taking one and holding it out to her.
“So they’re Mormons,” she said. “So what? There are a lot of them. They’re like Presbyterians.”
“I don’t like it,” he said again. He dropped the Book of Mormon onto the couch and sat down. “Aren’t they the polygamists?”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “They don’t do that anymore.”
The dog nuzzled up against his thigh and whined. “You need to take him out,” Evajean told him. “No matter what these people are into, I don’t think they’ll appreciate our dog pooping on their floor.”
Elliot gathered up the dog and carried it out to the garden in the front of the house. He let it roam while he looked over the town, trying to pin down what exactly had him so on edge. The violence, yes, but wasn’t that expected? You can’t fight off a cave full of crazies without drawing some blood. The blood atonement comment, however, was out of place even there-and clearly ominous. It could be a religious thing, maybe, now that he knew that’s what this community was about. Mormons were friendly people, though. He’d had them stop by his door, young kids overdressed for the heat, with funny tags indicating he should call them “Elder.” He’d chatted with them briefly, politely, and they hadn’t come across as any odder than the Jehovah’s Witnesses passing out Watchtowers or Girl Scouts selling cookies.
He could see some of them, walking through Nahom, carrying baskets or armfuls of firewood. The town was like an Amish place he’d visited with
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