The Rescue of the Bride

Book 1 – Out of the Darkness
“Isaac, slow down! What did the Council say?”
“I don’t have much time. Justice is dead. The Council moved swiftly knowing we were splintered.”
“How can he be dead? Isaac? Are you leaving?”
“I am afraid so.”
“Please, slow down; I can barely keep up! What did they say?”
“Here. It’s a copy of the Act. They are creating cities for us – reservations would be a better word. You know as well as I do that this was their goal all along. Now they can wipe their hands of us – separate us completely from the populace.”
“You mean everyone must go?”
“Only those deemed dangerous. You will have to stay.”
“Eight years. This is all I know. I don’t think I can go back to –”
“You won’t. There are many here who are still loyal. I promise we will find someone you can stay with.”
“Will I ever see you again?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where will you go?”
“North. They gave us a two mile square on the Pacific – only twelve thousand can go –”
“But there is double that in Sapphire! What about the rest?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they will be granted land elsewhere. I wish I could do more, but if we don’t leave now, we will lose our lot.”
“Who are you taking?”
“Conner will shepherd us and Lloyd will lead. I believe Porter and Fair are coming. The Good Doctor will help run the government hospital.”
“Is he administering the tracking dyes? Is it true that everyone will be marked?”
“Yes, he injected me this morning. I wish I could tell you more, but we must go.”
“Isaac, promise me you will never tell him. I could never live with myself if somehow my existence lead to–”
“I promise.”

Chapter 1
Still. That is how my mother described it to me. The feeling when I sit alone in the woods; my eyes focused blindly on a distant shadow as my senses devour the terrain in search of my quarry. As I sit, motionless, barely breathing, I can feel my heart rate, the steady flow of blood through my veins. Any slight sound or flash of movement and my eyes dart toward the disturbance without moving another muscle.
Still. It is the feeling I long for after an exhausting day. When all I desire is to sit in my favorite chair and melt into the cushions, daring not to move, or even breathe deeply, afraid I might disrupt this feeling of bliss. You see, this is what I fight for and fight against. When my mind and body become worn out from the daily struggle of merely existing, I long for stillness. When this stillness comes, I can only stand its presence for so long before I become restless and long for some sort of movement, the next challenge.
“Be still, Sardis,” Mom would say when we would have our quiet time in the mornings. “If you want to see God working in your life, you must be still. Faith is born of trust, and trust is found solely in God’s presence. Only then will He reveal to you the assurance of all you hope for, and the certainties of what you cannot yet see.” We were both hunters, called to help provide food for the people of our community. She was the best. She was my mentor and my closest friend.
My eyes fix upon a brown mass hidden in the thick undergrowth. My breathing quickens as my focus slides from branch to branch. An outline of the mass begins to take shape. I shift my weight and tighten the grip on my rifle.
“Pffh,” I exhale and release the tension from my chest as I realize it is the same stump that initiated a similar response ten minutes earlier. I chuckle quietly to myself. I wonder if Mom had ever been this anxious on her slow days.
I close my eyes and take in a deep breath of the fresh forest air. I catch the faint smell of salt from the Pacific and glance over the tops of the pine trees at the blue horizon. Between those pines and the ocean lies our town. At one time it was called Chinook Falls, in southwestern Oregon. After the Relocation Act of 2320, all the locals were forced to move south to Sapphire City. Our denomination settled here. It is a beautiful place, nestled between the ocean and the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. My great-grandfather, Isaac Alexander, was part of the original 12,000 who recolonized the town and named it Shiloh. There were about 144,000 who settled throughout the Northwest Territory, but now the three or so thousand left in our town are all that remain. It is God’s grace and our location that spared us from the spread of the virus.