“We remember the bad days, we remember the end. While I was doing that watching, listening, and thinking, I could tell. People are scared.”

His tanned face was expressive as he emphasized words like ‘end’ and ‘scared’, lines crinkling in around his eyes, betraying him as thirty-something. He gripped the podium as he talked.

“All through the city, through the many worlds, people are scared shitless. Bad days are coming. Everyone knows it. You know it, am I right?”

There was a more vocal response.

“Yeah, you know it,” he said, his chin rising a bit. “You fucking know it. Sorry parents, you can cover your kids’ ears if you’re shy, but this is how I talk. Honest. I’m gonna be honest with you.”

Rain looked at Bryce and the woman he sat with. She wasn’t covering Bryce’s ears.

He looked at Erin, and saw how tense she was.

The speaker continued, “You’re scared and you’re scared with good reason. It’s going to get messy. People are going to die. People are going to deal with worse than death, because that’s where we’re at. That’s how it is in the worlds we dwell in. It’s inevitable.”

He remained where he was, lean muscular arms bristling with sun-bleached hair as he gripped the altar, letting that hang there.

“We’re gonna be okay,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “I memorized a passage. This king Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. Then Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land.”

He pulled his hand away from the edge of the altar and struck it with his hand.

“You know what that says to me? It says you get in our way, you pick a fight with us? You’d best be prepared for the edge of our fucking swords. You’d best be prepared for us to take possession of your land. Do not get in our way, am I right!?”

There was a vocal response.

He raised his voice to be heard as he preached, “Cover your kids ears if you’re raising pussies, parents, but I’m going to say things that gotta be said, and if your kids haven’t heard this yet, you’re doing something wrong. This is the credo we live by. There are fuckers and there are the fucked, and we are fuckers of the highest order!”

Cheers. Bryce reacted, joining in. Erin started to move, to enter the church, and Rain stopped her. He glanced around to make sure nobody had seen.

“We are right and we are righteous!”

Cheers.

“We saw the end, we preached the end, and we survived the end!”

Some people stood from the pews, which forced others to stand if they wanted to see.