The Crest

Vark had a picture in his mind about how it all ended for the Antisis: glory, rape, pillaging, gore and finally — victory. He’d be praised back east for his reporting.

But it didn’t work out that way, in fact he knew better than to write a story in his head before the climax.

He contemplated the circumstances. The Antisis lost but now what? Now, rogue militias seemed to pop up everywhere. The Shift grew worse.

He’d covered the battle along the Crest and then followed the leader up here in the hills. Still, in this church near Yakima, there represented an odd mix of people. Twenty Antisis fighters, including the Commander sat in the pews at the front of the church. How fucking bizarre, Vark thought. They’d escaped FORC and the lethal ethylene gas. They were still in shock from the loss of 10,000 fighters, a stunning setback, and now, it was... blowback time. The Antisis looked nervous.

Sitting behind them were some one-hundred odd Nature Liberation Assembly members. Scattered in the mix were Antisis sympathizers, as well as the Crefor deserters, Markus, Beatrice, and Vera. They’d all escaped the enclave and arrived here, in one of Rose’s churches.

Positioned at the pulpit in front of the congregation was Rose of the Forest. God, they smell, she thought to herself.

She allowed them into one of her revered sanctuaries of worship because she felt the need, and — she had a plan. She despised the barbarians, blackened, unbathed for months.

The Antisis kept their weapons in front of them, uncomfortable in the confines of the building. They’d slept out in the open wilderness for months on end living the good Antisis life, eating bugs, slugs, birds, plants, carrion, and God knows what else.

Vark thought about the Antisis, and the cult of wackos headed by Rose of the Forest. Shit, he’d get awesome readership with his broadsides on the defeat of the Antisis. The public would salivate over a cult headed by a beautiful woman named Rose of the Forest. They’d go orgasmic over the voluptuous pastor who took down the badass Antisis Commander and seized the movement. Rose of the Forest had media appeal. She’d be a media darling, and he’d sell millions of broadsides back east. He’d be venerated. He looked at the woman with her long blonde hair. Who the hell was she?

But he’d have to wait or do his stories on the side. The Antisis Commander was weakened but not gone, or so it seemed, maybe he could rebound, maybe not. Vark needed to tread softly, maybe, just maybe, he could find a new gig.

The Antisis never planned on losing. An already disparate group of thousands of civilization haters became even more removed from each other and the norms of society that kept them grounded. In fact, the touchstones of a civilized world changed daily.

Vark had a whole lot of questions for these allies of the Antisis, especially the Rose of the Forest broad. He thought about her, Who the hell calls herself Rose of the Forest anyway. She’s probably an egomaniac, they’re always like that.

Rose of the Forest began her speech.

“We in the Nature Liberation Assembly welcome the Antisis leadership. Please rest your weary bones in our house of peace.

The soldiers began to relax.

“Where do we go from here? I have a plan.”

The Commander of Antisis eyed the church leader, not certain as to where she was going with this sermon. She’d extended an invitation to the Antisis leadership. She told them that they could take refuge, regroup in Yakima, rest up, and re-strategize.

Rose of the Forest looked at dirty, disheveled, men in front of her, and felt revulsion.

“Antisis members, previous defenders of the Crest, and church followers, now is the time for change. Now is the time to regroup.”

The Commander looked at the woman. What was she up to? he wondered.

“We need a leadership change,” she said.

“How so?” the Commander shouted, now suspicious of the woman.

She stared at the Commander. “You promised to remove FORC and you failed,” she said.

“I promised nothing. Those devil trees did us in. They killed my men,” the Commander replied.

Vark couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Fantastic. He snapped a shot of Rose of the Forest in her flowing purple robe. Fucking great. A coup d’état by the high priestess. How fucking cool is that. He could see the headlines now. The journalist began to salivate about the possibilities.

“And what about now? Gimmicks, your leadership is all about gimmicks. You’re not about the movement, or nature, you’re about survival at any cost. You’re fugitives. You’ve lost the trust of your men,” she said.

“Back off lady. I’ll have your head.” He reached for his gun.

“Will you?” She nodded at the other twenty Antisis sitting in the front rows. They immediately got up and pointed their weapons at their Commander.

The Antisis chief looked shocked. Vark went ballistic. He took instantaneous photographs of the guns pointed at the frightened Commander. The journalist had done it again. He’d been in the right place at the right time. What incredible timing I have. He celebrated to himself.

“What the fuck. Men, what are you doing?”

The Antisis grabbed the leader and led him outside.

“Have you lost your minds? This bitch has manipulated you. You’ve been entranced by her dark magic. Resist men, I beg of you.”

They prepared the rope in the tree.

Vark couldn’t believe his luck. A fucking lynching. The public out East would go crazy. He’d be famous.

The Antisis hung the Commander from a tree. Vark took shots of the man kicking and thrashing. He got close-ups of the man’s distorted face, agonizing, eyes bulging with shock. The world had come to that.

He was ecstatic. “Now is my time,” Vark said to himself. It defied his expectations.

Rose of the Forest smiled. She had plans for the journalist too, big plans.