Stampede
Seth Gets Taken In
Seth ate dinner with Megumi by their tent. Seth turned to tell her something, but a scout popped out from the dark trees, making him spill his bowl of Miso soup. He put the bowl down and grabbed a napkin to dry himself off. “You guys! You think that’s funny don’t you?”
The scout replied. “No Seth. This is bad. There’s a line of cops heading up the road. They’re coming here. They don’t have their sirens on, but all their lights are on. What are we going to do?”
“Nothing.” Seth insisted. “We all have our time.” He stood and pointed to his drumsticks for Megumi to hand them to him. “Megumi, if it’s me they want, I’ll be back in ten days. Make sure everyone keeps on post. I’m going to grab Cruz and Jovel. We’ll be down by the water. I’ll be here as long as the music is playing. After that, you have to be strong. You might hear things about me that make you want to hate me. They are going to try and break me down so they can build me up the way they want.”
Megumi stood to hand him his drumsticks, but grabbed him and hugged him tight. Seth rubbed her back. “Don’t worry about us. If you can get past the things they bring up we will surely ride the eternity together. I made a lot of mistakes when I was young. I even have some pretty bad habits today. I’m sure they will bring it all up. They have to, but I’ll never give in. Hey, I got to go.”
The band ran to the dock and fired everything up. Seth grabbed the mic, still out of breath. “Hello? Hello?” He saw people stopping to see what was going on. “We’re about to have some visitors. Some of us might have to go down to Reno for ten days or so. I want all of you to dig as deep as you can. We must push through this. A police escort will be here shortly, so I want to leave you with this song.”
Trent came running before they started. “I want to sing!”
Seth tossed him the mic, and turned to Cruz. “Let’s play 'Reptilia' by The Strokes… and crank it extra loud.”
By the end of the song the shoreline was awash in flashing red and blue lights from the patrol cars. They took Seth and several others in without incident.
*****
The local prosecutor grilled Seth daily. They had an electronic file on him that contained all types of things he had forgotten, or maybe buried in his mind? The relentless questioning lasted from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon. Each day covered a different aspect of his life.
Seth sat in the witness stand, trying his best not to stare at the prosecutor. “I know it looks bad, but it’s not like you said.”
Her black hair pulled back in a bun revealed a perfect face. Thin rimless glasses made her sexy, but the red lipstick covering her full lips put her over the top, pulling his eyes in when she spoke. “Are you saying the Past Finder is inaccurate?”
“No ma’am. I have to answer to those charges, at least all of them before I was around 33.”
“33?”
“That’s when I think I basically grew up. I was a late bloomer who did a lot of stupid things.”
“Tell me about it Seth. Do you have any idea how much Past Finder footage we have of you? Would you like to see the monitor?“
“No. I know what I did.”
“But the jury doesn’t.”
Seth swallowed hard. “There is only one judge.”
“I read in your profile that you have five tattoos. How can you mark your body and claim to follow the Bible?”
“Well, I know there are a couple of ‘marks’ the Bible warns against, but my marks are not in worship of another god. My marks point to our God, and this very situation. Besides, the biggest mark people want to avoid is the mark of the beast, which is not a physical mark at all. It’s a loyalty. One I’m sure you’re very familiar with.”
“There are those who say tattoos are strictly forbidden.”
“I know. Megumi’s mom hates them. She hated me for years because of them.” Seth continued. “After I went through a very difficult time I put one on my shoulder blade. I still knew I loved God more, so I had ‘Faith’ put on the other shoulder blade. Then my spiritual journey kicked into a focused mode. I used my computer to create the pictures that would tell my story. Not much longer and I had five ink sets in total, but they are all concealed by a simple tee shirt.”
Seth took off his shirt. His five smooth stones were faded to blue outlines. He said, “These tell the story of man and his quest for God. They also capture the end time events just as we’re experiencing now.”
She smirked. “They look kind of dull if you ask me. If they are so special, why didn’t you get them touched up and keep them maintained?”
He caressed the tattoo on his right bicep. “Because when your team hit the scene, I knew everyone would be coming up with all types of theories and suggestions about what was happening.”
“And…” She pressed.
“And I’ve been telling the same story for as long as it took for this artwork to fade. It’s fade represents the five stones that tumbled through the riverbed until they reached their finish. I would say mine are fairly smooth.”
She turned and faced the jury. “What if you hit your head during your tumble?”
Seth smiled. “You mean what if everything I believed was wrong? It could easily be portrayed that way. What if Pastor Flynn is the one that deceived wonderfully? He could be. The church already got me once. What if my friends in Calvary were right when they told me to tuck my tail and to submit to doctrine? Maybe? It’s true I drank too much whiskey, and I’m sure that kept the local spirits entertained. But things changed as I became a serious student in reality.”
“Taking God’s word into your own hands is dangerous, don’t you think?”
“It definitely establishes responsibility. Just like that rapture-babbling girl who started the whole thing? She got sick and told stories to a few preachers. I’m sure she meant well, but she started the rapture theory. With the details she had, it must have been a senior ranking demon that tickled her mind. Man I would not want that millstone around my neck. So how do I know I haven’t done the same thing? How do I know I’m not like her?”
“How do you know Seth?”
“That’s why I’m continuously revising my homework, and making corrections where needed. It happens. Nobody knows everything. I’m just sharing what it is I do know. The rest is between God and me. You play your game, I’ll play mine.”