Page 3 of Pretty Savage: Defy

“You.”

To Tabitha.

“You.”

To Ann.

“You.”

To Ruth.

“Chosen.”

The word hits with the weight of a hammer.

“We are survivors.”

Carr’s voice fills the meeting house. It rises over the shouting wind and the booms of thunder. He throws his arms out. Behind him on the wall, the cross of their church, with four arms of equal length, catches the flickering light and blazes.

Ann gasps and clutches her chest.

“We are survivors, and I have seen God’s great plan for us,” Carr says, and even Ruth stops her sobbing long enough to listen.

“What is it, Brother Carr?” asks Tabitha, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. “Tell us, what visions have you witnessed?”

The women lean forward, listening hard.

He looks at each of them in turn. “We will leave this place of sorrow and travel the land.”

“Where shall we go?” asks Tabitha.

“Wherever God takes us,” Carr says. “We will find others like us. Only the strongest. The most likely to flourish. We will gather them. Join with them, selecting carefully until we have formed the perfect community, full of the hearty and the brave, so we never have to cry these tears again.”

He raises both palms to the ceiling. Behind him, the fire lights the edges of his hair, forming a halo around his head.

Ann falls to her knees at the sight and prays.

Tabitha and Ruth follow, sinking to the floor.

Three women kneeling before a single man.

Outside, thunder shakes the island.

Carr looks upon them. “Rise,” he commands, beckoning them upward. “The world beyond these walls is chaos. Together, we shall bring order to it.”

Ruth places the child on the floor, at Carr’s feet like a sacrifice. Or an offering. Moments ago she would have clawed out the eyes of any man who tried to take her daughter from her arms.

Now she lets go.

“It is done.” She makes the sign of the cross, touching her forehead, chest, and then each shoulder. “From God’s mouth to our ear.”

All three bow their heads in prayer, seeking guidance even though they know in their hearts that their fate has been decided. They will follow Carr Ashford. Through the marsh and the mountains. Through heartbreak and to their death if he asks it.

Because he has given them something more powerful than food, than shelter.

More powerful than hope.

He has given their suffering meaning.