RPG (with Hondo’s collaboration and Jeanette’s corrections):
Fernando thinks about the Habaine problem as he gathers Teri and sits and talks with her.
“You OK?” He asks.
Teri nods her head, “Yeah.”
“Got a gun in that purse?” Fernando dares ask. Teri does not answer, though her silence answers for her. “I do not expect you to answer but I will respect it.” He tells her. He adds, “Let’s go get Moro and get your things from the house.”
This time Teri nods before Fernando gets up and then helps her up. They walk from between Fernando and Hondo’s campers, then around Karl’s truck, heading past Jeanette’s Beetle/DubBox and to Moro’s Truck. He sees her talking with Jeanette and can listen in on what they are saying. He signals to Teri to stop for a minute and listen in for that minute. He does not like what he is hearing. Then he decides to quietly approach them with Teri in tow.
“Are we done here so we can get those things?” Fernando asks Jeanette and Moro as he goes around the truck with Teri behind him.
They both look at him for the moment and then at each other.
“I got something to take care of, Jeanette. I’ll see you when we get back.” Moro tells her.
“I understand.” Jeanette replies before going off to find Hikaru and the others.
Moro steps up to Fernando and Teri who were feet away at the front of truck. Several crows are landing on the truck’s roof and the Cargo Trailer’s roof.
“Ready for a long ride?” Moro asks. She knows that time is short. Though teleportation uses more energy, given the situation she knows it is needed.
Lifting up his cane, he points to the crystal sphere on its handle, “I don’t ride unless I have too.” He puts the crystal in his palm and gives it a twist. In a flash of light, he, Teri, Moro, the truck with its trailer and the crows are in front of the remains of Maribelle’s house. “Nor do I care if anyone witnesses anything.”
“You’re able to do this but yet you and Hondo won’t allow Spirits and I find and bring back Valentine through similar means.” Moro tells Fernando. Moro knows she cannot let Fernando and Hondo know that they have located Valentine and she knows that they cannot rescue Valentine without Fernando and Hondo's permission because of the threat that Fernando and Hondo made.
“If you are going to learn one lesson, you are going to learn this – ‘Time Travel can only happen if Time Allows it.’” Fernando tells her.
“Teleportation is not Time Travelling.” Moro points out.
“Actually, it is. Both Speed and Acceleration is a matter of Distance vs. Time. In teleporting somebody, you are making them travel faster than the speed of light in that short burst, thus creating ripples in the microsecond and nanosecond levels of Time, and thus making it Time Travel. Thus it being Time Travel, Time will not allow it, and any mission to make it so will fail. Failure is not an option in a rescue. Thus we wait for the right time to act. Until then, we do nothing but patiently wait. Do I make myself clear?”
“For the time being, you do.” Moro replies.
Fernando looks at the crows, “I supposed these feathered monkeys are here to help carry Maribelle’s things and put them inside the cargo trailer.”
“They are currently in the forms of crows, but yes, they are here to help.” Moro tells him as one by one the crows fly off the truck and trailer and come out behind it as military uniformed personnel. They line up in front of her, standing at attention at about 20 wide.
“What are your orders, Ma’am?” The highest ranking officer there asks.
Fernando looks at them and point them out, “You three in the trailer and organize things as they are brought in. You four are to be out here guard the place. The rest can come inside and we figure things out.”
They all look at him as if he was stupid as he holds no rank within their group.
“They won’t listen to you.” Moro tells Fernando.
“Then you repeat what I said to them.” Fernando replies.
“Why the four to guard the area?” Moro asks.
“Just in case somebody comes over and tries to rob us. Let’s hope they will abide by Resolution 10.” Fernando answers.
“Resolution 10?” Moro asks.
“Resolution 10 states – ‘It is better to sit down and talk things out than to shoot up the place and hope that you’re still standing to ask questions later.’” Fernando explains.
“I see.” Moro replies.
“Come on Teri, show me where the wine cellar is.” Fernando takes Teri by the arm and gently leads her to be slightly ahead of him.
Moro looks at them as they walk to the house, and is left with no choice, “OK, like he said, you three open up the cargo trailer and remain inside to organize things as they are brought in. You four guard the area and notify me if anyone is coming. The rest of you, follow me.”
It takes Moro and her group less than a minute to catch up with Fernando and Teri as they stand the middle of the wine cellar.
“What a mess.” Fernando says as Moro and her group walks in. They look about and survey the scene. He asks Teri, “Where were you and Maribelle hiding with the untouched wines?”
Teri walks to a shelf on the wall and pulls on its edge, opening a hidden door and the compartment they were hidden in. Teri takes Fernando by the hand and hauls him inside the hidden room, with Moro and a few of her personnel walking in after them.
Inside there are rows and rows of individual ‘pigeon holes’ of bottled wines going as far back as at least 10 years ago to as close to ‘The Happening.’ Fernando grabs on the framing of the shelving and pulls on it, finding it fixed to the wall and irremovable.
“Handle these with care.” Fernando says to Moro. He then turns to Teri, “Anything else?”
Teri takes him by the arm and hauls him outside to another hidden room with Moro and her group following them. It wasn’t actually a hidden room but a closed off space the raiders seemed to have over looked. Inside were eight large barrels of wine. Teri lets go of Fernando’s arm and goes to one row of vertically stacked barrels and knocks on them. Each one she knocked on sounded to be full. Teri points at them and nods, Fernando nods back at her. She then checks the second row and does the same thing of knocking on their faces, finding them to be full. Fernando walks to the row she knocked on first, and wipes the dust off them, finding a date on the barrels of around 14 years old. He lets out a sigh as Moro looks at the barrel Fernando wiped the dust off.
“More aged wine though this is relatively young aged wine. They cannot be rolled out of here or the sediments of dregs and the inside wood coating will interact with the wine and ruin its flavor.” Fernando says loud enough to be heard.
“Is it safe to teleport them or Time won’t allow that?” Moro asks.
“You can teleport them if you like. Same with the bottles, but how you take them out is how you are to put them in the truck with as minimal jostling as possible as to not disturb the contents. With the bottles, do not tilt them flat on their sides or they will make contact with the cork and end up going bad. You find that they are stored at a slight angle, which should be easy to figure out. Done right and they will survive the road trip to Charlton.” Fernando tells her.
“When have you had time to learn all this?” Moro asks.
“When you have eternity to solve things out, you learn a lot of things.” Fernando tells her. He then adds, “I’ll be with Teri to get their other things. When you are done, meet us at Maribelle’s bedroom so we can get those things. Teri?”
Teri nods before taking his arm again and leads him out of the wine cellar and to the surviving parts of the house. First place she leads him to is the main living area or foyer of the house, though it is a large area. She walks up to a picture of one of Maribelle’s ancestors and pulls on the picture to open it like a door. Behind it is a safe which she quickly opens. She gets the contents inside: some important documents of ownership, a few small bags of gold coinage and a rusty old fire arm that has seen better days. She packs everything into the back pack she was carrying. She leads him to a large room with large animal heads on plaques on the wall and shelves of books on various subjects. She quickly goes about from large framed pictures of Maribelle’s ancestors and opening the safes from behind. The items within, more documents, hand sized leather or cloth pouches of gold coins, and a couple more firearms in better condition than the first. A couple of knives and boxes of bullets were also pulled out, and places them with the other items in the back pack along with some carefully selected books from the library.
The next room was the master bedroom, where more documents, pouches of gold coins and another gun was pulled out. She also pulls out a small wooden box and a small leather bound book. She opens it to the middle of the book and shows it to Fernando. It is a list of names with half of the names on the list crossed out. The next name on the list that is not crossed out is “M. Jastrey.” There are several other names on the list under hers also not crossed out. Teri then points to the wooden box. The top of the box had faded lettering of “Jenkins” in fancy script. Fernando takes the box and opens it, finding inside a twin pair of two-shot Derringers in .45 caliber in a molded faded dark purple velvet, he knew they were dueling pistols when they are put into a box like this. There were also four .45 caliber bullets in peg holes, two for each gun. Fernando closes the box and hands it to Teri. She shakes her head and pushes the box back at him, and puts the book on top.
“I’ll see what I can do.” Fernando tells her, putting the box and the book on the bed and then tapping it with his cane, making them disappear. “They’re in my camper right now, but I’ll deal with them later when we return.”
Teri almost pounces on him, giving Fernando more than just a friendly kiss though he tried to push her off but could not at normal strength levels. He eventually pushes her off.
“Teri!” Fernando holds back from shouting at her.
Teri jumps back scared that he might hit or otherwise punish her but she does not say a word. Fernando notices this peculiar behavior she is displaying.
“Teri, why are you not talking?” He asks her.
Teri shakes her head.
“Maribelle told you not to say a thing while in the house so Moro or anyone else would not find things they shouldn’t?” Fernando asks.
Teri nods.
“Alright. Anything more to find before we go to Maribelle’s room?” Fernando asks.
Teri nods before taking his arm and finding a couple more rooms and safes to clear out. Her backpack was getting heavy. She begins to pack another bag. In Marbelle’s room, Teri kept Fernando from entering the room. He decides to stay at the doorway as she searches inside and put things inside the other back pack. He notices that some of items he was able to see were sex-toy related items.
She comes back to him at the doorway, taking his hands and putting a small leather collar in them as she pulls him into the room. She eventually lets go of him when she takes him into the middle of the room near Maribelle’s bed. Fernando looks at the collar, it was in relatively new condition for a thin leather collar with a gold buckle and a gold name tag with “Teri” written on it in fancy script.
“What are you trying to tell me, girl?” He asks though he can guess that she has a crush on him.
Teri points at herself, then at the collar and then at him.
Fernando sighs for a moment. “We’ll talk about it later but I cannot accept this. Not now.” He tells her.
Teri tosses herself on the bed and rolls over to the other side, getting up and going into a clothes drawer and repeating the same actions but in reverse. She then puts a white tie up string bikini into his hands along with the collar and nods at him to accept those things. Fernando sighs as he knows what she was telling him. He eventually nods and puts the items in his suit pocket.
“Alright; any other things: clothes, shoes, make-up, undergarments? Moro wants to take as much as she can.” Fernando tells her.
Teri shakes her head at his last statement.
He replies, “Look, I know that thing won’t fit in the trailer.” As he points to a wooden make-up and dressing station, “Maybe we can take what is in it, but that is about it.”
Teri nods as she takes out a duffle bag from her bag of bags and heads over to the make-up station. She begins to take the various items from within it: hair brushes, nail polish, make up of various types, and so on.
Moro comes in with her troop.
“Got the wine stashed away in the trailer?” Fernando asks.
“Took some doing but yes. I’m assuming that it is OK to store the bottles vertically?” Moro says and asks.
“HMPH. For now they are undrinkable as the bitter sediments have been stirred up if you are storing them vertically. But after a couple days, they should be fine as the sediments would settle to the bottom of the bottle by then.” Fernando explains.
“Where are the clothes and things to gather?” Moro asks.
Teri points to a double door archway. Moro thinks that it is odd that Teri is not saying a word but considering the hell they been through in this place, she thinks it is expected. Moro takes a look at the space inside, larger than a 2 car garage with shelves and hanging tubes of clothing, wooden heads to hold wigs and more than enough shoes to make Imelda Marcos jealous. No way all of this would fit into the cargo trailer.
Moro steps out of the closet but before she could say anything, Fernando tells her, “Take what you think will be needed, and what looks important. A few party dresses for what special occasions maybe needed. Jeans, tops, coats, whatever. I doubt those bags, Victorian wigs and hoop skirt dresses will be needed. Teri will be going in get a few personal items for the both of them. I’ll be out here ‘supervising’.”
Moro shakes her head before going back into the closet. She orders her troops to gather a few things before they get teleported to the trailer. After a few rounds of teleporting things, to the trailer, the troop gets teleported to the trailer to sort things out in there. She steps out of the closet.
“I took what could be used by others if Maribelle does not want them.” Moro says.
“Good. Teri has to get a few pieces of personal apparel, so I will be out there in couple minutes. I would suggest you check the balance of the trailer with all that added weight in it, so it does not sway or bounce on the road.” Fernando points out.
”How you suggest I do that?” Moro asks.
“Step away from the side of the truck and trailer and look at it. Is the added weight of the trailer forcing the rear of the truck down? If it Is, Move a few things to the rear of the trailer behind its wheels to balance the weight.” Fernando explains.
“I’ll get it checked and make needed adjustments.” Moro says, adding, “Do not take too long.”
“I’m not the one picking out things.” Fernando tells her.
Moro nods before leaving with the rest of her officers.
“Teri, anything else we should take?” Fernando asks.
She does not say anything but gathers a few things for her and Maribelle. She also runs out and comes back with a couple more books – “The Holy Bible.” She gives one to Fernando, opening the pages, finding the pages have been glued together and cut out in a form to house the gun inside – A Smith & Wesson 1911A1M1 .45ACP. Fernando looks at it and recognizes it what it is. The last page on the bible left intact, though glued back in out of place has the area highlighted, “If he does not have a sword to defend himself and his family with, when let him sell his cloak and get one…” (Luke 22:36)
“The other bibles have guns in them? Fernando asks.
Teri shakes her head as she fans the pages to show that they are intact.
“OK, we’ll take them.” Fernando says, adding, “I did not think Maribelle would be a religious girl.”
Teri opens the cover of one of the bibles, showing the inside cover to Fernando where it says in fancy script, “This Copy of the Holy Scriptures Belongs To: Reverend Dean Marshal Jenkins IV.”
“Alright.” Fernando tells her as he closes the book she had open. He adds, “How about some lingerie, underwear, bras, panties, and swim wear for you and Maribelle?”
Teri points to the bag where Fernando saw her put away some of the sex toys in. She then runs into the closet and rummages there for a while, coming out with a few more things of stated items and a few wide brim Sun Hats and Dark Glasses. She signals to Fernando to turn around. He does so to humor her. She puts the items into the bags where they can fit in, even the Sun Hats if they were rolled up. When done, she steps up behind Fernando and put her arms around him and leans her head against his shoulder.
Fernando takes his hand onto her to try to separate them and have her let him go, “Do you mind?” Teri steps away from him and holds up her hands to deflect any blow thrown her way as she whimpers. He takes her by the wrists and pulls her arms down, telling her, “Teri, calm down! I’m not going to hit you. Not ever, unless you force me to act in self defense against you.”
Teri begins to tear up though tries to hold it in. But giving a few seconds she leans against him and cries. She was despondent and she was hysterical, she was not in control of herself. She was babbling strange things of how she felt for him, how Maribelle was going to set things up against them if it did not go her way, how she did not want people to get hurt but will witness such history again. Of how she wanted to be held and loved but in a form of domination and submission for that she what she ever knew how it was and she would be his ever obedient sub. She was in need of so many things she wanted but she truly wanted peace of mind and guarantee of safety. Fernando let’s go of her wrists and then grabs her by the shoulder to shake her into reality but that does not work, requiring him to do the one thing he does not want to do: Slap Her.
“Ow!” Teri lets out.
“Sorry I had to do that.” He tells her.
“No. I should be saying ‘I’m sorry.’” Teri finally says.
“Just calm yourself down, let’s get your bags and get out of here.” He tells her. Teri nods. “Give me the heaviest bags to carry and you carry the rest.” He says.
Teri picks up a couple of the bags and hands him the two heaviest bags which he hangs on his shoulder. She takes him by the arm and they head out to Moro’s truck. Getting there, they can see that the truck is packed up and ready to so with the personnel back in their crow form on top of the truck and the trailer.
“Took you long enough.” Moro says without trying to sound like she’s complaining.
“It is not like you got a two hour drive.” Fernando throws back at her, “Either way, I do not #$@!ing care. And that is a problem for everybody because when I do not care, people are going to get hurt or killed.” He looks around as to where everyone was at and ready to go. “But before we go, I have one thing to say to you and the Spirits here.”
“And what would that be?” Moro asks though tired of the BS.
Fernando answer her question with as much brutal honesty as a Neanderthal taking down a buffalo for his family’s meal, “You or any of your feathered friends offer Jeanette any deal which trades off her life for this misbegotten creation of a world you have set up here, and I will wipe this world off the time-line. In that, no immortality, no reversing of age, no setting back the clock for her, nothing that creates her as an immortal being of flesh and blood for she is not an immortal, she already has an immortal soul as you and your kind do not. Interfere with that and I will interfere with your existence. An immortal soul trapped in an immortal body will never see the next level of existence, it would be worse than that soul being in hell. She has a life to live and the right to live that life to its end unmolested and not interfered with. Period.”
Not waiting for Moro’s reply, he then thumbs at the crystal on his cane before tapping the cane hard on the ground.
With a bright flash of light the truck is teleported from Maribelle’s place to its parking spot in the parking area camp grounds.
“Teri, let’s get these bags to Karl’s camper. Moro, write up an inventory of what was put into the trailer and give a copy of it to Maribelle before we go.” Fernando tells them as if his earlier talk with Moro had never happened.
Fernando walks away though not too far to Karl’s Camper in front of Jeanette’s VW Beetle. He goes inside with Teri and put their things inside though she packs them in whatever space she could find. They step outside once the packing is done. Teri goes back to her seat where she was beside Hondo’s truck, Fernando goes into his electric camper to deal with Macey, momentarily forgetting that she is with Tonya and Zoey.
“Excuse me...” General Jastrey intercepts him from his path.
“Yes, General?” Fernando asks.
“How bad is it out there?” General Jastrey asks.
“Depends on what ‘it’ is.” Fernando responds.
“The Jenkins’ home, their fields, anything else of importance.” The general asks.
“The house itself, might be rebuildable. The left side and rear side is burnt down but the right side and most of the front is still intact though the roof collapsed. You might be able to save it but it won’t be easy. From what I seen, much of the crops are burnt. There are still areas of growing food but those are small. At least you can use the ash to fertilize the soil. The barn is nothing but a burnt out shell, and there were some farm equipment that was also burned but might be salvageable. The area stinks of death so it’s either people or farm animals rotting in the fields. It’s going to take a lot of work to get that place going again, but you might be able to gather seeds from the growing crops and replant them.” Fernando explains.
“I see. What about the roads?” The general asks.
“Roads look a bit rough but drivable. And as far as I seen, no one is around for miles. It’s a ghost town out there.” He explains before asking, “What’s the plans for it?”
“Rebuild, replant, regrow. Hopefully we will gather a late harvest from it before winter comes in.” General Jastrey says.
“I hope so too.” Fernando says. He then adds, “I may have something for you, but after dinner.”
General Jastrey nods, “Dinner should be ready in an hour or so. I got to go supervise where the tables are going. I’ll see you later.”
“See you later.” Fernando tells her. Seeing Hondo, Fernando calls to him, “Hondo, I need you here for a second.”
Hondo walks over to Fernando, “Problem with something?”
“You can say that.” Fernando says as he hefts the bag of certain items Teri left him with on his shoulder. “First, I need to get Macey.”
“Macey’s with Zoey and Tonya in my camper.” Hondo points out.
“OK. Good enough, she can stay there for a while longer. Come with me into my camper.” Fernando says to him. They walk the few steps to his camper, making sure the windows were closed and covered so they cannot be seen or heard.
Fernando takes a couple of bibles from the bag, and opens to the dedication/ownership page, pointing at “This Copy of the Holy Scriptures Belongs To: Reverend Dean Marshal Jenkins IV.” Hondo reads the inscription.
“Hmmm… So Maibelle’s father was a man of the cloth.” Hondo says, adding, “Many religious types had wives and families.”
“That part I know. Even Rabbis had wives and children. Only us Roman Catholics were denied such amenities.” Fernando replies, adding as he pulls out the large bible from his bag and putting it on Hondo’s Lap, “Just be careful in opening that.”
Hondo gives him a funny look before slowly opening the book. At first it opens normally but when he tries opening a few lower pages and finds them stuck. He then finds the last page that is not stuck and opens it there. He finds the pages glued and cut out with the gun inside. “Hmmm... One of those I see.”
“There’s more.” Fernando begins, “The bag is loaded with old guns of various state of decay. And I found this…” He goes under the driver’s seat of the VW Camper, pulling out the case with the dueling pistols and book of names with a lot of names crossed out and General Jastrey’s name next on the list.
Hondo looked at the guns and then the book, “You going to tell the general about this?”
“I’m thinking about it.” Fernando tells him.
“I would wait.” Hondo says.
[End for now]
Pages: 
After Chaos (Read 185845 times)
