Messiahs by Matt Rogers (bookstand for reading txt) 📕

still a little awkward from lack of societal integration. So she shut her mouth and let the silence play out. Violetta kept quiet, too, acting the shyest of them all.

They got in the back of the pickup’s cabin and found the long footwell littered with fast food wrappers, empty Gatorade bottles, and a couple of empty vials with the odd drop of leftover amber liquid inside.

Alexis froze, wondering if this was all a setup.

They were being so blatant with it…

But you don’t know what Bodhi is, she reminded herself. The vials mean nothing to you.

Brandon got behind the wheel and Addison got in the passenger seat. They drove away, manoeuvring through Gillette until they took I-90 out of the city limits. They stayed on the highway for close to an hour, passing through Wyodak and Rozet. The sleepy towns showed little sign of life as they went by outside the windows.

Finally, when they turned off I-90 into the small town of Moorcroft and headed south toward the Thunder Basin Grassland, Alexis pretended to get the courage to ask questions.

She said, ‘So how long have you two been living with Maeve?’

‘We don’t live with her,’ Addison answered immediately, anxious to respond to any queries after such a prolonged silence. ‘We live in the bunkhouses.’

‘That’s not what she meant,’ Brandon said. ‘She meant how long we’ve been in the commune.’

‘Oh,’ Addison said, hunching over in disappointment.

She didn’t enjoy being the fool.

Brandon said, ‘Just over six months now.’

He sounded like he wanted to say more, but he didn’t. He must have been instructed to keep information sparse. As far as the newcomers were aware, it was just rural living, away from civilisation. Like-minded people collaborating to create a peaceful existence.

There was far more to it than that, and before long the new arrivals would be converted…

But they weren’t yet.

Violetta said, ‘Do you like it there?’

Brandon said, ‘It’s the best place on earth.’

Violetta said, ‘Addison?’

Addison twisted in her seat to make eye contact. Either she was an impressive actress or the unease she’d shown earlier was truly gone. But her eyes were honest and frank as she said, ‘There’s really no place I’d rather be.’

Alexis said, ‘What makes it so good?’

Brandon said, ‘You’ll see.’

He said it fast and sharp, allowing a trace of hostility to creep into his tone. Alexis knew why. Addison was being uncharacteristically open, even turning to meet the eyes of the strangers in the back, and she might get too complacent with her newfound behaviour and say something she wasn’t supposed to.

They sat in silence for the rest of the journey, driving deeper and deeper into the desolation. The plains were staggeringly empty. There was so much land in every direction, panning as far as the eye could see. If you ran out of fuel out here, you’d probably die of dehydration before you stumbled on a trace of human life.

It was perfect for Maeve Riordan.

Out here, you could make your own rules.

33

Brandon took the pickup truck down an unpaved trail, and it led them around the perimeter of a long shallow hill that gave the landscape its undulating look.

On the other side of the broad landmark, nearly a dozen buildings were burrowed into the base of the hill in a tight cluster. They approached from the east, but the commune was visible from close to half a mile away given the nature of the terrain.

Brandon said, ‘Home sweet home. Welcome.’

‘Does this place have a name?’ Violetta said.

‘Our group is—’ Addison started.

‘The commune doesn’t have a name,’ Brandon interjected sharply, shooting a dark look at his sister. ‘Our community has branded ourselves with a name, but that’s not important. You two might just be passing through, after all. You don’t need to know what you don’t need to know.’

Silence elapsed, and he cocked his head in irritation at the haste with which he’d had to come up with the spiel. It hadn’t sounded right, and everyone in the car knew it.

Alexis watched the buildings get closer through the windshield. The commune was centred around two structures that were far larger than the rest — a grand building with a conical spire that could only be a church, and a big rectangular building that looked like a mess hall for troops stationed overseas. Around the centrepieces were around ten long low buildings that had to be accommodations, a couple of enormous garages, and finally a simple two-storey farmhouse further away from the rest, up a long driveway that finished a third of the way up the hill.

The farmhouse was like a king’s throne, elevated above the commune, looking down on its subjects. It was old and constructed with remarkable care and attention to detail, whereas the rest of the buildings appeared to be thrown together with modern materials. A byproduct of rapid expansion, Alexis figured. With the followers growing in droves, they had to be fed and clothed and given somewhere to sleep. Depending on how long Mother Libertas had been in operation, Maeve might soon have command of a small city’s worth of devotees if she kept her current recruitment pace.

Men and women moved between the buildings, like ants from this distance, but rapidly growing larger in the windshield. As far as Alexis could tell they were normal. They dressed simply and made no strange movements, just carried on about their day like serenity was their main priority.

She said, ‘Are you going to introduce us to all your friends?’

‘Not yet,’ Brandon said. ‘You’ve got an appointment at the big house.’

‘The big house?’ Alexis asked, but she knew.

Addison pointed at the farmhouse. ‘Maeve’s place. She asked us to bring you there first. There’s some introductory stuff to go over.’

Brandon said, ‘You need to know how things work here.’

Violetta said, ‘Can’t you tell us?’

She saw him mask a smile in the rear view mirror.

‘No,’ he said. ‘No, I can’t.’

34

The pickup kicked a plume of dust off the previously undisturbed driveway as it pulled up to the farmhouse.

Alexis said, ‘She was