The Apostates Read Free

non-believers,”
Aqua-Deluge replied.
    “That could mean that the Regime is
planning an operation,” Lore-Fiction added.
    “Your analytical skills are truly
astounding, Lore-Fiction!” Aqua-Deluge prodded sarcastically.
    “Hey, shut the fuck up, before—”
Lore-Fiction was interrupted.
    “Can it! We need real intelligence.
Anything else?” Hades-Perdition demanded.
    “Well, the Reverend did mention an
official with L.O.V.E. Said his name was Rodrigo. That’s the first time he ever
mentioned anybody from L.O.V.E. by name,” Aqua-Deluge stated.
    “I can confirm that,” Lore-Fiction added
needlessly. Aqua-Deluge sighed in exasperation.
    “This correlates with the reports of
increased Regime activity here, around the Great Lake area of California. Normally they are kept busy in the Eastern half of New Megiddo,
around the capital,” Hades-Perdition announced.
    “Who the fuck names their secret police
L.O.V.E anyway? What is it with this Regime?” Lore-Fiction asked.
    “You gotta understand where they are coming from. The pre-war religious culture of the U.S. was awash with this milk-toast shit. However, all of this is in the historical record. Wherever the Regime origins lay it must be from some denomination of an Evangelical church. The succeeding generations just carried on those traditions,” Hades-Perdition concluded.
    “Turned them into a bunch of freaks,”
Aqua-Deluge said with disgust.
    “I wouldn’t take L.O.V.E. lightly. I have some insight into the organization.
They are probably the worst of the Regime. Anyhow, we should get moving. It’s
getting dark. We need to finish and get back to the Fleet,” Hades-Perdition
stated. He was collecting his gear and checking the suppressor on his rifle
while cycling through various screens on the ‘heads up display’ overlaid on his
retina. This data was located on a masked sub-network. When needed they would
monitor the [Virtue-net] via a node that was disguised as a living person fitted with a neural implant.
    Hades-Perdition was the one with the most
training out of the trio and had been with the resistance longer than
Lore-Fiction and Aqua-Deluge. Both were assigned to him for scout training
because they were excellent marksmen and because both did not have
personalities that suited sitting in one place for very long with people
around. Numerous incidents of conflict with others had taken place and so other
Apostates were eager to transfer them to Scouting.
    The trio of scouts had finished breaking camp and had moved out. They were on a mission to complete a perimeter sweep around the Great Lake of California and were near completion save for two more waypoints.
    It was a cool, mild night and the sky was clear. The stars that had emerged in the sky this evening were reflecting off the surface of the Great Lake, which was not a great lake at all, but rather an enlarged San Francisco bay, San Pablo bay, Suisun bay, and river delta. In the past as Climate Change advanced so to did the sea level rise. Coastal settlements had been swallowed. After decades, entire towns disappeared off the map, Fremont, Oakland, Port Costa, San Rafael, and Larkspur were some of the cities that vanished beneath the waves. San Francisco was a series of islands now, consisting of what were the hills of the city—Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Twin Peaks, and various other hills and outcroppings.
    Regime forces in the western half of the former United States, now New Megiddo, had always been fairly light. Previously when the Regime was stronger all it took was the [Virtue-net] to keep control over the population. In the last couple of decades, their grip on power had been slipping away. Innovation had long ago been stifled by the authoritarian system put in place by the Schrubb Administration. Restlessness in the population had lead to more people subverting the [Virtue-net], and to others searching out the black market for drugs like ‘Database’ and other banned goods. The West