Chapter 13

“Coming up on Frederick, Maryland. Last census population was 65,239 in 2010. I somehow doubt that it’s that high now. Should we check it out or bypass it?” I grinned, knowing that sheer, morbid curiosity would cause Lewis to go for it.

We went less than a full street into Frederick when we heard screams and saw men shooting other men by the dozens in the backs of their heads. The shooters were all white and the victims were all black, which was no shock to us. The shooters also had some kind of paramilitary look to them, wearing Nazi SS uniforms. The victims were all naked as jaybirds ... and all male. We opened fire with our own weapons and rushed at the would-be executioners, even though we were nude ourselves. We didn’t have time to put on any clothes at all.

The shooters fired back, and that was when Lavelle appeared and smote them dead on the spot. All of them. He was in full angelic warrior garb, too, so it was unmistakable who and what he was, including to the six men who hadn’t been lynched yet. They had all soiled themselves in terror, so Becca and Tara took charge of washing them clean in a hurry. We also got them some food and drink in a rush as well, as we had plenty of supplies now.

“Who are you ... and what was going on there?” I probed at last while Autumn sat to my left, Hannah to my right, and Xia Delan kissed the back of my neck.

“I’m Ismail Haji Ahmed and this is Xavier Price, who is my brother, though he hasn’t converted to Islam as I have. This is my Uncle, Stewart Price, and my cousin Henry. This is Reverend Morgan Ballard, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and this is his son, Obadiah Ballard, an usher at the same church. These ... pigs ... are ... members of the Frederick SS Einsatzgruppen S Guards.

“Yes, actual Nazis. Nazis are now everywhere lately, and they’re not exactly bothering to hide their intentions. They want all blacks, Jews, Latinos, etc. in town dead. Herman Hall, that’s his name, the so-called Brigadefuhrer of the Frederick SS. He studied and copied the organization and chain of command of the historical SS and decided to emulate it.

“Frederick is intended by these fascist pricks to be the capital of the First American Reich. That’s what Hall calls it, as do his superiors, Wagner Morton, the self-appointed ‘Fuhrer,’ and Sylvia Crest, the so-called Reichsfuhrer of the entire SS, which numbers about eight or nine hundred troops so far. Yes, the leader of the American SS is a woman. They control the ‘Nazi Zone’ in Frederick, which is about a fourth of the city and surrounding area.

“We were trying to get to the ‘Black Zone,’ which is a sector defended by a mix of Black Muslims, Black Panthers, disbanded black cops, disbanded black National Guardsmen, something called the New Africa Christian Liberation Front, the Black Zion Liberation Army, black Antifa and anarchist cells, the Black Queer Liberation Front, the Black Feminist Intersectional Militia, and even some black members of the Maryland Socialist and Communist parties. About the only things that these troops have in common is being black and armed, and thus tasked with defending our population.

“The Black Zone is governed by a mix of Black Muslims, Black Jews, various Christian clergy, key secular leaders, including some Greens, Marxists, anarcho-syndicalists, and many Democrats, etc. Even many of those who were more conservative and moderate black Democrats, some of them rather corrupt I might add, are now somewhat radicalized by life in the new Frederick since Doomsday. The governing body is something called the Black Zone Liberation Council, which has been thrown together in a rush and hasn’t had time for democratic elections just yet. There are even a few Black Republicans who have joined in this business, though a bit embarrassed at having underestimated how racist some of their former party comrades were.

“There is even talk of trying to take over all of Frederick and make it an all-black city-state, though I don’t know if that’s actually a good idea. We’d have to fight not only the Nazis, but the female separatist Gynarchist Front, which controls the ‘Gynarchy Zone,’ the far-left Radical Front, which controls the ‘Red Zone,’ and the Christian Salvation Front, which controls the ‘Dominion Zone.’ Each administers its own sector within Frederick, and each frankly mistrusts the other factions. There’s a very tense Cold War within the city. It wouldn’t take much to blow this powder keg sky high,” one of the survivors told us.

“The Gynarchists are ‘female separatists,’ you say? What does that even mean?” Ryan frowned.

“Yeah, I wonder about that myself,” Bonnie commented.

“They advocate the creation of a feminist utopia based upon the complete exclusion of men from its territory. Not female supremacy. Just outright separation of the sexes. They don’t count transwomen, either. Gender reassignment is not recognized by them. Only biological women need apply. They are actually less likely to invade anybody unless they just need resources. They don’t want to have to rule any men. They just don’t want any men around. I think that they fear that any men under their rule would rebel,” Ismail explained.