Chapter 35

Two weeks later...
(Temporary) Clarke Residence,
Free City of Charlottesville

“So, we need to figure out a strategy to deal with the damn ASF for real now. Things got pretty crazy already, with the fall of Blacksburg. Those cunts were insane, but Eckart is even more dangerous. His present assault on Richmond just proves how much of a threat he is to us all. The sniper practice is a great start, but we need to take things even further. By the time that Eckart crushes the various gangs that rule Richmond, we must be ready for him.

“I won’t be here for that battle, as you know. I must move onward, but I can leave behind as a legacy a Charlottesville armed, trained, and ready to fight back, under the guidance of a divinely appointed Prophet. Or Prophetess in this case, with His Honor the Mayor ready to assist her. The fall of Richmond is all but guaranteed, with disorganized gangs now battling a highly trained and disciplined, even growing neo-Nazi war machine.

“Sadly, that also means more atrocities, but while Eckart is busy massacring innocent civilians, he won’t be mobilizing his forces to assault Charlottesville or Roanoke or anywhere else. No doubt, he will take a long time to gloat about seizing the former capital of the Old Dominion and of the Confederacy, but in the meantime, we can dig in and fortify better to take him on come summertime.

“The snipers are but the start of it. We need sandbags, machine gun nests, land mines, oh, yes, those, too, whatever semblance of an air force you can assemble, and whatever armor you can scrape together as well. We need anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, rockets, whatever we can set in place. We have some of that already, but to fight an army larger than our whole populace, it won’t be enough.

“Which brings up the next point. We need allies. The other cities in the area, Roanoke, for instance, need to agree to a mutual-defense compact of sorts. Twin Lakes, Stanardsville, and get in contact with Lancaster County if you haven’t already. Surround the goose-steppers with free city-states and communities committed to collective security.

“Perhaps, in time, you might even be able to create a unified state government, but that won’t even be an option until Eckart is vanquished. You could also communicate with the city fathers of Baltimore, Annapolis, Frederick, and Hagerstown, see what could be done to work together against the ASF. It won’t be easy in their case, because they haven’t resolved their own disputes in that state yet, but perhaps that would help to motivate them to lay such worries aside and work with you in defiance of the Nazi menace,” I laid out my case to the principal figures in Charlottesville for a stronger, tougher defense policy now that the peril from Eckart was crystal clear.

“You heard the man. Get to work. Are we all agreed?” Sarah called the vote and the city council quickly voted to go with my plan.

No debate was needed when it was obvious that I was a Prophet and so was she, plus Eckart’s war crimes were brazen as they were. Perhaps we had lost some time breeding so much, but in a good cause ... a future baby boom that would ensure the city’s future was now underway. Now, however, we had to focus more on the imminent conflict with the Nazi thug known as Forrest Turner Eckart and his evil cohorts.

There was no way on God’s green earth that I was gonna step aside and let a bunch of Nazi jackboots tread the cobblestone streets of the oldest of the Thirteen Original Colonies. What ol’ Adolf couldn’t and didn’t take in his career of evil (apologies to Blue Oyster Cult) wasn’t going to be meekly handed over to a mere poseur and imitator, a third-rate stormtrooper like Eckart. Oh, no, before I skipped town, Charlottesville, Roanoke, and the rest of the Commonwealth would be ready to face those goose-stepping, wannabe SS or SA pricks.

Virginia wasn’t going to host rallies to the tune of “Sieg Heil!” on my watch. Now, just what did the girls have in mind for my entertainment again? I supposed that I was about to find out. I was the man of the hour, was I not? Not that I felt like much of a conquering hero, not while that asshole Eckart still drew a breath.

When I walked into the designated chamber of my new, rather palatial residence (generously lent to me by the good citizens of Charlottesville) for my special “entertainment,” I found no fewer than a dozen teenage girls in sailor costumes, led by none other than Tara Clarke and two music and/or dance teachers whom I was pretty sure I had already knocked up. Well, they weren’t too far along in their pregnancies, at least. Not far too for this, at any rate.