They sat and sipped quietly at the hot coffee in silence for a few minutes before Joe spoke.
"Well, all we can do is try our best, Dell, just that, and nothing more...How about we go get some food, what do you say?"
"Smells damn good, don't it?" Delbert asked, as Joe helped him to his feet. They both walked off toward the small fire where the two women sat quietly talking.
EIGHT
~ 1 ~
Frank's mind kept returning to the conversation he'd had with Ira Pratt two days before. He walked quietly beside Gary as he replayed it not really ignoring what Gary was saying, but not entirely tuned into it either.
"Frank, you're spacing out again," Gary said.
"Sorry," Frank replied, "thinking about that Ira guy again. I never saw a picture of Cora's husband... Sort of wish I had though. Can you believe, or I should say, do you believe what he said about being her husband?"
"Well, I'll tell you, it ain't as far-fetched to me as it is to you, Frank. I ain't so sure that there's much of anything I could consider far-fetched anymore... I guess if you've read your Bible, and I suppose you have, there's Lazarus. He got raised from the dead, although he was a pretty odd fella after that. I don't know, honest and truly I just don't, but I can't rule it out. Nothin's normal anymore, Frank, nothin' at all. You still gonna talk to him again?"
"Yeah," Frank answered, "feel like I have to. He said if I was interested in talking he could prove it to me, and I guess I'd like to see him put his money where his mouth is. I don't know what the hell he could possibly do to prove it, but... hell, it can't hurt to listen, right?"
"Nope," Gary replied, "it can't."
They walked toward the War Memorial as they talked. It had become a gathering spot of sorts, for the better than three thousand people that had arrived on this side of the city so far. It was the largest place they could all gather together in at one time, and it was also serving as a command post of sorts.
Two days earlier they had become aware of the broadcasts from Watertown. It had been an accident actually. Jimmy Johnson, who was now running the command post set up in the War Memorial, had suggested that it might be a good idea to keep an eye on the various stations to see if maybe anything was coming through.
The idea of monitoring for broadcasts paralleled another one of their own, only in reverse. One of the other ex-police officers had come up with the idea of broadcasting from the NBC affiliate that was situated downtown. They had begun to transmit, and almost simultaneously had begun to pick up the signals from Watertown.
It was a never ending barrage of the same thirty or forty minutes of video, showing what appeared to be actual executions. That was followed by a brief message from a young dark-haired man who smilingly advised them to surrender, or face the same consequences the people on the tape had. At that point the recorded executions would begin to play once more.
The broadcasts had an unsettling effect on the people in Rochester. As, Jimmy had pointed out, they were probably intended to do, and had left quite a few of them wondering just what the hell was going on over on the north side. The silence from the north side, and the transmissions from Watertown, seemed somehow connected. It also ended the speculation, as to whether or not the underground facility had survived the blast.
They were continuing with their own broadcasts, but reluctantly they were also keeping track of the broadcasts from Watertown. Jimmy had reasoned that they might eventually gain some insight into what was going on, on the north side of Rochester. So far however, the broadcast had not deviated from the video, and short speech routine, and the north side of the city was ominously silent.
"Are you pretty sure about them missiles, Frank?" Gary asked as they walked along.
Frank had filled Gary in about what he had learned from old man Peters, AKA David Black, back at the house in Fort Drum. Gary had agreed, that at least for the time being, it was best to keep that information to themselves. It would serve no useful purpose to terrorize everyone with the information.
"Dead nut's positive," Frank replied, "and you can bet I wish I weren't."
"Wonder if that crazy bastard in Watertown knows about it?" Gary wondered.
"No telling, Gary, but I wouldn't doubt it. Could be that's why he's telling us to surrender. He'd have to be a frigging fruit-cake though, to believe it wouldn't wipe him out too if he launched them," Frank said.
"Unless...Well, unless he ain't human," Gary said calmly.
Frank stopped on the Street and stared at Gary. "What the hell do you mean by that, Gary?" he asked angrily.
"Calm down, Frank, I'm on your side. I can tell just by the way you reacted that you been thinking the same frigging thing. If Ira has his God, then it's possible that there's a Satan, or Devil, or some equivalent somewhere," Gary finished, and deliberately began walking again.
"For Christ's sake, Gary," Frank said catching up to him, "what the hell are you getting at, you believe that shit? I mean really?"
"Exactly," Gary said, "I guess I do. I'm an old man, Frank, too frigging old to be goin' through this nonsense. But if I gotta go through it I'm going through it on the right side. Full steam ahead, nothin' else for
