Chapter Twelve: The Righteous

It was the 71st year since A-Day, and the world had found it's new Rhythm. The Returning of the Righteous brothers and sisters continued, moving from the modern Witnesses to those in the second and first centuries. The order continued Chronologically, working backwards toward Bible times; and everyone who returned filled in more of the story.

Infrastructure was being rebuilt quickly, the townships growing more common, or more populated. Communications had been restored properly, as did the Education work, and the arrival of New Scrolls, one lesson or letter at a time.

The Conference was thinning out, as their work concluded, though some projects kept going on their own. As the world filled up, there was a greater need for leaders and teachers, though the students were doing their share of educating the newcomers; many of which knew each other, just as the modern day witnesses did.

~~/*\~~

Alec washed out his coffee cup in the still lake and stared at his face in the reflection for a long moment. He wasn't smiling. In fact, he looked a little uncertain. Beckah sidled up behind him and gave him a hug from behind. "If you're wondering what you'd look like with a beard, I'm voting against it."

Alec sniffed and straightened up. "I got the offer." He said quietly. "Roland spoke to me at the meeting last night. He wants to know how I'd feel about officially being an Elder."

"Really?" Beckah smiled broadly. Then she noticed. "You aren't smiling."

Alec shook his head. "When this world began, I was a twenty one year old kid with few career prospects, still living with my mom, still trying to work up the nerve to work in field service that just got more and more hostile. And the thing is…"

"The thing is, your face hasn't changed." Beckah nodded. "When you look in the mirror, you still see that kid." She kissed his cheek. "Alec, you didn't want the job back when it all started; but you've been more than a ‘Servant' for a long time. A-Day was seventy years ago, love. Even the ‘Old Men' look to be your age now."

"I know." Alec turned and kissed his girlfriend. "And the thing is, the most experienced ones of our generation only have another forty odd years on me. I'm almost a century old now. There wasn't an Elder in OS that had as much experience as me when appointed."

Beckah giggled. "Remember how long it took you to get past the fact that I was older than you? Couldn't ask me out until I looked your age."

"I remember." Alec rolled his eyes. "You're kind of making my point, though. I had no idea how much I judged myself by my appearance until it stopped changing."

"Mm." She squeezed his shoulder and headed back to the work camp. "I think you can handle it."

"It means I would have to step back from the Restoration work." Alec said quietly. "No more travelling the continent looking for places to start forests and collect garbage. If I accept the post, we have to say goodbye for a while, Project Director."

She smiled softly. "We knew it would happen eventually." She squeezed his hand. "And I think you're more needed than you let on. The world is filling up faster than we thought."

~~/*\~~

An hour later, Alec reflected on those words and decided that she was right. He'd been part of the Restoration Work for more than half a century; and it was time to put his admittedly specific leadership experience to work.

It would mean settling for a while. Beckah was leading her group in the Restoration, which was very mobile. Even without being part of the Restoration or Salvage teams, a fair amount of the human race was constantly on the move now. Every week, the postings for The Returning would go up, and everyone would make arrangements.

"It's strange, you know." His mother reflected as they made their way to the Meeting. "Back in OS, we talked about that scripture at Ecclesiastes 7: ‘A name is better than good oil, and the day of death than the day of one's being born'. And now that's taken to a whole other level. A person actually starts their life, surrounded by people who love them, and honor them for the deeds they've already done."

"The word ‘Funeral' has been redefined entirely as a result." Alec reflected. "You know something? I'll never have one."

Hannah nodded. "Yeah."

Alec smothered a laugh. "I'm actually a little sad about that. I know it means I'll never die, but… Death just stops being scary when you see people coming back."

"Speaking of, Leslie Winkins has her own Funeral coming up."

"Do I know her?"

"I don't believe so, but I did; and I'd like to attend. I'll be back in a few days?"

"You don't need my permission, mom." Alec told her. "You need the train?"

"Actually, I can drive, but I might need a ride to the Hub." She smirked. "Beckah can take me."

"Be gentle, mom."

"I know you think it's my job to pounce on my son's girlfriend, but-"

"I'm not worried about that." Alec scorned. "I'm worried you'll team up against me."

~~/*\~~

"You meet up with Thorne okay?"

Rachel nodded into her phone, though Kevin couldn't see it. "Yeah. I didn't know he had a kid now."

"It happens." Kevin chuckled. "Oh, and just so you know, I will be there after all. Another couple of weeks, I'll be ready for the testing phase. Assuming I don't crash this thing, we can fly back together."

Rachel immediately felt lighter. "That's great! Couple of weeks, I'll have the thing sealed and under glass." She lowered her voice. "You should see what they've done with the place."

"Brooklyn is one of those places that holds sentimental value." Kevin laughed. "I hear they're turning Manhattan into a Garden. Like a National Park sort of thing."

"Yeah. They're doing pretty well too." Rachel admitted. "Though there are a lot more people coming here than anywhere else. It's almost like a Pilgrimage for people who have been Returned. The Guest Dorms are four times the size of the ones we had back home."

"How'd that go, by the way?" Kevin asked gently.

Rachel's face hardened. "No surprises."

Rachel's ‘generation' had far fewer ‘Funerals' to attend, and no joyful reunions among the Late members of the Congregation. But when word got about that some had made it through A-Day with the benefit of the doubt, more than a few had gone looking through the survivors for familiar faces. Rachel had found none.

"I'm sorry." Kevin said sincerely.

"Can't be helped. It's not like I was expecting…" Rachel shook her head. "Empire State Building is still here."

"Yeah?"

"The Salvage Teams started moving closer to Central Park. Brooklyn is already a Garden Plaza. I've already spoken to the Local Elders. They've agreed to leave the Empire State Building alone, pending your experiment. It's not far from where I'm headed, so I'll check it out, see if there's anything I can do on this end."

"Thanks." Kevin smiled. "So, I'll… see you soon?"

"Yeah." Rachel almost said something else, but held back. "See you then."

~~/*\~~

Rachel had been in Brooklyn for almost a week, and she was impressed by the amount of work they had finished. Inroads had been made into the city, though the skyline wasn't changed yet, and most of the streets hadn't been reached. People were living in their own villages and plazas, built new. The old cities were being mostly broken down by time and abandonment, though they took some special effort now and then.

Kevin had talked about the improvements made, and she had to admit he was right. Years of work had turned collectives into actual townships. There was no real need for large cities anymore. The practise that The Conference had begun of crowdsourcing construction had been copied all over the world. Nobody really believed that would be the norm forever; but for now it was all they needed. The Quick-Builds were everywhere now, and everyone was learning. The Conference had sorted out schooling and education on various topics, including construction. Many brothers had been part of the Hall Construction before A-Day, and now made their way around the world, teaching in every Congregation.

Rachel still had ideas on improvements that could be made to infrastructure. There was no reason to rush, exactly; but everyone still tried to balance a schedule. Improving transport was still a priority.

"Rachel?"

She looked up from her notepad and found a small face looking up at her shyly. Then she looked higher at the boy's father. "Brother Thorne?"

Thorne introduced his son. "This is David. I was wondering if you could take him with you today?"

Rachel swallowed hard. "I was heading back to the city for-"

"I am aware." Throne sat down. "When David..." His eyes flicked to his son. "...went away, he was young enough that he barely remembers Before; and he doesn't remember the city anyway, because he's never been in one. We lived in a much smaller town."

Rachel understood, looking to David. "Curious about what it was like?"

David nodded. His father smiled and pushed him gently forward. "We're looking at a few models on how to organize schooling for kids at various ages. One thought was an apprenticeship program." He flushed when Rachel gave him a look. "Okay, it was my idea." He admitted. "Rachel, you know what it was like. School was meant to keep kids quiet and out of the way, and nobody really cared if they were learning anything."

"No, I agree, best to get them involved." Rachel bit her lip. "But I'm not that good with kids."

David smiled broadly. "You'll like me." He insisted adorably.

~~/*\~~

Hannah and Beckah were driving together towards the Hub. Every Vehicle still functioning, including a few new ones that were being made, was based out of the Hub. Vehicles were signed out by whoever needed one. Brothers with experience in maintenance were housed there to keep them functioning.

"I appreciate you driving me, Beckah." Hannah said as they drove.

Beckah smiled tightly. "I was happy to do it."

Hannah sat back in her seat. "Stop sweating on the steering wheel. I'm not here to grill you."

Beckah chuckled at herself. "I had a bet with Rachel that I could get Alec to propose before he made Elder. Looks like I lost. I owe her fifty million dollars."

"Dollars." Hannah scoffed. "There's a page from the past." She blinked. "Wait. Alec made Elder?"

"He got the offer. He didn't tell you?" She was surprised. "What did you do to make Alec so insecure?"

"Me?!" Hannah scoffed with mock-indignation, and the heavy topic became easier instantly. "Not I, young lady. Alec grew up as the only JW in his school. The other kids tore into him mercilessly. A fact that only got worse when he hit High School. We were three years from Tribulation and he was running a full on gauntlet every day." She squeezed Beckah's arm. "We almost lost him once."

"You did?" Beckah breathed in disbelief.

"There was one girl in his class that wasn't mean to him. He fell hard for her, but of course…" Hannah shook her head. "The daily torment made him want to withdraw from being a JW. The girl made him want to embrace someone who was being nice to him. And I almost missed it."

"But he came back?"

"He never really left. But at the most turbulent, difficult stage in his life, I think there was a moment when he wanted to be anyone else. He never had… anyone close; from the Witnesses. Everyone liked him, but there wasn't anyone his age in the Cong. I was really worried about him, but one of the more experienced brothers in the Cong took Alec under his wing, played the father figure. Alec was barely old enough to remember he had a father when we lost him…" Hannah rubbed her eyes. "The brother's name was Frank. He and his wife Lucille all but adopted Alec before he got Baptized. Took him through the questions, helped him rehearse his first talk; worked with him in the field."

"He's never mentioned them." Beckah was intrigued.

Hannah looked momentarily ancient. "They didn't come to the Hall. They… decided to go a different way." She looked down. "It was months later when I found out that Alec was there, flat out begging them to come to the Hall with him."

Dark silence.

"He's never told me any of this." Beckah said softly, feeling her heart break for him.

"Of course not. He'd never lay that on you. In his mind: He went through typical teenage angst and a loss that literally hundreds of thousands of people felt. You were in a wheelchair; and you lost more than a friend on A-Day. How can he ask you for sympathy when you went through something so much worse, and so personal?"

"Nobody ever sneers at the girl in the wheelchair." Beckah said immediately. "I had dozens of people offering to help, total strangers opening doors for me in the field… Even when it got really bad, nobody threw stones my way. When we all had to run for it, I was the first one the Brothers came to get." Rachel squeezed her eyes shut. "I had no idea. This is why he keeps dodging the offer, isn't it? Because I know they wanted to make him an Elder ten years ago, and he turned them down."

"So… that isn't why you haven't pushed it? Making things permanent, I mean?"

"Alec and I have talked about it once; but he hasn't asked; and now I know why." Beckah let out a breath. "How do you cure Survivor's Guilt?"

"You tell me; you're a survivor too." Hannah commented. "How did Alec help you with it?"

~~/*\~~

David's head was on a swivel. He hadn't stopped looking around for more than a second.

Rachel, driving the 4X4 that she had personally reworked to be electric, smirked at him. "What do you think, kid?"

"Big." David declared finally. "Nothing like what we build."

"No indeed." Rachel grinned.

Fifty years had turned the Urban Jungle into overgrown ruins. Creeper vines were all over the place, working their way up the concrete canyons towards the sun. The animals had moved in and made their home. Several streets had caved in completely, collapsing into the huge pipes and subway tunnels. The roads that remained solid showed grass breaking through in more places than not.

David was staring at the signs, the advertisements… Things he hadn't ever seen before. "Who's that?" He asked.

Rachel looked. "Um… Not sure, actually. He was an athlete. Pretty popular one at the time. You know those football games you and your friends play? Guys like him did it for a living. Got paid a fortune for it too."

"What's ‘fortune'?"

"Don't worry about it."

~~/*\~~

David had taken in a fair amount of the Old City as they made their way around the wrecked streets. Rachel had driven them to a Currency Exchange, which held several vaults for various treasures. She spent almost an hour trying to work the second armored door open, and David was no longer fascinated, now growing confused. "I don't get it."

"Of course not." Rachel said forgivingly. "You've never lived in a place where you can't see the sky and you can't feel the ground all the time. But back in the day, there were nine million people crammed into these streets."

"Nine million?" David repeated the words like it was a fairytale. "There aren't that many people in the world, are there?"

"There are now. When it all went down, there was about that many left, everywhere. Give or take." Rachel told him.

"If you had a place where they could all stay together, why not stay here?"

Rachel set down the hammer, switched to the crowbar. "Well, you weren't alive for this, David; but you've heard about the Preaching Time, right?"

"Oh, right." David swiftly understood. "Like the Catch-Up Classes, right?"

Rachel laughed. The classes for those being Returned had an official name, but nobody really bothered with it. "Right. Everywhere there were people, there was us." She faltered. "Well, your Dad at least. I wasn't really part of it for long."

David was looking out the window, gazing up at the towers again. "Is this… what they did wrong? I remember reading about the Tower, after Eden."

"The Tower of Babel? No, nothing like that." Rachel shook her head. "Not directly, anyway. See…" She tried to think of a way to put it. "When you make a puzzle, what do you do first?"

"The edges."

"Right. Before you start, you know where to stop." Beckah nodded. "Today, we plan every project, every community the exact same way. We always know when to stop." Rachel gestured up at the silent concrete canyons. "When they were building this city, they never knew where to stop; so they just kept… tearing it down, going higher, over and over."

David stared at her blankly. "Why?"

"They wanted."

"Wanted what?"

"More." Rachel told him with a smile. "Trust me, kid. You grew up in a world where everyone had what they needed, and most things they wanted. When I was your age, people were crazy trying to figure out what the difference was. I know what this kind of thinking did to the world. I know how close we came better than most."

With a wet crack, the panel came off the wall, and Rachel grinned. "Ah! Pass my bag, please?" David did so, and she pulled out a powerpack. "Now, these doors had multiple locks. We found the key to the mechanical one, we can force the failsafe… That just leaves the digital keypad. After fifty years, the backup power source has run down, so if I can feed some power into the keypad directly…" She trailed off as she tapped at her Device. "And, Abracadabra!"

The saferoom door groaned with metal sliding on metal after years of inactivity, and Rachel hauled it open. Within were dozens of sealed, stainless steel lockers; sealed airtight.

"Smells funny in here." David's nose wrinkled.

"That's the smell of old air. This room has been sealed airtight for fifty years." Rachel told him. "Look around, kid. Steel, then concrete, then more steel in every direction. This room was meant to survive anything. That's how important these things were." She tossed him the keyring. "Help yourself."

The boy went through the lockers, one by one; more curious than she was. She was here for a purpose; he was just wondering what people from a different age would lock up. He seemed more fascinated by the keyring.

After opening three or four of the boxes, she noticed his attention. "Never seen a security key before?"

David shook his head. "My Dad has a key to his lab. He uses it when there's fragile things he doesn't want me to knock over, but…"

"But nobody's built a house with a two way lock in fifty years." Rachel agreed. There were still keys, but they were for privacy, not security. David had probably never seen a keyring before; with over a hundred keys on it.

There was a large table in the middle of the vault, and little by little, they filled it with valuables. Money was just paper, and they left it. David seemed to like the jewelry, though most of it had tarnished. Most of the boxes contained papers. David had never heard of a Will, or a Death Certificate, or a Contract. Some of the larger lockers held more exotic things.

"Ooh." Rachel said as they carefully lifted out a painting. "I bet it's an original!"

"I don't get it." David's nose wrinkled. "Why lock up a painting?"

"You've seen the museums." Rachel told him, still rummaging. "You know how some artwork is more valuable. Fame, interest, obscurity, rarity, history. Some artworks were owned privately, waiting for the value to increase before a sale."

David nodded. "Right; that's what I mean. How can a painting get more valuable if nobody ever sees it?"

Rachel smiled to herself. "You had to be there."

David shrugged, and went back to the painting for a moment. "Can we take it back with us?"

"Can't leave it here." Rachel smiled. "Put it back in that lockbox though. It's probably fragile. Who knows how old it is?"

"Someone will. There's a brother that talks to my Dad about art. He's trying to find stuff in the catalogues that isn't in the museums anymore."

"Mm." Rachel agreed. "Well, we can add two or three more to his list."

"Sister Bridger?" David asked shyly, looking embarrassed. "I need a bathroom."

Rachel bit her lip. "Well, they may not smell that good, but if you can't wait, there are plenty of places around, even in this building. Sealed up, there may even be water to flush in the cisterns..."

He shook his head. "I already looked. There's no toilet paper."

Rachel winced, glanced around and grabbed one of the lockboxes. She handed him a bundle of hundred dollar bills; fairly intact after being sealed in.  "Here. Good for one use. Be careful, though. This building has been empty for a while, and even if the bathrooms are good, the pipes may not be."

David scampered off. Rachel shook her head at herself, vaguely amused; and went back to work. By the time David had returned, she found what she was looking for. The steel security box was still as solid as ever; with multiple locks. The box was more of a crate, nearly the size of David, and layered with all sorts of protections. She took some time to search her keys, looking for ones that seemed the right size. After a while, she got the thing open.

"What is it?" David asked, peering at the sealed crate. It was a huge book, ancient and heavy, with script he barely recognized. He checked the tags. "Who's King James? I don't remember that one."

"James wasn't a Bible King." Rachel told him. "The book is a gift for a... friend, who likes ancient things."

~~/*\~~

Rachel had expected them to take supplies from abandoned places, as in any survival situation. The leadup to the Big Day had wiped out supplies for everyone. The shelves were picked clean as they made their way through the buildings. Some of the roads were impassible, so they had to go on foot through the buildings, out the back doors.

David was reading labels on empty shelves as they walked. "What are Pop-Tarts?"

"When I was your age, they were a basic food group. All the chemicals they pumped into some of the food we ate, a few of the things might actually still be safe to eat if there were any left." Rachel said. "But trust me, you wouldn't like it."

The steady stream of questions continued as they made their way back out into the empty, quiet city; and settled with their lunch.

"And what's that?" David asked. He was pointing at another faded poster. This one was for an action movie. Possibly the last one ever to be produced. The kid was not pointing at the movie star, but the item in his hand.

Rachel bared her teeth, in a sort of smile. "That's a gun."

"What's a gun?"

"You have no idea how pleased I am to hear you ask that." Rachel drawled. "In fact-ACK!" She jumped as she suddenly, and unexpectedly, felt something run right up her leg. "GetItOff!"

David was giggling. He had an almost identical critter running up the back of his shirt. A small furry face poked out the back of his shirt collar, and climbed up on his shoulder; sniffing at his food.

"Meerkats." Rachel blurted, feeling one scratching lightly at her hair. "Where did they come from?" Almost before she said it, she realized the answer. "Oh! There were zoos in New York! I'm guessing they must have holed up somewhere."

David nodded. "We see other animals, sometimes. The first one was a Tiger. My Dad said it was like something out of a Magazine, watching a Tiger come strolling up to the camp. He went around to the zoos to check on the other animals. But they were already free; every last one. Even the snake exhibits." He smiled a bit at the memory. "We never did find out how the aquatic species made it out of their tanks; but they were all gone too."

"Someday, remind me to tell you about the cattle farm I drove past, just After." Rachel laughed, and gave in to the energetic rodent, handing over half her sandwich. It took off instantly, little hands working over his meal, tearing it into smaller bites. The other was still perched on David's shoulder getting fed morsels direct from the boy's hands.

Rachel smiled a bit at the sight. "In the zoo, you never would have had a chance to carry them around; just look at them from a distance."

David was in love. "Can I keep him?"

"You'd have to ask your Dad." Rachel told him. "As I recall, these critters lived underground, though if that was just because of predators, they may not do that any more. You can stay and play a bit if you want. I have to check on my next stop. When you're done, I'll be at the Empire State Building. Just past the Subway."

"What's a ‘Subway'?"

"Those stairs leading down? Ignore them, and go another few blocks." Rachel said with a smirk. "Man, I'm old." She said to herself.

~~/*\~~

Alec had his own Quick-Build, but hadn't put his name down for an allotment of land yet. There was plenty of world out there, and Alec had spent most of his time in paradise living out of a suitcase while on Restoration Trips. If he was going to take the position, he would have to settle. And if he was going to marry Beckah, something he fully intended to do at some point, she would want a hand in designing a home for them.

If. Alec thought the key word to himself over and over. If I do this. If I say yes. If I don't screw it up so completely that I'll retroactively be disavowed.

Jehovah God, He prayed. I never reacted this way when they made me a Servant. I thought it odd at the time, as it would have been in character for me to panic. Why do I feel this way now? I'm in my late nineties now. At what point do I stop looking for an experienced brother to turn to? I know it isn't like the old days. I've lived in your Paradise Utopia for seventy years, and still I seem to need reassurance. Forgive me for still needing you to tell me-

Knock knock.

Startled, Alec jumped. But he answered the door and found Beckah waiting outside.

"Hi." He smiled. "You get my mom to the Hub?"

"Yes." Beckah said with odd earnestness, and she promptly stepped forward, shut the door behind her, and wrapped her arms around him tightly. More so than she had ever done before.

Alec blinked, so surprised that it was several moments before he thought to hug her back. "Hey. What brought this on?"

"Not yet." She told him.

Alec blinked again, and quite happily stood there for long minutes, just letting himself be held.

Beckah broke the hug and held his face between her hands. "Alec, never, ever doubt that you are a wonderful, intelligent, compassionate person, with a heart full of love for God, and for others." She said with amazing earnestness. "I know that even after seventy years, you still listen to your doubts more often than you should, but please know that if I thought a fraction of those doubts to be true; I wouldn't love you half as much as I do right now. And I do, Alec. So much. If that fear ever gets to you again, if anything ever makes you feel like you can't do something, I want you to think back to this moment, and know that the faith I have in you has never been misplaced, and that at least one person who loves you more than anyone else in the world is totally convinced that you can do anything. I just hope that I'm there to help." She finished by kissing him soundly. "Always."

Gobsmacked, he stared at her in disbelief.

She saw the look on his face and flushed a little. "Sorry if I blindsided you with all that, but if you ever doubt that I see you that way, come straight to me. Because I will gladly spend the rest of-"

"Beckah," Alec said suddenly. "Will you marry me?"

Beckah broke off, eyes going dark. "Really?"

"Really."

"Yes." Beckah said with a smile, and promptly kissed him again.

Father, Alec added silently. Thank you for your prompt reply.