THE RUINS

Chapter 3- The Preacher.

The rain beat down on the window of the pod. Like tiny bullets being shot against the glass, for a moment, as he stared at the puddles forming in dark brown patches along the ground, Joseph imagined himself in a river. He wasn't on a boat, nor was he drowning or walking on water, He was just...floating. He imagined the waves carrying him off to another world, one which had no hunger or pain, one where the citizens were allowed to live like people and not animals, he found serenity in the sound of the water, his eyes closed, his body calm, he could almost feel the waves until-
"JOSEPH! DINNER!"
"Ugh.." He thought to himself "Guess I'll just have to hope for some more rain after this." Joseph was one of the most respected members of the colony, he lived in a larger pod than most people but showed great shame in that fact as he felt he didn't deserve it, all he had done was assemble groups of people together to work at different points of the country, "they are the true heroes" He would often say. He lived with his wife Sarah, their daughter Janey and their son Christopher. Janey was the spitting image of her mother with sapphire eyes, golden blonde hair and a light complexion, almost as if she was a shining star in a dark place. Chris however, bore very little resemblance to his father, Joseph was tall and lean, with brown hair and blue eyes, Chris was short and stalky, he had jet black hair, often messy and hazel eyes. However despite the lack of resemblance there was no denying that Chris was indeed Joseph's son, they had the same attitude and the same approach to various situations.

Joseph had never had an easy life, his father left at a very young age and his mother became cold and indifferent towards him. He was often the victim of physical and emotional abuse. He didn't blame his mother though, in fact he blamed no one, he just simply brushed it off as human nature. It didn't make the abuse any easier though, it wasn't until he found God that he felt truly content in life. In his adult years he had been a priest and had just opened a brand new church when world war 3 broke out, he was drafted into the US army to fight and while he protested there was no choice, when he came back from the war he was a changed man. Yet he still worked hard to help set up new America. So to see the state that it was currently in, well that was why he imagined himself floating off.

As he sat at the dinner table picking at his food there was only one thought in his mind " Who was that man at the meeting" He had known of Monty but yet knew very little of this mysterious dark man, he seemed trustworthy and his physical deficiencies caused Joseph to have a measure of pity towards him, however he just couldn't understand who he was and why he was so interested in saving New America, was it pride? Was it the same sense of self righteousness and bravery which "the saviour" once possessed? Was it all a lie? He just didn't know. What he did know was that if this rebellion went down, it would be very dangerous, so another thought came to him. "I have to keep my family safe."