We were stuck in construction traffic for 8 hours. Now we're somewhere else entirely. Part 2
I gripped the steering wheel with sweaty hands and stared straight ahead as a person dressed in full riot gear stepped up next to my truck, holding a huge gun. I didn’t know what to do, other than sit there frozen.
“I’m going to need to see your driver’s license, sir. Please don’t get smart and try anything, or I will shoot you in the head.”
I lifted one hand from the steering wheel. “There, on the seat next to me,” I said. “My wallet. Okay?”
The man nodded his helmet. “We don’t have all day now,” he said. “Go ahead and get it.”
I fumbled around with one hand until I finally had it. I handed it over and he had a look. He kept looking up at me, and then back down at the license. Then he spoke into a radio clipped to his shoulder. “759 reporting in. I have located the Gardener. Repeat: I have located The Gardener. Confirm that assistance is en route.”
What?
A strange robotic voice replied: “This is confirmation that assistance is en route, 759.”
“What is this?” I asked the man. “What’s happening?”
“We’re saving the world, sir,” he said, handing the license back. “You’ll understand soon enough. Please, do not worry. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Somehow, I wasn’t reassured.
Within a minute, three more riot gear troopers or whatever were marching toward my truck. Then they were all at the driver’s side door. “Please step out of your vehicle and come peacefully with us,” said a woman. “We have been cleared to take a non-violent approach with you, sir. You are very fortunate.”
“What about my girlfriend?” I asked. “And our cats? They’re in the car behind me.”
The woman turned her head and took a quick glance at Lauren. I could still hear the cats through the open window, hissing and yowling.
“If she’s on the list,” said the woman, “then she will be joining you shortly.”
“No,” I said. “If we’re not together, then I’m not going anywhere. So you better check your list now.”
The woman nodded to the man who had originally come up to my truck. “Check her out, 759,” she said. Then she turned back to me. “We have been authorized to use a non-violent approach with you… but commanded to bring you with us by whatever means necessary.”
I watched in the rearview mirror as this 759 dude looked over Lauren’s ID. He spoke into his radio again, and then walked back over. “We have been authorized to bring the Gardener and the Gatherer together,” he said to the rest of them.
The what?!
“And the cats?” I asked.
Back to the radio. “This is 759. The Gardener has requested to bring along two felines. They are currently secured in crates in the back of the Gatherer’s vehicle. Permission granted or denied?”
