call him Bear. He played professional football until they banned it. He came to us about five years ago with his wife and two kids. Beautiful family and we’re honored to have them here.”
Bear’s glower continued and no handshake was extended, but rather a barely noticeable nod of his massive shaved head. Unlike Bill Crup, Bear’s dark eyes held no hint of friendly disposition. The man was clearly very serious business, not someone I cared to have a disagreement with. When he replied to Mac his voice supported the nickname as it issued forth in a low, bear-like growl.
“About fifty or so in there Mac. No sign of the Old Man yet. Some people are not happy about your guest.”
Bear’s eyes never left me as he spoke.
Mac’s own equally intimidating stare now directed itself fully onto Bear.
“Well that shit needs to shut down right quick now doesn’t it Bear? I’m sure some of them didn’t like seeing you show up a couple years back, right? His father was a friend to me and a friend to Dominatus long before you and a lot of the others arrived here, so if people got a problem with that…they are welcome to take it up with me. And that includes you Bear, understood?”
The massive man’s eyes focused on me and then returned to Mac before once again giving a brief nod.
“Understood.”
Having made his point, Mac proceeded to open the doors to the building and motioned for me to follow behind him. Inside stood the fifty Bear had described, quietly talking among themselves. That talk died down almost immediately as Mac began walking toward a small stage at the opposite end of the room and I could sense more than see the eyes of everyone in the hall turning and following us.
Mac took to the small stage and raised both of his hands as both a greeting and signal he was about to speak.
“Thank you to everyone for coming here today – most of you have likely already heard about our guest. His name is Reese Neeson. Those of you who have been here a while might remember when his father came up here to visit. The same man who was responsible for getting me out of prison all those years ago.”
I smiled to the faces looking at me. Only a few cared to smile back.
Mac continued.
“Now as most of you also probably know, we were paid a visit by Compliance Officer Denny yesterday. He had a few questions for our guest and toward the end…well…things got a little testy between Carol and me. He made some threats, the kind of threats all of us here have been living under for a long time now. So it’s nothing we haven’t prepared for, or expected, but again, we all realize that over the last few years the New United Nations has taken more interest in Dominatus because more people are hearing about how we live, what we stand for…and that’s a dangerous thing to the ones who want to keep things like personal freedom and liberty buried away and out of sight.”
An older Black man raised his hand, patiently waiting for the opportunity to speak.
“Dr. Miller? You want to say something?”
“Mac, I think we all just want to know how prepared we need to be now. Are we looking at a worst case scenario here? Invasion? Attempted arrests? Compliance trials? Is that what we are dealing with?”
Several voices rose up to join the doctor’s question – many of them openly angry.
Again Mac raised his hands and waited for silence.
“Dr. Miller, I don’t know for certain. But, I think it would be a good thing for us to be as fully prepared for that scenario, yeah. I already issued the high alert yesterday, right? So that’s what all of you should be doing. In the end though it’s your choice how you want to prepare, how far you want to take those preparations. We ain’t about telling you what to do up here…that’s why we all choose to call this place our home. As for me, I’m
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