Free Tumultus by D. W. Ulsterman

Bear.
     
    “See, Bear, you’re not the only one who’s feeling a bit anxious.  You both are going to do just fine.  You’ll all be following my lead.  These horses know the way in and back, and know to just keep up with as little fuss as possible.
     
    “That does leave me with another question though.  I figure Mac knows how to shoot a gun well enough, and from what I hear, Bear can certainly take care of himself just fine.  What about you two?”
     
    Both Reese and Dublin stood next to each other.  Dublin opened her jacket to reveal a holstered handgun under her left arm.  Upon opening his jacket, Reese showed the very same handgun kept in the same location as Dublin’s.
     
    Mac stepped next to Reese and clapped him on the shoulder.
     
    “Dublin here, she’s been shooting for years.  Almost everyone in Dominatus carried a side arm, or at least owned a rifle.  She’s been a fine shooter for quite some time now.  Reese here, well he came to us not so keen on guns.  After what we went through with the attacks by the New United Nations though, he changed his tune and I’ve been teaching him as much as I can in the last couple years.  If the need arises, he’ll be more than up to the task of protecting himself and others.”
     
    Cooper gave a brief nod, indicating he was satisfied with Mac’s response.
     
    “Ok then, I have all the supplies packed up and ready to go.  We have enough food and water to last us a few days, which is more than enough to get us to the drop cabin.  I would prefer we don’t go near a city or town on the way – the less interaction we have with people the better.”
     
    Mac pointed off in the direction of the hills they were to be travelling through momentarily.
     
    “What’s the deal with Canada, Coop?  I’ve heard a few things here and there over the years, how it’s been a place for…well, kind of anything goes.  But is it really that dangerous?  Any more dangerous than say, the Lower 48 and all its compliance officers?”
     
    “Different kind of danger, Mac, but just as deadly if you’re not careful.  I haven’t gone too far into Canada’s interior.  Mainly just to the drop cabin I share with my supplier that’s about a full days ride from here.  He’s the one who tells me what things are really like in the urban areas.  And it’s not good.  The Muslims took it over almost entirely about ten years ago.  Almost every city, they were dumped into the country by the tens of thousands for several years and were allowed to go after anyone and anything that opposed them.  Bloody and brutal.  Thousands of beheadings, tens of thousands of women raped.  Familes, children…killed during what they called infidel trials.”
     
    Bear gave a nod toward Cooper.
     
    “I heard some of that too.  Last year a trapper, nice old guy, he said he spent a couple years about twenty miles outside Dawson Creek working several trap lines.  He went into the city for supplies one day and saw a woman get her throat cut from ear to ear right in the middle of the street.  Her body was left there for the rest of the day as some kind of symbolic gesture to everyone else to not step out of line.  They had Sharia Law postings on every street, in every business and there would be a group of twenty or thirty thugs with machetes roaming the streets day and night just looking to go after someone.  And Dawson Creek is kind of in the middle of nowhere, right?  He said he wouldn’t get caught in some of the bigger cities like Vancouver or Toronto for anything.  If Dawson Creek was that scary, those other places have to be total terrors, especially for someone with white skin, or God forbid – openly Christian.”
     
    “So how much of a chance do we have of actually making it all the way to the priest?”
     
    Reese’s question remained unanswered for several seconds as Mac looked to Cooper Wyse, who in turn, simply shrugged back at Reese.  Finally Mac issued a