

About the cover: The cover image is titled Soldier With Gun. This picture was produced by Aaron Amat and acquired through Fotofolia.

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Verum Et Inventa

DARK FICTION BY RAYMOND TOWERS

This is a magazine of dark fiction, mostly, in the genres of fantasy, horror and science fiction. Primarily, I am here to promote my fiction writing, but I am also looking forward to including submitted material from other writers with similar styles or non-traditional ideas, as well as contributions from reviewers, commentators and, hopefully, one day, even fans. In addition, and following what you might be familiar with from print digest-type magazines, I will also include articles based on my personal research, or the research of others, many of which will be controversial and difficult to absorb for the normies. Honestly, there are plenty of other outlets out there that pull their punches or whitewash what is true and promote what is fabrication. Verum Et Inventa is Latin for Truth and Fables, or Truth and Fiction, if you will. If you've come to read an adventure, I will give you one. If, after that, you want to read an article that might cause you to see things in a different way than before, I'm aiming to provide that as well.

_The best form of government is no government. Any government that sets aside wealth taken from its citizens, for any purpose, is in effect creating a honey pot the parasites among us cannot resist._ \- Raymond Towers

_Through censorship, harassment and intimidation, nearly all of our mainstream media venues, including news and entertainment, are actively suppressing Truth and promoting globalist, socialist agendas. If we don't come together as a people, right now, these enemies of humanity will soon stamp our voices out._ \- Raymond Towers

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Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2018 Raymond Towers

**Smashwords Edition, License Notes:** Thank you for viewing or downloading this free e-book. You are welcome to share this e-book with your friends provided that it remains in its complete original form and is not used for any commercial purpose. If you enjoy reading this magazine, please consider posting a review or making a purchase of one of the author's other titles. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All of the characters in this e-book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, whether living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This is issue number 3 of Verum Et Inventa magazine, with an official release date of January 1st, 2019. With any luck, this magazine will be produced on a monthly or bi-monthly schedule, with a minimum of 100 pages of content per issue. Links to back issues of this magazine can be found on the Freebie page at Raymond Towers Dot Com.

Rating: This issue contains a MEDIUM to HIGH amount of controversial subject matter.

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### Table Of Contents

Editorial

Science Fiction

Roaches In The Attic 0 - Non-Retrieval

RITA0 - Chapter 3

RITA0 - Chapter 4

Fantasy

Tales From The Savage Lands 1

Ode Of An Unknown Warrior Tribesman

A Furry Little Man

Risky Propositions

Wilmer The Wretch

Story Starters

Santa Ysabel, A Fictional Mexican Village

Non-Fiction Section

Articles

Honduran Hordes: Human Rights Or Human Trafficking?

Media Reviews

I Want Contributors!

About The Publisher / Author

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### Editorial

Welcome to issue no. 3 of Verum Et Inventa magazine. What do we have in store for you this time?

Our main feature is the continuation of the novella Non-Retrieval, from the series Roaches In The Attic. Spaceman Douglas has his hands full, doesn't he, as he's out there trudging over the strange landscape of planet Lesenia with the hard-charging Space Marines at his back. You can read the conclusion of this novella, with its extended battle sequence, in next month's issue. Or, if you don't want to wait that long... You can head over to Raymond Towers Dot Com, to the main page for the RITA series, or search for the e-book directly through Smashwords, and download a free copy today.

For the next portion of this issue, you'll find several entries from my medieval fantasy collection Tales From The Savage Lands 1. I am focusing attention on this e-book because Savage Lands 2 is scheduled for release on January 15th of 2019. As a bonus, if you pre-order SL2, you can get it for 99 cents. Once published, the book will most likely sell for five bucks, so save some money! Oddly enough, SL1 started off as simply a collection of short stories, where I wanted to express my love for all things related to King Arthur and the renowned Knights of the Round Table. The series has evolved greatly since that time, becoming part of my broader Chaos Rift series. In the short story Wilmer The Wretch, you will meet Dobrynia the Valkyrie, a heroine whom has become a mainstay in the CR books. Currently, I am writing Savage Lands 7. In case you missed the announcement last month, I am offering to the public the SL7 Rough Draft, which is an unfinished work in progress. As of today, December 16, 2018, this novel is nearly 80% complete. I hope to finish it by the end of December, but I will keep the Rough Draft posted, oh, probably until the start of February. If you'd like to download a current PDF version, head over to the Freebie page on Raymond Towers Dot Com. I am updating this novel every even day.

I don't have much of a Story Starter this month, because I have spent a tremendous amount of time researching the forced migration of poor Hondurans into Mexico. I've been following this socialist human trafficking ploy ever since the middle of October, gaining a lot of insight into how things were set up initially, and how they've progressed along until now that the caravans have stagnated at the Mexican border in Tijuana. Fake News is not giving you the full story. You can agree or disagree with my opinions, but you can't deny the Hidden Hands orchestrating these events and covering them up in mainstream news venues. My article on the Honduran Hordes is over 30 pages long. I have also included my raw notes in the Media Reviews. There is so much censorship and negative retaliation toward Truthers on this critical issue of forced UN migration, that I fear some of the independent reporters and their channels might be banned from Google / Youtube. My raw notes are included in the Media Reviews section, in the case the original news stories are deleted. The full article is also available on my Freebie page. I know there are a lot of people who can't handle the Truth about the Rothschild bankers and their constant UN manipulation, but I'm not going to babysit anyone. Remember the old slogan: Silence Is Consent. Enjoy your globalist, surveillance, propaganda state, because if you don't speak up now, like the people in France and other countries are doing, the New World Order is taking your voice away and giving it to the globalists. Are you tired of being a Sheep yet?

Anyway, look at all the free stuff I'm giving you! A free sci-fi novella, a free, medieval fantasy rough draft, and a free in-depth article with content you won't find anywhere else. (Not to mention my next book release at 99 cents!)

We've got a New Year coming up soon, so why not take some positive chances in your life, make plans to become a better, happier person, reduce your personal time on electronic devices and increase your time with family, friends and the great outdoors. Eat better, stay healthy, look forward, that kind of stuff. Do what you can to make this world a good place to be in. Happy New Year, everybody!

Raymond Towers

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### Roaches In The Attic 0

Non-Retrieval

About the series: For the first time in recorded history, humanity has developed the technology to travel at its leisure among the stars. The unrestricted exploration of space begins, only for our first wave of pioneers to discover abruptly and brutally, that we are not alone in the cosmos. It will be up to the Space Marines not only to counter this new threat from far, far way, but also to prevent these bizarre new enemies, the Roaches, from finding Earth and bringing their unforgiving brand of destruction down on all of us.

About this title: \- For rookie Spaceman Harold Douglas, the mission sounded simple enough. Take the squad of Space Marines out, discover why the outpost had gone offline, and bring them back home in one piece. That was before the transport suddenly vanished, stranding them all on an alien planet. Now, they are fighting for their lives against the greatest threat humanity has ever seen. Rating: MEDIUM controversy.

Non-Retrieval was first released on Sept. 6, 2010. It has recently been revised and re-released. Download a free copy of this novella at Smashwords, or find out more about the series on Raymond Towers Dot Com.

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This is Part 2, continued from the last issue.

3

My next thought was of Senior Spaceman Tennard opening the hatch and stepping out to rescue us. The strange thing was that too soon after the shuttle's arrival, the hatch was already swinging open. Without warning, I saw Rubalcava drop down on one knee and rapidly swing his weapon toward the small vessel.

That's when I heard the clicking. The horrible clicking sounds that Roaches make, noises that I'd heard in recordings but never before in person. The air was filled with the clicking sounds. They were like frantic snaps that grated into my ears, with the same sharp resonance as the sound of nails on a chalkboard.

Through the open hatch, I could see a dark, hunched form emerging. The form didn't get very far, as a blast of hot plasma from Rube's rifle tore out huge chunks from its midsection and sprayed them onto the vessel's outer wall. Black blood poured from the Roach's gaping wound as the animal thrashed about wildly, before it finally fell to the ground.

That was the moment that the burning battery decided to make itself known. With its own loud clamor, it exploded, sending corrosive bits flying out all over the place. The kneeling Rubalcava was pummeled back by the acid-laden shrapnel. As it burned into his clothing and flesh, it wrenched him into a screaming frenzy.

More loud clicks issued from the transport, where two rolled up Roaches popped out through the hatch. They leapt away by a good fifteen feet, in opposing directions. At the moment they hit the ground they unrolled themselves and stood straight up. In growing fear and revulsion, I watched as the Roaches lifted their two pairs of thin and thorny arms up before their faces, like some kind of bizarre Egyptian dance. They were getting into the fire position.

The projectiles they produced were invisible to the human eye, but I could see the rippling trail of steamed air that signaled they had fired upon us. Two large clumps of black grass exploded from the area where the battery had lain.

One of the dark creatures spotted me, angling its body to fire another heat blast. Filled with panic, I ran back toward the trees, fumbling with both my backpack and the rifle strap I had unwittingly twisted around my forearm. In desperation, I yanked at the weapon, only to feel it slip between my fingers and land on the ground next to me.

Another gouge of dirt burst up behind me, way too close. Between my forward momentum and my awkward flailing to recover my weapon, my foot slipped and I tripped down onto my face. As I landed in a clumsy sprawl onto the grass, I felt a third wave, as if from a flamethrower, pass only a few inches over my body.

The giant pineapple standing only a few feet ahead of me took the full brunt of the blow. The tree shuddered visibly and exploded, drenching me in moist bits and sticky goo. I rolled forward and to one side reflexively, and crawled behind the next tree over.

The sap from the pineapple started seeping into my clothing. Once it touched my skin, I began to feel that same creepy, crawly sensation I'd felt in my hand before. I tried to slap away the biggest bits, but the sap was all over me, seeping into my skin.

The soft whine of the plasma rifles prompted me to peer around the wide tree. Davis and Knotts had both taken cover behind the pineapples as well. They'd already killed another Roach. The next enemy proved to be more elusive, as it rolled itself up again just before plasma slammed the creature to one side. This was the Roach that had taken two shots at me already, I realized. I watched as it hopped up into the air and landed halfway between the transport and my spot behind the tree.

It was after me, I thought, as the Roach unrolled and stood up on its two stumpy legs. My rifle lay just a few feet to one side of the monster, instead of being in my grip like it should have been. The Roach brought its four arms up and fired its indistinct projectile in my direction.

I shrank back behind the short tree, praying the missile wouldn't be strong enough to penetrate through its thick trunk. Bracing myself for the impact, I hunched forward and ducked my head toward my knees. I felt the force of the blast rip into the tree a moment later. A spear of electricity shot into my spine, where my back and the tree were still in contact. It was strong enough to jerk an agonized scream from my body. I shook from the sharp and burning jolt, right before the front of the tree exploded.

Suddenly, I felt my body become drained and numb. My energy gone, I barely managed to make a half-turn back toward the transport to see what was going on, before I crumpled to the ground uselessly. I could no longer move, believe me I was trying. From my new spot, I could see a blast of plasma rip into the second Roach. Both it and pieces of it went tumbling out of sight.

Incredibly, I next saw Rubalcava stagger up to his feet and limp toward the Purple Haze, all the while firing into the open hatch. Davis and Knotts were screaming for him to get out of the way, when Davis suddenly flashed by and started firing on the rear of the transport. That's where the Pulse Magnifiers were mounted. She was trying to blow the ship up, I realized, and destroy whatever number of Roaches were still trapped inside by Rube's continuous volley. There was a one hundred percent chance that by blowing up the Magnifiers, we'd be toast as well. Since I could barely breathe and much less get my mouth to work and cry out to her, all I could do was lie there on the ground and watch.

The reactors sizzled wildly from the plasma blasts. Davis was already moving back and away from the Magnifiers, when I saw Rube fall onto the grass so weakly that I thought he must have passed out, or worse.

A flash of blinding white light surrounded the damaged transport. It took all the will I had left to flutter my eyelids partly closed. The Pulse flared up, and a split second later it faded away. The small transport was gone with it.

Knotts rushed over to Rube's side. My own line of sight was taken up by the towering figure of Davis. The tough woman marched up to me with more hate on her face than I'd ever seen her display before, and that was really saying something. Tersely, she lashed out a long and lean arm and snatched me up by the collar. The contact between her knuckles and my upper chest gave us both a jolt of static electricity, strong enough for her to snatch her hand away.

Her hand dove at me again. This time she clutched me hard by a backpack strap, and started dragging me out from behind the destroyed pineapple. She was taking me toward where Knotts was tending to Rubalcava.

"You dumb shit-brick!" Davis scolded me. "You're so scared you can't even move, can you? All you can do is drop your gun and go run and hide somewhere like a chicken-shit!"

"Rube's still alive." Knotts' voice called out. "He's in deep shock, though. Lots of small abrasions from the battery shrapnel, severe acid contamination. I'll try to pull out the biggest pieces of shrapnel with my tweezers and patch him up as best I can, but we have to get him back to Neelson right away. He'll be needing that poison treatment, as in right now."

"Flyboy's okay." Davis sarcastically commented. "He just got a little apple sauce on him, is all. But you know what, he can't even move 'cause he's so scared. How about we just leave his worthless carcass out here for whatever kind of buzzards this planet has, since all he did was turn tail and not even fire off a single shot!"

Knotts had some kind of response, but I didn't catch it. A gut-wrenching wave of nausea gripped my body. The use of my faculties returned. Just in time, too. I was barely able to yank Davis' hand away and turn, when the contents of my stomach spewed out in a stinky waterfall. I paused, dry heaving a bit, until a second wave lurched out whatever my stomach still had left.

"Figures." Davis said.

Once my revulsion subsided; I wiped the bile from my lips and gave her the most resentful countenance I could muster.

Davis actually chuckled, before she started for Knotts and Rube. She spotted my weapon in the black grass. "Don't forget your rifle this time, you dumb-ass, chicken-shit, mother-fucker."

I sat up, with my arms draped over my raised knees and my head hung low, as seven kinds of shame and humiliation draped themselves over my shoulders. I didn't stay there very long, though, as the smell from my vomit wafted up into my nose. Sheepishly, I got up and went over to pick up the weapon.

I didn't want to step any closer to the Marines, but I didn't know where else to go either, until I saw the hideous corpse of the Roach a few yards away. Curiosity got the better of me, because my steps were soon headed in the dead creature's direction. The Roach smelled even worse than my vomit, but in order to get a good look at it I braved past the foul odor.

The Roach was about five feet high, with a pronounced hump just behind the helmet-shaped head. Its skin was a sinister shade of black, as dark as death, and it had a slight, polished sheen to it. On top of the head, two thick, six-inch protrusions, the antennae, sprouted out.

Its eyes were large bulbs, the size of tennis balls, and crisscrossed with thousands of little platelets like a fly's. Its mouth was almost perfectly round. The mouth didn't open up like a human being's in the form of a slit. Instead, it opened up in a widening circle. Within this round cavern I could see one continuous row of tiny, triangular teeth. From all accounts, those teeth were razor-sharp. I could understand why the creatures were nicknamed Roaches, because that's what they looked like from a distance. Up close, however, it was clear that they were something else.

Gazing further down on the creature's body, I counted four long, double-jointed arms, the first pair high on the thorax, the second about eight inches below that. A third pair of appendages, thicker and shorter than the others, served as legs for when the animal went bipedal. There were no fingers or toes visible, just circular paws that ended in rubbery-looking pads, with numerous wrinkles on them that were said to aid the creature's grip.

Looking back up at the four arms, I had to stare hard to find the Roach's minimal armor. They were mere sleeves, said to be nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the upper limbs. These were supposed to run the length of the last section of the arm up to an inch or two from the paw. They were some sort of bio-weaponry that was said to amplify the Roach's natural offensive capability. Since this was my first actual Roach encounter, I couldn't figure out exactly where the sleeves were.

I thought of asking one of the Marines to point them out to me, but I was too squeamish after my actions earlier. I did notice that Knotts had cut the arm off of Rube's cammie blouse with his field knife, and was now hurriedly applying some sort of pain relieving and blood clotting cream to the worst of the wounds. Rube was moaning at the vigorous movement. At least he was alive, I thought.

"I'm moving fast so we can get moving fast." Knotts tried to console the injured soldier. "I don't want to be hanging around when the Roaches come back for round two."

"They won't be coming back in the Purple Haze." I mentioned, still standing by the dead Roach. "The Pulse Magnifiers were too badly damaged by the weapon fire."

"Then how did the transport Pulse away from here?" The big Marine asked.

"The outpost must have Pulsed it back." I guessed. "From the way those Magnifiers were sizzling when the transport left, I thought they were about to blow up. It's a good thing the vessel Pulsed out when it did, or we might not be standing here now talking about it."

"So there is no way that transport can come back?"

"Not unless the Roaches can remove the damaged reactors and replace them with new ones." I replied. "The outpost can send out an Emergency Pulse to recover a vessel, but it can't Pulse one out the same way. A transport has to Pulse itself out."

After noticing the attention I was giving the dead Roach, Davis trudged back in my direction. "You take a good look at that thing, flyboy." She said, using her boot to tip the nasty beast onto its side. "You see that bony ridge going down this Roach's back? That's its spine. The entire carapace is fifteen to twenty times denser than human bone. Regular rounds can't penetrate that, and plasma rounds can't penetrate that. If the Roaches decide to ball themselves up and roll all over the place, there isn't a damned thing our weapons can do to them. All we can do is to keep firing at them to deflect them aside, but these things have such a keen sense of balance that they can recover and roll themselves out wherever they want to. We have to wait for them to come to a stop and stand up before we even have a good shot at them. And the only time they stand up is right before they shoot compressed heat at us." The tough female allowed the Roach to slip onto its back again. "When you aim, you have to aim for their upper bodies or their heads. Why don't you try it?"

I didn't quite grasp what she was getting at, so Davis made the point crystal clear.

"Go ahead and shoot the fucking thing!" She admonished. "Don't stand there and think about it, just squeeze the trigger. Take a good look at those teeth! A real good look! If the Roaches are running on the ground, they're much faster than we are. We'd be doing nothing but knocking them aside by a few feet with our weapons. In the meantime, we'll have a couple dozen of them moving toward us at once. Every shot that we take to push one back means the others will be three or four feet closer to our position. And if they get close enough to knock us down, guess what part of us they attack first with those razor-sharp teeth? They will go after our faces first, or our throats. They will kill us without giving it a second thought! So pretend this alien piece of crap is taking a noon-time nap, take that freaking rifle that's in your hands and shoot this fucking Roach, before it wakes up and starts tearing your face off!"

I did hold the weapon out, but it was more due to my fear of Davis' hostility than anything else. I pointed it shakily towards the black corpse, the tip of the rifle only about six inches from the Roach's horrible mouth. While looking at its grotesque countenance, I tried to pull the trigger back. I tried to lash out in the same way that the Roach would have undoubtedly done to me. Believe me, I tried, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. With the whimper of a defeated man, I slowly withdrew the rifle.

"That's the difference between you and me." Davis berated, squeezing the trigger on her own weapon. The suddenness of the action startled me, as much as the sharp hiss of the rifle and the flying bits of alien flesh and blood that flew up into my face. "I can and you can't."

"We'd better get moving." Knotts announced, taking to his feet and hoisting his pack on. "They may not be able to use that specific transport to come after us, but the outpost still has three other transports on this planet. If the Roaches can come out to these coordinates with one, I'm sure they can come out here with another."

The big Marine pulled a groaning Rube up on his feet, holding the weak man steady.

"This might hurt a little." Knotts said, right before he stooped and pulled Rube onto his broad shoulder.

Rubalcava yelped and clamored for a few seconds, until Knotts had him more or less settled in place. When the wounded man's noise reduced to occasional whimpers, it gave the big soldier a moment to speak.

"Davis, take point through the trees. If another transport of Roaches does pop up, we can use the trees for cover. The pineapples might numb the crap out of Rube, but considering his sorry state that's probably a good thing for him."

Davis gave me one last glower, before she did a casual about face and jogged toward the long line of trees. "Meet you on the other side!"

The second she moved through their folds, a large section of the pineapples around her dropped their leaves to their sides.

"What the fuck?" Davis crouched down as close to the ground as she could, but she still had several leaves draped around her head and shoulders.

The unexpected action left Knotts unnerved as well. "We have to cross through them. If we stay on this side and another transport appears, there's no cover until we're back in the forest." He glanced down the long procession of trees, and saw that the rest of the trees were also lowering their leaves. "It's got to be some kind of natural thing because they're all doing it. Let's just get through these things and get out of here."

Davis nodded, before she scampered out of sight.

"All right, Rube," Knotts muttered. "Here we go."

The tall Marine started through the foliage. As I watched, I could almost swear that some of the purple leaves they were brushing against were clinging to Rubalcava's limp form.

I hung back a little, not wanting to stand near the smelly Roach carcasses, but after I'd shown myself to be such a coward, I didn't want to walk too close to the Marines either. I should have been stronger, braver, anything better than the miserable, pathetic excuse for a soldier that I had been. I was so pathetic I couldn't even bring myself to shoot a Roach. The most vicious and hated enemy the human race had ever encountered had been standing right in front of me, and the only thing I'd done was drop my weapon and start running for my life. I couldn't even make myself shoot a dead Roach, I lamented.

I wondered if I could bring myself to shoot anything, ever. I had the plasma rifle in my grip and I brought it up to the firing position. I pointed it at the nearest tree, trying to convince myself that I could pull the rifle's trigger the next time I was involved in a harrowing situation.

The tree was defenseless. It wasn't any kind of threat. If I shot it, the tree's only real sin was that it had grown up right in that specific spot. In this moment of utter and unforgivable weakness, I couldn't even bring myself to shoot a fucking plant.

A slight creaking noise interrupted my thoughts. I glanced around trying to find its source, but nothing seemed out of place. I held still, concentrating on finding the sound again. After a few moments, I did hear it. It was a low rumbling coming from the ground beneath me. It was also indefinite, as if it was coming from several directions at once.

As I took in the landscape again, I felt that my perception was becoming unclear. It looked to me as if some objects were now blending together when they hadn't been before, or as if things had moved when they had no right to move.

The rumbling subsided and I gasped incredulously at the sight that lay before me. The gray pineapples had clustered to either side. In their midst they'd left a path some three feet wide for me to step through. The Marines were well on their way by now, so I couldn't turn to them for answers.

A moment later, I began to feel a chill, a fear, start moving through my body. It was telling me to run, to flee from those strange pineapple-shaped trees, because there was something unexplainably wrong with them.

I yielded to this growing dread, bolting like a rabbit with a hound at its tail, in the only direction that I was sure to find safety. Rushing through the trees, I felt the hanging leaves slapping at my face and arms, stinging me with their bizarre numbness. All the while I imagined them closing their ranks around me. I could see them pressing tight against my body, crushing me between their gray trunks, until I was left with only my head and one arm free as I struggled to escape their grasp.

These frightening thoughts propelled me through the foliage even faster, enough that I didn't slow my speed once I got through it. I saw the Marines in the distance, entering the opposite end of the large swirl of pineapples. I kept running toward them. The rows of pineapples on this side were much wider, with the trees spread further apart. I was soon through these as well. I didn't stop running until I was about ten feet behind the rest of the party.

Davis glanced back at me and spit. "Well, look who's here, and showing that marathon instinct once again."

Huffing from the exertion, I tried to convey what I'd just seen. "The trees..." I started, out of breath. "They've alive!"

"Of course they're alive, you dumb fool." Davis scolded me. "How else do you think they grow like that?"

"Not what I meant." I panted.

"Just shut your trap and keep your rifle ready." Davis growled.

"Uunnn." Rubalcava moaned. "Did we get them Roaches?"

"But the trees..." I tried again.

"Spaceman, do us all a favor and be quiet." Knotts said. "Hey Rube, yeah, man, we got them."

"Damn straight." Davis said. "Three on the outside and at least a couple more on the inside. The rest of them didn't even make it past the hatch. I almost blew up the whole damn ship."

"That's no good." Rube said.

"Why not?"

"Because I was trying to get to the cargo holds." Rube explained. "I was trying to find out if maybe there were any more LRR radio parts in there, so we could warn Space Corps that the Roaches <cough> were on Lesenia now. Uunn."

"Don't talk so much." Knotts stated. "Save your energy until we catch up with the others. I'm sure Neelson has some kind of anti-battery acid medicine in his backpack."

"Oh, my chest hurts." Rube complained. "It feels like I got shot in the chest, and I'm tingling all over. Hey, Jesus! I can't feel my arm! Where's my arm?" The Marine struggled to turn his head, rubbing his face roughly against Knott's broad back. "Thank heaven it's still there. You tied it to my side, huh? How come I can't feel it? How much pain killer did you guys shoot me with?"

"I hope you don't think we're engaged or anything." Knotts joked. "But I rubbed congeal cream on your arm, on a part of your upper leg and on your chest. I gave you two shots of painkiller. On top of that, we went through the column of pineapples twice."

"That explains some of it, but I'm numb all over, man. Even my neck is numb."

"Davis, listen," I tried to share my experience again. "Back there, the trees..."

"Can it, flyboy." Davis cut me off. "Nobody wants to hear it."

I clammed up, because if I said anything further Davis would probably start pounding on me. We were back among the 'regular' trees by then, I noticed.

Rube sounded as if he was whimpering. "Level with me, guys. Am I going to make it or am I a goner?"

"You idiot," Knotts kept his steady pace up. "Of course you're going to make it."

Rube giggled. "I know, I know. I was just screwing with you guys. I've always wanted to ask somebody that except it was never the right moment, you know?"

"Oh, you'll be all right." Davis commented. "Except for your leg."

"What's wrong with my leg?" Rube was suddenly wary. "You guys know I can't feel my legs. I can't even tell if I still have them or not. Douglas, tell me if I still have my legs, man, because I can't trust either one of these lying bastards."

Davis and Knotts both chuckled.

"Your legs are still there." Knotts admitted. "It's your brain that got sucked out, you dummy."

"I really hope you guys are just pulling my nuts." Rube grinned. "You had me going there for a minute." He started coughing again. "Ooh! My chest hurts."

"Stop talking and stop squirming around so much." Knotts warned him. "You took some good shrapnel bits to the left side of your body, for being dumb enough to stand next to an LRR battery while it exploded. You're lucky you didn't get a bunch of acid on your face."

"It could have ruined my good looks."

"Trust me, you never had them." Davis countered.

"You've got a lot of acid in your system right now." Knotts stated. "I pulled a lot of the bigger shrapnel bits out as fast as I could, but by then the acid was already seeping into the wounds. You have to save your energy until I get you back to Neelson."

"Gotcha, boss man." Rube quieted down. This only lasted about a second, as the wounded soldier glanced back in my direction. "Hey, Douglas, now you know, huh?"

"Know what?" I asked.

"What side of that white line you're standing on."

Another wave of shame washed over me. I slowed my pace to distance myself further from the Marines.

"You know," Knotts spoke up. "I don't think those Roaches were soldiers."

"They weren't." Davis agreed. "They went down way too easy and they didn't even have armbands on them. They were something else."

That explained why I hadn't seen the armor sleeves, I thought.

"The way that one Roach was firing at Spaceman," Knotts considered, before he started shaking his head. "I mean, it was concentrating on Douglas even when he was running away from it, even when Douglas didn't pose a threat to it. That thing took at least three good shots at him and it missed every single time. Any good Battle Roach would have nailed him on the first try, just based on proximity. And the other Roaches, the ones inside the transport, who knows how many of them were in there because they didn't even make it outside. What's up with that? We've seen Roaches get cornered before. They always start rolling themselves up and jumping out like popcorn."

"So if they weren't Battle Roaches, what were they?" Davis asked. "Rookies?"

"Engineers." Rube stated, lifting his head and unexplainably, looking in much better spirits than before. "The reason they were inside that transport was because they were trying to figure out how to work the controls. That's why they seemed so confused when they first came out of the Pulse. I don't think they were expecting to travel. All of a sudden there they were, looking out the hatch at our plasma rifles. And then, when they heard the melting battery go off, they automatically assumed that was part of our arsenal, because I saw them fire heat at it. Any Battle Roach would have instantly aimed at the guys holding the guns."

"That doesn't make any sense." Knotts said. "Why would they send a bunch of engineers out to investigate the radio signal? Why not send Battle Roaches who know what they're doing?"

"They wouldn't." Davis replied. "Those engineers must have accidentally flipped enough switches to set the ship in motion."

Rube looked back at me. "What do you think about that, Douglas?"

Timidly, I replied. "Knowing what we know about Roaches, it would have been extremely difficult for them to accidentally end up at the hill so quickly. The satellite would have informed the outpost of the LRR radio signal, so they would have known our location right way. But even if the Pulse Magnifiers were fully loaded, the navigation computer from the outpost would have to communicate with the computer from the transport. The Roaches had about a minute to tell the transport where to go. As far as we know, they're not advanced enough to figure that out so fast."

"Maybe the people at the outpost helped them." Rube suggested. "If they were brainwashed or something. That's happened before."

"Well, whether they had help or not, they must have figured that all out." Davis reasoned. "They saw the bright red energy trace from the radio on their scanners, they got the coordinates to the shuttle computer and they Pulsed their smelly butts over here on the double."

"It makes sense, except for one detail." Knotts reminded her. "Those weren't Battle Roaches in the transport. Those were probably engineers, like Rube said."

"That'd be a stupid move, wouldn't it?" Davis surmised. "And the Roaches don't make stupid moves like that. They study their shit good before they act on it."

"Things just keep getting weirder out here, don't they?" Knotts commented.

Rubalcava said, "It's not possible. The Roaches couldn't have figured out how to work the transport controls because that would mean they've mastered our language and our technology. And we know they're just not that quick, because it takes them all kinds of generations just to move from one galaxy to another. They have to be a few centuries behind us as far as technology goes."

"How'd they get to Lesenia so fast, then?" Davis asked. "Nobody's ever seen Roaches in this corner of space. The outpost people have only been out here, what, three or four months?"

"Do I look like I have all the answers?" Rube shot back, after which he started struggling to escape from Knott's strong grip. "Let me down, Numb-Nuts. I think I'm about to puke."

"What are you doing?" Knotts asked.

"I said, off!" Rube began to pummel at the bigger man's back until the Marine finally relented. Once Rube was on the grass, he began to wobble around on unsteady legs for a few moments, like a newborn deer. Quickly, he got his bearings and hurried over to the nearest tree, where he loudly retched. Along with the vomit, he spewed out a handful of choice expletives. Once this was all done he strode back to the group. "See, I just had to get my land legs working again."

Knotts stared in disbelief at Rube, turned toward Davis briefly, and back to Rube. "Do you know how toxic that battery acid is? You should be going through convulsions and turning different colors right now!"

"Well, I'm not doing any of that, am I?" Rube replied, as he undid the bind holding his arm still. He pulled at his sleeve, seeing red, livid scars on his arm, instead of fresh and bloody wounds. "The whole side of my body is itching like crazy. Anyway, you can see that I'm standing on my own two legs. I'll even do some dance moves if you want me to. I'll have Neelson check me with the Med-Scan once we get back with the squad. You can count on that. I may be stubborn, but I ain't stupid!"

Knotts looked back over at Davis.

"Like you said, things keep getting weirder." She remarked.

Rube demanded to have his weapon and pack from Davis. After he took a couple of moments to adjust his equipment, the four of us started moving at a faster pace. Davis and Knotts were at their customary spot in the lead, while Rubalcava and I brought up the rear.

"Hey, Douglas?" Rube asked.

"Yeah?"

"This planet is really starting to freak me out. Don't get me wrong, because I'm glad I'm still alive and all. But anywhere else and I'd probably be dead by now." He chuckled. "I wish I wasn't itching like this, but I'm kind of afraid to touch all these scars."

"Trust me, I'm freaked out, too." I answered. I was about to bring up the moving pineapples again, but Rube was already talking.

"Hey, about what happened back there, with you." He was saying. "How you reacted and everything. Don't take it so hard."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"No, listen to me, man." Rube continued. "What you did, by running away to hide behind the trees, don't worry about that. That was just your survival instinct kicking in. Think of it as your first test. There are going to be other tests, and I know this for a fact because we have now confirmed that there are Roaches on this planet. Anyway, each test you come to today will help define you into the man you're going to become tomorrow. But right now, at least you know where you stand. That helps you out a heck of a lot."

"How does being a coward help me out?" I snapped at him.

"Because now you're getting an idea of what it's going to take to do better the next time." Rube replied. "Look, I'm going to tell you something that I don't like telling anybody. The first time I got caught up in a crossfire, I was so scared that I didn't fire my weapon either. Some of the guys around me had to take up the slack. We all have to go through that moment, between what you were before and what you're about to become. Combat toughens you up that way, but that's not what makes you a Hard Charger. That's when you learn to put your fear aside, and you say: Fuck It, I may be about to go down for good, but I'm taking a butt-load of Roaches down with me."

I let the words sink in. Maybe somewhere down the road I would get the chance to make up for my cowardice.

Every ten minutes or so, Knotts sent out a message through the short wave radio built into our helmets, to try and get in contact with the rest of the squad. We'd been walking close to an hour when the tall Marine stiffened up. He held his arm up in a fist, causing Davis to drop into a crouch and aim her weapon. Walking up behind them, Rube tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to follow suit.

Knotts motioned that he would be moving east, and he directed Davis to go west. He glanced back at the two of us and made the sign of two fingers walking very slowly. Then, the big Marine tapped his helmet and pointed at Rube. Moments later, he and Davis disappeared into the brush.

Inquisitively, I glanced at the soldier next to me.

"Tread softly and keep your voice low." Rube warned me with a whisper. "That's what I was talking about earlier. These guys have like a sixth sense or something that warns them when there's a shit-fan up ahead. They're doing a pincer move by spreading out in opposite directions and trying to catch whatever threat there is between them. That means that you and I have to go right up the middle, since I'll be coordinating their movements through the radio. It might be time for you to show us what you're really made of, Spaceman."

"I don't hear anything."

"Just keep your weapon steady." Rube said. "We'll know what's going on in a minute or two."

Indeed, we'd only crept up by about forty feet when the noisome odor hit us. It smelled so awful I wanted to throw up again; it was the scent of warm animal urine mixed in with animal sweat and rotten vegetables.

"Roach rot." Rube grimaced in disgust. "Usually, the stink builds up the closer we get to them. This smells like we're about to step right into one of their freaking nests."

We moved forward through the trees, quietly and steadily. Each and every step brought us closer to the nasty alien stink. The clicking could be heard again when we reached the edge of a small clearing. Rube crouched beside a tree and pointed away. At a distance of about thirty yards, I could see the frantic and furtive movements of dozens of Roaches.

I felt the fear rising up inside me, as I watched the creatures dodge and dive between the clearing and the trees. I noticed that their clicking was being frequently interrupted by the soft whine of plasma rifles.

"Is that the rest of the squad?" I asked.

"Chances are it is." Rube nodded. "Watch my back for a minute while I try and get in touch with them."

I nodded, as Rube positioned his body entirely behind the cover of a tree. He pulled a small microphone stick out from the side of his helmet, until its end was close to his mouth. "Staff Sergeant Renquist, this is the radio team. What is your situation, copy?"

A few anxious moments passed before an answer was heard.

"Rube, this is Dempsey." The voice announced into my ear, as well as Rube's. "We are in fucking peril out here. We're pinned down inside a strange looking hill, and we have maybe two or three dozen Roaches zigzagging outside. Hold on." There was a pause. "Renquist wants to know your twenty. His radio is on the fritz again."

"Uh, thirty yards north and slightly east of your position." Rube replied, as he leaned ahead to scan the landscape. "I can see the back of the hill from here."

"Can you give us an enemy count?"

"I can't see the entire field from here, but it's at least three dozen. Tell the old man that Davis and Knotts are positioning for a pincer move from the east and west."

We watched as the Roaches ran back and forth across the clearing in seemingly random paths. Some stopped to fire toward the hill while the majority dashed in spurts. They either kept running all the way to the other side of the clearing, or halted halfway across and scurried back to wherever they'd started their strange dash.

Rube looked fascinated by their movements. Once he covered up his mike he said, "Do you see what they're doing? By constantly being in motion, they're giving the squad the impression that there's a lot more of them out there. At the same time, they're making each individual Roach harder to target. They won't get tired, either. They'll keep running around like that all day and all night."

Dempsey's voice came back over the radio. "Renk says we're too heavily outnumbered right now. He wants you guys to divert the Roaches away from the hill, so that we can get the hell out of here and find a more defendable spot."

"East and West, do you have your ears on?" Rube asked.

Knotts answered first. "I copy the diversion. I need two minutes to plan an escape route."

Davis chimed in next. "I copy the diversion also. Give me four minutes to find a hidey-hole. I've got heavy brush on this side."

"Copy that." Rube said.

"Copy four minutes." Dempsey also acknowledged.

"Here's what happens next." Rube pushed his mike out of the way. "Davis and Knotts are going to create a diversion by tossing out some thermite grenades. Since they're going to do it simultaneously, it's going to throw the Roaches off balance. The Roaches tend to follow herd mentality. If they think a force greater than theirs is hitting them, their first instinct will be to run deep into the forest and regroup. Once they realize that no gigantic swarm of Marines is running out after them, they're going to split up into three groups. One bunch will go after Davis, the second after Knotts and the third group is coming right back here. We're going to have less than five minutes to pick off any stragglers and help the squad get to safety."

"Ready to rock and roll." Knotts announced over the radio.

A few moments later, Davis' unsteady voice came in. "As ready as I can be."

Once he pulled his mike back out, Rube announced. "Diversion will commence on my count, three... two... one... zero."

I wasn't exactly relishing the notion of being in a pitched battle with the dark alien menaces. Before the fear could overwhelm me completely, the action erupted all around. The first explosion was loud enough to jar me, coming from the east and crowned by a great cloud of dirt from between the trees. A second later, there was a similar explosion from the west, followed quickly by another. All kinds of hysterical clicking erupted from the clearing.

Suddenly, it seemed as if the entire forest was alive. The taller of the black grasses had perfectly concealed many more of the alien infestation's troops than had been actively involved in the assault. After hearing the explosions, a great number of Roaches stood up, glanced around, clicked out loud and leapt into a hurried retreat. I shuddered as I imagined so many of the fierce black creatures racing in my direction.

"We are in deep shit, my friend." Rube tensed his grip on his rifle. "That's got to be at least a hundred fucking Roaches out there. Get ready to fire."

From the clearing, a single Roach stumbled toward us on two feet, moving at a much slower pace than its peers. It limped along, possibly in pain. As it got closer to us, I could see that parts of its left arms had been damaged by plasma fire.

Since the creature would be passing only a few feet from our position, Rubalcava took the opportunity to ambush it. The Marine jumped out in front of the alien, pointing his rifle directly at it. Instinctively, the Roach grabbed at it with all four of its upper limbs. Rube had been counting on this, as he threw his weight forward and toppled the creature onto its back. While the injured Roach struggled with his rifle and his weight, Rube made a quick grab for the field knife secured to his belt. Repeatedly, Rube plunged the polished blade at what passed for the creature's throat, even as the gaping maw aimed its serrated teeth toward his face. The animal bucked and writhed below him for a few seconds, until it finally weakened and died.

"One less Roach." Rube muttered, quickly wiping his blade on the dark grass and sheathing it. "No more flash bombs, either. That means that Davis and Knotts are on the run, or worse." He yanked his weapon away from the dead Roach's grip. "It's time for us to join the party, Spaceman. Don't let me die out there."

Rube scanned the clearing one last time, before he ran from the cover of the trees. Not even ten seconds later, two Roaches were standing up from the depths of the black grass and pouncing on him from either side. The Marine managed to slam one away with the stock of his rifle, but the second dropped on his side like a sack of bricks. Rube fell over as four black arms battered at his two. Before my horrified eyes, the Roach drew its circular mouth closer to the man's head. The teeth actually stretched out, ready to clamp onto human flesh. My rifle was the only thing standing between Rube and certain death.

I had to do something, I realized, to stop the assault on the closest person I had to a friend on the entire planet. I shuddered, forcing the fear to the back of my mind, as I pointed the weapon at the monstrosity's back. Without thinking, I undid the safety and tore back on the trigger, feeling the tight recoil of the rifle against my bicep. A short burst of plasma exploded from its tip, drawn like a laser toward the Roach's thick back and knocking it off the stunned Marine.

I thought; thank goodness that Space Corps required basic weapons training for all of its employees, although I couldn't brag much about my accuracy. My saving grace was that the Roach's carapace was a big target and it wasn't that far away.

Instinctively, the stunned Roach jumped back to its stumpy feet, lifting its arms and turning its head to ascertain where the shot had come from. By then, I'd squeezed the trigger again and sent another blast of plasma on its way. The damned thing was too close to miss. The bolt ripped into the creature's unprotected stomach, spewing its red and black contents onto the dark grass.

Rube rolled aside, right as an invisible beam of scorching heat burst the ground where he'd just been. For a second, I watched the tiny eruption of dirt and grass, before I swung the rifle at the same moment the second Roach turned to face me. As it repositioned the angle of its arms, I was squeezing the trigger. My next two shots ripped into the area just below the creature's throat and sent more black and red pieces flying in all directions. This bloody carnage, this was what war was really about, I thought grimly.

Rube rolled back to retrieve his rifle. Once it was in his grasp, he spun himself onto his stomach and aimed the weapon across the clearing. "Here they come, Spaceman!" He cried out. "Remember, aim for the eyes and legs. When you shoot, you roll, otherwise you're toast!"

That's when I realized that I was standing out in the open. I ducked back by a few feet to stand by the nearest tree. Half a dozen Roaches were now scrambling through the grass at us, while Rube was doing his best to drop plasma right on top of their heads. A few the brave Marine hit directly, while the rest he kept shoving back with the brute force of his missiles. The Roaches were seen to scatter, regaining their bearings quickly so they could angle themselves for another run.

I was blasting away randomly, but the Roaches were so fast and my aim so clumsy that I didn't think I was doing anything at all to them. I hoped I was at least distracting some of them!

In a more expert manner, Rube finished them off. "Move forward!" He cried out, and in a low crouch he hurried closer to the squad's hiding place.

The hill was just like the one we'd seen earlier, I realized, cylinder shaped and with a perfect semi-circle for a top. As we ran around it, I could see an unusually rounded cave entrance, as if the hill was somehow yawning symmetrically to its structure.

"Give me two grenades, at ten o'clock and two o'clock!" Renquist's harsh voice battered at the air like a flyswatter. "Ten second detonation!"

Mason appeared, tossing out the first. He looked even scruffier and angrier than before. A second form appeared, only to be thrown back violently by a Roach heat wave. A good portion of this man's upper body exploded into a sickly spray of flesh and blood.

Renquist stepped out next, crouching, firing and moving aside to keep himself from being targeted. At the sound of the first grenade going off, the Staff Sergeant looked to be firing randomly. "Fall out, jarheads! Back behind the hill!"

Rube was firing without aiming as well. I raised my weapon to do the same when I got pummeled into from behind. A big, black blur had shoved me down onto a shoulder. I could feel it tearing away at my backpack with its limbs. It slapped a paw across my face, scratching my cheek with its rough ridges. A second paw smacked into my temple. I tried to get my rifle up, between my head and the Roach's teeth, but it had already gotten two of its paws on the weapon. It was about to yank the rifle from my grip. The maw opened up and all those teeth began reaching out for me. Suddenly, the business end of a rifle got inserted into that gaping saw of a mouth.

"Say cheese!" Rube's voice called out, right before a plasma blast exploded the Roach's entire face all over my upper half. With a harsh kick, Rube kicked the flailing Roach away from me. "Always watch your back, Douglas! Didn't they teach you anything at Spaceman School?"

"They taught me how to fly a fucking transport!" I shouted back, trying to slap some of the smelly debris away from my face.

"Random fire into the trees!" Rube gave me room to stand. "This makes them think we're chasing after them."

"All of you, back behind the hill!" Renquist ordered.

Mason fired a few more shots, before bolting like a hare.

I saw Brickwell stooping down to grasp the fallen soldier's tags, but he wasn't finding them among all the gore.

"We don't have time for that!" Renquist screamed at the man. "Grenade, one minute timer!"

Brickwell quickly complied.

The remnants of the squad rushed around the hill and into the trees behind it. Rube and I caught up with them.

"On the run!" Renquist ordered, as the dwindling group rushed into the trees.

The grenade soon sounded off behind us. I imagined the remainder of some unfortunate soldier's body being sent to oblivion in very tiny fragments.

We slowed to a jog almost ten minutes later, and halted another five minutes after that. The winded men, including myself, finally had a chance to catch our breaths, barely. A couple of minutes later we started a double march due south.

"Didn't I tell you this was going to happen?" Dempsey whined, clumsily nursing a bleeding arm with a long strip of bandage.

Neelson quickly came to his aid.

"Dempsey, your little girl's voice is the last thing I want to hear right now." Renquist said. "Rubalcava, report."

Rube filled him in with the goings on while we'd been sending the satellite message. Once he was done, he asked, "But what went down here, with you guys?"

"We were ambushed." Renquist said in disgust. "Have one of the others spell it out for you. I need a minute to think."

Rube turned to the next closest Marine. "Well, how about it? What the hell happened to you guys?"

"We were just walking along, minding our own business." Dobson explained. "Didn't smell a thing, didn't see a thing. And boom, just like that, we're knee deep in Roaches."

"Everywhere, man." Brickwell added. "I mean we were in Shit City."

"Like Renk said, it was an ambush." Dobson continued. "We were a bunch of assholes, just walking into that clearing as if we were walking into a park. All of a sudden, boom. We've got Roaches popping up on all sides and firing at us like we're the little ducks in a shooting gallery."

"The only reason more of us didn't meet the reaper was because Dempsey threw himself on the ground like two seconds earlier." Brickwell said. "His freak sonar went off. Right after that Renquist ordered us all to hit the dirt."

"Zachs bit the bullet earlier." Dobson said. "Neelson would have too, because he was standing there frozen like a statue until we dragged his ass down with us. And you saw what just happened to Menden."

"The old man spotted that cave, and we scrambled into it lickety-split." Brickwell said. As if he was defending his pride, he added, "We were too heavily outnumbered to give them a good fight."

"That wasn't a cave." Strawberry joined the conversation. "It was something else, something artificial. There were markings on the walls inside, like hieroglyphics, but they were too faded to make out."

"I saw that, too." Dobson nodded. "Too bad you weren't there, Rube. Maybe you could have figured them out."

Dempsey came closer. "It was a trap, man. It was all a Roach trap! The clearing, the cave, all of it was a fucking trap!"

"Think about it, you dumb ass." Dobson countered. "If the Roaches had us out in the open, why would they let us get to somewhere where we could hole up? The clearing was a trap, sure as shit, but the cave, that was an accident."

"What if they were trying to starve us out?" Dempsey suggested. "And that's why they led us in there?"

"Can I shoot him?" Brickwell asked Dobson.

"I just don't get how you guys didn't smell them." Rube wondered. "We can usually smell Roaches coming from a mile away."

"Yeah, that was another mystery." Dobson concurred. "Once we were in the middle of the clearing, we smelled them all right. And the inside of that cave, that place reeked of them, so we know they were inside there, too. But as far as smelling them ahead of time, that didn't happen at all."

"Divert southwest by thirty degrees." Renquist ordered, as he consulted his Global Mapping device. "I want to pick up our original heading of due south later. And let's keep the chatter down to a minimum while I try to figure out a plan."

4

With only the soft sound of our boots audible, we traveled further into what seemed to be a never-ending forest. The trees were thicker here, tall and tidy. Although I sensed there was something unusual about them, besides them being gray, of course, I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Then it came to me. The forest looked taken care of and maintained. It was as if some massive crew of landscapers had come by recently to trim all the unruly branches and sweep up any trash from among the grass. In fact, for all of the griping the Marines were doing about Lesenia being a rock or a shit-hole, it was very much the opposite. It was like a manicured paradise, from every angle a reasonable person could see it from.

I was still glancing up at the long, palm-like leaves on these particular trees, when I noticed Mason had slung his rifle on his shoulder. The harsh man was adjusting a thick and bloodstained bandage around one of his brawny forearms, and nearly at the same place where Dempsey's arm was wounded. "What happened to you?"

"Roach got close enough to give me a kiss." Mason grimaced, before he suddenly grinned. "I gave it a kiss, too. It was plasma flavored."

"Marines," Renquist paused. "Let's take a breather. Spread out in a tight circle and keep alert. We're going to brainstorm while we're at it. Maybe you jarheads can help me figure out what the X factor is on this planet."

I took a spot beside the trunk of a specimen that was some thirty feet high and only three or four feet around, a single tree away from Rube. I sat down on the ground like the Marines were doing; with my back to the bark and my line of sight split between the circle of soldiers and the rest of the forest.

Before Rube took his seat by the tree next to mine, he came over and bumped knuckles with me. "Back there, man, you did good. You saved my ass."

"Thanks." I said, but I was too embarrassed over my earlier failure to linger on the compliment. "What do you think is going to happen next?"

Rube settled onto the gray dirt, facing me. There was no black grass around this tiny section of the forest, just a small scattering of purple leaves on gray soil. "Well, we'll have ourselves a little rest stop. I've gotta tell you, though, I don't think I need it. I still feel like I'm at one hundred percent. I've got energy for days right now!"

"What about the Roaches?"

"I hope they're pretty confused by what just happened. They thought they had the squad cornered, right? And then all of a sudden they're getting hit from the east and the west. Most of them scattered like they always do when they're surprised. When the Roaches regrouped, they had to split their forces toward not just one, but three different locations. I'm just glad we were able to confuse them long enough for the squad to get out of that hill. That was a tight spot."

"What about the other two Marines, Davis and Knotts? You think they got away?"

"I sure hope they did. I hope they got far enough away that they're safe. I hope the only reason we haven't heard from them is because they're out of range of these crappy radios we have in our buckets."

I clammed up, once I noticed that Renquist was listening to our conversation. The Staff Sergeant was standing in the center of the circle and looking more haggard than usual. "Does anybody have any further observations?"

"I do, sir." I spoke up. "This place is perfect, too perfect."

"Explain."

"Well, take a look around right now." I suggested. "There's not a single branch or leaf out of place. There's barely any trash on the ground anywhere. Everything looks as if somebody comes by and tends to this whole area on a fixed schedule, like a landscaper at a fancy golf course."

"We had that one area where we saw all kinds of leaves scattered on the ground." This came from Strawberry.

""Yeah, but those weren't old and rotting leaves." I recalled. "They were still fresh, as if they'd all fallen during the last few days. Just like the leaves on the ground here."

"We haven't seen any animal shit anywhere, either." Brickwell mentioned. "Not to mention any animals. But we know there have to be some animals around because the outpost people reported seeing all kinds, and the Explorer Drones took all sorts of pictures of them."

Renquist pondered this. "By inference, you two are suggesting that we have a sentient form of life on this planet?"

"Be on the lookout for gardeners and shepherds." Mason quipped.

"I know there's something else involved." Renquist agreed. "I can feel it in my gut. But until we run into it, we can't assess how much of a threat this thing, or these things, are to the human race."

"Do you really think there's something else out here?" Dempsey started to shrink away from the forest and toward the small circle of men. "Something we don't know about? What if it's like a cloud or something, and we can't even see it until it's already on top of us? Or what if it comes out of the ground?"

"I don't think so." Mason shook his head. "If there was anything intelligent in the neighborhood, I think we would have seen it by now. There's nothing out here except for us, the Roaches and all these stupid trees."

Rubalcava took up the conversation next. He started telling the others about how it was engineers, and not Battle Roaches, that had attacked us when we'd sent the message. I was only giving him partial attention, as I had my own worries to tame. That's when I remembered the way the pineapples had gotten out of the way for me.

"Hey, Rube," I interrupted the Marine. "I saw the pineapples move. I'm willing to bet they're the intelligent species on this planet."

Rube glanced over quizzically, but his expression soon shifted to one of discernment. "You know, I think you're right. These guys are saying that they saw strange symbols inside the round hill they were pinned in. And when we went out to send the radio message, the pineapples were all lined up like a marching column, around another little hill just like that one!

"And I'm still alive, when I should have died from acid poisoning. I kept wondering if maybe Lesenia's environment was making the painkillers or the congeal cream work better or faster, but I also remember how the pineapple leaves kept sticking to me when Knotts was taking me through the column. I think those trees did something to me when they touched me. They healed me! I mean, just look at me. Except for all these bloody tears in my cammies, there's nothing to show that I ever got hit by shrapnel or poisoned by super toxic battery acid." He pulled on his sleeve and held out his limb for the others to see. "Just look at my arm, it was all battered and bloody just a little while ago, and now it's all better. I don't even know what happened to the shrapnel I got hit with. I don't feel it poking around inside of me or anything. It's just gone!"

"Staff Sergeant, I think those trees are sentient." I concluded. "Maybe they're not as animated as we are, but they might be just as aware."

Renquist didn't appear fully convinced, but he was rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"We should investigate those trees." Rube insisted. "Right away, too. Before we get any closer to the outpost. They've got secrets!"

"We can't go back that way." Renquist shook his head. "The forest is probably crawling with Roaches in that direction."

"You said the trees were shaped like pineapples, right?" Strawberry spoke up. "I saw some through a break in the trees, roughly to the east and about five minutes back."

This time, Renquist looked extra thoughtful.

"Forget the trees, man!" Dempsey cried out. "They're nothing! Our first priority has to be to reach the outpost, so we can clear up that Non-Retrieval order and get some back-up out here. We don't need pineapples, what we need is a goddamned regiment!"

"The situation is a lot more complicated than what can be cleared up by a single radio message." Renquist berated the soldier. "These Roaches have the ability to appear inside a Unilink Transport, just seconds after a distress call has been issued. They also have the ability to surround us in a way they've never done before, possibly with the aid of something native to this planet. It stands to reason that they already control the outpost. If whatever is helping them is intelligent enough to master the Pulse System, then the entire human race may already be in jeopardy. We have to find out what we're up against or we'll end up disappearing like the personnel at the outpost did. It wouldn't do any good to bring in more Marines when we don't know what's out here yet. You were the one that brought up Betelren Six, remember?"

Like a defeated man, Dempsey said, "Yes, Staff Sergeant."

Neelson, who barely said anything at all, spoke up next. "Roach smell incoming. It's faint but it's there. From the north."

"I'm glad we can still use their rot smell as an early warning system." Renquist mentioned. "On your feet, Marines. Strawberry, take point with a heading of east by northeast, toward the location where you last saw those pineapples. The rest of you form up into two columns."

As we lined up, I took a head count. We had nine people left out of the original fifteen that had entered the transport earlier. The odds were not looking good.

A moment later, we were moving through the trees again, as fast as we dared while keeping our movements and our lips quiet. We all slowed at once, when the odor of Roaches infiltrated our nostrils. Renquist motioned for us to stand tight against the tree trunks. That nervous waiting might have been the most anxious moments of my entire life. I kept imagining the dark swarm galloping toward us, surrounding us and mowing us down with heat rays until we were all dead. And from what I'd heard of the Roaches, the feasting would begin soon after. Thankfully, the odor drifted away a few minutes later, before Renquist started us moving again.

"I hate this planet." Dempsey said, frequently glancing back into the trees to make sure we weren't being followed.

"You hate everything." Dobson criticized. "Why don't you give it a rest before you start spooking the rest of us again?"

"Staff Sergeant," Rubalcava spoke up. "I think more than one Roach nest landed on Lesenia. There's no way that could have been a random patrol back there. I estimate a hundred Roaches were hiding in the grass around where the squad was holing up."

"I've been thinking the same thing." Renquist agreed. "What ambushed us was well above what we'd call a regular patrol. What I'm also starting to suspect is that they were here before we were."

"You mean before the outpost was set up?" Rube asked. "Wouldn't the Explorer Drones have seen them when they were scouting out this planet?"

"The Drones are set up to take millions of pictures and thousands of environmental samples." Renquist informed them. "They have an algorithm that dictates how all that information is prioritized, but it's not perfect. They can't tell that those round hills are artificial, for example, because the hills are covered with living grass.

"If a Roach nest was covered up well enough to look like part of the landscape, the Drones would have put the pictures of it way back in their archives. Whoever studied those pictures might have never gotten far enough back to see them. Same thing with your pineapple beings. If the Drones assumed they were vegetation, they would have classified them as such and collected their pictures with a hundred thousand other pictures of the trees out here. The only time the Drones would have put a subject into a higher priority bracket is when the subject showed signs of active animation. That's why we had an idea of what kind of wildlife to expect out here, because it was moving when the Drone flew by and snapped shots of it."

"But the Roaches move!" Dobson reminded them all. "And they crap all over the place! The Drones should have at least gotten one shit sample off the ground and identified it ahead of time."

"Unless the Roaches went underground." Renquist countered.

"They usually don't go underground," Rube mentioned. "They only do that when we're already in combat with them or when we've got them cornered."

"What if they knew we were coming?" Renquist asked. "What if the Roaches are either intelligent enough or psychic enough to know that sometime in the near future, a bunch of Explorer Drones were going to be circling this planet? And what if they also knew that after the Drones left and reported this planet as being extremely hospitable, a human outpost was going to be set up here."

"They'd set up an ambush." Rube extrapolated. "Say they wanted to try and figure out how the Links worked. They'd watch and wait until the outpost was fully operational. Then, when the transports were shuttling back and forth with biologists, engineers and scientists, but before a big military presence arrived, they could waltz right in and take possession of the outpost. After that, they could take their time studying our technology. As long as they kept their eyes open for any incoming security shuttles like ours, there wouldn't be anybody around to stop them. But it's a big assumption to say that the Roaches could be psychic."

"Think about Betelren Six." Renquist replied. "The first Roach nest-ship the human race ever encountered, and it was supposed to fly by the outpost on that planet as a near miss. The nest suddenly shifted gears and turned toward the planet. As a result, we had the goddamned catastrophe that took place there. Nobody can say for certain why the nest changed directions like it did, but psychic intuition is as good an explanation as any."

"Psychic fucking Roaches?" Dempsey looked ready to cry. "No freaking way, man. We are done for. We are going to die out here!"

"Permission to put Dempsey out of his misery, Staff Sergeant." Mason requested.

"Shut the fuck up!" Dempsey snapped at the much bigger soldier. "You're telling me that either the Roaches do me in or you will? You think that's a fucking joke?"

"Keep talking, you little worm." Mason challenged. "I'm about to stick my foot up your ass so far you'll be tying my boot laces with your tongue."

"You're a goddamned gorilla, you know that?" Dempsey insulted. "You and that ugly uni-brow of yours can get the hell out of my face!"

Mason feigned a lunge, which caused Dempsey to run into the trees. The big man smiled and said, "You know I've been looking for a new girlfriend, right? I need one with a really big mouth. You just might fit the bill."

"You're an asshole!" Dempsey retorted, keeping pace from about ten feet away.

I turned back to the front of the squad, where the tallest Marine, Strawberry, was pointing a short distance ahead.

"There." He said, simply.

Just a little further away, I could see another long, swirling column of pineapple shaped trees. The far end was wide and spread, the near end was narrow and tight. Just like at the message site, there was an unnaturally rounded hill that the trees seemed to be traveling to. Like the hill where the squad had hidden in earlier, this new hill also had a wide, rounded opening on one side. Incredibly, a cluster of pineapples was standing within the dark mouth.

Rubalcava must have been as antsy as I was upon seeing this. "Can you guys see that? Scientific WAG (Wild Ass Guess) here, but I will bet my next paycheck that the hill is some kind of transport!"

The collection of soldiers continued on, and finally halted about ten feet from the mysterious vegetation.

"Well, here we are." Brickwell announced. "What do we do now? Say hello?" He turned toward the stumpy trees and waved. "Hello, plants. How are you?"

"Dempsey's half potato." Dobson teased. "Let him talk to them."

"Fuck you, Dobs!"

"Dempsey, go ahead and communicate with your people." Renquist ordered. "Make it snappy, too. We don't have all day here."

Dempsey made a face at his superior, but issued no further comment.

The Staff Sergeant next glanced at Rube. "You want to give it a try?"

The Marine stepped forward and started scrutinizing the trees. "These look exactly the same as the ones we saw at Message Hill. There was no opening in the hill there, though." He tried peering into the mouth of the cave from a few different angles, but the plethora of pineapples barred his way. They were too tightly clustered together for him to approach any further, without rubbing leaves and trees on both sides. "There has to be some kind of switch inside there that they're trying to access."

"I hate to tell you this," Dempsey cut in. "But your trees don't have any hands or fingers to be operating any kind of switch."

Rube looked back and frowned. "You think I can't see that?"

"Are you afraid to touch them or something?" Dobson observed.

"Kind of." Rube admitted. "When I touched the trees earlier my fingers got numb. I guess when they touched me they helped clean up all the battery acid and shrapnel out of my system. Davis and Knotts said they thought they were seeing things after touching them, and hearing noises inside their head. So, yeah, I'd say I'm afraid to touch one again. Who knows what they'll do to me this time?"

Several of the Marines glanced over to Brickwell.

"You guys want me to touch one?" He asked. "All right, I'll touch one." He stepped right up to the nearest pineapple, opened his arms wide to embrace its scaly bark and began dry humping it.

"Ooorah!" Mason egged him on. "That's how we're going to tame this planet! With our peckers!"

A loud snap caused Brickwell to jump away from the tree. "The damned thing shocked me!" He pointed an accusatory finger at the tree. "No more special attention for you, buddy."

Recalling Rube's miraculous recovery, I turned toward Mason and his heavily bandaged arm. "You should touch it. Rubalcava was in a lot worse shape than you are and it healed him up pretty quick."

"No effin' way, thank you." Mason refused.

"So what do we do now?" Renquist asked, throwing his hands up in the air. "We just stand around and wait until these plants sprout mouths, so they can tell us what's going on?"

For the next couple of minutes, we all stood silent.

"I say we find out if these things are really alive." Mason broke the quiet with his growl. "Permission to open fire on one, Staff Sergeant."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Renquist's voice was faster.

"Granted. Marines, fall back by five yards."

We all complied with the mandate.

Mason observed our retreat, after which he raised his rifle and took aim at the tree Brickwell had been humping. The Marine squeezed the trigger, giving birth to a flash of plasma and its accompanying whine. The powerful missile exploded a full third of the tree in all directions. A second aimed shot tore a huge chunk from the top. The fragment slowly slid away and tumbled into the black grass. Thick, amber sap began to ooze from the freshly exposed innards of the pineapple and dripped down in several crooked rivers over the gray scales.

The trees directly surrounding the assaulted one raised their leaves high into the air in a sort of collective shudder. This action soon spread out among their entire number like a rippling wave. Right after, and in an incredibly slow, sloth-like pace, the trees at the leading edge of the column further collected into the mouth of the cave. The rumble they were causing reminded me of a small tremor from back on Earth.

Mason took aim at a second tree.

"Stop it!" I cried out. The soldier paused long enough for me to run out to him. I grabbed the forestock of his weapon and shoved it toward the ground, where we both began wrestling for control of the rifle. "You've made your point! You already killed one!"

How typical of the human species, I considered, that instead of trying to peacefully communicate with a new, sentient species, we were already trying to submit it by force.

"Mason, lower your rifle." Renquist stepped forward to examine the damaged tree, while the rest of them continued to rumble along. "Well, it looks like we finally found some of our elusive Lesenia wildlife."

"They're getting away, Staff Sergeant." Dobson reminded the man.

"The way they're gathering in that cave, I'd say they're about to seal themselves up and head somewhere else." Rubalcava concurred, when he glanced back at the column. In total, the trees might have numbered at around fifty. "Well, some of them are, anyway. They'll probably have to make about five trips."

"They might know the only way off this stupid planet!" Dempsey shrieked. "We have to stop them before they get away!"

"You might be right about that." Renquist stated. "Marines, hold your weapons at the ready. Each of you take a position before one of these plants."

"They're scared enough as it is!" I objected. "You've put them all in a panic!"

"Do you have a better suggestion, Douglas?" Renquist glared at me.

Since I didn't want any more of the beings to die, I said, "Let me try to talk to them."

"They don't have any ears." Brickwell pointed out.

"I don't know, maybe they can hear through their leaves or something."

"That's not a bad idea." Rube stated. "Maybe they send out signals with their leaves, since they started moving right after the leaves all went up. Maybe they're telepathic, too. Davis and Knotts did mention that they were hearing things in their head."

Renquist looked like he'd bitten into a sour lemon. "Spaceman, the floor is yours."

Great, I thought. It was up to me to begin communication with a whole new species, one that could possibly be as lethal as the Roaches.

As if I had a purpose, I strode close to the mouth of the cave, where the pineapples were at their thickest. Holding back my fear, I sidestepped between them, brushing against gray bark as I went. While doing this, I noticed some of the upraised purple leaves rustling overhead. I stopped in the center of the column. With a rising dread, I watched as the trees closed up the crooked path I'd just entered through. On all sides, they were closing in on me.

The best approach, I considered anxiously, was probably to put my hand on a tree. After a deep and nervous breath, I raised both hands and touched two pineapples at the same time. Tiny tingles of electricity soon pricked at my palms and fingers. When this sensation deepened into numbness, I couldn't take any more and I made the attempt to remove my hands. I couldn't do it. My hands were stuck to the trees as if adhered by glue.

"We're not here to hurt you." I tried to explain, but the quiver in my voice announced my panic. "We're here as friends."

In wonder, I watched as the upraised leaves on several trees rustled again, rubbing against one another like the legs of a cricket. The hushed noises they were making had to be their language, right?

The great, purple leaves curled downward towards me. I gulped as they descended onto my shoulders and back. Some of the pineapples further away stretched their own leaves through the cracks left by their brethren. These ended up on my arms and head. An exceptionally curious leaf wrapped itself around my eyes. As I tried to fathom what horror would befall me next, I closed my eyes and prepared for the end.

That was all it took for our communication to begin. In my mind, I began to see a cloud of black with forms materializing within it. I saw myself come into being, my face contorted into a mad scream and my body struggling to get away from the black but hardly able to move. Soft waves of warm air began to fall over me. The more they did, the more my fear was driven away. As my brain relaxed so did my body. I knew that the pineapples were producing the tranquilizing effect.

'We are of the ancient void-faring peoples.' I heard a voice speaking into my head, but now I was not afraid of it. 'We came from the farthest reaches of the void as seeds, many, many millennia ago, to pollinate and structure worlds for those who would come after us. We are a collective voice. We speak all as one and one as all. In your tongue, the closest approximation to our name is Wehnteweisell. This we do not want.'

I saw Mason's form materializing beside me, sneering and pointing his gun. The Marine was laughing as he squeezed the trigger and shot apart a pineapple inside my mind, in an exaggeration of what he'd done in real life.

Abruptly, Rubalcava appeared in the black cloud. He looked as apprehensive as I had just a few moments earlier. "Hey, I can see you, Douglas. Can you see me?"

"Yes." I nodded. "We're in some kind of dream-state where the trees can talk to us."

"That's fucking weird." Rube turned all the way around to gauge his surroundings. "I did what you did. I just walked into the middle of all the trees and they covered me up with their leaves." He stepped up next to me and pushed at my shoulder. "You feel solid, too." He glanced down at the weapon still in his grip. "I wonder what'll happen if I shoot you while we're in this dream-state?"

"Don't you dare!" I warned.

This made Rube chuckle. "How do we talk to these things? I want them to let me go so I can tell the rest of the squad to join us."

"I don't know. Just ask them, I guess."

"Okay, I'll be right back." He looked up at the blackness, then around at the rest of it. Finally, he gave up looking for a presence. "Hey, let me out, so I can bring the other guys in here to meet you."

I saw Rube suddenly fade away.

I was alone, but only for the next couple of minutes. I saw Brickwell appear next. He gave me a fascinated look, as he started walking around and poking at the black with the tip of his rifle. "This place rocks!"

Dobson appeared next. Although the Marine looked equally amazed, he stayed rooted to one spot. Renquist and Rubalcava came in last.

"The rest of the squad is keeping watch or are too intimidated to join us." Renquist informed the group. "I know that leaving Dempsey and Mason unsupervised is taking a big risk that they might shoot each other, but I've asked Neelson and Strawberry to keep them apart. What's the word here?"

The other men all settled down. A moment later, the Wehnteweisell made their introduction again, followed by a repeat of Mason's murder of one of their number.

Rube went as far as touching the false Mason's shoulder, before the gloating man disappeared. "He felt real! He felt fucking real!"

'This we do not want.' The Wehnteweisell repeated.

"We're not going to attack you anymore." I spoke up. "We fired on you because we thought you were hostile to us. We are not your enemies."

'We are a peaceful people.' The collective said, as more images began to appear in the center of our little group.

The Wehnteweisell showed us holographic pictures arranged like a slideshow. The images displayed locations all around the planet. In these images, the Marines and I saw beautiful, picture perfect landscapes. We saw a multitude of strange beings tending to the environment. They were all herbivores. We saw treetop dwellers that looked like long-eared gibbons, followed by a grand variety of marvelously feathered and long-beaked fowl. After that came images of scurrying and colorful rodents. Finally, we witnessed a couple of different types of quadrupeds that looked to be about the size of a horse, but appeared to be a hybrid of both horse and double-humped camels.

It was the Wehnteweisell who supervised the cycles of planting, watering and harvesting, they explained through the images. Each animal helped in the care of its own food source, from the large fruits that hung from the tallest trees, to the various small nuts and berries that ripened on the lower lying bushes. It was a perfect cycle, I realized, with the vegetation informing the pineapples of its needs, and the pineapples passing on the information to the animal caretakers. The animals both nurtured and cleaned after the plants whose fruit they would be consuming later.

'For many eons, it was this way. Until the ones you call Roaches came from the void.'

The images before us shifted into that of a Roach nest falling from the stars. The combination nest and starship crashed onto Lesenia, months before the first Explorer Drones arrived. The hull of the nest had overheated severely during its entry into the planet's atmosphere. Fire quickly began to spread onto the heavily wooded area and grasses surrounding the crash site. The Wehnteweisell saw the Roaches fleeing the ship in droves and letting the fire spread unhampered. Being a peaceful and attentive bunch, the Wehnteweisell did not comprehend the Roaches' imperialistic intentions until it was too late.

The pineapples roused up the planet's wildlife and undertook the procedure they normally used when dealing with wildfires. Smaller creatures with nimble hands hurried to pull together drying leaves and vines, forming waterproof baskets with them. Quicker animals took the baskets into the hill-transporters. The Wehnteweisell used the transporters to send the animals out to lakes and rivers all over that section of the planet. The bigger mammals were there to fill the baskets with water, to carry the heavy bundles back to the transporters and out to where the fires were. The makeshift fire brigade of birds, as well as the smaller and larger animals, were all working in concert with the Wehnteweisell to subdue the flames. Their biggest mistake was that they'd done all of this under the watchful and calculating eyes of the Roaches. Unwittingly, the innocent Wehnteweisell had exposed their two greatest assets; their telepathic mastery of the animal kingdom and the transport hills that allowed them to travel all around their world at will.

The Roaches wasted no time in corralling many of the Wehnteweisell together. They mercilessly tortured and destroyed hundreds of the beings before the remainder finally submitted to their demands. As a result, much of Lesenia's wildlife was now aiding the budding Roach colony by seeking out and procuring resources. These materials included food and water, plus the precious ores and minerals that the Roaches used to enhance their bio-weaponry and in the building of their nest-ships.

On top of being subjugated and humiliated, the Wehnteweisell were being exposed to bacteria and viruses that the Roaches had brought with them. Prolonged exposure to the Roaches weakened and plagued the trees. Hundreds more had died as a result. This forced the Wehnteweisell to segregate themselves between those who had been exposed to the Roaches and those who had not. Whenever the Roaches encroached upon the planet's healthy population, they had no choice but to abandon that part of their world and transport themselves and their dwindling pockets of uncontaminated animals elsewhere.

"They don't know anything about war." I marveled aloud. "Or about how to defend themselves."

Then came another, even more monstrous blow, the images related. The Roaches figured out how to combine their psychic abilities with the Wehnteweisell's telepathic powers. They called out to other Roach nests traveling through space and drew them directly toward Lesenia. No less than three additional Roach nests had landed on various corners of the planet.

"I knew it!" Renquist sounded off. "I knew the Roaches were psychic!"

But this wasn't all. In reaching out with their minds to attract the other nests, the Roaches also became aware of the presence of humans in the solar system next to Lesenia's. The Roaches already understood enough of human tendencies and needs to know that Lesenia would make as attractive a habitat for humans as it did for them. They carefully concocted and laid a trap for humanity. The Roaches took their entire operation underground, where they quickly dismantled their nests so that any human explorations would not reveal the Roach presence. Through threats and intimidation, the Roaches forced the Wehnteweisell to direct the animals of that world into erasing as much surface evidence of the Roaches as they could.

The humans would explore the planet and set up an outpost, with eyes toward an even bigger expansion. The Roaches knew this because it was the same thing they were planning on doing themselves, and because in many ways their plans for galactic domination ran parallel to those of mankind.

Birds and animals kept an eye on the newly arrived human beings, reporting their observations to the Wehnteweisell, who in turn passed on the information to the Roaches. The Roaches then decided to start another fire, close enough that the personnel from the outpost would feel threatened, but not close enough that they'd consider it a full-blown danger. The Wehnteweisell were told not to interfere and could only stand helpless as another portion of their world burned down.

The majority of outpost personnel went out to combat the fire. Once they were far enough away, a transporter-hill near the outpost vomited out a great volume of Roaches. They already knew the layout of the camp, information they'd garnered from the animal spies, and they quickly overwhelmed the few personnel left behind. Now in possession of the only means the colonists had to escape: three Unilink transports and the only location the colonists had to communicate off-planet, the outpost computers and the single Pulse generator, it was a simple matter to surround the remaining humans out trying to halt the fire and subdue them.

"Not good." Dobson commented.

Ever since that moment, and with the help of the Wehnteweisell, the Roaches had been working hard to unlock the secrets of the Pulse System. They already understood the basics; how a Pulse could send a small vessel from one star system to another instantly. They didn't comprehend at all the scientific principles and technology behind it, or how to figure out what coordinates were necessary to direct the vessel to a certain destination. If they knew these crucial matters, they would have long since Pulsed out to their home worlds to spread the word. Very quickly the Roaches could have started migrating wherever they pleased, all across the universe.

The advanced intelligence of the Wehnteweisell, however, had fathomed all the intricate details of the Pulse system much faster.

"Not good at all." Dobson was shaking his head.

"We're in The Big Suck again." Brickwell agreed.

There was a small stir when Dempsey appeared in the black.

"Holy shit!" The whiny man cried out. "Is this place real?"

"What are you doing here?" Dobson asked. "I thought you were scared of these trees!"

"Mason started chasing me again." Dempsey shrugged. "And since I know he wouldn't follow me, I went in where you guys are."

"Well, keep your trap shut." Renquist said. "And let these plants keep telling us their story." The grim man looked around, but he could not find a specific being to communicate with. He addressed the darkness in general. "You don't have to start from the beginning, just go on from where you left off."

And so they did.

The Wehnteweisell were now realizing that the Roaches were not planning to leave Lesenia, ever. The only chance they had to get rid of the pests was to aid the humans that were fighting against the Roaches.

As it happened, when the Roaches became aware of activity on the outpost computer, a Wehnteweisell was standing by to assist. This was the Purple Haze announcing its imminent arrival. The vessel was redirected to land in a spot where its communications could be cut off, and where Battle Roaches could be sent out to ambush the occupants. The pineapple at the control panel remotely and successfully disabled the vessel's communications system, to give the impression that it was faithfully following orders. But at the critical juncture between one location and another, the Wehnteweisell disabled the coordinates and left the transport in flux.

Suspecting the betrayal, the Roaches tormented the tree until they killed it. Right after, they began dispatching squads of Battle Roaches into the areas where the Purple Haze had most likely Pulsed. Thanks to the efforts of Tennard and me, we'd been able to maneuver the transport to a location the Roaches couldn't reach right away.

This was a short-lived victory, however, as another Wehnteweisell was summoned to take over the outpost computer. This being activated the Emergency Pulse that caused the Purple Haze to vanish and to reappear next to the other three transports sitting near the outpost. Spaceman Royce Tennard was still attempting to send out a warning to the satellite in orbit when the Roaches dragged him out of the transport and killed him.

Later, the scanners at the outpost lit up when I started sending the Non-Retrieval code through the makeshift LRR radio. A transport was fully loaded with Battle Roaches, but the crafty Wehnteweisell overseeing the Navigation Computer Pulsed out the Purple Haze instead. The Haze had half a dozen Roach engineers inside it at the time, who were combing through the instrument panels for clues to their workings. It was these engineers who had engaged the small contingent of Marines on Message Hill.

The Wehnteweisell at the Nav-Com was butchered, and several minutes later, yet another intelligent tree was forced to take its place. This one was also ordered to send a transport out to Message Hill, but instead, it maneuvered the Roaches into bringing the Purple Haze back to the outpost. The transport arrived with its Pulse Magnifiers sizzling. This prompted the Roaches to flee the area momentarily, before the Magnifiers finally whimpered out without so much as a puff of smoke.

Ever since then, the Roaches had been forcing the Wehnteweisell to teleport huge numbers of their warriors all over that side of the planet, in the hopes of running into and vanquishing the small squad of Space Marines. Also, the Roaches were trying to prevent the human soldiers from figuring out a way to communicate with other outposts.

"A Roach platoon exited the hill, a big bunch at a time, and they were getting ready to start patrolling for us when we waltzed right into the clearing." Renquist realized. "All they had to do was lie down in the black grass and backtrack far enough to let us walk right into their trap. That explains why there was no Roach smell until we were right on top of it and why the inside of the hill reeked as well. What happened to my two Hard Chargers? What happened to PFC Davis?"

There was a ghastly image of the ebony soldier, stripped from the waist up, her head and arms missing. A horde of Roaches hungrily fed on her body.

Renquist made a noise that was half regret and half anger. In a more subdued voice, he asked, "What happened to Knotts?"

The next image showed the big Marine, unconscious and bloody after a severe beating. He was being dragged by a handful of Roaches that strained with his weight. They put the downed soldier on a woven mat, which one of those camel-horses pulled away and into the nearest teleport-hill. Knotts was now at the outpost, still alive and hanging upside down from a suspended cable. Near him were several other surviving but unconscious outpost personnel. It was clear that the small group was being kept alive as bait, since they were right out in the open and highly visible, in the hopes that their plight would draw the rest of the Marines out.

"We have to extract that man." Renquist said.

"Are you serious?" Dempsey squealed. "We can't just march into Roach Central and pick him up! That's exactly what they want us to do!"

"I'd do it for you." Renquist replied, but he quickly reconsidered. "Well, maybe not."

"Was that a joke, Staff Sergeant?" Dempsey gulped.

"Maybe we can get to him." Rubalcava spoke up. "How close is the nearest teleport hill to Knott's position?"

The replying image displayed a bird's eye view of the small hill, lightly guarded by Roaches. It was located about eighty meters from where Knotts and the other Space Corps personnel hung. Even worse, there were dozens of Roaches visible, either loitering or scattering about in the prisoner area. We could see their defenses, low mud walls and shallow ditches, as well as everything around them.

"What are they doing?" Rube asked.

The crisscrossing looked random to me as well.

"We can't make it through all those bugs." Dempsey whined. "Man, why did I get out of bed this morning? We are going to die out here today!"

"We're already dead, remember?" Dobson reminded him. "We're Non-Retrieval."

"Staff Sergeant, when you give the order," Rube volunteered. "I'm ready to go."

"Yeah, I'll second that." Brickwell nodded.

"Let's do it now." Renquist tightened the grip on his weapon. "Send us out there!"

'There is something you have not been made aware of.' The Wehnteweisell said.

"What's that?" Renquist asked.

'There will be a Cleansing.'

More images appeared in our midst. Since these were based on events that hadn't taken place yet, they were more indistinct than the previous ones. First was the scene of a broad plain, shortly after sunrise. A long column of some fifty Wehnteweisell was visible. Each tree was spread about ten feet apart. As the sun began to rise in the sky in fast-forward, these pineapples began to wither away. The Wehnteweisell were giving up their life essences, sacrificing them for the planet they loved so much. Their bodies became empty shells. The husks crumpled into yellowing, decaying masses. As the sun reached higher into the heavens, these martyrs began smoldering. Soon, flames were engulfing the entire row.

Working in concert with them, other trees and grasses also dried themselves. The living fire from the Wehnteweisell began to expand further out. The fire became a great, writhing yellow and red wall. It started to pick up speed as it went. It was a directed fire as well, spreading out in a great outward arc. As the group of men watched, the fire aimed itself at the outpost. Like a red tidal wave, the wall of flames began sweeping across the transports, the tents, the Roaches and the captured humans.

More images appeared, of other, similar fires spreading all over the planet. These fires were aimed at the Roach nests, their budding colonies and material warehouses. Even the underground areas were going to have their entrance tunnels funneled with fire, from several points at once until the heat burned away the oxygen and all the Roaches hiding inside were destroyed. The Wehnteweisell located underground would spontaneously combust as well, burning whatever flammable material was available in an attempt to unite with the fires raging outside.

The Wehnteweisell were aware that the Roaches would start mass killing their brethren, once the aliens realized the mass destruction that the trees had set in motion. The Wehnteweisell were also aware that it was the only option they had that would guarantee that all of the Roaches' diseases would be eradicated, and that the sinister Roach taint would be forever eliminated from their world.

The blaze would continue still, sterilizing any and all places where Roaches had set foot, even to surrounding places where too much of their contaminated air had reached. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile land were reduced into great swaths of dark ashes. The entire planet seemed to be smoldering with smoke.

"Is this happening right now?" I asked in disbelief.

'By your standards of time, zero-eight-hundred hours is when the flames will reach the outpost.' The Wehnteweisell replied.

"How much of your planet are you planning on burning?" Renquist wondered.

'One of four parts.'

"One fourth of Lesenia is going to be destroyed?" Dobson gaped. "What about all the animals?"

Several new images replaced the fiery ones, of massively crowded beasts and birds standing idly on vast plains, some impatiently, as they waited for the Cleansing to be done with. The animals all realized the necessity of the fire. They were waiting for the rebuilding and the replanting to begin once it was all over.

"Less than seven hours, Staff Sergeant." Rube checked his GPS. "That's how much time we have to rescue Knotts before the fire gets there."

"Show me Knotts again." Renquist requested, looking about ready to lose his cool.

A single image appeared, of the unconscious Marine and the other personnel hanging beside him. Renquist and a couple of the others leaned closer to consider one bizarre detail they hadn't noticed before.

"Why are all these people green?" The Staff Sergeant voiced.

I leaned forward to stare at the image closer, and sure enough, Renk was right.

The image changed to show Knotts being dragged into an underground chamber. I saw a huge vat made of some kind of secretion that looked like dried mucus. It was filled with a sickly looking green liquid. As we watched, the Roaches stripped the Marine of his cammies and used a large, bowl-shaped frond to scoop up the liquid and pour it all over the soldier's body. The liquid hardened around Knotts like a shell. Somehow, we knew that Knotts' bodily functions had been reduced to a state of hibernation.

"What the hell is that for?" Dobson asked.

The scene shifted to a smaller underground chamber. In it, several Roaches had an outpost woman tied down to a leisure chair with vines. Her skin was fully green. Beside the woman stood two pensive Wehnteweisell. The Roaches were asking questions. The Wehnteweisell were repeating the questions into the woman's mind. Incredibly, and even though the woman's body was in a state of near hibernation, her mind was answering the queries.

"They're interrogating her." Renquist said. "This is how the Roaches are going to get on the Links, boys, by getting into our heads and taking the information right out of us! And if they make it all the way back to Earth, you all know as well as I do that we are as good as gone as the major players in the universe! Unless we do something right now, we will be the food of choice for these fucking insects!"

The severity of the situation started to sink into all of us.

"We cannot allow this to happen." Renquist continued. "We will make every attempt to rescue Knotts and the others, but if we can't, we have to make sure that our knowledge does not end being used against us! Do you get me, Marines?"

Everyone knew what this meant, except for me. It only dawned on me later that Renk meant to either rescue the prisoners or kill them.

"We get you." Rube nodded somberly.

"So we pop out of the teleporter," Dobson figured. "We drive the Roaches back, rescue the prisoners and then what?"

"Can we see the transports one more time, please?" Rube asked.

The three plain Unilink Transports came into view, with the oddly colored Purple Haze sitting right beside them. They were located very close to the teleport-hill.

"Douglas, I want you to tell me that at least one of those ships is Pulse worthy." Renk said to me.

I peered as closely at the holographic image as I could. "We know that the Pulse Magnifiers on the One-Twenty-Six are shot. Let's take a look at the rest. Transport two has some visible damage on its side, oh, and look at the hatch. It's bent beyond proper closing. Transport three doesn't look too bad, and number four looks great."

"One of those is going to be our ride home." Dobson allowed himself a smile. "Hell yeah!"

"Oorah!" Brickwell gave him a high five.

"Wait." I stopped the celebrating. "We don't know how much Pulse energy there is in either one of those. They might be empty. Can we see the inside control panels of either one of those two transports?"

'That is not in the collective memory.' The Wehnteweisell replied. 'Our people are unable to leave the ground to move on an artificial surface. We might send a small animal or a bird to enter the vessel and gaze upon it, but this entity may not understand the complexity of the controls.'

"Okay. What about the Pulse Generator? Can you show me that? It would be a big computer sitting inside the command tent."

The large reactor, the size of two Earth refrigerators side by side, appeared next.

"It looks like it's working." I said. "As long as no Roaches shut it off, I should be able to draw power from it and into the transports. And in the case that we can't Pulse out, I can at least send a better message to CP-1 detailing our situation."

"The teleport-hill is close enough that we can fall back to it if we really have to." Rube pointed out.

"That's a plan." Renquist said. "Rescue the hostages, power up the transport and get the hell out before that fire comes knocking at the door. Let's go tell the others."

A few minutes later, the six men were conferring with the three sentries. All were in agreement except Dempsey, who did his usual bitching and moaning.

"A little over six and a half hours until show time." Rube reminded the Staff Sergeant.

"Just enough time to get some shut-eye." Renquist said. "Douglas, would you mind asking your new buddies to ship us out somewhere far away from any Roaches?"

I did. A few minutes after, the Wehnteweisell were lumbering out of the cave, all except for one. The nine of us took their place.

"Okay," I explained. "They said to step as far back as you can, and to stay away from the mouth of the cave before it starts to close."

"We kinda figured that one out already." Strawberry commented dryly. "But thanks for the heads-up."

Once everyone was inside, I looked back at the lone pineapple that stayed inside. "I guess we're ready."

I was a little surprised when I discovered that I could still hear the thoughts of the Wehnteweisell. The Marines were all chatting among themselves by then and didn't seem to be catching the alien thoughts the same way I was.

I sensed as the tree reached out to the mass of hard dirt all around us. It uttered a short chant in a language I didn't understand, which sounded to me like a quick prayer. This chant started up a process where the entire hill was made to rumble lightly, as if a bunch of the strange pineapples were having a party on top of it. Loose dirt rolled down the sides of the opening, clinging to the edges of the cave mouth and starting to close it shut. The entrance quickly shrunk inwards to become a hole the size of a beach ball, and continued shrinking even smaller until we were standing in complete darkness.

"Like being buried alive." Strawberry sounded anxious.

"This is weird." Dobson said.

"Not weird, this is fuckin' awesome!" Brickwell countered. "It's insane!"

"Uh, we're going to feel lightheaded for a moment." I informed the crowd. "But it should pass soon." I hope, I thought to myself.

The thought of being buried alive scared me. I took a deep breath to try and relax my body. Looking back, I noticed that a couple of the Marines had already pulled out small flashlights. I started to wonder what pocket or part of my backpack my light could be in. It was still Finn's backpack, I had to remind myself, and not mine.

It was kind of strange, but I thought I could sense the fears emanating from some of the other soldiers as well. Then, I got the sensation in my stomach of riding down an elevator, but this only lasted for a second or two. This had bothered some of the others, most notably Neelson. Don't ask me how I knew that. I just kind of sensed it.

The hill started to rumble again, and the sound of scurrying dirt could be heard. It was coming from a completely unexpected direction, however, almost directly behind us. The small opening appeared or evolved, I guess. Instead of daylight, we were rewarded with moonlight from Lesenia's multiple moons.

"We must be somewhere on the other side of the planet!" Strawberry blurted out. "It looks like the middle of the night out here!"

As soon as the opening was big enough, and against the Wehnteweisell's cautious directions, the Marines quickly exited the hill. I followed right along with them.

Read the exciting conclusion of this novella in next month's issue.

#####

### Tales From The Savage Lands 1

About this series: When the gods bicker, the world of Grond trembles. More and more, the barriers of this world are shaken, affecting reality, time and space. In this cosmic battlefield, gods will seek to walk the earth, while their rivals will seek to prevent it. Throughout the ages, this great war will persist. Only the greatest heroes of this world, and those drawn from other worlds, can hope to bring order out of chaos.

About this title: A land tainted by ancient sorcery, full of corruption and evil that spreads and infects whatever it grasps. What can be done when the very trees watch with sinister eyes, when all is not it seems? A sorcerer will cast his spells, while a scoundrel hunts for treasure and a knight holds his head high with honor. The greatest test of all is here, here in the Savage Lands. Rating: HIGH controversy.

Tales From The Savage Lands 1 was first released on Oct. 1, 2017. Buy or sample 20% of this short story fantasy collection at Smashwords, or find out more about the series on Raymond Towers Dot Com.

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### Ode Of An Unknown Warrior Tribesman

At my sides, my brothers.

At my front, my captains.

Some will stand while others fall.

May the gods watch over us all.

Give us sustenance, o gods.

Let not our bellies crave or thirst.

Give us strength, o gods.

Let not our swords leave our hands.

Of those who stand before our might,

Let our arrow tips fill with daylight.

Of those who stand before our arms,

Let our boots trod upon their heads.

Over mountains, hills, rivers and vales,

Give us persistence to defeat our foes.

Lend us your hands, o gods of ours,

Let us bring our enemies low.

Let it be so, for on we will go.

Let it be so, for on we will go.

#####

### A Furry Little Man

According to the ancient legends, the Savage Lands had once been good country for men to live in, for agriculture to grow and for livestock to graze on. To the detriment of that entire region, it was told that an army of mages had invaded that country to corrupt it with the blackest forms of magic, a magic that could not be duplicated or reversed by the less powerful mages of the present time. That vile sorcery had robbed the land of its well being, draining it of its former life and vibrancy. It was said that no sane man would travel willingly across that dead country.

Timehre, a former Knight of the Red Fold, smirked at the recollection. Many times, it had been said about him that he was not a sane man. On this night, he was not alone in that insanity, however. A merchant of modest means had hired Tim, along with three other young fighting men. Their task was simple; to escort the merchant and his small family across a corner of the Savage Lands. Tim hadn't been told why the merchant was fleeing through the most inhospitable stretch of territory imaginable, but he was less concerned with that and more worried over getting paid. From all that he'd seen of the merchant, that man carried no great amount of coin on his person, unless he had it hidden away in some magic hole Tim could not readily discern.

They traveled in two small wagons, both of them driven by the mercenaries. Two pairs of cows pulled the wagons along. They were strong and healthy cows, admittedly, but the animals further attested to the merchant's lowly status. Perhaps the man had cheated a wealthier trader, Tim speculated, or made some mistake in accounting that he could not rectify without losing an arm or a leg. The first wagon bed carried the nervous merchant, his fat wife and their two sons, all of them sitting on blankets or carpets to soften their backsides as the wagon rumbled along the rough road. In the second wagon were found all of the family's belongings, including a single table, a few chairs, a good supply of food and water, and a number of tapestries of unremarkable value. Family heirlooms, perhaps?

The family hardly left the wagon unless they had to relieve themselves in the woods they traveled through. They were asleep now, while Tim and the hired men had built up a fire and boasted of battles and women. They had a barrel of weak ale sitting in the second wagon, which they took turns drinking from during the day. At night, however, they did not drink in order to keep alert. Because the Savage Lands were full of danger, only one man slept at a time, while the rest kept watch around a small campfire. Even the snakes in those lands, it was rumored, could grow legs and climb up the sides of wagons to sink their venom into unsuspecting travelers.

One of his fellows, a scruffy sort with red hair and a red beard, was teasing the former knight. "What will ye do, Tim, if that fat woman ambles over and plops her fat behind on your lap? You've seen the lusty way she looks at the lot of us."

"He'll pinch her bottom, that's what he'll do." The other man still awake joked. "You know how the story goes. If the woman is too skinny or too fat, you shut your eyes and invent a new woman in your head. The next time Tim is drinking with the men, he'll tell them all how fair her face was and how large her breasts were. Never you mind that she looks like an overfed sow tonight!"

"Well, she does have very large breasts." The redheaded man intimated.

All three started laughing.

Their good humor stopped, however, when they heard a skitter of noise coming from the nearby trees and bushes. It wasn't the first time they'd heard those unusual sounds, but they did seem to be getting nearer to the men as the night went on.

"Any closer and whoever is making that noise will be sitting next to the fire with us." The redhead commented. "One of us should go to investigate the matter."

The other man anxiously suspired, Tim noticed. Apparently, they'd had that talk earlier, over who was going into the woods for a look. Tim had been asleep then. He watched as the man gathered a few stems of broken weeds from a small bunch he had on the ground next to him.

"The short stick is the fool." The man shuffled the stems and held them out to the others.

"No need." Tim declared. "I'm the most rested of us. I'll go."

Each man kept his armaments close to him. Tim stood, securing his leather belt on his waist and sheathing his short sword into its holder. The sword could be drawn out if need be, but in the dark and surrounded by shrubbery it might even hinder him, so Tim opted for his smaller secondary weapon. This was a dagger, sharp and lethal, but which he used less as a weapon and more for a tool to cut things with. His other hand clutched at a small, rounded wooden shield painted in red and yellow, with a polished iron boss embedded in the center.

"Godspeed, Tim." The redhead told him.

"If that fat woman comes looking for me, you tell her what direction I'm stepping in." Tim kidded. "It's dark enough in those trees that I won't need to shut my eyes."

The others laughed, but they were nervous laughs. There simply was no telling what might be out there watching them. It could be as small as a fox, or perhaps as big as a tree that had been animated long ago by the Devil's magic, and still roamed those forbidden lands with some sinister purpose.

Tim left the warmth and glow of the campfire, standing away from the ugly road and at the edge of the uglier forest. A lesser man might think he hesitated from fear, but that wasn't the case. Savvy fighters, knowledgeable in the art of hunting at night, had trained Tim. He was simply accustoming his eyes to see through the darkness. When he felt he was ready, he strode through the most navigable path toward where he suspected the noise had come from.

Very quickly, the teeming brush was stamping out the light of the fire. For a moment, Tim thought he saw two red dots at a man's height, the Devil's eyes possibly, before the strange apparitions vanished and left him wondering if he'd seen them at all. As he strode further, he imagined hearing a man's breathing. This unnerved him more than did the red eyes, as the breaths were heard closer than an arm's length away from him. Tim was a strong man, but even he would run away with his tail between his legs if he felt the Devil's humid breaths on his ear. From off in the distance, the sudden sound of laughter startled him. As he heard that dreadful sound continue, he wondered if it were a human lunatic or some unknown animal that laughed like a man. Thankfully, the laugher soon subsided.

Thinking himself cunning, Tim crouched close to the ground and moved with as much stealth as he could muster up. He was not trained as an assassin but such men, and even a few women, had taught him a few of their tricks. He stayed close to the bushes, in a way pretending to be one with his crouch. Every so often he would let his shield drag lightly across their leaves and twigs, making minimal noise before he quietly moved to another spot. This way, if anyone were tracking him by sound, they would hear him one moment and not hear him the next. If they could see him the dark, this exercise had no point, but at least he was in a defensive crouch if he were suddenly attacked.

The noise came again, not from around him but from above his head. What sort of creature hid in the trees at night, Tim wondered, as he skulked toward the most likely places the sound had come from. He sidled beside a trunk as thick as his waist. Another trick he'd been taught was how to stay in one tight spot for a good length of time, while pacing his breathing and listening to minute sounds around him.

Abruptly, he heard one thud, then another, as if two very large fruits had fallen from the branches. Whatever made those sounds had feet, as he heard them running toward him. They were soft feet, small feet, perhaps belonging to a child, but Tim was in no good mood to trust his first impression. When the first form was near enough, the man swung his shield out and smashed hard wood against whatever was there. The form fell back and was heard rolling, again sounding small enough to be a child.

He'd lost track of the second mystery, only to feel some creature climb up on his back like a giant squirrel. Out of instinct, Tim stabbed his dagger over his shoulder, catching his attacker with the sharp edge and setting off a great screeching from it. The thing he'd knocked over was on its feet again, running straight into Tim's shield as if it didn't know what the shield was for. He felt long limbs going around his shield to get at him, and sharp claws raked at his upper arm and shoulder. Those claws were not as sharp as his dagger, he told himself, as he pressured his attacker down to the ground with his shield and much heavier weight. The arms and claws were still going around his shield, but now Tim had an idea of where his attacker's head and mouth were. He aimed for the throat, piercing flesh and provoking a repulsive chortle from whatever was caught under his shield. The thing was not dead, but surely he'd given it a good injury.

With one foe down, Tim honed his attention towards the second. The thing had slid off his back after being stabbed, most likely in the chest or shoulder, or if Tim had been lucky enough, in the throat or head. All he heard was the ragged breathing of the one he'd maimed, however. The second attacker seemed to have run away.

What was this thing dying on the ground, the warrior wondered. He was too far away from the fire to see it. It gave off a scent of sweat and urine, under a stronger odor of woods and brush. For a moment he imagined it might be a large possum or something like it. Intrigued, Tim scraped his hand along the ground, his fingers stirring up dirt and leaves before finding a short furry leg. He would drag the thing back to the fire to have a better look at it.

As Tim strode toward the road, he found he disliked being in such a crouch. His dagger was not in a good angle to strike out and his shield in an even more awkward slant, as he could hardly hold its straps and drag his attacker at the same moment. Still, he would not part with either armament and hauled his prey along as best he could.

Finally, he reached the road. The other warriors whistled as birds to him. This was in code they'd prepared earlier, in case some shade was emerging from the forest with the pretense of being Tim. The man whistled back correctly. Despite this, he was met with two men holding sharpened iron blades out before them.

"What have ye got there, my man Tim?" The redhead asked, motioning with his chin.

"I don't know." He admitted. "I fought against two of them but was only able to pierce this one. I've brought it back to study it beside the fire. Could this be a magical creature that might somehow curse us after it is dead?"

"It could be." The other man said. "It smells like the Devil's underarms."

Were it not for the gravity of danger, Tim would have laughed. To the men of these dark lands, a profanity was twice as powerful if it mentioned the Devil's name in it. He held his shield out to the redhead. "Take it, so that I might get a better grip on this fiend."

Soon enough, Tim had the now dead creature illuminated by the flickers from the fire, with a long streak of black blood trailing back along the route he'd dragged it from. The man who'd been asleep was awake now, the fourth hired man, and was as ready and alert as the rest of them, Tim noticed.

All four of them came closer to inspect whatever Tim had killed. At first, they thought it to be some unknown and furry demon, but as they prodded and poked at it, they found it was a very small man the size of a boy of some seven or eight years. It was not a furry animal at all, but wearing a shirt, pants and even a helm sewn together crudely from the fur of a number of animals. With his dagger, Tim cut the leather strap from under the man's chin, allowing him to remove the helm entirely. This way they were able to see the little man's head clearly.

"I say, that man is a shrunken man!" One of the others remarked. "Look, he has fingers as we do, although the nails haven't been cut in ages. And look, he wears shoes made of leaves and vines, but under them he has human feet with toes just as ours!"

"We shouldn't let the merchant see him." The crimson-locked fighter said. "He'll take it for a bad omen, certainly."

"I take his wife for a bad omen." The other man said. "Especially if she comes looking for us at night."

Now that the danger seemed past them, each man did his best to not laugh. In the end, three held their hands before their mouths and giggled like children, while the man who'd just woken up glanced into the woods nervously.

"Throw him into bushes before the merchant sees him." The redhead decided.

"Aye, best be rid of him." The second man nodded. "If there were two or more of them, perhaps they'll come looking for this one."

"Not yet." Tim declined. "I've been told to always inspect the body of a new foe, for on that body might be found a secret that could be used against the rest of them. Let me keep it by the fire for a few moments longer while I search it."

"I'll not argue with that." The redhead consented, before looking back at the man who'd been woken up. "You go back to sleep or I'll take your turn away from you."

"I can't sleep now! I'm worried!"

"Worried like an old woman." The redhead muttered.

"I'll sleep if he can't." The second man cut in. "I had the longest turn at the reins today. My hard arse needs its rest to soften it back up again."

"Who needs a man with a soft arse?" The redhead joked, setting them all to sniggers again.

Tim laughed along with them. He'd worked in small crews with men that were always bickering or suspicious of one another. It was rare for him to meet up with jokers such as these, who could find humor in the most dangerous of perils. Perhaps, once this job was over, he would become friends with them.

"Here, I'll help you take the little man's clothes off." The redhead offered. "We'll finish up faster that way."

They were about to use their daggers to cut the furry garments away, when the redhead found hidden, knotted thongs securing the garments to the body. They were found on the wrists, the waist and the ankles. Once these were cut, the strange clothing could be loosened up and removed. Tim pulled on the little man's furry shirt, while the redhead worked off the pants. Of a sudden, the man with the crimson hair snatched an object from the dead man's waist, and took it over to the fire.

"Ho, what have I found here?" The redhead laughed. "I've got the little man's coin pouch, I do, and I'm keeping it for myself!"

Instantly, Tim filled up with contempt, for he had no wealth at all in his pouch. That was the reason he'd taken the merchant's job in the first place.

"I am now the richest man of our lot." The redhead bragged.

Tim was angry, but he'd been cheated before. He let his red emotion ebb away from him and kept removing the clothing from the corpse.

"Give that back to Tim." The other mercenary grumbled. "He was the one that went to fell that little beast, not you."

"Oh, is it such a grand feat to kill a little man that barely comes up to my thigh?" The redhead argued. "But you're right. He did go while the rest of us stayed. What of this? We'll split it three ways. The man who was asleep gets nothing."

"But you told me to go to sleep!" The sleeper balked.

This caused them all to start laughing again. Good, thought Tim. He felt the man with the red beard had been picking on him a moment before. That was not so. The redhead was still picking on the others as well.

After stripping the dead man's outer garments, Tim discovered only a strip of old cloth around the groin underneath. Other than that, the little man was nude. Tim also found a small pendant made of carved bone, in a shape that could have been a bear or wolf's head or the head of some other woodland creature. The cord keeping the pendant around the little man's neck was of black leather.

"Don't put it on, mind you." One of the other men warned. "It could be cursed."

"Aye, you be careful with that." The redhead nodded.

Since it might have some value, Tim stuck the pendant into his coin pouch. At least the pouch was not empty anymore.

The crimson-haired man held the pouch out again. "We'll split this, yes? If you say no, Tim, you'll have to fight the lot of us to get it back. Be a good man and say yes."

"Go on." Tim relented.

"Even with the sleeper?" The second man asked. "Why did we wake him in the first place? He would have never known if we hadn't woken him!"

Apparently, the sleeper had enough of being ridiculed. "I tell you, man. The next time you fall asleep, I'll be pissing on your head! See if I don't do it!"

This caused the bunch to laugh again, until the redhead started waving his arms for them to stop. "Quiet, you imbeciles! Any more ruckus like this, and we'll be sharing the spoils with the merchant's fat wife after we wake her as well! Now let's see what we've got in this pouch."

The redhead undid the knot on the little cloth bag, and upended it on a clear spot next to the fire. A pittance of wealth dropped out of it, including mere stones, tiny old bones and a few small nuggets of iron. Tim saw what looked like a few small jewels of green and red.

"Only colored glass." The redhead held one up to examine it against the fire. He held it out to another man. "Have a look at it."

A pittance it was, but enough to purchase a meager serving of old bread, old cheese and stale drink in some villages.

Tim grunted, glancing back at the little man he'd killed. The corpse very much looked like a man who had been shrunken by magic. His limbs were in proportion to the rest of him. He was not squat or bigheaded like a dwarf, and he was much too thick to be an elf. Tim had no idea of who or what the little man was. Also, there were unusual ink markings visible on his chest and arms. His face, strangely enough, looked like the face of any other man he might have recently come across.

There were mysteries in the Savage Lands that would never be solved, Tim had been told more than once. Perhaps this little man was destined to become one of those. As the man with red hair began to divvy up the pittance, Tim dragged the little man's body into the brush, far enough away that the merchant and his family would not see the body in the morning.

#####

### Risky Propositions

"Alson, I have brought you a message." The runner strode up to the worried man.

"Can you not see that I am engaged in training my soldiers?" Alson barked at the courier. "All morning, I've had one interruption after another! How will these men ever be brought up to standard if I have one interruption after another?"

Apparently, the lean runner had figured out that Alson wanted to start a bickering match with him. Instead of falling for that bait, the runner simply revealed his message. "Captain Fletcher wishes to speak to you."

Alson turned away from the man, for if he kept his gaze on that courier any longer, he would certainly strike him with his fist. He called out, "Rondel!"

The battle veteran was sparring with the younger men, but now signaled for his opponent to lower his sword. Once he was certain the signal was received, Rondel turned to face Alson. "I'm hearing you. What is it?"

"Watch over the men while I'm gone." Alson revealed. "I'll be going to speak with Captain Fletcher now."

Alson could find his own way to his commander's tent, but apparently the runner was instructed to escort him back. He disliked runners as much as he disliked dogs full of fleas. Real men did not run back and forth delivering words; they picked up swords and held the line against their enemies. Despite this, Alson enjoyed having the runner striding ahead of him, clearing the path for him as if Alson were a nobleman, instead of a man from the hills who happened to be good with the sword.

Another subject Alson disliked was pompous men who erected grand tents, while every other man in the small army only had smaller tents to sleep in. In fact, his captain owned the largest tent in the camp, larger even than the tent reserved for the general the captain answered to.

The two men wove their way through the temporary settlement until they reached their destination. It was only when Alson stood before the entrance to his captain's tent that the runner finally stopped leading him along. Alson took a moment's deliberation before he went inside.

The first things he saw were trophies gained from the enemy, and the fact that Captain Fletcher had women in his tent when no other man did. In times of war such as these, Alson trusted no one, and especially not women who wormed their way into places of confidence. If it were up to him, he would drive those women away instantly.

"You asked to see me, captain?" He called out.

Fletcher stood in a corner of the tent. Alson wondered what the man could have possibly been doing there, as there seemed to be no purpose whatsoever for him standing in that spot. Along with having the biggest tent, Fletcher also had the most lavish uniform and the most expensive weapons. At the moment, however, he dressed in a regal blue tunic with golden embroidery on the edges. Fletcher kept Alson waiting, despite that there was no need for that. He was there and Alson was there. What was the commander waiting for, the next harvest?

"You asked to see me?" Alson repeated. "I am busy training the new men."

"Ah, the new men, yes." Fletcher nodded, as he slowly left his purposeless corner and approached his subordinate. "I plan to make a charge today. You and your men are to lead it."

Alson couldn't help but suspire. "A charge to where, sir?"

"To the second hill, the one we've been having so much trouble with."

If words could cause pain, certainly those words were giving Alson much distress. The night before, a rumor had been going about that Fletcher would try to take that same hill again. He hated to discover that the rumor had been true.

"With respect, captain," Alson started. "A third of the men who undertook the first charge lost their lives to that hill. Nearly half of the men who made the second charge died only two days later. The men I am training now, these are new men who hardly know how to form a line, let alone hold one."

"They will not need to hold a line." Fletcher replied. "All they need to do is to run to the top of that hill and stand there while the rest of our platoons flank it."

"My men would be better suited to flank the hill."

"Your men will do what I tell you to do with them."

Alson stayed quiet for a long moment. What fool would send a third charge, and especially a charge full of inexperienced men, toward a hill where two previous charges had already failed? The answer was simple enough; a man like Fletcher would.

"When will our attack begin?" Alson asked.

"When the sun is at a quarter of its ascent. Listen for the horns blowing to set your men into formation."

"We will make the charge. If there is nothing more, I will return to training them."

Fletcher kept him waiting again. Alson nearly turned and left on his own, except if he did, Fletcher would possibly bark for him to stay because he hadn't finished speaking yet. Alson refused to be humbled like that before the women in the tent, whom he thought no better than common prostitutes. Finally, Fletcher waved to dismiss him, as if that man were a king of some sort.

It was a stupid idea to charge a heavily fortified hill with a platoon of untrained men. Only a stupid man would try that same stupid idea for a third time. Meanwhile, Fletcher would ride his horse back behind the battle lines and watch from a safe distance. If the gods were watching, perhaps that horse would rear up and cause Fletcher to fall and break his head open. Dead men did not make stupid decisions, because dead men made no decisions at all.

There were many things Alson hated, especially when seen on or near a battlefield. More than stupid captains, Alson hated seeing crows and ravens that would come to feed on the dead once the battle was done. As he strode toward his section of the camp, he saw many of the dreaded black birds perched among the trees.

They knew what was coming, Alson understood. They knew.

#####

### Wilmer The Wretch

The old man known as Wilmer the Wretch ambled across a bitter stretch of road. Sure enough that road was bitter, as it was angry enough to shift below one's feet to tire an old man such as he, and to turn this way and that so that a traveler might not see what lay beyond the next bend. Long before Wilmer's time, it was rumored that this very road was proud and straight as an arrow, up until the ancient mages had corrupted that land into its present state of crookedness. Bandits and cutthroats abounded on that road, here and there along its unhealthy route. He should have stayed home, Wilmer frowned as he walked, but his few shelves were bare and he'd grown hungry.

As sure as the road was bitter, so was Wilmer a wretch. He was no normal man, not he. His nearly forgotten father had been an elf, his mother a human, bought together in an ill-advised tryst that had made them both outcasts to their respective peoples, and that had created a hybrid man in him. Wilmer was as tall as a human, but as thin as an elf. His hair was white and wispy and had always been, even when Wilmer was a child. He had more strength than an elf but less than a human, while his joints were knobby and rickety due to his uncommon parentage. To add to his other deformities were his strange gray eyes and his skin so pale that people could guess he lived under the ground or in a tunnel with little light. That was not so; Wilmer lived in a small cabin he'd built himself with his own thin limbs. Oh, how he wished he were there now!

Where was he headed then, the old man wondered. Besides being hungry, Wilmer was a bored man. The previous night, he'd heard a wolf's howling and barking. Since there was little chance of him finding food near his home, Wilmer had gone off toward where he'd heard the sounds of the wolf. Perhaps the beast had made a kill; something that Wilmer could scavenge away the bones of. Bone soup seasoned with bark or roots were a dish only a man like him would appreciate. Perhaps he would throw in a vegetable as well, as he knew his small garden of carrots, radishes and potatoes was near ready to harvest.

The sun was becoming tired, Wilmer noted past the tall trees of the forest. Soon the shadows would grow long and the cold would come. After having come so far and up until then found nothing, Wilmer deliberated over giving up his mild adventure and heading back. The main reason he didn't was because of his hunger. Let there be bones, he prayed, for a warm soup that night.

The old man did find bones, but they were not the kind he wanted. He smelled a foul odor first, of a man's emptied bowels. Next came the smell of blood recently spilled. On the ground, Wilmer saw the red splotches. He followed them from the road and a short distance into the trees. Two dead men were laying there, one with his arm ravaged and both with their throats bitten out. Beggars or bandits they were, judging from their worn clothes. As Wilmer studied them closer, and also the area around them, he saw the spots where they'd dropped their daggers, and where they kept a knapsack.

Wilmer's hopes were lifted. Eagerly, he went to the pack, discovering a napkin with old cheese hidden in it, along with a set of clothes that was much too expensive for what the dead men wore. Surely they were thieves, hidden away in the brush until that wolf had found them. But no, the men weren't eaten; only murdered. Their wounds were very noticeably made by an animal's bites, but no animal would leave its kill without gorging on it first. A strange finding, Wilmer thought. As he gobbled up the pittance of cheese, he scrutinized the death scene further.

There were things he could use here, and things he could sell. As quickly as his weathered hands could manage it, Wilmer stripped the dead men. The clothes were as smelly as the men, but the garments could be washed or cut up and used in other ways. If a garment had too much blood on it, he discarded it, as he had no desire to explain to anyone how it had gotten that way. One tunic was ruined in two places, he frowned, and they both were stained crimson. He would have to leave most of them behind, as they were too marred to wash clean. He cut off the unblemished fabric with the small knife he carried. The men's trousers were in fair shape, and also their brown boots. All that he felt was in good condition he stuffed into the knapsack. Wilmer laughed with joy when he discovered a small pouch with a handful of copper pieces in it. That would get him through for a few days, he thought. He studied the two daggers the men carried. They weren't as sharp as his, or as ornate, but he could still use them.

After hoisting the full knapsack over his shoulder, Wilmer began the long walk back home. As he strode, he wondered of what he could afford to buy now. Perhaps a chicken, he thought, that he could roast one day and make into a soup the next. Even an old chicken would do. What about a tea plant? Yes, that might suit him. A tea plant that had good, strong roots to put into the ground, so he could grow it and have tea whenever the plant was in season. Not the common types he already had growing around his cabin, but a new flavor. No, no, no. What he needed most of all was a decent stock of food. Perhaps he could purchase beets or onions. If he had enough beets, he could make sugar. If he had enough onions, the pungent stink of them would surely cause him to cry.

Wilmer laughed as he walked, only then realizing he was being followed. He spun around quickly, jostling the pack on his shoulder. In a flash, his knife was in hand and he was staring down the road. What he saw there was enough to make him shudder.

A large gray wolf was tracking him. It was the size of a big dog, with a weight of perhaps six stone. Wilmer weighed about half as much more, but Wilmer was old and that wolf was not. He had no doubt that it was the same wolf which had killed the two men, as it still had blood on its legs and fur.

"Go on with you!" Wilmer shouted. "Go on into the woods!"

The wolf simply lay down and panted softly.

With no desire to tangle against that creature, Wilmer shifted the knapsack into a more comfortable position and began a hurried walk away. Frequently he looked behind him, seeing nothing but empty road. It made him nervous to have the animal back there somewhere, as wolves could be cunning. They could circle around and lunge at him from the side, or simply run straight at his back to topple him over.

The next time Wilmer glanced back, he saw that the wolf was still coming and trembled. He shouted, "Wind blast you off a mountain!"

The wolf sat on its hind legs, watching him with its open mouth.

Oh, Wilmer did not like the sight of that mouth. Those jaws could snap his arm in two if they could get around it. He strode off, but halted after a few strides and shouted again, "I've got no meat on me! Go back and chew up those miscreants you killed! They'll fill up your belly when I won't!"

He walked as fast as he dared, every so often looking back. Sometimes the wolf wasn't there, causing him to wonder if it were creeping about from some other path. Most often, it was there, pacing him with its casual walk until he saw it. Then the wolf would lie on its stomach or sit back on its hind legs and watch him.

At one point, Wilmer snatched up a rock and threatened the beast with it. "Come on then! I've got my hands full of weapons now! One to cut you and the other to bash your head in! You have no idea how strong I am, or how bold! I'm not afraid of you!"

But really, he was afraid. Wilmer was terrified of that animal. Even if he scared it away after an attack, a bite on his feeble arms or legs could hobble him. Who would care if Wilmer the Wretch died out there in the hills? Who from the nearby village would care about him? No one, that's who! No one at all!

Wilmer went up a hill and down the other side. He was fearful as he walked through a thick copse, a place favored by scoundrels who liked to hide and wait for victims. Once he got past that stretch, the road widened out. The biggest danger here, besides the wolf still trailing him, were the deep ruts the wagons left on the ground. The ruts would sprain his ankle or even break it if he weren't respectful while walking over them, especially in his agitated state. He got past them, still nervous because next came a field of grass that went up to his thighs. Thieves could be lying on their stomach out there, waiting for an old man like him with a knapsack full of something on his back.

More trees followed, then a brook, then a hillside. Wilmer was close to home now. If he were to die at this moment, he'd be doubly upset than if he died way out far. Who wanted to die a stone's throw away from where they lived?

The wolf was still behind him, following him like a late shadow. It loped along without a care, sometimes looking to its sides, but most watching the path ahead of it.

By this time, Wilmer's legs were exhausted and throbbing. He saw the log he would sit on some days, where he would play his flute if he were in the good mood to play music. After taking a seat on it, he set the sack of clothes on the ground beside him. The old man hadn't realized how heavy the sack had been until now that he wasn't carrying it.

The wolf came, striding toward him like a careless dog. It unnerved Wilmer to have that animal so close, despite that it kept a respectful distance from him. As the wolf lay down again, Wilmer wondered if it had been tamed. Certainly, it had not shown him any aggressive behavior yet. It was not afraid of him either. Perhaps the wolf knew he was an old man whose long bones would probably choke the animal if it tried to eat him.

"Wild or tame, which one are you?" Wilmer called out. "If it's food you want, I don't have any!"

The wolf watched him with its open mouth. Finally, the mouth closed up. That was good, Wilmer thought, as he no longer had to look at its teeth. It stared at him. After a short while, it made a whimpering sound like a dog.

"I told you already, I have no food!" Wilmer shouted. "You go back to where it is you came from. I've got nothing for you!"

The wolf lowered its head onto its paws. It blinked and continued to watch him. Wilmer became unnerved, as he felt the animal was actually thinking, like a man.

"You've got sorcery on you." Wilmer suspected. He'd seen some very bizarre sights while living in the Savage Lands, so a magic wolf was not enough to send him running. Still, the old man was nervous enough to stand and cross the last stretch between him and his little cabin.

Early on after he'd first built the house, Wilmer had left only a bearskin to serve as the door. So many raccoons, squirrels and possums had gone in there while he was out, to scavenge his food, that he ended up paying for a pair of iron hinges and put up a wooden door soon after. A man could walk in and out of his cabin if he could manage to unwind two separate lengths of twine that tied the door to its frame, but no animal could. Wilmer loosened both lengths and opened the door. He did jump up by five feet when he felt the big wolf brush against his leg. Wilmer expected its jaws to clamp on him, but no, the large canine simply wanted to go inside.

He would have to chase it out, the old man resolved. He would grab a stick and beat the wolf on the head until it left. There was no way in hell that Wilmer would share his cabin with that strange, ferocious animal that had already felled two stronger men than he. Guardedly, Wilmer watched the beast stride into a corner, before it did what it usually did. It lay down and set its head on its paws, and watched him.

"Will you get out?" Wilmer asked, afraid to yell as he had earlier. Perhaps he would anger the wolf if he yelled this time. "Will you leave me alone?"

The wolf returned a soft bark at him.

Wilmer held his knife out, causing the wolf to growl at him. So, the animal knew what a knife was. When the old man tossed the knife on his rough wooden bed, the wolf stopped menacing him.

The man and wolf watched each other. It was Wilmer who relented first. "Fine, fine! You can stay, but I don't want you to foul up my cabin! If you need to relieve yourself, you have to go out there! Do you understand that?"

The wolf gave him a soft bark.

"I'll be shutting the door now." Wilmer said. "It will help keep the bugs away."

He dropped the knapsack on the bed next to his knife, and considered the meager furniture he owned. Besides the bed, he had a single chair and a wooden tripod with a kettle on it. If Wilmer wanted to cook, he would carry the tripod and kettle outside and cook. The reason he didn't cook indoors is because he'd smoke up the entire house and die if he did. Once the door was shut, the cabin got considerably darker. The old man had put a single window in the structure, which he covered up with a tapestry on warm nights and the bearskin on cool nights. To allow the day's dwindling light inside, he removed the window's cover.

After this, he dragged his single chair over to the bed, where he planned to evaluate the day's loot. He took everything out of the knapsack and set it out, including the boots and daggers. The rougher clothes were in natural colors and made of coarse wool, while the more expensive attire was colored in blue and of softer cotton. The blades were very dull, he saw, and the handles cheap. Those blue clothes were probably the best of the lot, Wilmer considered, as he reached over to grab the first pair of boots.

He happened to glance over at the corner where the wolf was. What he saw there was enough to cause him to bolt to his feet and rush directly out the door. The old man was screaming as he ran, and he kept running until he reached the brook and finally ran out of breath. Agitated, he walked about, returning to sit on his log, then becoming scared all over again and going further away. The night was going to be cold, Wilmer felt. After convincingly himself that he must have been mistaken, that he'd seen only an illusion, he slowly made his way back to his cabin. By this time it was nearly dark out, and very dark inside his home.

Wilmer peeked in. The woman was still there and the wolf was gone. When he'd first seen the woman, she'd been nude and standing in that same corner where the wolf should have been. Now, she was dressed in the blue attire.

"Are you real?" Wilmer asked.

"I am." The woman answered.

"You are a demon here for my soul!" Wilmer cried out. "You cannot have it! Leave my cabin or I will burn it down with you in it!"

"I cannot leave." She said, simply.

"Why can't you leave?"

"I will tell you all, if you will step in and shut that door. I cannot be seen outside yet. I am not ready to fight."

"I don't understand." The old man made a face at her. "Are you a wolf or are you a woman?"

"I am both. You must shut your door."

Wilmer looked outside, hoping no other bizarre creatures were skulking about. He saw nothing save for the black forest. He addressed the woman again. "Are you going to kill me? I'm only a poor man."

"I do not wish to kill you. You may live as long as you do not threaten me. Shut your door."

This time, he obeyed. "Someone is chasing you?"

"Yes."

"But who?"

"I don't know. You have no lantern here?"

"No, I can't afford that. The oil is too expensive."

"My night vision is good." She said.

"As is mine." Wilmer replied. "I can see you in the dark."

"What sort of man are you? You do not look like a normal man. Are you magical?"

"No, not at all." Wilmer grimaced. "If you must know, I am the son of an elf man and a human woman. This explains why I look this way. I am no adept at magic, as I did not inherit any of that from either of my parents. I am only a simple man who is shunned by others, and who lives here alone with meager means. Is that all you wish to know? Tell me who you are next."

The woman went to lean against a wall and crossed her arms. "I am Dobrynia. My friends and I were battling a necromancer on another..." She paused to take in a long breath. "In a land far away from this one. The fiend used an unknown magic to bring me to this place. I don't know where I am. My friends were not sent with me. They went elsewhere, I think. I've been searching the hills for their scent for three days now, with no sign of them. This land is tainted with dark magic. I was attacked by wraiths of a sort I have never seen before. They sucked out my magic like vampires. I ran from them, as they were too many to fight against. I changed into my wolf form to elude them. They are still searching for me as a woman, I think. This is why I did not want to switch my form until I was indoors."

"You killed those men." Wilmer reminded her.

"I did. They were evil men. I pray their next lives will be better lives."

"People only live one lifetime." Wilmer said.

"What do you know, old man?" The woman asked. "How many times have you come back from the dead as I have? How old are you? I am older than these hills that surround your cabin. What do you know? I will tell you; you know nothing."

He turned away from her, not knowing if she were speaking truth or lies. Who was older than the hills? Some of it was true, at least. There were ghouls in the Savage Lands. They ate the bodies of the freshly dead and attacked travelers on dark roads, especially if there were children among them. A few times, those dreadful ghouls had come to knock on Wilmer's door, demanding to be let inside. They were natural spirits that could not enter into a place made by men, and so Wilmer could keep them out by simply having the door shut and the window fully covered.

"Will you kill me while I sleep?" Wilmer asked.

"I said already that I would not."

"This is my time to sleep." He said, carelessly brushing the clothes and boots off the bed and onto the floor. The two daggers he took over to his shelf, setting them next to his knife sharpening stone. His personal knife he slipped under his lumpy straw pillow, where he usually kept it while he slept. "Do you sleep, woman?"

"I do, and I am tired as well." She admitted. "I was afraid to sleep for long because of the wraiths."

"They are called ghouls, not wraiths." Wilmer corrected her. "And you were right to flee from them. They are very wicked demons."

"I will sleep in my wolf form." The woman resolved. "In the morning, you must tell me more about this strange land, and why it is so corrupt. We will talk then."

In the dark, he watched the woman undress. Wilmer jumped again, when with his own eyes he saw her crouch toward the floor and actually become a wolf. He was afraid to lie down on his bed for fear that the wolf might pounce on him. After he did lie down, he was too uneasy to sleep, but only at first. The long walk had taken a lot of his energy away. In a short while, he slept as deeply as that log he'd been sitting on earlier.

When the old man woke up the next morning, the woman and the wolf were gone. That was well with him. He assumed he'd only dreamt of them the day before, or perhaps they were the sort of illusions the Savage Lands created for men. He had traveled a long distance from his familiar grounds, after all.

He had much to do, or at least much to do for an old man that usually did nothing all day. After opening the door and window for light, he set the loot on his bed again, sorting through it. Wilmer was a bit perturbed when he did not find the blue attire along with the rest. Had he imagined it in the same way he'd imagined the wolf?

The pieces of tunics he could keep to use as rags or bandages. One set of trousers and boots was worse than what he owned, while the other was better. Curse his luck, as the better set was for a man much shorter than he.

"Wind blast you off a mountain!" Wilmer scolded the clothing, as he lifted the daggers for inspection.

The weapons were as dull as before, prompting him to use his stone to give them an acceptable edge. They were also as cheap as he'd first thought them to be. At least the pouch still had the handful of copper bits in it.

Wilmer's next act was to put his finds back into the knapsack. He carried the pack out to the brook, where he laboriously washed the clothes he wore and the clothes he'd found. Wilmer wanted to look presentable to the town's merchants, hoping they would give him better coin for his goods.

While the old man sat nude and waiting for his clothes to dry, the woman he thought to be an illusion strode into his view. Wilmer's brow furrowed. He wondered again whether or not she were real. She was wearing the blue garments from the night before, he noticed. On her back was the strangest knapsack he had ever seen.

"Ho there, Dobrynia." He called out, expecting her to vanish before his eyes.

Instead of disappearing, she returned her own greeting, before she went to edge of the brook. From her unusual bag, she brought out a set of clothes as strange as everything else about her. The clothing was black as sin, and also the short boots. Dobrynia carried a short sword on her belt, but what intrigued Wilmer the most were the black dagger she retrieved from the pack, and also a very shiny small bag that peeled away like an orange. The woman then ate from whatever was inside that shiny bag.

Out there in the woods, Wilmer could walk around nude all day and none would be the wiser about it. With no shame, the old man stood up and ambled over to the woman.

"Let me see that dagger." He held his hand out.

"You may not keep it." She replied, her voice firm and vaguely menacing.

Nevertheless, the short blade changed hands. Wilmer studied the very short weapon, marveling at its ingenious design. It was incredibly light and entirely made of metal. The handle was like a skeleton of metal bones, a frame unlike any he was familiar with.

"It is a weapon from the land of my boyfriend." The woman revealed. "You see, Victor is my lover. There are many different types of weapons found there. Here, let me see it. I will show you something curious about it."

He gave it back, astonished when a moment later Dobrynia caused the firm blade to fold in half. The blade was now hidden away into the hilt! He could see it through the metal frame!

"Magic!" The old man gasped.

"No, not magic." Dobrynia replied. "In Victor's world, this is called a folding knife." She caught her words there, Wilmer noticed. "I meant to say in Victor's land. This weapon has a design to it that causes it to fold in upon itself. This allows the weapon to be hidden away until it is needed. It is not magic; it is mechanical. Do you have mills in these lands, where the wind pushes the sails and causes the millstone to turn and crush the seeds into flour?"

"Yes, yes of course we do." Wilmer nodded.

"That is also mechanical. There are cogs and wheels that turn in a mill, the same as in this folding knife. The difference is that the pieces on this blade are made from metal and much smaller."

To prove this, she opened and closed the blade for him, and taught him the working of how to shut it. After warning Wilmer that the blade was very sharp, she handed it to him and let him play with it. There was a catch that held the blade firm when it was opened, and that allowed the blade to fold loose when it was pressed.

"You have no food in your house, old man." Dobrynia said. She peeled apart another small, shiny bag and held out an odd bar to him. "I will give you this. It has different nuts in it, and bits of sweets that certainly this land of yours has not invented yet. Its taste is much sweeter than honey. You will like it."

Since Wilmer had already seen her eating the same food, he took a bite of it. Sure enough, it was as sweet as she'd described. The nuts were hard-packed and held together as if by honey, but he could see oats and rice and other edibles in the concoction. The brown and white bits were the tastiest, he noted.

Wilmer pointed them out. "What are these?"

"One is called chocolate." She explained. "The other is yogurt. Do you have creamy cheese here that tastes like sugar? It is similar to that."

"No." Wilmer shook his head. He chuckled a moment later. "The only cheese around these parts is hard or moldy."

"I had a very good bow." Dobrynia lamented. "It was very expensive to buy, but I lost it during the battle. When the ghouls chased me, I climbed into a tree to hide my pack, before I changed into a wolf. I am glad that no one has stolen it. Here, I will not need your blue clothing any longer, as I have my outfit to wear again. I will not use my clothing, not yet. Instead I will use my animal form to follow you into town."

This time, Wilmer felt embarrassed when he saw the woman undressing. He went to his own clothes, finding them damp but not wet. He put them on, gathering his various items together and returning them to the knapsack. While trying to avoid resting his eyes on the woman's form, he took the blue attire and scrutinized it. The material was well sewn and soft. Surely it would be comfortable on his body. Regardless, his plan was to sell it, as he needed food in his belly more than fancy garments on his back.

Wilmer had another surprise as he set off down the road. Instead of turning into a wolf as he expected, Dobrynia became a raven. A black bird! She fluttered from tree to tree, keeping pace with his old strides.

Wilmer talked as he went. He spoke of the Savage Lands and how he ended up in that ugly place. He told what little he knew of the magic of that region, which was still a mystery to him and to many others who lived there. Wilmer's words helped keep his mind away from how tired his legs were. When he ran out of words to say, he pulled out his flute and forgot the aches by playing music.

The old man lived far enough from the village that no folk would come out to bother him, but not too far that he could not pay a visit every other month or so. It took him the rest of the morning to reach that place.

"Here we are at the Harper's Nook." He announced to the raven, when the first of the houses and farms came into view. "We have a dozen farmers here. The harvests are meager, as the dark creatures come in at the edges of the farms and eat their fill. The farmers will trade when they have enough, but if one's harvest is damaged or pilfered off, the others won't allow the first to starve. If they manage to have a surplus, which is very rare, mind you, they will load it up on the single town wagon and take it elsewhere to barter with. They grow what is normal: rice, wheat, onions, tomatoes and the like. There is hardly any livestock, as the night creatures will whisk them away, and..."

"Who do you speak to, Old Man Wilmer?" A young woman asked, from a gaggle of three. The maidens were sitting in the grass, under the shade of a leafy tree. They wore their kirtles and aprons, and had been difficult to spot until now that Wilmer had passed the tree.

"I speak to that raven there." He pointed up at the branches. "Do you see how it follows me wherever I might go?"

"Does your bird speak back to you?" The same maiden wondered.

"It does, if it has the mind to."

The three maidens giggled, probably thinking him a loon. He kept walking on, but paused when he saw the raven flutter over to the women. It stopped on the flat road, spreading its wings for attention. The black bird then strutted in one direction, before it turned and strutted back again. After this, it flew back into the trees.

This time, the maidens were smiling and clapping at him, or at the bird really.

"He's taught it to do tricks!" One maiden praised. "That was very good, Wilmer!"

The old man couldn't help but look at the young women. They were fair to look at, not beautiful because hardly any beauty was found in that region, but still fair. When a melancholy began to settle over his head, he began walking again.

"I've never had the love of a woman, because no woman would ever have me." He admitted, once he was a good stretch down the road. "I'm ugly to both elves and humans. What a sorry lot for me to be in!"

He pointed up ahead, to a main street that had all of half a dozen businesses on it. "There is a tailor whose wife cuts hair and dresses it up, a smith who makes iron pots as well as tools and weapons, and a butcher who runs a small store. The other buildings are empty. We have no inn here and no tavern. If some unlucky sort travels through here, they might rent one of those empty buildings for a night before they press on. It is only the farms that keep this village going. Everything else produces no real coin."

The raven perched on a roof, watching Wilmer go into the first two businesses. As he'd said he would, Wilmer was trading for coin and not for other items. The tailor took his blue suit and boots, while the smith took his older clothing and daggers. When the old man stepped into the store, however, the raven fluttered in behind him.

"Wilmer, you old fool, you've let a bird in!" A portly woman came over to shoo the raven out.

He held his hands out to halt her. "This bird is mine, woman! I've tamed it! It won't peck at your food, I promise you!"

As if to prove this, the raven flew up to the seller's counter and stood there.

The shop-keep made a face. "It is an ugly bird. It is as ugly as you are!"

"Ugly?" Wilmer asked. "Perhaps we're not looking at the same bird. This raven is as majestic as a falcon. Look how it stands there. What does a woman know about birds, anyway?"

"I know how to cook them!" The woman countered.

"Look here, woman." He held out his coin pouch. "I've just traded with the tailor and the smith. Do you want my business or not?"

"Of course I do." The woman relented. "My husband and my children are out breaking their backs in the fields. You're the first customer I've seen in three days. How much coin do you have?"

Because he was going to spend it there regardless, Wilmer took what he'd gotten from the other tradesmen and put it on the counter next to the raven. "Here are a few iron bits. I have a bit more in copper in this pouch. Do you want to see that as well, or will you trust that I have it? Show me what you have that is near to spoiling."

"Where did you get copper, Wilmer?" The woman went to count the pieces of iron. When she stood close to the raven, she became unnerved at the way it was watching her. "The last time you were here, you were trading your polished stones."

"I found two dead bandits about four hills away from here, to the north. They won't be needing their copper anymore, so I took it from them. I saw their faces. They were not local men."

"Two of them, you say, from the north?" The shop-keep asked, worried.

"That is right. I don't know where they came from, but I do know that they're gone. Tell me, woman. Have you seen any new people coming through here? I'm wanting to know if a young man with an exotic look to him has passed by. His name would be Victor. Have you heard it?"

"No one comes through here." The woman replied, peering closer at the raven's face. The bird stood entirely still on her counter, as if it was not afraid of her. "Look at it, will you. It is like a statue, isn't it? Will it let me pet it?"

"I think it will. Only don't become violent toward it, or else it might peck your eye out in revenge."

"I want to pet you." The woman told the raven. "I have changed my mind about you. You are not an ugly bird at all. Does it stay still like this all the time? Will you sell it to me, Wilmer?"

"No, no, I cannot sell it." The old man replied, as he turned to look at the small stock of merchandise around him. "It is placid now, but it does have a mean streak to it."

Timidly, the woman reached out to stroke the raven's back. It cawed back at her, but low enough that she wasn't frightened. "You are a good bird, aren't you? What does it eat, Wilmer?"

"Worms, I suppose." The man shrugged.

"No, not worms!" The woman ambled away. "Here, I have some stale bread. I will give it a few crumbs. I have old seeds here that none of these farmers want." As she went to gather the snacks, she was still speaking over her shoulder. "Who told you about this Victor man? How do you know he was going to pass through here?"

"The bird told me."

"You are a liar, Wilmer. Birds don't talk!"

"Oh, this one does."

"And it told you that a man named Victor was traveling about, did it?" She asked, bringing a small cup full of bread crumbs and seeds to set before the raven. "I've put bits of cheese in there for you. Now, Wilmer, tell me how you know about this Victor. Did you invent that name while you walked here?"

"Ask the bird if you don't believe me." Wilmer said, picking out a bar of soap. "I'll be taking this lye to scrub my arse with. It's rough, isn't it? I suppose it will scratch my arse right off if I use too much effort."

"Wilmer, I feel silly asking the bird a question."

"You won't feel silly if it answers."

"All right." The shop-keep caressed the raven again. "Will we be having a good harvest this year?"

"That's not a question, that's a prediction." Wilmer shook his head. "Look at this oatmeal. It has bugs in it already."

"That's because it's been sitting there too long."

"Give me a good price for it."

"Take it. No one else will eat it because of the bugs."

"And this garlic? It is starting to go rotten."

"Half price and it is not rotten."

"Good enough." The old man started picking out items and taking them over to the counter. "How about these apples?"

"Full price."

Wilmer grumbled, as he started sorting through them.

The shop-keep wanted to get back to interrogating the bird. "So you want a simple question, do you?"

Her eyes widened when the bird cawed back.

"Well, let me see. What can I ask? Did you tell Wilmer to ask me about Victor?"

The bird cawed.

"Is Victor your master?"

Instead of replying with her beak, the raven stepped around in a small circle.

"What does that mean, Wilmer?" The woman asked.

"The bird has told me it is in love with Victor."

"Really? It told you that? Do you love this Victor?"

The bird replied this time.

"Is he very handsome?"

Another caw.

"I'm sorry, bird, but no man with that name was come by. In fact, we've had no travelers at all for at least a week. Now, Wilmer, I'll value these iron bits altogether at half a penny. For that, I'll trade you half a loaf of good bread, a bulb of garlic, and five apples."

"No cheese?"

"Show me your copper bits, if you truly have any."

The old man retrieved only one of the handful of copper pieces, as he didn't want to reveal all of his wealth at once.

"You only have one." The shop-keep assumed. "For that plus the iron, it will be a full loaf of bread, a round of cheese, a pitcher of ale and the soap."

"And a few more apples, but only the older ones. And the oatmeal, as you have said. And these bits for my raven."

"Oh, today I am as happy as a pig in shit." Wilmer grinned during the walk back through the forest. "Thanks be to you, Dobrynia."

The raven had been circling up high earlier, but now paced the old man as she had been doing earlier in the morning. She jumped from one tree to the next, eying in all directions before moving on.

"I know what you're thinking." Wilmer said. "Those maidens we saw were nice to me, and the shop-keep was even nicer than that. Well, I can explain that. The maidens were supposed to be running errands for the farmers, but they ignore their chores until the farmers come out to yell at them. They are naturally rebellious, you see, and since no one else likes me, they are being rebellious merely by speaking to me. And the shop-keep, well, she is a good woman, I agree to that much, but she wouldn't look at me twice if she weren't charged with keeping the store. You haven't seen when the boys chase me about while throwing stones at me, and you haven't been a witness to..."

At this, the raven swooped so close to Wilmer's face that the man flinched. It was an aggressive action, he knew, and it well served to stop him in his tracks. The next moment, the bird came down low to the ground and changed into a wolf. The animal was keeping its eyes transfixed into the distance.

Wilmer looked in that direction, but at first he could see nothing. The man did tremble, however, when only a couple of breaths later he saw movement in the trees. As he watched, low branches on trees and entire shrubs were seen to sway as if some very large animal were passing by them. But there was nothing to be seen there! Wilmer's heart sank even further, when he saw a shadow, yes, a shadow crossing the road. That shadow had to be twice as tall as he was! But what was it that could not be seen?

Man and wolf watched and waited, until finally the wolf made a whimpering sound and motioned with her head. They resumed their walk, with both much more watchful than previously.

Upon approaching the brook, the wolf became a raven and went ahead to survey the land. Wilmer passed the slight stream of water. As accustomed as he was to resting in that particular spot, Wilmer took his seat on the log.

"This is a dangerous place to live." Dobrynia said, a short while later when she appeared from the trees. She was carrying her strange black pack in her hands. "What was that shadow we saw?"

Wilmer could only shake his head. "I don't know. I've never even heard of such a thing before."

"It was not a ghoul?"

"No, no, ghouls are entirely visible. When the night is dark they are harder to spot, but they certainly aren't indiscernible as that, and they aren't as tall either. Ghouls are the size of men, and possibly could have been men once, if the tales are to be trusted. This thing we saw, that is something new for me."

"It had a strange scent to it. It was a plant smell, but unlike any of the plants in the forest. If it comes by again, I may bark at it to catch its attention."

"Oh, don't do that! It could be the Devil, for all we know!"

"If my friends were here, perhaps they might have an idea of what that was. They have been to many places, as I have, and they have seen many things."

"I'm only glad it didn't come to attack us." Wilmer said.

Dobrynia went into her pack, bringing out clothing from it so she could finally get dressed. Everything about that woman was bizarre, Wilmer noted. She wore something like a large black brassiere on her body, which left her arms and neck bare. To cover her legs, she put on a set of very short trousers that did not even reach the knee, which had many pockets on them all over. Her belt was of cloth, not leather, but it was woven so tight that an incredulous Wilmer could not rip it apart. Oh, he tried! Her boots were black as the rest of her garments, with thick and hard soles on their bottom. A small sheath tied to her belt held yet another dagger, this one with a fixed blade to it.

When she observed the way Wilmer stared at her clothing, she said, "These are all from Victor's world."

"Well, that world must be very interesting!"

"Oh, yes!" Dobrynia laughed. "My surprise was as great as yours when I first arrived there. You should see their chariots! They are large and made of metal, and they need no horses to propel them!"

"You are admitting to me that you are from another world?"

Only then did Dobrynia realize she'd given away her secret. She remained quiet and somber for a few moments. "I thought I would frighten you if I told you this before."

"Well, I am frightened! We don't have too many people who can become wolves and birds whenever they wish it! If it weren't for this sack full of food and this pitcher I've been lugging about, I still wouldn't believe it! Does your Victor change into another form as you do?"

Dobrynia looked at the old man, before she turned aside. "No, Victor does not have the same magic I have. I will spend tonight here, but in the morning I must continue my search for him and for my other friends. Some have no magic whatsoever to use in their defense. A place like this is very dangerous for them."

"Well, I hope you do find them." Wilmer said, before he held up his pitcher of ale. "We'll have us a king's supper tonight, won't we?"

A look of sadness crossed Dobrynia's face, as she heard those last words. "I have a friend who is half dwarf and half human. He sometimes goes through the same hardships you go through, Wilmer. If I could make it so, you would have a king's supper every night."

"Ha, who wants to be a king, anyway? All they are is trouble!"

"Yes, most of them truly are." She lowered her head.

That Dobrynia, she could eat a horse, Wilmer realized later that evening. By herself, she finished nearly half of everything he'd purchased that day. She did promise to make it up to him, despite that he refused taking anything further from her.

After they ate, Wilmer played his flute for a time. They took turns singing old songs and poems they'd learned throughout the years. Dobrynia gave him a strange story about metal chariots that could fly through the heavens with a hundred people in them, and of other metal chariots that could swim through the water with a hundred more. It was all so fantastic that Wilmer could hardly believe it.

"We'd best go inside, Dobrynia." The old man cautioned at sunset. "We've been lucky so far, but if those ghouls sense your magic, they will come hunting for you."

"I have my strength back." She said.

"Do you mean you will stay outside tonight?"

"I only fled from these ghouls because they were numerous. I can defeat them if they come a few at a time."

"No man can defeat a ghoul! Even a wolf is as nothing to them! You would need an army of sorcerers to hold them back!"

"I will stay outside." Dobrynia replied.

Wilmer pleaded with her, but she was as stubborn as she was beautiful. In the end, the old man began to fear for his life, when he heard the loud shrieks bounding through the forest.

"Those are ghouls!" He implored. "That is the sound they make!"

Still, Dobrynia would not listen. In desperation, Wilmer tried to pull her into the cabin, only to discover that she was as strong as a tree. She refused to be budged from her spot.

"Let them come." She said.

When the trees and bushes around the cabin began to shake, Wilmer hurried inside. He was not a man given to prayer, but that night he pleaded to every god he had ever heard of to keep Dobrynia from being harmed.

Wilmer heard inhuman wails and screams outside all through the night. He cried out when loud banging was heard at his door, as one ghoul after another tried to come inside. Even the ground rumbled below his feet for a time. He also heard Dobrynia's voice out there, challenging and taunting the ghouls. Her roar was a bear's roar, powerful and strong. Her roar was a tempest in the center of those shrill, corrupt cries.

For a time, the screams of the ghouls forced Wilmer to cover up his ears. He shrieked as well, trying to mask that hideous noise with his voice. Then nothing was heard, as if the great battle was over. That tremendous tumult was not yet finished, however, as a new clamor started up, with more ghouls crying out than before. The old man wrapped his head with his blanket, hating to hear such violence, with his bowels ready to spill and his knees knocking together. He whimpered and squealed from terror, feeling death so near, so near to him.

Somehow, Wilmer survived the night. He'd fallen asleep very early in the morning, waking up only when the sunlight peered in past the cover of his window, and past the crevices around his door. His first act was to amble over to the window, but from there he could see nothing of the turmoil of the night before. Nervously, he went to the door, cracking it open wide enough for only one of his eyes to look outside.

Dead men were strewn all over the ground, he discovered. With his knife in hand, Wilmer stepped out. The men wore uniforms, good uniforms, and their weapons were of a fine quality. The men wore helmets, not of leather as the men of those parts did, but of thin, polished iron. Some of these men had long swords, but no one used such heavy weapons anymore.

A knot of dread formed when he looked into the faces of these many dead men. Their features were nothing like the human faces he was accustomed to seeing. These men had square heads, with thick jaws and strong cheekbones. Their brows were bony, and their eyes, strangely enough, their eyes were larger than human eyes. The color of their flesh was a different shade, not lighter or darker than normal, but a new shade he'd never seen before.

It began to dawn in Wilmer's head that these men were of a race that no longer existed on that world. In some ancient past, those men were influenced by some archaic, potent magic to become ghouls. Whether they had volunteered for such deviltry or been forced into it against their will was unknown. What was clear was that these men had been ghouls for centuries at least, or maybe even eons.

Wilmer walked past the men's scattered corpses while looking for Dobrynia's body. She was nowhere to be found. Somehow, she had fought against those ghouls, and managed to separate the magic from the men. Perhaps this is how she had killed them, when she caused them to become mortal again.

Once the initial shock began to fade, Wilmer began counting the men. There were over twenty, all cut up and bleeding. He would have to hurry, he knew, if he wanted to scavenge their bodies before any predators showed up to eat them. Perhaps he would burn them to get rid of the bodies quicker.

Wilmer started making piles behind his cabin, piles of helmets, vests, trousers and chain mail. He had other piles for swords, belts and boots. There was enough to equip a small army here! As he stripped the bloody, mangled men, he discovered that a number of them carried coin pouches hidden behind the waists of their trousers. Wilmer was afraid to look into the pouches, fearing they might be full of stones, so he merely took them into his cabin to hide them under his bed. When he'd collected about a dozen of them, he took a chance and opened one.

The old man's legs shook so much he slid down to the floor. This one pouch had silver and bronze coins, with markings and symbols in a language he did not recognize. In a second pouch, he came across a real gold coin, along with more silver. When was the last time he'd seen anything made of gold? The third pouch was heavy, so heavy he didn't dare open it yet, so he skipped it over. The fourth pouch had more coins. Wilmer turned it over and dropped the contents on his bed. All of these men were well paid, he grasped, and all of them were well equipped. This was a veritable king's army that Dobrynia had hurled into the grave!

Forget these coins for now, Wilmer decided. Hide all the pouches and burn those bodies before their stench becomes unbearable. Bury those armaments until he found a buyer who could take them all off his hands.

As the old man ambled outside, he well understood that the pyre he would build would be burning for days. The morning was still young, so better to start with it right away. Thanks to Dobrynia, he was now a rich man. Instead of dwelling on this until it made him delirious, he resumed moving bodies and armaments around from one place to another. He could dwell on his newfound wealth later, when all was done with, but for now the old man known as Wilmer the Wretch had a lot of hard work ahead of him.

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### Tales From The Savage Lands 2

About this book: Dobrynia the Valkyrie, hurled into an ancient and mysterious world, struggles to find her companions, who are trapped in a land of evil magic that shifts its reality without warning. Follow Dobrynia's daring steps, and those of her friends, as they venture into this hostile land that refuses to give up its dark secrets. The greatest test of all is only beginning. Rating: HIGH controversy.

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### Story Starters

Okay, you may have heard of these goofs that think their story idea, which is only one or two sentences long, is destined to become a Hollywood blockbuster or a New York Times bestseller. These are the goofs that jump up and down crying out, so and so author stole my idea! First off, if their idea was so incredibly awesome, why aren't they sitting down and writing their screenplay or novel? I have come across too many non-writers who think creative writing appears like magic, and the cash flow will always follow like a magnet, or a flood. That's not the way it works, folks. There is a lot of hard work and research, and a lot of time sacrificed from other things, like a social life, that go into producing a finished written work. After that, there is a further obstacle in marketing the work and hoping the public will one day discover it.

I have, right now, 280 pages worth of story ideas that are sitting around doing nothing except gathering digital dust. I'm going to present some of these ideas in this magazine, because if I can't get to them, maybe they can inspire you to write something. If you do, I'll put your story here in my magazine. As a further incentive, if you find anything in my magazines that inspires you into writing a story, do it. That's how writing works: you read something, you see something, and you write something as a result. See my Contribute section for how you can get your writing to me.

Here are the Story Starters for this issue. Can you do anything with them?

*** Today's Story Starter is actually a location I've used before. I challenge anybody out there to produce a short story based on the details I have provided! ***

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### Santa Ysabel: A Fictional Mexican Village

(This location and its characters appear frequently in the novels from my Chaos Rift series, and more specifically in my sub-series titled Before The Seven.)

The Village

The village of Santa Ysabel is located in Baja California, Mexico. It lies close to the Pacific Coast. The village sits twenty miles east of the primary, coastal toll road, about halfway between the cities of Tijuana and Ensenada. The toll road is paved, but the twenty-mile access road is not. Electricity is strung out across telephone poles. Plumbing is provided by water pumped from a nearby creek, fed by the Sierra Juarez mountains.

This is a small village with a population of about five hundred people. The community is close-knit and usually wary of strangers. Most of the residents are farmers. Housing is mainly made up of small, two-bedroom, single story homes. They are made of adobe walls and wooden roofs covered over with red ceramic tiles. The homes are clustered in the center of the village. A small plaza with a church and small school is located in the middle of town. The plaza is used as a marketplace on weekends and also as a spot for holiday and social festivities. Small pigs and chickens on occasion run free in town.

A handful of ranchers owns small ranches and farming land, but the estate of Don Diego is larger than all of them put together. Most of the able adults in town toil Don Diego's farmland. His estate is located to the edge of town, at a fifteen minute walk. Crops grown in Santa Ysabel include spring onions and tomatoes. Don Diego's crops include more expensive jojoba seeds and cotton. Chaparral in the region includes dwarf oak trees, Tecate cypress trees and evergreen sugar bushes.

Don Diego's hacienda is the most impressive building in town, and also the only residence with two floors. From the outside, the main entrance consists of a pair of large French doors made of oak. Varnished planks serve as a wide porch, bordered by several beige stucco arches. A wide balcony edges the second floor. The balcony serves two master bedrooms with large windows and sets of large, sliding glass doors. A second, smaller balcony runs along the back end of the house, which can be accessed from inside the house through a single door. The house faces west, toward the ocean and setting sun. Behind the property is a large oak tree where once was mounted a swing for Don Diego's rebellious daughter.

The inside of the house is also remarkable. The living room is a wide area designed for grand social parties. Along one wall are several locked glass cabinets that contain Don Diego's collection of weapons and war memorabilia. After the living room, we find a large kitchen, a lavish dining room and a second wide room with a library and tables for small conferences or business meetings. A wide staircase in the living room runs up to the second floor. On the second floor are eight bedrooms set up in a square perimeter with an open center to the wide living room below. Two are large master bedrooms, facing west, with large, white canopy beds in them and polished cherry or oak furniture. The walkway upstairs allows a person to look down upon the living room on the first floor. The roof of the house is covered in red, flame-retardant ceramic tiles. A smaller guesthouse out back has an additional two bedrooms. This is where Diego's minor acquaintances or business associates stay when they come over.

Many antique weapons are found in Don Diego's collection. Included is a small, early 20th century dagger called the Bite Of The Snake, or Mordida De La Culebra. This item is magical. It is imbued with black magic and has the ability to loosen physical boundaries for a brief time, especially when it is used in sacrifices. The knife has a seven-inch, serpentine blade and a handle of carved ivory. There are other weapons rumored to have magical properties in Don Diego's collection.

Characters

Dona Alvarez is a respected member of the community. Whenever there is trouble, many of the residents go to her first. She is portly and in her mid-forties.

Don Ruiz is the town's worst drunk. Nobody knows what his story is. When he is drunk, he might just lie down wherever he is and go to sleep. He's in his fifties.

Gregorio is a handsome young man who is charged with the upkeep of the Diego residence.

Efenia is an attractive young woman who is charged with the finances of Diego's operations.

Francisco Cordova is a cab driver who has tagged along with Don Diego, after the harrowing episode at Tlaxcapa where they had a run-in with the Quintana drug cartel. He is in his mid-forties, balding on top, and has a slim figure. This man is deeply Catholic and timid, although at times he musters up courage enough to do bold things. He was once a marksman in the Mexican army.

Maricruz Mercado is a widow, and younger sister to Dona Alvarez. She is currently Francisco's girlfriend.

Last but not least is Don Diego. Before, he was a miserly old man in his seventies, who rued paying a few pesos for wash girls to hand-wash his clothing. Don Diego has a fortune hoarded away in several banks from Tijuana to Ensenada, but you would hardly know it because he dresses and complains as a typical old farmer would. More recently, Don Diego has been carefree with his spending money, but no one in the village can say why. Perhaps, it is rumored about town, the loosening of Don Diego's purse and wallet have something to do with the ancient witch that lives at the edge of town, or the demonic shadow that some have seen lurking around the mansion, or with one of the many strange weapons that Don Diego has showcased in his collection.

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Non-Fiction Section

I do a lot of research on a lot of different subjects, including history, mythology, metaphysics, politics and science. Much of my research coincides with whatever fiction project I'm currently working on, but sometimes I'll break away from the pattern and head off in some other direction at random. I will study both mainstream and alternative sources, in the form of non-fiction books, documentaries, lectures and discussions, in trying to come up with a good basis to form my opinions on, or a good foundation for whatever concept I'm trying to incorporate into my stories. Often, I will write articles based on my research and state my sources, so that readers can see how I came to my conclusions.

I also enjoy going through a lot of entertainment media of many types, including written fiction, movies, cosplay, comic books, music, you name it. I do this for my creative writing to set the mood, if you will, or to see points of view on what others have done in certain genres, such as military science fiction, medieval costuming, zombies or whatever other subject I'm delving into.

As a result, I end up with a tremendous amount of notes that I can reference later, or media reviews that I can sort through if I want to stimulate my brain with science fiction, horror or any other particular genre. Many of these articles and reviews will also be found on either my writer's blog or my conspiracy blog. (Links to both are found at the end of this magazine.) Since a lot of this information comes from online sources and Youtube videos, I recommend looking up any referenced articles or videos that interest you for additional resources and links. In general, my research and Truther posts will be found on the conspiracy blog, while all writing related stuff will be on the writer's blog.

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### Articles

### Honduran Hordes:

Human Rights Or Human Trafficking?

Caravan: Any large group of people traveling together in single file.

Migrant: An animal that migrates. (also Migrant Worker) A worker who moves from place to place to do seasonal work.

Mob: A large crowd of people, esp. one that is disorderly and intent on causing trouble or violence.

Horde: _derogatory_ A large group of people.

Invasion: An incursion by a large number of people or things into a place or sphere of activity. An unwelcome intrusion into another's domain.

(Definitions from Oxford Dictionary. By definition, the use of these words in this article is correct.)

Introduction

Background

Honduras Origins

October, Southern Mexico

Early November

Mid November

Late November

December

Defenders And Offenders

Conclusion

Sources

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Introduction

In the past, I have followed Fake News coverage of migrant caravans moving away from Central American countries, making their way through Mexico and into the United States. Several of these movements of mass numbers of humans took place during the Obama administration. A lot of these people ended up in California, which thanks to the current liberal stranglehold has become a Sanctuary State to illegal migrants.

To a greater extent, I have followed the floods of illegal migrations of Arabs and Africans into Europe. I had more sources this time, better sources than Fake News. They included independent news media and your Average Joe (or Jane) walking down the street with his or her cell phone recording the action as it was happening live. This is how I found out that those poor, peaceful Muslims were not what they seemed. Fake News tried to minimize, because they could not longer contain and hide, the harrowing events of Cologne, Germany, during a New Year's celebration where dozens of Anglo women were attacked, groped and raped by Allah's enthusiastic emissaries of peace. The Muslim horde has made Sweden the rape capital nation of the world, but they can't really talk about it, or else liberal dogs will slander them as racists, zenophobes or Islamophobes. Afflicted countries such as England, France and Germany have made it a Hate Crime to criticize liberal policies and for independent news to report the Truth.

Fake News and social media giants such as AOL, Facebook, Google / Youtube, Twitter, Yahoo, and many, many others, have followed this trend where blatant and unremorseful censorship is the new norm.

I first became aware of the Honduran invasion horde in the second or third week of October 2018, when the illegal migrants were beginning to mass up in northern Guatemala, just south of the Mexican border. I watched live as they stormed past Guatemalan border guards and gates, crowded onto the single bridge leading into Mexico, and again watched live as the horde attacked Mexican authorities, broke through their barriers, or swam across the river to invade Mexico.

I don't watch Fake News anymore, or at least I keep away from it as much as possible. The coverage I watched from the Honduran invasion into Mexico came from mainstream Mexican or Latin American news sources. I have several news stations that I referred to, such as Caracol and Milenio, during the times when I was keeping up with the various volcanoes going off in Central America, such as Guatemala's Fuego disaster, the badly built hydroelectric dam Hidroutango in Colombia, and the worsening political situation in Maduro's socialist Venezuela.

When Latino Fake News started to cover the crisis at the southern Mexican border, I was appalled to see the same liberal / socialist bias I'd seen in Europe during the Arab and African invasion. Every single major news outlet: Milenio, Telemundo, Televisa, Univision and especially TeleSUR, and more, had jumped on the socialist bandwagon. All of these Fake News channels interviewed mostly young women holding or posing beside their children, painting a picture of poverty and desperation, and how it was God's will that these people look for greater opportunities in the land of milk and honey up north, the United States. This was an incredible contradiction to what their video footage presented; the majority of the illegal migrant caravan was made up of young men of military age (18 through 40), and they weren't very peaceful when they were attacking Guatemalan and Mexican authorities with rocks and Molotov cocktails. This was the same liberal run-around we saw during the invasion of Europe by hostile migrants, who were painted out to be poor, peaceful, hungry and really nice.

Ever since I can remember, and this goes back to the mid-1980s, Mexico has never been a country that tolerates honest, open journalism. Corrupt politicians and drug cartels routinely and blatantly murder judges, cops, lawyers, activists and reporters. I am happy to say that a lot of this suppression has gone away. As I was keeping up with the horde as it moved throughout Mexico, even Youtube's biased algorithms could not prevent me from finding dozens of independent reporters out there on the streets and roads, recording and interviewing the illegal migrants firsthand. Anyone with a cell phone can now be an on the ground reporter, and anyone with a camera and a recording microphone can have their own makeshift news studio. I found several seasoned independent journalists, and quite a few young men, even teenagers, who were politically inclined and honest enough to show what was really going on, that Latino Fake News was deliberately keeping under wraps.

Who better to report on a major news story in Mexico, than Mexicans? I am lucky enough to be bilingual in the United States, a country where many of its citizens can't handle more than one language, and where I know many Latinos who can barely speak Spanish, including my ex-wife and her siblings. Because of my fluency, I avoided most English-language reports and concentrated primarily on Spanish independent news as the various caravans made their way north through Mexico.

I have watched dozens, if not hundreds, of reports and commentaries, some only a couple of minutes long, others hours long, focusing on the Honduran caravan. The video titles found in the Sources section of this report are only a small sample, included because they had the most up to date news at the time. So much has happened, and so much is still happening right now, that it was impossible to encompass and encapsulate everything that has transpired ever since October 12, 2018, when the first caravan was formed in a shopping center in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Background

Who is to blame for the migrant crisis? This question, if truthfully analyzed, requires a very complex answer. Most independent news will point the finger at George Soros and his Open Society policies, or on the United Nations Compact for Global Migration, but the truth is far deeper and older than that. Unfortunately, we humans live in a binary world. We can only grasp two primary forms of government. To the one side, we have the greedy imperialist / capitalists / materialists who pillage the resources of Third World countries. On the other side, we have the naive socialists who claim they want to get those resources back for the common people, but their leaders always end up hoarding most of the wealth for themselves while their people end up poor and starving. That is all the typical human mind can handle, apparently: the political left, and the political right.

The imperialists have a bad habit of using covert assets and agencies, such as the CIA, to depose national leaders from countries in Africa, Asia and South America. The socialist Latin American countries, especially in northern South America, look to their military hero Simon Bolivar, a Spaniard who rebelled against colonialism and helped to free the territories that eventually became Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. Mexico's new president Obrador also praises Bolivar's political leanings. In a nutshell, many Latin countries will stick together, even if their leaders and people don't get along, and all of them want American and European interests kicked out. This is why you see Venezuela siding with Russia and China, and why Russia and China have publicly stated they will invest heavily in Obrador's Mexico. The political left and right are always wrestling with one another for control of the world. That's just the way it is, folks. As a whole, we're not intelligent enough to get past this point.

Venezuela has a big part to play in the advent of the Honduran caravans. President Maduro is, by all accounts, not a good man. Who should go in there to replace him? It seems the world's policeman, the United States, wants that job. For the last few years, including part of Obama's term, the US has been actively trying to disrupt Venezuela. Right wing terrorists from Colombia, who are backed by Western interests, sneak into Venezuela to blow up power plants and leave the country with no electricity. Western nations and OPEC colluded to drastically lower the price of oil, which devastated Venezuela's oil-based economy. We have greedy capitalists, Jews, who are in international court trying to get their hands on Venezuela's oil reserves and also its gold mines, which are the fourth largest in the world. In the middle of November, we saw the Bank of England, run by the Rothschild family, confiscate 500 million dollars' worth of Venezuelan gold. We also had rumblings from the White House, where Adon Trump and VP Pence pointed their fingers at Venezuela, citing the usual lies of humanitarian crisis and freeing the people for democracy, as an excuse for potential American military intervention. The US, Colombia and Brazil were all hinting at the use of military force. Puerto Rico even said they were willing to be the staging point for the attack.

What does this have to do with Central America and Mexico? Well, everything. The same way the imperialists are continually poking at the socialist dog with a sharp stick, the socialists want to bare their teeth and snap back. Leftist nations from Mexico all the way down to the southern tip of South America don't want US troops in Venezuela, and they will do anything they can to impede it. This includes deceiving the poor and easily led from Central American countries to migrate their way north, as a way to embarrass Trump. Remember what I mentioned about Simon Bolivar; the Latin American countries don't want the US or Europe meddling into their borders, period.

Enter people like George Soros, who is not so much an initiator, but a facilitator. He can see the divide between the left and right, and his goal is to make that divide wider. Human lives are incidental, and manipulated as a means to an end. This is what Soros and his Open Society foundations did in Europe, and in the US during Obama's term, and he's doing it again. He's got the European Union and the United Nations on his side, in his corrupt ambition for globalization and a New World Order, and national leaders such as England's May, Germany's Merkel and France's Macron are on board, and so was the incredibly corrupt Hillary Clinton, who promised to do away with the US border the first day of her term, if she got elected. Thank God she didn't!

That's how things were looking, right before the caravan crisis first started up. Let's see how things got rolling along.

Honduran Origins

The first caravan formed on Friday, October 12, 2018, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The time was 8:00 AM. We know this because a flyer was passed out to locals. The flyer is titled Walk Of The Migrant. An image of the flyer was posted on the Facebook page of former government deputy Bartolo Fuentes. The flyer shows the image of a man's back, with his arms outstretched to the sides, with a red background. To the bottom edge of the flyer, we see a signpost showing the word Mexico. The text of the flyer:

We will accompany these people. It is regretful that there are no institutions in Honduras that can support us to avoid that the migrants do no lose their orientation, or fall into danger. Let us at least support their exit. We decry the terrible situation we are living in inside Honduras: unemployment, insecurity, poverty. And those we protest against persecute us or shoot live rounds.

Reports have circulated that other leftist Honduran politicians were backing and encouraging the forming of caravans. Newspapers and TV news media picked up the story right away, drawing more attention and people to the caravan. Media exposure, or possibly even complicity, mirrors the way similar caravans formed during the Obama administration. The biggest difference is that back then, the Catholic Church was also pushing for mass migration, but I didn't see that taking place this time.

A camera crew from Skylight Engagements was present on October 19, 2018, when the first caravan reached the northern border of Guatemala. We know this because they tweeted about it and included images. According to his tax return for 2016, George Soros provided 'general support' for Skylight in the amount of one million dollars, under the guise of Foundation To Promote Open Society. Skylight is based in Brooklyn, New York. Their website is found at skylight.is. Through their tweets, we can clearly see that Skylight is associated with Soros' Open Society.

By the way, the 500 page Soros' tax return also funded social organizations that participated in the DACA and Kavanaugh protests, as well as transgender equality and projects that would allow illegal immigrants to get the right to vote faster. According to American Fake News, it is a conspiracy theory to think that Soros had anything to do with the Honduran caravans.

Two other factors come into play here, to facilitate the movement of these caravans through multiple nations and into Mexico. The first one comes from the Unites Nations. It is an initiative called Global Compact For Migration. This document calls for the resettlement of 294 million migrants, ignoring national laws, into countries Canada, Europe and the US. 294 million people; compare that number to the estimated population of the United States of 315 million.

An article from Neon Nettle, dated November 24, 2018, shows the headline:

Hungary Slams UN Migration Pact For Trying To Legalize Illegal Immigration

Hungarian foreign minister Peter Siijarto states Hungary will vote against the UN pact in December. The pact is scheduled for a vote of approval by many UN-supportive countries on December 10 and 11, in Marrakesh, Morocco. The pact is a global initiative pushing for mandatory resettlement quotas. It is a threat on national sovereignty and national borders.

The compact claims it is not legally binding, but Dutch MEP official Marcel De Graaf states: "It is still the legal framework on which the participating countries commit themselves to build."

According to the pact, migration is a basic human right. Countries that refuse forced or illegal migration will be criticized. This criticism could be considered Hate Speech and prohibited by law. We are already seeing this in Mexico, were critics of the caravans are being accused of Hate Speech on social media.

"It will become impossible to criticize (Germany's Angela) Merkel's 'welcome migrants' politics without being at risk to be jailed for hate speech." De Graaff added.

Merkel's idea is that countries should be prepared to give up control of their borders to the European Union. Why do you think Britain is having so much trouble with Brexit?

Criticizing forced migration could become a criminal offense, if it falls under Hate Speech. We have seen this in Europe already, where critics and independent reporters are fined and jailed for pointing out Islamic corruption and savagery, or for questioning the validity of the Jewish Holocaust. This scheme of Jewish victimization has been prevalent in modern society ever since World War II. Look at all the people who have claimed to be victims: feminists, gays, transgenders, Muslims and now everybody who lives in a Third world country. Just as it is discouraged to say a black African raped a white Norweigan, it will be discouraged to say that illegal migrants will tax a country's welfare system, or to say that forced migration will lead to a surge of robbery, rape and murder.

As of the early writing of this article, the following nations have refused to sign the UN Pact: Australia, Hungary and the Dominican Republic. (The list has grown to 10 countries as of December 10, 2018.) Former head of state Obama had the US on that same track, but Adon Trump has later rejected it. An estimated 120 to 190 nations are expected to sign the Pact. (You should also know that George Soros is presently suing his birth nation of Hungary, for going against the illegal Open Borders policy.)

Along with the UN's Pact, the second factor that comes into play is the official Constitution of the United States of Mexico. The constitution was heavily reformed in 2017, putting Mexico in line with the policies of the United Nations. Mexican law must now conform with the UN's international treaties. Human rights are set above national laws, and Mexico is forced to follow United Nations so-called progressiveness.

Let me ask you this. Who formed the short-lived League Of Nations, and later tried a second time to create the United Nations? That would be the Zionist / Jewish cartels, led by the Rothschild banking family. You may have heard the idea that Jewish bankers fund both sides of a war, where both the victors and defeated end up owing them great debts. Is it a coincidence that the International Monetary Fund and the World Health Organization are also putting countries into huge debt that cannot be repaid, the same way most people have trouble paying off their credit cards? Is it a coincidence that Soros is described as a non-practicing Jew, yet he follows Zionist principles to the letter, or that Trump magically decided to convert to Judaism right after he was inaugurated, possibly as a deterrent to assassination by the global banking families?

You can't correctly say that the New World Order is also the Jew World Order, because that would be inaccurate. You still have to factor in the Masons, the Vatican and a few other multinational groups as well. What you can say is that a whole lot of Jews are involved in this idea that the United Nations should control the world and its economy, and that the road is being paved to allow a significant portion of a Third World country's population to pick up their bags and invade a richer Western nation.

October, Southern Mexico

The first caravan left Honduras on October 12, with an estimated 150 people in it. As the caravan marched on, and partially due to media coverage, more and more people joined. Some claim to have walked for the entire seven days to reach the northern border of Guatemala. Others said they took private buses. A short video has surfaced from Honduras, where some twenty to thirty women were lined up in rows. Two men wearing white shirts and jeans, with handguns tucked into their waistbands, walked down the row passing out money to the women. The money was used to procure rides on buses, allegedly. Who were those men, why did they have guns and why did they give away money? Does that sound like a spontaneous, grass roots event, like Fake News tells us?

October 14 - Milenio reports that Mexico will not allow any immigrants to enter its territory without proper visas. The office of Governance Of Foreign Relations states that visas must be obtained through proper channels, at consulates and not at the Mexican border. The caravan is estimated to consist of 2,000 people.

October 16 - Proceso reports that Mexico's National Institution Of Immigration (INM) is sending federal officers to the southern border. Their orders were to prevent the Honduran caravan from entering into Mexican territory. Other reports give the number of officers sent at 500.

Already, concerns are raised over the safety of the immigrants, and the possibility of Maras / MS-13 gang members infiltrating the caravan. Another worry is that migrants will enter Mexico without having their identity verified. Secretary of Governance Alfonso Navarrete Prida is blamed for allowing the caravan to reach Mexico in the first place, when, had he acted sooner, he might have stalled it out before it left Honduras or when it first entered Guatemala.

March 21, 2018 - From an article in Milenio, we learn that Mexico City has an average of 350,000 Colombians living there, most of them illegally, up from a previous average of 90,000. Mexican Chief Of Government Miguel Mancera stated that advanced biometric measures should have been implemented at the southern border a long time ago. Political haggling and bureaucratic red tape have hampered those efforts. Under the current processing, he said it is possible for one person to enter Mexico under three or four different names.

Immediately after the 500 federal agents arrived in Tapachula, Chiapas, at the southern border, president-elect Manuel Obrador made a stunning reversal. The agents were told by current President Pena-Nieto to STOP the caravan's entry into Mexico. Basically, Pena-Nieto gave up his presidential powers early, a month and a half before Obrador's inauguration, scheduled for December first. Obrador announced he would make work visas available to the Honduran foreigners. Obrador promises government benefits to migrants beginning when he takes power on December first.

"Anyone who wants to work in our country, will have our support." - Obrador

Aristegui News reports that Obrador will also create a new civil defense force, to work independently from municipal police and directly under the Mexican military. Mexico is to be divided into 265 new zones, with federal, military and naval police assigned to monitor them based on the guidelines of an index that was not specified.

October 16 - El Sol De Mexico reports that the Secretary of Governance has told Commissioned General of the Federal Police, Manelich Castiall, to ALLOW the migrant caravan entry into Mexico.

October 16 - Televisa reports the caravan will have free passage through the state of Chiapas.

Understandably, many Mexican voters are upset at the reversal. Complaints are publicized on independent news and social media. Reporters speculate that human and drug smugglers are already working out smuggling corridors through Mexico, if they can move migrants along without having their identifications verified. The number of migrants is now estimated at 4 to 5,000.

October 18, 2018 - El Universal reports President Trump will send troops to secure the southern US border. Trump makes the unspecified claim that many criminals are already traveling in the caravan.

October 18, 2018 - Conciencia Radio reports the caravan number at 7,000. After forcing their way past Guatemalan border defenses, the caravan is temporarily stopped on the bridge between Guatemala and Mexico. CR reporter Alex Backman speculates that George Soros is behind the movement.

October 19, 2018 - Caravan leader Walter Coelho tells news media that the migrants are looking for work and better lives. Coelho clearly states the migrants are NOT heading to the United States, but are planning to stay in Mexico. Coelho states that migrants 'don't want to steal,' implying they would if they had to.

We are already hearing this theme from many of the migrants interviewed, as if they have been coached into giving certain answers. The vast majority of migrants are saying the same few things: we are good people, we are looking for work, our country is very violent, it is God's will that we continue this march and God will take us to the end.

On many occasions, caravan leaders and organizers in neon green safety vests are standing near or next to migrants during these interviews. Most Latino Fake News is deliberately NOT showing the organizers during the march, focusing their footage on pedestrians, and especially on women, children and families. We do see the organizers during caravan upheavals, standing on roofs or vehicles with megaphones, shouting orders to instigate mob mentality.

Conciencia Radio reports that 99% of its comments on social media are against the Honduran invasion, while Latino Fake News tells us most Mexicans approve of it.

Nicaraguans and Salvadorans are now mixed in with Hondurans. The caravan numbers at 8,000 people, with additional caravans forming in Honduras and El Salvador. Already, illegal migrants are avoiding the Mexican border crossing by wading across the River Suchiate between both countries.

News media source Lopez-Doriga shows a headline stating that US President Trump has offered Mexico 20 million dollars to halt the migrant caravan. Mexico's Secretary Of Governance Navarrete Prida reportedly turned the offer down. The information for this article comes from an interview with Prida, conducted by Radio Formula. Prida also stated at the time that he was hopeful 6 million migrants would enter Mexico. So far, Mexican authorities had initiated only 200 official requests for asylum, out of an estimated 8,000 illegal migrants. This gives rise to the suspicion that the majority of migrants did not want to register or identify themselves to Mexico.

Lopez-Doriga also mentions that women, children and older people were placed at the front of the caravan deliberately, when the mob first began pushing at Mexican defenses.

October 23, 2018 - President Trump threatens to cut off financial aid to Honduras and El Salvador, for their complicity in allowing the caravans to form and leave their countries. (US financial aid to Honduras in 2016 was 128 million taxpayer dollars.)

Previously, we heard of Honduran leftist and former government deputy Bartolo Fuentes. He was the guy that posted the original caravan flyer on his Facebook page. Now, reports are emerging that Fuentes is associated with leftist groups from Venezuela. Remember what I said about Venezuela at the start, where that country feared an invasion by Brazil, Colombia and the United States. According to the reports, Fuentes is actively encouraging new caravans to form up, and Venezuela is providing unspecified support to keep things going.

In the US, a lot of negative criticism was falling on George Soros and his socialist Open Borders organizations. Something had to be done about that, and it was! It was at this time that Soros, the repulsive Clintons and the repulsive Obamas got fake bombs in the mail. US Fake News media sensationalized the reports, but nobody bothered to ask for video evidence of the bombs being delivered to Soros' doorstep. The guy is a multi-millionaire who lives in a large mansion, and being that he is a notorious figure, are you telling me that he doesn't have surveillance cameras? This hoax took place one week before midterm elections.

October 26, 2018 - The headline from periodical Zeta reads:

"We are a force of thousands and we are going to Tijuana."

The migrant count had swelled up to 15,000. Trump ordered 1,000 troops to secure the US border (Another article cited 1,500.). According to Conciencia Radio, several American militia groups supported the president's decision and were planning on traveling to the US border themselves.

Concerned Mexican and US independent reporters started taking a closer look at the 'poor, disheveled migrants.' In general, the invaders were bathed and groomed. Many men wore new or almost new ball caps, jackets, shirts and backpacks. The women were also clean and dressed in good clothing. People have pointed out how new their shoes looked, and how many of the migrants were so dirt poor, but at the same time they were using expensive cell phones.

Whenever the caravan moved, they left industrial amounts of garbage behind, including trash, empty food containers, water bottles, and most dubiously, a tremendous amount of donated clothing and bedding materials. This means they were given money to purchase new clothes and bedding while they were on the move, so they simply dropped their old stuff on the street and started walking again.

October 26, 2018 - US Vice President Pence states Venezuelan interests are behind the funding of the caravans. US ambassador to Honduras Mike Pompeo repeats the same thing.

We start hearing a new quote from the illegal migrants, who are saying that 30,000 of them are on their way to destroy Trump's wall. Note that this figure of 30,000 will make the rounds all the way to Mexico's northern border city of Tijuana. Many migrants are repeating this figure, again, as if they were coached into saying it.

So far, only 1,400 migrants have registered and applied for asylum in southern Mexico, out of an estimated 15,000. I want to reiterate that many migrants were refusing to be identified, and this allows the criminal element to filter into the caravans. This will become an obvious problem later.

October 26, 2018 - Zeta reports that many Hondurans are fleeing the right wing government run by president J. Orlando Hernandez, inferring that the majority of migrants are siding with the left.

Honduran reporter Denys Paredes claims he has left his family behind, while they were in a financial bind, those were his words, to join the caravan. Along with many others, he is quoted as saying the caravan will reach Tijuana as a force of 30.000.

Rumors circulated that a new caravan of 13,000 people was forming in El Salvador.

Unnamed US intelligence sources estimated 90% of the migrants were male and of military age, from 18 to 35 years old. Latino Fake News reports typically showed women holding or sitting with children, or pushing baby strollers.

Alex Backman from Conciencia Radio accurately predicts strife in Playas De Tijuana when the horde reaches Tijuana, about 3 weeks before it happened. Backman also reports that Tijuana already has an illegal population of 6,000 Haitians.

Another count estimates the caravan number at 17,000, with only a tenth of them actually applying for legal asylum.

Televisa reports that on October 26, migrants set fire to an INM immigration station in Pijijiapan, Chiapas. The fire was started deliberately in the men's section of the station. 21 men, 5 women and 3 children were staying there, waiting to be deported.

October 28, 2018 - Invaders break through the southern Mexican border. Reports state shots were fired and rocks were thrown at Mexican federal police. Videos show migrant terrorists throwing rocks at authorities and helicopters, while shouting anti-Mexican slurs and holding up Honduran flags. A terrorist warns an independent reporter not to record video in a certain direction, because that was where the terrorists were busy preparing Molotov cocktails. Two terrorists with firearms were arrested.

The estimated numbers are: 17,000 for the first caravan, 13,000 for the second caravan in El Salvador, and a new third caravan in Guatemala numbering at 2 to 3,000. Organizers are quoted as saying they want to increase the caravan to 100,000 strong.

At least two migrants have died so far from accidents. The true numbers have been suppressed, as several migrants say they've seen others falling from exhaustion, from the burden of walking several days in weather over ninety degrees F.

October 31, 2018 - Fake News focuses on the migrant caravan, while ignoring other crisis issues in Mexico. Victims from the September 2017 earthquake in Mexico City are still homeless and jobless. Hurricane Willa, plus the heavy rains and flooding that came before and after, have affected 120,000 to 185,000 Mexicans in the states of Nayarit, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Sinaloa and Sonora. No massive donation or fund drive or publicity took place for those affected people. They are homeless, jobless, and struggling for food. University graduates are unable to find jobs. Fake News doesn't care about that, because they're too busy pushing the UN agenda, the same as when they pushed 'peaceful' Islam on European countries.

Early November

From a video clip: Honduran trespassers have broken past Mexican border defenses. They are throwing rocks and pulling down gates, while Mexican federal police stand by and do very little to stop them. One terrorist said that because the caravan has lost women and children already, they come in peace, but if Mexico refuses them entry, they will resort to violence. He says this as masked terrorists are throwing rocks behind him.

A second video clip: Terrorists insult Mexican federal police by calling them _culeros_ , or assholes. Terrorists throw rocks at a Mexican military helicopter that flies in low. We see a tremendous amount of trash wherever the invasion has passed through.

According to Secretary of Governance Navarette Prida, the invaders are NOT violating any national laws.

Ironically enough, a few days later Prida reports that two armed Honduran men have been arrested after attacking federal police. The incident occurred in Zaragoza, Hidalgo, Chiapas, while the police were escorting the caravan for their safety, during Operation Walker. Carlos N is 17, and Jerson N is 22. They are both Maras / MS-13 gang members, as evidenced by their gang tattoos. They were armed with a Glock handgun and 9 clips of ammunition. The only reason no police were hurt was because the gun jammed up on the gang members.

Fake News begins calling critical Mexicans racists and zenophobes, simply for protesting what they've seen and heard on independent news channels. They are not reporting that migrants are coming into Mexico with tropical diseases such as Chagas, Dengue Fever and Tuberculosis. 7,000 migrants get stalled out in the state of Oaxaca, while the second caravan of 13,000 Salvadorans is still on its way. The third caravan is still forming in Guatemala.

Historically speaking, certain things occur when mass migrations take place. In past ages, for example, bandits would hide by the roadside, waiting for merchant caravans or pilgrims to ambush. People would be captured and held for ransom, or sold off as slaves. That sort of ugliness took place in Mexico as the caravan marched along. The drug cartels and criminal elements were already doing this before, but they were getting a tremendous boon. Instead of having to deal with a dozen or so potential victims at a time, they now had thousands to prey upon.

The Mexican government announced that it would allow peaceful entry to these unlawful migrants, as long as the migrants registered their identities. Ever since the big standoff at the Guatemalan and Mexican borders, we have seen that many migrants are refusing to give their identities. Even before they reached northern Guatemala, hundreds of young men were marching with their faces covered. Central American drug traffickers will jump at the chance to put a backpack full of cocaine on a migrant's back. The mules will get free entry into Mexico, and possibly a free ride to Mexico City, where the largest drug smuggling networks are located.

That's not the worst of it. Human traffickers will lead their bands of half a dozen or more people, taking advantage by hiding among the caravan, until they reach their transfer points. At least four times, I heard of migrant 'families' splitting apart. In Veracruz, a supposed mother abandoned her two young daughters in a shelter, and in Oaxaca, a man left his wife and children, saying he would meet them at the US border. This leads researchers like myself to speculate that these families are fictions. Why would a husband leave his wife stranded in a foreign country? Why would a mother travel with children that are not hers? The likelihood is that women and children are being trafficked by pretending to be part of families, when they have not produced any documentation to prove they are even related.

Kidnappers have a small industry in Chiapas, where they imprison migrants and house them in isolated areas. The ransom to release these people usually ranges from two to five thousand dollars per person. A raid by Mexican police might find ten to twenty victims imprisoned in a single house. With thousands of people passing through their turf, I estimate there might be a thousand or more unlucky immigrants in captivity right now, thanks to this socialist caravan ploy. The reality of it is that migrant men are being kidnapped or killed, and migrant women and children are disappearing. This is in addition to the unfortunates that have died from exhaustion.

Here is a shocking statistic for you. At the Benito Juarez sports complex in Tijuana, the administrators counted 190 refugee children, between the ages of 11 and 14, who had come from Central America with no parents and unsupervised.

Baja California governor Enrique De La Vega is conspicuously staying out of the limelight. Conservatives criticize him for not stepping up to address the problem, much less do anything to stop the caravans. Critics of George Soros and Open Borders are now being called anti-Semites. I must remind the reader that Soros is a wanted man in Hungary, the country he was born in. Does that make Hungary anti-Semite?

This is how absurd the socialist accusations of anti-Semiticism have become. On February 4, 2018, the Times Of Israel ran the headline 'Netanyahu: George Soros Behind Bid To Thwart Migrant Deportations.' In the article, the Times accused Netanyahu of taking part in the 'anti-Semitic' Hungarian campaign against Soros. Are you kidding me? Netanyahu is the head of state of Israel, obviously a Jew, and a Jewish publication has the gall to accuse him of being anti-Semitic?

Along with Soros, Cuba and Venezuela are also seen as likely culprits for funding the caravans. Note that Mexico's Secretary of the Interior has announced Venezuela's president Maduro will be attending the inauguration of Mexico's president-elect Obrador on December first.

The illegal migrants might not even qualify for asylum, but incoming president Obrador wants them anyway. Obrador claims he needs the Hondurans for his ambitious Train Maya project, because poor Hondurans are much better qualified for Mexico's big construction projects than poor Mexicans. Obrador also plans to give Hondurans 'field jobs.' These people already had field jobs in Honduras, so why would they want to work in the same jobs in another country? They were fed up with their field jobs, and that's why they left! Imagine how bad it would be if the Hondurans reached the US, with no job skills, no education and no fluency in English. (But just in time for elections!)

Other current news included President Trump's decision to sign an Executive Order disallowing Anchor Babies, or US birth right to children of illegal immigrants. Strangely enough, this problem also occurs in Mexico. Many pregnant Haitian women fly into the country to have their babies on Mexican soil. The mothers return to Haiti, but when their children grow up, the children claim Mexican citizenship and apply to have their families move into Mexico. Trump also announced plans to send 10 to 15,000 troops to secure the border.

In 2018, so far illegal immigration into the US had increased by 25%. 30 million illegal immigrants live in the US, realistically, contrasting the number of 11 million tossed out by Fake News reporters like Univision's Jorge Ramos.

I haven't researched this yet, but Conciencia Radio reports MS-13 gang members smuggled nuclear weapons into Mexico in the 1990s.

November 1, 2018 - With the cold of winter approaching, refugee centers in Tijuana are already full. Frontera reports that 14 centers in Mexicali can house 500 people. They are already at capacity. The refugee centers in Tijuana can only hold 150 women and children, and are also full. Open-air camps are planned for the coming influx of migrants.

A first wave of migrants, about 80 of them, has broken away from the main horde in Mexico City. They traveled by train to arrive in Mexicali, Mexico, bordering Calexico in the Unites States. This is the LGBT mob that later earned notoriety in Playas De Tijuana, under the guidance of their leader, transgender pimp Pritaya Queen. We will read more about him / her in the Offenders section of this article.

As Latino Fake News continues to downplay the severity of the horde, 5,500 people are still stuck in Oaxaca, after easily getting through Chiapas. Caravan leaders began demanding public transportation to the US border, because their feet were sore and they were tired of walking. 70% of the caravan planned to travel to Tijuana, numbering at around 4,900. They include people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Mexico's new Minister of the Interior, Olga Sanchez-Cordero, offers 1 million work visas to the foreign invaders. She completely ignores over 100,000 displaced, homeless and jobless Mexican people who suffered from Hurricane Willa. The foreigners will receive social security numbers and legal status allowing them to remain in Mexico.

A full month before he is officially named president of Mexico, Obrador cancels the huge, multi-million dollar construction project for a new airport in Texcoco, Mexico City. Instead, the new airport will be placed inside the military base at Santa Lucia. Yes, readers, you read right; the new airport will have civilians standing alongside soldiers, and commercial airliners possibly alternating taking off with military jets from the Mexican air force. What could go wrong with that scenario? To make sure nothing does go wrong, Obrador promises to add two new runways, and problem solved! Further, Obrador calms dissenters by announcing that several countries will soon begin investing in Mexico, to make up for the huge contracts that were voided out at Texcoco. Those countries later turn out to be Russia and China.

Water issues are a big concern in Mexico City. So far, bad plumbing has caused a disruption of 5 days without running water. Mexico City, including the Valley of Mexico, has 17 million people living in it. Mexico City is without water now, and the caravans in Oaxaca and Veracruz are planning to go there next.

3,500 Salvadorans arrive at the southern Mexican border, along with a new bunch of leaders and organizers. This second caravan arrived in buses. We still hear proposed numbers of migrants at either 30,000 or 100,000.

In late October, President Trump and other US government sources hinted that 'bad people' were infiltrating the caravans. US intelligence is calling them SIAs, or Special Interest Aliens. These are people to watch out for, including political radicals and people with known criminal associations.

November 5, 2018 - Mexican authorities have become impotent in stemming the flow of invaders at the southern border.

Judicial Watch, an organization that keeps tabs on political corruption, sends reps to Honduras to document the formation of caravans. They discover a highly funded and organized operation led by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) such as Open Borders, who are backed by George Soros. JW points out that women and children are deliberately being put at the front of the caravans to elicit public sympathy and support.

Judicial Watch documents that criminals are embedded in the caravans. These include known human traffickers and gang members. Their opinion is that Honduras is willfully sending their worst people into the caravans as a way to get them out of the country. (On December 7th, I watched an interview with a Guatemalan migrant who was then in Playas De Tijuana. He stated he was a wanted criminal in his country and in the US. Unable to apply for asylum normally, this 24 year-old man was waiting for his opportunity to cross the border illegally.) The wife of a member of JW claims she witnessed the first caravan being formed in a shopping mall, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on October 12.

5,000 invaders arrive in Mexico City. They were transported on buses paid for by the Mexican government. The second caravan of over 3,000 Salvadorans arrives in Oaxaca, where the first caravan just departed from. The second caravan has already had confrontations with Mexican authorities. The third caravan refuses to show identification papers at Mexico's southern border.

I have heard that at least two Mexican federal officers have been killed so far, and I watched a video of a policeman being beaten in Chiapas. I don't have further details on this; I may add them in later if I have the time. US border agents in Laredo, Texas, are busy reinforcing the border and cleaning up the Rio Bravo.

Fake News sticks to its script. It does not disclose that Mexico cannot easily or smoothly absorb so many invaders. These caravans were planned for months or even years in advance, as seen when similar caravans emerged during the Obama years. So far, only Guatemala publicly states the caravans are not forming spontaneously. This country also emphasizes the caravans are made up mostly of men in their twenties. Many of the invading man have left their wives and children behind. Guatemala states it is doing all it can to stop the flux of invaders and deporting them.

Some migrants say they are willing to stay in Veracruz, but later they go on their way to Mexico City. Unverified reports from Tepito and Aztec City, in Mexico City, claim that organized crime cartels plan to arm the caravan's criminals with AR-15 rifles and grenades. When they reach the US border, they will be heavily armed.

We have confirmations that along with Central American migrants, the caravans also include people from Africa, Bangladesh, China, the Near East and the Far East. 11 Cubans have been detained. Mixed in with the rest are Islamic extremists. These non-Latinos received their passports from Venezuela, allowing them to travel into Honduras. On November 2, Daily Caller, Judicial Watch and Univision report that radical Muslims joined the caravan in Guatemala.

FBI documents show links between George Soros and key US political figures, who are facilitating migrant policy issues for Soros. Another FBI report gives details of a radical Muslim cell in Las Vegas. They were constructing C4 explosive devices for use against Mexican targets. Mexicans worry their country may soon become a target for terrorists.

Unnamed sources within the government of Baja California say governor De La Vega wants nothing to do with the caravans. He is hoping to leave office soon with a clean exit. Honduran president Hernandez claims his people were misled into becoming part of the caravans.

Early, small caravans arrive in Mexicali, on Mexico's northern border. Right away, the invaders begin complaining that the helpers in the refugee centers are mistreating them. This intensifies as time goes on, with many invaders leaving Mexicali to travel to Tijuana, where the biggest mobs will gather. One citizen report states that two Hondurans kidnapped a mother and her 10 year-old son at gunpoint, forcing the mother to drive the invaders to Tijuana. Thankfully, the mother and son were not harmed.

November 6, 2018 - Six large caravans are reported throughout Mexico. Mexico City cannot or will not give an accurate number of invaders, estimating them at between 4,500 and 5,500. Oaxaca and Veracruz are not giving estimates anymore.

Despite the water crisis in Mexico City, residents report migrants using potable water to bathe and wash their clothes, from emergency drinking reservoirs set out by the city. This angers many residents who have been rationing water for weeks.

While Fake News fawns over women and children:

Five Syrian men with stolen passports are arrested in Honduras.

Several intelligence and news sources, including Judicial Watch, observer MS-13 gang members traveling with the caravans.

Guatemala manages to turn back 2,000 invaders. Authorities capture a ring of child traffickers, rescuing 7 minors who were kidnapped and forced to travel with the caravans. President Morales asked the US for help in identifying leaders and organizers.

In Mexico City, volunteers greet the horde with massive amounts of food, clothing and bottled water, at refugee centers that include large sports stadiums. Obviously, this is a well-funded and organized effort. Mexico's National Institute of Migration (INM) reports that organizers are giving migrants packs of money.

The liberal party in Honduras, including former president Selayas, is criticized for encouraging people to leave the country. Former govt. deputy Bartolo Fuentes claims the caravans began spontaneously, when we have seen previously that he was one of the principal organizers.

Breitbart reports that 1,100 migrants are arrested in the US every day for crossing the border illegally. The annual total is 400,000. 300,000 Anchor Babies are born every year in the US, exceeding the number of births in the 48 continental states.

Human rights organizations continue to support the caravans despite their criminality, violence and disrespect for Mexican citizens.

Venezuela's former president Hugo Chavez would often rail about the evil, imperialistic United States, yet, coincidentally, he still sent his daughters to be educated here. What does that say about education in socialist countries?

Socialism - the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, the gospel of envy - from a shirt worn by Alex Backman of Conciencia Radio

5,500 invaders were herded into a stadium in Mexico City, when the extended city of 17 million people was having disruptions in water service. Mexico spent 160 million pesos (roughly 800,000 dollars) on the failed water piping project. Apparently, a foreign firm was contracted to design, build and install the system of pipes. Later, Mexico in its grand wisdom decided it would butt in and have Mexican engineers finish putting it all together. As a result, the project failed miserably. During this time, Milenio news decided to downplay the water crisis. Instead, it covered public events taking place in other countries, most notably China, North Korea and Russia.

Unable to handle such a massive arrival of invaders, Mexico City reported a sharp rise in robberies and rapes.

After much negative criticism, George Soros tried to distance his involvement with the caravans.

Oaxaca still refused to transport the invaders.

Citizens in Veracruz attempted to record the caravan as it migrated over public roads. Invaders stopped their cars and forced Mexican citizens to turn over their phones. Videos and pictures of the caravan were erased before the phones were returned. The invaders would either force citizens to transport them in their vehicles, or they stole the cars outright and drove themselves. Where was Latino Fake News during this time, but covering the poor, young mothers and their poor, young children?

A new caravan was forming in Brazil, which is pretty far from Central America. This new horde planned to pick up steam and invaders as it traveled through Venezuela and Colombia.

November 8, 2018 - In Mexico City, 2,000 invaders break off from the main horde and head north for the United Nations embassy at Colonia Polanco. They are demanding asylum in Mexico, despite not meeting the required criteria.

Where is Mexico's political leadership during this time of crisis? Outgoing president Pena-Nieto is openly being called a coward and failure. Incoming Chief of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum announces that the constitution of Mexico will be respected. Incoming Secretary of Governance Olga Sanchez-Cordero offers 1 million jobs to the migrants.

Breitbart had the following headline on November 6: MS-13 Member Arrested With Children Near Texas Border. The gang member was detained in a group of 12 migrants, including 2 children. Two days prior, two other criminals were detained in the same area, also attempting to cross the border.

Another Breitbart article reports three sex offenders were caught near the border in one day. This happened in Yuma, Arizona. One criminal was convicted of having sex with a minor in 2005. A second was convicted of misdemeanor rape in 2008.

The Daily Caller, on November 7, reported DHS officials informed the US senate of threats to national security found within the caravan. Members of the caravan have histories of violent crime, and are coming from non-Central American nations such as Western Asia, Central Asia and North Africa.

Rock-throwing illegal migrants murdered Border Patrol agent Rogelio Martinez in 2017.

During his term in office, Obama deported over 300,000 criminals into Mexico, via Tijuana. Many of those criminals are still walking Tijuana streets today.

The municipality of Ixtacalco, part of Mexico City, reports increased robberies and rapes.

Mexican Fake News is still not reporting the caravan's troublemakers. But they are reporting things like this: Bishop Jose Torres urged his congregation in Ciudad Juarez to tear down walls against migrants, in an article on Jew News.

Mid November

More caravans are forming to the south of Mexico. One caravan is stuck in Oaxaca, where the state refused to provide them with transportation.

A mob of 2,000 is stuck in Veracruz, also waiting for transportation. A sports facility / stadium there was overrun with migrants. The government provided food, water, clothing and medical aid. A female professor from Veracruz was robbed at knifepoint. Invaders are still taking people's cell phones away and erasing caravan videos, forcing drivers to give them rides, or pulling drivers out and stealing their cars.

Conciencia Radio reports that Russia will invest heavily in Mexico. Russia will take over six large factories, including one right across from the US border in Mexicali. They will produce Mig jet fighters, tanks and armored vehicles. In return, Russia has promised to give 10% of its production to Mexico.

Captain Clay Higgins of the US Border Patrol informs us that Fake News reports say invaders are throwing small rocks at his agents. Higgins shows rocks the size of his fists, the true size of the projectiles, and he gives us a look at how heavily barred border patrol vehicles have been modified. He shows us the non-lethal weapons agents are equipped with, such as paint-ball guns, and tells us that if large rocks are thrown, agents will respond with lethal force.

Edgar Ramirez of Homeland Security states that under current international law, migrants cannot choose what country will help them. The UN must choose for them. This dispels the idea that Hondurans can walk north and demand entry into the US.

Incoming Immigration Director of Mexico, Guillen, may prioritize the human rights of the migrants over 'other' concerns. These other concerns could be Mexican laws on borders, and legal and illegal migration.

November 14, 2018 - Honduran young men throw rocks at Tijuana police and their vehicles, in Playas De Tijuana. Video shows the Hondurans were the aggressors. Fake News TeleSUR later blames Tijuana protesters.

The middle of November was a turning point for public sentiment in Mexico, when it came to the migrant caravan. Before this time, a lot of Mexicans were critical of the Honduran mob, but these people were largely silent in public because Fake News kept downplaying the horde's violence and referring to critics as being hateful, racists and zenophobes. Private buses filled with hundreds of invaders did not drive to a refugee center where food, water and shelter were waiting for them. Instead they intentionally dumped their loads of unwanted people out in the open, in Playas De Tijuana, an area of mostly wealthy residents that can be compared to Coronado or La Jolla in San Diego. This was done for news media manipulation.

Just a few days prior, the first wave of 80 LGBT invaders rented an expensive house in Playas, led by the infamous Pritaya Queen, whom you will read more about in the Offenders section. Residents who were already against the caravan were furious to have a bunch of unruly queers at their doorsteps, where they and their children could see them. Now, you can say that some Mexicans have been and still are homophobes, but in my opinion, people are entitled to form their own thoughts and views, and not to have to conform to the Political Correctness NPC group-think that is dividing many Western countries today. (See the NPC Non-Player Character meme for more on liberal group-think.) At any rate, the wealthy residents were irate to have queers in their neighborhood. Many videos circulated showing Pritaya Queen arguing with conservative older women, flaunting herself by shaking her head and waving her arms, and speaking to the local women in a condescending tone.

Tijuanans were already angry with the 80 queer members of the first wave, and now they had hundreds more invaders dropped off at Playas. Tijuanans had already seen invaders throwing away food, water and clothing donations, leaving massive amounts of trash behind ever since they left Guatemala, demanding transportation, and stating it was their human right and God's will that they be welcomed into the United States. The situation that night at Playas was a powder keg that was about to go off.

It did go off. Angry protesters from many areas of Tijuana went to Playas to voice their dissent at the arrival of hundreds of migrants. This included the wealthy residents of Playas, as well as hundreds of lower income workers such as truck drivers and whatnot. Arguments got heated, with municipal police protecting the migrants and aggressively pushing away the local protesters. Hondurans were flippant and defiant, as ever since their departure from their country, no large group of opposition had ever stood against them. This attitude of self-righteousness angered the Mexican crowd even more. Mexicans were challenging Hondurans to go out on the beach for fistfights. A small group of MS-13 gang members jumped several young men protesting, by attacking them from behind. The Maras then threw up gang signs and called out their gang name. When the crowd reacted, Mexican police still stood against the Mexicans.

I tend to look at things from historical perspectives. When the Mulsim hordes invaded Europe, and they still are doing this, we had Third World tribal savages coming into First World domesticated societies, or wolves being introduced into herds of sheep. For the most part, Europeans have been slowly becoming docile ever since Hellenic Greece, the age of the philosophers, well over two thousand years ago. African and Arabian countries are still made up of clans and tribes with warlords even today. Compare that to Hondurans illegally coming into Mexico. Only five hundred years ago, Aztecs were cutting hearts out of sacrificial victims. Indigenous peoples were completely tribal then. In Central America, we have seen bloody and recent civil wars, with dead bodies lying in the street where children can see them, and gangs like the Maras that attack each other with machetes. Only four countries, all Latin countries, account for 25% of the murders in the entire world: Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico. In this case, wolves are being put into the same cage with other wolves. The face of Mexico, despite the claims from Fake News, became a face of anger at being invaded, and not of intolerance and racism as the liberal left would have us believe.

A Honduran tough thought it was a good idea to threaten Tijuana gang members. In public, he said more Hondurans were coming in other caravans. What are 30 _pendejos_ , or idiots, going to do when 30,000 Hondurans arrive? After saying this, the tough also thought it was a good idea to walk in the neighborhood of those he'd just insulted. He was caught and beaten severely, and a video of his unconscious form was posted onto social media. That is the sort of hornet's nest that was stirred up, encompassing all of Tijuana society from the upper class in Playas to the lower class in Zona Norte. Seventy to eighty percent of Tijuanans turned against the caravan.

Caravan leader Irineo Mujica of Towns (or Peoples) Without Borders, said migrants weren't bringing any problems into Tijuana. All the problems and violence were coming from the drug cartels. He said nothing about the wake of crime and violence that has followed the caravans ever since they entered Mexico.

In a very biased, anti-left video interview, Venezuelan journalist Gustavo Azucar Alcala made several noteworthy comments. Nobody doubted that Venezuela funded the first caravan. US Vice President Pence had documents to prove the financial support. Part of the reason the caravans were formed was to draw attention away from the exodus of millions of Venezuelans out of their country, and to deflect international attention away from president Maduro. Venezuela has no money for health care or education, or other social issues, but it does have money for propaganda against the US, including sending money to Cuba and purchasing weapons from Russia.

Maduro is tied in with drug cartels. A large amount of Colombia's drugs enter Venezuela through the rebel groups ELN and FARC. They are flown or shipped into Honduras, before they are moved through Mexico.

Alcala tells us thousands of children die in Venezuela due to poor health care. Over 6,000 doctors have left the country due to low wages. 6 to 8,000 Venezuelan refugees enter Colombia every day.

In Tabasco, Mexico, a woman with mental concerns is dragged by migrants onto a hill and sexually assaulted. In Zapotecas, women who had come to donate food had the migrants throw the food at them.

After the debacle at Playas De Tijuana, the Honduran horde is rounded up onto buses and taken to the Benito Juarez sports complex in Zona Norte, Tijuana.

Late November

November 20, 2018 - In Tijuana, a member of the Catholic clergy speaks to the horde over how some of them might end up in Canada. He encourages the single men to think about creating new families there, inferring that they will marry Canadian women. Caravan members are shown holding up a Canadian flag. I wonder where they got it?

A list of names and ages of caravan members show them all to be of military age, with most of them in their twenties.

Caravan leader Netty tells reporters he feels cheated after having arrived in Tijuana. At the start, he was told that when they arrived at the US border, officials from several countries would be there to meet with them. The countries include Canada, France, Spain and the US. The countries would offer citizenship and employment. Netty fears for his life after, admittedly having deceived the people who trusted and followed him. He refused to reveal who first gave him these ideas of easy citizenship and jobs, calling it a rumor.

Human rights activist Father Alejandro Solalinde accuses Pueblos Sin Fronteras of human trafficking. He accuses caravan leaders of deliberately providing a front for the smuggling of undocumented migrants, and of placing women and children at the front of their marches for increased media exposure. He states that he personally helped to register people from the third caravan, and that he disarmed many of them when he found out they were carrying firearms. Solalinde helped move 23 busloads into Mexico City. In a later interview, he stated he filled up 'two bags' with firearms.

Pueblos Sin Fronteras refused to allow Solalinde to finish processing the migrants. PSF told migrants to avoid or boycott Solalinde. The Father could not figure out who was financing the migration movement.

DEA officials arrest the brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez in Miami, Florida, on charges of drug trafficking, weapons smuggling and organized crime. Juan Antonio Hernandez was wanted or implicated in 2016. The Honduran government never investigated the charges. If corrupt president Hernandez is also involved in the drug trade, this may help explain why he did very little to stop the caravans from initially leaving his country.

Fake News TeleSUR gives us the headline: March Threatened. It shows protests at the Benito Juarez sports complex in Zona Norte, Tijuana, calling protesters racists and zenophobes. The misleading reporter claims that a small number of agents provocateur are among the crowd, fomenting violence, when it is really the angry people of Tijuana. The reporter says these same protesters were at Playas, which is true, and that they are against Tijuana police, which is not true. Further, the reporter tells us that it was people from Tijuana who threw rocks at police vehicles, when it was really the invaders.

The reporter goes on to state that dual citizens and Trump supporters are among the crowd inciting trouble, that Tijuanans are throwing rocks at police, and that protesters are hiding their faces (only one person had their face masked during that part of the video). At least three times in a four minute clip, the reporter called Mexicans zenophobes and racists.

This protest took place on Sunday, the 18th, I believe, when the protesters marched from the Cuahtemoc roundabout in Plaza Rio, and a few miles northeast into Zona Norte. I followed this march live on two different independent news channels, including Conciencia Radio. Fake News, by the way, claimed the protest included anywhere from 25 to 200 members. In truth, the numbers were more like 1,500 or 2,000. Now, I cannot say I watched every second of the march, as I was going back and forth between the two live-streams and both had technical difficulties at times, but I can say what I did and did not observe. It is true that Tijuanans were angry, and they did push against police barriers and shout at the police. This was because the people were upset at having their concerns and complaints ignored, and not because they were fomenting violence. There is a difference between yelling and rattling a barricade, and jumping over the barricade to attack the authorities. I did not see any rocks thrown, and I saw several protesters trying to keep the peace among their own. I saw ONE Trump supporter. That was Paloma For Trump, who wore a red charro hat and a red dress, from the Youtube channel True Conservative Minutes. I observed a handful of people with their faces covered, and maybe these men were trying to start up violence. However, the protesters were quick to isolate them and push them away from the bulk of the crowd. TeleSUR's false reports on this and other events are as fake as the Fake News we get from CNN.

A Tijuana poll result indicated 70% of locals were against the invasion.

A police spokesman stated that the refugee camp at Juarez sports complex may get out of control quickly. Over 4,000 invaders were located there at the time. All he asks is that the invaders respect the rules given to them.

Police responded to a call that migrants were smoking marijuana at the sports complex, behind a children's play area. Police arrived and gave chase to four young men. Two were arrested. The crowd came in to defend the other two, who escaped. One cop was hurt after being hit on the head with a rock. The young men later claim they were innocent, and that the police roughed them up for no reason. Somebody else was smoking marijuana, they said, right where they were standing. Police said they witnessed the men smoking before they gave chase.

On the 25th of November, migrants planned a march to show their appreciation of what Tijuana and Mexico had done to help them. Secretary of Governance Prida assured the public this march would be peaceful. Children were shown painting banners and signs to that effect. However, the march very quickly turned into a mass stampede of humans trying to breach the US border. Fake News minimized the number of trespassers at 500, saying they only tried to run across the border at one place. In truth, I was watching the march on several independent news channels, as well as on live feeds by the major news stations. Most honest estimates give the true number of stampeding invaders at over 2000 attacking four different sections of the border fence, including at the border crossing, across the Rio Tijuana, on the train tracks east of the border and elsewhere. After being attacked by rocks and bottles, US Border Patrol responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas into Mexico.

After that debacle, Prida announced that Mexican federal authorities will ensure protesters will stay near refugee centers, as they have been roaming the streets in Zona Norte ever since they arrived. Several crowd agitators were targeted for arrest. The National Migration Institute (INM) will immediately deport any persons trying to cross the US border illegally, or breaking Mexico's laws.

Mexican police were largely unarmed during the march and stampede, to prevent the shooting or killing of a migrant, as it would have set off a wail of protests from across the liberal world. Liberal socialists will maintain that there is no such thing as an illegal migrant, and that the migrants were doing nothing wrong by storming the US border in such mass numbers that the international border was shut down for some five hours.

November 26, 2018 - A Mexican political analyst speculates that the CIA may have infiltrated the migrant caravan. He gives various angles for this, including that this is part of a Marshal Plan from Trump, a plan the CIA wants to disrupt, and also that the CIA has uncovered the identities of many invaders who may have criminal backgrounds.

"Our feet are sore. We have no strength left." - migrant

Fake News Tele-SUR makes more blatantly false claims. This time, they say the huge mess at the border started off as a peaceful march, where the invaders were simply showing their appreciation for the way Tijuana embraced them. In frustration for the slow speed asylum cases were moving in, these innocent people tried to rush across the border, where strong-armed US defenses used rubber bullets and tear gas on them. Notice there is no mention of how the caravan leaders agitated the stampede. Also not mentioned is the fact that caravan leaders deliberately put women and children at the front of the invasion. Fake News was quick to capitalize, however, on a picture of a woman pulling her two twin daughters, both barefoot and in diapers, when the woman was attacked by tear gas. Also conveniently missing is the fact that only 10% of the invaders have actually applied for asylum.

The INM announced it would deport as many as 500 lawbreakers.

"All we want is an opportunity." - An invader claims.

Three separate times, the invaders state they do not want to be here (in Tijuana). This sounds to be the new 'coached' line to say to news media, as everyone is repeating it. Really? They traveled the entire length of Mexico to a place they don't want to be in?

The TeleSUR reporter compares the Juarez sports complex to a concentration camp. I've heard three people so far make that same statement. Do these people even know what a concentration camp is? Have they ever been to a homeless shelter? Of course, it's all socialist propaganda.

Baja governor Enrique De La Vega makes a plea to then president Pena Nieto, for the caravan to comply with Mexican law. Vega has been largely out of sight and impotent during the entire crisis.

At the Juarez sports complex, a municipal police commander tells invaders not to put their women and children at the front of their movement, while a caravan leader stands at his side and denies this is happening.

US Border Patrol confirms that women and children were being used as human shields. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott states on CNN Fake News that border agents did not use tear gas and rubber bullets until after projectiles struck them. The attackers were throwing projectiles while standing behind the human shields. 69 invaders were arrested at the US border. Border Agent Hector Garcia also states agents and vehicles were attacked with rocks first. Meanwhile, Fake News claims the invaders are not invading, and they're not doing anything wrong.

In another report, the US Border Patrol arrested 42 lawbreakers. Mexican federal police arrested 39.

President Trump threatens to shut the border permanently.

During the last week of November, migrants at the Juarez sports complex begin a hunger strike. This is a last ditch effort after the stampede was repelled at the US border. The number of migrants at the complex is estimated at over 6,000.

Reporter Luke Rudowsky of We Are Change reports on the dismal conditions at and near the Juarez sports complex in Zona Norte, Tijuana. People are reported as coughing and vomiting, spitting and urinating on public streets. Fake News reports no criminals are found in the caravan. Rudowsky reports that migrants assaulted an aid worker just a few days before.

Mexico has offered housing, employment and health care to the migrants. Only 1,700 of them have officially taken asylum in Mexico. Many migrants may not know what asylum means?

Several compilations of video clips are circulating now on social media. They show illegal ingrates complaining about not having free buses provided for their march, complaining about having to eat beans and tortillas, and about refugee centers who want the migrants to clean up after themselves and sweep their trash. How rude! Also shown are the incredible amounts of food, water, clothing and trash migrants are leaving behind. Footage from places such as Jesus Martinez 'Palillo' stadium are shown, in Mexico City, including how several trash trucks were brought in to collect refuse.

December

December 1, 2018 - Caravan leader Irineo Mujica scolds Mexican federal police. The police are preventing Mujica from taking 15 women to a public place near the US border at Chaparral. These women are part of the ongoing hunger strike. Mujica wanted them to be visible for Fake News media to report on them. Instead, the women are told to set up under a bridge, on a public thoroughfare. Mujica continually misdirects the conversation by demanding to know how many deaths occur in Tijuana due to drug cartel violence.

December 2, 2018 - In a video release, Tijuana mayor Gastelum announces migrants are being moved from Juarez sports complex and into a larger center. This is the concert and entertainment venue El Barretal, located east of the border in Matamoros Colony. Gastelum also presents a flyer being circulated by caravan leaders. The flyer shows people breaking through a barbed wire fence. It reads:

We must march to the border on Saturday, the first of December. On the day of the inauguration of new Mexican president Manuel Lopez Obrador. - 11 AM from the Benito Juarez sports complex - Open the border or we will shut it down! - Our last action has placed us closer to victory - Mexicans and Americans fight alongside us

Gastelum states he has asked federal police to do everything they can to prevent another disruption at the US border.

News media gives us a look at the Juarez sports complex, after over 6,000 invaders have been transported out to the new refugee center in Matamoros. We see industrial amounts of garbage left behind, including mountains of clothing, trash and large stacks of small mattresses.

December 3, 2018 - Video documents Mexican federal police stopping a caravan of 150 people in southern Mexico. After heated debate, the invaders are placed onto buses. An official states they will not be allowed to enter Mexico improperly, unregulated or illegally. From the video, it is stated that these migrants will be deported.

December 4. 2018 - A video alleges that Mexican cartels are searching for a specific caravan leader, after that leader has apparently insulted the cartels. A cash reward is suggested. I cannot verify this information any further.

December 4, 2018 - A short video shows a meeting of illegal migrants. They debate whether or not they will continue with the caravan. A leader states they are doing it for the children, who cannot speak for themselves. The refugee center in Juarez complex is compared to a concentration camp yet again.

December 5, 2018 - Focusing on the UN's Global Pact For Migration, from a conservative viewpoint. Under this Pact, the UN will choose how many people will be migrated or how many goods will be moved. National laws must take second place to UN mandates. In addition to mass migrations, the UN may choose to suggest other purposes to host nations. Universities will be used to push UN agenda when it comes to refugee issues. Host nations will incur the costs of financing migrations.

The UN will promote good relations for peaceful coexistence. These are social projects to minimize invasions and their impacts, including censorship. Not only will host nations have to labor the costs of force migration, but money and resources will be given to nations of origin. Resettlement projects will last several years. The UN will dictate host nations and migrant numbers.

December 5, 2018 - During the transportation of migrants from Juarez sports complex to Matamoros, apparently 3,000 invaders have gone missing. We see an image of the American flag hung upside down at Juarez complex. From the complex, we have the official count of invaders: 3,877 men, 1,127 women 542 boys and 516 girls, for a total of 6,062. These are the numbers for INSIDE the sports complex, and not for the migrants who were camped outside on the streets.

Only 2,122 people made it to the new refugee center, with approximately 744 left on the streets surrounding the complex. Halfway houses and churches took in another 144.

An estimated 600 invaders were returned to their countries, including 178 deported and 409 that asked to be retuned, according to the secretary general of Baja California.

Mexican officials are downplaying how many migrants have disappeared, calling it a clerical error.

The invaders have complained that the new refugee center is too far from the border, again hinting that they are not in Tijuana to officially apply for asylum, but to enter the US illegally.

Sergio Tamai, director of Angels Without Borders, states that Tijuana officials deliberately inflated the numbers so they could ask for greater federal funds. According to Tamai, the city requested a hundred million pesos to deal with the crisis. Tijuana mayor Juan Gastelum has stated it is costing his city 550,000 pesos per day to maintain the migrants at Juarez complex.

Defenders And Offenders

Unfortunately, there are not enough defenders to eclipse the growing infamy of offenders. Following are the strongest supporters of Mexico's rights as a sovereign nation, as well as a list of con men and women, in addition to a couple of idiots who should have done better by keeping their mouths shut.

**Defender: Tijuana Mayor Juan Gastelum** \- This man came onto the scene with some hesitation, I would say. After the debacle at Playas, where I believe Gastelum has a residence, many of Tijuana's wealthy citizens complained vociferously enough for the mayor to actually do his job. Once Gastelum was in the race, he made good, sound decisions in support of the people of Tijuana, in sharp contrast to the feeble all talk, no action stance of Baja Governor De La Vega. (Vega is now being investigated for corruption, after President Obrador's inauguration.)

Gastelum moved the invasion horde from Playas to Zona Norte. When things went out of control after the human stampede at the border in late November, it was Gastelum who opened up the entertainment complex in Matamoros. By moving the horde there, he is in effect dismantling the caravans and keeping them away from the border, and out of Fake News spotlight range. I believe Gastelum further castrated the caravan by telling municipal police to keep Mujica and his 15 women on hunger strike away from the Chaparral border crossing, and putting them under a bridge, on the street, where their presence has dramatically reduced impact. Also, Gastelum has ordered for the criminal remnant of the caravan still occupying the public streets around Juarez complex to be moved, by force if necessary, on the morning of Dec. 10. For over two weeks now, those roads have been closed to traffic, and the local elementary school has been closed.

"Human rights for right humans." - Gastelum

The Tijuana mayor received tremendous liberal backlash for suggesting the unruly, illegal mob behave itself if it wanted the respect of the people of Tijuana. He further inflamed the left by wearing a red cap with the slogan 'Make Tijuana Great Again.' The cap was modeled after Trump's MAGA hats, and was given to Gastelum by a little girl.

**Defender Honorable Mention: Alex Backman** of Conciencia Radio has been a strong voice against illegal migration since the start. I've seen him rally the crowd at several locations, including Cuahtemoc Roundabout in Plaza Rio and later at Juarez complex in Zona Norte.

**Defender Honorable Mention: Paloma For Trump** , from True Conservative Minutes YT channel, has also been outspoken in her criticism of the Honduran invasion. She is a dual citizen who frequently broadcasts reports from Tijuana, sometimes becoming the story herself. She has been harassed by socialist reporters and by migrants for her on the scene coverage.

**Defender Honorable Mention:** There are several YT channels out there that have been covering the invasion ever since the first Hondurans set foot in Mexico. Among the most informative are Francisco Lopez and Efecto Noticia. I have to give credit to Vicente Serrano of Sin Censura news. He is a pro-Obrador socialist, but to his credit he has traveled from Chicago to Tijuana to assess the situation for himself. Also notable was Luke Rudowsky of We Are Change, who also went to Juarez complex, and who I have been following since the Occupy Movement.

**Defender Honorable Mention:** Guatemala allowed the first three caravans to seep through its territory. After that, President Morales is doing little, but he at least he is doing something by turning back invaders and asking the US to help him identify troublemakers.

**Unknown Quantity:** New President of Mexico Manuel Obrador. While Obrador vows to help the Mexican people out of poverty and into productiveness, he is also ready to sign the UN Pact for Migration, which will likely flood Mexico with even more unwanted caravans. Obrador talks a good game, including saying he will buck the institutionalized form of government that has kept Mexico suffering for the last 30 years. Those are big words, similar in rhetoric to what we heard from former socialist US president Obama.

**Offender: Irineo Mujica** is listed on Wikipedia as director of Pueblos Sin Fronteras. He is a dual US-Mexico citizen, born in Mexico and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Mujica is a long-time political activist. Glenn Beck has traced Pueblos Sin Fronteras to CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project. CARA encompasses two legal groups: Catholic Legal Immigration Network and American Immigration Council. Both groups are funded by George Soros. (From articles by Az Central and Joe For America.)

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2018/11/09/irineo-mujica-u-s-citizen-who-helps-coordinate-migrant-caravans/1910712002/

https://joeforamerica.com/2018/04/whos-really-behind-the-illegal-immigrants-the-migrant-caravan-and-pueblo-sin-fronteras/

Mujica has been adamant in demanding excessive benefits for the caravans, and recently scolded Tijuana municipal police for preventing him from putting 15 women on hunger strike in a location chosen for good media coverage. He also angered Tijuana residents when he stated that the drug cartels were causing the city's crime and violence, and not criminals and gang members within the caravans, and that Tijuana is a place no one wants to come to. Uniradio Informa reports that Mujica was detained in Suchiate, Hidalgo, Chiapas on October 19, 2018, for resisting arrest and vandalism. He opposed (or attacked) migratory officials, federal and municipal police while trying to mobilize the caravan. In early December, Mujica tried to distance himself from the criminals in the caravan, saying he is not responsible for their actions. At the same time, he is constantly looking for ways to sensationalize the plight of the caravan, to draw attention away from their crimes, and to antagonize authorities.

**Offender: Pitaya Queen** , also known as Ana K from Chihuahua, has a real name of Roberto Jakay Flotte Jr. He is a transgender from Presidio, Texas, with US citizenship. This person has a PhD doctorate in Anthropology, Native American Program, from Harvard University. Pitaya is accused of being a drug addict and pimp, and of trafficking humans across the US border for prostitution.

In May of 2018, Pitaya took 35 gays into the Caritas shelter in Tijuana. The shelter mysteriously caught fire during the time he was there. Pitaya tweeted that the fire was caused by transphobes. He asked his fans to contact US border authorities, passing on the message that he and the other gays should be taken into the US right away because their lives were at risk. His tweets are written in very good English, drawing sympathy from his followers, when his true intentions all along are to traffic gays for prostitution. One of his wards was named Roxanne, a gay who later died of HIV due to lack of treatment.

While at a drug rehabilitation center in Tijuana, he was caught using drugs and making attempts to smuggle gays across the border.

Pitaya and a group of 80 LGBT entered Mexico as part of the first caravan. When the caravan lost some of its steam in Mexico City, he and his gays broke away and traveled by train to Mexicali, Baja California, where all 80 of them stayed in hotel rooms. The group arrived in Tijuana in November 11, staying at a luxury house in Playas that reportedly cost ten thousand pesos ($500 dollars) to rent, but I couldn't verify if that was a weekly or monthly rate. While in Playas, Pitaya and his boyfriend Cesar Mejia were recorded arguing with affluent residents, mostly women, who did not want queers in their neighborhood. This was a very controversial moment in the caravan's march. While in Tijuana, Pitaya was spotted buying coffee at Starbucks and ordering large amounts of beer at night clubs, which did not jive with his claims of poverty and oppression for his gay entourage.

Due to the negative publicity, Pitaya took 47 gays and traveled to Nogales, Sonora, again renting expensive hotel rooms. (Municipal president Irastorza gives a number of 60 in Pitaya's group.) This defender of human and gay rights refuses to be interviewed by an independent journalist who tracks him down. His queer group, from Honduras and Nicaragua, harasses the journalist out on the street.

Prior to the caravan events, Pitaya was accused of using minors for prostitution. The minors were aged 14 and 15, from Guatemala and El Salvador. The minors had sexually transmitted diseases from having slept with the transgenders. The minors were deceived into believing they would have no problem getting into Miami, Florida, where they would begin better lives.

**Offender: Lady Frijoles** earned national infamy in Mexico, when she uttered the following words to a reporter from DW News:

"The food they give us here... Fatal... Only refried beans as if they were feeding pigs." - Miriam Selaya

Miriam Selaya (also Mirian Yamileth) spoke those fateful words during an interview, when she was staying in the Juarez sports complex. The video clip went viral throughout Mexico, with dozens, if not hundreds of reaction videos, parodies, memes and even music making her the laughingstock of an entire country. DW News caught up with her a second time, where Miriam gave a tearful apology.

However, when Miriam mentioned she was on social media and What's App, amateur sleuths went searching and found her publicly posted pictures. This set off a new round of indignation from Mexicans, as Miriam's account showed did not show a humble woman who lived in poverty. Instead, Miriam was seen posing in tight, revealing and sexy clothing, with her nails painted, wearing jewelry, high heels and sporting a Louis Vitton handbag. Miriam's house looks nice, and she's also posed behind the wheel of a late model car.

When Miriam started getting harassed and bullied online, she was moved to another shelter. Later, she began getting death threats from angry critics. For a time, it was feared she might have been kidnapped. Miriam turned up in Texas, where apparently she was given expedited asylum thanks to the harassment. This woman and her dumb comments have made her the caravan's metaphorical dartboard or mascot. (Miriam and her sister were later deported after they attacked the owner of the apartment they were staying in, with a knife. I heard Honduras offered her a bit spot in a variety show as well.)

**Offender: Ivan Rieveling** , also known as Comandante Cobra and the Mexican Rambo. This personality started popping up in my feed right around the time of the Tijuana protest on November 18. Rieveling, who is a big, strapping and bald man in his forties, wearing military fatigues, walked up to Conciencia Radio's Alex Backman to give his viewpoint on the migrant caravan. People started going up to him to pose for pictures. After doing some research into this man, I have found that he is a very shady character with a notorious criminal background.

This rat's full name is Ivan Mariano Martin Del Campo Rieveling. According to the DEA, he has been arrested and / or deported six different times in California, for crimes ranging from possession of marijuana to carrying a concealed, stolen weapon, to giving false statements to a 2008 arrest for assault, robbery and rape. He has also been arrested in the US for making threats.

The criminal behavior continues in Mexico. Rieveling claims to be National Coordinator for the Diplomatic Corps of International Human Rights. This organization only exists in this man's fantasies. The newspaper Zeta had to state he never worked for them, the UN said he has no affiliation with them, and even the Knights Templar have kicked him out of their club. Rieveling has threatened Tijuana reporters for revealing his past crimes in California, and recently he threatened former president Pena Nieto and Tijuana mayor Gastelum. Dozens of Mexican reporters, editors and cameraman have denounced him publicly.

As if that wasn't enough, the rumor is that he runs a personal security business where he sells weapons to criminals or shady people, and he openly claims to have many friends in the drug cartels. This guy isn't just a rat, but a super rat. (Rieveling was jailed for several months after allegedly attacking a lawyer, possibly over a love triangle also involving his girlfriend.)

**Offenders Dishonorable Mention: Many.** Yes, there are many who deserve to be placed into this caravan's Hall Of Shame.

We have one caravan leader who usually wore a red hat and silver aviator sunglasses to hide his identity. He went by the name Netty a few times. He was the person telling members of the caravan to place women and children up front during the march, and later during the stampede toward the US border that took place in late November.

Dozens of Hondurans and other Central Americans get the Big Loser Award as well. These exigent people were making demands on Mexicans for junk food such as pizzas and hamburgers, new and not used clothing, transportation to the US border and a cushy place to lounge while they wait for their asylum petitions to process. These were the people smoking weed at Playas, the Juarez sports complex and later the Barretal concert complex. They refused food from aid workers, even throwing the food at the workers, and left a trail of trash everywhere they went. I'm not even counting the criminals that were leeching off the caravan here.

Sonia Diaz, also known as Cristina Estrada Torres, was the woman arrested when Tijuana officials tried to move members of the caravan from Juarez complex to Barretal. It took three female police officers to transport this aggressive woman into a police vehicle, and even then Diaz managed to bite an officer's forearm. Before this incident, I had already seen this woman sniping at independent reporters whenever they tried to record her face. Diaz was accused of being a human trafficker, or coyote, but this hasn't been verified. In video taken by a concerned citizen, I observed Diaz standing in a huddle of young men, late at night near Juarez complex. It looked like a football huddle almost, or a plot. Diaz is not part of any social organization or church group, so what is she doing in Tijuana, other than stirring the pot against reporters and police officials?

Father Alejandro Solalinde continues to extol the many positive virtues of the horde, despite having taken two bags of firearms away from them and knowing their faults. They are desperate, poor, hungry people, he claims, yet he barely denounced the Maras gang members and other criminals within the movement. Recently, Solalinde has arrived in Tijuana, at Juarez complex, where police officials are expected to move the most stubborn invaders out of the public street and into the Barretal shelter at Matamoros.

Sergio Tamei of Angels Without Borders arrived late on the scene in December. He irked me when he suggested that Mayor Gastelum inflated the number of migrants staying in Juarez complex, so Gastelum could ask for greater amounts of funds from federal resources. I've been following the caravan's numbers ever since they stormed past the Guatemalan border, and then this jerk steps in and tells news reporters the numbers are wrong? Sure, the numbers could be rigged, but that would mean the workers are Juarez complex have been lying for the last half of November. According to their statistics, the number of people in Juarez complex went from 4,000 to a grand total of 6,062 during that time, with aerial drone shots showing how crowded the complex was. About the only thing Tamei said that I agreed with, is that he denounced the way caravan leaders were putting women and children up front of their march and stampede.

Conclusion

I am writing this on the morning of Monday, December 10, 2018. The story continues to develop. On Friday, Tijuana authorities gave the remnants of the caravan, staunchly refusing to leave the public streets of Zona Norte, 72 hours to go to the Barretal center in Matamoros. Over the weekend, invaders in Barretal have been trickling back to Juarez complex, claiming they were mistreated or they didn't like the curfews or whatnot. So, these people would rather shit and piss in the street than go to a refugee center with utilities, food, water, toilets and surrounding walls to protect them from angry locals. The elementary school in Zona Norte has been closed for over two weeks, the streets and complex are still full of trash and the stubborn stragglers have already been attacked three times, including having eggs and bottles of urine thrown at them. Father Solalinde has arrived to help, but he wants to help the illegal invaders more than the residents of Tijuana.

There is a humanitarian crisis in the Central American nations; I won't argue against that, as I've been following their news channels for months now. In Nicaragua, for example, president Ortega has sent police and right wing mobs into villages to assassinate those critical of his policies, and masked men have even entered churches to attack clergy and reporters. I agree that something has to be done, but I don't think sending millions of dollars of US taxpayer money into Central America is the solution. Unlike the United Nations, I believe the problem should be dealt with at the country of origin, and not at the country where the invaders end up.

This movement started as a way for leftists to get back at President Trump. Trump is not blameless, as he and other republican warhawks kept hinting at military intervention in Venezuela for months. Venezuela's Maduro decided to get the ball rolling through his connections in Honduras, and Honduras is so corrupt that president Hernandez' brother was just arrested for drug and weapons smuggling. The caravans are formed and move into Chiapas, Mexico, where corrupt interim governor Velasquez is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of pesos from the people, while not paying doctors or teachers, and not doing a thing to stop genocides taking place in rural towns. Do you see how everything about the caravan movement is corrupted?

George Soros and his NGOs saw a chance to co-opt the movement, and they jumped on it. Fake News presents the public with the 'good side' of a foreign invasion. Critics are denounced as racists and zenophobes. United Nations' puppets wave their flags of multi-culturalism and diversity, as they always do. An estimated 120 to 190 countries are expected to sign the UN Global Compact for Migration.

There is no real conclusion to this story. It is ongoing, and will continue to be ongoing, until people realize who is behind it and they stop supporting the bad guys. Look at all these socialists rallying to dismantle national sovereignty and turn over the controls of power to the United Nations. Open borders for the world, because flooding Mexico and the US with foreigners is more important than Mexico taking care of five states who suffered through severe rains and flooding after Category 5 Hurricane Willa in late October.

The UN, the IMF and the WHO are the New World Order. Human lives don't matter in this equation unless they move the socialist agenda forward. It also doesn't matter if drug and human traffickers, gang members and terrorists infiltrate and abuse the hordes. Threats to US national security like multi-millionaire George Soros flip through their stacks of cash with complete impunity for their actions, and national leaders become puppets for the United Nations at the cost of their people's welfare.

All of the caravan leaders should be tried for human rights abuses, because they deceived the poor people of Central America into believing in a fantasy of the US greeting them with open arms. Great, Rich America is expected to give these young Latino men, and comparatively far fewer women and children, citizenship, employment, benefits and spouses. The disappointment has set into the minds of many of these people already, but Mexico's president Obrador is ready to sign the UN Pact today or tomorrow, guaranteeing that we will see more caravans heading not only to the US, but to other First World countries as well. The socialist idea of stealing from the rich to give to the poor might sound great as a Robin Hood fairy tale, but in real practice, it is going to destroy world stability and make it that much easier for the UN / New World Order takeover that is still coming.

Sources

(Title of video followed by Youtube channel. Note that many of these videos and even some channels have been censored, demonetized or scrubbed.)

3,000 Immigrants Have Disappeared In Tijuana \- King DragonKraken

Actualizacion Important! Lo Que Otros... (Important Update On The Immigrant Invasion Of Mexico) - Consciencia Radio

Acusan A Pitaya Queen De Prostituir Adolescentes - Odilon Garcia Noticias

Alerta! Vienen 30 Mil En Caravana De Ilegales A Tijuana - Conciencia Radio

Alerta Fronteriza Mensaje Del Alcalde De Tijuana - Concienca Radio

AMLO traiciona a México, dará libre paso a CARAVANA de migrantes y visas de trabajo - Francisco Lopez

An Army Of 30K Strong Plan To Storm The Tijuana Border - Conciencia Radio

Arrestan A Migrantes Por Consumir Drogas A Un Costado De Un Jardin De Ninos - Accion Callejera

Breaking: Border Agent Breaks Silence, Reveals Exactly What's Happening - The Next News Network

Cabecillas De Caravan Son Captados En Bar - Efecto Noticia

Capturan A Hermano Del Presidente De Honduras Por Narcotrafico - HispanTV

Cartel De Tijuana Levanta A Migrante Hondureno - Grillonautas2

Cartel Looking For Migrant Frontman - James Munder

Caso Pitaya Queen En Nogales Sonora - Agencia Multimedios

CDMX Sin Agua Hasta El... Marabunta Migratoria - Conciencia Radio

Disculpas De La Migrante Que Irrito A Los Tijuanenses - DW Espanol

El Fin De Mexico - Francisco Lopez

El Glamour Y Vanidades De Lady Frijoles Es Lado Secreto - Profecias Y Misterios

El Plan De Soros Y Maduro Para Evitar Intervencion - Informativo G24

Enfrentamiento Migrants Y Policias En Tijuana \- Excelsior TV

Este Es El Facebook De La Hondurena Que Dijo Que Los Frijoles Eran Para Puercos - Daniel Velasquez El Oso

Esto Es Una Invasion - Hasta En La Cocina Ep41- Conciencia Radio

Evidente la traición de AMLO a México y la crisis que hizo escalar - Francisco Lopez

First Wave Of Illegals From Honduras Reached The Border - Conciencia Radio

George Soros Invade Mexico Y Trump Amenaza Con Cerrar La Frontera - Concienca Radio

Gob De Baja California Manda Mensaje A EPN - Periodismo Libre Y Artistico

Hondurenos Incendian Instalacion De INM - Francisco Lopez

Hubo Migrants Detenidos En Mexico Pero No En Estados Unidos - TeleSUR TV

Indignada Con Caravana De Migrantes Hondurenos - Kristabel Beard

Informe De La DEA Sobre Riebeling Y Periodistas De BC Dan Su Opinion - Personajes Mexico

Illegal Immigrants March Through Mexico - Conciencia Radio

Immigration Deports Group Of 150+ Illegals That Were Intercepted - King DragonKraken

La CIA Infiltro La Caravana Migrante - El Chapucero

La Historia De La Madre Hondurena Cuya Foto Se Volvio Viral - Efecto Noticia

La Obscura Verdad Ocluta En La Caravana Migrante LGBT - ForeverPain

La Verdad De La Caravana LGBT - Pitaya Queen La Historia - Sin Pelos En La Lenga

La Verdad De La Lady Frijoles - Los De Dolores Son Un Desmadre

Lider De Caravana Hace Una Advertencia - Efecto Noticia

Lider Hondureno Se Siente Enganado - Efecto Noticia

Llegan Migrantes Trans 2111 - Estephania Baez

Los Centroamericans Comen Entre La Basura, Tras El Cochinero - Accion Callejera

México advierte a Caravana centroamericana: Sin visa no podrá ingresar al país - Francisco Lopez

Mexico Deports Migrants After 2,000 Rush US Border - Epoch Times

México inicia su autoprotección en contra de la Caravana de Migrantes, implementa operativo federal! - Francisco Lopez

México resiste hasta ahora a la Caravana migrante - Francisco Lopez

Migrantes Atacan A Balazos A Policias Federales - Francisco Lopez

Migrantes Deciden En Asamblea Si Continuan O No En Caravan A EE.UU. - CB24

Migrantes Hondurenos Lanzan Piedras A Patrullas De La Policia - Tops Curados

Migrantes Marchan A La Onu - Ilegales Matan A Agente Fronterizo - Conciencia Radio

Migrantes Se La Jeugan Con Huelga De Hambre - Efeto Noticia

Navarrete Prida: Migrantes Seran Deportados Por Cruzar A EE UU - Beto Alfa 24H

Pitaya Queen En Hotel De Lujo En Sonora Ultimas Noticias Tendencia - Beto Alfa Today 24H

Policia De Tijuana Diciendole Sus Verdades A Los De La Caravan - Viral En Redes

Por la Caravana de migrantes, AMLO hace peligrar el TLC y la seguridad en México - Francisco Lopez

Representante Caravana HUM1,lla A Tijuana - Francisco Lopez

Reprime Policia Mexicana A Caravana Migrante En Tijuana - TeleSUR

Se Filtra Video De Albergue En TJ, Caravana Migrante Quiere Esposas - El NoticiOso

Solalinde: Caravana Es Trafico De Personas Usaron A Mexicanos - Beto Alfa Today 24H

The Funding Behind The Midterm Migrant Caravan - The Red Elephant

The Situation Will Only Get Worse - We Are Change

The UN Is Trying To Ruin The World - James Munder

Todos Los Videos De Los Hondurenos Malagradecidos - Jajaja Buen Chiste

Trump Dice No A Las Hordas Hondurenas Y Amenaza Con Usar El US Army - Conciencia Radio

Trump Ofrece A México USD $20 Millones Por Caravana Migrante - Francisco Lopez

Update: OTM Invasion Of Mexico - Thousands More Coming - Conciencia Radio

Urgente! Lo Que Debes Saber De La Caravana, Es La Invasion Ilegal - Consciencia Radio

Ya Llegaron Los Primeros Ilegales De Honduras A Mexicali, Vienen Miles - Consciencia Radio

#####

### Media Reviews

Documentaries

The following are my notes for the Honduran Hordes article, from various news sources. They are arranged in rough chronological order. Note that many of these videos are no longer available on pro-socialist Youtube.

México Advierte A Caravana Centroamericana: Sin Visa No Podrá Ingresar Al País - Francisco Lopez

Run time: 10 minutes.

Notes: I am establishing a timeline for the emergence of the Honduran Invasion.

An article from Milenio dated from October 14 states that Mexico will not allow any migrants into its country without visas. At this point, the illegal immigrants numbered at two thousand. In the article, the governmental entity Governance of Foreign Relations states that visas must be obtained at consulates and not at the border.

Another Milenio article from March 21, 2018 notes that 350,000 Columbians live in Mexico City, up from an average of 90,000. Chief of Government Miguel Mancera states the need for biometric controls to confirm the identities of people who are legally allowed to be in Mexico City. The same person might enter Mexico under three or four different names.

Biometric controls should have been implemented a long time ago, Mancera said. The decision not to install them was political.

México inicia su autoprotección en contra de la Caravana de Migrantes, implementa operativo federal! - Francisco Lopez

Run time: 10 minutes

Notes: The video is dated from October 16, 2018.

Reported in an article by Proceso - The National Institution of Immigration sends federal officers to Mexico's southern border. The officers were tasked with preventing the Honduran horde from entering into Mexican territory.

Concerns are raised regarding the unlawful entry of Maras gang members and the safety of the immigrants. Another concern is that the migrants will enter Mexico without having their identification verified.

Mexican government official Navarrote Prida is blamed for having allowed the caravan to get to the border.

AMLO traiciona a México, dará libre paso a CARAVANA de migrantes y visas de trabajo - Francisco Lopez

Run time: 11 minutes.

Notes: President elect Manuel Obrador publicly announces he will make work visas available to Honduran foreigners.

An article from Aristegui News states Mexico will be divided into 265 zones, with federal, military and naval police assigned to them based on some sort of index.

Mexican political titles are a mess. Okay, the Secretary of Governance told the Commissioned General of the Federal Police, Manelich Castiall, NOT to stop the illegal migrant caravan. This is from an article in El Sol De Mexico, from October 16, 2018.

Basically, outgoing president Pena-Nieto gave up power a month and a half before new president Obrador is officially inaugurated on December 1st.

In an article from Televisa, October 16th, we have a report that the migrants will have free passage through the state of Chiapas.

Human and drug traffickers are establishing smuggling corridors through Mexico and toward the US. Things will be that much easier if the migrants are given work visas.

"Anyone who wants to work in our country, will have our support." - Obrador

The number of migrants is estimated at 4 to 5,000.

Por la Caravana de migrantes, AMLO hace peligrar el TLC y la seguridad en México - Francisco Lopez

Run time: 10 minutes.

Notes: This report is from October 18, 2018. It reiterates that outgoing president Pena-Nieto sent federal agents to prevent Hondurans from entering into Mexico. This decision was overridden by president elect Obredor, who has promised work visas to the incoming mob.

In recorded audio, Obredor offers benefits to migrants beginning on December 1st. He states work visas will be distributed.

On October 18, an article from El Universal states US President Trump will send troops to secure the border. Trump makes the claim that criminals are in the caravan.

George Soros Invade Mexico Y Trump Amenaza Con Cerrar La Frontera - Concienca Radio

Run time: 12 minutes.

Notes: Video from October 18, 2018.

In previous posts, I covered the Youtube channel of Francisco Lopez on Honduran Horde events up to when the mob burst through Guatemalan border defenses. I am now switching over to another channel, Conciencia Radio, run by Alex Backman. This channel also has a tremendous amount of information and insight on the engineered crisis.

Migrant infestation numbers at 7,000.

The caravan was then halted at the Mexican border at Tapachula, Chiapas.

Backman characterizes the invasion as a communist 5th Column movement, speculating that George Soros is behind it.

Evidente la traición de AMLO a México y la crisis que hizo escalar - Francisco Lopez

Run time: 12 minutes.

Notes: This video is from October 19th, 2018.

Migrant caravan leader Walter Coelho speaks on how the migrants are looking for work and better lives. Coelho clearly states that the migrants are NOT heading for the US, but are planning to stay in Mexico.

The narrator states that 99% of the comments on his channel are against the Honduran invasion, contrary to the claims of Mexican Fake News.

The caravan leader is also reported as saying the migrants 'don't want to steal,' implying they would steal if they have to.

Mexican nationals who voted for Obradaor feel betrayed.

There is worry again that Maras gang members are part of the mob.

At this point, the horde was massed up on the bridge between Mexico and Guatemala.

México resiste hasta ahora a la Caravana migrante - Francisco Lopez

Run time: 3 minutes.

Notes: October 19, 2018. The Honduran Horde breaks through Guatemalan border defenses and faces off against Mexican border personnel.

The horde now includes Nicaraguan and Salvadoran nationals.

Trump ofrece a México USD $20 millones por Caravana Migrante - Francisco Lopez

Run time: 5 minutes.

Notes: The horde numbers at 8,000. Additional caravans are forming in Honduras and El Salvador.

Migrants are slowly tricking into southern Mexico.

An article from Lopez-Doriga has the headline that US President Trump has offered 20 million dollars to halt the Honduran Horde. Secretary of Governance Alfonso Navarrete Prida reportedly turned down the offer. This information comes from an interview done by Radio Formula. Prida was hopeful at that time that 6 million migrants would enter Mexico. So far, only 200 requests for asylum from the horde have been registered.

The article states that children, women and older people were deliberately placed at the front of the caravan to push at border barriers.

The Funding Behind The Midterm Migrant Caravan - The Red Elephant

Run time: 15 minutes.

Notes: This video is from October 22, 2018.

A Tweet from Skylight Engagements states their camera crew filmed video of the Honduran Horde on October 19, when the first caravan had just entered into Mexico from Guatemala.

Skylight's official address is 147 Prince Street, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Their web address is skylight.is.

George Soros' tax return for 2016, listed under foundation name Foundation To Promote Open Society, shows 'general support' was provided to Skylight in the amount of 1 million dollars. This PDF tax return is reportedly 500 pages long.

Through Twitter, it is proven that Skylight is associated with Open Society.

The tax return shows financial support for the organizations that organized the Cavanaugh and DACA protests. Another ploy is to fund projects that allow illegal immigrants to obtain the right to vote faster.

The United Nations Global Compact For Migration calls for the resettlement of 294 million illegal immigrants into Canada, the US and Europe. That is close to the entire population of the United States of 315 million, roughly.

Trump Dice No A Las Hordas Hondurenas Y Amenaza Con Usar El US Army - Conciencia Radio

Run time: 8 minutes.

Notes: This report is from October 23, 2018.

Trump threatens to cut off financial aid to El Salvador and Honduras.

Leftist Venezuelan interests are influencing formation and expansion of the caravan.

Bartolo Fuentes is identified as a leftist Venezuelan driving force.

This was right at the time Soros had a 'bomb' delivered to his address.

Alerta! Vienen 30 Mil En Caravana De Ilegales A Tijuana - Conciencia Radio

Run time: 22 minutes.

Notes: This video is from October 26, 2018.

Headline from the periodical Zeta - 'We are a force of thousands and we are going to Tijuana'

Migrant count at the time was 15,000.

Trump had ordered 800 or 1,000 troops to the US border by then.

American militias were supporting Trump's move.

The Lying Clintons and the Obama Cartel received bomb threats, the same as Reptile Soros. This was one week before midterms.

Many of the invaders looked well bathed, well clothed and well heeled in general.

The invaders left behind tremendous amounts of trash and clothing.

US Vice President Pence claimed Venezuelan interests were behind the caravan. When I first heard this, I doubted it, as I didn't see the connection. As time has gone on however, and especially in light of the revelation that Venezuela's Maduro and North Korea's Jon-Yung will attend Obrador's inauguration, I've changed my mind.

The reported quote is that 30,000 migrants were going to destroy Trump's wall.

US ambassador to Honduras Mike Pompeo also names Venezuela as a culprit.

Only 1,400 applied for refugee asylum at the southern Mexican border. This means those people would have to prove their identities and officially register. Caravan leaders deliberately forced their way into Mexico to avoid having the migrants registered.

The migrants, as quoted in the Zeta newspaper article, are fleeing the Honduran government run by rightist Juan Orlando Hernandez, alleging that the horde favors the Left.

Honduran reporter Denys Paredes left his family in a financial bind to become part of the caravan. Paredes is quoted as saying they will reach Tijuana as a force of 30,000.

US financial aid to Honduras in 2016 was 128 million dollars.

At the time, it was estimated that 13,000 migrants were forming a new caravan in El Salvador.

US intelligence had either investigated or infiltrated the first caravan, estimating that 90% of migrants were male. These men are described as being of military age, from 18 to 35 years old.

Fake News reports primarily show women with children or pushing strollers.

Backman correctly predicts strife in Playas De Tijuana, which took place over half a month later on November 14th.

Allowing the migrants to push their way onto Mexican soil violates federal laws.

Mexico already has an illegal population of 6,000 Haitians.

An Army Of 30K Strong Plan To Storm The Tijuana Border - Conciencia Radio

Run time: 15 minutes.

Notes: This is an English version of a report I covered previously in Spanish. It is dated from October 26, 2018.

Migrant count grew to 17,000, with a tenth of that number of people actually applying for legal asylum.

Update: OTM Invasion Of Mexico - Thousands More Coming - Conciencia Radio

Run time: 24 minutes.

Notes: Video from October 31, 2018.

On October 28, invaders broke through the southern Mexican border.

Under Mexico's recent constitutional reform, guidelines are more in line with United Nations policies. Mexican law must conform with international treaties. Human rights must be in conformity, in part, with progressiveness.

Shots were fired at Mexican federal police during the border breach. Rocks were thrown directly at officers.

The second caravan from El Salvador numbers at 13,000. A third caravan numbers at 2,000.

Two invaders were arrested with weapons.

In a video, a radical, concealed invader told the reporter not to aim his camera at where the Molotov cocktails were being prepared.

Organizers reportedly want to increase the caravan to 100,000 invaders.

Hurricane Willa affected 185,000 Mexicans nationals in Nayarit and Sonora, leaving thousands homeless.

Two migrants have already died from accidents.

3,000 migrants from Guatemala are part of a new caravan.

Esto Es Una Invasion - Hasta En La Cocina Ep41- Conciencia Radio

Run time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.

Notes: Intro video clip shows Honduran trespassers breaking past border defenses in southern Mexico. They are throwing rocks and pulling down gates, while Mexican border officials are seen doing very little to stop them. An invader states that since they have lost women and children, they are coming in peace, but if Mexico does not allow them entry, they will resort to violent means.

A second clip shows the invaders insulting Mexican federal agents by referring to them as _culeros_ , or assholes, all done in the name of migratory peace, of course. Rock throwers attack a Mexican helicopter at the scene. The invaders have left a tremendous amount of trash in their wake.

Show hosts are Alex Backman and Monica Gahbler.

Backman blames Guatemala for allowing the horde to get that far.

Secretary of Governance Navarette De Prida claims the invaders are not violating any national laws. Honduras is not in war at this time, so there is no basis for its citizens to claim refugee status.

The peaceful Hondurans have covered their faces, while throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails. The claim is that the invaders are poor and hungry.

At the time, 3 caravans were reported.

Two invaders were arrested in Chiapas, after shooting at Mexican federal police. The police escorted the caravan when this occurred. The assailants were 17 and 22 years of age.

Socialists decry Mexicans as zenophobes for protesting the invasion.

Some invaders are coming in sick with tropical diseases.

7,000 invaders had arrived in the state of Oaxaca. 13,000 Salvadorans were in route to Mexico. A third caravan is reported.

The Mexican government stated it would allow peaceful entry, as long as the migrants registered their identities. The migrants have refused to do this. The actions seen already, the concealing of their faces and violence, proves there are many delinquents in the caravan. Abuse of women within the caravan is mentioned. People have died from exhaustion. Children have disappeared.

Backman calls Baja California governor Enrique de la Vega a coward if he refuses to halt the migrant caravan.

Gahbler brings up George Soros being behind Open Borders, and that people in the caravan are being paid to cause violence and conflict.

Fake News calls the idea that Soros is behind this a conspiracy theory and anti-Semitism. Backman reminds us that Hungary, where Soros was born, considers him a wanted man. Son Alexander Soros is said to be of the same mold.

President elect Obrador claims he needs the Hondurans for his ambitious Train Maya project.

Cuba and Venezuela are also blamed for inciting the caravan, in an attempt to embarrass US President Trump. (As an aside, you must remember that Trump and his warhawk generals were pushing to use military aggression against Venezuela for several months.) Note that Mexican Secretary of the Interior has announced that Venezuela's Maduro will be at Obrador's inauguration.

Soros is described as a non-practicing Jew. He has backed many illegal migrant movements in the past.

An article from The Times Of Israel, dated February 4, 2018, has the headline 'Netanyahu: George Soros Behind Bid To Thwart Migrant Deportations.' Netanyahu is accused of taking part in the 'anti-Semitic' Hungarian campaign against Soros. This shows the regressive Left is willing to associate Netanyahu, the leader of Israel and obviously a Jew, as being anti-Semitic. How absurd is that?

No surveillance video proof for the supposed bomb delivered to Soros' billion dollar residence has been produced. Why hasn't the US frozen this man's assets yet?

Murder rate in Mexico is 24 for every 1,000 of its population. In Honduras, it is 60 for every 1,000.

The point of the invasion, according to Backman, is to divide the partnership between the US and Mexico, and to cause Mexico to ally instead with nations to its south. (YT channel Florida Maquis also made this prediction months ago, after following the politics of Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.)

An estimated 125 to 180,000 Mexicans from Nayarit have lost their homes after Hurricane Wilma, yet Mexico is more worried about the health and welfare of the caravan. Where is the humanitarian aid for Mexican citizens?

MS-13 gang members are reputed to have smuggled nuclear devices through Mexico in the 1990s.

The federal officers who were shot upon were taking part in Operation Walker.

No fund drive was ever collected for Nayarit or Michoacan.

Trump was about to sign an Executive Order disallowing US birth right to children born to illegal migrants.

An estimated 30 million illegal migrants live in the US. Compare to the 11 million figure tossed around by Fake News reporter Jorge Ramos.

Refugee centers in Tijuana were already full. Open-air camps were planned, with a cold winter approaching.

Haitian mothers fly into Mexico to give birth, giving Mexican citizenship to their kids, before they fly back to their home country.

Obrador plans to give the invaders 'field jobs.' This is contradictory, as the invaders already had field jobs and were fed up with them. It would be even worse in the US, because of their lack of job skills. Plus, they don't speak the English language.

Illegal immigration into the US has increased by 25% in 2018.

Trump planned on sending between 10 and 15,000 troops to the US border.

First Wave OF Illegals From Honduras Reached The Border - Conciencia Radio

Run time: 19 minutes.

Notes: Video from November 1, 2018.

Fake News continues to downplay the Honduran invasion.

The first wave of migrants reaches the border between Mexicali and Calexico. They traveled by train. (I believe these turned out to be the LGBT contingent that later caused strife in Playas De Tijuana.) The larger portion of the first caravan, about 5,500 strong, was stuck in Oaxaca, after moving through Chiapas. The bulk of the caravan was demanding public transportation to the US border.

The first wave was staying in hotels in Mexicali. Where is the money coming from? How many hotel rooms do 76 people rent?

From the article in Frontera, November 1, we read that the 14 refugee centers in Mexicali only have room for 500 occupants. In Tijuana, the centers can hold only 150 women and children. Both Mexicali and Tijuana centers were already full.

New Minister of the Interior, Sanchez-Cordero, offered 1 million work visas for the arriving migrants. Jobs for foreigners, not for Mexicans!

Migrants were given social security numbers and legal status.

Angela Merkel is said to have been educated in Soviet tactics when she lived in Moscow.

70% of the first caravan is heading to Baja California, about 4,900 or so.

The migrants are coming from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

After the big earthquake in September 2017 in Mexico City, a lot of Mexicans are homeless and unemployed. University graduates can't find jobs.

Obrador cancelled the huge new airport construction project in Texcoco, and had the plan to take over the military base in Santa Lucia, to expand the airport in conjunction with the air force.

Water issues in Mexico City have caused a 5-day disruption of service. 17 million people will be without water.

3,500 Salvadorans arrived at the Mexican / Guatemalan border with caravan leaders. They arrived in buses.

Ya Llegaron Los Primeros Ilegales De Honduras A Mexicali, Vienen Miles - Conciencia Radio

Run time: 11 minutes.

Notes: Video from November 1, 2018.

This is a repeat of a report Backman made previously in English.

Russia tells Mexico not to worry about the airport project, as that nation intends to invest heavily in Mexico.

Rumor is that the caravans will eventually number at 100,000.

Catastrophic rains have affected Nayarit, Oaxaca, Sinaloa and Sonora.

Olga Sanchez-Cordero has promised 1 million visas to migrants.

An unknown number of men in the caravan have been identified as Special Interest Aliens. These are troublesome individuals the US government is watching out for. These include political radicals or persons with criminal associations.

Urgente! Lo Que Debes Saber De La Caravana, Es La Invasion Ilegal - Conciencia Radio

Run time: 27 minutes.

Notes: This is the first video I watched from Backman's channel, back in early November when all this was still starting up. Dated from November 5, 2018.

Mexican authorities have done nothing to stem the flow of invaders.

The organization Judicial Watch sent reporters to Honduras to document the formation of caravans. They found a highly funded and organized movement led by Non-Governmental Organizations such as Open Borders, backed by George Soros.

Women and children are being put up front of the caravans to elicit public sympathy.

5,000 invaders have reached Mexico City.

Mexican funds are being used to transport the caravan into Mexico City.

At least two federal officers have been killed.

Criminals are imbedded in the caravans, including human traffickers and gang members, as documented by Judicial Watch. Honduras may be sending its worst citizens into the caravans to get rid of them.

The second caravan, made up mostly of Salvadorans, have reached Oaxaca. They number at approximately at 3,000, after having some confrontation with officials. Another group, a third caravan, refuses to show identification at the Mexico / Guatemala border.

US border officers in New Laredo, Texas, are reinforcing the border and cleaning up the Rio Bravo.

What Fake News is not reporting: Mexico cannot absorb so many invaders. The caravans may have been organized years ahead of time. Guatemala states the caravans are not forming spontaneously. Most of the caravans are made up of men in their twenties. Many of these invaders have left their wives and children behind in their home countries.

(The first caravan was formed in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on October 12, 2018. This comes from a member of Judicial Watch with a Honduran wife, who claim the first caravan started up in a shopping mall.)

Many migrants do not qualify for asylum.

Many migrants claimed they would stay in Veracruz, but later they started moving toward Mexico City. Unverified reports from Tepito and City Azteca state that organized crime cartels in Mexico City plan to arm the criminal element within the caravans with AR-15 assault rifles and grenades. This way they will be heavily armed when they reach the US border.

Criminal groups within Mexico are infiltrating the caravan.

Other people in the caravans come from Africa, Bangladesh, China and the Near East, including Islamic extremists. Some of these people received Venezuelan passports, allowing them to travel into Honduras.

Mexico may be the target of terrorism, in addition to the US.

Migrant diseases include tuberculosis and dengue fever.

FBI documents link to George Soros to the US government, where the government is facilitating matters for Soros.

More caravans are arriving in Mexicali. The migrants are complaining that they are mistreated at refugee centers.

Guatemala did all it could to deter and deport the invaders back to their home countries.

Unnamed sources within the Baja California government say governor Enrique De La Vega wants nothing to do with the caravans, as he hopes to leave office with a clean exit.

Honduran president Hernandez claims his people were misled into joining the caravans.

Fake News is focusing on the women and children.

Actualizacion Important! Lo Que Otros... (Important Update On The Immigrant Invasion Of Mexico) - Conciencia Radio

Run time: 1 hour, 7 minutes.

Notes: Video from November 6.

Six total caravans are reported.

Migrants were wasting water in Mexico City, including washing their clothing in drinking reservoirs.

Mexico City will not give an accurate number of migrants, giving out numbers between 4,500 and 5,500. Oaxaca and Veracruz are not giving numbers at all.

Fake News is hiding trouble caused by migrants, showing instead women holding children up to their chests and playing up their plight.

Invaders burned down an immigration center in Chiapas. 21 men, 5 women and 3 kids were staying there. They were in the process of being deported.

Radical Muslims from Bangladesh are in the caravan, according to Univision. They joined the caravan in Guatemala. Judicial Watch and Daily Caller confirm this. Report date is November 2. These Muslims may go after Mexico targets.

According to an FBI report, a radical Muslim cell in Las Vegas was constructing C4 explosive devices for Mexican targets.

5 Syrian men with stolen passports were arrested in Honduras, from the same place where the first caravan started up.

It is reiterated that the majority of the invasion horde entered Mexico without being identified or even named.

MS-13 gang members, human and child traffickers have been spotted by several sources, including Judicial Watch.

Guatemala turned back 2,000 invaders. Guatemala has asked the US to help identify the organizers of the horde, according to president Morales.

Aid in Mexico City included food, water and large refugee centers, including sports stadiums. All of these were planned ahead of time.

All major Mexican news outlets are reporting Fake News.

Mexico's National Institute of Migration reports that organizers are giving migrants packs of money to continue with the caravans.

The liberal party in Honduras is accused of encouraging people to leave their country. This includes former president Selayas of Honduras. Former government deputy Bartolo Fuentes claims the caravan began spontaneously, when he is shown as one of its initial organizers.

Guatemalan authorities captured a ring of child traffickers, including 7 minors. These kids were kidnapped and traveling with the caravan.

1,100 illegal migrants are arrested in the US every day, for crossing the border illegally. 400,000 per year. Latinos in the US want increased border security. (From Breitbart.)

Human rights organizations continue to support the caravan despite its violence and disrespect for Mexico's citizens.

300,000 anchor babies are born in the US every year. This number exceeds US births in 48 states. That is every state except for Alaska and Hawaii. (From Breitbart.)

Venezuela's Chavez complained about evil, imperialistic US, yet he still sent his daughters to college here.

Cubans are in the caravan. 11 were detained.

On Backman's shirt: Socialism - the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, the gospel of envy

CDMX Sin Agua Hasta El... Marabunta Migratoria - Conciencia Radio

Run time: 16 minutes.

Notes: 5,500 invaders were housed in a sports park in Mexico City.

160 million pesos were spent on a failed water piping system. Apparently, a foreign firm was contracted to design and build it. Mexico decided it would take over the project and put it together, and it failed miserably.

George Soros attempted to disassociate himself from the caravan.

No city in Mexico can handle that many migrants.

Crime reports increased in Mexico City, including robberies and rapists.

Milenio News covered events from Russian, China and North Korea.

Oaxaca refused to transport the invaders.

Mexicans in Veracruz tried to record the caravan. Migrants stopped their cars and forced them to erase their pictures and videos. Also, migrants were boarding private cars and forcing the drivers to transport them, or they were taking the cars outright.

The report states that a new caravan is forming in Brazil. It will pick up migrants as it travels through Venezuela and Colombia.

Migrantes Marchan A La Onu - Ilegales Matan A Agente Fronterizo - Conciencia Radio

Run time: 31 minutes.

Notes: Report from November 8.

2,000 invaders are heading to the UN embassy in Colonia Polanco, near Mexico City. They are demanding asylum in Mexico, despite not meeting required criteria.

Claudia Shanebaum stated the constitution of Mexico will be respected.

Austria, Hungary and Poland repelled the Muslim horde.

A flyer is shown revealing the origins of the first caravan. It is titled Walk Of The Migrant, and shown on the Facebook page of former Honduran deputy Bartolo Fuentes. The date on the flyer is October 12, claims the event will begin at 8 am. The image on the flyer shows the back of a man with his arms stretched out, and a sign pointing the way to Mexico. The text of the flyer follows:

We will accompany these people. It is regretful that there are no institutions in Honduras that can support us to avoid that the migrants do no lose their orientation, or fall into danger. Let us at least support their exit. We decry the terrible situation we are living in inside Honduras: unemployment, insecurity, poverty. And those we protest against persecute us or shoot live rounds.

Where are Mexico's leaders in this time of crisis? President Pena-Nieto is called a failure and a coward.

A Breitbart article, dated November 6, headline: MS-13 Member Arrested With Children Near Texas Border. The gang member was detained in a group of 12 migrants, including 2 children. Two days prior, two other criminals were detained.

Ixtacalco is reporting robberies and rapes.

According to a headline on El Mexicano, residents of Playas were already voicing worries about insecurity. A sub-headline claims Trump has given shoot to kill orders against illegal migrants.

Incoming Secretary of Governance Olga Sanchez-Cordero offers 1 million jobs to the migrants.

Mexican Fake News is still not reporting the caravan's troublemakers.

Another Breitbart article reports 3 sex offenders were caught near the border in one day. This happened in Yuma. One criminal was convicted of having sex with a minor in 2005. A second was convicted of misdemeanor rape in 2008.

Obama deported over 300,000 criminals into Mexico, via Tijuana.

Rock-throwing illegal migrants murdered Border Patrol agent Rogelio Martinez in 2017.

Bishop Jose Torres urged his congregation in Ciudad Juarez to tear down walls against migrants, in an article on Jew News.

The Daily Caller reports that DHS officials informed the US senate of national security threats within the caravan. The article is dated from November 7, stating that members of the caravan have histories of violent crime and are from countries other than those in Central America. They are from Western and Central Asia, and North Africa.

La Obscura Verdad Ocluta En La Caravana Migrante LGBT - ForeverPain

Run time: 3 minutes.

Notes: Video from November 12.

The LGBT group arrived in Tijuana on November 11, after splitting off from the main Honduran Horde. It included 85 members. They arrived by bus, after passing through Sonora and Mexicali.

In a tweet, Pitaya Queen blames the fire at the Caritas refugee shelter as being started by trans-phobes. PQ asked fans to contact US border authorities, asking that the gays should be taken in because their lives were at risk. PQ's tweets are written in very good English. Note how PQ tries to draw sympathy from fans, when her intentions all along were to traffic gays into the US for prostitution.

The shelter took in over 35 gays in May of 2018.

Representante Caravana HUM1,lla A Tijuana - Francisco Lopez

Run time: 3 minutes

Notes: Video from November 15, 2018.

This video focuses on Honduran Horde leader Irineo Mujica. According to an article by Uniradio Informa, Mujica, head of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, was detained in Suchiate, Hidalgo, Chiapas on October 19, 2018, for resisting arrest and vandalism. He opposed Mexican migration officials including municipal and federal police while trying to mobilize the caravan.

Mujica presented credentials showing dual citizenship in the US and another country.

He was part of the mob that attacked police officials in Chiapas.

In the closing clip, Mujica incenses Mexicans by stating (rightfully) that Tijuana is a very violent city that nobody wants to come to (his opinion).

Migrantes Hondurenos Lanzan Piedras A Patrullas De La Policia - Tops Curados

Run time: 2 minutes.

Notes: This video was uploaded on November 16, 2018. I am fairly sure it was taken on the night of the 14th, when the illegal horde was in conflict in Zona Norte and Playas De Tijuana. This video documents that it was the Hondurans throwing rocks at Tijuana police, and not the Mexican protesters as Fake News TeleSur has claimed.

La Verdad De La Caravana LGBT - Pitaya Queen La Historia - Sin Pelos En La Lenga

Run time: 4 minutes

Notes: Video from November 17, 2018.

This report exposes the leader of the LGBT caravan that incited unrest in Playas De Tijuana, when a group of 80 moved into an expensive rental house.

Pitaya Queen (also known as Ana K.) is a transvestite citizen of the United States with residence in Texas. She is accused of transporting gay people through Mexico into the US for the purposes of prostitution.

Previously, she transported a group of gays into Mexico in May of 2018.

She is described as a drug addict.

She was in the Caritas refugee center in May, which mysteriously caught fire.

One of her wards was Roxanne, a gay who died of HIV due to lack of treatment.

While at a drug rehabilitation center in Tijuana, she was caught using drugs and making attempts to smuggle gays across the border.

Speculation is that the rent for the lavish Playas home was paid for by people in the US, who are working to get her and her wards across the border, for prostitution.

Her real name is Roberto Flotte Jr. She has a doctorate from Harvard University for Native American Program.

Illegal Immigrants March Through Mexico - Conciencia Radio

Run time: 18 minutes.

Notes: More caravans are forming south of Mexico.

A caravan is stuck in Oaxaca, where the state refused to transport them.

2,000 are stuck in Veracruz, waiting for transportation. A sports facility was overrun with migrants. The government there is offering food, water, clothing and medical aid. A professor in Veracruz was robbed at knifepoint. People filming had their phones taken away and images or videos were deleted. Migrants are forcing drivers to give them rides, or stealing the cars.

2,000 are marching through Mexico City to Polanco, on their way to the UN embassy.

Russia will invest in 6 factories, including one in Mexicali. They will produce mig fighters, tanks and armored vehicles. In return, Russia will give 10% of its vehicles to Mexico.

Captain Clay Higgins of the US Border Patrol shows how large the rocks are that migrants are throwing at his agents.

Edgar Ramirez of Homeland Security states that under current international law, migrants cannot choose what country will help them. The UN must choose for them.

The incoming immigration director of Mexico, Guillen, will prioritize the human rights of the migrants over other concerns.

Informe De La DEA Sobre Riebeling Y Periodistas De BC Dan Su Opinion - Personajes Mexico

Run time: 23 minutes

Notes: This report centers on Ivan Mariano Martin Del Campo Riebeling, a personality who emerged during the protests against Honduran invasion on Sunday, November 14th in Tijuana, Mexico. Riebeling has a checkered past.

Riebeling is accused of threatening reporters. He has been investigated in Mexico and detained in the US.

In March 2018, an article in Quadratin asserts the DEA has investigated him. Riebeling has been arrested 6 times in the US, going back to 1997. In 1997, the Border Patrol arrested him for possession of a controlled substance: 9 to 10 pounds of marijuana. He was released for lack of evidence. Huh? In 1999, the Border Patrol detained him for trying to enter the US illegally. Riebeling gave a false statement and was deported immediately. In 1999 again, he was arrested in Chula Vista and again deported. In 2007, Chula Vista police arrested him for carrying a stolen, concealed weapon. In 2008, the DEA in San Ysidro arrested him for assault, robbery and rape. He was sentenced to 48 months in prison. In 2009, a San Diego sheriff arrested him for making threats.

Riebeling has made several threats to a Tijuana reporter, admitting that he has had several clashes with the law, and because of them, he is now a supporter of human rights.

Several reporters claim he has threatened them. One reporter claims that Reiebeling sells weapons to malicious people. He has also threatened Tijuana Mayor Gastelum.

Riebeling presents himself as a National Coordinator for Human Rights, but this post does not exist. Another group he claims to lead is the Diplomatic Corps of International Human Rights.

He has even claimed to be a reporter of the Tijuana periodical Zeta. Zeta calls him an impostor who has never worked for them.

Even worse, he appears in a picture dressed up as a church-affiliated Knights Templar. The organization states they expulsed Riebeling in 2017, for actions contrary to those of the organization.

The United Nations has stated that he has nothing to do with this man.

Starting at 12:45, video testimony is presented showing about two dozen Mexican reporters who state that Riebeling has threatened them. Riebeling is using social media such as Facebook to defame the reporters.

At the end of the video, Riebeling himself threatens to rape or cause bodily harm to reporters, going as far as to say he will go to their houses.

Acusan A Pitaya Queen De Prostituir Adolescentes - Odilon Garcia Noticias

Run time: 1 minute.

Notes: Video from mid November.

Pitaya Queen is accused of prostituting two minors, ages 14 and 15, from Guatemala and El Salvador. The minors had sexually transmitted diseases from sleeping with transgender gays. Girls aged 15 and 16 were told they would have no problem getting to Miami, Florida to start better lives.

Cartel De Tijuana Levanta A Migrante Hondureno - Grillonautas2

Run time: 6 minutes.

Notes: Video from Mid November.

A Honduran young man threatens violence against Tijuana protesters. He states he has no fear of repercussions, as 30,000 Hondurans will soon arrive to fight against protesters. Later, this young man is caught by locals and given a severe beating.

Disculpas De La Migrante Que Irrito A Los Tijuanenses - DW Espanol

Run time: 3 minutes.

Notes: Video from Mid November.

'The food they give us here... Fatal... Only refried beans as if they were feeding pigs." - Miriam Celaya

After her comments went viral, DW News went to locate the woman for a response. She claims she's been bullied and apologized for what she said.

Other migrants stated she should not even be in the caravan after saying what she did. Thanks to Miriam's complaints, the selection of food offered to migrants was upgraded.

Miriam was moved to another refugee center as a result.

El Glamour Y Vanidades De Lady Frijoles Es Lado Secreto - Profecias Y Misterios

Run time: 16 minutes.

Notes: Video from Mid November.

More pictures of Lady Frijoles, showing her dressed up, behind the wheel of a late model vehicle, wearing an expensive ring and showing off high heels.

El Plan De Soros Y Maduro Para Evitar Intervencion - Informativo G24

Run time: 16 minutes.

Notes: Video from Mid November.

The second wave of migrants had just entered Mexico.

This is following Trump's vague reference to an October Surprise or a Red October, which these journalists believe meant military intervention into Venezuela.

From an interview with Venezuelan journalist Gustavo Azucar Alcala: Nobody doubts that Venezuela funded the first caravan out of Honduras. US VP Pence has proof that financial support came from Venezuela. Part of the reasoning for fomenting the caravans is to draw attention away from the mass exodus of Venezuelans leaving that country. International attention was focused on president Maduro. Trump and Pence put the idea of US military intervention on the table.

Maduro's Venezuela claims it does not have money for health or education, or other social issues. It does have money for propaganda against the US, including sending money to Cuba, or to purchase weapons from Russia. Venezuela is linked with drug cartels. Money magically appears when defending president Madura from scrutiny.

Thousands of children are dying in Venezuela, due to poor health care.

Over 6,000 medical professionals have left Venezuela due to low wages.

6,000 to 8,000 Venezuelan refugees enter Colombia every day.

A large amount of Colombia's drugs enter Venezuela through the rebel groups ELN and FARC. From Venezuela, they are flown or shipped to Honduras, before they are moved through Mexico.

This interview has a lot of pro-Colombian right wing bias.

Migrantes Atacan A Balazos A Policias Federales - Francisco Lopez

Run time: 3 minutes.

Notes: Video from Mid November.

The Secretary of Governance reports that two armed Honduran men attacked federal police, Zaragoza, Hidalgo, Chiapas. Carlos N is 17 years old. Jerson N is 22. They were armed with a Glock with 9 clips. Police were unhurt when the gun jammed and captured the invaders.

Hondurenos Incendian Instalacion De INM - Francisco Lopez

Run time: 2 minutes.

Notes: Video from Mid November.

Televisa reports that migrants have set an INM station on fire in Pijijiapan, Chiapas. The article is from October 26. The fire was started deliberately in the men's section of the station.

Also, a woman from Tabasco with mental concerns was dragged to a hill and abused. Women in Zapotecas who had come to donate food had the food thrown at them.

Se Filtra Video De Albergue En TJ, Caravan Migrante Quiere Esposas - El NoticiOso

Run time: 7 minutes.

Notes: Video from November 20.

A member of Catholic clergy from Tijuana speaks to the caravan invaders about how they might end up in Canada. He encourages the single men to think about creating new familes there, inferring that they will marry Canadian women. Caravan members are shown holding a Canadian flag.

A list of men in the caravan shows they are of military age.

Enfrentamiento Migrantes Y Policias En Tijuana - Excelsior TV

Run time: 3 minutes.

Notes: Caravan leader Mujica blames drug dealers for Tijuana's problems, and not the caravan he's been leading from Honduras.

Two invaders are arrested after smoking pot in the refugee center. Some invaders claim they are innocent, and the police roughed them up anyway. A policeman was hurt after being hit in the head with a rock.

Lider Hondureno Se Siente Enganado - Efecto Noticia

Run time: 3 minutes.

Notes: Honduran caravan leader Netty states he feels cheated after arriving in Tijuana. At the start, he was told that when the caravan reached the US border, officials from several countries (Canada, France, Spain and the US) would be there to meet them. This includes offers of citizenship and employment. The leader fears for his life after having deceived the people who followed him. He refuses to state who first told him this idea, calling it a rumor.

Pitaya Queen En Hotel De Lujo En Sonora Ultimas Noticias Tendencia - Beto Alfa Today 24H

Run time: 5 minutes.

Notes: Video from late November.

After the debacle in Playas De Tijuana, key caravan figure Pitaya Queen is spotted near the US border at Nogales, Sonora. He and his group of gay invaders are staying at a luxury hotel. He refuses an interview by an independent journalist.

Outside, gay invaders from Honduras and Nicaragua harass the journalist.

Solalinde: Caravan Es Trafico De Personas Usaron A Mexicanos - Beto Alfa Today 24H

Run time: 4 minutes

Notes: Video from late November.

Human rights activist Father Alejandro Solalinde accuses Pueblos Sin Fronteras (Towns Without Borders) of human trafficking. He accuses caravan leaders of deliberately providing a front for the smuggling of undocumented migrants, and of placing women and children at the head of the groups for media exposure.

He claims that he personally helped to register people from the third caravan, and that he disarmed them when he found out they were carrying firearms. He helped move 23 busloads to Mexico City.

PSF refused to allow Solalinde to finish processing the migrants, and told migrants to boycott or avoid Solalinde. He could not figure out who was financing the movement.

Capturan A Hermano Del Presidente De Honduras Por Narcotrafico - HispanTV

Run time: 2 minutes

Notes: Video from late November.

DEA officials detained the brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez in Miami, Florida, on charges of drug trafficking, weapons and organized crime. Juan Antonio Hernandez was wanted or implicated in 2016.

The Honduran government never investigated the charges.

Reprime Policia Mexicana A Caravana Migrante En Tijuana - TeleSUR

Run time: 10 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November. The Fake News headline is March Threatened.

Shows the protest at Benito Juarez sports complex. Tijuana protesters are called zenophobes and racists. The reporter claims a small number of agents provocateur are in the crowd. Some members of the crowd are said to have also participated in the protests in Playas De Tijuana, and that they are against the Tijuana police, which is completely untrue. Video evidence shows the invaders attacked Tijuana police with rocks at Playas.

The reporter claims violent Trump supporters and dual citizens are among the crowd inciting trouble. This is also untrue. People in Tijuana are angry, and they did push against the police and barricades, but the only Trump supporter I witnessed was Paloma For Trump, a woman from Tijuana who is a dual citizen.

The reporter falsely states that Mexicans are throwing rocks at police. Later he states that protesters are hiding their faces (8 minutes in), while clearly no protesters before the camera have their faces hidden.

At least 3 times in this report, the reporter calls Mexicans zenophobes and racists, when both Mexicans and Hondurans are Latinos.

One of the worst claims is that most of Tijuana approves of the invasion, when polls show 70% are against it.

The UN Is Trying To Ruin The World - James Munder

Run time: 10 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

An article from Neon Nettle, dated November 24, reads 'Hungary Slams UN Migration Pact For Trying To Legalise Illegal Immigration'

Hungarian foreign minister Peter Sijjarto states that Hungary will vote against the UN pact in December (on the 10th and 11th, in Marrakesh, Morocco). The UN pact is a global initiative pushing for mandatory resettlement quotas. The pact is called The Global Compact On Migration. It threatens the sovereignty of nations and their borders.

The compact claims not to be legally binding, but Dutch MEP official Marcel De Graaff states 'It is still the legal framework on which the participating countries commit themselves to build.'

In other news George Soros sues Hungary for going against his Open Borders policy.

The pact claims migration is a human right. It allows for countries that refuse illegal migration to be criticized. Criticism could called Hate Speech, as we are seeing in the situation in Mexico.

'It will become impossible to criticize Merkel's 'welcome migrants' politics without being at risk to be jailed for hate speech.' De Graaff added.

Germany's Angela Merkel proposed that countries should be prepared to give up control over their borders to the European Union.

Again, criticism of migration will become a criminal offense. This includes media outlets that show examples of criticism. People will no longer be able to say that mass migration taxes a government's welfare systems, or that migration leads to a surge of rape and murder.

Only the US, Australia and Hungary have indicated they will not sign the pact.

Arrestan A Migrantes Por Consumir Drogas A Un Costado De Un Jardin De Ninos - Accion Callejera

Run time: 28 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

A police spokesman states that the refugee camp at Juarez sports complex may get out of control quickly. Over 4,000 invaders were located there at the time. All he asks is that the invaders respect the rules given to them.

Two youths were arrested for smoking marijuana near a children's play area. Police tried to arrest two more, but the Honduran crowd held them back.

Navarrete Prida: Migrantes Seran Deportados Por Cruzar A EE UU - Beto Alfa 24H

Run time: 11 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

Secretary of Governance Alfonso Navarrete Prida claims the migrant protest in Tijuana would be peaceful. This protest at times became out of control and violent. Invaders tried to push through the US border at 4 different locations. This provoked a response from the US side of rubber bullets and tear gas.

Prida claims federal authorities will ensure that protesters stay near the refugee centers. Several agitators have been targeted.

Mexican police are largely unarmed.

The National Migration Institute (INM) will immediately deport any persons trying to cross the US border illegally, or breaking Mexico's laws.

La CIA Infiltro La Caravana Migrante - El Chapucero

Run time: 17 minutes.

Notes: Video from November 26.

A Mexican political analyst speculates that the CIA may have infiltrated the migrant caravan. He gives various angles for this, including that this is part of a Marshal Plan the CIA wants to disrupt, and also that the CIA has uncovered the identities of invaders who may have criminal backgrounds.

Hubo Migrants Detenidos En Mexico Pero No En Estados Unidos - TeleSUR TV

Run time: 7 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

News headline 'our feet are sore, we have no strength left.'

Fake News TeleSUR makes more blatantly false claims. This time, they say the mess at the border started off as a peaceful march, where the invaders were showing their appreciation for the way Tijuana embraced them. In frustration, these people tried to rush across the border, where US defenses used rubber bullets and tear gas on them. Notice there is no mention of how the caravan leaders agitated this. Also not mentioned is the fact that caravan leaders deliberately put women and children at the front of the invasion.

The INM announced it would deport as many as 500 lawbreakers.

'All we want is an opportunity.' An invader claims.

Three times, people state the invaders do not want to be here (in Tijuana). Really? They traveled the entire length of Mexico to a place they don't want to be in?

The reporter bitch claims the Juarez sports complex is as bad as a concentration camp.

Gob De Baja California Manda Mensaje A EPN - Periodismo Libre Y Artistico

Run time: 5 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

Baja governor Enrique De La Vega makes a plea to then president Pena Nieto for the caravan to comply with Mexican law. Vega has been largely out of sight and impotent during the entire crisis.

Cabecillas De Caravan Son Captados En Bar - Efecto Noticia

Run time: 4 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

The two leaders of the LGBT caravan are Pritaya Queen and her boyfriend Cesar Mejia. They are recorded buying coffee at Starbucks in Playas, despite claiming they represent the poor migrants. Later, they are recorded at nightclubs drinking large amounts of alcohol.

Policia De Tijuana Diciendole Sus Verdades A Los De La Caravana - Viral En Redes

Run time: 4 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

A municipal police commander tells invaders not to put their women and children at the front of their movement, while a caravan leader stands at his side and denies this is happening.

Breaking: Border Agent Breaks Silence, Reveals Exactly What's Happening - The Next News Network

Run time: 10 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

US Border Patrol confirms that women and children were being used as human shields. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott states on CNN Fake News that border agents did not use tear gas and rubber bullets until after projectiles struck them. The attackers were throwing projectiles while standing behind the human shields.

69 invaders were arrested at the US border.

Fake News claims the invaders are not invading, and they're not doing anything wrong.

Border Agent Hector Garcia states agents and vehicles were attacked with rocks.

Este Es El Facebook De La Hondurena Que Dijo Que Los Frijoles Eran Para Puercos - Daniel Velasquez El Oso

Run time: 4 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

Her name on social media is Miriam Yamileth. She is shown holding a Louis Vitton handbag. She wears jewelry and dresses well. She poses in several sexy pictures.

Mexico Deports Migrants After 2,000 Rush US Border - Epoch Times

Run time: 2 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

42 migrants arrested by US Border Patrol in San Diego. Rocks and bottles were throwing at them according to an official BP tweet.

Mexican federal police arrested 39.

Trump threatened to close the border permanently.

Caso Pitaya Queen En Nogales Sonora - Agencia Multimedios

Run time: 7 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

47 migrants are staying in Nogales, including Pitaya Queen. She has been accused of using minors for prostitution. Her name is given as Roberto Nakay Flotte. She is not a migrant, but a US citizen from Texas. Pitaya also uses the name Ana K and pretends she is from Chihuahua Mexico. She presents herself as a defender of human and gay rights.

Official documentation proves she was born in Presidio, Texas. She has a Phd in Anthropology from Harvard.

Municipal president (mayor) Jesus Irastorza states 60 migrants have arrived in Nogales.

Migrantes Se La Jeugan Con Huelga De Hambre - Efeto Noticia

Run time: 2 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

Illegal migrants in the Juarez sports complex begin a hunger strike. The number of migrants at the complex is estimated at 6,062. The hunger strike is a desperate tactic, after the caravan was rebuffed at the US border.

The Situation Will Only Get Worse - We Are Change

Run time: 11 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

Reporter Rudowsky reports on the dismal conditions at and near the Juarez sports complex in Zona Norte, Tijuana. People are reported as coughing and vomiting, spitting and urinating on public streets.

Fake News reports no criminals are found in the caravan. Rudowsky reports that migrants assaulted an aid worker.

Mexico has offered housing, employment and health care to the migrants. 1,700 people have taken asylum in Mexico.

Many migrants don't know what asylum means.

La Historia De La Madre Hondurena Cuya Foto Se Volvio Viral - Efecto Noticia

Run time: 5 minutes.

Notes: Video from November 28.

Report focuses on a picture of a woman with her two children, from when the Honduran horde stampeded toward the US border. Her name is Maria Mesa, She is 35, from Honduras, and arrived with the first caravan. On the 25th, they approached the US border, but were rebuffed by Mexican police.

She moved toward the US border with her two twin daughters. Soon after, rubber bullets and tear gas were launched from the US side, prompting her to run away. During her run, her picture was taken and went viral.

"God will open doors for us." Mesa said.

Llegan Migrantes Trans 2111 - Estephania Baez

Run time: 2 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

A short interview with Pitaya Queen, shortly after her arrival in Nogales. She denies everything she's been accused of.

Indignada Con Caravana De Migrantes Hondurenos - Kristabel Beard

Run time: 13 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

Social commentary on Lady Frijoles, and her derogatory comments towards beans.

Todos Los Videos De Los Hondurenos Malagradecidos - Jajaja Buen Chiste

Run time: 10 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

Several video clips showing illegal ingrates complaining about not having free buses provided for their march, complaining about beans and tortillas, refugee centers who want them to sweep their trash, and personal security.

'What are thirty assholes going to do against thirty thousand of us?' - Honduran young man

Also shown is the incredible amount of food, water, clothing and trash they left behind. Footage from places such as Jesus Martinez Palillo stadium are shown, in Mexico City, including how trash trucks were brought in to collect refuse.

La Verdad De La Lady Frijoles - Los De Dolores Son Un Desmadre

Run time: 5 minutes.

Notes: Video from Late November.

Lady Frijoles, Mirian Yamileth, is exposed once again.

Lider De Caravana Hace Una Advertencia - Efecto Noticia

Run time: 8 minutes.

Notes: Video from December 1.

Caravan leader Irineo Mujica scolds Mexican federal police. The police are preventing Mujica from taking 15 women to a public place near the US border. These women are part of the hunger strike. Mujica wanted them to be visible for Fake News media to report on them.

Mujica misdirects the conversation by demanding to know how many deaths occur in Tijuana due to drug cartel violence.

Alerta Fronteriza Mensaje Del Alcalde De Tijuana - Concienca Radio

Run time: 2 minutes.

Notes: Video from December 2.

Tijuana mayor Gastelum announces the migrants are being moved from the Juarez sports complex and into a larger complex. (El Barretal, located in Matamoros Colony.) Gastelum presents a flyer being circulated by caravan leaders.

The flyer shows people breaking through a barbed wire fence. It reads:

We must march to the border on Saturday, the first of December. On the day of the inauguration of new Mexican president Manuel Lopez Obrador. - 11 AM from the Benito Juarez sports complex - Open the border or we will shut it down! - Our last action has placed us closer to victory - Mexicans and Americans fight alongside us

Gastelum states he has asked federal police to do everything they can to prevent another disruption at the US border.

Los Centroamericanos Comen Enter La Basura, Tras El Cochinero - Accion Callejera

Run time: 28 minutes.

Notes: Video from December 2.

We have a look at the Juarez sports complex, after over 6,000 invaders have been transported to the new refugee center in Matamoros. We see industrial amounts of garbage left behind, including mountains of clothing and large stacks of small mattresses.

Immigration Deports Group Of 150+ Illegals That Were Intercepted - King DragonKraken

Run time: 14 minutes.

Notes: Video from December 3.

This video documents Mexican federal police stopping a caravan of 150 people in southern Mexico. After heated debate, the invaders are placed onto buses. An official states they will not be allowed to enter Mexico improperly, unregulated or illegally. From the video, it is stated that these migrants will be deported.

Cartel Looking For Migrant Frontman - James Munder

Run time: 3 minutes.

Notes: Video from December 4.

This video alleges that Mexican cartels are searching for a caravan leader, after the leader has apparently insulted the cartels. A cash reward is suggested. I cannot verify this information any further.

Migrantes Centroamericanos En Tijuana Se Niegan A Dejar Albergue - Excelsior TV

Run time: 6 minutes.

Notes: Video from December 4.

Documents that hundreds of migrants are refusing to leave the Juarez sports complex, despite that utilities have been cut off and public aid has been halted.

In this video, we see caravan leader Sonia Diaz stand before a transportation bus and refuse to allow the invaders to be bused away. Later, Diaz is arrested by three female police officers. She becomes very belligerent before she is taken away, going as far as biting a female officer's forearm. Dozens of migrants tried to block her arrest.

She is accused of being a human trafficker.

Migrantes Deciden En Asamblea Si Continuan O No En Caravana A EE.UU. - CB24

Run time: 4 minutes.

Notes: Video from December 4.

A short video shows a meeting of illegal migrants. They debate whether or not they will continue with the caravan. A leader states they are doing it for the children, who cannot speak for themselves. The refugee center is compared to a concentration camp, yet again.

Sonia Diaz De Pollera A Lider De Caravana Migrante - Efecto Noticia

Run time: 7 minutes.

Notes: Video from December 5.

Focusing on Sonia Diaz, who came to public light when she resisted arrest for civil disturbance, while Mexican police attempted to relocate invaders in Tijuana. She is described as a Mexican-American. It is not known why she is even part of the caravan, as she does not belong to any social organization or church, and has no apparent vested interest in being there.

Diaz is recorded harassing reporters in another incident. She uses the name Sonia Diaz Vargas.

She states she can speak in English or Spanish.

El Fin De Mexico - Francisco Lopez

Run time: 16 minutes.

Notes: Video from December 5.

Focusing on the UN's Global Pact For Migration. Under this Pact, the UN will choose how many people will be migrated. National laws must take second place to UN mandates. In addition to mass migrations, the UN may choose to include other purposes. The UN will decide how many people or goods will be transported. UN guidelines will supercede national law. Universities will be used to push UN agenda, when it comes to refugee issues. Host nations will incur the costs of financing migrations.

The UN will promote good relations for peaceful coexistence. These are social projects to minimize invasions and their impacts, including censorship. Not only will host nations have to labor the costs of force migration, but money and resources will be given to nations of origin. Resettlement projects will last several years. The UN will dictate host nations and migrant numbers.

3,000 Immigrants Have Disappeared In Tijuana \- King DragonKraken

Run time: 11 minutes.

Notes: Video from December 5.

During the transportation of migrants from Juarez sports complex to Matamoros, apparently 3,000 invaders have gone missing. We see an image of the American flag hung upside down at Juarez complex.

The official count of invaders: 3,877 men, 1,127 women 542 boys and 516 girls, for a total of 6,062. These are the numbers for INSIDE the sports complex, and not for the migrants who were camped outside on the streets.

Only 2,122 people made it to the new refugee center, with approximately 744 left on the streets surrounding the complex. Halfway houses and churches took in another 144.

An estimated 600 invaders were returned to their countries, including 178 deported and 409 that asked to be retuned, according to the secretary general of Baja California.

Mexican officials are downplaying how many migrants have disappeared, calling it a clerical error.

The invaders have complained that the new refugee center is too far from the border, again hinting that they are not in Tijuana to apply for asylum, but to enter the US illegally.

Sergio Tamai, director of Angels Without Borders, states that Tijuana officials deliberately inflated the numbers so they could ask for greater federal funds. Supposedly, the city requested a hundred million pesos.

Tijuana mayor Juan Gastelum has stated it is costing his city 550,000 pesos per day to maintain the migrants at Juarez complex.

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### I Want Contributors!

ADVERTISERS: If you have artwork, a book, a movie or some other product you'd like to promote, send me an e-mail and let's see if it fits in with the e-zine. I would love to promote material from amateur or independent producers. It's a straight deal at this point; I will post your ad, and you can help me promote the e-zine. I don't think I'll get a sudden flood of advertisers, but if I do, this barter idea might evolve into something more complex. For now, free is the key word!

GENERAL PUBLIC: Readers, I am looking for submissions from you! You can send in your short stories (up to 10 \- 15 pages or around 6,000 words), sample chapters, digital artwork, media reviews, commentary, author interviews, general feedback and articles on writing. These can be in a variety of topics, including history, mythology, the paranormal, the metaphysical, political corruption, advances in science, LARPing, whatever, as long as it has some kind of non-mainstream strangeness to it. How about some poetry? Fiction can range from MEDIUM to HIGH controversy, or about from PG to R ratings, because I don't like pop culture fluff or vicarious cat stories. Bleah! I take cats apart here, sew them up and make little Frankenstein Kitties out of them.

This e-zine is a FREE publication with no outside advertising. As such, I can only reward contributors with exposure and a free digital copy. On the plus side, you have a new venue that you can pass around while promoting your work. Anything that comes along my way will be considered Creative Commons 'copy and share' material, and everything submitted will remain the property of the creator.

Send your submissions to:

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### About The Publisher / Author

Greetings, reader. My pen name is Raymond Towers. Primarily, I write darker fiction in the fantasy, horror and science fiction genres, but I do dabble about in other genres as well depending on my whims. I like to think that I have a unique perspective on the world and life in general, and I tend to shake things up to break people out of their doldrums. If you want to read something 'safe,' then I'm probably not the author for you. My favorite authors are in a wide range, from Asimov, Clarke and Farmer, to King, Lovecraft and Poe, to Burroughs, Tolkien and Twain. All the big names, as that is the level I aspire to reach. I especially enjoy combining aspects you won't normally see together in fiction, and on taking the next step and reaching for the farthest, blackest edge of the abyss. The place where most other authors leave off, that is the place where I get started. The question is; are you ready for that?

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