The little caravan stopped, and Kennedy watched as the discord went down like dominoes. First, it was one older woman, then two more joined her. Then it was Rachel trying to do her best to get the three to rethink their sudden bout of piety. To top it off came one of Armando's men saying who knew what about what for no help at all. Kennedy brought his hand up to his face, ruining it down with a heavy sigh. Was this how everything was going to be? They'd be dead in days if that were the case.<br/><br/>He began to move, crossing the distance to where the five people stood. "Rachel..." he held up his hands giving a silent request for a pause. "just a second."<br/><br/>He calmly looked over to Armando's man. "Rebel," he began, thankful for not the first time that he was good with names and faces. "with all due respect, you hold no position in this group, nor are you heading up the escort group, so please...just go back and let us handle our own business."<br/><br/>He pivoted to look over to Armando; the one who actually made rules for Hale's guard, and met his gaze. "This will just take a moment. Thanks for stopping."<br/><br/>Then his attention was back on the three who were heading for the church. "We respect how you feel and the right to choose your own path is sacred. But, Mrs. Scott, Evelyn..." he went from her formal name to her first. "Evelyn, do you really think this is the path God chose for you? To elect to die on your knees in prayer when there are those..." he gestured to the group behind them, "who see you as family? Alan," he looked to one of the men who'd gotten off the carriage. "Didn't you teach Sunday school in Ellensburg? I remember us talking about it on one of the days you did lay-led services for us. You told me the story about the kid who hid jelly beans in his pocket and used the defense of 'God created everything' to try and squirm out having them taken away." Kennedy chuckled lightly remembering the story, appealing to Alan. "You can still do lay services '<i>For where two or three are gathered together in my name, </i><b><i>there am I in the midst of them'. </i>We don't need a church, Alan."<br/>
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Kennedy looked to the last man. He was a younger man with issues of his own. Even though he was strong and capable, he had learning disabilities and Kennedy didn't doubt for a moment that was how he ended up on Hale's list. "Eddie...Eddie, you love fishing and I doubt anyone knows as well as you do how to catch anything with anything. We need you. Everyone here needs you and we want and respect you. You're not alone in any of this. None of you are alone in this..." he made his respectful plea. Please continue on with us. Together we're stronger, stronger than the odds, and stronger than Hale. Let's not give him the satisfaction of being the weak, useless people he's deemed us to be. We're more than that. We're family. And family sticks together."</b>