When the Lamanites marched into Teancum, Nephi was working in the Ward Clerk’s office and babysitting his two small children. The first time he actually saw the Lamanites was around the third hour. The first troops were striplings. Young girls, young boys, some could not have been more than twelve years old, bearing spears and heavy steel swords. Many were wearing shrunken heads, or maybe they were baby’s heads, around their waists and across their chests like trophies. Then came the regular troops, all dressed and painted for war, but shouting, “Peace, peace.”

In the past months, thousands of refugees had come into Teancum from the surrounding provinces. They said, “The Lamanites are killing people. They are raping, sacrificing people to idols and practicing cannibalism.” Nobody believed them. Just last Sunday, Nephi’s Bishop had said that it was all rumor and exaggeration. He said, “The Lamanites would not do such things because we are all the children of Father Lehi.”

As the Lamanites marched into Teancum, crowds gathered in the streets and everyone cheered for peace together. The Lamanites behaved in a friendly manner. Nephi was so tired of years and years of war. When he heard the shouts proclaiming “peace” he thought, “Oh, that’s nice. I might be able to go back home to my village and rejoin my relatives.” He had lost contact with his parents a couple of years earlier and hoped that now his family could be reunited.

Around the fifth or sixth hour the situation changed. The Lamanites said, “Please. Brothers and Sisters, you must get out of Teancum as soon as possible. The Great White Sky Father is going to destroy the city. For your own protection, you have to be out.” They sounded very protective, very nice, but most people were not taking them seriously. They said, “You have to be out only for three days. We are here to protect you. For your own safety, you have to be out.” Nephi began to see more and more people moving out of the city – some on foot, some in chariots or pushing handcarts.

By the seventh hour they were not using polite language anymore. They did not say, “Brothers and Sisters.” They said, “You must all get out…or else.” And the killing began.

Just up the street from the church they set fire to a building because some families refused to come out and had tried to hide. They were hoping that after three or four days it would be alright. The Lamanites found them because of a barking dog. A lot of people were killed. Lots of relatives and families who had managed to escape the war had come to Teancum and lived together. So in one building there would be four or five families. Nephi saw with his own eyes Lamanites slaying people in the streets shouting, “Out or else.” People were too afraid to talk or resist.

The Lamanites spoke in very rural dialects. Their skin was very dark and the way they behaved was not the Nephite way. Two blocks from the church, Nephi’s brother-in-law was a patient at the hospital. He had been wounded in the battle for the city Desolation. His wife, Nephi’s sister, had arrived at the church with her newborn baby, so he sent her to be with him. Nephi hoped that no one would harm people in a hospital, but he was wrong. The Lamanites came in to the hospital and said, “Everyone must be out.” For those who were not able – that was it. The Lamanites stabbed them with knives right in their hospital beds.

The sick and the injured did their best to get out. Some were crawling or moving on their bellies like worms up the street away from the hospital. Nephi’s brother-in-law could not walk on his own, so Nephi’s sister, with the newborn in one arm and her husband on her other shoulder, slowly walked the two blocks back to the church.

Most of the Lamanites that were doing the killing were the striplings. The Lamanite king was smart in choosing the young to do this. They behaved in a very fierce and cruel manner. They refused to talk to the people. They only said, “Out. Out.” If anyone tried to say something, they shouted, “No questions. Out. The Great White Sky Father is going to destroy the city.” Nephi searched the skies. There was no Great White Sky Father, only smoke from the fires and Lamanite spears and swords in the streets.

Nephi’s son was only six months old and his daughter had just celebrated her first birthday. He gathered them up and joined the long procession. It seemed surreal – hundreds of thousands of people moving out of the city.

The Lamanites used the big central market as the dividing point. People south of the central market had to move south. The church was north of the central market so Nephi and his group had to move out of the city northward. Nephi’s home was in the south part of the city, but he saw people trying to pass across the central market to the other side and they were struck down and slain. They were killing anyone, even children, but they killed the adults first. Everyone was in shock but the Lamanites would not allow anyone to cry. If someone cried, they were killed. “No crying. Move. Move.”

Nephi carried both of his children in his arms and tried to help his sister with her baby and husband. Nephi’s two wives were not with them. They had been visiting their mother in the western part of the city, so the Lamanites had probably sent them west. Still, Nephi had hope. Certainly Jesus would return shortly and peaceful times would be back.

As the reached the outskirts of the city, the Lamanites were asking people if they were believers in Christ. They said, “Those of you who are believers in Christ are invited to go back into the city to worship.” The Lamanites started calling them “Brothers and Sisters” again. Nephi discerned that it might be a trick so he instructed his sister and brother-in-law to keep their membership in the church a secret.

As they continued moving north, they started seeing many dead bodies lying along the roadside, hands tied behind their backs and blindfolded. The majority of them were wearing Nephite uniforms and armor. Others were the elderly, the sick, and patients from the hospital. There was just no way that they could keep up and survive. They were just left along the roadside. As they walked they had to step on and over many bodies of the dead and dying. The Lamanite soldiers shouted at them, “Move on. Move on.” Nephi’s brother-in-law could not keep up and they had to leave him behind.

Moving north, Nephi kept hoping that he would reach the Nephite lines in the land of Comorah and they might be rescued. For the space of many days, they moved north. Nephi’s sister nursed the children, they ate herbs they found in the forest, and drank from puddles. One day they came to an abandoned Nephite fishing village near the seashore. Further to the north, Nephi could see large strange silver boats in the sky ascending and descending like birds. He knew that something big must be happening.

A few nights later, Nephi crept up close to a Lamanite camp to try to get some information and perhaps steal some food. The Lamanite soldiers were having a huge drunken celebration. They danced around big bonfires made from dead bodies and were chanting, “We have killed Mormon and his ten thousand! We have killed twenty-three Nephite warriors each of them with their ten thousand!”

THE END

Now, Ziller has written somewhat as seemeth him good; and Ziller writes unto his brothers and sisters, the apostates of RfM.

When ye shall receive these things, Ziller would exhort you that ye would ask the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Eternal Father of Pasta, in the name of Sauce, if these things are NOT true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of Beer.

Amen.

ziller

A TBM neighbor named their son Teancum.