by Gary Sapp
and running right past Special Agent Christopher Prince and the traitor Dr. Angel Hicks Dupree after they had rear-ended and killed one of her body doubles. She had said to him that she was sure that all eight of the brave men and women who had sacrificed their selves for her cause were either dead or in custody by now.
Inside of him, Hugh Keaton giggled. You have to admire her attention to detail, and the tenacious way she goes about goes about her business.
Twenty minutes and no disruptions later they arrived at a wooded area in the western suburbs of Cobb County. Louis can hear his boots crunching the leaves beneath his boot as he steps down out of the pickup truck. He hurried as fast as his little legs can take him and opens the heavy door for his leader, ever the gentleman. We are far from being a gentleman. And this wench is your leader, not hours. The sooner we learn that the better we all will be.
When Serena opened the door to the cabin, a dozen or so Pandora agents greeted her as she stepped inside.
Serena took a step or two forward, Louis shadowing her footsteps like a grim reaper. The applause for their leader is long and thunderous enough to shake the foundation. They continue the cheering, the whistling, and the clapping of hands until they realize their efforts are wasted on her. Serena has yet to look up from the wooden floor, not to speak of not meeting or acknowledged that anyone had come here to greet her at all.
Unsmiling, Serena finally looked up and took in her surroundings even before she acknowledged the people who occupy the space in this cabin which is too small a space for all of these folks in the first place.
She hadn’t smiled once. In fact, her thin pale jaws looked as if they might swell up and burst in anger at any given minute. The leader of Pandora continued to peer around in silence. Louis noticed the buckets of Champaign chilling on ice, finger sandwiches resting on a tray waiting to be consumed, and brownies are lined up smartly on a coffee table.
Serena hugged herself, and for a second Louis thought the woman would fall where she once stood if she hadn’t had a wall to lean against.
“Whose idea was this,” Serena said in a dangerous voice and scanned the room pointing out potential suspects along the way. “I want to see a hand. I want a name. I want it right now or there will be hell to pay for all of you.”
No one volunteered to breathe, yet alone take the leap of faith by stepping forward and perhaps incurring the wrath of the Oracle.
No one dared take the leap except a pale, petite woman who wore her hair in a single braid that ran the length of her spine. She was dressed in black; she was always dressed in black.
Danielle Rohm dared to smile and pointed a skinny finger over her own head. “It was me, Serena. I take full responsibility for this.”
Serena left Louis’ petite shadow for Rohm’s. Some of the other agents looked at each other with anxiety budding on their faces, while others seem to stop breathing at all. Louis turned away but Hugh twisted his head back from which it came. We want to see this. Serena had been known to be hard, but could she be cruel as well—
“Then it is you that I should thank, Rohm.” Serena said to the younger woman, and then raised her head and voice at last for all of the Pandora operatives to hear her. “Thank you all…it feels…wonderful to be amongst all of you again.”
Pandora celebrated well into the night. Louis even saw Serena set one of her water bottles aside and accept a glass of Champaign that she nursed for thirty minutes before her glass was empty at last. Rohm drank enough for the both of them and it gave her enough courage to lift her small frame on her toes and hug Serena around her neck. Serena only hesitated a second…her discomfort with another human being’s touch lessening. She finally ran a hand along the small of Rohm’s back in small token of affection. Both women thought that Louis was out of hearing range when Rohm said, “He survived another of your test, when you had him meet you at the congregation point.”
Serena nodded in agreement.
The other operatives laughed and ate and drank mostly among themselves. They chatted about how the day had went, the battle won. Rohm had bragged about her half a dozen kills that had originally sprung Serena from her captives. A second voice patted her on her shoulder commenting that he’d never seen shooting like that. A last voice laughed about how incompetent the APD were and how inept the FBI was as they followed the doubles in all directions through the city.
And then Serena hushed them long enough for one and all to raise a glass in tribute to the fallen. She called each by name and thanked them for their service and for honoring the cause…and honoring her.
Louis did not raise a glass with them.
Two hours later, when the late night full moon watched him from overhead, Serena came to him as he knew she would. He was seated on the back step of the cabin watching the taillights of the last of the operatives leaving for wherever their lives took them next. There were three rooms in the cabin and Louis knew that Danielle Rohm had stayed behind to sleep off the alcohol and to stay close to their leader if her services were needed in the remote chances that either the bureau or Xavier Prince’s people found her here. And you stayed behind, little girl to keep an eye on us.
Louis felt the step give a little as Pandora’s leader sat next to him. He could feel her thigh and hip graze his own leg. He had a woman once. Even now, well over 40 years later, he still hadn’t understood what all of the fuss was all about. We’re sure this type of intimacy would excite an operative or…three that have already left the party
But he had a hunger for a different type of flesh.
And our need to feed grows with every passing minute, Serena. Feed us…feed us again as you promised that you would.
Still, there was a glow on her skin that hadn’t existed before, a perhaps it was just the moonlight. She’d washed her hair and the red came through bright and clear as she combed it out. Something was different about her. Something had changed. What happened to you while you were away from us, Serena? Louis knew about the attempted rape…he knew all about rape…yes, he did.
Still again, she was still Serena Tennyson. She was the Oracle. She was still hard, but something or someone had softened her around her edges at least. Louis didn’t know exactly what any of this meant for Pandora…or for him.
He realized that he’d been staring at her this entire time without blinking.
“I don’t have to explain to you how important your role is in the coming days.” She said. “So many have sacrificed so much for us to be where we are right now, here in our rightful place, leading others.”
He tried to nod, but could not find the strength.
She saw his weakness. She pulled out a cell phone out of her housecoat’s pocket. “There is something that I want you to see.” The cell phone came to life. She pressed a button and a video began playing…and although Louis Keaton had never met this man on the cell phone’s screen, he certainly knew his face.
“I’m Thomas Pepper,” He hesitated for a very long time while the camera panned out from his face to the familiar surroundings of his townhouse’s basement where he recorded these videos for his blog. Serena must have recognized the studio immediately. “And my demise has been greatly exaggerated.” Louis thought that he heard a giggle…and yes, there were children, four of them to be exact, sitting on either side of the journalist. There was a little black boy, another boy of Latino descent…Louis couldn’t be sure, and two girls, one white and another of Chinese or Japanese ancestry. None of the children were older than ten years old.
They looked delectable…especially the boys. Louis twisted in his seat so Serena wouldn’t see the stiffening in his groin.
Thomas Pepper was saying: “I vow and affirm not to speak in any public form again until I deliver the truths that I promised our Mayor, Ernestine Johnson before her untimely death several days ago.
“I invited these little ones here today as a reminder to us all that when we speak of the future, these are the ones that we are leaving it to. And when I look into their fac
es, I know that there is a God. I may not serve him as I should…but I know that He is there. And His spirit reminds me that their hearts are so naturally pure and so innocent that it is we and only we adults who teach them to hate one another.” Pepper’s tone turned dark. “How dare we teach them guidelines and rules that we adults ourselves are either too arrogant or too stupid to adhere to.”
Thomas Pepper took a breath. The little Asian boy became unruly for a minute. Thomas let the moment and the boy settle down again. “Those before us had Pearl Harbor and the JFK shooting. We have the 911 attacks. And now this generation has the Andrew Young Center and the Fox Theatre and…Deliverance.
“All of us have been raised in madness.”
The camera followed him as he stood. “I wonder how much longer before A House in Chains sees this future of sadness and pain that they’ve visualized for so long. I question how many more days will pass before Pandora unleashes its Whirlwind on us all.
“I hope that Xavier Prince walks away from this impending disaster. I pray that Serena Tennyson will turn away from prophecy.” Serena seemed to squirm in her seat as the man’s last words passed through his lips.
“And I hope never to ask the question: Where are our Children?” It was now time for Louis Keaton to shift uneasily in his seat.
He concluded by