Yesterdays Gone: SEASON TWO (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) (Yesterday's Gone)

waving his hand at the bench beside him.
    Luca sat, unable to meet John’s stare. Even though Luca was closer in height to the adults, he still felt like a child and found it hard to look them in the eyes.  
    “Are you upset about Rebecca?” John asked.
    “Yeah,” Luca admitted. He didn’t mind telling John so much, but was a bit nervous to speak in front of Brother Rei.  
    “Doesn’t seem fair, does it?” John said.
    Luca looked up, met John’s eyes. “You feel the same?”
    “It doesn’t matter how I feel,” John said. “This is our new home. We must abide by the rules of The Sanctuary and The Prophet.”
    Luca nodded slowly, mostly so he wouldn’t get in trouble, then asked, “Why do they call him The Prophet?”  
    “You haven’t heard the story?” Brother Rei said, as though surprised. “It’s an interesting tale, one of the best. The Prophet was given a vision of what would happen on October 15, years before it came to pass. God spoke to him in his dreams, told him to get his people ready, to prepare them to enter His Kingdom.”
    “Do you believe him?” Luca asked, wondering only after if maybe he should’ve kept his mouth shut.
    “Didn’t Will say he dreamed of the day, also?” John said.
    “Well, yeah.”
    “And you believe him, right?” John asked.
    “Yes,” Luca said. “That’s how he found me. His dreams.”
    “Ah, yes,” John said. “And did Will say that God spoke to him in these dreams?”
    “Well, um, no, I don’t think so. I mean, he didn’t mention God.”
    “Interesting,” Brother Rei said, stepping close enough to Luca to keep him uncomfortable. “Will dreamed of this day, yet did nothing to help anyone?”
    “I don’t know. I mean, he helped me. ”
    “And yet God didn’t speak to him?” Brother Rei asked.
    “I don’t think so. Why?”
    “Well,” Brother Rei said, “If your friend had these visions, and God didn’t provide them, perhaps someone else did. Perhaps the Devil has his ear?”
    Luca felt a chill run through him as Brother Rei glared down at him, almost accusingly. Luca looked to John for relief, but John’s face wore a weird smile that seemed inappropriate for the moment.
    “How long have you known Will?” Brother Rei asked.
    “Will is nice!” Luca cried. “He risked his life to save me, and to save Paola. He didn’t have to do any of the things he’s done.”
    “Exactly,” Brother Rei said, and folded his arms across his narrow chest. He looked up at the sky, then back down to Luca. “Makes me wonder what his game is.”
    Luca stood. “I have to use the restroom,” he said, not waiting for anyone to give him permission to leave. “I’ll see you around.”
    Luca made it six steps when Brother Rei called out, “Brother Luca.”
    Luca turned, “Yes?”
    Brother Rei looked even more like a rat when he smiled. “Let’s keep this little chat just between the three of us, okay?”  
    Luca looked at John, who was still wearing the same simple smile, as if he wasn’t really even there. Luca nodded, “Yes, sir.”
    “Good,” Brother Rei said. “I’d hate to see you in the box next to the whore.”

    * * * *

BORICIO WOLFE: PART 1

    Dunn, Georgia
    March 24
    4:15 a.m.

    Boricio woke up in a gummy, groggy, gallon and a half of what-in-the-fuck.  
    He had busted into another one of them rich bitch homes, and found a handful of pills scattered across the kitchen counter. Since it wasn’t The Matrix, and Boricio didn’t have to pick red or blue, he scooped the entire mess in his pocket, then popped five of each into his mouth, cracked the lid from one of the house’s million bottles of water, and swallowed the pills with a swish.  
    He had a nice five minutes or so where the world was normal. Then it started dancing the FuckedUP Boogaloo, studded and sequined in about a thousand fucked up colors. Things went from black to white, to Skittles, then back to black. The resulting drug-induced psychedelic coma had left him out for hours.  
    He figured it was a night later when he woke, maybe two. Either way, he needed to high-tail his ass back to base. The boys would be waiting on him, he was sure, so was more surprised than a date with a tranny when he arrived to find everyone gone, save for Harry who was in the garage, hunched over the engine of a Green Honda Element they’d picked up recently.
    “The fuck you mean ain’t nobody here?” Boricio said. “It’s the middle of the night, where’d they