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

dark, damp hole, and found the keys The Sanctuary’s new visitor had hidden. He carefully pushed the trunk button, hoping like hell he wouldn’t accidentally set off the alarm. The trunk popped open, putting the large black bag of weapons on full display.
    Will grabbed the bag, which felt like it weighed 50 pounds, then shut the trunk, put the bag on the ground, and pulled the tarp back over the car. He slid the car keys into his pants pocket, and glanced at his watch.  
    12:54  
    He raced back to The Sanctuary, heart pounding in his chest as he sucked in deep mouthfuls of freezing air.
    At the wall, he squatted down and opened the bag, careful not to get snow on his pants. He withdrew a Glock and a box of bullets. He slipped the shells into his pocket, and the gun behind his waistband in the small of his back, hidden by his jacket, then hid the bag against the outer wall, behind a small cluster of trees, where it wouldn't be seen unless someone was looking directly at it.
    With the bag concealed, Will raced to the gate, scanning the yard beyond. He could hear others, not too far off, but had yet to see them. The gate was fairly well hidden at the rear of the property, behind the barn and maintenance shack. Unless someone was in the rear of the garden, behind the barn, or walking along the rear wall, he was reasonably covered. Will stepped inside the gate, closed it, then retrieved the padlock he’d taken when he left and clicked it shut.
    He turned around, and saw Brother Rei standing there.
    “Hello,” Will said, acting perfectly normal, no idea what he’d seen.
    “What were you doing?”  
    “I thought I heard someone out there,” Will said.
    Brother Rei eyed him suspiciously, then walked toward Will and looked outside the gate. “Did it sound like a person?”
    “I’m not sure,” Will said. “I thought so. But it could have been a demon, maybe?”
    “I’ll have some men search outside,” Brother Rei took Will by the elbow, leading him away from the gate. Will hoped they didn’t search so well that they found either the weapons or the car.
    “Come with me,” he said. “I’ve been looking for you. We need to talk.”
    Will swallowed the lump in his throat, and followed Brother Rei back to the main house, the gun in his back a 12-ton stone that might fall out and crush his cover at any moment.

    **

    Brother Rei led Will to a room on the bottom floor of the main house. Will didn’t know if the office was Brother Rei’s, The Prophet’s, or someone else’s, but it was sparsely furnished. Just a desk, with two wood and leather chairs on either side, and a large metal filing cabinet against the back wall. On the desk was a manilla folder with a stack of papers inside.
    “Have a seat, Brother Will.”
    Will sat in the seat in front of the desk, as if he were about to interview for a job, rather than sit through the interrogation he expected. Will had seen the way Brother Rei was watching him lately, like a dog trying to divine the meaning of life. Brother Rei knew something was off about Will, and was trying to figure out exactly what it was. Or maybe he thought something was off about the whole lot of them, and Will was the easiest to go after. Mary and Desmond would defend one another, as they would Luca or Paola. Linc was roughly the size of a shit brickhouse, and men like Brother Rei never went after men like Linc unless the odds were heavily stacked in their favor.  
    Will was the weakest link, the one most likely to break their group’s chain.
    “I’ll be right back; I just want to tell the others not to disturb us,” Brother Rei said, excusing himself from the room and closing the door behind him.
    Will looked around, plotting the sudden escape he might have to make. The office window was barred, as were most of the windows on all three of the houses, so jumping out the window was out of the question. The room was small with no other doors, so if things went south, he’d have to go out the way he came in, then contend with whoever was standing guard.
    “I’m sorry,” Brother Rei said, re-entering the room and taking a seat in the leather chair behind the desk. “Now, let’s get to know Brother Will a little better.”
    “Okay,” Will said, shifting uncomfortably in his chair, gun pressing hard against the small of his back.
    “A little birdie told me that The Prophet isn’t the only one who dreamed of October 15 before it happened. That you, too, had