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

 
    “I’m using sarcasm!” Luca said.  
    Everyone laughed and Luca blushed. He’d been trying to use sarcasm for the last few days, but had yet to properly use it a single time. Desmond put his arm around Luca and pulled him close. He wanted to ask the boy if he was okay, dig deeper to see if he knew anything, since he didn’t seem particularly surprised. But he didn’t want to do it in front of Linc.  
    “Well, see ya,” Linc said, then took his seat at another table beside Brothers Reginald and Mark.  
    As soon as Linc was out of earshot, Luca whispered. “Will told me to tell you all to let him go. He has a plan and he said you have to trust him.”  
    Desmond had to swallow every one of his 17 questions as John approached the table, pulled out a chair, then sat directly across from them. John never sat at their table. “Good evening, Brother Desmond,” he said.
    Desmond nodded, and even managed to speak without gritting his teeth. “Good evening, Brother John.”
    “I’m sure you’ve heard the news,” John said. “Brother Will will no longer be with us here at New Unity after dinner. He has decided to leave the safety of The Sanctuary to embrace the unknown beyond our walls.”
    Desmond didn’t have time to respond. John had barely shut his mouth when Rei commanded the head of the main table, hands folded and head bowed, patiently waiting to make his announcement.  
    With every set of eyes upon him, Rei parted his arms and raised his chin to the sky. Desmond made it through the prayer with gritted teeth, then chewed his bottom lip as Rei went through his song and dance of an announcement, spilling nothing but the scum on the surface of empty lies.
    “I regret to inform you that tonight is our final evening with Brother Will,” he started. Will entered the dining room with two brothers a little too close behind him. Escorts for the prisoner. Will smiled, then took the seat closest to the door. Rei smiled at Will, then continued. “I have begged and pleaded with Brother Will. I’ve practically fallen to my knees to keep him here with us. But he must heed the call of his heart, even if it sends him into the foaming mouth of Satan himself.”  
    Rei stared at the floor, as though Desmond’s decision was breaking his heart. “But we will wish him well on his way, and pray for him daily. Perhaps our collective spirit here can help to quell whatever unfortunate calamity awaits our Brother on the other side of The Sanctuary walls.”  
    Rei shook his head and hovered in silence, like a televangelist’s pregnant moments, just before he asks for the sale. If Rei was auditioning to take over The Prophet’s role, he’d nailed the performance. When he raised his face to the crowd, Rei said, “There is no solace beyond our walls. But the Good Lord does, and always will, see fit to protect the soil of our Holy Land. We pray he sees fit to protect one of our Brothers, too.”
    Rei raised his glass in the air. “We wish you well in the world outside!”
    “We wish you well in the world outside,” the room repeated, glasses in the air.  

    * * * *

BORICIO WOLFE

    The Sanctuary
    March 25
    6:40 p.m.

    Dinner tasted about one short and curly better than a sack of fresh mildew and old pussy, but what the fuck did you expect from a bunch of cornbread eating Bible fuckers? Boricio had offered to go into their kitchen and turn their slop all sweet and spicy, but the Bible fuckers had declined. They liked their food like they liked their lives, boring.
    Just one of the billion and one dumbfuck decisions they seemed to specialize in, here in Bibleburg. The place had approximately dick in common with what Boricio had expected to see. It was nothing like it had been the previous fall, enough to make Boricio figure Bibleburg was under new management. The motherfuckers in Round One had meant business. And while there was business going on up in here – that you could guaran-fucking-tee,– but what it was, Boricio didn’t have a goddamn clue.  
    He’d figure it out, though. And he wouldn't waste his fucking time looking for a needle in a haystack. Best way to find a needle was to torch the entire fucking haystack, then come back with a magnet. So as soon as Boricio figured out what sort of needle he was looking for, he’d come back with the flamethrower.  
    Of all the dumbfuck decisions Boricio had seen so far in Bibleburg, the inconsistent guard shifts and unlocked houses were by far the dumbest.