Penny Wise and the League of St. Claire

Chapter 5

The following morning, the members of the League of St. Claire met at Penny’s house.

“We are gathered here to pray before we go off to our mission,” Penny said.

They each bowed.

“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.”

Everybody replied with the usual: “Amen.”

“Okay people, let’s go to our staging area,” Penny said, waving her arm like a Platoon leader.

“Where’s our staging area?” Jordan asked Milo.

“It’s near the monument, Jordan,” Milo said, sounding calm with a hint of amusement.

The monument? Jordan knew that the park contained several monuments. Which one was he referring to?

 They ended up in front of an impressive monument dedicated to General Arthur St. Clair, a Revolutionary War hero. The classical sandstone monument stood on top of two stone slabs, elevating it twenty feet, and it occupied a commanding location in the park near St. Clair Street. A grassy rectangular plot outlined by stone curbing surrounded the monument. Two stone steps intercepted the curbing near a walkway.

“Why here?” Jordan asked. “What is significant about this location?”

“This monument will survive into the future, Jordan,” Penny said.

“How do you know that?” Jordan asked.

“I’m clairvoyant, Jordan,” she replied with a sly smirk. “How do you think that I know when the Antichrist will reign?”

“What is that time?” Jordan asked, tilting his head.

“The year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Seventy Five,” she said, taking his hand.

The others held hands with them and formed a circle.

“Take us to the future, Jordan,” Penny said.

“I don’t know if I can,” he replied, his face twisted with doubt.

“Yes you can, Jordan. Just concentrate.”

Jordan closed his eyes and visualized the time-space continuum as a glowing blue sheer undulating fabric stretching from the past to the future. He began to see the area surrounding the monument slowly change at first but then quicken to become a rapidly changing kaleidoscope of activity as the townhouse apartments on St. Clair Street were torn down and the street expanded before strange structures with glass and metal rose up out of the dirt and the cityscape morphed into a modernistic metropolis. When he stopped the time shift, they were now in the future, standing next to the monument, which was weathered and worn but still intact.

Two flying vehicles whizzed overhead, making a high-pitched whistling sound. People walked along a solid blue path that led through the park. The original trees in the park that they left back in the past had been replaced by something unrecognizable. They appeared to be large ferns with broad yellow leaves. The grass was no longer green, but instead an azure color.

“Climate change and political unrest have created worldwide unrest and political change,” Penny said. “The United States is now run by a Central Committee. There is no President nor Congress.”

“How did that happen?” Jordan asked.

“The Beast has risen from the depths of Hell and has taken over disguised as the false prophet.”

“If that’s the case, we need to know who he is and what he looks like,” Jordan said.

“I think we should not stand around here,” Milo said. “They have all sorts of surveillance. We don’t want to be seen together.”

“You’re right,” Penny said. “I’ll go with Jordan. We’ll meet here in twelve hours. We can’t afford to be away for any longer than that.”

“What about clothes?” Jordan asked. “Won’t we look out of place?”

“Fashion has taken a backseat to expediency in this time,” Penny said.

Jordan took that to mean it didn’t matter what they were wearing, and as he walked along the streets with Penny, he could see why. Most people appeared to be wearing worn and outdated clothing. Although appearing to be more modern, the town still had a shabby, worn look. It was obvious that infrastructure needed repair and replacement. How did the Antichrist hope to win followers when the cities look as if they’ve been neglected?

“The Antichrist is not here,” Jordan said. “Why are we here?”

“We must learn how to blend into the population of this time. Security is not as intense here as it is in the Capitol, which allows us to study people without interference.”

“From what I see, we should have no trouble blending in,” Jordan said.

“Many of the people you see here have had their brains adjusted as a means to control them. They are essentially zombies.”

“The government uses mind control?”

“It’s more than that. They’ve literally erased their memories and programmed them to their liking.”

“That’s shitty?” Jordan said, twisting his hansom features into a frown.

Penny blew out a disgusted breath. “That’s putting it mildly.”

“How will we be able to tell the difference between those who are evil and those who are simply mind controlled?”

“Anyone involved in the government is evil,” Penny said.

“This mission of yours to destroy the Antichrist is not going to be easy,” Jordan said.

“I never said it would be easy, Jordan. That’s why we were chosen to do this. We have the intelligence and the strength to do the job.

Jordan didn’t feel chosen. He felt as if he had been drafted.

Penny stopped. “That man over there is a government official.”

Jordan looked at a man dressed totally in black. “You mean the guy in the black Nehru suit?”

“Yes.”

“Shouldn’t we take him out?”

“No, not now. We don’t want to tip our hand yet. We must wait until we have the Antichrist identified before we launch an attack to destroy him and his followers.”

That made sense, but Jordan was confused by all of this. He found it difficult to adjust to a future time where technology ruled and people’s lives were controlled so completely. It made him wish that he had never made the connection with this Penny Wise girl.