Penny Wise and the League of St. Claire

Chapter 7

The next day, Penny and her League members stood once again near Arthur St. Clair’s monument in the park.

“I sense that religion no longer exists in the future,” Penny said with distress showing in her normally bright eyes. “The Beast has virtually eliminated worship and churches have been torn down or abandoned. However, I sense that there are pockets of believers still worshiping in secret. We must locate one of these groups and solicit their help.”

“How will we know who is still a worshiper?” Carmen asked.

“We must look for signs,” Penny said.

No one knew what that meant, but they were dedicated to making an attempt anyway. They held hands and Jordan transported them back to the Washington monument in the future.

“We will stay visible this time,” Penny said. “We’ll go invisible only if we’re challenged.”

Milo exhaled a disgusted breath. He was anxious to fight, not hide.

After walking for some time, the League entered a street lined with old brownstone townhouses packed together like sardines. A few people dressed in worn and ragged clothing hurried along the streets as if they were being pursued. Apparently, people in the future live frightened lives.

An older male came out of a side ally and held his hands out. “Could thee spare a credit, sister?” he asked Penny.

Penny noted the tiny pin on his collar. It was a circle with a cross inside. “Are you still a believer?”

The man’s worn face hinted of a hard life. His ragged hair and scruffy beard were peppery gray and unkempt. He looked around nervously before replying. “Yes, but I’m afraid.”

“You have no need to fear us, “ Penny said. “I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

The man’s eyes brightened. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows.”

Penny continued the psalm. “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Penny handed the man a candy bar. “We need your advice and consul.”

After taking a bite of the candy, the man looked around again before gesturing. “Come, the streets are no place to talk.”

Penny and her group followed the man down a stairwell to a basement apartment. The place looked dingy but it was clean. Soon, others appeared, both men and woman, but they were all older adults.

“We are curious,” a gray-headed woman wearing a ragged dress said. “You are young, but you do not appear to be like the youth we see around here.”

“We are not from this time,” Penny said. “We have been given powers to fight and conquer the Antichrist, but we don’t know what he looks like or where he is.”

“You must realize how crazy that sounds,” a baldheaded man said. “You claim you are not from this time. How did you get here?”

“I told you that we have God given powers that allow us to travel along the time-space continuum. We are from the forties before the Great War started. If we don’t defeat the Antichrist, that war will go badly and it will make this time much worse.”

“How can the future affect the past?” the first man asked.

“That’s a very complicated question, but it has something to do with a theory of quantum physics that’s called retro-causality, something that very few people understand. I won’t go into the theoretical aspects of it, but be assured that it’s true.”

Who are you?” a woman asked, her eyes exhibiting doubt and curiosity at the same time.

“We are the League of St. Claire,” Penny said, pulling her Celtic cross necklace up out of her shirt and showing it to them. Our mission is to destroy the Antichrist.”

“How do you propose to destroy him?” a man asked.

“We will fight the Beast from the Earth in the Final Battle at Armageddon.”

“You are too young,” a woman said. “You can not defeat the Beast.”

“Just tell us where we can find him, and we will show you what we can do,” Milo said.

Penny gave Milo a rebuking glare.

“We have been told that he is in the White House,” a man said. “His name is Harold Peron. That is all we know. His followers control everything and they are many.”

“We thank you for you help,” Penny said. She held out her hands.

The other League members formed a circle with her before Jordan transported them to a location outside the White House. They arrived while invisible near a barred fence with spikes.

“I do not sense the Beast’s presence here,” Penny said with her eyes closed, but no one could see that.

“That means that they gave us false information,” Milo said.

“They are misinformed,” Penny said. “They are just believers trying to survive in a godless society. They mean us no harm.”

“Maybe we should go in there and see if we can locate any information that would tell us where the Beast is,” Jordan said.

“I agree,” Penny said. “However, it appears that we’ll have to leap over the fence. There’s no apparent opening.”

“No problem,” Milo said.

They took turns leaping over the eight-foot-high simulated wrought iron fence, but it was obvious that motion detectors revealed their presence. Loud warning sirens blared from the White House roof, causing people to take cover.

“Let’s keep moving,” Penny said. “We’ll fight only if we have to.”

They ran to the front entrance and waited for guards with weapons to exit before sneaking into the White House. The place looked much the same as it did, but there had been many changes. Once inside, Penny and her group found themselves in the Diplomatic Room, a large round area with ornate decorative plaster. The Map Room was to the left and the China Room was to the right.

The West Wing is where the executive offices are, so Penny and her group made a beeline to that part of the White House by going to the left down long corridors. Strangely, they were able to get into the West Wing without any problems.

Unfortunately, all of the people in the White House were essentially zombies and would not be able to relate pertinent information as to the whereabouts of Peron.

“There he is,” Jordan said, pointing at the wall. “Or at least a picture of him.”

They looked at a poster hanging on a wall near the Oval office. The poster exhibited Harold Peron sitting at a desk. He had black slicked down hair and the hint of sneer in his steely eyes and on his puffy lips.

“Well, “ Jordan said. “At least we know what he looks like.”

“Yes, and it’s obvious that he isn’t here,” Penny said. “The White House is a decoy. Let’s get out of here.”

They made their way back out of the White House and onto the lawn in front. As before, they leaped over the fence and walked away. Guards and police were running all around with weapons, but they never saw Penny and her followers hold hands outside the White House fence and transport to the past.