Jo

Early the next morning I popped out of our upstate fortress and found myself on 34th Street--near our apartment. Not in but near. Why is it so hard for me to stick the landings? Mom always told me I was near the kingdom of God. She implied I wasn't in the kingdom but somehow adjacent to it. When I'd have enough of her preaching I'd yell, "What Mom? Am I across the street from the Kingdom? Just give me the directions and I'll pop in."

Mom would slowly shake her head because she knew I knew better. It's a spiritual kingdom in another dimension. Funny, cuz now I'm poppin in and out of time and space. I looked up at the sky and bellowed, "Am I getting' warmer Ma?"

Suddenly I heard the sound of heavy boots marching in the slush. "Lord help me!" Just as dozens of masked soldiers turned the corner I vanished.

When I appeared in Bob's living room he gasped. "What are you doing here? The Powers That Be are looking everywhere for you."

"Did you know The Powers That Be are Chinese?" I ran into the bedroom and frantically searched for Mom's peacock journal.

Bob came in after me. "Yes, they're also Russian and Iraqi.... Don't you watch the news?"

I crawled under the bed. "We don't get much service where we are." I stuck my hand behind my bed and the wall feeling for the journal. "Got it!"

"You risked your life for that book? My dad and his goons tore through this place looking for clues to find you."

I grunted as I shimmied from beneath the bed. I dusted myself off. "It's a good thing his goons didn't see this. Then again I doubt they'd understand a word of it. My mom writes in riddles. Even when she's saying something important she makes it sound as if she's talking about birds and sh--" I caught myself. For some reason I couldn't curse.

Bob held out his hand. "May I see it?"

"I dunno, she says some pretty embarrassing stuff about me sometimes."

Bob grabbed the book from my hand. "Then I've gotta see it!"

I yanked it back. "After you catch me up on the news... What's with the foreign soldiers and where is Sarah?"

Bob looked down and stammered. "They... uh... took her.."

My heart sank.

"They took her where? Who are they?"

Bob sat on the bed. "It all happened so fast. My dad and his lackeys barged in and started questioning us. He had a polygraph machine with him. I passed. I'm good at it. I'm like a sociopath or something--or at least I was before my transformation. My dad had an old one in the basement. My brother and I would practice. I got really good at fooling the machine. But Sarah caved. Once they found out how close you guys are... Sarah was crying and saying, 'I don't know... I don't know where Jo is!' They didn't believe her and took her into custody. I overheard them say something like reconditioning FEMA camp... My father isn't answering his calls. I'm sorry Jo."

I sat next to Bob and put my arm around him. "It's not your fault... What precinct does your father work for?"

"84th, why?"

"I gotta get Sarah out of there."

"Wait Jo, nothing is the same. While you've been off the grid something sinister has happened."

"You mean the pandemic? Is it worse? Is that why the foreign soldiers are here? To keep us in quarantine lockdown?"

"It's much worse Jo. I overheard my dad say the latest virus was released on purpose. At first I thought he was shooting off at the mouth. He likes to hear himself talk. But when he realized I overheard him he quickly changed the subject. But it's all over the dark web. I've got some reputable sources who say this whole pandemic was carefully calculated. Lockdown is the first stage, the next stage is forced vaccines."

"Vaccines? But Beth said this is some sorta mutant bacterial virus. That's never existed before. It'll take years to develop a vaccine."

"I know... but my sources say it's not a vaccine at all. Each step is to make the citizens of the world comply with the now Unified Powers That Be."

"If it's not a real vaccine then what's in it?" I stood up and paced in the small space.

"There's debate on that. Some say population control. They'll start by giving it to the most vulnerable in society, the elderly the sick... People will die. Scientists will say they had underlying conditions... It gets worse."

"Worse?"

"Yeah, besides killing off the vulnerable and weak it sterilizes men--makes their sperm really low.  The birth rate will drop to 10%. My virologist buddies tell me..."

Bob's information assaulted me. I held up my hand for a breather. "Wait--you have virologist buddies?"

Bob smirked. "All us former sociopaths do. We need access to all sorts of things."

Begrudgingly I let Bob continue.

"The synthetic virus creates fear and anxiety. It fills you with dread and paranoia. People are quick to turn on their neighbor. This was a perk the scientists didn't account for but now they are using it to their benefit... Soon all people will look to the Unified Powers That Be for answers, for food, for education, medicine... They won't stop until they have complete control and compliciancy."

My head was spinning. How could everything get out of control so quickly? And what exactly did my mother expect her four little women to do about it. Our powers seemed so limited compared to a unified tyrannical government..

As if Bob could read my mind he spoke. "With man it's impossible but with God all things are possible."

I jerked my head toward Bob. He looked different somehow. Serine even... "Bob, are you quoting scripture?"

"What do you think I'm some sort of atheist ignoramus? I've read the bible many times just to disprove it and shut up all the annoying Christians. Only..."

I grabbed Bob's hands and looked him in the eyes. "Only what Bob?"

"It's true. All of it. The bible is predicting the future at an expedient rate and by the way I'm saved now--so there's that."

I hugged Bob. I don't know what came over me. Then I said something my mother would say, "Welcome to the family of God brother!"
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