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The Only Rules That Matter: Bloodlines (Corsair&Madam Mim)

This is wrong. A small voice spoke into her ear as though the All had knelt down next to her onto the patchy carpet as Alder pounded into her. May looked around, trying to find Max. He had taken a joint from one of the other onlookers with a smile that only looked slightly uncomfortable. She caught him glancing over at her, but he looked away quickly before she could open her mouth. This is wrong, the All whispered again.

But Max wouldn't let her go through this without the blessing of the God-Soul. He wouldn't let her suffer this indignity if it weren't for the greater good. She winced as his cigarette hung from his fingers and burnt her shoulder, but it wasn't an unfamiliar pain to her. Max knew what was best; he wouldn't allow the Disconnected to persecute her without reason. She shouldn't attempt to lean upon her own understanding of the Universal God-Soul. He knew Its will far better than she ever could. So when Alder rolled her, she braced against his chest to ride him even as her cheeks burned with humiliation. She bit her lip as he spread her ass and her eyes filled with tears but she swallowed them back and took a deep breath, preparing for the worst.

She had been with two men at once before. Hell, she had been with three men at once. But this was different. It was painful in a way even her first time hadn't been; it was rough and inconsiderate, devoid of lubrication and desire. May grit her teeth and hung her head, chin to chest, swallowing back her tears as she pressed her fingertips into Alder's chest. The new man was just as careless as he had been, if not moreso. She had to take several deep breaths before her throat felt relaxed enough to speak.

"Y-you like this?" she whimpered. She sniffed and moved, trying to relax so that it would be less painful. "Just like this?"
 
“Fuck yeah, I like this,” the man behind her laughed. His hands gripped May’s shoulders, bracing her as he drove himself into her ass. “Damn you’re tight.”

Alder grunted, rocking his hips upwards and gripping her hips, trying to move her on him. “Told... you...” he managed, sliding one hand up her flank to grip a firm breast. Ragged nails scratched her skin as he tugged and squeezed at her nipple. “Fuckin’ good one, ain’t she?”

Neither man spoke after that, save for the guttural sounds of pleasure as they tucked ger. And for harsh barks if laughter as May cried out. The only other sound was the creak of the chair and the slap of skin on skin. Alder climaxed first, driving up into her as his cum coated her inner walls. The man behind her followed quickly, cock pulsing against sore muscles as he spent himself.

The other two men in the room were waiting as they pulled out, hard cocks already out. Alder stood up, half pushing May to the floor as he tucked his now-limp dick back in his jeans, and he grinned as one of the men seized May’s hair and insistently rubbed his head against her lips. “Not bad, man,” he told Max, swaggering across the room. “Better than the last one, you know?”

Behind him, another man had mounted May from behind, hips slapping her ass as he drove into her slick cunt. The motion drove her into the man she was sucking off, forcing his shaft deeper into her throat.

“So we’ll call you good for it this time,” Alder continued, ignoring the grunting behind him. “But you need to bring some fucking cash next time.” There was a click and a snap as he opened a switchblade and began cleaning his nails. “I got a business to run, after all.”
 
"I told you, didn't I?" The fact that May wasn't looking at him made Max feel a little freer to allow nervousness into his smile. It was for Alder's benefit, after all; the man had an ego the size of Jupiter and fancied himself not someone to be trifled with. It was best to humor him until he relinquished the goods. While he knew Jesse's past, Max wasn't quite certain whether Alder had the moxy to back up the attitude, but it was best not to push that particular limit. One of these days, though...one of these days he would put Jesse and Alder down an alley and see who came out.

The dealer cleaned his nails and Max kept a careful eye on the blade as he did so. "Yeah of course," he replied with a shrug. "Relax, man. You'll get cash. We can't all be capitalists, you know." He chuckled in what he assumed was a jocular way. "We're all just doin' what we can."

Max didn't look at May as he pocketed the tabs while they descended the stairs, nor as they waited for the bus. He could hear her sniveling beside him. She knew how he felt about sniveling, and if he looked at her to actually witness it...well...this wasn't the place to lose his temper with her. She audibly whimpered when she gingerly lowered herself onto the seat beside him, and the hands on his thighs curled into fists. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her flinch, though she herself didn't seem to have realized the reflexive move.

"You profane your holy office," he said in a quiet, clearly controlled voice as the bus started to move, "by displaying anything other than gratitude at the opportunity to bring the Disconnected that much closer to the Universal Truth."

May's lip quivered, and as much as Max refused to look at her she in turn found it difficult to look at him. "I'm sorry, High Ascender," she apologized to the back of the seat in front of her in a watery voice. "It's just...it's tender. And I...I didn't understand...I don't understand--"

"You won't always understand everything the All calls upon you to do, May," he interrupted snappishly. "Just believe in me. Trust in me. When have I ever acted without your best interests at heart?" Her throat ached, and the only answer she could give was another sniffle. "See? Everything I do, everything I ask you to do, is for a reason. Just have faith in that."

She nodded, but there was no heart in it. Part of the many things she didn't understand about what had just happened was why she felt so...betrayed. She felt used, for some reason that she couldn't fathom. The situation was just like it had been with Thomas, just like it was when Jesse took her out to perform her penance by ministering to the Disconnected on the street. So why did she feel like Max had just sold her for his own gain? It didn't make sense.

No, she decided firmly. The High Ascender, the direct vessel of the Universal God Soul, would never do something like that. He would never use a person-mover for nefarious purposes, and he most certainly wouldn't use a Person-Mover All-Goddess for personal gain. Some wickedness from the outside world must have crept into her mind while she had been out ministering, perhaps when she had been hired called to act as Thomas's wife. It would merely take unburdening and cleansing, that was all...once her body felt less tender. It was with this determination that she returned to the Chapel, with a somewhat vacant half-smile, and disappeared into a joint and an album.
 
The smell of burning weed was strong as Jack opened the door. May didn’t notice right away, lost in thought as she gently toked and listened to the Doors. Jack hesitated, momentarily uncertain if he should interrupt. Then he cleared his throat. “Hey. Jesse said you were up here.”

He closed the door and took a seat on one of the beanbags, favoring his stump as he did. “I was kind of surprised he said something. I always thought he didn’t like me that much.” Which wasn’t quite true; but the wirery little man had cold dead eyes, like some of the men he’d served with who’d spent too much time in the jungle. The kind of men he’d made sure to never turn his back on.

That was a little difficult to explain, though.

“So, you all right?” He winced as the pressure came off his ankle. “You looked a little upset when you came in. I’d have said something, but...” he gestured vaguely. “Max has me doing a lot of repairs, ever since I got the showers working better. I don’t know if that’s punishment, or a reward of some sort.”
 
May started a little when Jack cleared his throat, but settled back when she saw who had come in. "Don't tell Max or the others?" she asked with a sheepish smile as he approached. "We're supposed to have a no-closed-doors policy." She shifted slowly to turn to him a little as he took a seat, wincing at her tender body, and laughed a little when he admitted that he'd thought that Jesse didn't like him. "A number of people feel like that when they first join the Church," she admitted with a shrug. "It's just how he is. He's got a vibe, that's all. He doesn't dislike you." Why, after all, would anyone within the Church dislike anyone else when they had the same understanding of the Universal All?

Jack asked whether she was okay, though, and she turned her gaze back out of the wall of windows. It looked over the city as the sun sank down and she took another long toke before offering it to Jack. She had noticed the wince as he settled in, and pulled his injured leg into her lap. Gently but firmly she massaged his calf, from his knee to his ankle, but didn't unfasten his foot without permission.

"It's neither punishment nor reward," she told him as her fingers pressed into the muscle. "It just...is. It's your niche, how you can help contribute to the Church and maybe even the world as a whole. The world needs fixers like you." She smiled thinly and her thumb dug into a knot. "We got the communion, for Thomas's baptism tonight." May's eyes darted to a needle, unused, and a spoon on the floor near the beanbag on her other side, the one Max usually sat in. She chewed the inside of her lip, but resisted the urge (again) to reach for it. "I never thought before about where it comes from. It was...enlightening."
 
Jack hesitated, but didn’t fight as May pulled his leg into her lap. It was hard not to be self-conscious about his foot, after all. But May didn’t seem to mind. Hell, it seemed like the leg massage she was giving him was some sort of meditation for her. A way to take her mind off things.

Like the bottle and needle next to her.

“Enlightening, hm?” he replied, settling back into the beanbag chair. “I guess I wondered where he got his hook-up. Shit wasn’t hard to come by in Nam - hell, it grows there. Big old fields. But here?” He shrugged. “Gotta import it, I assume. Probably costs a lot,”

He winced as her strong fingers found a sore spot. “Guess that’s where the cash that comes in goes. Unless he’s got a member of the church in the business? One of the faithful would probably hook him up at cost.”
 
"What, that?" May gestured with her head at the needle, then shook it. "That's not for Communion." She knew that the drugs used for Communion wasn't heroin; Max had told her once that Communion was manufactured in a lab, but that didn't mean that it was bad or unholy. Enlightenment came in all shapes and forms. Jack mentioned cash and a bit of strain appeared at the corners of her lips and eyes. It was difficult not to be bitter, but she had to try; it was an opportunity for enlightenment and to help better the world, after all. And if nothing else, she was helping Max, and that ought to be enough. Besides, she knew she shouldn't snivel.

"It seems to work more on the barter system," she corrected gently with a shrug. "I just feel blessed that I had the opportunity to help. It sounds like the other person-movers weren't...skilled enough." The word sufficient had come to mind, but that made it sound transactional in the exact wrong way. "It sounds like I may have to spend some more time with them, to ensure they have the proper technique to spread the love of the All." She sighed and shook her head. "But I guess that's the way the world goes, isn't it? You discover an area where you're lacking, you work on it, then you continue on to try and find another. It'll be a learning experience for me as much as for them."

May bent her concentration back to his leg for a few quiet moments. "I'm excited for you to meet Thomas. He's a very eager convert and I think he could really help the Church."
 
Jack tried to parse out what he’d heard, uncertain if he wanted to believe he’d heard correctly. “Barter system..?” He hesitated. “Like, you had to make a trade to get the drugs? Like...”

Shit.

“May, that ain’t right,” he declared, taking her hand. “I mean, you aren’t property, not some thing he can...”. The words whore out died on his lips, because he knew how judgmental they’d sound. “I mean, he doesn’t have the...”

Or, was he misreading it? May - hell, all the priestesses - believed sex was a sacred rite. A duty. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t fucked several of them, so did he have any sort of moral high ground? But... had that been different? It hadn’t been a transaction, using sex to get drugs.

Fuck. This was complicated.

“I'm excited for you to meet Thomas,” May said after a couple of minutes of working on his stump. “He's a very eager convert and I think he could really help the Church."

He nodded at that. “You made him sound like a straight-up dude,” he agreed. “I’m sure he’s cool.”

-*-

Thomas hesitantly knocked on the door of the warehouse, then nervously adjusted his tie. Was this the right place? It was the address he’d been given, but... surely the sanctuary of the God-Soul deserved better?

No. That was a mistake. The God-Soul was in everyone and everything, May had told him. It was only people who lacked the heart to experience the divine. A warehouse filled with love would be more fitting than the cold, empty churches he’d walked away from.

The door opened, and a petite young woman with dark hair stared up at him. “Can I help you?”

“My name is Thomas,” he began.

She brightened immediately. “Great!” She beamed, taking his hand and drawing him inside. “I’m Ravyn. Max told us you’d be coming, so come in and be welcome!”
 
“May, that ain’t right,” Jack declared, taking her hand. “I mean, you aren’t property, not some thing he can...”

"Not some thing he can...?" May prompted, gazing evenly.

“I mean, he doesn’t have the...”

"Yes?" She had told him what had happened for a reason. She knew that she had. But now that Jack was speaking out against it, it was like Max was kneeling next to her, whispering in her ear that he was a stray lamb to be questioning things like this. Sex was transactional by nature, after all. But in the other ear whispered the All that Jack was right. That it wasn't right for Max to use her as he had. She didn't like thinking about the contradiction, and felt stupid for having said anything in the first place. After a few minutes of silence, she said, "I'm excited for you to meet Thomas. He's a very eager convert and I think he could really help the Church."

Jack nodded at that. “You made him sound like a straight-up dude,” he agreed. “I’m sure he’s cool.”

She nodded and continued working on his stump in silence. Well, in near silence. For whatever reason, that Lesley Gore song had come to mind, and as she rubbed his leg she could be heard humming quietly to herself.

~*~

"Thomas!" May launched herself at him once he stepped off of the cargo elevator, wrapping her arms around his neck and greeting him with a kiss. "I'm so glad you could make it! We've got everything all ready for you, all you need to do is unburden, then come to the altar with an open mind and an open heart. Now c'mon, there's some people I want you to meet."

Rain and Nate were closest, kanoodling on a couch. But May squeezed his hand as she approached Jack with a grin. "Jack, this is Thomas. He's our newest initiate, getting baptized tonight. Thomas, this is Jack. He's the Savior." She bounced on her toes a little, clearly excited for the two to meet.
 
Jack gripped Thomas’ hand for a moment, shaking briefly. “Good to meet you, man.”

“The pleasure’s mine, Thomas replied with a smile. “I must say, though, that is never expected to meet the savior. I just...”

“Naw, man.” Jack laughed uncomfortably. “I ain’t, I’m not a savior, man. I’m just a guy. I just...”

Thomas nodded, expression thoughtful. “I see, yes. But...” he clapped Jack on the shoulder. “I experienced the God-Soul through May, Jack, and I know we’re all expressions of that divine will. When the time comes, the Divine will provide.”

“Uhm, yeah.” Fuck. This could get out of hand quick, especially if other people picked up on it. Max didn’t seem the type to share power gracefully. “Well...”

“Thomas!” Max, dresses in a loose white robe, shook the man’s hand. “I am so glad you heard the call of the Universal God-Soul!” He grinned, gesturing towards the couch. “Please, go with Person-Mover Ravyn. She will ready you for your initiation.”
 
"You look beautiful." As Ravy disappeared with Thomas May took Max's hands in her own. "You'll lead millions into a new age, Max. I know it."

But she blinked, and there it was again: innocent blood drenching his clothes, pouring from his mouth, slithering from his eyes like tears. She took her hands back, trying not to move them too quickly but unsure whether she had succeeded. He had already dismissed this particular vision of the future. But did martyrs ever really believe in their own deaths? Even Christ had called out to his Father in the hour of his death, devastated to have been forsaken. Well, she would just have to prepare herself for the day it came and be with him, be there for him, until the bitter end. She forced a smile, blinked again, and the vision was gone.

"Praise the All," she murmured, not having been listening very much. With her left hand she took Max's, and with her right Jack's. "Shall we go? The ceremony ought to start soon."
 
“Are... are you sure this is necessary?” Thomas asked, eying the gathered members of the faithful uncertainly.

“Of course it is,” Ravyn assured him, patting his back gently. “All are equal before the Divine, after all. And clothes are one way humans establish social status.”

Thomas shifted uncomfortably, trying to position himself to hide as much of his bare body as possible. “I see,”he said, “but...”

“Here, I’ll join you,” Ravyn assured him helpfully, dragging her top over her head and tossing it aside. “That way, you won’t feel awkward.”

Thomas tried unsuccessfully not to stare as she shimmied out of her denim cutoffs, then looked away. “That... isn’t helping,” he muttered awkwardly, turning a little to try and hide his erection. “I...”

“You’re just responding to me,” Ravyn smiled, pressing herself against his bare back. Her hand slid around, gently wrapping around his cock. “There’s no shame in this, Thomas. Desire is a wonderful part of the human experience. But the Prophet and the Person-Mover All-Goddess are ready for you.”

Swallowing and trying to think of anything other than how good Ravyn’s hand had felt and how good May looked naked, he stepped out into the room. A room that he knew should look shabby, with a threadbare mattress on the floor and a crate with a couple of candles and a few bottles as an altar. It should look shabby, but he remembered how May had opened his gaze to the Divine in his hotel.

“Brothers and sisters!” Max called to the gathered faithful, raising his arms as May knelt on the mattress. “We have a new member who wishes to begin his Ascension today!"
 
May smiled encouragingly as Thomas knelt with her on the mattress. With a trusting, open mouth she allowed Max to place the blotter on her tongue before nodding to Thomas to do the same before clasping hands with him. She leaned in conspiratorially, still smiling.

"Almost everyone's nervous their first time," she assured him. "Just repeat after Max, then do what comes naturally." She winked, then sat back on her feet.

"I pledge myself to the Universal God-Soul, to the High Ascender, and to the Great Person-Mover All Goddess," went the familiar vow. "I pledge to follow without question the teachings of the High Ascender, to shun the Disconnected and the world of the material, but to do my utmost to ease the suffering of my fellow man. I pledge to seek the highest truth and only truth. I recognize that the truth of the High Ascender is the highest truth, and lean not on my own understanding. I pledge to live in peace and to do violence to none. I pledge to follow the guidance of the Great Person-Mover All Goddess in seeking to become one with the All, to give myself over to her entirely for my karmic wellbeing." Here May smiled and gave Thomas's hands a gentle squeeze. "Just as I am bound to the All, so I bind my soul to hers. I understand that to break this oath is to break with the goodwill of my brothers and sisters, and to break with their goodwill is to suffer the death of the soul ever after. All of this I swear."

She sealed the vow with a kiss before making her own promise to him before the entire congregation. "I pledge myself to the Universal God-Soul, to the High Ascender, and to this Seeker Of Truth," she announced in a loud, clear voice. "I pledge to lead this Seeker through this world as he seeks the highest truth, to ease his suffering when his soul encounters pain, and to lift him up whenever he may fall into darkness. I pledge to guide his union with and understanding of the All, and I understand that his karmic wellbeing is in my hands. I pledge to safeguard that wellbeing to the best of my ability, and to follow the teachings and guidance of the High Ascender in my safeguarding. I take this Seeker as my own. Just as I am bound to the All, so I bind my soul to his. I understand that to lose him to untruth, should he break the goodwill of our brothers and sisters, is to lose forever a part of myself to eternal separation from the All. All of this I swear."

The communion was beginning to take effect as she leaned forward to kiss him again. "Whatever happens, happens," she murmured against his lips, into his lips, into his mouth, into his soul. May slid her thighs onto either side of Thomas's, whispering to him, "Be not afraid." She slid her fingers through his hair, guiding his lips to hers again as gradually she lowered herself onto him with a sigh. "Unburden yourself to me, Thomas, and the All will accept you into the way of truth."
 
There was an odd, bitter taste on the tongue of the Person-Mover All Goddess as she kissed him, but Thomas tried to look past that. Tried to be open to the truth of the Universal God-Soul as she spoke. Tried to understand the glowing white light that streamed down through the crown of her head and illuminated her soul and pooled behind her navel. Tried to understand the pulsing colors of her speech, and the way there seemed to be no difference between him and her anymore.

She kissed him again, tasting of crimson and light as her lips and tongue caressed his. “Whatever happens, happens," she whispered, her skin electric against his as she straddled him. He was suddenly aware of his erection pressing up against her, and the shame of the World threatened to overwhelm him. The shame of public nudity, the shame the World taught to keep everyone separate from the Universal God Soul.

“Be not afraid,” she whispered, kissing him tenderly as she sank down his shaft, taking him deep into her body of crimson light. He moaned against her lips, hands leaving dark streaks on her skin that slowly brightened and faded as her light blazed through. "Unburden yourself to me, Thomas, and the All will accept you into the way of truth."

“Yes,” he gasped out, his hips rising to meet hers in a desperate offering. “Oh... oh please... accept my... my burden...”. In his peripheral vision he could see others of the Faithful, celebrating with him. Beginning to unburden themselves, their cries of praise to the Universal God Soul echoing his own. “Oh... please. Please, accept my... my...”

His words cut off in a cry of exultation as his hips bucked and he emptied himself, his fears and grief and all, into the waiting womb of the Person-Mover All Goddess.
 
It could have been hours or minutes. Maybe days, May wasn't certain. She lost track of how often Thomas unburdened to her, or even whether he had; it was difficult to tell now as she lost all sense of self and time. She was one with him, taking all of his fears and sorrows and sins and letting the Universe take them back. It was as though she moved in slow motion and fast-forward all at once, as though she could see a montage of herself making love to him for hours at a time. At one point, however, she found herself cradling Thomas to her breast, stroking his hair and smiling lazily at the others around them. She bit her lip briefly as she watched Jack empty himself into one of the newer members they had brought home from the shelter. She blinked for a long moment and suddenly Thomas was out of her arms, halfway sitting up as Max helped him to his feet.

"But..."

Max pressed a finger to his lips. "I'll bring him right back," he promised in a low murmur. With a pout she nodded and blinked again and they were gone, and she found herself lowering her head back down onto Nate's chest and curling up against him.

"Thomas I needed to talk to you, alone." Max sat cross-legged and naked on a pouf on the floor of his office and gestured for Thomas to sit with him. He looked at him seriously, almost soberly, and leaned in. "You're a full member of our church now, brother, and as such you enjoy all the benefits that come with that. But you also have to sacrifice with us, ya dig?" He raised his eyebrows slightly. "The church finds itself in need in order to navigate the world of the Disconnected, and May tells me you're a man of some means."
 
“I am a man of means, High Ascender...” Thomas began.

“Please, no need for formality,” Max interrupted, lighting a reefer. “We’re brothers here, so call me Max.” He took a drag and passed the cigarette over.

“Thank you, Max.” Thomas hesitantly took the cigarette and pulled on it, then coughed. “But yes, the God-Soul has blessed me with the things of the world. How can I use them to assist the work of God?”

Max smiled, and took the cigarette back. “Let me tell you of the vision the God-Soul gave to me, my brother...”

-*-

The brunette - Janet, he recalled, one of the members he’d helped recruit -moaned and dug her fingers into his back as he stroked into her. The moans built into hungry gasps as her pleasure and his both built, and she cried aloud as she clenched around his shaft. His own harsh cry of release followed as he climaxed, emptying his seed into her.

“Oh... oh fuck...” she managed, catching her breath. “That... That was good.”

“You were pretty amazing, baby,” Jack agreed. He caught sight of May looking at him. Thomas, it seemed, had abandoned her to talk to Max. “I gotta go rap with the Person Mover All-Goddess. You good?”

Janet glanced around, then smiled at the hungry look in Ravyn’s eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

Nodding, Jack crawled over towards May. It wasn’t dignified, but it beat trying to stand on a fake foot while high. “Hey, babe,” he said as he got close enough. “Why’s Max monopolizing the new guy? Didn’t think he swung that way.”
 
"Jack..." The name was drawn out, the voice dreamy, as May looked over at him with clouded, sleepy eyes. She reached out to him and took his hand, her head still on Nate's chest even as she squirmed the rest of her naked body to face Jack. "Jack I'm so happy you're here, you know. And I'm happy that you unburdened to one of the Person Movers." She brought his hand to her lips and kissed the backs of his knuckles. "You're so...you're amazing you know? You're just so chill with everything all the time and I love that about you." She spoke into his hand, not having moved it away from her lips.

"Huh?" She blinked hard as his question finally made it through the morass. Then she chuckled and shook her head. "The All sent him a vision, and he said Thomas was a part of that vision. He's gonna bring us to the beginning of the world, man."

"And that's where you'll save us," Nate insisted groggily. He laid on his back, stroking May's hair almost compulsively while he stared at the ceiling and willed the floor to stop moving.

"And that's where you'll save us," she agreed with a grin. "The Divine Aspect keeps coming to me and whispering High Holy Seeker in my ear." She slid his hand from her lips, between her breasts, down to her stomach just below her navel where she could practically feel the secret new life growing inside her. "It's going to be beautiful."
 
Thomas listened, and felt like he was really listening as Max explained the vision. No, not simply explained. The High Ascender revealed it to him, his words bringing a vision to his newly-opened spiritual eyes. A vision of a place of safety for the faith, a refuge from the evils of the Disconnected world. A gathering place for the faithful, from which they cold shine the divine light of the God-Soul.

“Of course!” he declared, clutching at the cigarette as it was passed back, and coughing as the aromatic smoke scorched his lungs. “As the God-Soul requires, because nothing is too much for this!” He took another drag, then passed the cigarette back. “What do you need from me, to realize this great vision?”

-*-

Jack shifted uncomfortably, still not liking what May was saying. “Naw,” he drawled. “I ain’t no savior, really. Just a poor guy from the rez, you know?”

Nate craned his head up. “If May says it man,” he yawned, “then I’ll believe it.” He grinned. “Jack Sparrow, our savior. Got a ring to it.”

“Naw, man,” Jack protested. “It don’t. I’m no different from anyone else.”
 
May shook her head lazily from side to side. "You'll see," she assured him. "The gods set their eyes on you a long time ago, Jack Sparrow. Before you were even a thought. And even now the holy aspect of the Eternal Mother searches you out." Her fingers slid up and brushed his cheek. "You may not know now, but all things in their time my love. And time is inevitable."

"So is the God Soul." Nate was half-asleep and struggling to follow the conversation, but desperate to convince Jack of his part yet to come.

May nodded in agreement. Her eyes darted over his shoulder and traveled upward, then back to his face. Struggling, she pushed herself up onto her hands and pressed her forehead against his, cupping the back of his neck. "The great black she-cat watches," she whispered urgently. "Wrap yourself in the holy aura and perhaps her curse won't find you." Pressing forward she kissed him hard, with an urgent sense of desperation. Over his shoulder the she-cat's eyes lost focus and slowly she faded away. Gradually the kiss ended and May pressed her forehead against his again, tears slowly trailing down her cheeks. "I love you Jack Sparrow." Her voice was clearer, more focused, nearly sober and cracked with sorrow and worry. "Don't fall into the Shadow, okay? It comes for you, with blood and tears and guns and blood, but you can't fall in. You can't leave us."

~*~

Max stifled a snicker as Thomas choked on the smoke. He was earnest, at least. He took the joint back and took a long drag, letting him stew in his eagerness and anxiety for a moment.

"Three thousand dollars," he said at last. "The All has told me to raise this money, then go forth. It will guide me to the land where we'll begin the world anew again."

He had saved up ten thousand, which was enough for a patch of land he had found for sale in the newspaper. He was due to go look at it next week before putting the money down. Another three would get them there and some supplies, and if he was lucky and frugal there would be some left over. Max watched Thomas's face carefully for reaction at the requested sacrifice.

"The All doesn't ask for much in return for salvation, Thomas," he reminded him quietly as he mulled it over.
 
“Three thousand?” Thomas hesitated as reactions warred inside him. He’d felt the presence of the Divine, working in him as the Person Mover All-Goddess has unburdened him. Felt the miraculous love and peace of the Universal God-Soul. But he was still a practical businessman, and three thousand dollars was a chunk out of his operating funds. Not an impossible chunk, but...

“The All doesn't ask for much in return for salvation, Thomas," murmured the High Ascender.

Thomas flinched at the statement. It was as if his thoughts were laid bare before the prophet of the All. “You, you’re right,” he breathed, suddenly feeling ashamed. “I’m allowing worldly concerns to blind me. Please, forgive me.” He thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, of course. The work of the All must go forward. It would be easiest for me to write a check. Would that suffice?”

-*-

Great black she-cat? Jack blinked, wondering what she was talking about. Was it the same thing as the shadow she said was coming for him? Then he chuckled. It was probably the drugs.

“Sure, baby,” he said, wrapping his arms around her slim shoulders. “I’ve had my fill of guns and blood anyway, over in Nam. I’d rather fall into you.” Grinning, he lifted her chin and kissed her. “And I ain’t leaving you, you hear?”

“Right on,” Nate mumbled sleepily.
 
The check sufficed. In the morning Max announced his departure into the West, to find the Beginning Of The World. It was with much lamenting that he departed, but a call to the payphone outside the abandoned factory came three days later. He had found it! The place they would come home to, the place where they would start anew. It was a patch of land in the desert in Texas.

"Texas!" May grinned as she unrolled a map and scanned it before putting her finger down where Max had said the nearest town was: Buffalo Gap. Perhaps ten miles away was the border of a reservation. She looked over to Jack curiously. "Ever been here before?"

Around them the Chapel was abuzz with activity. Person Movers were packing while Seekers were moving things out to the ground floor. Nate and Jesse had disappeared a few hours ago with instructions to be ready by nightfall. Chickens clucked disconsolately in little wood cages made from foraged wood tied together with twine as they were carried down the stairs, while meanwhile church members were on the roof disassembling their roost and bundling the pieces together for transportation. What transportable plant pots they had were carried carefully down to the elevator, and from there to the ground floor and set by the front door. The rest they would have to start all over from the beginning at The Beginning, but that was alright. Max had assured them that the All had spoken to him as he walked barefoot across the land, exalting in the soil's fertility. The furniture, including May's couch and waterbed, would have to be left behind; they were too big, and also remnants of the Disconnected world she had chosen to leave behind. So, too, would her records be left behind. A local charity had already been called to come and grab what they wouldn't be able to take with them. Most of the furniture would go to families transitioning out of homelessness, but smaller, non-vital items would likely wind up in a thrift shop somewhere.

May was just as flurried as the activity around them, unable to focus as her excitement and curiosity about their new home warred with her desire to help. "We're getting rid of so much of the material!" she observed excitedly as one of the couches was turned on its end and scooted against the wall next to a stack of mattresses. "But we've still got so much to carry. How--?"

On cue, her incomplete question was answered by a hornblast outside. Taking Jack's hand, she tugged him over to the window. May laughed. Below, Jesse and Nate both pulled up with a school bus each. With a grin she tugged him toward the stairs as the others joined them in migrating downstairs. In an hour both buses were colorful murals and most of them were laughing, covered in paint. But with the fun achieved, it was time to work again and gradually they began loading the buses.
 
Jack stared at the map, then grimaced. “Yep, I’ve been there. Remember how I told you I got the choice of Nam or jail, because some honky couldn’t believe his little girl wanted some black dick?” He jabbed the words Buffalo Gap. “That’s where I spent the night, before going to see the judge.”

Private memories left him with a bad feeling about the ‘promised land’ Max had found, but he kept his worries to himself. Things would be different this time, right? Because it really did seem like God was looking out for this little group of worshippers. So he tried to lose himself in the work of packing, and ignored his fears.

Mostly.

-*-

He stared at the busses, shaking his head as May danced excitedly before them. “That,” he laughed, resting his brush on the paint can, “is gonna get us all arrested. If that ain’t a hippy stoner bus, I don’t know what is.”

Nate laughed. “The Disconnected assume that’s what we are anyway,” he declared, clapping Jack on the shoulder. “And they would, no matter what we might say. So why try to hide?”

“Good point,” Jack laughed. “C’mon, let’s get this thing loaded.”

-*-

Working together, the faithful managed to pack everything into the two busses. The interiors were crowded, full of furniture and boxes and bodies and clicking chickens, and Jack was glad he had volunteered to drive. There was more room up front. “All right!” he declared, starting the engine. “Any last minute stops? Because I wanna hit the Appalachians before we stop for the night.”
 
At first there were songs. Once they were out of the city and on the highway, there were protest songs, songs for peace, songs for a better tomorrow, and even a song Jesse wrote for the trip to The Beginning that spoke of the beautiful things to come at the end of the journey. And no one mentioned that troubling verse. May led them on a battered old guitar, sitting at the front with Jesse while throughout the bus chickens clucked and wandered and other believers improvised instruments where they could. After the first couple hours, however, the songs died down. There were smatterings of quiet conversation and every now and then someone struck up a game. Two Person Movers in the back were teaching a couple of Seekers how to play the hand-clapping games they had learned as girls. There were occasional naps, a few had brought books or magazines and someone even passed around pages from a children's coloring book and some colored pencils. Every now and then Jesse leaned toward the window to use one of the walkie-talkies he had found at an Army-Navy Surplus to communicate plans with Nate.

"Hey man, I can take over when you want." Jesse set a hand on Jack's shoulder and looked down at him as the sun set over the highway. "We're gonna take it in shifts, drive through the night. If we can manage with only a few stops, we should be there by tomorrow afternoon. Unless you wanna risk stopping?" He gestured to the sign which indicated that they were only fifty miles outside of Nashville. He was, of course, not unaware that such a place wasn't exactly friendly to people who looked like Jack.

Jesse had insisted that he travel with them, while Nate lead the other bus. There had been a slightly mistrustful glance at Jack as he'd explained, but May had missed it. In truth, Max had asked him to keep an eye on Jack while he was gone. Neither of them liked this High Holy Seeker, this Savior business May had been going on about, or that this baby she had foreseen--the Hidden Buddha--belonged to anyone but the High Ascender. He was there to keep an eye on the both of them, to ensure that there wasn't some sort of collusion going on to undermine the Church's established structure. To do so would be against the will of the All, and more importantly would be straying from the work the Woman had set them out to do.

"Figure we can stop at a drive-through or something for dinner before we hit the city," Jesse suggested. "It's not ideal, but we don't exactly got a kitchen at the moment, ya dig?"
 
“We might,” Jack laughed, “as much stuff as we packed in here. But yeah, I dig.” He scanned the signs as they streamed past, looking for options. “Ain’t gonna be much that suits the way the Church prefers to eat, though.”

Jesse shrugged. “We make due, brother. The God-Soul doesn’t demand we starve, right?”

“Right. And hey! That looks promising!” Jack signaled for a turn and pulled onto the off ramp. Ahead of them shone a neon sign for Papa’s Bar-B-Q - a squat, cinderblock building with motorcycles parked out front and rockabilly blasting out of the windows. “No drive through, though,” he observed, bringing the bus to a stop and killing the engine.

The Community of the Fauthful piled out of the bus, stretching and staggering as they worked out kinks and sore muscles from hours of sitting. Jesse did a quick head count, then joined Jack I’m heading for the entrance. The lights were low inside, mostly flickering colored neon. The air was close and warm, and reeked of cigarette smoke and beer and mesquite.

Everyone turned to stare at the two men. Expressions varied, mostly curious, none welcoming.

“Well,” Jack grinned. “Ain’t this fun?”
 
Jesse mumbled into the walkie-talkie as they pulled in and waited for the other bus to pull up as the faithful congregated in the dirt parking lot. As Jack turned he was met with a flash. Nate grinned, taking the picture the Polaroid camera had spat out and shaking it in the dying sunlight.

"For the trip," he explained, holding up the still-developing picture. "I thought we might wanna, y'know, document it or something. Something to remember our pilgramage by years from now, when the world's begun again. Something to show our kids and grandkids that we were there."

"I think that's a wonderful idea." May smiled and took the camera from Nate. "Say cheese!" Click! In the picture he was grinning, and May was sneaking a sidelong look at the camera as she kissed his cheek. With a giggle she gave it back to him before wrapping her arm around Jack's waist. "C'mon, I'm starving!"

The barbecue shack was close, the jukebox loud, the smoke thick. Even May noticed that most of the patrons already there didn't seem too keen on the pile of young adults who looked suspiciously like the hippies the six o'clock news had warned them about. Drawing more attention than most of them was the sole black person in their midst, and the white girl with her hand in his back pocket. She sniffed. Their money was as good as anyone else's.

She had been slowly phasing out meat when she had met Jack, and it was gone altogether when she moved into the Chapel. But at the smoky smell of tender barbecue, her stomach twisted in nostalgic hunger. She glanced over at Jesse, who was looking up at the menu behind the counter. He looked sideways at her, then gave her a smile and a little wink. It was okay. The All would understand, and so would Max. He ordered three family meals, which ought to be enough for everyone including those who didn't want to risk it and stick to the sides and rolls, while the rest of the faithful began pushing tables together.

"Um...excuse me?" May did her best to sound small and contrite to the burly Disconnected man she touched lightly on the shoulder. He looked like he could twist her into a knot if he wanted to. "Do you mind if we use this chair?" She set her free hand on the back of the chair at the table, one of two free chairs at a four-top.
 
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