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“Sir, she’s gone,” said the White Heart.
“What do you mean she’s gone? How did she escape your sight?” said The Behemoth.
“The sky sir, the sun, I’ve never seen anything so….”
“Find The Woman now. Focus. We don’t have much time. War is already upon us. She can’t have gotten far in the minutes she was out of your sight. Take as many men as you can and scour the complex. She must be with me on that vessel, do you understand?” screamed the Behemoth.
“Yes sir,” said the White Heart.
“Love as one,” said The Behemoth.
“Live as you love” he said, marching out of the room and running down into the complex desperately with several other soldiers, screaming directions at one another and tearing through every room, turning every stone and hacking at every blade of grass as The Behemoth, staring out of the open window, felt his grip slipping.
Everything was happening too fast.
The Behemoth took some objects that were lying on Marcos’ desk and filled them into a black rucksack. He took one last look outside the window. The wave was coming; and fast.
Below him, hundreds of White Hearts stood prepared for war but their preparation was not for this. They stood in rings around the complex to shield the initial blows as the wave with all of its feverish force swept obstinately, upon their roost.
The White Hearts; all in a state of one; a readiness for war, were never meant to be anything more than a human sandbag, slowing down the initial impact, to give the generals time to man their vessel and set their course, and none of this was in their training.
The men below the entry stood staunch expecting only mild violence and for which they had a driving thirst. The White Hearts in the outer rings focused their minds on the orange hue of The Forever New Dawn but with every second the thumping of feet pounding on pavement grew louder and closer and with every breath, a dark ominous shadow fell over their minds as the orange hue gave way to a pitch black as their Forever New Dawn became a quickly setting sun.
“Prepare to launch the vessel” screamed a general below.
Men were running in every direction, pulling cables and clearing the courtyard. The Behemoth left the window and motioned down the winding staircase, a sense of anxiety burdening in his stomach. His mind was focused on The Woman. She had to be aboard the vessel. He stormed through the courtyard and towards At Peace thinking she might have made her bed with compromise and put herself with the other Mothers and Children.
When he arrived at the dormitories the Mothers, Children and Fathers were deep in disconnection. The Teller had taken them to a subconscious hermitage; somewhere quiet where they could sleep through the thunder.
The Behemoth entered the quarters and moved through every bunk looking for The Woman, but she was not to be found. He left the dormitories knocking over White Hearts along the path that led towards At Love and At War.
The classrooms were empty except for the remains of the day’s love and fear taking up space in the room; pictures of their leader drawn in tiny hand in chalk and charcoal on the floor, on scraps of paper and spread out over all of the walls. Everywhere he looked; those eyes followed him, speaking to him.
“Traitor”, they said.
“Enough” he screamed, “I’m only taking what is mine. You would do the same thing if you knew what I knew”.
The Behemoth turned viscerally and stormed back into the courtyard where a White Heart was waiting with impatience as his mentor.
“Sir, we can’t find The Woman anywhere and there’s been an incident; At Science. There’s been another breach” said the lieutenant. “Sir, The Scientist, he’s dead. We found his body lying beside a man in white. He was strangled. Both; I mean, they were both strangled. And sir, the girl is missing. Her shackles were untied. What do you want me to do?” he said.