Jason and Supatra jogged at a steady place past ravages of unchecked violence.
“I’ve had a long time to think. We live to serve. One another. The pack. Our duties. Nestled in the garden, we held onto the stewardship, and to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Alongside them. How, after all these years, they’ve distorted their intentions. We keep protecting these insignificant beings. You’d think that after being exiled from paradise, you’d want to put aside politics and control society to meet their misguidedness, leading to the very dystopia they fear. They don’t know how to work as a large pack.”
“So difficult to believe in them.” Jason said.
The rhythmic sound of their footsteps echoed as their bodies stayed in an easy rhythm of their run. The breeze brushed against their skin. Conversation flowed effortlessly between them, punctuated by the cadence of their breaths. With every stride, their words danced in the air.
With each passing mile, their conversation deepened.
Supatra kept her focus on the stretch before them. “We’ve seen them spread their toxic ideology like wildfire. Seeing themselves as champions of the downtrodden, saviors of the impoverished, and advocates of an unforgiving justice. Their hearts burn with fervor that blinds them to the true nature of their beliefs. A distorted faith full of misguided, charismatic fools. Allowing the basest desires of souls with justifiable reasons. Jason, I have a hard time letting their influence grow, propagating fear, causing rifts, and blaming those they disagree with. They place the noble sacrifice as a legendary deed. It pisses me off to see helping with compassion and altruism as beneath the pads of our feet.”
Jason looked long and hard at her. “I never thought I’d meet a good woman who is so fucking smart and looks at me the way you do.”
“I don’t look at you. You’re vile and disgusting. You don’t even know I’m a good woman.”
“Oh, yes, I do know. I know the darkness inside you. You have to open that velvet flower and share your delights with me.”
“Actions, not words. I haven’t forgotten what you did…done…do. Does it terrify you that I know your true self?”
“Someone had to find the knowledge. To catalog the defiled ones and their minions. What I learn in my sacrifice. If anyone could find out why I dance in the devil’s shadow and dig in hell’s trash can, it would be the mistress of spies.”
“So revolting.”
“The cost to my name is nothing to our survival.”
“More than that, I believe you enjoy it.”
“You have to have a passion for your job.”
“Yes, but you, you wear the skin of countless...”
“No more. I admit, I was cruel, sadistic, ruthless and a sport hunter. I had to transform, to blend in with the veiled darkness. I don’t have to hide anymore. I saw something in the dark that peered back.”
Supatra appeared repugnant. “There’s nothing to be learned by the vile things.”
“I live to serve. Someone must stand in the mud. Bear witness, spy girl, that I’m reformed. Does courage not hold madness in its heart? Just saying, it would be nice if you didn’t count me so low. Stop being so tame.”
She flashed an angry glance.
They slowed their pace, eventually coming to a brisk walk before coming to a complete stop. Jason turned to Supatra, his eyes filled with a mix of determination and vulnerability.
“I know what you’re doing,” she said. Her voice laced with both curiosity and caution.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Jason replied, his voice carrying a smile.
There was a momentary pause before he continued, his words pouring forth with a sense of urgency. “Look, all I’m saying is Antonio pulled me back from the precipice. He showed me countless versions of myself and the synthetic ones that attempted to replicate you. No one could ever compare to the genuine Supatra. Those knockoffs from the original could never meet your extraordinary standard.”
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His hand reached out, lightly touching her arm. She flinched, but didn’t pull away, allowing his touch to linger against her skin.
“See, you know my secrets,” he said, his voice softening. “You’re the only one I trust as much, if not more, than Antonio. I am a wicked man trying to do right. How far down the path of decay did I have to tread? It seemed like a journey through a deathly wasteland. I delved into research, seeking that one fatal flaw in chaos and evil. I lost myself in the process. But...”
He locked eyes with her, his gaze intense and unwavering. “There was always one howl I could follow home. A spark in a pair of eyes that could illuminate even the darkest void. You too, Supatra. Savage in your own right. Buried underneath the cynicism and hair-trigger temper is an honorable woman who genuinely wants to protect her pack, and her heart,”
She remained silent, her furious eyes fixed upon him, searching for something beyond his words.
“I don’t know if I can live with knowing,” she finally admitted. Her voice tinged with uncertainty.
“All I ask of you is... love,” Jason whispered, his words tender and sincere. “The frigid darkness cannot withstand the warmth that radiates from within you. You’re the greatest spy in this life and the next, and you know I’m not lying. Beneath my undercover facade, you truly know me. You understand that my job doesn’t define who I am.”
He paused, his gaze never leaving her face. “And you know I can realign those hips,” he added playfully, hoping to lighten the mood.
Suppressing a smile, she tried to ignore his teasing and started jogging faster, attempting to put some distance between them. But he couldn’t resist the chase and easily caught up, walking alongside her.
As he stretched his arms above his head, his shirt lifted slightly, revealing a narrow slice of his abdomen. Supatra’s eyes were involuntarily drawn to the sight, her cheeks flushing with a mix of embarrassment and attraction. She quickly averted her gaze, flustered by her own reaction.
“How do you know this is the right way?” Jason asked, trying to refocus their conversation.
“Rumors in the wind,” Supatra replied, her voice urgent. “We don’t have much time.”
Jason’s eyes filled with concern. “You foresee that if we don’t bring her back, he’d...”
“I don’t want to find out,” she interjected, her voice tinged with fear. “And neither do you.”
He fell silent, his expression revealing his agreement. “You’re magnificent, she-wolf,” he confessed, his tone filled with admiration. “I wouldn’t dare entertain the thought of losing you. Letting go of the joy I find in taming the wild creature that you are. Losing you to anything...”
Her defenses crumbled, and she couldn’t resist the pull anymore. Supatra reached out, taking his hand, and intertwining their fingers.
“You’re still a corrupt bastard,” she teased, her voice carrying a hint of affection.
He grinned, his eyes twinkling with a mixture of mischief and adoration. “And I’ll be a dead bastard if we don’t find her.”
They continued their slow jog until they neared a red state working-class community amid an evacuation. Beyond is a windbreak of eucalyptus trees and a low earth bank. Chinese chestnuts full of long catkins hanging from the branches glitter the yards with a distinctive odor.
Jason sniffed the air as they came into a quiet suburb, where shadows clung to houses like specters of normalcy. Jason and Supatra jogged through the eerily calm streets. The sun hung high in the sky, oblivious to the unfolding chaos below.
As they approached a modest house, the air became charged with an undercurrent of fear. A father, mother, and daughter, their faces etched with panic, scrambled within. The mother’s urgent instructions and the daughter’s hurried movements hinted at a desperate escape plan. Jason and Supatra exchanged a knowing glance as the family cautiously peeked outside, a collective acknowledgment of an imminent danger lurking beyond the safety of their home.
The door creaked open, revealing a collective urgency among the neighbors. Families spilled out of houses, fear etched on their faces, all converging toward an unknown destination. Jason and Supatra, attuned to the heightened tension, sniffed the air, seeking clues that eluded their human counterparts.
The collective exodus led them to a lone military transport, an oasis of perceived safety. Yet, the soldiers guarding the entry imposed an unsettling checkpoint. An unspoken disease or threat lingered in the air. The family’s predicament escalated when the soldiers detected an injury in the father, triggering a chaotic exchange between panic and assurance.
The daughter, oblivious to the turmoil, had already passed through security, the divide widening as the squabble intensified. Gunshots shattered the uneasy calm, sending shock waves through the disoriented crowd. Panic reverberated, and the transport, once a beacon of hope, began to depart, leaving behind a cacophony of desperation.
The mother’s screams echoed, a haunting melody of despair, as she clutched her injured husband, seeking refuge in a nearby house. The scene unfolded like a nightmare, a tableau of terror and confusion etched into the fabric of their reality.
A caravan of military trucks thundered past, disregarding Jason and Supatra, focused on the impending storm. Nearby, an ambulance and a Red Cross truck stood ready, their occupants tense and prepared. Humvees idled, waiting for orders, while the tension in the air mirrored the impending calamity.
Through countless windows, an overwhelming sense of dread pervaded the landscape. Burned-over ground stretched towards yards, the remnants of once-thriving landscapes now transformed into a haunting tableau. The sheer scale of the unfolding events hinted at a terror too vast to comprehend, leaving Jason and Supatra caught in the whirlwind of an apocalyptic storm, where the gates of hell seemed to be swinging open.