MALE ORDER

[edit on 8-8-2008 by SIEGE]

Sam and Faith were silently sitting in deep thought over a game of chess, the only sound coming from the sipping of fruit juice and the howling wind outside. The moon rode high and bright right onto the chessboard so they could actually play without lights on, save for a candle.

Instead of a chessboard piece a small piece of wood at the sliding glass door to her veranda moved, and Faith exclaimed:

"We are getting a visitor"

"How so Faith?"

"I have this string spread out across the field and its spread out all around the area and attached to that little piece of wood that just dropped. Living alone out here I did want to have my own little security system".

"Who would it be this late?"

It just dawned on Sam that he had never seen any of her friends or neighbours or even relatives. Does she even have friends? Neither did he know anything of her past. Does she have a past?

"Lets have a look, shall we? It could have been an animal"

Both stepped outside into the cool night, but there was nobody to be seen. The knifeholder was not out in the field in front of them but in fact already behind them...on the roof of the porch. The windy night was ideal to make as many cracks and squeaks as he wanted without being noticed.

As the two of them went back inside, the knifeholder climbed back down and observed them through the glass door from a spot he couldnt be seen.

"Faith...I know where your letters are" said Sam.

He revealed the entire episode of him entering the wrong house.

Fortunately for them, because this put them into a state of heightened alarm.

"So...I have a stalker, do I? I dont even know that neighbour. Never seen him before. To think he´s been in here, rummaging through my stuff....jeeeezus...."

But it didnt seem to scare her as one might expect. She was good at maintaining her poise at all times...except when making love, during which she lost all of her poise.

Now that he was spilling it all, Sam continued: "Why did you leave after our first night?"

A grin on her face, as if the revelation of a stalker didnt matter. "I knew if you´re the one for me you wouldnt back out, you´d find me and make me yours. Men need to be hunters and conquer the woman they want."

Sam chuckled.

An odd moment as they stood in the moonlight and Sam considered how much he did not know about either her or his Future. What is her source of income? Who and where are her friends? What will my source of income be?

Funny how, when you´re in love, you couldnt care less about the past or the future. But in this new, slightly dark mood that had befallen the house ever since the letters were mentioned, he began thinking of these things again.

What exactly do I think I am doing out here?


His train of thought was interrupted by a loud crack heard at the front door.

"I´ll go check what that is" he said.

He didnt know it yet, but it would be a while before he saw Faith again.

While Sam was diverted to the front door, the knifeholder acted quickly and professionally. One spray from a gadget, catching faith in her faint and carrying her out of the house and through the fields.

When Sam returned to the living room faith was already half a mile out in the field, being dragged by The Watcher.

The Watcher wouldnt kill her without having some "fun" first.

Sam sped through the field, charging the watcher. The Watcher dropped the body and produced his knife, himself charging towards Sam. .

"If you want to live just stay away" he yelled.

Sam stopped his run when he realized he forgot to take anything he could use as a weapon. His fear of loosing Faith did not make him the keenest of warriors.

Sam barely avoided The Watchers knife on his run back.

While Sam sat back in the living room beside the chess-board, scheming on going to the guys house properly prepared, The Watcher had put Faith into a potatoe bag, the potato bag into the trunk of the car and drove off to the airport.

When Sam finally did arrive at The Watchers house, armed and ready, he found it abandoned except for the Furniture and some of the Watchers less important personal belongings. No indication of their whereabouts.

Faith woke with a start, but in total darkness. She realized she was in a
moving vehicle, probably in a trunk, because the jostling and swaying
was unmistakable and because she could smell an engine's exhaust fumes.
She tried to move but her movements were constricted by some covering.
A bag, or sack of some kind, and she was tied up in it ! Reaching down to
her ankles, she felt for her knife that was always strapped to her lower
calf, it was there ! But she couldn't bend enough to pull it free. The burlap
bag would not give an inch and she found her face ground into the hemp
so tightly that she saw stars. Her head began to ache and she realized that
the carbon monoxide from the exhaust might be getting to her. She
rested, then tried something new. This time she flipped herself sideways,
and slowly brought her knees up towards her chest. As the sack tightened
around her face again she pulled the knife free and slit upwards. The bag
gave, and she was greeted with even more exhaust fumes as she cut
herself free.
In seconds she had popped the trunk from the inside, holding it securely
so that it would not be noticed by the driver. Now it was just a matter of
waiting for the right time. If the vehicle slowed down enough, she'd jump.
If it stopped, she'd be gone. She waited, trying to suck in as much fresh
air as she could to clear her head.
Just as she was about to give up and jump out from the moving vehicle
anyway, it began to slow. She heard the sound of a train getting closer
and closer. As the car slowed to a stop, she rolled out, hitting the ground
quite hard. She continued to roll until she felt herself rolling downhill, over
the bank. At the bottom she was up and running, heading back home.

Of course her escape hadnt gone unnoticed for too long as it left the backside of the car bobbing up and down.

This is why Faith was frantically rapping at the door of some house in a village nearby. An elderly couple in nightgowns, apparently sleepy, opened.

"I´m sorry. So sorry. Im being followed. Could you please let me call the police?"

The man was just about to let her in, when his wife blocked the path with her hands and exclaimed in horror: "Jeff, we cant just let any stranger into our house. Just think who could be following her!"

In the distance a cars headlights appeared from behind a hill.

"Please thats him, before he comes" Faith urged.

But before asking permission she slipped in between the two.

"Close the door" she commanded.

"Will you get out of our house!" the old lady demanded. Her eyes firey with rage.

The guy called Jeff closed the door and said to his wife: "Dont want us to get discovered honey. She can make one phone call, then she has to leave".

The car drew closer. But instead of passing through the small village it slowed down. And came to a halt in front of the elderly couples house.

As Faith reached for the phone someone knocked heavily on the door.
The streetlight gave off enough light to silhouette two figures standing on
the porch. She backed away from the phone and faced the door. The old
couple whose house she had invaded stood together by the wall in the
kitchen, terrified. She walked to the door, opened it about an inch, and
asked, "Yes ?"
"Faith Agen ?" "Are you Faith Agen ?"
"Who wants to know ?"
"You need to come with us Faith, your life's in danger!"
"Who are you ?"
"We're here to help you lady, you and Sam both. But you've got to move!"

Hearing them mention Sam took a little fear out of her, and she opened
the door just a little wider. "How do you know about Sam ?" she asked.

"We know all about the two of you. They've been watching you for a long
time. They sent us to find you before the Watcher got to you. We almost
didn't make it. Now come on, let's go. Ler's get out of here!"

She walked out on the porch and immediately the door slammed shut
behind her. She could hear the old couple inside talking frantically and
sliding home all the bolts to all the locks. No turning back now.

The two men hustled her into the back seat quickly, and they were off
just as the headlights from another car came around the corner.

The driver began to talk rapidly, trying to explain things as best he could.
"You're an enigma Faith. Your DNA is like no other's. The Elders have
followed your path since you were a little girl, making sure no harm
would come to you. They have protected you because you will deliver a
baby into this world that will be extraordinary. A baby that will fulfill
prophecies. The Elders believe you have become pregnant from your
chosen mate ! They believe it is time for you to be secretly hidden away
until the birth of the child. Do you understand ?"

"Yes, I think so."

At that moment the car behind them rammed them hard.

Sam had meanwhile returned to the house and lay on the couch frozen and unmoving because of his perceived loss and inability to decide what to do next.

He´d have called the police if he sensed there werent something bigger going on here...bigger than himself, and bigger than the local authorities would be able to handle. Where the inner certainty came from he didnt know. He just knew that his real life had just started.

_______________________________________________

Faith didnt have time to think about if these her saviours were members of the government or members of some cult, as her had smashed into the front seat so suddenly. It left her nose bleeding. The door of the car behind them opening but not closing and then, without any hesitation whatsoever, right in public (albeit countryside public where there were not many witnesses) gunshots.

Glass splattering. Someone shouting "Get down Faith!" And faith did get down. The two men she was wish, shouting commands. More gunshots. She thought she´d be more prepared for this kind of stuff considering her conditioning by the movie-industry to feature plenty of them in almost any film. But the reality of it was somewhat different. Terrifying.

Clonk, Clonk, Clonk. The dull metallic ring of gunshots hitting the car. The guns being used obviously had silencers screwed on to them.

She dared look up once, just when her driver got a shot through his forehead and fell to the ground.

Im tougher than this. If what they said is true, Im gonna have to be tougher than this

Faith made her way out of the car, ducking out to the front of it, where her second saviour was taking cover.

But she didnt stay at the guys side, she went on, off into the bushes. Off into her territory: The woods. While the two guys were distracted shooting at each other, she should be able to gain some ground.

She looked back over her shoulder just in time to see her second
rescuer go down. He appeared to be fatally wounded but still was able to
get a shot off himself before collasping. His shot caught the attacker in the
upper chest, causing him to scream in rage. He ran up to the fallen man
and continued to pump bullets into him until his gun was empty. Then,
looking around frantically and smelling the air like a bloodhound would, he
started to follow Faith's trail. She began to run faster than she had ever
run in her life.
She had easily outrun this "watcher" before, many times. Now she wasted
no time. Within minutes she was on a familiar trail heading back to her
home territory and Sam. The wind blew through her streaking hair as she
raced through the woods, silently. Unsure of what she would find ahead,
she began to howl worriedly for her mate.
And Sam heard.

Sam and Faith couldnt return to the house. They had made their way through the woods until they fell to the ground in exhaustion. Now, lying in a meadow not far from a small village, embracing, calming down.

"You know...we´ve lost the house, we´ve almost been murdered, we dont know who we are, I dont have any cash on me...but lying right here, with you, I couldnt feel more whole and alive." Faith stated calmly.

And it was the same for Sam. He had lost everything, but gained the one thing that he had lacked all his life and that was truly important to him: Love.

Their heartbeats slowed. Above a helicopter flew its rounds.

"You think that chopper is looking for us? Are we that important?" Sam said, knowing very well they would hardly be discovered lying in tall grass flanked by huge trees.

"An ATM Machine" Faith suddenly said. "Im going to max out an ATM Machine down in that village, before they get the idea of tracking us on it. Come on!"

And off they went.

Just as they made the path to the village the Watcher rushed out of the
bushes on the right and dealt Sam a tremendous blow, knocking him off
of his feet and into a fallen tree. Turning to Faith, he brought his axe
around so fast it skimmed her stomach causing her to believe she had
been cut in two, and she had to take a second to gather herself when she
realized she had only been nicked. Around came the axe again, moving
with incredible speed at her stomach once more, and she stepped back as
it whizzed by her. From out of nowhere a tree branch appeared, hitting the
Watcher up aside the head. Down he went in a roar of fury. As he tried to
stand up the branch collided with his head again, breaking in two and
sending the Watcher to the ground unconscious. Sam dropped the piece
of broken wood in his hands and ran over to Faith. She hollered at him
loudly, saying "You're the one. You're the one. I was right! You found me
and you saved me!"
He had no idea what she was talking about, but he thought they'd better
get out of there in a hurry. Pulling her by the arm, he found the path and
tried to push her towards the village, but now she was trying to work her
way back to the Watcher. She fought him off and ran to where the
Watcher had dropped his axe. Picking it up quickly, she brought it high up
over her head and then down with all of her strength, severing the
watcher's head from his body. A puff of white smoke arose from the body,
and then it was gone, as if melting completely away into the soil. The
forest grew silent. A booming clap of thunder broke over the trees, then,
more silence. Faith and Sam held each other tightly as it began to rain.

The ATM gave them new, crisp, twenty-dollar bills, fifteen of them.

They bought bus tickets to Idaho. Three days later the ATM gave them
fifteen more twenty-dollar bills. They bought bus tickets to North Dakota.
In a small town called Devil's Lake they rented a small cabin in the woods.
They weren't all that far from Canada now, should trouble find them again.

A month passed, and one night as they sat together on the couch, the
phone rang. Unusual because they had never used the phone even once.
Unusual because they hadn't signed up for phone service. As far as they
knew the phone didn't even work. And unusual too because it rang once
and then stopped. Ten minutes later it rang once and stopped. Ten
minutes after that it rang again. One ring. Sam picked up the phone.

Hello ?

How is the woman ?

"Who are you talking about ?"

Faith. The woman. Your woman. How is she ?

"Who is this ?"

How is the baby ?

"Who is this ?"

Keep the baby safe.

"What ? Who are you ?"

It is of no matter who we are. Just keep the baby safe.



We are now in place to protect all of you. We are here.

[edit on 20-8-2008 by SIEGE]

Sam sat in the airplane, thinking about the phone call, thinking about the weeks passed, thinking about damn near everything.

He was on his way to his old home-city - reluctantly - in order to collect some of his belongings and wrap up the deal he had struck to rent out his apartment to a tenant. That would be his prime source of income in the mysterious times that lie ahead.

A guy on a seat across the aisle looked at him. Sam had become paranoid. One look from a stranger could make him alert, ready to defend himself. But it seemed the person sitting in the aisle across couldnt care less, as his gaze returned to his magazine.

Back in town Sam thought that waves of memories and reminiscence would wash through him. But that didnt happen. He felt no attachment to his old city. Neither was he interested in dropping by his former office to say hi to the guys.

Before meeting with his new tenant he would have to go up to his apartment and get it cleaned out...or at least cleaned up.

He missed Faith.

He was no longer the man he used to be. Faith had changed him. She had
passed on to him something wonderful, a consciousness of many. He was
more aware of lifes' fleeting moments. She had chosen him as a mate and
he was now devoted to her and their new baby, so devoted that he would
give his life to protect them should the need arise. The Elders had visited
just a week ago, explaining so many things to him and Faith that now they
knew their true purpose. To "raise the child in harmony with nature, to
educate the child in the ways of the world, and to free the child in its
eighteenth year, so that it may go out and heal the wounds of society."

Up in his apartment Sam found the original "lonely-hearts-club" paper that
had started it all. In the back of the paper, under the heading "Male Order"
was her ad. "WANTED : KINDRED SOUL. . . . . . . .

While collecting his personal belongings in suitcases he had brought up from the basement, he thought about how "they" might be observing this place and show up any minute.

Thats when it hit him: Somebody wants our child! Our "saviours and protectors" want our child after its born. Thats the only reason they are protecting us!

More surprisingly, Sam hadnt thought about this too vividly up to now, as if he had been repressing the thought.

The fact was: He was in love with a woman who was pregnant of his child. There was some group or cult that was trying to kill them because of the child, and some group that was protecting them because of the child. And he didnt have the faintest idea what it was all about.

Nobody paid him a visit while he was there. And on the next day he set out to a nearby restaurant to speak to his new tenant, sign contracts, pass on the keys. And that was that. He was on his way back to Faith.

8 months later.

They had travelled all the way to British Columbia to seek out a hospital where she could give birth to the child, distant from those people that sought to take her daughter away from her.

Little did she know that those people had implanted a tracking device into Faiths skull. Little did her and Sam know that one of them was lingering around the coffee-machine right outside her room.

"Where´s my baby? I wanna see my baby?". Faith had fainted during the process. The nurse, in a reassuring tone told her that the baby is in the room right next to theirs, all warm and cuddly. But Faith wouldnt have it.

"Sam?" she cried.

But sam was already outside, chasing a black car down the parking lot.
Inside that car...his newborn daughter.

Sam returned to the ward, bathed in sweat. His and Faiths eyes met. She realized that the baby was gone. "No! No **** way!"

The nurse, dumbly went to the adjoining room to get the child but found the babybed empty.