Izzy knew The gig was up. Israel Ivory was The oldest son of Zed Ivory, 18 years of age, inheritor to The Kingdom, so he was raised & educated to be paranoid about such things.
It did not help that Izzy was gay and his long-time boyfriend, Ishmael Affidavit was not here at The appointed time for a long looked forward night of frolic in the woods.
For all The pompous authority that came from being a guy with a Universally-powerful God’s ear, his dad was not an idiot and neither, for that matter, was Izzy. If Izzy was an idiot with this honking big secret life to hide, he wouldn’t be alive now. But come to think of it, he wasn’t sure he’d be alive come midnight. His fear & dread pumped violently, he felt like running. Yeah, running wasn’t such a bad idea.
Best to go home first to pack a few items that will insure his survival tomorrow.
“Oh Ishmael. And he ran back up The trail. His enhanced contacts let him navigate The brush in The dark. He reached The hidden cave, leading to an emergency exfiltration gate. His dad was not an idiot. Instead of continuing on to The passage to his room at The Palatial Shrine to Isme, he took The door to his faTher’s office, praying to a Gay God his faTher wasn’t on his big comfy leather chair. For this one time, Gay God smiled upon his child, The office was empty. Taking a deep breath, Izzy took The thumb-drive from around his neck & inserted it intoThe safe, taking a gold wallet and an ornate skeleton key.
The wallet had a billion coins, but it was beer money compared to The other item, the skeleton key. It was The key to The Kingdom & The future Jihad. Now it was his ticket to a continued existence.
Izzy knew some alert just went out when he opened the safe. Time was of The essence. He knew The guards will be notified in 10 minutes. Izzy ran for his life, through The gate of Paradise in The lost pines.
Izzy wandered through The crowds in Gilead City to The Warehouse. There, he found a packed, manually-operated powered glider. And Ishmael. They clung in desperate, sobbing joy.
“I escaped through a window, climbed down a tree!”, Ishmael said after his parents confronted him, saying a classmate reported seeing him kissing Izzy in The corner of a public space. “I’m sorry Izzy, I really messed up. This couldn’t last.” “You’re right, it couldn’t. So now we must run off to stay together. This is The greatest thing that ever happened to me!”, Izzy said, teary-eyed. “Listen dumbass, we’re not There yet, we’re still here!”. Ishmael was The only boy who could call him that & izzy loved him for it. “Ok, let’s go”.
Taking off was The easy part. They flew low, dangerously weaving rooftops. Izzy & Ishmael were 2 gay boys, but They were still boys and The great escape was fun. But soon They realized They were on the fly. Nowhere, um, Jerusalem & Mendocino lay between Them & Kyoto. And ArchAngel would be looking for them.
The escape took 3 days. They flew by night, recharged Their battery by day. Their drone scanner came alive as They approached Mendocino & They zoomed through dark clouds in a wild zig-zag but soon found Themselves over The forest blackness of Mendocino. They did it.
They landed in The cnetral square of Kyoto. The crowd was astonished to see 2 men clad in Gilead attire hugging & kissing each other, so when They asked a by-stander “Take me to your leader”, The passer-by shook his head and said, The Trumbull family is in that park over There. Watch out for The blackberry bush.
Trumbull’s sentry bot found The boys gorging on Blackberries & giggling like schoolgirls. It’s threat analysis marked Them as “Idiots”.
They followed The bot to The back door. Trumbull & Judy were waiting for Them. Izzy identified himself, “Mr. Trumbull, my name is Israel Ivory, son of the Lead Elder, Zed. And this is my best- boyfriend Ishmael. We have fled Gilead and request asylum.”, a solemn speech that would have had more gravitas were it not for The blackberry juice running down his chin.
Trumbull took Them to a bathroom where They washed Themselves & sent bots to grab The glider & Their possessions. Izzy had The sense of mind to carry The really important item on his person. The Skeleton key. The key to The kingdom.
Marla joins in
The young men goggle at Marla. “What?”, she snapped, “You never seen a trans-woman before?”.
Ishmael said, “Ma’am, we’re from Gilead. From The top families. We’re both 18, so… no?”. “Besides, youre dressed all in pink & wearing furry pink bunny slippers.”
“The Boy’s got a point, Marla, Yyou look ADORABLE!”, Trumbull said, and she stuck out her tongue in response.
Izzy and Ishmael looked at each oTher, hugged warmly and shared a deep, long kiss. “We made it baby! We’re home!”. It was Trumbull, Judy & Marla’s turn to goggle.
Marla held The key. “It is like a thumb drive, but it has separate contact points along its irregular folds. This is The oen thing we needed to defeat ArchAngel and as luck woudl have it, The son of Zed Ivory is gay & makes a run for it?”
“Yes.”, Izzy said. My dad told me how important it was, and he told me when I became the Lead Elder, to make sure it was never used.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense! Why didn’t your faTher just destroy The key?”
Izzy said, “I wondered about it myself, ma’am. I think it was his insurance policy. And now, it’s mine.
Nick arrived, and Izzy handed The key to him. Marla said, “By providence, the key you cannot do anything without is now in your hand. Thank your long-dead Chiefs for us.”. The look on his face was priceless.
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