River
“What do we do now?” I demanded of Corson. I grasped my hair whipping free of where I’d tied it back and held it down as the pickup bounced over the ruts and holes in the road.
“We go to where we’re supposed to meet Kobal,” he replied.
My knees went weak with relief; at least they’d arranged a meeting place before Corson left to come with us. I slid down against the truck to sit with my back against the cab. “Where?” I asked.
“There’s a town about fifteen miles away. It’s not as badly ruined as the others we’ve been through.”
“Some of the towns survived somewhat intact?” the woman asked.
“Yes,” Corson replied. “Not many, but some.”
“The rockslide will slow them down,” the man said.
“It will,” Corson agreed before glancing at me. “But he will make it.”
The man and woman moved aside some bags of supplies before settling in. Black goo coated some of the canvas bags, but hopefully the supplies within were still good. Corson remained standing, his claws retracted and one of his arms hooked through the open window in the back of the truck to hold on. Gargoyle gunk splattered his face and clothes, but he didn’t pay it any attention as his eyes scanned the horizon with a ruthlessness I’d never seen in him before.
Kobal sent him with me for a reason, I realized.
I turned toward the other two. I’d been training with them before we’d left the wall behind, but there was something more about these two that teased at my mind.
Then, I recalled the woman with the almond-shaped, ocean blue eyes, and black hair had been the one to successfully chop off a demon’s hand during a training exercise when Kobal and Mac had still been trying to determine who would be coming with us on this journey. I’d been watching them at the time the woman successfully managed to strike the blow against the demon, when many failed.
After cutting off the demon’s hand, she’d been separated from the group of hopefuls and led over to stand with the man sitting beside her now. A man who had earlier succeeded in slicing the ear from a demon. At the time, I’d envied them their easy camaraderie as they’d exchanged smiles and high fives.
I extended my hand, fully expecting them to spurn it but unable to resist seeking out some of that camaraderie for myself. “I’m River Dawson.”
“First Sergeant Erin Choi,” the striking woman replied and took hold of my hand in a firm handshake. The use of her rank to introduce herself was a sharp reminder that the rest of the humans with me were far more military than I was, though things had relaxed somewhat since we’d left the wall, or at least I hadn’t noticed as many people saluting each other out here as I had back there.
Erin’s sleek black hair, cut into a bob below her ears, shone in the sun. She had dainty features, unblemished skin bearing the hint of a tan, a slender nose, and full lips. She was about five inches shorter than me with a delicate build that made her appear fragile, but I sensed a wealth of strength in the hand holding mine.
“Nice to meet you.” I turned toward the man at her side and held my hand out to him.
He took hold of it and shook it briskly. “Sergeant Anselmo Vargas, most people call me Vargas.”
The gold cross he wore around his neck caught and reflected a beam of light when he leaned toward me. Vargas’s black hair was cropped close to his head in a buzz cut. Sweat beaded across his deep olive skin and broad cheekbones. His eyes were so rich a brown they were nearly black, but they held flecks of golden brown within them. He was about five ten and lean with rigid callouses on the hand gripping mine.
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
“You also,” he replied.
I released his hand and sat back against the truck as I tried not to smile over the realization neither of them had cringed or hesitated before shaking my hand. Maybe not having Kobal hovering over me was making them a little braver, or maybe it was because I had flame-thrown a gargoyle into a wall to save us. Either way, I felt almost human again, as I finally got a taste of the normalcy I’d been missing so much.
Why? I pondered as I drummed my fingers against my shins. What was so great about normal?
Nothing, I realized, at least not for me. For me, attempting to be normal had meant years of trying to hide the things I could do from others, years of stressing over being found out and labeled a freak. It had meant four long years of fearing being discovered once the military started circulating fliers looking for people with special abilities.
Maybe I didn’t care so much about feeling normal again, but more about feeling accepted by someone other than my brothers and Kobal. I’d come to actually enjoy the things I could do. I may not be great at all of it yet, but I was learning and improving every day. Drawing on life gave me a rush and made me feel connected to the world in a way I’d never felt before my powers had grown. Throwing flames was a good way to stay alive.
However, I still missed people. Lisa had been my closest friend at home, but I’d had many others in my small town and I’d known almost everyone. The people there had respected me and cared for me even when my own mother wouldn’t.
I thrived on all the life interconnected and weaving around me in tangible waves no one else on this planet felt, or at least that’s what Kobal said. I didn’t like feeling disconnected to any of that life, even the humans who would like nothing to do with me.
Draping my arm over my legs, I stared at the odd combination of burnt buildings and thriving, green life reclaiming the earth surrounding us as Hawk drove. Every once in a while, I would glimpse wildlife moving through the small, slender trees sprouting up beside the road. Amid some of the younger trees were a few older, larger ones that had somehow managed to survive the destruction of the bombs and the Hell unleashed upon the earth.
I wanted Kobal back, but it could be hours, possibly days before they were able to get around the blockage in the road. I glanced toward the sky, half expecting to see one of those monstrous things swooping toward us again, but it remained blessedly clear.
“Where am I going?” Hawk asked as he eased off the gas.
“Go straight for now,” Corson replied.
Turning, I knelt in the back of the truck to peer over the top of it as we entered a new town. My eyebrows rose at the sight of all of the houses lining the road. A few of them had blackened roofs and soot-stained walls, but most of them remained untouched. They were empty reminders of a better place and time.
For some reason, these still standing remnants were lonelier to me than the burned-out and broken structures we’d passed before. I could almost see the people and families who had lived here, hear the laughter of the children who had run through the streets, and the voices of the neighbors as they shared gossip over their white picket fences. There had been barbecues and sparklers, tears and drinks within these homes. There had been love before the war and the opening of the gateway had brought death.
Birds chirped and sang as they fluttered through trees. Squirrels and other animals turned and scurried into the sparse woods when they heard the truck approaching.
“It’s so strange,” Erin murmured.
Vargas rose to his feet and braced his legs apart. He surveyed the area as he spoke, “It’s been strange for years now.”
“There had to be survivors from here,” I said to Corson.
“I’m sure there were,” Corson replied.
“Where are they?” I asked.
“The ones who were old enough, and who volunteered for it, were absorbed into the troops along the wall. The others were all moved to an encampment near the Canadian border. They were never allowed to rejoin the citizens of your country. The same was done with those who survived the gateway opening on the other side of Earth. They were taken to an encampment near the border of Italy. All remaining governments never intend for the truth to get out about the cause of all this destruction,” Corson replied. “The survivors were kept segregated and under constant guard until the wall was completed.”
“So they became prisoners,” Erin whispered.
“Better than the alternative,” Corson replied with a shrug that caused the blue feathers hanging from his ears to twirl.
“Which was?” I prodded.
Corson’s unwavering gaze held mine. “Death.”
Vargas kissed the cross hanging around his neck before turning to stare at the houses surrounding us.
“They wouldn’t have…” Erin said, her voice trailing off.
“Wouldn’t they?” Corson inquired. “If any of this got out, it could cause a major uprising against the governments who created this mess in the first place. Not to mention, it would most likely result in open season on demons by the freaked out humans.”
“They would come to accept you,” Erin said.
“How much precious time would it take for them to do that? How many lives would be lost first, and how many more seals would fall as Lucifer continued to prepare for his return to Earth?”
I dropped down from my kneeling position and sat in the back of the truck. Lowering my chin onto my knee, I watched the buildings slipping by us. The people who had lived here now led a life on this side of the wall, not one they’d volunteered for, but one thrust upon them by events beyond their control, like me. They had survived though, not everyone had been destroyed by the destruction the human government had unwittingly unleashed by opening the gateway.
“One thing I’ve always wondered,” Vargas said. “Why didn’t the demons following Lucifer spread out across the land before the wall was assembled?”
“The Craetons who follow Lucifer stayed with him in Hell. The Palitons who follow Kobal, stayed close to him or obeyed his orders to spread out once here. Many of the other Hell creatures, for example the madagans, aren’t exactly the smartest in the world. They’re like our animals, wild and lethal, but their thought processes don’t involve taking over the world. Confused and disoriented by being set loose, many of them didn’t travel far in the beginning. By the time they started to spread out more, the beginnings of a wall in many areas had been started, and we’d already come to an uneasy treaty with the humans.”
“Uneasy?” Erin inquired.
“We weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms in the beginning. Humans tend not to handle change or the unknown well. I’d say we’re a good combination of both.”
“You are,” I agreed.
“En masse, we might make your intolerant heads explode.” I shot him a look in response to his statement; he grinned back at me. “They didn’t exactly take kindly to you.”
“They don’t know what to make of me. They can at least see you’re different and now accept you for what you are. They may not know everything you’re capable of, but they know you’re trying to help them.”
“And they think you’re what…?” His voice trailed off as he stared pointedly at Erin, Vargas, and Hawk.
“First,” Vargas said as he sat back down, “I think you have a point that it would be disturbing for them to learn what is on this side of the wall, and that our government had a hand in helping to unleash it, but I think people would adapt to the truth over time. If given the chance.”
“The chaos that could result before people adapted to the truth may be the undoing of what is left of your civilization,” Corson reasoned. “And no one is willing to take that chance.”
Drawing his knee against his chest, Vargas tapped his fingers on it as he pondered Corson’s words. “Perhaps you’re right, but it doesn’t sound as if we’ll ever get the chance to know how they would handle it.”
“Most likely not,” Corson agreed.
Vargas focused on me. “Second, you’re right, we know what they are and part of what they’re capable of, but you look just like us. You came from a human town, yet you have abilities like them. We have no idea what you are, or what you’re capable of.”
“I’m human,” I replied. “Mostly,” I added honestly.
“She’s possibly our only hope for ending this,” Corson said.
“No pressure though,” I snorted.
His eyes were unblinking when he turned to look at me. “None at all.”
I didn’t know if he didn’t get sarcasm or if he truly meant it. Kobal had said the same thing, no pressure, but I knew they all expected me to at least be able to do something. The only problem was I might have already discovered all the things I could do, and I didn’t think any of them had anything to do with closing an unnatural gateway into Hell or killing Lucifer.
“What else are you then?” Vargas pressed.
“That’s not really your concern,” Corson told him.
“I don’t understand why they can’t know,” I said.
“Because it’s not time for them to know.”
I sighed in aggravation and turned to look at Vargas and Erin who were staring at me curiously. “I lived most of my life believing I was human. I am mostly human. I’m more like one of you than I am anything else.”
Corson’s eyes burned into me when I finished speaking, I held his gaze unwaveringly with my chin raised high. They were part of this mission. They had been told to keep me alive, and would do everything they could to fulfill that duty, yet they had no idea why. They deserved to know some of why they were putting their lives on the line for me.
“That’s all you need to know,” Corson grated.
“It is reassuring to know, even if that’s all you can tell us,” Erin said.
I gave her a small smile, grateful to hear someone say that. She smiled back at me before focusing on the town once more. Bending down, Corson rested his fist on the truck bed as he leaned closer to me. I glanced at the back of his hands. His talons had retracted; I tried to find some evidence they had once been there, but his flesh looked perfectly smooth and normal now.
“Are you sure you’re more human than anything else?” he inquired in a voice so low that it didn’t carry beyond us.
Before I could respond, he turned away to speak to Hawk through the truck window again. “You’re going to make a right at this intersection. There’s a high school with a large field in the back. We’ll wait for the others there.”
I was still trying to puzzle out Corson’s question when Hawk made the turn. Of course I was more human than not, wasn’t I? I was mortal like a human, and my body parts wouldn’t regenerate after being lopped off. At least I didn’t think they would. I wasn’t going to leap at the chance to test the idea.
I loved Kobal and most times Corson was fun-loving and easygoing, but the demons were all emotionally aloof. Unless that emotion was anger or passion and then it was a free-for-all. I was far from aloof or distant with my feelings; I put more value on sex than the demons did. Until me, Kobal had viewed sex as the easing of a need with no attachments involved.
Was my more emotional behavior because I was more human than angel or demon, or was it simply because I’d only ever been a human, living with other humans?
I was still mortal, but did being mortal make me more human or was it simply a consequence of having been born on Earth? My ability to summon fire came from being part demon and the ability to draw on life from being part angel. My visions and prophetic ability could be from either part, or even from my human part, as some humans did have extrasensory abilities too.
Ugh, I rubbed at my temples with my fingers. It was all too confusing, and in the end, what did it really matter if I was more one thing than another? I was still simply me, the biggest hope for humanity and demons alike. Go me.
My stomach rumbled as the July sun reached its apex in the sky. Its rays beat against my skin, but its warmth didn’t bother me like it did the others. Erin waved a hand at her flushed face and Vargas wiped the sweat from his brow; sweat stains marred their clothes and caused them to stick to their bodies like a second skin.
Did the ability to tolerate heat better mean I was more demon?
Cut it out! You’ll drive yourself nuts with this one!
I lifted my head to glare at Corson for implanting this train of thought in my head, but he wasn’t paying attention, and if he had been, he probably would have been amused. Tearing my attention away from him, I glanced at the supplies when my stomach rumbled again. Between the happenings of last night and today, all I wanted was some food, a chance to clean up, somewhere to sleep and Kobal. I had a good chance of achieving the first two, but I’d never be able to sleep while Kobal was still out there with those things.
Hawk drove into the parking lot of the high school and around to the back before stopping the pickup next to the back of the building. Climbing out of the truck, we made quick work of finding food and drinks in the bags of supplies we pulled from the back. We settled in the shadow of the building to eat and drink in silence.
“There’s got to be somewhere we can clean ourselves up,” I said when everyone was finished eating and we had packed up and returned the supplies to the truck. “I’m sure the school has locker rooms and showers.”
Corson looked at the building, rubbing his smooth chin as he studied the brick façade. “We don’t know what could be in there, and it’s a lot of space to search in order to make sure we’re alone. It could take hours.”
“Probably a fair amount of rats and other animals inside,” Erin said.
“Maybe we could use one of the houses that are still in good shape,” I suggested.
I held my breath as I waited for Corson’s response. I was desperate to clean off the gargoyle ooze still sticking to my skin, but if he believed it was better for us to stay here, I wouldn’t argue with him. I wasn’t willing to take any chance of possibly missing Kobal.
Corson continued to stare at the building before dropping his hand down and glancing at his goo-stained shirt. “Yeah, we can try one of the houses.”
I barely managed to stop myself from throwing my arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. He grinned when he realized what I’d almost done. My hands fell to my sides again and I took a hasty step back. “It’s okay. I know I’m irresistible,” he said with a wink.
I laughed as I jumped into the bed of the truck. “Unfortunately, I don’t wear earrings.”
“That is a deal breaker. I do so love my jewelry.”
Vargas rolled his eyes while Erin chuckled and Hawk gazed at him as if he’d sprouted another head. “Fucking demons,” Hawk muttered as he walked away.
“You know you wish you had as many earrings as I do,” Corson called after him. Hawk flipped him the bird over his shoulder. Corson climbed in to stand beside me in the bed of the truck. “We’ll keep this conversation from Kobal, right?” he asked me.
I chuckled as Hawk pulled out of the parking lot. “We will,” I promised.