Just a Little Death (Children of the Apocalypse Book 1) (20 page)

“Sammy?” Ruthie’s voice drew me away from the memory.

I raised my gaze to look at her. “Yeah?”

“Don’t focus on it. Don’t let yourself get lost in the memories and in what could have been. Okay?”

“Easy for you to say, but once I have something else to keep me busy I’ll be able to stay out of my own head.” I took a bite of the sandwich. “Bring me a computer and I’ll start on that research.”

Pete jumped off the couch and disappeared down a hallway.

Ruthie sat down in the spot Pete abandoned. Kaleb stretched. “Aeron and I are going to go check out the city and see how this new situation affects everything.”

The two of them marched out of the house and the door clicked shut behind them. “So, I guess this means I’ve failed my first semester of college?”

“You have some incompletes due to family tragedy. You’ll get it next semester though.” She smiled.

I snorted. “Yes, because we’ll get this solved during the spring semester.”

“You never know. We’ve already made headway. We know that the seals are in hell, and thanks to you we have the location of one.”

I set my empty plate on the floor. “If I go back to hell, I’m killing any demon I see, because I will not be taken back into Lucile’s mercy. She’s a scary bitch.”

“I won’t let her have you again. Now that the horsemen are taken, the only ones who can stop this are you guys and that means you are now targets.” She shook her head. “Expect an uptick in demons and Sins.”

I snarled. “That’s the other thing, if I ever see Lust again, I’m going to chop off his nuts and feed them to him.”

“That’s my girl. Fighting spirit and all. You just hang on to your drive for revenge.” Ruthie laughed. “I’d like to see you do that to Lust. I’m pretty sure he’s never had anyone even think about threatening him like that.”

I shrugged and cringed as it pulled on my injuries. “I don’t like being messed with.”

Pete came out with the computer and handed it to me. “All set up for you with a user account. That way you don’t stumble across anything you don’t want to see.”

I didn’t even want to think about what kind of nasty stuff was on a male college student’s computer. “Thanks for thinking about my delicate eyes.” I pried open the lid and clicked on my icon. “Leave me to my research, I’ll be fine.” I typed in phrases to start my search for the gateways.

The rain slid down the windows of Aeron’s house. The clouds hid the moon and any light it might have provided as we all sat in the living room with a map spread out in front of us. There was a city that was now deserted, with rumors of paranormal activity within its borders. It was evacuated and quarantined because it was deemed unsafe to visit, but Centralia would be our next destination. Three states over and a two-night drive. Flying was out of the question because it now required a twenty-four-hour quarantine before you were allowed to fly. Of course, driving required us to go through border checks.

“Do you think that we need to worry about the gasses? Because they can be deadly according to the website.”

Pete shook his head. “We’re Children of the Apocalypse, just like we can’t get infected by the plague, a little gas isn’t going to kill us. Might feel the crazy effects, but I have gas masks in the car.”

“Why?” I glanced up from the road map.

“Because I was worried they might try to bomb the U.S., and whereas we probably wouldn’t die, I don’t think any of us want to deal with the effects of a chemical attack in our lungs. If Death was still around, we might have to worry about dying from it.”

I shrugged and looked back down. “Okay, we’re looking at three days of driving, we can leave in the morning and I’ll be healed up in plenty of time.”

“We’ll have to stop at every border, three days will be cutting it close.” Ruthie tapped her finger on the map. “We’ll stop here and here, then finish the drive that third day.”

“How long do you think it’ll take us to talk to the Gatekeeper?” Kaleb leaned back on his hands. “Think it’ll be as quick as the Devil’s Playground?”

I cringed, thinking about how our visit with Hag went. “Hopefully without anyone dying.”

“We’re all coming back and we’re all coming back in one piece.” Ruthie sighed. “We can’t afford to lose any team members at this point. We actually stick to the ‘no one goes anywhere alone’ rule.” She looked at me and I held my hands up.

“I know, I know, and I’ll stop following sexy demons.” I looked back at the map. “We assume it only takes us a day and we start the three-day trek back and we’ll barely be back in time for classes to start up again.”

“Assuming they do.” Aeron said. “If they don’t, then we double our efforts, find the Sins and force the information out of them.”

“And how do you expect we do that?” I met his gaze. “It’s not like they are just going to willingly tell us.”

“How do you think? We torture them.”

I closed my eyes at the thought. Phantom pains radiated through my body at the thought of Lucile’s claws and the panic returned at the thought of the walls closing in. I took a deep breath, trying to banish the thoughts away. “That would make us no better than them.”

“It’s a war, Sammy. Sometimes we have to do questionable things during a war.”

I stood and wrapped my arms around myself. “I won’t have a hand in the torture.”

“You’re willing to kill, but not torture?” Aeron’s voice held an edge of mockery.

I spun around to face him. “A quick death is different than being laid out to be tortured.”

“You’re going to be a horseman. You’ll have to do what is needed to keep the world in balance.”

I turned away and walked out onto the deck. My hands shook as I tried to push his words out of my mind. I wouldn’t give in and have a hand in the torture. A quick death meant little suffering. Of course, with my father missing, there would be no death and no escape from the torture. I closed my eyes at the thought of healing only to be tortured again, or to have to suffer wound after wound, only to not be claimed by Death. I gripped the railing and tried to focus on the rain falling.

The drops hit the cover of the deck with a dull thudding, keeping a rhythmic tempo. I took a deep breath and savored the smell of rain as it hit my nose and the moisture the breath brought with it. The thoughts of hell faded and I opened my eyes.

“Sammy?” Pete’s voice caught me off guard. I’d expected Ruthie, but not one of the guys to come out after me.

I turned around and leaned against the railing. “I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?” He took my hand and uncurled my fingers. “Aeron can be a little bit…drastic when it comes to wanting his way.”

I flexed my hands and sighed. “I know it probably doesn’t make sense to anyone, but torture…I can’t do it. I want no part in it. Killing demons, even Sins, I’m okay with that, but I’m not going to have a hand in torturing someone. Drawing out their death… I just can’t do that.”

“You won’t have to. It’s War’s job, not Death’s. Aeron will have to handle it, not you.” Pete tilted my chin up so I could meet his gaze. “You’ve literally been to hell and back. There’s no reason we would have you participate in the torture. if it comes to that.”

I turned away from him and looked over the yard. The rain slid down the new grass that stuck out from the ground. The dirt held the dark brown tone of mud as it soaked up all the water it could. In other parts of the yard puddles formed where the ground had reached its limit. I closed my eyes. “Maybe I’m not ready to return to the field.”

“Physically you’ll be fine, but mentally…” He cupped a hand over mine. “It’s going to take time to heal. We’re all here for you.”

I smiled. “Never alone in this group, huh?”

“We always have each other’s backs. Remember that. We’ve all been through tough places before. And there will be more to come.” He squeezed my hand. “When the apocalypse is over, we’ll look back on this and realize it was all worth it.”

He pulled his hand away and went back inside. I turned back to the raindrops and a breeze kicked up, changing the direction of the rain. Grief would fade over time, even if it never went away, and all I could do right now was take all the hate and anger and harness it to get the revenge I wanted.

Spring Break

We piled into Pete’s SUV. I took the front seat and no one argued. I typed the city into the GPS and secured it to the dashboard.

“As soon as we get back I’m going to the archangels to talk to them about helping us.” Ruthie leaned between the front seats. “Road trip! Who’s excited?”

Everyone glared at her and she sat back with a huff. “I’m just trying to make good of a bad situation.”

“We’re going to a city that is literally sitting on top of fire. There’s not a whole lot of good in this situation.” Kaleb closed the door. “So let’s just go play with the demons and get this over with.”

I leaned my head back and watched as we drove through the city. Every person wore a medical mask and some went as far as to wear protective eye wear. Guns were seen on several hips in an open carry and I could only imagine what it would be like if someone drew their gun. I glanced back at Aeron squeezed against the driver side back door. I wondered how all the unbalance affected him and the others. Aeron seemed a little more on edge where the others seemed calm and collected.

Kaleb had been worried. His constant need to check on things and make sure they were as bad as the media portrayed them had gotten worse since I was gone. Now, Pete. Pete seemed right at home amongst all the plague.

I could barely tell a demon from a human still. I leaned my head against the window as the houses gave way to dead orchards and farmlands. I closed my eyes and tried to pull up the number of deaths and nothing came. “Death truly has gone.” I whispered. “The death toll is zero right now.”

“We’ll get him back. We’ll get all of them back. We just have to locate or at least know which gateway the seals are near.” Pete pulled the car past another one on the highway.

“We already know that Death is near the gateway here.” Ruthie stated. “They wouldn’t have dragged her all the way through hell without her noticing.”

“I was unconscious.” I grumbled. “But I don’t think I was. The place they had to have taken me to, Lucile must have been close too.”

“We’ll figure that one out when we get back. Let’s take advantage of spring break and deal with the City on Fire, Centralia.”

We passed the rest of the drive to the first border with simple chatting about parties Aeron had held while I was gone, or what geeky thing Kaleb had discovered or built. I smiled at the stories and found I had missed them even though I wasn’t aware how long I’d been gone.

Pete slowed the car as we came to a border patrol. Concrete roadblocks lined the road, and the only break to move through was guarded by two men with large guns slung on their backs. Their fatigues told me that they were from a branch of military. Their faces were blocked by large respirators with built in visors.

The car stopped and the men flanked the car, each of them opening the doors.

“Please step out of the car so we can examine you for signs of the plague.” The voice of one sounded almost mechanical through the mask.

We all slowly got out and held our hands up to show we had no intention of attacking.

“Lift up your sleeves, please.”

I pulled up my sleeves with shaky hands. I had nothing to hide, but I didn’t like being ordered around.

“Shirt please, just up enough to see your stomach.”

My hands hesitated. “I’m sorry, I’m not comfortable with that.” My breath sped up at the idea of someone seeing the wounds crossing my body.

“We can’t let you pass until we know you are showing no signs of the plague.”

I raised a brow. “No questions asked about anything else seen?”

“All we care about is the plague. We’re looking for extreme bloating and discoloration.”

My fingers gripped the edge of my shirt and raised it up. The soldier whistled. “Damn, you went through a hell of a fight.”

“You have no idea. Are we done here?” I grounded out through my teeth.

“Pant legs please.”

I lifted them up and he nodded. “You’re clear.”

“What business do you five have in this state?”

“Oh you know, just passing through.” Pete called over the car. “Spring break and we thought we’d go sightseeing. That’s all.”

The solider raised a brow. “Sightseeing?”

“We like to live on the dangerous side.” Pete shrugged.

The solider hesitated for just a moment. “You’re clear to go. Thank you for cooperating.”

We all piled back in and Pete pulled the car through the checkpoint. “I understand the need to stop the spread of the infection, but really. What would they do if we were infected? Turn us back around?”

“No they send you to a quarantine station. Who knows what they are doing to people there, especially now that Death has disappeared.” Ruthie shifted in her seat.

“Maybe we should focus on bringing him back first then. I know we wanted to focus on Pest, he controls the plague, but we’re still going to have a bunch of people who are supposed to be dead, walking around infected.” I looked out the window and waved at the gate guards.

The car fell silent until Ruthie found her words. “When I get back with the archangel, that’s what we’ll do. We’ll go get Death first. Sammy’s right, even if Pest was the first to be taken, Death is needed to start putting the world back into balance.”

Pete sped the car up. “I really need my dad out, but it makes sense. The next city, we’ll stop for the night.”

I glanced at the GPS screen. “Looks like we’re about five hours out.”

“Here’s hoping the hotels haven’t shut down there.” Kaleb tapped his knuckles on the glass. “I heard they were shutting down to encourage people to not travel right now.”

“Most of them have done away with breakfast as well because of the price of food.” Aeron snorted. “Because they can’t afford to feed their guests unless they raise their prices enough to cover the inflating cost of food.”

Basic supply and demand theory. A lot of places were having to increase their prices to cover the price of the food. I dug out my phone. “I’ll call ahead and see if we can book a room.”

“Good call.” Ruthie said.

“Well, we have the technology.” I searched for hotels in nearby cities. I spent the next hour finding us a room at a price we could afford. Between all of us, there was enough money to cover two rooms for the night. We should have planned ahead, but apparently we all thought it’d be easy to find a hotel.

We pulled up to the hotel and we all grabbed our medical masks and put them on. I cringed at the feeling of moisture being cycled back in with each breath. The doors opened with a swish leading us into a lobby. No human traffic walked through giving the room an eerie atmosphere. A lone receptionist stood behind the big dark wood desk.

“Welcome, you must be the group that called earlier.” She spoke through her own medical mask. Her slender hands were covered in medical gloves and she folded them on the top of the desk. “You’re currently our only guests as most people are afraid to travel right now.”

I thought it was a strange way of greeting us. “Yeah, that would be us. We needed two rooms.”

“I’ve got your keys ready, I just need payment.”

I handed her my card. “I’ve got it, everyone else can just pay me back.”

She slid my card and hesitated in handing it back to me.

“Something wrong?” I pushed down anything that could have been panic. I’d disappeared for a few months; it could just be something simple.

“No, sorry, our system is just slow.” She handed it back to me and then slid over key cards. “Check out time is at noon tomorrow, enjoy your stay.”

I picked up my key and looked at the room number. “Bottom floor.”

“Weird, we’re up on the third floor.” Pete frowned. “I mean, it’s no big deal, but if we’re the only guests, why aren’t we on the same floor?”

I shrugged and grabbed my bag. “I don’t know, but let’s get some sleep while we can. We’re driving another nine hours tomorrow.”

“I’ll go back and ask. I don’t like it.” Aeron shoved his hands in his pockets and turned back to talk to the lady.

“You guys get that taken care of. Sammy and I are going to get settled and see if we can’t get dinner worked out.”

I wrinkled my nose at the thought of having to get in the car again after such a short time out. “Can we see if something either delivers or something is within walking distance?”

“What about pizza? That sounds amazing.” Pete licked his lips. “I’m sure there’s a pizza place somewhere around here.”

“As long as it’s not owned by a fallen angel that employs demons, I’m okay with it.”

“I don’t think he’s out this far.” Ruthie shook her head. “Besides, I think a lot of our kind have gone into hiding. The guardian angels are working double time.”

I raised a brow. “Do I make you work double time?”

“You give me heart attacks, I’m pretty sure that counts as double time.”

“We were told the rooms are randomly assigned and can’t be reassigned.” Aeron rolled his eyes. “Stupidest thing I’ve heard in a while.”

“Then we sleep with one eye open, they have some reason for keeping us apart.” Kaleb led the boys to the elevator and I looked at Ruthie.

“About that working overtime.”

She started down the hall, following the plaques with the room numbers on them. “It’s worth it for you.”

Our feet made no noise against the thick red and gold swirled carpets as we walked down the hall. The whoosh of the air conditioner killed any other background noise there might have been in the hotel. The faint smell of chlorine hinted that we were close to the pool, even though the receptionist never mentioned one.

“What did you do for the months I was gone?” I swiped my key and the hotel door beeped. The light on the reader flashed from red to green.

I pulled the silver handle down and we walked into the room. The carpet went from the red and gold to a dark red. The queen beds sat evenly away from the walls and the comforters matched the carpet. Some mass-produced print of a flower hung crookedly over the beds.

I set my suitcase by the small wooden desk that had been pushed against the wall. I frowned at the room and crossed my arms. Something was going on here. “Why are they spreading us out?”

“That’s a lot of work to get us apart.” Ruthie walked further into the room. “It might just be a precaution in case people are infected and this might be the only place that hasn’t closed its doors. Maybe they still plan on getting a lot of business for the actual spring break.”

“We went north, no one goes north for break. Everyone goes south to Mexico.” I laughed. “I’ve seen the YouTube videos that come from those trips.”

She shrugged. “It was a thought. For now though, let’s go grab some food. Then we’ll make sure that your stitches are behaving and get some sleep. We’ll leave at first light.”

“A three-day trip shouldn’t have this much anxiety. Part of me is excited about seeing the City on Fire though. It’s supposed to be an interesting spot.”

“It’s a gateway into hell, what gateway isn’t interesting?”

“The one where my mom lived wasn’t that interesting.” I wrinkled my nose. “Devil’s Playground. It wasn’t bad, but I could have lived without all the electricity.”

Ruthie headed back towards the door. “But you’re okay with a city that’s constantly burning underground?”

“At least it was man made.” I shrugged. “A man made burning city. Because someone was stupid enough not to make sure a fire was completely extinguished? Come on, that’s cool!”

We walked out of the room and that hushed whisper of the air conditioner wrapped around us again. We walked back into the lobby and joined the guys, without a word we walked out into the streets. I adjusted my medical mask as we shuffled over the sidewalk.

“There’s a pizza parlor a few blocks down. Doesn’t seem to be run by anything paranormal.” Pete looked over his shoulder as he led us down the road.

“At least we can take our medical masks off when we eat.” Kaleb took a couple of quick steps to catch up to Pete. I took my time following them with Ruthie by my side.

The downtown buildings towered over us, casting shadows from the streetlights and the lights still on in the offices. Anyone we passed would move away from us, some taking the extra measure of crossing the street from us.

“This isn’t that small of a town, they shouldn’t know we’re strangers and to avoid us.” Ruthie put a hand on my back and urged me to move faster.

“I told you there was something strange about this place and I don’t think it’s just the hotel.”

“It’s because they are fallen souls, or unclaimed.” Aeron motioned to them, but kept his voice hushed. “However you want to put it. Look closely, little Death, and you’ll know that their souls are tethered to their bodies. They know what you are because they are caught between two worlds.”

I paused and turned towards a couple that hurried past us. Their eyes gleamed over their medical masks, but there was a reflection that didn’t come from the light in our world. I saw a reflection of the white glow that was their souls.

Screeching filled my ears and I held my hand out to summon my scythe, but I knew we weren’t under attack. I clenched my fist and took a deep breath. The sound was a soul trying to pull away from a body.