by D A Rice
I could hear the Corrupted following us. What was holding them back? Were they really that afraid of Gabriel? “The Fallen. It is the only thing that could have the Corrupted this on edge. Isaac can feel it too, but he doesn’t know what it is. It feels like a weight to them, it controls them. Isaac will not be tethered to you for much longer if we stick around. He will be just another Corrupted,” Gabriel explained in barely a whisper, his voice as light as the wind. I would not have heard a thing he had said if he had not come back to stand right in front of me, tilting his head as close to my ear as he could get without setting off Isaac. Isaac, himself, was watching the forest behind him, his head cocked in an eerie way. He shivered, and Gabriel glanced to him, not moving from in front of me. Gabriel’s eyes turned steely as he assessed the Corrupted’s stance.
Isaac snarled, snapping his head back to us. Gabriel stiffened, then he was pulling me back and away from Isaac, shoving me in front of himself. “Time to run!” Gabriel said louder and pushed me with his bow, pointing. I took off, pulling my sword into my chest, following his directions as he shot off arrows behind us.
“I thought you said they don’t pick fights with you!” I called breathlessly as I picked my way up an incline.
“I said they don’t usually pick fights with me! I also said that the Fallen can control what they do!” He hollered back, the sound of his bow thwacking against his covered forearm following me as he shot another arrow. He glanced up at me, a glint in his eyes, “we need to get up to the waterfall!”
My eyes widened, “what waterfall? This is a stream!”
“Not for much longer! Now move!” He pushed me, and I fell forward, scrambling to get up the rest of the incline and ran, following the flowing water next to us. Just as Gabriel had said, it was beginning to pick up pace, growing wider. I heard a growl behind me and then the sound of one large body bowling over another before the sound of snapping jaws and tearing muscle hit my ears next. Gabriel lowered his bow and caught up to me, grabbing my hand as he passed me and picking up the pace. “Looks like your boy finally caught up to us!”
“Are you not supposed to be a super warrior?!” I asked as he pulled me along, stumbling over the terrain. Why was he running? I knew he could probably take down any Corrupted, why else would they speak of him even within Zion?
He shook his head as he laughed, “that does not mean that there are not great times to run as well. Just because I can fight them does not mean I always should, lass.” I could hear the battle behind me rage as Isaac held his ground behind us, then there was silence. I halted, stopping Gabriel in his tracks.
“Something is not right,” I breathed, and Gabriel yanked my hand as he moved forward again. The mist was beginning to gather around us, we had to be close to the waterfall of which he had spoken.
Gabriel pulled me forward and spun, his bow in hand once again as he pushed me behind him with his backward steps, arrow drawn. “You don’t know the half of it,” he whispered as he backed me up. I could hear the waterfall now, roaring behind us, drowning out anything else he might have said. The night stilled around us, silence dropping in an almost claustrophobic way. I could feel my breath hitching in my lungs as I tried to comprehend what was happening. Even with the waterfall and the noise it created, the silence was thick. Where is Isaac? I thought, is he ok? I pulled my sword free, letting the coat over my shoulders drop. Gabriel glanced at me, but said nothing, his muscles as taut as his bowstring.
The darkness was thick around us, but we could still see with the stars out. Until all of a sudden, we couldn’t as a shadow flew over us. I glanced up, startled, but Gabriel didn’t move, his breath hitching as he steadied his shooting arm in anticipation.
Black wings stretched across the sky as a figure hovered before us, its wingspan seeming to take up the whole sky. I could not make out much, even with my eyesight, for its entire form seemed to blend into the night and the shadow around it. The thing cocked its head in curiosity as Gabriel sighted it with his bow, his calm flowing out from him dangerously. The creature’s face was hooded, its cloak trailing as if made from shadows. With one beat of its wings, it flew into the sky, disappearing from sight, its curiosity sated. I fell back against the wall as the weight of what I had seen crashed over me, the sounds of the forest beginning to creep back into my senses.
When I looked up again, all I saw was a black feather, floating down from the sky.
12
“The legends are real,” I breathed in disbelief as I slid down the wall at the base of the waterfall. My body trembled as my sword hit the dirt below me, point first. Gabriel nodded, having heard me, even with the water raging next to us.
He raised his own voice as he sat next to me, so that I could hear him as well, “very real. Do you still wish to proceed?”
I glanced at him, but he wasn’t looking at me, he was gazing at the stars above us, visible now that the Fallen had departed. There didn’t seem to be any Corrupted around us, but I could hear the other life in the forest stir as I sat there, taking in what I had seen. I could only hope that Isaac had survived the onslaught, and that he was still himself after the arrival of the Fallen. Could they really control the Corrupted so easily? I thought I knew the legends. I was finding that I had a lot to learn. “We need to find a cure,” I said after a moment, my determination pulling ahead of my fear. I glanced at Gabriel in consideration, “I did not ask this after your story, for obvious reasons, but have you ever considered that you may be the cure I am searching for?”
Gabriel cracked a smile next to me, “don’t you think that that would be far too easy?” he rolled his eyes to meet mine.
I shrugged, “perhaps, but if we could just test your blood…”
He held up a hand, halting me before I could continue, “I will not be experimented on again, Zakiya. My blood is my own and no one else’s.”
I could not blame him for that. His father had been cruel to Gabriel making him into something other and I could not guarantee that my mom would not lock him up like a lab rat for it. The silence deepened between us, but it was not uncomfortable. I shifted my gaze to the stars, but Gabriel watched me, reading me. I shivered, “please do not do that.” I was not a book, and I hated that there were the rare few out in the world that could read me like one. Isaac did not have to read me, he always just knew.
Gabriel chuckled, his gaze shifting away from me, releasing me. “I am sorry, it is just that I have not spoken to another about these things and had them accept me. Why do you not push?”
I could feel my own lips twitch as I looked at him, “perhaps I am not as selfish as you thought.”
He smiled with a nod, “perhaps you are learning.”
Gabriel moved us far enough away from the waterfall that we could hear each other better, but close enough to go back to it if necessary. Having that defensible position was a comfort to us both, I would rather have something at my back than be caught surrounded. Gabriel obviously felt the same. He told me we would need to get above it later in the morning, but that we needed rest first. I did not disagree. I didn’t want to move for my own reasons. I was still hoping that Isaac would find us again. Gabriel had to have known that as well, but he didn’t say anything about it. I wondered what he thought had happened to Isaac. With the Fallen that had made its presence known anything could have happened. The only thing I was certain of was that Gabriel knew much more than he was telling me.
I didn’t ask him to elaborate, though. I figured that, just as he had with his story about his father, he would tell the rest in his own time. He had proven over and over that he was trustworthy. I knew that I would not have lasted long out here without him, even if I thought different a few days ago. I could not believe how different the world looked to me now. It was beautiful out here, with no metal walls to block out the world around me.
Decrepit though it was in places and pumped full of more radiation than inside the domes, there was a certain beauty to the way the sun crept in through
the trees and greenery that ruled out here. Gabriel had said the radiation levels were low, but I had to wonder if that was part of what was sapping my strength out here. I knew that my stomach was still healing, but I was also used to fighting through injuries like this. That I could be so weak was a daunting realization to have.
Gabriel was used to the outside world; his body had already adjusted to the chemicals that had killed the world many years ago. Although these chemicals had clearly leveled off, I had lived my life inside a dome that filtered the air from outside, excluding all the potentially harmful substances in it. Gabriel had not had that luxury. Out here, it made him stronger than me, but it wasn’t just that.
Whatever his father had done to him had made his senses almost otherworldly. I thought over everything that had happened, as I lay there, once again wrapped in his coat. It was almost as if he could see in the dark as well as hear beyond what was normal, even for the Corrupted. He was also uncommonly good with that bow. Not a single arrow had missed its target, and for as fast as he was letting those arrows loose, I was convinced it had a lot to do with his eyes. He had not been kidding when he said he had extraordinary sight.
After making sure I was comfortable, he left to go and retrieve as many of those arrows as possible. The sun was making its slow appearance again and the fire Gabriel had re-built was dwindling down. I was supposed to be sleeping, but I could not. I had too much to think about. I needed to know more about the Fallen. If it was true that they were holed up around where we were going, and I had no doubt now that they were, we needed to have a plan.
A slow shuffling and a low growl had me sitting up slowly, my eyes searching beyond the dying flames. A Corrupted sat just beyond them, steam starting to rise off his body. It wasn’t light enough for it to do an immense amount of damage, but I could tell that it was uncomfortable. He looked like the rest now, with no hair and red skin, the horns on his head as he tilted it, his eyes shining red and unreadable. He was as large as one now too. The only reason I could tell it was Isaac was because of the cracks that webbed out from his eyes, oozing an even darker shade of red. Then there was the chunk missing from where he had been bitten. I couldn’t tell if he recognized me or not as he sat unnaturally still, his head tilted to the side. He inhaled, smelling the air as his eyes fluttered closed.
He shook, tensing, and when his eyes opened, I had the answer to my question. I scrambled up as Isaac shot toward me, a growl low in his throat. “Isaac!” I called with one hand out, the other reaching for my sword on the ground. I wanted desperately for him to hear me, but he did not falter. I managed to raise my sword in time to block his jaws from reaching me. I shoved him back as I shifted into a stance I could counter him with. I did not unsheathe my sword, “Isaac, it’s me. It’s Z. Can you hear me?” Isaac snorted, shaking his head as he regained his balance from my strike before rushing me again. I side stepped him, twirling around as he barely missed re-opening the wounds on my stomach. I cursed. I needed my armor if I was to evade him without hurting him, or myself.
I thrust my sword up again, creating a bar to block his downward strike with and he pushed, causing me to stumble to my knee. I could feel the pressure on my stomach building. I was not yet healed enough for this. I pushed past the pain as I disrupted his stance, shoving his weight to the side and rolling away. Where was Gabriel? Could he help me disarm Isaac without killing him? I glanced around, looking for a sign of where he had gone. The sun was coming over the horizon, its light gaining strength. Isaac hissed with pain as the steam coming off his skin increased. I held out my hand to him as he backed away, trembling and shaking his head. His skin was beginning to blister, “Isaac,” I said softer, “you must go. Get into the shadows or you will die!”
His head snapped up to me as I spoke, and I stumbled back at the rage I found there. He charged me again, faster this time and I faltered, getting my sword between us in time to keep him from disemboweling me as I fell onto my back. I was in a bad position and I knew it, but I could not stop the sorrow that seemed to consume my heart as I watched the man I loved desperately try to tear me open.
And then Isaac was being flung off me as he was tossed to the other side of the fire. Gabriel casually turned to face him, standing with his bow in his hands. He had re-filled his quiver and it looked like he had even washed the arrows he had retrieved. No wonder he had taken so long. He shifted to a side stance, his bow still at his side in a relaxed position. I knew his casual stance was deceiving; he could draw and fire arrows faster than anyone I knew. Gabriel’s free hand was clenching and relaxing at his side as he stared down Isaac in front of him. I was beginning to recognize this as a tell of his. “So you’ve finally succumbed to the corruption, eh lad?”
Isaac landed on his knees with one hand, his head snapping up to Gabriel’s voice and growled low. He was shaking with the blisters the sunlight was searing into him. I sat up on one hand, having dropped my sword as my other cradled my aching stomach. It was not the only part of me that ached, “do not kill him, please.” I knew how soft my voice was, how pained. Gabriel tilted his head in my direction without taking his eyes off Isaac, the only sign that he heard me.
“He wants you for breakfast, lass. Seems determined about it, in fact,” Gabriel noted, his grip tightening on his bow. His voice called out to Isaac next, “to get to her, you will have to go through me first, my friend. Are you sure that’s a battle you wish to fight right now?” He nodded at the encroaching sun. Isaac’s head bowed as he hissed in pain again, before meeting Gabriel’s gaze once more. He growled, spreading his arms as he prepared to charge. Gabriel smiled, throwing his bow to one side and bringing up his hands.
My jaw dropped, “what are you doing?”
“You don’t want me to kill him, aye?” Gabriel asked me in amusement, “perhaps now is as good a time as any to test what my blood will do to him.” Before I could ask what the hell he meant by that, he was running at Isaac, who ran at him in the same moment.
They met on the other side of the fire, Gabriel having leapt over the now nonexistent flames to meet Isaac head on. He gripped Isaac by the horns and threw him down. Isaac roared, his neck turning at an odd angle as it all but snapped. I cringed, jumping up to my feet and snatching up my sword. I raced to the edge of their fight, my sword ready to interfere.
I wasn’t sure I could get an opening, or whose side I would take, but I was ready. Isaac growled in a fury and punched Gabriel in the stomach, who doubled over with a huff but did not release his grip on the Corrupted. He kneed Isaac in the throat, effectively choking him. I cringed, on any normal person, that blow could have been fatal, but not on the Corrupted. Isaac crossed his arms and pushed, finally throwing Gabriel off him. His eyes locked on me next, and I swung my sword in a loop, crouching.
Gabriel was faster than Isaac though, pulling him back by his ankle as he leapt towards me, halting Isaac’s forward motion and dragging him back in one movement. Gabriel grunted and threw Isaac into the tree behind him with a crack of bark dislodging. Isaac snarled as he shook off the impact, his nostrils widening with his fury. His eyes brightened, glowing a fiercer red as Gabriel paced before him, brushing the dirt from his hands.
His nonchalance about this whole fight scared me more than anything else Gabriel had done. It was as if he wasn’t even trying, yet he still managed to toss a fully Corrupted as if it weighed nothing. I wondered briefly if I could convince him to come to Zion. If I didn’t tell my mother about his upbringing, could I persuade him to fight with me? He could easily do the damage of an entire squad.
“Are you pissed off enough yet, lad? We are losing time here,” Gabriel said, hands on his hips as he nodded toward the rising sun. My brows furrowed in confusion as Isaac snarled and huffed, his focus solely on the hunter in front of him now. Isaac charged Gabriel, and I found my grip tightening on my sword as I switched stances, prepared to help Gabriel if necessary. Isaac had to get out of the sunlight if he was to survive. I did not want him dying, even i
f he was lost to the corruption. A part of me still had hope that he could be cured.
Gabriel smiled before straightening, arms out, “there it is,” he said. My sword dropped as Isaac bulled into him, his hands pulling Gabriel, who did nothing to fight back, into him.
“Gabriel!” I screamed before Isaac’s jaws met Gabriel’s neck, latching on with all the fury he had inside of him. Gabriel did nothing to defend himself as Isaac spit him back out, stumbling back, blood dripping from his mouth. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes latching on me, blazing red. My sword came back up as Gabriel dropped to his knees, his hand coming up to his shoulder in a futile attempt to staunch the bleeding. Why had he let Isaac bite him? I could feel the tears brimming my eyes as I took up my stance again, preparing to face off against Isaac on my own.
Isaac began to run towards me, then just as suddenly dropped to the ground face first, his body seizing. My sword dropped as I rushed to Gabriel, who sat back on his haunches, his head tilted in curiosity as he studied Isaac on the ground. “Interesting,” Gabriel noted. Then he was falling forward. I caught him, pulling him upright as he smiled, his head rolling to the side.
“Why did you do that?” I asked him, resisting the urge to shake him, “if you die than all hope is lost! You are the only one who knows the land well enough to find the Garden of Eden!”
Gabriel scoffed, a hint of a chuckle escaping his lips, “I heal almost as fast as you do, Warrior of Adonai. Plus, he can not infect me. I am already infected.” His eyes shifted from mine, his smile growing as he nodded beyond me, “besides, look.”
I turned to see Isaac and almost dropped Gabriel when I saw that Isaac was no longer steaming, nor seizing. “Is he…?” I could not get the rest of the words out. I could not accept that I had come out here looking for a cure for no reason. I could not accept his death.
