The Bar at the End of the World

by Tom Abrahams

  “Drop it. Let go of her,” said Zeke, unfazed. “Unbuckle the harness.”

  The lieutenant cursed but complied. Li hustled from the cab and moved to Zeke’s side at the shoulder. He handed her the rifle.

  “Take care of this,” he said to her. “I’ve got to see where Uriel went.”

  “How did you know?” she asked.

  “I saw the bottom of the grip,” he said. “The idiot didn’t have a mag loaded.”

  “There could have been a round in the chamber,” she said, leveling the M27 at the lieutenant as the man struggled to exit the transport. “Then I’d be dead.”

  “I didn’t think of that,” admitted Zeke. “Didn’t know that was a thing.”

  She bit her lip, then sighed. “Go find Uriel,” she said. “I got this.”

  Zeke took two steps around the front of the vehicle, dodging bodies on the ground, and feeling good about the mission. Then he found Uriel, and his heart, had it been able to, would have stopped.

  Twenty yards from him, on the opposite side of the highway among the rock-hard trunks of aspens and dead pines, Uriel was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a man who, from underneath the fabric of his tailored white shirt, glowed every bit as blue as she did.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The roundhouse struck Uriel with force. The glossy black shoe left polish streaked across her jawline along with the wound she knew would bruise.

  She maintained her balance and stepped back, putting some distance between herself and the rogue Watcher she hadn’t seen in so many years she’d forgotten how long it had been. While Uriel steadied herself, he unclipped the cufflinks at his wrists, slid them into his pants pocket, and rolled his sleeves to the elbows.

  The tattoos that adorned his arms from above his wrist to past his elbows throbbed electric blue. Theo bounced on his toes in a semicircle, gauging her, studying her.

  “It’s been some time, Ariel,” he said. “I would have thought you’d be more skilled by now. I mean, Pedro did see fit to give you the same gift as me.”

  Uriel didn’t correct him. They both knew he was screwing with her. She leapt at him, flipping forward and landing a heel at his neck where it met his shoulders. Landing on one foot, she held her leg straight and whipped the top of her foot along the side of his face, slapping him to one side.

  As quickly as she’d pounced, she retreated. Theo was stronger than her, and he was right—his gifts were the same as hers. He had the inherent advantage of size, muscle, and speed, but he was rusty. Uriel sensed it. And she was faster than he was. Her twitchy muscles were on a wire.

  “Okay,” he said, the pain oozing through the strain in his voice, “that was impressive. Surprisingly effective for a Watcher who likes to play by the rules.”

  “The rules are there for a reason,” spat Uriel. “They’re a balance to things. You know this.”

  Theo laughed mirthlessly. “The balance, as you put it, is for the betterment of Pedro and those to whom he answers. It’s not for the good of the world.”

  “You’re right, it’s for the good and the evil. Without darkness, there can—”

  “Be no light,” Theo cut in, mocking her.

  “It’s true.”

  “Is it? Can humans achieve balance? Can they thrive with it? No, they can’t. They always tilt to extremes. You know this. Better to pick the extreme that works and help it along. That’s what I’ve been doing here, helping along what works.”

  There was no reasoning with a Watcher who’d gone rogue. Pedro had warned them all about this. Should they ever come into contact with one, they should act quickly and decisively.

  Running straight at him, she dropped on her knees, sliding at him across the hard soil on the shoulder of the highway. Uriel rolled to one side and jabbed her balled fists upward. One shot hit him squarely in the groin, the other in his sculpted gut, eliciting double groans. The blue aura intensified with the contact and launched Theo several feet into the air, upending him and slamming him into the trunk of a petrified tree.

  The solid thud of his body’s momentum stopping against the tree was sickening and almost made Uriel wince, but not quite. She flipped to her feet and advanced while he was slumped to the ground, trying to regain his strength.

  Incredibly, he was up before she reached him. He leapt into the air, twisting his body into a spin, and caught Uriel in the jaw with the whip of his foot. It knocked her back, dimming her glow as his brightened. He landed on his feet and flexed his arms.

  Theo charged at Uriel now. He unleashed a violent flurry of quick jabs to her gut and an uppercut under her chin that launched her off the ground. She landed on her back, grunting with the push of air forced from her lungs.

  “The extremes are what keep the balance, Uriel,” said Theo. “Moderation is overrated.”

  He stalked her now. His fists balled at his sides, he marched toward her, his body glowing and pulsing a blinding blue light. It was as if every strike made him stronger.

  Uriel struggled to her feet. Her power waned. She bent over at her waist. Her hands were on her knees. She spat onto the ground and did nothing as Theo grabbed the mane of hair atop her head and yanked it back, forcing her to face him.

  “You are about to experience an extreme,” he said through his teeth. “And—”

  Uriel used his hubris against him, the distraction of his didactic speech giving her the split second it took to spin and drive an elbow into his chest. As he let go of her hair, stumbling back, she caught his throat with the palm of her other hand, driving it up and knocking him down.

  Stunned, his light dimmed, he put a hand on his chest and then touched his jaw. Uriel moved forward, closing the distance in the blink of an eye. She was a blur as she reached him with purpose.

  Still on one knee, his head down, he didn’t see her knee when it connected with his forehead, snapping him back and flattening him on his back. He lay splayed on the ground, his head resting against the base of the trunk. Theo appeared unconscious. He was breathing, but not moving. Uriel jumped to her feet and took two steps back. She wiped the sweat from her face with the back of her arm, watching her adversary in the pulsing blue glow emanating from her skin. The tattoos on his arms, and now visible on his torso from his torn shirt, were blue, but they were fading back to their normal colors.

  “Uriel?”

  Her fists tightened and she whirled around to strike whoever was behind her. Her tension eased when she saw Zeke standing on the road, the revolver in his hand at his side.

  “What?” Her tone was snippier than she’d intended, but she didn’t apologize.

  “Who is that?” he asked.

  “Theodore Pannopolis,” she said. “Rogue Watcher.”

  “He’s one of you? He has the same gift?”

  “He has the same gift, but he hasn’t been one of us for a while. He gave that up when he decided to go stick around for the benefit of one side.”

  “One side?”

  “Good or evil,” she said.

  They looked at the unconscious man on the ground. He was awake now and rising to his knees.

  Theo tore off the rest of his tattered shirt, revealing a chiseled physique painted with a menagerie of tattoos from below his neckline to beneath his navel. His chest, shoulders, and arms were covered with so many full-color designs, it was impossible to distinguish one from the other.

  “Let me help,” said Zeke.

  Theo was on his feet now. For effect, he cracked his knuckles before balling his hands into tight fists. His tattoos flickered and pulsed. Instantly, the blue intensified. It was brighter electricity than Uriel had ever managed.

  “This is my fight,” she said. “I’m the Watcher.”

  As soon as she turned back to Theo, a blue blur bolted past her, knocking her to the ground with a forearm shove, and tackled Zeke. The collision knocked the Stetson into the air, sent the revolver skittering across the highway, and put Zeke on his back. Straddling Zeke, Theo wrapped a hand around his n
eck, squeezing the afterlife out of him.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  His neck constricted; his chest burned. Zeke knew he was already dead. There was no way Theo could kill him. But what would happen to the balance of things if this rogue succeeded in sending him and Uriel back to Pedro’s? Would the scales tip too far to one side?

  Zeke’s head was turned somewhat to the side, and through his darkening vision, he saw Uriel on the ground, dazed and clutching her chest. Then darkness shrouded his sight and the world went black.

  As he felt the life slipping from him, the fight in his body leaving it for the second time in such a short period, and he was ready to give in to this monster of a man, the hands were gone, and the intense, crushing pressure on his throat stopped. The weight on his torso lifted.

  Coughing and gasping, he rolled onto his side, grabbing at his throat. Jaw aching and head pounding, Zeke rose onto his elbows. He was surprised by how the air returned to his lungs and his breathing steadied.

  He blinked and focused in time to see Theo shake himself free of Li. Then he turned and, with a single swipe of his hand, knocked her into the air and onto the ground yards away.

  Then Uriel was on him, her legs wrapped around his upper body. She had the advantage only a moment.

  Theo freed himself with a twist of his body and slip of his arms, reversing the position and putting Uriel on the ground with a flip. Her head smacked against the crumbling edge of the asphalt. Zeke scrambled to his knees, and then to his feet, before Theo stalked him and landed a solid punch to his chest.

  Zeke was knocked backward, staggering until he fell. As he went down, he spotted his revolver two feet away.

  Li was up again, dazed. She had her hands on the sides of her head and was uneasy on her feet.

  Uriel was on the ground, her hand on her head. Theo was back on top of her. He picked her up and lifted her above his head, launching her into the air and against the same tree he’d struck minutes earlier.

  Her limp body crashed to the ground, and Theo reached down to grab her ankle. Uriel’s body had all but stopped glowing. Theo was pulsing neon. As he picked up the wounded Uriel, Theo threw his head back and howled.

  “I’m sending you back to Pedro!” he bellowed and swung her body from side to side.

  Before he could gain the momentum to whip Uriel back into the trunk, Zeke reached his revolver. Though off balance, in a fluid motion he drew it level and found his aim. He pulled the trigger.

  The blast was more violent than all those preceding it. His proximity to the target made for a condensed pulse of energy that not only ended the threat, but ripped it and everything around it into unrecognizable pieces of matter.

  The collection of petrified trees was torn from the roots and shattered into shrapnel that exploded outward in a percussive tear that sounded like a thousand sails ripping in the wind. The earth itself was blasted backward, stripping clean anything above the hard-packed soil.

  There was no sign of either Theo or Uriel left behind. Their bodies were gone, vaporized amidst the explosion of debris.

  The revolver in his hand glowing as blue as it ever had, Zeke cried out for Uriel. He called her name, not expecting her to answer. It was compulsive. A swell of guilt washed over him and he choked back tears. Zeke steeled himself. The guilt gave way to resignation, to understanding.

  He stood there, his wounded throat sore and tightening. Even without thinking about it, he’d known as he pulled the trigger this outcome was likely.

  But to save the balance of things, even if it wasn’t his job just yet, he had to do what was right. He had to pull the trigger and destroy the rogue Watcher. He knew now that was why he was meant to be here, at this exact time, with Li. To face Theo and right the balance of things.

  Uriel would have told him to do it. The greater good, and bad, depended on painting that balance. Even if it meant blowing her to bits, it was what he had to do. He could only hope he’d see her again, that how he’d sent her from this world wasn’t such that she couldn’t return to Pedro’s.

  But he didn’t know all the rules. They’d been hasty in explaining them. Maybe “dying” from a gifted weapon differed from other kinds of “deaths”.

  More than that, without Uriel, how in the world was he going to find his own way back to Pedro’s?

  Am I stuck here?

  He was, for the first time in what felt like an eternity, alone. He stood in the middle of the road, the carnage around him. It was getting colder. The air chilled. The scent of smoke stung his nostrils.

  A cough stirred him from his thoughts. He rushed back to Li, who lay on the street, lucky to be alive. She offered him a frail smile. It was a smile he remembered from the first time he’d met her. It was a smile from when they were both different people, or at least, believed the other was a different person.

  “Too bad about your friend,” she said.

  Zeke didn’t acknowledge her. What could he say? His redemption had come at such a cost. Others sacrificed themselves for his benefit. He wasn’t worthy of it. No matter what he did now to compensate, he wasn’t worthy of what they’d selflessly given.

  His vision blurred with tears. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn’t find the words. They remained silent for what felt like an eternity as the world of ash and smoke and dirt dissolved around them.

  “Take me with you,” Li said, finally.

  Zeke focused on her eyes. The connection between the two of them was unmistakable. It was every bit as electric as the energy that pulsed from Pedro’s magical weapons. But when Zeke spoke, he could think of only one thing to say.

  “You can’t go with me.”

  Li’s eyes searched his with a desperation he’d never seen in her before. Her chin quivered and she handed him her weapon. She licked her lips and looked away.

  “Please,” she said softly. “Don’t abandon me again. I’ve got nowhere else to go.”

  “You seem strangely okay with all of this,” Zeke said, and motioned toward the newly created debris-littered wasteland beyond the highway.

  “You get used to it, after what they put you through…” Her gaze shifted to aim blankly over his shoulder, like she was looking upon horrors far beyond them.

  “I wish I could have helped with that. I wish I could have done it all differently.”

  “Well, now you have a second chance.”

  “No, Li…I…I’m dead.” He realized how foolish it sounded out loud. Her soft chuckle didn’t help to ease that feeling.

  “You’re not dead, Zeke. I don’t know who they hung from the Fascio, but it’s not you.”

  She put her hand on his chest and held it there. Her gaze held his.

  “Someone made to look like you, sure. But it’s not you. You’re flesh and blood and you’re here. I don’t care how. You’re back.”

  “Li, it’s not—”

  “Could I do this if you weren’t?”

  Li eased against him. She brought her lips to his and kissed him passionately. In that moment, he didn’t want to let her go. His arms slid around her and ran down the small of her back.

  It was true that he didn’t know her, at least not like he thought he did. But that kiss, what she conveyed through the warmth of her body, made him feel every bit as alive as he ever had.

  Li lingered for another moment, the skin on her lips sticking to his when she pulled away. Zeke smiled at her and she returned it with flush cheeks that were red enough he saw them in the ambient light of the headlamps on the other side of the highway.

  “You saved me,” she said. “I don’t care about the rest. Just stay with me.”

  He inhaled, hints of her scent on him. Even emaciated and after what he’d seen her do, she was stunning to him. His chest tightened.

  Zeke stepped back. “I don’t think I can.”

  He backed away and motioned toward the transports. “There should be plenty of fuel among those trucks to get you to wherever it is you want to go. You’ll—” />
  And that was when he noticed the blood. He hadn’t seen it before. Her black uniform hid it until she’d pressed against him. She was bleeding. It was a lot of blood.

  “You’re hurt,” he said. “You’re bleeding.”

  Confusion washed across her face and she looked down at herself. She put her hands to her stomach and pulled them away bloodied. Her fingers trembled and tears pooled in her eyes.

  Then, as if the realization made the wound real, she sank back into him. Even in the darkness, he saw the color draining from her face. Her body was cold against his.

  Did I do all of this for nothing? He came to save her, only to have her die in his arms.

  “I want to be with you,” she said. “Always.”

  Zeke took another deep breath. He exhaled. Maybe there was a way. Maybe this was his final test, the last measure of his redemption. If he could deliver salvation to a woman he loved despite her betrayal and her sins, to a woman who loved him despite his, then he would pass. He would succeed in this task.

  “There is only one way we can stay together,” he said. “And I don’t know if it’ll work.”

  He didn’t know. As much as this might be his final test, it might not. It could upend the balance of everything. His chest tightened. A knot formed in his throat and made it hard to swallow.

  There was still so much he didn’t understand.

  “Just tell me,” she said. “I’ll do anything.”

  “Do you trust me?”

  Her voice was weaker now, above a whisper. “More than I did a day ago.”

  “Li.”

  “Yes.” She took his hand. “I do. I know I shouldn’t, but I do.”

  Her expression brightened. She smiled. Tears welled in her eyes.

  Zeke closed his eyes and whispered to himself, “God, I hope you were right, Uriel.”

  Li opened her mouth to speak.

  Before she could say anything, Zeke lifted her weapon, pressed it to her chest, and pulled the trigger. With the echo of the blast still in his ears, with Li’s dead eyes staring back at him, he aimed the weapon at himself and fired one last shot.