by R. B. Tetro
She landed on the back of the rock demon’s head with a thud, managing to drive her knee into the base of its impossibly thick neck. Crashing to the floor of the cave, she scrambled to get as far away from the demon as her injured body would allow. It wasn’t far enough.
The demon was on her instantly. She slashed out at its evil, blood-red face, catching it in its yellow, snake like eye. Screeching, and flaying at her the demon stopped coming, giving her time to backpedal away from it. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the rattle cat hesitate while looking at her before dragging itself away.
Keeping a sharp eye on the demon she looked around the small cavern for a way out or a place to hide. Fifty yards to her left, she spotted a tunnel, the same tunnel the rattle cat must have used. Then the demon was on her again, striking the ground where she’d been standing.
She was running, or more like lurching and stumbling towards the tunnel. The demon was faster, seeing her eyeing the tunnel it cut her off and stood in front of the entrance, its ruined eye staring at her with hatred.
She did the last thing the overconfident rock demon expected. She attacked, slashing and hacking at the legs of the demon, cutting him badly twice, then again,
finally jumping up as high as she could, slashing wildly at its face. She managed to get lucky once again and hit the enraged creature’s other eye, before the demon backhanded her and she crumbled to the ground.
Blinded, the wounded creature screamed. The old lady was on her knees trying to clear her head. She saw the enraged rock demon swing at her but could not move. She smiled and bowed her head. Just before her life ended something crashed into them, sending all three of them tumbling.
When she was able to get her bearings, she saw the rattle cat that she saved ripping into the rock demon. She scooched backwards; fading in and out of consciousness, watching the rattle cat and the blind rock demon fight to the death.
The rattle cat came back to help me, was the last thing she remembered thinking, no other logical explanation for it, the rattle cat came back to save me. Her vision blurred. She blinked fresh blood from her eyes in time to watch the rattle cat rip the throat out of the rock demon.
Her vision was turning gray, hazy morning on the harbor, she thought to herself, smiling as she thought of her home. Then she saw the rattle cat approaching and she tried to move but she’d lost too much blood and been wounded too many times and the best she could do was to put her hand out weakly and that’s the last thing that she knew.
CHAPTER FIFTY
The cavern was packed to capacity. Between the original Over Watch citizens, the newly arriving refugees from Fortress and the Cavern of the Light, and the steady stream of camp grounders filing in, their numbers had increased to well over five hundred.
“Come… everyone, gather around the circle and we will learn from each other and share with each other and learn to make peace with one another.”
In the great cavern at the base of Over Watch the remaining survivors gathered around the speaking circle and waited for Reverend to start the proceedings. They were one day removed from burying their friends and family and still raw and aching from their loss.
Reverend looked around, counting their numbers in his head. “…as much as I hate to say it, my friends, without some serious reinforcements, it’s going to be impossible to hold Over Watch.”
“…how about two hundred mountain raiders!” Tomahawk’s voice boomed out as he, Tinker and Scout led the remaining mountain raiders into the packed cavern. Everyone stopped and stared as they quietly shuffled in.
Reverend smiled and spread his arms open and hugged Tinker and Scout as they joined him at the edge of the speaking circle. He waited patiently for the uproar to subside before speaking. He understood why the crowed was apprehensive.
When Over Watch was settled the mountain raiders had inhabited it first. For many days the battle for Over Watch raged with heavy losses on both sides. Finally, the raiders had been defeated and their land taken from them. Now, for the first time in many years they stood in the great cavern they used to call home.
“Please, there isn’t much time,” Tinker called out, his voice echoing wildly off the towering walls. Reluctantly the crowd settled down, one by one giving their respect to Tinker and the listening circle. After the cavern had grown eerily quiet he handed his spot back over to Reverend.
“Come, everyone, gather around the speaking circle. Sit and we will learn from one another and listen to one another and make peace with one another. This is a meeting about what we should do, and where we will go.
Remember back, before the mountain raiders lived here and before we drove them away… remember back to when we lived in our homes in our neighborhoods in our free country. I say now, that our petty disagreements are over and dissolved. If we hope to survive what is coming for us we must put aside our differences and stand together.
Too many times I have watched my friends die and have not known anything about who they were. So…if I die tonight I want someone to know who I am, if that sort of thing interests you, that is...”
As one, the large crowd murmured in anxious agreement. Only Tom, Scout and Tinker knew why Reverend was called Reverend.
“When I was a young man, my father was a Reverend. His father was a Reverend and, well you get where I’m going with that. It was what we did. It was what I was expected to do. As I grew older I realized, deep in my heart, that I didn’t believe, not in anything or anybody, and I didn’t want to be a man of faith. I wanted to be a soldier.
For years I trained and prepared and made myself ready for battle and I did fight and kill many people. For years, my family turned their backs on me because of their peaceful beliefs. And for years I was bitter because of this and I continued to kill with reckless abandon.
But slowly, I began to notice the way man suffers on the inside, from the things that he does. Slowly, I began to speak and listen and finally pray with my fellow soldiers and slowly they began to speak, and then listen, and finally pray with me. And eventually, my fellow soldiers started calling me Reverend.
At first, I thought it was funny. Someone like me, a killer of many, being called Reverend, but then I remembered King David, who was one of the greatest warriors that ever lived and who was a man after our great Creator’s own heart. I came to peace with who that I am.” He paused and sipped from a silver cup on the cedar podium before continuing. The cavern was silent; all eyes watching him, all ears straining to hear his next words.
Continuing, he said, “My name… is Abraham Keller. Before the lights went out, I was station commander at the Zero station in Oak Ridge, Tn. My wife and four boys were killed in the big flash. While me and my platoon were cleaning out a bunker, my family was turned into rubble. For years I took to wandering in the wilderness.
I lost my great love for my savior and I lost my love for myself and I went back to killing… because that’s what I am… beside being a Reverend. But eventually, I began again to see the way that man suffers on the inside because of the things that he does and is sometimes forced to do. Slowly I began to speak, and listen, and finally to pray with you people. And slowly, you people began to speak, and listen, and pray with me, and began to also call me Reverend.
No matter how many men I kill it seems that I’m still a Reverend, of sorts, and that is the why, and the how, and the who of who I am… my friends…in case I die tonight.”
For a moment it was silent and then, as one, the crowd cheered and applauded. Reverend nodded and tipped his sweat stained, dusty black hat before walking over to stand by his friends, Scout and Tinker.
After the clapping subsided several people in the crowd asked to share who they were, and where they were from, and where they wanted to go and what they wanted to be before the world burned. Throughout the night the survivors of Over Watch and Fortress and the campground, and even some of the feared mountain raiders started to know each other and share with each other and open up to one anot
her. Secrets didn’t seem appropriate anymore. Not with three different armies trying to destroy them and end civilized humanity once and for all.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
“I wish things were different… I like it here. We… I mean me… I mean I…could be happy in a place like this…you know, have an almost normal life.”
Daniel put a couple of more pieces of wood on the fire in their private sleeping quarters. It was warm and toasty. The glow from the fire illuminated Chloe’s body behind a hung-up sheet as she changed.
“This place is the closest to civilization I’ve been to in a very long time,” he shared.
Chloe slid back the blanket and walked over to him, standing un-self-consciously in front of him, wearing a long white cotton night gown that clung to her generous form and left Daniel feeling confused. He took a moment to appreciate her beauty. Daniel was six ft. two and she was almost as tall. Her honey blond hair just brushed her shoulders and framed her strong face; her eyes, dark green and inviting. She smiled, the way women smile when they sense their power over a man.
Daniel took her in his arms and kissed her. This time there were no snogs chasing them and they kissed longer, deeper. Daniel picked her up and carried her to the bed and set her down on it while he continued to kiss her and touch her… and she him. She wrapped her legs around his waist pulling him into her. They ground their hips into each other hungrily while she fumbled with his belt.
Suddenly Daniel stopped, pushing himself away from her firmly but gently. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry.”
Chloe stood up and pulled down her night gown, frustrated and embarrassed.
He reached out to touch her on her shoulder, but she pulled away from him. “Am I not good enough for the mighty warrior?” she quipped.
“That’s not the case at all, I assure you,” replied Daniel.
She was standing with her head held proudly; a single tear running down her sunburned face. “The way you kissed me in the canyon… it was real.”
Daniel didn’t know how to say what needed to be said, so he just said, “I’m married. My wife and son were captured by Magnus and his uncle, while I was away.
That’s where I was on the way to when I found you. I’m going to kill Magnus and his uncle.”
For a moment, she stood staring at him; her eyes moist with tears and emotion. “Killing them is a suicide mission. You can’t bring them back. There already dead, you know that, surely you have to know that,” she said before she could stop herself.
Seeing the look of pain in his eyes, she was immediately sorry. Stepping closer to him she touched his face, then hugged him close to her; her tears hot and wet on his bare chest. “I’m sorry.”
Daniel hugged her back, blinking back tears. He hadn’t allowed himself to think out-loud about the possibility of his wife and son already being dead. The thought of them had been what kept him going for so long in the soldier camps and in the brutal wars that followed. He hadn’t allowed himself to think otherwise…until now. “It’s okay, you’re probably right. They’re probably dead, and when I go there, I’ll probably join them. I’m okay with that, as long as I can take Magnus and his uncle with me to judgement.”
While Daniel dug into his back pack, Chloe’s heart broke. She knew he had feelings for her but the love in his eyes for his wife and son was twice more apparent. A knock on the door froze both of them, breaking the high- tension moment, bringing them back to the now.
“Hello, its Scout, don’t shut us out!”
Chloe smiled. “Just one moment…” She turned to get a robe on and saw Daniel staring hard at the picture he’d found in his back pack with tears filling both eyes and a look a deadly resolve on his face. She went to him and took the picture from him, turning it over in her trembling hand.
Taking a deep breath, she looked and saw Daniel and his drop-dead gorgeous, smiling wife and perfect son, all unbelievably happy; frozen in a moment that people could only dream about now, a moment of silence and peace and life before evil took life and twisted it into a nightmare.
Daniel saw that the picture was hurting her and reached for it, but she pulled it away from him, setting it respectfully on the small table, propping it up against a vase filled with purplish rocks and clear crystal nuggets. For a moment, they stood staring at the picture. It reminded them both of a life long ago where pictures adorned the walls and dressers, in a house filled with normal, heartwarming memories.
There was a soft, respectful rap on the door. “One moment, please…” Chloe called out cheerfully. She stepped toward him. They hugged each other, clinging to each other; no words spoken, no words needed. Finally, they stepped away from each other, him toward the table with the picture of his wife and son on it, her toward the door, wiping away her tears with the back of her sleeve.
She opened the door and motioned for Scout, Pops, and Tinker to come in. After shaking hands they stood around, a little uncomfortable, the five of them filling the modest cave. “What can we do for you men?” asked Daniel.
“We came here to ask you to lead us to the Star Towers,” said Pops; matter of fact like.
Chloe looked proudly at Daniel, who looked down at his boots, while the three visitors waited for an answer. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’ll be leaving to go to the Keep,” Daniel answered finally.
The three men stood opened-mouthed and staring at him, especially Scout and Tinker who’d been to the Keep and survived it and swore they would never return. “You’re mad,” said Tinker.
“I have no choice. I need to know if my family is still alive. I have to try. I would have gone earlier but I’ve only just found out where they were taken…” Daniel’s voice trailed off as he stood staring at the picture on the table. The men’s eyes followed his gaze. As soon as Scout saw the picture, there was an obvious look of recollection on his face and then Tinker’s face slowly began to show the same thing.
“I know that one, he’s the one I owe a ton,” cried Scout, punching Tinker hard in his shoulder.
Tinker winced and rubbed his shoulder, grimacing at Scout. “He’s right, Daniel. That boy’s the one that saved us in the Keep. He led us to freedom, but wouldn’t go with us because he wouldn’t leave his mother. He said his name was…”
“Darius,” said Daniel, Scout and Tinker in unison.
Daniel picked up the picture, pointing at his son to Tinker and Scout. “You know this boy? This boy is my son! How do you know my son?”
“The boy’s a young man now… but there’s no doubt in my mind that is the boy that showed me, Tom and Scout the way out of the Keep,” Tinker explained.
Daniel stood, unable to speak, his heart feeling hope, his mind telling his heart to calm down and wait a minute.
“He said he’d be my friend until we meet again,” cried Scout, dancing about with his hands high in the air with joy.
“I must go immediately,” said Daniel loudly, more to himself than to anyone else around him.
“I will go with you,” all three of the men and Chloe offered in unison.
“This is my mission,” snapped Daniel, then his face softened. “It’s a fool’s mission, at best,” he mumbled before turning to gather his things. Before the rest of them could answer, a hard wrap on the door froze them all in place.
Tinker opened the door without asking who it was. An Over Watch guardsman stood outside, asking to speak to Daniel. Tinker stepped to the side and Daniel took his position by the door.
“Sorry to bother you, Sir. Reverend sent me to tell you no one’s going anywhere. It’s snowing, Sir, hard… really hard, really fast, Sir. Preacher says travel plans are all canceled. Also, he said to tell you we have a pack of snogs loose in the southwest cavern, and says to tell you men if you want to stay sharp you can meet him down there and help him with the problem. That’s the entire message, Sir.”
“Thank you son, carry on,” Daniel said, closing the door. He took a deep breath, blew it out slowly and walked over to the carefully pro
pped up the picture on the table. As bad as he wanted to get started towards the Keep, he knew no one could survive the harsh winter storms this high. He would be forced to stay at Over Watch for, at least, three months.
“I’m sorry,” said Chloe. She went to him, handing him his battle- axe, and gun-belt. He took it and followed the other three men out the door without looking back.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Onyx was on watch while the rest of the pack hunted for snogs in the caverns. He lay with his haunches against the door to the cave, his eyes never straying too far from Angel.
Poet sat staring into the open fire from the stone hearth. Short and trim with alabaster skin and the good looks of a model except, of course, for the horrid scar that took up most of his face now. The fire reflected luminously in his blue- green eyes Angel noticed, and then stopped herself from thinking such things, as she remembered the death of his best friend and the way it seemed to weigh him down more and more each day.
He noticed her watching him. Grinning sheepishly, he turned toward her and nodded his thanks to her as she brought him his coffee. “I have news you might want to hear,” he teased her.
Angel’s heart plummeted and her breath caught in her throat. “Are we under attack so soon,” she said fearfully.
Poet shook his head. “No, it’s not that. It’s actually a piece of good news… if you can stand any, that is…” he kidded.
She smiled at that, leaning forward in her chair, taking both his hands in hers. “Yes…I would very much like some good news.”
He studied her for a moment. It made his heart ache she was so beautiful. “The first snowfall is here.”
Onyx rolled over and farted. They laughed out loud, squeezing each other’s hands, savoring the peace that came with the knowledge that the snow was falling and that there would be no invasion from the army’s intent on eating them and enslaving them- for the time being, anyway.
