ʺBut why couldnʹt you tell me this before?ʺ said Serafina. ʺWhy did you pretend not to know?ʺ
ʺI wasnʹt pretending,ʺ said John. ʺBefore I and the others like me came here we gave away our memories for a time.ʺ
ʺWhy?ʺ
ʺBecause if we knew what we were doing it would have been too hard. We loved you all too much to do what had to be done.ʺ He swallowed, and his eyes were suddenly grave, the eyes of someone who not only knew sorrow but knew he had caused it. ʺI didnʹt know what I was here for, but I knew I had to get to this place at this time. Part of that was to bring you all here, and bring you together. But part of it was because I really did carry–and was spreading–a disease meant to end the world.ʺ
ʺI donʹt understand,ʺ said Isaiah. ʺWas this because of a vaccine that went wrong, or–?ʺ
ʺNo. There was never a vaccine. That was a story invented by very bad people at the service of evil masters to try and stop me and the others like me. We came as destroyers. That was always the intent. To destroy most, and spare only those who were most worthy to start anew. Those who hunted us just ended up helping as they forced us to run from place to place.ʺ A sad smile touched his face. ʺFoolish to hunt what canʹt be killed.ʺ
Isaiah reeled with the implications of that remark. He would have demanded more, but Serafina said, ʺBut you bled. You almost died. Several times.ʺ
John shook his head. ʺThere is a difference between a feint and a loss. Things had to happen: you both had to come together. You both had to learn some things. Katherine had to be found and saved. Everything we did and everything we suffered–including my injuries–was in service of that.ʺ
ʺSo there was no control,ʺ said Isaiah. He was surprised how bitter he felt. ʺWe were just puppets.ʺ
ʺHardly. Puppets just dance. They donʹt feel the strings, they donʹt feel joy or pain. You were more trees. Cut occasionally, pruned into a direction meant to grant you more light and better growth and longer life. Does the tree give up its growth when cared for? No. Does the student give up his agency when given homework that will bend him to a test and then to later knowledge? Never. You both had to change, and the path was laid out for you. But the decisions were always yours, as they will continue to be in the life you make together.ʺ
Serafina gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth and she looked at Isaiah with an expression of fear and wonder. John touched her cheek. ʺOnde está a minha filha?ʺ he said. Isaiah didnʹt understand the words, but he felt Serafina start trembling. More so when John continued, ʺEla espera por você ainda.ʺ Then she was weeping as he finished, ʺYou have always been a good daughter. She loves you.ʺ
ʺI know,ʺ said Serafina.
John turned to Isaiah. ʺYou hold at your side a woman born of an act of mercy, who then became a woman of mercy herself,ʺ he said, gesturing to Serafina. ʺA woman who has devoted herself to caring for those who cannot care for themselves.ʺ His gaze grew piercing. ʺYou donʹt have that quality, do you?ʺ
ʺNo,ʺ said Isaiah. Shame burned his cheeks.
ʺBut you do understand justice. Mercy and justice are good things to have together. They balance one another.ʺ John put a hand on Serafinaʹs shoulder, another on Isaiahʹs. ʺTake care of Katherine. Sheʹs special.ʺ
The fog continued to clear. Blue sky appeared. A day like any other. But new.
ʺHow many others are left?ʺ said Isaiah.
Johnʹs shoulders sagged a bit. ʺNot many. My brothers claimed the souls of the wicked, twined them together so they became great beasts that they chained and now we will drive to the abyss, to places from which they can never again escape.ʺ Then he straightened, and managed a smile. ʺBut there are a few left. The good remain, immune to the disease we brought, unafraid of the future they face.ʺ
ʺSome of the good died,ʺ said Isaiah, thinking of Jim/Jack Jones, thinking of the young gang member who died dragging children from a collapsing building.
ʺEveryone does, eventually,ʺ said John. ʺBut life is one part, death another. Just steps in a process, and neither one the last or even the most important.ʺ He winked. ʺNicholas would tell you the same, and will again, I suspect.ʺ
He opened the door to the chapel. Stepped inside.
ʺWait!ʺ said Serafina. John stopped. Waiting. ʺAre we safe? I mean…Dominic….ʺ
John shook his head. ʺThere are girls and boys like Katherine, children so good and pure they are the hope of a new world. Children upon whom we place the great responsibility of a world born free of evil. Theyʹre everywhere, on every continent, just as there were people like me in every part of the world…and people like the ones who tried to stop us.ʺ
John knelt before Katherine. ʺThe children are strong. Theyʹve all been through great tragedy and survived and been unbroken in spirit or heart. But we give them to you. To people who will nurture…and who will protect. Because Dominic–though thatʹs not his real name, as Iʹm sure you know by now–is never completely gone. We cast him out, but he and his master are sly serpents, crafty and cunning. They always find their way back in.ʺ Another smile. ʺStill, we manage. We always do.ʺ
Another step and he was fully inside the tiny chapel. Isaiah saw that there were only a few pews inside. A cross. John started to swing the door shut.
ʺHold on!ʺ shouted Isaiah.
John rolled his eyes as though annoyed, but his smile hadnʹt faded. ʺYes, Isaiah?ʺ
ʺDominic wasnʹt that guyʹs real name. Whatʹs yours?ʺ
Johnʹs grin widened. ʺYouʹll have to ask me again next time you see me. We can chat over a game of cribbage–I know a guy whoʹs looking for people to play with.ʺ
He shut the door.
No one moved to open it. Isaiah knew there would be nothing inside if they did.
The last of the mist blew away. It left traces of moisture in the air, that clean smell that comes after a rainfall that drags away the smog and dirt that lays like a subtle blanket over everything.
Katherine looked up with eyes that were both bluer than any sky. He would watch her and protect her until she was old enough for those eyes to watch over him.
The world had ended.
The world was beginning.
Life and death were just steps, after all. And neither of them the most important ones in the process.
The new family got in the truck. It started without complaint and they drove away. Looking for others, the good who were left and who would help them start again, and do better.
Isaiah drove. Serafina navigated. Justice driving them forward, mercy deciding the course to take.
And sheltered between justice and mercy: innocence, the little child who would be the balance of both. Who would grow in a world where life was important, and so was death…but where neither was all, or even the most important thing.
Isaiah put his arm around the girls. There was love in the car. And with that love there was hope, and joy, and a new world of unlimited possibility.
ʺWhatʹs cribbage?ʺ said Katherine, her voice still small and so lovely that it wrung great laughs from Isaiah.
ʺIʹll show you,ʺ he said. More laughter as he drove, turning onto a freeway and knowing that wherever they went they would find what they needed. ʺIʹll teach you both and we can all play together.ʺ
ʺPromise?ʺ
ʺPromise.ʺ
He laughed again. So did Katherine. Serafina joined in. They drove and laughed, and when at last they stopped laughing the smiles remained, and never fully left their faces.
Justice.
Mercy.
Innocence.
And together: joy.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michaelbrent Collings is a full-time screenwriter and novelist. He has written num
erous bestselling horror, thriller, sci-fi, and fantasy novels, including The Colony Saga, Strangers, Darkbound, Apparition, The Haunted, Hooked: A True Faerie Tale, and the bestselling YA series The Billy Saga.
Follow him through Twitter @mbcollings or on Facebook at facebook.com/MichaelbrentCollings.
NOVELS BY MICHAELBRENT COLLINGS
THE COLONY SAGA:
THE COLONY: GENESIS (The Colony, Vol. 1)
THE COLONY: RENEGADES (The Colony, Vol. 2)
THE COLONY: DESCENT (The Colony, Vol. 3)
THE COLONY: VELOCITY (tHE COLONY, VOL. 4)
THE COLONY: SHIFT (THE COLONY, VOL. 5)
THE COLONY OMNIBUS
CRIME SEEN
STRANGERS
DARKBOUND
BLOOD RELATIONS:
A GOOD MORMON GIRL MYSTERY
THE HAUNTED
APPARITION
THE LOON
MR. GRAY (aka THE MERIDIANS)
RUN
RISING FEARS
YOUNG ADULT AND
MIDDLE GRADE FICTION:
THE BILLY SAGA:
BILLY: MESSENGER OF POWERS (BOOK 1)
BILLY: SEEKER OF POWERS (BOOK 2)
BILLY: DESTROYER OF POWERS (BOOK 3)
THE COMPLETE BILLY SAGA (BOOKS 1-3)
HOOKED: A TRUE FAERIE TALE
KILLING TIME
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