The Way Back (Book 2): The Way Back, Part II

by Giancioppo, Danny

  Luke perked his head up at that, as it sounded all too familiar. He wasn’t positive though, so he tried to remain as stoic as he could.

  “Now, I moved away about two years before the end of the world came about, but one day before that storm hit– one day– I got a call from an old friend that lived there. She told me people were disappearing, clothes and all, before her very eyes. It was slow at first: just one person, then an hour later two more, then two hours later three, and it kept going until there was almost no one around. But this was before the storm; before the monsters roamed the earth. Finally I went there, a couple months later, and tried to see if anyone was left, but… they weren’t.”

  Abraham paused, and Luke had a bad feeling in his chest that he most certainly knew the place he was talking about.

  “The town was almost untouched, and the bibles lay barren, but all the people were just… gone. All the other towns I’d seen were ruined, but this one was somehow fine. I came back here, and realized something very simple: the rapture had come. That town of good, loving Christians were pure enough to be taken away, and having later done what research I could, small pockets of people in towns across the world all disappeared around the same time, but the world’s collapsed caused for bigger headlines to soon after take stage. Still, I knew the truth: this wasn’t an alien invasion. It wasn’t the government’s secret missions gone awry. It was the end of days. And I had a part to play in it.”

  “You think you’re Jesus?” Luke asked, baffled by what he was hearing.

  “No, no of course not. I’m simply me. For whatever reason, I was not pure enough at the time of the rapture to be taken, and instead was tasked with gathering my flock, and keeping them in line to become pure enough to one day be taken into the light and brought to Heaven amongst our holy father.”

  “And it’s been almost five and a half years, and nothing’s happened. You don’t think that with all the crucifying, child-labor, child-neglect, murderous tendencies, and distinct lack of Jesus Christ anywhere is a sign that maybe you’re either not good enough or wrong?” Luke asked.

  “That’s why you’re here,” Abraham said. “You can see the demons, just as Christ could.”

  “What…?” Luke asked again, taken aback by what Abraham insinuated.

  “In Matthew 16:23, Peter took Jesus aside and told him that he would not die as Christ had just spoken to the Pharisees, and Jesus looked directly at Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’” Abraham recited. “He could see Satan when others could not, just as you can see these demons when and where others cannot,” Abraham said.

  “I am in no fucking way Jesus fucking Christ,” Luke said. “Never have been, never will be. Look this is insane Abraham! You have to see that!”

  “No, perhaps you’re not, but you seem to be one more piece to the puzzle,” Abraham replied. “Luke this isn’t insane: look at all the evidence! Look at what I can do!”

  It was true, Abraham could do oddly fantastic things. Seeing things in places where he isn’t. Being able to see what Luke could in his visions, and– if it were true– wiping away Luke’s night terrors. But how could he have these abilities?

  “And I know it’s working, because of what I can do,” Abraham continued, eerily saying what Luke was considering. “I was just like anyone else, but after years of work and devotion, I’d been gifted. Gifted with the ability to heal others as I have for you, and the ability of sight over my apostles, including Snow. All I need, is a sample of their blood.”

  Luke’s heart dropped for a moment. Almost totally disregarding Abraham’s confession over the blood, he hadn’t even considered what would happen to Snow. If Abraham was as serious about all of this as he claimed to be, and it sure damn seemed like it, then Luke imagined he wouldn’t want Snow to just be off on her own away from his group. But there was no way in hell Luke was letting that little girl come back here.

  “Fine… I’ll stay,” Luke said. “But only under the condition that you allow Snow to stay where she is, with my people. She doesn’t want to be a part of your group, and that’s her choice to make. She wants to be Snow, and she wants to stay with my people. If you promise not to watch her any longer, and not to go after her or my people in any way… then I’ll stay.”

  Abraham stood silently for a moment, contemplating Luke’s offer. Luke prayed to God he took it too, because if not, he had a very bad feeling things were not going to go in favor of his group down the road.

  “Okay… For you, I’ll release her,” Abraham answered at last. “And I won’t watch her from here on out.”

  “Okay, good,” Luke said, feeling a small bit of release in his chest. Still though, now he was stuck with these people for the foreseeable future. He imagined as well that the guys would try to come for him– he would for them anyway– and that might just cause some further complications. Maybe he could find a way to stop them, at least for the time being.

  He hated what he had to do here, and he knew that the guys would too, but for now at least, it would keep them safe from this group’s harm. So, as he made his way down the stairs with Abraham to watch Hugh’s public crucifixion, Luke kept muttering under his breath:

  “I have to do this. I have to…”

  Day 2008

  “Parenting 101/Luke’s Reflection”

  “Will somebody shut her the hell up!?” Derrick yelled, moving through the kitchen panickedly, searching through every nook and cranny of every cabinet and drawer in there.

  “She’s hungry, dude! Just give her something to eat!” Cody shouted back from the living room, seated next to Nolan, Adam, and a wailing, picky Snow.

  Nolan had noticed she wasn’t eating at all that day, and was doing his best to get her to have the cereal that they always ate, but, because she was a child– he assumed– she insisted on eating something good for once.

  Which was a fair complaint. Eating no longer had much joy in it for any of them, at least, to Nolan it didn’t. It was more a necessity, an objective for the day. Plus, they did have other food lying around, it was just more sparsely eaten. Meats, vegetables from the summer, things like that. The real problem was it was next to Jeremy and Chris’s room, and Chris was standing in the way, shouting back at a child, like a child.

  “For god’s sake, you little shit, Jeremy is trying to sleep!” he spat. “He needs to rest, in case you forgot! Will you keep it down!?”

  “I’m hungry!” Snow whined loudly. “Give me food!”

  “What’s wrong with the damn cereal!?” Derrick asked from the kitchen, pouring another bowl of it already. He had given up on alternatives.

  “Your food is shit!” she said. It actually made Cody and Adam chuckle; she was a lot more visceral with her words than expected when she got hungry.

  “Chris, get out of her way so she can grab something from the food storage!” Derrick said. He just glanced over at Chris, who stared back at him, unmoving. Nolan could see the stare was one of utter refusal. “Oh for God’s sake, man! Stop being such a bitch!”

  “No!” Chris said, arms crossed. Nolan sighed.

  “Look, I’ll grab something, okay?” he said. “But Snow, will you please calm down first?”

  “No!” She refused. Nolan just looked to Adam, who shrugged at him, clearly not wanting to get very involved. Which was just great.

  “Alright…” he muttered, walking over to the food storage. Chris tried a moment to mean-mug him into not stepping any closer, but Nolan just shoved him out of the way and into the door frame.

  “Hey!” Chris yelled.

  “Will you be quiet man? Jeremy’s trying to sleep,” Cody chided. The others all chuckled, and Chris just huffed.

  Nolan grabbed an old ziplocked bag of jerky Derrick made who even knew how long ago, a water bottle from a pack in the corner, and moved quickly back into the room, handing Snow her meal, and smiling gently.

  She
quieted down, and took a few bites of the jerky. As she did, everyone seemed to settle, other than Adam, who just watched her carefully. Nolan wasn’t sure why, she was clearly appeased.

  Until, of course, she took a look at the water and threw it off to the side of the room, near the kitchen. Derrick had to practically dive to catch it before it hit the ground.

  “Why?” Nolan asked, confused.

  “I don’t want a water!” she complained. “I want something else to drink!”

  “We don’t have anything else to drink Red,” Cody said. “Water’s all we got.”

  “Don’t call me Red!” Snow yelled, grabbing at her hair defensively.

  “Too late, fireball,” Cody replied, looking back at the book he was trying to focus on.

  “I saw a couple of bears in the trash, why can’t I have that!?” She asked.

  “Bears?” Nolan asked.

  “That’s not a drink, stupid,” Chris taunted.

  “Dude!” Nolan shot back at him, giving him a wildly disappointed look. He just stared back at Nolan as if there was no other response he could’ve given.

  “Beer?” Adam asked. She looked at him and nodded.

  “What? No, Snow you can’t–” Nolan explained.

  “I want one!” she argued. “I want one! I want one! I want one!”

  “Hey!” Adam raised his voice, getting her to shut up almost immediately. Honestly, it kind of scared all of the guys, it was so unexpected. “You’re not having a beer.”

  “Why not!?” She asked.

  “Well for one thing, it’s against the law,” Derrick said.

  “What’s the law?” Snow asked. Derrick just stared at her with his mouth slightly agape, realizing the futility in his argument.

  “I am,” Adam said. “And I’m saying no.”

  “But–!”

  “Take the water, and take yourself upstairs to your room, or get locked in there with nothing. Your choice,” he said.

  Snow scowled at Adam, but he just stayed locked in his seat, staring her down as plain as ever. After a few seconds, she backed down, ran over to Derrick, swiping the water out of his hand, and ran up to her room with both the jerky and water.

  The others gawked at the scene, and Nolan just looked to Adam, for the first time in their lives, like he was some kind of god.

  “How did you do that?” he asked softly.

  “I guess, unlike you, I actually just have a paternal backbone,” Adam explained, smirking afterward.

  “Well, you kind of threatened to imprison her, but sure,” Cody noted. “Great parents, the lot of you.”

  “Oh yeah, you really did a lot to help, Codes,” Derrick scolded. “Reading your book like there wasn’t another person in the room.”

  “Sorry honey, won’t happen next time,” Cody said, winking at Derrick. He just laughed, and moved back into the kitchen. Chris groaned, and brushed at his shirt as though he was just thrown into the trash.

  “God, I hate kids…” he muttered. “Disgusting.”

  He moved back into he and Jeremy’s room after grabbing another water for Jeremy, and shut the door behind him. Nolan sighed, and leant back into the couch, unloading all the stress of the moment as vocally as he could.

  “I bet Luke would’ve really missed playing good-Dad there, huh?” Adam asked, chuckling. Nolan, eyes closed, chuckled with him.

  “Oh, I’m sure,” he agreed. “But to be fair, he probably could have found a way to diffuse it all without sending anyone to their room… Girls would have been even better at it, no question…”

  “Well, one problem at a time; we’ll get there,” Adam said. Nolan smiled for a moment, and then frowned again, his eyes still closed. “We’ll get him back soon, pal. Don’t worry,” Adam said.

  “Yeah, I know,” Nolan said. “I know.”

  “My brothers, my sisters, a grave injustice has been wrought upon us. One of our own has now been taken from our flock,” Abraham said to the crowded pews. “And most heinous, is that he deliberately walked down that path, and yet we were blind to his destination. I ask you, who is to blame?”

  Luke sat off in the corner, next to Jonah. They were at the front of the church, and Luke could see a number of people stealing glances at him. He had yet to be properly introduced to the community, but he was sure that would be coming shortly.

  “Nonetheless, now, as is always the case with the blessing of time, we see,” Abraham continued. “And that which I saw was an unholy, unstable darkness which had to be quelled.”

  Many of the churchgoers made sounds of agreement, soft as they were. Luke just continued to scan through the maze of faces, trying to get a good read on who these people were collectively. Most of them looked relatively normal, for five and a half years into the world’s turning. Even a small handful of the kids– who either returned or never left to begin with– seemed pretty stable, and content at that.

  “As many of you know, I’m not a fan of violence,” Abraham preached. “I do my best to find the most amenable of approaches, with whoever I may struggle with. But, there are times when certain actions must be taken, and when they do, they must be taken with force. For if we take forceful action, there is seldom need for further action.”

  Again, the crowd agreed. Luke was unsure how they could all seem so understanding– a man was burned alive on a giant cross only a day ago, and buried behind the church– and everyone here just waved it off as a necessary evil. To his credit though, Abraham knew how to speak to a crowd. He was selling the reluctant, heavy-hearted act well; that is, if it was an act at all.

  “Hugh may have been evil, that I suppose is only for God, the father, to truly decide,” he said. “In truth, I could see only darkness after so long– perhaps did we all… Regardless, he was one of our own, and though he may have been a troubled man, he has paid for his crimes, and all we may do now is pray his judgement fair in the eyes of our Lord.”

  “Amen,” many of the crowd said in unison. Luke stared at Jonah, who seemed very quietly to mutter the same under his breath. He didn’t look back at Luke, but Luke knew he could see him staring. His backbone broke more and more by the day, it seemed.

  “And lo! Not all that came from Hugh’s life was in vain!” Abraham proclaimed, gesturing toward Luke. “For a prophet has been sent to us. One who may see through Satan’s hoard, and give way to our passage home.”

  The people turned to face Luke like moths to a flame. It made him incredibly anxious. He didn’t know if these people wanted to praise him or kill him, but in either case, he just wanted to leave.

  Instead, Abraham gestured for Luke to rise, and reluctantly, he did, moving only a hesitant step or two closer to the podium Abraham stood at.

  “As you may already know, the prophet– though you may simply call him Luke– lives up to his biblical name: A giver of light. His eyes while dormant still remain a mystical silver, but when needed, they may glow a bright and powerful blue, which grants him the gift of sight through the Goliath’s eyes.”

  The crowd expressed their admiration through a number of curious sounds, and though Luke was somewhat glad they were interested rather than hateful toward him, he still was increasingly uncomfortable. He knew though that he had to remain strong, at least on the outside.

  “While I am still uncertain of his purpose in our journey to the garden of eden, God’s plan– as ever– is not one to be questioned. I know that, in time, he will be of great and wonderful use to us all,” Abraham said. “So please, as you may see him about, let Luke know our warm and welcoming embrace, as he assists us on our mission, as is God’s will. Amen.”

  “Amen,” they said again, now rising from their seats, and slowly filing out of the church.

  Luke just sighed, as Abraham motioned for he and Jonah to follow him back up into his living quarters. They walked in, and Abraham locked the door behind them, then sitting down in a chair, and motioning for Luke to do the same. Jonah just grabbed the chest in the corner of the room and pulle
d it next to Abraham, plopping himself down on it.

  “Sorry if that sermon was a bit long, or boring,” Abraham said, “but losing a member of our community is no small event, intentional or not,” Luke just shrugged, and Abraham took the note to move on. “So,” he continued, “tell me your story.”

  Luke sat rather uncomfortably in Abraham’s room. He stared at the stained-glass window behind Abraham and Jonah, and intentionally allowed his mind to wander backward several years, for the first time in a long time.

  They clearly wanted to know more of Luke’s story, as they had just begun advertising him to their people; they needed more to work with, or preach, or whatever they wanted to call it.

  “Well, we’re from California originally; Foxtale, specifically,” Luke said.

  “Oh, that’s in the northern part, right?” Jonah clarified, Luke nodded.

  “My friends and I, we went to my family vacation house in Maine, maybe a couple weeks after we graduated high school. Maybe four days in, the world… changed.”

  “Why didn’t you go home? You had cars right?” Jonah questioned.

  “The storm was one thing,” Luke said. “Not to mention the shit we were hearing about on the tv– monsters, murders, and bombs going off left and right; we weren’t very keen on the idea of walking outside at all.”

  “But clearly, you did eventually,” Abraham pointed out. “Seeing as how you’ve survived this long.”

  “Yeah, eventually,” Luke responded. “After a couple… complications, we decided to try to make our way back home, see if anything was left.” Luke paused, and shook his head, reliving everything that happened those torturous couple months. “First, we ran into another group of young adults in New Hampshire, lead by a guy named Jack. There were only fifteen or so of them, and they…” he trailed off, the memory still too harsh to fully relive.

  “They weren’t great people?” Jonah tried to finish for him. Luke nodded subtly again.