by S. T. Boston
Having located food and some basic lighting he had made his way to the old asbestos garage and under a waxy tarpaulin located the pile of fire wood. Thankfully, for the most part it was still dry and well-seasoned, having been inside for god knows how long. The trap had helped hold the relentless damp at bay. With the help of some kindling, which was still in its Honey Street Sawmills' hessian sack, he'd got a fire burning in the lounge's hearth. The heat instantly began to take the musty smell of damp out of the air and gradually, one degree at a time, the room had grown warmer, instantly making the little run-down cottage feel more homely and habitable.
“I hope Sam picked up my text,” he said absently, turning away from the window. “I got it out just before I lost my signal.”
“I'm sure he will be just fine,” lied Maya. She knew only too well that they'd been well aware of his every move since he'd cast off from Portsmouth, the two who'd been sent for him were not to be messed with, a matter that she'd not broached with Adam yet.
“Well, if and when he picks it up he'll know exactly where we are.” The sound of an approaching engine drew his attention back to the window. Peering out he willed it to be Lucie's Mini, as it drew closer he felt disappointment wash over him, it was a diesel for sure, much too loud to be that of her little Mini Cooper. He watched as the lights traced their way along the hedge outside, throwing shadows across the overgrown front garden as they pierced through the wiry hedge. They slowed to a crawl before swinging into the drive. “Get down!” he hissed as the lights immediately illuminated the lounge. Waving his arm frantically at Maya he dropped below the old glossed sill, his heart thundering in his chest.
“What is it?”
“A small four by four has just pulled up, that is not Lucie's car!” Behind him he heard Maya click the safely off her gun and slide to the floor.
“What can you see?” she asked in a tense whisper, as Adam poked his head above the sill like a wary meerkat looking for a predator.
“Two on board, both in the front, wait a sec!” In a relieved state of disbelief he watched as his sister jumped down from the passenger side, followed by a second female who'd been driving. “Impossible,” he muttered to himself.
“What?” Came Maya's urgent voice from behind.
“It's her,” beamed Adam, taking his attention away from the window, and she's with Oriyanna!” He spun back to the window and watched them file past the front of the Nissan Juke they'd arrived in, their feet crunching over the pea-shingle drive. As they rounded the corner of the cottage he made for the door, his body wracked with nervous excitement. Behind him sat Maya, her face wearing a worried look that creased her tanned and normally smooth skin. Adam was far too busy being caught up in the moment to even notice her expression.
* * *
Lucie gripped the cold matt-black handle of the cottage door and depressed it. It was locked. No sooner had she started to knock than she heard the key turn in the barrel and the door flew open, her brother greeted her from the dim orange glow of the room behind, a wide smile of relief on his face. They'd last seen each other at breakfast that morning, it felt as if a week or more had passed.
Adam flung his arms around her as the door opened, “You're safe, thank god!” he exclaimed. Lucie didn't have time to cross the threshold fully before he was gripping her tightly. After a few long seconds she finally felt his grip subside, he held her at arm's length, smiling madly, like a grandparent might do before saying, 'My, haven't you grown.'
“There is someone with me that you'll want to meet,” smiled Lucie, aware that Oriyanna was hanging behind her. Lucie stepped aside and allowed her through.
Oriyanna moved to Lucie's side smiling, “Hello, Adam Fisher,” she said. “I told you that we'd see each other again.”
“I don't understand,” Adam stammered. It had taken him by surprise when he'd seen her alight from the Juke with his sister, he hadn't had time to figure out what he wanted to say, or work out how he should greet her. It all felt a little awkward, like bumping un-expectantly into a girl you'd had a holiday fling with, except it had been no holiday. What it had been was a bitter fight for survival that had brought them together, and he felt as if the dice were about to be rolled for a second time.
“There is much to tell you,” replied Oriyanna, sensing his bewilderment and awkwardness. She decided to make the first move and slid past Lucie and unabashedly embraced him warmly. Adam felt himself melt into her arms, just as he had on the beach in both the lucid dream, and then later, for real.
“It's so good to see you,” he sighed, enjoying her warmth.
Lucie snuck past them, eager to get in out of the cold, there was a warm fire burning in the hearth and she was keen to flop out in front of it and get warm. It brought back fond memories of staying in the cottage with her parents, before bed she would sit by the fire, with a hot chocolate whilst her mum read her stories. Times had changed, and not for the better. “Who the hell is that?” she gasped, seeing Maya sat on the sofa, her hands on her knees, watching the reunion with interest.
“This is who I owe my life to,” Adam answered, reluctantly turning his attention away from Oriyanna and feeling guilty at being found alone with another woman. He inwardly cursed himself for being so stupid, maybe Earth females would react with a little dubious jealousy but he hoped Oriyanna would be above that. “Her name is Maya,” he continued, letting Oriyanna enter the cosy lounge. He felt flushed. “She was at my book talk, in Brighton,” his voice sounded rushed. “She warned me about what was happening and got me to call you and get you to leave your bar.” He turned to Oriyanna who was stood with her back to the door, her head to one side a little, regarding the unexpected extra person with interest and more than a little suspicion.
She turned to Adam and said, “Just how did she know all this?” There was no malice or sound of betrayal in her voice, and why should there be? He hadn't done anything wrong.
“Before I tell you,” he began tentatively, sensing how easily the situation could get out of hand. “Just remember that without her help I'd have been taken, hours ago.” There was an awkward pause, the kind that happens when no one really knows who is expected to talk next.
“I am Earth-Breed,” Maya interrupted matter-of-factly, as if keen to break the awkward tension.
“You brought an Earth-Breed here?” fired Lucie, fixing a heavy stare onto her brother. Lucie turned her attention to Oriyanna who pushed the door shut, it creaked on its aged hinges.
“I think we need to give Adam a chance to explain himself first,” she cut in, raising her eyebrows at him in a, please explain, fashion.
Adam went on to explain the events that had led to him arriving at the cottage. Both Lucie and Oriyanna remained stood, almost glued to the spot, listening in interest at his account. “She has photos on her phone of the team she killed,” he finished up with. Lucie looked at Maya, then back to her brother, a look of disbelief on her face. “I doubted her at first, too, but then she showed them to me. Maya, can I have your phone please?” He held his hand out, gesturing for her to hand it over.
Maya dug into her pocket and removed the handset, “It's all true,” she said earnestly, passing the mobile over. “I wanted out of the whole situation, I can't help what I was born in to, but I can try to help make amends.”
Adam opened up the image gallery, it wasn't what you'd normally find on a young woman's phone, for there were no pictures of her our having fun with her friends, no pictures of pets in amusing situations or baby showers or any family shots. All that the gallery contained were the gruesome, bloodied images taken in his Aunt and Uncle's kitchen, diner. “See, Lucie,” he encouraged, holding the phone up for her to look at. “That's Aunt Sue and Uncle Brian's kitchen, I know you've not been there in ages but you know what it looks like.”
Lucie studied the images, with Oriyanna beside her, as Adam reached the last picture she let out a sigh and said, “Okay, I'm not saying it's an ideal situation, but it would appear she is telli
ng the truth.” She looked at Oriyanna, “That is my Aunt's old house.”
“Then it would appear we owe you a debt of gratitude,” Oriyanna said, smiling. There was something that didn't feel right about the woman, despite the pictures. She couldn't get an accurate read on her mood or feelings, something she could naturally do, thanks to her highly evolved brain. For the time being she decided to play nice and treat this Maya woman like you might a dangerous animal, carefully whilst trying not to provoke it. She hoped that she was wrong, after all she had, apparently, killed three other Earth-Breeds in order to save Adam. If she had an ulterior motive she couldn't grasp what angle it was coming from, yet.
Lucie made her way deeper into the small lounge and flopped down onto a matching single seater chair near the fire, immediately enjoying the way the flames warmed her legs beneath her tights. “Have you heard from Sam?” she asked, looking hopefully at her brother. “I'm worried sick.” She turned her attention absently to the fire, and allowed herself to become mesmerised by the flames as they ate at the charred wood. She decided, for the time being, not to tell Adam that he was going to be an uncle. She owed it to Sam to tell him first. To be brutally honest she wasn't sure that this crippled and crazy world was any place to bring a child into at all, but if they came out of this with their lives she'd do the best she could.
“Nothing,” he sighed, throwing another log into the fire, it crackled in appreciation. “I got a text out to him before I lost signal, just a single word. Wiltshire.” He picked up a well-used brass poker and jostled the wood into position, sending a hail of embers fluttering up into the chimney stack.
“You think he'll understand that?”
“You did.”
“Let's hope,” sighed Lucie. She turned her attention to Maya, who had stretched her legs out on the small sofa once again. “Do you have any idea what might have happened to him?” she asked, trying hard to mask the slightly venomous sound in her voice.
“I think our new friend might be a wealth of information,” cut in Oriyanna. “Once she has told me what she knows I need to speak with Adam.” She crossed the room and sat beside him on the dusty carpet, enjoying the fire's warmth.
“I will do all that I can to help you,” began Maya, twisting slightly to see Lucie. “You are facing a grave situation, they indeed knew all of your whereabouts last night, Sam's included. They knew he was planning to kill another Earth-Breed, they knew the target. They have been watching you for weeks.”
“And you didn't notice!” fired Lucie, looking toward Oriyanna.
“No,” she replied apologetically. “We had no idea, it would appear they were also aware of our presence, they traced our server and got into the program we used to study the travel patterns of the Earth-Breeds we were tracking.”
“I don't understand,” said Adam, switching glances between his sister and Oriyanna.
“I'll let her explain later,” said Lucie, the anger still brewing in her voice. “Right now I just want to focus on Sam. I'm sorry, Maya, please continue.”
Maya smiled awkwardly, “They were going to be waiting for him at the Chateau. Unlike your sister and yourself, they sent two Elders for Sam. They were aware of his abilities and talent for killing. The two they sent are brothers, the last Elders who escaped Sheol after the invasion began.
“Namtar and Asag,” said Oriyanna, almost as if she were speaking to herself.
“Yes, you know them?”
“Once, like I knew Buer and – him, Asmodeous. Many lifetimes ago. They are really both here on Earth?” Oriyanna felt her concern for Sam's welfare grow. The two Elders, like Buer, were big, much bigger than he was and together they would prove a very difficult to defeat, even with The Gift.
“Yes and they are the ones who he sent to get Sam. Like I told Adam, his intention was to take you all alive, he wanted you to witness the end of days. After that,” her eyes fell to the floor. “After that I don't know what he planned to do with you.”
“I'm guessing that he wasn't planning on taking us out for a steak dinner,” Laughed Adam nervously. The joke fell flatly on the room and he felt sure he saw a tumbleweed blow across the carpet.
Maya went on to tell them everything that she'd explained to Adam in the car whilst on the way to the cottage. No one spoke, having already heard the story Adam watched Oriyanna, as she sat silently, a grave look on her face as she digested every detail.
“We suspected he was in South America,” she finally said. “So it's Peru then?”
“Yes, in the Nazca region.”
“And he still has Earth-Breeds infiltrated into places of use?”
“No he doesn't need them,” she replied. “He has the ones of use to him in Peru, even I do not know how many of us there are left, from what I understand the numbers are lower than you might think. The events before The Reaper, along with the assassinations carried out by Sam hit them hard. I do know that those who didn't win a place on Arkus 2 are going to be left to burn with the rest of the world when those weapons launch. He has lost Sheol, his people, and with it any hope of taking this planet as it would have been after the virus. He doesn't care about that anymore, this is the end game,” said Maya solemnly.
“I feared that something like this was in play,” Oriyanna said, a thoughtful look on her face. “We don't have a whole lot of time until those systems come online. The question now is just what can we do about it.”
“I think we all need to get some sleep first,” said Adam after a long silence, he felt the need to say something before it consumed him. “In the morning we will figure out what we are going to do.” He glanced at his watch, it was almost two thirty in the morning, and they'd been listening to Maya for over an hour. His eyes ached, and felt like someone had sprinkled gravel into them.
“I think that would be best,” Oriyanna agreed. “I would like to speak to you first, Adam, you need to know why I am here.” She stood and beckoned him through to the kitchen, leaving Lucie and Maya in the lounge.
Lucie collected up the small footstall and placed it at the foot of the chair, stretching her legs out she tried to get comfortable and closed her eyes. She could hear Oriyanna's voice, low and exotic, coming from the kitchen, she was running through their escape from London and the brush with death in the tunnel. Just as she felt the first waves of sleep creeping up on her they came back into the room. “Is everything okay?” she asked, half opening her eyes.
“Yes,” her brother replied. “She has brought me up to speed with everything. What she's done, was done for a reason.”
“As long as you're happy, I'm happy,” she said in a sleepy voice.
Adam took another two logs from the wicker basket that he'd filled in the garage earlier and carefully placed them into the flames, they were oak and had a much longer burn time than the pine he'd used to get the fire going. With luck they'd last the few hours until first light. Immediately the flames began to lick at the dry wood with a multitude of hungry red and orange tongues. On the other side of the room he picked up two largish floral cushions that matched the now rather dated furniture. Thankfully the fire had warmed the musty fabric enough for it to lose its damp and almost sticky feeling. He placed them on the floor by Oriyanna who set them up like pillows and tried to make herself comfortable, like a cat in front of the fire. She removed a gun from her waistband and placed it on the floor by her side and beckoned for Adam to join her. “Tomorrow I promise you we will figure out what had happened to Sam,” he said to his sister, settling himself onto the floor next to Oriyanna. Maya, it seemed, was already sleeping, her breathing sounded deep and relaxed.
“He should be here, with us,” came her sleepy voice. “I miss him so much, Adam.”
“I know, we will find him, I promise.” Adam just hoped it was one he could keep. Stretching himself out onto the floor and feeling his tired bones relaxing he let his head sink into the soft cushion whilst enjoying the fire's warmth. Oriyanna laid next him, and as he closed his eyes he felt her turn
and cuddle up next to him, her body fitting perfectly against his. Instantly, he felt better but the worry he felt for Sam kept niggling away in his mind, threatening to rob him of the much needed sleep he craved. As the fire crackled away contently to itself he finally felt sleep creeping over his body, and he welcomed it gladly.
Chapter 18
“Wiltshire,” croaked Ackhart as he felt another wave of nauseating pain erupt from his punctured stomach and break over his body, leaving a wake of sweat on his brow as it finally withdrew.
Sam looked at him, his face deep with lines of confusion. “I'm sorry?” he asked, taking his attention away from the ominous darkness of the English Channel which lay six thousand feet below. Off to his left he'd noticed a single ship, its light acting like a beacon, a single star in an otherwise black abyss.
