Oblivion

by Karolyn Cairns

  Chapter Seven

  Jace stood in the lot behind the warehouse as Merrick flipped on the flood lights, showing targets at the far end of the lot. He was tired of target shooting. Drea arrived and mumbled something in Spanish as she rolled in on a motorcycle, seeing him and shaking her head.

  “You still here, Newbie?” she said with a brittle laugh. “We had bets you’d run or get caught by a demon by now.”

  Jace knew Drea had an issue with new people, according to Merrick. She trusted no one, not even Merrick. “Nope. Still here holding my soul. Thanks for betting on me. Appreciate the confidence.”

  “I bet against you,” she muttered with a scornful laugh and went to talk to Merrick privately.

  “Thanks,” Jace whispered with a scowl as he aimed and fired the semi-automatic 45. mm and went down the line of targets, striking each one successfully. Merrick said he was a natural with a gun. He had to have something to do day in and day out.

  Merrick made him take the guns apart and clean them and put them back together blindfolded. He was mistaken thinking it was a gangbanger thing. Merrick did two tours in Viet Nam before he turned to the streets. He was learning a lot about the man.

  Drea looked upset, unlike the unflappable former nun turned avenging demon-killer. She was normally as hard as nails. Seeing her coming apart at the seams was enough to give him pause. She left soon after, not sparing him a glance as she sped by on the Harley.

  Merrick approached with a worried look. “We got a problem, kid. I need to step out tonight. We got four Newbie’s all came in at the same time and got nabbed by Deadheads. We’re going in to bust them out.”

  “I’ll go along, you need help,” Jace offered but the black man shook his head.

  “You ain’t been trained to fight Deadheads yet,” Merrick replied and folded his arms across his chest, shaking his head. “They don’t drop like demons. They dead too, kid.”

  “How do you stop them?”

  Merrick grinned then. “We can stun them. A couple rounds to the head usually do the trick. Enough time to get away, or in this case, rescue a bunch a Newbie’s lookin’ for a phone to call home like you did. It ain’t usually pretty, kid. They like to torture them, wait till they heal, and start over.”

  Jace swallowed hard, getting a visual, but he was determined to learn all he could. Time was running out. He died three weeks before and he was in a hurry to get back to Lindsay.

  “You babying me now, Merrick?” Jace asked with a cocky grin. “This is the perfect opportunity to train me and you know it.”

  “I got my hands full tonight, kid,” he argued. “I can’t be at your back and do what needs to be done. Then we got demons waiting for us on our way out. You go it’s at your own risk.”

  “Why was Drea so upset?” Jace asked.

  Merrick looked away. “The guy who killed her is one of the Newbies. She ain’t going with me.”

  Jace looked outraged. “Why bother saving his ass at all?”

  “We don’t discriminate down here. Besides, the other three don’t have anything to do with it.”

  “You need me then if you’re short Drea tonight.”

  “Crazy damn cracker,” he muttered and sighed. “Fine, go get suited up and grab as many guns as you can carry. We leave when the others get here.”

  Jace went back inside and suited up, wearing the bulletproof vest as Merrick warned him. They couldn’t die, but like the Deadheads, they would be stunned if shot. Getting stunned with a demon on your tail was kissing your soul goodbye.

  He loaded a couple automatic rifles and pistols and grabbed a couple of grenades as an afterthought. Merrick joined him and did the same. The alarm went off at the garage door and a close-circuit TV showed three dark-clad men, all dangerous-looking.

  The largest was Murdoch, bald and terrifying. He never had much to say and Jace hadn’t heard him use a full sentence yet. The second was McNeil, a boisterous Irishman who had the reddest hair he’d ever seen.

  The third was a young man closer to Jace’s age. His eyes revealed he was far older. He was the oldest of them all. Merrick said he’d been in Oblivion centuries and said most deferred to him for that reason. Jace had no reason to dislike him, but something about the guy bothered him.

  Raymond barely looked at him as he approached Merrick. “You ready? They grabbed the Newbies an hour ago. We’re wasting time.”

  “The kid’s going with us tonight,” Merrick said and Raymond frowned, his young face filled with irritation.

  “He’s not ready, Merrick,” Raymond argued and looked at Jace with a scowl.

  “I’m ready,” Jace snapped boldly.

  “Ready, are you?” Raymond asked pleasantly but his pale blue eyes were cold. “You’ve been here a couple weeks, Newbie. You’re ready when I say you are. Tonight’s not the night to initiate you in this. We have a dozen demons circling the Deadhead’s hideout right now wanting a piece of the action. You’ll be in the way.”

  “He’s a crack shot, Raymond,” Merrick defended Jace. “He can stun them when we get in. Without Drea, we need him, like it or not.”

  Raymond gazed at Jace without a bit of warmth. “If one of us loses a soul because of you, Newbie; I’ll hand you to the demons myself, is that clear?”

  Jace knew from Merrick, Raymond was the leader because of his age, a seniority thing that went back to the Civil War. Jace wondered why Raymond was still here, reasoning the former young Yankee officer had some serious issues in his past like Merrick. Eventually they would all move to the next level, whether it was upstairs or down. That was another thing he learned from Merrick.

  Those who stopped over in Oblivion weren’t all waiting to get into Heaven. Some deserved far worse than here. Drea’s assailant would be protected under their system, one that didn’t recognize what happened in the real world. The thought of Cameron showing up down here made him rail at the unfairness of it.

  “I won’t get in the way,” Jace said and ignored the guy as he continued to load as many guns over his shoulder as he could hold.

  “Drea had to go cool off,” Merrick told Raymond. “She wants a piece of the guy coming in.”

  “It doesn’t work like that, Merrick,” Raymond said without emotion, his eyes hard as granite. “If that was the case, I would have handed every confederate bastard who landed here over to the demons when I got here. That was in her human life. She needs to let it go.”

  Jace held his tongue, wanting to know how anyone could really do that. If Cameron was in front of him right now, none of these men would stop him from exacting his vengeance. He felt for Drea.

  “Just so you know; she wants no part in training the guy.”

  “She’ll do as she’s told, Merrick. Look at it like another foot soldier down here, no more. We all have to stay one step ahead of the demons, like it or not.”

  “This is the guy who took her out!” Jace finally snapped. He could take it no more. “So what if he’s already dead? What does it matter? She’s here because of him and you would expect her to train the guy?”

  Raymond smiled coldly. “When you’re here long enough, Newbie, you’ll realize we have no choice. The alternative is giving him to the demons. I’m not about to jeopardize my chance to get out of here one day by doing that.”

  “You said you’d do it to me if I got in your way,” Jace reminded him with a raised eyebrow.

  “Merrick, inform the Newbie how he’s to address me in the future. I’ll consider this disrespect part of his ignorance, but next time, I’ll handle it,” Raymond said in a menacing tone.