Melik ran for the other doors that the two other rebels were guarding. They froze in fear. He crashed one of them into the wall. As his comrade fell limp, the other guard pissed his pants.
“Pitiful,” Melik said. A bullet hit him in the shoulder and he stuttered. He turned and looked at Raul and August. Raul’s gun was smoking.
August looked at the god and back up at the skybox. He saw flashes of light. There was still fighting going on. A rebel flew off the edge, his arm gone, his blood spurting everywhere. August needed to help. But first…
Melik charged at Raul. Raul froze. The bullet just hurt him. It didn’t kill him. He still needed great aim. And Raul had none of that.
Melik barreled toward Raul. Raul was like a deer staring at headlights.
Melik’s head exploded open and he fell limp in front of Raul. “What?”
August lowered his gun. “Go guard the outside.”
Raul looked at him and nodded. He ran out of the door.
August looked around for the stairs, there was no way up from the main hall. He ran into the hallway. He found the stairs to the next floor in the entrance hall. He ducked back into the hallway as bullets buzzed past his head. Five men advanced toward him.
“I don’t have time for this.”
He ran out of the hallway and unloaded his gun at the men. They ducked back into another hallway. August ran and slid behind a greeting desk.
“Shit,” August whispered.
He had one clip left and five men to kill. Plus a god. The hallway the men were hiding in was directly in front of him. The stairs were to his left. The door leaving to the street to his right.
He glanced up. The men looked back at where August used to be. They didn’t notice he had changed cover. Good. They might be Touched but they were not used to being easily killed. August noticed the dead guards strung out on the floor. They must have been Touched too.
They never had the need for tactics before. Which meant they were rusty. And easy targets. If he came from the right of the desk he could easily catch them off guard.
No hesitation.
He leapt out of the desk from the right and unleashed bullets into the air. The men barely had time to scream as the rounds tore into them.
They fell where they stood. A single moan came from them. One of them was still alive. August walked over to the man. His buddies’ bodies lay on top of him.
“Why!” he screamed. “You shouldn’t be able to hurt me! Why has He forsaken me!!?”
As August approached him, he thought of giving him an answer to his question. To say something witty and demeaning. But he decided to answer with a bullet to the head instead.
Juraj stood in a circle of death. Dead cut-up bodies lay around him, Rebel, Touched, and civilian. Ezekiel lay against a wall with a large body-sized crack in it. Staring out at nothing. Blood was running down the stairs. Finite gems floated around the floor over dead bodies. Four of them.
The stained glass window that made up the front wall shone onto Juraj. It looked out onto the street.
He held up a rebel woman by the neck. He had a small knife in his hand.
“Interesting weapons you have there. But you must have forgotten, I’m the god of medicine. I specialize in an amazing amount of things. One of them is my surgical precision. I crushed your leader’s spine and all his internal organs. I cut up your comrades’ bodies as they lived and now you’re next.”
He started carving into her face with his knife. She screamed out.
August was half-way up the stairs. The blood ran beneath his feet. He had only one bullet left. He had to make it count.
He ran up the stairs and onto the floor. He pointed his gun at Juraj and fired. The bullet swirled through the air toward Juraj’s head.
Juraj moved fast and swung the rebel he held in the bullet’s way. It hit her square in the head.
Juraj laughed and threw her body over the balcony.
No hesitation.
August grabbed an orb from the ground and recalled the orb from his gun and ran for Juraj. He eyed his goal: a gun between them. Hopefully it was loaded; if not he was fucked.
Suddenly the world pulsated for August. Everything slowed.
He looked at his hand. The gems merged into one, its light pulsated and he felt a surge of energy. He closed his hand on them and they moved to his will.
This power.
August rushed for Juraj. Juraj moved fast. In fact incredibly fast; it was an inhuman speed. His hand pulled back to strike, but August could see it coming.
The gems in his hand formed into a thin blade and he struck it in between Juraj’s ribs.
Juraj’s hand came down and smacked August and sent him flying back. He skidded to a stop. Nearly falling over the edge of the sky box.
Juraj laughed, blood erupting from his lips.
August struggled to his feet. August had become more powerful and faster but Juraj was still quicker and stronger than him. He was a god, after all.
As August got to his feet, he saw where he struck Juraj. Blood was leaking from his side. “I guess gods do bleed.”
Juraj laughed again. “I know exactly where you struck me, mortal. I’m going to die, but so are you.”
Juraj’s movements weren’t sluggish, at all. He still stood just as straight as if he wasn’t fatally stabbed.
August looked at the stained glass behind Juraj. There was no turning back.
Ezekiel’s mouth smiled. August and Juraj didn’t notice him.
August’s blade appeared back in his hand. Juraj smiled as they charged each other. As their bodies smashed into each other, August stabbed Juraj in the legs, while Juraj stabbed him in his back.
Juraj started falling back as August picked up the hulking beast and ran for the window.
There was no stopping him. Suddenly, a red slash flashed in August’s eyes. He looked up. Juraj’s head was gone.
August crashed through the window. The street below seemed so distant but welcoming. This was it. His end. At least he was able to kill one god before he died.
Soon, he’d be able to see Sara again.
But as he let go of Juraj’s body and it fell away from him and toward the street below, August didn’t follow him.
“What?”
He glanced back and Ezekiel held him up from his shirt collar, saving him from his near-certain death.
“I still need you, don’t go killing yourself on me,” Ezekiel said with a smile. He pulled him up.
August looked at Ezekiel. August was trying to kill himself and he didn’t even know it. “Why? Why did you save me?”
“I don’t care about whatever problems you have at home. But you have a greater mission than trying to kill yourself. We just killed a god.”
Ezekiel held up Juraj’s decapitated head.
“You were alive this whole time?”
“Yep. Don’t worry, I was going to save the girl before you shot her in the head. I was trying out something.” A magenta plate flashed over his chest and a magenta gem floated in front of him. He willed it away.
“Sorry,” August muttered.
Ezekiel sat next to August. “She knew what she was getting into when she joined. All of our people did.” He waved his hand at all the dead rebels around them. He pulled out a phone and texted something.
“There’s no turning back after this. No matter what any of us have done in the past. Once He is dead, all of our sins will be wiped clean.”
Multiple cars pulled up in front of the church. August continued to stare into the floor. His back was suddenly stinging. His adrenaline was running out and he was just now realizing how many times Juraj had stabbed him.
“You’re part of something greater now. Now, get up. We can fix your injuries. This place won’t be standing for much longer.” Ezekiel stood to his feet and held out his hand to August.
10
Killer God
August stood in a graveyard. He had no idea what time it was. White light pie
rced through the fog surrounding him. There was a complete silence. There was nothing there except for his thoughts.
In front of him were three tombstones and three graves. He could see them perfectly. In the distance, the fog parted in front of another grave. The tombstone read, “Garrett Isador.” A death that wasn’t his fault.
The three tombstones in front of him read, “Sara Isador,” “Barbara Hedley,” and “Patrick Hedley.”
They were all dead because of him. If he had never returned to Sotira, so many deaths could’ve been avoided. His family wouldn’t be dead.
Kevan appeared next to him. Kevan stared down at the graves. “How far will you go to kill He, August?”
August didn’t answer.
“Will I be next on your war path?”
“What? No. I would never hurt you, Kevan.”
“You said the same thing to Sara. And now look at her.”
The ground rumbled beneath August.
“How far will you go, August? To kill God himself?”
Blackened decayed hands burst out from the ground and grabbed August’s ankles.
“No!” August yelled as they started pulling him into the ground. August reached up at Kevan. Kevan just stared at him with an indifference.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry I killed them!” As August screamed out, the ground was coming up to his shoulders. He looked up at Kevan one last time. Past Kevan was a giant white-cloaked figure, He, shining in his infinite glory, encompassing the sky above them.
August reached for him. He must destroy him. It was his fault that he felt this pain and sorrow. August had to kill the creator to end the suffering. He needed to kill the very being that created them all.
The ground consumed him.
“August!”
August’s eyes opened. He was standing at a dining room table. Ezekiel and the rebels were with him. Thirty finite gems floated on the table.
Ezekiel was staring at him. “Goddammit, August. That’s twice now that you blanked out.”
“I wasn’t blanking out.”
“Really? What were you doing?”
“I was thinking about how stupid a plan this was.”
“We’re going to kill Svante. What’s so stupid about that?”
“The god of war. The most powerful god alive and you want to kill him when we lost more than half of our men fighting a weaker god.”
“It was a training round. We’ll do better this time. Plus, don’t doubt our numbers. Most of y’all were rookies. For this mission, I’m calling in a few more veterans.”
The rebels around the table looked different from the ones before… before he killed Juraj. These guys looked more rugged, older, more muscular than the other rebels; they looked like they’d been through some shit.
“You were right. You are suicidal,” August said.
“Think of it this way. We already took out one of the twelve major gods. To Ifor, it could be seen as a fluke, a happenstance. But to kill another major god will create a cascading effect. They will finally learn the fear they placed on us, when they find out that no god is safe, no matter how far above us they are.”
August shrugged. Ezekiel had a point. Plus at this moment, August was as suicidal as he was.
August’s back ached. Ezekiel had patched it up and was able to heal it with a finite weapon. What a strange thing those gems were. They shouldn’t be able to do what they did. To kill a god.
When August asked him again where he got them, Ezekiel simply told him “from a powerful friend.” It must be another god.
He was able to use the gem to heal Kevan. He hadn’t thanked Ezekiel enough for that. So, if he wanted August to join in for a suicidal mission, then he was joining in.
He had nothing left.
Ezekiel held two finite weapons in his hand. “I already showed you all what one of these babies could do. But that was just for offense. It would be a bad time if you got killed before you even had a chance to strike. You need to become faster than a human, tougher than a human, you need to be able to go toe-to-toe with a god.”
A third gem floated into his hand. He pulled out his knife with his other hand.
“If you use one gem then you will have the power to injure a god.” One of them flashed onto his knife. “But with two, you will gain increased awareness and the strength of a Touched.” Another one flashed onto his knife, its color flashing brighter.
“Which, surprise, a good offense is only as good as your defense. You can use a gem for defense.” The last pink gem in his hand floated to his chest and melted into nothing. In a glimmer, a pink translucent plate flashed on his chest and then disappeared. He pulled out his gun and pointed at his head. “And with a simple effort of your will, it makes you impervious to normal human weapons.”
He fired and the room gasped. But the bullet just hit the ground after bouncing off his head.
“You’ll each get three of them. I suggest using two on your weapon and one for defense. If you combine more, then your power will increase. I was thinking about combining them all to become some super-human but I’m not greedy. There’s power in numbers.”
The rebels around the table were examining the gems. August grabbed one of them. He still had two equipped. It was a strange feeling.
He had an awareness of the world he didn’t have before. His reflexes were fast and tight. He felt invincible.
“Hey, August,” Ezekiel called him.
“What?”
“Catch.” He threw him three gems. “For your brother. He might be doing something very stupid soon.”
August walked through the hideout, searching for his brother. The hideout was a large cottage on the outskirts of Los Angeles. It had ten bedrooms and Ezekiel was nice enough to give one of them just to August, Kevan and his kids.
Everyone else had to share, six to a room.
He found Kevan sitting on the couch in the living room. Staring at nothing. August sat next to him.
“Ezekiel told me where they’re holding Luna.”
“And?”
“After the raid you’re doing, I’m going to ask Ezekiel’s help in saving her. The resistance could help me. It’s near the city.”
“And if he says no?”
“Then I’ll go alone.”
“Where is she?”
Kevan paused.
“Where Kevan?” August asked again.
“The Bay of Apes.”
“What?”
The Bay of Apes was a fortress on the outskirts of Los Angeles. It was where the worst of Ifor’s offenders were sent. Nobody ever lived to tell the tale about what happened there.
“They sent her there? You cannot go there, Kevan.”
“You don’t tell me what to do.”
“Kevan please—”
“Shut. Up. August. I’m going to save my family. I’m going to do something that you didn’t have the balls to do.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You killed our father, our mother died because of your bullshit and you killed your own girlfriend. Do you think I’m fucking stupid? I knew you killed her, not some guard. All of this went to shit because of you August! You ruined my fucking life! For the last year, I wished you were never born, that I was born into a different family because of you! It’s all your fault that when I tried to escape the clusterfuck you caused our family, I failed to create another.”
August looked at his brother, a valve snapped inside August, the thoughts he ran away from boiling up.
“I’m the one who killed dad! I’m the one who still has the scars from what he did to me! I’m the one who killed the only person to love me. I killed Sara. Not you, you didn’t do a damn thing! You didn’t experience a fucking thing! So how can you claim to know how I feel? I killed her, I’m a fucking killer! I can never see her smile again. I can never hear her voice. I did what had to be done and because of it, lost the only meaning I had in my life, so don’t give me your shit about family! Don’t
give me your shit about loss.”
August started to tear up.
“I’m a killer and I don’t how to do anything else.”
Kevan looked down. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry. I shouldn't have lashed out at you.”
There was an uncomfortable pause.
“I’m not coming back after this,” August said.
“What?”
“This mission is suicide. I fear that none of us are coming back. So go tomorrow. Don’t wait for us.”
“Why go when you know it’ll end in failure?”
“A failure is all I’ve been at life, Kevan. Why should I expect it to end any other way? Go. Go save your wife and create a far better family than our father did.”
Kevan was packing a bag in his room. Night covered the window. He had the door closed. He wanted privacy. August was in another room, going over their raid plan. He hoped he would survive it, even after everything he’d done.
He remembered back to when they burned down Brookes’ hideout. August had told him that Sara was killed by a guard before he found her. But as they stared into the flames, Kevan looked at August. There was no anger on his face. No hate or tears. Just regret.
Kevan’s kids were fast asleep in the corner. An older rebel woman agreed to look after them while he was gone and promised to give them a home if he didn’t come back.
He was going to come back. He could be like August, who stared death in the face. If Kevan believed, he could do anything.
He held out three shining gems. He put two on his father’s old rifle. He rubbed the hilt. It felt like it was such a long time ago since he took it to try and kill his brother. After he had killed their father.
“What are you planning?” a voice said from behind him.
Kevan jumped to the side and aimed at the Omniscient Man. The man raised his hands. “I’m on your side.”
Kevan didn’t lower his gun. He aimed it at the center mass of the ball that was the man’s head. He figured that would kill him.
“Look.” In the man’s hand twelve glowing orbs floated. “I’m the one who created the god killing weapons Ezekiel is pining over.”
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