Davey cleared his throat. Andy remained silent, staring with menace into the murderer's eyes as he spoke. “Mankind,” Davey scoffed. “You can all burn for all I care.”
-Chapter Forty-
Evil
There was no breeze by the tree where Haley stood with the suited Guardian. She had spent the last dozen minutes or so trying to defend the whole of humanity to the creature. It sat and listened with disciplined patience, its blank head nodding every so often to demonstrate its attention. Her cheeks grew red with frustration at the lack of things she had to say in the end of saving the world. After a good while, she began to wonder if all she did was blow smoke. Even though the being frightened her a lot, it was well mannered and polite. If anyone would listen, it would be this one.
“The reasons you are giving me are trivial at best,” it interrupted once her argument had started to repeat itself. “I am joyful at your value for sentiment, but emotional drives and intentions do not interest me. It's more than the thought that counts. You must tell me why everyone deserves to continue destroying this perfect little planet if they show no traits of an evolved life form. Nothing more than a pseudo attempt at cooperation, not only with yourselves, but with your mother Earth.”
Haley broke down. “I don't know what to say!” she cried. “Nothing I can tell you will make any difference. Maybe one day, we can be a perfect race living in a utopia, but for now be have nothing to show but filth.” She sobbed.
As she cried into her palms, the Guardian reached out with its hand and grasped her shoulder comfortingly. She did nothing to stop it and only heaved harder with emotion at its powerful touch.
“Then you understand,” it said.
The men at the camp prepared as well as they could for the coming evening once the sun rose. They all were instructed to eat heartily and rest well so that their strength was at its peak. Andy participated in blade practice with the men. Barney had given him an old civil war saber to use as his weapon. He was good at the fluid movement in swordplay. His many years of martial arts practice came into use through his blade. Barney expressed that he was impressed by Andy's capabilities.
“Remember to swing high,” the former Decree soldier commented. “You're only going to be able to down one by cutting its wings off.”
“Barney – that's your name, right?” Andy asked. Barney nodded. “How do you think we're going to stand a chance against them? Honestly.”
“Honestly?” Barney echoed. “Because if we didn't, what else is there to hope for? I don't know if you see what's going on here, but it is the end of the life that we knew. Everything we love is at stake here. We win or it's gone.”
“How did you even get into all this?” Andy asked. “Why are you so driven?”
Barney seemed to consider the question for a moment, unsure of whether or not to explain. “After the Tower exploded, I ran off and was saved from dying of exposure by an old couple that ran a winery. They let me stay with them for over a month, staying in the cellar where it was safe. They grew on me. Then, they were taken. I aim to find them.”
“In this prison?” Andy asked.
“Yes,” Barney stated. “And if not, then maybe enough people to help me punish these bastards.”
There was a group of thirteen of them poised by a wall of dumpsters in one of the city's alleyways. The clouds in the sky had darkened and created a dull gray ceiling over the world. The wind blew horizontal, tossing leaves along in its many currents. Several of the creatures could be seen leaving the gigantic metal structure that they had managed to approach. They flew away fast, but Barney held his fist up to signal everyone to wait until he was sure that they were gone.
He whispered in a low voice to the men behind him. Of them included Davey and Andy. “Alright. Once you see me leave cover, that's the signal to come out. If all of us come out at the same time, we can overwhelm any stragglers with our sheer numbers,” he instructed, moving his hands as he talked. “And just remember, keep an eye to the sky and another on your back.”
There were several openings along the side of the bizarre prison. It looked similar to the windows along an airplane to Andy, with much larger openings. Just large enough for the creatures to fit through if they ducked low. The air was sweet with the smell of coming rain.
There was a yelp from behind the formation. Everyone turned around to see one of the winged beasts dive into the last man in line. As it distracted itself with him, all weapons were drawn into the militants' hands. They cleaved and hacked until the thing was dead, wings dropping to the concrete with a soft rustling thud.
There were several more of the creatures swarming in the sky, flying around in mad patterns as they scanned for the human intruders. Their anxious movement made Barney sprint out of the alley into the opening. The signal was given.
Many roars of men and women came from all around as hundreds of people rushed out from various nooks and crannies in front of the prison. The number of the beings flying around through the air multiplied. They began swooping down at the combatants, trying to get just low enough to swipe hard at them. The Prevailers swung back, striking the beasts wherever they could as they darted like crazed bees through the tinny air.
Davey navigated around the people, swinging up into the air without any aim or real purpose other than to act. Andy followed the deranged man as he helped three others reach up and pull one of the creatures to the earth. Davey twirled about to watch and make sure that Andy was indeed still following him. They made their way through the melee, advancing upon the prison.
The Prevailers pushed hard against the winged creatures. Other than not being able to fly away to safety, it seemed that the humans had a huge advantage against their foes. So many of the beings had been cut down, their corpses littered the ground like bright lights. Still, every one that was killed, two more replaced it. They never seemed to stop coming. The men and women held the group and pushed all the way up to the portholes of the prison.
Davey disappeared into one of these in the distraction of battle. Andy stalked behind him as close as he could, navigating through the massive tunnel that was the interior of the structure. The fight was carried inside, militants and creatures flooded through the doors and continued to swipe at each other. The noise was like a loud hailstorm against metal, so many clicks and clacks and thuds. The whole attack was a suicide mission, Andy thought. He knew it. Nothing drove these soldiers other than a prideful denial that they were in fact powerless to do anything. He chased after Davey, sprinting as fast as he could. I can rest once this son of a bitch is dead, he decided. Davey darted around, trying to make the path as difficult to follow as he could.
The voice of the Harbinger boomed into everyone's head. “I do not blame you for your resistance,” it said. “I will not punish the whole of man for your fear. As violent beings, it is only in your nature to fight what you do not understand. To combat what you fear. As long as you are afraid, I care not. You merely sever few of my thousands of appendages. Hope is useless.”
“Come along now!” Davey taunted back at Andy. “I can't do this dance all on my lonesome! Which way shall we go next?” He turned left, taking a much thinner tunnel that protruded into the prison's courtyard.
Haley had calmed down, her eyes far too sore to continue shedding tears. She embraced the Guardian, sniffling. It hugged back to her as she clung onto its tremendous leg. It pulled back and looked into her face with its blank one.
“You will be alright,” it said to her. The voice felt warm in her breast, like cocoa on a cold night. After all the sorrow had washed out of her, she started to feel better. Started to feel relieved. Her breathing slowed and steadied from its erratic and raspy form. She looked up at the Guardian with trust. Something had been communicated through the tips of the creature's fingers as they had first touched her shoulder. A powerful wave of empathy had been received and transmitted back, and finally, she understood. Though she grieved, she felt at peace. Some
thing was so perfect about that moment.
It was all shattered by the sound of struggle as two men ran into the opening. They panted heavily, and Davey laughed like a jackel as he ran. Both her and the Guardian looked far at the little opening in the wall through which the intruders had entered. A beast-like grin sat under the murderer's nose, through which he breathed aloud. Andy gained on him, closed into range of his saber. As if he could feel the attack coming, the psychopath dropped to his knees and allowed the blade to pass over his head. He snapped back to his feet and spun around, slicing at Andy's hand.
Andy cried out in pain as he dropped the sword. He dropped to his knees and clutched onto the flesh that so loosely stayed on his hand. The color drained even further from his face as he saw who Davey now approached with haste. His mouth slacked open and his brow furrowed. Tears of realization filled into his eyes as he took in the whole scope of the situation.
I failed, he thought. Here she is, at his mercy. And I led him here.
“Andy?!” Haley gasped in shock. The Guardian watched from behind her.
“This is her, isn't it?” Davey asked, smiling with sickening delight at her recognition. “This is the girl?”
“Don't touch her you sick bastard!” Andy whimpered. He tried to rush onto his feet, but the man with the knife dived at Haley and held her with the blade at her neck. Andy caught the look of fear in the back of her delicate eyes but watched as it disappeared. Her face was calm as she looked at him. She smiled.
Davey turned to the Guardian, a wild shade in his eye. “This is what you wanted, isn't it?” he asked it. Spit flung from his lips as he spoke. The Guardian said nothing, not even facing the psychopath as he addressed it. Its blank face turned to Andy, who returned to his knees in defeat. The former assassin felt as if the being read his mind, collected all of his pain and displayed it before him. Andy knew how this story was to end.
“I want you to kill her,” Davey commanded to Andy. He stepped away from Haley, all of the threat of Andy's rage diminished as he observed the assassin's defeated countenance. Spinning the blade around, he offered it to Andy.
With the knife so close to his clutch, he thought so hard about grasping onto its ornamental handle and slitting the sick man's throat. It would be as easy as that. But he saw the true game at play. He stared back at the Guardian, nodding. The creature nodded back to him. Andy looked back at Davey's expecting face, so contorted with emotion.
“I won't,” Andy said.
“Come on,” Davey urged. “Just grab it. Take it and have some fun. Show them how sick you are.”
“No.”
Davey looked over his shoulder at the other two, then back at Andy. “Then I want you to watch this closely,” he said, sneering at both Andy and the Guardian. He walked back over to where Haley stood, and with a wink and a tilt of his head, he cut her throat.
“NO!” Andy screamed, rising from his knees. Haley looked at him one last time. Andy saw the exact moment that the light of life left her pupils and she fell over in a pool of her blood, dead. The emotion, the pure white burning hate that seared Andy's bones tortured him to move. His muscles stung with soaking fury as his skin felt aflame with the fire of rage. He ran at the murderer as his vision blacked out of his eyes.
Still staring hard into the face of his attacker, Davey rammed the blade into Andy's torso. The hitman ceased his charge, suspended in the air by the murderer's clutch on the blade. The pain tore into him like lightning. He could feel all the fluids in his abdomen flowing out of the new opening. Davey grinned in Andy's face, turning to look at the Guardian. He removed the knife, then rammed it back into Andy's stomach. Over and over he repeated the gesture, stabbing the man in the chest until he dropped to the ground. From there, he continued to stab until he was certain that Andy was dead.
Silence befell the two remaining lifeforms as Davey continued to stare in the other being's empty face. “There you go,” he said.
The Guardian turned and looked at Davey. The color rushed out of the man's face as he felt the gaze of the eyeless creature. His smile dropped when he truly realized what he had done. He couldn't look at the Guardian any longer, instead stared at the grass. He looked with fond eyes at the roots of the tree, stained in his victims' blood.
With a wide swipe, it took Davey's head clean off. His evil, lifeless body fell to the earth with a soft thud.
This time, the voice was loud and alive with anger. It burned deep in the pit of every human being on Earth, painful to behold.
“Your disease has proven incurable,” it screamed. “Even in the face of ultimate destruction, you choose to fight and harm rather than cooperate and heal. There is no rehabilitation that will work. Your punishment has been set. Nothing I can do will ever make up for your crimes, no punishment great enough. I can only prevent them from continuing. I shall wipe the world clean of your filth.”
Barney still fought in the metallic catacombs of the prison when he felt the voice inside him. As soon as it had gone, he stopped moving. So many others around him had also stopped their fight at the sound of the words. The blade fell out of Barney's hand as he looked around at all the faces. His face contorted in fear, wrinkling as if he was about to cry. Although he wanted to, he could not. He just sunk to his knees in defeat and waited.
Tim lay dormant within one of the bleach white cells only a few hundred feet away from the raging battle above him. Tubes and wires had been hooked up to him. He laid on the bed naked, his eyes twitching. He could feel the voice, but he did not hear it. He continued to sleep.
From the sky rained thousands and thousands of missiles. The air was torn and streaked behind them as they dropped over every bit of surface they could, blinking the human condition out of existence and out of memory.
-Epilogue-
Tim awoke in the stark white room. The vibrant light of the walls and the ceiling stung his eyes. His body felt weak as he shifted himself into an upright position on his bed. He had no idea where he was. Everything preceding his slumber came back as a rough blur. Only certain things could be distinguished. He cleared his throat. He was thirsty.
He got onto his feet. He thought for sure that his legs were going to collapse beneath him, but with just a little patience, he found his footing. There was a door that slid open as soon as he took his first step. He gasped, but then excitedly moved toward it. Maybe there was some sort of explanation behind the opening. Or at least something to drink.
As he tumbled through the doorway, the door closed behind him. He fell face first into the softest dirt he had ever felt. His body ached as he tried to peer upward. The sky was dark and brown. The wind was awful and sick feeling. Tim felt much less healthy as he laid in that soft substance. As he leaned up, he realized that the entire ground was ash. The stuff was still blowing around through the air like snow in a blizzard. It made it hard for the rancher to keep his eyes open for too long. The wind was painful to stare into.
It was all destroyed. Everything as far as he could see was turned into ash. The wind blew hard over the ground, howling with terrible emptiness as it rushed past his ears. He stood alone in the wasteland.
Haley sputtered and coughed as she opened her eyes, breathing again. The light that glowed down on her was soft, but bright. A form was silhouetted in its pure white circle as she realized that it was the sun. Wind played with her hair, tickling her face. The sensation revealed that she was nude. The grass felt cool and peaceful along her skin. The figure reached out a hand and she accepted it. She rose to her feet.
She stood on soft grass. The same soft grass she had been standing on just moments before. The large green tree still sprawled and stretched in many directions. Her vision began clearing as the light's intensity decreased. When she reopened her eyes, she found that Andy was the one she held onto. Her grip in his hand tightened.
“Andy,” she said, reaching out to touch his face.
“Haley,” he whispered back, tracing her delicate
hair.
Around them, the two people could see the metal structure that still surrounded them lift off of the ground. A perfect wooden fence replaced its form on the ground, encircling the luscious grass. The tree played gently in the air. The metal prison flew up into the sky with slow deliberation. It glinted in the sunlight as it spun, casting bright rainbows along the grass. The tree seemed to reach up to it as it departed to the heavens.
The Guardian stepped up to them.
“They are all gone,” it said in a solemn tone to the pair of them. “Mankind's failure will not spread past its memory in time.”
The two humans bowed their heads in sadness. They seemed to be under a spell.
“Do not mourn them,” the Guardian told them. “Every end is just another beginning.”
With fond smiles, the man and woman looked from each other up to the being. “What are we to do?” Andy asked in a sedated tone. The creature turned its face to Haley. Neither human had a single unpleasant feeling about them. There was little to no remorse for the billions of departed souls.
“Maybe one day,” the Guardian started, “you can be a perfect people living in a perfect world. But for now, how that path begins is up to you. I entrust this world to you two. All I ask of you is to love. Your companion will be your sole possession in this new world.”
The woman tilted her head and furrowed her brow, confused. The Guardian chuckled with its harmonic voice.
“Consider this an act of faith,” it said. “I challenge you to live up to your words.”
Though their mouths hung open, nothing needed to be said. Both Andy and Haley nodded in response.
A Guardian Angel Page 29
