The Affliction

by Wendy E. Marsh

  I recruited the strength I needed to hobble over to Gabriel and fall down beside him. I turned him onto his back and he just flopped onto it, limp. I started crying, too, unable to contain myself any longer. “Gemma!” I screamed out loud, my voice breaking in the middle. “GEMMA! Angel statue, NOW!”

  The kids were safe, and I needed her…Gabriel needed her. I lowered my ear to his chest but I couldn’t hear anything. I put my red fingers against his throat but my hands quaked. I couldn’t see any wounds, what had they done to him?

  “I can help,” Dahlia whimpered, and I stared at her, debating. I couldn’t find anything in her face or in my intuition that told me she bluffed. I nodded. She knelt down on the other side of him, lifted up his shirt and I winced. There were wounds. Five puncture marks over the left side of his chest, as though someone had tried to reach in and take out his heart. Just like Mariah had done with the Davos.

  I looked up at her, not sure why I put my trust in her, but I had no other options. I partially expected her to laugh or say “sucker” and try to rip my heart out, too, but she just looked sympathetic and consoling instead. So her face could assume emotions that weren’t malevolent.

  “What are these?” I asked. I was afraid to touch the holes; it looked like lava spilled out from them.

  “One of Aeris’ tricks. His claws are poison.”

  “What?” I asked, confused.

  “His nails, they’re like snake fangs, they…” But I cut her off.

  “How do we get it out?” I pleaded. My voice lost its volume, ebbed away and took my life with it. Neither of us was dead, but barely. I needed to use the rest of my life to save his.

  “How do you get out snake venom?” She replied sullenly.

  I didn’t hesitate. I bent over his chest and put my lips to his skin. I had to close my eyes because I could see the other lesions and the sight made my stomach turn. His skin burned beneath my lips and each pull felt like a punch in the lungs, but I sucked at the lava anyway. I plugged my nose but I could still taste the acrid poison welling up in my mouth, the skin on my lips peeling, my tongue blistering.

  I spit it onto the ground and went back again. I knew when I had sucked out all the poison because for the first time, I tasted the metallic sweetness of blood and I spit that mouthful out, too.

  I worked my way around all of the punctures, still on guard for an attack, from Dahlia or anyone else. Towards the end, I had stopped spitting, and just let the blood and poison pour out of my open mouth. When I started on the last one a familiar voice sounded in my head.

  “Aubrie, where are you?” Tobias asked in his gritty voice. Of course. He had been sent after Isaac and me after they realized we went missing.

  Despite my delight in hearing him, I ignored him until I tasted Gabriel’s blood in my mouth again, sure that even a seconds’ hesitation would kill him. When the last of the blood spilled to the ground, and I realized I didn’t know what else to do, I answered Tobias, knowing that he was somewhere at the Capital.

  “In the maze. The three angels.” I said. And I rested my head on Gabriel’s blood covered chest and closed my eyes, but that was a mistake. The world spun around me, so I snapped them open and focused on the gun still clenched in my hand. “Don’t kill Dahlia” I added, realizing they would try to attack her when they saw her sitting over our apparently dead bodies.

  And then I couldn’t think anymore. I registered that suddenly the gun was on the ground, that it moved in and out of focus, that I might die before Tobias could find me. That Gabriel was already dead beneath me.

  Chapter 33

  Funny how life works. How it takes away everything just as soon as you get it. How one day you’re loving existence, and the next you’re dead. That’s what ran through my mind when someone picked me up and then laid me down on my back.

  “Don’t worry, you’re going to be okay,” said Tobias, as he wrapped something around my throbbing, yet oddly numb stomach, and pulled it tight. The splint made it easier to breathe and I made myself open my eyes even though I was scared to face reality. My vision was blurry but I couldn’t tell if it was because of my injury or due to everyone’s blood mixing with the tears on my face. I could see him anyway, lying ghost white and still beside me.

  “My fault,” I whispered, and my throat felt like I’d swallowed sandpaper.

  “No, it’s not,” said a woman’s soothing voice.

  And then I noticed her, a dark shadow in the night. Eleanor was with Tobias, and she meditated over Gabriel, palms down on his chest, eyes closed, tears streaming off her cheeks.

  “He’s dead,” I said flatly. Why did she sit there acting like she could just use her Shaman abilities on him? You can’t heal what’s dead.

  “I know,” she replied, and then without opening her eyes she plunged her fingers into the holes Aeris clawed into his chest. She concentrated so hard I thought the skin on her face would crack, the muscles in her shaking arm so defined they could have been made of stone.

  Suddenly I wasn’t sure of anything. Could she bring him back to life? I prayed that she could.

  She let out a terrifying cry from the effort, gave one quick chest compression, then ripped her fingers from his flesh and collapsed on the grass beside him.

  Tobias walked over to help her, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Gabriel’s puncture holes. They sealed themselves shut. The skin sutured itself together and I felt like I watched time-lapse photography. And then I knew that Eleanor had done it. She had brought him back from death.

  He took a breath, and I saw his chest rise and fall. I wanted to move over to him but when I tried, the effort left me flat on my back again. He opened his eyes and seemed content when he found my face.

  My fingers were frozen and stiff but I reached out to him. “You saved me,” he said, as he lifted his hand to cling onto mine.

  A different kind of ache filled my chest as I shook my head no and the tears kept running. I hadn’t been able to save him. I had begun to think I was invincible, that I could do anything, but I was wrong.

  “I shouldn’t have left you,” I said. And I knew I was right about that. If Gabriel and I had worked together, we could have protected each other.

  Suddenly he rolled clumsily onto his side and looked at me worriedly. “Are you ok?” He asked, surveying my body.

  “Yes,” I said because he was alive. But I wasn’t okay. I looked down and saw crimson flowers blossoming on the ripped T-shirt Tobias had wrapped around me. The exertion made me cough and blood splattered the grass.

  “Oh, no, no, Aubrie, you’re gonna be okay,” he tried to convince us both. “Eleanor…” he started, as he rolled to his other side to plead with her. But Tobias shook his head as he looked down at Eleanor, propped in his arms, breathing hard even in her sleep.

  “I’m sorry, she can’t,” he apologized. I just nodded my head, understanding. I had known it would come down to that, and I was all right with it. As long as Gabriel was alive, I was able to come to terms with dying.

  I closed my eyes and tried to focus on slowing my breathing. Gabriel scooted over to me and laid his head on my chest while he put pressure on my wound. He jumped when I gasped.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, pushing himself up. He had grabbed my gun and held it out in front of him.

  “Oh, thank God! It’s all right, Gabriel,” Tobias answered him.

  About time, I thought, and Michaela ran into the clearing followed by Gemma.

  Michaela stopped short. “What’s she doing here?” she asked, looking at Dahlia, who I realized for the first time was handcuffed by the fountain.

  Gemma ran straight to me and had to persuade Gabriel to move to the side.

  “She surrendered,” Tobias said, “don’t hurt her.”

  Gemma unwrapped the now soaked T-shirt and groaned. “Blimey, Aubrie, sorry we didn’t get here faster.”

  “It’s okay, you’re here now,” I reassured her. I didn’t think I could talk out loud anymore.
r />   “Please fix her,” I heard Gabriel say, and I reached out for his hand. I could tell this wound was worse than any of the ones before it because it burned when Gemma started to heal me. It stung so acutely I thought I might pass out again but Gabriel squeezed my hand as though he were the one losing his life.

  My view of the world started to sharpen and I didn’t feel as much like I was going to lose myself as before. At one point the intensity ramped up to an almost unbearable burning. It felt like carpet burn on my insides.

  “Damn Gemma, are you healing me or killing me?” I asked, trying to ward off the tears again.

  “Sorry, but you went and got your stomach shredded to bloody hell. Excuse me if it’s not a picnic putting you back together, again I might add.”

  “I know, I owe you.”

  “Forget it. It’s my job. And it’s almost done anyway.”

  The burning had turned more into prickling, not unlike when your foot falls asleep. I propped myself up on my elbows so I could get a better look. The slash was gone but an ugly scar glowed red on the surface of my skin.

  “Huh, look, Gabriel, I’m just like you now,” I said, and when I looked up at him he chuckled.

  “Not quite,” he replied before he pulled me into his arms and kissed me.

  I wanted to just stay there for a while, safe in his strong arms, basking in the relief that we were both alive.

  “You killed Aeris?” Michaela asked.

  It felt as though she asked me if I had done some heroic thing and as though I should be proud of killing him. I guess I was, in a way, but I felt sick and guilty when I thought of it or when I looked at his nauseating body.

  “Yeah, I did,” I admitted.

  “Wow. You. Are. Brilliant.”

  Just as I tried to decide if I should thank her for the compliment, we heard a massive explosion in the direction of the Capital and then saw fire erupt into the sky.

  “Oh, no,” I said, pushing myself to my feet. My intuition screamed at me as I looked to Gabriel in panic. Tobias hopped to his feet, too, already running for the burning building. “There’s kids in there. Isaac and Cara are in there,” I told Gabriel.

  And we both knew we had to go back.

  Chapter 34

  “Shall we go together this time?” I asked him.

  “Wouldn’t have it any other way,” he replied.

  I was so tired and a feeling of malaise still hung around me. I couldn’t imagine Gabriel felt any better, after his resurrection from the dead. But both of our best friends were caught in the war that still simmered in the Capital building.

  Most of the rebels had fled when they realized Aeris was dead, but some had taken it upon themselves to avenge his death. Their original plan was to take over the Capital, but when the small band that was left recognized that they were losing and would not succeed in overtaking the building, they decided to blow it up instead.

  Gabriel started to jog after Tobias but I stopped him.

  “We won’t make it,” I said. He slowed to a stop and had to rest his hands on his knees while he watched helplessly as Tobias disappeared around the corner. But suddenly I knew a way we could make it there. “Gabriel, come here,” I said, as I reached out for his hand. “Michaela, Gemma, will you stay here with Dahlia and Eleanor?” I asked, and they nodded that they would.

  “We’re still going?” Gabriel questioned.

  I nodded assent and grabbed his other hand in mine. I knew it held the possibility for disaster but I also knew that Isaac and Cara had not escaped the explosion; that in fact, they were badly injured. I didn’t let myself think of how bad, but let it fuel my energy.

  “How?” He asked, doubt creeping into his voice.

  “If you can make me invisible,” I said, “then I can take you with me”

  I barely registered the shock on his face when I pulled him into a tight hug and put everything I had into teleporting us both back to the building. For the first time in a while, I saw the yellow light, knew it tried to separate Gabriel from me, but I wouldn’t let it.

  I tried to keep my footing but the rubble skidded underneath me like marbles, and both of us crashed to the floor. It took me a few seconds to realize that the reason I could barely see or breath was from the black smoke that curled around us like phantom waves.

  “We can’t make it long in here,” Gabriel said.

  I looked up and could just make out the sky and part of a demolished ceiling. I scanned the second-story room around me, but it was useless, so I closed my eyes and made sure I had hold of his hand.

  “It’s okay,” I said, “They’re close, follow me.” The smoke burned in my nostrils, my throat, my lungs. I didn’t want to open my mouth to speak and allow more smoke inside me. I knew we had to find Isaac and Cara, and get out fast or risk not escaping in time. A part of the building was about to collapse on top of them, where they were already trapped, and it seemed hopeless in the smoke, but my intuition was even better than our night vision. I ran out of the room we were in and down what was left of a hallway, Gabriel running blindly beside me.

  “Isaac! Cara!” I called to both of them. “We’re coming! Don’t move!” Only three minutes, seventeen seconds ’til collapse. We both coughed and spit now, but I sprinted as fast as I could down that hallway, relying on my intuition more than I ever had. And I realized how much Gabriel trusted me, because he ran right alongside me, not knowing where his next step would land.

  Beam lying on the floor ahead. “Jump!” I told Gabriel, and we cleared it together. The ceiling had caved in ahead, stone and wood piled ten feet high.

  “Aubs, they’re not in that?” Gabriel choked. A statement question; when you know the answer, but ask the question anyway, hoping you’re wrong.

  “They are. I need your help to get them out.” And I led him around to the edge, where the floor crumbled away into the training room below us and a narrow tunnel burrowed into the heap. “We can crawl in from here, it’s open in the center.”

  I scurried through easily enough, ducking rafters and avoiding jostling anything out of place; but Gabriel had to squeeze through. Before I heard the crack I tried to warn him. “Wait, don’t move your foot!” I cried at him, but it was already in motion, catching on a piece of bent rebar in a powerful thrust to push himself through.

  I could feel the avalanche coming and propelled myself out of the short tunnel and into a small cavern, Gabriel pushing through after me. There was barely space enough to lie prone on our elbows, but a solid mahogany beam lay across the length of it, holding up the pile so we could fit next to the two bodies lying beside us. We listened on our stomachs as our escape route closed off, but I was more focused on what I saw in front of me.

  Isaac laid motionless on top of Cara, whose face was painted in blood that seemed to burst from her eyes, which I couldn’t see. They were both covered in gray dust, except for Isaac’s back, which was covered in more blood.

  One minute, forty-three seconds. Then this whole part of the building would tumble down. “They’re alive,” I told Gabriel, who wasn’t sure. “Isaac used his body as a shield. That’s how it didn’t crush them,” I explained, looking around at the little safe haven for another way out. “We need to get out of here now, this place is going down.”

  “Can you teleport us all out?” Gabriel asked.

  “No,” I replied. I could barely breathe. I had pushed the limits before when I brought Gabriel with me on the teleport. I had enough energy to do it one more time but that would only save us, and then the whole rescue mission would have been pointless. “This is where I need your help.”

  Gabriel looked around at the walls of the soon-to-be-tomb and then put his ear to the floor. I didn’t know what he listened for but suddenly he lifted his arm and punched his fist down through the boards.

  “We have to go down,” he said.

  “Quick, we’re running out of time!” I encouraged him, as he kicked his whole leg through the floor again and again. I nudged Isaac
but he didn’t move or open his eyes. I shook Cara’s shoulder and you’d have thought I’d electrically shocked her. She started squirming and shrieking, trying to push away from me.

  “Cara, it’s okay, it’s me, Aubrie!” I said, but she didn’t calm down. She looked all around me like she couldn’t see. She couldn’t see.

  My chest constricted, and not the way it did for Gabriel. But I didn’t have time to think about it. I looked down and saw that Gabriel had made an opening about two feet in diameter. “Good enough!” I said as I squirmed closer Isaac and Cara, attempting to avoid her weak attacks.

  I grabbed her arms to stop her flailing and heaved her toward Gabriel’s opening.

  “Are you sure?” he called.

  “Yes, it’s going to work, go!” I yelled, and he wrapped his arm around our friends and pulled them through the hole. Cara screamed and I heard a sickening crash but knew they’d be all right and teleported after them. Teleportation seemed like such a cinch when I didn’t have to bring someone with me.

  Gabriel pulled a resisting Cara onto his back. Nothing he said seemed to calm her down. “It’s okay, Cara, it’s Gabriel, you need to hang onto his back so we can get you out!” I said telepathically.

  She cried now, but she complied with my instructions and wrapped her arms around his neck as though she would fall into a fire if she let go.

  With Cara hanging on, Gabriel bent down and struggled to pick Isaac up into his arms. Thirty-four seconds and I wasn’t sure we could hold our breath in the smothering air that much longer.

  “I need you to lead me, Aubrie,” Gabriel grunted.

  “Follow me,” I said, as I ran towards the door. But I realized that Gabriel couldn’t run. He was still weak from almost dying. “It’s okay,” I said, “the walls are blown out; we can make it straight out to the courtyard.”

  It killed me to walk out of there, each second exploding in my head. We weren’t going to make it, and I would have to make a decision. I could teleport, and I could bring someone with me. I would choose Gabriel. That meant I would kill Cara and Isaac and I knew I couldn’t make that choice.