MR: Chapter 4
Sneak Peek
Day 4
January 17th, near the dead zone
Late evening
Katcher cursed in frustration as she entered
the city’s borders. Her footsteps slow and deliberate to avoid the carnage littering
the streets. Everywhere she turned, bits of material lay strewn like garbage.
She was in an industrial part of the city. Many vehicles were toppled over
leaking gasoline. Some smoldered, no longer on fire, but still scalding hot.
Buildings were torn apart; graffiti riddled every available surface.
She
headed for the only lit building down a street--at the start of a row of
apartment complexes. Unweaving the shadows from her body to become visible
again, she looked around the abandoned neighborhood before entering the store.
There was nothing special inside. The store was typical for any corner market
with isles for snacks and other small sundries like magazines and soaps. Many
of the shelves were empty.
Rapid
heartbeat. She stalled for just a moment. Her ear drums mimicking the fearful
heart’s rhythm inside her mind. She turned before her would-be assailant had
any awareness. In one smooth motion, she disarmed a skinny, pale man in his
twenties. She pointed his rifle at his chest. She narrowed her eyes at the man.
He was trembling. He was not a warrior. He barely knew how to hold on to the
rifle. But there was something familiar about him. “Speak your name.” She
shoved the rifle’s barrel into man’s bony chest, pushing him back.
“Ed…
Eddie Montgomery.” The man stammered.
Katcher
eased and lowered the rifle next to her side. “You were at the estate. I heard
your name amongst the Cambions.”
The
young man nodded quickly, but backed away another step. “Who are you? How do
you know about the estate?”
Katcher
narrowed her eyes, and stepped toward Eddie Montgomery, rifle held loosely next
to her leg. “You left. Are you friend or foe?”
“Wha?
What? Are you kidding me?” Eddie Montgomery sounded truly surprised. “I almost
died helping Regan and Kimmer get out of the dead zone. I’m a friend.” He
scoffed and rolled his eyes.
The
young man’s pale skin flushed. He was frightened, but Katcher knew he spoke the
truth. “Why have you left the estate?”
He
shook his head, and returned to the front counter where he pulled out an old,
wooden stool and sat down heavily, his bony back slouching into a C shape. “I
never meant to stay.” He pulled a cigarette carton from his shirt pocket, and
tapped repeatedly until a paper wrapped stick popped out. He placed the
nicotine stick absently in his mouth, letting it hang. “My friends are still
missing.” The cigarette bobbed up and down as he spoke. He pulled out the
cigarette, and licked his lips. “So are Regan’s brothers, Twitch and Ben.”
“You
have not answered my question.” She slung the rifle’s harness over her
shoulder, and leaned over the counter, a small snarl rippling her upper
lip.
The
man lit his cigarette, and took a long inhale. “You haven’t answered
mine.”
She
stepped back amused at the strange man’s courage. Eddie Montgomery’s curly
bangs bounced in time with his bouncing knee. He couldn’t hold her stare, but
he was fighting through his fears. “You are not safe here.”
“I’m
safer here than at the estate. I was there when the attack happened.” He blew
out a long puff of smoke as if wanting to empty his lungs. “Besides, my friends
will come here if…” He looked down, swiping an arm under his nose, his breath
shaking. “If they can….”
She
stood tall. Her spine snapping with the anticipation of a mission. “Do the
demons have them?”
Eddie
Montgomery nodded, blowing out a stream of smoke. He sniffed, avoiding looking
at her.
She
could help find his friends. “Give me their names. Your friends.”
The
man finally looked at her with disbelief. “I don’t even know you.”
“What
do you need to know? I am offering help.”
Eddie
Montgomery looked away again.
She
blew out, frustration testing her patience. Why were humans so difficult? She
only wanted to help. Perhaps prevent some souls from falling victim to demons.
She had no time for a conversation. She pierced Eddie Montgomery’s mind for the
names.
The
young man turned and rolled his eyes as he took another inhale of the
cigarette, extending the tubular tip of ash hanging precariously on the burning
paper. “You won’t be able to read me.”
“What
kind of shield do you use on your mind? No one is impenetrable to a Death
Rider.” She backed away, confused.
“I
am Cambion. It’s just the way it is. I don’t know why. It’s the same for all of
us.” He pushed the cigarette filter into a shallow tin can he kept near the
cash register. “Did you say death rider? As in protector of souls?”
“How
do you know about death riders?” Katcher was caught off guard with another
surprise. How could this strange, skinny man know about her kind.
“I
know things. I’m not always sure how, but I do. It’s my ability.” Eddie
Montgomery was no longer frightened. He was excited. The change in his
heartbeat said as much “Can you help me find my friends and Regan’s brothers?”
The young man looked at her with hope. A look she had never encountered
before.
There
comes a point in the Dying when they come to accept the inevitable. Those at
peace with death transcend into the next realm in the most peaceful way. What Katcher
sees in their eyes as she comes for their soul is acceptance. Surrender. Not
hope. “Yes.” She smiled as the first stone of her new purpose was laid down.
***
“John
Saint, Eric Polk, and Michelle Dawn. Those are my friends.” The young man
blurted out. He had turned off the lights in the store and taken her to a back
room. It was a modest space and had probably been used for storage. Eddie had
set up a cot against one wall and a small desk with a single lamp flanked
another. His clothes hung from a single hook next to the desk. “I… I don’t know
Regan’s brothers’ full names, but she called them ‘Twitch’ and ‘Ben’. Is that
enough?”
She
nodded, contemplating her predicament. Names were significant to Death Riders.
Death Riders used them to track and reap souls. But without her death rider
abilities, would the names mean anything? Could she still connect with beings
that had just been named? She sat down on the floor and closed her eyes. She
let the names flow through mind, letting Eddie’s affections strengthen the
meaning of the names. These were not strangers, but loved ones. He called them
friends, but he was willing to risk his life for them. They were family, and
family connections whether by blood or not was one of the strongest bonds in
all of the universe. She squeezed her eyes, directing her thoughts to the
names. She forced herself to see, to feel, to connect, to do something, but
nothing was happening. Not wanting Eddie Montgomery to see her lack of
progress, she needed to rely on a more cumbersome method--physical tracking.
“Where did you last see them?”
“Dead
zone,” Eddie said flatly, though his pale skin blanched another degree. “It’s
dangerous. Demons live there. Bad humans live there.” Eddie seemed to shrink
into the cot as he spoke of this place.
“Point
me there. You do not have to come.” She preferred to go alone. She would fare
better if she had no other worries. Eddie Montgomery was courageous, but not a
fighter, and she questioned whether she could protect him--especially without a
weapon.
He
informed her that many people had been captured, and insisted he was needed to
identify his friends. In the end, not even the young man’s persistence could
deter the single-minded Death Rider. “It is for the best,” she assured him
before wrapping herself in shadow and slipping back into the street, unseen to
any being.
The
dead zone was not far from Eddie Montgomery’s corner store. She ran through the
streets until she was stopped by a dark sludge of energy. It was unavoidable.
Thick as tar and oozing out of the dead zone’s borders. She felt sick.
Nauseated. Never having encountered a demon up close, let alone a horde of them,
she teetered, her feet feeling heavy. Her shadow unraveled exposing her
location. “No,” she hissed and forced herself against the dark side of a
building to stay hidden. She grounded herself into Mother Gaia’s energy, trying
to neutralize the thick darkness surrounding her.
A
scream pierced the air. It was a scream of fear. Bone chilling and curdling her
insides, but the shock she needed to start moving again. Someone needed help.
With unsteady legs, she ambled in the direction of the scream, her senses alerting
her to a speeding heartbeat nearby. She cocked her head, trying to pinpoint the
location. She was close. Another scream, sharp and pained sliced through the
putrid night air. It came from a different direction. Another victim. She began
to move, changing her path, when another scream clawed at her, begging for
help. Another victim. And another. And another. Until the dead zone was filled
with tortured screams, and lost essences of the dead drifted aimlessly in the
stale air.
The
glimmering energies were a show of pure beauty in a place of gloom and
darkness. She could hear them call out to her. Deliver us, they cried
out. She ran to them, wanting to protect them, to guide them. To give them
peace. Instead, she fell to her knees in pain, the force of the dark causing
agonized retching. Despite her embarrassment, she reached out for the essences,
calling them to her.
Laughter
surrounded her. Taunting her. Debris spun around her as a deep chill sunk into
her bones. “You do not belong here, reaper.” A gravelly voice echoed in her
ears. “These souls are not for you to take.” Maniacal laughter echoed all
around her, keeping her from isolating a location.
“No!”
She hissed as she was lifted into the air, held against her will by an ancient
force. She attempted to break the induced paralysis. “Show yourself!” she
gritted through clenched teeth.
The
coil around her body tightened, the energetic force shifting as she was slammed
against a brick wall, and held there. Forced to watch a group of demons emerge
from the darkness, and feed on the essences. The essences called out, begging
for help. Their consciousness connecting with hers. She could see every life
that had been lived and suddenly ended. She could feel every bit of pain as the
essences were consumed and the spark of life was snuffed. “No!” She screamed
into the night, her pain resonant of the Beings being torn apart right in front
of her. The precious human souls were nothing but a drug to the demons. A
source for a temporary high to satiate a need that could never be filled.
She
shrieked as her heart shattered at the cruelty. She thought about Mahalel. This
is why you never allowed me near the dark realms. Never let me be involved
where a demon was near. Her heart lurched at her naivete. I thought you
did not have confidence in me to handle myself. Her breathing shook, as
grim realization washed over her. You were only trying to protect me
from feeling hate. Her teeth clenched as tears streamed down her eyes as if
a wall had broken. Death Riders cannot allow the rush of hate to cloud any
part of their purpose. It was a dangerous emotion for a Death Rider.
When
the air was empty of essences, the demons vanished, and her binds released. She
stood, breathing in the stench of the dead zone, burning the image of the
tortured essences into her mind. Mahalel, if you are out there and you can
hear me. Please forgive me for I must turn my back on everything you taught me.
She looked around her, feeling the heaviness of the eerie quiet around her.
With a broken heart, she unwound the crimson leather bands covering her
forearms. The bands had been bestowed upon her when she pledged her life as a
Death Rider. She couldn’t even remember a day when she had not had them
on.
The
bands were her identity. Her purpose. The reason for her existence. Shedding
them was painful, almost as painful as witnessing evil done upon helpless
souls. She’d been left, mired in shame and failure, but now she knew what must
be done. “I am no longer a Death Rider.”