Resurrection (24 page)

“At the tone ten seconds to self–destruct; beep, bong, bong.

His breathing quickened and he suddenly felt thirsty.

“Seven.”

His body tensed and he felt her soft red hair against his cheek.

“Four.”

Heartbeat, pulse rate, respiration all accelerated.

“Two.”

“One.”

There was a pause and what seemed like an eternity of silence, a hawk circling high overhead let out a shriek and then through his eyelids the boy saw an enormously bright flash of light and felt a great heat on the flesh of his neck and back. This was followed by a thunderous shock–wave which rolled across the desert in all directions knocking flat everything in its path.

Dirt blown into the ravine by the blast covered the pair and he buried his face in the sleeve of his coat the keep it out of his nose and mouth. The debris flowed into the ravine like a waterfall and soon it had covered them both.

Before long the earth stopped shaking and the air was still once again and he pushed his head above the dirt. He helped the girl up and then climbed out of the ravine and onto the desert floor and there they stood on the ruined plain, the two of them dwarfed by the cloud of dust and debris which was rising up ever higher into the atmosphere.

“What do you see?” she said.

“Armageddon!” he answered. “We’ve got to get out of here the fallout will make us sick for sure, and we have to find water.

“We will find water that way,” she said pointing.

“How do you know?” he said looking out onto the vast dry expanse.

“Trust me please,” she said.

He took her hand and led her away from the ravine. The desert stretched out in front of them and after a few hours their lips became dry and chapped. Soon the sun dipped low in the sky and bit of relief came in the form of a cool breeze.

There, there is the water, she said.

About a hundred yards out he saw a brick structure sticking out of the desert floor. They sprinted over and pulled a metal cover off the top. He lowered a bucket which was attached to a rope and pulled it back up filled with clear water.

He started a fire and boiled the water in the metal bucket and after it had cooled they both drank from it. The freshness of the evening was in stark contrast to the heat of the day and it was refreshing to both their bodies and their souls.

They sat side by side as the moon peeked over the craggy mountains in the distance. He watched the girl and thought of what to say to her. Seems he had no problem speaking to her when they were both in harm’s way but now he could think of no way to start a conversation.

“Can you describe it to me?” She said.

“Describe what?”

“The moon, describe what you are seeing right now so that I may imagine that I see it as well.”

“Well the moon is big and bright orange and a mountain is silhouetted by its light.”

She took his hand in hers and laced her fingers through his and then placed her cheek against the back of his hand.

“Thank you,” she said.

“How did you lose your sight?” He said immediately regretting it. He wished that he could reach out and pull the loose words back into his mouth and back into his mind making them thoughts once again but it was too late.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean—”

No, it’s okay,” she said. I don’t mind really. A couple years ago I got sick and had a bad fever, I was very ill and went into a coma and when I awoke my eyesight had gone but I’ve gotten used to it now; there are ways other to see.”

“What’s your name?” he said.

“Angeline but everyone calls me Angel or Red Angel because of my hair.”

“How did you end up out here, you came with your family?”

“My family is all gone now; they all died of the infection.”

“Well I keep coming up with all the right questions maybe I should just shut up now.”

“No really it’s alright. Now it’s your turn.”

“I’m Peter,” he said.

“Nice to meet you Peter and thank you for saving my life back there.”

He smiled and shook his head. “My family is all gone too, and my friend Charlie; he died in the camp.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you know what happened back there, I mean why did the place go up like that?

Peter turned his head away from her and hid from her the fact that he and Charlie were to blame for the camp going up in flames.

“No I was sleeping and I heard shooting and next thing I knew all hell broke loose,” he said.

“Well thank you again for saving my life I’ll be forever in your debt. Do you have any idea where we might go?”

“I think that any direction that we go will lead us to the same place; nowhere.”

“I will find us a safe haven,” she said. “If you trust me I can.”

“Well Angeline you found us water I guess I can trust you to get us somewhere safe; but how?”

“Call Me Angel, Angeline died with my eyes,”

“How did you know there would be water here?”

“Some would say that I have a gift, I am not so sure I would use that word but I can see things. Sometimes I can see a thing before it happens but like in a dream. With the water I just heard a voice and saw the well; do you think that’s weird.”

“No not at all.”

She smiled at him and lay back and rested on the ground. He watched her as the light slowly faded from the sky, her flaming red hair and her sightless green eyes which focused on nothing; he thought her beautiful.

In his mind he began to come to the conclusion that it was no mere coincidence that he had found her back there in that bungalow. She must have called him somehow for now as he thought back he had no reason to pick that particular bungalow out of all of the others; it was just one of many.

But he had picked that one and she was there, but how? How had she reached out to him, they had never met. As the evening faded into night her emerald and unseeing eyes grew ever brighter.

“When you look at me what do you see?” Angel said.

“Peter was stunned by the question and waved his hand in front of her eyes.

“I assure you I am totally blind and cannot see with my eyes.”

“But yet you see me, you see that I am looking and you saw my hand in front of your eyes.”

“I can see you Peter but not like you see me. I can’t control what I see and I cannot see your face; faces are blurred for some reason. Sometimes my sight is from behind you or ahead of you like right now, like I am out of my body; I can see us both. I don’t see colors and sometimes I see nothing at all but right now with you my sight is strong”

“To answer your question, when I look at you I see a beautiful girl with lovely green eyes and a head full of red wavy hair.”

She turned away from him and blushed. She had not seen herself in so long that she did not know what she looked like any longer and she did not feel beautiful. His words were foreign to her but welcome none the less.

“Do you really think that I am—?”

“Beautiful, Yes I do,” he said shyly. "And although I have only known you for a few hours I think you are the most charming girl I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.”

“The next morning we turned and headed south, Angel said that direction suited her best and that is the way they went. I never questioned her on the course she chose I believed that she knew best; it was my job to protect her from harm.

“I followed her across the Wasteland and into the forest where we found those who dwelled there. They took us in and there we stayed. She was an incredible woman and I was with her until her Calling and she went behind the veil. After that I wandered the earth and ended up here. Where is it?”

Warlock handed the shroud covered object to the man. He un–wrapped it and gazed at the tattered cover of the book, the ancient automobile with the man sitting on the running board, a handful of dry dirt flowing out of his hand and blowing away into the wind.

“Where are Andrew and Aaron?”

Ethan was jolted by the man’s question. “Andrew didn’t make it out of the valley; he is dying or is now dead. Aaron stayed behind with him.”

The man walked down and stood in front of Ethan. “Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Peter and I knew you mother, she told me that you were coming.”

“You knew my mother? The woman I called mother is dead and my birth mother has been dead for years.”

“No, your mother is alive and well, she is the one that is called the Red Angel.”

“What are you talking about? My mother and father were killed in the purge many years ago.”

“No son,” Peter said placing his hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “She lives and I am your Father.”

Chapter 57

“There it is Andrew, we’re almost there,” Aaron said excitedly. Sitting above the desert floor was a small mesa topped by a wall with several structures jutting above the wall.  Aaron saw a number of riders approaching and stopped.

As the riders came closer Aaron let go of his grip on Andrew’s horse and walked ahead to meet the riders. They stopped several feet in front of Aaron and he held up his hands to show them he was not armed although his weapon was close at hand.

“I am Belchazer who are you?”

“My name is Aaron and this is my brother Andrew.”

“What is wrong with him?” the man said pointing to Andrew.

“He was bitten in the Valley of the Dead but he did not die.”

The man rode over to Aaron and looked him over and examined his eyes. “Here, you’ll need these,” he said handing Aaron a pair of dark goggles.

“Follow us.”

They rode up a narrow winding road to the top of the mesa which was topped with a casemate wall surrounding the entire mesa top. As they approached the wall Aaron could see the wall bristled with archers and cannon. They stopped at the gate which consisted of two huge wood timber doors. Belchazer waved to the guard on top and the doors slowly began to swing open.

Once inside they found themselves in a huge fortress–city in the middle of which was a large house surrounded by smaller buildings made of stone. People lined the road to get a glimpse of the strangers as they rode by.

As they rode up to a large building Ethan came out to greet them.

“Andrew!” He shouted. “It’s good to see you I thought that—”

“That I was dead,” he interrupted. “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily brother.”

The brothers helped him down from his horse and led him inside.

“Bring him in here the physician needs to look him over,” Belchazer said.

They led Andrew into a small room and lay him on a table, a tall, thin man stood at a basin washing his hands. “Expose that bite on his leg,” he said to another man standing beside the table.

The man took a pair of scissors from a table and cut the leg of Andrews’s pants revealing the wound which was bright red and oozing a thick, black substance which had run down his leg.

The man at the basin came over to the table. “I’m Doctor Luke and this is my assistant Jason. “Let’s get this wound cleaned up so that we might know what we are dealing with.”

They thoroughly cleaned the wound and poured antiseptic over it.

“Well what have we here,” the doctor said. “A tooth seems the creature had latched on pretty good and he left you a souvenir.”

He dropped the tooth into a metal pan and continued the examination. Aaron grimaced in pain as the doctor cleaned the wound with alcohol.

“Well son since the bite didn’t kill you it looks like you may be in store for a few changes physically, the first and most problematic is your eyesight, you’re not going to be able to be out and about in the sun without those goggles Belchazer gave you; welcome to Secondary status.

“I’m a Secondary?” Aaron said his voice quavering.

“Well not yet my boy but soon, but being a Secondary has its advantages one being you’re not a Waster. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to seal that wound and I’m not gonna lie it, will hurt.”