The Fallen (Angelic Redemption) (26 page)

Even if Karen was trustworthy, there was something
altogether unimpressive about her. If trouble was coming and God wanted to show
them something on the ridge, it made sense to send someone more talented than
Karen.

Unwilling to leave Heidi and Maximo alone down by
the road while he went hiking up the ridge with Karen, Joaquin realized his only
real choice was to send Heidi. Having seen his wife handle herself at the
prison and then at the hotel, he figured Heidi would be better suited than
Karen for a fight. No matter Karen’s experience, she seemed a bit too slow on
the draw for Joaquin’s taste.

“You should go, Heidi, and check things out.”

“I go too,” Maximo muttered, his eyes barely
open. “I want to see.”

Heidi patted his head, playing with a dark curl.
Joaquin stood and helped Heidi to her feet. She eyed Karen and the ridge then
gazed at her husband. Kissing him, her lips lingered and her tenderness caused
a hint of uncertainty in Joaquin.

Was Heidi the woman from a few days ago - the
corpse waiting to happen? Or was she the Heidi from today who raced into battle
like she had been doing it for years? He considered keeping her with him and letting
Karen go on her own no matter the consequences. Then he felt Heidi’s lips curl
into a smile against his. When she pulled away, Heidi glanced at the quiet
road.

“I’m going to see what’s what up there,” she
whispered against his cheek, “and you keep an eye out down here. Okay, hubby?”

“Yes, dear,” he said, stealing a quick kiss before
she followed Karen.

If Karen possessed nefarious plans, she didn’t
show it. The woman looked happy to have the company and she waved for Heidi to
join her. Assuming all his years as a killer had made him paranoid, Joaquin
tried to relax. For extra reassurance though, he leaned down to Maximo’s ear
and whispered, “Do you feel any monsters nearby?”

The boy shook his head then burped loudly,
causing the women to laugh nearby. Joaquin smiled, relieved by Maximo’s
proclamation. In his own heart, he did not sense danger either. Relaxing
against a tree, he watched as Maximo leaned over and took a potato chip.

“You should stop eating,” Joaquin said.

“I like chips.”

“Yes, but you have your whole life to eat them.
No need to force a million into your stomach just to puke them up. Gotta learn
to pace yourself, kid.”

“But I like them.”

Smiling, Joaquin shook his head. He watched the
women make their way tentatively up the ridge. Heidi laughed as she lost her
footing and slid slightly. Karen reached out her hand as they fumbled their way
up.

The two women soon stood on top of the ridge,
looking down at the canyon and river below. Waving at Joaquin, the women were
interchangeable from this distance. He waved back, his mind still listening for
approaching cars.

“I see from the eyes of a hunter,” Maximo said suddenly,
startling Joaquin.

“What hunter?”

“I don’t know. I don’t see her. I see from her.
She is God’s warrior.”

Maximo paused as his gaze focused on the road.
“She has a dream. She sees herself walking into the backyard of her house. A
yellow dog follows her. She sees neighbors waving at her. She sees her children
playing on a swing set. She sees her husband mowing the lawn. She brings him a
glass of lemonade. This is the life she wants, but can not have. It is the life
she covets.”

“Go on,” Joaquin said, his voice hushed and
fearful as he studied the road.

“She has tried to live the life of a human, but
God punished her. She returned to her life as a hunter, still wanting what she
could not have. The monster still whispers to her, promising her the life she
wants. She only has to do one small thing for the monster and she can have it
all.”

“She must forsake God.”

Maximo shook his head, his face lax. “She already
did that, but the monster wants more now.”

“What?”

Maximo frowned, his eyes unfocused as he saw
things normally unseen.

“She must do this one thing, it says, and she can
have the dream. This one thing…”

“What, Maximo? What must she do?”

The boy’s eyes grew wide then began to blink
furiously.

“Mama!” Maximo screamed, pointing to the ridge
where the two figures stood.

Joaquin jumped up and ran towards the women,
unable to tell one from the other in the heat of the sun. Maximo’s screaming
grew louder, less coherent, then turned to silence as the first shot rang out.
For that moment, even as Joaquin continued to run, the desolate landscape grew
silent and the sun shifted, darkening the land.

More shots rang out, breaking the eerie silence.
These shots were in quick succession and Joaquin saw one figure fall back over
the ridge and into the river below.

Heidi was too smart, he told himself while
running up the ridge. She had seen through Karen’s lies like Joaquin could not.
Heidi had fought back and killed her assailant and Karen was the one who now
fell into the water.

Joaquin believed those words in his head. Believed
those words like he believed Heidi was his gift from God. Believed those words
until the remaining figure on the ridge ran from him, not towards him.

Karen disappeared into the rocky canyon, slowed
only by the harshness of the ground. Joaquin could have caught her, could have
killed her then, but his mind was on Heidi.

At the edge of the ridge were large splashes of
blood where the women had once stood. Studying the water below, Joaquin spotted
the blonde hair of his wife as the water turned a corner and fell deeper into
the canyon.

Joaquin was sure he could still save Heidi. She
had healed before and God could fix her again.

Turning to follow the river, he found Maximo. The
boy’s face was red from crying. Whatever hope rested in Joaquin about Heidi’s
fate died upon viewing the misery on the boy’s face. Maximo knew the truth and
his inability to show the least bit of hope forced Joaquin to give into his own
despair. Holding the whimpering child, Joaquin moved slowly down the ridge,
following the river until he found Heidi.

Joaquin dug the grave until almost dusk,
concerned her body might be disturbed by the local wildlife if the hole wasn’t
deep enough. For most of those hours, Maximo knelt next to Heidi’s battered
body, holding her hand and whispering to her. Just before Joaquin finished
digging, the boy wandered away to look for materials to create a marker.

When Maximo returned, he carried two twisted, yet
sturdy tree branches, weeds to tie them together, and a handful of ugly desert
flowers. Joaquin helped the boy craft a grave marker before moving Heidi into
her resting place. Gazing down at her in the grave, Joaquin felt his desire to
live slipping away with every shovel of dirt he lay upon her.

Once the sun dipped behind a hill, Joaquin and
Maximo knelt next to Heidi’s grave, staring at it as if she might send them
wisdom. Maximo finally spoke, his voice raw from crying.

“Karen is a murderer. She betrayed God. He wants her
dead. You see this, don’t you?”

Joaquin nodded. “We’ll find her. She will be
punished, no matter how long it takes.”

“I didn’t see,” he whimpered, clutching Heidi’s
yellow sundress. “I should have seen.”

“It’s not your fault,” Joaquin whispered, wrapping
his arm around Maximo. “I’m the reason she’s gone. I failed her, not you.”

The boy lowered his head and began to cry again,
his sobs echoing in the darkening canyon. Joaquin tried to console Maximo, but
no words could lessen their loss. Nothing could bring Heidi back to them.

Joaquin and Maximo remained at the gravesite
until the moon was their only companion. Staring at the crooked cross and ugly
flowers, Joaquin listened to the broken sobs haunting the canyon. He listened
for so long and so hard, he never realized the sobs were his own.

Present Day

Early on a chilly afternoon, Joaquin said goodbye
to Maximo in their Houston hotel room. When Heidi died, Maximo was a scrawny
kid, small in every way except for his saucer sized eyes. Now as Maximo
clutched him tightly, Joaquin felt the boy’s curly hair tickle at his
collarbone.

Watching Maximo get started on a math assignment,
Joaquin wished he might give the boy a normal life with friends, school, and a
real home. Even if Heidi had lived, that life would have never been theirs.
Maximo was a child now, just as Joaquin and Heidi once were, but their paths
always led to a life of hunting.

Today’s hunt involved a villain in the body of a
salesman at a technology company. The monster kept up appearances, going to
work everyday, while hunting children in its spare time. If the villain had
other evil hobbies, Joaquin didn’t care to know. He just wanted the thing dead.

Joaquin tracked the villain by car for several
miles without being seen. Wherever the monster was headed, it was in a hurry
and unaware of the short lifespan it possessed. Joaquin took his time, not
particularly worried about how this adventure might end. His only concern involved
making it home to Maximo before dinner.

Following the villain into a formerly industrial
area, now just blocks and blocks of empty buildings, he realized something
bigger was now in play. Since Heidi’s death, Joaquin had grown skilled at
sensing villains and their degrees of danger to him. He knew when more than one
was present or when the villain might put up a real fight.

As this villain parked its car and he drove past
to hide his sedan a block away, Joaquin felt a large number of villains in the
vicinity. He also sensed something more powerful than the villains - a power
almost frightening in its intensity. Hunters were nearby, including a big dog.
Prepared to join the fight, Joaquin was restless to do some real damage, even
if playing with others wasn’t one of his better qualities.

Staring into the trunk of his car, Joaquin felt a
pang of uncertainty. When he left the hotel earlier, he had assumed an easy
kill and packed his weapons accordingly. Sensing he was about to walk into a
firefight ill-equipped, he thought to play it safe. No matter his desire to return
to Maximo, Joaquin felt something urging him to join this battle.

Nearing the corner where he left the villain,
Joaquin flinched at a sudden burst of gunfire. A second round of guns opened
fire and Joaquin suspected these were the hunters. His kind was being ambushed,
so he ran towards the fight.

The villain in the salesman’s body never noticed
Joaquin who shot his target and swiped off the thing’s head without pausing. The
gunfight roared ahead. More guns joined the conflict and more villains ran to
and from the battle.

Joaquin tried to use his bullets sparingly, taking
out as many villains with as few shots as possible. With every step he took, he
felt the presence of a big dog growing in his gut. Even with so much adrenaline
pumping through his veins, nothing prepared Joaquin for the view ahead.

Bullets rained down on the street, directed at a few
locations where hunters were pinned down. Joaquin moved towards the battle,
hoping to change the momentum of the fight. Once he laid eyes on Karen though,
he stopped in his tracks.

The traitor ran from the battle along with two
villains who appeared to be protecting her. Joaquin heard rumors over the years
of a rogue hunter killing off packs. He also knew the rogue called itself the
Reaper. Joaquin might have admired Karen’s audacity, if he didn’t desire so
strongly to strangle the life from her.

Changing directions, Joaquin raced to catch up to
Karen and her bodyguards before she escaped once again. Her attention
elsewhere, Karen let him get within a few yards of her before ordering the
villains to stop him. Fleeing with Karen into an abandoned building, the
villains opened fire.

Losing sight of a long term plan, Joaquin fired
back. He only wounded them while missing Karen completely. Chasing them into
the abandoned building, he tossed two spent weapons to the ground. Joaquin held
his remaining gun tightly, anxious to finally punish Karen.

Bullets cascaded around him as he entered a dimly
lit hallway. One shot hit his thigh, more bouncing off it than cutting through
it. Joaquin felt nothing more than the painful desire to watch the life leave
Karen’s eyes. Careful with his final shots, he hit one villain in the head. It
fell to the ground. Twitching, it wasn’t dead, but harmless for now. The second
villain followed Karen further into the building.

Panicked that she might escape again, Joaquin
fired into the hallway, just hoping to slow her down. As his eyes quickly
adjusted to the lack of light, he fired his last rounds before tossing the gun
aside and moving forward with only a sword in hand.

A villain fired at Joaquin, giving away its
location with every shot. Moving swiftly and lower to the ground, the hunter
hurled his body at the villain. They wrestled for control of the weapons. The
monster shoved a blade into Joaquin’s side, tearing into the flesh just above
his waistband.