Children of the Apocalypse Complete Trilogy

by A. L. Kessler

  There had to be some way to find them without knowing their fears. “Can we summon Hag while we’re in hell?”

  “Why would you want to do that?” Pete shifted and the bed dipped down more.

  Ruthie’s eyes widened. “Oh, because she tried to help us last time. Maybe she knows where the other two seals are.”

  “You’re making friends with gatekeepers now?” Kaleb laughed. “You’re one strange Death.”

  “I’m not Death yet, but Hag came to warn my mother. I think they had some kind of odd friendship. If we can convince her to help us, we may have a better chance.”

  Ruthie cringed. “I’d hate to say this, but we should split up. Send Aeron and Kaleb to talk to Hag and either take Pete with us or have him wait for us to return.”

  “Hag isn’t going to work for us.” Kaleb pushed away from the desk. “They are forbidden to help us. Sammy’s mother was a fallen angel, they had a bond through that.”

  I hung my head. “Then we have no choice. What are you guys going to do while we’re in hell?”

  “I’m going to talk to the angels and Pete and Aeron are going to wait for your return.”

  A knock at the door brought our attention around. “That was quick.”

  “For a grand, it better be.” Kaleb walked to the door and opened it.

  I looked at Pete. “Now that we know where your dad is at, maybe we can get him out at the same time as mine.”

  “You worry too much. Death first, then we’ll focus on the others.” He leaned back on his hands. “Lucile won’t kill them because then we’ll be pushed into all of our powers and our abilities and she’ll be back at square one. There’s no doubt they are living their own personal hells, but they’ve all been there before. So it shouldn’t be anything new to them.”

  Kaleb walked back into the room with two white bags sagging in the bottom. He put them on the desk and stuck his head in the other room. “Aeron, time to eat.” He pulled out white square boxes with Chinese symbols on the sides.

  Aeron stalked back into the room, his arms folded across his chest. “I’ll take mine and eat it in the other room.” He scooped up one of the containers and snatched a fork out of Kaleb’s hand only to disappear back in the other room. The dividing door slammed shut with a push of his foot.

  “I didn’t mean to piss him off that much.” I got off the bed and went to grab a container of fried rice. “Does he really expect me to just be able to magically be okay with being Death?”

  “Yes, but that’s because he’s Aeron. Don’t worry about it, after tonight he’ll be okay. We’ve been spending way too much time together.”

  I nodded. “One more stop and we’ll have just a day’s worth of driving left. I booked a hotel in a city just outside the City on Fire.” I took a few bites of the fried rice. I savored the taste of eggs and peas mixed in and found myself thankful that we weren’t eating pizza or a fast food hamburger in the car.

  “We’ll make sure to check in and keep the room reserved for you.” Kaleb handed Ruthie a container. “Do you think you’re physically healed up enough to fight if it comes down to that tonight?”

  I looked up from my rice. “As long as no one decides to injure my stomach, I’ll be fine. I don’t want to face Gluttony’s whip again if we can avoid it. But Lust’s swords shouldn’t be a problem. What does Sloth fight with?”

  “Throwing knives, I think.” Pete said. “Best to stay away from those. They carry poison.”

  I snorted. “At least I won’t die from it.”

  “Not funny. It causes illusions. I’d hate to see what the psychological damage would be.” Ruthie pointed her fork at me. “Especially while we’re in hell.”

  I wrinkled my nose and looked at Kaleb. “Sounds pleasant.”

  “Speak for yourself.” He shoved food in his mouth. “So how do we go about this? Did he tell you where to meet them?”

  I shook my head. “I suppose I can just walk around town until I find them. Or they find me.”

  “What if they don’t take you to Hell? What if they just wipe your memory or something?” Pete put his container down.

  “They don’t have that ability.” Ruthie looked at me. “The moment you realize our plan isn’t going to work, fight. As soon as you feel in danger I can sense where you are and we can join you.”

  I pushed my rice around with my fork. “This will work. It has to work. Or I’m out of ideas.”

  “I think we all are at this point.” Kaleb threw his container in the trash. “Here’s hoping it works. If Ruthie has to come bail you out of a fight I’ll see you then. If not, I’ll see you when you get out of hell.”

  I bowed my head. “I’ll see you then.”

  Pete shoved a few more bites into his mouth and continued to look into his container.

  I stuck my fork in his food and pulled out a chunk of chicken. “You know I’m going to be okay, right?”

  “I’m worried about the mental damage. You’ve already spent time in hell, you don’t know how to navigate it really, except by fighting your own fears.”

  I tried to meet his gaze. “That’s not true, I found my mom in hell just by thinking about her. Using the same ability that takes me to Death’s realm.”

  “Do you think you could do that with Camille on your tail?”

  “I don’t know, but I do know we don’t have a choice. Ruthie will be with me. There is no Death right now, so that helps my odds.”

  “And if she locks you away with the others?”

  I frowned. “I don’t know. I’ll figure it out. Without me there are still three of you. You guys made it pretty far without me.”

  “You complete our team. Just remember that.” He took his last bite. “You should get going before they think you’re not going to show.”

  I set my rice on the nightstand. “Yeah, I guess so.” Dread made my stomach heavy and threatened to spill all my recent food out.

  Ruthie stood and gave me a hug. “We have a plan. We’re going to get through this and find the seals.”

  Or all hell would break through. No big deal. No pressure.

  I walked along the sidewalk, kicking a pebble as I went. The humidity of the spring clung to my skin, bringing a small chill with it. I’d been out for about an hour and there had been no sign of Lust or Sloth.

  Footsteps sounded behind me and I spun on my heel to see nothing but an empty street. I took a deep breath and calmed the nerves that tightened the muscles in my neck. The crest of a hill stood in front of me, a playground crowning it. I slowly made my way towards the park, dragging my feet as I went.

  Maybe they’d heard our plans. They had demons everywhere; even if we had angels there was no stopping what information might have made it back to the Sins. Of course, maybe Lucile had them off doing some other type of dirty work.

  I climbed the hill and firmly planted myself on a swing. The moon shown through the clouds and onto the playground, giving my eyes just enough light to see the equipment around me. The park hadn’t been hit by the new safety standards modern parks seemed to have. A metal jungle gym still sat in the middle of the sand, with a wooden play area behind that.

  Teeter-totters creaked as the wind whistled around them. The metal slide tilted to one side as if it’d been slid down one too many times. Two figures appeared by the jungle gym, casually leaning against the bars as if they’d been standing there the entire time.

  Lust wasn’t hard to recognize. The moon reflected off his flat chest and chiseled abs, and caught his black hair. The man on the other side I didn’t know. His hair was unkempt, hanging in his face and down to his shoulders, in a haphazard style. Like a stylist couldn’t decide how they wanted to cut it. His torn clothes were covered in dark smudges and I didn’t want to know where they came from.

  “I was starting to think you changed your mind about offering me a deal.” I pushed my toes against the ground and moved the swing.

  Lust took a few steps forward, but Sloth stayed where he was. “Have
you decided to take it?”

  “I don’t even know what the deal is.” I looked up and met his gaze. “I imagine it has something to do with taking all this pain and grief away, but I don’t know how you could manage that.”

  He smiled at me and then joined me on the swings. “I can offer you anything you want. Once we settle on a deal, we go to hell and sign a contract with Lucile and she’ll take care of the rest.”

  My heart leapt, going to hell would be included in the deal. “So what’s the deal then?”

  “You agree to just walk away from this situation. Go live your life out as a human.”

  The words hit me hard. I could hear them echo in my head, but in my mom’s voice. Suspicion rose in me. “Why would you think that was something I want?”

  “Because it's what your mother was trying to convince you to do. You considered it when she asked you.” Lust gripped the chains and looked straight ahead. “Lucile knows it’s one of your temptations and she can give it to you. All you have to do is sign the contract, and your powers, your abilities, will be drained from you and then you’ll be free to go.”

  I tried to imagine myself walking through the apocalypse as a human without having to worry about anything other than survival. When the world started crashing down around me, I wouldn’t have a responsibility to anyone but myself. I knew I couldn’t give into the temptation, but the thought was nice.

  “So take me to Lucile, and let’s make this official.” I stood from the swing and Lust grabbed my arm.

  “Is there something you’re planning? Where’s your angel?” His fingers bit into my skin and nails threatened to break my skin.

  I looked up at him and raised my brow. “She doesn’t know I’m out here. From what I understand, she won’t know where I am until I’m in distress.”

  He loosened his grip as if taking the hint. “That’s good. And the other Children of the Apocalypse?”

  “Hell if I know, they were all planning on going out to dinner. I wasn’t interested.” I yanked my arm away from him. “How are you going to get me to hell without using the gateway?”

  He grinned. “We’re not. We know where you guys are heading. We’ll see you at the City on Fire and we’ll meet you there. No sacrifice required.”

  “And what about the others?” I looked at Sloth and back to Lust.

  Lust patted my cheek. “Simple, Sloth will take care of them. They won’t know we’re there until it’s too late.”

  Death wouldn’t happen, the worst he could do was poison them and then they would have to deal with the poison until they found an antidote or the poison ran its course. “I guess we’ll see you there then.”

  I turned around to leave, but he grabbed ahold of my hair, his fingers scraping my scalp. “And if you warn them, the deal is off. You can’t protect them.”

  “What if I come alone? You wouldn’t have to worry about them.” I tried not to struggle and add more to the searing pain in my head.

  “If you can manage that, it’d be best. One could easily get lost in the City on Fire.” He let go. “Get back before they realize that you’ve left.”

  I ran a hand through my hair, trying to calm the spiky tips of the pixie cut. “I’ll see you there then.” I turned away and walked down the hill. The dirt slid just a bit as I made my way down the steep grade, soft from the rain and the humidity.

  My steps on the sidewalk were the only sound on the roads. Not a car drove by, no person stepped out of their house to take out the trash. Another dead city because of the apocalypse coming. I walked back into the hotel and found the lobby void of any business people.

  The receptionist looked at me. “Did you forget about the curfew?”

  I shook my head. “I hadn’t been aware they issued one.”

  “In almost every city now. They say monsters are roaming around the city. People with the plague who should have died long ago are still alive and they all scream about seeing monsters.”

  I imagined what they saw when they looked at me. Ruthie said I was a skeleton. “I’m not scared of the monsters.” I walked down the hall to find the stairs and climbed to the fourth floor. The squeaking of wheels echoed through the hall and I saw the janitor at the other end.

  He waved to me. “Little Death, you’ve returned to your friends. I hope all is well.”

  He turned his back to me and I saw, clearly for once, stubs of wings sticking out of his shoulder blades. I shook my head and let myself back into the hotel room.

  Ruthie launched herself off the bed and wrapped her arms around me. “What happened? Could you not take the deal?”

  “We came to a deal. I’m meeting them in the City of Fire and from there they will take me into hell to sign a contract. My plan is to attack as soon as we breach the gateway. I never gave them my word, so I’m not bound by that.” I hugged her and pulled away. “I’m going to go into the city on my own and you guys can follow. You’ll need to keep tabs on me, just in case things go wrong.”

  She sat on her bed. “So one more day and we journey into hell.”

  “Yep. Sloth was not what I expected. He didn’t speak, didn’t move, just stood there. He was a gross mess.” I kicked my shoes off and changed out of my regular clothes into my pajamas.

  “Sloth picks his battles and who he approaches. When people think Sloth they think lazy, but he’s not. Really it’s the course of least effort that benefits him the most. That’s why his weapons have poison, they can kill the victim with just a cut and he doesn’t have to worry about finishing the job.”

  I lay on the bed, not bothering with the covers. “So that means I’ve met Envy, Pride, Lust, Sloth, and Gluttony.”

  “We have yet to run into Wrath and Greed.” Ruthie crawled under the covers. “But I’m not surprised. They are Lucile’s two most dangerous, they are probably out doing her dirty work.”

  I closed my eyes and put my hands behind my head. “I can’t wait to meet them, they sound like great demons.”

  “Your sarcasm is going to get you killed.” Ruthie laughed. “Don’t ever say you want to meet a Sin. I think you’ve had enough of them.”

  I smiled. “Yeah, me too.” I allowed myself to imagine how life would be if I hadn’t met the Sins. If I had chosen to go to college closer to home and not at Mesa. Would the others still have found me? Would I be wandering around the city right now wondering what was going on? There was a chance it wouldn’t have happened. If only I was human, then I could have just lived as I wanted without any extra responsibilities. Of course if I was human and this all happened, I’d probably have died of the plague by now…or be one of those walking dead people.

  My smile faded. No, I was right where I needed to be and no amount of temptation from the Sins was going to change that.

  15

  Concrete barricades crossed the road to keep cars from going further. The City on Fire lacked the patrol populated cities had, that had been replaced by signs warning about poisonous gasses.

  Pete pulled the car to a stop outside the barricade and we all got out. Kaleb pulled gas masks out of the trunk for us and handed each of them out.

  “We don’t know what the effects of the gasses are if we breath it in. It’s best we play it safe. We go in, we do our thing, we get out. Do we all understand?” Aeron paced in front of us. “If something goes wrong, we all pull out.”

  I pulled off the medical mask and replaced it with the full gas mask. Panic seized my heart, squeezing it until it skipped beats and sweat beaded on my forehead. I could hear my own breathing inside the mask and the rubber suctioned to my head. The edge of the plastic visor fogged up with my erratic breathing.

  “Deep breaths, Sammy.” Pete moved in front of me so he could see my face. “It’s not covering your whole body, it’s not closing in. Take a breath.”

  I closed my eyes. He was right. I wasn’t in a full suit and I could still move freely, despite what was stuck to my face. “I’m okay, we’re good to go.”

  We’d made t
he plans on our last leg of the drive over. We all went in, but I would go further and go to the church that was down towards the end of the main street. Ruthie would stick as close to me as she could without tipping anyone off and the others would talk to the gatekeeper.

  We climbed over the barrier, the heat from the fire burning below the city climbed up my body causing the hair on my arms to stand up. The street had been cracked down the middle and raised like a miniature mountain from the force of the gasses below. Smoke escaped from full holes in the ground where the road and sidewalks had crumbled to the forces of nature and the fire.

  The idea of walking above everlasting flames cautioned my footsteps and I found that I watched my feet more than I did what was in front of me.

  “Just keep following the road.” Aeron called out. I knew he was talking to me, but avoiding my name meant that the Sins wouldn’t know we were all in on the plan. I let my feet carry me through the city. I tried to convince myself the crackling and roaring noises I heard were in my head. None of the reports from the place said fire could be heard, but of course, not many people dared to venture that far into the city.

  The black asphalt gave way to white concrete, pure and untouched. I looked up at the white paneled church. The bell tower cast a shadow over the street, just as pristine as the sidewalk. The buildings around were dilapidated and soot stained, but not the church. I took a deep breath and turned around.

  Lust and Sloth stood there, both with their weapons clasped in their hands.

  I flung my arm out and summoned my scythe. “Are we not playing nice now?”

  “We were concerned you weren’t alone.” Lust took a couple steps forward. “Gas masks for the likes of you?”

  “Unlike you, demon, we’re still susceptible to things like that.” I snapped back. “Now put your weapons down and let’s do this.”

  They both let their weapons disappear. I took one last breath and sent my scythe away. Lust held his hand out. “Lucile is waiting for us.”

  I flicked my wrist. “Show me the way. I don’t want to touch you.”