Children of the Apocalypse Complete Trilogy

by A. L. Kessler

  I gathered the five cans and tossed them one at a time to Kaleb. He shoved them in his duffelbag. “Not too bad, that’s enough to feed us tonight. Beans make good protein.”

  “It’s a shame that Death’s realm limits what we can do and won’t allow us to transfer food” Though my father had managed it since he belonged to that realm and it answered to him. I climbed up on a chair and reached the higher shelves. My hand found nothing, skimming the empty space.

  I jumped down from the chair and Aeron looked at me with his arms crossed. “There’s not much food at your father’s either. The world doesn’t recognize you as Death, so it doesn’t bend to your needs, and the more often we travel there and back, the more energy we waste and the less the world provides us with.”

  He had a point, and either way we had to search for food and supplies. We climbed out of the rubble and followed the dead grass and fallen chunks of buildings and trees. The courtyard had been beautiful before. Cut green grass, trees with huge white blossoms, smooth walkways that were lined with flowers. Now it was just a shell of what it once used to be. We made our way over the cracking stone. The last month had been enough to destroy the buildings and the walkways, but nothing grew yet in the cracks. The fact that famine was ruining all the plants probably didn’t help that.

  Aeron pulled the door of the building open and it fell off the hinges and crashed to the ground. I looked at where it fell and shook my head. “What happened here that all of this is in ruin?”

  “My guess is people tried to hold up here. Maybe walking dead, maybe others who didn’t want to be taken to a city. Who knows.” Kaleb walked in and looked around. “All clear.”

  I followed after him and looked down the hall. This was the building that I had taken my algebra class in. The one that was taught literally by the Devil herself, Lucile. Now doors littered the hallway with some debris scattered over the floors. I walked down the tiled hall and looked into the first classroom. Glass littered the floor from the windows and desks had been shoved up against the wall. The books I had expected to be around weren’t. Other than the desks, chairs, and crooked whiteboard, there was nothing that would have told me this was a classroom.

  “I’m assuming classes never started back up after spring break.” Aeron said as if reading my mind. “Come on, we’re going to the second floor, it might be a bit more secure.”

  I turned away from the room and met Kaleb at the end of the hall with the stairs. We climbed the stairs and stopped at the first classroom. The door was nowhere to be found, but the room was cleaner than the one downstairs. It had stadium seating with tables bolted to the floor, most of which were still there. The whiteboard leaned against the wall, and the windows, though cracked, were still intact.

  We walked in and Aeron threw down the packs. “We stay here for the night. Tomorrow, we search for a radio and figure out where the closest city is.”

  I started pulling out the blankets from the sacks. Mesa was warm most of the year and luckily for us, it didn’t seem that the apocalypse had changed that. Kaleb pulled out the cans and popped the tops on them for us, handing me and Aeron one. “We also might want to search the stores for food. Maybe some of the homes. I don’t know if the walking dead feel the need to eat, most of them are probably falling apart from the plague.”

  Which probably made them seem more like a zombie to the humans. Of course, I could see it in their eyes. Their souls would need to be claimed as soon as Death returned. I picked at my cold beans.

  “I’m thinking the capitals are probably where the cities are.”

  Aeron nodded. “Probably, so we have the option of walking to Utah, or going through the passes to Denver.”

  I cringed at the thought of going through the mountain passes on foot. “Utah it is, at least for now.”

  “That’s still over three hundred miles.” Kaleb stretched out. “There’s a lot to run into between here and there.”

  I set the beans down. “Remind me why we didn’t just take ourselves there in the first place?”

  “Because this is the apocalypse. No one is going to trust people who just appear and no one is going to believe that we’ve survived and traveled if we show up with no knowledge of what is going on.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Couldn’t we have just said that we were from the future?”

  “Like that would work,” I didn’t miss the sarcasm in his voice. “Besides, we don’t know what all has happened, or what cities have shut down completely. All of our information came from what we could find still laying around. Old newspapers, letters, that kind of thing.”

  “Which is where the emergency radio comes in. Got it.” I finished my beans and put the can down next to me. “And how long until the Sins realize we’re back?”

  “Who knows? I suppose as soon as a demon hunts us down.” Aeron leaned back on his hands. “I just wish we know when Ruthie and Pete would be back.”

  So did I. Pete acted like a buffer between Aeron and I often and I wasn’t sure if Kaleb would be willing to step between the two of us if we came to blows. It’d happened a couple times over the last month. Even though I helped Aeron defeat Sloth and he acknowledged that I had done well, he still didn’t like my attitude and my way of coping with things. The son of War was truly focused on his mission and my so-called wishy-washy attitude wasn’t something he needed in his way.

  A month ago, I had shown myself to be trustworthy and able to resist temptation. I was able to not take what Lust had to offer of allowing myself a human life. I stuck with what I said I would and I found the seals in Hell. Ruthie and I had faced Pride and Envy while we were there. But that wasn’t enough for Aeron.

  Each of the other Children of the Apocalypse had spent centuries learning their abilities; mine were just starting to blossom at eighteen. I had a lot to learn when it came to saving the world, but he wanted me to learn it instantly.

  Pete, on the other hand, had been wonderful and patient with me, even when I slipped up last year and his grandfather was killed in a battle with Gluttony. It wasn’t exactly what I would have considered a bonding experience, but we got out of it all right. We’d helped each other through the mistakes we both made. He’d always made sure to check up on me when he could. After I had spent months in Hell, he wanted nothing more than to make sure I was mentally able to handle another trip into Hell.

  “What are you thinking about?” Kaleb brought my mind back to the present.

  I shook my head. “Just my last year, that’s all. Trying to figure out how I got here exactly.”

  “You know how you got here.” Aeron raised a brow. “Dwelling on it isn’t going to help. Wondering if there was something in the past that you could change isn’t going to help. Let’s just get some sleep so we can move at first light.”

  I lay back on my blanket and folded it over myself. “Nothing like a hike over the wasteland first thing in the morning.”

  “It’s not a wasteland until everything is dead.” Aeron tossed his can into the corner.

  Kaleb snorted and laid down. “And did you see anything living out there? Because I didn’t.”

  He had a point. We hadn’t even seen walking dead wandering around. We all looked terrifying to them, so maybe, just maybe we were scaring them away and they wanted nothing to do with us.

  Of course, when had anything in life been that easy? Especially the last year.

  18

  Aeron hadn’t been kidding, the moment the sun broke over the horizon, he woke us up. I rolled the blankets up and shoved them back into Aeron’s sack. We shoveled cold beans into our mouths and then headed out of the building.

  “We’ll find a supply store. Chances were that people weren't really trying to get radios earlier and we might be lucky to find one still there.”

  Something crumbled and crashed down behind us. I turned to see a piece of one of the dorms shattering on the ground. Another chunk of bricks followed after that. My gaze followed it down and I saw something running to
wards us. The massive form moved quicker than anything human, the lack of wings told me it was not an angel, fallen or otherwise. It was too big to call humanoid, but no matter what it was, it wasn’t friendly. “Hey guys?”

  I didn’t get a response, but I summoned my scythe. “Guys?”

  “What, Little Death?” I didn’t miss the irritation in Aeron’s voice as he turned around. “That’s a demon. That’s a very big demon.”

  I shifted my footing to make sure that I was on solid ground. The creature grew bigger as it came towards us. His ugly wrinkled gray skin covered his massive body like old leather. Sharp teeth stuck out from his snout and big droplets of drool dangled down. The horned tails swished behind him as his giant feet carried him towards us. The ground shook with each step he took and my heart skipped a beat with the thundering crashes his movements made.

  His black eyes fell on me and I smirked. “Bring it sucker, it’s been too long.” I used my back foot to send me forward. He brought his arm up to block my strike. The sound of my scythe skimming across his arm echoed through the abandoned area.

  I skidded backwards from the force and stopped myself. “He’s like Envy.”

  “Yeah, the leather ones are like that. It’s not soft, it’s hard as rock.” Aeron jumped to my side. “But they all have weaknesses. Watch him move.”

  I watched the tail whip back and forth, dust floated up from the ground and rocks and concrete moved with each motion. I watched and waited. The demon took a step forward and the skin moved around the joint. The hard skin acted as armor, which meant that the joints still had to be able to move. “Got it. Can you make the shot if I distract him? If we get him down I can take off his head.”

  “Kaleb?” Aeron called over his shoulder.

  “I’ve got your back.” Kaleb’s voice came from behind me. I’d learned long ago that looking over my shoulder was a bad idea during a fight. The demon rushed forward, his clawed hand reaching out for me. I jumped away and started climbing some of the rocks around me, jumping from one to another as his hand reached out. His claw caught the back of my jacket, ripping through it, but not meeting skin. The sound of tearing fabric was a subtle reminder that he moved faster than me.

  I heard it cry out and I skidded to a halt. The demon came crashing down to its knees and I jumped from my rock. The wind rushed past me as I pulled my scythe up. The blade sliced through the tender skin of the demon’s neck and the head fell to the ground with a thump.

  My feet pounded against the ground as I landed. A breath of air rushed out of me at the impact. The demon’s body teetered and then crashed down. The ground shook and more broken pieces fell from the vibrations. I straightened up and Aeron walked over to the demon’s head.

  I joined Kaleb at the feet of the beast. “I have a feeling that he wasn’t expecting us. I feel like he thought we were human.”

  “What makes you think that?” I let my scythe disappear.

  “As a lower level demon he was clumsy with his moves. They fight out of instinct instead of a mission in mind. A mindless creature, mostly. Most higher level demons know better than to take on more than two of us at a time. One of us, they have a chance because we might make a mistake. Two of us, we’re a force to be reckoned with. Three we’re a team, four we’re an unstoppable team.”

  I looked over at the demon and then back to the destruction. “I want to talk to someone who was actually in this realm when this happened.”

  “Why?”

  I looked over at the demon’s head. “Because the demon obviously isn’t going to talk.”

  “You going to share your theory?”

  I shook my head. “Not yet. I want to confirm some things first.” I started walking away from the battle scene, towards the west.

  “Do you think we’ll find anyone?” Kaleb took a few quick strides to catch up to me.

  “We’ll find walking dead.” I kicked a small rock out of my way.

  “They are terrified of us, they won’t talk.”

  I flexed my hand. “They don’t have to.”

  “Something you want to share with the class?” Aeron asked.

  I shook my head. I knew that hiding my new ability wasn’t going to make any of them happy. I hadn’t noticed it until I had helped take care of Pete while he was down and would have been considered a walking dead. “Just a theory.”

  “She’s not wanting to share just in case she’s wrong. That way she doesn’t get shit from you.” Kaleb nudged me. “Huh?”

  I smiled. “You could say that. Let’s go.”

  The crumbled landscape flattened out a little once we left the college campus. Most of the houses in the residential area remained untouched, cars stayed in the driveways, in some cases children’s toys were scattered around the yards. The dead grass crunched under my feet as I stepped up to one of the houses and pushed open the chain link gate. It squeaked and I cringed. All three of us stood still and waited to see if anything came. When the world around us remained quiet, I let out the breath I was holding.

  We walked over the cracked concrete path that led to the front door. Two dying trees sat on either side of the walkway, one of them crooked in the ground, the roots pulling up from the dirt. I turned the knob of the front door, and to my surprise it swung in. I looked at Aeron who raised a brow and motioned for me to continue in.

  I summoned my scythe and moved through the front room. The tiled floor of the entry way had dried muddy footprints, three different sizes, still visible. I moved into the living area, where furniture had been flipped over and contents strewn all around. The shattered television sat in the corner on its side, but any other electronics had been stripped from the house. I shuffled my way through the torn papers and the furniture stuffing that was still stuck to the floor of the room.

  “Looks like it was looted.” Aeron stepped up to my side. “Let’s sweep the rest of the house to make sure we’re alone and then we’ll take what we can for supplies.”

  I moved through the archway that divided the living room and the kitchen. There was a small table that sat in front of a breakfast bar. Silverware and drawers covered the surfaces and had fallen to the floor. Shattered glass crunched under my feet. Porcelain joined the glass as the remains of mugs and plates littered the area. At the other end of the kitchen a door that led to the backyard hung askew on the hinges, adjacent to the stairs that led down.

  “I have a basement.” I called out.

  “We’ve cleared up here.” Aeron called back. “Head down, we’ll come cover you.”

  I took a deep breath. The stairwell was barely wide enough for me to spread my arms, muddy footprints led down them, dried into the beige carpet in crispy spots. I was hoping that meant whoever had looted the house was long gone. I paused halfway down the stairs to listen.

  The floor creaked as Aeron and Kaleb moved upstairs towards the kitchen. The crunching of glass could be heard and I knew they were close. I padded down the stairs, keeping my steps light and trying to remain silent. My grip tightened on my scythe as I cleared the stairwell.

  A shadow moved out of the corner of my eye and I spun, prepared to fight. My heart jumped into my throat, shooting adrenaline into my body. An arm wrapped around me from behind and pulled me against a body much bigger than me. A strong hand covered my mouth, fingers digging into my cheek.

  “Drop your weapon.” A gruff voice breathed across my ear.

  My eyes adjusted to the dark room and several human shapes formed in the shadows. Wings hung from their backs, spots of white in the black. Angels. I let my scythe disappear and heard a gasp from somewhere in the room.

  The light flicked on and I hissed at the sudden brightness. The man removed his hand from my mouth and stepped back. I spun around and faced him. His blue eyes met my gaze in wide surprise. His chin was stubbled with a graying five o’clock shadow, but his wings were most impressive. Where most angels' were a set of one, he had two pairs layered.

  “You’re Death’s daughter.”
/>   “The Little Death.” Someone called from the back of the room.

  I stepped back towards the stairs. “Kaleb, Aeron, we have a...herd of angels down here!”

  “Seriously?” Aeron called back. “Can you not stay out of trouble for twenty-four hours?”

  I wasn’t sure exactly what classified this as trouble, but I wasn’t going to argue. I’d never had to fight an angel before, but I’d seen Ruthie fight. I didn’t think I’d be able to face an entire group of angels on my own.

  “Who else is with you? We’ve been wondering where all the Children were.” The angel in front of me held out a big hand. “I’m Zachariah.”

  I shook his hand and his massive palm squeezed my small one. “I’m Sammy. Kaleb is Famine’s son, and Aeron is War’s.”

  “Where’s the fourth one?”

  “He’s off trying to convince the archangels to help us in our plans.”

  Zachariah gave a booming laugh. “We’re spread so thin through all the demon attacks. I doubt they are going to spare one of the troops to help you do the job you were assigned to.”

  “Well, I hate to tell you this, but all the horsemen are locked away and the only person that can unlock a seal is an archangel.” I put my hands on my hips. “So either they help us set one free and we do the rest, or the world falls into the hands of Lucile.”

  He snorted. “The world is already falling into her hands. Do you think you can change that?”

  “We have a plan.” Was all I said and turned when Kaleb and Aeron finally came down the stairs. “What happened to having my back?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “You weren’t supposed to run into a chorus of angels.” Aeron stated and held his hand out to Zachariah. “An archangel even. What are you guys doing grouping in a human home?”

  I raised a brow at the archangel comment. Maybe this would solve our problem.

  “We’re trying to figure out how to stop Lucile’s apocalypse. The moment that the humans’ communications went down she sent her demons to attack. Panic happened and the humans built themselves walls and small cities, shunning anyone who spoke of monsters. Where the hell have you guys been?”