by S. O. Green
“I’m not going to be like him, Ness. I’m not going to be like any of them.”
“I know.”
She reached over and squeezed Faith’s shoulder.
The horizon, previously clear, suddenly clouded with something rising in the distance. A flat, grey snout and a long, reptilian body with immense, trunk-like legs.
Leviathan.
“No way.”
“Is there…a way around?”
Ness shook her head. “The other two are on our ass. Won’t stand a chance. And, contrary to the image I give off, I’d rather die peacefully in my sleep.”
“I don’t want you to die at all.”
“You’re sweet.”
They were running out of road. Pretty soon, they’d be within Leviathan’s sphere of influence. Already, she could feel the pull of sloth, dragging her into a deep, warm darkness. Her head nodded forward and she had to fight to keep her eyes open.
Were they far enough away yet? Had the folks in Archangel managed to get the train moving, as far from the closing circle as they could? What would the Sins do once they’d reached that point and found no angel to destroy?
“Whatever happens, you get as far away from this fucking thing as possible,” Ness grunted, lifting up the icon. Her arm felt impossibly heavy and her voice sounded slurred in her ears. The truck shook as it veered onto the verge and she corrected the wheel sharply.
Not long now…
Then Faith snatched the Circle from her hand. She snagged the chain in her numb fingers, caught in a tug of war.
“Kid…” she warned.
“Ness, this is my fault. Let me fix it. Please.”
“Kid, don’t.”
“I can save you. I can save everyone. I told you, I’m not going to be like them, but I’m still a nephilim. I know what to do. Please, just trust me.”
Ness opened her mouth to ask just what the hell she thought she was doing, and then Faith’s jacket bulged out at the shoulders. She shrugged it off with a pained gasp, and Ness watched magnificent, white wings tearing out of her tee.
They filled the truck cab, glorious and blood-stained. Faith looked back at her, features tight with pain and regret. Ness felt a sick feeling welling up in her guts that she was too tired to properly reckon with.
“I’ll take them far away,” Faith whispered, finally wresting the Circle from Ness’s failing grip. “To the middle of the ocean. The bottom of the sea. Maybe no one will ever see them again. I could save the world. That’d be good, right? That’d make you proud of me?”
“Faith…”
“I want to be one of the good ones. Like you.”
She shot out of the window, wings billowing, lofting her into the dismal sky above. She flapped awkwardly, like a fledgling learning to fly. Then, with one powerful beat of her wings, she soared, just like her siblings had.
It was the last thing Ness saw before the truck flipped.
Chapter Eleven
One Step Behind
Two truck crashes in one week. Yeah, when she came around, she felt it. Every bruised bone, every friction rash on her skin, every bloody laceration.
This time, she wasn’t still in the truck. She was in some kind of infirmary, white sheets boil-washed to within an inch of their lives and plastic sheets dangling, the sound of beeping medical devices and the acrid tang of disinfectant. They’d strapped a brace around her busted forearm and she felt the tight pull of stitches in her hairline.
A woman sat by the bed, the one from the platform who’d confronted Elim. Ness felt a pulse of immediate kinship.
She was clutching a familiar, folded letter in her hands.
“Anita Shepherd?” Ness asked, voice scratchy from disuse.
Only daughter of Harlon and Marie Shepherd. Also known as the Shepherd.
“Looks like I owe you one,” the Shepherd said. “I mean, apart from saving me, my settlement and everyone in it.”
“It wasn’t me. It was Faith.”
“The prodigal daughter. Yeah, we saw from the station. Some of the others found you, after the dust had settled. They brought you in, patched you up. I thought I should come pay my respects, since you’re the reason we’re all still breathing.”
“I just did-“
“-what an angel and a horde of nephilim feared to do. Seriously, modesty’s not a sin, but maybe it should be.”
“Someone did the same for me once. I’m just trying to balance the scales.”
Except now, someone else had done it for her. How was she ever going to tip this back in the other direction?
“Well, good news for you, looks like you get to take another shot at it. Any idea what you’ll do with your new lease of life?”
“I was a Sin Chaser,” Ness said, pushing herself up and wriggling to the edge of the bed. “Still am.”
“That right? Which car?”
“Forty-five.”
The Shepherd nodded. “With Chip, right?” She cracked a smile at the surprise on Ness’s face. “I remember them all. All the Chasers, all the places that go dark. Someone has to. It’s all part of the Struggle.”
“You really believe in all that?”
“The Struggle is real.”
“Yeah, Elim thought so too.”
“Elim and his family were struggling for themselves,” the Shepherd said. “That’s not the Struggle I know. This was never about him and his father. Archangel was Archangel before they showed up, and it will be now that they’re gone. We all embrace the Struggle. So do you. Call it what you like, call it ‘balancing the scales’ if it suits, it’s all the same. You do the right thing, no matter what. And you yield to the truth that it’s not about the destination; it’s about the path, and the people you help along the way.”
Ness chuckled. “Good spin. You’ll make a Faithful out of me yet.”
“Each to their own, Forty-Five. I ain’t looking for converts. Just trying to give some good advice.”
Ness nodded and pushed herself up. She’d never really been the type to take good advice. She pulled on pants, grabbed her jacket and liberated herself from the gown they’d dressed her in. The Shepherd didn’t try to stop her. When Ness reached the door, she tossed her a set of keys.
“To replace the one you totaled, saving our asses.”
Ness offered her a salute, and stepped out onto the platform. The infirmary was in a train car too, with a big, red cross painted on the side.
She walked to the lot out back of the station. Folks nodded as she passed. Not the grudging respect for the migratory Sin Chaser that she was used to. Real respect, both for what she’d done and what she’d lost.
She found the truck—a Hilux, same model as the one Chip had driven—versatile and dependable. She slid behind the wheel and sat, staring down the highway, to the last place she’d seen Faith.
Then she cranked the engine and adjusted the radio. Wherever the Sins were going, that was where she’d find her girl.
Maybe she was still a Sin Chaser, but she was chasing something more important now.
Faith.
”Carry on, Faithful. Carry on, my people. Whether you embrace the Struggle or not, so long as you fight for the right, you may find Heaven waiting at the end of your road. So carry on. This world can be cruel, but it can be kinder than you know.”
THE END.
Thank you so much for reading this short story by S.O. Green. We hoped you enjoyed this installment of our AFTER series. Please consider taking a few moments and reviewing this story on Amazon, Goodreads or wherever you obtained your copy. Reviews and recommendations are the cornerstone of small press publishing. Without you, there is no us.
Take a look at the entire AFTER series on our website.
https://www.eerieriverpublishing.com/after
Looking for a free book? Like
horror short fiction? Then join our newsletter today and get Darkness Reclaimed as our thank you gift.
https://mailchi.mp/71e45b6d5880/welcomebook
Simone Oldman Green (they/them) is a genre-fluid writer and editor living in the Kingdom of Fife with husband, John. Author of over 70 published works with imprints including Dragon Soul Press, Black Hare Press and Eerie River Publishing. They also won 3rd Place in the British Fantasy Society’s Short Story Contest 2018. Writer, vegan, martial artist, gamer, occasionally a terrible person (but only to fictional people). They keep a holiday home at the end of the world, because it’s a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there.
Experience with us the terrifying possibility of a world rent asunder and the struggle to survive in a world AFTER.
An eight part mini-series:
Derelict
A Place Beyond the Storm
Quantum Rule
The Creeping Void
Heart of Thorns
Fading Echoes
Carry On
Sin Chaser
www.eerieriverpublishing.com/after
ALL EIGHT STORIES TOGETHER AT LAST
More from Eerie River
Eerie River Publishing, is a small independant publishing house that is devoted to releasing quality dark fiction books and anthologies.
Stay up to date with all our new releases and upcoming giveaways, by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Sign up for our monthly newsletter and receive a free ebook Darkness Reclaimed, as our thank you gift.
https://mailchi.mp/71e45b6d5880/welcomebook
Interested in becoming a Patreon member?
Patreon membership gives you exclusive sneak peeks at upcoming books, early chapter releases, covers art as well as free ebooks and discounts on paperbacks.
https://www.patreon.com/EerieRiverPub