by Wendy Owens
“Here,” Mirada chimed, handing the concoction to her husband. “Have him drink this.”
Michael placed the glass to Gabe’s lips and instructed him to drink. Gabe did as he was told, even though he was partially unaware of what was even happening around him. Laying him back, Michael stood and walked to stand in front of Uri, “What happened?”
“He got up this morning acting all crazy and then screamed that he needed to talk to you and took off,” Uri explained.
“With that kind of head injury, I’m surprised he didn’t take another tumble,” Michael commented.
“He almost did, just outside your tent, as they were taking Sophie away,” Mirada remarked.
“They took Sophie?” Uri asked.
“Yes,” Michael paused, looking at Mirada and then back to Uri. “I’m having her moved back to Iron Gate immediately. She’ll be buried along side Raimie.”
Uri nodded, it was what he wanted, but it hurt too much to talk about.
“Mom!” Gabe shouted as he roused from the momentary unconscious state Mirada’s drink had landed him in. His body lurched forward, nearly causing him to fall from the cot.
Michael rushed to his side, “Calm down, it’s me, Michael.”
Gabe gripped his mentor’s arms, his eyes widening as he spoke, “I saw her Michael.”
“You saw who?” Michael inquired.
“My mother,” Gabe answered, unashamed.
“He’s gone crazy,” Uri snapped.
Michael waved a hand in Uri’s direction, quieting him. “Gabe, your mother died when you were five.”
“I know, but I saw her. She was there, on the beach, it was exactly like I remembered,” Gabe insisted.
“You haven’t even been to a beach, you’ve been here the entire time, with us,” Uri argued.
“She knew about my son, and she said she was there to help me figure out how I can protect him and Rachel. I understand now,” Gabe wildly exclaimed.
“Dude, you hit your head, that’s why you saw your mom. You weren’t thinking straight,” Uri interjected.
“Let’s hear what he has to say,” Michael commented looking at Gabe.
“It’s so simple, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before,” Gabe could barely contain his excitement. “The prophecy says if I die, the prophet lives. My mom told me that for me to fulfill my destiny, all I have to do is make the choice.”
“Okay, and what does that mean?” Uri scoffed.
“Don’t you get it?” Gabe cried, “It goes back to free will. Uri, you were always telling me how important free will was.”
“Yeah, so?” Uri huffed.
“That’s the answer, if I make the choice to give my life up for Micah’s, by my own free will, I’ll fulfill the prophecy, and he’ll be safe,” Gabe explained.
“Whoa, wait a second,” Uri barked. “You can’t be serious? That’s suicide!”
“No, it’s what I have to do,” Gabe added softly. “I know it is.”
“Michael, tell him!” Uri demanded. “Tell him how crazy this is.”
Michael said nothing, though; instead he reached out and placed a hand on Gabe’s leg, nodding in acknowledgement.
“I’m not hearing this!” Uri shouted. “Mirada, you tell them, this is crazy, right?”
“A man must choose his own path,” Mirada stated, walking to stand next to her husband.
“Oh my God! Everyone around me has gone mad,” Uri yelped, pacing the ground in the tent frantically.
“Uri, I trust Gabe, and if this is what he feels his destiny is, I have to support that,” Michael added.
“Well I don’t, because this is madness,” Uri stated.
“I’m sorry brother, I have to do what I know is best for my family,” Gabe explained.
Uri hesitated, and then realizing he was alone in his stance made a declaration, “Then I’m going with you.”
“No, it’s too dangerous,” Gabe smiled, appreciative for what his friend was willing to do for him.
“That’s the deal, either I go with you, or you’re not going,” Uri snapped.
“And you’re going to stop me?” Gabe laughed.
“Yes!” Uri snapped, before his voice softened and he said, “You owe me this.”
Gabe looked up at Uri, “Fine,” he relented.
“Sir, you have to come quick, there’s been a report of enemies breaking through our lines,” a soldier said poking his head inside the tent.
“What?” Michael shouted, hopping to his feet.
“Go, make sure everyone’s all right,” Mirada instructed.
“I’ll be right back,” Michael commented, and then exited from the tent.
“You seem to be feeling a little better,” Mirada said, using the back of her hand to gauge Gabe’s temperature.
“Yeah, thanks for that potion,” Gabe replied.
“No problem. Glad I could help.”
“So this is what we’re going to do now? Pretend like the fact Gabe is about to do the most idiotic thing in the world, is completely normal,” Uri growled.
“Look man, I know this is hard to understand. I mean, I don’t think I even understand it myself, but somewhere inside me I know this is the answer. I just need you to trust me.”
“No, I shouldn’t. What I should do is drag you from here, kicking and screaming. But I know you well enough to know that won’t do any good,” Uri replied.
Suddenly, and without warning, there was a massive commotion outside. Uri and Mirada rushed out onto the path in front of the tent. Mirada, stopped one of the soldiers and asked, “What’s going on?”
“Michael, he’s been injured,” the soldier answered, his voice trembling.
“What do you mean Michael’s been injured?” Uri demanded.
“I don’t know, they said a group of demons broke through enemy lines, I heard it’s Valafar,” the soldier said, then took off running for the heart of the battle.
Uri immediately lifted his feet and prepared himself to come to Michael’s defense, but then realized he wasn’t moving forward. Mirada had a hold of his arm.
“What are you doing?” he yelled.
“Listen to me, you can’t do anything for Michael right now,” Mirada began.
“The heck I can’t! Let go of me!” Uri demanded.
“Uri! Listen. Gabe is in no shape to fight Valafar or his men; you have to get him out of here. If any of us have any chance at surviving this war, you have to get Gabe to Baal in New York,” Mirada added.
“But Michael,” Uri pleaded.
“I’ll find him, I’ll get him out of here. I promise. But I need you to help Gabe. Can you do that?” Mirada begged.
As several guards ran by, they heard the whisperings that Michael was dead.
“I have to make sure,” Uri pleaded.
“If Michael were dead, I would know. I’d feel it. Please, if you care for him at all, you know he’d want you to get Gabe out of here,” Mirada begged.
Uri looked towards where the flames burned and the gray smoke rose high in the air nearby. “Gabe!” Resisting every urge in him to run into battle he nodded and re-entered the tent. “We’ve gotta get you out of here.”
Gabe looked at Uri with a panicked gaze, the mud now dried on his feet and flaking from his skin. “What’s going on?”
“We’ll talk about it later, we gotta go,” Uri replied.
“Go where?” Gabe asked apprehensively.
“We can regroup back in the valley,” Uri answered.
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?” Uri barked.
“It’s too dangerous, the less of a trail leading back to them, the better,” Gabe explained.
Uri knew he was right. “Fine, then where?”
“How about where it all began,” Gabe suggested.
Uri paused for a moment, furrowing his brow and wondering what Gabe meant. Then with a nod he wrapped his arm around his friend and they were gone.
Shifting from side to side,
Gabe attempted to get comfortable. Initially he had tried one of the benches, but it was far too short for his matured body. The cool tile of the floor finally became his resting place.
Looking around at the shell that was left of the once vibrant subway tunnel, Gabe doubted it was the same place he had met Uri all those years ago. The city had gladly used the explosion as an excuse to break ground on a new project. They had deemed the damage to the tunnel too extensive, and too costly to repair. Instead, they shut the tunnel down, and started construction on the new set of tunnels, which were now up and running.
The new tunnels were so close to the old ones, that when a train would pass through, it would cause dust and small bits of debris to shake lose from the ceiling. The tunnel entrance had been well sealed to keep vagrants and such out, but Uri and Gabe were able to make short work of the series of locks.
Sitting there, the eerie glow of a magical orb he had cast as the only light source, he started to question what he was doing. He had been so confident when he was with Michael, but now he began to wonder if Uri was right. Perhaps he imagined the talk with his mother, and it was merely the result of a head injury.
They had been in such a hurry when they left the tent that neither took the time to think about the fact Gabe’s feet were bare. Once inside the tunnel Uri left to find him shoes and to see if perhaps he could scrounge them up something to eat.
Gabe closed his eyes, the sound of a train in the neighboring tunnel filling his ears. In an instant it was like he was transported back in time. In his mind he saw the entire scene unfolding before him. Rather than the damp and musty smell that had filled his nostrils, it was the stink of urine and electrical wires. Looking around the tunnel, it was as if he were floating, merely a drifting soul, watching.
That’s when he saw himself, dirty jeans, sweatshirt, mussed hair, the perfect picture of the misfit, orphaned teen, lost in a sea of unsuspecting travelers. He watched as young Gabe wiped his hands on his jeans, trying to wipe away the sweat from his augeries. Then there was the man in the tan trench coat, being the typical New York douchebag to him.
Gabe suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of sadness wash over him. He wished he had known then what he knew now. Perhaps he could have saved all of those people. Then there was the woman with the red eyes. Gabe watched her again board the train, helpless to change history. Clenching his eyes tight, Gabe decided this was not something he wanted to relive anymore. He had been through it all before, there was no reason for him to experience it again.
When Gabe reopened his eyes he saw a pair of combat boots firmly planted on the ground next to him, and began to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Uri asked, dropping a pair of slightly used converse into Gabe’s lap.
Looking up at his friend, Gabe explained, “I was just thinking about the night we met.”
“Oh yeah? And that’s funny for some reason?” Uri inquired, sliding down the wall and taking a seat next to Gabe, a brown grocery sack clutched in his fist.
“Those boots, they were the first thing I saw of you,” Gabe remarked, motioning towards his friend’s feet.
“Well, not these exact boots, I’ve gone through quite a few pairs through the years, you know,” Uri replied, wiggling his feet.
“Might as well be the same darn pair,” Gabe laughed.
“Hey,” Uri chimed defensively. “If you find a fashion statement that works, why mess with it.”
Gabe smiled. “Like you know the first thing about fashion.”
Uri quickly ripped into the sack, and pulling out two deli sandwiches handed one to his friend. The men wasted no time devouring them, relieving their hunger pains.
“Hey you’re one to talk. You still dress like a sixteen-year-old boy. And you were such a chicken back then.” Uri laughed, bits of food flying from his mouth.
“Hey!” Gabe snapped.
“Oh come on, you were hiding under a bench when I found you,” Uri argued.
“Okay, fair enough. You know, when I got on your bike I thought you were taking me somewhere to kill me.”
“I know,” Uri joked.
“What?”
“Why do you think I was playing up the mysterious thing? I kept waiting for you to make a run for it. Hardest thing ever was trying to keep a straight face through that,” Uri recalled.
“Then Soph …” as soon as Gabe started to say her name he stopped himself. The image of her in a body bag overtook his thoughts.
“Yeah, she was something wasn’t she? Remember how she toasted those tracker demons that night?” Uri’s voice was soft.
Gabe said nothing. The men finished their food in silence. Both recalling moments of their past quietly in their own thoughts. The fights they had won and the friends they had lost.
“All right, enough of this cheery trip down memory lane,” Uri began. “What the heck are we going to do?”
Grabbing a bottle of water from the supplies Uri brought back down with him, Gabe took a swig, then poured the remainder on his feet, doing his best to wipe away the filth that was caked on from his earlier sprint, barefoot, through the mud.
“I was actually just thinking about that, before you came back, and honestly, I don’t know,” Gabe replied, pulling the shoes onto his still damp feet.
“What? I thought you had this grand plan on how to surrender yourself to Baal.” By Uri’s tone it was obvious he still did not agree with the option.
“What if I’m wrong?”
Uri seemed shocked by Gabe’s doubt. “We can head back to the cabin right now, if that’s what you want.”
“Either way, we can’t do that. I won’t risk any transporting into the valley that isn’t absolutely necessary,” Gabe replied.
“For all we know, the valley isn’t that safe. There could be regular patrols going through there.”
“Thanks, you’re really making me feel so much better.”
Uri pressed his lips together, then apologized. “Sorry. I just meant it might not be as safe as we think.”
“I know … but it’s the only chance they have.” The two sat silent for a moment, but Gabe could see something was clearly bothering Uri. “Are you alright?”
“Do you think he’s dead?” He asked softly.
“Michael?” Gabe asked, even though he already knew whom Uri spoke of.
Uri nodded in response.
“I don’t know, but I’d like to think if he were we’d feel it or something.”
“That’s what Mirada said. She told me if he was gone she would have felt it,” Uri commented.
“She’s probably right.”
“It feels like everyone I care about is dying. Raimie, Sophie, Michael could be dead for all we know, and now …” Uri stopped himself.
“Now what?”
“And now my best friend is about to commit suicide,” Uri muttered.
Gabe considered Uri’s words. Was that what he was doing? What if Uri was right? What if this was a suicide mission and after he was gone there would be nobody left to protect his family. His friends were dying, one after the other, it wouldn’t be long until everyone was gone.
“I don’t know what else to do,” Gabe admitted.
“What?” Uri gasped in disbelief. “You were so sure before.”
“I know, but now you have me rethinking everything. What if I’m wrong? What if you’re right and it really was all a dream from a head injury?”
“So what now?”
“If I knew that, we wouldn’t be down here in this rat infested hole.”
Uri looked around, “This place is pretty disgusting. It reminds me of Haim’s bedroom.”
Gabe burst out laughing.
“Seriously though, we have to figure this out,” Uri commented.
“I’m open to suggestions.”
“What did Michael say about the prophecy exactly?” Uri inquired.
“He told me that when the moment was right, I’d know,” Gabe answered, “but I gotta tell ya, I doubt I�
�m ever going to think it’s the right moment to die.”
“Wait, now hear me out,” Uri started. “Maybe everyone has been interpreting the prophecy wrong.”
“Yeah, I’m not really sure how you can interpret it wrong. It clearly says that if Micah lives, I die, and if I live, then Micah … well, you know.” Gabe could not bring himself to actually say the words.
“Maybe you’re supposed to give him your life force or something,” Uri suggested.
“Do I look like Obi Wan Kenobi to you?”
“I don’t know,” Uri chimed defensively. “I’m just trying to help.”
“I can’t sit here and do nothing,” Gabe said, pushing himself onto his feet, noticing for the first time the shoes Uri found him were an entire size too large. “We know where Baal is, I say we go there and try to negotiate.”
“What?” Uri snapped hopping to his feet. “Negotiate with the most ruthless demon roaming the face of the earth? Really? That’s your plan? We’re going to sit down and have a chat with an immortal monster that has unleashed unholy hell on the world.”
“I know it sounds crazy, do you have a better idea?” Gabe inquired.
Uri hesitated. He didn’t. He knew Gabe was right and that sooner rather than later Baal or Valafar’s men would find Rachel and the others again. They could only keep running for so long until there was nowhere left to hide.
“Well I’m going with you,” Uri declared.
“I’d never dream of stopping you,” Gabe smiled. “But what about Sera?”
“She’d understand. Any clue what you’re going to say?”
“Nope,” Gabe replied honestly.
“You know they’re probably going to kill us?” Uri added.
“Yup.”
“Okay, just checking,” Uri replied.
“Ready?” Gabe asked, looking over at his friend.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
The two men stood, side by side, in the dark alleyway, peering out at the ominous building before them. Childhood friends, now grown, were prepared to take on the biggest fight of their lives. The streets had been closed four blocks in either direction. An entire squadron of human soldiers was posted around the entrance of the building.