Rise the Phoenix

by Ely Page

  As soon as Dylan turned around holding the little boy, Leah saw him for the first time. She reached her arms out. She wanted to hold both of her twins at the same time once.

  “I’m so sorry, Leah,” Hanna said, crying as she made it over by Leah’s side as Leah received the baby from her husband.

  Leah looked down at the tiny boy in her arms. She wrapped him up in a blanket that she had made for him, making him look warm and cozy.

  “It’s not your fault, Hanna,” Leah said, looking briefly at her best friend before returning her gaze to her boy. “It was meant to be. He was born, and now he is at home in Heaven.”

  Sarah put the little girl in Leah’s other arm.

  “Hi there, my first little girl.”

  The baby cooed at hearing Leah talk.

  “What are you going to name them?” Chris asked after she came back into the room from washing up.

  Leah looked at Dylan. He looked back at her with watery eyes.

  “I think we will name him Max.” That was Dylan’s father’s name. “And our little princess’s name will be . . .” Leah hesitated for a moment. “Gabriela.”

  Dylan knew that the brief period that he had looked into little Max’s eyes would haunt him for the rest of his life. Every time that he closed his eyes at the end of his day, he would see those same innocent green eyes looking back at him. It was only for a moment, but it was enough to tear at Dylan’s heart every time he went to sleep.

  “Could you go get the boys, please?” Leah asked Hanna.

  Hanna left the room with a simple nod of her head.

  “I want them to see their little brother and sister,” Leah said to no one in particular.

  Chris nudged Jim and Sarah out of the room without saying anything; she thought it was best to give Leah and Dylan some alone time before their older sons got to the clinic.

  Dylan couldn’t believe how strong Leah was being. He knew that she was tough; she was the only reason he hadn’t broken down bawling like a baby.

  Gabriela seemed perfectly content in the arm of her mother, and Leah seemed perfectly content holding the twins.

  “What color are his eyes?” she asked softly.

  “Green,” Dylan said distantly. “The brightest green I have ever seen.”

  “Here they are,” Hanna said, opening the door to the room Leah was in with Dylan and the newborn twins.

  John and Frankie walked in slowly. They looked at their mom holding two little babies and got up close to Leah’s side. Dylan walked around the table to stand behind the boys. He didn’t know how they were going to explain that their little brother was dead, but Leah had that all covered.

  “John, Frankie, I want you to meet your little sister, Gabriela, and your little brother, Max.”

  “Why does Max look gray, mommy?” a timid John asked.

  “Well.” Leah held together strong; Dylan had to turn away so the boys wouldn’t see his eyes and his trembling chin. “Max was very sick, and he didn’t get to be with us for very long before God called him home to Heaven, where some of our family and friends will watch him to make sure he stays safe up there.”

  Both John and Frankie looked but didn’t want to get any closer to either the twins or their mom. John was afraid that he might hurt them by touching them; Frankie didn’t know what to think about what was going on.

  “Hey.” Porter found Dylan on the street.

  Dylan was taking the boys home to eat. Leah was still at the clinic unable to move much; Sarah had stayed there, and Margret had come to help Leah and Gabriela any way she could.

  “I heard what happened, and Jenny and I will help any way we can.”

  “Boys, why don’t you head home and think about what you want for supper,” Dylan said before Porter could continue.

  “I know we really don’t have the materials, but I would really like to make a good casket for the little guy, if it is all right with you and Leah.”

  Ever since arriving in hope, anybody who died was just placed in the ground. Cloth was too scarce to wrap people in, and wood was way too valuable just to put it in the ground.

  Dylan thought about it for a moment. “I think that would be nice. I think that Leah would love it,” he said, looking down the block to see the boys walk into the house.

  “I’ll get it together as soon as possible. When is the funeral?” Porter wanted to know how much time he had.

  “There isn’t going to be a funeral.”

  Porter was shocked to hear that come from Dylan.

  “Leah and I want to be the only ones to bury him. We are not even going to have Jim there. The two of us will say what we need to say. We really just want it to be very private. No offense to anyone, it’s just how we feel.”

  Porter worked all night on the casket. In the morning he took it to the clinic and presented it to Leah. She liked it and thanked Porter with a kiss on the cheek after she made him lean down to her. She was sitting in a wheelchair; she had just got done feeding Gabriela and had handed her off to Margret, who had stayed with Leah all night while Dylan stayed home with the boys.

  Porter left as soon as Dylan arrived.

  “Are you ready to do this?” Dylan asked somberly as he looked at Gabriela, who had just had her diaper changed and was falling asleep in Margret’s arms.

  “No,” Leah answered.

  Dylan walked over to the hospital crib where Max was laid for the night. He picked up the infant’s lifeless body, wrapped up in the blanket made especially for him by Leah. Dylan unfolded the blanket enough to look at his youngest son’s face for the last time. He kissed Max’s forehead and walked over to Leah, who gazed at the boy for a moment and, with tears clouding her vision, also kissed him on the forehead before covering his face back up.

  Dylan laid the body in the casket made for Max. He looked in one last time and then sealed the lid forever. He picked the casket up and sat it on the armrests of Leah’s wheelchair. She put her arms on top of the small casket and held it firmly as Dylan got behind the chair and started to roll Leah and Max out of the clinic and toward the cemetery just beyond the city gate.

  Leah felt each crack and bump in the road in her healing abdomen. It hurt, but she wasn’t about to say anything to Dylan. He was already being as careful as he could be.

  As they made it closer to the gate, they started to notice that it seemed like the entire town had lined up to pay their respects to the only infant to have died in the short history of the Heaven-picked town. The last person that they crossed was Rodan. He was standing at the gate and holding one of the doors open. Rodan approached Leah and the casket, letting go of the gate. He laid both of his hands on top of the casket and leaned his head down. After a short prayer, he returned to the gate and closed it behind Dylan as he, Leah, and baby Max continued on their way.

  It was a rough ride for Leah, both physically and emotionally, but she wasn’t ready to let go of her son. Leah began to cry when she first saw the small hole in the ground. Max’s grave was dug next Frank’s. Dylan stopped the wheelchair a few feet away. He looked around; everything he could see looked like death. The failing crops just a few feet away, the gray sky above, and the simple wooden crosses mixed in with the older stone-and-concrete headstones from the original cemetery.

  “Are you ready?” Dylan asked, kneeling at the side of the wheelchair with one hand touching the end of the casket.

  “No,” Leah said softly at the same time. She leaned down as far as she could to quickly kiss to the casket. Then she let go.

  Dylan picked the casket up gingerly and moved to the side of the hole. He got down on his knees and rested the casket on the two straps that, when he released them, would lower the casket slowly to the bottom.

  Margret had given Leah a daisy, and when the casket reached its destination, she had Dylan roll her over to the very edge of the grave.r />
  She looked down. “Goodbye, my sweet angel,” she said with a lump in her throat and cloudy eyes. “Until we meet again.” She threw the flower in the hole.

  Dylan grabbed a shovel and started to put the dry dirt back in the ground.

  Leah was finally feeling good. She had been home with her new daughter for two months, and the pain from her C-section was finally gone completely. The pain of losing her son shortly after birth was still a sharp knife wedged in her heart and always would be.

  Margret has been over every day since the birth of the twins, and John and Frankie had taken to calling her grandma, which couldn’t have made her happier. She had been a much-needed and much-appreciated help.

  The drought had not let up, and the crop for the year was lost. The whole town was worried about making it through the winter.

  Rodan had withdrawn from public, instead spending all of his time meditating in his tiny room at the elevator. The last thing he said to Dylan was a single word—“Prepare.” Dylan knew what he meant and was doing his best to follow his friend’s advice.

  Dylan led several hunts, getting only small game. The town was barely scraping by. Rich was not big on sending raids, but anything was better than nothing, so he sent a party of six that included Xavier but was led by Ben. The party was gone for a week and managed to come back with a major supply of canned goods. By chance, as Ben put it, they had walked past an army surplus store and brought back a large supply of MREs.

  “It’s what we ate on the way back,” he told Rich when going over what they got. “Not bad, not great, but not bad.”

  It was late summer. Not much was going on, as Rich had placed a moratorium on almost all activity to save on food and electricity wherever they could.

  Chapter 17

  Rodan came out of his room just before dawn. He looked up into the still dark sky. The clue he was looking for was obvious—not a single star could be seen, yet at the same time, there was not a cloud anywhere. Darkness had capped the sky. Today would be a day the sun would not rise.

  “What’s going on?” a sleepy voice interrupted Rodan’s skygazing.

  “Today will be the day that I will return to Heaven.”

  Dylan wasn’t too surprised to hear that. Something had woken him up a few minutes early, and he felt the urge to go see if Rodan was finally out of his room.

  “How soon?” Dylan asked, shaking the last of the cobwebs out of his head.

  “Too soon, and yet not soon enough. I feel my time here on Earth is coming to an end,” Rodan spoke to Dylan and Rich, who had arrived outside the grain elevator just a few moments after Dylan. “Win or lose, my final battle is upon us.”

  Dylan and Rich looked at each other knowing that nothing would be the same in Hope again.

  Rodan looked old and tired. The hundred-plus years that that he had spent rescuing and defending the town, which had many names over the years, had taken its toll on the Heavenly soldier.

  “OK.” Rich started to think about how to start the day that could possibly be the last for every human on Earth. “First we need to get the shelter ready for all the children.” Rich looked directly at Dylan. “Go do your thing and get ready what you need to. Try not to instill any sense of panic, but do push a sense of urgency.”

  Dylan went to Xavier’s first thing. Xavier was Dylan’s second in command, partly because nobody else wanted to, but also because he took training and fighting very seriously. Dylan sent Xavier to the academy to prepare the weapons. Dylan went on to his house to see his children and to alert Leah that today was the day.

  When he got home, he didn’t have to say anything. Leah looked like she already knew everything.

  “So, this is it?” she asked as Dylan put on his boots.

  Sitting on the little bench by the back door, Dylan looked up at his wife, who was standing over him. He reached his hands out and Leah put hers inside of his. Dylan pulled her down and she fell onto his lap. Dylan gave Leah what he thought was the most passionate kiss he ever had.

  “You and Margret need to get the kids to the shelter.”

  Leah got up, as did Dylan. He had already given the boys hugs and kissed his infant daughter on head. It was time for him to look at Leah for possibly the last time.

  “I want to fight,” Leah said timidly.

  “What?” Dylan couldn’t believe what he’d heard.

  “I want to fight!” This time Leah said it with conviction.

  “You can’t. What about the kids?” Dylan started to yell but checked his voice so the boys wouldn’t hear.

  “The kids will be fine, and besides, if we lose—”

  “No, and that is final!”

  Dylan walked out of the house by himself. He headed straight to the academy, letting Leah’s words swirl around in his head. “If we lose,” she’d said. Dylan didn’t want to think about that very real possibility.

  Dylan walked into the armory and saw that Xavier had almost everything laid out. Xavier saw him; Dylan nodded his head, and Xavier knew what he had to do next.

  Shortly after Xavier left, the alarm sounded. It was the same alarm that was used for tests and for every battle they’d had before. But that day, it sounded eerie, frighteningly so.

  Those in Hope who were fit and able to fight showed up seemingly all at once. Nobody spoke to each other; they all seemed to be nothing but business. Everyone got their weapon of choice, as well as any armor they chose to use.

  Dylan stood against the wall, watching. It was like watching a machine; everyone knew what to do, and in no time Dylan was looking at a town of people all ready to die for humanity’s right to live on. He thought that each and every person he was looking at was a hero and should be remembered as such.

  Dylan stood on top of a park bench so he could be seen and heard by the two hundred-plus people that surrounded him.

  “Listen up!” Dylan looked over the crowd. There were people aged sixteen to sixty and everywhere in between, but he knew every single one of them was ready to fight and willing to die so that someone else could live.

  “Today we will go beyond the wall to fight the last fight. Some of us, or maybe even all of us, will not come back from that plain. This is our purpose. This why God chose us. We are the ones who will destroy Satan and all of his evil leaches. Everybody, please let’s all get down on our knees and pray to God. Anything you want to pray about, I just want you to open up a conversation with him. Share your thoughts and your fears. He will connect with each and every one of you. You will feel a bond that you have never felt before. Trust me, I feel it now.”

  Dylan got down off the bench and went to his knees, holding his sword in front of him. Everybody else followed, and the entire town had a silent prayer. They all seemed to pray for the same thing, as there seemed to be connection not only with God, but with each other. They all wanted to live, and they all wanted to rid the Earth of evil once and for all.

  Without speaking, Dylan finished his prayer. He got up and started to walk toward the gate. A loud pounding could be heard as he walked, breaking everyone else out of their praying. Clouds had developed in the sky, and they began rapidly moving in every direction. Almost instantly, the sky turned an ominous blood-red color.

  Dylan looked up. This was it, this was the vision he had seen so long ago on the bus. This was the final battle. There was no doubt in his mind that the Battle of Red Sky was upon them now.

  The gate opened and Dylan walked through it without any hesitation. There was a black mist over the horizon that extended all the way to the red sky. Dylan knew what was in that mist; it was all that Hell had to offer, and he was ready to face it head on. In fact, he had to hold himself back from going on a full charge toward the mist.

  All the other fighters joined him outside the wall and the gate was closed, leaving the young children and their caretakers behind. Dylan looked to his
left. There, just a few hundred yards away, was the cemetery where his infant son laid next to the man who was like a father to him.

  “Are you ready for this?” A voice snapped Dylan out of his stare at Max’s grave.

  “What are you doing out here? You should be inside protecting our children!” Dylan snapped at Leah.

  “If I don’t fight, there will be no children to protect!” Leah snapped back.

  Dylan knew she was good with the crossbow. She was the best, and she’d invented the arrow that everyone used. He couldn’t make her stay out of the battle.

  “All right, but you stay in the back, and you run inside if things go bad. I want you to be the last thing our babies see if it goes wrong for us.”

  Leah gave Dylan a hug. “I promise to be with them, but I know we will win, so I am not worried about this being the last day for any of us.”

  As the wambei approached, it was clear that they were more organized and seemed more determined. It was also clear that not all of them were wambei.

  “What is that leading them here?” Porter leaned in and asked Dylan.

  Dylan looked long and hard at what Porter saw. “Greg, do you have your binoculars?” he asked so he could get a closer look.

  Greg handed over his binoculars without comment. Dylan focused in on the thing of interest. He was shocked and horrified by what he saw. It looked like a giant human, but it was no human. Its skin was a dark, blood red; its eyes were as yellow as the sun; and there were five horns sticking out of its head, two on the top, two coming out of where its cheeks would be, and one coming out of its chin. All the points came toward each other over the face like a cage.

  “It is Lucifer himself!” Rodan said from Dylan’s side.

  Dylan hadn’t even realized that Rodan was there. With his words, Dylan’s heart sank. Thoughts of facing the evilest thing that had ever existed ran through his head like a tornado.

  “I will take him on, but I cannot do it for long. He is far more powerful than I,” Rodan said to Dylan, reading his mind.

  “OK, we will do what we can to eliminate the wambei and whatever those two things flanking Satan are.”