The whistle got closer.
“You killed our father, you destroyed my home.”
The train lights overcame them.
“You coward! Everything is your fault, I lost everything because of you! You’re dead to me.” A tear dropped from his eyes onto August. “You’re dead to me.”
August could feel the vibrations of the train tracks. Death was near. “If this is how it’s going to be, then I’d rather die by the hands of my own family.”
The sound of the train whistle eclipsed them. August didn’t struggle as the train hit.
The train passed by and then was gone.
August lay on the ground alive.
Kevan yelled, “Fuck!” and punched the ground. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t kill his brother.
August looked at his hands. They were bloody from the fight but besides a bruised face he was fine. What was he thinking? Wishing for death. When there was still someone who needed him.
Kevan.
Kevan sat, dejected, on the side of an abandoned railcar, staring at the ground. August got up and sat next to him.
There was a five-minute-long silence. August didn’t know what to say. His brother couldn’t kill him, even when he deserved it.
“I couldn’t do it,” Kevan said. “My family is dead because of you, because I’m weak and because you’re a coward.”
“Why are they dead because of me?”
“I’m supposed to kill you, August. And I couldn’t do it.” Kevan never took his eyes off the ground. “Ifor told me to kill you, now I’m dead.”
“We could run. You, mom, Sara and I, could run.”
“Mom is dead.”
“What?”
“Her head blown off. Thanks, August, it was because of you that she died. She was used as leverage to get me to come after you.”
“What…no…” August stared into the ground. His mother was dead. It was his fault.
“You’re a home wrecker.”
August continued to stare at the ground. He couldn’t look his brother in the face. He was trying his hardest to hold back his tears. “Why did you come for me if they already killed our family?”
“I have a wife and kids now, August. My family is gone because of you.”
August looked at his gun on the ground a few meters away from him. All of this was his fault. He would never get to meet his brother’s kids. His brother would never get to experience a life full of happiness, watching his children grow. Because of him.
He could do something. They could run. They could fight. If worst came to worst, he’d die for his brother, August could let them kill him. Let them pull the trigger his brother couldn’t.
On his own terms. They could go to their parents’ place and he could tell Sara to park close to the back so they could run while August distracted whoever was coming and he could let them kill him.
August finally looked at his brother. “We could go down with a fight.”
…
Kevan sat on the couch in his mother’s place. He had his gun in hand. Because he couldn’t pull the trigger, his family was going to die. Luna and his kids.
He needed to figure a way out while keeping his family safe. He couldn’t think of anything. Brookes was Ifor and Ifor were the gods.
He sent a text telling Luna to lock the doors and windows and pack their things. He didn’t think that would help, but it helped for his peace of mind.
He stared at the gun in his hand. It would’ve been easy, just with the flick of his fingers and all his problems would’ve gone away. And then he could start over again.
August peeked out of the window. The sun was down and they only lit the house with candle light.
August said, “Where is this guy you said was going to come for you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sounded like you wanted an excuse to kill me.” August laughed. Kevan didn’t return it. “Sorry.”
“He’ll come,” Kevan said.
“If you’re saying he’s coming for your family, why don’t you just run?”
“It wouldn’t work. It’s Ifor.”
“I was in hiding for almost a year, Kevan. It’s possible. Sara’s mother is with the rebels. She could get us fake credentials. We wouldn’t even need to be brothers anymore, we could end this dysfunctional relationship. You can leave this state, even the country and start over again.”
“It…” It wouldn’t work, it shouldn’t. Why hadn’t Brookes come for him yet? Kevan got a text from Luna. It said “Still good.” He asked Luna to text him every thirty minutes. It was almost midnight. Maybe August was right for once. He texted her to put her things near the door.
A toilet flushed somewhere in the house and Sara walked into the living room.
August said, “Hey, Sara, could your mother make fake identities for Kevan and his family?”
Sara didn’t say anything and looked at Kevan.
August said, “What is it?”
“Nothing. Yeah, I could ask her. We could go back down south to where we used to live. I remember her saying she had a safe house there. I know where she keeps the key. We could go there.”
August looked at Sara. She had wanted him to come home and this was what happened. She probably felt like it was her fault.
“Let’s go.”
…
Queen stared out at Los Angeles, the city of the angels. But it was really the city of the gods. The skyline expanded out miles and miles. The dying sunlight painted the skyscrapers steel blue as the lights of the night began to come alive.
She was near the top floor of the tower of Ifor, the tallest building in the world and the gateway to the heavens. Her base of operations. Not every god could teleport anywhere they wanted; this tower was how they came to and from the heavens. The door opened behind her.
Sounds of an office echoed in and stopped once the door closed.
Svante walked up beside her. “Speaking to me in a public place. Do you think the other gods can save you? It’s easy enough to make a body disappear.”
Queen looked at Svante; he was still angry. “I removed my people from your domain, even though a well-known criminal is currently roaming it. But as the tower of Ifor is in your domain, I still require you to let us operate in this city.”
Svante laughed. “Did I really scare you that much?”
“I don’t want to fight. Another war of the gods wouldn’t do any good.”
“You shouldn’t let a god lower than you push you around, Queen. It doesn’t look good for your rule,” Svante mocked.
Queen bit her tongue. “I’m not. I can see a mistake when I’m making one. Just so we’re clear, I’m the ruler of Ifor, you’ll have to obey my orders from now on.”
“I’ll obey them if they’re in the realm of sanity. I hope you make better decisions in the future.”
“Svante,” she said.
Svante sighed. “Alright, Queen, I’ll follow your rules and commands when I feel like it.”
In a flash and bang, he was gone.
Fucking Svante.
That would have to be good enough to get him off her back, she hoped.
“I’m impressed, Queen. Modesty suits you.” Michael appeared from out of nowhere. His wings were gone.
“I only do what is needed for Ifor.”
“What about the killing of millions.”
“That was a slight error in judgment.”
“A slight error in judgment? I’ve never seen such a firm hand of judgment cast onto a nation for a choice few people.”
“Like I said, a slight error in judgment. I scaled down Ifor’s military and containment forces. Released prisoners who were accused of anti-Ifor activities without proof and stopped public executions. Those aren't the actions of a warmonger, Michael.”
“Hmm, even so, I will be watching you Queen.”
“I am the leader of Ifor, as I am the eldest god. If you have a problem with that, speak with the others.”
M
ichael shook his head and disappeared.
Michael, the single angel of He. When He created Queen from the clouds of the Radiant, when she first opened her eyes, there he was, Michael, kneeling next to the throne of He.
She was the first god to be born and Michael was already there. Already watching over them.
She looked back out of the window and at the ants below, fighting to live in a world that He created. She’d had a realization about them earlier in the day.
She didn’t need to lift a finger anymore. The rebels were already rising up, humanity was already starting to rebel because of her previous actions. She could stop the torture, the killings but the momentum was already going and there was no stopping it.
And because of the Omniscient Man’s help, the rebels were going to gain the power to fight. He played right into her hands. She laughed.
Soon, there would be a war, and when the gods won, she would rule over the world her way.
6
The Faithless
August sat on a couch, staring at a turned-off television. Back where he started. His baby nephew and niece were asleep on the couch to his left.
He’d been playing with them all day and now he was tired. They were drooling on his new bed. He and Sara took the living room, while Kevan and his family took the bedroom. The place was already furnished when they came, which was good.
Kevan stood next to the window.
August said, “Staring out of the window won’t change anything. I doubt we were followed. It’s been a week.”
“Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Nothing ever does when you’re on the run.”
“You would know.”
Kevan was getting better. When they first arrived at the apartment, he was understandably cold toward him. But August was slowly breaking his shell. A shell Kevan had gained in the first place because of him.
“Come and sit down and make sure your kids don’t fall off the couch. I need to talk to Sara,” August said.
Kevan took one last peek out of the window and sighed. “Okay, make sure to ask Sara about our credentials, I’m not sure how long they usually take to get made but I want to get the hell out of this place.”
“The gods rule everywhere, Kevan. The credentials would only help you stay low.”
“I don’t care, I want to get as far away from Sotira as I can.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll ask her.” August got up and passed Luna in the kitchen. Seemed like she had become the designated cook; he had smelled the food in the living room. Bacon and eggs.
He walked into the bedroom. Sara was sitting on the floor praying to her makeshift shrine.
“Sara,” he said.
She shushed him. She bowed her head and continued. “He is in his heaven, all is well in the world.” She stood up. “Yes.”
August was getting tired of that crap. She didn’t need to pray at every freaking hour of the day. She changed into a completely different person after the accident. Just like his father. He hated it.
“Any word on my brother’s family’s new identities?”
“No,” she said a little too quickly.
“Do you have any idea how long it will take?”
“No.”
“Just no? They’ve been here a week, they can’t just live here forever.”
“Sorry.”
August stared at her, if she couldn’t help him with her brother, he could at least go see the rebel leader. His future looked bleak, he had accepted that, but he might as well help the rebels while he was still figuring things out.
“I need the contact information for the rebels.”
“I don’t have it.”
She was lying. He knew she was.
“What about your mother?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” August said skeptically.
“Why do you want to go to the rebels?”
“What do you mean why? To fight.”
“We could go to Ifor instead, you and I and your brother and his family, they could help us, they could—”
“Are you fucking stupid?” August yelled. “What the hell do you think this is? What the hell do you think we’ve being doing for the last year? Huh? Fucking around, wasting my fucking time?”
Sara drew back. Her eyes darted around. Trying to think of what to say. She muttered, “They…they could help us, they’re supposed to.”
“Give me the rebels’ contact information.”
“No—”
“Now!”
Sara started to tear up. August didn’t care anymore. She was losing her fucking mind. She went to her bag and pulled out a piece of paper. A phone number. She held it out for him and he snatched it away from her.
“August—”
He slammed the door as he left. He walked to the living room. Kevan was staring into his knees. Maybe they didn’t need to run away. Maybe they could fight.
August said, “Hey Kevan, come with me. I have something to show you.”
…
Kevan and August walked down an alleyway. Ezekiel stood at the end of it. They walked up to him.
Ezekiel said, “So, who’s the new guy?”
“My brother,” August said. “Kevan.”
“Nice to meet you,” Kevan said.
“Another one scorned by the gods. So, why do I have to meet him now?” Ezekiel said.
“Because I want to know when you’re going to use me. When is the next mission?”
“What? Sara said you were done.”
“What? Fucking Sara. No, she might be done but I’m not. And neither is my brother.”
August looked at Kevan. Kevan gave him a quizzical look. He hadn’t told him that they were going to meet the rebel leader. But he played it cool.
“Good, we need everybody we got. A few key members have recently disappeared. Probably into the pits of damnation itself.”
“Are you going to tell us what your grand mission is?”
Ezekiel laughed. “I still don’t trust you enough to tell you that.”
“But you were trusting enough to meet me out in public. I’m surprised you haven’t been strung up by the hamstrings out of the tower of Ifor yet.”
“We all will meet the Maker to account for our sins soon enough, August. But you do trust me, right?”
“Yes,” August said.
“But you wouldn’t trust me to hold your nuts while you were shaving your taint with the sharpest razor blade you had would you?”
“Uh, no.”
“Then you can understand where I’m coming from. But there are ways to build on that trust.”
“Do tell.”
“Tomorrow morning, I’ll need men for a mission. A part of my big plan to put a hurtin’ on Ifor, it’s almost certainly a suicide mission … in fact, all the mission from now on are suicidal but I need people. And if you show up and do your part, you’ll win my trust.”
Kevan turned to August and said, “Suicidal?”
August said to Ezekiel, “My brother has a family and kids, so I’m sure he’s not down to do anything stupid. But he could help support the cause.”
“I’m fine with that. August alone is good enough. Now give me your number.”
“I thought you knew everything about me?”
“Not when you use burner phones,” Ezekiel said with a smile. “Now, give me.”
August told him his number and he wrote it down.
“Now, sometime in the next few days, you’ll get a text with a location. You will go to this location and you will give up your phone at the door. We do that for security reasons. And then you’ll be briefed on the mission. Be prepared to die for humanity, August. Because, officially, you’ll be in.”
After getting the details, August and Kevan left. Ezekiel continued to stand in the alleyway. A tear ripped through reality itself and the Omniscient Man stepped out of a hole filled with stars.
He stood next to Ezekiel. Ezekiel looked
at him. “Will they come? Can I trust them?”
“Yes, you can trust them and at least one of them will come to you.”
“So… one of them will take my place when I die.”
The Omniscient Man looked at him. “Yes. My other doesn’t know that. So, don’t speak of this to him.”
“Okay. I’ll go out with a bang then.” Ezekiel smiled.
…
Sara sat on the bed. She stared at her shrine of He. She could hear Luna cooking in the kitchen. She wanted to save August from himself. Without him, her world would fall apart. She needed to save him.
She closed her eyes. What would He do?
…
August and Kevan stood in the elevator of their apartment building. August checked his phone; they’d been gone for four hours. He hadn’t expected Ezekiel to ask to meet so far away. He would have to apologize to Luna for missing her meal.
Kevan said, “That Ezekiel guy seems…”
“Crazy?”
“A little bit. To think a sophisticated network of spies, killers, and rebels are run under him.”
“Maybe it was the craziness that helped him start the rebellion in the first place.”
“True.”
The elevator door dinged and opened.
Their door was open down the hall.
Kevan said, “Who left the door open?”
August pulled his handgun out and Kevan did the same. They slowly approached their apartment. As they got closer, August noticed the door was broken off its hinges.
“Forced entry,” August said.
“Luna!” Kevan ran into the apartment.
“Wait!” August ran after him.
Inside, the dining room table was overturned, eggs and bacon were splattered on the floor and wall. There’d been a fight. But thankfully, there was no blood.
Kevan ran to the bedroom and looked back to August. “They’re gone!”
…
A scream pierced Brookes’ ear as he slowly slid a knife into Luna’s left foot. She was tied to a chair in a small dark room.
“Shush, you’re going to wake up your kiddies. The little girl who gave you up doesn’t know I’m doing this so…” he said. He shoved a gag into her mouth. She shook, trying to escape, but it was no use.
The Men Who Killed God (Sinner of the Infinite Book 1) Page 9