“Okay, just rest a moment. Collect yourself.”
She shook her head. “I'm covered in blood. You're not dead. There's a decapitated body four feet from me. God knows where the head is. There’re more bodies over there.” Alexandra breath shortened and her volume increased. “I'm not collecting anything anytime soon!”
“Fair enough. Shall we continue to the town then?”
“Dammit! No!” Alexandra almost ripped her hair from her head as she pushed it from her face. “What the hell are you? Another fallen angel?”
Koneh drew his hood tight over his face. “Oh, I'm human like you,” he said mysteriously.
“You and I,” Alexandra said, “are not alike. What are you?”
“I told you. I am human.”
“You know what, Koneh? I'm done with twenty-questions. Dammit, you know what's going on!”
He crossed his arms and said, “I explained the situation. It was you who refused to accept it.”
“Fine!” she said. “Let's assume Heaven and Hell once existed and are now gone.”
Koneh nodded.
“Then,” she said, “what caused it, and what's going to happen to the world now?”
“Again, we went over this before. I do not know.”
Alexandra's pulse slowed and her analytical mind took hold, like she was deep into a cross-examination. Control returned and Alexandra composed a line of questions - like soldiers standing at attention.
She sent her first soldier into battle. “Okay, how do you know all of this?”
If Koneh didn't want to disclose everything, then she was going to trap him into telling her what she needed to know.
“You would not believe me if I told you.”
“Do me a favor and try it out.”
Now she was on the offensive. She decided she wasn't going anywhere until she was satisfied with information. If this was her new world and that meant discussions amongst dead bodies - so be it!
Koneh looked over his shoulder at the town and shifted his weight. Unyielding, Alexandra stood her ground and awaited his response. After a few moments of silence, he looked into her eyes and grinned.
He leaned close to her and said, “God warned me about the coming destruction.”
Alexandra gasped. She hadn’t expected that answer.
“Say again?”
“I warned you.”
“But-” She fumbled with her words. “How?” The rest of her soldier-questions fled their posts like the air raid horn had just been sounded.
He shrugged, “In a dream. Always in a dream.”
“You talk to God often?”
“Only twice.”
“And the other time?”
“I'm not ready to go into that with you.” His grin twisted into a scowl.
“Fine.” She felt she had no more information than when they started. Frustration threatened to overwhelm her. “We're not getting anywhere,” she said.
“You do not believe me,” Koneh said.
She opened her mouth to agree with her companion when she felt something in the back of her consciousness. It was the same feeling she experienced when she questioned witnesses and clients - the recognition of truth. She relied on that feeling. Her peers recognized her uncanny talent at getting to the bottom of a person's testimony. Every angle she took led her back to the same place. Koneh thought he was telling the truth. The man must be crazy, she thought.
“Alright,” she said. “Tell me how you could survive what just happened to you. Are you wearing a bulletproof vest?”
Koneh again glanced over his shoulder to the town. Her questions seemed to make him uncomfortable. Perfect. That meant she was doing her job. Well, her former job, anyway.
“Listen,” he said, “there are some things I’m not prepared to discuss with you quite yet. My past happens to be one of them.”
“Well, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me.”
“So you wish to wait here, for the remnants of that gang to return?” Koneh crossed his arms. “This is not the time to act the child.”
“I just want some answers.”
“And I will give them to you,” he said. “Just, not now. I simply cannot discuss this yet. Is it too much to ask of the man that saved your life - twice?”
“No,” she said, the word grumbled from her throat. She felt like a selfish little girl. “And... I'd like to thank you for all that you have done so far.”
“Never feel that you have to thank the likes of me,” he said.
Alexandra's stomach growled, her throat burned and her body ached. Standing amidst the corpses, blood and bushes grew less tasteful by the second. She removed her bomber jacket and tossed her ruined sweatshirt to the ground. After re-donning the jacket, she decided she could also use a change of clothes. Her jacket and dark shirt underneath offered little relief from the cold and her borrowed jeans were stained with a man's blood.
“Well, I'm ready to leave if you are,” she said as she lifted the duffel bag and tested her ankle. Still some pain there.
“Listen,” Koneh said after he stepped closer to her, “I know this is not easy for you. I’m not skilled in speeches or empathy, but I see the pain on your face.”
Alexandra nodded, not exactly sure where he was going.
“Talk to Erzulie,” he said. “She knows what to say in… well, in any situation.” He squeezed her bicep and appeared as if he had more to say. However, he turned and took a step towards town.
His touch was less creepy than before and Alexandra felt excited by it. Like the ‘bad boy’ in school had just smiled at her in the hallway. Where were these feelings coming from? Her focus should be on surviving her new world, but she found her thoughts centering on Koneh time and again. His mystery intrigued her.
She followed by his side and asked, “So Erzulie was an angel?”
“That's right.”
“What happened to her?” Alexandra felt like she was a child again, asking Father Rodriguez about heaven.
“She thought she fell in love with a human.”
Puzzled, she asked, “Thought she fell in love?”
As they walked and talked, Alexandra noticed that the landscape had transformed more than she had first realized. Everything was covered with a dark film of ash. She couldn't recall a time when the wind gusted as fierce and as cold as it now did. Even more out of place was the fact that the wind was the only sound beyond their voices. The buzz of life was gone.
“Well,” Koneh said, “an angel does not possess a soul like you and me. So the best they can do is imitate human emotions.”
“What does owning a soul have to do with emotion?”
“Everything.”
Alexandra sighed. “That's not an answer.”
He stopped and smiled. His black-in-black eyes held her captive as his scars twisted around the corners of his mouth. She studied the lines and shape of his face for a moment. His jaw and brow formed hawk-like angles. He was definitely a handsome man at one time.
In his usual raspy voice, he said, “If you seek details, you're going to have to ask the angel herself.” And he continued towards town.
“An angel,” she whispered. She shook her head in amazement at all she had witnessed over the past few days. Heaven and Hell. They were real after all. As a child they were easy to accept, as an adult she ignored them and now she couldn't avoid the elephant in the room. At that moment, the world became a larger place for Alexandra Contreras.
She cultivated her musings as she kept pace with Koneh. Heaven and Hell – real? Though her analytical mind protested, she couldn’t deny the tangibility of Erzulie and Koneh. The supernatural had become natural and she wondered what else this new world had waiting for her.
The wind shifted and brought the stink of something rotten to Alexandra's nostrils. In response, she switched to her mouth for air and closed her nose to the pungency.
“What’s that?” she asked, almost shouting over the wind.
Barely audible,
Koneh asked, “What?”
“That smell!”
Koneh stopped and lifted his nose to the air. After a few moments, he turned to her and shrugged.
“I don't smell anything.”
“How could you not smell that?”
“I don’t think-” Koneh paused as he looked into her eyes. “I don’t think I can do that anymore.”
“Can't do what?”
“Smell.”
Alexandra cocked her head to the side. A few days ago she would have pushed for an explanation, but instead she said, “Lucky you.”
With a grin, Koneh resumed their march towards their destination. After another fifteen minutes of drudgery in the wasteland, they entered the outskirts of the town.
The area looked as if the Almighty Himself had lifted it into the air and tossed it back to the Earth. Only a few of the buildings managed to claw their way through the rubble to form familiar shapes: a few houses, a church and a market. The path of destruction spilled into the scrubland to the east. Overturned rocks, bushes and soil extended in a widening scar to the horizon. As the last hints of reddish light seeped through the clouds, Alexandra saw children playing amidst the ruins.
“Just stay close to me,” Koneh said as he eyed the town.
Alexandra shifted the duffel bag from her right shoulder to her left. Her muscles reminded her that the bag was designed to be carried from one’s car to a destination, not across miles of scrub.
“I’m right behind you,” she said. “The sooner we find some food, the better.”
The pair reached the edge of the town proper and paused. Yellow firelight flickered from some nearby buildings, causing the shadows to dance. Alexandra realized the children she spied from a distance were now gone. Perhaps the stench drove them away. Before her, the fire-lit rubble town lay silent.
She opened her mouth to inquire about the delay when she noticed a group of men approaching. Some of them carried weapons. She feared the encounter at the bluff would replay itself here.
“Koneh-” she said, prepared to run.
“These men will not harm us. Look closely.”
Alexandra squinted through the darkness and haze. Next to a man with a torch stood a priest, the white of his Roman collar shone like a beacon amongst the dingy crowd.
Chapter 6
The priest studied Alexandra and Koneh. Then, he asked, “¿Quienes son usted?”
Alexandra said, “?Nosotros hablamos ingles, si prefiere usted?”
“I do prefer English,” the priest said. “However, we have little to offer if you are looking to steal from us.”
The priest appeared to be in his fifties or early sixties. He reminded Alexandra of her first-year Tort Law professor - Irish-American, tall, gaunt and wise in the eyes. Torchlight reflected off his mostly bald scalp and dust clung to his black vestments. Both confidence and fatigue resonated in his voice. He had probably witnessed much over the past few days. Alexandra found comfort talking with someone who wasn't mysteriously scarred, an angel or trying to kill her.
She said, “We only want a safe place to stay for the night. We won't be any trouble.”
One of the rifle-carrying men scowled and leaned close to the priest. They whispered amongst themselves for a few moments. Most of the other men fingered their weapons or fidgeted with whatever was handy.
“We heard some gunshots a little while ago,” the priest said. “Do you bring trouble here? If so, you are not welcome.”
Alexandra didn’t know how to answer the priest. She decided she would avoid the question. No need to draw more attention by recounting Koneh’s fight against the shotgun man and his gang.
“We bring no trouble and we don’t have any guns,” she said.
Again, the group whispered amongst themselves. The priest ended the hushed discussion with a wave of his hand. He said, “We will not turn away anyone in need.”
Alexandra smiled. “Thank you, Father.”
“Richard Callahan.” The priest returned her smile.
Bringing her hand to her chest, she said, “Alexandra Contreras.” She extended her other arm to her right and said, “And this is my guide, Koneh-” She paused when she realized that Koneh never provided a last name.
Koneh bowed his head. “Pleased to meet you, Father,” he said.
“Koneh-” Father Callahan rolled the name around in his mouth. “That's a Hebrew name, right?”
Alexandra turned to Koneh and asked, “Hebrew?”
“Not exactly,” Koneh said. “May we enter?”
Despite her efforts, Alexandra couldn't unravel the mystery surrounding her companion. She originally thought he was scarred from nuclear fallout, or radiation, or whatever happened when a human got too close to a mushroom cloud. However, her nuclear war theory was giving ground to a more supernatural one every moment she spent in this wasteland.
Koneh's secrecy annoyed her. He knew much more about what was going on, but he wouldn't share it. If Alexandra had him on the witness stand, the judge would instruct him to answer her questions. However, they were far removed from a courthouse, both in time and distance. Her life in San Antonio seemed like a blurry memory. The harshness of this new world demanded all her focus and energy.
“Very well then,” Father Callahan said, seemingly disinterested in pursuing Koneh’s name any further. “Follow me.”
The other men eyed Alexandra and Koneh as they walked around the rubble to a clearing. Several fire-filled barrels illuminated the area. Faces peered at the group from inside makeshift tents. Many more people lay on blankets on the ground. It reminded Alexandra of the homeless center she visited when she lived in Buffalo, though she only went there for directions.
The escort dissolved as men slumped to the ground on blankets or disappeared into their tents. Soon, only Father Callahan remained with the two newcomers.
“Forgive us,” the priest said said. “We’ve had much trouble with looters and bandits of late, not to mention... well, the people are a bit anxious to be sure.”
Koneh scanned the area and asked, “Where are all the women?”
Father Callahan’s brown eyes watered as he blinked several times to keep tears from his face. “We can talk in the church. It's an easy climb.”
Throughout the camp men cooked by the fires, loitered about the tents or grumbled in their sleep. Men, but no women. Some of the men stared at Alexandra as she passed, a glint of hope in their eyes. She shuddered as she realized that something terrible must have happened to the women here.
“Maria!”
Alexandra turned and saw an older man limping towards her. Sighing, she wondered why all the crazy men in the world recently decided to gravitate towards her. It couldn't be her lack of perfume or deodorant. She now reeked of sweat, blood and granola bars. Perhaps that was the exact combination of scents that attracted these freaks.
“Maria! ¿Donde tengale estado? Mi Maria querida!”
“Renaldo,” Father Callahan said, “this is not Maria. No es Maria.”
Renaldo reached for her and she stepped backwards in response. However, her retreat was unnecessary as Koneh grasped Renaldo's wrist and twisted. Renaldo dropped to his knees and sobbed.
“Maria... Maria-”
“That's enough, friend,” Father Callahan said. “Let him go.”
“Koneh, I'm fine.” She touched her protector's shoulder.
Koneh looked at each of them in turn. His eyes narrowed. This man was a predator. Alexandra witnessed his lethality a few hours prior. For now, he was on her side. But what if circumstances changed? Was she really safe with such a dangerous individual? She wished she had answers to those questions.
Still sobbing, Renaldo fell to the dirt when Koneh released him. Without saying a word, Koneh climbed the small hill of rubble.
“Interesting friend you have there,” Father Callahan said with raised eyebrows.
“Yeah,” Alexandra said as she watched Koneh ascend. She wondered what the priest would think of her oth
er friend – the one with wings.
“Like I said, it's not a rough climb. Dear Lord, are you hurt?” Father Callahan stared at her stomach, where her shirt was stained a shade darker by a brigand's blood. A few drops sunk into her oversize man-jeans as well, but those had dried.
She stretched her shirt to show the stain in the firelight. “This isn't mine.”
The image of her attacker's death flashed through her mind again. His life was over. Ended. Did he have children? Maybe family who cared for him? A wife? Alexandra closed her eyes. She despaired at the possibilities closed to those people through their deaths. Were their lives an equal trade for Alexandra’s own life? Would it have come to that?
“Forgive me,” Father Callahan said as he touched her shoulder. “I understand if you cannot talk about your loss just yet. It's a new world for us all.” He squeezed her arm and climbed through the rubble towards the church.
Alexandra guessed the priest was more than empathizing with her own pain. Perhaps he lost someone special. Again, she was reminded of her empty life. These people lost families, friends and homes. She decided her self-pity could be toned down a notch.
She glanced over her shoulder at the cluster of tents and people. Her eyes strayed to the ground where Renaldo, curled into a ball, shook from his sobs. She turned from the rubble hill and walked to him.
For her entire adult life, Alexandra believed monetary donations were the best way to help others in need. Her hands were never dirtied, in her mind. Now, however, she felt her heart shifting directions. She reached down and helped the stranger to his feet.
Renaldo's eyes, full of tears, thanked her. She smiled in return. After a few more sniffles, he limped towards a blanket. It was large enough for two.
“I hope you find your Maria,” she whispered.
Despite the large hunks of uneven rock and pain in her ankle, the hill was a relatively easy climb for her. Though larger than the chapel she slept in a few nights ago, this church was in no better shape. She entered through a crumbled section of wall and found Koneh and Father Callahan talking in whispers.
Eden (Eden Saga) Page 5