A Warrior's Journey (23 page)

Evette demanded, “What did you do about the
contact in the slums?”

After a momentary hesitation he responded,
“I sent a team to investigate. I haven’t heard back from them
yet.”

“What was the source of the contact?” She
asked feeling dread begin to fill her up inside.

“Gold, but it’s got a slight radioactive
signature to it likely gained from passing through space on the way
here from where ever the strangers came from. I thought you took it
as a payoff for some service you agreed to do for the strangers.
I’m sorry!”

“I bet you are!” Said Evette, as she gripped
and twisted hard. Robert let loose with another high pitched scream
of agony. Evette let go of him and got to her knees.

“I’m going to let you go now Robert.”

Blubbering he responded, “Oh thank you! I’ll
make this up to you I swear!”

He started to rise hampered by his injured
arm, but his movement was arrested as Evette grasped his head with
both hands and said, “To hell!” and twisted sharply breaking his
neck.

She let his lifeless body fall to the floor
as she stumbled to her feet.

The children and Mama were in danger!

All because of her!

She had to get to them! She avoided the
sight that the kitchen would offer and headed for her bedroom
instead. Her whole body hurt terribly, but her chest was truly
throbbing in agony.

She sobbed in pain as she pulled a shirt on
and then a pair of pants. Shoving her feet into a pair of running
shoes she grabbed a coat on her way out the door. The Committee car
assigned to her fired up as she turned the key.

She drove faster than anyone should through
the narrow hilly streets of the city. She didn’t even look to see
if she was followed in her mad dash to the slum section of the
city. Reaching the slums she roared up streets and spun her tires
down byways that hadn’t seen the passage of a car in years.

The car spun out on a sharp curve and
slammed into the corner of a building. Evette picked her head up
off the steering wheel and saw steam rising from around the edges
of the smashed up hood. The car was done for. She was close to the
old church anyway.

Evette had to shove hard to get the door
open. Walking around the car she made her way up the deserted and
rundown street. When she reached sight of the church she groaned in
despair.

The boarded up front doors of the church had
been torn open once more. Before she had left the apartment she had
taken Robert’s pistol. Pulling it out of her waistband she
cautiously approached the open doors, even though what she wanted
to do most was to just run heedlessly into the church. She made it
to the doors and peered in. She didn’t hear or see anyone.

Had they taken the children and Mama away?
Slowly she moved into the old church and the unholy scene unfolded
before her.

A low keening wail of, “No!” came over and
over to her lips.

Lowering the barrel of the gun Evette walked
through the scene of the destruction of everything she held dear in
her life. Children lay as they were where ever they had been when
they had been shot.

Here and there and everywhere throughout the
church. On the floor, hung over pews, and up against walls. Tears
falling in steady rivals down her face Evette made her way through
the scene of wanton slaughter. Making it to the second story she
saw more of the same. Finally she made it to where Mama lay on the
floor of the old kitchen that had served so many children for
years.

The gun slipped from her fingers to fall
onto the floor unnoticed, as she fell to her knees beside Mama.

Her body wracked by sobs, Evette managed to
sputter out, “I’m so sorry Mama! I’m so sorry! It’s all my fault! I
brought this down on you and the children!

I was just trying to make a way for us! I
didn’t mean for this to happen! I’m so sorry Mama!

You and the children were all I had! What do
I do now Mama? What’s left? They’ve taken everything!”

In her near hysteria her fingers touched the
fallen gun by her side. She picked the gun up and cradled it in her
hands.

Why not?

She’d fought hard and survived all these
years for what? Her eyes drifted back to Mama. Mama wouldn’t
approve of her doing this.

Something about Mama caught her attention
suddenly. Mama was laying on her front with her face turned towards
her. One arm was stretched out and the other was by her side. The
outstretched hand was in the shape of a fist except for one finger
that pointed towards the old cupboard under the sink on the other
side of the room.

Evette laid the gun back down and got up and
went to the sink. Kneeling down she opened the cupboard door and
looked in. Crouched in the back corner of the cupboard were two
little children. A little black boy of about six called Tyrone and
a little white girl that couldn’t have been more than three. The
little boy was holding the girl tight to him with one arm, while
the other hand clutched an old hammer defensively.

“Yevy?” The little boy asked
uncertainly.

She opened her arms and the little boy flew
into them followed by the little girl, who she didn’t even know.
Evette held them tight to her despite the pain it caused and rocked
back and forth consolingly whispering into their hair.

Her teary eyes caught something she hadn’t
noticed before.

A little red flashing light.

Her eyes flared wide at the realization of
what it must be symbolic of. In a burst of adrenaline she got to
her feet still holding onto the little girl and clutching Tyrone’s
hand tightly as she started for the rooftop exit.

“We have to go!”

Out on the roof she started climbing down
the outside face of the adjoining building. It was hard with the
little girl in her arms, but she managed it somehow.

She set the little girl down, who didn’t
want her to let go, but Evette insisted because she needed to go
back for Tyrone. Looking up it was only to discover that the brave
little boy hadn’t waited for her, but was already halfway down the
building.

He’d reached about as far as he could though
safely and fearing that there was not much time left Evette opened
her arms and the boy let go trustingly and fell down towards
her.

The impact of the boy drove her to the
ground and forced a cry of pain from her tightly clamped lips.

The boy was crying, “I’m so sorry Yevy!” as
he clamored off of her causing her more pain in the process.

“No it’s alright Tyrone.” She managed to get
out as she got to her feet.

She didn’t think she could carry even the
slight weight of the little blond haired girl so she grabbed both
of their hands and walked down the street as fast as the little
girl could go.

They hadn’t gone sixty feet when the old
church behind them blew into a million pieces and collapsed in on
itself. Evette tugged the two children along even as they tried to
look back over their shoulders at the fireball that rose up out of
the destroyed church. The only true home they had ever known.
Pausing several blocks away Evette let the children rest. She
needed the rest too.

She felt like she was running on gas fumes
alone, but she couldn’t stop now. She had to see the children to
safety. Where was safe anymore though?

She couldn’t go back to her apartment. She
had no friends to speak of and she had no money other than what was
in her pocket and that wasn’t much. Where on Earth was there a
place that she could she take these children that would be safe?
And then a solution hit her squarely between the eyes.

Why not somewhere else than Earth
itself?

Instinctively she knew she could trust the
strangers with children, which was more than she could say of
pretty much anyone else in the city. They would be safe with the
strangers away from this world gone mad.

She thought about it for a moment longer. It
really was her only option, but where had the strangers gone
to?

How would she find them in the night before
they likely left the city in the morning? Then something the
Committee member had said came back to her. He had asked her if she
knew of what the sanctuary was that one of the men had said that
they had found.

What would be a sanctuary to men from a
different world on a Holy mission? It had to have an absence of
people and be a place where nobody went to, but still be in the
city. She thought about what she knew of the men and what would be
a fitting sanctuary.

She remembered the shopkeeper’s story and
the particular reason these men had given for being here, which she
had discounted before as a lie. She glanced up from her pondering.
She thought she knew where they were and it wasn’t so far from here
either.

She got the children back up on their feet
and started off towards where she thought the strangers would be.
She tried to block out of her mind the bargaining chip she would
have to offer if they refused to take the children with them, but
the deal she would no doubt have to make came back to haunt her
throughout the course of the walk.

I stared out into the night taking in the
sights and sounds of the city. No one passing by seemed to be aware
of our presence so we were safe, for the moment at least. I knew
that Larc planned to leave when it was a little later in the night,
but I had to admit that I didn’t like our chances.

Talaric sat down beside me suddenly.
Somewhat startled I berated myself inwardly for not noticing his
approach earlier. Such a lapse in concentration could get one
killed. Talaric could move like a shadow though, when he wanted to,
so I didn’t beat myself up to much because I might not have heard
him even if I had been fully listening.

He looked as if he was in deep self
contemplation. He hadn’t said a word since we had rescued him and
Larc. He was still pretty beat up looking and moved a bit stiffly,
but he was still a force to be reckoned with. He always would be.
It was more of a question of whether he could ever learn to control
it.

Talaric broke the silence, “I want to
apologize to you for something. That night when we attacked Rauel I
had my men in position, but I held them back because I thought you
couldn’t do your end of the job. I nearly got you killed and a lot
of other men as well. I’m sorry for that and for not being a better
example of an older brother to you.”

Talaric abruptly stood up and move off into
the darkness, as if embarrassed too much to stay any longer. I
stared in shock at him as he left. I glanced over to Larc who had
been within earshot of the confession.

Larc smiled and then looked back out into
the night. Maybe father had been right to send Talaric along on the
mission after all. If Talaric was willing to mend fences than I
could help the process along and drop some of my own grudges.

I jumped up and followed after Talaric
through the old church ruins that we had taken refuge in. The
church had been burnt to the ground at some point and all that was
left was the old building stones of its foundation and
basement.

I found Talaric looking out over the city
leaning up against an old stone wall.

Walking up beside him I said, “Apology
accepted.” And then I offered my hand out to him and after a moment
he shook it.

We stood quietly then in the dark. Talaric
spoke up, “I know that Father sent me on this mission more for my
own benefit than the mission’s. He wanted me to learn something, to
change.”

I paused for a moment and then piped in good
humouredly, “Is it working?”

Talaric chuckled, “Yeah its working. It’s
becoming very clear to me the need to change and be more like
father. More like you, when it comes to that. A couple more slugs
on the head and I’ll be a changed man.”

I had flushed a little when he had included
me and now I thought about what to say to him.

“You know you can’t make the kind of change
that you want to and make it stick, all by yourself don’t you? You
need the Creator’s help Talaric.”

“I know. It’s hard to start though. I don’t
know if He even wants a relationship with me anymore.”

“I would say that the very desire within you
to change is God’s way of pointing you back to Him. As mother would
put it, ‘Take one step towards the Creator and He’ll carry you the
rest of the way.”

Talaric nodded his head and I decided to
shut up before I botched it and put my foot in my mouth. We stood
there awhile until something else I felt burdened to say finally
popped out.

“Talaric I think you were wrong about
something.”

“What?”

“No offence meant, but I don’t think father
would have sent anyone on this mission that he didn’t think
wouldn’t become individually critical to the success of the
mission.”

Talaric didn’t say anything, but I felt
better for what I saw as the truth as it was unfolding before my
eyes. The sound of a kicked over stone connecting with another in
the darkness echoed loudly, Talaric and I looked at each other. I
was about to turn to fetch the others, when they came up alongside
of us in the dark.

“Where did that come from?” Larc asked
whispering.

Talaric pointed towards the central area of
the church. As if on cue we split up and converged on the area the
sound had emanated from.

Evette threw another rock and figured that
was enough. She hadn’t heard or seen anything in the dark ruins
around them, but she knew they were there. She could sense the raw
predatory presence of them as they encircled her and the
children.

She didn’t have to wait long. In the soft
glow cast off from the city around her she watched as five tall
shadows materialized out of the gloom to form the figures of men
that exemplified what the warriors of ancient times must have
looked like.