Staggering, bloodied and covered with plaster and ash, he kicked through the wall in front of him. Or tried to. Big mistake. It was the outer wall, solidly constructed from concrete blocks. He almost cried out in pain as he felt something break in his foot, even as it ruptured the wall. He kicked again and again, ignoring the pain from his tortured foot.
Finally, he made a hole big enough for him to fit and squeezed himself through it, gritting his teeth against the pain as his injured foot became twisted. He freed it with an effort and examined what he’d done. The bone was broken alright, part of it sticking out of his broken flesh. Even now, it was starting to heal but slowly, so slowly. Much more slowly than normal. That Cambion’s cursed blade was really messing up his healing ability. Even his shoulder was taking its time realigning itself.
He paused to catch his breath. The Cambions were moving. He divined that they had entered the original motel room where he and Aimi had spent the night. They would soon spot his trail. It wasn’t exactly hard to work out where he’d gone. He may as well have set up a giant neon sign saying ‘this way.’
He gambled that they wouldn’t be able to find him if he got clear of the motel, though his father had obviously told them exactly where he was. If his glamor held out, he should be able to get clear — unless he was in their line of sight, of course. Besides, it was almost dawn. They couldn’t keep hunting him for much longer. Could they?
He was wrong.
He limped on, the wounds definitely healing but not rapidly enough to give him an advantage. Behind him, the Cambions closed the gap. They may not have been able to sense him but they could certainly track him. He was leaving a bloody trail and dragging his foot. The worst ever Boy Scout could’ve followed such a trail.
Panting and exhausted, he finally hid in a thick brush thicket that had still managed to retain some of its leaves, even buried in ash, just as the sky brightened. Dawn. The blood-red moon disappeared behind the thick cloud cover, leaving him with an odd sense of abandonment. It also left him weakened. The red moon leant him strength where the day leached it.
He prayed that, like most demons, they would retreat to Hell during the day time. But they weren’t normal demons. They were Cambions like him. He didn’t have to go to Hell during the day, so why would they? But then again, he’d become accustomed to living on the Earth for the last twenty odd years. The sun still made him feel slightly uneasy and he was used to it. For them, this must be a relatively new and unusual experience. Hopefully, the sun terrified them. Maybe they would return to where they felt most comfortable. If they didn’t, it was all over for him.
They appeared from around an abandoned gas station about fifty feet away. He thought about using it as a refuge or even a last stand, but it was just too obvious. It was what they’d expect him to do. It was what he’d expect of himself. As usual, when he had such doubts, he went ahead and did the unexpected. This time, he wasn’t sure whether it would pay off or not.
He watched as they briefly checked out the building, satisfying themselves that he wasn’t inside. Outside, he couldn’t help but notice the nervous looks they were giving the sky. One of the four — a male — was looking in his direction, pointing for the benefit of the others, following the obvious trail he’d left. Two females were shaking their heads. A whispered conversation followed — an argument. Even in hot debate, they kept their voices low so that Sam could only hear the occasional snippet of Hellspeak. There was lots of angry gesturing going on, mostly in his direction. The first male was clearly adamant that they continue but the others appeared too scared of the sky. Eventually, the majority won and all four disappeared behind the gas station once again.
Sam had never felt so relieved before. Another fifty feet and they would have had him. It was only now that he could feel his strength starting to return, the blood clotting on the wound in his chest. His broken ankle was starting to knit while his shoulder had already realigned itself. A few minutes earlier, and there would have been no way he could’ve fought them all off, especially in his weakened state.
He’d garnered some good pieces of information from the encounter, however. First, that his father was now employing his royal Cambions on Earth and they were talented fighters with powers of concealment. Secondly, they feared the sky. Thirdly, their blades were deadly and it took around fifteen minutes for any wounds to start clotting. Being injured by one also slowed down his normal healing processes. Even at his peak, Sam doubted his ability to fight off five of them at once.
There was something else about them though. Something that was troubling him. He remembered the way the demon had smiled as it died as if it knew something he didn’t. It was slightly unnerving. His father had told him that he had a surprise for him. Was it the existence of the Cambions themselves? It was too obvious. His father would not reveal his hand that easily. Satan normally played a slightly more subtle game than that.
The sky brightened further, not that it made much of a difference. The thick, dark clouds took care of that, not giving the sun a chance for even a glimmer of light to break through the solid barrier. It was still lighter than it had been though.
Sam decided to stay where he was for now. He doubted whether the Cambions would come back for him, even if they knew exactly where he was. The light would keep them at bay. He was relatively safe — or as safe as he could be — for the moment. The thicket offered him concealment and kept the worst of the light away from him while he healed.
More for comfort than any great need, he reached for his pack, hoping to get a snack and a swig of water before remembering that it was still in the motel room. He’d have to go back for it. It contained other things that he needed, sentimental and otherwise. He couldn’t leave it.
Sighing heavily, he stood, still somewhat shaky, and disentangled himself from the thicket. Wearily, he limped back in the direction of the motel. As he walked, he kept his senses attuned to what was going on around him. He was fairly certain the Cambions were gone but he wasn’t about to take any chances.
Despite his caution, his mind kept returning to one thought as he retraced his path. Aimi. Not just Aimi. Spending the night with her. It seemed like more time had passed than it had since the previous night. Lots had happened in the last few hours. His encounter with his father in the dream world. His battle and pursuit by the Cambions. But his thoughts were still dominated by her face. The feel of her. How she smelt.
He wondered where she was right now and when he’d see her next. Unbidden, he thought about what his father had said about her. How those in Heaven were using her to manipulate him. He didn’t believe it for a second but then again, Gabriel had always been a bit loose with the truth. Perhaps there was something the Archangel wasn’t telling him?
The words of his father came back to him: he’d find out soon enough.
Chapter Seventeen
“ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.”
Sometime during the next night, he passed into Pennsylvania. He’d spent most of the time on the Interstate which seemed to be the easiest way to get around these days. In the first year after the Rapture, it had almost been a death trap. Bandits had preyed upon anyone travelling down them and Sam avoided them at all costs. Now, most survivors had either retreated to the mountains or the wilderness. The lucky ones were at the few operational armed forces bases. The interstates also seemed to resist the worst that the nature could throw at them. The increase in the amount of earthquakes and firestorms had done little to affect their structural integrity. Other, smaller roads hadn’t fared as well. Sam had entered small towns in the recent past that were impassable — almost completely destroyed.
As for the Cambions — well, he’d got lucky there. He hadn’t seen one sign of them which was just as well given that he’d only just started to feel his normal self after the injuries he’d sustained in the last encounter. The
