Our Future

After we left the motel room we roamed the streets for a while. It was probably almost six or seven at night. The sun was high above bathing the streets and buildings in light. I could tell Gabriel was a little hesitant to go back. Even after we arrived in the school parking lot he just stood around for a few minutes as if delaying the inevitable. He regretted getting mad and storming off. Like I said before his emotions changed quickly. Once where he felt anger, he now felt regret and guilt.

I was patient, I didn’t want to force this on him even though I knew he wanted to go in and apologize for how he acted, but he didn’t want to go in and give Grace hope that he was going to tell her what he was holding back and uneasy about. I didn’t want to tell them quite yet, either. But we both knew it would have to be done eventually.

I knew Gabriel would be ready to tell them eventually but I was the one who only told when people asked. Whenever Gabriel decided he was ready I was going to go along with him, otherwise I’d never get the truth out.

He paced back and forth in front of the rusted and dented door as if he was thinking about what to say. I don’t know if he was thinking about what he should say to me or our mothers. I was guessing our mothers cause he usually didn’t have a problem talking to me, even before we became lovers we were best friends and trusted each other more than anyone else. We shared our problems and consulted each other on how to solve or deal with them. It was mainly because we were open minded and trusted each other.

When he finally pulled back the door he looked nervous and unsure and his breathing was slightly faster than normal like he’d been jogging or something. We silently walked pass the now dark and closed gym. All the kids were probably in bed now. We walked past the rotunda doors and pass the first flight of stairs to the second floor to the classrooms. Michael was guarding Paul.

“We’re releasing him the day after tomorrow, right?” he asks cautiously.

He’s probably tired of losing sleep over watching him.

“Yeah,” I say and keep walking, following Gabriel who completely ignored Michael’s question.

He’s silent and nervous.

We hear voices coming from the library at the end of the hall to the left. The front light is on but the rest is dark and it’s odd. Hardly anyone ever goes into the library unless they want to get a book; the internet has been shut down or disconnected for the past two and half years. The library’s backroom has its lights on, too. But we can’t tell whose inside because the windows are plastered with old work from when the school was still a school.

Gabriel approaches it slowly, he looks back at me. He rattles the door knob, it’s locked. He lifts the corner of one of the papers and looks inside. I join him and look through a separate corner. It’s our mothers, Grace seems impatient or upset. My mother seems to be trying to calm her but she also seemed to be only making it worse.

Gabriel knocks, cautiously with a worried look. We’d been gone for a good three or four hours so I could suppose Grace was just really worried but Gabriel had always disappeared for long amounts of time and me and Melody were usually the only ones who could find him.

I see Grace look up but my mother is the one who moves to answer the door. She opens it slowly surprised to see Gabriel. Gabriel pushes pass her, barely looking at her. He goes straight to Grace and kneels down to her height. His mother stares at him intently. She slowly reaches out to touch Gabriel’s face as if he might melt away at any moment.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

She nods smiling. She’s probably overwhelmed with happiness because she finally found her children but sadness still lingered in her expression and deep in her pupils. She’s probably been wondering where the real Paul is. Gabriel only further reminds her of Paul because he looks similar aside from the hair color, he looks exactly like Paul. But I know just as well as she does that he has her heart and courage. His quick emotion changes and trust issues.

He looks back at me, nervous. We didn’t discuss whether we were ready or not but I just nod; if he’s ready he’ll tell them.

I look away, nervous.

“Nathan’s gay and we love... each other,” he whispers quietly.

I barely hear him and when I hear no response I wonder if they heard him at all. I glance back and my mother who is just starring at Gabriel in shock. I don’t know what else to make of her expression. Gabriel glances at me, then at my mother and then his eyes flicker nervously to the ground.

She finally blinks as if realizing what Gabriel said. She looks down at him and then glances at me.

I see confusion, betrayal, and acceptance clash all at once in my mother’s expression.

“Does anybody else know?” asks Grace.

“Emily,” answers Gabriel.

My mother still hasn’t spoken. I wonder what’s running through her head. Maybe ‘what did I do wrong or different that no other parent did?’ or ‘Is this my fault?’

I hope she wasn’t blaming herself; it was just how I was born. She didn’t do anything wrong. There was just a switch in my brain that had been built on the likes boys option instead of the likes girls option. Not every child was born perfect or the same and this and my power made me special. It was what made me different and different was good. I hope she understood that.

I was beginning to panic because she still hadn’t said a word or even looked at me. Gabriel rose slowly and came to stand beside me as if to support me. My mother hadn’t done anything; she hadn’t accepted it or blamed herself or Gabriel for anything. It really made me wonder what she was thinking. I highly doubted Gabriel was reading her thoughts, privacy and all. But then again, he was probably dying to know what she was thinking, too.

I heard Gabriel sigh and look at me and then back at my mother. Grace looked at the floor and then back at my mother. It was like my mother had frozen in time. She was breathing and blinking but other than that she was still. It was like the moment before you fell to the ground after a bullet hit you stretched out in slow mode.

Grace nodded for us to go and we silently left. She didn’t bother to stop us or apologize like Emily. It made me a bit angry. Once we were near the library door we looked back.

“That went a little worse than expected,” whispers Gabriel.

“At least she didn’t reject me like your father,” I reply.

“She didn’t react at all. Who knows what she’s thinking?” complains Gabriel.

“Well, like you said. I’m her son; she’s supposed to love me for who I am. Just read her mind and tell me what she’s thinking. Your mother’s probably doing it right now to calm her down and explain it to her,” I comment annoyed he’s responding the way I should be.

“Invasion of privacy, much?” he comments.

“You read my mind all the time, what’s the difference?” I ask just wanting to know at this point.

“You know, she doesn’t,” he replies quietly.

“She knows your mother has the power though. What does she expect of you and Anna? Powerlessness? One of you at least had to have it. You were the lucky one, then again she could still have it, too,” I comment.

“I don’t know. I feel like I’m violating something. Cause I was honest with you, all the time. And I don’t know how many times I’ve lied to her or my own mother because I was nervous or embarrassed about things or questions,” he replies. “She’ll tell you what she thinks eventually. Just like my mother and father. They both had their own separate opinions. And she will, too. You just have to be patient.”

“I normally am patient but with something like this I feel I have a right to know so I can deal with how she feels. Or so I know if she’s okay talking about it or not,” I comment.

“We can always talk about things,” replies Gabriel but I know he senses my real meaning behind the statement.

“You know as much as I do that we don’t have all the answers to all the questions we have. We need to ask people who have experience. Who have been in relationships, you know?” I say rubbing the back of my neck which is slick with sweat.

“Yeah, but who wants to talk about things like that? It’s embarrassing and I don’t know. Something you just don’t really talk about after the classes you have in school,” he says slowly and nervously. “I mean the internet would be better than any person we know but of course we just had to lose access to that two and a half years ago.”

“That’s why we have to ask people, Gabriel. Otherwise, I would just look it up on the godforsaken internet,” I say gesturing in the direction of the old flat screen Apple computers in our library. Things like that would probably actually be blocked so we’d still probably still have to ask people even if we did have internet.

“Shooting range has just appeared out front!” I heard Rider yelling as he ran through the hall.

A shooting range was a giant group of zombies that appeared without notice. We called them a shooting range because we’d use them as practice. The newbies would stand on the roof and shoot to get good at long distance and target practice well the more experienced stood on the ground and took out the ones that got too close for comfort.

Rider was probably excited because it was the first assignment he’d got to join us on since he’d been injured a couple weeks ago. We’d assumed he was dead when he didn’t come back and we had told Connor to expect the worst but luckily he’d come stumbling back. Damaged, bruised, beaten, and bleeding but very much alive and kicking. Rider had never been one to go down without a fight and Connor thought only of that for the week more or less that he had been missing. We were all happy when he did, so happy it almost felt like a reunion which it was for Connor and Rider but the rest of us were just strangers watching from the next yard over or across the street. Connor thanked us for finding him and Cassie for nursing him back to health but we still felt like strangers who didn’t belong. We felt like we were at a funeral of one of our friend’s friends who we didn’t know very well.

I heard squealing and snapped out of the memory and saw Gabriel opening the library door, I followed him. Many people were gathered by the front door. All fifteen or older and forty or younger. All testing their skills without the firing motion. The speed of gun from belt or bow from basket to knocked position. The news spread fast, even some of the younger teachers had come down from their high post to practice. Some of these people were really good shots. It made me wonder why they didn’t join the Venturers and help find food and supplies. They were hardly in danger of losing their lives with their skills and a rush of adrenaline was good every once in a while anyway.

I guess there were some people with fears no matter what just couldn’t face it and get over for the benefit of others. At least some of us ignored our fear for the benefit of others, as scared as some of us Venturers are, we put it behind us and do it for the good of others cause if we don’t do it no one else will and we’ll starve and die. Anna would of died at three and Sam at six if we’d let our fears get the best of us.

Gabriel was told to go on the roof because of his injured arm and I stood right below him on the ground because I had no injury or disability reason to be on the roof. Of course, even with his arm injured, he never missed a beat and never misfired or even missed.

Mostly Venturers were on the ground but Jessie, and some of the younger male teachers were on the ground alongside me. I rarely had to fire because Gabriel was hitting all his targets and I was only hitting other people’s targets out of my own boredom.

A lot of young girls were sitting watching us with feet hanging off the roof instead of practicing shooting. They thought it was manly or handsome. But of course Hale, Dani, and Emily rolled their eyes at them and continued shooting.

They’re literally thousands of zombies; they were probably attracted here by the smell of Farren and Gabriel’s blood. They were hoping for a meal but all they were getting was a bray of bullet holes in their bodies. The girls were cheering us on but it was all background noise to us. We were too focused on hitting our targets. The gunfire became louder than the cheering. We didn’t bask in the glory of being heroes or cool, our little group never had. We’d take the casual ‘Thank you’ or whatever and we preferred that to being called names. We were just doing what any other person who had any common sense and wasn’t afraid would do.

Suddenly the gunfire even became distant; it became part of the humming in the background. I froze, everything blurred and my .44 fell to the ground at my feet. My head felt like it was on fire, my fingers felt like they were being pricked with a thousand needles. Everything went white and everyone disappeared. The surroundings stayed white until they faded into a forest. I recognized the dirt path now dried with blood. This time Gabriel was there with me like we had a link or maybe he was reading my mind.

“I’ve seen this before,” I murmur. “That’s your blood, I think.”

“My blood...” he whispers his eyes darting around the space at his feet.

“You said you saw a vision where I died, right? How did I die?” he asks slightly panicked but also curious.

“You were shot in the head, dead. I didn’t see who did it just you on the ground with a shoot to the lower leg and head and after that we went to your funeral. This vision happened well I was asleep so that’s new, too. I’ve never had a vision well I’ve been asleep,” I reply.

“Maybe you’ll see who did it this time,” taking a step in the direction of the bloody footprints.

“Do you know where we are?” I ask, it was really starting to bother me.

“It kind of looks like the place where my parents had a cabin but why would I die there? It’s at least an hour away, “he asks with a wondrous tone.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s only in a place similar but my mind didn’t know how to picture it otherwise,” I reply.

The wind starts to howl. The bushes start rustling. The feeling of being watched is heavy. It spooks me and sends Gabriel turning in circles looking for the source of the rustling.

“What was that?” I hear Gabriel say but his mouth doesn’t move.

I can hear his thoughts.

His head snaps in my direction, he looks spooked.

“Nathan, you can hear me? Right? You can hear me and I can hear you. Why? How?” I hear him screaming in his mind.

“I can hear you, calm down. I don’t know why or how,” I say calmly speaking.

“You’re linked. You are both one mind. You have managed to do what no human being has been able to do since the early decades of this planet. You have somehow ended up with small portions of special DNA in your blood,” says a deep, old sounding voice. “You are descends of the last surviving ones of your kind.”

“Who are you?” asks Gabriel out loud.

“Gabriel, my boy. I’m called Noah. Do you recall Noah’s Ark in the Bible? I am the one who build the ship and road it through that heavy storm. And you my fine friends are Nephilim of the second generation. Angels. Do you recall what those are?” says the loud, deep voice.

“Nephilim? We’re half... Human. Half... Angel? Which of our parents was the angel?” I question.

“Sort of. You see your parents were half angel each and that resulted in full angel children but the second time it resulted in full human children, Sam and Anna. It will always be one or the other. The child will never be quarter or half again because the race must not be mixed again. Your parents were born of an angel and human. Now if one of you were to go mate with a human, your child would be a Nephilim. But their children, your grandchildren would be one or the other,” he replies calmly.

“So Sam and Anna don’t have powers? How come you said what no human has been able to do since the early decades if were angels? Do I get wings?” Gabriel questions.

“Slow down, Gabriel. You must learn to have patience. No, your brother and sister do not possess powers because they are completely human. You are in a sense part human; if your DNA was tested it would appear human but different from your brother’s and sister’s. Your wings will come with time. God, you children are impatient compared to first generation angels that God created,” he says annoyed.

“So if God exists, did he start this apocalypse? Or was that the Devil or some demon?” I ask.

“If God’s world gets too crowded he has to depopulate it. Tragedies happen so more can live. I know I lost my loved ones; they didn’t deserve to die, blah, blah, blah. But if they didn’t die from this tragedy, they would of died of hunger or dehydration eventually so get over it,” he replies sounding bored and annoyed by my question.

“I had to shoot my girlfriend! I don’t care who you are. I don’t care that you sailed a ship through a damn storm. I had to kill somebody I loved. Tell your God to take my advice and return this planet to normal or wait will he not listen because he’s as stuck up as the people who bullied us in school? What miracles has he granted in the past three years? If you ask me all he’s done is become a serial killer of lowly humans who were innocent of all charges, some probably even believed in him and he killed them!” I reply angered by his response.

“Allowing Gabriel to live was a miracle. Allowing your mothers to find you and your siblings was a miracle. You could have gone on wondering if they were dead and without Gabriel,” he says politely but he sounds a bit hysterical.

“I killed Farren and Gabriel saved my life. Farren wouldn’t have killed Gabriel because he wanted to see how his lovers reacted to him in pain. I saved their lives by killing Farren. God did nothing. Nothing. I did that. I did that, Noah! Your man is a liar and murderer,” I yell in return.

Noah is silent for a few minutes.

“Well, I see what part of Nathaniel is human, his emotions. Gabriel, you too,” he says quietly and calmly.

I really wish I knew where he was. I’m sick of him. I force the scenery away and I’m surrounded by blackness again.

“Nathaniel, I’m not done-” says Noah as I force the connection to break.

But it’s too late. I hear a snapping noise. It must be my and Gabriel’s minds separating. I open my eyes, it’s blurry. I blink and notice Cassie is at my side while they’ve called someone to take my place in the range.

“Seizure, Nathan?” Cassie asks.

“Yeah,” I say pushing myself up slowly.

I’m dizzy and unbalanced.

“Gabriel fainted, too. You should tell him to take it easy till his arm heals,” she comments.

“Oh, don’t worry he’s fine. He wouldn’t listen to me anyway. I may have been his friend for over a decade but that doesn’t mean he listens to anything I say. He’d never let me out here by myself anyway,” I reply.

“I’m going to have to chain you both to beds if I want you to do anything, aren’t I?” she says annoyed.

I shrug but I’m laughing inside my head. Gabriel is probably wondering who the heck is laughing and why. I look up to the ledge where a middle-aged female teacher is kneeling down. I can’t see Gabriel, he must be lying down. I look around for my .44 that I dropped. It’s by my feet; I grab it and place it back in its holster. When I look up again I can see Gabriel insisting to the middle-aged female teacher that he can climb down the ladder by himself. From here I can see him roll his eyes and glance down, he spots me on the ground and doesn’t even bother with the ladder, and he just jumps the fence landing on all fours, five meters away. The teacher is now leaning over to see if he’s alright. He winces as his wounded arm hits the pavement; he rises slowly and makes his way to me. If people didn’t suspect anything before they might now. Then again we have been friends for over a decade why wouldn’t he be worried about me?

He kneels at my side and just stares into my eyes as if expecting something.

“Can you still hear me?” Finally comes through quietly.

I nod in reply. We must have both had the same vision. Angels. Was it true? Was that why I had wings and powers?

Gabriel’s eyes are wide; he must still be focused on my mind and is hearing everything I think. That was going to be annoying. We should have asked Noah how to disconnect so we can have privacy and sleep. Gabriel just shakes his head at that.

He helps me up with his one good arm and we walk back to the front door. Almost all the zombies have been cleared out, twenty so random ones dotted the parking lot and surrounding roads but the unexperienced and rest of the pro-shots could handle them.

“Don’t shot!” calls a voice among the zombies. We turn to look and see three young men who look about twenty. One is bleeding and the other who is holding him is bloody. The third seems uninjured or bloody. The others slow their fire and are careful not to hit the three survivors. They make it to where we are standing at the door. Cassie has joined us; she seems to have taken an interest in the injured party.

The three look like brothers or relatives but it’s hard to tell. They all have the same neck length pale blond hair but their eyes are all different colors. The injured one has bright blue eyes the color of the ocean, well the one assisting him to walk has dark green-gray eyes, and the third uninjured party has brown eyes.

I pull back the door and Gabriel steps inside and off to the side.

“Thanks, he’s shot. Medical attention is needed, “says the third member who stands aside from the injured and bloody parties.

I notice in Russian or British accent now.

The injured and bloody parties go inside and Cassie follows quickly and the third member trails them and I am last in the door. Gabriel stands off to the side outside the office, I join him.

“Get in here, I won’t have you two running off till I check you after I attend to this injured man,” Cassie says annoyed.

She pulls gurney out into the main office and they lay the injured man down. She cuts off his shirt which is mostly soaked in blood. The bullet is near his lower abdomen on the right side.

“Names?” asks Gabriel with a slight concern.

“Cain,” says the bloody man calmly.

The third member side glances at Cain looking worried, yet, he has this ‘are you kidding me?’ vibe, too.

“The injured one is Abele and he’s Jasper, we’re brothers, Abele’s the youngest at eighteen, Jasper’s nineteen, and I’m twenty,” he says like he doesn’t care that his brother’s bleeding out.

“Cain is... A lot like Farren...” I hear Gabriel whisper quietly to himself.

Gabriel side glances me.

The senior nurse joins Cassie at the gurney. Cassie applies pressure to the wound well the other runs around gathering essentials for the removal of the bullet. Abele is breathing heavy but he’s conscious. Cassie repeatedly tells him to keep his eyes open and on her. Jasper is pacing back and forth between the reception desks and a small table near the couch.

“Do you think Cain hurt his own brother?” I ask Gabriel through the mind link.

“I wonder if it was over a stupid thing like the Caine who murdered his brother, Abel, in the bible,” replies Gabriel.

Jasper seems to be getting angrier by the second, his anger didn’t seem to be directed at anyone or thing so I was beginning to think he was upset with himself.

He finally storms out into the hall. Cain shrugs and sits down on the couch. There was something seriously wrong with that guy. I and Gabriel follow Jasper.

“I should have stopped him, dammit,” he curses loudly. “It was such a stupid thing. Why did he have to shoot him? Dammit! Why?!” He says it while smacking his fists against the wall.

“Calm down,” says Gabriel pulling Jasper’s bruised hands away from the wall. You can see thin, tear streaks running down his face.

“I should have stopped him!” he shouts again.

“Who?” I ask trying not to pry.

“Cain! He... He shot Abele because he was going to get a scholarship and get to go to college for free before the apocalypse. He thought he deserved it because he was the first son. He thought he deserved it because he thought he was the smartest and the best at everything. He shot Abele thinking if he killed his younger brother he would get the scholarship if the world would ever go back to normal. He’s a psychopath! He has no remorse, he just shot and then stared well we freaked out and he bled,” he says in a panicky voice.

Jasper slides to the floor burying his face in his hands. I and Gabriel glance at each other.

“You were right. Did you read his mind? How?” I ask glancing back at the office doors.

“I didn’t that time. How could my theory be almost exact? This is crazy. This angel stuff must be real powerful. I wonder if our parent’s parents were really important people like archangels or something,” he replies.

“Your name is Gabriel maybe you were grandson of the archangel Gabriel or something,” I comment.

“It’s not your fault, okay. Sometimes you can’t stop things from happening. You couldn’t have known Cain was going to shoot Abele,” says Gabriel kneeling down and placing his hands on his shoulders.

“I was supposed to protect my little brother, instead I got him shot! I was supposed to keep the peace between us so we’d survive,” he says still crying into his hands.

“Jasper! Gabriel here got shot yesterday, now he’s my best friend and I’m supposed to be there for him but I fell asleep because I was tired. No human can stay awake forever, if I did I’d be dead and so would Gabriel. I can’t blame myself for him being shot just because I should have been there to protect him. The person who shot Gabriel was psychopathic, too so no offense but if Cain hadn’t shot Abele he would of hurt somebody sooner or later because shooting the zombies and turning people were no longer enough,” I say trying to knock sense into him.

“Who shot you?” asks Jasper lifting his head.

“Why do you ask?” asks Gabriel stiffly.

“Cain was bragging about killing people earlier but I don’t know if those people were turning or not,” replies Jasper sadly.

“Don’t worry he didn’t shoot me. A man name Farren shot me. Don’t blame yourself for any of this. Abele wouldn’t want you to do this,” says Gabriel trying to comfort him.

His breathing is fast, he signs and sniffles. He wipes his wet eyes and cheeks with his sweater’s sleeve. It’s been about an hour and a half since Abele was rushed into the office.

Cassie finally comes out wiping blood from her hands with a dark, wet cloth.

“We got the bullet out but he lost a lot of blood. He seems to be in a coma state and we are unsure if he will wake, I’m sorry for your loss if he does not wake,” she says quietly.

“Thank you for trying to save him,” replies Jasper.

Cassie stares at him for several long seconds and then goes back into the office.

“Trying?” Gabriel questions.

I shrug and look back at Jasper who is staring at the floor. He moved on from completely upset and balling to a calm state of regret and grief. It was like he’d already lost Abele. Like Abele had already died instead of being meters away in a bed in a coma.

Cain comes out of the office, still emotionless and uncaring.

“Get out,” says Jasper.

“What did you say?” he asks but it sounds slightly sarcastic, like what Jasper said was a joke or funny.

“Get out, you monster. You shot Abele!” he yells rising, his irises are shining with vengeance.

“Have you lost your mind? I did no such thing. Dad always said you were different, now I know what he meant. It was a nice way of saying crazy,” says Cain in defense but you can tell he’s the one lying.

Psychopaths are good at lying but they don’t show emotion. Jasper’s reaction to his brother’s injury is that of a normal human. Cain’s calm, emotionless demeanor is that of a psychopath. A normal person with empathy would regret shooting a family member unless they did something horrible. Jasper probably wouldn’t regret shooting Cain right now.

“I ain’t flipping crazy. You shut your mouth take your violent intensions and leave because you’re insane!” yells Jasper.

Jasper doesn’t have the emotionless demeanor like Cain to be able to shot his own brother, though. I notice the glock on the inside of Jasper’s tan and brown coat. Cain has a bulge on the side of his waist. He reaches inside his sweater and pulls out what looks like .30 carbine and points it at Jasper. Gabriel steps in front of him and pulls his .44 magnum out.

“Get out of the way. You don’t want to be shot and you won’t shoot me in front of my own brother so what are you doing?” he asks Gabriel.

“The first part maybe true but the second part actually depends on Jasper. I won’t move and I won’t shoot unless he tells me to,” he replies aiming the magnum at point blank range towards Cain’s forehead.

“Just get him out and don’t let him back in, ever. He’s the devil,” says Jasper breathing hard.

“You heard him. Out,” says Gabriel gesturing with the magnum in the direction of the front door.

“You can’t kick me out. The zombies will eat me. You’re supposed to save lives not threaten them,” Cain replies staying put.

“If we allow you to stay it would be like letting a zombie roam the school halls. You are as much a threat as they are. Now get out or we’ll use force to remove you from inside this building,” replies Gabriel keeping his magnum level with Cain’s forehead.

Cain just stands there like we’re having a normal conversation and a gun is not being pointed feet from his brain.

“Leave!” shouts Jasper pulling out his glock and pointing it in the direction of his brother’s heart.

“Come on. Neither of you have the guts to shot me, this is ridiculous,” he said smiling, almost laughing.

I finally pull my .44 and point it at one of the arteries in Cain’s legs.

“You now have shot somebody before who wasn’t a zombie or turning. You could shoot me but you won’t because you’re worried you’ll upset somebody, “comments Cain at my stand.

I side glance Jasper but his eyes are on Cain. He takes a step forward and we follow in suit. Pushing Cain towards the door. People are starting to come back in and they glance at us quickly, worried, and then hurry pass to get out of the line of fire.

Jess finally comes through the door and stops.

“What’s going on here?” he asks.

“He shot Abele. He’s a psychopath and threat to everyone. Get out, Cain,” shouts Jasper.

“Abele is the injured guy they were carrying. They’re brothers,” comments Gabriel.

Jess plucks the .30 carbine from Cain’s hand and pushes him toward the door.

“No reason to leave him with a weapon that can kill some of our ventures. Out before they either shoot you or I carry you out,” he say offensively.

Jess is taller than both me and Gabriel; he’s an amazing six foot five. Strong build, and well trained in defense, I still wonder why he didn’t join the Venturers.

What’s funny about Cain from other psychopaths is that he seems to have no concern for his own life. Most will do anything to make sure they live before anyone else but not him.

Cain finally gets the idea and pulls the heavy door away from the frame and with one last look at Jasper and leaves.

“We’ll need to place a guard on this door, too. We should check Paul for weapons before we release him tomorrow, too. Out there’s dangerous enough without two lunatics with weapons running around,” comments Jess.

Jasper lowers his weapon and just stares off into space for a while.

“Are you okay?” asks Gabriel.

“Yeah... Yeah... I’m going to go figure out where Abele is,” he says quietly placing his weapon back in its holster.

We remerge into the front corridor between the front office and gym.

Jess goes off towards the classrooms to find a guard I assume. We start walking toward the classrooms, too when Cassie comes out of the office.

“Where do you think you’re going? I haven’t checked to make sure you were unharmed from your fainting and seizure,” she says annoyed.

Gabriel rolls his eyes before he turns around.

“Great. Another annoying person in my life. Can’t she leave us alone? People faint all the time and you have seizures all the time, what damage are you going to get or have that you didn’t have before?” He thinks sarcastically.

I shrug in reply. I suppose I could get a concussion from my fall to the ground but I didn’t have any pain or blurry vision or balance problems.

“I say, we make a run for it. We’re faster than her, right? “He thinks glancing at the empty hall.

I sign and roll my eyes at him.

Cassie is just staring at us weirdly.

“What is this? An all-day event? Let’s go,” she asks gesturing in the direction of the front office.

Gabriel takes off and I quickly follow him.

“Get back here!” Cassie shouts chasing after us until we reach the stairs that lead to the second floor at the end of the hall with classrooms.

We slow and hide behind the elevator at the top of the first set of stairs where the door that leads to outside and the old woodshop/gym is. Once we believe we are safe we go through door to the dark woodshop/gym room. It’s nice and quiet here, we’re finally away from all the chaos, the responsibility. We’re finally alone. But of course it won’t last but we enjoy the time we do get to ourselves. We sit on the stairs to the overlook of the gym below. Our backs against the wall facing each other. It’s nice to just be by ourselves sometimes and even though it worries everyone sometimes you just need a break from it all. Family, responsibilities, crowds, companions, friends. Sometimes you just need time alone with someone you love.

Before the apocalypse, Melody, me and Gabriel often spent hours together. It didn’t bother Gabriel that I at the time was in a relationship; he supported me and enjoyed the time nonetheless. We were by ourselves a lot, whether we went for long walks, or to the mall or movies or a restaurant. We spent more time together than with our own families. Emily only came every once in a while because her parents were strict, home by nine, kept your grades above 80%, no drugs or alcohol. Quinn and Arran’s parents were the same way; even though we were good people they didn’t seem to trust us to do all those things or rather not encourage their children to not do them.

The silence was nice after all that gunfire and confrontation with Cain. But after a while it was annoying again.

Gabriel nervously lifted his back away from the wall and slid closer to me. He was on a step above. He leaned over my legs and touched my face. This time he kissed me first, it was quick but hard. He was probably trying to get it over with as quickly as possible because of how nervous he was. I smiled in return and he gave a nervous smirk in return. It was probably almost ten at night so we were both tired and decided to sneak back down to the box cave. We made sure no one saw us but we found an unexpected guest in the cave. Jasper had apparently wanted to be alone and had picked a random key out of the spare room keys and ended up here. I guessed that maybe we should start keeping the key; then again it didn’t matter because Emily could pick the lock.

“Sorry, I didn’t know anyone was using this room,” he says from his seat outside the cave.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s just nobody aside from us usually comes in this room,” comments Gabriel nervously.

“I’ll leave,” he says quietly but he doesn’t move. He’s staring off into space. He looks sad and lost.

“No, you can stay,” says Gabriel not wanting Jasper to feel rejected or alone probably. I knew we knew almost nothing about him but if he was left alone who knows what he’d do. It just wasn’t a good idea.

My head starts hurting then. I’m quietly sit down and Gabriel seems to be joining me in the vision again cause he looks scared and is holding his head.

“He’s an angel. He’s adopted and doesn’t know his real family,” says Noah smoothly.

“What’s up with all the psychopaths?” asks Gabriel.

Noah is silent and the vision ends soon after without an answer to Gabriel’s question.

“Are you guys okay?” asks Jasper when I open my eyes. I was out for less than a minute apparently. Jasper is flushed and looks worried. That’s when I notice the dark gray wings stretching from his back. Gabriel is still unconscious but you can see bumps under his sweater.

I take a pocket knife out and cut to large holes in the back of my shirt and let my wings separate from my back. It wasn’t quite as painful as the first time but it still hurts. I glance back at them as they flap and look back at Jasper who looks surprised.

“You have wings, too?” he asks.

“Both me and him do,” I say flicking Gabriel’s ear trying to wake him.

“Do you know why?” he then asks shyly. “Abele and Cain aren’t my real brothers, I was adopted.”

“We’re sons of half angels. When an angel and human have kids it creates Nephilim which are half angel and half human but when two Nephilim have children it either creates full angels or full human children it won’t be half or a quarter. Our younger siblings are human,” I explain calmly.

“We’re angels?” he asks unsure.

“Yeah, do you have any extra abilities? I have visions of the future and can communicate to the Noah from the bible through the visions and he can read minds and create links so other people can hear his thoughts as well,” I reply.

“Aside from these wings, I don’t think so,” he says quietly.

“It’s late, you should get some sleep,” I say quietly.

He smirks and crawls inside the cave and lies down. I drag a pillow and blanket out from the cave. I carefully lift Gabriel’s head trying not to wake him and place the pillow under his head then I cover him up with the blanket. He still had yet to wake, it made me worry. Was he still trapped in the vision talking to Noah or had he been so tired after the vision that he just stayed in an unconscious state. Soon I hear Jasper snoring.

Suddenly I hear squeaking, I panic because my wings are still out. I rise and quietly try to move away from the door that is now half way open but in the process I knock a pile of boxes over with my wings and trip over more.

“Who’s there? Nathan? Is that you?” calls Emily.

What did she want at like ten-thirty, eleven at night? Gabriel was sleeping so wouldn’t that suggest that I too was sleeping? She obviously wanted to talk to me otherwise she would have just woken Gabriel if she wanted to talk to him.

I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my labored breathing. Emily was silent for a while but I could hear her tip toeing around. I watched her through cracks in one of the walls of boxes. I tried to pull my wings back in but it wasn’t working and that made me panic more. She looked all around the room for the source of what had knocked over the boxes but never found me cause I kept silently moving. After a while I found a large box to hide in. It was on its side so I just curled up inside making sure I could see out the crack and stayed there. I don’t know how long I was lying for before I fell asleep but it couldn’t have been more than an hour or so. But what I would wake to would be much more scary then Emily.