V.J. Chambers - Jason&Azazel Apocalypse 01 (22 page)

Crap. The pregnancy test! I checked my watch. Fifteen minutes?!

That was too long, wasn’t it? But what happened if you read the test too late?

I raced over to the test and snatched it up off the ground. It was too dark. I could hardly see anything. I sat down hard on the ground and held it up to the kerosene lantern. I could see one strong pink line. My heart thudded.

Negative.

But no. There was another line there. It was faint, very faint, but I could see it. And the test said that even a faint line was a positive.

No. No, no, no. Please, no.

Why had I lost that other test? If I had it, I could test again.

Two lines. I was pregnant. Oh, God. I was pregnant.

* * *

As I got back towards the church, I could hear angry voices, talking over each other. Great. This was all I needed. I was pregnant, and now I was coming back to an argument. I trudged up from the woods. Everyone was still sitting outside around the grill, where I’d seen them last. Kieran was on his feet, gesturing wildly. Hallam was standing too. He was pointing his finger at Kieran.

They were both talking at once. I couldn’t make out what either of them were saying.

I sat down in an empty chair. No one seemed to notice that I’d arrived. Maybe no one had noticed that I’d left.

“You’d risk the lives of these people on some kind of revenge errand?” Hallam was saying.

“They’re dangerous people,” Kieran said. “And they’re in this area. I think they need to be dealt with.” Oh, okay, I got what this was about. Kieran wanted to rally everyone into going after the people who’d murdered his family. Hadn’t I told him that Hallam wouldn’t go for it?

“We have neither the resources nor the time—” Hallam started.

“Time?” said Kieran. “What are we so busy doing here, huh? I don’t think we’re doing anything.

We’re sitting around waiting while Jason’s people attack us and ruin our boat.”

“You’re not taking anyone with you to find these people, and that’s final,” said Hallam.

“Well, can I ask them?” Kieran said. His eyes swept the group. Everyone turned away from him, not meeting his eyes. “Maybe they want to help.”

Hallam gritted his teeth. “It’s not their decision. I’m in charge here, and I say that no one’s going anywhere.”

Kieran’s nostrils flared.

“Sit down,” Hallam said.

Kieran did, but he didn’t look like he liked it.

“Now,” said Hallam. “If that madness is over, perhaps I could get back to what I was trying to discuss, which was that—”

He was interrupted by Gus, who’d been inside. He stuck his head out the back door. “Radio transmission!” Gus yelled.

Everyone stood up at once and started for the church. We got a little bottlenecked at the doorways, but within a minute, we were all inside the radio room. We crowded inside, not bothering to sit down. Hallam squeezed between our bodies to get to the radio.

Hallam seized the radio’s microphone and pushed the button to talk. “Wakefield team here.

Wakefield speaking. Over.”

“Copy that, Wakefield. Sit tight while I put on Phillips. Over,” said the crackling radio.

We waited. The radio hissed and sputtered for a few seconds, and then Phillips came on.

He didn’t waste any time on pleasantries. “We’ve been trying to reach Junkin’s team up north for the past three days with no answer. We can only assume the worst. Teams to the south aren’t making near the progress you’ve made. Right now, you’re our best shot. Over.”

“You’re saying you want us to try to get across the river? Over,” said Hallam.

“Affirmative, Wakefield team. Your orders are to get across that river as soon as possible. Over.”

“Well,” said Hallam. “There’s a slight problem. We don’t have a boat anymore. Over.”

“What happened to the one we sent you? Over.”

“It was sort of destroyed. Over.”

“Good God. You’ll have to find another boat somewhere. We need your team on the move as soon as possible. Over.”

“Copy that, HQ,” sighed Hallam. “Over and out.” He looked around at everyone who’d gathered inside. “I need to think. Everyone out except Marlena and Lily.”

We all trickled out of the room with the radio. Most people headed back outside to talk about this new turn of events, but I didn’t feel much like company. I started back for the sanctuary. I thought maybe I’d go out the front of the church and take a walk, maybe look for a coat hanger or some stairs to throw myself down.

But Kieran caught up with me in the sanctuary. “Hey,” he said. “Where were you? I could have used your help with Hallam earlier.”

I was amazed. “Kieran, I was on Hallam’s side. I don’t think we need to go after those guys.”

“Well, now, it’s impossible anyway, considering we have orders to get across the river.”

“They have orders, Kieran. Not us,” I said. “I think we should go back to D.C., like we’re supposed to.” I hadn’t realized I thought this. But I guessed I did. I wanted to wait until I saw Polly again, but if she delivered the grimoire, then everything would work out. I’d strip Jason and me of our powers. Hallam and Marlena could get past Jason easily then, I hoped. And Kieran and I could go back and…what? Play house? Except for the baby part, everything would work out, I guessed.

“You do?” He considered. “I guess you’re right. We were only hanging around to try to stop Jason. Now that they’re going to go west for sure, I guess they’ll sneak around him or something, like you suggested earlier.”

I nodded. “Right.”

“So when do you want to go?”

“A few days, I guess. They still need another boat. I’m sure Hallam and Marlena are in there deciding who’s going to go looking for one.”

“Okay,” said Kieran. “Sounds good.” He sat down heavily on one of the pews. “I guess it was crazy of me to try to get everyone to help me go after those guys. It just drives me nuts knowing they’re still out there. I wish I’d killed them before.”

I sat down next to him. “Sorry,” I said, taking his hand. “Maybe I should have used my powers.”

He shrugged. “Well, it’s done now. There’s no point dwelling on the past.” He squeezed my hand. “Where were you anyway? You disappeared after dinner.”

There wasn’t much point in keeping it from him, I guess. I got the pregnancy test out of my pocket and handed it to him.

He made a face. “What is this?”

“It’s a pregnancy test, moron. Two lines are positive. One’s negative.”

“Oh,” he said. “I can’t read it in this light.”

I took it back from him. “It’s positive.”

He sat up straight, taking my other hand. “It is?” He sounded excited.

“Yes,” I said, doing my best not to sound excited at all.

“Wow,” Kieran breathed. He hugged me.

I let him, but I didn’t hug back.

“Hey,” said Kieran. “What’s wrong?”

Was he an idiot? “What do you think is wrong? I told you I didn’t want to be pregnant. I’m glad you think it’s so wonderful, but I don’t.”

Kieran let go of my hands and got out of the pew. He stood in the aisle, not facing me. “Damn it, Azazel.”

I let my head fall back and stared at the ceiling. “What?”

“You’re so hot and cold,” he said. “Yesterday, I thought you were into it, and now you’re not. I don’t know what to think.”

“It was just an idea yesterday,” I said. “Now it’s a reality.”

“I want you to be happy about it. I feel like an asshole if I’m happy about it and you’re not.”

“Sorry that the fact that I’m going to gain tons of weight, get stretch marks, and go through hours of painful labor doesn’t make me thrilled. Sorry that makes you feel like an asshole.” How could he possibly make this all about him?

“Forget it,” Kieran mumbled. He trudged back through the church, out the front door, the way I’d planned to go. Now I couldn’t even go for a walk.

Instead of following him, I lay down on my side and curled up in a little ball on the pew.

* * *

I dreamed of honey. Just outside Columbus-Belmont park, the river was made entirely of honey.

It was thick and amber colored, and it oozed over the rocks and the grass on the banks. It smelled cloyingly sweet. The scent drifted up to the lookout house where we’d rescued Lily and the others. I was standing outside the lookout house, gazing down on the river of honey, wondering if it was tainted, or if it would still taste good.

A fly alighted on my shoulder. It spoke to me in a teeny voice, not unlike Polly’s. “You can’t go across the river, or you’ll get stuck in it,” it said in my ear.

I brushed the fly off of me, annoyed.

Above me, the sky abruptly convulsed into storm clouds. The blue sky was obliterated with gray.

Lightning flashed behind them, illuminating the wispy edges of the clouds. The clouds shifted, moving in and out of each other, and then solidifying into a shape. I cocked my head to stare.

The shape became clearer and clearer as the clouds knitted themselves into each other. It was a face.

I shuddered as I recognized the face. Liam Sutherland, the most evil man I’d ever met. We’d never been enemies, not quite. But he’d never really been on my side either. Sutherland’s idea of fun was raping and killing teenage girls. Sutherland made his living by selling information to the highest bidder. Sutherland had dirt on everyone, and no one could touch him. He bought his immunity from every government. He worked with high officials in churches and pagan organizations alike. Why was I dreaming about Liam Sutherland?

Sutherland’s cloud face looked down on me. His angry eyes bored into mine. “Azazel,” he said, delighted. He’d always found me a little too creepily attractive for my taste. I’d hoped that these days, I’d be too old for his taste. I’d hoped that he’d died when the solar flare happened. Why was he in the clouds? “There are things you don’t know about what’s happening out west.”

Ah. It was the same song and dance all over again. “What do you want for your information, Sutherland?” I asked. He always had a price. He always wanted to trade. And if I had no money and no information, he always suggested we trade by him raping me. I’d never let that happen. If Sutherland didn’t always turn out to be so damned useful, I would kill him.

“Why, my safety, of course,” said Sutherland. “You don’t think I don’t know that you and your boyfriend are trying to spoil all my fun, do you? Promise to leave me alone, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Leave him alone? “You afraid of me, Sutherland?”

“Terrified,” said Sutherland, grinning widely. Then the clouds that made up his face dispersed as rain began to fall.

Drops of it fell on my hands and head. It wasn’t water. It was honey.

Sticky, warm honey was coating my hair and clothing and sliding all over my skin. I dove for the lookout house, the only shelter around. Jason was inside. He was holding a baby. It was swaddled inside blankets. I couldn’t make out its head.

“It’s raining honey,” I said.

Jason just shrugged. He made cooing noises at the baby. “I don’t know how much longer I can wait for you, Azazel. He’s getting stronger.”

I wanted to get away from Jason, but the sky was still spitting out large gobs of honey. I could hear them splat against the roof of the lookout house.

“They’re coming,” said Jason. “I’ve held off as long as I could, waiting for you, but soon I’ll have to do it without you.” He sighed. “It won’t be easy. I can make them want to work together, but I can’t make them want to destroy. They have to want that themselves already. But you can do that. You can make them want to kill him. If we were together…”

Even in my dreams, Jason was trying to get back together? Jesus. “Give me the baby,” I said.

“Why?” said Jason. “It’s not yours. You don’t have babies. You never have babies.”

“I’m pregnant now.”

He shook his head. “This baby isn’t yours. You remember what kind of babies you have.” He pointed into the fireplace in the lookout house. In the corner was a twisted piece of blackness, a worm-shaped thing with rows and rows of sharp teeth. My dream in Italy at the Sol Solis school.

My dream of having a baby with Jason. That monster thing. But you couldn’t remember other dreams in dreams. Could you?

“Stop worrying about babies and worry about what family you’ve got left,” said Jason.

I turned away from the fireplace. There, standing behind Jason, tied to the poles holding up the lookout house, were Hallam and Marlena. They were bleeding.

I rushed to them, working at the knots that held them fast to the poles with honey covered fingers. I couldn’t untie them.

Hallam moaned.

I looked at Jason furiously. “If they’re my family, they’re your family too. Why are you doing this?”

Jason laughed. “Because it’s fun,” he said.

“Untie them.”

Jason turned back to the baby. “Baby’s going to learn how to torture people today, aren’t you?”

He tickled the baby’s tummy. “Yes, you are, little man. Yes, you are.”

“Stop it!” I screamed, and—

—woke myself up on the pew where I’d been sleeping. It was morning. Light streamed in through the shattered windows. I’d slept out here all night, apparently.

Chapter Fourteen

Hallam and Marlena had decided that they’d be going to look for another boat to get across the river. I didn’t think this was a good idea. I wasn’t crazy about my dreams, and I didn’t always know what they meant, but I was pretty sure that the dream I’d had last night was warning me that Jason intended to capture Hallam and Marlena and torture them. What the raining honey, cloud face of Sutherland, and baby had to do with anything I didn’t know. Possibly they were just things my subconscious was trying to work out. My dreams were confusing at best, but I had a feeling about this.

Hallam and Marlena grilled me about everything that happened in the dream and concluded that since it contained so many weird and irrelevant things, they shouldn’t take it seriously.

I tried a different tactic. Why were they the ones who were going to find the boat? Hallam was the person in charge of the team. If he left, we would all be bereft of leadership.

Hallam explained that he wasn’t going to send any of the people who’d been captured by Jason out alone again. He didn’t think it was fair to them after their ordeal, and he didn’t think they’d be able to do the job quite as well, because they might be overly cautious. He didn’t want to send people who hadn’t been captured by Jason because there were reasons they hadn’t been part of scouting parties in the first place. It could only be him and Marlena, in other words. They were going. As for who would be in charge, he was leaving me in charge, but I had express directions not to do anything crazy like go after those nut jobs Kieran wanted to go after.