She advanced a step, but Victor rested a hand on her arm. “Don’t, Ceris. You’re not helping.”
Ceris jerked her arm from his touch. “Are you defending her?”
Victor sighed. “I’m not defending anyone.”
“It doesn’t look like it. From where I’m standing, you’re on her side.”
“I’m on everyone’s side.”
Tuning them out, I marched to the other side of the car and opened the driver’s door. “Raisa, Keisha, are you coming?”
Raisa rushed to the car without sparing a second.
Keisha looked lost for a moment. “Yes.”
We entered the car, and Victor held my door before I could close it.
“You need to help us.”
I sighed. “I know. But you have made it three months without me. You can make it another three. I’m sure you can find me when you need my healing again.”
I closed the door, turned on the engine, and backed the car out of the clearing.
Once we were back on the road, Keisha turned to me. “What the hell was all that?”
The drive to Pittsburgh lasted a little over three hours with no incidents.
The only problem was Keisha and Raisa asking me about things I wasn’t sure I should talk about.
“You’re not gonna answer any of our questions?” Keisha asked.
We crossed the Welcome to Pittsburgh sign on the interstate. It was broken and rusty and hanging precariously from a bent metal post. The city was still here, but in much worse shape than New York City had been before the attack. Half of it had been sacked and destroyed. The rest looked like a prison in decay.
I sighed. “I don’t know.”
“Humor me. After all I saw, you can’t expect me to be surprised by much.”
I laughed. “Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious. Tell me.”
I watched her. Why not? Soon the world would be at war, and by now, everyone probably knew what had happened to New York, who attacked the city. The creed wouldn’t be able to hide for much longer.
After confirming that Raisa was sleeping on the backseat, I took a deep breath and blurted it out. “Micah is also called Mitrus. Victor is also called Levi. Ceris is … just Ceris. The man we saw in New York is named Omi, and he works with a woman called Imha. They are gods, all of them. Their creed is called The Everlasting Circle. Thirty years ago Imha set up Mitrus to turn against Levi. She was experimenting. She wanted to see if she could kill a god. It turns out they can die. Mitrus killed Levi; however, Levi also killed Mitrus. Without all the gods, the world was thrown out of balance, and that’s why we have been living in darkness and danger and destruction. What nobody expected was, six years later, they were reborn as humans. Victor and Micah. Three months ago, Victor and Micah found out they are gods trapped in human bodies, and they need to become full gods again to restore the world to what it was before the darkness.”
I glanced at her.
“So … they are gods? Real, honest to goodness gods?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she watched me with attention. “All right. Give me a minute.”
I nodded, expecting her to take way more than a minute.
“Wait,” she said, after fifteen seconds. “Raisa mentioned a Victor earlier. That Victor? You’re telling me you had something with a god?”
“Hmm, after everything I told you, this is what you ask first?” I glanced at her, and she shrugged. “Yes, that Victor. At the time, he and I didn’t know he was a god.”
“Okay, now I’ll need another minute.”
I shook my head, wondering about her logic.
Before her minute was over, we arrived at a barrier of soldiers standing at the road.
“Shit,” I muttered, bringing the car to a stop in front of them. Keisha turned around, making sure the weapons were on the floor of the backseat, and shook Raisa awake.
Two soldiers, holding rifles, came to my window. I pressed the button and slid the glass down.
“What’s your business in Pittsburgh, miss?” one of them asked. The embroidery on his chest read Wilson.
“We want to get to the train station,” I said.
“For?”
I frowned. “We are survivors from the New York attack. We just want to get to the train to go home.”
“Survivors from the New York attack?” the other one asked, clearly surprised. His name was Flores, according to the embroidery on his uniform. He pulled his radio. “Sir, we have survivors from the New York attack at the southeast barrier.”
“Let them in,” a sharp voice said through the radio. “I’m on my way.”
Wilson tapped the top of the car. “Go in, and stop your car by the large tent over there.” He pointed to our right, but I couldn’t see any large tents from here. “Let them in!” he shouted.
The soldiers forming the barrier stepped aside, and I drove in slowly. Now I could see the tent a few yards away.
“What now?” Raisa asked, yawning.
“They will probably want to know what happened,” Keisha said.
“I know.”
“What will we say?” Raisa asked.
“That we didn’t see much? We saw a few figures assaulting the city, and everything was burning but we escaped.”
“And how did we escape?” Raisa yawned again.
I parked the car before the big white tent. “With the car?”
“They won’t believe us.”
“Even if we tell the truth, they won’t believe us.” From the mirrors, I saw Wilson and Flores walking up to us. “Just play up being nervous and shaken.”
They nodded, and we exited the car as an older man stepped out of the tent.
“I’m General Andrews,” he said, halting in front of us. “What are your names?”
“I’m Nadine, and these are my friends, Raisa and Keisha.”
“How did you escape New York?” the general asked.
We told them what we had rehearsed. It was far from being a confident lie, but it was all we had. The nervous and shaken thing was working, especially for Raisa.
“They said they want to get to the train station, sir,” Wilson said.
“Yes, yes,” General Andrews said. “How about you clean up first? We have an infirmary close by. The nurses can take care of your wounds, and I think they have clean clothes too.”
“That would be great, actually,” I said, relieved he wouldn’t grill us to find out more.
“Wilson, accompany them. Make sure they are taken care of, and then take them to the train station. Come back once their trains have departed.”
“Yes, sir.” Wilson saluted before exiting the tent with us.
In the end, we left the car and the weapons there and drove with Wilson in a SUV to the infirmary. There, the nurses treated our wounds, let us shower in warm water, gave us clean clothes and tasty food. For those precious minutes, I almost believed we were in heaven.
After we were taken care of, Wilson drove us to the train station.
“Did you see what attacked New York?” he asked once we were on the road.
The “what” didn’t escape me. “It was all a blur,” I said before the girls could. I was seated in the passenger seat, and the girls were in the back. “Everyone was running and screaming. We were lucky to find the car and escape.”
He gave me a sidelong glance. “With the reports we received from there, you were lucky indeed.”