Alexander

Chapter Three

The lunch line is longer than I anticipated. Usually, I manage to arrive early enough to miss the rush. I grab my tray and stand in line like the others waiting for my portioned meal wondering if I could sneak through the line twice. The line creeps along, I at the near end of it accepting lunch will be almost over by the time I arrive to the counter.

I take my ration of spaghetti with a side of steamed broccoli and a plain roll and move quickly to a table. I plan on only eating a few drawn out bites before taking the rest to go. Popping the cap on my bottle of water, bottled fresh one building over, over and over again after filtration, I settle in to appear non conspicuous even though I feel everyone staring.

Certain it is mostly in my head, I feel overwhelmed with what I have gotten myself into. It is all for Sophia I tell me self over and over again. She is the one who became my best friend after the invasion. Always on the watch out for me, she knew me better than anyone here. Better than anyone knows anyone else after they gave into the routine. There are still plenty of friendly faces. They just aren’t filled with joy as they would have been before the invasion. Most are still gracious for survival, but also there is constant wonder of what now? Why are we trying to continue life here when it has become so basic and miserable? Will we ever see the outside again?

For me that is an easy answer. After all the suffering I have been witness to, I have also been witness to miracles. I have memories of seeing land changed from the power of thought from one being. Mind control unlike anything imaginable. She was and, hopefully, still is the most powerful being I have had the privilege to meet. Part of me hopes holding hostage one of her kind, I might bring attention to her and she might come in search of him. I can only hope she recognizes he is missing and comes quickly enough to save me from having to go to such extensive measures as hiding the body.

I have no idea what his standing with the angels is. Why he really came or what he could have done had I not captured him. What I do know is it is ultimately only a matter of time before he is known to be missing. If they did send him, they will send a search party, whether Serissa is in it or not. While I might prefer her, I will take anything that draws attention to our situation. In the meanwhile, I don’t see any harm in finding a way to fix things here on my own. They may not even see that he is missing, and it does seem strange to me that he would show up on his own and without protection.

“Who is he?” Clara’s voice grates on my every nerve as it sneaks up behind me.

I give her a silencing look, realizing she knows. He must have made the noise and of course, she was the one who found him first. She takes a seat next to me drawing attention towards our table. Clara is unnaturally tall for a woman especially in heels, though that may also be because she isn’t like anyone else here. She isn’t like the amiables and she certainly, isn’t human. She arrived shortly after the amiables did. She said she was sent with a purpose, and aside from the fact she is intelligent and methodical, she really hasn’t benefited us much. She plays her role, like everyone else, albeit with more agitation than anyone else.

She smooths her slick, bluntly-cut blond hair down, her gaze stuck to me with full interest.

“Well?”

“Not here Clara, please,” I beg her under my breath.

She snickers. “Then let us go give him a visit, yes? You’ll need this.”

She drops half of her rations onto my tray next to my own and nods towards the laboratories. Unsure if she has any real motivation to know about him for her own reason, or if she is being the nosy neighbor she has always been, I nod, picking up my tray and join her. We draw attention to the fact I am carrying food away from the cafeteria commons, though, most turn away uninterested. It isn’t the first time I’ve carried my tray back to my lab, but with two half portions it must look as though we are on some kind of date and seeking privacy.

She takes the tray from me so I can unlock the door. She beats me in and walks abruptly over in front of him for closer investigation, leaving the tray on the island counter in between us.

“Yes, he is amazing isn’t he?” she says, winking at him.

The angel even gives me a look with her comment, one that states he is not an animal in a zoo for observation. I shrug. What am I to do? I am not befriending this angel. Let her look at him like an animal in a zoo, lord knows most days I feel like one.

“I found him on one of my walks last night. He was hovering behind the building looking or waiting for something. He didn’t hear me approach giving me an opportunity to rope him. I snuck him in last night. You know what he is, don’t you?” I explain, wondering if her race was familiar with them.

“Oh, us ancient ones go way back,” she says crouching down to peer in closer. “I am sorry for you situation. I cannot offer you much help. I am the only one like me here also. To do what I can I have given half my rations to Alexander in order to help nourish you back to health.”

“Thank you?” he questions, unsure of why she would offer such help.

“You are very welcome. May the suffering he intends to give you not be too harsh.”

She winks at him again. Is she flirting with him? She stands, turning around to look me dead in the eye.

“I am unsure what your plans are here, Alexander. But I assure you his kind is far heartier than you are capable of managing. I warn you, be careful the actions you take against this one. The wrath you may receive from this is all your own. In the meanwhile, I will supply you half of my rations to help keep his health, but know you will not succeed and I plan on being there to watch you fail. This can’t end any way other than entertaining.”

She begins to walk by me to leave, but I grab her arm to slow her.

“Why? What does he mean to you?”

“There is a mutual respect between our kind and it is the only kindness I will pay to you for actually working with me. I am not here on this miserable planet on my own accord. I was sent here to work off my misdoings. I will not interfere, but only warn. Be careful, you have no idea what you are up against,” she explains before closing the door behind her.

One thing I do know, is that the angel I have was once human, and as such carries a genetic mutation that gives him violet eyes. My sister and I have a similar mutation having green eyes. I suspect all the non vacant vamps had green eyes, which would explain why so few have been seen. Only two percent of the world’s population had green eyes before the invasion. I can only assume with so few people left that leaves the number smaller, leaving somewhere between ten to twenty people that I can bring back. I haven’t counted before. I am going to need to do that as it is only an estimate, but whatever may come in the future would need to be immunized against the contagion as well.

I hardly noticed I was staring off again, tapping my pen on my pad rhythmically. It was a lot to go over, but exhaustion only made it seem that much more difficult to process.

“Issues?” he asks dully.

“What is Clara?” I question. He must know if they go so far back being ancient as they are. Humans themselves were relatively young in the existence of the universes that are beyond our own as well as within.

“I don’t know her species by name. Only that she is ancient as she said. Our kind probably has a pact with hers. I’m not all into the politics of it. Some things you just want to keep close to home and our politics are far too vast.”

“Interesting, I wasn’t aware angels had politics.”

“Why wouldn’t we? We too like to live in communities; it requires some kind of policy. Hence, politics, though they are quite unlike your own,” he explains, maintaining the same lackluster tone.

My hand continues tapping the pen.

“Will they really send a search party?”

“Why, need more angels to strip of their divinity?” he replies dryly.

I shake my head, “No, I just wonder how long? How many? You know the important details.”

It would be a benefit to know how much time I had to execute my research.

“You aren’t as afraid as you should be,” he instructs with his same dark, slight smirk.

“What’s to be afraid of? Aside from being forgotten, the angels hadn’t been all that dangerous to the humans.”

He nods with little interest.

“What do you know of us then? You obviously don’t know the details on how we came to be or how we remain, or even how dangerous we can be when provoked.”

I scoff at him, but he is accurate in my knowledge. I don’t know as much as I like to think I do. I know enough about the ones that were here before to know that they are dangerous, but not to us. To those who oppose us. I know they are out to create equality and peace and will manipulate to get it. They are far wiser and more capable than humans at most things, but they also are more innocent in thought, almost naive at times. Or so I thought. I see how he watches me, his expression while bored, is more complex. He is digging to get to me, inviting himself under my skin in a way most humans wouldn’t notice because they aren’t even aware angels even exist, they wouldn’t know it’s a skill. They would find it as a genuine interest to be questioned this way, but I know it is a calm interrogation designed to piece me out and find my weakness.

“Well?” he asks after my long pondering silence in how to proceed. “I’m waiting for you well experienced answers.”

“Fine, I don’t know the mechanics of how you came to be or why you are still around. I do know you are a unique and powerful race, and I damn well know how dangerous you are. I was there when Serissa stopped the war with the flesh eaters. The evil creatures summoned from the Earth’s core before everything went to hell. I watched her shape the Earth into walls to prevent them from entering our compound. I even saw the Archs, the angel army, when they descended upon my family’s farm to defend the rest of the humans. The archs are far scarier than you, but they also know my family and they would not cause me harm.”

The loud chuckle he gives me then unnerves me. Was I wrong?

“Oh child, you are still very unaware. Yes, the archs know your family as well as Serissa, but I promise she is a fair leader and knows how to dish out her disapproval in forms of punishment you may never find release from. Have you met Clara beyond a working relationship? Do you know why she is here?”

“Serissa is the one who sent Clara as punishment?” I ask surprised.

“It is possible. You should have seen what she did to Kyle,” he says humored.

“I don’t understand?”

“No, you wouldn’t, would you? You don’t know the inner workings of our politics and how things are dealt with. You had a limited exposure to something amazing, but that is only one side of it. After saving earth, Serissa went home and continued to punish the one who saved her here on Earth, for he was the reason the flesh eaters had even emerged from their sleep. The same sleep her father put them in many, many years before. See even when he helped her, she still had to have the strength to know he was the bad guy and had to see fit he was treated as such. Some things are actually unforgivable. As you have done to me.” His eyes bore into me from beyond the bars. “Scared yet?”

I gaze as strongly as I can back at him, trying to seem unafraid. “I thought you didn’t like politics?” I respond.

“No, typically not much, but my wife, as you would call her, does.”

He gives me an intimidating grin. He might be a little scarier than I originally accounted for.

“You have a wife?” I question, clearly concerned now that I have done something more than I should have. Crossed a boundary I can’t get back to the other side of. “She’ll just have to manage without you now,” I respond quietly. s**t.

He laughs again in a way that sends shock waves through my nerves.

“Oh, she’ll manage just fine. Frankly, I need her more at the moment than she needs me.”

His eyes fill with a strange mixture of amusement and anger. It makes me nervous enough to want to leave the room to regain my composure, but I know in doing so he would know he won this battle. I wasn’t about to give into him that quickly, not when he was the one behind bars. My silence is long enough he settles on the floor and begins to eat the food I had given him making me wish I had rationed it out in order to keep him weak. Maybe he was only giving me crap about his abilities in order to derive what he needs out of me. Whatever the case, I fear I have gone too far. It doesn’t seem right to ruin his family to save my own.