Undone by a Broken Angel

21.) Chased

"Terrors frighten him on every side, and chase him at his heels.

- Job 18:11

Joshua is running.  Not the free, let the wind flow through his hair, kind of running.  More like the running from imminent death, kind of running.  Paul’s letter put a damper in his mood and a gigantic 180 degree turn in his flight plan.  He wanted to get this all over with- meet and woo the falcone woman, and get back to Paris for Farren and his paintings.  She would understand, wouldn’t see?  Once he explained what he was and why they could never be together, would she still allow him to provide for her as a husband without being a husband in every sense of the term, and then allow an actual wife to reside in their home?  He doesn’t want to assume that she would want to be with him, but he cannot ignore the feelings he developed for her in such a short amount of time.

All of this, however, is beside the point with reapers chasing after him.  He spotted Dianna’s lake and landed beside it only minutes ago, thanking the stars he could settle down for a few hours to sleep, when he sensed the dark aura of reapers nearby.  He took off to keep them away from the bunker’s entrance and is a quarter mile ahead of them, he estimates, but they’re slowly catching up.  As a mortal, he can’t keep running forever.

And oh. My. God. Joshua hates running.  There’s nothing enjoyable about it.  The panting, the burning in his lungs, the cramping in his side, all make him want to curl up in bed with a big bowl of galetto.  Even now, as he’s chased down, he detests every time his feet hit the rocky ground.  The larger rocks threaten to overturn his ankles, but he uses his wings to balance him out.

The horizon takes on a pinkish hue, throwing a glowing ambiance onto the clouds above.  The sun is about to rise.

He hears footsteps from all around him now, obviously other reapers have come to join those chasing him.  Rustling on his left startles him and he veers onto a road that splits off north.  Good lord, how long does he need to run before he shakes them?  Why does Dianna’s area of Greece need to be so rocky and forestry?  

The reapers behind him are closer- he can hear them taunting him.

“You can’t run forever.”

“It’s going to be fun when we catch up.”

“He’ll be spent when we start ripping him apart.”

“Maybe we should infect him and release him to his friends.”

Joshua ignores them, but the comments only heighten his fear.  What would the others think if he were caught?  After a decade of no one dying at the hands of reapers and he’s be the first.  Shaking off that thought, he pushes on, the road widening out enough to fit two carriages on either side.  He must be on a more used road and tries not to think about what would happen if he were to come across humans.

The sounds of the chase are closer to him now and he is forced to turn again and he instantly feels better even this road seems just as used as the last.

Joshua spots a large tree ahead, one of it’s thick branches hangs over the road, high enough to be out of reach.  He goes for it.  He pops open his wings at the proper angle to gain enough lift to glide up to it- he only has to pump them twice, but he gains speed too fast and he hits the branch with too much force, knocking the air out of him.  His arms and legs wrap around it like an infant grips a finger.  Air refuses to enter or linger in his lungs and he tries to gulp down breath after breath.  Scrambling, he struggles to get on top of the branch and then he sits on it, trying to catch his breath.  His auburn wings partially extend on either side of him to keep him balanced, but he has no fear of falling.  No falcone fears falling.

Time seems to be on his side so he pulls out his bow and the few arrows he carries.  He doesn't have enough shots for all of them, he doesn’t think, but he can shoot them down if they somehow get too close.

They’re below him in a moment, converging together in the spot he left the ground from.  They find him too quickly, knowing he’d take to the trees, and circle under him.

“You cannot stay up there forever,” one shouts up to him.

A reaper goes to blimp the tree, but all it’s branches are too high for it to grab onto. “We’ll just come getcha!” it laughs as it falls back down.

Joshua wills his heart rate to slow down, but thankfully his breathing has returned to normal.  He watches them wide-eyed, looking for any movements that could threaten his life.

They continue to climb the tree, but they’re not smart enough to boost each other up in order to reach the closest branch; however, one tries a tree next to it and gets high enough to cross over onto his tree.  Thankfully, the branch it climbs onto snaps and it falls to the ground with a dull thud.  It groans in pain, but gets up.  There is an unnatural bend to it’s back and it looks like it’s broken.  It walks around normally, though, which makes Joshua feel sick.

He looks at the branches above him and sees that he could make an escape into the sky that way, exhaustion be damned, but that would mean the reapers would still be around.  He’s not only concerned for his family that are making their way here, but also for the humans that live in this area.

The problem lays in the fact that he doesn’t have enough arrows to take them all down.

It seems as though the other creatures thought the one that almost fell to its death was pretty smart and they start to climb nearby trees with lower branches.  This isn’t good, he thinks.

He begins to climb, the sky above growing lighter with the rising sun.  This tree, he notices, has nicely shaped sticks.  They point straight up and would make perfect sticks for arrows.  If he survives this, he’ll come back to forage for them, make some more arrows for future endeavors.

A reaper reaches his tree and climbs up to him.  He fumbles with his bow, trying to get it untangled from the branches surrounding him, notches an arrow, aims through the many branches, twigs, and leaves between him and the reaper, and then loses, watching the arrow pierce it’s forehead.

Smiling, he continues his assent.

There!  He sees a clearing.  It's just ahead on the road he’s on.  If he can make it there, he might be able to reuse his arrows.  He has five in total, including the one that is currently in the forehead of the reaper he just shot below so he climbs down, pulling the arrow out of the reapers head with a slick, sucking sound.  Feet on the road, he takes off, the other reapers scrambling to get out of the trees.

Running sucks, especially when the run is longer than expected.  It looked so close to his position in the trees, so why does it feel so far away now?  He has this strange sensation, as though he’s in a dream running towards something important, but the more he runs, the further away he gets from it.  Just when he’s about to give up and take to the trees again, the trees break and the clearing comes into view.

He crashes in, spinning around to aim his bow at the trees, waiting for the first reaper to expose itself.

“Joshua?” he hears a familiar voice ask him.

Startled, he turns towards the voice and sees Samuel, tied up to a post.  He looks beaten, with cuts, scrapes, and bruises all along his arms, legs and face.  A split lip mars his handsome face, dirt smears up his neck and into his hair.

“Samuel?  What’s going on?” he asks, keeping an eye on the treeline.

“You tell me!”  He tries to break free of his bindings, but they’re too strong and his efforts go to waste.

That’s when Joshua sees the other posts, situated in a circle.  There are three more waiting and Joshua has a sickening feeling that he’s fallen into a trap.

Thrashing in the trees tell him that the reapers have caught up and Joshua pulls back his arrow, ready to lose at any moment.  A shadow follows Joshua into the clearing, and Joshua shoots at it, hitting it in the chest.  It falls as another takes its place, and Joshua kills that one too, one by one until all his arrows are gone.

He cannot leave his friend alone; he cannot flee.

He stands by him protectively, thinking he should set him free so they can fight together, and when he bends down to do so, he is side blinded by a running reaper.  It tackles him to the ground and pins him with it’s full weight, the evil aura rolling off it overwhelming him.  For the second time, his breath is knocked out of him and he struggles to catch his breath.  He hears a snapping sound and knows in his gut that the reapers have disposed of his weapon.

He’s crying now.  He’s never been good at this part of survival- the fighting.  This time, though, it’s his friend’s life he’s put in danger by failing.

They bind his hands behind his back.  He wasn’t expecting that.  Why?  For what reason would they tie him up instead of just killing him?  Are they going to infect him like they had threatened in the woods?  They position him to Sam’s left on one of the open posts and Joshua eyes him questioningly.

“What’s happening?” he asks Sam again.

Sam shrugs.  “I’m not sure, but it seems like they have a spot for all of us.  I had no way of warning anyone,” he admits, guilt clear in his voice.

Joshua gives him a sympathetic look.  “How long have you been here?” he wonders.

“For a few hours, I think.  I fell asleep for a while.  They’ve done nothing to me; it seems like they’re waiting for the others.”  He falls silent and Joshua has nothing more to say, sleeplessness running strong in his muscles.  “Get some sleep,” Sam tells him.

So he must look as tired as he feels.