Chapter Three
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CATERINA SPRINTED AS fast as she could to escape from the dark deed she’d performed.
Blinded by her tears, she came to a stop a couple of hours later.
What would her great-grandmother think of her now that she’d murdered one of her own people?
“I’m as evil as the creature who made me,” Caterina sobbed.
They’d all heard the Mad Prophet talking on the ham radio Granny Blaze owned.
He’d spoken about the red-eyed devils taking over Manhattan.
Governor Giamano was their puppet and they were gathering an army of militants.
Their own oracle hadn’t verified to their clan that he was telling the truth.
She’d only just come clean about it with Caterina.
“I’ll never be welcome in our clan again,” she said, wracked with sorrow.
An owl flew past, hooting at her and scaring her into snapping out of her self-pity.
Luca had been harassing her to sleep with him ever since she’d turned fourteen.
Nine years of his overbearing attempts to force her to comply had built up her resentment.
Raising his fist against her had been the last straw.
She knew he’d worked his way through all of the single females in their clan who weren’t closely related to him.
Caterina had been the only one who’d refused his advances.
“They’ll know I killed him by now,” she said as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve and stumbled back into motion.
“His body wasn’t very far from our campsite.
Granny Blaze will know I’m responsible when they don’t find any marks on him.
” Only an autopsy would reveal that she’d turned his heart into a charred lump inside his chest.
She lifted one hand and her power welled up.
Flames burst to life, coating her hand without burning her flesh.
She closed her fist and the flames winked out.
Caterina had used her pyrokinetic power to cook animals from the inside out countless times.
Her talents had come in handy ever since they’d manifested when she’d been twelve years old.
“Now I’ll be seen as a monster,” she said, almost tripping over a fallen branch when she wiped her eyes again. Her tears were showing no signs of stopping yet.
Her soul didn’t feel darker, yet she felt as if she was stained now.
Her shoulders slumped beneath an invisible weight as the cambion walked until dawn.
Too tired to continue on, she blearily looked around, utterly lost by now.
She’d instinctively avoided towns as she’d headed northward towards where the comet had fallen.
Houses were few and far between in this rural area.
Caterina was on a narrow dirt road and she could see the roof of a house above a rise just ahead.
She took off towards the house, moving so fast she would just be a blur to ordinary people.
Coming to a stop behind the barn, she quested towards the house with her senses.
“It’s empty,” she said in relief. Rounding the barn, she glanced inside to see the remains of long-dead animals.
Plague had killed them along with the blight that had destroyed the crops.
Both the front and back doors were locked, so Caterina rammed her shoulder into the back door.
The lock was flimsy and she stumbled a couple of steps when it burst open.
Closing the door, she engaged the safety chain.
The air was musty and dust motes danced around her as she crossed through the kitchen and entered the hallway.
Too dispirited to be hungry, she headed to the living room at the end of the hall.
She flipped the dusty couch cushions over and crashed for a few hours.
Caterina woke up at midday with her stomach growling in protest. “How can I possibly feel hungry after what I did to Luca?” she muttered. Murdering someone should have changed her on a fundamental level, but it was obvious her life would go on as it always had.
She ate some crackers and washed them down with water, then used the facilities.
Taking her curly hair down, she brushed it, then redid her ponytail.
Dark circles ringed her eyes and she couldn’t meet her own stare.
The cambion searched the pantry for provisions, filling her backpack up.
She couldn’t go back to her family now. They would surely treat her like a pariah.
That meant she would have to provide for herself from now on.
Nightmares had plagued Caterina while she’d slept.
Her slumber had been restless, yet she didn’t feel as exhausted as she should have.
If anything, she felt stronger than she’d ever been before.
She’d cooked Luca’s heart inside his chest in the blink of an eye.
It usually took her a few seconds to perform magic like that.
“What’s happening to me?” she asked in despair as she left the house.
The strange sensation that something had changed still hadn’t left her.
Something was tugging her northward in the direction where the comet had landed.
Had Granny Blaze seen all this? Was that why she hadn’t answered Caterina when she’d asked how long she would be gone?
“She knew I’d never be coming back,” the cambion said sorrowfully. “They’ve probably found Luca’s body and will leave the area so I’ll never be able to find them.”
Before the Rapture, their clan had roamed all over the country, searching for towns who would welcome their show.
Each member of their clan possessed skills to entertain people.
A few trained animals to perform. Some were acrobats or jugglers.
Others were trained in sleight of hand and passed it off as magic.
A few were fake fortune tellers. Only Granny Blaze and Caterina had real magic.
Caterina used her innate skill with fire during her performances.
She was an acrobat who breathed fire and always drew a crowd.
Like the rest of her clan, she was attractive and had olive skin, black hair and dark eyes.
They were exotic to normal everyday Americans and they’d used it to their advantage.
“Then the Rapture came and our audience either vanished or died,” she said, picking up her speed so she was running at a steady pace.
“We’re skilled at hunting and gathering, so we’ll never starve, but life hasn’t been easy,” she muttered.
They’d been attacked over a dozen times by desperate starving mobs during the past nine months, but they’d always prevailed.
Most of them knew how to shoot both pistols and rifles.
Caterina had never been to a normal school.
The Blaze clan taught their children everything they needed to know.
Her education had been wide-ranging and she didn’t feel like she’d missed out on anything.
They’d moved around too much for her to form any relationships with anyone, but she’d briefly dated two guys.
Luca had been enraged when he’d found out she’d slept with two outsiders. He’d wanted to be her first.
A shudder wracked her even though he was now dead. Growing up with her close and distant cousins had put her off dating any of them. She would have been expected to marry one of the single guys soon. The Rapture had spared her from having to choose someone to shackle herself to, at least.
Sometimes, following traditions that had been in effect for hundreds of years could be stifling.
Caterina realized she was free to make her own decisions now that she’d become an outsider.
The thought didn’t fill her with joy, but with more despair.
What was she supposed to do with the rest of her life now?
What would happen after she met this alien?
Her great-grandmother hadn’t given her any details.
She would just have to find the extraterrestrial and follow her instincts.
“Sure,” she said sarcastically. “What could possibly go wrong with that scenario?”
It was cooler to the northeast of America than it was on the west coast. Summer just wasn’t as hot here.
Her dark olive skin helped her avoid getting sunburnt as she followed the roads ever northward.
Wild animals like deer, foxes and even bobcats scattered, or ran and hid when they saw her coming.
She avoided the houses she detected humans lurking in.
The last thing she needed was to be followed.
Her great-grandmother had told her to stay out of sight and she knew it was wise advice.
Caterina continued her journey until the sun began to set, then searched for somewhere to spend the night.
It would be safer for her to travel during the day from now on.
People who’d been left behind could be downright evil.
Some liked to set traps and lie in wait for victims to get themselves caught.
She chose a house and made sure it was vacant before breaking in. Once again, she searched the pantry for supplies, then made herself at home.