Chapter Eighteen
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AMAROS FILLED ALL OF the containers he could find at the station with gas, then stacked them in the truck.
He was aware of Zoe’s eyes on him as she and the younger cambion browsed through the sports store.
She felt their bond as strongly as he did.
They were both finding it harder and harder to resist each other.
He saw them leaving the building just as he finished filling the last container. “Wait there,” he said without raising his voice. They nodded and halted on the sidewalk.
“Now, this is service,” Zoe said when Amaros drove over and parked in front of them.
“Do we need anything else from in there?” the warrior asked, getting out to take the heavy duffle bag from Grace.
“Folding cots would be good,” the kid said. “I hate sleeping on the floor.”
“Agreed,” Zoe said. “The sleeping bag helped a bit, but I hardly got any sleep last night.
Amaros had heard Zoe tossing and turning. Grace had been far quieter. He had the impression she’d led a difficult life. She was used to being noiseless and staying out of sight.
Stashing the bows and ammo in the truck, they headed back inside. “We should get some spare cots for your men,” Zoe suggested. The store had plenty of folding cots in supply.
“We’ll obtain real furniture as soon as we can,” Amaros promised them. For now, the cots would have to do.
“There’s not enough room for everything,” Grace realized after they’d placed a few cots in the truck.
“Can we strap the rest to the roof?” Zoe asked.
Amaros examined the top of the truck to see it had a rack installed. “Probably,” he replied. “I’ll need rope.”
Half an hour later, several more cots were tied firmly to the racks. They’d shoved extra sleeping bags on the back seat and in the cargo area behind it. Every square inch of the truck was crammed with gear.
“I’m going to take a nap on the way home,” Grace decided. She lay down among the sleeping bags as Amaros took off.
“Will it bother you if I turn the radio on?” Zoe asked, looking over her shoulder.
“As long as it’s quiet, it shouldn’t keep me awake,” the teen said.
Zoe switched the radio on, but there was only static. “It’s begun,” she said with a shudder.
“Check the other channels,” Amaros said as he headed home.
Zoe slowly flicked through each channel, but there was nothing to hear. She switched from FM to AM and began scrolling. A voice eventually startled her into stopping.
“The end times are here, folks,” a man was ranting.
Even with the volume down, his fervor was obvious.
“God took all the weak and helpless and only the evil ones remain,” he went on.
“They no longer have to wear a polite mask and hide that they all hate each other deep down. Now, they can truly be themselves. They can shoot first and ask questions later and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about it. ”
He laughed, but it sounded more like despair than amusement. Static took over and Amaros reached over to switch the radio off. “He’s gone mad,” he said in a low voice.
“I’m pretty sure he was already mad,” Zoe said. Her expression and tone were disturbed. “The world is going to be full of people like him. He’s not wrong about people no longer needing to pretend to be nice. I’m just amazed at how many turned out to have gray or black souls.”
“Humanity has a tendency to look out for itself first,” Amaros told her. “It’s always been that way. Good people have been in short supply each time we’ve fought our foes.”
“Most of the children and teenagers were taken,” Zoe mused. “I guess we only become truly bad once we start making our own choices in life.”
“Humans breed rapidly,” Amaros said. “It won’t take long for the population to regrow.”
“Yeah, but they won’t be taught how to be good if they have crappy parents,” she figured. “No one will have a chance to have a decent life now. Everyone will be miserable and become victims of people who are bigger and stronger than they are.”
“Things will be far worse once Chaos’ soldiers begin stirring up trouble,” Amaros said grimly. “Their first task will be to recruit members from the worst scum that New York has to offer. If their numbers grow out of control, they’ll spread out across this country and eventually the entire world.”
“How have you stopped them in the past?” she asked.
“By locating their commander and sending him back to the Void,” Amaros said.
“Once he’s gone, his army will be in shambles.
He’s in control of the human minions. Without his influence, they’ll scatter, leaving his henchmen behind.
None of them have the authority to control each other.
We hunt them down one by one until they’re all gone. ”
“Then Fate whisks you back to the Void, where you sleep for five thousand years,” Zoe finished up for him.
Amaros almost blurted out that she could help him avoid his usual destiny.
Not that the knights would return to the Void this time around.
Glancing into the rearview mirror, he saw Grace was listening in.
The teen was only pretending to sleep, maybe to give them time to talk in relative privacy.
A rabbit darted onto the road, forcing him to swerve around it and saving him from having to reply.
“The wildlife will bounce back quickly,” Zoe predicted, watching the rabbit race into the grass. “We might end up having bobcats, black bears and coyotes prowling around our base.”
“They’re all dangerous?” he asked.
“They can be, if they’re provoked,” she said. “My research mentioned there used to be wolves, cougars, lynxes and even wolverines in the mountains. They’re all gone now, so we won’t have to worry about them.”
“We’ll need to set up a watchtower to make sure humans don’t discover us,” he said. “We can hide the buildings, but it will still pay to keep an eye on the entrance.”
“How can you hide the structures?” she asked.
“Knights of Order have powers,” he replied. “We gain the ability from our bond when we’re together. It’s easy to call on our swords, but we need to join into a group to create widescale wards.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” she said with a smile that made his longing for her increase.
Their conversation petered out and Gracelyn fell asleep.
She was exhausted, so they remained quiet during the rest of the journey.
Amaros noted where the landslides were, knowing they would need to be cleared away.
Some of the boulders were far too large for one knight to move.
His team would make short work of it once he’d gathered them all.
Zoe kept sliding glances at him, then looking away before he could catch her eye.
He wished he knew what she was thinking, but he would need to touch her to try to pick up on her mood.
All he knew was that she was feeling disturbed about something.
Given that her entire life had been uprooted a few days ago, it was understandable that her mind was uneasy.
At last, he turned off the road and gingerly eased around the boulders. Grace woke up and was instantly alert. “I slept like a rock,” she said, sounding more relaxed now. “Did I miss anything?”
“Only a madman ranting on the radio,” Zoe said. “It was uneventful apart from that.”
“Cool,” the kid replied. “Can we eat before we start unpacking the tank?”
Amaros smiled a bit at the nickname the girls had given to the truck. “I’ll unload the gear,” he told them as they climbed out of the vehicle.
“Thanks, Amaros,” Zoe said warmly. Their eyes met and her face became flushed. “Let’s eat,” she said to Grace, then hurried away.
“I need to talk to her alone,” Amaros murmured.
He knew he needed to tell her about the choice Fate had given him, but he kept putting it off.
Maybe he should speak to his team first and hear their views on the topic.
He didn’t want to be the only Knight of Order to choose to remain in this world.
His men were weary of the endless wars. Maybe they would decide to fade away and allow new warriors to take their places.
That thought chilled Amaros. He didn’t want any of them to die permanently.
He also didn’t want to relinquish his duty.
Fighting was all he’d ever known. Allowing himself to vanish would feel like giving up.
Plus, Zoe wouldn’t have anyone to watch over her if he left.
Grace seemed to be loyal to her, but she wasn’t a skilled warrior like he was.
Lost in his conundrum, Amaros began unpacking the truck.