Chapter Thirty-Seven
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“WE’RE NEARLY THERE now,” Oaklie said in relief.
She’d slept longer than she’d intended to.
They hadn’t left the house in the suburbs until seven.
It had taken them four hours to walk to the bridge that would lead them to Manhattan.
They’d decided not to sprint, just in case Rahab and his squad had set up ambushes.
“I don’t like the idea of using a bridge to enter the city,” Arkas said.
The Henry Hudson Bridge stretched ahead of them.
They’d opted to detour around New Jersey and enter the city from the north.
Oaklie figured the Lincoln Tunnel would be a nightmare to traverse.
At least they could see if anyone was lurking ahead of them on this structure.
“We could always swim across the river,” Oaklie suggested, grimacing at the idea. “But I’m not a fan of swimming with corpses,” she added. They could smell the heavy scent of waterlogged decay even from where they were standing.
“Let’s go,” the knight said in resignation. “We’ll use the vehicles for cover and try to stay out of sight of any guards who will be posted at the far end of the bridge.”
Oaklie had never been to New York before.
No longer a place of wonder, it looked dreary in the wintery gloom.
It had snowed a couple of inches overnight, but not enough to impede them.
They crossed the bridge and exchanged confused glances when they heard people cheering.
“What the hell’s going on?” she murmured.
“They appear to be celebrating something,” Arkas mused as they continued on.
A mob of twenty men and women were waiting at the far end of the bridge. They were all wearing white armbands and were stopping people as they approached or tried to leave the city.
“They must be some kind of militia,” Oaklie guessed as they took cover behind a van.
“So it would seem,” Arkas agreed. “I still can’t sense Amaros or my brothers,” he added in frustration.
“Do you think we can get past the humans without them seeing us?” Oaklie asked.
“Childs’ play,” the warrior replied. He took her hand and they sprinted past the group.
Oaklie sensed beings who weren’t humans or knights even before they stopped. “Can you feel that?” she asked with a frown. One of them felt different from the others and they were rapidly getting closer.
“Soldiers!” Arkas snarled, calling on his sword as five of his enemies moved to surround them.
“Arkas,” one of them said with a sneer. He had the same dark hair and eyes as Oaklie. “You’ve brought my offspring to me,” the soldier said, smirking widely. “How kind of you.”
Oaklie felt the alien with red-tinted eyes try to pry inside her mind, but her shield was far too strong. “Arkas?” she hissed, trying not to give in to the panic that was plucking at her mind.
“Yonove,” Arkas said in derision. “I thought Rahab would send someone competent to try to kill my brothers and me as we enter the city.”
Yonove grinned nastily as his guards moved in closer. “Our orders aren’t to kill you, but to capture you. Neither of you will be harmed if you come with us peacefully.”
Oaklie couldn’t believe she was finally meeting the extraterrestrial who’d assaulted her mom and had fathered her. She resembled both of her parents, since they had similar hair and eye colors. “Are we just going to stand here, or are we going to fight them?” she asked.
Arkas hadn’t taken his eyes off her sire. “Let’s fight them,” he replied and lunged into action.
Oaklie sent her power into a nearby tree as two of the soldiers tried to grab her. They screamed in pain when thin branches punctured their bodies.
Yonove didn’t bother to call on his sword like the other two guards. He aimed his assault rifle at Arkas and pulled the trigger.
The knight moved like the wind, deftly avoiding the bullets. He beheaded one of his foes, then laughed in delight when Oaklie threw a sharpened branch at her sire. “Nice throw!” he crowed when it lodged in Yonove’s chest.
Yonove yanked the spear out and his rage-filled eyes landed on his spawn. He sprinted past Arkas, who was engaged in a fight with the other soldier. Grabbing his cambion by the arms, Yonove focused his mind control on her.
Oaklie was using her magic to pin the aliens she’d skewered with branches to the tree. Arkas was in a fight for his life and she was on her own. She was almost a full foot shorter than her sire. He was snarling at her in silent fury as he tried to dominate her will.
Catching a glimpse of someone on a tall building down the street, dread suddenly filled the cambion. Her instincts kicked in and she lurched to the side just as a shot was fired. Yonove grunted in pain when the bullet hit his shoulder. It went through him and almost nicked Oaklie’s temple.
Arkas stabbed his opponent, just missing his heart. He roared in fury when he saw Yonove had a hold of the cambion. Oaklie managed to shove him away now that only one of his arms was working properly. She picked up the duffle bags she’d dropped and took off at a sprint back towards the bridge.
Grabbing his own gear, Arkas ducked just as another bullet was fired by the human who was trying to snipe them.
Yonove and his other guard yanked their fellow soldiers free from the branches they were impaled on.
Their quarry had fled and it would be impossible to track them down once they left the city.
Oaklie knew Arkas hadn’t been wounded badly. He’d received a few nicks, but she couldn’t feel any signs of agony through their link. “Saved by a sniper,” she said when they were safely on the far side of the bridge again.
“The soldiers were staying back, waiting for us as if they knew we were coming,” Arkas said with a frown.
“Maybe they heard the Mad Prophet say we were on our way to Manhattan,” she figured. “So, that was my dad, huh?”
“Yonove?” Arkas asked, turning to peer at the now distant bridge. “So it would seem,” he added. He couldn’t see or sense their enemies giving chase.
“He tried to get into my head,” she said with a shudder. “My shield stopped him from whatever he was trying to do to me.”
“Soldiers have a parental bond with their offspring,” he reminded her. “They use it to control their younglings. You’re lucky you have such strong protection against him.”
“Now what?” she asked as the wind picked up. “The entrances to the city are being watched. We’re not going to get in easily, unless we really do swim our way across the river.”
Arkas was about to respond when a sheet of paper whirled past him and smacked into the cambion’s face. She let out a startled noise and dropped one of her duffle bags to peel it off. “Are you alright?” he asked, hiding his amusement at her scowl.
Oaklie was going to throw the flyer away, but glanced at it first. “I’m fine,” she said, then the words she’d just read registered. “I think Fate just gave us another clue,” she figured and handed it to him.
“It says we should visit the Adirondack Mountains for a much-needed vacation,” the warrior said as he read the flyer. “What makes you think it’s a clue?” he asked skeptically.
“The Rapture happened over three months ago, yet that flyer looks brand new,” she pointed out. “It just happened to land directly on my face right after I asked what we’re supposed to do now.”
“Good point,” he conceded. “How far away are the Adirondack Mountains?”
“I have no idea,” she replied. “I should have brought the map with me.”
“We should return to the truck,” Arkas suggested. “We’ll need it if we’ve still got a long way to go.”
“Let’s run this time,” Oaklie said. “The sooner we find your brothers, the safer we’ll both be.” She’d come too close to being captured by her father for her liking. His soul had been as black as the psychotic little girl’s that they’d met at the motel. His companions were just as bad.
Sprinting as fast as they could, they reached the house where they’d left the truck an hour later.
Oaklie went inside to grab the map she’d left in the living room while Arkas filled the tank again.
They were running short on fuel by now, but he figured it would be enough to get them to their destination.
“Did you find the mountains?” the knight asked when she joined him in the garage.
“Yep,” she confirmed. “We should reach it in about four or five hours, depending on how bad the roads are.” She’d used the facilities while she’d been inside, so she was ready to go.
“I hope it really is Fate guiding us and not Anarchy playing tricks,” Arkas said as he pushed the garage door upwards.
“I’m driving,” Oaklie said and held her hand out for the keys. He tossed them to her, then they climbed inside and she took off. Arkas opened the map and traced a route that would hopefully end up with them finally finding his brothers.