SUNNYVALE

(77) THE LAST HOURS OF SUNNYVALE (?)

As soon as she heard Kristie and Tobin's terrified words to the others, Julie immediately went out of the house onto the Black Forest, running toward the area where Ingrid was held, convinced that it would be the first place they would be looking for her.

And she was right: when she gets to the small prison, the trapdoor leading to the underground hiding place is open, and a few people are standing right out of it, all of them facing Julie. She immediately spots Mapi, as well as Ingrid, whose eyes go wide when she realizes she's here.

Quite immediately, Mapi smirks, settling:

"Well, well, well... Look who's come to join the party"

This is when Julie realizes: one of the angels was holding a decapitated head in her hand by the hair, and she immediately recognizes the unconventional face of Alyssa Naeher. Feeling nauseous all of a sudden, Julie turns around to throw up, under the evil laughs of some of the angels - except for Ingrid and a beautiful Black girl with gorgeous braids falling down to the hollow of her back.

As Mapi and some others are slowly advancing toward her, Ingrid deploys her wings and flies her way to Julie, protecting her with her whole body and wings, her green eyes set on her fellow angels.

Setting her jaw, she says:

"We did not come here for innocent humans, sisters" and, right after setting her jaw, which makes Julie's legs go weak, she adds: "we must stick to the plan."

A blonde girl - whose name, Julie will find out later on, is Pernille - rolls her eyes, as Ingrid just stands her ground, her right wing briefly touching Julie, which is enough to make her shiver from head to toe.

As the atmosphere was getting even more tensed, Mapi takes the lead and says:

"Hermana (tr. sister), you know what Her wishes are: Sunnyvale and everything it embodies must dissapear, and this means each and every living being still surviving here. We cannot disobey orders, even for our soulmates - it is Goddess we chose every time, even over love."

Julie frowns: soulmate? what now? she asks herself, feeling her heart beating faster.

But she doesn't have time to fully realize what was going on, as Ingrid turns around, grabbing Julie from underneath, carrying her like a princess, before starting to flap her wings in order to see the others angels from over.

Shaking her head, she responds to Mapi:

"Well, sometimes it is our hearts that we must follow, sister, because in an eternal lifetime, there are very few things that make us feel alive still - and you know it. I'm sorry."

With that said, she flies away, as Mapi prevents her sisters from following her and taking her down, visibly touched by her brief but explanatory speech. Julie feels her heart and head getting upside down, as Ingrid flies her straight to the rooftop of a building in the middle pf the Westside part of town. She puts her down, before deploying her wings once again, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Without a word, she disappears, leaving Julie speechless.

*** 

Tierna wakes up in Sam's arms, feeling a weird feeling inside of her guts: today was not going to be a simple day.

Of course she knew, as soon as Julie came back running from the woods claiming that some angels came to the Black Forest to free Ingrid and that the angel saved her, that she was right. And given Christen's face right now, she wasn't the only one having an horrible day so far: the dark-haired really was feeling like her whole world was collapsing, as she was about to fight with the literal angel she has feelings for. 

As the sky was literally falling on their heads, with angels and other celestial finally joining Earth to claim Sunnyvale and all its illegal inhabitants back, Tierna knew that it was only a matter of time before everything implodes: how do you fight the very forces that created life as it is today? How do you escape God?

"They're here" Julie whispers with dread, "they're coming for us."

"I mean" Emily Sonnett starts, rolling her eyes, "can't those fucking celestials just stay in Heaven and enjoy eternal life while leaving us the fuck alone?"

Just when she said those words, the door of the Mewis' household just breaks under an unknown force, flying through the corridor, finishing its course against the wall near where the girls were discussing. Tierna immediately jumps in the way, realising that she knew the person standing there very well: Lieke Martens. Right behind her was Tobin, visibly chasing her, and the brunette seemed uneasy, especially when Kristie - who only came back minutes ago - walked down the stairs and spotted her. 

The enraged angel just starts smirking, before pointing her gun right toward Tierna, who immediately gets on guard. 

"There is no way out, you prophecy disturbers" Lieke hisses, before laughing evilly. 

Before she can do anything, Tobin points her own gun at her and fires her shot, that just go through the women's brain, that seem to explode in million pieces. Still not dead, she turns around toward Tobin, before grabbing her neck, squeezing it so hard that the brunette only had seconds left to live. 

Tierna, her eyes going wide at the sight of her sister being on the verge of losing her life, yells a loud 'NO' before the ground starts trembling, until sharp roots break the tilling, planting themselves inside Lieke's body, killing her in the process. Once Tierna is done, both she and Kristie run toward Tobin, who catches her breath lying down on the ground. 

Julie, who had the presence of mind to stare out of the window, just stops breathing for a while and, when she turns around toward the three other girls, they immediately understand that something is wrong.

"You should come and see this..." Julie whispers, before looking out of the window again.

Tobin, Kristie, Emily and Tierna immediately do as they're told, while Sam just looks down at Lieke's body - something was definitely off...

Quite immediately, Tobin's eyes go wide: the summer sky had turned pitch dark, while the only visible forms were the wings of thousands angels coming down to Earth in order to eradicate Sunnyvale and everybody inside...

Sonnett speaks loudly the minds of all of her friends at once:

"We are fucked."