The Survivor (Book 2)

Chapter 38

My adventure with Zack took me through seven worlds and I lost track of how many times we got in trouble after twenty-five. It was a lot, though. And everyone that yelled at us quickly apologized upon seeing that I was part of the couple doing something wrong.

After getting in trouble, Zack and I would head to a new part of the world and do something else. We giggled and kissed and held hands like two lovers rebelling against the world. Except we were rebelling against all the worlds…Well…not really rebelling. Just being assholes.

We got back to Heaven later that evening, and it seemed darker…sadder, even. Zack and I were laughing so hard we were crying as we made our way to the God building to see if our friends had made it back. The group was standing in a circle around something. They looked at Zack and me with tear-filled eyes, and our laughing stopped immediately.

“Nice of you to finally show up,” Nel spat. Av nudged him in the ribs so hard that I thought I heard one snap. He didn’t notice it. “Where the hell were you, anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be watching over us?!”

“I don’t know what’s going on,” I shook my head. “Nobody told me what was happening, Lionel.”

The dragon-blood scoffed, storming out of the building and ramming his shoulder into mine while muttering, “Bitch,” under his breath. Tears fell from my eyes again, but this time not from laughing.

“What’s going on?”

Sin cleared his throat, and a path was made. I fell to my knees. Apollo was lifeless on the floor, color drained from his tanned face. I crawled over to my friend, my little ball of sunshine. “No,” I shook my head, refusing to believe he was actually gone. “I should’ve gone with you.”

I rolled my thumbs over his soft cheeks and my tears splattered his face. “I’m so sorry, sunshine.”

Zack sat next to me, rubbing my back. “What happened?” he asked Avalon. He sniffled, and quickly wiped tears. Apollo loved him–or at least he did at one time.

Av sat down. “We were in DC. In front of the building we negotiated with the humans in. They came at us on all sides, the undead. They were mortifying, and I couldn’t move. Apollo somehow managed to snap me into attention. He got me out of the way, and we kept our guard up as much as possible. But then we were checking out the remains of this burned building, and one came up behind us and…” she pulled his shirt back to reveal a bite mark. “We didn’t know what to do, so we came back here. We were waiting for you.”

I sniffled. “I don’t know how to kill zombies.”

“I do,” Av said quietly. “Goddess of zombie s-slaying, remember?”

A sob escaped my throat, and Zack wrapped his arms around my shoulders tightly. “It’s okay, T. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” I said quietly. “He’s dead because I didn’t go with them.”

“Treble, sweetheart, it was fate,” Sin said. “It wouldn’t have mattered if you were there. He was going to die from them.”

I looked up at my cousin through my wet eyelashes and spoke through my teeth, “You. Knew.”

He gulped. “I’ve known since I became God.”

I tried to get off the floor and get my hands around his throat, but Zack clutched me tightly. One thing that wouldn’t change about him whether he was an angel or a demon was his impossible strength. I still screamed and struggled against Zack’s tight grip.

“Let go of me!!” I sobbed. Zack pulled me into his lap, kissing my cheek soothingly. I held him tightly and sobbed into his shoulder. “Where is he? Where’s his soul?”