Angel in the Apocalypse

29

"Carl, do you have any more of those books with the superheroes?" I asked Carl.

"My comic books?" Carl asked.

"Yes. I would love to hear more of their stories." I answered, hoping to distract him.

Carl nodded and went to go find his things. Sophia sat beside me as we waited for Carl to return.

"Do you think Shane's gonna find Lori?" She whispered.

"I have hope that he will," I answered honestly. "As I said, if he does not, I will search for her. Just as I did for you."

Sophia nodded and rested her head on my shoulder.

What she does not know is that finding Lori would be a lot harder than it was to find her. The only reason I was able to find Sophia is because she prayed. I do not know how religious Lori is nor do I know the likelihood of her praying for help. But I promised that I would find her, so if push came to shove, I would ask Father for his help in this situation.

Carl came back with a few different comic books. He sat down on the other side of me and laid them out on display.

"Which one do you wanna read?" He asked.

I looked at his collection and saw a name that I recognized.

"Thor?" I asked.

I did not know that the pagan was a superhero. Carl picked up the comic book and looked over it.

"You know Thor?" He asked Sophia, making sure to include her.

She nodded her head.

"What about Loki?"

"He's the bad guy, right?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Loki is not a bad guy," I spoke up.

"But he kills people," Carl argued.

"Not the Loki I know," I said. "He is a trickster, not a coldblooded killer. If he ever did kill someone, it was because they deserved it."

"Will you tell us about your Loki?" Sophia asked.

I looked at Carl to make sure that he was okay with not reading his comics. He nodded and put the book back on the table.

"As I said, Loki is a trickster. He has only ever tricked and killed people who he believed deserved it." I explained. "He got revenge for a girl that ended her life. She was dating her professor, who had a family, and when he broke up with her, she jumped out a window. He let an alligator loose and allowed it to kill a scientist that was experimenting on animals."

Does this really sound like something you should be telling kids?

'I suppose it is a bit gruesome for a child.'

I decided to switch over to tricks that were more humorous.

"He slashed the tires of a man's beloved car because the man was trying to kill him. Oh, and he tricked a bully into believing that he was abducted by aliens and forced to slow dance with them."

Both kids giggled at the ridiculous-sounding tricks.

We were telling stories of different Lokis when we heard a car outside. Carl rushed outside to see if Shane or Rick had returned. Sophia and I followed after him. Shane had returned with Lori, who looked to be a little beat up.

"Oh my God, are you all right? What happened?" Andrea asked.

"I was in an accident I'm fine."

"She was attacked."