Worlds War One

liv [Quest]

Slow-motion.

Quest had enemy combatants on all sides. They had taken up position behind a half-wall in front of a three-story abode made of clay—the hollow carcass of a dead Golem. The wall was three feet high and created to define the front yard. As Quest leaned on it and took aim as undead after undead came down the avenue, he could not help but think this wall might have been Nina's brother or cousin. Someone he might have known in a future together with Nina.

The future was on pause. Or at least slowed to a crawl. A moment took a minute, and a single second seemed like seventeen. Some of the undead were Magi firing glowing, golden bolts. Some were Golems, launching stones by making their forearms into catapults. A pair of porcupines as giant as lions and running on hind legs shot deadly quills at the soldiers. Some of the Human zombies had guns, all terrible shots as they aimed with bleary, decaying eyeballs.

Then through the haze of battle, Quest saw her coming. Slow-motion.

Beauty.

He had loved men and women and been loved by both genders. He'd felt he never fit in because he didn't wholly belong with one group or the other—a choice between two ways. But now, he realized there was more than what he'd thought. He was more normal than he'd ever imagined. He might be different in a certain way, but he was the same in many others. The world before him was Wider. Weirder. Wonderfuller.

Girls. Boys. Now Quest loved a porcelain statute.

"Nina," Quest called out to Fox on his left and Drill on his right. "She's coming. In the crowd."

The stampeding undead didn't even notice Nina was among them. Most of the masses advancing on Quest's position wanted the Humans with heartbeats dead. One was running toward them with intentions of rescue. Both Fox and Drill aimed their pistols and picked off the zombies nearest Nina, all kinds of undead dropping in their tracks left and right. Quest cleared a path between the Human soldiers and the scared Golem.

The Angels didn't die. Lieutenant Robinson aimed at their eyes, distracting them by blinding them for a moment each time a bullet hit their ocular Achilles. She was a crack shot. She managed to distract them enough, slowing them down. But they got incrementally closer, and eventually, the Misfits would either have to retreat or face defeat. Four Humans couldn't defeat a host of undead Angels. Not even with a Golem's help. The lieutenant had merely bought them a little time.

Enough time.

Nina dodged an Angel who was staggering, two shots in their eyes making them unable to see. A zombie E.T. noticed the living breathing Golem and reached for her as Drill put a bullet right between big, white alien eyes. Quest put down the twin porcupines, and they turned to dust before they hit the smooth black surface. Nina came through the wild pack of attackers unscathed, joining the Humans behind the barrier.

Her face was a sculpture of fear.

"What happened?" Quest grabbed her by her stone biceps and resisted the urge to kiss her.

"Jiiii," she cried softly, crystal tears pattering against the smooth black ground. "The nephilim is turned. And Mot killed Callieeee's bodyyyy."

Quest put his hand against the pocket on his chest. So, Callie wasn't going to get put back into her mortal shell, no matter what the rest of the Misfits had promised her.

"Rotten made Seaman Choi into a zombie?" Lieutenant Robinson barked.

Nina nodded.

"Oh," the lieutenant said, staring out at the sea of attackers. Quest followed her gaze. The undead Angels, the Human zombies, and the other Rotten children stopped. At the end of the lane was Ji-Sung Choi. The playful light in his eyes was gone. He was one of them. Ji was the enemy.

Johnny Rotten stood on one side. He had Saanvi as his captive, two Angels guarding her on either side. They could've taken off her Seal of Solomon and turned her, but Mot did not. He wanted her to see. He wanted Saanvi to witness what came next so that the Demon could be his messenger. She would report back to the Illuminati about what happened here today. This bloodbath would prove Rotten's mettle.

It was an exhibition execution.

"I'm not dying like some trapped dog," Lieutenant Robinson said. "I promised my babies I would come home. I would come back. I've promised them again and again. Maybe today is the day I don't get to keep that promise. But it won't be because I didn't try. He won't take me prisoner. I won't surrender. If they want to stop me, they need me to break."

Quest checked with Nina, and Nina looked back. He leaned forward and kissed her. Her lips were like rock, her skin as cold as quartz. Yet she warmed his heart and heartened his resolve. They would have made it work had they lived a little longer. Quest and Nina would have loved loving each other.

Then Lieutenant Robinson was up and over the half-wall, Drill right behind her. Fox followed. Quest made to let go of Nina's hand. Maybe she could escape. Perhaps Nina could survive. But she held onto him. Nina drew the First Blade from his sheath and nodded. Quest charged with the rest of the squad, the SIG-Sauer in his right hand and Nina in his left.

Lieutenant Robinson arrived first, emptying her clip into zombie Ji, but the undead nephilim swatted the slugs away like gnats. She leaped, bringing the First Blade to bear, but the half-Angel had Magi hands, golden shields deflecting the weapon. He reached up and snatched the soldier from mid-air, a fistful of her uniform holding her steady as he wound up for a punch.

"Noooo," Drill roared, barreling into Ji like a bulldozer breaking boulders.

The impact shook Lieutenant Robinson loose. She skidded away as Ji refocused on the massive man beating on him. Drill had fists like cinderblocks, a one-two punch that both connected with the Seaman's face, knocking him off his feet and onto the ground.

Ji was part Angel, part Human, part Ghost, part Golem, part Magi, and all undead. He stood up and faced Drill. The sergeant threw a punch and missed. Ji shouldered the big soldier with all his nephilim strength, the sickening sound of crunching bone echoing across She'ol. Drill flipped through the air and would have landed on his feet if Ji had not aimed his ensorcelled SIG-Sauer and shot a pair of Magi scythes that cut both Sarge's legs off at the knees.

Lieutenant Robinson didn't scream. She didn't call names or swear. Bad didn't even make a sound as she sprang to her feet and charged. But time slowed. Things moved like moments had turned to molasses. There was no way an ordinary Human could get there to save him.

But Bad wasn't ordinary.

She was extraordinary.

She somehow crossed the distance before Ji could bring his First Blade down and bury it in Drill's chest. She got there in time. Bad could have stopped him. She could have taken the blade meant for Drill. Bad could've died instead of him, but she paused. And Drill looked her in the eye. And he nodded. Then Seaman Ji-Sung Choi stabbed Drill right through the heart.