Anarchy, Burning(ONC2022 Entry)

Part 21- Everyone

Trigger Warning: This chapter contains the mention of sexual assault.

Elijah shoves through the door and runs down the hall. His heart races, adrenaline rushes through his system like lightning, zapping away his fatigue and pushing his muscles to new limits. A medic in fatigues runs past, his gloves and shirt covered in blood. The sight of the red trail left in the man's wake makes Elijah's mind go back to his most recent vision.

Amelia struggles against a voracious current. The red waters roar, tentacles reaching, swiping, grabbing. Lifeless Bodies Bob in the bloody sea. Emily, Mateo, Fryga, himself. They stare with eyes like black pits. A bird flies beside Amelia, singing encouragement. A hawk.

He turns the corner at a full run, knocking over a man attempting to tape off the area. Elijah sees the bodies on the ground. Four dead soldiers, all with their throats slit. He sees Shaniqua kneeling in front of the door to Amelia's room. Panic takes over and he pushes past the medics and the officers. Ignoring Shaniqua's warning and Mateo's lifeless body, he goes into the room.

His brain doesn't want to make sense of the scene. Refuses to make sense of his greatest nightmare come to life.

Emily slumps against the wall, a single gunshot wound to her chest, her blood streaking the wall. A bloody scalpel sits in her hands and a strange pot bellied man lies dead at her feet. His face and neck are peppered with thin narrow stab wounds.

Amelia's bed is empty, she's gone and so is the boy, Hawk.

Malcolm and Maria hurry over and usher Elijah back into the hall. They both try to talk, but he can't hear them. He looks down at Mateo, his sightless eyes staring up at the low ceiling.

"Where's Amelia?" he whispers, but the corpse doesn't respond. "What happened?"

"As best we can tell, these men were taken out at close range by someone they knew. They didn't even go for their weapons. Then they forced the door open which brought Mateo around the corner. It was his shouting that alerted security. They shot him and Emily, but not before she put up a helluva fight..." Malcolm flinches at the look in Elijah's eyes. "They took the kids, fought their way through security and finally out the side entrance. They escaped on motorcycles."

"Witnesses say Harrison was with them." Maria looks away, her face a mix of rage and pity.

"The crazy guy..." Elijah can barely speak. "Why would he do this? Why would he take Amelia?"

"I think I know," Shaniqua says as she places a sheet over Mateo's head. "Last night, Mateo said he overheard Harrison talking to a bunch of neckbeard biker types about parlaying with the demons. He said Harrison joked about trading safe passage out of the city in exchange for two minority kids."

"Why didn't you say something earlier, child!"

Elijah doesn't even react to Malcolm's shift. The ghost inside him doesn't matter... nothing matters. He looks past them at his Emily, slumped against the wall. Gone.

"Mateo thought they were just blowing off steam. He thought it was just Harrison being Harrison..." She looks around at the dead bodies in the hallway. "I might have too, but under the smell of death is the stink of beer and Harrison's fear."

"Get the fuck out of my way!" Fryga tears down the cordon tape and shoves the man attempting to tape off the hall. She steps over the bodies and looks into the room. "Where's Amelia?"

---

Maria, Malcolm, and the handful of hunters in command of Safe House Alpha stand around the table where Seraph Uriel-Dem died. With Seraph Dem gone, the remaining true angels refuse to fight. Many have already fled the city to the flotilla just off the East Coast, where The Organization is believed to be regrouping. Those that haven't fled have made it clear they will not throw their lives away to fight an unwinnable battle. There is no longer the question of how to stand against Hell's advance, but how to survive its occupation. They argue over a map of New York City, but Maria's thoughts are on the angry car thief pacing back and forth in the next room.