A Blood Soaked Throne - Part Two

Three- Damien

I pause outside of the door to make sure that her footsteps follow behind me, but really I find myself lost in thought. What in the hell just happened? I've never felt that kind of power before, not from myself anyway. The tattoo on my forearm still glows faintly against my skin, and the light that emitted from my palm was the opposite of the soothing blue I'm used to.

Disgust is the first emotion that rises through my trembling body. It's followed quickly by fear. For just a few moments I was completely consumed by rage, the person that I became was not me. It was my father. I couldn't think of anything other than hurting them and how good it would feel.

I was uncontrollable, and that is not something I can risk becoming right now. A pit forms in my stomach thinking about how much I must have terrified Alayah. I couldn't keep the heartache out of my expression as she pulled away from me, further muddling her already complicated feelings. I don't blame her for being afraid of me, not when the person I just displayed was so far from anything either of us has ever seen.

I listen for her feet dragging behind me as I look for a relatively safe place for us to hide. Most of the disfigured residents of the lower district will be moving further inland where they expect us to be. None of them can possibly think we would risk the dangers that arise this far out in the wastelands.

The buildings here are just as tightly packed as the ones near the gate, but the population is dramatically decreased. I analyze dozens of potential locations, keeping my sense sharpened for another attack. My interest falls on a massive structure with heavy doors blocking the entrance. The scene inside is similar to the rest of the district.

A long since abandoned security counter remains bolted to the floor by the doors, but its contents have been tossed haphazardly across the floor. Carpet is torn up, folding and crumpling along the tacked ground. Pictures have fallen from the walls, the glass left shattered at the base of their frames. Everything is tinted that unsettling shade of gray. A crumpled staircase is barely fixed to the back wall, the bottom of it curling along the right wall. Only a few steps remain on the lower half before a large portion of the structure sits broken to pieces beneath it. Approximately ten feet separates the two intact sections of the staircase.

If I can get us above the destroyed remnants we can continue to search the building for a suitable place to hide out. I take a minute to look around the room again, noticing a large couch with a wooden base sitting awkwardly in the corner and a handful of chairs flipped on their sides. I turn to check on Alayah, making sure not to be too obvious. She's moved just inside the building, tucking herself quietly into the corner behind the desk. She can't bring her eyes up to meet mine, and the exhaustion I noticed earlier has worsened.

I wedge the couch up against the wall at an angle, holding it in place with heavy concrete from the destroyed structures. I bring over a chair, hoping the extra height will make it easier for her to climb onto the arm of the couch and pull herself onto the stairs. As I look back at her, the silence that spans between the two of us is paralyzing. All I can do is nod my head and wave my arm to signal what I need her to do.

She obeys without question, tensing up the closer she gets to me. I watch as she attempts to climb the unstable structure, holding back my instinct to reach out every time she looks unbalanced. She manages to pull herself up and back into the far wall of the standing platform. I kick the chair away and maneuver myself along a similar path, straining my tired arms as I pull my body up alongside her. The couch slides down onto the ground as I push it away with my foot. Hopefully it's enough to make anyone that enters believe we wouldn't have come this way.