Radicle (Terminal trilogy #2, can stand alone)

29: Amputation

 Lil never came back to me, but sometimes a conversation feels done and there's nothing you can do about it.

I didn't end up staying awake. But I woke up early morning, and I got to appreciate the morning sky- devoid of wind, maybe, but still real looking.

It wasn't the police who came to pick me up, just the Scorpio- a man also inconveniently named Michael. Michael Withers, to be exact, but I decided to just dub him Micky and prevent any further name-based confusion.

I hadn't seen Micky in ages, but it turned out I just didn't care. He came in looking very gruff, backed by two guards who I assumed to be hellhounds, but he himself was quite unimpressive. He had shaved most of the hair off his head but the center strip, which he had grown out long enough that it could have blocked out his eyes. And he looked weirdly young, as most demons do.

"Time to die." He said, like he was going to do it himself. But he just sort of grabbed at me instead. I fought off his grip and followed him dutifully down the stairs. "I know you're an angel."

"Well, legally-"

"I don't do law. I do violence. You know, if it wasn't for Glenn and her silly need to pretend to know justice, we'd be ripping your skin off in Wrath by now."

"Wow, you sure weren't following the trial. Didn't you know? I'm a demon, not an angel. You can't use my skin for jack shit."

"I know what you really are, angel."

"Someone's behind with the times." I said, but I was getting bored of making humor. "So why are you here? What is the exact plan?"

He grinned.

And then, things moved quickly. I guess they were desperate to see me die. I was moved to one building in Pride, and then another, and a lot of people were talking and there were a few thing I had to sign. And then, maybe four hours later, I was on Earth.

We climbed out of the hellmouth, and there were fifteen people total. Three of us were here to die. We were on the present Earth, and the squad leader- since, evidently, demons felt the need to have those- took us off in a pretty familiar direction. I knew maybe every inch of these woods in various years of its life.

The only real conversation to be had was kept to a simple 'let's go this way' sort of banter. Sometimes someone might disagree. I wasn't really sure what there was to even think about as they wandered the woods- either ways, they were going to bump into some angels eventually.

We ended up wandering pretty close to Heaven- like, close enough that we passed the two boulders that marked the rift back to the cycling Earth. I guess if I wanted to be clever, I could've run through and hid out on Earth for the rest of my life. But that would have been boring.

Speaking of boring, this whole venture was exhausting with it's whole 'continuous and meaningless walking'. At least when angels went out to war, we made jokes. And didn't have tons of heavy equipment to carry on our backs.

We camped in a sort of tiny valley, which I guess the squad leader thought would provide us with extra cover. But of course, it was late autumn, so all it really did was put us at risk of drowning if it started raining overnight.

The next morning was dry and cold, and the sound of the shaking trees kept the demons alert, struggling to hear the light sound of an angel's feet. In the end, they didn't. But I did. And it was really tempting not to tell them about it- to maybe let them survive, and to slowly gain their trust and learn their names. But that would have been pointless. I let my former brothers have the first strike.