The Ones Left Behind [Brock a.u]

What to do with her

It was decided, much to my dismay, that I tag along with them to a refuge that was overtaken not too far away. Also to my dismay, they decide to walk. What's the point in having cool -and convenient if I may add- angel wings if you don't plan on using them?! I don't find excitement in being able to be amongst my own kind in what feels like a lifetime, rather the opposite. I really took having company for granted, but Sam was sure to explain to me that the village was ransacked. And the aftermath of it wasn't pretty. So I'm already anxious enough not to add on to the fact Colby doesn't indulge Sam any more information about me. He's not lying, but I would assume evading the truth is considered inherently wrong amongst God's right hand men..angels? So yeah, he's projecting his tension onto me, and I already feel like the weight of the world rests on my shoulders. Also, the feather that broke the camel's back, I remember the fact I'm hiding some secrets of my very own.
My pity party is abruptly cut short as soon as we come into view of the makeshift town. Or rather, the ruins of it.

Colby, seeming the least bit concerned about leaving me alone, wanders over to what I assume to be other angels. It's when his conversation turns heated and his posture stiffened that I hear it. A small cry. My eyes narrow as I immediately scan the people around me to see if they heard it too. Either they haven't, or the world has really gone too dark beyond repair if they're able to ignore the helpless and sad cries of a small child. With urgency in my movements, I search my surroundings and try to follow the faint whimpers. It leads me behind a tent that is currently being used for food rations.
"I lost my mommy!" The child cries at me before I even get the chance to say Hi. I coo to the child and approach them slowly to let them know I mean no harm. Sudden movements even made me scared, so I couldn't imagine being so small and the world being so big and cruel.
"Shh, it's alright. What's your name, sweet girl?" I get down on my knees to appear less daunting and be on her level of eyesight. I make out a timid my name is Gracie through her crying and occasional hiccup, and that she's sorry and she promises not to wander off from mom again. My heart aches when she says she misses her.
"Well, Gracie. Want to know what I know?" I continue only when I'm sure I have her quivering attention. " I know for a fact your mother is missing you just as much. I even would go as far as saying she misses you more. I promise you she is looking for you as hard as she misses you." I assure her and am quite caught off guard when she throws her hands around my neck in a desperate hug that I immediately reciprocate.

"Want to know something else?" I only let go from the hug when she does, "You see some of these people here helping? Well why do you think that is?" Instead of waiting for a response, I know won't come because she is too little and unable to completely comprehend the happenings around her. I do know she understands my tone, though, and I try to make it as soothing and nice as a girl can with a overstrained voice. "Those people... They're angels and they won't let anything hurt you."
"Even the monsters?"
"Even the monsters."
"And look, I think I see your mom right there," all mom's had the same look when frantically looking for their child. Although, I never got the chance to accidentally wander off from my mom and cause her a panic attack. I smile at their happy reunion despite myself.
When I get a deep grateful look from the mom who was facing me while she hugged her child, I just smiled. Just because the world is dark does not mean I have to be. That demon was obviously wrong about me, not that I had any doubts that he wasn't, they had the wrong girl. I'm not some satan reincarnate who is prophesized to bring destruction to all and anyways hadn't they already done that? I mean, looking around the world was already.... Past the brink. I didn't want to imagine they had worse plans than the damage they've already caused. I'm transported back to the present when I see Colby looking at me funny.
"What?" I ask.
"I have to show you something."

We walked into an abandoned building through a hole in the wall. Colby leads me to the side of the room to a wall with no windows, "sit against the wall." I assume he sensed my caution because he comforts me as I put my back to the wall, "it's okay, I just need to show you something." As soon as I'm secure against the wall, my eyes flash behind my eyelids and I'm shot into another setting. I was no longer seeing the crumbling building in front of me. Instead I was seeing... genocide, eight letters to describe more murders and pain than the human mind can take in. After one or two deaths by demon there is a catastrophic malfunction and no more is understood, no more emotion forthcoming. One dead child is a tragedy, a thousand of them is a news report between adverts. I'm here though, I'm here on the ground surrounded by the bodies of those I loved, unable to comprehend how  anyone could do this. Unforgivable. Closest to me is Jennie, seven years old and skipped around the schoolyard with a wide smile. Next to her is eight year old Rosie, the one who wanted to save the whales and sail the oceans. Right in front of them is Ryan, only six and he already wanted to fly spaceships around the galaxy. They were all special, all beautiful, and now they are meat for the buzzards. They're an example of what the demons are capable of. Turns out it is always important humanize, not dehumanize.I come back to reality, dizzy, gasping,choking on words left unsaid when there were no possible words to be said to convey what I saw. "Take me back." I demand.
"You can't change what has been done. What you saw has already happened. You're standing in the midst of it right now. "
"Why would you show me that?!"
"I had to see."
"See what? The contents of my stomach?!" I'm beyond sick. Sick of the demons. Sick of his games. Sick of this world. Honestly, sick of a God who would let all of that happen.
"See that you were truly human," and by the look on my face as he idly and freely observed me, I was and am truly and genuinely hurt for those people, those children. He has concluded what he hoped, although he would never dare admit it, that I was capable of empathy, compassion. Very much human. Now, to figure out why the demons didn't seem to agree with that.
"Well I'm glad I passed your fucking test!" I stormed out of the building with angry tears welled in my eyes. Sam rushed over to me.
"Colby?" I just nod my head the best I can in this state. Colby just manages to get under my skin in only the short period of time I've had the pleasure of knowing him, and I have a feeling it's only going to escalate from here. Sam's knowing smile confirms my thoughts and let's me know Colby manages to do that to him too. Sam took a deep breath and then released. "Come here" he commands and I comply, I feel much safer with Sam than I do with Colby. And suddenly I don't. Sam wraps his hands around my throat and I jump back in panic. The gash on my throats sends  a sharp, hot pain coursing through the nerves of my neck, and effect from touch.
"What the hell?!" I say defensively, replacing his hands with my own. 
"Your neck-"
"Yeah?! What about it warrants choking?!"
"I was trying to," he seems embarrassed by the onlookers attention we've raised, "I was trying to heal your neck." he says simply.
Oh.
Well okay, I think as I draw near him again, lowering my lingering hands. Before he gets the chance to heal me, Colby's storming up to us and his disapproval is visible in his walk alone.
"Sam, she's my captive, we don't need your help!" Colby boomed and I shrunk back, stepping away from Sam. Sam sighed in annoyance, but his shoulders stayed prompt and upright showing no signs of the emotion.
"Obviously you do, or it would have been done already. And your captive would have been fed and hydrated." When Sam replies to Colby I realize I haven't eaten in two days. I was starving. Sam gives me an all knowing look, then his eyes set back on Colby. He spoke gently, "psalm 78:25 Human beings ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the -"
"Food they could eat. Got it.." Colby groaned.
"Well, see to it that she is taken care of." Sam says as he walks away, nearly bumping shoulders with Colby. Something I don't think Colby particularly likes and doesn't let happen often.