Lucky and the Killer ✔

Never Family

"Where are you going?" King asked as he followed behind the almost-possessed Lucky. He was sure, by that point, that it was the curse from her birthmark. He was sure that there was a reason behind everything that ran much deeper than a throne. He just had to keep her alive.

"I'm going to them," Lucky said from over her shoulder.

"To who?" King asked as he tried to catch up to her long glides down the hill. She didn't answer him, and he figured she wouldn't. Her hair blew ever-steadily in the wind, and that was about all he could see. He couldn't see the darkness stretching up her skin from beneath her clothes.

Down the hill, people from his home were being killed by these creatures from the portals. As on Earth, they flew and sliced with talons or knives in a blackened blur that was like a thousand tornadoes. Faces stared out into the air with unmoving eyes. Blood stuck like paste to cold skin. Bones, broken, stopped moving as rigamortis set in. The dead fell like they did in a war. He should have expected it, but it still shook him.

"You have got to stop," King said as he finally caught up to Lucky and took hold of her arm again. "Please, don't make me do this."

It was easy for her to pull away. She snatched her arm back, bit her lip, and gave him an uneasy smile again. She didn't want to bother him, but he had to let her go. The breath fell from them both as they reached the bottom of the hill.

King reached out for Lucky again, but this time, he wasn't going to let her keep going. He wrapped his elbow in front of her neck and pulled out his gun. He shook his head and put it to her head.

"You do still remember what a gun is, right?" he asked.

Lucky stopped moving. She shut her eyes calmly and waited on him to speak. He obviously had something to say.

"What?" she asked.

"First off, don't 'what' me like that. You're absolutely nuts right now. Look down. Do you see all of the dead people these things are tossing out? Why are you wanting to go to them? You can't hurt them. Are you really that crazy?"

"Are you really that afraid?" Lucky asked, and it made his face flush red. He wasn't afraid. He could take on anything, but he couldn't take on losing her like that. It was stupid, and it was plotted.

"You can't do it," he said simply.

"Who says?" Lucky asked, but she'd already focused her eyes on the shadows in front of her. Her memories returned, and she knew exactly who she was at that moment. It wasn't her fault that King couldn't see it.

"I say," King said.

"Too bad," Lucky said. She ducked from under his arm and kept walking despite his gun and shaking hands. "I thought you were supposed to believe in me."

"I do," King called after her, "but believing in you and letting you be suicidal are two totally different things. I need you, Lucky."

"They need me," she said as she hopped down into the fray. The shadow beneath her skin seeped up and onto her neck and made her brave. It finally peered out from beneath the hoodie she had on and made its way up to her delicate jaw. It couldn't be seen beneath her hair unless the wind decided to reveal it. Sometimes, it did.

"Part of us," a shadow groaned from beside her. It lifted its head from a dead body and stared up at Lucky as she passed. It stood up to follow after her. It trailed behind her like a phantom through the chaos in the streets.

Lucky winced as she watched the bodies fall. They were her people. She walked past the small shops and buildings that she used to play in front of. They were fine. The buildings weren't burning. They didn't have to, but the people inside them screamed and wailed as they dropped like flies.