The Doomsday Book

Chapter 8

"I'm getting really sick of waking up to a headache," I grumbled, sitting up for the umpteenth time.

Looking up, the sky was smoky with no sunlight to be seen. Looking around, the floors were dried and cracked. Looking down, I decided to stop looking because of the throbbing headache still in effect. I sighed, pushing myself to my feet. I felt like Count Dracula, rising from his coffin after a millennia.

"What the hell happened?" I asked to no one in particular, taking in the wasteland of the world. "It's like the zombie apocalypse without the zombies."

"Wouldn't that be just an apocalypse?"

I turned, greeted by the sight of Delta in torn clothes. "Wow. You look like crap."

"You look worse, Sleeping Ugly," she countered with a weary smile.

"Mind telling me what happened while I was out?"

"Well, after you were hit by one of the Fates, the Book bursted to life. I tried waking you, but you were deader than any Reaper should be. I left you to go after the Fates only to stumble upon the city in utter chaos. You think the countryside's horrible? Wait till you see downtown." She shuddered.

"How long was I out?" I asked, hesitant to know the answer.

"Centuries," she answered, exaggeratedly solemn.

I nudged her with my elbow. "Seriously."

"A little over twenty-four hours," Delta said with a casual shrug. "I couldn't find the Fates anywhere, so I came back for your body. Bad-a-bing, bad-a-boom! You're alive!"

My eyes became downcast, vaguely staring. "What happened to Fahrr's body?"

Delta's face fell. "I don't really know. I left before I could see to him. I'm real sorry, Kiara. He was a good son of a bitch."

I scoffed in amusement, unable to withhold a small smile. "I'll find out why he stabbed me and cut the lock. Then I'm gonna make sure he laughs till his guts' busted, wherever he is now."

"And I'll make sure you don't do any stupid shit."

I crossed my arms with an eyebrow raised.

"I'll make sure you don't do any stupid shit without good reason," she corrected.

"Now what, then?"

"The world's ending. The sunlight's completely blocked out by this thick layer of smog and, according to scientists, there's a sudden drop in the level of oxygen at an exponential rate."

"So Earth's atmosphere is replaced by a giant sunglass and everyone's slowly running out of air to breathe. Okay, yeah, my morning's going great." I rubbed my temple irritatedly. "Welp, better go save it!"

"There is absolutely nothing you can do!"

Delta and I whipped around. Four androgynous figures stood before us, a different weapon in each pair of hands.

"You still owe me a dance, Maxi." Lust cracked their whip, snapping a patch of dried dirt and dead grass from the ground.

I threw my hands up in exasperation. "Every time! Why is it always you guys? Didn't you disappear in the war?"

"As long as humanity's alive, we're alive." Pride cracked their neck, fingers gliding fondly over the longsword in their hand.

"Stop the talking already!" Gluttony rose their mace up easily with one hand.

"Ohhhhh, that's gonna hurt." I jumped back, narrowly dodging the hard fall of the mace that left a dent in the earth.

"Holy FUCK!" Delta summoned her saber. "Okay, no, I already died once by Wrath. I ain't dying again!"

"Gotcha!"

I hissed when a bullet dug into my shoulder. Greed laughed, licking their lips while waving the smoking revolver in their hand. My blades slid out of my wrists immediately.

"Kid." Greed's eyes glowed a dangerous indigo. "You brought knives to a gun fight."

"Hey!" Delta spun her saber in one hand with confidence as she landed next to be. "I got Jabba the Hutt and Mister Big Ego."

"And I got McCree and Catwoman," I agreed, taking off into the air.

Lust swung their whip at me, grabbing my torso like a leather lasso, and brought me crashing down into the dirt. I gritted my teeth from the chafe of the whip but rolled onto my back and kicked up onto my feet nonetheless. Before I could brace myself, a second bullet hit the back of my right knee then yet another missing me by mere inches as I fell.

"KIARA!"

My body morphed quickly to be drenched in wisps of black, sliding away from two shining bullets before it could meet its target. I got up, with some difficulties, and let the blood flow while I did my best trying to ignore it.

"Guns can't kill me," I spat. "And it looks like you're out."

Greed sneered, sliding the cylinder out to chamber new bullets before snapping the cylinder back into the hold. They cocked the revolver while taking aim.

"You're taking all the fun away!" Lust all but whined to Greed.

"Shut up," they snarled back. "She'll die quicker this way."

"That's why!" They lashed out on my back with their whip, staining the black mass in ribbons of red.

I hissed and tried to squirm away.

"Sadist," Greed mumbled.