Genesis 2.0 (Monster Apocalypse Survival) Sci-Fi/DarkFan/Horror

Chapter eighteen

"Was that necessary?" Aeriel asks me as she glides to a landing directly in my path. Her feet quietly touch-down and her wings fold, disappearing behind her golden armor. I stop short and glare at her.

"Is it necessary that you both treat me like a waste of space?" I snap. "He deserves much worse." I skirt around her and keep walking, my footfalls making little plumes of dust. "The journal isn't here anymore, where to next?" I call over my shoulder. I have no idea where I'm going but I have to move, to do something or I'll fall apart.

"What do you mean it isn't here?" she asks and falls into step beside me. Of course, she's much taller than me, which means her legs are much longer than mine, but for some unexplainable reason, she's able to keep the same pace without looking like a clown.

I stopped and turned to look up at her, squinting when the sun sears my eyeballs.

"Could you move over just a smidge?" I ask and motion her to her left while I rub some moisture back into the torched tissue behind my eyelids. Once her freakishly tall frame is put to some good use and shielding me, I blink the tears from my eyes and widen them until they adjust.

"Before Daniel found me in Hot Springs, I had a rather scary run-in with someone I thought wanted to mug me," I begin, but stop short when she frowns down at me. "What?" I ask.

"Why would anyone want to mug you?" she asks. I arch my eyebrow and start to give her a piece of my mind when I realize she's just asked a sincere question. She has no idea why we humans are scrounging and foraging for whatever we can find. She has no idea what it's like to survive.

"Times are tough," I explain. "I have to eat, stay warm, and generally survive Aeriel, and those things require tools and skills."

Realization dawns on her porcelain perfect face.

"I'm sorry, I'd forgotten." She nods curtly. "Please, continue."

"I only found a few things in that Walmart before this guy started stalking me. I assumed he wanted to steal the things I'd found, so I ran from him." I shivered at the memory of the zombies wailing from somewhere in the distance. "It was raining pretty badly when I exited the store, so I made it to the nearest dry shelter and hunkered down, hoping he'd lose interest and be on his merry way. Anyway, to make a long story short, he ended up unknowingly following me and I overheard a conversation he had with this shadowy thing -"

"That was the demon Daniel rescued you from?" Aeriel asks, interrupting me.

I clear my throat, suddenly uncomfortable with the thought of that prick saving me from anything. Had I known what shit-storm he'd drag me into, I would've taken my chances with the bad guys.

"Yeah," I agree and wave my hands wildly. "Anyway, I recalled that memory while I was out and I think that the Shadowman already has the journal from this location."

"You had another vision?" she demands, her eyes widening in surprise. "Is that why you were on the ground? Daniel and I thought you were playing around," she explained in a softer tone. "I'm sorry, I should have known you've have the Sight. My apologies," she offers and bows slightly.

Suddenly, I'm seriously uncomfortable with the badass bitch being nice to me. But at least I now understand why Daniel had been such a dick to me. That's why he'd called me "childish."

"Yeah, well, I ah - no worries," I stutter.

"What makes you think this Shadowman has the journal?" she asks as she returns to her full, perfectly proportioned height.

"I don't know," I admit and shrug my shoulders, ignoring the bead of sweat that breaks loose to run the course of my backbone. I remember a time, long ago, when I complained about the heat and humidity in Louisiana. Now, I simply wish I was back home and the past three years were nothing but a bad dream courtesy of Dad's taco surprise.

"Andrea?" Aeriel reaches out and places her hand on my shoulder. "What did you see?"

My body shivers at the dark, foreboding sensation that washes over me. Like someone dumps a bucket of hot lava over me, my entire body blazes with heat. I look around, suddenly paranoid about being out in the open such as we are. I get the feeling that I'm being watched. No, I feel like I'm in someone's crosshairs and they're about to pull the trigger.

"We need to go," I suggest and grab Aeriel's golden vambrace-covered forearm. The frigid coldness of the metal catches me off guard. I glance over and study the swirling symbols etched into the bright surface of that precious material. Thanks to my pre-zombieapocalypse obsession with MMORPG video games, I know what a lot of her armor pieces are called.

"Where can I get a set of those?" I ask offhandedly.

A/N: Please don't forget to vote!