Our Future

Gabriel sat with me trying to comfort me. We were burdened by the future. Technically if we didn’t find a way to stop from dying in the next two years we’d have no future eventually. Did that mean I’d stop having visions when the time neared? How were we supposed to prevent the future if we didn’t know it?

I squeezed Gabriel’s hand nervously at the thought.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

Him and his policy to give me privacy even if he knew I wouldn’t care. Him reading my mind was the least of my problems right now.

“What if I stop seeing the future because I have no future?” I whisper anyway.

“Guess we’d have to be more careful and hope we avoid how we die before it happens?” he says unsure.

“We have to believe we can do this, for Sam and Anna. We are not going to let them go into the new world alone,” he whispers squeezing my hand in return.

I sigh, and rub my eyes.

Why us? But they again if not us then who? Should I be grateful that we know we could die so we get a chance to prevent it? Are we what other would be considered lucky? I guess we’d be that no matter what because we’re still alive. Still have a chance.

“We’ll figure it out,” Gabriel whispers kissing my forehead.

I enjoy his closeness for the fleeting moment. He could be gone soon. Two years could technically be just when we were able to get him a head stone. No one technically knew the actual date so we couldn’t technically put an accurate date on anything.

A gunshot rang out. Gabriel sprang up and stumbled toward the noise.

“Do you see anything?” I ask.

“No, why would someone fire inside the warehouse?” He wonders.

I jump up to join him.

“Let’s find out why,” I inquire.

“You should stay in bed just because you’ve never had side effects doesn’t mean they can’t start,” he whispers.

“You’re not going to leave me here alone and I’m not going to let you investigate that gun shot by yourself,” I whisper.

He sighs. I started walking down the hall. He follows shaking his head. I know he’s worried, Gabriel’s feelings radiate out. Knowing him for over a decade helps. Then again I’ve known Melody for eleven years and I have no clue what she feels. Then again, she’s been away for three years. Maybe she had a better poker face then Gabriel.

I peak around the corner, nothing. We go from corner to corner, checking to make sure it’s clear. Had nobody else heard the gunshot? Was Cain back?

I hope to God he wasn’t.

Daniel popped around a corner brandishing a handgun.

“Did you guys fire your weapons?” he asked.

“No, we were wondering where it came from, too,” I reply.

“Why would anyone fire inside?” Daniel asks.

We shrug.

We continued down the hall and around to the three large rooms that held the children, guys and girls. We slowly opened the first door which was the girls, hopefully nobody was getting dressed.

There were two girls, one on either side of the door brandishing weapons of their own.

“I’m guessing the gun fire didn’t come from in here, either,” I mumble nervously.

“Let’s check on the kids,” Daniel adds quickly turning around without a second thought and moving to the next door.

He opens it and all the kids are hiding among the beds and toy structures well, Melody and Charlie cover the door.

“Nathan? Who fired that shot?” Melody inquires quietly.

“We don’t know, we were looking around to find out,” I answer.

“We got check the guys room,” Daniel mutters panicked.

He rushes over and swings the door open. Inside I see somebody lying on the floor. Vlad is standing over the guy on the floor.

“Vlad, what happened?” Daniel calls.

“He said, you were an angel. He’d lost it. I put him out of his misery,” Vlad whispered.

Daniel rushes over to the figure on the floor.

As we get closer we can tell it’s Joey. He’s not dead just unconscious. He’s shot in the abdomen.

“What did you do? Are you crazy?” Daniel yells charging at Vlad and pinning him against the wall.

“I told you, he had lost his mind, Dan. He said you were a mythical creature. Angels don’t exist,” whispers.

“That’s what people said about zombies till three, four years ago, too,” he says hysterically sprouting his wings.

“I seem to have lost my mind as well, please shot me,” he says calmly holding the gun out to Daniel.

Daniel side glances the gun then sucker punches Vlad. His nose and mouth gush blood. Daniel rushes back to Joey as he starts coughing.

“Joey?” he takes his hand.

Jasper magically materializes beside Daniel and Joey. He kneels down and looks at Daniel. Daniel only nods at him. Jasper raises a hand and places it over Joey’s abdomen. Joey takes a deep breath. Jasper starts the healing process and soon all that’s left is the blood Joey lost. He was going to need a blood transfusion soon if he got any more severe injuries.

Jasper rises and walks back over to Vlad, he holds the point of a bullet to Vlad’s forehead.

“That’s where this bullet is going to end up if you shoot anyone else who isn’t a zombie,” he says methodically.

“I’m crazy, I told you to kill me, and surely you could do it. You just saved Joey, and everyone is capable of murder you just have to put them in a certain situation,” he says calmly.

“I’m not a psychopath, quit shooting people,” Jasper replies and turns away.

He leaves silently.

“Does he have anyone he can talk to?” Gabriel whispers to Daniel and Joey.

Joey sighs. I already knew Vlad used to be his boyfriend. But they had seemed to be on bad terms. I guess it was the right thing to do.

Joey rose and Daniel followed him. We joined them. We had some explaining to do.

Daniel stopped a few feet from Vlad.

“Why did you tell him?” he asks.

There’s an edge to his voice. A hint of mistrust.

“Daniel,” he sighs. “He was trying to get me to come back. And I said at least you didn’t lie to me. And he told me to tell him what that meant. He had a gun, I was scared...”

“I’m sorry,” Joey pleads. “He did shoot me.”

Daniel just nods. He still looks angered.

Gabriel removes the gun from Vlad’s hand.

“Sit down,” Gabriel says gently. “We’ll explain.”

Vlad takes a seat on one of the mattresses on the floor and looks up at us curiously. Joey sits down beside him. Daniel’s wings appear. They flap carefully.

“Not again, please just kill me,” Vlad pleads.

Joey rises and plucks a feather from one of Daniel’s wings.

“They’re real,” Joey replies holding the feather out to Vlad.

Vlad takes it carefully in his hands and examines it.

“So... You were telling the truth...” he whispers. “I’m sorry.”

Joey nods.

“I guess I lost it a bit,” he whispers.

Daniel rolls his eyes as if that’s an understatement.

“Don’t tell anybody, okay?” Joey adds.

“Sure,” he replies. “I won’t tell anybody, not a single soul.”

Joey nods, kind of, like, ‘yeah, right’.

Vlad doesn’t seem to notice.

“Are you going to be okay if we leave?” Joey asks.

“Yeah, sorry about everything. You go, don’t worry about me,” he replies.

Joey glances at him wearily and you can see the same look in Daniel’s eyes. It’s like they know he’s not fine and that they should worry. But they would regardless.