The engine hummed quietly, but my mind was screaming.
I drove without direction. No map, no plan—just the road, stretching on like it'd never end.
Amy's blood was still burned into the backs of my eyes. Her guts hanging like broken strings. Her room smelled of metal and rot. And that word—
Fate.
I kept blinking like it'd disappear if I just tried hard enough.
The sun dipped low, bathing the cracked road in that orange, end-of-the-world glow. The shadows were long now. Everything looked like it was dying.
I pulled the Humvee over to the side and killed the engine. The silence settled in instantly, heavy and unforgiving.
I leaned back in the seat and closed my eyes.
I wanted to cry.
I didn't.
Not because I was strong—but because I was empty.
What kind of person leaves the only person they have left?
What kind of person runs away from the end?
I guess the answer was simple.
Me.
I watched the sky darken through the windshield. No stars. Just clouds, heavy and slow.
Eventually, I drifted off.
---
The dream came fast. Too fast.
I was in a hallway. Long. Flickering lights. Doors on each side. Every door opened to something I didn't want to see.
The first:
Matilda—being dragged by those creatures.
Her face torn open, eyes wide, mouth moving but no sound.
The second:
My hands wrapped around someone's throat.
Raziel's face.
He wasn't fighting back.
He just looked at me like he was disappointed.
The third:
Amy on the wall. Her lips were stitched shut. She was still alive.
Looking at me. Begging me with her eyes.
I slammed the door shut.
Suddenly—I was back in the barn.
I could feel the straw under my feet. Smell the dried blood.
Raziel stood in the middle of the room, his wings shredded, black blood trailing behind him.
"You never wanted this," he said.
I tried to move. I couldn't.
"You never wanted to help us. You never wanted to be part of this."
"I didn't know what this was," I whispered.
"And now you do."
The room collapsed into fire. And from it came Uriel.
Towering. Blinding.
Wings of pure light. Eyes burning white. He looked like judgment itself.
In his hand—
The Holy Lance.
The same one I used on Raziel.
"John," he said, voice echoing across nothing.
"No. No, no, no. I'm done. I'm not part of this anymore!" I backed away. The ground was gone. I was floating.
Uriel didn't move.
"You fled the test. You abandoned your path. But it follows you. Fate always does."
"I didn't ask for this!"
"You didn't need to."
The world twisted again—
Now I was standing in front of a mirror.
My reflection was bleeding. Eyes sunken. Smile stretched to its limits.
I looked down—
The lance was already in my hands.
Uriel was behind me.
And then—
He threw it.
The lance flew—
I didn't dodge.
I couldn't.
It slammed into my chest. I felt it.
The pain was instant. Sharp. Spreading like fire through my veins. I screamed, grabbing it, trying to pull it out. My knees hit the floor.
Uriel stood above me, wings spreading across the void.
"You can run forever, John. But fate waits patiently."
I coughed, blood spilling out.
I reached up—
To pull the lance—
To beg—
To curse—
But everything went black.
---
I woke up choking on my own breath.
I sat up so fast I smacked my head on the roof of the Humvee.
I gasped. Eyes darting everywhere. Hands trembling.
I looked down.
No wound.
No blood.
No lance.
Just sweat.
And cold air.
The dream was gone.
But the words weren't.
Fate waits patiently.
I leaned forward, putting my face in my hands.
How was I supposed to stop this?
Raziel said Uriel was coming.
He said I had a role to play.
But I didn't want to. I didn't want any of this.
Still… the dream felt too real. Too heavy.
The pain. The fear. The finality.
And the lance—
How did Uriel have it?
Where was it now?
I checked my bag again. Still gone. Feathers too.
The only thing I had left was myself. And even that was breaking piece by piece.
I sat in the Humvee for a while longer. Listening to nothing. Thinking about everything.
Matilda.
Amy.
Raziel.
The barn.
The blood.
The silence.
And the question I couldn't stop asking—
How does it end?
Because now… I wasn't sure if I was meant to die.
Or be something worse.