Aeron patched up the wound again. “I wish that I would have been able to stitch it, but at this point it’ll be fine. It’ll scar.”

  “Like I don’t have any of those already.” I snorted. “You guys get some sleep. I’ll stay up and let you know if we get any unwanted visitors.”

  Ruthie gave me a side hug. “If you need sleep, just let me know. I’ll take a turn at watch.”

  “Last time we tried to do watch in shifts, we all fell asleep and a little girl sneaked into the house.” I shook my head. “I’ll be fine though.”

  They all huddled in the small area and managed to fall asleep on each other. Me, I sat cross-legged with my back to them and tried to think about the future and not what would happen if we failed.

  22

  Twenty-four hours passed with us either sleeping or telling stories from the past. It seemed to be one of their favorite ways to pass the time. I was fascinated by what they had to tell. They’d all seen so much more of the world than I had and with each story I found my excitement growing, dreaming that I’d live a long and fulfilling life beyond what any human would. The door creaked open and a man in a white coat and gas mask walked in.

  “Please come out so I can examine you.” His voice rasped through the respirator.

  We walked out, my feet hesitating as four guards fanned out behind the doctor. Their guns were held at the ready, trained on us. My gaze swept over them and I wondered what they thought they were doing. They had to have learned by now that shooting someone only slowed them down right now.

  We all held out our arms. The doctor came around and examined them, occasionally making a hm noise. He checked our legs and our stomachs. He came to me and looked at the slice on my side.

  “How did you get that?” He asked, tracing a gloved hand over it. “It looks like it might have an infection.”

  I heard the clicking of the guns, but the doctor held his hand up. “Not that kind of infection. This one isn’t going to be contagious to anyone. How did you get it?”

  “I fell and I sliced it on something. I’m not exactly sure what. We were in Mesa City at the time, so it could have been anything.” I tried not to flinch away from his touch.

  He hmed and straightened up. “The lot of you have interesting wounds, but you’re clear of the plague or anything that could spread through the city and kill it. You’re good to go in.”

  Aeron and Pete high-fived each other. The guards motioned for us to walk down the path that had led us to the hut. “Please follow us. We will get you IDs and into the city. Once there you will be instructed by an aide on how to find housing and what work you’ll be assigned.”

  “Work?” Ruthie asked. “What do you mean? The money system has collapsed because of the governments shutting down borders and the country shutting down.”

  “You expected that you’d be fed, clothed, and housed for free? The government takes labor hours to pay for your basic needs.”

  I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that, but the idea of earning your keep was a logical one. We’d still figure out how to find the Sins. If I learned anything my first year of college it was that the facade had to be kept up.

  “You’ll each be given a full medical examination. Your wounds will be stitched up and dressed in a proper manner. From there, you will be taken to your house. The four of you will be living with two others in a studio style home that was furnished by the government. Because of overcrowding, there are no single homes or rooms.”

  I wondered what our new human roommates would think of us. I glanced at Ruthie and remembered the first time we had met. I had no idea what she was or what I was getting into, but she knew on sight. We’d become good friends, and now we were going to get the experience of having housemates. Strangers being put into our lives, but we’d all be together and could cover for each other if we needed.

  My mind went back to the thought of an overcrowded city. My claustrophobia tried to rear its ugly head. I took a deep breath as we walked along. We met more guards at the gate who unlocked it and let us in. There on the other side stood four men, all dressed in business suits. I wondered for a moment where they might have found them during the apocalypse, but I reminded myself it’d only been a few months since the world became this way.

  One stepped up to me. “Come along, Miss, we’ll get you ID’d and into your new home in no time. You’ll see your companions again once they have completed their registration.”

  I followed him down the rough patch of road. The red gravel crunched under my feet and the edge of the road was lined with oddly shaped houses with mismatched materials, most likely made from what they could scrounge up inside the wall. Not up to code, they looked like if you sneezed they would come crumbling down. He led me into a white stone building. The crooked sign above it said registration, but the words had been painted over the sign that had read City Hall.

  So at least one building survived. I followed him in and looked over my shoulder. I noticed the others trudging along the path with their own personal aide. He led me to the counter. “State your name, where you’re from and if you have any blood family that is of healthy living.”

  “Healthy living?” I frowned. “What on Earth does that mean?”

  “It means not one of the people who should be dead.” The woman behind the counter spoke. “So answer the questions.”

  “My name is Sammy Zadkiel. I’m originally from East Springs, and I have no...healthy living family. Nor do I have any non-healthy living family. My mother was killed in an accident last year.” I stumbled through the unfamiliar term.

  “Is Sammy short for anything?” The lady asked and looked up from her paper.

  “Nope, just Sammy.” I shoved my hand in my pockets.

  She turned around and fiddled with something before she dropped a metal tag and a chain down to me. “This is your ID, do not lose it or you’ll be kicked out of the city.”

  Not like I was planning on staying long anyways, but they didn’t need to know that. I pulled the chain over my neck and looked down at the card. It was indented with my name and a number on it. It was about the length of my fingers and heavy. I couldn’t figure out where they’d gotten the metal or the imprinter to make the ID cards, but I assumed they were resourceful. Just like the wall.

  The aide led me to a room on the left. “Go into the room and strip. You’ll be given clean clothes after your exam.”

  I walked into a curtained off area and did as I was told. I was used to being seen in my bra because of various wounds, but I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to strip completely down. I sighed, shoving the clothing into the tub that said ‘old clothes’. A few moments later a woman doctor walked in. “Don’t worry, this won’t take long.”

  The exam went as any physical exam goes. I was given instructions on how to clean and tend to my own wounds. She gave me stitches in my shoulder and a small pack of antibiotics for my side. I was warned not to lose them and to take them. Medicine was becoming scarce and they didn’t have anything to trade with another city for more. It was precious and needed to be treated as such. That wouldn’t change until they were able to find a secure lab, one that wasn’t in danger from the non-healthy living people.

  I was given clean clothes, the shirt and pants looked a bit worn, but it was better than what I had before. The doctor had also provided me socks and shoes and sent me back out to my aid.

  “Are you ready to see your new home? I was able to find you a night job working at the alarm station in the north corner. You’ll report there tonight after dark and you’ll leave at dawn. It’s an easy job and no one has had to pull the alarm, yet.” He started out of the building and I looked around for Ruthie, Pete, or Aeron.

  “What exactly will I be doing there?”

  “You’ll be watching for enemies, either attacks from the creatures or other cities. Wars have started between the walled cities because of lack of supplies. If you see them coming, you sound the alarm.”

  It sounded easy enough and a good spot for me to keep an eye out for the Sins. “I think I can manage that.”

  “You seem like a fighter, and you must be since you’ve survived so long out in the wasteland. And to survive the infection test. It’s rare that many people pass it.”

  I gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah, I guess we’re just lucky.”

  He stopped at a townhome. The outside had seen better days, rot had begun to eat at the siding and the windows were boarded up except for one. “Was this here before the city built the wall?”

  “Yes, it’s one of the few remaining original buildings. There’s plenty of room, as it’s been gutted. There is an outhouse in the back and you’ll be rationed water for bathing. Drinking water is supplied and delivered every morning. You only get a set amount for the day. It’ll have your ID number on it, if you’re caught with anyone’s water but your own then you’ll be dismissed from the city.”

  It made me wonder how much water we were given if it could be a problem that I would want someone else’s. “Okay, and where am I supposed to report to work?”

  “You continue down this path until you reach the watchtower. They will check your ID and your schedule to make sure you’re supposed to be there. From there they will let you in and you’ll start your shift. Food is delivered every night in the same manner as the water. Same rules apply. This is the end of the world, we have to be careful with our rations.”

  It wasn’t going to be the end of the world if I could help it. He handed me a key. “I hope you enjoy your stay at the city.”

  I wrapped my hand around the cold piece of metal. With the windows nothing but boards I wondered what the point of a key was. I hiked my bag up on my good shoulder and marched up to the house. I tested the knob and to my surprise, it was locked. I slid the key in and twisted. The tumbler clicked into place and the door swung open with little effort.

  The aide hadn’t been kidding, the inside was gutted from everything but the load bearing walls. Sleeping pallets dotted the floor, I counted more than the seven that we would need. A woman walked out from the hallway.

  “You must be one of the new upstairs residents.” She said and offered a hand. “I’m Katie.”

  I shook her hand. “Sammy, and I guess so. I wasn’t told which level, just that this is my new home.”

  “Kaleb and Zachariah are already upstairs. They mentioned they already had roommates and that they were just waiting on them. Zachariah said something about convincing the people in charge of housing to wait on you.”

  Her comment made me wonder what kind of power the archangel had. “How long have you been in the city?” I glanced around the empty house.

  “Since they built the wall. This was originally my mom’s house, but she died of the plague while she was out on business. My father was killed in the raids because he resisted. He didn’t think that the government needed to step in yet. Lucky me, I was able to stay here if I gave over my house to others. There’s six of you upstairs and there’s eight down here.”

  I looked around at the scattered clothes and random objects. “Like one big slumber party.” I muttered.

  “Something like that. I have to head to work, I’ll see you later.” She picked up a bag by the door and walked out. The door creaked a little as she locked it.

  I turned and climbed the stairs and walked onto the second floor. Two walls made the main room and blocked off two other empty areas. Zachariah was sitting in the middle of the floor, his knees up, arms wrapped around them and his head bowed. Kaleb was pacing the floor, his back to me.

  “Glad to see you two survived that horrible quarantine.” I dropped my bag by the top of the stairs. Kaleb jumped up and rushed to me. He gave me a huge hug, catching me off guard.

  “I was starting to worry. Where are the others?”

  I stepped back from him to give myself some space. “They should be here soon. They went in for the exam right after me.”

  “There’s the Little Death.” Zachariah stood and walked over to me.

  I tensed, thinking he was going to hug me too, but he just put a hand on my shoulder. “Yeah, sorry Areon and I had to stay behind.”

  “Heard you ran into Sloth.” He looked down at me. “Heard you did a damn good job.”

  I looked at Kaleb and he shrugged. “I might have been bragging on you a bit.”

  “I hope you didn’t talk me up too much, because I don’t want to end up being a disappointment. I have an infection from one of Sloth’s daggers. I’m not sure what to make of it, but at least it’s not deadly.”

  “Don’t let her be so modest. She cut Camille in half.” Aeron’s voice came from behind me. I moved out of the way so he could finish getting up the stairs. “She’ll be great to go through Hell with.”

  I went and sat on a pallet near the stairs. “That’s assuming we can get there. The deal was that we seal the Sins first. We know that both Wrath and Lust have been seen around the city.”

  “Wrath will be harder to seal, but doable. Lust will be easy because he sucks at fighting.” Zachariah laughed. “Last time I saw him, he was trying to seduce a few angels.”

  I didn’t want to think about the last time I’d seen him. The memory from the woman in the hut, the way Lust was disappointed in who she was.

  “Lust will still be here. He hasn’t found what he was looking for. I want to be the one to face him.”

  Ruthie came up the stairs. “You can, Zachariah will have to be with you, but I think it’s only fair that you’re the one to take Lust down.”

  “Where’s Pete?” I looked over the railing, hoping to see him.

  “They sent him right to work. He’ll be prepping food to be delivered.” Ruthie sighed. “He’ll be back a little bit before dark.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “That’s when I have to go to work. I’m working in a watchtower.”

  “So am I.” Zachariah crossed his arms. “That’ll make it easier for us when it’s time to go to Hell.”

  I lay back and stared at the water-damaged ceiling. “Yes, easier.” My eyes fluttered shut and the exhaustion from staying up for more than twenty-four hours started to creep into my body. I took a deep breath and that was all I remembered of the conversation.

  “Come on, sleepy head. It’s time to go to work.” Zachariah nudged me with his foot. “I grabbed our packs for dinner so we can eat on our way there.”

  I opened my eyes and looked up at him. “I really don’t want to go.”

  “You want to find Lust and Wrath?” He asked with a raised brow.

  “Yes.” I sat up.

  “Then we need to put ourselves out there.” He held a hand out to help me up. “And while we wait, you can tell me about the seals in Hell.”

  I took his hand and he pulled me up to my feet. “I don’t know what to tell you except where the seals are.”

  “That’ll be a good starting place. Once we get one freed you guys can handle the rest.” He grabbed the black plastic packages of food by the stairs and tossed me one. “Come on.”

  I caught it and followed him down the stairs. I could hear the chatter of everyone else in the room that had once been the kitchen. The sound of happy chatter helped lift my heart. After everything I’d seen over the last week it was nice to hear a little bit of joy in the world. A little bit of hope.

  “They are all making the best of a bad situation.” Zachariah opened the door and motioned for me to leave. “It’s amazing what one can do in the face of the end of the world. People start to realize what really matters. Gone are the days of communicating through electronics, we’re forced to see each other face to face.”

  “Until the world heals from this.” I shut and locked the door behind me.

  Zachariah nodded. “Until then, but that will take some time. The wickedness of this world will fade some when we seal the Sins away, but the scars will remain.”

  We walked side by side together, following the red dirt road past the houses made from recovered materials. We came to a massive tower built of scaffolding and sheet metal. A ladder leaned up against one side of it.

  “Can I die if I fall from that?” I looked up to the top. It looked over the wall and I swallowed at the thought of being closed in by chain link fence on a small platform.

  “You’ll break a few bones, but I don’t think you’d die.” Zachariah put a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Besides, I have wings, I’d catch you before you hit the ground.”

  That was comforting. A guard came around one of the legs of the structure. “ID’s please.”

  We both pulled our cards over our heads and handed them to the man. He checked them against a piece of paper he had. “Okay, you’re cleared, climb on up.”

  My hands shook a little as I gripped the rung of the ladder. I climbed up a few yards and hesitated.

  “I’m right behind you, keep going.”

  I took a deep breath and forced myself to continue up the ladder. My shoulder burned by the time we got up there. “I really don’t think they were taking my injury into consideration when they gave me a job that required climbing a ladder.” I put my hand against the pulsing wound. “Seriously, instant healing should have been in my job description.”

  Zachariah ignored my complaining and walked right to the railing of the small platform and looked over the landscape. “So much destruction, and most of it because of Lucile’s demons and whispering to the government.”

  I went to his side and looked at the dead plants and crumbling buildings. My heart ached for the people whose lives were destroyed because of the Devil managing to lock away the horsemen. “How much longer do we have before they totally destroy themselves?”

  “A few more months, probably.” He turned to me. “Do you sense that?”