Abruptly the Apostle slashed her sword across her own arm. Turning, she dashed for the Gate so fast that she seemed to blur.
“No,” Gabriel cried as he turned back to the console, jamming his finger down on the Enter key repeatedly. He prayed to god that it shut the Gate down like the one Sam had gone through. The Apostle growled in rage as the crackling of the Gate cut off abruptly.
“What are you doing,” Allie shrieked in his ear. “That was our only way home!
It will take ten minutes to input another Gate Jump. This computer does not save previous jump data like the mainframe does!”
“Sorry Allie, but I can’t let her get away. If she escapes she’ll just find another way, and I can’t allow that. I can’t let her get away. A dead man may not be able to do much to redeem himself, but at least I can make my death count for something. I’m sorry you’re stuck in it too.”
“You are right. I know that you are. But I was so close to surviving this. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is!”
“Oh, I know. Believe me, I know.”
Turning back to the Apostle, Gabriel found her lifted up on her tiptoes by some unseen force. Her back was arched and she bared her teeth. Her struggles to free herself were futile, and her arms were abruptly pulled tightly in different directions. As she whimpered in pain, Gabriel could hear her joints popping.
“I obey,” the Apostle wheezed. “Release me!”
“What the hell,” Gabriel whispered.
As the Apostle dropped to the ground, she gasped for air.
Raising his weapons, Gabriel limped forward. He noticed that there were notches cut into the barrel of his pistol from where he’d used it to block the Apostle’s sword.
Every step caused excruciating pain to shoot up his injured leg, but he walked forward to look his fate in the eye.
“Come on, crazy bitch. Let’s finish this!”
He supposed he still had a fighting chance, especially since the Apostle did not look well after whatever had just happened to her. If things went bad all he had to do was jump back and hit the E key before she killed him.
Chapter 42: The Reason Some are Chosen
Wracked with pain, the Apostle could not understand why Cain had not fled. If a paper cut could chase him away for a few seconds, then why not the total agony she was in now? Examining the pain in her body, she found that she was not actually in pain, her body only thought that it was, because Cain was making her think she felt it. It was hard to tell the difference, but it was there.
On top of that, her body was still weak and sluggish from having her connection to the first gunman broken so abruptly. Her bones almost seemed to vibrate, turning her muscles to jelly. Something deep down inside of her had broken, and it was wreaking havoc with her entire body and mind.
Forcing herself to her feet after Cain’s latest onslaught, the Apostle eyed the gunman. He’d drawn her blood, and for that she respected him. She had no wish to kill him, but what she wanted seemed to matter little now.
In her state, the Apostle was not certain she could defeat her opponent. If the fight continued much longer, she was going to lose to a mere human. Who would avenge the other Subjects then?
“Come on, crazy bitch,” the gunman limped a couple steps forward to meet her.
“Let’s finish this!”
Growling in frustration, the Apostle raised her sword. All of her plans and
desires, all of her anger and rage, they seemed so meaningless now. Looking death in the face, she found she was helpless before it. They’d likely kill each other and nothing would be accomplished for either side of the conflict.
“Why do you insist on doing this,” the gunman asked.
“I have no choice,” the Apostle replied, surprised at how rough her voice was. “If I disobey, my master will force me to complete my mission through his control over me.”
“A dead man can’t do much,” the gunman said, seeming to think twice about
attacking her again. “I realize that now. But if I can ensure that Cain fails and remove his minion from the picture in the same blow, I’ll count it a fair trade. When I push that button we both die, and Sam lives on in paradise.”
“I became the Apostle to destroy the Council! I care about nothing else. If I die here, who will go on in my place? The other Subjects are gone. I’m the last.”
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, but I do understand revenge. Even still, I can’t let you succeed. I’m sorry, but this is the end.”
Swaying as dizziness pounded her, the Apostle felt as though she was going to
vomit.
“Forget this,” the gunman said. “I’ve had enough punishment for one night. It’s over. Kiss your ass goodbye.”
Turning to the console behind him, he reached for the keyboard.
“Stop,” the Apostle cried, frantically reaching out with her powers. Looking
through him, into him, she could see his heart laid before her like the pages of a book.
She knew his name. She could see the hidden secret in his heart so dark that he’d crafted false memories to keep himself from facing the truth.
“You murdered your own father,” the Apostle slammed her power into Gabriel
harder than she’d hit anyone before, forcing him to face the hidden truth that he’d been running away from since his childhood.
*****
Freezing at those words, Gabriel shuddered.
“No,” he whispered, fighting away flashes of memory that could not possibly be real. He saw a knife flashing bloody in dim light. His father’s mutilated corpse. Blood soaking into the carpet. “That wasn’t how it happened. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t have what it takes. He left and I never saw him again.”
“That’s what you want to believe, the lie that you want to be true because the truth is too painful.”
“You weren’t there,” Gabriel protested. Unable to force the image of the heavy butcher’s knife cleaving through his father’s wrist from his mind. What was she doing to him! He could feel her inside his head, rooting around in his memories, showing him horrible, horrible things. “You don’t know what happened! He was killing her.”
“So you took up the knife that your mother was using to prepare your meal with.
You threatened him.”
“But I couldn’t do it.”
“Oh, but you did do it. Look into the place in your heart that you never dared before. You know my words to be true. Your father raised his arm to strike your mother again and you cut his hand off.”
“No,” Gabriel whimpered. “I dropped the knife. I’m sure of it.”
It was hard to describe what was going on in his mind. There were the memories of that night he’d had all his life like the reflection in a mirror, but as he looked closer at them, he could see through, like mirrored glass, to the dark and horrible things that lay beyond. Which were the true memories? Which of the two scenarios had actually happened that night? He couldn’t tell. The Apostle’s influence over him was making it impossible for him to think rationally about it. The more she spoke, the more he began to believe what she was saying, and the clearer the image behind the image became.
“Then you threw yourself on him, stabbing and slashing like an enraged beast.
His blood and viscera flew everywhere. When the police finally arrived because the neighbors called to complain, they found you sitting on the couch next to the mutilated body in shock, covered head to toe with blood.”