章 10: Human Again

Lucas is the luckiest man alive. That's what Stella thought. She heard a blood-curdling scream, that of unadulterated anguish. She had never heard anything quite like it.

Her heart sank the very moment she heard it. Lucas was inside the store, and she heard him scream. She was prepared to run in there and take down any ugly monster that could possibly attack, but she hesitated.

Lucas has seen a lot. That much is clear. When he screamed, it reminded her of when he looked away from behind the counter. A man who didn't flinch at the sight of a corpse missing both arms and a jaw saw it and was visibly disgusted. That's how she knew not to look.

Now that same man was inside a dark building and screaming. It shocked her. She didn't know what to do. Her body was ready to jump into action, but her mind told her to stay back. She was frozen.

But despite her dilemma, she shattered that doubt. She forced herself to run in and shoot that monster. She could see just enough by the light that came in through the door she shot from to hit it right in the neck.

When Lucas lit that match, she felt that weight be lifted off of her, seeing he was just fine. They ran away and got to the east side of the valley, running up that road.

She was glad Lucas was fine. If he had died, she wasn't sure what she would've done. But it seemed all too convenient. An apostle sitting on top of him as he screamed, and he came out untouched? It was suspicious.

They had gone off the road a bit, hiding in the dense brush. The baby was whimpering. Stella got her mind off of Lucas' improbable survival and tended to the needs of the child. She reached into her backpack and pulled out some baby food.

Lucas paced back and forth quietly. He was on the lookout. The ominous red sky shined down from above, laminating the tops of the trees with a blood-red tinge.

The rest of the area was almost impossible to see. Red wasn't the best color for visibility, especially when that shade was darker, but he could see just enough to not accidentally walk into a tree.

The baby's whimpers became louder. It was slowly evolving into a cry. This was annoying Lucas, but he didn't say anything. If anything, he was more frustrated by how she carelessly burst into the store to save him. Anything could've happened. If the apostle had decided to attack her instead of run away after being shot, that would've been the end of Stella and that baby.

She may have thought she was saving him, but in reality, she was only risking her own life, as well as the baby's. She was just supposed to wait. She was supposed to preserve her life. If she wanted to save Lucas, she should've saved herself. But of course there was no way for her to know this. It all worked out in the end, but it was still reckless.

(Lucas: "Why did you save me?")

Lucas spoke suddenly. Stella didn't know what to say. It was an outlandish question to her.

(Stella: "You screamed. Duh. You needed help.")

(Lucas: "I didn't need help. Please, for the love of god, don't ever do that again. Even if I scream, if I cry, if I die, you should never risk your life, as well as the baby's, for me. I am expendable. That baby needs you.")

(Stella: "You shouldn't talk yourself down like that.")

(Lucas: "The way I talk about myself should be the least of your concerns. If something ever happens and I get injured, you are to run as far away as possible. Do you understand?")

(Stella: "No, I don't. Why do you want me to abandon you?")

(Lucas: "I don't, but if it-")

(Stella: "Okay then I won't.")

(Lucas: "Stubbornness is not a virtue in a life or death situation. Choose yourself to save. I'd catch up eventually.")

Stella was about to give a rebuttal, but she caught her words right as they began to come out. She turned her head back to the baby, and continued to feed him in silence.

Hours had passed. Stella and the baby were now asleep, and the red sky faded into gloom. He was still unremittingly pacing back and forth. His unstoppable pacing continued. Nothing could stop him from looking out for—

There was a sound. His parade was interrupted by the snapping of a stick in the distance. He froze in place.

Silence. There wasn't a single sound. Something was stalking them. Whatever it was had heard Lucas, just as he had heard it, and they both froze in place, hoping their cover hadn't been blown.

If Lucas made the first move, he was sure he could get away with Stella and the child, but he wasn't sure if it had seen him or not, and he didn't want to risk running and getting caught when it hadn't seen him in the first place.

He then heard leaves moving. Something was shuffling through them. It was moving away from them though. Lucas breathed a sigh of relief.

He turned around and almost yelped.

(Lucas: "Jesus-")

He whispered. The guardian Angel sat there behind him. He hasn't seen the angel for a while.

(Lucas: "You nearly gave me a heart attack.")

He spoke to the angel as if it was listening, but his words fell upon deaf ears. The angel, of course, did not respond to him, for it hadn't a proper mouth to respond with. Lucas clicked his tongue and walked over to where Stella was sleeping. He sat beside a tree and looked up at the black sky.

He pondered for a moment. Why had he been chosen for immortality? Why did the guardian Angel choose him of all people? What made him special compared to the others.

For the past decade, Lucas didn't want to live, but he was forced to. Unable to die, he wandered aimlessly. He wanted nothing more than to be human again. He didn't know if his wife would take him back if she found out he was immortal. The man Lucas used to be, the man she knew was gone, replaced by this empty husk that walked.

But he also knew that if the angel were to ever disconnect from him, he'd most likely die on the spot. He didn't have a choice to be human anymore.

But the girl that slept beside him didn't see him for the monster Lucas deemed himself to be. She saw a human, like any other. She may be insufferable sometimes, and reckless other times, but she worries for him as if he could die. Though he felt it wasn't right to bust in that store and save him like that, he appreciated the sentiment. It made Lucas feel a way he hadn't felt for a long time. Human.

Lucas figured that hiding his true nature for a little longer wouldn't hurt anyone. It wasn't because he felt she would distrust him if he told her at this point, but he wanted this to last longer than it had. After however many years of pain and sorrow, he felt he deserved more than just a day of being treated like a proper human.

He didn't care if it was selfish, or if it was dishonest. He was human again.