Capítulo 31: The Fall
The apostles ran on all fours, propelling themselves with their back feet, seeming to leap through the air. Growling huffs could be heard every time they landed on their forelegs.
There had to be nine of them. Maybe ten. There would have been eleven if they hadn't cannibalized the first one.
Jonas was bawling. It was one of those cries that made you want to just shake him, horrible as that may sound. Especially under the dire circumstances. Lucas thought back on his conditions when he first met Stella. This is exactly what he feared.
Lucas was looking for a place to turn. They were much faster than them. Most apostles were. There was no way just running would get them far.
Lucas saw a break in the buildings. An alley. Lucas pointed at it.
(Lucas: "There! Turn in there!")
Stella ran through first. The alley was dark. Shadows of apostles were everywhere, but she didn't stop to think for even a second.
There was a ladder on the side of a brick wall climbing all the way up a building. Stella started up the ladder on an impulse. A good one at that. Even with Jonas crying in her arms, she climbed fast.
Lucas tried to keep up, but as soon as he grabbed the ladder, he felt his weight surge. A piercing pain in his leg. One of the apostles bit his leg. Blood dripped from its lipless jaws. Lucas pulled with all his might. He didn't stop when he felt the bone crack. He didn't stop when his muscles tore. He didn't stop when the skin began to peel like a rope would in an intense game of tug of war. Before he realized it, his leg was pulled off.
A thought emerged. Perhaps an inappropriate one considering what was happening, but Lucas pondered, "is this what Janice felt?" That's when the pain reached him. He screamed. The stump of his leg burned. It was equatable to when his head was cut off. That same burning sensation.
Pain isn't something you just get used to. It isn't something that goes away over time. Being cut will always be just as painful as the first time you were cut. Maybe you are better equipped to deal with it than you were the first time, but to say that dampens the pain would be a lie. Even for an immortal like Lucas.
He climbed as quick as he could, fighting through the pain and levying himself up with just his good leg while the missing leg regrew.
The apostles couldn't climb the ladder. They didn't have hands to grip the steps, but they hand giant claws able to pierce almost anything.
One of them planted their claw into the brick wall and pulled themselves up. They climbed the wall, using their claws like ice axe. The others followed its lead and started climbing.
Stella was already at the top of the building. She looked down upon Lucas rushing to get to the top before the apostles got to him.
Stella helped Lucas up as soon as he got high enough. He leg was back and they looked for somewhere to go, but there was no stairwell down into the building, and nowhere to hide from the apostles climbing up. They ran to the edge and looked down. They had to be at least four stories high.
The snarls of the apostles grew nearer. The first one finally got on the top. It stood upright. It's ears twitched. It was listening for them. Stella was holding Jonas' face into her shoulder to muffle his cries.
The others got to the top. The first one up snapped it's jaws at the next one. They growled at each other. They suddenly began viciously attacking one another.
Jonas heard the barks and howls of the apostles in the scuffle. It scared him. Jonas let out an explosive cry. All of the apostles turned their way. Stella held Jonas' mouth, but she knew it was too late. They were caught.
(Lucas: "Goddamnit!")
The apostles ran at full speed at them. Lucas got behind Stella and wrapped his arms around her waist.
(Lucas: "Hold on tight to Jonas!")
(Stella: "What the hell are you—?!")
Before Stella could even process what was happening, they were falling. She faced the sky, while Lucas was under her holding tight.
She always imagined that if she was ever in a situation like this, time would slow almost to a stop in a cinematic fashion, but it didn't. Time didn't slow. They fell and a constant pace. She held Jonas as tight as she could without hurting him. She squeezed her eyes closed.
They hit the ground.
She wasn't hurt. Jonas stopped his cries. He was too shocked by the fall to cry. Lucas didn't say a word. Stella got up quickly off of him. She felt something in her hair. She touched it and looked at her hand. Blood.
She knew she shouldn't have looked. She knew she wouldn't like what she would see. But she turned anyway. Her eyes widened.
Lucas' body was crushed by the fall. His head was split open and blood seeped out of it. Blood filled his mouth, and she could hear him gurgling.
His torso was flattened. Her weight combined with the impact of the fall had crushed his ribs. His organs were pierced by his own ribs and crushed under her weight. The most horrifying part was his eyes. The life never left his eyes. He was alive to experience all of this. That's when his eyes moved. He stared at her.
She watched as the split in his head slowly pulled itself back together. She watched how his torso inflated back to its regular configuration. Lucas got up, spat any blood that hadn't flaked out of his mouth and grabbed her hand and they ran away. The apostles were still on the top of the building searching for them.
Stella had trouble processing what she had seen. Her mouth hung open. She was unable to remove the image of Lucas' mangled body. It was too horrible.
They ran into a cafe on the corner of the sidewalk. They pulled open the glass doors and went inside. There was nothing in there. All of the tables and chairs had been flipped or were in the wrong places.
They were both panting. All that running took a toll on them, especially Stella. Lucas bent over, rubbing the back of his head.
(Lucas: "Ouch. I should not have done that.")
Lucas looked up at Stella.
(Lucas: "Are you okay?")
Stella slapped him.
(Stella: "What the hell do you mean am I okay!")
(Lucas: "Woah, woah, calm down.")
(Stella: "Promise me you will never do that again.")
(Lucas: "Okay, I won't throw us off buildings anymore.")
(Stella: "That's not what I meant, idiot!")
(Lucas: "Then what did you mean?")
(Stella: "I mean promise me that you won't ever hurt yourself like that again!")
(Lucas: "I saved you though. I'm the one who can't die. I can afford to be hurt. You and Jonas can't.")
(Stella: "Aren't you the one who said self-sacrifice isn't a virtue in a life or death situation?")
(Lucas: "I'm not sacrificin myself. I can't sacrifice a life I don't have.")
(Stella "You're still sacrificing your own wellbeing for my sake. Why don't you treat your life like it had value?")
(Lucas: "Because I am not alive. I'm not human. The only worth I have is in the protection I can provide.")
(Stella: "That's not true! But you're worth something to me! You're not just another apostle. You're just as alive as I am! You are human!")
Lucas turned away from her. He ignored her words. He didn't want to hear it.
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