Chapter 18
In a stolen van, Kid, Treycore, and Aerysn made their way to the meet-point Aerysn’s contact had provided. Aerysn sat behind the wheel, his foot like lead on the gas. Kid sat beside him, and Treycore in the back. Aerysn changed the station on the radio, settling on some news network.
“Oh, God,” Kid said. “Great. A couple days of NPR, and we’ll be right as rain.”
Treycore chuckled, and Kid enjoyed that he was able to get him to smile after everything they’d been through.
One of the announcers on the station said, “Right now, we’re talking to people who have been dealing with the current pest situation. Witnesses have sighted these wolf-like creatures in various parts of California, Washington State, and Nevada. Sightings have also been made in British Columbia, and less than thirty minutes ago, unconfirmed reports have sprung up in various parts of South America. People in these areas are advised to seek shelter if they encounter one or several of these unidentified animals. They are known to be extremely hostile and carnivorous. There have been reports of hundreds in a horde. Scientists are still speculating on the creatures’ origins and rapid increase in numbers.”
Kid couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It was one thing when he was trapped in another realm and seeing crazy shit, but to be on Earth, surrounded by a world that looked so familiar, it was bizarre to think it was becoming unrecognizable to him as well.
“Fuck,” Aerysn said.
“What are they?” Kid asked.
“Christ’s babies. Well, drones really. The Christ was designed to breed these monsters that would wipe out humanity.”
“How the fuck could you possibly know that?” Treycore snapped from the back.
“I told you, we are the most secretive operation of the Leader’s Allies. We know what’s going on better than anyone else. This isn’t grade-school intel I’m passing along to you. They’re beasts, destroyers, here for one purpose: to wipe out mankind. That thing can populate the world in hundreds of thousands of these. It creates them through sacs—eggs really—that it lays one by one. And it will keep doing that until there are so many of these things that eventually they will be the only thing left in the world.”
“Good fucking God,” Kid said. “So there are all these man-eating monsters running around?”
“Exactly. And as you can surely imagine, they’re some fierce motherfuckers. That’s why it’s so important for us to destroy the Christ. I was hoping we would have more time than this, but clearly, we don’t. If the sightings are international, Janka must have found a way to transport eggs to different locations, where they can hatch and unleash their reign of terror. I figure he did that to keep anyone from being able to locate this tower where the Christ’s nest is located. To keep anyone from being able to determine the source and come to destroy it.”
“Clever bastard,” Treycore said.
“Janka hasn’t gotten to this point by being foolish. He’s been calculating, plotting this, clearly for a very long time.”
“And I guess we’re not going to be safe from these creatures.”
“No. That’s only going to make getting to Janka’s hideout an even greater challenge. These creatures will be fierce monsters. Not like the Morarkes, but their numbers will be so great that they don’t really need to be.”
After a couple of hours, they stopped at a gas station. While Aerysn filled the tank of the van, Kid and Treycore perused the slim selection of clothes in the adjoining convenience store of the QT they’d stopped at. They figured they could grab a few items for the road, clothes that fit a little better than the ones Aerysn had lifted for them after their escape from Heaven.
Kid held a short-sleeved button-up against Treycore’s chest, one that he figured would be just his size. “I think this one will be perfect,” he told him.
Trey smiled and took the shirt from him. “Then I’m sold.”
“Which one do you think I should get?”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t wear any clothes,” Treycore said with a wink.
“Actually, since that whole scary immortal prison thing, I’d prefer to wear lots of clothes. In fact, I’d rather find a thick coat I can cover up with.”
“Well, I wouldn’t be okay with that,” Treycore said, glancing around briefly before moving quickly toward Kid, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close for a kiss.
Kid glanced around the store uneasily. There were some stares darting their way, but he figured Trey didn’t have to be concerned about that since he could have kicked any of these guys’ asses if they tried to step up to him.
As Trey continued kissing him, Kid’s cheeks filled with heat as his body went through all those familiar sensations, like that first time when they’d submitted to their desires in the jungle Vera had stranded them in.
Treycore pulled away and growled. That sound felt so good as it reached Kid’s ears.
All that horrifying shit in Heaven seemed so foreign to him in that moment, like a distant, terrible nightmare. Although, the injuries he’d sustained at the hands of Aerysn still tormented him like those nights when his father would abuse him. Those nights he thought he would never be able to escape from, when they were his whole world. But fortunately, as Treycore kissed him once again, softly this time, his awareness of all that pain evaporated.
When he managed to pull away again, he grabbed a tee and a few other items, including some sunglasses and snacks. He and Treycore approached the cashier, purchasing the clothes along with a few snacks with some cash Aerysn had stolen along with the clothes he’d stolen for them when they first returned to Earth. As they stepped out into the dry, hot air of the parking lot, Treycore removed his shirt and put on the one Kid had selected before sliding on a cheap pair of sunglasses. Kid waited for Trey to button his shirt, which fit snug against that ripped body of his, but when he didn’t, Kid grew excited. He liked seeing his fit body, didn’t want it concealed from his view. And as he noticed some of the women and men outside the gas station staring, he realized he wasn’t alone in his appreciation of this magnificent being.
Trey caught his gaze and smiled, clearly appreciating Kid’s adoration of his beauty, though Kid couldn’t understand how when he had eons of immortals worshipping him.
