Chapter 4

The clock in my visor read August 13, 2:07 pm when I woke. Next to it, a sun symbol told me there were six hours until sunset. I hadn’t kept track of how long I slept, but most of my superficial wounds healed. My soul would take time.

The priest’s soul and mine hadn’t fully merged and tore along the edges like stitches ripped apart during the fights. As long as I pulled the gap tight, I could still use his ability, but there’d be pain until our souls blended. I rushed to finish before the scabs entered the cavern, and it was only my second time combining souls.

After finding a brook that flowed into the marsh, I washed the gore from my body and clothing. I wasn’t clean, but not filthy by current world standards. When we were kids, Lia and I swam in a little brook behind our first house during the summer. Mom would spray us with the hose and yell at us for swimming in a filthy brook.

I don’t think she cared, but she had to pretend at least. After all, everyone knew brooks were dirty. But what would she think now? Now that brooks were cleaner than everything else, would she still pretend to be angry? It was a stupid thought, but I missed my mom’s hose.

With my hygiene needs settled, I went back to my makeshift home and weaved the tears in my soul. It was slow work, and sharp pains pinged through my jaw from biting a branch to stifle yells, but by the time the helmet alerted me to a new signature, I had finished.

Standing on top of the rise, gun in hand and wearing a bicycle helmet, was a man following the trail left behind by my fight the night before.

I placed the helmet on my head, grabbed my metal club, and peeked over the log. Going by essence, he wasn’t strong, but I had underestimated the others, and he was higher on the ridge than me.

The fallen tree provided enough cover for me to creep out of my hole, but no matter how I approached, he would hear me. Running towards him up a hill was foolish, so I crouched low and moved until he was just out of sight, then quietly climbed.

Once I reached the middle of the ridge, I turned in his direction and stalked him for close to 20 minutes. He hadn’t traveled far, cautiously following the tracks from the night before, until I stepped on a branch less than 100 yards away.

He turned and fired. The wild shot had little chance of hitting me. I didn’t know a lot about guns, but grandpa told me the longer they were, the more accurate. The man was using a handgun.

We ran towards each other, him firing and me using trees for cover until we were less than 50 feet away. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and held my club tight. Unless he ran out of bullets, I didn’t think I’d reach him without getting shot. I didn’t want to drag out the battle, though. After counting to three and building up my courage, I jumped out from behind the tree and stormed in his direction.

Bullets whizzed past me, with two striking my vest like a hammer to my chest, and a final one hitting my leg. I stumbled from the shot, but I was too close for it to matter. My head slammed into his chest, and we rolled downhill until a boulder cushioned our fall.

He grabbed the back of my vest and lifted me from the ground, but once I was on my feet, I spun around and kneed him to the groin.

“You bitch.”

There were no coincidences in this world. That’s what grandpa told me, and I was finally starting to believe him. I didn’t recognize his face, but only one person had that voice.

He stumbled back from the knee shot, and I slammed the club down onto his arm. There wasn’t any blood from the strike, but the way his arm dropped to his side and the sound of his scream told me everything I needed to know. He fell to his knees, cradling his arm, and I kicked him in the face.

I kicked his head until I was sure I knocked him out, then fell to the ground. After taking a minute to catch my breath, I rolled him on his stomach and tied his hands.

Satisfied, I removed his bicycle helmet and ate an energy bar.

Nobody cared that Andy’s feet trailed behind his head like he pushed through the wind when he walked, and his lip-smacking across the cafeteria never stopped girls from approaching. Andy was that attractive. But the moment he spoke, the thought of being anything more than friends disappeared. I had a deeper voice before middle school.

That Andy, who bragged about modeling when he graduated, died.

Now, his unnaturally pale skin peeled and flaked like a snake, and his black veins created a web-like pattern. Andy stunk like city sewage. Blood and pus leaked from his fingertips. And the thick glossy hair I was jealous of vanished. Andy survived the fifth breach, but he’d transform into a mindless scab with the next.

After giving him an hour to rest, I dragged his body to a tree stump and dumped water on his face, slapping him for good measure.

“It’s been a while, Andy, you’re not looking too good.”

He didn’t look surprised to see me, but he couldn’t talk while coughing up blood. Somewhere during our fall, he punctured one of his lungs. I hated the idea, but I placed my hand on his chest and forced a sliver of my soul out. Even though it burned, I maintained a straight face.

I couldn’t heal a person’s body without damaging their soul or mine. Although I worked in field hospitals, I wasn’t a real medic. A real medic could excite essence particles in a person, manipulate them to speed new growth, and remove any genetic mistakes. Medics spent years training their control and studying the human body. I ripped essence from the soul and patched the injury manually.

My stomach hardened, and my body trembled from the strain, but I healed his lung enough to breathe normally, and he thanked me by spitting a mouthful of blood on my face.

I fought the urge to knee his head—healing him hurt, and I didn’t want to do it again.

“That wasn’t nice, Andy. After I saved you and all.” I dumped water on my face to remove the blood, but the stink remained.

“Not nice? You filthy whore. You saved me from what you did.” Andy’s face twisted like he wanted to spit again, but he held back and smiled instead. “Don’t worry. I’ll show you nice once you’re in the stables like the rest.”