Put That Kid Down

Epilogue

When it came right down to it, David was a man on a tightrope. There was only a thin, shaky rope between him and an inevitable plunge.

So it shouldn't have come as a surprise that he vanished one day with a camper in tow. He'd always been a little strange; no one could be that happy all the time.

The real surprise was when Gwen disappeared a few days later. Her room had been ransacked, but her family assured the police that was her usual method of packing. A note in her handwriting was left pinned to the board:

I am not moving back in with my parents and someone's gotta keep the kid sane.

Her picture ended up next to David's in the reports that never quite made it to the air. Azira Fail owned the news now, a strange, slight woman with a golden glow and a few too many eyes. She was never available when the police came calling.

Plus, they soon had other matters to fill their time.

Everywhere, creatures fey and otherworldly were rising up and taking control. Some patrolled territory as a hunting grounds, others protected sacred pools. Some fought for equal rights with humanity and others fought to subjugate it. Britain had fallen entirely and been remade as a sovereign vampire nation, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo had gone dark with no human news in or out. The only countries that seemed to be relatively resilient to the shift were Peru and Pakistan. In the US, states and territories were torn to pieces. Across the world, lines were redrawn as the world remade itself.

As the world forgot itself, and remembered a story.

The story wasn't good or bad. It was different.

Everything was new again.

Cruel things crawled out of the shadows and kind things flickered into existence like lighting a candle. The world changed.

And through it all, a tired broken man held tight to the hand of a jaded child, and they hoped.

Because change is only the first step.

It takes t͕̠͚̤̰ͭ͡i̢̞̥̜͇̬̹̞ͭͪ̔͂́̾̈m͉̼̮̼̻̻̎ͤͦe̹̹̾ to heal.

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Sneak Peek of the sequel below

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"Oh god, finally," Gwen sighed in relief as her attacker's face (and her own) came into the light and David backed away like he'd been burnt, allowing Gwen to stand away from the tree trunk she'd been slammed into.

"Gwen? What are you doing out here?" David demanded, Max only just blearily waking up in his sleeping bag a few yards away.

"What, no 'sorry I almost killed you?'" Gwen walked past him and plopped down next to the remnants of their fire, rifling through her hiking pack and pulling out instant pancake mix, some oil, a bowl, and a canteen. She paused, "You don't have a pan, do you?"

Drowsily, Max pointed at the appropriate bag, rubbing his eyes as his brow furrowed, trying to figure out what was wrong this morning.

"Hey wait a fucking second," he said slowly as he fully woke up. "Gwen? When the fuck did you get here?"

"You are just as rude as David," Gwen complained, whipping out a large spoon as the mentioned counselor came over to sit beside her.

His tone was wry as he stated more than asked, "You're not going to tell us, are you?"

She pointed at him, momentarily abandoning her mixing, "Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!"

Mystery 'solved,' Max flopped back to the ground to attempt a little more sleep.

"Besides," Gwen nudged David in the side, "You did always promise to take me camping."

"You always said no," David pointed out with a tired, but growing grin.

She shrugged and let the batter trickle off the edge of the spoon into the bowl to check consistency, "Let's just say I'm never moving back in with my parents."

Max snorted, rolling over to pull his slick, waterproofed pillow over his ears, but he still muttered quietly, "Same."

He realized he hadn't been quiet enough when David's hand patted his back.

"I'll make sure of it," David promised.

(The beginning)

x

(Photo sourced form https://unsplash.com/@karlhornfeldt)