Hell (Part Four of the Purgatory Series)

Chapter Thirteen: Survivor's Guilt

Chapter Thirteen: Survivor's Guilt

The sweltering heat and chirp of tree frogs were more comforting than Thea would have expected. She closed her eyes and sighed as a soft breeze blew in through the broken window. She knew she should be worried about Lucifer, Delilah, and her rapidly decaying host body, but she had started getting a feeling that everything was going to work out for the better eventually. 

Or maybe she was just disassociating. 

"Ready to leave?"

She tilted her head back and glanced at her new friend. He stood hunched over an old duffel bag full of supplies and held a hand to, what she assumed, was his aching back. 

How was she supposed to navigate hostile terrain full of monsters with a broken body and an elderly pastor? Her subconscious warned her against this idea every chance it got when her mind was unoccupied. But her instincts were telling her everything would be fine. She wondered if she had finally snapped and was in a state of psychosis brought on by trauma. 

"Let's go," she replied, instead of voicing her concerns. 

Thea dragged her host body out of the church pew and staggered down the steps. She made it to the truck on her own, but when she tried to open the door, she found she had no strength in her arm. The preacher, whose name she had learned was John, opened it for her. He didn't seem to be bothered by her possessing this dead body, but she figured with goblins and vampires roaming about nothing seemed surprising anymore.

"How far do you think we can get before we have to walk?" She asked, dreading how painful that would be.

He smiled at her. "Let's hope all the way. As the old saying goes, 'If the Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise.'"

Thea shook her head but couldn't help but smile in return. He was ever the optimist. 

While many roads had become impassable from debris and abandoned cars, some could still be accessed, especially back roads where fewer drivers had traveled. They had decided to leave right before dusk. John told her that goblins usually roamed about during the day and, of course, vampires came out at night, so the best travel time was in between. Thankfully they only had to drive for a few hours. 

"So you never told me why you think your family is in Dallas," John said, tapping his thumb on the steering wheel to some imaginary beat. 

Thea tried to shrug but the body didn't move. "My mom's sister lives there. It's a gated community, so it would probably be safer. I don't know for sure they are there, but I do know they're alive. Roran told me he had spoken to them."

"Roran, your old boyfriend who was a nephilim, yes?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, feeling uncomfortable talking about him. "It's complicated."

John laughed. "What isn't these days?" 

"And you're sure we can't convince him to help with our plan?" 

She sighed. "I don't know. Honestly, I don't know if I want him to help. He's not great at making good decisions under pressure, especially when I'm involved." 

"Right," he mused, staring ahead in concentration. "You said it was one of his decisions that set parts of this apocalypse into motion."

"I can't put all the blame on him," she argued. "I had made mistakes that led to this too. I was too gullible and easily manipulated."

John made a humming sound in contemplation, "Well, I can't see how you could be very responsible. You were dead."

Thea nodded. "Fair enough. But the past three and a half years all led to this. And I was a domino in the plan to topple humanity."