Between the Cross and the Flame

Chapter 22: Mavet

Mavet hacked up a lung. There was so much dust, so much wreckage, that he could hardly breathe, let alone move. He rolled a sizeable amount of bricks off himself and emerged into the daylight. Shielding his eyes against the searing sun, Mavet took in the damage. The entire building had collapsed, right down to its foundation. There were no archangels in sight. Mavet tried to swallow his guilt when he realized that the building had been ten stories tall.

They'd only cleared three.

Mavet was attacked by another coughing fit when he rose to his feet. He stumbled through the rubble, calling out Chaya's name. He stopped to help pull a few desperate people out of the wreckage. Sirens blared in the distance. The screaming was coming from every direction. Mavet wanted nothing more than to curl up in a dark corner and block out all his senses, but he didn't. He stood up straighter and worked faster, throwing every ounce of energy he had into search and rescue. This was his mess. It was his fault. He was going to help.

"Mavet! Mavet, where are you?"

"Chaya!" Mavet whipped around and found the blonde standing at the foot of a mountain of bricks. He nearly tackled him in a hug, relief washing over him. "Are you hurt? Please tell me you didn't get hit in the head."

"I think I twisted something, but I'll be okay," Chaya said. He wiped the dust out of his eyes, which were already beginning to tear up. "Mavet, we did this. We brought this building down on all these people."

"I know, Chaya, I know. We messed up. We can't change what happened, though, so let's get as many people out as we can."

At Mavet's continued urging, Chaya shook off his initial shock and got to work. They found entire families buried in rubble. Children cried out for their parents, friends shrieked one another's names, and a handful of people stood together, sobbing as they prayed. Mavet couldn't bring himself to look at the kids in particular. The guilt continued to gnaw at his heart, but he kept going, and he pulled so many people out of the wreck that he lost count.

The seconds felt like hours to Mavet. Time mercilessly slowed down. He found his first dead body one minute into the search. Chaya wretched and nearly threw up. Mavet looked away from those wide, glassy eyes. He couldn't think about the fact that they'd killed people in the selfish need for a quick escape. He couldn't let himself jump down that rabbit hole.

The minutes kept ticking by, and the longer they searched, the more victims they dug up. Mavet summoned his demon strength and began to tear apart some components of the building to find people faster. It was too late, though, and for every person he found alive, another was dead. He discovered an entire family that had suffocated beneath a giant mound of cement supports, then unearthed four young adults that were still kicking. There was a concussed six-year-old, and his grandmother laid motionless only six feet away. Mavet covered his mouth when a wave of nausea overtook him.

Is this really what our powers do? Destroy? he wondered.

"Mavet..." Chaya gasped, still making a conscious effort not to throw up. "The police and fire departments are here."

"We've got to go," Mavet said.

"What? No, we can't leave these people, this is our fault– "

"Chaya." The blonde looked at him, and he saw the conflict in Mavet's face, too. Chaya winced, like he was trying to hold back tears. "O-Okay. We'll...we'll go."

"We got the majority of them, Chaya," Mavet reassured him, though he wasn't sure which of them he was really trying to soothe.

The boys clambered over the rest of the rubble just as the first fire truck pulled up to the wreck. Mavet led the way through the city, darting through back alleys, passing by abandoned buildings, and sneaking around crowded areas, until they finally emerged onto the beach. He had no idea where they were, but to keep Chaya calm, he acted like he knew exactly where they were going. All he knew for sure was that they were near the Demon Hole. Mavet tapped his earpiece to turn it on.