Death on the Horizon: Children of the Apocalypse, #2

By A.L. Kessler

Sammy Zadkeil is at the center of the apocalypse. The Devil has sealed the Horsemen away, and the Seven Deadly Sins are running amok in the human world leaving chaos and ruin in their wake. Death no longer exists, and the number of walking dead is rising. The Children of the Apocalypse must fight to bring balance to the human world once again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.L. Kessler
• Release date: Jan 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393482024

Book preview

Death on the Horizon

Children of the Apocalypse

Book Two

By A.L. Kessler

Copyright © Amy Kessler 2017

All Rights Reserved.

Cover: Imagine Ink Designs

Formatting: Imagine Ink Designs

Editing: Jennifer Fleming with Wise Owl Word Polishing

&

Jasmyn Novachek with Hot Off the Shelf

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Sneak Peek

To those who dare to dream

Acknowledgements

Thank you to everyone who made this possible. To my beta readers and my editors who are never afraid to tell me when things are a mess and still cheer me on. To Jasmyn who deals with my craziness. To my husband who provides me with unending support and coffee. Thank you everyone.

Chapter One

Steam floated up from my cup of tea, the warmth of the ceramic almost enough to burn my hand. I watched the light brown liquid slosh as I sat down. It’d been almost a month since the last time we’d gone to the human world. The apocalypse had truly happened when the humans decided to shut down the world’s electricity and take matters into their own hands. We, the children of the Apocalypse, were hiding and licking our wounds until we could figure out what else we could do about the tragedy unfolding on Earth. With the four horsemen locked away in Hell and no true way of freeing them until we could convince the archangels to help us, we were feeling a bit helpless.

A month since Pete, the son of Pestilence, had been poisoned, he lay in a bed further back in the house. Silence surrounded us in Death’s realm. Ruthie, my guardian angel, had gone with Kaleb to see what the state of the world was now. Kaleb, son of Famine, felt the need to scout things out before we went back and no one was willing to argue. We knew the humans in the world were at each other’s throats because of famine. If they weren’t affected by the plague, they were starving, causing war to overrun the world in the past month.

I hung my head down and watched my tea swirl. Death was absent since the horseman, my father, was locked away. People who were halfway between the world of the living and the world of the dead wandered the Earth without any relief from their suffering. I didn’t know how to fix it because I didn’t hold the same abilities he did.

What’s on your mind, Little Death? Aeron, the son of War, sat down in front of me.

I looked up. My given name was Sammy, but since one of the Seven Deadly Sins had started calling me Little Death, the nickname stuck. Just thinking about the amount of recovery we’ve had to do. Pete still isn’t up to fighting, but we can’t afford to wait much longer. There won’t be anything left to save if we let the humans continue to live in this apocalypse.

Pete will recover, give it time. Three of Sloth’s knives hit him. Aeron’s blond hair had grown a little over the month. Gone was the carefully cut and spiked hair, and here to stay was the shaggy look. His gray eyes met my gaze. Now I could see the swirl of grays and whites that weren’t there before, not until my abilities came out. It was how I knew what he was. The storm of War was clear in his eyes now. We’ll get back out there. Ruthie and Kaleb have an idea on how we can lessen the damage, but we have to talk to the archangels and see if it’s doable.

Locking the Sins away. I swirled my tea. And how do we expect to accomplish that? We don’t have that ability. It had been my idea, but every time we tried to work it out, we came to the same dead end. There was no way it was doable without an archangel or a horseman.

They are planning on talking to the angels about freeing one of the horsemen in hopes that will help us. He leaned back in the chair. It would be a better option than us going back to Hell alone.

I rolled my shoulder and remembered what had happened when I’d gone up against Envy while Ruthie fought Pride. It wasn’t a pretty picture. I’d taken a bolt to my shoulder and one to my calf. The calf still gave me problems if I didn’t remember to stretch it out in the morning. The Seven Deadly Sins were not a force I wanted to face again. What’s the effect on the apocalypse if we do that?

It’s an indirect way of dealing with it. The emotions they cause will lessen and help the humans think more clearly. He tapped his knuckles against the table.

Pete came limping out of the back room and sat down next to me. That will help, they can pull out of this. Death is in Lucile’s chamber. Do we still think releasing him first will be the best?

That choice is up to the angels, assuming they help. Aeron poured a cup of tea out of the white pot sitting in the middle of the table. He handed it to Pete. Drink up.

I just woke up; I don’t want tea to make me sleep again.

I smiled. It’s not sleepy tea; it’s just black tea. Nothing special in it today. I’d been going through what was left of my father’s tea stash and trying any of them that were supposed to promote healing, but most of them also made Pete sleepy. While the sleep helped with his healing, but he felt he missed everything while he was out.

The door flung open, slamming it against the wall. We jumped up, ready to defend against whatever was entering so violently. Ruthie came in with her hands on her hips. We have to go back.

Her face had an angry red tint to it, and her long black hair had been pulled away from her face. In this realm, her wings flowed from her back and brushed against the floor. It’s horrible down there.

Kaleb pushed past her, his glasses perched on his nose. His hair curled around his ears and hung almost in his eyes. She’s right; we need to move fast. People are rounding up the walking dead. I don’t know what for, but the government is behind it. There are major cities that have erected walls between each other, and they are only letting certain people in their walls.

I wrinkled my nose. What is it with humans and building walls?

All the movies and books were right about that. If you don’t understand it, you keep it out. You do that by building walls. Pete leaned forward and took a cube of sugar from the bowl. There’s nothing we can really do. We’ll be back down there as soon as it’s time to start hunting down the Sins.

Ruthie leaned against the wall. Pete and I will go talk to the archangels then. Aeron, Kaleb, and Sammy will all go to the human world and start taking care of the demons and other things that are popping up.

And if we run into a Sin? I set my teacup down. I don’t really want to think about going up against all of them.

They won’t be together. The apocalypse is too widespread. We’ll start back at Mesa and work our way across the country. Aeron stood. That gives us familiar surroundings at least.

I leaned back in my chair. Oh yay, walking across the country fighting demons, it’s what I always wanted. I pulled at a longer strand of my hair. Gone was my pixie cut, it’d grown into something resembling a mop. I’d been tempted to cut it myself, but I feared that it would only look worse. Shaving my head had crossed my mind at one point as well, but I doubt that I’d be comfortable with that.

Your sarcasm isn’t appreciated here. Aeron’s gaze snapped to me. So if you don’t want to do this, find another hole to crawl into.

I bit my tongue before I said something I couldn’t take back. Pete put a hand on mine and I knew he was reminding me to calm down. I leaned back in my chair. I’ll try harder.

Kaleb turned to Ruthie. We split up tonight. We’ll be fine. I’ll make sure to take care of Sammy for you and make sure that she stays out of trouble.

Anything happens to her, and I’ll make sure that the higher ups know that I left you in charge. Ruthie poked him in the chest and then turned to me. Don’t do anything stupid.

I met her gaze. I’ll try, but I can’t promise.

Do what you have to do to survive, but that’s it. Okay?

I stood and gave her a hug. I’ll be alive when you get back.

Of course you will, because you aren’t able to die. Not until we get Death out. She sighed. Remember, decapitating the demons will make it so they can’t function. They’ll die when Death is released. It’s cruel, but at least they won’t be able to come after you again.

I nodded. I didn’t want to leave anyone in any amount of pain, but it couldn’t be avoided at this point. Come back with good answers, please.

I’ll try my best. She looked to Pete. Come on, let’s do this. It could take us a while.

Pete stood. I’ll be back as soon as I can. He hugged me and shook hands with Aeron and Kaleb. We’re a team, so don’t do anything heroic without me.

I didn’t want him to leave, but he was the only one that could go with Ruthie. If they could tackle two Archangels at once, it’d be better. Ruthie put her hand on Pete’s shoulder and they disappeared.

Since we found out that we don’t need a sacrifice to get in and out of Hell until Death is released, the journey of the Archangel should be easier. Kaleb pushed away from the wall. Until then, we do what we can on Earth.

I crossed my arms and nodded. Let’s go then. We’ll want to have time to get settled in either a city or in a camp of some sort.

We all took a deep breath, and the world around us disappeared. The stone house melted away only to be replaced by the ruins of a city. 

The crumbling buildings barely resembled the dorm rooms where I had spent most of my first semester of college. Steel beams were empty of the drywall and pipes they should have held. Chunks of concrete gathered around the base of the buildings. I raised a brow and turned to look at where classes had been held. The dining hall was completely flattened, but most of the main campus buildings were still standing.

Looks like we missed one hell of a party. I looked to Aeron who held his hand out to summon his bow. He pulled the bow over his shoulder and across his chest. Kaleb summoned his sickles and hung them on his belt.

We need to be ready for anything; it doesn’t seem our barriers are working anymore.

I summoned my scythe. Great, so people are going to see that we’re armed and either attack us or run from us. I kicked a chunk of building with my booted foot. Let’s go take a look and see what there is to see. Enough of the science building is still standing. We might be able to set that up as home base for now.

We need to get an emergency radio to see if anyone is still broadcasting. Food and supplies would be nice too.

I started towards the rubble of the dining hall. I climbed over fallen beams and concrete barriers that seemed to have been left by those who last holed up here. Canned food doesn’t expire, right?

In theory. Kaleb followed me. Aeron climbed onto a square of concrete. He put his hands on his hips as his gaze went over the land.

I think anything here has probably been picked clean. I don’t know what’s been leveling the buildings because I didn’t think they’d gone to physical war yet.

I shook my head. Ruthie said that they’d been rounding people up. This kind of damage can be done in resistance and defense.

Once we figure it out, we’ll head to the nearest city, that’s what is most likely to attract the Sins. For now, let’s find some food and supplies and make camp in the school. Kaleb called over his shoulder. I don’t want to see what comes out at night.

I looked at the sun already sinking behind the horizon, casting long shadows over the ground. I agree. I’d rather not fight in the dark if I don’t have to.

No one does. It’s common to think demons don’t come out during the day, but we all know they will attack at any time. Kaleb waited for me to catch up to him. Aeron’s heavy footsteps came up behind us.

It’s the humans we have to worry about at night. In the cover of the dark, they may think we’re easy targets. He came up behind me. Especially if they travel in larger groups. They may think that we’re easy to take out.

I didn’t want to imagine having to fight against a pack of humans because all they were doing was trying to survive. Of course, if they were walking dead then it wouldn’t matter. They’d be gone as soon as Death was free. Logic told me that the chances were the archangels wouldn’t free Death first, even if his freedom meant that a big part of the apocalypse would fix itself. No one wanted to go into Lucile’s chambers. It wasn’t worth the risk. My guess was that they’d choose to free War or Pestilence first. Either one would help with the problems, and they’d be able to help us trap the Sins and free the other horsemen.

I climbed what was left of the wall for the dining room and made my way through the crushed tables and chairs, the destroyed conveyor belt that used to take the trays back to the kitchen. Water damage from the broken pipes covered the floor. Long gone was the actual water, and just a trail of dirt and grime from the flow remained. I paused at the crooked shelves that made up the pantry of the stock room. Dented cans had rolled to the edge of a tilted shelf, the weight threatening to crack the rest of the board they lay on.

I gathered the five cans and tossed them one at a time to Kaleb. He shoved them in his duffel bag. Not too bad, that’s enough to feed us tonight. Beans make good protein.

It’s a shame that Death’s realm limits what we can do and won’t allow us to transfer food. Though my father had managed it since he belonged to that realm and it answered to him. I climbed up on a chair and reached the higher shelves. My hand found nothing, skimming the empty space.

I jumped down from the chair, and Aeron looked at me with his arms crossed. There’s not much food at your father’s either. The world doesn’t recognize you as Death, so it doesn’t bend to your needs, and the more often we travel there and back, the more energy we waste and the less the world provides us with.

He had a point, and either way we had to search for food and supplies. We climbed out of the rubble and followed the dead grass and fallen chunks of buildings and trees. The courtyard had been beautiful before. Cut green grass, trees with huge white blossoms, and smooth walkways lined with flowers. Now it was just a shell of what it once used to be. We made our way over the cracking stone. The last month had been enough to destroy the buildings and the walkways, but nothing grew yet in the cracks. The fact that famine was ruining all the plants probably helped keep them from sprouting.

Aeron pulled the door of the building open, and it fell off the hinges and crashed to the ground. I looked at where it fell and shook my head. What happened here that all of this is in ruin?

My guess is people tried to hold up here. Maybe walking dead, maybe others who didn’t want to be taken to a city. Who knows? Kaleb walked in and looked around. All clear.

I followed after him and looked down the hall.