Jump: The Fallen: Testament 1 (34 page)

Blood 3:1 And on the sixth day, The Fallen spewed forth judgment, and Fury and Salvation descended upon earth; and he sent Rain and Faith toward the heavens.

Blood 3:2 And they all plummeted into the anarchy of The End.

Blood 3:3 And another great beginning of an Eternity came to pass: and it was so.

Blood 4:1 And on the seventh day of his judgment, The Fallen was possessed with vengeance.

Blood 4:2 And judgment summoned forth the faithful and the fallen of the two heavens.

Blood 4:3 And I heard a great wind of a thousand million wings beating toward the drum of judgment; and no angel slumbered lest their talons be bathed in the color of the blood of souls.

Blood 4:4 And Justice and Fury and Salvation slay every beast and burned every crop upon the earth. And the earth ran thick and red with the blood of beasts. And the land lay black in ash.

Blood 4:5 And the earth brought forth no grass, no herb yielding seed, no fruit tree yielding fruit.

Blood 4:6 And the angels boiled the waters of the earth and the sea and the great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind ceased.

Blood 4:7 And at the end of that seventh day, none stood in the garden: and it was so.

Blood 5:1 And The Fallen gathered his earthly forces and Faith and Fury and Salvation followed the Rain and ascended toward the mother and the father of the two Heavens.

Blood 5:2 And the Dark Angel of Light relinquished his reign in lightning and fire.

Blood 5:3 And all of the angels in all of the heavens took arms against each other. And father slay mother, and mother slay mother.

Blood 5:4 And judgment rose in death from the battlefield and inhabited the throne of the damned. And his Salvation was resurrected and ruled over him for eternity

Blood 5:5 And then there was a time of great nothingness—dark infinity.

Blood 5:6 And the light shined on The End and a new Chosen One understood The Beginning.

Blood 5:7 And Rain blanketed the earth for the next eternity; and it was good.

Blood 5:8 Let no god nor angel in the heavens nor being upon any earth hold tongue to speak against the Words.

Blood 5:9 For they shall all be born again . . . in fire.

Flames lap from the fiery lake, warming all in the pit, comforting the most damned for my tale.

“Are you still reading that book to them?” Salvation says to me. “Rain almighty, you need to put that thing down. You are going to go blind as Faith reading that thing to those innocent, little purgatories.”

I look up from all the faces. “They aren’t that innocent,” I say to her. And I get a sly grin and look back. “Not anymore . . . are you, rookies? Oh, now . . . see, there you go with those faces. You look as confused as flame on a feather. Unravel that. But she might be right. All these burning rage stories before you roost. What? You don’t wanna roost? Again with that shit? Read it again? But I’ve been telling you this same story . . . gotta be close to a thousand years. The end doesn’t change . . . ever. Everyone just eats each other down there.”

And I hear Salvation calling me again, “Your daughter is waiting, and I’m tired of being late.”

“Late?” I say to her. “I’m never late. What’s she talking about, I’m fucking late?”

Fury laughs at me. She’s always laughing at me now. “You’re kidding, right?” she says. “That old cocksucker was right.”

And I point at her. “Don’t you go bitch-piling on top of me,” I say to her. “Especially in front of—you know I’m never late.”

Then that little shit. . . She laughs at me again. “Right to my face? You believe that?”

When I look at Fury, she tucks her wings tight and grins ear to ear.

I frown at her. “What was he right about?” I ask.

“Pretty much everything,” Salvation says. “Now move it!” And she looks at Fury. “And you put those little rookies to roost. They can’t handle any more of that truth and torture tonight. And we’re out late—there’s a fresh flight of souls.”

“The show must go on,” I mutter.

Fury nods and smiles—I know what that means.

“I’m coming,” I say. Then I look at all of the little minds, screaming for answers. And I smile at Fury. “I’ll leave you children in . . . angrier hands than mine. Careful, don’t believe a word she says. She’s meeeennn!”

By the time we leave and head up through our portal entrance to the Arena of Reckoning in the Hallowed Hall of the Unholy Word, atop The Great Mountain of this Eternity, I know Salvation was right—she’s always right. “We’re gonna be late,” I say to her.

“She won’t be happy with us.”

“She’ll get over it.”

Salvation says, “She’ll rain down on you again.”

“Stop. . .”

“You better put on a good show,” says Salvation.

“When have I not?”

“I don’t know,” she says. Then she grins as we walk. “Feels like you are . . . slipping.”

“What the. . .? Slip—I’ll slip you.”

She’s giggling at me as we enter the great arena to cheers and cooing and cawing from the gallery. And I think to myself,
So many different souls—never know what’s coming next.

One thing I do know, Fury’s not putting anyone to bed.

The lakeside stories were a fiery favorite with the little purgatories. Fury knew that. And all the hatchlings of the second Heaven sat beside the fiery lake, wide-eyed and silent as she spoke. She leaned in and whispered softly at first, with a devious smile, “Snuggle up here next to the fire and brimstone, you little bastards and bitches. Get good and cozy by the fiery lake.” And then she opened her eyes wide and spoke a little louder, “You want another fucking story? Auntie Fury has a story that not even Grandpa Jump knows. That’s right, you little soul suckers. Careful though, because as mean as Life was. . . As horrible as the Dark Angel of death, Lived. . . This story will scare your flaming little tailfeathers off!”

Fury always got a little crazy before a big fight night in the arena. But if she had to babysit these little rookies—if she was missing the fight up there—then she would have to do
something
to entertain herself. Scaring the shit out of little purgeys would have to do.

But first, no angel in the second Heaven was allowed to roost without praying first. Jump wrote that himself. Fury’s eyes were wild now and she started. They all followed along, reciting the prayer of The Fallen:

With dreams and screams dark angels poke

And our feathers fire and our wings smoke

Because some dreams we leave and some we don’t

And some we can’t . . . and some we won’t.

Then Fury started her tale, “Very good, little ones. I think you’re like, finally getting the hang of this shit. Ready? Okay, here we go: Keep your talons sharp and your feathers hot, because this is a story that can’t be forgot. So boil some blood and gather some guts. You’ll need snacks for the story of how I almost . . . went nuts.”

END OF TESTAMENT

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JUMP
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THE FALLEN
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—
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Conventional
wisdom says
, there he goes again—my annoying inner voice—doling out helpful advice like a decapitated traffic agent,
you should
be polite
and ask them to
leave a review on Amazon
. Oh, now,
don’t hesitate
.

“Yeah, not happening,” I remind him. “Salvation knows there’s only a couple of things I ‘ask’ for. Reviews ain’t one of—”

The word is “
please
,” Jake, he says,
try using it
.

There’s an uncomfortable stillness. The only sound is the rain pelting my jacket, slithering its way down my arm to the end of the barrel of my big .60 cal. We both know that I’m deciding whether I should blow his fucking head off or just shoot him in the guts.

I grumble a little, “Mmm.” Then send pressure to my trigger finger.

I’ll remind you
, he says, interrupting my finger,
that if you do that they won’t be able to follow FURY on her journey.

I let up on my finger—I know he’s right. “Fine.
Pretty-please
.”

He knows that’s as good as it gets.
Thank you.

About the Author:

Steve Windsor is the author of the
THE FALLEN
series of thriller fiction novels:
JUMP, FURY, FAITH, DOGG, HOLE, BURN, LIVED, LIFE, RAIN
, and
SALVATION
.

He lives with his wife and two daughters in the real world . . . and many, many other cool people in the imaginary world in his mind.

Connect with Steve:

BLOG:
stevewindsor.com

EMAIL:
[email protected]

FACEBOOK:
www.facebook.com/AuthorSteveWindsor

Thank you so much for reading
JUMP
.

“I write fiction novels, because the truth . . . is just way too scary.”

—Steve Windsor