Read What Following Brings Online
Authors: S. E. Campbell
As Eden watched with wide, horrified eyes, Yuri
gained control, straddled Aaron,
and
began to punch him in the face. Aaron groaned in pain and covered his
eyes
. He struggled and squirmed, but Yuri was much tougher than
Aaron
was and kept punching him.
“
So it was you
who has
been helping her,
”
Yuri said
, still pounding Aaron
'
s chest
.
“
I thought it was odd you volunteered to come get her with me, even though every man
who
has gone up that flight of stairs has not come back. You are a traitor, Aaron. A traitor.
”
“
Stop,
”
Eden said.
Yuri
gazed
up at her and scowled
, locking Aaron
'
s arms above his head
.
“
Give me one good reason
why I should
.
”
“
Because I
'
m not the only one who is a prisoner here,
”
Eden said.
“
You are, too. You put yourself here to punish yourself, am I right?
”
Instead of responding,
Yuri stared
down at Aaron who was still being pinned with his wrists above his head. Aaron
'
s eyes were wide with fear
. Eden didn
'
t think Yuri would finish Aaron off, but she didn
'
t want to risk it. She had to get Yuri
away from
him.
“
Your
Dawn
wouldn
'
t have wanted you to do this,
”
Eden said.
“
And I bet she
'
s never blamed you for
the
car accident. I don
'
t either. You shouldn
'
t have killed yourself, Yuri, and you shouldn
'
t be here.
You can still change. It
'
s never too late.
”
Silence fell as Yuri stared at her open
-
mouthed and wide-eyed. Their eyes met and she felt a connection with him. It overwhelmed her, and she knew
the feelings
had nothing to do with the fact he was one of her five. If she had been alive her heart would have
been
pounding and she wouldn
'
t have been able to breathe
;
it would have been all Yuri
'
s fault.
The moment was
broken, though, when Aaron flipped
Yuri over onto his back and pin
ned
him to the ground. Yuri didn
'
t fight this time. Aaron began to punch Yuri in the
chest
.
Eden grabbed
Aaron
'
s
shoulder and
pulled
him backward.
“
Stop it,
”
Eden said.
“
You
'
re hurting him.
”
“
He
clobbered me,
”
Aaron said, furious.
“
Just
help me figure out what to do with him
,
”
Eden said, desperate.
“
I
'
ve got to release the rest of the Raiders.
”
“
What?
”
Aaron asked.
“
Are you
insane
?
”
“
Why do you think I
'
m wandering around in here?
”
Eden asked.
“
They won
'
t touch me. At least, for now. Just pick up Yuri and let
'
s go.
”
“
He
'
s way bigger than me,
”
Aaron said, pouting.
“
And you
'
re a soul,
”
Eden said.
“
His weight won
'
t matter anymore.
”
Yuri still remained silent, even as Aaron prodded his back.
“
There is some rope in the store room.
”
Aaron glared at Yuri.
“
Think you can handle him for a second while I grab some?
”
Though Eden felt nervous, she nodded. Aaron scrambled away, entered the third door to the left, went inside, and then came out a few seconds later with a couple of pieces of rope. He kneeled down by Yuri and bound his wrists.
“
I don
'
t mean weighty, I mean
tall
,
”
Aaron said
, continuing to tie him up
.
“
Let
'
s leave him in an examination room somewhere with the light and come get him when you
'
re done releasing the
Raiders
.
”
“
Fine,
”
Eden said
, watching as Aaron moved from Yuri
'
s now bound hands and began to tie a second
piece
of rope around his ankles to keep his feet together
.
“
Then I
'
ll carry him. I
'
m not going to let him go. I need to protect him.
”
“
The idiot
'
s trying to
get rid of
you,
”
Aaron said, standing now he had finished binding Yuri.
“
You
'
re just lucky the Demons are required to carry ropes to bind prisoners, or else Yuri would be attempting to slice us into pieces.
”
Frowning, Eden bent down and seized Yuri by his waist. Picking up a full grown man still caused her to feel uneasy. Though Yuri
appeared
solid, he weighed nothing more than a
piece of paper to her
. She swung him over her shoulder, and, even though she was tall, she understood what Aaron meant. Yuri was big. Not only was holding him obstructing her vision and hindering her defensive abilities, but she had the feeling Yuri would start acting up again soon.
When
he did, it would be easy for her to be taken. Yuri had more fight in him than she did
. Plus,
he had a foot on her
, bound or not
.
“
I can see your point,
”
Eden admitted.
“
Let
'
s put him in an examination room.
”
“
Finally, she sees logic,
”
Aaron said.
“
Come on.
”
Eden walked with Yuri on her back to the examination room door. Aaron did not open it for her, so she had to bully it open with her one free arm and a lot of pulling. Just because souls weren
'
t heavy didn
'
t mean
the
doors were
n
'
t
. Eden entered the room and placed Yuri in a wooden chair.
He continued to stare at her as she
looked
at him.
She didn
'
t like it when he
stared
at her without saying anything and not fighting. She wished she knew what he was thinking. Maybe he was contemplating her words, but she
doubted it. Yuri
'
s guilt, like her own, could not be whisked away
so
easily.
“
Yuri,
”
Eden said, touching his cheek,
“
I wish you would listen to me
.
I
'
m going to help you, but you have to let me do it.
”
Yuri stared at her
and then
gritted his teeth.
“
Help me? I don
'
t need anybody
'
s help.
I do just fine on my own.
”
“
You are so stubborn,
”
she said, glaring at him.
“
And you are so much trouble,
”
Yuri said
, scowling back at her
.
The two of them continued to gaze at each other, Yuri with narrowed eyes and Eden with wide ones. She placed the lamp on the table beside Yuri with a thunk, illuminating him so the Raiders couldn
'
t get close. But without the lamp, Aaron would be in trouble too. Unlessâ¦
“
Remove your uniform, Aaron,
”
Eden said, whipping around.
“
Excuse me?
”
Aaron said.
“
I like you too, Eden, but a public expedition in front of Yuri? Shouldn
'
t we do this somewhereâ
?
”
“
Ugh, no,
no
,
”
Eden said.
“
Where is your mind, Aaron? The Raiders are after
g
uards
. It
'
s all a part of the deal I made. Remove your
soldier
'
s
clothes
, so they won
'
t come after you. I will be waiting in the hallway.
”
She stepped outside the examination room, shaking her head.
****
A few minutes later, Aaron stepped out of the examination room wearing a
T
-shirt and a pair of jeans. She did a double-take when she saw him. Half of her
had
expected to see
Aaron
running around the place in naught but his undergarments, but this was much better. She rather would have faced a Raider than seen that.
“
How did you do that?
”
Eden asked.
“
Put on new clothes?
”
“
I didn
'
t,
”
Aaron said.
“
They just, sort of, appeared when I took off the old ones.
”
Thank heavens.
“
Listen, Eden, about what I said in there,
”
Aaron said.
“
I do like you, you know.
”
She whipped around, horrified. They were surrounded by Raider mist, and that was what he thought about?
“
Aaron, we
'
ll
discuss
this later,
”
Eden said.
“
Now tell me, is Adanna okay?
”
“
Adanna is with Sergeant Dale outside of the prisoner,
”
Aaron said.
“
He
'
s guarding her.
”
“
Okay, then I won
'
t have to worry about her,
”
Eden said.
“
I won
'
t have to think she
'
s going to get hurt if the Raiders turn on me. Help me smash some more bottles.
”
****
Eden stepped into the hallway again fifteen
minutes later
;
it
was so thi
ck with mist she could hardly see a centimeter in front of her face.
It
'
s odd, not being afraid of this. The Raiders have had me twitching whenever I walked out in the dark.
Yet she still felt uneasy. As she walked forward, she heard the imp
'
s words in her
head,
“
Never trust a Satan Spawn. We know no loyalty except to our Dark Lord.
”
She had seen that first-hand, hadn
'
t she? She knew these Satan Spawn did nothing except
that which
enhanced
their own personal gain.
As she
walked
with Aaron following close be
hind her, nearly stepping on her sneakers with every step he took, she heard roaring downstairs and smelled fire. She then heard
a
prisoner
'
s scream.
An imp. I just heard an imp.
The other prisoners.
“
Hurry,
”
Eden said,
“
they
'
re in trouble.
”
Before Aaron could say anything in response,
Eden
sprinted down the stairs and hurled herself across the threshold. On the next floor down, where she had been kept, she had to leap over one of the Demon soldiers rocking back and forth with black energy. It was Yuri
'
s right-hand man, Jared. When she
went around a corner
, she saw the imp
terrorizing
the prisoners.
The imp was bigger than the one she had released upstairs.
The imp
had to have been
twenty
feet tall
. The
horns on
his
head were the size of a strong man
'
s bicep and as sharp a
s the edge of a kitchen knife. His
claws were so big
they
brushed
his own knee
, and
he
snorted and fire poured from
his
mouth.
In front of the imp,
Don
guarded five other prisoners
who
quivered against the wall. None of them had a sword. Eden
whirled
around and
stared
at Jared, and she spotted the Demon sword he had
in his sheath
. She stole it from him just as Aaron came down the stairs muttering underneath his breath. When Aaron saw the imp, he swore.
Eden
spun
around and
looked
at the imp. Though she was fearful, she knew she had to get
the
Satan Spawn away from the prisoners. She may not have released this imp, but it was she who had released this hell upon the prison. It was
also
she who had attacked the guards and made them have the need to release this monster from
his
bottle.
“
Oy
, over here,
”
Eden said,
jaw taunt with fear.
The imp ignored her because a bearded prisoner yelped and caught his attention.
The imp charged the group and seized the bearded man by his chest. Eden screamed and ran at the
Satan Spawn
.
S
he attempted to stab her sword through its thick, leathery skin, but
it was like stabbing a rock
. Luckily and yet unluckily, the imp dropped the bearded man to the floor, swiveled around, and stared her down. The imp growled.
“
Leave them alone,
”
Eden said. Aar
on dropped back farther
and
groaned loudly
.
“
You are a puny, puny little soul,
”
the
monster
said, his voice deep and demonic.
“
Your sword can do nothing against me.
”
Eden dug around in her pockets and found the vials of holy water. She hurled the vials at the imp and they shattered, causing
his skin to catch aflame
in dark black smoke. The imp screamed in pain
.
Eden dug around and shattered more vials around
him
.
His
deep voice went from low to high, and
then higher and higher still. Finally, a
tiny imp lay on
his
belly on the ground, tail-aloft, and Eden speared
him
with the tip of her sword. The imp screeched once and then disappeared. Eden
looked
up at
Don
, but
he
scowled at her
and did not recognize her
.
“
Get away from us, Demon,
”
he said.
“
Oh,
”
Eden said, looking down at her uniform.
Her eyes were also concealed because of the
brim
of her hat.
“
I
'
m not a Demon.
”
“
Yeah, right,
”
Don
said.
“
Don
'
t come any closer. We outnumber you.
”
I have to get these clothes off, or elseâ¦
She
stole a look at Aaron and prayed she was not about to give an impromptu strip show and yanked off her hat and shirt. When she unbuttoned the buttons, her purple t-shirt appeared. The moment she undid the fly of her pants, jeans shown beneath it. It was like she
wore
clothes on top of clothes, even though she hadn
'
t felt that way in the uniform.
When she had the clothes off, she
looked
at the bearded man again.
“
Wait a second. I recognize your clothes and hair. You aren
'
t a Demon,
”
Don
said.
“
You
'
re the girl all of the Demons are after, the one in the cell across from mine.
”
Eden stared at him a beat.
“
And you
'
re Don, the man
who
has been helping me, right?
”
“
I
'
m Don.
”
He nodded.
“
I
'
ve been trying to get you out for a long time.
”
“
Why?
”
Eden
awaited his answer
, but down below, she heard the sound of more screaming, a thud, and then panicked footsteps.
“
I think we should save introductions for later,
”
Aaron said.
“
Eden,
if you want to be a hero again and make me have a panic attack, you might want to get to it.
”
“
This time, you won
'
t be alone,
”
Don said, and then he
grinned
at her.
She
had never been more grateful
.