“I’m sure you meant everything to them,” said Sam, meaning every word. “It sounds like they tried but you were…stubborn.”
Grace sat back. “You’re not making me feel any better.”
“I know and I’m sorry. But are you really going to be so stubborn that you’ll allow yourself to be taken to Hell again when all this is over? I know you’re angry, but there are limits.”
She shook her head. “Not for me, there aren’t.”
“Don’t you want to see your parents again?”
“Of course I do! How can you ask me that?” Her voice was rising again. Curious glances were cast in their direction. She lowered her voice. “But I don’t want them to say I told you so. I don’t think I could take that.”
“So what are you going to do then?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know but there has to be another way.”
They sat in silence for long moments. Sam didn’t know what to say in the face of her stubbornness. He really didn’t know what else to say to convince her. It was her decision to make, no-one else’s.”What have you been up to anyway?” he asked, keen to change the conversation. He also finally remembered to take a more personal interest in her. Years earlier, Aimi had told him that it was important to ask women questions about themselves. He hadn’t quite worked out why yet.
Grace shrugged. Lately, she seemed to do that even more than Sam. “Nothing much. I went out on a couple of supply missions with the grunts but it was hardly anything to write home about. Found some food and guns at an old abandoned homestead. Even brought in a few stragglers that the demons had missed. Other than that, pretty boring.”
“You should come out with me next time,” he said, trying his best to connect with her, trying desperately to repair the rift between them. She never gave him the chance.
“With the great and mighty, Sam? Little old me?” She rolled her eyes. “Surely, I’d just slow you down. Heaven forbid that I might get captured again.”
Sam picked up his tray and stood. There was no point in talking to her when she was in this mood. “I’ll see you later,” he said.
On his way out, she called his name and he turned.
“Do you ever think about him?” she asked.
Sam stared at her for a moment, at a complete loss as to what to say. Like they shared a limited form of telepathy, he knew exactly who she was talking about.
Joshua.
Without another word, he turned and strode out of the mess hall, trying to outdistance the dark memories of the past.
Chapter Thirteen
“ The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders…”
Sam sat in a chair in the waiting room outside Colonel Wheat’s office. Adam sat in the chair next to him, taking up both his armrest and Sam’s with his bulk and shifting restlessly. Chairs weren’t designed for someone like Adam.
A desk sat in one corner. Behind it, sat a young man in the uniform of a lieutenant. The Colonel’s aide. Other than show a little deference to Adam, he’d basically ignored them since they had arrived. The intercom buzzed.
“The Colonel will see you now,” he said.
Both he and Adam stood. The lieutenant opened the door for them into the Colonel’s office. Inside, framed by a large window overlooking the base, was the Colonel desk, dominating the room with its size. A large leather chair, tattered but still useable, was filled with a man built almost as solidly as Adam. He stood as they entered, revealing a frame that was almost as tall as Sam’s. A very imposing figure, this Colonel Wheat, and Sam had found him to be fairly straight forward and honest too. He hadn’t warmed to him like he did Adam, but their relationship was still solid.
Two chairs were set in front of the desk. Colonel Wheat bade them sit and only then did he resume his seat.
“Welcome back, Sam,” he said, his solid, clean-shaven face breaking into a glimmer of a smile. “Those people with you were in pretty bad shape but we’ll have them sorted out in no time. Some of them look like they could make decent soldiers, too. I need some good bods on the towers.”
He paused and looked between Sam and Adam. “I see you’ve renewed your acquaintance with Adam here. Funny story that.” He opened his desk drawer and rummaged around inside for a moment, finally pulling out a thick cigar and a gas lighter. Sam often thought that Colonel Wheat smoking a cigar was almost a caricature — he just looked so much of what he’d come to expect of a Colonel, more even than Colonel Sumner back in L.A. Colonel Wheat lit up and exhaled, sighing with obvious pleasure.
“These are in short supply these days. Next time you’re out, Sam, I’ll have to get you to find some more for me.”
“Sure,” said Sam, noncommittally.
“What was I saying?” he asked.
“Funny story,” said Adam. Sam could hear the impatience in his voice. The Colonel had a tendency to get distracted sometimes.
Colonel Wheat snapped his fingers. “Right! The Major turns up about a week ago. We get to talking. He mentions something about a half-demon boy he ran into a few years back at Black Ridge. I tell him we’ve got our own demon boy right here. Anyway, turns out you’re the same person. Small world, eh?” The Colonel took another long puff of his cigar and looked at Sam to see if he’d managed to get a reaction. The Colonel knew full well that Sam didn’t like to be called demon boy, so Sam suspected he was being tested.
When Sam said nothing, the Colonel continued. “So, have you two had a chance to swap stories? No? Well, I guess before we get started on today’s business, you had better fill Sam in. Especially considering the two things are connected. Major?”
Adam took the hint. “Well, I gather from the Colonel that you know about Black Ridge?” he said, addressing Sam.
“I passed by that way,” said Sam. “Colonel Sumner said he’d lost contact with you. I assumed the worst but wanted to check it out for myself. When I got there, it looked like demons had worked the place over.”
Adam nodded. His eyes took on a faraway look as he relived the events that took place three years earlier. “You’re not far wrong there. After you left, the demons came in force for a week. Horned demons, Astaroth — you name it. We resisted for the first few days but they wore us down. They’d knock down the walls as soon as we could repair them. Eventually, we just ran out of ammo. Even then, we held them off with spiked clubs and slingshots loaded with raw iron nuggets we found in the caves. But, on the last night, they came at us with more force than ever. Over a dozen Horned demons. You couldn’t see the sky through the wings of the Astaroth and the Lemure covered the killing ground in their thousands. Some of us got taken. A few tried to hold them off while the others made their escape. We unblocked one of the tunnels around the back of the mountain. The demons weren’t smart enough to think of that. Most got out that way.”
“What about you?” asked Sam.
“I stayed behind with the handful of volunteers. We had to buy the others some time.”
Sam guessed as much. Adam wasn’t one to abandon a sinking ship at the first sign of water. He would’ve stayed until the bitter end. “So what happened?”
Adam sighed and rubbed his huge hand through his cropped grey hair. It was a gesture Sam remembered. Reliving the past was clearly painful for Adam. “We were almost completely overrun. There were only three of us left by that stage, the others having managed to get out. Well, I hope they got out at any rate. The walls had fallen and demons were everywhere. I think I was fighting with my hands at that point.” He smiled to himself with the thought. “I’d made some gloves studded with iron spikes. Very effective. I told the other two to run, get away through the tunnels and they did. But it was too late. As they were running, Astaroth swooped out of the sky and snatched them up. Just like that, they were gone and I was alone. I retreated to the mouth of the caves and that’s when another Horned demon charged me. Luckily, its aim was off. Instead of hitting me, it hit the side of the cave entrance. The impact caused the entrance to collapse. The last thing I remember is rocks raining down on me.”