~A Road to Nowhere~

~Chapter 1~

It was never going to be a normal day, to put it simply.

After many years of living in the same old place, Grace never thought anything would change. Especially since the world had ended in 2012, leaving everything in disarray. Everything had stayed destroyed, life had stayed destroyed, even though it had been almost fifty years.

The world ended, and there was nothing that anyone could do.

Grace had gotten used to living like a slave in Lucifer's house. She had helped her mother with the cleaning, cooking, and other housework before she had died while her father and older brother, Daniel, worked undercover with a few other people from their town trying for a rebellion. She hardly ever saw her father or brother.

East Garden City, New York, was once a town with almost a thousand residents, according to the stories that Grace's grandfather told her. Now, a half a century later, there was hardly forty people in the small town. Thanks to the Apocalypse, most towns had been wiped out all together. It was only a matter of time before East Garden City joined the list.

At the age of fifteen, Grace should have been enjoying her last years of high school before college freedom would be in her sight. She should have been learning to drive by now, with her learner's permit already in her pocket right at this very moment.

Instead, she was like a twelve-year-old with hardly any education to be proud of. Sure, she could read and do hard math, which was a rare thing to know these days when there wasn't time for school, but she hardly knew anything else.

Being raised as a cook and a maid, Grace wasn't like the other kids in her town. The other kids never had to see Lucifer. They never had to live in his household, the fear of him losing interest in you and making you drop dead following you around everyday.

Grace, on the other hand, had to serve the bastard.

Every. Single. Day.

And she dreaded every second of it.

The devil had taken enough from her. She didn't have the hope of someone coming, like a knight in shining armor to save the day. She didn't have the hope of living past forty. She didn't even have a last name. She just had a number to identify herself. What else would the devil possibly take besides her life?

He already had it in his hands, anyway. In all technicality, he couldn't possibly take anything else. It seemed physically impossible that anything worse could happen.

Her grandfather, Ben, never talked about life before the Apocalypse. All that Grace really knew about him was that he was the oldest human man in existence now. He was in his early sixties, which was probably just pure luck.

Ben knew all about the past. He knew what Grace's real last name was, but refused to tell her unless absolutely necessary. He refused to tell Grace's parents, her grandfather's own son and daughter in-law, his secrets. He just kept them to himself.

Until today. Until he knew he had to.

Until now.

Grace folded the dirty dishrags carefully. She was preparing to go wash them and some other kitchen supplies in the pond nearby, one of the only places that was allowed to be used for washing instead of drinking water.

Not caring, people drank out of it anyway, trying to get what they could to survive.

Those people were normally shot right after by one of Lucifer's many demon followers.

Grace was always scared to go near any type of water. Once, when she was about ten, she'd gone down to clean some things. A man had barreled past her from behind, practically throwing himself into the water. She had staggered back, startled as a gun shot rang through the air and blood, followed by a body, popped to the surface of the six-foot pond.

The demons had shooed her back inside and hadn't allow any cleaning or washing to be done in the pond for a few days. When someone was shot by the water, no cleaning was ever allowed. They had to take care of the body or something, as Grace's mother always said. She didn't know the reason for this strange process, but she didn't dare ask, either.

Gathering the rest of her supplies, Grace exited the room. Her bare feet padded silently on the floor, leaving small prints on the dirt covered floor of the kitchen. Her ragged jeans were rolled up over her ankles, and her t-shirt hung from her since it was almost five sizes too big for her, one of her dad's old ones. She felt even more comfortable

She walked quickly and as quietly as she could past Lucifer's office, praying to any and all Angels that could get near God that the devil wouldn't call her in. She held her breath until she was safely at the top of the stairs at the other end of the hallway.

Sighing in relief, Grace started to descend the stair when she heard the voice that always haunted her nightmares, and sometimes even her reality.

"Grace, kiddo," the voice purred, "could you please come in here for a second?"

Gritting her teeth with a mix of anger and fear, Grace walked back to Lucifer's study, clenching the basket of provisions with white-knuckled hands. Using her hip, she pushed the door open.

Lucifer smiled through his shriveled vessel, Nick. She had to bite her bottom lip to keep from grimacing or wincing.

"Yes?" Grace said, waiting for any orders that he might give her.

"Why don't you take the day off," he suggested.

"Uh... excuse me?"

"Take the day off," Lucifer repeated. "Live a little. Enjoy life while you're young."

"Uh, okay, sir," Grace said uncertainly.

As she exited the room, Grace could have sworn that she saw the devil smirk evilly. Shaking her head as the door closed with a light click, she went back into the kitchen and told the other staff members that someone else would have to do her job for the day.

Grace ran from the main quarters to the servants' quarters where her family lived. She opened the door right away, looking around the room for her shoes. After slipping them on, she looked in the mirror. Her dark brown, shoulder length hair was hanging in dirty tangles around her face as usual, which she quickly pulled into a ponytail to keep it away from her soot streaked face. The only thing about her that stood out from the gray and black clothes and dirt covering her body was the glint of her mossy green eyes.

With a disgusted curl of her lip, Grace automatically decided that she would visit the bath house when she went to the main streets of town. Unlike when her parents were young, she didn't have to worry about the Croatoan virus, since all those who had been infected with it had either disappeared or been killed.

Grace ran to her kitchen, smiling when she saw her grandfather look up at her from his breakfast. Grandpa Ben's dark eyes twinkled as the corners of his mouth lifted up into a smile as well when he saw his granddaughter. Grace flew at him, her skinny arms wrapping around him in a giant hug.

"G'morning, Grandpa," she said into his shoulder.

"Good morning, Gracie," he replied as she pulled away. He looked over her, as if checking to see if she was alright. "Shouldn't you be at work?" he asked, worry edged in his tone.

Shaking her head, Grace replied, "Lucifer told me to take the day off," she said, her voice as uncertain as he thoughts.

Ben's face hardened, his shoulders tensing with his sudden grim behavior. "Don't trust him, Gracie," he warned her. "Don't trust him at all. He never does anything without a reason."

"What do you mean?" Grace asked quietly.

"He prob'ly has some hidden agenda," Ben said. "If you plan on going into town, be careful. Maybe stick around the other kids."

Grace was going to question for a reason why, but she quickly decided against it. It was no use arguing with Grandpa Ben, especially since he always won the arguments and fights. She only nodded, quickly turning on her heal. Before she exited the room, she turned back to her grandfather for a second.

"Love ya," she said.

As she walked away, she could almost here the smile in her grandfather's voice. "I love you too, Gracie. Be careful."

And then Grace was gone, disappearing out of her apartment door.

Grace didn't have many friends.

Since she was always working, she never really spent any time in town with the other people. Besides, many of the kids her age thought that she was some kind of demon since she served Lucifer. There were only two kids that ever talked to her.

"Long time no see," Keith said as he hopped down from the back of a pickup truck.

"Well, if it isn't Gravy," Nita said, grinning crookedly from the hood she was perched on.

Grace only rolled her eyes. When she'd first met Keith and Nita, the inseparable friends, they'd defended her from the other children that had been taunting her about serving the devil. She had only been eleven at the time, being picked on by the twelve and thirteen-year-old kids. Two older kids had swooped in to help her out, both of them at least a year older than the oldest of the taunting kids. They'd spoken calmly, telling the other kids to get the hell out of there before things got ugly.

In the end, Keith and Nita had become like Grace's other older siblings, right down to the stupid nicknames. She was called Gravy, and she had yet to figure out something to call them in return.

"Nice to see that you're still in one piece, kid," Keith said, hugging Grace tightly.

Grace looked up at the college age student. "Some people are lucky to get out of that place with even a few pieces," she said quietly.

Nita nodded. "I still can't believe that son of a bitch hasn't let you out yet!" she seethed.

"Nita!" Keith snapped, glancing in every direction, as if expecting a demon to suddenly appear.

"Well, it's God's honest truth," the bold Hispanic declared.

"God must not exist if we're here in this situation," Keith said simply. "If He was real, He would have come and fixed this problem by now."

"Maybe He has someone to do it for him," Grace cut in, not wanting to see her friends fighting.

Nita turned her head, her expression no longer joking. "This isn't like one of your books where a hero comes to save the day," she said quietly.

"I know that," Grace admitted, even though she had always hoped something like that would happen. "God must have a plan. He has to."

"He doesn't have to do anything," Nita stated. "He's God. He can do what He wants to."

The argument continued between Nita and Keith, Grace cutting in every once in a while to try to stop it. Everything eventually simmered down, but not before Nita had walked off for a few minutes, returning later to apologize.

Everything was basically their normal routine from when Grace came to town after that. The trio headed over to the last book shop in town, letting Grace browse the many volumes to see what had been salvaged for the week. Then, they would go pig out at the worst and only diner in town, just to get out and do something.

It was almost seven by the time Grace walked back to Lucifer's place. She'd thought many times before about running away, but then there was the problem that Lucifer had eyes and ears all over the world. He would know where she went, and she would be on the run until she was either brought back, her family dead, or until she was the dead one.

As she climbed up the stairs, trying to be quiet to avoid Lucifer's inquisitive hearing, Grace could have sworn that she heard a muffled scream. After glancing in all directions, she shook her head to clear it, and continued back to her apartment room.

When she entered through the living room, everything was quiet.

Too quiet.

When Grace went to the kitchen, the first thing she saw was the blood.

Thanks to my beta, I-sold-my-soul-for-a-cookie, for... well, for beta-ing this.

Review?

~Hero