Part II: Virginia
Chapter 11: Stafford Virginia
Dameon and Chloe didn't wait for Orleans as they began their trek to Quantico. Dameon decided to walk at night and hunker down in the forest during the day to avoid future dangers or detours. Both Chloe's condition and his own were slowing deteriorating.
Ever since his battle with the Sentry bot, Dameon's back had hardened into near solid rock. He could barely bend over; his spine seemed to be fused together, making any attempt at stretching or flexing painful. His jaw, too, was ossified or petrifying into a hard mix of bone and rock, slurring his speech and making it difficult for him to eat.
Chloe had begun to sprout with new vegetation. Leaves budded out from her scalp from just under her soft brown hair, returning again and again, no matter how many times she tore them out. The skin on her shoulders had begun to change into a reddish brown bark. She had tried to peel sections of the bark off, but it just left her with bloody patches of red skin before regenerating in mere hours.
During their trek, Dameon discovered that his new Chinese sneak suit wasn't just a body suit. It had a thin zipper than ran down the back and up the arms and legs. When Dameon fully unzipped the suit, and played with its configuration, he was able to turn the body suit into something like a large poncho that went over his head and down to just above his knees. As long as Dameon remained in a crouched position, with his knees bent and his head tiled down, the suit would make him appear entirely translucent in the day and nearly invisible at night. He liked leaving it like this, instead of the form fitting body suit, so he could remove it or put it on quickly if need be.
Dameon amused himself by playing with Chloe and the suit. He disappeared when Chloe wasn't looking and watched as she searched for him. He then snuck up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, startling her.
While Dameon got a good laugh, Chloe decided to try out the suit as well. It draped loosely around her from head to toe, obscuring her entire body. While she was cloaked, Dameon practiced picking out the refractory pattern of slightly bent light the suit made in the day time. Even he couldn't pick out the suit at night; it made Chloe blend in perfectly with the darkness.
As Quantico grew closer to them, the landscape began to change. The thick marsh grasses, weeds, and trees began to fade away, replaced with grassless scrub and dead tree trunks that poked up from the empty, rolling hills like stoic grave markers. While Point Lookout had been spared from the devastation of the bombs, Quantico and its environs were close to DC and a major military hub. They had been hit hard during the brief war and were still reeling from the effects of the radiation.
The farther Dameon and Chloe traveled, the more the scenery reminded Dameon of home. The bleak moonscape of rocks and dead vegetation was strangely comforting to his tired eyes.
As he paused by an abandoned town and let Chloe drift off to sleep, Dameon's mind began to wander. He pictured himself sprawled out comfortably in his bed. His body was fresh and clean from a shower, his hair slick and dripping wet. He rubbed his smoothly shaven face and sipped on a glass of whisky while peering out the window at the jumbled skyline of MegaTon.
(****************************************************************)
"Dameon, no! Please. . .please! Don't leave me," Chloe sobbed from her bed. She leaned over the side of the dirty cot and collapsed in a heap onto the floor. She clawed at the sandy ground with her hands and crawled after Dameon.
Dameon's back was to her. He didn't react to her prostrations and opened the flap to the outside of the cramped tent. Sunlight cascaded in from the opening, blinding Chloe.
Dameon went to take a step outside onto the beach. Without looking back, he began to walk away to the sound of crashing waves.
"Fuck you! Fuck you, Dameon!" Chloe dragged herself along the rough sand floor. She tried to stand up to walk after him but immediately fell over onto her side.
Chloe looked down at her body. She realized she had no legs; they ended at her knees where her pants were tied off in knots.
She screamed herself awake.
"Shhhhhh," Dameon clasped his hand over Chloe's mouth.
Her eyes took a moment to come into focus. Slowly, she nodded while Dameon removed his craggy hand from her lips.
"Sorry. I had a. . .nightmare."
Dameon stood up from her and leaned against a dead tree. The two of them had paused in what was left of an ancient woods on top of a small hill, just above a tiny county town.
During the day, the town had looked deserted but inviting. Dameon had begun scavenging around the town for more food and ammo, leaving Chloe to sleep, tucked away in a ditch under a dead, thorny briar bush.
However, once the sun had begun to set, Dameon was driven off by strange noises and shadowy figures that began to dart around the dilapidated buildings. He quickly activated his sneak suit's camouflage and beat a hasty retreat back to Chloe.
"How long was I out – ow!" Chloe had begun to rub her face when she discovered that a tiny twig had grown out from the tear duct on her right eye. She poked at it with her pointer finger. The stress on the twig made her eyes sting and begin to water.
"Only a few hours," Dameon whispered to her. He was taking cover from the town below while nervously glancing down to its center, "I didn't want to wake you; you needed some sleep before me made our final push. Now that you're awake, we should go," he motioned her north, towards an empty, gravel filled meadow.
Chloe painfully ripped the twig out of her eye and went to stand up. After wiping the blood from her eyelid, she noticed there was a bonfire in the center of the town. She saw a large crowd gathering around it, and she could just make out the sound of them beginning to yell and jeer.
"What's going on down there?" she whispered.
Dameon squinted, "looks like they. . .captured someone."
"Who's they?"
Dameon shrugged.
Down in the town square a group of people were dragging a large, boxy-looking man down the main street. His hands seemed to be tied behind his back, as Chloe couldn't see them. As he slowly came closer to the light of the fire, Chloe could see that the man was wearing power armor, something she hadn't seen since the Anchorage Memorial.
The man was screaming and weeping. The people around him were carrying him towards the bonfire by a noose that was loosely tied around his neck.
Chloe began to creep forwards down the hill towards the town for a better look at the scene.
Dameon didn't let her get far; he grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back up the hill towards the cover of the woods.
"What are you doing?" Dameon sniffed.
Chloe remained silent, watching the crowd jostle the hapless man.
A few of the figures in the mob began to pelt the man with stones.
Chloe realized the crowd was entirely ghouls. Their dead white eyes eerily reflected the flames of the roaring bonfire. They were dressed in country attire. The ghoul women were wearing old denim skirts and ruffled blouses. The men had red suspenders, overalls, and working boots. Many had rakes, bats, or torches and were waiving them menacingly in air.
One of the ghouls stepped on top of a dead tree stump and used it as a stage. He seemed to be directing the others.
"Burn him in his devil's armor!" the ghoul commanded from above the crowd.
Chloe could see the ghoul clearly by the fire light. He was wearing a dirty white collared shirt with a bronze star pinned to his chest that reminded her of Harden Simms. His dark jeans were raggedy and full of holes. He egged on the crowd like a demagogue.
"Noooo!" the man in power armor was jerking around, trying to escape his ghoul captors.
One of ghouls tightened the noose around the man's neck and then flung the other end of the rope up and over a metal beam that was hanging over the raging fire.
"Oh my God!" the man began to moan.
"Burn him! Burn him!"
Chloe could hear the chants of the ghoul mob echo through the town.
"Looks like he's a Brotherhood knight," Dameon mused. He again motioned for Chloe to follow him away from the town.
The knight hung limply from the rope for a minute, pondering his fate. Slowly, a ghoul began to pull on the hangman's rope, hoisting the knight up into the air.
"Why are they going to kill him?" Chloe squirmed as she watched the knight struggle.
Dameon felt a pain in his jaw, "I don't know. I've seen what you've seen."
"We should stop them," Chloe looked back and forth between Dameon and the knight.
"No more side trips or stops," Dameon said annoyed, "if it takes us any longer to get to Quantico I'm going to stiffen till I can't move or you're going to root into the ground."
"We can't let them burn him alive."
"Maybe he deserved it," Dameon glanced down at the jeering mob.
"Heeelp! Oh God!" the knight screamed. His wailing made Chloe's heart race.
"No," she shook her head, "we have to do something. The Brotherhood helped us, remember?"
"No, they didn't. They just wanted the vial I was carrying. Past that they didn't give a fuck," Dameon gritted his teeth and felt something crack in his jaw. One of his teeth had snapped off at the root. He spit it out onto the dry ground and probed it nervously with his boot tip.
"You can stay here but I'm going to try to help him," Chloe muttered.
She began to slide away, down the rocky hill towards the flickering fire light.
"No you're not!" Dameon grabbed her forcefully by her robe, tearing it and revealing her bark covered shoulder, "I'm getting us to Quantico. After we get Emily you can play desert savior to everyone we meet."
Chloe glared at Dameon's mangled face. She then ran her hand through her leafy hair, "I am not going to leave another person to die," she shuttered at the thought, "not again. I can't live with that."
"What about Emily?"
"She would tell me to do something!" Chloe shook her head, "You still don't understand that; understand why?" Her eyes turned cold and she darted away.
Dameon grimaced. He stayed back in cover behind the old tree, huffing to himself and watching as Chloe slowly made her way towards the ghoul mob.
(****************************************************************)\
"Hey. . .you!" the gnarled ghoul with the sheriff's star pointed a twisted, wizened finger at Chloe from above the crowd. His face looked evil and empty, reflecting the glowing bonfire like shiny glass, "I'm the law here, you state your business stranger!"
The mob turned around to face Chloe who was nervously approaching from the shadows.
"My name is Chloe," Chloe dumbly began, she took a deep breathe as the mob of ghouls began to crowd closer to her, ogling at the leaves jutting out from her hair and the hardened bark growing up to her neck.
The crowd smelled like death and decay. The odor made Chloe choke.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked.
The lead ghoul glanced back to the knight who swayed from struggling in the noose. The flames had begun to lick at his heels. He was sobbing in terror.
"He is a plague spreader," the ghoul hissed, "DC vermin! He came to our town to make us sick, so we would die and the Brotherhood could steal our cargo and land. Now he shall burn for their crimes," the ghoul had a resolute smile plastered across his sagging face.
"Plague?" Chloe looked up at the knight.
"I swear. . . I didn't do anything!" the knight frantically screamed.
"Ghoul plague," the ghoul with the star coughed, "it has been spreading from DC, taking every ghoul it touches. The Brotherhood started it. They brought it down from the monument and are using vermin like him to spread it into the countryside."
"That can't be true," Chloe looked around at the mob, "look at him, he's not spreading plague. The Brotherhood isn't spreading plague. He's just a soldier."
"Lies!" the crowd roared.
"You know nothing of the plague or the death they have caused," the ghoul snarled, "I. . .I have seen the devastation they have wrought."
"How do you know he is spreading plague?" Chloe was defiant.
"Why else after all of these years would they come down into our town? Why else would the plague follow in the Brotherhood's footsteps wherever they go?"
Chloe tried to reason with ghoul, "but why would the Brotherhood want to wipe out the ghouls? They lived along side ghouls for years. They let them stay in the Underworld-"
"They forced them to dwell in that sewer to keep them out of sight. Now that they have this weapon they have begun their final purge," the old ghoul put his knotted finger to his blistered lips, "they've already purged the Underworld, now they are trying to purge us."
"What? How? Where. . .where would the Brotherhood even get plague?"
"It was the Demon!" the mob chanted in a nervous murmur.
"The Demon of the desert stole the plague from hell itself. He gave it to the Brotherhood so they could wipe us out in exchange for the bloom!" the lead ghoul's voice reached a crescendo.
Chloe's mouth went dry, "the demon?"
"Demon Rayes," a female ghoul in the crowd hissed in a dry, raspy voice.
"A vile raider from DC. He brought forth the plague," the lead ghoul glanced over past the bonfire to the tree line, "now they must all burn! The Brotherhood, the Outcasts, the Talon Company, all the humans, before this infection can spread any further," his voice quivered, "you. . .you child can go. You are not one of them, but beware. If you see them, warn them what happened here and to never come back."
Chloe felt ill, she momentarily glanced up to where Dameon was hiding and thought about the vial.
"Now, remove her from here," the ghoul with the sheriff's badge gave Chloe a sneer and waived her off, "and lower the human to his fate."
A burly ghoul in a tattered business suit grabbed Chloe by her shoulders and began to drag her away from the fire. She struggled to break free and writhed in his cold grip.
"Burn him! Burn him! Burn him!" the crowd began to cheer once more.
A haggard looking ghoul grabbed the loose end of the hangman's rope and gave it more slack, lowering the knight further into the flames, before tying it to the gutter of a nearby building.
The knight's armor began to turn black from the smoke and soot. He was coughing and gagging from the noose, his face was gaunt. He chocked back sobs and tried to hold his legs up and away from the raging flames.
"Let me go!" Chloe bit the arm of the ghoul who was restraining her. It broke apart like old, dried out leather, revealing a patch of grey bone.
The ghoul painfully clutched his torn flesh and Chloe broke free, darting up to where the rope was anchored. She snatched a small folding knife from her robe and began slashing the taught rope.
The knight saw what was happening and tried to swing back and forth so he would fall free of the fire if cut loose.
The crowd descended on Chloe before she could finish the job. She was lost in a jumble of withered arms and bony legs, buried under the mass of ghouls; kicking, screaming, and flailing her body.
She clawed at one of the ghouls, taking out his eye with her fingernails. He moaned in pain.
"Burn the bitch too! Doubter! Traitor!" a voice from the crowd shouted, "Heretic!"
"Burn her! Burn her!" the mob chanted.
A ghoul pried Chloe from the crowd and pinned her arms behind her back. As she screamed at the top of her lungs, he held her up into the air and walked her over to the fire.
Several of the ghouls spat on Chloe and menaced her with torches. She cursed them hysterically and struggled to get free as the bonfire grew closer and closer.
The ghoul restraining her reached the fire's edge and bent Chloe over, down towards the flames. She fought against him as hard as she could until she was sapped of her strength. The ghoul then looked towards the leader for the all clear to throw Chloe into the inferno.
The cheers of the crowd began to die down.
The lead ghoul looked around, confused at the sudden silence. Slightly back from the mob and bonfire he saw a lone man standing completely still in the dark night. The man was tall and bulky. His strange cloak obscured most of his face except for his grayish, ghoulish looking chin. He stood locked in place like a stone.
"Who are you!" the ghoul shouted at the strange figure. He snatched a silver pistol from his side and pointed it at the strange man, "are you one of us? Show your face!"
Dameon stared at the ghoul and the mob in silence. Crickets chirped softly in the woods behind him. A cool wind blew down from the hills and rustled the dead weeds around his feet.
"I said who are you? Are you a human? Ghoul?" the ghoul repeated loudly.
Dameon stood motionless, eyes hidden under his hood.
"Why are you here? Who-"
"I am death; I've come to take you."
Before the ghoul could react, Dameon vanished into thin air.
The ghoul mob was stunned. Shrill gasps of horror reverberated through the masses.
The strong ghoul holding Chloe let her slip from his fingers and she pulled away.
Chloe made her way though the confused crowd to the tattered hangman's rope.
The lead ghoul looked around wildly for Dameon, pistol shaking in his old hands, "Donald! Merrion! Get your rifles!"
A few armed ghouls anxiously scanned the darkness for any sign of the apparition.
Slowly, all grew quiet again as the ghouls searched the perimeter.
Chloe slashed through the hangman's rope while the ghouls were distracted.
"Hey!" the lead ghoul watched as the knight crashed to the ground next to the fire.
The knight's armor was red hot. He kicked off his glowing leggings and boots and rolled around in the dirt to stop the smoking. His feet were pink and blistered from the heat. He was crying out from the pain.
"Seize him!" the lead ghoul shouted while pointing his weapon at the prone knight. He jumped off the tree stump and began to run, pistol in hand, over towards the knight and Chloe.
Before the ghoul could reach them, Dameon suddenly appeared from out of nowhere behind the ghoul with a knife in hand. He grabbed the ghoul by his scalp, bent his head back, and slit his throat in one motion. The ghoul collapsed onto the ground, blood pouring down his shirt.
As the mob began to scream in terror, Dameon once again vanished.
"It. . .it. . .it must be the demon!" a ghoul frantically cried.
"THE DEMON!" the mob repeated in excited murmurs.
They began scattering, running into the empty buildings, up into the forest, anywhere away from the bonfire.
Dameon, Chloe, and the knight hunkered down in a deep section of dead woods north of the town for the rest of the night. They listened to the frightened murmurs of the ghouls below until the break of dawn.
Chapter 12: Josephus
"Are you okay now?" Chloe smiled to the exhausted knight through the early morning light.
The knight was a young looking man, no older than thirty. His eyes were black as coals and looked worn and tired. His face was caked with dust and grime and was full of fresh scratches and scrapes from being manhandled by the ghoul mob. His wiry hair was matted with streaks of blood dyed black by the smoke of the bonfire.
Although most of his injuries were minor, he still appeared to be in a state of shock, slowly rocking back and forth in a sitting position with a vacant thousand yard stare.
"What's your name?" Dameon interjected.
"Huh," the knight looked up at him and blinked, "Joseph. . .err Josephus Knoss," the man let out a deep, hacking cough, his lungs were still caked with soot and ash, "13th Recon."
"Josephus, I'm Chloe, he's Dameon," Chloe pointed to Dameon who stood expressionless.
Dameon leaned back against a dead tree and poured the dregs of a bottle of foul water into his mouth.
"Dem….Dameon Rayes?" Josephus began to cough again. He rubbed his hands on his blistered feet and tried to catch his breath.
Dameon rolled his eyes and tried to spit on the ground but nothing came off his dry lips, "you shouldn't have told him, Chloe."
Chloe stood up from her squat, "You always wanted notoriety. Now that everyone fears you, you should be happy with yourself."
"Just what do you know about me?" Dameon loomed over the edgy knight.
"Nothing. Just the name," Josephus struggled to stand; his legs were wobbly and he was sweating bullets, "those things were hollering about Demon Rayes. I remembered people at the citadel talking-"
"Those things?" Dameon cocked his head annoyed.
"Uhh," the knight almost blushed looking at his inhuman company, "the ghouls I mean. I'm sorry."
"How did they capture you?" Chloe leaned forward.
"My squad was sent down here by Citadel Command to do reconnaissance on the Talon Company base at Quantico. They call it 'Eagle Claw.' We were attacked all along the way by the mercs; someone tipped them off. By the time we made it to the base, there were too few of us to do anything. We retreated south to get away from them but those ghouls picked us off one by one," Josephus trailed off and rubbed his dirty face.
"You've been to Quantico?" Chloe was ecstatic.
"Huh," Josephus paused and looked around nervously, "yeah. Why?"
"That's where we are headed. We heard her sister was taken there by the Talon Company."
Josephus began to nod, "the Talon Company has been snatching people from around Maryland and Virginia for a while now. They take them back to Eagle Claw."
Dameon tried to furrow his hard brow, "what would the Talon Company want with them? Slaves?"
"I don't know. We were sent down to find out why. They have been raiding nearby towns, getting closer and closer to DC ever since the bloom."
"The bloom?" Dameon and Chloe both stared at Josephus blankly.
"The DC bloom," Josephus continued, "what ghouls call the plague. Ever since the battle at the Anchorage Memorial the ghouls all over DC have been dying. At the same time, the desert began to bloom. Flowers, bushes, all kinds of plants I've never seen before. It's a miracle," Josephus smiled at the thought for a moment but then the elation left his face.
"A goddamn miracle," Dameon snidely repeated his words and took a step away. He peered past the trees, down towards the open meadow that led to Quantico.
Chloe looked crossly over to Dameon. He had his back turned to her.
"What happened at the memorial?" Chloe whispered to Josephus.
"I don't know. General Lyons took a few squads there on some classified mission. No one made it out. I just heard rumors that the ghouls in DC went berserk and attacked the Brotherhood. Then the Enclave swooped in and killed everyone who was left. Figure the Enclave must have released something there that's been killing the ghouls and making everything grow."
Chloe's expression changed to a glare. She stared at Dameon with burning eyes. He glanced back nonchalantly and then slowly began to walk back over to them.
"What about you two?" Josephus looked inquisitively at Dameon and Chloe, "what happened to you to make you, you know?"
Chloe stormed off to get away from Dameon. He watched her walk down the hill towards the empty meadow, alone.
"We played with green goo," Dameon muttered.
"What?" Josephus stared blankly at him. He began stuff some of the dead, dry grass around him into his boots to pad his sore feet.
"Just wait here," Dameon walked off to confront Chloe.
(****************************************************************)
"How could you?" Chloe was furious. She was sitting on the far side of the hill, staring down at the windswept meadow, watching the gravel and dust being kicked up by the restless wind.
"How could I what?" Dameon went to sit down next to her, but she scooted away.
Chloe wiped her face, "I didn't know what the ghouls were talking about at first. The plague. It was the vial. You caused the plague! You. . .you must have killed thousands upon thousands of people,"
"Ghouls."
"PEOPLE, Dameon!" She nearly screamed.
"I didn't know what would happen," Dameon turned away from her and looked back to Josephus who was ignoring their conversation while licking his wounds, "I wouldn't have done it had I'd known we would wind up like this. But hell, I thought we were going to die if I didn't do anything. Actually, I thought we were going to die anyway."
Chloe made a cruel smile, "so then you killed thousands of people for no reason?"
"I said I didn't know what would happen. I thought maybe it would . . .help," Dameon sniffed the dry air.
"I don't believe you. You're lying," Chloe's hands shook in anger. The leaves on her head seemed to rustle, "you knew exactly what it would do. You always hated ghouls."
"We were being irradiated to death. We would both be dead now if-"
"We should be dead!" Chloe shot up to her feet.
"Well, we aren't. And while we aren't, we should get moving," Dameon clutched his assault rifle.
Chloe brushed her hair out of her red eyes, "Why. . .why is this so important to you?"
"Why is what important to me?"
"Finding Emily."
Dameon was taken aback; he stared blankly at Chloe trying to read her contorted expression.
"I. . .I honestly thought you had changed since we met. That you weren't the raider you were before. That you had become empathetic and had grown a conscience. That you gave a fuck about people. But you haven't changed. You're the same person. Your only joy comes from terrifying or killing people. I could tell how much you enjoyed killing that ghoul. When you cut his throat I bet you had a big smile on your face. . . that's what you love. You were willing to kill every ghoul in DC to save your own life. You have no. . .you. . .you are the demon you wanted to be."
Dameon couldn't think of anything to say. He went to brush a leaf back from Chloe's forehead but she stopped him.
"I think you only want to find Emily for some sense of accomplishment or closure. Not because you actually care about her. I don't think you could care about anyone."
"I want to find her for you," Dameon put his hands on Chloe's bark covered shoulders, "I care about you."
"I would have told you not to save me if I knew anyone would have to die, let alone thousands of innocent people. Think of all those faces in the Underworld. They'll haunt me forever. I would have gladly died back in the memorial if you had told me what that vial would do to them. . .or us," her voice cracked and she shook her head, "I would have given up on Emily if I had known that."
Dameon squinted as much as he could with his stiff facial muscles, "I'm sorry, but what's done is done. I just acted on instinct. Since we aren't dead we should do something useful. I figure that finding Emily will. . .help redeem what I've done"
"You have to ask to be redeemed. . .and we are dead, Dameon," Chloe ran her fingers along her bark, "It just hasn't hit us yet. We have been cursed for our sin, you and I both," she almost laughed at her choice of words.
Chloe lingered for another moment, avoiding eye contact with Dameon. She then began to walk back towards Josephus.
Dameon racked his brain for something to say to her, "I do care about you," he called out to Chloe, "You. . . you're my conscience. I have changed, because I know I wouldn't have any good in me without you. . .I need you," he croaked.
"Well, I don't want to be your conscience. That's something you need to find inside yourself. If we do find Emily, I don't want you to follow us. Emily and I can make it home by ourselves . . .even if we don't, it would be better that way. I don't want to see you again, Dameon."
Dameon watched her walk away slowly, "You know I'm not evil like you make me out to be, I just have to make tough choices. You haven't had to make any tough choices in your life. Other people have made them for you. When you have to make them for yourself. . .then you become the bad guy."
Chloe paused mid-step, "Ask yourself if the choices you've made have made life better."
(****************************************************************)
Josephus rose to his feet and checked his gear. Chloe had walked off in her own world, while Dameon was trying to stretch out his stiff body.
"You," Dameon walked over to Josephus, "you need to lead us to Quantico."
Josephus shook his head, "No. I can't go back there. They'll cut me to pieces. I need to get back to DC and make my report as soon as possible, before the Talon Company attacks again."
"Quantico is on the way to DC. You can guide us there and then make your way back."
Josephus continued to shake his head, not listening to what Dameon was telling him, "we were harried the whole way. I can't get near there again. They'll see me and they'll-"
"Look at what you're wearing," Dameon pointed to Josephus's shiny armor, "take that off so you look like a civilian. Then you can sneak around without sticking out like a sore thumb. If you get us to Quantico I can tell you the names of a few friends up in Andale who can get you back to DC. Andale shouldn't be more than a few days walk from there."
"You don't understand," Josephus was trembling, "I can't go back. I need-" He chocked on his spit.
"You're supposed to be a soldier," Dameon's face was riddled with contempt.
Josephus stood mute. He blinked emptily.
"Don't you think you owe us something? You'd still be roasting on that fire if Chloe hadn't almost gotten herself killed for you," Dameon spat.
Josephus looked away and slowly nodded, "I will take you to Eagle Claw. . . but then I'm gone," he scratched a large red ring that went around the base of his neck from where the noose had dug deeply into his skin. He massaged it with trembling hands, scared to death of the thought of having to go back.
"Then it's a deal," Dameon nodded. He expected Chloe to chime in and say something but she stayed far away from the two of them, staring up at the sky, feeling incredibly alone.
