And back by popular demand!

During the few days Eli had walked through the forest that he was left at, he had encountered nothing human or sentient at least. The only living beings that he did encounter were the deer, squirrels, and rabbits that would locate him food and shelter. In the forest Eli noticed that as he walked in the direction that he started with, a smell of foul air like that which emitted from the vehicles that he heard passing by near him grew.

At the present moment Eli was sitting in a cave with his back to the wall that a passing family of deer had kindly shown him. He reached into his backpack that was besides him and pulled out a canteen which he proceeded to drink from. After drinking a fourth of what was left in the canteen he capped it and put it back into his backpack. He zipped his bag up and stood while pulling the bag up with him and shouldering it.

Eli walked out of the cave and smelled the air; a familiar scent of death filled the air it was becoming putrid like something had been decaying for a short time which was something that Eli had become accustomed to when he wandered the wasteland that had been North America.

Eli pulled out his machete with a practiced ease and opened his eyes to the bright daylight and the cracked trees that gave him the impression that something had torn its way through the area, something that was very large. Eli stopped where he was and closed his eyes once again and clicked his tongue. This skill was one he picked up in his earlier years. It made it so he could in a way see the area around him without actually seeing. He learned later on that this skill was called echolocation.

The area that was highlighted with the echolocation showed that there wasn't a single presence around but Eli still kept his machete up regardless. He opened his eyes again and started to walk forward while being mindful to not make any noises. He sniffed the air again which alerted him that the smell of death and decay was closer. He walked closer to the origin of the smell which apparently was being emitted from behind a tree.

Eli decided to pull out his shotgun and strafed around the tree to reveal the sight of the family of deer he met earlier torn apart. Their limbs were thrown around the area while the insides of their stomachs were pulled out. Their heads were crushed while the brain matter inside was splayed across the area. Eli made a sign of the cross and said a silent prayer which right afterwards a roar was heard right behind him.

Eli spun around and fired his Remington at the sound. What Eli did not expect was the flash at the end of his gun. Eli looked up from his gun to see what he shot and to his slight horror was a creature that Eli had never seen before. It had the torso of a naked human girl with black hair and blue eyes. She would have looked quite beautiful if it wasn't for the horrid snarl on her face and the buckshot that was in her shoulder. That was all the resemblance to being human that she had for under her torso was a serpentine body.

She hissed at Eli as she gripped her shoulder. "Who and what are you?" Eli asked while cocking his gun and ejecting a shell from it.

"I am your death human!" She cried out as she started to slither to him. Eli fired another round into her chest just as she was two feet away from him. The shot launched her back as well as caused another cry of pain to escape her lips.

"I will not die now, for I have the work of God to do." Eli stated to her as he cocked his gun once again which ejected another steaming shell. When he said the word God, the woman hissed in pain.

"Don't say that word! Who are you?" The woman asked.

"I am a wonderer who has been assigned an important task. So what would you be?" Eli asked with slight curiosity.

"I don't need to tell you anything!" The woman said. Eli sighed before he turned and started to walk away from the woman while resheathing his machete. He heard the woman slithering in the ground behind him. Eli then turned around and fired his weapon once again as the snake woman jumped at him. The final shot penetrated her head which caused her to collapse dead on the ground.

Eli performed the signs of the cross over her body before he turned around and walked away while shoving his gun back into his backpack. This was a strange and unknown land to him. He could already tell that this journey of his would be quite…strange.

Eli could hear the sounds of many cars passing him by which gave him quite the surprise. He continued to walk forward and used his machete to chop any branch or shrubbery in his way. He walked a few more feet before he exited the forest and was shown a sight that both shocked him and warmed his heart.

He stood atop a hill while below him, a bay with a massive red bridge connecting the portion of land he stood on and the city across from him stood proud. Eli could see the cars and people as they walked or drove along the bridge.

Eli had never seen so many people together in one place before. Usually he would be lucky to find a town with maybe over a dozen people. Carnegie's town shocked him when he first had gotten there due to the large amount of people. Eli could feel a tear fall down his cheek as he witnessed this. He wiped his face and put his ipod's earbuds back into his ears and pressed a button on it. He ears were filled with the sound of Bob Marley's 'Buffalo Soldier'. Then he walked down the hill and towards the bridge.

As he walked down the hill, he could remember all the stories his father used to tell him about how in the west was a massive city that lay atop of hills. There was a massive red bridge that connected the city to the woods and in the bay of this city was an island that none had ever escaped from but for three men.

When Eli had made his way down to the bridge, he began to walk across it. It felt weird as he crossed the bridge to feel the continuous wind of the cars going across the bridge passing him. He encountered a few joggers going by on the bridge but he elected to ignore them and just walked. After a while he finally made it to the other side of the bridge. With no idea on where to go next, Eli closed his eyes once again and walked around in a circle and broke off from it in a chosen direction.

He could hear as he walked the sounds of a woman screaming. Eli turned to the left in order to face this direction where he heard the sounds of feet hitting the pavement of the sidewalk he was on.

"Stop that man! He stole my purse!" The woman screamed. The footfalls came closer and closer and Eli held his arm out at the average neck level of a person. He felt the person make contact with his arm before falling to the ground with a choked gasp.

Eli opened his eyes and looked for what he expected a purse would look like. In the man's hand was a gray bag which Eli bent down and picked it up. When he stood up a woman ran up to him.

She had blonde hair and was wearing blue jeans with a white shirt. She had a look of appreciation on her face as she saw Eli hold out the bag to her. She slowed down as she approached him and took the purse from his hands.

"Thank you! I don't know what I would've done if he took my purse." The woman said to him. Eli just nodded back at the woman.

"It was no problem. It was the Lord's will be done." Eli responded. He turned and began to walk away until he heard the woman shout after him.

"Wait! Let me repay you somehow. Do you want to get something to eat?" The woman asked. Eli heard his stomach grumble at this before he made up his mind and turned to the woman.

"That sounds nice." Eli responded. The woman perked up at this.

"That sounds great. I know this great seafood place down in this area. By the way, what's you name? Mine is Clara." Clara asked.

"Eli."

"Not much of a talker are you?" Clara asked with a smirk. Eli just shrugged.

"I travel, not many to talk to." Eli replied.

Clara thought about this for a while before grinning. She already knew what to do about a tough silent guy like this. He just needed to have some good food in his belly and then he would be much more talkative. "After I bring you to the place I'm thinking of, you'll be sure to lighten up."

Eli slightly chuckled at this, "If you say so." Clara's eyes widened in happiness before she walked up to Eli and grabbed him by the arm. She then started to drag him with her.

"See, you're already starting to act less serious. We'll just need to fill you up with some food and you'll definitely be talking in no time!" Clara stated. Eli shrugged and followed along with Clara. After all, it would be quite rude to refuse help from someone who is so willingly giving it.

The duo arrived before a restaurant that was facing the bay. Eli was sitting across from Clara who was tearing in at her shrimp pasta. Before eating the food, Eil gave a prayer much to the slight confusion of Clara who waved it off as a quirk of her new friend.

"So Eli," Clara said after swallowing her food, "what brings you to San Francisco? I mean, people come to California for Hollywood all the time, but here? Why are you here?" She asked.

"I was on a journey that I finished quite recently across this country. Now I am on another one." Eli replied.

"A journey for what?" Clara asked as she shoved some pasta into her face.

"I was delivering something."

"What would be so important for you to just travel around the country to deliver something?" Clara asked.

"I just needed to deliver something precious."

"What like a relic or something?" Clara asked.

"Something like that." Clara groaned in reply at this.

"Come on Eli, why aren't you talking that much? I brought you to the greatest seafood joint in this country and you still aren't…talking…" Clara slowed down at the end when she saw that Eli's plate remained untouched. "Eli, you have to eat, come on, shove that grub in your mouth!" Clara said excitedly.

"Alright, alright. I'll eat." Eli picked up his fork and looked at the pasta before him and shrugged after all, life is about trying new things. He stabbed his fork into the pasta and brought it up to his mouth. As he did, he noticed how Clara's eyes followed his every movement. Eli gained a feeling that he wanted to mess with Clara a little bit so he put the fork up to his mouth before lowering it back down much to Clara's annoyance. "You know, I have never had pasta before." Eli stated.

"Then try it." Clara responded. Eli put the fork up to mouth once again much to the excitement of Clara before lowering it which caused her to groan.

"Just eat already!"

"Alright, alright." Eli said with a voice full of mirth. He then shoved the pasta into his mouth and began chewing. It actually tasted quite good. Then again, most things would taste good after living in an apocalyptic wasteland. At least he wouldn't have to eat anymore cats. "It is nice."

Clara grinned, "That's great, another seafood lover has joined the cause!" She exclaimed. After a few seconds to calm herself down, she looked at Eli with a serious tone, "So where are you going after this?"

"I don't know? I was going to wander about the world and see where the path may take me."

"While that is great and all, does wandering help you wander into a nice warm bed tonight?"

"I'll figure it out." Clara stood up from her table with a face of rejection.

"I cannot allow a man as nice as you to who managed to help me today, just wander around without a bed tonight. So come on!" Clara turned to a waiter passing by them, "check please!" The waiter walked away before coming back two minutes later with the bill in hand. Eli just took all of this in stride as just one of his new companion's eccentricities before he continued to quickly eat his pasta. Clara took the bill and paid it in cash.

Clara grabbed Eli by the arm and pulled Eli out of his seat before she dragged him out of the restaurant. The duo walked along the waterfront while Eli attracted numerous looks due to his odd attire. Thankfully no one had noticed his machete or his shotgun.

The duo were eventually left alone on the waterfront which didn't bother either of them. This was one of the most comfortable walks Eli had ever experienced. For once, no one was trying to kill him and there wasn't any real danger aside from a creature like one of those monsters he encountered earlier since he suspected that they stayed away from humans.

"So Eli, where are you from?" Clara asked as she walked with Eli.

"Maine." Eli replied simply. He hadn't considered it to be a home in a long time since the flash. He had even forgotten his hometown. Even managing to answer that question proved to be difficult for him.

"Well that's…far." Clara stated.

"No shit." He received a laugh in reply as well as a slight punch in the shoulder.

"I never expected you to have a sense of humor. I just thought that you were going to be tall dark and broody the whole time." Clara stated.

"I can be funny if I want to, I can make you laugh with I, cause if you don't laugh then I don't laugh and then you're no friend of mine." Eli replied with a straight laced voice.

"'Safety Dance', really?" Clara asked while giggling at the end.

"Yes." When Eli said this, both man and woman were blown against the ground by heavy winds. Eli recovered first and pushed himself off the ground while also unsheathing his machete. What surprised Eli was the person in front of him. Well, more like floating in front of him on black feathered wings and a white suit which heavily contrasted with his wings..

"So Clara, it took quite a while to find you. You never called, you never wrote. Quite frankly, I thought you forgot about us." The winged man floated down to the ground and walked over to Clara's prone form. He kneeled and grabbed Clara by the chin which he turned so that her face was looking at his. "I never forgot about you though. You and I had such wonderful times, don't you remember."

"You're a bastard Alex, and I am happy that I ran away from you when I could." Alex's face was full of mock hurt when Clara said this.

"Oh you wound me my dear, but we can fix that. I think you just need to spend some time with me if you know what I mean." Alex said with a lecherous grin. His long black hair didn't hide his eyes or the lust that they contained.

Eli stood up from the ground and slowly walked up behind Alex as he concentrated on Clara.

"I am not going back, you pig!" Clara shouted with fear clear in her voice.

"Whoever said you had a choice, my dear. I take what I want and right now," Alex moved closer to Laura so that her ear was right next to his mouth, "I want you." He said with a heavy emphasis on ear word. Tears ran down Clara's face at this. "But also, you have a Sacred Gear that belongs to us and we would like it back." The next moment of Alex's life would be one of the worst pains that he had ever experienced as Eli brought his machete down with all his strength on Alex's back, chopping his pair of black feathered wings off.

Alex screamed in pain as he let Clara go. Blood fell down his back from the misshapen lumps that were once his wings which began to stain the back of his suit red. "W-who dares!" Alex shouted as he turned around to see Eli hold a pistol to his head.

"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you." Eli said before pulling the trigger. A hole appeared in Alex's forehead and the man fell face down upon the ground.

Eli walked around the body as blood pooled from it and walked over to a crying Clara who he sat next to. Clara pushed herself off the ground and hugged Eli tightly while crying into his shoulder. He with some hesitation hugged the young woman back in an effort to comfort her. This was the second time he had saved a woman from a near rape experience. At least he had gone two for two.

And there you go you people who apparently begged. Another chapter after so many months. Hoped you enjoyed.

Stay frosty my friends.