Chapter 9: Down the Road

Weeks ago…

The sun was blinding as it scorched the barren desert road. The sand kicked up occasionally as a gust blew by, dancing among the arid landscape. William Whele had been walking for what seemed like ages and his skin felt like it was cracking in the dryness. He had taken his jacket off and used it to create shade for his head and face, covering what he could while keeping his long sleeves pulled all the way down. The heat was overwhelming, but he had to keep going. Keep moving.

William wasn't really sure which direction he was going. He just knew that he was walking away from Vega. Away from his life. Away from his father. His father who had spared him, despite what he had done to him. Despite everything. And now he was probably going to die anyway, all alone out there in the desert. A slow burning agonizing death.

"Thanks Dad," William mumbled to himself as he kept trudging along. He already drank all the water and ate the few meal bars that his father had put in the knapsack. The night before, he had tried to sleep on the side of the road, but there were too many things crawling around him as well as on top of him. Something had already bitten his leg during the day when he had taken a moment to rest. He wasn't quite sure what it had been, but he had two large red angry welts growing on his left leg.

Yet he was still somehow able to walk. So…there was that. William huffed, squinting in the distance. What little there was to be grateful for, he thought.

The stretch before him seemed to blur for a moment as he came to an abrupt halt. He swayed slightly and started to wonder if he was hallucinating. Off in the distance, there was a man standing in the middle of the road. He wore a dark trench coat that covered his head. William squinted again, trying to figure out if the man was real or not.

And then the man sprouted enormous black wings.

William's heart felt like it stopped for a moment and then he quickly recovered, fumbling with the knapsack and pulling out the gun he had so stupidly put away. Barely able to pull it out in time, he stumbled backwards and tripped over himself, falling onto to the ground as the winged one abruptly landed right in front of him. Breathing heavily, William pointed the gun at the angel with his trembling hand.

"I'm here to help you, William." Gabriel's amused voice was almost playful. Definitely careless.

William didn't lower his gun even as Gabriel pushed back the hood on his coat, revealing his grinning face. The archangel held his hands splayed out as if to show that he came in peace.

William stammered, "You're here to help me?"

"Yes, of course," Gabriel said. "Unless you enjoy wandering the desert roads all by yourself. In the blazing sunlight?"

William gathered his wits and tried to form some semblance of coherency. He was dehydrated and had been thinking about Gabriel for hours now. Gabriel and his father. And Claire. And how his life was gone; how there was nothing left for him. Why had Gabriel not trusted him? Why did the archangel come to Vega? What was William's real purpose and value to Gabriel?

And why, oh why, did he think that Gabriel ever cared about him at all?

"What was the point?" he asked the archangel as he tried to stand up, putting more distance between them. His gun hand never lowered for a moment.

Gabriel clasped his hands together, trying to look as non-threatening as possible to his disheveled acolyte. "The point of what, William?"

"Why did you leave me there? Why didn't you tell me? ME? I thought I was your most trusted servant!" William yelled at him, no longer caring that he was antagonizing the almighty archangel. The one who forked people in the eye. For fun. "I worshipped you. I tried to do my best for you. I..."

Gabriel sighed. "Oh, William. You were my trusted acolyte. And I still care for you greatly. You will be rewarded for your service. In fact, I was looking for you, hoping that we could meet once again, so that I may entrust you with another task." He paused, dramatically. And then as if he were truly mournful, he said, "Only to find that you were ousted from Vega."

"They were going to kill me!"

"It made me think that your usefulness had come to an end." Gabriel tilted his head as he studied a sputtering William, his hand still quaking as he kept the gun trained on him.

"My usefulness?" William rasped in disbelief. His face was covered in despair.

"Don't worry, William. You are still quite useful to our cause." The archangel smiled at him and stepped closer. "Why don't you put the gun down before your hurt yourself?"

"You left me… I've only wanted to serve you, Archangel Gabriel. I've only wanted to…" William's voice trailed off as he lost all thought. The sun was blinding and he wondered if maybe he was just losing his mind. That Gabriel wasn't actually here. That maybe he should take the gun and finally use it on himself. It was a thought he had contemplated often in the last twenty-four hours.

Until the archangel stepped even closer and gingerly took the weapon from him.

"You will continue to serve me, William. It will not be in Vega this time, but somewhere new to you. A place where you can slip in unnoticed and start again. Start your life over, do you hear me, William?" Gabriel grabbed the swaying human, steadying him.

"Wh-why are you…how am I supposed to…" William's eyes were unfocused as the dehydration and fatigue took its toll.

Gabriel roughly grabbed him by the jaw and tilted his head up, so that they were eye-to-eye now. "I'm giving you the opportunity at a new life, my trusted acolyte. You will start over. You will gather information and start another congregation, do you hear me?"

William blinked at the angel. Gabriel was real. This was happening. He came back for him. The archangel really did care about him. He blinked again, and then with a sigh of relief, William smiled at him. He whispered, "You came for me."

Gabriel smiled in that mischievous way of his and said, "Hold on tight."

"Wha…" William's voice cut off as Gabriel abruptly wrapped his arm around the man's torso and yanked him off of his feet, taking flight into the cloudless sky. Within seconds, they were soaring across the desert bleakness. Off to a cooler climate. Off to the north.