Page 34 of Urzra

The female made a gagging noise and two of the men chuckled.“It isn’t funny!”she exclaimed quietly.“I could be murdered by one of those preppers at any moment because of the color of my skin, or be slaughtered by the sicko who’s been sneaking around at night!”

“I hear you, sister,” one of her colleagues agreed.“I see the way the preppers look at us Black people.They want us all dead or to turn us into slaves.”

“You mean slaves like the conscripts we’ve been sending to the farms and factories?”another male said wryly.

“Someone’s got to get the food production up and running again,” the other man said defensively.“But we shouldn’t be delegated to manual labor just because we’re not white like you guys.”

“Let’s not argue,” the female said to defuse the tension.“We need to stick together.None of us want to be sent out of the city.We’ve got it good here.Let’s just watch each other’s backs and maybe we’ll all stay alive.”

“Did you hear someone tried to assassinate Xathan?”someone asked as they continued on with their search.

“I heard he cut the guy’s throat in Creel’s office,” a male replied.

“He’s hot, but he’s way too crazy for me,” the female said.“All of Rahab’s dudes are nuts.Their red eyes give me the creeps.”

“Do you really think they’re aliens like the Mad Prophet says?”one of her coworkers asked.They were still talking too quietly for their voices to carry very far.

“Nah,” someone else said.“Aliens aren’t real.They’re just big and have red eyes because of the steroids they take.Drugs can make people go insane.Whatever they’re taking is something new.They must have come up with them before the Rapture.”

“They should have run out of them by now,” a guy pointed out.“It’s been eight months since everything collapsed and chaos took over.”

Urzra grimaced at his choice of wording.Chaos definitely had the upper hand after God had triggered the Rapture.Rahab had a firm hold on Manhattan and was using Governor Giamano as his puppet.It was only a matter of time before the commander of the Soldiers of Chaos took charge.For now, Rahab seemed to be growing an army of mercenaries and thugs.Every human Urzra had seen wearing a white armband possessed a black soul.The female had spoken of solidarity, but she would stab any of her colleagues in the back if she could benefit from it, just like the rest of them.

“No one can be trusted in this city,” Urzra murmured as he continued his search.

Queens was a large borough and it took him most of the day to scan it.The sun was sinking low in the sky when he sensed some foes on the edge of his radar.There were two groups and they were heading straight towards him.

Retreating, the knight began sprinting back to the bridge he’d used to cross into Queens.He halted when he sensed four soldiers blocking his path.They weren’t aware of him, so he checked the map to search for another route to use.The other two groups of five enemies appeared on his radar again.They were moving too swiftly for him to avoid being detected.

“A knight is here!”a familiar voice shouted.

“Deumos,” Urzra muttered in annoyance, then he took off.

All three small groups of enemies gave chase.He sprinted towards another bridge that would take him to Manhattan, praying to Fate it wasn’t blocked this time.It was, so he now had a total of eighteen Soldiers of Chaos at his heels.

“Block the Brooklyn Bridge!”Deumos shouted into his walky-talky.“Urzra is trying to escape!”

Thinking fast, Urzra knew he couldn’t take on this many foes and survive.Rahab was hellbent on capturing him and he had no desire to be tortured.He’d made the same vow as his brothers to end his own life whenever he was taken prisoner.The warrior would only resort to that if he had no other choice.

Grimly determined not to fall into Rahab’s clutches, Urzra picked up speed.He turned down an alley and ran faster than he ever had in his lengthy life before.He doubled back and zoomed towards the bridge that would hopefully now be unguarded.

Deumos sensed him change direction and rallied his squad members.He shouted orders into his walky-talky, trying to box their quarry in.

Urzra raced across the bridge he’d originally taken to get to Queens and sensed ten soldiers heading towards him.They intended to cut him off.Despair that he was about to be captured turned to shock when he sensed his female’s presence.He tripped over an obstacle in surprise and sprawled on the ground.

Deumos shouldered his rifle and squeezed off a shot.The bullet tore into Urzra’s knee as he rose to his feet.He snarled in rage that not only was he about to become a prisoner, but so was his female.

Bria Janke raced into view, beautiful gray-green eyes wide with fear and determination.Their gazes locked and he motioned for her to run.

“Don’t kill them!”Deumos shouted as twenty-eight soldiers surrounded the pair.“Rahab wants them alive!”he reminded the warriors.

“Why are you here, female?”Urzra asked, holding his weight on his good leg.He couldn’t hide his terror for her safety from her.

“Blame Fate,” his female said.“She’s the one who sent me here.”With that startling announcement, he felt her harness her power.