Though They Walk Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death (Quix & Aurelia)

[Mr Quixotic]

Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.

Rain pattered down, striking the metal roof of the small trailer and sluiced off the sides, causing large puddles to form on the ground, and turn it to slush and mud. Inside, the digital clock beside on the nightstand ticked over from 3:08am to 3:09am, and the face of the bed's male occupant screwed up in distaste. Snoring lightly, he buried his lips into the hair of the naked woman next to him and tightened his already secure grip further around her, subconsciously afraid she might be snatched away whilst he lay dead to the world.

"Spare the rod, spoil the child."

His teeth clenched in his sleep and he screwed his eyelids closer together, attempting to chase away the bad dream.

WHACK

The well-remembered harsh sound of the rattan cane striking his soft, unblemished flesh after his adoptive Father had forced him to pull his shorts down and bare his butt, in order the administer the punishment they'd become so accustomed to. That latter fact had never lessened the humiliation or pain.

"What did I tell you. No MTV. That music. Those men and women are sick, disgusting, perverted. Evil."

THWACK

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

"Like you, like your Mother and Father were. Do I need to remind you again of the consequences of disobeying the Lord's word? Of why your parents now burn for eternity in the company of Satan?"

THWACK

The six foot, three inch, two hundred and fifty pound man puffed, panted and ranted as he caned, steam spouting from his ears and fury darkened eyes darting between Adam and Eve. "It was not an accident. There are no accidents, misfortunes, or coincidences. Your parents fornicated outside of wedlock, not once, but twice, and they paid the Lord's price delivering you, the Devil's Spawn. to me to save." The young boy's screams of agony and pleas of contrition were inconsequential as were the sobs of his younger fraternal sibling, who knew she was next. "How do I know God's plan? Because in this house, in your lives, I AM GOD."

Oh, fuck, why had he never been able to protect his little sister from the abuse and the beatings? The one time he'd tried, really tried, had been the straw that broke the camels back. The day after turning eighteen, old enough to legally leave of his accord, he'd attempted to sneak sixteen year old Eve out with him only to be greeted downstairs by two of their Step-Father's blue-uniformed acolytes, both with huge grins on their faces as if the Police Officers expected the couple at that precise place and time. But how could they have known? The real question, he realised afterward, is how could they have not. Father had often enough before proved himself omniscient, no matter what precautions Adam and Eve took.

"Don't forget me, boy, and don't dare to attempt to contact Eve. If you do, next time we meet I'll send you and everyone you've ever loved to Hell." That promise issued as Adam clutched a hand to his stomach and stumbled from the gutter with blood spurting from his broken nose elicited the same fearful reaction in him when he recalled it now as it had back then.

CRACK

Inside the trailer, Adam's body jerked at the peal of thunder and his eyes flew open. Remnants of the dream lingered and he trembled when he sat upright, rain crashing off the roof, thunder reverberating around the small trailer and flashes of lightning casting nightmarish shadows on the walls. There'd be no more sleep for Adam Magdalene that night, so with shaking fingers he collected the remote control for the one luxury item he and Eve possessed, a big screen television. Needing something for company to help keep the demons at bay, but not wanting to wake his sister, he muted the volume.

It was when the black slowly crystalised into an image and his eyes adapted to the brightness that Adam was met with a visage that he'd hoped, at least in real life, to never encounter again. The hair was a little grayer, and the white, flowing beard, trimmed, however, the face was immediately recognisable. Especially the coal-black pupils that when they locked on Adam through the screen, seeming to bore into his very soul, caused him to emit an ear-piercing howl of terror loud enough to raise Lazarus from his grave.

 

[Aurelia]

"Shh, Eve, it's okay. You're here now, with me."

Muffled sobs seemed to release even heavier into her brothers chest as relief was the only feeling that could wash over her. Knowing his shirt would be soaked but nevertheless, not being able to stop as his arms merely embraced her tighter and her body grew weak from it's times of remaining so strong without his help.

Many people usually wished for pleasant dreams, their place of Eden to appear, happiness to be said and given to them. As it was, Eve's Eden had always been in her brothers arms. A safety that only he could seem to give her while the world crashed down around them in their step-fathers own world. Soon as she had but a day before she turned eighteen, she had left. She didn't care if God tried to stop her, in the home or with a bolt of lightening, nothing would pause her. By midnight she would be an adult and no one could have a say.

And as soon as she had met up with her brother, she hadn't ever wanted to leave his arms again.

"It's safe now."

When the nightmares weren't entering her mind, this was the dream that appeared to please Eve the most. Her fairytale had started the moment she was free and her brother was with her in unity once more. It didn't seem to matter where they had found a place to stay, or the shitty jobs they had found, she only felt blessed that she had Adam with her all the time.

But dreams only last so long, and fairytale endings aren't usually a real thing. The shift in their bed seemed to make her mind shift to a much more muted sleep when her brother had started to wake, but when the scream had released, her eyes fluttered open and she was sitting up with a shock as if their step-father had kicked open the door and was about to drag them back home.

"Adam! Adam..." His name left her lips almost faster then what she was able to comprehend while her form shifted to face her fear struck brother. A hand finding his shoulder while one gently touched to his face as she moved to press her head to his chest. "It's okay, what's wrong?" Her voice tender, bringing him back up from whatever depths of hell he had fallen towards.

Night terrors a thing they had come to realize they would probably forever be traumatized with, it wasn't uncommon for one to comfort the other when a string of events in memory would come crashing back to them in a flood they couldn't stop. But as her wide brown eyes seemed to search for the reason of his fear, they fell just as the familiar voice echoed in her ears as if whispering all the sins again to her. Her head turned slowly at the bright tv while the pupils dilated and she read the headline across the bottom.

'Police Chief David Magdalene runs for State Senator'

Instantly she felt sick, her stomach twisting just as it had started to every time she saw him once Adam was kicked out and she left alone with him. Her body had practically melted towards her brothers own before her hand shakingly began to find the remote, peeling it from her brothers hand and with a rush, pressed whatever button she could find. The channel soon flipping up towards someone selling a set of pans, but leaving the trailer settle into a silence once more as only the rain outside was the sound between breaths.

At least until she felt the rage bubble up and with a quick scream of her own, she chucked the remote across the bedroom to hit against the closet door as if that would help ground her.

He was honestly trying to rise up even further and she couldn't believe people were actually falling for the devil in disguise.

 

[Mr Quixotic]

Immediately Adam felt the familiar touch, the scream silenced, and the trembling of his body subsided. Releasing a loud sigh, one eye blue remained on the screen, unable to peel itself away, as the other moved to his sister. "I had a bad dream," he whispered, melding his body into hers. Simply her warmth against him made him feel safe and secure. The absence of Eve in his life had been a nightmare, with the boy trapped between contacting her, and fear of the wrath she'd be forced to face if caught.

Fear had won, but still, he'd always kept an eye on Eve and when her eighteenth birthday approached dared to return to the city and pleaded for an anonymous pupil at her school to deliver a letter. As he'd waited at the designated meeting spot, dying to see and talk to his little sister for the first time in over two years, Adam had quaked in his boots, and attempted to devise a plan to escape from their Father's henchman, who he was sure would follow. But, for once, David Magdalene's omniscience had failed him.

Or maybe not, and he'd possessed a greater purpose in allowing them to reunite. As the man had lectured on numerous times, "The Lord works in mysterious ways." Adam had cried tears of anguish and joy and almost broke her in half with how tightly he'd held her, kissing his sister again and again; the sole female in his existence whom he trusted and cherished like no other. Eve would always be there for him, unlike his Step-Mother.

Mary had not beaten them with the belt or the cane as David had, but unable to bear children of her own, had been responsible for the adoption after he and Eve's biological parents died when they three and one years of age respectively. What their birth names had been Adam couldn't recall, as the use of them had swiftly been banned and the young children reprimanded if they addressed each other by anything except Adam and Eve. They'd become the property of David and Mary, their former lives obliterated, personalities to be remoulded in their new parent's image. "See how obedient, how perfect my children are, how polite and respectful, listen to them recite the Lord's Prayer. My little miracles."

Their Step-Mother would laugh on the odd occasion Adam or Eve spoke out of turn, and remark, "Children will be children," to her churchgoing peers. However, what those peers couldn't know - then again, possibly they did -, is that when they returned home, she'd duct-tape the miscreant's mouth shut and lock them in the hall closet, to be left alone in the pitch black darkness, sobbing and crying until David arrived to remind them of their place in God's family. Whilst the latter was the power-hungry, sadistic megalomaniac in Adam's and Eve's lives, the quiet evil hidden behind Mary Magdalene's Saintly demeanour was equally to blame for the night-terrors that plagued Adam.

"Will we ever be out of his reach?" Adam wiped away a tear as the channels flipped, barely catching the banner that filed across the screen before the remote crashed against the cupboard and Eve's screamed filled him with pain. It was his turn to comfort her, as she just had him. Caressing her cheek, he kissed the top of her head, and tenderly pulled a lock of hair behind Eve's ear, consoling his sister. "It's okay, you switched it over in time, I'm sure he didn't recognise us."

Then the words that had scrolled across the bottom of the television coalesced in his sleep-deprived brain, and Adam reared back with widened eyes in a pale-faced expression of terror. As rain continued to tumble down on the roof, the twenty-six year old's voice, repeating an oft-heard promise, seemed to emanate from a vast distance and not be his own.

"The day approaches where you and your brethren will be judged, where the righteous ascend to the Paradise of Heaven, and the sinners descend to Hell to be tortured for Eternity. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

David called it The Rapture, but to Adam Magdalene it would always be the infinitely more fearsome sounding Armageddon.

"Did you see that, Evie? What if he becomes President and sends us all to Hell?"

 

[Aurelia]

The almost taunting question was one that Eve had been sure she could answer only so long ago. That soon as she had left the evil house they had been raised in that she - they - would never have to worry again about David's influence in their life. Now it was a question that she could only shake her head as if trying to brush away the nightmares and all in the same breath tell him he already knew the answer to it. An answer that drove right to her core and effected her depressingly. Only with his following words did she find herself nuzzling closer to him, his touch the only gentle one she could recall.

Her step mothers own hand, while never having left a physical mark, did it's work in anything emotional. They had always been so cold, only perhaps when she was but a baby maybe they had once held warmth, but as it stood now, Adam's was the one that she always craved. Wanted accepted by. Felt touch her in a way no other man had.

Her arms laced around her brothers body as she pressed her own bare form to his without shame or thought; only knowing it silenced all the bad thoughts of the horrible image she had just seen. At least until his final question came. Her eyes peering open against his chest before her head turned to look out towards the door of their bedroom. A deep breath in shaking her body gently against his own before her nails trailed just softly up and down his back in part of comforting him and the other half of something to do while her thoughts swirled painfully in her mind. She wanted David gone permanently from their lives, wanted him nothing but bad dreams and not fears, she wanted him dead. That was all that stayed while she swallowed heavily as her breathing almost hitched up just a notch while ideas began to form.

Two years from her brother had almost killed her, physically and mentally. Eve had become so numb to emotion that when the kid in school had come to give her the note, she had honestly thought he was merely about to play some cruel joke and after tensing so badly and taking two unsure steps back, he finally given her a look as if she was the strangest of beings and dropped the letter to her desk before walking away. She had taken it to the restroom at the end of the day and read over it so many times; second guessing the hand writing, wondering if her step-father was setting her up, if she had arose God's wrath again somehow. However knowing, deep down, this was Adam, calling to her, reaching his hand back out and coming to save her.

Save her from every cruel thing her body and mind endured, leaving nothing but bad blood to consume her until somehow, when she had seen her brother for that first time in forever, that everything came overwhelming. Despite him holding, her knees had buckled and she had began to crumble to the ground where she stayed until he finally urged her that they had to leave before God found them once more. Even nights later, after she had wept herself to sleep with him, only sleeping once she had actually drained herself of any energy to stay awake in fear, Eve had troubles telling Adam what had happened to her when he was away. She would begin her stories, but only make it so far. Adam probably could guess a lot, but she was sure there were things that his stomach wouldn't even be able to handle.

Eve had become her own rock in some ways as she was sure her brother did while he could do nothing but sit by and wait idle on her. Both sides of the coin suffering from abuse of worry and themselves, and only now thinking they could be safe. But emotions were coming back up and the younger of the siblings was first to voice what both of them were surely thinking.

Leaning back just enough as her hand drifted against his skin and eyes came up to stare at him with a spark starting in her eyes. "We..." her voice was as confident as her thoughts, as if still afraid that if she spoke to loud David would hear what she had to say. "We can't let him, Adam... he mustn't gain that much power."

Her hands withdrew off him, only to find both sides of his face, her body shifting as she crawled to her knees and stared intently towards him. Her voice but a low whisper as it trembled out in a hushed tone just so her brother could hear it despite not a soul within yards of them.

"We have... have to stop him.." Her eyes narrowed, darkened somehow. "W-we have to kill him."

 

[Mr Quixotic]

Face pale with terror, Adam's shaky hand moved to switch on the bedside lamp. Images of Fire and Brimstone, and writhing figures, - men, women and children all - screaming in pain as flames consumed their bodies, flowed through his mind. Eyeballs exploded, and liquefied flesh oozed into fiery lava pits, leaving nothing but a collapsed pile of charred bones on the ground before moments later the victim's human form was resurrected in its entirety, and subjected to the same agonising fate again. Over and over, ad infinitum.

"DO YOU DESERVE TO BURN?"

The Pastor stared at him and Eve, feverish gaze darting between the children seated in the front row next to their Uniformed father and oh-so-sweet-acting Mary, pointing the Crucifix at each in turn.

"DO YOU?"

The question screamed at one child, then the other.

"OR DO YOU DESERVE TO BE SAVED?"

"Hell for you, boy." David twisted his arm, and painfully pinched the sensitive flesh above Adam's elbow, the previous day's misdemeanour neither forgotten nor forgiven, but the boy knew not to protest. Or, even worse, to plead to his Step-Mother for assistance.

Father O'Malley, a friend of David's and Police Chaplain, approached from the pulpit.

"REPENT YOUR SINS AND LOVE AND OBEY THY FATHER, OR YOU SHALL BE TORTURED FOR ETERNITY."

The Man of God frothed at the mouth and screamed at Adam and Eve in front of the entire Parish, continuing even as the boy cried and cowered away in abject terror. A man who was meant to be loving, and care for his flock. A man who.....................

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Adam's head struck the wall of the trailer with a harsh thump, eliciting a grunt of pain, but at least it brought an end to the memories before the howl of denial escaped his lips, further scaring Eve, and allowed him to avoid having to think about what the same Priest had later done after David had offered Adam up as an altar boy on his fifteenth birthday. Where the phrase, In Service of The Holy Father, assumed an entirely new meaning and no amount of soap had been able to cleanse the vile taste from his mouth.

Panting and puffing, he returned to reality, and wrapped his arms tightly around Eve, as always feeling guilt that she endured the same nightmarish memories as he. For as much pain and abuse as he'd suffered, it was his little sister's that most pierced his heart, and encouraged the relentless mental demons to never rest. Not only what he knew, but the depravities Eve couldn't bring herself to fully reveal after they'd reunited. Maybe if they'd unconditionally loved David, as he'd demanded, things would have been different, but then how can you love and respect one on command who has done naught to earn either?

If there really were such a thing as Angels, why didn't Eve have wings? Adam clasped a hand over hers, and ran a palm lovingly up and down her back, admonishing himself to remain strong for his sister. "Too much power, we can't let him." He repeated her words, and flicked his gaze back to the television, fearful that the channels might have changed by themselves when he'd looked away, and David would be there on the screen shaking his head in mocking contempt at Adam and Eve. Then her next comment penetrated his consciousness and the expression on his face when he returned focus to her was one of disbelief, as if she were crazy. "Kill him?" Thunder cracked outside, and Adam jumped a foot in the air, expecting the ceiling to cave in and crush them to pieces where they lay.

However, it didn't, and as Eve crawled up his body and his touch drifted down her skin, the spark in her eyes ignited a confidence in her elder brother. "Murder him, eviscerate him, cut God's fucking head off and feed it to the dogs." Excitement and glee lit up Adam's features, mostly in surprise that he'd actually uttered the words aloud, before his countenance sobered. "Do you think we could, but how? He has his army, and would turn us to dust before we even got near. Unless." Adam's brows furrowed in concentration, the last word barely audible.

Leaning forward, he tugged on Eve's arm, bringing her closer, and peered into her deep-brown eyes. "Do you recall that movie we watched one time, Evie? The Wizard of Oz." Whispering, he cupped her chin and caressed her cheek. "Sometimes when I have a good dream, that's what I dream about." A light smile caused the corners of his lips to curl upwards as he recalled one of the few pleasurable events from childhood. "That God is like the Wizard, all booming voice and scary threats, but once you get close, you discover he's actually nothing but a pathetic little man, terrified of his own shadow."

Shrugging, Adam sighed, and kissed the tip of Eve's nose, then her forehead, "Maybe that's just wishful thinking, but we're not helpless children any more, and if we took out his minions first?" The very same blue-uniformed minions who, after a few too many beers at David's poker nights lured the teenage Adam down to the basement and forced him to perform acts condemned in the Bible, but apparently condoned by The Lord for certain of his Acolytes. "Weaken his defences and make him frightened of us, before we confronted him." Kissing Evie's nose again, then her mouth, Adam Magdalene lightly bumped his head against his sister's. "If it doesn't work, we're destined for Satan anyway."

 

[Aurelia]

"You filthy, disgusting, harlot!"

Hands grasped into locks of light brown hair, gripping as if the pain she brought to herself would be enough to subdue her mothers wrath. She tried to elicit apologies but as she was being dragged, she knew her fate had been sealed once more to be placed in the basement's closet. David would be home soon and with the amount of punishment now, she would soon be expecting his to continue later. A thought that had her body aching already as she tried to keep her feet half fighting and half agreeing while stumbling down the stairs.

Seventeen old Eve had done everything in her power to obey, to be the precious doll that Mary had wanted, if only to stop any occurring pain from the parents with Adam not there to try and defend her. She had never wanted him to take the brunt of it, however, that was where it had seemed to fall. Until he was banished from the home and she had been left to fend for herself. It hadn't taken much from David, but Mary had seemed to keep her ever watchful, motherly eye upon the girl. And one particular day after church, Eve had found the picture of her and Adam from only a year before, kept usually in the living room for appearances, with her in her room.

Quiet sobbing as she tried to keep her hopes up had been first before, her hand had found her cheek, eyes closing as if she could picture him touching her instead. Soon, his voice entering her head, silencing every bit of pain and with it, a strange feeling of pleasure coursing as her hand began to lower, over her chest to grip softly before fingers began dancing down across her stomach before lingering right above the center of her legs. A slight panic rushing as she had heard of how evil it was, only to have Adam's voice encourage more without even being there. Muffled sobs had turned into a sudden breath of pleasure and before Eve could tell, her passing few seconds of actual bliss had been halted when Mary came through her door. Eve had fallen from heaven and it had begun war in the household once more.

"TO LUST AFTER YOUR OWN FLESH!?"

"I'm so sorry! PLEASE! MOTHER!" Eve's frantic cries asking for forgiven fell on deaf ears as words kept berating her. Eventually she had given up hope, knowing this was to end awful as she was pushed into the closet once more, the sound of the lock echoing despite it barely having a sound. It was something that nightmares truly were made of, for it meant she only then had to wait for footsteps to come down and light to break back through, before her hell began.

Children couldn't have feared even the boogie man this much...

Eve had been caned so hard in the front that welts on her hands had formed and bled when she had tried to stop, and after a point, she had pretty sure she had blacked out. She hadn't slept that night and could barely walk herself to the bathroom to clean up afterward, her skirt having tried in vain to protect the tender skin from being broken, but stripped across her thighs and up between her legs were marks to prove anything but otherwise. Eve had barely managed to go to school the next day, choosing to lie about terrible cramps and willing to take whatever punishment would come if that was to be found out, and managed to stay in the nurses office most of the day.

She hadn't been able to look at a boy the same. Even a month after Adam had saved her she had still flinched at his touch alone, Mary's blaring words crumpling her to the floor. The memory of pain making her muscles twitch and her cunt ache in a pain she actually couldn't relive.

Adam's touch now did everything her haunts had meant to stop; bringing pleasure and silence instead of pain and suffering. A safety that even God couldn't touch, or so Eve liked to believe. Moving ever closer, soon finding herself crawling upon his lap, her legs straddling to each side as his excitement grew her own even more. Feeding off each other like they did happiness. Her eyes meeting his own with a wonderment only given usually to kids and storybooks. The mention of a movie that had actually given Eve a bit of a scare when first watching it, snuggled closely to her brother while they had watched it, caught her attention. Only to give a knowing look when he explained what he had meant, something not short of admiration crossing her face.

"You're amazing, Adam..." She wasn't quite sure if she could believe it right then, but for him to say such a thing, to spark a thought that perhaps David was no God, and if he was, his powers only reigned in their fear, it was enough to have her trembling with visible excitement. Her eyes fluttered closed then opened with his passing kisses, listening intently to his plan. To her, Adam was the smartest person she had ever known, brilliant youth wasted in such a growing environment, only to be pushed into working what work they could. "Yes... we'll take him down, peg by peg." Eve quickly agreed, meeting his kiss with her own before barely peeking her eyes open to his own.

Were they actually going to do this? Her hips shifted against his just lightly, her hands softly rubbing up and down his arms before carefully resting upon his shoulders. "After God... Satan doesn't truly scare me. And as long as I'm with you, nothing ever will again." Her lips met his tenderly, a few quick pecks between words. "They'll never expect us to come back to them, it's perfect." The cops that served under David may have known what they looked like before, but to think that the two would come surfacing back for some act of revenge? They would never see it coming, and that thought alone got the younger sibling more excited about perhaps an actual purpose of life, then anything had in awhile. So much that her fingers trembled against her brothers skin and her eyes stared up to his like it was a Christmas morning shown on the tv shows.

"We could sleep without a fear, Adam. We will sleep, eat... live in freedom." She barely got another word out as her body wiggled against his in some blissful moment of glee, her lips smashing up against his once more with a soft moan while her arms wrapped around him. Leaning back only a second later to speak again quickly. "We need to plan, need to get things around... we need a car, money." Things were being listed off, but instead of sounding discouraged, it sounded much more like she was preparing a list in her head. Not once letting worry waver across her face yet.

 

[Mr Quixotic]

Banned from the Internet, possessing a phone, dating, television, extracurricular activities outside the home or Church, only allowed to read books or view movies approved by his parents, and attending a Private Christian School where sex education comprised of "If you do it, you'll get pregnant or catch a disease," Adam's view of what constituted normal behaviour had been distorted at a very early age. His first experience of sex being when a Priest had shoved his penis into Adam's mouth, followed thereafter by the abuse perpetrated by his Father's police colleagues, Eve's and his comfort of each other had transformed into something unexpectedly magical after he'd turned seventeen.

It had occurred naturally. Arms around each other, sobbing on their sibling's shoulder and whispering in case their parents heard, it turned into a kiss. Her soft lips on his, and her bodies rocking against each other, with her hair brushing his face. A kiss had been all, the first time anyway, but eventually the touches and explorations had escalated, Although he'd attempted to stave off temptation, Adam couldn't help but dream about how soft and good she felt, and how intoxicating was her sweet scent. Unlike the men who'd be rough and mock the boy with beer-stained breath after they'd received their pleasure. So what if lusting after your own flesh was a sin, what was one more on top of all the others that according to David had already reserved his place in Hell.

Having overheard another boy at school talking about condoms, how could he, with the safety they provided, resist the urge to take full solace in the one shining beacon of light in his otherwise dark, lonely existence. Adam, for his own sanity, had needed to be as close to Eve as it was possible to be, and that closeness had only grown in the years since their escape, amidst trying to build a normal life together. One he thought they were on the road to until God's reappearance on the television screen brought reality crashing back in upon the both of them. They'd never be free until God was dead.

A compliment from his sister making his heart swell in his chest, as they always did, he enjoyed the sensations of her hips moving on top of him, and met her reciprocal kisses with even more of his own. The plan having escaped his mouth, there was no taking the words back now, though he half wished he'd never mentioned the possibilities. It was impossible, wasn't it, the wanderings of a crazy mind? At least that's what his subconscious had begun to tell him before Eve reacted as if the idea had come from Einstein himself and her enthusiasm reignited his.

A life without fear, without worry, where he and Eve would not need to constantly watch their backs, or the sky above for lightning bolts, and just be themselves, whatever that was, until death took them naturally. And, who knew, if God died, maybe did also the concept of Hell? It wouldn't hurt to try, and Adam's resolve hardened. Act now, regardless of consequence, or forever hold his peace and regret what could have been. "They're not invincible, I remember that time God was so angry when one of his minions was shot, and died in the Hospital. And if they're not, maybe God isn't either?" The multitude of conflicting strands of thought making him fidgety, Adam reluctantly placed his hands on her waist, and rolled out from under Eve.

Taking no shame in his nakedness, or the hard-on that Eve's touches and gyrations had elicited, he kicked off the sheets and reached for a pair of boxers on the floor. Slipping into them when he stood, he ran a hand through his mussed sandy-blonde bed hair, having run her list through his head. "We have our savings. It'll mean we have to wait for that place of our own, but damn, if we kill Him, we can live wherever we want, and we'd have to buy a car."

Then uncertainty once again entered his tone and demeanour as he stared down at his sister. "But, what about Jerry and Betty? They've been so good to us since we moved here, like the parents we never had, and I don't know if they can do without me at the store." Adam wiped a tear from the corner of his eye as he imagined letting down the elderly couple who'd offered him a job and allowed him and Evie to live in their trailer rent free. "Plus, we've never killed anyone before."

 

[Aurelia]

With such a sheltered life, every detail of their path practically drawn for the two siblings forced to walk, it was a wonder the two had had any mental stability left at all. To comprehend what was correct to do or even how to have grasped a job without the codependency of their parents. Maybe the praying had worked that Eve had occasionally did when they had finally found freedom, then again, her mind constantly wondered if she was actually asking God who resided in the Bible, or God who was her keeper for eighteen years. But then again, did it really matter? Did prayers matter or was someone else answering anything she silently asked when on her knees? If she could have chose a God or two to answer, it would have been the kind old couple of Jerry and Betty, that had been nothing short of what a true blessing had to be.

Which was why now, despite her rapid fire excitement, something was still trying to tell her to calm down, right in the back of her mind. This was her gift, she had been sure. A roof, food, job. Adam. Always her Adam, willing to let her still childlike thoughts run rampant, but kept enough stern hand to not let fairy tales blind her. At least, for the most part, clear that they were beginning to find themselves on the same page as they usually did. Minds sort of connected like one. Nodding vigorously to understand his well thought information about cops being harmed, and even killed. She watched enough television to also know that they were only human, at least it appeared everywhere. God surely couldn't have made ones not capable, right?

Eve's form rolled to the side for him, admiring up at her brother as her arms held her propped up enough to stare at him while he helped to start building their all to impromptu plan, it seemed. Maybe the thought had always been in the back of their minds? Who knew what God had really pushed there, always ticking away, making the voices that liked to talk to the younger sibling more pissed off on some days then others. He was loud, but this was getting louder, and she loved it. Nod after nod happening as Adam gave his own information upon the plot. Letting her crawl to the side of the bed more then with bright eyes.

A liveliness that dulled back down only a second with the worry of the couple that had let taken them in just so shortly ago, it felt like, with open, kind and tender, arms. Such a new experience for the two of them it had been overwhelming. Swallowing suddenly, Eve blinked in thought, watching up at her brother with a thoughtful expression before finally speaking. "We'll ask them, Adam... surely they would have to understand this." Not the killing, maybe the killing. No, not the killing. Too sweet, too kind. She shook her head and blinked to silence her head again for the moment. "We'll talk to them, tell them we need to get away for a bit. There isn't a need to worry them... we'll...." Her thoughts swirled before she reached out to grasp at one of his hands, her fingers ever so softly rubbing on his in comfort. "We would be protecting them Adam, from Him.. them. What if he was to gain more power and it somehow hurt Jerry and Betty? Could we ever look at them the same, if we had a chance to at least try?"

Her feet shifted, drawing to dangle over the edge of the bed, still holding his one hand in her own while staring up at Adam so sweetly despite the words that left her next. "And no, we haven't killed anyone before, but we can always try. What if it's easy? It always looks so easy on those shows, and.. and his cops always do it when they need to." Something like anger seeped in her eyes despite her own tears starting to swell at the corner of her own eyes, from seeing her brother so distrait, but also knowing what she was saying was coming from what little heart she believed she had left for the world. "I can't sleep knowing we didn't try, I just can't."

Finally letting go of his hand, the female moved over to grasp at the black shirt crumpled on the floor, pulling it over her head and letting it fall to own bare form before brushing hair out of the neck and turning to look back at her brother. "I want to do this, brother, please... We'll make our list and-and figure things out as we go. Just like we've always done." Only in the quiet moment did she give him a weak smile, trying to lift his spirits enough to be so fullheartedly on board with her, no matter if either of their doubts were probably well placed and still showing. "You know I'm not good at anything without you by my side."

 

[Mr Quixotic]

He peered at Eve with a wild expression, disbelief and uncertainty writ on his face. Had he just said all that he had? Kill God. Was it possible, even with his minions thinned out first? As his blue eyes glazed over, Adam blinked rapidly in a vain attempt to clear the images of fire and brimstone, and echoes of the voiced consequences of disobedience to God that invaded his head. He clenched his fists together and shook, legs trembling and knees knocking together until, finally, they receded from his consciousness.

Initially, it was like he was mired in a vat of molasses. The rain pattering down on the roof and accompanying peals of thunder emanated from a vast distance and the voices on the television were indistinguishable. When eventually he regained full control of his faculties, he comprehended it was real. Evie was there, the trailer was there, the television remained on the shopping channel and the clock had ticked over to 3:22 am. It wasn't a night terror, it was reality. That fact was further confirmed by the ever reassuring touch of his sister, the warmth of which could never be recreated in a dream, no matter how vivid. Unlike his nightmares.

"Betty and Jerry." As she released his hand, he swiveled so quickly that he almost toppled over. Adam located the remote on the floor, and in one fluid motioned, clicked the off button and allowed it to fly from his hand again, certain that to hold onto it for any length of time was dangerous. Even with the appliance darkened and silenced, he was frightened to look, scared that the image of David had burnt itself into the screen and God's visage scowled down at him and Evie. Adam licked his lips and returned focus to his sister. "We have to keep them safe."

Another tear fell from his eye and he wiped it away. It had occurred to him that regardless of how much the elderly couple might need the siblings at the store, they couldn't stay. This wasn't just about Adam and Eve, not even mostly about them, but the innocents who could potentially suffer due to their insubordination and refusal to grovel at His feet. "Remember his last promise?"

"Next time we meet I'll send you and everyone you've ever loved to Hell."

"Maybe he saw us, or maybe he didn't, but we can't risk Jerry and Betty. Apart from you, they're the only people I've ever loved. They provided us a home and a job, they befriended us and didn't expect anything in return. Why should they suffer? What did they ever do, but right, who have they ever harmed?

Adam's voice had risen in fury and determination and his expression contained a steely resolve. In that brief moment he provided a brief glimpse of the man who could have existed; intelligent, resourceful, determined and capable; if not having had to endure God's unrelenting righteous abuse as a child. What could he have achieved, who could he have been, and Evie the same, if their biological parents, having screwed out of wedlock or not, had been alive to raise them?

Perhaps all was not lost, and time still remained to discover some of the answers to those questions. "They say that love conquers all. Well, ours is going to conquer fucking God and we'll do it together, like we always will. No-one's more powerful than us, Evie. Us. I need you as much as you need me, we're a team and I don't care how many or who. If they believe that the tyrant is worthy of worshiping, it's them who deserve to rot in Hell for Eternity. Buy a gun, shoot them dead, no blood, no mess. Like the movies." He forced a smile and approached Eve, kissed his sister on the top of the head and pulled her into his embrace. "You start on that list, and I'll pack our possessions. They'll arrive at the store in an hour and we can tell them. They'll understand, but Evie?"

Adam shivered as his eyes darted around their home and he swallowed down on a lump in his throat, determined to stay strong for his sister and not break down at the concept of leaving behind the only security and friends they'd ever had, before he returned his gaze to hers. "We have to put distance between us and them before the sun rises and he comes looking. God won't touch them if we're not around to see them suffer, like how he forced us to watch the other getting beat to teach us a lesson and prove his superiority. For Jerry and Betty and the rest of the townsfolk's sake, we have to disappear as soon as we can."

 

[Aurelia]

The flinch wasn't intentional, more reactive. Cause and effect and the remote being flown, while not at her, but in general. Adam would never harm her and that she would stake her life upon, but the embedded notion of a raised hand could cause instinctive reaction without noting until after it passed. Not that it wasn't welcome as the quiet that fell between them as such a serious conversation was being discussed, it was best to take all precautions so no one could ever hear it. For their ears alone and only to be laid out in due time.

Which appeared Adam was all too willing to agree upon in a quick succession of time with her. Something that had her heart racing and ever seemingly innocent smile emerging, if only until he brought up Him. The promise that resounded so loudly even when she thought she had pushed him away throughout her daily routine. The malice enough to pour a bit of salt in every wound he had ever made and stir enough feelings to make that chill of him being right in the room with them seem realistically possible. Her eyes blinked and tears welled in them from the abundant feelings suddenly over taking her in that passing moment. Excitement, fear, pain, love. Nauseous. Everything in her stomach had it twisting in an uncomfortable manner and she had to take the shaky deep breaths as her brother continued to calm nerves.

The leader in him was aspiring, and while most never got to actually see it save for herself, Eve had always been blindly aware of just how great her brother could have been - no, was. He had waited in the shadows until she could be free from her own hell, and after, had taken care of her like the big brother he was. From finding food, shelter, and securing them a job from some of the sweetest people she ever could imagine walked the earth. People that gave them something that surely was hope, reassurance that the world wasn't fully out to be evil and unkind. With his words, there was confirmation that they couldn't let things continue on the way they were.

That He had to die, no matter the cost.

What was love but a word that people had conjured up for the English language to encase two people? Love could conquer all, and he didn't even have to tell his starry-eyed sister who was watching him with all the excitement of a worshiper listening to their God speak. She was giddy, shaking, such reactions curling her toes with his speech as her head was already bouncing up and down viciously to agree with everything he was saying as the storm continued on outside for the time. Setting a background for their tempo and letting it edge them on. Her eyes closing with such a gentle kiss and calming nature before she wrapped her arms back as tightly. Her mind was racing, listing things off they would need or want for this journey, making her dizzy enough that it took a second to register that he was telling her something else and she had to blink, looking up at him.

Reality hitting her almost as roughly as the cane had, she watched before swallowing harshly down her guilt and giving a slow nod. "I understand... it's protecting them, at all cost." Her hands reached for his, rubbing softly in gentle comfort before pressing her head to his chest a passing moment to two before leaning back with her ever beaming smile, ready to drive into this head first and keep them full steam ahead. "We're stronger than he will ever be."

Leaning back, she let her hands drift from his slowly, turning to set forth on her mission.

Scraping up a piece of paper and a pen, she found their kitchen counter and started scribbling away in dim overhead light of the early morning hours. Guns and ammo obvious, though a bit challenging on where they may be getting them. A car which would take a bit of their savings, though if they were to take a loan out for one, did it matter since they would be on the run from then on? This list was a bit frustrating if anything now that Eve was thinking on it. Taking our their savings was added, food, masks... with a question mark. Did they care if they hid their faces or were they trying to actually show them what was happening? A frustrated look came over as she listed change of clothes, then tapped the pen and asked quietly for her brother as she glanced over her shoulders in the most innocent tone considering. "Do we want masks?"

They had to get close enough to take out David, so could they do that if half of his crew had actually known they existed? Would he suddenly know more than they did even before they did it? A slight fear trembled and she turned and erased the question mark. "I want masks..." came a confirmation to at least herself.

 

[Mr Quixotic]

"That's what love is, Eve." Adam squeezed her hands in his and scraped his nail across her palms, staring down at his sister with a gentleness and compassion that the man felt only for her. "Protecting the ones you care for, and doing everything possible to keep them safe and make them happy." His voice low, Adam withdrew one of his hands from Eve's and cupped her cheek in his palm, then ran it comfortingly down her back as she buried her head into his chest. "It's not what God tried to teach us, he doesn't know how to love properly, but Jerry and Betty do. They'd make the same sacrifice for us."

An eternity ago, it seemed since he'd initially awakened to David's visage on the television screen and from that time on he and Eve had spoken of naught else except their intent to murder God and his sycophants. As far as Adam was concerned, but had not mentioned to his sibling, also every piously hypocritical priest they encountered on their mission, and the empathy-free, condoning God's abuse of her son and daughter, Mother Mary Magdalene. Yet no lightning bolt had struck, the sky hadn't fallen in nor had the ground opened up and swallowed the duo. The remained safe, dry and unharmed as the storm continued its relentless rage outside.

Was it because they'd switched off the television before God had noticed his disobedient children?

Or had he appraised them through the glass, then turned away when he'd witnessed that Adam and Eve were no longer scared little kids, caned and browbeaten into submission, unable to defend themselves from his damnation? Had he recognised the unbreakable bond that had blossomed between the two. A bond, forged by shared pain and consummated in love and physical union, so strong that it contained the potential to destroy any who moved to threaten it. Even Him.

Unbreakable.

A long dormant power ignited inside him. He looked up to the ceiling as lightning flashed, thunder clapped and the rain pounded down on the tin roof, wanting to scream at the top of his lungs. To dare God to appear, to come out from hiding and face him and Evie in a battle to the death.

Right here, right now.

Akin to a partially charged battery, the energy swiftly dissipated, leaving Adam to wonder if it had been real or imagined as he instead turned to his assigned task.

Whilst Eve worked on her list, he collected their clothing from the wardrobe and packed it into two canvas hold-alls, then added their undergarments from the dresser adjacent to the bed. Adam trusted his sister's instincts and organisational abilities implicitly, she was much better at the list thing, so didn't interrupt or offer any suggestions. Until eventually one word she muttered aloud garnered his undivided attention and he turned to face her. "Masks?" Quizzical brow raised, Adam stared at Eve for a good ten seconds, chewing over the concept.

"Masks are a good idea." After sweeping their bathroom items into a plastic bag, packing done, he dropped it all at the trailer exit, approached Evie and placed his hands on her hips. A smile flitted across his face. "I'm starting to think he's not totally omnipotent or omniscient. He lied about that as he does everything else, because we're still alive, aren't we? He needs time and as long as we stay disguised and on the move we should be okay. Plus, even if He's aware it's us, God won't dare reveal that his own children intend to kill him."

Oh, no, some might question why, and the truth would tarnish his reputation of unblemished perfection. David had likely explained their absence by assuring people that the siblings were on a missionary sojourn in Africa or some such bullshit.

"We can wear the mask of Satan and instill the fear of the Devil in his minions, leave his sign on those we kill. The Wizard of Oz, remember, Evie, he rules by fear and intimidation. If God's Army is more terrified of us than they are him, they'll scatter to the four corners of the earth like the cowards they are. Then we can take Him. Alone."

Despite the confidence Adam exuded in speaking to his sister, and the budding belief that David wasn't quite as powerful as he'd made himself out to be, the fear that he could be instantly and fatally proved wrong lurked in the recesses of his mind. Each minute they delayed further endangered the town and its residents. Grasping Eve's wrist gently, he raised his gaze to the breaking dawn light, easier for a deity with eyes everywhere to see them by. "Are you almost ready?"

 

[Aurelia]

To hide had always been their strong suit.

Naturally from their young age, Adam and Eve had to deal with every dark place that He would place them, to make them face. Running away and hiding from it, putting on a mask of any air to liking what was happening in their life had just always came as second nature. So while it was true they would need them to get close enough, apart of her also felt that perhaps she just needed them to feel comfortable. To feel hidden still from the world with only her brother to know where she was hiding. And as he contemplated the idea of her question, she had to wonder if she was just being silly, or if masks would also make sense to him as well. Which, in turn, was a silly question, since it seemed as usual, they were very much on the same wavelength of just what they should be doing and how they should handle it.

An agreement that had her smiling and giving a curt nod before returning to her list of items. Finishing it and snatching it up with a most assured look to her brother. Feeling something exciting curling up as he spoke once more and stared her down as she looked back. "We are alive, we'll show everyone how much of a liar he is." she agreed with blinded ambition lacing her lips. Adam having the wonderful point that if their step-father was to bring up his children, whom she had to wonder how he excused them now except for more lies, were trying to kill him, what would he do? How does one explain that except that they were of unsound mind. But Eve had never felt more sure in her life about anything. "It's our turn to put fear into him!"

And for once, she truly meant, and felt, every word she was saying without a fraction of doubt in her mind. If Eve was to be the basis of all the worlds problems, she would take every bit of it in stride then and show them just how much evil she could bring upon God. If this was like the movie that was beginning to make so much sense, then Eve couldn't truly feel fear anymore form him and was sure the pounding of her heart was all but a thrill like none she had ever experienced.

"I'm ready whenever you are, Adam." came her all to assured words.

Folding the list between them, she shoved them into her pocket before giving one last beaming smile up at her brother before then turning to slip on her shoes. Snatching up their little cheap pre-paid cell phones and shoving them into her little red purse that Adam had bought her in the first year of them leaving. She had kept it as if it had been a gift from an angel, despite it's wear and tear of being second hand. Looking up, then around, she gave a swallow of pain she wasn't quite sure she understood. Something of knowing they would never see the little run down trailer again, but then her brothers face admits it all gave pause and her smile was back as if this was all okay. It would be okay, as long as she was with him. "Let's go, before suns up." she asked, holding her hand out for his before pushing open the door and hearing the remnants of thunder fading in the background. The smell of the rain strong and puddles shining in what little cloudy moon light they had left.

Darkness would be their friend, as it always had been.

She took one of the bags from her brother and they started their short walk down the street towards the store. The older couple owning it having been something of their own actual miracle when the two had showed up what felt so shortly ago with nothing but a will to work and probably a desperate look in their eyes like that of a wounded animal having been left on the side of the road. They had happen to have the old trailer and a place for them to work with trust that they knew Adam and Eve would pull their weight. Eve's hands clenched to her side as they saw the old truck of theirs sitting already to the side of the store for them to get ready to go in. If this was even just to protect them, it would be all worth it.

Sweet Betty, with curly hair of salt and pepper and a smile that a true mother should have as far as Eve was concerned, was unlocking the door with her own bag of things in hand while Jerry was coming up from behind carrying a few things for his wife. Stopping as they spotted the two siblings coming their way and giving a puzzled look as Betty flipped on the outside lights and stood with the door open. "Adam? Eve? You two! It's way to early, you don't work until later tonight. What's wrong?"

Eve's heart ached so quickly and she felt nauseous. Not from her plan, but from the actual words that spilled towards them. They always made her unsure, as such care and kindness could never have really been meant for them, right? Without them having said a word, Betty already knew something was up and that was an intuition that Eve could only ever hope to have. Suddenly her plans words fell and she was unsure of what to tell them.

"We... We need to talk with... you." Her eyes went up to her brothers and she pinched her lips before looking back at them.

"Well come in first, this darkness is hard to see you two." she offered, not seeming to mind Eve's tone yet and waving the group into the lit up store where the smell of coffee was brewing for the morning. Setting her bags down behind the counter, she gave them a now obviously worried look. "Now just what has gotten into you two? You look like you're about to leave town."

Eve's hands clenched hard into her sides and she found her head looking down, hoping her brother might have a stronger will to face and speak with them. As for now, she felt like she would have a stronger resolve facing God then the sweet old couple who had taken them in.

 

[Mr Quixotic]

"I'm ready whenever you are, Adam."

As usual, they were on the same wavelength with the masks. "Yes, let's leave." Noting the assuredness in her voice, Adam realised that his sister might not only be referring to leaving the trailer but confirming that she was ready for it all. Genuinely prepared to face God in the final battle between Good and Evil where he and Evie were, and had always been, the Good.

He grasped her hand tightly when they exited. As Eve cried, Adam bit back tears of his own, however, despite the certainty that they'd never return to the only real sanctuary that he and Eve had ever known, he resisted the temptation to glance back and say his goodbyes. Petrified that in doing so, he'd turn into a pillar of salt.

With the first rays of the sun visible on the horizon and the storm abating, they skirted the muddy puddles left on the ground as best they could and walked to the store in mutually contemplative silence.

Adam was struck speechless when greeted by Betty, but thankfully Eve was able to muster up a response. Then, she too became lost for words. He glanced at his sister, swallowed a lump in his throat, pressed his palm to the small of her back and ushered her through the door Betty's husband opened after she'd invited them inside. Guilt almost overwhelmed him at the elderly woman's comment on them looking ready to leave town. How would the couple manage without his and Eve's help?

"Sssh, honey, let them tell us on their terms." Tall, stocky and blessed with handsomely craggy features, Jerry was a solemn man who seldom uttered more than a few words, but what he did say was always worth listening to. He patted his wife on the shoulder after they'd entered the store, and motioned for Adam and Eve to wait while he poured coffee.

Adam stood next to Eve, licking his lips and shuffling his feet. The wait seemed interminable, although it was only mere seconds before Jerry placed a steaming mug in his hand. Adam's trembling caused hot liquid to spill over the rim. "Calm down, boy, it's never as bad as it seems." Jerry squeezed his arm, placed Eve's coffee on a bench next to her and returned to his wife.

Mustering his courage, but unable to meet the curious gaze of the couple, Adam inhaled. Then it all spilled from his lips in a torrent. "I'm sorry, we have an important secret mission, and if we don't leave now, God's going to kill you all and destroy the whole town. I know we're leaving you shorthand in the store, but we have wages owing, that should cover any expenses." Pausing to catch his breath, and clutching onto his sister for support, his speech slowed when he went on. "I'm sorry we can't tell you more, but it's for the best. You've been like the proper Mother and Father to us that we never had, we love you so much."

After he'd finished, eyes watering and lip quivering, Adam dared to look directly at Jerry and Betty. The couple, sympathy writ on their faces, exchanged a glance before Jerry replied. "You know what Betty said when she first laid eyes on the two of you?" The man raised a brow, draped an arm over his wife's shoulders and drew her close. "She said you had an aura, that you were born to make a difference, but that you were also birds with broken wings. Wanting to soar, but too hurting inside to be able to fly."

Betty held back a sob as Jerry continued; the longest speech Adam had ever heard him make. "We've known this day would arrive, both dreading and hoping for it at the same time. We won't pry into who or what created the hurt, and we're not certain we want to know, but if this mission helps you to heal and allows you to soar, to realise your potential, you have no choice. Rest assured, we'll get by, and you're doing us no wrong. We love you as our own kin, don't we, honey?"

Wiping away tears that stained her cheeks with the back of a hand, Betty sniffled and forced a smile of agreement. Then she escaped Jerry's embrace, mastering the ability to put on a brave face that all strong women possess, to address Adam and Eve. "Have you eaten? I'll fix sandwiches and a thermos of coffee. You can't travel without sustenance." If she busied herself, she could avoid thinking about the hole that their absence would leave in her heart. Without awaiting a response she scurried from the room before her facade crumbled.

Jerry followed Bett's departure with an expression of concern that bespoke of his adoration for the woman, then pushed the door closed behind her and focused on the siblings. "She'll be okay. Now, this mission is dangerous?" His gaze bore into Adam.

Adam could only squeak out a yes, and almost crushed the bones in Eve's fingers by the force with which he clamped them.

"Well, then." The store owner slipped a set of keys from his pocket and walked across to open the wall safe. Jerry reached inside, past the cheque-books and previous day's takings, into its furthest depths. Metal clanked, and when he retracted his arm, he held a double-barrel sawn-off shotgun and a box of shells "Take this. Simply load, point and pull the trigger, it'll blow the head right off anyone within a twenty-foot radius. It can't be traced back to me, and don't place yourself in perilous situations on purpose, but don't be afraid to use it either. Anyone who did whatever they did to you two won't be a loss if they ain't no longer walking the Earth."

Adam shivered. Although remaining friendly and paternal, a subtle shift in Jerry's demeanour hinted at unrevealed secrets and concealed depths of experience. He understood the siblings completely.

"Hide it before Betty returns."

Tongue-tied again, Adam instinctively reached out to grasp the weapon, slung the canvas bag off his shoulders and fumbled to stuff it in under the clothes.

Jerry turned to Evie. "If you're looking for transport, the rust-bucket lying in the field outside still runs. It's not the most luxurious ride, but somehow I think that'd be the least of your concerns. Not registered neither, but a resourceful young lady could swap plates with a vehicle that is once she got down the highway a bit."

 

[Aurelia]

Jerry had down right scared Eve when they had all first met, Betty met them with smiles, willing to interview them, listen to their story, and without a beat of their hearts, invited them in with open arms of something that was better than understanding. She'd never been able to call it something but maybe in her head, love? Betty was a mother in the movies, the perfect type, and Jerry, while unnerving at first, had become the perfect father. He never demanded answers, nor did he ask anything compromising. He expected hard work and everything in fair trade and that was the only way she could have ever describe such a usually silent man.

It was the little things the couple said and did, their understanding, as if everything the siblings had went through was apparent, at least to them. And it was why this was that much harder and soon as words began to spill, easier than anything they had ever done.

Eve stationed beside her brother, did her best to make him deep breath while suddenly beginning to ramble everything that was about to surface. And when Eve couldn't look at her brothers eyes for the water works trembling down them only caused her own, she looked ahead, towards the most understanding set of faces she had ever witnessed, and probably would, in her life. The nod from the older lady with the tears and smiles was enough to be a punch in the gut as Betty finally had to turn herself away them to try and compose, and Eve realized then just what they also had to have endured. Wide eyes staring at Jerry as her face dried while she felt that terrible feeling of abandonment begin to twirl it's flames into something more driven once again.

They had to protect these two, no matter the cost.

Silence fell as Jerry walked off as Adam nodded to the clear dangers and Eve tightened her hand with his, only feeling heaviness settle in the moment the gun was brought to them. Letting Adam handle it clearly first, she swallowed the lump stopping her breathing after giving a sharp two blinks and then looked back up towards the older man.

Only if because it was then her turn. She stared before the lights seemed to all start flickering on and with a hasty nod, she managed a twitch of a smile, pained but revealed for everything that was happening. "I... I can be resourceful." She answered back simple, stating the obvious but really just like hearing that he seemed to have enough faith in their antics to come.

Her mouth opened in thanks again but she shut it as Betty came back with two grocery bags in each hand. Tear stained cheeks, red eyes, but her ever so bright and sweet smile that could comfort anyone. "Now you two, I couldn't pack too much cause I don't want it to go bad. But there are couple extra drinks, the coffees, and some sandwiches. You two make sure you eat breakfast at least, you hear me?"

Her voice cracked and Eve flinched, standing in haste and going over to take the bags from her before setting them to the floor slowly and nodding at her. "We'll eat breakfast, promise."

Betty's face scrunched as her hands found Eve's face in a slow, thoughtful fashion, having seen the clear motions of lingering effects in abuse when she had done it way back for their first arrival. Searching Eve's eyes, as if seeing that this was final, maybe for the time or permanent, she couldn't decide. But then she looked over and waved Adam to come over as well. Waiting until she could put one of her hands then on his cheek and drew them closer to her.

"You two are so strong and things are just beginning for you." Eve sniffled which must have caught Betty who had to take a sharp breath and keep herself going. "No matter what comes of this mission, where you two wind up, or how it ends, you will always be welcome back here, and we will protect you from anything. Understand?"

Eve's sobs had her lowering her head and nodding quickly. If it all worked out, they would never need to protect each other again from the evils they were about to face and Eve held that in a promise as deep as when she had told Adam she would come for him when they had been separated at David's house.

Betty only moved in and pulled them into a hug as best she could with the three, giving a soft few minutes that Eve wished would actually just stay forever before stepping back and then trying to lighten what she could of such a dark moment. Wiping her eyes quickly and smiling brightly at the two children.

"Now go. The sooner you leave, the sooner you can come home..."

Home...

It was all they had wanted and they were leaving it. And if that didn't mean they had to do this mission even more, there would never be a reason.

 

[Mr Quixotic]

Adam half wished the couple had reacted angrily rather than with understanding and empathy. The older woman's departure reignited his earlier guilt, as he knew she'd be sobbing outside and had taken the care to ensure he and Eve wouldn't witness her break down. It almost shattered Adam's composure completely.

To leave home the first time had been a simple decision. God's relentless tirade of abuse had driven them away, and neither had ever regretted it. However, this town, the store, Jerry and Betty, the entire non-judgmental community had been their safe-haven. They didn't have much of a life, but the one they did have was safe and secure and the residents accepted Adam and Eve for who they were.

No-one lectured them, and no-one violated their privacy, although the couple always made it clear that they were there to speak to if the need or desire to do so ever arose. That proved correct now. He glanced at Eve and took a breath to gather his strength. This wasn't just about the two of them, or even ensuring Jerry and Betty and the townsfolk's safety. It was bigger than that. This mission was about the millions of human beings on the planet who were destined to spend eternity in Hell if David initiated Armageddon; among them innocent babies and children, and those whose only sin was refusing to believe in or worship a sadistic Tyrant. When the entire fate of Humanity rested with you, no price of success was too high to pay.

As Adam stuffed the shotgun into the canvas bag, Jerry's expression and tone further increased his resolve. The man knew. Not the details, but he knew that people would die by the siblings' hands and he'd given his approval. In the name of the greater good, and for them to soar, he and Betty would forgive any acts that the duo perpetrated. Regardless of how heinous they might appear to others.

"I don't know how to thank you."

When he'd secured the gun and Jerry had addressed Eve, he placed his arm around her waist and nodded in agreement with her reply. "She's the smartest woman I ever met." Before he could say more, Betty returned.

The older woman's eyes were red-rimmed, but her demeanour exuded an aura of strength and determination. After she'd offered them food and graced the duo with motherly advice, she motioned them in for a group hug and couldn't have gripped her any tighter if he'd tried. As with Jerry, and unlike David and Mary in their childhood who'd been all about tearing their self-esteem apart, she demonstrated a belief in their capabilities. That buoyed the young man's spirits.

By the time they could delay leaving no longer, his tears had dried up. He pulled Eve close and nuzzled her hair. "It's okay. This is our true home, and it always will be. We'll return to help Jerry and Betty run the store. I promise." If he couldn't keep that promise, he'd die trying. "Let's go."

Forever aware of the time right time to remain silent and the right time to speak, Jerry did the former when he tapped a key against Adam's shoulder. The boy turned to accept it, acknowledged the man with a nod and mouthed, "I love you," to both him and Betty.

"Shall I let you drive?" Adam dangled the vehicle key in front of Eve. "Nothing we'll face could be scarier than that, right?" Even in the darkest of times, particularly in the darkest of times, jesting with Eve provided solace and helped lighten his depression. While the elderly couple watched on, he pressed a hand to her back, collected their bags and maneuvered his sister to the door.

Outside, sat the battered pickup truck that Jerry had gifted them.

"We'll stop at a bank and withdraw all our money, then burn our ID. That way nobody will be able to track us or know who we are. We'll be ghosts in the night, Evie."

At least until they reached God's den, and the final battle commenced in earnest.

 

[Aurelia]

Eve had stared as if trying to burn the image of the two in her mind for any foreseeable future. There could be no promises made now, not with the war they were about to go reign upon an unknowing being. All that was left at that moment was hope; and it was a dangerous thing for her to have, but she had it. Her smile firm now, no wavering just as she didn't have any in her mind of what she was about to go do with her brother. So they turned to take their leave, her attention caught by the key in her face from her brother with that grin as if about to just go on a simple road trip. His humor and light heartedness always willing to try and make her happy.

"If I recall, I passed my drivers test the first time, unlike someone!" she called out, snatching at the key as they moved outside the building, missing it narrowly while taking a deep breath of the fresh and wet air. Not sure if it would taste quite the same as before when all was said and done. Making their way to the truck, she glanced over at her brothers mention of plans and gave a nod.

Everything was in motion now.

If they stopped, Eve feared they may actually turn back, so she would be hard pressed to keep her brother in the forward direction right along with her. Step after step in front of the other as they loaded the bags of clothes behind the benched seat of the pickup. Eve letting her brother drive for the time being, still not sure her nerves were ready despite how well she seemed to be holding it all together. The rumble of the truck under her feet sending a chill through her legs and up her spine as she gave one last longing look to the building before them while the sun started peaking over the tree line in the distance.

And much like ghosts, she glanced at her brother and gave an assured nod for him to get them started into this new unknown.

Leaning over to see the tank was a little less then half, her thoughts contemplated on just what Jerry had advised in terms of switching licences plates. He seemed well informed enough in what could help them keep distance and in the over all, win their battle. A thought that perhaps their caretakers were warrior angels in their own ways. Having raised up and defeated their own god to make paths for the life they wanted to live. And Eve had wondered just what they must have seen to be so forgiving in nature of what Adam and Eve had yet to spill on their own terms.

"No one will see us coming. And we'll drive until we're almost on empty so we aren't as close to here before I switch licenses plates with someone." she added easily. More and more sins piled and yet she felt lighter then she ever had. A looming tale that should have looked like darkness was only bringing light just as the sun before them.

Heavens were about to spill blood and Eve took a hand from her brothers driving to grasp it in her own as she had found the middle seat of the truck beside him. The smile on her face something so bright and innocent for all the evil ideas that were flowing through her mind. Their father had wanted to be cruel and he would be getting everything in full return, she would make sure of that.

Her hand squeezed her brothers hand a bit unconsciously as thoughts kept rolling, finally speaking a bit more wondrous. "Do you think this will be difficult?" The question was obvious, or more so the answer, but it felt like she needed to hear it either way. She had been so amped that morning, so ready in her resolve and finally the adrenaline was catching up to it's limit. Her eyes looking over at Adam with a curious look. "We need to make a list, I don't want to harm anyone we don't have to. Only those... those who get in the way, or have hurt us. We don't need to be like him. I don't want to."

 

[Mr Quixotic]

A burden lifted from Adam’s shoulders when they left the store with Betty and Jerry’s words ringing in his ears and their images forever imprinted in his mind. He hadn’t realised how scared he’d been of disappointing the couple or leaving them in the lurch, angry at his and Eve’s betrayal. However, that hadn’t materialized. Instead, the elderly couple had proven unconditional love did exist, and of a vastly superior ilk to that espoused in the Bible.

“Got an answer for everything, haven’t you?” Eve’s comment brought him out of his reverie and he rolled his eyes at her in jest recalling the three times he’d failed his test as they approached the pickup. Red paint had faded to a dull burnt orange and the side-panels had rusted. The wooden tray in the back had splintered and decayed, looking as if though if one stepped up there, they’d fall right through and a crack spider-webbed the passenger window, Inside, the seat fabric had shredded and split but none of that mattered as long as it still ran.

Waiting until Eve had tossed her luggage in the compartment behind the seats, Adam settled his rucksack with the gun on top and clambered into the driver’s seat when Evie asked him to take the wheel first. After three spluttering attempts, the engine coughed into life on the fourth.

Black smoke spilled from the exhaust when Adam shifted into first gear and the pickup lurched forward. Overhead, a gap in the storm clouds appeared and the ascending sun shot its rays down on the duo, extracting a shiver from Adam. He stomped on the gas and sped through the muddy field to escape the beams that felt like the eyes of God seeking them out.

On reaching the asphalt road, the sun had disappeared and he sighed in relief. As always, when his sister opened her mouth, sense came out of it; Eve’s plan added to Adam’s and made it foolproof. “I reckon we got fifty miles, that’ll get us far away enough to keep them safe.” Confidence flowed at the touch of her hand, and the smile on her face; One he knew didn’t indicate humour, but determination. It comforted him, as did the noise of the rain pattering on the windscreen and the tyres slapping against the wet asphalt. This early in the morning, the roads were deserted.

Ears perked and listening, Adam concentrated on driving and allowed Eve to continue without interruption. When she quietened, he squeezed her hand, then pulled it loose, draped his arm around her shoulder and drew her close, “As much as I despise him, God’s cunning as a rat and it won’t be easy, but then nothing worth doing ever is, right?”

Adam repeated an idiom he’d heard before, unable to remember where from, “And we’re stronger and smarter than him. We can do it.” The engine of the pickup coughed and spluttered and the chassis rattled and creaked, as if two tonnes of metal nodded in agreement, then the ride smoothed out. With the truck keeping an easy sixty miles an hour on the highway, they’d left the town in their wake and no mushroom cloud had appeared in the rear-vision mirror to signal its destruction.

The thought of Evie and her lists evoked a smile, which faded as he continued, “Remember that time God drowned millions of people because he was mad a few of them acted up? He’s cruel and sick, Eve and we’re not like that. We couldn’t be like him if we tried, and we won’t harm anyone who doesn’t deserve it unless we have to. Only those who do God’s bidding and excuse his evil deeds. Cops, Priests, Nuns, Mormon Missionaries and gospel-spouting rednecks, that’s all.” Adding Republicans would be a redundancy.

A lump in his throat, Adan gathered his thoughts. “But if we’re gonna do this, we can’t show mercy. The more of his army we take out, the weaker he’ll be. After our first kill, the others should get easier. Why don’t you start on that list,” Adam smiled and rubbed her arm, “Money and bullets. We need more bullets. What else?”

Attention captured by a green signpost in his peripheral vision, he glanced up to read the next town lay five miles distant, “We’ll stop there,” then refocused on his sister. “Masks and a knife. Oh, and a map.” He shrugged, “You’re better at this organising stuff than me. Do we list who we plan to kill and does Mother Mary go at the top or the bottom?”

Adam hadn’t broached the subject before, but it’d been on his brain the whole time and caused all semblance of humour to fade from his tone when he spoke it aloud, “She has to die too, Evie. Painfully and slowly, as she punished us.”