Page 61 of When Monsters Fight
“You’ve never been out there, have you?”
“No.”
“Lucky for you.”
She slows her pace so that she’s walking beside me. “These watchers…celestials. They’re friendly? You worked together and you weren’t…afraid.”
“Fear takes a back seat out there after a while. It becomes…normal. The watchers kept us safe. They kept us alive. They’re my friends, and they’re nothing like the Dominion or the celestials who follow their doctrine.”
“And Gabriel?”
“What about him?”
“All I know is that he’s been our contact for decades. I was a child when we came to this base, but I wasn’t sworn in until a year ago when I made lieutenant. Only the uniforms know who Gabriel is.”
“He’s one of the good ones. One of the best.”
She nods. “Good to know.”
“But I wish you’d met Shem. He was…” I can’t help but get choked up, and it takes me a moment to gather myself. “He was the true lynchpin. He sacrificed himself so that we could escape. If it wasn’t for him, Rue and Gabriel wouldn’t be in a position to go after the final piece of the relic.”
“And this Lucifer? Can she be trusted?”
“I fucking hope so.”
She stops outside a metal door with a plaque on it that saysGeneraland fixes her pale eyes on me. “You truly trust them, believe in them, don’t you?”
I had my doubts to start with. “We’ve been through too much together for me not to know that I can trust them.”
She gives me a curt nod, and then her cold, pale eyes warm. “I believe you.” She pushes open the door and ushers me inside.
The room is snug and minimalistic with a desk, someshelves, and a small seating area, along with some computer equipment and a whiteboard.
“Take a seat,” she says.
“Where’s the general?”
She rounds the desk and takes the seat opposite me. “You’re looking at her.”
Chapter 31
Stormis the general? “Why the subterfuge?”
“Not subterfuge, caution. Please sit.”
I take the chair opposite her and wait for her to continue.
“We were warned by Gabriel that if he stopped contact, then he was compromised, and that we should move our base. He stopped communications almost two months ago. We were prepping to leave this place, and then you arrive. You have the code. You have humans. You have reapers and watchers with you. I needed to be sure that you weren’t a trick sent by the Dominion.”
That’s why they didn’t let the watchers and reapers in.
“Trust me, if the Dominion wanted to get into your base, they’d just blast their way in. They did that at the mall.”
“Yes, well, now we know that. Now that I’ve had the chance to speak with your people and to observe you…I believe you are who you say you are.”
“And now what?”
“Now we wait and hope that your friends return withgood news. But if they don’t, then you have a home here. We could use a man with your skills.”
