Temple Dog: Inanna’s Hope

Eyes wide with terror, Akilah channeled the Lifestream to increase her strength, and picked up the staff sergeant into a fireman’s carry and started to head back up the stairs.

“Oh, yes! Run!” The voice came from both the deflating old man, and from Jeff’s body, “I always love it when a victim runs! But run all you want to, young Ms Hadi. I shall find you, and all your family in…Chicago? Oh, so much information in this skinsuit’s brain!”

Moaning in despair, she continued the climb, until, at the top of the stairs, Bug Man stirred on her back and weakly smacked her shoulder for attention.

“Wait,” he whispered, “need to buy time. Set me down for a moment.”

“Don’t think you’re going to pull the heroic sacrifice crap with me, staff sergeant!” She hissed back hotly. “Enough people have died here today!”

She would not allow another person to die to keep her alive.

“Nah, hero shit ain’t for me! I’m a staff sergeant, not a private or a corporal!” He chuckled darkly, ” I have 2 frags on my harness, and may have snuck another 4 in my ruck. Even if they can’t kill whatever that motherfucker back there is, he’ll know he’s been kissed. If that doesn’t kill him, it might just collapse enough of the stairway to cost him some time.”

“You have 6 grenades? For security duty?” She asked, shocked he was carrying that much destructive power.

“Boy Scouts motto,” he grunted, “always be prepared. Also got a.357 in there with silver bullets, because how do you know werewolves ain’t real?”

The look on his face quelled her question as to his seriousness before she could ask. She worshipped a goddess of sex and war and had abilities that most would consider magic. Was the thought of werewolves any more strange?

“How do I use these grenades? I take it, it’s not like in the movies?” She asked.

“Not quite. You can’t pull the pins with your teeth. Straighten the cotter pin, then pull it out. Spoon pops off, and then Mr Grenade is no longer your friend. Play hot potato as quick as you can. Try to get them at his feet if possible.”

Akilah set the staff sergeant down as gently as she could, almost bolting upright when she saw him start to remove the tourniquet. Then her jaw dropped when she saw his stump was healed shut.

“What? How?” She asked, pointing at it.

“Just a gift from an old friend, Ms Hadi,” he said, brandishing a small silver flask with what appeared to be a Nordic rune inscribed on the side, “a one time shot of “keep ya from dyin” as he said. Gave it to me right before we deployed here. Wonder if he knew.

“Now, we’re running out of time, Ms Hadi. Time to play catch with an evil prick.” He finished.

Akilah pulled the grenades from his harness and his rucksack. The staff sergeant had pulled himself over beside her, and was straightening cotter pins on 2 grenades. He pulled the pin on one, and handed it to her gingerly, making sure she kept the spoon on.

“When you’re ready, miss, just let the spoon pop off, and see if you can land this little baseball at his feet,” he told her.

Akilah felt the weight of the little bundle of death. She had played softball in high school, and had practiced in a number of thrown weapons in her service to Inanna. Landing the grenade at the feet of the old man was child’s play.

Before tossing the first, she tapped the nearly expended Lifestream to create a barrier to prevent any shrapnel from flying their way, just in case. Then she tossed the first grenade.

It landed right beneath the bastard’s feet. He looked down curiously, just having enough time to rifle through Jeff’s brain to realize what was happening. His lips worked to form a curse..

BOOM!

Akilah didn’t wait to see the results. She motioned for the next grenade. The staff sergeant handed it to her, then worked through the remaining 4 grenades the same way.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

After the 6th and final grenade went off, they waited to see the dust settle. They could hear the muffled sounds of Jeff’s voice cursing them to an eternity of torture.

The explosive charge on the grenades wasn’t huge, like in the movies. It was enough to split the case and send metal fragments flying everywhere plus a little extra.

But these ruins were several thousands of years old. They had been ancient when Moses left Egypt. The combined blast of six grenades tossed in back to back lad loosened enough mud bricks that rubble and sand came crashing down, closing off the entrance to the subterranean room, and possibly collapsing much of the interior onto him.

It had to be enough to slow him down. As they observed the effects, the last thing they heard from the creature inhabiting Jeff’s body was shouted, to be sure she heard it.

“Run, little priestess, and try to hide! And know that when I find you, the death of your bloodline will be at the hands of Gilgamesh!”

Her blood ran cold. Known to most who knew the name as a “hero”, he was known as much, much worse by the followers of Inanna. Blasphemer. Murderer. Tyrant. Monster.

An example of the earliest spin doctoring to save a man’s reputation by his soulless sycophants. The first recorded instance of a man blaming his victim to make himself out to be a hero.

She picked the staff sergeant back up and carried him outside, where the sandstorm had passed, leaving a surprisingly clear night sky. He had her carry him to the area where their camp had been, almost all evidence of it gone, blown away by the freakish sandstorm apparently summoned by Gilgamesh.

At the staff sergeant’s instruction, she found one of the more intact ancient buildings, and set him down in it. She inscribed another protective sigil to keep any demons or gods from paying attention to this building.

“Girl, you gotta leave me here. Get the hell out of here,” he said, retrieving his notepad from his breast pocket, and a pen. He wrote a phone number on it and gave her the paper.

“You gotta get back to your family! If that fucker can read Zacharius’s memories, he’ll know how to find them. You gotta get there first. Get to your family and call this number. Tell them Phil Bugman gave you the number, and you need refugee status. They’ll help hide your family” he said quickly.

“I can’t leave you here, Staff Sergeant!” She started to protest.

“Girl, you don’t have time to argue. We don’t know how long it’ll take him to escape. We don’t know how long it’ll take him to find your family after that. I’ll be ok here. If I run with you, I’ll be listed as either MIA if I’m lucky, or a deserter if I’m not. My damn leg got cut off, so all I’ll do is slow you down if I come with you.

“I stay here and get found in the morning, there will be questions, but I’ll get medicaled out. Once I get back stateside, I’ll find you, as long as you call that number and ask for help. Tell them exactly what happened. Be honest with them, they are good people.” He finished.

“What? Who are they?” She asked.

She had thought she was the one with all the secrets here. Her mind was filled with questions that kept her from her grief for the moment. How would she get home? What would happen to her and her family? What would happen with her Mistress?

“They’re the people who run my hometown, girl.” He answered.

“Staff sergeant, who are you, really?” She had to know.

But he had passed out. Stress and blood loss and grief at the loss of his squad had taken their toll.

She took the time to check his pulse and make sure he was as comfortable and stable as he could be. She kissed his cheek before setting off on foot for the nearest town.

———————–

Gilgamesh was still swearing violently, but all inside his own twisted mind now. It took too much energy to make either body talk with all the holes pierced through them by those damnable…grenades….

He let the old corpse he had been riding in for the last two centuries fall lifeless and crumble into dust as he focused his remaining energy on healing the wounds to the newer, younger body. He had to work quickly to keep rot from setting in.

It wasn’t ideal. The body would last only a fraction of the time it would have if it had been taken alive with an intact soul. Fucking bitch!

He would escape this rubble pile after he took care of the body. He would find her, and have his vengeance. A mere woman should never dare to raise arms against a god such as he!

———————————–

Akilah rested on a bed in the rundown apartment. She had made it to town around 2am. As people slept, she had broken into and stolen a truck, and drove towards Baghdad all through the next day. As evening approached, she had been too tired to keep driving. She ditched the truck outside of town, and had found an apartment building that would allow her to stay. She paid for 6 months of rent up front, which would hopefully give her at least one full night before anyone harassed her about being a single woman.

As she slept, she found herself standing on the roof of the building, and knew immediately that she was dreaming, and that she was about to commune with her Mistress.

The Lioness at the edge of the roof turned to look at her as she approached, a look of sympathy clear in her regal black eyes. It looked as if the giant cat had been crying.

“My Dove, I am so sorry. I know you tried with all of your body, heart, and soul to save him. We knew it was unlikely, yet you tried anyway. I am proud of you.” The thoughts came into her head.

Akilah bowed to her knees, and in a moment of grief, dove in to bury her face in the lioness’s fur, and wept. Her grief had been kept at bay by the need to be away from the scene at the temple, but now it hit her full force.

“I love him! I love him, and I failed, and he didn’t even know I loved him! He didn’t even know we had been together,” she sobbed into her goddess’s fur.

“He didn’t even know I was carrying his child!” She wailed.

“Child, you failed to save his life, but you succeeded in saving his soul from that beast. That isn’t saving his life, but you’ve no idea the fate you spared his soul from. His soul now lies in Irkalla with my sister Ereshkigal. She has confirmed he arrived, and I returned the memories of your nights together to him.

“He knows now it was vital that we do everything in our power to keep Gilgamesh from realizing Jeff had fathered an heir. Now Gilgamesh doesn’t even know he has a new target. This will give your son a chance to grow up.

The lioness nuzzled her, and curled up around her, providing warmth and comfort. A gentle lick to her hair brought a feeling of compassion and shared grief to her soul.

“He was elated when he was allowed to remember. He asked to have it passed on to you that he loves you, as well, and asks you not to blame yourself. He knows what you did, and why, and he understands. He says that it took an act of extreme love and bravery to take his life to save his soul. And he waits for you, there. When your own time comes, you shall reside forever together in Irkalla. My sister has promised she will make it as pleasurable as possible. Apparently she thinks both yourself and Jeff are tasty snacks just waiting to be sampled.” The goddess told her with a cat’s attempt at a grin.

Then the lioness smiled at her. It was another odd expression on the feline face, but it was soothing.

“He also asks you to name your son Leonidas,” she said, “because, and I quote: That dude was a total badass!”

“My son?” Akilah asked. The realization hit her like a train, her eyes opening wide. She’d mentioned a son twice now. She knew she was pregnant, but it was so soon, she couldn’t know the gender.

“Yes, you carry his son. You have for 3 weeks, now. My former husband was the actual god of fertility, but as the Americans say, I can dance to the tune. And I could see at the time of inception just which sperm fertilized you. And when your lover passed, his titles and privileges were passed down to his heir. When your son is born, those gifts that can be passed on will manifest as he ages until he hits majority. When he finds me, if he finds me, I will complete his own transformation into my Hound.” The goddess confirmed.

Akilah nodded. She knew this both from texts and traditions that had been passed down through untold generations, as well as from previous dream talk with the Mistress.

But it meant little if she could not get home. She would need her family to help raise her child in the manner he needed if he was to survive. Training that might have saved Jeff’s life if he had been found while a child himself could and hopefully WOULD make all the difference for Baby Leonidas.

“I need to get home! I must have the child in the U.S., and I have to save my family! Mistress, how do I do this? I can’t fly on a normal flight, nor a military one. So far as anyone will be concerned, I am missing along with the rest of the expedition and the security element.” Akilah worried, the confirmation of her pregnancy and the gender both exciting her and terrifying her.

“I have taken care of that. You will have transport. I asked a favor of an old friend, and he will help you get home, in exchange for a future favor to be announced when your son is a man. His own agent approaches your door. You must awake, now, child. We will speak again when the time is right,” the lioness spoke, before Akilah blinked and found herself awakening refreshed.

————————

There was a knock on the door. A young man, just barely able to start growing a full beard, waited on the other side.

“Hello?” She asked.

“Hello. Are you Little Dove? My Lord has sent me to bring you home.” He replied in a low voice.

“And who is your lord?” She asked, her voice also dropping low.

“Ea, he of the Sweet Waters. Also called Enki,” The young man replied with dignity and pride.

“Alright,” she replied, making sure she had all of her meager possessions with her and ready to go. “How will you get me home?”

“Follow me, please. It will be easier to show you,” he said.

“And give you less time to panic,” the last part was added under his breath.

She followed him out of the back door of the apartment building, but instead of walking to any vehicle, he led her to a well. It looked old and…well used, she thought with a smile. When she looked down, it appeared the water was quite far down.

She looked at him, her gaze hooded. Her patience was at its end. Her lover was dead. Her friends were dead. Her family was under extreme threat. She snapped.

“What is the meaning of this? How will I get home? Is there a tunnel to Chicago down there?” She didn’t want to refuse help, but this was outlandish. Like something from a bad movie.

He smiled gently, making a motion for her to remain calm.

“Your Lady asked my Lord to get you home. She asked Him because she knows he has his hidden paths. You will need to sleep for this journey, as otherwise, it might just be more than your mind can take.” He said soothingly.

“With the last couple of days I’ve had, my trust is exhausted,” Akilah stated. “I don’t mean to offend, but I need some assurance this isn’t a way to quietly make me into a corpse.”

“Ea and Inanna have sworn before Shamash the Sun. Should you not arrive in Chicago safely, Inanna will absorb Ea and his power will be hers. Should the return favor not be granted, Ea will absorb Inanna and her power will be his. Neither god wishes to have the powers and responsibilities of the other added to their own.” He assured her calmly, “as they are both quite busy with what they already have on their plates.”

With a sigh, Akilah nodded her assent. That was about the closest she could come to a guarantee of safety, given the current circumstances.

“Excellent!” He clapped with joy,”I’ve been wanting to try this ritual on an actual human for some months now! I can’t wait to see it work!”

“Wait, what?” Akilah asked with panic, but it was too late. The symbols had already been inscribed on the bricks of the well, and he was chanting quickly under his breath.

Before she could take more than 2 steps away from the well, an arm of water appeared from within, and engulfed her. She found she was in a pocket of air inside the water, so she could still breathe.

The arm picked her up, and whipped back into and down the well. By the time she reached the bottom, she was in an induced slumber.

The ritual to Ea asked him to transport her via underground rivers, and even rivers of freshwater that lay under oceans, to her destination of Chicago.

Ea had laid the pathways for many such freshwater routes centuries before the rise of the first cities, when man still roamed the plains and slept under the stars and followed herds of prey animals to stay alive.

The journey took 2 days, but it was safe. She was kept asleep to keep her from feeling the effects of claustrophobia during much of the trip, as many points along the route were only wide enough to allow her passage with centimeters or less to spare. And they were dark as the depths of space, and sometimes the surrounding water was so deep, it approached boiling point from the heat of the inside of the Earth.

As she slept, she dreamed of Jeff. Of the times they had shared together. It was wonderful. In the dreams, they also did things they had not been able to do. They went on walks, enjoying various countryside terrains. They dined on fine foods and drank rare vintages of all kinds of wines.

They talked. Expressed their love for each other. It was at the end of the first day that Akilah realized she was not just dreaming.

The approach of a beautiful pale woman, skin obviously never kissed by the sun, black hair shining in the moonlight and eyes as black as deep space with galaxies for pupils clued her in.

She was in the twilight, at Ereshkigal’s invitation. It was a realm between the living world and the underworld. A land of metaphor, so she could never remember full conversations, only high points, bits and pieces.

Since she was not dead, she would not be permitted actual accurate memories of what transpired, but it still brought peace and warmth to her heart, so she made the most of her time here.

She had vague memories of night after night of passion with Jeff. Some of those nights, Ereshkigal herself would join them, sharing them and allowing herself to be shared.

By the time she was deposited on the bank of a man made pond within Chicago city limits (thank the Lady it was summer here, as Akilah had not brought winter clothes to the middle east), she was satisfied, yet still incredibly horny, and the local Lifestream was awash in the color of divine sexual satisfaction.

Definitely no dream, unless another divinity was in the immediate area. Not impossible, considering the size of the city, but she had heard no rumors of anything before she’d left.

She had no money for cab fare, but she was a priestess of a sex goddess. As such, she could tell at a glance if a person was sexually available.

Inanna may be a goddess of sex who basically fucks whomever she wants, but she will not break into a monogamous relationship or allow her followers to do so. Therefore, she gifted her followers with a limited divination that tells them whether a person can be safely serviced.

Individuals who are in an acknowledged open relationship will show as available, but any attempt to cheat on a spouse with a devotee of any of Inanna’s incarnations will be immediately known, and possibly punished.

She found a parked cabbie who did not pop the radar as a cheater, and who was clean, and worked out a deal. As he drove her to her parent’s house, she took him down to her throat. She made it last for the entire drive, and released her cinnamon scented pheromones to increase his pleasure, as she bobbed, swallowed, licked and sucked on his cock for damn near half an hour.

He parked in front of their house at 2am, just as he came in her mouth. It was one of the most intense orgasms he had ever experienced as she swallowed rope after rope of his cum, moaning with every blast.

Since he had driven her straight here and not taken a roundabout route, she also cleaned him with her tongue afterwards, and tucked his member back into his pants before kissing him on the cheek and thanking him for the lift.

He fumbled around until he found his business card, and gave it to her, telling her for the same payment, he would take her anywhere in the city she needed to go, with no problems or questions.

She smiled and made a show of placing the card into her bra, and walked to her parent’s house with her hips swaying seductively as she smiled at him over her shoulder before disappearing inside.

The cabbie had to find an empty parking lot to relax in for a few minutes before turning his sign back on, and looking for the next fare. So far, it was a damn good night, he thought with a shit eating grin.

—————————–

“MOM? PAPA? ARE YOU HOME?” Akilah shouted into the house as she walked upstairs to their bedroom.

Lights came on in her parent’s bedroom, and moments later, her father came out in his bathrobe, looking disbelieving at the impossible presence of his daughter.

“Akilah? How? You are supposed to be in Iraq. The dig at the ruins of Uruk? You were there, yes?” He asked, confused.

“Papa, get Mom! We don’t have much time! Gilgamesh has appeared, and he is going to kill our bloodline as punishment for my tossing a wrench into his plans!” Akilah said rapidly.

The blood ran from her father’s face. Akilah’s family were descendants of a long line of the Lady’s followers. They had kept her small temple in their hometown until local fundamentalists had become aware that they weren’t just historians, but actually followers of the ancient religion. He knew the significance of the return of Gilgamesh.

“Gilgamesh is in the human realm? And he knows our family?” He asked, stunned, as Akilah’s mother came out of the bedroom, hearing the tail end of the conversation.

Akilah picked up the receiver of her parent’s cordless phone and dug out the scrap of paper from the staff sergeant. She quickly punched in the numbers and waited as the phone rang, noticing as she did that the area code did not appear to be one from the United States.

“City of Innsmouth emergency line. How can I help you sir or ma’am?” A female voice with a vaguely European accent asked.

Innsmouth? Had Bug Man played the cruelest of jokes on her in her time of need? She knew that it was a fictional town created by Lovecraft in the 20’s. And not a nice one.

“Hello?” The voice asked after several seconds.

Hell, she needed help. If this was a joke, there was only one way to find out. She took a deep breath.

“Yes. My name is Akilah Hadi. U.S. Army staff sergeant Phil Bugman gave me your number, and told me to ask for emergency refugee status.” She let out in one long breath.

“I see,” the woman responded, “please tell me everything you can.”

With her parents there listening, she told the quickest version she could with the most detail, informing the operator that there was more, but a hostile divinity was after them and she did not know how long they had.

“Understood, Ms. Hadi,” the woman told her, “your family has been granted temporary refugee status. We will be at your residence shortly to get you resettled as quickly as possible.”

“Umm…how long will it take for them to get here?” Akilah asked, knowing somehow deep in her soul that they did not have much time.

There was a knock on the front door. It was 2:30 am.

“They should be there now, Ms. Hadi,” the strange woman answered.

She nodded, and her father walked over to answer the door. He squeaked in surprise, drawing Akilah’s gaze to the door. Her jaw dropped.

The scene outside of the front door did not match the scene out of the living room window, even though there was less than 10 feet separation between them. From the window, the row houses on the opposite side of the street could be seen, packed against each other.

The view through the front door was of a large ranch style house sitting on at least an acre of property, with an honest to gods Mediterranean Cypress tree in the front yard. And many more visible in the mid morning light behind the house.

A crew of 12 identical men in workman’s coveralls and a woman with a clipboard and a phone operator headset stood waiting for an invitation into the house.

“Come in, please,” Akilah’s father said, standing back and motioning them in, his jaw hanging open.

As they entered, the woman, with the same accent and voice as the one on the phone motioned Akilah to hang up, then turned and gave clipped instructions for the workers to move everything from this house to the one visible from the front door.

Akilah was speechless. Even for a priestess with mystical powers who has actually communicated with her deity, these past 72 hours were just too unbelievable and fantastical.

In unconscious mimicry of her dead lover, Akilah intoned “What the fuck?”

“Ms. Hadi, the woman called her as she approached, “I am Olena Honcharenko, from the City of Innsmouth emergency services. My workers will move everything from your parent’s house to your temporary new domicile. Pending clearance for permanent residence, your family and belongings will either be moved to a new home, or stay in this one. Payment in services rendered to the City can be made for either option.”

As she spoke, the 12 workers moved at almost inhuman speeds, individual workers lifting couches, tables, and dressers with no help, and fully loaded. Nothing fell out of or off of any item, as the workers carried everything from the house and out the door to the other house with great alacrity.

“As soon as the last of your belongings have been moved and we are in the safety of Innsmouth, we will start to process paperwork to determine your final refugee status.” She continued.

“And how long will it be before they are finished?” Akilah asked, wonder in her voice.

“Number 9, ETA on the move?” She asked a worker carrying her mother’s china cabinet, fully loaded and perfectly balanced, towards the door.

“About 10 more minutes, ma’am!” The worker answered happily, no signs of strain in his voice from the load he was carrying.

“There you go,” Olena answered happily.

Akilah’s mother had been brewing coffee during all of this, while her father just numbly followed workers around the house, jaw hung open in disbelief. Her mother came in from the kitchen and started handing out mugs of coffee to Akilah, Olena, and her husband. The workers she offered cups to all politely declined.

Just as the last box was being brought through, Akilah heard a distorted version of Jeff’s voice, colored by malice, call out from in front of the house.

“I FOUND YOU, WHORE! COME OUT, COME OUT! I WANT TO PLAY IN YOUR FLESH! I’M GOING TO RIP NEW HOLES IN YOUR BODY AND VIOLATE THEM UNTIL I’M BORED OR THEY’RE TOO LOOSE” his horrible altered voice yelled.

NO! The blood drained from Akilah’s face.how had he gotten here so quickly?

“I take it this is your new stalker?” Olena asked.

“Yes. Wearing the body of my dead lover,” Akilah sobbed, her mother coming to hold her.

“Number 4,” Olena called to the last worker coming through the door to do a final check of the house, “there is unwanted company outside. Kindly go ask him to leave.”

“Yes ma’am!” He responded cheerily, walking toward the living room window.

“We should get going,” Olena said, pushing the family towards the door, “Number 4 will probably not be able to hold him, and we should be gone and close the door before he gets in here.”

As they walked through, Akilah asked “what are you doing? Gilgamesh will slaughter him and take his soul!”

“Oh, he is only an Emergency Services worker. We can just replace him tomorrow,” was the nonchalant answer.

“What? You can’t do that! Is he a slave?” Akilah demanded, having seen this monster fight in the most disturbing way.

“Slavery is against the law in Innsmouth, with the exception of willing sexual submissives who have volunteered to a dominant!” Olena replied sharply, “we do not condone or tolerate forced labor of any kind, of any race or species here!”

She closed the door behind herself, cutting off Number 4’s escape route to Akilah’s horror.

“Rest easy, Ms. Hadi. You don’t know all the facts yet,” Olena said in a gentle manner after having left a worker to die.

—————————–

Number 4 opened the front door and stepped to the porch, looking at the young man with the maniacal face.

“Sir, this house is private property, and the residents have politely requested you vacate the premises. Failure to comply will result in consequences of which the residents will not be held responsible for. Have a great night!” He said, loudly and cheerily, waving to the angry young man.

Gilgamesh dashed up to the nondescript worker, looking like an average Caucasian blue collar worker, and picked him up by the throat.

“You do not speak to me, worm! I am a god, not some insignificant vermin! I will now crush your spirit and consume your life force. Feel fear in your final moments!” The beast in a man’s flesh declared, as he crushed the throat held in his hands.

It…crunched, like a coke can being crushed, yet the eyes remained open and focused on him with no apparent discomfort.

“Well, then! I guess it’s a good thing I’m not alive, isn’t it?” He asked in a cheery voice, “since you failed to win your prize, please accept this lovely parting gift!”

With that, number 4 pulled the pin on the thermite grenade held in his right hand,just as his head fell off of his shoulders, in a shower of sparks.

A female voice now came from Number 4’s torso.

“At the tone, the time will be…FUCK YOU… o’clock.” The female voice said, with the “fuck you” being in Number 4’s voice.

The grenade erupted in several thousand degree flames just as a “Beep” sounded from the torso, quickly melting Number 4 to a puddle, then burning through the pavement and into the water main of the area, and beyond.

Gilgamesh was burned severely,losing the arm that had been holding the…robot…Jeff’s brain told him, and leaving burns across most of his body. Had he not tapped into the Bloodstream to raise a shield, he had no doubt he would have been as completely destroyed as the construct.

Odd. His brain told him these…robots…were products of fiction. There should not be technology to create anything like this. Yet, it had existed.

Tossing aside raising questions in his mind, he entered the front door of the house, now burning from proximity to the thermite charge that had detonated on the porch. As the sounds of sirens rapidly approached, Gilgamesh strode through the house looking for those he would punish for being related to that hussy that loved this body.

To his rage, he found nobody. The house was barren. They had escaped! HOW?

The one armed man covered in horrendous burns howled his rage to the sky as he stormed from the flaming house. He would wear her father’s body and rape her with it! He would cut extra holes for the old man to rape, and he would make his soul watch as he did it!

Gilgamesh walked in circles plotting his punishment, ignoring the police cars and fire trucks that screeched to a halt inches from him.

As a firefighter approached him in the mistaken assumption that he was a victim, she absentmindedly snarled and snapped the man’s neck with his remaining arm and tossed the corpse onto the police car with annoying flashing lights.

Muttering all of the dark and horrendous punishments four thousand years of practicing torture allowed him to imagine, he was distracted by….

Blam! Blam!

The 2 cops in the car that had just been impacted by a firefighter’s corpse panicked. The driver pulled his service weapon and just started shooting the one armed murderer, while the passenger grabbed the shotgun and started to pump round after round of buckshot into him.

It…drew his attention. The rounds hit him multiple times, but they watched in horror as the bullet holes sealed and healed, and his arm was regrowing as they observed in sickened fascination.

He seemed to almost teleport to the driver, and casually backhanded the officer’s head backwards, instantly snapping his neck fatally. He then grabbed the corpse and heaved it at the shotgun armed passenger.

As the officer tried to untangle himself from his dead partner, Gilgamesh leapt over the car and came down with his foot stomping the unfortunate man’s head so hard, the pavement buckled and cracked, the remains dripping from his foot.

The firefighters that had witnessed this event all ran back and took cover in their truck, watching him through windows and trying to avoid being seen. Snarling at this cowardice, Gilgamesh focused his rage and used the Bloodstream to crush the firetruck like a tin can, bursting all of its occupants and sending fuel flying out, which came in contact with the burning house and went up in flames, spreading the budding inferno even further.

Snarling, Gilgamesh whirled away to find transpiration. It was time to leave this place. He would find a place to relax and enjoy himself until he could find HER.

He had heard the talking air…the radio…speak of ethnic cleansing and war in a place called Yugoslavia. That sounded fun. He would go there and partake in some cleansing.

He saw a house with the lights on. He kicked open the door, finding a man in his 30’s trembling, a streak of urine running down his pajama legs, with his pretty wife cowering behind him.

“You,” he said, pointing at the man, “take me to the port!”

The man cried and shook his head negatively, whimpering “please, no! Just go away!”

Gilgamesh stopped the man’s heart with a punch to his chest, sneering.

“You,” he said, pointing to the wife, “will take me to the port, yes?”

Crying and standing in her own puddle of urine, she quickly nodded her head. He grabbed the keys out of her hands and had her take him to their vehicle.

It was a minivan, at which point Gilgamesh told her “I will drive, you will guide me. And entertain me as we go! You remind me of someone. Who? Ah, yes, young Akilah”

“What have you done to Akilah?” She whimpered, as the van pulled away and drove in the direction of the port, while more police and fire trucks arrived.

“Nothing yet. However, I am in a sharing mood, so I will show you!” He cackled, as he grabbed the back of her head and jammed her face onto his crotch.

“Please me, and I may let you live!” He demanded, smiling as the terrified woman unzipped his pants while sobbing.

———————————-

Olena explained to Akilah that the Numbers were not human. They were artificial contracts controlled by their creator, who made them expressly to serve the town in varying capacities. Therefore, Olena had NOT left an innocent man to be killed by Gilgamesh.

It was also important he be kept out of the house for a brief time after they left so any trace of the portal they had used to get here could fade quickly. To allow a beast such as that to know where they had gone, and where this place was could not even be imagined.

The paperwork for refugee status took hours to complete. The number of questions, and provided options, was mind boggling and mind NUMBING.

Please state the nature of the threat you seek refuge from:

Religious, supernatural

Religious, no supernatural

Necromantic (seeking a sacrifice)

Undead

Government black lab

Corporate black lab

Other (please write on back of form)

The whole thing went on like that. For 8 pages. Akilah had almost fallen asleep in the middle of it multiple times.

The following morning, after an hour-long nap, she woke to sobs and cries of shock from her parents. The news was on (how did they get local news channels here, wherever here was?), And it was terrifying.

“A man identified as U.S. Army corporal Jeffrey Zacharias is wanted for multiple homicides, arson, grand theft auto, rape, desertion, kidnapping, assault and many more crimes. The corporal set fire to a house in Chicago early this morning, then killed 2 police officers, destroyed a fire truck somehow killing all firefighters aboard, then murdered a neighbor before kidnapping his wife. Her body was found this morning outside the Port of Chicago. Police say she was violently sexually assaulted before being murdered.

“Authorities say Corporal Zacharias should be considered EXTREMELY dangerous, and if you see him, flee the area and contact your local police. Again, do NOT approach this man” a picture of Jeff, his non smiling boot camp picture, was shown on the screen, “if you see him, leave the area immediately and contact local police IMMEDIATELY!”

Akilah and her family watched, horrified. They sobbed to know police, firefighters and a neighbor had all been killed by a monster who had been after them.

Once the news story had broken, they were informed that they had been granted permanent status immediately.

Akilah’s parents opted to move to a different house nearby while Akilah stayed in the first house, as she was pregnant and the space would be good for a growing child.

Akilah’s mother would work at the local hospital as a nurse, keeping her career mostly the same, with small changes. Her father, being a trained archaeological processor, would work in the town record hall, as the town was unbelievably old,

Akilah would focus on her pregnancy for now, get to know the city and its inhabitants, and had until the baby’s first birthday to decide what she would do for the city.

The city had a population of around 4,000. It fluctuated, sometimes dropping to 2,000 and at one time had held as many as 8,000. Some people only stayed until their emergencies were over, others put down roots and became fixtures of the community.

The city was laid out in a grid, and seemed to follow the ancient Sumerian ideal of one third of the land being for residences, one third for business and industry, and one third for parklands and gardens.

It was on a small peninsula, the water on all 3 sides beautifully clear, with what looked like hints of buildings deep below the surface of the water. The ripples from the wind almost made it seem as if people swam from building to building.

The city was beautiful. Construction styles varied, some modern, some architecture from the 60’s, and older. The town center held a proud structure built in the old style of the first civilization, bud brick and sturdy. That was the town hall, where the Council met. Cypress trees grew everywhere, vines and shrubs, and natural gardens abounded.

From what she had seen, the city’s economy was entirely barter based. Things were bought on an exchange system, or paid for with acts of labor. It was a very old economic system, and it seemed to work for the town.

The city itself had money. It was how new construction materials and resources were brought in. They just saw no need to introduce it to an economy that worked as it had for a very long time.

She wandered, taking in the views, the residents going about their daily routines. She saw produce stands with vegetables from all over the world, the food given freely as the farmer’s payments for just about everything they needed.

She walked until she reached city hall. She found Olena inside, who waved to her and came over.

“Getting the lay of the land?” She asked in a friendly manner.

Akilah nodded, “it’s beautiful here. Peaceful. But…where is HERE?”

“I’d tell you to wait for the naturalization course, but I try not to be a bitch,” she smiled, “the city had a different name until recently. We rescued some college kids a couple of decades back. They had wound up on the wrong side of a pack of vampires, and didn’t want to be dinner.