Chapter 14
Jess cursed as he swerved to miss a pedestrian while they drove down the Great Basin Highway toward the Valley of Fire. All over the interstate, people had abandoned their cars which had been wrecked during either the wasp attack or subsequent storm Talon had sent.
In spite of the media telling everyone to remain in their homes, thousands of people had tried to evacuate and were now walking on the side of the road. Many were screaming that it was the end of the world while others trudged on in grim determination to get wherever they were headed.
It was an ugly sight, and it made Abigail pray that whatever plague Coyote unleashed next didn't make it to them.
Cell phone lines were completely jammed, which only added to everyone's panic. There was no way to reach anyone inside or outside the city. Maybe that was what had caused them to try and leave. That need to find your family and hold on to them in a crisis.
Even though she'd lost her parents as a child, she still had that urge to crawl into her mother's arms whenever something awful happened. That burning need to talk to her and have her chase away all the monsters and fears.
It never went away.
Abigail wanted to weep over what she saw. She wanted to weep for the people who'd been hurt because of her stupidity. "I can't believe I did all this." Surely, she would burn in hell for it.
Choo Co La Tah turned in the seat to face her. "It's not entirely your fault, dear. Don't take that guilt into your heart. The Balance is fragile, and it controls everything in the cosmos. If the scales ever tip-"
"We get screwed," Sasha said in a chipper tone with a big grin.
"You're not funny, Sasha," Jess snapped.
"Sorry. Trying to lighten the mood." He met Abigail's gaze. "If it makes you feel any better, this isn't my first apocalypse. There is hope."
She wasn't sure what to make of that. "Obviously the world survived."
Even in the darkness, she could see the pain those words brought to him. "Yeah, not really. It kind of blew everything back to the Stone Age. The good news is, people are resilient, and that which doesn't kill you merely serves as a cautionary tale for others." He glanced out the window and sighed. "It also makes one hell of a bedtime story, especially if the Crypt-Keeper's your audience."
She sucked her breath in sharply at the unspoken agony that lay beneath those words. "What happened?"
"What always happens when preternatural powers are unleashed or go to war, and no one cares about the collateral damage during the battle." He gestured toward the people on the street. "I lost my entire family in the blink of an eye. But hey, I saved a lot of money on not having to buy Christmas cards."
How could he make light of something that was obviously so painful for him?
Without thinking, she reached out and touched his hand.
Sasha didn't look at her, but he closed his fingers around hers and gave a light squeeze that said he appreciated it.
Sasha cleared his throat. "So, Choo? How many apocalypses have you survived?"
"More than you, Wolf. More than you."
Abigail was humbled by their experience. The misery they'd seen. It was easy to lose sight of other people's pain when your own was so strong. What was it that Plato said? Be kind to all you meet, for everyone is fighting a hard battle?
It was so true.
"Are you all right?" Jess asked.
She caught his gaze in the rearview mirror. "Yeah."
No. Not really. Her guilt ate at her.
And one question hung heaviest in her mind. "How did you learn to live with being a hired killer?"
"It's just like any other act of cruelty. You lie to yourself. You say that they deserved it. You create stories to justify why they needed to die and tell yourself that if you hadn't struck first, they'd have done it to you. In the end, you do your damnedest not to think about it all."
Yeah, people did have a nasty tendency to excuse their bad behavior and then to hold it against others whenever they did the same thing.
Sasha let go of her hand. "Hey, Choo? Wanna take odds on our survival tonight? We are in Vegas, after all. I think we should up the ante and have a huge payout for whoever calls it." When Choo Co La Tah failed to respond, he turned his attention to Jess. "What about you, cowboy?"
Jess scoffed. "I only gamble with my life."
"Ah ... explains so much about you. And off on a random topic in an attempt to divert our attention from the fact that we're all most likely speeding to our impending doom, how did you get the name Sundown, anyway?"
"You want to know that now?" His tone was incredulous.
"Why not?"
Jess shook his head. "Why?"
"It's just an odd moniker for an outlaw. Figured it had some deeper meaning."
"A newspaper reporter gave it to him," Abigail said quietly. She'd read the article in something Jonah found years ago. "The man wrote that everyone called him Sundown because he did his best and most gruesome work after dark."
"You believe everything you read in the papers?" The anger in Jess's tone cut through the truck as an angry tic beat a fierce rhythm in his sculpted jaw. "They get all the facts screwed up, and I think most of them are so crooked, they have to screw their pants on in the morning. Hell, most of them have to go diagonal just to walk in a straight line."
Obviously that had struck a nerve with him. "It was wrong?"
Sasha gave her a no-duh stare.
"Yeah." Venom saturated his voice. "It was wrong. Some..." He paused as if he was about to say something offensive and then caught himself. "Trying to take credit for something that has nothing to do with anything he did. My real name is Manee Ya Doy Ay ... it means 'sundown' in my mother's language."
How beautiful. She doubted she could ever say it properly, but it sounded wonderful as it rolled off his tongue. "Really?"
He gave a subtle nod. "It was her favorite time of day. When the sun must make peace with the moon and for a few brief moments, the two touch in mutual friendship and respect. Perfect balance between the light and dark. A time for reflection and for preparation."
What a wonderful way of looking at things, and it made her ache for his loss. A woman so kind shouldn't be taken from her loved ones. No more than her own mother had. "She sounds incredible."
"She was."
"She was Cherokee, right?"
"Tsalagi," he corrected. "It's what they call themselves."
Abigail frowned as she saw a strange expression cross Choo Co La Tah's face. It was like he wanted to say something, but knew that he shouldn't.
Before she could ask him about it, something hit the car. Hard.
And set it on fire.