Guardian Angel

Chapter Four

The silence lasted until we were well away from the camping ground and heading towards town.

"Dude, what the hell are you talking about?" Dillon shouted brushing his fingers through his hair.

I turned to look at Dillon; everyone still had the look of shock and disbelief written across their faces.

"I believe him, I don't understand but that was definitely Carter back there, all he wanted was to rip me to bits" I gave a shudder at the thought of his dirty hands on me.

"Now just hold on a second, I agree with Emma, what I want to know is why she asked you what you are Jay."

Everyone turned to look at Rachael, she was right; they had all but forgotten my questions.

Jay sighed never taking his eyes off the road.

"You're right Emma I'm not human" he said as everyone gasped.

"I'm what's known as a Guardian, I'm here to protect you. Those things were the living dead, there's a war that's been going on for centuries, and now it has spilled over into the human realm, I will do everything I can to protect you I promise."

"Wait" shouted Tony "Are you telling me you have super powers or something"

"Something...." Jay's voice trailed off as he suddenly hit the brakes.

"What" everyone screeched.

"Change of plans" he said.

Looking ahead everyone could see why. The town was in view, only it wasn't the way they had left it. Smoke bellowed from buildings, cars were abandoned, screaming could be heard in the distance.

"Oh my god "cried Izzy "what are we going to do?"

Jay reversed the car and headed back the way they came despite the protests of the others.

"I'll take you back to my place it's just up the road".

"How do you know there won't be more of those things there?" I cried.

"Just trust me" said Jay "They will try and take the town first."

"It looks like they already done that" Dillon said softly.

With a quick swerve to the left Jay maneuvered the car off the roads and towards the woods.

"What are you doing?" I shouted. 

"My house is just through those trees".

Slowing down Jay continued on, there was a hidden path amongst the trees, just big enough for the car to pass through, barely though; the branches were scraping along the side windows.

Eventually the trees began to clear, up ahead they could make out the shape of a tall imposing building. Screeching to a stop in front Jay shouted,

"Every body inside quick".

He didn't have to tell us twice, we all scrambled as quick as we could out the car and up the front steps. Even though it was still dark we could see that this was a very old house and in desperate need of repair. Following Jay inside we all retreated into the first room we came too. Walking over to a table Jay began to light up the room using old fashioned gas lamps.

"Dude, this is where you live?"  Tony asked.

Jay gave a shrug of his shoulders "I'm not here that often, comfort is the least of my worries."

"Alright" I said with a tremble in my voice that I was not surprised to hear "Jay you have to tell us what's going on, what's happened to the town?"

"Alright sit down" Jay said with a sigh.

We all moved to the settees, which looked really old fashioned, they were green and had a flower design, and they looked pretty dusty too.

Jay stood by the window keeping a look out while he talked.

"You saw those things out there; you all know this is real. To understand you have to know what I am. Like I said I am a Guardian."

"Like an angel" said Rachael.

"No" he said with a slight smile "I am actually Emma's guardian".

I didn't know what to say, I just sat there like an idiot with my mouth hanging open.

"At one time all humans had a guardian, each was assigned to protect their human from evil, for centuries we have watched over you and protected you, kept you from knowing what is really out there. Then the war began, at first we only lost a few guardians, and then the numbers grew and grew until there was, is so few of us left. It has left your race unprotected and now evil has come to dominate the earth. They will take this world town by town and they are starting with yours."

"This is like a bad horror movie" said Izzy.

Dillon stood up and began pacing running his hands through his hair.

"Alright say this is true, what are we going to do about it?"

"Wait " I interrupted, I had a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach "What's going to happen to our friends and our parents?"

"Oh my god your right" said Rachael "We have to go back, we have to help them".

Jay shook his head "It depends on how many of them there are, first they will send the dead to kill what they can, those who are left alive will be used at hosts for some Demons. I know it's hard but its best if we wait till morning, most of their activity is at night."

There was a lot of shouting then, everyone arguing what to do for the best, deep down we knew we were defenseless and would have to trust Jay. After half an hour of ranting the girls began to sob and clung to their respective boyfriends looking for comfort. I sat alone and dry eyed, trying to digest that in reality, the end of the world had come. Eventually all that could be heard was the odd sniffle as we waited out the night.

*************

As Jay looked at their crestfallen faces he couldn't help but wish that he wasn't here, he knew he couldn't protect them all, he wasn't powerful enough, not yet anyway. How could he possibly tell her that they needed her to die before they could take back what was theirs, and how could he sit and watch the one person he loved sacrifice the only life she had known to save his.