Why I Stayed

Chapter Five

The pickup had cut up Industrial Way, leaving us with a less than appetising view, but soon came out on Naito Parkway. They pulled into the parking garage on 3rd and Davis. I hopped off the car, lurching to the left. I was a bit disoriented from the ride up here. "So, what do you want to do first?" Bo asked me, staring out over the bustling city. I grabbed his hand and headed for the stairwell.

We cut through Chinatown, passing at least 20 homeless people. I wanted to hit all my favourite places in this area before ending up in Pioneer Square. We passed by the Bancorp Tower, the tallest building in Portland. It has about 45 floors, I don't really remember. The Portland City Grill is located on the 30th floor. I've always wanted to eat there and look out across the skyline of the city, but it's wicked expensive. The next stop was Voodoo Doughnuts. Don't ask. All you need to know is best, doughnuts, ever. The line usually wraps around the block. The end of the line appeared to be in front of some anime porn theatre. "Hentai" was written all the front of the building in big, pointy letters. Maybe I'll go in there some day.

We turned up the last stretch. Usually, my heart was racing about this time. I love Pioneer Square. But not today, in fact, with every step closer, dread settled further and further into my stomach. "Bo, I don't feel good about something," I said cautiously. I could see it in his face, he felt it too. "Hold on, here get against this building," he said, throwing us against the wall of the Pioneer Mall. We inched closer and closer to the square, I felt more sick with every inch. Bo stuck his head out around the corner and inhaled sharply. I immediately shoved my head underneath his so I could see too. My reaction was about the same, except that my stomach dropped. Maybe his did too. Spread out in the square was a hundred, maybe a thousand of those black things. Seraphim. Just assembled there like for some big party. People were walking through them like they weren't even there, just carrying on with their conversations and sipping coffee from the Starbucks located in the Square. Bo yanked me back around the corner. "We need to leave, now," he ordered. He backed away from the corner and placed a hand into the small of my back. I pushed away from him. "Hold on, what's going on?" I argued. "Listen to me, I know you're all Miss Independent and shit, but this is not the time to mess around," he spoke in a deathly serious tone, staring right into my eyes. At that moment, a girl rounded the corner. She stopped short when she saw us. She definitely saw us. A smile crept onto her face. Before I knew what was happening, she shifted into a black figure with glowing red eyes, into a Seraphim. "RUN!" Bo yelled at me. We both took off. "THEY LOOK LIKE HUMANS? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" I yelled at Bo, running for my life. We cruised around another corner when Bo stopped. "Keep going!" He waved off to me. I didn't question it, I kept running towards Naito Parkway. I turned around to see the Seraphim girl come around the corner and meet Bo's open palms. He joined me a second later. "Didn't I tell you to keep running?" He huffed, doubling over. I rushed to defend myself, "Well I-". "There could be more of them following her if they heard the commotion. Which is highly likely, so we should really get the hell out of here," he urged. As if on cue, two more Seraphim appeared on the corner across the street. "Crap, let's bail," Bo said hurriedly. We both started running again, not stopping until we reached Naito Parkway that ran along the Columbia River. I wasn't out of breath or anything. This is freaking amazing! I could probably kick Linnaea's varsity ass at the 5K in XC. I couldn't say the same for Bo though, this whole killing thing must be really tiring. Hold on, I'm still angry at him. "So when you were telling me about these uh, killing machines, you didn't bother telling me they look like us?!" I yelled at him. He was still trying to catch his breath. "What do you know, did I ever mention, that they look like normal Geeks-" he laughed as he gasped for air. I shoved him so hard he fell over. "This isn't funny! How am I supposed to survive if they look like us?" I yelled at him, truly angry. He was slowly recovering. "They, they are slightly more transparent than we are," he said, finally returning to normal. Somethings went off in my head, but I shoved it to the back of my mind. "They only show up in that absolutely terrifying form when they're attacking. Also, one more thing you should know, I don't know how this stuff keeps passing my mind, you're a relatively new Geek, so you've got more energy than 20 older Geeks put together. Let's just say you're a hot commodity to the Seraphim," he said smiling. Great, not only am I left defenceless and helpless against these human-demon things, I'm targeted by them as well. Wonderful. I nodded my head along, not sure whether to believe him or not. Obviously, he can't bother with telling me the whole truth, so why should I trust him when he does tell me something? "But I have to say that that was rather strange, with them all clustered like that. I've never seen that before, almost like, they were planning something," he said ominously. The whole thing unsettled me. I just wanted to leave. "Let's just get out of here," I said quietly, crossing my arms.