Victor Black - And the Garden of the Gods

Chapter 36: Trekking Through the Garden

Josh and Allen made easy work of driving.

Quick learners, Victor thought.

He remembered the bus's control panel with its knobs, gears, lights, and a vast number of switches which he, himself, would have had no clue in using. The two large buses traced his tracks. Pam's car cruised directly behind him.

Josh's bus hid the second one perfectly as it turned onto the freeway heading south. Within a few miles, they would take their turn toward the Garden of the Gods.

To the east, Victor's eyes claimed the first specs of sunlight stretching over the steep hills, illuminating the edges of the grotesque, billowy clouds now numbering in the tens over the region. Each one was tall and perfectly formed, unmoving, and eerily not of the Earth.

Alone in his Jeep, Victor's foot pressed firmly on the accelerator. Its gauges shot upwards while he advanced on the exit. More cars rushed by—people were waking up. The dark of night faded fast.

"You need not do this," the voice in his head suggested. It was Seraph.

My savior? My instructor? Something more significant, unfathomable, all-knowing, Victor thought?

With Victor's hands on the wheel, the Jeep moved to the right exit lane.

"I don't understand," said Victor out loud, calling to the being. "You instructed me to help others."

"Our purpose involves the preservation of humankind, nothing more."

"And Shadow's family?"

"Everyone and everything has a beginning and an end, and another beginning—a cycle. Theirs is ending. Newearth may not sustain them."

"But they might have a chance," said Victor.

"Not on the world you are intending, Victor. Some things, such as humans, animals, and other beings, advance beyond the physical, as we did. The same goes for Shadow and her people, in their way, and you, my s—" Seraph paused, leaving out a word. "You have taken your next step, too."

"But I made them a promise I can't break," said Victor, insisting.

Victor stomped hard on the break. The Jeep came to an abrupt stop at Garden of the Gods Road, as did the train of vehicles behind him. He made a sharp turn, heading west toward Pikes Peak, and below it the massive rock formation, still under cover of the lingering darkness.

He grunted and cleared his throat. His eyes quivered in their sockets, and he turned, speeding up the deserted road. The hair on his arms, under his coat, bristled. The hair on his head stood up, and relaxed, as though he had shuffled across a thick carpet, sending static through his body.

Ahead, over the landscape, several of the massive clouds hung lower in the sky. A gap between two of them showed the height and expense of the mountain and the growing illumination of trees covering the hills forming the front range. Within the clouds, streaks of red lightning sliced horizontally. The hairs on Victor's body echoed their movement.

Seraph's harmonic voice hummed in Victor's mind.

"If you must, though it will make no difference."

"This is my choice," said Victor aloud. "I need to follow through when I make a promise."

"Your decision to honor your promise means everything, even if it will not change the inevitable," said the being.

"Why?" said Victor, growing exasperated.

"There is an order to things. Some things you cannot change. Some things you need to accept as they are and let them go."

Victor felt flush with muted anger but not at the being, and what it suggested, instead, he grew angry at his lack of knowledge. He felt like a fledgling bird, making its way from the safety of its nest, it's first steps on a branch, unsure, but always moving forward. He could fly, or he could fall.