Age of Demons

Chapter 31 - Ashlyn

Detroit Safe House

It was the same thing. Get up at nine in the morning, get dressed, eat breakfast, and head to the asylum.

But today was laded with uncertainty. Would work be different? Would we only be scouting again or going on the attack? Would we be paired with another team?

And, my mind was on a continuous loop of the make-out session I had with Jace last night.

I met with my team in the conference room as usual. Everyone sat at the table, with Zamara at the head. A typical day.

"You're late," Zamara said.

"Sorry." I sat next to Tia, who wrung her hands in her lap.

"The team coming off shift before you today reported some activity. However, it was far from the range. They could not make contact." Zamara's voice rose to a command. "Remain vigilant."

"Should we expect to come in contact with the demons?" Vince asked.

"Yes, there's a high chance you might. We all can sense that something is wrong. In the past seven years, I haven't seen anything like this." Her voice softened. "Be careful out there."

Nervous energy crackled in the air. I glanced over at Mara. Her face was hardened into bleak determination.

Zamara dismissed us. We moved out, quieter than normal. We put on our helmets before walking out into the bright sun.

I squinted. Again? There wasn't a trace of clouds in the sky.

"Good. It'll be easier to spot them," Vince said.

I frowned. I was used to either ravaging storms or the burning sun. Of course, only during the spring and summer. During the winter, the blizzards were harsh. I recalled what some of the older adults had whispered about during service, after a terrible night of cacophonous storms. They'd talk about how, before our world changed, there were other problems, and one of those problems was climate change. We were making our planet warmer and more dangerous. But when society fell apart, most of the dangerous things people were putting into the atmosphere were cut off, like cars and machines that dug into the earth. Now the world was readjusting. We still felt the effects from the past—harsher weather, increased storms.

I marched next to Mara. Corin and Des led the team. The field beyond was barren. An absence of demon life once again. Half my mind was focused on the task at hand, the other half buzzing about the girl in the cell. Des hadn't given me any answers when we left. I didn't know what to think about her—was she just a possessed in-between crazed and controlled? Or was she something more, like Des believed?

When our toes edged the divide between security and danger, we all stopped and did one final scan before proceeding forward.

We crept through gravestones. I wasn't fazed that we walked on top of the dead nearly every day anymore. To our left was the edge of the forest. The light from the sun wasn't strong enough to dissolve the cover of darkness amassed below the canopy of leaves.

The air was still. The sun beat down heavily on our heads. Sweat dripped along the side of my face. There was an absence of birdcalls, a lack of wind whispering through leaves. Our anxious breaths pierced the silence.

We slowly neared the forest. Zamara didn't like us going into it because it was easier for the demons to hide, and it was there that we'd most likely be split up. So we edged along the tree line, everyone careful to keep their guns trained on the shadows behind the trunks.