Theta (7 page)

Thank you,
I responded telepathically. He couldn’t hear me.
No one out here could.

My eyes fell to the corpse again. The
cowardly gods had stooped to a new low at some point within the
past five years, since the Holy Wars began. While on Earth, the
gods and goddesses existed in energetic forms humans could not see.
To communicate with normal people, the deities would possess the
body of a human messenger – usually one of the priests or
priestesses dedicated to them, or another human with the dormant
gift of telepathy – in order to pass on a message. The interactions
lasted several minutes, never more, because the deities respected
the human’s life. When they possessed the body of a volunteer, the
gods pushed out the soul of the human temporarily and caused the
host’s body to start to die.

Somewhere along the line, the deities had
begun doing more than passing on messages. They possessed bodies –
and stayed, until the human forms rotted out from beneath them.
They leapt into another body at that point, and the process
repeated itself over and over. None of the gods and goddesses we’d
found would share with us the reason they chose to possess humans
instead of remaining in their energy forms. Herakles and I had
concluded their existences had been in danger, or it would not have
become a widespread necessity.

I knew none of this when I’d lived inside
the walls of DC.

Then again, most of the horrors I’d
experienced since leaving had been suppressed by the media and
politicians. No one could render the gods-forsaken war zone outside
of DC pleasant, but they had definitely managed to keep our focus
inside the protected area and edited out the harsh reality the
majority of survivors in the world lived in. According to the media
lie I’d believed, SISA and the military were purportedly using
martial law to help those outside the walls establish colonies
capable of sustaining themselves and ruling themselves with
order.

The truth was the opposite.

People slaughtered one another for food and
unpolluted water sources.

SISA and the military raided settlements and
colonies for food to help feed those in the protected zone.

Deities slaughtered humans for hosts.

The world outside DC was a horrifying battle
for survival.

Herakles returned a moment later and
deposited two more dead bodies beside the man I’d killed.

Stepping aside, I watched the people’s
champion and former Olympian tear wood off the side of a building
and bring an armful to the corpses. He arranged the wood with
military efficiency and expertise then stood and sprayed the
makeshift pyre with petrol.

The only good thing to come of the deities
possessing people: when they were in the bodies of their hosts,
they were vulnerable. They could be killed permanently in a way the
gods and goddesses couldn’t be when in their other forms on
Earth.

“
Three total. Were there
any others you noticed?” Herakles asked.

I shook my head.

“
No one will talk,” he
growled. “How can these parasites discard a human life like
trash?”

Knowing another human lost his life to a
selfish god tore me apart, too.

Knowing we’d removed three more deities,
even minor ones, from Earth this night filled me with triumph.

I had sworn to rid the planet of the foul
supernatural beings. I never expected it to occur in this fashion,
just as I never expected to become one of the only people outside
the wall capable of tracking the deities who had taken human
form.

A priest or priestess would be able to do it
as well. However, those with even the smallest telepathic gift who
had managed to survive the bloody onset of the Holy Wars outside
the walls were the first possessed by the deities.

I moved to stand beside Herakles. A lighter
was in his hand.

“
I have yet to learn a
proper prayer for people like you,” Herakles murmured to the dead.
“But even if I knew one, I don’t think I’d waste my time appealing
to the very gods who did this to you. After what I’ve seen, I
believe in only two gods: Thanatos and Hades. They alone never fail
in their service to anyone. For what it’s worth, I hope Hades finds
your souls, wherever they have gone, and takes them to
safety.”

If you can hear me, Hades,
please destroy the souls of the gods who did this. Thanatos, please
protect the men who lost their spirits to a parasite and guide them
home,
I added silently. Unlike the rest of
the gods, I held far less anger towards those of the underworld,
who seemed to largely stay out of the political and Holy Wars mess
making up my world. Even gods and goddesses could die, and their
souls had to go somewhere. The gods of the underworld didn’t
discriminate and were the most neutral entities in
existence.

We watched the fire start to burn the boards
before it leapt to devour the clothing the men wore. Only when the
corpses’ skin began to melt did we turn away.

Glancing up at Herakles I
made a familiar sign in the air, that of a
Z
.

“
Yeah,” he agreed grimly.
“None of our hunters can find anything out about Zeus’ whereabouts.
But he has to be here. Somewhere.”

I nodded. Zeus was my primary benefactor,
and he was the ruler of the deities. The list of reasons behind why
I wanted to find him was long and increased daily.

Herakles and I walked away from the alley
where the bodies burned. He was always on guard, and his eyes
sought out any sort of danger. I trusted the three-time Olympian,
who towered above everyone else I’d ever met, with my life. He was
tough on the outside and soft on the inside, a combination I had
never really experienced before. Everyone I knew was hard on the
inside, capable of measured concern and affection, but never
selfless love. Even Theodocia had turned hard inside, when she was
touched by Thanatos five years ago.

Though he could tear a man
apart with his bare hands, Herakles was selfless. He was
good,
and his heart was so
very sweet. His existence was a reminder of why I had to fight on
days when my anger at the gods was not enough to motivate
me.

Our convoy of seven vehicles waited for us
in the parking lot of an abandoned mega-store less than a block
away. Ammunition was rare, but petrol was everywhere, a relic of a
bygone era that had ended suddenly five years ago. Clothing, land,
tools, and some other products were in large supply across the
country. When the Holy Wars began, it was estimated eighty percent
of humanity was destroyed overnight, leaving a surplus of resources
where there had been a hearty dearth before.

In the moonlight, the gray asphalt glowed.
The warm air smelled of summer rain and the first traces of what
promised to be the most humid week yet.

Herakles and I climbed into the command
vehicle, an armored Jeep, and headed back to camp. My fleet of
vehicles was over five hundred strong, thanks to the members of
Mama’s army with mechanical skills. On our compound, we lived in a
world of selective modern conveniences. Solar and wind power
provided electricity. Running water was in place, and the engineers
in the army had expanded the existing sewer system to accommodate
the number of men and women in the army. They were also responsible
for the entrenchments and other defenses around the mall we’d taken
over upon being expelled from DC.

That was where the modern conveniences
ended. Our communications were limited to radios. About forty
percent of my army on any given day was absorbed in the logistics
of feeding us. They hunted, tended farm animals, skirmished with
SISA and military forces, and traded precious ammunition for fruits
and vegetables. I hadn’t had the time to establish a farm, but it
was on my list to start next spring, assuming I wasn’t able to take
DC before then.

Which isn’t looking
likely,
I admitted as I gazed out the
window at the dark, quiet forests surrounding the small town in
northern Virginia where we’d sought temporary refuge. The
staggering count of personnel required to meet the needs of daily
survival had caught me off balance when we first arrived here. It
hindered my ability to plan for a large-scale insurgency against
the Supreme Magistrate’s forces. My army was decent sized, but his
was larger and better supplied. I didn’t plan to lose when I
attacked. I had to be better prepared and fight smarter than they
would.

But my people also had to eat and needed
clean water sources. Our focus since setting up camp was basic
survival.

This was the main reason we began searching
for a few select gods and goddesses with gifts we could exploit to
maintain the army and advance our cause faster. At the top of my
list were two deities whose powers we could use to our advantage:
Zeus and Ares.

We arrived back to the compound and waited
for the drawbridge to lower across the trench. On the other side
was a wall built from cement taken from disassembled roads around
the former shopping center.

Five minutes later, we halted in the
well-lit motor pool.

Two men with
M
patches on their arms
awaited us. One bore an additional patch with an image of a scroll,
while the second wore a patch with a crown, which represented my
elite command corps. I left the vehicle and approached
them.

They both glanced from me to Herakles, who
trailed me. I wanted to think they waited because he was my
mouthpiece, but sometimes, I sensed the army was a little uncertain
of the tiny Queen leading it and more comforted by the presence of
Herakles, who was beloved by every last soldier in my forces if not
for his unmatched fighting prowess, than because he genuinely cared
for the welfare of everyone he spoke to.

“
We caught SISA scouts near
the south side of the city,” the commander reported when Herakles
was standing beside me.

I tapped my throat, which by now, everyone
understood was the issuing of a death sentence.

“
Make sure the bodies are
taken farther away this time,” Herakles added. “They were left
within five clicks of the town last time. It’s too
close.”

“
Of course,” the commander
replied. “It’s not like SISA to send so many scouts after us. The
military, I can understand, since our presence outside the walls is
a military concern. If we interrogated them, perhaps we would know
what the religious police seek.” His eyes went from Herakles to
me.

I tapped my throat again.

“
There you have it,”
Herakles said with a smile. “The official word is no.”

“
We will obey the command
at once,” the commander said and nodded his head in
deference.

I didn’t need them talking to the SISA
scouts. I knew why the religious police were snooping around:
because their leader, Lantos – my former lover, who had betrayed me
– was looking for me. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction
of using his spy network to find me. When the time came, I would
confront him myself with my lucky knife in hand.

“
We also received word from
Theodocia,” the messenger with a scroll patch said. He held out an
envelope to me.

Though I wanted to tear it out of his hand
and devour it, I accepted it with the grace and composure befitting
my royal title. Theodocia’s letters came semi-monthly, and I
incessantly worried about her in the period of time stretching
before the arrival of a new one.

“
We also have a prisoner,”
the commander said and cleared his throat.

I looked up from the envelope to meet his
gaze, raising an eyebrow in quizzical inquiry.

“
He found one of our
scouting teams,” the commander continued. “He said he has a message
for you from someone you seek.”

Tucking the envelope into the pocket of my
cargo pants, I motioned for him to lead us to this mysterious
prisoner.

“
Are you not under orders
to kill deities posing as humans?” Herakles asked. He fell in
behind me, and we followed the commander.

“
He gave us reason to
consider him useful.”

I glanced over my shoulder at Herakles. At
my expressive look, he spoke again.

“
Her Majesty wants to know
what you mean by this.”

“
He healed all the wounded
and sick in the infirmary,” was the quiet response.

There were several gods and goddesses with
the ability to heal. Until I met this one, I wouldn’t know which it
was.

“
Including my son and wife,
who were stricken with dysentery from the initial source of
polluted water we tried to use,” the Commander added. “And he’s not
fully possessed.”

I didn’t think it possible for someone to be
halfway possessed. Either a god had forced its way into a human
body, or it hadn’t.

“
That is a useful ability,”
Herakles said with a considering glance at me. “Dysentery’s killed
sixty so far.”

My jaw clenched. Aside from dysentery, we’d
lost another fifteen lives during negotiations with other towns for
food, or at the hands of either marauders who lived in the forest
or by the townspeople themselves. Another twenty-four were dead
from hunting deities. I’d been to visit each family of someone who
died, and we’d created a separate pyre for each man and woman.
Every night, we held a new wake. The names and faces of those who
had died were a blur in my exhausted mind, which was a source of
embarrassment to me. If these men and women sacrificed their lives
for my cause, should I not remember their names?