Celestial Beginnings (Nephilim Series) (11 page)

“What did you say?”
Gemariah asked as if he couldn’t believe what he had heard.

“That’s Azazel.”
Malachi said through gritted teeth as he unsheathed his sword. His entire team drew their weapons as well when they finally snapped to attention.

Gemariah stepped up to Malachi who wouldn’t take his eyes off the fallen one.
“Are you ready for this?”

Malachi didn’t think he could get any more ready.
“Oh yeah.”

“Well then…we got your back.
Be careful.”

The moment Gemariah got done speaking, Azazel’s smirk widened into a full grin, as if he knew what was going through Malachi’s head and thought the idea was funny.
He watched as Azazel’s hand came up and gave a mock salute.

At that moment, everyone’s attention was drawn to the bridge as a deep roar sounded from its direction.
They watched as the areas where the bridge met land fell into the river once they were destroyed. In the next instant, the pillars holding up the bridge exploded, followed by the middle, which made the bridge crumble into the river. The screams could be heard from where they were standing when the bridge started to collapse.

When Malachi looked back over to where Azazel was, the area was empty.
No! He was gone!! He knew he couldn’t let him get away, not when he had spent a few lifetimes searching for him and now was so close. He took a step in that direction but was stopped when Tori grabbed his arm.

“You can’t, Malachi!
Not today, not now.” Pointing to where the bridge used to stand, she continued. “There are a lot of people there that will need you and your ability.”

He stared at the spot his great grandfather had just stood.
He wanted more than anything to go after him. His inner demons were struggling with indecision, until Gemariah came over to him.

“Don’t give in man.
This is your chance to prove you’re nothing like him. You have two choices; save or destroy. If you walk away from this, you will be letting people die that you could have helped. Pick the one that makes you a better man. You will find him again and get your chance. I promise!”

He knew everything Gemariah said was true, but it was still hard.
Without saying a word, he squared his shoulders, sheathed his weapon, and turned in the direction of the bridge.

******

“Oh my God!!” Trinity threw her hands out to brace herself at the first shake.

“What? Rin!
What’s going on?” Trinity could hear the panic in her friend’s voice from the phone.

She started looking around frantically for an explanation, and then there was a loud sound of an explosion.
She quickly placed her hands over her ears, but it didn’t stop the now ringing sound coming from them.

Breathing heavy and starting to panic, she looked towards the car that held Katie and Jennifer.
They were clearly scared and started to open their doors to get out when the section of the bridge in front of her car exploded. Dust and debris flew up in the air all the way across the bridge, successfully cutting it in half.

That’s when everything started happening at once.
They were starting to fall. The bridge was actually collapsing!

She could hear Nicci yelling into the phone; wondering what was going on.

“The bridge…The bridge!!!” That was all Trinity got yelled out before she had to brace herself for impact. She didn’t know if she was going to hit water, or pieces of the bridge, but all she could do at his point was hold on. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath…

When she finally hit, it was mostly water.
That didn’t mean it was a soft landing by any means, but she was still alive! Luckily she still had been wearing her seatbelt, but that didn’t stop her from getting knocked around a few times. The injury on the side of her head proved it.

There was a split second of stillness, after the car came to a rest upside down in the river.
It was starting to sink, hood first, and she knew she had to act fast. She pulled herself out the window, but was immediately swept away by the water’s current.

Trinity struggled to keep her head above the water and thought she was going to drown a few different times.
The current would drag her under, spin her every which way, and spit her back out. This happened a few times, and she knew she was losing a lot of energy fighting to stay afloat.

She saw a tree coming up and thought to make a grab for it.
When the time came, she missed the branch she was trying for and the movement sent her spinning under water again. When she surfaced, Trinity blurrily saw another tree up ahead. She knew she didn’t have much more fight in her and this could possibly be her last chance.

She stretched and reached for the tree…she missed.
At the last second her palm skimmed a small twig coming off a branch and she latched onto it for dear life. Grunting from trying to exert more energy than she had, she pulled herself up to the thicker branch and was able to maneuver herself to the trunk.

Trinity was trying frantically to catch her breath but was unsuccessful.
Unbelievably, she made it! Then she started thinking about all the other people on the bridge and wondering how they were fairing. Turning her head the direction she came from, she strained her eyes trying to find anyone, but saw nothing. She noted there were no flashing lights and figured no one had arrived yet.

“What am I going to do?” she mumbled to herself.
Should she try to swim to shore now that she had her bearings back or stay in the tree until someone finds her?

Trinity looked down at herself to judge the condition she was in.
Her arms along with her hands were covered in small wounds from the tree and her entire body felt bruised. That was not including the massive headache she had from when her car fell. Overall, she didn’t think she was strong enough to make it to land.

As she waited there, she marveled in the absolute silence.
She knew there was complete chaos just around the bend, but the sound of the rushing water masked everything else. After a few minutes had passed she heard something new, but couldn’t make out what it was. It sounded like… Oh God! Someone was screaming! 

She looked everywhere, searching for the source, but saw nothing.
At last, she saw a head…no two…go under the water. Other people were coming down the river! When they surfaced, the crying started again and she got a good look at them. It was the girls she had seen on the bridge.

Trinity yelled out, but they couldn’t hear her.
They were about to pass her and she judged that they would be in grabbing distance. She gathered up the rest of her strength and started maneuvering to the other side of the tree. She would have only one chance, but she had to try.

When the girls got closer, Jennifer was the first one to see her.
It looked like she was dragging but was still holding onto Katie with all her might. She started trying to swim with both of them toward the tree while gasping for breath.

Trinity climbed over to the farthest branch she could find and latched on with one hand while stretching out the rest of her body to try and catch them.
The current was so strong that it kept trying to pull her away, but she was holding on too tight.

Finally the girls were close and Trinity knew she had stretched out far enough to try and catch them.
She didn’t know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t the tremendous force of the impact they happened to be. When she caught them, the hit nearly made her lose her grip on the branch.

Jennifer was crying as she clung to her and Katie both.
“Please help us, oh please! Katie is barely moving, and I am so tired. Please!”

“Jennifer!” Trinity snapped.
She felt her grip slipping on the tree and needed the girl to move. “Focus! Pull both of you to the center of the tree and hold on.” She finished with a nod in the right direction. She might have been abrupt, but if Jennifer didn’t start moving, they would all be floating down the river again.

“Okay.”
Jennifer’s voice was shaky, but at least she did as she was told. The girl used Trinity’s body to pull herself over and the whole time Trinity was praying her hand didn’t slip any more than it already had.

Once the girls had passed and were on the tree, she started to climb back as well.

Jennifer was talking a mile a minute and Trinity couldn’t keep up with everything she was saying. “Ms. Bradshaw, what happened? Could you please look at Katie, she’s really hurt? Are you okay? I saw you fall when we were falling. Our car landed on a piece of bridge in the water, but I saw your car upside down and halfway underwater. I thought you didn’t make it. Are you okay?”

Trinity knew she had to check out the other girl, but first cupped Jennifer’s face in her hand.
“Shh…” When Jennifer looked at her, she told her, “We are going to be okay, but I need you to breathe.” She took a few deep breaths in and out until Jennifer copied what she was doing. After a couple minutes, Jennifer eventually calmed slightly down and Trinity moved over to the next girl. 

Jennifer was right; Katie was barely moving, but what she didn’t know was that the girl was also barely breathing.
Looking over Katie’s body, Trinity tried to pinpoint the exact cause, but it was hard because of the circumstances they were in. Admitting that she could do nothing else at this point, she made sure both girls were secure enough in the tree before she situated herself.

Jennifer’s shaking was starting to intensify and Trinity was getting worried that she was going into shock.
She needed to get her mind focused on something else for a little bit. “Hey Jen, can you talk to me about something?”

Jennifer looked confused at her question.

Making her think it was for her benefit, she continued. “I don’t care what about. My nerves are on overdrive and I thought it might help to think of something else. Who knows, maybe it will make the time go faster.”

That was all it took and slowly Jennifer started talking.
She told her about how Katie and she became friends in Kindergarten, all the while gently moving the hair from her friend’s face. She then went on to different topics while Trinity listened. Throughout the conversation, Trinity checked on Katie and occasionally adjusted all of their positions to make them more secure. Unfortunately for them, Trinity also noticed that the water had been slowly rising on the tree.

A good amount of time passed and no one had come for them or even acknowledged that they had been seen.
Trinity could barely make out flashing lights in the distance. As she was looking at the path she had travelled from the bridge, she saw something was headed their way. Initially thinking it was a log, she was glad that it was nowhere near them, but at closer inspection, she saw that it was actually a person.

It was approaching too fast; she wouldn’t be able to make it in time!
Trying anyway, Trinity quickly maneuvered down the tree again. When she grabbed on to the branch to stretch out, she got a closer look at the person and immediately felt like she would be sick. His lifeless eyes were open on a head that was barely attached to the body. Immediately recoiling, Trinity squeezed her eyes shut and turned away.

“Oh God!
Is he…” Jennifer didn’t finish the question. She didn’t have to; Trinity knew what she meant by the catch in her voice.

“Don’t look!
Just…look away.” Trinity was still fighting the bile rising in her throat as she slowly made her way back to the trunk.

They both were so preoccupied with their thoughts that they didn’t see the log coming towards them till it was too late.
Jennifer was the first one to see it and yelled out a warning which made Trinity jerk around. In a moment’s panic, she tried to use a low branch to launch herself out of the water, but instead of the intended result, her ankle got lodged between two branches to successfully pin her in place.

Trinity watched as the large log approached and did the only thing she could think of.
When it finally made it there, she tried to push it away from her but she wasn’t strong enough. It all happened so fast. She pushed out with both arms, but got spun around instead. The movement was so sudden, but the trapped ankle stayed where it had been, causing some damage. When she twisted, the log was shoved to the side, but not far enough. The long side slammed into Trinity’s back so hard that she felt something crack.

After the impact, the log made it around the tree, but Trinity still didn’t move.
She hurt so badly! Staying very still, she tried to assess the situation. Pain, lots of it. When she struggled to take a deep breath in to calm herself, she knew there was some internal damage from the hit. Still trying to stay positive, she tried to pull herself up, but the pain shooting up her leg reminded her that she was well and truly stuck.

This wasn’t good.
The water was still rising and she was low enough now that it wouldn’t be too long until she was completely underneath. Someone had to come, and quick.

“Ms. Bradshaw, are you okay?
Do you need help back up?”