Until We Break (8 page)

Bethos continued his speech. “If you have a chance, please pay your respects to our guests. Some of them are former professors here, some are alums, and others are just friends. But with them here, I feel we can begin the liberation of Upton and our counterattack against Zero Grade. Please listen for further instructions. Thank you.”

* * *

Maya didn’t greet the guests; she just wasn’t up for it. Instead, she returned to the infirmary and stared at Ev’s unconscious form. All the muck had been cleaned off him, and he didn’t have any apparent injuries, so it looked like he was merely sleeping. His expression was neutral, yet Maya could feel a deep sadness within him. He had gone home to save his mother, yet had clearly failed. She had experienced the sudden loss of her parents even earlier than him, but she wasn’t sure she knew how he felt. If Anni had been killed by Zero Grade, it must have been even more horrible than the deaths of the Brünharts.

Someone came in and stood beside her. It was CiCi. “I’m so sorry, Maya.” She wasn’t wearing makeup, and her demeanor completely lacked her usual cheeriness. Her hair lay sprawled across her back.

“What happened to Ev wasn’t your fault,” Maya said.

“I’m not talking about just Ev. Between his comatose state and my addiction, you’re under so much stress right now. If I had just stayed clean, you wouldn’t be suffering so much.”

“But I’d still be suffering all the same. Please don’t blame yourself. That’ll just make me suffer even more.”

“I’m s—I mean, all right.”

Maya said, “How’s your detox going?”

CiCi shrugged. “It’s going. I feel like every part of my body wants to puke, but I’m getting through it. I feel like my suffering is, you know, better than being addicted. At least now I know I’m doing the right thing.”

Maya turned away from Ev to look her friend in the eyes. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“You said you started doing drugs because you had a lot of anxiety. Where did that anxiety come from?”

CiCi sighed.

“I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s just… I don’t want to badmouth my parents. They love me and want me to succeed.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here.”

“But that’s the problem. They were always pushing me so hard. Failure wasn’t an option. I had to have perfect attendance in school. I had to have good grades. I had to make the honor roll. I spent my childhood constantly worrying about inevitably screwing up. And I
did
screw up. Many times. And every time I did, the punishment was severe. So when I broke my leg and got painkillers, they took the edge off for the first time in forever. I couldn’t go back to the way things were before. I ended up in a downward spiral which sent my grades plummeting. My parents became harsher than ever and the need to do drugs just got stronger. Mom and Dad were relieved I eventually got accepted to a good school, even if was one they’d never heard of. Things between us are still weird, though. I think… I think I’ll never be truly free of drugs until I mend our relationship.”

“I’m sorry,” Maya said. “I had no idea.”

“It’s not something I like to talk about. Up until now, I’ve just pushed it to the back of my mind and tried to forget about it. Thanks for listening, Maya. I already told the Academy shrink in our last session, but it feels better confiding in a friend.”

Maya smiled. “I’m glad I was able to help.”

* * *

The faculty and its guests were crowded around a map of Upton in the Academy’s largest conference room. Bethos, scrunched between Baldr and Mac, pointed at it and said, “This is our target. We have to take it back from Zero Grade.”

“All of its citizens are dead. I assume this battle is to avenge them?” Mac said.

From behind them, Izanami said, “We must bury them. Zero Grade certainly won’t.”

“I concur,” Izanagi said.

“Whoever heard of a battle to bury the dead?” Mac said.

“It is common decency,” Baldr argued.

“Forget why we’re doing it,” Brandon said from across the table. “What’s the plan?”

Bethos explained, “The town is still covered in smoke, so Zagreus must still be alive. Son Goku will use his staff to dispel it. Then, four teams will complete the assault from north, south, east and west. Stay sharp; we have no idea what kind of resistance you’ll encounter when you arrive in Upton.”

Chapter VI

Son Goku hovered above Upton. True to Bethos’ report, the town was still enveloped in Zagreus’ deadly smoke.
Well
, he thought mischievously,
time to do something about that
.

He removed the staff with the golden band—called Jingu Bang—that he traditionally had strapped to his back and held it above his head. It was similar to Atlas’ boulder in that its size could be adjusted at will. He began twirling it and it proceeded to grow to several miles in length. Nevertheless, it’s weight stayed the same.

He lowered himself down to the top of the smoke and used Jingu Bang to instantly funnel it up into the sky. Any other god could accomplish this by generating wind, but Son Goku’s staff was much faster.

When this was done, he sat the bottom of the staff on the street, with its other end high in the sky—the signal to begin the attack.

“
Intruder
,” a voice rasped. A multitude of refghasts rose up from the ground and out of the walls of buildings.

Son Goku brought Jingu Bang down to a more manageable size. “You dare insult the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven by offering him lowly rabble? You’ll pay for this disrespect.”

* * *

Maya, Jaysin and Mac were part of the team that entered Upton from the north. It was mostly farm country in this part of town, but Maya still thought they should have brought more people with them.

A vast army of refghasts emerged from the nearby cornfields to greet them like unholy scarecrows. There must have been at least a thousand of them. This was going to take a while.

Maya unloaded on them with her arrows and Jaysin brained them with his staff. The demoic beings went down easy enough, but there were so many of them.

Mac shouted to them, “Maya! Jaysin! Go on ahead. We’ll deal with this nuisance shortly.”

In between arrows, Maya replied, “But what about you? You’re greatly outnumbered here.”

He said simply, “I am
never
outnumbered.” Raising his spear above his head, he yelled something in a language they didn’t understand.” Almost instantly, a large number of warriors appeared. They shone with a magnificent brilliance and hurried to his side. This had to be the mythical Fianna he was said to have commanded in the previous universe. No wonder he didn’t need reinforcements; he always had them on standby.

Satisfied that Mac was well taken care of, Maya and Jaysin headed towards the center of town, slaughtering packs of refghasts here and there with ease.

“We need to go check on something,” she said.

“What?” Jaysin said.

“It’s just… something I need to see for myself.”

* * *

Maya led the way to Ev’s mother’s house and they forced their way inside. The scene that awaited them was almost grisly beyond words. Anni’s mutilated body, along with the floor still damp with blood, made them throw up.

“Bethos be damned!” Jaysin said as he tried to keep it in. “I can’t believe they did this!”

“Let’s get out of here,” Maya said before rushing out the door.

Once their stomachs settled down, Jaysin said, “Why in the name of all that is holy didja want to see that?”

“I didn’t
want
to see that,” she said. “I had to know for sure if Ev’s mom was really dead.”

“I think it goes beyond simple curiosity.”

She debated whether or not she should tell him the full truth. “When Ev wakes up, he’s going to need my help moving forward. I didn’t think I could help him unless I knew his pain. I had to see what he saw here.

“Yeah, well, we saw it, and I don’t think I can ever forget it. So if it’s all the same to you, let’s get a move on and finish cleaning up this town.”

“Hey!”

They looked across the street, where a homeless man was standing atop a house. “He must have climbed up there to escape the smoke,” she said.

She began walking towards the stranger. Jaysin grabbed her arm. “Wait a second.”

She turned around to give him an impatient look. “What?”

“The smoke completely covered every house in this town. If he was up there, he should be dead. This guy’s no mortal.”

The man shrugged and slowly clapped. “Bravo. I may have just found someone I can sink my balls into. The name’s Zagreus. I’m the son of Hades.”

“Zero Grade.” Maya spat the words like poison.

“Let’s skip the introductions,” Jaysin said to him. “We already know we’re enemies. Only one side’s leaving this town alive.”

“Ohhhhh, you’re scary!” Zagreus pantomimed terrified shaking. “That other guy also acted tough, but my dad put him in his place.”

“Are you talking about Ev?” Maya said.

“Yeah, I think that’s what Dad said his name was.
Was
being the operative word since he’s dead now.”

“The hell he is,” Jaysin said.

“Whatever. Even if you don’t believe me—”

“But he’s
not
dead,” Maya said. “We have him. He’s recovering at the Academy.”

Zagreus repied, “Tsk. You’re telling the truth, aren’t you? Dad must have yurred this up. Oh, well, there’s a first time for everything. Time for me to drop some bodies!”

“What are you gonna do?” Jaysin said. “We got rid of your smoke.”

Zagreus put several oversized cigars in his mouth. “Dumbasses. I can always make more, just like Dad can always make more refghasts.” He took a long inhale, and then expelled a large cloud of smoke from his mouth. It swept over them, causing Maya to start coughing.

They leapt onto the roof of Anni’s house, but the smoke quickly enveloped that as well. When they tried flying upwards, it solidified into hands which dragged them back down into it. They were trapped in it, coughing and gasping for fresh air.

More hands appeared and began wailing on them. Maya was punched in the face, resulting in her spitting blood. She heard Jaysin grunting in pain as the hands worked him over as well.

“Not so tough now, are you?” Zagreus said.

She managed to fight off the hands long enough to launch a few arrows at where she thought his voice was coming from. However, that only elicited demeaning laughter.

       “

We’re getting nowhere here!” Jaysin said.

She continued swatting the hands with her bow. “Tell me something I don’t know!”

“Unh! If CiCi were here, she could use her freaky eyeballs to tell us where Zagreus is.”

A hand went for her throat and began throttling her before she could knock it loose. “Well, she’s not here. But I have an idea. Hit the ground at our feet with your staff.”

“Are you cra—wait, that’s it! Brilliant idea. I need to find you, first.”

“Just follow the sound of my voice.”

He grunted again. “Damn hands! They’re getting all grabby. Keep talking.” His coughing was getting worse.

“We have to defeat Zagreus, Jaysin. This is our chance to make an impression on all the veteran gods at the Academy. Think of the grade we’ll get for completing this mission.”

“There you are!” A slender object cut through the smoke. Her stomach lurched as she felt gravity suddenly—and violently—reverse, sending her upwards. She grabbed the staff, taking Jaysin with her into the sky.

Once they were free of the smoke, Maya—now upside-down—took stock of her surroundings. Zagreus, still in the same spot, was now gawking at them. She fired off an arrow at him, which he sidestepped. However, it was an ice arrow, and within moments it froze the roof he was standing on and encased his feet. “Dammit! Bitch! Let me go!”

“You don’t seriously expect me to do that, do you?” she said, rolling her eyes. “Jaysin! Now!”

Just below her, he replied, “Got it!” He flew down and thrust at the ice, shattering it—and Zagreus’ legs. The hobo god yelled before falling onto the roof a few feet shorter, his thighs ending in icy chunks.

Maya joined Jaysin on the roof, being careful not to slip before readying her bow. “This is an explosive arrow I have aimed at your head,” she said.

Zagreus let out a bitter laugh while probing what was left of his legs. “You think you’ve won, bitch?”

“Yes, I think I have.”

“In your dreams! Maybe you haven’t noticed, but there’s nothing but me and refghasts here.”

Jaysin cocked an eyebrow. “So?”