Jace Orwell's Story

The water felt great against Jace's skin. He had re-purposed an old water processing facility to purify the demon's blood from water. It had taken the help of thirteen mechanics, fifty of the local survivors and a week's work but they finally had their first working bathtub. Jace had gathered these people together and had created a small town based out of the facility and surrounding aqueducts. It was brilliant and while on the outside Jace was humble, within his soul pride swelled. It was the first time he had felt like he was useful to humanity. In gratitude the 'townsfolk' had given him first crack at a much needed bath. He hadn't had a bath since this whole invasion thing started, it felt nice to finally clean some of the caked demonic blood from his body. Not to mention he was able to return his hair to it's natural white instead of the dark reddish brown it had become.
The sound of automatic weapons ended Jace's sweet relief. The false priest pulled himself out of the tub as the door to what had been deigned The Public Baths was kicked in. There stood three men decked in swat uniforms with assault rifles. Jace, who stood completely naked, stared the men down.
"We heard there was water. We want it." Said the man standing in front. He had a short beard and wore a black skull cap. His chunky build made Jace think of Zach Galifianakis. "You may have some, provided you drop your weapons."
"What'chu think we are? Stupid?" The second man was much younger than the first, and far thinner. His long brown hair covered most of his face. Jace simply stared at him.
"The streakers givin' us the evil eye." The third man had a strong Australian accent. He looked far more threatening and professional than the other two. A nice muscular build and shorter hair than wouldn't get in the way had his aim. Jace was a little curious as to what he was doing with this bunch. "I say we just kill 'em. He annoys me."
Jace shook his head then stomped on the paved floor of the facility. The pavement cracked, leaving a few large chunks of the floor separated. Jace slowly pushed one of the chunks onto to even ground with his foot as the three men took a step forward and steadied their aim. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children." Jace was fairly new to the whole priest thing and often found himself quoting pop culture rather than the actual bible. Quentin Tarantino's version of Ezekial 25:17 had gotten him through many a fight.
"The bugger spouting Pulp Fiction at us?" Jace kicked the chunk of pavement at the Aussie man, the stone had enough force behind it that it split the bandit in half. This was followed by a loud crack as Jace kicked off he floor with all his strength, leaving two new dents in the ground. "And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers!" The force behind Jace's thrust put him at the bearded man in no time and there was a loud cracking sound as Jace shoved his fist through the man's large chest. With his free hand he pulled a pistol from the now dead bandit's belt and shot the one with the long hair right between the eyes. "And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you!" Jace slowly pulled his arm from the large bandits chest, cleaned up one last time in the tub, and got dressed. From his bag he pulled three novelty cross necklaces, stuff they gave to kids in Sunday school when they remembered their verses or something like that, and placed one around each of the bandit's necks. "May you find peace in the next life."
Now it was time for him to leave. Jace needed to move on, others would need his help and despite the cries of protest from the villagers Jace walked away.

It was a day later. Jace was travelling through some old apartment buildings, collecting what supplies he could and looking for survivors he could help. He had ran into a group of Lusters earlier, first fight with demons in a long time. It was good to know he still knew how to handle himself. The isolation was nice, it allowed him to drop his facade as a godly man for just a little bit. Jace wasn't meant to be a priest but he felt someone had to lead the people. No one seemed to be trying to help each other. The world had become so selfish. Jace hit the buzzer on one of the apartment buildings and yelled "Have you heard the good news about Jesus?" It was a joke, he knew the buzzers didn't work and he liked to mock Jehovah witnesses when he thought he was alone. Out of the corner of his eye he saw some white feathers. Wings of an angel He took off trying his best to follow the divine being.Every step as he ran gave away his position, Jace wasn't used to his strength yet and when he ran he crushed the ground beneath himself. He lost the angel in an alley and in frustration starting yelling out "I know you're here angel-messenger-thing! Come out! I have some questions damnit!"

Large, something large was charging right toward her alley-way. Lily froze momentarily as she waited for the Awareness to guide her aim. How had she not noticed it before? She'd been so startled from the fall that she must have turned her attention to not dying more than paying attention to her surroundings. Stupido! she chided herself, grimacing. She picked up the pace and lightly jogged out of the alleyway, ducking around the corner and dropping to a knee. Cocking the bow and arrow back, she slowly leaned around the corner. She was still waiting for her Awareness to guide her, but her arm wouldn't tingle. She knit her brow in frustration, "Now is not the time, body!" she whispered to herself. She waited there, as the already deafening thumps grew louder and closer. Terrified, her body began to hum as her heart rate sped up and she began to perspire. She knew the alley-way was long, the dumpsters, the boxes, a crate up and to the left, a couple of escape stairs hanging down. Nothing moved. But that thumping! Breathing in deep she waited as the thumping came into the alleyway.

"Che diavolo?" She murmured as the figure of a man ran into the alleyway. His footfalls seemed to match up with the demon's terribly heavy footfalls. Whatever it was, it was big, and this poor man was obviously running for his life. She could feel the desperation rolling off of him. Poor thing... he must be so fright- her thoughts were cut short as the man's frustrated voice called out, "I know you're here angel-messenger-thing! Come out! I have some questions damnit!" Lily's mouth dropped open and she nearly fell over. She would have laughed if her body wasn't still coursing with adrenaline 'Angel-messenger-thing'? What the...? Her world went completely dark as disbelief caused her to let go of her Awareness.

She could hear the man's breathing as her mind went into overdrive. Is he talking to me? How do I know he's not one of those male demons? Those footfalls... it's impossible that he's human... then again, I have wings now, so... He was about the height of those brutish demoni, then again, he didn't really look like them... did he? Chi lo sa! Her heart still pounding, the lack of sight, and the glitch in the Awareness were confusing her. Taking a deep breath, she knew she needed to make a decision: Alert this being of her presence, or undo her tie and fly as quickly as she could from this place. Okay Lil, what are the possibilities? Prima: he's a whole new kind of demonio who's quite possibly stronger than any you've ever encountered and the minute you say hi you'll die... or... secondo... secondo what? He doesn't have wings so there's no way he's like me... but my arms wouldn't aim, the Awareness wasn't kicking in so I couldn't have been in complete danger. Okay then, terzo: play it safe and confront the thing but be ready to fly in a moment's notice. Bene... bene. Here goes... something! Lilliana adjusted her coat so that it wasn't on but simply draped over her shoulders, successfully camouflaging her wings, took a deep breath and tapped into the Awareness. Giving her a sense of where the man stood again, she aimed her arrow at his forehead, but ready to grab her quick-release knot if needed, she stood and stepped forward, keeping the man in her aim. "Piacere, signore!" Lily called out, "You look like you're having a great day." She smirked sarcastically as she braced herself for the worst.