Cyrus Noble Chapter 19

I was back in the Dam. It felt like it was years ago. I lead the black haired, leathery winged girl by her hand down a hallway. Alarms were still blaring. The poor girl was still confused, she had no idea what was going on. I made a turn and stopped immediately. There were at least four different squads of troopers. They were wearing strange armor, different from the others I faced. They were whitish, gray and they had clear plastic clubs. Somewhere in between them there was a scientist with his hands on the shoulders of a boy with red hair. The boy looked at me with conflicted feelings of joy, fear, and awe. I could see it in his eyes. With my claws and fangs extended fully, I charged the soldiers. I could feel Megan behind me, ready to fight with me. I woke up before I confronted the soldiers. I looked around and saw that the sun was peaking over the horizon. I sighed. A new day. I looked over to Jazz and tapped her shoulder twice. She woke up and started rubbing her eyes. I tapped Megan and Viktor's knee to wake them up. I said, "Wake up guys. We have something we need to do." I got out and went to the back. After opening the door, I lifted Gabe up enough to open the floor board under him. It had a tarp for whatever reasons it was in there. With Jazz's and Longarm's help, we lay Gabe out the tarp and wrapped him in it. All before any kind of mall cop could see us. I saw a graveyard across the street from the mall. I carried Gabe's body across the street with the guys close behind me. At the graveyard I saw a church behind it. I thought of something. We don't have shovels. Crap. Viktor says to me, "Cyrus. We have company." I looked over to the church again and saw that we've been spotted by an old man. He couldn't have been a threat, but we all took a battle stance, just in case. He came up to us and said, "Is there something wrong?" Sara stepped out in front of me. I sent every thought of urgency, panic, and anger towards her, but she shut me out completely. Her voice was small and almost made a tear come down my cheek, "Our friend needs a funeral. But we don't have any shovels." She looked down and sobbed quietly. It was sprinkling lightly. The old man looked at me and all I could do was nod, confirming his questioning face. He asked, "Did he have a family?" I shook my head. "No. We were all he had." He looked puzzled. "No relatives?" I shook my head. He looked at all of us. He said, "I have a few shovels you can borrow. If you'd like, I could recite a passage for the funeral to be proper." I was going to say "That's not necessary." but after a glance from Sara's teary eyes I said, "That would be great. Thank you." Jazz and I dug the hole. Within the hour, we were lowering Gabe's body into the hole. Megan came back with flowers she must have found nearby. I didn't even notice that she left. She handed one flower per person. Sara went up to the grave and said, "I'm sorry you were like this Gabe. You were a good person. I'll miss you. But don't worry, I'll see you in heaven before you know it." She dropped the flower in and ran over to me, hugging my leg. I felt a tear run from my eye. It was amazing to me that she had such bravery in her. Magnet went to the grave. He said, "I'm sorry I couldn't save you Gabe. You were a good friend. If it means anything, I think of you kinda like a cousin, or maybe a brother. I don't care what those crazy scientists say, you were a somebody. You were a hero." He dropped his flower and walked over to Jazz. She comforted him while Megan went over to the grave. "I didn't know what you were when I first saw you. I thought you were a monster of some kind, but you're not. Farthest thing from it. Without you, we would have never have made it out. We'll never forget that." She dropped her flower in and walked over to a hug from Jazz, Magnet, and Sara. Viktor's turn. He kept his head down and just felt the flower in his hand. He said, "You did good with what was given to you." He dropped his in and joined us. Jazz's turn. "I wish I could have gotten to know you better. I would have been more than happy to include you into our little family." She dropped her flower and joined us, wiping a tear from her eye. OK. Here I go. I walked over to the grave. I looked at the tarp, imagining the deformed corpse under it, then I looked at the small flower in my hand. I said, "There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said. You were all of those things, Gabe. Despite of what you were, and what they did to you, you turned around and done something that no one else would have done. You will always have a special place in our hearts. Thank you, Gabe. Thank you for saving us." I dropped the flower and watch it flutter to the ground with the other flowers. I told the pastor that we appreciated his assistance and that we would also appreciate if he could not tell anybody about us. He only smiled and said, "What happened is between you and the Lord now. I was never here." He walked away to the church. I probably shouldn't have trusted him, nah, he seemed pretty cool. I finished filling up the hole. We walked away from the grave and down the sidewalk. The sun came out and was shining brightly on all of us. Sara was holding my hand as she walked. In my mind, she said, Cyrus? I responded, Yeah bud? I feel.....good. Or, at least, better than I did before. Is that normal? I nodded. It has to be, because I feel the same way. And I'm sure the others do too. She beamed at me and we continued to walk in..........did that Punk say we were in Chicago?