Division X by August Hill

Author:August Hill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brother Mockingbird
Published: 2022-10-12T17:57:03+00:00

13

On his way to the Rugby pitch, Briggs imagines what his boy will look like. He hasn’t seen him in two years, so he’s probably much taller, and maybe even stronger. He wonders if he’s been lifting like he did at his age, but then he removes the thought from his mind. His childhood is nothing like his son’s, especially at the eighth grade level.

Briggs finds his wife on the sidelines with the other parents cheering on a runner as he dashes for the try line. He claps with the parents after the boy touches the ball down, then nudges his wife on the shoulder during the applause. She sees him out of uniform and freezes with an excitement she hasn’t felt since he’s been gone. Reading her elation from her expression, Briggs lowers his guard, revealing a man desperate for her love. He knows it’s only been two years, but it’s felt like a lifetime. They embrace, kissing more passionately than they did at their wedding.

For the rest of the game, Briggs watches over his son. He’s too afraid to speak up, or shout encouraging words, but his heart is with him. Seeing this in him, his wife shouts for them both.

When the match ends, the two teams shake hands before departing to grab their equipment. Briggs watches his son grab his things and chat with a few friends while his heart tightens in his chest. He’s unable to believe he’s about to say hello to him again. Has it really been two years? As his son approaches, his vision of him clears, and he starts to cry. He is just how he remembers him in every way, and when his son finally sees him, he stops in his tracks. Briggs reads the disbelief in his eyes and holds out his hand, encouraging him to come closer, so he does. Step by step he nears, the tears in his eyes building. When he’s just outside arms reach, he says to his father, “Save us from Hell,” and reaches for him, but just before their fingers touch, a blast erupts beside Briggs, and a bullet blows half his son’s face from his skull.

Turning with a thundering bellow, Briggs punches the gunman in the cheek, who shakes off the hit and grabs him by the throat screaming, “Snap out of it!” Briggs blinks to find himself back in the school with Diego grasping his neck. He shakes him off and twists trying to find his son or wife, but nothing’s beside him save the shadows of what was. But in the gloom of the locker-filled hall, he spots a large hobbling creature, winged like a demon, retreating into the dark. “Don’t make eye contact,” Diego repeats from their mission briefing. Briggs storms down the hall after the vampire. The figure cackles, half human in its appearance, and rounds the first corner it can. Quick to follow but unable to find, Briggs opens fire the instant he clears the turn and hits nothing.

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