World Ashen

Chapter 23 - Cayler

Kenneth was right about the gym. The closer we got, Piper and my sister's conversation got louder. Piper spoke in swift and angry German. Gavriel and Aaliyah handed Mary-Anne, B.J., Laya, Olivia, and me our guns. Gavriel threw the doors open. Amy and Piper were both tied to chairs and a blonde-haired man had his face in Piper's. She pulled away, cursing in German. Amy nudged Piper, who turned to her and us. "Knife," Piper mouthed. Chucking it to her crossed my mind, but I didn't want to risk hitting her. Instead, I threw it at the man who "caught" it with his back. We all ran toward the two women. Gavriel killed the man while B.J. and Olivia cut Piper and Amy's bonds.

"Cayler! You-you came," my older sister said, hugging me.

"Of course, I came. Let's get you out of here." Maybe getting out is easier than entering? It's not. Gavriel and B.J. fired in front of us as we dashed toward the door, and once we got outside, we threw the grenades into some broken windows and ran. After the explosion, we started walking and reunited with Kenneth and a woman named Mary. Gavriel carried her back to New Haven, where the ladies had their wounds checked.

"Piper, I'm sorry. Peter died yesterday." August said. "You can choose what to do with him."

Piper sighed, closed her eyes, and said a Jewish prayer called the Mourner's Kaddish. She opened her eyes again. "Let's see how sick these Psychos are." Piper turned to Peter. "Sorry, little brother," Piper said. Jensen told Sarah-April to grab Wyatt and a couple of other men, then bring them to her. Once Wyatt, Jace, Jack, and Jackson arrived, Piper shook her head. "We're going to burn him, and once they smell burning flesh, they'll come running. I believe they're flensers. Who knows?"

I doubted anyone liked the idea, but it had to be done. They laid Peter on the table, face down. Alex grabbed a large pole and tied him to it. I guess the funeral would be a little different this time. Normally, we'd just burn the body in one of New Haven's many warehouses. When that was done, we'd place the bones in a metal container with the name of the person on it. We'd bury the bones in July when the temperature was around 56 to 33 degrees.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Alex asked, checking the knots. Piper nodded, looking at her younger brother one last time. Wyatt and Jack carefully took the pole outside, and Jace and Jensen followed. About an hour and a half later, screams and explosions were in the vicinity. I assumed Piper's plan had worked, and I got my answer five minutes later when they came back.

Jace shook his head. "It worked a little too well. There were at least fifty Psychos there, and a little more than half got caught in the blasts."

"They really are flensers," Jackson sighed. All of us stood in silence as Jensen stared at his wife, sending a silent message.

"Jensen, I think they'll catch on soon," Piper said.

"Piper, I think they're hungry enough," Jensen said.

"Wouldn't they just eat their own?" I asked.

Piper and Jensen looked at me. "Maybe."

Jensen turned to his brother and others, "do it again." Without making a sound, they leave again, using one of the dead in the sunroom.

"We can't win this with the same old strategy," I said.

"We might as well try. Can you get me a wheelchair? August probably won't mind me borrowing one of hers."

"Sure," I said as I walked over to the doctor, who was working on a man's wounds.

"Certainly. One's in the basement. Bring the pink one up, too, please."

It was pitch black and freezing down in the basement, so I quickly got the pink wheelchair, which seemed to be August's from when she was a kid, and a black one too. Both had AMH on the back. Once I was back upstairs, Iris screamed, then went silent, unconscious. She laid on August's table, left leg gone. "Do you? think she'll make it?"