They Called Her the Devil

Chapter 44, Xander

Daniel was dead and it was all my fault.

He should have had more time to grieve after Nora's death. I should have argued more when he demanded to keep fighting. I should have insisted he stay with his son.

Daniel's son was five. Alex had lost a mother a few days ago and now his father was gone too. Daniel had pushed through his grief to help us stop the Gold Order, and it'd gotten him killed.

Even worse I'd let Rachel go. She would definitely tell Gold about the alliance and we'd lose our contact with Gold. I'd have to figure out a whole new strategy. But I could worry about that later.

I'd volunteered to clean out Daniel's tent. It was the least I could do while little Alex settled in with Leo's parents. I took a deep breath and unzipped the tent.

It had the usual air mattress in the middle but there was a smaller one for Alex off to the side. There were a few shelves of clothes against one wall.

I walked over to the pile of clothes and a tear ran down my cheek as I saw boxes of women's clothing that hadn't been moved. Nora's clothes.

Then my sadness vanished when I saw a box containing a jacket, a pair of pants, and a ski mask, all bright orange. Don't-kill-me-I'm-attacking-you-for-the-game-orange.

Daniel had always bragged about never being Challenger.

Forgetting my packing duties I ripped open the tent door and took off sprinting towards the one person who could give me answers.

Leo had gone to help bury Daniel and I didn't remember who else had been at the let's-all-betray-Xander-and-kill-people meeting.

I sprinted past tent after tent until I reached the tent we used as a makeshift prison. I told the guard to take a ten-minute break and grab some food at the mess hall. He gladly agreed.

Then I walked inside and saw the Order's only prisoner. A woman who'd betrayed me, advocated killing 25 million innocents, and attempted to kill me.

Since we didn't have cells Kristin had a chain around her ankle that was attached to a metal stake driven into the concrete floor. She had a small air mattress and nothing else in her five feet of moving space.

"Xander. I was wondering if you'd survived my little gift."

"Good to see you too Kris. How're they treating you?"

"Oh it's absolutely wonderful, I get three meals a day and supervised bathroom breaks every four hours. So how's the rest of the Order reacting to your little betrayal?"

"I seem to recall you betrayed me, Kris. And they all took it better than you did."

"Shame they're all idiots. Hopefully, Gold's plan works before Death pink mists us."

"That's not happening Kris. But that's not why I'm here. I'm guessing you remember that meeting where I found out you'd betrayed me."

"What about it."

"Was Daniel late to the meeting?"

Kristin considered it for a moment.

"Yes, he was. He came in out of breath and had a cut on his chin. I just assumed he'd realized he was late and tripped while running there. How is Dan anyway?"

So Daniel had tipped me off about the secret meeting. He'd risked a lot to save everyone. He hadn't betrayed me at all.

"The Gold Order killed him."

"Shame. Why does it matter if he was late to a meeting though?"

"You don't even care?"

I knew Kristin was cold but I didn't think she was heartless.

"I care about killing Death and his daughter. Not much else. Speaking of which how it the alliance going?"

"Perfectly."

"That's good, too bad it won't last. I was the only one in contact with Gold, he'll get suspicious when I don't contact him."

Then I realized how to solve the problem I'd caused by letting Rachel go.

"Have you thought about what'll happen to you in a few weeks. You see we can't keep you here forever. And we can't exactly let you go after you tried to kill me."

"You'd really have the balls to execute me for that?"

Kristin laughed. I was surprised she'd care so little about her own death. Of course, I was bluffing and she could probably tell.

"You tried to kill me. I won't hesitate to kill you if I have too. But I have a better offer. If you stay in contact with Gold and help us stop him I can offer you a full pardon."

"You want me to help you get us all killed in exchange for you not killing me?"

"I want you to help me save 25 million people in exchange for your life. Do you really want to die in chains, kneeling in the square?"

"Caitlyn died like that. Death executed her in front of a crowd when John's escape plan failed. I'd rather die on stage in the square than help you save her murderer."

Caitlyn was Kristin's sister who'd infiltrated the Legion a few years ago. When her cover was blown my dad had sent a team to get her to safety but they'd all been captured and publicly executed for 'treason'.

"I don't give a fuck about saving Death. I want to save the millions of people that would be collateral damage. If you really want to avenge Caitlyn you'll help me."

"How would helping you possibly avenge my sister?"

I then made a decision that would probably get me killed at some point.

"Because if you help I'll give you Daniel's old position as my fourth in command."

"You'd seriously make me fourth in command after I tried to kill you, you're dumber than you look, Xander. What do I have to do?"

I smiled.

Kristin and I spent the next five minutes going over the plan for tomorrow. All Kristin really wanted was to kill Death; if I gave her a way to do that she'd be loyal.

When the guard came back I explained everything to him and, ignoring his look of surprise when I told him I was promoting my attempted murderer, had him unchain Kristin.

Now I just needed to figure out how to tell Leo I'd replaced a man who'd given his life for the Silver Order with a woman who'd betrayed me and tried to kill me.

***

Hello readers! Are you surprised the Daniel was the challenger? Will Kristin betray Xander as his new fourth in command? What's the plan? Please vote and comment, I want to know what you think!

-Jade