Page 18 of Amaros

Chapter Ten

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ZOE WAS STILL HURTINGfrom the truth Amaros had hit her with as she drove through the night.Her mom’s memory of the man who’d impregnated her had been spotty at best.Zoe was pretty sure he’d used a form of mind control on her.She’d seen Amaros send a man from her town scurrying with a flick of his hand.She still didn’t know the full extent of his talents.

It hadn’t been easy growing up in a religious town with an unwedded mother.They’d been treated like pariahs until Zoe had spoken about her visions for the first time.She’d been five years old when she’d told her mom about a neighbor who was in trouble.The old man two houses down from theirs had been sick and needed help.Zoe had described him lying on his kitchen floor right down to what he’d been wearing.

Her mother had called her a liar, but Zoe hadn’t backed down.Ms.Zayden had stormed to his house with her daughter in tow.He hadn’t responded to her knock on the door.She’d rounded to the back of the house and spied the neighbor lying on the floor through the kitchen window.That had been the beginning of Zoe’s life as the town prophet.

Pastor Robert had made sure they had enough money to survive, since her mom had barely scraped in enough money to feed them both.Thanks to the charity of the church, Ms.Zayden had quit work as a parttime waitress at the local diner.She’d homeschooled Zoe, but most of her focus had been on the bible.

Zoe’s visions had been frequent and not always localized.She’d foreseen wars, natural disasters and catastrophes from all around the globe.Every dream and vision she’d received had come true.Although she was a local treasure, word hadn’t spread to other towns.Paster Robert had wanted to keep her talents quiet.It had been a wise decision.She would have quietly disappeared one night if the authorities outside of town had heard about her.Her mom probably would have been taken as well.The government would have locked them both up to study them.

The rage that simmered inside Zoe was a different story.It had appeared at puberty and had only grown stronger over time.It hadn’t been easy to release her pent-up emotions with her mom always nearby.She’d had to wait until her mother took a shower, then covered her face with her pillow and screamed until her anger subsided.

Zoe had only used a different method to expel her rage once.It had happened during the religious retreat a couple of years back, after she’d snuck away to spend an hour with the guy she’d slept with.She’d been on her way back to the hotel when a man had stepped out in front of her.She’d immediately known he was bad news.

“Look at this,” he’d drawled, eyeing her up and down sleazily.“It’s not even my birthday and a present just fell into my lap.”

He’d reached for Zoe and she’d knocked his hand away.The brief contact had been enough to trigger a vision.She’d seen him accosting other young women, leaving them broken and suicidal.Her rage had overwhelmed her and she’d slapped him so hard that he’d been knocked out cold.She’d heard a sickening crack as he’d fallen, but she’d taken off before anyone could see her.

The Zaydens had returned home the next day.Zoe had deliberately avoided watching the news for the next couple of weeks.She didn’t want to know if he’d broken his skull open when he’d hit the ground.Or maybe the crack had been his neck breaking from the force of her slap.

Shuddering at the memory, she shoved it back into the deep recesses of her mind.It was too dangerous to let her emotions get away from her again.Screaming and startling birds and animals into fleeing was far safer than expelling her rage physically.

Speaking of the news, Zoe put her earbuds in and listened to the latest broadcast on her cell phone.So far, the internet was still working.There were enough people left behind to keep things operational.The shock was still profound, but it would eventually wear off.Once it did, everything was sure to break down.There wouldn’t be electricity, easily accessible clean water or mass food production.Pastor Robert had painted a grim picture of what the planet would be like after the First Resurrection.

“Air travel is still cancelled, due to the upheaval caused by the mysterious disappearances of so many people,” the anchor was saying.“It could be weeks or even months before international travel is possible.It appears threats of nuclear war have died down.Every country has suffered the same catastrophe.Surviving world leaders and their new counterparts have all agreed that no single country can be held to blame.”

“That’s a relief,” Zoe murmured too quietly for her companions to hear her.The world was going through enough hell without blowing each other up to finish the job.

So far, every town they’d driven through or around had been chaotic.No one had been truly prepared for this outcome.Even preppers had assumed nuclear bombs would wipe Americans out.There had been reports of reclusive camouflage wearing men and women murdering their neighbors simply for checking up on them.They didn’t want anyone to encroach on their turf.

Madness like that would be rife.Everyone was going to be suspicious and paranoid now.Like Zoe, a lot of people would feel betrayed and angry that they were stuck here.If the man she’d slapped to the ground had died, it could be another reason why she’d been shunned.Murder was way worse than sleeping with someone she wasn’t married to.

Amaros must have sensed her rising emotions.He shifted and opened one eye to check on her.She kept her gaze straight ahead and clamped down on her thoughts.He reached over and touched her knee, offering her some reassurance.“Everything will be okay, Zoe,” he vowed quietly.