Page 2 of Godslayer
I’m not a god. I’m an augment. Human once, something in between now. So I’m not gonna eat Clara. But Delta’s last words to me up in the tower were pretty ominous.
All gods need food.
Of course, he blinked out immediately after sayin’ this so there was no chance in askin’ any follow-up questions about that statement. And even though I did try and see him again, the bodyguard at the door might as well have been the door itself. When I approached the tower yesterday afternoon, he was shakin’ his head at me from fifty feet away.
Delta isn’t gonna explain anythin’.
The mission—Kill Finn Scott—appeared on my augment screen the moment I left the tower that night Delta showed me the map of the train line. It’s got all the particulars. And the map, which is important. But it doesn’t have a ‘contact me’ form.
No digital address, no high-wave number to call in emergencies, not even a task completion checklist like we had in the Sweep.
It’s just a map and the directive: Kill Finn Scott.
There’s a little asterisk after that, which reads “and his trashy woman sidekick”—which I did not mention to Clara. I mean, I didn’t mention any of this to Clara. I told her it’s an exploratory mission to check out some terror attacks. But I’m certainly not gonna tell her that Lover Boy has moved on.
It’s not a lie, these omissions. Not exactly. That Finn fuckerisa terrorist because he’s blowin’ up towers on the train line.
Anyway. The point is that Delta has pretty much washed his hands of me. Clearly, he doesn’t want updates or he’d have given me a way to contact him.
And this is a bigger issue for me because it implies that he’s set himself up for plausible deniability.
Teenage me would’ve been pretty pissed off about this. But it’s classic Delta. He’s a narcissistic, egomaniacal asshole.
Does he care about the humans who inhabit his city?
Sure, I guess. The way a shepherd cares about his flock of sheep. They are a product. They give him wool and meat.
Delta’s interest in me is tied to what I can do for him.
I might beinthe Game of Gods, but there’s no way that thing sees me as an equal. Or as a player.
“You’re awfully quiet tonight.” Clara’s sweet voice spills over the sound of the waves lapping up onto the sand.
“Just thinkin’ about tomorrow.”
She turns around, still between my legs, and smiles at me. “Are you nervous?”
“No,” I tell her. And I’m not. “I’m just wonderin’ what his game is, ya know?”
“Delta?”
“Yeah. He’s up to something.”
She narrows her eyes, but only a little. “You think it’s a setup?”
I shrug. “I don’t know what it is. That’s the problem with gods, right? They don’t like to explain themselves. And I’m just not that man anymore.”
She touches my face with her soft hand. Sliding her palm right up against my cheek. “A soldier who takes orders?”
Clara is very smart. She reads between the lines. I like that about her.
“Yeah,” I nod. “I don’t wanna work for him.”
She considers this as we stare into each other’s eyes. She’s always looking for more of me. I like that about her too. “Well,” she says, her words soft and meant to soothe. She gets to her feet and offers me her hand. “Then I guess we’ll have to come up with a plan.”
I take her hand and allow her to pull me up, even though I’m much too heavy for her to pull up. “What kind of plan?”
“You know… the old escape-the-evil-overlord plan.”
