Zeke and his group had been walking for miles. The progress felt non-existent as the cathedral in the distance didn’t pull any inches closer to them, like being trapped in a nightmare with a never-ending hallway.

But there were worse places to be perpetually journeying in, like under the scorching sun and shoveling heavy hot sand with your feet—like Moses and his group did for 40 years on their way to the Promised Land, which was the story Isaac told verbatim from the Bible.

Zeke felt bad for not paying attention to much of it and being more fascinated by how the others reacted. AJ definitely didn’t care about not paying attention. Ugo just kept looking at Naomi back and forth, probably fantasizing about a thousand different scenarios that result in them being together, their following marriage, theme, location, and everything until the moment they die surrounded by their children, grandchildren, each of them already named in his head and with their personalities picked out. But there was also a noticeable struggle in his expression. Naomi was the only one paying full attention to Isaac. Bless her.

“Why don’t the rest of the Tainted Generation come to help us?” Naomi asked.

Zeke was startled, caught off guard, not realizing that Isaac’s story had already ended and a new conversion was happening. One that he was interested in.

“Unfortunately, not everyone has their schedules cleared to tag along on an adventure like this,” Isaac responded.

“Or they are all just being assholes like Vee,” Ugo added. “She brags about being able to survey us throughout the day and doesn’t show up during a crisis like this?”

Isaac exchanged a look with Zeke. With his dim gray eyes, he said, ‘It’s okay, I won’t say anything.’

“Do you know the rest of the members of the Tainted Generation?” AJ asked Isaac.

“Yes, I do. A bunch of talented and passionate folk,” Isaac answered.

“I’d like to meet them all,” Naomi said, “so far, you’re all so kind.”

“Well… they aren’t all exactly… amicable, little one,” Isaac lamented. “Especially towards your kind.”

Naomi lowered her head. “Oh…” She looked down at her hands and twiddled with her thumbs for a while. “I hope angels and the Healers get along soon….”

AJ scoffs. “Well, maybe you guys should do a better job.”

Naomi looked back at her with a blank expression. “What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about the world, of course! How come when it comes to miracles, it’s a rarity, but when it comes to downright bad luck and unfortunate events, there is a straight-up abundance.”

“I’m sorry that you’re upset,” Naomi said. “But I am sure there is a good reason for that, or maybe the angels are doing their best with what they’ve got, and they slip up sometimes….”

Losing the will to argue any further, AJ groaned and looked away. “Whatever…”

Even in the harmonious environment, tension brewed in the air. A troubled, suffocating silence took over.

A glint shined in Isaac’s eye; Zeke noticed it and prayed that he wasn’t going to whip out a cheesy, never-ending sermon about friendship or something.

Ugo came to the rescue and slid over to Naomi. “Hey, Naomi, wanna hear about how we met AJ?”

A chagrined look flourished on AJ’s face. She stared at Ugo anxiously.

“It was first-grade show-and-tell….”

Ugo turned his head to AJ and gave her a smug smile. AJ’s cheeks bloomed with red.

“Don’t you dare…” she threatened in a feeble voice.

“‘First grade’? Is that a ranking?” Naomi asked.

“Yeah, for school,” Ugo responded. “Show-and-tell is when kids can bring their favorite toy, book, or maybe a photo of their family to share with their class, and AJ sang a song….”

“Oh, yeah! The broccoli poem!” Zeke blurted.

Isaac raised a brow. “Broccoli poem…? Oh, wait, I think I remember. AJ became somewhat of a celebrity spokesperson for having other kids eat veggies for the school’s Get Healthy Initiative. They made her do all kinds of events till the fourth grade.”

“Stop talking!” AJ shouted.

“Fine, we’ll stop talking,” Ugo muttered, trying to contain his rioting laughter. While making a face, he looked at Zeke, who responded by looking back and making a ridiculous face of his own. Ugo and Zeke took in an exaggerated deep breath.

“I hate you guys…” AJ said.

And they began to march and sing in unison.

“Oh, broccoli, I love you!

Oh, broccoli, when times are blue!

Oh, broccoli, you make me anew!

Oh, broccoli, I love you!”

Zeke marched over to Ugo’s side, and the two put their arms over each other as they continued.

“Oh, broccoli, I love you!

Oh, broccoli, make my dreams come true! Oh, broccoli, through and through!

Oh, broccoli, I love you!”

AJ sauntered to the railing. “Okay, I am going to jump off this bridge now,”

“Oh, let me take away your suffering by doing it for you!” Isaac said.

AJ looked back at a smiling Isaac, puzzled. “I was joking.”

Isaac laughed hysterically. “Okay.”

Naomi giggled. “I like the song.”

“It’s a classic,” Ugo said. “You have to learn it, Naomi, then we can all drive her crazy together. Only then will you be one of us.”

Naomi stared blankly and then took in a deep breath.

She sang.

“Oh, broccoli, I love you!

Oh, broccoli, when times are blue!

Oh, broccoli, you make me anew!

Oh, broccoli, I love you!”

“Yes!” Ugo said like a proud father watching his daughter ride a bicycle without training wheels for the first time.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“I know a lot of embarrassing stuff about you, too, Ugo,” AJ said.

Ugo stared back, undaunted. “You’re talking to the guy who asked the History teacher out on a date in the middle of class using a serenade from a video game. I know no fear nor shame, Avery Dotson.” Ugo looked at Naomi. “By the way, she only said, ‘no,’ because she was married, so…”

“Yeah, that was the reason,” Zeke said.

“How about in Sophomore year when you lied about having a girlfriend? Those photos you posted on Friendbook,” AJ added.

Zeke grimaced as Ugo scoffed.

“Please…” Ugo started. “I found a mannequin, a plastic statue of a woman, alright,” he explained to Naomi. “I took it home, cleaned it, stylized it a bit, and took photos with it. Telling everyone she was my girlfriend, so what? I’m not ashamed.”

AJ arched a brow. “Is that it, Ugo…? Or are you still going to deny it?”

“What else is there?” Ugo asked.

“Ugo…” Zeke said.

“It was a mannequin—”

“It was a sex doll, Ugo!” Zeke snapped. “I know it, you know it, we all knew it.”

“There was no evidence pointing to that. It was just a mannequin.”

“You found it in the alleyway of a strip club.”

“Strip clubs have mannequins,” Ugo said. “Ugh… and what are you criticizing me about? You had a panic attack in freshman year when trying to climb a rope in PE.”

“I never went up that high before,” Zeke said.

“You were barely four feet off the ground, Zeke...” AJ said.

“It was too high for me, okay?” Zeke defended. “I’m short. Everything is high to me!”

Naomi was hunched over, laughing uncontrollably, letting out little squeaks and cries of joy.

This had the squabbling trio silence and turn their eyes to the happy sunflower blonde. As the laughter subsided, a chagrined Naomi pulled back but managed a smile that the trio returned.

However, Zeke’s didn’t last as long.

Of course, his mind didn’t let him enjoy the moment in its entirety. A pang of guilt struck him in the gut, his expression darkened, and his eyes dropped to the face of the bridge.

Was it okay for him to be clowning around while his mother’s life was in danger?

The usual suspects of harmful thoughts began to wrestle with each other in his head. Some thoughts about his audacity to laugh even though the situation was his fault, others about what he would say at his mother’s funeral: “I was joking around with my friends while my mother was dying!”

Zeke banged the side of his head with a shaky fist until the thoughts’ volume lowered.

“You okay?” Ugo asked.

When Zeke looked back at him, he noticed that AJ and Naomi held the same expression of concern.

As a counter, Zeke forced a smile and said, “Oh, nothing. I was just trying to get something out of my hair.” He shrugged. “Curly hair boy problems.”

Knowing that he only convinced the dewy-eyed Naomi with his piss-poor attempt at assuring that everything was okay, he looked away from them and sped up.

Zeke’s face underwent a succession of pained expressions as he struggled with his thoughts, continuously shifting the burden of carrying the medical bag from one hand to another. Maybe, for once, he truly believed that everything would turn out to be okay. Why did that have to be a bad thing? Even if everything were in the hands of someone, he previously didn’t even trust well enough to visit their home. Isaac was weird, sure, but he understood how important it is to save people, and that’s all that mattered.

We’re doing our best. Everything we can. We’re in good hands. Panic and gloom won’t save her any faster. You can calm down.

A cry from Isaac pulled Zeke from his sea of thoughts, and he, along with the others, halted.

Isaac had his back turned to them with his arm extended to the side.

Zeke looked away from Isaac and focused forward.

The rest of the path was gone. The group stood on the last pieces of the bridge left from what looked like the assault of a giant monster’s bite. The bridge’s edges were curved and undulated, cutting off exquisite relief carvings and leaving awkward and mangled imagery.

Isaac stuck one foot out into the open air and let his body drop.

Ugo and AJ grabbed his collar from behind and pulled him back.

“Zach,” Ugo shouted and gave him a look.

Isaac reached his hand out to his side. “It’s fine….” He grasped onto Zeke and pulled him close. “Watch.”

Isaac pushed Zeke off the bridge. His friends' horrified gasps became muffled under roaring winds that punched his eardrums. His heart dropped as he whirled, plummeting towards white nothingness.

The medical bag flew out of his grip. He reached his arms out and tried to grasp onto something, but all he got was nil, and then flailed his arms and legs as he gyrated wildly, performing Olympic gymnast levels of acrobatics, executing a record-breaking number of flips in short intervals.

As the world spun around him, smeared blue, white, and gray shapes overlaid his vision. He was screaming and cursing in Spanish, using the most rural exclamations he didn’t even realize he remembered.

At least he wasn’t going to die confused. His previous hunch about Isaac was right. Up until his chance meeting with the Vicar at the church, Zeke always figured that Isaac was going to be the one to get him killed, one way or another, that, or by trying to defend Ugo in a future sexual harassment accusation.

The world fixed back into place.

Zeke’s neck dropped and then swung back. He was still falling, but in a more controlled way now. He looked down, saw a hand on his chest, and turned his head to the side, seeing Isaac with his hair blowing upward, happily plummeting to his death alongside him. Isaac’s other hand was on his back to help him maintain balance.

Zeke attempted to yell over the sound of the booming winds. “Why did you kill me, man!”

Isaac screamed back. “We’re not falling, Hezekiah! We’re flying!”

Zeke’s expression contorted with confusion. So this is how I die, huh?

Isaac slowly removed his hands from Zeke’s body and floated a few feet away. He turned around with his back facing the heavenly emptiness below, crossed his legs, and put his interlocked hands behind his head, falling in a hammock position.

Zeke did his best to control his breathing, dealing with the violent winds pushing into his face and invading his nostrils, but the air was fresh and warm, feeling good inside his body. He looked to his side, and the cathedral was there — window after window, relief carving after relief carving, feature after feature shot upwards past Zeke’s line of vision as he descended.

Zeke looked down and immediately regretted it. His heart jumped back into place and started beating like a firing machine gun—nothing but more light skies and puffy clouds. The bottom of the cathedral was nowhere to be seen.

Woohoos and Yeahhhhs came from above. Zeke peered up, having trouble with the winds forcing his eyelids to move away from his eyeballs, blinding him for a bit. Ugo, AJ, and Naomi descended in an arched skydiving position — their bellies pointing downwards and their arms and legs spread. They positioned themselves around Zeke.

“So, you guys jumped, too. Why?” Zeke yelled. They could only communicate by screaming as loud as they could.

“Zeke, it’s alright,” AJ yelled while clenching her glasses in one hand.

“You can’t see them, but there are angelic sigils in this open space,” Naomi clarified. “It permits flight to any creature.”

Zeke furrowed his brows. What Naomi seemed to know and not know was getting equally infuriating and confusing. Then, he noticed his medical bag in Ugo’s hand.

Isaac swam to the group and joined the formation around Zeke. “In a specified area within the boundaries of these sigils, you may fly. You need to train your eyes to be able to see them.” Isaac stretched out his hand, crossed his fingers, and then released.

A myriad of golden, glowing sigils appeared across the sky in the distance. Forming a wall of mystic symbols.

“If you fly outside the confines of these symbols, you’ll truly plummet to your death.” Isaac drifted away from the group and slowly toward the wall of symbols.

“Zach…?” Ugo muttered.

“Somebody better stop me….” Isaac chirped as he stared at them.

AJ grabbed Isaac by the ankle and pulled him back.

“Oh, wonderful, you saved me, Avery,” Isaac said.

“You’re a real piece of work, Isaac,” AJ said.

“So… we’re not going to die?” Zeke asked.

“No,” Isaac pointed below to their left — their southwest. “That’s where we need to go.”

Zeke and the others looked in the same direction, and there was a bridge connected to a giant door of the cathedral.

“Let’s race to it,” Naomi screamed, and then, in a quick burst, she soared toward it, positioning her body forward to fly faster.

“Oh, you’re on,” AJ said. She steered in Naomi’s direction and jetted after her.

“The loser has to kiss the winner!” Ugo blasted off.

Zeke watched, puzzled. How the hell did they get a hold of it so quickly?

Isaac wrapped his arms around Zeke aggressively from behind. His lips touched the rim of his ear.

“You need to stop thinking so much, Hezekiah,” Isaac whispered into his ears.

Zeke retreated to his happy place. Uncomfortable wasn’t even the start of what he was feeling.

Isaac released a subtle breath into his ear and then spoke. “Her soul does not have purity, but it does not not have purity either.”

“What,” Zeke yelled out without willing to turn around to prevent a rather unfortunate accident from happening.

“Sorry, I explained it badly. I mean, um, her soul doesn’t register any levels of purity or impurity.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Isaac said. “Violet was right. Naomi isn’t an angel. I don’t know what she is. I’ve never seen an anomaly like this before. She may be the first of her kind and extremely dangerous.”