Avery the Immortal: Part Two (complete)

I wake from a dream where I am kneeling in a river. The cold water rushes around my legs and hands, making my toes and fingers go numb. I’m not sure why I am not moving, and only watching the water rush beneath me. I don’t know where the water is coming from or where it is going. I only see the ripples that are before me. 

A hand is offered to me, cold and pale. I look at the fingertips, hyperaware that the fingerprints are missing. The palm is as smooth and glossy as a dinner plate. I look up the arm, gazing at the all-too-white skin. Then I look up at a face surrounded by light I can’t quite define. The light grows brighter and brighter, moving down the arm before pooling into the figure’s palm. The light flows into the river, surrounding me, moving me, and lifting up into the air like a bubble.

I wake up drenched in sweat, hearing the radio crackle with static. I sit up, way before I need to, but that’s normal nowadays. The barracks smell like sweat, feet, and a combination of stale men, piss, and mud. I sigh, laying back against my cot and covering my face with my hands.

“You okay, over there? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I glance over, seeing Avery sitting up from his cot. He looks just as exhausted as I feel. His freckled-covered face is younger than mine, but so haggard that it speaks of an age he hasn’t reached yet. 

I smile at him and shake my head. “Weird dream again.” I flex my fingers, wondering how they still feel cold even though I was dreaming. “You sleep any?”

Avery shakes his head. “No. Kind of. Not really.” He doesn’t quite give me the answer, because he knows I’ll worry.

I can remember Avery from the plane ride over. He is all of eighteen but looks eleven. He reminds me in a way of a guy back home, someone I grew up with. They have the same sort of baby face and wide eyes. Same coloring. It makes me want to take care of him, so Avery and I have been joined at the hip since we got to Europe.

Avery surprised me though, and has taken care of me as much as I protect him. Of course because of how he looked he was picked on by all the other soldiers. I got browned off by how much they tormented him because of his youthful appearance. Avery though, helped me cope with some of the things around me. I had never seen a dead body before, and I could never even bear to look at roadkill back home. Yet here, in war, all around you is death or fear, and more than likely both. 

Avery helped me understand death a little better. He helped me get a grasp on war as a whole. It surprised me that such an innocent looking kid had such a strong grasp on these strange things. 

I told him once in confidence that I didn’t intend to kill anyone while I was here. I would only shoot to disarm or wound. 

“Not even the Nazis?” Avery asked curiously.

I looked at him with a furrowed brow. “They’re forced to be here, same as we are. They’re just doing a job.”

“They aren’t just doing a job. Don’t you understand what they are doing?” Avery was getting angry and heated. “They don’t care who they kill or hurt! Following orders-” he spat, “bullshit. If you were ordered to kill me where I stood or to kill those ladies there on the street, would you?”

“No,” I scoffed. “Of course not.”

“Even if they said you’d die or worse, would you still say that?” Avery snapped at me.

I shook my head. “No. I couldn’t do that. There’s no sense in it.”

Avery settled and placed his hand over mine. “Then they have that option too. What they are doing is because of their own hatred. If they didn’t want to do it, then they wouldn’t.” He squeezed his hand around mine.

“I’ve never seen you get that way before,” I told him. 

“It’s because I don’t want you to die, Bill,” Avery looked up at me. “The way you’re going about things, it makes me scared you’ll die!”

I had never kissed anyone before. Oh sure, I had made up stories about girls back home, but I had always been too chicken to kiss any of the ones I had taken on dates. It made me feel strange, like it wasn’t going to be good. When Avery and I first kissed, it felt right. Huddled together in that dark part of the bar, I felt safe for the first time since stepping on that plane. 

We made sure to steal affection when no eyes were on us, but I wanted to do it so often and so badly. Being with him felt like heaven, like something sweet in such a bitter place. I only felt safe when Avery’s arms were around me. It didn’t matter where we were or what was happening around us. It was heaven, after all.

We are being shipped out today. The whole place has to be packed up and moved onto trucks. Having little to no sleep is no good for days like these. We have to stay on our toes, because danger could be anywhere around us. Then again, that’s just life now. When we’re in battle it’s okay, because I expect what’s that’s happening around me. It’s days like these that I feel this heavy weight on my shoulders, like the big bad wolf is breathing down my neck and will soon start huffing and puffing around me. I’m not prepared for that when we’re supposed to be moving out.

Avery and I take up the rear with a few other guys, our packs heavy on our backs and our boots sinking into the mud. We trudge along, keeping pace with the slow-moving entourage ahead of us. Avery stumbles, getting stuck in the mud. He lurches forward as he tries to find balance, then tumbles over into the mud because of all the extra weight on his back.

“Look at you.” I go over to help him up. “Can’t even walk on your own.”

“I know, I know,” he chuckles. 

I help him gather up his things that fell from his bag, but one of the other soldiers picks up his journal. The book has opened up and inside are pages filled with a language I have never seen before. There are drawings of circles filled with strange script, and a picture of me with the strange writing all over the back.

“What the fuck is this?” the soldier blurts.

A look of fear washes over Avery’s face. He jumps away from me and tries to grab back his journal. “Please, give that back. That’s personal!”

“This looks like some sort of witch stuff,” another soldier says as they gather around. “Looks like he tried to put a spell on you, Bill!” They laugh as they hold up my picture.

“Just drop it, okay guys?” I try to argue, but seeing the picture has my nerves slightly rattled. 

“Give it back!” Avery tries to fight to get it, but gets shoved back and hits the ground. He looks up at me with those wide eyes, and I hesitate. I move forward, yanking away the book and ripping it in half. Avery gasps in shock as I toss it into the mud and grind it down with my boot.

“There, no need to worry about it.” I pick Avery a little roughly off the ground. “Can’t do shit with it now.”

Secretly, I pocket the picture. I don’t know what it means, but I am too afraid to get rid of it like the book.

“Why did you do that?” Avery snaps at me. “Why’d you destroy my journal? Why?” He shoves me and I stumble forward, grabbing the back of the jeep. 

I stand back up and look down at him. “What does it matter?” I scoff. 

Avery shoves me again, and this time I fall and land on my side. My arm hits something hard. 

“It wouldn’t have mattered if they had done it, but you?” Avery yells at me.

I start to stand up, but a cold sensation runs up through my body. I don’t know what it is, but I am overwhelmed by dread and fear. I look up at Avery, my jaw slack and eyes wide. His expression shifts ever so slightly, and then the world lights on fire.

The jeep is blown into the air, tossed like a sheet in the wind. Everything seems to fall silent, yet I can tell the blast was impossibly loud. I lay there, thrown by the force of the explosion. My body feels strange and limp. I might be dying, I might be in shock. I guess it is one of those things I will find out sooner rather than later.

Across from me I can see Avery. He stands up, pushing something heavy off of him. I can’t quite tell what it is. Maybe it’s a bag, but it’s bleeding. Maybe it’s lunch, although it looks too thick and heavy to be that. It’s bleeding still, staining the ground and melting into the puddles of rain around it. Is it human? It’s dead.

Avery stands, lurching forward. His gait is staggered, and it looks like his leg is hurt. He looks around, bewildered and wide-eyed as the world around us is ending. I want to be near him so bad, I need to. I’m so scared. I need Avery. Why did I destroy his journal? Why was I so cruel? I didn’t need to be afraid of Avery because he was the only thing keeping me sane. I am horrible. I don’t deserve to be forgiven. But all I want is to be with him.

Dust and smoke fly between us, but as it clears Avery is looking directly at me. A smile spreads across his beautiful face, and he starts towards me. For the smallest of moments, I feel relief. I cry out excitedly as he runs towards me. As he surges forward, a red rose blooms on his throat. He staggers to his knees as more red blossoms spill down his chest and stomach. He falls to the ground, his face in the mud. 

“No,” I whisper. “No. Please no.” I start to crawl forward, pulling myself with my arms towards him. “No! God! Please! Not him!”

A light hovers over him and for a moment I think I am losing my mind. The lights touches him, moving him over and laying Avery on his back. The red blossoms flow from his neck, staining everything around him with their crimson glow. 

“Don’t take him God! Please not yet!” I cry out in vain. “Please God! Give him back!”

God - the light - whatever it is that is holding Avery leans down, kissing him. Avery’s body is enveloped, becoming one with the strange, haunting glow. Then he’s on the ground again as if nothing happened. Perhaps I’m losing my mind.

I beat the ground, screaming into it. How could Avery be taken? How could this happen? He didn’t deserve to be here. He didn’t deserve this at all. Why am I even alive when I was the one in the wrong? I scream curses into the earth before lifting my head to look at him.

Avery is lifting himself off the ground. I can’t believe it. He’s okay. The blood that spilled from his throat is floating in the air around him like rose petals. He stands up off the ground, looking at the world around him. His expression is blank and cold, showing no reaction at all to the carnage around him. His hair grows out along his crown, falling down around his shoulders. He turns, seeing me, and his eyes look so strange. They’re so hollow, so empty. Yet this is Avery. It has to be.

I try to lift myself up to get to him, to make sure I am not dreaming. Avery steps towards me, his hands outstretched as he lifts me from the ground. He carries me aside, getting me away from the fire. 

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” I cry. “I thought I lost you.” I kiss him, but his lips do not move. It’s as if I am kissing stone. I touch his face as his eyes lift towards mine. Something about him isn’t right. It’s like there is no life in him. I lean in again to kiss him, feeling more than before. Avery pushes me away.

“Sit down. Don’t move.” His voice is strange, as if he is being mimicked by a stranger. He rips open my pant leg, revealing a massive wound filled with shrapnel. My other leg is in very much the same shape. 

“Avery,” I whimper. “Talk to me, please! I’m so sorry about the journal. I would never-”

Avery slices his hand through the air. “I said be quiet!” He kneels over my legs, waving his hand over them. My limbs feel hot, like they’re on fire. I scream, crying horribly from the agony I am feeling. It’s as if there is glass and fire in my veins, cutting me and burning me at the same time.

A moment later the pain is gone. I vomit on the ground, retching until it comes out of my nose and I can’t breathe. 

“You should be alright now,” Avery says, his voice still so cold and empty. “Look at me, Clef,” he urges. 

I gaze at him, wondering who I am looking at it. It’s Avery. I have to keep telling myself it is Avery. “C’mon Avery,” I wheeze. “It’s me, Bill. You know that.”

Avery presses his hand against my forehead. “You can get up now,” he says. “Follow me.” He rises up, watching me as I struggle to stand. “Good. Now come along.”

“Wait,” I gasp. “Avery, where are we going?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Avery says. “I’m not as strong as I once was, and I need you to help me.” He turns and looks back at me with those sad, hollow eyes. “Hurry.” He extends his hand to me, and I can do nothing but take it.

We leave the battlefield, the carnage. We go far away from the road and into the woods, where we come upon the river. I drop to my knees to take a drink, dunking my head into the water. As I look at myself, I see I am covered by dirt and ash, blood and sweat. I wash my hands off eagerly, then turn to look up at Avery. He is staring off into the distance, his face like an empty canvas.

“Avery,” I whisper and he turns slightly to me. “What happened?” I move closer to him. “I thought I lost you.”

Avery closes his eyes as I clap my palms around his face. He takes in a deep breath, tilting back his head as my fingers run along his scalp and through his long hair.

“Am I still your friend?” he asks me.

“My friend?” I whisper. “Avery, you’re more than that to me, you know that.” I look over him, refusing to see anything else but him. I kiss him again, running my tongue along his lips until his mouth opens. He plants his hands firmly on my chest but does not push me away as the kiss deepens.

“Then do you trust me?” Avery whispers as I pull away. “Will you follow me and do as I ask of you?”

“Yes,” I answer quickly. “Yes, of course, Avery, anything for you.”

His cold eyes look up at me. “It will find us. I can’t stay in one place too long.” He reaches for me, taking my hand and pulling me along with him again.

At night, we arrive at an abandoned farmhouse. Inside I can smell death, but Avery wanders through the house until we come to an empty room. Inside the closet there are clothes that he takes out, tossing them onto the bed.

“Change into these,” he says. “We’ll burn the uniforms in the morning.”

In the darkness his pale skin looks like moonlight. It has a glow to it. I step towards him and place my hand around his waist, but his body feels like ice. I inch closer, kissing his bare shoulders. My warm tongue drags down his chilled skin.

Avery stands still, letting me touch him all over. His naked body feels so cold, so I press my chest against his back. I’m shivering, terrified of something I can’t put my finger on. Perhaps it’s because we just barely escaped with our lives from a battle. Maybe it’s because Avery is cold. 

“Clef,” Avery whispers, “is this what you want?”

I reach down, stroking Avery’s cock. “Is okay if I touch you like this, Avery?” I whisper to him. 

Avery takes hold of my wrist, squeezing it tight as my fist works over his cock.

“You feel so cold,” I whisper. “Let’s get in the bed.”

Avery’s breath gives nothing away. He used to make the sweetest sounds before when I would touch him like this. His voice was so pure and wonderful. I just want to hear it again in the darkness.

“Does this feel good to you?” Avery asks me softly.

“Yeah, of course. I love you.”

Avery turns slightly, glancing back at me. I meet his lips, kissing him as I rut against his ass. I moan into his mouth and Avery breathes me in. His seed spills like pearls on my fist, and he lets out a single low moan. I cum, spilling between his cheeks and on his lower back. I tremble as if the earth is moving from under me.

Tears stream down my face, and Avery moves away from me. He licks my cum from his fingertips and looks at me. His eyes have halos around them in the dark. He slips his hand under my chin, lifting my head to look at him. 

“If this is what makes you happy, then so be it,” he whispers. “You can have my body as long as you love me.” He moves me to the bed, laying me down. “I am too weak on my own now. I was almost gone before I found him.” He lays beside me, resting his head on my chest. “I have seen all these horrible things and have been unable to do anything. I am useless, but that boy - he called out to me. He didn’t know what else to do.” Avery strokes my chest. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I tried to save him, I really did.”

“It’s okay,” I whisper as I close my eyes “You’re here, that’s all that matters.”

Avery sighs. “Whatever you need to make it. That’s fine.”

I wake in the morning to see clothes laid out where Avery had been. I get dressed and look out the window, and I see the barn out back has been burned to the ground. The rafters and frame hang on to strings from heaven like a blackened skeleton. Avery is kneeling in the ash, holding something in his hands. He stands back up as a breeze starts to blow around him. His long, pale hair catches in the wind, whipping around his face as the ash begins to rise. The black soot turns pale blue, then pink. It glitters white and green as blossoms rise up from the ashes. The charred and burnt barn grows into a garden that slithers out along the dead earth. Then it stops short, and the flowers and greenery at the edges start to shrivel and wither away.

Avery screams into the sky, thrashing the vegetation around him angrily.

I rush out to him and grab his hands. “Avery, stop!” I gasp.

He goes still, his expression fading into emotionlessness again. Then he gasps, looking up into the sky as planes fly over head. Avery looks back at me. “If we stop it will just keep catching us!” He takes hold of my hand. “Do you still love me, Clef?”

“Yes,” I whisper to him.

Avery presses a cold, unfeeling kiss to my lips that I accept as more. “We cannot linger for long,” he says urgently. “The longer I linger, the more chance they have to find me.”

We leave the farm, with Avery urgently leading the way. He keeps my hand in his, and I feel like nothing more than a dog on a leash to him. 

“What are we running from?” I ask him as we find a dirt road. “Who do you think is looking for you?”

“Many things,” he says to me. “I have been forgotten for so long, I’m far to weak to stand on my own. That’s why I need you, Clef.”

“I’m not-” I stop myself then nod. “You have me, of course.” I was willing to be anything for Avery, I owed him that much.

“There is protection around you,” Avery says, tracing his fingertips along the side of my face. “It is so powerful.” He sets his hands on my shoulders. “A mage of deep knowledge and good skill must have placed this over you.” His hollow eyes flicker at me. “You’re extremely lucky. Had you not had this spell, both of you would have been dead.”

I capture Avery’s wrist in my hand. “You still haven't answered me. You’re answering questions I haven’t even asked!”

“I am answering the things you need to hear,” Avery says stoically. “It’s best that we keep moving. I’ve seen many wars before, all of them are the same. At least, until now,” he whispers. He takes hold of my hand. “My debt to you will be paid with this body, as long as you love me.”

I furrow my brow. “What debt? I was the one who-”

“There is a stream close by. We should follow it wherever it goes,” Avery jerks my arm. “Come now. We need to find a place that is populated. We will stand out in a place like this.”

I hold his hand back, wanting not to feel like the dog on a leash I think I am. “As long as we are together, I don't care where we end up, Avery.”

“That’s good. It will be us again, Clef.” Avery replies coldly.

That evening we come upon a farmhouse where a woman feeds us and lets us wash up, then stay inside the barn for the night. I am happy to eat but Avery simply pushes his food around on the plate, eventually giving it to me rather than eat it himself. 

“Do you feel well?” I ask him as we clean up in the barn, dipping rags and soap into a bucket of icy water. 

“I’m fine,” he says with a shrug. “I am simply not hungry.” 

I move closer to him, rubbing his back with soap and water. I kiss his neck, moving his wet hair out of the way. Avery doesn’t move or react to what I am doing. I pull him close to me so our chests are touching.

“I need you,” I moan for him.

“Now?” Avery huffs.

I kiss him, moving my tongue into his mouth. Avery grunts, pushing his palms against me before sliding them down to my stomach. He closes his eyes and presses closer. I kiss his neck, nibbling and biting as I take hold of our cocks. I stroke both shafts together with one hand, lettin them rub against one another. Avery’s body feels so cold, but I chalk it up to the icy water we have been washing with.

I kneel down on the ground before Avery and look up at him. I feel like I am worshipping him when I take this pose. I slide his cock into my mouth, sucking it as I bob my head. Avery grunts and places his hand on top of my head.

I stroke myself, moaning against Avery as I feel my peak building. I move faster, sucking him and taking him deeper into my mouth. Avery’s fingers don’t move on my head. He just seems to have them there for balance. I cum, spilling my seed on his feet. I moan as his cock twitches, and it feel like ice hitting the back of my throat. Avery pulls away from me and kneels down.

“You could have done anything you wanted,” he whispers into my ear.

I wrap him up in my arms. “I want to make you happy.”

Avery rests his forehead on my shoulder. “You should stop.”