Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse
Chapter 62: Crossing The Line

Chapter 62: Crossing The Line

"Pride?" scoffed Dante, turning away from the man in the mirror. "You’ll have to do better than that. I don’t exactly believe in fairy tales anymore. Let alone the Seven Deadly Sins."

"You should," replied Pride with a shrug. "We believe in you. Besides, you died and were reborn. What shouldn’t you believe in? Too bad you weren’t sent to Hell; it would have been nice to meet you in person, so to speak."

Dante turned around and studied the man. He almost looked like...

"Do you know René Lapierre?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. When he first met Lapierre, the man had admitted to having voices in his head. That was how he managed to find Dante’s boss in the first place.

"I do," admitted Pride with a stiff nod. "But let’s just say that we had a falling out. Now, I need to find another... vessel."

Lapierre was considered to be one of the most powerful men in the entire country at his height. He was able to command people from multiple bases, made deals with the zombies, and reestablished cities.

People were no longer hunted by the walking dead, and things were going back to how they were before.

Until he fell from grace.

If he wasn’t mistaken... it was one of his men who ended up killing him.

"What do I have to give you in exchange for everything that I want," asked Dante, returning to the topic at hand. Knowing that this man was the one who brought Lapierre to power was a bit too tempting to just dismiss offhand.

"Your body," shrugged the man.

"No," replied Dante. "I am not giving up everything that I am."

"You are mistaken. I don’t want to take over everything. That’s too boring. It’s more like two souls in the same sack. You will still be you, and I’ll still be me. But when I want to come out and play, you let me," explained Pride, a smirk on his face. "And I promise... you’ll be aware of everything that I do."

"And that’s it?" mused Dante, not believing him for a moment. The Seven Deadly Sins were demons from Hell, and the one thing you could trust a demon not to do was tell the truth.

"Well, there is a tiny creature you’d need to protect along the way. But I promise you, you won’t mind that at all," purred Pride. "Or maybe I should make this offer to Tank. He seems to know the treasure he is holding."

"That... thing?!?" demanded Dante, flabbergasted for the first time since the start of the conversation. "That’s who you want me to protect?!?"

The man in the mirror went deadly still, its human-esque face flickering into something much more terrifying before returning to normal. "What did you just call my angel?" he asked, his voice calm and quiet.

If it weren’t for Dante’s highly trained instincts, he would have thought that he was still having a pleasant conversation with the demon.

But he knew better.

"I apologize," murmured Dante, bowing his head for a moment. A smart man always knew when to back down as much as they knew when to press forward. And if he pressed forward right now, he’d be going straight to his grave. "That is not what I meant."

Pride cocked his head so far to the side that it was at an unnatural angle for any human. "That ’thing’ is the most important person in this world. You died before seeing the true end of the apocalypse. You should be grateful that Britteny spared you that."

Dante remained silent, his lips twisting in a sneer at the name of the woman who helped his best friend kill him. Shaking his head to get rid of the unpleasant memories, Dante turned to the matter at hand.

"I’m going to have to turn down your offer," he said finally with a shrug. A part of him protested what he was doing. The idea of becoming so powerful that no one could touch him was a tempting one, but not if it meant getting involved with any women.

The ’fairer’ sex were quick to betray and couldn’t be trusted. No matter what any demon said.

"Are you willing to give everything up because some bitch stabbed you in the back a few dozen times?" sneered Pride. "There is a line between pride and stupidity. Congratulations on crossing it."

With that final statement, Pride vanished from the mirror, leaving Dante alone with his thoughts and memories.

----

There was a knock on the door a short while later, and I looked up from the couch where Tank and I were sitting.

"That’s breakfast," he smiled at me, shifting my body so I was no longer lying against him. Rising to his feet, I heard him walking toward the door.

"Yo, man," grunted the visitor. His voice sounded young and more than a little excited. "Did you hear?!? The elevators are fixed!"

Tank chuckled and I heard the shifting of something. "You’re welcome," he replied before the door quickly shut again. "It sounds like you are everyone’s hero," Tank continued, walking back toward the couch. Placing the tray down on the coffee table, I felt the cushions shift beside me.

"Hardly," I waved off. I was no one’s hero. Just wait until someone fucked up their wish, then they won’t like me so much. "You were the one who asked for it."

"And you are the one with the powers to grant it," reminded Tank as he took my hand and placed something in it. "Here, there is nothing better than Matty’s biscuits. I swear, I don’t know where Dante found him, but he is one of the best cooks I’ve ever met."

Nodding my head, I picked at the biscuit.

"Is there a limit on wishes?" asked Tank, and I heard him cutting something up on the plate in front of us. "Open."

Following his directions, I opened my mouth to taste the best pancakes ever. Moaning, I thought about what he asked.

"For the smart person? Yes, there is a limit. For a dumb one? There are none," I replied.

I felt Tank nodding his head as he continued to feed me. "Then I think I should be careful what I wish for..."