Hacksaw

    Hacksaw worked the slide and ejected the spent shell; it clattered to the ground but before the Angel's blood could reach it he picked it up and stuffed it into a pocket of his duster. He glanced around to be sure that nobody had come running thought at five-thirty in the morning it was unlikely. He grunted as the body of the angel began to dissolve and float upwards as a cluster of dust motes. He'd only been in town for a few hours before he made his way back to the monastery before he came under attack. The dead one in the alley was the last of the three that attacked him. He stepped out of the alley and lit a cigarette.
    "Shit," He muttered feeling at a scrape on his side. The wound wasn't deep but it hurt and was seeping blood onto his shirt. A man looked at him and blinked while Hacksaw slung the shotgun over his back.
     The man's mouth gaped, fish like, before he turned and raced off.
    "Lovely," Hacksaw said as he pulled the door to his truck open and slid the weapon inside.
    He turned the key and the truck roared into life. He rolled down the window and rested his arm on the sill while he listened to the engine's idle. Smoke trailed from the cigarette and out the window into the French sky. Finally after sitting in his space and watching the sun rise in the sky he put the truck into gear and rumbled out into the street.

    The truck ate up the miles as he headed out into the wilderness and finally he turned off the road and through an ancient barrier before pulling up to the monastery. The massive complex was surrounded by thirty foot stone walls with a leviathan steel gate emblazoned with the eye and sword emblem of the watchers. Hacksaw chuckled as it split down the middle. He'd never understood why an eye that was being stabbed was the symbol of the order. He rolled the truck into a spot he'd reserved for himself near the gate and hopped out. He reached back into the bed and pulled his duffel bag out.
    "Welcome back," One of the younger Watchers at the monastery that supported Hacksaw's approach over the older ones. His brown hair was tousled and his brown eyes smiled. He was a little shorter than Hacksaw and leaner but it concealed phenomenal strength.
    "How's it been John?" Hacksaw asked.
    "Same as always," John said shrugging. "The council is still ticked at you."
    Hacksaw barked a laugh, "They're always mad about something."
    John laughed, "This time its about your escapade in Germany."
    "I'm surprised they even know where Germany is." Hacksaw grumbled. "Since they never leave the barrier."
    John smiled bitterly, "I wish they'd let us go out and fight back like you do."
    "Believe me," Hacksaw said, "So do I."
    "Let me come with you next time."
    Hacksaw glanced at the other man, "I can't without you getting permission from your council member."
    "He's never going to grant it." John muttered.
    "Well the old man is your father. You can't really blame him for being worried." Hacksaw said calmly. "But I do wish we had more of us out there."
    John grimaced and the two walked in silence toward the massive main building. Off to one side was the barracks where most of the Watchers lived while on the other side were the training grounds. Several watchers were practicing against each other in the hopes to be deemed worthy to enter the fight outside.
    "Will you be training with us tomorrow?" John asked idly as they approached the huge double doors.
    "Probably." Hacksaw said. "I'll need to work off some irritation after the council meeting."
    John smiled as they pulled the door open.
    "Daddy!" A howling whirlwind shouted as it smacked into Hacksaw's leg.
    "Kiddo!" Hacksaw crowed dropping his duffel to the ground and scooping up the child. He swept her up and around before resting her on his hip.
    "Maria," John said in greeting to the woman who was standing in the hallway. She was a lithe woman with long brown hair and a concerned expression on her face.
    "Maria," Hacksaw said nodding and smiling.
    "I drew a picture!" The little girl said.
    "Really?" Hacksaw said, "Let me see it."
    Her big blue eyes lit up as she handed him a piece of paper. Carefully he unfolded the paper and looked into a near copy of his own face. "Its brilliant kiddo." He letting a shade of awe touch his voice.
    "What happened to you?" Maria said gently touching his side.
    Hacksaw winced at the touch. "Nothing major just a small scrape."
    "It doesn't seem minor," Maria said, "And your coat is torn."
    "Its nothing."
    The look she gave him said that she didn't believe him. "Please," she started.
    "I know where you're going with this." Hacksaw said smiling, "and it isn't going to happen. We need someone out there doing what they can to protect people."
    "I'd be happy to do it id they'd let me." John said.
    "I'd love to have you watching my back kid." Hacksaw said. "But if it ain't in the cards it ain't in the cards."
    "Besides," He continued, "I always come back safe and sound don't I?"
    "It only takes one time." Maria responded softly.
    "I'd never do that to you." Hacksaw said pulling her into a one-armed hug. "I couldn't leave the two of you alone."
    She smiled up at him uncertainly but didn't say anything as he hefted his bag in his free hand still balancing the child in his other. He nodded back at John while he took the little girl back to his home within the monastery. He spent much of the remainder of the day sleeping.
    He opened his eyes and glanced around the great hall that he found himself in. "Well shit." He muttered tugging a cigarette free of its pack and lighting it. "How the hell did I get here?"
    "Who are you?" Someone asked.
    Hacksaw turned to face the speaker. He was shorter than Hacksaw with eyes that shifted between ice blue and black. His short hair was white and as Hacksaw locked eyes with the young man he knew who he was.
    "The fourth rider." Hacksaw whispered as the cigarette drooped. He saluted the man. "Sir, its an honor to meet you."
    The man shook his head, "I can't hear you. What's going on? Who are you?"
    "My name is Hacksaw." Hacksaw said. "I believe that you are the fourth rider. As for what's going on. The world is running full-tilt toward a final confrontation and we're going to need you to help lead us."
    The man shook his head again. "I still can't understand you."
    "Shit." Hacksaw muttered while the world faded and he found himself staring up at the ceiling and listening to the sounds of his wife washing dishes.

Week Three

Author's note: I understand I'm probably going to get a lot of stuff wrong as I feel out this character and their surroundings. Bear with me.

    Athena tapped her pencil against her desk as her history instructor began his lecture. School had just started for the semester and she was already bored by the man's monotone. She stifled a yawn and glanced out the window toward the front gate of the school. St. Mary's girls school sat on top of a hill overlooking the town and specks of people wandered around living their daily lives. All except one. She was certain she'd seen the man before but he leaned against the wall near the gate and stared up at her. She couldn't make much out but he wore jeans and a T-shirt, as he always did, and watched. What he was there for she didn't know but he meant no real harm. She felt no hostility from him, something she'd always been able to feel when someone meant her harm.
    "Ms. Athena?" The instructor called.
    "Yes sir?" She asked.
    "Please read from where I left off."
    "Of course," She said as she began reading through the entry in the textbook.

    Finally the class ended and Athena stretched. Actively trying to get out of the room without appearing to rush she was caught up in the mob and accidentally jostled one of the other girls into someone in front of her. The other girl turned and glared down her nose at Athena.
    "Well what do you have to say to me," The girl said.
    "I don't have anything to say to you Cindy," Athena muttered.
    "What was that?" The other girl demanded.
    "I don't have anything to say to you," Athena muttered.
    "Well a barbarian like you wouldn't know how to act in civilized society."
    Athena balled her fists and fought back the anger that she could feel building. "Deep breaths," she told herself. It wasn't a secret that she'd been thrown out of her previous two schools for fighting but it still stung to be reminded; even obliquely.
    "I hardly think that's called for," A man's voice broke into the discussion. the voice's owner was holding a closed visor motorcycle helmet by its strap and his pale blue eyes twinkled with mirth but the scars that ran across his nose added an element of danger to his face. He was wearing torn jeans and boots that would likely have looked more appropriate on someone less than half the age his white hair declared him to be.
    "Sorry sir," Cindy said mockingly contrite.
    "I'd not go out of my way to piss somebody off who could clean my clock but then again that's me," the man laughed while he walked off.
    Athena blanched and glared after him as the other girls began talking about how handsome the square jawed man was.
    "I can't believe he said that," She groused as she got dressed for her gym class.
    "I wonder who he was," Her friend Michelle said tapping her chin in thought.
    "I don't care who he is," Athena said slamming her locker shut and tossing her red hair back out of her eyes. "He's a jerk."
    Michelle just laughed.
    She was still chuckling when the two emerged from the locker room and took their place in line for the warm-ups.
    The entire class Athena was faster than she'd been in a long time during the timed runs and she went longer without rest. The entire class was amazed when, after the mile run, she continued running laps even after she'd finished her own lap. She'd finished her third mile when the teacher called out for her to come in. The rest of the class had finally finished their own runs. She stopped and followed the others back into the gym where the standard physical tests continued. She ignored the disparaging comments she knew some of the other girls were making behind her.
    "That was incredible," Michelle said, "I was pretty happy going for a ten minute mile and you went through two." She shook her head with a smile, "I need to get in shape."
    Athena nodded absently while she thought. She'd never been that fast. Her best mile time before had been seven minutes and while she'd always been able to run two miles easily but she'd never been able to sprint that far. She shook it off while they changed back into the standard school uniform and went for lunch.