The Coward's Way

By Zoe Cannon

Millennia ago, an angelic soldier ran from the horrors of heaven's war against the forces of hell. Now he's living incognito on earth, flipping burgers and keeping his head down.

 

Better a live coward than a dead hero—that's his motto. But when heaven tracks him down and calls him back to the fight, he has to confront a question he's spent thousands of years running from: he may have survived the war, but what is he living for?

 

This short story is 11,000 words long. It is also available in Dark Wings, Bright Flame, an urban fantasy short story collection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zoe Cannon
• Release date: Jul 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201657956

Book preview

The Coward’s Way

Zoe Cannon

© 2021 Zoe Cannon

http://www.zoecannon.com

All rights reserved

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and events are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

The Coward's Way

I smelled angel on the wind, underneath the reek of greasy chicken and beef. At the front counter of the Burger Barn, my head jerked up from the cash register, with only half of the last customer’s change in hand. But it didn’t matter—the woman had disappeared. Her bag lay abandoned on the counter. Grease from the Chicken-n-Steak Double-Decker Special was already soaking through the thin white paper.

Beyond her, the rest of the line was gone too—the line that had stretched out the door a moment ago. The customers at the tables, also gone. Outside the window, a small herd of people walked mechanically to their cars, compelled by an unknown force.

But I knew what was responsible, even if they didn’t. It stood at the counter in the form of a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties, the only other person still in the Burger Barn. Even the people working back in the kitchen were gone, I was guessing—the constant hum of conversation and crackle of the fryers had both gone abruptly silent.

The man looked ordinary enough. His hair was combed back in an inoffensive style, his button-down shirt tucked into his jeans. Only a second look revealed the parts that were ever-so-slightly wrong. Like the buttons that were on the wrong side of the shirt. Or the lack of belt loops on his jeans. Or the fact that he was wearing two left shoes. And if I had looked up to meet his eyes—which I didn’t need to—I would have seen the pure white of heavenly fire shining there. Unlike me, he hadn’t had millennia to learn how to hide it.

Seconds ticked by on the clock behind me as I stood frozen, trying to decide how to respond. In the end, I plastered my work smile on my face, as if he were an ordinary customer. Cock-a-doodle-moo! I greeted him, trying my best to put some heart into it like my manager kept insisting I should. Welcome to the Burger Barn. What can I get for you today?

I’ve cleared the building for us. You can dispense with the charade. The man’s voice—although of course, he wasn’t a man at all—was thin and flat, like he hadn’t bothered learning the intricacies of human intonation.

I kept the plastic smile on my face. I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. Would you like to place an order? I recommend the Chicken-n-Steak Double-Decker—

He held up a hand, and my words died in my throat. All that came out was a small croak.

I have business with you, he said, before my voice could recover from whatever he had done to it.

I cleared my throat, and cleared it again. The next time I tried to talk, I was relieved to hear actual words come out. Well, I have business here—the paying kind. So you can either place an order, or move aside for the next customer. I cast a pointed glance behind him, as if the line still stretched out the door and he were holding it up.

Enough of your games.