The Getaway God (Sandman Slim 6)

I go to Chaya.

“Aren’t you going to say good-­bye to your brother, you chickenshit?”

He looks like he wants to strangle me again, but he’s too freaked out to do it. I shove him and he lets me. But he looks at me hard.

“Tread lightly, monster. I’ll be the God of this universe soon.”

I look over at Muninn, then up at the sky. The Angra are almost down on us.

Samael puts his arms around his father.

The Angra can’t be more than a hundred feet above us.

I gut-­punch Chaya. He doubles up, then chokes when I take something from my pocket and shove it down his throat.

Samael lifts Muninn into the air as I shove Chaya as hard as I can into the Room.

Samael throws Muninn on the ground and I hit the deck as the Angra fly overhead, chasing the only God brother they can see into their precious Room. Then I close the door.

And wait for the universe to explode.

But it doesn’t.

There’s just a soft thud and a mild earthquake, like a nuke going off a hundred miles underground. Then all I can hear or feel is the rain. And the pain in my chest because throwing your dumb ass on the ground with bullets in your chest is a poor escape plan. By the time I push myself back up to my feet, Muninn is heading my way. If he was another kind of God, he’d be spitting fire and locusts at me.

“Was it your plan all along to sacrifice Chaya?” he shouts. “You made a promise to me and you didn’t keep it.”

I hold up my hands in case he thought of the locusts on the way over.

“The universe needs you more than it does your idiot brother.”

He turns on Samael.

“And you,” says Muninn. “You were in on this together.”

“No,” says Samael. “But to be fair, Father, if Stark hadn’t done it, I would have.”

Muninn sits on a bench, his hands balled into fists.

“You’ve given them the Room. You’ve unleashed the Angra on all of creation.”

I pull the Mithras out of my pocket and show it to him.

“Relax. Chaya bravely volunteered to swallow the Singularity. With all the doors locked, the Angra either died in the Big Bang when it went off or they have a whole new universe to play with. Whichever it was, they’re stuck in the Room and they’re not coming back.”

Muninn looks at me.

“You killed my brother. You killed part of me.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Muninn. You killed off all those other parts of yourself when you stole the universe and started this fight. I just made sure you were the last man standing.”

Muninn puts his hands flat on his knees.

“You understand that you can never use the Room again.”

“Maybe we can chip in and get him a bus pass,” says Samael.

I look over at him.