Bandits (32 page)

Daniel looked at her, took in her beauty and health, and
chuckled
. He walked toward Jade, pulled her close, and kissed her deeply.

“Thank you, for sticking by me – even when I was an ass.”  He released her, and caressed her cheek.

Jade smirked up at him. “Yeah, you were, but I’m used to it. You’re mine. Now that those aliens connected me to you guys, you’re stuck with me.” She looked at Faulk, who grinned back at her and winked.

“I already knew you’d be an asset to our team.”  Faulk winked and smacked his lips.

“Watch yourself, Faulk,” Daniel warned with a fake growl.

Faulk laughed out. “We’re almost to Merwin. Woulda been nice to have them put us
inside the cave
. Anyhow, the ship is driving itself to the location we left, like it picked the place,” Faulk said, and tossed Nickel over his shoulder.

“Good. We have a mess to clean up.”  Daniel’s heart filled with peace and excitement.
A new purpose, a new life.
He grinned.

Gabe exited his father’s ship at the mouth of the cavern, fo
l
lowed by his father’s men who were sent to help him. His brother Franz walked alongside him with a dying Michael in his arms. Rage
engulf
ed him, anger at himself, Haden and the Zukar.
I’m sick of this. I can’t do this anymore – for what?  These bastards don’t unde
r
stand loyalty.

The cavern looked unstable. Its gray walls, turned black where it appeared to be deteriorating. Ash fell like flakes of rain from the ceiling of the cave. His father and the men that stayed behind waited around. Gabe wondered how they could stand the stench. The smell of blood, death, sulfur and mold filled the air between the bursts of steam that came up from the holes on the ground.

Gabe heard another ship approach from above. He hoped it wasn’t the King’s officials. Another fight would seal Michael’s death. As for now, Gabe didn’t think anything could be done for him.

He walked into the main cavern and looked at his dad. His father’s tear streaked look of grief appeared odd on his strong, angular face. Gabe swallowed, and his father’s gaze left his to look at Michael. He walked forward and lifted Michael from Franz’s arms. Franz’s golden blond locks untwisted from Michael’s curly black hair.

“You made it back, son. You did good. I knew I could count on you,” Bry said gruffly. Then he growled out his grief and pulled Michael’s limp body close to his own. With his forehead resting on the top of Michael’s brown forehead and dark curly head, he cried.

Gabe turned at the sound of a ship crashing through the ceiling. Daniel’s ship burst through the cavern to land directly in front of them. Gabe and the others ducked as Daniel’s craft landed, trying to avoid the rocky shrapnel.

Gabe looked up, and his breath caught in his throat when the hatch to the ship opened and his eyes landed on Jade, who walked ahead of Daniel.

Jade’s gaze collided with her Gabe’s. “No! No, Michael!” She ran to her brother’s limp body. Sobs wracked her body while her father laid his head on hers.

“You made it? How the hell?” Gabe asked, his eyes on Daniel in disbelief.

“I’ll fill you in later.”  Daniel walked over to Bry and lifted Michael out of his hands. “I have a way to save him. Take him to my ship.”

Bry held tight for a moment and finally conceded, loo
k
ing Daniel sternly in the eyes, he handed his son over to Daniel. “Okay, son. I trust you. Clint, take my boy to Daniel’s ship.”

Franz spoke up, his fair cheeks reddened with dete
r
mined, “No, let me take him. He’s my brother.”  He took M
i
chael from Daniel’s arms and walked over to the ship.

Daniel looked up at the spinning pakeet. Although it was still where they left it, the damage had spread throughout the entire cave. Daniel motioned for Nickel, Faulk and Jade to come closer.

Without understanding why or how he knew what to do, he grabbed Faulk, and Nickel’s hands. Jade stood under the pakeet. A burst of heat started at his stomach and shot out at Jade. A prism of light poured from him and into a glowing Jade. Smaller bursts of colored lights came out of Nickel, then Faulk and flowed purposely into Jade, who acted as a vessel. Daniel’s eyes shut against the light and power coming out of their bodies. All of the power poured into Jade and burst up and then out of the top her head. Her curly, dark hair straightened out above her, and the powerful beams of light held within her body flowed into the pakeet above them.

They heard voices around them. Unable to focus on the background noises, they were blinded by the light emitting from them. They stayed focused on the power pouring from them.
Swoosh!

Voices murmured. “Oh my God… it’s beautiful. Is this for real? Unbelievable.”

Suddenly, it stopped. With a
whoosh
, and a
pop
the power pulled back through them in reverse of the direction it flowed. In an instant, it
end
ed. Jade’s color returned to its original shade as her long black curls fell around her face.

Daniel opened his eyes, feeling drugged. A breath e
s
caped his lips. The pakeet swooped down in front of him and hovered. He reached out and touched it, and it thrust itself within his chest before it disappeared. He looked around the once dark and dead cavern. It was now copper, beaming with life. Green moss covered the walls, and the vented holes in the ground no longer spewed steam. The cavern smelled of grass, sweet flowers, and running water.

“You did it, boy!  You did it! All of you! My God, he was right. Rayne was right!” Bry yelled out.

Daniel turned to look at Gabe and grinned at the shocked expression on Gabe’s usually surly face. Jade and the others came to stand next to Daniel.

Bry put his hands on Daniel’s shoulders. “I’m going to do something I was too afraid and selfish to do for your father. I’m going to let you go -all of you.”  He grabbed Gabe and Jade, then pushed them next to Daniel. “I want you all to go, to leave here. Take that thing and go to safety. You’ll never be safe here with it, and it’s meant for greater things than sitting here.”

“But mom? What would she…,” Jade asked.

“She knows. I contacted her while you were gone. I told her everything. She cried of course, you … you know your mom, but then told me to send you all away. She wants you to be safe, and here on a planet of Zukar, you’ll never be safe.”

“Dad, you sure?” Gabe asked.

“It has to be this way. Don’t worry, your mom and I will catch up to you when we settle things here. We’ll all take this journey together. Rayne wanted to leave here with this thing years ago, but I convinced him we could protect it here - t
o
gether. I thought we had… I just didn’t think that someone could really kill him. Didn’t think Haden hated us so much to try. I deeply regret that decision. Besides, I think I’m in the mood for a change.”  He hugged them close, then looked down at Nickel and rubbed the top of his head.

Daniel hugged Bry back. “Thank you, for letting them come with me. For, joining us and…”

“There’s no need to thank me, Daniel. You’re like a son to me. Besides, I can’t leave you and your cousin alone with my daughter for too long.” He winked.

Daniel cringed.
Hell! He’s gonna kill me when he finds out Jade’s my girlfriend.

Other ships sounded in the distance. They all looked t
o
ward the sky. Faulk and Nickel ran off.

Bry grabbed Daniel’s arm. “Wait! This belongs to you.”  Bry pulled out Daniel’s father’s journal. It was a bit torn and blood stained.

Daniel’s eyes watered as he took it from Bry and smiled slightly. “Thanks. This means a lot to me.”

Bry looked up toward the sky at the approaching ships. “Go now!  We’ll catch up,” Bry said and pushed them toward Daniel’s ship.

Daniel took off and started walking toward the ship. He looked back at Jade, who was hugging her father goodbye.

Jade hugged her father tightly and kissed his cheek and whispered, “Daddy – Daniel’s my boyfriend.” Then she took off running toward Daniel.

Jade ran up to Daniel and gave him a hug and kissed him on the corner of his lip. He pulled back in shock and looked up at her father with fear.
Yep, I’m dead… now.

“Daniel!” Bry bellowed, his face filled with rage.

“Uh,sir … I…” Daniel stammered.

Bry broke out in a
smile
. “Take good care of her, son. She’s good for you.”

Daniel hesitantly grinned back. He gulped as the hairs stood up on his neck when he felt someone come up behind him.

“I’m still gonna kick your ass for dating my sister. You better hope she’s worth it,” Gabe said in a menacing whisper.

Daniel laughed
and nodded.
“She sure is.”

Daniel turned and followed Gabe into the ship. After the door closed, he went to stand next to Faulk and Jade.

“We’re ready to lift off. Where are we going?” Faulk asked.

“Wherever it is, we better get the hell out of dodge now!” Gabe said.

Faulk grinned, pulled the lever, and they flew up and out of the hole at the top of the cavern. Pushing into hyperspeed, they swerved in and out of several Merwin officials ships before they could fire. Up the ship flew into space, and they all watc
h
ed with bated breath as they cleared out of Merwin airspace.

“Whew!” Faulk let out the breath he’d been holding.

Daniel lifted an eyebrow and slapped Faulk on the back. “So…where should a couple of retired thieves, a flight school graduate, and a little kid go?” He pulled at his dimpled chin and smirked. “Hmmm. I always thought the Planet Uukin needs some help. The prisoners are left there on that dying world – most of them unjustly - and barely have anything to eat. I say we go revive the world so at least they’ll have food.”

“Fine with me. Besides, since you have turned into a good guy. I’ll be the badass to back you up. Let’s do it!” Gabe said and slapped Daniel on the back.

Franz came into the room, his golden dreads hanging beaded down his back. His serious face broke out into a grin. “Yeah, let’s do it. Michael’s healing, and we both always wanted to check that place out.”

Jade smiled, happy to be an equal member of the group. “I’m all over it.”

Gabe and Faulk looked at her in disbelief for only a se
c
ond before their faces broke out into grins and respect.

“Yeah, sis, I guess you are. You are part of the crew,” Gabe said and pulled her to him and tossed her over his shou
l
der to spin her around.

“Stop Gabe! You are making me dizzy! Daniel help me!” she laughed.

“He can’t. Me and Franz are getting ready to kick his ass for dating you.” Gabe chuckled.

“I don’t think so. He’s got back up now.” Faulk joined in.

The ship made its way to the Planet Uukin, laughter echoing within as they went to meet their next adventure.

Hello
.
My name is Damon Fitzpatrick, and I’m a spe
c
trum. In case you don’t know what that is, to sum it up, it’s a super human given powers by sunlight. See, I wasn’t always like this. About year ago, my life was perfectly normal
.
I had tons of friends, a sexy girlfriend, and a great family. I guess maybe I should tell you what happened, but brace yourself… it ain’t pretty
.

It all started my sophomore year in high school
.
I r
e
member it was Wednesday. My brother Tony and I caught the bus to school. I was wearing my American Eagle shirt and a pair of shorts. Although it was winter time, it had been strangely hot for the past couple of months – so hot some days that we couldn’t even go to school
.

Anyway, when we were getting on the bus, I noticed my brother wasn’t feeling too well. So, when we got to school, I took him to the nurse.

While she was checking him out, the bell rang, and the nurse told me to go to class. “You go on now,” the chubby, smiling nurse said. “It looks like your brother will have to stay here until your parents pick him up. I’ll take good care of him ‘til then.”

I was a little protective of my brother. After all, he was sick, and he was only a freshman. “Can’t I just hang out here with him?”

“That won’t be necessary. You better get to class.”

“I don’t know when they’ll be able to get him. It’s hard to reach them at their jobs.”

She gave me a stern look, and I shrugged.

Seeing that she wasn’t going to let me have my way, I went on to Mrs. Livel’s math class. It wasn’t long before I got bored. I started talking to Nancy, this hot senior. “Hey, girl,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Hi, Damon,” she said with a wink.

“I, uh—” All the sudden, her face grew blurry, and I had to brace myself on my desk to stop the room from spinning. I figured I must’ve caught whatever my brother had.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” my voice cracked. The bell rang, so I rushed out of class and headed to the nurse’s office when suddenly a giant flash blinded me, the entire school, the whole world. After about ten minutes of blinding light and the bur
n
ing, there was only pain – so intense I can still remember it. The flashes began to fade, and my eyes started to focus in the dar
k
ness. I almost wished they hadn’t because the first thing I saw
was
that ever
y
body around me
was
dead.

At this point, I was in complete shock, and I couldn’t b
e
lieve what had just happened. The smell of burning flesh was… man, it was sick. My stomach bubbled and gurgled like I was going to throw up, and then it dawned on me – that my brother may be dead as well
.