Dissolve (25 page)

Her eyes slowly opened and a warm smile spread across her face as she saw Shane. She reached up and buried her hand in his blonde hair and pulled him down for another kiss. “Thank you,” she whispered.

A smile spread across his face and he returned her kiss, ugh. This was no time for public displays of affection, and I cleared my throat to break the spell. Finally, Shane broke away and gave us a guilty smile. “Sorry,” he said.

“It’s alright, but Noah might have a broken rib. Do you think you could help him out?” I asked.

“Of course,” Shane said as he crawls back to where Noah was sitting on the ceiling of the van.

“Thanks man, appreciate it,” Noah told him.

“No problem, just sit still so I can concentrate.”

The minutes tick by as we watched Shane heal Noah and paled from the strain. “Are you going to be okay, Shane?”

“I can heal myself so I am sure I will be fine in a little while.”

“Good point,” I said.

“Okay, what do we do now?” Mia asked.

“Well, we have less than five hours give or take until we have to be in Spokane now. We have some serious ground to cover. Not to mention the fact that we need a new vehicle. This one is trashed beyond recognition,” Noah explained.

“I agree, let’s get out of this death trap before it blows up. We can walk until we find a car still intact that still has gas. I will grab the bags, Cora, you grab Nessa,” Shane said as he kicked open the side door closest to him.

I hadn’t thought about an explosion, but thinking about all the movies with car crashes I began to panic. I grasped Nessa’s arm and quickly guided her out of the van. She didn’t even hesitate and stuck by my side. Mia climbed out next and Noah crawled out after that. Shane opened the back door and picked up all of our disheveled bags from the ceiling.

“Noah, can you help me carry these,” he asked.

“Sure man, no problem.”

Once the guys have grabbed our luggage, we all looked around to see where the hell we were. “Umm, does anyone know which way we need to go? We are in the middle of a freaking field,” I exclaimed.

“I see a road far off to the east, I say we get to it and then figure out where to go next. There could be signs telling us which way to go. There could even be a car for us to take,” Noah said, hopeful.

I nodded and we followed Noah around a myriad of debris toward the road. The ground was soggy and my flats were sinking into the mud. With every step, the mud clung to my feet and I began to feel like concrete bricks were glued to them. I started to slow and Noah pulled back. “Leave the shoes,” he told me.

“Okay, but then I will be barefoot in this grossness.”

“It’s okay Cora, I will carry you the rest of the way. The road is not that far now,” Noah said with a gentle smile as he put his arms out.

I reluctantly agreed and allowed him to pick me up. Just being in his presence sent shivers up my spine. I was all too aware of my body pushed up against his. I could even feel the definition of his muscles as they pressed into me. I took a slow steadying breath and sighed. I tried to control my wildly out of control beating heart as we approached the road.

“I can carry you further if you want me too,” he said.

“No, I have flip flops in the bag. I will just grab those now that we are out of the mud.”

I stopped Shane and grasped the bag that Nessa brought. I unzipped it and pulled out the flip flops before sliding them onto my drying muddy feet. Then I zipped it back up and handed it back to Shane. “Thanks, I think that these will work.”

I couldn’t help but notice that Mia and Nessa both pulled off their shoes and walked barefoot through the field. They both put their shoes back on their muddy feet. I pulled back closer to Nessa, who had been silent up to this point. She looked confused and is just muddling along. “Are you alright?” I asked her.

“I think so, I am just pretty confused. Is it because of the accident?” she asked.

“Yeah Nessa, it is just from the accident. You are safe here. We are all your friends,” I told her.

“Where is everyone?” she asked.

I dreaded this question as there was no easy way to answer that question. I thought about this, carefully plucking a response. “There was a tornado, and a bomb. There is no one left for a while. We just barely managed to survive. Now we just need to find a car so we can drive away.”

“A tornado I can see, but a bomb?”

“Yes, I wish it wasn’t so. There is no one left nearby that we have found. It happened before the tornado. I am sorry honey,” I told her in a gentle tone.

“Whatever, this is too confusing to think about right now. We just need to find a car then,” she said efficiently dismissing the matter.

“There is one up there,” Mia exclaimed. She was pointing about a hundred yards up at a midsize sports utility vehicle up ahead in a nearby driveway.

“That would be big enough to fit us. Let’s hope the keys are in the car,” Noah added as we quicken our pace in curiosity.

The SUV was grey and it was empty just like we expected it to be. “Bingo, the keys are still here. But I am not touching the ashes,” I said.

“I will do it, we have to get on the right road and get the hell out of here. We are still on a time schedule,” Noah replied.

Shane grimaced at the mention of a time schedule and opened the back of the SUV. He tossed our bags into it and opened the door to let Mia in. “Ladies first,” he said and I was glad that Nessa didn’t remember them getting together right now.

I was especially glad because I had to seat her in the back with them so I could navigate as we got out of wherever we were. I shut her in and then hopped into the front seat. I felt bad leaving all this mud on the floorboards, but it couldn’t be helped. We would just have to clean up sometime soon if we ever found our way out of this place.

I felt shaky after the car accident and could tell that everyone else was too. Noah was slow to get going and I appreciated it. “Look for any signs that would indicate where we are. This is definitely not the highway, and I don’t know how far that is from here,” he told me.

I nodded and looked out the window, searching for any signs that might come along. We were driving for at least fifteen minutes and I was about to suggest maybe we should turn around and go the other way when I saw a sign. “Up ahead, there is a sign. I can’t read it yet.”

“Good, maybe it will give us a spot to find on the map and we can deduce the way back to the highway,” Noah said.

“Four Corners, three miles,” I said.

“Hurry, I will stop while you look for it. I would say we are somewhere about eighty miles outside of Billings,” he replied.

I spent a few minutes going over the map before I found it. Four Corners was a small town in the middle of nowhere. Great, at least we were close to the highway.

“We went the right way. Keep going towards Four Corners and highway ninety will be just past it. Then we can get back on track, but we still have a good solid six hours before we can get there unless you can work miracles.”

“I am just glad we don’t have to back track. I can drive fast once we are on the highway.”

I looked back and noticed Nessa drifting in and out. Her honey blond hair had fallen in her face and she looked like an angel. I smiled, feeling relieved that she was okay and not asking too many questions at this point. I was too exhausted to answer and explain much more right now.

I fought my own fatigue for fear of dissolving and turned to Noah for conversation. “Up ahead is Four Corners. Jeez, this town is so small you can blink and completely miss it.”

“You’ve got to love these small towns. Thank God, I see the highway just ahead past the gas station. At least we didn’t lose too much ground,” he replied.

“There is the on ramp for west bound. We are going to have to be careful driving around these cars and debris on this one lane exit. Good thing there are shoulders so we can maneuver around.”

“I always was good at Grand Theft Auto,” he said with a laugh.

“Ha ha, very funny, just be careful.”

We moved slowly around the various pieces of debris that littered the exit. Thankfully, there was only one car on the exit and it was an upside down car on the shoulder that must have been thrown from the tornado. For once I was glad there were no people around. Trying to help and save people from this sort of damage would seriously impede our progress.

As soon as we made it onto the open highway we settled into a state of easy silence. I gazed out the window at the destruction and Noah focused on driving around all the littering cars. We were driving for a good forty five minutes before Nessa stirred. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

“Hey Cora, how close to Spokane are we?”

“About five hours if Noah drives fast. How are you feeling?” I asked.

“I feel a little better. I am starting to get snatches of memory back. I remember Shane and Noah, but Mia is a blur still.”

Mia placed her hand on Nessa’s shoulder and smiled. “You will remember, I know it, just take your time and be patient.”

“Thanks, I am sure I will. Things are still very fuzzy but are getting clearer with every passing minute,” Nessa said tucking her fallen hair back behind her ears.

“So is your mind reading back in check then?” I said speaking up again.

“Yes, unfortunately it is. I wish I could tune it down. All the thoughts are swirling around and giving me a headache.”

“I am sorry; I don’t have a solution for that as I have a different problem. Every time I try to relax, I feel myself slipping away. I am on edge and wish I could settle down,” I said.

“Watch out!” Mia shouted suddenly.

There, in the middle of the road, stood a woman. She looked very confused and was trying to wave us down. Her brown hair was stringy and her clothes were muddy. Noah screeched the SUV to a halt and spun out just before we reached the woman.

Chapter 23:

“Holy Crap!” I shouted in pure shock.

“There is a woman in the road. We didn’t hit her did we?” Mia asked, breathless.

I looked up to see her still standing there trying to wave us down. “No, we just missed her. If she is alive though, she must be one of the seven. We have to stop and help her.”

“I agree, but let me approach her. We don’t want to overwhelm her right away. Let me see what her story is,” Noah said.

Noah stepped out of the vehicle and moved cautiously towards the woman. Her eyes widened and she gave him a weak smile. He began talking to her and even shook her hand. I couldn’t make out the conversation, but it continued for several minutes and I was getting antsy. Seeing Noah with her brought out a twinge of jealousy that I couldn’t begin to admit to myself.

Finally, Noah nodded and she followed him back towards us. He opened the back door and winced. “Hey Mia, can you sit on Shane’s lap?”

“Sure, not a problem,” she said as she leaned up and Shane slid beneath her, making an extra space.

“Everyone, this is Vienna, Vienna that is Cora, Nessa, Mia and Shane.”

“Hello, I am so glad to finally find another living human being. I was beginning to think I was alone. Thank goodness, you all drove by,” she said getting into the SUV.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Vienna,” I said.

“Likewise,” she replied.

“Where are you from? Did you get stuck in the tornado too?” Mia asked.

“I am from St. Louis originally, but I have been out here visiting my parents for the past month while my dad was in the hospital. That tornado was wicked. I got stuck just outside of it luckily. I just got really dirty climbing out of the ditch.”

We all looked at one another, knowing we had found the seventh. She was from St. Louis too. There were so many questions we needed to ask her. Does she have her own ability? Did she witness the bombing? How had she contracted the genetic mutation? Luckily Noah had already asked her some of this because he was quick to speak up.

“Vienna witnessed the bombing and has been looking for someone, anyone ever since. She was at Washington University for a seminar a while back, where she met Stephan.”

At the mention of Stephan, my attention snapped to like a fine tooth comb. “You met Stephan? What did he say?”

“He offered me a cocktail and then we just talked about the symposium and the evolution of mammals in modern day versus the past. He was very nice, or so I thought. Noah here, tells me otherwise.”

“Yeah, Stephan is a real prince. He is one of the parties responsible for these bombings and my cousin unfortunately,” Mia commented.

Vienna looked at her questioningly but was cut off by Shane’s question. “Has anything strange happened to you since then?” he asked.

“That is an unusual question, but yes. I am much smarter than I was before. I seem to be absorbing everything I read. It’s fantastic,” Vienna replied.

“Awesome, you got the superhuman intelligence. That will come in handy through this mess,” I said.

“Superhuman intelligence?” she asked with a crinkle in her features.

“Yeah, that Stephan guy put something in your drink that genetically modifies your DNA. That is another reason you survived when no one else around you did,” Noah said.