Immortal Light: Wide Awake (34 page)

“
Lucy, Lucy, are you okay? Lucy,
wake up!” She held onto her friend, pulling her into a relaxed
position across her lap, cradling her head in her arms. Benjamin
ran over to them and grabbed Lucy’s hand.

“
She’ll be fine.” He smiled at
Kat, not to make her feel better, but as a reaction to his own
relief.

Kat looked up as Benjamin ran to
join the fight, instantly attacking one of the two remaining
creatures. In her lap she felt Lucy begin to move. She was stroking
the hair out of her face when from around the corner came the same
hair-raising hiss that the creatures emanated as they approached.
Turning to look over her shoulder, she saw one of the greasy black
monsters approaching her. In the light of the overhang she could
see clearly that it actually looked human up close. While its
movements defied that assessment, she saw in its black eyes that
there had once been a person there. But, deep down she knew that
whoever that person was, he had not inhabited that body in a long
time, and the creature in front of her was the result.

Panic sprang up inside her and she began to
scream. “Help! There’s one right here! Help us!”

As the creature got closer, Kat could smell
what could only be described as death; it was the smell of rotting
meat and the metallic scent of blood.

Kat felt her body heave, but suppressed the
desire to vomit and screamed again, “Help!”

Just as the creature was about to overtake
them, she heard a bone crunching crack and thud and the golden
point of a blade shot out from between its eyes causing her to
jump. The monster stopped with a look of absolute surprise. Its
body began to fall forward when a large hand and arm covered in
black fabric reached around from behind the monster and pulled it
upright. The driver of the car came into view and with one swift
motion, pulled a long blade from his back, brought its gleaming
gold blade in front of the monster’s throat and completely severed
its head.

Kat looked up at her rescuer. His blue eyes
practically glowed. For a moment she couldn’t think at all and she
and her new friend shared a gaze before he winked at her and walked
away back toward the car.

Kat was left staring as he walked away, when
Lucy instantly sat up and got to her feet, her hands out to her
sides.

“
Oh my gosh, Lucy, are you
okay?”

Lucy looked around and then at Kat. She
relaxed, her satin dress flapping in the coastal wind. She
immediately embraced Kat. She didn’t say anything and Kat held on
tight to her friend.

It took a moment before Lucy
let go and returned the inquiry. “Are
you
okay?”

“
Yeah, I’m fine. What was that,
Lucy?” Kat was shaking now. Her constitution was finally giving
out.

Lucy looked rapidly around, searching for
Benjamin. She spotted him across the quad walking toward her, his
sword in hand swinging at his side. From around the parking lot,
Lucy and Kat saw small fires erupt one by one as Jack and Peter
dropped matches on what was left of the dead creatures.

Just as Lucy’s heart began to slow to a normal
pace, she looked at Benjamin, who smiled at her from thirty or more
yards away, and then saw him look to the corner of the gym.
Instantly, Benjamin was running to her at a dead sprint.

Before she could realize what was
going on, she felt a strong force wrap her up. Looking down, she
saw veins bulging around the muscles of large, bare arms. Once
again, she felt fear and anxiety spread over her, and she tried to
get away from the powerful grip. It wasn’t like the other
creatures; it felt like a person, strong and muscular, and above
everything, it was fast. She could not imagine a person being able
to run that fast while holding onto someone. Despair hit her as she
realized that there was no way a world-class sprinter could catch
them, let alone Benjamin, and then she felt everything begin to go
black again. It was different; it felt like her life was being
sucked out of her against her will.

As the darkness slowly took over,
she felt them stop abruptly, the smell of gasoline exhaust filled
her nose and she was thrown onto a soft surface; in her delirium
she recognized it as the seat of a car and, as she closed her eyes,
hopelessness engulfed her while everything was once again
black.

***

Kat didn’t know what had happened. All she
could see was that Lucy had been carried off and Benjamin was now
sprinting after her. Looking around she saw the two other men in
likewise motion: one running after Benjamin, and the other already
at the black car’s driver door.

Kat caught the driver looking toward
her.

“
You better come with me,” he
said, jerking his head toward the passenger seat.

Without hesitancy, Kat got to her feet and ran
to the car. The tall man that had saved her from an approaching
monster pointed to the passenger door as he threw himself into the
driver’s seat.

As Kat slid into the passenger’s
seat, her bare arm brushed against his right hand as it rested on
the gear shift. Immediately, she noticed an overwhelming sense of
joy and excitement, which surprised her since just a second before
she felt nothing but fear and anxiety. All Kat could do was watch
as he put the car in gear, sliding the shifter to the first
position.

“
Hang on, this could get a little
exciting.” Again, the man, who was more intriguing to Kat than any
person she had ever met, winked at her. While his words were cause
for some concern, his face said that he was amused by the whole
experience, like a fox sneaking into the chicken coop.

Up ahead, Kat could see that whoever had taken
Lucy had stopped at a large, dark-colored sedan that was parked at
the end of the school’s long driveway.

“
I’m Jack, by the way. I don’t
think I caught your name.”

Before she could answer, Kat was
thrown back into her seat as Jack let off the clutch and slammed
the gas pedal to the floor. She groped around for anything to hold
on to. The speed at which they were traveling was something Kat had
never experienced. There was constant acceleration as the engine
whined higher and higher. They blew past Benjamin and the other
man, who Kat, through the simple addition of names to faces in the
Raven family, could only assume was Peter Raven, climbing onto a
motorcycle. She saw the bike’s single headlamp light up the second
they passed. The driveway was about twenty yards from ending and
Jack was still gaining speed. They were headed straight for the
dark sedan. Kat saw the person who had grabbed Lucy jump into the
rear passenger door of the car. He was big, with muscles protruding
from his dark shirt. His head was bald, but seemed to have a tattoo
covering his entire scalp.

Kat pressed her feet into the floorboard as
Jack raced the car at what seemed like a hundred miles an hour
straight at the sedan. All Kat could do was close her eyes and
clench every muscle in her body. The sedan peeled out of Jack’s
headlight beams and headed east on Ingersoll.

“
They’re going for the highway.
This ought to be fun.”

Jack’s look of pure amusement was
a little unnerving, but he radiated such control that Kat felt more
ease, despite the suicidal speed at which they were traveling in
such a short distance.

Kat felt her stomach lurch as Jack
hit the clutch and brake simultaneously, spinning the car to follow
the assailants. The force at which the black Camaro turned threw
Kat into Jack and she steadied herself on his arm. The fabric of
the jacket he wore felt rugged, like a hunting jacket, but there
was something almost metallic about it. As the car straightened
itself, she noticed on the sleeve, in dark gold, the imprint of a
bird. The image was only about five or six inches in height and it
reflected gold from certain angles.

Ahead of them, Kat saw the taillights of
Lucy’s captors. They were traveling incredibly fast. Looking at the
dash board, Kat couldn’t see the speed, but she knew that traveling
as fast as they were in the dark wasn’t a good idea.

Behind them, in the side mirror,
she could see the single headlight of Benjamin’s motorcycle. He was
riding it very close to the back bumper of the Camaro when it burst
around them. As it passed she saw that Benjamin was actually on the
back of the bike and Peter was driving.

The dotted lines of the road seemed almost
solid as they weaved in and out of turns on the coastal highway.
Cars coming the opposite direction honked as they passed, noticing
the reckless driving of the three vehicles.

On a straightaway, all vehicles gained speed.
Being thrown once again into Jack’s arm as they rounded a sharper
turn, Kat got a glimpse of the red needle in the speedometer, and
it was falling just below the 100 mph line. She pulled her seatbelt
as tight as it would go, closed her eyes, and held on as firmly as
possible to the door handle.

Taking three deep breaths, she
opened her eyes as the car accelerated and decelerated at every
turn. Ahead, she saw that Benjamin had drawn his sword as he hung
onto the back of the motorcycle. The next few moments were
unbelievable to Kat. She watched in stunned silence as the
motorcycle shot into the oncoming lane and pulled right alongside
the assailant’s car. In one fluid movement, Benjamin leapt from the
motorcycle with his sword in one hand and drew out the long,
Japanese-looking sword from where Peter had it strapped to his back
with his other hand. Flying through the air for a split second,
Benjamin raised back with both swords and plunged them into the
roof of the sedan. The motorcycle drifted back behind the
Camaro.

Jack had gone silent and his face was total
concentration as he steered. All Kat could think about was how
Benjamin was able to do what he had just done, and how he would
most definitely die if he fell off.

Hanging on with both hands to the
swords, Benjamin was tossed around like a rag doll as the car
swerved back and forth in an apparent effort to shake him off.
Fortunately for Benjamin, there wasn’t a lot of room to maneuver on
the narrow road; so he was able to get steadied on the roof, though
traveling at insane speeds. He pulled himself up so that he was on
his elbows, with both hands gripping tightly to the
swords.

Having hoisted himself up,
Benjamin leaned to his right. He began to pull up on the longer
handled sword when the roof of the car exploded beneath him. A
jagged hole was left where an apparent gunshot had been fired
through the metal, barely missing Benjamin.

“
Oh, great,” Jack exclaimed
sarcastically through gritted teeth.

Kat didn’t want to break his
concentration, so she didn’t say anything. Rolling down his window,
Jack motioned to the motorcycle driver behind them to pull up. As
the bike came alongside, Jack grabbed two knives from his jacket
and handed them out the window. Taking them, Peter pulled the
motorcycle up next to the captor’s vehicle. Kat watched as white
blasts shot out through the front window of the car just as the
motorcycle swerved out of the way.

In a matter of seconds, the motorcycle was
back alongside the sedan. Kat watched as Peter raised his hand,
holding one of the large, golden knives by the blade. With
laser-like precision, he threw it at the front tire of the car. The
sedan immediately jerked to the left as the tire exploded in a
burst of shredded rubber. The car slowed considerably and Benjamin
took the opportunity.

Getting to his feet while holding onto the
sword handles, he pulled the swords from the roof and leapt forward
landing on the hood. From where Kat sat, all she could see was
Benjamin’s head above the roof of the car and before the driver
could respond to his obstruction, Benjamin raised the swords and
sliced straight into the engine compartment causing an explosion of
fire and smoke from the tailpipe that made Kat scream.

It only took the car about one hundred yards
to finally stop and Jack slid the Camaro right up next to it.
Gunshots rang through the air and Kat curled up in her seat.
Jumping out, Jack leapt over the hood of his car.

Benjamin had slid off the hood of the sedan to
avoid the gunfire that was raining down on him from the passenger
seat. Kat closed her eyes and covered her ears in an attempt to
block whatever sound she could. Every part of her was cringing in
fear when everything suddenly fell silent.

Slowly, she uncovered her ears and heard
voices outside. She recognized Jack’s voice right outside her door,
so she looked up and saw him standing with his back to her window.
He seemed to be struggling with something. He swayed back and forth
then his back slammed into the Camaro. One more jerking movement
and Kat heard what sounded like a bag of potatoes hit the ground.
Jack turned to where Benjamin was standing near the back door of
the sedan. She couldn’t see Peter anywhere, but the motorcycle was
lying down in front of the two cars. The next thing she saw was
Benjamin disappear as the rear door of the sedan slammed shut with
him and Lucy inside. Kat prayed that Lucy was alright.

Jack turned to face Kat in
the Camaro. He bent down and dragged something—most likely the body
of the sedan
’
s
driver—away from the other vehicles. A small column of smoke
appeared from behind the cars and Kat could only guess that Jack
had lit the creature on fire as he had the others at the
school.