Rising (44 page)

“Yeah, it’s probably faster,” he agreed.

There were so many houses packed tightly in
this neighborhood, but there wasn’t a soul in sight.
 
Jeremy didn’t have any jokes to tell
anymore.
 
We were both too busy watching
every shadow, and I think his thoughts were troubled by his missing
family.
 
Whether it was because they’d
abandoned him again or because he knew there was a likely chance that he’d
never see them again, I wasn’t sure.
 
I
pulled out onto Sugar Mill Road without bothering to stop at the sign.
 
There was no need.
 
When we neared the intersection where the
sugar mill was, I actually started to feel the first moment of relief that I’d
had all night knowing we were getting close to Pop’s camp.
 

As we rolled up to the intersection, a heavy
dark energy hit me like I’d been punched in the gut.
 
Then I heard the noises, the screams.

“Holy hell,” said Jeremy, staring past me at
the sugar mill.

It took me a second to register what I was
looking at.
 
It’s like my brain was
trying to explain it to me in slow motion.
 
I knew that the tractors stopped hauling cane during hurricane warnings,
but I’d forgotten that the mill didn’t stop running.
 
Not for anything. They had massive power
generators.
 
Just like the local
hospitals, they powered themselves up and kept right on working.
 
Apparently, the shadow scouts and reapers
figured this out.

I couldn’t even count how many shadow scouts
were swarming in and out of view from the warehouse-style building to about a
dozen reapers outside, waiting.
 
I
watched in horror, the same way you would watch a car wreck, completely unable
to remove your eyes from the scene.
 
Though it was hard to see them in the dark, I could make out the outline
of shadow scouts hauling workers from the building one by one, taking them to
whatever reaper wasn’t already draining the life from a man.
 
As each reaper plunged its arm into the chest
of someone, I could actually see the greenish glow of the stolen energy light
up the reaper’s skin, just for an instant.
 
The dreadful screams of the men echoed into the night.
 
All the while, ghostly ash-eaters shrieked in
agony, skirting the perimeter and waiting their turn.

“Go, man.
 
Go!” yelled Jeremy.

Then I saw what he saw, a shadow scout watching
us.
 
He was far away, but I could swear
he had a long greenish gash along his head.
 
Right before I pressed the accelerator, I saw him get the attention of a
reaper and point in our direction.

I slammed on the pedal, spinning out onto Old
Spanish Trail.
 
Power was welling up in
my chest, but there was no way Jeremy and I could take on that many reapers
alone.
 
I was confident, but I wasn’t
stupid.
 
We’d gone about a mile.
 
Jeremy was staring out behind us, while I
kept checking the rearview mirror.

“You think they’ll come after us?” he asked,
pulling his canvas bag of Pop’s kitchen knives up into his lap.

“No.
 
Why
would they?
 
They’ve got plenty to feed
on without chasing us—”

Then, boom.
 
An impact like a freight train hit the driver’s side, rolling the
minivan off the road.
 
All I could hear
was the crunch of metal and breaking glass, watching the world spin in front of
me.
 
The minivan flipped all the way over
twice, showering glass down on us then rested on the passenger side.
 
I was suddenly thankful that I’d always worn
my seatbelt and that Honda built sturdy cars.
 
Knowing I wasn’t exactly a safe driver, it was bound to happen
eventually.
 
Of course, I realized this
wasn’t just a traffic accident.
 
I
unbelted and kicked out the front windshield which was only partially
intact.
 
Scrambling out and facing the
direction of where I felt the reapers coming near the road, I pushed out my
power.
 
It rolled over the shields of two
reapers and the shadow scout, glistening an electric green as it was
deflected.
 
Jeremy was quickly beside me,
pulling knives from his canvas bag and throwing them one after the other as the
reapers advanced, yelling out his sound vibrations at the same time.
 
The smaller reaper was only 8 feet tall, as
opposed to his partner who was quite a few feet more, and had taken flight,
advancing on us much faster.
 
It swooped
down toward Jeremy, who spun around and sent a butcher knife and two skinning
knives flying overhead.
 
All three hit
directly into the reapers’ invisible shield before it cracked.
 
I was a little erratic, sending out my power
in bursts, some overhead, some behind us as we kept running.
 
I felt the air above me move and
automatically rolled to the ground.
 
The
airborne reaper descended, his killing arms thrust toward me, hissing as he
came.
 
Instantly, my power reacted,
shooting from my chest and out through my fingertips.
 
A second later, the beast screeched in agony
as its left arm and shoulder exploded into dust.
 
The creature fell bodily to my side.
 

“Come on!” yelled Jeremy.
 

No need for encouragement, I was off, sprinting
as before, while the creature writhed on the ground. We were several paces
ahead, but not slowing down when Jeremy pulled something from his sack of metal
toys.

“Use this!”

I glanced down at the ax in my hand,
recognizing it briefly as my Pop’s for wood kindling, then did what I thought
Jeremy was suggesting.
 
I turned around
to see the wounded reaper sprinting at us with a fierce gleam of hatred in its
serpentine eyes.
 
Pulling all of my
energy up into my chest, I hauled back the ax then channeled the power straight
down my right arm as I released it.
 
The
ax did four revolutions then hit dead center of the reaper’s abdomen, exploding
the beast into powdery soot in a blink.
 
The other reaper and shadow scout were moving leisurely toward us as if
deciding whether we were worth the effort.

“Come on,” I told Jeremy, pulling his sleeve
and running.

We were on Old Spanish Trail which paralleled
Bayou Rouge, snaking its way farther south toward Pop’s cabin.
 
I knew that nearly every house on the bayou
had a boat.
 
That was sort of the status
quo.
 
Of course, Pop just had a little
pirogue that had probably rotted from lack of use.
 
I was hoping that one of these more expensive
houses which lined this part of Bayou Rouge would have something a little
bigger, and faster.
 
I could see a
plantation-style mansion looming up out of the gloom ahead of us.
 
I glanced back over my shoulder, but couldn’t
see them following.

“Where are we going?
 
We could’ve taken them,” Jeremy was arguing.

“I’m not so sure,” I said, using the adrenaline
to keep my legs moving.

It was strange.
 
I hadn’t been afraid the first and definitely not the second time I
fought these creatures, but there was something gnawing at my gut this
time.
 
I didn’t know if it was the scene
of the swarming shadow scouts and reapers at the mill or if it was the way that
shadow scout had pointed us out and followed us.

“Keep running,” I said.

We passed the open garage where a Lincoln
Navigator and Mercedes Benz still sat.
 
I
didn’t even think about the possibility of anyone being alive inside.
 
There was no sound of a generator motor, and
this house would definitely have one running if anyone was home.
 
We jumped the wicker furniture on the stone
patio, jogging down the sloped lawn toward a short pier.
 
There was a long flat barge and a small speed
boat tied to the dock.

“Should we take the party barge?” asked Jeremy
sarcastically.

“Not even remotely funny.
 
Come on.”

We jumped into the speed boat, then I started
untying the ropes.

“See if you can find a key,” I called back.

“What would make you think these people would
leave a key in their boat?” asked Jeremy as he ducked under the steering wheel.

He was right.
 
I was acting irrationally now, just hoping we might catch a break and
get lucky.
 
Then I heard the motor
sputter on, gurgling up water from the
rutter
.

“You found them?”

I was completely shocked.

“No.
 
I
had to go with a
keyless
ignition,”
said Jeremy, steering us carefully away from the dock.

Apparently, Jeremy had a few hidden talents,
some of them borderline criminal, but helpful nonetheless.
 
Now was no time to question where he had
gotten such skills.
 
I was just glad he
had them.

“Nice job.
 
Now just head down with the current and we’ll be there soon enough.”

“Aye, aye, captain.”

He shoved us up another gear and picked up
speed now that we were in the clear.
 
There was still no moon, but a dim grayish light penetrated through the
cloud cover above.
 
The bayou water ahead
looked like a flat sheet of black glass.
 
I was almost in a state of calm after this last episode when a trigger
set off my emotional sense.
 
I turned in
time to see a giant cloaked figure taking three long bounds on the embankment
then flying through the air onto the boat in front of me.
 
The reaper’s hand severed instantaneously
into seven fingers as he grappled for my throat.
 
He had his electric hand splayed across my
collar bone, pressing me down against the side of the boat for leverage.
 
It all happened so quickly that only three
seconds passed from the instant I saw him to now where he had me pinned with
deadly force.
 
The sting of electric
shocks shooting from his hand threatened to paralyze me.
 
A sudden anger spilled out of me and I pushed
up against him, grasping his throat though my hand only spanned one fourth of
it.
 
His slits of yellow eyes peered down
into mine as I pushed outward with my power.
 
It wasn’t working.
 
His shield was
up, preventing any of my energy from breaking through.

“What is this?” the reaper asked through a
mouth slicked with black ooze.
 
“A
Vanquisher with no power?
 
Perhaps,
you’re not even worth draining.”

It lifted its other sword-like arm, readying to
strike.
 
I pushed out again, but it still
had no effect.
 
Then I heard Jeremy yell,
sending out violent waves of sound. I saw him leap onto the creature’s back,
stabbing viciously into its neck area, cracking the shield with each jab.
 
In the split second that the reaper released
me to turn on Jeremy, I pooled all that was in me and threw the hardest
undercut that I could.
 
The moment my
fist landed under his chin, I felt a crack as his head jerked back, then his
body crackled and shattered as my power splintered through his body.
 
It fell apart in chunks onto the floor of the
boat.
 
Its massive arms that had me
pinned moments ago broke from the body like weak branches from a towering
tree.
 
I was panting, completely
exhausted. Jeremy looked no better.

I searched the boat and the embankment thinking
that the shadow scout might be nearby; then realized we were veering onto
shore.
 
I moved as quickly as possible
which felt entirely too slow, grabbing and righting the wheel before we went
aground.
 
I winced in pain, trying to get
a good look at my hand.
 
I knew I’d
broken several bones.
 
Jeremy was still
laying on his back, propped up on his elbows, looking at the pile of charred
black pieces that was the reaper who almost killed us both a minute
before.
 
He stood up slowly, picked up
what was once its head, then drop-kicked it overboard.
 
We heard a hollow splash.
 
Jeremy sat back down on the floor, still
winded then looked over at me.
 
I just
nodded.

“My sentiments exactly.”

***

CLARA

I was staring at the ceiling, watching
the way the lamp-light flickered in pretty patterns on the cypress wood.
 
Misty was curled up beside me, purring softly
as I stroked her.
 
I had woken up earlier
when Mrs. Jaden had come in and tucked her sleeping daughter in beside me.
 
How strange.
 
My English teacher and family had joined us out in our hide-away in the
woods.
 
She recounted what had happened
with Gabe, Ben, and Jeremy.
 
I was
elated, thinking they’d all come back safely.
 
Then she told me ‘no,’ they were still out there.
 
Again, my heart fluttered when I heard
several voices and footsteps enter about an hour later.
 
Mel came in to check on me, examining me
carefully, while giving me the news that Gabe and Jeremy were still gone.