Shades (7 page)

Even as Isabel finally freed herself from the frozen moment, Jesse gripped her in his arms and got her into motion, pushing her back toward the picnic area. Caught off-guard, Isabel dropped the picnic basket.

Jesse propelled her from the path of the speeding van, but tripped as he shoved her. Isabel saw in an instant that he'd lost his footing and was unable to move to save himself. She turned and caught his jacket in one of her hands, then pulled him backward, acting like she'd tripped as well.

They went sprawling as the van rushed by, then hit the paved area of the rest stop hard enough to drive the breath from Isabel's lungs. Remembering the driver's frightened face, Isabel rolled from Jesse's protective embrace and turned to watch the van.

Evidently the driver came to her senses. The van jerked away from its course toward the stone picnic tables and benches. But the effort came too late and resulted only in causing the vehicle's tires to lose their precarious traction on the pavement. Rubber shrilled as the van's speed and weight tore the vehicle into an uncontrolled skid.

The passenger-side tires slammed into the high curb at the edge of the picnic area. Off-balance and riding high center, the van flipped over on its side. The momentum continued to flip the van another 180 degrees as the vehicle crushed one of the picnic tables and benches. The engine continued racing, revving out of control till it sounded like an explosion was imminent. The horn blared, holding steady and true over the banshee wail of the racing engine.

"Oh my god," Jesse said.

Isabel struggled to her feet. The woman inside the van might be still alive.

"Come on, Jesse!" Isabel cried. "We need to check on her."

"Who?" Jesse asked, not letting go of her.

"The woman driving the car." Then Isabel turned and started for the van.

"You saw a woman?"

"Yes." Isabel had to speak loudly over the screaming engine. The odor of burning oil and gasoline tainted the hot, thin air. "She looked scared. She was screaming."

Familiar electronic beeps caught Isabel's attention as she closed on the rear of the van. She turned at once, watching as Jesse punched in the three numerals on his cell phone.

"What are you doing?" Isabel asked.

"Calling nine-one-one."

Isabel grew more afraid then; 911 meant law enforcement personnel and reports, maybe even reports with Jesses name and her name on them. Her father was an attorney in Roswell; he looked at legal documents all the time. It was a stretch to think her father would see the report on the accident on U.S. 285, but the instant those reports were filed, that possibility existed. And if her father found out they'd been together, what would he do? And what could Max do? Thinking about her brother made Isabel feel even more guilty. Max had been through enough. Knowing she might have found happiness would make his own loss seem even sharper.

She looked around, knowing one couldn't do anything except wait for what was going to happen. All she could do was wait for the inevitable.

Taking a deep breath, Isabel nodded to Jesse and tried to calm herself. The odds were astronomical of her father actually seeing the documents generated by the state police or other law enforcement bodies.

Jesse started talking to the 911-dispatch person at the other end of the cell-phone connection, giving the person the location and the details of the wreck.

Staying focused on the van, Isabel started moving forward again, walking along the top of the vehicle rather than the undercarriage. Her imagination filled her mind with the possible bloody carnage that might be waiting.

The van's windshield had shattered with the series of impacts. Small, cube-shaped pieces of safety glass glittered like diamonds in a spray across the paved parking area and the sandy picnic area. The pieces glistened among the shattered remains of the demolished picnic table, too.

Before Isabel reached the front of the van, Jesse caught her by the elbow and stopped her. She turned to face him.

"What are you doing?" Jesse asked.

"Checking on the driver," Isabel replied.

"Don't you smell the gasoline?" Jesse asked, pulling at her and trying to guide her away from the wrecked vehicle. "This van could explode."

"If this were a movie or a TV show, maybe," Isabel responded.

A tender look filled Jesse's face. "I'm serious, Isabel. I want you to back off. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm going to check on the driver," Isabel insisted.

"I can do that."

"You're suddenly invulnerable?"

Jesse stared to argue.

"We'll do this," Isabel said. "I've had first-aid courses."

Jesse looked like he wanted to offer a rebuttal to her decision, but before he got the chance, a woman's voice lifted in a terrified wail.

"My baby!" she screamed. "Someone help my baby!"

Isabel spun then, heading for the front of the van. A chill ran through her as she thought about a baby being aboard the wrecked van.

The gasoline smell became stronger. Heat baked into the ground, reminding Isabel that the danger of a fire was real, not something inspired by special effects in a show.

She reached the front of the van, dropped to her hands and knees, and peered inside the vehicle. After being out in the bright sun, adjusting to the darkness inside the van took a moment.

The driver fought against the seat belt restraints, trying desperately to reach into the backseat. She was in her middle or late twenties, with blond hair and pale features. Blood streaked her face, but more fright showed than pain. The air bag stood out from the steering wheel compartment.

Isabel couldn't see how bad the woman's head wound was, and she knew from first-aid classes that those kinds of wounds bled profusely. "Hey," she said as calmly as she could.

The woman still kept reaching into the rear of the van, but she looked at Isabel. "Help me!" she croaked.

"I will," Isabel said, then moved aside so Jesse could join her. "We will."

"My baby!" the woman said.

"We'll get your baby," Isabel promised. She peered into the back of the van.

Two more rows of seats were behind the captains' chairs. Boxes and bags from the cargo area littered the inside of the van. As she looked at all the destruction in the van, Isabel wondered how a small child could have survived the wreck. Don't think like that, she told herself. Everything is going to be fine. She's still alive. The child has got to be alive too. Just the same, Isabel wished Max were there.

Jesse reached into the van and pulled on the seat restraints holding the woman locked into position behind the collapsed steering wheel. "It's no use. The locking mechanism is jammed." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small Swiss Army knife. "I'm going to have to cut her loose."

"Not me!" the woman yelled. Tears filled her eyes. "Please! Check on my baby! They told me she was gone! They told me she was gone, but there she is!" She pointed. "I can see her! Please! She needs help!"

"I'll get her baby." Isabel slithered into the van.

"Don't," Jesse said, grabbing Isabel by the shoulder.

"I've got to," Isabel said. She stared into his eyes. "We need to get the mother out, Jesse. We're miles from Roswell. It'll be a long time before help arrives."

Indecision showed in Jesse's eyes.

"I'm not giving you a choice," Isabel said.

"Let me get the baby."

"You won't fit." Before Jesse could say another word, Isabel pulled herself into the van. With the vehicle overturned and lying on the driver's side, navigating through the interior was difficult.

"Isabel," Jesse called.

His body blocked most of the light coming through the shattered windshield. If the van had been a passenger model instead of designed for cargo transport there would have been windows all the way around. There would have been more light, and Isabel would have been able to peer in through the windows.

"The gasoline smell is getting stronger," Jesse warned.

Isabel knew that was true. She could smell the change herself. The van was quickly turning into a bomb, and the racing engine might be enough to detonate those destructive forces.

Placing her hand on the van's metal body, knowing Jesse couldn't see what she was doing from his position behind her, Isabel unleashed her power. Part of her alien heritage, part of all of their heritages, was the ability to affect electronic things. The van had electronic parts that controlled the engine and ignition.

Whatever special part of her brain or her senses that controlled her alien powers reached out for the pulse of

the van. She felt the electrical force, then created a surge of energy that raced throughout the van.

"Isabel," Jesse called. "I just felt an electrical surge. We can't stay…"

Then the van's engine hiccuped and died.

"Get her out, Jesse," Isabel said.

"My baby!" the woman moaned. "Give me my baby!"

"I'll get her," Isabel promised, but her heart sank when she saw the jumble of boxes and bags strewn across the backseats. She looked for a child seat but couldn't find one. Desperately, she moved boxes, not knowing if she was uncovering the child or burying her farther.

"There she is! There she is!"

Surprised by the woman's voice, Isabel glanced forward.

The woman's face was a mask of blood, and tears streaked her cheeks. But she was smiling. Jesse had almost succeeded in cutting the woman free, and she was able to turn in the seat.

"There's my little angel!" the woman cooed excitedly. "There's my little Abbie! Come on to Mother, Abbie! Come on!"

Confusion dawned on Jesse's face as he peered past the woman. He looked at Isabel and shook his head.

Isabel's heart nearly stopped. Her immediate thought was that something awful had happened to the baby. Overcoming a preternatural fear of seeing what was there, she turned and looked into the seat.

A child, surely no more than a year and a half old, sat curled up like a fetal ball at the bottom of the seat. Boxes framed her. She had blond wisps of hair and chubby cheeks. A pink bow sat atop her head, matching the frilly dress and

matching underpants. Pink tennis shoes with white laces covered her feet, looking impossibly wide and blunt.

"See?" the woman said. "That's my baby. That's my little Abbie." She smiled, then groaned as Jesse continued cutting her free of the seat restraints. "The doctors said she didn't make it, but 1 knew they were wrong. A mother always knows."

The oddity of the woman's words barely touched Isabel as she pushed her way into the backseat. "Hey," she said to the little girl. "Are you all right?"

The child glared at Isabel, folding her pudgy arms across her body.

Jesse helped the mother from the van, having to fight against her efforts to help Isabel get her little girl.

Shifting, Isabel reached for the child. Before she could reach her, though, the little girl cocked her head and snarled, baring her tiny white teeth in a feral grin. Surprised by the reaction, Isabel hesitated.

"Isabel," Jesse called.

Isabel tried twice to speak.

The child snarled and snapped. She looked at Isabel, then pointed a tiny, blunt forefinger. "You don't belong here."

Jesse peered into the shadows that filled the van. "What are you looking at?"

"The baby," Isabel whispered.

"I don't see a baby," Jesse said. "Where do you see her?" He reached forward and moved boxes, reaching through the child as if she wasn't there.

Before Isabel could reply, hesitating as she tried to frame an answer that would make sense, the little girl stood and bolted toward the front of the wrecked van. She scrambled over the boxes and seats on all fours, moving with the lithe leaps of a jackrabbit.

Drawn by the glint of malicious intent she'd seen in the child's face, Isabel followed. She scraped an elbow on a jagged piece of windshield safety glass as she clambered from the vehicle. Outside again, the glaring intensity of the sun hammered her.

"Isabel!" Jesse called frantically. He tried to get out of the van to follow her but struggled with the tight confines.

Dizzy and not comprehending the situation, Isabel watched as the little girl loped up to the stricken woman lying on the ground.

The woman reached up with her hands, unable to get to her feet because of her injuries.

"Mother!" the little girl called in sadistic delight. The child's face split into a gamine grin that looked years older and bloodthirsty.

"Abbie!" the woman whispered. Tears ran down her bloody face. "Oh god, Mommy didn't want to believe what the doctors told her. Mommy knew you were alive somewhere. I'm so sorry, my darling, that I wasn't there for you." She beckoned with her hands. "Come to Mommy, baby. Come to Mommy. Mommy swears we won't ever be apart again. Mommy will always be there for you."

The child-thing… Isabel could no longer think of the little girl in any other fashion… stood just out of the woman's reach and crossed her arms. "You killed me, Mommy."

Pain wracked the woman's features. "No, Abbie, that's not true! Oh god, that's not true!"

Jesse freed himself from the van and started for the woman. "She's hallucinating."

Isabel looked at him, knowing that for whatever reason, Jesse couldn't see or hear the child-thing. He started for the woman.

Afraid for Jesse, not knowing what the child-thing was capable of, Isabel stopped him. "Call nine-one-one again," she said. "Let them know what they're dealing with here."

Jesse hesitated.

"It would be the best," Isabel said. "I'll help her."

Grimly, Jesse nodded and took out his cell phone. He watched the woman as he spoke, concern tightening his face.

Isabel liked that about Jesse, liked the fact that he cared about someone he didn't even know. Still, she was worried what her dad was going to say when he found out both of them had been together.

"Abbie!" The woman sounded plaintive now, growing weaker from her injuries and shock.

"You killed me," the child-thing accused. "You didn't want me enough. You didn't try hard enough."

Disbelief swept through Isabel as she knelt beside the woman and tried to comfort her. "It's okay," Isabel whispered, but she never took her eyes from the belligerent child-thing. "Whatever you're seeing, whatever you're hearing, it's not real." Nothing could be that mean or spiteful.

The woman grabbed Isabel's arm in both her hands. "I didn't kill her! I swear!"

Isabel let the woman hold one of her hands while she smoothed her hair with the other.

"You killed me, Mommy," the child-thing accused. "You didn't want me. You wanted Daddy all to yourself. You were afraid you were going to lose him."

"No!" The woman sounded hysterical. "It was an accident, Abbie! The umbilical cord got wrapped around your neck! They told me it wasn't my fault! Not my fault!" She looked up at Isabel, holding on more tightly. "They told me it wasn't my fault!"

"I'm sure it wasn't," Isabel said.

The child-thing shrieked in rage. Without warning, the creature ran straight for the fallen woman.

Without thinking, intending only to deflect the child-thing so the creature couldn't harm the helpless woman, Isabel put her hand out. For a brief moment, she felt cold and hard flesh beneath her hand. Before she had time to take in anything else, the hum of a static electricity discharge crackled through the air.

A lightning bolt came from nowhere and struck the pavement nearby. The explosion rocked Isabel and knocked Jesse from his feet.

She glanced at Jesse, knowing he'd taken more of the brunt of the blast than she had. As she started to call out to him, a gray-green shape suddenly rose up from the woman.

Stunned, the lightning blast still ringing in her ears, Isabel watched as the gray-green shape grew to ten feet in height. The shape took on distinct features, becoming a stooped dragon… at least, that was as close as Isabel could come to describing the creature… with short wings, and a long snout filled with curved fangs. The scales held a shimmering silver coloration under the direct sun, but the mottled charcoal and emerald colors looked like gangrene.

The dragons eyes appeared multifaceted and actually moved back and forth in their orbits like camera lenses. A pair of antennae jutted up from the interior corner of the eyes, curving back over the dragon's head and twitching in perfect time. Unfolding forelegs that resembled those of a praying mantis and ended in serrated hooked claws, the creature swiped at her.

Isabel dodged back, unwilling to leave the unconscious woman's side. The hooked claws passed within inches of her face.

"Isabel." Jesse got to his feet again.

"Leave!" the dragon snarled at Isabel. "All of you need to leave this place or you will all die!"

Lightning flashed again, blinding in its intensity despite the brightness of day. This time, the lightning struck the van. Apparently enough gasoline had leaked from the vehicle to create a pool that ignited when the lightning seared into it. Isabel caught a brief glimmer of flames, then the van leaped into the air as the gas tank exploded.

The mass of flame-wrapped burning metal thudded back onto the ground hard enough to send a tremor through the earth. A blistering heat wave washed over Isabel, pulling at her hair and clothing. As she covered her face with her free hand, she watched the dragon dissipate, fragmenting like a computer-generated picture being torn away pixel by pixel.