The Donors (28 page)

No, Ranger. Your mission is here. Your team is helping you, so finish your job.

What about Jason?

That is for Jason to decide. Destroy the light and set your mother free.

Nathan took a deep breath; the air felt cool and dry in his lungs. He closed his eyes tightly and summoned all the power he could. His skin began to tingle and his eyes filled with cold heat.

“I love you, Mommy,” he whispered. Then he opened his eyes and opened his mouth. A huge and brilliant blue cone of light erupted from the middle of him and slammed into the light ball with a tremendous flash. This time the animal howl was his.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason knew he probably would die, torn to pieces by the creatures, but he didn't care anymore. The important thing was only that Nathan could finish his work and be safe. He believed that meant that Jenny and Sherry would be safe also—always safe. He had to give the boy as much time as he could.

I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry I found my strength too late for you.

The cave blood splashed up all the way to his thighs as his bare feet pounded through the puddles. He could hear his breathing, raspy and shrill, and the animal grunts of the creatures behind him. Salty sweat burned in the ragged gash on his chest and streams of hot blood rolled down his side. If he could get out of the tunnel, maybe he could make it across the large room and up the rise to the other passageway. From there he could scurry into the little cave he'd hidden in with Nathan—and alone so many years ago.

Or you could stop and fight. Be a man for once. Be at least as much a man as the five-year-old you left in the other cave.

Not yet, Jedi. Keep running. Give him a little more time.

Jason pushed into a full sprint. He held his elbows up, pumping his arms furiously and using them to bounce himself off the walls, tearing through the never-ending, winding tunnel.

Suddenly, the grunting of the Lizard Men faded behind a new sound, a rising animalistic howl that seemed to penetrate through his torn and bleeding chest. Then a tremendous blue light exploded from behind him and the force of it picked him up and propelled him forward. The shock wave continued past him; he watched swirling tornados of blue bounce their way down the tunnel beyond him and he tumbled headfirst to the floor. His face and throat tingled from the cave blood. Jason rolled onto his back as he continued his slide down the tunnel and watched one last pulse of bluish light disappear. The dirty, yellow glow disappeared with it.

Nathan.

Jason shook his head and felt tears spill out onto his cheeks. He could not imagine any way that Nathan could have survived that explosion of power, especially not at ground zero. His throat tightened at the realization that the little boy he had come to love so much had just given his life to save them all.

 

*  *  *

 

Jenny jumped nearly out of her skin as Sherry let out a sudden, shrill gasp and sat up on the chair-bed, covers clutched in her white-knuckled hands. Once she realized where the sound came from she jumped up and snapped on the light behind Nathan's bed, then went quickly to Sherry's side.

“Oh, my God!” Sherry breathed. “Oh shit. Oh, God, what a terrible dream.”

She looked around the room and then looked at Jenny, her face twisted in confusion.

“What are you doing here? Oh, my God. What a nightmare.” She grabbed Jenny painfully by the wrists. “Where is Nathan? Where is my boy?”

Jenny broke her wrist free and held Sherry by the shoulders. “It's okay, Sherry. Everything is alright. Nathan is here.” She gestured behind them at the figure curled up under the bed covers. “He's right there. He's sleeping.”

“I have to see him.” Sherry broke away and went to the bed, where she half crawled in beside her son and pulled the covers back.

Jenny squeezed past the outstretched legs of Jason, who slumped backward, mouth open, on the bench seat where she had cradled him moments ago. She placed a hand on Sherry's shoulder. Sherry put a hand over her mouth.

“What's wrong with him? Why won't he wake up?” She looked around the room and her gaze fell on Jason. “Why is Dr. Gelman not waking up? What the hell is going on?” Sherry's voice became a piercing shriek and Jenny worried that someone would come and check on them.

“Shhhh… Sherry listen to me.” She pulled the woman's face away from the lifeless shape of her boy. “Listen. Everything is going to be okay. You have to trust me. Jason and Nathan will be right back.”

“What do you mean, right back? They're right here. I…” She paused and drifted off. “I had this awful dream. There was like a sort of operating room and somewhere else. A…”

“Cave?” Jenny finished.

“What?”

“Sherry, listen. You have to calm down.”

“How do you know about the cave? How can you know about my nightmare? What the hell is wrong with Nathan?” Sherry's voice rose again and Jenny looked anxiously at the door.

She took Sherry's hands gently in hers and took a deep breath. How did she explain this? “It's not a dream, Sherry. I can't explain it to you, but the cave is not a dream. It's real—I've been there too.”

Sherry swayed and Jenny worried she might pass out.

“What? How? This is crazy...” She started to cry. “The creatures? The dinosaur creatures? Are they real too?”

Jenny wrapped her arms around the crying woman, pulling her close. “I'll tell you everything I know, but we have to be quiet.” She looked at her watch. The resident doctors would be coming soon. Then what? “I don't understand it all, but I'll tell you what I can.”

She rocked Nathan's near-hysterical mother in her arms and explained the nightmare as best she could.

 

*  *  *

 

Jason lay on his back wracked with grief until he heard a grunt behind him followed by a stirring in the darkness. The creatures were still behind him. Whatever power Nathan's death may have stolen from them, it had not killed them. Surrounded by the inky blackness, he struggled to his feet. The cave blood felt more like mud to him now, thick and sticky. It clung to his chest and neck, but the tingling and tightness in his stomach were gone. He pushed both arms out in front of him and continued to run down the tunnel. His hands and arms dug painfully into the drying walls of the cave as he fled back toward the room where he imagined that Sherry and Jazz would still lie on the ground.

The darkness began to thin and Jason felt he should be very close. He thought for a moment about all the movies he had seen where the characters fumbled in the dark, but a weird grayish light let the audience see them.

He could make out the ragged walls of the tunnel now and at his feet he could see dark irregular circles where the cave blood slowly dried up. Ahead he could just make out where the tunnel walls ended and a softer hue of gray marked the cave room. The grunt of the creatures behind him seemed to have fallen farther back, but he could still hear the pounding of powerful legs as they drove large, clawed feet into the dirt.

He pushed himself to speed up more, to widen the gap. Then he broke into the large room and skidded to a halt.

The dirt floor remained disturbed where Jazz's body had been, and he saw the dark brown of blood. But the body was gone. Jason nearly tore a muscle in his neck spinning his head to check.

Sherry had disappeared.

Nathan had done it. He had saved his mom.

He succeeded where I failed. He gave his life for her, for Jenny and for me as well.

Jason heard the grunt as the creatures entered the room behind him. He looked up at the rise, but felt no desire to sprint for the other tunnel and safety.

I love you, Nathan.

A peculiar tingle went up Jason's spine as he turned slowly and faced the Lizard Men. The two creatures weaved back and forth beside each other, two predators sizing up their prey. Their skin had turned a mottled gray and deep wounds striped their faces and bodies, but they still looked powerful. The two looked at each other with dull yellow eyes and nodded. He felt the tingle spread like heat to his chest and an electric ache that contracted his muscles in a painful but wonderful way. A bluish halo tinged his vision. The taller creature stopped his side-to-side shuffle as if it sensed something very wrong. The shorter one sniffed the air.

The heat inside him grew so great he knew he could no longer contain it and he tilted his head back and spread out his arms. Then his mouth fell open and he screamed out blue light which rose above him in the cave and began to swirl. The swirl solidified into a brightening globe. Finally, when he felt he might implode, the energy completely drained from the very center of him, and the globe of blue light began to shudder.

The Lizard Men seemed to understand they had made a terrible mistake and turned back into the tunnel just as the blue globe exploded in a shower of sparks. A blinding column of light poured from it, the diameter of a small tree. It struck the creatures and they disappeared into it. Jason fell backward, his hands in front of his eyes.

The light vanished.

And the creatures vanished with it.

Jason coughed painfully as his eyes adapted to the darkness. The faint glow of light revealed an empty cave, but at the entrance to the tunnel two thin spirals of smoke twirled upward toward the ceiling and disappeared. Jason struggled to his feet and an old man grunt escaped him. He stood nearly motionless and stared at the now-dark tunnel.

“Nathan,” he whispered. He took a step toward the tunnel and then stopped.

Jason fell first to his knees and then fell forward, his hands over his face. Anguish engulfed him and he cried a long, deep cry for Nathan. He let himself rock back and forth and wailed his pain and loss.

“Nathan. Oh, God, no, little Nathan.” He sobbed over and over.

“Jason?”

Jason froze, his hands still clutched over his face. The voice in his head sounded close, and young, and well.

Nathan? Nathan, are you alright?

He sent the thought out and prayed the voice had not been his imagination. He waited for what seemed an eternity, hands still clutched over his face and eyes shut tight. He always did better with his eyes closed.

“Jason?”

This time the voice was joined by a small, warm hand on his shoulder. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked up.

Nathan smiled back at him. His face looked happy—and clean somehow. His eyes shone with the brightness of the very young.

“Nathan,” he exclaimed and wrapped his arms around the boy as a loud yelp escaped. They fell together to the ground, both of them laughing like idiots.

Jason pulled the boy away so he could look at him, still afraid he might be a dream.

“You did it? You destroyed the light?”

“Yes,” Nathan answered, looking sheepish like a kid that just got his first Little League hit. “What happened to the Lizard Men?” There was not a hint of worry in the young voice.

“Gone,” Jason answered with his own proud smile. “For good, I think.”

Nathan hugged him again and rested his head on Jason's shoulder.

“I want to go home,” he said in a sleepy voice. “I want to see my mommy.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nathan crawled up the rope ladder as fast as his legs could take him. He giggled and knew it didn't sound cool, but he didn't care—Jason was in hot pursuit. He pulled himself up onto the wooden platform of the huge jungle gym with his right hand, rolled painfully onto his back and laughed upward into the blue sky when he felt Jason's hand on his leg. He squealed when Jason tickled his knee.

“Gotcha again,” Jason said with a chuckle. “Man, are you sure you're the Red Ranger? You laugh more like the Pink Ranger!” He tickled Nathan's sides, which brought another girly squeal.

“Stop, stop,” Nathan coughed out between giggles.

Jason collapsed beside him on his back, their two heads touching as they looked up at a few little clouds through the thick trees with their pretty white dogwood blooms. Nathan sighed and felt older than six.

“Do you ever feel like it was just a really bad dream?” he asked. He turned his head a little so he could see Jason's face. He saw him unconsciously rub his fingers across the place where his shirt covered the scars on his chest. Nathan flexed his right hand and wondered why he didn't have to have any scars. He wished Jason didn't either.

“Yeah,” Jason said. “I feel like that a lot when I'm not with you. I think my mind tries to make me believe it so I won't be scared, you know?” Jason looked over at him and Nathan nodded. Jason looked back up at the sky. “I'm glad it happened though.”

Nathan's eyes got wide. “Really?” he said. “Why?”

Jason sighed and rubbed his chest again. “I learned a lot about myself, Nathan. I learned a lot of things that made me okay with my past. I think I learned a lot about good and evil.” He turned and looked at Nathan again. “I learned those things from you, Ranger.”

Nathan blushed. Sometimes it bothered him when Jason called him that now, but not this time. He smiled back but couldn't think of anything to say. Jason squeezed his arm.

“Boys,” Jenny's voice called from across the park. Nathan looked over and saw her and his mom waving at them. “Lunch, guys. Come and get it.” Nathan waved back and they both sat up. He loved Saturdays more than he ever had.

“Do you ever build dreams?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” Jason asked.

“You know, build dreams. You try and imagine yourself in a story or something when you're trying to fall asleep and you're feeling scared. Then when you fall asleep you get to have a dream about what you thought about.”

Jason smiled. “Yeah, I guess I've done that.”

“Well,” Nathan took his hand as they hopped down the big wooden steps. “When I was in the hospital and feeling really scared about the cave and all, I would build a dream about you and Mommy and Miss Jenny and me in the park.” He looked contentedly up at his friend. “And it was just like this.”

Jason stopped and picked him up.

“I love you, Jason,” he said and put his head on his friend's shoulder.

“I know, buddy,” Jason said with a big squeeze. “I love you too.”

Jason set him down and got a twinkle in his eye. Nathan knew what was coming.

“Race ya!” Jason said.

And they tore off together toward the picnic tables and lunch.