Winter's Awakening: The Metahumans Emerge (Winter's Saga #1) (20 page)

“Get in the ambulance; we’re taking her to Saint Frances Medical Center. We can get your blood transfusion there,” the paramedic said and finished pushing my sister’s stretcher into the rig. Evan climbed in next, and just before the doors were slammed shut, Maze jumped into the ambulance. He stood protectively next to Meg’s unconscious body. The paramedics looked at each other with wide eyes.

“There’s a coyote in here,” one of the paramedics whispered.

“He’s with us,” Evan said patting the coyote’s soft fur. Maze let out a soft whimper and licked his hand.

Not willing to argue, the paramedics signaled the driver to move. Moments later they were speeding down the highway with lights and sirens blaring.

Chapter 59 Saint Frances

The emergency room was busy though all other ambulances had been diverted to surrounding hospitals while St. Frances took all the injured from The Institute’s explosions.

The first ambulance rig to arrive carried a female in her forties and a male who looked mid-teens. The paramedics only knew that they were mother and son but had no other identification or background information to share with the emergency staff.

The female had suffered an unbelievable amount of damage. The trauma looked to have happened well before the blasts tonight, so the doctors were already suspecting foul play. They got right to work on repairing her ruptured organs and setting her broken bones. Jane Doe, because that’s what they call female patients who arrive with no identification, was holding on to life, but barely.

The male, John Doe (male version of “Jane Doe”), was given a CT scan and treated for a concussion. He was also sedated, hydrated and given oxygen to help with the effects of smoke inhalation.

Ten minutes after the first rig arrived, a second pulled up to St. Frances’ emergency room doors. Out jumped what looked like to the residents, nurses, and staff to be a coyote. But after working in the ER for all these years, these professionals were pretty tough to surprise. They focused not on the nearly sixty-pound dog that jumped out of the ambulance, but on the young people inside.

A female named Meg Winter was badly bruised and had several broken ribs. But most urgently, she was suffering from a large knife wound in the left thigh and had lost a significant amount of blood.

Her brother, Evan Winter, insisted that they had the same rare blood type and that he be her direct donor should she need a transfusion. A quick test confirmed the boy’s claim, so they set Evan up immediately to draw his blood. As one nurse worked on Evan, two nurses and a doctor worked on Meg.

Holy cow, his mom! Alik! “My mom and brother were at The Institute too. Have they been brought in yet?” Evan tried to stay calm knowing the needle drawing his blood would work more efficiently if he held still.

“We’ll have someone check to see who else was brought in. Betty, do you mind looking into that for Mr. Winter?” The doctor said all this without looking up from Meg’s wound.

“Right away, doctor,” Nurse Betty responded to the obviously respected physician. She squeezed Evan’s shoulder encouragingly as she walked out the room.

“Margo is your mother? She used to work at The Institute, right?” The doctor sounded like he was fishing, and Evan was not about to take the bait.

“I’m feeling a little dizzy,” he said changing the subject.

Chapter 60 Flight 217 From Kansas

He had received a phone call from Alik Winter earlier this afternoon warning him of what was to happen that night and asking him if he would help.

“Just after 5pm this evening The Institute of Neurobiological Studies in Upland, California suffered a series of explosions causing extensive damage. Most employees had already left the buildings by the time the blasts hit, but there were a handful of victims who have been taken to St. Frances Medical Center for treatment. No word yet on the extent of those injuries. Dr. Kenneth Williams, noted scientist and Chief Executive Officer of The Institute, could not be reached for comment. We’ll keep you informed with more details as they’re brought to our attention. This is Kat Kirpatrick for 106.1FM.”

Dr. Andrews was already leaning over the car’s GPS typing in St. Frances and getting directions.

“Do you think they’re okay, dad?” Cole asked, truly worried about his friends.

“I don’t know son. I’ll make some phone calls as we drive. We’ll see what we can find out. The computer says drive time from here is fifty-four minutes. We’ll get there as fast as we can.”

Cole’s brows were furrowed. “Why did they have to do this, dad? Why did all this stuff have to happen to them? They’re just kids like me! Just three kids who wanted their mom back.” Cole was trying hard not to cry.

“You’re right. None of this was fair or right. Those children didn’t deserve to have their lives altered by Dr. Williams when they were babies and they sure as heck didn’t deserve to have their mom stolen away from them now. Their mom is their whole world, all they’ve ever known. They feel she’s the only person who ever loved them. If you think about it from their point of view, they had no choice. They had to go fight to get her back.” Dr. Andrew’s voice was calming to Cole.

He thought about the depth of devotion the Winter family felt for one another, and thought he understood. Being an only child of a single parent, his dad was his world.

Michelle, his stepmother, was cold and distant. She never even tried to be Cole’s friend. Sometimes Cole felt even further from his dad when she was around.

But yeah, if his dad was taken like the kids’ mom was taken; Cole thought he would do whatever it took to get him back, too.

“What are they going to do if their mom dies? Where will they go? Who will take care of them? What if that bad guy, Dr. Williams, keeps trying to hunt them? How are they ever going to feel safe?” Cole’s mind was spinning with questions.

“I don’t know, Cole. But I do know our friends need us now, so we’re going to help them. We’ll figure the rest out one problem at a time.” Dr. Andrews found himself speeding up a little. He was just as anxious as his son to get to the hospital.

“Let me call Greg Burns. He’d want to know what happened to the kids, too. He felt awful that he said what he did back at the restaurant in front of the kids. He’s been blaming himself for their disappearance ever since. And I wonder if he can get us any information besides what the news is telling the public.” With that, Dr. Andrews picked up his cell phone and made his call.

Chapter 61 Identification

Evan’s blood donation for his sister went fine. They were administering the transfusion now. He sat quietly in a chair beside her and watched. Just as he was starting to worry again about his mom and Alik, Betty the nurse, knocked lightly on the hospital room door and peeked in.

“Evan, there were three unidentified people brought in for treatment from The Institute. Would you like to go see if any of them are your family?” The nurse asked gently.

After swallowing his fear back hard, he responded, “Yes, I would.”

“I’ll go get a wheelchair and be right back,” she saw Evan’s questioning expression and responded with a shrug, “It’s hospital policy.”

She returned moments later with a wheelchair. Evan eyed it suspiciously, but obliged. He was worried about what he may find when he went to view the patients. He took one last quick glance at his sister lying still in her bed drawing strength just knowing she was still alive.

“Ready, Evan?” The nurse asked gently.

“Yes, I’m ready.” Evan responded and felt her push the chair forward. It was only a quick ride down the elevator and they were back in the emergency room area.

Evan was in a fog of fear when he heard Betty, his nurse ask someone if the John and Jane Does were still in the area. He was wheeled forward to a curtain that was drawn around a bed. It was obvious there was a person lying in the bed; he could hear all the machines that were connected to him beeping and humming.

“Okay, Evan,” the nurse said in a prepare-yourself voice. “This is the younger male. He suffered a lot of lacerations to the head and neck.”

When Evan heard that, he knew this wasn’t Alik. This was the guy who had hurt his sister and got mauled by Maze. A quick glance confirmed his suspicions.

“This isn’t my brother. I don’t know this guy’s name.” Evan said honestly. He was already craning his head around looking for the two other persons he was to be shown.

“Okay, let’s go find the Jane Doe. She’s across the hall.” The nurse continued pushing the wheelchair, but not fast enough for Evan’s liking. He jumped from the chair, rushed into the room and stopped dead in his tracks.

There was a body under all those tubes but he couldn’t tell whether it was female or male. He stepped closer to try to see the face and immediately regretted what he saw.

This poor person had been badly beaten. Badly. He looked for any indications that this could be his mother, but everywhere he looked was covered in gauze, tubes or swollen bruises. He couldn’t tell if this was his mother.

Evan stood over the mangled patient and began to sob. His tears weren’t gentle or quiet. He didn’t know if he should wish this to be his mother. His heart was breaking and there was no amount of logic or intellect that could rescue him from being human.

“Please sit down, Evan.” The nurse helped him back into the wheelchair. His sobs were so full of pain, the veteran nurse felt awful for this poor lost little boy. “Oh, sweetie,” she cooed wheeling him out of the room. “I was going to warn you how badly injured this patient was, but … well. Could you tell if she is your mother?” The nurse was passing tissues to the child now waiting for a response to her question.

With a weary look, she rolled the child down two doors and on the right. Fortunately, the person lying on the bed was sleeping peacefully.

“Alik! Alik! That’s my brother, Alik! Oh, thank you, God. My brother!” Evan was crying fresh tears, but this time, of joy. He hugged his brother with unrestrained happiness. The nurse looked on with tears in her eyes. Thank God, he found some of his family.

“Mmmm...ugh…ouch. Evan, dude…get off me.” Alik smiled through his fogginess. The pain medicine they’d given him to help with the concussion was working wonders now. “Where are Mom and Meg?” Alik asked. He tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea hit him and he lay back down even before the nurse had a chance to object.

“Meg is upstairs. She had to fight a…” Evan realized he couldn’t say ‘metahuman.’ So he changed in mid-sentence, “…a bad guy who hurt her leg pretty badly. They’ve stitched her up and she’s gotten a blood transfusion. I made them use my blood, Alik,” again acutely aware that the nurse was listening, “because of our special blood type.”

Alik frowned, then understanding slipped into his eyes, “Right, our special blood type. Good thinking, Ev. What about mom? I brought her to the ambulance. She was beat up really badly, Evan. Do you know where she is?”

Evan’s eyes were crying again with the realization that the mangled faced woman was his mother. “Yeah, Alik, I saw mom. She’s here. They’re trying to help her, but she looks really…”

“…bad, I know.” The brothers huddled together on the hospital bed and prayed for help as tears continued to flow.

Chapter 62 Old Friends

“Dr. Andrews? You came!” Evan jumped from the bed and ran to the kindhearted doctor who had helped them back when their mother first disappeared.

And then another familiar voice spoke, “I couldn’t let dad have all the fun.” Cole peeked around the curtain with a mischievous smile.