Winter's Scars: The Forsaken (Winter's Saga 5) (14 page)

“Yeah, Margo wants us to get Evan into a bathtub full of cool water to get his core temperature back down.”

“Well, you two are the doctors,” Burns tried to shrug, wincing at his stiffness.  “Where do you suggest we stop?”

“What’s the next town?”

“Tucumcari,” Burns had pulled out his reading glasses and was peering down his nose through them to read the GPS on his phone.  “Let’s keep our eyes open for a small ‘mom and pop’ type place where they’ll accept cash and not ask a lot of questions.”

Alik looked back at his little brother and grimaced.  The intensely red and blistered skin looked painful, but he hoped that with Evan’s rapid healing, fresh skin would grow in a matter of weeks, not months or years like it would have taken a human.

He sighed deeply.  It wasn’t the first time that he’d considered the risk/benefits of their metahuman-ity. 

Chapter 28  Not Much Time

After driving past all the commercial, high-profile hotels and motels, they finally found a little, pet-friendly motel that didn’t ask a lot of questions when Greg Burns stood at the desk with more than enough cash to cover their one night stay in two adjoining rooms.  

The family quietly unloaded the borrowed van on the “scenic side” of the establishment that boasted beautiful views of Tucumcari Lake, but even with their metahuman vision, they couldn’t see a drop of lake water from the window of their hotel room.  It really didn’t matter because the curtains remained drawn except the occasional crack just wide enough to watch for pursuers.   

“I’ll fill the tub,” Sloan walked directly toward the back of the room where the bathroom light had been left on by housekeeping. 

Creed had carefully carried Evan from the van into the room.  However gentle the jostling, Evan stirred, moaning in pain. 

“Where should I—” he started but was interrupted by a series of coughs.  Creed carefully set Evan down on the bed.  The metahuman immediately curled into a ball—suffering another bout of body-shaking coughs punctuated by gasps. 

“Shh, Evan,” Meg ran to her brother’s side and saw the blood red around his hazel eyes. 

“What should I do?”  Creed asked helplessly.  Others filtered into the room and stood around looking lost.

“Bring in the supplies from the van,” Meg ordered.  “Cole, gather towels.”  Her small, powerful hand was carefully touching the uninjured side of her brother’s face.  “Ready a bed for him,” she nodded toward Greg and Theo.  “Alik, Farrow—take care of Maze and Danny.”  Everyone seemed to hesitate for a moment longer than Meg’s temper could allow.

“Move!” she
barked at the room.

Just as they were scurrying, Sloan stepped out of the bathroom.  The roar of water filling a tub drenched the air behind her.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“Sloan, go help Theo and Greg.  They’re readying a bed for Evan,” she said dismissively.  Her hands were quickly untying her brother’s boots and pulling them off with a steady yank.

“Meg,” Evan mumbled, delirious with fever, clutching his badly burned left hand to himself.

“I’m here little brother.  I’m getting you ready for what is probably going to feel like a very cold bath.”

“Meg, you need to listen.” His voice was barely above a whisper, but Meg felt the urgency behind his words loud and clear.

“What is it, Evan?” Meg, the daughter of a soldier, and a soldier in her own right
, felt her eyes burning with unshed tears.

“Not much time,” he groaned and coughed deeply. 

“You’re going to have years, Evan,” she flung her will over him.

“Won’t work on me,” he mumbled.  “I can see what will happen, sister.”  Evan’s eyes locked on his sister’s and the connection seemed to steady his pain enough so he could speak.

“I can see it so clearly now.” His eyes glistened over for a moment as he stared past her shoulder at nothing.

“Let me tell you how it ends, sister and listen ‘cause I only have the strength to tell you once.”  He began, speaking quickly.

“You may not remember me as I do you, Meg, but I’ll start by telling you how proud I am to have been your brother, now and always.”

“Evan!” Meg sobbed.

“Remember that game we would play back at the ranch?   The one we called ‘Hunt or Be Hunted’?”

“Evan, stop!  You can’t d—”

“Just let me talk, Meggie.  Please?  I don’t have much time.”

Meg knelt beside her brother, finally the
calmest she had seen him since before the fire, and listened.

***

Two hours later, Evan was lying on a pile of towels with only a thin sheet to cover his still feverish body.  Sloan agreed to take the first watch over him.  The rest of the family moved to the adjoining suite.  They turned on the television to see if they could learn anything about what the world was saying about them. 

Chapter 29 He Lies

“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of the press.  Senator Arkdone will be reading a statement, and then opening the floor for a select few questions.  A copy of the statement will be simultaneously released to all social media outlets.”

The crowd murmured at the urgency in the voice of the press release agent for the Senator.  A hush darted through the mass the moment the handsome, yet worried face of one of the most powerful men in the country came into view.  Senator Arkdone struck a remarkably commanding figure at six feet, two inches and two hundred pounds.  He wore his stylish though conservative suit with ease, as if he were just as comfortable in it as he would be
in a pair of blue jeans and T-shirt.  His face was solemn, brows knit with worry.  Dark circles hung under his sharp black eyes.

“Three nights ago, my home and workplace in Kentucky was attacked by a group
of terrorists who calls themselves The Winter Clan.  They destroyed the hospital in which I care for the mentally challenged.  These are the faces of my innocent patients who depend on me and my work to take care of them.  With personal funds, I have already begun to rebuild their sanctuary.”

Images of desolate, dazed and confused looking elderly people were flashed on a screen on the left side of the room. 

“I was unaware of this group until the moment gunfire and explosions ripped the walls down around me.  Many of my staff and several patients were killed at their hands.  At first, I believed it should have been me lying on the floor in a pool of my own blood.”

Arkdone paused for effect
, giving everyone time to gasp and whisper laments before he continued.  

“Then, through prayer, I realized the reason I was spared was to stop this Winter Clan.” His voice rose with a preacher’s tenor.

“I will stop them from taking up arms against anyone else and causing destruction the way they did in my home.  So I immediately involved Homeland Security and other federal and state authorities.   Working in cooperation, we tracked the terrorists here to Arizona, where we learned, through secret sources, that Union Medical University Hospital was to be their next target. 

“The authorities gathered an elite SWAT team and thwarted the Winter Clan’s campaign by mere minutes.  The Winter Clan fought back.  We suffered the loss of dozens of good men and women.  The Clan escaped capture by stealing a civilian’s truck.  Their vehicles have been confiscated and found to have enough explosives to turn the hospital into a pile of rubble.”  The Senator’s voice echoed powerfully off the stark walls of the conference room.  

“We are very much in pursuit of this terrorist group.  We ask if anyone has seen or knows the whereabouts of these leaders, please contact the emergency hotline.”  On the screen was a picture showing Meg and Alik—clips from the footage taken that very day.

“As you can see,” The projector came to life showing the scene where Meg stood in front of a squad and sent out a psychic blast powerful enough to distort the camera’s line of sight.  “These are not normal human beings.  They are powerful and dangerous.  We are working to determine their next target, but it could be anywhere.  They’ve already hit Kentucky and now Arizona.   Your hometown could be next,” Arkdone looked directly into the camera as he spoke.  His eyes sparkled with just the right amount of heartfelt emotion.

Silence trickled like beaded sweat down the temple of the room before hands shot up.  “Senator!  Senator Arkdone!  Question over here, sir!”  A chorus of voices rose from the previously enraptured room.

Arkdone pointed to one reporter, giving him the right to speak.  “Sir, what are they after?  What do they want?”

“What does any terrorist group want?  They just want to wreak havoc on civilized society.  So far, they have not made it clear what they’re after or why they’re choosing certain targets.  All we know is that they’re organized, they exhibit extraordinary abilities—”  Another image flashed on the projector.  This time it was of a hulking Alik lifting a car and flipping it over, crushing no fewer than five SWAT members.  “—and they’ve decided to come out of hiding to destroy our peaceful way of life.”

“Senator!  Senator!”  More hands flew in the air, begging for attention.  Arkdone pointed at another reporter.

“Sir, we’ve seen what they can do to a small army.  How would they have gotten these abilities?  Are they even human?”

“How?”  Arkdone shook his head dramatically.  “I’m just being honest with you here: I have no idea.  Are they human?  Again, I really don’t know.  We’ll be looking into finding some DNA samples from the crime scenes in hopes of getting some answers.  For now, just pray that we get those answers and a resolution to this madness soon.  Thank you.  Goodbye.”

“Senator!  Senator Arkdone!  One more question!”

Arkdone looked on the reporter with a keen eye then slowly, dramatically stepped back up to the podium.  “Yes, young man?”

“Well, what actions should Americans take?”

“Just keep living the good life, son.  Go out to the movies.  Take your wife to a restaurant.  Take in a ball game.  Don’t let these terrorist
s stop you from living.  Keep your eyes open; call the emergency hotline if you see these fugitives, but do not engage them.  They are heartless.  Every soldier you saw in that video ordered by the girl to lie down, died within five minutes from unexplained heart attacks.  We believe she ordered their hearts to stop beating.  However, we cannot let this evil force us to hide in our homes.  That would just give the Winter Clan more power.”

“But how are you going to stop them?”

“We were kind to use only tasers to try to contain them today.  The SWAT team had orders to capture, not to kill.  The standing order will change now.  We will have to reevaluate what means will be necessary to stop these domestic terrorists.  But make no mistake, our resolve is decisive. Let’s see if that girl can order a bullet to stop before it stops her heart the way she stopped the hearts of all those poor soldiers out there.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I am helping notify the victims’ next-of-kin.” 

He nodded once, stepped decisively off the podium and strode out of the room, his entourage right at his heels.  A steady applause could be heard all the way down the corridor as the press cheered his inspiring words.

Chapter 30 And the Oscar Goes To

Alik shut off the television with such force he nearly crushed the cheap plastic remote in his hand.

“That lying piece of shit!” he hissed
, trying not to disturb Evan as he barely hung on to life in the next room. 

Meg sat beside her brother seething with as much disgust as Alik, if not more.  Unable to sit for another restless moment, she stood from the cheap, plastic-like comforter and began pacing the room.

Meg held her tongue long enough.  Theo, Greg, Alik, Creed, Farrow, Cole and Sloan were watching her pace out of the corners of their eyes, and again, she sensed fear trickling at her from people who were supposed to be her family.   Evan had tried to warn her, but it didn’t lessen the anger she felt at being silently accused.

“I did
not
kill them!” Meg’s face was beet red with rage not only because she was blamed of something so heinous, but because she had
thought
of doing that exact thing to them. 

“She didn’t kill them,” Cole shook his head, backing up Meg’s story.  “Hell, we just talked about this in the truck right after it happened.”

“I wanted to. I’ll admit that.  They were hurting my family!” Meg’s voice broke as she felt compelled to explain herself.  “But I did
not
kill them!  I left them breathing—their hearts beating.  I only ordered them to drop their weapons and lay still!”

“We were there, Meg.” Alik nodded reassuringly.  “I heard your words clearly.  You did not kill those soldiers.” 

“Arkdone did,” Burns’ voice was muffled by his hands as he leaned into them heavily.  “Just so he could blame you.  He had them killed so their bodies could be paraded in front of the public eye leaving us nowhere to go except on the run.”

As she paced, making a path from one side of the room to the other, Meg started flapping her hands at her sides anxiously.  “I just want to be left alone.  I just want our family safe.  Safe, that’s all.” She muttered.  Maze whined from the corner of the room.   His recovery had been slow-going, but after they got him to eat and drink, he seemed to perk up a bit.   Now he growled protectively.