Winter's Scars: The Forsaken (Winter's Saga 5) (6 page)

As he leaned against the cold brick to take a swig of soda himself, he thought about how changed they were, how deeply affected their lives were because of his sister.  Something about that petite powerhouse made them all stronger in her vulnerability. 

She was the cog that held the entire system together.  If she changed, the whole system was a different machine and would produce a different outcome.  That’s how it worked in engineering, he mused.  What would become of them if Meg was truly determined to separate herself, and the ties that bound them together were forever severed? 

We would fall, he surmised.  A broken master cog would end the functionality of the system.  It was basic engineering. 

“You ready, guys?” Alik called.

“Yeah, we’re coming,” Evan answered for them, nudging Creed to move toward the car.

“It makes me nervous to stay in one place right now,” Alik looked around the rest stop anxiously. 

“C’mon, Creed.  You can sit by me, and we’ll get the girls to sit in the back.”

Creed nodded absently and walked looking down at his feet toward the SUV that was quickly loading.  He didn’t have to worry about Meg sitting near him anyway.  She took up her vigil over the coydog in the trunk by curling up around him again—essentially separating herself from the rest of the passengers.  He hadn’t seen her eat or drink anything other than that sip at the fountain and damn it if it didn’t worry him that she wasn’t taking care of herself. 

Not your problem anymore, soldier.  Her brothers can take care of he
r now.  She just kicked you to the curb.  Deal with it.

Chapter 11  Father Knows Best

Williams grimaced at the new pain wracking his body and tried to put it somewhere away from himself.  After Meg had bolted from the wreckage by actually climbing over what she believed was a dead body, Williams sat in dejected anger for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. 

Should I let myself die?
 

He definitely felt internal injuries.  Not too much longer and his abdomen would fill with
blood and his organs would begin shutting down. 

Maybe now is the perfect time to let it go.
He hung, oozing blood from his mouth in long strands as he experienced a monster’s version of an existential moment. 

What is the point
,
he thought,
of my continued existence?
His bloody eyes watched his torn hands.

What was the point of my existence, ever?
he contemplated even as he felt his heart pumping blood into useless internal cavities.

My daughter, whom I just saved from a life of brain-washed slavery, just stepped on me to manage her own escape, leaving me to die alone with my thoughts, my demons.

Dr. Williams coughed once then couldn’t stop for a while, pain wracking his body with each violent movement.  He felt his face swelling even more painfully than usual.

What to do?
He thought deeply.

If I take the phone from my pocket, I can summon a dozen soldiers to rescue me, but then what?
 

He dangled in thought for a full minute before coming to the only conclusion a man like him could come to. 

I have her blood now.
 
I can unlock the code to create the evolution in myself—to cure me of my condition.
  he thought.  A smile squirmed across his face as he reached into his pocket and pressed the emergency button on the back, giving his waiting metahumans his exact location. 

What is the reason for my existence?
 
What’s the point of any father’s existence?  To raise his daughter to be a productive member of society…and to one day raise a family of her own with all the knowledge passed to her by her father. 
Williams’ face creased and cracked as he pursed his lips in a tight smile.  Fissures filled with watery-blood and moved to drip off the rancid, torn flesh as though anxious to travel anywhere but to the sick heart of the monster clinging to the side of a black mountain.

Chapter 12  Bound to Her Side

The ambulance couldn’t arrive fast enough for Theo
as he kept vigil over Margo’s broken body.  Danny had refused to leave her side, too.  He kept one hand gently on her back even after his wails had turned in to stuttering sniffles. 

Every time Theo would try to move the little boy, he would scream and thrash so violently, the doctor was sure he would break something, so he left the
toddler next to the woman he loved, understanding Danny’s need to be near her was as acute as his own.  They both loved Margo and neither one was willing to leave her side.

The paramedics, however, took some convincing.  They tried to insist Danny ride with Theo in a car and follow the ambulance to the hospital.  Greg Burns stepped in and threw his ample weight around.  The two men and one woman finally yielded when Burns offered a personal police escort. 

With lights and sirens blaring, the small caravan hurried to the hospital for x-rays and evaluation.  Margo still hadn’t regained consciousness, and there was a lot of unspoken fear that something serious had been injured, maybe further up on her spine.

Three hours, a battery of tests and one sobbing little boy later, they were finally alone in hospital room 301.  Margo’s injuries were still under evaluation, but the doctors were trying to prepare Theo for the worst-case scenario. 

Other than allowing her to undergo some tests where he couldn’t be in the room for safety reasons, Danny hadn’t left his mother’s side.  Theo watched in awe as Danny carefully climbed onto his mother’s hospital bed and lay down beside her, carefully placing one, very small hand on her back.  It had been a terribly long night.  Theo found himself dozing off in the uncomfortable pleather chair when he could have sworn he heard singing.  The melody was beautiful and timeless.  Theo thought he recognized it as a song he heard when he was in the hospital watching over his first wife, Jenna.  But he was too tired to open his eyes and think carefully about what he was hearing.  Besides, the melody was hypnotic, almost ethereal. 

Danny lay wide awake beside the woman he chose as his mother and continued to sing softly to her.  His little, warm hand stayed firmly planted on her broken spine. 

A nurse came in to check the patient’s vitals only to find her sleeping peacefully, on her side, hugging a sleeping little boy closely. 

Chapter 13  What If’s

“It’s going directly to voicemail now.
”

“Try calling Theo,” Alik suggested.

“I already did.  Theo, Mr. Burns—heck, I can’t get a hold of anyone!” Evan ran his hand through his hair anxiously. 

Alik was worried; they all were.

“Maybe your Mom forgot to charge her phone,” Sloan offered lamely.

“Maybe,
but what are the odds Theo and Greg let their phones die, too?” 

“When are we going to discuss the fact that something bad may have happened?” Cole’s voice was muffled behind his thick arm
that he’d draped over his eyes to block the early-morning light spilling into the SUV.

“Not until I see for myself,” Alik
snapped.

“I have to agree.  There’s no use in getting all worked up when it could be as simple as a lost phone charger and two exhausted parents who’ve been looking after a rowdy three-year-old boy.” Evan rubbed the back of his stiff neck thoughtfully.

“Do you honestly think that?” Cole looked incredulously at the brothers. 

Everyone was exhausted, but too
keyed up to get some proper rest.  They’d been driving all night, and though they took turns at the wheel, they were running on emotional and physical fumes.  Tempers were starting to flare.

“What are we going to do if the worst-case scenario has happened?”  Farrow asked softly.

“Not you too, Farrow,” Alik moaned.

“We need a plan,” proposed Sloan.

“A plan for the worst-case scenario?  Are you kidding me?” Cole bellowed.  “Haven’t we lived through enough crap to have learned we are always going to be on the receiving end of Williams’ and Arkdone’s darkest plans?  All we
do
is react!  How does someone
plan
to be kidnapped and injected with nanoweapons?  Or
plan
against having their DNA stolen and held at ransom?  How can we brace ourselves for monsters that keep coming up with scarier and scarier shit?”  Cole’s face was red with exhaustion and frustration.

“I hate to agree with the wheels-off logic behind Cole’s rant, but he has a point.” Creed’s smooth baritone voice was calm.  He had just come off his shift at driving, so he was back in his favorite spot: Sitting in the back seat watching over Meg and Maze.  As a soldier, he was trained to work under extreme conditions.  Sleep deprivation was just part of his job.  He and Farrow were the most awake and level-headed of all of them, but there was no way Creed was going to point that out to the others.  He just made sure he and Farrow took longer turns at the wheel. 

The two survivors of the German Facility would exchange knowing glances but kept their thoughts mostly to themselves.  Farrow still felt as if she were hanging on to Alik’s coattails to be a part of the family, anyway.  And now that Meg couldn’t even remember him, Creed wanted to keep the peace as much as possible with the rest of the Winter Clan for fear they would find his company unnecessary.  But in the end, Creed’s sense of right and wrong won over his determination to bite his tongue and let the Winters lead the way.

“What are you saying?” Alik asked.  He glanced at Creed with genuine concern in his sky-blue eyes.

Farrow was turned around in her seat, opening her eyes wide in warning to tread carefully.

“Look, I know we’re all exhausted,” he began, “but before we go pulling up to Greg Burns’ house and opening the front door yelling for your parents, it would be a good idea to know who would be yelling back.  For all we know, Arkdone ha
s them bound and gagged in the garage with a trip pin ready to go off the moment we step across the threshold.”

The
SUV may have been roaring on the outside as it barreled down the highway going seventy-five miles per hour, but inside the SUV, Creed’s hypothetical scenario had created a vacuum of silence.

“That’s some messed up scenario, Creed,” Cole muttered.

“What did you call it?  ‘Scarier and scarier shit’?”  Creed nodded.  “I won’t put anything past those two.  And I won’t risk Meg’s life.  She barely survived this last time.” He turned to look down at the sleeping girl when his eyes met hers. 

“I survived just fine,” she spat, narrowing her eyes at Creed.  “Do not treat me like a piece of porcelain.” She sat up, carefully climbed away from Maze and slipped gracefully into the back seat beside Creed.

“Listen, I may not remember what has happened to all of us, but I definitely know what I feel and in case I never told you this before, I feel everything!  I can feel each of your emotions as if they were mine and other than it being a lot distracting, I…Evan, answer the phone.”

“What?”

“The phone, it’s about to ring.”

Brrrring, brrrring

“It’s a male and he’s anxious.” Meg said casually, adjusting her skirt demurely.

Everyone’s eyes were wide.  Even Alik, who was supposed to be concentrating on the road, stared at his sister for a few extra seconds through the rearview mirror.

Evan fumbled with the ringing phone for a moment before touching the screen to answer the call. 

“Evan?”

“Dr. Andrews?”

“Oh for goodness’ sake, son.  Call me Theo!”

“Um, right.  Sorry Theo.”

“First, is everyone all right?” Theo’s words tumbled from his mouth in an avalanche of excitement.

“More than all right,” Evan glanced at Meg’s bright eyes. 

“Put me on speaker,” Theo demanded eagerly.

“Yes, sir.” Evan kept glancing up at Alik, who had pulled the SUV over on the side of the busy highway to focus on the conversation.

“Okay, Theo.  You’re on speaker,” Evan said, still trying to figure out a way to explain how they’d rescued Meg, but sensing Theo was about to crawl out of his skin with excitement over something huge.

“Can you hear me?” he called in to the phone on his end causing his words to sound a little forced and distorted.

“Yes.”

“Yes, sir.”

“We can hear you.”

“Loud and clear.”

Creed watched Meg’s face light up with curiosity and a huge smile filled her face. 

She already knows what Dr. Andrews is all excited about
, Creed thought, amazed at her grasp of her gift after having her memory wiped clean.

“It’s your mom,” he began.

“Is she okay?” Alik flinched at the mention of his mother, always so worried for her safety.

“She’s—don’t know how else to say this but—she’s regained some feeling in her legs.”

Chapter 14 Spin Doctors