by Jon Gerrard
* * *
The teens had nearly reached the end of the aisle when there was another burst of machine gun fire from the back of warehouse. Before the echo of the last shots had died away, Shay gasped, her eyes snapping wide open. A moment later she collapsed to the floor where she lay clutching her head with both hands and writhing in agony. Choking sounds came from her as she spasmed on the floor.
“Oh my god! Shay!” Paige yelled as she reached for her sister.
Dimitri dropped to his knees beside her, checking her over quickly. “She’s not shot. What’s wrong with her?” Dimitri asked in a panic. He grabbed her shoulders and tried to keep her still but she continued to thrash about.
Matt looked down at her. An instant later he raised his hands as if trying to ward off an assault.
“She was in contact with Zeus when a guard shot him.” Matt lowered his hands as he closed off his connection with Shay, but he was still shaken by what he had experienced. “She felt his death.”
Shay stopped thrashing around at that point. Dimitri gently lifted her into a sitting position and cradled her head to his chest. Shay clutched him, whimpering. He tried shaking her gently but she was unresponsive.
Danny and Reed had been leading the group as they carried Tom’s limp form between them. They paused at the commotion and turned back.
“Can you get her up?” Reed asked. “We’re almost there.”
Shay continued to be unresponsive so Dimitri simply picked her up. She squirmed weakly in his arms.
Beside him Magda was staring at her with concern etched on her face.
“Can’t you do something?” Dimitri pleaded.
“I don’t know,” Magda said. She licked her lips nervously. She could sense intense waves of pain, fear and sorrow radiating from her. The last thing she wanted to do was open herself up to such overwhelming feelings, but she couldn’t just let her friend suffer.
“I’ll try.”
She placed her hands on Shay’s body, one on her head the other on her chest, and closed her eyes. Shay’s expression gradually relaxed and Dimitri felt the tension leaving her.
Magda meanwhile had begun trembling. As Shay calmed, Magda felt herself being assailed by the powerful emotions she was absorbing. Taking her hands away she balled them into fists as she fought to suppress the rising tide of feelings building within her.
The group was so focused on what was happening to Shay that they hadn’t noticed the shadowy figure moving stealthily toward them. After shooting Zeus, the next guard had finished pulling himself through the window and started down the aisle after them. He moved quickly with surprisingly little noise for a large man. Because of these mutants, he’d been forced to take out one of his own team members. Killing Gregory wasn’t a problem, the guy was actually a bit of a tool, but it told him how important stopping these teen things was to the Doctor and Ramona. He was going to put an end to this now, before he was the one in the line of fire.
The guard slowed as he closed to within ten yards of the group. The targets were in a small cluster talking among themselves. Nice tight grouping, hemmed in on both sides. Perfect. He approached cautiously, stepping skillfully on the balls of his feet. The boots were heavy but the soles were pliable. If you knew how to move you could make hardly a sound.
He was in the act of bringing his assault rifle up to fire on the teens when Magda sensed his presence. She reacted from pure instinct, feeling his hostile intentions. Before he could bring his weapon to bear she unleashed her pent up emotions at him in a focused shockwave that blew him right off of his feet. The guard was hurled backward, flying all the way to the back wall of the warehouse where he impacted the forklift with a sickening crunch and slumped to the floor, motionless.
After blasting the guard away, Magda sagged, resting her hands on her thighs as she panted and tried to get her strength back.
“More are coming through the window!” Matt said.
Paige took a moment to look at her sister, and then Tom. The anguish she had been feeling suddenly vanished, swept aside as she understood what she had to do. She stroked Shay’s hair, then stepped over to Tom and kissed him lightly on the cheek. Then she looked at Reed. Even in the darkness of the warehouse he could see the hard expression she wore.
“Get everyone out of here. I’ll slow them down.”
She started to turn away but James took her by the arm.
“You mean we’ll slow them down.”
Paige saw the determination in his eyes and nodded. Together they started running toward the back of the warehouse.
Manny and Amanda looked at each other and a silent understanding passed between them. Manny turned to Matt who nodded his agreement.
“You guys get everyone else out,” Manny said to Reed and the others. “We’re going to help them.”
“Wait a minute,” Reed began. “If you guys are—”
“There’s no time to argue this,” Manny said firmly. “You and Danny need to get Tom out of here if he’s going to have any chance.” He turned to Dimitri and Magda. “And you two need to get Shay out. Some of us have to pull back to slow down the guards coming after us so the rest of you can get to the car. Matt will be with us. He’ll know when you guys are ready and we’ll meet you then.”
“I don’t like it,” Reed said.
Danny looked at him. “I don’t like it either, but it makes sense.”
Reed flicked an angry glance at Danny then stared at Manny for a moment as he struggled between what he wanted to do and what he knew he needed to do. Finally he let out a sharp breath.
“If you guys get yourselves killed I’m never going to speak to you again,” Reed grumbled.
Adjusting his grip on Tom, Reed looked at Danny and tipped his head toward the front of the building. “Let’s go.”
Manny, Amanda, and Matt watched the others move toward the exit for a moment then turned toward the back of the room. Manny and Matt started to follow Paige and James but Amanda grabbed both of them by the backs of their shirts.
“Not that way, this way,” she said, pointing up toward the top of the nearest shelf.
Chapter Sixteen