by CJ Lyons
Lothar approached her from behind as she tried to take in what she was seeing. How could this happen? These weren't her people, the thriving, vibrant community she'd left behind. Lothar grabbed her arm, pulled her to him.
"You too can serve my warriors," he whispered into her ear.
"Never." She reached for his hand, twisted a finger back until he yielded.
He released her but then shoved her hard, so that she stumbled to the edge of the cooking pit. The churning in her bowels worsened as she choked in the rank, oily smoke that blinded her.
"Then there are other ways you can be of use." Lothar's mocking laughter encircled her as she struggled to clear her vision. "It's all for the greater good, Maeve. For the good of the people."
The smoke cleared and she caught her first sight of what was roasting below her in the pit. Mellis and Timor's bodies sizzled in the fire, their skin blackened and cracked, the juices of their muscles making the flames spit and dance around them.
"No," she choked out the word, spinning to Lothar, her sword at the ready. "They were our hope, our salvation. They were innocent."
He merely smiled, waving his men back. "We're our own salvation, Maeve. We need no one, not even you to lead us. We make our own laws, we are our own gods!"
His words split the air between them. Maeve staggered back. Her vision clouded by the flames of her own disgust and fury, she charged him. His sword snaked from its sheath and he quickly parried her first blow.
She forced herself to calm down, to think like a warrior, cast aside her anger. Lothar was her best warrior, it would take all she had to defeat him even with the help of the Kallistean sword she carried, a blade so sharp that it could cleave a man's head from his body, given the right stroke.
Not that Lothar would be likely to give her such an opening. He swung his sword, feinted then parried once more, toying with her. His laughter was louder than the crackle of the fire at her back.
"Do you want to join them," he asked, his smile revealing all his teeth. "Or me?"
Who was this stranger? Where was the brother who had fought so often at her side? "I'll join you in hell!"
CHAPTER 27
Strangers in the Night
The thought of Lukas with Kat propelled Grace down the corridor. The storm raging outside made the lights flicker just as she passed the nurses' station and turned toward the treatment rooms.
Nothing. They were dark and empty. Beyond them lay a linen closet, Eve Warden's office and the rec room. The door to the rec room stood closed, but she heard the murmur of voices beyond.
Grace hesitated, looked around for any possible weapon. Nothing. She glanced back over her shoulder to the nurses' station but before she could make a move in that direction, the door behind her flew open and a pair of hands pulled her inside, another pair fastening around her face, closing over her nose and mouth.
CHAPTER 28
Just Desserts
"Do you remember Tambora?" Jimmy asked Alex.
"Sure, the big volcano that blew up when I was a baby."
"It was only five years ago, lad. Don't go making me feel older than I am."
Alex just looked at him with a quizzical expression. Jimmy sighed. He was an old man compared to this lad. Compared to everyone, he guessed. "That was the second time that volcano exploded. The first time, in 1816, it caused the year without a summer. Thousands around the world starved."
"Did a lot of people die when it blew up again?" Alex asked and Jimmy realized that a five year old trapped inside a hospital, critically ill, probably wasn't hooked into CNN.
Jimmy nodded. "Yes. But a lot more were saved."
"Because Grace figured out how Maeve saved her people when that other volcano exploded. When she found the treasure."
Jimmy grinned and ran his fingers through Alex's hair. "Smart lad. You see, Maeve left a map, a clue to where the treasure was hidden in case future generations needed it."
"But she was buried by all that water. Did you get her back?"
"I wish. That's what I wanted to try, but it proved too dangerous." Too expensive as well, but the boy didn't need to know that. "We tried a few ways to rescue Maeve's grave, but in the end we had to content ourselves with the photos and few pieces we were able to retrieve. The rest we had to sacrifice, bury with fill so that we could save the other tombs. Otherwise, the entire island threatened to collapse back into the water."
"Poor Maeve. Now she has to stay down there, all alone."
"I'm thinking she's not minding the peace and quiet. And she still did her part, even from beyond the grave. You see, after Tambora blew again, I knew that whatever Maeve had done could be done even better now with modern technology, maybe save millions from starvation. Guess you could say I became obsessed, searching out every ancient record with a scrap of Maeve's story, trying to find the facts hidden among the fiction." He smiled.
After Tambora, Grace had spent several weeks on a disaster relief mission. When she returned, she became as obsessed as he was with finding Maeve's treasure. Working side by side, she'd ferret out obscure references, following arcane snippets of information with a mind as nimble and agile as her body. Those had been some of the best days of his life, but now he regretted them. Wasting all that time when they could have been exploring each other instead of mysteries three millennia old.
Of course, back then, they'd thought they had forever, thought what they were doing would save the world.
Jimmy shifted his position, stretched his legs out, hugging Alex to his chest so hard the boy squirmed for breathing room. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice, wouldn't let anything distract him from what was important this time. "Turns out, Grace had the answer all along."
Two men pulled Grace into the darkened rec room. She blinked as the lights snapped on, blinding her for a moment. Kat lay on the green felt pool table, her nightgown billowing out, the triangle holding the balls positioned over her head like a colorful crown. She was pale, but her chest rose and fell with comforting steadiness. A woman stood on each side of Kat, their hands clutched before them, two ladies in waiting.
A large black man approached Grace, slapping a pool cue across his palm. He glowered down at her as she struggled with her captors. Then he spoke.
"This the bitch the Beast wants so bad?"
Grace almost laughed. The man's--no really he was only a boy, she saw on closer inspection--voice emerged in a shrill whistle. Like a squeaker toy that a dog had gnawed and torn apart.
She shrugged free of her two guards and spun around to look at them. One was Mr. Atomic, his Adam's apple bobbing in time with his pulse. From the size of his jugular veins, he looked about ready to pop. The other was a bald headed man who seemed more interested in staring down her top than trying to restrain her.
She turned back to the teenager, somehow he seemed to be the one in charge. "I'm Grace Moran," she told him. "The Beast as you call him, is named Lukas Redding. He tried to kill me once."
She took a step closer to the boy, snagged the pool cue, halting its downward arc, and stared him in the eye. "He failed."
The room was silent for a moment. The two women turned to look at each other, then stepped forward to examine Grace as if she were a museum exhibit.
"Really?" the young one, Angie, said. "You got away from the Beast?"
"How? What happened?" the older one asked with a skeptical look.
Grace watched as the bald man snagged the woman by the waist, dragging her away from Grace. From the possessive look he gave the woman, it appeared that he worried that she might be somehow contaminated by Grace's victory over the man who had tried to kill her.
The woman looked down at the floor, her long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders, shuffling her feet. Angie gave her a superior glance, then sidled up to stroke the teenager's muscular arm. He squinted his eyes at Grace in what she was certain he thought was a look of intimidation, releasing his grip on the cue stick to pull Angie close to him, his hand casu
ally fondling her breast.
"What do you want?" Grace asked, pivoting so that she stood between the pool table and the others.
Freaks, Kat had called them. She saw now how right the girl had been. She leaned against the table, hoping to block their view of Kat, twirling the pool cue in her hands as if it was a baton.
"Look here, lady," the bald man said, shoving his woman behind him, putting her back in her place. "The Beast runs this place. If he wants you, he gets you. And whoever gives you to him--" He licked his lips, his gaze dropping to Grace's breasts once more. "Well, let's just say that there's rewards awaiting."
Grace's stomach clenched as she saw him look past her to Kat's still form, his hand dropping to his crotch in a not-so-subtle message. She risked a glance in Kat's direction herself and saw that one of the balls in the wooden rack above her head was missing. Kat's hands were both hidden beneath the folds of her nightgown.
Two against five, at least the odds were getting better. The bald man and the teenager were the two they'd have to worry about. The others would follow their lead.
Grace began tossing the cue stick from one hand to the next, keeping a hypnotic rhythm as she spoke. All eyes were on her, exactly where she wanted them focused.
"All right," she said calmly. "So now you've got me here. What are you going to do?"
The men exchanged glances as if they'd never expected their plan to make it this far. "Take you to the Beast," the teenager squeaked. "He's waiting."
Grace purposely almost missed catching the cue, shifting her weight as she leaned to the side to grab it. The men didn't mirror her sudden movement, if anything they relaxed as if she posed no threat.
"You're going to waltz me down the hall, past Dr. Warden's office, past the clerk, past the nurses' station and into a locked ward." She tossed the stick high, snagged it on the way down without even looking. "And you're going to do that, how?"
Baldy stepped to the plate. "We'll tie you up, gag you, roll you down the hall in a laundry cart," he said in a voice undercut by glee.
She shot him a glance, wondering how someone with such predatory fantasies ended up on an unlocked co-ed ward.
"We can't do that," Mr. Atomic protested. "Everyone knows what we look like, we'll never make it past the station."
"Yeah, we need a disguise," Squeaky added.
The three men huddled together, the women joining them. "No," Angie said. "What we need is a distraction."
The older woman placed her hand on her hip and vamped, rubbing her body against Baldy's. "Sounds like a job for a real woman, not a walking-stick."
"Hey, who you calling--"
"We can still tie her up. I'll do it."
"No, I will."
Grace barely heard their heated discussion as she reached a hand behind her. The smooth roundness of a pool ball was instantly slapped into it. She nodded her head. "Hey, guys--"
Atomic was the only one who paid her heed, whirling to her. "Give us a minute."
"Whatever you say." Before he could turn back to the others, she whipped the heavy ball at him. It collided against his head with a satisfying smack. He dropped to the ground, scattering the others. The two women immediately dove for cover behind the love seat, but the other two men still stood between Grace and Kat and the door.
Grace was thankful that the other pool cues were safely in the rack behind them at the far end of the room. Leaving the men with no weapons other than their fists and feet.
"I'm gonna kick your ass from here to the Point and back," Squeaky said, his hands balling into fists the size of Easter hams.
"Not if I get her first," Baldy said, stepping over Atomic to get to Grace.
Grace sidestepped away from the table, giving herself more room and leading the men away from Kat. Then she swung out with the pool cue, now gripping it like a warrior's staff. She hoped that all those Kung Fu movies she'd watched over the years had taught her something. She squared her shoulders. Attitude, just like handling drunks in the ER. It was all in the attitude.
The pool cue whistled through the air, harmlessly bouncing off Baldy's arm as he raised it to block the blow. It continued its arc towards the ground and he lunged for it, trying to grab it from her and pull her off balance.
Squeaky waited, arms crossed over his broad chest, a smirk on his face as if he'd enjoy the outcome no matter who won the contest.
Grace swung the pool cue just beyond Baldy's grasp, drawing him out and then immediately reversed its course, ramming it up between his legs. An inhuman yelp emerged from him as he crumpled to the ground.
No longer content to wait, Squeaky rushed her from the side. She choked up on her grip and aimed the cue against the side of his head.
"Run!" she called to Kat.
Grace's blow slammed against Squeaky's skull with a vibration that shot through the cue, almost making her drop it. He merely shook it off and grinned at her.
Oh no. Something told her he'd been in street fights before. She watched as Kat rolled off the table and ran to the door.
"Go Kat, get to Alex's room," Grace called as Squeaky grabbed the other end of the cue and was using her own weapon to force her back up against the pool table.
He was snarling now, drool slipping from his mouth. He yanked the stick from her and raised it high over his head, about to bring it crashing down on her.
A leaden thunk echoed through the room and a yellow ball ricocheted from Squeaky's skull onto the floor. Squeaky froze, his eyes wide with shock. Then, almost in slow motion, the cue slipped from his hands and clattered to the floor. His knees bent and he sank to the floor beside it.
"That's for calling me stupid!" Kat yelled in triumph.
Grace leapt over his body and ran to the door. The women still cowered, hands over their mouths as they stared at their fallen comrades. Grace grabbed Kat by the waist and hauled the girl out of the room.
"C'mon, we've got to get out of here."
CHAPTER 29
Volcano Weather
Together they ran down the hallway and through the dark Skyway to the safety of the Annex. Only then did they stop for air. Grace pushed the button for the elevator while Kat danced around the lobby, her bare feet slapping on the linoleum. Grace glanced back over to the Skyway. No one pursued them.
"Hah! Did you see that?" Kat cackled in glee, tossing an eight ball from one hand to the other. "Could've told them not to mess with me, I was short-stop on our little league team, can throw better than both my brothers!"
The elevator dinged its arrival. Grace hustled Kat on before the girl got any ideas about returning to the scene of her pitching debut. Grace felt no sense of triumph, only a deep-seated relief that they had escaped.
Kat paced the confines of the small metal box for a few moments, then suddenly sagged against the wall as if all the air had been sucked from her lungs. "Goddamn it, that scared the crap out of me!" She leaned forward, resting her hand on her knee, her chest heaving. "I think I'm gonna puke."
Grace pulled Kat to her feet, wrapped her arms around the girl. Kat shook uncontrollably. The elevator stopped. They emerged into the dim shadows of the pediatrics floor.
"It's all right," she said as Kat began to sob. "You did fine, I'm proud of you, Kat. You saved my life. Everything's all right now."
Finally, Kat stopped crying and looked up. "I did? Really? I saved your life?"
Grace smiled down at the girl, used the hem of her scrub top to wipe away the tears. "You did. I've never known anyone as brave as you, Kat."
"Wow. I mean--wow." Kat blew out her breath. "You won't tell Alex that I cried, will you?"
"Course not. And it happens to everyone. It's just the adrenalin. Even soldiers and cops cry after something like that--sometimes throw up, too."
"Hah. At least I didn't puke." They started down the hall to Alex's room when Kat tugged on Grace's arm. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier, Grace. I was wrong, they don't want to die, they're already dead. Inside at least. And you're not like t
hem, not at all."
Grace hugged Kat to her as she paused in the doorway of Alex's room before entering. She felt a smile widen across her face at the sight of Jimmy and Alex sitting together on the bed, Jimmy's arm around the boy as if they were father and son. They'd talked about children, thought that after they were settled--
She shook her head, following Kat into the room. Kat plopped into the chair beside Alex's bed, hugging her knees to her chest, still flushed by their near-escape.
"Kat, are you all right?" Alex asked.
"You should've seen it, Alex. Grace kicked butt--"
"What she means to say," Grace interrupted before Kat's too-vivid imagination went wild, "is that the other patients in the ECU won't be bothering Kat anytime soon."
Grace brushed by Jimmy who snagged her by the waist and pulled her close to him. "You all right?" he asked, his eyes narrowed in concern.
"I'm fine." She bent over and kissed the top of his head. "Really." He gave her a squeeze before releasing her.
"Jimmy was telling me how Maeve saved the world," Alex said. "She found the lost treasure of Atlantis."
Kat looked up, eager to hear more, not complaining as Grace wrapped a blanket around her. Grace glanced over at Jimmy.
"You can't tell him that story," she protested, remembering how her stomach had curdled when they had discovered Maeve's secret. "It's not for kids. What about the--"
Jimmy waved a hand, dismissing her concerns. "Nah, kids love that stuff."
Grace grimaced, hoping he'd translate the dark tale of cannibalism and blood lust into something that wouldn't give the kids nightmares. The story had disturbed the hell out of her.
Maeve returning home with two Kallistean men only to find her people following Lothar, her brother, on a path of cannibalism, preying on neighboring clans. After Lothar killed the two Kallisteans, Maeve had fought him in a fierce battle. She had defeated him and his own men had pounced on him, finishing the job.