Users
Page 12
Carter narrowed his brow, deep in concentration. He called forth the ball of fire. He imagined it swerving around the tree and exploding into the tree behind the first. With as much force as he could summon, Carter threw the ball. The flames twirled end over end as the ball of fire spun, but instead of swerving around the tree and hitting the tree behind it, the ball flew wide missing both trees completely. Carter's fireball hit a tree top far off in the distance and the leaves burst into flame, causing a small forest fire, but the flames quickly burnt out in the evergreen vegetation of the Northwest.
"We're going to have to practice that one," Dan said.
Carter and Dan spent the rest of the afternoon going over and practicing the different uses for their powers. Carter paid close attention to every detail. He didn't want to miss a thing. He may never have an opportunity to meet another scorcher again in his lifetime and he wasn't about to waste the opportunity to soak up all the older man's knowledge.
They continued until late in the afternoon, until a voice, Walt's voice called for everyone to gather around.
"Come, let's not keep him waiting," Dan said.
They strolled through the woods in silence, enjoying a pair of birds singing back and forth to one another.
When they finally emerged from the forest, the rest of the users, around thirty in all, were gathered around the fighting pit. Carter had to squeeze between Walt and Evan to get a view inside the concaved bowl.
"Where are you going?" Carter asked when he noticed Dan heading away from the pit.
"Back to my cabin," Dan said his tone suddenly turning sour. "I don't watch the fights." It struck Carter as odd that the grizzled old man, who seemed to be such a hard ass, wanted nothing to do with the fights, but he shrugged it off.
"Suit yourself," Carter said as Dan skulked away toward his cabin. Carter didn't particularly enjoy the fights either, especially when he was getting his ass kicked, but he could see Walt's reasoning behind them. They had to train after all.
"Fight!" Walt shouted.
Inside the pit Barber faced off against Rick, a powerful screamer, but Carter wasn't so sure how well the man would do in hand to hand combat against the spiky bones of Barber.
The two men circled each other and Carter assumed this would be over quick, that Barber would put Rick down the same way that the kid had put him down with a vicious stab to the leg. In a flash, Barber closed the gap between him and Rick, bringing out his barbs as he rushed the older man. Barber had his bony spikes extended and aimed for Rick's shoulders. He meant to pin the man down Carter assumed, but Rick was faster than Cater thought. The man simply opened wide and let out a single ear piercing yelp aimed at Barber. Carter and the other onlookers covered their ears. Even with the scream aimed directly for Barber it reverberated off the concave bowl, sending sound waves echoing out, be it at a much lower decibel it was still enough to cause pain in the ears of those standing around the pit.
Barber took the brunt force of the sound wave and was knocked back through the air. He was slow to get up.
"You done?" Rick asked.
"He's not done," Walt said. "Get up."
Barber, loyal to a fault, rose to his feet, and charged across the pit. This time Rick waited until the last second to unleash a prolonged scream that shook the ground beneath Carter's feet and sent Barber once again flying away. The boy landed awkwardly, his arms and legs flopping about like a rag doll in the sand. Rick sauntered in Barber's direction. Barber, seeing the man coming, tried to get to his feet, but stumbled and fell.
"Okay, he's done," Carter said stopping Rick in his tracks.
"No, he's not," Walt said. "Barber, get up."
"What?" Carter asked. "What do you mean, he can't stand up."
"I said get up!" Walt yelled.
Barber groaned as he pushed up to get on all fours. Then he leaned up and faced Rick from his knees, still unable to get all the way to his feet. Even from that position, Barber wobbled like a bobble head, clearly unable to defend himself.
Rick, still frozen, gazed up at Walt with an unsure look splayed across his face.
"Finish it," Walt said.
Rick let out a halfhearted scream that was still enough to knock the unsteady Barber flat on his back with blood running from his nose and ears.
"Get him out of there," Walt said and a mass of bodies rushed into the pit to help Barber.
The users hoisted the boy above their heads and carried him out of the pit, across the yard, and into see the doc.
"Hey," Carter said when the other users had gone inside.
"What?" Walt asked.
"What? Is that all you have to say?" Carter yelled. "What the hell was that shit man?"
"Fights have got to be finished," Walt said.
"He's just a kid you asshole!" Carter got right in Walt's face, so close that they were exchanging hot breath.
"And he's got to learn to fight just like anyone else!" Walt spat back, not backing down an inch.
"You're lucky he wasn't killed!"
"That's where you're wrong. I'm the only thing keeping these kids from being killed. I'm the only thing from keeping the world from chewing them up and spitting them back out. I'm the only thing keeping them from ending up like me!" Walt screamed at the top of his lungs.
And there it was.
"You think that you've got to fight them to the point of death to keep them from ending up old and alone?" Carter asked.
"I'm not alone. I've got a compound full of people who depend on me," Walt said.
"You may have a compound full of people, but you've got zero friends," Carter answered. "We're not going to disappoint you the way your friends in the army did. We're not going to use you to kill a bunch of harmless women and children. Why don't you learn when to give people a fucking break!" Carter turned for his cabin. "They may surprise you," Carter said to Walt from over his shoulder as he slammed the cabin door behind him.
#
Chapter 15
The days turned into weeks and Carter began to find a rhythm to the compound. The mornings were for strengthening his muscles, the afternoons were spent training with old Dan to master the use of his powers, and in the evenings he either fought or studied a fight in the pit. And of course there were the weekly meetings at the Elks Club.
The wound on his leg began to scab over and no longer caused him any pain. The routine fit him nicely, never giving him too much free time to ponder his situation or worry about the future. Idle time was the death of many an addict, and Carter reveled in keeping his hands thoroughly busy.
Carter strode to Dan's cabin as he did every afternoon to drag the old man out back into the woods for training. He knocked on the door.
"Go away," Dan croaked.
"Come on now, Dan," Carter called through the thick wooden door of the cabin. "Get up. I need to train."
It was the same thing each day, with Carter having to practically pull Dan from his cabin kicking and screaming. The old man rarely came out of the cabin, except to train Carter, he holed up by himself, not allowing anyone in or out of his cabin. Even his food was brought too him, Barber set a plate out on his porch at each meal.
"I don't feel well," Dan said.
"Do you want me to get the Doc?" Carter asked.
"Hell no. Just leave me the hell alone," Dan said.
Carter stared blankly at the closed door for a few moments, unsure of what to do. The old man usually put up a fight, but then conceded with a bit of prodding. Carter believed the old man secretly enjoyed training him, but doubted that Dan would ever openly admit to it.
"Well...I hope you feel better soon," Carter said through the door, but there was no response.
He turned to find that Walt and Barber had been waiting quietly at his back.
"Jesus, how long have you two been standing there?" Carter asked.
"Do you need a partner to train with today?" Walt asked.
"Yeah...I do."
"Great, you'll train with Barber,"
Walt said. "You'll need more than just your powers as a User to defend yourself against Alaric, and Barber can help you there."
"Are you serious?" Carter asked.
"Why wouldn't he be?" Barber asked.
"Well no offense, but you're just a kid," Carter said
"I'm man enough to beat you," Barber countered.
"Touche'," Carter said.
"I'll leave you guys too it," Walt said.
Carter followed Barber to the center of the yard in front of the big house.
"So you think you can beat me again?" Carter asked. "I'm a lot more comfortable with my powers since the last time you faced me."
"But we're not using powers today. You heard the General. You're going to need more than powers to protect yourself," Barber answered.
"Oh now this I gotta see," Carter said. "You're going to beat me up with your fis-" Carter was cut short as Barber did a sweeping leg kick, taking Carter's feet out from under him.
The yard softened his fall, but wet mud smeared the side of Carter's face as he lay in the rain soaked grass.
"What's with you always catching me off guard? You never even said go."
Carter feigned that he was getting to his feet, but he changed momentum and lunged forward tackling Barber around the knees and pulling him to the ground. Barber tried to roll away, but Carter took his back, grabbing Barber around the neck.
"How do you like it when someone sneaks up and knocks you down, huh?" Carter growled as he choked Barber from behind. "Doesn't feel so good now does it?"
Barber couldn't breathe let alone speak. After only a few seconds, when the boy started turning blue, he finally tapped Carter on the wrist letting Carter know that he was done.
Carter let him go immediately and the two sat in the damp grass, staring at one another, panting with exhaustion.
"Okay. Now I can really show you something," Barber said.
Carter spent the rest of the afternoon mimicking Barber's dazzling display of moves. The kid was like something out of a bad Kung Fu flick, only his moves seemed to be effective.
Barber spun into a jumping roundhouse kick and Carter did a bad impersonation of the move.
"Well that was pathetic," Carter said.
"Don't worry you'll get it," Barber said.
"Where does all this optimism and loyalty come from? Especially for Walt, I just don't get it?" Carter asked.
"Where do you think I learned all this? It sure as hell wasn't from my parents." Barber threw a wheel kick and Carter tried to do the same. "Put all your weight on your back leg," Barber told him.
"So he taught you somethings, so what? He tried to have you killed the other day," Carter said.
"He didn't try to have me killed. He just doesn't want us to back down the way he did."
"The way he did. What do you mean?" Carter asked.
"He didn't tell you? When he was in the military and all those women and children were killed. He watched it all happen and he didn't do a damn thing to stop it. He's regretted it everyday since. That's why he pushes you so hard, so if you're ever faced with a similar situation, you can make the choice that he didn't."
*****
Carter pushed all of his energy to his feet. Fire flared up around his legs as it bounced up off the ground. Still he pushed more of his fiery blood down to his feet, and nothing happened. Carter gnashed his teeth together under the strain. Sweat beaded across his forehead, but he still remained firmly planted to the earth.
"God damn it!" he billowed between panting breaths.
"You're doing it all wrong." A voice called from behind him.
"How?" he asked. "How am I doing it wrong?"
He was exasperated with his own shortcomings, and his foul tone showed it.
"You've gotta heat up your whole body first. Then once you've pent up enough energy, and only then, do you release the fire within you down into your feet," Dan said coming up beside him.
The man looked withered, even for him, and he walked with a cane, which Carter had never seen him do before. His normally leathery skin was pale, wet, and mushy looking, as if Carter could mold it like dough.
Carter sighed.
"I did that," he said.
"Then you didn't do it right," the grumpy old man said. Dan whacked him with the cane in his thigh.
"Jesus, what's gotten into you today?" Carter asked as he rubbed the spot on his thigh that would most definitely have a welt later.
"You're wasting my time," Dan snarled. "You've barely begun to master any of the techniques I've shown you. Now clear your mind and focus."
Carter did was he was told, fearing another whack with the cane.
"Now close your eyes," Dan said. "Feel the pumping of your heart."
Carter kept his eyes shut tight and listened carefully to the pumping in his chest getting louder and faster as he summoned the fire within him, but refused to let out it.
"Keep it pent up for a while longer then slowly visualize the blood running to your feet."
With some discomfort, Carter could feel the blood withheld in his heart being pummeled by the pounding thuds in his chest. His heart was like an engine, and his blood was the fuel that fired it.
"Now let it all out," Dan said.
A wave of nausea washed through his stomach as the blood pumped down his chest and into his stomach, but he grimaced through the pain, kept pushing, and it soon passed. A burning sensation ran down his thighs and into his calves. Then, in one throbbing burst, the fire ripped through the bottom of his feet. With his eyes still closed, Carter could only hear the roaring flames whipping beneath him.
"Now open your eyes."
Carter's eyes shot open. He was staring at the tree tops. His gazed darted to his feet and the rocket fire like flames that came from them. Dan was standing far below with his neck arched up to look at him.
"I'm doing it!" Carter shouted, and before he finished the words his heart sank.
It hadn't occurred to him until that moment that he was afraid of heights and he did not know how to get down. The fire from his feet stuttered.
"Oh no," Carter said. Then he was falling. He dropped a good ten feet before he steadied himself again and the fire flared back to life. "I'm scared of heights," he called down to Dan.
Dan just shook his head.
"You picked a fine time to figure that one out," Dan said. "Just drop down real slow like."
"How do I do that?"
"Let off the gas of course."
And Carter slowly removed the heat from his feet, hovered for a moment, and began his descent back down to earth.
"That was amazing," he said once he was back on firm ground.
"It was something. Don't know if I'd call it amazing." Dan coughed violently and blood spurt from his mouth.
"Are you okay?" Carter said and he had to catch Dan as the old man lost his balance and fell back, crumpling into Carter's arms.
Dan's breathing was shallow and there was blood coming from his mouth, so much blood.
"Walt! Walt!" he screamed for help. "Fuck this." Carter scooped the old man up into his arms and carried him out of the forest. "Just hang in there bud. We're going to get you some help."
*****
"There's really nothing much we can do for him," Doc said. Many hours had passed with Carter waiting patiently in a chair in the corner of the room.
"What do you mean? There's gotta be something," Carter said.
"Dan's an old man," Walt said. "It's his time."
"All we can do now is make him comfortable," Doc said as he injected what Carter assumed was morphine into Dan's IV.
"That's it huh? So we're just giving up on him?" Carter asked.
"That's all there is," Walt said. The General put a hand on Carter's shoulder. It was a move that struck Carter as out of the ordinary for Walt, but maybe the normally hard assed General was hurting too. Walt and Dan had known one another for many years.
"Is it all right if I stay with him for a while."
"We'll leave you alone so you can say your goodbye," Walt said and with the Doc in tow, the pair trudged up the steps and into the main floor off the big house.
Carter took a seat and rested his weary head on the handrail of Dan's hospital bed and stared at the floor. The room was completely silent except for the beep of Dan's heart monitor as his weak pulse bobbed up and down.
"Are they gone yet?" A voice snapped Carter from his sorrow and scared the living shit out of him all at once.
"Dan?" he asked hardly able to believe his eyes. "But the doc said you'd be out from the drugs?"
"Hot blood," Dan said plainly. "It burns off the drugs real quick. You should know that as well as anyone."
And it was true. It took Carter massive doses to just catch a buzz, making his days of drug use all the more dangerous.
"Are you okay?" Carter asked.
"Do I look okay to you boy?" Dan was sweating profusely and his skin was gray.
He coughed and again Dan had a mouthful of sizzling blood that stained his teeth red.
"Honestly, you look like shit," Carter said.
"Fuck...you," Dan said, but he barely got the words out.
The old man's breath was shallow and speaking was almost beyond him. "You should leave now boy...while you can."
"I'm not going anywhere," Carter said keeping his ass firmly planted in his chair. Dan's gray skin began to glow with an orange hue as if some inner light of his soul was trying to break free of its mortal coil.
"Look...away...boy," Dan growled.
"Why? What's happening?" Carter asked grabbing Dan by the arm. "Doc! You better get your ass down here!"
"Doc...can't help...now." Dan's skin was red hot.
Of course, it didn't bother Carter in the least, but he was beginning to panic, unsure of what was happening to the old man. Light shot from Dan's mouth, ears, and eyes. Flames burst through the old man's wrinkly skin and a blood curtailing, gut wrenching scream erupted from Dan's mouth.
"No!" Carter shouted.
He leapt from his seat, grabbed the blanket covering Dan's waist, and threw the blanket over the old man's chest in a vain attempt to smother the flames.