by Jas T. Ward
Emma smiled and nodded at her. “I’d like that. Maybe that will help. Two friendly faces. I’ll ask Lily or Rose to watch Sophia.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chicken Nuggets
He had blurred into the janitor’s closet of the Westfield Mall, and as soon as he formed he felt a huge wave of nausea. Reaching out to grab the edge of the large mop sink, he leaned over it and threw up in great heaves. He had to hold the edges with both hands as his body retched, almost bending double with the pain. As the last wave left him, his legs folded and he collapsed against the wall.
He brought his hand up to wipe at his mouth and then frowned looking at the blood that now smeared across his fingers. Bright red against the paleness of his skin, but something about it was off.
Pulling himself up on limbs that felt like rubber, he looked down in the dirty white sink and gasped in confusion. “What is that?”
He forced himself to swallow, as he felt like he was going to throw up again, and that was when he tasted something acidy and bitter mixed in with the copper sweetness of his blood. His blood had splashed all over the sink as if a gallon bucket of it had been dumped by the force of him vomiting, so much blood in fact, that he wondered how much a body held. But it wasn’t just blood in the sink. There was something else there.
Black. Whatever it was swirled in the sink, mixed with his blood like dark ink, but it was alive. It was twisting and turning somehow within the crimson dripping and running into the drain. He reached down with a shaking hand to touch it and brought his coated fingers up to rub at its thickness. It felt like blood, but with that blackness it didn’t look like blood. And it felt...it felt evil.
Reno let out a scared roar of denial as he turned on the taps and washed the gore down, running his head and then his hands under the clear water’s flow.
Turning off the taps, he was almost afraid that the weird blood would slither out of the drain and attack him or something. But no, it seemed to stay down.
Fighting a dizziness that threatened to tip him over as the room spun around him, he ran his fingers through his hair then gripped the sink once again until the spinning passed.
Grabbing his spare backpack he kept hidden on the shelf, he dumped out a set of worn, but clean, clothes given out by the shelter, and the bag of sample hygiene supplies they included with the clothes.
Cleaning up using the sink, he stripped down bare, washing his hair under the tap and even brushing his teeth; he felt somewhat better at just getting rid of his body funk. Tossing the dirty clothes into the trashcan, he stowed away his backpack behind the supplies and pulled on his hoodie. He looked at himself one last time before pulling the hood back over his head. He still looked like crap, but at least he could now blend with normal humans if no one looked too close.
As he opened the door and stepped out into the service hall of the mall, he ducked his head down to follow it to the public area and merge with the late afternoon crowd.
Maybe if he ate something his stomach would stop feeling like this. He could get his head straight and think what he had to do. Though Reno had no idea what that could possibly be.
Getting to the food court of the mall, Reno sat down at a table far from the pale sunlight outside the mall and stuck his hand in his pocket. He was about out of money and he hadn’t dared to use his credit card, so he had thrown his wallet away with its contents a week ago. Dumping what he pulled out of his pocket on the table, he started counting his change and his shaking fingers froze in mid-air above the coins.
The one thing he had kept from the wallet was a small photograph of Witch with Sophia. It was curled and starting to get frazzled, but he didn’t care.
Picking it up, he hunched forward to hold it in the palm of one hand as the fingers of his other hand came up to brush across the photo. The pain in his head and stomach faded away as it was overshadowed by the ache in his heart.
God he missed them so bad. He wanted Witch to hold him and make it all stop hurting. He wanted to read Sophia a bedtime story and watch her sleep. Maybe watch that Beauty and the Beast movie with its happy ending. He just wanted to go home...
“Mister?”
He looked over at a little boy that stood by his table. Reno frowned and stared to say in a voice cracking with hoarseness, “What?”
The little boy sat a half of eaten corn dog with a cookie in front of him and then turned to run back to his mother. Reno looked down at the food and gave a side ward’s puzzled look at the mother and son. She was telling the little boy that was nice to do, but not to talk to strangers. The little boy was listening but looking at him.
Picking up the corn dog, he gave the little boy a small smile and took a bite. It tasted good and he ate it fast, grabbing the cookie and shoving it in too, not even caring about the combined taste.
“I didn’t want this. Do you want it?”
Reno stopped chewing and glanced at a little girl standing there with big bouncing blonde curls and blue eyes. His eyes drifted left, and then right, before falling to look at the Styrofoam container of left over French fries and chicken nuggets the girl held. “You sure?” he whispered as she nodded and sat it on the table. And just like the little boy, she ran back to her mother and just like the little boy got lectured.
Reno had no idea why they did that, but he also gave the girl a weak smile and ate that food like a starving man. Which he was. As he chewed he realized his head wasn’t hurting and his stomach was actually allowing the food to settle for the first time in weeks and he let out a long sigh of relief.
Slowing his devouring of the food to actually chew, he looked down at the picture. “Hi Witch. Rugrat.”
He brushed his fingers over it again before bringing it to his lips and kissing each of them. He felt the burn of tears behind his eyes and he whispered with a sob. “I miss you. So much.”
“Bounce! We have a hit.”
Bounce was exhausted and most likely was nodding off when the Tech Relay yelled. His head came snapping up as he got to his feet and walked over to the monitor where the Relay was pointing. “Where?”
“The mall. Look.” Bounced leaned down to see what the camera shot showed to be the food court in real time. He focused on the monitor, and that’s when a man in a hoodie happened to turn towards a camera they had hacked into for the briefest of seconds. The face recognition software said it was an eighty-nine percent match. Good enough for him.
“Alert Emma. I need all Breakers on duty to meet me there. Now.” Bounce grabbed his jacket and swung it on as the Relay contacted Emma to let her know. About time they had something good happen, Bounce thought as he blurred to the mall.
Emma screamed at traffic right along with Bella as they sped through the streets to get to the mall. The Grid could change the traffic lights in their favor, but nothing could be done about the boneheads that got in her way.
Pulling up at the mall, she was out of the car before she even turned it off and took off running towards the food court entrance. Bella grabbed the keys to shut off the engine, secure the car, and ran after Emma.
They both blasted running through the doors and immediately started looking. “Where is he?”
No sooner than Emma said those desperate words, both she and Bella were grabbed and pulled into a darken maintenance hall by Recon Relays.
“Hey! What’s going on?” Bella kicked the one that held her fast against the wall despite her struggling. The Relay ignored her as he was completely focused on the task at hand. He said quietly in his Grid connection. “Eyes on? Center table and we need this area clear for take down.”
Emma’s eyes widened as she struggled harder at what the Relay said. “Take down? No!” But a gloved hand was pressed over her mouth to muffle her and all she could do was watch.
Chapter Thirty
A Glimpse of Home
Reno had no idea what suddenly had all his senses going to high five-alarm alert. But whatever it was caused his head to jerk up and look around the fo
od court. People seemed to be doing the normal thing, but as his eyes scanned the food booths and the janitorial staff something seemed off. A few even averted their eyes when his gaze drifted over them.
Looking down at the trash on the table in front of him, he stood up slowly and braced his palms on the table. Cold wrapped around his spine and something tingled in his Grid stamp as he reached in the back of his jeans to wrap his hands around the grips of his twin 9mms.
This would be a really bad place to have a show-down, but no way was he going to be captured and taken offline for good. Given a bounce to Hell, which would mean his one and only chance was over. He had lived in his own private Hell for over a century and he was never going to be held like that again.
His eyes went to the little girl and her mother and he mouthed to the woman. “Go. Now. Go.”
She frowned in confusion, but then he dropped the guns to hang at his sides and she grabbed her little girl and took off. He did the same for the little boy and his mother and was relieved to get the same response.
Knowing they would report the strange man with the guns, it only took seconds for the alarms to go off and security guards to swarm the area. Now the Grid would have witnesses and he knew they would have to calculate that in, if they hadn’t already done so.
His eyes drifted to the doors leading to the outside and the bright sunlight of the day caused him to silently swear in frustration. He could try blurring, but the Grid would just trace him to his point B, and he’d probably be even worse off than he was now since he wasn’t the best at that ability.
Security guards suddenly surrounded him armed with tasers, but he wasn’t too concerned about that as he put his hands up, the pistols now in plain sight in his hands.
He yelled, “Go! Everybody run!” as he fired a shot in the air and the food court, as well as mall hallway, erupted into panicked chaos.
Emma had no idea what was happening, but when she heard Reno’s voice she felt like a crack in the dark had opened up and shone some light. Until she heard the fired shot as the place filled with screaming and running. The recon Relays that had detained them were suddenly rushing them down the hall to a fire exit.
“No! Let me talk to him! Please!”
But they didn’t listen to Emma as they shoved her and Bella into the service alley outside of the mall, the heavy metal door slamming, and locking, behind them.
“Damn it!” Emma spun around as Bella began kicking with her boots and beating on the door with her fists. They were in a squared off area, with a dumpster, and four walls with doors, which apparently was a junction between the wings of the mall. They frantically checked each door and found those as locked tight as the first.
“What did they mean, take down?”
Emma turned to look at Bella when the question was asked to let out a growl after she yanked on the last door that refused to move. “They’re going to try to capture him. If they can’t...” Emma’s words fell away and she screamed as she pounded her fists desperately on the door.
Bella sagged to sit against the wall and started to stare at the ground. “They’re going to kill him, aren’t they?”
Emma glanced back at her and looked around again. “No. I won’t let them. Help me!” She reached down to grab Bella’s hand and hauled her up over to the dumpster, pushing her shoulder into the side of the grimy metal. “Push!”
As soon as the civilians had run away to clear the area, the Relays swarmed out of the hallway and the other areas of the mall. The security guards were quickly routed away and Reno was glad for that. He didn’t want them hurt. Heck, he didn’t want anyone hurt. Including him.
His arms hung tense at his sides, fingers on the triggers as he kept his head cast downward under its hoodie to track the movements of each heavily armed Relay circling him. Their movements, position of fingers on the triggers and obstacles in the way.
Everything slowed down and he took the time to calculate, plan and then with a slow smile... “Move. Now.”
Merging his and Sundown’s power, he flipped the table in front of him up sending it skyward to duck under it and fire a shot in the leg of a Relay who was closest, sending the guy crying out in pain to fall to the floor. As soon as the table came down, he kicked it behind him and it hit two Relays advancing at his rear. He then got his feet moving and pushing off with a hand, vaulted over the Asian noodle counter.
Shots rang out around him as he ducked beneath shattering glass and flying plaster. Leaping over the other end of the counter, he rolled and got to his feet to run towards the far mall exit.
He wrapped his arms around his head when it started humming and buzzing in pain, a crackling popping in his synapses that just got worse by the second. Shots were fired and glass along with lights exploded in his path as he ran. More innocent people scattered frantically away from his path. He really hoped none of them got hit.
Reno stumbled when a shot found its mark, landing deep in his shoulder, as he almost tripped leaping over a seating area. His eyes were nailed on the exit and knew he’d have to blur the second he hit it, or he’d burst apart from the sun. He only hoped that being outside made his landing point from the blur hard to pin-point.
Going low with his boots racing, he hit the door with his good shoulder and threw himself out of it with a roar, the Relays a good 20 feet or less behind him.
“Candyman?”
Emma was coming around the corner at a full run after she and Bella had used the dumpster to climb out of the mall juncture when she saw him coming out of the doors.
At first she wasn’t sure if it was him as the sun was blinding her and he stood in the deep shadow under the awning in front of the mall.
But her heart knew without sight, without sound or touch. It was the man she loved.
Reno froze when he heard that voice he had only dreamed about hearing for weeks. He stiffened as his eyes drifted towards her as she was walking towards him. Letting his gaze go beyond her, he saw Bella before coming back to drink in the sight of Witch. God, she was so beautiful. He felt his breath catch as she stepped closer and before he could even think, he was grabbing her to pull up against him and capture her mouth with his in a kiss he needed more than air.
Everything stopped. The sounds of gunfire, the warning to halt, the shattering glass behind them as the Relays caught up to him, even the cars in the parking lot as they slammed on their brakes or crashed into each other in the confusion of it, all disappeared.
Reno brought his hands up to twist his fingers in her hair as he increased the kiss, his tongue dancing with hers to drink in the sweet taste of home.
He caught a glimpse of it in those beautiful green eyes that were closing with the sensation of the kiss, breathing in home with the scent of his Witch’s skin.
Emma’s arms came around his neck and he let out a deep sigh as the noise in his head stopped. The pain whispered away and he never wanted this moment to end.
He just wanted to go home. With her.
“Emma. Back away.”
His eyes snapped open to see Bounce when the god spoke, just a few feet away behind her and his gaze darkened, red flooding the blue as said in a dark, accusing tone, “You set me up?”
He stepped away from Witch and pulled his guns up to point one at Bounce and the other behind him as more Relays came pouring out of the mall. Blood from the bullet wound ran down his arm to drip off his elbow with a hiss on the pavement, forming dark spots that were even blacker in the shadow of the awning.
“No! Reno! I promise I would never do that. Bounce wants to help!” Witch’s voice was full of fear and hope as he curled his lip to flip his gaze down at her, as she held his shirt in her hands, tears flowing down her cheeks. Witch wouldn’t lie to him would she?
He wavered, his hands starting to shake, followed by his body seeming to want to fly apart.
Reno wasn’t sure if it was pain, doubt or weakness, but before he could even try to figure it out, his head seem to explode with pain like
he had never felt before and he let out a roar as he brought his fisted hands up to his forehead, pressing knuckles hard even though both still held locked and loaded weapons.
Suddenly the glass wall of the mall behind him exploded in a cascade of splinters and shards as the lights then joined in the melee to send off sparks and arches of electricity.
Everyone ran for cover as he bellowed out in pain again and even Bounce was lifted up to be thrown against a parked van as a wave of something dark surged out from Reno like a tsunami of energy.
“Reno! Stop!” He looked down at Emma in a haze of pain and confusion as his vision started going a dull grayish red. When he pulled her free from him to take a stumbled step back as Relays recovered and took aim, the sounds of safetys being thumbed off and bullets loading into chambers seeming far too loud to his head.
“I’m sorry. We have to go now.” And then he was gone.
Chapter Thirty-One
I Can Help You
Emma stood in shock as Reno was there, and suddenly was not, leaving her standing alone. Only the tingle of their kiss evidence that he had been there at all.
Around her Relays ran to try to trace his point B, but even they were confused. That was no blur and none had an explanation of the power or energy that had blasted from Reno. It had completely blacked out the Grid for a full-minute like nothing on record before.
Bounce walked up and said her name softly causing Emma to frown, as if that wasn’t any more real than the rest. She wasn’t even sure what happened had happened as her mind tried to wrap around it and process. As she lifted her eyes up to his, everything snapped into reality and with that?
Rage.
“Why!” She slammed her fists against the god’s broad chest as tears streamed down her face, and her features twisted in pain and fear. “You were going to destroy him! You were trying to kill him!”