A deep sigh slipped out as his mind filtered through everything he read in Karmin’s file. She had a rough childhood and it went downhill from there. An alcoholic mother who remarried often, step-fathers that either beat her or molested her. It was reported her mother could care less as long as she didn’t get beat on.
Life turned for Karmin when the police came and got her from her bed one night. She was only seven at the time. Her mom and step-dad had been killed in an auto crash, driving while intoxicated. Good news to bad rubbish, he thought. Unfortunately, it changed little for Karmin. The foster care system failed her just like her own mother had. She was still beat on and molested. Shit, that’s a pansy-ass word for what was done to her. There’s a bunch of sick bastards in the world and they were drawn to her. She finally took off on her own, escaping the foster system trying to keep out of trouble. She found work and made a small life for herself, at least it was away from everyone that had harmed her.
His mind mentally flipped through the notes in her file. She’d even enrolled in a community college after gaining her GED. She made it through a couple semesters before she met another loser. This one stole her heart and child. He beat her so bad she had a miscarriage. One day while he was passed out, she walked out of the door and never looked back. She was back on the streets, running from town to town, taking menial jobs to survive. This girl had tested with a high IQ in third grade and then again after taking her GED. She could have been in Mensa programs. Her life should have been better. He shook his head again. It was as if the stars cursed her at birth.
Then there was Rhyzel, or as he knew him, Rye. There was more to that boy than his backwoods good looks. He wasn’t one of those straight A type of students in school. It appeared he didn’t care one way or another about the grading system, but he loved the clubs he could join and was a voracious reader. He read everything. He loved reading about military strategies, philosophy, psychology, poetry and Greek gods. You name it, he read it. He wasn’t into football or really any sports but he did get his brown belt in karate. When he was old enough, he left town. His dad died his Senior year in high school. Not much was in his file about the mother. One small notation of a divorce and she disappeared, leaving the child with the father.
Wes had grown fond of Rye, even before he met him. Here was a guy who didn’t give a gawd-damn about grades, awards, or scholarships. He took from life what he wanted. He studied what he was curious about, not what was thrust upon him. He had his own mind. He wouldn’t be corralled into anything he didn’t believe in…well, that was before those sum bitches took him. He spun his chair to face the picture hanging behind him. It was a picture of rubble and a huge hole in the ground. He lifted his empty glass in a salute and mumbled out loud, “We got ‘em Rye. We got ‘em Karmin.”
Wes turned at the knock on the door and answered, “Yes?”
The door opened and George stood inside the doorway. “It’s time, Sir.”
Wesley nodded. “I’ll be right there.” Standing, he rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath before making his way through the basement to the hidden entrance to the game room. He pushed the release button that moved the pool table and climbed up the stairs into the warm room with its deeply polished wood panels and the strange assortment of arcade games. Moving through the living room, he passed the fireplace and bookshelves and sighed at the empty room. This was the last safe house Rye and Karmin stayed before joining Dave and I in New Mexico. That seemed like a lifetime ago.
The noise became gradually louder as he made his way down the hall. Beeps pinged in the room as he stepped through the doorway. The doctor turned and nodded to Wesley giving him a thumbs-up sign and stepped back to blend into the wall.
Wesley rubbed his face of stubble and approached the glass chambers, not realizing he was holding his breath. The two chambers were separated by a small passageway between them. He placed his weathered hands, one on each enclosure. A single tear skittered between the bristles and fell. It had been this way day after day when he came in. His heart broke every time.
Rye lay in one enclosure and Karmin in the other. He hoped they would forgive him for what they did to them. When he found them, they were as good as dead, but both were still breathing. He called for a helicopter to get them to one of their facilities. He’d make gawd-damn sure they had all the medical help they could get!
They were put in a medical coma as a team of doctors fought what the gas did to them. Dave had left notes on an experimental process to flush the body from the chemical poisoning. It was the last project he’d worked on prior to blowing up the base. He sure wished he had Dave beside him right now. It had been a long process, and not one they were even sure would work. They had to grow new organs from their mutated DNA or they’d be rejected. Then the surgeries and recovery, each time. He glanced back at the doctor and two nurses behind him. They nodded.
Pushing the button on the edge of each glass enclosure, they sprung open with a fine fog escaping the chambers. There was a change in the room as the beeping increased and the monitor filled with lines rising and falling as Wes stared at them. The doctor and nurses raced to be at the sides of the chambers. The doctor seemed to speak a foreign language as he issued orders to nurses who wrote down specifics in their charts, addressing all the tubing around them.
Wesley squeezed his eyes shut and said an internal prayer. “God forgive me if I went against your will, but please don’t punish them for my doing. Give them the break they deserve, a chance to begin again. We both know their lives weren’t supposed to be the way it turned out. Help them because all we’ve done may not be enough.” He looked back at the doctor and caught his frown. He closed his eyes as his shoulders shook, a well of tears rising up from his shattered hopes and prayers.
The nurses went about removing tubes, strapping that held them down to keep them from pulling at the tubing, and finally, the trach was removed. The doctor turned off all machines and noted the time on the charts. Wesley turned away. Then he heard a sudden gasp. He whipped his head to the doctor and then to the nurses. One of them clutched her hand to her mouth and pointed. Karmin’s eyes had peeled open and flashing embers rolled across them. The next moment, Wesley heard a cough come from Rye’s chamber. He bent over, tears splashing the white sheet.
He continued to swivel his head from one chamber to the next, while nurses hurried to cover the holes from the trach. Karmin continued to stare at the ceiling and ran a dry tongue over her lips. The doctor moved forward and started explaining the situation, standing in between the enclosures, pushing Wesley back. He went to the other side of Rye and watched him as the doctor gave them a briefing of their situation. It would take days yet before either could speak, even if they ‘could’ which they wouldn’t know for several days, he projected. Rye made a movement with his hand, swishing it back and forth several times. The nurse darted to the desk and brought a tablet and pencil and held it in front of him.
Wesley watched in pain as Rye repeatedly tried to hold the pencil that fell from his grasp. He saw his brows furrow with intense concentration. With the pencil clutched in his fist he scrawled on the pages, ragged lines. One word. Karmin. He stared at Wesley.
Wesley nodded and answered, “She’s here, Rye. Right next to you in the next bed.” Wesley moved his beefy arm to push the doctor aside. Rye turned his head as saw her through the glass. Tears fell down his face as he looked at her. She slowly turned her head and saw him. An ever-so-small smile hitched at the corners of her mouth.
Noise filled the air as Rye tried to speak but guttural noises came out instead. In his mind, he had jumped out of the bed and raced to her side, holding her against him and calling her name over and over. “Karmin, my Karmin! I told you we were meant to be together, forever!”
His eyes suddenly grew wide. As clear as day he heard her answer in his mind, “I heard you then as I hear you now. I love you, Rye. I always have.” Her eyes squeezed shut forcing her long awaited happiness to run down her cheeks. T
hey only opened again when she heard in her mind, “My Karmin. I’ve waited a lifetime to hear those words.”
Wesley didn’t know what to think of them, both staring at one another with tears and smiles. He could only imagine how difficult it was to see each other and not be able to talk, to share their feelings, to ask about what happened to them. Time. They’ll have plenty of time for all of that. He clasped his hands together and lifted them as he looked to the ceiling and beyond. He hadn’t forgotten. He mouthed the words, “Thank you.” He stood there still shaking his head, thankful for new beginnings.
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…
“New beginnings, huh?” Karmin was still smiling as the words were sent from her mind to his. “What next, Rye? Where do we go from here?”
“Oh, I have lots of ideas, but they’ll have to wait until we can get out of these Sleeping Beauty beds.” His brows raised and lowered quickly, making Karmin grin even bigger.
The doctor tried to move Wesley aside so they could tend to their patients, but the burly five-star reached over and clasped onto Rye’s and Karmin’s arms, gripping them full of emotion and promise. “I’ll be back later to see you both. There is so much to fill you in on, but for now, just rest. We have time, lots of time.” He smiled as he walked out of the room.
“He doesn’t know yet, does he? This trick of reading minds, telecommunicating.”
Rye slowly shook his head no. “Our little secret, for now.” He gave her a long, deep wink and heard her laughter tinkling like bells in his head. “Life is about to get one hundred percent better!”
She nodded. To her, life already had.
Please follow me on my author’s page on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Rush-Cowperthwait/e/B078HTLP5X
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Here are other books by the author available on Amazon and free to read on Kindle Unlimited.
The Full Series of The Legend of the Dragon Child
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QQF8VK5
The Legend of the Dragon Child
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TYH53TR
The Legend: Revealed
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L1YDVJT
Zelspar and the Magicians
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QHGBB16
Time of Awakening
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VJDR24G
Elvictus
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0842WZZ88
Ashera of the Kingswood
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0842WZZ88
A Christmas of the Heart
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08C6HNZFM
Coming by the end of 2020
Cobwebs and Dreams
In 2021, the author has several projects already in the works. Be sure to follow her on Amazon to hear of her most recent book releases.
An Author’s Note
Thank you for your interest and reading The Renegade Shifters. It is envisioned as a broader series and it will be if the readers are there and wish for more. A great way to let me know would be to leave a short review. Reviews not only let other readers know if you enjoyed the book but it lets me know if you enjoyed it and want to hear more of the story.
The Renegade Shifters Page 13