by Matt Ryan
“Why not? The more the merrier,” Gladius muttered.
“My dad won’t like it, but we all need to go. We need to leave this place. I think just being here is messing with him, making him worse. It was the place he built with my mother, and now it’s all just a reminder of everything he’s lost.”
Gladius sighed and rolled her eyes. “Even if we wanted to, those purge kids said this portal stone could only take a maximum of three people. That leaves me, Hank, and one more.”
“Portal stone?”
“We don’t have time to explain all of this,” Gladius said. “Bottom line, this stone can take us wherever we want to go.”
Mary turned with big bright eyes, gazing at Hank, causing a pit to form in his stomach. “You could have gone anywhere and you chose here? You were thinking of me.”
“I, uh. . . .”
“Listen, Mary, you’re not hearing me,” Gladius said. “This stone only takes three, and we only have one stone left. We can’t take all of you, even if we wanted to.”
“Take Cindy then. Peter and I can find a way to make it there. Just give us a map, something we can follow and we’ll meet you there.”
Peter stood at the doorway, staring at his dead mother laying on the floor. “Holy hell, you got rid of her. Thank you so much. You know how hard it is to sleep with that thing in the same place as you?”
“Peter, I told you to watch Cindy.”
“Oh, Dad took her.”
“What? Where?”
“I saw him heading toward the pharmacy,” Peter said.
Mary jogged out of the room and pushed past her brother.
Hank rushed after her and glanced back to make sure Gladius was following him. “You think something is wrong?” he asked Mary.
“I sure hope not.”
They rushed past aisle thirty-two and made their way toward a large glass window with red lettering spelling out Pharmacy. Mary put her hand on the door and shook the handle. She paced near the glass, and then Cindy and Carl came into view. Cindy sat on the floor, playing with a coloring book and a doll. Carl held a gun and kept pacing behind her.
“Dad, open the door.”
Carl walked closer to the glass and pointed at Hank. “I refuse to let this man take my granddaughter.”
“He’s not just any man, Dad,” Mary said. “He’s her father.”
“He wasn’t ever supposed to come back, that was the deal.”
Mary turned to Hank. “Did you tell my dad that?”
Hank rubbed his chin. “I don’t know. We were living day to day back then. Still are.” He wondered if Carl posed any real threat to Cindy. Though, if Carl showed one sign that he might hurt his daughter, he saw several objects nearby to break down the glass and force entry.
“Did you want to come back to see me, or just a curiosity to see if . . . you know, what you did to me took hold? Did you ever think of me?” Mary asked.
“Maybe we should concentrate on Cindy,” Hank said.
“He’s not going to hurt her,” Mary said, putting her hands on her hips. “If anything, I’m more worried about my dad’s safety.”
Hank didn’t blink as he watched Carl pace. He kept shifting his hand on his gun and touching the trigger. “Is that gun loaded?”
“Yes, he went outside and got some supplies a few months back. Mainly, he wanted that gun. He sleeps with it.” Mary hit the glass. “Open this door.”
“No, he’s going to take her away from us,” Carl said. “I saw the way he looked at her.”
It wasn’t easy for Hank to hide his expression of urgency in wanting to get Cindy off this planet, but he didn’t want to break up a family either. First things first, he needed to get Cindy out of that room and contain Carl. If it weren’t for Carl’s kids looking on, he might have already subdued the man physically, but they had seen enough in their lives. Carl was right though, he was going to take Cindy, one way or another.
“Do you want to raise another kid in this place?” Hank asked. “Look around you.”
Carl’s pace slowed, but he kept moving and tapping his gun.
Hank continued, “If you let me take her, I can bring her somewhere safer. I can provide a home for her.”
“You speak as if you would just take Cindy. Why wouldn’t you take Mary or Peter?”
“I can’t. Not now, but I will come back and get them all, you as well, Carl. There is a place that doesn’t have the dead banging at your door.”
Gladius huffed, only loud enough for Hank to hear. But her words from earlier echoed in his head. Bringing them back to Earth wasn’t exactly safer, but he had faith in his friends, in Evelyn. They would find a way to stop the purge, just as they had found a way to stop all the other people who stood in their way.
“So we are just to accept your magical appearance here, and let you whisk our child away, without a real explanation of where you’re taking her?”
“Yes.”
“Then my answer is no. And I don’t care if there are a thousand dead things outside, I want you gone, now.”
“Daddy, no,” Mary said.
Carl lifted his gun and pointed it at Hank.
“Lower the gun, Carl.” Hank didn’t think the glass separating them would do much to slow the bullet. He pushed Gladius back and away from him.
“You can’t have her, I won’t let you.” Carl grinded his teeth in a snarl, then jerked his hand back in pain. His fingers extended and the gun fell to the floor. He looked back at Cindy as she stood behind him, holding out her hands, staring at him through the tops of her eyelashes. “What did you do?” he asked, and fell to his knees.
“I won’t let you hurt my dad,” Cindy said.
“No, tell me it isn’t true,” Hank said and moved to the glass. “I was hoping. . . .”
“She can do stuff when she gets mad,” Mary said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Hank asked.
“I didn’t want to scare you away.” She looked at the floor and swayed.
Hank watched as Carl fell to the floor in a fetal position. Cindy lowered her hands and Carl rolled onto his back.
“Just what we needed,” Gladius said. “One is trouble, two are dangerous, but if we get three of these near each other, it will be downright scary.”
“What are you talking about? Are there others like her?”
If Cindy was anything like Evelyn, she’d be considerably more powerful than just messing around with an old man. She would be controlling this entire place, and probably all the grinners outside as well. No, Hank knew Cindy was something different. Much older, but with only a smidgeon of the others’ powers. Hank’s real question was, what would Evelyn think of Cindy? Just one look at Will and she’d turned on him, saying he would end them all.
The extra complications added to an overtly complicated situation to begin with, and Hank second-guessed his decision to take her to his world. She might be safer here, away from Evelyn, and maybe even Will.
Hank shuddered at the idea of what Evelyn would be like when she reached the same age as Cindy. Maybe they could hide her from Evelyn? “There are two others. Remember Joey and Poly, and Julie and Lucas?”
“Yeah.”
“They had kids.”
“Cindy could have friends near her age? They would be like cousins.”
“Sort of.”
“I still want you to take her. Even if it means I won’t see my baby girl for a few days. Just tell me where you’re going.”
The pleading in her eyes tore at Hank’s heart. If he couldn’t bring them both, then should he even bring the one? Separating mother and daughter; it wasn’t right. And what if something terrible happened back on Earth? Either way, the odds weren’t in her favor.
Mary held her hands together, near her chest. Hank gazed at her and her youthful face. She didn’t have the innocent look he might see in most young women—he doubted anyone on Ryjack would have that look—but she did seem further away from his age than the last time they met. Shorte
r as well, if that was possible.
It didn’t much matter because what had happened, happened, and Cindy was the result of their encounter. He still couldn’t get over it. He had a daughter and she was standing a dozen feet away.
Ignoring the looks of Mary, he pushed at the locked door. The urge to get to his special little girl swelled up in him. Maybe the shock of it all had worn off and the true emotions were settling in. Whatever it was, he wanted to hold his daughter. He wanted to pick her up and see her smile.
The door opened and Cindy stood there, looking up. “I didn’t hurt him too bad. He might have a headache and a sore wrist.”
He swooped her off the floor and held her high above him. Her hair dangled down her face, as she giggled at the activity. It felt stupid to have so much love for someone he’d only met a few minutes earlier, but there it was.
“I’m getting you out of here. Would you like that?” Hank asked.
Cindy looked perplexed and Hank set her back down. “Mom, are we leaving?”
Mary knelt down to Cindy. “I’m going to be right behind you, but your daddy is going to take you away first. I promise, I’ll be coming for you as soon as I can.” Cindy’s eyes watered and Mary brushed back her daughter’s hair. “Don’t cry. I’ll see you again, real soon.”
“Oh, for the love of God, I can’t take this,” Gladius spoke up from the hallway. “Hank, you take your family to the stone. I’m not sure how you’re going to explain to them that we travel between worlds, but go for it. I’ll find my own way and meet up with you. I have a bajillion times better chance of making it than Mary. No offense.”
Hank paused and wished he hadn’t. It gave Gladius the idea he might contemplate leaving her behind. He looked over to Carl as he still lay on the ground. If Cindy could do that to her grandfather, what might she do to someone whom she didn’t like? “I’m not leaving you.”
There wasn’t any question in his statement, but Gladius took it as if there was room in it.
She jumped on his response like a coiled spring. “Why not? You don’t think I can take care of myself? Or do you think I might be jealous of this whole insta-family thing you got going on here?”
“I never said—”
“I’m perfectly fine with this magical appearance of your family. No problems at all.”
“Gladius, please. I’m not going to leave you here.”
“Then what will you do? Send little Miss here across the grinner infested earth to try and reach the stone, which she will have no idea how to work, and it wouldn’t matter if she did because it wouldn’t work for her?”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. You think she’s been tinkered with? Her daughter, maybe, but her, no. You send her out there and it’s a death sentence. The only path that makes sense here, is for you to take the mother and daughter, and I’ll make my own way.”
Hank rubbed his chin, feeling a day’s growth on it. The fact she was mad at him, made his gut hurt. The idea of leaving behind his daughter seemed as impossible as leaving Gladius behind. “Mary, I swear, as soon as I can, I will come back and get you, and your brother, and dad as well.” Mary opened her mouth and raised her finger, but Hank rushed over her with words. “There isn’t any other way to do this. And this way, we can get Cindy to a place of safety.”
Gladius cleared her throat and looked at the floor.
“He’s not lying, Mom,” Cindy said. “The best option right now is for them to take me and for you to stay here until we can get back.” She reached her hand up and grasped Hank’s.
Carl groaned and rolled onto his side.
“We should leave now. He won’t be pleasant soon,” Cindy said.
Mary rushed over to her and grabbed her in a big hug, tears falling from her eyes. She turned her gaze to Hank. “You swear on her life, you’ll come back for us?”
“As long as I am alive, I will find a way back here,” Hank said, and knew he would find a way, even if it meant getting them all out through the wasteland of Ryjack.
“Mom, I’ll be fine. He’s going to protect me now. We can stop worrying,” Cindy said.
Mary smiled and wiped her wet face.
Gladius approached with the stone sack in her hand. “We ready?”
“Yes,” Hank said.
“You better concentrate on the location this time.”
Hank nodded and they formed a hand triangle with Cindy. Hank caught Mary’s eyes as he felt the stone hit his hand. For her, he concentrated on getting them home. If they still had a home to get to, that was.
EVELYN’S FACE BOUNCED OFF THE carpet. Her body jostled around. She opened her eyes and quickly assessed her situation. Carpet floors, rattling noises, tires moving over a road. She was in a trunk of a car, and worse yet, someone was blocking her abilities. She tried to move, but her arms were restrained behind her back and tied to her feet.
The car bounced again and her head struck the steel underside of the trunk. The car engine roared, and she felt the momentum of driving forward with great acceleration. She’d pay attention to any turns and road conditions from then on. The car veered to the right and the drone of tires on pavement turned into the crunchy sound of tires on dirt.
Over the next twenty minutes, Evelyn pulled and tugged at the restraints, resulting only in cutting her skin on the cuffs.
The car stopped, then shook, as the car door slammed shut. Shoes shuffled across the hard packed dirt. Evelyn made one last effort to get loose, but failed. She resorted to playing dead, and closed her eyes.
The trunk lifted open and the bright sun flooded in. She felt the heat on her skin and the light shone through her eyelids. She stayed as still as a corpse. A hand touched her and shook her, but she played out the ruse.
Two hands moved to her back. She listened as the restraints loosened and the person pulled her from the trunk. She struggled with the urge to slip time and ruin these kidnappers, but the blackout person was still around. She’d have to bide her time and search them out in the darkness.
Where are Travis and Jackie?
“I know you’re awake,” a man said and she recognized his voice from the diner. “You can stop pretending, it won’t matter. We’ll block you out until you’re delivered to her.”
At least now she knew her destination, her captor, and one or more blockers.
She opened her eyes to see the cop holding her like a baby. She couldn’t use her demure size to fool this man, but everyone had their weaknesses. With her hands still tied behind her back, she wiggled her wrists, trying to find a way out of them.
“There’s those pretty eyes.”
“Why have we stopped?” She gazed at the desert beyond.
“This is the final destination for you and your friend.”
“Where is he?”
“Still unconscious in the back of the car. Apparently, you have a resistance to stones he doesn’t share. You are the most interesting little girl I’ve ever encountered.” His black shirt felt rough against her face and the stiff buttons poked against her arm. Two pin holes sat on his breast pocket, probably where his name badge would normally sit.
“What did you do with Jackie?”
“The blonde? She’s on a no touch list. Probably back to her plotting and scheming. God I hate those kids.”
She frowned and looked up at the man. He had one of those faces that’d seen too much sun. His brown hair held tufts of gray, though the man didn’t look much older than his late thirties.
The person blocking her must be in the car. Controlling her breathing, she closed her eyes and went into the world between worlds. The place she last found her blocker. Then it winked out and she snapped back into reality.
“We saw what you did to the last girl. There are precautions in place this time. We don’t want to lose our precious cargo. The only drawback is portal stones don’t work, so we’ve got to do this the old fashioned way.”
In the heat, her wrist sweated and she continued to work on her restr
aints. Just a bit further and she might be able to dislocate her thumb. “You won’t make it out of this alive,” she warned.
He laughed. “None of us will. We all die.”
“She won’t though, will she?” Her thumb caught up on the edge of the handcuff, and she pushed it inward, trying not to show any pain or strain in her face.
“May she live forever,” he said and looked to the sky.
Evelyn pushed until she felt her socket pop. Then she yanked her hand out of the cuff. The cop still looked to the sky as Evelyn straightened and stiffened her finger and sent it into the man’s neck. She felt the esophagus and pushed her finger through, collapsing the man’s windpipe. His warm blood poured over her hand and trailed down her arm, but she kept digging and squeezing, until he dropped her to the ground.
The warm sun shone brightly on the cop as he stumbled backward and tripped over a rock. He grabbed at his neck, gurgling and spurting blood down the front of his shirt. Falling to his side, he stopped moving.
The gross feeling of another person’s blood on her skin made her feel the need for a thorough wash down. A gust of wind swept up some dirt and sand, collecting on her sticky hand. She reached down and wiped it as best she could on the bottom of the cop’s black, pleated slacks. A gun stuck out from just above his shoe and she pulled it out of its sheath. A small revolver of some sort, maybe a .38, with the bullets in it.
Walking toward the car, a young girl’s head popped up from the front seat—maybe fourteen. Then Evelyn spotted the same girl in different clothing pop up and stare at her.
Twins.
Evelyn sighed and remembered the twins back on Earth, and at the queen’s house. She’d handled them, and surely she could handle another set of twins. They must have held some kind of extra power. Maybe they could join forces and create a super stone-making person. The thought of it made Evelyn laugh. If they had any chance against her, they should have taken it while she lay unconscious in the trunk.
If Travis wasn’t in the backseat, she might be tempted to blow holes through the car, or light the whole thing on fire. But she needed two things: to get rid of these twin girls, and to make sure she had a way out of the desert without walking what might be a hundred miles.