by R. A. Rock
“I’m not a girl,” she said, sounding insulted as she glanced down at her stomach. “It’s just special effects anyway. Don’t worry about it.”
She turned around and hit me on the other side with a spinning roundhouse kick. I stumbled, my vision going blurry.
“Fuck. Cut it out.”
“I’ll cut it out when you promise to play your part right,” she said, sending a volley of lightning fast punches into my abdomen and solar plexus. As I dropped my hands to block her, she hit me with a jab/punch combo that had my head rocking back and I wondered if it was still attached to my body.
God damn it but the woman was tough. I had always liked that about her. Except when she was kicking my ass.
I needed to wake her up. I needed something to snap her out of this.
I needed a pattern-interrupt.
I smiled to myself.
And I knew the perfect thing.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAD
I ignored the battle raging around us in Yumi’s subconscious mind. It was all just one of her memories. My attention was on the furious woman that was attacking me.
As she started to hit me again, I crouched to avoid the punch and dropped to one knee. I spread my arms and began to sing a song called Bitch. It was her favourite song in the world. It was from the early 2000s. Yumi liked classical music. She had no use for pop.
She paused her kick and pulled it back at the last minute.
She listened to me singing for the entire song and when I finished and made as if to start all over, she stopped me.
“Why are you singing that?” she seemed genuinely confused.
“You like it?”
She nodded.
“It’s my favourite. It’s about how the woman just is who she is. She doesn’t apologize for the parts of her that people don’t like. And the guy she’s with. He doesn’t want her to hide those parts or change them. He just loves her. All of her.”
“I know.” I said.
“What are you saying, Red?”
“I know I made what you consider the wrong decision, Yumi when I saved you at the expense of her life.” I shook my head, spreading my arms, palms upright. “I’m not perfect. Just like she’s not perfect. And maybe I did make the wrong decision. Maybe I should have let you die. I don’t know. Maybe that’s what you would have preferred I did.”
She was staring at me in consternation, her brow furrowed, her eyes troubled.
“I didn’t want you to let me die,” she said. “I just didn’t want to lose her.”
“It was one or the other, Yumi,” I said, feeling sick to my stomach as I remembered what it had felt like to make that decision. “I couldn’t save you both.”
“What’s your point, Red?”
“My point is, Yumi, that you feel like you abandoned her, like you could have saved her… but you couldn’t. And I couldn’t either. And it was neither of our fault. Trying to change the ending in your mind isn’t going to bring her back.”
Yumi’s beautiful eyes filled with tears.
“And there are people who you really are abandoning right now. People who need you. We can’t get Zoe back without you, Tanaka. And if you stay in here forever, you are going to die.”
“Fucking hell, Red,” she said. “Why do you always have to ruin everything? I was getting really comfortable in here.”
A moment later, the whole world blew up.
***
Oh man, this bed was so soft.
And there was a warm female body curled up next to me. We were spooning and I had my arm around her, pulling her tight against me. I felt really good. Better than I had in a long, long time. I opened my eyes and tried to figure out where I was.
After a few seconds of staring I realized that it was Yumi I was holding and we were in her bed in her private mind. Apparently she realized it at exactly the same time. We both jumped up and off the bed. I ended up at the foot. She backed up so far away from me that she hit the wall.
“What the hell, Red?” she said, then shook her head as if to clear it. “I mean, Chad. What are you doing in my private mind. In my bed?”
“It’s your mind, Yumi. I didn’t bring us here,” I pointed out. “I had to come get you out of your subconscious mind. If I hadn’t, you would have eventually died.”
“Oh shit. I remember now. Did it involve oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and the worst moment of our lives being played on repeat?”
“That’s right.” I said. “You should come back to your body now. Who knows what’s going on out there. I don’t know how long I’ve been in here.”
“Sounds like a long story,” she said. “For another time.”
“Yeah, that’s probably best.”
She started to close her eyes and then suddenly opened them again.
“Red?”
I swallowed hard. She was calling me my old nickname on purpose this time.
“Yeah.”
“Thanks. I owe you. Again.”
I sighed.
“Can you just stop almost dying, Yumi?” I said, feeling weary. “I think that would about cover it.”
“I’ll try,” she said, with a little smile. “But you know how I am.”
Yeah. I knew.
CHAPTER FORTY
YUMI
I opened my eyes and immediately regretted it. It was still night, but the light from the nearby fire made my eyes ache. And that wasn’t the only thing that hurt.
When I lifted my arm, I saw it had been set. But there were no pain killers in the middle of the forest and my entire arm was screaming in agony. I could feel my ankle had been bound, too, and in spite of this it had some pretty good throbbing going on, too.
I checked the arm with the cut, forgetting that it had been healed when the four of us had joined minds. All that was left there was a long red scar.
When I looked around I saw that the three of them sat in a bit of a circle. Grace was to my immediate left and Shiv and Audrey sat across from me. Matt’s group was gathered around the fire a few feet away.
“Oh Yumi, thank God,” Gracie said and I could tell she wanted to hug me but didn’t dare. I tried to sit up and from behind me, strong arms lifted me. I twisted my head around to see who it was and the badass red headed guy gave me a half smile. Figured.
I opened my arms so Gracie could give me the squeeze I knew she needed. And if I’m being honest, it might have made me feel a little better, too.
“We were so worried,” Grace whispered in my ear then pulled back so she could meet my eye. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Yumi.”
“Really, Gracie?”
“Really, Yumi.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I changed the subject.
“What’s going on?” I said to everyone. “What’d I miss?”
“Well, we were brainstorming how to get Zoe, Cynthia, and Penny back from Brett but nobody’s come up with anything that would actually work,” Audrey said. “It’s been pretty depressing and you just lying there like you were never coming back.”
She swallowed hard.
“I’m sorry, everyone,” I said, feeling ashamed. “I was hiding. It was cowardly of me.”
“No, Yumi. You’re never a coward. Just don’t leave us, okay? Promise?” Grace said.
“I promise, Grace.”
She beamed at me.
“Great,” Grace said. “Now what the hell are we going to do? We’re running out of time.”
“Speaking of time,” Shiv said, holding up the time travel devices. “There’s something going on with the bracelets.”
“What’s going on with the bracelets?” Chad said, his voice coming from behind me. His back warm and strong, holding me up so I didn’t keel over.
Audrey’s eyebrows flew up.
“So we only have fifteen hours now?” she said, echoing the dismay we were all feeling.
“More like fourteen,” Shiv said, apologetically.
“Oh boy,�
�� Grace said.
“There’s news,” Matt said. “The scouts have found Mom, Zoe, and Penny. They’re keeping them all in the abandoned trapper’s cabin. There’s about thirty guards.”
“Well, that should easy enough to break in and get them out,” I said, smiling at Matt’s bewildered expression. “But we have to stop Hadley. He’s a fucking demon and we’ll never get them if he’s free.”
“I agree. We’ll need to take him out of the equation as soon as possible,” Chad said, his deep voice vibrating against my back. “Are we using the original plan then?”
“My scream disabling all the guards?” I said. “That plan?”
“That’s the one,” Chad said. “You nearly melted all our brains earlier, so with a little control you ought to be able to knock all those people out. As long as they don’t have a natural mental shield.”
“Oh, about that,” I said. “Hadley has one. So we can’t take him out that way.”
“Ah,” Chad said. “Did I mention that Gracie doesn’t have her kinetic powers back?”
“Great,” I said. “Sounds like impossible odds. My favourite kind.”
“Mine too,” he said, and his hand came around and I high-fived him.
The most kick ass partners ever were back.
And we were going to kick Brett’s ass all the way to Ontario.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAD
The night was still dark. But not for long. Soon, the sun would be rising and once it was light, we would have very little chance of surprising them.
I picked up the pace as we approached the abandoned trapper’s cabin where they were keeping Cynthia, Zoe, and Penny. There were cabins like this all over the northern Manitoba forest — leftover from a time when people had thought it a good idea to trap animals for their furs.
Yumi limped beside me, gun in her good hand. I hoped she wouldn’t be a liability. But even with a broken arm and twisted ankle, Yumi was way scarier than any of the people we would be facing. Plus there was her mental shout. We couldn’t do it without her. There were simply too many of them, with too many guns. And we didn’t have the time to go about this the long way.
“Are we close enough?” I sent.
“I think so,” Yumi sent back.
I put out a quick broadcast telling everyone to shield their minds. It was a good thing that Ernest was with Shiv and Gracie when Yumi screamed the first time. They were able to shield him from the brunt of it. He’d been out of it for a good half an hour, though, till he recovered.
“Ready?” Yumi sent.
I checked with everyone and then nodded.
“Shields are up. Do your worst, Tanaka. Well, not actually your worst. Just about a quarter of your worst…”
“Okay Red, shut up and let me scream.”
I grinned, making sure that my shield was firmly in place. I would get the worst of it being right beside her if I didn’t protect myself. Yumi was targeting them out one by one, in an attempt to only knock out the people that we wanted knocked out.
She closed her eyes and the guard that was standing about twenty feet from us dropped to the ground. She opened her eyes and started limping forward. We watched as the guards around the derelict cabin fell to the ground, unconscious.
Soon we were alone in front of the cabin with thirty guards out cold on the ground around us. I sent to the others that it was safe to come forward.
“Okay,” Yumi said. “Phase one accomplished.”
Shiv, Grace, Audrey, Ernest, Matt, and Nessa materialized behind us, their faces serious. Their hands full of weapons.
“Alright guys, let’s do this,” I said. “Yumi, you stay near the door.”
She got an annoyed expression on her face but only gave a sharp nod. We moved to the front door, the only way out of the cabin other than a couple windows and got into position.
I checked that everyone was ready and then kicked in the door. The ancient wood broke easily and we burst into the room. The Cynthia and Zoe were alone.
What was going on? Where was Penny?
I heard Nessa make a desperate sound.
“Get her out,” I said to Audrey. And she moved to Cynthia. Ernest already had his arms around Zoe.
I glanced back at Yumi, who stood leaning against the doorframe. She had sweat on her face and appeared to be about to pass out. Great.
“Why don’t you sit down, tough girl?”
She shook her head and a drop of sweat rolled off her nose and onto the floor.
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to get back up. Just find Penny, badass.”
“Ernest, why don’t you get Zoe out of here?” I said. “We’ll find Penny.”
Ernest responded by moving towards the door.
There was a click of a shotgun trigger being pulled back.
“I don’t think my wife will be going anywhere,” Brett’s smarmy voice came from the loft. “Especially not with an Indian.”
We all looked up.
There he was. Penny was tied to a chair and the chair was pushed right up to a part of the railing that had a gaping hole. One nudge of his foot and she would fall. And he had a shotgun aimed at Zoe or Ernest. Who knew? They were holding on to each other for dear life.
What a fucker. Who puts a child at risk like that?
He had to go down.
The little girl looked so scared that my heart nearly broke. And I swore to myself in that moment that if I ever had a daughter, I would protect her from all this madness that seemed to be my life. I would let her have the most ordinary and boring of existences, so she never had to look like that little girl up there.
“Oh, are we all dismayed at this turn of events?” he said, pretending concern. “One flick of my admittedly trigger happy finger and the Indian boy dies. One tap of my foot and the little girl falls to her death as well. Oh dear. What will the heroes do now?”
“How about I melt your brain?” I heard Yumi think at Brett.
“No, Yumi. Much as I would love to see his brains leak out his ears. Doing that would almost definitely produce involuntary muscle movement, which would cause him to shoot Ernest and knock Penny over the edge.”
“Shit, you’re right. What do we do?”
The four of us stared at each other.
What could we do?
Any movement at all would cause him to pull the trigger and kick the chair, either by accident or on purpose.
This was a no win situation with no way out.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAD
I inhaled the stale air of the trapper’s cabin and caught a whiff of unwashed human — that was probably Brett. I found my senses sharpening as the danger increased. It must be almost dawn. Surely sometime this night would need to end. I only hoped the coming day would bring a safe ending to this conflict.
“Let’s just stay calm, okay?” Ernest said, not sounding the least bit calm.
“Why don’t you put down the gun and we’ll talk,” I suggested in my most relaxing voice.
“Put down the gun? Put down the gun?” Brett said, in irritation and confusion. “Who are you anyway? And what are you doing here? This isn’t your fight.”
“You made it my fight when you took me and my friends prisoner. Now, why don’t you put down the gun and step back. We can talk about a mutually beneficial conclusion to this business.”
Talking was my forte and I would use it to my advantage.
“How mutually beneficial?” He seemed intrigued.
“You want Zoe, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And we want Penny. It’s a simple trade.”
“Chad!” Ernest said, his face bright red with fury. Zoe looked pissed. Like she was tired of being treated like a piece of chattel.
Yumi looked at me curiously. She knew me well enough to know I wasn’t abandoning Zoe.
Brett appeared to be considering it for a moment, but then he frowned.
“No, that’s not all I want. I want to make Matt an
d Nessa suffer the way I have. There’s no better way than by taking away their daughter.”
I laughed out loud and everyone frowned at me.
“Are you kidding? Taking away their daughter? That’s not making them suffer. That’s doing them a favour. Have you ever taken care of a kid? They’re brats every last one of them.”
“Hm. That’s true.” An annoyed expression appeared on his face, which must have once been handsome-ish but was now scarred all down one side. “She’s been nothing but trouble since we got her. Crying and screaming.”
Nessa made what sounded like a growl and I hoped she would keep cool until I could get this situation under control.
“Now, don’t you think them wondering about their closest friend would be much better punishment?” I said. “Especially having them wonder what you’re doing to her, right?”
I waggled my eyebrows at him and gave him a smile that implied all the terrible, dirty things he would do to Zoe.
“Chad, I swear to God…” Ernest said. He looked like he was going to burst a vein, he was so furious. Then all of a sudden, he calmed down. He still seemed upset but not like he would explode at any second. Someone must have explained to him telepathically.
Brett’s attention was momentarily distracted from me and he looked at Ernest, then to Matt and Nessa who looked just as angry and helpless.
“Hm. Maybe it is a good idea. I don’t need any more trouble with this brat.” He moved his leg a little and Nessa gasped.
“Gracie, have you got any kinetic juice yet?” I sent. “Even the tiniest bit?”
There was mental silence and then she responded.
“I do!” Her mental voice was excited. “I think I could move something about three inches.”
Three inches? Well, it would have to do.
“Okay, stand by to knock Brett back as far as you can.”
“Ready when you are.”
“I know you’re looking forward to marrying her and sowing your seed over and over,” I said to keep him talking while I set up, mentally. “She’s hot. You’re a lucky guy.”