by F. Habib
*
‘At last. You have to help me!’ Her voice was hoarse. She grabbed the water, took a gulp and passed it to him.
‘I...help you?’ Galen pushed some calm towards her and it eased his nausea. She strode to him and easily pulled him up onto his shaky legs.
‘We have to get to mother,’ she looked at the camera and then the door.
‘Rana, I don't understand. Why are you…big and…afraid?
‘Later – let’s move. We have far to go and they’ve seen me alight.’
‘Why don't you vanish us the way you came? We could be with mum in a second.’
‘That is not my gift.’ She scowled at him then the camera.
He wanted to argue but before he could speak the door ripped from its hinges and Rana stepped out into the corridor, pulling Galen behind her.
The guards in full sprint, pistols drawn, skidded to a clashing halt at the sight of the woman in white. She stared at them and walked past the first, whose mouth hung open. The second lifted his gun, but it jumped from his hand and both men flew back hard against wall as though pushed by an invisible giant.
Rana hadn’t lifted a finger. Instead she moved down the corridor at an easy lope that carried them fast towards the bright cavern. He looked at the walls flying past and wondered at her strength, then realised his arm, where she held on, wasn’t hurting. Gravity should be pulling his arm out of its socket.
They burst into the cacophonous cave where a vast machine chewed at the rock face. Maybe the place was a mine?
Armed men appeared from every direction, but only a few took aim. Most stared at them and Galen realised they weren’t afraid of Rana, they were amazed at her. He stepped away to see what they saw.
The fierce lighting shimmered on her ghostly skin. The length of her hair, twisted high around her head, still flowed down her back, drawing an eerie halo into a cloak of light. That she was alien, a strange angel not of this world was crystal clear for all to see.
Then he came. He simply stepped from the air like a doorway. James frowned at his uninvited guest. He didn’t appear as impressed as his men.
‘Who are you?’
‘I am Rana. Prepare to journey to a new place.’ Her tone was conversational.
‘Think you can catch me?’ James snorted and glanced at Galen.
‘I think you should let us leave now,’ Galen said. He lifted his palm, hoping enough strength had returned.
James laughed and vanished. A split second later he was behind Galen. His hand nearly latched on when a bolt of electricity jumped from the machinery and hit it. He disappeared with a howl. Galen screamed and clutched his scorched nape and shoulders. His shirt was burned away, blisters bubbling then shrinking as he healed. The stone eater had stopped its feast, cables fried by the theft of its power. The silence was complete. Then the clatter of falling weapons and running feet echoed around the cave like bats at dusk.
Rana looked towards the high ceiling.
‘Where’s the exit?’ Galen said. His teeth chattered from the fear ripping through the men.
‘There isn’t one.’
‘But how did all these men…he teleported all this stuff in here?’ Galen gaped, eyeing the enormous machine. She pulled him towards the nearest wall.
‘Where are we?’
She paused, looking at the men about her.
‘Chihuahua.’ She pulled Galen onto her back.
‘What are you doing and isn’t that a breed of dog?’
‘We’re in Mexico.’
There was a loud crack at the far end of the cave. It pushed the men towards them like backwash. Unaffected by his weight, she crouched and started to run towards them. Her approach cut a broad swathe through the crowd with nowhere to go. But James was in their path, arms wide. Galen yelled but it was too late, too close.
Then they were flying, high over the terrified shouts and pointed fingertips. They landed softly at the wide fissure rent open by the blast. Galen gasped as his stomach sank back to its normal state. He twisted to look for James but there were too many people, he couldn’t feel his DNA. He’d disappeared again. He could grab them any second.
‘Go!’ he yelled. The boom of splitting rock echoed ahead and she leaped into the dusty dark. He yelped when she jinked left and right, up and down every few seconds. He clung to her limpet-like and hoped she knew where she was going. Then they were out. He knew it because fading starlight and fresh air now marked the darkness.
She paused.
Galen tried to climb down, but she held him in place.
‘We cannot stop. He will track us. We have to move and to keep him moving. He will lose us eventually. I hope the others are moving. You were not prisoner long, were you?’
‘No, not even an hour. Why are you so different?’
‘I have been gone a long time.’
‘I can see that. Fifteen years at least.’
She stared at him as though trying to understand his words. Her mouth tightened, and she looked up at the stars.
‘No brother, I have passed through many places since I left here,’ her violet eyes glistened, ‘most have no time…one has eons.’ A tear slipped onto her cheek, his eyes sprang his own in sympathy. ‘I thought I would never escape it,’ she whispered.
He rested his head against hers.
‘Thank you for coming for me.’
‘I came for more than you.’
Her fear shot through him and she pressed her fingers to her head. Despair flashed across her face. He was sure he'd vomit.
‘What's wrong? Why are you so scared?’
‘I am the last. Alamgir is coming and I am the last!’ Her fear spiked again and he leaned over to retch. Her panic was choking him. He pushed serenity on her.
‘Calm down, please. This can't help. We need mum. Can you fly?’
‘No. Not far enough or fast enough. The rules here are stiff, bend them the wrong way and they break. That would not be good.’ She was still for a few more seconds.
‘We need them to find us.’ She turned towards the steep barren slope and faced the dawn horizon. She crouched once again and leaped into the void.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Beth’s face was pressed into the pillow. She’d have to breathe soon but needed just another moment of privacy. Every second tightened the rack a little more. She couldn’t believe it had only been 342 minutes since Rana’s vanishing act.
She turned her head to suck in a breath. Sunshine coloured her lids bright orange. She could sense his eyes on her though he continued his quiet conversation on the phone. Every resource at his disposal was being squeezed for information but he hadn’t left her side for a moment. She was grateful for that. She wanted to show him that she could be strong without Galen to prop her up - his presence forced her to hold it together.
A scream from the lower deck yanked her eyes open and she was on her feet. Footsteps clattered up the stairway and Kade tripped, swore and clambered onto the deck.
‘She's back!’ His eyes shone but his mouth wobbled as though waking from a nightmare that he wasn’t sure was over.
Khoen pushed past him ahead of Beth’s sprint for the stairs.
‘No. Not here. Look!’ He followed them down and pointed to the TV. ‘I was watching the fallout from the sinkhole and it cut to this. Apparently, it happened nearly an hour ago.’
A shaky shot focused on a small white figure seated on the top corner of a skyscraper. The figure stood and glowing white hair flowed from her like a flag. Beth gasped as her heart punched her ribs. Mimi slipped an arm around her.
‘Brace yourself honey B. There’s more.’
She couldn’t take it in and clutched Mimi’s arm.
‘Can that be her? How…she's a woman.’
‘Oh it's her, watch this.’ Kade turned back to the monitor.
‘Oh my God is she gonna jump off of there? Somebody help her!’ A voice squealed loud from the screen. Arms raised, the figure stepped off the building. Screams
tore through the speakers as she dropped, feet-first, past shimmering glass windows. Then inexplicably she began to slow, landing with a heavy but controlled impact. She stood and walked away around the corner of the building, brushing past gawping witnesses.
The anchor-man’s voice shook.
‘The fallen angel is what they’re calling her. You’re watching footage we got in about 35 minutes ago from Wichita, Kansas, of a woman dressed as an angel jumping off the Epic Centre and seeming to do the impossible. We are assured the recording is not a hoax, though no one can yet explain who she is, how or why she did this. We go live now to Jenny Sherman from KMBC news outside the Epic Centre for the latest update. Good afternoon Jennifer, what's going on down there?’
The screen went blank for a long moment and buzz filled the room. Then a woman appeared with her hand to her ear as she straightened her collar. Behind her a parking lot teemed with loiterers. She looked into the camera.
‘Thanks JP. We really don't know who this woman was but the police have shut down the area around the building and are searching for her. Numerous witnesses say she just walked away from this reckless stunt. She’s described as not just wearing white, but having silver hair and skin and one witness says she had purple eyes. This whole thing’s caught the down-to-earth folks here in Wichita on the hop this afternoon. No one quite knows what to believe with most dismissing the incident as some sort of elaborate joke. I have with me Nate Grant, who you can see in the clip is one of the first-hand witnesses to the event. Nate, please tell us exactly what you saw.’ A young man in a tracksuit came into shot.
‘Hi Jen. Man, this was the craziest thing I ever saw. I was running out the park, over by the parking lot when I heard some folks hollering and pointing. Then I saw her just sitting there and I guessed she was a jumper, but couldn't figure how she got up there. I wondered when the cops were gonna show and she just, nice as you like, jumped right off. Well, she didn't even jump - she just kinda...stepped down.’
‘You were close to where she landed. What did you see?’
‘Erm...well, she just landed like she'd hopped off a ladder or something. It was heavy though and looked like the concrete cracked a little. It was pretty cool. She just stood up and turned towards us. She was amazing – she’s definitely an alien, man. Kinda scary though. She didn't look at me directly, thank God, but she was bad-ass. And when she came by,’ he hesitated, ‘she was kinda hot.’
Jenny raised her eyebrows at him. He looked sheepish.
‘I mean actually hot, like an oven or something - that was definitely weird.’
‘Sounds like she put on quite a show, can you make a guess at what she was trying to do? A publicity stunt? If she wanted attention, wouldn't she have stuck around some?’
‘All I know is, it was real…this wasn’t no special effects and I think we're all in big-ass trouble, dontcha think?’
‘Well, I'm sure if anyone's in trouble it'll be the young woman. Thank you for your time, Nate.’
Jenny looked back at the camera with a shrug. ‘So, as you can see, the mystery deepens here in downtown Wichita, JP, and unless the officers can locate the culprit....’ she paused and pressed her hand to her ear, ‘we’re hearing that one witness claims she wasn't alone…an accomplice was seen. There is a new report about a boy; a teenager who she left with, though there doesn't seem to be any boy in the footage.’
Khoen caught Beth just in time. She was on her knees, gaze glued to the TV.
Jenny snatched a piece of paper from off-screen. ‘He’s described as a slim build Caucasian with brown hair, a green polo-shirt and blue jeans. They’re thought to have left together and it says here the boy seemed ill or weak in some way. That's all my information for the moment, but -’ Jenny twisted to watch the arrival of military vehicles in the parking lot.
‘How could he be ill?’ Beth’s whisper went unheard.
‘It looks like this story is just hotting up, JP. I see the army has arrived.’ Jenny’s grin was too big for her face. Soldiers began to dismount and clear the area. One door opened and a familiar figure stepped out.
Mimi and Kade yelled.
Decker strode straight to the landing spot cordoned off by police tape, gazed up at the tower and bent to rub a hand over the floor. He straightened and his sharp look caught the press line. He spoke into a radio and a group of soldiers moved towards the cameras, unceremoniously shut them down.
The screen filled with a wide-eyed JP.
‘Well, it looks like the military don’t think this is a hoax.’ He shuffled some papers. ‘We’ll have Jenny back on air as soon as possible for you; you won’t miss any development in this breaking story here on KMBC news. Let’s review the footage now of the jump and I have with me psychiatrist Dr. Stewart Holmes, a specialist in suicidology – ‘
‘Why didn’t she just come here?’ Kade said
‘Maybe she found him in Kansas and…I don’t know why she’s done this, but there must be a good reason.’ Beth closed her eyes and thanked Rana with every fibre of her being for keeping her promise. She wasn’t going to doubt her again. She was going to have faith in her family and herself. She would give whatever was asked for this miracle. She had no doubt a price would have to be paid.
She leapt to her feet.
‘We have to leave immediately. How long will it take us to get there?’
‘I can have a chopper here in fifteen minutes,’ Khoen lifted his phone, ‘a Falcon 900 is on standby at Tampa already so we can be on the ground in Wichita in…under four hours.’
Everyone scrambled. The game was back on.
*
Wichita, Kansas
‘Can we call Decker?’ Mimi eyed the dam of security holding back the crowd.
‘I tried that, no answer.’ Beth said. Khoen opened the car door and they all piled out. The press line had morphed from a few camera crews to a multi-lensed monster bristling with stepladders and abuse.
‘What the hell?’ Beth frowned at the mayhem. The press pack was a still pond compared to the loud factions waving misspelled banners at each other. There were crucifixes and UFOs, preachers and what looked like hundreds of teenagers. Had something else happened or had the army just legitimised Rana’s exploits?
‘We’re never going to fight our way through that mob,’ Mimi said.
‘We won’t have to.’ Khoen scanned the buildings nearby. Was he looking for Rana? His gaze locked on the lone skyscraper and its car park 300 meters away. He leapt onto the roof of their vehicle. Shouts broke out as the cars beyond the barrier began to lift off the ground and stack, one on top of the other. Most people fled in the opposite direction as the rumble of a thousand screams washed over the crowd. Beth scrambled up next to Khoen. Mimi and Kade slipped beneath their car to avoid the crush.
Ten cars high, the pile swayed and the soldiers surrounding it widened their circle. Khoen tilted his head and held his palms together. He clapped lightly and the stack straightened. He pursed his lips as he contemplated the structure.
‘It is ugly,’ he sighed and jumped down. He looked up and offered Beth his hand. She rolled her eyes.
‘Was that really necessary? I don’t think Decker’s going to appreciate your skills.’
They helped Kade and Mimi up.
‘Skills? You’re a damned kid, Maestro. Look at my sweater!’ Mimi dusted the soft material in vain.
‘Come on!’ Kade was halfway to the barriers. Only a few reporters were still on their feet, babbling into their cameras. The initial clamber for cover was reversing as the bravest scurried forward to see the new object of interest.
They caught up with Kade at the makeshift gate in the barricade. Decker was standing by the stack, fury radiated from his stiff form.
‘Hey, hotcakes!’ Mimi yelled over the machine guns that swung at their approach.
He spun and glared.
‘You did this?’ he jabbed a finger at Khoen as he waved them through.
‘Yes.’ Khoen strode straight pa
st him to the Operations tent. Mimi shrugged and clapped him on the back, ‘You got here pretty fast, buddy. Any sign of her?’
‘Not so far, though I guess your idiotic arrival stunt might draw her out. It is her, isn’t it? How’s she an adult and why the hell is she doing this? Going public is really not helpful. The mess she made in Tampa was just about manageable, but this shit…there’s going to be hell to pay. Everybody take five.’ He yelled over the soldiers busy on laptops and phones. They froze and stared at him.
‘Dismissed.’
The staff hurried out.
‘Spot report.’ He snapped at Mimi. She raised her brows and opened her mouth, but Beth intervened.
‘She disappeared. She said the only way to find Galen was to cross over, we presume to some other dimension, and then to return to his location. That happened at dawn this morning. The change in her is as much a shock to us as to you. Right now we need to locate her. There was a report that she was with a teenager which must be Galen, but it said he was ill.’
Decker frowned. ‘How can the kid be ill? He’s the healer.’
Beth straightened her spine as much as possible, that way she was less likely to fling herself to the floor like she wanted to.
‘We don’t know that he’s really ill until we find him.’ She swallowed back fresh palpitations.
Decker’s radio crackled for his attention.
‘Say again?’
‘I say again, another target has arrived. Permission to enter requested, over.’
‘Standby.’ Decker lowered his radio with a frown and went to the doorway.
‘You’re shitting me.’ He signalled his permission to the gate.
The others rushed to see. Beth gasped and sprang forward.
Perun caught her easily and held her tight. She buried her face in his shoulder; relief that he was there to help Galen pulled sobs from her. Why did these men undo her resolve to be independent, dammit? She stepped back and hit him with all the strength she could muster.
‘Where the hell have you been, you bastard? Do you have any idea how much we’ve needed you? You were supposed to be there, waiting for us when we got out!’