by Jason Brant
He reeked of sweat and piss and blood.
Not to mention the fact that he was stark naked.
“What did they do to him?” she asked.
“I can’t imagine,” Lloyd said loud enough for her to hear. He undid his belt and pulled it through the loops around his waist. Hooking it under Benson’s arm, he pulled it tight over the wound.
Huxx guarded the door, watching the hallway for more visitors.
After digging a finger into her damaged ear, Bree managed to remove a glob of drying blood. While the ringing in her head didn’t dissipate, other sounds finally managed to get through. She couldn’t hear well, but it was a damn sight better than it had been.
“Help me get him up.” Lloyd grabbed Benson under his armpits and hoisted him to a seated position. The detective’s face contorted from the strain. “Heavy bastard.”
Seeing Benson’s thick shoulders and chest, she knew there was no chance one of them could carry the big man out of there unaided. She reached down and lifted one of his meaty arms over her shoulders while Lloyd did the same.
After a three count, the two of them stood, heaving against Benson’s dead weight. The pain in Bree’s ear magnified under the strain. Her aching chest pounded as her heart and lungs kicked into another gear as the three of them slowly stood up.
The idea of carrying Benson up a flight of stairs and through the woods horrified her. Three seasonal changes would occur before they got him to the evac point.
As they turned toward the door, the big man stirred against her.
His head rose.
He looked around, confusion lining his brow.
“We gotcha, Ashley,” Lloyd said. “We’re getting you out of here.”
“Blood loss,” Benson muttered.
“I’ve got your shoulder tied off. You’ll be okay.”
“And cold.”
“What?”
“Shrinkage. Too much blood loss. And I’m cold.”
Lloyd winced as they took a tentative step toward the door. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Rather than address the detective, Benson turned his head toward Bree. “It’s bigger than that, I swear.”
54 – Ferris
Manning gaped at me as I removed my arm from her shoulders.
“Is this guy for real?” Huxx glanced back at us from where he stood by the door. “We’re neck deep in the shit, and he’s making dick jokes?”
I rolled my wounded shoulder, which had a belt around it all of a sudden. “I just want everyone to understand that there should be an asterisk beside what you’re seeing right now.”
Manning continued to stare up at me like I was a crazy man. At that point, I probably was. Though I’d cracked a joke, as I always did, the cloud of misery enshrouding every inch of my body was almost unbearable.
Something in my head had snapped.
It felt like a migraine on steroids had settled in behind my eyes.
Whatever I had done to Smith had pushed me beyond my limits, and I was paying a price. Beyond the pain, my telepathy was severely limited. I could sense the presence of Drew and company, but it felt different, distant, as if the volume of their thoughts had been turned way down.
“You’ll get used to him,” Drew said, shrugging my arm from his shoulder.
“Will we?” Bree asked.
“Nah, probably not. It’s just as annoying now as it was when we first met.”
“You’ll be sleeping on the couch tonight if you keep talking like that,” I said. My legs were weak, my knees threatening to buckle under my studly weight. I stood in place for several seconds, testing out the flexion of my joints.
I took a slow step forward and didn’t fall over, so I winked at Drew. There wouldn’t be any fighting in my near future, but I thought I could walk my way out of whatever installation we were in.
“Time to move.” Huxx glanced down the hallway again.
“Someone hand me a weapon.” I gestured at a pistol a few feet away. “If I bend down to grab that, I might not get back up.”
Manning groaned as she snatched the gun from the floor and handed it to me. The side of her mask was coated in blood, the black a dark, wet mess.
We moved down the hall as quickly as my deteriorating condition would allow. Drew walked with a pronounced limp that grew worse as we ascended a flight of stairs. I didn’t like the way his foot dragged with every other step. He’d suffered a lot of damage in West Virginia, and I feared he might have more rehab in his future.
The unending throbbing in my dome had me shuffling more than walking. My vision blurred several times, my equilibrium skewing. Blood trailed behind us as we approached a closed door, light seeping around the edges.
Huxx opened the door and exploded outside, banking left.
Manning followed, moving the opposite direction.
Drew and I staggered after them, weapons held in front of us. I doubted either of us could have hit a damn thing if another firefight ensued, but we gave it the ol’ college try.
As I stepped outside, I almost tripped over myself in shock.
A giant, dilapidated Ferris wheel stretched skyward a few dozen yards ahead. It tilted at an extreme angle toward us, casting a dark shadow in the twilight of the evening. The amount of time that had passed since I’d been taken in D.C. shocked me almost as much as the enormous ride.
The whoop of a distant helicopter echoed over an overgrown amusement park that surrounded us. Dead bodies and spent cartridges littered cracked, weathered pavement.
“What in the crap?” I ogled at the wheel, taking in its missing carts and structural beams. “Did we just step into a dystopian nightmare?”
“Easy with the big words, Ashley.” Drew lumbered behind Huxx and Manning, who had cut to the right and were moving at a fast clip.
“But that’s a giant ass—”
The squeal of rending metal silenced me.
My eyes cut to the base of the ride where a smoldering shell of a truck had crashed. A few flames still licked from under the hood. Blackened, metal supports had been exposed by the accident, revealing the reason for the tilting Ferris wheel.
As I watched, one of the buckled and burned beams shifted.
The entire ride shook.
“Oh shit.” I twisted around as fast as my mangled body would allow and sprinted toward Drew.
We were directly under the wheel and would be smashed by the center support that held the entire ride up. There wasn’t any particular direction to flee that would shorten the distance.
“Move your ass!” I hollered at Drew.
He tried.
Huxx and Bree turned back to us. They were already out of harm’s way and shouted for us to run to them. As if we weren’t already doing that. I always loved a good cheerleading squad when running for my life.
While naked.
I sprinted as quickly as I could, which was slightly faster than a turtle at a dead run. Even still, I caught up to Drew in a hurry. His damaged side had caused his leg to drag badly behind him. He’d turned into little more than a one-legged man.
The screech of metal giving away grew louder.
I could hear the cars of the Ferris wheel shake and rattle.
A loud pop, like a muted explosion, came from the base.
I glanced over my shoulder and almost tripped when I saw the center support give. The entire wheel tipped even further toward us, its shadow extending with each degree it angled over.
The rusted metal locking the cars and spokes into place groaned as it fell over.
We were only halfway to safety.
“Go!” I turned back and threw an arm around Drew’s waist to help him move faster.
His weight almost brought me down.
“Leave me!” Drew huffed. “I can make it!”
“Run, you assholes!” Bree hollered.
Huxx stepped toward us, but I waved him off. We were either going to make it or we weren’t; there was nothing he could have done ex
cept get himself killed.
“Get back!”
The shadow before us stretched over a toppled ice-cream stand with weeds sprouting through its rotted wood sides. Dust showered over us as the ride screamed down from above.
I glanced skyward, saw the edge of the wheel straight overhead. As it continued to fall, it would overtake and crush us. We couldn’t make it.
Drew saw it coming too. “Let me—”
I removed my arm from around his waist and placed both of my hands against the small of his back. With all the remaining strength I could muster, I shoved as hard as I could against him.
He propelled forward, arms pinwheeling as he tried to keep his legs under him. After stumbling ten feet ahead of me, his bum leg gave out and he fell to the pavement, still rolling from the momentum he’d built.
The crashing wheel was directly above me.
I stopped running and covered my throbbing head with my arms and hands, bracing for the inevitable impact.
Metal slammed into concrete.
A deafening crash came from all directions.
Cool air swirled around me.
Dust coated my skin, sticking to the blood.
I stood in place, still protecting my head. Slowly, I lifted my face and opened an eye. The wheel surrounded me on all sides, the metal supports bent and torn free in places. A car had ripped away during the impact and spun lackadaisically twenty meters away. Rust coated everything.
Drew was on his side, staring back at me through the dust and debris. The top of the wheel had missed him by no more than two feet.
An empty space between the spokes had fallen directly over me.
I lowered my arms and looked around. “Well, damn.”
“Are you all right?” Drew asked.
“I think so.”
Two spokes sat on the ground on either side of me. They’d missed me by less than a meter. For once, luck had been on my side. And boy, had it ever decided that I finally needed a break.
The whoop of the chopper grew louder as I climbed over the wreckage of the Ferris wheel. My bare skin and feet didn’t appreciate the rusted, rended metal. A tetanus shot would be in my immediate future.
Along with beer.
Lots and lots of beer.
Gallons, no, fountains of beer.
After working my way around the rest of the fallen ride, I helped Drew to his feet and faced Huxx and Manning. They stared at me like I’d sprouted a tail.
“What?” I asked.
“Is this kind of thing normal for you two?” Manning held a hand to her damaged ear. “I don’t think I can take it.”
“I’ve seen some shit in my day, boys,” Huxx said, “but this is getting out of control.”
“If it makes you feel any better, this is the first time a Ferris wheel has dropped on my head.” I put my hand on Drew’s shoulder. “We have seen a man wear tongues like a belt though.”
“Jesus.” Manning pulled her mask up. “I need a drink.”
“My kinda girl.” I looked over the abandoned park. “Where in the hell are we?”
“Woodsland,” Drew said. “An amusement park in Pennsylvania.”
Just as I was about to say something snarky about finding some cotton candy, our helicopter cruised over the tree line in the distance. It flew fast and low, cutting a hard bank before descending to an empty patch of pavement.
The four of us slowly walked over as it landed, Huxx having to help Drew cover the distance. Manning moved beside me to give me a hand, but I waved her off. No one should have to touch me when I was so grody.
I sighed as I approached the chopper.
So much for being clean the next time I found myself on the pain train.
Shea sat behind the stick, pain twisting his usually calm features. Tate was beside him, speaking into a headset microphone. Briggs hopped out of the back and helped Drew climb aboard.
He looked at me sideways as I pulled myself into the back of the bird. He mouthed, What the fuck?
I shrugged and gave him a small grin.
It hurt.
Smiling hurt. Sitting hurt. Breathing really hurt.
As Jack Shea goosed the chopper’s throttle and took us skyward, I loosened the belt around my shoulder. The blood flow had slowed enough that I could to take it off, which was great because I’d begun to lose sensation in my arm.
We banked south. Everyone in the back stared at me.
I put my hands over my crotch, feigning modesty.
When we were a mile or so away, a thunderous explosion rocked the forest.
I snapped around and looked out the side of the chopper, fresh hell stabbing into my skull at the suddenness of the movement. Behind us, rising into the sky, was a ball of fire and smoke. It mushroomed as we watched it stretch toward the late-evening stars.
“Anyone care to tell me what in the crap that was?” I hollered.
55 – Alone
The Man in Black stood in a speedboat, watching the woods behind him. He had a rifle trained in that direction, unsure if someone had followed him. If anyone other than Smith emerged from the forest, he would terminate them with extreme prejudice.
His breathing came in harsh rasps, his ribs protesting every rise and fall of his chest. Blood had run down his side and leg, pooling in his shoe. It had squished with every step as he cleared the compound, fled down their escape route, and climbed aboard the boat tethered to a dock beside a tiny river.
He checked his watch for the third time.
Smith should have arrived already.
Knowing that his window of escape narrowed by the second, he keyed the ignition.
An explosion cracked from the south, the concussive force from the blast sheering branches from trees, their already-colored leaves falling to the forest floor. The boat rocked on the water.
The Man in Black grabbed hold of the wheel to steady himself.
He watched as a mushroom cloud rose over the trees.
“Good-bye, my friend. I’ll finish your work, I swear it.”
Dropping the rifle to the seat beside him, the man slammed the throttle forward and navigated down the river.
Epilogue
I took a long pull from my pint of beer, relishing the taste as it went down my gullet. It wasn’t the usual swill I pounded down by the case, but a killer IPA. I dug the hoppy flavor and kick-in-the-pants alcohol content.
After asking the waitress to bring us another round, I looked back at Allison Henley. She sat across the table from me, her eyes on the half-finished beer before her. She hadn’t spoken since I’d finished spilling my guts about who I was, what I could do, and who I’d just killed.
Because of the outright madness she’d experienced in Arthur’s Creek, I figured she deserved to know anything she wanted. The truth was a rare commodity in the intelligence field that I’d become embroiled in over the past year, and I wanted to extend her that courtesy.
What I’d told her had, of course, blown her mind.
Not in the literal sense that Smith’s had.
Drew had finally managed to call her back during his hospital stay. She’d explained the threat she’d made to the detective covering Drew’s workload had been a bluff. Apparently, she’d been obsessed with what she’d seen me do to a particular park bench, and she’d pleaded for a chance to talk to me.
So, there I was. I’d left the hospital two weeks ago, my healing wounds itching like crazy. Nelson had practically begged me not to leave the military post, but I ignored him as I often did. Now that Smith was dead, I refused to be a prisoner anymore. I knew that the government kept me under tight surveillance, but that wasn’t going to stop me from stretching my legs every now and then.
And that led me to a sports bar in Aberdeen to meet with Allison.
She finally raised her eyes and met my gaze. “And he’s dead? The guy who killed my town? You’re sure? I saw it in the news, but I didn’t know if I should believe it or not.”
“Yup. He’s dead as a doornail.”
I’d told her most of the story, but had kept out some of the gory details. I also held back a lot of what Smith had said at the end about other threats to our way of life. She didn’t need to know about the weird shit I’d seen in his head either.
Nami and Drew were working on finding out where Jamie Welsh had come from. They were convinced Smith had been lying about finding the weapon derived from the boy’s power, but I’d changed my thinking on that. The men I’d seen capturing Jamie in an alley hadn’t looked or acted like Smith’s goons. Yeah, I’d pulled the memory from one of Smith’s men, but something about it didn’t add up.
There was someone else out there acting outside of the purview of our government. We’d already thought that could be the case from what we’d learned of Murdock’s capture in the Middle East, but what I discovered in that underground facility had cemented the idea in my head.
There were still a lot of other questions to be answered. We didn’t know how Smith had managed to build a secret compound in the middle of nowhere without anyone knowing. How he even had the kind of cash to pull that off was a mystery. We also had no idea how he’d managed to hire so many mercenaries to work for him.
Either he’d pulled off some kind of a heist that we didn’t know about, or someone had been bankrolling him. Who or why was a complete mystery.
“You did it? You killed him?”
“I did.”
“I’m sorry you had to do that.”
“Don’t be. I’m not.”
She slowly nodded, took a sip of her beer. “Do you know what I’m thinking now?”
“No idea. I try not to invade people’s privacy unless I have to.”
“How do you handle it? Always having to fight against that?”
I raised my beer glass. “I drown it.”
There wasn’t much point in telling her that my abilities had been significantly compromised since I’d crushed Scarface’s head like a grape. My telepathy, though still strong, no longer had the same oomph. It was much harder for me to delve deep into someone’s head and sift through their memories.
My telekinesis shit had disappeared entirely. Whatever had broken inside my head that day had put a stop to my moving things around. That really sucked, because I was finally getting to the point where I could have moved the television remote to my hand without having to get up.