“Yes, sensei.” Damiano turned to gather squads and Eric looked at Meyer.
Meyer bowed, “Anything further, Maj…Sensei?” he asked.
A short grin passed the leader’s face. “No, Meyer. Good work, though, get your men some rest. And join us at the Tiger meeting tomorrow.”
“Yes, sensei.” Meyer said, and bowed again. Fine had noticed him, and he was one step closer to replacing that useless hack, Damiano. He turned to his men. “Get some rest, men, we may need to hit the patrol again tonight and keep our people safe.”
Meyer headed toward the rest area, where the single women had to work serving food and water to the warriors. He had his eye on one, but she wasn’t one of these, she was one who served the Tigers, one who Damiano had taken. Meyer planned how to take her from him, along with his position.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Jenny had enjoyed her stay in the hotel. No one had bothered her, she had rarely even seen anyone out the windows. What she could see out the windows was that the south side of town was burning. It had been on fire for days now and it had grown closer and closer each day. She had good rest here, and had ransacked the other floors to make sure she had food. This was mostly comprised of chips, nuts and other such snacks. She hated to eat like this, but it was better than starvation. Her yoga kept her calm, and she ate as little of this crap as she could.
The last four days she had spent here were almost a vacation, and she would have stayed longer, but the fires were getting closer. It almost seemed intentional and she assumed that half of it probably was. If she was right, that would mean whoever was burning the town was headed this way, and that meant it was time to move on. She was maybe a day of cautious walking away from her home, and she decided that the time to leave was now. She gathered her things into a duffel bag she had found on the second floor, including all of the snacks and the few water bottles she had left. It was a little bit heavy, but she could manage and she made her way down the pitch dark staircase and out into the lobby. Outside the stairway door, she listened for any movement, and finding none, she headed out into the street.
Turning north and west was the plan, but she needed to stay relatively hidden and it was just before mid-day. So she walked slowly behind houses and in between blocks, even though it would have been easier and faster to use the streets. She listened at houses, and only got close to those that were very quiet. She had no idea where the residents of all of the houses had gone, but most were empty, and the ones that weren’t she stayed away from. She passed more bloated corpses, it seemed like people were just leaving their dead in the street, the smell was awful.
Closer to the mountain, and after a bit of a walk, she came up to a golf range and took a break in the shadow. The day was hot and the sweat was pooling on her neck. She drank some more water and then saw some stairs that led up to a patio that she assumed had a restaurant or something. She slowly crept up the stairs and activated her inner sight, but there was no one there. She saw the auras down closer to the river now. There must be hundreds of them down there, she thought to herself. This was not a place to hide. While it gave her a great advantage from which to view the town, it was also possible for anyone who looked closely to see her. Without police, she had already seen what people could do. She just wanted to be home.
Jenny made her way farther to the north and out of the golf range into an industrial district. Off to the west, she could now see the Garden of the Gods rock formation and knew she wasn’t far from the small house she had bought last year. Seeing people milling around the shopping center parking lot up ahead, her first thought was to go wide around it. But, there were many people there, probably close to fifty. She figured there would be some safety in numbers, and a week without any news made her feel like she didn’t know what was going on. Maybe some of these people had heard from the authorities.
Jenny crossed the large street there and walked on to the shopping center lot. As she looked, almost all of the windows of each business were busted out. Some had people inside, some did not. There were people near the grocery store talking, so she walked up to see what was going on. She saw an older woman with a kind face and approached her.
“Hi,” Jenny said tentatively.
“Hello, sweetie,” said the woman, “you here to trade?” The woman looked at the duffel bag.
Jenny didn’t know what she meant. “Trade?” The woman nodded and pointed to Jenny’s bag. “Oh,” Jenny exclaimed, “no. I was just looking for information.”
“Aren’t we all, kiddo.” The woman said and started to walk away.
“Wait,” Jenny called out to stop her. A few people turned to look at Jenny, but she continued anyway, “Do you know what is going on? With the power outage and all, have you talked to any of the authorities?”
A man who was coming up with a bag of his own answered her, “There are no authorities, miss. Do what you can to survive.”
Trying to comprehend what he was saying, Jenny just looked at the man. What did he mean there were no authorities? There may be a power outage, but government doesn’t stop just because of no power. She said as much to the man. His reply already gave her information she did not have.
“It isn’t just power,” he said, “it is communications, vehicles, medicine. Some people think it is the end times, others that we were hit by a comet or something. I don’t know, I just know that you have to survive. And don’t expect people to help. There is no community any more, it is every man (or woman) for himself.”
“So people just looted these stores?” Jenny asked.
“These stores here have been picked dry for days,” said the woman she had first talked to, “you are up a creek without a paddle if you haven’t already got something to trade. We setup here during the daylight to try to trade and make sure everyone gets what they need.”
“Please,” Jenny was about to start crying and it showed in her voice as it cracked, “can you tell me what is going on?”
The woman took pity on her and put her arm around Jenny’s shoulders, pulling her toward the shade. “Not much, but we did meet some cadets from the Academy who were riding bikes around to check on people. They are the ones that told us there was no civilian authority now, and that we were sort of on our own. They said the Academy was not taking people in, but we could head down to Fort Carson if we wanted, they were setting up a town or something. They did mention that the law would be martial there.”
The man who had spoken with her walked by and spit at that comment. “I don’t serve the military; they are supposed to serve us. I will keep to my own affairs, thank you very much.”
“Do you need water, honey?” the older woman asked, “I could probably spare one. Do you have anything at all to trade?”
Jenny sunk her head in despair, shaking it from side to side, “No. All I have is chips and candy and other snacks.” She was surprised to hear the woman laugh before she gave Jenny’s shoulders another squeeze.
“Young lady, you have a gold mine then. Snacks is what everyone is trading big for.” She said with a big smile, “Here, I will help you. What have you got?”
As the woman went through Jenny’s duffel bag, others came around and traded with her. When she left the “market” an hour or so later, she was loaded up with water, canned food, a knife and she still had half a bag of tradeables left. She walked away with the warning to stay safe from the people she had met, and headed the last few blocks to her house.
She couldn’t take everything in that they were claiming about government and all, as it was just too hard to wrap her head around. They had tried to tell her that after a simple week without power, total chaos reigned in America, and she couldn’t accept that. Then she walked up to her house and despair set in. People had broken into her house, broken every window and smashed the door in. The place was ransacked, her clothes and even her cutlery were taken. Anything even mildly useful had been removed. She wandered around the house and looked at how value had changed. Unto
uched were her big-screen TV, and any kind of electronics. Gone were all draperies and most of the clothing she had there. She wondered if there was any reason to remain.
After having a good cry on the floor of her broken house, Jenny got up and left. She couldn’t head south, due to the fires and whatever lawlessness might be there. East seemed an unlikely area to be hospitable, and the west was straight into the mountains. She knew where some caves were just north of here, near the Hillside Restaurant. She and her girlfriend had hiked around them multiple times. People were going house to house, perhaps the caves were safe. Scared, alone and uncertain of what to do, Jenny Martinez walked into the open space (as it was called) park and headed toward those cliffs.
CHAPTER FORTY
Cal felt prepared. He had felt that way most of his life. His ability to predict the behavior of others and future events by strict analysis of patterns and past events had always come in handy. The situation he now found his family and himself in was no exception. But, what he was seeing, what he was deducing was just crazy. Being with his family these last couple of days had given him the calm he needed to make sure he was not going crazy, but it was still hard to believe.
As his group headed toward the west, an oddly safer destination than staying home, he knew he would have to be a strong and steady anchor for the things they would discover. He couldn’t be positive at the moment, but something had changed the fundamental basis of reality and Cal would need to figure it out so that his family could survive. Walking down this long road was only a part of it. The strange powers that his family members were exhibiting were a wrinkle in any theory he could compose. Why the youngest? The abilities seemed to be showing from youngest to oldest. This would only prove itself if Beth were the last to exhibit and that might take days.
Kyle had exhibited something in the high school. Cal was pretty sure he had inadvertently discovered the ability to make light, though he would have to help his son test that when it got dark. His meditative katas opened him to something also, and it seemed to do the same to Ted, so maybe age had nothing to do with it. He looked around and saw Max walking with one of her dogs, the whole pack thing was amazing. Did their group really understand what that meant? Did they get that Max could see farther, spy better and defend better than all of them combined at the moment? Did Max? He shook his head in amazement.
“What is it honey?” Kate walked up next to him. She was the best thing to ever happen to him and he was so glad to have her at his side again.
“I was just contemplating the strangeness of our current situation.” Kate looked down, just listening to her husband. Cal continued, “Have you exhibited any strange ability or anything like that?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so, though they all seem kind of surprised when it happens. Well, except Max.” They both looked in the direction of their niece, who was picking up stones at the side of the road that looked like hearts and showing them to her mother. “Just normal Kate for now.”
“Yeah,” said Cal looking over at Maxine, “I have been thinking about that. Young people dream easier, create easier, and don’t have as many blocks. Maybe that is the deal with the abilities. Maybe they are just not yet encultured to reject the metaphysical.”
“Maybe,” Kate replied, “So you think we can all do this stuff?”
“It makes sense to me,” Cal responded. They walked on in silence for a while and Kate dropped back to where her mother was walking. Beth was having a hard time with this hike, and they all knew it would be slower due to the pace she needed to walk. Up ahead, he saw Natalee looking off through the trees and she stopped and looked his way. Cal held up his hand, temporarily forgetting that most of the group didn’t know the hand signal for stop.
“What is it, Nat?” he said, drawing close to her.
“House off through the trees,” she started, “there are people moving around. They look a little frantic.”
“Shall we help them?” Cal smiled at his little girl, who was doing a fantastic job on point.
“Well, we can check it out.” She was ready to go and Cal sent Natalee and Kyle through the trees to the house to talk to the people.
A few moments later, Kyle ran back through the trees. “Pop, Adam, I think we need you in here.”
Adam took off at once, Cal called back before following, “Everyone take a rest. We will be right back.” Cal noticed Erica running through the trees with Adam and just let it go. He made his way to the opening, where a family of four was on their porch, next to an old man lying on a bench. Having already arrived, Adam was leaning in close and listening to the man.
“Hello, sir.” Adam said with his best reassuring voice. Cal could see the blood on the man’s hip and the way his foot was turned in an awkward position. After a few minutes, Adam came back to Cal.
“He has a broken femur. There isn’t a lot I can do, but I can set it. It is going to be super painful.” Adam was looking for approval for something.
“What about the blood?” Cal asked.
“He has some mild blood loss, but the way the break is, there is a risk of tearing the artery, which is laying against the break at the moment.” Adam’s words surprised Cal, there was no way without an MRI, or something, that Adam would know what he was saying.
“How could you know that?” Cal asked him.
A look of surprise came over Adam’s face as he looked up into his old friend’s face. “I don’t know. I shouldn’t know that, but I do.”
“Okay,” Cal said after a short thought, “I need to ask you to do something, and I need you to trust me, because it is going to sound weird.” Cal knew that he was about to give the strangest command he ever had, and that was saying something. Adam nodded. “I want you to concentrate on the injury and picture what it would take to fix it. See if you get any answers.”
Adam gave Cal a strange look, but didn’t reply. He went back and kneeled next to the man and put his hand on the leg near the wound. As Cal watched, he saw something that the lack of reaction on everyone else told him they did not see. Adam’s hands glowed for a moment and the man yelled out. Adam kept his concentration and the man’s foot slowly turned back to the correct position. After this there was an audible click and the man sat jolt upright.
Adam sort of fell back against Erica, seemingly exhausted, and she stroked his hair as he rested there. Just before turning to look at the family, Cal saw a very slight glow coming from Erica and falling over Adam. Adam’s body visibly relaxed. The man was putting a little pressure on the leg that Adam had just been working on. In a few minutes, he was standing on it gingerly.
A younger woman looked at Adam and then at Cal as he walked toward them. “What just happened?”
“I don’t know,” Cal replied, “but it looks like it helped.”
The entire family were now surrounding Adam and thanking him as he said over and over that he didn’t really do anything. Cal talked with the family for a bit, asking if they needed anything else. He looked up to see two of Max’s dogs just staring at them all out of the woods. It was a little creepy, but he was sure that Max was now telling everyone that all was well. Adam was getting back to his feet, so they said their goodbyes and told the family where they were headed, just in case it became necessary to look for them.
The five of them made their way back to the road, flanked on each side by dogs. Cal reminded himself at that moment that he was never alone, he always had the eyes of a ten-year-old girl watching him.
Back at the road, he turned to Adam and Erica, “Do you two understand what happened?”
“Yeah,” Erica exclaimed, “Adam healed that old guy.”
“Do you know what you did?” Cal continued pressing.
“Me?” she asked, “I didn’t do anything.”
“Adam healed the man, and you restored Adam’s strength.” Cal said. Adam was looking right up at Erica. He really had avoided the obvious attraction they shared up until now, but something about Cal’s statement seem
ed to wake him up.
“You did that?” Adam asked.
“Did I?” Erica questioned, seeming a little confused.
Cal nodded, “You did. I think we need to talk with the group. I think I know a little more about our new world.”
They walked forward, and though he was excited with the possibilities, he wasn’t sure everyone had the energy to talk about it. “Everyone?” He called out, and all of the group turned to listen. “We have some things to discuss, but I have no idea if discussing it in the middle of the road when a storm is coming,” he pointed to the clouds that were gathering over the front range, “is really the best time and place. I need a vote, who wants to discuss things now and who wants to wait? If now, raise your hands.” Only Erica, Adam and Nat raised their hands. “Later?” Everyone else raised their hands. Cal shrugged, “Okay, later it is. Let’s all head down the road. Adam are you good to travel?”
“Yep,” Adam said and he and Erica started walking.
They all walked the miles to the country highway, all the while Cal was searching his considerable intellect to wrap his head around the ramifications of what it would mean if he was right. If they were now in a magical world, instead of one that had the known scientific structure, the conclusions would be profound. He found himself so deep in thought that he needed his daughter to yell out a second time. He looked up and realized everyone else had stopped and he was a few yards ahead of them. He had almost walked right over the edge of the road where it had washed out.
Looking down over the crevasse, it wasn’t that far, maybe twenty feet. But, the torrent of water that had once been an almost empty creek and was now a raging river stood between his group and the other side. They needed to get to the other side in order to achieve their objective. Cal looked north; there was no crossing that he could see. He looked south and far off, it looked like most or all of another crossing was intact. He could take the group that way.
Age of Mystics (Saga of Mystics Book 1) Page 13