Then Mercy began to move. She started peeling herself from the asphalt. The joints of her arms were twisted around and her head was canted to one side. Blood was everywhere. Bones stuck out through her skin.
The driver of the cargo truck backed away from her.
I could hear a popping noise as Mercy fought to push herself up. But what remained of her body couldn’t support her. She dropped back down to the street as tremors coursed through her. A gasp escaped her throat. She was trying to speak. It should have been impossible for anything that broken to still be alive.
The woman with the phone snapped me out of my stupor. She was recording everything, and the bright white light was shining in my direction.
I felt disoriented and couldn’t remember which way we had flown or what highway this was. Below me, Mercy was still moving. One of her arms extended out in front of her and she was crawling one jerking pull at a time. She made it to the median. No one appeared to want to get close to her, as if they sensed something unnatural about her.
Based on what she had done with Temp, I had a sinking feeling she might recover. But I didn’t have anything left to go down and do anything about it. I only hoped it would take her time.
I fought to gain altitude as I departed but settled for a low hover that just avoided the nearest treetops.
Dogwood would have been less than a couple minutes away but for my spinning head and flagging strength. As I drifted down towards the village fifteen minutes later, I felt used up. They were all still there as if waiting, but upon seeing me return alone their jaws set and faces hardened. I landed by the crushed pickup.
I wouldn’t be able to fly anymore. I was spent.
They had formed around Chronos but it appeared as if no one had touched him. I looked for Temperance but didn’t see him. Chronos’s black cape lay in the dirt.
There was barely enough spit in my mouth to speak. “Where are my friends?”
One villager in overalls looked to his left and right, but when no one else spoke up he stayed silent.
“I’ve beaten Chronos and Mercy,” I said. “Don’t think for a moment I won’t take this entire town apart piece by piece and tear you all to shreds. Now tell me!”
“The farmhouse,” the man said, pointing vaguely in the direction of a line of trees.
I stooped to pick the cape up. As the villagers eyed me warily, I brushed dirt off of the dark fabric before draping it across a shoulder.
“Pick up Chronos,” I said.
The man in the overalls only hesitated for a moment before scooping up the Star Son’s limp body.
“Now take me to my friends.”
A small path led between two of the homes and through an overgrown field to a small house beyond. The structure had a sunken roof and it looked like the entire thing would collapse with a stiff breeze. Princess Pike’s van and Megan’s Honda were parked on a dirt driveway that wound downhill and out of sight. A couple of other vehicles sat nearby, their tires rotted and their bodies covered in a film of green and black mold.
The villager in the overalls nodded in the direction of the house. He had Chronos over one shoulder and carried him easily enough. I limped along behind him. By that point I struggled just to put one foot in front of the other. The other villagers had drifted off, but I suspected some followed out of sight.
The front door of the house was open. A tall shadow stood in the doorway. Temperance was the only one left who had been willing to fight, and at that moment I had nothing left.
“Mercy’s gone,” I called. “Step away and let us go and we’ll leave you alone.”
The shadow shifted and came forward. I wouldn’t be able to fly or run.
“Temperance, if you attack me I’ll kill you,” I said, wishing my voice weren’t shaking.
Princess Pike stepped down from the rotten porch and into the sunlight. It was the last thing I was expecting and I took an involuntary step back. The tall woman had her mask off. Her tousled orange hair drooped around her face and I saw a bright blue mark on one cheek. She was also limping.
“How…” I started to say.
“Did I beat a couple of hick farmers with super strength?” she asked, cutting me off. “By being a better fighter.”
I struck a defensive pose, elbows high, fists packed.
“Relax,” Pike said. “We’ll settle up one day, but for now I’m happy to get out of here.”
“You were waiting for me?”
She scoffed. “No. Bob was busy tying up the last one that came in here. We’ve got three of them trussed up.” She looked at the villager next to me.
“He’s behaving himself,” I said.
“I don’t care about him. Is that Chronos?”
I looked at the limp figure the villager carried. “Yeah.”
“What happened? And why is he undressed?”
“We fought,” I said. “I killed him. And now I’m going to take him with me and go bury him somewhere no one will ever find him.”
She considered me with something resembling respect. “I guess I’m going to have to craft a whole new strategy to deal with you.”
Carter and Megan appeared roughed up but were otherwise fine. They, along with Princess Pike and her goon named Bob, had been brought to the house and kept under guard, but otherwise nothing had happened to them. It took more goading to get them into the car than I would have liked because Carter had questions and Megan had reservations about shoving a dead superhero into the trunk of her Honda.
I went into the house, where Pike was assisting her flunky. He was watching three villagers who were tied up with electrical cord in the main room. Bob himself looked more hurt than the others and was leaning on the armrest of a torn-up lounge chair. Pike was tender with Bob and spoke consolingly as she helped him stand. It looked like he had a busted leg and was in quite a lot of pain. She ignored me as I moved past them to check out the prisoners.
Temperance wasn’t one of them.
I moved on to the kitchen and found a table full of picked produce, including some small cantaloupes, apples, and a basket of blackberries. I saw iron pots on the woodstove and empty glass jars lining a shelf. In one cabinet was a case of plum, berry, and apple preserves and pickled vegetables. I took a jar, the apples, and the basket of berries and returned to the car. I folded the black cape on top of it all and put it into the back seat before climbing in.
More of the villagers, maybe all of them, stood near the property edge as Megan got the car started. Their blank expressions told me nothing. At any moment they might attack. I crammed berries into my mouth.
“We go to the cops first,” Megan said, talking a mile a minute. “The state troopers will take this place apart. Once we get signal I’m calling the press. My friend writes for the Daily Beast. She’ll spread the news wide. This is the biggest story since Chronos appeared, bigger than…”
She trailed off as she drove down the rutted driveway towards the road. Pike’s van fell in behind us with the princess doing the driving. The villagers we passed remained motionless. I watched them out of the rearview mirror until I couldn’t see any of them.
“Bigger than anything,” Megan continued. “These aliens almost killed us. They’ve been hiding up here and doing whatever they want to whoever. I can’t believe no one’s ever uncovered this before.”
“Megan, stop,” Carter said. “Right now we don’t know anything. And we don’t do anything until we get out of here and put some miles between us and this place.” He turned in the passenger seat to face me. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head. I didn’t have an answer. But the berries tasted sweet and I felt the ache inside me begin to ebb.
“We need to get you to a hospital,” Carter said.
“No. Just drive.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Megan asked, peering at me in the rearview mirror.
“I’m sick,” I said finally. “I don’t know if it’ll pass. Whatever bug I picked up in this place when coming here
the last time has given me my power. But it’s done something to me. Eating the food from the village makes me feel okay for a while. But it doesn’t last long.”
“Then we go back and get more,” Carter said.
“No. We take care of Chronos first.”
“How?”
“We drop him in a hole where Mercy and the rest of the family will never find him.”
“Someone mind telling me where we’re going?” Megan asked.
Carter pointed the way and Megan floored it. We sped down the farm roads that led to the highway. Before we could make it there, a shape jumped down in the middle of the lane in front of us.
“Look out!” I screamed.
Megan jammed the brakes and the Honda’s tires screeched, throwing up a cloud of dust. Pike’s van swerved and stopped just behind us.
Temperance stood in front of the car with his head tilted to one side. His hat was gone, and his face appeared swollen. His mouth hung open as if his jaw were out of alignment. One of his arms hung limp at his side. With his good hand he pointed at the car and at me. While I was feeling better, I knew I didn’t have the strength for a fight.
Megan put the car in reverse, but Princess Pike’s van was in the way.
“I’ll have to run him down,” Megan said.
“No. He might be almost as strong as Chronos. When he goes after me, you guys leave. Take Chronos. Weigh him down and dump him in a lake far away from here.”
I opened the door and climbed out.
“We’re not finished,” Temp said, having difficulty forming words. “You bring my brother back, you take your friends. That was the bargain. And now you’ve taken Mercy away.”
“I owe you nothing. You were going to kill us.”
He shrugged as if it was the most inconsequential thing. “Give me my brother.”
“Come take him. You’ll be the third person from your village I put into the ground.”
His eyes narrowed. He moved like a street dog, not getting any closer but walking around me as if getting my scent.
“Father will come for you too,” he said.
“Who’s your father?”
He smiled. “You’ll see. He’s been looking for us. It’s why we don’t leave. It’s why Diligence should have stayed home. Because Father was looking and now that he’s caught our scent, he’s here. He’ll smell you too. You’ll wish you had never come here.”
“I already do.”
It startled me when he leaped into the air. He wasn’t flying, exactly, but he vaulted high in a long arc that took him out over the tree line. But he wasn’t heading back home. I then knew he was going to collect his sister, or whatever was left of her.
I got back in the car. “Go.”
Megan put it in gear and we made it to the highway. Pike passed us almost immediately and we watched her speed off down the road.
“I know she might have saved us, but I’m really glad she’s gone,” Carter said.
Megan kept checking the rearview mirror. “You sure none of those people from Dogwood drive?”
“I wouldn’t assume anything at this point,” Carter said. “But I think we’re okay. Just don’t get us pulled over. We can relax now.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Megan said.
She looked at me in the mirror. I didn’t have anything to say. But like Megan, I wouldn’t relax until I got Chronos into the ground.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I didn’t say any words as I dropped the Star Son’s almost naked body into the tidy grave. After a moment of staring down at his broken form, it was time to cover him with dirt. But then I pulled his uniform off my waist and draped it across him. He deserved some sort of dignity. I considered the cape again clasped around my neck, but for some reason keeping it felt right. Some might call it a trophy. I considered it a tangible reminder of everything I had been through.
Grabbing the shovel, I began pushing the rocky dirt over him. Once a few of the larger stones were back in place, it was as if the grave wasn’t there.
I was surrounded by the red pines of the Black Mountain Forest. No trails ran anywhere close to the spot I had chosen. The hero’s grave would go unvisited. He couldn’t ask for a more peaceful place to be. At the moment all the birds were silent. I couldn’t hear anything.
Perfect.
Then I considered the shovel still in my hands. We had found a gardener filling his truck at a gas station and had purchased the old rusty tool for fifty dollars. I’d told the man who had eyed us suspiciously we were on a scavenger hunt. That helped explain our shabby appearance. He had taken the money without comment.
I pushed the blade of the shovel into the dirt near a tree and snapped it off. Then I tossed the handle into the weeds. I felt rising guilt, like I was covering over a crime scene.
As I lifted off the ground, I realized I might not even be able to find the place again. The spot of ground was so far away from any distinguishing feature that it was untraceable. Somehow I felt I would regret not being able to come back. Some hard emotions were stirring and I wasn’t confident in my ability to cope with them.
It only took me ten minutes to reach the secondary road near the highway where Megan and Carter waited.
“Any problems?” Carter asked as I landed.
He stood leaning on the Honda’s back end while Megan was pacing about near the front with her arms crossed and jaw clenched. Both siblings looked strung out and exhausted. We had picked up coffee at the gas station, but we were all running on fumes by that point.
I shook my head. “No problems.” All I wanted to do was crawl into the back seat and fall asleep.
“What took you so long?” Megan asked.
“It had to be someplace no one would ever find him,” I said. “Can we please go?”
Megan didn’t argue and got into the car. “I guess it’s too late to argue, but you’re sure the authorities won’t need his body for anything?”
“Like what, exactly?” Carter asked with a note of irritation. Had they been fighting while I was gone?
“I understand your concern, Megan,” I said. “They’ll want to know that he won’t be back. Him going missing will have them on edge for a long time. With whatever’s going on in Virginia and elsewhere I’m sure the military will be looking to enlist his help. But that’s the price we pay for making sure no part of his family will ever find him.”
As I settled back in the cramped rear seat, I winced. The sharp pain in my side was worse than before. All my limbs felt like rubber. I stared blankly out the window at the passing scenery as we got back on the road.
Carter had turned in his seat and was watching me. “You look terrible.”
“Thanks.”
“We really need to get you checked out by a doctor. Find one we can tell everything.”
“Once we get home,” I said. “For now I’ll survive. I know it’s a long drive, but I want to get as far away from here as possible.”
I couldn’t help but look up above the trees as we headed back to the highway. At any moment I half expected a ragged flying shape to come and intercept us. But Temperance and the rest of Mercy’s clan were behind us now. They could crawl back into their run-down village and rot for all I cared.
The pain of my busted rib kept me from getting comfortable as we drove. So I busied myself in second-guessing where I had placed Chronos and whether anyone might have seen me. But I had been careful. The spot was remote. And I had flown fast and made several turns in case anyone had been tracking me.
Except for Chronos, no one in Dogwood appeared to be able to fly like I could. The whole mechanic of the powers I had still wasn’t clear. Why could I do some of the things Chronos did and others couldn’t? I had his reflexes and his flight ability and a certain amount of resilience and strength, although none of it was on his level. Even some of the damage I had suffered had healed. But if the Dogwood brethren stayed secluded in Dogwood, none of it mattered.
The fact that I was si
ck should have worried me more. The one crate of fruit I had taken might be my only lifeline, but how long would it last? A week? Two? Was I going to die like the rest of the people in the red house’s basement?
Too much of what I knew was based on things Mercy had told me. Perhaps all of it had been lies.
I rubbed the fabric of my black cape. I unclipped it and pulled it out from under me and folded it into a makeshift pillow.
The locket around my neck felt warm to the touch. My fingers traced the abstract pattern on the face of the piece of jewelry. Maybe the otherworldly metal pebble inside was the source of my power and sickness both.
Finally, I took the figurine out of my pocket. Important enough that Chronos treasured it, like it was a keepsake from wherever he and his clan had come from. But whose face was it that stared back at me impassively? Was it a god or just another man? Friend or enemy? I put it away.
I now had in my possession three things that had once belonged to Chronos. The last thing I had ever wanted or even dreamed of was to become like him. I should have buried everything alongside his body.
But I knew I could dispose of all of it the next day when my head was clear and I was back in my own apartment. What to do with myself was the greater riddle, and I pondered it as I slipped into sleep.
Carter woke me up by shaking my leg. I lay sprawled on the small back seat and bent at a weird angle. My face felt dirty. I winced as I straightened up. We were on city streets and at first I was disoriented. I had slept maybe ten minutes.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Home. We’re almost at my place.”
“What? How?”
“We’ve been driving four hours. You were out pretty good so I thought it best to let you sleep.”
I looked out the window to confirm what he was saying. Sure enough, we were driving past the rows of brownstones near Carter’s apartment.
“Take me home.”
“But I thought it might be best if I helped you recover. You’re in rough shape.”
Blood of the Masked God (Book 1): Red Wrath Page 24