Winter's Storm: Retribution (Winter's Saga #2)

by Karen Luellen

  “Whose house is this?”

  “Paulie’s.”

  “Do you know what day it is?”

  “Um…” Cole mumbled and his eyes rolled back.

  “Cole!”

  “What?” His voice was groggy.

  “Stay with me, buddy! Stay awake!”

  “Okay, gosh stop yelling at me. I just got shot, ya know.” Cole furrowed his brows defiantly, blinked twice, then passed out.

  They were on the opposite side of the house from the lab. Theo knew the others in the house wouldn’t hear him if he yelled for help and Cole was much too heavy for him to carry.

  His eyes scanned the room for anything nearby that could help. The desk in the corner of the room had a plush rolling chair. Perfect! Though he didn’t want to let go of the pressure he was keeping on the gunshot wound, he needed to get the boy on the chair and wheel him to the lab—and he needed to do this quickly.

  With a strength he didn’t even know he had, he pulled the unconscious boy into a sitting position on the chair. Keeping one hand on his son’s body to both steady him and maintain pressure on the bleeding wound, and the other hand on the back of the chair, he steered as quickly as he could across the house.

  Theo ran directly to the sliding doors of the lab and cursed the slowness of the doors as they parted for him. He was already yelling to the two doctors inside for help before the second set of sliding doors even began to open.

  “Cole’s been shot! Margo, Paulie! My son’s been shot!”

  Though Dr. Andrews had seen gunshot wounds hundreds of times in the emergency room of his hospital back in Kansas, this was completely different. This was his little boy. He was shaking violently as he rushed his son to the same gurney Meg had occupied hours before.

  “Oh, my God! What happened?” Margo had dropped what she was doing, literally and came running across the large room to Theo. She helped him lift Cole onto the bed.

  “I don’t know. I think he let Maze out to relieve himself and…oh, God. There’s so much blood.”

  “Did he say anything before he passed out?” Paulie was just a few steps behind Margo and was already reaching for saline to start cleaning the wound.

  “No, nothing really—it all happened so fast.” Theo was standing back a little now, making room for the other two doctors to work on Cole.

  “I’m starting an I.V.,” Margo said slipping easily into the role of ER doctor, herself. She reached for the medical cart beside her, yanked open a drawer and found the package she needed.

  “The bullet looks to have gone right through the muscle in his upper arm. A sniper rifle did this; a long range, high-powered, rifle—I’d put money on it,” Paulie said shaking his head as he continued to assess the damages. “Damn, this bullet was traveling at one hell of a velocity, I can tell you that. He’s lucky it missed.”

  “Missed?” Theo yelled in a flash of anger.

  “Yeah, Theo. The shooter was aiming for his head.”

  Dr. Andrew’s face fell silent and pale.

  “You done over there, Margo? We need to turn him on his side so I can look at the back.”

  “Almost,” she said as she grabbed white tape to secure the needle in place and covered the site with a large piece of sterile gauze.

  “Okay, let’s roll him.”

  “Well, from what I can see so far, the bullet missed the bone. Two inches north and we would have had a blown out shoulder joint.”

  As Paulie examined, Margo set up a blood pressure and heart rate monitor. She also finished cutting off the remainder of Cole’s shirt to get it out of the way.

  “It’s pretty miraculous, but the humerus looks intact. We’re going to have our hands full putting his biceps back together, though. Never thought I’d have to use my skills as an Army surgeon after forty years, but here we are.”

  Theo had found a chair. “I should be helping,” he said weakly.

  “You are helping, Theo. You pray while we work. Okay?” Margo said soothingly.

  “We need to finish cleaning the wound and get started on reconstructing this muscle. Margo, ready with the anesthesia?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said and handed Dr. St. Paul a syringe filled with a local pain killer.

  “Well, let’s get this boy fixed up. Shall we?” he said to no one in particular, and began numbing the area.

  Back in the living room where all the chaos had begun, Maze was crouched under the sofa table. He was doing what any coyote would do when hurt. He was methodically licking his wound. Unfortunately, Farrow’s missed shot hit the wooden door right beside Maze sending an explosion of wood splinters into the air. It wasn’t a bullet wound he was nursing; He had several large splinters of wood lodged in his flank, but everyone was so worried about Cole no one thought to look for Maze, and he was hurting too much to go look for them. He whimpered softly as he licked and tried to gently bite at the painful wooden shards.

  Not until Cole’s surgery was complete and he was stabilized did anyone think to wonder about Maze.

  “Theo, do you remember seeing Maze? He wasn’t hurt, was he?” Margo asked.

  “I don’t know. I’ve been so worried about Cole, I hadn’t even thought about Maze.” Theo felt guilty for inwardly blaming the coyote for his son’s injuries. It wasn’t Maze’s fault. He’s just an animal who was doing as he has been trained.

  “Paulie?”

  “Nope, I haven’t seen the fur ball in hours; I’ve been stuck in the lab most of the day, but I’ll come with you to look for him. I need to get some food in this old belly of mine,” he said, patting his ample middle.

  With a sinking feeling settling in her stomach, Margo excused herself from Cole’s beside and began walking the house in search of her daughter’s coyote. Paulie took a detour to the kitchen to throw a frozen dinner into the microwave.

  “Maze? Maze, come here boy!” She waited quietly for the familiar padding of his paws on the tile floors of this Hawaiian house that had become home, but no sound came.

  She rounded the corner to look in Meg’s room.

  “Maze? Are you in here?” she called.

  In response, she heard a faint whimper from under Meg’s bed.

  “Maze? What are you doing under there?” Margo leaned down and reached to lift the bedskirt. That’s when she noticed the blood stains.

  “Oh, no. Maze, come here boy. Let me see what happened to you.” The coyote whimpered again, but didn’t move. His yellow eyes glowed in the darkness and if Margo weren’t sure this coyote was perfectly tamed, she would have thought twice about reaching her hand in to touch his soft fur.

  Maze growled.

  “Maze!” Margo gasped, surprised and quickly withdrew her hand. “What’s gotten into you? Honey, I only want to help you. Will you please come out from under there?” She spoke to the coyote as though he was a child.

  He yawned widely, a sign of stress in canines, then whimpered apologetically.

  “C’mon Mazie,” she coaxed.

  Crawling, belly to the floor, the coyote made his way slowly out from under the bed. Every movement caused him to moan and yip painfully.

  “That’s my boy. Good boy, Maze. I know it hurts; keep coming.”

  The doctor grimace when she saw his back and hind quarter with chunks of fur and flesh mangled with both dried and oozing blood. Several large pieces of splintered wood were still deeply lodged into his flank. “Oh, you poor dear,” she cooed softly. “I’m so sorry, Mazie. I’m going to get help, okay. You stay right here.”

  She stood slowly so as not to startle the anxious, hurting animal and hurried to the doorway. “Paulie! Come quick. I’m in Meg’s room, and Maze is hurt!”

  Together, the two doctors worked to anesthetize the coyote, clean the wound, remove the pieces of wood, stitch up the cuts and start him on a round of I.V. antibiotics.

  “I don’t have an Elizabethan collar for him, but we could make one if he needs it when he wakes up,” Paulie was saying as they finished cleaning the impro
mptu operating room that was Meg’s bedroom floor.

  “Well, he’ll need to stay tranquilized until we get the full round of antibiotics in him anyway. I’m thinking two days will do.” She was gently rubbing his ears and stroking his sleeping eyes. He loved it when she did that and if he were awake he would be making the cutest happy noises.

  Paulie stood slowly and stretched his back. “I hate to say it, but I’m getting too old for this.” He smiled ruefully and made his way stiffly out of the room.

  “We did good,” Margo called to Paulie, thankful for his help.

  The kindhearted, quirky doctor turned and said, “Well, we’re not veterinarians, but besides knowing what kind and how much anesthesia to give a sixty-pound canine, this injury was pretty much like treating a human.” He smiled wider and added, “A very hairy human.”

  “You’re the best, Paulie!” she called affectionately after him.

  “You’re not so bad yourself, kiddo!” he called back. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.” She heard the sound of his sandals getting further away.

  Margo curled a blanket around the sleeping coyote. “Meg is going to be so happy to see you, Maze. She’s coming home, you know! And we’re going to get her all better so you two can…” her voice caught in her throat. “Well, we’ll all be back together. We’ve always been our strongest when we’re together.” She blinked back tears and forced herself to think positively.

  51 Infinite Possibilities

  “Hello?” a voice came from outside in the corridor accompanied by a soft rapping.

  “Hello? Is someone in there? Is everything okay? We heard…well, are you all right?”

  More polite knocking.

  When the wailing continued, everyone on the first floor of the hospital was alarmed. Determined to restore order to her hospital, the charge nurse from the first floor decided to investigate the sounds herself. Having earned her status with years of exemplary service to the Facility’s hospital, she was one of only a handful of staff who had been given a numerical code that would give access to the building’s stairwell down to the basement. This was to be used in emergencies only and in all her years of service at the hospital, she had never had a reason to use that access until today when the screams and wails continued to echo through the floor boards.

  Knowing there was no other room in the basement except this one, the nurse had to assume the cries came from behind the door to which she now held her ear. When only muffled sobs answered her patient knocking, she decided she had no choice but to open the door.

  She reached down and tried the knob. It turned easily in her hand and sprang ajar. The sobs continued, unaffected by the light streaming in from open door. Not wanting to startle the person inside, she spoke again, “Hello? I’m a nurse. Can I help you?”

  The dark room became silent for a moment. Then the innocent nurse heard a guttural, animal-like growl reverberate from the far corner. She couldn’t see, but she could hear and it didn’t sound human or meta.

  Though very much afraid, morbid curiosity commanded her hand flip on the light switch. The moment she did, she regretted it. What looked at first to be a bundle of clothes tossed into the corner was instead a man she didn’t recognize. In his arms, he held a girl. He was cradling her thin frame in his arms like a baby and rocking back and forth. When he lifted his face the nurse later swore it was the most horrifying sight she had ever witnessed, and the memory was seared into her mind even as she ran screaming from the room.

  Upon subsequent interrogation by the Commander himself, she swore she hadn’t recognized the man. That she had never seen him before. She described what she saw and felt terrified tears stream down her face during the entire interview.

  “The man’s eyes were sunken deep into his skull and dead, black like a shark’s. He had chunks of hair ripped off his scalp leaving bloody, bald patches,” she said motioning to her own head.

  Swallowing hard, the nurse continued, “Blood ran down his face and dripped on the body in his arms, but he just kept rocking back and forth like he was going to sing a lullaby to the woman. He looked monstrous.”

  Shaking, she reached for the bottled water in front of her before finishing. “Beside him were vials. I recognized them immediately by their packaging.”

  “What were the markings on the vials?” the commander asked, though he knew the answer to his question even before he asked it.

  “They were vials of the Infinity Serum, sir. I’d recognize that symbol anywhere.”

  The commander removed his piercing gaze from the nurse, clasped his hands behind his back and asked, “Was there anything else? Did he say anything to you?”

  The girl was so scared her mouth went dry and her heart thumped hard enough to vibrate her vision. “Yes, sir. He laughed and screamed something I couldn’t understand—it—it was a different language!”

  “Say what you remember of it!” The commander was losing his patience with this witness.

  “It was something like: ‘Ego sus-ci-tatio bestia intus.’” The woman looked up with pleading eyes. “And that’s when I ran.”

  Commander Oldham closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath. “Please wait outside. I’ll have a chaperone escort you back to your quarters.”

  The nurse stood and began walking obediently toward the door but stopped halfway there. She turned and blurted, “Sir, what’s going to happen? Who was he, and who was the girl? Did he kill her? Did the serum do that to him? Why…”

  “Soldier!” barked Oldham angrily. He had crossed the length of the room instantaneously and was now inches away from her face. “Silence your tongue! You forget your place!” he spat.

  Startled by his reaction, the woman nodded once and left the room to wait in the seats outside the Commander’s office.

  Oldham walked to his desk, picked up the phone and pressed a single button. “The woman seated outside my office is to be terminated immediately. Call me when it’s done.” He slammed the phone down and sat at his computer to think.

  The Director had dosed himself with the Infinity Serum, that much was just confirmed by the nurse. Oldham shook his head, shocked. It never occurred to him that the scientist would react like this. He expected sorrow, sure—a grieving period where he mourned the girl, understandable. But this? This was…unthinkable!

  Oldham wasn’t a scientist, but even he knew that the Infinity Serum was only tested on expendable subjects. He’d heard there was a huge mortality rate during the initial days after a subject was dosed. And even then, each new meta was volatile and unpredictable for a while. Some went on to be added as a cadet to the Facility. Others were too unstable and were considered inadequate for meta training. Those subjects were terminated. But he never knew of the serum to be given to a subject older than fifteen. What would it do to a sixty-five-year-old man? What was Williams thinking?

  The more he thought, the more worried he became. He flipped open his laptop and typed in the search engine the words the woman had remembered. Of all the sites that pulled up, most of them referred to the words as Latin. Refining his search, he found a Latin to English translator. It only took a couple attempts for him to get the general idea of Williams’ statement. He whispered the translation to himself and worried that he was about to get what he had wished for.

  “Ego suscitatio bestia intus” translated to “I awakened the beast within.”

  52 Coming in for a Landing

  “Okay, I have some good news and some bad news,” Alik said after having just spoken with his mom.

  “I was just about to say the same thing,” Evan said as he made his way back down the aisle after visiting the cockpit.

  “Farrow played target practice with Cole. She clipped his arm. Mom and Paulie just finished reconstructing his biceps. He’s lucky to be alive. Maze was hurt, too. But thankfully, it was by flying debris from a missed shot and not directly from a bullet.” Alik stared at his brother with wide eyes.

  Evan sat down slowly muttering, �
��I can’t wait to get my hands on that—”

  Interrupting, Creed said, “Cole and Maze are stable. Farrow must be getting desperate if she missed her targets like that. She’s usually an expert sniper. This is more telling of her state of mind than anything.”

  “What was the good news?” Evan asked somberly.

  “The good news is that mom made enough smoke bombs to give us near blackout coverage for probably four minutes,” Alik said trying to sound positive.

  The cabin was quiet for a moment as the metas imagined being partially blinded for four minutes while trying to get Meg safely out of the ambulance and rolled up the walkway and into the house. It was going to be tricky.

  “Evan, what’s your news? What’s going on with the pilots?” Alik asked.

  Sighing deeply to clear his head, Evan said, “The pilots tell me that we’re going to begin our decent now.”

  “That sounds like good news. What’s the bad?” Creed asked.

  “We’re riding in on fumes,” Evan said seriously. “They’ve been fighting crosswinds that have taken up more fuel than the flight planner anticipated.”

  “What can we do?” Creed asked the room.

  “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to check Meg’s safety straps for the hundredth time, then strap myself in.” He looked over at his brother and nodded. “Then we’re going to pray.”

  All three boys began moving around the cabin quickly in preparation. The speaker hissed awake and the captain’s voice came on. “Well, boys…we’re in for a bumpy landing, that’s for sure. I’ve been in contact with the tower and they have cleared the path for us to just come on in. They’ll have emergency vehicles standing by to help as soon as we’re down. We’ve already begun our decent and can see the island in the distance.”

  At this time, please make sure the safety harnesses on our patient are secure then secure yourselves into your seats. We’re going to do our best to keep this bird behaving as we need her to, and with a little luck we may just pull this off. It’s been an honor serving you. Jacobi out.”