by S.J. Finch
Chapter 23
Daniel’s black boots crunched on the powdery snow as he trudged slowly back towards them. It was the only sound in the stillness of the dark parking lot, except for the occasional creak of the van.
The rear double doors stood open to the freezing night air, but no one felt it. Miles leaned on the bumper and held his heavily bandaged arm close to his body. Ruby lay in the back of the truck, her injured leg propped up, next to the still-unconscious form of the telekinetic little girl. Ryan and Evelyn leaned against an open rear door, and each other.
He looked down at her face and tried to follow her gaze, but her eyes were unfocused and far away, staring off aimlessly into the snowy ground. Her cheeks had been dry of tears since the final bang of the gunshot. She hadn’t looked at anyone or said a word. A large snowflake fell onto her forehead and Ryan brushed it away. She didn’t move.
Daniel reached the van and turned, with the rest of them, to face the darkened hospital building. He stared down at the small detonator resting in his massive hands. He looked at it for a long while, then shook his head.
He handed it to Miles who didn’t give a second thought to passing it straight on to Ruby, getting it out of his hands as quickly as possible.
Ruby grasped the detonator and began to sob anew. She clutched it in jeweled fingers and her thumb hovered over the black plastic switch. She caressed it for a moment, but then a fresh wave of grief overtook her and she dropped the device into Ryan’s free hand.
He stared down at the collection of wires and plastic. Ruby’s whispered cries brought tears of his own, and the detonator doubled and swam in his blurry eyes. His body shook gently with the silent sobs, and hot tears dropped to the frozen ground. He poised his finger over the switch and braced himself.
A warm hand slid over his and his fingers stopped. He looked down at Evelyn, whose gaze now met his. She slipped the detonator from his hand into her own and took a deep, ragged breath.
Ryan watched as a single tear from each eye welled up beneath the pools of green, then slid slowly down her sloping cheeks. She blinked, swallowed hard, and shuddered in Ryan’s arms. Then she pressed the switch.
The boom was deafening, even from this distance. The ground shook beneath their feet as a plume of smoke and dust rose from the dark building. The structure shifted slightly, but did not collapse. Ryan trusted Daniel’s expertise: the building itself would remain intact and unharmed, but the underground factory and the bodies they had piled inside had certainly been destroyed. The authorities would comb through the rubble and find the useless remains of a highly illegal Vain production site, but there’d be no trace left of a werewolf, any vampires, four gun-toting paranormal thugs, or a doctor who had once been a good, kind-hearted man before he had been corrupted by the evil around him and the power within him.
They stood in silence and stillness as they watched the gray smoke billow into the starry sky. Even when the sounds of sirens reached their ears, no one moved. No one except Evelyn.
She swallowed again and cleared her throat, then tossed the used detonator into the back of van. It clanged loudly against the metal floor and startled the other four out of their reverie.
“Come on.” She said briskly as she grabbed the van keys out of Daniel’s limp hand. “We’re not out of breath yet.”
Chapter 24: Epilogue
Pine. Dampness. Dirt. The smells of the woods came to Ryan in an unfolding bouquet, and he inhaled them deeply.
The fire was working its way up to a blaze, and although it would have gone much faster with Evelyn to tend to it, she was still down by the lake and Ryan was sick of waiting. Evelyn had never been to the lake before, in fact she had never been camping or out with friends before. Ryan wanted to give her time to enjoy it.
With Eli’s help, the tents had gone up in no time, and the two were now relaxing together in canvas chairs watching the sun set over the tree tops.
“Doesn’t it keep you up at night?” Eli asked. “All the terrible stories Vanessa could be telling Evelyn right now?”
“Every night.” Ryan replied.
“You know, even with girls, I still hate camping.” Eli said.
“Me too.”
“Then why are we here?”
“Because camping might suck,” Ryan said “but I like the woods. It’s peaceful here, out-of-the-way.”
“And there are fewer things out here that want to suck the marrow out of your bones.” Eli added.
“That too.”
The shimmering orb of the sun dipped just below the trees and set them ablaze with a brilliant orange glow. Shadows lengthened and crickets began to warm up their wings for the evening’s performance.
“So from now on, while you’re off gallivanting around the criminal underworld, what are V and I supposed to do while you’re gone?” Eli asked.
“You could do my homework.”
Eli scoffed. “I don’t do my homework. There’s no way I’m doing yours.”
Ryan smiled.
“Do you think Vanessa is okay with all of this?” He asked after a moment.
“Why wouldn’t she be?” Eli replied.
“I don’t know…” Ryan’s voice trailed off.
“Are you okay with it?” Eli asked.
“With what?”
“Turning into a monster, fighting other monsters. Having like…a hundred percent more monster in your life than you used to.”
Ryan thought for a moment. “Yeah.” He replied simply.
“Oh. Good.”
Evelyn and Vanessa started up from the lakeshore and Ryan closed his eyes as he let the last rays of daylight wash over him.
As he did, the phone buzzed in his pocket. He scanned the message and called to Evelyn. “Miles just found the location of the newest clinic. We’re going to hit it.”
“Daniel and Ruby already en route?” She asked.
Ryan nodded.
“Well let’s go.” She replied with a dazzling white smile as she started for the edge of the clearing.
Ryan hung back. “Keep a few s’mores warm for us. Gotta go save the city…again.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes, but then locked them onto Ryan’s. She gave a tiny nod and then a small, half-smile. It was Ryan’s favorite of her smiles.
He smiled back, then turned and trotted to catch up with Evelyn. Together they made their way across the clearing and into the woods. Thirty feet through and they came to the shoulder of the highway where the Cherokee and Evelyn’s motorcycle were parked.
“You want to follow me?” Ryan asked “Or…”
Evelyn swung a leg over the bike and started the engine.
“Howabout you see if you can keep up?”
Ryan grinned. He felt like he was up to the challenge.
The End.
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