Even if everything in life was predetermined, maybe that wasn’t what mattered. Maybe it was about the people close to him and the connections and relationships he had with them, and why he decided to do things as opposed to what things he would do. He knew that at least for now his purpose, and the only thing he wanted to do, was keep his family safe. He loved them and they were all he had aside from Tammy. If the four of them were to stay together, then that was what was important. It didn’t matter if he took up this prophesied quest to save the people if it was already determined, it mattered why he chose either to do it or not to do it. Jack knew in that instant that he would do it. Not just for Tammy’s people’s belief, but because it was the right thing to do. If it could end the invasion, then it was the only way his siblings could have a semi-normal life again. That was what was important. It wasn’t about fate or destiny or becoming a hero or even glory. It was about love. In order to give not only his family, but every family on earth a chance, he had to do his best to be one of the star children. He had to take it seriously and carefully weigh out the decisions presented to him and how they might affect not just him, but the future of his family and friends.
It was a lot to take on, a big burden to bear in the dark confines of the silo, but Jack knew it was the right thing to do. Dad had told him once that the right thing was always worth doing, though seldom the easiest. He wished Dad was here now. They had butted heads enough times in the past, but Dad always had the answer, always knew what to do.
Rising from his cot, Jack carefully crept to the door and unlatched it. Slowly pulling it open, he slipped through and out into the night beyond. Turning, he secured the door closed once more before walking out and away from the silos to look up at the sky. With only a few wispy clouds it was mostly clear, and in a world filled with darkness he could see more stars than he ever fathomed before. When he was little he had often wondered if anyone was out there looking back, but that question, it seemed, had been answered all too completely. It was odd that in his current predicament, on a world where alien races had for some reason or another congregated, it still felt so empty and he, alone.
Finding a tree stump to rest against, Jack sat in the grass, letting his head fall back to again reveal the stars above. Brushing something with his hand, he picked it up, revealing a long black feather. It was then, when appraising the feather, that he noticed movement between the silos. Straining his eyes to see better, he rose quickly, staying low as to not be spotted himself, and crept back towards the deeper darkness between the metal structures.
Crouching and moving, almost on all fours, he silently stalked the shadow moving in the darkness until he could make it out better. Peering through the black veil of night, he could see that it walked upright, and moved cautiously, towards the silo where both Sam and Will slept. Fearing the worst, Jack sprang to action, sprinting ahead. Hearing his sudden movement, the figure turned around as he lunged, wrapping his arms around it and dragging it to the ground with a thud. Twisting and wrestling against him, the figure fought him but in seconds he had it pinned to the ground beneath him, each of its wrists in one of his hands.
With his heart pounding and a surge of adrenaline in his veins he grinned mockingly at the figure beneath him as his eyes focused.
“Easy there, Jack. I like you and all, but there are nicer ways to get a girl alone,” Tammy teased him from the ground. “I had hoped you might be awake so we could talk.”
* * * * *
Although Tammy couldn’t see his face very well in the dark, she assumed he was blushing when he quickly released her and practically jumped to his feet. Taking his offered hand, she was pulled back to her own feet and quickly brushed herself off. He did the same before reaching down to retrieve something from the ground and she couldn’t help but smile at him.
“That looks like it will be perfect,” she said.
“What, this?” he asked, holding up the feather.
“Yeah. I’ve been talking to my people and they want to help however they can. They’ve offered supplies, or even to travel with us when we leave. But they also said they would help you as best as they were able to train you to use your abilities.”
“Train how?” Jack asked.
“Well, a good start would be to see if you could lift that feather with your mind. If you can throw a man, then that should be easy enough.”
“But I don’t know how I did it,” Jack replied.
“Then I guess we’ll just have to figure it out,” Tammy said, trying to be encouraging.
“What do you have in mind?”
“Let’s find a place where we can see a little better, and we’ll work it out together.”
“OK,” Jack said, turning to walk back the way he had come.
Tammy followed him out across the grass to a large stump. There were thick roots thrusting up from the ground in all directions, hindering the growth of the grass, and so the ground was quite clear. Seating herself beside Jack, she plucked the feather from his hand and placed it on the stump.
“Now try and move it,” she said, turning her eyes to his.
She watched on for a moment as he seemed to focus, but the feather refused to budge. His expression changed then and he leaned forward as if really concentrating, and closing his eyes he held his breath and strained his muscles. Tammy watched as his body actually began shaking but still the feather remained untouched. After a few seconds more Jack stopped and took a deep breath.
“It doesn’t work.”
“Guess you’ll have to try a different approach then,” Tammy suggested.
“Like what? Blow on it?”
“No. Instead of trying to make it move, maybe close your eyes and imagine that it is moving.”
Again Jack closed his eyes and Tammy took turns looking at him and then the feather, but after several minutes nothing was happening yet again. It seemed this was going to be harder than she thought. The first time he had used his ability had been by both necessity and by reaction alone. He hadn’t planned to invoke the power, it had just happened. Maybe the trick was not thinking about it at all. Then again, maybe it was the scenario. He had used his power to protect her, maybe he just needed the right motivation.
“This isn’t working either,” she finally told Jack.
Standing up, Tammy had a plan. If it worked, great. If not, then she would likely have a headache and some scratches. Either way, she had to try.
“You go over there,” Tammy said, pointing a short distance off and watched as Jack complied.
Stepping up onto the stump, Tammy looked all about its base for the softest looking area and stepped to the edge, turning her back towards it.
“Jack. I’m about to fall backwards and bang my head on these roots and probably be covered in bruises unless you can stop me from falling.”
Without delay, Tammy leaned back past the point of no return and began flailing her arms as she toppled over backwards. Down she fell, gaining momentum, though she managed to hold in a scream that sought escape. Everything moved in slow motion, but even so it seemed he would not catch her in time. With light exploding before her eyes, her head slammed into the knobby roots as promised as she bounced off the ground, pain erupting in several different locations. As she hit, however, she thought that for just an instant she felt a tug, though couldn’t be sure.
Reaching up to feel the back of her head, she found no blood and slowly rose to a sitting position. Jack was already at her side and helped her back to her feet.
“Are you OK?” he asked. “That was crazy. You know I don’t know how to do it, why put yourself at risk like that?”
Stepping forward, Tammy wrapped her arms about him. Hugging him close, she felt his arms return the gesture before she again pushed herself away.
“OK. Go back. Let’s try again,” Tammy ordered.
“I can’t do it, Tammy, stop hurting yourself!” Jack demanded.
“You can do it. I’ve seen you do it. And you will do it.”
>
“Let’s try a different way, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Then catch me,” Tammy said, as she climbed back atop the stump. “Now go back to where you were,” she pointed.
It took him a moment to give in, but reluctantly Jack walked back a distance into the night and turned to watch on. Rubbing her sore elbow and shoulder, Tammy stepped back to the edge and turned around. Without warning she again leaned back as her toes lifted off the surface of the wood. Over she fell and down she came, flailing her arms again, fighting the urge to catch herself. For an instant she could feel his power, like gravity had been suspended, but her momentum was too great and his reaction too late and she slammed to the ground as the air rushed from her lungs.
Coughing, Tammy rolled and pulled herself up to all fours. Keeping her jaw clenched and eyes closed tight, she fought the urge to cry with the pain that came from falling. Rising, she turned a determined face to Jack, pointing him back the way had had just run. Again, Tammy climbed atop the stump.
“Tammy, please don’t do this.”
“Too late,” Tammy replied and turned her back to the edge again.
Tammy leaned.
“No!” Jack yelled and Tammy was thrust forward back onto her feet.
She leaned back again, this time faster.
“No, Tammy! Stop!” Jack yelled.
Tammy thrust herself backwards and felt Jack push back. It wasn’t enough to stop her fall, but she hit the ground lightly, slowly, as Jack laughed in disbelief. Laying on her back amidst the roots, Tammy smiled into the night sky. Together they could do this. Together they could save them all.
As Jack’s grinning face blocked out the sky above her, she couldn’t help but smile bigger and reach out to take his hands. Back on her feet she hugged him again, and then again she pointed him away.
“Tammy, c’mon. That’s enough for tonight. Look at your arms, they’re all scraped up.”
“So don’t let me fall.”
Tammy turned and approached the tree trunk. Lifting her leg she found it sore, but worked through the pain and pushed herself to climb it yet again. Reaching the top she stood and walked to the edge. Suddenly, as if falling, but not, she was jerked off the top of the stump and flung through the air to halt so suddenly her teeth rattled, just inches away from Jack. Though he smiled, she could see that he shook from the effort as she was slowly lowered to the ground.
“Is that enough?” Jack asked, panting.
“Yup. That’ll do it.”
* * * * *
Sam reached up to brush something away from her nose and smacked herself so hard she awoke with a start, looking this way and that as if attacked in her sleep. Hearing several snickers, she sat up to find Jack just a few feet away covering his mouth. Knowing if looks could kill that he’d be dead, she could see no reason for him to be grinning between his fingers. At least until the feather brushed across her cheek and up her left nostril.
“Cut it out, Will!” Sam nearly shouted, turning to find nothing but empty space behind her.
As if carried upon invisible wind, a black feather floated out of the air above and hovered just a few feet in front of Sam. Looking from the feather to Jack and back again, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Had he already learned to use his ability? How could he have possibly figured it out already? He was barely a C student. It didn’t matter. If he had figured out his ability, then she could figure out hers. It was just too early to be happy about anything yet.
Reaching out Sam plucked the feather out of the air and felt as all the hair on her head suddenly stood up.
“OK, showoff. I get it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool and everything, but did you really have to wake me up?”
“Who else was I gonna show off to? I needed someone to share it with.”
“You couldn’t get all googly-eyed and go show Tammy?”
“Nah, she’s already seen.”
That figured. For a second Sam almost felt special.
“You’re a dork, let me go back to sleep.”
“Really? Your brother is telekinetic and you want to go back to sleep? What? Cause I beat you to learning how to use my ability you’re gonna be all grumpy about it?” Jack prodded.
“No. Because my jerk brother stuffed a feather up my nose to wake me up I’m gonna be all grumpy about it.”
Reaching beneath her, Sam grabbed her pillow and hurled it at Jack as hard as she could, with a wicked grin. Unfortunately, the thing stopped just inches out of her grasp and came hurling back only to smack her upside the head. If she had known how to use her own ability she could have gotten out of the way in time. Now it was on.
“OK, big brother. You think you’re so cool with your superpowers. Just wait until I get mine all figured out and then we’ll settle this score.”
“Yup, and I’ll win,” Jack hurled back with a grin.
“We’ll see about that, dork,” Tammy replied with a smile of her own.
He had won. Not only had he woke her up but he got her to smile. Their fake fight was all over. Stretching, Samantha watched as Tammy strode into the room looking like she had been run over by a truck.
“Tammy, what the heck happened to you?” Sam asked, surveying all the bruises and scrapes on her arms.
“Jack let me fall over and over again without catching me.”
It didn’t take any explanation at all. Tammy had used Jack’s hot girl syndrome against him in order to teach him how to use his ability. Smart thinking… devious but smart. Sam liked Tammy even more now.
Finishing her stretch, Sam sat up again upon her cot and smiled at her older brother’s very obvious stolen glances at Tammy. He was smitten. It was so obvious. Deciding not to embarrass him over it, at least not yet, Sam instead turned her attention to Tammy.
“So I guess I need to learn how to use my ability now too, huh?”
“It would be good to,” Tammy replied. “Though I can’t think of any way to help you. Yours is more difficult.”
“Maybe I’ll just have Will tell me I can do it, and then I’ll be able to.”
“That might actually work,” Tammy said with a grin. “That would have been way easier for you too, Jack,” she added with a wink.
Even though Sam didn’t know the specifics of how his night had went, all three laughed together, only to be suddenly interrupted.
“You guys sure are rude,” Will announced, causing Sam to turn around.
“Sorry, buddy,” Sam apologized.
“Jack woke me up by stuffing a feather up my nose. Consider yourself lucky.”
“Really, Jack?” Will asked giggling.
“Yeah like this,” Jack replied.
This time it was Sam’s turn to laugh as Jack’s feather darted out of the air and brushed across Will’s face. Even though her younger brother swatted the thing away, he sat with his fingers pinching his nose closed just in case.
“If I can’t use my powers on you, you better keep yours to yourself too,” Will warned, sounding all nasally like a miniature country singer.
“I suppose we better get this day started,” Sam suggested.
“Did someone say breakfast?” Will asked.
Shaking her head at Will’s seemingly endless hunger, Sam rose from her cot and collected her brother in her arms and hugged him tight.
“Ok, lil guy. Let’s eat and figure out how I teleport so we can save the world.”
“Now that sounds like a plan!”
* * * * *
Will didn’t think Sam’s training was going too good. He had tried to just make her able to do it but that didn’t work. Instead, she spent most of her time just staring off into the distance or closing her eyes and trying to make it happen. It never did though, which was a huge bummer for all of them. Tammy’s people had chipped in for breakfast, but left them alone for the most part while they tried to teach Sam how to use her ability.
After hearing the story of how Jack learned to use his powers, Will thought it a great idea to try
something the same for Sam, but no one could come up with any ideas of just how to do that. Leaving Sam with Jack and Tammy, Will decided to go explore a bit on his own. There were still several silos he hadn’t been in yet and a couple of storage buildings as well as the two semis parked out front. Even burned, they could have something useful in them.
Walking around and in between the silos, Will found nothing of immediate interest. All were empty but one, and that one held the corn that Tammy’s people were using to survive on. Watching the crows take to wing as he approached it, it was obvious how they managed to hunt the birds as they were everywhere around the corn silo during the day. Turning his attentions elsewhere, Will strode out from beneath the shadows of the large cylindrical buildings and crossed the narrow swath of knee-high grass to the first storage shed. Dragging it open, he cringed as the old rusted hinges screeched in protest. Once it was open, he looked inside to reveal any number of interesting implements. There were pitchforks, shovels, a sledgehammer, and dozens of large tools he didn’t have any names for. Some had one handle and others two, but nothing really caught his interest. Pushing the door closed again, he turned back the way he had come, thinking to search the semis on the other side of camp, when he saw one of Tammy’s people walking about in the grass-covered lot a few hundred yards away. Turning, he waved to the man when something caught his eye. Looking back towards the silos, and up, he could see a crosswalk that spanned the distance between them where a large tube or pipe went from one to the other. Smiling, Will ran back towards the silos, looking for the way up to the crosswalk.
It didn’t take long to locate the steel ladder fastened to the side of one of the silos that led up to the crosswalk. Climbing up, he stopped half way to get his breath, and continued on towards the top. It was higher than it looked from the ground and harder to climb too. Will was glad the ladder had a cage around it, the climb got scarier with every rung. Reaching the top, he climbed out across the catwalk cautiously and looked all about. From here he could see the road clearly and even where they had hid the car. A ways off he could see Jack, Sam, and Tammy still in the field on the other side of camp, and several of Tammy’s people wandering here or there or watching his siblings out in the field. Holding the handrails, Will turned round and round but could find no other way up. It was perfect.
Children of the After: The Complete Series Page 30