Water steamed from Will’s face and hair. “Oh, come on. You can do better than that.”
Another arrow flew through the air, just barely sailing past Will’s head and into the ground. Will aimed one of his guns at Jack and kept the other trained on Nolan as he fired off a few rounds at them both. Caleo lunged at Will like a linebacker, shoving his shoulder into Will’s gut. Pushing up and taking Will off his feet, he threw him off balance and to the ground with Caleo on top. The guards screamed out in pain as Caleo’s ferocity intensified, and the temperature of the air instantly plummeted, freezing the soldiers solid where they stood.
“Why?!” Caleo screamed, slamming his fist against Will’s face. “What did she do to you? She never hurt anyone!” Caleo broke Will’s nose with another hit.
Blood gushed from his nose only to start bubbling like hot tar as it flowed down his skin. A drop hit the grass and it instantly caught fire with a hot, blue flame. Noticing Will trying to maneuver his gun to take a shot, Caleo quickly grabbed Will by the wrist and beat it against the ground until Will let go of the weapon. Caleo let go and shoved the gun away and then he picked up a rock from the ground beside him and in a mad rage repeatedly beat Will across the face with it.
Caleo was knocked off with a blow to his head. He rolled to his side and saw Will as he climbed to his feet spitting blood, which burst into a liquid flame the moment it escaped his lips. Will laughed as he circled Caleo, who was still on the ground recovering from the blow. He looked up at Nolan and Jack dragging away Jillian who was screaming for Caleo as they ran towards the woods and away from the fight.
“Looks like your friends have had enough, they just can’t handle the heat,” Will mocked, chuckling at his own joke and circling around Caleo. “Sorry kid, it’s nothing personal. I’m just doing my job, can’t let a Leech run around thinking he's the Angel. It would cause anarchy and chaos … well more than we have now.”
Caleo glanced over to see Nolan and Jack just as they disappeared into the woods and smiled. He turned back to Will who had picked up his gun and was pointing it at him.
“Take a look around,” Caleo challenged. “They are not running from you. They are running from me.” Caleo nodded towards the river, with its waves frozen in place.
Will smiled. “This might be fun. You’re stronger than I thought. It’s going to feel good when I kill you.”
He holstered the gun, took a deep breath, and a long jet of fire shot towards Caleo as he exhaled. The flame engulfed Caleo surrounding him in a cocoon of fire. Caleo jumped forward, his white hand shot out of the fire and grabbed Will’s jaw pinching his cheeks together. The flame abruptly stopped and the cocoon vanished leaving Caleo standing in front of Will his whole body covered in a thick frost. Something clicked in Caleo’s head and he could feel his power flowing from his body lowering the temperature all around him. Instinctively he knew he could alter the flow and focused on sending all his energy down and through his hand in an attempt to freeze Will’s head, but Caleo couldn't get it to freeze Will.
“Can’t you see? Your power can’t hurt me! We could keep this up all day,” Will said, slamming his fist into Caleo’s gut.
Will’s face slipped out of Caleo’s hand and Caleo stumbled backward, tripping over a guard’s dead body and falling to the ground.
“How many Leeches have they been feeding you to get you so strong?” Will demanded.
“I can keep this up all day. Look around, you're running out of energy and I'm still going strong,” Caleo said, pointing back at the river again.
Will glanced over at the river. “Yeah, but that energy will soon be mine.” Will reached for his gun, but Caleo was quicker and lunged forward, snatching the gun out of the holster and rolling away. Will whipped around, but stopped with a look of defeat on his face as he stared down at Caleo, who had the gun aimed at his chest.
“How’s heat at stopping bullets?” Caleo pulled the trigger, shooting Will in the chest twice. Will fell to the ground, clutching where the bullets entered his chest, and hot melted metal oozed from wounds. Moments later his eyes darkened and his body went limp. The moment Will stopped moving Caleo crumpled to the ground exhausted and sobbing. Crawling over to his grandmother he grabbed her hand and screamed as he sobbed, feeling extremely alone and empty. Frozen, she's frozen! I froze her …
“Caleo.” Jack’s voice was shaky and Caleo looked up to see him a few feet away. Jillian was walking up behind him, both of them with tears in their eyes.
Caleo looked back down at his grandmother’s body.
“She’s frozen,” Caleo cried. “I killed her.”
“No, Caleo, he killed her.” Jack knelt down and embraced him in a hug. “I thought you were dead when we saw him run off.” Caleo felt Jack’s hands run down the sides of his chest and belly. “I heard a gun. Did he shoot you?”
“No.” He shrugged him off when the first part of the conversation registered. “What?” he said and whipped his head to where he thought Will’s body was, but only found a burning trail of blood disappearing into the woods. Jillian blocked his view as she bent down, joining the hug.
The three of them sat there for hours just holding onto one another and crying as Nolan kept watch behind them, his expression blank as he scanned the woods.
After a while, people returned to the camp. Caleo could hear Nolan telling some men to remove the guards’ bodies from the camp and move them into the woods but he didn’t look up. A few minutes later Rosie came by and gently placed a blanket over Caleo’s grandmother’s body.
“Caleo, they have prepared a place for her to rest, right where she planted her rose at the foot of the cliff,” Nolan said sympathetically, pointing to the location at the bottom of the cliff side.
“No!” Caleo shook his head and glared up at Nolan.
“Caleo, it’s a beautiful spot,” Jillian said, wiping tears from her eyes.
“She has a place next to my mom!” Caleo argued, looking into Jillian’s eyes. “That’s where she always wanted to be ...” He stopped, then choked up the word, “… buried.”
“But that’s at least a thirty minute drive from here and we don’t have a car,” Jillian said as tears streamed down her face. “There's no way we could … what if we're attacked?”
“We were attacked here,” Caleo retorted.
Jack stood up and looked around nervously. “She’s right. We need to find some place safe to hide ‘til this is over. She would want us to be safe.”
“Fine, I'll take her there alone!” Caleo yelled as he got to his feet. “It’s the least I could do, after all she's done for me … for us.”
“Caleo,” Jack said, but Rosie interceded with an upraised hand before another word escaped his lips.
“Why don’t you kids go up and get some rest.” Rosie patted Caleo on the shoulder. “You'll need it.” Caleo opened his mouth to argue, but Rosie cut him off, “I'll get her ready for the trip in the morning, now go and lie down. It should be safe for now. Right?” She looked over to Nolan for confirmation.
“Will got wounded pretty badly, plus he's alone. Even if he makes it for help I think we have time to get out of here, as long as we do it by the morning,” Nolan said somberly.
Caleo walked slowly toward the cave, following right behind Jack and Jillian who both seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, not saying a word. When they made it into the cave they headed for their grandmother’s bedding in the far corner. They lay down side-by-side, Jillian between the two boys, all three sharing the single pillow as they stared silently up at the cave ceiling watching the shadows creep across the rock surface as the sun set, tears streaming down their faces. The cave was completely dark when Rosie, her daughter, and Nolan entered carrying one of the solar-powered yard-spike lights Caleo had grabbed in the store.
“We have your grandmother ready for transport,” Nolan said, not bothering to pretend he could see. He just faced an empty wall. “We'll leave in the morning. I have enough food packed for four if
anyone else is wanting, I mean if anyone else is going with me and Caleo.”
“What he's trying to say, is if you would like to join them tomorrow, it’s not too late to change your mind.” Rosie looked over at Nolan, confused as to what he was looking at, but after a moment she shrugged and turned back to Caleo. “Now I need to look at your wound and get it cleaned out again.” Caleo didn't move. He just couldn’t find the energy to make the effort; all he wanted to do was just lie there. “Up, up, up, let’s go.” Her voice wasn’t harsh, but it had a demanding motherly quality.
Caleo slowly crawled over to where she instructed. “Well, stand up. I can’t look at you on the ground.” She turned on a little pocket flashlight and aimed it at Caleo. When he had managed to get to his feet, Nolan moved in closer.
Is he trying to get a better look? Caleo thought bitterly and snickered at his own morbid mood.
“Now this shouldn’t tickle,” Rosie said, ripping the tape away while holding the bandage in place.
Caleo let out a small yelp and Jillian and Jack let out a derisive snicker at him.
“I heard that,” Caleo said, almost laughing himself.
“What did she pull out, your only chest hair?” Jillian asked mockingly.
“Poor Vernon, plucked out like an unwanted mole hair,” Jack added in a theatrical tone.
“That wasn’t Vernon,” Caleo defended as Rosie pulled the bandage free.
“Wow, it’s healed up quite nicely. When I stitched you up the other day I didn’t think you would be this good. It usually takes a few weeks to look this healed.”
Then she turned to Nolan, who didn't notice.
“Someone is coming,” Nolan said, causing everyone to stiffen in fear as he walked to the cave entrance. Moments later a man greeted him and the group relaxed recognizing the sound of Nick’s voice. Nolan and the man conversed as Rosie looked over Caleo’s wounds from the most recent fight.
“You sure know how to get people mad, don’t you?” Rosie smiled, but when Caleo didn’t return it she quickly added, “I’m not complaining. After all, your ability to get under people’s skin saved my daughter from God knows what.” Nolan reentered the cave and Rosie dropped the conversation and refocused on him.
“That was Nick; he asked if we have enough room for the women and children to sleep in here. I told him everyone can sleep in the cave tonight. Five of us are going to stand guard and it’s easier to guard if all the people are in the same place. They are getting their stuff now and will be up shortly. I need everything you want to keep to be moved, over to the corner you're in now, so that no one can take any of your stuff. I doubt they will, but just in case.” Jack and Jillian nodded, went to their beds and started to throw their stuff into a pile on their blankets. “Dr Neely, why don’t you go and get your family ready for the night, too,” Nolan suggested.
Rosie stopped what she was doing and stood up saying, “I’ll finish when I get back.”
As she passed by Nolan he put a hand on her shoulder. “Dr. Neely, is it okay if Caleo and I go outside and get cleaned up before this trip?”
“Well he's fine, but I haven't looked at you yet,” Rosie said sternly before turning and walking out of the cave.
“Let’s get your stuff moved, then go and get cleaned up.” Nolan turned to face Caleo.
“I don’t need to get cleaned up,” Caleo insisted as he went over to his bedding, grabbed the corners, and pulled it away from the wall. Suddenly something wooden hit the floor near his bedding. He looked, but the room was too dark to see anything. He took a flashlight off his bed and aimed it at the floor where he found a flat board with a handle carved at the base of it. Caleo picked it up and flipped it over in his hands. “My Smear stick!” Caleo said excitedly, turning to Jack.
“Yeah after I … ran away the other day I went back to the old house. This is all I could find worth keeping.” He held up his own stick with kind of a sad pleading look on his face.
After a long moment of examining the stick Caleo looked back up at Jack and smiled. “Thank you,” he said and tapped the end of his stick to Jack in a kind of silent agreement of forgiveness on both sides.
He placed the stick onto his blanket and quickly pulled it over beside Jack and Jillian’s bedrolls.
“Okay, Caleo, let’s go,” Nolan said before Caleo had a chance to sit down.
“Go where?” Caleo asked, knowing full well where Nolan wanted to go.
“To get cleaned up. That blood will make us look awfully suspicious tomorrow on the road,” Nolan argued.
“I'll get cleaned up in the morning.” Caleo sat down on his bed and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“You have two choices. Either you go to the water or everyone in here gets a shower along with their stuff,” Nolan threatened.
“You don’t have the power for that,” Caleo taunted.
“Yeah, but I can just Leech yours and you have more than enough for me to route the river into the cave,” Nolan stated.
Caleo thought about it for a moment until a drop of water fell from the cave roof and splashed against his cheek.
“Okay, okay, I'll go,” Caleo agreed, wondering whether Nolan had made the water drop or was it just something that happened naturally.
Caleo and Nolan both gathered up some clothes. Jillian and Jack watched warily, as if not wanting Caleo to leave their sight.
When Caleo hesitated by the exit Nolan pulled him along. “We'll be right back,” Nolan assured Jack and Jillian. “If you want, you can come.”
As Jack defiantly stood up, Jillian pulled him back down. “Jack, don’t leave me,” she pleaded. “He's just going to get a bath, he'll be right back.” Jillian looked right at Nolan making it sound like one of Grandma’s statements with a hidden threat.
Once outside, Caleo was greeted by five people carrying their blankets, pillows, and a few other personal items in their arms. Everyone averted their eyes away as Caleo and Nolan passed by.
“What the hell is their problem?” Caleo snapped as the people hurried into the cave.
“They’re scared. The things that you have done the last few days alone have shown them that there are more powerful things in this world than they ever knew existed. They just need to learn how to deal with it. After what Bradley did to save you, I don’t think they will ever trust us.” Nolan crested the hill and stood looking over the cliff.
“What did Bradley do?” Caleo asked dumbfounded.
“He drained two people of life trying to protect you. Those are the two bodies they found him with,” Nolan explained.
“I've saved them twice now. If it wasn’t for me, they'd be dead.” Caleo put his clean clothes on a large rock beside the river. He turned to Nolan who was struggling with a bandage that was strapped to his chest. “I’m the good guy and they treat me like I’m the monster.”
“Hey guys.” Both Caleo and Nolan turned to see Nick on the opposite bank of the river.
Nolan nodded his greeting, then called over, “Hey, do me a favor. I want you to round everyone up and make them go into the cave for the night. No one is to be outside. I'm going to guard from the entrance.”
“Why is that?” Nick asked.
“I’m going to hide the cave door a little better and I can stand at the entrance to guard it. Everyone will need their rest for the morning,” Nolan said, his voice strained as he became frustrated with the bandage.
“Here, take the light,” Nick instructed, tossing the flashlight across the river where it landed on the other side, embedding itself into the soft muddy bank.
Caleo went over and retrieved the light, then walked back to Nolan who managed to get the first bandage off. “I thought we healed fast or something,” Caleo said, shining the light on the oozing, infected wound on his chest.
“We do,” Nolan said, working at another one of the bandages on his chest. Then he realized what Caleo meant and added, “We heal at a quicker rate than normal people. It’s due to the extra energy we store in o
ur bodies. Our wounds heal a lot quicker. If I stole some energy from someone these wounds would be gone in a few hours.”
Caleo stood there looking at the oozing wound on Nolan’s chest as Nolan ripped the second bandage free. A sour odor filled the air that snapped Caleo back to reality.
“So why don’t you take some energy?” Caleo asked, looking at the white puffy, gooey wound Nolan had just exposed.
“I live by the Blessed rules; I can’t steal any energy from a person. You see, it’s nearly impossible for a Leech to steal energy and leave the human living. Just touching someone for less than a second could drain them completely.” Nolan held up his left palm as he spoke.
“Are you going to be all right?”
“Yeah, I just have to wash it out.” Nolan stopped pulling at the tape of another bandage as if an idea just struck him. A smile broke his face and he turned and walked to the edge of the riverbank pulling Caleo with him. “Let’s get in the water and wash off that dried blood. I’m going to take some of your energy. You don’t mind, do you?”
“But you said—”
“You’re not human.” Nolan reminded him and Caleo nodded his head.
Nolan extended his left hand grabbed Caleo’s forearm. A second after Caleo felt the sting Nolan released his arm and stepped back into the water. His skin slowly faded leaving a watery transparent figure the contour of his body. The bandages stayed in place for a moment, then sank through his body and to the dark water below where it drifted down stream and over the cliff.
“Neat trick,” Caleo complimented.
Caleo carefully reached out, but stopped inches from Nolan’s chest, which was reflecting the light from his flash light and the trees around them. Nolan nodded his consent and Caleo slowly let his hand touch the watery surface, small ripples formed around his fingers. He smiled, then pushed his hand deeper into Nolan’s chest until his whole hand was immersed into the cold clear water.
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