Laura looked up at the clock on the wall. "Oh, I have to go!" She jumped up and put on her coat, thankful the time gave her an excuse to run off.
"Wait, you're doing it again." Ben grabbed her sleeve.
"No, really, I'm not running away," she reassured him. "My friend Mr. B is sick and I promised I'd make him chicken soup. And it's getting late."
"Tomorrow then? Can I meet you at the lake?"
"Umm, tomorrow is probably out. Maybe the next day?"
"How about tomorrow evening?"
"I don't know. I'll stop by if I can, okay? How long are you here?"
"As long as you'll have me." Ben grinned and she blushed at his bold statement. He let go of Laura's coat.
"Goodbye, Ben Fieldstone." She saluted him with two fingers and a smile. "Thanks for the coffee and pastry."
"You're most welcome, Laura Armstrong." Ben nodded and saluted her back as he stood up. And then like that, she turned and left.
The café was lifeless after she left. Ben hurried back to his room under a blustery, dark sky that dropped wet splashes on his cheeks. He decided to hunker down for the night with a good book, cheese and crackers, and the one beer he had stashed in the mini-fridge in his room.
But when he got there he drew the comforter around his shoulders and sat in the rocking chair in front of his window in the dark, watching the storm rage down Main Street. Sheets of rain belted down and the wind whipped the trees, bending and cracking their limbs with angry lashes. Lightning crashed, sending exploding shadows across the old buildings in grotesque forms.
Ben wondered if Laura was safe and snug wherever she stayed. He felt conflicted about her for sure. Part of him wished she were there with him right now under the comforter, holding her close. Part of him wanted to pack his bags, get in his car, and drive as far away as possible and forget he ever came here or met Laura. But he couldn't do it.
He was already addicted to her and yet afraid. But he couldn't treat her like one of his many affairs. He had become an expert at seduction but not at romance. The idea of romance was so odd to him he wasn't sure he could be romantic. For Ben it was the first time he wanted a woman for more than sex. He told her things after a day of meeting her he had never told another soul.
It all left him with an uncomfortable but exhilarating feeling. He wanted to feel more. He wanted to give in to the addiction of Laura. She was lovelier now that he knew her. He didn't want to let her go. Was he meant to meet her? But what was she hiding? And could she accept him for the things he had done? He didn't know and it made him more afraid.
X-10 threw aside the girl's body from his mind. She lay sprawled on the street where he had grabbed the whore in the alley. He returned his mind to his cell, enjoying his kill. She had been a busty one with meat on her. He had toyed with her, gnawing on her cooling flesh. A nibble on an ear, a sucking of blood from cuts on her fingertips.
The urge for fresh meat had overwhelmed him. The girl had been a feisty one, scratching wildly at the air to get at the invisible creature that attacked her in the night. Even if she had scratched him in the flesh it wouldn't matter. His scratches would quickly disappear. He had the ability to heal himself. He would simply move his fingers over his cuts and they would vanish.
Tonight, he had contemplated plunging his thick cock into the girl from his mind's eye, but was repulsed by the thought of contaminating himself in her wet human orifice.
"I don't fuck 'em and leave 'em. I'd fuck 'em and eat 'em!"
X-10 roared with laughter at his joke and wished he had a partner to share it with. A partner of his own genes. How different life could be if he knew of other creatures like himself. He enjoyed making up quips from the books he read in his cell. A main theme ran through them all. The characters were all falling in love, trying to find love, or dying from love.
Then thoughts of his night with Sabrina reared. Go away! He didn't want to understand this love thing. He had never been shown love all of his life, except for his short time with Sabrina. Stop thinking of her! He wanted to hate her. He hated humans so then he must hate her. But he had one thing in common with these despicable humans. He wanted a partner like himself. One he could hunt with, and kill with, and have thrashing sex with. Not one to hurt his heart.
X-10 sighed and stretched out on his cot. He let his mind soar to the outside world. He found Laura again. He had lost her after the office killing, but he found her now back with the old man again.
He soared through the night sky to the old man's cabin in the woods. There they were. Laura cooked something on the stove. The old man was wrapped up in a blanket on the couch. The creature could do nothing but watch, as he had used up most of his powers with the whore tonight. His powers weren't as strong when he was dulled by drugged food, and even then he had a short window of time to use them before he grew weak.
But that was just fine. He would never kill Laura from his mind's eye. This one had to be done in the flesh. Just like Bjord's would be. He spent his entire life seeking her out and destroying those around her. Soon her time would come. And she would know what he was and he would watch her die. He would stretch it out. How sweet it would be to hear her screams of agony until he had his fill, and then silence.
He sighed and drifted into a deep sleep where he chased Laura in his dreams.
CHAPTER 17
Laura stirred the chicken rice soup over the stove and glanced at Mr. B. He had become much worse since she left him this afternoon. She found him sleeping on the couch when she got home from the café. His coughing had turned phlegmatic and wet. She feared his cold was turning into pneumonia. As she stirred the soup a piercing headache worked its way through her skull. She could tell it would be a bad one. It felt like a steel probe pushing into her skin, inch by inch. She sighed and ladled soup into a bowl, then sat beside Mr. B who dozed. He opened his eyes.
"Oh my, that smells good," he wheezed. He took it in his shaking hands and sipped it from the spoon. "And hearty too."
"Good old chicken broth should fix you up soon, Mr. B."
"This is perfect. You should eat some too, Laura. And tomorrow I'll be fine and we'll go find this Doctor Britton."
She patted his knee. "I'm not hungry. And Mr. B, I don't think you're going anywhere tomorrow but to the doctor. I'm worried your cough is turning into pneumonia. We might need to take a trip to the hospital."
"Hmph, we'll see. I may not be a spring chicken but I can get around all right. I'll fight this thing off. But forget about that. Tell me about Ben."
Laura looked up at the ceiling and tried to figure out what she could say. "He's a good man, I think."
"That's it? That's all you learned?"
"Well, his parents died here the night the meteorite hit. They were vacationing and crushed in their cabin."
"Oh my God. Well, there were many who died that night. How sad for him. And why is he here now?"
"I think to put the past behind him."
Laura didn't want to talk about Ben anymore to Mr. B. She didn't understand her feelings for the man with the gray eyes. She felt uncomfortable just trying to figure it out and put it into words. Pain shot through her head again. She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"A bad one, Laura?"
"Yeah, it's coming on. I wish I could find a way to heal my own pain with these headaches. I've got to lie down. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize to me, young woman. You go rest. I'll do the same and we'll both be fine in the morning."
"Goodnight, Mr. B. Enjoy your soup."
She kissed him on the cheek, his dry skin rustling across her lips like thin leaves, and then she stumbled toward the loft ladder. She stretched out on her bed, the pounding coursing through her head in a tortuous rhythm, and drifted into blessed sleep.
When Laura woke up it was still dark out. Disoriented, she sat up to look at the clock. 5:00 a.m. Her headache had disappeared. She took a shower, dressed, and tiptoed down the loft ladder. She peeked in on Mr. B and found him cur
led up on his side, still asleep. He wheezed, but she didn't want to wake him just yet. She downed coffee and toast and left Mr. B a note saying she was headed for the lake and would check on him in a few hours.
She wanted to get to work right away on strengthening her newfound powers. Anxiety tugged inside her, building stronger every day. She was running out of time. The evil that followed her headed her way soon. The man in black had written it so. She didn't know why she believed in his words but she felt in her gut he was right. A showdown was coming and she had to be ready.
Laura pulled a thick, cream-colored cable sweater on over her turtleneck and shivered as she stepped outside. She blew out silver clouds. They hung in the air and disappeared then she shoved her hands in her jean pockets and walked down the rough path toward the lake. Light crept through the trees, but the sun still hid away below the horizon.
As she neared the bottom of the path at the shoreline, movement caught her eye across the lake through the mist rising from the water. Someone moved along the path. The dark figure, shrouded in white, flowed in a fluid line along the path. Every few feet he would stop to investigate something and then move along. Laura peered through the dim light but she couldn't make him out. Then, he was gone.
The figure reminded her of Ben, and she wondered if it was him. A funny kind of feeling spread through her thinking of Ben. She closed her eyes and pictured him leaning in his doorway, arms folded across his bare chest as his gray eyes stared into hers. It felt as if they had known each other for a long time. But she had to get him out of her mind for now.
She made her way through the fog toward the section of the lake hidden in an alcove. There, facing the woods, she closed her eyes and focused on moving rocks with her mind. Anger rose in her thinking of her parents, Moe, and Renee. She wanted to fight back. She wanted to find this man who killed them.
She planted her feet shoulder-width apart, and facing the woods, commanded its inanimate objects to obey her wishes. Her hands danced in fury as rocks and branches flew through the air toward one another.
She stripped off her sweater and turtleneck, now damp with sweat. The sun hit the lake from the treetops burning off the fog, shooting millions of sparkles across the water toward her. But Laura closed her eyes to the beauty and fought her war with evil.
The sounds of her battle echoed around the lake as wood and stone broke against each other. She was a creature of nature and hypnotized in the darkness of her mind as she fought. She shrieked with bitter triumph.
Then exhaustion overcame her and her rage drained away. She sank to the ground, weeping. The pain of her many losses overcame her. How could she win against something she didn't even know? But she did know one thing. She and this killer had to be connected. Just as she was connected somehow to the man she sensed deep in the earth here all those years ago. She rose up on her knees and threw back her arms wide open in protest, her chest reaching out toward the sky.
"Just come and get me you bastard! I'm ready!"
She opened her eyes and squinted from the sunlight now all around her.
"Laura," a voice called softly from behind her.
She jumped up and turned around to see Ben standing by the shoreline. The adrenaline that had surged through her body disappeared. She felt weakness crash over her in waves. She couldn't form words to say. Tears still streamed down her face. She reached out a hand to him and it shook. She stared at it as if it weren't part of her body and she tottered on her feet. Ben lunged toward her and caught her before she fell.
Ben held Laura on the rocky beach and traced her face as her eyes remained closed. He put a finger to her throat and felt her heart racing. Fire poured off her, pulsing like heat waves shimmering on hot asphalt baking in a summer sun. He tried not to look at the swell of her breasts pushing up from the lavender lace that embraced her sweet points. And so he concentrated on her face, trying to make sense of what happened.
Ben hadn't meant to come to the lake so early, but he had tossed and turned the night before. A monster chased him in his dreams. He couldn't see his face though. Laura ran with him and he knew the monster would kill them both. He had to save her. But the thing that chased them grew closer and closer.
Then he woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. All he could think of was Laura. He felt as if his whole life had been leading up to meeting her. Like fate. He wished he had answers to all the questions he had about her, but he could wait if it meant he could spend more time with her. And so he came to the lake before the sun came up to take his mind off her. He had to find something in these woods to give him answers about his parents' death, or peace at least. He intended to search every part of it. He had all the time in the world.
He had traced the shoreline and headed through the trees toward the fenced-in area when he heard crashing noises. He followed the noise and pushed through the brush to get to the lake. There stood Laura, a fierce warrior battling an invisible enemy as sticks and rocks sailed through the air before her in a cloud of chaos. She was so beautiful, standing there like a goddess as her hair blew around her. Her body shone with sweat and her muscles rippled as she conducted the air. Once again, he was mesmerized. Who was this girl?
And now here he held her to him in stillness and peace. He wondered who she had been screaming to just before she fainted. He had so many questions to ask. His troubles and past faded in the background as he tried to understand this woman he just met yesterday.
"Laura."
Her eyes fluttered and then opened to stare right at him.
"Ben." She struggled to get up and he helped her. She swayed once and he gripped her arm to steady her. She stared at him and then looked at the piles of rock and wood strewn about from her violent show. "Oh my God."
"You're okay." He held onto her arm.
She wouldn't look at him and moved away, bending down to pick up her turtleneck trapped under rocks. She tugged it out and turning away from him, quickly pulled it over her head.
"What just happened here?"
"I did that. I can make things move." Laura sat down on a flat boulder nearby.
"Like telekinesis?"
"Yes, some call it psychokinesis."
"You can really move objects with your mind? But how?"
"I don't know how. I've been able to do it his since I was a child. That…and other things."
Ben moved closer to her and stood over her. He looked at her turtleneck, remembering what she looked like with it off. She gazed up at him, her large eyes sad. She looked tired. He sat down on the boulder with her and took her hand. It was slim and pale in his large, tan hand. She rubbed his thumb over and over in a smooth movement, staring off in the distance. He felt a jolt inside as her fingers moved over his and forced down the rising in his pants.
"I'm listening," Ben said softly. "If you want to tell me more."
"I can heal people too."
He touched her hair and turned her face toward him. "You're amazing."
"More like cursed." Laura shivered from the cool breeze coming off the lake. Ben reached over and picked up her sweater that was twisted on the ground and put it around her shoulders.
"Perhaps cursed, but also amazing."
"I saved my mother's life once and my friend, Mr. B, but I couldn't save my other friends." Laura's eyes welled with tears. "They died in horrible ways all because of me."
Ben squeezed her hand, not understanding, but knowing whatever she had been through in her past was worse than anything he'd been through. They were two tormented souls.
Laura looked into Ben's eyes and tilted her head as if to make up her mind. "Why are you here?"
He wasn't expecting that question and shrugged. "I don't know anymore. I came here to find some answers. But now I met you and not by chance, I think." He looked out over the lake. It was a perfect autumn day with the sun shining on the water and geese flying overhead. The kind of idyllic day ordinary couples had hikes and picnics on. This wasn't such a day.
"I think
we were meant to meet to help one another, don't you?" Laura squeezed his hand this time.
"I think so too."
"Then, can I trust you?"
He looked at her for a long moment. "You can trust me, Laura."
She stood up then and tied her sweater around her shoulders. She walked to the shoreline and turned back to look at Ben with her hands on her hips. "Then I have a lot to tell you."
He sat on the boulder while she paced back and forth, telling him things that were hard to believe. She stopped often to wave her hands at some dramatic moments and held back tears at some of the terrible things she told him. Things he could have only imagined happening in a fantasy book, yet he believed what she told him was the truth. This woman had survived much more than he had, and yet she stood before him so vibrant and strong.
"The notes," Laura said. "I almost forgot the notes." She unfolded notes from her pocket, explaining to Ben how she received them after Moe and Renee's deaths. She said she carried them with her as a reminder because she felt guilty when she wanted to forget all those she lost. Ben read the two notes.
"But who could have left these notes?"
"The man in black. That's what I called him."
Ben jumped up, his brain tried to comprehend what was happening. A sense of connection began to grow inside him. Connection and more mystery. "Describe him to me." He shoved his hands in his jean pockets, rocking from one foot to another.
Laura stared at him. "Well, he's a large man. The few times I've seen him he wears all black. Sometimes he looked so real and other times he looked ghostly. Transparent. The first time I saw him I was seven. He stood in the trees across from our house watching me. Another time I saw him in the apple orchard. That was the only time I heard him speak."
A Human Element Page 14