by C. J. Hill
Jesse and Tori pushed their way into the thickets and trees, trying to find cover from Overdrake’s rifle. Branches scraped against her suit, clawing at her.
Perhaps they would have been safer on the road. They would’ve had better maneuverability and the trees didn’t offer much protection. Overdrake’s armor-piercing bullets could chew the trunks into sawdust. Was all this underbrush just keeping them in place and making them easier to shoot?
Khan reached the egg quickly enough. With a threatening screech in the Slayers’ direction, he picked it up and lifted into the sky, wings beating like sails in a storm.
Tori felt Overdrake’s presence in Khan’s mind, felt his rage directed at her. His words vibrated through the dragon’s mind. “You brought this on yourself!”
Outside, Tori saw Overdrake swivel in his seat, pointing his rifle at Jesse and her. He shot off a round. Midair, the bullets thudded into Bess’s shield and ricocheted back.
Now Overdrake knew where the shield was. It was typical of Bess to protect her friends when she was in immediate danger. Noble and foolish. With a sickening certainty, Tori guessed what Overdrake would do next. Shoot Bess. She wouldn’t have time to switch her shield to protect herself.
Tori plunged deeper into Khan’s mind, the second level. Strings of color hung everywhere. Where was the path that led to his control center? There—she recognized it and rushed to it, flinging strands away.
The sound of gunshot sliced through the air, sounding far away this time. Overdrake had shot again.
She could still see through Khan’s eyes, but he wasn’t looking at Bess, just the dull black street and anemic trees. More shots. Tori didn’t want to go back to her body to see if Bess lay bleeding on the ground. The control center was on the other side of these last strings. She would force Overdrake out, make him pay.
Jesse’s voice called to her, a distant sound. “Tori!” In his panic, he’d said her name, not her code.
And then Tori realized she had to leave the dragon’s mind—should have already done it. If Bess had been killed, her shield was down and the rest of them were vulnerable to gunfire.
She opened her eyes with a jerk and was instantly gone from Khan’s mind. Jesse leaned over her, checking her for wounds. “Are you okay?”
Her gaze snapped to the sky. She expected to see Overdrake somewhere close by, rifle drawn. But he and the dragon were flying away, disappearing into the night.
Tori attempted to sit up, but her body felt too drained to move. She turned her head toward Bess, could make her out through the crisscross of branches. Her friend wasn’t lying on the ground, limp and bleeding. She was crouched behind the engine block of the upturned van, using it as cover.
The relief that washed over Tori was so strong, she nearly wept. Bess hadn’t needed to move her shield for protection, she’d used the van for that.
Dr. B’s voice came over the mic. “Status? Was T-bird shot?”
“I’m fine,” she answered. Fine, but still weak. Her mind insisted she get to her feet, but her muscles weren’t obeying.
Jesse took her hand and gently pulled her to a sitting position.
The world went dizzy for a moment, then cleared. “I tried to control Khan and passed out.” Tori’s thoughts reached out to the dragon, searching for his mind again. If she could stay connected to Khan, she could see where Overdrake took him and learn the compound’s location—Aaron’s location.
She heard what Khan heard—the rushing night air and the dragon’s wingbeats, but she couldn’t get further into his mind than that. Her attempts felt like she was grasping at smoke. Maybe a dragon had to be closer by for her to access it.
“Were you able to reach his control center?” Dr. B asked.
“No,” Tori said wearily. “I was almost there but I came out too soon. I thought Beta had been shot and we were next.”
Jesse helped her to her feet. Bits of wood and dirt tumbled to the ground around them. She wobbled as she got her balance back.
“Are you okay now?” he asked.
She nodded and pushed her way through the web of branches, breaking several in the process.
Instead of going out to the road, Jesse leaped upward, bursting from the underbrush. He left a trail of torn shrubbery shivering in his wake. “I’ll get Beta and we’ll go after Overdrake.”
If Kody were with them, he could have knocked the rifle from Overdrake’s hand. Pursuing a gunman and dragon with such a small team was dangerous. “If Beta’s shield is protecting us,” Tori reminded him, “we won’t be able to get to the dragon.”
“We’ll wait him out.” Jesse glided over to Bess, pausing so she could take hold of his back. Once she did, he soared in the direction Overdrake had gone. “As long as we’re following him, he can’t go home. And as long as the dragon is holding an egg, he won’t be able to effectively fight. We should be able to at least make him drop the egg.”
Tori reluctantly followed after them, liking the idea less with each moment. “Or Overdrake will circle back here and shoot Dr. B. He’ll force Beta to decide who to protect. It will be dangerous for all of us.”
She halted, hanging in the sky as Jesse pulled farther ahead.
Dr. B’s voice came over the earpiece. “Beta knows she needs to protect the Slayers. I’m expendable and you’re not. Go after Overdrake. We’ll be fine.”
Tori lifted higher and caught sight of Khan skimming over the trees. A fight it was, then. Tori could do this. She could kill Khan. She wouldn’t mess up and hesitate this time.
Theo’s voice crackled through her earpiece, high-pitched with worry. “You’re not fine. You’re bleeding.”
Wait, Dr. B was wounded? Tori stuttered in the air, suddenly unsure whether to keep pursuing Overdrake. The Slayers were trained to fight on despite casualties, but this wasn’t a defensive battle, Overdrake had retreated. “It’s nothing,” Dr. B insisted. “Just a small wound.”
“Yeah,” Theo said, his voice still too high. “Because bullets are small. The size isn’t the point. What if it hit an artery?”
“It didn’t,” Dr. B said. “I can tell. I’m a doctor.”
Not that sort of doctor. Up ahead, Bess twisted, nearly letting go of Jesse. “Take me back! We need to help him!” The panic in her voice matched the growing panic in Tori’s chest.
“Priorities,” Dr. B said. The word was tinged with pain.
Tori knew what Dr. B wanted her to do, what he’d drilled into the Slayers. But she couldn’t leave Dr. B when he was wounded, even if it meant letting Overdrake get away.
Almost in unison, Tori and Jesse turned, mid-air, and headed back to the trees.
Tori reached Dr. B first. He was sitting on the ground, helmet off, and eyes shut while he leaned against a tree. Theo was tying his sweatshirt around Dr. B’s upper arm with shaking hands. “Are we supposed to put the bandage directly on the wound? If I take off his coat, he’ll get cold. We have to worry about shock—and further fire.”
“Leave his coat on,” Tori said. “I’ll bandage him.” With her extra strength, pulling the shirt tight against his sleeves wouldn’t be hard.
Dr. B opened his eyes and shook his head at Tori. “Did I teach you nothing about priorities?”
“Yes.” She knotted the shirt around his arm. A growing patch of blood immediately reddened the cloth. “You taught me that gunshot victims who reach a hospital within an hour are likely to survive. That’s my priority.” Before any mission, the Slayers always located the closest hospital. The one in Lock Haven wasn’t far away. Less than ten miles.
Tori carefully picked up Dr. B, then took to the air with a gust that made branches wave at her departure. Dr. B seemed to weigh nothing, this man who was larger than life.
Jesse had been swerving down to land. He pulled up and flew along beside her, near enough that Bess could have jumped to Tori’s back if she’d wanted.
“Is he okay?” Bess asked. “Dad?”
Dr. B’s gray hair ruffled wildly in the w
ind. He forced a thin smile. “I’m fine. I already told you that.” He held his breath during the last few words. “You should have gone after Overdrake. It was just bad luck that I was shot.”
Probably not. Overdrake had been able to see through Khan’s eyes and knew where Theo and Dr. B were hiding. He’d shot them in order to facilitate his escape.
“Hey,” Theo said over the earpiece. “You guys left me. What am I supposed to do back here?”
They probably should have carried him with them to the hospital, but Tori wasn’t going to go back now and she doubted Bess would let Jesse turn back.
“Walk toward Lock Haven,” Jesse said. “When we get to the hospital, we’ll call a car company to pick you up and take you to the airport.”
“They won’t think that’s odd,” Theo retorted. “A random shirtless guy who’s splattered in blood, walking along the highway, carrying an assortment of weapons.”
“We’ll tell him you’re into cosplay,” Tori said.
Theo mumbled a few things about that, but Tori mostly ignored him. As the group flew, rushing toward the city, the wind shouted a long, high piercing note. Dr. B had to be freezing. She wished she could make him warmer.
Jesse kept looking over, checking on Dr. B. Theo’s shirt was nearly completely soaked in blood. “Dr. B,” Jesse said, “stay awake.”
“Don’t worry,” Dr. B replied. “I’m awake and conscious of every throbbing pain.”
He hadn’t lost enough blood to pass out. That was a good sign.
Lock Haven came into sight, streetlamps glowing. House lights filled the area. Plenty of cars on the streets. The hospital was on the west side of the city, an oddly-shaped building that resembled an airplane from above.
Darkness hid the Slayers while they were high in the sky—making them appear as nothing more than a shadow that blotted out the stars. However, once they flew low enough to land, they would become visible.
Dr. B cradled his arm to his chest. “After you drop me off at the ER, call Booker, tell him what’s happened, then fly to the airport. He’ll see that you get home.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Bess said. “Not until I’m certain you’re okay.”
Tori didn’t plan on leaving either, but there was no point in telling Dr. B this when Bess was already doing a fine job arguing the point.
“You won’t have time to wait for me.” Dr. B’s voice wasn’t loud, but was still firm. “Fly to the airport while your powers are still on. Otherwise you’ll have to take a cab.”
“I’ll take a cab then,” Bess said.
Dr. B shook his head. “I can come up with a story about being shot but I’m not going to drag you into it. You shouldn’t talk to the authorities, and besides, you need to go home. Grandpa can’t know about this.”
“I don’t care if Grandpa knows,” Bess said.
“Bess,” he said softly, “you have to think about what’s good for the group.” He looked at her so tenderly, with so much pride.
Her expression was unreadable under her visor, but her posture remained rigid. “Stop saying that.” Bess’s voice teetered between worry and anger. “You’re not expendable. You never have been and you never will be.”
They were nearly to the hospital. The parking lot was only half full so the ER shouldn’t be crowded. Tori scanned the area for surveillance cameras and spotted them perched by the streetlights. The Slayers couldn’t get too near to those. Tori gestured to get Jesse’s attention, turned to avoid the cameras, and searched for a secure place to land.
“Grandpa says you have a death wish,” Bess went on. “He says when Uncle Nathan died, you couldn’t forgive yourself for being the one who didn’t have powers. He thinks you’re looking for redemption in a noble death.”
“What utter nonsense.” Dr. B struggled to sit upright. “This is simply one more reason I object to you living with your grandfather. Tell him he needs a different hobby than amateur psychoanalyst.”
Bess shifted her grip on Jesse to better see her father. “I’m starting to think he’s right. You seem pretty eager to bleed to death on the side of a road.”
“We let two dragons go tonight,” Dr. B countered. “Do you know how many people they might end up killing?”
“Yeah,” Bess said, “Not you. That’s the number I care about.”
Tori and Jesse were still scouting the area, looking for a place to land. Jesse gestured to a road that led to the hospital. Unfortunately, it wasn’t entirely empty. A middle-aged man sat in a parked car, perhaps waiting for someone. Still, they couldn’t keep circling and waiting. Dr. B needed medical help. Tori began to descend.
“Think about what I’m saying.” Dr. B tried to lift his hand for emphasis, then let it fall back into his lap.
“I know what you’re saying,” Bess said. “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush—except for in this case, the bird represents your unnecessary death. So yeah, I don’t really care about the ones in the bush.”
Tori and Jesse landed behind the occupied car. Tori had hoped the man sitting inside wouldn’t notice them in his rearview mirror. Perhaps with Bess and Dr. B’s conversation going full blast that hope had been futile. Judging by the way the man jumped, then turned around, mouth gaping, he’d seen them land.
The guy grabbed hold of his wheel, gunned his engine, and drove off, lurching and screeching down the street.
None of the Slayers commented on his exit. They just hurried to the ER.
***
Despite Dr. B’s protests, Jesse and Tori stayed in the waiting room with Bess. Jesse called Booker to report. Bess called her mother. “I don’t think the wound is too serious,” she said in hushed tones, “but we can’t leave Dad here. If Overdrake realizes he shot one of us, he’ll send men to search the local hospitals."
With Tori’s sensitive hearing, she could make out Shirley’s reply. “That’s why your father has a fake ID. I’ll call our doctor and have Dad moved as soon as possible. I’m arranging a flight there now and will be there in two hours.”
“I’m staying until you get here,” Bess said.
Shirley hesitated, then relented. “Fine. Tell your grandfather that your shopping trip has turned into a slumber party. If he says you can stay out, I won’t make you come home.”
Tori didn’t hear the rest of their phone conversation because she was busy calling a driver to pick up Theo. Then she called the police and reported some cars stopped along the freeway. That way, anyone stranded out there by the EMP would get help.
On the walk to the ER, Dr. B had given them a story about how he got shot—random act of road rage. The story didn’t explain why Tori, Bess, and Jesse were covered in a layer of ashy dust, but since Dr. B was conscious and the rest of the group was underage, the ER staff didn’t ask them any questions.
After a while a doctor came out and gave them assurances that Dr. B was being treated and would most likely fully recover. The surgeon wouldn’t give them any other details such as estimates on his recovery time.
Since there was nothing else Jesse and Tori could do for him, they called for a driver, hugged Bess goodbye, and left.
Their trip to the airport was uneventful, except for the driver’s comment as he picked them up. “You’re lucky I decided to work tonight,” he said. “Crazy night. A bunch of cars in the area just stopped working. Left a bunch of folks stranded.
And what’s more, the driver who’s usually here has been telling everyone that a bunch of people dropped from the sky and pounced on his car.” The man chortled at the idea, and Tori and Jesse forced out a couple of unconvincing chuckles in agreement.
The man shook his head. “Supposedly they were dressed in black like ninjas.” He laughed again then seemed to notice Tori and Jesse wore black jackets and black pants. And carried black helmets. He may have also noted their disheveled appearance and the odd sooty dust that clung to them despite their best efforts to wash up in the hospital bathrooms.
The smile dropped from his lips
and he drove the rest of the way silently, checking on them in his rearview mirror every few moments. He also sped fifteen miles over the limit.
Tori gave him a good tip anyway.
Well, at least the Uber drivers would have something to talk about tonight.
By the time the Slayers’ plane took to the air, Tori was exhausted. She sat slumped in her seat, eyes shut while images from the night reeled through her mind: the feeble hatchling defiantly raising his wings in the vault room. Jesse swinging his jackhammer. The dragon’s broken body lying twisted on the ground. Khan diving through the night sky—much too close to Bess—talons outstretched. Dr. B wincing in pain while blood soaked through Theo’s shirt.
All of it so violent. All of it because she’d insisted on this mission.
As soon as the plane leveled out, Jesse moved to the seat next to hers. He held out a bottle of Gatorade to her.
She shook her head, refusing to take it. “I feel sick.”
He put the bottle in her hand anyway. “You’re probably dehydrated.”
She’d taken several long drinks at the ER water fountain. She shook her head again. Dehydration wasn’t why she felt ill.
Jesse’s gaze stayed on her. “Dr. B will be fine. In fact, I doubt his injury will even slow him down. He’ll probably still call a Slayer practice this week. And if any of us complain about our injuries, he’ll wave his bandaged arm at us.”
“I know.”
She must not have sounded encouraged. Jesse’s brown eyes looked at her with understanding and then with sympathy. “Is this about destroying the dragon eggs?”
She shrugged and then nodded. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
He put his hand over hers. “You’ll be okay.”
She didn’t reply to that.
He put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer. “Don’t worry. You felt this way after we killed Tamerlane and Kiha. This is just your dragon lord side messing with you. You’ll be fine tomorrow.”
He was probably right. She had felt ill both times when the Slayers killed the dragons. Part of her relaxed. The dark images repeating in her mind wouldn’t lodge there and stay forever. This would pass. She just had to get through tonight.