Floor 21- Dark Angel

by Jason Luthor

  I had to convince her to head out there too, which lets me know that, as strong as she might be, she’s got a humble streak. If I’m going to be honest, I’m a little grateful for that. She’s a little intimidating, standing as tall as she does and with those glowing eyes. She didn’t take off the mask, but she turned the lights off and spent the whole evening deflecting. Everyone in that room knew she’d spent the whole fight cutting through tanks and walkers like it was nothing. Still, she refused to take any credit without giving any back. With all of that said, I’m not sure what her M.O. is. Martin wants her detained. I refuse to let that happen, not after everything she did. For all I know, she might want to get the hell out of here. I hope not though. If we could convince her to stay on, well, all I’ll say is she’s got the makings of a leader.

  Dodger’s Recording 09

  Me and Mike skipped everything happening at the garrison. He was kinda worried about Cynthia and Mandy, which I get, you know? It makes sense, and I knew Mike had things to take care of with his guys. I just wanted to make sure everyone at the apartment was okay. I mean, you don’t spend your whole night trying to save everyone’s life just to immediately forget about it all once everything’s over.

  I guess I got so busy making sure everyone was back in their rooms that I didn’t realize how late it was. It had to have been a few hours until dawn when I finally got back to Cynthia’s. Mike was already there with her and Mandy, and honestly, I was just glad to sit down and breathe. Cynthia must’ve noticed I was freaking out because the second I was in a chair, she just came over and wrapped her arms around me. Then there was Mandy. She might be a little rude sometimes, but then there are times she’s just another twelve-year-old, hugging you because she needs it as much as you do. So, we’re all hugged up when I see Mike just smiling at me like a goof.

  “What?” I ask him with a smile.

  “It’s just good to be alive,” he says. “My girlfriend, her little sister, and one of my best friends all in the same room. Don’t think I could ask for much more.”

  Cynthia and Mandy pull themselves off and grab chairs by the table. I can see Cynthia squeezing her fists over and over, which of course worries me. “Hey, are you okay, by any chance?”

  She smiles for about all of half second before shaking her head. “I feel like cooking, to be honest. It’s how I calm down. I’ve seen a lot of fights, but this? Nothing like this . . .”

  “Oh, I’m totally with you. I don’t think any of us have.”

  “I . . . We nearly . . .” I see her look up at Mandy. “When that wall came down on us . . .”

  Mandy just says it. “We should’ve died.”

  I can practically see the breath rip out of Cynthia. “Yes, Mandy, we could have. We didn’t, though.” She stops for a second before looking at Mike. “Who was that, anyway? Who saved us?”

  He shakes his head. “That’s . . . Think that’s the person we’ve been hearing about out in the Deadlands. The Dark Angel.”

  Mandy looks over at him. “She lifted a wall. Nobody’s supposed to be able to lift a wall.”

  “True, but you can’t forget she was wearing some sort of armor. We must’ve seen tons of armored suits out there that were really strong.” Mandy nods, but I can tell she’s still wondering about it. Mike doesn’t even really look convinced, actually. “We’ll figure it all out, anyway. Tommy should be here soon.”

  That gets my attention. “Did you hear from him?”

  “Yeah. Said something about having to talk to us about . . . I dunno. Said he should be here soon.”

  “He didn’t tell you what he wanted to talk about?”

  “Nah. ‘Course, it was pretty busy at the garrison with everyone coming in. You know Tommy had a lot to take care of.”

  “I know. I’m just . . . It was just a rough night, you know?”

  Mikes smiles my way. “Hey. You want to see the guy. I get that.”

  I’m already blushing when I feel Cynthia’s hand rubbing on my back. “It’s okay to want to see him, Dodger, especially after everything that just happened.”

  I don’t even have a chance to say anything because we all notice the sound of the front door starting to open. All of us look out of the kitchen at the hall, listening as footsteps come our way. I’m practically pushing out of my chair when he steps around the corner. I see him all cleaned up with his military jacket hanging open, and I’m just . . . happy. I’m ready to charge him when he holds a hand up, and I give him this confused look, but he just nods at me.

  “Just a second, Dodger,” he tells me. “I think everyone needs to take seat for this.”

  “Uh, okay? Is everything alright?”

  “Ah, yeah, everything’s fine. Just, please, trust me. I think you need to sit down before I say anything else.” I don’t know what to tell him, so I just do what he asks. I sit back down and watch as he looks behind him, back into the apartment hall. “Um, you know we had someone swoop in to save us tonight.”

  Mike’s starting to look concerned. “Talking about the Dark Angel?”

  He breathes in hard and nods. “Yeah. The Angel.”

  “Tommy. What’s going on, man?”

  He hesitates for a second, and I see him look back into the hall again. This time, he waves forward, and we can hear another set of very soft footsteps. There’s a second where we’re watching, and then all of our eyes just shoot wide open. When I see her, I’m . . . shocked. She’s standing there with that helmet of hers on, her eyes looking between use from between two slits in the metal frame.

  Next to me, Cynthia’s hand shoots to her mouth. “My God. You’re the one. You saved us. You saved my little sister.” Her voice is shaking while she’s talking. “Thank you. Oh, my God, thank you.”

  Mike sits up straight while he’s trying to understand what’s going on. “Yeah, you . . . you were amazing out there. Just, I’m . . . I’m confused. Why’re you here? Not that . . . not that we want you to go, it’s just . . .” He doesn’t know what to say, but none of us really do. I mean, we’re staring at someone who flies through the air and tears the roof off of tanks. “Not trying to be rude. You saved Cynthia. I couldn’t ever pay you back. So, I’m glad you’re here. Just not sure why.”

  She looks over at Tommy, and he nods at her as he pats her on the shoulder. I remember thinking how weird a gesture it is. Anyway, she looks back at us. I can see her breathing hard as she taps onto some control panel in her gauntlet’s wrist, and then the room’s lighting up. Blue light starts lifting up her legs and over her hips, traveling up her chest and toward her face. The whole time, her armor’s just vanishing. I can see it literally getting eaten up by the light and leaving her in this black, body tight jumpsuit, until she’s standing there about a foot shorter than she just was. I’m already kind of shocked by everything I’m looking at when the light finally passes over her helmet. Then, it . . . it finally vanishes, and she’s just standing there . . . I really think my heart stops when I finally see her face.

  Mike reacts harder than I do. He gets up and stumbles back, kicking over his chair in the process. I’m jumping at him and grabbing his arm the second I see him falling back, and I’ve barely got him before he goes tumbling. I brace him against the back counter and catch Cynthia and Mandy staring at us like we’re insane. It feels like it. How couldn’t I feel crazy with what I’m staring at?

  Mike finally manages to say something between his panting. “Jack . . . Jackie. Jackie. What . . .?”

  Jackie bows her head, almost like she doesn’t want to stare at him. “Hi, Mike.” Then she looks at me. “Dodger. . .” She sounds like she’s choked up. “It’s really good to see you.” I’m still clutching onto Mike like his life depends on it at the same time that I’m trying to say something, but I keep feeling my words getting stuck in my throat, like it’s impossible for me to speak. That’s when I see Mandy up and walking over to her. Jackie notices too, and she looks down at her. “Oh. Hi?”

  Mandy stares up at her for wh
at feels like forever, even if it’s really just a few seconds. Finally, she says, “You know, you saved our lives. You saved my sister’s life. I had to say thanks.” Jackie doesn’t say anything for a second, and I really feel like I can see a sparkling in her eyes, like she’s almost going to cry. She doesn’t, but she gets down on a knee and wraps her arms around Mandy, and Mandy throws her arms around her. “I don’t know what I’d do without my sister.”

  Jackie nods. “I’m glad you two are okay.” They break their hug, and Jackie gets back to her feet. Her eyes go over to Cynthia, and she gives her a smile. “The building, right? The one that was falling.”

  Cynthia’s nodding her head like crazy. “Yes. Yes. You saved my Mandy. Saved me. I owe you . . . I owe you my life. I–”

  “You don’t,” Jackie says as she shakes her head. “You don’t owe me anything. I’m just glad you’re okay. That’s all that matters.”

  Next to me, Mike finally finds something to say. “Jackie, it’s been a year. How . . .?”

  She looks around the room. “I’m . . . I’m a little thirsty. Sorry, it’s been kind of a rough night. Could I get some water? I’ll be happy to explain everything. At least, as much of it as I can.”

  Tommy’s Recording 16

  “Judge killed me.”

  It’s the first thing Jackie says once we’re sitting down in the living room, and it makes me feel like somebody’s punched me in the gut. I still manage to respond. “I mean, we all figured. We saw your body, Jackie. The doctor . . . He did the autopsy on you.”

  “Doctor?”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry. There was this guy hiding on the bottom floor of the Tower. He’s the one who took care of your body. I mean, we thought it was your body, but you’re here . . .”

  Mike’s stone cold silent, but Dodger’s as curious as ever. “How did . . . I mean, how did you survive?”

  Jackie shakes her head. “It’s like I said. I didn’t. Not really. That day in the Tower, I did everything I could to make sure everyone was okay.” She stops for a second, and I can see the smallest smile on the edge of her lips. “I’m glad everyone made it through.”

  “Well, I don’t think any of us was going to give up after what you did to save us.” She shakes her head. “If you didn’t live though . . .”

  “What’re you thinking, Dodger?”

  “It’s just, if you did die, then only one thing could have brought you back to life.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah. The Creep cells that were in your bloodstream.”

  Not only do I see her inhale, but I can Cynthia sucking in a sharp breath. “Creep cells?” There’s just this small look of fear on her face as her eye move to Jackie. “You’re a . . . You’re a Creeper?”

  “No, not . . .” She shakes her head, and it’s pretty clear the words hurt her. “When you say Creeper, you’re talking about those mindless things that just kill. Except, that’s not what Creep cells were meant to do. At least, not to everyone.”

  “Then what . . .” Cynthia shakes her head. “Jackie, you saved my life. I trust you. I need you to know that. But my . . .” Her eyes go over to Mandy, and for a second, she can’t get the words out. “Our parents were . . . killed . . . by Creepers.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jackie says. Her face doesn’t break, but I can tell those words sting. “Creepers have hurt a lot of people I care about, so I know how you feel. I’m not one of them. This happened a long time ago, but the point of developing Creep cells was to make people faster and stronger. It wasn’t supposed to make those things out there in the Deadlands. Obviously, things didn’t go according to the plan, but I didn’t get made into a Creeper. In me, the cells worked like they were supposed to. Creep cells can help you recover from wounds that would kill anyone else. They can even . . .” She stops. It’s like she doesn’t want to say it.

  Mandy says it for her. “They brought you back from the dead.”

  Jackie looks across the room at her and nods. “Yeah.” A smile crosses her lips, but it’s not happy. “Funny. I never thought I’d be the person people were scared of. I guess this is what it’s like to see a ghost.”

  Dodger leans in. “That’s the deal, Jackie. Your heart . . . It stopped.”

  “The Creep cells stayed active. They don’t get most of their energy from the body. I don’t know how it all works. I’m actually still figuring out a lot of the details. What I know is they get their energy from somewhere else, and that’s what brought me back. The Creep cells never died, and they rebuilt . . . Well, just about everything. I think I had broken ribs, I was bleeding internally, and just about all of my organs were shutting down. Did shut down.” She looks at me. “But, you guys probably could’ve guessed that. You saw the fight with Judge.”

  Just her saying it almost makes my breath stop. It’s pretty clear I’m not the only one, because I can see Mike and Dodger’s faces go pale. Cynthia and Mandy both look a little confused, so I’m not surprised when Cynthia leans in. “Judge is the one from the Tower, right? The monster that you all barely survived?”

  Mike’s been quiet this whole time, but he nods and leans in. “Yeah. Yeah. Never really figured out what he was all about. The doc said he’d been part of the original group that got tested on. You know how the doc is though. With his memory, he can barely piece the story together.”

  Jackie clears her throat. “That’s not completely the story. Judge wasn’t one of the first. He was the first person to bond with the Creep. Creepy Sally . . . No. It’s not right to keep calling her that. He name was Anna Sally Judge. Her brother, Judge, his real name was Jonathan Sebastian Judge. They were both experimented on along with a whole bunch of other lower-class kids. He was the first one to show any sort of powers, but she was the first one to go violent. Johnny was the most powerful psychic to ever be born. At least, as far as I know, but we all saw what he could do. He was so connected with the Creep he could control it like a pet. Sally was never that strong, but for some reason, her cells just destroy other types of Creep cells.”

  Dodger nods. “That’s why, when you injected him with your blood, he died.”

  “Yeah. Pretty much.”

  “So . . . those two we saw holding each other . . . after the fight was over.”

  “That was Johnny and Anna.”

  “And you know all this . . . how, exactly?”

  Jackie takes a deep breath as she sits back in the chair. “The Creep . . . It’s full of everybody’s consciousness. I mean, everyone who died in it. The Demons we used to see? People’s consciousness that got trapped in the Creep and tried to reach out to us. If a person’s got stronger psychic powers, their consciousness doesn’t fade into the Creep when they die. It just kind of . . . swims, I guess. That’s how Johnny kept taking new bodies for centuries. So, that vision you saw of Johnny and Anna was just their minds touching yours. It was just a lot clearer because of their psychic abilities. I know all that because I’m connected to the Creep too, now. The last thing Anna shared with me before she passed on was a vision of when all this got started. She showed me the first time she ever let loose with her power and pretty much wiped out an entire floor of Apeiron staff. She did it because she was protecting Johnny.”

  That’s when I cut in. “Wait, wait, wait. So, if their minds just swim, then can’t they come back?”

  “Not this time. I don’t know why, but injecting Anna’s cells into Johnny’s body affected his powers, too. They can’t take on bodies anymore. Anna never did, actually. Johnny was the only one who kept doing it.”

  “And you? Are you going to . . . I mean . . .”

  “Am I going to end up like them?”

  “Yeah. I don’t know if I actually want to ask this, it’s just . . .”

  “I don’t think so? I’ve been dealing with these powers for something like a year now, and there are . . . things, weird things that happen in my body. I think I’ve got control over it though. But, I also know Anna showed me that she was pretty normal for years a
fter she got her powers. She went a couple of centuries without becoming Creepy Sally, and that only happened because Security in the Tower hit Johnny with something that made her sure he died permanently That kind of broke her, I think? After that, she just gave in to her sadness, and the Creep took over her after that.”

  “Damn.”

  Mike looks over at us. “If you say you’re alright, that’s good enough for me.”

  Cynthia nods at him then looks at Jackie. “Jackie, all this is confusing, but . . . again, you saved my sister. She’s my life. Mi vida. I’ll always believe in you after doing something like that.”

  Dodger gives her one of those big smiles I love about her. “Jackie, you were the first cool nerd girl I ever got to hang out with. Plus, you saved my life I don’t know how many times. I don’t care if your blood’s all full of Creep. I’m just glad you’re back.”

  I look at Jackie. “Obviously, I’m glad you’re back. What took you so long, though? We’d already . . . I mean, we all figured you were dead right after the fight with Judge.”

  Jackie smiles. “Because I was. But, if you want to know where I was, then I can only tell you that I was lost. I stepped out of the Tower and just . . . I mean, what do you do when you step into a wasteland of death with nobody to help you? Honestly, I just started walking in the wrong direction. I went west for a while, then north. I was out there for months before I heard stories about this place.”

  “You survived out there by yourself? For that long? I mean, we went west for a while, too. The professor had some pretty amazing tech that helped us stay alive, but I don’t think we could’ve done it without him. We were scraping by just to find food for a while.”

  Her smile turns into a chuckle. “Yeah, well, I guess surviving’s easier when you don’t need to eat.”