I tried to push away the pain, but the wound in his leg was excruciating. I felt a sharp pain shoot through his arm sporadically as it swung awkwardly at his side.
“They’re here!” He managed to say through quick bursts of ragged breath. “The scientists that were working on the extraction are dead. Both of them. I got her out, but that’s it.”
“Whoa, wait!” Jason said, even as Jeri made it to the door and started to climb the stairwell. “What about Stone? And Lexa? And Mars?”
Jeri stopped and swayed before he turned, panting. “Couldn’t find them. They weren’t where they were supposed to be. We have to get out. The ones I fought…they were protecting the ones that were manually arming our emergency protocol. They’re set to blow this place after they get what they want.”
“What do they want?” I asked, although in my heart, I already knew.
Jeri's face was hard and pained, and his voice held a note of regret. “The echo files and the serum Stone was testing. I saw them looking through the vials in the lab.”
Jason shook his head and started to hand Bebe over to me. “Take her back to the surface and get her to the others. Stay there with them, Liv. You’ll be safer that way.”
He turned and started to head back in.
“Wait, no!” I protested.
“I’m going back for them, Liv. Take Bebe to the truck. I’ll be there soon.” Jason's face was set in stone, his brow furrowed over stormy eyes. He was torn between staying and going. It was just like the first time ACT came for us. “Liv, I can’t leave them in there,” he finally said, the tone of his voice pleading softly to me. Please understand, it said. Please understand, his eyes begged me.
I did understand, as much as I didn’t want to. I knew he always blamed himself for not being able to protect us the first time. He was probably the strongest person in the world, and he hadn’t been able to stop ACT from breaking into our home and destroying our lives. He couldn’t live with himself if it happened again or if Lexa and Mars were hurt.
And I couldn’t live with myself if I stopped him from trying.
“I’m coming back with you,” I told him. It was the most permission I could give him. It was a fair trade. If he went, I went.
“You won’t have to. We’ll be right out, all of us.” He offered me a small smile meant to reassure me, but instead, it just felt sad. I wondered if he really believed what he told me. He caught onto my suspicion and reached out to sweep a lock of hair behind my ear.
“Don’t worry, Liv. We’ve been through worse, haven’t we?” Even though I held Bebe in my arms, I felt as though we were suddenly alone in the world. His voice was all I could hear over the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears. “We’ve fought through hell before. We’ll fight through it again.” His palm gently cupped my cheek. Unconsciously, I pressed my skin against his, savoring the lost sensation.
“You’d better come back to me, Jason. Or I’ll come in there, guns blazing. You understand?” My tone sounded rough, but he could feel the vulnerability in me and it made him smile.
“Understood.” He winked and leaned in. I knew he was going to kiss me, but the moment his lips neared mine, I freaked out a little and looked away. His lips grazed my cheek instead, and surprise rippled through Jason. He straightened quickly and cleared his throat, taking a step back from me. When I met his eyes, he was watching me carefully.
“Get Bebe to the others. Stay put, and I’ll be right back. Promise.” With that, Jason turned and ran into the Black Corridor.
I followed Jeri to the surface where Mia, Dozer, Glitch and Cash were waiting. They rushed to help Jeri, and took Connie from him as he collapsed, panting and sweating on the gravel outside the museum.
"Where are they? Jason and the others? You didn't find them?" Mia asked. Worry tore through her, making her knees feel like pure gelatin.
"Jason went back to look for them," I said.
I saw Mia look back toward the entrance and felt the pull it had on her.
"They'll be right behind us," I lied to her.
"We have to keep moving." Cash helped Jeri back to his feet and draped his good arm over his shoulder, supporting his weight as we made our way to the Beast.
"Where is everyone else?" I asked.
"All the lab guys took the van and headed off that way." Glitch nodded down the road away from the direction we came.
"We told them we'd meet them at the safe house," Mia added.
"I know where it is. I'll get you guys there," Jeri grunted.
I had to walk faster ahead of them to put some distance between Jeri's pain and my empathy. It was making my vision blur and, my heart pound painfully.
When I reached the Beast, Charlie ran to me, relief washing through her.
“Listen, Bebe, I have to go back for Jason, okay? I’m going to leave you with my friend, Charlie."
"What's going on?" Charlie asked. Her eyes scanned me, and then drifted behind me at the others. I didn't have time to explain everything.
"I've got to go back, Charlie. I have to leave Bebe with you." I started to pass her off. "She’ll take good care of you, okay?"
Bebe clung to me, fear springing anew in her.
“I don’t want you to go!” She cried, wrapping her arms around my neck. I could feel her shivering against me. She was only wearing a thin pair of pajamas; too thin to be in this sort of weather.
“Bebe, you have to let me go. I won’t leave you for long. I’ll come back for you, I promise.”
“You left before for a really long time!”
“I did. I know I did, baby doll. But I came back, didn’t I?” I felt her sniffle and I pulled her back from me a little so I could look at her. “I love you. You know that. You’re my Bebe and that means no matter what, I will always come back for you. No matter how old you get or how far you go away, if you need me, I’ll be there for you.”
Bebe was hesitant. Her bright eyes studied me closely for any sign that I was lying. “Pinky swear?” She asked, holding up a tiny little fist, pinky extended. I smiled and hooked mine with hers, giving it a little solemn shake.
“Pinky swear.”
“Cross your heart—”
“You know, I never liked that promise. Dying and needles in eyes? C’mon, Bebe.” That got a giggle out of her and I sensed it would be okay to hand her over to Charlie.
Charlie gathered Bebe in her arms and Dozer pulled off his jacket, and put it around her little body.
"Liv, I think you should just wait here," Jeri said, as he lay Connie in the bed of the Beast.
"I can't," I said, flinching at the pain I felt when he moved his dislocated arm. I turned back to Bebe. "Can you help Connie and Jeri while I'm gone?"
Bebe nodded and curled up next to Connie. I felt Charlie's amazement as she watched the bruises on Connie's eyes slowly disappear.
"Wait, Liv. I'm going with you." Jeri held his arm out to Glitch and asked him to pull. Without hesitation, Glitch grabbed Jeri's arm. To Glitch's horror and amazement, Jeri twisted his body, jerking his arm back into his socket. I tensed and hissed, but it felt so much better after it was over. The bullet hole in his thigh came blazing into focus after that, though.
"Dude," Glitch breathed out in awe. "You're a badass."
"Thanks, kid." Jeri winked and tried to stand.
"Jeri stop. You'll just slow me down," I said, backing away.
"Then I'll go with you," Glitch said.
"You don't know your way around." I didn't wait for another argument. I started back up the path, determination swelling inside me. "Stay here. I'll be right back."
“Liv,” Cash said my name softly. It wasn't forceful, but it stilled me.
In the pale glow of moonlight breaking through the cloud cover, Cash’s eyes were the darkest I’d ever seen them. They were depthless, onyx gems, pleading in a way that pulled at my very soul. He didn’t need words. I'd heard them before, felt him the last time he asked me to stay.
I spoke before he could.
“Cash, I can't leave them in there."
"I can't let you walk back into that place alone." He looked vulnerable and defeated. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn't stand there anymore, debating with him, debating with myself. I turned and started back up the path.
“Liv, wait!” Cash took my hand and pulled me back toward him. His defeat melted away, replaced by emotions I barely had words for. Before I could react, he slid his warm hand behind my neck and the other hand behind my back, sweeping me into his embrace. My body was pressed flush against his, the warmth of him shocking my chilled system. Then his lips found mine.
For a few seconds all I could do was stand there wide-eyed, my hands unsure of where to go, my heart thrumming wildly. He didn’t falter, though, and he didn’t pull back. My eyes slid closed, my muscles relaxed, just beginning to respond.
It was he who ended the kiss, just as smoothly as he'd begun it. He lingered only briefly before disengaging from me. As the cold air hit my lips, he pressed his forehead to mine and said, “I'm coming with you.”
I slowly pulled back from him, pressed my hand to his chest and pushed him gently backward.
"I'm sorry, but you're not." I held him back with my mind and turned away before the look in his eyes could stop me. I felt his heart sink and fear rise up inside of him. He fought against my hold and called out to me, but his voice was swept away by the wind.
My power surged, heightened by the guilt and trepidation in my heart, and the love and devastation I felt in Cash's. Inside the museum, I used my power to pin the display cases against the door and pinch the locks closed so Cash and the others couldn't follow me. I took a deep breath, centered my telekinesis, released Cash from my hold and descended back into Hawthorn.
Chapter Thirteen
Once inside, I could see that the main power grid had been disabled. The backup lights were glowing amber, lighting the pathway through the corridors. The doors were all open, their magnetic locks rendered inactive when the power went out. That meant I was free to enter any section I needed to. That also meant whatever ACT soldiers were inside had the same access.
I moved quickly and quietly through the common room and made my way toward the Black Corridor. I figured that would be the most likely place I'd run into the ACT soldiers, but that was also where I knew Jason had gone to find Stone, Lexa and Mars.
My senses were hazed and muffled by the lingering pain of Jeri's wounds and my own emotions storming inside of me. I took a moment to stop and collect myself. I was trained to do just that. I guess I had something to thank Stone for, after all. With a few deep breaths, I cleared my head and everything dropped away from me. I let my mind stretch outward, searching for the familiar trail of emotions that would lead me to Jason.
As soon as I passed through the threshold of the Black Corridor, I could feel the unfamiliar emotions of the dozen or so soldiers that had infiltrated the facility. As I got closer, I could hear the sounds of breaking glass and the tables being shoved across the floor. I could tell they were in the cold room just off the main lab. My heart started to pound and I felt the blood pushing hard and fast in my veins, swelling uncomfortably. The more scattered my thoughts and emotions were, the harder it was to keep my power in check.
Avoiding the lab, I broke out into a run, and searched the halls, scanning for Jason's emotions. I turned the corner to the extraction rooms and saw two bodies in the middle of the hallway. As I came upon the first, my stomach clenched and my heart sank low in my chest.
It was Stevie.
Bullets ravaged his torso and his once white lab coat was soaked in bright red blood that puddle beneath him. Only a few feet away, face down on the floor was the other engineer, Jordan. She'd been running away. A single bullet had blown out the back of her skull.
I closed my eyes and gathered my strength. There was nothing I could do for them now. I needed to focus and find Jason and the others before the soldiers did. I pushed on, passing the bodies and turned down the next corridor, searching for any familiar mindsets.
When I finally got a lock on Jason, I stopped dead in my tracks. A shock wave of emotions surged through my body, so violent and powerful it felt like physical pain. Tears welled in my eyes, and it took all my will power to push myself forward and get closer to him. I knew without a doubt that Jason was in Stone's office.
The door was wide open. It was so dark I could hardly see where I was going, but I could feel Jason in every cell in my body. His emotions were devastating. I wanted to scream and cry and punch something. At the same time, I just wanted to lay down and not move.
"Jason?" I called to him quietly, but there was no response. There wasn't even an emotional reaction to the sound of my voice. I stepped inside the office, desperate to find him and get him out of there.
My telekinesis shivered through me, and it took a lot to keep it contained. It shot out intermittently, shaking the cabinets and knocking things off Stone's desk. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and held it in while I focused my power. When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I finally saw Jason hunched over on the floor. He was behind Stone's desk.
I moved closer to him, over scattered papers ripped from the filing cabinets, and the contents of her desk strewn a cross the floor. Jason's body felt uncomfortably hot. He was sweating, and I felt like his chest was caving in. It still hadn't registered to him that I was in the room.
"Jason?" I called again, only slightly louder, still wary of the soldiers in the adjacent hall. There was still no response and no change in his emotions. He was frighteningly still.
I continued to walk toward him, but the intense emotions inside of him scared the hell out of me. They were violent and painful, and that sort of vehemence is blinding. Maybe he didn’t want to hurt me, but he wanted to hurt something, and I might just be unlucky enough to be the only something around at the time.
My body was trembling as I reached out and touched his shoulder. He lurched backward and his arm flew out at me. I backed away and my power shot out of me, blocking his arm. His body was heaving and furious, until his eyes met mine. The anger in him calmed, but the desperation and aggression still slithered through him.
He turned away from me again, still crouched over something. Now that he knew I was there, I felt safer moving in closer. I took another step toward him and realized what he'd been cradling in his arms. I gasped and staggered backward again, feeling my knees give out beneath me. I braced myself against the filing cabinet.
Jason was cradling her body to his, his fingers tracing slow circles over her hand. I could feel it in my own fingertips that her body was still warm. I would have thought she was alive, if not for the single bullet hole in her forehead. Her pale arm hung lifelessly at her side; delicate fingers still clutched around the silver locket she kept in her desk. Stone's eyes were fixed open. She'd seen it coming.
"Jason. I'm sorry," I breathed out.
He didn't say anything. He just stared down at her like he was waiting for her to breathe again. The anger and sadness that swirled inside him ramped up as I spoke and I felt his anger spike again. I pulled away from him and his emotions as best I could. When I did, I could feel the soldiers breaking away from the cold room. They felt rushed and wary like they were on the move again, and I knew it wouldn't be long before they found us there. I needed to get Jason out.
“Jason, We have to go.”
“No,” he growled.
"I know you're hurting right now, but we can't stay here." I tried to plead with him, my attention split between him and the soldiers scanning the halls.
"I said no!" Jason's voice boomed and I felt his lungs burn and his muscles clench.
“They’re going to find us!” I yelled desperately back at him, unable to keep my worry or my power at bay. It pushed out of me and slid Stone's desk across the room, wood groaning as it hit the back wall.
“Then let them!" Jason fired back, still clutching Stone's lifeless body close to his chest.
“Jason.” I plead
ed softly then, feeling helpless. I could move him without even touching him, but I didn’t want to pry him away against his will. Risking the chance that he might attack me, I stepped back toward him and reached out to him. I put my hand gently on his shoulder, not to push or pull him, but just to let him know I was there. Even through his agony, I knew he could sense me and my intentions. Although the steel didn’t leave his muscles, I felt something in him give.
He turned his head away from Stone and slowly looked up at me. His eyes filled with tears and the fury he had toward me turned into deep, drowning sorrow. He shook his head back and forth, both in denial and confusion. He was looking up at me like a child, asking me why it had happened, and I had no answer for him.
“I can’t just leave her, Liv.” His voice cracked, but I saw him loosen his hold on her body.
“You’re not just leaving her. She’s not here anymore, Jason.”
He considered that for a moment before he pulled Stone to him and hugged her close. I couldn’t help the tears that welled in my eyes. My heart was breaking for him, and deep down, I was sad too. She had been a cold, derisive mother figure for me. She had done horrible things, but she was all we’d had, and she'd meant the world to Jason. He pressed his lips to her cheek in a final kiss, and I had to look away.
Jason carefully laid Stone down and closed her eyes. He climbed back to his feet and took my hand. I pulled him to the door and peered out into the empty hallway. I could feel the soldiers nearby, but I couldn't tell exactly where they were. My mind flew from one end of the facility to the other, and my telekinesis felt like it was jumping around my body in the same way. One moment I would feel it rushing through me, begging to be released, and the next, it was gone.
"Did you find Lexa and Mars?" I asked, afraid of the answer.
"No." Jason clenched my hand in his as we made the turn out of the Black Corridor and into the mess hall. "Hopefully that means they got out. The safe room was empty."
We crossed the mess hall and were about to turn into the common room when we heard a voice say, "Hold up a minute, you two."
Shift (Anomaly Book 2) Page 12