Five Years Later: Chapter Ten
With each mile-marker they pass on Main Park Road, the atmosphere within the Oldsmobile matches the setting of the sun outside, growing darker and more quiet. At mile-marker 62, 10 miles from their objective, Claire lets go of her hand and grips the steering wheel tighter. At mile-marker 70, she shuts the radio off and takes a deep breath, her back stiffening.
"I don't have a good feeling about this," says the Haitian from the backseat.
"Not helping, Rene," exhales Claire, her knuckles now white on the steering wheel.
"I think we should turn back and wait for Hiro," he continues, sounding ominous.
Gretchen looks at Claire with wide eyes, and Claire gives her a hopeful smile in return. She begins to slow the car down as they approach the next mile-marker, and says, as if speaking only to Gretchen, "If I don't do this now, I don't know what might happen to the rest of my kind."
Gretchen nods apprehensively and replies, "I know why you have to do this. It's okay, Claire. I'm not afraid."
"Peter can help us," Claire says, for about the thousandth time, as if she's trying to convince herself. "If he can't ... I don't know who will."
Gretchen looks ahead, knowing that mile-marker 72 should be coming up any minute. And, as she does, she notices car lights up ahead in the distance.
"Do you think that's Peter?" she asks Claire.
Claire slows down even more, coming to a slow crawl. The headlights ahead of them are not moving. The car is standing still in the road, it's brights shining hard against the windshield of the Oldsmobile as they come closer.
"Peter would not do this," warns the Haitian. "He would not advertise himself in this way."
Claire stops the car just yards away from the headlights of the car in front of them. Gretchen squints against the glare and sees that the other car is actually a Hummer, sitting smack in the middle of the road, as if unafraid of oncoming traffic.
"This is not Peter," Rene says again, shaking Claire by the shoulder. "You must turn around, Claire! Now!"
Claire hesitates, also squinting against the glare. Gretchen looks at her and sees the curiosity burning in her green eyes. She wants to get out of the car, Gretchen realizes with terror. She wants to know who this is.
"Claire, no," she breathes out, clutching her arm. "Listen to the Haitian, please. This isn't worth it. Turn the car around."
Claire looks at her, still considering it, and says to Rene, "You can stop their powers ... right? Just ... stay in the car. Both of you. I can handle this. I promise."
Having made up her mind, Claire unfastens her seatbelt and prepares to exit the car, her hand on the door handle.
"Wait, no ... stop!" cries out Gretchen, grabbing tight to her arm as Claire attempts to pull it away. She can feel the muscles of Claire's arm flex beneath her fingers and closes her eyes in panic, fearful that she may never feel anything of Claire again if she steps foot outside of the car.
"I know how badly you want to know if Becky is in that car right now," Gretchen tells her, without opening her eyes. "I know it's killing you ... wondering if she's sitting here ... waiting for you. I get that, okay? But ... it's not worth losing what we just found."
"Gretchen," Claire says with a tired laugh. "Open your eyes."
Gretchen finally opens her eyes, and sees Claire smiling back at her with reassurance.
"I'm not doing this because of Becky, okay?" Claire promises. "I'm doing this to find Peter. He's here, Gretchen ... somewhere. And, trust me ... Becky does not want to mess with my uncle."
Gretchen lets go of her arm, a silent plea still in her eyes, and Claire exits the Oldsmobile, shutting the door behind her.
Claire walks confidently towards the hummer, the look of a warrior in her eyes. As she does so, both doors to the hummer open, and two people exit the front seat. Detective Adams, Gretchen's old partner, shuts the driver's side door behind him as Becky is stepping out of the passenger seat. She walks towards Claire slowly, sashaying like a drag queen, a cat-like smile stretched thin across her lips.
"Well, I'm guessing from the look on your face that you've finally figured things out, baby," she says, giving Claire a fake pout. "That's too bad. It's going to make things so much tougher for you now ... you have no idea."
Detective Adams comes to stand next to Becky protectively, crossing his arms across his chest like a muscle-bound thug.
"Don't you ever call me baby again, you sick, twisted bitch," Claire growls, stepping closer. "I could snap your neck like a twig without your powers, and you know it."
Becky laughs, clapping her hands together in demented delight. "Yes, but ... I'm afraid there's something you aren't aware of, dear. You see, Dick here is not only a detective ... he's also really good with bombs. Show her, Dick."
Dick raises his arm, a detonation device in his fist, his thumb precariously held over it's red trigger. Claire spins around in terror, in just enough time to see Gretchen look at her through the windshield before the bomb goes off, a question on her face.
Claire screams "NO!" and lunges towards the burning wreck, but, for the second time today, someone grabs her from behind and keeps her in place. It's Becky. And, she is laughing in Claire's ear as she madly cries out for Gretchen.
"Don't worry, baby," Becky whispers in a hiss. "I'll make sure they don't treat you too bad. After all, I wouldn't want anything to happen to that beautiful fucking face of yours."
Claire struggles wildly against her, and is just about to break free when ...
WHOOSH!
A charge of lightening comes soaring through the air and hits detective Adams right in the chest, knocking him immediately unconscious. Shocked, Becky lets Claire free and backs away, her eyes wide with fright. Claire looks away from her, up towards the sky, and sees a form flying towards them at rapid speed. No ... she sees two forms ... flying side by side, Peter's image becoming clearer as they get nearer to the ground.
Behind her, she hears tires squeal, and turns just in time to see the hummer doing a U-turn in the road. Becky is behind the wheel, turning it as quickly as she can.
Peter and his companion, a tall and striking-looking blonde, land softly just behind her. Peter is so close that his breath is in her ear.
"Should I follow her?" he asks Claire, watching the hummer pull away with his typical guard-dog expression.
Claire turns to face him, then immediately rushes past him, running frantically for the burning Oldsmobile. She opens the passenger side door, the door handle singeing the flesh of her fingers as she does so, and catches Gretchen in her arms as she falls out. Gretchen is badly burned; almost unrecognizable, but barely breathing. Her eyes search out Claire and lock onto her, and she tries to speak ... her charred lips spitting out nothing but blood and gasps of air.
Peter and his friend have come to stand behind them, Peter kneeling just over her shoulder. She holds tight to Gretchen and begins to cry, saying, "Oh, Peter. This is all my fault. What have I done? Gretchen ... Jesus ... what have I done?"
"It's okay, Claire," soothes Peter. "You can heal her. Just try. I know you can do it."
"But ... I can't," insists Claire, turning her head to look at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I can't even heal rabbits. I've tried! Don't you think I've tried?"
Peter smiles reassuringly. "That was different," he promises her. "You didn't care as much about the rabbits as you care about her. You have to want it more than anything, Claire. Besides ... what have you got to lose? Just try it."
Claire looks back down at Gretchen, whose eyes are still searching her own with desperation and panic. Gretchen is fighting for breath, choking on her own blood.
"Just try, Claire," Peter urges again, his voice soft and gentle. "Put your hands on her ... close your eyes ... concentrate."
Without further hesitation, Claire follows his instructions. She closes her eyes and thinks of the kiss she and Gretchen had just shared, only moments earlier. She focuses on the warmth she felt from it; the security it gave her.
And, desperately, she tries with all her might to give that security back to her ...
Her eyes still closed, she hears Gretchen continue to choke, then to cough, and then ...
"Wha ... What just happened, Claire?" she hears Gretchen say, her voice clear and strong, though thoroughly confused.
Claire opens her eyes and looks down at Gretchen. Her skin is perfect, pale and soft and pink, just as it should be. And the rest of her looks perfect too. Claire hugs her tight to her chest and kisses her forehead softly, over and over again, delighting in the feel of her radiant flesh, warm and smooth beneath her lips.
"I thought I'd lost you," Claire tells her, tears still dripping from her flushed cheeks. "I am so sorry, Gretchen. I never meant for this to happen. I ..."
"You healed me ... didn't you?" asks Gretchen, her eyes wide with wonder.
Claire helps her sit up, saying, "Did you ... feel that?"
"Well ... yeah," Gretchen replies, seeing the panic in her eyes. "But, it's okay, Claire. I'm okay. You saved me. I was dying, Claire! And ... you brought me back to life!"
"I almost got you killed," Claire stresses.
Gretchen takes her hand and squeezes it, locking eyes with her. "I came on my own ... because I love you, Claire. And, I am never going anywhere without you again. Understand? You are worth it to me. Get it? You are worth everything."
Claire's green eyes melt under Gretchen's passionate gaze, and she opens her mouth to reply, but is interrupted by the sounds of coughing from a cluster of bushes nearby.
Peter turns and fishes through the bushes as the rest of them look on, and finds Rene struggling to stand in the thick of them. Peter reaches out a hand and pulls the Haitian out, catching onto Rene's arm as he wobbles forward. He is limping, and is badly bruised and scraped, but otherwise unharmed.
"I was thrown from the car during the blast," he tells them. Then, he sees Gretchen standing up in front of him, not a scratch on her, and adds with sudden amazement, "I see I was not the only lucky one. Am I to presume this means Claire has further expanded upon her powers?"
Peter nods, also looking amazed, even though he had seemed so confident just moments earlier. "Yep," he replies, giving Claire a proud smile. "Fully charged from the look of things."
"We should not hang around here for too long," Rene warns at once, always on the look-out for danger. "Becky could return ... with reinforcements this time."
"I agree," says Peter with a grin. "Shall we?"
"Shall we what?" asks Gretchen, looking back at the burned out Oldsmobile, then back at the empty road.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Peter replies, taking his female friend by the hand, and presenting her to the group. "None of you have met Stephanie. Stephanie is a flyer I met two years ago. She can take Rene with her, and I can take you two girls with me. We've got a little place in Havana, and ..."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," says Claire, shaking her head in confusion while stepping forward. "We've been trying to contact you for over two years ... and now, you show up with this ... chick we don't know, and you tell us you've been shacking up in Havana the whole time?"
Peter shuffles his feet nervously, giving her an apologetic smile. His grin is crooked, and it reminds Gretchen of someone. Someone she ran into once, not very long ago.
"Well," he says, "it's not exactly like that. It's ... complicated. And, I'll tell you all about it in Havana ... when we're safe. For now, could you just ... you know, trust me? Come on, Claire. Rene's right ... we shouldn't hang around here."
He reaches out a hand in a plea. Claire hesitates, giving him a dissatisfied look, but then comes to him, gesturing for Gretchen to do the same.
"Come on," she tells her, waving her over. "We may as well do what he says ..."
Gretchen follows her lead and grabs hold of Peter on the other side, and Claire looks up at her uncle with a mischievous grin. "After all," she continues, "... he's just as stubborn as I am."
Peter smiles back with a small laugh, and they take off into the stars, Gretchen looking down at the ground below with fright and excitement.
Beneath them, she sees Rene grab onto Stephanie's waist. The two soar up next to them, and Stephanie gives Gretchen a warm smile before racing ahead, Peter climbing with increasing speed to try and keep up.
*to be continued ...*