Chapter Six:
Descending the stairwell into The Haven Eve sought out the feral she was looking for. Smiling at Shalimar she relieved her of watch and sent her upstairs to get some sleep. Walking along the walls of the large room she surveyed the area before settling down into the water garden, legs crossed, hands facing palm up on her knees. It had been four days since they had begun to wait for the GSA and the days only seemed to be getting longer. Even when she lay down in her bed she couldn't sleep, her mind too active. The only peace she could get was when she was in her garden. Sitting there, eyes closed, meditating, Eve could see her dream as it played out in her head. Seeing the people, three men and a woman, hearing their voices but not knowing them, seeing them, but not being able to see their faces, was more frustrating than ever.
"Who are you!" she growled in frustration. Flopping back onto her back, arms flung out over her head, she stared at the ceiling.
"Well, my friends call me Adam."
Rolling her eyes back Eve looked back over her head to see Adam walking towards her, a small grin on his face. Chuckling she sat up and turned around to face him. "Adam, eh? I seem to remember hearing that name before."
"Yeah? Well I'm glad you remember it." Lowering himself to the ground a few feet away from her Adam met her gaze with his own smiling brown eyes. "What's got you so frustrated?"
Rolling her eyes again Eve flopped back onto the ground and laced her arms behind her head. "Life." Sighing she shook her head. "I don't know... it just gets so frustrating at times. There are so many questions that I want answered, things I want to know. Even though I know I only have to wait a few more days until my memories start coming back to me I can't stop thinking about it. I keep thinking that maybe if I concentrate really hard that they'll come back sooner. But it's not working and I keep getting more and more frustrated so I tell myself to calm down, to cool it and just let it happen when it's going to happen. And for a few moments I'm okay with that. But then the questions start up again and I get caught up in everything all over again. It's a vicious cycle... and I can't seem to break it."
"So don't."
Looking over to the man sitting a few feet away Eve couldn't help but laugh. "What?"
"Don't," he smiled at her. "Sit up." Waiting a moment he reached over and grabbed her hands, pulling her to sit across from him. "Tell me what you remember."
"Are you serious?"
"Never been more serious. Tell me what you remember and I'll see if I can help."
Blinking for a moment she stared at him in incomprehension before realizing what he wanted her to do. "Um... okay." Crossing her legs she faced him and, closing her eyes, tried to recall her dream. "I'm standing in a room. I don't know the room but at the same time I do. There are... things around me. A table I think, and some sort stuff on it but I really can't see what it is. And I'm not alone. There's a man in the room with me. I know him... he's a friend but he's more than that too. I think... I think that this is the man I love. We're standing in this room and he's holding me in his arms, he's holding me so tightly. It's like... it's like he's scared to let go of me. I can hear the words he's saying but I can't hear his voice."
Listening to her, knowing the room and the man she's describing, Adam fought to keep his emotions from his face. "What's he saying?"
"That he was scared." Taking a deep breath Eve thought about the words she heard in her dream. "I had scared him, or at least something that I had done or that had happened to me. I'm not sure what it was but it was really bad."
"What happens next?"
"I'm not in the room anymore, he's gone. But there's another room, a large open one. I don't recognize it but it feels safe. There are stairs that go up to some sort of platform and beyond that is a water garden of some sort. I guess that's why I built this one. It reminds me of the one in my dream. But as I'm standing there I can hear people laughing. There're three of them, two guys and a girl. They're laughing but when they see me they stop and say hi. One of the guys starts; he welcomes me home. The woman and the other man too. They seem really happy to see me but I can't see their faces. I know them and they know me but I can't figure out who they are. That's when I notice the ring on my finger. Its glowing and... I can hear it whispering to me. I know it's a name but I can't figure out what the name is. But it's important whatever it is."
Opening her eyes, looking at Adam, sensing the hidden truth from him, Eve decided to voice her question. "You know me don't you?"
He couldn't look away and he couldn't lie. "Yes."
"Why didn't you say something?" she demanded, angry that he wold have kept something this important from her. "I've known you for over a month now and you never said a word!"
"Eve," Adam began. "I needed to be sure you were really you and that you were ready to hear the truth."
"Bullshit Adam." Adam stared at Eve and he knew the tone of their discussion had changed, she was mad and getting madder by the second. "You knew the instant you saw me!" Getting to her feet she began to pace. "But you didn't say a thing. I have been going crazy for months trying to do research on myself, find out who I am, where my family is, if I even have a family! How could you not say anything?"
"Eve..."
"The other three, they know me too don't they?" she said pausing to face him for a moment. "I can see it in their eyes. You told them to keep quiet didn't you?"
"I didn't want..."
"What does it matter what you wanted Adam? You know everything; you have all the knowledge you need! I don't!" Adam could see the tears beginning to form in her angry and frustrated eyes. She was quickly loosing control of her emotions, the stress catching up to her after all that she'd been through. "You have what I want and you chose not to give it to me!"
Standing Adam tried to defend his decision. "We didn't know what had happened. No one had any clue where you'd gone..." Clamping his mouth shut Adam could feel his control beginning to slip. The pent-up frustration, anger, sadness, joy, pain, worries all beginning to break past every barrier his trained mind had put up.
"So you just give up and forget to tell me who you are and the fact that you know who I am?" she yelled at him. "Thanks a lot Adam! It's nice to know that you were there for me!"
"I thought you were dead, Emma!" Adam finally yelled.
Stopping still in her pacing Eve stared at the man who had just yelled at her, his voice echoing in the large room. Her ears were ringing from his words and the emotions she had heard poured into them. As if caught in a tidal wave Eve was swept away by the emotions pouring from Adam, reading them, feeling them, drowning in them. Fresh tears sprang to her wide eyes as she felt his pain wash over her. Unable to breathe from the pain of Adam's pain Eve backed away, shaking her head. "I can't... I..." Turning Eve fled the basement, racing up the stairs to get out of the club.
"Wait! Eve, wait!" Racing after her Adam reached the top of the stairs in time to see her disappear through the front door. "Dammit!" he yelled, slamming his fist into the door.
She was gone.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sitting atop the roof of the building across the street Eve looked down on the club lights from above. Tears resting on her lashes she didn't know what to think of everything that had happened only an hour ago. She still wasn't sure what had happened. One minute she had been reliving the dream, telling Adam what she could remember, and the next they were yelling at each other. She could still feel the hurt that had filled her chest, the pain that had poured from Adam and flowed over her heart like a thick fog, cutting off everything else. Wiping away her tear Eve leaned back to stare at the sky. The stars were just beginning to fade, dawn would be coming soon. It was kind of like her mind. The barriers that kept her from remembering her life were beginning to fade just as the stars were. Soon the headaches would start and though they hurt like hell she would gladly suffer through them to get her life back.
From the street below she heard some noise and, looking down to see what it was her heart stopped cold. The GSA had arrived and was surrounding the club. "Oh shit!" Eve whispered to herself. Scurrying to get out of view she hid behind the ledge of the building, frantically trying to figure out a way to warn the people inside of what was coming. Running her hand through her hair she felt it snag on her ring and an idea came into her mind. Raising the ring to her mouth she whispered, "Can anyone hear me?" No reply. "Hey! Is anyone out there listening?" she said a little louder. Still, no reply. "Dammit! How do I turn this thing on? Why didn't I ask Adam how this thing works?" Two whispered words, 'on' and 'Adam', activated the link between their rings and Adam heard the end of her whispered question.
"Eve?"
"Adam! Listen! The GSA is here, they're surrounding the club right now!"
Swearing Adam sprang up from his seat, calling out orders as he ran into the main dance floor of the club. "Shalimar, Brennan, Jesse, get everyone in here now, the GSA is here!" Stopping at the computer they had set up on the bar Adam began typing furiously to get the program up and running that would disable their tazer weapons the instant they passed through the doorways. "Eve, where are you?"
"On the roof across the street."
"How many agents can you see?"
"There are ten by the front door, another five disappeared to the left and five more to the right. There are probably some at the backdoor but I can't see them. There's some white guy, bright hair, he's just getting out of the car now."
"Eckhart," Adam whispered.
"Adam, they're moving in!"
Over the comm link she could hear the agents enter the room and the fighting begin. Knowing she had to get there and help Eve stood from her hiding spot and ran for the door that led to the stairs only to find hat it had been locked when it shut behind her. Cursing herself for not propping it open Eve raced back to the ledge and looked down to see all the agents gone, they were all inside already. With a cry of anger Eve searched the roof for some way to get down. Seeing some cables hanging off the one side of the building she ran to them and found a window washer's pulley still hanging a few feet down. Jumping down onto it she found the controls and began to lower herself to the ground only to a jerk to a stop still three floors from the bottom. Knowing she had no choice Eve slipped out between the bars and lowered herself to hang from the floor of the pulley, dropping three floors to the ground.
Sore from the fall she got to her feet and ran for the club. The front door inaccessible she opted for the back door and, disabling the one guard, entered the club through The Haven. Opening the door she entered just in time to see an agent aiming his gun at Jackie. Before Eve could take a step to stop him the trigger was pulled, bullet flying through the air towards its target. Crying out a warning, knowing it would be too late, Eve watched as Jackie was tossed aside, the bullet lodging itself in Eric's chest. Taking out the agent who had fired the gun, making sure he couldn't hurt anyone else, Eve rushed to Jackie and Eric, he resting in her lap, she bent over him in tears. Eric was dead; he had given his life for Jackie. Closing her eyes for a moment Eve thanked him for saving her friend. "Jackie..."
"I can't Eve, I just can't."
"All right," she said softly. "Take this," handing the young woman a gun. "If it's not one of us, shoot to kill." Nodding Jackie tucked the gun into her waistband as Eve ran up the stairs. Barring the door so no one could get down there she hurried out to the main floor and found the dance floor in chaos. Fights everywhere Eve joined in.
"'Bought time you showed up," Mixy teased as Eve joined her in her fight against three agents. "I was wondering if you were gonna nap through the whole thing."
"Well I tried but these damn guys kept pounding on my door so I figured I'd better make them stop," Eve teased back as they fought. "What's the score so far?"
"Good guys eight bad guys one. Pete took a bullet in the shoulder but he'll be fine. I haven't seen Jackie though, I'm a little worried."
Knocking out the agent she was fighting Eve turned to see Mixy finish with her two as well. "She's in the basement. Eric took a bullet for her."
"Damn."
"Tell me about it."
Knocked to the ground from behind Eve got up to see Mixy fighting the man who had kicked her. Leaving them to their fight Eve glanced across the dance floor to see Adam pinned to the wall by two agents, a third one holding a gun aimed at his head. Cold terror gripped at her heart, though Eve had no idea why, and she ran for the agent holding the gun. Slamming herself into the agent the bullet buried itself into one of the men holding Adam, the force of her impact throwing off his aim. Pinned under him Eve fought the man until he was pulled off and tossed across the room. Looking up she saw Shalimar grinning down at her. "You're quick," she grinned. "You got here faster than I could."
Taking her hand Eve was pulled to her feet, smiling back at the feral. "You better work on that," she teased. Feeling a warm trickle on her face Eve reached up and puled her fingers away only to see them coated in blood. Already by her side, Adam's eyes followed the path of the blood up to its source. "I'll be fine, there are other things to worry about right now," she protested.
"Not really," Brennan smiled. "We won, the GSA is gone."
Suddenly a scream tore through the air. All eyes went to its source and saw Mixy, trapped behind a blazing fire. The club was on fire! Freezing in her place Shalimar couldn't move any more than Mixy could, the fear of fire too great, too powerful a hold over her senses. Yelling for Jesse and Brennan to get Shalimar up to the Double Helix Adam moved over toward the fire to help Mixy, Pete and Eve following him closely. Each of them yelled at her to move but the feral was frozen in place, unable to move, her fear of fire to powerful an enemy to beat. Knowing he would recover Pete moved to pass through the flames but the pain was too much, he couldn't continue. Running out of options Eve knew she had no choice. Closing her eyes for a moment she opened them to stare right at Mixy, using her mutancy to fool the feral into thinking that there was no fire, only a deep, wide chasm that needed to be jumped. Her eyes not seeing the fire anymore Mixy took a running leap and jumped, landing safely on the other side.
"Let's go!" Adam yelled.
As they ran for the stairs Eve suddenly remembered. "Shit!" she cried. "Tugging on Adam's sleeve she pulled him back around to face her. "Jackie's still in The Haven! Wait for us!" she yelled over the roar of the fire, it was quickly consuming the entire building.
"Wait!" Adam yelled as she turned and ran back across the dance floor; but Eve only waved as she ran toward the basement door. Wanting to go after her but needing to get Mixy to safety, Adam prayed she knew what she was doing.
Moving the object she had barred the door with Eve raced down the stairs to see Jackie in the same position she had left her in. At the sound of feet pounding on the stairs Jackie raised the gun at her but, seeing Eve, she lowered it again, eyes wide at the sight of the blood on Eve's face. "Jackie, we gotta go! The club is on fire!" Pulling her to her feet Eve pulled Jackie away from Eric's prone body. Resisting her, Jackie tried to take Eric with them but Eve knew they'd never make it out in time. "We can't Jackie! There's no way we'd make it out on time!"
"I'm not going to leave him here Eve! He gave his life for me! He did love me, he always did!"
Feeling her pain Eve turned Jackie to face her. "I know he loved you Jackie. Even when I knew he had turned us in I always knew that he loved you. Eric died so that you could live! If we don't get out of here now then you'll die too and Eric's death will have meant absolutely nothing!"
Tears in her eyes Jackie nodded, with one last look at Eric, the man she loved, she ran up the stairs, Eve right behind her. Through the dance floor, racing to get away from the fire they made it to the stairs only to find that their way was blocked, the ceiling had caved in on them. Hurrying as fast as they could the pair ran to the bar, using it's shelving unit to get to the open walkway of the second floor that hung over the dance floor. Climbing up it they ran to the stairs again and made it to the third floor. Running, racing, they made it to the roof and ran towards the Double Helix, Pete and Jesse standing outside, yelling for them to run faster. Still a ways away from safety Eve stumbled, pain beginning to sear through her head, a scream tearing past her lips.
"Eve!" Jackie screamed. As her vision began to black out Eve saw Pete looming over her, felt herself being picked up and carried towards the Double Helix. She was laid down on a table of some sort and Eve watched as Pete disappeared only to be replaced by Adam, the older man staring down at her in worry and fear. She could see his mouth moving but could hear no words over the sound of someone screaming. Soon her murky vision went completely black as the pain became too much.
The headaches had begun.
X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X
Descending the stairwell into The Haven Eve sought out the feral she was looking for. Smiling at Shalimar she relieved her of watch and sent her upstairs to get some sleep. Walking along the walls of the large room she surveyed the area before settling down into the water garden, legs crossed, hands facing palm up on her knees. It had been four days since they had begun to wait for the GSA and the days only seemed to be getting longer. Even when she lay down in her bed she couldn't sleep, her mind too active. The only peace she could get was when she was in her garden. Sitting there, eyes closed, meditating, Eve could see her dream as it played out in her head. Seeing the people, three men and a woman, hearing their voices but not knowing them, seeing them, but not being able to see their faces, was more frustrating than ever.
"Who are you!" she growled in frustration. Flopping back onto her back, arms flung out over her head, she stared at the ceiling.
"Well, my friends call me Adam."
Rolling her eyes back Eve looked back over her head to see Adam walking towards her, a small grin on his face. Chuckling she sat up and turned around to face him. "Adam, eh? I seem to remember hearing that name before."
"Yeah? Well I'm glad you remember it." Lowering himself to the ground a few feet away from her Adam met her gaze with his own smiling brown eyes. "What's got you so frustrated?"
Rolling her eyes again Eve flopped back onto the ground and laced her arms behind her head. "Life." Sighing she shook her head. "I don't know... it just gets so frustrating at times. There are so many questions that I want answered, things I want to know. Even though I know I only have to wait a few more days until my memories start coming back to me I can't stop thinking about it. I keep thinking that maybe if I concentrate really hard that they'll come back sooner. But it's not working and I keep getting more and more frustrated so I tell myself to calm down, to cool it and just let it happen when it's going to happen. And for a few moments I'm okay with that. But then the questions start up again and I get caught up in everything all over again. It's a vicious cycle... and I can't seem to break it."
"So don't."
Looking over to the man sitting a few feet away Eve couldn't help but laugh. "What?"
"Don't," he smiled at her. "Sit up." Waiting a moment he reached over and grabbed her hands, pulling her to sit across from him. "Tell me what you remember."
"Are you serious?"
"Never been more serious. Tell me what you remember and I'll see if I can help."
Blinking for a moment she stared at him in incomprehension before realizing what he wanted her to do. "Um... okay." Crossing her legs she faced him and, closing her eyes, tried to recall her dream. "I'm standing in a room. I don't know the room but at the same time I do. There are... things around me. A table I think, and some sort stuff on it but I really can't see what it is. And I'm not alone. There's a man in the room with me. I know him... he's a friend but he's more than that too. I think... I think that this is the man I love. We're standing in this room and he's holding me in his arms, he's holding me so tightly. It's like... it's like he's scared to let go of me. I can hear the words he's saying but I can't hear his voice."
Listening to her, knowing the room and the man she's describing, Adam fought to keep his emotions from his face. "What's he saying?"
"That he was scared." Taking a deep breath Eve thought about the words she heard in her dream. "I had scared him, or at least something that I had done or that had happened to me. I'm not sure what it was but it was really bad."
"What happens next?"
"I'm not in the room anymore, he's gone. But there's another room, a large open one. I don't recognize it but it feels safe. There are stairs that go up to some sort of platform and beyond that is a water garden of some sort. I guess that's why I built this one. It reminds me of the one in my dream. But as I'm standing there I can hear people laughing. There're three of them, two guys and a girl. They're laughing but when they see me they stop and say hi. One of the guys starts; he welcomes me home. The woman and the other man too. They seem really happy to see me but I can't see their faces. I know them and they know me but I can't figure out who they are. That's when I notice the ring on my finger. Its glowing and... I can hear it whispering to me. I know it's a name but I can't figure out what the name is. But it's important whatever it is."
Opening her eyes, looking at Adam, sensing the hidden truth from him, Eve decided to voice her question. "You know me don't you?"
He couldn't look away and he couldn't lie. "Yes."
"Why didn't you say something?" she demanded, angry that he wold have kept something this important from her. "I've known you for over a month now and you never said a word!"
"Eve," Adam began. "I needed to be sure you were really you and that you were ready to hear the truth."
"Bullshit Adam." Adam stared at Eve and he knew the tone of their discussion had changed, she was mad and getting madder by the second. "You knew the instant you saw me!" Getting to her feet she began to pace. "But you didn't say a thing. I have been going crazy for months trying to do research on myself, find out who I am, where my family is, if I even have a family! How could you not say anything?"
"Eve..."
"The other three, they know me too don't they?" she said pausing to face him for a moment. "I can see it in their eyes. You told them to keep quiet didn't you?"
"I didn't want..."
"What does it matter what you wanted Adam? You know everything; you have all the knowledge you need! I don't!" Adam could see the tears beginning to form in her angry and frustrated eyes. She was quickly loosing control of her emotions, the stress catching up to her after all that she'd been through. "You have what I want and you chose not to give it to me!"
Standing Adam tried to defend his decision. "We didn't know what had happened. No one had any clue where you'd gone..." Clamping his mouth shut Adam could feel his control beginning to slip. The pent-up frustration, anger, sadness, joy, pain, worries all beginning to break past every barrier his trained mind had put up.
"So you just give up and forget to tell me who you are and the fact that you know who I am?" she yelled at him. "Thanks a lot Adam! It's nice to know that you were there for me!"
"I thought you were dead, Emma!" Adam finally yelled.
Stopping still in her pacing Eve stared at the man who had just yelled at her, his voice echoing in the large room. Her ears were ringing from his words and the emotions she had heard poured into them. As if caught in a tidal wave Eve was swept away by the emotions pouring from Adam, reading them, feeling them, drowning in them. Fresh tears sprang to her wide eyes as she felt his pain wash over her. Unable to breathe from the pain of Adam's pain Eve backed away, shaking her head. "I can't... I..." Turning Eve fled the basement, racing up the stairs to get out of the club.
"Wait! Eve, wait!" Racing after her Adam reached the top of the stairs in time to see her disappear through the front door. "Dammit!" he yelled, slamming his fist into the door.
She was gone.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sitting atop the roof of the building across the street Eve looked down on the club lights from above. Tears resting on her lashes she didn't know what to think of everything that had happened only an hour ago. She still wasn't sure what had happened. One minute she had been reliving the dream, telling Adam what she could remember, and the next they were yelling at each other. She could still feel the hurt that had filled her chest, the pain that had poured from Adam and flowed over her heart like a thick fog, cutting off everything else. Wiping away her tear Eve leaned back to stare at the sky. The stars were just beginning to fade, dawn would be coming soon. It was kind of like her mind. The barriers that kept her from remembering her life were beginning to fade just as the stars were. Soon the headaches would start and though they hurt like hell she would gladly suffer through them to get her life back.
From the street below she heard some noise and, looking down to see what it was her heart stopped cold. The GSA had arrived and was surrounding the club. "Oh shit!" Eve whispered to herself. Scurrying to get out of view she hid behind the ledge of the building, frantically trying to figure out a way to warn the people inside of what was coming. Running her hand through her hair she felt it snag on her ring and an idea came into her mind. Raising the ring to her mouth she whispered, "Can anyone hear me?" No reply. "Hey! Is anyone out there listening?" she said a little louder. Still, no reply. "Dammit! How do I turn this thing on? Why didn't I ask Adam how this thing works?" Two whispered words, 'on' and 'Adam', activated the link between their rings and Adam heard the end of her whispered question.
"Eve?"
"Adam! Listen! The GSA is here, they're surrounding the club right now!"
Swearing Adam sprang up from his seat, calling out orders as he ran into the main dance floor of the club. "Shalimar, Brennan, Jesse, get everyone in here now, the GSA is here!" Stopping at the computer they had set up on the bar Adam began typing furiously to get the program up and running that would disable their tazer weapons the instant they passed through the doorways. "Eve, where are you?"
"On the roof across the street."
"How many agents can you see?"
"There are ten by the front door, another five disappeared to the left and five more to the right. There are probably some at the backdoor but I can't see them. There's some white guy, bright hair, he's just getting out of the car now."
"Eckhart," Adam whispered.
"Adam, they're moving in!"
Over the comm link she could hear the agents enter the room and the fighting begin. Knowing she had to get there and help Eve stood from her hiding spot and ran for the door that led to the stairs only to find hat it had been locked when it shut behind her. Cursing herself for not propping it open Eve raced back to the ledge and looked down to see all the agents gone, they were all inside already. With a cry of anger Eve searched the roof for some way to get down. Seeing some cables hanging off the one side of the building she ran to them and found a window washer's pulley still hanging a few feet down. Jumping down onto it she found the controls and began to lower herself to the ground only to a jerk to a stop still three floors from the bottom. Knowing she had no choice Eve slipped out between the bars and lowered herself to hang from the floor of the pulley, dropping three floors to the ground.
Sore from the fall she got to her feet and ran for the club. The front door inaccessible she opted for the back door and, disabling the one guard, entered the club through The Haven. Opening the door she entered just in time to see an agent aiming his gun at Jackie. Before Eve could take a step to stop him the trigger was pulled, bullet flying through the air towards its target. Crying out a warning, knowing it would be too late, Eve watched as Jackie was tossed aside, the bullet lodging itself in Eric's chest. Taking out the agent who had fired the gun, making sure he couldn't hurt anyone else, Eve rushed to Jackie and Eric, he resting in her lap, she bent over him in tears. Eric was dead; he had given his life for Jackie. Closing her eyes for a moment Eve thanked him for saving her friend. "Jackie..."
"I can't Eve, I just can't."
"All right," she said softly. "Take this," handing the young woman a gun. "If it's not one of us, shoot to kill." Nodding Jackie tucked the gun into her waistband as Eve ran up the stairs. Barring the door so no one could get down there she hurried out to the main floor and found the dance floor in chaos. Fights everywhere Eve joined in.
"'Bought time you showed up," Mixy teased as Eve joined her in her fight against three agents. "I was wondering if you were gonna nap through the whole thing."
"Well I tried but these damn guys kept pounding on my door so I figured I'd better make them stop," Eve teased back as they fought. "What's the score so far?"
"Good guys eight bad guys one. Pete took a bullet in the shoulder but he'll be fine. I haven't seen Jackie though, I'm a little worried."
Knocking out the agent she was fighting Eve turned to see Mixy finish with her two as well. "She's in the basement. Eric took a bullet for her."
"Damn."
"Tell me about it."
Knocked to the ground from behind Eve got up to see Mixy fighting the man who had kicked her. Leaving them to their fight Eve glanced across the dance floor to see Adam pinned to the wall by two agents, a third one holding a gun aimed at his head. Cold terror gripped at her heart, though Eve had no idea why, and she ran for the agent holding the gun. Slamming herself into the agent the bullet buried itself into one of the men holding Adam, the force of her impact throwing off his aim. Pinned under him Eve fought the man until he was pulled off and tossed across the room. Looking up she saw Shalimar grinning down at her. "You're quick," she grinned. "You got here faster than I could."
Taking her hand Eve was pulled to her feet, smiling back at the feral. "You better work on that," she teased. Feeling a warm trickle on her face Eve reached up and puled her fingers away only to see them coated in blood. Already by her side, Adam's eyes followed the path of the blood up to its source. "I'll be fine, there are other things to worry about right now," she protested.
"Not really," Brennan smiled. "We won, the GSA is gone."
Suddenly a scream tore through the air. All eyes went to its source and saw Mixy, trapped behind a blazing fire. The club was on fire! Freezing in her place Shalimar couldn't move any more than Mixy could, the fear of fire too great, too powerful a hold over her senses. Yelling for Jesse and Brennan to get Shalimar up to the Double Helix Adam moved over toward the fire to help Mixy, Pete and Eve following him closely. Each of them yelled at her to move but the feral was frozen in place, unable to move, her fear of fire to powerful an enemy to beat. Knowing he would recover Pete moved to pass through the flames but the pain was too much, he couldn't continue. Running out of options Eve knew she had no choice. Closing her eyes for a moment she opened them to stare right at Mixy, using her mutancy to fool the feral into thinking that there was no fire, only a deep, wide chasm that needed to be jumped. Her eyes not seeing the fire anymore Mixy took a running leap and jumped, landing safely on the other side.
"Let's go!" Adam yelled.
As they ran for the stairs Eve suddenly remembered. "Shit!" she cried. "Tugging on Adam's sleeve she pulled him back around to face her. "Jackie's still in The Haven! Wait for us!" she yelled over the roar of the fire, it was quickly consuming the entire building.
"Wait!" Adam yelled as she turned and ran back across the dance floor; but Eve only waved as she ran toward the basement door. Wanting to go after her but needing to get Mixy to safety, Adam prayed she knew what she was doing.
Moving the object she had barred the door with Eve raced down the stairs to see Jackie in the same position she had left her in. At the sound of feet pounding on the stairs Jackie raised the gun at her but, seeing Eve, she lowered it again, eyes wide at the sight of the blood on Eve's face. "Jackie, we gotta go! The club is on fire!" Pulling her to her feet Eve pulled Jackie away from Eric's prone body. Resisting her, Jackie tried to take Eric with them but Eve knew they'd never make it out in time. "We can't Jackie! There's no way we'd make it out on time!"
"I'm not going to leave him here Eve! He gave his life for me! He did love me, he always did!"
Feeling her pain Eve turned Jackie to face her. "I know he loved you Jackie. Even when I knew he had turned us in I always knew that he loved you. Eric died so that you could live! If we don't get out of here now then you'll die too and Eric's death will have meant absolutely nothing!"
Tears in her eyes Jackie nodded, with one last look at Eric, the man she loved, she ran up the stairs, Eve right behind her. Through the dance floor, racing to get away from the fire they made it to the stairs only to find that their way was blocked, the ceiling had caved in on them. Hurrying as fast as they could the pair ran to the bar, using it's shelving unit to get to the open walkway of the second floor that hung over the dance floor. Climbing up it they ran to the stairs again and made it to the third floor. Running, racing, they made it to the roof and ran towards the Double Helix, Pete and Jesse standing outside, yelling for them to run faster. Still a ways away from safety Eve stumbled, pain beginning to sear through her head, a scream tearing past her lips.
"Eve!" Jackie screamed. As her vision began to black out Eve saw Pete looming over her, felt herself being picked up and carried towards the Double Helix. She was laid down on a table of some sort and Eve watched as Pete disappeared only to be replaced by Adam, the older man staring down at her in worry and fear. She could see his mouth moving but could hear no words over the sound of someone screaming. Soon her murky vision went completely black as the pain became too much.
The headaches had begun.
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