Author's note: This story begins shortly after the events of the movie "Firestarter 2." If you haven't seen the movie, then beware of spoilers! This fan fiction is also a prequel story to the X-Men crossovers I'm currently working on (set about 25 years before the events of X1 and X2). Please let me know what you think! :-)
Prologue
Charlie McGee had every intention of taking that bus the whole way to Canada.
She had deliberately chosen this route, as the bus scheduled showed very few stops between Denver and the Great Lakes. She did not want to go directly north from Colorado. They might be expecting that, considering she had no idea how much Richardson had told Rainbird and his associates about her future plans.
Well...at least she did not have to worry about Rainbird anymore. And, neither did Richardson...wherever he was now.
Charlie leaned her head back against her seat and stared out of her window. They were in Iowa now, and the rolling green fields of corn and wheat had not changed much since they left Lincoln and cross the Nebraska border. There was only one more stop, in Des Moines, before the bus headed for Chicago. Then, it would continue west, straight on through Michigan before ending in Toronto.
Richardson had said she would end up in Canada...in a little cabin surrounded by snow, and she believed him, even though he had betrayed her. Richardson had visions, the past, present and future all at once, and he did not bother to lie about what he saw. He had not believed he could change the events he knew must happen, so what was the point in lying about them.
But, Charlie wondered how true that was. How did he know he could not change it if he had never tried?
Oh, well...that did not matter now. All that mattered was running, going north, going somewhere cold and snowy so she could forget about Richardson and Rainbird and fire and Lot Six and Vincent...
Charlie choked down tears against her dry throat. It was not fair. Vincent had just wanted to help her...help the other lives Systems Operations had destroyed. He had been good, honest, she trusted him...maybe loved him. And, she had hoped, he might have loved her, too. She had been alone for so long, his simple kindness and friendship had been like rain for her after a long drought...
But, now Vincent was dead. Rainbird had killed him to provoke her into doing what he wanted...and she had. She had helped decimate a small town, and any hope of a different future had died with Vincent.
And, now Rainbird was dead, too. She had made sure of that, letting his ashes run through her hands after she destroyed him. He had been trying to create a god...and all he created were monsters like himself.
Monsters, Charlie thought, this time letting a few tears fall, Is that what I am? Is that what those other children are? They've never really given us a name. What do you call people who can do the things we can do?
She did not know, and she did not care. Now, all she cared about was disappearing. Getting to where she could be alone, where she could hide, where she could never hurt anyone else again.
The bus rolled on, the days and nights passed in a blur. Charlie did not mind. She did not want to think clearly, out of fear for her memories of the past week...the past year...her whole life.
As the signs directing the bus to Des Moines became more frequent, Charlie closed her eyes. She hoped she did not dream.
She really did not want to set the bus on fire if she had a nightmare.
