I watched PC being
hurled bodily through the window of a Bob's Munchy Mart. I cringed
as he crash the through the window head first. I didn't know if the
trauma had killed him or not, but regardless, I needed to act. I knew
if that was me I probably wouldn't have survived it. Lyle began to
advance on the broken window of the store. I picked up a piece of
asphalt and hurled it at Lyle. The projectile whacked him on the
snout. He gave me a murderous stare.
"Hey stupid did you forget
about me!" I taunted.
"Shut up! You're next!" He snarled
and turned to pick up PC, who lay limp in his arms.
I threw
another piece of asphalt.
"Put him down," I said sternly.
"You are getting on my nerves. I guess I'll take care of you
first. After all it looks like he won't be going anywhere." Lyle
plopped PC on the ground and then instantly grabbed a parked car and
hurled it at me. I jumped away from it just in time. "You are just
as much of a coward as he is," Lyle jeered.
I smiled inwardly
"let's see about that," I said softly. I darted forward running
as fast as my legs could carry me and sprang off the roof of the car
that had just been thrown. Next the back of my shirt tore open to
reveal my obsidian colored wings. They crackled as I forced them to
move in quick abrupt strokes. I held out my clawed hands, like a hawk
does when about to snatch up its prey. When I made contact with
Lyle's chest it felt like hitting wall at top speed. The impact
racked my arm muscles and even threatened to dislocate both of my
shoulders. If Lyle hadn't been pushed back several feet, I
would've. He stared at the ten crimson holes I had burrowed in his
flesh in disbelief. Lyle began to throw a fit, stomping the ground
and gnashing his teeth and then he charged at me. I made another
coarse maneuver with my wings, propelling myself upward without a
running start, forcing Lyle to miss. He cursed as I circled above him
out of his reach. It had been a while since I had been in the air. It
was frightening and exhilarating. I hated it. Every flap of my wings
was pure agony and my body screamed under the stress to keep me
aloft. Suddenly a piece of asphalt flew like a comet towards me. I
twisted out of the way in order to avoid it. Soon more asphalt comets
were hurled up to meet me. I darted this way and that way. I was
doing well only taking a few hits in the stomach, on my knees, and
arms. Due to my success, my confidence swelled and I broke a personal
taboo.
"If that is the best you have to offer, than I don't
know why the School wants you."….I got cocky…Next I heard
whistling noise and then metallic THUNK! Before I knew it I was
pinned by my right wing against a building by a piece of metal pipe.
This time I couldn't help but cry out in agony. The pain wasn't
overwhelming, but it was strong enough to make my eyes water up and
deter me from making any sudden moves. Lyle chuckled which sounded
like croak more than anything else, as he approached.
"You're
a little cocky aren't you," he said with a fiendish smile.
'Thank-you, Captain Obvious' I thought to myself. I shut my
eyes and tried to reach for the pipe with my right arm. Pain exploded
from shoulder down my side and I instantly recoiled. I tried my left
arm, but it was too far away. For once I felt a sudden rush of panic
course through me. I was trapped……
You know that feeling
you get when your foot falls asleep. Imagine that tingly sensation
all over your entire body, only it feels like thousands of needles
are poking you at the same time. That is how I felt at the moment; I
only get this feeling when my ability actually kicks in. My head felt
like it had been flattened. The numbness slowly began to fade away as
I became more aware of my surroundings. A few shards of glass had
burrowed into my skin and I gingerly plucked them out. Suddenly an
anguished cry reached my ears and I became reacquainted with my
present situation. I looked around to look for Rafmire. I spotted
Lyle walking toward a building with a crocodile smile on his face.
Then I saw Raf pinned by one wing against the face of a building.
"You're a little cocky aren't you?" I heard Lyle say. He
picked up another piece of pipe…the jerk was going to do it again.
Rage began to build inside me and I began to change. Transformations
didn't hurt me anymore as a matter of fact I could change on
command…no thanks to Jeb. My bones crackled and popped as usual,
but their change in position and shape was smooth. A feral snarl
accompanied my heavy breathing and long canines joined my clenched
teeth. I charged as fast as I could and roared before making contact
with Lyle and knocking him over. He released the pipe as I chomped
down on his wrist. Lyle roared in pain and bashed me in the head with
his fist. I recoiled and kicked him in the side of the head making
sure to include my clawed toes for maximum damage. Lyle countered a
split second after I had finished the kick and grabbed my leg, and
then slung me across the street. Luckily I was able to grab hold of a
street lamp post. He gave me a venomous glare and roared louder than
he had before. I countered with a cry of my own accompanied by the
middle finger gesture …a personal touch. Agitated Lyle turned his
full attention toward me…seeing that Raf was supposedly no longer a
threat. "Supposedly" being the operative word.
"I thought
that trip through the window would have taught you a lesson," Lyle
said clenching and unclenching his fists.
I smiled slyly "I was
never a fast learner…come and get me tiny." Lyle grabbed the
nearest parked vehicle and hurled it at me….
So he was still alive…I wasn't surprised, but I was relieved as I watched PC let Lyle have it. Now was my chance to free myself. I already knew that yanking the pipe out wasn't going to work so I had three other options. 1) Rip the pierced wing off…I don't think I have the stomach for that. 2) Try to slide off the pipe. 3) Sit there helplessly in pain and hope that PC is able to incapacitate Lyle and then help me down. I scrapped options 1 and 3. The pipe had gone completely through my wing, hence how it was holding me up. I drove my left clawed hand into the concrete face of the building and then slowly brought my legs up. Pushing off quickly was the key. If I didn't clear the length of the pipe numerous things could happen, all of which would result in me crying out in anguish and bleed profusely. I took a deep breathe and readied myself to push off. I looked for PC to see the progress of the fight. PC was doing well…he could really take a beating. But I knew he couldn't keep this up for long. Suddenly I saw Lyle back PC into a wall and began to beat on him. Something about this made me angrier than usual. I didn't really know what it was that made me snap, but it did. I mustered all my strength and pushed off….
Owwwwww….I was curled
up in a tight ball trying to protect what parts of my body I could. I
knew that once this fight was over, if I lived I was going to look
like hell for a while. There was no way to get inside and attack. I
had already tried running around Lyle and even slide between his
legs. He always managed to drag me back into position or block my
path. I was beginning to worry that my forearms were going to be
turned to mush, when Lyle stopped pummeling me and picked me up by my
shirt, then pulled me close. I could smell his breath, not much
better than an eraser's. His teeth worried me even more than
before. I had no desire to be that close.
"So this is your true
form is it? An animal in human skin."
"Look who's talking,
leather face."
Lyle hissed and shook me "Your powers fit your
work. You can deceive everyone with you human shape, but under it all
you're a monster. Your power to take a lot of punishment is
characteristic of a virus, something that is nearly impossible to
wipe out." I said nothing and just stared at Lyle, crimson lines of
blood framing the sides of my mouth.
"What made you turn
against your own kind, Cat?" Lyle asked.
" It's none of
your business," I replied.
" Hmph. Fine. Its about time I end
this." Lyle opened his mouth wide and I began to struggle. The
dagger like teeth were closer now and moved into position around my
head. Suddenly a frothy blast of foul breath rushed into my face and
a pained roar rang in my ears. I fell the ground and looked up at
Lyle. His eyes wide with shock as he looked over his shoulder and saw
Raf with a cold aloof expression on his face. He had managed to pull
the pipe out and had stabbed Lyle in the shoulder with it. Lyle
swatted Raf with a heavy fist and knocked him off. He then turned on
me, but suddenly stopped as a thousand glass shards created a
hazardous barrier between me and Lyle.
"Turn around!" Raf
said coldly. Lyle obeyed and faced him. The shards changed position
and surrounded Lyle completely. I heard him moan as some of the
shards began to dig into Lyle's skin, drawing blood.
"Raf
stop…we need him alive remember." Raf said nothing and tossed me
a worried glance. He didn't know how to control glass very well,
which put us in a very precarious position.
"Don't Give up
Lyle!" a bystander shouted. Soon more people began to shout advice.
I watched the glass shards begin to shake nervously making faint
chiming noises.
"SHUT UP!" I snapped at the crowd.
"Why
should we?" a person asked.
"Because, if you continue chant
Raf over there, could loose control and then all of you will be
dead." This ominous information shut everyone up...or so I thought.
Suddenly a baby in the crowd began to wail breaking the silence on
the street. SHINK! I heard Lyle let out a tortured cry and saw him
collapse on the ground in a bloody mess. I won't describe it in
detail because you would probably puke if I told you. I looked over
at the crowd, which surprisingly had been unharmed and then at Raf.
He had grown pale and looked tired.
"Are you alright?" I
asked approaching slowly. Raf didn't reply and stared at Lyle's
corpse for a few minutes and then turned to me.
"I'm
fine."...
I didn't know what to
say. Raf stared at me as if nothing had happened. Suddenly, sirens
began to wail. Not more trouble…please? A dozen black cars and vans
with flashing lights arrived on the scene. They were our people. When
an experiment "made a scene"… a unit was dispatched to clean up
the mess which included literally cleaning up debris and paying the
town a handsome sum to keep quiet or else. Raf and I watched as they
set to work on Lyle's body, hauling it inside a truck. The eye
witnesses were being rounded up too. In the old days, before the
invention of memory erasing technology, eyewitnesses were "taken
care of", usually a bullet in the brain sufficed. However in this
modern age there was no need for cold blooded murder. If there was a
need I would have most definitely made a scene too.
"Haven't
you noticed that there hasn't been anybody sent to take care of
us?" Raf said to me.
"Yeah I noticed," I replied.
"PC!
RAF!" Dr. McKinney shouted as he approached. This guy was really
beginning to annoy me…the nerve, he actually thinks that he has
known us long enough to call us by our nicknames…the more I think
about the more….GRAH!...I turned my attention to the young doctor
and tried to mask my annoyance.
"Dr. McKinney it's a shock
seeing you here," I said smoothly.
He gave me a bitter smile
and handed me a piece of paper "Orders from Lab 7." I snatched it
and read the contents…which needless to say didn't make me too
happy. I crumbled the piece of paper and threw it on the ground.
.
"THIS IS INSANE!" I snarled, grabbing McKinney by the lapels of
his shirt. "WE WERE NEARLY KILLED AND SHE WANTS US TO GO ON ANOTHER
MISSION?"
"Don't get mad at me …I don't give the
orders I just deliver them." I growled and pushed him on the
ground. Raf winced and scooped up the paper and straightened it.
He
read it carefully and his eyebrows shot up, "You're right this is
insane."
"We are in no condition to take down another
target," I said. Suddenly, Dr. McKinney's cell phone rang,
broadcasting the song "Funky Town" as his ring tone. He pulled it
out of his pocket and stood up.
"Hold on a sec," he said. We
waited. Every second he jabbered the more I fumed. "I have to take
this," McKinney said after hanging up.
"WHAT?"
"Sorry
PC, I've got to go," He said backing away. McKinney reached into
his pocket and pulled out a container of aspirin and threw it to me.
"That will help with the pain. Good Luck!" Before I knew it the
little stinker was in a car waving good bye to us. I growled and
threw the bottle of aspirin at McKinney. It hit him in the nose
causing it to bleed, I hoped that it broke. "Come on, Raf…were
goin' to the drug store."
It was about 10:00 at
night. The moon was shining, the air was crisp and we were spending
the night in the car on the side of road. Raf and I sat in our chairs
reclined as far as they could go with our feet propped up on the
dash. The floor of the car was littered with every kind of pain
killer and bandage known to the common world. Before settling down
for the night, we had stopped at a drug store in another town and
cleaned out the medicine aisles. As you can imagine I got a lot of
strange looks when I came in. I had reverted to human form by this
time and I kind of wished that hadn't at least my fur covered most
of my injuries. Right now I was in my human form in all my disheveled
glory. My forearms were completely black and blue and so were my
shins. I had bandages wrapped around left shoulder and head, which
was accompanied by an ice pack. Raf was in a similar condition only
he didn't have as many bruises as I did. He had his injured wing
wrapped in a web of bandages.
"I never knew you had wings," I
commented. Raf looked at me out of the corner of his eye but didn't
say anything. "How long have you had them?"
"A while…I
hate flying," he said. That was a shock to me, bird kids always
seemed to enjoy flying .
"You really hate it?"
"Loath
it," he replied with tension. I knew better than to press,
especially after what I saw him do to Lyle. Raf groaned and placed
his hand over his eyes, "I can't believe the want us to go after
another target. What do they expect us to do bleed on them?" I
sighed heavily and slowly bent forward and reached into a bag full of
food we had swiped after the drug store run, and pulled out a package
of snowballs.
"I guess," I said pulling the plastic package
open.
"If we're lucky, our next target will have some lame
power like throwing fur balls or something." Raf snort as I passed
him a snowball. He pierced the pink puffy marshmallow snack with one
claw and took a bite.
"With our luck it will be someone like
Lyle," he remarked.
"Probably, we are supposed to get a phone
call with more information."
"I take it the information will
come from Jeb?"
"Most likely."
"Are you going to
complain to him about this mission?"
I fidgeted in my seat "I
don't know," I said. The prospect of bad mouthing Jeb seemed
tempting, but there was one thing that prevented my from doing so and
it had to do with day, we made the agreement. He had injected
something into my back. I don't remember what it was, but hurt like
nothing I had ever felt. Apparently whatever was inside of that
syringe stayed there and now every time, Jeb was cross with me my
spine would burn…it didn't hurt that bad if he was only annoyed,
but when he was really pissed I got the royal treatment. We chewed on
our processed sugar snacks in silence.
"PC? Do you think it was
bad?"
"What?"
"What I did to Lyle…or have you
already forgotten."
"I haven't…its kind of hard to say
wither you were in the right after all I am not in your head so I
couldn't tell what you were thinking."
"I wasn't thinking
about anything really. However, if you hadn't said anything and
that baby hadn't cried out… I probably would have killed Lyle
anyway."
"Why?"
"I don't know, but what's done is
done…I'm going to sleep." Raf tossed the last bit of his snack
in his mouth and then closed his eyes. I went to sleep soon after…
I'm supposed to be sleeping like PC is, but in all actuality… I'm not. Lyle's death apparently stirred me up inside and for one reason or another I couldn't seem to shake the image of Lyle's mangled corpse from my mind…This is the closest feeling I ever had of remorse. Something also tugged at my thin moral fibers…the sound of the baby that spooked me...
The sound of my cell phone ringing made Raf
and I jump. I yawned and stared at the little screen to see who it
was. I frowned at it and looked over at Raf. He somehow knew that I
was going to try to get him to answer it. Judging by his expression I
think he was going to be a hard sell. I sighed and my heart pounded
as I pressed the "yes" button to answer the call.
"Hello?"
I yawned again.
"Good evening, Seth," a voice said casually.
"Quit with the small talk Jeb, its 4 o clock in the FREAKIN
morning," I snapped irritably.
"Don't get fresh, Seth! A
person in your position can't afford to be getting testy."
My
temper flared even more. "I will get as testy as I please! You're
not the one sleeping in a car on the side of the road with icy hot
patches and bandages all over your BODY!"
There was a pause.
"Do you mind explaining to me…why Lyle was transported to Lab 7
in a body bag?" his voice calm and cold…not a good sign.
"He
made a scene," I said dismissively.
"You put that so lightly,
PC…you don't seem to grasp the extensiveness of exposure the
School has suffered because of your little scene."
"What
would you have preferred? He kill us and get away?"
"You were
supposed to keep these captures QUIET! Quiet! You understand? Even an
Eraser can understand that."
"I know what "quiet" means,
Jeb."
"Obviously not, If you did Lyle wouldn't be DEAD
right now."
"I don't know why you are getting so upset.
Lyle was just another target. If there was something special about
him perhaps we could've handled it differently."
"You try
my patience, PC."
"Don't I always."
"Your next
assignment is to go after an experiment that calls himself, Bones. He
was last spotted near New Craven…fairly close to your current
position if I am not mistaken."
"Anything SPECIAL we should
know about him? Is he valuable?" I asked.
"More valuable than
Lyle…so don't kill him. As for his powers… he escaped to early
for us to even know them."
"Great."
"That's all for
now…we will speak again…good hunting." I growled softly and
smashed the "no" key to hang up….
We headed out first
thing in the morning even though we were both a bit achy and
irritable.
"Bones…geez…can these guys get anymore cliché?"
I said, causally changing my hand from human to my human cat hand.
Each time I changed my hand; the bones would pop and crackle.
"Will
you PLEASE stop that," Raf said to tired to shout. I stopped and
began to drum my fingers on the armrest until Rafmire shot me another
murderous stare out of the corner of his eye.
"Experiments
usually name themselves after their abilities."
"Usually,
being the key word. It didn't work for Lyle."
"Perhaps not
but…it might work for this guy."
"Okay…Bones…maybe he
manipulates bone…or he likes to break bones…he's a dog
experiment…or maybe he likes to eat people and spit out their
bones." "Your sarcasm is not needed." I stopped talking and
looked out the window. We continued to go blindly south. I was
getting nervous. One of the laws we had established among the Ghosts
was to never enter another's territory unless it was absolutely
necessary. We were deep in Gozbud's territory, even though we on
occasion broke this rule when attacks from the School were lax;
however it was enforced when attacks were high. However I was willing
to break this rule, because even though Raf didn't show it I could
tell that the wound in his wing was hurting him, without any
treatment it could easily get infected and that worried me. As it
turned out that is what exactly happened…two days later…
"WHAT!
We're lost!" I shouted slamming my fist on the dash. "What
happened to that GREAT sense of direction of yours!"
Raf
glared at me out from behind a map. "Don't mock my sense of
direction. PC. I'm doing the best I can. Instead of whining why
don't you take this map and help out." He said throwing it at me.
I begrudgingly unfolded it and began to look.
"What did the
last sign say?" I asked not look up. When Raf didn't respond I
looked over and saw him leaning forward his forehead on the steering
wheel.
"Raf? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine…give me a
minute…" he replied smoothing the wrinkled map in his lap, with
one hand. His other hand was clutching his bandaged wing.
"Is
it hurting you?"
"No…just kind of stinging a bit," he
said looking up at me . He looked paler than usual with light sweat
on his face.
"Let me see your wing." I said.
"I told
I'm okay."
"Raf, don't play macho with me. If your wing
is infected we are going to have a serious problem." Raf
reluctantly unbuckled his seatbelt and changed position. I unwrapped
the wing and looked at it carefully. It was still bloody and puss was
starting to appear. The skin under the feathers was beet red in
color.
"What's wrong?" Raf asked me looking over his
shoulder.
"It's infected." I replied, pulling some new
bandages out from the glove compartment. Raf snorted and looked out
the window. "There's no need to worry…yet. I think I know
someone who can help us out. Are you willing?" I asked. The
funnything about Raf is that he won't except help from just anyone
and this had nothing to do with being macho. Raf had major trust
issues and so did everyone that came directly from the School.
Raf
hesitated for a minute than nodded "Fine."
"Alright
then…scoot over I'm driving."…….
"Where are we going?"
Raf asked, as I drove.
"Gozbud's," I replied.
"Your
gator friend?"
" Yeah…He used to be a medical student at a
local college here in the south. He was a good student, made great
grades and all that other stuff. But one day fell into financial
trouble. That is how he got mixed up with the School. He volunteered
himself for a study they were conducting at the university…he
needed the green."
" That must have been some amount of money
then."
"Not nearly enough. Gozbud had to give up everything
for those stupid researchers. He may not be a licensed doctor, but he
has steady hands and he's patched me up more times than I can even
count."
"What about Lab 7…aren't they tracking us?"
"Don't worry about it, Raf. I'll take care of it," I
said. Raf was right of course, even as we spoke, they were tracking
our every move. However, I knew a few loopholes. We stopped in New
Craven for some gas and a phone call. I didn't know if they could
track pay phones, but if we were going to find Gozbud this call
needed to be made. After filling up the car I searched my pockets for
loose change. Fortunately for me I never carry dollar bills. I pulled
out some quarters and dialed…..
It was late at night
when I got the call. I must admit I wasn't expecting it. Nothing
that night was expected….
My door bell rang and I reached for
my gun again. I held it behind my back and answered the door, this
time I was completely dressed. The only source of light in the house
came from the bunch of lamps that I had turned on. My heart pounding
I opened the door hoping it was my presumed visitor and not an
Eraser. Thankfully it was, Roc. He was older now, and slightly taller
than me. But I was still the old one. He was dressed in a t-shirt and
a good pair of sturdy jeans.
"Hello, Roc," I smiled. I gave
him a hug and a swift peck on the cheek and ushered him inside. "How
have you been?" I asked placing my gun down on the coffee table.
"Fine. What did you make for dinner?" He asked with smile.
"My specialty," I said as we walked towards the kitchen.
"Spaghetti and meatballs."
"Sounds good."
We sat down
and ate in silence for a while. Roc was always shy around me, I could
tell. I guess he really liked me but didn't know how to express it,
other wise I don't think he would come around and visit as often.
"How have you been," he asked.
" I'm alright. My
birds keep me very busy." I said. The Ghost network used my birds
for delivereing messages and each of us was well versed in bird talk.
"Do you get paid for that?" Roc asked.
"No. But it's
necessary, without my birds the Network would be completely cut off."
"Why not use e-mail?"
"Hackers."
"Phones?"
"Possibly bugged…you should already know how these things
work, Roc." He shrugged and popped a meatball into his mouth.
"Sometimes I need a refresher. You guys do so much."
I
smiled," Well we don't do as much with PC gone." Roc dropped
his fork suddenly and then quickly scooped it up.
"Have you
heard from him?" he asked.
"No… not recently anyway. The
last message I got from him was about Lab 7 going after Gozbud,"I
said quietly.
"Gozbud? Why would they want him?"
"I'm
not entirely sure…perhaps its his knowledge of our physiology that
makes him valuable. After all he is the one we go to after serious
scrapes with Erasers."
"Do you think perhaps they are trying
to weaken the Network more. After all they got PC."
"They
didn't get PC, Roc. Despite the things he is forced to do, PC is
still on our side," I said scrunching up my napkin.
Roc nodded
"You're right." Silence ensued once more and a conversation
didn't arise until after we had finished eating and we began to
clean up. "Bree…I've been doing some thinking."
"Oh my! What a
shock," I said playfully. Roc gave me a quaint smile and put some
plates into a cupboard.
"Wouldn't your time be better spent
living among humans?" I nearly dropped one of the dishes.
"What
do you mean?"
"Well…I'm saying…that maybe you should
try to blend in like me. It would make you less noticeable if you
moved into town. You wouldn't have to answer the door every time
with a gun behind your back." I listened and robotically cleaned
continued to wash dishes. "I'm not saying you have to give up
working for the Network but...um…"
"What are you trying to
tell me Roc?"
"I would like you to come and live with me."
For some reason I should have jumped at the opportunity , but all I
felt at about the proposal was fear.
" I don't think it's
that simple, Roc. I need to keep the birds and there is no place for
them in town."
"You can keep them in cages," he suggested.
"Roc, I spent the majority of my life in a cage and so have
you. What makes you think, I would do that to another creature as
spirited as a bird."
"You're right, I'm sorry…Will you
at least think about it," he pleaded.
I nodded thoughtfully
"I'll think about it." I finished the last bit of dishes and
then Roc and I went to the living room to eat dessert and drink
coffee.
"What kind of cake is this?" Roc asked, he seemed to
be enjoying it.
"It's Fake Cake." I replied.
"Fake
Cake?"
"Yeah, PC calls any cake that is from a box, Fake
Cake." Roc smiled and took a sip of his coffee.
"You prefer
your coffee black now?" he asked gesturing at my mug.
"Yeah…PC
used to prepare it that way. I wondered why he liked it so much so I
decided to give it a try."
"Is it good?"
"Nastiest
thing I've ever had." Roc snorted and took another bite of cake.
"Do you miss …him?" he asked, it sounded like it pained him
to ask.
"Yes…I try not to think about him…but…" I went
silent and placed my cake down on the table and laid back in the
couch. Suddenly I felt something warm in my left hand…it was Roc's
hand.
"You know I'm always here," he said softly. I wanted
to recoil, but for some reason I enjoyed the warmth of Roc's hand
in mine. It reminded me of PC. Roc then put his coffee down and
scooted closer to me. "You know, Bree. I will always be here to
protect you." I smiled at him, outwardly, but inwardly I was
essentially freaking out. I knew that Roc had had feelings for me,
but I didn't think it was that serious. He started to lean towards
me…oh Geez…not a kiss! Anything but that! I was about to recoil
when the phone rang and annihilated every lovey dovey vibe in the
room.
"Excuse me," I said politely. SAFE! I reached over and
answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey Bree, it's PC…."
