The flight back the hospital was quiet and gloomy. No-one was willing to break the silence that hung over us, shadowing us, but it was on everyone's mind. How could it not be, after what we had just witnessed? I still had the images of the building exploding in my mind, could just imagine Cass standing there as the fire engulfed her. Upon seeing the images again, I blocked them out, not wanting to back down the track. Right now I was focusing on just getting back to the hospital in time to save Laura's life.
My wings were burning from the strain of flying by the time I saw the lights of the hospital on the horizon. Relief flooded through me upon seeing the sight and I folded my wings in close to me and dove for the building, landing on the outskirts of the parking lot, just outside of the lights, folded my wings and then covered them with my jacket I had hidden there before leaving.
I had barely covered my wings with my jacket when I walked in through the main entrance to the hospital, walked past the reception desk, leaving the receptionist running after us shouting that there were no visitors this close to midnight. I ignored her. I still held the vile in a death-like grip in my hand, but was not squeezing it incase I broke the vial. We arrived at Susan's office and found her still awake, working on files to cover where the drugs had been used and make sure no evidence of us being here existed. I saw the empty cups of coffee lying on the floor and in the rubbish bin and guessed she had been working on a caffeine rush. She turned to face us as we walked in and seemed to visibly relax upon seeing us return safe and sound. Then she noticed…
"Where's Cass?" She asked. No-one was willing to answer. "What happened to Cass?"
"The building went up in flames," I replied eventually, "We didn't see any survivors. Cass was still in there when it happened. Can you save Laura?"
"I'll need a blood sample from someone the same age as her," Susan replied, "So I can replace her telomeres with healthy ones. Someone related to her would be better, but anyone can do, although in her state, I'm not sure if she would survive."
I was ready to give my blood to save Laura, if Keira backed out. I almost expected her to back out, but she didn't. Instead she walked forward without a word, rolled her sleeve up, and presented Susan with her arm. When she saw the needle, she flinched and looked away, bad memories bought to the surface. I didn't know how badly, but I had an idea as to what they were. I looked around the small group of genetically different beings in this room, not a single one was willing to look at the needle. I didn't blame them. I had always hated needles, my experience at Haven only made that worse. The blood sample was taken; needle mark was barely even there a few seconds after it had been taken out. Keira rolled her sleeve down again and walked out without saying a word.
"It'll take me some time to put this together," Susan replied, "I have some people who might be able to help, but unless you have someone who knows how to get this made with typical hospital instruments, please speak up."
"Can I help?" Sierra asked, "I was always good with equipment. I'm sure I can get it at least started faster than the scientists could. So what equipment do you have here?"
Susan began to tell her a list of medical equipment they might be able to use for their experiment as they walked out of the office and down the hall. Everyone else was still either sitting or standing silently. I moved out the office and into the corridor, heading towards Laura's room. I stopped at the door and looked in. She lay quietly on the bed, alone and I moved in to sit next to her. She seemed so lifeless, an empty shell, it made me feel empty as well. The heart monitor beeped softly, keeping in rhythm with her heart. I held her hand in mine and silently hoped, perhaps even prayed for Laura to be alright, to keep her safe. I didn't want to let her go, not so soon after meeting her. There was still so much I wanted to learn about her, so much I didn't know.
A voice called for an emergency doctor over the hospital intercom, requesting help with a new inbound helicopter. It was apparently returning from a huge accident with one survivor. They came here because it was the closest hospital with the staff and equipment that could help this person. I switched on the news, but kept it low, not wanting to cause a lot of noise. On every station was the picture of the crater where Haven had used to be. It's cover had been a medical research facility. They blamed the explosion on carelessness of flammable chemicals. They said there was only one survivor. I was already out of the room before the reporter finished her sentence. I had raced down the corridor to the emergency room. Already two doctors were on the scene, one was Susan, and I guessed she had left Sierra with her permission to continue the work. The other was a male doctor, but I saw the name tag, a Dr Jason Yeats. Her brother? I thought, or her husband? I tried to walk up to get a closer look at the survivor, but none of the police guarding the survivor were letting me through. I saw a flash of long brown hair as they moved her, followed by a brief glimpse of her face and stood in shock. It couldn't be… not after that.
"Let me through," I shouted at the police, "Let me through! I know her."
Susan gave the policeman a look that could have peel skin off of his bones if it had a supernatural power behind it and he shrunk away from me, letting me pass. I rushed up next to her and looked down at Cass' face.
"I thought you said there were no survivors," Susan said.
"I thought there wasn't," I replied, "I never saw any survivors."
"So what happened to her?" Susan asked.
I didn't reply. I had just seen the answer on her wrist. On her wrist was a small birthmark, a bird surrounded by flames… a phoenix.
Chapter 62
I sat in the recovery room, Keira and Dean with me. All three of us were in shock, heck all of the flock members from Keira's flock were shocked she survived. I leaned against the wall to the room, Keira stood on the opposite side of the room as if afraid to be near me. Dean sat in the chair next to the bed. I didn't need to be a mind reader to see there was something between them. How long it had been there? Well between running for my life, protecting those close to me and, oh, let's not forget trying to make a miracle cure for Laura, I'm not quite sure. They were good at hiding it, but Dean… he sat by her bed, holding her hand in his, tracing his fingers over her birthmark.
"I'll leave you alone," I whispered to Dean, and headed towards the door. He didn't respond, but I knew he had heard me. I walked past Keira and exited the room, heading towards the nearest exit. I needed some fresh air and my wings were starting to get cramped. Hmph, my wings. I've gotten used to saying that now, yet only a few months ago, I was just like every other guy out there, struggling to pass high school, keeping the nutty girls at bay while trying to take care of my family. Now my family was gone. Danielle in the experimentation, Jake by my own hands, Mom, Dad, both dead from the explosion. All I had left was Laura, Dean and Cass. For a while I thought Cass was gone as well, but now… now she's sitting in the recovery room as if all she had done was got a bump on the head. Phoenix, her powers were beyond a Pyros, but a phoenix? As far as any of us experiments have known, there was never power like that, and birthmarks were prevented by the genetic manipulation.
I walked outside and past the few scattered cars in the parking lot until I was at the forest. The day was hot and the sun was brilliant in the sky. It was about ten in the morning. I hadn't gotten much sleep. I couldn't get much sleep, not with all that's going on. I walked through the shade of the trees until I reached a clearing, where I removed my sweater and stood with jeans and a t-shirt on. I spread my wings out to their full length of fifteen or sixteen feet from wingtip to wingtip. It felt good to stretch them out, hearing the muscles stretch, the joints extend. I felt the warm breeze blowing through the trees and it ruffled my feathers. I pumped my wings up and down, and lifted off the ground, flying through the skies, letting the wind blow away all my worries and thoughts. I lived in the air currents, letting them take me wherever they wanted me to go. I rose on the thermals of war air and gently glided down, only to be lifted by the next thermal. After a while, I gently glided back down to the clearing and picked my jacket up. There was the crunch of a twig behind me and I whirled around to find Keira standing there.
"Thought I'd take a flight," Keira said, "It looks like you beat me to it."
"The air currents are good," I replied, putting my jacket back over my folded wings, "Plenty of thermals, no need to flap your wings that much, you could probably glide to the next state."
I started walking back towards the hospital. Keira didn't move, she remained standing in my way. I moved to brush past her, but her hand grabbed my arm. I turned to look at her and saw the confusion on her face. We were so close to each other, just bare centimeters apart. She leaned in and kissed me on the lips. I broke the kiss and looked at her, surprised by what had just happened, surprised I had let it happen. On some lever I knew when she didn't move out of the way, but I didn't stop it till then.
"I'm sorry," whispered Keira, "I'm sorry, this was a mistake."
"Keira," I said, "Keira, what's going on? Why did you kiss me?"
"Laura's not the only one who's attracted to you," Keira replied bitterly, "she got her taste in guys from me. Nathan…just forget it. You've already made your choice."
She ran off into the trees, leaving me standing in the clearing wondering what the heck was going on. I was now stuck with two people who were attracted to me, looked the same, and now they were starting to act the same? What was going on here? My life was never this complicated when I was a normal teenager, plus my lips still tasted like strawberry lip gloss, Keira's lip gloss… Also Laura's...