Chaos: Thunder on High
Chapter Four
The sky was dark and driving sheets of rain were pummeling the windows with relentless force. Lucy sat and watched it out the window, but there wasn't much to see.
Weather forecasts had called for rain, but this had been going on for about a full day now.
Jessica was somewhere downstairs, probably asleep on the couch. It was good for her to get some rest these days, given what all she had been put through in the course of her young life. Not many people could handle what she had endured.
She's a strong woman, there's no denying that.
At some point, the sound of the rain lulled Lucy to sleep herself. A dream followed, but it was really more of a memory from a past that seemed a lifetime ago.
Lucy, newly sixteen, was visiting some relatives in New York City. Her aunt Evelyn, her uncle Jack, and their young ten-year-old daughter named Jessica. From an initial glance, Lucy could see that Jess took after her father more than her mother…especially in her eyes and hair color.
The Reynolds family was your typical New York family, if you could describe anyone in Manhattan as 'typical'.
It was something new for a Londoner like her to manage.
"So," her uncle was saying, "you're planning on coming back here to study film?"
"At NYU, yes," replied Lucy. "My parents were all set for me to go to Oxford, but I wasn't that keen on living up to their expectations. They were thunderstruck when I told them of my intentions."
"Oxford?" asked Jessica.
"It's a prestigious and rather old university in England," Lucy told her with a smile. "If you ever visit you should see it."
Honestly, Lucy was surprised that the young girl was able to sit still long enough to listen to what she was saying. Then again, her parents did inform Lucy that Jessica enjoyed reading Shakespeare in her spare time. A daunting task, to say the least.
"Are you enjoying New York, Lucy?" inquired her aunt Evelyn, a youthful looking woman with long brown hair that curled slightly at the ends.
"Considering everything I've seen so far," Lucy offered. "I'd say that I am." Truthfully, Lucy wasn't so sure about America. It was a country full of possibilities, but no one seemed to really care. They took much for granted.
Later, the four of them paid a visit to Central Park. While Jack and Evelyn sat nearby on a bench, Lucy was sitting on the banks of one of the pools of water with Jessica. The latter was throwing rocks into the water whenever she found them.
"So Jess," Lucy said. "Got any big plans for the future?"
Jessica looked at her. "Not really. I'm just living for today for now. That's what daddy always tells me I should do anyhow."
"I imagine you're trying to not grow up too fast, huh?"
Jessica paused. "Yeah…I guess so. What about you? Gonna carry anything with you when you go back home?"
Lucy thought for a minute. "Yes. I think this memory will be just fine."
The sound of smashing glass woke Lucy instantly. Someone grabbed her from behind with their hand clamped over her mouth. Soon, she was choked into unconsciousness.
# # #
Jessica woke instantly at the sound of smashing glass. She pulled a bathrobe over her undergarments and dashed up the stairs that lay within the hall.
On the second floor landing she heard a noise that sounded like a scuffle, and then silence.
She threw open the door to her sisters room to find a broken window with several silhouettes leaping into the night beyond. Other than that, the room was empty.
Lucy, she thought. Jessica vaulted through the window and glided down to the street level.
In the pouring London rain, she was soaked instantly. Despite the wet and the cold, she sprinted up to the rooftops and set off after Lucy's kidnappers. Jessica could still see them, but just barely.
The chase went on for several minutes before Jessica finally caught up to one of Lucy's kidnappers. She ran up on the silhouette and wasn't surprised when a blade sliced toward her.
Evolved, she thought, of course.
Jessica formed her own blade and clashed with the man that she had caught. He was heavily outmatched and bested easily.
Probably one of Bulldog's newest recruits, Jessica thought as she absorbed the man.
This time the memories revealed something startling.
"The woman that Jessica hangs around with," said Bulldog, "is called Lucy. I want her brought here immediately. She'll draw Jessica toward us and then she can watch as Pariah's plan unfolds before her eyes."
"Won't Jessica be there when we take her?" Someone asked.
"I'm counting on it," said Bulldog finally.
"Pariah?" Jessica asked herself. Who the hell was that and how was he connected to the infection?
It was just one more question to answer and Jessica now knew where they were taking Lucy: a warehouse on the river Thames just a few miles to the north.
She set off at once.
# # #
The door to the warehouse was open, allowing Jessica to walk inside. She made sure that her bathrobe was tied tightly around her body as she stepped over the threshold.
"Chaos," said the voice of Bulldog from somewhere above. "Couldn't you at least have thought to get dressed before you came?"
"Where is she?" Jessica demanded.
Bulldog made a few tsk noises. "That attitude won'tdo you any good, woman. Try to relax and ask me nicely."
Jessica snarled, formed a whipfist, and grabbed one of the evolved standing in the shadows. She then pulled it in and absorbed it.
"I'm not playing games with you, asshole!" Jessica yelled as the rest of the evolved prepped for a fight. "Tell me where she is, or I'll tear you all apart one piece at a time."
Bulldog merely laughed and said, "All of the pieces of the puzzle are falling together one by one."
"Is it Pariah's plan?" Jessica said fiercely.
Chuckling, Bulldog held Lucy out over the edge of a walkway. He was shrouded in shadow, but she wasn't.
"We aren't here to fight you, Chaos," he said. "At least not yet." Lucy yelled in pain at that moment, and then Bulldog dropped her.
All around her, the evolved were leaving. Soon, they were all gone. Jessica ran over to Lucy and checked her. She looked to be in one piece, save for a single mark on her left shoulder blade. Bulldog had injected her with something.
"God," said Jessica. "What did he do to you, Lucy?" She knew that her cousin wouldn't answer…she couldn't.
Then her cousin started to change. Her body was mutating rapidly and her face was taking on the appearance of the brawler class of infected.
Jessica only had one chance, and she hoped it would work. She morphed her hand into a claw and inserted it into Lucy's stomach, injecting her own strain of the virus into Lucy.
For a moment, the mutation went on, but then she began to revert back to herself. Only now, Lucy twitched violently. The same glowing red veins of viral energy were visible along her skin and her hands morphed into claws involuntarily.
Then, strangely, the claws became hands again and Lucy relaxed, falling into what might have been a deep sleep.
Jessica picked her up in her arms, cradling her like a baby. Jessica's strength made her easy to lift. She didn't know the way back to Lucy's home, but she did know one other place that she could take her.
(Author's Note: At this point, Lucy has become an evolved as well. I'm planning to expand the story even further after this point.)