Chapter 8. Help.

Vasakh entered a large office, the walls of which were filled with cabinets with equipment, in the center there were many tables with computers, operators with headphones monitored and processed all the information that flowed to them day and night. The large-scale work of the analytical department did not stop for a minute, day or night.

- Is there anything?

The specialist took off his headset and looked at the agent, who was standing next to him, leaning on the table.

- Nothing specific. There's a message from a police department upstate. About an hour ago, a guy came to them who started talking nonsense about monsters. Allegedly, they arrived peacefully with a friend to relax and have a snack, and there they were attacked. Two women literally turned into monsters before his eyes, they killed his friend. He described them as a tall blonde about 35 years old, and another one the same, but younger. We tried to get the camera footage, but there were none at this gas station. I didn't know that there are still those who save on security and don't put cameras on their points.

- Where did this happen? – Vasakh moved closer to the monitor and began to carefully examine the map.

- Here. Not far from the border with Maryland. – the map showed the gas station and the area around it. There was only one road there.

- It's them. Let us know that the objects have been found. Let them block the road and set up posts. Send task forces there, we need to find them as soon as possible.

- Yes, sir.

Dean turned on the radio to distract himself and not fall asleep completely. Soon they will be in another state, and there the place where they are going is just around the corner. Eva drove the car and shook her head slightly to the beat of the music.

Dean looked back, Sarah was now asleep, curled up in the backseat. It seemed to him that she had been sleeping all day. Dean felt like he really needed to talk to someone. When he's worried, he needs to share it with someone. It has always been like this, since childhood. This is a feature of his character. He would have liked to chat with Sarah, but he didn't want to wake her up, and he was uncomfortable talking to Eve. He didn't know her well, and she was unlikely to appreciate his verbal outburst.

Eve leaned over and turned the music up.

- Do you... like this song?

Eve shrugged her shoulders. She began to sing along softly.

- It sounds beautiful... and quite melodious - Eve smiled as she said it.

This was the second time he had seen her smile. Mostly, her face showed no emotion. Either those emotions were an obsession, a mask for who she was talking to.

- Eva, I wanted to ask you – Dean felt tension all over his body again, his throat seemed to be squeezed by a vice, not allowing him to utter a sound. – How did you find us?

Eve didn't answer, the minutes of waiting seemed like an eternity, time stretched like gum for Dean, the further he went, the more he regretted asking this question. For some reason, it seemed to him that he shouldn't have asked this, It seemed that she would just kill him for it right now.

- Why are you afraid?

Dean flinched at the question. He expected anything but this.

- I... I'm not afraid. I'm just worried, a little.

- Really? - He noticed a sarcastic smile in the rearview mirror. - OK. So be it.

- So you didn't answer

- It's a long story. Eve sighed.

- So we're not in a hurry - Dean grinned at her.

- When I woke up in the ambulance, I... I didn't see my daughter. I left there. I was being tracked, I was running away. They almost got me a couple of times. After some time, I managed to hide, hide from them. That's where I found this place in Pennsylvania. A small cottage that has been abandoned for a long time. But there was everything necessary for a comfortable life. There was a small settlement nearby, it was also abandoned after the accident, but as it turned out, one person still lived there. He helped me find Sarah. He was hiding from the authorities too, and we had something in common. He managed to hack into a database that mentioned incidents with half-breeds in a small town in Virginia. At least three half-breeds in one place. This is quite atypical for them, in order to survive, it is better for them to stay alone without attracting attention. What could have made them come together? Polishes, as you know, are extremely unstable. They are rapidly destroyed and die due to an imperfect immune system. They also have big problems with reproduction. Offspring from ordinary women were usually even worse than the first generation. For high-quality offspring, they need individuals of their own species. So they felt a strong female. Next, we found Agent Vasakh's reports, where photos from Abbott's album and his laboratory were attached, and there was Sarah in the photo, I immediately recognized her. The reports said she died, as did all the half-breeds. But no evidence was given. There were bodies from the half-breeds, remains, at least something. There was supposedly nothing left of her, I immediately suspected something was wrong. I started digging further.

- Hack into the agency's database? Your friends are cool.

- Well... I wouldn't say we were friends. But for you... let it be so. - Eve's enigmatic smile and her unequivocal gaze left more questions than answers.

- Are you sure they won't find us there? And what are we going to do next? Do you have a plan? – Dean did not notice how he poured out all his questions that tormented him.

- I do not know Dean. I managed to stay there for about a year. I hope we get lucky this time too. – Eva paused – There are no plans. Survive and hide.

Dean looked down, he didn't know what to say in response. He thought she had a plan, that they would go to another country, or leave the continent altogether. But it turned out to be quite prosaic.

- What did you expect? – Eve seemed to read his mind – that we would storm the Pentagon?

- no. I just... I don't know what to say, Eva.

- Sarah told me that they managed to break into the lab and steal you out. This is madness, of course.

- They were in suits. I thought that I was being led to my death, or they would experiment on me. What they did was... very cool. These freaks were looking for aliens, but the aliens themselves came to them and stole a prisoner from under their noses. Ha!

Dean laughed. Eve looked at him with a smile and couldn't help but laugh.

The laughter stopped abruptly when Eve slammed on the brakes and violently turned the steering wheel to the right. The car skidded and they almost flew off the highway. Expertly exiting the skid, she stopped behind the dividing line.

- What was that? - Dean turned around and saw a little boy about seven years old, whom they had just almost hit – Where did he come from?

Sarah jumped out of the car and ran to the child. Dean jumped out after him. "What the? Where did she run to?" He saw her grab the child and carry him off the road. Running up to them, Dean saw the tear-stained, frightened face of the boy, who was clearly in a state of shock. Squatting down, Dean began to examine him for injuries.

- Hey, kid, are you hurt? What happened? Dean tried to speak as gently as possible

- Help me…Mom... mom... she's... there–her voice faltered and trembled – we were driving home, she felt sick. We... we...they stopped... and she... fell asleep. Then there were only sobs and it was difficult to make out anything.

- Don't worry, we'll help. Where is your car?

The boy pointed further towards the road. The car was parked with the engine turned off and the headlights turned off. As they got closer, it was clear that the woman in the driver's seat had leaned her chest on the steering wheel and was not moving. Sarah stayed with the boy, Eva and I went to see what happened. While I was examining the car itself, Eva opened the door and began examining the woman, she patted her cheeks, trying to bring her to her senses, then began checking her pulse and pupils.

- Where did you learn this?

Eva did not answer and continued her examination.

- She's dead. Drug overdose. The boy was lucky that she managed to stop the car, otherwise they would have crashed.

Dean came closer and decided to examine the woman more closely himself. He was not a doctor, but he was undergoing basic medical training. The pupils were greatly dilated, they did not react to light, looking at the rolled-up sleeves, he saw red dots, traces of injections.

- Damn it.

- I read it in a book.

Dean didn't immediately understand what she was talking about:

- What did you read? About what?

- A book about medical care. They told me how to conduct an initial examination. Apparently the former owner of the cottage was a doctor, there were many books on medicine.

Eve bent down and pulled an empty syringe from under the seat. She stared at it intently, then crumpled it up with her hand like paper and threw it away.

- It killed her. I don't understand. How can you do that? She was traveling with a child, she had offspring for whom you need to live to see how it thrives and continues your line. Why would she do this to herself? She was slowly killing herself, burying her life. She didn't feel sorry for herself or the child. - Eve looked into his eyes, there was a sincere misunderstanding in them and a dumb question "why?"

Dean understood her, he did not understand and could not know why this woman put herself and the child at such risk. Why didn't she think about her son when she was shooting up? But what should they do now? It is clear that they cannot take him with them, but it would be a crime to leave him here.

- Eva - reacting to her name, she turned to him – how many miles to the nearest settlement. The boy needs to be taken to people.

For a second, he noticed that she hesitated, it was a huge risk for them to go to the city. The agents could be anywhere, they could just be tracked by cameras, and the police probably already know about what happened at the gas station.

- It's dangerous. We're taking a lot of risks. – looking around, she saw how Sarah was sitting with the child and talking about something with him. When she turned her head, her eyes lit up with a blue glow. Dean wasn't the only one who noticed this.

- Wow! Cool! And how do you do it? – the boy stared admiringly at the girl's face - Teach me, please! I want it that way too.

Dean chuckled involuntarily. Eve smiled too.

* Sarah*: "You're not going to leave him here. Isn't that right?"

*Eva*: "Of course not. I see you've become friends."

- Hey! Are you all right?! The guy started waving his palm in front of Sarah's eyes

- Everything is fine! I'll teach you this when you get older– Sarah patted the guy on the head - And now we'll take you to the city.

- And my mother? What's wrong with her?

Sarah took the boy's hands in hers and in the light it was noticeable how a tear slowly rolled down his cheek

- Listen, your mom just needs to rest. She'll come to you later. Good.

As you can see, our friends are taking a lot of risks. It's a difficult choice to save someone else's life at the risk of your own. I'm very interested in what you think about this. I am waiting for your comments!