Dissolve (22 page)

Finally Mia broke her silence. “My cousin is insane. I can’t believe he dragged me into this nightmare of a mess. We were close, you know.”

“It’s not your fault Mia. We all know this situation is beyond your control. Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Shane said running a hand across her back in reassurance.

I didn’t miss the bereft look in Nessa’s eyes as she turned away from them and focused out the window on the mountains in the distance. My heart broke for her, but I couldn’t fixate on her at that second. Noah had the puppy dog look in his eyes and I couldn’t deal with him just now either. I liked him, but Tom still lingered in my mind and the guilt was too much to bear.

I broke away from my thoughts to notice the chill in the car. “Hey Noah, can you turn the air down? It is freezing in here,” I said rubbing my bare arms to warm them.

Noah’s brows knitted as he looked at the knobs. “The air is not on even, but it is freezing in here all of a sudden.”

“What? The air isn’t even on? It isn’t that cold outside, in fact it is warm. What the hell?” I replied.

“Um guys, are any of you cold? We are freezing and the air isn’t even on,” Noah asked.

“Yeah, it is super cold. What’s the deal?” Shane said in confusion.

“I am not sure, but if I had to guess I would say it is a ghost,” Nessa said.

The blood drained from my face at the mention of ghosts. What if it was Tom and he had been with me all along? What if he had super powers too and was a ghost now? That would mean he saw Noah and I kissing last night. That was so not good. Tears began to spring from my eyes and I swiped at them discretely. Apparently I was not discrete enough because Nessa had unbuckled and was next to me in a mere moment.

“Oh Cora, I doubt it is him. It could be anybody. We were in a cemetery a while back you know. We could have picked up a spirit of some sort then,” she said rationally as she wrapped her arms around me in comfort.

Just then, Shane gasped and his eyes rolled back in his head. We all turned in shock as Mia cried out “Shane!” and shook him gently. She tried to bring him back to us. He must have passed out in all the confusion. At least that was what I thought until his eyes snapped open and he stared around the car at all of us in silence. His eyes were dull and lifeless and his face was empty of emotion as he surveyed us.

“Where am I?” he said.

“In the van Shane, don’t you remember?” Mia said with a quivering voice.

“I am not Shane. My name is Liam. I don’t have a clue how this is happening,” he replied with a little more panic in his voice.

“You have possessed our friend Shane. Please leave him alone,” I begged.

“I am so sorry. I couldn’t possibly possess him though, I am not a ghost.”

“Ghost or not, you are and it is really freaking us out,” Nessa piped in.

“Where am I exactly?” he asked.

“Denver, Colorado at the moment, we were just on our way out of town,” I said.

“That is not possible. I am in Spokane and it is empty. The whole city is devoid of anyone except me. It is wicked.”

“Spokane you say? We are on our way to Spokane. Do you happen to know a guy named Stephan?” Noah asked trying to put the pieces together.

“Yes, I am in Spokane. No, I don’t know anyone named Stephan. I was just at a work conference and all of a sudden everyone burnt to ash around me. I am completely freaked out and searching for any sign of life in the city without success.”

“We heard on the news about the whole state of Washington going up in ash. Some guy named Stephan says we will find answers to our questions there,” I said.

“How the hell do I possess someone all the way in Colorado? That is bizarre, and why this guy?”

“Okay Liam, where are you from exactly?” Mia asked with suspicion.

“St. Louis area currently, I just moved for my job.”

At this, my eyes lit up. “We are all from St. Louis except Mia, who is from Salem, Missouri.”

“Really, that is strange. I want to know how on earth I am able to possess someone like this. It is creepy for me and you guys I am sure.”

“You were most likely injected with a sort of amino acid that binds to your DNA and changes you genetic structure. That is why you didn’t burn to ash like everyone else. Your ability must have manifested as possession. That is pretty cool, but spine-chilling as well. You must be who we are looking for in Spokane,” Noah explained.

“Why me, do you all have abilities too? Is that why I found you?”

“We think so, and yes, we do. We are on our way to Spokane, we should meet up there and discuss things more,” Noah suggested.

“Okay, I guess that sounds logical. You don’t look like serial killers or anything. Besides, it is kind of lonely up here.”

“Where do you want to meet?” I asked.

“How about we meet at the Northern Museum of Arts and Culture on First Street? It is an easy landmark to find.”

“Is everyone okay with that?” Noah asked.

After a few mumbled yes’s I turned and told him we were okay with it.

“When should I expect you all?”

“Mm, it should take us about a day and a half to reach Spokane not including a night’s stay, so about this time then,” I announced.

“It’s a plan then. See you all soon.”

Then Shane’s body went limp and he faded out of consciousness. Mia moved closer to him and tried to wake him up. After several attempts, he managed to stir. We were all peering at him with concern when he asked, “What just happened?” Hmm, how do we explain the complications we just encountered?

“Well, you were possessed,” I said frankly.

“What?!” he exclaimed in horror.

“Some guy in Spokane named Liam possessed you. You were out for quite a while. Glad to have you back, Shane,” Mia said.

“Does he have powers like us then?” Shane asked.

“Yes, we are going to meet him in Spokane in two days. He is just as confused as us,” I said before turning to Nessa.

“Nessa, did you get a read on him while he possessed Shane?”

“I wish I did. I couldn’t get anything but noise from the two of you competing for your body Shane,” Nessa said turning to him. “If it makes a difference, you fought hard. I assume from what I caught in between, he must be just as freaked out and confused about everything that we are. The only difference is that he is all alone with no support. He is alone in a city of ash. Eerie doesn’t begin to describe it.”

“A week ago, who would have thought we would all be here together under these circumstances? It is bizarre. I am just glad that we all found each other. This is a tough situation and it would be tougher having to go at it alone. I just can’t imagine,” Shane said.

“Well ready or not, we are on our way to Spokane to find out what this mystery is all about,” I said as I stare off into the distance. Clouds were forming and a soft rumbling indicated a storm was brewing and we were heading right into it.

Chapter 20:

The first drops of rain begin to pelt the windshield and Noah struggled to get the windshield wipers going. The thunder was louder now with bolts of lightning streaking the afternoon sky. The unnerving storm matched the mood inside the van. Everyone seemed too fall silent and I realized that I was actually still shivering. I flipped the heat on temporarily to warm up and no one seemed to care. The silence was palpable and you could cut the tension with a knife.

I flipped the map open and study our route towards Spokane. The GPS was long dead and we didn’t have a car charger for it although we should probably invest in that at some point. Finally, I turned to Noah. “We can stop in Billings, Montana late tonight and then head towards Spokane in the morning.”

“That sounds good. We still don’t know what we will encounter along the way. It would be nice to have some leeway heading into Spokane. For all we know, we could be stopped by the police and you and Nessa could be captured for fleeing the scene of a crime. We have to be very careful from here on out.”

The thought of being captured after all the trouble we had gone through to disappear made me shiver more. That would be the end of the line for us. No matter what we said, we ran and that looked pretty damn guilty.

This storm felt like the lull before the real storm we were going to encounter. Nessa and I were still on the run from the police. All of us were being followed by a creepy man who enjoyed mass genocide. Every single one of us was his science experiments with our own special powers. It boggled my mind just to think about all of it, so I didn’t. Instead, I cleared my mind and tried taking a few deep breaths.

I began to feel my body slip away and the particles seeping out; when Mia’s catlike reflexes pulled me back. She had grasped me in an instant and I was amazed. I had almost forgotten her ability until just now.

“Thanks,” I said with a grateful smile.

“No problem. I just figured you didn’t want to return naked and thought I would stop you before that happened.”

“That is a very valid point and I agree; I would rather stay clothed.”

Soon enough, we were pulling off the highway to stop at a gas station. I sighed in relief as I opened the van door. I ran against the rain to head inside, Nessa at my heels.

I was craving some coffee and after my almost dissolving, I thought it prudent. I saw the look on Nessa’s face and it was clear she wanted to talk. I grabbed my bottled coffee and quickly paid the cashier. Then I asked for the bathroom key.

Nessa was silent, holding the umbrella, until we made it around the building. Then she exploded into a string of sentences with fast precision.

“This is getting scary Cora. Possession, buried bodies and stalkers who use genocide as a hobby. What are we going to find next? Will we really have come all this way just to get hauled in by the police?”

“Of course this is scary, Nessa. Just remember, they are just as scared as we are. All of us are in the same boat. What choice do we have but to try and follow the only lead we have. For all we know, it could be a trap. We have to go through with it, or we will spend our time looking over our shoulders alone until this is over. We are stronger together.”

“True, I am just nervous. There have been too many surprises since this time last week. I thought I was a maid of honor, helping to plan a wedding. Now I am best friend extraordinaire, complete with mind reading powers,” Nessa paused. “And speaking of, you shouldn’t feel guilty for liking Noah. Tom would be happy if you found someone else. He would want you to move on.”

“I just feel so guilty. He hasn’t even been dead that long and I am already moving on. Doesn’t that make me a horrible person?”

“No, Cora, it makes you human. Noah is great and I think he is the real deal. Don’t let your baggage stop a great thing. You may feel guilty now, but you won’t always feel that way. Don’t let him slip away.”

“Ugh, come on, let’s get the key back to the attendant and head back to the others,” I said, taking hold of the umbrella.

We came back to the van to find Shane and Mia pressed up against it, kissing in the rain. It was very romantic, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Nessa. I shot Nessa a sympathetic smile and she looked away. She was trying not to show how hurt she was, but she didn’t fool me. They saw us and broke away, sliding back inside the van. Noah finished pumping gas and slipped back into the driver’s seat.

Once we were all settled inside, Noah turned the keys and started the ignition. From the back, Nessa was pulling out some snack foods from the bag and tossing them forward. I chose a pomegranate strawberry granola bar and enjoyed every second of the snack. We tossed the wrappers to our snacks into a Target sack and all you could hear was the crunching though out the car of people snacking.

I chose to break the silence and turn on the radio. I flipped through the stations and almost pass it up. It was a breaking news bulletin on the state of emergency.

“Two more states face the mysterious mass bombings. Wyoming and Utah are now considered to be obsolete. This brings the total up to five states, including Washington, Alaska and Montana.”

I felt white as a sheet. Millions of people evaporated into nothing but ash. That was hard to swallow when you were wrapped up in it. I quickly shut off the radio and the car returned to silence. Everyone seemed to be processing the news until Noah finally spoke up.

“That is five states now. We are in serious trouble. Stephan had to have some sort of help to pull this off. He can’t be watching us and setting off bombs. Now that Wyoming is gone, we are probably going to face trouble at the Colorado border. We need a plan.”

“I agree. We can’t afford to get Nessa and Cora arrested. We are stronger together,” Mia said.

“We are only thirty minutes from Wyoming. I say we get as close as we can and then go around Wyoming if we have to. It will take considerably longer but we could drive all night to make up for lost time,” I said.

“Well, here goes nothing, keep your eyes on the road. The next thirty minutes are crucial,” Noah replied.

Once again an anxious silence settled over the van and we were all on guard. It didn’t take long to find the situation. Just outside of Fort Collins, we slowed to a crawl behind lines of traffic. The worst thing was that there was no place to turn around on this stretch of highway. I exchanged a look with Noah and he winced.