Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (37 page)

I took her hand and turned it over, palm up.

“We work well together.” I pressed my closed hand gently
into hers. “We’ll make our own choices.”

My fingers unfolded and the ring released into her hand.

“I was going to wait to give this to you, but why bother? There’s no difference between one day and another anymore. They blur together. They come and go. Like dreams.”

She cupped her hand and examined the ring. Light glistened off the delicate
s
-shaped swirls of gold embracing the silver band. In the center, the curls came together to cradle a small sparkling white diamond.

“Consider it a promise,” I said. “A promise to someday ask you the question that already burns in me every night.”

“It’s beautiful.” She grinned.

My heartbeat quickened as she slid it onto her left ring finger. It fit perfectly, thanks to Jane’s help.

Alice reached her arms out and hugged me more tightly than ever. “Don’t ever break your promise,” she uttered, her face nuzzling my chest.

Such warmth against me. Her sweet scent mingling with the ocean breeze was perfect—unforgettable. I ran a hand through her satiny hair.

But our happiness was bittersweet, and the weight of
reality quickly dragged me back down. Fear. Uncertainty. Things
could change at
any
moment.

“I love you, Alice,” I said, taking her hand into mine and brushing my thumb across the ring. “I’d do anything for
you. Anything at all. You know that, right?” The subtle shade
of pink in her cheeks looked stunning beneath the warm hues of sunset.

“Yes. I do, Brian.” She averted her eyes. “And sometimes
knowing that scares me.”

“Why?”

“I worry about you getting hurt. I mean… you didn’t even want to take your helmet with you today.”

“Maybe that was a naive thing to do, but I’m not stupid, Alice. Still, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t take a bullet for you.”

She fell silent.

“Alice?” I pressed my fingers to her chin and tipped her face up toward mine. “Don’t feel bad. And don’t feel sorry for me, either. Remember, I’m the one who heals. I
could
take that bullet if I had to.”

Chapter 21

I
had to be at work in an hour. Hardly enough time to
change and head back out, but now wasn’t the time to worry.
I squeezed the rubber grips and focused on the road. Car engines rumbled all around us. Alice tucked her hands into my jacket pockets.

Someday, I’d buy her an even better ring.

One that was more…

Our surroundings blurred.

Shit!

My wheels locked and I went flying headfirst over the
handlebars, straight toward the rear window of a white SUV.

Street signs softened out of focus. Speeding cars slowed to a crawl. Alice drifted behind me, caught in mid-air over the asphalt. We tried to reach out to each other, but just seconds later we came slamming back down onto the ground.
The thud of my helmet hitting asphalt made my ears ring. I came to my knees and shook my head, disorientated.

Alice cried out in pain. I scrambled to my feet.

“My hands!” she shrieked, holding out her arms.

“I’m here.” I slid off my helmet, tossed it aside, and then
carefully removed hers. It was dark as hell and I could barely
see. Only faint moonlight and a few buzzing, flickering streetlamps
loomed overhead. Alice’s palms had been scuffed raw, muscle tissue showing through in patches of shiny, open skin. I tugged off my gloves and then took her hands into my own, her warm blood seeping through my fingers.

“It hurts,” she whined, squirming and tugging for me to release her. “Let me go, Brian!”

“I know it hurts, but you have to calm down,” I said. “Just breathe in and out. Slowly. I’ll heal you, but you have to give me a minute. I’m trying.”

She gritted her teeth and groaned, stifling a moan with each shallow exhale.

“Just breathe.” I cupped her trembling hands
and concentrated on the wounds—on the peels of supple white flesh curling up around them. Fresh blood drizzled down my palms. Alice sobbed and sucked in a congested breath.

Blue fluorescence started to appear, radiating from deep beneath my skin at first and then quickly rising up and skittering across veins near the surface. The open patches on her palms began to smooth over with fresh skin. The wounds eased closed.

“Better?” I asked, examining her hands as well as I could
in the darkness. They felt smooth and intact again.

“Yes. Thank you.”

Water dripped into my ear and I shook my head. Cold droplets of rain fell on the back of my neck.

“Damn it! Rain?” I couldn’t recognize where we were, but as usual, the air tasted stale and bland. I looked around.
Empty s
treets, abandoned storefronts. Dim alleyways. I couldn’t
see much in the distance. It was lit only by beat-up streetlamps shuddering on and off. “We need to find shelter.”

A clap of thunder rumbled and, seconds later, a white line of lightning bolted across the sky, highlighting our surroundings for an instant.

“Where are we?” Alice asked. She rubbed her arms briskly.
Her teeth chattered and she took short breaths through her mouth.

“I don’t know, but we need to find Kareena and get the hell out of here before we get hypothermia from this goddamn rain. Let’s get moving.”

We pushed forward down the street until we came to a crossing with signs posted. Brent Street. Briar Lane.

Where in hell?

We kept walking, sticking close to the sidewalk and the meager overhang that stretched out over the doors along the strip of abandoned shop buildings. Graffiti. Broken windows. I took a step and heard a crunch beneath my shoe. Glass. The crackling sound sent a shiver up my spine.

Maybe it was the rain. The damn cold rain. It kept coming,
pouring down, making it hard to see.

Never-ending.

No sign of Kareena.

“Do you think she’s here?” Alice asked with a shudder, holding the collar of her jacket tightly closed at her throat.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t even know where we are.”
The rain clattered against the rooftops and down the gutters,
sputtering out toward our feet. I stepped over a rush from a downspout and turned to make sure Alice got across okay, too.

We fast-walked another two blocks in the shadows before
the rain slowed and we could finally get our bearings… or at least try. Very little had been marked in this whole place. The broken shop windows were old. What signage we had found had most of the lettering worn off. Wherever we were, it hadn’t been inhabited for years.

We found a broken-down pick-up truck with rusted out sides and checked the license plate. Michigan. Just on the other side of the street was another torn up convertible with what looked like… gunshot holes riddling the door. The leather seats had been destroyed. Steering wheel removed. No license plate.

My shoes squelched with every step. I brushed a hand
through my hair to slick it back. My jeans dripped. My soaked
shirt stuck to me beneath my jacket. I felt disgusting. I tried my cell phone in vain. It wouldn’t turn on.

Of course.

“Where in the hell are we?” I thought out loud. “What kind of ghetto is this? There’s no one here. Why would they send us here? What could they possibly—”

“Brian!”

An unmistakable high-pitched voice sounded from the distance.

“Kareena!” Alice and I said in unison, glancing at each other.

“Kareena!” I called back again.

We heard voices. People arguing.

Thunder rumbled and the sounds were muffled.

Then Kareena called out again.

I took Alice’s hand and we ran toward the sound.

Down another street corner. Past an abandoned garage. Past a mountain of busted up car parts. Lightning struck
again and the sky lit up white. A tall chain-link fence blocked
our way.

“Damn it!” I shoved my hands against the cold metal and
pulled back. Further down, curls of broken wires sagged
toward the ground. Places where links had been cut or rusted.

I searched along the fence until I finally came across an opening large enough for us to squeeze through.

“Be careful, Alice,” I said, carefully prying back a section of wire. She ducked down through the tear and came out the other side. I followed.

“Help!” Kareena shrieked. Her voice was closer now.

We hurried toward the sound. Down a dark alleyway. A
sharp turn around a corner. There she was—beneath a bright
blue-white streetlight—being restrained by someone. Hot pink fluorescence flowed beneath the skin of her face.

“Get… your hands… off me!” Kareena screamed, straining
her voice. She struggled and tried to wriggle free. One of her arms had been pulled tightly behind her back and the stranger had his other arm hooked around her neck.

“Let her go!” I yelled, shielding my eyes from more drizzle
while trying to make out the face of whoever held Kareena.

“Let go, you bastard!” she moaned, grunting and jerking her body around. He twisted her arm further back behind her and she yelped in pain.

“Who are you?” I took a step closer to them and was
able to make him out a little more. Dark skinned. Black hair,
maybe. Tall. A little muscular, but not enough to intimidate me. I couldn’t tell much else.

“You’re here,” he said, and then shoved Kareena to the ground. She coughed hard and held her throat. “Took your sweet-ass time. Didn’t you?”

“What do you want from us?” I asked, raising my voice against the booming thunder.

“I’m here to make sure you do your job,” he replied, his voice low and gritty. “And I’ll break you one at a time if I have to.”

He shot a glare toward Alice.

“Don’t you dare touch her!” I roared, stepping in front of her.

“He’s one of us!” Kareena said, struggling to catch her breath. “I… saw it… inside him.”

“What? What do you mean he’s one of
us
?” I locked eyes with the man and took another step toward him. I could see now he was older than me, but not by much. Probably in his late twenties.

“Who are you?” I asked again, wiping the rain from my brow.

“We have to help her!” Alice pushed past me and ran to Kareena’s side. The man lunged for Alice and caught her by
the wrist. He twisted her arm back behind her and she wailed
in pain.

“Alice!” I bolted at him, fist first.

Contact! He reeled backward. My knuckles ached from the impact, but the sight of that bastard tumbling to the ground and holding his face made it worth it. I rotated my wrist. Shook it out.

“Are you okay, Alice?”

She quickly helped Kareena to her feet and then came running to me. We huddled together and backed away.

“Yes. Thank you,” she replied, and then gasped. “He’s up!”

“You little son-of-a-bitch!” The man came to his feet, his
lips curled into a nasty sneer. His eyes were hidden in shadow.
Lighting struck and a glimmer of light reflected off the
blood drizzling down his cheek. He swiped his fingers across
his face and huffed.

“You’ll pay for that.” He clenched his fists and rolled his shoulders back.

“You don’t scare me,” I growled, gesturing for the girls to back up.

He chuckled. “I don’t have to take shit from you kids. I told you, I’m here to make sure you do your job.”

Amber light sparked across his chest, emanating through
his shirt, beginning around his sternum and then forking up across his collar bone toward his shoulders.

Jesus. He
was
one of us.

I froze in place and locked on to him.

He stretched an arm toward me and flattened his hand, spreading out his fingers and pointing his open palm at me. The gold light skittered through his body, illuminating his arms and hands all the way down to his fingertips. Veins of fluorescence flickered beneath his skin.

I took a step back and swallowed hard. His fluorescence appeared brighter than any of ours.

“What did the Saviors say to get you to come after us?” I asked. “Did they make you some kind of promise? Well, they won’t keep it! They’re lying bastards. They’ll never—” An invisible jolt of energy shot through me like a punch to
the gut. I lost my breath. My knees hit the ground. I hunched
over, digging my hands into gravel and earth. Straining to suck in air.

Nothing came in. I wheezed. Tightness closing my throat.

Shit…

The energy pulse shook me to the bone, squeezing my chest tight and crushing my lungs and heart. I couldn’t breathe.

Alice came to my side, shouting things I couldn’t make out. Pressure built in my ears. Ringing. Then a dull buzz deafened me.

My head ached.

I doubled over. Unable to comprehend the muffled words
I was hearing.

Finally, my blue light sparked to life. The color grew bright and hot, leeching through my skin like plumes of dry ice fog. The pain subsided. Slightly.

“You’re a freaking coward!” I shouted as soon as I gained
the strength to lift my head. “That’s all you are. You can’t trust the Saviors. They’re liars.”

“Enough!” His light grew even brighter, jagged veins blazing
like yellow fire within his chest. It hadn’t even
physically touched me, and yet, I could feel its energy, sucking the strength right out of me.

A tingling sensation washed over me and my vision blurred.

I felt lightheaded.

I gritted my teeth hard. Bright splashes of color flashed
across my field of vision, distorting my surroundings. Blackness.
In and out. Fading spirals of light.

“Brian!” Alice put her hand on my shoulder. “Brian. Please. Come back to me.”