Revelations (27 page)

“Chris,” he began, “I want to kill them as much as you do. I want to stop it. But this….” He looked down at his hands before continuing. “This power in my hands isn’t like yours. My power is meant to take life while yours is meant to save it.”

“That’s what I want you to do,” I said. “To take life.”

“I can’t always control it,” he said.

“And I won’t burn,” I said with a wicked smile.

“What?”

I held up his hands so they were before both of our faces. “Try it.”

He shook his head vigorously. “No way.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “Just try it.”

Starch very reluctantly raised the temperature of his hands. I felt them heating up, felt my own hands getting hot. In a second more, his hands were on fire. So were mine. The fire was small, with flames only an inch or two in height. Holy hell, it hurt. I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain and regenerated my skin through the process. When the heat resided, I opened my eyes and made sure my hands were perfect and healed. The skin on my hands was slightly pink but otherwise fine.

I showed him my unburned hands. “See?”

“Yeah, but I could tell it hurt,” he said.

I shook my head. “Pain doesn’t matter,” I said. “Not compared to the pain Jonas went through, the pain he’s still in.”

“Let me go alone,” he said suddenly.

I raised my eyebrows at him.

He grinned, a very evil, un-Starch-like grin. “Get me in there, and I’ll blast the place straight to hell. You stay a safe distance away from the source of the fire. Can you do that?”

I nodded and for once did not lie to him. “I can do that.”

“Then it’s a deal,” he said. He then dropped both of my hands. “What about Jonas?”

“What about him?”

“He’ll want to go,” Starch said.

“I won’t let him,” I said. “He’s hurt and sick. He’ll be a hindrance.”

“He’ll want to go,” Starch repeated.

I smiled softly, knowing he was right. “I’ll keep him asleep,” I said. “If we leave by morning, head for Nevada, we can get there in a few hours.”

Starch nodded. “Okay, Chris. Tomorrow. We’ll put an end to all of this.”

I leaned forward as far as I could to kiss him. I kissed his lips quickly and lightly, my version of a thank you to the best friend I could ask for. I got up and went to the bedroom to spend some time with Jonas. Because after S-4, we’d move on to Cannon, and that would take at least a couple of days.

Chapter Fifty-Four

It was hard to leave in the morning. I slept beside Jonas that night, feeling the heat of his fevered body, but I didn’t sleep much. I rose at four a.m. and went to wake Starch. He and I readied ourselves, taking only what we needed with us. I didn’t have anything in the way of clothes, but Philip’s missing wife left some things, and she wasn’t too much bigger than me, so I took the liberty of borrowing a few items. Starch pilfered Philip’s car keys and we went to the garage.

The sound of the garage door alerted Philip— since I was stupidly not paying attention to him and only paying attention to Jonas— to our escape. We hadn’t even driven halfway down the driveway when Philip suddenly pounded on the driver’s side window. Starch didn’t know what to do, so he stopped the car and looked at me, as if I had any better ideas.

I sighed. “Just open the door,” I said.

Starch did so, leaning back when he did because he thought Philip was going to slug him. Instead, Philip said, “Get in the back. I’m driving.”

I rolled my eyes. “Philip,” I muttered.

“I know where you’re going, and I know what you’re planning on doing,” he said. “And I’m driving.”

I knew better than to protest with him; besides, he’s bigger and smarter than I am so I knew he’d get his way, one way or another. Starch got in the backseat and slammed shut his door, crossing his arms over his chest in a something of a huff. Philip took over the driver’s seat and put the car in gear. I’ll tell you that this wasn’t his old bug, which he still had but didn’t drive as much. This was a somewhat new Honda Accord four-door.

It took only the briefest of moments of not keeping my mind locked with Jonas’s for him to wake up to find me missing and the rest of the house empty.

I put my head back against the headrest as Jonas stepped out in front of the still stopped car and slammed his fists down on the hood. He stood there, staring in through the windshield, those glorious amber eyes filled with anger.

Philip got out and yelled, “If you dented my car, I’m gonna—”

“Shut up.” Jonas growled fiercely enough for even Philip to step back.

I jumped out of the car and confronted Jonas. “You are staying here,” I said.

Jonas shook his head. “Not on your life,” he said. “You left me sleeping.”

“Yes and I stupidly let go long enough for you to regain your senses. Now go back inside,” I said, angry at myself for not paying attention.

“Big mistake letting me wake up,” he said through his teeth. “I know what you’re going to do.”

“I don’t want you to come,” I said, dropping my anger and replacing it with honest concern. “I want you to stay here.”

“Are you going to force me?”

I nearly did. I was more than capable and I really wanted to. I relented. It was the eyes that did it. While his face showed his obvious anger, his eyes radiated his love for me. He didn’t want to be without me, not after having spent time in that cell alone. Not after having spent days—still not sure if it might have been weeks— wondering if I was okay or not. Even while they beat him, scoring his skin with the end of a whip, all he was thinking about was me. Was I okay? Did I get away? It broke my heart into shards all over again.

I relented. “Okay,” I said.

Starch got out of the back and took over the passenger seat. Jonas and I took over the back seat. Philip put the car in drive and we headed off down the road. He didn’t even wait to see if anyone else would appear and want to join us on our little venture.

In the backseat, Jonas put his head in my lap, which wasn’t easy considering his size compared to the size of the seat. He curled up and made himself as comfortable as possible.

“This is stupid,” I muttered once he was in a good position.

“You’re telling me,” he said.

“You should probably be in a hospital, not in a car going to Nevada.”

“Are you really going back there?” he asked.

I nodded, tracing the line of his still slightly cracked jaw with the tip of my finger. “I’m not going to let that place continue to exist. Not after what they did to you.”

“That guy…” he said, trailing off.

“What guy?”

“The one who waved to you when we escaped.”

“Ah,” I said. “Him.”

“I know him,” Jonas said.

“How?” I asked.

“From my lab time,” he said. “I don’t remember much about him, just that he wasn’t really a nice guy.”

“That’s an understatement,” I muttered.

“When the soldiers were beating me,” he began, “he’d come into the room sometimes. He’d stop them if the soldiers went too far, but he’d used extreme force. The soldiers stood in a line, and he’d beat them with heated bamboo whips.” Jonas shuddered against me. “He’d make me watch, then turn them loose and the soldiers would be up to no good again. It was as if they all enjoyed their place. The soldiers liked beating me then they liked being beaten. He liked beating them. I don’t get it.”

I smiled sadly out the window. “He probably erased their memories,” I said. “Else they wouldn’t have gone right back to hurting you.”

“I don’t know,” Jonas said. “But he knew you.”

“Yes,” I said, biting my lower lip.

“How? And I don’t think it was just because you went with him when you were a kid. I think there’s something more here.”

“Later, Jonas,” I said, not wanting to talk about it again.

“Okay,” he said. “And remind me because I have something I need to tell you.”

“What?” I asked.

“Later,” he said. “Much later.”

I leaned down and kissed his fevered temple. In his ear, I said, “I love you.” Then I put him to sleep. He drifted off with just the dimmest of smiles on his face, but I could see the haunted look in his eyes as they closed. This gave more reason to continue on to what we headed to do.

Chapter Fifty-Five

There are few reasons to go into extreme detail on what we did in Nevada. I don’t regret the destruction we caused only because of the destruction the place had been a part in. It wasn’t hard getting in, and out, and much as I don’t want to speak about the insane number of people, both gov and experiment alike, I killed, I will. Only because I said I wouldn’t skip out on anything, no matter how difficult or obscene.

Starch and I left Jonas with Philip at a hotel in a small town whose name I have long since forgotten. Jonas put up quite a verbal fight but, in the end, I won out. I gave him no choice. Philip and Jonas stayed. Starch stole a motorcycle someone left out on the street, and I rode on the back.

We waited until dark, just so our little fire would be more impressive.

We would hopefully meet less resistance.

I rode with my arms around his waist, trusting him explicitly to keep me safe and not crash. He drove like a maniac. The world flew by me, but I paid little attention. I was half afraid we’d be ambushed again, but that was not to be. Holt figured I was smarter than this, to be returning to the scene of the crime. Much to my disappointment, Holt was not there. His was the first mind I hunted for once close enough to the base.

Maybe disappointment isn’t the word….

As it happened, I let Starch go in alone. It was better this way, and it gave him more confidence. I watched him from just inside the fence as he walked into the closest building. I trusted him enough to let him go by himself, but he went because he was afraid he was going to blow me to bits. I kept him in my mind and made sure he was safe.

I watched him light the world in flames.

It was brilliant and almost beautiful, the fireball that ignited in the place called S-4. For a minute or two, I thought Starch had gone up with the place. I even took a couple steps back when the first building erupted in a hundred foot wall of flame. When he walked out, a dark shadow amongst all that light, and naked as hell since he didn’t want to burn his clothes, I felt an old familiar wave of relief. He was safe and sound and completely unharmed.

Then all hell broke loose.

People started running from inside the main buildings, scattering here and there in chaos. I saw soldiers dressed in fatigues and night clothes. Scientists dressed in white lab coats and pajamas ran towards the giant fireball that held multitudes of government secrets, trying to figure out a way to fight such a blaze. Others ran hell bent towards safety. I saw yet others with their guns at the ready, thinking this was an attack, and others had only the clothes on their backs. Some, more than I like to think about, the ones who’d been inside the building, were long dead.

The fire spread quickly as Starch and I went over the fence and back to the stolen motorcycle. He donned his clothing, swung his leg over the bike and I got on behind him. As he drove off into the night, I looked back over my shoulder. The fire began to spread, embers floating up into the sky and lighting the dry brush. The second building was already ignited, and it wouldn’t be long before the rest would be nothing more than ashes in the wind. It would take more than firefighters to knock down that blaze.

I turned back and put my cheek against Starch’s back. The wind from our retreat whipped through my hair, and I knew it was time to cut it when we got back into the L.A. area. This was the thought that went through my head as we drove away from utter destruction. I needed a haircut.

Honestly, it really was that easy.

Chapter Fifty-Six

Back in town, we ditched the motorcycle, not bothering to wipe off prints because, in all technicalities, we don’t even exist, and we walked the few blocks back to the hotel. We walked in our own utter silence. The sounds of sirens echoed in the distance and a lot of the town was out examining the raging red glow on the horizon. We ignored the townspeople. They ignored us. No one had any clue we’d been the ones to have caused this disaster.

We found Jonas and Philip on the hood of Philip’s car. Jonas was lying flat out, his head against the windshield, staring at the starry sky, not caring in the slightest that there was a fireball catching everyone else’s attention. Philip was cross legged, leaning forward with his chin in his hand. His eyes were on the glow beyond.

“Hey,” Starch called out, lifting his hand in greeting.

Jonas sat up and smiled broadly when he saw me, teeth and all. I ran to him, leaped onto the car, and tackled him. We slid off the hood. He landed on his back, knocking the wind from his lungs and hurting his broken ribs. Gasping though completely beyond the pain, he kissed me over and over.

“Sometimes,” he said, “you scare me half to death.”

I smiled at him, kissed his lips then let him up. He stood, brushed himself off with only the slightest grimace and gave Starch a quick high five. Unlike most of the people on the street— who am I kidding? Nobody was going inside except us–we went inside our hotel room.