Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1) (33 page)

Chad instantly peered at his tattoos that began at his hands and disappeared under the short sleeves in intricate patterns. He watched him curiously and couldn’t imagine this polite man with his calm and thoughtful eyes killing anybody, let alone torturing them.

Chad wondered how much you don’t know about the people around you sometimes. His father didn’t look like a warrior either, but did it matter if this was the case? If the appearance didn’t mean anything? Doc only looked like a man whose gym membership was daily justified, and there was no hint, no sign telling that this was a man you should be careful with. Chad imagined a vicious killer behind every decent soul he knew and shuddered at the thought. No, he would not even think about it.

“Can we see him?” Pain’s voice sounded. It was hoarse and thin, and she cleared her throat, readjusting her jacket numbly.

Now something was definitely not alright with her: Pain asking a
permission
to do something? Even more, to check on her almost killed friend? Chad blinked.

“He’s under the anesthesia, but you can see him, of course.” Doc nodded and headed to the coffee machine. He looked exhausted, more than any other fighter around them, and Chad thought he could understand why.

Pain shifted uneasily in his lap, and he looked at her – she was fumbling at her chest with a frown, looking for the strap, apparently.

“Where’s my…?” she muttered and slewed back to look at him.

“Oh, it’s here,” he patted the katana that lay behind his and Jane’s backs, taking up three chairs in a row.

Her dim look lingered on him. They were just a few inches apart, and once again, those eyes captured him. Everything he saw back in that room on the living floor, everything she had gone through when Marco nearly died, it all was there now, in her look. It was hard to the point of hurting to see her like this and just sit with his hands at his sides; to be there, and not really be with her, not to be let inside. There was a moment of weakness and need, and she didn’t push him away, but that was all. He could feel how it was over now, and something inside him snapped in two halves, not for the first time. And yet there was something off about her eyes. He realized at once that it was something huge, so huge for her. She had shown him her weak side, and she didn’t hide it now, because that cold superiority still wasn’t built back up. So maybe he wasn’t let in, but he was closer now. Closer than he was to her in that cellar.

The memory blazed up in his mind’s eye, and he pushed it back hastily. It was a slippery slope.

He squeezed her arm lightly, giving her a half-smile. Her black eyes flicked to the katana and then back to him.

“Okay,” she said quietly and got off his lap, using his shoulder for support. Slowly, with a few unsure steps, she reached the infirmary entrance and paused there. Jane was on her feet, too, and she turned to look at Ryan.

“You coming?” she asked, but Ryan shook his head.

“You two go, I’ll come by later.”

He gave her a little smile, and she nodded, taking her sister’s hand and disappearing behind the door that slid in its place with a hissing sound.

Ryan got up and stretched, joints crunching, gear creaking. He dodged to the side and peered into something on the other end of the room.

“Hey, there’s Dave.” He waved to him, but then Peter’s voice broke the hushed atmosphere of the floor.

“Ryan!” He was standing by the door that led to the street. “Would you come up?”

Ryan nodded and took off in his direction, and in a moment Dave showed up in his place.

“What’s up?” he asked cheerfully and came to sit beside Chad.

He stared back at Dave with mild incredulity.

“
What’s up?
” Chad mimicked his voice, taking one of the chocolates offered by his friend. “Not much… Though we almost got killed tonight, you do remember that, right?”

Dave shrugged, taking a bite.

“We survived. Hey, Skull is so cool! I helped him a bit with rearranging the wounded, and he let me hold his machete!” He nodded with enthusiasm, and Chad’s eyebrows went up.

“Hold his machete? That doesn’t sound gross at all,” he commented and saw Dave make a face. “Okay, okay! I just wanted to make sure you meant his sword.” There was always one thing Chad was grateful for: however bad his mood was, Dave would find a way to amuse him, even unintentionally.

Dave rolled his eyes and looked around the room. It was very quiet now. A few tired voices sounded among the Ghosts, and Ryan was still talking to Peter at the opposite wall. Confiding him into Marco’s story, Chad thought.

“So-o-o, where are our oh-so-hot female assassins?”

Chad grimaced at the phrasing, but then thought it was good that Dave stayed in a lively mood.

“Behind that door,” Chad jerked his chin toward the infirmary. “Checking on Marco.”

“Oh, now you can finally tell me what happened with him.” Dave raised his index finger at Chad’s martyred expression. “And don’t try to get away from it! Now I’m all ears, please, speak,” he inclined his head politely, and Chad sighed.

“Fine, but I’ll skip the details because there’s something much more important that I actually wanted to tell you.” Quickly, he filled him in on how they found Marco and in what condition. Dave nodded without interrupting, which was helpful because Chad felt bone tired, like it wasn’t just the middle of the night, but a few days of fighting, worrying, and Initiating. “And then he was breathing again, though he definitely wasn’t after the CPR. I have no other explanation except that this glowing, that thing that was going on with Pain, it affected Marco somehow, healed him, you know? Like, unintentionally she did to him what she usually did to herself. She healed him, and more importantly, her energy made his heart beat again. Because, really, I can’t imagine how it would just happen by itself.” He shook his head, his face furrowed with a frown, as he rolled the chocolate wrapping into a thin straw with his fingers.

Dave sat straight, as if an iron rod was shoved up his spine, and stared at his friend from above with round eyes, his black hair standing out in different directions.

“Man… A week ago, you’d say stuff like this to me, and I’d buy you a ticket to the nuthouse,” he said dizzily. “But now it actually makes sense, and I’m kinda scared for us both.”

Chad only pursed his lips and sighed.

“I think with these guys everything’s possible, though,” Dave added. “I think you should talk to someone about it. Not Pain. Peter or… Their Doc, he could know something about it, right? Although he does seem a little creepy to me…”

“Creepy?” Chad alerted. “What do you mean?”

Dave didn’t know the things that Chad had overheard about Doc earlier, and he wondered what was weird about him in Dave’s opinion. Was there something that Chad hadn’t noticed himself?

“I don’t know…” Dave chewed on his bottom lip. “Maybe it’s just the fact that he’s too cool for a doctor. I mean, not attractive-cool, it’s just… There’s something about him. Just the way he moves, like a predator. Oh! Oh, I know. Remember Spike from ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’? He reminds me of Spike!”

Now it was Chad’s turn to make big eyes.

“Okay, a change of topic here, or you’ll see my brains all over this nice wall,” Chad interrupted, warding him off with raised hands.

Suddenly, he saw the expression on Dave’s face change to a strained frown, and his look became distracted, as if he was listening to something.

“Did you hear that?” he asked sharply.

“What?” Chad said, frowning.

“That noise over there. Here, listen!” Dave raised his index finger, cocking his head to the side. Chad strained his ears, and now he was able to make out some repeating pounding sound, too. It seemed to come from behind the exit door, the one near which Ryan and Peter were standing.

And then thunder exploded in their ears.

They were thrown off the chairs and sprawled on the floor with their palms flying to their ears. Startled shouts all around them got lost in the sound of tearing metal and concrete as the door blew inward, slamming into Ryan and knocking him off his feet. At the last moment he had managed to shove Peter out of the way, hard. A shield blazed to life just a heartbeat later than he bumped his head against the wall. The door landed on top of Ryan, pinning him to the concrete floor with its crushing weight, and everything went dark as the lights got pierced through with flying chips.

The walls were still trembling when Chad raised his head, coughing from the dust, its smell and taste thick in his mouth. It was impossible to make anything out in this darkness until three yellow rays pierced it on the other side of the floor. The Beasts quickly filled the place, throwing aside everybody in their way as they headed straight to Chad and Dave. The flashlights blinded them when the Beasts came closer and seized their collars, hauling them upright. They both stood on their feet unsteadily, dazed from the explosion, and hatred flooded their faces in two equal waves as their swords were plucked from under their belts and dropped to the floor.

“Should we take the other one, too?” one of the Beasts boomed, and almost instantly was cut off by Chad’s frantic snarl.

“No!! Leave him, Eugene wants me, I’ll go with you!” he shouted, grabbing the Beast’s leather vest in a handful and immediately getting a savage punch in the side. He doubled over, clutching at his stomach, dark spots filling his vision in a sickening kaleidoscope, but another cutthroat grasped his hair and pulled him upright.

“You’ll go with us anyway, boy.” He turned and pushed Chad before him. “Take the second one just in case.”

With these words, he headed to the disfigured doorway with Chad stumbling before him, his face a mask of terror and despair.

He looked back at Dave and saw that his friend was staggering after the Beast that held him by the back of his jacket. Something dark covered his temple – blood, Chad realized suddenly. The darkness wasn’t helping, but he still strained his vision, casting around frantically. No familiar faces among the Ghosts – injured, shocked, and outnumbered badly – not even one person that knew him or Dave. He tried to find Skull with his gaze and failed. The others just watched them go, their faces alarmed, and he didn’t blame them. There was nothing they could do, really, because they would just get killed or injured. And the reason why there were no familiar faces was pretty obvious: everybody he and Dave knew were already hurt. Only the girls were relatively unharmed, and they were safe in the infirmary, to his relief. Because he knew they wouldn’t stand back, and this time he doubted they would win. Even going on pure rage everyone had their limits. So no point in fighting anymore, he guessed.

They stepped around the blown up door, and Chad couldn’t help but peer down at it. He hoped to see if the fighter under it was alive, maybe moving, but all he saw was one pale hand that stuck out lifelessly. And suddenly a stab of surprise pierced his mind. He was glad, ready to leave this place, because deep inside him was some dark satisfaction from knowing that now he would finally meet this Eugene in person. And he would gladly tear to pieces each one of the Beasts standing in his way so he could only get a chance to get to Eugene’s neck.
Here you go,
a subtle voice sounded in the back of his mind,
so much for being an ordinary mechanic
.

Leaving this chaos of dust and spilled coffee behind, he turned his head taking one last look back. There, in the dark corner, a rhythmical beating resounded of the walls: someone was trying to kick down the damaged infirmary door…

Jane heard the door close behind her as she looked around the room with calm, non-panicked eyes this time. There were a few plastic chairs to her right, now empty, so she took one and followed her sister.

Pain stood beside Marco’s cot, watching him sleep. Her shoulders were slouched, and her hair was dirty and tangled, tucked behind her ears sloppily. There was a long slash in her jacket sleeve, and her pale and bloody arm showed from under it. She looked lifeless, standing at the bed like this, staring at Marco with a glassy gaze. Jane cast her eyes down at herself, doubting that she looked any different. She wished they had a chance to change into something clean.

With a long sigh, she pulled her chair up to the cot across from her sister. Some of her wounds were still sore, and she winced, seating herself in it. Probably, she would feel better if she worked on them for a while, but she just didn’t have the energy and focus. She would heal if she just slept, it had always been that way. But she doubted there would be an opportunity for that any time soon. Was it bad that she envied Marco a little? He seemed so peaceful, drifting in his tranquilized dream with his arms placed neatly on the covers.

“He’s gonna freak when he finds out he missed all the fun,” Pain grumbled, taking his big hand with her small and pale one. She curled her fingers around it, perching herself on the bed’s edge.

It was strange for her to see him like this, as if nothing had happened. His head was cleaned of the blood, and if not for the bandage under the blanket, no one would guess that just an hour ago he was closer to leaving this world than ever. Every time she closed her eyes, she still could see him bloody and limp in her arms, like the image was stuck to the back of her eyelids. She breathed in and out deeply, letting go of his hand.
No, not this time, not today. You’re staying.

“Seems like he had a lot of fun in that room…” Jane’s voice sounded drawling and weary, and Pain glanced at her. Trashed gear, smeared face, messy hair, it was pretty much like looking in the mirror. She looked back at Marco before answering.

“Oh, yes. There were layers and layers of bodies,” she gestured, showing them with her hands. Jane smirked. “It was Elena’s room,” Pain added and looked at her sister meaningfully. “He came there on purpose. While everybody was running to the ground floor, he crossed the whole building to get there. He knew she wouldn’t survive the attack otherwise.”

Jane gave her a sad look. They had seen Elena on the ground floor, and the girl was unharmed. Marco wasn’t.

Pain spotted a pack of tissues on the bedside table and looked around for a mirror, finding it in the corner across the room.

“I better go clean myself up a little. Don’t want him to wake up and have a heart attack,” she muttered and got off the bed, grabbing a handful of tissues.

“Give me some, too,” Jane said and followed her.

Pain stood before the mirror, staring at herself with half-shock, half-amazement. Now, this might be the worst of her looks up until the moment, she thought. There wasn’t a clean spot on her face. It was brown from the dried blood, black where her mascara was smudged on her eyelids, and streaked at the cheeks where the tears had run. Even her eyes were still red and swollen a little, and there was a long cut across her right cheek, now closed up and pink. She didn’t even remember getting it and didn’t care about healing it.

“Nice,” she drawled, turning away and coming to a small sink nearby. Seriously, all these powers, and nothing to help her look better? She could heal bones, for God’s sake, why couldn’t she just think of it and look nicer?

The warm water ran through her fingers, and relief washed over her, making her feel relaxed, liquid. Just the touch of it was helpful, as if the tiny splinters that seemed to pierce all of her nerves turned suddenly into soft bubbles. She rubbed at her cheeks and forehead savagely, using some soap to wash it all off, and then used the tissues to wipe at her face. Jane took her place at the sink without a word.

“You know, I think we should go out there,” Pain said, trying to wipe off the smudged mascara while leaving some of her ruined makeup intact. Maybe she looked sloppy, but at least she didn’t look like
a little girl
, with no eyeliner and all. Jane only mumbled something into the water, so she continued. “Pay them a not-so-friendly visit. Chop off some heads, scare some shit out of them so they wouldn’t be so cocky next time they decide to attack us. Just kill some and get back inside, what do you think? Chad’s safe here. Well, as safe as he can be,” she shrugged, unsure, and turned back to the mirror. A little better, she thought, though the scratch on her cheek now stood out irritated and red.
Whatever
, she tossed the balled up tissues to the trash.

“I don’t know…” Jane sounded doubtful. “Who will go? Almost everyone’s here!” she threw up her hand, pointing at the wounded fighters around. One of them turned his head and looked at her, and she lowered her voice. “Sorry, Brad. I don’t think it’s a good idea to get any more of our guys injured or killed,” she finished and looked at her sister.

“Nobody’s gonna get killed,” Pain retorted, matter-of-factly. “We have Skull. He alone can shred a dozen Beasts per minute, but he needs space. Ryan, and Greg for backing him up. I saw Luke and Chris, and since Zac was wounded, I think he’d gladly get some revenge. Phoenix is somewhere there, too. Though I only saw him come out once… Guess he’s fine slaughtering them by himself, but he could be back by now.”

“Yeah? And who’ll talk to him, you?” Jane enquired in a mocking voice. Phoenix never talked to them, really. And he gave them the creeps. The heavy-artillery sort of creeps.

“I’ll do it.” Pain crossed her arms in an assuring gesture. “I can talk to him, yes.”

“Really?” Jane narrowed her eyes at her, and she sighed, exasperated.

“Actually, I could ask Skull to talk to him…” she added under her breath, and Jane nodded, confirming her cowardice. “Well, I was going to talk to him myself! I’m just not sure he’ll go with us if it’ll be me. I kinda stuck my knife in him that one time, remember?” She made a face.

Jane only sighed, as if she couldn’t decide if Pain’s idea was useful or reckless. Hinges squealed, and a door opened in one of the walls. It must have led to the nurses’ room. One of them stepped out of it now, carrying a metal tray with jars and bottles of all kinds. She headed to one of the beds, careful not to spill anything…

And then the room shook so hard that she sprawled on the floor with the jars scattering around her. The sisters bent down, their hands over their ears, their shoulders pressed to the wall in an attempt to stay on their feet. The sound was deafening, and through her palms Pain could hear shouts and exclamations of the fighters that woke up, frightened. Even as it ceased, there was a ringing in her ears, but she raised her head to look around in angry bewilderment.

“What the hell!!” she snarled and dashed to the exit door with her head and shoulders white from the fallen plaster.

Jane ran after her, tossing the tissues that she still kept in her hand to the floor. There were shouts and commotion on the other side, and Pain was afraid of even imagining what was going on there.

She stabbed at the button nervously, muttering,

“Open, open, open!” But nothing happened, the door must have been damaged during the explosion. She slammed her palm angrily into it. “Damn! It’s stuck!”

“Did Eugene just break
the Code?
” Jane asked incredulously, watching her war with the door. Pain threw herself against it, her shoulder sending a protesting shot of pain through her body.

“Unless one of the coffee machines has exploded,” she muttered grimly between one strike and another and pressed at the button again. The door didn’t open. She exhaled loudly and tried again – one, two, three times – with no result. Her shoulder felt like one big bruise, and Jane took her hand, stopping her.

“Let’s do it together, come on,” she backed a few steps.

Pain joined her, and together they ran up and hit the door with their feet. It bulged a little, and Pain ran to the button and pressed her finger into it so hard it hurt. This time the door slid away with a loud grating sound, and the girls rushed through it, leaving behind the shocked nurses and their panicked patients.

They stopped short, though, seeing instantly that it was too late. Pain’s face went very still. In the light from the infirmary she could see the chair where Chad had sat just a few minutes ago – it was empty now. Her katana lay under it. She picked it up mechanically, then put the weapon at its place, her expression not changing its resigned blankness.

“They took him…” she heard Jane’s remote voice behind her and fumbled in her pockets, looking for a flashlight. Dave, they had to find Dave, he was somewhere else last time she saw Chad, she thought. But all she saw in her mind’s eye was Chad’s face, frowned and confused, right after his Initiation.

Something broke in her chest at the thought of him, and she took a deep, long breath. The place smelled of smoke and plaster, and dust motes danced in the air, obstructing her vision. She finally found her flashlight and pressed the button. A bright light flared up, illuminating the fighters that were scattered around the room, their faces shocked and pale. Some of them were on their feet already, helping the others to get up, shaking off the dust. And then there was Peter, unconscious near the wall.

“Peter…” Pain dashed to him, the ray of her flashlight dancing in front of her as she ran.

Peter moaned weakly, stirring as she and Jane kneeled beside him.

“Are you okay??” Jane asked when his eyelids trembled and he looked at them, squinting at the light.

“I’m fine, just leave me,” he muttered and lay back down on the floor with a painful grimace.

Jane stared at her hand that came out bloody from where she had touched his head.

“But you’ve wounded your head!” she protested, and seeing this, Pain bent over him and slid her hands under his arms. He didn’t try to get up.

“I’ll live,” he objected hoarsely. “Forget me, help Ryan,” his hand pointed somewhere behind their backs, and they turned their looks there.

Pain moved her flashlight, scanning the room, but there was no Ryan anywhere. She frowned and looked at the faces around them again, from the beginning.
What the…

And then the blown up door caught her attention. She stopped her flashlight on it, staring at the single visible hand in disbelief. No, it couldn’t be Ryan. He didn’t have such long, slim fingers…

She jumped to her feet, catching a glimpse of Jane’s astonished face. In a heartbeat they seized the door and lifted it, as if it were made of cardboard. It really was Ryan lying under it with his arm covering his face. They dropped the door to the side, and a loud banging resounded off the walls, startling everybody for a second.

Immediately, the fighters began to gather around them, peering at Ryan’s unmoving body, asking questions. Pain didn’t hear any of them as she kneeled by his side. She glanced only once at Jane, who sat across from her at his other side and stared at him without blinking. Pain touched his forearm – it was clearly broken, so she slid her hand under it, her fingers searching for the pulse.

“Is he alive?”

“Is he breathing?”

“There’s blood, his head is wounded!” Voices mixed together around her, but her sister was silent, and Pain was afraid of looking at her as she waited for the feeling of pulse under her index finger. She didn’t want Jane to see it in her face if there was none. A few seconds stretched out like an hour, until finally she exhaled with relief.

“He’s alive.” She withdrew her hand. “He’s breathing, Jane, come on,” she waved for her to move closer and touched Ryan’s scarlet-colored hair. There really was a pool of blood under his head, and she paused, not sure what to do.

“Don’t move his head,” someone said at her left, and she turned, finding Doc there. His glasses were askew, his hands smeared with blood, but he wasn’t wounded. He touched Ryan’s wrist, adding, “I’ll take care of him, you bring Peter to the infirmary and find a free bed.”

With a stiff nod, she got up and stepped aside, gesturing for Jane to follow. Someone took her place at Ryan’s side; he was tall and broad, carrying a stretcher under one of his arms like it was a notepad, no more. Skull, she guessed, and turned around heading back to Peter. Jane walked by her side with her face still set into a stressed-out grimace.

Peter was sitting upright, his back propped up against the wall. The emergency lights blazed to life one by one, and the place got filled with an eerie red illumination. There was a fresh breeze suddenly. Pain looked to her left and saw the night sky through the wrecked doorway, far, far away, black and peaceful.
They’re still somewhere there
, she thought. Out loud she said,

“They took both of them,” her voice was edged heavily, and Jane gave her a strained look. She seemed to be unable to talk at the moment, so she just nodded as they both squatted by Peter.

“We’re going to take you to the infirmary,” Pain said, reaching out for him. “Here, lean on me.” She slid her hand under his back, offering him her shoulder.

“I’m okay,” he waved her off and got up on his own, too abruptly, because in the next moment he swayed toward the wall. The sisters were at his sides right away, keeping him upright and dragging him to the light by the infirmary door.