Stepbrother Bear - Complete (7 page)

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

“Was that you knocking on the door
before?” Ryan asked.

“Uh, yeah,” I
mumbled. “I was … looking for Aiden.”

“Well, he’s
not in there. And you shouldn’t really be wandering around after him. Stay with
Lara. Keep her company. She needs you.”

“I was
thinking about taking off actually,” I said.

“Really?” He
stepped in front of me. “Why?”

“Just tired,
you know.”

“I think it
would be better if you stayed. Just another half hour or so. No one else has
left yet.”

“Right…”

“Are you
okay?” he asked me.

“Yes,” I
replied.

“You
didn’t…?”

“No,” I said.
“I’m fine.”

I walked past
him and continued towards the end of the passage.

Without
warning his hands were upon me, dragging me back.

“No!” I
squealed. “Let go!”

My screams
were drowned out by the music, and my attempts to fight him were fruitless. He
pulled me back into the men’s room with him and shoved me up against the wall.

“Did you hear
me before? When I was on the phone?” he demanded.

“No,” I said,
twisting in his grasp. “Fuck you.”

Ryan grinned.
“No. Fuck
you
.”

He squeezed
my throat my breathing completely ceased. I felt my cheeks flush and burn with
fire as my arms and legs flayed about aimlessly. Ryan had no sympathy for me in
his eyes. He appeared to be enjoying himself.

Just as my
world was beginning to go dark, and I felt my last efforts failing…

The bathroom
door burst open.

“Let her go,”
Aiden’s voice boomed.

Ryan cast me
aside like a rag doll, and I hit the floor in a heap, choking on my breaths.

“Hey man,”
Ryan said casually. “We were just having a little conversation here. It appears
my temper got away with me.”

“I know who
you are,” Aiden said. “You’re working for the General.”

Ryan put his
hands together, clapping. “Bravo.”

“Did she tell
you to kill her?”

Ryan walked
towards Aiden, shaking his head. “Not at all. She overheard a conversation of
mine.”

“What
conversation?”

Ryan looked
back to me. “I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

Aiden gave
Ryan a huge shove to the chest and he toppled backwards across the bathroom
floor. He hit the opposite wall and managed to stay upright.

Aiden reached
down for my hand, and pulled me to my feet.

Ryan
straightened himself up, grinning. He pulled something from his pocket.

“What’s
that?” Aiden said.

“A
detonator,” Ryan replied. “I’m gonna take you all out.”

“You’ll die
too.”

Ryan winced.
“Stand back!”

Aiden pushed
me against the wall as Ryan moved past us. He exited the bathroom.

“Shit,” Aiden
gasped.

I hurried
behind him as we entered the passageway again, Ryan disappearing around the
corner.

“What’s he
–?” I spluttered. “What –?”

“Just go,”
Aiden said. “Get out of here.”

“No, I
can’t,” I cried. “I just –”

Aiden then
shifted into his bear and let out a humungous roar.

I quickly
fled in terror, screaming for everyone else to flee with me.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

The bear wasn’t just coming after me.
He stormed into the reception area and ripped up the first table he could find,
sending it flying across the room. The wedding party gasped and cried out in
horror, before they flooded to the exit behind me. Outside the resort my knees
hit the ground and I spotted a dark figure running towards the lake on the
horizon. But when he came to it he did not go into the water. The figure was
replaced with that of a giant bird – it wings outspread and soaring to the
skies upward.
Was that Ryan?
I wondered.
Had he been through Aiden’s
experiments too?

I stood up
and turned back to the crowd, which were still dispersing. I couldn’t see
anyone. Not my Dad. Not my stepmother. Not Lara. Not even Aiden’s bear.

I backed away
and ran back out to the grass plains around the side of the resort and behind
it. The figures followed on behind me. People flowing in all directions. No one
knowing what the hell was going on.

I looked back
and searched for Aiden again. Was he outside yet? What was he –?

In a
gigantic, wave of fire and smoke, the resort then exploded, sending everyone nearby
to the ground.

“No!” I cried
out. “Noooo!”

I fell to my
knees sobbing.

And then, out
from the darkness behind me, two giant trucks covered in camouflage colors sped
along towards the destruction. Somehow they appeared to not have seen me. I
watched in horror as soldiers exited the trucks and hit the ground firing their
assault weapons.

Who was…?

How did…?

What is the…?

“Come on.”

A strong hand
latched onto my wrist and I jumped in fright. I looked up to see Aiden who was
leading me back into the darkness where the trucks had come from.

“What about
Lara?” I squealed. “Mom? Dad?”

He stopped a
moment and put his arms around me. “I told you to trust me,” he said. “And I
wasn’t lying to you.”

“No, you
weren’t,” I said.

“Well, now I
need you to trust me again,” he continued. “Can you do that, Bianca? Can you
trust me?”

“Okay,” I
said.

Okay.

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

I was shaken up. A mess. What I had
just witnessed could very well have been the slaughter of my family and
friends. I didn’t understand. What was the purpose behind it? What did it
achieve? It wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair. I just had to hope they were okay.
If not all, then most of them.

Aiden was
tightlipped when I asked him about it. Whether they’d taken prisoners or just
started killing. Maybe he didn’t know what they would do. Or maybe he knew the
worst. I just … somehow I couldn’t help but feel it was all my fault. What
would have happened if I had never gone back there? If I just let everyone be?
Then there would have been no reason for them to be hurt. Of course – there
wasn’t a reason anyway – but –

“Please,”
Aiden said as we ran through the dark. “You have to be strong.”

“I can’t
believe we’re abandoning them,” I wailed. “We don’t know what’s going to
happen.”

“Don’t worry,”
Aiden said. “I have a plan.”

“How can I
not worry? Are you really not worried?”

He looked
back at me and I could see that he was.

But I also
knew that there was no choice but to run. Otherwise we’d meet the same fate
that awaited the rest of them.

“What’s your
plan?” was the next thing I wanted to know.

“I’ll tell
you,” he said. “When we can catch our breaths.”

I’d have to
wait until then.

It was about
another ten minutes before we got sight of the road. We pushed our way through
and made it out there. In the bare orange glow that encompassed this road in
the middle of nowhere. I went to continue out to it, but Aiden held me back.

“The trucks
could be back soon,” he said. “We don’t want them to see us.”

“Well, what
are we going to do?”

Aiden pulled
out his cell phone and flipped it open.

“Where did
you get that?” I hissed.

“I’m calling
my friend,” Aiden said. “He’ll come and get us. Then we’ll find somewhere safe
you can be dropped off.”

“Huh? What
about you?”

“I have to
sort this out. I have to … do what I can for the family. It’s going to be
dangerous. I probably won’t come back from it.”

“I’m staying
with you.”

“What? No,
you can’t –”

“Please
Aiden,” I said grabbing his hand. “You have to trust me too.”

He looked at
me, pain in his eyes.

“I’m making
the call,” he said.

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

Aiden was right to hide where we
were. Less than a few minutes after he’d made the call, both trucks pulled out
of the darkness and veered off to the road. I squinted from our hiding place,
trying to make out if I could see any sign of my family around them, but alas
there was none.

“Maybe it’s
safe to go back now,” I suggested. “To see how everyone is. To get them help if
they need it.”

Aiden pushed
his hand through the roof of his head. “I doubt very much there won’t be
someone waiting for us there.”

“How would
you know that?” I asked.

“I know these
people,” he replied.

I supposed he
did. But still I was reluctant.

Leaving them
there… It was tearing me up inside…

Headlights on
the road. Aiden grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.

“That’s
Jared,” he said.

Jared, his
previously unnamed friend, was a skinny fellow with curly black hair and
glasses. We both got into the back of his car from the road and headed in the
direction opposite to where the trucks went.

“Hey,” Jared
said, looking back to us as he pulled away. “You must be Aiden’s sister.”

“Stepsister,”
I quickly corrected. “I’m … not the one who got married today.”

“I know,”
Jared replied. “You’re Bianca, right?”

“Right…”

“So what’s
been happening with you guys?”

Aiden went on
to explain the situation as best he could Jared. It seemed the pair knew each
other very well, and Jared was also familiar with the soldiers who had captured
Aiden. I wondered where Jared fitted into it all.

“So where do
you want me to drop you?” Jared asked. “You obviously can’t go back to my
place. They’ll be looking for you there.”

“I want to go
to Fort Pacific,” Aiden said.

“Are you
crazy?” Jared snapped back. “They’ll just hand you over –”

“All my
shit’s still there,” Aiden said. “My weapons. My maps. My contacts.
Everything.”

“We already
talked about this. You said you were leaving all that behind.”

“This is
different,” Aiden said. “Either they’ve killed everyone or taken them hostage.
I can’t run from this anymore.”

“You’re not
thinking about contacting those fucking ‘people’ are you? When you say
contacts, do you mean –”

“Yes, that’s
who I mean.”

“But you
remember what happened last time don’t you? You remember how they –”

“It’s the
only way, man!” Aiden shouted. “The only way out of this.”

“Okay…” Jared
trailed off.

“What is all
that about?” I asked turning to Aiden. “What people? Where are we going?”

“We’re going
to get help,” Aiden replied. “The only way I know how.”

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

Half an hour later we were parked on
the corner of a dark road facing towards a fenced off facility known as ‘Fort
Pacific’. Aiden told me to wait in the car, but I wasn’t having any of it. I
needed to be with him every step of the way.

“I’m not sure
what help you’re going to be to me,” he said as we walked towards the fence.
“You’re only going to slow me down.”

“I can keep
up,” I insisted. “I kept up with you before.”

“This place
is patrolled with guards, who may or may not, fire on sight.”

“That seems a
little excessive doesn’t it?”

“It depends.
When you’re in a spot like that it’s sometimes hard to make the call. And if
it’s the wrong one you could wind up dead.”

“Maybe I
should stay behind then…”

We stopped at
the gate. Aiden frowned at me. “Whatever you do, it’s up to you. As long as you
know I can’t always protect you.”

“Right. I
know.”

He lowered
his head. “Can you look away for a moment?”

“Why?”

“I hate
people seeing me like this.”

“Like what?”

“Just look
away.”

“Okay.”

I turned
around.

After a
moment I heard some shuffling and the sound of the gate being torn. I turned
back to see Aiden’s bear and cried out in alarm. I fell on my backside
overwhelmed with my reaction.

The bear
looked at me grumpily and groaned.

“Sorry,” I
mumbled.

Once a big
enough hole was torn Aiden shifted back to his human form and pulled the rest
of it away. “And you wonder why I don’t like people looking,” he said.

“Sorry,” I
repeated.

“That’s okay.
Now just stay close to me. Everything should be fine.”

We entered
the facility which was mostly covered with infrastructures we had to narrowly
weave between.

After moving
around the sides of a few buildings Aiden stopped and stooped towards a small
mat the ground. He then pulled it back to reveal an open manhole.

“After you,”
I said, after a brief pause.

Aiden went
first and then I followed. This wasn’t a typical sewer or anything like that.
This area had been renovated for regular use.

At the base
of the ladder there was a door which led out to a metallic pathway with bright
walls and lighting that reminded me of the underground of a ship. We crossed
through a few twists and turns before arriving at the door to Aiden’s former
living quarters.

Behind it
there was a bunk bed that wasn’t made, a desk full of junk and a few bits and
pieces scattered around. I sat down on a small sofa at the back wall, while he
rummaged through the stuff.

“I don’t
believe it,” he grumbled. “They’ve taken … they’ve taken everything…”

“What are you
looking for?” I asked.

“Weapons.
Guns. Computers…”

He hurled an
empty gym bag at the wall in anger, and then sat down on the sofa next to me.

“What about
your contacts?”

“They were on
my laptop,” Aiden said. “Although there was one other thing…”

He got up and
put his hands underneath the bunk bed. I heard a latch opening and he pulled
something out from the darkness. It was hard to see what it was. It was small.

“What’s
that?” I asked.

He sat back
down on the couch with me. He showed me the small rectangular object.

There was
nothing on it except one singular green button.

“I was
supposed to press this if I was ever in trouble,” Aiden said. “Years ago. I
never pressed it. Maybe I should have taken it with me. But it probably
wouldn’t have worked anyway…”

He sighed and
let it fall from his grasp.

“Is that
something to do with your contact?” I asked.

“No,” Aiden
replied. “There was another intelligence agency that wanted me to work from
them. But … well, they did black ops. They were CIA or something. Maybe higher
up. I was contacted by them and told to call them if I changed my mind. But
these guys obviously found all about that.”

“What’s the
remote for then?”

“Nothing to
do with those guys.” Aiden picked it back up and looked at it. “There was a
break in here once. A bunch of radicals rescued some animals that were being
used in experiments. I was up, in my pajamas and ran into them. I didn’t call
out or anything. So they gave me this and said if I was ever in trouble to use
it.” He nodded to the bunk bed. “We used to hide drugs down there. But the
General became concerned one of us had been contacted by the rescuers and
threatened to punish that person. So I had to hide it. I really … don’t know
why I’ve pulled it out now. It’s … So stupid…”

Aiden shook
his head. “I don’t want it to be like this,” he said. “I want to be able to rescue
them my –”

I put my arm
around him for comfort.

Then he
looked into my eyes.

“I want you,”
he whispered.

“What?” I
gasped.

“I have to
have you right now,” he said. “Or my bear is going to go insane.”

“What do you
mean by that?”

He showed me
the underneath of his left arm, and then ran the fingers of his right hand
along it. Blood was drawn.

“Ouch,” I
murmured. “You’re hurting yourself.”

“Kiss me,” he
said.

“You I can’t.
We said we weren’t going to. What we did before was crazy, and –”

“Kiss me now
or never touch me again.”

I stared at
him, not knowing what to say.

Aiden stood
up. He walked to the wall and put his arm against it.

“This whole
world is falling apart,” he said. “And now I’ve lost you too.”

Without
looking at me, he scooped up the remote and headed towards the cabin door.

For a second
I was about to let him.

I’d go and
find my own way out of here. My own way home.

And then I’d
go to the police. And maybe one day, far, far away, I’d get to see my family
again. And we’d all be together.

But it was
only for a second.