To Run With the Swift

by Gerald N. Lund

  Doc glanced up at me, then leaned down and put two fingers to Cody’s neck, just below his jawline. My breath caught in my throat. Breathe, Cody! Breathe!

  I saw Doc’s fingertips press into Cody’s flesh more deeply. He held them there for several more seconds as he looked over at Gisela. Finally, he shook his head slowly, then withdrew his hand.

  I tried to cry out, to scream, to shout. Anything. But nothing came.

  More running footsteps, and a moment later Niklas burst into view, holding a Taser of his own. “What happened?”

  “Bruno has killed the boy,” Doc said softly. “I think the Taser stopped his heart.”

  “Someone call the infirmary,” Gisela cried. “Tell them to prepare the defibrillator.”

  “Mother! It’s too late for that. He’s dead.”

  “He can’t be. I forbid it!” she shouted in his face.

  Niklas handed his Taser to his mother, scooped up Cody’s body, and started to turn away. Then he stopped and looked at me. “I assure you, Danni, this was not meant to happen.” I dropped to my knees, hands clutching the iron bars of the door. Great sobs were torn from my throat as I tried to rip the door from its hinges.

  Gisela whirled around, the Taser coming up. For one split second, I thought I was her intended target, but I was wrong. She did a full 180-degree turn, pointing the weapon at the big guard. I heard the sharp clicking sound again and saw the two electrodes blast out of the front of the pistol and bury themselves into his chest, just above the swell of his stomach.

  Bruno had seen it coming. I saw that in his eyes. But there was no time to react. He screamed and went down. Gisela moved a few steps closer until she was standing right over the top of him. “Get him out of here,” she snarled.

  Two more guards, who had been out of my sight line, rushed in, picked him up, and carried him away even as he continued to twitch and moan.

  For several seconds, Gisela stared after them, her chest rising and falling; then she handed the weapon to Doc. Only then did she finally turn to me. One finger came up, and she stabbed the air with it. “This is your fault. He was not supposed to be harmed.”

  “My fault?” I was incredulous.

  “You are such a stupid, foolish girl. I read your journal. Did you think I wouldn’t know about Cody turning invisible? The second they said Cody had disappeared, I knew what you were up to. That’s why some of the men had infrared night glasses on.”

  It wasn’t true. Well, some of it probably was. But not all. Those footprints headed for the trees had created a genuine panic. And if she were Frau Know-It-All, she wouldn’t have left the equipment room unguarded.

  I started to cry again. “You killed him!” I whispered.

  “I ...” She looked away. “This was not supposed to happen, Danni,” she whispered. “That’s two of you that I’ve lost now because you and your family have acted so stupidly. The responsibility lies on your own heads.” Then she turned and walked slowly out of sight. Doc gave me one last, baleful stare, then turned and followed her out.

  As I lay on the cot, curled up in a ball, hugging myself tightly so I didn’t scream out into the night, I felt the heaviness closing in again. I think I slept for a time—fitfully and with horrible dreams—but I couldn’t be sure. Maybe it just seemed that way because of the numbing effects of shock and grief and horror.

  Suddenly I wondered if somehow they had drugged me again. Had they come in while I was sleeping? Then it hit me. There had been no food, but another guard—not Barrel Belly—had brought a large plastic cup of water and left it by the door. I had drunk it all. Had they put something in it? But why? Why drug me? I was in a secure cell. And in the emotional state I was in, I was hardly a threat.

  My first thought was that with the CCTV cameras not working, Gisela had sent someone in to check on me, to search me, to get back the key card. But as far as I could determine, nothing had been disturbed. The key card was in my back pants pocket. I had put the duplicate pouch under me when I lay down and it was still there now.

  The tears burst forth and started streaming down my cheeks again. Oh, Cody. My crazy, impish, nutty, maddening, lovable, exasperating Cody. First Grandpère and now you. How can I live without the two of you? This is more than any person should be asked to bear.

  I let the tears flow without restraint. I no longer tried to hold in the shudders that racked my body. I no longer tried to block the images of fifty thousand volts ravaging Cody’s body, of Grandpère lying on a gurney, of blood on the floor of Rick’s cell. I was too weary to fight it, too numbed to even try to get ahold of myself. I wanted to die. That was the only way I might find peace.

  At that last thought, my head came up. Another image had come up in my mind. A paragraph from Gisela’s letter was suddenly before my eyes. I actually saw it with perfect clarity.

  I can and will utterly destroy your family. I will do to them what your grandfather and others did to me and my family. Your life will become such a living hell that you will long for death. You shall be left with nothing, including that most precious of all gifts—hope.

  As I thought about those words, I felt something stirring deep within me. It was like this tiny spot of volcanic heat in the vast coldness. I wasn’t sure what it was at first. When I finally recognized it, I opened my arms to it. Here was my saving grace, and I embraced it gladly, fully, completely.

  It was pure, undiluted, unrestrained, razor-sharp anger.

  I sat there for several moments trying to decide what to do. Where did I start? Mom and Dad? Rick? Did I go straight up to the library to confront the enemy? And what if they were waiting for me, as they most certainly would be? I had to have a plan of some kind. I couldn’t just go running blindly toward my own destruction.

  No! No plans. No questions. No fear. Just do it. Let the anger sustain you.

  I got up from the cot, barely aware of the coldness of the floor on my bare feet. I removed the key card from my back pocket and tiptoed to the cell door. For a long moment, I listened to the silence, straining to pick up any sounds of another living human being nearby. Who was out there waiting for me? Jean-Claude? Niklas? Or—I felt a little shiver—Doc? My heart was hammering so hard inside my chest I felt like I might faint.

  Sorry! Fainting is not an option. Move! Go! Do!

  Reaching through the bars, I carefully slid the key card down through its slot. There was an immediate click, and my cell door swung open about an inch. Again I froze in place, listening carefully. Again there was not a sound. I pushed the door open, stepped through it, and started to shut it again. As I did so, my eyes fell on my cot. There sat the phony Le Gardien on top of the mattress. Leave it, I thought. It cannot help you. But I couldn’t do it. If nothing else, I decided, maybe it would serve to give me a little courage, reminding me of what I once had.

  I went back in, grabbed the pouch, and slung it over my shoulder.

  When I stepped into the hallway, I could see all the way down to the guard station and the desk. There was no one there. And the door into the outer corridor was ajar. Moving forward on tiptoe, I went a few feet. I stopped in front of Rick’s cell. My stomach lurched as I saw the smear of dark brownish red on the floor. It looked as if he had been dragged across the floor.

  That’s your first task. Find Rick.

  But where? Then a thought came. With Cody gone and Mom and Dad moved, maybe they moved him to the other cell block. That would be logical—separate us, heighten the shock for me.

  I moved into the small foyer where the guard station was. The chair was pulled away from the desk, as though someone had left in a hurry. I moved quickly to the desk. Using both hands, I pulled out the top drawer to see if there was anything there that might be of use—a weapon of some kind, keys. Nothing. In the bottom drawer, I found a small mag flashlight. Since it was still night, I decided to pocket it in case I needed it. Then I moved to the hal
f-open door and swung it fully open.

  The lights were on in the hall. I could see all the way down it. It was empty. The whole castle was eerily quiet. I had no idea what time it was. Had everyone gone to bed? Of course not! There will be guards everywhere. Count on it.

  Perhaps Gisela was holding a war council.

  Stop thinking! Go! Move!

  Running on the balls of my feet, I raced down the hallway, stopping only long enough to peek up the stairs and make sure no one was there. Nothing. I moved on toward the other cell block, passing the kitchen and the large open pantry—both dark and empty. Just ahead, a door was open, half blocking the hallway. Instantly I knew what it was. The metal sign had two words—electronische and mechanische.

  A stab of pain hit me hard as I thought of Cody hiding in there for all that time. I ignored it and moved up to push the door shut. That’s when I noticed another door almost directly across from the mechanical room. It was much larger than a normal door and nearly square. The surface was metallic and painted white. A heavy chrome door latch was on the right side. A sign read: KEEP LOCKER DOOR CLOSED AT ALL TIMES.

  I had started past it, moving toward the other cell block, when I stopped and turned back. Gisela had told the guards to put Grandpère’s body in “the cooler.” That was before she ordered them to take his body to the dump. Was this what she meant?

  I moved back and gripped the latch. I took a quick breath. Could I do this? Could I take the shock of seeing him again? Yes! You have to know what they’ve done with him.

  To my surprise, the door swung outward with ease. A blast of cool air and the smell of food hit my nostrils. Inside it was dark, and the small lights in the hallway didn’t penetrate very far. I quickly stepped inside, pulling the door shut behind me. That plunged me into total darkness, and a wave of vertigo swept over me. I groped blindly for something to steady me. My hand immediately found cold, smooth metal, and I leaned against the wall heavily. After a moment, I began feeling along the wall. There had to be a light switch in here somewhere. But as my fingers found the edge of the door, and then the switch, I chose not to turn it on. It wasn’t likely that someone would be coming in here, but if they did and found the lights on ...

  A deep uneasiness was settling in now. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt I had to hurry. I took out the flashlight and turned it on. I saw immediately that I was in a walk-in refrigerator. Slabs of beef hung from hooks. Large cans of milk lined a wall. There were stacks of boxes and cans on shelves. All were labeled in German. As I flashed the light, I saw that the cooler went back at least twenty feet.

  Then my stomach lurched. Halfway back, I saw a table filled with stacks of large cheese wheels and cheese bricks. But just beyond the table, I could see something large and gray. I forced my feet to move forward, the dread rising like a tidal surge within me. I knew what it was. The gray sheet still showed the form of a body underneath it. My mind told me to lift the sheet, that I had to know for sure it was Grandpère beneath it, but my hands refused to obey. Who else would it be? I shrank back, feeling sick all over again. I had to get out of here. I had to. Or I was going to throw up.

  But as I started to turn, the beam of the flashlight swept up, illuminating things farther back in the cooler. Horror exploded inside me as I saw what looked like another gurney covered with a gray sheet just beyond Grandpère. I lifted the light a little to see better and fell back with a cry. It wasn’t another gurney. It was three more gurneys, lined up side by side with Grandpère’s.

  Run! The cry in my mind was a deafening shout, but my feet refused to retreat. Instead, to my absolute horror, I found them impelling me forward. Violent shivers ripped through my body. Goose bumps the size of baseballs were popping out on my arms and legs. My whole body was tingling so hard I was finding it tough to breathe.

  I had to know, even though my mind was screaming at my body to flee. It couldn’t be Cody. They couldn’t have gotten him ready that quickly, could they? Dread or not, I had to know. I stopped at the nearest gurney and took a deep breath, telling myself that even if it was Grandpère, this would give me a chance to say my good-byes to him. So I grasped the corner of the sheet, took another, deeper breath, and lifted the corner of the covering enough to reveal the face.

  I screamed as I saw that it was not Grandpère who was before me. It was a face I knew even better than his. It was the face of my mother, Angelique Carruthers McAllister.

  I fell back, crashing into one of the milk cans. I started to sob hysterically. And then everything went black, and the last thing I remembered was crashing to the floor.

  CHAPTER 35

  More time passed. Don’t ask me how much. And don’t ask me how I managed to get to my feet and endure that shock three more times as I pulled back the sheets and looked into the faces of my entire family—Mom, Cody, Grandpère, and finally Dad. Perhaps I fainted a second time when I looked into my father’s face. I’m not sure. I do remember pulling myself up to a sitting position on that cold, hard floor, then hugging myself, rocking back and forth and moaning softly. I could feel sanity slipping away from me. How utterly, incomprehensibly horrible was this? I was in a food locker filled with the dead bodies of my family.

  But equally devastating was this keen awareness that for the first time in my life I was alone. It didn’t matter what the Fourth Remember said. I was alone. And facing possible death at the hands of a woman whose hatred for us was boundless.

  And then a small, barely audible voice somewhere deep inside me whispered, What about Rick? Where is Rick?

  I got to my feet again and swung the flashlight beam slowly across the back of the locker. If there was another gurney, I decided I wanted to die right on the spot. Make the loss complete.

  And there it was, separated from the others, at the very back of the locker. A fifth gurney with a human figure covered with a gray sheet was half hidden behind some boxes. The flashlight slipped out of my hands and clattered to the floor. I groped blindly for anything to catch me. There was nothing, and I went down hard, hitting my knee on something sharp and gasping with pain. I didn’t even try to find the wall. I just curled up on the floor in a ball and gave way to the silent shudders that racked my body.

  Not more than a minute later, I stiffened as I heard the click of the door latch behind me. Instinctively, I rolled up against the nearest gurney as the heavy door swung open and light flooded the room. Fortunately, being between the gurneys, I was not visible from the door. Darkness immediately closed in again as the door shut. Had they gone again? Or come in? I jumped as there was a slight buzz and the fluorescent lights above me flickered into life. A moment later, I heard a whisper of feet on cement. My heart was hammering so hard it felt like it must be thundering in the enclosed space.

  I was on the floor now, facedown, cheek against the cold tile. I slipped the duplicate pouch off my shoulder and put it under my face, which helped. As the steps came closer, I watched beneath the gurney that stood between me and the center aisle of the locker. I would be able to see the person’s feet as he or she passed. If he was wearing Doc Martin shoes, I wasn’t sure if I would just die right there on the spot or jump up and commit as much mayhem on his body as possible.

  But when I saw the beat-up old pair of tennis shoes moving past me, I shouted with relief and leaped to my feet. “Rick!”

  He crashed backwards into the cheese table as he screamed and threw up an arm in front of his face.

  “Rick! It’s me.”

  For a moment, he just gaped at me, eyes as big as bicycle wheels. It was like he was looking at some spectral spirit from the other world. Then, with a cry, he hurtled across the few feet that separated us and swept me up in his arms. “Danni?” It was a half sob. “But this is not possible.”

  I forced a crooked smile. “Sorry, but what you see is what you get. Where have you been? I thought you were ...” I couldn’t say it. I just pulled him close and
squeezed him hard enough to make him grunt. Joy was shooting through me like a Fourth of July fireworks show. “I’ve been looking for you,” I said. “What happened to you?”

  “What happened to me? I ...” He stepped back, giving me that incredulous look again, like what he was seeing was not possible. “I don’t understand.” And with that, he started moving away from me. His hand brushed the gray sheets of the four gurneys as he passed them. Baffled by what he was doing, I cried out and got quickly in front of them. “Don’t. It’s ... it’s my family. Grandpère, Mom, Dad, Cody.”

  He took me by the shoulders and turned me aside. “I know, Danni. I know. But there’s something you have to see.”

  He moved past me, heading for that fifth gurney. I started to shrink back, but then realized that whoever it was, it wasn’t Rick. I followed behind him, thoroughly curious now. Had the guard Gisela had Tasered died too? I shivered. Whoever had heard of turning a food locker into a morgue?

  “I don’t care who it is,” I said as we drew close. “I can’t stand to see another dead body, Rick. I can’t.”

  Gently, he took my elbow and pulled me forward. “You have to, Danni. I’m sorry, but you must do this.” He stopped as he reached the gurney, then gently pulled me up beside him and took my arm. “Brace yourself,” he said softly, “because you are about to see why the sight of you gave me such a start a moment ago.” And with that, he pulled back the sheet.

  I recoiled like I had been Tasered. For several seconds I gaped at the body before me, unable to catch my breath, feeling like I was going to gag. I had been through shock and grief and loss this day like few people ever know. But what I saw now was a greater shock than Grandpère, Mom, Dad, and Cody all taken together. Horror shot through me like liquid fire as I looked down into the face that I knew better even than my mother’s.

  It was in perfect repose. The eyes were closed, and the hands were crossed on the chest. I screamed, wondering if I was going mad. For what I was looking at was the body of Carruthers Monique McAllister. I was looking at myself! As Rick dropped the sheet again, he pulled me away, putting his arms around me. I felt my legs give way and my eyes roll back. And for the third time that day, I fainted dead away.