by Stacy
"Something's wrong," Ryker said running up behind Carter. "This all seems a little too easy."
"What seems easy?" Carter asked.
"I mean come on, two guards?" Ryker asked as they reached the end of the hall.
"They probably figure no one is crazy enough to try and break into the place," Carter reasoned.
They came upon a single door and Carter wasted no time in opening it.
He froze in the doorway, unable to believe his own eyes.
"You're probably right, but wouldn't they need more than two guards to keep all those Users they're holding hostage from escaping?" Ryker asked.
"No," Carter said. "Because they are not holding them."
"What do you mean they're not holding them?" Ryker asked, but Carter didn't respond.
He was frozen in place, he didn't flinch, he didn't so much as move a muscle.
"What's going on in there?" Ryker asked. "Move!"
Carter was forcibly shoved aside and once out of the way, the others could see what he saw. Evan screamed, Barber cried, and Ryker stood motionless, mouth agape, as stunned as Carter was.
"They're not holding them...because they're dead," Carter said. "They're all dead!"
Beyond the door was a small room with no windows and no other doors, just like the hallway it was made of four plain gray concrete walls. But the intruders weren't interested in the look of the room. Their eyes were focused on the mound of bodies piled up in front of them. There were many faces Carter recognized, some he didn't. It didn't matter. They were all dead. His greatest fear, a fear he didn't even know he'd had until this very moment, had been realized. They weren't just removing the Users powers. They were killing them in the process.
Ryker grabbed onto Carter's arm as he lurched forward, vomit shooting forth from his mouth.
Evan was mumbling something undecipherable.
They were too late. Their friends had all been murdered, and there was nothing they could do about it.
Chapter 9
"We need to leave this place...now," Ryker said, but Carter barely heard him.
He was too enraged by the pile of dead corpses lying entangled with each other in front of him. There were gray lifeless arms and legs sprouting from the pile like some kind of sick patchwork of death. It was something straight out of a horror movie. The kind of thing that only happened in your worst nightmares, but Carter couldn't stop looking at it. It was hard to tell where one body ended and the next began.
He saw many faces, but the look on Lucy's face, the pure terror that was spread across it, that was hardest to stomach. She had always been the closest, even had a thing for Evan, and he hoped at that moment his friend would be unable to pick her out of the mangled mess that lay before them.
"Come on," Ryker said already heading back down the hall. "Let's get out of here while we still can."
"Where are you going?" Carter asked.
"The same place as you, out of here and far away."
"I'm not going anywhere," Carter said. "Not until I find who is responsible for this and kill them with my bare hands."
Carter was so enraged that fires burst from his hands uncontrollably. The flames flickered past his sleeve and singed the fabric on his sweatshirt. He closed his eyes tight and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself before his entire body burst into flames.
"Let's go find the bastards that did this." Carter finally opened his eyes to find Ryker staring him down just inches from his face.
"There is nothing left for us here," Ryker said. "Only death."
"You got that right, because I'm about to kill somebody, possibly a great number of somebodies."
"We're on their turf, on their terms, we need to run, and we need to do it now before we end up as dead as our friends."
"And you two?" Carter looked over his shoulder to Evan and Barber. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm with Ryker on this one," Evan said as he wiped vomit from the side of his mouth, prompting a slow nod from Barber.
"Fine," Carter said turning back to Ryker. "We'll do it your way again. But mark my words, before this is over, someone is going to pay dearly for this."
"I wouldn't even think of denying you the satisfaction," Ryker said. "Do not mistake my hesitancy to pursue these bastards half-cocked, as cowardice. I want revenge as bad as you do, but I want to be sure it's dished out in full and we have the upper hand, which we most certainly do not have now."
While Carter didn't agree with Ryker's method, he couldn't deny that what he wanted was cold hearted revenge.
He took one last look at the pile of bodies, searing the horrible image into his mind as punishment for being too late to save them. It was an image he wouldn't allow himself forget, ever. He would use it to fuel his rage and plot his revenge. Then slowly, he closed the door, sealing the room sized coffin.
*****
They encountered no resistance in escaping the building and were well on their way back to the abandoned house before anyone said another word. Surprisingly enough, it was Barber.
"Why did they kill all those Users?" Barber asked, bewildered. "Why would they kill our friends."
"I don't know," Carter answered. "But I'm going to find out."
"They must want to keep this thing quiet," Evan said.
"Something doesn't make sense," Carter said, but he struggled to find the answer. Something was severely amiss, but he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.
The streets were bustling with activity now, as drivers whipped past on their way home from work. Carter's pheromones must have smelt like danger, because those on foot gave Carter and his companions a wide birth as they passed by. Rage and hatred were oozing out of Carter's pores.
Carter didn't even bother checking his surroundings to see if anyone was watching as they entered the abandoned house. He didn't care if they were. What more could they do to him?
Only a sliver of light entered the living room from beneath a crack in the boarded up window, leaving the room the color of pitch. Carter lifted his pointer finger and ignited a flame from his finger nail. He bent over to a candle on the floor and lit the wick. Slowly, the candle illuminated the room, revealing a massive figure leaning in the corner where two walls met.
"What the fuck?" a startled Barber, standing closest to the figure, jumped back about five feet.
"Calm yourself, Barber," Alaric said as he stepped from the shadows and into the candlelight. "I mean you no harm."
"Fuck you! Is that what you told all of our friends as you rounded up at the Compound before you euthanized them like rabid dogs, you piece of shit." Carter was conveniently supplied a target on which he could now unleash his rage. "Don't you dare speak to me of calm. What are you even doing here?"
"Carter, please, you have to believe me, I..."
"I don't give a flying fuck if you were involved in what we found in that lab, I will incinerate you 'til there is nothing left but a pile of ashes." No longer able to control the fire within, his balled hands ignited as he crescendoed.
Seeing his friends lack of self-control at the moment, Ryker stepped in. "Carter, really? Do you think he would be so bold as to come here, confronting us alone, if he had any plans to try and take us in? Or anything to do with that horror scene back at the lab?"
"Thank you, Ryker." Alaric nodded in his direction.
"Don't thank me, you traitorous wretch." Ryker responded. "I'm not trying to help you out at all. I'm just attempting to ensure Carter doesn't burn down the entire block turning you to dust, and get us all caught in the process. What good would that do?"
Carter struggled to regain his composure and extinguish the flames engulfing his fists.
"Please, I need to talk to you," Alaric said calmly, turning his attention back to Carter. "Alone."
"Talk? That's all anyone has done is talk," Carter spat through clenched teeth. "I'm about done with all the talking."
"Please, just join me outside for a moment," Alaric said, and w
ith that he was gone.
Alaric disappeared through the kitchen and a moment later they heard the plywood over the back door slam to a close.
"I don't like the idea of you talking to him alone," Evan said.
"Don't worry. Ryker is right, if he was going to try and capture us, to drag us to the slaughter, he would not have confronted us alone. I was once a part of his team, and I know how Alaric works. He is too much of a coward to walk into an uneven fight. And if he wanted to try and kill me, he would have done it already," Carter said as he turned to follow Alaric outside.
He found the bulky man waiting patiently in the backyard amongst the waist high grass that had overtaken the unkempt lawn.
"So," Carter said as he stopped to stand in front of Alaric. "Talk.
Alaric sighed. "The second that I was alerted of the break in, I knew that it was you. The guards reported they had been overtaken by a group of Users and when the footage from the security cameras was reviewed...they caught you, opening doors that were better left closed, and going into a room you should not have been going into."
"Answer one question for me," Carter said. "Did you know what would be found in that room?"
Alaric hung his head, "Yes."
Alaric had barely gotten the word out before Carter was at his throat. He squeezed Alaric's neck with both hands, trying to choke the life from him. Carter pushed forward as he choked him, and they slammed hard against the picket fence surrounding the property. Wood splintered and cracked as both men crashed through the fence and out onto the sidewalk. They fell flat next to each other, but Carter quickly mounted Alaric to take the dominant position, pinning him against the hard concrete.
"Are you done yet?" Alaric asked.
"You're some kind of hero," Carter said. "You betrayed your own people, and for what, just to save your own neck?"
His rage played out, Carter got to his feet, but when Alaric extended a hand for Carter to help him up, Carter spat at his feet.
"Help your own sorry ass getting up. That's what you're good at."
"I deserve that," Alaric said. "But I have no choice. I either do as I am told, or the All American's end up in the pile of bodies, with all the others."
"So what's your brilliant plan? Do you really think I'd ever agree to go with you now?" Carter asked. "That I'd agree to be taken to my death like a sheep. You'll never take me alive."
"That's what I came to tell you," Alaric said. "They don't want you, never did. They only want Barber and Ryker."
"What? Why?" Carter asked.
"They've already got a Scorcher. The only reason we were even looking for you is because you are with Barber and Ryker. Those two are a rare breed. The rarest actually, they are the only known of their kinds."
"So what? You want me to just hand them over?"
Alaric nodded. "It's simple. You give me Barber and Ryker...you and Evan can go free."
Carter burst into laughter. "You know I'd never agree to that." Carter cracked his knuckles as if he were preparing for a fight.
"Suit yourself," Alaric said, turning to walk away. "But the clock is ticking. Your twenty-four hours are almost up, and then we're coming to take them, one way or the other."
"Bring it on."
Alaric stared at him as if Carter were a fool. "I will not hesitate to kill you this time. I have shown you mercy up until this point, because in the past you have done the same for me, but I will not do so again," Alaric said. "Just think about it."
"Fuck off and die."
Alaric let out another heavy sigh. "I'll be seeing you soon." And with that, Alaric rounded the corner at the fence and was gone.
Chapter 10
Alaric departed without saying another word, leaving Carter to contemplate his own, as well as his friends futures. Not that he had much to contemplate. He would never allow Barber and Ryker to just go to their deaths without a fight, but the whole situation left Carter with the taste of shit in his mouth.
Off in the distance the sun was beginning to set, but a thick layer of clouds was moving in over the Puget Sound.
"Looks like a storm's coming," he said to himself.
Truer words he had never spoken. The storm was coming, and he was going to be ready for it. He would batten down the hatches and at the right moment, he would unleash a fiery hell on the All Americans. If they wanted a fight, he was going to give them one.
With renewed vigor, Carter stepped over the pile of broken debris that he and Alaric had made of the fence, and went back into the house.
"So, what did he want to talk about?" Ryker asked before he had even stepped foot in the living room.
Two of his companions were seated on the floor, while Evan stood leaning against the far wall. The single candle in the middle of the room flickered as Carter entered. The wick was burning low, and Carter could tell they would soon be sitting in the dark.
"He wants you and Barber," Carter said getting right to the point.
"Yeah, I know," Ryker said, but Carter was shaking his head before Ryker even finished.
"No, you don't understand," Carter said. "If you and Barber go with him, Evan and I can walk free."
"It's settled then," Ryker said, very matter of fact. "I know what we have to do."
"Me too," Carter said, but something told him that they weren't on the same page.
"Barber and I will turn ourselves over to the All Americans," Ryker said.
"Have you fallen off the wagon or something?" Carter asked. "Because you're talking like you're high as hell."
"There's no reason for you and Evan to get hurt because of us." Ryker said, plainly. The candle light illuminated one half of Ryker's face, but Carter didn't need to see the other half to know that Ryker was dead serious.
"Well we'll just put that at the top of list of things that are not happening," Carter said. "I won't let you two go to your deaths to save my own hide. I'm not some self-serving pussy like Alaric and I refuse to lose another single User to this, we've lost enough friends already," Carter said. "Even if they let Evan and me go, there's still the little situation with them killing all our friends that needs to be settled, and I'll be damned if I let that go without punishment."
"And that's exactly why we must turn ourselves over," Ryker said. "You're going to get yourself killed."
"Then it looks like I'm going to die one way or the other!" Carter shouted.
Barber meanwhile sat in silence, neither agreeing or disagreeing to either argument.
"Argh!" Evan growled. "We should have run while we had the chance."
"They would find us," Ryker said, but Evan waved him off as if he were full of shit.
"It's not too late. Let's just get the hell out of here," Evan said.
"Are you not listening to me? They will find us," Ryker said. "And then they'll capture us and kill you and Carter anyway."
"I agree," Carter said. "Running is not an option, but neither is you two turning yourselves over to that monster."
"I see no other alternative," Ryker said.
"I've beat him before...and I can beat him again," Carter said with grim determination. "What we need is a plan."
*****
Hours passed and the ticking clock finally ran out of time for Carter and his companions. Right on cue, Alaric and the All Americans arrived at the abandoned home. They circled the property, ensuring that no one could escape. The sun had already set, and the last dim bit of twilight was all the light they had as they approached the boarded up home.
Alaric lifted a panel from one window and peered into the house, but it was as dark as the devil's asshole in there.
"We'll go in the back door," Alaric said. "You two take the front door." Alaric instructed Stella and Bobby to cover the front of the house, while he, Luke, and Michael went in the back. The only member missing was Trisha, the team's Sniffer. She had stayed back at their base to run the drones and communications for the team. Being a Sniffer didn't make her particularly useful in a fight anyway.
Luke on the other hand was more of a specialist. Being the Scorcher who replaced Carter when he was kicked off the team, Luke used a more offensive approach than Michael. He donned a long all black leather trench coat, that he could easily flip off his body when the time came for him to ignite the flames. He preferred more of a scorched earth approach to fighting. Luke routinely laid waste to entire battle fields.
On the other side of the house Stella led Bobby, the team's Mover. Bobby was by far the most soft spoken of the All Americans. His tone, however, was not to be mistaken for a mild mannerism of any sort, and he made up for his lack of articulation in ferocity. On a number of occasions Bobby had used his Mover powers to tear joints from sockets and he even once pulled a man limb from limb. He was not the kind of person you wanted to back into a corner.
"You guys ready?" Alaric heard Trisha ask in the ear piece he and the rest of the team were wearing.
"We're ready," Alaric said.
"We're in position," Stella confirmed.
"Okay then, we're a go on three," Trisha said.
She counted down, and on three, they burst in the doors. Alaric punched the plywood covering the door, shattering it to pieces, and continued on to blast the door behind the plywood right off its hinges. He led the way with Michael and Luke hot on his heels. They stormed through the kitchen, and into the living room, where they found Stella and Bobby already waiting for them. A big hole remained where the door used to be. Bobby had torn it clean off with his Mover powers and thrown it across the yard.
Luke ignited a single fist, illuminating the large room in an soft, flickering orange glow.
"Where are they?" Alaric asked as he scanned the empty space surrounding them.
Stella shrugged and pushed one of the nude magazines with her foot, "Looks like they were having a good time."
