Surviving Today

by Mande Chambers

  “For the love of…! Evans, shut up,” Scott groaned.

  It was too late. The statement was out there for all to know.

  “And, Megs, what exactly is your relationship to General Yves and Scott?” Derrick asked his girlfriend.

  His question was met with uncomfortable silence.

  Megan became very interested in her boots.

  Suddenly, both she and Scott grabbed their heads, their faces contorting in pain.

  Megan screamed, her head knocking back against the wall.

  Julian and Max jumped out of their seats, running over to Scott, while Corbin jumped up and hightailed it to Megan’s side.

  “Damn it, we’ve got to get them out of here!” Corbin yelled, reaching her side.

  “Bastard must have tried the new batch out on them! It wears off quicker and is ten times deadlier than the original if used incorrectly!” Julian called out as he helped a moaning Scott to his feet.

  “Shit! She’s already unconscious! Cortez, I need your help. I can’t carry her with only one arm!” Corbin yelled. He left Megan’s side and headed over to Scott. He pushed Max away from Scott. “I’ve got him. Go get Megs!”

  Max ran over to Megan. He picked her up, cradling her in his arms. He placed to fingers to her neck. “Her pulse is thready guys! We need to get her to the safe house now! The side effects of the new version are virtually unknown. We’re blind here guys.”

  Since Derrick had no idea what the hell was going on, per usual, all he could do was stand to the side helplessly and watch.

  Suffield, OH

  Shanna and Rhyder grabbed their heads, screaming bloody murder as they flopped around on the basement floor like fish out of water. Everyone else in the room stared helplessly as they continued to scream out in pain.

  “Can’t you do something?” Danick demanded, looking at D and Karmichael.

  Karmichael shook his head. “Sadly, no. There’s nothing I can do for them. They aren’t in any physical pain.”

  Carter stared at Karmichael like he’d grown a second head. “Are you witnessing the same scene we are?” he asked incredulously.

  “Carter, he’s right,” D said softly. “What they are experiencing is called a psychic echo. Someone they are linked to through their magic is the one actually suffering the physical pain. They are basically just along for the ride.”

  “Who is powerful enough to send them a psychic echo?” Karmichael inquired.

  “My bet is their cousin. I’ll call my contacts and see if they can tell me what the hell is going on,” D replied, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket as he climbed the stairs.

  The room was suddenly plunged into a deafening silence. Shanna and Rhyder had stopped screaming, but were still holding their heads like they would fall off their shoulders if they let go.

  Shanna moaned softly.

  Rhyder groaned loudly.

  Then they both blacked out.

  CHAPTER 24

  No matter how much you convince yourself that the mistakes you’ve made were the best choice you could’ve made at the time, that doesn’t excuse the things you did wrong.

  When cornered, we tend to lean towards the easiest decision to get us out of that particular corner. We don’t consider the future repercussions of that decision, the immediate consequences, or the damage that once choice, at that one seemingly unimportant moment in time, is capable of causing.

  Sadly, ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time, even when it’s too late to change our actions, when posed with the question as to if we would have honestly done things differently, if we could go back in time, the answer to that question is a resounding no…

  Denton Tiern

  CHAPTER 25

  August 2015

  Montana

  Excruciating pain.

  Then there was nothing. She was floating peacefully. It was the only way she could describe it.

  Megan was trying to figure out how to defuse the awkward situation in the meeting room one minute and the next there was the blinding pain of the migraine that usually accompanied a cerebral reboot—also known as an “ungrounding”.

  The moment the reboot had started, she had felt something go terribly wrong. In seconds the migraine had switched from normal to dangerous.

  And that was the last thing she remembered.

  What was going on?

  “For the record, you’re not dead.”

  Megan’s eyes popped open. Recognizing the white world of her subconscious, she groaned. “If it’s a choice between death and you haunting my subconscious, I choose death every time,” she mumbled, her voice rough with sleep.

  “Seriously? That’s a bit dramatic, even by your standards, don’t you think?”

  She pushed herself groggily up into a sitting position on the floating bed, leaning back against the black headboard. She glared at the figure sitting cross legged at the foot of the bed. “You know, I could swear that I told you to stay out of my head, Raleigh. I’m also pretty sure I dumbed it down enough that even you could understand my meaning.”

  Scott shrugged. “I figured you’d get over the intrusion, just this once, seeing as this was the only opportunity we had to talk without a certain, er, audience present.” He fidgeted with the white bedcover. “Once we both wake up, we’ve got to go back to that awkward situation and everyone watching us like we’re a zoo exhibit, there solely for their amusement. And then, you know, there’s the whole pesky explaining thing. We’re both royally screwed if we don’t get our stories straight.”

  He made like he was getting up off the bed. “But, I can go and we can figure this out trial and error style in the real world, witnesses and all. All you need to do is say the word.”

  Megan took a second to study him in this otherworldly setting. His light brown hair was sticking up in major bedhead and his ocean colored eyes were twinkling with his normal mischief. He was wearing loose white pants with a loose white shirt, open to reveal his muscular chest.

  She had to admit—and the only reason she was admitting it at all was because she was essentially dreaming this whole encounter—he was still sexy as hell.

  His sorry ass still wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity of being forgiven, but the years had been kind to him. She sighed and drooled a little bit. The annoying man had a point. Once they were back in the real world, it was back to hiding and lies and explaining things better left forgotten.

  “Can you really blame me for being a little on edge here?”

  Scott raised an eyebrow. “A little?”

  “Do I need to remind you,” she continued, ignoring his interruption, “that the last time I was alone with you a KA-BAR knife and a nine mil were involved? It really didn’t end well for me.”

  He traced a pattern on the sheets. “It’s not like I can harm you in your own subconscious. Self-preservation prevents that from being possible.”

  “Sorry if I’m skeptical. Once you’ve pulled a knife—literally—out of your back… Well, let’s just say trusting the person that put it there isn’t exactly the easiest task on the planet.”

  “It’s not like you were critically injured,” he pointed out, like that was the point she was really trying to make. “You were completely healed in minutes.”

  “Oh, my God! That’s not the point and you know it!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

  “What do you want from me, Megan? An apology? My head on a stake?” he demanded, jumping off the bed. “Is that really going to make everything hunky dory? I was trying to protect you!”

  “Someone shoot me now,” a voice groaned from the floor. “They’re worse than you and D. I didn’t know that was possible.”

  “Did he seriously just use the phrase ‘hunky dory’?” a female voice asked from the other side of the bed.

  Megan looked at her best friend. “Right?” She shot a look a Shanna that read, help me out here.

  Shanna held her hands up. “Don’t look at me, Nox. You’re about two day
s too late to the awkward dance. I’ve been doing the awkward two step for days.”

  Rhyder popped his head up over the side of the bed, opposite his twin. “Don’t even think about it, Raleigh. I’ve been living east and slightly south of uncomfortably awkward for the last two years. I’ve got nothing to help you out of this mess.”

  “The truth is always a good out,” Shanna said, looking at her cousin pointedly.

  Rhyder snorted. “Like you’re one to talk. You’re the queen of hording secrets. You have more secrets than all the governmental agencies, legit and black ops, that work in the name of national security combined. Fort Knox has nothing on you.”

  “Amen to that,” Scott muttered.

  “Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Megan mumbled.

  “You know, there’s a lot of judgment coming from the peanut gallery, yet I don’t see your halo’s looking brand spanking new and untarnished,” Shanna returned.

  There was silence.

  Honestly, she had them there.

  “It seems,” Megan said, changing the subject before things got any more personal, “we have all done things we regret to protect someone we love, yet here we are in this mess.”

  Rhyder nodded his head in approval of her topic of choice. “What exactly is your situation out there? I know Christoph used a form of the Obscurity drug on you guys, otherwise Shanna and I wouldn’t have been dragged into your subconscious along with Scott.”

  “I never did understand your guys’ weird psychic bond. No one else has a bond close to the one the three of you have.”

  Scott, Shanna, and Rhyder exchanged guilty looks.

  “Interesting,” Megan groused. “Anyway, to answer your question, Rhy, we have Cortez and Marcus, of all people, standing vigil over our corporal bodies. They have a little help from an injured Corbin and a very clueless, and somewhat pissed off, Derrick. And the two of you? Your corporal bodies are somewhere in Ohio, surrounded by your family and friends, enjoying the much needed reprieve from Memory Lane. The four of us? Well, we are having a conversation that shouldn’t be possible on another plane of existence, while ninety-five percent of the people around us are trying to figure out what the hell went wrong. All this drama to be able to have a conversation in private.”

  Shanna stared at her in awe.

  Rhyder ran a hand through his hair.

  Scott laughed. “God, it all sounds so screwed up when you put it that way.”

  Megan giggled. “It is screwed up.” She sobered up. “Anyone know how long we’ve been out of commission?”

  Shanna shook her head. “No. I have no sense of time in here.”

  Rhyder held his hands up. “Don’t look at me. This isn’t my party. It’s tomorrow according to my watch.”

  Shanna and Rhyder groaned.

  “And this is where we get off this crazy train and rejoin our other group of family and friends back in hell,” Rhyder grumbled.

  Shanna smiled, waving as they faded out.

  Scott stiffened, a look of panic crossing his face. “Uh-oh. I just felt the warning pull. Do you have enough mental energy to let one of the misfits know to kick Derrick out of my room? Since this drug cocktail is new, this trip back to reality is going to be a bitch.”

  Megan nodded. “Yeah, I have it in me. Promise me you will try your hardest to stay in control until I wake up.”

  “I promise. Now hurry!”

  Evans.

  Megan watched Corbin stiffen. He looked around the room. She knew he couldn’t see her and he knew she wasn’t physically there, but, still. It was a perfectly natural reaction to someone speaking directly into his mind.

  It was also a very legitimate reaction when that someone was laying passed out on the bed in front of him, barely on this side of the conscious/coma line.

  He sighed in resignation.

  Yeah, Nox?

  You need to make some excuse to get Derrick out of Scott’s room and into mine. His reboot is finally complete and he’s about to come back to reality with absolutely no control over his abilities. So, unless you want that particular cat out of the bag…

  Corbin waved his hand in the air, waving her concern off. Yeah, yeah. I got it. Now, I say this with love, you know this, but get the hell out of my head. Focus on coming out of this yourself.

  How long have we been out?

  Almost seven hours.

  She pulled out of his mind and watched as he stood up, placing a kiss on her forehead. He turned to leave the room. Once he was at the door, she retreated back into the deep recesses of her own mind.

  CHAPTER 26

  April 2000

  Akron, OH

  It was a beautiful spring afternoon. The sun was out, with a few scattered clouds in the sky. A light sweater or windbreaker was all that was needed for a walk through the park.

  This was what life was about. The simple moments.

  Shanna walked through the park, hands in the pockets of her powder blue windbreaker, her soft auburn hair loose around her shoulders, blowing in the wind. She checked her watch as she walked along the paved path through the small copse of trees. She was supposed to meet D in front of the house in twenty minutes to go to the movies with Danick and his new fling.

  The Corelsand kids were back to living in the Tiern household. Lisa had been called back to Arizona to take care of her sick sister and, since she didn’t want to take her two boys and the three of them out of school, she had sent her boys to stay with a friend and sent the Corelsand trio back to Finley and Melina.

  That made things very interesting in the Tiern household. D and Shanna had officially started dating right after New Year’s. It had been a peaceful, uneventful couple of months of blissful teenage dating. Strangely enough, that bothered her.

  That meant something was due to go wrong and it wasn’t going to be something minor.

  No, Shanna wasn’t much of an optimist. If anything, she was a realist. It was the curse that came with what she was and with being adopted by someone like Cristian Corelsand. Okay, and, yes, it came with being treated more like a pet project than a daughter.

  Karmichael and Shanna were still friends. How could they not be? After all, they hadn’t really been dating, but no one else needed to know that. Their planned breakup had gone according to plan.

  Karmichael was starting to get to know a girl from their Algebra class. Mary Beth was shy, but outspoken when it counted. Shanna wished them the best and hoped with all her heart that things progressed and worked out between the two of them. He deserved someone who would appreciate him and treat him right.

  In other gossip, Danick had finally kicked Jenna to the curb after just over a year of dating. He had figured out that Jenna had been hooking up with her ex-boyfriend behind his back. He had been single for the last month and happier than Shanna had seen him in a long time. Unfortunately, he was back to his old bag ‘em and tag ‘em ways. If being a player and an asshole made him happy, then so be it. He was seventeen, nowhere near a saint, and she was the last person who had a right to judge.

  Rhyder was now dating a girl in their class named Elizabeth Bailkoy. She was shy, quiet, in the drama club, and just on the normal side of being a genius.

  She was the complete opposite of Rhyder, yet his perfect match. It was great to watch.

  No one had heard from Cristian or Kai in almost a year. It was a nice change of pace, but she didn’t trust it. Something was up. More accurately, they were up to something with their cronies and it was nothing good.

  She had the sinking feeling whatever it was had to do with her and that was never a good sign. She knew her adoptive father and step-brother better than anyone. They wouldn’t have just up and disappeared because Kai had almost killed her. Kai would have had his ass handed to him for going after her, but it wouldn’t have been because Cristian had any protective paternal instincts.

  She was an investment.

  It was honestly as simple as that.

  Their disappearance had been pl
anned. It was the next phase in whatever Cristian’s plan was. What she couldn’t figure out was what that plan could be.

  She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn’t hear the footsteps approach from behind until it was too late.

  Crap.

  A hand covered her mouth, another strong hand grabbing her around the waist. She struggled, but didn’t bother to try and scream. The hand at her waist let go, a switch blade materializing in it. The blade came to rest at her neck, biting into her flesh.

  “I should have finished you off when I had the chance,” a deep voice said in her ear.

  She winced at the harshness of the tone. She didn’t respond, mainly because his hand still covered his mouth, but mostly because there was nothing to say to that.

  “Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to finish the job now.” He pushed the knife deeper into her throat.

  “Uh-uh. Don’t even think about it. Down girl. Put that hand away like the good little bitch you are. This park is full of potential witnesses and you’ve got a hell of a lot more to lose than I do revealing yourself. Unfortunately, I’m here to deliver a message and that is all.”

  The hand on her mouth dropped away. The knife moved away from her throat, allowing her to breathe a little easier. She took a deep breath, ignoring the small trail of blood dripping down her neck. It wasn’t the first time Kai Niva had made her bleed and it wouldn’t be the last time until one of them was dead. It was just how their sadistic relationship worked.

  Shanna turned to face her psychotic adoptive step-brother. “You’ve got some balls coming back here. Say what you must. Then do us both a favor and crawl back under whatever rock you crawled out of. These games are getting really old, Niva.”

  Kai smiled, the gesture frightening and slightly psychotic. “Dad thought you might want to have this. It’s got all types of interesting information in it.”