by Nye, Laine
∆∆∆
Jeff tried to rise again. Nothing. Now he was panicking. He used all his strength to rise out of the water. And failed. He was drowning. He fought, twisted and turned. Then thrashed. But could not get his head out of the water. Finally, he could not stand not taking a breath any longer. His body insisted on it. His mouth opened to take a breath. The dirty brown water rushed in. He started convulsing…
Sherry screamed. Unable to do anything. She watched for her brother to surface. He did not.
Steve stood there looking where Jeff had gone under knowing he was holding him down until it was too late for Jeff. His rage subsided. The forced gravity underneath Jeff did not. Then he turned back to his father who was bleeding profusely from two wounds to his torso. His face was ashen. His sweet wife was holding him in her arms. “Where is Jeff?” Brad asked his son.
“Bottom of the lake. Steve said.
Where’s Sherry?”
She’s still up high waiting for mercy.
Tears came to Brad’s eyes. He gasped out his words. “Only a few blocks from here, I met Jeff. We went on many grand adventures together. He was my friend.”
He was getting steadily weaker. Brad Shaw was dying.
The grass around the hole began to lift as if a wind was blowing. Charlene noticed, and an idea struck her with incredible force.
“Steve, the hole is flowing. Pick your father up and put him back over the hole.”
Before he did, Steve sent Sherry up almost five-hundred feet into the air so that she could not see what they were going to do. He did not want her to learn about the hole. It was dark enough that she would not be able to see anything.
Steve lifted his dad off his mom’s bloodied lap and carried him to the hole. He did not physically lift him. He just used his gravity control then walked him to the hole. Charlene could see that there were two spots on his back that were bleeding just like there were on the front.
Brad was now over the hole for the third time in his life. The fourth if one included the monster hole in The Philippines. His body lifted about five feet above the ground. Laying on his back, hovering in the air, his limbs hung down while his torso stayed steadily at the same height. The aluminum bars also rode up under Brad keeping contact with him.
Charlene had never seen the phenomena before. She was not impressed. Not after the years she had spent with her son and husband watching gravity control at work. Besides, she had something far more important on her mind as she watched Brad hoping for his healing ability to be restored. Or, hoping that his ride over the hole would heal him from the energy flow. But no. It was more than hope. After all the years of experiences she’d had with Brad, she had gained some sensitivity to this energy stuff. She was just beginning to realize that right now. She had sensed that Brad could be helped if he was put back over the hole.
Twenty minutes went by; The usual time for the hole to expel the energy. However, when the hole first did the vacuum effect, it then had a longer time of blowing outward. Thirty minutes went by. She looked over at her son with great compassion. She knew that he was now responsible for the death of Jeff, Jeff’s brother, and others. She knew the pain he would have to fight within himself. She had seen that same pain in her husband when he talked about Milo Weathers or Mac Rowley. She hoped to be able to comfort and strengthen her young son.
Sherry still hovered. Soundlessly. She did not want to provoke after seeing what happened to Jeff.
Then Brad was coming slowly down until he landed with the cross bars still under him, stopping him from falling into the hole. He was unconscious but a quick check with a cell phone light showed her that his color was much improved.
Then his eyes opened. He looked up at her and gave a slow, weak smile.
“Hey beautiful.” He said tenderly.
“Welcome back Brad.” She said with tears flowing freely down her cheeks.
“Dad.” Was all Steve could say as he choked on his emotions.
“My son. My Steve.” Brad said to him and reached up to take his hand. Charlene quickly moved to his other side and took his other hand.
“I have bullets in me?”
“Through and through.” Charlene said. You were bleeding both front and back. It looks like the bleeding has stopped.”
The bullets that had come out of Jeff’s gun were not ideal for trying to kill someone. If a major organ or artery was hit, of course they would die. The rounds that Jeff had in that particular-gun were not hollow points that would mushroom out making a terrible wound inside the body.
Nor were they soft lead rounds that would have splattered on impact. These rounds had been designed primarily for target practice. They were very hard tipped. The bullet wounds were smaller going in and going out. Those kinds of rounds would also tend to go completely through the body rather than stopping inside because of mushrooming, doing severe damage. That was a major factor in saving Brad’s life.
“Ah. That’s good. That’s good.” Brad responded to his wife’s explanation.
“Can we move you Brad?” Charlene asked.
He nodded. “I’m awful weak, but Steve can carry me with his gravity control. Thanks Charlene for putting me over the hole. That was a very good choice. I am already feeling better than I have a right to be. I was dying guys. I knew that it was almost over. You saved my life.”
Talking that long had worn Brad out. He was breathing heavily. His ability to heal had been restored to him but that was all. There was no gravity control. No fast reflexes. Yet now, it was a highly accelerated healing process. Most of his rapid improvement was from his time over the hole. The bleeding had stopped. The holes in his back were closing over, His front would take longer. His front was not exposed to the energy as his back was. The damaged organs in his body were also healing. Internal bleeding was rapidly slowing to a stop.
“Good. Now shut up. Conserve your strength until you are much stronger.” Charlene said forcefully. The love was still there though. It was always there.
“Yes ma’am.” Brad said with humor.
“Where is Sherry now?” Charlene asked her son.
“She’s up there about fifty stories high.” Steve said.
“Don’t drop her Steve. I don’t want any more killing.”
“I won’t Mom.”
“How long will she be up there?”
“I could let her down now, but I don’t think I should. I thought we would just leave. Eventually the gravity alteration will die off and she will come back down.”
“Will she fall abruptly?” His mom asked.
“I guess it’s possible.”
“Bring her down to about twenty feet above us and then if she falls, she might break a leg, but it won’t kill her.”
“Alright Ma. I just thought she might like the view from up there.”
“Uh huh. Do it Steve.”
He let Sherry fall at normal gravity speed until she was as high as Charlene had said. Then she stopped falling suddenly. Sherry did not cry out. This was her fourth time she had been sent skyward. The first two times she had been allowed to fall and hit the ground. She was still terrified of heights, but she maintained a stoic manner as she closed her eyes waiting for an impact that never came. The only sound that escaped her lips was a quiet moan of fear. Then she stayed silent. Six hours after Brad and family had left, she dropped back to the ground. She landed roughly but did not break any bones.
She slowly limped back to the home she had grown up in that she inherited after her parents both died. She cried the whole way. Didn’t understand why Brad was able to walk away from getting shot. Knew he had been. Secretly glad he was still alive. Even unto herself she could not admit that she didn’t want him to die. She was hoping her brother was going to injure him. Shoot his family. But not kill. There had been enough of that. She wanted no more. Too dark to find her brother in the water. She knew she would have to wait until dawn to find him. She didn’t know how she would explain to the police why he had drowned in
about four feet of water and why he was in possession of a gun that had obviously been fired.
Maybe she couldn’t tell the police. Maybe she would inadvertently get herself in trouble. Or indicted. The decision was made. Someone else would have to find Jeff. She would feign ignorance and horror. Always good at manipulating people, she would just stay away from Jeff and let the police do their job blindly. ‘What? My brother is dead?’ she would say innocently. It would be a long while before she would accept the blame that most of her family died because of her decisions. The bottle could hide that for her. She just wished that Brad’s family had died so that maybe she could win him over.
The accelerated healing that Brad received brought him back to almost full health within five days. It was the only gift left in him after he had allowed the energy to be drawn from him. It felt strange not to have the gravity control anymore. Getting rid of the horrible pressure he had felt inside of him had been a huge relief. The tradeoff almost didn’t seem worth it though. His lightning fast reflexes and his ability to see clearly in the dark were also gone. Only the healing was restored to him. It was all so puzzling.
That night after leaving Huntsville, they drove back down to the Shaw residence. Brad was laying in the back seat curled up staying very quiet and concentrating on the healing process that was taking hold. He had given his wife the address to his old home, so she could find her way back to North Ogden. A place she had never driven to. Only been there the one time earlier that night. The security risk to Brad had always been too high. But they had to take that risk now for the second time that day. Brad needed a place to sleep for the next twelve hours or more. Of-course his parents were happy to have them back until they found out that Brad had been shot. They quickly made a bed for him in his old room. Charlene and Steve slept on the living room floor.
There was tension in the house as they all feared a visit from the police. They had come by several times over the years and had been by twice since the incidents that happened in California. The Shaws always told them that they did not know their son’s whereabouts. He had left and that was the end of it. If the police could find him. Please let them know.
In the morning, Brad was feeling a little stronger. His wife came in to talk to him. He invited her to lay next to him on the bed.
“Brad, we can’t leave the U.S. without our passports.”
“You’re right Charlene If we try to go through a security check point they will arrest all three of us instantly. There is no doubt that they have already put an alert out for customs to watch for us. The other problem that I could see while we were still in California was that there was no way we could get into our home and grab our passports. I had considered that while we were driving toward Sacramento from Napa. I was sure that the police would still be all over our home collecting evidence against us. I knew we had to wait until later and even then, it would be risky.”
“Well, I was afraid that would be the case also. If we can recover our passports later, do you think Phillip can fly us out of the country?”
“Yes, he can. But I don’t know if he’s willing to.” Brad answered weakly. “It’s the only way we can fly out.”
“Okay, if he does or doesn’t want to help us, we will still need our passports so that if we can make it out of the country, and we ever have to show I.D., we will have something to show them. How will we ever leave if we can’t fly?”
“I’m too weak to think of a solution right now. Hopefully, we have time to work this out.”
“Maybe by the time you are rested up, they will have left our home and we can sneak in and out quickly and get our passports.” She explained.
“I hope so.” Brad said earnestly.
“I think it’s a risk we’ll have to take. We may be able to leave the country with Phillip’s help if he’ll do it for us; We may be able to get into another country if he’s willing to land somewhere illegally to drop us off. But later-on, we would need to have some sort of I.D. that the police in another country would accept.”
“I agree. That’s a very good point. I just don’t know if Phillip will be willing to help us. I sure hope so. Okay, I guess we go back home as soon as I’m strong enough.” Brad said.
“It scares me Brad. Our home was our sanctuary. Now, it will seem like a hostile environment. Do you think the police will still be there?”
“I don’t know. Hopefully not.”
Their passports were hidden in such a way that the police would not find them though they would search the home diligently. The documents were secreted away with other papers that needed to stay hidden and confidential. Almost certainly, If the police had found the passports they would have confiscated them.
They said goodbye to Brad’s parents once again. Told them that the next time they can visit, it would have to be in whatever country they ended up in. Charlene and Steve took turns driving while Brad rested. They stopped in Elko Nevada in a small motel that was obscure. They stayed there four days.
Brad wasn’t yet at his peak, yet they knew it was time to finish their mission back to their home and get out of the country. It made each of them melancholy to think that home would no longer be in the U.S. but what could they do? There was too much danger in staying. Steve could be charged for murder though what he did was in self-defense. Brad could have the old charges in Utah brought up against him. Even Charlene might be implicated in the death of Timothy Mann who died while bouncing off the walls of their living room. If all those things were overcome, then they would still face the entrapment of Steve and Brad for the gravity control they had manifest. No. Leaving was their only option.
They determined the best course of action was to arrive late at night at their home. They would sneak in like burglars, grab their passports and be on their way. In and out in less than ten minutes. Clothes would have to be purchased later. They were grateful they had the presence of mind to withdraw huge amounts of money from their bank account before the policed seized their account and had it frozen.
At 2:45 A.M. they arrived at their home. Police tape was still around the front yard and the house with the words; ‘KEEP OUT BY ORDER OF THE POLICE. CRIME SCENE’. There was at least one light on in the upstairs and one more in the downstairs.
They parked in the driveway near the garage door. Turned off the dome lights in the car and got out quietly. They did not shut the car doors so as to make their entry as stealthy as possible. They did not want neighbors to spot them. Especially Mrs. Dickson across the street who always kept track of the whole neighborhood and had called the police many times. They crept up to the door and when Brad went to unlock it, he found that it was unlocked. They all stepped through the door quietly.
“Okay Steve.” Brad told his son in a whisper. “Hurry upstairs to your room and grab your passport. We will get ours from the office. We want to be out of here immediately.”
The hall light was on. They could see the blood stains on the wall and ceiling from where Mann had collided more times than they could count. They passed into the hallway and went down it to the stairway where Steve quickly went up the stairs. Brad and Charlene went passed their own bedroom to the office. Rummaging through the desk they found their passports quickly.
They stepped out of the office into the hall and heard a most unwelcome noise; The snick, snick of guns being cocked. They froze thinking they were about to be put under arrest. They would have to decide later which was worse. Three young punks stood there with guns pointed at their faces. One of them; The bigger one had a stupid grin on his face and put his finger to his lips to warn them to stay silent.
They heard their son starting down the stairs and Brad was about to warn him in spite of the guns when there was a thumping sound; Metal against flesh. They heard a grunt and then the sound of a body tumbling down the stairs. Steve landed at the bottom of the steps in the hallway. He looked dazed. Blood was starting to ooze down from his head onto his neck and under his collar.
“Got him Gorill
a.” Smack said. “Didn’t see me coming.”
For Charlene there was a moment of instant recognition. These were the guys who Steve identified as the ones who had shot at him and her when Steve took them up to the ceiling.
“What do you want?” Brad asked. There was genuine fear in him. He had always had a powerful defense. It was gone now. His son seemed less than capable of doing anything at the moment. Steve started to get off the floor while holding his head. He groaned and leaned against the wall.
Brad’s question was ignored. Gorilla spoke however.
“This place has been a perfect hideout for us since you guys were on the news. We knew it was empty and we knew where to find it because they told us on the news. But most of all we just wanted to hang out here hoping that Stevey boy and your good-looking wife might show up again. I don’t know what kind of magic hocus pocus you guys got, to do what you do but you won’t have it much longer. Stevey, if you lift anyone off the floor, anyone at all, your parents will be killed immediately. Now then, Stevey shouldn’t you be introducing us to your family?”
