Mind Over Easy

by Bryan Cohen

  Erica gasped. "No, please!"

  As Redican touched her forehead, Erica could feel the world slip away from her as she collapsed to the ground.

  Chapter 31

  As Ted crashed through the door to an unknown area of the building, he felt the sting of at least three rubber bullets colliding with his body. The pain was immense, and he was certain his alarming speed toward the shooters had made the impact even worse. Distracted from his flight path, Ted caromed into a wall and crashed to the ground. His shoulder got the worst of the landing, sending even more pain through his body. He felt woozy when he looked up at the guards as they readied their weapons to fire a second volley. He reached back toward them and used his mind to smash the guns into the wall.

  His vision wasn't at 100%, but he could still see the three figures coming toward him ready to kill him the old-fashioned way. Ted would have gladly obliged some hand-to-hand combat if he'd had more time. Instead, he pointed at the largest of the three, lifted his body into the air with his powers and swung it around by the legs like a rag doll. The man-turned-weapon screamed as his body smacked into the other two guards. The crack of skull on skull knocked all three of them unconscious. Ted laid them on top of each other and shook off the mental cobwebs. Instead of flying, he went running at super speed down the corridor, willing his legs to move faster than ever before.

  Natalie would kill for these legs.

  Ted went through another door, which led to a hallway that resembled a prison. Two guards stood in front of a room that Ted rightly assumed led to his captured friend.

  The nervousness he'd previously felt had vanished. Between the pain and the slight dizziness, Ted was running on pure instinct. He put his hands on his hips and puffed up his chest at the guards. "Hey, guys. My friend is in there and the two of us need some private time."

  One of the guards took one look at Ted and ran in the opposite direction. Ted couldn't help but laugh, which seemed to demoralize the remaining guard.

  "I don't want any trouble." The guard's declaration came out more like a question. "Just stay away, OK?"

  Ted continued to walk toward the guard. The man fired a shot. Ted used a flick of his hand to guide the bullet around his body and into the door behind him. Another shot fired out of the guard's gun, and once again Ted moved the projectile around him. His confidence started to grow.

  I am such a beast right now.

  When the guard fired a third time, Ted stopped the rubber bullet in midair, turned it back around and placed it against the guard's forehead. He dropped his gun.

  "You say you don't want trouble." Ted floated the man up in the air. "Then you shoot at me. With a gun. It's kind of a mixed message."

  The man whimpered. "I'm realizing that now."

  Ted shook his head. "Stay up there for a while, will ya? Shout if any more guards come in."

  "No promises." The man's legs flailed as Ted opened the door to Natalie's cell.

  The room was dim, but once Ted's eyes adjusted, he could see Natalie right away. She was chained to the wall and had red-stained gauze wrapped around her hands. Ted used his mind to rip the chain off the wall and unlatch Natalie's wrists and ankles.

  Natalie looked up at him with a sly smile. "I thought I heard some idiot running in here."

  "Are you alright?" Ted ran over to Natalie and put his arm over her shoulder. They hugged.

  "Not anything a little choking won't solve." Natalie flexed her free arms and legs. "I'm sorry about your mom."

  Ted felt the anger tie in with his adrenaline. The GHAers had injured him mom and chained his ex-girlfriend to a wall. Somebody would have to pay for this.

  "Thanks. She'll be okay." Ted gripped Natalie's waist with his arms. "But we're gonna need to move fast to do the same."

  Natalie nodded. As Ted was about to take back off, he heard the floating guard's shout echoing through the hallway.

  "He's in here with the girl!"

  Ted grinned.

  "What are you so happy about?" Natalie asked.

  Ted pulled away from Natalie and used his powers to shut the door to the room before twisting the handle and lock all out of shape. "The guy actually did what I asked him to do."

  Several of the guards attempted to enter the room, but Ted had broken the handle and fixed the lock in place. They pounded on the door with no chance of getting in.

  Ted felt a sense of pride. "And now the guards are trapped."

  "So are we." Natalie let out her trademark growl. "Was this all part of your plan?"

  Ted's excitement sunk. "Um." He looked around. "It was part one?"

  Natalie shook her head. "Come over here. I've got an idea."

  Ted followed Natalie to a part of the wall that sported a six-inch crack.

  She gestured to it. "Well? Do your thing."

  Ted cocked his head sideways. "What's my thing?"

  "Ugh!" Natalie put her hand over her face. "It's so hard to find good heroes these days." She moved Ted's shoulders until he directly faced the crack. "Use your powers to grow the crack until it busts a hole through the wall. Do you think you can do that?" Natalie looked back at the door as one of the four hinges holding it snapped off and fell to the ground. "And quickly?"

  "Alright, alright. I'm not a mind reader." Ted did as he was told. As soon as he started to concentrate on the crack, it doubled in size. The crack spread throughout the wall and Ted could hear the sounds of breaking wood and ripping insulation. When the crack had gotten large enough, he made a pushing motion and a hole the size of a garage door smashed through the side of the building.

  Light streamed into the room and Natalie shook her head. "See, now was that so hard?"

  Ted felt like he'd just bench-pressed a Buick, but he didn't want to share that with the strongest girl in town. "Easy-peasy. Let's fly."

  Ted put his arms around Natalie's waist. She tightly gripped him back, and they flew out of the building.

  "Where are we going? The lair?" Natalie had to speak loudly to get over the sound of the air whipping past them.

  Ted did the same. "No. We're going to turn ourselves in."

  "Seems counterproductive."

  Ted laughed. "I've got the first half of another plan."

  They circled the building and landed in the parking lot. As they did, Ted and Natalie came face to face with the DHS agents, Cobblestone's security detail and the GHA leader himself. Ted didn't enjoy having a dozen guns trained on him, but he figured it was better to face the music now than to attempt to be a celebrity fugitive.

  "I want this criminal arrested for assault and causing massive damage to my property." Cobblestone stomped around, but Ted imagined this was exactly how he wanted things to shake out. It amazed him how some of the most terrible people in the world were killer actors.

  "Do what you want with me." Ted looked toward Agents Vott and Harding, who had joined the rest of the agents in the gun-pointing party. "Natalie was here all night, chained to a wall. The evidence is pretty compelling that the GHA framed her for trying to kill my family."

  "I will admit to kicking one guy in the junk, though. " Natalie frown turned upward for a moment. "As long as we're being honest."

  Ted looked for a reaction from Vott. He put down his weapon and walked over to Ted.

  "You shouldn't have done that." He looked over at Natalie and back at Cobblestone. "Now it's your word against his. There's no way any of his guards will back up your story."

  "I have proof!" The voice that echoed through the parking lot surprised Ted more than the rubber bullets had. It was none other than GHA bully Travis Conner. "We had a security feed on Natalie all night. She couldn't have done it."

  Ted looked at Natalie. "But why would he...?"

  Natalie touched his arm. "And the truth shall set you free."

  Travis held a flash drive in his hand, which Ted snatched using his mind and guided to Vott's hands. "There's your evidence."

  As Travis passed by Cobblestone's security detail, the G
HA leader lunged forward and slapped the boy in the face. Travis fell to the ground, and the DHS agents pointed their guns at Cobblestone.

  "Tell your men to holster their weapons, Cobblestone." Agent Harding's voice seemed to go down an octave when he made the command. "You're coming with us."

  After the DHS had gathered up Cobblestone and his guards, an EMT tended to Natalie's wounds at the back of an ambulance.

  "I thought you'd really turned to the dark side." Ted examined one of the welts from his rubber bullet wounds. "It was scary."

  Natalie grimaced as the EMT put some iodine on her cuts. "It had to be convincing or else they weren't going to buy it. Some good it did."

  Ted put his hand on Natalie's face. "My mom is going to be fine. Besides, Vott said that Cobblestone is bound to get some jail time for this. You did good, Nat."

  Ted wanted to kiss Natalie right then. He had a feeling she felt the same way. Ted reached up and kissed her on the forehead instead.

  After Natalie was all patched up, Ted turned down a ride from the agents and hitched one with her instead.

  When the car pulled into Ted's driveway, someone on Ted's front porch came into sight. At first, neither of them could make out who the figure was. Natalie turned off the engine and walked by Ted's side of the car as he flipped on the porch light with his mind.

  "Hey, baby." The familiar voice was slurred. "I was wondering if you'd ever get home."

  Erica took a swig from a clear bottle until she'd sucked out the last drop. She let the bottle fall down the stairs and land in the grass of the front yard.

  Ted moved with alarming speed to the base of the porch. "Erica?"

  Erica stumbled when she tried to get up. When she found her footing, she put her arms around Ted, paying no mind to Natalie standing to their right.

  "I know you missed me so much." Erica blew her vodka-laden breath onto Ted's face. "But don't you worry. I'm back."

  PART FOUR

  Chapter 32

  Jennifer inspected the gun to ensure it could be used if needed. Being a sheriff's only child came with weapon-related perks. She'd grown up on firing ranges and even spent one of her birthday parties shooting targets and plastic milk jugs with her best friends. She knew her way around a handgun better than most suburban teens, but Jennifer could tell that Dhiraj didn't care about any of that. His skin had grown several shades paler since the reveal of the weapon.

  "If we're going up there, I don't think you should bring that with you." Beads of sweat rolled down Dhiraj's forehead.

  Jennifer reached over her friend to pull a holster out of the compartment as well. "It's for self-defense. This guy is a murderer."

  Dhiraj took Jennifer's wrist in a tight grip. "I understand that. There's just a lot of emotion tied up in this. It's better to let people who aren't involved handle things."

  Jennifer mulled over Dhiraj's argument. It was sound, but she needed to see Daly squirm. She had to be the one to make him pay.

  Dhiraj could tell his words weren't hitting home. "You've tried to kiss me twice this week, and the only reason I didn't reciprocate is because I love you."

  Jennifer's train of thought halted. She looked straight into Dhiraj's eyes as if he were some kind of curiosity. That's when things all started to line up for her. Dhiraj had always been flirty, though she'd chalked that up to his personality. But when you combined the flirtation with the 7th grade field hockey fundraiser, the years of awkward conversations, Dhiraj's relationship with her father and his efforts to save her on the auditorium stage, it was pretty obvious.

  She stammered as she spoke. "I... I think I knew that. Somewhere in my messed-up brain."

  Dhiraj took Jennifer's hand. "That's why I can't let you do this. We need to call the police right now."

  Jennifer sighed. "No. That's why I have to do this."

  She took out a pair of handcuffs from underneath the driver's side seat. Before Dhiraj could react, she'd slapped the cuffs on the steering wheel and his wrist.

  "Jen!" Dhiraj struggled to yank his arm free of the cuffs.

  Jennifer opened her door and stepped out. A light spring breeze played with her hair as she turned back to her captive.

  "I wouldn't have done this if I didn't love you, too."

  Dhiraj lurched after her with his free hand. Jennifer shut the door.

  She walked away from the car to the sounds of Dhiraj pleading with her through the inch-open car window.

  "Please come back!" Dhiraj pounded his fist against the door. "Jennifer, don't do it! It's something you'll never be able to take back." He screamed at the top of his lungs. "Can't we just talk this out?! Jen!"

  By the time Jennifer reached the second floor of the apartment building, she could no longer hear Dhiraj's voice.

  "He's going to understand." She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "They'll all understand eventually."

  Jennifer continued to walk up the stairs, beset by peeling white paint on all sides. Each step felt like it took longer than the last. She couldn't tell if Dhiraj's words were getting to her, or if her anger was beginning to fade. As she got to the third floor, she spied a dead roach resting on its back. Jennifer kicked it to the side and stopped in front of the door she'd seen Daly enter. A wave of fear crept over her. It'd been easy enough to load her gun, track down Daly and get right up to the door, but she knew that this would be the hard part.

  When she reached for the door handle, Jennifer could feel her hand shake. She knew that if she opened the door, nothing would ever be the same. Jennifer made herself think of the way Daly had tricked them all. His aw-shucks demeanor and work with her father had made them all think highly of him. She then thought of Erica, her body made stiff and rotten by the man who resided beyond that threshold. She thought of him stabbing her to death and covering her up with the earth. The fear turned to a simmering anger.

  Jennifer opened the unlocked door.

  The stench of mildew was the first thing to hit her as she walked into the room. She guessed there wasn't much time for cleaning when you were hiding from the law. She recognized several plastic bags and half-eaten containers of food from Daly's workplace. Jennifer wouldn't have been surprised if the roach outside had friends in that very unit. Toward her right were stacked up dirty dishes in the kitchen. When she turned to the left, she saw the light from a television and heard a creaky, old ceiling fan.

  As she took a few steps toward the TV, the man she sought came into view. Daly was still wearing his uniform from work as he sat in a recliner that appeared to be straight out of a dumpster. The man's eyes were shut, his head turned to the side as he dozed. After weeks of visions of Daly populating her nightmares and bleeding into her life, she was finally seeing him for real. Every warning signal her body possessed started to go off at once. Instinct told her to run, but she refused to listen.

  Jennifer thought about how easy it would be to punish him right here and now for his crimes. All she'd need to do was take out her gun and unload a few shots into some key areas. Unless Dhiraj had called the cops, he'd be the only one who knew she was there. It would be clean and it would be quick. But Jennifer knew she wasn't just there to put an end to Daly's life. He needed to know what he'd done and why he was going to pay for it.

  Jennifer slammed the front door behind her and Daly sprang to life on the chair. His first look was bewilderment until the recognition sunk in.

  "Sheriff's daughter." Daly wiped his mouth and relaxed as he faced her straight on. "I thought it'd be the superhero."

  Daly had put on a few pounds since she'd last seen him in the caves several months ago. His five o'clock shadow had been replaced by the start of a beard.

  Erica wouldn't have been caught dead with a guy like that.

  Jennifer hoped Daly would cry or scream, but he only let out the same grin she'd admired dozens of times. She wanted to shoot the smug look right off his face. Jennifer took her weapon out of the holster and pointed it directly at him.

  "I t
hink you'll find that I'm full of surprises."

  Chapter 33

  Natalie could tell what happened to Erica almost immediately, even if she didn't understand it. She'd never examined her as intently as Ted had, but all the old personality quirks were there. Erica's voice was different, as if she was trying to get someone to go to bed with her through every syllable and phrase. Erica was also more physical than she'd been the last few months, seeing as she grabbed at Ted's crotch when he got close enough to her. On top of everything else, she was completely plastered.

  Natalie watched as Ted fell over himself to avoid being groped in front of his ex-girlfriend. She appreciated the effort, but Natalie could tell that Ted had no idea what or who he was dealing with.

  "I bet it would feel good to do it on the lawn." Erica got her hand close enough to take Ted's zipper half way down before he slapped away her advances.

  Erica only giggled and tried harder. Natalie couldn't help but feel her anger build. She'd done enough picturing of Ted and Erica being intimate together, and she certainly didn't need to see such images live and in surround sound.

  Natalie watched as the confidence of Ted's triumph against the GHA faded away.

  Ted stammered as he fended off another one of Erica's approaches. "What are you– Erica, this isn't like– Natalie's right here."

  Natalie crossed her arms and waited for the show to be over. The stench of liquor from Erica's breath reached her, even as she kept her distance. It reminded her of a girl she'd needed to tend to at a sleepover basketball camp. Their room smelled like vomit the entire week.

  "Nadre the Giant can watch if she wants." Erica stutter-stepped and went down to one knee in the grass. "Ooh, we could do a video."

  Natalie gave it another few seconds before Ted finally seemed to realize what had happened.

  "Erica?" He looked over at Natalie before bending down next to their drunken friend. "What do you remember?"