I grab the air in front of me like I’m grabbing his neck, but he does the same. Now we’re both suspended in midair, holding each other until one of us gives up. It feels like his fingers are digging into my neck. I’ve never actually been able to experience what my gift was like from the outside. It feels like a giant is choking me, about to squash me like a tiny bug.
I reach out with my free hand and swipe the air at his waist. He instantly lets go of me and we both fall to the ground.
Connor is unloading on the greyskins as they rush toward us, each shot landing in a forehead. But I know he doesn’t have enough ammo to take on all of them. He then turns to take a shot at Jeremiah. My insides freeze as he does this. With a pull of the trigger, the bullet zooms at Jeremiah, but the man stops it just in front of him. The bullet spins and smokes as we all just stare at it. Then, like a flash of lightning, Jeremiah sends it back to Connor, landing it in his shoulder. Connor yells out and falls to the ground. I charge Jeremiah again, and he runs to meet me. We both grab for each other, but making the same motion brings us to a standstill, neither of us willing to give way to the other.
Blood and sweat trickle down my face. Jeremiah stares into my eyes with black anger.
“Greyskins are coming fast,” he says to me. “Are you just going to let your friend die?”
“He’s the healer,” I say. “Are you just going to let him die?”
We hold each other in death grips. I know that I can’t break first, but I can hear that the hungry greyskins are almost on top of us. If I don’t turn, they’ll rip me to shreds. With a flick of the wrist, I try to snap Jeremiah’s hold, but it only weakens my ability and he overtakes me, throwing me to the ground.
The back of my head bashes against the stone courtyard and I can see the greyskins coming. If I don’t get up and move now, Christopher’s death will have meant nothing. When I pull myself up, I see Jeremiah running in toward the prison with an invisible rope pulling Connor with him. I yell out, knowing it will do no good. The moment Jeremiah realizes that the man with the wrapped head isn’t the healer, Connor will be dead. I spin around and throw broken rocks and pieces of broken metal into the sea of greyskins, hoping it will be enough to keep them from following me into the prison.
The undead monsters start to surround me. I look at their darkened eyes, their chomping teeth. All of these used to be people just like me. This is what I would be right now if it wasn’t for Christopher.
I use any object on the ground and send it sailing through their brains. I can’t help but wonder what is taking Jeffrey and the others so long to get here. As I send greyskins flinging to the side, I hear the sound of gunshots popping in the distance. The first person I see is Heather as she zips past the entrance, slicing away with her knives until at least five greyskins are dispatched. Then comes Danny, smashing his way through a group of them with rocks anˀthed whatever he finds to lift. Jeffrey and Allison come in with guns firing.
I’ve got to get into that prison before I lose Evelyn, Aaron, and Connor. Almost as if he heard me think it, Jeffrey yells for me to get into the prison.
“We can handle these monsters,” Danny yells. “Go!”
I’m about to take off toward the prison when Heather runs up next to me. “Get in there and kill him.”
I nod at her with a smile. Before I go, I bend down and with a heave, pick up one of the car batteries that Jeremiah left here on the ground. It’s heavy and it slows my progress, so I try to concentrate hard and let it float. I carry it as though it’s nothing. I figure Aaron might need something to help him fight.
My instincts are right. When I walk into the prison, I find that the power has been cut completely and all is dark. I don’t know if Jeremiah is hiding, waiting to take me out, or if he has immediately decided to try using the healer.
I brave it and shut my eyes for a moment to find Connor. Jeremiah drags him with his mind, still making use of my gift. But Connor isn’t alone. Jeremiah now has Aaron and Evelyn with him. They are bound at the hands, floating above the ground behind Jeremiah with no way of freeing themselves. They climb stairs and I can see that there are several guards surrounding Jeremiah. They are fully armed and ready to try and take me down once I step inside. But Jeremiah knows they will only be a small nuisance. I’m sure he just hopes they will distract me enough so he can make a move and kill me.
I try to figure out where they are going.
“Where is he taking you?” I say aloud, knowing Connor would be able to hear me.
“I think the roof,” he whispers.
I open my eyes, and take off, battery in hand. I pass the room where all the dead bodies lay. I try not to look at them as I pass, but there are so many that it’s impossible not to. I go to the nearest set of stairs, though I’m not entirely sure they lead to the roof. I go up and up. I’m pretty sure there are only five stories in the prison, but I’m not certain.
I’m almost out of breath once I reach the fourth floor. There is a door that leads out to the main floor, and I assume there is another set of stairs somewhere inside. My heart is pounding and I have no idea if there is a guard on the other side of the door, waiting to shoot me in the side of the head. I close my eyes just in time to see Jeremiah toss Connor and the other two on the roof floor. There are five guards around Jeremiah. He holds a radio up to his mouth.
“There are more Starborns down in the square, take care of them,” he says.
“But sir, there are greyskins down there,” the voice says.
“I don’t care what’s down there,” Jeremiah answers, “bring everything you’ve got and take them out!” He throws the radio to the ground and it smashes into pieces.
I open my eyes and go through the door to the main floor of the fourth level. I search frantically for the stairwell that might lead up to the roof, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere.
I close my eyes again.
Jeremiah is pointing a pistol at Connor, telling him to unwrap his bandages.
“I want to see the face of the man that will bring me true immortality.”
Connor stands and reaches his hands up to his face.
“Slowly,” I say. “I’m almost there.”
I open my eyes and rush through the fourth level until I find a door that opens to a set of stairs outside. When I open the door ˀsay. “Iand start to climb, a bullet splits the wood next my head. I drop the car battery to the floor and duck for cover from the guard standing at the top of the stairs. I instantly pull the gun from the guard’s hands and smash it into his face and he tumbles over the side of the building.
I race up the stairs, but I’m stopped short when I see that four of the remaining guards have their guns pointed at each of my friends. Jeremiah points his pistol at Connor’s uncovered head.
Jeremiah’s cheeks are red and sweaty with anger.
“What is this?” he says. “Connor is no healer!”
“The healer is dead,” I say to him. “He died with the satisfaction of knowing that you would never be able to use him to gain immortality. Without my approval, he healed me of the greyskin virus that you created and died knowing you would fall today.”
Jeremiah screams out in anger and slaps his hand through the air, shoving me to the floor. He spins, dropping his pistol to the rooftop and turning his back to all of us as he looks out over the courtyard at Heather, Danny, Allison, and Jeffrey fighting off the remaining greyskins.
“You have a reputation for terrorism,” Jeremiah says. “Even if you were to kill me, you would have no sway over the people.”
“We don’t want sway over the people,” Evelyn says. “They will learn the truth on their own. They will figure out who you are and what you’ve done.” Jeremiah turns fiercely and grabs the air, pulling Evelyn up by the neck. At the same time, his hands start glowing with the heat and fire he stole from the Starborn, Whit, so long ago.
Slowly, Evelyn is pulled toward Jeremiah. I start to get up, but the guards hold tight to their guns, th
reatening to end the lives of Connor and Aaron.
“Put her down!” I scream.
Jeremiah reaches out his other hand, grabbing me by the neck as well. I can’t fight it. I’ve used so much of my energy taking on the greyskins and brawling with Jeremiah, that it’s difficult to attack him. For some reason, his grip is so powerful that I feel helpless to do anything but struggle weakly. As he pulls me toward him, I think for the first time that he might have somehow beaten us with our own gifts.
I move closer and closer to his burning hands. I know his plan. I know he’s just going to keep moving us toward him until he can grab our necks and sear our heads off.
I feel like I’m starting to pass out.
My eye catches Aaron’s and he begins to stand, but one of the guards just hits him in the cheek with the butt of a rifle.
“Let them go!” Connor cries out.
As Jeremiah pulls me forward, I close my eyes, putting all my focus on the car battery at the bottom of the stairs. Through the distraction, I try to drag it up. I can hear it as it scrapes up the steps. I can also hear Connor and Aaron as they slam shoulders into the guards that cover them. One of them tumbles over the side, but it’s still three men against two. Slowly, the battery inches forward, up each stair like an exhausted traveler up a steep mountainside.
I can smell burning flesh and then I hear a scream of pain. It’s Evelyn. Distracted, I open my eyes to see her suspended in the air, Jeremiah’s flaming hand burning into her stomach. She can do nothing to stop the man from scorching her insides. A new energy, a new force of anger rages within me. I mentally grab the battery and finally fling it to Aaron’s feet.
He notices the black box immediately and sucks the blue energy into himself. The two guards are stunned by what they see, but Connor doesnshouˀout.t give them a chance. He jumps to the ground, grabs a rifle, and shoots two of them through the chest and they fall over the side. Aaron fries the next guard with the electric bolts and the light blinds us all momentarily. He then shoots the bolts directly at Jeremiah and I can feel myself fall to the ground.
Jeremiah screams out in pain as his flesh begins to burn and his arms and legs flail uncontrollably. But Aaron soon runs out of juice.
I can see Evelyn on the ground next to Jeremiah, though I can’t tell the extent of her injury. It has to be bad. She looks like she can barely breathe.
I lay on the ground, exhausted. Connor raises his gun to fire at Jeremiah, but the Screven leader swipes his arm through the air and the two brothers slam onto the rooftop.
Jeremiah’s clothes are ripped and burned. Whatever skin is exposed is charred. But he isn’t dead. He struggles to his feet and I notice that his pistol is right next to me. But I know it will do no good. With my face on the floor, I can see t
hat Evelyn is staring at me. She’s smiling, though I know she can’t be happy. We are defeated. Jeremiah has beaten us.
But she continues to smile. She lifts one of her fingers and points at the gun. I know she’s telling me to use it, but she must not realize what my gift can do. Jeremiah will only send the bullet back at me.
But I can question her no longer. I grab the gun with my hand and stumble up to my knees. Then to my feet. I raise my hand up and point it at Jeremiah.
Despite his obvious pain, he laughs at me. “Don’t you know your own power? The gun is pointless on me.”
“Maybe,” I say. “But I might as well try.”
I look down at Evelyn, and I see her reaching for Jeremiah’s leg. I realize why she wanted me to get the gun. She reaches her hand out to touch the exposed skin of his leg. The gift he stole from Trace doesn’t allow for Jeremiah to pick and choose. The moment Evelyn touches him, he can no longer use my gift. As her hand grabs his leg, Jeremiah realizes his error, but not before I let off eight rounds of bullets into his chest.
Darkened blood shoots out like paint splattering against a wall. The sound of the repetitious firing deafens my ears, but it also renews my fury. As the shots cease and the echoes die out, Jeremiah falls to the ground, but he’s not dead.
Connor and Aaron move forward to help Evelyn sit up against a wall. I look at her stomach and can see the giant hole that has been burned into her. There is no chance she will make it.
I check the gun to see if there are any more bullets and there are. I walk to Evelyn and try to hand her the gun.
“This has been your fight from the beginning,” I say. “You should kill him.”
Evelyn shakes her head. “You will carry on after me. This is your first task as leader of the Starborns.”
I look down at my hands. They are scraped and dirty. As I think about the past two weeks, I can’t believe where I am now. I have gone from wanting this man’s help to preparing myself to execute him.
Connor and Aaron both nod in encouragement for me to finish the job as I stand and walk over to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah stares up at me when I look down on him.
“Evelyn too injured to do it herself?” he says with a forced laugh.
I pull back the hammer on the gun and point it at his forehead. “Evelyn said she only wished she would be here to see you die. And she’s getting that wish fulfilled.”
“So, that’s how you want to end it? You start your new world with murder?”
“You have created this fallen world, Jeremiah. Your death is the beginning of hope. The beginning of a new life.”
He squints at me for brief second, and I know he’s about to say something else, but I don’t let him. I squeeze the trigger and end his life.
Jeremiah is dead.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
When I look back on that day five years ago, all I can really think about is losing two wonderful people: Christopher and Evelyn. Every now and again I will wake up in the middle of the night with tears streaking down my cheeks. The pain never really goes away.
But the dreams of my parents’ death almost never come to me anymore. Connor tells me that it’s because I finally realized that it truly wasn’t my fault, and once I knew that, I was at peace.
I suppose he is right. I miss them, but I no longer feel guilt.
I hold his hand tightly as we walk down the path next to the lake. It’s late spring and the first summer rays are ready to bring the heat for a few months, but it never really gets too hot in New Haven. Christopher had truly been on to something when he found this place. Its green fields are perfect for rich gardens and maintaining livestock. And any attack here would have to be very well-orchestrated.
It hadn’t been easy to clear a path to New Haven five years ago. The woods before it were crawling with greyskins and it took several months before we were able to get here at all. But it was worth it.
So much has happened since Jeremiah has been defeated. I often think about the details of that entire day and it always baffles me. I had been so near death, but because of the unselfishness of one human being, we were able to take down the tyrant greyskin, and begin a new world.
After I had shot Jeremiah through the head, I remember instantly dropping the gun to the floor of the roof and rushing to Evelyn’s side. I knew her wound was taking her life away quickly. But she only had smiles.
“Christopher healed you?” she asked me.
“I couldn’t stop him,” I said, “I was too weak.”
“Jeremiah is finally dead.”
“You got to be here to see it, just like you told him you would,” I said.
She nodded. “You’ve got to lead the Starborns. That’s why I think you came to us. I think you were meant to move us forward. The Starborns are meant to rid the world of the greyskins and help usher in a new world. You’ve started with Jeremiah.”
I held her hand tightly as she told me these things. “I won’t know what to do without you,” I said.
Evelyn smiled again. “You will.”
She then closed her eyes and stopped breathing.
The three of us had left the rooftop to help our friends down in the courtyard bel
ow. Trucks full of Screven soldiers had come out with their guns drawn, but all of us stood ready to fight them. I walked up front with my hands in the air and the soldiers surrendered their guns almost immediately. Their leader was dead. They had no reason to fight anymore.
The rest was a blur. The two remaining village elders of Springhill asked the villagers what they wanted to do when I had told them about New Haven. Unanimouslyth="2em">, people wanted to move. They wanted to start a new life. Over the next few months, Springhill ceased to exist as a village, and the people became a part of New Haven.
I took my leadership role for the Starborns very seriously. After having everyone help me clear the way into New Haven, we had decided to create the Starborn Council. I facilitated it, but there was no definitive leader. The rest consisted of Heather, Danny, Jeffrey, and Aaron. Five of us.
The council was to meet every three months to discuss progress in each person’s assigned area of the region. Their duty was to help rebuild what had been destroyed by Jeremiah, to seek out new Starborns, and to destroy the greyskins.
Aaron had volunteered to help Allison rebuild Screven and to set up a proper government there. Jeffrey remained in Sudyka, while Heather and Danny stayed in Salem. There were many more places that needed help after Jeremiah’s terror, but we had to start small.
More Starborns join us every day. Every new Starborn that we learn about comes to New Haven first. Here they meet with me where we discuss their gifts. Sometimes I even try to train them. Then, I send them off where I think they will be needed the most.
It keeps me busy, but I still see Jake and Grandma often. Sixteen-year-old Jake spends more time with Sadie than anyone, and Grandma hardly leaves my house now since I told her I was pregnant.
The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) Page 65
