Rachel kept glancing at the returned bracelet, hardly able to believe Vladimir returned it to her. She smiled while she recalled the gesture and walked toward the bench where she and the young Romanian met weeks before. She espied someone on the bench and for a brief moment her heart raced at the possibility of it being Vladimir, though she quickly realized it was someone else.
Her smile waned as she walked past the gentleman who sat there on the bench with a set of what she thought were scriptures. Rachel walked past him though and headed toward a green field where a flock of geese stood. A few young men entered the park at the opposite end of the field and quickly ran onto it to chase the birds off. Rachel watched the geese fly away from the danger, but then they stopped. The geese and the boys and the cars on the road past the field all stopped in place. They didn’t move or fall or make a sound. Everything around her simply froze where it was at that very moment in time.
“It’s frightening, isn’t it?”
Rachel wheeled around and looked at the man who sat where she’d met Vladimir, though he was entirely changed. He wore silver plated armor with a golden trim and golden chainmail beneath the armor that reached just to his mid biceps. The man wore a light, form fitted garment beneath his armor that extended from the armor down to the gauntlets he wore. His cape was white with blue detail and golden corners and the cape fell near his Achilles tendons. His armor passed his waist and went down to his knees. Past that he wore tall, silver armored boots that met at his knee. And in his hands he held a four-foot long sword made of silver. The blade had no sheath and the man held the hilt in one hand and let the blade rest in his other.
The stranger continued, “Witnessing something that you cannot comprehend. Something so vastly out of your control that it could easily drive you to the depths of madness, as you know that there is not a soul on this earth who could possibly help you.”
Rachel backed away from him and started to flee but as soon as she reached the edge of the park she blinked and found herself right where she fled from. The man let out a breath and asked her to stay calm. “I am not here to harm you Rachel,” he told her.
“How do you know who I am?” she asked with a scowl.
The man chuckled and questioned her, “Shouldn’t you be far more concerned with how all of this around you has happened?” He noted the sudden unrest in her eyes and he apologized, “All of this is foreign to you.”
“What’s going on? Are you the one who did this?”
“I am.”
“That’s impossible though.”
“What is?”
“This!” she said while she indicated the park’s sudden static state. “You can’t just-just stop time.”
The man shrugged and recited, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” He waited a moment before he added, “Philippians chapter four verse thirteen.”
“I knew that…”
His eyes flashed and he cracked a smile, “No you didn’t.”
Rachel opened her mouth to protest but she immediately found herself mute. She looked at the man and he apologized yet again. “Unfortunately I have other matters to attend to, so allow me to get to the point Rachel.” He stood up from the bench, took a step toward her, and said, “Last Friday you and your boyfriend Jordan Wilder were out at a party in Seattle where he was gravely injured. A bright light came and saved him, though you did not know from where the light came or how your boyfriend survived.” The man looked at her and asked whether she could guess how her Jordan was saved. At first Rachel only glared at him, but the man merely snickered and told her she could speak again.
“I don’t know…Did you save him?” she guessed.
He shook his head, “No, it was you Rachel.”
She laughed nervously and denied it. “That’s impos–”
“Rachel,” the man stopped her, “Look around you. All of this should be enough to dissuade any doubt you have about what is possible and impossible. When I say you were the one who healed Jordan Wilder I am not lying to you nor is what I have told you false.” The armored man apologized for his tone and continued to explain the ability to her. “You are able to heal yourself and others from ailments, be it a toxin, a severed limb, or a simple cut. Beyond that you are able to also heal mental illness alongside deformity and a nearly innumerable list of illnesses.”
“How am I supposed to do that though?”
The man grinned and told her it was something she would have to learn for herself.
He turned to leave but she stopped him, “Who are you?”
The armored man didn’t answer her. He instead recited another scripture, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick: and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew five, fourteen through sixteen.” He turned from her and continued to walk away while he told her to live a good life, as well as an instruction to give up the drugs she consumed. “Although you now know they can’t possibly harm you, I ask that you treat yourself better. You are a very special girl Rachel, someone who very many people care for and love. In fact, there are many who watch over you and want the absolute best for you. So I ask of you Rachel, please cast aside whatever doubt you have in yourself and remember that you are of great importance.” The armored man smiled and told her he would see her again much later down the road and started away from her.
Rachel chased after him, but a searing light surrounded the man and he vanished from before her sight. The geese flew once more, the boys in the field laughed at the birds, and the world continued as if nothing was the matter. Rachel, on the other hand stood quietly in the park with her thoughts on the incident. She only started home after the sun began to set and the air started to chill.
---*---
Chapter 11
August 29th, 2029
2:23 AM
Baltimore, Maryland
Jenna Bell woke to a relentless clamor at her front door. She chose to ignore it and hoped whoever tried to wake her would leave until she heard them faintly tell her they were a part of the Baltimore Police Department. Jenna donned a bathrobe hastily and started for the door.
A lone man waited outside her apartment. He flashed a badge and quickly apologized, “Sorry to wake you at this hour. I’m Detective Ryuzaki Miyaza of the Baltimore P.D. I have a few questions for you about the man you met last week named Mario Evanston, the man in the accident involving his taxi and another woman.”
“What is this about? Can’t this wait until the morning?” she asked wearily.
“Again, I’m sorry, but it’s absolutely necessary that I ask these questions now.”
She rubbed her eyes and asked to see his badge once more. Ryuzaki complied and repeated his question. Jenna relented and told him, “I only met the guy there at the accident, so I don’t really know him.”
“He’s dead. He died in police custody last Friday.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that but what does this have to do with me?”
“Hopefully nothing, but to be safe I needed to come here and ask you a few brief questions.” His eyes flashed before he asked, “Have you noticed any unusual abilities within the past few days?”
Jenna scowled, “What are you talking about?”
“Anything strange,” he said, “Anything at all.”
“I don’t know what–”
He cut her off, “What about the apple? Or how about when you killed your cat Kiki on Tuesday?”
Jenna paled. “What…How do you, how do you know about that?”
“You drained the remaining life from both the fruit and your cat,” he explained. “I need you to follow me.”
“No,” she shouted. “How the hell could you know that? Were you watching me or–”
“Damn it we don’t have time for this!” the detective s
napped at her. “We need to leave–”
“I’m not going anywhere with you, you–”
Jenna suddenly flew back from the detective and the door slammed shut and locked before he could get in. He tried the lock and would have broken the door down had a sudden cry not alarmed him. The Asian man turned to find a man behind him in nothing more than a hospital gown. The stranger was soaked from head to toe, hadn’t shaved in days, and kept his eyes locked on the Asian detective.
“Get away from the door!”
The detective grimaced. “You have no idea what you’re trying to stop here.”
“I believe I do,” the drenched man hissed. “Get back from the door, now.”
The already poor lighting in the hall started to flicker and though the detective never looked away from the poor man in the hospital gown, he managed to say before he left, “It’s too late Sage.”
Ryan lost sight of the Japanese man once the lights failed. He tried to find him but his eyes never managed to dilate in time; he also felt he had another worry to trouble him first. He tried the door, but found it locked, and only once he heard a shrill scream did he break the door down. The sight of the room startled him. The wall where her window had been was torn away completely. Jenna Bell’s room was on the fourth story and though Ryan thought she might have been captured or thrown from the room, he found her in the kitchen with a broken neck.
Ryan walked softly beside her and turned her wrist over expecting to see the scar on her arm, however it wasn’t there.
Someone seized him by the back of his neck and whoever held him in that vice lifted him off the floor and slammed him into the kitchen cabinets. Ryan felt the muscles in his neck collapse and he felt his consciousness quickly slip away. He heard the sound of metal clatter and before he could guess what might have made the sound Ryan felt seven objects impale him through his back. Warm blood filled his lungs and a burning sensation gripped his arm. Ryan’s vision blurred and everything he managed to see grew dark. Finally, Ryan felt the sensation of flight, one last time.
---*---
10:35 AM
London, England
Jason passed away in the night on the twenty-seventh, despite his sudden start toward recovery. None of his doctors saw any reason for the decline in his health but Jason died all the same. Doctor Reynolds asked permission to perform an autopsy to determine where everything went wrong but hadn’t discovered anything, or at least she hadn’t reported anything to Audrey. Audrey wouldn’t have been able to take the call anyway; since the news of her husband’s death she remained in tears and sobbed alone in her hotel room.
Her brother handled the funeral arrangements, though the decision for burial or cremation hadn’t been made. Jason never specified and as such the choice fell to Audrey. No one, her brother Jack least of all, wanted to bring that question to her. All they could manage was to avoid it until the very last possible moment.
Audrey lay curled in a ball clutching a tear soaked pillow. The lights were off and it was quiet beyond the sound of her weeping. She raced from the first time they met to when Jason finally stomached asking her out, she recalled their first date, their first kiss, his proposal, their marriage, and every single memory she held of him. The mistakes he made melted away while her faults became illuminated. She hated herself for the harm she caused him and regretted the forgotten apologies.
She remembered the day he asked her to marry him. He had been distracted for weeks leading up to it, but on that day his thoughts seemed entirely elsewhere. Jason revealed afterward that his heart raced faster then than it ever had before. Audrey noticed familiar sights from London, scenes from their first few dates, art museums they’d visited together, and finally a quiet dinner outside with the London Eye just a short distance from them. In retrospect she should have seen it coming since he hardly ate a bite at dinner. But midway through their meal he confessed that he couldn’t wait any longer. He knelt in front of her, retrieved the ring, and asked her to marry him. He told her he wanted to propose on top of the London Eye but couldn’t wait anymore. Audrey hardly heard a word he said about the original plan. She nearly tackled him to the ground when she threw her arms around him and repeatedly accepted his proposal.
Out of all the people Audrey had ever known, Jason was the sole individual who never seemed to feel fear. She didn’t come to find out until months later, but on the day of their wedding Jason was so nervous he vomited in the bathroom only a half an hour before their ceremony began. One of his groomsmen happened to be present in the restroom when Jason became sick and helped to clean him off and calm him down. His buddy assured him that no one would even notice him with Audrey beside him and once Jason regained his stamina the two headed back out to the procession.
Audrey thought about Jason’s friends who still didn’t know. She wasn’t even sure she recalled half of their names from their wedding and couldn’t even fathom how to contact all of them for the funeral. Time rushed past too quickly; Jason would be buried or cremated in only a day or so and then the memorial would follow and from there she couldn’t see anything in her future. Audrey wasn’t even sure where to begin in resuming her life, a life she shared for years with a man she loved with her whole heart. It didn’t seem real and she tried to fight against the nightmare but knew he was gone. Audrey only thought about how Jason wouldn’t return home each night promptly around six in the evening, he wouldn’t surprise her with flowers and she wouldn’t wake up to the sound of him brushing his teeth in their bathroom, and he wouldn’t ever kiss her or hold her again.
The bedroom door crept open and her sister snuck in, just as she had nights earlier. Suzy walked over to her sister and handed her the phone. “Jason’s doctor’s asking for you.”
Audrey tried to dry her tears but the effort seemed pointless. “Did she mention what this is about?” Suzy apologized and said she never asked. Audrey waited for her sister to leave before she answered.
“Hello Audrey? This is Doctor Reynolds.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“There’s been a…well I’m not sure how to put this, but your husband is alive.”
Audrey felt her heart stop. She had already seen his body, how horribly disfigured he was, how devoid of life or warmth too. The doctor repeated that Jason was alive and recuperating rapidly. Audrey finally cut the doctor off and asked her to explain. “I saw him, he’s dead. You told me so yourself.”
Doctor Reynolds confirmed that Jason was dead. “I’m unsure of how to convince you but I swear we have your husband back in our hospital and under observation. Please Audrey, if you could just hurry here we would like you to see for yourself.”
-- -- --
Audrey only took a brief moment to tell her family about the news. She didn't explain it and simply left for the hospital with her mother and sister. Doctor Reynolds greeted them upon their arrival and quickly ushered Audrey to the room they kept her husband in. Jason lay somewhat exposed so the doctors could examine him, but his skin and muscle looked nearly whole again.
“The funeral home discovered him alive and breathing and rushed him here,” the doctor began, “We weren't sure what could have happened. Jason was dead but here he is now nearly whole once again.”
Audrey's eyes remained fixed on her husband. She couldn't understand how someone so gravely wounded could recover in a matter of a week. “Do you have any idea how this is even possible?”
Doctor Reynolds shook her head and told her they were as eager to know as she was. “We ran tests on his blood when he was returned here and found some irregularities. We found sodium thiperal and vecuronium bromite in his blood…Which are two chemicals used to euthanize the terminally ill.”
Audrey paled slightly and asked who would do something like that to her husband.
“We’re unsure of that now,” the doctor began, “But the oddities don’t end there. We performed a few other blood tests shortly before you arrived and found that those chemicals are gone; they’ve been pur
ged from his system.”
“And no one here performed an operation or anything to remove it?”
Doctor Reynolds simply told her there wasn’t anything they could have done to remove it in time to save him. “The amount of the chemicals in him should have ended his life, even after coming back here, yet here’s your husband and he’s making the most miraculous recovery I’ve ever heard of.” Doctor Reynolds added that the radiation remained but it did not concern her. “At the rate your husband’s recovering, or regenerating if I might be so bold, he should be fully recovered in an hour or two.”
“Do you think he’ll wake then?” Audrey asked.
“I don’t see why he wouldn’t.” Doctor Reynolds paused for a moment to take her over to her husband’s side. Jason didn’t have a single scar, burn, or mark from the fire. He was completely whole. “I’d like to ask you something Miss Templar, Audrey, if you don’t mind.”
“That’s fine.”
Doctor Jamie Reynolds began by stating how the final decision would be Jason’s alone, but she felt she needed her permission as well. “You see, I would like to continue to monitor Jason after he’s well.”
“And why’s that?”
“Basically I find all of this uncanny and I would like to turn this into an opportunity to study why he’s been able to recuperate so rapidly.” The doctor assured her she would not charge them anything for the check-ups, “This is something I’m curious about, something that could possibly bridge gaps between where we stand now in medicine and where we need to go. Jason’s done something amazing, be that consciously or not.” She started off toward the door and reminded Audrey that the final decision was Jason’s alone. “I’ll leave you two alone and check up on him later.”
---*---
12:19 PM
Las Vegas, Nevada
“Twenty, house wins.”
The German cursed, tossed his cards in, and told the dealer to deal again.
Nick and Strom sat at a blackjack table in the middle of the day on the outskirts of Vegas. Strom still hadn’t won a single hand, even after two hours, but he was determined to keep going until it paid off. Nick saw how much he’d lost and though he guessed Strom could toss his wealth around as he pleased he doubted the man could ever profit from all of his gambling.
Regenesis (Book 1): Impact Page 25
