by C. S Luis
"Tell me where she is. Tell me… before he finds her," Quentin ordered.
44
The Great Escape
Michael and Claudia raced down the eerie dark hallways of Milton.
"Michael, I'm scared," Claudia softly whispered.
"It's alright, my dear. There's nothing to be frightened of. I won't let anyone hurt you." He led her down the hall cautiously, walking faster with each step, fearing the darkness himself.
In the distance, sounds he couldn't make out could be heard, echoing loudly like screams of a madman. Trying to calm his fears, Michael focused his eyes on the walls of the hallway. Art projects, trophies, and teachers' portraits looked back at him. He smiled. This had been a good year to be the principal of Milton High School, he thought. A good year until-
A sudden noise from a classroom directly behind them startled him. He pulled Claudia away with him until they were in the main hall, where he could make out a door swinging shut at the far end. It appeared the squadron had made a hasty retreat in this direction, Michael concluded. He caught sight of shapes and shadows dancing in the distance as he led Claudia to the end of the hallway to make their own speedy retreat. Claudia shrank against him, trembling.
Michael held her closely to him as they moved through the dark hall towards the door that would lead them outside. Claudia pulled him back. Michael stopped and stared back at her, finding her scared face in the dark hallway.
"What is it, my dear?" Michael patiently asked her.
"There's someone there," she said, pointing into the shadows.
"Someone?" Michael peered into the darkness and rose to challenge a shape that had suddenly materialized before him. Claudia stumbled back, hiding behind him as he stood to face the figure that faded and reappeared closer, again and again, until he was only a few steps away from them.
"Who's there?" Michael called out. A form took shape one step in front of him, taking Michael by surprise, and he suddenly stumbled back. He steadied himself as Claudia watched from behind. The stranger wore a black suit and red tie, and smiled, folding his hands behind his back. He seemed to be waiting for an invitation.
"It's only me," the stranger offered in a soft tone.
A dim light hummed from above and offered a view of the stranger's pale face to Michael, who stared into his dead blue eyes, and his emotionless expression.
"Mr. James?" Claudia exclaimed. Michael glared at the stranger, uncertain why Claudia knew him and why he suddenly recognized him.
"Who did you say, my dear?" Perhaps he wasn't sure he had heard her correctly. "Who are you?" Michael demanded, facing the stranger.
"It's Mr. James," Claudia replied with dread in the tone of her voice, now realizing why he had come.
"You heard her. I am Mr. James," the stranger said with a grin.
"But you know who I truly am, don't you?" He added, extending a bony hand.
Michael meant to take it until he noticed the skeleton fingers popping from underneath the suit sleeve. As he pulled back his own hand, the bony hand shriveled back.
"What do you want?" Michael said, his lips quivering.
"I'm here for her," he pointed his bony finger at Claudia, who stood guarded by Michael.
"It's time, my dear," he said to Claudia with an eerie grin.
"Time for what? She's not going anywhere with the likes of you!" Michael yelled, backing away.
"This does not concern you. She's made a deal with me. And now it's time for her to complete it. I'm here to collect her debt. And quite frankly, I’m growing weary and tired of repeating myself. "
"Debt? What debt? She owes you nothing and she's not going anywhere with you! Do you hear me? She's not going anywhere!" Michael repeated louder.
"Oh—really?" Mr. James hissed, arching an eyebrow.
Mr. James moved forward as Michael grabbed Claudia's hand and rushed into the darkness, only to freeze suddenly and stumble to his knees. Claudia knelt at his side in panic.
"Michael, what's wrong!" Claudia cried, then stumbled to her feet and faced Mr. James.
"What have you done to him?" Claudia howled. Mr. James simply puckered his lips, unconcerned.
Michael reached for her before he fell forward on both hands growling in pain.
"Stop! Please stop! Don't hurt him—Please!" she cried as Death stepped forward and stood tall, casting a dark shadow over her.
"Then stop wasting my time and come with me," Mr. James ordered, extending his hand out to her again. Claudia looked back at Michael, silently sobbing.
"Claudia—don't!" Michael screamed, reaching out in agony.
"I'm sorry, Michael. But I must," she said.
Michael cried out to her as she took small steps toward Death. Mr. James grinned at her as she reached to finally take hold of his hand. As their hands came together, there was a deafening bang from behind.
Claudia screamed. The lights above began to flicker disturbingly, causing her to close her eyes. She fell to the ground and as she opened her eyes, Quentin stared back at her, sitting on the floor beside her. The lights again dimmed.
"Pet-tricia, hurry!" Quentin immediately rose, grabbing Claudia’s hand and noticing the mark on her palm had completely taken shape. His bright purple eyes flashed in urgency. He pulled Claudia to her feet and led her away.
Death roared as he glared back at the smoking barrel of a gun.
"John!" Michael gasped, crawling on the floor, calling to the other man as he stood in the distance holding up a gun.
Mr. James cracked his neck and regained his posture, popping the bullet right out through his mouth and onto the floor. His ghostly cold blue eyes now found John's, quite to John's amazement. Cold and motionless, Mr. James remained, and as sinister as the dark red tie he wore, he waggled a single finger back at John.
"What the fuck?!" John cried, lowering his gun. He found Mr. James's glare and grin transfixed on him.
"You are just in time."
Another shot echoed through the empty hallway. A shudder coursed throughout John's body. As Death's soulless eyes laughed back at him, red drops began to drip from his side.
"What?" John managed a single word as he stumbled slightly to one side.
The lights flickered again and John lost sight of Death in the darkness. He blinked, trying to focus his eyes on the area around him. Only now did he realize Nicholson stood at the opposite end, holding his own gun, but pointed directly at him.
Down the hall, Quentin dragged Claudia into the bluish gate that appeared before them. Michael rose from the floor, calling for the young man to stop. But the entity would not hear the old man's pleas, and he forced Claudia with him into the vortex, ignoring the girls' own struggles.
Death advanced and reached out to snatch Claudia but the suction of the whirlpool pulled Claudia and Quentin inward, and they were lost in the bright blue light that exploded and covered the hallway before it disappeared as if it had never been there.
John moved his lips to speak but no words could escape his mouth. He saw Michael rushing over to him as he felt a warmth running down his side soaking the fabric of his shirt. The sound of his own heart pulsated within his head.
He heard nothing else; not the explosion that rocked the school, shaking its very foundation. Not the screams of the principal as he stood watching him collapse. Nor did he hear the shriek that followed, of Death's own cries of failure. All he saw was Michael standing over him.
Bryce stepped forward and pointed his gun at Michael who cowered away from him. Michael's eyes closed and flinched, hearing the barrel click, only to open them two seconds later as nothing happened. He was still alive.
Bryce threw the gun on the floor, cursing as he glared at the old man. At their feet was the motionless body of John Slater. If he wasn't dead, he was soon going to be.
"All you had to do was help me—and she could have been ours. Now you will die for your betrayal…"
Bryce turned and walked down the hallway toward the exit. There, he l
ooked back and smiled at Michael before putting on his glasses and disappearing into the morning light…
German Translation References for pages 90-91
Jonas looked up as he drank from the glass of water. “Is John Slater becoming a liability, sir?” he asked.
“Because of the girl?”
“I’m not sure what has confused him,” Bryce admitted. “But if it is this girl. Then she’s far more of a threat to me than I first considered.”
“Shall I deal with her?” Jonas offered.
Bryce glanced over at him; he’d consider such an offer. Dealing with the girl that was a thorn in his side. The girl that had turned John away from his task. He wondered though, intrigued as to how a Hunter such as John could be swayed to disobey him so easily? How was she able to control John Slater? Even if the girl was, like most women, something of interest to John Slater. She was just that, a girl. Could it be mere sexual desire from John Slater’s part overpowering him? He wondered. If so, then he wanted to observe, take notes as to his behavior around her. Was John showing more human traits? Weakness? Or an alien defect?
“No, I’ll deal with her myself.” Jonas glanced over at him. He knew that when the boss said that it was far worse.
“For now keep an eye on Dr. McClellan, and his lovely adopted daughter,” Bryce said. He drank from his glass, the smooth texture of the wine was rich a reward to his palate.
“Let us see what progress, if any, our Hunter John Slater has made. I plan to find out what secrets lurk within Milton.
German Translation References for pages 386-387—
Then John suddenly moved forward, pushing against Bryce. "I just want her—" he paused for a moment, swallowed, and again said, “I just want her. That’s all—I want her, I’ve always wanted her and you’ve known that," he said with guilt, unable to finish. That made Bryce smile.
But it was the way it sounded coming from his lips. “He wanted her…” it was the guilty truth. The lust in his veins was eating at his mind. Oh, it was true from the moment he set eyes on her. He wanted her. Bryce knew it, Roberts knew it, and even Quentin knew it.
“You’re right. I’m weak. But I can’t help it. I want her. I want to fuck her – That’s all…" He said.
German Translation References for pages 416-419—
"Bryce…" he gasped uneasily.
The man stood behind Claudia, now smiling as she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Excellent work John. Where is the girl you promised?”
John didn’t say a word, feeling uneasy about opening his mouth with Claudia staring at him, especially since Bryce was speaking in German. Something they always did when speaking in front of others in order to keep them oblivious as what they planned.
“Although I would have been far happier acquiring the girl, Alex Burton. I’ll settle for the alien."
Claudia looked over at John, he turned his gaze away when she did. He didn’t want to give her a chance to ask or say a word in front of Bryce.
“We had an agreement, Bryce. Let the girl go. You have your prize," John said, redirecting his attention to Claudia sitting on the floor. She wrinkled her nose at him, since when did he speak German her expression seemed to say.
“Come on, Claudia.” John said, Claudia shook her head at him.
“What’s going on?” she uttered, not sure what was being said between the two men.
"You should be very proud of him, Miss Belle, he did this all for you," Bryce grimaced over at her.
"Mr. Slater, what do they want?” Claudia mumbled through sobs, then looked up at Bryce, startled to see him kneeling beside her, and staring into her brown eyes. His blue eyes were paralyzing and cold.
She recognized him as the superintendent but she already knew he wasn’t who he pretended to be before; she knew because Mr. Slater had unwillingly revealed that to her before all this. At first, she hadn’t believed it, but now there was no denying the fact.
The question was, who was he truly? People that Mr. Slater worked for? “The bad people,” he had said to her.
* * *
"What do we want? Young lady, you couldn’t possibly begin to imagine what it is we want.” He used her own words.
“But it makes no difference, and it’s of no concern to you.” Bryce snarled at her.
“If you only were aware of what a small, yet significant part you played in all this." He reached over to touch her cheek. She recoiled from his touch, and his dry smile greeted her amusingly.
“But how could you—So young, so naive, such innocence,” he said part in German, and glanced over at John, rising to stand over her.
"I’m beginning to understand why it is you want her." He said again to John.
“You should be proud of Mr. Slater, Miss Belle, he executed a perfect plan to protect you. He showed restraint—even in the presence of such beauty.”
Claudia blushed at Bryce’s words. “And through it all, he succeeded and accomplished his task. But he couldn’t have done it without you. After all, you were his motivation.”
"Leave her alone!" John cried, rushing forward.
He tackled Bryce and pushed him against the lockers, dropping his gun beside Claudia. She barely paid them any attention and slowly rose to her feet like a wounded animal. John swung his fist, but hit the locker instead and screamed, grabbing his wrist. Bryce swung around and grabbed John from the back and pulled his arm back as John tried to reach for his gun.
“You disappoint me. You’re weak because of her." Bryce hissed.
Also by C.S Luis
The Lady And The Beast
Touch
The Companions
The Bodyguard and the Heir
* * *
THE CLAUDIA BELLE SERIES
The Extraction
The Arrival of the Man in Blue
The Man in Blue
The Connection
The Return of the Man in Blue
