His gaze flicked to Jane’s face.
“Crazy night.” He shook his head once. “She’s just worried too much. She’ll be okay,” he said in a low voice. “We should go get some coffee.”
Jane only nodded, letting him walk her to the far corner, his arm around her shoulders. Chad watched them go, and then he glimpsed the familiar leather jacket across the room.
“There you are!” Dave exclaimed, nearing him and Pain.
“Shh!” Chad silenced him. He opened his arms a little, showing Pain under them.
Dave’s eyebrows shot up.
“What happened??” Dave whispered in astonishment, taking a seat by his side.
“We’ve found Marco. He almost died up there. It’s a long story, can I tell it later?”
“No, I want it right now,” Dave said, shaking his head.
“Thanks,” Chad responded with sarcasm and leaned his head against the wall with a sigh.
In a minute Jane and Ryan returned to them, bringing four cups of coffee. Chad peeked under his arms, but Pain seemed to be asleep. He shook his head slightly, and Jane offered the cup to Dave, who took it with a shrug and sprawled more comfortably in his chair. As soon as the strong smell of coffee reached Chad’s nose, he realized he couldn’t drink or eat anything. So he put it on a chair next to him and brought his hand back to its place on Pain’s shoulder. Her gear was cold to the touch, and he suddenly remembered his dream about her dying in his arms and shuddered, hugging her closer. It was just a stupid dream, he told himself. Everyone’s going to be fine…
*
An hour or so later they were still sitting at the same place. Pain was curled up in Chad’s lap, breathing softly and steadily against his skin. He was drifting in and out of sleep, his mind foggy and too exhausted to stay awake. It was about two after midnight, and Jane was napping beside him, propped up against Ryan’s shoulder. He looked really uncomfortable, Chad thought. With those long legs and back, he perched on his chair like a circus lion on a pedestal. He didn’t seem to mind, though, because he never left Jane’s side from the moment they brought Marco to the infirmary. Chad wasn’t that comfortable himself, but he was too tired to care about it. Besides, he didn’t dare to move, afraid that he might wake up Pain, enclosed in his arms. And then she would leave, the thought echoed in his mind against his will, making him grunt inwardly. Dave had left earlier, following Skull somewhere. He seemed to be too agitated to sleep, and hadn’t really told them where they were going.
There were no attacks since the first battle, but the Beasts were still gathered around the building. Every Ghost that had lived through it had come – or had been brought – down and was taken care of in the infirmary. A few dozen of them were able to walk, so they crowded around the vending machines with cups of coffee, talking to each other in muffled voices. Those who were wounded sat in chairs dozing or healing, their arms, legs, heads bandaged, their faces pale and haggard. The rest were in the infirmary, under the treatment of Doc and the nurses.
Chad was awakened again by the voices of fighters talking about Doc not far from him. There were five of them, and they were young, no more than his age. At the moment one of them was telling the others the story about how Doc became their staff doctor.
“No-no, listen. I heard he was a brutal fighter in his twenties. Before that, he planned to be a surgeon, but was thrown out of the University for mouthing off to some professor. And he had a best friend who was working for Michael already, so Doc decided to join him and became his partner. They’d worked together for five years, and one night, his friend was killed by a group of Beasts while heading home alone. They say Doc then hunted down every one of that group and tortured them and shredded them to pieces. That was when he also got those weird tattoos. After that, he told Michael he didn’t want to fight anymore, and Michael offered him to work in the infirmary.”
“And who told you that?” one of the others asked, doubt clear in his voice.
“Luke, that’s who,” the first one snapped back.
“Oh, Luke wouldn’t make up stories like that,” the other responded with respect.
“But he’s still practicing. I saw him once in the training hall, and he totally freaked me out,” the third young man put in. “He fights like an animal. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that at night, when nobody watches him, he goes out and slays Beasts, one by one, whoever gets in his way or something like that. He’s a total maniac, if you ask me.”
“Huh. Who was his sparring partner?”
“Rob,” he answered, and the others nodded respectfully, “and Brad,” he added.
“Both of them??”
“Yeah. Can you imagine that? And they sweated like hell under his attack.”
“Wish I could see him versus Skull or the sisters, just imagine that…”
They continued their conversation in murmuring voices. Chad stopped listening with a heavy sigh, playing absently with Pain’s hair that fell over his hand. The art of killing was the most valuable here, and she was one of the best artists. She was lethal, as Jerry had said. Only now she was broken.
A blazing light blinded him when the infirmary door slid to the side. Chad squinted and turned away. A pulse of excitement was replaced by a stab of disappointment: it was over, their relatively peaceful and quiet part of the night. Jane and Ryan stirred at his side, waking up and squinting at the light, too. A dark figure stood in the doorway, tall and lean – Doc. He let out a weary sigh, pulling off his gloves and tossing them to a bin in the corner, and it meant his work on Marco and the others was done.
Chad lifted his arm and squeezed Pain’s shoulder lightly.
“Hey, Doc is here,” he said into her ear. She stirred at the sound of his voice, and he stroked her head, hoping that she would wake up before he would be eaten up by Doc’s curious gaze. He could feel it on himself even without looking. “Wake up,” he whispered and felt her draw a deep breath as she sat upright and blinked, frowning.
“How is he?” she mumbled, turning to look at Doc.
“Stabilized. He’ll be alright,” he answered and shrugged off his white coat, staying in black jeans and a dark-gray tee. He hung the coat on a peg and stepped out of the infirmary.
Chad instantly peered at his tattoos that began at his hands and disappeared under the short sleeves in intricate patterns. He watched him curiously and couldn’t imagine this polite man with his calm and thoughtful eyes killing anybody, let alone torturing them.
Chad wondered how much you don’t know about the people around you sometimes. His father didn’t look like a warrior either, but did it matter if this was the case? If the appearance didn’t mean anything? Doc only looked like a man whose gym membership was daily justified, and there was no hint, no sign telling that this was a man you should be careful with. Chad imagined a vicious killer behind every decent soul he knew and shuddered at the thought. No, he would not even think about it.
“Can we see him?” Pain’s voice sounded. It was hoarse and thin, and she cleared her throat, readjusting her jacket numbly.
Now something was definitely not alright with her: Pain asking a permission to do something? Even more, to check on her almost killed friend? Chad blinked.
“He’s under the anesthesia, but you can see him, of course.” Doc nodded and headed to the coffee machine. He looked exhausted, more than any other fighter around them, and Chad thought he could understand why.
Pain shifted uneasily in his lap, and he looked at her – she was fumbling at her chest with a frown, looking for the strap, apparently.
“Where’s my…?” she muttered and slewed back to look at him.
“Oh, it’s here,” he patted the katana that lay behind his and Jane’s backs, taking up three chairs in a row.
Her dim look lingered on him. They were just a few inches apart, and once again, those eyes captured him. Everything he saw back in that room on the living floor, everything she had gone through when Marco nearly died, it all was there now,
in her look. It was hard to the point of hurting to see her like this and just sit with his hands at his sides; to be there, and not really be with her, not to be let inside. There was a moment of weakness and need, and she didn’t push him away, but that was all. He could feel how it was over now, and something inside him snapped in two halves, not for the first time. And yet there was something off about her eyes. He realized at once that it was something huge, so huge for her. She had shown him her weak side, and she didn’t hide it now, because that cold superiority still wasn’t built back up. So maybe he wasn’t let in, but he was closer now. Closer than he was to her in that cellar.
The memory blazed up in his mind’s eye, and he pushed it back hastily. It was a slippery slope.
He squeezed her arm lightly, giving her a half-smile. Her black eyes flicked to the katana and then back to him.
“Okay,” she said quietly and got off his lap, using his shoulder for support. Slowly, with a few unsure steps, she reached the infirmary entrance and paused there. Jane was on her feet, too, and she turned to look at Ryan.
“You coming?” she asked, but Ryan shook his head.
“You two go, I’ll come by later.”
He gave her a little smile, and she nodded, taking her sister’s hand and disappearing behind the door that slid in its place with a hissing sound.
Ryan got up and stretched, joints crunching, gear creaking. He dodged to the side and peered into something on the other end of the room.
“Hey, there’s Dave.” He waved to him, but then Peter’s voice broke the hushed atmosphere of the floor.
“Ryan!” He was standing by the door that led to the street. “Would you come up?”
Ryan nodded and took off in his direction, and in a moment Dave showed up in his place.
“What’s up?” he asked cheerfully and came to sit beside Chad.
He stared back at Dave with mild incredulity.
“What’s up?” Chad mimicked his voice, taking one of the chocolates offered by his friend. “Not much… Though we almost got killed tonight, you do remember that, right?”
Dave shrugged, taking a bite.
“We survived. Hey, Skull is so cool! I helped him a bit with rearranging the wounded, and he let me hold his machete!” He nodded with enthusiasm, and Chad’s eyebrows went up.
“Hold his machete? That doesn’t sound gross at all,” he commented and saw Dave make a face. “Okay, okay! I just wanted to make sure you meant his sword.” There was always one thing Chad was grateful for: however bad his mood was, Dave would find a way to amuse him, even unintentionally.
Dave rolled his eyes and looked around the room. It was very quiet now. A few tired voices sounded among the Ghosts, and Ryan was still talking to Peter at the opposite wall. Confiding him into Marco’s story, Chad thought.
“So-o-o, where are our oh-so-hot female assassins?”
Chad grimaced at the phrasing, but then thought it was good that Dave stayed in a lively mood.
“Behind that door,” Chad jerked his chin toward the infirmary. “Checking on Marco.”
“Oh, now you can finally tell me what happened with him.” Dave raised his index finger at Chad’s martyred expression. “And don’t try to get away from it! Now I’m all ears, please, speak,” he inclined his head politely, and Chad sighed.
“Fine, but I’ll skip the details because there’s something much more important that I actually wanted to tell you.” Quickly, he filled him in on how they found Marco and in what condition. Dave nodded without interrupting, which was helpful because Chad felt bone tired, like it wasn’t just the middle of the night, but a few days of fighting, worrying, and Initiating. “And then he was breathing again, though he definitely wasn’t after the CPR. I have no other explanation except that this glowing, that thing that was going on with Pain, it affected Marco somehow, healed him, you know? Like, unintentionally she did to him what she usually did to herself. She healed him, and more importantly, her energy made his heart beat again. Because, really, I can’t imagine how it would just happen by itself.” He shook his head, his face furrowed with a frown, as he rolled the chocolate wrapping into a thin straw with his fingers.
Dave sat straight, as if an iron rod was shoved up his spine, and stared at his friend from above with round eyes, his black hair standing out in different directions.
“Man… A week ago, you’d say stuff like this to me, and I’d buy you a ticket to the nuthouse,” he said dizzily. “But now it actually makes sense, and I’m kinda scared for us both.”
Chad only pursed his lips and sighed.
“I think with these guys everything’s possible, though,” Dave added. “I think you should talk to someone about it. Not Pain. Peter or… Their Doc, he could know something about it, right? Although he does seem a little creepy to me…”
“Creepy?” Chad alerted. “What do you mean?”
Dave didn’t know the things that Chad had overheard about Doc earlier, and he wondered what was weird about him in Dave’s opinion. Was there something that Chad hadn’t noticed himself?
“I don’t know…” Dave chewed on his bottom lip. “Maybe it’s just the fact that he’s too cool for a doctor. I mean, not attractive-cool, it’s just… There’s something about him. Just the way he moves, like a predator. Oh! Oh, I know. Remember Spike from ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’? He reminds me of Spike!”
Now it was Chad’s turn to make big eyes.
“Okay, a change of topic here, or you’ll see my brains all over this nice wall,” Chad interrupted, warding him off with raised hands.
Suddenly, he saw the expression on Dave’s face change to a strained frown, and his look became distracted, as if he was listening to something.
“Did you hear that?” he asked sharply.
“What?” Chad said, frowning.
“That noise over there. Here, listen!” Dave raised his index finger, cocking his head to the side. Chad strained his ears, and now he was able to make out some repeating pounding sound, too. It seemed to come from behind the exit door, the one near which Ryan and Peter were standing.
And then thunder exploded in their ears.
They were thrown off the chairs and sprawled on the floor with their palms flying to their ears. Startled shouts all around them got lost in the sound of tearing metal and concrete as the door blew inward, slamming into Ryan and knocking him off his feet. At the last moment he had managed to shove Peter out of the way, hard. A shield blazed to life just a heartbeat later than he bumped his head against the wall. The door landed on top of Ryan, pinning him to the concrete floor with its crushing weight, and everything went dark as the lights got pierced through with flying chips.
The walls were still trembling when Chad raised his head, coughing from the dust, its smell and taste thick in his mouth. It was impossible to make anything out in this darkness until three yellow rays pierced it on the other side of the floor. The Beasts quickly filled the place, throwing aside everybody in their way as they headed straight to Chad and Dave. The flashlights blinded them when the Beasts came closer and seized their collars, hauling them upright. They both stood on their feet unsteadily, dazed from the explosion, and hatred flooded their faces in two equal waves as their swords were plucked from under their belts and dropped to the floor.
“Should we take the other one, too?” one of the Beasts boomed, and almost instantly was cut off by Chad’s frantic snarl.
“No!! Leave him, Eugene wants me, I’ll go with you!” he shouted, grabbing the Beast’s leather vest in a handful and immediately getting a savage punch in the side. He doubled over, clutching at his stomach, dark spots filling his vision in a sickening kaleidoscope, but another cutthroat grasped his hair and pulled him upright.
“You’ll go with us anyway, boy.” He turned and pushed Chad before him. “Take the second one just in case.”
With these words, he headed to the disfigured doorway with Chad stumbling before him, his face a mask of terror and despair.
He looked back at Dave and saw that his friend was staggering after the Beast that held him by the back of his jacket. Something dark covered his temple – blood, Chad realized suddenly. The darkness wasn’t helping, but he still strained his vision, casting around frantically. No familiar faces among the Ghosts – injured, shocked, and outnumbered badly – not even one person that knew him or Dave. He tried to find Skull with his gaze and failed. The others just watched them go, their faces alarmed, and he didn’t blame them. There was nothing they could do, really, because they would just get killed or injured. And the reason why there were no familiar faces was pretty obvious: everybody he and Dave knew were already hurt. Only the girls were relatively unharmed, and they were safe in the infirmary, to his relief. Because he knew they wouldn’t stand back, and this time he doubted they would win. Even going on pure rage everyone had their limits. So no point in fighting anymore, he guessed.
They stepped around the blown up door, and Chad couldn’t help but peer down at it. He hoped to see if the fighter under it was alive, maybe moving, but all he saw was one pale hand that stuck out lifelessly. And suddenly a stab of surprise pierced his mind. He was glad, ready to leave this place, because deep inside him was some dark satisfaction from knowing that now he would finally meet this Eugene in person. And he would gladly tear to pieces each one of the Beasts standing in his way so he could only get a chance to get to Eugene’s neck. Here you go, a subtle voice sounded in the back of his mind, so much for being an ordinary mechanic.
Leaving this chaos of dust and spilled coffee behind, he turned his head taking one last look back. There, in the dark corner, a rhythmical beating resounded of the walls: someone was trying to kick down the damaged infirmary door…
Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1) Page 30
