Marked

by Penelope Scott

  Okay? Today alone she had shot a gun for the first time, used it to shoot and kill people, witnessed her friend get mortally wounded and had utilized first aid skills she didn't remember she had. She was so far from okay she was practically on another planet. But she didn't know how to explain all that to Lys, so she just nodded her head and said "Yeah, I guess,"

  The bus was eerily silent except for the occasional screechof the tires and Maddox veered around obstables, trying to reach their destination as quickly as possible and find Ro's salvation.

  Lys seemed to realize that she wasn't okay, but he didn't push the subject. There still wasn't time to freak out about anything. "Listen, Echo," Lys continued, "I know I've done a lot of stupid things, and now isn't really the best time to bring this up, but the way things are now we may never get another chance..."

  Echo looked up to meet his eyes, wondering where he was going with his speech.

  "I like you, Echo," he blurted, "Hell, I might even love you. I want to be with you and hold you when you cry. I want to tease you and wake up next to you and have you save my ass and give me a good kick when I'm being stupid. I know it's fast, but the world is ending and I may never get another chance to say this to you," he ran his hands through his long hair, groaning as if he was trying to spit all his feelings out at once. "Please give me another chance, Echo," He finished, "I swear I'll make it up to you."

  Echo just stared at him. She had no idea what to think after that. Lys' words took a few moments to process in her mind. She looked back at Loch and Ro. They knew that every moment was precious. Every single second counted when you were Chosen and the world was crashing down all around you. And Lys...Lys was so unbelievably sweet. Did he really feel all those things about her? Echo looked at his face, which was twisted up in nervous apprehension. He looked terrified and hopeful all at once.

  Echo felt the overwhelming urge to kiss his fears away. So that's exactly what she did.

  She reached up to touch the side of his face, gently guiding him towards her. Their lips met cautiously and Echo couldn't help but smile against his mouth. "You're right," she mumbled to him, "I might even love you too,"

  Lys felt relief flood his body, lifting the enormous weight that had been on his shoulders since Echo had first caught him in that barn with Ro. He had made a stupid mistake, but Echo was forgiving him. Even with all the choas following their every move, he had at least found this one, single, beautiful moment of peace.

  Lys leaned in for another kiss from Echo, wanting to soak up every second he had with her before the craziness started again.

  The bus hit a huge bump and the pair were tossed up in their seats, ending their moment rather suddenly. "This is the place!" roared Maddox from his seat. The bump had been the bus going over the curb. He swerved the bus into a nearly empty parking lot and put it in park even as he was getting up to jump out.

  A very shocked looking old man in business attire was standing just outside the small, white building they were parked at, staring at the bus like it had just errupted from a hole in space. He was short and portly, probably in his sixties with thinning white hair and large frameless glasses. He looked to Echo like a kindly old grandfather.

  Maddox wasted no time at all. He grabbed his gun, swung out the front doors and pointed it at the man. "You a doctor?" Maddox growled, keeping the gun level with the man's face.

  "Y-yes..." The man stammered.

  "I got a patient for ya," Maddox said as Irvine and Loch pushed Ro out of the bus on her gurney. The man took one look at her and jumped into action. Echo was relieved to see how efficiently he checked Ro's pulse and inspected her wounds and Echo's first aid treatment.

  "Get her inside right now," the doctor said, all business.

  Lys grabbed Echo's hand and pulled her off the bus so they could chase after Maddox, Irvine, Loch and Ro.

  "Everyone else, stay on the bus," cried Maddox as they dashed inside. Echo wondered if Maddox meant her and Lys too, but she wasn't about to leave Ro's side if she could help it. Maddox didn't scold them so she figured it would be okay.

  The man, the doctor, jingled his keys and let them in the back door to the clinic. Echo felt a little bad for him. Maddox was certainly not the kind of person you wanted to run into in a darkened parking lot.

  Ro's gurney was rolled inside and quickly led into one of the examination rooms. It was pretty crowded with the six of them and Ro on the gurney crammed inside. Echo and Lys moved back against the wall to make room, but no one was about to leave.

  "What happened?" The doctor demanded, hooking Ro up to some machines.

  "She was shot," Maddox snapped.

  "The law requires me to call -"

  Maddox pushed his gun into the doctor's face. "You're not calling anybody. Just fix her," Maddox growled murderously. Echo reached out and grabbed Lys' hand. Ro was looking paler by the minute and her lips were taking on a blue tinge. The doctor looked even more worried than Maddox did, which didn't exactly instill confidence.

  "She needs an immediate blood transfusion," The doctor explained quickly. "Does anyone know her blood type?" The doctor looked around the room, but all their faces were blank. The doctor cursed and started cracking his knucles. Without even blinking at Maddox's gun he whirled around and dashed into another room, opening up a small fridge. He removed a bag of blood from it that read 'O negative' on it. He dug around in the fridge some more and then swore again. "There's only one bag of this," he said in dismay, mostly to himself.

  Echo remembered learning about blood types in her science class. O negative was the universal donor, generally O negative blood could be given to a person with any other blood type. Generally. Sometimes, however, the body still rejected it. And one bag would certianly not be enough.

  "I'll have to test her blood once we get this into her," he was talking to himself, but Echo was listening carefully. "But it takes so much time..."

  "Doctor," Echo spoke up, suddenly recalling something important. "I'm O negative."

  The doctor blinked at her, "Are you certain?"

  Echo nodded. She had dontaed blood once and all the nurses were so happy because she was O negative.

  "It will have to do." The doctor was on his feet again and hooking Ro up to an IV. He twittered about so quickly Echo could barely follow what he was doing. He got so involved in his work that he even pushed Maddox out of his way without a second thought. Maddox had been as surprised by this as everyone else, maybe even more, but he didn't say anything. He just stepped back and tried to stay out of the way.

  When Ro was all hooked up he pushed back his sleeves and got to work.

  *

  Mickey Sanders had been a police negotiator for five years. It was his passion. The long hours of anxiety, haggling and negotiating with some of the most unreasonable and violent people anyone could ever come across were what he lived for. Everything from terrorists to bank robberis to small time crooks who got in a bit too deep. He worked them all and he always got everyone out safe. He loved the adrenaline rush of these tense situations. He could live off the high of one job for weeks. As far as he was concerned, he was the king of negotiators. Even hardened criminals wanted to trust his soothing voice and calm words of wisdom.

  So why were these two giving him so much trouble? They only had one hostage now, and since everyone else had been let out, Mickey had a lot of information about the suspected terrorists and what kind of arsenal they had. As far as he could tell there were only two in there, armed to the teeth with guns of all kinds but there hadn't been any indication of anything else. No bombs, no chemical weapons, no demands except for the journalist that had insisted she be the hero in today's story. And, interestingly enough, his terrorists were a pair of women. One was hot headed, the other demure, according to witnesses, and they had never let on that there was anyone else.

  For the third time, Mickey tried to call the lab. For the thrid time the phone was answered after three rings and a sharp, female voice answered him
. "For fuck's sake, stop calling! We're not done yet!" and then the phone hung up.

  Growling in frustration, Mickey dialed the number again. "Go away!" the woman snapped before hanging up again. Mickey was running out of patience. Never had anyone so stubbornly refused to deal with him.

  "What should we do?" The police chief in charge of the scene asked him. The police always asked Mickey for advice in these kinds of situations. Mickey was happy to give it.

  "They're fucking with us," Mickey growled. "They won't even talk long enough to assure us the hostage is still alive."

  "Should we try them again?" the chief asked nervously.

  "No," Mickey said shortly, "Get SWAT in there. I've had enough of this."

  The chief brightened at this. He had wanted to use SWAT from the beginning, but Mickey had held him off. There were lives at stake, after all.

  SWAT had been in position now for over an hour and Mickey could tell that they were itching to get in there. When the chief gave the word to break in and take out the terrorists the SWAT team swarmed like an army of insects. There were a few brief moments of chaos as windows were smashed and doors were knocked in. Then, suddnely, the frightening men in their bulky armor and dark face shields had disappeared. There was silence from inside and everyone held their breath.

  It was only three minutes before the SWAT leader radioed back in, but it felt like forever. "Sir?" The raspy voice asked.

  The chief picked up his walkie talkie and spoke into it. Mickey listened intently as the SWAT leader explained the situation.

  "Yes SWAT leader? Have you apprehended the terrorists?"

  "There's a problem, sir." SWAT leader responded.

  The chief's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "What! What kind of problem?"

  "You may want to have a look at this."

  That was all Mickey neaded to hear. He dropped his megaphone on the ground, hopped over the hood of a police cruiser, and dashed in through the destroyed glass doors of the building. It wasn't hard to find the SWAT leader. His men lined the halls looking confused and disappointed all at once. Mickey followed their gazes into the main laboratory, his eyes descending immediately on the SWAT leader and the figure next to him.

  Amy Reidman, the pretty reporter who had wanted to get the terrorists' story, was sitting in a lab chair, wrapped form head to toe in duct tape. Her clothes were rumpled, her expression was angry and her hair was an absolute mess. The terrorists had stuffed soemthing in her mouth and taped it in, so when she saw Mickey and tried to speak it only came out in angry, muffled grunts.

  The SWAT team stood around, looking at Mickey and the chief, who had come in behind him, nervously.

  "Look at this," SWAT leader offered, showing him to the phone. The reporter's little digital voice recorder was taped to the phone with all manner of strange wires sticking out of it. Seething, Mickey picked up his cell phone and called the lab again.

  The lab's phone on the desk ran three times and then the little recorder clicked on. "Seriously, give us a break! We're almost done!" The angry woman's voice snapped from the recorder before the phone hung up on him. "FUCK!" Mickey cursed furiously, hurling his cell phone across the room.

  "Pan out! Find them!" The chief started screaming.

  But it was too late. They were gone.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  ~*Doc*~

  Echo was sitting squashed between Lys and Irvine on a long, uncomfortable bench that was lightly padded and covered in mint green leather. The waiting room of the clinic looked like every doctor's office she'd ever been in. It was cold and sterile and cluttered with children's toys and old magazines from the 90's.

  Echo held her arm protectively, squeezing the puncture wound where Doc had drawn blood from her to give to Ro. She had given probably a bit more than was safe and was feeling rather dizzy and tried at the moment. Lys held a cookie in his hand that Doc had told her to eat afterwards, but so far she'd only managed to get down about half of it. She was so worried about Ro that she felt sick.

  Across the waiting room, Maddox paced angrily. Doc - they had taken to calling the doctor that since no once had bothered with introductions - had kicked him out of the room after Ro had been treated. Only Loch remained in there. Doc had been unable to get the boy to budge.

  When Echo had last seen her, Ro had tubes sticking out of everywhere, including the sound in her chest. Echo's mind was swimming with all the informatin Doc had unintentionally given her. Ro had needed some minor surgery that Doc had to do himself with only Maddox to assist. Maddox had apparently been well trained in first aid techniques while he was in the military, enough to hand the doctor a scalpel or inject Ro's IV with a syringe. Ro's lung had collapsed, her chest cavity was filling with blood. She had to be pumped out, her lung expanded and then stitched up and intubated and put on a respirator. Loch sat next to her, holding her hand while Doc checked her vitals.

  When Doc finally left the room, everyone shot up to their feet; even Echo, who immediately regretted it. Her vision blurred for a moment and she fell against Lys, who nearly dropped her cookie in an attempt to catch her.

  "She's stable, for now." Doc announced. Everyone let out the breath they had been holding. If she was stable then she had a chance, no matter how slim. By some miracle Ro was still holding on.

  Behind them, the back entrance clanged shut and Lucien suddenly appeared in the waiting room. "Can she be moved?"

  "Wha-!" Doc sputtered, spinning around in surprise. "Who are you?" He demanded.

  "What is it, Lucien?" Maddox asked.

  Lucien looked around the room, his eerie eyes looking at each of them carefully. "We can't stay any longer," he announced. "We must move on to Colorado immediately."

  "Why? What's going on?" Irvine interjected, his voice tight.

  "There isn't much time now. The end is coming."

  Echo shivered at his words.

  "How soon?" Maddox asked. He always took Lucien completely seriously.

  "About three days."

  "The fuck!" Maddox roared.

  "Jesus Christ," Irvine agreed, running his hands through his hair. Lys cursed and fell back down into his seat with Echo in tow. Echo felt like she'd just been punched in the gut. Three days? Already? Three days?

  It was impossible for her to get her head around the timeframe they had. While they were running she knew that the end would be coming, but somehow she still couldn't believe it. It was too huge, too impossible. The End was always something far off in the distance, while the Hunters were their main concern. Now Lucien was saying that their ultimate test was about to begin. They had to move and be at the shelter within three days?

  And Ro! Ro was still in terrible shape. "How?" Echo croaked, "How will we move her so soon?"

  "We'll just have to equip the bus with all this fancy medical shit," Maddox said gruffly.

  "Now wait just a minute!" Doc protested, his kindly face twisted up in justified resistence. "You can't move that girl yet, she's barely hanging on! And all this equipment is -"

  Maddox put his gun in Doc's mouth. "You seem to forget who has the gun here," he snarled.

  Doc scowled at Maddox and pushed the gun away. Echo was impressed. Even if she was confident that Maddox would never shoot her, she would not have been able to shrug off that heavy gaze. "And you seem to forget who has the medical degree. What if something happens to her, huh?"

  "The doctor should come with us." Lucien said. His voice was quiet but all eyes snapped immediately to him.

  "What are you sayin' kid?" Irvine gaped.

  "Is...is that okay?" Echo wondered. She had to admit, when she thought about it the idea of leaving Doc behind to die after he had saved Ro it seemed cruel and unfair, but Doc wasn't Chosen, was he? Was it okay for them to take him along? Would God or nature or whoever had chosen them to live not intervene?

  Lucien nodded at her sagely. "No one will object." He looked to the doctor, "Doctor, if you wouldn't object, we would like to save your life." />
  Doc gaped at the kid like he'd just told him the moon was made of ketchup and they were going to fly their on a spaceship made of spaghetti. It probably sounded pretty insane to him. Echo didn't blame him for being confused. Maddox didn't give him time to make a decision.

  "Done then, we'll take Doc with us. But first we need to set up all this crap in the bus."

  "How will it run?" Echo wondered.

  "We'll take some car batteries from the lot and jury-rig a power source. Should last us long enough to get Ro into the mountains." Lys suggested. Everyone thought this was a good idea, except for Doc of course, who protested and had to be forced at gunpoint to help them get Ro out onto the bus.

  It took a few hours, but eventually everyone was back on the Camp Joy!! bus, which was getting more and more crowded by the second. Ro's gurney and life support systems took up most of the back end of the bus and everyone else had to crowd around the front.

  Shy started crying again when she saw Ro coming in, hooked up to all those machines. "Oh Jesus, Ro! Is she still alive?"

  Athena clutched Shy's hand and stood at the foot of her sister's bed looking ghastly and pale.

  The doctor stepped onto the bus and nearly turned around again when he saw all the scared sets of eyes staring back at him. Luckily Maddox was right behind him with his gun and shoved him into a seat next to Mama.

  "Did everyone hear Lucien's news?" Maddox wondered as the bus started up again.

  "Yeah," Bold answered, "Will we make it in time?"

  Maddox didn't want to hear any doubts. "We sure as fuck will," he snapped. "Now shut up and sit down. And someone explain things to the doctor!"

  And just like that, they were on the road again, and this time they were finally headed towards their final destination: the shelters that were nestled deep in the Colorado mountians.

  *

  Loch stared at his girlfriend lying there, cold and pale, and didn't dare to hope that she might wake up. He prayed for it, of course. He prayed that she would be okay to every deity he could think of. He prayed to whoever it was that had chosen them to survive this nightmare that Ro, at least, would make it through.