“This looks promising,” Charlotte said.
Brendan nodded. He switched footage to the second drone and tried to get other angles on the tent. The third searched for guards at the perimeter. Then his screen went blank. He shook the tablet.
“What just happened?” Charlotte asked.
“I don’t know.”
He pushed the home key and the tablet went to the home screen. It still had power. The drone app was open, but No signal labeled each drone’s screen. He cycled through the drones. They were all dead, and it had happened in an instant. Whether their flight default mode would keep them hovering, he didn’t know, but if three drones just dropped down onto the camp their element of surprise was gone.
“Drive,” Brendan said.
“We can’t just head straight in there.”
“Yes we can. Either drive or I’m going in alone.”
Charlotte put the van in gear and turned down the road, and the van bounced down the broken pavement. They passed a decrepit dead neon sign for the Briggs Drive-In. The pay booths had broken-out windows. Dirt and sand and tumbleweeds had formed a bank of litter around them, and scattered bottles lay everywhere. A low cinderblock structure, which had no doubt housed the concession stand and projector house, had several smaller vehicles parked next to it.
Brendan didn’t wait for Charlotte to come to a complete stop. He hit the ground running and jumped to the top of the cinderblock building.
“…hear something?” a voice from below asked.
A dark shadow stepped out just below Brendan between stacks of rusted picnic tables. Brendan waited for a moment, and a second man appeared. This man had his phone out, the bright blue screen almost blinding Brendan. He dropped down on them. He took both by the back of the uniform and shoved them hard into the ground. They only had a moment to try to scream before he punched each in the midsection. He patted them down as they groaned. Each had a pair of handcuffs on his belt.
“Scream and I kill you,” Brendan said as he fixed them with handcuffs, easily pulling their hands behind their backs.
“Who the hell are you?”
Brendan had never settled on a favorite supers name. “No one special.” He dragged them back inside the abandoned snack bar, almost gagging at the smell of garbage and urine. He didn’t think Dutchman Springs had homeless people, but someone had been using the place as a toilet.
Charlotte hopped down from the roof. Brendan came out to join her. “Two down.”
“Did you hurt anyone?”
“Just bruises.”
They moved forward and walked between the tents. They didn’t see anyone or hear any sounds of alarm. Perhaps it was the late hour or the fact that so many of the camp personnel were out hunting for them. They found one of the drones lying on the ground. Brendan picked it up and examined it. Its power was on, but something had cut its ability to receive signal and maybe even scrambled its little brain. He tucked it away and led Charlotte to the tent where the drone had seen the man with the broken lip.
From inside, Tina screamed, “If you don’t get me out of here, you’ll be sorry!”
Brendan pushed through the tent flap. The man with the split lip was here, along with a balding man wearing an identical white coat. They had Tina on a medical gurney with both hands cuffed to the metal rails. She saw Brendan before they did. One was working on a computer set up on a wheeled desk. The other was labeling what appeared to be a blood sample.
Brendan cleared his throat. “If you gentlemen don’t mind, move to the back of the tent.”
Both were startled. The one with the broken lip got up and started heading towards Brendan. “You’re another one, aren’t you?”
Brendan took a step forward and the man stopped and raised his hands. Brendan wasn’t sure if this was because of his own appearance or because Tina had gotten in a kick or blow to the man’s face. Brendan didn’t see any weapons. The balding man had a phone in his hand. Charlotte came up next to him and relieved him of the device.
“Unlock her,” Brendan said.
The man with the bloody lip nodded and produced a set of keys. He unlocked the handcuffs.
“Damn straight,” Tina said. Her wrists were red and swollen. The metal on the gurney railings was bent. Perhaps Tina could have freed herself in time, but she also might have broken her wrists. She hopped off the gurney.
“Can you wait a minute, son?” the man asked. “We need to know who you are and how you got here.”
“Don’t tell these jerks anything,” Tina said.
“Who are you?” Brendan asked.
“I’m a civilian physicist with the United States Air Force. We’re investigating the cause of the recent earthquakes. We’re trying to find out the origins of the anomalies in the area.”
“What earthquakes?” Charlotte asked.
The man had a surprised look on his face. “The ones that destroyed Los Angeles three weeks ago and have struck almost every day since then.”
Brendan could only stare at the man, a knot in his stomach tightening.
“How many dead?” Charlotte asked in a small voice.
“They’re still counting,” the other man said. “But over eighty thousand so far.”
Charlotte was visibly stricken. She grabbed the end of the gurney and crouched down as if she were about to vomit. “Not here. Please not here.”
A man in black came into the tent and looked surprised to see Brendan. Before anyone could do anything, Tina had him on the ground.
“Don’t hurt him,” Brendan said.
“Corporal,” the physicist said. “These people are here with me. Stand down.”
The corporal had his hands spread wide in the best approximation of surrender he could muster under the circumstances. Tina wasn’t letting him move.
“We don’t have time to answer your questions,” Brendan said. “We’re trying to stop disasters like this from happening. Are you in charge here?”
“Me? No. But if you know something, you have to tell us.”
Brendan sighed and made a decision. He’ll think I’m nuts. “As you guessed, we’re not from here. Our Earth had a disaster like yours, a massive earthquake. Gates have been opened between worlds, yours, mine, and others. The earthquakes are like a ripple effect. We’re doing everything we can to keep them from happening again.”
“But how? You’re just a bunch of kids.”
“What are you talking about?” Tina asked. “We’re superheroes.”
Brendan didn’t know if he could trust the man. The headmaster had said something about his machine having been used. If these people were working with the likes of Officer Foster, then they might be part of the problem.
“If you’re trying to help, then stay away from the gates between worlds. If you mess with them, you will only complicate things and maybe even bring about another disaster. Leave us alone so we can solve this. Yeah, maybe we’re just kids, but right now we’re the best chance any of us have.”
He helped Charlotte up, and they headed out.
Tina gave Brendan a slight smirk. “Nice speech.”
“I don’t buy it myself. But we need to get out of here fast.”
***
They had made it to the road when they saw headlights speeding in their direction. Charlotte kept their van’s headlights off and drove straight into the desert, away from the drive-in. The van made horrible rattling sounds as they bumped over rocks and a slack barbwire fence. It felt like being inside a clothes dryer. Brendan clamped a hand to the seat and braced himself against the dashboard. The equipment in back was jangling and rattling and it sounded like the van was about to break itself apart.
Tina whooped and laughed. She half sat, half stood, hanging on to Brendan’s seat back.
A particular jarring bounce almost made Brendan bite his tongue. The springs and shocks squealed in protest. Then something darker than the rest of the desert appeared in front of them and Charlotte made a hard turn. The van swerved, but more o
bjects lay ahead and she slammed into one of them. The van pitched forward at an angle and stopped abruptly.
She put it in reverse, and the tires spun.
Tina got out through the side door. She braced herself at the front of the van and pushed. The van actually moved a little, then settled back.
Charlotte and Brendan grabbed their packs and climbed out.
“If we all push at the same time,” Tina said.
Brendan looked at the large rocks around them. “We’ll just get stuck again.”
Charlotte pointed back towards the road. “They must have seen us.”
A vehicle was turning their direction.
“The raised dust shows exactly where we turned off,” Brendan said.
They ran. Even with enhanced strength and endurance, tripping and falling still hurt. Tina tried to jump and bounce but stumbled and sprawled forward. Charlotte got her back up.
“A little woozy here from whatever they gave me,” Tina said.
They settled into a steady jog as they headed towards town. White halogen fog lights sliced through the night in their direction, causing the three to duck. A revving engine roared somewhere behind them but no vehicle got close. The lights appeared again, but they had stopped moving and were aiming up into the sky.
“I think they got stuck too,” Tina said.
The broken ground had plenty of pits, large rocks, and almost invisible washes. Brendan had seen lots of off-road vehicles manage terrain worse than this in videos, but perhaps the scientists hadn’t been prepared for a cross-country pursuit. In the distance, Brendan heard a helicopter. The aircraft’s lights were visible, a row of greens, reds, and whites. It flew in the direction of town but then paused to hover.
They had nowhere to hide out in the open.
“This way,” Brendan said, pointing along a paved flood-control ditch.
“That takes us back towards the road,” Charlotte said.
“But we’ll move faster. We can run. And once past the road it looks like it will lead us to the north side of town. Isn’t that where we want to go? Your dad’s house?”
“They’ll be there too.”
Tina nudged Charlotte. “How about another sip. I feel I’m dragging.”
Charlotte got out the bottle and swirled the remaining contents to see how much was left. The bottle was over half empty. Tina took a drink and passed it along. They all had some.
The helicopter turned on a spotlight. Even in the distance it was brilliant and cast shadows everywhere. They headed down the ditch. The dark road ahead looked empty. As they got closer to where the ditch fed through three giant pipes laid under the roadbed, Brendan saw a shadow on the shoulder.
“Someone’s there,” Brendan hissed.
At first he thought the man was waving, but then he saw that he had his hand to his head as if looking through binoculars. Something was strapped to his eyes. Brendan hesitated, but Tina charged forward. The man picked up what looked like a rifle from the ground. He raised it as Tina ran towards him.
“Stop right there!” the man shouted.
Tina didn’t stop, didn’t hesitate. She tackled him, knocking him off his feet. They both went down to the asphalt. By the time Brendan and Charlotte made it to the road, Tina was holding what looked like night-vision equipment. Charlotte examined the rifle and flung it away into the night.
Tina shook the man. “Did you tell them where we are?”
The man stuttered. He sounded young, maybe in his early twenties. His buzzed haircut suggested he was military. “Don’t hurt me.”
Brendan searched the man for a radio and saw it had been dropped by the road. He clipped it to his pack. “We need to get moving.”
The helicopter was now heading their direction.
Tina dragged the man to the car. She opened the driver door and popped the trunk. “I’ve always wanted to do this to someone.” She shoved him into the trunk and closed it, but not before giving him the chance to get all his fingers and feet into the tiny compartment. She patted the car roof.
The helicopter light pivoted up and caught them. It was blinding. Tina picked up a rock and threw it.
“It’s too far away,” Brendan said. He pulled at her sleeve and they ran. They had a moment’s reprieve from the spotlight when they descended the ditch, but the helicopter climbed and soon had them recaptured in the cone of light.
A buzzy speaker blared the command, “Stop where you are.”
The air around them began to beat with the thrum of the helicopter’s blades. The three kept running, but the helicopter kept up.
“Stop running. Get down on your knees with your hands on your heads. This is your final warning.”
The ditch continued straight. Brendan saw no buildings nearby. They could retreat to hide under the roadway, but what would be the point? By now other vehicles with security men would be heading their way. He felt certain these wouldn’t hesitate to shoot.
Tina was gathering rocks. The helicopter shifted its position in the air.
Charlotte tossed Brendan her pack. “Split up,” she shouted. “We can’t let them take this or the ring.”
He shook his head. “We stick together.”
Before she could say anything else, she screamed and put a hand to her shoulder. A dart was sticking out of it. She collapsed.
“Spread out!” Brendan called.
He raced for the edge of the light. It followed him. He paused to scoop up a rock and dove forward just as a dart thumped into the sand. He couldn’t see Tina. His feet caught on the edge of the ditch and he fell. He tried to stay in motion as he slid down to the layer of dusty soil on the ditch’s bottom, but the light and the helicopter noise were disorienting. He pushed himself up and saw more rocks nearby. He scrambled over and collected a few and started running, trying to situate himself beneath the helicopter. It shifted to keep him in the center of the light.
Running was no longer an option. He charged back the way he came.
He threw his stones one at a time, hoping in his mad dash forward that at least one of them would hit the center of the dark mass behind the light, but soon he was out of rocks. Another dart flew past, just missing his face. The road was just up ahead. He climbed past the car with the man stuffed in the trunk. Chunks of broken asphalt littered the area. He picked one up and flung it as hard as he could. The helicopter’s light popped and blinked out. “Ha!” he whooped. The helicopter climbed. The sudden darkness around him was total, his night vision destroyed.
“Brendan!” Tina shouted. He stumbled in her direction. He heard cars approaching on the road.
She was kneeling over Charlotte and picking her up off the ground. The dart had been removed. Brendan got under Charlotte’s other arm and they began to trot forward.
“Did you see that?” Tina said. “I got it. It only took a few rocks. You’re impressed.”
Brendan didn’t argue. He kept focused on not tripping as they hurried along the ditch. After what seemed like forever, it began turning towards Dutchman Springs.
6. House Call
They took a moment to catch their breath behind a plant nursery. The helicopter hadn’t followed and no vehicles were in sight. They lay Charlotte down on a soft patch of ground. The well-manicured nursery grounds and the faux orchard of potted trees provided plenty of cover. A large gated corral contained the rest of the nursery’s stock, including some decorative fountains that were running. Brendan found a water spigot and drank, washing the dust from his throat before splashing some on his face and neck.
Tina appeared wary of the water. “Will this negate the effect of the good water?”
“I don’t know. It could. But our boost won’t last forever. It will wear out, and we’ll get tired.”
She didn’t drink, so he shut the water off.
Brendan went through Charlotte’s pack. He was amazed to find she had another glove. This one was simpler in design, more of a bracelet, with parts of its circuitry dismantled. The LED lit up when
he powered it on. He switched it back off. There was no knowing what this one might do, but she had said she was working on one that would send people back to their world of origin or even close any open gates. If it worked, why hadn’t she volunteered to use it for Brian and Paul?
“We’re taking it?” Tina asked.
He put the glove in his pack and took the headmaster’s ring from her hand. “We can’t lose this stuff or let it get captured.”
“Remind me if we break up to keep my valuables out of sight.”
Brendan didn’t comment as he wasn’t sure what his and Tina’s status was. There hadn’t been time to think about their relationship or her, and he had been too embarrassed to bring it up.
He checked Charlotte’s pulse. It took a moment and Tina’s help to find the right spot on her wrist. But her heart was beating, and she was breathing.
“So we’re just leaving her here?” Tina asked.
“It might not be the right choice, but this is where she belongs, not on our Earth or any other we might have to go to. This is as safe a spot as I can think of if we want to get anything done. I don’t know how long the tranquilizer drug will stay in effect, but we can’t take her with us. We’ll try to call her father and have her picked up.”
He thought Tina was going to offer another snarky comment, but she just nodded.
He rubbed his eyes. A sharp pain had descended somewhere behind the center of his forehead. He wanted sleep or coffee. He wished he had never tried the evil stuff at the Bean.
“She’ll be okay,” he said, more to convince himself.
***
They tried their best to avoid streetlights as they hurried along the side of the road. The night air was quiet, with no alarms or sounds of helicopters. They decided to head directly towards the headmaster’s home and to stick to the street once they made it to the residential area. Dutchman Springs had too many dogs. Vaulting over fences and traveling through backyards would certainly raise a ruckus. They took their time with their approach once they made it to the cul-de-sac, hiding behind vehicles and watching the streets around them. The man on the highway had night vision, and the others would too. Brendan checked the remaining drone, but it was still out of power. Whatever had knocked it down had rendered it useless.
The Supervillain High Boxed Set: Books One - Three of the Supervillain High Series Page 48
