Autumn Rising

by Marissa Farrar

  “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He started to walk, leaving her behind.

  Autumn glanced at the cars sitting on the gravel. “We’re walking? Don’t you have a vehicle here?”

  He shook his head. “A chopper brought me in.”

  “Can’t we steal one of these cars, then?”

  “We steal a car, set off the alarm, and everyone will be up here within seconds. The best advantage we have right now is that no one knows you’re gone. We’ll steal another car when we get onto the road.”

  She caught up to him, jogging until she reached his side. “I have no idea where we are, but I think it’s going to be a—”

  From inside the depths of the building, an alarm started.

  Thorne glanced at her, and she understood the reason for the alarm. Someone had spotted she was missing.

  “Shit,” Thorne swore. “We need to move!” He took off at a long-legged stride, quickly putting distance between him and where Autumn still stood.

  Wide-eyed, she glanced back over her shoulder. No one had appeared yet, but she didn’t doubt it would be mere minutes before they did. Once more she found herself in a position where she had little choice in the matter.

  She chased after Thorne, trying to ignore the throbbing behind her nose and eyes caused by Thorne hitting her earlier. Each time her foot struck the ground, it felt like someone hit her in the face all over again. She glanced down at her wrist and the bandage around it, worried that the sudden movement would have opened up the wound again, but so far the only blood on the white bandage was hard and black.

  Part of her still worried that Thorne was leading her into some kind of trap, but what choice did she have? At least now she was out of that place, and away from Vivian Winters’ crazy grip.

  Once again, she was thankful for her love of running. Her feet pounded on the ground, finding her rhythm. She was able to keep pace with Thorne, and they left the parking lot behind them, heading out onto a narrow dirt track.

  Panting, she asked, “Shouldn’t we get off the road?”

  “Just keep going.” Thorne’s breathing came heavy too. “There’s no other roads around here. If we leave it, we’ll be wandering through wilderness.”

  They kept running, trying to put as much distance between them and the facility as possible. The moon was only half full, but there was enough light to allow them to see where they were going, avoiding the rocks and ruts in the road.

  The alarm behind them grew momentarily louder as doors must have opened. They were coming.

  Autumn forced her legs to move faster, pushing herself hard. Her thighs were aching, her calf muscles tight, her lungs burning. The dirt track opened up onto a larger, paved road.

  “This way!” Thorne headed south, staying close to the edge of the road so they could dive into the undergrowth and take cover if needed.

  How far had they covered? She knew she could do an eight minute mile in relative comfort, and she’d been running hard, but for how long? They must have put at least a couple of miles between them and the facility by now, but someone would be coming after them with a car any minute now, and they’d gain on them in minutes. She was amazed they weren’t already being followed. The soldiers must have decided to do a search of the immediate area, figuring they couldn’t have gotten far in such a short space of time. They must have assumed she and Thorne would be hiding in the forest somewhere instead of staying relatively out in the open on the road.

  But instead of coming from behind, headlights appeared as pinpricks on the road up ahead, and quickly bore down on them.

  “Quick, hide,” said Thorne.

  They jumped off the side of the road, into the undergrowth. Autumn crouched low, peeping out of the bushes to keep an eye on what was happening. She hoped they’d not been seen and the vehicle would just drive past.

  But the car slowed and stopped. The driver’s door cracked open, though the car’s engine remained running, and a figure jumped out, followed by another from the other side of the car. They moved around the front of the vehicle to stand in the headlights, and they were clearly looking for something. A couple of men, Autumn thought. Who the hell were they? They must have seen her and Thorne, but why did they stop? Did they think someone was hurt, or did they have something to do with the facility they’d just run from?

  “Autumn!”

  She straightened in surprise. She recognized that voice. The call came again. Without needing to think any further, she jumped to her feet, though Thorne grabbed at the back of her shirt and tried to pull her down again.

  Autumn shook him off. “I know that voice!”

  Standing in the headlights of the car, was Peter Haverly.

  “Peter!”

  She’d never been so delighted to see anyone in her life. Standing by his side was an older man she didn’t recognize.

  Peter turned to her and began to take long strides toward her hiding spot on the side of the road. “Jesus, Autumn. What the hell are you doing out here?”

  She climbed out of the bush and ran toward him. “Get back in the car and drive! We need to get as far away from here as possible.”

  He glanced around at the never ending expanse of trees. In Peter’s mind, she realized, they were in the middle of nowhere with no vehicle. “How did you get out here?”

  Then his line of sight left her and tracked the man appearing out of the undergrowth behind her.

  Peter’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell is he doing here?”

  “It’s okay. He helped me escape.”

  He shook his head and began to back up toward the car. “No way. He’s up to something. He’s the one who gave the order to keep the rest of us locked up in that damn cabin, remember?”

  “Someone else was behind those orders. But we don’t have time to fight about this here. Please, just trust me.”

  Peter nodded toward Thorne. “Those are some pretty impressive scars, you’ve got there, Thorne. How did that happen again?” But he didn’t give Thorne a chance to answer. “Oh, yes, wait a minute. Now I remember. You got attacked by a mountain lion, didn’t you? You were running down the corridor at the Chicago facility, together with a security guard. The guard went for his gun, and the mountain lion jumped at him and disarmed him. Then you reached for your weapon and the mountain lion swiped at you, causing those scars and leaving you unconscious, though at the time I’d hoped you were dead.”

  Thorne’s brow had furrowed in confusion at Peter’s accurate retelling of events, but then as realization dawned, his lip lifted in a snarl. “You! I should have known you were never normal. You son of a bitch!” He went to step toward Peter, his shoulders lowered, his fists balled at his side, but Autumn quickly reached out a hand and caught him by the arm.

  “You still sure you’re on our side?” Peter said, clearly testing him.

  “It was in the past,” Autumn said. “We’ve all done bad things. You more than anyone, Thorne.” She touched her swollen cheek. “Remember this?”

  Thorne’s shoulders dropped slightly and he exhaled through his nose. “Yeah, okay. Point made.”

  “Anyway,” she smiled brightly, trying to lighten the tension. “Those scars kind of suit you.”

  Peter shook his head in disapproval. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Autumn!”

  He glared at the other man. Thorne returned the glare with a scowl of his own, one that made his scarred face fearsome.

  Autumn ran up to the vehicle, opened the back door, and threw herself into the back seat of the beat-up SUV. Thorne sullenly stalked across the small piece of road and jumped in beside her. While she still wasn’t exactly comfortable with sitting so close to the man who had not only punched her in the face a few hours ago, but who had imprisoned countless people, and probably hurt many more, she was thankful to him for his help.

  The two other men got back into the car, and Peter shifted it into drive. Lights appeared through the bushes in the direction they’d just come from, and Autumn leaned fo
rward and thumped on the back of Peter’s seat. “Go, now! They’re coming.”

  This time Peter didn’t question who. He put his foot on the accelerator and the vehicle shot forward. Autumn twisted in her seat to see if they were being followed, but the other car must have headed in the opposite direction.

  She breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to sit back in her seat.

  “How did you know where I’d be?” Autumn asked.

  Without taking his eyes from the road, Peter jerked his head to the side at the man who had so far remained silent. “This is David. He was my mentor when I first started working for the government. He used to work for the department the facility you’ve just run from houses. He was able to tell me where to find you. Of course, I was actually still expecting to find you held by the department.”

  “The Department of Paranormal Defense?”

  David twisted in his seat and reached his hand into the back seat, toward Autumn. “David Brewer.” He shook her hand, a firm, warm grip. “Ex-head of the military unit of paranormal defense.”

  “Autumn Anderson,” she replied with a smile. “Geneticist and apparent changer of worlds.”

  He shifted farther in his seat and took in Thorne.

  “I recognize you, don’t I?” said Thorne.

  “You should. You used to work for me. It was only for a short while before I ‘retired’. If I’d been there much longer, you’d have found yourself out of a job.”

  Thorne scowled. “I guess there was a reason I’m still employed and you’re not.”

  “Trust me, son. There’s a reason, but it’s not a good one.”

  Thorne didn’t respond, but the depth of his scar deepened as his whole face seemed to tighten with an anger he’d so far managed to successfully hold back.

  David either didn’t notice Thorne’s mood, or didn’t care. “Is Vivian Winters still in command?”

  Thorne relaxed a little. “Yup. She’s the reason I’m sitting here right now.”

  The corner of David’s mouth turned up. “Well I guess we have that in common.”

  Autumn was bursting with questions, desperate to know how her friends were.

  “Where’s Mia?” she asked Peter. “Is she safe?”

  “She’s fine. I took her to Blake’s father’s house.”

  “At the reservation?”

  He nodded. “That’s right. It was the safest place I could think of for her to stay with people I trust.”

  “So you left her there? I bet that went down well.”

  “She definitely put up a fight,” he said, but a flush appeared in his cheeks and a slight smile touched his mouth.

  At least her friend was safe, and it seemed she and Peter were still getting on well. More so than her own screwed up relationships.

  “The only reason she stayed was because I promised to help find you. She would never have stayed otherwise.”

  Her heart warmed at the thought that Mia had allowed herself to be separated from Peter in order to find her. She felt blessed to have Mia as her best friend.

  “What about the others?” she asked. “What about Blake, and Chogan, and Tala?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. I managed to get out of there right after that guy hauled you off.” He jerked his head back at the seat currently occupied by Thorne. He didn’t make any effort to hide the disdain in his voice.

  “How come you got out and the others didn’t?”

  She didn’t want to sound bitter about Peter leaving Blake and Chogan, but she couldn’t quite help herself. At least he’d gotten Mia out. That was the most important thing. Her friend had been dragged into this mess partly because of her, and partly because she’d been trying to help find the boy, Toby. Mia hadn’t done anything wrong, and she didn’t deserve to be exposed to such danger. Autumn was thankful for Peter taking care of her friend.

  “I acted quickly, and used my authority over a lower ranking soldier.”

  “I thought you’d been suspended. You didn’t have any authority.”

  “The soldier didn’t know that.”

  Autumn smiled. She could see what her friend saw in him.

  “This isn’t your car, is it?” she asked him, looking around the scruffy insides of the ten year old Ford.

  Even from this angle, she could see his cheeks flush. “Umm ... No, it isn’t.”

  “Is it yours?” she asked David, looking at the other man curiously. Neither man seemed like the type to drive an old beat-up SUV.

  David’s reaction was much the same as Peter’s. “Err, no,” he said. “I guess you could say we borrowed it.”

  Autumn gave a sudden laugh. “Peter Haverly, did you steal a car?” For some reason the idea of straight-cut Peter stealing a car tickled her. She would have to tell Mia when she next saw her. Mia had always claimed she liked the bad boys. For some reason, Autumn had never thought Peter to be one of them.

  “It was a bit of a necessity,” Peter said. “And I like to think that we borrowed it rather than stole it. We’ll take it back when we’re done.”

  She held her hands up in mock defense and laughed again. “You don’t need to explain yourself to me.” She noticed something and frowned.

  “What happened to your hair?”

  His hand lifted to absently scrub at the short, singed bristles. “That part is a really long story,” he said.

  “I think you might have the time to tell it. Where are we going, anyway?”

  “We need to go get Mia. She needs to know you’re safe.”

  “And you as well,” Autumn said. “I expect she’s just as worried about you as she is about me.”

  That small smiled touched his lips again. “I hope so. But then we need to figure out what the hell we’re going to do next to get Blake and Chogan free, and clear up this mess once and for all.”

  Autumn glanced at Thorne. “What do you think? Do we go to the reservation?”

  Peter frowned. “What are you asking him for?”

  “He wants to stop Vivian Winters, too.”

  “You sure about that? You sure this isn’t another one of his traps?”

  Thorne leaned forward. “Look. I’ve seen what Vivian is capable of. She turned one of my men for no reason whatsoever. Just for the fun of it. That guy’s got a baby daughter, and now he’s some kind of freak!”

  “Freak?” Peter spat.

  But Autumn thought she knew what Thorne had been trying to say. “He’s not saying shifters are freaks, Peter. This soldier ended up like Tala, stuck in this mid- shift. I think that’s what he meant when he used the term freak.”

  Thorne nodded, eyes downcast. “It was, and I’m sorry. It wasn’t meant to be derogatory. I’m just angry.”

  Peter gave a strange growl, as if he didn’t believe what was being said.

  Except Autumn had seen Thorne’s reactions, both when Vivian ordered the deaths of those people, and when his man had been turned. She didn’t think for one minute that Thorne wasn’t capable of killing when he needed to—she’d witnessed him doing so firsthand—but Thorne was also the biggest insider they had, and knew more about this project and its possible weaknesses than anyone. If he was willing to switch sides, they should use him to their advantage.

  “So we’re supposed to believe you’ve just switched sides?” Peter said. “After you come in and shoot our friends—other shifters! Some of them died!”

  “My soldiers were never meant to shoot to kill. They were ordered not to. You were only supposed to be frightened. But then we got in there and that woman had injected Autumn’s blood, and was in that changing body, and my men got frightened. They overreacted, ‘cause, unlike you, they are only human.”

  “And what about all the shifters left at the cabin? If they tried to escape, would that order not to shoot to kill still stand?”

  Thorne looked away again. “No, I’m sorry. But that isn’t my order. That’s Vivian’s. If your friends try to escape, they will be shot dead.”

&
nbsp; “And you’re all right with that?”

  “I only want to protect my country. I believe you took the same oaths I did.”

  “Yeah, until those same people tried to make shifters the enemy, and turned us into some crazy experiment.”

  Thorne settled back in his seat. “If you want to stop Vivian, I don’t see what other choice you have but to trust me.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  MIA MISSED PETER. She felt like a part of her was missing, and found herself constantly watching out for him, hoping to see him walking toward her, with that adorable smile she’d come to love on his face. She had never physically missed someone before, and she felt his absence as a physical ache, as if someone had removed a limb.

  Lakota Wolfcollar had kept her busy by getting her to go home to home, telling people what was happening in the city and what could possibly be spreading across the rest of the country. Each household was instructed to spread the word to another five households, with the plan being that within a day, most of the reservation would be aware of what was happening.

  Though not all of the Native Americans living on the reservation were shifters—far from it—a higher percentage existed here than in the city. This resulted in almost every household having someone who had a close tie to a shifter, whether that was a brother, or sister, a parent, a child, or a lover. Because the culture had always been embraced, they didn’t need to worry about the fear factor of exposing shifters here, as had happened initially in the city.

  She left another home, trying not to feel sad at the squalid conditions of the trailer home of a couple with a young child—a boy—who were trying to make ends meet in a place where there were few to no jobs. Despite the obvious poverty of the home, they’d been furious at what was happening in the city, and she left them promising to spread the word and do everything they could.