Winds Of The Apocalypse

by Novak, Karina

"We can take my dad's truck." Colin got up from the bed as well, joining Casey and Morgan who currently stood by the doorway.

  "Your dad's truck?" Morgan narrowed his eyes. "Two problems with that genius. One, we need to get it from your house no?"

  "No." Colin looked at the curtained window. "It's here in the parking lot."

  "Huh?" Morgan blinked. "Why?"

  "Because…" Colin blushed. "My dad is the member of the school board that supervises this year." He said almost inaudibly and everyone laughed.

  "Your dad is here to supervise over you? Lame!" Morgan declared and then shook his head as Colin forcefully shoved him.

  "And that's why I didn't tell you that sooner ghost boy!"

  "Ok, ok, then this brings me to our second problem. Who is going to drive it? Cuss I'm very doubtful that your dad will be up for the idea."

  Colin puffed his chest. "I will drive it you moron, my dad gave me lessons over spring break."

  Morgan smiled at him.

  “And you don't think that this is slightly illegal? You don't even have your learners permit yet."

  Colin looked at him as if he had just said that the world is flat.

  "We are going to kidnap a comatose guy from the hospital in the middle of the night Morgan. I really think that if the cops bust us they will first address the so called corpse in the back and then they will think to actually check that the driver is under aged."

  "Hmm, he has a point there." Casey agreed. "But try not to kill us. I do want to get back here in one peace and still have a fighting chance against the monsters." She said to Colin who laughed.

  "I'll do my best.” He promised.

  "Ok, then it’s settled." Morgan said. "Colin will drive us to the hospital and then we will kidnap my body and bring it back here."

  He looked at Toby. "Oh, and you need to sit this one out Toby, I'm sorry, but you are injured, it will only slow us down."

  "I know." Toby agreed. "I'll cover for you if Kafka will notice you disappeared on her." "Ok, good." Morgan looked back at Casey and Colin.

  "You guys go get some rest for now, we still have a few hours till dark and I really will feel better if I knew that you are going on this mission refreshed."

  Casey laughed. '”Ok, but what about you and Jon?"

  "Jon?" Jon smiled. "Well, we don’t really need the same rest that humans do, we will be ok."

  "Ok." Colin agreed as he stretched, headed for the doorway. "Rest sounds actually good at the moment and I am currently starving so I will go eat something in the cafeteria before I head to bed."

  "We will meet back here in three hours." Casey said and Colin put his thumbs up and then he left them, silently closing the door behind him as he walked out of the room.

  “I should get some sleep too.” Casey yawned. "I haven’t slept since…"

  She glanced at Morgan.

  ”Since they found me?" Morgan frowned.

  "Sorry…" Casey mumbled.

  "Don’t be sorry Casey, just get some rest.” Morgan sighed and Casey smiled and leaned over to her siblings to quickly hug them, then she stretched as well and already half asleep crawled into her bed on the other side of the room from Toby.

  "Sleep well little sister." Morgan whispered. "You too Toby."

  Toby laughed. "Yes mom.” He said, groggily turning over and curling up into the covers.

  “How’s your back?” Jon asked Toby as he leaned over him to inspect the gash visible through his torn up shirt.

  “It’s not deep.” Toby mumbled. ”I don’t even feel it anymore.”

  ”Hmm...” Jon looked over the wound. The blade barely grazed the skin but a long line of dry blood stretched from Toby’s shoulder blade all the way down to his tail bone.

  Jon helped Toby remove the blood soaked shirt and then he and Morgan bandaged Toby’s leg and wounds, making sure that their friend was comfortable enough to try and sleep.

  A couple of minutes later both Casey and Toby were softly snoring, Casey cuddled against Morgan's lap while Morgan sat down on the bed beside her and Jon joined him at the edge of the bed.

  Morgan gently stroked Casey’s hair, going over with Jon on their escape tactics.

  If push comes to shove, they decided, they will have to leave the body behind and get Casey and Colin out of there.

  Morgan still hoped that his mother will come to her senses cuss getting Casey off the revenge path in case her plan goes into action will be close to nonexistent, he was sure of that.

  Chapter eleven: The kidnapping

  Night found Casey all dressed in black and standing at the entrance of the school next to her brothers, waiting outside for Colin to arrive.

  ”Hey! Casey!”

  “Shhh! Do you want the whole school to hear us?” Casey hissed him as Colin finally came down the steps of the veranda, carrying in his hands a black cloth bag and a huge flashlight. “What’s in the bag?” Casey asked and Colin winked.

  "Always be prepared." He said, heading off to the parking lot with the Tepes siblings following closely behind him.

  ”It’s over here.” Colin pointed at the green truck that stood by the main gate way.

  “Do you have the keys?”

  Casey whispered and Colin dug the dangling chain out of his back pocket. “Took it while he was in a meeting with Kafka, they are planning to tight up security as of tomorrow so if we are doing this…”

  “We are doing this.” Casey interrupted. “Get in.” She said as Colin opened the front sit door.

  They climbed into the truck and then Colin took a deep breath and put the key into the ignition. He carefully backed the truck out of the parking lot, visibly tense as he never was before.

  “Are you sure that you know what you are doing?” Casey asked him as the car rolled out of the front gates.

  “Yes.” Colin snarled, his hands tightening around the black steering wheel.

  “Just don’t distract me. Please.” He asked.

  “I won’t.” Casey sat back, glancing up at the mirror to check on her brothers, they smiled back at her. They were really on their way to kidnap someone.

  She took a deep breath. ‘Just let it pass quickly.’ She thought to herself as the car got up on the highway, and as it did a dark figure that stood in the third floor window, watching their every movement smiled to herself silently and then let the curtains drop back to their place. They had been seen.

  The road was almost empty as the little gang made its way to the hospital.

  Colin drove with an uncharacteristic seriousness and consecration; he didn't want the cops to catch them even before they had managed to execute their plan. actually it was his father’s reaction he was more afraid of then the police and Morgan was fairly impressed by Colin's driving skills, so impressed in fact that he had decided to get his friend to teach him how to drive just like that, ones he gets his body back, of course.

  ”We're here…” Colin breathed out in relive as they finally arrived at their sterile destination. Colin had turned off the tracks lights and slowly rolled the car to park behind a big break wall about twenty feet from the main entrance to the white building.

  Colin turned off the engine and then the teens quickly got out of the truck.

  Jon closed the back door and then he walked up to Casey, taking her right hand and looking at the hand watch that his sister was wearing.

  “It’s five past midnight.” He looked up at the doors. “The shift change should happen at any minute now." He said to his friends as they watched the fat guard at the entrance.

  ”C’mon…Move already…” Casey muttered as she and her friends leaned over the corner of the wall and watched with anticipation as the gorilla like guard finished his smoke and finally left the creaking plastic chair he was sitting on.

  "C'mon!" Morgan whispered as he was the first to leave the safety of the break wall and the one to lead his friends through the now openly unguarded hospital door and into the brightly lightened lobby.

  "Now as
of here everyone has to be quiet, you can’t draw attention to yourselves."

  Morgan warned Colin and Casey seriously, his eyes specially lingering on Casey as he said it.

  "What the hell are you looking at me for?!" Casey asked annoyed loudly.

  "Shhh!" Morgan put his hand over Casey’s mouth. “Do you want to the whole hospital to know that you are here?”

  "Fine…Fine…" Casey frowned as she shoved Morgan’s hand away from her face.

  “I’ll be as quiet as a mouse.” She promised, smiling as they left the lobby to take one of the elevators to the second floor where Morgan’s body lay.

  "Man that’s weird…" Morgan said as they entered the mirrored space.

  "What is?" Casey asked, turning to see what Morgan was looking at.

  "No reflection.” Morgan smiled, making a face in the mirror. "It's like I'm a vampire or something." He growled, bearing his teeth and Casey shook her head.

  "Yes, yes, count Morgula, is this really what you are going to focus on at the moment?"

  She looked at Colin who stood beside her. "Are we going to plug all of the machines that are in Morgan's room into the generator?" She asked as they left the mirrored space and headed to the white door that was at the end of the hallway.

  "No." Colin said as he looked around, to make sure that no one was watching as they opened the wooden door. "Just the life support system, we don't really need the monitor, it will just consume the entire buttery. Now…"

  "Now! What are you kids doing in here?!" The whole gang practically jumped in surprise as they looked up at Morgan's bed to see a tall woman in a white nurse's outfit staring at them from her place at the beeping monitor.

  "Oh…We…" Colin mumbled, feeling his face redden, he wasn't so good in dealing with pressure.

  "We came here to visit my brother!" Casey declared as she stepped forward, kind of proud of herself for his quick thought, she didn't have a problem to lie on the spot.

  The nurse narrowed her eyes.

  "In this time of night?! couldn't you wait until morning?"

  The nurse scowled, putting her hands on her hips. "We do have rules, Miss. Tepes!"

  She pointed at her, clearly not impressed by Casey standing up to her.

  "Well, I didn't want to have to meet my parents here." Casey pouted, looking at Morgan who gave her a thumb up to continue.

  The nurse crossed her arms over her chest; she clearly wasn't going to be an easy one to deal with.

  "I don’t really care about your domestic problems young lady, this hospital have rules. Visiting hours are from eight to eight. I think that this is enough time to visit your brother. Don't think that you will get special treatment over his condition, maybe the other nurses were lenient with you but on my shift you can't just barge in here like you own the place! And another thing…"

  She paused, seeing that the girl in front of her was focused on something else, a spot behind her back. She frowned and turned, her eyes suddenly widening as she looked at what Casey was staring at.

  "How…?" She shuttered, her eyes zeroed directly on Morgan. And it was not the Morgan that lay in the bed that you would expect her to see in the small bedroom but the actual Morgan, his soul that now stood directly behind her.

  "What…?" Morgan blinked as he realizes that she was in fact looking at his ghost and not at his body.

  "You…" He glanced at Casey who shrugged, as confused as he was.

  ”You can see me?!" He asked, a little taken aback by the disturbing discovery.

  The nurse's surprised gaze turned into a frown at his words.

  "Of course I can see you!" She put her hands on her hips again. "You are standing right here! Are you triplets?" She asked but Morgan ignored her, turning to his astonished companions.

  "How the fuck can she see me?!" He demanded. “What's going on here?! Only you guys supposed to see me! Only you could!"

  “I don’t know!” Casey screeched. “I thought only we can see you!”

  The nurse's frown depend, she didn't seem to get what was all the commotion about.

  She looked at Casey and then at Morgan.

  "There is no need for this kind of langue! And I would appreciate if you stepped away from the patient…OH MY GOD!" She screamed as she tried to grab Morgan's hand to pull him away from the bed side.

  But tried was the key word here as her hand went through his ghostly arm like Din's went through it on the first day he became a spirit.

  It was clear at that moment to all present that the astonished nurse was seconds away from screaming her head off so Jon, who until then stood behind the curtain that surrounded Morgan's unconscious body decided to stop her from exposing their presence.

  He quickly jumped from behind the curtain, coming closely behind the tall woman; it was good that he was at the same high that she was so he managed to plaster one firm hand on her mouth and one on her bare arm to keep her from running.

  He twisted her arm back to make it impossible for her to move and thanking every god that for a boy half her age he was strong enough to hold the erratic woman.

  "Please don’t scream!" He asked. "We are not going to hurt you. We didn't come here to hurt anyone; we came here for one reason…"

  "How are you doing this?" Morgan asked him as Jon was trying to calm the heaving woman. "How are you holding her?"

  "Not sure." Jon looked at his hands. "I just wanted to stop her…Now,"

  He addressed the nurse that stood still in his grasp.

  ”Miss, we are not the bad guys here and not some random hooligans so just nod if you promise not to scream and I will let you go and explain everything, I promise."

  The nurse took a deep breath through her nose and nodded slowly, Jon smiled and removed his hands, letting her step forward and turn to face him.

  "How many of you are there?" She asked, frightened, seeing for the first time that there are tree almost cloned boys and a relatively identical girl in the room with her and another boy that looked at the same age as the four others but did not look anything like them.

  "What do you want? What are you here for?" She asked them, seeing that she will not get an answer to her first question and noticing that the other boy was stepping up to the bed and as he did that, he had pulled the covers up, to cover the unconscious boy's face and then proceeded to the life support machines with a clear intend to unplug them.

  "We are here for him." Colin told her, pointing at Morgan that lay on the bad and looking for the plug for the pump that was working none stop beside them.

  "Are you here to kill him?" The nurse shuddered.

  "NO!" Casey almost screamed, making her jump in fear and stumble backwards.

  "We are here to save him!" She declared. "My parents and the doctors in this stupid hospital are up for the killing and we are not going to let this happen, we are taking him away with us." She informed her in a very passionate, none compromised manner.

  "No! You can't do that!" The nurse half begged, half attempted to sound like the older authority. "I won't allow…"

  "We can!" Casey interrupted her declaration. "And we will! So don't you even think about trying to stop us!"

  "But you don’t have any medical training!" The nurse attempted to reason with the teens in front of her." You don't know how to handle a comatose patient!"

  "Oh, don't worry." Colin said from his place at the generator. "I read lots of papers on the internet regarding the subject." He assured her, getting up and looking for the correct plug behind Morgan's head board.

  "That's not enough!" The nurse protested, taking a step forward. "You are going to get the poor child killed!" She said desperate, seeing that Colin was already prepared to unplug the life support system after he found the right plug.

  "You don't get it do you?" Casey stepped in front of the bed, denying the nurse's access to Colin. "He will be killed if he stays here!" Casey said, frowning at her. "And not just by my parents or the doctors!"

  The nurse shook her head;
she didn't seem to understand it.

  "What do you mean?" She asked, seemingly trying to stall until the security guard made his check round around the floor.

  Casey rubbed her temples; the annoying woman was giving her a headache with all of her questions.

  "The things that did this to him might come here soon enough to finish the job so the

  'Poor child' here won't have to wait for my mother to let him 'Die in fucking peace' the monsters will do the job for her! Get it?" She growled and the nurse looked at a loss for words.

  The dark haired teen in front of her just looked demanded; there was no telling to what she was capable of in her believes that seemed to motivate the others to follow her lead.

  "So you know who did this?" The nurse tried to change the subject.

  "You have to tell the police…"

  "Trust me." Casey laughed. "The police won't be able to do anything about them."

  "Then…" The nurse gulped. "Then maybe you should listen to your mother…She's an adult, she must know what is best for your brother…"

  She suggested in a small voice, moving back towards the exit.

  "You have to believe that what she is doing is in the best interest of your brother and maybe you can't understand it now but…"

  "Hello!" Morgan howled, stomping the floor with his foot.

  "Didn't you notice yet that I am 'The poor child?!' This is my life we are talking about here! And I am not ready to die yet! Especially not so some stupid bitch would have the pleasure to feel better with her guilt trip!" The nurse looked at him standing there, and then at the teen on the bed.

  Her face read: 'It couldn't be, they couldn't have really meant that…'

  "Don't I have a say in the matter?!" Morgan continued his words volume going up to screaming. He was feeling so heated up now by the stupid woman's suggestion that he didn't even notice her continuing to step back towards the wooden door.

  Luckily for them all though, Jon did and moved immediately to stop her.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Jon said, his tone threatening, knowing for sure that the nurse was clearly seeing him too.

  "Uggh…" Morgan suddenly gasped and collapsed to his knees, fading out for a fragment of a second and coming back clutching his heart, breathing deep as his eyes closed on their own.