Finally, she said, “I believe her. I believe she’s going to do what she says she is going to do. Mona isn’t bad, Greg. That young lady has something special about her, and you notice it too, don’t you?”
Greg never bought into the term “special” when it is given as an attribute. Mainly, because being special is an unmeasurable trait only labeled by people without the aptitude to use a more accurate description. He did not see special when he saw Mona, he saw someone a long way away from home.
“No. I see a little girl given too much responsibility being blindly followed by people who are desperate for hope.” He replied.
“That’s where we’re different, I guess.”
“So you’re satisfied with her reasoning on your father’s murder?” Greg knew someone like Shelly would always crumble under emotional pressure. They couldn’t stand to be poked and prodded by questions they did not like. Shelly was an emotional person with the recent traumatic experience of losing her father. “She didn’t even permit you to visit his grave.”
“I’m not satisfied with her answer, no.” She said. Greg knew the direction this was headed. “But I am satisfied with his decision to sacrifice himself for Jenna. My dad died a hero. I’m proud of him for that. I don’t need to feel warm and fuzzy about Mona’s explanation when I can hold on to know my dad died for what he believed.”
“For Jenna? The girl with no personality and no redeemable qualities?”
“Right before the wolf came into Jenna’s room, my dad and I were able to hide on our side of the room. We heard Edie’s legs kick against the window. We knew what was happening. My dad made a decision at that moment to be a hero for Jenna. I wanted to argue, but I didn’t. He just said, ‘Jenna is too important, I have to buy the girl time.’ Which, at first I thought he was talking about buying Jenna time, but after Mona showed up, I knew exactly what he meant. Somewhere inside of him, he knew Mona was coming. He knew Jenna was important to Mona. And he made the decision to die saving her. How could I ever hold that against anyone?”
Shelly was too far removed to be reasoned with. She was brainwashed by the appeal of Mona’s super natural abilities. Greg wouldn’t be able to logically discuss this topic with her. So instead, he would let her emotions run their course. It was disappointing,
They split up as they entered the drug store, Greg to the left for medication and Shelly to the right for toiletries. Aisle 1 was spoiled by broken bottles of cough medicine. While there was no doubting his memory could be distorted, Greg remembered cleaning up the floors to allow for his trap to have no distractions. Which meant the mess was new.
No time to waste contemplating trivial matters. Such concerns did not add to the possibility of survival. Now was the time for antiseptics and antibiotics.
Shelly noisily walked up and down her aisles whistling a broken tune and carrying the singular remaining basket in the store. “Remember…” Greg started to say.
“I know I know. T.P, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. I’ve already got the soap and loofas.”
She interrupted him. She must have known he expected her to be perusing the Hallmark card aisle rather than doing her job. Shelly was not as dumb as Greg anticipated. “Greg… come here.”
“What?” he asked. Whatever it would be could not be important though. She might not be as dumb as he expected, but she was not intelligent enough for her concern to warrant Greg’s immediate response. “One second, patience please.”
As he rounded out of aisle 3, the door of the pharmacy was wide open. Shelly was staring inside. Greg remembered specially shutting the door and locking it. Unfortunately, the door was off the hinges and placed conveniently against the wall. He startled her as he arrived to her left. What he saw inside startled him; the pharmacy was no longer as he left it. It was now clean and empty of the body. Someone came here and cleaned up his mess. This was not a gesture of friendship, this was a message.
He walked inside the pharmacy. It was wiped to perfection, even the trash cans were emptied. Greg swiped his hand against the counter space, it was dry, as if there was not a body with large quantities of black blood all over the floor. Greg intended to clean, but Mickey’s insistence on leaving delayed his plans.
“I thought you said there was a body in here.”
“There was.” Greg said. The cabinets were emptied, and even the contents were missing. This cleaned room was proof of someone else’s presence. Someone saw the damage Greg inflicted on the wolf and took the time to clean up his destruction. This felt offensive to Greg, even embarrassing. Greg adjusted himself as the oxygen left his lungs while the blood in his nostrils heated up. His mouth watered just before he puked on the floor.
“Go ahead and step out. I’ll get the rest of your supplies and be out in a moment.” Shelly offered.
Her hands softly patted his back. It felt loving and honest. A feeling he had not felt before. Ever. His tears tickled the crest of his lips. Exhaustion. Fear. Remorse. So many emotions washed over him at once all because he needed to learn his enemy. Instead, someone else was learning about him. The truth hurt.
He said nothing and walked out.
-
The desolate city had countless reminders of Asher’s life with Ben and Lucy. His brother had been the reason he moved here, his brother’s wife was the reason he stayed. In his few years of living in Utah, he had shared so many wonderful memories with those two, and now, he had to stand up to his brother and beg for mercy. This was not about memories or mistakes.
Asher could accept his brother’s hatred; a man cannot fall in love with another’s wife and be surprised when he ends up with scars. If Mona was correct and Ben was prepared to kill the others, then Asher must do something. He just didn’t know what to do. His brother was stubborn, smart, and convinced he was superior to everyone in every way. He would not listen to Asher’s reasoning, no matter how long they argued. Ben was never the kind to accept to someone else’s deferring opinion. It was his way, or the highway. It was the only choice though, either reason with Ben or die trying.
Mona did not have confidence in Ben. She believed he was too far removed from humanity to offer a peaceful solution. Ben experienced the darkness first hand, and Mona was convinced there was no turning back.
Asher made his way through downtown Salt Lake City thinking of how to talk to Ben as well as being pulled by the memories of his time here with Lucy. Her favorite restaurant, Eva Cafe, was up ahead. On the outside, it appeared to be nothing more than a little hole-in-the-wall. As you walked in you would see narrow hallways and tight seating with walls littered with paintings from local artists and restaurant awards. It wasn’t until the patio where you witnessed the excellence; why Lucy loved it the way she did. There were trees and flowers, a wide open area with stony bricks surrounding a beautiful fountain. They ate here together several times without Ben. It was their restaurant.
Across the street was a book store with the wonderful memory of their time together browsing over coffee. They shared the enjoyment of discussing low-brow literature as if masterpieces. Once, they faked a loud debate over the literary genius of a cheesy vampire novel versus the excellence of the latest young adult best seller. The argument was just loud enough for the store manager to hear; he asked them to leave.
Asher continued walking towards the Capitol Hill mentally preparing to argue and debate his brother into submission. He thought of their childhood, the memory of Ben’s affinity for Asher’s soccer skills. He started playing soccer before Ben was old enough and picked up the game quickly. By the end of his first season, he was the best player in his age group but also the youngest. Ben, being two years too young, would stand close to the sidelines and watch his brother’s every move. Their parents thought it was adorable to see little brother looking up to big brother, but when they asked him about it, he said something along the lines of, “I’m learning how to beat everyone, mama.” When they asked if he was excited to play on Asher’s team someday, he said, “No. I want
to play against him. I want to be better.”
Ben was the competitor who found the edge over his opponent. He shamelessly capitalized on weaknesses while being relentless in his pursuit of victory. Even growing up, Ben didn’t want just victory but he wanted to destroy the will of his adversary. It was how he played sports, argued with his wife, and fought with the wolves. Asher would expect the same today, at the top of the hill.
-
“Ay, when ya done…,” Tink said to his sister. She had not left Harry’s side since they came back from the hotel. They found blankets, pillows and first-aid kit with enough supplies to change Harry’s bandages. Tink found a luggage cart as well, which would come in handy when taking everything up to the capitol.
Mona patted Harry’s fresh bandaged leg as they shared a smile. Tink didn’t understand much of what was going on, even after her answers. He picked up on the fact of shadow-people out to kill everyone, but the details didn’t make sense. Her answers from earlier were enough for Tink to have ten more questions.
“What ya got?” she asked, joining him at the table.
“Questions.”
“Ask away.”
Tink wanted to ask the simplest question first, “Are you sure about this? This seems crazy.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Aren’t you? I know you feel the same things I do. You might not be wired like me, or know stuff like me, but you feel it. Don’t you?”
She was right. Since day one, Tink knew this was the right thing to do.
“Alright, what happens if Asher fails?”
“We die.”
“Just like that, we die? I’m not about to let that happen. I’ll go up there and fight his brother myself. I might not be like them, but ay, I got to try.”
“You would be dead before you saw him. Ben is strong. He’s crazy. He’s headed down the wrong path. The shadows inside him are too powerful now. This isn’t some boy from the block you rough up because you can fight. I wish I could say you stood a chance, but you’re not ready to fight against real evil. And Ben, that dude is all in with the darkness.”
“Why?”
“The darkness can be very appealing.”
“I ain’t seen one appealing thing about the darkness yet.”
Mona laughed, “Rita called. She said falling in love at the gas station is completely normal.”
“She was one of them?”
“Sure was. Her shadow wasn’t like the wolves we see here, but she’s a bad one. She wasn’t all about blood and destruction, but she wanted to destroy you all the same. And then, destroy me too.” Mona said. Tink thought about Rita and her temptation.
“So we’re the enemy.”
“Oh for sure. Adam is prepared to convince the whole world he is the only way to survive. He’s got this sick master plan, and so far it’s going great. But he knows we’re standing in the way of success. He knows we threaten his plan. We are the ones who find the path, we are the ones who pave the road.”
“Then why doesn’t he just come here now and kill us? Why go through this whole song and dance when he could show up at our door and end it.”
“It’s more complicated than that. This is a hunter whose been stalking his prey for a long, long time. He doesn’t rush anything. He knows none of us can actually defeat him. Not in a group, not one on one. He’s not interested in swatting flies when he can use a member of our group against us. It’s like playing a game of poker to him.”
“You’re saying that we are going against an enemy we can’t beat?”
“Scary huh?”
“Okay. Step back for a minute… you said this Ben dude was between light and darkness. How’s that work?”
“He’s falling fast, yeah. Basically he’s headed in the wrong direction.”
“Could he turn back?”
“The darkness is like an avalanche crashing down all through a person. There’s the chance to turn around, but all Ben really wants is power, and revenge. Those’ll only lead to more darkness.”
“What about the wolves? Could they turn back?”
“They’re gone. Nothing left to turn back.”
“What about someone like Rita?”
“You trying to get a second date?”
“Ouch.”
“Whether people can or not doesn’t matter. I hope Asher convinces his brother to turn back, but it’s not what I know.”
“Mmm. Alright. Well, dang. That’s sad. Asher’s gotta be going through it right now, huh? I don’t even want to think about how hard it would be to fight you to save other people. Especially people I don’t really know.”
“Stay out of the dark, and I won’t have to bust you up.”
“Speaking of getting busted up, who is pushing Harry up this ‘Capitol Hill’?”
“I only trust precious cargo with my big brother, duh.”
-
The soft expanse of the sky was cold and lifeless. Greg smelled the stale breath of the air through his clogged nostrils. He stared into the abyss, feeling it scrutinize him in return. This world no longer had time for weakness, no longer had patience for those with regret. Every choice was trade-off of life. One either survived or someone else survived in your place. Lynn was the perfect example, but Shelly acted as if her father’s death meant more than merely Jenna’s survival. Greg was beginning to understand more thoroughly though; every decision came down the death of either you or someone else. Someone always died. There were no heroes.
Greg could not ignore the fact of another person entering up his specimen and surgical area. They not only entered, but cleaned. Mickey’s participation was justifiable, albeit did not lead to the result Greg anticipated. Greg was only with sharing his experiment with someone moldable, the presence of a voyeur was embarrassing. Greg was stripped of the opportunity to explain himself, not that he needed explanation. Anything he did last night was for the greater good. There were no heroes, but Greg was willing to try.
“Are you ready?” Shelly asked.
“Yes.”
They carried small baskets with the items Mona had requested and walked back to The Commodore. The idea of sleeping in a small can with eight other individuals was as frustrating as having to listen to Mona’s empty answers for any longer.
“Are those dogs?” Shelly asked.
Greg had been too focused staring ahead at The Commodore to notice a pack of dogs searching through the dust in front of the Grand American. There were three of them: two, large shepherds and one, thick mutt.
He pulled Shelly off the sidewalk and into an alleyway. The dogs had not seen them yet, and Greg wanted it to remain this way. It was impossible to tell if they were social or feral, but a dog who survived through the recent chaos would be broken in dangerous ways. No reason to test their potential, they could wait until the dogs had moved on. They would hopefully pick up a different scent and possibly make their way out of Greg’s path.
An aggressive bark came suddenly, followed by several others. The fear of them picking up he and Shelly’s scent did not stop Greg from peering around the corner of the alley. The dogs were snarling and staring in the direction of The Commodore.
“What do you see?” Shelly asked.
“They looking down the street at something… hold on.” He leaned to get a better view, “They see a…” It was Mickey and Jenna pushing their carts. They were a few steps away from The Commodore but had not yet noticed the predators growling at them. Jenna was the easiest game to track, as her cast prevented her from running, not that anyone could outrun wild dogs, and Mickey was the kind of coward who would leave her to die.
Shelly tugged at Greg’s shoulder. “What is it?”
“They see Mickey and Jenna,” he confessed. It may have been better to do without this information, but his mind was too transfixed on their interaction to formulate a better answer.
“Wait, what?” she said and tried to peek around Greg. She pushed through his attempt to hold her back. “We’ve got to do something,” she said. “
They’re trapped. She can’t run. Those dogs will…”
Greg overpowered her and brought her back into the alley. It was respectable to want to help, but any involvement would put four lives in risk rather than two. He said, “Stop it. Now. This is not the time to do anything rash. The dogs do not see us, and we can keep it that way. If we wait here, it will be as if it never happened. Okay?”
She grimaced at his response, too shortsighted to understand survival-focused logic. “No. We gotta do something. Four people can stand up to three dogs. Maybe even scare them off. But…”
Greg was done listening, “Shut up. Do you want to die like your dad? Is that it? How many people in your family have to die for that stupid girl? She lived because your dad died, correct? Think about it. Now you have the same opportunity. Don’t be stupid.”
He pushed passed her and headed the deeper into the alleyway. Shelly was too weak minded to stand her ground. She needed someone like Greg to make decisions for her. Greg did not care to be cruel, but he spoke the necessary words to motivate her and help her understand the weight of helping two lost causes. Let die or die. Greg did not look back to her but knew enough about Shelly to know she was standing with slouched defeated shoulders with her legs beckoning her to follow him. It was only a matter of time before she accepted his logic and moved passed her emotion.
Greg continued staring into the other direction of the alley, “I don’t mean to sound harsh, but this is the only way, we should go so you don’t have to see anything.” When he turned back, she was gone, leaving Greg as the only person willing to do whatever it takes to survive.
-
“Stop, stop, stop,” Mickey said. He involuntarily grabbed Jenna by the arm when he saw the dogs about a hundred yards ahead. She jerked back against his reach and looked at him confused. “Look,” he said and pointed in the dogs’ direction.
“Oh my…” she replied.
Dark Genesis (Shadow and Shine Book 1) Page 30
