“We should have found them by now,” Margo worried.
“Not if they camped in the clearing on the other side of the woods.” Alik’s eyes searched the horizon.
“That must be what they did,” Farrow chimed in from the back of the truck.
“Any sign of the wolf?” Rhett asked.
“Coydog,” Margo and Alik corrected simultaneously.
“Maze is too fast,” Evan answered. “Once he’s picked up a scent—especially my sister’s—he’ll run his paws bloody until he finds her.” Evan’s honey eyes never left the land in front of them, searching. “He’s done it before.”
“The woods are straight ahead.” Creed’s vision was always a hair’s breadth sharper than anyone else’s.
“We can’t take the truck through that,” Rhett squinted at the line of foliage in the distance.
“What do you want to do, Dr. Winter?”
Margo looked to Evan expectantly. “What do you think?”
Evan reached for his mother’s hand and tried to untangle the knot of flashing images slapping him. “I don’t know Mom. I can’t get a clear picture.”
Margo took a deep breath. “Okay. We split up. Alik, Creed, Evan, Farrow and I will go by foot from here. Rhett, you take your people by truck around the woods. We’ll stay in touch by radio.”
“Copy that,” Rhett nodded once, accepting her orders as he would any superior’s.
The others were already hopping out of the truck.
“Thank you, Rhett. If you get to Meg first, please—” Margo’s voice trailed.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to help her, Dr. Winter.”
“Thank you.”
Margo jumped out of the truck and moved quickly into the grove of trees. “Stay sharp,” she reminded the others following her lead. “Use hand signals from here on out.”
Five minutes later, moving at a fast clip, the first sounds of bloodthirsty cheers could be heard echoing through the morning foliage causing the family to alter their heading slightly. The aggression in the voices spurred everybody to break into an all-out run.
Creed and Alik took the lead matching each other’s stride, dodging tree trunks and maneuvering across the uneven ground.
The voices grew louder. The half-brothers exchanged grim expressions before splitting up. Alik ran north around the enemy camp and Creed ran south. Behind them Margo signaled for Evan to follow Alik and Farrow to follow Creed. She slowed her pace, crouching deeper as she moved and ran straight forward, right to the edge of the noise.
What she saw made the mother in her want to scream in pain and the soldier in her want to puncture bullet holes in heads.
She opted to do both.
The first bullet aimed at Kenneth Williams, missed its target by a mere centimeter, instead striking a red-headed soldier who had the misfortune of being the nearest thing the Director ducked behind to save himself. The bullet struck the red-head in the shoulder sending him spinning.
The rest of the bullets flying from each of the Berettas in her icy calm hands found their marks. Her movements were fluid. Years of martial arts training including gun katas dominated her muscle memories. Though she hadn’t used the technique in years, her body remembered the improvised dance of death—so brutal, she had never taught the skill to her children.
From her prone position Meg watched in awe at her mother’s rapid fire movements.
Body after body hit the floor as Margo crouched, arms spread wide, seeming to fire blindly into the crowd, but her kill shots were precise. One tap to the forehead and the enemy crumpled to the ground.
Margo had flown across the space that separated her from her daughter.
Just as she moved to holster one of her spent weapons, the rest of the family took over the battle.
For a moment, it looked as though Maze wasn’t going to let Margo near Meg. His white teeth gnashed, lips pulled back in quivering rage as he barked protectively.
“Whoa, Maze. It’s me,” Margo cooed under her breath as she reached out to grab Meg’s one good arm. Maze blinked his recognition and redirected his protective rage at the bullets and battle around them.
Margo grabbed her daughter’s good arm and ran dragging her behind the nearest cover—a fallen tree and cluster of bushes surrounding it. Maze stopped his tirade long enough to roughly lick Meg’s sweat-soaked face.
Determined to see what was happening to her family, she moved to flip onto her belly, but Maze fought her. He grabbed her by her vest and pulled her away from the log as though he wanted to get her even further away from the danger.
“Maze, it’s okay. I have to help. Stay low,” she whispered.
“Stay here,” Margo slammed new magazines into her spent weapons and handed one to her daughter. “Let us take care of you for once, Meg.” Margo brushed a curly lock of hair away from Meg’s eye and stood.
Around them, the family was engaged in battle. Bullet shells littered the ground as guns were emptied and tossed aside. The sounds of hand-to-hand combat, grunts and skin-on-skin smacks replaced the gunfire.
Alik and Evan were fighting back to back as more metahumans and metamonarchs surrounded them.
Creed and Farrow were another formidable team, but there were just too many to beat back.
Margo stayed near Meg, determined to protect her from any more harm.
She had just taken out two hulking metahumans half her age when she noticed Michelle Andrews running full speed toward her.
“You’re mine!” Michelle barked, pushing another soldier out of her way.
Margo didn’t waste time with words, she squared off, fists raised and ready. Michelle outweighed her by at least fifteen pounds, and stood four inches taller, but her most daunting attribute was the hatred in her eyes.
Margo took a calming breath and circled her opponent.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Rhett and his company had arrived and were pouring themselves into the melee. With their arrival the Winter’s odds were improved, but not by much. The five to one ratio wasn’t fooling anyone. If the others from 17th Company didn’t arrive immediately, they would be overtaken. It was just a matter of time.
Meg screamed at the sight of Creed being dragged to the ground with no fewer than seven soldiers. His face was crammed into the leaf-covered dirt and bodies piled atop him, but still he fought. Meg watched in horror as a handgun was passed to the soldier closest to Creed’s head.
Farrow had been battling so hard, her breathing was ragged and face pale under the smears of blood trickling down her cut cheeks. She was fighting with a knife trying to give just as many slices as she received before the blade was kicked from her hand.
Alik was huge—his body having responded to his adrenaline rush by growing markedly larger. The thick, bulging veins in his neck, chest and arms resembled a roadmap. He had already flipped a Jeep and used emptied rifles as baseball bats, but still the enemy surged, pinning him against a wall of rock and earth.
Evan’s honey eyes were bright, reflecting the ball of light in his hand as he tossed them, one after another at the attacking throng. His jaw was set, pent-up anger spurring his lethal gift. The scent of burning skin and hair was already starting to make Meg gag.
She looked around the chaos in horror at what her family had to endure and at the blood they were forced to shed. The images assaulted. An oblivious breeze brought the coppery-sweet scent of blood to Meg’s anguished face. She forced herself to her elbow then pushed into a sitting position.
Maze whined at her, prancing protectively between her and the Winter war.
Meg craned her head around his thick, silver fur to continue watching in abject horror at the violence. Bile rose in her throat.
No, she moaned inwardly trying to breathe through the nausea. She grabbed Maze’s thick coat for leverage with her one good hand and pulled herself onto her knees.
“No!” she yelled into the wind.
The wind only yelled back.
It bathed her in th
e hellish smells of death and destruction.
She blinked at stinging, salty tears of sorrow and when she opened them again, she saw him.
Williams.
His bloody head was thrown back in uncontrollable peals of laughter. His body shook with joy at what he saw around him—bloody lips pulled back, face contorted in a freakishly macabre expression of delight.
That’s when Meg snapped.
Righteous fury replaced the anguish in her heart. A sense of complete calm settled over her beaten body. She felt no pain as she moved to stand.
Devotion and fear fought in Maze’s yellow eyes as he watched his Meg. He leaned his flank against her legs, offering his support.
Meg looked down at her best friend and smiled sadly as she reached down to stroke the soft fur at the top of his head. She heard him whine painfully even over the roar of battle all around.
“It’ll be okay. You’ll see,” she whispered. A teardrop from her dark eyes fell from her lash and landed on his sensitive muzzle.
Meg kept one hand on Maze and closed her eyes. A bullet whizzed past her ear, but she didn’t flinch.
In her mind, Meg knew what she had to do.
She opened her psychic energies and unfurled the largest white blanket she’d ever built. The edges of the cloth kept building onto itself as it billowed across a quarter mile radius. She willed herself to breathe slowly, pushing her gift harder than she’d ever dreamed possible.
As she worked, she prayed for strength beyond herself.
“No more! No more fighting. Drop your weapons to the ground. Kick them away. Drop your arms to your sides and when you exhale your next breath, all anger and hatred will blow away in the wind.” Her voice reverberated clearly over the chaos. All eyes turned to watch the girl who was beaten and broken stand as if held upright by sheer determination.
She stood trembling violently with effort, but she refused to succumb. Maze pressed himself more firmly against her quivering legs.
Meg fought harder against the evil resisting her. She leaned forward, as though pushing through a concrete wall of violence.
“NO MORE!” she screamed into the angry silence that had oozed into the space.
Blood began dripping from her nose, painting her lips and chin with red, but she didn’t stop.
“Meg, no!” Creed croaked from the ground where he watched in heartbreaking horror as the blood began leaking from her tear ducts.
“Oh, God, please! No!” He pushed himself off the ground and ran across the stunned scene. No one moved to stop him.
“No more fighting,” her brow furrowed with her extraordinary effort.
“No more hurting,” she released Maze’s fur and raised her fist to the sky. It trembled with effort, fatigue gripping her by the throat.
“No more evil,” she opened her hand and the air around her and as far as anyone could see vibrated as though a sonic blast surged from the girl crying tears of blood.
Creed had to brace himself to stay upright against the waves of energy coursing from the small girl standing alone against the world.
He felt her psychic strength weaken and cried out in anguish for her. He closed the distance between him and the girl he loved in time to catch her crumpling body before it hit the ground.
“Meg! Oh, God, no! Please, Meggie! Why?” He shook her rag-doll body. “Why would you do that, Meg? Why?” He pleaded to her pale face.
Meg’s eyes fluttered open, the light that always danced there was fading fast.
“Peace. God wanted peace.”
Margo, Alik and Evan had rushed to her side in time to hear her whisper her last words.
“I love you.”
74 Check Mate
“Weak-minded fools!” Kenneth Williams ranted, breaking the silence left in Meg’s sacrificial wake. “Fight!” he screamed.
Evan had collapsed at his sister’s side, taking her still warm hand in his. At the sound of Williams’ voice he ripped his eyes away from his sister’s ashen face and stood. The scene was surreal—dazed expressions on enemy faces.
“Get her to Danny. Now!” Alik shook Creed from his shocked horror. “Go!”
“What about him,” Margo nodded toward Williams.
“Leave him to us.” Evan never looked away from the enraged man. “Cover them,” he ordered the 17th Company soldiers who had gathered around the leader of the Original Three.
“About face!” Rhett barked.
Immediately, the soldiers spun on their heels, turning their backs to the heartbreaking scene and protected them with their silence and loyalty. Several hardened soldiers felt the first salty stings of real tears—most for the first time in their lives.
Across the camp, a collective clattering of metal crunching to the ground began until every hand was empty. Boots kicked weapons away. The entire space looked like a weapons bunker had exploded.
A low murmur rumbled softly as voices were found in the forced peace.
“What are you doing?” Williams screeched, waving his arms frantically. “She’s just a girl! A little useless girl! Obey my orders immediately! Don’t listen to her!”
Some soldiers looked at Williams as if he were insane. Others just ignored him entirely as they turned and started walking away from the scene. Several climbed calmly into the cabs of nearby military trucks and waited patiently as others jumped into the back.
Williams was incensed.
He reached down to pick up one of the guns himself only to stop inches from it, unable to finish the task.
Maze had appeared in front of him. His teeth glistened wet with blood-tinged saliva. The fur on his muzzle was darkened, brackish red. Arkdone’s blood stained his face—evidence of his brutality.
Williams’ wide, obsidian eyes locked onto the canine’s.
Evan calculated his move and began walking purposefully toward the devil of a man. As he walked he reached into the zippered pocket of his cargo pants.
Alik used his body to shield Creed as the heartbroken soldier stood cradling his sister. Margo moved quickly, falling into step behind while Rhett raced ahead with the keys to their truck.
Alik pulled his eyes away from his sister’s pale face jostling against Creed’s biceps and focused on Evan’s determined expression. With a slow, deep breath he prayed for calm and jumped into the scene.
“It’s over, Williams,” Alik hollered, catching the crazed scientist’s attention from across the emptying space.
Out of the corner of his eye, Alik saw his little brother shift his route so his approach was just beyond Williams’ peripheral vision.
“You have lost everything: your metahumans, your power, your control and your quest for blood and violence. You lost,” Alik’s voice reverberated in the emptying space.
Williams narrowed his eyes to study Alik as he drew near. His body had returned to its normal state of muscular. He walked with his wide shoulders back, but relaxed. He exuded a sense of calm and peace, infuriating Williams even more than his words.
“This isn’t over!” he spat His fingers twitched as he tried again to retrieve the pistol. Maze burst into a series of ear-piercing barks punctuated by the snapping of his powerful jaw. The scent of his Meg’s blood shoved the devoted coydog to the edge of control. Only the sound of Alik’s voice stayed the coydog’s gnashing, bloodstained fangs.
“Even you with all your demonic hatred—even you can’t go against her will.” He nodded toward the gun Williams could not grasp.
Alik continued his slow approach.
Williams gave up trying for the weapon and stood abruptly. Bloody sweat droplets had formed on the sporadic chunks of intact flesh. His eyes shifted, angling to look around Alik’s imposing figure as he tried to see Meg. Alik bristled protectively and glanced over his shoulder at his sister. Out of respect, the soldiers of 17th Company created a human shield around Creed, Meg and Margo as they hustled toward the truck parked twenty-five yards away. Alik leveled his gaze back at Williams. The monster couldn’t do anything t
o his sister anymore, but he didn’t deserve to see her either.
“I might not be able to shoot you, but you can’t hurt me either. My daughter was very specific. Her edict included you.”
“The words she spoke didn’t come from her, but through her. She was fulfilling God’s will.”
“God?” he scoffed. “Your God killed her! I would rather you credit the girl herself for the ability I gave her. If anyone was her ‘god’ it was me!”
Alik shook his head slowly forcing himself to breathe through the surge of anger the demon’s words sparked in him.
“She gave her life to save us from the brutality and violence you were forcing us to commit. Her faith saved us from ourselves—from you.” Alik raised an accusatory finger at the devil who stood just an arm’s length away.
“She was weak—an emotional fool!”
“Her empathy saved lives—even yours. My sister lived and died with courage, humility and honor.”
“How blinded you are!” he shook his head in disgust. “Your sister came to me today to start the bloodshed. Your little martyr oozed arrogance as she sauntered into my camp. She thought herself better than you, Alik.” He stepped up Alik’s face, challenging him. “I do believe pride is one of your ‘Seven Deadly Sins,’ is it not? Where do you think your sister’s soul is now?” He shrugged self-righteously. “That is, if she even had a soul.”
Viper fast, Evan was on him. The needle pierced the rancid flesh at his neck and the plunger depressed in one quick movement.
Williams had been too caught up in his evil splendor to notice Evan’s approach from behind.
He leaped back clutching his neck.
“What? What did you just do?”
“I gave you two small gifts. Meg would have wanted you to have them.”
“But,” confusion was clear on his bloody face. “But you can’t harm me!” he blurt stupidly.
“These small gifts won’t harm you, unless you harm someone else.”
“What?” he spun to look at Alik.
“We couldn’t do anything to hurt you, but she didn’t say anything about you hurting yourself. If you perform even one act of violence against anyone, you will have killed yourself. It’s really very simple.” Alik refused to explain further, preferring to remain intentionally cryptic. He crossed his thick arms. Evan stood beside his brother mirroring his mannerisms. The brothers glared at Williams.
Winter's Legacy: Future Days (Winter's Saga Book 6) Page 29
