by Pam Jernigan
No one seemed to pay attention to them, Karen thought, still feeling numb. Didn’t matter if she got shot, anyway. Why bother to keep going? Pip pulled her towards a door, and she didn't bother resisting. Pip opened the door and they both ducked inside, then froze as they faced guns.
Time slowed down. The gun barrel looked awfully large, from this angle. She glanced up, breath hitching as she recognized faces. Time slammed back into gear. “Margot, it’s me, and this is a friend of mine.”
Margot and Larry relaxed and pointed the guns towards the ceiling. “What happened? You said your friend was a guy.”
“Different friend,” Karen said woodenly. “My other one…”
“He’s not here,” Pip filled in.
Margot winced in sympathy. “I’m so sorry, Karen - where do you think he is?”
“Gone,” she said softly, staring down the corridor. “He’s just gone.”
“Well, go on down to the mess hall, ‘kay? The Commander’s there, and I think we’ve pretty much won.”
Karen walked off without comment. Winning was a meaningless concept. Utterly impossible, without Leo. But if they had Borsa… she had a few things to say. And do.
Halfway to the mess hall, a muffled boom shook the building. Pip startled. “You all bombing us?”
Karen shook her head and kept walking. “We didn’t bring any bombs, far as I know.”
The sounds from outside died down, she noted mechanically. No gunfire. She supposed that was good.
“What the hell was that?” they heard the Commander asking, in a tone that suggested it wasn’t the first time he’d posed the question. They reached the mess hall and stepped inside. Camp residents and city soldiers crowded the room, but Karen only had eyes for one pudgy evil gnome. She moved forward, but someone caught her arm. “Come on,” she muttered. “I won’t kill him, but I’ve been wanting to punch him for days.”
Borsa’s gaze flicked to her before he returned his attention to Harris. “That, Commander,” he announced, “was my dead-man switch.”
“What does that mean?” Jake asked before his dad could.
“I’ve released my back-up troops,” Borsa said smugly. “There are nearly thirty of the Mindless now wandering the compound. You haven’t enough weapons to fight your way out; they’re too hard to kill. I’m the only one who can control them.”
“Since when can you control them?” Karen burst out.
“Since I gave them my enhancement formula,” Borsa replied, triumphant. “I control them. They listen to me. They will tear you apart before you can make it to the gate.” He smiled, which was a very nasty expression on him. “I’m willing to discuss terms for your surrender.”
#
Karen moved, stepping back out of the room. Commander Harris wouldn’t surrender easily; she had time. Behind her, she heard him barking orders to his patrol members, getting them to check on what Borsa had said. She headed straight for the lab. She had to see. Had to know.
God, please, please, please… Down the hall, turn right, turn left, down the long hallway and… she reached the entrance to Borsa’s lab and stopped dead. The cage was empty. The door on this side remained closed, but the door on the other side was hanging open, half off its hinges, half exploded. So that was the bomb noise. She walked closer to the cage, peering through to the outside. The lights were coming on, revealing the courtyard filled with roaming Mindless. God, they’d never be able to stop that many, not with what they’d brought. Limited resources, she thought bitterly.
Several of them slowed, then turned towards her. Reacting to her anger, no doubt. She tried to tamp it down, searching the moving crowd in the patchy light.
There. There he was. What was left of him. Her breath left her body in a bewildered rush, chased out by a wave of cold. She swayed sideways, clutching for one of the bars for support, and her eyes closed involuntarily. No.
God, why? She should have kissed him earlier, should have run away with him instead of dawdling around. Why hadn’t she known she’d want to stay with him? She opened her eyes again, searching his face. Surely there was something left… His expression blank, he slowed, wandering back towards the building, as were the others, in a tide that was beginning to focus on the place housing so many people. The emotions swirling through the camp would be a real treat for them. For him.
Pip came up beside her. “Oh, man…”
“What was it all about?” Karen asked, not really expecting an answer. “I thought God wanted to fix this… but it’s worse. I don’t understand.”
“Just ‘cause it don’t make sense, don’t mean that God’s not working, is all I know,” Pip said quietly.
That didn’t help at all.
Staring at Leo’s blank face, all their blank faces, she shivered. If Borsa really could control them, the whole world was doomed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Karen stared at the courtyard in despair. There was just no way to win this. Okay God, she silently prayed. I’ve tried this my way, they tried this their way, none of it worked… please save the world. Somehow.
There seemed to be a breathless pause, or maybe that was just in her head. Love your enemies. The thought came out of nowhere, echoing in her mind. Trust Me.
What? What did that mean? She looked across the yard, her eye picking out Leo, his face expressionless. Her heart cried. A plan formed. Love my enemies, huh? Okay.
On the thought, she moved forward, passing through the cage and out the other side. No doubts, no reconsidering. No being sensible. Too late for that. She kept her fear in check, blocking transmission as much as she could, focusing on Leo’s beloved face. She had to try to reach him, had to re-awaken him, to help him re-create the miracle Borsa had erased. There was no other hope.
Her steps sped up a little. The other Mindless were stirring as she passed but otherwise ignoring her. Leo was looking right at her - was he really seeing her? She broke into a run and launched herself against him in a hug. This began with a hug. Let’s get it re-started.
She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment, then pulled back, studying his face. “Leo, are you in there? You have to be okay. Leo… come back to me, please.” He didn’t move; his face didn’t react. Not exactly rejection, but way too close to it. She blinked back tears. “You don’t have to hurt me. I’ll give you all the feelings you need.” She closed her eyes, trying not to cry, and focused on her memories of him.
Leo saving her, over and over. Sitting with him in the sunlight. The look on his face when she’d asked him his opinion on clothing. His eyes smiling at her as he played a good hand of cards. Waking up next to him, holding his hand while watching a sunset, kissing him goodbye when he went off to distract the bad guys. “I-” she choked up, realizing what she was about to say, and forced it out. “I think I love you, Leo. Which shouldn’t be possible and doesn’t make any sense, but… nothing about this makes sense. You’re amazing and wonderful and I’m so glad I met you. Please, please remember.”
His arms moved, slowly encircling her waist. Drawing her a little closer, but not harming her. She gasped with happiness, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. Progress. Slow, but positive. He’d always been a little slow, she was good with that. She was patient. She could wait forever if she had to.
Or maybe not. She retreated just far enough to see his face, blinking the tears away. His eyes met hers, some spark of intelligence now lurking inside. Yes! She could feel his puzzlement, see the confusion in the slight tilt of his head. She drew her hands from the back of his neck up to frame his face, lightly cupping his cheeks. “Leo, remember me, please,” she begged, searching his eyes for any trace of recognition. “Please? I need you. You have to come back to me.”
No change. She bit her lip. He still wasn’t attacking, so there was that, but he seemed frozen, just staring. He needed a catalyst. Something to tip him over the edge, shock him into motion. She stretched up and kissed him.
#
He didn’t know what to do. He was supposed to attack, to feed on fear. That’s what the voice had said. The woman in his arms didn’t feel fear. What she felt… he didn’t have words, but he knew it wasn’t fear.
It was so much better.
He allowed it to wash over him, warm and sweet, glowing brightly. It settled into the deep emptiness within. Displacing the darkness. The emotions continued to pour out of her, filling him to overflowing.
She was talking, too. Remember her? Did he know her? He didn’t know anything.
She pulled away from him, just a little, and he studied her face. She was starting to seem familiar; the weight of her so right in his arms. Her hands were caressing his neck, then on his cheeks, warmth pulsing into his skin. Then she kissed him. Just reached right up and put her lips onto his.
Little explosions started going off in his brain. Her lips were moving gently, detaching and attaching again. Each one shocking him, each one shedding more light on the dark corners, revealing what hid there. He needed this. He found himself leaning forward, his eyes drifting closed. Tentatively, he moved his lips, mimicking her actions.
She pulled back, and he looked at her, watched her staring at him in wonder. Her emotions shifted, and now he had the words. Excitement. Joy. Love.
He tried speaking; he needed to say this. “Kar… en.”
Her smile lit up her face. “Leo, you’re doing it, you’re coming back!” She felt fizzy with delight, and he wanted more. One hand came up from her hips to the back of her head, gently (must be careful!) pulling her forward. Her eyes widened before fluttering closed. He kissed her, and she responded, hands running through his hair and over his upper back.
Much better than the last time.
More explosions behind his eyelids, faster, blending together into a fury of silent sound and invisible light.
The last time. Yes, he knew now. They had been at a house… and before that, they’d watched a sunset, and before that, conversations and card games and saving each other.
Love. So much love. He was overflowing with it and tried to project it back to her. Her lips curved beneath his, and her love strengthened even more. There were others around, but Leo barely registered their presence, their interest. Too focused on remembering, connecting - re-connecting - with his Karen.
#
Karen didn’t want to stop kissing Leo, but she needed confirmation. Did he really remember everything? She pulled back reluctantly, smiling at his blitzed expression. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, returning to reality with her. “Yeah.” His head jerked up as something beyond her awareness commanded his attention. He drew her closer, his body tense. She turned against his chest to see a crowd of the Mindless hemming them in on all sides. A hand touched her shoulder.
“Oh, crap,” she said, fear swirling in her stomach... until she felt a Leo-calm descend on her. For the moment, she decided that she was okay with that.
“Karen,” he directed quietly, “You need to go. Stay calm, but leave.”
Without him? “No, I’m done leaving you.”
The Mindless slowed, some of them starting to blink and twitch. Confusion seemed to spread as they looked around and, apparently for the first time, noticed each other. For the first time, probably, noticing themselves.
The older guy in the red tie - Jamal - pushed through the crowd, frowning. “Leo,” he said carefully. “And Karen. What did you just do?”
Karen blushed. “Um, kissed?”
Leo took a sudden breath. “We… we shared.” He loosened his hold far enough to meet her eyes. “Remember, at the house, when I projected that fear? I think we did that, here, only…”
She started to smile. “We weren’t afraid.”
He smiled back, and it transformed his face. And weakened her knees. Oh, she'd do anything he wanted, if he’d smile like that. She sagged a little in his arms, lips curving upwards all on their own. No, she couldn’t do this. Not yet. She blinked, trying to ward off the effects, and forced herself to look away, back at the others. For now.
Leo nodded to the other man. “Jamal. Right?”
Jamal looked away for a startled second, then his eyes found Leo’s face again. “Yeah.” He straightened up, turning to address the rest of the crowd clustering together.
Leo drew Karen backward, edging away from the clot of recovering Mindless while Jamal attempted to explain what had happened, where they were, and how they’d come to be there.
Good news, they had expressions now. Bad news, some of the expressions were pretty ugly.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“The guy who did this. He's here?” one of the ladies demanded.
“Borsa.” Jamal nodded. “Inside that building, yeah.”
One of the men swore. “That SOB nearly killed us - did kill my family, probably yours, too. He needs to pay.”
“We can do that,” one of the younger men said, grimly. “Just let me at him; I’ll tear him apart with my bare hands.”
Oh, crap this wasn’t good. In one corner of her mind Karen realized they were all broadcasting anger, fueling each other. A dangerous feedback loop.
“What are y’all doing?”
Karen looked sideways to see Pip marching up to the mob. What on earth? Oh, God, they’ll tear her to pieces… She felt Leo trying to calm down the crowd, but there were so many of them. Maybe she should withdraw, give Leo one less source of emotions to manage.
The recovering Mindless turned towards the newcomer, some of them stepping forward threateningly. Pip leaned in, arms akimbo. “You lost a lot, I know, but you’re not so special in that. We all lost a lot. And yeah, Doc Borsa needs to answer for that. But you need to realize what just happened here. This - you all waking up? This was a God thing, y’all.” She paused, looking around, steadfast in her faith. “And now the first thing you plan to do is something evil?”
The crowd shifted uneasily, some of them looking down, now. “We’ve killed before,” one of them called.
“Yeah, but now you have a choice in the matter,” Pip shot back. “God’s giving you a chance; you really fixing to throw it away like this? Whatever happened when you were Mindless, that guilt’s on Borsa. You do this now, the guilt’s on you.”
Jamal sneered at her. “You’ve lost a lot? We lost everything. That man destroyed us. He doesn't deserve to live.”
Pip backed away, a flicker of concern breaking through her fearless facade.
#
The crowd’s mood turned angrier, and Leo took a deep breath. “Stay calm,” he whispered to Karen, then stepped away from her, approaching Pip. Gently, so as not to startle her, he touched her shoulder. She jumped a little, but didn’t try to step away or shake him off. She smiled at him, and her concern faded without him having to actually do anything. Good. He needed to conserve his energy.
“Jamal,” Leo said, letting go of Pip, getting between her and the angry man. “I understand. We lost our families, our lives… we lost ourselves. We’ll never get everything back. We may not get much of anything back. That doesn't mean violence is okay.”
Jamal gestured towards the building. “The man who took it all away is right there!” His voice broke a little, the anger shifting to reveal the deep pain within. He feelings were so raw, they were almost bleeding, tearing the man up from the inside out. Not as strong as human emotions, but so much more intense than before. He would have no idea how to handle that. “Not just him. They shot us, Leo! The soldiers; the humans - they captured us, caged us up, experimented on us. They used us.” His gaze shifted briefly, glancing behind Leo. “Just like that girl over there. She played you, Leo, to save herself, and then she abandoned you.”
A spark of anger flared behind him, and Karen stepped forward. “I did not!”
Leo glanced at her. “I know, Karen. Calm, okay?” He pulsed a little worry her way and tipped his head towards Jamal.
She pressed her lips together
and closed her eyes, her energy fading down to minimal levels.
Leo turned back to Jamal. “She didn’t. She protected me. So did Pip; you saw that. Karen came here today to rescue me.” He looked at the rest of the unhappy mob. “You all felt it,” he said, raising his voice. “She… she loves me.” Which he still couldn’t believe; involuntarily he glanced at Karen and smiled. She smiled back and came to stand beside him. “She’s the reason you’re recovering anything at all. Because of her, because of love, you have a chance.”
Jamal looked down for a moment, before facing Leo again. “That was… love?”
Of course. Jamal wouldn’t understand; none of them would, any more than he had. “Yes. What you felt… what you all felt… that golden glow… That was love, happiness, excitement. Positive feelings, enough to wake you.” He put an arm around Karen and she snuggled closer, radiating love and pride. He tried to share it with the others. “Things we didn’t even suspect existed, and they’re so unbelievably good.” There was a sigh of contentment, agreement from some in the crowd. “You can have that, now. So much of it, constantly. But not if you start out killing people.”
Someone - a woman? Leo couldn’t see - uttered a muffled sob. That sorrow, coupled with the love, finally broke the angry fever of the group.
Leo stared at Jamal, for a moment, trying to project respect as well as sympathy. After a moment, Jamal looked down again. “Yeah.” He sighed. “Okay.” There was still pain and some anger emanating from him, but no longer at danger level. He stepped back, turning towards the others.
Karen shifted until she was hugging him again. “That was amazing. I told you, you’re amazing.”
He held her tighter and took a deep breath, trying to let all the emotional energy settle into something manageable. “I haven’t said that much since… ever.”
Karen looked up at him, smiling. “You did great.” She glanced around as the crowd dissolved and scattered into smaller, calmer groups. “Come on. Let’s go tell Borsa that he’s lost.”
