Reborn

by Fall, Carly

  The waiter sat them at a window table that overlooked the roses and pool, the silverware gleaming against the rays of the setting sun.

  “Can I start you off with something to drink?” the waiter asked.

  Hudson looked at Beverly. “Some wine sounds nice,” she said, so Hudson ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc figuring a cool, light wine would be best.

  After ordering, they sipped the wine and talked in low tones.

  “Are you still thinking of heading up the coast?” Hudson asked.

  Beverly nodded. “I’ve never seen that part of the country, so I thought I’d check it out. If I like it, I’ll find somewhere to settle down. I still don’t know what to do for work though, but I supposed that will come eventually.”

  Hudson nodded, and his stomach knotted as he imagined Beverly out in the world alone. No, he didn’t like that thought one bit. He actually felt a little sick at the thought, and he tried to push it aside so he could enjoy his Organic Scottish Salmon and wild mushrooms.

  The conversation flowed throughout dinner, and when there was silence, it wasn’t the awkward kind. It was the type of silence of two people who were comfortable with each other and didn’t feel the need to fill the quiet with unnecessary words.

  After dessert, they moved to the bar where the band played. Hudson didn’t let Beverly sit down, but instead took her in his arms and began spinning them around the dance floor to sultry jazz music.

  As he stared down at her, she smiled.

  “So you cook and you can dance,” she said.

  “Yep. I have many talents,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows. He watched a blush cross Beverly’s face.

  “You most certainly do,” she said in a low voice.

  Hudson continued to spin them around the dance floor, holding Beverly close. He studied her face, wanting to remember every detail he could.

  One thing that was certain: he was going to miss this woman.

  Chapter 40

  Beverly sat in the booth watching the band play and the couples sway to the music. Hudson had gone to the rest room, and she felt tears well in her eyes.

  She didn’t want to go.

  In the deepest recesses of her heart, she knew she had fallen in love with Hudson, but she also knew that he would never love her back. Her first time in love and it was with someone who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, return the feelings.

  She was so pathetic.

  Wiping her eyes, she chastised herself for the pity party she had going on. What she should be doing was enjoying her last night with Hudson and remembering every detail of it so that when she was out on her own, she would have something to look back on and smile about.

  Or cry.

  She guessed that would depend on how she would be feeling at that moment.

  What she did want to remember was how special she felt being with Hudson. It was very apparent that the women at the bar and at dinner found Hudson very attractive. Beverly heard the whispers and watched the woman blatantly ogle Hudson from behind their wine glasses, but he seemed oblivious to it all, his full concentration on her. She felt like a fairytale princess.

  Fate and Destiny—two words she really hadn’t given much thought to. She had always believed that people made their own choices, and their decisions led to the circumstances and outcomes that were the end result. For instance, she chose to not get help for her addiction, and the outcome was her losing a job she loved, her whole career gone.

  But was it possible that Fate and Destiny really did have a plan for everyone?

  Her mother had always said that there wasn’t anything in life that didn’t happen for a reason, and that God gave you exactly what you needed at that point in your life.

  That didn’t always mean it was what you wanted.

  If that were true, then what was she doing here with Hudson? What was the grand master plan? How could this heartbreak be exactly what she needed? She certainly didn’t want it. How would this brief interlude impact her life?

  And now she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there were beings from another world living among humans, and that humans had no idea. She had promised she wouldn’t tell anyone about the secret, and she planned to honor that promise, so that was something that she would simply carry with her.

  She didn’t understand what all of this meant to her in the grand scheme of her life. Maybe it didn’t mean anything. Maybe it was just a quick stop over that showed her that family came in many different varieties, that she could pick herself up and go on with her life, and she wasn’t the loser junkie she originally thought she was.

  And that she had been missing out on a lot in the bedroom.

  Taking a sip of wine, a man stepped into her view of the dance floor. She looked up at him, and he stared down at her with cold, dark eyes full of hatred. A very uncomfortable feeling rolled through her, as well as an almost unmanageable need to get up and run as fast as her legs could take her.

  She swallowed, reminding herself that she was in a public place, and nothing was going to happen. And also that if she needed to, all she would have to do was scream.

  “Can I help you?” she asked, putting down her glass.

  The man looked disheveled, like he had been sitting somewhere for a long time. His white shirt was wrinkled and had a couple of dirt marks, and his pants definitely needed to see a hot iron. His black hair was cut tight to his skull.

  He didn’t say anything, just stared at her. His hands curled into fists, opening them, then closing them, again and again.

  “Do you need something?” she asked, irritation starting to override the uncomfortable feeling.

  The man mumbled something, then rocked side to side, still clenching his hands into fists.

  Beverly looked around for Hudson, but didn’t see him.

  “Would you please excuse me?” Beverly said, trying to get out of the booth. The man stepped in front of her, blocking her exit.

  Sliding back into the middle of the booth, fear took over, and her anxiety ratcheted up a few notches. Thoughts of little white pills danced in her head, making her even more anxious.

  “What do you want?” she said, hearing the fear thread through her voice.

  The man smiled, and Beverly was certain she was looking at living, breathing evil, but then chastised herself for being so dramatic.

  He tilted his head at her, as if she were a foreign object he wasn’t familiar with. Then he slowly looked around, glanced back at her, and headed for the exit.

  Beverly exhaled, relief swimming through her as she watched Hudson approach. His smile faded as he got closer to Beverly.

  “What happened?” he asked as he slid into the booth next to her.

  “I...I’m not sure. This man came up to the table and just stared at me. Then he started mumbling and making fists...it was really strange, and a little scary.”

  Beverly watched the color drain from Hudson’s face, and he looked down at the floor.

  “What did he look like?” he said in a hard tone, still examining the floor.

  “He looked...normal, Hudson. He had on a white shirt, black pants, and his hair was cut really short.”

  Hudson slowly turned to Beverly. “Did he touch you?” he bit out.

  Beverly stared at Hudson for a minute, not sure about this new side of him. Gone were any traces of the man who had been spinning her around the dance floor and laughing minutes before. What was before her now was a hard man, a man who looked as if he could rip someone apart with his bare hands. And frankly, the transformation was almost as scary as the man who had come to her table.

  “No,” she said softly.

  Hudson looked around the bar area, and Beverly noticed the muscles in his arms get tense.

  “Hudson, it’s not a big deal,” she said, laying her hand on his arm, trying to calm him, but it seemed to agitate him even worse. “It was just some guy who had a little too much to drink or was mentally ill. It’s fine.”

  “No, it’s not, Beverly.
It’s not fucking fine. And we’re leaving. Now.”

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the booth as if he were removing a coat from the seat instead of a hundred-and-fifteen pound human being.

  Holding on to her hand a little too tightly, he quickly walked toward the valet, his eyes scanning everyone in the area.

  “Hudson,” Beverly said.

  No answer.

  “Hudson.”

  Now Beverly was getting a little angry. She certainly didn’t need to be dragged around like some ragdoll.

  “Hudson!” she said forcefully, stopping and pulling away from his grasp. “What the hell is going on?”

  He turned back to her, palpable anger radiating off him. “We need to get out of here. Now,” he growled.

  “Why? It wasn’t a big deal, Hudson.”

  He stepped up to her so that only an inch or two separated them and glared down at her. “It’s a very big deal, Beverly,” he hissed, his face hard. “That man was a cocksucking Colonist.”

  Chapter 41

  They rode home in silence, Beverly trembling.

  She had come face to face with a Colonist and hadn’t even known it. Sure, the guy had been creepy, but a Colonist?

  But then again, how would she know if he was a Colonist or not?

  Remembering what Faith and Abby had said about Colonists, she had visions of a monster giving off sure signs of what he was. Beverly was very startled by how normal he had looked.

  Letting out a long sigh, she rested her head back, shut her eyes and tried to relax. She did some deep breathing and tried to do some visualization of happy places, but nothing seemed to be working. Her anxiety was at the top of the charts, and Hudson’s behavior was only making it worse.

  The look on his face, as well as his whole demeanor, scared her. He looked deadly and angry enough to...kill something. His muscles were tense throughout his body, and when he pulled his phone out to make a call and realized it was dead, he cursed loudly and slammed it against the dashboard. He had to be going at least one hundred miles per hour, but she didn’t say anything. Keeping her eyes shut, she hoped that they would make it back to the silo in one piece.

  “Tell me exactly what he said to you,” Hudson growled.

  Beverly turned to look at him, and she noticed that he kept checking the rearview mirror.

  “Nothing,” she said quietly. “He didn’t say anything.”

  Hudson cranked the steering wheel, and they were flying down a dirt road. Beverly was tossed around, her head slammed into the roof. “Ow!”

  “Sorry about that,” Hudson said in a strained, deadly voice, not really sounding sorry about it at all. “I want to get you to safety, and the safest place is the silo.”

  They briefly stopped at the gate, and Hudson punched the gas when there was enough room to get the car through. He did the same on the second.

  The car came to a screeching stop about three feet from the silos steps. “Get out my side,” he commanded her while opening his door. He looked all around, then motioned for her to come to his side. While she straddled the center console, he took her hand and roughly pulled her out of the car, shielding her with his body.

  As they went up the steps, the door opened and Talin appeared. “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “Mother fucking Colonist approached Beverly at dinner.”

  “Really?”

  “No, Talin. I’m telling you that because the thought of it makes me chuckle. Do you really think I’d mess around about something like this?”

  The thick door shut behind them, and only then did Hudson let go of Beverly.

  She listened as Talin and Hudson speculated on whether the Colonist would be making an appearance at the silo, her arms across her chest as if she were cold. She felt a shiver travel up her spine and held herself tighter. Frankly, she wasn’t sure what was scarier: the fact she had come face-to-face with a Colonist or the way Hudson was acting.

  She watched him as he paced around like a caged tiger ready to spring, looking deadly, lethal, and ready to use any force necessary.

  “How did you know it was a Colonist?” Talin asked.

  “Black ash on the floor. Not a lot, but trace amounts.”

  Beverly didn’t remember seeing any black ash, but she hadn’t seen any in that hotel room with Hudson, Rayner, and Faith.

  Deciding she needed to get away, she turned for the elevator. Neither Hudson or Talin asked where she was going, and that was okay with her.

  She just needed to get a grip on the anxiety that was ripping apart her insides, as well as her will power, making her desire for little white pills almost unbearable.

  Chapter 42

  Charles watched the storm brew in the distance as he leisurely drove back to the silo. A large wall of dust was gathering, making its way across eastern Phoenix, and it would be arriving soon.

  He giggled out loud at the stark fear that blonde woman had shown when he approached her in the restaurant. Oh, how he had wanted to kill her then and there, but that would bring nothing but trouble for him. He had a hard and fast rule that he didn’t kill where he could easily be caught, and so far that rule had served him well.

  But dammit, it had taken everything within him not to reach across the table and squeeze her throat and watch the life drain out of her.

  “In time, pretty lady, in time.”

  Stopping at the turn-off for the silo, he debated whether to go in or not. Earlier he had seen two SUV’s leave and decided to follow one. He had wanted to kill Hudson in the valet of that resort, but again, he held back. As he watched them have dinner and dance, he decided to break up the fun and approach the blonde woman that Hudson obviously cared a great deal for.

  Now that he knew that Hudson was in the silo, he was debating whether to go in or not.

  Bringing his binoculars to his eyes, he was having a hard time focusing because of the constant twitch in his eye, and he felt a complete disconnect from the situation and reality. Visions of killing the Warriors played over and over in his head, as if he had been watching a movie and hitting replay a thousand times. Finally able to focus, he peered down the dirt road and only saw one vehicle. Maybe the others weren’t back yet.

  His foot tapped against the brake, and he began to hum.

  The big question was how many Warriors were in the silo.

  “You can’t take on three or four Warriors,” he said to himself.

  “Of course I can.”

  “No you can’t.”

  “Don’t fucking tell me what I can and can’t do!” he roared into the empty car.

  After a moment, he said, “And just because you said that, I’m going to prove you wrong.”

  “You’ll be making a big mistake,” he answered himself.

  He sat in silence for another minute. “No, because even if I don’t kill them, I’ve put the government on their trail. They’ll round them up, scoop out their eyeballs to find out what makes them glow, and then slice them open.”

  “You don’t know if the government is going to take what you sent them seriously.”

  “Of course they will.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  Charles grabbed his head and pulled his hair. “Shut up!” he screamed, “just shut up!”

  He thought about the package he had sent the government. It was mainly photos of the silo in Phoenix. He had also written down some stuff, although he was uncertain now of what it was.

  “I’m going in.”

  “You’ll end up dead.”

  “Fuck off.”

  Charles got out of the car, mumbling to himself. He made his way down the dirt road as the wind began to blow.

  Chapter 43

  When the alarm sounded, Hudson and Talin broke into a run down to the War Room. Talin’s fingers flew over the keyboard bringing up different shots of the outside property on the big white screen, one right after the other, making four rows, three pictures each.

  “Maybe it’s a false alar
m,” Hudson said. “Jesus, look at that wind. I didn’t even notice it when we got back here.”

  “Told you,” Talin said, “big storm coming in.”

  They studied the pictures.

  Talin pointed to the far right on the top row. “There.”

  Hudson moved in closer, watching the man who had just jumped the outer fence. “Can you get in closer, Talin?”

  “Of course.”

  Talin’s hit a few keys, and soon the guy on the screen was up close and personal, as if he was standing inches from Hudson’s face.

  “Well, well, well,” Hudson said, cracking his knuckles. “Looks like I have a date.”

  “You know him?” Talin asked.

  “Yup. That’s the cocksucking Colonist that sliced and diced me,” Hudson said, “and I’m going to bet your left nut that’s the guy who approached Beverly.”

  “You going out there?”

  “Hell, yes,” Hudson said, turning for the door. “Whatever happens, Talin, you make sure that fucker gets no where near Beverly, you understand me? I’m going to call her and tell her to stay downstairs, but if he gets in here, make sure to take him out.”

  Talin nodded. “Aren’t you going for your gun?”

  Hudson turned back to him, and smiled. “No time. Besides, this is personal.”

  “So what are you taking out there?”

  “A kitchen knife.”

  Chapter 44

  Beverly paced Hudson’s room feeling trapped.

  She looked at the clothes strewn around the bed she still hadn’t packed. Feeling totally unhinged, she couldn’t even think about packing when flashes of little white pellets of peace were calling to her.

  She headed for the bathroom to splash water on her face. All of a sudden, an alarm blared, making her feel like she would vibrate out of her skin from fear. Looking around, she wasn’t sure what to do, or what the alarm was. A fire alarm?

  The phone on the bedside table rang. She ran over and answered.