My companion’s face paled and she drew her weapon, rushing ahead of me with no regard to the necessity of remaining hidden.
The Tracker’s pain was clear to me, and I wondered who had been hit.
“Hurry!” the detective urged as she rounded another corner.
We found ourselves in a room overlooking the courtyard. There was a man shaking his head and staring at the weapon in his hands as if seeing it for the first time. He had clearly fired the shot. Just as clearly, he wasn’t sure why he’d done it.
Through the window all we could see was a massive wall of dirt and rock presumably surrounding Jason, Sam, and Agent Jones. Even from our height, we couldn’t see past the top of the wall to know what had happened.
The cop had the shooter in handcuffs before I looked away from the roiling dirt and rock. Watching it I could see that there was a constant stream of motion, as if I were watching a wave rather than the earth. As time progressed the movement became faster… more urgent.
“I believe it is time for us to leave, Detective,” I advised, making my way from the window even as I spoke.
Her narrowed eyes met mine. “Why? What’s happening?”
Before I could answer a yell filled the air and the wall crashed to the ground with enough force to shake the building.
“Jason’s about to take this place down. We need to get out!”
Pulling her prisoner to his feet, the detective pushed him toward the door.
“What’s the fastest way out of here?” she asked.
When he hesitated, she spun him around to face her. It was the first time I’d looked closely at the shooter. “Red?” I muttered in surprise.
The building shook. The sound of shattering glass filled the air. The earth roared as if in agony, and I wondered if it matched what the Earthshaker clearly felt. Waves of dirt continued to batter at the weakened outer walls.
“The man out there is about to demolish this building,” the detective said, pointing toward the courtyard. “Your life is on the line the same as ours. If you want to survive, tell me the quickest way out!”
He held his eyes on hers for a moment before he nodded and said, “Go right, there’s a hidden staircase that leads to the dumpsters.”
She pushed at the panel he indicated, and we ran as quickly as possible down the steps and out the door.
The others sighed in relief at escaping the building, but the ground still shook.
“Keep moving!” I urged. “I think it’s about to…”
The walls began to crumble and chunks of brick and wood began to fall around us.
I pushed them forward as a large piece of glass nearly skewered Red. It was the second time I’d spared his life. Whether there would be a third depended on what exactly had happened in that courtyard.
They sprinted ahead of me in a panic, trying to get far enough from the earthquake to remain safe. Following close behind, I didn’t manage to avoid all of the debris falling around us. Several small pieces of the wall struck me, drawing blood, but not causing much damage.
When I thought I was safe from the onslaught, a chunk of brick hit the side of my head, knocking me to the ground in a daze.
Someone was counting on me… but that couldn’t be right. No one would count on a killer. Would they?
“They’re only using you,” a voice muttered. “They would let you die to save themselves.”
The voice appeared to be correct as the woman and her prisoner continued to run, not even glancing back to make sure I was still behind them.
“If you want to survive to punish them, you need to get up,” the voice admonished.
Right again. The voice in my head was on a roll. If I wanted to figure out what had happened to the Tracker that set him off… His brother. The kid had been the victim of the shooter. It was the only thing that would push the Tracker to this destructive level.
Finally out of range of the falling building I stood back and stared as the full power of the Tracker demolished an entire city block. Houses and buildings in the nearby blocks shook with the rage Jason poured into the earth. After only a few minutes the constant barrage of power won.
The facility crashed to the ground; glass shattered, bricks dissolved into dust, and the floors and walls collapsed into rubble.
There had still been guards in the building. Of that I was certain. The Tracker, who had condemned me as a murderer, had now become one himself.
“Jason, what have you done?” the detective whispered. Her hand was held loosely over her mouth as she took in the full damage her friend was capable of.
In the noise of the collapsing building I hadn’t noticed her approach. When I looked at her, tears wore tracks through the dust covering her face.
“Are you okay, Jeremiah?” she asked, tearing her gaze from the destruction.
Her hand rose toward my face, but I stepped back.
“I will be fine,” I answered coldly. Only after the danger to herself was gone could she be bothered with checking on me. It was a harsh reality check, but one I’d clearly needed.
Red stood next to her, his eyes never leaving the rubble. “What happened? How did the building fall?”
I felt a flash of anger at the man and grabbed him by the throat. “I kept you alive when I escaped because you appeared to be a good man. Then you shot a kid. What’s preventing me from killing you now? Convince me I didn’t make a mistake in leaving you alive, and I might protect you from the man who did that,” I pointed toward the rubble. “The kid you shot is his brother. He won’t let that go. He destroyed an entire building. What do you think he’ll do to the man who shot his brother? Convince me, and I may try to protect you.”
The man shook his head quickly. “No. No. I would never shoot a child. I have kids of my own, why would I kill a kid? Especially one I don’t even know. I don’t… I don’t even know what I’m doing here. I… I tried to leave after you escaped. I was going to get away.”
My hand dropped from the former guard’s neck. “You are telling the truth. Perhaps Puppet Master is the more appropriate name for this adversary,” I admitted to the detective.
“He really didn’t know what he was doing?” she asked.
It was strange having her look to me for assurance, but I nodded.
“He was under the Puppet Master’s control. I don’t believe he is responsible for what happened.”
Her next question came after a long pause. “Do you know what happened?”
The surreal silence was shattered by approaching sirens.
“I believe Sam is the one who was shot,” I answered. “I also don’t think we want to be here when the authorities decide they want to know what happened here.”
“It was a freak earthquake. No one should be able to prove otherwise. Jason, Sam, and Mark are still in there,” she added. “We can’t leave them behind.”
The way she left me to fend for myself as she ran to safety? My head throbbed, and there was a vague sense of satisfaction that flowed through my mind.
“Very well. Lead the way, detective.”
FORTY-NINE
Jason
All the anger drained out of me and I stared at the decimation around me in a fog. I dropped to my knees next to my brother’s body and held my face in my hands.
A hand fell on my shoulder, the heartbeat fast, but steady.
“Are you okay?” I asked hoarsely.
“You didn’t hurt me,” Mark assured me.
The seven guards buried in the courtyard and the four others who were now trapped in the rubble were a tribute to the fact that I had hurt others.
The men buried in the yard I pulled to the surface. They were injured, but still alive.
“They’re innocent,” I stated flatly when Mark eyed them warily. “I doubt the Puppet Master is still worried about controlling them.”
The men stuck in the demolished building I couldn’t help, and my shoulders hunched as I felt their heart rates slowing. “There are men trapped in
there. I can’t… I can’t pull them out.”
“It’s okay, Jason,” Mark spoke confidently, his own fear and pain pushed aside for now. “You can clear a path to them. I can help you pull them out.”
Tears rolled silently down my face as I looked helplessly at the agent. “I can’t. I don’t have the energy anymore.”
I stared down at my brother’s body in exhaustion. He was gone, and the voice crying out for vengeance was silent. For now. I couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t return. After all, the true cause of Sam’s death was still out there.
After a few seconds of quiet, Mark took a deep breath and said, “Sam wouldn’t want you to become a killer, Jason. You need to find a way to get those men out.”
A flash of anger rose at his words, but I was too wrung out to hold onto the emotion. He was trying to help. And he was right. I pushed my exhaustion aside and allowed my hands to rest on the soft dirt.
I pushed the dirt to form into a lever and forced collapsed walls and floors to move away from the victims. Mark crawled into the newly opened spaces and dragged each victim out. All were unconscious. One was nearly dead. The other three were severely wounded.
The sirens had finally reached us, and I managed to clear enough of a path for them to be able to reach the courtyard. They would just have to accept the strange clearings as lucky, because we weren’t about to share what had really happened.
My part of the rescue complete, I crawled back to my brother’s side and stared at his blood-covered face. My hand traced the contours of his face and I stared at him, wanting to remember every detail of the life I had now lost.
Alice raced through the newly made clearing, beating the first responders by only a couple minutes. She dropped to the ground next to me, crying and gripping my arm almost painfully.
“Avenge me.” My brother’s voice called through my mind again.
“I will, little brother,” I muttered. “Soon.”
Several footsteps approached, but I didn’t move from my spot next to Sam. A man checked Sam for a pulse, and shook his head sadly before moving to the other injured people in the courtyard.
“He took my brother, Alice,” I said softly.
“I know, Jase. I’m so sorry.” Her voice shook, and I reached up, intending to wipe the tears from her face.
The blood on my hands stopped me. Sam’s blood stained my hands, and I couldn’t handle it anymore. My baby brother’s blood soaked the earth. Nothing was right anymore!
I shook and whimpered, tears pouring down my cheeks unchecked. My stomach roiled in shock and anger. I felt as if I was going to throw up, and I listed to one side. Exhaustion and emotional trauma pushing me to the brink of control.
Hands pulled me to my feet and led me away, and I didn’t fight it. Sam couldn’t be helped.
“Tracker… Earthshaker… even in your anger and distress you managed to save those who should have died,” Kindred’s voice was soft in my ear, and I managed to look at him.
His eyebrows were drawn together and his eyes were narrowed.
“They were innocent,” I told him softly.
“But the Puppet Master isn’t,” Kindred answered angrily.
“What do you want, Kindred?” he flinched, but I wasn’t sure what had caused the reaction.
“I want you to get revenge. I want you to be able to destroy the man who killed your brother. Will you allow me to help you take your vengeance?”
“Avenge me!” Sam’s voice was in my head again.
Kindred eyed me expectantly, and I nodded.
Acknowledgments:
Once again there are several people who have helped in the process of getting Oblivion ready for publication. To start with, Brittany King, my awesome editor. Thanks for making me laugh during the normally dull editing process. My amazing cover designer, Christian, thank you for your quick work on the cover. Terri King, thank you for formatting and proofreading.
Also thanks to my initial reader, Amber Rose. You’ve definitely helped in making these books come to life. And finally to my mom, Shirley, for once again reading through and finding the mistakes I always miss. Thanks!
As always, thank you reader for joining me in the adventure of Jason’s life. I hope you enjoyed reading Oblivion as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads.
Have any comments or questions? Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/earthshakerfans
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Happy Reading everybody!
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