THE EVENT

by Jamie Heppner

  Dawn picked up a rock and with a toss threw it at the strangers, hoping to get their attention. Donovan saw what she was doing and his face burned with anger. The rock arced high into the air. Dawn had meant to hit some of the glass next to them but she missed. The rock collided straight into the head of one of the people. He never missed a step. It was as though the rock was a pillow and thrown by a baby. Dawn knew she had hit him. Donovan's eyes were wide with shock and he too picked up a rock. With a throw much stronger than Dawn's, he hit another of the people in the back of the head. This time it caused the person to stumble a little. Then he just kept walking. Donovan was amazed. He stood tall and yelled at the top of his lungs.

  "Hey! Fuckheads!"

  None of the three even made a move towards him. They simply shambled on toward the broken front doors.

  Donovan laughed aloud.

  "Look at these people. They are like zombies or something, except not as scary." Donovan walked up behind one and punched it as hard as he could in the back. Dawn winched as she watched, afraid that they might turn around and do something, but the weird people just kept shambling on to their own destination. Donovan was laughing manically to himself as he took out his frustrations on these poor people. After a while, he got tired of throwing punches and stepped it up a notch. Donovan reached behind his shirt and pulled out a knife.

  "NO!" Dawn screamed at him but Donovan didn't care.

  With a mighty lunge, he pushed the dagger deep into the person's back. This had more of an effect. Donovan watched as the person turned around and grabbed Donovan's neck. He stood a good bit taller than Donovan did, and without a care, he lifted him up by the neck and began to crush the life out of him.

  Donovan was shocked at the sudden change; up until now, nothing he had done had any effect on these people. His reaction to the change was too slow. Slowly he could feel the fingers tighten around his neck crushing his windpipe. Donovan kicked and clawed at the person but nothing was stopping him or breaking his hold. Donovan's knife was still in the persons back and he couldn't reach it. Donovan began to panic more and more as the world around him faded.

  Dawn watched in horror as the person turned and grabbed Donovan around the neck, lifting him up into the air. She knew she had to do something, but didn't have any idea what she should do. Donovan had hit that person harder than she ever could and it hadn't even flinched. It wasn't until he had done actual damage that it had reacted. Dawn searched around for another blade or something sharp to try to cut her brother free. Even if he was constantly mean to her, Donovan was the only brother she had. Without him, she would be completely alone. Donovan's eyes were rolling into the back of his head and he wasn't struggling anymore. Dawn hadn't been able to find anything to use against this person. She was beyond words. Frantic as she watched her brother die before her she threw her hands over her eyes and screamed inside her head.

  "STOP IT! LET HIM GO!"

  A thud sounded in her ears and she knew that her brother had died. She couldn't pull her hands away, she didn't want to see what she knew would be there. Her brother, on the ground, throat crushed. Tears broke from under her hands and she began to sob freely.

  "Shut up, you stupid bitch." Came rasping out from Donovan’s throat.

  Dawn flung her hands away and blinked rapidly to clear her eyes. Donovan was sitting on the ground in front of the person that had been killing him. Rubbing his throat carefully, large purple bruises started forming around his neck.

  "How the hell did you get him to leg go?" Donovan staggered to his feet, always keeping an eye on the solo person standing rock still, a knife still in his back. Moving around behind the person Donovan quickly pulled the knife back out and danced away in case he moved for him again. The person, however, still stood still.

  "I asked you a question." Donovan walked up to Dawn, holding the blood-covered dagger in front of him, pointed straight at Dawn.

  "I...I don't know. He was killing you. I didn't know how to help. So when I couldn't look anymore I just closed my eyes."

  "That's stupid; you're just a stupid little girl. You must have done something else, why would he stop." Donovan's voice was coming back but it was easy to tell he had been hurt bad.

  "I did do something else, but you will think its stupid, promise you won't hit me if I tell you."

  "If you don't tell me I will hit you for sure!" Donovan stepped closer.

  "I told him to stop!" Dawn stepped back away from her twin.

  "You did not, I would have heard that. You're lying to me." Donovan stepped up and swept his arm back to slap her hard.

  "You didn't hear because it was inside my head." Dawn threw her hands up hoping to block some of the blow at least. It never landed.

  "You said it inside your head?" Donovan promptly forgot all about Dawn and moved back to the person still standing rock still. He was much more careful to keep his distance this time. Donovan closed his eyes and his face screwed up into a mess. The person lifted an arm and slapped itself hard across the face.

  "HOLY SHIT" Donovan screamed into the night. "You weren't lying for once."

  For weeks, Donovan played with the Nightwalkers, he named them that since they only walked free at night. Dawn didn't like the name but Donovan didn't care. He tortured them, and he maimed them. He did what he called experiments.

  Whenever a new one would wander in, he would trap it with his mind and make it do what he wanted. Dawn tried to protest and show him that these were still people. That just made him hit her, so she stopped after a while. His bruises had faded, but hers never did, and Donovan made sure of it.

  Dawn found that she could control the people as well as Donovan, perhaps even better. When she asked for things, they seemed happier to please her. When Donovan told them to do something, they acted as though they had no choice and it was a punishment to do it. Donovan forbade her from using the Nightwalkers one night when one of them moved too slowly for his liking. Dawn had gotten the beating instead of the Nightwalker that night. They moved into the mall, Donovan's stash back at their home now forgotten. What did he need that junk for when he had everything here? That was exactly what he had said when Dawn protested. In another rage, he forbade her to go back there.

  Donovan's experiments became more and more gruesome as he learned he could control practically everything about the Nightwalkers. He learned their bodies still lived, but in such a slow state, they were more dead than alive. They didn't heal with time, so any wounds they took lasted forever. The Nightwalker that Donovan had first commanded was always nearby. He took the most pleasure in tormenting that one. He no longer looked human with all the damages Donovan had inflicted. Occasionally, a new Nightwalker would wander into the mall from under the cover of darkness. Donovan couldn't understand why they were attracted to this place, but he didn't mind, it kept him busy playing with his little army, as he called them. Then one night Dawn watched as a fresh pair of Nightwalkers came through the front door. She screamed when the light of the stars lit up their faces.

  "DONOVAN!"

  Dawn rarely talked at all to him anymore; he preferred to spend his time testing the limits of the Nightwalkers.

  "What do you want, I’m busy here." Donovan walked up to her and the new pair. Blood ran in streaks down the front of his coat. "I just learned something really important. If I try to think about it hard, I can heal wounds. It makes me feel funny after and the world seems darker, but I cut one of these bastards then healed it to be sure." Donovan's face dropped as he saw who was standing in front of him."Well shit on me, Hi Mom and Dad!"

  Dawn cried aloud as Donovan commanded them into the back where he liked to do his experiments.

  He didn't hurt them at first. Dawn wouldn't let him. She got beat for it, repeatedly, but she insisted that he try to heal them. Donovan had been reluctant but he eventually caved.

  "It might be good to practice at least. Maybe I will learn how they work." he mumbled in the end.

  Dawn watched how he
used his hands to heal. When he wasn't looking she would try to heal the other Nightwalkers as well, little things at first so he wouldn't notice, a cut here, a scrape there. The tissue would simple reform under her hands when she concentrated. She noticed too that the more she healed the darker the world seemed, even in full day. When Donovan slept, she would try to heal her parents too. Always watching to make sure he never saw. There was one thing she knew for sure. If Donovan found out, he would be furious, and when he did, he was.

  She was sure he was sleeping one night. Donovan had been doing something in another part of the mall, and he had insisted that Dawn stay behind. He was getting more and more secretive as the days went on. Dawn didn't mind too much. If he was away then she wasn't getting beat on.

  She snuck in soon after he had left and stood staring at her parents. Their eyes had changed and the blacks had spread out wide. It gave them a strange look, always glassy eyed. There was no response from them no matter how Dawn had tried. She had done her best to clean up all their wounds, all the cuts and scrapes were gone but their mind was still empty. She could command them to do certain things with her mind, but it felt so wrong to her, so she rarely did. Dawn didn't cry as much anymore, it was comforting to have her parents there, even if they weren't really her parents anymore. There was little more she could do for them. Her healing had taken care of the body, but the damaged mind didn't change. Then a thought struck Dawn.

  "Maybe I can heal their mind too."

  Dawn reached up to place her hands on either side of her father's head. With all her concentration, she tried to pour her healing power into her father.

  Donovan kicked the door open behind her sending a loud bang through the air.

  "I knew you would be up to something in here you stupid little bitch."

  Donovan backhanded her hard and she crumpled to the ground.

  "I told you to leave them alone. This time you are going to pay big time. I thought of a new experiment to try and you will be my first subject. Let's see if I can make my own Nightwalker."

  Donovan grabbed Dawn by her head and lifted her back up to her feet. She tried to pull his hands away, but he had always been stronger then she was. Donovan began pouring his own power into Dawn's mind. Pushing here and pulling there. He had no idea what he was doing, but he didn't care, it was time to teach his sister a lesson she wouldn't forget. Dawn's calls for help went unanswered. Her parents stood still and stared at nothing.

  Donovan played with his power inside her mind. He learned he could control Dawn just like a Nightwalker after he had broken her, but only when he had physical contact. After a few hours, Dawn had gone limp and passed out. A thin trickle of blood ran from her nose. Donovan didn't know if he had broken her or not but it sure looked like he had. Dawn offered no resistance anymore. He commanded her to stand and remain next to his parents.

  "That worked out better than I had thought, nice to have the family back together again." Donovan sneered and went back out to work on a few other things he had hidden from Dawn. "No more meddling from her and I can do whatever I want now, there's no one left to tell me what I can or can't do."

  Flashes of light pulsed in front of Dawn's eyes. She remembered some things, a mall, her parents standing still, looking odd, Donovan's hands reaching for her head, then white. Images flashed before her so fast she couldn't grasp them. She tried to move her hands but they wouldn't move. Her body moved on its own after a while. With a shambling pace, it began to walk around the mall. Searching for something, even it didn't know.

  Donovan watched as Dawn's body took on the normal gait of a Nightwalker, moving here, or there. Mostly at random, it would shuffle along. His mother had wandered off again too. She did that sometimes. He followed her on occasion but it was always the same with her, a random hunt for something unexplainable. He really didn't care. He fixed his biggest problem and he was free to do what he wanted, when he wanted it. There was no one left to stop him, and with all these stupid people for him to play with, he would build his own army and make sure there wasn't anyone else who could take it away from him. With a last glance at his sister walking into a desk, he laughed to himself.

  "You should have ran when you had the chance."

  Chuckling softly, Donovan turned away and headed back to the room where he had stashed the stone. It was as big as a bowling ball and it called to him in a way he couldn't understand. Something in it glowed with power. He had to figure it out.

  Dawn's mind was clearing. She was outside of the mall wandering around. Her body hurt all over from bumps and bruises. There was a man there walking to her. He looked like her father, or did he... He wanted her to come with him. She could tell that. When he asked her name, she opened her mouth to say Dawn, but nothing came out. Not even a squeak. The strange man just shrugged and told her to follow if she wanted. She did.

  The blinding pain broke Dawn's walls down once again. The memory was still fresh in her mind. She remembered her past now, what had happened to her. She remembered Donovan. She had to tell someone to watch for him. He would be back, yet it was all she could do to keep her mind in one piece.

  Chapter 15

  The General moved Dawn to a more comfortable bed. She seemed to be better, but her body was once again tense with the pain. The debate over how to help her still continued in the other room.

  "I can try to heal her myself, although I have never done it alone. I've seen Dawn do it, there is a good chance that with the moonstone I can." Shade was still protesting. "It will take a bit of time for me to rest up though. I poured everything into that attack. I didn't realize I would need more so soon."

  "If you had held back a bit you wouldn't need to try and heal her now. It's because of you she's hurt at all."

  Bonetwister had already forgotten whom it was that had saved them all. His anger was near the surface and ready to break free. The worst of his wounds already healed and forgotten by the passing of time, he had dismissed them.

  "If you let me turn her she could be healed in minutes, just the same as I am now." Bonetwister pounded a fist on his chest proving his health.

  "We don't know if that is what she would want. It has to be her choice and you will not turn her without her permission Bonetwister, there is a good chance it might just kill her." Greytop had a cloth wrapped around his head to assist in stopping the worst of the bleeding. He wouldn't need it soon. He too, was healing fast.

  "Our rules state that only the eldest or leader can turn another. As we sit now that would be me. You might not remember your turning but I do. It is a wonder that any of us live through it, she is hurt badly, and it's quite possible that it would be her undoing. Then where would we be?"

  At the mention of how hurt Dawn was, Shade stood up with his head hung low and stepped out of the house without a sound. The Oracle followed him.

  "As I see it," the General interrupted. "We have only one real choice. We will have to wait a while until Shade and the moonstone are rested up and he can try to heal her himself. I'm sure if she wakes before that and wants to try and be turned then that will be possible, but for now we have to wait and see."

  Bonetwister and Greytop both turned to the woman lying in pain, watching for a sign for her to wake.

  "There is another choice. We could take her to the pack that she is the leader of and let them decide." Bonetwister spoke this under his breath. No one heard him.

  Shade sat down outside and looked up to the sun. He had left his stone out here earlier, trying to charge it as fast as he could. He knew it would be tomorrow at best before he could try to heal Dawn, maybe even the day after.

  "You still did the right thing Shade." The Oracle stood behind him; she was still so quiet for a woman that couldn't see. Shade opted to ignore the statement for now. He wasn't so sure he believed his mother on that point.

  "If you had waited longer there is a good chance we would all be dead now."

  Shade shrugged his shoulders.

  "If I had waited lo
nger maybe I would have seen Dawn holding the sword and could have told her to throw it away, or maybe I could have thought of a different way to fight."

  The Oracle stepped up closer to Shade and placed her hands on his shoulders.

  "No one can know the future Shade. You did what you thought was right and we are alive because of it."

  Shade's eyes grew wide."No one can know the future, except you Mom! Is she going to be ok?"Shade jumped to his feet and looked for the answer in her eyes. Knowing he wouldn't be able to see it.

  "I do see her, yes, she is alive and smiling. I don't see her hand, but that is normal. When I see the future clear it doesn't always show me exactly what parts I want to see and...It can change."

  "Okay, so she is going to be alright then." Shade looked back towards the house. "We just need to find a way to make it happen for her."

  "That’s a much smarter line of thinking then this moping around. How about we head back in there and see if the others have made any decisions in our absence."

  Shade and the Oracle stepped back into a room full of silence. Shade wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a low growl come from Bonetwister when he saw him. Dawn was still unconscious on the bed.

  "We've decided to wait until morning. Shade can try to heal Dawn if she isn't awake yet. If she has woken by the morning then she can tell us what she wants herself. If Shade can't heal her, then we will decide what to do from there." The General spoke to his wife when she placed her hand on him.

  "Then I suggest we all get some rest, you most of all Shade." The Oracle said to her son.

  One by one, they all retired to their sleeping areas. Shade was first to go, he knew he would need as much rest for tomorrow as he could manage. Slowly the skies grew darker and the stars once again put on their nightly show. Not a single ear heard when Bonetwister picked up Dawn and carefully carried her away from the cabin.

  Safely out of earshot, he spoke to Dawn even though she hadn't woken yet.