Shimmer

by Matthew Keith

  Chapter 31

  Alex was lost.

  Not in the sense that he didn’t know where he was. Unfortunately, he knew exactly where he was, which was up a creek without a paddle.

  He had no idea if Silas had shown up at the Choi’s, he hadn’t waited around to find out. He’d taken Leeann’s father’s advice and left immediately. Leeann had protested, arguing that surely they could talk to Silas, make him see that Alex needed help, but Mr. Choi had adamantly refused, his face paling at the thought of disobeying Silas. Leeann had then insisted they could hide Alex. If he was going to run anyway, couldn’t they just say he had, and then wait until Silas left? Again, Mr. Choi would have nothing to do with it. He was clearly afraid of Silas, and that only fueled Alex’s resolve to leave.

  He’d shaken Mr. Choi’s hand, saying he understood and there were no hard feelings, and it wasn’t just platitudes—the Choi family had always been very good to him. The last thing he wanted to do was put them in danger.

  Leeann had cried, asking him where he would go, making him promise to call when he was safe, but all he could manage to say was that he would try. Although he couldn’t tell her at that moment, he knew he never be able to tell her where he was going.

  Now he wandered through his dark town with no idea where to go or how he was going to get the weapons he so desperately needed. It was past ten in the evening now and in Beaver, Utah that meant most businesses had been closed for hours already.

  It was getting cold, cold enough that Alex knew he needed to find some place indoors for the night.

  He really was out of options. He’d spent the past six years alienating everyone around him. Aside from Leeann, there was no one he could turn to. If only he had some way to know for sure why Silas was so hell-bent on finding him and the suit. Silas might truly be interested in protecting him, but Alex couldn’t be sure, and with something as valuable as the suit at stake he wasn’t going to risk it. The basement lab, the way his dad had gone about telling him via the NanoPhone app—Alex just couldn’t believe Silas had known about it before Alex did.

  And yet… it sure seemed that way.

  Unfortunately, the only way he was going to find out the truth about Silas was to confront the man himself and that, even in his desperation, seemed like a very bad idea to Alex.

  Hugging his jean jacket close to his body, he trudged onward, feeling as lost and alone as he’d ever felt in his life.

  The golden arches of a McDonald’s shone ahead, the only place in town showing any sign of life. They were open twenty-four hours, which to Alex had always seemed a little ridiculous in his small town, but tonight he was extraordinarily grateful.

  Alex’s stomach was growling as soon as he caught his first whiff of hamburger blowing on the breeze. After weeks of nothing but fish and fungus, the deliciously familiar aroma nearly made his knees buckle with longing.

  He pushed through the front doors, the few crumpled dollars he’d scrounged from his room already in his hand. He jogged to the counter, practically breaking into a run. It smelled so good.

  “Four cheeseburgers and a Coke,” Alex blurted out before the bleary-eyed woman behind the counter had a chance to greet him. He thrust the money at her eagerly.

  He paced the lobby until his food was ready, carefully carrying the plastic tray to a seat at the front of the empty restaurant like it was filet mignon.

  The first bite was sheer heaven. Alex closed his eyes in ecstasy, nearly swooning. He’d eaten the entire burger and had the second one in his hand before he knew it. He chewed the next one slowly, savoring every second. If only Tabitha and Sarah were here. He could only imagine how they would react to food like this.

  And then suddenly the food didn’t taste so good. Alex thought of all the people in Domus, scared, knowing it was only a matter of time before war would be waged against them. The fragile existence they’d been living for all these centuries was now, more than ever, in danger of complete annihilation and it was all because of him. Alex could justify every decision he’d made since his father disappeared, but that didn’t change the level of danger he’d put them in.

  And here he sat stuffing his face with cheeseburgers at McDonald’s.

  He should be doing something—anything—to get the weapons he’d come here for. What he was doing now was self-indulgence.

  Guiltily, Alex finished what remained of the now tasteless burger and stuffed the other two in his jacket pockets.

  Resolve fortified, Alex decided then and there that he would find a way, money or no money, to get the weapons. If he had to steal them, that’s what he would do. The need far outweighed the risk, and surely he could outrun any pursuit using the suit.

  “Unbelievable!”

  Alex’s head jerked up at the sound of the familiar, scathing voice. PJ stood just inside the front door with two of his goons, staring at Alex disgustedly.

  “The whole county is out looking for this guy,” PJ sneered to his friends. “They think he’s dead, and here he sits without a care in the world.”

  PJ was just about the last person Alex wanted to run into. He didn’t have time to deal with it. Carefully, he sank back down into his chair and placed both hands flat on the table.

  “So what do you think?” PJ asked his goons, keeping his eyes on Alex. “Call the cops, or drag him to the police station ourselves?”

  PJ grinned maliciously, his implication clear. His buddies chuckled, cracking their knuckles in anticipation.

  “PJ…” Alex began.

  “I bet there’s some sort of reward,” one of PJ’s friends opined.

  Alex closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath and shook his head.

  PJ squinted, confused. It was clear he’d expected a different reaction.

  Alex wasn’t worried about a fight, not after all the training he’d received in Domus. If he had to, he knew he could take all three of them. What he was worried about was having one of the restaurant workers call the police. If the public eye was turned on him, there was no telling how long it would be before he could get back to the Under.

  “PJ,” Alex said again, careful to keep a level tone. “Just order your Big Mac and pretend you didn’t see me. Please.”

  PJ made a face, eyeing is buddies sidelong. Behind him, the door opened and he and his goons were forced to make room for the person coming in.

  At first Alex didn’t pay any attention to the newcomer. His focus was on PJ. But the newcomer stayed just inside the door, right behind PJ’s group and as PJ turned around to give him a glare, Alex got his first good look.

  Staring back at him with those cold, black eyes was Silas.

  Alex jerked back in his chair and shot to his feet, instinctively raising his right arm before he realized he wasn’t carrying his weapon.

  “You will come with me,” Silas told him in his strange, quiet voice.

  Alex didn’t answer. Instead, he frantically took stock of the restaurant exits. His best bet was across the lobby, a side door that led out near the drive thru. It wasn’t close, but it was farther away from Silas than it was from him. If he moved fast, he could make it.

  “I am not the enemy,” Silas told him tonelessly.

  Sure you’re not.

  Alex was sure that Silas only wanted the suit. Why else would he have closed down EMIT so quickly? If Silas cared anything about Alex or his father, his first priority should have been to keep the family business alive.

  Silas tried to take a step forward, but PJ and his goons hadn’t moved and were in his way.

  “Pardon me,” Silas told PJ coldly, his tone of voice making it clear he wasn’t asking for their pardon, but demanding it.

  PJ looked back at Alex and his eyes narrowed. His face expressionless, he gave the tiniest of nods.

  “I don’t think so,” PJ told Silas arrogantly. “Not unless you can tell me what you want with my friend.”

  Although they looked anything but confident, PJ’s buddies stepped up shoulder to shoul
der with him, forming a human barrier between Silas and Alex.

  Alex, meanwhile, had no idea what to do. Now PJ was protecting him?

  Silas looked past PJ’s shoulder, fixing Alex with a flat, malevolent glare. Without shifting his gaze, Silas flung an arm forward, palm first. The goon on PJ’s right caught the blow directly in the sternum and shot backward, his feet leaving the ground. He landed in a tangled mess as he slammed amidst tables and chairs more nearly a dozen feet away.

  “Sir!” A wide-eyed worker had run up to the counter. “Sir, I’m calling the police!” Indeed, although her voice shook with fear she already had a phone held to her ear.

  Silas paid her no mind. Instead, he fixed his flat gaze on PJ.

  “Run, you stupid bastard!” PJ shouted at Alex, just before he too was thrown by a blow from Silas.

  What the… Alex didn’t have time to finish the thought. He had to get out of that restaurant. He burst into motion, running for the door on the far side of the lobby.

  “Alex!” It may have been the first time Alex ever heard Silas shout. He ran even faster, nearly breaking the glass as he shot through it and out into the parking lot.

  A driver laid on his horn as Alex ran in front of his car, but Alex didn’t take the time to acknowledge it. He concentrated on two things: putting one foot in front of the other as fast as his body would allow, and activating the suit’s laser. Behind him, he heard the lobby door slam open, only seconds after him.

  “Alex!” Silas shouted again.

  Silas had been all the way on the other side of the restaurant. Tables and chairs and a divider wall had been blocking his way. How could he have crossed it so quickly? No one was that fast. And the way he’d thrown PJ and his goon across the lobby…

  Alex had seen strength like that in the Under.

  That thought almost caused him to stumble and fall.

  It was impossible!

  Heart in his throat, Alex pumped his legs even faster and raised his arm, pointing out into the darkness directly in front of him. The laser danced jerkily, wildly cutting through the black with the gait of his sprint.

  He was in the middle of town. People would see, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t worry about that. At any second, he would feel Silas’s long, cold fingers on the nape of his neck if he didn’t use the suit.

  In a burst of light, Alex teleported himself into the darkness, not knowing how far or where the suit would take him. All he knew for sure was it would be one step ahead of Silas, who could only be a Nocuous.