I doubt that’s ever going to happen.
Still, now wasn’t the time to debate it. Food and water had arrived, and the first rule of survival was—survive!
‘It’s not poisoned,’ she asked. ‘Is it?’
‘Of course not!’ the voice said in surprise. ‘We don’t want to hurt you, but there’s something I want you to promise.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Don’t try to escape,’ he said. ‘I know you have powers, but don’t try to escape.’
Brodie said nothing.
‘Can you promise?’ the boy asked.
‘What’s your name?’
‘You have to promise.’
‘I don’t make the decisions,’ Brodie said, tactfully. ‘I’m here with my friends.’ A groan came from behind her. ‘One of them is waking up.’
‘Jason,’ the boy said. ‘My name is Jason.’
‘Thank you for the food and water, Jason,’ Brodie said.
He didn’t reply. The eye slot slid back into position, and Brodie picked up the tray. It was Ebony who was slowly coming to life. She was rubbing her head and wincing at the light. She sat up.
‘How do you feel?’ Brodie asked.
‘Like death,’ she groaned. ‘Which is probably not too surprising considering a vampire tried to make me his eternal beloved.’
‘Now that’s doubly weird.’
‘What is?’
‘I think that’s the longest sentence you’ve ever said.’
‘I don’t usually have anything to say.’ Ebony looked at the food on the table. ‘Is that what I think it is?’
‘Not if you think it’s a Big Mac and fries,’ Brodie said. ‘It’s sandwiches and water.’
Ebony half stumbled when she tried to stand. Brodie grabbed her, directed her into a seat, and poured her a glass of water.
‘You don’t look great,’ Brodie said.
‘I don’t feel great. I think I might vomit.’
Brodie patted her shoulder sympathetically. Usually, Ebony wasn’t her favorite person. More than once, she’d noticed the quiet girl giving Axel glances out of the corner of her eye. The glances had made her feel…uneasy. Especially when he’d looked up unexpectedly and smiled back at her.
She shouldn’t be so jealous. I don’t own Axel. She couldn’t control who he looked at or who looked at him. Despite sharing a few kisses over the last few months, they weren’t an item. She wasn’t sure why. He seemed to like her. She just thought it had just been such a crazy time that relationships had to be put on the back burner.
Chad had shown more interest in her than Axel. When she thought about him, she wondered if she could ever be in a relationship with the blonde headed boy. Chad was an egotistical show-off and loudmouth. Although he was also very good looking.
Before Brodie could continue this line of thinking, Ebony suddenly pitched forward and vomited over the tray.
‘Oh dear,’ Brodie muttered.
As Ebony emptied the contents of her stomach, Brodie looked around for something to wipe her mouth. Finding a cloth napkin, she gave it to Ebony, who accepted it gratefully.
‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘I think I’m feeling a little better.’
‘Wash your mouth out with water,’ Brodie said. ‘There’s a small sink over here.’
As Ebony cleaned up, Brodie glanced over at Dan. He could sleep through a tornado. She focused on his face. Not only was he dead to the world, but he looked quite pale. She quickly felt his forehead and took his pulse.
Brodie turned to Ebony in shock. ‘Something’s wrong with Dan! He’s barely breathing!’
Chapter Thirteen
There are times when you’re lucky, and there are times when you’re unlucky. As the bomb exploded in the plane, I was able to throw a shield around us. We were shielded from most of the blast. I then converted it into a flying wing and took us safely to earth.
I don’t want to think about the other possibilities; that my powers could have failed at the moment the bomb exploded, and we were blown to pieces. Or that my flying platform could have evaporated, and we fell thousands of feet to the ground below.
Like I said, best not to think of those possibilities.
It was bad enough that my powers failed again once we’d landed, leaving us to walk back to civilization through the desert. By then, the early morning sun was beating down on our heads. Try doing that when you don’t have food, water, or a hat.
‘So what’s going on with your powers?’ Chad asked after a few hours of marching across the same repetitive landscape. ‘What’s with the on/off switch?’
‘I wish I knew.’
I explained about the problems back on the plane and then back at the house. Usually, Chad had a smart remark for everything, but this time he surprised me.
‘What do you think is causing it?’ he asked.
‘I’ve got no idea.’ We trudged over a rise in the landscape. ‘Maybe it’s the injections that caused our powers in the first place. No one actually said they were permanent.’
‘That’s true, I suppose,’ Chad said. ‘Is that a road up ahead?’
I could have jumped for joy. ‘It is,’ I said. ‘I think it’s the Ninety-Five.’
A truck roaring across the asphalt proved me right. It was US Route 95. Once I’d thought of it as just another road. Now I felt like building a monument to its glory and writing a song in its praise. As we stomped across the sandy dirt toward it, I began to wonder about our next step.
Unless Brodie and the others had made a miraculous escape from their captors, they were still missing in action. The most logical plan would be to return home and make our plans from there. Except our home had been fully alight when we last saw it.
By the time we reached the highway, we must have been looking pretty bad. Usually, Chad was impeccable about his appearance, but even he looked like he’d been living on the streets for six months. Several more hours of walking took us back to our house—or what remained of it. It looked like both the fire brigade and the police had been here. What wasn’t burnt had been ruined by the attempts by the fire brigade to extinguish the blaze. An untidy trail of police tape ran about the circumference of the ruins.
Chad and I barely spoke. The others were gone. They hadn’t made a miraculous escape; otherwise, they would be here waiting for us. We trudged back to the highway. Fortunately, this time a passing trucker took pity on us and gave us a ride.
‘How did you boys end up all the way out here?’ he asked.
‘Our car broke down,’ I explained.
‘Where do you need to go?’
‘Into Vegas,’ I said before Chad could reply. ‘All the way into the city.’
Chad shot me a look, but I gave him a look.
Later.
The driver dropped us off on South Las Vegas Boulevard, and we gave him a cheery wave goodbye.
‘Do you mind telling me what we’re doing here?’ Chad asked.
‘We need help if we’re going to find the others.’
‘What sort of help?’
‘Agency kind of help.’
Chad groaned. ‘Are you insane?’ he asked. ‘We wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for those crazies!’
Actually, he was kind of right. If The Agency hadn’t pumped us full of drugs and given us superpowers, we probably wouldn’t be standing on South Las Vegas Boulevard with no money, no identification, and no memory of our previous lives.
Life’s funny like that.
I even told him so.
Chad looked like he wanted to hit me. ‘You can contact The Agency,’ he said. ‘But I’m not going back there. I’m returning to the house to take my life back.’
‘What life?’ I was getting annoyed now. ‘And what house? It’s a smoldering wreck in the middle of nowhere!’
That shut him up. Even in his desert-addled, water-deprived state of mind, he could see my logic.
‘And what about the others?’ I persisted. ‘Ebony, Dan, Brodie, an
d Ferdy?’
‘I forgot about them,’ he admitted. ‘My brain wasn’t working properly.’
‘It’s The Agency or nothing.’
‘Okay,’ he said. ‘How do we contact them?’
Reaching into my pocket, I produced the card that Mister Jones had given me the previous day. ‘I have an address,’ I said.
Chad shook his head. ‘This is a mistake.’
‘Do you have a better idea?’
He didn’t.
Cars whizzed by as we marched down the road. I reflected on how this entire area must have changed over the years. A century ago, American Indians would have hunted and gathered as they had for thousands of years. Now the same territory had been eaten up by wedding chapels, bail bondsman, pawn stores, restaurants, and low-rise hotels.
Who would have thought it?
We finally arrived at the address on the card. I looked down at the card and double-checked it.
Yep, this is it.
It wasn’t quite what I expected.
‘The Hound Dog Wedding Chapel?’ Chad read the sign in disbelief. ‘Are you sure this is right?’
‘This is it.’ I started up the path. ‘Let’s see if Elvis is home.’
Chapter Fourteen
‘We need help!’ Brodie hammered the metal door. ‘Our friend is unwell!’
She’d been hitting the door for a full minute by the time a female voice replied from the other side.
‘That’s the oldest trick in the book,’ the voice said. ‘We weren’t born yesterday.’
‘It’s not a trick!’ Brodie yelled. ‘Besides, if we wanted to be out of here, we would be.’
‘We know you have some crazy powers,’ the woman replied. She sounded older than the teenage boy with whom Brodie had spoken. ‘I advise you to just eat your food and settle in. Tomorrow morning we can—’
‘My friend might not last until tomorrow! Ebony!’
Ebony knew precisely what to do. Dan’s breathing was dangerously shallow. He could die if he didn’t get help. She crossed to the metal door and touched it with her bare hand.
‘Oxygen,’ she said.
The door transmuted into oxygen, revealing a surprised woman on the other side. She wore army fatigues and carried a rifle. As she started to raise the weapon, Brodie leaped forward, grabbed it, and twisted it one hundred and eighty degrees out of her grasp.
An instant later, Brodie was pointing it at the astonished woman. Looking left and right, Brodie saw a long concrete passageway leading in both directions. She could take this woman hostage, but she had no idea how to escape. Besides, she wasn’t sure they could carry Dan with them all the way—and they still had to find Ferdy.
At that moment, a door opened at one end of the passageway, and a good-looking young man appeared. Brodie thought it could have been Jason.
Raising his rifle, he pointed it at her. ‘Put that gun down!’ he ordered.
‘Listen to me—’
‘Put it down!’
‘My friend is sick!’ Brodie snapped. ‘He’s not breathing properly. He needs medical assistance.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ the youth said.
‘What is it with you people? You have to believe me!’
‘Do you have a doctor?’ Ebony asked.
‘Yes, but—’
‘As a symbol of good faith, my friend will put her weapon down,’ Ebony said.
Brodie wasn’t too happy with the idea, but she could see sense in it. ‘We won’t attack you,’ she said. ‘All we want is help for our friend.’
She put the gun down. If the young man decided to shoot her, she doubted she could dodge out of the way in time.
‘Get your gun, Donna,’ the youth said.
The woman named Donna scooped up the weapon. ‘She’s fast, Jason,’ she warned. ‘Watch out for her.’
Ebony stepped into the corridor. ‘Dan’s getting worse,’ she said. ‘He needs help.’
Jason pointed them back into the room with his rifle. He and Donna followed them in and examined Dan.
‘He doesn’t look well,’ Donna said, peering down at him.
‘That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you,’ Brodie said. ‘Do you have a doctor?’
‘Doc Williams can look at him,’ Donna said. ‘You young people better not be trying anything—’
Brodie felt like picking the woman up and throwing her around the room.
‘We’re not,’ Ebony said. ‘We just want help for our friend.’
‘I’ll get the doc,’ Donna said and departed.
Brodie clenched her teeth. Hopefully, this doctor had some proper qualifications; otherwise, she and Ebony would have to fight their way out of here. Jason kept his gun trained on them until they heard a door opening and closing.
Donna returned a moment later with a man aged about sixty. He wore military fatigues like the others, but he had a red cross sewn onto his pocket and carried a leather medical bag. Kneeling beside Dan, the man quickly took his pulse and checked his breathing. After a moment, he pulled out a small bottle and needle from his bag.
‘What’s that?’ Brodie asked in alarm.
‘Don’t panic, missy,’ he said. ‘Your friend’s had an allergic reaction to the hypodermic. I’m just giving him something to ease his breathing. He’ll be good as gold before you know it.’
He injected Dan. Almost immediately, the boy’s color seemed to improve as did his breathing. It didn’t sound so labored.
Brodie gave the doctor a grateful look. ‘Thank you for your help,’ she said.
‘That’s okay,’ he said. ‘It’s my job.’
‘When can we get out of here?’ Ebony had sat back down on her bunk bed. ‘Why are we being held here?’
The doctor held up a hand. ‘It’s not my place to answer those kinds of questions,’ he said. ‘But a man will be here shortly who will set your minds at ease.’
I doubt that, Brodie thought. The only thing that will set my mind at ease will be leaving this place.
As the doctor exited, Donna and Jason hovered in the entryway where the metal door used to be. They gave the gap a critical look.
‘We won’t try to escape,’ Brodie said. ‘You have my word.’
Jason seemed satisfied, but Donna looked undecided.
‘We’re not leaving our friend,’ Ebony said. ‘And he obviously can’t travel, so it looks like we’re stuck here whether we like it or not.’
Nodding, Donna departed, while Jason gave them an appraising look. ‘You people have got powers,’ he said. ‘That’s going to come in handy.’
‘Why?’ Brodie asked.
‘You’ll see,’ he said enigmatically.
They heard the door open down the passage and a man sidled past Jason into the room. He was completely bald. Even apart from his baldness, Brodie realized he looked unusual, and it took her a few seconds to work out why.
Oh no.
He had no ears.
‘My name is Jeremiah Stead,’ he said in a deep, confident voice. ‘I’m in charge here.’
‘Where is here?’ Brodie asked. ‘Exactly.’
‘The Sanctuary Compound in Montana,’ he said. ‘You’re among the fortunate few.’
‘What do you mean?’ Ebony asked.
Smiling grimly, Jeremiah gave them a wink. ‘The world is coming to an end,’ he said. ‘It’s your lucky day, kids.’
Chapter Fifteen
I stopped at the front steps of the Hound Dog Wedding Chapel. It was a two-story cream-colored stucco building with a small bell tower. The signage in front advertised a selection of various wedding packages. These ranged from a traditional service conducted by a certified minister to the full performance where you could be married by a Rock N Roll singing and dancing Elvis.
Wow, I thought. If Brodie and I ever decide to tie the knot…
A Chinese restaurant was on one side of the building. On the other was a small hotel. They had a deal where you could combine a three-day weekend package with a compl
imentary Elvis wedding.
‘This is too weird,’ Chad said, rolling his eyes. ‘How did it all come to this?’
‘Do you really want an answer to that?’
‘No.’
We rang the bell, and it chimed a little ditty for a few seconds. I thought it may have been Can’t Help Falling In Love. The door opened, and the King of Rock and Roll—or a reasonably similar copy—stood in the entrance. He wore a white jumpsuit with a bright red collar and flared pants. The entire outfit was decorated with gold grommets and colored rhinestones.
‘Hello boys,’ he said. ‘Lookin’ to get hitched?’
‘Not to each other!’ Chad exclaimed.
‘I have a card,’ I said. ‘I’m here to see Mister Floyd.’
Elvis nodded. ‘Come right in,’ he said. ‘You’re at the right place.’
He opened the door wide, and we stepped inside to find ourselves in a short corridor that smelt of cologne. The walls were painted lilac-pink, and plastic flowers decorated the corners. Pictures of Elvis plastered the walls as well as dozens of photos of newlywed couples.
‘I’m in Hell,’ Chad muttered.
Elvis ignored him. ‘Come on through to the chapel, boys.’
We followed him into a clean and neat chamber. Theatre seating lined both sides. A small enclosed gazebo at the front was made of pink satin sheets and plastic white and pink roses. An organ sat to the left. An elderly lady was practicing the organ.
She looked up at us. ‘Hello, boys.’
‘Ma’am,’ I greeted her.
‘They’re looking for Mister Floyd,’ Elvis said.
She nodded.
Elvis hit a button on the left-hand side of the gazebo. There was a soft click and the entire structure lifted up into the ceiling. Directly below it was a small and modern looking elevator enclosed in steel and dark glass.
‘Mister Floyd is right this way,’ Elvis said.
We wordlessly stepped into the elevator.
Elvis winked. ‘If you rethink that marriage…’
Doors slid across, and Chad and I exchanged glances. Before we could say a word, the elevator smoothly dropped a few feet, and the doors slid open. A modern office lay before us with about twenty people working at desks. Maps of various parts of the world covered the walls. Military personnel mingled among the office workers.
Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7 Page 21
