O’Connell did not try to run. He did not trail behind or even leave Valerie’s side. His tears subsided after a few minutes, though his cheeks remained red. Ahead, Major and Griff navigated the team for two hours to their rendezvous point. They covered more ground without the burden of their packs, but the lack of supplies would cause more trouble later on if they did not restock.
When the group reached the off-ramp for the city of Parker, they stopped to regroup. Griff went up the hill to a gas station off the exit for water and food. Jack and Major held a quiet but heated discussion. She had spent hours calculating the distance between her and her son. Twenty-eight miles would have been a short drive. She could pick any vehicle littering the shoulders, median, and ditches surrounding the highway. But the only moving cars on the toll road they traveled were the blue CDC trucks. They would be stopped and forced to repeat the incident from the checkpoint. She did not have much farther before reaching home, but knowing they just barely skirted detainment was hard to stomach. She did not have the time or energy to go through another CDC encounter.
Courtney found a seat on the curb and pulled out a pen and paper. Specialist O’Connell sat down, too. Hyka nodded at Valerie and then sat next to him, as a guard.
“. . . Just a matter of time,” she heard Major say before he realized Valerie had walked up to them. Valerie knew they were talking about her and what had happened and Major was not happy about the additional people.
“You did alright, kid,” Jack said and pulled her in for a side hug.
“I should have scrambled their communications. Now Jarrett knows where we are.”
Major, with his brows drawn together, stomped past them and toward the young man sitting with his daughter. O’Connell was an easy target for his anger, but the kid knew it, and he had not taken his eyes off Major since the checkpoint. O’Connell stood up fast and took a few steps back to add more distance. He was about to turn to run, but he tripped on the curb and fell on his hip. Major grabbed him by the collar and yanked him off the ground with ease.
“Start talking, boy,” he said, pulling O’Connell’s face within an inch of his own.
“I . . . I found the DiaZem.”
“Major, put him down. He can’t tell us anything if you rip his head off,” Jack said, annoyed.
Major lowered the young man’s feet to the ground but kept his grip on the front of his shirt.
“What do you want with the DiaZem?” This time Hyka asked the question as she stood up. “How did you develop a screening tool in a week without having met one?”
“There is one, at the CDC facility. The technology wasn’t hard, like testing a circuit for power. But DiaZem in their defensive state will deflect certain energy. I can’t believe my invention worked in the field. I can’t believe I found another DiaZem.”
Hyka jabbed him in the side hard enough for him to wince.
“What do they want with a DiaZem?” she asked again.
“Phase Two. They can’t start Phase Two until she’s safe at the facility.”
“Why?” Valerie asked.
“I don’t know. No one knows what Phase Two is other than Dr. Jarrett. But your safety is of the utmost importance. We vowed to give our lives to keep your life intact. I have a place in the New World now. Creating the wand was easy, but I can’t believe I found you.”
Major shook the young man until his smile faded.
“Who is Dr. Jarrett?” Major asked him, growing more impatient with Valerie’s celebrity DiaZem treatment.
Specialist O’Connell laughed at his question. “Dr. Lucas Jarrett is Head of Research at the Denver Facility. He is the mouthpiece of the World Council in the Central region of the United States.”
Major shoved O’Connell to the ground. He let out a surprised yelp as the ground knocked the wind out of him. Major had heard enough. He shot an angry look at Courtney.
“Curse it! Why am I always right?!”
Valerie looked at Major, scared to say anything lest she received the same treatment as O’Connell. She did not have the slightest clue what he was right about. The young man had not said anything they did not already know. She was relieved when Major walked away and hoped he had left to calm down. She knelt by O’Connell who gazed at her, star struck.
“You are more beautiful than I had ever imagined,” he whispered.
Courtney chuckled and shook her head.
Embarrassed by how he treated her, Valerie tried to steer the conversation better. “Well, thanks. But I have questions. Who is the other DiaZem?” she asked.
“There are two. I met one, though. I am not quite sure who the other is. He must be pretty important because they keep him protected. The DiaZem I tested on will be sent to the San Francisco facility once you are safe. He’s just some lucky schmuck who won the genetic lottery. A nobody.”
“But if all they need is two DiaZem, why are they still after me?”
He wrinkled his brow and tilted his head at the question. “After you? We are trying to find you and save you. Why would you not want yourself and your son protected? There is nothing more important than preserving your life. What do you think you are running from?”
“Just answer the question, alright?” Hyka said and kicked the kid in the arm.
“Ow! You people are worse than those soldiers,” he said, rubbing where Hyka kicked. “The combined energy has to do with sex. Um, gender, I mean. Not sex. Imagine a magnet. Every magnet has two poles: north and south, a positive and negative. Hidden in the human gender chromosome is a charge. XY is negative, and XX is positive. When they come into proximity, the magnetic charge of two male DiaZem deflect and cause a lot of problems, a huge mess. Hypothetically, the same goes for females, regardless of their compatibility otherwise. But when a positive charge meets a negative charge, their bond becomes inseparable, and their power can sustain a civilization past Phase Four.”
“You think she’s going to leave her husband for some DiaZem to fulfill your kooky power triangle? Val, this dude is hot for you. Maybe he is the other DiaZem. How does that make you feel?” Hyka laughed once, which was as much as her stoic posture would allow.
Courtney let out a giggle, too, and continued her writing. But the joke was not amusing to Valerie or O’Connell who huffed and stuttered, causing Hyka to laugh twice more. His face turned a shade redder.
Griff showed up before the boy could collect himself. Food was a welcome distraction. Valerie tossed a bottle of water toward O’Connell. Hyka intercepted the container. She threw another to Courtney, who dropped her pen in time to catch it.
“He doesn’t need this. He’s not coming with us.” Hyka threw the bottle to her father who had made his way back when he noticed Griff’s return.
“Where is he going to go?” Valerie threw her hands in the air, referencing their temporary campsite on the side of the road. She had had enough of being undermined and second-guessed. “He’s been inside the facility and worked with a DiaZem. He can help us,” she explained.
“We will keep them around a bit longer,” Jack said, coming to her rescue. “Neither of them poses a real threat. Search them, though. Who knows what kind of techy equipment that one might have on him. And it’s high time we start listening to Valerie. Once shit hits the fan, she might be the only one to bring us out.”
Valerie was glad Jack stood up for her, but the endorsement made her uncomfortable. She did not want control, but just one person to be on her side. It felt like everyone had their own agenda for her except Courtney, but her acquaintance was too new to determine where she fit into all this.
“He’s a liability, Jack. The girl is fine to stay, and I can see how he’d even be helpful, but I’m with Hyka. That kid will sell us out before he’d help us,” Griff said. He looked tired. He was not able to recover as fast as the others. Valerie was so caught up in being close to home she had not noticed the toll the journey was taking on him. The RV had been a nice break for everyone with the gene, but Griff did not get any rest
during their drive.
“Let’s take a few more hours to rest, but he stays with us until I get home. I need him here,” Valerie said, trying to be firm and compassionate.
“What the hell are you trying to prove?” Major demanded of her. She knew this conversation would not be pretty, but she needed to stand up for herself.
“What?” She just wanted to hear him admit he did not want her taking charge.
“You’re reckless. You are making decisions you have no experience making.”
She could feel him holding back his rage.
“You, sir, are reckless. We know nothing of what they plan to do. If he is our chance to shine some light on what’s going on in there, I’m at least going to let him have a drink of water.” She knew the young man was not the real subject of this argument. She wanted to hear Major admit his power struggle.
“He is lucky to still be alive, and she deserves whatever punishment they have lined up for her. Every second they are here puts every one of us at risk. I would have slit his throat at the checkpoint if I had known he’d be your little tag-a-long. Both of them will tell you what you want to hear to get you into the CDC compound. Hell, I should end this right now.” Major motioned to his knife. O’Connell flinched and flung his arms in front of his face to shield himself.
Courtney just sat and watched.
“Your answer is to kill everyone? How does murder make us any better than them?”
“You and I both know you could have shielded Jack from the taser. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Your Majesty, but the world is at war. Something I have a lifetime of experience in and you have none. You might have one mission right now, Princess, but we are here for something much bigger than a toddler. Your spawn is a tiny piece of this puzzle, and the sooner you get your head out of your fourth point of contact, the less you’ll keep putting a visible target on our backs.” Major’s face was red. Sweat poured from his brow. She knew he was about to break.
“You used me to kill once; it won’t happen again. I could have stopped the taser, yes. But the shock would have transferred to the man with the gun. His finger never moved from the trigger. If he had gotten electrocuted, his finger would have flexed, putting a bullet in my head. So, I’m sorry I had to let Jack get hit, but I did not have a choice.
“You can guide this mission and call the shots on when and where we stop, but you forget, sir, when the smoke clears I will be the one to fix everything. The reckless one here is you. I will not be a weapon. Not for them, and not for you.”
A gun went off, loud and right in her ear. Major’s face relaxed as blood trickled from the hole in his forehead. Valerie’s world went numb and seemed to slow. Jack tackled O’Connell and Hyka grabbed her father as his lifeless body fell to the ground. Her face twisted in anguish. She let out a scream, muffled by the ringing in Valerie’s ears. Courtney yanked the gun from O’Connell’s hand and threw it away from him.
Hyka pulled the knife loose from her father’s belt and turned to O’Connell. Jack was beating him with his bare fists. She used one hand to pull Jack away, but Griff grabbed her around her arms before she reached O’Connell. She screamed and kicked the air, trying to free herself.
Jack faced Valerie. His lips formed her name, but she could not hear him.
“Valerie. Valerie. Can you save him? Valerie. Wake up.” He slapped her full handed across the face.
“Valerie. Can you save him?”
She looked at him, trying to decipher the foreign language he was speaking.
“Valerie! Fix him!” He shook her and yelled in her face.
She looked at Jack in full consciousness and understood. She moved to Major’s body and felt for a pulse on his neck. He was still breathing and still had a heartbeat, though both were weak. She pulled open a medical pouch on his belt. The exit wound she found while wrapping the gauze around his head left her with little hope. She could feel his energy fading.
“Griff, call 911.” She did not care about the consequences of being found. She just needed a backup plan. She put her hands on his chest, one on his right pec and the other on his left side. Valerie exhaled a silent prayer as she pulled the combined energy of those around her and focused her power on Major’s fleeting heartbeat. Inhale.
She exhaled, and the very breath created sparks that traveled from her mouth to Majors. He sucked in when they reached his lips, and the connection stayed. Valerie could feel her own energy drain. It was not enough. Desperate, she pulled any power she could find. Soon, even the air around her was positively charged as visible streams of electricity moved from Jack, Hyka, Griff, and even Courtney. Valerie reached out further for power. The sky answered with a bolt of lightning.
Major’s body arched off the ground, and Valerie could feel the connections of neurons in his brain. Firing. Reconnecting. Rebuilding. But the power was running out. She pushed as hard as she could to keep it going, but without another power source, within minutes it was all over.
Despite her elaborate show of power, Major lay lifeless under Valerie’s hands. She searched his eyes, hoping he would return. She needed him. She needed him to tell her what to do next. She needed him to be her father’s voice of reason in his absence. His energy had not faded, but he was not there. Out of desperation, she began chest compressions.
“Griff, call 911. Please!” Tears rolled down her face.
Major’s head jerked with every thrust. His eyes stared into nowhere.
Jack placed his hands over Valerie’s, but she did not stop. She would keep Major’s heart beating even if he could not. Only when Jack wrapped his muscular arms over hers did she let the defeat overtake her.
The confrontation, the blood, the lifeless man who lay in front of her. If she had listened to him, she could have avoided all of this. She saw her mother where Hyka’s father was. She had picked the most impossible of occupations—trusted to save lives, yet incapable. She saved hundreds of people in her career, but when love was involved, she had failed again. She feared this to be the fate of everyone close to her.
Valerie forgot where she was, who she was, and why she was there. Grief poured from her soul into a tiny ball which kept growing into a hollowness in her chest. She wished the emptiness would collapse on itself and swallow her. She was numb to everything around her but the breaking of her heart.
The passing of time was only given away by the growing darkness casting the team into shadows. Valerie’s adrenaline wore off, and the pain of kneeling on the concrete was becoming more apparent. She shifted her body to lay flat on the ground. Jack was next to her, his shirt still wet with her tears. His eyes closed. His right hand rubbed his forehead hard and slow, caked with dried blood from O’Connell’s face.
Valerie stared up at the dark sky that had flashed bright with lightning as she had never experienced before. The failure drained her emotionally and physically. Her eyes were swollen and raw from crying. She wanted to run away. Leave them all. She did not want the responsibility which came with her awakened gene. She did not want to be a DiaZem or bear the impossible expectations of others. She did not want to be the one to stand by and pick up the pieces of destruction left in her wake.
Hyka lay next to her father with her head on his chest. She, like the rest of the group, was silent. No sobs or mournful sighs. She just stared down at his shoes, not even shifting for comfort. Griff sat facing the bloody pile of Specialist O’Connell. Dirt, blood, and sweat were only washed clean by the tears he allowed to fall down his cheeks. He reminded Valerie of the degenerates along the road to Max’s: stripped of their loved ones and desperate for answers. Courtney sat beside him, both staring a thousand miles away at the same nothing.
“I have to keep going, Jack. I just don’t know how,” Valerie whispered. A tear rolled from the corner of her eye and across her temple. Her heart broke for Hyka, and she felt selfish for even breathing the words.
“You and I can go on. We’ll take the girl. Eight more hours. Griff can stay with Hyka and Maj
or. Once we reach Caleb, we will come back for them and regroup.” Jack sounded like he had been rolling the idea around for as long as she had.
O’Connell coughed, sending a ball of clotted blood straight into the air which landed next to his face. Hyka slid to a stance in a fluid motion that conveyed she had been waiting for this exact moment. Griff attempted to head her off, but she had anticipated his interception as well and maneuvered by him with ease. Hyka straddled her prey, and with a quick jerk of her arm, her father’s blade pulled over the young man’s throat. She stayed there, blood pouring over her knees until the flow stopped and Specialist O’Connell’s body lay lifeless. Only then did she stand and walk toward Valerie, stopping short and pointing the bloody blade at her.
“You did this. To both of them. Is this your idea of leading? You haven’t even picked what side you’re on,” Hyka yelled in anger, but she did not cry. “This is not just about you. Stop pulling everyone along if you’re just going to ditch us the first chance you get. We’re here because we believe you’re the one to stop this, but you need to stop straddling the fence. Pick a damn side already. You’re just going to get the rest of us killed.”
Her words felt like poison, and Valerie dared not interrupt. She knew the grieving process all too well. Hyka was the one hurting and needed to place blame and direct her anger. Valerie had no business trying to defend herself. Hyka would not have listened either way.
“You didn’t search him,” Jack said without looking at her. “I told you to search him, Hyka. This was as much your fault as any of us.”
“Hyka,” Major whispered from where he was lying.
She lowered the knife she had pointed at Valerie and stepped back to her father.
“Everything’s alright. I’m fine. Just a little weak,” Major coughed. Griff brought him a bottle of water and helped Hyka prop him up to drink.
“She did it. I can’t believe she did it,” Griff said to himself, wiping a tear away with the back of his hand.
Apparent Power: DiaZem Trilogy Book One Page 13
