Four (Their Dead Lives,1) (52 page)

She gave him a direct stare and with an iron strength in her words, she said, “You already have.”
 

He averted his eyes. Cloak patiently waited down the hill by the Pacific Coast Highway.
 

“You won’t have to worry much longer. I’ll let you go soon enough.”
 

“Why are you doing this?”
 

Kale crouched down to look her directly in the eyes. But first he stared at the rest of her body. Her legs were bent to the side. Such tan, toned legs.
Great legs.
No wonder Alec always stayed by her side.
He was tempted to touch, but kept his hand back. “I remember once,”—he looked at her—“you and I, and Alec, and the others. I remember us all at a diner. I sat in the middle next to Jeff. You and Alec on one side, Scot and Kelsey on the other.”
 

“The three couples,” she said, her eyes defeated.
 

Kale grinned. “Yes, yes. We’d gone to a concert. Late at night, all tired, hungry, thirsty. Anyway, we ordered shakes. I think you and Alec had a strawberry one.”
 

“What are you getting at?” She spoke more forcefully than Alec had before his death.
The stones in the relationship.
 

Kale looked at the ground. Grains of dirt stained his shoes brown. “Did he ever tell you what happened to him our freshman year?”
 

“Kale, I know all about the well and the kidnapper and—”
 

“The truth, Nicole. Did he tell you the truth?”
 

Nicole lowered her scabbed chin to her arm, eyeing him carefully. “What truth?”
 

“What I was getting at with the diner and the shakes and the concert and all that crap, you need to know how meaningless it all was.”
 

“Having a good night with friends is meaningless?”
 

“When you have a gift, yes.”
 

Her eyes narrowed. “What did you do with Alec?”
 

Kale bit his lip, eyes unintentionally wandering down her body. He stared briefly at her tits. They were large, full, and ripe. He shook his stare away and said, “What needed to be done.”
 

“Kale,” she hissed as she yanked forward, trying to loosen the rope. “Please tell me what’s happening. I can help.”

Help? You’re nothing but an inconvenience with big tits.
“How?”
 

“Where is Alec?”
 

“You sound like him.”
 

“Where is Alec?”
she screamed, saliva flying off her lips and landing on Kale’s cheek.
Spits like him, too.
 

Kale rose. “You and Alec shared shakes, kisses, hugs, and fucks. All pointless things. But I have done something that will change the course of our lives and the future of the world.” His eyes darkened right next to her face. “And you will watch.”
 

A spasm twitched in her lip. “You killed my Alec.”
 

“I only did what needed to be done.” And he left her, joining Cloak by the highway. If the Eradicator desired her alive, then she’ll still breathe when they return, and if not, then...
Meh.

They headed south, the opposite direction of the clinic. “Jeff will be returning, we should head back now.”
 

Cloak froze on the highway and grabbed Kale, pressing a finger to his skull. His eyes twitched shut and he felt a presence in need. Dark, like them, and in trouble. “Who is she?”
 

Cloak continued on.
 

“She’s one of us? Is she hurt? Are we going to save her?”
I sound needy. I can’t help myself. I have never felt such...such... I want to kill.
 

Per usual, no verbal response from Cloak, but Kale felt assured they were on the right path. Then the whispers came for them and both Embracers stood still.
 

“She is part of me, like you. We must keep all of us safe. So save your sister, dear children, and save her swiftly.”
 

Kale grinned and they flew into a sprint down the highway. Mountain and sea blurred on each side of him. He wondered how fast he was moving. He wished he’d had these new abilities back in high school. P.E. would’ve been a breeze.
 

They paused before turning a bend, peering around a hill at a restaurant. Neptune’s Retreat. The morning grew warmer. “I don’t feel hungry.” Kale grabbed his stomach. “Do we ever eat?”
 

He felt Cloak’s answer. They only had one thing to worry about now: obeying the Eradicator.
 

Kale wondered if leaving Nicole so vulnerable was the best choice. They’d likely need her for their encounter with Jeff.
A good way to mess with his mind.
But that didn’t matter now, for they had a sister to save.
 

They snuck to the side of the restaurant. Voices. A girl was screaming at a guy.
Stupid Neanderthals.
A large tan man with blond hair flowing to his back stepped on the front porch, holding an Uzi. Kale wanted to gut him across the highway. But Cloak forced the young Embracer to wait. Around the corner, on the back patio, covered by a flowing tarp, was a Spanish woman tied to a chair.
My sister of death.
 

Two other surfer bros paced around, poking her, teasing her. She shifted uneasily back and forth.
Why doesn’t she rip their heads off?

Kale was ready to pounce, but once again, Cloak forced him to stay put. And as he watched the imbeciles get to work on the Spanish woman, a striking force of light shot in his head. He grabbed his skull and slid to the dirt, twitching in agony. Cloak paid him no attention. The light was worse than any darkness that had struck him before. His legs trembled. His feet kicked. He dropped over, grabbing his temples, shivering on the ground as pain rose to his chest. His mind teleported to a vision of a plane of white and black. Light burned his flesh from above, and dark fought to heal him from below. At the end of the spectrum, those eyes stared with flashing heat, craving to melt every last piece of skin off Kale’s bones.
ALEC?
 

It all vanished upon Cloak’s touch.
 

Heavy breaths escaped Kale’s lips as he choked on the dirt. Cloak gripped his shoulder tighter. The old Embracer seemed concerned.
 

“I’m fine,” breathed Kale.
 

Cloak rose, reaching under his black robe and pulling out a steel shaft. A metallic click and it expanded to a spear. The Embracer nodded at the restaurant.
 

A time for killing has arrived.

SADIE
 

A male chauvinist stands before me. Carlin deserves better.
 

They’d spent days together, getting close, and Sadie viewed Carlin as a friend.
 

Loyalty between friends was most important to Sadie.
Real friends protect one another.
Sadie was ready to do what needed to be done to ensure the safety of her friends.
 

In the corner of the restaurant, Carlin was cowering as her ‘boyfriend’ Declan ranted and raved.
 

“You agreed we would see other people!” he screamed. “And you complain at a time like this? While the world dies, you care if I flirt with some wetback?”
 

I want to break his spine.
 

Declan’s hand clenched, inching for Carlin’s face.
 

The noble boy-next-door, Timmy, stepped in. “Dec, relax, okay?”
 

Declan’s fist launched at Timmy’s head. The boy fell over and Sadie ran to him.
 

“You’re an asshole,” she said to Declan.
 

“Don’t talk to me, you gothic cuh—”
 

Carlin swung a plate at Declan’s face, but he swiftly dodged, grabbed her wrist and yanked it away. “You want to hit me?” He let her go. “Go ahead.”
 

“Why are you doing this?” cried Carlin.
 

“Is this about me?” Sofia stood in the doorway next to the back patio. “I should really go.”
 

“No.” The hairless Kai slithered behind her. “We’re about to party.”
 

Declan’s bare chest heaved. “That we are.”
 

Sofia looked at Carlin then Sadie. “You two okay?”
 

Sitting on the ground, holding Timmy, Sadie did not speak or move.
 

“Boys.” Sofia reached behind her, grabbing Kai’s belt, draped her free arm around Declan’s neck. “How about the three of us go out back?”
 

Both pigs smiled. Declan glanced at his brother, the Baron Von Gnar-Gnar, and said, “You watch these three, shoot them if they try and leave.”
 

Standing by the main entrance, the Baron only stared.
 

Carlin lowered to the ground with Timmy and Sadie. “I’m sorry. He’s usually not like this. He really is a good—”
 

“Don’t defend him,” said Sadie. She let Timmy’s head go and stood. “You two keep down here, okay?”
 

“What are you doing?”
 

“Making sure they don’t hurt anyone.” Sadie went for the kitchen, the Baron’s eyes following her every move.
 

She wondered where that worthless Oderly was napping.
 

Inside the kitchen, she grabbed two long knives, tucked one in her black leggings. The other she decided to wield openly. She turned back for the restaurant.
 

The Baron held the Uzi, aiming it directly at her.
 

“Your idiot brother will hurt her. I have to stop them,” she said.
 

The Baron lowered the gun slightly. “I’m not really Declan’s brother. We grew up together, but that’s it.”
 

“Why do you hang out with him?”
 

“We’ve shared too many waves for me to abandon him.”
 

Of course.
“Listen.” She stepped closer. “No need to get messy. Just let me get Sofia, and we’ll leave.”
 

“Why do you care what happens to her?”
 

“Why don’t you?” She stood right under the Baron’s nose. Her hand touched the Uzi, lowering it farther.
 

“I want us all to be safe,” said the Baron, his guard gone.
 

“So let me get her out of here, and we will be.” She made her move to pass him, but he grabbed her neck before she even saw his hand.
 

A striking pain shot through her skull as her head slammed against a wall. The knife fell, along with her limp body. She rolled over, searching for the blade. The handle. Her fingers lifted right above it.
I’ll gut him if—

The kitchen spun. She was thrown, flailing against cupboards. Pots and pans crashed down on her. The taste of blood filled her mouth as she struggled to lift her head.
 

“Why?” Her hand slid for her legging.
 

The other knife.

“I have to protect the group. Knocking some sense into you will do you good.” The Baron stepped closer. “I won’t hurt you further, as long as you kill those irrational ideas.”
 

Irrational
. She hated the word’s misuse. “How is trying to save someone irrational?”
 

Before the Baron answered, Timmy and Carlin came in behind him. “What the hell are you doing, Gnar-Gnar?”
 

“She threatens us with stupidity.” He reached down for her again but he yelped and grabbed his arm. A line of blood ran down his tan flesh.
 

Carlin held a red knife. “Get away from her.”
 

“You cut me? Why did you cut me?” He tucked the Uzi in his shorts and grabbed the gash. “It
really
hurts, sheesh.” He stormed from the kitchen, muttering under his breath.
 

Carlin dropped to check on Sadie. “You okay?”

“He’s insane.”
 

“He’s high,” she responded.
 

“They all are. They’ve changed dramatically since this all started, and so quickly too.” Timmy stood over them. “Let’s leave.”
 

Sadie and Carlin smiled at the idea.
 

Outside on the patio, Sofia had been tied to a chair. Sadie stayed by the doors, keeping her presence hidden from the scoundrels.
 

Declan grabbed Sofia’s knees and forced them apart. She seemed calm.
How?
 

Sadie’s fingers wrapped tightly around the knife, while Carlin and Timmy stood behind her. The Baron had disappeared.
 

“What do we do?” Timmy nervously whispered.
 

“We strike,” said Sadie with a calm voice. She put her hand on the patio door, preparing to attack.

Kai was behind Sofia, running his dirty hands across her shoulders. His fingers slid under her tank top, over her tits. He had the largest, nastiest smile.
 

Sadie hoped he had the same smile in hell.
 

A whistling steel spear plunged into Kai’s back, bursting out his chest. He stepped to the side, eyes wide, mouth locked open in surprise. “Whaaaaa—” he whined, falling to his knees.
 

Declan fumbled for the sawed-off shotgun on the plastic table behind him. He spun and fired past Kai.
 

“I can’t feel anything,” the impaled surfer murmured, slumping over, still reaching for Declan.
 

Left to die alone.
 

Declan forced into the restaurant, knocking Sadie over with the swinging door. “Something is out there! Gnar, get your gun!”
 

Carlin helped Sadie off the floor.
 

Timmy peered out to that cursed, dreadful patio. “Holy shit!”
 

A black cloaked figure darted inside, grabbing the boy’s throat before he could move. Fingers dug in his flesh. The Baron unleashed his Uzi. Timmy was tossed into the bathroom hall as bullets ripped the cloak open. No cries or shrieks of pain as it vanished back outside.