Oblivion (19 page)

FORTY-SIX

Sam

The continuous
helpless feeling was becoming tedious. Somehow, I thought my situation would
improve once Jason appeared, but it seemed to be getting worse.

A few minutes
earlier Jason and Mark had appeared from around a corner, surprising the guards
and me. Now we found ourselves in a standoff. For some reason a silently
snarling brown dog stood at my brother’s side, its anger clearly aimed at the
armed guards surrounding me.

For their part,
the guards appeared nervous and took several steps back as the dog walked
forward. Two of them held their guns on the men approaching, a third held one
on the dog, and the last had a grip on my arm and held the gun against the side
of my head.

I seriously
doubted the dog would care if it was shot, since on closer inspection it
appeared to be made of hardened dirt and sharp rocks. A bullet was unlikely to
harm it in any way. In a different situation, I would find this new development
in Jason’s power amazing. Right now, I could only hope his creative use of
powers would help save all of us. The dog was bulletproof.

The rest of us
were not.

While Jason could
react quickly, I didn’t think he could block a bullet. Mark likely wore his
bulletproof vest, so he had some protection. My brother and I were completely
vulnerable to a gunshot.

“You okay, kiddo?”
Jason called.

The emotion in his
voice and leaking from his whole being was surprising, considering he still had
no clear memory of us being brothers.

“I’ve been better,
but I think the drugs finally wore off for real now.”

Jason’s eyes
flashed angrily, and the dog stepped forward menacingly. “You drugged my
brother?”

A few small chunks
of earth rose from the dog’s dirt coat and formed into hard projectiles.

“Jason, don’t!” I
yelled.

He paused giving a
death glare to the guards before looking at me in confusion. “Why shouldn’t I
hurt them? They hurt you, and would hurt all of us given the chance.”

I shook my head,
heedless of the gun held on me. If Jason killed these men… once he regained his
memories, he would never be able to forgive himself. He would always view
himself as a murderer. “No, Jason.”

The guard looked
at me, eyes wide in surprise—most likely due to my attempt to protect them. I
couldn’t blame them for their fear. Jason as a Tracker was talented and could
be dangerous. Jason as the Earthshaker was deadly.

“That’s not who
you are, big brother. Please don’t do something you’ll regret.”

He held his glare
on the guards, but allowed the projectiles to fall back into the still snarling
dog.

Our standoff moved
into the entrance of the courtyard, and I sensed shock from Alice and a more
subdued surprise from Jeremiah. They were close then. It might be time to allow
Jeremiah into my head again.

I pushed against
his mind to let him know I wanted to talk.

“What do you need, Oblivion? Is the Tracker
near you?”

I tried to hide my
reaction, but flinched a little.

“Why do you sound like Kindred right now,
Jeremiah?”

“I am in the mindset that will help me do
this job. What is it you need?”
he asked again.

A little less sure
of my plan, I resolved to push forward.
“I
need you to distract the Mastermind. I’m not sure exactly how, but I need his
focus off the guards, so I can affect them.”

Another voice
suddenly interjected.
“Not a bad idea,
Sam. Perhaps then I can also help?”

“Lena? Where are you?”

“In the car outside the facility. I’ve been
attempting to manipulate the guards around Jeremiah and Alice. The Mastermind
is too strong. I can’t break through his control, but with Jeremiah’s
distraction, I may be useful again.”

She continued, her
voice a bit softer,
“Just between you and
me, Sam, I think our assassin friend may be heading in a dangerous direction
again. I’m not convinced we can trust him to have our backs.”

Despite my intent
to hide my mental conversation, a sigh escaped.

Jason’s eyes were
still glinting angrily as he and his pet stalked toward the guards. I may have
stopped him from killing the guards, but he was still willing to hurt them.

The men dragged me
back with them until we were near the middle of the courtyard.

I had to warn
Jason! The Mastermind had snipers. “Careful, Jason! There are—” A sharp pain
cut me off. The only thing that prevented me from dropping to my knees was the
guard’s hand holding my arm.

I raised my hand
to the rapidly forming bruise on my face and almost didn’t register when the
guard who’d hit me suddenly crashed to the ground. Or rather, through the
ground.

“Nobody hits my
little brother,” Jason growled. His hand was held over the ground, palm down,
and the guard had sunk into the earth up to his neck.

His pet
practically flew through the air toward the other guards before Jason
hesitated, causing the dog to pause and take a couple short steps back.

“Why…?” I tore my
gaze from the slowly dissolving dog to see a dart sticking out of Jason’s neck.

“Jason!” Mark
yelled.

“Kindred, we need that distraction! Now!”
I
urged him.

“Doing it already. Give it a moment and I
believe you should gain an opening,”
he responded.

Jason took a
drunken step forward and slowly sank to his knees. One hand rested on the
ground while the other sluggishly pulled the dart free.

The remaining
guards stood taller, now assured that the threat was over. Mark stood
protectively by Jason, still holding his own gun toward the guards.

“You okay, Jason?
There is still some fluid in the dart, I don’t think you got the full dose,”
the agent asked.

My brother shook
his head sharply, and attempted to stand.

More emotions
began to seep through my mind, and I had to force myself to ignore Jason’s
struggles.

“You two need to
protect yourselves better,” I scolded, pushing strength and confidence toward
the confused guards. Mark looked at me in confusion, but I couldn’t stop what I
had to do.

“Use your minds
and
fight
when you think something
isn’t right. He can’t control you if you don’t let him.” The words may not have
been true, but they helped the mental manipulation to take hold.

I added a strong
dose of determination to the mix, and pointed up at the window where the guard
who’d shot Jason was crouched.

“He is hurting
people under your protection,” I pushed protective instincts, and their guns rose.
“You need to stop him at all costs.”

One guard covered
the other as they sped through the door to make their way to the shooter.

I risked a glance
at Jason, who shook his head at me. “They’re going to get themselves killed, or
kill the other guard. Why?”

I smiled coldly.
“You’re not the only one who’s protective of his brother.”

His dismay was
clearly written on his face, and I could feel his disappointment pushing into
my mind.

“What?” I asked,
angry at his reaction. I hadn’t done anything wrong! They would have killed us,
so why did it matter what I did to them?

“You stopped me. I
should have stopped you,” he admitted.

That stopped me.
It wasn’t me he was disappointed in. It was himself. “I’m sorry, Jason. You’re
right. I reacted, and now those men will suffer. It’s not your fault though. Chalk
it up to being drugged, and not remembering how you’d normally react.”

I suddenly
remembered the other snipers stationed around the courtyard.

“We really should get
out of the courtyard before—” A sharp pain cut through my back, and I found
myself on my side, one hand clawing at the dirt.

“SAM!”

FORTY-SEVEN

Jason

My voice echoed
through the courtyard as I ran to my brother’s side. As I dropped next to him a
wall of earth rose up to surround us.

“Sam! Sammy, talk
to me!” I begged; all weariness from the dart forgotten as my power flowed
through me. Too late to protect him, but still able to separate
us
from those who would further harm us.

My brother
stirred, his eyes opening blearily. “J… Jason? Wha… what ‘
appened
?”

His voice was weak
and I forced my eyes to look at the bloody wound. There was already so much
blood. I put pressure on it, hoping to slow the flow.

“You… you’ll be
okay, little brother,” I forced out, attempting to push my fear aside.

“I… I know
yer
lyin
’,” he slurred.

His hand reached
up weakly, and I gripped it tightly, willing him to hold on. The blood wouldn’t
stop. My world had shrunk down to me and my injured brother.

“I… I want you to
remember,” he admitted, eyes tearing from the pain. Or maybe it was the thought
that I didn’t remember him.

He took a gasping
breath and stared at me. I met his gaze, tears now streaming down my face as
one hand held pressure over the gushing wound and the other squeezed his hand,
not wanting him to give up.

“I need my
brother,” he stated strongly.

His face grew
pale, and he was shaking hard, as if he were freezing. The grip on my hand was
weak, and his face held a grayish tinge.

Mark suddenly
approached, and I realized my barrier had blocked him in with me as well. He
gently placed his dress shirt over my brother’s shaking form. He was left in a
white undershirt and his bulletproof vest. He put his hand on my shoulder
supportively.

“I called for an
ambulance,” he informed me. “They should be here soon, but they can’t come in
with an active shooter.”

When I pulled my
attention from my brother for a brief moment, I realized there was a commotion
on the other side of the thick barrier surrounding us. The detective and the
assassin were rushing toward the area where the shot had come from, and several
unknown footsteps were now surrounding us.

The only concern I
had was for my brother.

He pulled his hand
from mine and rested it on my face. “You… you
need’ta
remember,” he insisted weakly.

“Sammy, you need
to hold on, okay?” I urged. I leaned closer to him and took his hand again. He
had to see I wouldn’t leave him.

He met my eyes,
sweat forming on his pale face. “Not… not sure I c-can,” he stammered, his
voice almost too soft to hear. His eyes closed, and he remained limp in my
arms.

I didn’t realize I
was shaking until Mark again rested his hand on my shoulder. He pushed my hand
from the wound and took over putting pressure on it. I raised my hand to Sam’s
face and noticed the tremors running through it as I contemplated losing my
little brother.

“Sammy, please
don’t go,” I sobbed.

I ran my hand over
his face, leaving blood on his cheeks as I attempted to rouse him.

His heart was
beating too quickly. It was trying to compensate for the loss of blood, but
only succeeded in pushing out what little remained even faster. I couldn’t help
him. I couldn’t save him.

“Sammy… I love
you, little brother. Part of me never forgot you. Please don’t make me… don’t
make me go on without you.”

He remained limp,
and I could tell he was losing the fight. “I’m with you, little brother. I
won’t leave you alone. Please, Sammy…”

My voice trailed
off and I rested my head on his unmoving chest, tears trailing down my cheeks
in anguish as memories of my life began to rush through my mind.

Memories of my
life with an abusive father, and how I ran away to escape. How I eventually
went back to rescue Sam, and saw that the monster had treated him almost as
horribly as he’d treated me. A younger Sam limped down the street, injured, but
still ecstatic to see me.

My kids. Paul,
Erin, Ginny, Jeffrey, and Sam. The children who made my life worth living.
Heartbreak at losing Erin to the monster Trevor Mason, the physical pain he
caused paling in comparison to the mental anguish of losing a member of our
family.

And now I was
losing my little brother, the child I’d sworn to protect. The only true family
I had left. He was the only one I had any emotional connection to. The only one
my damaged mind would allow me to care about.

“Remember me.”
A voice trailed through
my mind.

Remember me, and AVENGE ME!”
It roared.

There was no
heartbeat. No breathing. Only the empty shell of what had once been a vibrant
and healthy teenage boy. He was gone, and it left me empty of all emotion save
one.

The voice in my
head roared for vengeance, and I raised my head from Sam’s chest and roared
right along with it. “NO!”

The wall around us
collapsed down with force and a massive shockwave blew through the courtyard.
The huge amount of moving earth buried guards and struck at the base of the
facility that had stolen my brother from me.

They would suffer.

FORTY-EIGHT

Jeremiah

The detective and
I raced through the maze-like building, hoping to capture the shooter before he
managed to escape. After a successful diversion—I’d gotten the Mastermind’s
attention and told him that if he agreed to not harm any of the Tracker’s group
I would join him—the gunshot had been unexpected.

My companion’s
face paled and she drew her weapon, rushing ahead of me with no regard to the
necessity of remaining hidden.

The Tracker’s pain
was clear to me, and I wondered who had been hit.

“Hurry!” the
detective urged as she rounded another corner.

We found ourselves
in a room overlooking the courtyard. There was a man shaking his head and
staring at the weapon in his hands as if seeing it for the first time. He had
clearly fired the shot. Just as clearly, he wasn’t sure why he’d done it.

Through the window
all we could see was a massive wall of dirt and rock presumably surrounding
Jason, Sam, and Agent Jones. Even from our height, we couldn’t see past the top
of the wall to know what had happened.

The cop had the
shooter in handcuffs before I looked away from the roiling dirt and rock.
Watching it I could see that there was a constant stream of motion, as if I
were watching a wave rather than the earth. As time progressed the movement
became faster… more urgent.

“I believe it is
time for us to leave, Detective,” I advised, making my way from the window even
as I spoke.

Her narrowed eyes
met mine. “Why? What’s happening?”

Before I could
answer a yell filled the air and the wall crashed to the ground with enough
force to shake the building.

“Jason’s about to
take this place down. We need to get out!”

Pulling her
prisoner to his feet, the detective pushed him toward the door.

“What’s the
fastest way out of here?” she asked.

When he hesitated,
she spun him around to face her. It was the first time I’d looked closely at
the shooter. “Red?” I muttered in surprise.

The building shook.
The sound of shattering glass filled the air. The earth roared as if in agony,
and I wondered if it matched what the Earthshaker clearly felt. Waves of dirt
continued to batter at the weakened outer walls.

“The man out there
is about to demolish this building,” the detective said, pointing toward the
courtyard. “Your life is on the line the same as ours. If you want to survive,
tell me the quickest way out!”

He held his eyes
on hers for a moment before he nodded and said, “Go right, there’s a hidden
staircase that leads to the dumpsters.”

She pushed at the
panel he indicated, and we ran as quickly as possible down the steps and out
the door.

The others sighed
in relief at escaping the building, but the ground still shook.

“Keep moving!” I
urged. “I think it’s about to…”

The walls began to
crumble and chunks of brick and wood began to fall around us.

I pushed them
forward as a large piece of glass nearly skewered Red. It was the second time
I’d spared his life. Whether there would be a third depended on what exactly
had happened in that courtyard.

They sprinted
ahead of me in a panic, trying to get far enough from the earthquake to remain
safe. Following close behind, I didn’t manage to avoid all of the debris
falling around us. Several small pieces of the wall struck me, drawing blood,
but not causing much damage.

When I thought I
was safe from the onslaught, a chunk of brick hit the side of my head, knocking
me to the ground in a daze.

Someone was
counting on me… but that couldn’t be right. No one would count on a killer.
Would they?

“They’re only using you,”
a voice
muttered.
“They would let you die to save
themselves.”

The voice appeared
to be correct as the woman and her prisoner continued to run, not even glancing
back to make sure I was still behind them.

“If you want to survive to punish them, you
need to get up,”
the voice admonished.

Right again. The
voice in my head was on a roll. If I wanted to figure out what had happened to
the Tracker that set him off… His brother. The kid had been the victim of the
shooter. It was the only thing that would push the Tracker to this destructive
level.

Finally out of
range of the falling building I stood back and stared as the full power of the
Tracker demolished an entire city block. Houses and buildings in the nearby
blocks shook with the rage Jason poured into the earth. After only a few
minutes the constant barrage of power won.

The facility
crashed to the ground; glass shattered, bricks dissolved into dust, and the
floors and walls collapsed into rubble.

There had still
been guards in the building. Of that I was certain. The Tracker, who had
condemned me as a murderer, had now become one himself.

“Jason, what have
you done?” the detective whispered. Her hand was held loosely over her mouth as
she took in the full damage her friend was capable of.

In the noise of
the collapsing building I hadn’t noticed her approach. When I looked at her,
tears wore tracks through the dust covering her face.

“Are you okay,
Jeremiah?” she asked, tearing her gaze from the destruction.

Her hand rose
toward my face, but I stepped back.

“I will be fine,”
I answered coldly. Only after the danger to herself was gone could she be
bothered with checking on me. It was a harsh reality check, but one I’d clearly
needed.

Red stood next to
her, his eyes never leaving the rubble. “What happened? How did the building
fall?”

I felt a flash of
anger at the man and grabbed him by the throat. “I kept you alive when I
escaped because you appeared to be a good man. Then you shot a kid. What’s
preventing me from killing you now? Convince me I didn’t make a mistake in
leaving you alive, and I might protect you from the man who did that,” I
pointed toward the rubble. “The kid you shot is his brother. He won’t let that
go. He destroyed an entire building. What do you think he’ll do to the man who
shot his brother? Convince me, and I may try to protect you.”

The man shook his
head quickly. “No. No. I would never shoot a child. I have kids of my own, why
would I kill a kid? Especially one I don’t even know. I don’t… I don’t even
know what I’m doing here. I… I tried to leave after you escaped. I was going to
get away.”

My hand dropped
from the former guard’s neck. “You are telling the truth. Perhaps Puppet Master
is the more appropriate name for this adversary,” I admitted to the detective.

“He really didn’t
know what he was doing?” she asked.

It was strange
having her look to me for assurance, but I nodded.

“He was under the
Puppet Master’s control. I don’t believe he is responsible for what happened.”

Her next question
came after a long pause. “Do you know what happened?”

The surreal
silence was shattered by approaching sirens.

“I believe Sam is
the one who was shot,” I answered. “I also don’t think we want to be here when
the authorities decide
they
want to
know what happened here.”

“It was a freak
earthquake. No one should be able to prove otherwise. Jason, Sam, and Mark are
still in there,” she added. “We can’t leave them behind.”

The way she left
me to fend for myself as she ran to safety? My head throbbed, and there was a
vague sense of satisfaction that flowed through my mind.

“Very well. Lead
the way, detective.”