Off the Wagon (Users #2) (15 page)

“Stop it, god damn it!” Barber shouted. “Just stop it!” Simultaneously they lowered their arms.

“I’ll stop, but I want this bastard locked up,” Carter said. “This all started when he showed up. Even if he didn’t start the fire, he is somehow involved.”

“He’s not involved-”

“Fine. I’ll do it,” Ryker said cutting off Barber. “If it’ll make captain paranoid over here feel better.”

“You don’t have to do this,” Barber pleaded with Ryker.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Carter said. “He’s not staying here another night unless he’s locked up.” Carter grabbed Ryker roughly by the arm and led him toward his cabin.

“Who do you think is in charge here?” Barber asked.

“I thought I was,” Carter said as he walked away.

Chapter 16

Carter fell sound asleep knowing that Ryker was locked inside his cabin. He even had two Users, a Mover and an Enforcer, guard the door to make sure that Ryker couldn’t escape, but his good night’s rest wouldn’t last for long.

“Carter! Carter!” A woman’s voice woke him from just beyond the door of his cabin. “Come quick! It’s Barber!” It was Lucy, one of the Blinders who kept the Compound hidden from preying eyes.

“What’s going on, what’s happened?” Carter asked as he bolted upright, looking around slightly confused.

Coming to reality, he immediately popped out of bed, threw on some pants, and opened the door. Lucy was in tears.

“Something…happened to Barber,” she said.

Immediately, Carter knew it was bad. What else could it be? Every time Carter turned around there was some bit of bad news knocking at his door. It was almost as if the world was purposefully trying to shit on him as of late. Things hadn’t been a bowl of roses before, but this shit was getting ridiculous.

“Show me.”

Half naked and barefooted, Carter marched behind Lucy toward Barber’s cabin. A group of Users was gathered around the front door, blocking Carter’s view of the cabin’s inside.

“Move please.” Carter pushed and squeezed his way past the gathered onlookers.

He couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of the stunned or horrified look on the Users’ faces as he passed. Whatever it was they had seen had shaken them.

“Barber?” Carter asked as the young man came into view.

Barber lie on the floor, his bed a smoldering pile of ash, with third degree burns covering the majority of his body. “What happened here? Why hasn’t anyone gotten Doc yet?”

“We were hoping you could shed some light on the situation?” Evan asked and Lucy nodded in agreement.

“What?”

“You’re the only Scorcher here…” Evan trailed off at the end leaving the insinuation open.

“You think I did this?” Carter asked in astonishment.

“Ryker has been locked up all night,” Lucy said.

Other Users, those that had been standing around to watch, started to nod their heads in agreement. Carter was greatly outnumbered, but he was focused more on Barber’s health than his own.

“Now is not the time for this. Get Doc,” Carter ordered, but no one budged. “I said to get Doc now!” Carter demanded in a gruff tone.

A mousy woman named Lisa ran off toward Doc’s cabin, but the others stood strong, their expressions grim.

“Carter?” Barber croaked in a voice that showed obvious pain.

“Don’t worry. We’re getting help,” Carter said. “Now everyone back up and give him some air.”

“First you’ve got some explaining to do,” Evan said.

“Yeah!” A voice shouted from the crowd.

A wall of angry faces started back at Carter. The other Users huddled around the doorway, leaving Carter with nowhere to go.

“I said back up!” And almost on instinct a flame appeared around Carter’s fist. He immediately regretted it.

“Get him!” one man shouted.

That was all it took. The Users fell over him like water from a bursting dam.

“Get off of me!” Carter shouted, but it was no use.

Dozens of hands grabbed at him. He was screwed. The only chance he had of escaping was using his powers, and if he decided to use his powers against the other Users he would surely be damning himself, and any chance he had of reclaiming his innocence. Carter was being pulled and pushed, tugged and torn all at once. They came at him from all angles, picked him up, and carried him off. Carter didn’t even bother kicking and screaming; he knew he was fucked. The Compound had turned into an old fashioned witch hunt. He thanked his lucky stars there were no stakes to be burned at anywhere on the premise.

“Ryker.” Evan opened the door to the cabin he was locked in. “Get up. You’re out.”

“What’s going on?” Ryker asked. “And why are you guys carrying Carter like that?”

“It’s Barber. He’s been attacked.” Evan used his Mover powers to grab a hold of Carter and pull him from the grasp of the other Users.

Carter was suspended in midair with his arms spread at his sides like he was possessed. Ryker smirked as he shimmied past Carter’s hovering body. If Carter had control over his body at that moment, he would have smacked the suave looking bastard right in the face. Evan wouldn’t even give Carter control of his mouth to offer Ryker a few choice words on his way out of the cabin.

“You two watch the door, and keep it locked.” With a simple wave of his hand Evan closed the door behind him and dropped Carter to the wood floor.

“God damn it!” Carter shouted in frustration. “I didn’t do it!” He pounded his fist on the floor.

Many hours passed with no sign of the outside world for Carter. Finally, after it was well past lunchtime, the handle on his door twisted and in walked Evan with a sandwich on a plate.

“How’s Barber doing?” Carter asked immediately.

Evan’s eyes narrowed dangerously, but he didn’t say a word. He sat the plate on a little end table next to the bed, turned, and walked from the room, closing the door behind him. A click from the handle and the door was locked again.

With a sigh, Carter flopped down on the bed and waited. There was nothing else for him to do but wait. Wait and wonder who was truly responsible for the house fire and the attack on Barber. All signs pointed too him, but he knew he wasn’t responsible. At least he thought he did. Was he perhaps sleep walking and setting fires while in a semi-conscious state. It just didn’t make sense.

The Sun had disappeared behind the Compound’s high wooden fence before anyone came to visit Carter again. There was a knock at the door as if he had a choice of who came or went from the cabin at that moment.

“What?” Carter asked.

“Carter, it’s Ryker. We need to talk.”

“Unless you’ve got news of Barber, I don’t have shit to say to you.” The door opened anyway and in stepped Ryker. “You’re the last person in the world I want to see right about now.”

“Barber’s going to be okay,” Ryker said. “Doc is making him as comfortable as possible.”

“Are you guys doing anything to find out who actually did this?” Carter asked indignantly.

“No. The rest of the Users are convinced it was you.”

“And you aren’t?” Carter asked.

Ryker closed the door behind him. “Despite all the evidence and your lack of confidence in myself, I don’t believe you’d ever consciously hurt Barber.”

Carter was stunned. Ryker was the last person he expected to give him the benefit of the doubt. Especially after how Carter had treated him just hours earlier.

“Well I didn’t do it. You have to talk some sense into the others.”

“I’ve already tried. They won’t listen.”

“What are they going to do with me?” Carter strode over to the single window in the cabin and looked out at the Users roaming the Compound’s backyard.

“I do not know. I don’t think they have a plan yet. They’ll probably just banish you from the Compound.”

“And who will run the Compound after I’m gone? You?”

“Is that what this is all about? You think I want to usurp your position as the leader of the Compound?”

That was exactly what Carter thought Ryker wanted to do. “No,” he lied. “But I’m sure the thought of putting you in charge has crossed the mind of more than a few of the others. They adore you. Me, they could really care less about.” Carter slumped back down onto the bed.

“Quit throwing yourself a pity party and get ready to face them. Get ready to face life. It doesn’t always go the way you’d want or expect.” Ryker’s tone was harsh, but Carter didn’t take offense. He was more pissed than hurt.

“You know I could just burn this cabin to the ground and waltz out of here at any moment?”

“That’s the last thing you want to do right now. Starting another fire would only confirm all their suspicions, whether you started the other fire or not.”

“I just need a chance to explain my side of the story to them. Can you convince them to let me speak before they throw me out?”

“I will do what I can.” Ryker turned to leave.

“Ryker,” Carter said.

“Yeah?” Ryker stopped short just short of the door.

“Thank you,” Carter said earnestly.

“Anytime.” Ryker closed the door, leaving Carter with nothing to do, but wait.

He stared out the small square window from his place on the bed, fully expecting a knock on the door at anytime to let him know he was being forcibly removed from the Compound, but none came.

Chapter 17

Carter spent the rest of the evening with no sign from the outside world besides what passed in front of his window. A handful of Users coming and going, a bird landing to gobble up a worm before flying off, but nothing more. With nothing to entertain himself, he fell asleep shortly after sundown. His sleep was restless though. Carter had an eerie feeling like he was being watched.

In a cold sweat, he snapped up to a sitting position in his bed.

“Having trouble sleeping?” A voice asked in the darkness.

Startled, Carter scrambled back along his bed until he hit the wall.

“Who’s in here?” Carter asked. He was thoroughly sick of waking up to people in his room, first Alaric, now whoever this was.

“You don’t recognized your own father’s voice?” Jack asked and indeed Carter did not.

Other than the day he came to deliver Walt’s will, he had not seen the man for more than a few minutes at a time in years. Honestly, it was a voice he was glad to forget. Carter had spent more than his fair share of time being yelled at by that voice, and he’d probably devoted a good amount of his mental barriers to blocking it out.

“How…how did you get in here?” Carter asked.

“I have my ways,” Jack said.

As Carter’s vision adjusted to the low light, he could make out the dark outline of his father standing in the corner of the room.

“Okay, but why are you here? What do you want?”

“Listen son,” Jack said.

“Don’t call me that.” Carter’s tone was full of venom.

Jack sighed. “Listen…Barber doesn’t deserve this place. The kid doesn’t deserve all that money.”

“What are you talking about?” Carter was now thoroughly perplexed.

“I mean, the kids not even related to Walt. I tried to talk him out of it, but the stubborn old bastard just wouldn’t listen,” Jack said, but before he could even finish, Carter shot up out of the bed and grabbed Jack by the neck.

Somehow his skin was still rough with a bristly five o’clock shadow, even though Carter was bombarded with the fresh stench of his cheap aftershave.

“You don’t talk about Walt like that.” Carter had his mouth pressed right up to his father’s ear. “Do you understand me?”

Jack had his hands up submissively. “Okay, okay. Just calm down son.”

“I said don’t call me that.” Carter shoved Jack roughly against the wall before backing up to put some space between him and his old man.

“Just hear me out,” Jack said. “There’s more to the will then what I told you.”

“What more?” Carter dropped down to a sitting position on the bed.

“There’s a clause in the will that if something unfortunate were to happen to Barber, if he were to die, you are next in line to get the Compound…and all the money.” Jack leaned back as if giving Carter a moment for it to set in. “And if he were to say, oh I don’t know, overdose on pain medication while recovering from his burns…”

“How do you know about Barber’s burns? How long have you been watching us?”

“Oh, I haven’t just been watching,” Jack said. “I’m the one that set fire to the big house.” He turned to Carter with an evil cheshire grin, “I’m the one who is to blame for you being locked up in here as well.”

“But how?”

Jack snapped his fingers and a flame sprung up from the tip of his pointer finger. “Where do you think you got your powers?”

“No…no this can’t be. You’ve been hiding this from me for my entire life? Why?” Carter hung his head in his hands.

“Even a bad parent wants their kid to think their dad is the good guy.”

“So what? You’re some kind of super villain?”