The Donors (21 page)

 

 

 

 

 

He drank in the powerful energy of the terror that emanated from the motionless body on the operating room table. The meal filled him with hot energy and an intoxicating sense of invincibility. The new boy and the old boy would be too late. He had worried when they had failed to take the grown-up boy, but as his blood surged with new power from the meal, he realized that they could not possibly stop them in time. The boy would never discover his true power before they drank the last of the energy from this meal and moved on.

He watched the dark-skinned belly split apart under the flashing knife of the surgeon. His control over the doctor had waned badly, but after his meal he would spend a little of his new power to fill his mind and reassert his power—it would be enough. To the creature's now bright glowing eyes, the terror and pain in the dark-skinned boy poured out from his head and chest as a visible, swirling light; he opened his wide mouth and sucked the light in.

It filled him in an almost sexual way. Beside him, his partner stood with his arms dangling by his sides, his own mouth open as golden light poured past the razor sharp teeth. He saw the glow of his eyes deepen in intensity as he ate. The power of this meal seemed better even than the last. Perhaps the youth of the victim or his ability to imagine his death intensified his terror. When he saw and felt the swirling light begin to diminish, he knew that the mind of the meal had set up the protective wall that humans always could. He knew they would be best served to wait for a new surge with the next feed. He drank a few more sips then looked over as the doctor dropped a greyish-blue clump of bloody tissue into a shiny silver dish.

“Get that on ice for the transplant team,” his strained voice said.

He walked over and peered into the open belly where dark blood pooled onto the two pairs of stained, white-gloved hands.

“Stop that bleeding quickly,” he said. “We are a long way from done here. You can pack his belly open to save time for the next procedure, but give him blood if he needs it.”

The doctor said nothing, but began to hunt for the source of the bleeding. The creature turned and saw the hollow blue-green eyes staring at him as if in a trance.

Thank-you, my dear,
he said with his mind.
You have been most helpful. Together we will stop this animal from hurting other children. Now please hang another liter of fluids to stabilize him.

The girl took a step forward as if to obey, but then stopped, and her eyes widened as if she saw him for the first time. Her eyes rolled back in her face and she collapsed at his feet.

Most inconvenient.

He stepped over the motionless body. They would have to remove her from the room. He suspected she would no longer be of any use to them, but they would be able to proceed without her. There would be little use for her anyway, since their next meal would likely be their last. He flashed with momentary rage that the grown boy had taken her from him, but it would not stop them. Perhaps he could get a short meal from her before she was gone.

If not, he knew where he could—and either source he chose would slow the boys down. His mouth to split wide over his long teeth and he licked his dark tongue across them.

Just like before.

 

*  *  *

 

Nathan travelled against his will. He gave in to the visit mostly to shut up the other-him voice. He closed his eyes in the dark hospital room, listened to be sure he brought the soft sound of his mommy's sleep-breathing with him, took one big breath and went.

The dark, craggy walls of the cave and the dirty floor no longer held much surprise. What he didn't expect was how much more cave blood pooled on the floor and trickled down the walls. The puddles had increased in number and size and, in many places, had met each other to form a few really big puddles. The other thing he didn't expect was the feel of Jason's lingering presence. He knew that his buddy had been here, and not long ago. He wished that they were here at the same time, but he didn't plan on staying long. The voice wanted him to see something so he would have a look, then power down and head home.

Just a little scouting mission, Power Ranger.

The other him voice tried to sound like the big dog-looking Ranger on SPD, and actually did a pretty good job. Nathan started to pick his way around the puddles and climb the slope to the ledge. He knew that the creatures weren't here—while one part of his brain clung to the sound of Mommy's breathing, yet a third could hear the far-off sounds of the creatures as they sighed and fed somewhere else—so he didn't really try to be quiet. He concentrated instead on not stepping in any of the cave blood. At times he had to stretch his legs out so far that it hurt the muscles near his butt and he worried he might fall over and plunge headfirst into the goo.

As he neared the top of the rise, Nathan could hear movement down in the big room. He knew it couldn't be the Lizard Men ‘cause he could still hear them on the other side, and anyway he would smell the nasty fart smell if they came. Still, he stayed on his hands and knees to be safe and peered over the ledge.

The dark-skinned man looked a lot younger than Steve. He lay still and quiet on his back, stretched out like the Jesus-man pictures. Jason said he was a bad man like Steve, but he looked kind of young and Nathan didn't want to look at him long. A writhing figure in the corner caught his eye and Nathan suddenly felt sick and scared.

Jenny looked like she might be angry, the way she squiggled around, but the grunting noises bothered him the most. She struggled like some invisible rope tied her up or something. Just as he started to scurry over the edge to help her, her groaning and wiggling stopped. Nathan hesitated for a moment and he expected that she might disappear and go back to the other side all the way, so he sat still and watched.

You must help her. You and Jason.

Jenny sat suddenly bolt upright, and Nathan hollered out in surprise. Her head tilted back, and she let out an animal scream. Then her eyes popped open and for a moment she looked around, her face contorted in fear. Her eyes fell on the dark-skinned guy; she looked for a minute at his motionless body and began to cry. Nathan started to call to her, but the sound stuck in his throat when she turned her head slowly toward him and looked right at him. She really saw him, her face clearly showed she recognized him, and a hint of a smile crossed her lips. Jenny shifted her weight to steady herself on one arm, and then reached the other out toward him and her mouth moved.

“Nathan,” she croaked. “I'm so sorry.”

Then she collapsed in a heap.

Nathan wanted to scramble down to her, but wondered what he could do, only being almost six and all. He knew he had to do something. Jenny was way too big for him to carry or even drag, and anyway, where would he take her? She had to be awake to leave here.
I'm too little to help her. I'm not really a Power Ranger—I'm just a kid.

You are more than you think. You have the power you need but you will have to have Jason's help. Find him. Call him.

He needed Jason. He could call him in his head and together they could move her. First he had to be sure she was okay, so he scrambled down the little dirt path into the big room.

Nathan walked slowly. No cave blood puddles blocked his way, because the room was so big. But he felt really scared and wanted to be careful. The young man lay perfectly still, but his eyes moved back and forth, not seeming to see anything, but wide with terror. Nathan scurried past him, knelt at Jenny's side, and reached a hand out to touch the hair that had fallen across her face. He could hear her breathe, fast and kind of loud, but he wanted to see her face.

What he saw made him pull his hand away and make a little bird noise in his throat. Her face looked normal except for the dirt and being all sweaty, but her eyes were all wrong. They were wide, so wide it looked like it might hurt, but they had changed from a pretty blue-green to a murky grayish. It looked like someone had poured gray finger paint into her eyes—he could still see the faint greenish haze behind the milky gray. He felt pretty sure she couldn't see him.

“Miss Jenny,” he whispered. He looked around, terrified he would smell the fart smell of the Lizard Men. “Miss Jenny, please wake up. We gotta get outta here.” Tears filled his eyes and his lower lip began to quiver, just like it did when he was a little kid and he didn't want to cry about something. Jenny gave no sign she heard him. She stared off across the room and her body shuddered as air moved in and out of her. Except for that, Nathan thought she looked dead.

Then he did hear a voice.

“Nathan. It's me. I need your help.” Nathan looked up and half expected to see Jason beside him. Then he realized the voice called him from his head.

“Nathan.”

“I'm here,” he whispered, “I'm here with Miss Jenny. She's all sick or something and I can't get her to wake up. I need you here.”

“Where are you?” Jason's voice sounded strained and frightened. “Where are you, buddy?”

“I'm in the cave,” he answered. “In the big room. Jenny is sick and there's something wrong with her eyes.” Nathan realized that tears streamed down his cheeks like rivers, but he didn't care. Let the other-him voice call him a scaredy cat all he wanted. He needed Jason and he wanted his mommy.

“Hide in the little cave again, buddy. I'll be right there.”

“I wanna stay with Jenny,” he called back. He no longer used his voice at all. “She's sick and I don't want to leave her.” He looked around the cave which suddenly looked scarier than ever. “Please hurry,” he said and even his thought voice cracked.

“I'll be right there,” Jason said with a new strength that made him feel better.

Nathan smoothed Jenny's hair and leaned close to her ear.

“He's coming, Jenny,” he said softly. “He's coming to get us out of here, okay?”

 

*  *  *

 

He hadn't expected Nathan to be in the cave and pushed away his fear at going back. He felt a renewed sense, not just of purpose, but responsibility. His mind wanted to examine whether it was love, or atonement, or just old-fashioned guilt, but he had no time. He shook off the fear and concentrated.

If a five-year-old can sit by her side and wait in that hell, what does that say about you? You better cowboy the fuck up.

He had no idea what they would do for Jenny when he got there. Whatever. He needed to get to his family.

Eyes still closed, he imagined the stifling, steamy air of the cave—imagined it filled his lungs and coated his skin in sweat, and then he tasted the ass-smelling air in his mouth for real.

He leaned back against the cave wall in the same seated position from the sofa and noticed a little river of cave blood only an inch or less from his right shoulder. As he watched, the little river seemed to bend toward him, like his body held some magnetic attraction. He scurried to his feet, crouched over again in the low passageway, and scrambled the few yards to the top of the rise.

He didn't even stop to peek down into the room this time—just leapt over the ledge and half-ran, half-slid down the dusty hill and into the room. Nathan bent over Jenny's motionless body, his forehead touching hers, and for a moment Jason felt a panic that she might be dead. He jumped over Jazz's inert body like a hurdler and skidded to a stop beside the two people that felt more like family than anyone he had known since long before his mom had died.

“Nathan, I'm here,” he said just as the boy turned around, startled and fearful. Nathan crawled up into his lap, arms tight around his neck, and sobbed in his ear.

“I didn't know what to do, Jason,” he cried softly. “I wanted to help her, but I'm too little and she's too heavy. I wanted to take her to the little cave, but I ain't strong enough.” Nathan sniffed loudly in his ear and then pulled away. “I'm sorry—I mean I'm
not
strong enough.”

Jason smiled and hugged Nathan back.

“It's okay, pal,” he said. “We can do this together.” He pulled back again and smoothed Nathan's wet hair from his face. “Nathan, you have a power that you can't even believe. You're the strongest and bravest kid I've ever known. If I had been as brave as you…” Jason's voice trailed off and he forced the memory to fade with it. He turned to Jenny and said, “Let's get her out of this room and then we can figure out what to do.”

“Her eyes are all funny,” Nathan said. “I think that something's wrong with her.”

Jason bent over and smoothed the hair from Jenny's face. At the sight of her milky eyes, a sudden cold washed over him. He closed his eyes and in his mind a blue light flashed. He watched, like in an old movie, a young Jason, only a little older than Nathan, lean over the thin and wasted body of his mother in the same hot cave.

“Mommy, please wake up. We have to go before they come again and get us.”

His mother lay deathly still except for the occasional raspy breath that shook her body from the inside. She stared at him without seeing, through milky-white eyes. The young Jason shook her and cried, his naked body trembling with fear. Then he heard a voice far off in his head—his mommy's voice from some other place.

“I have to stay here now. I can't do it anymore. Leave me, son. Get out and leave me here.”

In his head he watched the little boy Jason tug once at his Mommy's arm and then look up in terror. He had smelled that awful shit smell, he remembered. He watched as the boy left his mother and scurried back up the rise, leaving her behind. As he cleared the rise and slid down the path, he heard the grunting of the creatures and the heavy shuffle of their clawed feet in the dirt. He never looked back, not even when he heard the spine-shocking scream of his mother being torn to pieces…

Jason felt a tight grip on his wrist and his eyes popped open. Nathan stared at him with unconcealed worry.