Undisclosed (33 page)

“NO!” Travis screamed as a surge of power erupted uncontrollably from him.

Jayde spun around in time to see Kaine lifted into the air backwards, over the railing and hurtling down into the abyss. Travis didn’t stop to even consider what had happened, if he had even done it. He reached for his father, who was clinging to his chest. Dark scarlet blood was quickly soaking through his father’s shirt. Scott began coughing up blood. Travis pulled off his top and began to apply pressure but the bleeding was too much; the object no doubt would have torn his internal organs. If he had any ability to heal he had no clue how to make it happen.

“Jayde.” He turned his head, yelling for her while continuing to apply pressure to the wound.

Scott gripped his son’s forearm. Tears streamed out the sides of his eyes. Choking on his words, he said, “I never told you, Travis. I realize it now. I’m so proud of you, son. You are your own person. Promise me.” He coughed more blood from his mouth.

“Stay still, Dad, Jayde will heal you.”

“Promise me … you will find Will.”

Travis turned, about to shout again for Jayde, but she was already there.

“Please, heal him.”

She looked at him, her head slowly beginning to shake.

“Heal him.”

“I can’t, Travis. The damage is too great, he won’t heal in time.”

Scott tightened his grip on his son’s forearm.

“Promise me.”

Travis nodded. “I promise, Father.”

“I love you, son.” His grip weakened and then his eyes slowly closed.

“No, no, no, no …. how do I heal, Jayde?”

“It’s too late, Travis.”

Travis collapsed on top of him, squeezing his shirt and pulling his father close into his chest. His sobs echoed loudly. Louder than any of the gunfire that had taken place.

Mason and Ty ran over.

“Guys, this place is about to collapse. We need to get out of here NOW.”

“Travis. We need to go.”

Travis, despondent, bent his knees and took his father up and over his shoulder like a fireman’s lift as if his father was as light as a feather. The sound of rock falling was getting louder as it smashed the metal catwalks. All over the pathway on their way to the elevator they stepped over dead Watchers. Seth and Billy were among the dead.

“What about the people?” Ryan asked.

“There’s no time. Even if we could release them they wouldn’t be able to get out. Most are either unconscious or in a catatonic state,” Mason shouted back over the noise of the walls beginning to give way.

Travis laid his father on the shaking ground.

“Mason, take him. There’s something I have to do.”

Jayde gripped his arm. “I won’t lose you again.”

“I need to do this. Go.”

She hesitated and then joined the others on the elevator while Travis ran back to the control panel. He could feel strength that was astonishing; it was as if he had been reborn and given the strength of a thousand men.

Gazing below him he began tapping frantically at the control panel. Suddenly the racks of people began to move. He hit an unlock switch and throughout the place the sound of lasers shutting down could be heard. He typed in some names and then leaped over the railing down on to the catwalk below, moving inhumanly fast.

Above on the surface, the mesa ground had begun to crack. Fire pierced the night sky like a thousand tiny campfires.

“We need to get off here fast,” Ty shouted.

“I’m not going. Travis is still in there.”

Mason scowled, glaring at Jayde, and then he laid Scott’s body down.

“Ty, take him, get down off this mesa.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Go now.”

Mason jumped back on the elevator while the others ran for safety. Ryan looked back to see Mason disappear below the surface.

Once he reached level 2 Mason jumped off.

“TRAVIS? Travis?”

Suddenly out of the darkness Travis emerged with two unconscious people, one over each shoulder.

Mason grabbed the smaller one. She was a young child; the other was an adult woman. As they made their way back to the elevator stepping over the dead, Travis lost his footing and crashed knee first onto the catwalk. Pain shot up his legs. Thinking his foot had gotten caught on one of the dead, he turned to free it. Travis blinked in astonishment. Hanging with one arm on the walkway and the other firmly gripped around his ankle—was Kaine.

He was barely alive.

“Tell me, what does it feel like?”

His grip on Travis’s ankle tightened.

Travis twisted and yanked free his foot. Shuffling backwards, he stood back up, lifting the unconscious woman back over his shoulder.

He glared at Kaine. “I guess you’ll never know.” He turned, moving towards the elevator.

“No, don’t leave me,” he hollered.

Travis turned sharply. “Like you said, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

“NO!” Harlan’s voice echoed.

Still holding the woman with one arm, he reached into his top pocket, grabbed one of the circular spheres and reached into the other to retrieve the next. Almost instantly before he pulled them out they clacked together, lighting up his pocket. Not even stopping to look back he pulled and tossed it over his shoulder.

Seconds later, another explosion rang out and the ceilings began to collapse, crushing all that remained and creating further blasts as they leaped onto the elevator and ascended to the surface. With the two over their shoulders they ran to the remaining three-wheeler and dirt bike. Engines kicked in and they spun out of there just as the ground began to open even wider. Barreling down Mount Archuleta, they dodged the shower of rocks that came hailing down and the turbulent columns of fire and steam that shot up from within the cracks. At the bottom they never stopped to look back. They kept going, moving as fast as they could to get away from the place that was now erupting like a fiery volcano. The sirens from fire trucks let out a resounding chorus as multiple engines passed them on the long journey back to Los Alamos.

* * * * *

The destructive fires in the heart of the base must have extended back through the maglev underground tunnel towards Los Alamos Labs, as the fire had now begun to spread rapidly, burning out of control throughout the southwestern region. The Santa Fe National Forest, Jemez Falls and the Bandelier Monument was engulfed in a wildfire of epic proportions that lit up the night sky in a blaze of fiery reds and sharp orange. The smoke filling the air was beginning to make breathing difficult, and as the fires raged a path through the ponderosa trees, ferns and thick undergrowth it carried with it a distinct smoky vanilla smell. Several rescue choppers passed overhead, carrying large buckets of water. Travis could feel its cool drips on his face as it passed over him. By the time they had reached the outskirts of home, the town’s entrances had already been sealed off by a large number of emergency personnel and the National Guard, who were evacuating the town’s people in droves.

Most were being redirected away from the town towards a temporary shelter arranged at La Cueva Fire Station in Jemez Springs. Travis and Mason and the rest of their group decided to go a little farther and pulled into a dingy, secluded truck stop diner a safe distance from where the fire had spread. They took turns using one of the washrooms to clean up and change out of their smoke-stained clothes. Standing inside with the smell of urine around him, Travis gripped the sides of a sink that must have at one time resembled a brilliant white. He leaned in close to the scum-stained mirror that had a number smeared in pink lipstick across it. Had it really happened? Was his father actually gone? Had he survived? He looked intently into his dark brown eyes, wondering if he would see any difference. He knew he had changed but on the outside there were no physical signs. What had changed?

A knock at the door broke his train of thought. He curled his old clothes that hung off a hook behind the door under his arm and exited, passing an overweight, beer-bellied trucker who stank like the inside of a used gym sock.

He joined the rest of them at a large booth beside the window. They drank bitter-tasting coffee while Ryan and Mason brought them up to speed on how Frank had survived his injury, cleared both their names after the shootout and how the FBI was in the process of investigating the case and attempting to track down Agent Wesley. Upon release Ryan had returned to The Black Hole and Jack had filled both of them in on where they had gone. The rest was history.

While Jayde held a firm grip on his hand beneath the table, her demeanor had become one of relief. The tone at the table was solemn; there were no jokes and few words were spoken. Travis went outside where it was quiet to call Officer Frank Davis. His conversation was brief, thanking him for helping him and making sure he was all right. It wasn’t the first time he had suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder. The hospital had wanted to hold him for ten days but Frank wasn’t the type to lie around all day. He had them patch him up and release him within hours with the promise that he would check in daily.

Twenty minutes after ending the call his cruiser pulled in to the truck stop. Travis hadn’t told him everything; only that he needed to see him. Officer Davis got out, wearing a fresh uniform and his left arm supported by a sling. He hadn’t even shut the door when he froze. Mason opened his rear car door and out stepped Frank’s wife and daughter. His mouth dropped and tears began to well up in his eyes and streak down his face. They ran towards him and he wrapped his good arm around them. He kissed their cheeks and squeezed them hard. Still holding them, he looked over his shoulder towards Travis and mouthed the words
Thank you.
Travis gave a strained smile. His heart was painfully heavy but seeing Frank reunited with his family brought him some peace of mind. It reminded him of those who mattered most to him. They watched as Frank gathered them into his car and then quietly pulled away.

“Is that a tear I see, Mason?” Ryan said with a grin on his face.

Mason wiped his face with the back of his hand and then immediately gave his usual scowl before turning back towards the diner.

Travis smiled one last time.

As the others went back in and looked on, he remained outside. He had saved the hardest call for last. They had already agreed on what he would tell her. Yet it didn’t make it any easier. Tears rolled down his face as he waited for her. Under the glare of the truck stop lights, as his mother stood before him, he told her. Her strength gave way and Travis clung to her to prevent her from collapsing entirely.

Epilogue

Five days had passed before the evacuation order had been lifted and any of the town’s folk were allowed to return to their homes. Travis now stood in his bedroom, struggling to adjust his black tie in front of the mirror. The unpleasant bitter after smell of the blaze had found its way in through his partly lifted window, serving as a gentle reminder. The TV flickered behind him, its sound low but discernible.

The local news station was still rehashing the events of the wildfires over the past week. It had been named the largest wildfire in New Mexico state history. And yet it wouldn’t be the days of fire he would recall, nor the horror that he witnessed in the depths of Mount Archuleta. It would be the time spent consoling his heartbroken mother at a dingy motel on the outskirts of town, eating cheap TV dinners, making preparations for his father’s funeral and entertaining a few visits from Jayde. She said she’d swung by to see if they needed anything. Though Travis knew different—she was concerned about the effects of the serum, though she never mentioned it directly, as if doing so would in some way jinx any positive outcome. She never stayed long; keeping her visits short seemed to be her way of showing respect for their need to mourn.

In that time, only once did he leave his mother, and that was to attend the private funeral for Lincoln. In the secluded privacy of the Santa Fe Forest, surrounded by the peaks and cliffs that hedged in the beautiful Lake Nambe, Lincoln was laid to rest. Unlike the funeral he would attend today, Lincoln’s was a private event; his mother and father along with only a few of their closest friends attended. Despite being hunters and being used to losing many of their own kind, losing a son clearly broke them.
How many others had lost their lives in what seemed like such a senseless hidden war, a power struggle that did nothing more than turn brothers against sisters, fathers against sons,
and for what? Progress? Pride? Honor? It all seemed so meaningless if it meant losing the ones you loved,
Travis thought.

Travis felt like a fly on the wall observing a sacred ritual more than a funeral as Mason, Ty, Lincoln’s father and Frank waded out into the cool lake carrying Lincoln on a pyre. They returned to the shoreline, and it was quiet as each bowed their heads. The light of the moon lit up the lake, shining back its magnificent reflection. Mason lit the pyre with one motion of his hand. On the edge of the sandy bank, surrounded by lush green forest now shrouded in the darkness of night, Travis slipped his arm around Jayde. And as Lincoln’s body was engulfed in flames, Jayde looked up at Travis, her eyes swollen from crying. Though death was not uncommon to them, it affected them in the same way.