Winter's Legacy: Future Days (Winter's Saga Book 6) (13 page)

25  The Hitchhiker

Meg started at a brisk walk before breaking into a jog up the hill.  Every step further away from the sadness of death affirmed her irrepressible desire to live.

Standing at the edge of the highway, she opened her mind to the oncoming traffic.  A smile slipped across her face as it occurred to her how dangerous hitchhiking would ordinarily be.

But I’m the most dangerous thing on this highway.
  She pulled her shoulders back and felt stronger than she had in weeks.

A silver truck came barreling down the highway. Meg felt the malevolence even before she saw the obnoxious decal flames down the sides or the crude bumper stickers with her sharp metahuman eyes.

As it approached and slowed, Meg wished she could un-read them.  This guy was a jerk.  She felt his nastiness waft from the passenger door he pushed open for her.  His teeth were stained from years of chewing tobacco.  His oily face and bulbous, broken-veined nose proved he was no stranger to hard drink.  He wore his baseball cap with a severe crimp in the bill and his red and black plaid shirt unbuttoned to show off an egregious amount of chest hair.

“Hey pretty
darlin’,” he called to her with an up-nod.  “Lookin’ for a ride?”

Meg debated.

Not that she was afraid of this loathsome creature.  She knew she could control him with minimal effort.  But she wasn’t sure her stomach could handle the stench rolling off him. 

“No, but I do need some cash.  Please be a gentleman and toss me your wallet and cell phone.”

The ape-minded man stared, slack-jawed at the girl who stood with her hands on her hips, long dark curls desperately trying to take flight, free from the bandana she’d left with Niche’s body.  Meg just smiled and waited for the rusty cogs of his brain to turn over.

“Yes, miss,” h
e stammered, reaching into his front, breast pocket for the thick wad of a wallet, then yanked the charger out of the phone that had been tossed in the center console.

“Leon?  Your name is Leon isn’t it?”

“Yes miss,” he stared in a daze.

“You’re going to clean up your life.  Starting today, you’ll be concerned about hygiene and manners.  You’ll quit dipping and start making healthier decisions.” Meg took the wad of money out of his wallet, leaving him with a fifty
-dollar bill.  “Oh and Leon,” she locked eyes with the dazed driver and pushed a little harder, “from this moment forward you will treat women with respect and appreciation.”

“Yes, miss.”

Meg nodded once and tossed the nearly empty wallet back into the cab. She grimaced at the grime-y condition of the phone, but held onto it anyway.  “Drive away Leon,” Meg ordered over her shoulder as she turned to walk away.

“Yes, miss,” she heard him say once more before the door to the cab closed and the engine roared back to life.

Meg shook her head and pocketed the four hundred dollars and used the edge of her shirt to wipe down the phone in a vain attempt to minimize her exposure to whatever Leon had been doing with his phone.

She punched in her mother’s phone number first, and frowned when it went directly to voicemail.  She tried Alik’s number, then Evan’s but heard the same automated message: “The number you have dialed is disconnected or no longer in service.” 

In desperation she tried the last three numbers she had memorized, but knew before she pressed send that each would be just as useless as the last. 

Shit.
 

She scowled angrily at the phone, willing it to give her an idea.  Nothing came to her, but just to add insult to injury, a low battery alert popped onto the screen.  She moaned in frustration and turned the phone off
in an effort to save some power before pocketing the piece. 

With a deep breath, she turned her attention to securing a safe ride home.  She would have to use other means to get ahold of her family. 

Ten minutes later, an old beige Cadillac pulled up beside her.  She had willed this one to stop for her having sensed a kindhearted, though wary grandfather driving back from a visit to his adult son’s home. 

Meg turned and faced him as he slowed to a stop beside her. 

“Are you okay, miss?” he asked, cautiously—but sincerely concerned for her safety.

“Yes sir
, though I would appreciate a ride.”

“Where are you headed?”

“South, to Texas.”

“Well, I’m going as far as Oklahoma.  You’re welcome to ride along with me.” 

Meg smiled as she opened the passenger door and slipped inside.

“I can help pay for gas, sir,” Meg offered as she laid the wad of money, compliments of Leon, on the console between their seats.

“That would be really helpful, miss.” He smiled a denture smile.  “I’m on a fixed income and the gas budget was going to be tight.” 

“Glad to help.”  Meg nodded, knowing he had no money for food or lodging after having spent a little too much yesterday at the baseball game treating his grandchildren.

The gentleman started to pull away from the curb.  “I’m Hugh Charles.”  He offered a leathery, arthritic hand.  Meg took his hand gently.  “I’m Meg Winter.”

“Do you mind me asking what you were doing out here all alone, Meg?”

“I had to say good-bye to some friends,” Meg murmured the truth, thinking of Niche’s last words to her.

“Some friends,” the gentleman huffed, “to have left you out here alone!”

Meg gazed out the window at the blurring scenery flying past.  “They didn’t want to leave me.  Sometimes good-byes happen so much sooner than anyone would have hoped, and sometimes we don’t even get to say good-bye.”  Her eyes started to swell with fresh tears and this time, she let them flow.  There needs to be time to grieve.  Loss is loss. 

26 Tears, Sweat and the Sea 

The van, driven by Theo, cut through the otherwise calm predawn night.  He’d given up arguing with Margo.  Besides, with the windows down, it had become a yelling match between them over the roar of the wind slapping around the boxy vehicle. The chemical fumes emanating off Alik’s maced body were causing the other occupants in the van to suffer with stinging eyes and coughing fits, so the fresh air was necessary. 

In the end, Theo came to terms with the fact that he didn’t have a better idea, so he may as well support Margo’s crazy salt water solution.  If nothing else, they were at least driving toward a city where they could find refuge from the impending sandstorm.  

He checked the rearview mirror just as much to make sure the other part of their family was still following in the sedan as to check Farrow and Alik in the far back row.  He saw Farrow’s mouth moving, so he knew she was still talking to the poor kid as she worked to remove as much of the chemical as she could from his eyes and face.  Every other minute, Alik would double over coughing painfully trying to get enough oxygen through the swollen lining in his nose and throat. 

Theo glanced
at Margo who was sitting resolute in her wheelchair, eyes straight forward, arms wrapped around a sleeping Danny.  Maze was curled protectively at her feet, head up and eyes alert.  Margo wanted to move her youngest as far away from the chemical fumes as possible, so she let Danny climb into her lap and encouraged him to tell her all about a dream he had that showed him how to use his healing gift.  She listened with rapt attention.   That was forty minutes ago.  Now he’d drifted to sleep.  His blonde curls and pale skin seemed to have a radiant quality, as though there were an inner light burning brightly making the child slightly luminescent in the dark. 

Funny,
Theo thought. 
I’ve never noticed that before.  It’s probably just the glow of the dashboard lights hitting just right.
 

He frowned to himsel
f as he doubled his focus on the stretch of road before him.  In the not too far-off skyline, he saw the twinkling man-made lights of the industrial buildings surrounding the saltwater lake.  Theo reached to raise just his and Margo’s windows so they would be able to talk over the windy roar. 

“We’re almost there,” Margo locked her jaw and nodded to the lights that became brighter with each mile.

“How exactly should we do this?”

“The lake used to be a busy vacation spot years ago
.  Now it’s lost its appeal and industrial plants started popping up, leaving hundreds of abandoned vacation homes.  We should be able to find a house we can use to wait out the storm after.”

“After
—”

“After Danny heals us in the salt water, of course.”

“Right.” Theo pursed his lips together as though forcibly willing his rational words to stay inside.  He decided to go down a different path.  “So how do you know so much about this lake?”

“After Danny first shared his dream with me, I started to do some research,” Margo’s gaze moved from the industrial lights to the little boy in her arms before she continued.  “Fayed Oasis was one of just a few lakes in the area that used to be freshwater millions of years ago.  As you can imagine, the area got very little freshwater
from rain, so through natural weathering, the sun’s evaporation took the fresh water and left the salt.  The entire lake became concentrated with the mineral.  Now it is very much a salty body of water.”

“Humph,” was all Theo thought safe enough to say.

“You don’t think this will work.”  It was a statement, not a question.

Theo chose his words carefully.  “I
want
it to work.”

“Where is your faith?” she asked softly.

“Faith in God, miracles, unexplainable phenomena—I think I’ve found a balance between my scientific and spiritual beliefs.”  He cleared his throat, trying to filter through his thoughts while maintaining integrity.  “I’ve seen each of the children do some pretty fantastic things.  They have been gifted; this is a fact.  I just don’t think we should hinge all our hope on the dreams of that four-year-old child.  It just doesn’t seem wise.  The children are depending on us to help them fix this mess.  I just don’t want to let anyone down, Margo.”

“I see it differently.  It takes
courage
to walk on faith.  And when I say ‘courage’ I do not mean fearlessness.”  Margo shook her head emphatically.  “We must have the kind of courage that knows full well the dangers, but holds hands and jumps anyway. 
That
is courage. 
That
is faith.  I choose to be faith-filled.”

“Margo, I understand what you’re saying, and I don’t disagree entirely.  Have you ever heard the story of the two men
who were camping in the woods when a huge bear dashed out of the trees and came right for them?”

Margo, sighed and held Danny a little closer to her chest.  “I may have, but go on.”

“Both guys start running for their lives, the bear hot on their heels.  One man yells to the other, ‘Wait, I believe in God.  I’ll just kneel right here and pray for help.’  The other guy yells back, ‘I believe in God, too, but he gave me legs, so I’m gonna run
and
pray’.”

“Yes, I’ve heard it before.  In the service we used to call it ‘running and gunning’.”  Margo
stifled a yawn before continuing.  They hadn’t slept in more than a day.  “What if instead of running and praying, one of the men chose to
fight
and pray?  And if he’d believed the dream he had the night before of a bear attacking and so brought along a tranquilizing gun, how quickly would the threat be secured?”

“There are a lot of ‘if’s’ in your version.”

“Exactly!  But if I’m being attacked, I’m not running.  I’m going to use any means within my power to gain the advantage and counterattack.  That’s what I see us doing, Theo.  We’re getting ourselves as ready as we can to fight back.”

Theo’s pursed lips turned into a tight smile.  “This is just your way, isn’t it?”

“I became a soldier for this reason—and I was a damn good one, too.  I am truly sorry if you disagree with me but—”

“I know, I know.  I don’t have a better idea, so the plan stays.  We jump into the flame together.”  He reached out and rubbed Margo’s shoulder tenderly.  They exchanged expressions of resolve in the glow of the industrial lights illuminating the sky around the salt lake.

27  Salt of the Earth

Sloan couldn’t distinguish which of them was in more peril.  Sitting between a beat-up Cole and a shot-up Kylie, she’d given up changing gloves as she worked to control the chaos in the back seat of the sedan barreling down the road to God knows where. 

Evan kept glancing into his rearview mirror trying to let Sloan do her work without comments from him.  Cole was like a brother and Kylie—well, he didn’t know what to think of her—but he knew he wanted her to live.

“What’s your relationship with the girl?”  Creed nodded toward the back seat interrupting Evan’s thoughts.

“It’s complicated.”  Evan was trying to control the itching in his left hand by rubbing it on his jeans.

“Obviously.  So who is she?” Creed turned to watch Evan’s profile in the dark.  He was tired of focusing on controlling the pain from his internal injuries and needed a distraction.  Conversation was all he could do while stuck in a moving vehicle.

Evan took a deep breath and shook his head slowly.  “Until tonight, I thought she was just a resident at the university hospital.  I had no idea she was—anything other than that.”

Creed nodded, waiting for Evan to elaborate.

Evan glanced over at Creed and saw him watching, waiting for more information.  He shrugged.  “Listen, she came up to me in the lab and started talking.  I was rude to her—trying to get her to go away, but she was—undaunted.  We ended up getting coffee together and
kinda hanging out every day since.”

“You said you thought she was a resident?”

“Yeah, she told me she was only sixteen and had graduated to a resident research doctor despite her age because of her phenomenal intellect.  After working with her for one night, I believed that had to be true.  Her mind is truly impressive.”

“And apparently complex.”

“Apparently.”

“She provided the intel to Williams that ended in tonight’s attack.” 

“Then she comes out of nowhere and takes a bullet for me?”

Creed shook his head in bewilderment and let the moment hang in the air.  “Girls are heaven and hell—leaving us guys feeling lost and found at the same time.”

“You’re not pissed off at me?  I mean for trusting her and endangering the family?” Evan’s face was pinched as though bracing for an assault.

“Nah, little brother.  Girls
can make us say and do things we never would have done in our right minds.  I don’t blame you.  Hey, look what I’ve gone through because of Meg.  I changed everything for just the
chance
to be with her, and I’ll never be the same now that I’ve known her.”  He sighed deeply before continuing.  “The
right
girl—yeah, wow—the
right
girl only has to smile at you and you’re twelve feet tall, made of steel, unstoppable—and stupid as hell.”

The
boys nodded at each other sympathetically.

Sloan had been l
istening to their conversation while monitoring Cole and Kylie.  Cole had been stable and sleeping for the past hour.  Kylie, on the other hand, just kept deteriorating.  In the past five minutes, her stats started plummeting. 

“Guys, Kylie isn’t going to hang on much longer.  Her blood pressure is scary low. 
Her organs are going to start shutting down soon.”  Sloan shook her head, strands of blond hair sticking to her sweaty brow.  “She only has minutes—we’re losing her.”

A rush of panic slipped like a noose of ic
y steel around Evan’s throat.

She can’t die.

“Minutes?” he choked.  He looked into the rearview mirror to read Sloan’s expression.  Her gunmetal-gray eyes locked on his.  They were red-rimmed and somber as she shook her head slowly.

“Ev, the lake is
just ahead.  We’ll get her in the water and little man will do his thing.  There’s still a chance,” Creed offered feebly.

Evan grit
ted his teeth angrily and gripped the steering wheel as he sped up so he was parallel to the van.  Without having to talk about it, Creed knew what Evan wanted.

Creed was yelling even before his window was completely lowered.  “Theo!” he hollered across the rushing wind between the vehicles.  “The girl is
gonna
die
.  We
need
to do this now!”

Theo’s eyes darted to the back seat to see Sloan’s grim expression.  He nodded once then did something very un-Theo like.  He yanked the wheel of the van hard to the right and charted a direct line to the water.  The tires of the van sought the rugged vegetation to grip giving the van the traction it needed to manage off-road.  Evan was right on the van’s back bumper, bouncing and jostling along the same path as the others. 

Thankfully, there wasn’t a car in sight at 3:38 AM local time.  Theo navigated the terrain with more heart than skill, threading the van between two villas and stopping on the wild grass that used to be one of the house’s backyards.  The rough sandy beach was only twenty yards away.

Evan pulled up beside the van, yanked the gear into park and cut the engine.  Everyone started spilling quickly from the vehicles and hurrying toward the water.