* * *
We run all day long and cross over the border into Canada. I convince Justin to let me try running on my own to see if I’ve gained speed. Naturally, I have, and I’m relieved. Now I won’t have to hold hands with anyone as if I’m a little kid. We stop for a short break for lunch. I’m careful not to close my eyes for fear of having a repeat of the day before. We all know how well that went. Chris continues to avoid me, and he finds reasons to leave the area whenever I approach. It’s a good thing he doesn’t know about the diamond in my pocket or else he’d really be freaked out.
The only thing to lighten my mood is watching Kayla’s antics as she continually tries to place herself next to Chris. She thinks for sure he likes her, and if she keeps herself under his nose long enough, he might make a move. Emotions, hormones, and misconceptions are the same whether you have cosmic abilities or not, I observe.
I think more about the fact the heart-attack man actually died. I consider it an act of self-defense, especially because if I was a normal girl, I’d be defiled and dead and dumped in a ditch right now. That’s what they’d planned. In fact, I probably prevented future kidnappings and deaths of other girls. So was it so wrong for me to have done what I did? No. My only regret is that the other guy lived.
The mountains grow larger and larger as we run throughout the day. We stop at the edge of the forest near a town in southern Alberta in the late evening. When the wind hits my nose, I smell danger.
“Hunters!” I yell to Justin and Chris. For a moment, I think they don’t believe me, but Chris would rather err on the side of right than wrong. He leads us into a thick wooded area where we have more options to hide.
“Where are they?” Justin asks.
I put my thoughts out into the forest and find the two Hunters. I smell their rancid odor as they carefully follow our scents. “They’re hot on our trail.”
Ashley asks, “Why don’t we run to the safety of the town? The Demons will be out soon.”
Lizbeth answers, “Then they’ll know exactly where we are.”
“They already know where we are!”
“Quiet,” I command. “Chris, take everyone further into the forest.”
“Justin, you take them. I’ll stay with her.” Chris hands the order down.
“No! I don’t want you here. Leave Beth with me.”
The decision is made in an instant, and Beth stays. We reposition ourselves a little higher up the hill to provide a better visual advantage.
Beth whispers, “They know we have to stay in that town tonight. I wonder why they didn’t wait there for us to return?”
“Beth, use your mind to talk to me. We need to keep quiet.”
“Oh, right.”
I grab her arm as the Hunters come into view. I scan the closer one’s body and find his weakness: an aneurism in his brain, which I rupture, and he collapses to the ground. The remaining Hunter gives his companion a brief glance and continues moving forward, tightening his hold on the rifle in his hands. I feel inside his body and struggle to find anything wrong. His entire body is in excellent condition. I scan him again as he moves out of my sight but still find nothing to irritate or aggravate. He stops and leans against a tree stump, positions himself, and raises the gun, focusing down his gun sights.
What can I do? I wonder what he’s aiming at, and with that thought I enter his mind. I see through his eyes, the same way I’d observed the present through Chris’s eyes. He has the back of Justin’s head in his cross-hairs. He can smell the icy aroma on Justin and he begins to squeeze the trigger. I have to act fast. I break his neck with my mind, feeling the vertebrae and spinal cord crunch and grind. Then I throw up.
Beth grabs me, all excited. “Calli, you did it! What exactly did you do?” Her confusion at what has happened makes me throw up again.
She leaves my side and returns to the others. I’m still nauseous over what I’ve done. I could feel his vertebrae as if I’d snapped them with my bare hands. As I replay everything in my head, the crunching sound sickens me, and I heave again.
The group returns and Chris scrutinizes me. I think I detect a glimmer of sorrow. But before I can analyze his emotions, the horrible smell of approaching Demons startles me. “Run!” I choke out. “Stay in the light!”
In a flash, the other Runners disappear. I roll over on my back and stare up at the tiny patch of darkening sky above me. What have I become? I’m a cold-blooded murderer. Tears fill my eyes, and painful sobs erupt from my mouth. Why was this burden placed on me? Why me?
I lay on the ground, wallowing in my misery for several minutes until I see the Demons float above me on their way to the broken-necked Hunter. I had thought he was dead already. Why would the Demons still be interested in him? I stagger over to his body, which lies in the light. He’s still alive. I’d only paralyzed him, so I delve into his mind to find out who sent him. I find that the two Hunters had been hired by the Mind-Readers to find the diamond before the Death Clan could take possession. They had every town directly over the Canadian border staked out with Hunters, not knowing which town we would stop in. The Mind-Readers were doing what they thought would be best. I also discover they did not issue an order for our deaths. The Hunters decided on their own to kill us to get the diamond.
“Please finish me! Don’t let the Demons get me!” the dying Hunter pleads.
“I thought I’d already killed you,” I say. I walk away, knowing now I hadn’t actually murdered him. But I’m not going to help him either. I’ll let the Demons take care of him. So I guess I am a murderer after all.
I find the other Hunter’s body. I can’t enter his mind. The Demons aren’t interested in him at all. He’s definitely dead.
I walk out of the forest, contemplating what I’ve done. The Hunters would have killed whoever they needed to kill in order to get the diamond. And I am the only one in my party who can do anything about it. My shoulders aren’t big enough to carry this load.
I take an hour to walk the distance to town. I need every second of the hour to get my emotions under control. I come to the conclusion the teammates are like my family and I need to protect them. Just as a parent would protect their loved ones from a burglar, I will protect these friends. I’m the only one who can do so, therefore, it’s my responsibility. I smile a little as I realize I’m finally thinking of them as friends.
I make the assumption Chris will choose a motel on the outskirts of town based on the fact the sun had set when they left me. They wouldn’t have wasted any time securing rooms. I wander the parking lot until I spot Chris looking out the window on the second floor. I go to his door, which he only opens a crack.
“You’re in room number 213,” he says, not making eye contact.
I walk away, incredibly sad, and will my tears to stay behind my eyes.
I knock on the door of 213, and Justin pulls back the drapes to confirm it’s me. He unlocks and opens the door. Once I get inside, he and the others bombard me with questions.
“What does it feel like to kill someone?” Beth asks right away.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean? You were puking your guts out. It must have felt awfully gross!” Beth’s curious eyes search mine.
“You think? I only paralyzed that guy. The Demons finished him off. The other Hunter was on death’s door anyway. I opened the door, that’s all.”
“Well, aren’t you just the goody two-shoes,” Justin taunts.
“Yeah, that’s me. Saving your goody two-shoes! You were the one with the package. They were after you and you alone. The rest of us would have been safe. Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped them.”
Justin stomps away in a huff.
I pick up on the fact the room is crowded and lacks an adjoining door like the other motel rooms we’ve had. One quick look into an available mind tells me there were only two rooms left in the motel and eight of us would be trying to sleep here.
Well, I will help that situation a bit. I t
ake a pillow and walk to the door as the phone rings.
“Where are you going?” Beth asks.
“Out.”
“Why?”
“Because I can.” My voice cracks, but I don’t care.
I storm out and slam the door. I spotted a truck parked in the lot on my way in, and I intend to sleep in the truck bed. However, I have to walk past Chris’s room to get to the stairs. Great. I take my shoe off and throw it at the light hanging outside his door. It crashes into the bulb, sprinkling glass on the ground. Chris won’t dare open his door now that his light is off. But that doesn’t stop him from staring out the window as I pass by.
Well, stare all you want! Stare at my back as I walk away. I pick up my shoe and keep going. I climb into the bed of the truck and position my pillow. I glance back at the building only to find Chris has a direct line of sight from his second floor window. I roll over, putting my back to him, in an effort to put this all behind me.
Yeah, right.
Chapter 10 - I Don’t Want To Die