Catalyst

  "I'm dandy. You drive us to the casa and I'll lullaby your girl." He sent me a wry look that said 'cheap shot'. I grinned. "I know, sorry. And by the way, what you're doing, letting her be comfortable and sleep on me even though you don't like it…proves you're not a Neanderthal." He smiled and chuckled silently. He opened his mouth and I knew what would spew out. "Are we almost done with the male bonding? Because I'm ready to go home, big man."

  "Fine," he said and rolled his eyes in his Jeff way. "Fine, fine." He got in the driver's seat. The engine was already on and the heat kicked on higher. "It snowed all night. It might be a rough ride," he told me.

  "Whatever. As long as we don't end up in the ditch, I'm good."

  We stayed quiet and drove. I had almost fallen back asleep when I felt him jerk the van to a stop. I wanted to sit up to see what was going on, but figured Jeff would bite my head off. But then I heard Jeff's angry breaths. Then he exited the van. I knew something was up. So I slid slowly and gently out of from under Marissa's head. She didn't even notice. She kept right at it.

  I crawled over Simon and Billings. As soon as I opened the door and hopped out I pulled it closed, but didn't latch it so the noise wouldn't wake anyone. I straightened and cursed to myself. Jeff was standing in the middle of the snow covered road, in a short sleeve t-shirt like a freak show, as he stared down three enforcers. Two guys and one female. And they looked strangely familiar.

  I made my way to them and they looked me over quickly before going back to Jeff.

  "We have to do an ear check to let you pass through. We've had lots of rebel break-ins lately and Malachi is cracking down," one of them was saying.

  "Here," I told them and thrust my head to the side for them to see. "All human and anti-rebelliony. Let's get going, big guy," I told Jeff, but it was a no-go as I knew it would be. But a guy can hope can't he?

  "Not so fast. We have to check for marks on every person that passes through." He looked at me and did a double take. "You look so familiar."

  "I was thinking…wait. I met you at the enforcement facility. My mentor was Billings."

  "Oh yeah," he drawled and smiled, but then stopped. "Wait. We never saw you or Billings again after the explosion. We've all been reassigned to other facilities. We thought you died with the casualties."

  "Nope, still kicking. But no offense, we got blew up the first day, man. I figured that job wasn't for me."

  They laughed and nodded.

  "Yeah, I guess that wasn’t really in the job description was it."

  "They left that part out of the manual, and I don't blame them," I said. They chuckled again and I prayed it was working.

  "Well, we've always got spots if you're open to coming back one day."

  "I'll think about it. So, can we get through? Heat's broken in the van and it's freezing, man."

  Jeff got the hint and crossed his arms over his chest, he pretended to shiver.

  "I guess so. It's not like you would work for the enforcers if you were a rebel right?" he joked and I laughed to placate him.

  "Nah, man. I don't think that would work out. Thanks. Maybe we'll see you around."

  "Yep."

  I waved and we made our way back to the van. But when Jeff started to drive passed, the woman yelled and pointed. The enforcers drew their guns and I started to tell Jeff to gun the gas, but knew they'd follow us. I rolled down my window and heard her yelling, "That's our van. They are the ones who stole our van."

  That's where I recognized her from. She was Lily's mom! The ones who ran Sherry and them off the bridge putting their van at the bottom of the river.

  Wow, what a witch. I wondered where her husband was.

  I leaned out the window, though they fired a couple shots at us, and let my magic hands work. I blasted the two enforcer cars that were parked beside each other on either side of the road. They both landed on their tops as the enforcers scattered and glared at the van like we'd been unprovoked.

  "Now, they won't follow."

  "Nice work," Jeff said as he looked back to see what I'd done, and then slammed on the brakes once more.

  There was big guy standing in the road. Lily's dad, that crazy lady's husband. He had on a Kevlar vest stacked with bullets and a huge gun that made me wonder what he was compensating for. Then he pointed it at the van and started shooting.

  Rally The Troops

  Chapter 28 - Lillian

  I watched as Daniel rallied our troops, so to speak. He was so focused, even though he was getting glares and rolled eyes in undulated waves throughout our group.

  He kept glancing at me and I kept pretending like he wasn't.

  He had been fighting the Lighter right in this spot before and the Lighter saw me as I looked on helplessly as to what to do. He had thrown Daniel and came at me so fast I didn’t know what to do. As he held me and made his way up the stairs backwards, Daniel, Max and Ryan had spoken quickly. Then when I was dragged outside I figured Daniel was coming to save me, but I never saw him. Strange, I thought.

  Then they'd all showed up on the roof and ambushed the Lighters. The first place he'd looked when he landed was a quick flick of the eyes to me and then on with his work.

  Now, after he dragged me back down in to bunker, he was attempting to explain to everyone how the Lighters operated. They said they had called for back-up and Daniel confirmed that they had.

  We had no idea what that meant though. Did they have CB radios in their heads or something? He said they have a way to reach out and communicate with others but it was on an individual basis. They can't broadcast to a wide audience of Lighters, only the Taker can do that. So they had called a few reinforcements, but no one knew how many or how long it would take to get here. But as long as we took them all out, our location should be safe.

  He told them in brief detail what the Taker was doing. Malachi was tricking people into turning 'rebels' in and instead of getting the reward money, he was consuming them after torturing them for information. He was also consuming all the 'rebels' who were brought in too. So far, from Daniels rough calculation, he'd killed over two thousand humans, just this past month alone.

  My stomach rolled with that thought.

  I tried to pay really close attention to what he was saying. I needed to know what was happening.

  "You'll need to keep things quiet and dark so they won't be aware of your ambush. They need to think they are sneaking up on you."

  "Why do you keep saying 'you' and 'your' like you're not one of us now?" Max said miffed. "You are one of us now, right?"

  "I apologize. Thousands of years of talking about Keepers and humans as 'them' and 'you' are hard to break." Max nodded and waved for him to continue. "We need to be quiet and ready when they come. I can't hear them anymore, I can't listen to their call or hear their minds, I can't even read yours anymore. So I won't be able to help you much with that respect."

  "Why?" Calvin asked.

  "Why what?"

  "Why can't you hear them anymore?"

  Daniel, Max and I exchanged looks. We hadn't talked about what Lily did and no one knew how much to say about what had happened. Would people be afraid of her?

  "Uh…" Daniel muttered.

  "Daniel can't hear them because he's no longer one of them," Max interjected with certainty. I gawked at him and so did Daniel. "Look at his eyes. He's one of us now."

  A few leaned forward and gasped at the silver eyes that stared back, no longer black pockets of evil. Daniel shifted uncomfortably and then said, "Ok. Back to the plan. Like I said, I can't hear them, but I can still detect when they are near. I feel them, so I will try to give you as much warning as possible. We need to gather weapons and station people at entry points and hiding spots. And we need to hide the women and children."

  "Hey," I yelled, tired of being put out of the loop for my own good. Ann and Kathy barked something at him too and he looked at us exasperated. Max intervened.

  "Keepers stay, humans go. Lillian, come on. Don't fight me o
n this. We’ll spend our focus worrying about you instead of taking out Lighters."

  "Fine," I said brightly. I had no intentions of sitting back while the others fought. There had to be something I could do even if it was hand ammo to the guys or throw knifes…ok, that was stupid. There had to be something I could…something Daniel had said to me once was playing back in my head. Yes…that, I could do. Though Cain would never forgive me and it would be a fight to get Daniel to help me.

  I kept my thoughts to myself and tried to keep listening. Merrick and Miguel eventually joined us and stood by Daniel. They helped in the planning too and before we knew it, we were set for war.

  We got started on getting all the ammo and stakes together. They asked a few of us to make 'bombs' or 'grenades'. Which were chemicals and a professional strength tile cleaner that burned your skin if you touched it that we poured into balloons. So ghetto, yet effective. They wouldn't stop the Lighters but it would stun them long enough to hopefully get a shot in. All the Keepers and guys planned to wear long sleeves and hats and hope that whoever was aiming, aimed correctly.

  After a while, everybody took their positions and I, and the rest of the lowly females, took to the back room with Sherry and Ellie, who looked just awful. I thought Ryan would have a hard time leaving her there like that, but he was amped for revenge. He kissed her pale forehead gently and then his face turned murderous as he stalked out to the commons room.

  Daniel, who had practically dragged me to the back room to make sure I went, was antsy too. He kept shifting and switching feet. I asked him what was wrong.

  "I just don't want this to end badly for your people."

  "We're ready, like you said. And you're here. Between you and the Keepers, they should be able to handle it, right? Unless there's something you're not telling us."

  "I just don't know how many are coming. It is unpleasant and foreign to feel so blind and unknowing."

  He looked so unsure and unsteady. I grabbed his hand to offer some comfort and immediately regretted it. He looked at me hopeful and intrigued.

  I pulled my hand back as I told him, "Daniel, don't read anything into it. It's just something humans do to comfort each other."

  "Comfort," he murmured. "Then why did it feel so good?"

  "Yikes," I replied and pulled my hair back with my hands. "Daniel, you've got to stop saying things like that. I told you."

  "We can be friends, yes?"

  "Yes. Only friends."

  "And friends can still hug each other, right?"

  That reminded me so dearly of something Cain had said to get me to kiss me once. Drunken party friends can still kiss, right? I bit my lip at the ache for him. And then looked at Daniel. If I was honest, I did feel something for him. Especially now, when he was open and honest and waiting for me to reach out. I just did not understand this pull…this connection with him that I'd felt ever since I did whatever it was that made him want to be different.

  I pulled my arms around his middle, since he was too tall for a neck hug. I tried to stay neutral. This was just a friend, going off to battle, and I wanted to hug him to comfort him and send him off. But when he pressed his hands to my back and buried his face in my hair, I knew that my neutrality was one sided. He inhaled deeply, bending me back a little to press me further against me.

  "How can this be wrong when it feels so right for you to be against me?" he whispered.

  "Daniel, you're confused." I tried to lean back, but he held me tight. "I know it…feels good, but everything that feels good doesn't mean that it's ok to do it."

  "If I die and hell is awaiting me, is it too much to ask that it smells like Jasmine?"

  I almost lost it. He was so honest and carefree with his words. He wasn't censored or altered by years of the world and peers and TV molding his mind. He said exactly what he thought with no mind to consequence or decorum. It was refreshing, but also dangerous. I had to get him to stop saying those things.

  I pushed him back a little and looked at his face. "You can't say things like that to me, Daniel. Please."

  "But it is the truth. You want me to lie?"

  "No, I want you to grow a censor button," I muttered and he looked confused. "Humans don't just blurt out every little thing that they think and feel. You have to think about what you say and whether it's appropriate or not."

  "Maybe that's what's wrong with your world," he said factually and not unkindly. "Maybe if everyone were a little bit more honest with each other, you would have been a more organized and peaceful planet."

  "I can't argue with you, there. But you can't say things like that to me anymore either, ok?"

  "So I'm allowed to feel them, just not say them?"

  "Um…yes." What else was I supposed to say?

  "As you wish," he said and let me go. "I'll go join the others to prepare."

  "Be careful, ok?"

  "As you wish," he said and smiled, but then backpedaled. He came forward and grasped my arms. His eyes went black. "You be careful. Stay back here and don't attempt to jump into the fray. It would hurt me very much if you were harmed."

  "Wouldn’t dream of it," I answered.

  "Does that mean yes?"

  I laughed. "Yes."

  "Alright then." His eyes turned back to silver as he turned and left. I knew right then who was going to help me with my plan when the time came. Good old Daniel.

  I walked over to Sherry and Lily. They were sitting on the bed with Ellie. She looked pale and terrible. She was on her belly, a big gauze bandage over her back. Sherry was rubbing Lily's hair with one hand and patting Ellie's hand with the other. She didn’t look good either.

  "Sherry," I said and she jumped and gasped. "Sorry. Are you ok?"

  "I'm just so on edge. I don't know what's wrong with me. One minute I'm fine, then the next I'm crying, then I'm wanting to break someone's fingers. I'm losing it," she squeaked.

  "It's a lot to deal with," I soothed and sat next to Ellie's head. "We're all losing it a little, I think." I was gonna lose it if Cain didn't come home soon. "How's she doing?"

  "She's bad. Miguel said the Lighter hit her spinal cord."

  "Oh no…"

  "We'll have to wait for her to wake up to see what the damage is."

  "Poor, Ryan," I muttered and then turned red with embarrassment. "I mean, poor Ellie too, I just-"

  "I know," she said. "I get it. Ryan was just starting to be normal again." She rubbed her temples. Then she groaned and fell forward a little bit. I jumped to catch her, but she was still upright.

  "What's going on with you?"

  "I have no idea. My head is killing me." Then she sat up and rolled her shoulders. "All better now. Weird."

  "Yeah. Weird."

  "So what are they doing out there," she asked as if nothing had happened at all.

  "They're getting ready for the Lighters."

  Lily played with her doll between us. She was kneeling on the floor and then reached up to touch Ellie's hand, putting Ellie's hand on the doll like she was playing with it. Then I remembered what Lily had done. I mouthed "Heal her?" to Sherry and she sat up straighter.

  "Lily," she said softly. "Do you think you might want to heal Ellie like you did Daniel?"

  "I can't. I alweady twied."

  "What do you mean?"

  "She's got something wong with her, mommy."

  "I know, bug, that's why I want you to heal her."

  "No. She's got something wong with her. She's like a wall. That's what she said."

  "Who said? You're not making sense, Lily," she said softly.

  "I asked her if I could make her better, but she said she was a wall. I don’t know," she spouted and shrugged her shoulders.

  Sherry and I just looked at each other. I didn't want to push a four year old to discuss something she clearly didn’t understand, but I was more confused than when we started. We both stayed quiet. As did pretty much everybody.

  Polly and Piper were still in the corner like earlier, pl
aying cards. And they were bickering, which was nothing new. Pap and Mrs. Margaret were bickering too. They were sitting over a chess board and whisper-yelling to each other about what moves were legal and what not. Paul was nursing an icepack on his face while Katie fed Sky. When I looked back at Sherry, she winced at Paul.

  "I did that," she said. "I better go make sure he's ok."

  As she got up, we all heard the noise and stood as still as oak trees. There was a pounding on something. The door? Then a rumble and a boom shook the building and echoed around us.

  Lightning.

  The Lighters were here and the war had already begun.

  A long shot

  Chapter 29 - Cain

  I pulled Jeff's neck so that he was leaning over the middle console with me. I reached my foot over and pressed the gas further down. Jeff yelled, asking me what I was doing.

  "I'm running down the bastard."

  "He's a human!" he spouted.

  "A human who's shooting at us!" He grunted and I peeked up just as fat boy jumped out of the way. "Dang!" I moved my foot over to press on the brakes. Simon's head popped up and I yanked him back down just as another shot went through the side window. That's was when I realized that Marissa and Billings were still asleep. How, I didn't know.

  "What are you doing? Let's just go," Jeff commanded.

  "No way. That's twice that the guy has tried to kill us. He's going down."

  I leapt out the side door, hearing Simon's urging me to stay inside, and peeked around the side of the van. Right before I blasted the guy with my sonic hands, Simon pulled a decoy and blurred around the back. Dang it! I ran to catch up and saw him trip. His face was shocked and just as he was trying to get up, I ran in front of him. The guy pulled the trigger and I knew a bullet was going to shred through my chest, but it was instinct to try to protect myself anyway. My palms lifted and stopped the bullet midair about two feet from my face. It fought against the blast of energy, but I held on. I saw the guy's eyes widen just before he flew backwards. He went way up into the air, just as the Lighters had done before. But when he landed in a heap on the ground, I knew he wouldn’t be getting back up. The bullet eventually started to recede and then fell away from me on the highway. I sagged at the strain and pain in my arms. Normally it was one blast from my palms, but I'd held onto this one. I had been a couple feet away from getting my head blown off. That would bring the beast out in a guy. So maybe I should stop being a pansy and start practicing my gift like the others. Who knew what else I could do and as much as I hated to admit it. I must've been given this gift for a reason.