Something banged against the hatch above them.
“What’s that?” Ruddy whispered.
Xeke stood. “Shh! They’ve found us!”
Sunlight flooded the basement as the hatch exploded open.
“Nowhere to run this time, heretic,” a voice growled. The Scourge dropped in and charged at Ruddy.
Ruddy turned silver and braced himself, but the creature smashed into an invisible barrier before it reached him. It rebounded, then snarled. Its eyes fell on Xeke.
“Do not interfere, kin-killer. We may have a use for you. Your death is not in the master’s plans.”
“I prefer to make my own plans,” Xeke said.
The Scourge bounced off the barrier again. “Reginald Unglesby must die. You and the girl are not part of this. Let me have him.”
“That isn’t an option,” Xeke said.
“So be it.” It launched itself into the barrier once more, rebounded, then leaped straight out of the shelter. Something slammed into the ground above them. Dirt and debris showered down. It felt like an earthquake.
Boom! More earth rained down. Boom!
Xeke turned to Ruddy. “What is that … thing?”
Ruddy huddled over Teri, protecting her from the falling debris. “I don’t know. It killed my best friend. It’s been chasing me for days. It’s the reason we were running.”
Boom!
“It’s determined, whatever it is,” Xeke said. “Looks like it’s trying to bury us alive.”
“Teri said it has friends,” Ruddy said.
“Well, can’t stay here and wait for it to kill us,” Xeke said.
Boom!
I’ll take Teri, and you float us out,” Ruddy said.
“It’s probably better if I carry her,” Xeke said.
“No, I promised I’d take care of her.”
Boom!
Xeke shook his head. “I’ve got to shield her regardless of who’s carrying her. One shield protects all us soft squishy types. I don’t want to draw more than I can handle. If that happens, you’ll be glad she’s with me, because everywhere else is going to be a very bad place to be.”
BOOM! A section of the roof fell into the room. Sunlight burst over them.
“OK, fine, but I’m going up first. I’ll keep it busy while you guys get out and get cover.”
“Good plan. I’ll raise some dust to cover you. You ready?”
Ruddy turned silver again and nodded. Xeke raised him up out of the doorway in the midst of a dust-cloud. Ruddy’s feet were almost clear of the hole when his body flew sideways like he’d been hit by a train.
Xeke winced, but didn’t hesitate to take the chance Ruddy had given them. He and Teri shot out of the disintegrating basement. He imagined it looked like Luke Skywalker emerging from the carbonite chamber.
Ruddy and the creature were locked in battle. Xeke couldn’t tell who was winning. The creature kept morphing into shapes to get out of Ruddy’s holds, but Ruddy was grabbing onto whatever part he could and beating the creature against the ground, the trees, whatever hard surface he could find. Ruddy’s snarls of rage drowned out the creature’s growls.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The creature shot out a rope-like tentacle that snaked around Ruddy’s neck and snatched him forward. Ruddy’s head hit a tree with a loud crack.
He grunted, and the silvery sheen of his skin faded. The end of the creature’s arms melted into knives. It stabbed both blades into Ruddy’s gut and twisted. Ruddy screamed in agony as blood welled out of the wounds. His flesh turned silver again, but it was too late. The blood kept pouring out.
Oh God, Xeke thought.
He crouched, resting the girl’s weight on his thighs, and stretched his hand out. His stomach flipped as power surged through him. It felt good. Too good.
He grabbed the storm shelter door with his mind and drew in as much energy as he dared. The door flew through the air like a bullet. It struck the monster as it raised its limbs to attack Ruddy again and cut it in half at the chest. The thing gurgled, then lay still.
Xeke swallowed. He’d never killed anyone on purpose. Whatever that thing had been, he’d ended it with a thought.
Letting go of his power was like getting out from under warm covers on a freezing day. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the power ebb with his exhalation.
Xeke lay Teri on the ground and went to Ruddy. He knelt over him. There was so much blood.
“How’s … Teri?” Ruddy said.
“Better than you. She slept through the whole thing.”
“Please ... look out for her?” Ruddy coughed and more blood bubbled out of his mouth.
Xeke covered the wounds with his hands, but the bleeding wouldn’t slow. “If you don’t make it, I promise I’ll get her to safety. But Ruddy—you’re a changeling.”
“Yeah … so ...?”
“Changelings can heal themselves. Try to change your wounds back to the way they were. If you can slow the bleeding down I might be able to do something.”
Ruddy’s face tightened in concentration. The blood slowed then stopped, and the wounds started closing. Within a minute there weren’t even any scars.
Xeke’s mouth dropped open.
“What?” Ruddy said.
Xeke shook his head. “I … I thought … I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“But you said changelings could heal themselves,” Ruddy said.
“Yeah, but not like that. I hoped you could slow the bleeding down enough to survive a little longer, but … you have a lot of power.”
“I do?”
“Yeah, you do,” Xeke said. “No wonder so many people are chasing you. I think we better get out of here. You’ve lost a lot of blood but if you can walk, I’ll ...”
“Julie.” Teri’s voice was weak. “Julie is coming. And someone … else. Someone scarier.”
Ruddy sat up. “Teri! You’re awake!”
She gritted her teeth and tried to stand. Ruddy ran over and helped her. She was burning hot, pale, and shivering.
“I have to hide us ... something is coming for us. We have to get out of ....” She took in the scene around her.
“What happened?” she asked. “Where are we? Who is he?”
“That’s Xeke,” Ruddy said. “He’s like us. He saved our lives … maybe two or three times already. You can trust him.”
“You’re right,” Teri said. “We can trust him.”
Xeke stared at her. Stay out of my head. It’s not polite.
I’m sorry. I had to know for sure.
Xeke let it go. “If we can get there, I have friends who can hide us. People who don’t agree with the Safety Act. There’s a farm near here. Maybe we can find a car there.”
“The farmer is home right now, but I can keep him from seeing us,” Teri said. “He’s got an old Jeep in the barn. I think I can hide us while we take it. He’ll think his brother borrowed it without asking. But we need to go now. Agents are all over the area, Julie is here, and that Scourge thing’s friends …” She shivered. “They’re out there, and I’m not in any condition to deal with them.”
“How can you possibly know all that?” Xeke said. He shook his head. “Never mind. Let’s get moving.”
“Right.” Ruddy lifted Teri in his arms as if he hadn’t been at death’s door a few minutes before.
Xeke shook his head again. “Wow. I know a lot of very talented people, but the two of you … you’re more powerful than most of them put together.”
One corner of Teri’s mouth turned up in a smile. “Says the infamous Ezekiel Daniels.”
They heard helicopters approaching in the distance.
“Chinooks,” Ruddy said, pointing at the horizon. “And that one’s an Apache.”
“Were you an army brat or something?” Xeke said.
“Nah. Call of Duty,” Ruddy said.
“What’s call of duty?” Xeke said.
“You’ve … never heard … of Call of Duty?”
The sound of rotors was deafening as two of the helicopters landed in a nearby clearing.
“They know we’re here,” Teri said. “Julie heard the fighting. I’m hiding us but if they get us on camera, we’re finished.”
The Apache circled overhead, then moved on.
“The Scourge’s friends are coming over that hill.” Teri gestured toward a small rise to their right. “One of them is a mentalist, and they’re a lot more capable than he was. We’re caught right between them.”
“Too bad we can’t get them to fight each other,” Ruddy said.
Teri stared at him. He turned red. “What? Did I say something wrong?”
“Not at all,” Teri said. “You may have just saved us.” She closed her eyes. “Keep quiet for a minute, I need to concentrate. Fooling two mentalists at once is not going to be easy. Get ready to run when I tell you.”
