Kinetics (20 page)

"Let's go home." Arch said,
trying to keep his balance.

I heard a loud pitch whistle coming from
behind where we stood.  I turned around to see a black streak tear across the
sky.  It smashed into the helicopter and exploded, sending us all flying from
the shockwave. 

I forced myself to my feet, but the
helicopter, the pad, and the building had all been destroyed.  I searched the
sky behind us for any kind of aircraft, but I couldn't see anything.

"Acumen.  The helicopter is
gone." I said into my headset.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Gone, exploded, big freaking
boom." I yelled.  My brain was going a hundred miles a minute.

"Calm down."

"Calm down?  The pilot is
dead!"  I yelled.

"I'm sorry.  Bertha is ten miles
north of you.  They are refueling.  I am updating your system now." he
said his voice panicked.

"Ten miles?" Arch said.  The
whole group, including myself, was exhausted.  Walking that kind of distance
was simply not an option.

"Stay here, Shift you come with
me.  We are going to get a truck." I said.

We went back out to the road. 

"What are you going to do?"
Shift asked as we both knelt down by the road.

"Something crazy." I said. 

I walked out into the middle of the road
as an SUV came barreling towards me at seventy plus miles per hour.  I held out
my hand.  The truck came to a screeching stop inches from where I stood.

I walked over to the driver's door.

"Are you out of your mind?  I could
have killed you!" the man in the driver’s seat said through an open
window.

"I need your car." I said
lighting my eyes on fire.

The driver jumped out of the car and
took off running down the street.  I could make out him screaming something
about a demon. 

I stopped the truck next to where the
others had gathered.  They all climbed up the ditch and into the truck.  I took
my cell phone out of my pocket and opened a GPS app.  I checked the map for the
coordinates to where Bertha was located and entered it the truck’s GPS.

”Make a u-turn whenever possible."
the GPS said.

I put the truck into drive and smashed
on the gas.  I cut through the median and followed the directions given by the
GPS.  I swerved in and out of traffic, greatly exceeding the speed limit. 
Every time the traffic would build up I would go off the road around the
cars.   

We came to a small airstrip as the
familiar plane was taxing to the end of the runway.  The side door was open.  I
drove the truck right up to where the plane was sitting and parked next to the
opened door.

"There was some kind of aircraft or
something following us.  I don't know if we lost it or not."  I told the
pilot.  He was standing outside of the door waiting on us.

"My name is Opaque." he said. 
He reached up and placed his hand on the plane's hull.  He closed his eyes and
the entire plane vanished along with everything inside it, "I've got this
covered."

I sighed in relief, finally some good news. 
We all got into the plane and took our seats. 

I strapped my harness over my chest and
pulled the straps tight with a little too much anger.  I looked at everyone. 
They were tired, hurt, and dirty.

"He is going to be alright."
Arch said sitting down next to me.  Blackout rested her head on Arch's
shoulder.

"How are you so sure, he could
barely breathe." I said worried about what we might come home to,
"Besides that, Vanish wasn't looking so good when she appeared."

"Don't worry."

"Thanks."

The engines fired up and revved to full
power.  I could feel the plane begin to move down the runway.  The nose lifted,
and my stomach shifted as we gained altitude.

I laid my head back and closed my eyes. 
Everything raced through my head, I knew I had to find my parents and help
them, but I wanted to know why Aurora was working so hard to keep them alive,
and why they had him attached to a computer.

"So is this information going to be
worth everything that we just went through to get it?" Chrono asked from
across the plane.

"The information that I got from
just talking to the computer was worth almost everything that we had to do, but
nothing is worth what happened to Silence." I said.

"And what did you get?" he
asked.

"My parents..."

"What about them?" he asked.

"They are both alive and Aurora has
them." I said. 

Opaque landed the plane gently and
taxied into the safety of the hanger.  There was a truck waiting to pick up
everyone and take us to the clinic.  Sam waited for us in the lobby.  He had a
look of white hot anger on his face.

Doctor Z was waiting for me; his
assistant took care of the others.  He took me to the exam room that I had been
to before.

"How is Silence?" I asked as
he began to check my vitals.

"Let's finish this first." he
said with a stern look on his face.  He brought out the brain scanner and
placed it on my head.  He recorded the new data.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I am taking scans.  I'm aware of
what happened while you were on the mission." he said, "Use your
abilities."

I held out my hand and created a small
ball of flame that hovered a few inches from my palm.  I watched the screen. 
The normal lines appeared on the chart and no signs of the mental block.  It
was as if it never existed. 

"Everything seems to check out. 
Some bumps and bruises, nothing more, and it looks like your abilities have
been returned to normal." he said.

"Great, I'm fine.  Now, take me to
Sam." I said loudly.

He sighed, "Alright come on."

I left the exam room and returned to the
clinic's lobby.  Sam stood looking out of the window. 

"Where is Ryder?" I asked
eager to see him.  Sam didn’t take his eyes away from the window as I spoke.

"I hoped that he was going to come
back with you.  I had hoped that Vanish was too bad off to make the return trip
and they were on that plane with you." he said putting his hands on the
back of his head.

"Well he didn't, he disappeared
with Vanish." I said.  I screamed in my head at the building frustration.

"They are not here.  They haven't
returned." He said looking at the ground.

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know what to do."

I didn't even respond.  I had no idea
what to say to him. 

I turned and left the clinic.

Our house was empty and dark.  If I
moved quickly I could pack my things and leave before anyone tried to stop me. 
I walked up to my room and grabbed a bag.  I began to stuff clothes into it
without paying any attention to what items I was taking hold of, fury clouded
my vision. 

I took the stairs down to the first
floor two at a time but I wasn’t fast enough.  Ronnie stood in my path of the
door.

"Where are you going?"

“I’m leaving.” I said shoving him out of
my path, which even with enhanced strength, was a difficult task. 

“Grace, why are you leaving?” He
demanded following me out onto the front lawn. 

“Because someone has to do something and
I’m not going to sit around and do nothing while there are so many unknowns.” I
yelled over my shoulder.

I ran to where Ryder had parked his
car.  He’d left the keys in the center console and I didn’t think he would
object to me borrowing it for now.

Sam’s truck was parked at the town’s
entrance, but I blew past it like it wasn’t even there.  I flew down the road
at eighty miles per hour before slamming on the brakes outside of the road
leading to my father's house.

I parked the car and slammed the door
with so much heat that the window shattered.  I was thinking about finally
finding people that I fit in with and that particular life is so messed up. 

The front door to the house opened
automatically as I approached it, sliding almost silently into the thick wall. 
Alrick was waiting inside as well as a woman that I hadn’t met and assumed was
Alice.

"Who is this?" I asked in an
angry tone.

"This is number four, your father
called her Alice." he said cheerfully.

"The doctor?"

"Yes ma'am." Alrick said.

"What did I tell you about
that?" I snapped at Alrick.

"Sorry...Grace."

"I'll be in the office.  No
calls."

"No calls?" He asked, "I
don't think that anyone will be calling you here." he said bewildered.

"Just don't disturb me." I
walked away from them.

"She is like her father."
Alice said quietly as they turned to walk in the other direction.

I opened the door to the office.  The
lights came on as I walked into the room.  It was clean but I could feel how
used the room was.  In fact the way the room felt, I thought that the only
reason that Alrick was able to clean it was because my father was gone.

I walked past a shelf on the wall that
held several pictures in frames of silver.  My father and mother where standing
around a plane.  I picked up the picture and read some writing in the bottom
left hand corner;
BF-1030 Joseph and Abby Madison.

I put it down, walked to the desk, and
sat down in my father's chair, and swiveled to look out of the window.  The sun
was coming up behind the mountain.  I laid my head back and closed my eyes.  It
was peaceful.  I could see the mountain and the entire lake from this one
chair. 

I went through my father's desk looking
for some kind of journal or notes of any kind, but I found nothing.  I tried to
get onto his computer, but it was very thoroughly locked.  My head was killing
me and with each passing moment the pain got worse.  I grabbed my head, laid it
down on the desk. 

It felt like I was crying.  I wiped the
tears but they were blood.  I found something and wiped my face clean, and
pushed through the pain.  I stood up and walked over to the window. 

I fell to my knees. 

Darkness swallowed the room. 

I didn’t feel myself collapsing to the
floor.

~//~

I felt myself being lifted off the
ground.  I didn’t stay conscious long enough to know where I was taken. 

~//~

There was a knock on the door. 

“Yeah!” I yelled trying to keep both of
my feet under the covers.

"I'm sorry to bother you."
Alrick said walking into the room.

"It's alright, Alrick.” I said
pushing myself up onto my hands.

"I have just a few things this
morning.  Your friend Ronnie stopped by this morning and requested to see you
but I sent him away.  I told him to come back once you have had a chance to get
some real rest." he said. 

My heart skipped a beat at the
possibility that there may be news about Ryder.  “Any news?" I asked.  I
started to get out of the bed, but the pain was unbelievable.

"He told me to let you know that
there was no more information on Silence, or Vanish's whereabouts, and Alice
would like you to come up and see her today."

"Is there anything else?" I
asked rubbing my eyes.

"No, let me know if you need
anything." He said looking around the room. 

"I will.  Thank you for
everything." I said wearily.  I felt like I could use more sleep just
getting out of bed.

"You do not need to thank me.  You
and your family are my family." he said.

Alrick turned and walked out of the room
with a concerned look on his face.

~//~

“How do you feel?” Alice asked passing a
scanner over my body focusing on the areas with the worst injuries. 

"The pain is not as bad." I
said, “But still pretty unbearable.”

That’s good to hear.  I will be
monitoring your brain scans.  There are a few things that are out of the
ordinary that I have never seen before.  Nothing to be worried about I’m sure,
but I want to be ready for anything." she explained.

"Alright, so can I get out of
here?  No offence, but I don’t like doctor’s offices or any place that is
similar.” I said getting down gently from the table. 

"Yeah, just take it easy for a
while.” She said switching off the scanner and putting it in her pocket.

I stood in my father’s office with my
arms crossed, chewing on my thumbnail.  I had my phone on its loudest setting
lying on the desk beside me.  I couldn’t take my eyes from the screen no matter
how hard I tried.