“We don’t have a choice. She’s already gone.” Evan’s voice was calm but the ominous meaning behind his words exploded off the walls like shrapnel, causing everyone to gasp. He tossed his legs over the edge of the bed wearing nothing but a thin pair of navy boxer briefs. He shook hard enough to make the hardest of hearts feel for him as he struggled to pull on a pair of wrinkled jeans with one hand.
“You must believe me, Creed. I swear there’s no other way.” He reached back onto the bed for the T-shirt he was wearing earlier, but it was covered in blood and burn holes. “Theo, help me find a shirt?” he asked the doctor.
Theo hurried back into the other room and returned with a fresh shirt they’d bought at the superstore. “I have fresh jeans for you too,” Theo started taking the tags off them.
“No time. We have less than five minutes. Please believe me.”
Everyone watched his shaking hands reach into the T-shirt and lift the edge over his head. He looked weaker than a newborn kitten.
He shoved his feet into the shoes at the foot of his bed and hobbled out of the room. The others stood aside, jaws still agape and let him pass.
“Danny,” they heard him say to the toddler.
“Danny, we have to go. Get your things and bring Maze. We have to get in the car, buddy. Come on.”
Alik looked at Creed. They were mirror images of dread and uncertainty.
“What do we do?”
“We could wait until they break down the door, but then it’ll be too late.” Evan’s raspy voice called from the door to the motel room he was exiting.
“Give me the keys if you’re not coming. I have to get Danny to safety.”
“Shit!” Alik threw his hands in the air in frustration. “Everyone get in the van now!” Alik grabbed Theo’s cell phone and shoved it in his pocket before pushing past Greg and Theo. Farrow and Sloan had been listening to everything, but stayed quiet until then.
“We’re leaving without Meg? Why? We have time to go find her if we run and split up.” Farrow had already yanked her bag across her chest, mail carrier-style and looked ready to bolt.
“Yeah, if we’re leaving, then we’re all leaving,” Sloan grabbed her doctor’s flashlight from her bag, ready to search for Meg.
“NO!” Evan yelled to the group. Danny flinched at his feet. Maze started growling again.
“Meg is GONE! She’s GONE! And we’re about to be captured, experimented on and eventually killed. We leave NOW!”
The room was silent except for the ragged breathing of both the metahumans and humans alike.
Without another word, Sloan went to stand beside Evan. Alik yanked the satchel they’d used to stash all their hastily purchased supplies and yanked the keys from his front pocket. Theo sighed deeply and walked out behind Alik. Greg hurried after him. “Theo, what are you doing? We can’t leave the girl!”
“Greg, maybe now is a good time for us to part ways. If there’s one thing I’ve learned while living and working beside these kids, it’s that the safest place to be is right behind them. It’s when we’re separated from them that life turns deadly.”
“But the girl?” He shook his head, frustrated and feeling completely out of control.
“If Evan says she’s gone and we have to leave without her, that’s what we’re doing.” The others were already climbing into the van. Theo stood outside the passenger side door talking, rubbing the stubble on his face and deep in thought. “Greg, we are going to have to go underground.”
Greg stared at his friend for a moment and finally nodded. “I’m not going with you, but I will give you this,” he handed his childhood friend a creased envelope from his back pocket. “It’s what I’ve been working on since the whole mess in Flagstaff. These contacts are trustworthy. Just tell them you’re with me.”
“Thank you Greg,” they exchanged a fast guy-hug, “for everything.”
“Take care of yourself and your family, Theo.”
Part 2
Thirteen weeks, four days later
Chapter 34 New Skin
Dr. Kenneth Williams stared at himself in the mirror. The pink fingers of his right hand reached reverently to touch the new skin on his face. The sensation of touch was enough to give him euphoric goose-bumps. He smiled widely, displaying his new dentures that looked as real as money could buy and admired the way they looked against his beautiful new skin.
The sound of water trickling over the sultry curve of his newest sculpture acted as a soothing white-noise tonic to the restored doctor. Mesmerized by his perfect skin stretched across his boney knuckles, he opened the lid to the newest lotion container, reached inside with his skilled fingers and collected a generous portion of the bluish cream.