Without a word, Creed tossed the MP3 back to a very sick Evan. It hit him in the chest before falling into his lap. With his good hand, Evan touched the cold metal.
“I found that on the trail,” Creed growled to the silent car.
“If you knew they were going to come for her, why did you let her go?” Creed’s blue eyes kept darting into the rearview mirror trying to read Evan’s facial expression. “Answer me!” he screamed.
Evan had let his burned head lean back against the seat. His eyes were staring straight up at the night sky through the sunroof. He just slowly rolled his head back and forth and stayed silent for days afterward. Against all the accusations and anger, Evan had nothing to say. He did not defend himself nor did he apologize. He didn’t make a move to help when the family was deciding who would go looking for her. As far as Creed was concerned, Evan betrayed his sister to save his own burned skin. And as much as Creed had grown to love the Winter Clan, he loathed Evan. Only his respect for Dr. Winter and Alik stopped Creed from beating Evan to death with his bare hands.
Creed coughed the emotion choking him between constricted breaths and kept running, as though the answer to his anger and heartache were at some far-off finish-line constructed by darkening hope.
After all these months, he was struggling to stay in the present. He would dream of his dark-eyed angel every night. In his dreams, they walked side by side as though neither had a care in the world as long as they had one another.
Why would you let me find her God, only to take her away from me? Why?
Creed pumped his burning legs harder. He’d refused himself the relief of cutting off the pain. Physical pain he could control. Pain was the only thing in his life he had control over now.
He was approaching the modest motel where Alik, Farrow and he had rented adjoining rooms during their hunt for Meg. Just as he was passing their door, it opened and Alik came sprinting out.
“Hey brother, wanna toss the pig skin around for a while before we gear up?” Alik had to race to catch up with the anguished soldier.
Alik knew Creed was hurting. Unless his eyeballs had developed the ability to sweat, Creed had definitely been crying.
Without waiting for an answer, he threw the ball to the metahuman. Effortlessly, Creed reached and caught the football in one huge hand. He slowed to a jog then stopped entirely. He was breathing hard, but he didn’t look as torn-up as he should after the wicked-fast pace he’d kept for the past hour.
Alik had been watching his half-brother through the tacky green curtains their room sported. He was heartbroken about his sister, but he was starting to really worry about the distraught soldier who didn’t seem to function without her.
Creed wasn’t sleeping and he wasn’t eating. The last time Alik saw Creed smile was when he was with Meg more than four months ago. His whole personality was different when he was with her. Then he was quiet but at peace, often deep in thought and devoted to taking care of her. But things changed after Kentucky. Meg was withdrawn, distant. Then she vanished.
That night pierced Alik deeply because the family looked to him to make the decision—the possibly fatal decision to leave and save everyone except his sister or stay to look for Meg at the risk of them all being captured by Arkdone’s soldiers. He’d followed Evan’s advice and here they were, three and a half months later, still looking for her. The guilt Alik felt over his decision haunted him day and night. And as the weeks passed, he became more and more resentful toward a silent Evan.
Alik shook his head in frustration at the thought of Evan. His younger brother had chosen not to come help look for their missing sister. He came out of his “evolution” unchanged and withdrawn. The chosen brother, who had been given “the most advanced version of the serum,” came out of his metamorphosis with no wings to speak of. Instead, his logical, devoted little brother was now withdrawn and sullen. Dark circles framed still sharp bronze eyes. He looked haunted, anguished but refused to discuss the night he told his family Meg was a lost cause. He stayed with their mom and Theo instead. Alik hadn’t spoken to him in months and the bitterness Alik felt toward him was raw and real.
Now Creed was sullen and withdrawn. He rarely spoke and when he did, it was in short phrases. Dark circles hung heavy under his blue, bloodshot eyes and though his muscular and skeletal structure was still phenomenal, he was starting to look wirier than any of them had ever seen the soldier, even before he was double-dosed with the original serum back in Hawaii.
Without a word, the boys fell into a silent game of catch. The sun was setting in pools of red, orange and purple, but Creed didn’t seem to notice.
His world was a dull gray without Meg.
Alik sighed deeply, remembering his sister’s wide smile. He could see her perfectly in his mind’s eye, the way she would park her fists on her hips, lock her jaw and fuss at him over something he did intentionally just to rile her up.