Meg studied her younger brother and in that instant she fed him a flurry of empathetic strength. “We’ll survive this Alik. Stay focused. Breathe.”
Her brother took a slow deep breath. His shoulders eased and his blue eyes glinted with the effect of his sister’s strength. The long dark locks of hair draped across his masculine forehead clung to droplets of sweat.
“Stay with me, Ali,” Meg coaxed.
“Always, Meggie.” Alik nodded reassuringly.
Chapter 5 I Can Feel Her
Creed opened the door slowly but just wide enough to press his eye against the slit and peer down the hallway. His dark-blue eyes looked black as he watched and listened for danger. His hearing, acute beyond any other metahumans’, picked up the buzzing of the emergency lights. But it didn’t drown out the sound of rushed footsteps coming from down the hallway.
He waited—listening.
“Footsteps approaching from the nurse’s station,” he spoke barely above a whisper to Farrow and Evan who stood, holding their breath behind him.
He closed his darkened eyes, to allow his ears to become the focus of his senses.
“The front door is opening, and there are more footsteps. These are metasoldiers. Get ready to fight.”
Evan reached into the pack still draped across his shoulders like a mail carrier and pulled out a Micro Uzi.
Farrow watched him quietly. She nodded her approval at his automatic.
“You know how to shoot that thing, doc?” she whispered.
He glared at her. “I’m almost a better shot than I am a surgeon.” He stood his full height at six feet and squared his wiry shoulders.
Farrow nodded approvingly, having only lived because of the 13-year-old’s skill with a scalpel, and turned her attention back to Creed.
“Metas—four or five. Ready?” He asked rhetorically.
All three held their weapons up, ready for battle. Creed pushed the door just wide enough for his massive physique to slip through. Creed didn’t hesitate. His gun burst to life in his deft hands. Farrow and Evan were right at his heels.
Pop, pop, pop, pop!
Four bodies spun, as though executing macabre pirouettes in midair before crashing, dead to the ground.
Evan and Farrow exchanged glances. Neither of them had time to fire one shot. Creed was masterful with his weapon.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Creed hissed orders, “Meg’s in the stairwell. She’s coming to us.”
“How do you know?” Evan asked. His jaw was still slightly slack at his newly established awe over Creed’s perfect soldier status.
Creed glanced back at Evan, and locked eyes. “I can feel her.”
“What about Alik?” Farrow asked, her heart pounding in her throat.
The three were pressed against the wall opposite the stairwell doors.
“We’re about to find out,” Creed whispered.
The door in front of them opened on quiet hinges.
Chapter 6 Gunmetal Gray
The stairwell door opened slowly and out stepped a small-framed girl wearing a white lab coat.
Evan and Farrow glanced at Creed, knowing he would make the decision as to whether she was a threat.
“Dr. Mor?” Creed’s face looked equally shocked and relieved.
“Mr. Young?” The girl in the white lab coat whispered back.
He motioned her to cross the hallway, which she did without hesitation. Farrow and Evan exchanged confused looks.
“What’s going on? The lights went out and then I heard gunfire!” The girl’s gunmetal gray eyes never left Creed’s face, ignoring the other two fully armed soldiers behind him.
“Do you remember our conversation in the lab the other day?” Creed’s words came out rushed as he was unsure how much more time they had before other soldiers arrived.
“Of course.” She answered in the same hushed voice, searching his eyes for answers.
“Well, I filled in the blanks.”
“Blanks?”
“I don’t have time to explain, Sloan. I’m offering you a way out. Will you come with us?” he asked earnestly, depending on her sense of right and wrong to control her decision.
“If I don’t, will you kill me?” she asked, stoically.
“Of course not.” Creed glanced back at Evan and Farrow, making sure they weren’t pointing their guns at the small doctor.
“You’re as free as you choose to be,” Creed offered. He stepped back from the girl.
“Are you here to right the wrongs?” she asked and watched Creed’s facial expression to conclude his answer, even before he spoke.
“I am,” Creed answered solemnly.
“Then I’m with you,” she countered. With the trained eye of a scientist, she scanned both Farrow and Evan before nodding respectfully to both. This all happened inside of five momentous seconds before she moved herself into the middle of the soldiers without further question.
Evan found himself staring at the girl whose eyes locked decisively on his, as though she could read his innermost thoughts. Evan felt like a microbe in the sites of a scope. It both fascinated and startled him.