Dark Creations: The Hunted (Part 4) (2 page)

She watched, confused, as his expression transformed along with his tone and degenerated from warm and friendly to eerily blank.  He did not smile.  His lips were a hard line.  The muscles in his face went slack.  And his eyes seemed deadened, as though every bit of luminosity had been sapped from them.  His demeanor, along with his features, had morphed inexplicably and he appeared to be a different man. 

“Step out of the car,” the Officer ordered unexpectedly and furrowed his brow.  His anger was sudden and obvious, but his reason for it was not.  

“What?  Why?” she stammered reflexively and immediately regretted doing so.  He became visibly agitated by her inquiry.  His eyebrows gathered closer together and he narrowed his colorless eyes at her, leveling them with disdain that was palpable.  A voice deep inside her, primal and instinctive, cautioned that she was in danger.  Logic countered that she could not possibly be in danger, however, in the presence of a man sworn to protect and serve his community, that his questioning was somehow relevant to the ongoing search for a vehicle similar to hers, or that some part of their conversation had been confused.  Surely, he would not treat a simple traffic stop case with such hostility.

Suddenly, the appearance she found so handsome earlier grew darker, scarier, threatening.  He screwed up his features angrily and spoke through clenched teeth at her.  He leaned in closely, his hot breath in her face.  His expression was terrifying.

“Get out of the car
now
, or I’ll drag you out,” he said in a calm voice and stared at her intensely.

She froze, unsure that she’d heard what she thought she’d heard, and shocked by the dramatic change of events.

‘Get out of the car
now
you filthy cow!” he yelled.

She jumped and panic settled over her.  Shannon did not know what she should do, did not know the ramifications of any decision she could possibly make.  Every part of her was in agreement with her instinct, the voice that shrieked and commanded her to turn the key in the ignition and leave, but her limbs refused to cooperate.  They remained
unmoving, powerless to comply.  Only when she saw movement from the Officer did her arms and legs come to life, but they did not heed the instinctive internal warning.  With a trembling hand, she reached out and grabbed the driver’s side door handle and pulled.  A latch inside the door released and her door opened.  The Officer gripped her arm tightly and turned her away from him then shoved her, hard.  Her face met with a side window of the minivan, the same window her four-year-old daughter had stuck countless princess stickers to.  Shannon howled out in pain.  Pain radiated from her forehead and warm fluid began to stream from her brow.  She could not comprehend why she was being treated as a criminal; it all seemed unreal, a nightmarish misunderstanding.  She began to cry loudly.

“Shhh!” the Officer hushed.  “Not another sound!”

Then he twisted her arms behind her and cuffed them together with his steel restraints.

“This is some kind of mistake,” she pleaded. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“You don’t think letting yourself become a fat, disgusting pig is wrong?” he hissed, disgust lacing each word.

Emotion constricted her throat.  She found it difficult to breathe, to speak.

“I’m-I’m
pregnant
,” she murmured in a voice that was a hoarse whisper.

He did not respond to her assertion other than guiding her forcefully into the back seat of his patrol car. 

Tears streamed down her face and she began to sob quietly as he climbed behind the wheel and drove off.  Through her tear-filled eyes, she saw her minivan grow smaller and smaller in the distance and wondered what would become of the ice-cream cake that had undoubtedly melted in the blazing July heat.  She wondered whether her daughter would ever forgive her for ruining her birthday. 

As if reading her thoughts, the Officer looked up in his rearview mirror and smirked at her, a maleficent, menacing grin.  His expression caused the hairs on the back of her neck to rise and goose bumps dimpled her skin despite the intense heat and humidity.  She shivered and came to the sudden realization that melting cake and ruined parties no longer mattered, that surviving whatever lay ahead was her first priority.  She needed to live through whatever horrors she was intuitively certain awaited her.  Her daughter needed her.  Her husband needed her. And most of all her unborn son’s existence was dependent upon her.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the Officer jerked the steering wheel sharply to the left and the car veered and swerved.  Her body was tossed from one end of the back seat to the other as he pulled off the road unexpectedly.  He broke abruptly, slammed the gear shift into park and turned to glare at her once again, as if he possessed some kind of clairvoyance.  He stared with utter disgust, as if he was forcing down vomit that rose in the back of his throat at the sight of her.  When he spoke, his mouth frowned with revulsion.

“Even though you don’t deserve it, you have been chosen to help with the evolution of mankind.  Forget about home, your family.  You will never see them again,” he spat then turned away from her.  He started the car again and pulled back onto the road.

Shannon Leary knew in that moment that her life was no longer her own, that it had been taken from her. 

Her abdomen tightened.  The wind was knocked from her lungs.  She hunched over and clutched her swollen belly and prayed silently that she and her unborn child be spared.   But in the dark recesses of her heart, she knew her prayer would go unanswered.

Sunlight danced across Lake Foster, reflecting its brilliance off the water.  The motion of its surface kept the returned radiance in perpetual motion, like a current of innumerable diamonds shimmering with the intensity of firelight.  The weather was hot, but not as humid as it had been earlier in the week.  The sky had been scrubbed to a crisp cobalt hue thanks to overnight thunderstorms that had purged the area of haze and mugginess.  To many, it would be considered a picture-perfect summer day, but not to Melissa Martin.

Perched high in her painted wooden chair, Melissa was uncomfortably warm despite the lowered humidity level, and yearned to be either in the lake with the rest of the swimmers or in an air-conditioned room.  Summer had always been her least favorite season.  Apart from being freed from schoolwork, she never quite understood the allure, particularly the outdoor activity that nearly all of her friends enjoyed: sunbathing.  She found the concept of basting oneself in suntan oil and deliberately exposing one’s largest organ to the damaging rays of the sun revolting.  Yet day after day, she watched as throngs of people swarmed to the man-made beach area around the lake and baked there until she or one of her colleagues informed them that it was closing time.  They would happily comment on the “color” they had gotten that day before packing up their chairs and heading out.  She hoped that these same sunbathers had the good sense to protect the children that often accompanied them with a high SPF sunblock.

While she pondered the benefits of sun protection, three sets of three electronic beeps from her wristwatch, as if on cue, alerted her that it was time to reapply her own sunscreen.  She adjusted her pink baseball cap then, without taking her eyes off the people in her section, reached into her backpack and felt around for her sunscreen.  She found it exactly where she’d put it three hours earlier.  She pulled out the long white tube and applied a generous coating over all of her exposed skin.  Lifeguarding at Lake Foster, a manufactured lake and beach area in Hartwell Cross, paid well for a summer job but was definitely
not
her preferred way to spend her days.  She was not a fan of the hottest months of the year and was the farthest thing from a sun worshipper a person could possibly be.  In fact, she was happily the palest among her fellow coworkers and boasted no tan lines whatsoever.  But being a lifeguard at a public lake had one benefit that trumped a healthy paycheck and made hours spent cooking in a wooden chair worthwhile.

She looked out and smiled at the singular benefit she had in mind.  He was beautiful.  The sun glinted on his naturally golden skin highlighting each of his well-defined muscles.  She had blushed the first time he had removed his shirt in front of her.  While it was a completely normal thing for him to have done at a beach, her cheeks had burned a vibrant red, a response very much unrelated to the air temperature.  She had never seen him in any state of undress and was pleasantly surprised by the structure of his bare chest.  She had felt the strength of his arms and chest through his clothing, had witnessed his power when he fought off Kevin Anderson as he’d tried to attack her.  She had had an idea of what he would look like shirtless, had daydreamed about it on more occasions than she cared to admit, but was unprepared, nevertheless, when he had stripped, down to his swim trunks, in front of her for the first time.  And though he came to the lake most of the days she worked, she felt taken aback each time he undressed. 

Gabriel, as if he’d heard her speak her thoughts aloud, turned and looked up at her over his broad shoulder.  She felt her face flush.  In his twisted position, his abdominal muscles tensed and bulged and revealed his impressive midsection.  His eyes were a brilliant shade of blue and matched the color of the sky.  He smiled back at her from underneath his umbrella.  He was breathtaking. 

Since his return to Harbingers Falls, after an absence of five long months, he rarely left her side.  Three months had passed since he had come back.  She had graduated from high school and was working to save money for her college expenses.  Her father had offered to pay for her tuition, had insisted on making her first-semester payment.  She had allowed him to do so, unhappily, but fully intended to reimburse him.  She would be attending Herald County Community College in the fall with the intention of minimizing the cost of her education inasmuch as she possibly could and planned to transfer to a state school after her two years spent there. 

Of course, minimizing costs was not her only reason for staying close to home.  Several other factors played into her decision to remain nearby.  Among them, and likely the most important of all, was that the thought of relocating to a new town or state, far from the two men she loved more than anything in the world, seemed painful.  Her father was rooted to the area; his job, his home, his friends, his
life
– everything was in the immediate area.  Gabriel was bound to Harbingers Falls as well.  He and Yoshi devoted most of their time to scouring world news, local news and newspaper archives for any sign of activity from Dr. Franklin Terzini.  Their search was atypical in that there was nothing in particular that they were searching for, just out-of-the-ordinary happenings that would suggest his involvement.  Their hunt was tedious, never ending and essential to ensuring their survival as well as Alexandra’s and hers.

While Gabriel relaxed at the beach and spent break time with her, Yoshi remained at their house checking obscure websites that provided unusual news on the Internet.  Gabriel assumed the next shift as well as the days she did not work.  Terzini knew where she was, where Gabriel was, where
all
of them were.  If he acted in Harbingers Falls, they would know of it.  The likelihood of Terzini repeating his earlier actions, of releasing another of his creations in their town, was unlikely.  But his silence meant something big lurked on the horizon, that he would likely attempt something that would change the face of humanity more swiftly, more dramatically than his original plan.  She was certain of it.  Thinking of Terzini’s previous creations sent a quiver down her spine.  Considering newer, deadlier creations that could manifest themselves in the future chilled her so thoroughly she crossed her arms about her chest and shivered visibly.

Seeing her odd behavior, her hugging her body in ninety degree heat, Gabriel sprung to his bare feet and traversed what promised to be blazing hot sand.   He was at her side in seconds.

“Are you alright?” he asked with concern.

She looked down from her elevated position, allowed herself a fleeting glance at his perfect physique and felt warmth return to her face, to her body.  She looked away quickly, duty-bound and embarrassed by her reaction.

“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was watching you.  I thought you might be looking back at me, but it’s hard to tell because of your sunglasses.  Then I saw you kind of hug yourself and shiver.  I worried about heatstroke or something.”

“I’m fine, Gabriel.  I promise.”

“Really?  You didn’t seem fine.  Do you need a bottle of water or anything?”

“Nope.  I’ve got one here,” she gestured beside her.  “And another one that’s frozen in my cooler.”

“I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

Since he had come back to Harbingers Falls without intentions of leaving her again, he had worried for her continually.  She guessed he felt guilty for all that he’d brought with him, the seemingly insurmountable obstacles they’d been forced to overcome.  Though she wasn’t bothered by the attention he paid her, she was bothered by the guilt that she suspected he felt.  She did not want him to feel bad,
ever
.  Besides, they had enough to contend with without him being saddled with guilt over circumstances beyond his control.

“I’m fine, I swear.  I have a break in about ten minutes.  Will you be here?”