Hunting Heroes: A Superhero Novel (15 page)

“Shut up, Greg. This is between me and him,” Granite squeezed the handle of the pistol tighter.

Everyone who watched from the windows never saw Crimson’s hand thrust forward. The throwing knife moved too fast for them to see it. They only heard the end effect. The pop of the gun intermingled with a shriek and a roar.

Garrett reacted when he heard the bang next to his ear. His right hand burst into its eerie red light when he spun on his knees to face his executioner. It happened so fast Garrett didn’t register what he had done, until the blood splattered across his face. Time seemed to slow when he watched Granite’s body crumble to the ground. He would never forget the look of horror plastered across the dead man’s face.

“No!” Falling Star said and exploded into a searing inferno. He burst upward into the clouds and cast them in hues of red and orange.

Crimson slid to a stop and sank to his knees next to the body of Granite. “Oh my God!”

“What have I done,” Garrett repeated when he felt the warm blood run down his face. He tried to wipe it away. It only left streaks across his cheeks. His eyes never left the body of the dead superhero.

“I killed him,” Garrett said.

“Yes, you did,” Crimson said from his knees, he closed the dead heroes eyes. He turned his attention to sky and saw the red spot in the clouds up above.

“I killed him,” Garrett repeated the words over and over again.

“Star, don’t do anything stupid!” Crimson said loud enough for Garrett to break from his trance. “Star, do you read me?”

“I’m done, you guys can have me,” Garrett lowered his head. “Stop him before anyone else gets killed tonight.”

An enormous ball of fire erupted from the clouds and raced towards the earth.

Both Garrett and Crimson looked upward when they saw the street light up with a reddish light.

“Tell him to stop!” Garrett said. “He’s going to wipe out the block.”

Crimson hunched over and covered his right ear. “Star, you have to turn away. You cannot hurt him, all you’re going to do is get all of us killed.”

Garrett hoisted himself off his knees. He took a wide stance and aimed both of his hands at the fireball as it descended towards them.

“Tell him to stop or I’m going to fire and give him everything I have left,” Garrett said. He narrowed his eyes at Falling Star. “Tell him he’s going to die.”

“If you don’t stop he is going to kill you,” Crimson said.

Garrett waited a second and glanced over his shoulder. Crimson shook his head. Garrett lowered his brow and flared his nostrils.

“I’m sorry,” Garrett whispered under his breath.

Garrett inhaled and roared when he let the foreign afflicted power out through his open hands in rapid succession. The entire block was aglow in crimson red when the beams screamed through the air. The blast of energy took a couple seconds to reach Falling Star. Crimson gasped when the beams deflected off the human meteor.

Garrett dropped to his knees, his breath ragged. “It’s going to take even more.” He opened his fist and stared at his hands. “It’s going to take everything.”

Crimson screamed into his earpiece for Falling Star to stop.

Garrett fell forward into the snow, his arms straining to keep him upright. “I’m not going to let him kill all of us, because of what I did. Tell him you killed me and to stop.”

“What?” Crimson said.

“You know what you have to do,” Garrett said.

Crimson eyes blinked in rapid succession and he looked away. “Damn it, not like this.”

“It’s ok,” Garrett heaved himself upright when he heard the sound of metal scrape against metal. He saw Crimson’s breath come in rapid puffs of white and roll across the polished sword blade.

“Star, he’s dead, now stop.” Crimson said and aimed the sword at Garrett’s chest.

“Do it or he’ll kill us,” he mouthed the words while he nodded his head. He saw Crimson’s forearm muscles bulge from the steel grip on the sword handle. “Make it quick.”

Garrett raised his arms outward from his body and tilted his head to the sky. The snowflakes landed on his bloodied face. Garrett caught one on his tongue. He remembered a time when Emma, Ethan and he would spin around in the snow arms out, mouths open, to catch snowflakes.

This is the way it has to end he told himself, at least he would save his friends. Garrett closed his eyes. He heard the roar of the human fireball when it drew near. He sensed a bright white light surround him, followed by a sound that reminded him of a raging river.

“I failed you, I’m sorry Emma,” Garrett said. He felt the ice cold steel penetrate his chest. Then the explosion blasted his body backwards through the street.

“Too late,” he whispered and closed his eyes before the darkness consumed him mid flight.

Chapter Seventeen

He cracked open his eyes, emerging from his comatose sleep. The soft voice of an angel carried into his room, distracting him from the strange machines around him. At first, he thought the voice was in his head. Until he saw someone stir on the other side of the small window in the door. He told his muscles to move and found his body too weak to respond. He closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him once again.

Flashes of light blue masked figures with sharp voices polluted the calm darkness and called him back. Voices, angry and soft collided with faces he tried to recall through the narrow slits of his eyes. His memory seemed to be stuck in a fog. Then it came back to him with tears.

“Dead,” Garrett’s eyes shot open with a sharp intake of breath.  He lifted his heavy head from the pillow. “I’m dead.”

The light in his room shone with the brightness of the sun. He attempted to rub the sleep from his eyes and felt something bite into the skin around his wrists. Thick straps cut into his wrists when he moved his arms. His afflicted senses added to the pain. The power he consumed from Torrent was completely gone.

“What the hell is going on?” he forced the words from his dry throat and expected sand to flow from his mouth. He leaned back onto the lumpy hospital bed and winced from the pain which throbbed throughout his entire body. He analyzed his body and noticed the bandages wrapping his torso and arms.

“I’m alive?” Garrett laid his head back against the uncomfortable pillow. “How?” 

Thoughts burst into his brain from the night he had killed Granite. He remembered and then the tears began to flow for the life he had extinguished. He had used the power he had taken from another and did the unforgivable. He crossed the line.

“The parasite finally stirs from his slumber,” a graying well built man in a dark gray suit said when he entered the room.

Garrett’s tear soaked eyes grew wide when he saw the man close the door behind him. “Patriot,” the words escaped Garrett’s cracked lips. He watched Patriot grab a chair from the corner of the room and slide it over to the bed.

“You,” Garrett struggled against the restraints and let his arms fall back to the bed. The machine connected to him began to beep louder when his heart began to race.

“You should calm down. Yes, I am Patriot and you are Garrett,” Patriot said. “I’m glad the introductions are out of the way now. You’re the one who has been feeding on my people.”

Garrett narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw.

Patriot leaned in. “I remember those dark blue eyes.”

“Parasite? Is that what you call me?” Garrett said.

“Yes and we treated your injuries, regardless of what you have done to us,” Patriot said. “I am surprised Crimson’s attack wasn’t fatal. You should be thankful Valkyrie came back with Aperture and saved you. Aperture created a portal and teleported him over the lake.”

“That moron could’ve wiped out blocks of innocent people,” Garrett focused on the wall ahead.

Patriot slid back into the chair. “He will be dealt with for his actions. Crimson had the right idea. Sadly, it would have meant your death. We do not trade one life for another.”

Garrett coughed. “I know fourteen families who would like to have a conversation with you. Do whatever it is you’re going to do to me. I don’t want to sit here and listen to any speeches from you.”

Patriot folded his hands in his lap. “I know those families. I pay my respects every year to those killed by my actions. It haunts me, like the death of Emma haunts the both of us. We all have our sins, even superheroes.”

“Don’t you dare say her name!” Garrett spun his head around to face Patriot and stared him down with bloodshot eyes. The two men locked eyes in a show of force.

“I am sorry for what happened to you,” Patriot lips curved downward. “I truly am. We both have scars from that day.”

“I have more than you,” Garrett raised his hands off the bed. “See these? I don’t see a single one on you.”

Patriot closed his eyes and shook his head. “You saved my life and stopped one of the most dangerous Afflicted we have ever encountered. There is good in you.”

Garrett rolled his head away from Patriot. “I was a kid back then, I didn’t know any better. Now I understand how the world works.”

“Do you truly understand?” Patriot said. “Is that why you saved two members of the Assembly? Were you trying to prove to yourself you’re not a bad guy? Guilt always has a way of creeping into our decision-making or is it because Valkyrie is a beautiful woman.”

“I picked the lesser of two evils,” Garrett said. “Maybe, I chose wrong?”

Patriot shifted forward in his chair. “For eight days, she came to visit you, to thank you in person. Of course, she did against my wishes.”

Eight days, the words echoed in Garrett’s mind. It felt like an eternity had passed and he had awoken in hell. A personal hell stuck in a room with the man who he hated more than anything, even himself.

“Is Cannon ok?” Garrett rolled back over to face his demon.

Patriot nodded and tapped his fingertips together.

“My friends?” Garrett asked.

“Ethan and Denise are fine,” Patriot said. “He’s denied everything of course, like you’ve most likely discussed.”

Garrett did his best to make sure Patriot saw the smirk on his face.

“He shouldn’t suffer for your actions,” Patriot said. “He is a normal human after all. This is your doing, even if he did assist you. You are the one who attacked us, not him. They are both free to go and do as they wish as long as they do not involve the media.”

Garrett breathed a sigh of relief. “But your people attacked him.”

Patriot covered his eyes. “It was an accident. Ethan made an attempt to attack Crimson and Crimson stabbed him out of instinct.”

“It’s always an accident with you,” Garrett lifted his body off the bed to get closer to Patriot. “Own up to it already. Quit trying to blame everyone else for your actions.”

Patriot ran a hand through his graying hair and did not respond.

“That’s what I thought,” Garrett said and lowered his body back to the bed.

“We’ve decided to keep the authorities out of this,” Patriot said. “Which was not easy after the collateral damage you caused. No need to complicate the situation any further than it needs to be. This is a matter between Afflicted. One of your neighbors did record the fight and uploaded it to YouTube. We did not get it down in time before people viewed it. I remember when I started and everyone didn’t have a video camera on them. It’s harder now with the extra attention.”

“Yeah, people can record you killing,” Garrett said in a cold voice.  “This time you won’t get away with it.”

“I stood trial for my actions and I was found not guilty,” Patriot said. “I have made sure incidents like that do not happen again. I can’t have Granite stain our reputation by trying to kill you in cold blood. It is not how the Assembly functions. We are not executioners.”

The gravity of the situation crept up on Garrett, like a hero with a gun to his head. He was in the stronghold of the enemy and there was nothing he could do about it. He had failed in his quest for revenge. He had tainted the memory of Emma with the blood on his hands.

“Now what?” Garrett said.

“That is the question. What do we do with you?” Patriot said. “I don’t believe you will be coming over to help us. Even though you do have support from a couple of our members. With great hesitation, I agree with them. We could use an Afflicted like you. Your gifts are an asset and a threat to the Assembly at the same time. If one of our enemies or if the AIA got their hands on you.”

“It would be bad for you,” Garrett cut in.

“It wouldn’t be good for any Afflicted,” Patriot shook his head. “I think you need to disappear. I think it would be best for everyone.”

Garrett let out one long chuckle and turned to face Patriot again. “You better kill me, because I will hunt you down for what you did. We are not even yet. You will answer for Emma’s death.”

“I answer for it every day,” Patriot said. “I wish you would use your powers for good. A few have seen the good in you. Sage saw it, Valkyrie saw it and so did I when you were a boy.”

“I thought you were Coldfire when I attacked him,” Garrett said. “Too bad he wasn’t.”

Patriot sighed. “You’re a hurt little boy who lost his first love. Some move past it, some do not, like you. No one has a gift like you do though. It’s what makes you too dangerous.”

“I’m here to stop you,” Garrett pointed at Patriot with his chin. “And I will.”

Patriot took a deep breath. “You leave me no choice.” Patriot rose from his chair, reached into his suit pocket and produced a syringe.

“Coward,” Garrett did not struggle when Patriot stepped forward and hovered over his body. Garrett locked eyes with Patriot and noted the sadness in reflected back at him. He did not flinch when the needle jabbed into his left forearm above his bandages.

“This is for the best,” Patriot said in a hushed tone.

Garrett’s body began to grow hotter with every breath, his pulse raced and he broke out in a cold sweat. “I’m sorry mom and dad. I’m sorry Ethan and Denise,” Garrett’s mouth moved but no sound escaped. His vision blurred and his body felt heavier than it should be.

Patriot leaned in closer to Garrett’s ear. “Goodbye, Garrett. The lives you have ruined have been for nothing. She is alive,” he whispered.

Garrett attempted to struggle against his restraints. His body betrayed him when it did not respond. Patriot’s last words echoed in his mind until the darkness took him away once again.