Invincible (27 page)

I open my eyes to find myself lying my bed, looking at the ceiling as I adjust to the morning light shining through the window. This must be what heaven looks like. To be honest, I expected more than this. Or maybe this was hell. That must be it. It has to be. Why else would I be confined to a bed,
alone, with no Taylor in sight?

The pain returns to my body with a vengeance, and with that, another pain, and then
another pain, and then another.

With that, I knew I was still alive.

A hand places itself on the side of my face, tracing my brow with its thumb, and when I see who it belongs to, the pain in my body is briefly subsided by a warm, tingly sensation.

“Taylor?” I groan, trying to relax as the pain rushes back to me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she replies in a soothing voice. “I’m fine, Troy. I’m okay.”

“Hmmm,” I moan, slowly nodding my head.

I try to prop myself up, but my arms were aching with agonizing pain. So Taylor helps me by carefully placing her hand behind my back and pushing me upright.

I look down to find myself shirtless with multiple bruises and scars all over my torso, with my lower midsection wrapped up in a white sheet, a small stain of blood on its left side, reminding me of where I had been stabbed.

“You did this?” I ask.

“No,” she says, turning her eyes away from me, looking ahead of us. “
We
did.”

I follow her direction and find Alex sitting at the end of the bed, smiling at me with delight.

“Hey,” I say, my voice full of relief.

“Hey,” she says back.

The reaction of seeing Alex in front of me couldn’t be described in enough words. I wanted to leap out of my bed and wrap my arms around her, to thank her for killing Kantos, for coming to my rescue, for healing me. But unfortunately, the aches in my body pushed away all of those thoughts.

But I guess it wouldn’t matter. We were close relatives, and chances are she probably acknowledged my gratitude long before I could give it.

“What happened?” I ask. I couldn’t remember anything clearly. As much as I tried to think, nothing would resurface. “All I can remember is you killing Kantos, and then coming to see me.”

“Well, after you went to save Taylor, I went ahead and started attacking the Catchers,” she says. “It wasn’t an easy fight, but we managed to get a few of them.”

“We?” I say. The word began to confuse me. Who else was there to help her? Another Iarnamian? Ryan?

“Me and the scientist,” she explains. “It turns out he couldn’t handle the whole alien thing as much as we’d thought. He tried to escape by using his mind tricks, but one of the Catchers shot him, and after that, he couldn’t use his powers.”

I couldn’t believe this. Davidson? Afraid? After everything he put Jack and my family through, he finally decides that aliens are too much for him?

“When they realized this, well…you could pretty much guess what happened next,” she says.

I nod my head in assurance. Davidson was dead.

“After that, the cops came and took out the remaining others with me,” she continues. “As soon as I realized that the numbers were decreasing, I left them and went off to find you. That’s when I saw you on the ground, and Kantos trying to kill you.”

I winced at the thought of the painstaking image.

“I’m sorry,” she says, noticing my expression, knowing clearly that it w
asn’t from the pain in my body.

“No,” I assure her. “It’s okay.”

Alex nods her head reassuringly.

“Anyway, I managed to catch up with Taylor and got us here by stealing one of the cars left behind on the bridge, that way we would go unnoticed.”

“You…
stole
a car?” I say, bewildered.

“Don’t worry,” she says. “It’s not here. I stopped it far e
nough for Brad to reach us and bring us back.”

I sighed in relief. As the breath of air escapes my lips, a sharp feeling shoots through me, and once again, I begin to groan in pain.

“Are you all right?” Taylor asks, her presence almost oblivious to me until I feel the warmth of her arm wrapped around my torso.

“Yeah,” I reply, facing her. “I’m fine.”

I turn back to Alex and notice her pulling out a familiar object from her pocket. One that I had seen before, but hadn’t recognized until now: a black rock that my mother had given to me before I boarded my ship to Earth.

“Where did you get that?” I ask
.

“It fell out of the scientist’s pocket,” she tells me. “I knew it had to be Iarnamian, so I grabbed it before the Catchers could get to it.”

My mind suddenly goes back to what happened at school, back when Jack and I were putting together information about Davidson. Something about a rock that he used to gain his powers from, one the scientists found out of town. This was it. It was mine.

I reach out my hand and Alex places it into my palm. I slowly rub my thumb against it, feeling its rough, edgy surface, and a strange revelation overcomes my emotions. Besides Alex, this is the only thing I have left of my home.

“What is it?” I say.

She smiles at me, letting out a sigh as she shakes her head. “I think you should find that out for yourself.”

I wanted to shrug off the comment, show her that it didn’t bother me that she refused to reveal the secret of the rock, but I was afraid the risk of that action would hurt me. So instead I just look at the rock, figuring
out what its purpose was to me.

All of a sudden, the door opens
and Brad walks in. His worried expression quickly changes into one of happiness and relief.

“Troy,” he whispers.

The sight of him brings on a smile. “Hey, Dad,” I say.

He rushes over to me and sits on the edge of the bed beside
Alex. “How you holding up?”

“Fine, I guess,” I say, stiffly nodding my head.

“That’s good,” he says, nodding also. “That’s good.”

I notice his expre
ssion going back into a worried one, as if he might be thinking about Sara and Zoë, and the way I left last night, not knowing if I would return. 

“Dad,” I say in a comforting tone. “You don’t have to worry anymore. Look at me, I’m here. I’m
fine. I’m not going anywhere.”

He looks at me for a while, the message slowly sinking in, and finally, he smiles.

“I know, Troy,” he says, carefully patting his hand against my leg. “I know.”

I’ve been staring at the rock for a few hours now. The sharp pain that ran through my body was gone now, and since I was slowly starting to recover, the others left the room. That’s when I turned my attention back to the black mineral, fumbling it in-between my fingers, trying to find out its secrets. After all that it’s put me through—causing Davidson to gain his powers, him going after Jack and his family, then me going to intervene only for the Catchers to find me, and use him for the plan they thought would lead to my death—it only makes me wonder one thing.

What was it all for? Why was this rock so important that my parents had to give it to me? Was it a weapon, which purpose was to defeat the Catchers? I doubt it. Was it something in case I lost my memory? No. It couldn’t be. They couldn’t have known I would’ve lost my memory, and even if they did, th
e purpose would be useless now.

“What could you be?” I ask myself. “Why are you here?”

All of a sudden, something escapes from the rock—a shiny blue light, in fact—and places itself in front of me. For a moment, I thought it was a weapon from the Catchers, disguised to look like the rock, knowing that Alex would find it and return it to me. But then all thoughts fade away, and I smile as I realize what lies within the shiny light.

It was my parents.

Like a photograph, they stood in front of the light; my father looking as confident as ever as his arm wraps around my mother, who lets out a beautiful smile. As I try to contain my feelings of happiness, I look closely and see an object

wrapped in a bundle of blankets, cradled in my mother’s arms. The image puzzles me for a moment, but then I see a tiny face appearing from the tan cloth, and a t
ear rolls down my cheek.

It was me.

I laugh as more tears come down, no longer trying to hold them back. I finally realized the rock’s purpose, the reason my parents had given it to me. It was never a weapon, nor was it anything to be used physically. Instead it was something emotional, something my parents wanted me to have as a reminder—that no matter where I am, they would always be with me.

“Do you really have to go?” I say.

Everyone stands outside on the front por
ch, looking down at Alex, who places her backpack onto her shoulders, filled with food and water.

“I have to,” she says, annoyed at how many times I’ve asked the question. “Have you forgotten that there are still other Catchers out there? Someone’s
gotta take them down now that their leader has fallen.”

It disappointed me to know that Alex wouldn’t stay. I’ve only gotten one day with her, and now she had to leave
, believing that with Kantos dead, the remaining Catchers left in the world would be easy picking. But still, there was so little time I’ve got to spend with her, so much we could’ve done together.

“You sure you don’t want me to go with you?” I ask, trying my best to keep her, no matter what the circumstances. “I could help you.”

“No,” she says. “My job on this planet was to protect you.” She gestures to Brad and Taylor.

“Judging from what I’ve seen, I think you’re pretty much taken care of. Besides, I’m pretty sure there are other Iarnamians
out there who could assist me.”

As she notices the frustration in my face, she looks into my eyes, her expression filled with confidence and compassion. “You belong here, Troy.”

I didn’t quite understand what Alex meant by those words, but didn’t bother to ask. Instead, I nod my head, believing that somewhere later in time, the meaning would somehow seep into fruition.

“You’ll come back, right?” I say, hoping that
this
question would not be ignored.

S
he smiles at me. “Of course.”

As her smile begins to fade, I know that this would be it, the moment I’ve dreaded most: the time that she would leave me.

“Goodbye, Troy,” she says in a whispery voice, her eyes starting to form tears.

“Goodbye, Alex,” I say back to her, my voice also a whisper, my eyes growing misty.

She nods her head and turns around, but before she takes off, she pauses and turns back to face me.

“Your parents would’ve been proud of you,” she says. “Remember that.”

Fighting back my tears, I nod back to her, a grin now crossing both our faces.

We then take one last look at each other, and with a swift turn of her body, she flies away, disappearing in the morning sky.

After a few minutes of looking into the sky, I dry my eyes and walk back up the stairs, facing Taylor, who looks back at me with worried eyes.

“Could I talk to you for a moment?” she asks.

I nod my head. “Yeah, sure,” I say. I then turn to Brad. “Could you give us a moment?”