Radium Halos (8 page)

“So,” I said
slowly. “You’ve got perfect vision? And Zoe’s got sensitive
hearing, Heidi’s taste buds are off, and Seth’s nose stinks.”
I
thought I had sight, but it’s feel. My hands and feet…it’s based on
my skin.
My heart pounding, I continued, my words now tumbling
out, “I woke with some wicked feeling-thing in my hands. I touched
a wall and
could see through it
. Same thing with the floor,
like some kinda X-ray vision.” I turned to the Scotsman. “What
about you?”

Kieran
chuckled. “Yer serious, aren’t you?” He pretended to sniff, cupped
an ear with his hand, and then licked ketchup off a French fry. He
shook his head as he ran a finger across the table, and then rubbed
his eyes and blinked a bunch of times. “Nothin’. Had a bad
headache, but tha’ was it. But no super-power.” He leaned forward.
“Yer pullin’ me leg, right?”

“No joke. I can
see through walls.” “I can’t stop hearing everything.” Zoe and I
spoke at the same time.

“Our senses are
all screwed up,” Zoe whispered. She spoke, tapping a finger with
each word, “Smell, sight, taste, touch and hearing.” Her eyes grew
huge. “M-My dad’s doing some blood work to check for radium and
whatever other shit’s running through me.”

I put my arm
around her shoulders and gave a squeeze. Her skin felt amazingly
soft, but cool as if it needed my arm there. “Something weird
happened after the lightning.”

Heidi looked
ready to cry. “It doesn’t make sense. If there was radioactivity in
that room last night, our skin should be falling off our
bones.”

“But it isn’t.”
What had happened in the mine?

“Do you
remember the weird smell last night?” Heidi asked.

“Yeah, can’t
get it out of my nostrils at the moment.” Seth wiped his nose with
the sleeve of his shirt.

“It was from
the lightning. It’s actually ozone.”

Heidi’s
school book reading kicking in
.

“Lightning
splits water molecules in the air and three molecules of oxygen
bond to form ozone during a lightning storm.”

“Where’d the
heck you learn tha’?” Kieran, the only one eating, held his burger
halfway to his mouth.

Heidi shrugged.
“Earth Science. Chemistry.”

“Okay.” Kieran
didn’t sound too sure.

“Heidi’s got a
photographic memory,” Zoe explained.

“No shite?”

We all nodded.
It’d been like this since second grade.

“Something
happened to us while we were in that room,” Heidi insisted.

This is
wrong, in so many ways.
“Maybe from the lightning, or the
Uranium mine,” I said.

“I bet it was
from when we were blue.” Rylee added.

“Then why
didn’t he,” Seth said, pointing at Kieran. “Not get affected? Why
just us?”

Kieran leaned
forward, and set his burger down. “Maybe you guys have some
defunked gene from living in Elliot crap-hole.” He held up a hand.
“Sorry, mates. ‘Didn’t mean that like it sounded.” He bit into a
French fry and chewed. “Maybe something’s in the water or the soil
and you guys absorbed. Remember, I just got here.”

“You might be
right,” I said. “The five of us had been friends since first grade.
Maybe there’s something in the soil and then when the storm hit –
or we got hit in the mine – it messed everything up.” I shook my
head, totally confused. “Can this really be happening?”

Seth
straightened. “Five senses and there’s five of us. And dude,” he
said looking at me, “It’s totally happening.”

Everyone sat
silent and barely moving. Except Kieran, who kept on eating his
burger and fries.

Zoe let out a
long sigh. “So, what do we do? Should we tell someone? Maybe my
dad?”

“Heck no!” Seth
pounded the table with his fist. “Think of all the crap we’re gonna
get away with this year at school. Getting straight A’s, some
serious pranks, there’s so much shit. We’re not screwed or dying,
we just got hit with some awesome super-ability.” He stared at each
one of us. “So we gotta keep this our little secret.”

“Little?” Heidi
asked.

Seth shrugged.
“Fine. Our big-ass secret. I say we don’t tell anyone.” He turned
to Kieran. “Can you to that?”

Kieran raised
his hands in mock surrender. “Don’t worry ‘bout me. I’m not tellin’
a soul. I want ta see what you kin do with yer new bits.”

“I think we
should tell my Dad.” Zoe took a sip of her coke. “I mean, what if
something’s wrong? He’s already doing my bloodwork. I could tell
him about my hearing.” She chewed her lip.

Heidi spoke,
“What if we get cancer or some growth or worse…”

“Like what?”
Rylee said. “We wake up dead one morning?”

Everyone
laughed.
Gotta deal with the nervousness somehow.

“We tell your
dad if we have to,” Seth said. “If he says something about the
blood results, we go from there,”

“Or we get
sick,” Heidi said not sounding convinced.

“Sounds good to
me,” Seth said. “I don’t want to be smellin’ crap all the time.” He
sniffed. “Actually, I think it’s getting better. When we were all
scared, I could smell somethin’ weird. Now it’s changed – a bit
sweeter.” He scratched his head.

“Maybe you can
smell fear and joy and all that shite.” Kieran reached over and
grabbed the pitcher. He shook the empty jug and glanced behind him.
“Where’s our waitress?”

I looked
around. The college guys were gone, and Abigail probably went out
to have a smoke break.

A sharp intake
of breath beside me made the hair on the back of my neck spring up.
Zoe grabbed my arm with a vice-like grip.

Don’t be
hurt.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Color drained
from her face and her lips trembled. One shaky finger tugged at her
earlobe. “Abi’s in trouble.”

Chapter
7

Zoe

Get away.
Leave me alone!
Abi’s cries rang inside my ears.

Grab her.
Shut her up, dammit.
A male voice hissed. One of the college
kids playing pool! Earlier Seth had referred to him as
Dipshit
.

My heart
hammered against my chest. As my skin froze, I didn’t think I could
move if I tried. My brain had to process the thought of speaking. I
wished I could turn my ears off to stop the sounds from another
room in PHP.

“Ow! That’s
some grip.” Brent shifted slightly away, and I realized I had his
arm crushed between my fingers. I managed to release my grip --
only to bring my hands to cover my mouth in horror.

“What’s wrong,
Zoe?” Brent’s voice bellowed against my eardrum.

“You don’t have
to shout.” I frowned, trying to focus on what was going on around
me. The far-off voices kept pulling me back.

Brent leaned
back, surprised. “I didn’t. I whispered.”

Pressing my
palms hard against the table, I shot up. I could barely choke out
the words. “A-Abi’s h-hurt…but they’re p-planning something
worse.”

“Who are?”
Kieran touched my shoulder. His hand warm on my frozen skin.
“Where?”

“I can hear
them.”

“Who?” Kieran
repeated, more urgently this time.

I chewed my
lip, paranoid
they
might be able to hear me. “Those college
guys,’ I whispered.

Seth slid out
of the booth, faster than I thought possible. I watched, dazed. He
sniffed the air around him. “Those bastards.” He punched a fist
into his other hand. “I can smell their stinkin’ lust. It
reaks.”

Rylee stood.
“You can hear them, and they’re not even in the room? And Seth can
smell them?” She squinted and stared across the room. “They’re not
here. Only empty beer bottles where they were playing pool.

Brent started
pushing Heidi and me out of the booth. “We’ve got to help her.”

“Why?” Rylee
said. “How about the girls stay here and call the cops. You boys go
be heroes.”

“Uh-uh. All of
us, together.” Kieran said firmly, then looked at me. “D’you got
your cell? Call the cops while we’re looking for them.” He grabbed
a pool queue and broke it in half across his knee.

I stared at him
in surprise.

Me first.

No way! I’ll
break her in.

No way, dude.
You made her ugly, so you go last.

Fuck off!

I hunched over
and covered my ears, wishing I could block the college jerks
talking and laughing over Ali’s whimpering. Being forced to listen
to something so purely evil shook me to the core

Shut up,
asshole! You’re too wasted to get it up. This bitch is mine.

I cringed at
the sound of a zipper, followed the sickening noise of clothes
ripping.

Ow! Bitch just
bit me!

Flip her over.
That way she can’t bite or kick.

Enough!
We had to stop this.
If it were me…
I couldn’t finish the
thought. I grabbed the closest hand and started pulling. “We’ve got
to find Ali. They’re gonna rape her. She’s somewhere inside
here.”

“Let’s go.”
Kieran pulled me behind him. It was his hand I’d grabbed. He
stepped back to let Brent lead the way. Heidi pulled her phone out
and began dialling nine-one-one.

Terrified about
what we were going to find, but horrified about what would happen
if we did nothing, I followed beside Kieran still holding his hand.
They’re just college guys…who will probably kick our asses
.
But at least then Ali would be safe.

Brent began
touching walls, pausing a mere moment at each room.

When he
stumbled, Rylee hissed, “Geez, Brent. Tie your shoelace. You’re not
four.”

Just like
Rylee to think about anything but what’s really going one.

Brent ignored
her and with his hand, motioned me to stand beside him. I left the
warmth of Kieran’s hand and slipped ahead. Seth moved in behind
me.

“Are their
voices getting louder?” He talked barely above a whisper, but I
could hear him clearly.

I cocked my
head and closed my eyes. Their voices were crystal clear, but I
couldn’t tell if we were any closer. “I don’t know.” My eyes welled
so I blinked rapidly.
Useless! I can hear them, but can’t find
them?
I wished we were anywhere but here. “Can you see
anything, Rylee? Or Seth, is their smell any stronger?”

Seth grunted.
“I smell them alright, but it ain’t helping none.”

Rylee shook her
head. “I can’t see though walls.”

Brent continued
walking and tripped on his untied lace again. His hands flew out to
catch himself. He shot up faster than a jackrabbit. His voice shook
as he spoke, “They’re below us. We’ve got to hurry!”

Kieran ran in
front of us. He did a three-sixty then pointed the broken pool cue
to a barely-noticeable handle on the wall. “There.”

“You sure?”
Heidi shuttered to a stop.

Kieran
shrugged, pressing forward and grabbing the handle. “No. Just a gut
f-fe…a guess.” He pulled the handle, but nothing happened.

“I don’t know
how I missed seeing it.” Rylee spoke quietly behind me. “Push, not
pull.”

Kieran pushed.
The door opened a crack and slammed back shut. He nodded at Seth
and together they rammed their shoulders against it.

“Ow! Hey!” A
guy wedged behind the open door shouted. “What the f--”

Kieran cut the
guy’s words off with his fist. He slumped behind the door, his legs
sprawled out.

The temperature
began to drop as I lead the girls behind Kieran, Brent, and Seth
down the dark steps toward the light in the basement. Kegs of beer,
cases of wine, massive bags of potatoes lay stacked against the
walls as we stepped further in.

Skinny,
Dipstick and Bleach-head’s voices screamed in my head. Soon they
were loud enough the others could also hear them.

Don’t let go
of her leg, idiot. I plan on having a taste of this sweet
thing.

Shit! Did you
hear something?

Runny
scaredy-pants. Try the concrete step over there by the stacked
kegs. Take one of them to the care while you’re at it. I’m going to
show this girl what a real man feels like.

Brent and Seth
leapt off the rest of the stairs.

Rounding a
stack of beer kegs, we saw Abigail on the floor, her head away from
us, and her skirt thrown over her back with her pale butt cheeks
smudge with dirty hand prints. She flailed and twisted, kicking one
leg like an enraged donkey. Her other leg was trapped by
Dipstick.

I couldn’t see
Abigail’s face some spotty ass had his pants around his ankles.
The boy who thinks he’s a damn man.
Gasps from Heidi and
Rylee whirled like tornadoes in my ears.

Kieran raised
the pool cue and hammered the half-naked guy across the back of his
head. He fell on the ground, not moving.

Brent went
after Dipstick, who still held Abi’s leg. Seth knocked out the
skinny guy running for the loading dock door. Brent didn’t have it
so lucky. His opponent grabbed a bottle of wine and slammed it
against a pillar. The red wine dripped onto the concrete like blood
from a severed artery. He slashed the jagged edges in the air close
by Brent’s face. Brent ducked and stepped back. The guy swaggered
towards him, an ugly sneer on his face. He swung again and Brent
bent forward, diving for the guys legs. The bottle went flying and
crashed against a keg. As they tumbled to the ground, Seth grabbed
Dipstick’s arms and pinned them behind his back. He thrashed around
like an upside down bug.

“You smell like
ass.” Seth pulled the guy’s arm tighter and turned his head away.
He leaned toward the spilled bottle of wine, taking deep
breaths.

Abigail
scrambled away from the fighting bodies and broken glass. She
pushed her skirt down and hid behind me and Rylee, sobbing with her
head in her hands. “Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you,” she mumbled
repeatedly between sobs and hiccups.

Heidi had her
phone out, shouting at the police.
We’re getting to be regulars
with the emergency departments First the mine, now this.
Jeez
.