Cut Scene #4
“I saw something.”
Becky shuddered as the flames grew thicker, harder to see through. The fire wasn’t going let them out. They were trapped.
Neil didn’t answer Jeff—too busy trying to find a way to outrun the flames. It was coming in from all directions now, and the only thing he could think of was water. Where the hell was the creek? It was on the map, it’s here, damn it!
“I mean it, Neil, there’s someone behind us!”
All thoughts went to Rick as they rolled over burning limbs and under flaming trees.
Crasshhhhh!
The back window exploded, spraying shards over the fleeing team.
“Get her down!”
Slugs began tearing into the truck, catching legs and chests, and shattering windows to let in wave after wave of toxic smoke.
Becky coughed into her jacket, lungs burning. She wanted to help, but without a gun, she wasn’t sure what to do as those in the rear returned fire.
“There’s the creek!”
Neil sent them flying down the incline toward it. Only a foot deep, the water was rushing fast and clear, but no one had time to appreciate it as the truck dropped into the icy water and sent a spray through the shattered windows.
Safe from the fire, the creek’s low sides didn’t give them any protection from Rick’s shots as he sped down the incline, an evil hatred bent on destroying them all.
Neil and the others were firing at him, but none of their shots even hit the truck, thrown off by the high wind and smoke.
Running with it instead of against, Rick wasn’t fighting Nature, he was using it. He fired again.
Thwap!
Jax slumped against the door, blood running down his neck.
Neil’s mind flashed a memory of a simple conversation months ago. They’d been setting up Angela’s security, and he’d mentioned that Seth had insisted on being part of it. Adrian’s answer then, was their answer now.
“He’s like her in some ways, I think, running on a level closer. Maybe he’ll catch something we miss.”
Neil swung to Seth. “If you’re like them, use it now, or we’re all dead!”
Seth knew what he meant, but he didn’t… he wasn’t… Seth felt the truth waiting, being slapped with his own ghosts of the past. His missing child had been special, too. She’d gotten it from her father, and Seth had struggled to hide it, to teach her to control it.
“It doesn’t always work.”
Neil’s heart picked up speed as Rick came by for another sweep with his rifle. “Before, you were something else. Now…”
“I’m an Eagle in Adrian’s Army.”
Seth looked down at Becky’s scared face. “I love you. I think I always have.”
He climbed out, and Neil grabbed Becky to keep her from following.
Seth extended his hands toward the cold water, pulling up memories of his time with his daughter, of her delight at discovering she had an effect on Nature.
Along the bank, animals were milling, some joining them in the water as both the truck and the fire advanced. Seth’s passage didn’t make any of them do more than move aside.
Becky stared at the demon of her nightmares, beating against Neil’s rock hard back. Injured and surrounded by the fire, Rick was grinning like a fool who’d been given a promotion to King. The sight of the grimy black bandana around his neck, the one he’d used to bind her wrists for the first rape, had her shrieking in pain. “I hate you! I hate you!”
Rick slowed as he neared the water again, realizing Seth wasn’t even holding his gun. Did he think they could talk at this point?
Rick snarled angrily. She was supposed to be broken, back at Safe Haven to torture Adrian, not in the arms of a savior! Rick had seen enough while waiting for his second fire to surround them, and his fury was endless. They could talk over her dead body!
“Let me go!” Becky pounded on Neil, struggling to get free. “He’ll get killed! Let me go!”
Neil kept her in the truck, waiting, counting on Seth, and through him—Adrian.
Rick aimed the rifle, mouth a bitter sneer. “I had her first!”
Seth responded with a tone that couldn’t be denied. “And I covered it with my scent. She’s already forgotten you. Just like Samantha has, because of Neil.”
Rick screamed, hitting the gas.
Seth wasn’t crazy enough to risk their lives on a power he hadn’t used in years. He relied on his training. As Rick fired, so did Seth—the gun hidden inside his torn sleeve.
Rick’s slug hit Seth hard, driving him back and knocking him under the lightly rushing water of the creek.
Seth’s bullet went through the open window Rick was firing from, catching the traitor in the temple in one final brutal blow of justice.
Blood trickled from the wound, and Rick slumped against the seat, truck slowing. This was no glancing blow or lucky shot. Seth was a Level Seven shooter, firing at a range he currently held records for. Missing hadn’t been an option.
Neil and the others grabbed Seth before he could be washed downstream and hauled him onto the seat of their truck.
Becky was crying and shivering nearby. Seth had been wearing his vest, but then, so had Angela when Cesar shot her. Vests deflected, but hardly ever stopped bullets. That was a hard lesson they’d learned, and she braced to hear the worst.
“It didn’t pierce it. He’s not even bleeding.”
Becky shoved through to see for herself, and the others backed up to let her, content that Seth was okay.
Neil stared at the truck on the bank. It had been stopped from going into the water by a burning tree branch and was about to be overtaken by the roaring flames. Rick’s body was visible, blood all over the seat, and the trooper didn’t budge until both he and the truck were in flames.