All American Rejects (Users #3) (8 page)

"Calm yourself, Barber," Alaric said as he stepped from the shadows and into the candlelight. "I mean you no harm."

"Fuck you! Is that what you told all of our friends as you rounded up at the Compound before you euthanized them like rabid dogs, you piece of shit." Carter was conveniently supplied a target on which he could now unleash his rage. "Don't you dare speak to me of calm. What are you even doing here?"

"Carter, please, you have to believe me, I..."

"I don't give a flying fuck if you were involved in what we found in that lab, I will incinerate you 'til there is nothing left but a pile of ashes." No longer able to control the fire within, his balled hands ignited as he crescendoed.

Seeing his friends lack of self-control at the moment, Ryker stepped in. "Carter, really? Do you think he would be so bold as to come here, confronting us alone, if he had any plans to try and take us in? Or anything to do with that horror scene back at the lab?"

"Thank you, Ryker." Alaric nodded in his direction.

"Don't thank me, you traitorous wretch." Ryker responded. "I'm not trying to help you out at all. I'm just attempting to ensure Carter doesn't burn down the entire block turning you to dust, and get us all caught in the process. What good would that do?"

Carter struggled to regain his composure and extinguish the flames engulfing his fists.

"Please, I need to talk to you," Alaric said calmly, turning his attention back to Carter. "Alone."

"Talk? That's all anyone has done is talk," Carter spat through clenched teeth. "I'm about done with all the talking."

"Please, just join me outside for a moment," Alaric said, and with that he was gone.

Alaric disappeared through the kitchen and a moment later they heard the plywood over the back door slam to a close.

"I don't like the idea of you talking to him alone," Evan said.

"Don't worry. Ryker is right, if he was going to try and capture us, to drag us to the slaughter, he would not have confronted us alone. I was once a part of his team, and I know how Alaric works. He is too much of a coward to walk into an uneven fight. And if he wanted to try and kill me, he would have done it already," Carter said as he turned to follow Alaric outside.

He found the bulky man waiting patiently in the backyard amongst the waist high grass that had overtaken the unkempt lawn.

"So," Carter said as he stopped to stand in front of Alaric. "Talk.

Alaric sighed. "The second that I was alerted of the break in, I knew that it was you. The guards reported they had been overtaken by a group of Users and when the footage from the security cameras was reviewed...they caught you, opening doors that were better left closed, and going into a room you should not have been going into."

"Answer one question for me," Carter said. "Did you know what would be found in that room?"

Alaric hung his head, "Yes."

Alaric had barely gotten the word out before Carter was at his throat. He squeezed Alaric's neck with both hands, trying to choke the life from him. Carter pushed forward as he choked him, and they slammed hard against the picket fence surrounding the property. Wood splintered and cracked as both men crashed through the fence and out onto the sidewalk. They fell flat next to each other, but Carter quickly mounted Alaric to take the dominant position, pinning him against the hard concrete.

"Are you done yet?" Alaric asked.

"You're some kind of hero," Carter said. "You betrayed your own people, and for what, just to save your own neck?"

His rage played out, Carter got to his feet, but when Alaric extended a hand for Carter to help him up, Carter spat at his feet.

"Help your own sorry ass getting up. That's what you're good at."

"I deserve that," Alaric said. "But I have no choice. I either do as I am told, or the All American's end up in the pile of bodies, with all the others."

"So what's your brilliant plan? Do you really think I'd ever agree to go with you now?" Carter asked. "That I'd agree to be taken to my death like a sheep. You'll never take me alive."

"That's what I came to tell you," Alaric said. "They don't want you, never did. They only want Barber and Ryker."

"What? Why?" Carter asked.

"They've already got a Scorcher. The only reason we were even looking for you is because you are with Barber and Ryker. Those two are a rare breed. The rarest actually, they are the only known of their kinds."

"So what? You want me to just hand them over?"

Alaric nodded. "It's simple. You give me Barber and Ryker...you and Evan can go free."

Carter burst into laughter. "You know I'd never agree to that." Carter cracked his knuckles as if he were preparing for a fight.

"Suit yourself," Alaric said, turning to walk away. "But the clock is ticking. Your twenty-four hours are almost up, and then we're coming to take them, one way or the other."

"Bring it on."

Alaric stared at him as if Carter were a fool. "I will not hesitate to kill you this time. I have shown you mercy up until this point, because in the past you have done the same for me, but I will not do so again," Alaric said. "Just think about it."

"Fuck off and die."

Alaric let out another heavy sigh. "I'll be seeing you soon." And with that, Alaric rounded the corner at the fence and was gone.

Chapter 10

Alaric departed without saying another word, leaving Carter to contemplate his own, as well as his friends futures. Not that he had much to contemplate. He would never allow Barber and Ryker to just go to their deaths without a fight, but the whole situation left Carter with the taste of shit in his mouth.

Off in the distance the sun was beginning to set, but a thick layer of clouds was moving in over the Puget Sound.

"Looks like a storm's coming," he said to himself.

Truer words he had never spoken. The storm was coming, and he was going to be ready for it. He would batten down the hatches and at the right moment, he would unleash a fiery hell on the All Americans. If they wanted a fight, he was going to give them one.

With renewed vigor, Carter stepped over the pile of broken debris that he and Alaric had made of the fence, and went back into the house.

"So, what did he want to talk about?" Ryker asked before he had even stepped foot in the living room.

Two of his companions were seated on the floor, while Evan stood leaning against the far wall. The single candle in the middle of the room flickered as Carter entered. The wick was burning low, and Carter could tell they would soon be sitting in the dark.

"He wants you and Barber," Carter said getting right to the point.

"Yeah, I know," Ryker said, but Carter was shaking his head before Ryker even finished.

"No, you don't understand," Carter said. "If you and Barber go with him, Evan and I can walk free."

"It's settled then," Ryker said, very matter of fact. "I know what we have to do."

"Me too," Carter said, but something told him that they weren't on the same page.

"Barber and I will turn ourselves over to the All Americans," Ryker said.

"Have you fallen off the wagon or something?" Carter asked. "Because you're talking like you're high as hell."

"There's no reason for you and Evan to get hurt because of us." Ryker said, plainly. The candle light illuminated one half of Ryker's face, but Carter didn't need to see the other half to know that Ryker was dead serious.

"Well we'll just put that at the top of list of things that are not happening," Carter said. "I won't let you two go to your deaths to save my own hide. I'm not some self-serving pussy like Alaric and I refuse to lose another single User to this, we've lost enough friends already," Carter said. "Even if they let Evan and me go, there's still the little situation with them killing all our friends that needs to be settled, and I'll be damned if I let that go without punishment."

"And that's exactly why we must turn ourselves over," Ryker said. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"Then it looks like I'm going to die one way or the other!" Carter shouted.

Barber meanwhile sat in silence, neither agreeing or disagreeing to either argument.

"Argh!" Evan growled. "We should have run while we had the chance."

"They would find us," Ryker said, but Evan waved him off as if he were full of shit.

"It's not too late. Let's just get the hell out of here," Evan said.

"Are you not listening to me? They will find us," Ryker said. "And then they'll capture us and kill you and Carter anyway."

"I agree," Carter said. "Running is not an option, but neither is you two turning yourselves over to that monster."

"I see no other alternative," Ryker said.

"I've beat him before...and I can beat him again," Carter said with grim determination. "What we need is a plan."

*****

Hours passed and the ticking clock finally ran out of time for Carter and his companions. Right on cue, Alaric and the All Americans arrived at the abandoned home. They circled the property, ensuring that no one could escape. The sun had already set, and the last dim bit of twilight was all the light they had as they approached the boarded up home.

Alaric lifted a panel from one window and peered into the house, but it was as dark as the devil's asshole in there.

"We'll go in the back door," Alaric said. "You two take the front door." Alaric instructed Stella and Bobby to cover the front of the house, while he, Luke, and Michael went in the back. The only member missing was Trisha, the team's Sniffer. She had stayed back at their base to run the drones and communications for the team. Being a Sniffer didn't make her particularly useful in a fight anyway.

The rest of the team was a different story. Michael was a extremely talented Changer, and his talents didn't stop there. He was also an excellent martial artist, having received a black belt in jiu jitsu at the tender age of fourteen. Short and slender, he was built for speed and agility, and what he lacked in muscle, he made up for in technique.

Luke on the other hand was more of a specialist. Being the Scorcher who replaced Carter when he was kicked off the team, Luke used a more offensive approach than Michael. He donned a long all black leather trench coat, that he could easily flip off his body when the time came for him to ignite the flames. He preferred more of a scorched earth approach to fighting. Luke routinely laid waste to entire battle fields.

On the other side of the house Stella led Bobby, the team's Mover. Bobby was by far the most soft spoken of the All Americans. His tone, however, was not to be mistaken for a mild mannerism of any sort, and he made up for his lack of articulation in ferocity. On a number of occasions Bobby had used his Mover powers to tear joints from sockets and he even once pulled a man limb from limb. He was not the kind of person you wanted to back into a corner.

"You guys ready?" Alaric heard Trisha ask in the ear piece he and the rest of the team were wearing.

"We're ready," Alaric said.

"We're in position," Stella confirmed.

"Okay then, we're a go on three," Trisha said.

She counted down, and on three, they burst in the doors. Alaric punched the plywood covering the door, shattering it to pieces, and continued on to blast the door behind the plywood right off its hinges. He led the way with Michael and Luke hot on his heels. They stormed through the kitchen, and into the living room, where they found Stella and Bobby already waiting for them. A big hole remained where the door used to be. Bobby had torn it clean off with his Mover powers and thrown it across the yard.

Luke ignited a single fist, illuminating the large room in an soft, flickering orange glow.

"Where are they?" Alaric asked as he scanned the empty space surrounding them.

Stella shrugged and pushed one of the nude magazines with her foot, "Looks like they were having a good time."

"Search the rest of the house," Alaric said, addressing the entire team but sending her a steel glare. "They must be hiding in one of the bedrooms or something."

They fanned out, each User traversing the dark floor to different corners of the mostly open ground level of the house. They searched every closet and pantry space, but they each returned, one by one, a very short time later as empty handed as they left.

"Anything?" Alaric asked.

"Nothing," Stella said. "No sign of anyone."

Suddenly the ground beneath their feet began to shake.

"What the fuck is going on?" Michael asked.

"Earthquake!" Stella yelled above the rattling of the wood beams throughout the house.

"It's not an earthquake," Bobby said. As the teams Mover, he must have recognized the force that was shaking the house down to its very foundation because he said, "It's a trap!"

"They're outside!" Alaric yelled. "They're trying to collapse the house on us, and bury us under the debris! Get out now!" But the floor boards had already started to come apart. Drywall fell from the ceiling, hitting Stella hard and knocking her to the floor. In a flash, Alaric was by her side. He threw the drywall across the room, and tried to get her back to her feet, but the house was shaking so violently, he could barely stand.

A long wooden support beam that ran across the ceiling broke off at one end and hit the floor.

"Go!" Alaric shouted, but his companions stumbled and fell as they tried to reach the open door.

From beyond the portal, Alaric could just barely make out the image of Evan, standing with his arms pointed at the house. The man's palms were up and he was clearly exerting himself to his limits. Evan had a strained look on his face. His teeth were bared and he was shaking almost as much as the house was.

Then the floor gave way and the roof caved in on them as the wall support collapsed. Alaric saw nothing but black.

Chapter 11

Evan grimaced in pain and finally keeled over as the strain from bringing down the house put him on his hands and knees.

"You okay," Barber asked as he rushed to Evan's side.

"I'll be fine," Evan said. "Just need to catch my breath." Evan heaved in and out, and Carter wondered if he would pass out from over exertion.