Dark Creations: Dark Ending (Part 6) (5 page)

Jack faced her again.  He inhaled through his nose, sniffing deeply until his chest rose visibly then asked, “If you don’t have word about Gabriel or Melissa than what did you want to talk to me about?”

“I need a car,” she decided not to offer a longer explanation or attempt buttering him up.  “I don’t want something big or sluggish, and a trailer is out of the question.  I need a car that’s fast.”

Jack loo
ked at her for a long moment then rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  “Is that all?” he asked sarcastically.  “You sure you don’t have a color specification in mind, too?  Jeez, this isn’t a car dealership in case you have not noticed,” he huffed under his breath.

“Do you have anything for me, yes or no?” she pressed him.

“Well, yeah, but just my Mustang.”

“Great, that’s perfect.”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on a second.  I wasn’t offering my Mustang,” he said and held both hands up.  “You better have a good reason for even asking.  I love that car, named it Dawn after my wife,” he said and his voice lowered considerably.  “What do you need a car for?”

“I’m going to find Arnold Gathers, the man transporting the virus, and
try to kill him before he releases it.”

Jack’s eyes widened briefly.  “Well shit, that’s a damn good reason,” he said softly and shook his head.  “You should have led off with that.”

“So I can borrow it?” Amber asked hopefully.

“
Yeah, you can borrow Dawn,” he said then quickly added, “But I want her back in the same condition she’s in now, you hear?”

Amber felt her brow gather involuntarily when she replied, “Jack
, your car is the least of your problems if I don’t make it back here.”

Jack nodded somberly and held her gaze.  “Good point,” he said then reached into his pocket and retrieved a set of keys.  He tossed them to Amber and said, “Be careful, all right?”

Amber said nothing.  She doubted
careful
was even a word that would apply to the mission she was embarking on.  When she turned from Jack and took a step, she nearly collided with Kyle.

“What’s going on?” Kyle asked her and touched both of her arms lightly.  His touch sent a pleasant shiver up her spine, a shiver she would miss if she did not return. 

When she did not respond right away, he looked past her to Jack.

“She’s going after the scumbag that’s delivering the virus for Terzini,” Jack answered for her.

“What?” Kyle asked incredulously and his hands gripped her arms.  “No!  You can’t do that!”

“I can and I will,” Amber said firmly.  “Now, please, step aside and let go of me,” s
he added and feigned sincerity she did not feel. 

“No,” Kyle said determinedly.  “I won’t let you go, not alone, at least.”

Amber searched his face for a trace of faltering.  When she saw only steadfast resolve, she decided to ask him outright why he wanted her to stay or was willing to risk his life going with her.

“What do you care?  I’m one of them,
remember
?” she reminded him of a comment he’d made at his house when she’d tried to rescue him.  “What do you care if I stay or go?”

His features softened and his hands fell slack at his sides.  He glanced be
yond her at Jack who stood behind her, undoubtedly waiting as anxiously for Kyle’s response as she was.  For Jack, it was entertainment.  For her, it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment, an opportunity to hear for the first time that another living creature cared for her.  But the longer Kyle hesitated, the more doubt Amber felt and wished she’d never put him on the spot as she had. 

“I don’t want anything to happen to y
ou because you saved my sisters,” he began and her heart sank like a stone.  “You saved my life, too.   You got us out of Taft.  That means something to me.  You mean something to me.” 

His voice had been little more than a hoarse whisper when he’d spoken the last part, the part about her meaning something to him.  But he had said
it.  He had feelings for her.  And no matter how faint or inconsequential another would have found those feelings, to Amber, they were life-changing, and like-affirming.

“I need to stop another member.  I cannot stay.  There is someone out there with a virus that is going to kill every person on the planet.  I have to stop him.” 

Kyle watched her with wise, worried eyes and she felt powerless against the bottomlessness of his irises, the light-brown palette speckled with green, gold and blue flecks.  She believed he looked through her rather than at her.  

“Then I will come with you,” he
stated resolutely. 

“What about your sisters?  What about Jackie and Hailey?  What will they do?  They can’t stay here with Jack and his men.”

“Yeah, this isn’t a day-care,” Jack chimed in and confirmed that he’d been listening to every word she and Kyle had exchanged, not that he’d made an effort to appear otherwise. 

“See,” Amber added.  “You can’t go.”

She was trying to deter him from going to keep him safe, but a part of her wanted nothing more than for him to accompany her on her journey. 

“Hold on a second.  Don’t count me out so fast,” Kyle brightened, though she could not understand why he would be so enthused
over being counted in for a hunt that would end with death one way or another.  “I have an aunt that lives over in Armor.”

“That’s only about fifteen or twenty minutes from here,” Jack pitched his two cents in again. 
“And it’s on the way to the interstate.”

Amber shot him a look of warning and he chuckled.  “Oh, sorry,” Jack shrugged and shrunk back exaggeratedly. 

“That’s right!” Kyle’s eyes widened and it seemed as if the many colors in them danced.  “We could take them there on our way.”

“
I don’t have twenty minutes to spare,” Amber said sharply. 

Amber could not understand why both Kyle and Jack were taking the gravity of their circumstances so lightly.  Kyle had no business going with her.  She would love to have him around, but
did not want his life continually in jeopardy.  She could not focus if she were constantly watching out for him, worrying for his well-being and keeping him alive.  But if she did not go, then Kyle and Jack, and the rest of humanity would die.  No doubt existed in her mind about that. 

“Fine, whatever, you get your way, okay,” she huffed and placed her hands on her hips angrily.  “But this is not a spring break road trip.  We are hunting one of Terzini’s men,
a very dangerous man named Arnold Gathers.  And when we find him, I’m going to kill him.  I want to be clear about that.  There will be no room for mercy or negotiating.  Do you understand me?”

Kyle nodded.

“I need to hear you say it, I need to hear that you can handle that, Kyle.  He will die.  I will kill him.  There is no other way.”

“I can handle it,” Kyle said tightly
then locked eyes with her. 

She held his gaze for several beats, gauging his
seriousness.  When she determined he was sincere, she glanced at Jack who shrugged his shoulders before returning her attention to Kyle.

“Fine.  Let’s go,” she said and began walking
at a brisk pace, away from both Kyle and Jack.

“Dawn i
s parked behind the barn, by the way.  There’s a tarp over her,” Jack added as she fled.

“Got it,” Amber called to him.

“Be careful,” Jack called back.

Kyle caught up to Amber and walked beside her. 
He parted his lips to speak but a melody of notes accompanied by vibrations emanated from the side pocket of her uniform pants.  She reached for the cell phone she kept there.  Only Lord Franklin Terzini and a handful of higher ranking members were in possession of her telephone number, and none of them called her, save for Terzini. 

A knot began to twist in the pit of her stomach.  She slowly turned the phone and looked to its display screen to see who called.  A number that was only vaguely familiar appeared along with a small photograph icon.  The man in the picture was a member named John.  She knew she needed to answer his call, that if she were to ignore it and Gabriel or Melissa somehow lived, she would be worsening their circumstances. 

Reluctantly, she answered the call.

“Hello?” she said into the receiver in a voice far stronger than she felt.

“Amber!” the voice on the other end said and sounded relieved.  “It’s Gabriel!”

“Gabriel!” she exclaimed and waved her arms at Jack
, urging him toward her.

Relief flooded her.  Impossibly, Gabriel was alive.  The sound of his voice
, the fact that he lived, meant that hope existed for all of them, for all of humankind.

“Amber,” he crackled from the void.  “I need to talk to you and Jack.”

“Okay, sure, just give me a second,” she said and fumbled with the phone.  “I’ll put you on speakerphone.” With trembling hands, she depressed an image and Gabriel's voice echoed through the field. 

Jack jogged toward her and
stopped inches from her. “Gabriel, is that you?” he asked breathlessly.

“I’m here, Jack.  I’m alive, but I have not found Melissa.”

“Oh man, I’m sorry,” Jack started, but Gabriel interrupted.

“Listen, there isn’t time.  The
y’re coming for you.  Hundreds of members are on their way now.  They’re coming to the farm to kill everyone there and thousands more are headed to Eldon,” Gabriel spoke quickly, his voice pressured and panicked. 

“Wait, wh-wh
at?” Jack stammered; his shock evident.  “Coming here to kill us?”

“I heard them, Jack, I heard them myself.  Yoshi and I drove right into a huge gathering of members in Taft.  We heard them deploy hundreds to the farm and thousands to Eldon,” Gabriel said gravely.

“Holy shit,” Jack breathed and his brow creased deeply.

“You need to get eve
ryone out of there, you hear me?  Get Alexandra, Daniella, Ryan and all your men and get the hell out of there as fast as you can!” Gabriel warned Jack.

Amber watched as Jack’s face drained of color.  His eyes glazed for a fraction of a moment before returning to their usual sharpness. 

“I will, Gabriel,” Jack promised and added as he stared hard at Amber, “You go find Melissa.  She’s alive.  I can feel it in my bones.  Don’t worry about us.  Go get your girl.”

Jack nodded to Amber and tore off at a sprint toward the main house
with Kyle following behind him.  Jack shouted orders all the way.  He would mobilize his people and lead them to safety, of that Amber was confident. 

“Amber, are you there?” Gabriel asked.

“I’m here, Gabriel,” Amber said and took a deep breath. 

Dread tiptoed down the length of her spine.  She did not want to deliver more bad news
to him, but felt obligated to share what she knew about the virus.  “There’s something I need to tell you,” she began and knew there was no turning back.

“What?” Gabriel asked and the fear is his voice was palpable.

“After you left to look for Melissa, Jack and I and a few of his men went to a house in the woods where Terzini had been keeping a weapon.”

“
A weapon, what are you talking about?  What weapon?”

“It’s a virus, a deadly virus that will wipe out hundreds of thousands of people at a time until everyone is gone.”

Silence echoed through the void.  She knew that time was running out and spoke.

“
The incubation time for the virus is the length of the common cold, three to five days.”

“
Oh my God,” Gabriel finally breathed.  “And you’re telling me because you were unable to destroy it,” he guessed.

“The virus is stored in a stainless-steel vat in the back of a cargo van.  When Jack and I got to the house and looked in the garage, the van was gone.  Gabriel, the virus is
probably on its way to Manhattan as we speak and will be released.”

“
Oh my God,” Gabriel muttered again and she could practically feel the dizzying spin of his mind.

More silence crackled on the line.

“I’m going to handle this, Gabriel,” she promised him, though she had no idea how she would ever fulfill the promise she’d just made.  “You focus on finding Melissa.  I’ll find Arnold.”

“Arnold?”

“Arnold Gathers, the member Lord Terzini charged with unleashing the virus.”

Gabriel inhaled then exhaled loudly.

“To find Melissa, I have to find Terzini first, that’s my gut feeling.  I will find Melissa, alive,” Gabriel said, pain and desperation lacing his words.  “Please, tell me how to find Terzini.  Where is he, Amber?  Where is his hideout?”

“Terzini overtook a house, a huge ranch up on North Mountain Drive
.  You remember passing North Mountain Drive, right?” she nudged his memory.

“Yes, I do,” he answered.

“His house is on that road.  It’s the one at the top of the hill behind a seven-foot tall stockade fence.”