Prophet of the Badlands (The Awakened Book 1) (65 page)

She shied away, positioning herself behind him.

“Nothing to be afraid of, Althea; they won’t hurt you.”

“The dead should not move.” She shivered.

He patted her on the shoulder. “Dolls were never alive. They’re machines.”

Althea thought back to the one stuck in the river. “Do they want to purge taminants?”

Mike blinked, then looked into her thoughts. “Oh… oh, my. No, Althea, not at all like those things. They are administrative workers. They are here to answer questions and help people. Think of them like a computer you can talk to.”

Her eyebrows scrunched together. Her mouth opened. He laughed at the look.

“I’ll explain what computers are later. Right now, we have to get you checked.”

“I don’t want to be checked.” She stepped back. A ripple of silence ran through the area as every person within a hundred meters inherited a wave of angry distrust.

“Easy.” Mike leaned on the counter to steady himself. “I promise you, we will not hurt you. You need to see a doctor before they will let you leave. Then, we can see your visitors.”

She sagged, staring at her toes. At least the spot of sunlight she had found to stand in was warmer than whatever the ground here was made out of. After a few brief words with the machine-woman, Mike again took her by the hand and walked her down a different corridor to a small room. Inside, a large cylindrical tube dominated the space, while two small beds sat closer to the door. Althea stared at the tube with a tilted head.

“Is that shower meant for two people?”

Laughing, Mike guided her over to one of the beds and lifted her to sit on the edge. “No, it’s a medical tank. You don’t need that now, since you’re not hurt, but you were asleep for several days, and no one could explain why you wouldn’t wake up. We just want to make sure you’re healthy.”

“I feel fine.” She folded her arms over the goat. “Well…” Althea let them fall onto the bed at her sides. “Maybe a little tired.”

“Yeah… I imagine you might feel a bit drained after―”

“Good morning,” said a black man in a white coat, entering at a brisk stride. “Welcome to Ancora Medical. I’m Dr. Bailey.”

Althea stared at metal strips along the side of his head, studded with winking blue lights. She trembled at the sight of the white coat and looked at the ceiling above her―no metal octopus, and no straps on the bed. She relaxed, and remained quiet as the man waved a small device over her, connected to his head by a wire. Green laser lines slid down her limbs as it passed; she stared at the flashing emerald stripe until it vanished over her toes. He lifted her arm, flipped her wrist up and tapped it before setting it back in her lap. A small device the doctor pressed to her shoulder pinched and left a droplet of blood behind. Althea frowned at him, willing the miniscule wound closed in an instant. He plugged the machine into a console and watched words spread out next to various colored blobs. Whatever it meant, it made him smile.

As expected, he spent a great deal of time checking out her glowing eyes before he handed a small silver disc to Mike.

“She is a little undernourished, but I see no evidence of any permanent injury. Brain chemistry is consistent with a post-comatose state, though from these results, I would have said she’d been awake for a week, not hours. They tell me you have a theory about what put her in a coma for three days?”

Mike tapped his head. “Psionic stuff, she overextended herself. Extreme fatigue. She isn’t undernourished; her abilities drive her metabolism way above normal.”

The tapped on a datapad. “I’ve updated her file. Am I signing off on her discharge to the department, or does she have a parent?”

“I’ll get back to you on that,” said Mike.

“Can we go now?” Althea slipped off the bed.

Mike took her hand. “Do you want some slippers or sandals or something?”

“No. Shoes make me walk funny.” She smirked at the floor. “They’ll just get stolen anyway.”

“That life is behind you, sweetie, but we can worry about that a little later. Come on.”

She shuffled along, holding his hand and feeling lost. He led her around a corner and up to a doorway. Despite the apparent safety of this bizarre place, it surrounded her with an unwelcome alien presence. There was no wind in her hair, no earth under her feet, and no…

“Karina!” She shrieked at the sight of who waited on the other side of the door.

Before her legs gave out, she sprinted into her sister’s waiting arms. Karina collapsed to her knees, burying her face in the crook of Althea’s neck and sobbing as she tried to crush the little waif with a hug. The poor goat turned into a pancake between them. Althea squeezed as hard as she could, unwittingly detonating a pulse of telempathic joy that shared her mood with everyone inside of a quarter mile. Neither girl was in any condition to speak for the better part of five minutes. When at last she regained her composure, at least most of it, Karina ran a hand over Althea’s head.

“You missed your bath.”

Althea flashed an impish smile. “I’m sorry. I know you told me not to get kidnapped after dark. I won’t do it again.”

“Is it true it was Beard?” asked Father.

Althea had not noticed him in the chair off to the left. She dragged Karina over and climbed onto his lap. He palmed the back of her head, pulling her cheek gently against his chest. Althea closed her eyes, adoring the feeling of having a dad. Karina held on to her right hand. After Father ceased stroking his hand through her hair, she leaned up and shook her head.

“Beard did not know. Dean had a bad spirit in him. It made him do it.”

Father stared into her eyes for a long moment, his elation well hidden from anyone who was not a telempath. “They said the man who took you is no longer a threat?”

Althea grinned, soaking up his emotion like a sponge as she cuddled against his side. “He won’t bother me again.” Remembering Archon also made her think of Shepherd. She sniffled, and then bawled into Father’s denim-covered shoulder.

Karina rubbed her back, assuming her second round of tears came from overwhelming joy. “I missed you so much.”

Althea squeezed her hand. “He was a bad man. He hurt people. He killed my friend.”

Father patted her on the cheek, and then slid his hand to her shoulder. He pushed her away enough to look her in the eye. “Did he do anything to you?”

She cringed at what was on his mind. “No, he did not wife me. He wanted me to play with brains. He killed Shepherd.” Althea sputtered into sobs. “It was my fault.”

Father relaxed, letting her cuddle once more. She tucked her legs up so she was entirely on his lap. He held her in stoic quiet, the polar opposite to Karina’s display of emotion. He did not have to act it out; Althea knew how he felt, and found solace in his quiet strength. Karina sat on the nearest chair, keeping her hold of Althea’s hand.

“We found Querq,” said Mike, leaning on the doorway. “Anita and I ran out there without permission. We thought you’d like to see your family again.”

“Thank you,” said Althea, letting her cheek rest on Father’s jacket. “Can we go home now?”

Mike held up his hand. “Not just yet…”

Althea pouted.

“There are some other people that want to meet you; it’s really up to them.”

“You can’t keep her if she does not want to stay.” The reserved hostility in Father’s voice vibrated through her chest, making her feel warm inside. “If you are this city’s Watch, she has done nothing against the law of your elders.”

“Oh, no.” Mike chuckled. “It’s not that. She has special talents that we have never seen before. All they want to do is meet her. We can help each other, and there’s something”―he peeked out into the hall and waved―“else.”

Althea’s eyebrows drew together as redness came over her face. She stared at the wall, listening to the sound of Father’s breathing. Thoughts of Querq drifted through her mind, the kids she played with, the Water Man, Ornry, everyone there that needed her so much more than this fancy place with their fancy little red things that could do what she could do. She scowled, thinking of how Archon demonstrated the stimpak. This strange police man had brought her family back to her; she could tolerate the bad city a little longer.

“Thank you for bringing my family to me. I will talk to your elders, but I will not let them keep me.”

Mike moved into the room, pointing at her. A shadow fell over him, making Althea glance over in time to see Shepherd duck through the doorjamb. A tight grey sleeveless shirt did little to obscure his bulging chest muscles and now-living arms. Black baggy pants and boots, clothing from this future world, covered the rest of him.

Althea crumbled her fingers into her mouth, pale as a sheet and trembling at the sight of him. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she forgot to breathe for a moment. All strength left her body. The goat rolled out of her lap to the floor. Shepherd approached her with the demeanor of a loyal dog, though his face was no longer half-metal. His eyes held full sentience, and he took a knee when he got close enough and put the stuffed animal back in her grasp.

“Hey, kid. You okay?”

If not for Father holding her, Althea would have fainted. She reached out, clasping three of Shepherd’s fingers. His new arms weren’t much smaller than the ones Archon had ripped out of him.

“Y… You’re alive.” She sniffled, gasping as her smile let in the taste of salty tears. “I’m… I… How?”

“I remember going over the edge, falling, and a loud crash. When I got up, everyone was gone. It was so damn quiet, I couldn’t even hear my own breathing. I saw this mangled body lying in the wreckage and figured I’d bought the farm. Guess that ghost stuff is for real. I got up, but this black shadow came at me. I don’t know what it wanted, but it seemed pretty interested in my hide. I ran for a while, but it cornered me in one of the dead end hallways. It got real close, but then backed off. Then I heard you crying… You were calling my name, so I went to you.”

Father squeezed her shoulder.

“When I got back to where I landed, you were there. You had streams of silver light coming out of your back, like wings. You were floating there, over my body. You looked like an angel, a sad little crying angel. It wasn’t your fault I died, but you kept apologizing for it. I walked up and I heard your voice in my mind asking me to come back.”

Althea wiped at her face with both hands, still dumbstruck mute.

Mike exhaled. “We have been trying to keep a lid on this. I’m not sure if she actually did bring the dead back, but―”

“She did.” Shepherd glanced over his shoulder at him. “I had a pair of Marine Corps class III assault cyberarms ripped out; the ones that require torso bone replacement. Then I fell ten stories. I was dead.”

Althea sniffled, reaching out to touch Shepherd’s all-human face. “How… Daddy…”

Father comforted her. “Easy, girl. Some things should not be questioned. Be happy with what is; do not worry about the why of it.”

“Is”―she looked at Father, then Shepherd, then Mike―“this why I was asleep so long?”

“We think so.” Mike nudged the door closed. “Your large friend here is the main reason the brass is interested in you. We had a telepath come in while you were out.” He offered a sympathetic look. “Whatever happened to you out there made her cry. She was able to ascertain the nature of your gifts: healing, telempathy, suggestion, and a little telepathy. However, we have no idea how it is that you can do some of the things you can do.”

“She is the Prophet,” said Father, as matter-of-factly as though it were the only necessary answer.

Althea hissed. “I hate that word. Please, Father, can I just be Althea? Prophets get put in cages and kept on leashes. Althea has a family.”

Karina leaned into a three-way hug. “I like that.”

“So, what’s your story?” Father glanced at Shepherd.

“I was once in the Marine Corps, Interstellar Expeditionary Force. I remember distant colonies, dropships falling through the atmosphere. A lot of it is fuzzy, something about there being more money in mercenary work, but I got my ass shot up more than I can count. This one job for a nutcase in a white coat is the last thing I remember. It’s all a damn blur now, just nightmares of red and killing and this little twerp in a lab coat.” Shepherd gestured as if crushing a man’s head.

“Some men deserve to die,” Althea whispered, so soft no one noticed.

“What’s that?” Father tilted his head.

“Shepherd saved me from a bad man.” She gazed at him with adoration in her eyes.

Father finally smiled. “Well then, I owe him my thanks.”