The Seven (26 page)

Indigo heard Holly's scream and leapt from her own bunk. "Where? Who?"

Holly pointed at the door to the bunker. "There are soldiers out there. They're coming this way! Bat showed them to me!"

"Calm down," said Sebbins. "They don't know where the bunker is. We're safe in here."

"They'll find the hatch," said John. "It's sitting in the center of the cabin, big as life. We didn't hide it."

"They'll still have to get past the door lock," said Sebbins. "They don't have the key-code."

"It's not a big lock, Doc. A little C-4 will blow it wide open."

"John, what do we do?" Holly said.

"Can we make a break for it?" asked John. "It's no good to hide in here. We need to get out, get to the van, and run for it. Do you know where the soldiers are?"

Holly's eyes clouded and rolled back into her head. After a moment, her eyes cleared and she shrugged. "Bat can't tell me where they are exactly. I know there are some over by the bluff to the northwest, but that's all I can give you right now."

John rolled out of his sleeping bag and pulled several handguns out of a weapons locker. He tossed one to Kenny and one to Holly. He gave Kenny a light flare as well. Indigo stuck out her own hand. "Lock and load, worm-head," she said. John handed her a gun and nodded. Indigo checked the clip and slammed it back into place in the handle.

"Only use the guns in a life or death situation! We don't want to become killers!"

"Why not?" Indigo said. "They were going to kill us in December." Indigo knew from her psychology classes that there was supposed to be a greater good, that if she lowered herself to the level of an enemy, then technically she lost the battle, but she had never been able to buy that sort of rationale. The law of nature was kill or be killed.

"No guns!" John shouted. "I'll go first. Then I want Indigo to follow behind me---be ready with your telekinesis, Indy. I may need the back-up."

"I can't do much!"

"Dirt in the eyes is all I'll need. I trust you can manage that."

"What if they're wearing goggles?"

"Then remove their goggles and throw dirt in their eyes."

"I think I can do that," said Indigo. She could feel the tickle in the middle of her head where her new powers were aching to be used. Pens weren't much of a trick, Indigo wondered if she could get enough anger or fear or hatred to generate a large telekinetic field, do some real damage. She was already feeling very scared.

"Holly," John continued. "You follow Indigo. Stay in contact with your pets. Sebbins, you next, and Kenny, you bring up the rear."

"If I can shoot, I'm going to," said Kenny.

"Only if necessary!" shouted John. "I'm not too keen about us having to kill our way out of here."

"Kill?" said Holly. Indigo shot her a look that was, at best, a cross between "don't worry" and "stop being such a girl." That was always one of Indigo's biggest problems with Holly and Posey---they never knew when to man up and put down their dolls. Indigo prided herself on being tough. She was always the smallest and the lightest, but she had no problem stepping up to Andy or John when they needed it. She even would stare down Cormair when the situation called for it.

Indigo followed John up the ladder. He moved like a panther, silent and strong, and disappeared into the darkness above the hatchway opening. Indigo pulled herself through the hatch and saw John's shadow hunkered down by the door, listening. Before she could even whisper, John's hand shot out and his finger pressed against her lips. She could make out the faint shadow of his head shaking. Holly was out of the tunnel next. She pressed herself to Indigo's back. Indigo could feel her shaking with nervousness.

"There are at least five of them, but less than ten," Holly hissed. "Bat says the nearest one is about twenty yards in front of the shack, near the van."

John slipped a small, square item from his pocket. "Flashbang. Close your eyes. Be ready to attack. Kenny, after this goes off, I want you to shoot the flare into the sky. It will give us enough light to spot and attack. Holly, if you can animal-up any target, do so as soon as the flashbang goes off, okay?"

Holly nodded. Indigo squeezed her eyes shut and jammed her fingers in her ears. A moment later, there was a loud pop and white light pushed hard on her eyelids. There were screams of pain right outside the shack as the flashbang overloaded the night-vision goggles of the soldiers.

John was out the door in an instant, Indigo on his heels. John was a tornado, whirling and moving almost too fast to comprehend. He was on top of the nearest soldier in a heartbeat. Indigo watched him unleash a flurry of punches into the man's chest, neck, and face and saw the man's legs go to jelly and he collapsed in an unconscious heap.

Indigo tried to remember where she heard screams and scanned the darkness. "Kenny! Flare!" There was another pop as Kenny fired the flare gun and the sky was suddenly filled with a sparking orange light that illuminated a wide circle on the ground.

Indigo spotted a soldier crouched in tall grass near the shack, rubbing his eyes. "There's one!" She felt a surge of anger when she saw him and felt that tingle in her brain expand. She took control of her telekinetic field and threw an invisible wall of energy at the soldier. It hit him like a fist and knocked him backward.

"Another over here!" shouted Kenny. Indigo whipped around and saw a larger soldier lumbering toward them, a gun in his hand. He was shouting commands, but Indigo only heard a blur of words that made no sense. John attacked the man, a kick to the side of his knee that buckled him, a fast elbow to the man's temple that knocked him to the ground. John finished with a flurry of fists to the man's face.

"Get to the van!" John shouted. "Sebbins, get the van started! We have to roll out of here!"

Sebbins took steps toward the van and a voice rang out from the grass. "They're trying to run!"

Indigo tried to locate the source so she could take him out, but even with the light from the flare, she couldn't find the soldier.

Suddenly, another soldier's voice shouted out, "The adult is expendable!"

The crisp thunderclap of a gun shattered the night. Dr. Sebbins cried out and dropped to her knees.

"Seb!" Holly screamed.

Everything seemed to slow down. Holly dove to Seb's side. John drew his sidearm and began firing blindly into the grass. Kenny struggled to pull his gun from the holster. Soldiers began to pour out of the grass. Indigo began to feel a new kind of fear: Fear of death, fear of more experiments, fear of ending life as a pile of data, a general terror began to sweep through her. Close on the heels of this terror was a different emotion: Rage. She was sick of being afraid, sick of feeling helpless. The hub of her telekinetic power within her brain began swelling. Indigo looked down at Sebbins, a rosebud of blood spreading rapidly across the doctor's chest. The force in Indigo's brain was screaming to be freed. Indigo caught sight of a soldier from the corner of her eye and whirled in that direction, flinging her arms wide as she did and releasing the pent-up fear and anger in a telekinetic bolt. The soldier was slammed backward as if he had been hit by a locomotive. His body rag-dolled into the trees, cracking into a large oak sending bark and splinters flying. A rush of power and adrenaline flooded through Indigo's body. She felt the energy of her powers crackle through her and awaken every inch of her body. Joy flooded through her, as if her brain had been crying out for her to find this hidden strength. The joy fueled her powers further.

Another soldier stood up and leveled a strange-looking gun at Indigo. It fired with a small flare of light and a hollow "poik" sound. Indigo stuck out a hand and froze the projectile, a feather-ended tranquilizer dart, inches from her palm. She flipped the needle in the air so it pointed back at the soldier and sent it flying into the soldier's neck faster than the gun had fired it. The soldier clapped a hand to his neck and fell into the grass.

Indigo turned on her heel and saw two more soldiers. She unleashed a bolt at the nearest soldier and sent him cartwheeling into the sky. He flew above the treetops and fell back toward earth, slamming hard into the ground and laying still.

John dispatched the last soldier with a rapid combination of punches and kicks and the action ceased. Everything became quiet and still.

A searing pain shot through the center of Indigo's head. It made her drop to her knees and clap her hands to the side of her head. Her vision dimmed to black and her chest tightened until it was hard to breathe. As quickly as the pain came on, it dissipated until it was an aggravating throbbing in her temples. Indigo took in a deep breath through her nose. What made her hurt so much? Was it a repercussion from using her powers?

"Damage check," John's voice snapped Indigo out of her daze. "Is anyone hurt?"

"John, please help me!" cried Holly. She was kneeling by Dr. Sebbins' body and pressing her hands over the wound. Even in the soft light of the still-burning flare, Indigo could see Holly's hands were slick with blood. "It's bad, John," said Holly. "Real bad."

John gently pulled Holly's hands off the wound. The bullet had hit the doctor in the right side of her chest, just to the right of her sternum. The blood was dark, darker than Indigo thought it should be. All of them had been trained in anatomy and physiology. They had all learned basic First-Aid techniques, but this type of wound was beyond any of them.

John frowned. "I don't think it hit her heart," he said, "but..." his voice trailed. Indigo knew he didn't want to finish the sentence. It was a bad wound. Sebbins wasn't going to live. Her labored breaths and rasping, gurgling coughs could tell them that. She had blood in her lungs.

Holly was biting her lip so hard that a thin trickle of blood was seeping out the corner of her mouth. Her eyes were welling with tears. Kenny swiped his wrist across his eyes and sat back, hugging his knees to his chest.

Indigo felt that telekinetic hub of her brain begin to swell again. Sorrow and sadness swamped her mind. She choked back a sob and knelt next to Holly. She reached down and picked up Seb's hand.

Dr. Sebbins turned her head toward Indigo and Holly and coughed, blood flecking her lips as she gasped for air. "Not...gonna..."

"Don't talk," said Holly. "You're...you're going to be okay."

Sebbins smiled weakly. "Bad...liar."

"We're gonna get you to a hospital, Doc," said John. "Just save your strength."

Sebbins shook her head. "Don't...not gonna...make it." Coughs wracked her body and she spit up a horrid amount of blood.

Indigo cleared her throat. "Seb, I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you." Sebbins squeezed her hand. "I...You didn't deserve it. I just...I don't know why I did it. I never meant it. I was just being an idiot."

"I'm sorry if I was ever short with you," said John.

Sebbins slowly reached a hand out toward him and he took it. "Never." She licked her lips and coughed lightly. Blood flecked her lips. "Don't bury me...just go. Get...Sarah and Andy."

"We won't just leave you!" said Indigo.

"Don't...be stupid," said Sebbins. "Get away...from these people. Take care of each...other..." Sebbins coughed again, she went rigid and struggled for a moment, and then she gave a shuddering, breathy heave. Her head lolled to one side.

Indigo felt the doctor's hand go slack. Indigo reached a shaking hand to Sebbins' neck and felt for the pulse she knew wasn't going to be there. "She's gone," said Indigo. She felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

Holly slumped over against Indigo and sobbed. Kenny's face was buried in his arms and his back was shaking.

John cleared his throat and spoke quietly. "I'm not going to just leave her here."

"Bury her?" Indigo asked.

"I aim to," he said. "But first, we have to get those soldiers stowed. Kenny, get some rope from the shelter."

Holly stood up. "I'm going to get a shovel," she said. "There are entrenching tools in the shelter. I'm going to start Seb's grave." She sobbed again. "I hate this."

Kenny returned with a coil of rope. John cut lengths with a pocketknife. "Let's get the soldiers tied up. Take away any communication devices and pile them by Sebbins' body. We'll save one and destroy the rest."

Indigo walked over to the soldier that she had thrown into the sky. She started to loop the rope around his wrists and stopped. He wasn't breathing. She frantically felt for a pulse. None. "John! Help! What did I do?" Panic clutched at her heart. She hadn't meant to kill this man. Indigo blew breaths into the man's mouth and began chest compressions. John was at her side in a second and began assisting her.

While she applied steady compressions to the man's chest, she began babbling. "I wasn't in control. I didn't control my power. I had a big surge of emotion and I unleashed it without thinking! I didn't mean to hurt him."

John puffed breath into the man's mouth. "I know, Indigo. I know."

"Did you see me? Did you see this man? I accidentally threw him really, really high. He fell really far." She was babbling and she couldn't stop herself.

"I didn't see it."

"He fell really far!"

"I know, Indigo," said John. He felt the man's neck for a pulse and shook his head. Indigo continued with the chest compressions. John pushed her away. "You're not pushing hard enough!" John straddled the man's body and pushed once, then pulled his arms back. "His chest is crushed. He's done."

"Oh, please no," Indigo breathed. "I killed him."

"They killed Sebbins. They were going to kill us eventually. It just happened. Let it go," said John. "Things like this happen in war."

"I killed a man," said Indigo. She felt her world spiral. "I...killed him." Her mind started flicking to thoughts of whether or not the man had a family, if his parents would be sad. She thought of the man possibly having a dog that might be at home, waiting for its master to come back and feed it. It was all too horrible. Indigo fell to her side and began bawling.