The Seven (30 page)

Kenny stared him down. "This is what I do. If I am eventually going to lose my mind, I might as well do some good first." Kenny could see John fighting it over in his mind.

Eventually John conceded. "Okay. I'll get you over the wall. Your job will be to disable the alarms, blow their computers, and nuke everything else, okay?"

"Computers, alarms, communication relays, I should be able to nuke all of them."

"I'll lead the assault on the main gate, then," said John. "Holly, I'll need you for diversions. How many animals can you gather?"

"I can issue a general distress call and see, but until we get there, I won't really know. I can only work with what's around me."

"Can we stop and get some?" asked Indigo.

"What?"

"Animals. If you can control them, what's to prevent us from stealing a panther from a zoo? We could load it into the van."

John looked at Holly. She shrugged. John said, "That's so crazy it might actually work."

"Where is a zoo near Amboy? Or a farm?"

"There's open country all over Ohio, we could probably find something wild," said Holly.

"But, something offensive, something weapon-grade like a big cat?"

"Maybe," said Holly. "There was a cougar near the shelter. There are reports of big cats in places big cats aren't supposed to be every year. Ohio does have a cougar population. They're not that easy to command, though. They're really independent. I think maybe a gorilla or something more social might take orders better."

"Well, there was that gorilla farm right next to the Home. We could stop there," said Indigo.

Holly's mouth dropped open, "There was a gorilla farm?"

"Of course not, ditz! Where are we supposed to find a gorilla? A cat could hide behind a seat! You can't hide a gorilla!"

"Hey---keep it down," said John. "People might think we're insane."

"As if ordering enough food for a football team makes us normal."

"Indigo, hush." The look in John's eyes silenced her. He was exuding the aura of a leader; it seemed to ebb off of him in palpable waves. Kenny felt like he would be willing to do whatever John asked of him. Kenny wondered if maybe that was part of John's genetic alterations or if it was just something inherent and inexplicable within him. "Whatever you can do to help, Holly, whatever you can bring to the party will be good. You're going to serve like an archer. If nothing else, you'll be able to find insects and birds, right?"

"Always. Except in winter. No bugs then."

"Then, we'll take what we can get. Swarms of insects. Plagues of locusts, if possible. Rain bees down on them. Whatever you can get, throw at them. Hit them from a distance with your pets."

"What about me?"

"You are going to be the heavy artillery, Indigo. You're going to have to use your telekinesis to take out any soldiers in front of us."

"I won't kill again," said Indigo.

"You don't have to. Just push them away. Keep your emotions in check and you won't have any accidents."

"Just keep them in check...sure. You make it sound easy."

"When we get there, Holly will start gathering her armies and running recon with Bat. Indigo, you'll stay hidden. Kenny will go over the wall with my help. After that, you're on your own, Kenny, for good or bad. No heroics, Ken. Don't overuse your powers. Take out the bare minimum of security and then get out of there."

"Got it."

"I'll double back and pick up Indigo. Once the alarms are dead, we'll launch the animals. They'll serve as a distraction while Indy and I bust in and grab Andy and Sarah. Then, we shut down as much of the base as we can. I'm sure I can figure out a way to blow some building boilers if we can find them. Let's make it impossible for them to track us and do a little damage to their whole operation."

"Then what?" asked Holly.

"Then we get out and run to the hills."

"I meant about Posey."

John sighed and looked down. "I don't have any notion of how to find Posey, Hol'. I think she may be gone. I mean gone for good."

"So we just leave Posey? Just forget about her?"

"If she wants to come back, she will. Until that happens, we're kind of in a tough spot, aren't we?" said Indigo. "It's not like we can force her to be here. It's not like we can just summon her back to us."

"In case you all have forgotten, we're the only family we have anymore. Our parents, our siblings, they're all dead! I'm not just going to let Posey go, too!"

"Holly, this is a subject for another time and another place. Posey is untraceable right now. We know exactly where Andy and Sarah are."

"Fine." Holly sat back and folded her arms across her chest.

"Has everyone eaten enough?"

Kenny glanced at the table, a disaster of wrappers and empty cups. "I have."

"Then let's get back on the road. They won't be expecting us to hit them during daylight and we can probably get back to the Home within the hour and scout out where our hits will be."

Andy could feel the goop loosening. The cold was lessening. His arms and legs were beginning to tingle with the sickly pain of frostbite. He watched Sarah in the nurses' station and patiently waited for a moment to break free of his prison. He could feel anger in his gut, and he wanted to release that anger all over the monkeys who taunted him while he was frozen. He couldn't move, but he heard their insults. He was absolutely aching to smash some faces. Given the size of his mutated fists, one punch would do it. Thinking of that cheered him a little.

Now that the pain had stopped burning through him, Andy was able to reflect on his new abilities and savor the memories of actually uprooting a tree and tossing a car like he was something out of a comic book; he actually began to enjoy his lumpy, misshapen form, to see the bright side to it. He'd always been a somewhat heavyset; it was nice to finally have an excuse for being a fat guy other than just being lazy and having a weakness for Ring-Dings and Mallomars.

He tentatively flexed his fingers. It hurt to curl them, but he was starting to gain movement. The jelly, cold and oily between his fingers, was losing its solidity slowly but surely.

Andy started to take stock of the room: Two guards stood by the large garage doors, one on each side, each armed with an AK. A guard sat on a stool by the door. He was armed, but the gun was on the ground next to him. A pair of grease-monkeys were rooting in the engine of a Jeep, occasionally taking out parts and pausing to light new cigarettes.

Andy knew he'd need to act quickly once his movement came back. He looked for something to throw. If he could throw something big enough, he could take out the two guards by the door and then rush the other guard, hopefully hitting him before he had time to take out his gun. He could probably throw the crate that held an air conditioning unit. It was right next to him. It would take out the guards if he could bowl it through the both of them. Then he could charge the lackey whose gun was on the ground. He wondered if he'd be able to make his legs move fast enough.

He looked over at Sarah. She could move fast enough. There was no doubt to that. When she first engaged her newfound abilities, Andy had watched as she blinked out of existence, moving too fast to register with his eyes, he had marveled at the swath of destruction she had left. She could do the damage necessary at speed, but how could he tell her?

His knees were stinging and his thighs began to burn. He gritted his teeth and shifted his weight. His left leg moved forward ever so slightly. The thaw was starting to go faster. He inhaled hard through his nostrils. Warm, wet air filled his lungs. It felt better than the cold, sterile air the nose-tubes had been feeding him. He felt stronger instantly. He pulled his leg again and found it easier to move in the goo.

Andy looked up and locked eyes with Sarah. She had seen him move. In an instant, Sarah opened the door of the nurses' station. She walked forward and pressed her hands to the Plexiglas. "Can you move?"

Andy took in another deep breath. He nodded slowly.

"Then we do this and we do it fast. We hit this place like a ton of bricks and we get the hell out. Sound good?"

Andy nodded again. Sarah smiled. "I've got the three guys with guns. You hit the mechanics." Andy took several sharp breaths and he lifted his hand and pulled the oxygen tube out of his nose.

Sarah snapped into action. In a blink, she went from one guard to the next and knocked all three unconscious. Andy dragged his feet from the goop that surrounded him and grabbed the oxygen machine. He bored his thick fingers into the top of the metal and bowled the machine toward the mechanics. It smashed into their legs before they could dodge and tumbled to the ground. As they struggled to get up, Sarah suddenly appeared between them. She grabbed the backs of their heads and racked their skulls together.

"Wow! That was a little Rambo of you, wasn't it?" Andy coughed out. His voice crackled and he spat out clear ooze.

Sarah winked at him. "I guess it was." She retreated back to the nurses' station and brought out a towel. "Here. Let me get that gunk off of you." Andy dropped his head and Sarah laid the towel over him. She began to slough off the remainder of the foam residue. "Thanks for coming back for me...you big idiot."

"I am nothing if not a hulking moron."

Sarah traced her finger over the veins in Andy's shoulder. Her touch was warm through the residue. Andy looked over at her hand. "I guess I look like a big freak, don't I?"

"I can't believe what they did to you."

"It wasn't so bad; I could barely feel the cold. I just couldn't move."

"No," said Sarah. "I mean, what they turned you into. Have you seen yourself?"

"Not really, but I can tell that I look like something hideous."

"You're like the Incredible Hulk."

"No. More like the Thing. The Hulk would eventually turn back into Dr. Banner. The Thing had to stay hideous. I'm the Thing."

Sarah reached up and took Andy's face in her hands. "You're still Andy. You'll never stop being Andy. And Andy was beautiful to me."

"Thanks, Sarah. Really." Andy dropped his face and his eyes met hers. There was a long, awkward pause. Neither knew what to say. Andy felt himself blushing. He wondered if blushing still looked the same now that he was a genetic freak. "Is this the part where we're supposed to kiss? Because I'm willing to bet someone, somewhere saw what just happened on some kind of camera and all hell is about to break loose."

"Then we'll make it quick," said Sarah. She leaned up on her tip-toes and touched her lips to Andy's. "We need to talk once this is over."

"Why?"

"Because I love you," said Sarah.

"Sounds good to me," said Andy. "Are you sure?"

Overhead, the alarm klaxons began to sound. "As sure as I'm sure we're going to be in a world of trouble in a few seconds."

"Bring it on," said Andy. "Nothing like a little life-threatening danger to make you feel alive."

"Do you love me?" asked Sarah.

"Since the first second I saw you."

"If we weren't about to be assaulted by a small army, I would kiss you again."

"You ready to run, Fleet-feet?"

"You ready to bash through a door?"

"Let's do this." Andy lowered his head and charged the corrugated steel garage door.

Finding a space to put Kenny over the wall was the easy part, as the main part of the base was anchored at the side of small cliff. Pine trees were thick on the hillside and moving between them offered plenty of cover. There was an occasional patrol of two guards, but they were easy enough to avoid. John was able to lead Kenny over the hill to a spot where a pine tree offered a few low-hanging boughs to climb up, move out along a limb, and allow Kenny to leap and make it over the razor wire curls above the ten foot chain-link. Kenny landed hard and awkwardly, but if he was hurt, he didn't show it. John tossed him a Beretta and then passed two clips of ammo through the fence.

"Remember what I said: Don't panic, breathe deep, and only shoot if you intend to kill."

Kenny jammed one clip into the gun and cocked it. The other clip went into his pocket.

"Make sure the safety is on," said John. "I don't want to see you jam that thing into your pants gangster-style and blow off your twig-and-berries."

"Good thinking." Kenny double-checked the safety.

"You know where you're going?"

"I will. I'll have to use my powers a bit to trace the signal feeds to a source box, but I'll find it and I'll hit it."

"Don't go overboard. Only do as much as you have to do; I don't want to see you fry your brain over this. Just take care of the alarms and get out."

Down the fence line, a cherry red light sitting atop a fence pole began swirling as if cued from John's line. "Is that an alarm?"

"I think it is," said Kenny.

"Did we set it off?"

"I don't think so."

"Are you sure?"

"No, but I really don't think we did. We didn't touch anything that could have triggered an alarm and I don't see any cameras out here."

"Damn!" John punched the tree in frustration. "Go! Run! Stay low and don't get your head blown off!"

"I'm going!" Kenny turned and started running, his awkward gait carrying him stiffly over the terrain.

"Stay low!"

"I can't run and stay low! You just do what you have to do! Don't worry about me! I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself." Kenny disappeared in the pine trees.

John turned on his heel and started a flat-out sprint. His muscles began to process oxygen more efficiently, his breathing slowed, and his body became a machine. He moved with a fluid grace. He'd left Holly and Indigo on a hillside just outside of the main gates of the compound, hidden in the thick scrub. From there, Holly was supposed to gather her "army" and Indigo was supposed to lay low until John returned.