The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) (81 page)

“Hopefully we will be done with all of this soon,” I say. 

“I hope so too. Be careful.”

He steps back from the trucˀ bek and I put it in drive, rolling forward at a slow pace that feels entirely too fast. As we drive on, Connor reaches out and squeezes my hand. I don’t look at him, though I’m happy he is with me. All too soon the prison comes into view. The crumbled remains from the explosions yesterday are all over the streets and I know we’ll have to stop the truck a couple of blocks from the now open courtyard. 

I put it into park in the middle of the deserted street and take a deep breath. “What am I doing?” I say out loud. Another tear streaks down the side of my face as I think about Christopher. About Sadie. What will she say?

“Hey,” Connor says.

I look at him. 

“Now isn’t the time for tears. You’re about to face the most evil man that has ever walked this Earth. You show him your tears, you show him the wrong kind of weakness.”

“What do you mean,
wrong kind
?” I ask. 

“Right now you need to show him that you’re on the brink of death,” Connor explains. “If he knows anything about your condition right now, he’s going to think you are weak. That’s a good position for you to be in. That way, he might not be too cautious about you.”

I nod as he tells me this. 

“You already look pretty rough with all the dirt on your face,” he says. 

“Thanks.”

“When we approach, walk with a limp. Make sure he
thinks
you are on the brink of death. Make him think he has more power than he really does.”

“And you don’t say a word,” I tell him. “He might recognize you anyway. Just make sure you stand back from us. You’re his prize. I’m not letting him get close to you without getting Evelyn and Aaron back.”

“What’s your plan?” Connor asks. 

“I don’t know. Jeremiah is going to want me dead, but he thinks I’m about dead anyway.” I shake my head. “Just play it by ear, I guess.”

We both get out of the truck and start walking toward the prison. Connor holds a rifle in his hands even though he knows he can’t use it unless we either have Aaron and Evelyn or we are attacked. 

“Do you have a pistol?” I ask. 

Connor nods and pulls it from his belt. 

“When I give you a nod, I want you to hold it to your head like you’re going to kill yourself.”

“What?”

I smile at him. “He won’t know what to do.” 

“And what is your plan after I hold a gun to my head?” 

I shake my head. “I don’t have a plan. We’ll figure it out from there. I’ve got to read his reaction first.”

Connor doesn’t say anything to this, but I assume that he accepts it. Neither of us can see into the courtyard because sections of the walls have been left nearly intact, but the feeling I have in my gut tells me there is danger lurking on the other side. I can just feel that there are guards perched atop the surrounding buildings. The two of us are probably in their sights right now. Jeremiah likely knows exactly where we are. 

When we reach the courtyard, we walk through a break in the wall and immediately see a figure standing in the middle. It’s Jeremiah. 

He is alone, but I know he isn’t really alone. There are guards posted in strategic positions, I’m sure of it. 

I look at Connor one more time, hoping that his bandaged head is enough to keep him concealed. I nod at him and begin to stumble toward the man in the middle of the courtyard as Connor hangs back near the entrance.

JereˀHe miah stands confidently dressed head to toe in clothes similar to what I had seen him wear when I first met him. He wears the boots and safari-like outfit that hides most of his skin. He wears sunglasses and a hat. I can smell his perfumes from here. 

I drag my right foot as though it’s difficult to lift it. I can’t let him think that I’ve been healed. The moment he notices that I no longer carry the virus within me, is the moment he becomes aggressive. He thinks he has the upper hand, but he doesn’t realize that I’m at full strength and the healer is dead. 

I finally stop when I’m about twenty feet from him. Jeremiah simply stares at me and I’m unable to catch his facial expression behind the dark sunglasses. Set behind him, however, are what looks to be about five different car batteries. As soon as I see them, my thoughts go back to the several times I have seen Aaron use cars as his source of power. They were powerful indeed, but they were limited. It confirms to me that he touched Aaron recently, so he’s expecting a fight. I know I just have to stay calm and try to avoid a physical confrontation.

“Why does the healer stay back there?” Jeremiah asks. 

“A little apprehensive to the thought of dying,” I say. “You know simply taking his power will do nothing for you, right?”

“I am aware,” he says. “But there are other ways to
make
him heal me.”

“You would take a man’s life so freely?” I don’t know why I even ask. I
know
what he is capable of. 

Jeremiah just smiles at me. 

“What do you want?” I ask. 

“You’re almost dead, aren’t you?”

I blink. 

“The virus has almost taken you over. There almost isn’t any point for me to take your life now.” He takes a deep breath. “Admittedly, you aren’t going to get much out of the deal that I’m ready to propose to you.”

“What’s that?” I ask. 

“I’m willing to give you Aaron for the healer. Simple exchange. However, you and Evelyn will die.”

“You expect me to agree to this?”

Jeremiah shrugs. “I don’t think you have much of a choice.”

I turn and look at Connor and nod. Connor pulls the gun from his belt as planned and holds the barrel to his head. When I turn back, I can see Jeremiah’s eyebrows have lifted. 

“Christopher isn’t afraid to die,” I say. “Before we came here, he said that if Evelyn, Aaron, and I aren’t able to go free, he would kill himself right in front of you.”

“And if I did let them go free?” 

“He would give himself up.”

“I don’t believe you.”

I shrug. “It’s your gamble. Looks like it has taken you this long to find a healer. I don’t suspect you really want to wait another sixty years, do you?”

Jeremiah takes off his sunglasses and places them into one of his pockets, staring at me with his sagging eyes. “I think you’re bluffing,” he says. 

I say nothing. 

“I don’t have to have a healer. I can go on living the way I do.”

“You’re tired of the craving for flesh,” I say. “Having him so close to you now must be difficult with me standing in your way.”

“From what I understand, all I have to do is wait you out for the next hour or so and you’ll be dead.”

“Christopher won’t wait that long.”

“Neither will I.” He looks up at something and nods. 

When I turn to try and see whˀpheat he nodded at, all I see are buildings and walls. I turn back to Jeremiah. “Have and alternate plan?”

“When you’ve lived as long as I have, you always have an alternate plan.” When the words pass his lips, I hear a loud gunshot through the air. At first, I think it’s directed toward me, but I’m not hit. I spin around when I hear Connor scream out in pain. He’s lying on the ground, holding his leg. 

When I look back at Jeremiah, he seems to be glowing. With a hard punch, he sends electric bolts flying toward me. I fall backward as the electricity makes me spasm uncontrollably. I felt this same pain yesterday. It’s terrible. I’ve lost all control of my limbs. On top of that, the shock burns hotter than anything I’ve ever felt. 

For a moment, he stops, though my limbs continue to move without my control. All he has to do is continue to send shocks through me and I will be finished. I’m able to look up at him, and I expect some sort of maniacal grin, but he looks at me very seriously. 

“You’ve made a mistake trying to cross me, Mora,” Jeremiah says. “When you made me an enemy, you signed your death sentence.” He shakes his head. “You aren’t going to die by the virus. I’m going to kill you.” He takes a step forward. “I’m going to kill you, Aaron,
and
Evelyn. And once I use up your healer, I’m going after all your Starborn friends. I won’t stop until they are all dead. Your grandma will die trying to protect your little brother. And Jake? Well, by then I won’t have the taste for human flesh, but I might just make an exception for him.”

As soon as the words leave his mouth, I stand and swing my arms as hard as I can, grabbing his legs  with my mind and throwing him to the ground. He lets out a groan, but I’m distracted by the sound of bullets landing near me. I look up and see two guards on top of the prison. I stop their bullets only feet away from me and send them back at the shooters. I do this with several other guards. But then I hear another gun firing from the ground. It’s Connor. He’s firing his rifle at every guard he can find, covering me as I reach out and grab Jeremiah, lifting him in the air with just a thought. When he’s about twenty feet in the air, I let him go and he drops to the dirt in a crash. 

I’m about to grab for him again when I feel another surge of electricity sizzle through me. I scream out in pain as I lose my balance and fall to my knees. A bullet zips through the air past my head and Jeremiah lets out a terrifying scream as it rips through his shoulder, pausing his surge of electrical power. I see it as my chance to charge forward, grabbing him through the air with my fingers and shoving him down. I start to grab him again, but I stop when I hear trucks. Ten covered trucks pull up to each of the gaps in the wall. Screven guards jump out of the trucks and climb to the tops. They crawl out to the edges and begin to lift up on the back gates. 

What I see makes my stomach drop. From each of the trucks, come at least twenty greyskins. All of them are hungry for flesh. Connor hobbles toward me as fast as his injured leg will carry him. I instantly reach into my pocket and pull out the radio. I hold it up to my mouth and call out for Jeffrey. 

“All of you needed to be here about two minutes ago,” I say. “There are greyskins and guards everywhere. Be careful, but come fast!”

I’m blindsided by a force that I hadn’t seem coming. When I’m able to look up, I see Jeremiah on top of me. 

“Time to see what it’s like being you!” he says with a yellow smile. 

I immediately throw him off me to the ground about ten feet away. Connor holds up his rifle to shoot Jeremiah, but Jeremiah reachˀyelles into the air and swats the gun away. He then swipes again and Connor is on the ground.

The greyskins are almost on us. Screaming, groaning, they want nothing but to feast on the people fighting in the middle of the courtyard. I wish the others would get here soon. I don’t know how long Connor and I can do this alone. 

With a swing of my arm, an entire row of greyskins is tossed backward. But in the same movement, I feel a blast of air hit me and knock me face-first to the ground. I can feel blood trickle out of my forehead and down my face. Looking up, I see Jeremiah throwing greyskins in every direction. He doesn’t look worried. He looks amazed by the power he now wields.
My gift
. 

I grab the air in front of me like I’m grabbing his neck, but he does the same. Now we’re both suspended in midair, holding each other until one of us gives up. It feels like his fingers are digging into my neck. I’ve never actually been able to experience what my gift was like from the outside. It feels like a giant is choking me, about to squash me like a tiny bug. 

I reach out with my free hand and swipe the air at his waist. He instantly lets go of me and we both fall to the ground. 

Connor is unloading on the greyskins as they rush toward us, each shot landing in a forehead. But I know he doesn’t have enough ammo to take on all of them. He then turns to take a shot at Jeremiah. My insides freeze as he does this. With a pull of the trigger, the bullet zooms at Jeremiah, but the man stops it just in front of him. The bullet spins and smokes as we all just stare at it. Then, like a flash of lightning, Jeremiah sends it back to Connor, landing it in his shoulder. Connor yells out and falls to the ground. I charge Jeremiah again, and he runs to meet me. We both grab for each other, but making the same motion brings us to a standstill, neither of us willing to give way to the other.

Blood and sweat trickle down my face. Jeremiah stares into my eyes with black anger.

“Greyskins are coming fast,” he says to me. “Are you just going to let your friend die?”

“He’s the healer,” I say. “Are you just going to let him die?”

We hold each other in death grips. I know that I can’t break first, but I can hear that the hungry greyskins are almost on top of us. If I don’t turn, they’ll rip me to shreds. With a flick of the wrist, I try to snap Jeremiah’s hold, but it only weakens my ability and he overtakes me, throwing me to the ground. 

The back of my head bashes against the stone courtyard and I can see the greyskins coming. If I don’t get up and move now, Christopher’s death will have meant nothing. When I pull myself up, I see Jeremiah running in toward the prison with an invisible rope pulling Connor with him. I yell out, knowing it will do no good. The moment Jeremiah realizes that the man with the wrapped head isn’t the healer, Connor will be dead. I spin around and throw broken rocks and pieces of broken metal into the sea of greyskins, hoping it will be enough to keep them from following me into the prison. 

The undead monsters start to surround me. I look at their darkened eyes, their chomping teeth. All of these used to be people just like me. This is what I would be right now if it wasn’t for Christopher. 

I use any object on the ground and send it sailing through their brains. I can’t help but wonder what is taking Jeffrey and the others so long to get here. As I send greyskins flinging to the side, I hear the sound of gunshots popping in the distance. The first person I see is Heather as she zips past the entrance, slicing away with her knives until at least five greyskins are dispatched. Then comes Danny, smashing his way through a group of them with rocks anˀthed whatever he finds to lift. Jeffrey and Allison come in with guns firing.