Chapter 243
I stepped away from Christian, hopping he hadn’t detected anything nefarious. He seemed a little embarrassed that I’d hugged him, so I crossed my arms and tried to seem nonchalant, stepping out of the way of his pacing. When he wasn’t paying attention to me again, I shifted and put my hand in my pocket quickly without him detecting what I was up to. I then refocused my attention on my sister.
Cadence had her Glock in front of her and was walking slowly along a catwalk. A railing ran along her left side, a row of empty black cells to her right. On the other side of the railing was a steep drop into the blackness and the first story. Across from the abyss, I could see the same setup mirrored on the other side and assumed there would be a place down at the end of the narrow walkway where Cadence could turn around and come down the other side. If she made it that far.
“Got anything?” Aaron asked Cadence. I doubted either of them were even paying attention to the rest of us who were watching them like we were at a movie theater, poised on the edges of our seats.
“Bunch of old dilapidated cells,” Cadence replied, walking carefully, quietly. “Nothing else.”
“I’m gonna start repositioning some people,” Elliott said, and I thought I saw my sister jump. I wondered if she’d forgotten he was with us. “Don’t mind me.”
“Good call,” Aaron said. I bet he was happy to have Elliott here to do that since he was probably one of the only people he could trust not to screw it up. The portal didn’t sound too bad now, did it?
Meagan’s IAC came to life, and I saw Jamie next to her on the floor, looking drained. I was happy to see she was back with us. Ashley was, too, and Scarlet was beside her, though not nearly as tired looking as Jamie. I wondered if Ashley hadn’t been as hurt as Meagan or if Scarlet just didn’t drain as easily as Jamie.
The sound of Elliott’s voice moving people to reposition was slightly soothing, and I closed my eyes again, feeling out into the darkness. I watched as Cadence methodically checked cells, but I knew she wasn’t going to find Gibbon. He wasn’t up there.
I made this discovery a split second before Aaron did. Gibbon had never gone up the stairs, but as he heard the Guardian approaching, he rushed out of one of the cells, plowing into Aaron again. This time, Aaron kept his footing and swiveled, continuing to shoot as Gibbon ran back down the hallway the way he’d come.
“Hold your fire!” Cadence shouted as she took off running down the narrow catwalk. I was looking through her IAC as she peered down between the railings, and seeing Gibbon passing below her, she leaped up, stepping on the narrow rail, and threw herself down into the darkness. I held my breath, the sensation of falling making my stomach lurch into my throat.
I don’t know how she timed it so perfectly, but she landed directly on his back, and then she made the sound I’d imagine a person might make if they dove into a swimming pool absent of water. She dug her nails into his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his middle. I could see Aaron coming up behind her through his own IAC, and it seemed like Gibbon was slowing, but I knew this would never work and began to chew my bottom lip.
The rest of the team was positioned near the end of this spoke now, and I realized Brandon was going to be in Gibbon’s path if Cadence and Aaron didn’t stop him—but as Gibbon turned and slammed my sister into the concrete wall behind them, it became quite evident to me she was going to end up badly hurt, and I didn’t think there was a Healer available at the moment. I wanted to scream at her to let go, but I knew she wouldn’t listen. Gibbon pounded the wall again, Aaron’s bullets seeming like nothing more than annoying fruit flies as he swatted at them.
One more slam into the concrete wall, and my sister’s grip failed. Slowly, she slid down Gibbon’s back, landing on the floor. I could hear her breathing, which was raspy, and I imagined she had broken a few ribs, possibly had a punctured lung.
Rather than chasing after Gibbon, Aaron kneeled on the ground in front Cadence. “Are you okay?” I could tell how concerned he was as he brushed her hair back away from her face.
My sister didn’t, possibly couldn’t, answer aloud. “Go. Get him!” she said through her IAC.
“Someone else can get him. Are you all right?” Aaron repeated. From his view I could see him checking for broken bones, and when he touched Cadence’s side, she winced. “Stay still. I’ll get Jamie.”
“No, go get Gibbon. I’m fine for a few more minutes. Just go!”
It was evident from his expression that he didn’t want to leave her at all, but Aaron nodded at her, a determined look on his face as he kissed her on the forehead and took off after the monster who was already almost back at the observation circle, not too far away from me, on the other side of this thin wooden door.
Christian’s pacing stopped abruptly as the footsteps drew closer. I took a deep breath and realized it was now or never. “He’s coming this way,” I said to Christian, putting my hands on my hips, listening not only to Gibbon’s heavy footfalls, but also the sound of his breathing—in my mind.
“Yes, but Elliott’s got Brandon, Hannah, Morgan, and Aurora out there now. They’ll slow him down enough for Cadence and Aaron to catch up to him,” Christian said, but I detected a sense of longing in his voice.
“You should go,” I urged, nodding toward the door. I could see human shapes waiting out there, but in the dark it was hard to distinguish who was who. Christian was considering my words. I could see it in his eyes. “You could get him. Don’t you owe him one?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I do. But… your sister would be angry if I left you.”
I didn’t think it would be this hard to get him to move. As the monster neared, I tried again. “Gibbon’s not coming in here. He’ll break that line and be out the door. Then, if Elliott can’t stop him, he’ll be gone. You know none of those incompetent Philly people are going to stop him.”
“True….”
His expression morphed, and I could tell I had him now. I gave him a small nod of encouragement, and before he was even out the door, I began to answer the call that was beckoning me. I inhaled deeply through my nose as Christian stepped out the door and opened up my mind even more. Probing through the darkness, I sent a message. “Come to me! I’m like you. They won’t hurt you when you’re with me. Here, you’re safe.”
I could hardly hear what Christian was saying, something about being right back, and I vaguely saw him close the door behind him. I closed my eyes tightly, looking past the images on the IAC, through the veil that hung between myself and the Jogging Path Killer, into the dark mind of a serial killer.
My breath caught in my throat, and I staggered backward as an overwhelming sense of pain and abandonment hit me in the gut. Just as the memories of the woman I’d contacted the other day had struck me as my own, so too did the images of a little boy abused by a woman who was supposed to love him, abandoned by a father who cared more for his new wife than his child. Fragmented, twisted, gasping faces in waning light filled my mind as I realized I was seeing the women he’d murdered before he’d changed. Visions of my own sister locked in a cage with him came next, along with a feeling of desperation to escape, to break away and find freedom. Then, an overwhelming sense of loneliness and confusion as he fought to understand what he had become. His other victims’ faces flickered before my mind, including the image I’d seen earlier of a teenage boy being dragged into the darkness below the prison.
Tears began to stream down my cheeks. There was no doubt in my mind Gibbon was a monster, but I knew now how he had become the thing charging down the hall toward us. Without words, he let me know all he wanted was to be left alone, to be free, something he’d never felt before, certainly not as a tortured child. I understood exactly how he felt at that moment. Misunderstood, abused, chastised, hunted. “Come to me!” I called into the night. “Come here! I will protect you!” and with every pounding of his feet, I began to think maybe I wasn’t the one doing the convincing. Maybe I really would try to save him. One thing was sure; it would only be a matter of minutes until we all discovered whether I was a Hunter or a Vampire.
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