Chapter 29

I couldn’t use my left arm, but I could hold it against my side. I needed a new sling, or something I could use as a sling. At the moment, however, I was running. The rain was cold, and I felt like I was slowly being frozen. I didn’t have a coat, an umbrella, or anything else to protect myself against the elements, but I couldn’t stop. My fear drove me through the cold and the rain. My fear gave me the energy to keep moving.

I crossed Roosevelt and continued through a field. The ground was soft and quickly turning to mud. I didn’t bother looking behind me. Garret would catch me sooner or later. Better later. It would give me a chance to try to heal first.

I continued past some houses, running along the tree line. I made it to another T-intersection with Bowmen road and several men in orange robes watched me run around the corner, heading north.

Bowmen was five lanes wide and fairly busy. I leaned into my run, picking up my pace. My paranoia told me Garret would spot me easily out in the open and with headlights flashing over me. At one point, traffic let up for a moment. I took the opportunity to cross the road and use the trees and houses as partial cover. The rain continued to pound on me and my clothes were almost soaked through.

The night sky was pitch black, which would have made spotting Garret troublesome. His disguise made him look like a living shadow, but his aura would stand out, especially the shape. He would look like some kind of spider chasing after me, and no human could ever outrun a human-sized spider. I believed I was his prey, but even prey in the animal kingdom has some defenses. I would have mine too.

I glanced up and could have sworn I saw something flying around. It wasn’t spider-shaped. More like a bird. Most birds had flown further south or were nested for the winter. In this rain, most would be seeking somewhere warm and dry to wait it out. Maybe it was a low-flying single-prop airplane. I didn’t know.

After a couple of blocks, there was a small pond behind another line of trees, and then the bright lights of a Walgreens drug store. I pounded my way around to the entrance.

The inside was brightly lit, warm, and dry. I moved deeper into the store. The clerk at the register shook her head while watching me. I found the aisle with bandages and found an adjustable sling for my arm.

“You won’t need that, Ral.”

I spun around because it sounded like he had whispered directly into my ear. He wasn’t there. A couple of other patrons stared at me like I might be deranged. Garret wasn’t in the store. I had to get out, to get away from these people so they wouldn’t be hurt. I ran to the front of the store, pulling cash out of my wallet. I stopped long enough for her to ring me up and drop the cash on the counter. I didn’t bother waiting for my change.

Out in the rain again, I tore around the corner, pulling on my new sling. Somehow, I leapt over a six-foot high wall, and landed in an open lot big enough to hold a professional baseball stadium - not the parking lot, but definitely the structure.

Panic shot through me. I was exposed here. I could only imagine how fast Garret could move using those aura-tentacles. Once again, the idea of being hunted by a human-sized spider flicked through my mind.

I couldn’t let my imagination run away with me. I had to calm down, to focus, and plan for Garret’s arrival. The first thing I needed to do was get my left arm working again.

I closed my eyes, ignored the rain, and steadied my breathing. I focused on my arm, especially my shoulder. It was dislocated. Putting it back would hurt intensely, but only for that second. Plus, I needed something sturdy to hit my shoulder against. I understood how to do it, it was just a matter of scrounging up the courage to do so.

The wall I leaned against would have to be enough. I turned, placing my shoulder against it. I focused on how to hit it right, and the method filled my head. I twisted my waist and slammed into the wall.

Pain shot through me, making me cry out. My tears mixed with the rain on my face. The pain quickly eased back down into a dull throb, something I could tolerate. Besides, my growing headache would soon make me forget about my shoulder.

Next, I needed to figure out how to stop Garret. His defenses were too strong for me to try that shooting power I discovered. He called my sword and shield a light show, but launched me away from him rather than chance that I could hurt him. I shook my head. Why do that? He could have caught me and used his other powers while pinning my arms to my sides. He could try to use that body-controlling power on me that he had used with Bethany and Agent Stevens, but he hadn’t done that either. Was this an effort to prove just how much more powerful he was than me? No, I didn’t believe that. No, this was an effort to wear me down. To make me too tired to fight. He wanted me worn out and overtaxed, making me easier to defeat, easier to take my powers.

I shook my head. “No,” I said to myself. “No on your life.” Then I stood up and started running along the wall. Running was my meditation. It was what allowed me to gain more control over my powers. I used it to recharge. I might not be as powerful as Garret, but I could recharge while waiting for him to find me. It would be soon. He would find me, and I would be waiting.

I set my gait to slightly faster than when I normally ran. The ground was soft, but not muddy or sticky. My rhythm was sound, my breathing steady. I was ready for him.

I rounded the first corner and continued to run. Movement caught my eye. I looked to the side and spotted Garret coming over the wall.

“Running will not save you, Ral.”

“No, but it allows me to recharge,” I thought. “If you want me, you’ll have to catch me.”

I knew I wasn’t the fastest runner, but I had yet to meet anyone who could keep up with me.

I heard heavy footsteps pounding up behind me. He was fast, but I had a good head start. I leaned forward.

The next corner of the lot was coming up. I would have to turn soon, or take a wide curve to keep him from closing the distance. I opted for the curve. Five steps from the wall and something tripped me.

I rolled with my fall, just like I learned in that self-defense class, and came up with my shield in front of me.

Garret bore down on me, lashing out with his aura. My shield covered me completely from this angle, just like when I face Mr. Portals and Ms. Daggers so many days ago.

“Your telekinetic shield can’t last forever, Ral. It will fall sooner or later.”

I grinned. “Who said it was telekinetic?”

He snarled in my head and pressed his attack.

With my right hand pulled back, I readied my sword.

Garret either saw what I had ready or guessed correctly. He stopped advancing. He smiled in the dark and stared at me. It was unnerving. Then I noticed that one of his aura-tentacles was stretched thin off into the distance.

With my shield in place, I looked back in the direction it led. The girl from the Walgreens counter was sneaking up behind me with something shiny in her hand. She was only a few steps away and would have caught up to me if I hadn’t looked.

I rolled to my left, moving away from her, but keeping my shield between me and Garret. His aura slammed into a couple of times and she ran to catch up to me. She held the shiny thing high over her head, as if to drive it down into me.

I dropped my sword and reached out with my telekinesis. I grabbed her wrist and squeezed it, forcing her to release the shiny thing. It was smaller than a butter knife, which made me think of a scalpel. Sharp and deadly in the wrong hands. I threw her back. She landed with a soft thud and only rolled over.

It was all Garret needed to slip past my shield. He grabbed me with his aura and lifted me from the ground.

“I have you, Ral. Now, I will take your powers.”

I looked at his face and tried to meet his gaze, but I couldn’t see his eyes.

“Eye contact is a must for that to work, Ral,” he thought. “Why do you think I chose this disguise?”

“Because you’re terrified of the possibility that I’m more powerful,” I said.

He held me out, each of my limbs held by his aura, stretching into a spread-eagle pose in the air.

“No, I know I’m more powerful,” he thought with a chuckle. “You haven’t accepted that yet. But you will learn.”

“Learn?” I asked aloud. “Learn what? That you like picking on the weak? That you can’t seem to do anything better with your life other than hunt and kill other people? Sure, I’m learning. I learn from observation, and something I’ve observed is that you haven’t even attempted to use that body-control power on me. You went after Bethany. You went after Agent Stevens. You even took a poor innocent girl from her job to try to use her against me. But you haven’t even attempted to use it on me. Why not, Garret? I heard you say you’re more powerful than me, so that should be easy for you, right?”