Broken(41)

18.





    The airfield was on a bluff, looking out over a beautiful valley that stretched over the horizon. On a clear day you could see Valley Fair from the top of it. It was a great view, one that Zack and I had enjoyed more than a few times, driving down the road next to the airport and making our way down the slow cliff-road at the far side of it.

    I couldn’t see any of it in the dark. I made my way to the high fence as the snow continued to fall. It had slowed my drive, taken it down to a slog, twenty miles per hour the entire way, even on the freeway. The plows had yet to start dealing with the mess that Mother Nature had started to dump on the state of Minnesota, but I wasn’t sure I cared. I could see a plow running on the airfield, clearing one of the lanes, its big orange front end plow pushing the snow in front of it as it endeavored to make a space for a plane to take off.

    I had parked down the road at a gas station and run the rest of the way; with the snow and the cold, I figured I had made it almost as quickly as if I’d driven up to the front gates. I presumed the field was normally closed at this time of night, but they were either making an exception for Old Man Winter or he was ensuring he was the first one to leave in the morning. I didn’t really care which, I only cared that he wasn’t going to be leaving alive.

    I cleared the perimeter fence with a mighty jump and landed in the snow, sparing myself an embarrassing fall by maintaining my balance and footing. It didn’t really matter if I faced off with Old Man Winter while covered in snow, I supposed, but my seething fury made me think I’d look more dangerous if I wasn’t covered in fresh powder.

    There were a cluster of hangars ahead, corrugated metal buildings that screened me from sight of the main runways. I hurried over to them, keeping myself bent low. I had no idea where Eve or Bastian were, or Old Man Winter himself, come to think of it.

    My feet crunched in the snow as I ran. A few lights hanging off the sides of the buildings were the sole source of illumination under the dark, snow-filled skies. I listened as I went and paused at the back of the building. I heard something around the corner, footsteps, and I halted, my hands going under my coat as quickly as I could get them there. They emerged with an M4 rifle that I’d pilfered from Parks’ stash. I’d carried one from time to time in training and was familiar with it. It had a much better range than any of the submachine guns but wasn’t as good at distance as the sniper rifle I’d picked up. That was okay, though. I wasn’t planning to be at long range.

    I wanted to be up close and personal.

    The footsteps edged closer and I held my breath. I needed to be quiet; whoever it was absolutely could not scream, and I needed them to get off a shot like I needed to throw up a fireworks display that announced, “Sienna is here!” I wished briefly for a knife but instead came up with a simple solution, one that would surely have been approved of by Parks had he been here.

    I stayed still against the side of the building as the footsteps came closer, light, crunching in the snow. I saw the barrel of a shotgun first, followed by a person, a flash of blond hair as a face ratcheted toward me in shock, a surprised expression plastered across it. By the time it was fully formed, I had already arced the butt of my rifle out and hit Eve Kappler in the temple.

    I heard the crack of bones as her skull fractured and her knees failed. I carried through and caught her as she fell. I plunged to my knees in the snow on top of her, ripping her shotgun out of her hand with my free one and sending it skittering against the side of the building I had been leaning against. I cast a furtive glance over my shoulder along the path she had just walked, but no one was behind me. I grabbed her around the throat and dragged her behind the building, holding her tighter than was probably necessary.

    Once I had settled her, I kept my fingers coiled around her throat. She was in a daze, barely conscious, but I was choking her. I kept my hand taut around her neck, and watched as her eyes rolled in her head, then burst open as she came back to consciousness. I had my right knee anchoring her left arm into place even as she tried to get it free. My left hand had hers in a vice grip, and my whole weight was distributed across her. She was pinned in the snow, her blond hair pushed down in the mush as I throttled the life out of her while I waited for my power to take effect.

    “Sorry, Eve,” I whispered. She had no breath with which to speak, and I felt the first strains of my power starting to work. “It wouldn’t have been a fair fight if you’d chosen to orchestrate it, so I don’t feel the need to play fair now, either.” I mashed harder against her larynx and heard it pop, and she made a choked noise. Her eyes were squinted as she struggled for breath. I knew now that she was feeling the pain from both my touch and her impending suffocation. “That’s something I learned from you, really, not to play fair. I wish I’d killed you with that stone I threw that time I tore you out of the sky.” I looked at her, not harshly, oddly enough. “I could have, that day. Just a little harder throw, I think, would have done it.” I felt the swell of the power on my skin, and it made me feel flushed, hot, even as the snow fell around us, gathering on her dark lashes. “Not that it would have changed things, if you hadn’t been there the day Old Man Winter … did what he did,” I couldn’t even bring myself to say it. “But you’d be one less problem I have to deal with now.