The Forbidden Trilogy(193)

The sun had set, and Drake walked into the crowds of homeless people, losing himself in the shuffle.

One man stood out to him. He hadn't moved to find out what was going on; he just sat in a corner, sipping from a bottle, lost in his own misery. A hat lay on the ground at his feet, a hopeless plea for money. Drake thought of the homeless man he'd nearly beaten to death for five dollars.

How? How have I fallen so far?

He stopped, pulled some cash out of his pocket, and threw it into the man's hat.

The homeless man didn't speak, just nodded.

Drake nodded back, a silent affirmation of solidarity in a hostile world.

Then he walked away, boy in his arms.





Chapter 91 – Lucy



The crisp air smells like apples baking, as Lucy leans against a rock and enjoys the sun on her skin. She doesn't want to keep talking about their assignment in Russia, but she knows they have to.

Luke nudges her shoulder. "I don't know, Sis. I'm not sure if we made the right decisions. How can you even know what the right decision is when you're in the middle of it like that? Maybe if we'd done something different, the scientist would have lived. Maybe even Adam would have survived. How can we know?"

Their special valley hums with the magical chirping of birds that shouldn't exist. Somewhere across the rolling green hills, Mr. K pulses with life inside the earth.

Lucy pulls Luke's hand into her own. "We can't do this to ourselves. We did the best we could with what we knew at the time. The past is over—we can't change it. We have to look forward."

He pulls his hand away. "That's a cop-out. With that attitude, no one ever takes responsibility for their own actions. What if we didn't do our best? Or what if we did and it just wasn't good enough? We weren't ready. They should've sent someone else."

"That wasn't our call to make."

"I know, but we still chose to go. We could have said no. Maybe by being there, we made things worse."

Lucy throws a rock into the water and it skips twice before sinking. That feels familiar, but she isn't sure why. "And maybe things would have gone worse without us. Have you thought of that? Maybe more people would be dead if we hadn't been there."

Luke shrugs and chases her rock with his own. "I just hope we're making the right choices, because sometimes it doesn't feel like it."

The water fills with flowers and Lucy dips her hand in to play with a rainbow flower. This valley is so peaceful, so perfect. She lifts the flower from the water and admires the many colored petals all working together to create the rainbow effect. The simplicity and beauty impresses her.

She looks up to show Luke the flower and sees something in the water coming near him. A pair of eyes peeks out, cutting a path through the flower-strewn lake. Again, a sense of deja vu clutches at her, filling her with dread. Is it an alligator in the water?

Her heart races in panic, though she's not sure why. "Luke, there's something behind you. Run!"

Luke smirks at her but doesn't move. "Why?"

This is too familiar, but she doesn't understand. She moves toward her brother and is about to tackle him, to push him away, but eyes rise from the water and she sees it's not an alligator. It's a giant lizard. She's seen it before, but where?

Green scales glisten in the sun, and its heart pulses under its skin like a living ruby. With unparalleled speed, the lizard dives forward and snatches Luke with its claws, pulling him back into the water.

"No! Leave him alone!" Lucy's screams fall flat. She dodges the tail as it swings around to smack her.

She draws her gun and fires, over and over again. Pow-Pow-Pow.

Bullets imbed themselves in the flesh of the lizard, and it roars and groans, spinning viciously, looking for something to attack.

Lucy doesn't stop firing. She empties her clip into the beast.

The lizard roars again and flings Luke at her. His body soars through the air and hits a tree, falling limp onto the ground.

"Luke. Luke!" Lucy rushes to him, eyes locked on her twin, his pale face now coated in blood, a small hole—a bullet hole—carved into his temple.

"Oh, my God, what have I done? What have I done?" She can't take her eyes off her dead brother, though she can hear the lizard approaching her from behind.

Her body refuses to move, refuses to pull away from Luke. Even when she feels the beast take up the space behind her. Even when she feels its hot breath on her neck. Still, she cannot move.

Cannot turn, or fight, or flee.

Goosebumps run down her arm and a cold sweat covers her skin.

Sharp teeth impale themselves in her neck and shoulder. Pain. So much pain.

Then nothing.

***

Not nothing. More pain. Why did everything hurt so much? Lucy pushed herself up from her stomach and collapsed back to the ground, too weak to move and in too much agony to try again. A breeze stung her raw and exposed back and she yelped in shock.