SWNOVELS Chapter 59
Somewhere in the middle, it had gone into absolute chaos. The whirling blades of the circling helicopter, its beam waving madly trying to avoid all the mess going on below. The ‘Mr Merrick’ that Rick had referred to clearly was insane or had balls of steel – both of which would not be a surprise. Sometime between starting and where they were a final faction had arrived, the forces of MOO – who remained locked into battle scattering the remaining of Atlas’ army.
Andrew knelt beside Louise. She had looked perfectly fine, elated and her neck a bit red from where the bastard had touched her – but very much alive. Then her look had gone ashen and she had collapsed, her breath coming in shuddering gasps, her heartbeat thundering erratically in her chest. He cursed himself for not knowing what the hell was going on and more than that cursed her for ever injecting herself with that stuff.
“What happened?” Sandy asked, regrouping with the two of them.
“She was fine one minute and then she went down,” he explained, “It’ll be that bloody stuff she took.”
“Given the way her heart’s doing the Macarena, it’s killing her,” Sandy agreed, having knelt and taken her pulse herself. “She knew she wasn’t one of the 5% but she went and had to do it anyway.”
“Well what the hell do we do?” he snapped, “We can’t do a full blood transfusion here and get that crap out of her system, so what else?”
They were joined by another of their companions, Angel. Shakily he was walking over to them, looking as bloodied and beaten as they all felt. Usually never a feather out of place, his body trembled with pain as he limped over to them. Sandy was going to ask the stupid question of what happened but considering he was there and alive, it didn’t matter.
“Angel!” she cried out, “Thank God…”
“I believe the right phrase is, you should see the other gentleman,” he joked weakly. When he reached them he swooned, Sandy rushed to stop him from collapsing right on top of Louise and helped him to his knees instead. “Although in this case he appears far better, and has disappeared.”
“You need to help her,” Andrew told him, looking up at him ignoring everything else. The core of his being told him one thing. “You need to help her now, the serum is killing her.”
“Jeez, Andrew, look at him,” Sandy snapped but Andrew shook his head and reaffirmed,
“You need to help her now.”
“Sandy is right, I can barely hold myself together, I have never tried to heal someone else in such a state,” Angel responded, genuine pleading sorrow in his voice, “I do not even know what changes have been made by this substance or whether I could even do anything.”
“Try,” Andrew told him, laying down his one and only order, “If you do not try and she dies, I cannot be responsible for what happens. So try!” He roared the last try, the power of his anger unleashed. Angel relented.
He could see it hurt his friend and a portion of him, one he compartmentalised into its quiet corner where it couldn’t break out, felt guilt. But the logical, cold-hearted monster was in charge now, the one who would get done what needed to be done and allow his human side to deal with the consequences later.
Angel’s hand was shaking as he laid it gently on Louise’s forehead. He already knew she was burning up and running a fever but he didn’t correct him. Angel’s eyes closed, the sounds of distant battle continued to fade away into the rhythmic thump of the helicopter’s blades. The light was weak at first but come it did, Angel’s face grew far more pained, twisting into a grimace of effort. The bloodied nose which had begun to heal began to crack and bleed once more. It dripped onto the ground.
The pulsating light in his hand grew stronger but the effort and strain it put on him were killing him. It was that simple, but he knew Andrew would not let him stop so he continued. He pushed as hard as he could, with every fibre of his being, his heart pounding in his chest until the only sound he heard was the rush of blood.
Eventually, he collapsed, falling forward to the ground in sheer exhaustion. Louise’s eyes, confused, bleary, looked up at them.
“What happened?”
Andrew answered her with a kiss and said no more. Sandy looked around for Rick and did not see him, the helicopter had veered away to parts unknown. In all the chaos and the confusion and chaos; mad and crazy not one of them, not even Angel himself, noticed a simple thing amongst his white plumage.
A single black feather, a grey tinge to two more. They would be gone before they were noticed by any of them, but they signalled something.
Another beginning, of another end.