The Facility

After twenty minutes, Cass had Lyle turn onto a dirt road that was partially hidden by trees and scrub.

The SUV they were in was bigger than the car Cassidy’s mom owned and fingers of verdant moss were dragged over the windshield and roof.

Both Rudi and Gemma, being from Arkansas and Montana respectively, knew what it was like to be out in nature, but neither of them had been in an environment like this before.

They looked out the windows in awe, as did Maggie. Lyle lived in the mountains, and had traveled, so while this was different, it wasn’t totally new like it was to the others.

The sunlight shown between the tree branches, casting the light in what looked like varying size spotlights. All around were shades and shades of green and browns. Wildlife played all around them as they drove. Birds darted from tree-to-tree, feeding on insects in the air.

Lyle came to a fork in the path and stopped, asking, “Which way?”

“My house is to the right,” Cass answered, “but go left just in case Hugo or his men are around. We can park and head across the swampland.”

Lyle took the left fork and drove another half-mile before Cass told him to stop. “There is no place to pull off,” he said.

“Does not matter. No one lives out this way anymore, so you will not be blocking anyone,” she replied. “The house is not too far away, so we should probably leave everything here for the time being. Once everything checks out okay, we can come back and get it all.”

Everyone got out and Harley went around sniffing the trees, watering as many of them as he could. To one side, Lyle said to Maggie, “Maybe we should stay here.”

Her brow furrowed. “Why?”

“In case something happens.”

“And if it does, I will be here all alone. No thank you. Where you go, I go.’

Lyle sighed but knew when he was beat. “Lead the way,” he said to Cassidy.

She followed the path, but she did not need to. Growing up there, she knew the area and could get around in it blindfolded. Sometimes at night, it was so dark that she might as well have been. Besides her houses’ lights and a moonbeam or two, it was pitch black at night if she went too far from the house.

Cass moved through the plant life and trees with the ease of years of practice and little fear of indigenous life in the swamp.

She knew where the hostile creatures tended to hang, like the gators as well as the ones that moved around lie the snakes, so she was careful to keep her eyes open for danger for her friends.

They were getting closer to her house and entered a small clearing. Cass knew they were only about a hundred yards from her house and paused in the clearing so everyone could catch up.

One edge of the clearing bordered on the wetlands and a toad had come into the clearing and was at Cass’s feet. She squatted down and picked up the toad, holding it on her palm. Its big eyes blinked while looking at her, but it made no attempt to flee.

Rudi came behind her and looked over her shoulder at the toad in her hand. Gemma headed towards them asking, “Whatcha looking at?”

“Frog,” Rudi said to Gemma, who replied, “Eww,” and stopped.

“Toad,” Cass corrected. “They are different.”

As if agreeing, the toad croaked, turned towards the water, and sprang off Cass’s hand.

Cass turned her head, watching the toad leave. Simultaneously she heard a loud crack of a rifle and a sharp sting across her right cheek.

Behind her, Rudi cried out, falling to the ground.

“Get behind me,” Cassidy cried as she threw up her hands, pushing outwards in an attempt to deflect any further shots.

“Hold your fire,” the rumbling voice of Hugo Forrester called out. He stepped out into the small clearing, followed by two armed men in black tactical gear. Without looking, he said, “Tell your men not to shoot unless authorized by me. Failure to do so will be dealt with harshly.”

One of the men behind Hugo spoke quietly into his throat mic.

“Now Ms. Gray, I prefer to deal with this in a non-lethal way, however, if necessary I will terminate you and the other… subjects.”

Cass glanced behind her and saw Maggie pressing on Rudi’s thigh. Lyle was next to her but Gemma had moved to her left, far enough that she was not sure if a shot would be deflected enough. She was not sure she could stop a high velocity round, not knowing what direction it was even coming from.

Hugo cleared his throat and tsk’ed. “It is such a shame to see you injured… again.”

Cass was only remotely aware of the warm, wet feeling on her cheek. Using her forearm she swiped at her face, feeling a stinging burn in her cheek and saw that her arm came away with a crimson smear of fresh blood.

Hearing that rough sound of Hugo’s voice gave Cass pleasure, knowing that she had gone all Jedi on him. “This is the second time your men shot me, Hugo. I do not take kindly to being shot. Just ask what men survived our last encounter,” she told him with a sadistic grin. “How’s the throat, by the way?”

Cass took pleasure in seeing Hugo clench his jaw.

“There is no getting away this time Ms. Gray. Come along peacefully and your two adult chaperones can walk away unharmed. If not, well, I cannot guarantee that anyone survives.”

He made a shrugging gesture, spreading hie large hands. “To me, it does not really matter. The scientists can use your DNA from what blood remains after it’s all over.”

This time it was Cassidy who gritted her teeth, causing her cheek to flair up in pain, throbbing with her pulse.

“We need to tend to this,” Maggie said to no one in particular.

Cass glanced over her shoulder at Rudi again, not ready to give up, but knowing that if something did not happen soon, Rudi might die.

Quietly she said, “I know it hurts Rudi, but can you connect us three really quick?”

Rudi grunted and she heard Gemma’s voice in her head. Having no real idea what she was going to do, she quickly gave some ideas to Gemma, then looked at Hugo.

“I cannot really say I like the options you have given me, Hugo. I am a person, not some lab rat. So are Gemma and Rudi. So are all the others you have captive. How about a compromise? You slink back to the hole you crawled out of and I will not kill all of you. I will not be happy if I have to kill all of you. I let you live once because I did not want to sink to your level, but if you leave me no choice, I will do what I have to do. I will find a way to live with it.”

Hugo looked sad and dropped his hands to his sides. “Then you leave me no choice,” he said with a sigh.

He started to raise a hand when Cass yelled, “Harley, attack!”

The clearing was high enough that Hugo and his men, at least the two in the clearing that Cass could see, had not seen the dog creep around and behind them.

The men raised their guns and looked around, but neither thought to look behind them.

Harley bounded out of the grass and slammed into the man on Hugo’s left, sending him sprawling as the dog went for his exposed neck.

The other man turned from Cass towards Harley, but she was not about to let her dog get shot. Taking a gamble, she changed the direction of her push downwards, hoping to cause any shots to fall short and then she jerked the gunman and flung him backwards.

The man flew through the air, landing with a splash in the swamp. For a change, Cassidy hoped that a gator was lurking there.

A shot rang out and a puff of dirt blossomed just in front of her.

Gemma darted towards the water, and upon getting there, she put her hand into the water. The gunman was still thrashing around, trying to get free of the muddy silt when the water around him started to crackle and freeze solid.

Cass turned her attention back to Hugo as the ice crept up the man’s body. Hugo was reaching into his suit coat when a shot rang out from behind Cass.

Hugo froze and looked down. His suit was dark, but it was turning black near his groin. He folded into himself as she dropped to the ground limply.

Aa man came sprinting out of the tree line and Harley took off after him, but Lyle shouted a command and Harley slid to a stop, disappearing into the grass.

Lyle fired his gun and the bullet when into the ground in front of the man. He swore and fired again – and missed yet again.

Cass realized why he was missing and released her power, then said, “Again,” to Lyle just as the man brought up his own gun.

Lyle fired first and the man collapsed before he had a chance to fire.

Cass crouched, waiting, and listening for more men but none appeared. Either that was all that came, or the rest got smart and fled.

Harley stood and trotted over to Hugo, sniffed him, then went to Cassidy’s side. She scratched his ears, ignoring the red on his muzzle, and could have sworn she heard Lyle mumble, “Traitor.”

Looking at Gemma who was trying to make herself small, she saw that the water and ground around the girl was frozen solid for ten feet around her. The gunman was encased in ice and she knew he would not thaw intact.

Cass motioned for Gemma to come back over and she did in a crouched walk, almost duck walking.

Maggie looked up from Rudi and said, “How did you miss Lyle?”

He shrugged. “I was shooting at center mass. Something must have happened to my gun.”

“Sorry,” Cass said. “It was my fault. I was trying to keep everyone safe and did not think about that it would affect you as well.”

Cass walked over to Hugo. He was breathing really rapidly and grasping his inner thigh. From behind her, Lyle said, “I think my bullet was deflected down and hit his femoral artery. He will not survive much longer. You should probably go.”

Cass did not move. She looked down at Hugo and said, “I did not want it to end this way, but I warned you.”

“D-do not think this is o-over,” Hugo managed.

Cass hung her head and replied, “Then I will do what I need to do to protect myself and my friends. Even if that means hunting all of you down first. You have taken too much from us already.”

Hugo reached out a bloody hand, then shuddered and his hand fell limply to the ground.

Lyle put a hand on Cassidy’s shoulder and said, “We need to go. For our own safety and to treat Rudi.”

Cass nodded sharply and said, “Stay behind me.” She waited for Lyle to pick Rudi up and everyone followed behind her, single file. As she walked, the tree branches and plants parted in front of her as if she were a ship and her prow was parting the sea.

Without really trying, she was applying so much force that branches snapped from the unrelenting force that washed out in front of her.