The Facility

Slowly her home became visible through the trees and foliage. A pang of longing washed through Cass as the memories of her mom went through her.

She led the group around the back to the porch Lyle set Rudi down on a padded bench and said, “We should take care of as much as we can out here. No sense in getting blood everywhere.”

Cass shrugged and wiped her cheek again. The blood had slowed, but it was still bleeding, mixing with a stray tear.

She turned back to the door and reached for the knob when it turned. Cass had had enough. She stood with her arms at her sides, hands fisted, ready to turn whoever came out into pulp.

The door opened a crack and a face peered out slowly.

“Cassidy?” the voice said tentatively. “Is it really you?”

Cass shook her head as if trying to clear it. The voice. It couldn’t be.

“Mom? It can’t be. They said you were dead.”

The door opened wider as more of the woman came into view. “They said if I tried to find you, or report they took you they would make sure everything pointed back to me killing you and getting rid of the evidence. And then they would kill me and make it look like a suicide. Then they would do terrible things to you, just to top it off.”

Tears were flowing down her mom’s face. “Oh my baby,” she said stepping forward and grabbing her daughter.

Cass put her arms around her mother, squeezing back. Her mother lifted her up and like when she was little, Cass wrapped her legs around her mom, ignoring the burning in her hip and cheek.

Lyle cleared his throat and said, “I hate to break this reunion us, but we need some stuff for Rudi.”

Cass was reluctant to let her mom go but did so to help her friend.

“I will go get the SUV,” Maggie said.

“We have supplies,” Lyle looked at her disapprovingly, but Cass said, “I will go with her. We will be okay. You take care of Rudi… and my mom.”

He put a hand on her shoulder and said, “I promise.”

Cass hugged her mom again before leading Maggie back to the SUV by a slightly different route that did not take them through that clearing.

Harley followed Cass, staying at her side the whole way. Maggie drove back to the house and they did not see any of Hugo’s men, nor and vehicles that they might have come in.

Grabbing the first-aid kit Lyle had put together to take care of Cass, they rushed back to the porch where Lyle had already cut away Rudi’s pant leg and was holding a towel to his thigh.

Everyone watched as Lyle started an IV on Rudi, and then cleaned and bandaged his leg.

Cass stood beside her mom, one arm around her waist, while her mother had an arm around her daughter’s shoulders protectively.

When Lyle finished he said, “Now young lady, it is your turn.”

“Um, now?” she replied, putting a hand to her throbbing hip.

Lyle chuckled and ran his thumb gently along her cheek, just under the bullet graze, causing her to wince. “Yes, now,” he said smiling.

He turned her and gathered her hair, putting it into a loose knot, then sat. Cass stood between his knees while he washed the blood off her cheek and neck, commenting that she managed to ruin yet another t-shirt.

The shallow cut was around two inches long and ran almost perfectly straight across her cheek, angling down slightly as her head was tipped down looking at the toad when the shot was taken.

“You know, you should really find that toad. He is a good luck toad,” Lyle told her. “Had you not turned your head to watch him hop, this would have turned out really bad.”

He did not want to tell her that she would probably be dead right now if not for that. “As it is, you will have a scar that will not be too bad and might fade with time. It is not too deep. If nothing else, you will have a pretty good story to tell if anyone asks how you got it,” he told her smiling.

She noticed that the smile did not quite reach his eyes. He finished taping a small piece of gauze to her cheek and said, “All done. If you need help with the other later, just let me know.”

She looked him in the eyes and her vision because blurry. A tear fell down her cheek that was not injured.

He pulled her closer and hugged her. She put her head on his shoulder and he rubbed her back. “You are going to be fine,” he told her. “You are one of the strongest people I know, remember? The scars are nothing. You are pretty and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. If a little scar stops someone from seeing that, then it is their problem, not yours. Trust me, I’ve got plenty of scars. And remember, today you did everything you could to prevent what happened, and in the end, you really did not hurt anyone. I know it does not seem that way, but it is the truth.”

She hugged him again and stepped back, wiping her cheeks carefully.