The library was empty except for Sean, who was fast asleep on one couch. He’d found a pillow and blanket somewhere. I suspected Anna. I walked close enough to make sure he was breathing and then made my way to the door at the back of the room.
Kennedy was right. The AV room was quite a sight. The whole back of the room was taken up by a mini movie theater with a floor to ceiling projector screen and three rows of comfy looking red armchairs. The other half of the room, closer to the door, held dozens of TVs and computer screens, various radios, walkie talkie sets, cameras, and even a sound board. Everything was dark except for one row of screens. Most of them seemed to be different views of the grounds around the house, but one was playing a news program. David was sitting in front of it.
“Hi.”
He jumped to his feet in alarm. “Jeezzes! You scared the hell out of me!”
“Sorry! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know you were here.”
He took a deep breath and pulled his chair back in front of the screen and sat down. “There’s always someone here when we have people out. Just in case.”
“So, have you heard anything? Has something happened?” I pulled up a chair next to his.
“Blah! Nothing about them, no. Anyway, Colin called a bit ago and said they were still traveling. Out in the middle of nowhere, I guess, so they won’t be back soon.” He waved a hand at the television. “But these days there is always something to hear about changers and all of it ghastly.” He rubbed his temples. “I really hate sitting in here listening to the world go to hell.”
So they were ok, for now at least. That was a relief. Something the woman on TV said caught my attention.
“...are asking you to report any strange activity or behavior immediately. Mr. Wickstien is working hard to prevent more deaths like these from failed experiments, but states these changers may be forcing people to undergo their experiments against their will, so the community will be a frontline defense against these terrorists.”
“Seriously?”
David laughed bitterly. “See what I mean?”
“What’s she talking about? Failed experiments?”
David reached over and turned a knob on one of the scanners. “Oh, probably a Phoenix that died because of their ability.”
“That happens?”
“Yeah, we’ve heard of a few. Like their bodies or brains just can’t handle whatever is happening. I read a story about a kid who died of a stroke after he started screaming about hearing the world.” He shuddered. “Of course, they could just be talking about a normal change, too. I’m pretty sure they are calling us all failed experiments now.”
We sat silently, watching the news and listening to the chatter from the scanners. David was right, pretty much everything was about changers, and it was all bad. It seemed quite a few changers had been lost in the first weeks of confusion and a lot of effort was being put into finding them. There was also a lot of talk about ‘rogue bands’ gathering their forces for a variety of speculated purposes, all of them evil. I asked David questions here and there about things I didn’t understand, but for the most part I just sat staring at the television in disgust. It was odd watching the peaceful, sunlit grounds while hearing such vile things.
After a while, David left the room. When he returned, he was carrying two bowls of soup and a couple of beers. “I had to fight Fletch to get these out of the kitchen.” He said, handing me a bowl and drink.
“Thanks. Hey, who is this Dynami Group I keep hearing about?”
“Some big pharmaceutical group. I’ve heard they are working with the authorities to find a cure or a vaccine or something. Supposedly, they're interested in helping everyone involved, but more likely they’re just trying to find some way to profit from all this. ”
Colin called again an hour or so later. He said they’d found what they were looking for and would head back soon. He didn’t seem to want to give details. David told him about Sean and that seemed to brighten his mood a little. I stayed in the AV room for most of the day and felt like I was finally catching up. And it helped with the worry over Nate and the others to have something else to think about. I was relieved when I heard a broadcast about sympathizers. It seems there were some people fighting for us, although they were hated almost as much as the changers themselves.
I went to check on Sean at one point. I found him sitting at the bar, reading through the stack of papers Colin had shown me the night before.
“Are you feeling ok?” I asked.
He looked amused. “Ah, if it isn’t my guardian angel. Yes, I’m doing just fine.” I suspected he was drunk.
“You probably shouldn’t be drinking. You are recovering from being dead.”
He raised his glass. “All the more reason to enjoy, I say. Care to join me?”
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“No, thank you.”
He frowned. With that face, he probably hadn’t been turned down very often. But he just shrugged and went back to his reading. I went back to watching. Ben came in early in the evening and took a seat by one of the scanners.
“I can listen for a while.”
David scoffed. “Yeah, like you watched the new kid?”
Ben glared at him and made for the door. “Fine. If you want to keep listening to this shit all night, be my guest.”
I looked back to David after the door closed again. “I notice no one likes him much. Has he always been so crass?”
“He doesn’t talk about his life before his change, so who knows? But trust me, he deserves the dislike. He can be a real ass. You need to watch out for him.”
“What do you mean? I know he’s a jerk, but he doesn’t exactly seem dangerous.”
“No, not dangerous in the normal way, just…” he lowered his voice, “I know we’re not supposed to talk about it or whatever, but with an ability like his…” He looked uncomfortable. “I just think people have the right to know, is all.”
“Why? What can he do?” I was genuinely curious, but he was also scaring me a little.
“He can read people’s minds.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Yeah, he says it’s more like reading people's emotions but comes to the same thing far as I’m concerned. He wasn’t such an arrogant jerk when I first met him. He was scared and withdrawn mostly, but everyday he gets a little worse. He likes to sit in his corner and drop little hints. Remind you he knows exactly what’s going on in your head. Gives me the damn creeps.”
“Yeah.” A lot of what had happened in the last few days made sense now.
Anna came in later to announce dinner was ready. I told David to go ahead. I didn’t feel like eating. He wasn’t gone long, though.
“That new kid's a real peach.” He sounded amused.
“Sean? Why? What happened?”
“He’s drunk as a skunk. Told Fletch his crab ravioli tasted as good as Chef Boyardee’s.” He was laughing outright now.
“Oh, no.” I moaned.
“Yeah. Then he started going on about how we’re all just sitting around waiting on the feds to snatch us up when we should be fighting. Ben told him he was just scared...” I groaned again. “Yeah, he didn’t take well to that. Thought he would try to fight Ben. But, fortunately for Ben, Mel was there. She’s about the only person who would take up for Ben, but she’s all he really needs, I guess. She carried Sean back to bed herself.” He was still chuckling.
“Is he all right?”
“Oh, yeah. We made sure he was breathing. I imagine he’ll have a hell of a headache tomorrow, though.” It was pretty obvious he thought it was deserved.
I couldn’t help but laugh too. “Well, still, I should probably check on him. He’s still recovering…” David had twisted toward one of the scanners. “What is it?”
“Turn off that TV so I can hear!”
I did as he asked. I still couldn’t make out what he was listening to.
“Damn!”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Looks like they found us.”
“What? Who? The government guys? They're here?” I tried to keep the panic out of my voice.
“Shhhh...I don’t know! I heard them mention the address and surveillance.” He was still leaning over the scanner. “Dammit! It’s just a bunch of code and gibberish now.”
“We have to call Colin!”
David grunted. “And let them know right where he is? If they know the house, then they know who lives here. They’re probably monitoring his phone. We call and tip him off, they might decide to snatch him up before he gets anywhere near here. Might be the only reason they haven’t fallen on us is they don’t know he’s gone or they’re waiting for him to get back. We don’t know what they know. Just that they might be watching. Better to not give them any more information if we don’t have to.” He scanned the screens showing the darkening grounds, but shook his head. “I don’t see anything, but we only have so much coverage.”
“We have to do something.”
“I agree. Stay here and listen. I’ll get everybody.” He ran out.
The noise coming through the scanner was just that to me, noise. I made out the words contain, post, and anchor, none of which was helpful but also didn’t make me feel any better about the situation. David was back in minutes.
“You hear anything else?”
“Nothing useful.”
Mel and Ben followed him in. While David was filling them in, Anna stepped in followed by Kennedy and Stephen. Kennedy lowered himself into the seat next to me with a sigh. I leaned in closer. “You should still be in bed.”
“Are you kidding? If it turns out the feds are out there, we’ll need everybody to make sure Colin can get back safe.” He lowered his voice more. “Besides, I might get a chance to experiment a little more.” I just shook my head.
“The first thing we have to do,” David said, “is find out if there even is a threat. We might be working ourselves up for nothing. A mention of this address isn’t enough to assume armed S.E.A.L teams are about to drop through the ceiling. Anna, can I ask you to take a walk around the property and tell me what you can see? I’ll turn out the floodlights so you’ll have the advantage. Mel can go with you,” he turned to Mel. “But don’t do anything. Just look and come back. We need information, not a firefight. Once you guys are back, I’m going to turn on the alarms and lock down the house, just in case. Ben, can you find Fletch and Celia and tell them to stay inside for now?” Ben touched Mel’s arm before he turned to go. David continued, “we’ll have a better idea of what to do once they get back.” He checked his watch. “Colin and they’ll be back soon but I think we still have time...” Anna and Mel left and the rest of us were left to pace silently.
“David, what did you mean Anna would have the advantage?” I asked more to fill the silence then, out of genuine curiosity.
“The dark,” he said distractedly. “She can see in the dark.”
Kennedy sighed. “See, everybody has something cool.”