Chapter 33
Melissa was deafened by the sound of rain hammering against Daniella’s car and the endless stream of questions her friend asked as they drove from the diner to meet Gabriel. Frustrated that she could answer so few of Daniella’s inquiries, Melissa was relieved when they finally arrived at Harbingers High School. They proceeded along the length of the winding driveway to the rear of the school where she immediately spotted Gabriel’s hunter-green Ford Explorer. They pulled up beside him and Melissa thanked Daniella profusely before climbing out of the car and into the storm.
In the short time they traveled from the diner to the school, the winds picked up. Strong gusts sent rain cascading to the ground at a slant. Large droplets pelted her face as she turned to watch Daniella’s Toyota Prius power out of sight. She then ran to Gabriel’s SUV. He started to get out and open her door for her but she called out for him not to bother. After all, it was pointless for both of them to be soaking wet.
As she climbed in, she was instantly greeted by his worried, tortured expression. The beauty of Gabriel’s features was veiled by anxiousness, by fear. He looked at her briefly and did not speak. Instead, he shifted gears and began driving.
She sat, a sickened entanglement of nerves, and waited as he drove along a service road used primarily by the maintenance department of the school district. The dirt road traversed the woods, paralleled the clearing where keg parties ensued and where Gabriel rescued Melissa from Kevin, and ended finally at a squat building that housed various landscaping apparatus.
Stopping in front of the stout construct, Melissa could not endure the silence and spoke first.
“Gabriel, what the hell is going on?” she demanded. “Why are we parked here?”
“I need to keep my car out of sight. The person who’s hunting you, I mean us, knows my car.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Why would someone be hunting us?” Melissa exclaimed.
“Melissa, Terzini knows I showed you the lab. He had everything wired, the house and the laboratory, with cameras and mikes, I had no idea. He’s insane, and now he wants us dead.”
“Oh my God!” Melissa whispered, confused considerations eddying about her head. The moment felt surreal, nightmarish. All of it was more than her mind could process–a rogue geneticist wanting to create an improved human species, a half-formed being in a tank, and now, someone was pursuing them. She felt like she was rapidly approaching a breaking point from which there was no turning back.
“What I told you, the things you saw, no one else knows about. The kind of research Terzini is doing is not allowed. If the Russian mob found out he was alive, they’d kill him. If the government found out he was alive, he’d be arrested. Either way, he can’t risk what he does getting out.”
Gabriel paused and put his head in his hands.
“Melissa, I’m so sorry I ever got you involved in this. I shouldn’t have had you over the house or showed you the lab. I shouldn’t have even gotten involved with you. I was selfish. My feelings for you, I let them cloud my judgment. You don’t deserve any of this.”
Gabriel took a moment before continuing. “The man that’s after us, his name is Eugene. He was created by Terzini for situations like this, to tie-up loose ends.”
“We’re loose ends?” Melissa cried in disbelief.
Before Gabriel could respond, a familiar black car pulled up behind his Ford Explorer ensnaring the SUV in its position.
She turned in her seat to look out the back window and was shocked by what she saw.
From the driver’s side door of his car, Kevin stepped out, heavy showers plastering his highly stylized hair to his skull. She watched as he stood straight, a smug smile spreading across his lips as he moved toward them leaving the engine running. She squinted, perplexed to see that he brandished a silver aluminum baseball bat.
Without warning, the remaining three doors of his sports car opened. John DeNardi, Eric Sala and Chris Mace climbed out wielding similar weapons.
“Oh my God,” was all she could manage.
“What the hell is going on here?” Gabriel muttered.
“This can’t be happening!” Melissa exclaimed.
Melisa jumped as loud thumps pounded against the body of Gabriel’s SUV. Her heart raced as she saw Kevin and his crew rounding from the rear; the source of the pounding became clear. Wind-driven precipitation lashed as they shouted for both Gabriel and Melissa to get out of the vehicle.
“Get the fuck out of the car!” Kevin ordered.
Afraid, Melissa watched as Gabriel put his hand on the door handle and pulled. He leaned across the console and kissed Melissa.
“I got us into this. Let me deal with them and see if I can get us out of it. I’m so sorry, Melissa.”
Frantically, she pleaded with him to stay in the car.
“Gabriel, don’t go! They’ll kill you!” she screamed.
Melissa looked imploringly at Gabriel as she tugged on his arm, pulling him closer to her.
“There’s nothing you can say to him that will make him back off,” she argued in a more controlled voice.
Taking her face in his hands, Gabriel kissed Melissa once more and said, “They won’t kill me. And I have to try to stop this somehow.”
“Please,” she began and clutched his arm, but offered nothing more. The resolute look on his face warned her off. She withdrew her hands that attempted to restrain him and Gabriel pulled the lever the remainder of the distance. She could do nothing more than sit idly by as Gabriel opened the door.
Despite the closed windows of the Explorer and the pounding, windswept rain, Melissa was still able to hear Gabriel’s muffled voice as he made an effort to reason with Kevin and his followers.
“Guys, come on, move your car so we can get out of here, all right?” she heard Gabriel say levelly.
She then heard Kevin raising his voice. He shouted, “Not a chance, asshole. We’re settling this right here, right now.”
She immediately recognized that Kevin was mimicking Gabriel’s words from their parking lot skirmish days earlier.
Gabriel’s posture seemed unperturbed. She heard him say, “Settle this?” as rain poured on him, obscuring his serene features. “You call four guys with bats against one unarmed guy a fair way to settle things?”
Another voice chimed in. Eric shouted, “We don’t give a shit about fair asshole!”
“Yeah. We just wanna kick your ass!” John added, yelling.
“Did you think we were gonna let you get away with that shit you pulled the other day?” Kevin rallied sarcastically. “This is our school! You came here and tried to fuck with that!”
She watched as Kevin stepped toward Gabriel as he spoke. Then without warning, he swung his bat high and Gabriel’s head became the intended target. Gabriel ducked and dodged the swipe before Eric, John and Chris descended on him.
With aluminum bats attacking him from every angle, even someone as strong as Gabriel could not fend off the strikes. Melissa screamed from inside the car and slid to the driver’s side as she reached for her cellular phone. She immediately dialed 9-1-1, desperate to contact the police, but her location and the inclement weather conspired against her; call service was unavailable.
Melissa cursed and shifted her position and tried again.
As she expected, there was still no service. She watched in horror as a blow landed against Gabriel’s back, causing him to arch his body and howl in pain followed by another swing that struck him in the arm. A third hit landed against his thigh, knocking him to the ground.
His face was pained. With no other choice than self-preservation, she saw that Gabriel remained on the ground and protected his head with his arms as Kevin and his cronies advanced.
Their assault was tireless. Melissa watched as Kevin, Eric, Chris and John kick Gabriel about his body with fervor and conviction. He could do little to defend himself. They were fierce, merciless.
Melissa swore again, raging
at Kevin and his group, at her inability to call the police. She was powerless to help Gabriel.
Gabriel would not be able to sustain many more blows. He was bruised and bloodied.
Without thinking, she jumped out of Gabriel’s Ford Explorer.
Stepping into the hellish rainstorm, Melissa began screaming in a voice panicked and piercing, alien to her ears.
“Leave him alone!” she shrieked repeatedly.
Kevin turned toward Melissa. He no longer resembled the handsome, star-athlete beloved by most people at Harbingers High School. He looked like a wild-eyed criminal, like a monster. Rivulets of rain streamed down his face lending him a distorted, demonic expression befitting his malicious actions.
He glowered at her and shouted, “You’re next bitch! Don’t think we’ve forgotten about you!”
She knew his threats were anything but hollow.
She listened as John, Eric and Chris jeered at her as well, taunting as they kicked at Gabriel.
Gabriel screamed at her from his prone position.
“Run, Melissa! Get out of here now!” he screamed.
Melissa paused, briefly immobilized. She knew she must leave and get help but could not fathom abandoning him. Her heart and her mind contended with each other, one preventing the other from acting effectively. Finally, words were formed on her lips. She heard herself say to Gabriel, “I’ll get help!” then she reluctantly turned from him and ran.
With her head down, she strode as fast as her legs would allow. Her mind had a single objective: get help; despite the consequences, she needed to get help. She ran against the rain as it gusted and mixed with snow periodically, deeper into the woods.