Getting Home

Part 48

Sean put the cruiser in gear and floored it, swerving around the manhole cover, making the rear of the cruiser fishtail as he accelerated off.

The manhole cover exploded.

A black fountain jetted up from street behind them, rising like a column and splashing back down, missing them.

"Yes!" Ava cheered happily, throwing her arms up in the air. Then she stopped.

"Why?" she said.

Sean checked the rearview mirror, tilting it down so he could see both Leigh laying on the backseat and out the rear window. Nothing was following them—for the moment. Thoughts began to come back to his mind.

Keep going with the plan. Kids at Morgantown.

Oh my God... Sophia...

"What do you mean that 'wasn't the main part?'" Ava suddenly exclaimed.

"Ava, what are you going on about?" Sean said, trying to not see the last image of Sophia's terrified face in his mind. "And what the hell are you doing here? I didn't even know you were alive, how did you—"

"It's a long story," Ava said. "I'll tell you all about it later—but right now we have to get to Morgantown."

He shook his head. "We should really get you somewhere safe, Ava. It's dangerous."

"Hey, what are you doing?" Agent Leigh suddenly yelped.

Sean's eyes flicked to the rearview mirror to see Leigh still laying on the backseat, the kid next to her, but reaching down—

And holding her ankle.

"Hey!" Sean yelled over his shoulder. "Ava, tell him to stop!"

There was a sudden flash of light.

Silver light.

"I—I don't—" Leigh stuttered in amazement, smoothly rotating her ankle around. "He healed it."

"Don't you believe me yet?" Ava asked Sean.

The question took him by surprise. He did believe her—now— but for some reason, his natural instinct was to not. Even after seeing it with his own eyes, his mind still resisted, didn't want to admit the truth—

Didn't want to admit it was wrong.

"Alright, Ava," he acquiesced.

"Finally," she huffed.

The sun was just beginning to peak over the buildings of downtown Chicago as they neared Morgantown, the last few twinkling stars that remaining fighting not to fade away in the brightening, early morning sky.

They could hear the gunfire long before they even got close.

It wasn't just gunfire, either—Sean could hear explosions of all kinds; M203 grenades, AT4's...

And mortar rounds?

They came out of an intersection, revealing the giant plaza in front of Morgantown Mall—and the giant war zone in front of it. Sean stopped the car as the building came into view, and they all just stared out the front of the windshield, mouths open.

"Oh my God," Ava whispered.

The entire three story structure was completely encased in that black, viscous, throbbing liquid.

Morgantown Mall wasn't actually Morgantown Mall—officially, it was the "Morgantown Industrial and Commercial Redistricting Recreational Complex," a massive, three-story sprawling "smart-development" filled with retail stores, corporate offices, commercial centers, and even indoor parks. It was all brand new—built and paid for as part of a redevelopment revitalization program by some massive corporation.

Sean didn't know much beyond that—he had really only been here for scenario training, and remembered being impressed with what they called its new state-of-the-art "anti-domestic-terror capabilities."

Now, his eyes crawled up what used to be the front facade of the main building, now entirely covered in that black, vile ooze—

And bigger than Sean ever thought possible.

Oh yeah. We're screwed, he thought.

"Okay, so now what?" Sean said. Three police cars rolled by in front of them, followed by a giant armored MRAP, the turret on top modified to hold a GAU-17 Vulcan minigun being manned by a SWAT officer in black tactical gear.

The officer unloaded the minigun towards the building as they passed by in front of the cruiser—the dark, early morning was violently torn apart by an impossibly thundering brrrrr'ing. Ava covered her ears in the passenger seat; Leigh yelled something that Sean couldn't hear over the rocket-level buzzing gun.

The rounds lit into the black liquid covering the building, making it bubble and froth and splash from the thousands of rounds lighting into it—

And having no effect.

"So, now what?" Sean said, watching the caravan of police vehicles keep rolling by—and not wanting to pull forward towards the mall and get any closer to that thing. But what choice did he have? If he was really going to trust Ava, he had to...

Well, trust her—

Which was the most terrifying thing of all.

"We have to get inside," Ava said.

"And how do you propose we do that?" he said irritably. "In case, you haven't noticed—"

The kid suddenly jumped out of the car—

And started sprinting towards the black covered building.