Feared

Eighteen: Arrivals

A girl with white-blonde hair and long elegant features sat in the driver's seat, chewing gum and tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. Loud rock music played on the radio.

"Don't you look nice," she remarked, smirked at Wallace.

"Undercover". Wallace grinned her usual dangerous grin that made Matt feel he was missing out on something. "You couldn't have acquired a less obvious car?"

"I liked this one," the driver shrugged.

The other two men climbed in. Matt squirmed, pinned between Wallace and a huge, bulging beast of a man. The other man climbed into the front of the car. Obvious or not, he would have preferred a bigger car.

"You must be Desmarais," the blonde girl said, raising her near invisible eyebrows at him and pulling into traffic without even glancing at the road.

"Must I?" he muttered. He leaned against Wallace, desperate to get some space. The colossal man had to be altered. He reminded him of Carrick Jones, only bigger. If Carrick could crush a man's skull he didn't want to think what this man's large, meaty hands could do.

"Not embarrassed to be a Desmarais, are you Matt?" Wallace grinned, revealing all her teeth.

The girl driving guffawed, a sound clashing with her elegant appearance. She hit her hand off the steering wheel as if it was the funniest thing in the world.

Matt frowned. He didn't get the joke.

"This is Ronnie," Wallace said, indicating the blonde girl, who waved, weaving through the traffic without looking away from him.

"And this is Callahan". Wallace gestured to the man beside Matt. He was in his late twenties, his head shaved and his thick neck lost between his square jaw and bulging shoulders.

"Nathan is in the front. Say 'hi' Nathan".

Nathan glanced back at them and grinned, his teeth black pointed nubs and a forked tongue flickering between them like that of a snake.

"I think he likes you," Ronnie laughed, hitting the steering wheel again.

"Nathan doesn't talk".

Nathan grinned again, his tongue poking through his pointed teeth. He dipped his sunglasses so Matt caught sight of radioactive-green eyes. Matt didn't want to know what Kingston had done to him.

"So, you've heard the news I suppose?" Ronnie sighed.

She was playing with the radio, weaving in and out of the lanes of traffic with apparent ease, though she didn't look to the road once.

"Who hasn't?" Wallace replied. "Do they have any leads on who took them?"

"Nothing has been said yet, but..." Ronnie paused. She passed across three lanes of traffic before squealing "I love this song".

"Focus Ronnie," Wallace sighed, in a tone suggesting she was used to Ronnie's distraction.

"Oh... um, well, they were held in St Othmar's so they were pretty serious about security".

"What's St Othmar's?" Matt asked, feeling the eyes of everybody in the car turn on him.

Nathan's fork tongue flickered between his teeth as he grinned. Callahan flexed his muscles squashing Matt even more. Ronnie continued to stare at him, not looking at the road, a crooked smile on her thin, pink lips.

Wallace shook her head. "It's where the really bad guys go. Nobody knows that much about it. The government likes it that way".

"How do you know about it then?"

"How do you think, darling?" she smiled tapping the side of her head. "Your father had his toes in many ponds, I got to explore many important minds in my time with him".

Matt ground his teeth. He hated her casual remarks to his father. He hated any marks about his father.

"St Othmar's is seriously high security. The best of the best," Ronnie added. "I mean it's mental stuff".

"He gets it Ronnie".

Wallace patted his hand as if to reassure him. He suppressed the urge to tell her to stay out of his head. She withdrew her hand.

"Alexander could have walked out of any facility. I've seen him tear steel and brick apart. I have seen him stop bullets mid-air. Our prisons would never hold him - even the best of the best".

"They would have had him sedated. He probably didn't even realise he was in a prison. Somebody took him from St Othmar's. Don't doubt that, but the only people who could have done that, are people like us".

"Altered?"

"Kingston's finest," Ronnie nodded.

"And the others?" Wallace asked.

"The others are still MIA. I mean, what did the government think was going to happen? That they would go quietly. Humans never fail to astound me with their stupidity".

"Ronnie, seriously?" Wallace sighed.

"What? It's obvious I'm not talking about you," she said meeting Matt's gaze in the rear view mirror. "You're an enlightened human".

"Eh thanks," Matt mumbled.

"Whatever is going on, whoever is behind this..." Wallace interrupted, hitting the back of Ronnie's seat "...this is exactly what they want. They are turning people on the wrong group of altered. It's a distraction. The government are so busy looking for Owens or Alexander that they don't seem to realise that somebody else attacked the Capitol Building".

"And that attack was only a start. We need to find Owens and the others. If we don't they'll walk straight into the trap".

"What's the trap?" Matt asked.

Wallace looked at him for a long moment, her forehead puckering and her hazel-green eyes darkening.

"Alexander is the trap".

Matt nodded, trying to appear nonplussed, but he knew Wallace would see through whatever charade he tried.

"How do you plan on finding her?"

"Oh we don't need to find her. We already know where she is," Ronnie said. "We'll see her in no time".

Matt nodded, chewing the inside of his lip. He didn't think it wanted to see her at all.

Thanks so much for reading Feared. Some new characters to get to know here, I hope you like them!! I would love so much if you could vote and comment! Every vote and comment counts! It keeps my stories up there so more people can come across them! I really do appreciate every ounce of support from you lovely people! Until next time, Sorcha x