Unseen Things

Matt (Epilogue)

Matt woke with sunlight in his eyes. He squeezed them tighter. The world was silent, the only sound the soft crinkle of flames in the fireplace.

Snow. He remembered something about snow. And now that he thought about it, that was what the silence reminded him of. Deep snow. If he opened his eyes, he'd probably see a lot of it. But he had no desire to open his eyes. The idea of snow had put a memory in his mind, from back when he was almost too small to remember things. Back before the war. When his dad still had the old fashioned sleigh that he would hitch behind the horses and take tourists for rides through the woods in the winter. But the first snowfall was always for the family. They would bundle up and go out after dark and pretend the path of moonlight was a path to a different world. "One where the people are jolly and there aren't any dark nights," dad would say.

Matt's side burned, a deep, angry heat that spread out to several of his ribs when he breathed, stretching his chest against the wrappings, bringing him painfully back to the present. Everything else hurt too, just not as badly.

He opened one eye the merest slit, and light stabbed into it, feeling as if it flooded his entire body. He put a hand over his face to block the blaze, and groaned when the motion set him throbbing all over. It felt like someone had used his body for a punching bag and target practice all at once.

"Miranda says you might live, if you don't do anything else stupid." Vail's voice made him jump, which set off more aches. The pain in his ribs blazed.

"Ow. You mean if you don't decide to take on some stupid mission again." With his hand still over his face Matt opened his eyes, letting them adjust slowly. He peeked past his fingers, then slowly moved to sit up, shuddering when his body protested.

 He'd been sleeping on a cot set up in Mirada's sunroom near the wood stove, surrounded by greenery. Potted plants took up every shelf and stand, and half the floor space. The world outside dazzled with sun on snow. Snow deep enough to darken the lower half of the big floor-to-ceiling windows. Between the woodstove on one side and the fireplace just in the next room, the air felt warm, laced with the scent of growing things.

"I take it we're safe?"

Vail nodded. "For now. No one will be tracking us in this, if any of them are left."

Matt lifted an eyebrow at him, but didn't ask. A new bandage wrapped around Vail's head, and he had his leg propped up on pillows, his arm tucked in close to his stomach. "Kit and Torie?" he asked.

"Better than you and I." Vail grinned devilishly. "Our new friend is talking finally. He's in pretty rough shape too. Gavin's...thankful. Of everyone, your guitar made out the best."

Matt felt like a weight lifted from his shoulders, and suddenly he wanted to laugh. He didn't. That would hurt too much. But he did allow himself a wide grin. "So what's next?"

Vail lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "I'm good with staying put for a couple weeks. After that...Whatever the team decides. The Raymond-Bates Corporation has laboratories all over the country. Who knows what else they're up to?"

Matt nodded. "Can you reach my guitar?"

"Does it look like I can reach it?" Vail waved at his elevated leg.

"Well I'm the one that got stabbed, and ribs broke. I shouldn't even be sitting up."

"No one wants to hear your yodeling anyway. They're all asleep. And if you shouldn't be sitting up, you shouldn't be playing guitar."

"Boys!" Torie's voice interrupted from the hallway. She shook her head. "This is going to be a long couple of weeks."