Heritage of New Heaven

Chapter 29

Robert

Its not hard to see which way Rose has come. The broken trees and the wet, muddy ground could be a clue. But its when I see the trees start to thicken again that I worry I will get lost. I don't worry for long.

A second gunshot rigs through my skull. The 'flash-bang' sound that I know very well.

Its very clear which way it came from, I can only hope there will not be another to follow.

The sound is still rattling around my head when I get to a thicker area of trees. The feeling of death leeks out of the air, the sent shoving itself up my nose.

I continue running along the leaf covered ground. The dirt that surrounds the roots of trees slowly getting thicker from when Rose stopped using her water. The rain persists.

The roots underfoot are becoming harder to see under dirt and leaves, I am forced to slow down.

I begin a weird hoppy-thing, bouncing from toe to toe around the roots. The only problem is I need my eyes downcast as not to fall. I almost run into a small white-clad figure curled on the ground. Rose.

I can't see her face but she is shaking. Curled on the ground with her fists in her hair, covered in mud and leaves. Her white hospital shirt, that she was put in at the labs is muddy and tinged with odd colours. I can't see her face, her hair falls in the way.

I look up at the scene in front of us. Kathrine and Victax are moving in on a boy shaking against the rocky wall of a little cottage.

I look down again and Rose hasn't moved from her position on the ground. I bob down next to her but don't touch her. I think she knows I'm here but she doesn't move, or talk to me, other than the violent shaking racking her body.

I look up again and see Kate and Victax dragging the kicking boy into the garden next to the bodies. Victax grabs both of his arms as Kate stands in front of the boy, kneels to his height, and puts a hand under his jaw. The boy jerks his head and tries to pull away from them both again, Victax quickly lets go of the boy entirely before clamping one arm down on his chest and the other around his forehead. He can't move is head and Kate put her hand back to cup his jaw. She looks him in the eye and then talks to him quietly. The strains against Victax at what she said but can't move more than that. Kate then stands and pushes down hard on the small bump of his jawline below his ear with her index finger.

I know what she is doing, I have seen and done this many times before.

The pressure she is applying will painfully, but effectively, make the victim pass out. Useful, if you get the right point.

Kate gets the right point every time. The boy goes limp and if it hadn't been for Victax's arms he would have fallen to the ground.

Victax hauls the child over his shoulder, swiftly kisses Kate and then they both walk quietly behind the house and no doubt into the trees beyond the fence line.

They leave the two bodies on the front lawn, the blood from their temples being washed away by the ever-worsening weather.

All that takes less than a minute and when I look down again Rose has not moved.

If she heard or knew about what had happened she didn't say it, but it was pretty clear she knew more-or-less her parents were dead.

I crouch down next to her and brush her dark hair away from her face to try read her.

She doesn't try to stop me as I carefully pull back her knotted curtain of hair.

I suck in a breath at the sight of her face.