Awakening - The Last Science #1

Chapter 17 - A Gentleman and a Doctor - II

  Cinza shrugged. "And what say you, man of the cloth?"

  Smith scratched his head. "Man of the cloth, eh? Can't say I've ever heard that one actually spoken aloud." He laughed in his deep infectious belly laugh. Finally realizing how loud he'd gotten, Smith glanced at his clinic. "Can we take a walk? I'd hate to wake those sleeping inside."

  "Was someone injured?" Rachel asked.

  The doctor raised a wagging finger. "Confidentiality, dear. You know I'd never tell."

  She nodded. She'd mostly asked to prompt his response in front of Cinza. The girl looked faintly surprised already by the reverend already. Rachel was pleased.

  They set off. The reverend was watching them with an excitable curiosity that she enjoyed. He was almost like an overgrown child learning a new game for the first time and having a blast doing so. "So I suppose you live out in the woods, yes?"

  Cinza nodded. "We've made a home for ourselves."

  "One I suppose can't be found without magic," he continued, a twinkle in his eye. "How delightfully mysterious."

  "It serves us well."

  "Reverend!" They both turned to the voice calling from down the street. It was Oscar McKinney, the town handyman, sprinting at them in a panic. "And Rachel. Perfect. Come, quick."

  "Slow down, man. What's on fire?" Smith asked.

  "Trouble." He turned and started back the way they came. Smith shot a concerned look at Rachel before they both rushed after Oscar.

  They turned the corner into the center of town. Rachel let out a sigh of relief. She had been expecting a bloodbath of some kind, but no one seemed to be injured. Her expectations had been too dark of late.

  There was, however, a brewing confrontation between a group of mundane men and students, and a cowering, grey-robed and bruised Nate Price with a stone-faced Ryan Walker standing in front of him. His arms and fists looked twice their usual size and strong as steel. None of the crowd was daring to get near him... yet. Rachel hurried closer as voices began to rise toward shouting.

  "You're both part of the problem!" cried one of the ringleaders, and Rachel was unsurprised to see Logan Bowerson once again, apparently having not gotten the message since their last confrontation. She pulled out her phone and dashed off a text to Jackie, then grasped one of the rubies in her pack tight as she reached the group.

  "What's going on?" she demanded.

  "Fuck off," Logan snapped. "We want all of you out of here."

  "Gentlemen, please," Smith shouted, stepping up to Rachel's side between the two groups. "What's going on here?"

  "We're trapped in this town with a killer on the loose!" came one cry.

  "It's all their fault!"

  "We're going to die out here!"

  "They brought this on us!"

  "Enough!" the doctor roared, and the crowd fell silent for a moment. "You there," he said, pointing at a single man toward the front. One of Robert's loggers, though Rachel had never gotten his name. "Tell me precisely what's going on here."

  As the man launched into a rambling speech about devil-worship and witchcraft, Rachel leaned over to whisper to Ryan. He was panting heavily from the strain of keeping himself in that state, but he seemed determined to hold on.