“The Catalyst” Series Book 6
		“Building a Legacy”
		Crumbly Writer All rights reserved © 2013
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22:  No Real Choice

           

Alex sprinted towards the wrecked school bus, dropping to his knees beside the small body of a badly mangled child nearest him.

‘Forget her,’ Gini instructed, ‘it’s too late.’

Alex ripped his shirt off—popping the buttons—and slung it over the small girl’s still form. Before Gini could reach him he ran for the back of the bus. The rear exit door, standing a good several feet off the road, was hanging loosely from its hinges—probably the source of the girl lying in the street. She likely flew out the back when the bus toppled, smashed her head against the roadway. The exit door was dangling, so Alex scampered over it and into the bus.

“Check the street and the other vehicles!” Alex shouted as he began scouring the bus. No one was moving yet, although the sound of agonized moans echoed throughout the bus. The space seemed unreal with seats projecting sideways towards the only available surface, the shattered windows. The whole vehicle shifted with each step he took, revealing it was perched precariously on the vehicle wedged under it.

“Cate, you check the others, Alex needs my vision,” Gini said, indicating where Cate should go before power lifting herself into the bus. She found Alex crouched over one young boy, probably around twelve. “He’s got a head injury and a broken arm. Don’t jostle the left arm, but put your fingers, here, here and here,” she instructed. He did, and applied a gentle burst of energy when she instructed him to. The little boy’s eyes shot open and he glanced at Alex with a look of shock and fear.

“You’re OK,” Alex assured him. “You’ve had a head injury and your arm appears to be broken. Don’t move it until someone can check you out.” With that Alex got up and moved to the next victim, Gini already having done a quick evaluation of the people nearest them.

“That one,” she instructed, pointing at two boys as she struggled to staunch one girl’s bleeding with her shirt. “The redhead has a pole in him but appears stable. Wrap something around him to prevent him from bleeding and check the boy in the checkered shirt.”

“You’ll be OK for a few minutes,” Alex told the tousle-headed boy. “I know it hurts, but don’t move and don’t try to move the bar. We’ll get back to you shortly. You,” he told the other boy. “You seem fine. Climb out the back so we won’t have to check you again. If anyone asks, we’re inside with multiple injured.” The boy glanced doubtfully at his friend and then carefully climbed off the suspended seat, dropped to the floor and gingerly walked to the exit.

“OK, I got this one,” Gini told him as she moved away from the girl who’s arterial bleed she’d just stemmed. “Shift the one boy aside so I can check the other one under him.”

Alex did so, lifting the small crying child to reveal another boy with a badly mangled left arm, though he made much less noise than the barely injured child. “See if you can deaden the nerves in his arm,” Gini suggested. “Try the nerves here, and then here.” Alex noted Gini, though still bothered by his aura, worked to circumvent it, glancing away as much as possible, squinting and looking slightly askew when he was in the way.

The boy, who Alex assumed was in shock, suddenly looked more focused. “Uh, that feels better,” he said, reaching for his arm.

“Don’t touch it,” Gini warned, already scanning the other kids farther down rather than meeting the kid’s eyes with Alex in the way. “You’ll feel better for a little while, but don’t move or you’ll make the break worse. Hopefully the pain will be manageable until the ambulance arrives and can give you something for it.”

They moved from one injury to another, shattered glass crackling under their feet, sending anyone not too badly injured to the back door (the front door impossible to reach far over the heads of the young children. Passers-by helped lower the healthier kids to the ground. Gini and Alex ignored the dead and tied torn strips of cloth (torn from the remains of Alex’s t-shirt) to the seats near the wounded to flag who needed assistance when the medics finally arrived. When they’d covered the entire bus they exited out the shattered front window, crawling through the glass, smearing their own blood in the process, but they didn’t stop to consider those miniscule injuries when they compared them to those around them.

Outside, they found people clustered around the few kids on the street. Gini had Alex treat the few he could after she pushed back those not helping. After they left each one, they’d explain what the EMTs would need to know to those nearby and then move on. Alex and Gini also relayed the information on each child to Felicity, who was on the phone to the 911 dispatchers, describing each injury despite the fact she was nowhere near the scene of the accident.

Not seeing anyone else needing immediate attention, Alex collapsed, bracing himself against the bottom of the bus leaving Gini and Cate moving among the wounded, making sure they were OK. If not, they knew where to find him. Alex was exhausted. It was bad enough his BCM had dropped so precipitously after its long peak, but the efforts to help the people in the park and then trying to escape and rescuing all the injured not only wiped him out, it left him hanging on by a thread. He lay back attempting to not only slow his breathing, but also hoping to get his heart to beat in a more regular pattern—hopefully something fast enough to allow him to continue breathing. Still, while he realized it was dangerous and he was taking a huge risk, seeing the scattered wounded he felt it was worth the trade off, especially since he knew he didn’t have long anyway. Of course, he didn’t mention this to either Gini or Cate.

While looking for additional wounded, Gini noticed the camerawoman standing at the edge of the surrounding onlookers, snapping picture after picture. Without thinking, Gini stalked towards her with a fierce scowl. Instead of noting her dour expression, the woman continued snapping pictures. When Gini reached her, she snapped the camera from her hands and yanked it off her neck, hurting her in the process.

“You can’t do that!” she cried as Gini smashed the camera against the ground. The woman, Alice according to her name tag, started to reach for it but Gini growled at her, causing her to back up, her anger finally clear to her. Gini picked up the camera, found the compartment for the camera card and removed it. She started to throw it away but then thought better of it.

“You can’t keep that. I need it.” When Gini glared at her, she figured her approach wasn’t working. “It’s legally mine, damn it.”

“Are you kidding?” Gini screamed at her. “You endangered us all chasing us when we told you we had no interest in speaking to you. You caused this damn accident and you aren’t even trying to help. While we’re trying to save lives, you’re lurking here in safety snapping pictures you can use to advance your career!

“As for this,” she said, indicating the SD card, “I’m going to keep it. In case you cause trouble, or threaten me in any way, I’ll selectively release it, proving how while the people you injured bled out, you cavalierly photographed them rather than helping. That should make for some interesting headlines, don’t you think?”

Alice had no response, paling visibly at the idea.

“Where’s your pal with the video camera?” Gini snarled.

“It was damaged,” she claimed in a halting voice. “Wanda left it in the van while she called 911. Then she went to check on Adriana.”

“Adriana was the reporter killed when the bus fell on her?” Gini asked without much sympathy.

“Yeah, Adriana Moss. She was our ticket into the big time,” Alice said, her eyes glazing with images of the life slipping from their grasp. “The network wouldn’t give us much exposure, so we were trying to get something to grab their attention.”

“Justify it however you want, but I think you missed that exit a long time ago,” Gini told her over her shoulder as she walked off. “Frankly, the world didn’t miss anything, as you’re a horrid human being that doesn’t deserve recognition of any kind.”

Gini found Wanda in her van, sobbing hysterically. Gini stopped and regarded her, and Wanda tried her best to stop crying long enough to speak.

“The camera is there on the … ground,” she said, pointing it out to her. “I threw it down in disgust … after I saw what we did. We are horrid people!” she declared, fighting back hiccups. “I can’t believe … Alice is taking pictures … of the carnage we caused.”

“You can’t be too hard on her,” Gini said, sounding surprisingly kind after her earlier outburst as she reached down and searched the video camera. “I suspect she’s in shock. People do strange things when they go into shock, often doing what they’re most comfortable with, performing out of rote.”

“The … the card is on the other … end,” Wanda told her, still trying to hold back the tears streaming down her face.

Gini found it, sticking it too into her pocket. “Take this as a warning. Not only did your stupid actions seriously injure and kill people, but it will also prevent you from ever reaching heaven. You need to resolve your guilt through hard work helping people, and then you stand a chance.” With that, Gini turned and walked away.

While she was busy, Cate checked on Alex. Seeing he wasn’t doing well, she didn’t worry. She expected this, and now that there was no way to avoid a scene with the police, there wasn’t any reason trying to avoid it. “How are you doing, Alex?”

“I’ll … I’ll manage,” he answered simply, struggling not to wince as he spoke. The last thing he needed was to worry his sister. “I can hardly … complain when … so many are doing so much … worse.”

“Well, take it easy. The EMTs will be here soon. I can hear their siren now. I’m going to check everyone once more,” she said, caressing his face with a look of love, dedication and sympathy. She leaned forward, kissed him gently, and then got up, moving away as Alex pulled himself up, resting on his knees as he regarded the scene around him. Alex knew he’d been playing a dangerous game. As Ahmed had lectured him, calling upon more and more BCM was hurting him, and calling on it time and again in a short time span to make up for weakness and to help people was only hastening the inevitable.

Cate walked towards the back of the bus, preparing to climb inside to minister to those remaining there when she noticed someone’s Hello Kitty backpack. “Hello Kitty doesn’t look quite so chipper,” she commented to herself, noting the scattered bloodstains across its face as she reached under the bus to retrieve it. “Some little girl will feel better holdi—”

Cate’s solitary soliloquy was interrupted by a straining whine of slowly twisting metal. Everyone turned at the noise, not knowing what it was as its high pitched squeal drowned out the moaning and crying of the injured. Glancing up, Cate grabbed the backpack and scrambled back out. She was on her knees, resting her hand against the bottom of the bus standing up when there was a popping sound of metal snapping that cut through the anticipatory silence that had descended on the area. As Cate stumbled back, the already loose rear axle broke free and tumbled in a twisting motion, smashing Cate in the head—sending her sprawling backwards.

“CATE!” Alex screamed, scrambling to his feet, his own exhaustion forgotten. He rushed to her side, skidding to a stop on his knees, shoving the heavy axle aside like it was nothing and cradled her against him. But she was unresponsive, bleeding from her head with a gash on her arm. “Gini!” Alex called, casting about for his dedicated Seer, his eyes, the only one who could tell him what he needed to do.

“I’m here, Alex,” she said, running the rest of the distance. She knelt beside him and examined Cate’s head. “She’s pretty bad, Alex. It’s going to take a lot to help her. Are you up for it?”

“I’m ready,” he answered. “I don’t care what it takes—I’ll do whatever I need to save her!”

“Well, that’s good, because she’s in terrible shape,” Gini said, not realizing what he was telling her.

Alex took a moment to gather himself, marshaling his strength as Gini explained what he needed to do, going over each step. Alex gave her heart a boost, giving her body enough strength to withstand what he was about to do, then drained a minute amount of energy from one area of her brain in an attempt to limit the internal bleeding in her brain. He then selectively applied tiny bursts of energy to precise locations deep within her brain to help the various damaged areas. It was intricate work and Gini was there, kneeling beside him guiding him through each step. Every now and then he’d have to return to an area that was weakening, or try to reduce the bleeding since his attempts to heal other areas increased it. It was a lengthy process and Alex started noticeably flagging, his eyes drooping, but he continued on. Shaking his head, he suddenly seemed filled with fresh energy as he continued touching areas here and there, trying to minimize any unintended effects of having to go through delicate brain matter to get to the damaged areas. But Cate remained unconscious and unresponsive the entire time. Sweat broke out on Alex’s brow and he was murmuring words of endearment to her, promising her anything if she’d only recover.

“OK, one last one,” Gini instructed, holding his back to keep him from weaving. “Give the entire front portion of her brain a gentle but wide-spread burst.”

He did and Cate jerked, her eyes fluttering open. “Wha... what’s … happen… ing?” she asked.

Alex leaned down, gently kissing her with the last ounce of his energy, and then keeled over, collapsing on top of her. Gini rushed in, rolling him off of his sister as she focused on him for the first time since they’d started, and she was shocked by what she saw. She’d noticed his aura was extra bright and she’d struggled to work alongside him, but she’d assumed it was a holdover from earlier and avoided looking at him as much as possible. Whenever she couldn’t avoid it, it took her several seconds to clear her vision again.

“How … how is he?” Cate asked, crawling over to him, her injury, the broken glass she was walking on and the unsanitary conditions of no concern to her.

“His energy is incredibly dim, despite the tremendous energy pouring into his brain,” Gini explained. “Little of it seems to be reaching his body. His life force is flickering, not just his aura but the BCM level in his entire body. But at the same time, his skull is blinding me, making it difficult to see exactly what’s happening.”

“Wait,” Cate asked, comprehension of what she was hearing just reaching her consciousness, “you mean the energy in his brain is that much … brighter than it was … earlier?” A thin stream of blood ran down the side of her face, leaving a trail of dirt mixed with sweat, grease and debris in its trail. Her hair was also matted with drying, crusted blood. Alex, though, looked pale and motionless, barely breathing. His eyes, mere slits, were dull, unfocused and lifeless.

“That’s what I’m saying,” Gini told her, turning her head so she could rest her eyes for a second.

“Shit, that means he’s increased the size of the portal in his brain. He’s now receiving a fatal dosage of energy from it,” Cate surmised, sitting up and cradling her brother’s head in her lap. “If that’s the case, there’s nothing we can do. There’s no way to turn it off.”

“The hell with that,” Gini responded, tears streaking her own face, “we couldn’t do anything even if there was something we could do. We’d need Alex to heal Alex now, and even he couldn’t limit the inflow of energy.”

“So you’re saying…?” Cate asked, her lip quivering waiting for Gini’s prognosis.

“He’s only got seconds to live,” she answered frankly, closing her eyes against the pain and bowing her head.

Cate broke out in tears, but struggled to hold them back in order to spend the next critical seconds with Alex.

“Alex, Alex, Alex, what did you do?” she asked, caressing his face and flicking the stray hairs out of his eyes. “You purposely sacrificed yourself for me? Why? Didn’t you realize I’d have gladly died in order to save you?” She leaned in and gently kissed his lips, watching his flickering eyes. “How could you leave me alive if I don’t have you in my life anymore?”

Alex’s eyes were only half open, his pupils were glassy and he was barely breathing, but Gini, who eased aside to allow Cate some privacy as Alex lay dying in her arms, hurried back.

“Cate, I got a message from Alex!” she announced excitedly, her hands aflutter. “He’s too weak to speak but his mind is still active. He says he can see the other side. He’s not only seen where he needs to go, he’s somehow managed to broadcast the message to the rest of us. I can’t understand—”

“Will you shut the fuck up!” Cate snapped at her friend, the woman she’d relied upon to protect both her and her brother, and whom she knew perfectly well couldn’t have saved Alex from himself. “I don’t care what you’ve learned, or what you’ve done for him. I’m losing him. He’s slipping away and I can’t do anything about it.”

Gini took a step back, surprised by the vehemence of her attack. But then her face got an odd look and she tilted her head before kneeling beside her again.

“I’ve got to say this quickly, before he’s gone,” she whispered to Cate. “He wants you to know he’ll love you forever, even if he can’t remember your name in his next life, there will always be a hole in his heart for you. He’ll never let anyone fill that hole, keeping it for you to fill when he finally finds you again.” Gini had to wipe her own eyes, her voice choking up, forcing her to swallow with difficulty before continuing.

“He doesn’t want you to feel guilty for surviving. He’s relying on you to lead his people for him. He says they’ll rely on you to guide them through his passing and you can’t afford to break down. Just as he could … sorry,” she said as she dabbed her eyes again, the tears not willing to quit, “just as he couldn’t deal with his own death, you can’t give into your grief. You’ve got hundreds of people depending on you to be strong for them, and they’ve got thousands of people to reach in the years ahead.”

Gini reached out, grasping Cate’s shoulders and turning Cate to face her, she continued. “He wants you to know he’ll always be with you. Even if he can’t be here, his heart will always be here and he’s left a little piece of himself in every one of his followers for you. Look in each … look in each of them and you’ll … you’ll see him residing there. You’ll never be alone as long as you have them, just as they’ll have the main part of him in you.”

Cate nodded her head. Slowly at first, then more energetically. Once Gini stopped speaking, she turned to her brother, her lover, her inspiration, her ideal mate and the meaning of everything in her life, and kissed him once again.

“I will, Alex. I’ll do whatever you demand of me. Just as you said, I couldn’t understand it until it was my turn. But I’ll be strong. I’ll be there for you and I’ll keep your mission alive. We’ll continue it, even if you aren’t there. We’ll find every last damn Seeker, Seer and hanger-on on this damn planet and I’ll make sure they know how to reach you, so they can carry your heart you’re leaving with me back to you.” With that she broke into tears, her strength not enough to sustain her at that moment.

Gini reached out, her large powerful hand grasping Cate’s shoulder with an unaccustomed gentility and held her shaking form steady.

“He’s gone, Cate,” she told her sadly, her own voice breaking, her own pain and agony pouring out of her. “He’s gone and he’s never coming back.”

But Cate, instead of breaking down in sobs as she’d expected, sat up, looking suddenly fiercely strong.

“Tell me how he went. It’s important and we’ll need to know for future generations and for whoever comes after. What happened?”

“Uh, his various organs began failing, one after the other, and the life force in his blood went out, so it wasn’t feeding the organs that—”

“No, no,” Cate insisted. “What happened to his portal? Can you still communicate with the other girls? He always wondered whether you communicated through him or had your own portals. Which is it? Can you still function as a Seer?”

Gini stopped to consider that for a moment. “I can,” she answered, a big grin spreading across her face. “I’ve been sharing every word you’ve said so far, and every other Seer is talking about it. They’re busy telling everyone around them what the two of you said to each other. They’re all crying over it.”

“Yeah, we’ll all cry later,” Cate responded abruptly, still cradling Alex’s head against her chest. “What about the energy pouring out of his head. Did his heart go first or the energy in his head? And once the energy in his head went, was there still any energy left in his brain? They theorize the brain lives on for up to a half-hour after the body has died, was there any life left in his brain after he died?” she asked, her questions coming faster and faster as her grief receded against the onrushing waves of curiosity driven by Alex’s demand she take over for him. If she was to do that, she needed to know everything she possibly could.

“I’ll get to that in a second,” Gini said, sitting up and relishing in sharing the details. “He said more about where he went. He’ll never again be able to communicate with us, but we know where he went. But not only can we Seers follow him, but so can the rest of you. He explained he could feel another soul dying, someone on the bus. He reached out to him, even though he was a Normal and planted where he was going before he died. Somehow, the brain’s ability to access the information opens up upon death. That means we can convey our destination to anyone, as long as there’s a Seer present when someone dies.”

“That’s wonderful,” Cate said, hope brimming in her eyes. “We’ll discuss the details, but we have a lot of details to cover. We need to cover them one at a time so we don’t overlook anything vital. Now, let’s focus on what happened to his brain as he died,” she said, calmly stroking Alex’s head as the two of them settled into a detailed discussion as the first ambulance and two police cars arrived. The two of them sat discussing the details of his death, even as emergency personal rushed past and observers watched in fascinated silence. They each postponed their own grief as they discussed what his death would mean to everyone else, and Gini transferred that knowledge to all the other Seers, even those she’d never met, and they conveyed it to the Seekers, and they to their friends. It even got to his parents, who were heartened in the moment of their deepest grief to know their son was even then, even in the moments after his death, still leading his people and helping them continue on with their lives and with his vital mission. There really was a part of Alex living in every single person, and they knew they could see and feel it every time they spoke to one of his girls. That was something they’d treasure for the rest of their lives.

Hell, they could grieve for Alex when they had more time. Like when there wasn’t anyone else to worry about—like maybe when they died. Only then, they hoped they too could join Alex on whatever planet in whatever dimension he’d gone to, and then they’d be too busy trying to find his physical form to worry about this meaningless grief. Alex’s mission, his people, in fact the entire human race and all future races he’d eventually touch depended on them, and they wouldn’t dare dream of letting all those people and alien beings down.

Continued

           

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