Winter Halo (Outcast 2)

His energy surged, and after a moment the boulder floated free. He carried it to the end of my body, then dropped it. It bounced loudly down the remains of the stairs, the sound echoing in the dusty stillness.

I drew in a deep, shuddery breath and then carefully sat up. Those supposedly dead pain receptors sprang to life and every part of my body felt as if it were on fire. I hissed, blinking away the sweat and blood that began to trickle into my eyes as I battled not to throw up. Or fall back into unconsciousness.

Cat’s energy touched me again. You need to go to the mediscan beds.

I did. And fast. But that was the least of my problems right now. “Bear, do you want to go upstairs and check that those people haven’t come back? And can you also check what damage has been done up there?”

He spun around me excitedly, then zoomed off. I glanced at Cat. “Could you check the rest of the base? See if there’s any damage elsewhere?”

There had been three explosions—I was certain of it. So if the intruders were responsible for two, where had the third come from? And, more important, what had it been aimed at? I suspected it might have been the south-siding exit, but it didn’t hurt to check the rest of the base, just in case the destruction in the museum had set off a chain reaction elsewhere.

Cat hesitated. Will you need help?

I smiled and reached out, lightly catching the energy of her hands in mine. “I’ll be fine. The little ones can help keep me upright if necessary.”

This statement brought a surge of excitement and a sense of importance from the other little ghosts. They might not ever be as adventurous as either Cat or Bear thanks to their age when they’d died, but they still liked helping when they could. Hell, it was thanks to their assistance that Jonas and I had survived the vampires’ onslaught the night I saved both him and Penny.

Cat whisked away to check the rest of the base, and the other ghosts pressed closer, the energy of their bodies making my skin tingle. I cradled my arm—an action that had more sweat coursing down my face—then carefully made my way down the stairs. It took an interminably long time, not only because there wasn’t much left of the stairs themselves, but because I simply was running far too close to the edge of endurance. The metal stake spearing my calf wasn’t helping, either, but I didn’t dare remove it until I got to the medical center just in case it had punctured a main artery. I doubted it, but sometimes you couldn’t tell.

Once we finally got clear of the stairwell and entered the relatively destruction-free zone of tunnel D, our speed increased. Level four had once housed the main medical and training facilities for the bunker’s combatant déchet divisions, and while several of the rooms closest to the main tunnel that led up to level three had been flooded by concrete, the rest of this area had survived intact. The medical equipment—although undoubtedly out-of-date by today’s standards—still worked. Why the shifters hadn’t destroyed the machines along with all the equipment in both the creation labs and the nurseries, I had no idea, but I’d thanked Rhea many a time over the years for that one piece of luck. I might be able to heal myself as well as any shifter, but there were still times when using a machine was infinitely better. Like right now, when my reserves were giving out and I had far too many injuries to heal myself with any sort of speed.

By the time I reached the medical center, my breath was coming in short, sharp gasps and my vision was blurring. I gritted my teeth and forced myself on. As the door swished open, I flicked the knife still strapped to my left wrist into my hand and carefully cut away my right sleeve. A red mist seemed to form before my eyes and I hissed, holding on to the end of the nearest bed as I gulped down air and battled to remain conscious. As the mist retreated, I hastily slashed off the rest of my clothes. I was carrying so many wounds that it was simply better to be naked. Once I’d activated the light panel and set it to do a full body scan and repair, I climbed into the bed and—after gritting my teeth—pulled the stake out. A scream ripped up my throat as blood spurted, and it was all I could do to remain conscious and lie down. But as foam enveloped my body and began to admit a soft but rapid beeping sound—my heartbeat, amplified by the light panel above me—my strength finally gave out and unconsciousness claimed me.

* * *

It was the whispering of the ghosts that finally pulled me back to consciousness. There was a mix of anxiety and excitement in their voices, and while neither was exactly unusual, it was the name they kept mentioning that caught my attention.

Jonas.

Apparently, he was a part of the ten-man crew inspecting the damage done to the museum. Four of the other nine were from Central’s military corps—their uniforms said they were from the engineering division—and the rest were museum staff.

So what the hell was Jonas doing with them? Not only had he denied any connection with the government, but he was also an outcast. As such, he should not have been included in any official investigation.

Of course, while both he and Nuri had denied government links, they could still have enough pull to have him included. But why would they want it? Nuri was a powerful earth witch—surely she could use a little magic to uncover whether I was alive or not.

I pushed upright. The medibed’s monitor told me I’d been unconscious for seven hours and forty-eight minutes, and that it was now nearly three in the afternoon. My leg wound obviously hadn’t been as bad as it had looked or felt; otherwise I’d have been out longer. ?

??What’s the damage like up in the museum, Bear?”

Images pressed into my mind. The old tower—and its vital solar panels—still stood, even though chunks had been taken out of the sides that faced into the museum. A huge pile of rubble and two twisted remnants of metal that reminded me of fingers stretching toward the domed ceiling were all that remained of the inner section that had held the museum’s offices, security people, and the hidden tunnel entrance. Several Acro Props were already in place to hold up the rest of the ceiling, although the dome that arched over the building’s remains, shielding it from the elements and further decay, didn’t seem to have sustained any damage. The glass was fissured over the old tower, but it had been for quite a while.

“And the stairs? Is there anything left of them?”

The connection between us briefly deepened. Only a remnant of the third and fourth levels remain. The top two have completely caved in.

I guess the only surprising thing about that was the fact that the force of the explosions hadn’t taken out all four levels. I glanced at Cat, who was waiting patiently next to Bear.

“Was there damage anywhere else? Is the south-siding exit intact?”

It wasn’t. The third explosion had, as I feared, taken it out. I scrubbed a hand across my eyes. This was going to make getting in and out of our bunker more difficult.

Which was undoubtedly the point.

And while I had expected Sal’s partners to make a more direct attempt to either stop me or at least stop my use of the bunker, I had to wonder how they’d known about the museum entrance. No one knew about that one—not even Nuri or Jonas.

“Cat, Bear, can you keep an eye on what’s going on in the museum? Let me know if they do anything unusual or if Jonas leaves.”

They zoomed around me, then raced away, both of them determined to be the first one up there. Their laughter drifted back to me and made me smile. The other little ones followed no less exuberantly. Apparently, the museum goings-on were far more exciting than anything I might be doing. Silence fell, and it was almost unnerving.