Regenesis (Book 1): Impact (22 page)

Vladimir
turned to him and the smile he wore faded, “The required ones for the most
part. I also took a creative writing class, though.”

“Yeah…Well,
Rachel and I should get going, y’know…to the party,” he said as he pointed to
the dance floor.

Before
they left, Vladimir quickly asked, “Ah, Rachel. Where is your bracelet?”

Rachel
looked down and noticed for the first time that evening that it was missing.
“Oh crap, Jordan, did I bring that with me?” she asked.

Jordan
was taken aback. “Uh, I don’t remember you wearing it earlier. Maybe you left
it at home?”

“What
if I lost it on the bus?”

“Rachel
I’m sure Jordan was correct, you may have just left it at your home.”

“Yeah,
don’t freak out. C’mon Rachel we’ve got to go and see how Ian’s doing.”

“It
was good to see you Vladimir,” she said, as she let her hand hide her wrist,
her gaze fell low as she tried to recount her actions and her thoughts.

“Actually
Rachel,” he stopped her again, “I was interested in meeting Ian, as it is his
revelry and I feel it would be rude not to meet and wish him well on his
impending journey.”

“Sure.”
She saw Jordan’s unpleasant expression and told him they were headed there anyway.

Rachel
and Jordan peered through the crowd in search of Ian, Drake, or Nick, as they
assumed the three of them would be banded together, and spotted them on the
opposite end of the room. She took the two boys by the hand and led them
through the crowd toward the other small group.

Drake
and Ian sat around a small table with a group of people that included Coop,
Wally, and a handful of others who continually came and left. Coop and Wally
seemed to direct the conversation while Ian sat nervously and Drake rather
unaffected by the large proceeding.

Jordan
saw Ian’s new haircut, one far shorter than he had before, and shouted, “What’d
you do to your hair?”

The
group laughed. It took Ian a moment to think of his reply, but he smirked and
told him, “When you’re struck by lightning, your hair and clothes are usually
singed. But who knows? The doctor might just be out to give decent haircuts to
decent guys.”

“Decent
guys who are struck by lightning?” Jordan joked.

“So
who’s this Rachel?” Drake asked once he noticed Vladimir (and for a change of
pace in the conversation).

She
introduced him, “Oh this is Vladimir, he’s an exchange student from Romania.”

“It
is a pleasure to meet you, Ian. I am sorry to hear about your injuries, but I
am glad to have learned that you are better now.”

“Uhh…Yeah
thanks, nice to meet you,” he said as he extended his hand.

He
avoided the handshake and concluded his remarks, “I do not want to disrupt your
conversation anymore, and as I’ve a headache, I believe I shall leave in search
of some water,” Vladimir then took his leave and vanished into the crowd.

“He’s
odd…” Ian stated.

“He’s
infatuated with Rachel, from what Jordan tells me,” Drake said with a smirk.

Rachel
punched her boyfriend on the arm fairly hard and told him to keep his mouth
shut. She slid into the booth next to Drake and allowed Jordan to join her.

Ian
asked, “Is he with the group of exchange students that are all going to Bothell
High next year?”

She
shrugged, “I barely know him, so maybe.”

“Either
way, I don’t think that it matters,” Jordan broke in, “We’re here to party, not
to solve mysteries.”

“That
is exactly right!” Coop boomed, “I mean c’mon! There are probably twenty,
thirty, maybe even forty women here that none of us have met, and who probably
don’t even know who Ian is!”

Wally
shook his head, “What’s your point?”

“My
point is…I’m wasting my time here talking to you guys, see ya,” he said as he
quickly made his way to the dance floor.

“He
does raise a valid point,” Wally said as he followed his friend’s example.

Drake
looked across the room and found a familiar young man and his date enter the
building. They stood near the entrance and talked by themselves. “They’re
here,” Drake announced.

Jordan
grinned when he saw them, “Good, Amy’s with him.”

Drake
looked at Jordan and asked, “Did you set that up?”

“Not
entirely. I had hoped one of them might mention the party, since they both knew
about it.”

Ian
frowned, “What do you mean?”

“I
mentioned it all the time at work so Amy might remember it. I knew she liked
Nick and I kinda hoped they’d end up seeing each other.” He frowned, “Nick’s
always such a downer; I hoped dating someone might cure him of that.”

“We’ll
see,” Drake muttered.

Rachel
recalled the last time she and Nick spoke and found a sudden urge to go and dance.
She convinced Jordan and they left together for the dance floor. Drake and Ian
left the table they sat at and waded through the crowd to meet Nick and Amy at
the entrance. Nick introduced Amy to his two friends and they gave Ian their
sympathies for being struck by lightning as well as congratulated him on both
his recovery and his impending relocation to London.

Ian
laughed nervously, “It wasn’t like it was your fault.”

“I-I
know. I j-just feel s-sorry for you,” Nick told him.

Drake
changed the subject and asked, “So what do you two think of this place?”

“It’s
pretty cool,” Amy complimented. “How’d you manage to book it though?”

Ian
explained, “His father’s rather wealthy, so it wasn’t too much trouble.”

Drake
confirmed it, yet he grew bored of the conversation, and tried to convince his
friends to go and dance. “We can all catch up later.”

“Are
you sure you wouldn’t rather–” Ian began.

Drake
cut him off as he surveyed the area. “We have all night to talk, and as for
this moment, I want to be out there and I think they do too,” he said as he
glanced at the awkward couple.

Ian
agreed and slowly walked back to the table he and Drake left earlier while
Drake headed for the dance floor and lost track of Nick and Amy. Drake looked
about the dance floor in search of a young lady he could use his charm on to
trouble her for a dance. He peered through the crowd and found many young women
whom he already knew, but froze as soon as his eyes fell on a young Japanese
girl. Drake believed she was an exchange student, as he’d never met her before.
The girl stood amongst others he thought must have been with her from her
homeland right before the dance area. She wore a black and red plaid skirt, and
a black shirt with Japanese kanji printed next to a familiar character from a
videogame Drake knew well. She wore her black hair up and she seemed like she
could never be unhappy by the way she smiled. The thin glasses she wore gave
her an even kinder look about her.

Her
friends must have seen the way he stared at her as they pointed in his
direction, so Drake composed himself and approached her. He walked up to her
and said, “Hi I’m Drake, would you like to dance?”

The
girl giggled, “I only dance on the slow songs,” she told him.

Drake
paused, “Hmm…How about we head down to the dance floor right now? By the time
we get there a slow song should be playing,” he told her.

“How
would you know that?” she asked.

“There
hasn’t been a slow song in twenty minutes, so it’s about time there was one or
two.”

“There
isn’t a way to tell that!”

“Then
call it a guess. Watch,” he paused, “Okay, five…four… three…two…one…now.” Once
he had finished counting the song tempo changed and slowed. “See?”

She
laughed and followed him down to the dance floor. “How did you know it would
change?” she asked.

“I
asked for them to play a slow song after that last one,” he lied. (In all truth
he guessed and was surprised himself at the accuracy).

She
smiled, “That’s not a guess then.”

“No
it’s not. So what’s your name?” he asked.

“Hiromi
Tsukahara.”

“Hiromi,”
he repeated quietly. “So you’re an exchange student then?”

“Yes,
how did you know?”

“I
could tell from your accent and your shirt.”

“My
shirt?” she asked, puzzled.

“Yes,
you couldn’t have bought that shirt in America unless you bought it from a
Japanese retailer or imported one. That shirt was a preorder bonus for anyone
who purchased the deluxe edition of
Creeping Darkness
in Japan.”

Impressed,
she asked, “Why do you know so much about that?”

“I
work for the company that makes the game,” he admitted.

“You
work for Winchester Enterprises?” her eyes widened, “How?”

“My
father got me a job there.”

“Wow!
That’s very interesting.”

“What
about you,” he said as he diverted the subject away from himself, “How long
have you been here in the States?”

“Two
weeks.”

“How
do you like it so far?”

“I
like it, but I miss my home.”

“You’re
homesick?”

“Yes.”

“So
are you with the group of exchange students who are going to Bothell High?”

“Yes,
are you going to school there too?” he nodded, “Great! That means we might see
each other more there.”

“I’d
like that.”

“Me
too.”

---*---

11:51
PM

Baltimore,
Maryland

Detective
Felton found three volunteers to help evacuate Mario Evanston. Bryce Maguire
and Mia Hendricks were both officers and somewhat green in the field. Bryce had
only been an officer and a part of the force for six months, while Mia had only
a month’s seniority on him, solely because she took the training through
another academy and transferred into the city. Their third recruit was a
veteran, Sergeant Geoff Murdock, who had been a part of the Baltimore Police
Department for longer than Detective Sage could recall. Felton debriefed them,
geared up, and the whole group, including Mario Evanston, headed for the
garage.

“Are
you sure about this,” Felton whispered to Sage. “It’s not like Cladis hasn’t
stopped a moving vehicle before.”

“I
know, but we’re out of options and we’re running out of time,” he reminded his
partner. “We’re lucky he hasn’t tried to attack him at all, considering he is
probably aware of his location.”

Mia
Hendricks intervened, “Even if Cladis knows where this guy is, do you really
think he’d try to attack him here? Is he that nuts?”

Felton
frowned and told her Cladis wasn’t a traditional serial killer. “We really do
think he could try to attack him here.”

“And
you think moving him will make him more secure than in the heart of the
station?”

“Yes.”

The
six arrived at the garage and Detective Sage broke them into three pairs,
“Hendricks, you’re with Maguire, Sergeant Murdock will accompany Detective
Felton, and Evanston’s with me. Now we all know the route, right?”

The
group nodded, with the exception of Mario. They split into pairs and started
walking toward their vehicles when Detective Felton shouted for everyone to
drop to the ground. One of the police cruisers flew past the group and crashed
into a nearby wall.

They
all went for their guns but failed to find a target.

The
ground trembled as the asphalt near the exit of the garage was torn into
rubble. Mia and Bryce watched as a second police vehicle was raised off the
ground by an unseen force. Cladis threw it toward them again and the two
officers managed to dodge the vehicle, however one of the side mirrors collided
with the side of Officer Maguire’s head. He was down and Mia tried to help
carry him away, but something slammed into her and knocked her into a wall.

Sage
and Evanston hid behind one of the vehicles. The detective heard gunshots from
his partner and Murdock, but couldn’t tell if they managed to hit Cladis. The
earth still shook and the sound of more twisting metal pierced the night.

Tears
streamed down Evanston’s face. He whimpered to Sage, “We’re not making it out
of this, are we?”

The
detective couldn’t answer him. A lamppost impaled Evanston through the vehicle
and dragged the car along with it and into another vehicle. It pinned Sage down
and within a moment the car crumpled under what Sage immediately realized was
the weight of the killer. It collapsed onto Sage’s leg and an audible snap
along with the screams of his fellow officers was the last thing he heard.

---*---

11:46
PM

Seattle,
Washington

As
the party neared its peak the numbers began to dwindle. Rachel assumed her
uncle was behind the imminent curfew, as nearly all of Drake’s gatherings ended
promptly at one in the morning. She didn’t mind though, as Jordan spent the
whole party talking to his friends rather than focusing on her.