Regenesis (Book 1): Impact (49 page)

Michael’s
eyes lit up suddenly. He looked at his big sister and said, “Here it is.”

“What?”

“This
is when it begins.”

“What
are you talking about?”

“Just
a second now,” he told her.

The
commercial break ended and the station ran a story about Drake Winchester’s
release from the Japanese authorities as well as his innocence in the matter of
his father’s murder. One of the anchors, Fay Winthrop, began, “Although he was
originally accused of his own father’s murder, Drake Winchester has been
acquitted and has even announced the advent of his own super power.” Jessica
looked up from her computer and paid attention to the news at the word of
Drake’s supposedly new ability. “Mister Winchester hasn’t agreed to any
interviews as of yet, but has released a short statement about his father’s
death, the fate of Winchester Enterprises, as well as a brief word on his
power.”

A
photograph of Drake appeared onscreen while someone off-screen read the
statement, “‘With the tragic loss of my father and after my mistaken
incarceration in Japan, I am pleased to say I am no longer among the brief list
of suspects in his murder. I do hope, with every fiber of my being, that the
one responsible is found and brought to justice, but in the meantime I am well
aware of the dire straits of Winchester Enterprises and the natural chaos that
ensues when an event like this shakes the foundations of a massive corporation.
I want to ensure everyone that although my father left the company in my name,
I have no intention to disrupt the structure of the company whatsoever. I do
plan on becoming a part of it but not until I’ve had time to bury my father and
move on. As for my ability, let me just briefly state that I have the ability
to rust metals in a matter of seconds. As such I do not intend on donning a
cape or cowl and I will not become an active hero by any sense of the term.’”

“And
we wish Mister Winchester all the best as he and many others mourn the loss of
Tony Winchester,” Fay Winthrop finished. “In other news, a local community
college has plans to aid the fight against breast cancer by donating a small
percentage of the tuition money from students this coming quarter.”

Michael
lowered the volume and studied his sister’s reaction. Their grandmother looked
over at Michael and asked what was wrong.

He
shook his head and asked Jessica, “How much longer do we all have?”

She
only gave him a perplexed look and asked what he meant.

“Never
mind,” he sighed.

Their
grandmother shrugged and returned to her games while Michael turned the news
back up. Jessica however ran a new search on REFOIA for information related to
the assassination of Tony Winchester. The article was brief and only mentioned
the assumption all officials held that Drake Winchester killed his own father,
though the idea had since been rebuked. It also had the security feed of the
incident, which Jessica reluctantly watched, though she retreated back into her
bedroom before she played the video. She ran a search for Regenesis through the
site once she finished the video, but only a one sentence blip existed, stating
the drug was in process at Winchester Enterprises, though it had since been
abandoned nearly a decade ago.

---*---

11:59
PM

Baltimore,
Maryland

Mia
sat alone on a bench in the Capitol Hill Park, just as she was instructed to by
the unknown caller who claimed he could help her with the investigation. She
had her hesitations and didn’t consider the offer until the message was
repainted on the phone booth outside her home. The park was pitch black, solely
illuminated by a few lamps throughout the park. One stood nearby and didn’t
help her see through the shadows for the caller. Every sound set her on edge,
from a squirrel rustling through the branches of a nearby tree, to a sudden
crow that flew overhead. At that moment Mia wished she had told Bryce about the
meeting and brought him as backup.

The
lamp nearby went out suddenly and a stranger emerged from the dark behind her
and in a fluid motion took a seat beside her and told her to remain calm. The
man beside her wore rags, which included a stained and well-worn halfway zipped
hoodie over an equally soiled tee-shirt. He also wore dark cargo pants,
tattered leather gloves on his hands, a pair of shabby black combat boots, and
he kept a frayed and torn blanket wrapped around his shoulders. The figure kept
his hood up and hid his unkempt face.

“Who
are you?”

The
man didn’t answer. “Have you heard about the grave robberies?”

“Yes.
Was it Cladis who–”

“He
removed the bodies at some point yes, but he wasn’t behind unearthing and
desecrating the gravesites.”

“What
do you mean?”

“What
I mean is that Cladis didn’t dig those coffins out of the earth,” he told her.
“I did.”

“You?
Why the hell would you–”

“I
had to be sure your hunch was right.”

She
looked and him and asked how he knew about her theory.

“I
may or may not break into your apartment on a regular basis to check up on your
progress in the case,” he admitted.

Mia
swore and asked who he was.

The
man didn’t answer her. He remained silent, as if he wasn’t even there, but
miles away. After a single crow flew past he relaxed slightly and continued,
though he ignored her query, “Who were the last two victims?”

“Who
are you?”

“Not
now.”

“No,
who are you?”

“Just
trust me. Who were the last two victims in the investigation?”

Mia
let out a breath and told him, “Joaquin Hernandez and Danielle McMinn.”

“What
else?”

“What
are you talking about?”

“What
else do you know about them?”

“Nothing.”

“How
do you expect to solve this mystery on names alone?” The stranger retrieved a
folded pile of papers and tossed it on her lap. “Joaquin Hernandez, male, aged
forty-five, A negative blood, and widowed at the age of thirty-three; his wife
killed herself and left him with three little ones. Hernandez worked at that
department store he died in since he was fifteen. I never found anything that
would have led me to know what his ability could have been, which means there’s
a chance he never found it out himself.”

The
stranger tapped the sheets he’d given Mia and told her to read on. She opened
the pages and found a detailed list of the victims, in order, with everything
written down from age to their weight claimed on their driver’s license
(assuming they had one). Mia found the entry for Danielle McMinn and read
aloud, “Danielle McMinn, female, eighteen, B negative blood, and single. McMinn
was a new hire at the department store Hernandez worked at and was killed in,
though the two worked in different areas of the store and most likely never
met, as she was hired a day before Hernandez was killed. Also, as McMinn only
had less than twenty-four hours to discover her ability, she most likely failed
to recognize what it was.”

The
stranger told her, “That’s the level of detail you’re going to need to have, at
the very least, if you really do want to solve this case. And to be honest,
even that’s a poor excuse for information on a case this complex.”

“Why
are you telling me all of this?”

The
man suddenly shot a glare behind them into the darkness.

Mia
looked back but didn’t see anything. “What is it?”

He
didn’t answer her. “We have a slight window of opportunity right now,” he said.
“There was only a twenty-four hour window of time for the fifteenth victim to
meet the sixteenth. Couple that with the remaining seven days we have to find
whoever the sixteenth casualty will be before it’s too late, and it’s actually
a bit of a break when you consider the average length between deaths is five
days.”

“That
isn’t very much time though,” Mia reminded him. “It’s actually impossible,
considering where she worked she probably had contact with dozens, if not
hundreds of people.”

The
ragged man said it wasn’t impossible at all. “There’s something else I needed
to tell you.” He stole the list back and turned to the first page again and
showed her a series of letters written in red pen. “This is the blood pattern
Cladis is following.”

Mia
looked at it and asked what he meant.

“I
mean that each and every one of Cladis’ targets follow one after the other in a
pattern that is also driven by the type of blood each person has. It begins
with O positive, then continues through A positive, B positive, AB positive,
and all the way down as I’ve written it to AB negative. Mind you, it starts from
the most common blood group and ends with the rarest group based on the
worldwide average.”

She
crosschecked his claim with the list of victims and discovered he was right.
“How did you figure this out?” she asked him. “No one else has, how is it that
someone from the streets managed to stumble across this?”

“I’m
not an informant if that’s what you think I am,” the ragged man told her,
(although he stopped and realized that he was informing her about the
investigation, but disregarded his comment). “I’m on your side Mia, through all
of this.”

“Who
are you though?”

He
apologized and told her that they needed to leave. “I’ll contact you in a few–”

The
man stopped midsentence when a single crow landed on the walkway in front of
them. He didn’t say a word, but looked intently at the bird until it flew away.

“We
need to leave Mia.”

“What
are–”

“I
didn’t expect to encounter anyone else here, but I was wrong.”

“Who
is it?”

“The
Delta,” he hissed.

Mia’s
heart raced as he urged her to leave, however she didn’t make it very far
before a group of four men shouted at her from a far. She glanced around but
couldn’t find her contact.

One
of the members of the Delta caught up to her and asked where she was off to in
such a hurry. “You must be lookin’ for a good time, right baby?”

“No,
please, I was just leaving.”

“Well
where are you going to? Maybe one of us could give you a ride,” one of the men
said with a chuckle.

Another
man mentioned a party they could show her. “It’s loads of fun, lots of people,
lots of girls, plenty of good times too.”

“No
thanks.”

Mia
tried to break away from the gang but one of the members grabbed her by the arm
and pulled her back. “How about we take you there and let you experience it
before you shut us down, alright?”

“Leave
her alone, now.”

The
group turned and found the ragged, homeless man Mia spoke with just before the
Delta appeared. He stood, slightly hunched over, but unwavering. The man
repeated his order and demanded they free her. “I will only say this once more,
release her alone and never return or I will take her from you.”

Mia
shook where she stood when she heard him speak. His voice was deeper, much
deeper than it was moments earlier, and the man sounded absolute in his promise
to harm the four men. However the Delta didn’t heed his warning. Three of the
men stepped forward while one remained back and held Mia tightly. Two of the
three members of the Delta brandished switchblades and one retrieved a handgun
and aimed for the man’s head.

“Night
night, you piece of–”

The
tattered man lunged at the gunman and tackled him to the ground before he could
finish his sentence. The stranger rolled to his feet as the others ran after
him, including the member who held Mia captive. She ran for cover to witness
her contact brawl amid the Delta. Three of the men seemed to ambush him, but he
reappeared behind the group out of nowhere. The stranger grabbed one of the men
by his wrist, outstretched the man’s arm, and broke the man’s arm backwards at the
elbow. He finished him off when he took the man by the head and drove his knee
into the youth’s forehead.

The
gunman retrieved his weapon and fired two rounds into the homeless fellow,
though neither bullet impeded his assault on the Delta. He weaved past two of
the gang members to reach the gunman, kicked in his knee, broke his wrist when
he seized the gun and swiftly jerked his hand so hard that it nearly turned
halfway around. The wounded man fell to the ground and shrieked in horror and
agony.

As
the last remaining members of the Delta attacked, the man vanished momentarily
before he resurfaced behind them and bashed their skulls into one another.

With
all four men on the ground, unconscious, weeping, or worse, the stranger
quickly found Mia and told her to leave. “Get home and stay safe.” His voice
had returned to a calmer and softer tone, far from the threatening and almost
animalistic growl it was earlier. “I’ll be in touch soon enough.”

Mia
didn’t voice a word of protest. She turned and ran back to her car outside of
the park, all while she clutched the documents her strange new friend gave her.
However she heard the sudden screeches and screams of the four young men who
were wounded and didn’t dare imagine what the stranger had planned for them.