Hope (Other World Protection Agency Book 1) (2 page)

Walking over he brought the tray
and set it up. “Let’s get you fed and then I will be out of your hair for the
night.” Giving her the standard I am friendly smile, he sat on the edge of the
bed and began to unveil the food.

“In this corner we have chicken
noodle soup, the favorite of sick people far and wide. Then we have soft
vanilla ice cream. For your drinking pleasure, we have grape juice, apple juice
and the ever ready stand by, a cup of coffee. Open up.”

He slowly helped her to eat as
she asked herself the standard questions. Why is he here? Why do I want him
around? Almost dying must have knocked a screw loose. Obediently she ate until
she felt it, that dark drowning feeling of fear. The one that licked at her
nonexistent soul and told her that hope was for children and only children.

“You have to go. You have to go
now,” she said in an urgent voice trying not to shake.

“What’s wrong? What has gotten
into you?” He pulled out his stethoscope. “Your heart rate is elevated and your
pulse is up.”

She jerked away from him. “We
don’t have time for this. You have to get out of this room. Get out of the
hospital. Drive as fast as you can and maybe it won’t find you.”

“What won’t find me?”

“Something you can’t see, but it
can see you. It will kill you and you will never know why.” The temperature
dropped dramatically and a chill filled her. “It’s too late.”

Stepping into the room was a
monster straight out of her dreams. At first it looked beautiful like Adonis
come to life. Then it let the illusion drop and there stood a figure darker
than the darkest shadows. It was not a color. To call it black would be unfair
to the color. It was just evil and so very dark that it simply reflected no
light. It slowly opened its black wings and then showed its teeth. Teeth that
looked like steel picks. The end had come for one of them.

“What is that?” Paul said in a
voice that didn’t believe he was seeing what was in front of him.

“You can see it?

“Of course I can see it.” He was
still talking like it was an illusion.

Taraja would have done the happy
dance around the room if it had not been there. Her personal life size doll of
evil incarnate. Who needed Lucifer when this was chasing you?

“The human can see me. This will
make it a lot more fun.” Raising its hand, it shot a bolt of lightning out of
its hands into Dr. Charles’ chest cavity. Taraja screamed as she watched him
die.

Why was he still alive? She
stopped screaming. “Why are you still alive?”

Almost faster than she could
track, he shot another bolt of lightning at Dr. Charles. Again it simply
fizzled out. He turned and shot a third bolt at the window and all the glass
shattered.

“Taraja.” He said with a mocking
smile and a tusking sound. “You naughty girl. You went and found yourself a
shield. It’s too little, too late. We will still win. It really would have been
easier if you had just died.”

“I know that.” She mumbled realizing
she was holding a conversation with her enemy. “We are not friends and today
you’re not winning, so just leave.”

The door opened and the blonde
nurse from earlier walked in. She was not looking as perky and must be pulling
a double shift. Taraja knew immediately she was dead. Without thinking, she
gathered her slowly recovering strength and jumped in front of her knocking her
down. She took the full impact of the blast that was aimed at the nurse.

With grim determination, she
canted a series of words that she wasn’t sure she understood and watched as her
personal nightmare was pulled away. It threatened to find her soon, so they
could finish what they started. She collapsed to the floor, while Dr. Charles
escorted the nurse out with instructions to stay out of the room.

He picked her up and laid her
down on the bed.

“I know you’re awake and I think
you owe me an explanation.”

“An explanation? You should be
dead. How about explaining that one.” This was way too much for her, especially
when all she wanted to do was be put out of her misery.

“Taraja.”

“Look, I don’t have time to
explain things to you. I have to get out of here.” She sat up and tried to move
to the edge.

“Look at you. Where can you go
like that? You can’t even make it out of the bed you’re so weak.”

“Don’t you think I know that?”
She screamed in frustration. “Would you like me to just lay back down? That
thing you saw, it will be back, looking for me. If you or your friends or your
pretty little hospital get in its way, it will simply flatten you all. Nothing
will stop it or its friends from coming for me, so should I stay here and watch
everyone die?”

He was pacing the room, running
his hands through his thick hair. Although it shouldn’t matter, she wanted to
touch it. She wanted to be the one running her hands through it and if she
wasn’t sure that something was wrong with her before this confirmed it. She
never wanted to take time with a man. She was too busy trying to kill herself.
A girl had to have priorities right?

“Just stay here and wait.” He
glared at her before leaving.

There was no way she was going to
sit there like an obedient dog and wait for him. Oh no, he had the wrong girl.
Making her mind up, she scooted slowly to the side of the bed and got up. Well
at least she tried to get up. Now she was lying on the floor, because her
shaking legs decided not to hold her up. Sighing, she wondered if she could
escape by crawling out the door. Taking her time, she finally managed to get to
her feet. She had used her little bit of strength when she saved the perky
blonde. She grimaced at herself. When had she gone into the lifesaving
business? The blonde lives and I die? That sounded good, but nothing good had
happened yet, except of course for a pair of beautiful green eyes. Giving
herself a mental slap, she stumbled to the closet. Opening it up, she was met
by emptiness.

“Didn’t I tell you not to move?”
Good thing she was hanging onto the closet door or she would have been on her
behind again. There was something about his voice that made her already weak
knees weaker.

Walking over to her he picked her
up and brought her back to the bed. “Your clothes were destroyed. They were
beyond saving. They were treated like they were contaminated just as a precautionary
measure.” Stepping back he grabbed some clothes on the bed and held them up for
her inspection. “So I borrowed these for you.” There was a pair of scrubs, top
and bottom and what looked like a tank top.

“Who did you ask, your
girlfriend? I am really not into charity.” Her eyes got wide when she realized
he was standing there silently laughing at her.

“I borrowed them from my sister
and to answer your question, I am single.”

“I didn’t ask you about your
status. I don’t care.” She sounded like a sulking child and knew it. He was
messing with her equilibrium and under the circumstances that just was not
nice.

“If we are leaving, then you will
have to change. Do you need help?”

“As if.” Did he think she was
going to let him see her naked? She was going to let him see her naked if she
wanted to get into those clothes. “I could use some help.” If he laughed at her,
she would make him pay. Later.

Without cracking a smile, he
helped her change, using every trick he had ever learned as a doctor. Doctors
were not supposed to be turned on by curvy patients with fire in their eyes and
a death wish. Ok, so he was failing miserably at the not being turned on, but
this was not the place to make her sweat.

“There. That’s not a bad fit.”
Paul said giving her a casual once over.

“They’re scrubs, but yeah they’re
not too bad.” The cami had been the perfect solution. They kept her girls from
flying away, she needed all the control she could get right now. “My hair is a
mess though.” He grabbed a brush from the bed and started brushing her hair.

He’s brushing my hair. She rubbed
at her eyes, because something had flown into them. This had to stop. She was
leaving not just this room, but this world. She couldn’t take it anymore. She
had tried and cried and kicked and done everything possible, but no understood
her pain. She just wanted out. It was unfair that he came into her life when
she was just ready for it to be over.

“That’s better, although it needs
washed etcetera. I think we will make it out the door.” He continued to touch
her hair.

“We?” He was definitely not
invited.

“Definitely we. Come on.” Helping
her get up, he put his arm around her like they were best friends or lovers and
led her to the door. “There’s a change in shift happening right now, so
everyone is giving updates on their patients. I want to get us out before they
get here. In case we are stopped, just follow my lead.”

The corridor was empty and it was
now or never. He led her out on shaky legs, still holding her close to his
body. He was keeping her from falling, but she refused to think about that.
First things first. The elevator was almost within reach. The perky blonde and
another nurse stepped out from a corridor by the elevator.

“Dr. Charles.” The other nurse raised
her hand in greeting moving in their direction. “I didn’t expect to see you
tonight.”

She had dark hair and was fair
complexioned. Taraja was sure she wanted to do more than see him. Sighing, she
thought maybe she was being unfair, thinking the nurse wanted to see him,
without his shirt and pants. Nope. She wasn’t being unfair at all.

“I stayed late wrapping something
up.”

“Sorry you had to stay late, but
it is always a pleasure to see you. Who is this?”

“This is Tara, my girlfriend. She
got tired of waiting and decided to come collect me.” He gave Tara a look of
love then dropped a kiss on her lips. “She thinks I work too much.”

“Oh.” She gave Tara a decidedly
unfriendly look. “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”

“I try to keep my work and personal
life separate.”

She turned to the perky blonde.
“Did you know?”

She smiled “I just caught rumor
of it today, but you know how the residents like to spread gossip. You never
know what’s true or not.

She wasn’t going to blow their
cover. Taraja had just been standing there waiting for the perky blonde to give
her away. She had almost felt bad about saving the nurse’s life when she
covered for them. Taraja had no idea why, but she almost wanted to believe in
the goodness of mankind again, almost.

“It’s getting late. We should go.
I thought you were leaving?” This was directed to the perky blonde.

“I am going to grab my purse and
take off.”

“Good. Take a vacation. Come back
in a week.” Then with both the nurses gasping he led Tara to the elevator and
got in.

“You know. They are going to know
you helped me escape.” She said as they exited the hospital.

“You weren’t a prisoner, Taraja.
So you left without your discharge papers. It will be ok. Besides, being a
doctor in America is overrated. I can always practice in a third world
country.” He gave her a smile that almost knocked her down. Good thing she was
sitting now.

“I will go get my car and come
back for you, it is parked down the street. Will you be sitting here or will I
have to go looking for you?” She shrugged her shoulders and looked him in the
eyes. “Let’s put it like this. If you’re not here when I get back, if you move
a muscle I promise to spank your very appealing bottom later.” With that he
walked off. His long strides eating up ground quickly.

He had just threatened to spank
her. She got up off the bench and started making her way down the drive in
front of the hospital to the curb. She knew this area of Shadyside well and
across the street was a restaurant. She didn’t have any money, but she needed
to eat and recoup her strength, so it was scraps out of the trash for her. Not
like something in the trash was going to be the death of her. Now she just
needed the darn light to turn before he got back here.

“You decided to wait on the curb
for me.” He said after he pulled up. “That was so sweet of you.” Getting out of
the car he helped her in. “Unfortunately for you and happily for me, there is a
spanking in your near future.” With those words he took off.

“Where are you taking me?” She
refused to acknowledge his words or to squirm like a little girl who had gotten
caught red handed.

“I don’t know. Your place or mine?”

“No and no. They will find us at
either location. They can track me. You should just leave me on the street and
get as far away as possible.”

“No. Don’t ask me why, because I
don’t have an answer for you. All I know is I am not leaving you alone. So we
need someplace to lay low.”

“I know a place.” She said, not
sounding too happy. “You will not like it though.” This time she sounded much
happier. We need to get supplies first if we go there and you have to pay. No
credit card,” she said pulling her scrub pockets out and picking at the
imaginary lint.

Sighing he pulled into the
parking lot of Target. “I knew you wanted me for my money.” This time she
laughed.

They walked around Target with
Paul pushing the cart and Tara throwing what she wanted in.

“Cleaning supplies?”

 “We’re going to need them, take
my word for it. Grab some snacks. Lots of snacks.”

They loaded up on supplies and
snacks then grabbed a cup of coffee from Starbuck’s before getting back into
the car.

“Where to now?”

“Food?” She looked at him with a
hopeful eye. If he said chicken noodle soup she may have to try and escape
again.

“Boston Market?” She gave him a
nod and a happy smile then closed her eyes. They hit the drive through and soon
she was directing him to the Southside.

“You like to get around the city
I see.”

“Well it’s not like it’s very
big.  There are some warehouses over here that are abandoned. That’s where I
was when I was found. I laid in that warehouse for three weeks, but that thing
never found me.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Excuse me?”

“Taraja, that’s impossible. No
one can survive without water for three weeks.”

“Just Tara. No human can, but I
did. So the logical conclusion is that I am not human.”

“You’re human. I looked at all
your tests you’re very human.” He waited, but got no response. So he changed
the subject. “Why just Tara?”

“It’s just what I like to be
called.” She wasn’t sure why she had told him her official name anyway. She
changed the subject to what really mattered. “That’s impossible. I am not
human.” She stressed every word. How dare he try to take away from her the one
thing she had held onto all these years.