Last Chance (21 page)

A harsh voice pierced the smoke and fog around the home and Matthew turned his head to see none other than Keith Kellington himself. Matthew responded, “I figured you were too much of a coward to stay here and watch what you did.”

Keith lit a cigarette with the same lighter that had set fire to the house, and replied, “It looks like it was a good thing that I did. Seems there are a few loose ends that need to be cleaned up.” He slowly walked over to Matthew, who still caressed the girl that he had both saved and, in his mind, destroyed. Keith towered over him and explained himself, in his own sick and twisted way.

“Once you realize that you can’t die, the entire idea of death becomes something of a mystery. The terror that I saw in the eyes of Steve and Laura Curry at the thought of burning alive in that house—now that’s power.” Matthew gently put Amanda’s head back onto the ground and stood to his feet.

“The power that I have to control death and control lives—it takes all the fear away.” Keith took a drag from his cigarette and looked at the wreckage of the Curry home. “You cannot even begin to understand what it feels like to control everything.” He flipped his cigarette on the ground and said, “I no longer fear death, so I create it, just to make sure I always remember one thing.”

Matthew asked, “What’s that?”

Keith placed his hand on his chest and replied, “That I’m the top of the food chain.”

Amanda and Steven Jr. were still prone at the feet of Matthew. Keith rested against a large oak tree and asked Matthew, “So, you were able to save the girl and the boy? I guess Mom and Dad are charbroiled pretty thoroughly by now.”

Matthew could feel the anger building in his gut, but he had no idea how to repel the larger, more experienced man. Keith looked at the Curry kids and then back at Matthew and said, “I don’t know how you got them out of that house, but it’s not gonna happen again.”

Keith began to move his hand toward his coat pocket when a siren went off behind him. He turned and saw a red sports car barreling up beside him. Then a police car ran right in behind it. April and Conner jumped out of the first car and rushed over to Matthew. Keith recognized each of them and said, “You people are a real pain in my ass.”

Officer Danny Charles popped out of the police car. His pistol was pulled and he yelled to Keith Kellington, “Put your hands where I can see ‘em, right now!”

Keith raised his hands and smirked at the country officer. Officer Charles reached into his car, pulled out his CB transmitter, and spoke into it. “Need the fire department at the old Curry home; send backup.”

April reached Matthew and the Curry kids and made sure that Matthew wasn’t hurt. April told the boys, “We have to get out of here, now.”

Matthew could barely speak, but he told his mother, “He killed Mr. and Mrs. Curry.”

“I know, son, but we can’t help that now. How do we get out of here?”

Matthew pointed to the back of the blaze. “The car is in the back. We can take the back road.”

“Get down on the ground, right now!” Officer Charles continued to yell to Keith Kellington. Keith began to slowly move to the ground, talking as he did.

“Are we really going to play this game again, officer?”

Danny Charles replied, “You shut your damn mouth and get your face in the dirt!”

Matthew picked up Steven Jr. and Conner picked up Amanda. They slowly made their way to the back of the house. Officer Charles called out to April, “What are you doin’? You need to leave those kids there until the medics can take a look at ‘em.”

April didn’t react to Danny’s calls. He again yelled out, “April, where are you goin’?”

April yelled back, “Thank you and I’m sorry.”

He replied, “Sorry for what?”

Keith Kellington replied from the ground, “She’s sorry because she knows that I’m about to kill you.”

Officer Charles looked down at Keith Kellington and started to speak, but before he could, Keith said the following, “Don’t move a muscle.” Keith had taken control of Danny Charles with the use of a carrier stone.

Officer Charles was unable to move at all as Keith Kellington got up from the ground. Danny strained and grunted as he tried to make even the simplest of movements, but he couldn’t. He was only able to shift his eyes as Keith walked around him.

“You see officer; you just thought you had everything under control here. You may be a big fish in this little pond, but I’m one of the biggest sharks on the planet.”

“Put your gun to your head.” Officer Charles put his revolver to the temple of his head as he was instructed. “Now, put your finger on the trigger.” Officer Charles put his finger on the trigger as he was instructed. He tried to fight the commands but it was no use.

April turned to see the gun pointed at Danny Charles’s head, but she couldn’t help him. Keith yelled out to April, “Don’t make me kill him! Come back now and we can work something out!”

Connor and Matthew had loaded the still unconscious Curry kids into the car, and April screamed, “Hold on, we’re gettin’ out of here.” The car started and she tore off down the dark back road. She looked in her rearview mirror just long enough to see Keith standing there and then he was gone.

Keith approached Officer Charles and started to mock him. “Such a little country bumpkin.” Keith tapped the top of Danny’s head and said, “Did you know I was in here? I know your memories and your thoughts. I know about your poor wife who lost her life and how you struggle so hard to just get by from day to day.” Keith lit another cigarette and said, “I’m just curious—how does it feel to know that you’re about to die? You can answer.”

Danny Charles regained the use of his mouth and replied, “Just leave my family alone.”

Keith interrupted, “I didn’t ask you that. I want to know how you feel.”

Danny responded, “Y’all can go to—”

Keith stopped Danny before he could finish. “I will miss that lovely accent of yours, Mr. Charles. I may keep it for myself.”

Keith could hear the sirens of more police and fire trucks coming down the road. He plucked the badge from Danny Charles’s shirt and said, “Well, I guess our time is up. Pull the trigger.”

A shot rang out and the body of Officer Danny Charles fell to the ground. Keith watched as more police cars and the fire department arrived at the Curry residence. He began to slowly disappear, as if he was evaporating into thin air. The view of the flames from the Curry home fell away from Keith as a new image of a warehouse wall, filled with pictures of Amanda Curry and her family, took shape in his eyes.

He walked up to the wall and placed slashes through the pictures of Steve and Laura Curry. He looked at the pictures of the Curry children, first Amanda and then Steven Jr. A familiar voice echoed in the background that asked, “What about the kids? Did you take care of them?”

Keith replied, “No, I think we have a bit more work to do on that one. Don’t worry about it; we’ll find and take care of them. They have nowhere to go.”

Keith signaled for one of the several large men standing around the room to come over to the wall. “Did you get all of the information that I requested about April Chance and her boys?” The large man handed Keith a stack of papers, and he began to review them.

“You see, this family is supposedly from somewhere in Georgia, but based on what we’ve found, they’ve only existed for a couple of weeks. That means they have either changed their identities or they never had identities.”

Keith continued to go through the papers and explained how they would catch up with the family. “I guess she thinks that just because she was using cash to buy everything that we can’t track it. Bus tickets in Atlanta, a car in Memphis, and look, the whole trail begins at a little place called Spicewater Lake. That’s where they’re headed boys, to a familiar location.”

The familiar voice asked, “How do you know they’ll go back there?”

Keith pointed to the Hathmec around his neck and said, “I read the girl’s memories while I was in the house with her. She had a very distinct memory of a discussion that she had with the boy about the time that he had spent with his mother and brother at this same lake. Now why would a family that is moving from Georgia to Tennessee go on a lake vacation the day that they move from one state to another?”

Keith put his hands up as if to question the question and said, “The answer is that they don’t. For whatever reason, April, Matthew, and Connor Chance were in this town for a particular reason. It obviously has something to do with the Curry family, but I think it all started and will now end at that lake.”

Keith gathered up some supplies and grabbed three of his best men to make the trip to Georgia. “We’ll find out who these people are, and we’ll make sure they don’t ever come back.” Keith Kellington and his men headed out that night on a mission to find the Chance family. “This time, I won’t leave a fire to do the job. I’ll do it myself.”

Chapter 16

road trip

“You see what happens when you don’t do as I say?” A distraught and tearful April Chance lectured her son as she tried to keep the car on the road. “A good man is dead because you think this is some sort of game.” Matthew sat in the backseat of the car with Amanda and Steven Jr. as his mother sped down the back road that led away from the Curry home.

Matthew replied, “I couldn’t just let them die, and I know this isn’t a game.”

April composed herself and fought back any remaining tears. She said, “They were supposed to die. That was the way that it was supposed to be.”

She looked over to the passenger’s seat and saw Connor with his face cupped in his hands, leaned over toward the floorboard. She continued, “We wouldn’t have blood on our hands right now if you had just listened to me.”

Matthew asked, “Whose blood do we have on our hands? We just saved two people.”

Connor raised his head and said, “She’s talking about Officer Charles.” Connor looked to his mother and asked, “That’s why you wanted him to follow us to the house? You knew he would distract Keith and give us a way out.”

April wiped a final tear from her cheek and said, “I did what I had to do. I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt, but I knew if Keith was still at the house, we would need a distraction to get away.”

Connor replied, “So Officer Charles was the distraction?”

Matthew said, “You didn’t have to do that. We could have taken care of Keith.”

April shot the car over to the side of the road. The car slid along the loose gravel and the headlights bounced off the highway sign that was nearly plowed over. She turned to the backseat and looked her son in the eyes.

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the letter; I should have told you. You have to understand that you’re not some kind of superhero, son. You can be hurt.” April pointed to the burn marks on Matthew’s arm that were still healing. “Keith Kellington and the men that he works for are not gonna go easy on you because you’re a kid; they will kill you.” Matthew began to reply to his mother, but before he could, she pulled her own Hathmec from her shirt.

“Keith has all the powers of this pendant, every one of them. You have two charms, and the only advantage you have over him is that he doesn’t know that.” April turned back to the steering wheel and put the car in gear. She finished her thought. “That’s just not enough of an advantage; so now I have to live with the fact that someone who should still be alive is gone.”

April pulled the car back on the road and hoped her words had made an impression. Matthew pondered her words for a few minutes and finally replied. “I’m sorry I ran off like I did, but I’m not sorry about the result.” Matthew placed his hand on Amanda’s head and continued, “I think Officer Charles would say the same thing.”

Matthew was sitting behind the passenger’s seat, with Amanda situated between Matthew and her brother. Matthew positioned himself between the two front seats and put his hands on both his mother’s and his brother’s shoulders. He said, “I know we’re not superheroes, but we did save two people’s lives tonight.”

April put her hand on her son’s hand and replied, “But at what cost?”

Matthew slid back into his seat and asked, “Do you want me to go ahead and copy over the new charm for your Hathmec?”

April reminded them both, “Walter said we shouldn’t copy the new charm until we get back home.”

Matthew said, “I wonder why.”

April replied, “I really don’t know, but I’m sure he has his reasons.

Connor stuck his head through the gap in the front seats of the car and examined the Curry kids and told Matthew, “They’re gonna wake up any minute now, you know.” Their burn wounds had almost healed and their breathing had returned to normal.

April looked into her rearview mirror and asked, “Did you give them a healing charm?”

Matthew replied, “It’s not like I could take them to the hospital.”

“Take those pendants back before they wake up and start asking questions.”

Conner responded, “I’m pretty sure they’re gonna have questions regardless.” April agreed with Connor’s assessment, but she nevertheless wanted Matthew to retrieve the pendants.

Matthew wasn’t sure that the Hathmec copies had done all they could, but he reluctantly agreed that it would be for the best. Matthew clutched his own Hathmec pendant and uttered a few simple words: “I take back what I have given.” The two pendants around the necks of Amanda and Steven Curry Jr. evaporated. It was as if they had never existed.

Matthew and Connor looked at one another, still astonished at the mystic and magical qualities that they possessed. What was even more astonishing was that they just seemed to know how to do these things. The pendant and charms themselves were now a part of them.

Matthew asked, “So now what?”

April responded, “We’re heading back to the R tunnel. We have a whole day and a half to get there before it closes. We’ll find somewhere in Georgia to spend the night, and then we’ll finish the drive tomorrow morning.”

Connor asked the question that was the most difficult to answer: “What about Amanda and Steven?”

April replied, “We’ll find somewhere we can drop them off. I’m sure they have other family that can take care of them.”

“We can’t leave them here. Keith knows they’re alive. He’ll be looking for them.”

Connor agreed. “Yeah, they’re the only ones who know he killed their parents; he’s not gonna let them live.”

Matthew added, “They have to come back with us. It’s the only way to keep them safe.”

April shook her head and replied, “We have already screwed up history enough tonight. We can’t drag them into the future with us. They don’t belong there.”

Matthew pointed out that the three of them didn’t belong in the past either. “This is the right thing to do, Mom. We can protect them. If they stay here, it just puts more people in danger.”

April relented in her objections and said, “I’m sure Walter will know what to do with them when we get home.”

The cheap vinyl seats in the back of the car started to creak as Amanda shifted her body toward Matthew. Connor looked over his shoulder and saw that Amanda was beginning to wake up. “Head’s up, Matthew! She can get pretty irate when she feels pinned up.” Matthew braced himself for what came next.

A groggy Amanda opened her eyes and saw the interior stains of an older vehicle. Her feet were rolled up underneath her legs and she tried to stretch them out. She struck the center console and planted a knee into Matthew’s side. The lights from oncoming cars blinded her for a moment before she recognized who was sitting beside her.

“Matthew, I had the weirdest dream.” She gave him a quick hug and a peck on his cheek. She paused for a moment and realized that she was in a car with Matthew’s entire family. The memories of the hours leading up to this spot started to materialize and she knew that they weren’t a dream.

She began to panic and frantically started asking questions, “My brother! Where’s my brother?”

Matthew tried to hold and comfort Amanda and replied, “He’s just to your side there—see?” She saw her brother curled up in a ball, oblivious to what had happened.

“What about my parents? Where are my parents?” Matthew tried to stay calm and just looked into the eyes of the girl that he would have given his life to save. He knew that nothing could save her from the pain that he was about to inflict upon her. “Matthew, where are my parents?”

Matthew collected himself and said, “They didn’t make it out of the house. I’m sorry, but they’re gone.”

Amanda looked into the watery eyes of Matthew and knew that he was telling her the truth, though she couldn’t keep herself from questioning it. “What are you talking about? They’re not dead! They can’t be dead!”

Connor poked his head back through the front seats and said, “It’s true. I’m really sorry about your mom and dad.” Amanda began to sob uncontrollably and she laid her head on Matthew’s chest. Tears ran down her cheeks and soaked Matthew’s shirt.

Matthew did all he could to console the young girl. Her entire life had been turned upside down, and the weight of the world seemed too much to bear. Amanda cried off and on for the next two hours as the car with the Chance family screamed down the interstate headed for Georgia. Steven Jr. had stayed asleep the entire time. He had slept through the frantic cries of his older sister as she tried to come to terms with the loss of her mother and father.

As Amanda began to dry the tears from her eyes, she started to question how she and her brother ended up with Matthew and his family. “I don’t understand what happened, Matthew. I remember giving you my necklace and you gave me that fake one to give to those men. You said everything would be OK if I just gave them that necklace.”

Matthew replied, “I know I did.” He looked to April and added, “You were all supposed to be fine.”

Amanda looked at her wrists and could still see the marks where she had been bound earlier in the night. She started to remember what had happened at the house. “Oh my god; that man, Keith, he had a gun to my mother’s head.” Matthew found it hard to listen to Amanda, but he needed to know what he was up against. She continued, “He said he would kill her and my dad if I didn’t give him the charm. He said he would let us all go if I did what he wanted.”

Matthew tried to grab Amanda’s hand, but she pulled it away. “I gave him the charm, like he wanted, and then he tied us all up.” She went on to describe the scene as Keith Kellington and his associates left the house with trails of gasoline all over the floor. They were laughing, and Keith was taking bets on how long it would take for the whole house to burn.

“My dad was struggling so hard to get loose, but he couldn’t. The smoke got really thick where they had me and Steven.” Amanda began to lose her composure again as she described the last thing she remembered. “My dad told me that everything would be OK and my mom just kept yelling to us that she loved us.” She wiped her eyes and said, “I can still hear her yelling. I still hear her!”

April struggled to drive the car as she listened to Amanda Curry talk of the love that her parents had for her and her brother. April was from a different time and world, but she could understand the helpless feeling that Amanda’s parents must have felt.

Connor’s reaction was muted. He heard the entire story and he truly felt sorry for Amanda and her family, but he didn’t react to it. He thought about the fear and frustration of the last few hours and wondered if it was worth it. He was relieved that Matthew and Amanda were safe, but he still wondered if he could have done more than his brother in the same situation.

Amanda stewed for a bit and started to question Matthew about his family’s role in what had happened. “This is all your fault. If you hadn’t told me to go with that lunatic, none of this would have happened.” Matthew slid away from Amanda and determined that she had gone from sad to angry.

Matthew tried to explain. “You don’t understand; we weren’t sure what was gonna happen.”

Amanda replied sharply, “You weren’t sure if my parents would get killed! You just play with other people’s lives.” She kicked the driver’s seat in front of her and said, “Who the hell do you people think you are?
You
should have died, not my mom and dad!”

April veered over to the shoulder of the interstate and stopped the car for a second time. She understood that the girl was upset about her parents, but she also felt the need to set the record straight. “Look, I get it. We’re here and your parents are gone, but this is not our fault. Both of you would be dead if it wasn’t for Matthew.”

Amanda shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

Connor interrupted, “It’s true. Matthew got to your house quick enough to get you and your brother out.”

Matthew slid over to the door and gave Amanda as much physical space as possible. He extended his hands out to her and said, “I tried to get your parents out too, but I just didn’t have time.”

Amanda looked to the boy who only a week ago had begun to win her heart and asked, “How does this make any sense?” Connor and April looked back at Amanda and she asked, “You all knew what would happen if I gave that man my charm and you just let it happen, didn’t you?” She turned back to Matthew and said, “You just felt guilty about lying to me. Now my parents are dead because of you and your family.”

April grew frustrated and blurted out, “That’s enough! Neither of these boys knew what was going to happen to you or your family. They both thought that if you didn’t give Keith the charm, he would kill you.” Amanda didn’t trust April, but she continued to listen to her.

“I was the one who knew what would really happen. Your entire family should be dead, but for Matthew.” April turned to the steering wheel and pulled the car back on the road. April was upset and confused, and she blamed herself for everything that had gone wrong.

She couldn’t hold her tongue and said, “He should have let history repeat itself.” Amanda was crushed at that comment, and Matthew was disturbed that his mother could say such a thing.

The next hour of the trip was made in complete silence. Amanda rode with her head directed to the floor. Matthew tried to get some type of reaction from Amanda by staring at her, but she was oblivious. The only sounds in the car came from the radio that Connor had quietly turned on. April focused on the road and tried to determine where the group could stop for the night.