Sally felt the full force of impact her forehead hit the rough black metal that made up the bus floor, she remembered panicking then a yelp, followed by a sharp pain piercing through her head after that nothing, her brain had taken enough pain for the day and it would take no more. Which was weird because her mind drifted to a place a memory deep within her not as safe or sunny to escape to.
She was a child again standing on a large grassy hill just before a large looming forest from her point of view the trees were so tall she needed to crane her neck just to see where they end not that she could see much the trees usually green leaves dipped in black seemingly enjoining with the night's darkness. The manor's lights dimmer due to the distance further emphasizing the ominous woods, she couldn't remember why she'd left the party: she was bored her dad told her to sit still but then disappeared into the crowd, after a while the many lights and weirdly dressed people weren't as interesting, the two kids on her left spoke to themselves ignoring her and she was sure the other boy on her right didn't know she was even there.
But then he left, one minute there the next gone she was sure they were not supposed to leave the table either of them or did that rule only apply to her? It didn't matter the boy leaving had broken the monotony and she would or rather could not stomach the boredom that plagued her. She reasoned if he could leave why should she stay? She surveyed the large room everyone not at her table was an adult she looked in the direction where the boy went spotting him disappearing through a door almost completely hidden at the back of the crowd,
"Outside!" She thought stood and followed the path to the door before it disappeared from view, she was half afraid someone would stop her yet no one even glanced in her direction as she disappeared through the glass door. Sally couldn't quite remember how she'd gotten so close to the scary woods it was a glowing rock she'd seen after looking around for the boy who for some reason was no where to be seen not playing on the wide green field. The rock grew bigger and glowed greener as she got closer until there were two large green orbs that hovered in the darkness 'wait rocks don't do that' she'd thought at the time, that's when the giant monster snake came into view.
The events that night were foggy she remembered another kid came out of no where but she hadn't seen their face clearly probably blurred by the immense tears in her eyes, her memory went black after the snake swiped her away into a nearby tree trunk, the rush of cold air, the feel of rough bulky surface of a tree trunk burying itself into her head then everything went dark.
The events of that day never made sense to her even as she grew up, how does a giant python appear out of nowhere several hundred thousand miles from its own habitat? She woke up the next day in the hospital head-achy they said she was found at the edge of the woods unconscious hurt but luckily it was nothing too bad and after the stitches were removed only a thumb-sized scar remained at the back of her head. It made no sense even as she thought about it now in the dream.
"I was not supposed to live, no one walks out of that kind of injury with just a scar." She stood back in that field alone in the dim lighting the night's cold air wiping by her as a slight wind passed, she faced the woods the forefront trees visible enough arranged in an almost equidistant way betraying its man-made nature, though after whoever grew them decided to stop and let them grow on their own and my had they gone wild anyone who didn't know would assume it was a naturally occurring. "It doesn't make sense" Sally pondered
"Of course it doesn't" a childish voice spoke she stood at the edge of the tree line right where they said she was found "you were supposed to die" five years old and all, her younger self wore that same black puffy dress she used to love, "No one not especially a child could survive that kind of accident." She spoke solemnly her eyes glazed no emotion permeated her face, her hair a sticky mess dark blood flowed from the top of her head across her face down her nose to the lips.
"You were supposed to die." Young Sally smiled her lips splitting into a toothy blood soaked grin "Now that will be corrected shortly!" she raised her arm hand's index finger pointing up at her, Sally felt a slow drizzle down her nose touching it she looked at her hand finding it as bloody then she realized the wound on the little girl were in actuality hers and she was dying.
******
Michael knew that Sally was dying, the wound on her temple didn't bleed much but its purplish skin and slight bump probably meant internal bleeding. One of his abilities in his past life was healing in fact he was so good at it he was dubbed "The god of healing" in modern times there'd be a cult following him around not that the situation was much different back then. He touched a patient and let his power flow into them hastening the recovery of whatever the problem was one of the side effects was that since he effectively sent part of his essence into them a clear picture of the person's body especially the wounded area would be visible in Michael's mind.
He didn't need to touch the girl to know that her skull cracked causing internal damage which if not attended to quickly would soon be fatal even if he was at full power much less now that he was a hundred times weaker.
They were kept in a small barn a little bit ways off the sealed road where they had left the bus, the sleeping gas or whatever that was that knocked him out had worn off by the time they reached the metal roofed wooden barn, the man carried Michael like a sack on his shoulder while the woman took Sally. Michael glanced at that sickly wound on her temple mentally wincing "I need to get closer to her." He decided once they put them down they'd bound both their hands and legs but Michael easily shrugged those off.
"What do you think happened to the last guy?" the man's deep voice grunted as he put Michael down in a corner "Don't know" the woman answered "Whatever it was, we need to get rid of him as fast as possible. The girl is disposable as well besides she's probably done for" Michael detected an English accent dampened somewhere under her voice "lets go get the bags."
He didn't open his eyes until the sound of footsteps was faraway and the raggedy door hit the wall closed. The place wasn't a barn precisely more a shed contrary to his previous assumption , rough floor surface brown tired wooden walls that looked like planks nailed together lines of light through the small gaps between the planks and a metal corrugated triangular ceiling.
The "Shed" housed a few tools put up onto the wall near the door across from where the man had put him down, among them a shovel stood leaning onto the side of the door, its rough dirt coated exterior indicated much prior usage "this is not their first time," Michael thought he could feel his heart beat into the rope around his hands, a shin of sweat covered his forehead even if he could somehow take on the big guy and that a very big 'If' the woman would finish him off easily "the only thing they are not expecting is that I am no ordinary boy, I am probably supposed to be unconscious for a couple of hours or so" he looked towards Sally, her skin had gotten uncomfortably pale further enunciating the now black part on her head.
The ropes on Michael's hand came off easily as he parted his hands then he pulled off the ones binding his feet scurrying to Sally placing his hands on her left temple where the blackness was concentrated a dark red trickle of blood went down on her side "Lets hope this works" he mutters, her skin was cold too cold Michael's palm glowed dimly on Sally's face.
********
Janet didn't like this job something definitely did not feel right. Five-foot-ten Olympian-medal-winner level body sculpted perfectly from years of exercise,
this was not her first job being hired to dispose off high level clients was practically her bread and butter. Of course it was a very risky endeavor but that just made the rewards better especially the riskier the job. Her clients paid well anonymously through the agency even more generously if they were quick and discrete about it. She felt a rush especially when the stakes were very high a feeling she knew she got addicted to.
So when she and her partner were contacted about the Bailon grandson she expected the kid to be hyper secured, followed everywhere by secret service level guards or at the very least driven privately by a guy who dubbed as his body guard yet nothing, the kid took the school bus! Taking him out shouldn't even need such eccentrics not even an hour of her time, yet the pay was too good like absurdly high for such an easy job.
"And then there were the other guys " she thought " two past assassination attempts all gone wrong, assumed at least since the other guys "disappeared" the agency suspected foul play and thus turned to them, their best and brightest incorruptible professionals to deal with it, they couldn't be bought off especially when the pay bypassed a seven digit limit. She tied her hair into a tight small bun like she always did at work, her black leather top and pants stuck to her body to allow easy movement.
"Something is not right" she could feel it in her gut, she walked back to the small wooden shed Malik close behind "That boy didn't look quite unconscious" she saw the boy go under no one not even a grown man could withstand that kind of intoxication still something grated at her, she decided to walk faster.
When a light flashed for a second directly in her line of sight from within the shed Janet knew she had to run somehow the kid was free "Someone followed us here" she surmised was the most plausible explanation unsheathing a very sharp dagger from her right boot, she banged the door open.