Power Surge
It was true. They were lost. Well, not lost exactly--that would imply that at one time Bennett and Kimberly knew where they were. And they did not. They had been driving for two hours on a lonely two-lane highway and had not passed so much as a gas station. It was clear to Bennett that they were in a plains environment, but where he couldn’t tell.
"The last thing I remember was walking to the car in the library parking lot. Then, I remember feeling like I was falling," Kimberly’s voice sounded from the passenger side.
"You were," Bennett replied.
"Next thing after that, I woke up in the cell. I don’t even know what direction they took us. Do you?"
"No."
"What are we going to do, then?" Her voice shook a little. Bennett imagined concern on her face. Wanting to help, he reached out a hand to soothe her.
"OW!" she yelled. "You almost poked me in the eye!"
"Sorry. I have to be more careful."
"It’s okay. I’m glad you’re still trying."
He smiled sheepishly. He felt her grasp his hand at his side. She pulled it up to her lips and kissed his palm--her breath condensed against his skin. She slowly moved it down her chin and onto her chest. Bennett’s hand followed the contours of her breast in the air. She continued pushing downward, over her abdomen, until his hand came to a rest on her lap. His fingers nestled in her hair--Kimberly exhaled deeply with pleasure and let out a small giggle.
"Like I was saying...what are we going to do?"
Bennett wanted to. Whatever was in her transparent head, he wanted to do, but...
"I hate to...um...change the subject, but our first priority is ditching this truck. Now. I’d bet anything there’s a bug in here."
"Why do you think that?" she asked.
"Because nobody has tried to follow us. My guess is that our neighborhood defense contractor has a better idea than we do of what’s around here and they figure to pick us up once we run out of gas."
"So we run for it."
"I don’t think we could run more than a couple miles from the truck--in this terrain, they’d find us in ten minutes with a helicopter."
"Plus, in this terrain, my feet would turn into hamburger in ten minutes."
"Yeah, there is that. But it’s our only chance. Maybe if we get rid of the bug, we could slow them down. Any ideas?"
"Sure. Let’s find the bug."
Bennett nodded.
"If it has the kind of range I think it does, it’s going to need its own power source--probably somewhere in back for an unobstructed signal. We should hurry. We only have a third of a tank left and we want to get as far away as possible from any last known position."
"I’ll get looking."
The depression in the passenger seat lifted, accompanied by a soft grunt from Kimberly. Bennett looked over, the side of his face unexpectedly pressing against what felt like her outer thigh. He looked into the flesh pressed against his cheek and saw only the blank landscape outside.
"What are you doing?"
"Sorry. I’m trying to get in back."
Her thigh shook, pushing his head to the side. He hit his head on the window and the truck swerved sharply in mid-lane. He quickly brought the car back under control.
"Watch it!" Kimberly yelled.
"Sorry. You got in my way."
"That’s no excuse. I could be sitting on your face and you could still drive if you were paying attention!"
The thigh pushed into the back of the truck, the calf sliding against Bennett’s shoulder, Kimberly’s toes grazing his ear. Bennett called to her in the back.
"Check in the upholstery near the wheel wells. There may be some heat from the power source."
She felt around to no avail.
"I don’t feel anything. Why don’t we stop and check outside?"
Bennett shook his head.
"No, if we stop, it might tell them we know something is wrong. Maybe we’ll get to a town before we run out of gas."
Kimberly felt a seam in the rug of the back of the SUV and gave it a tug. There was a panel underneath, which she opened. It was only a spare tire and a roadside emergency kit. She felt around the inside of the tire, hoping to find the hidden tracking device, but it wasn’t there. Bennett adjusted the rear view mirror and saw the flap of carpeting flailing back and forth.
"Did you find it?"
"No, just the spare and some tools. Hold on a second, though... I have an idea."
The tire iron floated up from the back, twisting in midair, then violently stabbing the back seat over and over--each time rising back up in a quick arc to plunge down again. The upholstery was in tatters within moments.
Kimberly began sifting through the remains of springs, leather and foam. The debris parted itself with a wave of her hand, sometimes sticking to her fingers. This created an eerie, incomplete outline of her arms which only lasted seconds before it collapsed. In the midst of all the carnage, however, Kimberly spotted something that she was sure didn’t belong. A thin black plastic strip attached with wire to a small black case the size of a matchbox.
"Found it!"
"Great!"
The tire iron swung into the air again and leveled itself over the battery.
"Wait!" Bennett yelled.
He applied the brakes and the truck came to a quick stop.
"Don’t break it. Just put it outside. They’ll keep chasing the signal, they’ll just think we’ve stopped."
She rolled the window down and tossed the tracker out lightly. Bennett hit the gas and they were once again on the road. Kimberly wriggled back into the seat next to him.
"How far do you think we can get?" she asked.
"I’m hoping a little over a hundred miles."
It turned out to be less than that--about ninety five miles before the engine began to sputter. It died quietly and the truck coasted for a couple hundred yards before coming to rest on the side of the road. There was nothing as far as the eye could see, not even crops. Just dust.
The two of them climbed out of the truck. Bennett immediately started looking around, the same feeling of abandonment he had when Kimberly had released his hand in the parking lot. It disturbed Bennett that as close as they were, and invisible though she was, he still couldn’t sense her presence without some visual confirmation. So, even in frustration, he waited for her to come to him.
"Come on, I want to get off the road. We’ll have to go this way."
"That’s pretty rocky. I’ll cut up my feet."
"I know. I’m sorry, but the first place they’ll look is in the direction we’ve been going in. Let’s go."
"Won’t civilization be in the direction we’ve been going in?"
"I don’t know, but I do know we aren’t going to make it to any town before Maines comes after us. Our best bet is to try and throw him off and hide somewhere. Are you coming?"
She was taken aback by his tone. He had never snapped at her before, not even when she had first moved in, at the height of his discomfort with her invisibility.
They began a brisk walk away from the truck. A small cloud of dust followed Bennett a foot to his right, edges of footprints appearing on the ground with each new puff. He stared at them for a second.
"Are you doing all right?" Her voice seemed even more ghostly when not confined by the walls of a room or a car. Outside, it just sounded like it was coming from...everywhere.
"I’m fine. How about you? Are you cold?"
"No. It’s kind of nice out here. If you forget the fact that we’re being hunted down by a well-armed military contractor, this would be a nice romantic moment."
"Well, it’s going to get dark soon and the temperature’s going to go down. If you want my shirt, ask me."
"It won’t get cold for you?"
"No."
"And won’t it look a little strange, walking down the road with an empty shirt?"
"Who’s gonna see it?"
"Hm..."
They walked for a while in silence. Bennett hadn’t said much in the truck during the ride, other than barking orders at her. In fact, his sentences had been clipped ever since they reunited in the torture chamber of Andrews-Osgood. Perhaps the physical punishment he endured was taking its toll on his psyche, or maybe his time there had caused him to rethink their relationship... Kimberly was worried.
So was Bennett. They weren’t getting nearly far enough from the truck to evade Maines when he came to get them. They’d probably started looking as soon as the tracker’s position stopped an hour and half ago. Bennett’s little trick probably slowed them down for all of ten minutes. And he and Kimberly had only walked a couple of miles from the truck, with nothing in sight. It might be twenty minutes or an hour away, but they were as good as caught.
* * *
In a helicopter four hundred feet above and about fifty miles behind them, a bandaged and aching Lester Maines scanned the prairie floor with an infrared camera. At this altitude and with this landscape, he could see for miles around in all directions. Somewhere out there was an actual invisible woman. Whatever happened to her could be made to happen again, a formula for unlimited power. Power she was apparently uninterested in using.
Why didn’t she go to Wall Street or Washington? The world could have been hers if she wanted it. Within days, she could have held the nation’s darkest secrets for ransom or power. She could have killed presidents, started riots.
Then again, she was the first. The first invisible human being, the result of an accident, no less--the shock and adjustment must have paralyzed her for weeks. Even so, there was no evidence of any public display of her new abilities, no acting out--not even token revenges on ex-lovers or enemies. She was all wrong for it, Maines concluded. He would have done much more. He would do much more.
* * *
"OW!" Kimberly howled.
"What happened?"
"Just a sharp rock. I can keep going."
The sound of her footsteps became a lot less rhythmic. Bennett could tell she was limping, but they kept on moving. The sun had gone down a few minutes ago, which was good news in every way. Not only would they be harder to spot from the air, but in the darkness Bennett could see lights on the horizon that weren’t visible in the day. He put them at fifteen miles or so. If they could last a few hours, they’d be safe--at least safer than they were now.
Then he heard the 'copter. It was a way off, but in the dead silence it was deafening. Kimberly stopped and grabbed his hand. "What is that? Is that a helicopter?"
"I’m surprised they didn’t get here sooner. We’ve got to move."
"It’s dark. Maybe they’ll miss us."
"Not with an infrared camera. We’re the warmest thing for miles."
He wasn’t sure whether the best move was to run or play dead. On the other hand, he was sure that Maines would check out anything that could be a person, no matter how unlikely. That was probably the reason they were later than Bennett expected. He held out his hand.
"Come on. Let’s go for it."
She took his hand in hers and started to run. She ran through the pain in her feet that has radiating into her legs. She ran even though the sound of the helicopter was getting louder, its lights closer.
"We’re not going to make it," she said, resigned.
Bennett knew she was right. Then again...
"Hold it! I think I see something!"
Sure enough, off to their right was what looked like a structure. They headed towards it.
"What is it?"
"It’s a well. Or at least a shaft for one."
"Can we go in?"
"I don’t know, but we have to try. Keep your back pressed against the side and don’t let go. I go in first."
The lights from the helicopter were almost directly above them. No doubt, it would only be seconds before the infrared cameras picked up their trail.
He climbed over the side wall and braced himself with his legs, back pressed against the side, and lowered himself ten feet down. In the dark, there was no telling how far down the shaft went or if they could climb back up if it became necessary.
"Come on! I’m in!"
Kimberly followed his lead, backing down inches at a time until he felt her touch the top of his head with her backside.
The helicopter flew overhead, its light bathing the top of the well for a good ten seconds. Bennett stared upwards through Kimberly at the 'copter. His hands were being gouged by the stone in the wall. Kimberly must be in agony, he thought.
Maines and his crew hovered, then circled the area, and then moved on. The sound of the rotors faded into the distance.
"They’re gone. Are you okay?" he asked Kimberly.
"My back hurts pretty bad. I think I’m cut in a lot of places."
"Can you make it back up?"
"Yeah, I’m doing it now."
She wriggled her way out, crying loudly on the way as the stone dug into her back. Finally, she was able to throw a bare leg over the side wall and escape.
"I’m out."
He pushed hard with his legs and moved upwards, the pain intense as the wall worked against him. Slowly, he inched up, until he too was free.
They sat outside the well for minutes, panting heavily, amazed again at their good fortune. It was Kimberly that broke the silence.
"We’re getting to be good at this escape thing," she said.
"Yeah, let’s hope it doesn’t have to be a habit."
They started towards the distant lights on the horizon. It was still a long night’s walk, and they didn’t know what to expect once they got there.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
—To Be Continued.
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