Discovery (Science of Psionics Book #1) by Dave Renol (sad books to read .txt) 📗

the deadpan way he saidthat. “Is Mark showing any sign of waking up?” I asked, changingthe subject.

“No, but if I had to make a guess, I wouldsay he’s resting a bit easier. What about Linda?”

“No change. She looks pretty rough.”

“I’m sure she’ll be ok,” he consoled me.

“I know it. As I said earlier, my girl’s fartougher than y’all give her credit for. Anyway, let’s get back toyour question about my plan. I already mentioned that I’ll bekeeping a silent watch, but I’m prepared to fight if we’re spotted.I have two full clips of ammo for my Dragunov and we also have thetwo 9mm hand guns with a total of four clips for those. From ourposition, we can hold them off in a firefight for quite awhile”

“What if they chuck a grenade at us or shoota rocket?”

“Then we’re screwed,” I said bluntly.

“If I was screwed, then it must have been amarathon session,” Mark said weakly.

“Mark, you’re awake! How are you?” Carl askedexcitedly.

“I’ve been better. What the hell happened? Ifeel like my head is going to explode. How’s Linda?”

I quickly assured him that Linda was a littlebeat up, but otherwise fine. Carl helped him to sit up and drinksome water while I went through my explanations. Finished, I satback on my heels and waited for him to process everything.

“I can’t think too well right now, I hurt toomuch,” he said. “I’ll need a while to recover, and it goes withoutsaying that we’re not leaving until Linda is also on her feet. Keepgoing with your plan, I’m going to lie down before my brain startsto leak out of my ears.” With that, he crawled over to Linda andflopped down next to her.

I watched him inspect her wounds, touchingthem gently. He then wrapped his arms around her and was asleepagain within moments. I looked outside the cave and saw the sunrise up over the mountains. I crawled over to the brush at theentrance with my Dragunov and settled in to watch and wait. Itwasn’t over yet.

Chapter 22

Mark: Decisions

“Go, go, go now!” Sara shouted.

I was ready to go with both Carl and ourdecoys, determined to get out ahead of Linda. At Sara’s command, Ishot through the door before her and headed for the hills. I knewthat she was a better flier than me, so I decided to stick mostlyto the edge of the trees where I could keep up my speed better.

I kept expecting to feel a bullet in my backat any second, but it seemed that we made it out free and clear. Iwas even starting to get optimistic about our chances as weapproached the pool and slowed down in order to land. Of course theworld would pick that time to explode in my face.

I awoke with a start and immediatelyregretted it. I carefully looked around, trying to figure out whereI was. Dark – cave – a rock sticking in my back – pain. I couldn’tprocess much more than basics at the moment.

“Then we’re screwed,” I heard Sara say.

“If I was screwed, then it must have been amarathon session,” I said weakly.

They explained things to me slowly, but itwas still a little too much for me to handle right now. I askedthem to continue doing whatever they could and crawled over toLinda. I held her in my arms and let sleep take me again.

The next time I awoke it was brighter insidethe cave. This wasn’t necessarily a good thing, as the lightstabbing into my eyes instantly multiplied my headache. At least Icould think this time. I thought that I was pretty thirsty.

“Water,” I croaked weakly.

Carl was slouched against the wall, butpopped his head up at the word. “Hey, welcome back, eh!” he saidquietly, as he shuffled over with a water bottle.

After an initial sip to clear my throat, Isucked back half of the bottle. “Much better,” I said relieved.“How’s Linda? And how are you two?”

“Linda is still asleep, but I think she’sresting easier now than she was earlier. Miss Congeniality won’tlet me sleep because of the bump to my head. She said that I mighthave a concussion and that if I fall asleep she’ll shoot me or cutsomething delicate off. She’s over by the entrance keeping watch,or maybe sleeping, I dunno.”

“I heard that,” she whispered back.

“You were meant to,” he said without turning.“Anyway, we’re still stuck in this cave in the cliff waiting foryou two to get better and save the day. That’s about it. Any morequestions, or are you ready to do that day saving thing?”

“I’ll check the schedule in my day timer andget back to you on that.”

I looked down at Linda and saw that Carl wasprobably right. The lines of pain that had etched her face earlierhad faded, and she seemed to be resting normally. With her hairsinged and matted with blood, not to mention the bandage coveringher forehead, she obviously needed some time to recuperate. Ididn’t have a mirror handy, but I was pretty sure that I wouldn’tbe winning any beauty pageants either.

“Is there any sign of them in the area?” Iasked, turning to Sara.

“There was movement around the pool earlier,but nothing for the last couple of hours. They know that we were inthe area last night and there’s probably blood on the rocks to letthem know they did some damage, but they can’t know where we wentafter that. If I were in their shoes, I would have a couple ofpeople watch this area while others spread out and searched forus.”

“We need to get help for Linda. She’s lookinga bit better, but that’s a relative statement. She might haveinternal injuries or the blow to the head could be causing allsorts of problems that we can’t diagnose, let alone treat.”

“She’s too weak to move, and you’re too weakto get us out of here and defend us. No, it’s too dangerous to tryleaving now. Give it a little time, and things will becomesafer.”

“What if Linda starts getting worse?”

“If she gets worse, then we’ll try it. Ifyou’re feeling better by tonight, then you could maybe try making abreak for