An Eternity of Hope

Chapter 7

Jaylyn blinked awake to bright white lights and the feeling of a cold metal table beneath her. She saw Henry walk towards her with a scalpel and held her hands up in defense. “Hey, hey, put that down! I am not dead!”

            “Obviously not.” Henry replied. “I’m just cutting off some extra string on your stitches and at the moment I seem to have replaced my scissors.”

            Jaylyn went still again to allow him to finish his work before sitting up slowly, her throat felt strange where the stitches were sewn into the skin while a dull pain was spread across the side of her head. As she looked around the morgue however she noticed something, not only was everyone gone, Jo wasn’t anywhere in sight ether. “Is Jo… okay?”

            “I wouldn’t consider a bullet lodged just above a person’s heart okay, but yes, she will survive.” Henry put his tools away and stood beside her. “Currently Detective Martinez is at the hospital in surgery, you however weren’t too injured so we just brought you back here so I could treat you.”

            “We?”

            “Adam and I.” Henry explained. “After Jo left we had a rather heated conversation but when she didn’t check in we went to see if something bad happened.”

            “How did you survive a car ride with Adam?”

            “I think I died twice.” He replied with a bit of sarcasm before giving a serious answer. “He drove his car to the crime scene while I took a taxi.”

            “Did you catch Jack or Lucas?”

            “No, when I got inside I found the two of you lying on the floor, fresh blood was all over the walls and floor… there was another message.”

            “Jack must have done it, Lucas had left by that time. What did it say?”

            “Nemo supersit. No survivors.”

            Jaylyn nodded as she processed the information. “They plan to kill people to test for the curse.”

            “We have to tell Lieutenant Treen.” Henry began to move towards the elevator before he stopped returned to her side. “Jaylyn… I know what you did to his family. If he finds out you’ll be locked up, I’m not going to give you away but I’m not going to cover up the evidence ether, I just have one question. You don’t plan to kill him as well do you?”

            “I’m not sure yet.” Jaylyn looked at the floor as she walked. “He looks so much like the Samuel Treen who killed me. It makes my blood boil… I’m honestly trying not to judge him but the rage is beginning to get to me.”

            “He is a good man. I don’t think you should go through with it.”

            “What will you do to stop me if I choose to?” She almost whispered as images of how she could torture her boss came to mind, a faint red haze covered her vision.

            “Anything.” Henry glanced at her as she stumbled slightly. “Maybe I should have Abe take you home, I can tell Lieutenant Treen.”

            Jaylyn nodded and felt her dagger was back in her pocket, that must have been Henry’s doing, looked like he wasn’t going to place it with the evidence. “I think I’ll stop by, but Abe doesn’t need to come. I can walk.”

            “Too late, I already had Hanson call him when we got here.” Henry replied as they stood in the elevator. “I didn’t think you would be up for this so I decided it would be best to arrange for someone to pick you up and keep an eye on you.” 

            “Great. A babysitter.” She stepped out and saw Abe parked out front waiting. “I still have some parts of his past I never told him about anyway… guess I can get that over with.”

            “I’ll tell you what Lieutenant Treen had to say when I get home.” Henry promised her as she walked out.

            Jaylyn got into the passenger seat and smiled at Abe. “Hey Abe, how’s it going?”

            “Wonderful.” Abe replied as he drove off. “I finally got used to the fact I no longer age.”

            “At least you had people who could help you through the first part of it… I was alone, thought to be dead, and scared for about a year or two.”

            “Any where you would like to go? I doubt you wanted to spend the day inside a dusty antique shop.”

            “Not anywhere I have to be at this moment.” She replied. “And I was thinking, I can’t avoid telling you about that night forever so, before I go breaking Dr. Morgan’s instructions I might as well tell you about it.”

            “Really?” Abe’s eyes lit up with curiosity.

            “Yes, you deserve to know after all and no one else can really tell you the part between Adam’s death and Henry holding you for the first time except for me.”

            When they got back to the antique shop Jaylyn made her way upstairs and sat in a chair across from Abe. He was acting calm, a slightly eager grin on his face to hear the story, but she could tell he was as excited as a little kid in a large toy store would be. So, taking a deep breath, she began. “It was dark, the fighting was over for the most part, medics were everywhere along with the scattered fires. I was in disguise wearing a Nazi outfit… not the brightest decision considering I had to avoid being seen but I didn’t want to kill a nurse or doctor just for a quick rescuing. After I found Adam, and watched him die, I followed his orders to find you and your mother, Marie. The building you two were in however was burning and obviously wasn’t going to hold up much longer, I went inside anyway and found Marie, I told her to leave after figuring out where she had put you and waited until she had left my sight.”

            Jaylyn paused, as she waited for the guilt of being the reason Marie had died to settle in but it never came, and if it did it was just a small hint of it. “There were flames separating me from getting to you and eventually I decided to risk jumping through them, after I had gotten you though I realized I couldn’t get out the same way and, as much as I hate to admit it, began to panic. Part of the roof caved in, which I protected you from and also gave me a way to escape… unfortunately that save cave in killed your mother. She had been coming back to find us and help and was crushed underneath. I found a nurse w-”

            “Was she blonde?” Abe’s interrupted.

            “Yes.” Jaylyn replied.

            “That was must have been Abigail.” Abe grinned slightly. “She and Henry raised me.”

            “She was scared at first, when she saw what I was wearing but I almost couldn’t escape from her after I handed you to her. Honestly, she started calling me back wanting to check my burns, I half expected her to start running after me. Anyway, after I left you with her I guess you know what happened, you met your new family. But I went back and dug Marie out of the rubble and literally dragged her out of the camp and stole a Nazi vehicle before driving off road to avoid towns and walking the rest of the way to a hill that Marie loved. I buried her there and waited for Adam to meet me, when the adrenaline left me however I had a breakdown… I had failed to protect his family. I didn’t even have you with me and you had survived. I died soon after he got back two weeks later… I’m guessing he told you the rest?”

            “Yeah.” Abe gave her a short, but caring, hug. “Thank you, for telling me, and for saving my life.”

            Jaylyn nodded and heard him walk off, she stayed in her spot for a few more minutes to gather her thoughts before standing up and leaving to take care of something before Henry came back and found her gone.