Half Hero ⚡️ {Superhero Adventure Scifi}

Chapter 43: Far From Over

Galen was fine with taking me for a brief walk in the frigid DC evening. We'd done this dance nightly, always after dark when I couldn't be seen. The streets had nearly cleared and the park was all but empty. Galen used the reprieve to call his wife and tell his son, Parker, goodnight.

He informed the brute-squad guarding the door and led me down a plain white hallway to a large unmarked service elevator. I don't know what the CIA used this structure for, or exactly how far underground it went. Even the lift for commercial workers was devoid of any instructions or numbers. It took three nights, but simple math told me there were at least seven floors below street-level.

From the back of the boring concrete cube, we emerged onto the street where I sucked in a grateful breath. The sun had set behind the city's skyline and the streetlamps were casting a muted glow on the few people left on the walkways. The occasional car cruised by as Galen and I hustled toward the adjoining parking structure.

I could taste the cherry bark and fallen leaves before we even reached the park. We crossed through the open ground floor of the multi-story civic parking lot, into the squishy grass.

Clad in a pair of my mom's colorful food-themed flannel pajamas and my ratty sneakers, I wandered over the sodden earth enjoying the sensation of moisture in the chilly air. It was going to snow soon, but I didn't feel the least bit cold.

"Don't go too far," Galen warned like the dad he was, stepping over the grass carefully so as not to ruin his nice loafers.

"Like you could stop me," I laughed, taking another deep breath.

"I would," he promised. "Eventually."

"I'm just going to walk to the pond and back," I promised with a knowing grin. "Just like last night. You should call your son."

Galen ducked his head bashfully and held up a hand to tell me I could go. I watched him reach for the cell phone he always kept tethered to his pocket.

Plodding over the soggy ground, I waded through leaves and brush toward the stagnant water of the glacial duck pond. Not even the pre-frost could cover the tang of phosphorous goose poop covering the mucky grass.

I missed the obnoxious cricket parade I used to get up in Canada, and the strangely high-pitched burps of the toads littering the forest floor. I missed Mac's smelly camper and his sad-man music collection. What I wouldn't give to listen to Michael Bolton's greatest hits on repeat.

"Can you talk?" A familiar gravelly voice interrupted my dour thoughts, making me jump.

"Dude!" I squeaked, trying not to alert Galen. "What the hell?"

"There isn't much time," the voice of my emo-stalker replied out of nowhere.

"Ugh, fine," I sighed, scanning the darkness.

Whatever power this guy had, he was able to block me from detecting his energy signature in the air.

"Head for the fence."

My feet squelched over the leaves and grass, soaking the hem of my pajama pants. Lining one small section of the park was a tall wooden fence bordering a prefab duplex community. I think a lot of the agents like Galen lived in those condos, but I couldn't be sure.

I was pushing my luck by straying so far from the edge of the pond.

"Hey stranger," I growled as soon as the lean outline of his body came into view. Suddenly, I could taste the energy rippling off his form, and it was oddly alluring in a way I wasn't expecting. "Did you find another glitch in the Matrix?"