Angel: Scene 8

14 July 2054

        Weeks later, she was walking westward through the mountains when she felt an odd, but strangely familiar tugging. She fought the sensation, but after several minutes the feeling grew so strong that she couldn’t resist. She rose into the air on her now-powerful wings and flew swiftly in the direction of the pull. The road fifty feet below turned back on itself near the foot of the mountain. The steel guardrail bent crazily out into open space, a finger pointing at the broad mountain river in its rocky bed. A late model sports car lay mangled and broken, water swirling around the steaming remains of the engine. Below the edge of the road a man lay like a discarded rag doll. The rocks beneath where he lay were stained red with blood and she felt certain he was dead, just as she had been sure Ed was dead when she first met him.
        She touched down beside the body and bent closer. His back was broken by the fall onto the rocks, and he was badly torn by the brush and stones when he’d tumbled down the steep embankment. She stifled the immediate urge to lay her hands on him. Instead, she grabbed the shoulders of his lightweight jacket and pulled him to the side, laying him out flat on a table of rock where he would be somewhat more protected by the overhang above.
        She peeled away his outer clothes and laid them to the side. Then she rolled him onto his stomach. Over the last few weeks she’d learned more about her healing abilities. Blistered feet and cut fingers took almost no energy, she could heal them with a brush of her fingers, but she didn’t know if she would be able to control her powers with injuries of this extent.
        She laid her hands softly on his back, touching the area of the break and channeled the healing energies into him. A dim bluish glow shone around her as she worked. Slowly the bones of his back started to knit and the skin began to grow back, closing the wounds. She put more effort into the healing. The glow around her brightened, and the regrowth increased.
        Soon, the visible injuries were healed and the body was whole. She rolled him over onto his back. The road had been quiet while she had worked on his injuries, but she couldn’t let herself be disturbed while she strengthened his life force. The aura of light that would surround her could be seen from a distance. She needed to be careful. She rose into the night sky, flying above the peaks in the moonlight, scanning for any signs of life. Satisfied that there were no cars within sight, she settled back down beside her charge.

#

        Mark Hammond woke from a deep sleep, a sleep filled with images of pain and destruction. He had dreamed that he was driving his car through the mountains on a little used highway and had lost his brakes. He scraped the side of his car against the brush and rocks on either side of the road, but was still going too fast to make the hairpin turn. He could feel his girlfriend’s hands on his chest as she knelt over him on the hard, cold floor of his apartment, the blue glow of the refrigerator light shining through his closed eyelids.
        He paused in his train of thought. The only hard, cold floor in his apartment was in his kitchen, and he had never made love to Kathy in the kitchen. Besides, the light in the refrigerator was not blue, he had been on an undercover mission for the last three weeks, and the surface he lay on felt more like rock than linoleum tile.
        Slowly, he opened his eyes. The blue glow surrounded the vision of an Angel. Long, flowing dark hair surrounded the perfect oval of her face, framed on either side by the high arch of large, white-feathered wings. A warmth spread from her hands deep into his being.
        ”Am I in Heaven?”
        Her eyes snapped open, the glow of her healing energy fading rapidly with the loss of concentration. “No,” she replied. “You’re still on this Earth, although just barely. You’ve been in an accident.”
        ”Then it wasn’t a dream,” he muttered.
        ”What was that?”
        ”Oh, nothing. I thought that I had dreamed losing my brakes and crashing.”
        ”No, that happened. Lucky for you, though, I was nearby. If I hadn’t been, you would most assuredly be dead now.”
        ”Then I was right! You are an Angel!” he exclaimed.
        ”No, I’m just a woman, like any other.”
        ”That’s not true!” He sat up abruptly, gripping her shoulders. “With your ability, you could put the few remaining doctors out of business.”
        ”Sure, and have someone else wanting to kill me besides the hunters. It’s not bad enough that I have these wings telling everyone that I’m a mutant. Now I get to put the doctors out of business. At this rate, I’ll be on the ‘Most Wanted’ list in the Post Office.” She mantled her wings, ruffling each of her large, white feathers with a soft thunder, reminding him pointedly of her difference. “Thank you anyway, but I think I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
        ”If all mutants were like you, the mutant hunters wouldn’t be doing what they do. There’s a new federal agency, called FORCE, that is protecting the rights of the mutants. They’re trying to stop the mutant hunters and make things better for everyone.”
        He swayed, his brush with death and the chill in the mountain air draining what little energy he had left. He shivered violently. Alaina pushed him back down on the stone and laid her hands over his heart.
        ”You rest now and let me finish,” she admonished. “You can tell me more about it in the morning.”
        ”Okay, you’re the doctor.” He grinned weakly, “Or should I say, ‘you’re the Angel.’”
        ”Hush, now, and rest.” He shivered again and lay still, closing his eyes and giving himself up to her ministrations. The heat of her hands on his chest lulled him to sleep. Just before he dropped off, the warmth seemed to cover him completely.
        As dawn started to color the eastern sky, she rose from her position, lying on top of her patient to keep him warm, and folded her wings close against her back. She had passed out with the strain of reviving him, as she had with Ed, but she’d planned for it this time. Now it was time to leave him and continue on her way, before he could endanger her further.
        She went over to his pile of clothing and carefully arranged them over his near naked body to keep him somewhat warm, and then went down to the mangled remains of the car. In the trunk, she found a large piece of heavy material used to protect the car’s finish while the engine was being worked on. She reached in and and pulled the material out, cutting herself on the torn metal in the process. In moments, the cut had healed, leaving only the memory of a sharp pain and a small trail of blood congealing on her shoulder. She laid the heavy cloth over Mark like a blanket, tucking it in around his sides.
        At last she went over to her own pack of supplies and tied it around her waist. She softly blew him a kiss of farewell and spread her wings. She leapt off the rock out over the river and brought her wings down in a powerful stroke. Swiftly, she rose above the level of the road and angled upstream. In moments, she had risen high above the river and circled back over the site of the crash. No longer did she feel the inescapable urge to go to his side. She banked away from the brightness in the east and continued her journey, landing several miles away and hiding herself before the sun rose.