“She doesn’t want to share any of it with us,” Matt said.
“With good reason,” Walter said. “You killed her parents.”
“Technically,” Kent said, “Jolie killed Mrs. McCarthy, and Becca killed her own father.”
“Like she killed mine,” Matt said.
“Oh, you can’t still be hung up on that,” Becca said. “You know I didn’t want to do it. He was going to kill Mom and Dad.”
“Robbie wasn’t my father,” Matt said. “So don’t say he was. My father might have been an asshole, but at least he didn’t condemn six people to die so he could give a dying woman a couple more months of life.”
“He loved you like a son.”
“He resented me,” Matt said. “Just like our mother did. Oh, I’m sure there were a few twinges of love mixed in, but that still didn’t stop her from leaving.”
“She was afraid of you.”
“That’s not fair,” Matt said.
The field in front of him rippled again, and the snow around him blew in all directions.
“How dare she be afraid of me?” Matt said. “How dare she so quickly go from loving me to looking at me as though I was some kind of wild animal? How the hell was I supposed to react to my half-sister killing my father? Was I supposed to sit down and take it, or did you all really think I would be grateful and would bow down to kiss your knees and say ‘Thank you, oh God, thank you for killing my father?’ Is that what you seriously expected? Should I have stopped at the local CVS on the way home and gotten you a thank you card for killing him? My father was an asshole, but don’t you dare say he didn’t care about me!”
The ground shook slightly. Matt’s friends looked at him, apprehensive faces all around. In Walter’s view, her parents had a reason to be worried. The boy was on edge, and it was only a matter of time until he fell off it.
And then Kent’s jaw fell off.
The boy’s tongue hung in the air out of his mouth, swinging slightly like a pendulum.
His jaw fell into the snow, making a small sound as it did so.
Kent still seemed to be trying to talk, but nothing was coming out.
“Matt,” Jolie said.
“I know,” Matt said.
The boy levitated over toward his friend. The body dropped into the snow next to its jaw, chest up. Orange light surrounded his neck.
“You don’t have to fight anymore,” Matt said.
His face was wet with tears. He shot a glance at Rebecca.
Walter could hear someone screaming from the radio inside the rest stop, but he made no move to stop what was happening.
Matt looked around, as though perhaps waiting for some divine intervention to come in and stop him, for something, anything to stop what he had to do, what he didn’t want to do.
But nothing came.
Matt brought his NaU around the boy’s head.
Kent’s neck snapped like a gunshot in the quiet night.
The light faded from the boy’s face and body. Pink light traveled out of the armless and legless body and over toward Matt. It went into his skin.
Matt fell to his side and threw up. Blood with orange, pink, and blue lights came out of him, shimmering in the snow around all of them.
The radio grew silent in the distance.
Matt was in the snow, lying down. Jolie was over him.
They could have left then. Maybe if Walter and Rebecca were silent enough, they could make it to his truck and drive off. Perhaps no one would follow them; the fire and thirst for more violence ended.
The force field disappeared.
Walter flew into the snow to his right. Rebecca had her blades out. Danni was jumping right toward her.
The girl looked like a wild animal, her body bright red. She pounced and grabbed for Rebecca.
Walter got to his knees.
His chest hurt, and his ankle felt off, but other than that, he was fine.
Becca stabbed Danni through the chest and threw her back over into the snow. She tried to bring the field back up, but Danni was on her again, her wounds healing in yellow light in an instant.
Matt was still on the ground. The boy didn’t look like he’d be able to do much at the moment.
“Stop them,” Matt said. Jolie activated her NaU.
Green light radiated around her, striking out and hitting the snowflakes as they fell. She brought her arms forward at the two kids fighting.
A green light shot out of her hands and arced across the snow and ground at them. Rebecca dodged to the right, and Danni took them.
As Becca was getting up from her dodge, Danni was on her, her hand on Becca’s throat. Rebecca cut off her hands, causing blood and steam to radiate through the night. Her arms grew back in an instant, and they were around Becca’s chest. The girl turned and pointed her at Jolie.
Jolie hesitated for a moment, but it was only for a moment. Green light flew through the air.
Walter jumped forward.
His chest burned, and he felt weak.
He was on his knees, looking at Jolie.
The girl had her hands around her mouth.
Warm blood started to seep through his clothes. He couldn’t hear anything. The air smelled like burned meat. Matt looked like he had seen a ghost.
Walter looked down.
There were holes in his chest. Cold air flowed through them, mixing with the steam and heat coming out of each of them. The blood was comforting as it seeped through his flannel. He tried to say something, but words failed him.
Even Danni seemed at a loss.
Becca turned her father’s NaU on and shot the two of them back to the side of the rest stop. Danni’s grip loosened on her for a moment. A white blade shot out of her hand. She turned around and sliced off her head.
All of that didn’t seem to register for Walter,
