To Rescue a Villain

Chapter 37

The town was visible from the cabin but there was a lot of steep snow covered terrain to cover between it and me. Joe wasn't built to travel through snow and my pathetic body was sluggish and numb. Alphenstine was probably right. I might freeze to death before we could reach our destination.

"We can do it," Joe told me optimistically with the high pitched, child-like voice box the scientist had given him. "Do not stop."

"I won't," I whispered, hissing in pain as my legs started to ache. My lack of exercise from all the sleep was probably the most dangerous thing I had ever done. Now my pale, muscle free body could barely hold itself up.

The snow started to pile on top of my boots, a pair I'd swiped on my way out the door, and it was soaking my legs. To make matters worse, it was especially windy today and the air insisted on attacking every unprotected part of my body.

It took a couple hours to cross the area, a trek that normally should have taken twenty minutes, but I finally made it.

The "town" was no more than five houses and one general store. The buildings were small and made of wood, similar to the scientist's home, and their roofs were covered in thick layers of snow.

Joe went ahead of me and knocked on the first door he could find, sounding an alarm just in case the owner was sleeping. After a few moments, the door opened and a woman stepped out with a bat in her hand. It was the one who had stopped by to visit that one time.

I was guessing from the tight bun and hardened expression on her face that she had either been a soldier or went through some rough times in her life. The expression didn't change when she spotted me and lowered the bat, stepping over Joe so she could help me stand.

"So the old guy finally let you out?" she asked, leading me inside her sparse home where a fire was burning.

"No. I tied him up," I answered, collapsing on the nearest chair and leaning over to catch my breath.

"Oh. I'd always assumed you were his daughter." A look crossed her face that told me she had considered otherwise but obviously hadn't cared enough to look into it. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

I scoffed, feeling a tad annoyed at her for not helping me that one time. "Just took away three years of my life. Do you have a telephone?" I didn't want to discuss the past anymore and needed to get straight to the point.

The woman shook her head. "There aren't any lines that run this far up the mountain."

Of course. It could never be that easy.

"I would take you down myself," the woman continued, sounding genuinely concerned, "But the Hikarius raids have me nervous about going back to the city. I've heard about people dying down there and wouldn't want you to end up like my brother did."

"Raids? What raids?" That felt a bit too familiar for my liking.

"Oh. Right. You've been detached from society for a while. Hikarius has been hunting down a group of dangerous mercenaries and have been raiding every nearby town in the hopes that they'll find them."

That sounded a lot like Dark's hunt for Jala, Maddox, and Ace in the books.

"I used to think they were trying to look out for us but, in the past couple of months, they've started to get desperate, I think. They've been arresting and even killing people who they think are even remotely related to these criminals. They locked up my brother for three weeks before they released him. He'd never even heard of these mercenaries."

She kept clenching and unclenching her fists as she spoke, turning her knuckles white with each movement. "If they don't find them soon, Hikarius might get worse. I've considered joining them multiple times just to make them stop hurting people."

"Who is the leader of Hikarius?" I asked, hoping she'd say someone else was doing this. A name other than the one I dreaded.

"Hacket," she said, gritting her teeth. "I've heard he's insane."

"Why is he hunting these...mercenaries?"

"They said it was because they were criminals but...my brother told me differently. He said that when he was locked up he got to meet Hacket personally and learned the real reason for the raids."

"And?"

"He's hunting them because they murdered his wife."

My eyes went wide. What? Not because they'd betrayed him?

The woman rose when she saw how pale and shaky I'd become. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked, gripping my clammy hands and looking into my eyes. "What's the matter?"

"You need to take this off!" I yelled, shoving the thick bracelet in her face. "If you take it off I can stop Hacket! Please get it off me!" I hated it. I hated it!

"Okay, okay." She released me, probably thinking I had lost it, and ran a hand over it to see how much work it would take to remove. It would take more than a wire cutter to remove. "Just calm down."

"I can't. I have to tell him that I'm okay. I threw away my life on earth for him and now he's gone down the same path despite everything we did. I need to save him before he dies." Some of the scientist's drugs must have still been in me because I still felt sick. I had to keep talking or else I'd fall unconscious again. I had to tell her what I was.

"Don't worry. I'll help you. Just take a deep breath and I'll find a way to get this shackle off."

"I'm Hacket's dead wife," I whispered, pulling her toward me. "I am Derek Hacket's wife."

"What?"

No sooner had I said the words that a desperate scream rang outside the building, making me jump out of my seat and look toward the door. Was it Alphenstine? Had he already found me?

The kind woman glanced over her shoulder, swore, then hauled me into her arms like I was a child. She kicked open the door to her closet and sat me inside, covering me with some clothes so I'd be hidden. She was about to lock the door but Joe managed to slip in and hide with me before she did so, which made me slightly less afraid.

"Do not come out until I give the okay," she ordered before closing the door, leaving me to shake and shiver from my exhausted body. I wanted to help her but with the bracelet on I could do nothing.

"We will be fine," Joe told me as the woman ran outside and shut the door behind her. "Do not worry."

"Of course I'm worried," I hissed, my breath quick and panicked. She didn't believe me. What if something happened to her?

I tried to reach the doorknob but my body refused and I could do nothing but collapse and listen to what happened outside.

me. GooƋO