Page 36 of Brax

“I’ll take it from here,” said Matthew. “Listen to me. All of you. What has been done here to all of you is unconscionable. No man or woman should have had to put up with pink dust and injections and mind games. It’s awful, and anyone who touched you will answer to God eventually.

“But what’s happening to that poor woman is an anomaly straight from hell. Her body, as I understand it, is literally turning to concrete from the inside out, creating those horrific images we just saw. Lumps, tumors, disfigurement. Look around you. We are blessed with some of the finest physical specimens in the world. Some of the most beautiful people in the world.

“We have one another. We have all of these people in our tribe. That woman has no one. She has never had anyone. I will not allow her to suffer if we can put a stop to it.”

“Grandpa, I know you mean well, and I know you want to help her, but she’s burned down a business. She shot at Stephanie. I can’t just allow her on the property.”

“Pops, I’d have to agree with him,” said Gaspar. Matthew nodded at his son and grandson.

“Alright. Then we’ll figure out something else for her.”

It wasn’t like Ines to cry. Crying didn’t help anything, and it certainly didn’t do anything for her current crisis. Yet, here she was, on the side of a dirt road, sobbing into her sleeve.

The things those young people said to her were cruel, but she’d heard cruel things before. It was the adults. She almost understood the cruelty from children, but the adults that joined in on it were the ones she couldn’t understand.

Darkness and rain were making the drive treacherous, and the pain was causing her to double her pain medications. Although she could afford a nice hotel, it was unlikely they would allow her to check-in.

Instead, she found a small roadside motel that probably hadn’t changed the linens in a decade. It’s why she always traveled with disposal bedding.

A few miles ahead, she spotted the neon sign and pulled into the small parking lot. There was an A-frame building that housed the offices and an older woman working the desk.

With great effort and even greater pain, she got out of the car and shuffled inside. She heard the slight gasp of the woman and lowered her head.

“I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to do that,” said the old woman.

“It’s alright. You’re not the first,” she said, still staring at the floor. “I need a room for tonight. I can pay cash.”

“No need to pay cash,” said the woman. “I’ve got vacancies. Why don’t we put you in the room behind the offices? That way, if there’s any trouble, I’ll hear it.”

“Thank you for being so kind,” she said. “Is there anywhere that I can order food and have it delivered?”

“I can order you a pizza,” said the kindly woman.

“Pizza is great. Thank you.”

“Here you go, hun. This is your key, room two. I’ll have them bring the pizza to me, and I’ll bring it to you. What do you want on it?”

“Everything, please. And thank you again.”

True to her word, the woman ordered the pizza and delivered it to her room with a bottle of soda. Once she’d eaten half the pizza, she put the other half in the small refrigerator to eat for breakfast.

She took a quick shower and then opened her toiletries to brush her teeth. They were horribly misshapen, some pushing out, others pushing in. There were several new nodules on her forehead that she hadn’t noticed the last few days.

Anywhere she went, she worked to avoid mirrors. Unfortunately, this one was large and right in front of her. The only purpose it served was to allow Ines to cry herself to sleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“We have her vehicle,” said AJ to the crew at breakfast. “She stopped outside of Lake Charles at a motel and left early this morning, headed this way. It’s obvious she’s coming back here.”

“Okay,” nodded Luke. “Let’s set up a roadblock on River Road. Clear the area and let them know we’re experiencing some issues with the animals. I don’t want anyone to see that poor woman.”

“Change of heart?” asked his father.

“Maybe. Grandpa’s words really hit me last night, and Stephanie firmly believes that she wasn’t trying to kill her, which, in hindsight, seems logical. She’s of no use to her dead.”

“We trust you,” said Nine. “Let us know if you need help.”

While the comms team followed Ines’s car, the rest of the team worked on creating the perfect roadblock. Stephanie was determined to help draw the woman out of her vehicle and get her to trust them. She just had no clue how she was going to do that.

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