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| Story: A New Life - Chapter 28 Monday, 29-May-2000 14:36:16
As they were leaving The Post’s office en route to SCF’s location in the business park, Andrew and the two women ran into Dana Carter. She smiled when she spotted the journalist, and raised her eyebrows at the presence of Beth and Amy. “Hey, Andy! ”, she greeted. “Is Sarah around anywhere?” She was somewhat surprised when, instead of greeting her back, Andrew grabbed a hold of her hand and pulled her in the direction he and the women were heading. “Say, what’s going on here?”, she asked, a bit perturbed at the seemingly rough treatment. “I came here to see if Sarah was available for dinner tonight. I found this fabulous – “ Andrew cut her off. “Dana, we don’t really have time for this right now. Sarah’s disappeared, and I think I know where she’s headed. We may need your help, too, so come on!” As they rode the elevator down to the parking garage, Andrew explained for Dana’s benefit the events of the past twenty-or-so minutes. When he finished, there was a look of horror and tenseness in her appearance that he had never seen before. “Oh, God. Andy - - she IS after Harris! Look, I think I might be breaking Sarah’s trust, but I think you need to know something. Do you remember this past Saturday about the killing in the shopping mall?” He nodded vacantly, walking through the opening elevator doors and heading for his parking space. “Sarah told me that is was she who did that…..” Andrew stopped in mid-stride and stared at his friend. “What?? You mean to say that my friend – your sister – did that? She killed that young man?” Dana nodded sadly. Andrew began walking again, even more purpose in his stride now. “Then it is even more vital that we get to her before she does anything. This last attempt may have put her over the edge. We need to get there fast!” He fished his keys out of his pocket, and then looked on in surprise when Dana snatched them from his hand. “Listen, I can get us there faster than you. Remember, I live in Seattle! Well, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to get in? Sarah needs our help!” Andrew favored Dana with a mischievous grin. “Whatever you say, ma’am.” He ran around the car and climbed into the front passenger’s seat, Beth and Amy sliding into the back seat. Dana looked into the rear-view mirror and caught them exchanging a mysterious glance. Mentally shrugging, she started up the bright red Pontiac Grand-Am, listening to its V-6 engine purring to life. She threw the transmission into reverse and flung her passengers forward. She then overcame the inertia by rapidly shifting it into first gear and began tearing down the garage’s open avenues. Dana was already in third gear by the time they reached the opening, and she smoothly pulled into the light afternoon traffic. “So,”, she began, directing her sentence to the two ladies behind her, “what makes you think that it wasn’t Harris that has tried to kill my sister? All of the evidence I’ve heard makes me think that it is.” “Yeah, me, too.”, Andrew added, wincing as Dana swerved his beloved Pontiac around a slower-moving Jeep. “Really, Dana, do we have to go THIS fast?”, he asked nervously. She threw him a tight grin. “What’s the matter, Andy - - don’t like fast-moving women?” She winked at him, and then glanced back at Beth and Amy. “Are you two going to enlighten us any, or are you going to keep your reasons to yourselves?” Once again that strange look passed between the rear-seat passengers. “At this moment, we believe it is best that we concentrate on one thing at a time. Right now, the task at hand is to stop Sarah before she does anything she might come to regret.” “Hmmmph. A typically cryptic response….”, Dana mumbled. Out of the corner of her eye she caught site of Andrew trying to hide his amused reaction to her words. “Well, people, we’ll be there in less than ten minutes. Then I guess we’ll see if we made it just in time – or if we were too late.” All four people in the car prayed – in their various manners – for the former…….. ‘Now, I wonder where she went from here?’, Harry thought to himself, looking at the lobby’s guide map for the large office building. Then a name came to his attention: Michael Harris. ‘Says here that he’s on the fourth floor – room 418. I bet that’s where she went.’ He turned from the map, giving a friendly nod to the security guard, and pushed the elevator call button. As he waited for the car to arrive, the paparazzi journalist pondered on the events that had brought him here. The startling realization that Sarah was the green-hued heroine that everyone – including herself – had been looking for had still not worn off. As he went over everything he knew about “Jane”, as she seemed to call herself, Harry could think of no other explanation of her identity. He felt how close he was to finding out if he was actually right; no point in going to his editors with this story, only to find out that he had made some miscalculation that would embarrass The Denver Examiner, and may, in fact, cost him his job. Although he himself was satisfied of the connection, his editors would want proof. He patted the small digital camera that was slung beneath his left arm. He would be sure to get some great pictures that would immortalize his name in journalism for all time. The elevator doors opened, and he stepped in. He pushed the button for the fourth floor and waited impatiently as the doors slid closed. The elevator gradually rose, and he gritted his teeth at the irritatingly sooth piano music that flowed out from a hidden speaker. ‘If the people who decide on what music to play in these things designed their selections to put their riders to sleep, then they did a fine job…..’, he thought. ‘Can’t this elevator go any faster?’ Finally the car came to a soft halt, and the doors opened, a pleasant “ding” announcing Harry’s arrival to the fourth floor. He looked around, but didn’t see anything amiss. However, that didn’t overly surprise him; he wasn’t sure what to expect - - but he knew that he wouldn’t find lots of wreckage and destruction. After all, the Sarah Carter he knew just wasn’t like that….. (Three minutes earlier) Michael Harris was sitting in his very comfortable, very expensive black leather chair, going over some of the reports from his business, when all hell seemed to break loose. A loud splintering noise shattered the quiet of his office. Looking up from his work, the glow from his monitor’s screen reflecting off his thin-rimmed reading glasses, Mr. Harris watched in shock as two large green fists burst through his heavy, thick oak door. Those fists opened up, strong fingers splaying upwards from the two rough holes they had created. Then the entire door was wrenched from the frame, the brass hinges creaking and breaking free from their places on the wall. He sat up fully in his chair, watching with awe and fear as the figure behind the door walked into his office. Then the figure turned and withdrew its hands from the ruined door, letting it fall to the richly carpeted floor. Michael Harris then received his first glimpse of the person – or thing – which had invaded his office…… Sarah glared at the man whom had tried to kill her, anger burning in her rich green eyes. She found that she didn’t care about her state of dishabille. Harris didn’t seem to really notice, either; he was too busy looking into her eyes, seeing the fury welling within their emerald and black orbs. She let out a growl of anger, and was inwardly happy to see him go taut with fear. The journalist reached his large walnut desk. Bringing her large and beautiful green hands up, Sarah, with one viscous swipe, roughly cleared the desktop of its contents, sending papers, the flat-screened computer monitor, and various other objects to the floor. Leaning against the now-bare desktop, splaying her long, thick fingers atop the stained wood, she looked right into his eyes, feeling her dark-green lips curling into a snarl. “Harris”, her throaty voice echoed through the spacious office. “You’ve finally done it. You made me mad. And you’ll very shortly discover that you won’t like me when I’m mad.” Sarah’s left arm shot out, its hand wrapping around the president’s tailored shirt. The sexy green arm’s muscles tensed, and Michael found himself being bodily lifted from his chair and over his cleaned-off desk, being rapidly drug closer to the obviously pissed-off green woman. She lifted him from the ground so that their eyes were at the same level; taking a quick glance down, he saw that his feet were easily four or five inches off the dark carpeting, dangling above the woman’s large, well-shaped bare green ones. Looking back up into her face, he couldn’t get over the unbridled fury that smoldered within their pretty forms – and it seemed to be directed solely at him. Somehow, though, he was able to find his voice, though it was a mere shadow of its usual self. “Miss - - ! What - - What have I done to you?? I’ve - - never met you before in my life!” It wasn’t quite the whole truth, though. Although he was fairly sure that he had never seen this particular woman before, her green-skinned, muscular, tall appearance was VERY familiar. He had seen two other women come into this very office days ago and transform – right before his astonished and terrified eyes – into similarly strong and sexy shapes. They had asked him questions, and then had left. They hadn’t seemed to harbor the rage towards him that this woman did. Sarah couldn’t believe her ears. Had he actually said what she thought he said?? “Done to me, Harris? Done to me?? You tried to kill me, you bastard!! I should be asking what have I ever done to you!! I’ve never bothered you, never poked into your affairs, never tried to find out anything about you that my assignments didn’t cover! Still, that didn’t stop you from trying to kill me, did it?? AND YOU HAVE THE GALL TO ASK ME WHAT YOU”VE EVER DONE TO ME??!!” She began to feel the president’s body shake within her grasp at her outburst. Looking down to her right hand, she saw that it had unconsciously balled up into a large green fist again. Bringing her attention back up to her captive, Sarah felt a cruel smile forming on her plump lips. She slowly brought up her green fist, drawing it behind her, feeling the vestiges of Lana’s ripped jacket being opened up with her arm’s movement, completely baring her large green breasts in front of Michael. He was paying no attention to this potentially arousing fact, however; his wide eyes were glued to Sarah’s right hand as she cocked it fully in a striking position behind her, aiming right for his head. The moment before, she had been thinking back to the time in the mall, when her anger had killed that gang leader. She had vowed never to kill again. But she found that she couldn’t hold herself in check. Sarah originally had only intended on taking him into the nearest police station to be brought up on attempted murder charges. But that last question had burned away the last bits of reason holding her back. “Now, Harris, it’s your turn. And I promise you - - I won’t miss……” “Sarah, STOP!!!” The elevator doors finally opened, and the four people poured out of the car and turned the corner. The first thing they saw was a man slowly walking down the hallway, furtively looking at the doors on both sides of the wide hall. He turned upon hearing the door’s opening, and had a surprised expression on his face upon seeing the group who emerged. Andrew pointed at him. “Hey, I know him! He works for one of the sleeze magazines that likes to distort the truth and make up ‘facts’ just to sell papers.” Harry put on a hurt expression. “That may be your point-of-view, but right now I’m on the trail of the story of a lifetime, so I ask you to back off.” Dana spoke up. “I don’t care who you are, mister. Have you seen a woman come through here within the past five minutes?” All of a sudden it dawned on him. “I recognize you now.”, Harry said, looking at Dana. “You’re Sarah Carter’s sister, right?” She nodded, looking more than a little impatient with him. “Well, I hate to break this to ya, but your sister is the green-skinned lady who’s been running around here. I followed Sarah here, and now I’m gonna get my story!” Behind Andrew and Dana, the two women exchanged quick and quiet words with each other. Then Amy walked forward and grabbed a hold of Harry’s shoulder. “Hey, what’s the idea??”, he shouted. She remained silent, bodily guiding him towards one of the unlocked office doors. “You’re not going to keep me from my story, lady!” He tried to break free from her grasp, but she appeared stronger than she looked, and he found himself trapped under her grasp. They entered the office, and Amy closed it’s door behind them. She said nothing, listening to the man’s ongoing rant about how he was going to “sue” her – whatever that meant – for interfering with his rights under “freedom of the press”. These terms were as unfamiliar to her as most things on this planet, and Amy found that she was tiring of his prattle. When Beth had whispered to her that she should diffuse the situation before anything more happened, Amy couldn’t have been happier to carry out the order. And here she was, the man pacing back and forth in front of her, going on and on about how he was going to get back at all of them. She closed her eyes, regulating her breathing - - and concentrated. “And another thing! What kind of person just brings me in here and leaves me to rot while the biggest story of the century is out there, mine for the taking?? Why, I should think that - - “. Harry had just now looked back at the woman who had brought him into the office, reading to berate her once again, when he belatedly noticed what was happening to her. Her skin was turning green! Not only that, but her body was growing, as well, getting larger and larger, starting to tear through her business suit. Her shoes cracked open, revealing her enlarging green feet. Her blouse and skirt commenced to ripping open, beginning to bare her growing green body. And that’s when it finally hit Harry McHenry. ‘I’ve been following the wrong woman……’ The three remaining people watched Amy lead a protesting Harry into a nearby office and close the door behind them. As one, both Dana and Andrew turned their heads and looked back at Beth. “Do not worry.”, she said in calm tones. “Amy will reveal to him the error of his judgments.” The two friends glanced at each other; they both immediately discovered that neither one knew what the woman was talking about. But they had no time to have a discourse over it; they needed to find Sarah. Suddenly a loud voice from down the hallway caught their attention. “It’s Sarah!”, Andrew shouted. They all ran down the hall towards the source of the throaty shout. When they came to room 418, they all saw that the door had been forcefully removed from its hinges, and they hurried inside. ‘Oh, no…..’, thought Andrew. There was Sarah, in her Gammonian form, holding the president of the shipping company in her left hand, her right hand bunched into a powerful looking fist and cocked behind her head. He knew what she was planning on doing. He had to stop her! But Dana beat him to it. “Sarah, STOP!!”, she yelled frantically….. Sarah did so. Frowning, she turned her head and upper body around to find the source of the voice who had shouted to her. She saw her sister, Dana, and her best friend Andrew standing in the office’s doorway. Behind them was Beth, one of the women whom she had seen at the courthouse’s park the other day. “Stay back, Dana.”, Sarah warned, looking back at Michael. “I have to do this. I’ll go to prison afterwards if I have to, but I won’t let this slime escape again.” Andrew stepped past Dana, reaching a hand out towards his friend – and lover. “Sarah, please! Don’t do this! He didn’t have anything to do with it! Harris didn’t try to kill you! You must believe me, Sarah!” She looked back at Andrew, her green eyes boring right into his brown ones. “How do you know that, Andy? Every person who’s tried to kill me said that it was Harris who had hired them! How can they all be lying?” She turned her head back to face the president, the snarl back on her dark-green lips. “I won’t let him try again.”, she growled. The intense fear for his personal safety was still there, but Michael felt a dawning of comprehension as to this green woman’s wrath against him. “Sarah - ?”, he whispered. “Sarah Carter, is that y – you?” “Yes, you idiot! Of course it’s me! Don’t play dumb, Harris! I know that you somehow discovered my secret! During your last assassination attempt, the two goons you hired injected me with some very powerful sedatives, and I almost couldn’t change in time to save myself.” She brought Michael’s face within inches of her own. He could feel her warmth breath across his skin, and saw with even greater detail the fury burning within her emerald eyes. “But I did - - and now you are going to wish that you had never heard of me….” He saw her fist once again being cocked backwards, and he knew that, this time, nothing was going to hold it back. Sarah started to bring her right fist forward, intent on separating Michael Harris’ head from the rest of his body, when she felt a strong hand wrap around her wrist, stopping its forward movement. Growling in frustration, she looked back at her hand to see an equally green female hand wrapped around her wrist. Turning around somewhat, she saw a woman, looking much like herself, standing there, holding onto her wrist. Her clothes were in total rags, but by the colors and style, Sarah recognized them as the ones that the woman Beth had been wearing. Sure enough, Beth wasn’t standing behind Andrew and Dana any longer. “Beth?”, she asked. The other woman nodded calmly, not releasing her grip on Sarah’s wrist. “Why are you stopping me? He deserves this - - deserves it more than anything! But I won’t let you stop me!” She released her grip on Michael, and he fell to her feet, rolling awkwardly away as soon as he gained some control over his own body. He recognized that other woman – he had met her and a friend earlier. Now these two were going to fight, right here in his office! As soon as Sarah let go of the president, she bunched her left hand into a powerful green fist and struck Beth right in the jaw. The other emerald giantess, caught off-guard, was hurled backwards under the force of Sarah’s blow. She let go of Sarah’s wrist as she did so, and Sarah watched her stumble and fall against the far wall. She turned back towards Michael, and spotted him scurrying back towards his desk. Growling, she put her long, powerful green legs into action, feeling the thick carpeting beneath her large bare feet. She bent down and snagged his right leg and drug him back towards him. “Oh no, you don’t. I still owe you, Harris!” Then she felt another hand on her shoulder. Scowling, she turned around, expecting to see Beth. She was surprised to see Andrew there, his hand upon her rounded green shoulder, a pleading expression on his face. “Sarah, please don’t do this.”, he asked her, his voice husky with emotion. “We’re telling you the truth. Beth and Amy came to me today saying that they knew who it was who has been trying to kill you. They think that Harris here is being framed somehow. Whoever wants him out of the way has a lot to fear from you both. Please, let Beth explain what’s going on.” Sarah watched him actually blink tears out of his eyes, and she felt her anger and fury beginning to drain out of her. ‘He’s telling me the truth.’, she realized. She looked back at Michael, who was, in turn, watching her with fear, occasionally glancing at the green hand that had a hold on his leg. Andrew’s voice brought her back to him. “Please, Sarah. I love you.” That was all it took. Sarah released Michael, who quickly crawled out of arm’s reach again. She stood up and faced her friend. She felt tears welling up in her green eyes, and she allowed them to run free. She bent down and embraced Andrew, not afraid to let him or Dana see her cry. “God, I’m so sorry, Andy! I – I don’t know what came over me. I can’t believe I almost - - “ Andrew backed away a bit so that he could gaze into Sarah’s beautiful green face. Smiling lovingly, he wiped away at some of the tears streaming from her eyes. “It’s okay now, Sarah. Believe me, I understand your feelings.”, he whispered. Then he embraced her again, allowing her to rock them back and forth, his friend still making snuffling sounds. After another minute or so, they parted, still holding hands. As they walked back towards the doorway, Sarah looked to where she had knocked Beth. She was just now standing up, her body back to normal, her clothing still in tatters. Sarah patted Andrew’s hand and then parted from his company momentarily, walking over to the woman. Beth stood there, looking calmly at Sarah. “Beth, I’m very sorry for hitting you. I didn’t know what I was doing. But you did, Beth. You knew that what I was doing was wrong. Can you ever forgive me?” She offered her green hand. Beth, for the first time that anyone in the room could remember, smiled and took Sarah’s hand, its green form engulfing her beige one. “Of course, Sarah. If I was in your place, I surely would have acted similarly.” Then she let go and stepped back. Her next action surprised everyone in the room yet again: she bowed, the smile still on her face. Sarah looked at her friends. “Okay, you’ve saved Michael Harris’ life today. So whom should my anger be directed at? I don’t think that all of these would-be killers came up with this idea on their own.” They all looked at Beth. “Well, Beth?”, Dana asked, raising an eyebrow in query. “You said that you knew who it was. So, who is it?” For the third time in as many minutes, her answer surprised everyone - - but Sarah most of all, since she was the only one in the room to know who Beth was talking about. She said just one word: “Xris.” To be continued Terry |
| Story: A New Life - Chapter 28 (Terry) (29-May-2000 14:36:16) |
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