Restrained and Alone

"I need all of us to be there so we can make sure he never does this again."

"You don't mean–" Rhys began.

"Whatever it takes," said Bram, cutting him off. "His reign on everyone needs to end."

"But he has so many people behind him from all over the country. How will we be able to do this?" asked Rhys in despair.

"I don't know yet, but once all of us brothers are there along with Alex and Tiffany, I think we'll figure it out."

Rhys simply nodded, his blond hair bouncing a bit. He adjusted his watch after glancing at it.

"Is everyone of our gang captured in cars?" I asked, nervously. Bram placed his hand on my shoulder like a best buddy would to assure me.

"Don't worry about that. I'll be back in a few seconds. Stay with Rhys."

I nodded, covering my mouth for a moment in fear. Rhys and I stood together, holding onto the fence, peering in at Rusty.

"You know, I want to shout teasing words but it wouldn't do any good. I wish he could feel things like a normal person."

"Maybe emotionally we can't get to him but we have him physically and that may be all we need to be free. Besides, how much pride can he have being restrained in flex-cuffs on a palm tree?"

Rhys suddenly hugged me tightly and said, "Thank you, Alex. For everything." When we parted he was smiling and crying. "For all the worry we had for Bram when he was forcefully placed with you, I can't help but feel that maybe it was for the best."

I smiled at him and said, "I'm beginning to come around to that idea too. We have a bond that I never anticipated."

Rhys nodded and said, "Not that forcing someone to get married is ever good. You can see that I'm not into that. My ladies were willing partners and I'm honest with them."

"That's great. They seem like good people."

"They are," Rhys said with a wink. "And now I get to spend a real lifetime with them, thanks to you."

Suddenly, Bram was next to us with Jonah and Tiffany, then Sandy. He had to bend over for a few minutes to catch his breath.

"You all ready to do this?"

"I am," Jonah said immediately.

Sandy glanced at him with skepticism and asked, "What exactly are we going to do?"

"We're going to make sure Rusty is never in our lives again."

With that, Bram began teleporting us all of us over the fence. Surprisingly, Jonah didn't seem fazed by the mysterious travel, nor did Tiffany. In fact, she was laughing as her feet touched the ground.

Once we were all together, we stood in front of Rusty who was sitting on the ground. In the darkness, we could barely see him but from his slightly twisted expression, he seemed to be in shock.

"What the hell is going on?" Rusty demanded to know. We all stared at him not sure who should speak first. Being that Bram was the oldest and probably the most angry right now, he took the lead.

"Did you hear about an outbreak from a virus called Nimble?"

"I may have heard through the grapevine."

"Yeah, well, Alex and I were able to synthesize the first vaccine and now everyone is safe. It's all because of us."

Rusty faked yawned and said, "This is becoming boring. What does any of this have to do with me?"

"It has to do with the fact that the military–"

A rush of gunfire sounded nearby. We glanced over our shoulders only to see Len manhandling one of Rusty's crew and Rachel with arms outstretched, holding her glock. I watched as she expertly fired at the feet of the guards, perfectly aiming to miss but keeping them on their toes.

Meanwhile Jan and Sammy were both holding down an enormous body-building duo. They were pressed against one of the cars and though I couldn't hear what was being said, a plethora of loud shouts followed along with and a few punches.

We all turned back to Rusty, confident that our team had things well handled.

"The military is more powerful than you, Rusty and I'll make sure you never step foot near me and my family ever again. That includes my brothers."

"I'm everywhere Bram. Don't you know that?" Rusty said in a taunting tone leaning forward against his restraints.

"You may be stacked with crew but the government is stronger, especially for people who saved the world from mass destruction."

"You're hopeless, Bram. Out of the four of you, I could have sworn you'd turn out the best but here you are, prancing around like you're the alpha."

For some reason that triggered Jonah who sprung forward and began to swing at Rusty. He connected once until Bram pulled him off with gusto.

"Damn it, Jonah! That's how he bullies us. We don't need to stoop to his level."

"He bullies us with more than that, and you know it. He mind-fucks us all the time, always making us guess what he'll do next. Making me feel like I'm worthless and don't deserve praise."

Rusty bellowed with laughter as he listened to his sons.

"You sound like a self-help book, a poorly written one and that's saying something," said Rusty. Tiffany quietly comforted Jonah doing her best to calm him down.

Despite Bram pulling Jonah off, he had connected with Rusty's face. Even in the darkness, I could see blood trailing along his chin.

"You've made us to be your psychological slaves, Rusty," said Sandy.

"You're weak. You need leadership. Look at you all now. You're successful because of me. I taught you how to be."

Everyone rolled their eyes at him.

"You taught us how to be as unlike you as we could," remarked Rhys. Rusty turned his attention to Rhys.

"Your body is so frail and weak, being as sick as you are. Why do you think you have any ground to stand on?"

"I made a life for myself. Look at my estate!"

"You'll die very soon, then hand down your estate to a couple of whores who will piss it dry before the year's end."

Rhys was fuming as he clenched his jaw and squeezed his fists. Bram and I each placed a hand on Rhys' shoulders.

"Don't let him get to you. You know what you are," said Bram.

Rhys smiled up at Bram and mouthed thank you.

"I'm about done with this half-assed intervention. If you're going to shoot me, just do it," Rusty shouted.

Bram held his chin with a chuckle for a moment and shook his head.

"With Nimble, Alex gained the ability to do some special things, as did I. She can heal people from the inside but that's not all. She can also overload them with chemicals and catecholamines."

Bram glanced at me for a moment. I wasn't sure where he was going with this but I knew one thing was for sure: I wasn't going to cause anyone's death.

"So what? You'll make me feel like I'm on the best drugs? What kind of threat is that? Feel free to begin. It's been a while since I've done ecstasy," Rusty meanly joked.

"Yeah right!" shouted Jonah. "You do drugs all the time. I don't know a time when I haven't seen you powdering your nose or popping whatever pills you can get."

"Yeah, you even asked me to get them for you just so you could send your goons to scare me!" yelled Sandy.

With Rusty, Sandy, and Jonah arguing I took advantage of the moment to pull Bram aside.

"What did you have in mind?" I asked, "Because I'm no killer unless I absolutely have to. You taught me that."

"And you're a great understudy," he smiled sweetly but quickly became serious and continued, "It's a long-shot but I think you can transfer the illness you've gathered."

"What makes you think that?" I was surprised at the idea.

"When you're inside healing someone, where does the sick cellular material go?"

I had to think about it for a moment. When I scanned my body, I realized that some of it was stored, waiting to be metabolized.

"I guess it stays in me for a little while before it's dissolved."

"Well, maybe you can release the illness inside of him."

"Bram, that seems... cruel. I know he's awful to you and I'll be the first to admit that I'd love revenge but I can't purposely give him cancer."

At once we heard a small Cessna plane overhead. We watched as it glided into a landing close to where Sandy's was parked. We all stared at one another unsure who this could be.

I watched as a man in a tan cowboy hat hopped out of the pilot's seat along with a woman with a matching hat. They walked toward us almost strutting.

When they got closer, I knew who it was. I'd known him all my life. It was my father.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" I asked, feeling stunned.