The Blood Rite

Mary

The path towards Deacon's Road, or also known as RedZone by the kids around town, was a bumpy one. Made worse by the neck breaking speed required of the ambulance. When you get a call that a group of kids had been in a fatal car crash on the infamous road, there was no time to waste. Especially when there were only stretches of back roads to reach it from the hospital.

"Do you know how many?" Mary asked. She had a death grip on the rail, facing the ambulance doors so she could burst through the moment the vehicle parked.

Fin shook his head, "About five or six."

She released a shaky breath. Please, not them, Lord, she prayed. Not her son.

The ambulance screeched to a halt and with a sharp tap from Leo in the front, Fin shoved open the doors and together he and Mary rushed out. There were cops and detectives already on the scene. A gray pickup truck was pulled over to one side, talking emphatically with the detective. On the other side of the road lay the mangled convertible with bodies strewn around it.

"Dear God," Mary said under her breath. She took in the bodies, the blood. Then snapping back to herself, she rushed to the head of forensics. "Sir, what is the report. Any survivors?"

He shook his head grimly, "No. All of them seemed to have died either on impact or shortly after."

"What are their names?"

He snapped his fingers at a police officer standing nearby who hurried over instantly, "Read her off the names."

"Yes, sir," the cop said. Taking out his pad, he began, "Saddie Dizcart, Alexi Harford, Rex Flinn, and Beauregard Carter."

Mary's eyes were wide. She jerked, "There are no others?" Hadn't Talon told her that Ruby and him would be hanging out with Beau and Rex?

The officer shook his head, "Not at the scene. But their last known location was at a gas station down the road. The security footage showed two girls and a boy with the group that aren't here now."

"We won't know if they were here or not until the results of the DNA samples come back," said the Head of Forensics, Greg.

"No," Mary breathed. She could only guess as to who the boy was and the girl with him. Talon, Ruby, and possibly one of Ruby's friends. She shook her head sharply, "They must have gotten off."

Talon wouldn't have come here, not with all of the accident reports.

Greg shrugged, "We have men searching the area." He said something to the officer before walking away without another word to Mary.

"Don't worry, ma'am," the officer said, noticing the way she fiddled with her sleeves, "I'm sure, if they aren't here, that they are okay."

"Just do your job and find them. Please."

He nodded before leaving her to stand there.

Mary took deep breaths as she joined Fin in checking all of the victims' pulses. Then deciding that they were truly dead, Leo called for more assistance and they began bagging the bodies. It was a gruesome job and Mary hated to see the glazed over eyes. She especially hated seeing those eyes on kids.

They were all around Talon and Ruby's age, at the peak in their life.

Time raced by as they worked. At some point, more medics joined them to put the bodies in the back of their ambulances. By the end, Mary's arms shook and her back ached. Sadly, she was used to this. Coming to RedZone to attend to survivors or the dead of another tragic accident.

"Over here! I found one!"

Mary froze. Then another voice cried out, "I need a medic!"

Talon.

She shot forward, diving down the ditch and straight through the trees. She heard other medics behind her as she stumbled towards the swinging flashlights of the officers. They were talking and between them, someone was coughing.

When Mary reached them, it took a long moment for her eyes to adjust to what she saw. Talon, lying on the ground, covered in blood and clutching his arm. Blood raced from his forehead and coated his sleeve. But his eyes were open and he was aware.

"Talon!" She cried.

Mary fell to her knees beside him. His dark eyes tracked on her just before she grabbed his shoulders. "Ma?"

"Oh, I'm here, mijo, I'm here."

A broken sob escaped him. She could see the fear in his eyes. It was there in every survivor's eyes. But when he opened his mouth, she realized he wasn't scared for himself, "Where's Ruby?" He croaked.

Mary's heart stuttered. She hesitated to answer and in that moment, arms lifted her away from him and Fin's face came into view, "I need you to stay out of the way, Mary. Let us help him."

"But-"

"You will only get in the way," He said, giving her a pointed look.

She nodded, barely breathing, and watched as they helped him. Mary knew the fight to keep families back from their loved ones and though she wanted to fight and scream, she knew better. So she stood and watched, shaking with helplessness and relief.

But her heart sank. Where was Ruby?

Glancing around the dark woods, as if that might show her the path to Ruby, a new kind of fear rose in her. Ruby was like her own daughter. She'd handle the girl's death as well as she'd handle Talon's.

Ever since she moved in with her grandparents next door after her parents' death, she'd also moved into Mary's heart.

They were able to wrap Talon's wounds and lift him on a gurney. Leo and Fin carried the gurney through the trees and up to the ambulance. One empty of dead bodies waited for him. Talon's head was shooting around, his wild eyes searching. He flinched at the sight of the car and then the blood. But there was only one name on his lips.

"Ruby," he mumbled, "where is Ruby?"

As they passed a side of the car with a giant chunk of bloodied metal lying on the ground, Talon shot up right and off of the gurney as if that chunk of metal was Ruby herself.

"Talon!" Mary cried. The other medics were scrambling to get him to stop but he slipped from their grasps.

He half limped, half ran to the metal and fell to his knees. The detectives and officers and medics froze, all watching as he lifted a single, silver ring. His breath caught.

Tentatively, the Head of Forensics approached him. Bending down to Talon's level, he asked, "Who's ring is that?"

"It's Ruby's," Talon said without hesitation. He looked up at the man then and tears streaked down his face, "Where is she? I need to see her."

Greg looked up to Mary, his lips set in a grim line and gave a small nod as if saying, 'This is all yours.' Talon caught the look and his eyes fell on her, expectant.

Mary's heart squeezed, "We don't know," she said softly, "but we will find her, amor, I promise."

His jaw went tight and he said, with all of the authority of the man before him rather than a broken, bloodied boy, "Yes, we will."

No. No, she wanted to say. She wanted to demand he stayed in bed, in her house, for the rest of his life. But he was way past old enough to do as he wished and Mary could never, would never, keep him from helping his best friend. Besides, she wanted Ruby found too.

With a fire in his eyes, and a determined set to his jaw, Talon limped, half sagging, back to the gurney.

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Wow, the determination!

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