This was why she hid in the desert. Because of this curse, she wasn't safe to work with, nor to work around.
Because of what she felt now, she knew she could never do the work she had always dreamed of. The empathic abilities fractured her attention, drew her so deeply into the morass of emotions that flowed from others that her concentration and her control began to crumble.
She breathed in harshly, determined to push back the pain and rage of another's emotions as she attempted to find the reason why it existed.
"Negative, Fields." The voice of her cousin, Sheriff Lance Jacobs, came over the receiver. "Get out of that gully and await reinforcements. All copters are out of range and unable to assist. I'll head out with Crawford now."
Megan snorted. She could hear the demand in his voice.
"I'm not the meter maid, boss," she drawled. "Regardless of your attempts to make me one. The tracks into the gully are at best twenty four hours old. Whatever happened here is done and gone."
She hoped.
She activated the display board on her windshield, watching for signs of life within the gully. She couldn't trust her senses now; they were too flooded with the rage and pain that flowed from the vehicle in front of her. But she had a feeling she really wasn't alone.
"Display shows the gully clear of life signs. I'm going to do an initial investigation while I wait on you."
His curse was muffled, his frustration wasn't. He knew the problems she had experienced during training at the Law Enforcement Academy, just as he knew that it was the reason she had returned home rather than taking one of the offers from the larger cities that had come her way.
"Proceed with extreme caution, Megan," he warned her. "I don't like the feel of this."
Neither did she.
She stepped out of the vehicle, cocking her head at the silence of the gully. It was as though all life had deserted the area. Normally it would be filled with the whisper of birds' wings, small wildlife and insects fighting for food and survival. This gully was one of the few areas that managed to retain moisture within the small caverns the water had carved from it. There should be life here.
There was only death.
A peculiar, horrifying stench filled the air as well. The smell of death wrapped around her, thick and filled with menace in the late afternoon stillness. She felt the tension thicken, and it wasn't just her own.
"Lance, it stinks here." She heard her own voice tremble as she stared at the SUV gleaming beneath the hot sun.
Her chest tightened as she glimpsed the presence of two bodies through the heavily tinted, rnostly shattered glass.
"Goddamn, Megan. Get the hell out of there." Lance hissed, his voice heavy with dread.
Chills raced over her scalp, her shoulders, tightening her muscles as she pushed back the sensations and fought to get a better grip on what was there. Releasing the light field Wounder from the holster at her hip, she held it confidently, her senses rioting and sending adrenaline coursing through her as she walked to the vehicle.
Damn, she wished she had a real weapon, rather than the Wounder used for lighter duty such as patrol. It only slowed down a criminal rather than incapacitating him. Its greatest plus was its extended range. One of its drawbacks was the inability to predict its effect in any given situation.
"The vehicle is riddled with bullet holes. We have at least two dead," she spoke into the microphone, relaying the information she found to the control center.
The windows of the SUV were punctured with bullets. The tires had been ripped apart by them; the cliffs rising from the gully were scoured with
ammunition damage. The smell of death surrounded the area, the heat and carnage inside the vehicle twisted her gut as she surveyed the scene.
"Definitely two dead," she reported as she stepped back. "God, Lance, their mothers couldn't identify them." The bullets had tom through their upper bodies, ripping away much of their facial features.
"Megan, get back to the Raider now!" Lance ordered, his voice edged with steel.
She could feel the hairs along her nape standing on end as her spine began to tingle. Turning slowly, her gaze narrowed on the high gully walls as adrenaline rushed through her system and her senses began to riot. Someone was watching her.
"Infrared showed no signs of life_" she mused out loud. Somehow, something had interfered with the system's readings, because she knew someone, something, was out there.
She could feel the eyes watching her, malevolence following her.
Her finger tightened on the trigger of her weapon as she felt the danger intensify. Where? Where was it coming from? She could feel it watching her, tracking every move she made, yet the sensors in the vehicle showed no signs of life.
"I'm heading back," she agreed. "Something's messed up on the Raider, Lance. Check it out. It showed no life signs_"