Chapter 33

                                    

                                          

Jonathan Kent ran for the overturned SUV. Smoke spilled from under the crumpled hood and something pooled underneath one of the tires. The man hung unconscious behind the wheel, only his seat belt kept him from dropping down onto the other side of the vehicle. 
"Hey, are you alright?"
The man didn't wake at Jonathan's voice, so Jonathan wrenched the driver's door open and started to try and unclip the seat belt. It would have been useful to have Clark around, because the man's dead weight was almost impossible to handle at the odd angle. Jonathan attempted to keep the man from falling as he unclasped the buckle, which had him halfway into the SUV himself. Movement and color caught his eye, and Jonathan paused his rescue attempt to see a flower in a pot that had been thrown in the cab and smashed against the passenger side window. It had wide yellow petals that tapered to a point and a dark, orange stamen that fanned out from the center. The head of the flower actually shifted and pointed in his direction, then a fine, golden pollen sprayed in his direction. Jonathan sneezed, but the flower wasn't important at the moment. 
He finally managed to pull the man from the car and dragged him across the road, just in time too. The front end of the SUV exploded into flames, and Jonathan shielded the unconscious man with his own body until the blast died down. When the heat no longer licked at his back, Jonathan pushed himself up and let out a heavy breath as he eyed the destruction. 
He felt a little funny, a little lightheaded, probably from the adrenaline rush. He needed to call 911. Jonathan pushed himself onto his feet and headed for his truck. 
***
Peyton followed Lex back to his own office; she had her files from Dr. Henson with her and she read over them quietly from the chair closest to his desk while he went over plant numbers. He hadn't mentioned the files yet, and she assumed he was being courteous and letting her take her own time with them. 
The notes were more detailed than the overview Dr. Henson gave her, and she still didn't think it'd be ultimately helpful for figuring out traveling universes or body hopping, but it was a start. The sound of Lex typing on the keyboard and his quiet murmurs when he had to make a phone call filled the room and felt like a sort of balm as she read over the paperwork. 
Some of it was something like transcripts, though it didn't appear to be every conversation, mainly whatever Dr. Henson seemed to deem important or interesting. Peyton skimmed over a page detailing how he perceived her vacuous state. She didn't like reading it. Every time she did it made her feel... haunted. Instead she focused on some of the conversations. Some of it was repetitive, likely Henson trying to note the baseline. He'd ask her a question and she'd respond in the simplest way possible. Oftentimes she'd just agree with him, even if it didn't make sense. Other times she'd clearly not understand the complexity of a question and just babble nonsense. And those moments made Peyton more angry than anything. Because she did know the answers. She did think things. She just couldn't say it, not like she could now. 
Despite the temptation to ignore it all, to put it away and stop digging into it, she forced herself to read more of the notes. 
"Patient does have memory retention of some capacity. Can recite back information learned previously, but is easily derailed by new statements." 
"Patient has informed me, upon specific questioning, that her best friend is a schoolmate named Annalise. Note: the statement was phrased as if this was told to her, not decided." 
"Patient, after being given a muscle relaxer, appears to be more lucid in her answers, though the effect is not especially significant. In a session of questioning most notable, coherent comments included; 'I make them sad', 'Jacen is funny', and 'She just fell asleep'."