Текст книги "Ravenous"

Автор книги: Erika Stevens

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

   Halfway up the tree I shimmied out to the end of a thick branch and flattened myself against it in order to blend in with the thick foliage surrounding me better. I searched rapidly for Cade but he seemed to have vanished within the thick “jungle” surrounding us. My heart hammered, a crushing sense of panic began to descend over me, where had he gone? How had he disappeared so swiftly and silently into the wilderness surrounding us?

   I was about to move forward when that thing crept into the clearing. I froze, my fingers curled into the limb, bark bit under my fingernails. Horror and fear tore through me in equal waves that left me shaken and on the edge of falling out of the damn tree. It was hideous. It was terrifying. It was a combination of every nightmare I’d ever had and yet I’d never in my life imagined something so appalling could exist.

   It was not overbearing and cumbersome like its bigger brothers. No this was the size of a small Great Dane. It was oval in shape, its legs arachnid in appearance as it stepped slowly forward before taking a small step back. It’s chelicerae like mouth clicked as it took another step forward. Unlike its older brothers, this thing had no blood in it, it did not look like a bloated tick and it was opaque in color. But it was not opaque enough that I couldn’t see the throbbing pulse of what I assumed was the twisted creature’s heart. Strange, twisted things were wrapped in circles close to the monstrosity’s hideous mouth. They contained a black, viscous material that seemed to sift and flow within the vein-like circles but didn’t move out through its body.

   It made me sick to look at it; I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

   It crept slowly forward, its leg clicked, it seemed to be looking everywhere at once but I didn’t know where its eyes were. Perhaps it didn’t have any, perhaps it could smell us, or even hear the rapid beat of my heart. It somehow seemed to know that we were close though as it appeared cautious as it crept closer to where Jenna and Abby were hiding. My hand tightened on the gun, I aimed it at the thing. I knew Cade was right, firing the gun would only bring more of them here, but I would destroy that thing before it ever got hold of my sister.

   That was when I saw Cade. He was kneeling at the edge of the woods, the knife clasped within his right hand as he pressed it against the ground. Shadows played over him, making him nearly imperceptible in the darkness of the woods. His eyes were narrowed, but an unnerving air of calmness surrounded him. I was mesmerized by him; I couldn’t look away as he rose slightly and somehow disappeared from sight.

   I blinked, searching for him, but he was no longer visible in the shadows. My attention was drawn back to the thing still creeping toward where Jenna and Abby were hidden. And then Cade was back, moving with startling speed as he raced from the woods. A scream of fear rose in my throat, I strangled on it as the creature spun toward him. It took a startled step back before raising slightly on its hind legs as it appeared completely taken aback by Cade’s attack.

   A strange squeal escaped the creature as Cade slammed into it. Terror flooded me, I couldn’t stay here; I couldn’t remain useless. I scurried swiftly back, moving as quickly as I could down the tree as I was filled with the need to get to Cade, to help him. He couldn’t take on that thing by himself, he simply couldn’t. I leapt out of the tree when I was still ten feet from the ground, my ankles protested the action but II didn’t care as I raced through the forest to him. I didn’t know what I was going to do, what I could possibly use against this thing but I didn’t care. I simply could not allow him to face this thing alone.

   I had lost sight of Cade when I plunged out of the tree, but as I plunged through some thick underbrush, he came into sight again. I was nearly brought up short, nearly undone by the sight that greeted me. I was struck by the fact that the battle had become oddly silent after the squeal. It had also become far more violent and bloody. I stumbled forward, nearly fell as Cade lifted the knife over his head and plunged it into the already staggering creature.

   It wasn’t the awful, bluish black blood that covered him and the creature, or even the tentacle that had emerged from the underbelly of the beast and now flopped on the ground, that caused me to halt. It was the utter calm façade that Cade still possessed. He did not seem winded, did not even seemed phased as the creature crumpled beneath him. He ripped the knife free and wiped the bloody blade on a handful of leaves he snagged from the ground.

   I remained unmoving, my breath caught in my chest as he finally lifted his gaze to me. He remained unmoving for a long moment, as still as stone as he watched me. I didn’t know what to do, what to say. I didn’t know what I had just witnessed, was uncertain as to who exactly this person standing across from me was. I’d known him nearly my whole life, even when we hadn’t spoken, he had always been a presence, always been a presence in my world. And now he was standing there, covered in blood and staring at me with a look that both broke my heart and terrified me. He looked so vulnerable, looked as if he desperately needed me to understand what had just happened, but I didn’t know how to. He looked primitive, he looked wild, and I was filled with the certainty that this would not be the last time he killed with such force and brutality.

   But then, it was a necessity of our lives now. I was just stunned by how fast he had accepted and taken to this.

   “Are you ok?” I managed to croak out in a tremulous voice. He nodded as he used his forearm to wipe some of the blood from his face. I found myself able to move again, able to breathe again as I caught sight of the gash on his upper arm. He had won the battle, but he had not walked away unscathed. “You’re hurt.”

   “It’s fine.”

   “You don’t know what kind of germs those things carry.”

   He turned his arm over, frowning at the blood that seeped from it. “It’s a shallow cut Bethany.” He used his good arm to keep me back. I frowned fiercely at him, shoving aside his good arm as I seized hold of his hand.

   “Don’t be a baby, let me see.”

   He sighed softly but relented to me as I pushed him toward a rock. He settled upon it as I gathered the meager stash of supplies we had left. There were no bandages but there was a small thing of antibiotic cream and I ripped up a shirt to use as a makeshift bandage. I felt his onyx eyes watching me as I knelt before him. He didn’t flinch, didn’t move away from my touch as I gently used the rag to clean the blood from the wound. He was right, it was shallow, but I still slathered cream on it in the hopes that it would prevent infection and kill any germs.

   “You’re good at that.”

   I managed a wan smile. “When you’re as clumsy as I am you learn a few tricks.”

   He chuckled softly, a soft sound I found I liked immeasurably as my grin widened and I sat back on my heels to admire his rare and fleeting smile. “I thought perhaps you were considering becoming a doctor.”

   “No, that was Aiden.”

   My amusement faded with the stark reminder of everything we had lost. Cade’s smile slipped away, a muscle in his cheek jumped slightly. “I see. And what did you want to do?”

   I frowned, my gaze drifted toward the forest line as I thought over his question. I’d never really known what I’d wanted to do, what I would become. I’d assumed I’d go to college, I’d even considered going away, but I’d never truly thought about what I would study there, what I would want to do for the rest of my life. I would never have the opportunity to find out either.

   “I don’t know,” I admitted.

   He was silent for a long moment as I wiped the excess cream and remaining blood from his arm. “Whatever it was I’m sure you would have been good at it.”

   I glanced at him from under lowered lashes trying to discern if he was kidding with me or not. He did not appear to be. He seemed to honestly believe that I would find something that I was actually good at. I wasn’t so sure. “And what about you? Were you going to go to college?”

   He shrugged absently as I tied the torn piece of shirt around his arm. I had to force myself not to linger over his soft skin, and hard muscles. Hard to force myself not to notice the flush the feel of his skin brought to my face and body. “Eventually.”

   “Where would you have gone and for what?”

    Those dark eyes flickered briefly over my face. “I hadn’t decided yet.” I sat back on my heels, studying him for a long moment. I had the feeling he wasn’t telling me something, that there was something he wasn’t revealing. I didn’t have a chance to question him further though as Jenna and Abby appeared.

   “Are you ok?” Jenna blurted.

   Cade pulled the sleeve of his shirt down, it only covered half of the rag wrapped wound. “Fine,” he muttered.

   Abby’s eyes were wide, her mouth open as she gasped at the dead creature just feet away. I couldn’t bring myself to look at the ruined remains. “How did you know about that hiding place?”

   Cade’s hand clasped briefly around mine before he rose slowly to his feet. “I spent a lot of time up here.” I was stunned by the revelation. I didn’t exactly pin Cade as a paintball kinda guy, but then there were a lot of things I had never pictured him as but I was beginning to realize he was. “I know the course extremely well.”

   “Thankfully.”

   “Why?” I inquired.

   He shrugged, rolling his shoulders as he stretched his back. “Target practice.” He flashed a smile, but it did not reach his eyes and his gaze drifted away from all of us to search the woods. “We should get moving.”

   I wasn’t going to argue with that. I wrapped my arms around Abby’s shoulders and forcefully turned her away from the sight of the creature she was still gaping at. “It’s awful.”

   “It is,” I agreed.

CHAPTER 13

 

 

   “This is as good a spot as any,” Cade declared.

   I sighed as I dropped the small bag on the ground and slid down. I was acutely aware of the fact that our main food source had gone with Aiden, and I wasn’t even sure he still had it. However, my stomach rumbled eagerly as I recalled the meager food supplies that had been placed into Cade’s duffel bag of guns before we had left the tree house. It had seemed smarter to have the food and water spread out between us, and I was extremely relieved that it had been. I was starving, but I was fairly certain that I was going to pass out before I got the chance to eat. I wanted to take my sneakers off, but decided against it. I didn’t want to see the mess that I knew my feet had to be, and I didn’t want to be caught unawares in bare feet.

   Cade was digging through the bag when I lay down on the ground, propped my head on my hands and passed out cold.

***

   It was mid afternoon when I woke again. Cade was the only other one awake, I was beginning to suspect that he didn’t sleep at all, and it was more than a little daunting. Did he have any weaknesses? I yawned, stretching as I lifted myself slowly up. Cade’s eyes were dark and hooded as he watched me, he may not sleep, but it was more than apparent that he neededsome rest. There were dark circles under his eyes, bags were beginning to form, and they had become slightly bloodshot. His light olive complexion was paler than normal, and there was a pinched look around his mouth that made it seem as if he were in pain. Worry filled me as I watched him, the lack of sleep or hunger was starting to get to him. Or perhaps his wound was started to become infected with some strange alien parasite.

   “You should rest.” I tried to keep my tone light, but the worried tension in it was obvious.

   “Not tired.”

   “Liar.”

   His full mouth curved into a small smile, he shifted slightly, draping his arm over his knee as he watched me. “You need to eat.”

   I nodded. “I do, and you need to sleep.”

   He shrugged absently, his fingers played idly with a stick. “I got an hour or so.”

   I would have to be happy with that fact, it was more than I’d thought he’d received, and I knew it was all he’d give into for now. I reached for the bag, pulling out a thing of peanut butter crackers. I should probably eat more, but I didn’t know how long it would take us to rejoin the others, and I had to make sure that Abby had enough food. I could go hungry; I didn’t want her to though. My belly rumbled as I nibbled on the crackers, eating them slowly as I tried to trick my stomach into thinking it was receiving more than it was.

   I watched Abby as she slept; she looked so peaceful and content. It was hard to believe that every waking moment of her life had become such a constant battle. And from here on out it would continue to be. I was so entrenched in my thoughts that I didn’t realize I was on my last cracker, until it was gone. I wiped my hands on my legs, trying hard to ignore the gnawing hunger in my stomach. I sat back, pulling my knees up against my chest as I wrapped my arms tightly around them.

   “We have to get moving soon.”

   I nodded my agreement, my fingers clenched as I fought the urge to retrieve more food from the bag. I was eager to move again, eager to get to the gas station, eager to be doing something once more. Now that I was awake again, I felt vulnerable out in the open, and exposed here. A soft rustling drew my attention back to Cade. He was digging amongst the bag. I closed my eyes, turning my attention away from him.

   “Bethany.” Cade was kneeling before me when I opened my eyes. He was holding a granola bar, an apple, and a bottle of water out to me. I shook my head, my gaze darting to Abby’s slumbering form. “We all ate earlier, you need to eat more.”

   “I’m fine.”

   “There’s enough to last a couple of days if we’re careful. Hopefully, by then, we’ll have found some more food, or rejoined the others.”

   “And if we don’t?”

   “Then we will cross that bridge when we get to it.” I shot him an angry look, nowhere near as amused by his words as he was. He grinned at me, his eyes slightly brighter with the merriment that filled them. “You can’t keep her safe if you don’t have the energy to do so.”

   I could have continued to protest, but his sound reasoning and the loud rumbling of my stomach were my undoing. I offered a grateful smile as I took the food from him. He rose to his feet, studying the forest as he stretched. “I want to scope out the area, see if I can decide the best way to go.” My eyes shot to him, I paused with the apple halfway to my mouth. “I won’t be long, but now that you’re awake…”

   His voice trailed off. All I could do was stare at him. Finally, I swallowed heavily and managed a small nod. We would be fine, he would be fine, but I couldn’t stop the overwhelming vulnerability that suffused me. “Of course. Yeah, I’ll keep watch.”

   He watched me for a long moment. “I won’t be gone for long, no more than an hour.”

   It was going to be a very long hour. “Stay safe.”

   He flashed that charming, damn near heart stopping grin. “Always.”

   I watched him go; worry filling me as he slipped from sight. He would be fine, I repeatedly told myself as I munched down the food and took a long drink of water. It was warm, but it was still delicious. I stood slowly and walked away from the others. The sun was starting to set, it would be dark soon, and we would be moving out again. I was stunned to realize that in the past few days we had become nocturnal. The only good thing was that I was once more aware of the wildlife as animals moved about the forest.

   I walked a little further away, peering into the trees as two squirrels leapt eagerly through the branches. I smiled softly as I watched them jump and play, it was such a normal, everyday sight, and yet it meant so very much to me right now. I inhaled deeply, trying hard to just savor in this moment; I probably wouldn’t get many more like it any time soon.

   When I turned back around I was startled to discover that Cade had returned. He moved with such stealth that I had not heard or sensed his approach. In the hour or so that he had been gone, he seemed to have regained some of his vigor. The color was back in his face; his mouth was not as tight. It must be the light, or perhaps I had merely imagined the exhaustion and tension enveloping him earlier. I had just woken up, after all I had still been groggy. I didn’t think that was the case, but whatever he had discovered while he been gone had definitely put some life back into him.

   He was staring at me. His expression which was usually hard, and composed, was neither of those things. Now it was soft, lax, with a longing to it that left me breathless and trembling. I didn’t understand how just one look from him could have such a profound effect on me, but it did, and I found that in that brief moment it was enough to make me feel almost normal again. His smile was soft, warming, and so beautiful that I could not help but return it.

   My attention was torn away from him as Abby began to stir, groaning softly as she stretched her arms and back. I sighed in resignation, not at all looking forward to the next leg of our journey, but knowing that we had to go. And soon. Abby sat up as Cade strode over and began to gently shake Jenna awake.

 

***

 

   We struggled to clamor over top of the hill. As much physical activity as I had been doing lately, I was still panting for breath, and my legs were shaking by the time we reached the top. I rose to my full height, surveying the slope of the hill as it fell sharply toward the highway. I was struggling to just breathe through my mouth. It was not working though, the scent of garbage and rot was strong, repugnant, and inescapable in the hot sun of the humid day. None of us had wanted to make our way through the dump toward the highway; unfortunately it had seemed like the safest option, and we could move through the day instead of having to stop again. The awful stench of the trash would mask our scents, and make it difficult to follow us, if they did happen to track by scent. There were also numerous places to hide amongst the heaping mounds of awful refuge.

   I had thought I was filthy and smelly before, it was nothing compared to now. Not to mention the gut wrenching, horrific bugs that we discovered amongst the overwhelming mounds of waste. What little food had been in my stomach was now gone. I continued to dry heave, but there was nothing left in me to lose. Abby had been crying softly, but she was now eerily silent. We were not so fortunate when it came to Jenna. She hadn’t stopped complaining since the moment we’d scaled the fence into the dump.

   “I want to go home. I can’t… I can’t. I just want to go home.”

   “You have to Jenna. There is no home to go to anymore,” Cade said softly, and not for the first time.

   I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to break down and beg to go home too. I wanted to flee down the mound, bolt out of the dump, and breathe fresh air again. Though I was certain I was never going to get the stench scrubbed off of me, or rid myself of the squishy, crawly, creepy feeling of bugs climbing and slithering over me. I shuddered, my gaze traveled down the massive mound.

   At least it was downhill from here.

   Jenna began to cry again. Cade wrapped his arm around her shoulders, looking to soothe her, but it wasn’t working. “My parents,” she whimpered. I tore my attention away from the endless garbage. It was the first time she had mentioned them in a long time. There was so much sorrow in her voice, so much misery in her small body. Pain ripped through my heart, my throat burned with tears. “They’re probably dead.”

   We had also lost our mother but Abby, Aiden, and I had survived such a loss before. It didn’t make the loss any easier, but we were better prepared to deal with it than Jenna or Bret. And now Jenna’s shock over this whole situation was wearing off, and in the middle of a massive pile of crap she was beginning to fall apart. She was starting to accept reality, and her grief was threatening to consume her. Unfortunately her breakdown threatened all of our lives.

  “Shh Jenna, shush now, it’s ok,” Cade tried to soothe.

   “It’s not ok!” she wailed. “It will never be ok again!”

   Abby’s mahogany eyes widened, dirt and some weird ooze streaked her pale skin. Her lower lip trembled slightly, but tears did not fill her eyes. She straightened her delicate shoulders, pulling at the strap of her tattered tank top as it slid to the side. I gave Cade credit for the fact that he did not argue with Jenna, did not try to lie to her and tell her that it would be ok. We all knew that it more than likely wouldn’t.

   Instead, Cade continued to comfort her as we struggled forward through the sucking, heaping, rotten mess beneath us. Abby made her way over to me, slipping her hand silently into mine. Jenna was weeping softly, her head buried against Cade’s chest, her shoulders shaking as they made their way forward.

   I missed our mother, I wished things were different. I wished that we had been able to save her. I wished that we would have the chance to lay her to rest, and grieve for her the way that we had been able to grieve for our father. I couldn’t think about her remaining trapped beneath that rubble forever, it was too painful. It made me feel like a disappointment to her. But even more, I wished that Jenna didn’t have to know what it felt like to be lost, adrift, tossed about in the sea of mourning and anguish that opened upon losing a parent. We had never really liked each other, but the sorrow she was going through now was not something I would wish on my most hated enemy, even if I had one.

   “One day Jenna, it will not hurt so bad.” Cade’s eyes met mine over top of Jenna’s head. They were not the same words he had uttered to me on that long ago day, but they were along the same lines. “One day the agony will not be so consuming.”

   The words were true, but they did not hint at the gaping hole that the loss would leave behind. We stumbled, slid, slipped, and staggered our way down the garbage heap. I tried to use my shirt to cover my nose, it helped a little but the annoyance it caused was not worth the little aid it provided.

  “Awful,” Abby whispered.

   I wanted to agree, but I couldn’t find the words to describe this miserable experience. The pile began to even out, leveling across the ground. The end to the sea of crap seemed to finally be in sight, though I was certain we would never escape the smell. I could taste its awfulness on my tongue. This place would haunt my memories until the end of my days. I shuddered, drawing strength from Abby’s slender frame as we picked our way through the smaller layer of trash.

   I glanced toward the sky, surprised by the lack of seagulls and crows fluttering through the air. They always circled the dump, cawing and diving for food. In fact, even though we had trudged through a veritable mountain of wasted food, I was stunned to realize that we had not encountered any wildlife. No birds, no rodents, not even a few stray cats or dogs were hanging around looking to be fed.

   I froze, scanning rapidly over the heaping mounds stretching around us. The birds had been singing this morning, and now…

   And now there was nothing again.

   I pulled Abby back, stopping her before she continued onward. “Bethany!” she hissed.

   I shook my head at her, scanning the pristine sky again. It was hot; maybe the animals were seeking the sanctuary of the shade. But all of them? It seemed not only unlikely but nearly impossible.

   “Bethy come on, I want to get out of here!”

   “Shh Abby!”

   Cade and Jenna had stopped walking; they were staring at me with confusion and impatience. “Come on Bethany.”

   “Something’s not right.”

   “No kidding!” Jenna retorted.

   I didn’t rise to her snippy attitude; instead I released Abby and began to move slowly back the way we had come. “Bethany!”

   I held up a hand to forestall Cade’s hissed words. One of the greatest things I had experienced in the past day was finally making the decent down this veritable mountain of crap, and now I was crazily clawing my way back up it. And it was just as awful, and exhausting, as I remembered. I struggled through the trash as it skidded and slipped out from underneath me, making the climb even more difficult. My legs ached, my lungs were beginning to burn again, but finally I made it to a small peak in the rubble.

   I rose slowly, my gaze scanning over the hills spanning out before me. I glanced back toward the sky, but there was still nothing there. Across the tons of trash I spotted movement on the far side of the heap. And it was coming closer. I watched, straining my eyes to make it out, struggling to see what was across the way. The heat, and waves of decomposition rising off of the pile, made whatever it was blurry and hard to discern. It could be anything, it could be the missing animals, it could be more people, but a crushing sense of impending doom was beginning to descend over me.

   Panic worked its way through my body; I didn’t need to see what was coming to know that it was not going to be good. I turned, fleeing back down the pile, slipping and sliding, skidding and tripping through the disgusting mess. My feet skidded out from under me, I cried out, losing complete control of my body as I plummeted, rolled, and bounced painfully through the disgusting filth.

   Hands grasped hold of my arms, rescuing me from being buried within the mound as they pulled me from the filth cascading upon me. Crap was pulled off of me, brushed away, thrown to the ground in a useless attempt to clean me a little. “What is it?” Cade demanded his hands surprisingly gentle on my skin as his gaze trailed back up the mountain. “Bethany, what is it?”

   “I don’t know,” I panted, trying hard not to think about the filth and bugs that I had just rolled and squished through. “It’s not good though. I think they’re still tracking us. We need to move faster. Now.”

   Cade grabbed hold of my arm, running and jumping through the trash as we tried to move as fast as we could through the pile of calf high rubbish. We reached Abby and Jenna but Cade did not release me as he continued to drag me forward. I seized hold of Abby’s hand, tugging her along with me, my heart hammering in panic as the garbage seemed to suck and pull at us even more than it had before. We were never going to escape; the refuse was never going to let us go. It was going to mire us down until those things were upon us, until we were nothing more than useless bodies added to the debris scattered around us. We would be nothing more than garbage in just a matter of moments.

   Rationally I knew that the trash heap did not have thoughts, and was not actually on the side of the aliens, but right now it seemed as much of an enemy to me as the monsters hunting us. I was convinced that it wanted our bodies to feed it, and it was doing everything it could to make sure we were trapped here to nourish it.

   And then, suddenly, the garbage released us. I stumbled forward, nearly falling to my knees as the waste gave out and pavement rushed up to meet us. Abby gave a startled cry but helped to pull me back to my feet. “This way,” Cade panted finally releasing me as he darted toward the right.

   I didn’t know where we were going; I had never been here before. I didn’t ever want to return either, and I sure as hell did notwant my final resting place to be here. I was surprised when we turned a corner of the mountain and a giant warehouse came into view. One of the massive garage doors was open, revealing the shadowed, barely visible interior. I balked against going inside as Cade plunged into the darkness. The last thing I wanted was to go in there, the last thing I wanted was to be cornered and trapped, and killed amongst the giant walls of darkness.

   “Bethy,” Abby breathed when I hesitated. “Bethany please.”

   Fear of imminent death outweighed my fear of being trapped within the cavernous building. I darted through the open doorway as Cade began to pull some ropes, rapidly lowering the massive garage door. “Wait!” I gasped, terror spurting through me.

   “It needs to be done,” he grated, his jaw clenched tight and a muscle jumping in his cheek. He had been lowering the door so swiftly, and rapidly, that I hadn’t realized it was heavy and he was struggling not to let it crash down. It settled quietly into place with only a small clatter of metal on pavement. “This way.”

   “How do you know where we’re going?” Abby asked quietly.

   “I don’t.”

   I shuddered at Cade’s words but followed silently behind as he led us through the building. There were small windows up high in the lofty walls, but they didn’t light much of the massive structure. It was hard to make out much within the shadowed interior. I could still smell the rotten stench of trash, but I saw no sign of it within the building. It was the four of us that were bringing that scent with us, a scent that would be easily traceable within these deserted walls. If I thought it would help to rid ourselves of our clothes, I would have gladly stripped from the offending garments, but the disgusting odor was engrained into our skin and hair by now.

   We reached an area that had steel piping around five gaping holes in the ground. I leaned over the pipe railing, peering into the shadowed deaths. Something glinted within the sunlight, but I couldn’t quite make out what it was. “Recyclables,” Cade explained.

   That was why this building didn’t reek, I realized. Unfortunately the fact that this was where the recyclables were brought did little to aid our cause. It would have been better if they were giant bins of trash instead of non-smelly recyclables. Cade moved swiftly past the bins, heading toward the shadowed back wall. Abby’s hand was tight in mine, her grip nearly bone cracking as Cade vanished from sight. Jenna followed swiftly behind and then Abby and I slipped into the small back room.