Текст книги " Taken Over "
Автор книги: Erika Stevens
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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 14 страниц)
Jenna frowned at Darnell’s statement but he moved past her before he could elaborate. “What does that mean?”
I explained it to her as we made our way toward the back, and Bishop. He was going to be disappointed that he wasn’t going to be able to get a fresh blood sample out of me again. For some strange reason, I was acutely relieved by the fact. Cade disapproved of Bishop using me as a guinea pig, and I wasn’t certain I wanted the answers that Bishop’s new round of tests might reveal.
CHAPTER 13
I studied the map, barely listening as Darnell outlined the path he wanted to take. Some of it was going to be rough terrain, but at least it was mainly woods. We had been on the move for the past three days, only now settling down once more for a rest. We were going to spend a few days at the small hotel we had discovered nestled at the edge of the woods. On the other side of the large cabin-like building was a sparkling blue lake. Everyone had been ordered to stay away from the lake, only the woods were a secure position in which to remain hidden. It was a good thing the weather had become cooler; I didn’t think I’d be able to resist the allure of the dark blue water otherwise.
I glanced at the people gathered around the table. Aiden and Lloyd were close together, Jenna stood slightly behind Bret, leaning over his shoulder. It looked like an intimate posture for the two of them, but unfortunately it was simply because it was the only place she had been able to squeeze in. Bret was still annoyingly obtuse to her, not because of me, but because he had become focused on becoming even more of a soldier, and spent every free moment he had training with the remaining troops. Bishop was standing beside the two other soldiers, Private Mick Smith and Private Frank Doogal.
There were a few other people gathered around, but I was acutely aware of the fact that Cade was not present. And neither was Ian Hoyt, the enigmatic man that had wandered into our camp just days ago. Cade was weary of him still, distant, and he did whatever he could to keep me as far from Ian as possible. I had wanted to question him on it, but we barely had a moment alone, never mind time to have an in depth conversation. I was hoping that our stay in this hotel would give us a chance for some much needed, and wanted, privacy.
My attention left Darnell and the map as I scanned the crowd once more. I didn’t know where Cade had gone, but for the past two days he had been hard to read. I was worried about him, but he still wouldn’t talk to me, still wouldn’t tell me what had happened to him while he’d been gone. What they had done to him.
Tension. There was always tension within him, always something simmering close to the surface. Something I was becoming more frightened was going to explode, no matter how tight of a hold he tried to keep on it. And he was keeping a very tight hold on it, that much was apparent. Even if it was only apparent to me.
A light touch on my elbow pulled me away from my morose thoughts. I blinked Bishop into focus. Apparently the meeting was over. “We’re staying for a few days. I would like to finally get a sample if I could.”
My throat was suddenly dry, but I managed a brief nod. I could not put Bishop off forever, could not hide from what may be hidden within my blood. I worried about Cade’s secrets, but I think he suspected I was harboring a few of my own. He didn’t question me about it, but I was well aware of the fact that he was watching me even more than normal. Even more than those times I had caught him studying me in the halls at school, or on the streets when I had felt his gaze on me, and been drawn to him, but had been too shy to approach him in anyway.
It was all very confusing but neither of us seemed willing to talk about what we were going through, or our doubts. I took comfort in the fact that at least he was back, at least the world did not appear as dark and cold with him here. However, now it wasn’t the world that was dark and cold, but Cade himself.
And I was even more confused about the changes going on inside of me. Changes that had increased since that thing had attacked me in Plymouth. My craving for meat had increased, it was a battle to avoid it now, one that left me strained and exhausted by the end of every day. I almost hoped that this fresh sample of blood would provide Bishop with the answers he sought, but I was terrified of what those answers might be.
“Of course,” I murmured.
I followed Bishop up the steps of the hotel. He had set up his new research area in the small ballroom tucked in between two larger ballrooms. The three rooms could be combined by opening the partition that separated them. When they were all combined the rooms took up almost three quarters of the first floor of the hotel. I imagined it had been a beautiful spot for weddings and parties.
I sat on the stool that Bishop patted lightly before turning away to grab his ever present needle. My other, tainted, blood samples had been disposed of. Bishop had seen no need to keep them since they were ruined, and I had returned alive. “Do you really think this could work?”
I turned in surprise; I hadn’t realized that Darnell, Lloyd, Aiden, and Jenna had followed us into the room. I had been so caught up in my own worries and fears that I hadn’t noticed them behind us. “It’s a possibility,” Bishop muttered.
“But it could save more lives, if we can get to the remaining frozen people in time?” Darnell pressed.
We were all acutely aware of the fact that we hadn’t come across any of the human statues in a long time. Though there had been some destruction and debris left here, there had been no bodies, and very little blood. I tried not to think about the possibility that they were all dead. That it was already too late to save anyone, no matter how hard we tried. “There’s no way to know that, but we can hope.”
“So they could all be dead already. This could all be for nothing.” My voice was weak, listless with despair as Bishop stabbed me. I had been poked and prodded more times than I wished to count, we had risked our lives and experienced awful things to go to Plymouth, and it could have all been for nothing.
“They’re not dead. At least not all of them anyway.”
I jumped slightly, a sharp pain shooting through me as I twisted on the stool and jerked the syringe in my arm. I didn’t know when he had arrived but Cade was now standing in the doorway, his eyes narrowed upon the needle stuck in my arm. His displeasure was obvious as he watched us.
“Who’s not dead?” Darnell asked quietly.
“The Frozen Ones.”
Darnell’s eyes widened, everyone’s attention became riveted upon Cade. “What do you mean they’re not dead?” Darnell asked quietly.
Cade looked away from me as Bishop pulled the vile free and quickly replaced it with another one. I remained silent, unwilling to speak. Those words were the most that Cade had said about anything he’d experienced, or anything he knew. I feared that if I spoke he wouldn’t say anything more, that he would withdraw, leaving us with only those cryptic words and no explanation. I waited breathlessly instead, hoping to learn at least a little something of what he had been through.
“They aren’t dead. They’re trapped in a cryogenic-like state, just waiting to be awakened.”
“How do we awaken them?” Bishop demanded.
“ Wedon’t. Those other things do. There’s something in them, or they do something that causes the people to awaken again.”
My bones quaked, literally rattled, as I vividly recalled the pain those things could inflict. If it was possible, I was certain they could wake the dead with that pain. “No matter how much time has passed?” I croaked out.
“I don’t know about that,” Cade responded flatly.
“How do you know they reawaken?” Darnell asked.
“Bethany and I saw a man come back to life, though at the time we didn’t realize why he had come back, and thought that perhaps pain had caused it.” Abby and Aiden exchanged a guilty glance, my head bowed beneath the weight of the memory. We hadn’t known why the man in the street had come back to life and we had hoped to save our mother. Because of that, Cade had tried to burn Peter, his former boss, with a lighter in the hopes that the pain would reawaken him. It hadn’t worked. So much had happened since then that I had almost forgotten about that awful memory. “Unfortunately, we were wrong. We saw that man come back to life though, when one of those things fed from him so they were still alive. I saw others come back to life too, when those things got a hold of them.”
I swallowed heavily, I found I could barely say the words, but I had to. I hadn’t said anything, hadn’t even begun to try and tell them what that pain had been like. I never wanted them to understand it, because there was only one way that could happen, and I didn’t want to speak about it. “It’s not the same.”
Bishop’s grey eyes narrowed on me, I turned away from him, unable to take the inquisitiveness in his sharp gaze. The desire to know ,but he never could. “What isn’t the same Bethy?”
I could feel something inside of me twisting, recoiling, coming forth and then retreating again. I wanted to tell them, wanted to share, but it was difficult to find the words. Tears filled my eyes; I blinked them back as I lifted my gaze to Cade. Clouds of anger passed over his face; there was a rolling turmoil and fury in him that startled me. For a strange, startling moment, darkness seemed to ooze out of him, seemed to seep from him in waves of black that filled every one of his veins. Then it was gone, and I was left with the thought that I somehow must have imagined it.
“What isn’t the same Bethany?” Bishop pushed.
My jaw clenched for a moment, I focused on the back wall, unable to look at any of them right now. “The pain, the pain isn’t the same.” My fingers played nervously with the ragged edges of my shirt. “You can’t understand it.”
There was a long moment of silence. I had almost forgotten that Bishop was drawing my blood until he stuck a cotton ball against me and forced my numb fingers to hold it in place. I was shaking, but it wasn’t visible to them. It was an inner shaking that quaked through my blood, my muscles, even deep into my organs.
“So it’s worse?”
I couldn’t stop the snort of derision that escaped me at Jenna’s question. “It’s much worse.”
“Ok so it’s worse than a burn, perhaps if we inflict even more pain than that...”
“No,” I interrupted Aiden forcefully. “No.” The cotton slipped from my fingers, I lurched awkwardly up stumbling slightly as a wave of dizziness swept through me. Bishop had taken more blood than I’d realized. Cade grasped hold of my arm, but for the first time I didn’t want his touch. I didn’t want anyone’stouch. “Don’t. I’m fine.”
“Bethany…”
I shook his hand off, I was swarming with dizziness and pain filled memories. I inhaled deeply, trying hard to regain control. “No,” I said again. “No we will not do anything more to those poor people! We cannot awaken them; it’s not possible for usto do it.”
“A broken bone perhaps,” Darnell suggested hesitatingly.
“Maybe, though it would be awful to do, a gunshot,” Lloyd muttered.
“It’s not possible to duplicate that kind of pain!” My voice was near hysteria, my tone sharp and high. I was ashamed by the lack of control, ashamed by the horror and terror clawing at me, but this time I could not reel it in. I couldn’t let them keep discussing this. Not when it wasn’t possible. I didn’t want them to think they could do something, or even have them try to do something, they couldn’t. “You don’t know, you don’t understand. So just stop.”
“There are other options besides burning,” Lloyd pressed.
I opened my eyes, focusing my attention on him. “I’d rather have you cauterize me a hundred times over than ever experience thatagain. I’d rather break every bone in my body than have one of those things enter, and yes enter, me again. That is not broken bone pain, it is not burn pain. It is a soul deep wrenching that I can still feel in every fiber of my being. It is not a pain that is forgotten with time, it is a pain that is readily recalled. Readily relived. You cannot duplicate it Lloyd and to try to do so is simply cruel and unnecessary torture. Let it go, it cannot be done.”
Lloyd looked as if he wanted to argue with me some more, but thankfully he remained silent. I dropped the cotton ball into the trash, more for something to distract me than for any other reason. I could feel them all watching me, but I couldn’t look at them. I didn’t want to. I had said my peace; they had to understand, because I sure as hell wasn’t going to let them hurt anyone.
“They can be awakened though, even if we can’t do it.” Cade’s eyes were distant; his hair tussled as it fell across the hard planes of his face. “There are some of Frozen Ones still around, even if we don’t see them as often. Sometimes those things just drain them and move on, and sometimes they are gathered and kept frozen for a later time.”
My breathing was shallow; I could barely get any air in my lungs as my chest constricted painfully. I was afraid that I might hyperventilate. I knew Cade was just skimming the surface of where he had been, what he had seen, but my skin crawled with horror, my insides felt like jelly. What had they done to him? I wondered for the millionth time. He reached for me again, but this time he was looking to soothe himself as well as me, and I could not refuse him that. My fingers entwined with his, I could breathe a little easier as I clung to him.
“Those things left people alive?” Bishop inquired.
Cade shook his head. “Those things only feed when they intend to kill, and then they bring the blood back.”
“Back for who?” Jenna asked. Her face was abnormally pale as she watched Cade with wide eyes.
“For the aliens. Those things are like walking storage units. They give their bounty up when they return.” There was a long moment of silence as everyone tried to digest the shock of that statement.
“And the alien’s, they feed from those things?” Aiden’s voice was strained, it sounded as if he was trying not to puke. Cade remained silent, it didn’t appear that he wanted to answer anymore. “What about people like us? The ones still moving?”
“They’re there,” Cade answered.
Darnell shifted, his hand tightened around his gun. “There are people still alive?”
Cade’s dark eyes finally left me as they slid slowly to Darnell. “I think I’m enough proof that they don’t kill everyone, don’t you?”
Darnell’s dark eyebrows shot up, his hard chin clenched tightly. I wanted to intervene between them, I wanted to speak, but my mouth would not form the words. “Where are they?”
Cade shook his head. I felt his eyes burning into me; I knew that he was staring at me, even though I did not meet his gaze. I suddenly understood Cade’s reluctance to tell us anything. To tell meanything. He didn’t want me hurt; he didn’t want me anywhere near where he had been held. “I don’t know.”
I finally met his gaze; sadness crept through me as I took in those beautiful onyx eyes. “Cade…”
“They’re on the Cape, at least some of them anyway, and I think that’s why the bridges were destroyed. It’s a perfect prison over there for them, an island with no escape. I couldn’t find where I was held again though, they move often.” I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was lying, that he was keeping something from us. “There is nothing we could do anyway. No way to get at them without more firepower, people, and a way back across. We couldn’t fight off all of those things anyway, what do you think is guarding those people? There aren’t as many there as you are hoping for anyway.”
“That explains Plymouth. Why the town was so clean, why they hadn’t gotten to all of the Frozen Ones yet. They had been too busy cleaning and setting it up as another holding place for people,” Lloyd said in awe.
I gasped; my eyes flew back to Cade. His jaw was locked as he gave a crisp, affirmative nod. “We can’t just give up,” Jenna whispered. “We can’t just leavethem there.”
I wanted to agree with her, but there was a knot in my throat that I couldn’t swallow. The thought of leaving them all behind made me sick, but how could we possibly help them? Not only did it seem as if we weren’t going to be able to help the ones that had been captured, but there was nothing we could do to awaken The Frozen Ones. “My blood isn’t the answer,” I said thoughtfully. “It isthose things.”
Bishop tapped his chin thoughtfully as he studied me. “It’s the answer for something,” he said softly. “It could be a vaccine, it could still awaken people. We have no idea the potential your blood may hold.”
“Or doesn’t hold,” Cade said softly. “Just because she has a different blood type than everyone here doesn’t mean that she is the onlyone. There could be other survivors like her, and you just haven’t run across them yet.”
“It’s too big of a coincidence. Hopefully these uncontaminated samples will hold some answers.”
Cade’s jaw clenched, a muscle jumped in his cheek. His displeasure was evident as his hand slid from mine. “Were you held on the Cape?” Lloyd inquired.
“Yes.”
My skin crawled. They had turned our home into a place of death, hopelessness, and torment. A place that Cade had managed to escape from twice, but how? I turned back to ask him, but he was already gone.
***
“You can’t keep me sheltered. You can’t protect me from them. You can’t save me from the truth Cade.”
It had taken me a half an hour to find Cade. He had retreated to the workout room of the hotel and had been in the process of beating the crap out of a punching bag. Though I could feel his anger and frustration, I couldn’t help but admire the hard ripple of muscles as he straightened. A thin layer of sweat coated his bare back; his dark hair was wet as it curled against his face. His head turned slowly toward me, his eyes smoldered as he stared at me over his shoulder. I was stunned by the hostility I sensed simmering beneath his surface, I was held immobile by the sheer force of his beauty.
I swallowed heavily, ignoring the heat that pooled through my body, the desire that filled me. Right now was not the time to jump him, no matter how badly I suddenly wanted to. “There is no way to keep me completely safe.”
“Maybe not, but I can do my best to try.”
“Cade…”
“There are things that you do notneed to know Bethany. Leave it at that.” I was stunned by the fierceness of his words, the abruptness of them. He walked over to a bench and grabbed the towel that had been tossed onto it. He wiped his face and arms with it before draping it around his shoulders and turning to me. “And there are things that I can do to keep it that way.”
I took a deep breath before taking a step into the room. Anger battled with love inside of me. “You were gone for over a month Cade.”
He nodded, a muscle in his cheek jumped. “Yes.”
“The girl you left on that beach is gone.” It was weird saying those words, weird admitting it to someone other than myself. “I’m not the same, and neither are you. I was weaker then, I was frightened and partially beaten by everything that had happened. When I lost you I was destroyed. I had no hope; all I had was agony, revenge and fury. And I did whatever I could to try and find a way to exact that revenge. I’m stronger now, I can fight, and I’m excellent with a gun. The girl you left behind…”
“No longer exists. I know that.” He dropped the towel on the bench before walking to me. I tilted my head back as he stopped before me. The heat of his body blasted against me; though we weren’t touching I could feel him against me. I was surprised by the startling amount of relief that filled me. He knew, he knew that I wasn’t right, that I was not the same. I didn’t realize, until now, that a part of me had been terrified that he hadn’t realized I was different and was clinging to the dead ghost of the person I had been. That he would stop loving me when he realized the truth. “You arestronger, more capable. I loved that girl Bethany, and I love this one, there is nothing that will everchange that.”
Tears pooled in my eyes. “Then talkto me,” I whispered fervently. “I can take it.”
He took a step closer to me. I couldn’t stop myself from reaching up and resting my hands against his hard chest. His lean muscles rippled beneath my fingers. Though he’d been kept as a prisoner, unlike me, there were no scars marring his chest. I had not seen the rest of him, but I was fairly certain that he didn’t have the ugly marks I had over his legs and waist. His hands clasped hold of my fingers, pressing them flat against his warm skin. I knew there was something that I had come here to talk to him about, but for the life of me I couldn’t recall it at that moment.
His fingers thread through my hair. He caressed my cheeks lightly as he bent to kiss me gently. I sighed softly, joy suffused me. “You’ve been hurt, wounded. You’ve endured things that I can never take away from you, no matter how much I want to. I can keep you a little safer though Bethany, I can keep you from even more hurt. Let me do that, please.” I couldn’t argue with him, not when his lips were brushing over my face, caressing me ever so gently. My heart leapt as it pounded with renewed velocity.
“I just wish you would talk to me, tell me…”
“Later, not now. There is nothing I can tell you that would help. Nothing.”
“Those people,” I whispered.
He sighed softly, his forehead dropped against mine. “We have to keep going forward. There are others that still need help, that we canstill help. There may come a time when we can help them, but now is not that time. There is little we can do other than getting ourselves killed. I can’t take the chance of losing you again Bethy, I just can’t.”
I closed my eyes, clinging to his hands as I leaned into him. He smelled wonderful, like sweat and spices. It was a smell I knew well, and had missed so much. A smell that wrapped around me, and enshrouded me in a cocoon of warmth and love. “All we can do is survive and hold onto the dream that one day we’ll be able to help them.”
I nodded, shivering as he dropped soft kisses across my face. “One day we will,” I said forcefully. “One day we’ll help them. Is there any chance that some of them may escape, like you?”
He smiled softly, his eyes bright and clear as his thumbs lightly stroked my face. “There’s always hope.”
I was slightly startled as his words eerily echoed my dream. They left me with an uneasy feeling that even his kiss couldn’t change.
CHAPTER 14
It was unbelievably dark when I awoke. Without power, and not wanting to waste the battery in my flashlight, I had fallen asleep with no source of light in the room. The heavy curtains had been drawn over the large window, blocking out whatever moonlight the night might have had to offer. I blinked, straining to make something out within the dark. I wasn’t used to having my own space, my own room, my own bed. For so long I had been sleeping with a group of people, in one room. I was used to rustling movements, soft snores, and cries from those having nightmares.
I was surprised to find it was terrifying to be alone.
I sat up, trying to keep control of my rising panic. I was also used to having Cade wrapped around me, used to being ensnared within his strong arms, and feeling the reassuring beat of his heart against me. But Cade had volunteered to go on patrol tonight in place of a man who had become ill. I wished that he was here.
I tugged on a pair of jeans and a shirt; there was no way that I was going to get back to sleep in the pitch black room. It was too dark, I was too alone, and I felt the driving need to escape. I slipped my feet into my battered sneakers and headed out the door. The hall was quiet; there was one lamp at the end of it. Its small flame barely lit the dark stairwell. I crept slowly down the stairs, my hand trailing along the railing as I stepped into the main lobby of the small hotel. It was eerily quiet as I made my way to the glass front doors.
I stared out at the night, watching for a long moment, but nothing moved out there. I was torn between wanting to go out there and find Cade, and wanting to run. It had been a long, tiring day and I craved the freedom that the woods gave me. A soft sound caused me to turn away from the door. I reached to the gun at my hip, frowning as I strained to hear anything more within the silent hotel. Though no other sound came, I was certain that I had heard something coming from the ballrooms. I wouldn’t be surprised to find Bishop in the backroom, absorbed in his microscope and fresh samples.
I made my way back there, eager for some company, and perhaps some newfound insights from the doc. There was a flashlight sitting on the counter. Its beam, focused on the back wall, was the only source of illumination in the ballroom. I frowned as I stared at the circle on the back wall. There was no way that Bishop could be working on anything when all that could be seen was that circle. I didn’t see anyone within the room, but they had to be there if the flashlight was on. “Bishop?” I inquired softly.
The room remained strangely silent. I strained to see into it, strained to make out anything within the shadows of the room. And then, something moved.
I watched in confusion as a person shifted within the shadows, their movements stirred the night around them, but they did not emerge completely. A chill shivered down my spine, causing the hair on the nape of my neck to stand up. I didn’t know who was in that room, but I suddenly didn’t like any of this. I knew it wasn’t Bishop, he would have come forth. I took a small step back, my hand wrapped around the butt of my gun.
They moved slowly, their slender body barely visible in the gloom. The shadows seemed to hug them, caressing them as they came toward me. There was such an easy grace to them, such a natural ability to blend in with the shadows that I was struck by the strange familiarity of them. They reminded me of someone. “Cade?” I whispered.
But even as I said the name, I knew that it wasn’t him either. He wouldn’t have remained hidden. He would have come to me instantly; he would have revealed himself the moment that I stepped into this room. For the first time true fear enveloped me as I realized that whoever was in the room wasn’t coming toward me to talk to me, but was stalking me. Hunting me. My throat went dry. I slipped the gun slowly from my waistband. I held it at my side, trying not to draw attention to the fact that I possessed it.
“It’s you.”
The words were a soft hiss that caused my skin to crawl. I took another step back, jumping slightly as I bumped into the wall. I hadn’t realized that I had stepped away from the doorway until that moment. It was a foolhardy mistake that may have just cost me my life. And I knew, without knowing how, that this was going to turn into a battle for my life.
The man emerged from the shadows and I understood why I had briefly mistaken him for Cade. They had the same slender build, same dark hair and eyes. He was even staring at me with the same hunger and tension I had seen in Cade’s eyes a few times. However, in this man’s eyes that hunger caused a panicked, primitive reaction to flare hotly through me.
I wanted to flee, wanted to run from the room but I remained immobile and shaken. I was terrified that if I ran he would hunt me down and maul me to death. Somehow I knew that he would, and that he could. “Excuse me?” I managed to choke out.
Ian’s eyes raked me from head to toe. His lips were a strange shade of red, there appeared to be something on his mouth. His gaze smoldered with heat, burned with longing, but there was nothing sexual in his eyes as there was with Cade. He did not desire me the way that Cade did, he wanted something else, something more from me. I didn’t know exactly what, but I was convinced that he wanted to devour me completely. I was shaking slightly as I took a step to the right, trying to get back to the open doorway.
“It’s you,” he said again freezing me in place. I turned questioningly toward him. Whatwas me? “You’re what he’s been hiding.”
His words caused turmoil and confusion to surge through me. “You’re all over this room. Your smell, your taste, it’s everywhere.” His hand fell onto the hematology analyzer on the table. It was then that I noticed the empty vials littering the table. My blood was gone. “You’re all inside of me.” My eyes flew back to his, my heart slammed rapidly against my ribs. I could barely breathe through the horror choking me. His lips were red, red as blood. Myblood. “And you’re good.”
The purred word caused everything inside of me to go limp. He had drunk my blood. And he likedit. And he wanted more.
He was going to kill me. He wasn’t human. Holy crap he was one of them!
Thoughts raced through my head at a million miles per hour. I couldn’t focus on just one of them, couldn’t grasp just one. All I knew for certain was that he wasn’t human, that the aliens had infiltrated our group for some reason, and that he was going to kill me. “Sooooo good,” he continued. “No wonder he’s keeping you to himself. No wonder he’s hiding you. Greedy, greedy boys always lose their toys. He’s been bad though. Very very bad. He’s inside of you too. He knows better than that. It’s forbidden. But he is, he’s inyou, and you survivedit. Amazing. And now he’s made you even yummier than you would have been otherwise.”
Holy hell, not only was he going to kill me, but he was completely freaking insaneon top of it!
I didn’t know what he was talking about. Didn’t know what he could possibly mean with his hissed words, and strange statements, but I was shaking from their effects. Shaking from the strange notion that I should understand his words, that a part of me didunderstand them, even though I didn’t want to, even though I refused to acknowledge the fear that twisted through me. And not all of that fear was because of this man standing across from me, but from something more, something else.
