Eaters (Book 2): The Resistance (20 page)

When she reached the bush where the bird was perched, it screeched at her in a loud, parrot like squawk as if warning her to stay away.

"Drop it!" she yelled, hoping to startle it into obeying her.

To her amazement, it worked. The bird burst into the air, flapping away with its wide, black wings, and she heard a
CLINK
as it dropped its treasure, the ring landing on something hard at the base of the bush.

She crouched down, peering into the tangle of branches. Their density prevented her from seeing very far into the shadows below, but she had a fair idea of where the ring landed. After a couple of seconds of ignoring the rough branches scraping against her skin, she was able to push in far enough to get a better look at the ground near the base of the bush.

There it is!

By some miracle, she saw a glint of gold on top of a rock. Pushing aside her fear of scorpions, snakes, and other creepy crawlies, she reached towards it. After a good stretch, she grasped it between her fingers and started to back out. She'd only moved a few inches when something prevented her from going any further.

A growl, sounding inhuman, but definitely not animal in origin, sounded behind her as hands clamped down on her ankles.

She screamed, kicking at whatever was holding her and trying to shake it loose. She thrust off the clamp on one leg, but the other held fast, and she felt the sharp edges of teeth biting at her through the fabric of her jeans. Panic increased her strength. Using all the power in her leg muscles, she kicked sideways with her free leg, slamming into her attacker and knocking it just enough off balance to allow her to wiggle out from underneath the bush.

Back in the open, she hopped to her feet and saw the one of the most disgusting Eaters she'd ever seen to date. The hairless, bloated, naked corpse was covered in dirt, and its sex was undeterminable because the chest was flayed open, exposing bare ribs, and the place where its genitals had once been was a mangled clot of hair. Its snarling, bald head had empty eye sockets and yellow teeth that were chipped and stained with blood.

She was carrying a pistol now, one that had belonged to Patrick. It was in a holster around her waist, but before she could get to it, the creature lunged, knocking her back to the ground. Its sharp knee bones dug into her thighs, pinning them to the ground with unbelievable strength.

She couldn't the creature off and get to her gun at the same time.

The teeth came perilously close to her face. She shoved its jaw back with the heel of her hand, but couldn't hold it. It snapped back and it dove for her neck. In that instant, Cheryl thought it was all over, but instead of connecting with her flesh, the monster's teeth hit metal, landing on the silver cross that had slid up over her throat. That one second of reduced weight on her lower half gave her the opportunity to shove its head sideways and thrust upwards, allowing her to knock its body off balance and scoot out from underneath.

When she tried to get to her feet, her legs felt like soft rubber. Unable to hold weight, they simply wobbled and let her crash back down to the ground.

There were loud shouts coming closer now…then a gunshot.

The Eater had been just about to land its teeth in her leg when its head exploded into a gore of red and black goo around her.

Mark appeared above, reaching down to help her to her feet. "Hurry!"

"I can't. My legs—"

Aidan was there too. He grabbed her other arm, and the two men yanked her to her feet. "Come on!"

Once vertical, she saw the source of their urgency. In the watery mirage of heat waves emanating from the northern horizon, there was a dark shape forming. The amorphous cloud warbled into a dense line of match stick figures as it came closer. It seemed endless…

A herd.

It wasn't as big as the numbers that overwhelmed the fort, but it easily counted in the hundreds.

"My ring…" she said, remembering why she'd ventured out here.

"We'll look for it later," Mark said. "Let's go!"

Keeping her eyes on the approaching mass of Eaters, she let herself be led back across the road. She didn't feel any pain in her limbs, because the adrenaline was still numbing her, but her legs were still wobbly and she had trouble bearing her weight without their assistance.

Aidan shouted to the men working on the motorcycles and told them to get their asses inside. There were a few curses tossed back, but once they saw what was coming, all of them, including Jake and Diego, bolted for the building.

Once inside, the men propped her on one of the pews then headed towards the windows with their guns at the ready. It was only now that she realized how fragile and unprotected the building seemed. There were no bars on the windows, and the front door was made of wood. Even the roof seemed vulnerable. A determined group of Eaters could probably peel it back with their bare hands, given enough time.

They were huddled inside the building, guns at the ready, when the discordant sounds of moans grew closer.

Cheryl felt sweat trickling down her armpits as Kai came over to tend to her scrapes.

"You're all such a bunch of nervous Nellies," Hannah said from her perch on the stage next to Jeremiah who was leaning on the pulpit. "And you…" she said, turning her attention to Cheryl. "We told you…as long as you're in here, you're safe. Off the property, there's no protection. If you had died…"

You would've what? Killed me?
She didn't appreciate being scolded. No one was more shaken up about the incident than her, and she didn’t need a lecture while she tried to recover from the trauma. "Noted," she said without returning the cold gaze.

"Look at them all," Edmond said while peering out the window. "Just bloody look at them!" His entire body trembled as he peered through the blinds.

When Kai finished putting a bandage on her forearm, Cheryl hobbled up beside him and was equally amazed. There were hundreds of Eaters lolloping, dragging, and limping down the road. Open Jeeps and pickups rolled beside them carrying men who were all dressed in black and looked like militant cowboys herding cattle.

Some of the herd diverted into the farm area behind the building. They all waited to hear fists pounding on the back door or feet on the roof, but the sound of an attack never came.

A minute later, the roaming Eaters emerged on the other side of the building. It was most miraculous to see how they had diverted around Divine Sundaes, simply parting down the middle like it was an obstacle in their path before returning to the road to join the others.

The sound of gunfire made several of them jump. Cheryl saw one of the Jeeps depart from the herd. And roll to a stop in front of the building. The men inside fired their guns into the sky and shouted something indiscernible that sounded like a string of obscenities.

"Why did they do that?" she asked as they drove away.

"Just to warn us," Jeremiah said. "Pisses them off that God shows us favor, and they can't touch us."

She wondered, though. Was it really divine intervention or were the men obeying some O.N.E. superior who told them to leave Jeremiah and Hannah untouched, because they were being saved for some later punishment? Either way,
grateful
just wasn't sufficient for what she felt, knowing that in any other scenario, this building would have been razed and they would all have been devoured.

Kai dabbed ointment on a scrape on Cheryl's wrist then asked, "Where are they going?"

Jeremiah threw a hand up in the air towards the south. "Probably down to Tucson. They round them up then move them where they want."

Cheryl shuddered. Whoever these evil chess masters were, she didn't think she wanted to meet them.

***

They ended up spending two more days with their hosts. It took that long to fix one of the motorcycles and decide to abandon the others that were not reparable without replacement parts. The loss wasn't too significant, since there were still enough seats available.

They were all anxious to get moving, so instead of waiting until dusk to start traveling, they were packed up and ready to go by late afternoon.

In addition to some home baked food from Hannah, Jeremiah offered more gifts for their travels. He loaded them up with some cans of soda, candy bars, and blankets. He also added a few pocket-sized copies of
The New Testament
. "Soul food," he said.

When they had everything bundled into backpacks and saddlebags, he held his arms out wide, trying to get their attention and gather them together. "I can't let you all go without saying a prayer over you. Where you're heading, you're going to need a whole lot of God's protection. Would you mind if I performed a blessing on each of you?"

Most of them said, "No," or simply shrugged. 

"What could it hurt?" Aidan said.

But, several of the Vultures, Jordan, Jake, and Zach scoffed, saying it was a bunch of supernatural mumbo jumbo and declined the offer.

Those who accepted lined up, and one by one Jeremiah blessed each with a prayer as he anointed their foreheads with a dab of oil.

Afterwards, Cheryl wasn't any surer of her beliefs, but somehow felt fortified, like she had been renewed with some sort of energy. The blessing seemed like a symbolically good event to start the next leg of their journey on.

When they were all done, Jake held out his hand to Ben and then to Chip. After shaking, he gave each a manly pat on the back. "We're going to miss you. But if this is what you want, it's your decision."

"Thanks, man," Ben, who had been Jake's co-pilot, said.

"We'll be fine here." Chip added. These are good people.

"Take care of yourselves," Cheryl told them as she joined in the round of hugs. Truth was…she was tempted to stay too. But, the men were anxious to move on, and she couldn't fathom staying put while Mark, Aidan, and the others charged ahead.

As she put on a helmet and prepared to mount one of the motorcycles, she glanced at the white spot on her left ring finger. She and Mark had gone back to the site of her attack and looked but never found the ring. She wondered if the Eater had swallowed it during their struggle. Now, it was going to either be buried in the desert sand or forever remain in the rotten corpse. It was a somber feeling to leave it behind, especially knowing that it might never be replaced.

"What's the plan?" Mark asked.

Jake, who now commandeered his own motorcycle wheeled up closer, so they could hear each other better. "We'll go east and skirt around Phoenix then head up through Payson and pick up Highway 17 again around Camp Verde."

Aidan gave his thumbs up, and one by one, they began to roll out of the lot towards the highway. Jeremiah and Hannah stood in front of Divine Sundaes, arm in arm, waving. Cheryl and a few of the others waved back as they pulled away.

***

They rode for almost two hours into the mountainous and canyon-filled area of Sierra Ancha without seeing any O.N.E. trucks or other travelers, only stopping when they came upon an abandoned vehicle to check for gas in the tank. At sunset, one of the riders signaled that he had a problem. They all pulled over to the side of the road.

"Empty tank," the rider, one of the Vultures, said. "Anyone got some to siphon?"

Aidan volunteered to spare some gas to him. As they pulled up side by side and got out the hose, another one of his men lowered a pair of binoculars and said, "There's a car up ahead."

"I can't see anything," Mark said, pulling beside him.

"It's off the side of the road," he said, pointing. "It's camouflaged by some of the bushes." He handed the binoculars to Mark.

Mark looked through them then passed them to Cheryl's outstretched hand. She held them to her eyes and saw the glint of chrome illuminated by the lights of their motorcycles about a quarter mile ahead. "Looks abandoned..."

"Maybe it has some gas." Mark said.

Aidan had a look through the binoculars before passing them to Jake.

"Probably empty, just like the rest we've seen."

Aidan took another look.  "Well, my friend. There's only one way to find out."

"You volunteering to be the scout?" Jake asked him.

"Sure," he replied. "If you're not feeling up to it."

"I'm feeling just fine," Jake said through gritted teeth. "If you don't remember…I checked the last four vehicles we passed. Maybe, I'd just like to kick back this time and let someone else confirm that the damn tank's empty on this one."

"I'll go with you," Mark said, stepping up to douse the lit fuse.

After shooting a death ray at Jake with his eye, Aidan nodded his assent to Mark then motioned for three of his men to join them. Cheryl watched them ride ahead then pull over to the area where the car was hidden with guns at the ready. They poked around for a couple of minutes, disappearing behind some tall shrubs before reappearing again then motioning for the rest of the group to join them.

After parking her motorcycle beside the road, Cheryl immediately saw that there was no reason to keep her trigger finger ready, because the campsite was obviously abandoned. She dismounted along with the others and began to look around.