Ravenous (Book 1 The Ravening Series) (11 page)

  
My heart was breaking for her. “I hope so,” I answered honestly.

  
“Are we going to survive?” Jenna asked tremulously.

  
There was no answer to that question; I didn’t even know why she had asked it. “Go left,” Cade hissed from behind us.

   I veered sharply to the left, pushing Jenna and Abby along with me
, forcing them deeper into the trees. It was hard enough for us to make our way through the thick underbrush, the three guys holding our mother were having an even harder time. I doubled back, slipping behind them as I searched the darkened woods. I was trying hard not to lose my control, trying hard not to give into the panic that was clamoring against my skull, and pounding through my veins. But I was greatly afraid that I was going to snap and fall apart at any moment. I had held up through my father’s death, but this…

   Well
, this was hell on earth.

   “Bethany!” Bret hissed
. I ignored him as I slipped a few feet deeper into the woods. That thing was out there, somewhere. I strained to see it through the darkness. “Bethany get back here!”

   I bristled over his commanding tone, but I didn
’t obey him, I didn’t know why he thought I would. There was some commotion, and then someone was grabbing hold of my arm, trying to pull me back through the woods. “Bethany,” Bret hissed in my ear. “Come on, we have to get out of here.”

  
“I know that.” I tried to tug my arm free, but he refused to relinquish me. “Bret!” I snarled, impatience tearing through me. He didn’t release me as he pulled me forward, tugging me behind the others. There was no way that we were going to be able to outrun that thing, it was impossible and if we didn’t stop it, it would only follow us to the store. “We have to stop it, it won’t go away!” I panted. “We can’t outrun it Bret, it will only catch us.” It was true, we were already wearing down. Other than Bret, none of us were exactly athletes, though Cade was a lot stealthier than I had ever thought possible.

  
“Finally!” I shouted when he continued to pull me along, ignoring my protests. “We have to
finally
stand up for ourselves! Bret, stop!”

   My voice was nearly hysterical, my heart was hammering painfully, I could barely breathe, but I was right.
If we didn’t take a stand we were going to die. There was no way for us to outrun it, no way for us to escape its steady, ruthless, approach. And no way that we would lose it before we made it to the antique store. “This is it Bret,” I whispered. “This is it.”

   His eyes were dark in the night, but I knew their clear green color well.
I also knew that stubborn set of his chin well, and the muscle that was twitching in his cheek. He was torn, annoyed, but beneath it all I could sense his fear for me, for himself, for all of us. “Bret.”

   He turned away from me. “Do you have any more guns?” he asked Cade.

   Cade’s eyes were dark, hooded as they slid toward me. They had stopped running with us. The plywood sat on the ground between him and Aiden. I could not see Abby and Jenna but I sensed them in the darkness, waiting breathlessly for us to join them. “Cade?” I inquired softly.

   He pulled his
bulky duffle bag forward, tugged open the zipper and tossed something to Bret. It was only when the dim light of the moon flashed across it that I realized it was another gun. I wanted to ask him where he had acquired the weapons, but now was not the time. He pulled the shotgun from his shoulder while Aiden motioned Abby and Jenna forward.

   I dug the key from my pocket
; my hand shook as I handed it back to Cade. “Take mom.” Aiden had a hold of Abby’s shoulders as Cade handed the key to Jenna and explained how to get into the room. Jenna was pale and shaking, Abby looked about ready to cry as she tremulously hugged Aiden, and then me.

   “Come with us Bethany,” she whispered.

   “I can’t. Go on now Abby, get to safety.”

   “I think you should go Bethy,” Aiden said softly.

   I shook my head, refusing to relent, refusing to cower and hide. I had been hiding for a long time, slinking silently through my life, trying to remain hidden in the world. I would not be silent tonight, and I would do anything I could to keep my little sister safe. I
had
to. If we couldn’t all escape, I was at least going to help buy Abby enough time to get to relative safety.

   I hugged Abby tight, turned her away, and pushed her toward the plywood stil
l holding our mother. I couldn’t watch her walk away. It was too painful. The two of them would struggle with our mother, but they would get her there, that much I knew. Abby was one of the most stubborn people I had ever met, she wouldn’t fail.

   “Bethany…”
   “I’m fine Bret.”

   “I love you.”

   I felt my mouth drop, my heart plummeted in much the same manner. I knew how he felt about me, knew he dreamed of things that I never had, mainly because I rarely dreamed of anything. Life was too precarious for dreams that may never come true. But he had never said those words to me before, let alone announced them in front of my brother, and Cade.

   I gaped at him, my eyes wide,
and my heart thumping painfully in my chest. His gaze was tender, sincere, and so unbelievably loving that it made me want to run screaming into the woods after my sister. This was one of the worst situations I had ever found myself in. I could feel Cade’s hard gaze upon me, feel the smoldering heat of it. I didn’t know what to say, what to do, and thankfully I didn’t have time to worry about it. The snakelike tentacles burst free of the woods, proving that at least the creature had excellent timing along with its fierce urge to murder.

   It felt good to squeeze the trigger on the gun
, to finally take a stand. The gun recoiled fiercely, I had prepared myself for this, but it still knocked me back a foot. The guns cracked loudly, bullets exploded into the dark. I steadied myself, holding the gun tighter and bracing my legs further apart in order to take the kickback better. I had no clue what I was doing; I was only trying to mimic what I had seen on TV and movies.  

   The second shot did not hit the creature, but
it didn’t almost knock me over either. I adjusted myself, aiming a little more to the left and slightly higher. I fired again, a bolt of satisfaction jolted through me; I was fairly certain I’d hit the monster, but it was hard to tell as Cade, Aiden, and Bret continued to fire upon the thing. They seemed to be doing better with their shots, but that
thing
was still coming rapidly toward us, skittering forward with a rush of momentum that I was beginning to think would never stop.

   I wanted to back away, wanted to turn and flee
screaming into the woods. However, I was many things, but a coward was not one of them. I never had been. I would not abandon them right now, no matter how much my survival instincts were telling me to do so. If they decided to retreat…

  
Well I’d be running like the hounds of hell were after me right along with them. And looking at this thing, I was pretty sure that they just might be.

   It was getting closer, only fifteen feet away now. It barreled through the woods at us, snapping smaller trees in half, darting with an eerie, almost mesmerizing grace around the larger ones. I was almost as entranced
, and impressed by this thing, as I was repulsed by it.

  
I was taking time with my shots, I didn’t know how many bullets the gun possessed and I sure as hell didn’t know how to reload it. I had to make sure that when that thing was on top of us, and it would be, that I at least had some bullets left in my gun.

   It
was a good thing that Cade appeared to be an excellent shot. He seemed to be the only one that hadn’t missed yet, the only one doing consistent damage to it. Damage that was hardly making a dent.

   Ten feet, I fired another shot. Eight feet, I could feel my heart jump all the way into my throat. Six feet, I was half afraid that I was going to piss myself. Four feet, I fired off another shot as a tentacle lashed out.

   I never saw the thing until it slammed against the side of my face. My head snapped around, my teeth clamped down on my tongue so hard that blood spurted into my mouth. I cried out, stumbling back beneath the force of the blow. My vision swam, stars burst over my eyes as blackness threatened to consume me.

 
Someone shouted my name, I didn’t know who. I couldn’t make out the voice over the loud ringing in my ears. Arms encircled me, pulling me back as something wrapped around my leg. A strangled scream escaped as I struggled against the darkness trying to pull me under. “Kill it! Kill it!”

   Bret’s frightened cries
were muffled in my ears, but I knew now that it was him holding me. That it was him trying to keep me from the clutches of that hideous thing. Bret’s arms were tight around me, gripping hold of me as the creature tried to pull me away. I knew he would never let me go. Aiden was suddenly upon us, a knife in his hand. I held my breath and closed my eyes as I braced myself. I knew what these things did when they were stabbed, and it was not pretty.

  
A loud, ear splitting shriek rent the air. My hands slammed over my ears, an answering scream of pain almost ripped from me but I managed to suppress it in time. Bret ducked over me; I could feel his breath against my neck, the shaking that rocked his hard body. My fingers dug into his arm as another shot rang through the air. The awful screeching grew momentarily louder, blood sprayed over us as the broken tentacle whipped through the air. Blood spurted from the bullet holes as Cade fired two more shots.

  The screaming ended abruptly.

   Bret’s breath was loud in my ears now; I could make out the frantic beat of his heart.
The thing wrapped around my leg went slack, but it did not release me. I wanted to cry, wanted to curl into a ball and sob, I never wanted to move again. I wanted to close my eyes real tight, click my heels together, and go back to a year ago when things had not been easy but they had been far better than this never ending nightmare.

   “Bethany?”
   “I’m fine.”
   “Then why are you shaking?” I almost asked Bret why
he
was shaking, but I realized that he actually
wasn’t
shaking; it was the force of my tremors rocking him. It was unnerving to know this, but I couldn’t stop myself. “It’s ok, we’re safe right now.”

  
I bit on my lip as I managed a brief nod. It was Cade that un-wrapped the remains of the tentacle from my leg. Bret helped me to my feet, for a moment I was terrified that my wobbling legs would not hold me, but they did. Bret rubbed my arms gently as he held me before him. “The thing?” I managed to croak out.

  
“Dead.” Cade was beside us, my revolver in his hand. He slid a bullet into it, spun the cylinder, and slammed it shut. He studied me for a long moment, his eyebrows drawn together as he handed the gun toward me again. “Are you going to be ok with this?”

   “Maybe she shouldn’t have it,” Bret protested instantly.

   “Bethany?” Cade inquired.

   I swallowed heavily and forced myself to nod. “
Of course I will.”

   “Beth…”

   “I need something to help protect us Bret.”

   “We’re fine for now.”
   “For
now
,” I reiterated.

   His
soft green eyes were dark, hesitant. I could see the worry and fear in them. I could also see the love. He touched my cheek lightly as he took a step toward us. Cade thrust the revolver in between us, I took a startled step back as it was pushed in between Bret and I. Bret shook his head but didn’t protest further as I took the gun from Cade again.

CHAPTER 8

   I staggered
through the door of the antique shop. My legs were shaking, my stomach heaved as I slumped to the floor. I could barely catch my breath; my lungs were on fire as I struggled to keep control of my shaking body. I jumped when hands seized hold of me, trying to lift me back up. “It’s ok Bethy.”

   It wasn’t ok, both Aiden and I knew that, but I wasn’t
about to protest. He hauled me to my feet, pulling me beside him as he led me through the store. It was a good thing that Aiden was more graceful than I was, I would have knocked everything in the store over if he hadn’t been leading me. My stomach rolled again, bile burned the back of my throat but I refused to vomit, I would not lose the meager contents of my stomach here.

   “Stairs Bethy, where are the stairs?” he hissed in my ear.

   I managed to raise a tremulous arm and point in the direction of where the stairs were. He took a sharp right as he headed for the door, holding me up as he pulled the door open. The stairs were dark, neither Aiden nor I wanted to turn the light on. We felt our way through the dark, struggling not to fall down the steep steps. We were halfway down when I vomited.