Ravenous (Book 1 The Ravening Series) (19 page)

   “No, it’s not,
” I whispered.

   Bret stepped close
r to me and slid his hand into mine. “I’ll keep you safe.”

   I managed a tremulous smile for him, but we both knew that it would be nearly impossible for anyone to stop
the kind of murderous intent that we had seen earlier. His hand was warm in mine, gentle and strong. I knew every callous on it, every small scar that marked it. It was familiar, well loved, and so very trusting. Yet as I held his hand, I didn’t feel the strong pull, the strong
need
that tore at me whenever Cade was near.

   The next group stepped forward, entering the street as the first group reached the far side of the rotary. They were only five feet from the beginning of the bridge, just passing the entrance o
f the IHOP. They stepped onto the bridge, moving slowly as they began the climb up. There was a sidewalk along the side of the bridge, but they stayed on the empty roadway. They weren’t quite over the water yet, but still above the concrete walkway, and sharp rocks below, that marked the side of the canal. I shuddered at the thought of something happening to the bridge now, not like falling into the canal would save them, but it seemed somewhat more pleasant than concrete and rocks.

  
“Ok, let’s go.”

   Bret took a step forward; apparently he was in our group while the
other man and woman would be the last ones to go with Jenna and Cade. “Wait!” Abby said anxiously as Cade stepped toward us.

  
My heart was hammering, I could hardly breathe. My hand tightened around Bret’s. The second group was almost at the beginning of the bridge. The first was almost in the middle of it; if not for the lights they would no longer be visible. I could sense Aiden’s growing excitement; he really believed that this was going to be ok. I wanted him to be right, they had gotten further than I’d expected, but I was still unable to accept it.

   “We have to go Abby, it’s th
e plan,” Aiden seemed slightly annoyed by the fact that we were not adhering strictly to the plan. My heart ached for him; I understood his need to control something, to feel like he ruled his own life again. I just wished that he had chosen something a little less deadly, like our food supplies maybe.

   “Just
wait until the second group gets a little further Aiden, please,” Abby whispered.

   I decided to let her try to persuade Aiden, he had a harder time saying no to her than he did to me. He looked hesitant but he waited until the second group was already on the bridge
. The first group was only twenty feet from the end, and beginning to fade from sight. Then, without further speaking to us, Aiden began to move from the woods. I glanced franticly back at Cade.

  
He started moving forward, his jaw locked. The fierce determination in his gaze was a sign of impending trouble. I knew he wasn’t going to make me cross that bridge if I really didn’t want to. I shivered in response to the fire burning in his coal dark eyes. “Aiden wait,” he ordered coldly.

   Aiden spun back toward him, but the other two members of
Cade’s group were also coming forward. One of them was the girl who had claimed to know how to scuba dive. “Molly,” she said, thrusting her small hand forward to shake ours. I took hold of her hand, surprised by the strength in her firm grip as I introduced myself.

  
“We’ll go now instead. You’ll see, we’ll all be fine,” the man said. He shot Abby and I a sympathetic look that aggravated the hell out of me and set my teeth on edge.

   “Fine,” Aiden said. “Let’s go Bret.”

   “Wait,” Bret protested instantly. “Bethany…”

   “It’s ok Bret, I’ll be fine. I want to stay with Abby.”

   “Cade can go over with Aiden.”

  
Hope sparked in Jenna’s eyes; it was obvious she wanted nothing more than to be with Bret. Abby looked franticly back and forth between the two groups. I was ashamed by the spurt of disappointment that shot through me, ashamed by the fact that I did not want to be separated from Cade. “Let’s just go,” Aiden said impatiently.

  
“It’s ok Bret, I’ll be fine.” I hated the deception that made those words come from my mouth, but I hated the thought of not being with Cade even more.

   “I don’t want to leave you here.”

   “Bret come on,” Aiden interjected, practically bouncing on his toes in his eagerness to move.

  
“Bethany?”

   I
forced down the lump in my throat. “I’ll be fine.”  

   “Do you want me to stay?”
he inquired.

   I wanted them all to stay, but it didn’t
seem to matter what I wanted right now. “Its fine,” I managed to choke out.

   He smiled tremulously at me, squeezed my hand, and kissed me gently on the lips. I did not recoil from him, did not push him away. In fact I kissed him back because I was fairly certain I would never see him again, and I
did
love him. He hurried to join Aiden as Cade swiftly took Bret’s place at my side. I stared sadly up at Cade, struggling not to cry as Abby began to sob softly.

   The first group reached the other side of the bridge; I could almost feel their relief. They were not out of the woods yet, they were
still in the middle of a highway, completely exposed and out in the open, but they had made it that far. It was much further than I had thought they were going to make it. Hope began to fill me as I realized that perhaps I had been wrong after all, perhaps we were all going to make it across. Perhaps the bridges
were
the answer.

   I suddenly wanted to run across the bridge,
race over to the other side and kiss the ground of the mainland. I glanced eagerly at Cade, Abby’s tears began to dry up, Jenna looked like she was about to start jumping for joy. The second group was more than halfway there; Aiden was almost to the IHOP. “Let’s go,” Jenna said eagerly.

   Cade nodded at me, I managed a wan smile for him. Jenna stepped out of the
shadows, making her way toward the road. I swallowed nervously, gathered my courage, and followed Jenna forward. Abby clung tighter to me, but she was no longer crying, and she was moving with us. Cade stayed close to my side, little shivers of pleasure shot through me every time his arm brushed against mine. I didn’t feel so awful about us right now, I couldn’t. I needed him.

   I
t was just that simple right now.

   Aiden was at the foot of the bridge. The second group was almost safely to the
other side when light blazed forth. For a moment I was blinded, and completely confused. I thought something had happened with the lights on the bridge, that perhaps a power surge had somehow caused them to blaze even brighter.

   Then, I heard the screams.

CHAPTER 12

   I didn’t stop to think.
I shoved Abby back, pushing her towards the woods. “Run!” I hissed at her. She turned beneath my shoving hands, stumbling toward the forest. I turned and plunged in the opposite direction. “Aiden!”

   I couldn’t see him over the bright glare of the lights
burning my irises, couldn’t hear him above the agonized screams that shredded the still night. “Aiden!”

   I was running into the light, running toward the certain death that made it impossible to see the bridge any longer. I had
no idea where I was anymore, no idea where I was running to. I stumbled, tripped, and sprawled onto grass. I had somehow managed to make it into the rotary, where exactly in the rotary I was though, I didn’t know. I could be closer to the bridge; I could be on the complete opposite side. I struggled back to my feet.

  
“Aiden! Bret!” I screamed, terror for their lives clawed at me, ripped through me, and left me nearly breathless and shaken. Not my brother, I pleaded silently. Please not my brother, please not Bret. Please. Please. Please.

   I stumbled blindly forward
, crashing through some bushes that ripped and tore at my skin and clothes before plowing into another bush that halted me abruptly. I thought I was somewhere near the Cape Cod spelled out with yews in the center of the rotary. I couldn’t be certain though, but I thought I may have hit the C of Cod. That meant I had at least approached the bridge side of the rotary in my heedless rush forward, and that I was not running aimlessly in the wrong direction. I just didn’t know where to go from here, which direction was the right one.

  Arms wrapped around me, I was pulled back. A terrified scream escaped me; I clawed wildly at the arms, certain that death had just locked me within its tight embrace. “It’s me Bethany,” a voice hissed in my ear. I slumped slightly as I recognized Cade’s voice, but I could not see his arms around my waist against the harshness of the light surrounding us. “We have to go back Bethy, we have to go
back
.”

   Cade was pulling me
away, dragging me toward something. I didn’t know which way we were going, what was happening anymore. More screams echoed out of the light. I had never heard such awful,
agonizing
sounds in my entire life. I wanted to sob, wanted to curl up in a ball, clasp my hands over my ears and attempt to drown out the suffering and horror that echoed within those shrieks. I would never get them out of my head though, never forget the hideous pain, horror, and terror contained in those high pitched wails. Aiden. Bret. My heart was shattering. This was it; I couldn’t take anymore.
This
was my snapping point. It would soon be over, for all of us, and I didn’t even care anymore.

   Cade pulled me to the ground
, keeping his arm locked around my waist as he leveled his body over top of mine. “Move Bethany!” he hissed in my ear.

   I didn’t care to move
, I didn’t truly care to do anything ever again. When I remained limp beneath him, he began to half push and half drag me forward. He pushed and pulled me into the center of a bunch of bushes. They were scratchy, painful and caused my skin to burn. Whatever the bushes were, they were not friendly. Cade cursed as he followed behind me, struggling against the low hung branches of the plant. I didn’t care about the bushes, or the pain, the only thing I cared about right now was the fact that I could finally cover my ears. Curling into the fetal position, I clamped my hands tightly over my ears, but it did little to drown out the awful sounds. Cade wrapped himself around me, using his body to cover mine.

  
“Shh, Bethy, shh love.” I didn’t realize that a low keening sound had been escaping from sound. I was shaking, but no tears spilled free. I was too horrified, to shocked to cry.

  “Cade,” I moaned.

  
His body was warm against mine, strong as he enfolded me within his embrace. His cheek was against mine, his hand wrapped around my head and forehead as he tried to shelter me from the misery. There was nothing sexual about his embrace, no intense desire radiated from him right now. There was only a desperate need to protect me, to shield me from the horror, agony, and death that surrounded us. His mouth was against my cheek; his breath was warm and ragged on my skin.

   My eyes remained closed but the light burned against m
y eyelids, I thought it would be seared permanently into my irises. “My sweet Bethany.”

   He kissed my cheek gently. That was when I became certain that we were going to die
, and that he knew it as well as I did. I found that to be an even worse realization. Cade had been stoic throughout this whole thing, even slightly playful. He had never shown fear, and though he didn’t show it now, I could hear the goodbye in his tone. I sensed the regret and longing that radiated from those three words.

   The light blazed momentarily brighter, I became painfully aware of the fact that the screams had stopped. The silence, either from the lack of noise or from the suffocating quality of the light, was profound.
And horrifying. I shivered, Cade held me tighter. The light faded.

   I remained frozen, too stunned to move. I didn’t open my eyes
; I didn’t want to see anything. I strained to hear something, but there was nothing to hear. Not anymore. It was nearing dawn, but the birds did not chirp. I could not even hear Cade’s breath anymore, could not hear the fierce beat of his heart. The silence was unending, unnerving, and terrifying in the wake of all the noise and light.

  
I couldn’t take it anymore, my eyes flew open. It took a moment, but slowly they began to adjust to the dark morning. At first all I could make out was the plant wrapped around us. I could not identify it immediately, but its size, look, and smell made me think of juniper.

   Cade slowly unraveled from me. I froze, unwilling to move
as he crept forward. The bush was large, but not large enough to keep him hidden for much longer. Sound suddenly flooded back in, the world came to screeching, abnormally loud life again as he lifted some of the lower branches and peered out. I winced against the abrasive sound of the plant as the branches grated against each other.

  
I could see nothing, but I caught the small slump of his shoulders. “I think it’s safe.”
   His voice was soothing, surprisingly gentle against the stark clamor that pounded against my eardrums. “Think?” I winced, my voice was nowhere near as calming. He nodded. “They also thought the bridge was safe.”