Children of the After: The Complete Series: A Young Adult Postapocalyptic Action and Adventure series (14 page)

Howling wind whipped through the trees stinging Jack’s cheeks and ears, bringing tears to his eyes as the sounds of pursuit broke the otherwise silent night again and again.  Clutching Will to his chest he ran as fast as he was able with Sam following in his footsteps a few paces behind. Wispy fog filled the low-lying areas, but was carried aloft when exceeding those confines in a steady wind that ravaged from the north with winter’s vengeance on its breath. With the cold air blasting his eyes, it was all he could do to pick out a safe trail for them through the underbrush, but day was coming. The rider said the creatures hid during the day. They only had to keep running for a few more hours.

Feeling Will’s head jerk this way and that, watching the forest behind them as they ran, Jack adjusted his grip on his smaller brother, trying to relieve the knots in his muscles. It was no use. Relief would have to wait.  Focusing on the dark trail and his breathing, he spared a quick look back at Sam. She was still running, her movements becoming less and less controlled with each passing hour. She was exhausted, but fear drove her to continue. Jack hoped it would last. He could not carry her and Will.

His eyes on the trail, he leveled his breathing and let his mind wander in an attempt to block out the pain of his muscles. Inevitably his thoughts turned to those pursuing them, the creatures that had probably killed the rider. The bits of newspaper they had salvaged spoke of invasions and stealth technology, but the rider had told them that the creatures weren’t smart. If this had been some sort of alien race that managed to travel through space, then how could it be possible that they weren’t intelligent? Things weren’t adding up, and the lack of information was just as frustrating now as it had been the previous day when they knew nothing of what had become of their world. It was still a mystery. Still more questions than answers. Jack was tired of the questions. Tired of running. Not that it mattered. Running was their only option. The only way he could keep them safe. There was no choice. They would keep running until they found some place safe. He just hoped that place wasn’t too far.

Shaking the negativity from his head, Jack pressed on through the trees, winding this way and that as he ploughed through the brush, his heart nearly stopping as birds exploded from a small bush, their wings flapping all around his head and shoulders as they sought to flee him in the darkness. With the sky appearing to grow a shade brighter, Jack noted a clearing ahead and recognized it for what it was immediately. There, perhaps a hundred yards in the distance, was a road running perpendicular to their direction. Cutting the forest to both the east and west, it could not lead them to the south, but it could give them an advantage. If they took the road ahead, in either direction, they might shake those who followed. Not only that, but it would have to intersect another road that did go south eventually and traveling by road was not only easier than running through the woods, but it was also faster and did not risk an injury with every step on uneven ground. Even so, as Jack raced through the woods he had to weigh the risks.

Changing direction meant they would no longer be running away from the creatures that followed them. He had no way of knowing how far behind the things were, nor if they would catch up. Not only that, running down the road left them out in the open where those watching would be able to see them from miles away. Risks. Big risks. But they couldn’t keep going like this. He couldn’t carry Will forever. Sam couldn’t run much longer. She barely held her head up now as she ran as if in a trance. His decision was made. They would take the road.

Looking ahead, certain now that the sky had grown yet another shade brighter, Jack led Sam through the remaining trees, breaking free of their confines perhaps a minute after making his decision. Bounding across the narrow ditch his boots hit the road with a dull sound that he had not expected, and peering down more intently he saw the reason why. Unlike the paved roads of days previous, this road was of dirt construction, but such a discovery didn’t deter him. Without slowing for even an instant, Jack veered right and began following the road to the west. All he could do now was keep them all moving and hope to find a road that headed south once again.

With the change of terrain, Jack was forced to concentrate on his individual steps, avoiding loose gravel or holes in the road’s surface. From time to time there were fallen limbs in the road and in some places the road itself was growing narrower as the brush and trees of the forest sought to reclaim it for their own. It was odd, the way the world sought to heal the destruction done to it, first by man and now by whatever was seeking to destroy man. Again with the negativity. Jack needed a change desperately.

* * * * *

Samantha ran and ran and ran. At least she thought she was still running. It was hard to tell. It hurt too much. Everything hurt. Her lungs refused to find a rhythm. Her heart pounded loud in her ears, its beats threatening to burst from her ribs at any given moment. Her feet and ankles throbbed as her wobbly legs struggled to keep her upright. Wind ripped across her face, burning her eyes and throat, tangling her hair behind her. Ahead of her a blurry silhouette dashed through the darkness, like a ghost left from the world they once knew, left to inhabit this nightmare of a world that remained.

Above the wind, Sam heard the calls of the monsters that hunted them. Monsters. She now had something to blame for this nightmare and her thoughts drifted to the face of their newfound enemy yet again.

Pale pink flesh filled her mind’s eye as she recalled the creature. With dark eyes and familiar features it looked almost human. In fact, had it been in darkness, or in passing, it could have passed for human had it been clothed. Its pale flesh showed evidence of blue-green veins beneath its skin. Teeth, so much like her own, had shown from its open mouth as it lay unconscious at the rider’s feet. Legs, torso, and arms were all human-like too. Its posture, demeanor, and aggression were what set it apart the most. She would have sworn it was an ape if the papers had not spoken of invasion and the rider hadn’t come with his warning. The rider, who she was certain had fallen victim to the creatures. She shrugged away the image once more, knowing it would return whether she wanted it to or not.

Straining to look ahead she noted that something had changed. The sky was growing lighter. The silhouette ahead was more defined. She could see the top of Will’s head bobbing with Jack’s every step. Poor Will. He was so little and so vulnerable and impressionable, and yet again they were forced to uproot him from a place he felt safe and whisk him away in the night for fear that tomorrow might never come. The knot in her chest tightened even more. It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair. But that didn’t matter as her numb mind was wrenched into alertness once again as the silhouette in front of her went down in a rolling heap of tangled limbs, as the sounds of their pursuers grew louder than ever before from the night’s darkness behind her.

Sliding to a stop to prevent herself from tripping up on her brothers, Sam grabbed at the nearest thing her hands could reach and pulled Will out of the tangled mess by his backpack. Dragging the small boy to his feet, she was amazed at how Jack had managed to roll as he fell to protect Will from being crushed, but Sam couldn’t let herself ponder it. Jack was up and moving an instant later, but Sam’s hope was immediately dashed. They were not OK. Down Jack went again, a groan of pain escaping his lips as he crumpled.  Rushing to his side with Will on her heels, Sam helped her older brother back to his feet, watching as he supported all of his weight on one leg. He was injured. Sam panicked.

She could not run and carry Will. She wasn’t strong enough. The sounds came from the woods to her right again and again. They were getting closer. She had to focus.

Watching as Jack tested his weight on his leg, she simply looked to him for answers and didn’t wait long.

“I twisted my ankle. Might have sprained it,” Jack admitted through gritted teeth, his breath ragged as he tried to calm his body.

“Can you walk on it?” Sam asked, gasping, knowing they were doomed if he couldn’t.

“I don’t think it’s an option,” her older brother replied, and began hobbling away.

“C’mon, Will, let’s give Jack a break,” Sam said, taking her little brother’s hand as her heart continued to hammer in her chest.

They followed the road, walking as fast as Jack was able, and Sam listened to the sounds of pursuit grow nearer and nearer. With every step her brother winced and Will looked back and forth from her to Jack, as if he expected them to do or say something, but Sam didn’t have any answers. The sky grew brighter still, but the horizon was yet dark, showing no traces of the sun or morning to follow.

After several minutes Jack began to move faster. Though he still moved cautiously, he stretched out his steps, gritting his teeth and bearing the pain to distance themselves from the enemy. She knew what he was doing. She understood it. But listening to the sounds behind them she doubted it would be enough. The creatures were gaining on them.

A mile passed and then another and though the sounds still pursued them, none of the monsters had yet to come into sight. Looking back over her shoulder repeatedly, Sam prayed they would find a place to hide, or find someone to help them, but her prayers went unanswered. Another mile passed and Sam thought that the shadows in the distance behind them moved.

Walking forward and keeping pace with her brothers, Sam’s eyes were glued behind them, searching for a sign of those that followed, when Jack gasped. Turning, Sam hoped to see some sort of salvation, but instead her eyes fell on the only point of interest ahead that wasn’t interesting at all. There, perhaps a quarter of a mile down a gradual slope, was an intersection with a paved road. Jack began hobbling faster, the pain more than apparent upon his face as sweat began to bead upon his brow once more. Sam ushered Will to follow, hoping Jack had seen something she missed.

Reaching the intersection, Sam found herself jogging beside Jack who somehow managed to half run, half limp as Will sprinted as fast as his little legs would carry him, between them. Now, not only was Jack injured, but they were risking Will having an asthma attack. Though, with monsters chasing them, she wondered if one of Will’s attacks were the worst of their worries.

Turning left down the paved road, Sam’s head swiveled as she sought for what drove Jack to run with his injury, but still nothing revealed itself. She thought to ask while they ran, but seeing the pain and sweat on Jack’s face, decided it was better to let him concentrate. The sounds grew louder still, individual whoops and growls becoming more distinct with every passing minute. Behind them and to their left the bushes rustled as they passed, another twig snapping somewhere behind them. Time, it seemed, had run out.

* * * * *

Will’s legs pumped, his heartbeat pounded, and his lungs struggled with every moment to take one breath after another, but he did his best not to be scared. He had been right. Monsters had ruined the world, and alien monsters at that. But there were still people. The rider had said there were people in St. Louis. He didn’t know how far St. Louis was, but he knew that Jack would get them there. Hurt leg or not. Jack didn’t give up. Even when a guy tripped him at a track meet, Jack had gotten back up and finished the race.

Looking from Jack’s face to Sam’s it was apparent that things weren’t going well, but even so, he stayed calm. Sam kept looking back and now was running one way and looking in the other. Judging by the horror on her face, what she was seeing behind them was not good, but Will had no plans of looking back. No way. No how. Not gonna happen. Argh, he couldn’t help it. Following Sam’s eyes, Will looked back in the direction they had come, to see the very moment the creatures spilled out into the street behind them.

It reminded Will of a scene out of a movie or cartoon, the way the creatures bounded onto the road, leaping from the trees above and pouncing up out of the brush like a pack of enraged beasts. Running on all four limbs, the creatures used the knuckles of their hands like feet upon the road and moved like the gorillas at the zoo. Like a wave of surging pink flesh the creatures spilled across the road, filling its width as they loped at an alarming speed towards them. Will shouldn’t have looked, and the proof came in the form of a hiccup.

As he turned his head back to face the road beyond, Jack and Sam both picked up their pace, forcing him to push himself further. His heart hammered faster and faster as if to match the speed of his legs and his breath began to come in gasps. Another hiccup. He had a few minutes, maybe more if he was lucky.

On they ran, with those chasing growing nearer and nearer. Will could swear he could feel their breath on the back of his neck as their footfalls behind him sounded just as near as his own. Then, as the sun broke the horizon beyond, its rays lancing between the trees beside the road, the monsters vanished just as quickly as they appeared. Though their sounds continued for several minutes, they grew further and further away as their whoops and hollers turned to higher pitched sounds of fear and panic.

Will didn’t even bother looking back. Not this time. Instead, he simply slowed to a walk as he hiccupped for air, feeling his heart slow as he came to a stop. Raising his hands above his head like Dr. Cameron Paige had showed him, he fought to control his breathing.

“Just relax, baby. Let the air come,” Sam said, looking down at him with concerned eyes.

“You got this, Will. Just hang in there,” Jack added.

Not wanting to speak, Will nodded in reply, feeling the knots in his chest tighten further. His heart was slowing, which was good, but the hiccups kept coming, forcing out the last of the air in his lungs. Then the final hiccup came, causing his lungs to clamp closed. No more air was coming. In seconds he would black out, but already Sam was pressing the inhaler to his lips. This was hard. Everything was hard. But it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t want to make Jack carry him all the time. Jack was hurt and it wasn’t fair. He wanted to run like Sam and Jack. Do his own part. He wasn’t a baby anymore.