Ravenous (Book 1 The Ravening Series) (9 page)

   “What are they doing?” Abby asked softly. I shook my head; I had no answer for that. There was none. “They
’re going to kill us.”
   I agreed. I just wasn’t going to tell her that. We were almost to the kitchen when the backdoor flew open. I accidently slammed the board into Abby, nearly knocking her over, as she stopped abruptly. My heart lurched in my chest, my throat went instantly dry. I was certain that this was the end, we were going to die. I wanted to grab Abby, wanted to throw her behind me, wanted to keep her safe for as long as possible but I couldn’t reach her with the plywood between us.

   And then someone stepped into the kitchen. I blinked rapidly, trying to get my eyes to focus on the person that was highlighted by the harsh wave of light.
Abby was shaking so hard that the board was rattling. Was it one of the aliens? Had they actually come down in order to start retrieving us? “Abby?”

   “Aiden?” she croaked. My heart lurched; my whole body sagged with relief.
“Aiden?”

  
He stepped further into the room, coming into better view. “Mom?” he whispered.

   “You shouldn
’t have come Aiden,” I breathed. Heartbreak and horror filled me as I realized that he was now trapped with us.

   “Bethany…”

   “You shouldn’t have come Aiden,” I repeated fighting hard to get the words out around the lump of tears clogging my throat.

   “I had to.”
   “We’re going to die.”

   I had
feared that it might be true, but saying the words aloud made it a completely devastating reality. It
was
true. The three of us would not make it out of this house alive. “Bethy…”

  
My gaze slid slowly past Aiden, my heart plummeted even further as Bret stepped into the room behind him. “Oh Bret,” I whispered, despair filling me. Not Bret too, I didn’t think I could handle it. He was a part of our family; he was a part of
me
. He was Aiden’s best friend, Abby’s second brother, and he was here because he loved me unconditionally, and with everything he had. He was going to die because of me, and I had kissed another man just an hour ago. I had never hated myself more. “You shouldn’t have come.”

   He frowned at me, his head tilting to the side.
Like Aiden and I, he was fair, but his hair was a much darker blond than ours. “I had to,” he said simply. And it
was
that simple for him. I felt like a horrible person, guilt churned within me, self hatred momentarily swamped me. I was suddenly grateful that I didn’t have much longer to despise myself.

   “Hurry,” Aiden urged.

   I didn’t say it didn’t matter if we hurried or not. I’d already expressed my opinion on this whole situation. I didn’t need to bring them down any further with my pessimism. And I personally didn’t want to hear the words again, even if I was the one that had uttered them first. “What is going on?” Bret asked softly, his gaze darting toward the well lit front of the house.

   “We pissed them of
f,” I muttered. “And now they’re toying with us.”
   Aiden came forward, gently nudging Abby aside as he grabbed the plywood. His gaze locked on our mother, sadness filled his eyes as his head tilted slightly to the side. “Mom,” he murmured. The heartache and misery in his voice was almost more than I could bear.

   “Aiden please, we have to move.
Abby by the door there are some bags of food, you need to grab them.” I didn’t think we would make it far, but we would need food if we did, and we had to do something other than stand here. I had to think about something other than our impending demise.

   “Why are you covered in blood?” Aiden demanded sharply.

   I shook my head, not wanting to get into all of the gory details right now. There was no need. If Aiden hadn’t seen those awful sucking tentacles yet, I was pretty sure he was about to. “Go Abby, please,” I pleaded softly.

   She nodded as she released the plywood to Aiden. His gaze was back on our mom, his eyes swamped with misery. Abby grabbed the bag
s by the door; she turned expectantly back to us. Bret came to me, but thankfully I could not release the plywood to hug him, I could barely stand the small kiss he dropped on my cheek. It just made me feel even more disloyal and hideous.

   He was so trusting, so good and honest and wonderful. I had known
for a few years how he’d felt about me, but up until this year I had warded off his advances. I loved him, deeply, but I’d never been sure if it was as anything more than a friend. Four months ago I finally relented to his pursuit. I’d reasoned that the only way I could ever know how I truly felt about him was to stop pushing him away, and treating him like a brother. Perhaps I could fall in love with him then.

   Things were
good between us, sweet and caring, and wonderful. We never fought, never even bickered. But our relationship did not possess any of the passion, or rightness, that I felt with Cade. It was rare when we kissed, and I still found it awkward and uncomfortable. Bret was patient with me, certain that I would eventually come to feel more for him, and it was impossible not to put faith in anything that Bret said. Where Cade was an enigma, always had been, and always would be, Bret was an open book of honesty, hope, and love.

   They were completely different people, and I was actually rather glad I was not going to
live long enough to have to choose between them. Bret’s hand lingered on my cheek, brushing aside some of the drying blood that clung to me and the wound the thing had caused. “Are you ok?”

   “No,” I answered honestly. “I am not ok.
We need to get the hell out of here, now.”

   “Yes.” He grasped hold of the plywood, his hand brushing briefly against mine. He was bigger than Cade, taller and broader.
He was exceptionally handsome in a bright, unguarded way that was the exact opposite of Cade’s darkness. Bret had been the quarterback on the football team, the star athlete. He could have had a full ride to any college he wanted but that hope had been squashed by the aliens. People no longer traveled anywhere, never mind to college in order to better themselves. The aliens did not want us smarter. They had claimed that under their society everyone would be equal, and that there was no need for higher education. There would be no more starvation, no more illness and premature death. It had never surprised me that so many people had fallen for their lies, it was easy to believe in something when it was wanted badly enough.

  
Bret had been mister popularity, the golden boy that the girls had chased around, and yet, for some reason, he had wanted me. I should have been flattered by this; all of my friends had told me so. They had been jealous when he’d started asking me out. They had also been extremely incredulous, and angry, when I had continued to turn him down. They had not been any happier when I finally relented and said yes to him. They simply hadn’t understood how I felt about Bret; they still didn’t, and in all honesty, neither did I.  

  
“Bethy.” I turned my head toward him, trying hard to keep my face impassive. “I’ll keep you safe.”
   I winced involuntarily, mentally kicking myself even harder. If, by some miracle, we did survive this I was officially going to consider myself the worst human being ever. “We have to be quick, move through the woods, down the trail. We can lose them once we get into the thick areas.” Aiden’s tone was hopeful, but we all knew that was highly unlikely. They were airborne after all. “Abby, get the door.”

   Abby glanced nervously at all of us, her hands tightened on the bag she held. Taking a deep breath she managed a firm nod before
pulling the door swiftly open. Light flooded in, my heart leapt in my chest, but Abby was already rushing outside. I wanted to scream at her to wait, to come back, to not go out there, but we were no safer in here than we were out there.

   “Stay close,” Bret hissed as we rushed out the door behind
Abby.

   I wanted to argue with him, wanted to tell him that I could take care of myself, but what was the point? I couldn’t take care
of myself in this situation.
No
one could.

   The light was far brighter outside; it
blazed across the sky with the force of a million bright bulbs. It blared against my eyes, causing me to stumble and nearly fall as I bumbled blindly behind the plywood. A rumbling filled the air, shook the ground. I was dismayed to recognize it as the same awful sensation that had accompanied the arrival of that hideous thing earlier.

   I wanted to look back, to see what was coming at us, but I
was afraid that it would cause my control to completely unravel. I knew what was back there, and I sure as hell didn’t want to see it again. Bret’s breathing was heavy beside me, I strained to make out Abby, but I couldn’t recognize her through the glare pounding against my irises. I was going to be blind by the time this was over.

   I felt
, more than heard or saw the impending attack simply because those two senses were almost completely useless right now. I knew that it was coming, that something was hunting us, and that it was close. A scream of terror was trapped in my throat. I wasn’t ready, I was too young for this, and I certainly had never wanted to go out this way. I wanted to scream against the indignity and awfulness of it all, but it would do me no good. There was no stopping this.

   An image of my father flashed before my eyes. I was grateful that he had never
had to know this, had never had to see his family hunted and slaughtered like rodents. I was glad that, as of right now, my mother seemed to have no idea that she was being pursued, and that her children were so close to death. Unfortunately she would wake up, just as that man had, but by then it would be too late, and death would follow shortly after. She would never have to know the loss of her children. I was glad for all of these things, and I was especially glad that I seemed to be the first one that they were going to take down. I couldn’t stand to watch as they took my siblings, and Bret. I wanted to let go of the board and bolt in a different direction, but I knew it wouldn’t do me any good, and I was not about to go down like a coward.

   No, I was going to die brave, or at least
make an attempt at it.

CHAPTER 7

  A loud bang rang out, causing me to jump in surprise as Abby let out a startled scream. I ducked low as another bang shattered the air; the weird, echoing screams of the creatures filled the night. They hissed and screeched as another reverberating bang erupted. My heart was hammering but I was finally able to place the source of the loud, startling explosions, as gunshots.

   I looked rapidly around, but though the bright light had faded
slightly from the gunshots it was still hard to make anything out. Another shot rang out, reverberating through the air. Bret cursed softly; he was half bent over the plywood as we hurried forward. I caught a brief glimpse of Abby as she darted off the trail and disappeared into the woods. Relief filled me. At least Abby was safer.

   The strange screaming grew louder as another shot rang out. We were almost to the end of the path, almost to the thicker woods when my eyes finally detected the source of the gunshots.
Cade stood at the edge of the woods, a shotgun leveled against his shoulder, his gaze focused on something beyond us. Relief filled me at the sight of him; I was finally able to easily breathe again as the constriction in my chest eased. I didn’t know where he had gotten the gun from, and I didn’t care as he fired another shot.

   His dark eyes met mine for a brief moment before he dropped the gun and swiftly reloaded it.
“Hurry!” Abby called from the woods. “Hurry please!”

  
Cade raised the gun again, firing another shot that caused the odd, hissing type of scream to explode in a torrent of rage and pain that made my eardrums ache. “This way!” someone else shouted from the woods.