Sanctum (The After Light Saga) (9 page)

After that,
the Arvy on the pilot stopped, and everything went dead silent. The pain in my head subsided.

The
Arvy’s fingers were still gripped tightly around the pilot’s neck. Its head slowly turned to face me, and then…it grinned. Every single hair on my body stood upright.

“Finn?” My voice shook.
I was completely terror stricken.
Could the Arvies have heard me?

“I can’t get
clear a shot,” he answered. “Why did they stop?”

“I don’t know,” I answered.

The Arvy chose that moment to move, jumping up, and bringing the pilot with him as a shield.

The pilot
’s eyes were wide with horror, he was hyperventilating, and the color of his face had washed out.

“Help me,” he cried. I helplessly watched a tear escape
his eye and drip from his chin, but I couldn’t get a shot. The Arvy had hidden itself behind him.

When
I decided to charge forward, the Arvy pushed the pilot to his knees and sunk its teeth into his neck. The nauseating sound of skin tearing stopped me dead in my tracks.

The sight made me want
to vomit. The pilot had a gaping hole in his neck, exposing muscle and tissue. Blood poured from the wound. The Arvy chewed and swallowed his flesh.

The cries from the pilot made my eyes
water. As soon as he dropped to the ground, I fired, but the Arvy dove out of the way. Finn took the next shot and from the corner of my eye, I saw a body drop off to our right.

Something inside of me snapped. I
ran forward and began shooting, aiming directly in the center of the white eyes. One by one, they dropped. Blood and brain matter showered the ground. At this moment, I didn’t care about anything else, but killing the mutant bastards. I quickly emptied a thirteen round clip in a few seconds, dropping twelve Arvies, then dropped the magazine and reloaded. I could hear Finn’s shotgun right behind me.

A short distance behind was more
gunfire, so I knew the others weren’t too far. I trusted the soldiers were protecting the rest of the group. After another ten shots, everything went eerily silent again. Pale bodies littered the ground. I could hear my pulse pounding like a drum in my ears. My breath was quick, and my hands were trembling. I stayed still, alert, but didn’t see or hear any movement.

I ran to the pilot. H
e was pale, and his eyes were glossed over. His body was twitching, and he held tight to his neck. It wasn’t doing much. The ground around him was saturated with blood.

“I—I’m
sorry,” he pushed words out, blood gurgling.

“Shhhh. You don’t need to be sorry. It’
s alright.” I tried to comfort him. I tried to be strong, but death was waiting.

“I should…have stayed…with you,” he coughed, spewing
blood all over my chest. Finn stood watch behind us.

“
It’s alright. You were afraid. We all were,” Finn said, gently pushing me back.

“I
…I’m…going to…die?” he asked.

“Don’t talk. You’ll be just fine.”

I didn’t know how to answer
. There was blood pouring from his wound, and I knew even Dr. Banks couldn’t fix it. Not here in the middle of nowhere, with no medical tools.

“You will
soon be in a much better place than we are,” Finn nodded.

“
I…don’t want…to die,” he breathed. Tears rolled down his face. “My wife, my daughter. Please…tell them I love them.”

My heart
instantly crushed. He had a family. He had a wife and daughter who would be waiting for him.

I fought to keep the tears
that stung my eyes away, but it was too much to bear. My heart was breaking.

“What’s your name?” I asked, taking hold of his hand.

“Steven,” he breathed, “with a V.” My heart shattered, and my thoughts went directly to my father, who shared his name.

“
My dad’s name is Stephen, with a P H,” I forced a smile. “Steven, I promise to tell your family. I’ll tell them how brave you were, and how you saved us all from crashing. They will be so proud of you.”

He nodded
and a weak grin formed on his lips. His breath became quick, and I watched his eyes slowly start to change to a milky white.

“
Help me.” He gritted his teeth, moaning in pain. “I don’t…want…to change. Kill…me.”

“Abi,
” Finn said, taking hold of my arm.

“Finn, what do we do?” I cried. Tears rushed down my face. This was the most difficult decision I’d ever faced. This man was dying, but he was also changing.
Did I grant his dying wish?

Steven
suddenly grabbed my arm, and placed Hellfire to his forehead. “Please,” he begged.

Finn
glanced at me. He had a pained look, but gave a single nod.

Why God? Why m
e? I don’t know if I can do this.
Hot tears soaked my face.

“Please,” the pilot begged again, his teeth gritting. He
moaned in agonizing pain as he started to change.

I
stood to my feet and wiped my face. Suddenly, I started to feel dizzy, my fingers felt tingly, and my breath became too fast. I couldn’t get enough air in.
Not now! What the hell is wrong with me?
My legs started trembling, and became weak. I buckled, dropping to my knees.

“Abi!” I heard Finn scream.

“I’m sorry,” I cried. Hellfire slipped from my grasp.

Steven closed his eyes.

Bam!

I was jolted from
my inner torment, and turned to see Finn holding Hellfire. He did what I couldn’t do. He granted Steven’s last wish.

Screams
and growls began to echo around us again.

I
looked to Finn for support. So many emotions ran through me at that very instant. Finn had saved me. There was no handbook on how to deal with the kind of emotion of killing another human being. It was something that would have shattered my soul, and haunted me for the rest of my life. But Finn spared me. He took the shot. He was my hero.

“Abi, are you alright?” Finn said, carefully lifting me to my feet.

“I’m sorry, Finn. I couldn’t,” I sobbed.

“I know. It’s alright. You don’t always have to be strong.”

“You did the right thing, Finn,” Dr. Banks said, placing his hand on his shoulder. I turned around and looked at everyone else in the group. Their eyes were filled with fear and horror.

Finn wrapped his arms around me. “Le
t’s go. Sounds like there’s many more out there. We have to get everyone to safety.”

He was right. We weren’t out o
f danger. I had to keep myself focused. I had to pull myself together and turn off my emotions. If I didn’t do it, I’d be worthless, and put others in danger.

Before we left,
Finn bent down and pulled Steven’s tag from his neck and wiped it off. I could feel my world slowly spiraling out of control. He handed me Hellfire, and I checked her ammo. She had two rounds left, so I readied the next magazine.

“Ab
i,” Finn said softly, holding my arm so I couldn’t move.

Then,
Tina screamed in a super high pitch.

We were surrounded by
Arvies. Much more than we could handle. There were at least fifty, and it seemed like every time I blinked, there were more.

“We’re g
onna die,” Tina cried.

“No,” I answered.
“We’re not going to die. We are going to fight, and we are going to survive.”

“Ev
eryone stand in a circle and face outward. Injured and doctors on the inside,” Finn instructed. Dr. Banks walked up to Tina and asked for her gun then pushed her into the middle of the circle. Dr. Lee took her into his arms and tried to comfort her.

We were outnumbered at least
ten to one. I knew I didn’t have enough ammo.

Hideous pale bodies stalked closer, and as they did, the crippling
sensations started to overpower me.

“Fire on the ones that are
the greatest threat,” Finn shouted. “Pick your shots and make them count. Don’t fire blindly.”

“Finn. I don’
t think I can do this.” I felt like I was falling apart. The seams of my sanity were being torn to pieces.

Finn turned and grabbed me. He steadied my face in his hands and had me focus on him.

“Abi, listen to me. You can’t control everything. Each person is responsible for their own survival. You need to stop feeling like you have to do it all. You can’t save everyone. Focus on one thing. Keeping
yourself
alive,” he said. “I need you, Abi. I need you here, and I need you to focus.”

I nodded
. The feelings which haunted me were there because, deep inside, I felt powerless to help the people around me. I always had control over everything I did in the hive, and because I was the best shot, I felt like I had to protect everyone.

O
ut here, I quickly realized I had no control. Topside, I was filled with fear and my weaknesses seemed to be gripping me tighter and tighter. Unknowingly, I had put the weight of the world on my shoulders, and now they were slowly smothering me. I needed to release them, so I could function and be able to perform to the best of my ability.

“Thank you, Finn,” I said.

He grabbed my face and pulled me to him, kissing me quickly.

“One shot...” he breathed, with a grin, steadying my focus
.

“One kill,” I finished, with a nod.

He smiled, then let me go.

I could feel a new fire
within, as I finally recognized my demons. This time, I was determined to slay them, and hoped they wouldn’t cripple me again.

A shot from behind us started the battle, and all
hell broke loose. A fury of pale bodies started charging at us. I fired off my two rounds, dropped the clip, and reloaded within seconds. It seemed hopeless. There was a sea of mutant bodies behind the ones that had fallen.

“Finn,” I said loudly
, as I emptied out another clip and reloaded.

“Are you okay
?” he yelled back, still shooting.

“Thank you for saving me,” I shouted
.

“Ditto
,” he returned. “Now quit talking and shoot something.”

We fired and fired, but the
Arvies kept pushing forward. They were relentless. It reminded me of only a week ago when I was on the roof, saving Finn’s life. But this was different. We were surrounded on all sides.

“
I’m out,” one of the soldiers yelled. My heart dropped. He took the center and the rest closed the gap.

I had two clips left before I was out. They seemed to be holding
back about fifteen feet. Toying with us, waiting for us to run out of ammo so they could rush in for the kill.

There were screams of someone in pain behind us.

“They took Gus,” one of the soldiers yelled. His screams were telling us he was quickly being carried away.

I was down to my last clip.

“How many?” I called to Finn.

“Ten shots left,” he answered
.

“I have thirteen.
”

“
Let’s make ‘em count.”

“Should we save one?” I
asked. He didn’t answer, but he knew what I was thinking. I wanted to save one last bullet for us, just in case. I was down to five shots. “Finn!”

“Yes,” but his words were not
sure.

Then
blasts started booming and smoke began to bellow around us. Arvy bodies dropped and scattered. Canisters were thrown at our feet, emitting a thick white smoke. As it rose, and touched our skin, it burned like hell.

Pain. Burning pain.
My eyes, my skin, my nose.

“Finn
, where are you?” I screamed.

“I’m right here,” he yelled back
.

My eyes were closed, but I walked toward his voice. Suddenly, I was bumped. Someone
grabbed me, threw me over a shoulder, and took off.

When I could finally open my eyes, I noticed I was being carried by someone in army fatigues
. A man. At least, I thought it was a man by the way he easily flung me over his shoulder and took off running. I was in so much pain, my skin felt like it was melting off my bones. I was gritting my teeth together so hard, I was afraid they’d shatter.