The Dead Ones (Death Herself Book 3) (11 page)

“Why not?” I ask, wiping away the tears that have started running down my face.

“I thought he was a ghost at first,” she replies, coming closer. “I was terrified when I suddenly saw him tonight, but finally I realized...” She rubs her arms. “Are you cold, Bonnie? The heating seems to be on, but I'm so cold. I don't know why, but I feel like the whole world is just getting colder and colder.”

“What's happening?” I shout, getting to my feet. “Why is Dad suddenly back, and why is he pretending like we're not here?”

“I don't think he can hear us, honey,” she replies, her voice trembling a little as if she's on the verge of crying. “It's like... I was hoping and praying that at least he'd be able to see
you
, but I guess not. In that case, I suppose maybe you're just like me.”

“And what does that mean?” I ask.

“I think...” She pauses. “I remember the morning of the shooting. I couldn't before, not clearly, but in the past few hours it suddenly came rushing back to me. Your father had gone out to work early as usual, you'd gone to school, and I could hear your brother still bumbling around in his room. I was in a hurry, and I wasn't about to let him stay home for the day, so I barged in and...” Another pause, as tears fill her eyes. “He and Jonathan were standing there with guns. Malcolm mumbled something about being sorry, then he aimed the gun at me and...”

Her voice trails off.

“That didn't happen,” I tell her, trying to stay calm.

She puts her hands over her face as she starts sobbing.

“That didn't happen!” I shout, pulling her hands away. “Mom, stop it! Have you been talking to Molly? None of that happened, not the way you described it!”

“Oh God,” she continues, pulling me close and hugging me tight. “I think we're dead, honey. I don't understand what's going on, not completely, but I think... I think you must have died too, at the school. Suddenly it all makes sense.”

“I'm not dead!” I hiss, pushing her away. “Why do people keep saying that tonight? Look at me, I'm right here! I remember the shooting and I remember surviving! I remember -”

Before I can finish, I realize my memory is a little different this time. I definitely remember running toward the door, and I remember hearing shots being fired. Until tonight, I always remembered throwing myself out of the cafeteria and landing on the hard floor outside, unhurt. This time, however, the memory is different: I remember a sharp pain in my back, bursting through my body, and then...

But that can't be right.

I survived. I know I did.

“It's so cold,” Mom whispers, grabbing me for another hug. “I can't find a way to keep warm. No matter what I do, even if I stand next to the hot water pipes, nothing works. It's like all the heat is just draining away from the world.” She squeezes me tight. “I don't even feel anything from you.”

“This is insane!” I mutter, pushing her back yet again. “It's as if everyone has -”

Before I can finish, Dad gets to his feet and shuffles past us.

“No!” I shout, running after him and trying to grab his arm. When I feel my hands being pushed away yet again, I follow him across the kitchen instead. “You can't ignore us!” I yell, as my anger starts to boil over. “You don't get to disappear and leave us all alone, and then suddenly come back and act like we're not even here!” I try yet again to grab him, before trying to slam my fists against his chest.

Still ignoring me, he turns and wanders over to the far corner of the room.

“He's alive,” Mom says, as we both watch him toss the cardboard carton into the trash. “He's living here all alone. I don't know why we couldn't see him all this time, but it's like we were in limbo and now something has changed, suddenly -” She glances toward the window. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” I ask, feeling completely impotent.

“It's like there are people in the yard,” she replies, stepping past me and heading through to the front room. “Jesus, Bonnie, can you seriously not hear them?” She turns and looks back toward the kitchen. “They're round the back, too.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask, trying not to panic. “Mom, please, I'm seriously freaking out here and -”

Before I can finish, something brushes past me. I turn just in time to see the tall, smoke-black creature from the beach, and I watch in horror as it makes its way toward Mom. Once again, the air is filled with a thick, sulfurous smell.

“What
is
that thing?” she stammers, stepping back against the wall.

“Mom, run!” I shout. “Mom -”

She tries to slip away, but the creature reaches out and grabs her shoulder. In the room's electric light, I can see the beast's face now, and its features are lined with deep scars. When it opens its mouth, I see row after row of hook-like teeth, and a thick, slimy black tongue. The creature leans closer to Mom, causing a rush of fire to burst from her body as she starts screaming.

“Stop!” I shout, rushing to help her. Before I can get closer, however, the creature turns and swats me aside, sending me crashing into the opposite wall. Momentarily stunned, I slump to the floor and let out a gasp of pain. I try to get up, but suddenly something else slams into my chest, knocking me down once again. Just as before, I feel a heavy, rhythmic force pounding into me, thudding against my chest with enough energy to jolt my entire body. I try desperately to get to my feet, but the force is too strong and I feel instead as if I'm being repeatedly crushed into the ground.

“Get out of the way!” a distant voice shouts.

A violent shock bursts through my chest, briefly filling me with pain. Everything goes black for just a fraction of a second, and then I roll onto my side, gasping as I struggle to get my breath back.

Finally I hear my mother's scream starting to fade, and I turn just in time to see her body flaring as the inferno engulfs her. I cry out, but it's too late and she's gone, and a moment later the pressure lifts from my chest.

“Bring her back!” I shout, stumbling to my feet and racing toward the dark creature. “Bring her -”

I stop as the creature turns to me, and for a moment the sight of its shriveled, torn eyes is enough to fill my soul with fear. Now that I can see its face more clearly, I realize that its eyes are actually just a series of vertical slits cut into its leathery flesh. I open my mouth to scream, but the creature merely leans closer, its very presence seeming to silence me.

“You're next,” a voice whispers in my ear. “Why won't you just accept that?”

As if it too heard the voice, the creature opens it huge jaws, revealing two rows of razor sharp teeth poking out from exposed bone. Roaring, the beast tilts its head back as if it wants to strike at me, but at the last moment it takes a step back, its vast hulking mass causing the floorboards to shudder beneath my feet. It twists away, and in the blink of an eye it vanishes entirely, leaving me still frozen senseless with fear in the middle of the front room. I feel as if it was about to attack me, but something forced it to pull back.

A few seconds later, I hear someone approaching, and I turn to see Dad wandering through to the kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.

He has no idea what just happened.

“Didn't you hear that?” I shout, running through and trying to grab his arm, only to find that once again some unseen force is holding me back. I try again and again, as my frustration mounts and tears start rolling down my face. “Didn't you hear her screaming? Dad, I'm here! I'm right here, you have to see me!”

Muttering something under his breath, he pours himself a glass of water and then heads back to his bedroom.

“This isn't really happening,” I stammer, taking a step back before turning and hurrying to the front door. As soon as I pull it open, however, I find Molly and Adam hurrying to meet me.

“It got Shannon,” Molly stammers, her eyes filled with fear. “I think it's coming for
us
next!”

Chapter Thirteen

“Why haven't you said anything?” Molly asks as she and Adam follow me along the dark street. “Bonnie, please, what's wrong?”

“It took my mother,” I reply darkly, feeling a slow sense of pure panic starting to vibrate through my chest. “It took her right in front of me.”

“Then -”

“So it can't be real!” I shout, turning to her. “It can't be, because if it is, that means my mother is...” My voice trails off for a moment as I remember her scream. “Where is everybody?” I ask, turning and looking around at the dark town square just a few hundred meters up ahead. “Even at 5am, shouldn't there be some signs of life?”

“We've spotted a few people,” Molly replies, “but they don't seem to be able to see us. We tried making a list of all the people we've actually spoken to lately, but they're vanishing faster than we can keep track. Mary Wade, and Yasmine Wallace, and Alison Birch...”

“Shannon burned too,” Adam adds, his voice filled with fear. “She was screaming as it happened, she was crying out for us to help her, but there was nothing we could do. It was just the same as Danny and Scott, and -”

“It's a dream,” I continue, interrupting him as I start pinching my arm. “That explains everything, I'm dreaming and none of this is really happening.” I pinch myself harder and harder, until finally the pain is too much and I have to stop. Frustrated, I try a spot a little further along my arm, but the same thing happens again. “How do I wake up? It has to be a dream.”

“It can't be
your
dream,” Adam replies, “because
I'm
in it.” He pinches his hand, but eventually he lets out a gasp and stops. “I don't think I'm dreaming.”

“Me neither,” Molly adds. “I pinched myself loads earlier, but it didn't work. I actually drew blood.”

I hurry along the street, desperately trying to work out what's happening, until I reach the edge of the town square. There has to be some other explanation, something that will force this whole mess to make sense, but so far I've seen my mother and my dead brother go up in flames, and I've been in the same room as my father and he couldn't even see me. There's no way I'm going to just accept the garbage that Molly is coming out with, but at the same time I need something to throw back at her, something that's logical and rational. Deep down, I think I'm starting to think she might be right.

“We're being hunted,” Adam says suddenly.

I turn to him.

“We
are
,” he continues. “That thing, whatever it is, is coming for each of us. I don't know why it's taking people in a certain order, but Shannon's gone, and Scott and Danny were taken before that, and...” He sighs. “What if it's all true? What if we're not the ones who survived the shooting at the school, what if we're the ones who died? And what if somehow we've managed to keep going until now, but suddenly this thing has decided it wants us? Shannon was screaming and trying to run, but she couldn't do a damn thing to get away. It's relentless. When it comes for
us
, we don't have a hope.”

“It's not going to come for us,” I reply. “Do you know how I know that? Because it's not real!”

“But you've seen it too, right?” he asks.

“That was all in my head!” I shout.

“Face it,” he continues. “We really
are
dead.”

I open my mouth, ready to dismiss the whole idea, but somehow I can't get the words out. I feel as if I'm slowly starting to believe that this madness is real, even though the rational part of my mind knows it has to be some kind of fantasy. Frankly, I preferred it when I thought I was cracking up, because at least then there was a chance I might somehow pull myself together. Now that other people are getting involved in the madness, however, I feel as if everything is spiraling out of control and I don't know what to do next.

“There was a voice earlier,” I continue. “It whispered that I'm next. Did either of you hear that?”

They both shake their heads.

“Maybe that means it's coming for you now,” Adam suggests. “Don't take this the wrong way, but you might be the next one who... You know, like the others.”

“But I first heard it a while ago,” I tell him, “before Shannon and Karen were taken, before my Mom. And I was right in the room with the damn thing, it snarled at me, it could easily have taken me. Instead, it left me alone.”

“I wouldn't rely on that happening again,” Molly replies.

“It's a fair point, though,” I continue, feeling as if this is the one point of logic that might help me to make sense of the insanity. “It could have had me, there was no way for me to fight back, but instead it just vanished. If it's real, and I'm not saying it is, not yet, but
if
it's real, why wouldn't it just burn me up next? Why make more work for itself? And what is it, anyway? I saw it up close, it was like a...”

“Like a what?” Adam asks after a moment.

“Like a demon,” I tell him, before flinching at the sound of that dumb word coming from my mouth. “Not that demons are real, but it was pretty nasty.”

“I haven't gotten close to it,” he replies. “I've only seen it from a distance.”

“Me too,” Molly adds, stepping past us and heading across the square for a moment before stopping and staring into the distance. “I heard Shannon screaming, though.” She turns to me. “If you'd heard her, you wouldn't doubt that this thing, whatever it is, is real.”

“I was there when my mother was taken,” I tell her. “Believe me, I've seen plenty of evidence. I just don't want to admit it, not yet. I'm not giving up on a rational explanation.”

“I already gave you one,” Adam replies. “It's hunting us. Maybe because it has to, or maybe for some kind of sick pleasure, but it's hunting us each in turn, and I don't think it'll stop until we've all been taken. I think Molly's right, I think we're...” He pauses, as if he's scared to finish the sentence.

“Dead?” I ask.

He nods.

“I don't
feel
dead,” I tell him. “Whatever that would feel like...”

“But do you remember the shooting?”

“I remember hearing screams,” I reply. “I remember seeing my brother with a gun. I didn't believe it could be him, I thought maybe he'd tackled one of the attackers and stolen his weapon, but then I saw him...” I pause as I think back to that awful moment, and then I feel a shiver pass through my chest as I realize that I remember the face of the girl he gunned down right in front of me. “Alison,” I whisper, “and Jenna. I saw him killing them both. There was so much gunfire, so much carnage. I saw Jonathan Wilder getting shot too, but Malcolm carried on after that. He made a final stand alone.”

“And you only just remembered that?” Adam asks.

“I saw him do it,” I continue, as a sense of panic starts to rise in my thoughts. “I saw him shoot Jenna. Why did I only just realize?”

“It's like Molly said,” Adam replies, stepping toward me, “obviously we found some way to ignore the memories. I guess our minds papered over the parts that didn't make sense. It can't be a coincidence that we've seen the truth just a couple of days after your brother was executed. Obviously that changed something, it made us understand or -”

“Or it lured that thing here,” I suggest, interrupting him. “People said they saw Malcolm's ghost being chased through the streets. Then I saw him on the beach, I watched as that creature burned him, and that was when other people started to get taken as well.”

“So maybe it had to get your brother first,” he continues, “and now it's free to come for the rest of us.”

Staring at him, I realize that I'm slowly starting to come around to the idea, even if I still feel as if my head is spinning. “So now what?” I ask, feeling a sense of hopelessness in my chest. Looking across the town square, I see the blanket of stars above and I realize that I'm getting colder. “Are we supposed to just sit around and wait to get picked off, one by one? Is there literally nothing we can do to get out of this?”

“We're dead,” he points out. “How exactly do you get out of being dead?”

“I don't want to give up,” Molly says, behind me. “What if we get out of town? What if we leave and never come back? Maybe this thing won't be able to follow us. I mean, it's got to be worth a try, right?”

“And then what?” I ask, keeping my eyes fixed on Adam. “If we're dead, that means we're ghosts. And if we're -”

I stop as soon as I see the change in his eyes. Fear has suddenly crossed his face, and he reaches out, grabbing my arm as if he wants to pull me away from something.

“What is it?” I ask. “Adam -”

“Quick,” he says firmly, “get over here! Both of you!”

“Why?” Molly asks.

Turning, I immediately see what's wrong. Molly is staring at us with a frown, but the dark creature is right behind her, rising up against the night sky.

“Get over here right now!” I tell her. “Molly, just listen for once!”

“What's wrong?” She pauses, as the creature leans down toward the back of her head. “Guys, what -”

Before she can finish, she gasps as a rush of fire bursts from behind her shoulders. She tries to take a step forward, and then she turns to reveal that the creature has forced its hand into her body, just below her shoulder-blades. When she tries to cry out, flames start rippling from her mouth, instantly burning her lips away and setting fire to her cheeks.

“Run!” Adam shouts, grabbing my arm. “Bonnie, we have to run!”

“Wait!” I hiss, stepping toward Molly. I have to help her, I have to find some way to save her from this thing.

“There's no time!” Adam continues, trying again to pull me away. “Bonnie, she's gone!”

“No!” I hurry forward, ignoring the heat rippling from the creature's body. Grabbing Molly's shoulders, I try to pull her away, but the creature has too firm a grip on her. As she tries to cry out, flames burst up through her mouth, as if there's an inferno in her belly.

“Bonnie!” Adam yells. “Stop!”

“I'm getting you out of here!” I tell Molly as I reach around and grab the creature's arm. Its rough, crumpled flesh is almost too hot to touch, but I figure I'm dead already and, besides, this thing had its chance to get me earlier and left me alone. Pulling harder on Molly's chest, I try desperately to get her free, even as the heat and flames threaten to overwhelm me. I can feel her trying to reach out to me, but no matter how hard I tug on her, I can't get her out of the creature's grip.

“Run!” she gasps, as the last flesh burns from her face. “Bonnie, go!”

“No chance!” I hiss, adjusting my grip on her shoulders and pulling even harder. “I'm not leaving you! I won't -”

Suddenly she comes free and I tumble backward, landing hard on the cobbled ground. Molly lands on top of me, but I manage to hold her up so that our faces don't bang together.

“I got you!” I shout. “We have to run!”

“I -”

She lets out a faint gasp, and then slowly her entire body starts to fall apart in my hands, turning into nothing but flakes of ash.

“No!” I shout, trying desperately to keep hold of her, but it's too late and within seconds I'm flat on my back with nothing but ash all over my chest.

The creature towers high above, looking down at me for a moment before leaning closer and roaring. Silhouetted against the starry night sky, he seems to huge and powerful, I feel as if there's no point fighting.

“What are you waiting for?” I hiss. “You've taken almost everyone else. Why not me?”

“You're next,” a voice whispers in my ear.

“Then do it!” I scream. “Stop torturing me and just do it!”

I wait, but the creature stares at me for a moment longer before finally stepping back and fading into the night air.

Scrambling to my feet, I look around, and finally I spot Adam staring at me with a shocked expression.

“Did you see that?” I ask breathlessly, hurrying toward him. “It didn't take me! It knew I couldn't fight back, but it still didn't take me! That means it's not just hunting us and picking us off one by one! There has to be some kind of order to it all! It didn't take you, either!”

“We have to get out of here,” he stammers, grabbing my arm and starting to pull me along the street. “Whatever it is, I don't want to be around when it gets back!”

Glancing over my shoulder, I see that the pile of ash is already being blown away by the wind. I might not have been able to save Molly, but I'm damn well going to make sure that no-one else gets taken by that creature. The moment of hopelessness has passed. Somehow, I'm going to find a way to fight back.

***

“I'm so cold,” Adam says a short while later, as we make our way along a corridor in the dark, deserted school. “Aren't
you
cold?”

“I'm not too bad,” I reply, before stopping and turning to him. He's shivering so much, his teeth are actually chattering. As he gets closer, I put a hand on his forehead and instantly find that his skin is almost too cold to touch. “You're freezing. Like, not just cold, but actually freezing!”

“I noticed!” he hisses. “I don't think I can keep going!”