Read The Survivor Chronicles (Book 3): The Forsaken Online

Authors: Erica Stevens

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The Survivor Chronicles (Book 3): The Forsaken (8 page)

BOOK: The Survivor Chronicles (Book 3): The Forsaken
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Riley looked as if someone had just kicked her in the shin as she reluctantly turned her attention away from the car. John began to realize that it wasn't the car she was after as her words finally sank in. "How much gas do we have?" He demanded as he leaned forward. She didn't have to answer though as he spotted the yellow light flashing beneath the odometer. "How long has that been on?"

"I don't know. I wasn't looking when we first got in the car but I feel like it's been on for awhile," she replied.

He bit back a string of curses and limply slid back in his seat and dropped his head into his hands. Just once he would like for something to be easy.

"We just have to get back to the house, we'll have enough gas for that," Carl said forcefully.

"And if we don't?" the stranger asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but we
will
have enough."

John wanted nothing to do with that bridge, but with the way things were going he was fairly certain they were already halfway across it. He expected the car to start sputtering any second now and mentally began to brace himself for the run he knew was coming.

"My name is Donald; I just thought you should know that in case we die."

John couldn't argue with the truth behind those words. Donald appeared to be in his mid-thirties at the oldest, but there was a tired look in his eyes that made it seem as if he'd seen far more of this world than John had. Donald's eyes were the same color as the graham cracker crust on the cheesecake his mother used to make him for his birthday every year. His hair color was nearly the same as his eyes and it produced a disconcerting affect that made it seem as if his whole face blended together. John blinked and shook his head to clear the strange image away; he really needed to get some sleep.

"I'm John, Mr. Optimism up front is Carl, that's Riley and that's Xander."

Carl turned in the seat to scowl at him. "We'll run out of gas on the next street, does that make you feel better?"

"Not really, no," John admitted.

Riley turned onto another road at Xander's instruction and drove back onto a yard. In the distance a puff of smoke drifted into the air. John leaned forward as flames shot out above the treetops. "That can't be good," Xander said before directing them down a road that led away from the smoke.

John couldn't tear his gaze away from the blinking gas light. He knew it wasn't real but the light seemed to be blinking faster the more they drove. He was so focused on it that he hadn't noticed they were getting closer to where they had left the others until they passed another house that was nearly in the road. He recalled driving by it earlier because the house had been painted an ugly yellow that reminded him of pee.

He finally shifted his attention away from the gas light to the road again. Riley turned onto the street and hit the brakes. John felt his mouth drop as heads swiveled in their direction, and though he knew it wasn't possible, he swore the eyes of the people on the street glimmered like cats eyes in the rays of the sun filtering over them.

No,
now
was when they would run out of gas, he knew.

On the porch of Xander's grandmother's house there were at least six of them clustered around the closed door. He saw no sign that they had forced their way into the house yet, but it was only a matter of time before they did.

Riley pulled a U-turn in the middle of the street. She drove away from the grocery store and the house as the people began to filter off of the porch and toward
them
. "Where do we go!?" she yelled.

John was absolutely certain that the gas light was blinking faster now, that it was mocking them as his eyes were drawn back to it. He glanced behind him as the people spilled onto the street behind them.

CHAPTER 8

Mary Ellen,

Mary Ellen took a step back from the door as the knob began to rattle. She kept her hand firmly on Rochelle's shoulder to keep her daughter in place and herself grounded. Bobby shot Al a look and nodded toward the upstairs as he pointed at the ceiling. Al hesitated before giving a brisk nod. Ducking down to avoid the window in the center of the door, Bobby hurried past Al.

Mary Ellen's heart was in her throat as she watched him creep up the stairs. If those people outside happened to get in here Bobby would be trapped up there, he'd never be able to escape from them. Josh moved to go after him but Peter grabbed his arm and shook his head admonishingly. Josh opened his mouth to protest but he closed it again as the knob began to rattle once more.

The door shook in its frame. A shadow moved across the window in the door as someone walked by it. Mary Ellen pulled Rochelle closer when a hand pressed against the glass. Peter jerked Josh back as the hand rose away from the window and slapped back against the glass. The sound echoed in the abnormally hushed house. The hand pulled away and hit against the glass again with a solid thwack that set her teeth on edge.

Rochelle shuddered against her side as the glass rattled loudly in the window. The mottled black and red palm remained pressed against the window. Something banged against the front window as Al leaned over to peer up the stairs.

A cold trickle of apprehension slid down her spine and caused her to look behind her. She was half convinced that something would be there, coming toward her with malignant resolve. There were only shadows behind her but she sensed something more beyond the kitchen and in the yard that she couldn't see. They may not be swarming on the back porch, but they were out there, they were hungry and she couldn't shake the feeling that they were watching her.

Though she suspected they were
always
hungry. That nothing would ever fill them up again.

The door jerked in the frame before going still again. Mary Ellen's eyebrows drew together as the hand slid away from the window and quiet ensued. Confusion swirled through her; she glanced at Al who looked just as baffled as she was. She pushed Rochelle back another step as she waited breathlessly for the door to be violently kicked in. Peter and Josh crept further away and were almost on top of her when Bobby flew down the steps.

"We have to go now," he blurted.

"What?" Mary Ellen demanded.

"Now, we have to go now. Riley and Carl were just at the end of the road. They turned around but those things out there are following them. I don't think we'll get another chance if we don't leave now."

Mary Ellen felt her heart drop into her toes as her eyes traveled back to the now empty, dirt-streaked window. The last thing she felt like doing was stepping outside of this house and into whatever awaited them out there. Rochelle's shoulders thrust back as her chin jutted out; Mary Ellen knew there was no other option. They simply couldn't stay in this house for one minute more.

"Wait!" Josh said when Al's hand fell on the knob. "We can't go out there."

"We can't stay in here," Al told him.

Josh shook his head as he glanced warily at the door. "If you open that door you'll expose us all."

"We've already been exposed," Al told him. "It's only a matter of time before they come in here. Just as it was only a matter of time before they got into that house at the end of the street."

"The people in that house must have done something to alert those things to their presence there," Josh said.

"Those things will come back and they
will
come in here," Mary Ellen said.

"We don't know that," Josh insisted. "We're safe here right now, we have supplies..."

"We're not safe here and eventually those supplies will run out," Bobby said. "Besides, the others might need our help. Those things were following
them
. They weren't even in the same car as before, something has already happened to them."

"Then how do you even know it was them?" Josh demanded. "It could have been someone else in the car."

"I've known Riley since I was seven years old, I think I know what she looks like," Bobby retorted harshly. The normally easy going guy was starting to lose his composure as his hands fisted and he took a step forward. "Xander went after you in that school, even when he didn't want to, he went after you in there and he got you
out
."

"Josh we have to go," Peter said softly. Josh shook his head. "I know you're scared Josh, but we have to go. I'm just looking out for you."

"No, I'm not going out there," Josh said adamantly.

"Then you stay, we're leaving," Bobby told him.

Al was grabbing for the door when Josh seized hold of his hand. "If you open that door you'll let them know we're here."

Bobby stepped off the stairs and took a threatening step toward the younger boy. "Get away from the fucking door!" Bobby exploded.

Mary Ellen knew this was escalating toward violence and though Josh was being obstinate, she wasn't going to let the young man get hurt. Peter held up his hand to hold Bobby back as he shook his head.

"Don't make me pull you away from the door and drag you out of here Josh," Peter told him.

The color drained from Josh's face as he shook his head. Mary Ellen felt sorry for the boy but if Peter didn't pull him out of the way, she would. Her hand constricted on Rochelle's shoulder as her daughter took a step forward. "Josh, we'll be ok out there. I know we will, but we have to go now or we
are
going to die in this house," Rochelle said gently.

Josh's eyes flickered to her, his nostrils flared as he took a deep, shuddering breath. His shoulders fell as he released the door knob and took a step back. "Sorry," he muttered.

Peter squeezed his shoulder. "It's ok. We're all scared."

Josh's eyes slid away to focus on the wall behind Bobby. Al pulled the keys to the truck from his pocket. Peter nodded to Al, who turned the knob and poked his head out. "Looks clear," he said to them before stepping outside.

"Stay close to me," Mary Ellen said to her daughter and took hold of her hand, something Rochelle never would have let her do just a few short days ago.

Bobby and Josh followed Al out the door with Peter, Mary Ellen, and Rochelle close behind. The day seemed strange to her, too bright, surreal almost. The heat of it wasn't a shock, it hadn't been cool in the house, but the day spent in the shadows of the house had adjusted her eyes to the darkness. Now the harsh luminosity of the day caused her to take a step back. Rochelle fell against her side as she seemed to be briefly blinded by it too.

Blinking back the tears that burned her eyes, Mary Ellen was finally able to bring the others, and the porch, into focus again. Al was already stepping off the porch and onto the fissured sidewalk. She'd forgotten how fast he could move as he rushed toward the truck. Mary Ellen tugged Rochelle along behind her as she followed after Al.

Her gaze flew rapidly over the street. She spotted a few people still wandering through the backyards and a couple more down the road, but they appeared to be the sluggish, less threatening ones. The sight of them spurred her on faster though as she kept the gun down by her side. Amongst the shadows of the still standing homes she saw something shifting and moving as people stalked them from a few houses away.

Her hand tightened on Rochelle's as she moved her daughter to the other side of her, keeping her body in between Rochelle and the people hunting them. The car and truck hadn't seemed that far away before, but now she felt as if she would never reach them. Her lungs burned as she labored to get air into them.

Down the street, more of them began to appear as they seemed to have lost interest in Xander and the others. It was only a matter of time before they were swarming over this road again. Across the street, she spotted another handful of people as they emerged from the woods. Josh stumbled and nearly fell but Peter managed to keep him upright with a brusque tug on his arm.

"I told you, I told you," Josh panted as Peter pulled him forward.

He
had
told them, but there were no other options anymore, and she knew the safety they had found within that house would have only lasted a few more hours at most. Still, she couldn't help but feel she had just led her daughter to her death as more of them emerged across the street.

Peter and Josh rushed toward the car with Bobby on their heels. She had just thrown the passenger side door of the truck open when the loud squeal of tires turned her attention to the end of the street. A Toyota that she didn't recognize slid around the turn. It left a trail of smoke and burning rubber behind it.

"Riley," Al muttered.

Mary Ellen pushed Rochelle ahead of her and into the truck as the car corrected itself from its sideways skid. The engine made a sound the likes of which Mary Ellen had never heard before and she knew it couldn't be good. She turned away as Al climbed into the driver's side and Rochelle settled into the middle of the truck. Mary Ellen hopped in behind her daughter as the first of the people appeared at the edge of the street.

A man honed in on Peter who was fumbling with the keys. "Hurry!" Bobby shouted at him.

"You're not helping!" Peter shouted back.

The engine of the car continued to race, and as it got closer Mary Ellen saw the crumpled bumper and broken radiator grill that still hung in pieces from the vehicle. The hood had a body-sized dent in it and the windshield had spider web fractures spreading throughout it. Riley's hands were gripping the wheel rigidly as the car began to make a sputtering noise that Mary Ellen recognized well from her teen years. Larry had never purposely run out of gas in order to pull the old make out trick on her, but they had run out a few times due to the fact that they'd had nothing but hope and prayers to fill the gas tank with after Rochelle was born. Unfortunately, cars didn't run on those two things.

Al slammed his door shut and started the truck. The sick man was almost at Peter when Riley hit him at a much slower speed than the one she'd been traveling at before. The man let out a squeal that still sounded like a human in pain, but there was little still human about its disfigured face and body as it rolled off the hood of the car and fell away from Peter.

Peter finally got the doors on the Cadillac open as the Toyota sputtered to a halt near the back of the truck. "Get in the back!" Mary Ellen heard Carl shout as the doors of the car were thrust open.

John leapt up and grabbed hold of the side of the truck. His feet kicked up to the side in a move that she thought only gymnasts could pull off. He balanced precariously on the small edge of the truck bed that was on the outside of the metal sides of the truck. He seized hold of Riley's hand and helped to tug her up as Xander pushed at her waist and then her ass. They'd acquired more than a different car, Mary Ellen realized as she spotted the strange man amongst them.

John lifted himself up and toppled into the back of the truck with a loud bang that made her wince. Carl, Xander, and the stranger climbed onto the sides beside Riley. Mary Ellen's attention was torn away from them as the Caddy pulled away from the curb. It didn't go in the direction that Riley and the others had come from, but made a turn in the middle of the street and headed off in the other direction.

A thump in the back of the truck drew her attention as Riley and Xander flipped over the five foot high side. Carl and the stranger were still holding onto the side as Al shifted awkwardly into drive with his bandaged hand. She heard the click of the truck sliding into gear before Al began to make a U-turn in the street. The stranger went over the side after the others. She met Carl's eyes briefly before he lifted himself up and disappeared over the side of the truck and into the bed.

"Hurry," Rochelle breathed as Al hit the gas.

The first rush of people hit the side of the truck as Al drove onto the broken sidewalk. Carl appeared back over the side of the boards and shot at the people trying to grasp hold of the truck. John, Riley and Xander appeared beside him and began to fire at the people rushing toward them. The people falling around them did nothing to deter the other sick humans from continuing to come at them. More sick people spilled from around the corner that the Toyota had just appeared from.

The truck bounced over the ruts, jarring them in their seats as Al drove rapidly away from the street. Gunshots continued to sound from the back of the truck as behind them more of the sick ones fell. The Caddy stayed close behind them as they drove through streets she didn't know and just wanted away from. She spotted the sick, stalking them through the shadows of the woods and the edges of the yards as they tried to keep pace with the vehicle.

Xander banged on the side of the truck to get her attention. She rolled the window down, recoiling slightly as the stale, humid air blasted her in the face. "Tell him to take the next right," Xander called to her.

Al nodded and made a right onto what looked like an exit ramp. Mary Ellen's heart leapt into her throat as she spotted the toppled sign for the Mass Pike and Interstate eighty-four. It had been awhile since she'd been on the highway and she wasn't eager to return to it now. "The Pike?"

BOOK: The Survivor Chronicles (Book 3): The Forsaken
13.68Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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