Through Glass: Episode Four (9 page)

Authors: Rebecca Ethington

Tags: #horror, #dystopian, #dystopian adventure, #dystopian apocalyptic, #dystopian action, #appocalyptic, #dystopian adult thriller

BOOK: Through Glass: Episode Four

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I tried not to panic, not to think of
the army that had surrounded us, but the fear came
anyway.

The Tar could not stand in the light,
but I had seen Abran’s men do so. I had seen them disappear into a
ring of ash. I had only seen men, though, not the monsters who made
the call that broke the silence, not the creatures whose talons
filled the space with a dark click that turned my blood to
ice.

Click.

The sound came again, but this time it
was the click of Travis’s gun, the sound of the archaic hammer
being pulled back in preparation of attack.

My fingers shook as I lifted them, the
aching joints mere inches from the holster, from the gun that I
still had not mastered, the gun that I knew I would have to use to
face the creatures on the other side. The creatures we had no
choice other than to face now.

Click.

My hand inched closer, my breath
caught in my chest as I forgot how to breathe, my muscles aching
with fear and pain as I held the breath in. Everything was
constricted as I felt the cold metal of the gun against my
fingertips.

Click.

I wrapped my fingers over the cold
steel, the gun feeling damp underneath the sweat that lined the
palm of my hand. I gripped the gun tightly, the thick layer of
perspiration making it hard to hold onto, letting it slip from my
hand to fall against the cold cement floor with a clatter. The
sound of the metal falling on cement erupted with a hollow sound,
it ricocheted through the dark, it screamed in my ears.

The sound of the gun falling was the
key the creature had been waiting for, the frantic scream of the
monster exploded the silence. The sound rippled through me in a
terror that I had almost forgotten I could feel.

I barely registered Travis’s arm as he
swept me to the side, my feet sliding against the dust that covered
the floor before my back slammed into the hard wall of the storage
room. A bright yellow light flared through the darkness as Travis
turned on yet another of his small, disk flashlights.

The light was blinding after the dark
of the storage room, the intensity of it sending a sharp pain
through my skull, but I didn’t close my eyes, even through the
desperate pain. They only opened wide in fear, my heart pumping
ferociously as I focused on the light and what was about to walk
into it. The light ran up the grey cement walls, the layers of dust
twinkling in the drifts. It should have been beautiful, but not
then, not like this.

Travis leaned down and scooped my gun
from where it lay, half hidden in the layers of dust that rest
around our feet. I only caught a glimpse of the green metal as it
flew through the air toward me, my hands reaching toward the weapon
I knew I would need in only seconds.

My hand wrapped around the gritty
surface as the screech of the creatures who had hunted us sounded
again. One after another they came, ripping through the air. The
sound echoed in our ears as the room just on the other side of the
door began to fill with the sounds of our deaths, their battle cry.
They knew we were coming to face them.

Everything tightened at the sound, my
heart turning into a lump of pain in my throat. There were too
many. I wasn’t even sure I had enough rounds in my gun.

Travis’s jaw was a hard line of
determination as he moved toward the door, his eyes flickering to
mine as he reached toward the door knob, his hand frozen against
the metal as we stared at one another.

Knowing what was about
happen.

“
I love you, Travis,” I
whispered, but he could only nod before he threw the door
open.

July
24
^th2021

Travis

We had left the store only minutes
before. It was supposed to be a place that was safe, that perhaps
we could rest. But then I had seen the marks, the dust dragged
across the floor. I recognized the marks at once, the way shins and
hands slid through dirt and ash in a pattern that was all to
familiar, familiar because I had taught them how to do it. How to
move in the dark with only the crude night-vision specs Carson had
made. I had taught them how to kill.

The black team.

I wanted to say that we were safe—safe
because they hadn’t found us,—but I knew how wrong that was.
Because, if they were this close, they would find us.

So we ran, desperate for a head start
I knew we could never find.

I squinted through the dark as we ran,
my eyes straining as they tried to see through the pitch black that
shrouded the world. I held the light out in an attempt to make the
beams spread wider—keep us safe, light the way—but it didn’t help
much. I was still merely running into a black darkness that the Tar
had brought on that very first day, a blackness I couldn’t see
into.

I had spent an entire life in light,
an entire life protected by the monsters that ruled us. I was still
human—my body unchanged. Not like my sister, whose emaciated body
should have died by now, whose eyes could peer into the darkness
and see things that were all but hidden from me.

I could hear Lex as she walked beside
me, her deep breaths heavy and long as she pushed her tiny body
beyond what I would have assumed her capable of. Her wild red hair
was like a flame as we moved side by side, my subconscious mind
careful to keep myself close to her until I could see again, until
the light had something to reflect off and not just the endless
field of bare dirt we were running through.

We needed to find a place soon,
preferably an older home with a dry storage, something without
windows that I could set the Carson light outside of and keep us
safe long enough to sleep.

It was only luck that I had grabbed a
few of the lights. I had built an audible motion detection into
them years ago, now I guess I would find out if it
worked.

“
We need to find a place
with a basement,” I panted as we ran, my legs aching as I continued
to push them.

“
There is a subdivision
ahead. There should be something there.”

I should have found a calm in the
words, it was the first neighborhood we had found since we had left
the compound, it should provide safety. But it also provided
something else, knowledge I didn’t want to accept. I tried not to
cringe as she said it, the words an affirmation of what I already
knew to be true.

She could see.

A pain tightened around my heart,
joining the all-encompassing loss that Bridget’s missing piece
filled me with. I tried to push it away, but it only seemed to
grow. It took over as the memory of those last few days with Jason
took over, the way he would stare into the dark and tell me that
they were coming closer.

The way he had seen things that
weren’t there.

I saw the same things in Lex now. I
recognized it when she stood in the dark, her scream echoing around
us, even though she didn’t remember producing the sound. I saw it
as she stared into the black, her body swaying like she was being
pulled into it.

As if it was calling her to
it.

The pain in my chest swelled until it
pressed against my throat, the unwanted emotion growing until I
clenched my teeth and pushed it away.

I had risked everything to get her out
of Abran’s hands, something I hadn’t been able to do for Jason. I
had let Abran take my brother, but I wouldn’t make the same mistake
twice.

Now I was beginning to wonder if I had
made the right decision, and if Lex would be strong enough to fight
the poison that ran through her before we could get to Blood Rose
and into the bright light that could protect her.

At least that was my hope. Owen would
know for sure.

We just needed to get there before
anyone found us.

This Novella is part of an ongoing
Novella publication.

A new episode of The Through Glass
Series is released in timed intervals throughout the
year.

You can discuss the
stories, cast your vote for what happens next and stay up to date
on release schedules by joining our Through Glass Based Discussion
group:
http://

on.fb.me/1krnvM1

Other Books by Rebecca
Ethington

The Imdalind
Series

Book One: Kiss of Fire

Book Two: Eyes of Ember

Book Three: Scorched
Treachery

Book Four: Soul of Flame

The Through Glass Novella
Series

Episode One: The Beginning

Episode Two: The Darkness

Episode Three: The Blue

Episode Four: The Drip

About the Author

Rebecca Ethington has been telling
stories since she was small. First, with writing crude scripts, and
then on stage with years of theatrical performances. The Imdalind
Series has been her first stint into the world of literary writing,
and the Through Glass Series her next journey.

Rebecca is a mother to two, and wife
to her best friend of 14 years. She was born and raised in the
mountains of Salt Lake City, and hasn’t found the desire to leave
yet. Her days are spent writing, running, and enjoying life with
her amazing family.

After years of writing scripts for
children’s theatre company’s across the country, Rebecca is happy
to be making her debut into the world of fiction with Kiss of Fire,
the first in The Imdalind Series.

Eyes of
Ember
, the second book in The Imdalind
Series, Book Three,
Scorched
Treachery
, and Book Four,
Soul of Flame
are out
now.