Ravenous (Book 1, The Ravening Series)

by Erica Stevens

CHAPTER 7

  I bolted forward, racing down the hall as adrenaline spurted through me. I completely forgot about the lights, completely forgot about my own safety as concern for Abby consumed me. I grasped hold of the banister and leapt up the stairs two at a time. My foot caught one of the steps wrong, I nearly face planted as I fell in an awkward direction. My fingers scrambled to keep hold of the banister; it was the only thing keeping me from tumbling down the stairs. Pain lanced through my knees and hands as they smacked off the stairs, but Abby's endless screams heedlessly drove me back to my feet.

  "Abby! Abby!" I raced down the hall, blinking against the blinding radiance flashing rapidly over my brutalized eyes. I felt like I was in a hideously bad horror movie as I lifted my hands to try and fend off some of the dazzling beams. Abby's screams rose and fell as her terror pulsated throughout the house. I plunged down the hall, no longer caring about the noise I made as I ran. It didn't matter anyway; they already knew we were here.

  I slammed off of a table in the hallway, knocking it over with a clattering bang. It skidded a few feet away and I had to jump over it as it tumbled down the hall. Abby's cries abruptly broke off and I found the ensuing hush far worse than her screams had been. Light flooded my mother's room as I burst through the doorway. I stumbled, fell, lurched back to my feet before stumbling back again and slamming into the bedroom wall.

  I flattened against the wall; my heart was in my throat as I took in the awful spectacle before me. It wasn't us the aliens were looking for, but our mother. That thing, that awful tentacle thing was in the room. It was moving up and down in a searching pattern as it slid across the floor toward where our mother still sat upon the plywood.

  Abby was on the bed, her mouth gaping, her hands grasping either side of her head as she watched the thing slithering forward. It had broken the window; glass littered the floor around it and gleamed in the illumination filling the room. "Oh," Abby moaned.

  I didn't know what to do, how to react. Then that thing reached our mother. Images of what had happened to the man on the street flooded my mind. There was no way I was going to allow that to happen to her. I scurried forward and fell to my knees as I grabbed a piece of glass from the floor. I ignored the sting from my sliced palms and knees as the glass bit into my flesh. Adrenaline propelled me as I lifted the glass over my head and drove down with the full force of my might.

  Blood exploded over me, but I instinctively knew it wasn’t that things blood. It pulsed out of the tentacle in spraying waves that coated me, and the walls. I thought it was Abby's screams filling the room and it took me a minute to realize it was actually the thing screaming. It screeched as it jerked and flopped over the floor, twisting and withering violently as it reared up high before slamming down again.

  I staggered back to my feet and scrambled to get out of the way as it whipped toward me. It slammed into my back, knocking me to my hands and knees with a blow forceful enough to knock the air from my lungs. Choking, gasping for breath, I attempted to crawl away as it came at me again. The end of the tentacle opened to reveal piercing, needlelike teeth crammed into a hideous, six-inch wide mouth.

  A gurgled cry of alarm tore from me. I was shaking, and my shirt was plastered to me with sweat and blood. I was half-afraid I was going to have a heart attack. I may not be frozen like the others, but that thing was still completely capable of killing me, even if I had maimed it. Its howling cries grew louder as it zipped at me. It sliced across my cheek and spilled more of my blood. Suddenly its screams weren't all about agony, but also excitement and hunger as it tasted me.

  I dodged its attack as it searched for the source of fresh blood. I rapidly crab crawled backwards as it lunged at me again. This time I wasn't fast enough though.

  It wrapped around my middle and wound toward my throat with the speed of a cobra. I clawed at it, trying to grasp it as it neared my throat with deadly velocity. "No, no, no," I found myself uselessly panting out the word, even as the thing continued to ensnare me.

  "Bethany!" Abby screamed.

  Then it was there, in front of my face, floating before my eyes. Those thousands of needlelike teeth clicked as they rippled over like dandelions blowing in a summer wind. Though it had no discernible eyes I knew it was staring at me, judging me, sizing me up; tormenting me before it delivered its killing blow.

  The thing screamed as it reared back. I recoiled as I waited for the deathblow to be delivered, but it didn't come. I winced as it constricted upon me, nearly cracking my ribs with its intense pressure. The thing dropped suddenly, hissing and screaming as it plummeted out of my line of vision. Inhaling deeply, I was finally able to draw a full breath as its crushing embrace on my lungs eased.

  My gaze found Abby across the way, sitting over the creature. The piece of glass within her hands had been driven through my original impact area, severing the thing in half. She was shaking as she stared back at me with blood-splattered cheeks. Gratitude filled me; I pulled the limp thing away from me and dropped it onto the floor as I shakily rose to my feet.

  I had only a moment of relief. All of the beams abruptly stopped flashing and became focused solely upon our house. They blazed dazzlingly, lighting the room far more than even the sun would. I lifted my hand in an attempt to block the blinding light from my burning retinas. "Abby, get away from the window," I commanded.

  "Bethany?"

  "Get away from the window!" I ordered more sternly, my teeth clenching as my body thrummed with a sense of impending doom.

  Abby crawled toward me; carefully avoiding the thing sprawled on the floor. "Hurry Abby, hurry!" I urged.

  She was almost to me when another window shattered. Glass sprayed inward, showering the room with its jagged slivers. It cut across my arms, sliced my flesh, and one shard imbedded in my raised right forearm. A cry escaped me as I grabbed hold of the glass and tore it from my skin. Blood surged forth but I had no time to try and staunch the flow. Abby was curled into the fetal position, her hands wrapped protectively around her head. Her screams were piercing as they reverberated throughout the room.

  We had to get out of here. Now.

  I tossed the glass aside as I ran toward Abby. "Get up Abby! Get up!" I grabbed hold of her shoulders and pulled her toward me. "Abby get up!"

  She was still screaming as she stumbled to her feet. Her cheek had been cut, glass was in her hair, but thankfully she seemed to have weathered the exploding window better than I had. "Grab the plywood. Abby, grab the plywood!"

  Shock was evident in her slack features and glazed eyes. The courage she had just recently displayed seemed to have vanished before this fresh onslaught of brutality. I thought maybe I should slap her, that’s what they did in movies after all, but I felt the last thing Abby needed was any more physical trauma right now. "Abby please, you have to help me. I can't do this alone."

  She was moving with me to the plywood when a burst of motion caught my attention. I wouldn't have been more surprised to see a talking squirrel sitting in the window as I was to see at least twenty of those things crammed into it now. They moved, dodged and darted as gracefully as sparrows as they swarmed toward us.

  "Move!" I cried.

  I grabbed hold of the plywood and lifted my mom swiftly off the bed. Abby was sobbing as she grabbed the other end. "Hurry Abby, hurry." The tears streaking down her face cleansed some of the blood coating her. "Go," I urged.

  Abby choked on her sobs as she moved toward the door. My arms were already aching from the weight of the plywood, and our mother. We couldn't move fast enough, couldn't get out of this room in time. I found myself wordlessly praying, desperate to run, desperate to move faster. Desperate to survive as all of my survival instincts kicked into high gear and the fight or flight response consumed me.

  "Bethany," Abby moaned.

  She was near the door, almost completely out of it, but I wasn't close enough. I wasn't nearly close enough, and Abby could see those things. She knew where they were, I didn't. "I'm sorry," I breathe
d.

  She opened her mouth to say something but I shoved forward, thrusting the plywood, and our mother, forcefully at her. Abby cried out and staggered into the hall before she disappeared beneath the weight of the plywood, and our mother's frozen form. I dove through the door, rolling as I dodged the snapping tentacles close on my heels.