CHAPTER 12
Nightfall seemed to arrive faster than I had anticipated. It wasn't until I crept back upstairs to peer out the window that I realized it wasn't true nightfall. The larger ship had moved above us now, blocking out the radiance of the sun.
"We should move soon," Bret said.
I said nothing as there was nothing to say. The bag of food was by the backdoor. Tears were rolling down Abby's youthful cheeks. Aiden couldn't bring himself to look at either of us, I knew what he was thinking, but it wasn't going to happen. He was the stronger one of us; he would have to be the one who stayed with Abby.
"I'm not going."
I spun toward Cade, my mouth dropped as he uttered those words. Those were supposed to be my words; that was what I was supposed to be saying, not him. He was not going to be the one who stayed. "No."
"It's not going to be you Bethy." I continued to gape at him. His eyes were shards of black ice as they locked on mine. "No matter what you may think."
"You don't know what I think!" I retorted.
"Yes, I do, and it is not going to be you."
"She is our mother!"
"Peter has been very kind to me, I will not leave him," Cade said.
"Then I'll stay with you."
"No."
"No! You can't tell me no!" I took a deep breath and managed to gain a little more control of myself before I continued to speak. "You can't make my choices for me."
"Bethany," Abby whimpered.
I glanced helplessly at the others gathered within the room. Even if I hadn't told anyone else about it, they seemed to have guessed I planned to stay. They all knew me well, yet I felt Cade had been the first to discern I’d decided to stay with my mother.
I read the truth In Cade's relentless stare. He wasn't going to budge on his decision. It had been all right when I’d decided I would stay. I had been in control, I had been accepting of the fact I would be alone. But the thought of Cade staying here was terrifying to me. I couldn't leave him here. I would never be able to live with myself if I did.
"It has been decided," Cade said firmly.
"By who? When?" Jenna asked as her eyes flitted around the room.
"By us," Bret answered. He took hold of my hand, clinging to it when I tried to pull free. "Last night when you were asleep."
"You knew last night you were going to do this?" I breathed, unable to tear my gaze away from Cade's.
I had just found him, I barely knew him, but I couldn't lose him. I simply couldn't. I would be empty without him, I didn't know how I knew that, but I did. I would be hollow, broken, a shell of myself without him. It startled me how certain I was of this when just yesterday I hadn't spoken to him in a year. But a lot had changed in twenty-four hours. He'd reawakened memories and feelings I'd buried over the years. Feelings I couldn't bury again now, no matter how hard I tried. I may have been too young to realize it at the time, but Cade had owned a piece of my heart as a child and I’d never gotten the piece back. Perhaps he'd even owned my whole heart, and that was why I'd never been able to feel anything more than friendship for another man.
Cade Marshall had stolen my heart when I was five but I was only just realizing it now.
"Yes," Aiden answered. "We have to go now Bethany."
"No. I'm not leaving."
"Please Bethy, please," Abby pleaded. "Don't leave me." I opened my mouth to protest. I was astonished by the revelations rolling through me. It was more than just Peter, I knew Cade was doing this for me, to keep me safe, and I couldn't let it happen. "Bethany." Abby's hand tightened on my arm to the point it left a bruise. "Bethy please," she whispered.
"Abigail..."
"Don't leave me. We can't leave mom, and you, behind. Please Bethany I can't lose you both."
I closed my eyes, groaning inwardly at her heartfelt plea. I bit on my bottom lip as I fought against the tears burning my eyes. This was awful, just awful.
"Bethany..." Aiden's voice trailed off. He hadn't stopped because he didn't know what to say, but because a low rattle had begun to shake the store. Abby pressed closer to me as she started to tremble. The ground beneath my feet vibrated; the merchandise on the shelves started to clink together.
I held my breath as my heart pounded deafeningly in my ears. A thumping bang shook the store and caused me to stumble a little. A sob tore from Abby as her nails dug into my arm. The windows shook within their panes as the glass rattled more forcefully. Somewhere within the store something slid off a shelf. I jumped and bit back a scream when it shattered upon the ground.
Abby buried her face against my chest as something else fell to the floor and broke on impact. I barely managed to bite back a scream as the entire store lurched violently. Jenna wasn't able to do the same as her startled cry rang out. Cade slid his hand over her mouth, pulling her against his chest as the store shook and heaved again. We waited breathlessly to see if Jenna's scream had been heard over the growing noise.
The earth beneath my feet seemed to disappear for a second as the floor rolled. I staggered to the side as boards began to splinter from the powerful upheaval. The front windows shattered and glass splayed inward. I ducked over Abby, covering her with my body as I tried to protect her from the cutting shards. Bret grabbed hold of us, pulling us back as another forceful thump knocked shelves over, and caused one of the light fixtures to fall. Abby sobbed loudly as a cry escaped her.
"Shh Abby," I whispered frantically. "Please be quiet, please."
Beams flashed over the windows and danced over the broken frames before moving on. "What's going on?" Jenna squeaked.
"Quiet!" Cade commanded.
Another rattling bang shuddered through the building swaying us all back and forth. Though I had never experienced an earthquake, I imagined this was what it felt like. There was a heaving, rolling, sensation that caused me to stagger sideways. The world was completely unstable beneath my feet, and the ground felt like it was going to plummet out from under me at any minute.
A loud twisting screech filled the air. I cringed, clutching Abby as the noise grew in intensity and pierced the night with its shrill sound. Abby's moan was drowned out by the growing din. Bret pushed us back, keeping us behind him as light flared through the store once more. A twisting, heaving, drop caused the floor to fall out beneath us and more boards to splinter and crack. This time I couldn't bite back my startled cry as we lurched to the side. I staggered, struggling to keep hold of Abby as I fought to keep my balance on the rocking floor.
"We have to get out of here!" Bret hissed.
He pulled me back as more windows shattered and the shelves at the front of the store began to tumble like dominoes. The whole store was going to come down on our heads if we stayed in here. The crashing shelf behind me caught the back of my leg. I stumbled forward awkwardly, nearly dragging Abby down with me as my legs gave out. Bret and Abby managed to keep me on my feet, but just barely.
"We have to go! We have to go!" Jenna screamed.
Cade was pulling her toward us, his jaw locked and his nostrils flaring as another rousing crash shook the building. It wouldn't be long before the whole thing toppled in on us. This wasn't the west coast; this building wasn't built to survive the shaking jolts it was receiving. It wasn't built to survive anything more than a moderate hurricane, if even that.
Aiden hurried toward us, his arm raised protectively over his head as bits of ceiling began to rain down. "Mom!" Abby was yelling. "What about mom?"
"Backdoor!" Cade shouted as he pointed behind us. "Head for the backdoor!"
No one tried to be cautious anymore. There was no reason to be. If the aliens could hear us over the screeching, tortuous racket echoing outside they deserved to get us. There was no way we would ever be able to elude their grasp if they were that much more advanced than us, if they were that superior to us.
Abby was tugging at me, Bret was pulling me, and I was desperately trying to dodge the merchandise that had gone from being inane to deadly in a matter of seconds. I thrust
Abby at Bret before we made it to the backdoor. "Mom!" Abby was still yelling but I could barely hear her over the crashing bangs echoing throughout the store.
"I know."
I stumbled forward as I struggled to get back to our mother, fought to keep my balance in a rapidly unraveling world. Aiden grabbed hold of my arm as a resounding crash rocked the store. We tumbled to the side and bounced off a set of rattling shelves. A silver elephant toppled off the shelf and struck Aiden in the shoulder. He winced and scurried away from the shelf as it began to treacherously rock back and forth. The shelf was massive, if it fell on us we would be trapped, pinned within this store and at the mercy of the monsters outside.
I became frozen as my terror over being trapped anywhere burst to hot, vivid life.
Aiden threw himself away from the shelf. He wrapped his arm around my waist as he dove forward. We fell to the floor in a tumbled heap; the breath was knocked out of me, my tailbone screamed in protest as we bounced away from the shelf. The shelf spilled its aged contents upon the floor as it toppled over. I was able to breathe again, but not very well.
A huge crack fissured across the ceiling, an enormous bang rocked every wall of the building. Debris began to rain down on us; plaster coated the floor, covered our clothes and stuck to our hair and skin. Hands seized hold of me and Bret hauled me to my feet as the front of the store suddenly crumpled. Wood and nails snapped as if they were no more than toothpicks.
Bret pulled me toward the open backdoor. Aiden was behind us, limping a little as we stumbled forward. Cade appeared amongst the rubble and purposely strode toward us through the collapsing store. He took hold of my other arm and hurried me forward as we fell into the muggy night air. I inhaled the fresh air greedily, struggling not to cry as I rapidly spun back around. I pulled free of Bret's grasp and stumbled back toward the store. Peter! My mother!
Beams flashed throughout the night, illuminating the crumbling buildings around us. The awful screeching noise seemed to be moving away, but the building continued to fall apart before us. Two by fours cracked, heavy roof beams caved like a house of cards. My heart plummeted; I limply fell to my knees as I gazed at the back wall, the only piece of the store that remained.
How could we possibly dig them out of there?
I knew the answer to that question before I even answered it. We couldn't. We simply couldn't.
My whole body was trembling, shaking. Broken. I was so broken. My father had died because I had failed to get out of the car, because I had failed him. Now my mother was dead because I had failed once again. I had left her in there, and she was gone.
Aiden shushed Abby as she began to weep loudly. I turned to look at my siblings and saw the answering hopelessness in Aiden's eyes. In his gaze I saw the truth. We were now orphans.
Ravenous (Book 1, The Ravening Series) Page 14