Ravenous (Book 1, The Ravening Series)

by Erica Stevens

CHAPTER 20

  We labored over top of the hill. As much physical activity as I'd been doing lately, I was still panting for breath, and my legs were shaking by the time we made it to the top. I rose to my full height to survey the slope of the hill as it fell sharply toward the highway. I was struggling to breathe through my mouth. It wasn't working though, the scent of garbage and rot was revolting and inescapable in the heat of the hot sun. Waves of heat and methane drifted into the air, distorting it before us.

  None of us had been eager to make our way through the dump to the highway; unfortunately it had seemed like the safest option, and we could move through the day instead of having to stop again. The awful stench of the trash would mask our scents, and make it difficult to follow us, if they did happen to track by scent. There were also numerous places to hide amongst the heaping mounds of awful refuse.

  I had thought I was filthy and smelly before, it was nothing compared to now. Not to mention the gut wrenching, horrific bugs we discovered amongst the overwhelming mounds of waste. What little food had been in my stomach was now gone. I continued to dry heave, but there was nothing left in me to lose. Abby had been crying softly, but she was now eerily silent. We weren't so fortunate when it came to Jenna. She hadn't stopped complaining since the second we'd scaled the fence into the dump.

  "I want to go home. I can't... I can't. I just want to go home."

  "You have to Jenna. There is no home to go to anymore," Cade said, and not for the first time.

  I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to break down and beg to go home too. I wanted to flee down the mound of trash, bolt out of the dump, and inhale greedy gulps of fresh air again but I didn't. Though I was certain I was never going to get the stench scrubbed off of me, or rid myself of the squishy, crawly, creepy feeling of bugs climbing and slithering over me. I shuddered as my gaze traveled down the massive mound.

  At least it was downhill from here.

  Jenna began to cry again. "My parents," she whimpered. I tore my attention away from the endless garbage. It was the first time she'd mentioned them in awhile. There was so much sorrow in her voice, so much misery in her small body. Sadness ripped through my heart, my throat burned with tears. "They're probably dead."

  We had also lost our mother but Abby, Aiden, and I had survived such a loss before. It didn't make the loss any easier, but we were better prepared to deal with it than Jenna or Bret. Now Jenna's shock over this whole situation was wearing off, and in the middle of a massive pile of crap she was beginning to fall apart. She was starting to accept reality, and her grief was threatening to consume her. Unfortunately her breakdown threatened all of our lives.

  "Shh Jenna, shush now, it's ok," Cade comforted.

  "It's not ok!" she wailed. "It will never be ok again!"

  I gave Cade credit for not arguing with Jenna. He didn't try to lie to her and tell her it would be ok. Instead, he continued to calm her as we waded through the sucking, heaping, rotten mess beneath us. Abby made her way over to me and slid her hand into mine. Jenna was weeping, her head buried against Cade's chest as they made their way forward. He looked about as happy with this fact as he would to drink lemon juice, but he didn't push her away.

  I missed our mother and wished we’d been able to save her. I wished we would have the chance to lay her to rest, and grieve for her the way we'd been able to grieve for our father. I couldn't think about her being trapped beneath the rubble forever; it was too painful. But even more, I wished Jenna didn't have to know what it felt like to be tossed about in the sea of mourning and anguish she felt now. We had never really liked each other, but the sorrow she was going through now wasn't something I would wish on my most hated enemy, if I ever had one.

  "One day Jenna, it will not hurt so bad." Cade's eyes met mine over top of Jenna's head. They were not the same words he’d uttered to me on that long ago day, but they were along the same lines. "One day the agony will not be so consuming."

  The words were true, but they didn't hint at the gaping hole the loss would leave behind.

  I tried to use my shirt to cover my nose, it helped a little but the annoyance it caused wasn't worth the little aid it provided. "Awful," Abby whispered.

  I completely agreed but I felt the word "awful" didn't quite describe this dismal experience. The pile began to even out, leveling across the ground. The end to the sea of crap seemed to be in view, though I was certain we would never escape the smell. I could taste its awfulness on my tongue. This place would haunt my memories until the end of my days. I shuddered and drew strength from Abby's slender frame as we picked our way through the smaller layer of trash.

  I glanced toward the sky, surprised by the lack of seagulls and crows in the air. They always circled the dump, cawing and diving for food. We’d trudged through a veritable mountain of waste, but we hadn't encountered any creatures. No birds, no rodents, not even a few stray cats or dogs were hanging around looking to be fed.

  I froze as I scanned rapidly over the heaping mounds stretching around us. The birds had been singing this morning, and now...

  And now there was nothing again.

  I pulled Abby back, stopping her before she continued onward. "Bethany!" she hissed.

  I shook my head at her as I scanned the pristine sky again. It was hot; maybe the animals were seeking the sanctuary of the shade. But all of them? It seemed not only unlikely but nearly impossible.

  "Bethy come on, I want to get out of here!"

  "Shh Abby!"

  Cade and Jenna had stopped walking; they were staring at me with confusion and impatience. "Come on Bethany."

  "Something's not right," I muttered.

  "No kidding!" Jenna retorted.

  I didn't rise to her snippy attitude; instead I released Abby and headed back the way we had come. "Bethany!"

  I held up a hand to forestall Cade's words. One of the greatest things I had experienced in the past day was finally making the descent down this veritable mountain of crap, and now I was crazily clawing my way back up it. The trash skidded and slipped out from underneath me, making the climb even more difficult. My legs ached, my lungs were beginning to burn again, but finally I made it to a small peak in the rubble.

  I rose slowly as I scanned over the hills spanning out before me. I glanced back toward the sky, but there was still nothing there. Across the tons of trash I spotted movement on the far side of the heap. I strained my eyes to make out what was across the way. The heat, and waves of decomposition rising off of the pile, made whatever it was blurry and difficult to discern. It could be anything, it could be the missing animals, it could be more people, but a crushing sense of impending doom began to descend over me.

  Trepidation worked its way through my body; I didn't have to see what was coming to know it wasn't going to be good. I slipped and slid, skidded and tripped through the disgusting mess as I fled back down the heap. My feet skidded out from under me, I cried out as I lost complete control of my body. I plummeted, rolled, and bounced jarringly through the filth.

  Hands grasped hold of my arms, rescuing me from being buried within the mound as they pulled me from the filth cascading upon me. Crap was pulled off of me, brushed away, thrown to the ground in a useless attempt to clean me a little. "What is it?" Cade demanded his hands surprisingly gentle on my skin as his gaze trailed back up the mountain. "Bethany, what is it?"

  "I don't know," I panted, trying not to think about the filth and bugs I’d just rolled and squished through. "It's not good though. I think they're still tracking us."

  Cade grabbed hold of my arm, running and jumping through the trash as we tried to move as quickly as we could through the pile of calf high rubbish. We reached Abby and Jenna but Cade didn't release me as he continued to drag me forward. I seized hold of Abby's hand, tugging her along with me. My heart was racing faster than a NASCAR car as the garbage seemed to suck and pull at us even more than it had before. We were never going to escape; the refuse was never going to let us go. It was going t
o mire us down until those things were upon us, until we were nothing more than useless bodies added to the decomposing debris scattered around us.

  Rationally I knew the trash heap didn't have thoughts, and wasn't actually on the side of the aliens, but right now it seemed as much of an enemy to me as the monsters stalking us. I was convinced it was doing everything it could to make sure we remained here to nourish it.

  The garbage released us so suddenly I nearly fell to my knees as the waste gave out and pavement rushed up to meet us. "This way," Cade ordered as he released me and dashed toward the right.

  I didn't know where we were going; I'd never been here before and I did not want my final resting place to be in the dump. A giant warehouse loomed in front of us; one of the massive garage doors was open revealing the gloomy interior. I balked against going inside as Cade plunged into the darkness. The last thing I wanted was to be trapped and killed amongst the giant walls.

  "Bethy," Abby breathed when I hesitated. "Bethany please."

  Fear of imminent death outweighed my fear of being trapped within the cavernous building. I ran through the open doorway as Cade began to pull some ropes, rapidly lowering the massive garage door. "Wait!" I gasped.

  "It has to be done." His jaw was clenched, a muscle jumped in his cheek as his face became florid. He'd been lowering the door so rapidly I hadn't realized it was heavy and he was struggling not to let it crash down. It settled into place with only a small clatter of metal on pavement. "This way."

  "How do you know where we're going?" Abby inquired.

  "I don't," he responded bluntly.

  I shuddered at Cade's words but followed behind as he led us through the building. There were small windows up high in the lofty walls, but they didn't illuminate much of the cavernous structure. The stench of decomposing trash lingered, but I saw no sign of it within the building. The four of us had brought that scent with us, a scent that would be easily traceable within these walls. If I thought it would help to rid ourselves of our clothes, I would have gladly stripped from the offending garments, but the revolting odor had sunk into our skin and hair by now.

  There was an area with steel piping around five gaping holes in the ground. I leaned over the pipe railing to peer into the shadowy depths. Something glinted within the sunlight, but I couldn't quite make out what it was. "Recyclables," Cade explained.

  That was why this building didn't reek, I realized. Unfortunately, the fact this was where the recyclables were brought did little to aid our cause. Cade moved past the bins and toward the back wall. Abby's grip was nearly bone cracking as Cade vanished. Jenna followed behind and then Abby and I slipped into the small back room.

  It appeared to be the worker's break room as there were two tables with five chairs crammed around them. A microwave, TV and radio, and four different vending machines were against the wall. Cade stopped, his head tilted to the side as he studied the machines. Moving swiftly he tugged his shirt over his head and rapidly wrapped it around his hand. It was the worst time possible, but even so I couldn't help but admire the flex and play of his lean muscles, and ridged abdomen, as he stalked toward the glass fronted machine.

  I didn't quite process what he intended until he began to knock out the glass. I winced as glass trickled to the ground. It sounded as loud as gunshots to me, but I tried to assure myself it wasn't nearly as loud as I thought.

  He grabbed hold of the bag of guns and dragged it toward him. Releasing Abby's hand, I hurried to help him as he unzipped the bag and began to stuff it full of chips, cookies, and candies. It wasn't the healthiest assortment, but it was much better than starvation.

  Cade zipped the bag closed and sat back. I knew I should stop admiring the smooth flex and play of skin over his lean muscles, but I couldn't tear my gaze away. There was no smug male pride in his gaze as he caught me admiring him. Instead, a fierce hunger blazed to life with such intensity I found I couldn't breathe.

  The feel of Jenna's gaze on me finally tore my attention from Cade. I didn't look at her as I ducked my head and turned back toward the doorway we had come through. I had to force my thoughts away from him as I strained to hear anything, but it was alarmingly quiet in the large building. Too quiet.

  Maybe I had only imagined something was moving toward us over the garbage heap, but I didn't think so. I knew what I'd seen, and the complete lack of animals was impossible to ignore. Animals knew things we didn't and had instincts far more honed than ours. I was beginning to suspect the aliens had the same effect upon them that an earthquake would, and they were fleeing before we even knew the monsters were near. I wasn't about to ignore their more finely honed instincts in favor of my less than perfect ones.

  "Bethy."

  Abby's whisper alerted me that we were ready to move on. Thankfully, Cade had donned his shirt again and was now toting the bag. Jenna had disappeared from the room, but Abby and Cade were impatiently waiting for me by another door. Cade quickly ushered me into the room. The room was thrown into complete darkness as he closed the door behind us. Terror erupted through me like a bursting dam; I took a stumbling step back as the overwhelming urge to flee encompassed me. I could feel the walls closing in on me, crushing against my sides and robbing the air from my lungs.