“All due respect, Miss Riley,” Ty said leaning over the curb that skirted the Foster’s lawn. “I ain’t never seen a twister do that.”
The pavement along the edge of the street had caved in completely, forming a bluff. The mouth of the newly formed cavern spanned half the width of the roundabout. The rubble was smoking like a burnt-out match. Chunks of crumbled roadway and half-melted rebar lay in a heap, six feet below street level, in what had presumably been a drainage pipe. Blackened trenches sliced through the pavement that remained, spidering its surface like a rock thrown through a windshield.
“Good Lord.” Eli knelt by the Foster’s minivan and picked something up off the ground.
“Whoa,” Ty said joining him by the drive. “What is that?”
“Well, it was a lava rock,” Eli said handing Ty what looked like a massive black diamond. “Now it’s obsidian.”
The air reeked of rot, burning plastic, and raw electricity as it swirled about the tattered remains of the moonlit warzone. The ground still sizzled and smoked in spots where the white-hot bolts of unrestrained power had sliced through it. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, the wind stilled completely.
For the first time in days, the sky was still. We watched in awe as the remnants of this latest storm swirled back up into the night sky and disappeared into the steadily thickening cloud cover.
“This isn’t even close to being over yet,” Jake stared up into the darkness and shuttered. “We should go.”
“Agreed,” Zander said reaching for the knife at his waist.
Our eyes met, and I knew immediately he had sensed the same weird presence I had. I didn’t know what it was, but it was definitely on the move, and I really didn’t want to stick around to find out.
“So we are seriously going to walk all the way to Rockford?” Christa asked. “In the dark?”
“No,” I said stuffing the phone directory back into my pack. “There’s a sporting goods place about ten blocks from here. If we are lucky, maybe they will have a few bikes we can liberate.”
“Well, then,” Christa said scooping her arm through Ty’s crooked elbow, “what are we standing around here for? Lead the way, freak-show.”
I nodded and whistled beckoning Bella to my side. I turned onto the sidewalks that lead away from my brother’s temporary home. As bitter as I had been about the whole arrangement, the Fosters had taken good care of my brother. He had made it this far—he was alive— because of them. I knew I could never repay a debt like that. I was sure as hell going to try.
“Stay together and be careful,” I said hiking my pack up higher on my shoulders.
My heart thudded in my ears, and my mind raced. No matter how fast my feet moved, I could barely keep up with it. Zander caught up to me and slid his fingers through mine, squeezing gently. He didn’t speak, but then he didn’t need to. No matter what dangers awaited us, Zander would be by my side to face them. That terrified me more than the thought of doing it alone.
The group fell silent as we carefully navigated our way through the wreckage the storm had left behind. A couple of blocks down the road, we passed what had likely once been my little brother’s school. Half of the brick and mortar building had collapsed in on itself. The A-frame support poles from a large swing set were embedded fifty feet above the ground, in the side of the last remaining wall. The chains hung down from the brackets, completely motionless.
All was still like a snow globe gathering dust on a shelf.
“I don’t like this,” Jake said rubbing at his neck.
“I’m with him,” Ty said helping Christa over a pile of broken pavement. “It’s too quiet.”
“Just keep moving,” I said ducking under a street sign that leaned against a nearby truck.
The wrath of this latest storm had been both unpredictable and absolute. It seemed to have danced from neighborhood to neighborhood, pardoning and condemning arbitrarily. Darts thrown in the dark. An entire city block had been completely decimated; laid to ruin leaving nothing behind but a pile of kindling and discarded memories. Aside from the debris that had drifted over from the first, the next street lay virtually untouched by the havoc. It was as if the universe were trying to prove a point.
As far as I could tell, there was only one positive result of the dark squall that had torn through the city of Byron. The temperature had dropped. In fact, it had dipped enough that for the first time in days the change was noticeable. Had there been even the slightest hint of a breeze that evening, it would have been almost bearable.
Almost.
What should have been a fifteen-minute walk was made considerably more difficult by toppled buildings, downed poles, and massive piles of rubble that littered the streets and gardens. The lightning had done quite a number on the pavement throughout the area. The ground was blasted it to bits in some places and leaving behind large craters.
The closer we got to the downtown area the more vehicles we saw scattered through the streets. The wind had been so fierce that it had pushed most of them off to one side of the roadway. In some places, they were four and five deep creating a wall of tangled metal. We had no option but to climb over them to move forward.
“A few more blocks,” I said over my shoulder as we turned onto West 2nd Street. “The shop should be just up the street, a couple of blocks past that cluster of cars.”
“Thank God,” Christa groaned stumbling over something on the path. “Must be nice to have laser vision, or whatever. I am getting kind of sick of tripping over crap every time I take a step.”
“You’ll get used to it, Princess,” Falisha laughed patting Christa’s shoulder.
“Watch out for that pothole guys,” I said. “Swing to the right side a bit.”
We edged past the big hole sidling along a squat brick building. The storefront window and its fabric awning were long gone, and the thick wooden sign was charred beyond recognition. It hung precariously from the bracket above the door. The place had most likely been some kind of clothing shop at one point. All that remained of its interior was a scattered pile of smoldering of ash and ruined metal wracking.
“Whoa.” Riley stopped dead in her tracks, and I nearly ran into her.
She stared straight ahead with her flashlight aimed at a massive heap of cars brick-stacked in the roadway. It spanned the width of the street and stood almost fifteen feet high.
“There is no way the storm did this,” I said shaking my head at the strategically placed metal carnage.
“Does it really matter how it got here?” Christa asked. “If our only alternative to walking is on the other side of this thing, then we need to get over it. Like literally.”
“Maybe we should go the long way around,” Riley suggested shining her flashlight down the side street to our right. “Liv, what do you think? Left or right?”
Just past the reach of Riley’s flashlight beam were the obliterated remnants of what had probably been a very nice neighborhood. The storm had hit hard on that street. All that was left of the houses and businesses that had called this place home was a pile of smoldering rubble as tall as a two-story building. A giant tanker truck lay on its side amidst the wreckage, leaking a strange yellow fluid onto the pavement. Turning left was not a better option. The street ended in a steep drop about five hundred yards down as if the earth had opened up and swallowed an entire city block.
“Neither direction is going to be an option, Ry,” I said blowing a stray hair out of my face.
“So, what—we just stand here until someone learns to fly?” Christa kicked a rock. “Just climb over the stupid thing.”
“It’s not that simple,” Jake said cocking his head to the side as he approached the wall. “This thing is not stable. The slightest bit of weight in the wrong place and the whole thing could come down. Maybe we could—”
“I got this, y’all,” Ty said rushing past.
Before his words even registered, Ty had launched himself onto the tailgate of a small pickup tr
uck at the end of the precarious stack. The truck sat perpendicular to the wall of crushed cars and SUVs, its cab completely flattened by the weight of a black Hummer. He cleared the length of the small bed in a single stride, grabbed onto the side mirror of the Hummer, and swung his leg up and through the missing driver-side window.
The metal creaked and squealed in protest, the vehicles grinding together as he climbed. My stomach crept farther into my throat the higher he got, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when his foot slipped knocking a piece of metal clambering to the ground at my feet.
“Jesus, Ty,” I yelled up at him. “Would you—ugh. Be careful!”
“It’s all good, Liv,” he grinned down at me as he pulled himself up using nothing but his upper body strength. “I grew up on a farm, remember?”
“Are you crazy?” Jake shrieked waving his hands in the air. “Get down before you kill yourself!”
“Please,” Ty snorted reaching his arm through the window. “Been climbing rigs, rocks, and rooftops since I was knee-high to a cricket. This here redneck roadblock ain’t nothin’. I’ll be up and over— Whoa!”
The driver-side door swung open with Ty still perched on the lip of its window. He clung tightly to the car’s side mirror as the massive mound of metal shifted and groaned beneath his weight. The cars on top of the Hummer slid a few inches sending the entire top half of the stack he was climbing on tilting in our direction. Christa screamed and lunged forward as if to catch him, but Jake caught her around her middle and held her back.
“Whew,” Ty shouted. “That was a close one!”
Unlike those of us still on the ground, Ty didn’t look the least bit worried. In fact, he was actually laughing as he climbed across the top of the opened doorframe and onto the roof of the Hummer. He spanned the distance between the hood of a small four-door sedan and a rusty old station wagon in one stride without the slightest catch in his step and started climbing up.
The grocery-getter was leaning at a steep angle with its front end wedged in the open top of what had once been a very expensive red convertible. Ty scaled it easily as though his boots defied gravity. Within minutes, he stood victorious on the rear bumper, peering over at the other side in complete silence. Bella scampered back and forth along the base of the wall barking up at Ty as he teetered precariously on the leaning tower of twisted metal.
“Well?” I said staring daggers into the back of his head. When he finally met my gaze, his eyes were wide, and the color had completely drained from his face.
Chapter 16
Off to Slaughter
“It’s bad,” Ty said hopping down from the tailgate. “Like, real bad. They’re gone. All of them.”
His trek down the wall had been much less terrifying than the climb to the top had been, mostly because I refused to watch him do it. Seeing my friends in any kind of danger had become physically painful for me, as of late. Between that and the ache in my chest, it was a wonder I even noticed the unbearable heat.
“Care to elaborate on that?” Eli asked pushing his glasses back up his nose.
“Not really.” Ty said hunching at the waist. He put his hands on his knees.
“That’s very helpful, Tex,” Eli threw his hands up. “We need to know what we—”
“Don’t,” Riley said sharply. She cut Eli off as she made her way over to Ty’s side.
“Are you okay, Ty?” Christa leered at Eli then started rubbing Ty’s back. “Do you need a drink, or a hug or something?”
“Nah. I’m alright, Sweets,” Ty said in a shaky voice. His wide eyes never left the ground. “I just need a minute, is all. Gotta catch my breath.”
“Over here,” Zander shouted waving at us from a few yards away. “I think I found a way through.”
He cranked his arm back and slammed his blackened fist through the rear window of an old Cadillac at the far end of the wall. By the time the rest of us made it over there, Zander had already wriggled his way through the opening and broken another window. A second later, I heard a muffled grunt and all the air rushed from my chest.
“Zander,” I shouted, charging at the Caddy.
The only answer I got was the cringe-inducing sound of grinding metal and the tinkle of glass as it scattered across the pavement. I lunged forward and braced my hands on either side of the car’s shattered window prepared to dive in after him if necessary.
“I’m good,” Zander grunted from the other side of the wall. “Go ahead and climb through. Just be careful of the broken glass. I will help you out on this side.”
“Got it,” I said nodding to the others as I swallowed my heart back down into my chest where it belonged. “Okay, come on guys.”
Despite the haunted look in his eyes, Ty was the first to climb through. He insisted that he clear the broken glass for the rest of us. Once Ty shouted the all clear, Jake helped his sister through then followed immediately behind her. Unlike Eli, who grunted and grumbled the entire time, Riley had little trouble fitting through the narrow opening. She was in one side and out the other in a matter of seconds.
“After you, Sarge,” Falisha said as she ushered me toward the car. “I got your back.”
“Fine,” I shook my head, tossed my pack through the gaping window onto the back seat, and slid through the opening on my stomach.
“Whatever you do, don’t look in the front seat, okay?” Zander whispered as he leaned in the opposite window and grabbed my pack.
The time it took for him to hand it to Riley and turn back to help me climb out was more than enough for my curiosity to get the better of me. I peeked between the gap in the seats and immediately cursed my ability to see clearly in the dark.
“Oh, crap,” I gasped swallowing back the acid rising in my throat as I scrambled free of the car.
“I told you not to look, Liv,” Zander shook his head and smoothed a hair out of my face.
“I probably should have listened,” I said as he turned to help Falisha from the car.
Nausea threatened to overtake me, but I refused to lose control. I took slow, deep breaths and tried to think about anything that might erase what I had just seen. Riley gave me a knowing look as she handed me my pack but said nothing. We walked together in silence and stood with the others next to the city bus that had been overturned in the middle of the street.
“Listen, Liv,” Ty said reaching anxiously to adjust a hat that no longer existed. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
“We don’t have a choice, Ty,” I said. “We need to get to Rockford, and this is the only way.”
“It’s just,” Ty inched closer and whispered. “Maybe we should go back. I don’t think…I mean, what you are about to see is—.”
“Unavoidable,” I said finishing his sentence and placing my hand gently on his arm. “This is our reality now, Ty, and hiding from it is not going to change that. We can’t go back and even if we could, there’s nothing to go back to.”
“It sucks, dude, but she’s right,” Jake said handing Ty his pack. “Forward is really our only option now.”
“We have to keep moving,” I said.
“Alright, then,” Ty said sighing heavily. He slid his duffle over his shoulders, tightened the straps against his chest, and nodded in my direction. “Right behind you, chief.”
Flashlight beams sliced through the shadows as we made our way past the front end of the abandoned city bus. We turned, heading right into a massive pile of discarded luggage. Backpacks and suitcases of all shapes and sizes had been hastily tossed into a heap in the middle of the street. Most of them had been torn apart, the contents spilling carelessly from their gaping mouths.
I shuffled through the scattered personal belongings that littered the pavement until my foot collided with a half-deflated football. It skidded across the pavement and bounced off the curb, coming to a stop next to a collapsed stroller. I bit my tongue and focused on the ground ahead of me, determined to ignore the blood I was sure I had seen on the buggy’s pink awning.
Military barricades, like the ones we had seen by Zander’s house, spanned the width of the street, sectioning it off into four different squares. Each row was spray-painted a different color. We’d just left the yellow section. Just past that was a row of orange, then red, and finally black. In each of the sections, the ground was littered with clothes, purses, and other items left behind.
“What the hell happened here?” Jake asked scanning the area with his flashlight.
“Nothing good,” Zander laced our fingers together as we rounded the final set of barricades.
“Oh my God,” Riley’s eyes filled with tears and her hand shot to the cross around her neck.
“I tried to warn you.” Ty pushed Christa behind him.
It was a massacre.
The bodies were piled in the black section in the same way the luggage had been in the yellow. The pavement was stained with their blood. Every single one of them had been shot—assassinated— and left in the middle of the street to rot. Arms and legs tangled together in such a way that it was hard to tell where one person ended and another began.
An older couple in matching windbreakers was slumped together against the near side of the mass grave. Their hands, which had been marked with a black X, held one another even in death. Their sad gray eyes stared ahead into emptiness.
“Hmm.” Eli cocked his head to the side, clicked on his penlight, and slowly approached the indiscernible mass of corpses.
Christa finally wriggled free of Ty’s hold and got around him determined to see what he was shielding her from. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth clamped shut. Jake rushed over and tried to pull her back. She pushed him away and stepped closer to the bloodied mass of limbs and hair.
“This doesn’t make any sense.” Eli shook his head and walked back over.
“No kidding,” Falisha said. “What part about mass-murder could possibly make sense to you?”
“Sorry, but whoever did this—their intent was not murder,” Eli said staring at the gaping bullet wound in the back of a bald skull. “These people were euthanized.”
Ballistic: Icarus Series, Book Two Page 15