The Starborn Ascension: Books 1, 2, and 3 (The Starborn Saga)

by Jason D. Morrow

  Especially Gabe.

  Chapter 11 - Waverly

  The herd was still roaming about Foley the next day, and by noon, Walter, Barry, and a few others decided it would be a good idea to go out into the city to distract the herd and attempt to move the greyskins out of the city.

  “Oh, it’s a very dangerous operation,” Hank whispers as we walk the school halls. “They sneak out into the cars or trucks and drive out of the sensor area and make as much noise as possible. Usually it’s enough for most of the herd to follow it while the rest of us go out and kill the stragglers. The key is to be certain that none of the greyskins are attracted to the school.”

  It is interesting to see how this group operates together and I can’t help but envy their sense of unity. With Walter and Barry outside, Hank is left to lead the other members of the community within the school. He sends men and women alike to patrol the halls, check all the exits to guarantee they are secure, and to keep everyone’s noise level down. He also instructs them to keep the volume low on their radios to avoid unwanted echoes through the halls.

  Gilbert, Ethan, and I sit with Hank near the front lobby of the school listening to the radio reports coming in after the brief walk through the silent hallways. Most of them are from the school patrols, but the ones we wait for are the reports from the outside.

  “The hardest part,” Hank tells us, “is making sure they don’t get surrounded or trapped when trying to draw in the greyskins. It has happened before.”

  “Were you able to save them?” Ethan asks.

  Hank lets out a heavy sigh and shakes his head. “Sadly, no. We have had very hard days here. Many losses. We started with over a hundred people and are now down to seventy-three. Most of the ones we lost were in a single incident.”

  Gilbert shakes his head and is about to say something when Ethan gives him a sharp look that warns him not to mention anything about building a wall. Gilbert rolls his eyes and looks away instead. Ethan catches me looking at him and nods at me, and I give him a pleased smile.

  “Hank, the north hallway is clear and quiet,” a voice says over the radio. “I’ll do another round in five.”

  “Ten-four,” Hanks says, then smiles at us.

  The next voice over the radio wipes the smile from Hank’s face. “Hank, there’s something moving in the gym, I’m going to check it out.”

  Hank’s face crinkles into a look of concern as he raises the radio to his mouth. “Ten-four,” he says. “If it’s one of ours I want you to bring them to me. We are on lockdown, people should know what that means.”

  The person on the other end responds, but all we hear is static.

  Hank shakes his head, his jaws clenched together. “It’s just this kind of mix-up that will get us all killed.”

  “Hank,” the voice calls out, this time in a much lower whisper.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s not one of ours. I repeat, not one of ours. It’s a greyskin.”

  Hank’s face turns white. “Did you say what I think you said?”

  There is a long silence form the other end. “We need weapons down here. Blunts and blades.”

  “How many are there?”

  “I don’t know. I only saw one at first, but now there are like twenty. I’m not sure where they are coming from.”

  Hank swears and stands from his seat. “Somebody was careless.”

  “We can help,” Ethan says.

  Hank holds up a hand. “I’m not certain what we’re going to do yet. Wait here just a minute.” He walks away, I assume to talk with someone.

  Nothing can match the look that Gilbert gives Ethan. “What are you thinking?”

  “What?”

  “Offering to help these people. They aren’t with us. They aren’t our responsibility.”

  “But aren’t we all in this together?” Ethan says. “They are people just like us.”

  “I don’t care if they are starving orphans,” Gilbert snaps. “We’re just here until those things go away. I’m not risking my neck for these people.”

  “Would you risk your neck for anyone?” Ethan says, his eyes narrowing. “You wouldn’t do anything but save your own skin.”

  “You know a lot less about me than you think,” Gilbert says. “But if you want my opinion, I’d say there would be little pay off.”

  “Since when are we looking for a payoff?” I chime in.

  Gilbert looks at me as if he’s disgusted. “What do you know about it? The only reason you’re with us is because of Ethan. I would have left you and your pitiful boyfriend behind.”

  I don’t even think before I rear back and punch him in the jaw, and I’m not ready for the pain that shoots through my hand as a result. Gilbert falls to the floor and grabs for his face, but he pulls himself up quickly. At first, it looks like he’s going to hit me back, and I’m ready for it, but Ethan stands between us.

  “Let it go,” he says.

  Gilbert glares at me with fire in his eyes. I know if he wanted to he could tear me apart. He is probably twice my weight and with a quick-to-snap mouth like his, no doubt he has been in some fights before.

  “Don’t talk about Lucas like that,” I say. My jaw is trembling and its everything I can do to keep the tears from forming in my eyes.

  Don’t cry. You can’t let him see you cry. If you cry, he wins. Don’t give him the satisfaction.

  Gilbert shoves Ethan away from him and turns his back to us, muttering something to himself. I rub my hand and when I look at it I can see that two of my knuckles are already starting to bruise.

  “Are you okay?” Ethan whispers to me. He reaches out for my hand gently.

  I pull it away from him. “I’m fine.” I turn from him coldly and pace the lobby to try and cool my emotions. I am grateful for Ethan because I’m not entirely certain what might have transpired had he not been there to get between us, but I don't want him to touch me.

  In a few seconds, we hear heavy footsteps coming toward us. Hank leads a group of people that I’ve never seen before. Each of them carries a bladed weapon or club with him. They are ready for battle. For a brief moment, I can’t help but echo Gilbert’s scolding to Ethan in my mind. I didn’t come here to help these people fight greyskins, but the other part of me feels what Ethan said too. Don’t we all need to just work together?

  “Reports are coming in from the gymnasium that more are pouring in,” Hank says. “One must have gotten a door open somehow.”

  “Why don’t you just lock them in there until the others get back?” I ask.

  Hank smiles at me and shrugs. “I would rather they not have to deal with this. I can handle it. Besides, we need to contain the situation with as little noise as possible before it gets worse.” He holds up a hand in the air. “We are prepared to get rid of them, so we aren’t asking you to help us. You are guests here. This is not your fight.”

  “Hadn’t planned on it,” Gilbert says under his breath.

  Hank ignores him and begins to lead his people down the hallway.

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” I say.

  “What do you mean?” Ethan asks.

  Their backs are to us as they continue into the darkness and I know that this might be an opportunity to test my new ability. Perhaps if I see something bad happen in the future, this time I will be able to prevent it.

  “Hank wait!” I say. He stops and all eyes fall on me. I run ahead and reach out for his hand before he can object.

  The familiar white light flashes in my eyes and I see Hank leading the charge into the gymnasium. The fight only lasts a few minutes, but Hank somehow gets cornered. He smashes the head of a greyskin but doesn’t realize that there is another greyskin lurking behind him. It reaches out and grabs his arm and, before he can move, it sinks its rotten teeth into his wrist.

  I let go of his hand. An icy chill settles inside me as I stare at Hank’s face. He looks at me with a smile as usual, but he also seems confused.

  “You can�
��t go,” I blurt out.

  “I’m sorry, Waverly, but it is my duty,” he answers.

  “But you can’t!”

  “Waverly,” Ethan says, standing next to me. “What’s going on?”

  “Why are you so worried?” Hank asks.

  I want to tell him that I’ve seen the future. I want to say that I have this ability, but I know Hank won’t believe me, Ethan will think I’m crazy, and Gilbert will never let me live it down.

  “I just…” I can’t get the words out. “What if you get bitten on the wrist or something?”

  “It is certainly a possibility,” Hanks says. He smiles and pats me on the shoulder and then starts walking away from me.

  “It’s not only a possibility,” I say. I can feel my voice shaking. “If you go down there, that will happen.”

  He stops and turns to look at me, his eyebrows lowered, but he only shakes his head and continues to walk away.

  “Give us weapons,” I say in desperation. “We want to help you.”

  “No we don’t,” Gilbert says.

  My head snaps at him. “You don’t have to.” I look at Ethan. “You don’t either.”

  “I’m ready to help,” Ethan says.

  Hank nods and we are each handed a sharpened broom handle. “Just try to keep your kills as quiet as possible,” he says.

  Ethan and I follow the group, leaving Gilbert fuming behind us. The broom handles aren’t much, but I’ve killed greyskins with less. It will at least keep a few feet between me and the dead.

  “What was that all about?” Ethan whispers to me as we trail the others. “Telling him he will get bitten?”

  “It’s just a feeling is all,” I say, but this time I think having a feeling will pay off. This time, I’m going to stay close to Hank so nothing bad happens to him. It’s up to me to keep him from dying. “Just keep your eyes on Hank.”

  Ethan shakes his head. I know he thinks I’m crazy, but what else can I do? Hank won’t heed my warning so I have to do what I can to stop the future I saw. I know if I would have done something to stop it for Lucas, he would be walking next to us.

  The man that had given Hank the report about the greyskins meets us at the first doors of the gymnasium.

  “How did they get in there?” Hank asks.

  The man shrugs as sweat drips down the side of his face. His arms seem to be shaking from nervousness. “I have no idea. They must have gotten one of the doors open.”

  “How did we not see this coming?” Hank speaks with a harshness that I have yet to see until now.

  The man shrugs again and Hank walks past him and cracks open the door. He lets out a sigh. “It’s manageable,” he whispers, “but we’ve got to get in there and stop it now before their numbers grow.”

  He instructs part of the group to go around to the other side of the gym and the rest of us to follow him. We slip into the gymnasium without notice and I can see that we are at the top of the bleachers in front of stairs descending all the way down to the basketball court. I nearly gasp at the sight of the greyskins congregated at the bottom, some of them climbing the stairs.

  “Spread out,” Hank says to us.

  The others move around the bleachers with steady holds on their weapons. Ethan stays close to me and I stay within feet of Hank, watching for any greyskins that might approach. Thinking back, I remember that Hank had been standing on the court in my vision. If I can just keep him from going onto the court, then perhaps he can avoid the bite altogether.

  But what consequences would there be for altering the future I saw? What if, for some reason, removing Hank from the situation would cause me to get bitten instead? Or Ethan? I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if my actions caused his death. I look at him as he creeps down the stairs a few feet behind me. I should have reached out and touched him to see what his future holds.

  I look at Hank. For all I know, the greyskins could have us all in a minute, but that’s not what I saw. It was Hank I saw.

  “Hank,” I whisper.

  He turns to me slowly.

  “Don’t go onto the court,” I say.

  “That’s where the greyskins are, sweetheart,” he says with a smile. “It’s my job to clear them out.”

  “Just listen to me!”

  But Hank just continues to smile and he turns away, descending the stairs toward his doom.

  I don’t know who makes the first kill, but it isn’t silent and it sets all of the greyskins on us. Three come toward Hank on the stairs but Ethan and I jump next to him and we take out one each. My broom handle proves to be sharp enough as it stabs through the top of the greyskin’s head.

  Hank clambers ahead as if he is fueled to move forward because I told him not to, and now he is on the court. It is more difficult than I thought to defend myself from the onslaught of the greyskins and try to keep an eye on Hank at the same time. They come in from all directions. Having only a sharp spear’s end means I’ve got to have good aim and I have to be quick. The handle is next to useless against greyskins using a sweeping motion. It’s stab or nothing.

  A thought suddenly hits me that I wasn’t in my vision like I had been in my others. Before, I was able to see myself next to Lucas or Ethan before the event took place, but this time I didn’t. Did that mean that I was going to die too? Was I already dead by the time Hank got bitten? I did have the vision before I had planned to go with them. Perhaps changing my mind and telling Hank that I had seen his future had somehow altered it. Perhaps my actions made him more cautious, therefore the greyskin that would have killed him would already be dead.

  Black blood drips off the sharp end of the broom handle and streams snake toward my fingers as I stab over and over. There are more bodies lying on the ground now than there are standing, but it isn’t over. I look at Hank and he seems to be fine. He shouts for some of the others to get to the unlocked door and secure it. Then I hear Ethan yell for help. When I look to my right, there are at least five greyskins almost on top of him and he is pushed into a corner. I look back at Hank and see that there is nothing around him, so I run to help Ethan.

  I stab two of them through the back of the head before the others turn on me. Ethan wrestles with one, but is able to shake it off and stab it through the skull. All five are dead in just a few seconds.

  “Thanks,” Ethan says breathless. “You just saved my life.”

  I can’t help but blush, but I don’t think he notices. But the blood leaves my face when I hear a scream behind me. I turn sharply and see a greyskin on top of Hank, teeth sunken into his wrist. Ethan and I run toward him, but it is too late. Others have already taken out the greyskin by the time I reach Hank. He sits up, blood flowing from his mangled wrist, dripping off the tips of his fingers. His eyes search through the group, seeking me out.

  He has only one question: “How did you know?”

  There isn’t much time before the virus sets in and it’s too late. All of us decide to keep Hank in the gymnasium since his screams would likely carry through to the halls when they cut off his arm. One of the men returns with a clean hatchet and Hank’s eyes go wide. Others come in at the top of the gym, no doubt hearing about Hank’s injury. Gilbert is one of the spectators.

  A shirt is tied securely around Hank’s arm at his elbow. The man with the hatchet apologizes to his friend, but Hank just shakes his head. “It’s the only way to save my life.”

  “It might not work,” the man says.

  “Well, try it!” Hank says, lying flat on his back and extending his bitten arm.

  The man swallows hard and kneels next to Hank. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

  “Would you rather I die then?” Hank says. His face goes from a grimace to a smile as he looks at his friend. “You’re doing me a favor. It’s my left hand anyway. I don’t need it.”

  The man attempts to laugh at Hank’s joke, but his face turns very serious as he looks away from Hank’s face and at his arm.

  I don’t want to watch as the man
grips the hatchet tightly and raises it into the air, but I can’t look away. He brings the hatchet down as hard as he can and the snapping bone is almost as loud as Hank’s screams. It isn't a clean cut.

  I feel sick. I want to turn away.

  Hack! Another scream, but the tendons and muscles are so thick.

  Hack! This time there is no scream, and I’m only slightly relieved to know that Hank doesn’t feel the pain of the fourth and final Hack! that cuts off the infected part of his arm.

  Blood pools out onto the gym floor all around Hank. Someone wraps a shirt around his stump to try and stop the bleeding. It takes four men to carry him up the stairs and out of the gymnasium. Gilbert meets us in the hallway.

  “Okay,” Gilbert says, “what was that all about?”

  “Leave her alone,” Ethan says. “I’m sure she doesn’t want to talk about it.”

  “Back off, Ethan. I think we deserve an explanation as to why someone so close to us can predict the future. That’s a pretty convenient gift. Wouldn’t you say?”

  “Lucky guess,” I say.

  “Sounds pretty unlucky to me,” Gilbert says. “That’s pretty specific. The wrist? The fact that you said it would happen.” He looks at Ethan who wasn’t stopping his questions.

  I’m cornered.

  “It started just the other day. When Lucas died. I grabbed his hand and I saw what was about to happen before it actually did. I don’t know why, but it just happened.” I look at Ethan. “And you remember when you killed that greyskin last night? Remember that I touched your hand? I was able to see that you would be okay. So, then I just saw that Hank would be bitten by a greyskin on the wrist. This time I tried to stop it, but I wasn’t able to.”

  Both of them look at me as though I just grew a tree out of the side of my head.

  “I can’t explain it,” I say.

  “So, you can’t change what you see?” Ethan asks.

  “I haven’t been able to,” I say. “But to my regret, this was only my first time to try.”

  He nods at me and looks away as if he’s deep in thought.