Fear of God (Trials of Strength Book 1)

by Matthew Bell, Jr

  ‘Lucas?’ Anna cried.

  I didn’t reply, I couldn’t reply. I couldn’t breathe, or think, or function. The crane swayed violently, and we gripped the bars in a white knuckle hold. It swayed again, and with an almighty cracking sound, the crane blasted from its foundations.

  Oh god.

  ‘Hold on!’ I screamed.

  The crane rocked then swung, moving left as it dipped for the ground. An office complex came rushing up and I thought of something close to suicide.

  ‘Anna!’ I shouted. ‘When I tell you to, jump!’

  ‘What?’ she cried.

  The building was coming fast. We were going to crash straight into it.

  ‘JUMP!’ I yelled.

  We let go of the bars and threw ourselves forward. Time suspended as we flew through the air, my heart hit my throat and we hit the glass. We smashed into the building. The crane groaned as it continued to travel down and collided with the floor below us. The sound was unbearable as concrete and glass alike were destroyed. I only had a second to breathe when the crane passed under us, ripping the supports of our floor away.

  Anna screamed as we slid, a chair smacked me on the head as it fell of the side of the building. We were five floors up, and hitting the ground wouldn’t end well. I grabbed Anna’s hand as the floor gave way, and latched onto the ledge of a doorframe. It was too much though, my bones burned and my fingers were slipping. After everything we would still die.

  I lost my grip, and a set of hands caught mine.

  The Exile

  Chris groaned under the strain, but another set of hands grabbed us. These had violet nail polish, and Bonnie and Chris hauled us up onto solid ground. They panted from the task, and Anna and I almost collapsed. At first I couldn’t believe our luck, that we had survived something like that, when heavy footsteps filled the air.

  They were coming.

  ‘We have to move,’ Bonnie said, already on her feet.

  Chris stood, dragging Anna and I to our feet. We sprinted through the building and made our way to the ground floor. Chris handed me a gun, and I took it without hesitation. We made it as two creatures came bursting through the front doors. We aimed and fired. My first shot took the monster down, and Chris landed a perfect headshot on the other.

  ‘Move!’ Bonnie screamed.

  We took the front doors and gunfire filled the air, but it wasn’t us. Unseen shooters were holding our attackers at bay as we made it to the nightmare warehouse, diving back into the darkness of the tunnels.

  ‘Looks like they really are keeping those things from coming down here,’ Chris panted.

  I nodded. I turned to make sure we all made it, when I saw that Bonnie was gone. We made our way back to the group, and as we entered the room, anarchy broke loose. Paul advanced on us with a gun and at his side stood Grace with another, beaming. Jane lay on the ground, her hands tied and her mouth stuffed with fabric. She stared wide-eyed at us, and on impulse I brought my gun up at Paul. Chris was ahead of me, and already had his trained on Grace.

  ‘What the hell, Paul?’ Chris growled.

  It was Grace who replied, ‘Heathens!! Spawn of the devil, working from inside our stomachs to kill us!’

  ‘Translation?’ I said.

  ‘You’re with them!’ Paul fumed. ‘I knew it, little Lucas with his Dad in charge, Anna the traitorous bitch and the old man that works for them!’

  Chris’s face was red with anger, and his finger was on the trigger. I couldn’t believe what was happening, after everything that had already happened.

  ‘Paul, listen to me,’ I said, lowering my gun, ‘we do not work for them. We’re here for the same reason you are, working together for the same goal we’ve always had. To survive and escape!’

  ‘Liars!’ he screamed as he used his free hand to wipe the glittering sweat from his face. ‘You’re here to kill us! To make us pawns in your sick game! Well, uh uh, not anymore. This is my group now. I’ll get them out safely.’

  ‘That purple bitch came for Chris,’ Grace laughed. ‘She is evil. She told us enough.’

  Dammit Bonnie.

  I felt myself questioning whose side Bonnie was really on when the answer was obvious, her own.

  ‘Are you on something?’ Chris squinted at Paul.

  I thought he was kidding, but another look at Paul and it did appear he was more than just rattled. He bounced on his feet, swung the gun dangerously and was sweating profusely. I couldn’t see his eyes, but Chris could.

  ‘What?’ Paul gasped.

  Chris looked at me and shook his head. I understood, Grace had sunk her claws in, and Paul was already leaning over the edge of insanity. We weren’t going to be able to talk them down, and the group lined up behind them, ready to help their new leaders take out a new threat. Chris lowered his gun and pointed at Jane.

  ‘She comes with us,’ he said.

  ‘No!’ Paul screamed.

  ‘Now, Paul,’ Grace soothed. ‘Let them take her, she has no purpose for us, and she may attack from within.’

  Paul looked conflicted. Before, he had been trying to figure out how to shut Grace down, but he listened to her and grabbed Jane by the arms, pulled her to her feet and pushed her to us. Anna moved forward and untied her, taking the fabric from her mouth.

  ‘She’ll kill you all!’ Jane spat at the group, and some had the shame to flinch.

  ‘Come on,’ Chris said, leading us from the room.

  As we walked, a shaken Jane filled us in.

  ‘As soon as that woman got you Chris, Grace burst into her element,’ Jane shook. ‘She changed her tune quick and she didn’t want them to offer themselves to those monsters anymore. She said a sign from God told her what to do. That you three worked for their enemy.’

  ‘What did Bonnie tell them?’ I asked angrily.

  ‘They heard what she told me,’ Chris sighed, ‘everything. About you and your connection to the enemy, and what Anna had done.’

  Anna grimaced beside him, her face red and sticky from tears.

  ‘So now what?’ I said. ‘We can’t leave them to be killed with Paul and Grace. If we don’t try then we’re as bad as the people who did this to us.’

  ‘We’re not giving up, Lucas,’ Chris replied. ‘For now though we don’t have a choice, not while their tempers are exploding, someone would have gotten hurt. We need to lay low, come up with a plan.’

  We wandered aimlessly through the tunnels. Chris told us he wanted to stay close, just in case. We settled in two adjoining rooms, small and dusty, with the same pipes running along the walls that always did. I couldn’t help but feel drained. I’d remembered asking myself what those pipes had been for, but after seeing the room my father stood in, it was obvious they powered his little base.

  That meeting had asked more questions than answered, and my head thumped in pain. A secret rogue science division was using the town as guinea pigs, for God knows what. They had been there for years, and my father was their esteemed leader. The image of him driving the syringe into my neck was never far from my mind, but I kept it from Chris and the rest. It wasn’t the time to start breaking us apart, but I was terrified.

  After settling in, Anna moved to the next room, intent on being alone, but I followed her. I needed answers. I’d just scaled a towering crane to save her after she had led me into a trap. Oddly I wasn’t angry, and part of me knew her reason would trump any negative feelings. I thought of her kiss, and made a point to ask about it. I entered the room and Anna sat shaking in the corner, trembling with tears.

  ‘Anna,’ I whispered. ‘Anna, come on.’

  I kneeled in front of her and put my hand on her shoulder. She shook it off and looked at me.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Lucas,’ Anna whispered. ‘I am so sorry.’

  ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Just tell me why?’

  Anna took a breath and more tears surfaced. I moved my hand and wiped them as they fell.

  ‘When I told you what had happened with my Mum and Dad,
’ she answered, ‘I left out my brother. I didn’t meet Chris right away. I heard the screaming outside as my Mum advanced on me, but it wasn’t Chris who saved me. It was Bonnie.’

  I took my time swallowing that, they had gotten to her before Chris had, and her brother?

  ‘Go on,’ I said gently.

  ‘She had my brother by the arm,’ Anna cried. ‘She, she, she told me I’d meet you, that I was to make sure you stayed alive, that when the time came I was to bring you to him.’

  ‘My father,’ I spat.

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘If I did that, they would give me my brother back. I tried to grab him, to run, but Bonnie was too fast, before I knew it, I was on the floor and they were gone.’

  ‘What age is your brother?’ I asked, heartbroken for her.

  ‘Ten,’ she replied, ‘and the fear on his face Lucas, the fear on his face.’

  Her body jolted with sobs and I put my arms around her.

  ‘Where is your brother?’ I said.

  She shook her head, guilt and pain in her eyes. They never gave him back, it had been a ploy, and her brother was missing.

  ‘They said they were taking me to him,’ Anna whispered. ‘But then I woke up dangling from the crane.’

  I sighed and swallowed my anger. I asked Anna for her mobile and threw it against the wall. I was done. The initial shock of my father leading this group was gone. The pain of him taking my mother away had turned into fire, and I wasn’t angry at Anna. She wasn’t to blame, she was played like the rest of us and if it had been me in her position, I would have done the same.

  I sat next to her, my next question making my heart pump faster.

  ‘Anna,’ I whispered, my breathing ragged. ‘When you kissed me…’

  I couldn’t finish it, and Anna looked at me. The same emotion was in her eyes, the same as it had been when we first kissed: A burning intensity.

  ‘No, it wasn’t a lie,’ she replied. ‘It wasn’t a part of my plan. Along the way I just felt connected to you, to your pain, it was like mine. How you could keep your humanity, even when all hell was breaking loose. How you could feel guilt and not let it get the better of you.’

  I scoffed and shook my head.

  ‘I’m serious,’ she pressed. ‘Then you became strong, stronger than I ever was. You climbed that tower even though I had betrayed you. You took that gun from Chris without blinking and you became strong.’

  I thought about it too. I noticed the change, I wanted the change. I couldn’t hide anymore, and the tipping point had been my mother. The way she had tried to get me out and even when she was turning, she was still protecting me. Then she became one of them, a creature with speed and strength. I had clung to the hope they still had something of their former selves inside. But my mother, my sweet warm mother would never have tried to hurt me if she could help it. I knew it beyond the shadow of a doubt.

  ‘We have to live,’ I said. ‘That’s all it’s ever been about, surviving. Nothing’s changed now we know who’s behind it, and we just have to bring the group back together. My Dad can’t get away with it, not after everything.’

  Anna nodded and wiped her eyes.

  ‘We’ll find your brother, Anna,’ I said. ‘We won’t stop until we find him, I promise.’

  She took my hand and smiled. I couldn’t bare it, so I tugged her arm, and pressed my lips to hers. There was no resistance, and like last time, we both wanted it. The kiss became more heated and my head spun. I put my hand on her back and pulled her close, breaking from her mouth and trailing my lips down her neck. She moaned.

  Everything seemed to speed up. My top came off, Anna making her own trail of kisses down my chest. Back up to my mouth, and I lifted her top off and pressed against her hard. It was a different kind of fire, passionate, painful and hungry. Together we could keep any other emotions at bay, together we could become a team, and light the way through the darkness.

  Together, we could fight back.

  The Bloodlust

  Anna snored softly beside me, a warm glow radiated between us. After we had gotten dressed, we had settled down for the night. I couldn’t sleep, part of me still marvelled over Anna’s strength and all we had endured. The tunnels were unnaturally warm, and I wondered absently if my father’s plan was to make us combust. Eventually I stood, making sure not to wake Anna and moved into the other room.

  Chris sat against the wall cleaning different parts of his gun. He smiled knowingly and I shifted uncomfortably as heat rushed to my cheeks.

  ‘So you and Anna are okay, huh?’ he chuckled, his teeth bared in a smile.

  I stuttered and Chris waved his hand.

  ‘It’s nice to see something work out compared to everything else,’ he said, dropping the subject.

  ‘They have her brother,’ I whispered, clenching my fists.

  ‘I thought it’d be something like that,’ Chris nodded. ‘They like that, using family to get what they want.’

  ‘I noticed,’ I replied. They had used my mother and father, before the latter revealed himself as a liar. Chris’s wife and Anna’s brother, there was no low they wouldn’t go to.

  I walked over and took a seat beside him, watching while he put his gun back together. Jane was a little to his right, back against the wall and eyes closed. My heart went out to her, she had tried exceptionally to bring the group back to sanity, and to repay her they had tied her up and condemned her. It made me angry, but I understood their fear. I rubbed the sweat on my forehead and swallowed.

  ‘You okay?’ Chris asked.

  ‘Yeah, just heating up like hell, you don’t feel it?’ I replied, breathing deeply.

  Chris shook his head but smiled, he put it down to something else.

  ‘So,’ I said, before he could say what was on his mind, ‘any new plans forming yet, man with a plan?’

  ‘No,’ he sighed. ‘With Grace there sprouting her crap and Paul now their go to guy, it’ll be hard to get their trust back.’

  ‘Yeah, what the hell is Paul thinking?’ I said exasperated. ‘He started off an angry guy but now it’s something else.’

  ‘Fear,’ Chris stated. ‘He thinks he’s doing what’s right, he thinks he’s handling everything well. He isn’t. I think whatever drug he must be taking isn’t helping.’

  I nodded. Paul and Grace weren’t the only people they put in danger. The rest of the survivors were looking to them, waiting for them to get them out, but they wouldn’t. They couldn’t comprehend what they were up against, not in their state of minds.

  ‘Maybe I could help with that,’ a voice came from the doorway, and a woman with violet hair and piercing eyes entered the room.

  Anger flared in my chest instantly.

  ‘Where is he!?’ I shouted as I lunged to my feet, my fists clenched tight.

  ‘Careful,’ she warned. ‘I don’t like being charged at, and you won’t like it either. I did what I was told, and I’d do it again. I don’t know where he is, I was just the messenger.’

  I wanted to rush her, to cause her the pain she had caused Anna, caused us. Her casual nature only fuelled my anger and Chris put a hand on my shoulder. Shaking his head he turned to Bonnie. Jane had roused from her sleep, and was staring at our new guest with narrowed eyes.

  ‘What is it you want?’ Chris asked.

  ‘For you guys not to die, first off,’ Bonnie smiled.

  ‘Why?’ I spat.

  ‘I told you before, my business not yours,’ she replied.

  I felt a hand at my back, and the gun there was pulled from me. Anna marched out from behind, her face dark with fury, her finger on the trigger.

  ‘How about you make it my business,’ Anna hissed. ‘I want my brother, now!’

  Bonnie was fast, the gun was knocked from Anna’s hand and her legs swiped from beneath her. Chris raised his own, but Bonnie moved close, took the weapon straight from his hand and tossed it across the room. Her palm smacked Chris on the jaw. He staggered back, and Bonnie stood ready for anym
ore advances.

  ‘I told you to watch it,’ she chided. ‘I’m here to help, and I’ve saved your asses a few times now, so how about you chill. Wouldn’t want those stitches opening now would we?’

  I narrowed my eyes at her, ready to fire questions, but she cut me off.

  ‘You can thank me for that too,’ Bonnie grinned.

  ‘Thank you?’ I growled. ‘You shot me?’

  She nodded and dropped the conversation, Chris’s hand tightened on my shoulder.

  ‘Help how?’ he asked, massaging his jaw.

  ‘I know a little thing you might be interested in, something that could help get the group back in your favour,’ she said and pushed out her chest proudly.

  ‘Spit it out,’ Anna said. She got back on her feet, but kept her distance from Bonnie.

  ‘I know a way out,’ Bonnie whispered, and winked.

  *

  For an hour Bonnie filled us in. One of the dirt roads wasn’t rigged to blow as Richard, my father, needed a safe route to have things brought in. More supplies, more manpower. She told us how he had anticipated Chris would take the fastest and easiest way for a group of people to escape town. Chris had bristled at her jab, and hissed through his teeth why we should trust her. Bonnie had just waved him off, as if all she had done was proven why.

  Eventually she left, leaving us to our thoughts and disappearing back into the darkness. I wiped more sweat from my face, my t-shirt stuck to my stomach and my heart pounded. Chris, Anna and Jane seemed fine, so the tunnels hadn’t changed, but I was burning up and I was desperate for a shower. I paced back and forth, clenching and unclenching my fists.

  ‘I don’t believe her,’ I said. ‘It could be another ploy, another play by my Dad to get the rest of us killed.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Chris mused. ‘Or maybe she’s telling the truth.’

  ‘Why would she do that?’ I spat, my head was on fire and I was in no mood for more games.

  Anna looked at me concerned, but Jane spoke up for the first time that night.