Her looked forced him to look away, and bow his head. “That’s not fare Rachel. This situation is entirely different.”
“Is it?” She turned again, and again he held her tightly to him.
“You have to let me go Bobby. I’m going whether or not you try to stop me.” She brought her left hand down to his and pulled it off her arm.
He took a deep breath, quickly thinking what he was going to do. Hearing what sounded like hissing and footsteps coming towards them from the trees, he decided fast. “All right, but I’m coming.” He took her arm again and led her to the passenger side of the car. Instead of going to the front door, he went to the back door and opened it up. “Inside.” He sounded as forceful as he could.
All Ross wanted to do was to get the hell out of there and fast. He knew they had to go. They didn’t have the time. “Make your decision. It’s time to go.”
Hearing him, she knew she had no other choice but to have him come with her, so she simply climbed onto the back seat and slid on it until she was behind Ross.
Ross climbed behind the wheel and started the engine.
Robert sat beside his sister and closed the door. “Let’s go. Stop for nothing.”
Ross nodded, and started out. He turned the car, and headed back towards town.
“Where is this place that you were talking about?” Robert kept his eyes out his side window, keeping them to the trees. He no longer heard them, but he could still feel them getting closer.
Ross pulled the car onto a dark dirt road. He had to follow it for a few miles before he came to a highway that would lead him back to Redford Forge. “It’s just south of the downtown district. It’s an old warehouse that Ravenswood used to own.” He drove as he replayed the directions he had to follow in his thoughts.
Robert looked to Rachel and then turned towards the back window, seeing something out from the corner of his eyes. A white mass streaked to the top of the car. “Step on the gas!” he shouted out, just as a loud bumping thumping sound reverberated from the roof.
On top of the car, a large white one hundred and twenty pound bat landed on the roof. Samantha allowed herself to turn back to her human form when she landed. Now, firmly on the roof, she dug her nails deeply into the metal beneath her. She began clawing it, tearing sheets out of it with each grasp she made. With the third grab, she found that she made a hole. She wasted no time in plunging through it with her right hand.
The clawed hand came through the roof and went straight for Rachel’s head.
She bowed some, screaming with terror, and thankfully just missed it.
Ross screamed as he tried to keep the car on the road. The force of whatever landed on the roof pushed the wheel hard left. It took every effort he had to turn the wheel back to the right. Luckily, the car swerved some, but stayed on the road.
Robert ducked the hand by moving towards Rachel, dodging it only barely. He did get a claw to his right cheek, which caused three neat rows of blood to begin to ooze down from his face and to his chin. He moaned slightly from the impact. He reached up and put both hands to the top of his sister’s head, trying to keep it down and out of the way. In doing so, he noticed the necklace around her neck, seeing it just below her hairline.
“Pull off your necklace!” He couldn’t do it himself, with his hands covering her head.
“Why?” She sounded shaky. She was that and more.
“Just do it!” He looked up, tilting his head slightly, and saw the hand again reach for his head. Some of the claws managed to grab some of his black hair. It even pulled some of it out when he ducked again away from it.
Rachel had nothing to go with except to do what he told her to do. Luckily, her hands were right near her face, so grabbing the necklace was rather easy. With it firmly in her right hand, she pulled it. It came off, with only her feeling a slight pinch at the back of neck. With it still in her right hand, she pushed it up by her face. “Here!”
It came out right in front of his chin. Now, all he had to do was get it. Having to do that, he knew he had to sit up. “Keep your head down!” He lifted up.
The claw came again.
He fell back to the back seat.
The hand came right at his eyes.
Fortunately, only the tip of his nose was there when it went by him. One claw swiped across the tip and blood followed the swipe in a solitary streak that ran down the side of his nose, falling just under his left eye on his cheek.
Rachel had a trickle of blood splatter down to the right side of her face. It must have fallen off the claw, but she didn’t know that and though it came directly from Bobby. Realizing that, it forced her to look up.
The claw came and this time came right at her face.
Robert saw it, and reacted rather fast. “Get your head back down!” He held out the necklace, holding it with each end in both hands. He straightened it out, saw the wrist easily and went for it without another thought about it.
He wrapped it around it, and waited for the screams.
Instantly, smoke began to billow out from around the gold. Her white skin, subtle and beautiful most of the time, instantly turned to a color closer to ash.
On top of the car, not seeing anything, Samantha screamed with agony as her wrist suddenly felt like it was on fire. She responded to the pain by trying to pull her arm back out of the hole, but she couldn’t do it.
Robert gripped the ends of the necklace tightly when he wrapped her arm. As she pulled, blood began to ooze out from the top of the gold.
The smoke only billowed more from around it. The gold color began to glow red, almost looking like an extremely heated piece of metal in a furnace.
She screamed again. The pain flared up her arm. Tears swelled around her once bright red eyes.
Robert tightened his grip, hearing the screams.
She pulled again. She fought to get her hand back and out of the hole.
The necklace became covered with blood and little white meshes of flesh. It became slippery some. Because of it, he lost his grip.
Her hand became free instantly. She pulled it out of the hole. Her free left hand went for the wrist, and in doing so, she lost her balance and fell back from the roof. The car’s momentum carried her to the trunk and then to the dirt of the road right after it. She rolled several times before she finally stopped.
With the hand gone, Rachel sat up. “What the hell was that?” She took the chance to take a deep breath.
“Walkers don’t like gold.” Robert sat up, and looked back out the back window. He could see a hint of white disappear as they gained distance. Seeing her gone, and feeling her the same way, he took a deep breath.
Ross felt winded. “What the bloody hell was that?” He saw nothing. He heard everything.
“Just keep driving.” Robert looked back to Rachel and helped her to get back on the seat fully. “Are you all right?”
She nodded.
He looked back to the front. He felt the car slowing some. “Keep on the gas. We can’t slow down now.”
Ross didn’t even notice he was doing it.
Robert sighed, closed his eyes and felt for the gas pedal. He found it, saw it in his mind, and floored it down.
Ross felt the pedal disappear beneath his right shoe. “What now?” He tried to look down between his knees, but couldn’t see it.
“Just watch where you’re going.” Robert wrapped his left arm around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly to him. Feeling safe, he finally swallowed.
Ross did what he told him to do. He fought the wheel. He kept the car to the road. Out front, he watched the trees fly by, but there was something else there, up ahead of him and it looked like a man, and he was standing right in the center of the road. “Mister?” he shouted, not sure what to do about the fact that he couldn’t stop. He had no control over the car.
Robert looked up. He saw the man. They were heading right for him. “Shit!” He let go of the pedal. They couldn’t hit him. The car wouldn’t surviv
e the impact, or they themselves in the car.
Ross felt the car’s engine quiet. He hit the break. He turned the wheel hard right with everything he had.
The man stood solid. The car began to slide, and flew right past him into the trees. Dirt and dust flew all around him as he watched the car smack a tree just to his left. Arthur walked to the car and came up to the back of the trunk.
The impact caused the car instantly to stop. When the car turned right, Robert’s head went the same direction and it hit the window of the door right next to him. The glass shattered all around his head. He didn’t see anything after the pain of the blow flew through his head and into his neck. He must have fallen unconscious quickly.
Rachel felt the seat beneath her slide out from under her and the next thing she felt was herself hit the floor just in front of the seat. Her left side flew into the front seat, and thankfully, she stopped. She hurt nothing, also thankfully.
Ross saw the tree, and felt the impact fast. He saw nothing but white as the airbag must have deployed and punched his face to the back of his seat. Something pushed him from behind it and it made his head go right. He fell over the center console and he came to rest on the passenger’s seat. He wasn’t out, but was now extremely dazed.
Now stopped, Rachel picked herself back up to the seat. Inside the car, everything looked and smelled like steam. She looked to her left and noticed that the car was sitting right up against a tree. Seeing it, she instantly realized that she wouldn’t be able to open the door, so she turned towards Robert.
“Bobby?” She took his left hand into hers. She looked to his face, and saw only the side of his forehead. She could see that his eyes looked like they were closed. He also wasn’t moving. He seemed to be out cold. “Bobby?” She even tried to shake him to see if she was right. And again, he didn’t move.
A moaning came from the front seat. The sounds of shoes walking on stones and dirt came from the trunk and the back of the car.
Rachel turned and looked through the back window and saw a man standing there. The red taillights of the car illuminated him all over. She saw his pale face. She saw the bright red of his eyes. “Bobby?” She shook him again, and again, he didn’t move. She even had to check to see if he was still breathing. Thankfully he was. “Bobby please? We have to get out of here. We have to run.”
Arthur stopped. Behind him and to his right, he smelled
Samantha coming towards him. He turned and watched her walk to his side. “How’s the arm?” He saw her holding it to her chest.
“I’ll live.” She stopped. “How about them? Are they moving?” The burning had stopped. The agony of what happened wasn’t. She hated jewelry now more than ever.
“They’re alive. The woman is awake.”
“Good.” And Samantha stepped forward and came to the trunk.
Rachel heard them talking. She heard every word. “Mister Ross?” She climbed up some so she could look over the top of the front seat and see him. He was there. He was moaning. He was somewhat moving too. “Mister Ross?”
Ross thought he heard something but he wasn’t all that sure if he did or didn’t. With the ringing in his ears, he couldn’t tell for sure. So instead, he just lay there trying to gather his thoughts back together again.
Rachel looked back to Bobby. She looked over to the door on his side of the car and easily saw that yet another tree was lying up against it. She now knew that she wouldn’t be able to get out with both of them pinned. Realizing everything, she felt helpless. She felt trapped. She felt worse realizing that she couldn’t do anything to help any of them. In fact, she felt like crying. She felt mad. She felt every emotion she could feel and they came on her all at once. What she didn’t realize, at least at first, was the sudden feeling of the car beginning to move from under her. When she did realize it, she felt it being pulled. She looked back through the back window and saw something that shouldn’t surprise her anymore, not with everything she’s seen over the past few months, but it still did.
Samantha grabbed the bumper. With her left hand, she lifted the back of the car. She now pulled it back towards the road.
The car moved slowly at first, but when it gained momentum, it moved faster. She pulled it out away from the trees. When it was clear, and lying in the middle of the road, she let it fall back onto the tires and stood back up straight.
Arthur stood there and watched her do it. When she finished, he nodded with thanks. “Thank you my dear.” He smiled to her when she turned back towards him with a nod.
Satisfied, he walked around to the left side of the car. He walked to the back door. He opened it up and bent slightly at the waist to look inside it. He found the woman staring back at him. “Hello sweet lady. I’m pleased to see that you’re unharmed.” He smiled and held out his right hand to her. “Let me help you out.”
She looked at the hand and scoffed. “Why are you after me?” She had to ask, not expecting an answer. She said it without thinking.
He smiled. “I’ve come to take you home my dear.” He even gave her a wink.
Again, she scoffed. Again, she felt like crying. Her rage wouldn’t let her feel anything else.
Samantha stood back, and again went back to holding her arm with the other one. She watched him reach for her, but then, quickly, something caught her attention, and it came from behind her. A heavy smell of must reeked through the trees. She looked just in time to watch the black wolf come out to the road just on the other side of the car. Seeing it, she winced. “Arthur!” she screeched out, let her body crack. Her fingers slid out long and her face curled up to the bat.
Arthur looked through the other window and noticed the deep blackness that was now covering it. He stood up and saw its chest. He saw its claws streak across the roof on each side of the hole in its center. Seeing how big he really was, his eyes watered almost instantly. Why was it there? What happened to the others that were supposed to keep him occupied? What happened with the world?
He let out a blood-curdling roar that shook the car.
Arthur could feel its heat on his face. His cold skin felt scorched by its entirety. Fear gripped him as the feeling flowed over his entire head, and it made him step back away from the door.
Samantha stayed on the road. After turning to the bat, she folded her wings and that forced her down to the ground on all fours.
Soon, Arthur watched as another large black wolf stepped to the road, just behind the larger one with the white around its snout. And then, the young new walker came out with the second black wolf and both flanked the bigger wolf on both sides of the car.
Seeing all of them, he froze. He was now, needless to say, terrified beyond words. To top that off, the wanderer woke up and stepped out of the car in front of the beasts.
Robert woke up, felt was going on, and opened the door, joining the others on the road. His head stung more than ever, but at least he was awake. Moving took some effort, but he managed to get out of the car.
“We’re out matched.” Arthur turned to Samantha. He didn’t wait for an answer. He turned, and took off as fast as he could run into the trees.
Samantha pushed off, and flew off into the night air. She disappeared over the treetops fast.
The five of them watched them flee.
Sasha turned back to human allowing her human self to come forward.
Jimmy did the same thing, and pushed Kalima aside.
Rachel finally breathed. She stood out of the car, looked over the trunk and found Jimmy standing there with what looked like scratches and blood all over his chest and arms. She hated seeing him like that, but at least he was alive. Seeing him, she rushed him, coming in front of him and took his hands into hers. She squeezed him gently.
“Are you all right? Are you injured?” Jimmy caught his breath. He dropped her hands, and instead, rushed both arms around her shoulders. He needed to hold her. He needed to feel her breaths next his, telling him that she was in fact still alive.
She hu
gged him tightly. “Are you?” She buried her head just under his chin.
He kissed the top of her head. “We’re all fine. We’re all still here.” He smiled and looked to his left.
Sasha nodded.
He looked right.
Likewise, Brandon nodded.
He looked straight ahead and saw Robert standing just at the back of the car. Seeing him, he felt that it was time to stop playing games. More was going on here than what he told them, and now he knew it. “I think it’s time you tell us the whole truth.” He did feel rage. He did feel what he said in its entirety.
Robert felt for the right side of his head. His palm came back moist but not wet. The bleeding must have stopped. It still hurt. The window did some damage, but it didn’t look all that bad. “I’ve told you everything.” He winced.
“I don’t think so.” Jimmy let go of Rachel, nudged her aside slightly, and gently, and stepped closer to Robert. He stopped right in front of his face. “You never said anything about her being a wanderer too.” He thought back to the three bloodsuckers he fought and what they told him. He thought back to all of the feelings he had with him about not being honest with him too. None of this made any sense to him. “Those walkers went through a hell of a lot just to get to her. That doesn’t make sense. They wanted her for something more than just trying to get to you.” He kept Rachel’s right hand in his left. He held her firmly.
Rachel listened to everything he said. “What are you talking about?” She looked to Jimmy and then to her brother. Nothing made any sense, and she hoped to find out why. “I’m not a wanderer. Wouldn’t I remember something about it, or know it, or something?”
Robert sighed long and deep.
Jimmy could feel his heart skip another beat. He could feel his nervousness. He could feel his anxiety. He could feel the hesitation in his soul. “What is the truth Robert? Why are they really after her?”
Rachel again listened and turned to her brother. In a way, she felt the same thing, but didn’t know what it meant. In thinking about what just happened, it didn’t make sense to her either. They attacked them with full strength. Why would they do that? Why would they die to take her to force Robert’s hand? Besides, Jimmy was rarely wrong. He could feel things that she quite frankly couldn’t feel. She also trusted him so much more than anyone else other than her herself.
A Werewolf's Saga Books 4, 5, & 6 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 2) Page 14