Kaley was whimpering behind the panels she hid behind, I knew what she was thinking, that this was useless that there was no way we were going to survive this, but we would, I knew we would, we had to. I had seen the place we needed to go and I would get us there somehow even though I had no idea why, I just knew we had to. I ran with all the speed I could muster and jumped onto Murphy’s back, digging my own claws into him, I had found a weak spot as I felt my claws slide into his flesh but he was strong, he threw me off in one foul swoop, sending me crash landing into the panels Kaley hid behind. Now his eyes were transfixed on her, he howled and charged, I ran forward and kicked out his spiny alien legs out from below him, he fell right at the spot I needed him too. I used my claws and slashed at the column that held up the roof, then kicking at it for the last part I watched as the roof beams fell on top of the monster, dust and snow filled the air but I knew from the angry howl he made that he wasn’t hurt, just pissed off.
He threw up his arms sending the debris out and most of it hitting me, shifting my body I stood back up and tried to shove off all the parts of the roof but he was upon me, I froze as his claw came down for a killing blow, my heart in my chest, my blood pounding in my ears, if anything could kill me it might be this thing. Closing my eyes I waited for the pain that would ripple through my body but it never came, opening one eye then the next I blinked as he was frozen in time, Kaley stood there with her hands held out holding him in position. I watched as her eyes widened as she tried to enter its mind but she was too weak, she couldn’t make it down to its heart to crush it to death. So she looked at me, into my eyes and I felt the motion of her power, her gift enter my own mind, she searched deep down in the crevices of my mind, opening doors I had kept closed for a long time, it was like invisible fingers searching through my skull, feeling their way through me, until she came across one door and stopped, “OPEN IT”, she screamed into my skull I felt the words break into me and shatter what human purpose I had left, “OPEN IT LET THE CREATURE OUT, CALL TO IT…CALL TO THE…M” I didn’t hear her finish the sentence as the flip switched and I moved, faster than I had ever moved before, I almost danced as if time was sped up just for me, I arched my arms and jumped landing on Murphy’s shoulders before grabbing his neck and twisting hard, my muscles rippled with the movement that was almost liquid like. Turning and snapping hard I pulled of his head with a cracking, crunching, wet, bloody notion, I threw it to the floor and drove my claws down the shaft of his body tearing him in half.
Kaley let me go and I fell to my knees.
“NOOOOO, MY SON”, Christian screamed from behind the door but Kaley was smiling but she looked odd, the only way I could describe it was that she looked charged. Like I had been the power main and the cable and she had been the battery that needed the electric current. A strange buzzing and zapping noise filled my ears just as she flared open her eyes and BOOM! The room shook all around us, the walls and door frame that held Christian at bay flew apart, splintering and shattering everywhere, I heard Christian scream and then it was silent. He wasn’t dead I could feel his heart still beating but he was out cold but I could sense something else, the army of infected half breeds coming this way under his command.
“What the hell was that?”
She shrugged, “I dunno?”
I could feel them coming closer, “We need to leave now”, I commanded and Kaley didn’t argue she just ran, a small opening had appeared between the main section of castle and the shed and she climbed through with such energy I was awed, what had happened? She was normally so tired after using her gift?
Once outside I found Lara still standing there, “What the hell happened in there?”
“No time to explain we need to leave”, I said grabbing up my bag and weapons, Kaley grabbed hers and Lara took her sword and we ran, leaving the monsters behind wailing and calling out for their champion and his now dead son.
Racing through a small broken part of the boundary wall that Kaley wanted to show off and exploded to pieces we ran, we ran down side roads and country lanes, we ran until there was nothing left in us to give, we had left the monster castle behind.
“What the hell was that?” I said stopping and grabbing Kaley by the shoulders.
She turned to look at me and smiled, “What was what?” She said it with such amusement I wanted to hit her, why was she smirking at me like that?
“You know what, now tell me”.
She shrugged, “I don’t know looking inside your mind somehow showed me I could push more from my gift, push harder and then I snapped, the power came from everywhere and nowhere, I could just blast and it was fun”.
“And you’re not tired?”
“No”, she shook her head, “I feel energised more than anything, like I can take on anything and anyone. Its like I finally get on with my head, like I finally understand the Telekinesis, like I know how it ticks and its mine to control, it doesn’t control me”.
I didn’t know whether this was a good thing or not, or whether I should be worried.
“Well that’s…great”, I said, “But just take it easy we don’t want you over doing it and causing yourself harm”.
She just grinned, “Stacie I feel fine, honestly, I feel like I could take on the world and more”.
“That’s great Kaley really it is but let’s leave the world for another day, let’s just take it easy till we get back to camp, we might need your new improved Telekinesis for when Christian and his goonies turn up”.
“Where is your camp?” Lara asked still walking awkwardly with the sword in hand but it looked like she might never let the sword go.
“A few miles down the road, it took us what a day or two to get to the castle so maybe the same to get back”.
“Well hopefully we can do it quicker than that, once Christian leaves the castle he won’t stop to rest”, Lara told us.
“Has he attacked many camps before?” I asked wondering how she knew that it wouldn’t take him long.
She nodded, “Yes a few, there was one about twenty or so miles that way, just a small camp of about thirty survivors, he found them by accident when he was out scavenging for supplies, they sniffed out their trail and hunted them down like animals and killed them before the sun was up the next morning. Why do you think they had so much meat on the table”.
I felt sick to my stomach, there was no way in hell that I was going to let them eat Monique or Ollie or my little Cain like flipping beef burgers. I had to warn them and get them ready to fight, with gunpowder and mine and Kaley’s strength we might just have a chance at taking them down.
“So we need to travel even through the night”.
“You mean we won’t stop for any shelter tonight, well this should be interesting”, Kaley said amused although I could see the humour in the situation.
“We keep together and stay close, no wondering off the path”.
The others nodded and stayed by me as we set off into the night, I tried to keep to the main roads and in the shadows, using my senses to make sure we were on a safe path. Although Kaley still seemed to be buzzing from her new found friend in her power it made me feel a little at ease that she too could fight if we met anything nasty that went bump in the night.
The morning sun shone across the vast snowy mounds as we reached Tonbridge, we had been incredibly lucky, we had made it through the night with almost no setbacks. We had come across one group of creatures but these were so old that they fell apart with a few punches and slices of a sword, it was good practice for Lara and I made sure Kaley didn’t use her gift unless needed, I had to keep her on top form. By mid-morning we made it back to camp somehow coming back had been a lot quicker than going there. The sign for Barden Park gleamed with the melting snow as the sun beamed down upon it.
We made it to the gate and I called out to whoever was on lookout, the gate opened slowly revealing a teary eyed Callum, he flung his arms around me, “Oh Stacie we thought we’d lost you forever, she’s gone…”
“Wait Callum there’s something important we need to talk about”, I said.
“She’s gone Stace, she’s gone”, he sobbed.
I shook him, “Callum look at me”.
He looked into my eyes weary and baffled, “What is it? And what are you wearing?” his words coming out distant and soft.
“There is a group of half infected people that want to come and destroy the camp, they will kill and they will eat anyone that they capture, we need to prepare anyone that is fit and well enough to fight. We need guns, blades, stakes, whatever you and your people can get your hands on”.
“Wait how do you know this?” he asked.
“We were captured by these half breeds, they are holed up over in Hever Castle and they are terrifying Callum”, I told him a quick story about what happened there, his eyes glazed over at the mention of a creature child that had been born.
“Can you imagine what it could have been like if that mad doctor in Brighton had succeeded in making his army?” he whispered.
I nodded, “The world would be an even bloodier blood bath”.
“And you say that these people are on their way here”.
“Yes, look we need to tell Monique, we need her to get all the kids to safety and to protect them”, I told him and then it happened, he collapsed to his knees.
“Stace I tried to tell you she’s gone…”
“Gone where?” I said confused, “Tell me where and I’ll bring her back”.
His tear stained face looked up at mine, his Irish accent blurred a little mixing his words but I understood them completely now, “She got bitten, she turned, she’s gone!”
Chapter 11 …
I felt my whole world crumble around me, bitten, Monique? No, no way that wasn’t right, I heard him wrong, she couldn’t be…
“Where is she?” I said to him and he looked over at the home he shared with her and Ollie, I spied Ollie standing by the door like a guard, he had a pistol in his hand and looked like he had been crying, “Have you?”
He shook his head, “No I can’t, we can’t”.
“You mean she’s still in there, turned?” I said shocked.
“Yes”.
“Why? She wouldn’t want to be one of those things”.
“She left a note, saying she wanted you to be the one to end it all for her, that you would understand, that you would be able to cope. She knew we would not, we would fail her”.
I knew what I had to do but I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to go in there, I didn’t want to see the friend I knew I had now failed. She had been bitten and I didn’t know, so that must have been why she had been acting so strange and the whole Callum and the kiss thing, how was it I had become such a lousy friend?
“Take me to her”.
Callum led me to the house, Kaley and Lara followed close behind. Ollie spotted Kaley and ran to her sobbing, his cries throaty and sore like he had been crying for a long time, she held him tightly and led him away from the house, they needed to talk. Lara just stood there looking at me, I smiled and took hold of her shoulder, “Look there is something I need to do, you see that guy over there Dwayne”, I pointed and he waved back, even he looked sombre, “Tell him all what happened at the Castle, he will know what to do”.
She smiled said nothing and left to talk, I knew Dwayne would be able to help as Ollie had told me about his past and how he had at one point wanted to be in charge of the camp. Callum needed me here now but the camp also needed protection, Dwayne would have to do.
We reached the door and I placed a hand against it, “Where is she?”
“The main bedroom”, he gasped.
I said no more and opened the front door walked in and closed it sharply behind me, the house too looked to be in a sombre mood, it was as if sorrow had seeped into the brickwork and through the mortar that held it together. I checked the downstairs just in case she had got out of the room whilst the others were outside but she was most definitely upstairs, I could hear her shuffling movements as she wondered soullessly round the bedroom. I went to go straight up but something caught my eye, it was the pink note book I had asked Callum to write in, Monique’s pen was sat on top of it. Feeling nervous with my palms sweating I took hold of the notebook and pen and opened it up, the first entry was indeed Callum’s with his story, including Amanda and his journey but what made me choke up was the newest entry, the hand writing started off neatly but slowly turned into a writing chaos as she must have got closer to the turn.
‘To all the people I care about, I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry about what I have done. You must think I am a mad woman for sending my friends away and freaking out but if you knew why I think you might understand. After seeing Callum kiss Stacie which I was upset about I ran off to the old mansion, once there I was attacked and bitten…So now I am infected…and most probably dead by the time you read this… My story began like most of the others in this camp, on the day that the acid rain hit. That day had been just like most ordinary days to start with, the clouds had been their normal grey tinged selves, they had looked angry and threatening like at any moment their seams would split like water balloons that had been filled too much and the water that was bursting to come out would in waves and crashes. The filtering dull grey light from the sun which was trying it’s hardest to break through blossomed over the dank, dark city before another water balloon cloud would charge in and block it out again. The streets were already damp from the night before, in fact the rain had been falling for days and there looked to be no give in it at all…’
Monique’s hands gripped the steering wheel of the bus and she smashed her head onto the horn blasting out the loud sound all around the motorway she now had broken down on, she hadn’t expected the fuel to last for miles and miles but she had hoped for longer than this, she had needed it to last longer than this and now she was stranded a million miles away from her destination, she had tried to use the hose but all the vehicles had been empty.
Slamming the keys down on the floor she slowly stood up and opened the driver’s door, she had been crying, her eyes were tired and sore but she knew she had to go on, for Will’s sake, he had died to get her out of there alive, even though she knew deep down it was her fault Will had got bitten. She had thought about it, pulling over and jumping out, calling out to the nearest melter to take her too but that would have been too easy, oh no she wanted to live on and now the bus was a broken pile of crap she would have to go back out into the sick world and go on by foot.
Forcing the doors open she jumped out onto the rain splattered road, it no longer hissed at her like the acid did, it had been fresh water that had fallen from the skies and had diluted the acid but the damage was done and the further down the road she got she realised that her wish that it had only happened to the capital city was falling apart, it had happened everywhere but still there might be that chance that she might find them, her family and she had to fight on to do it.
Taking a look at her surroundings which looked even more eerie in the dark due to none of the street lights working anymore she set off under the light of the moon, her heart was hammering so hard in her chest she thought she might pass out. At least back in her home town she knew the roads, knew the people even if they were half melted but out here she knew no one and nothing.
The moon shimmered and danced on the wet road as she walked for miles, she spotted whole towns that had burst into flame, small villages that had turned into screaming nightmares. It wasn’t until she reached the small town of Copthorne that she finally spotted another survivor, it was a male in his late fifties, he had just looted his local chemist and was running from a group of melter’s, he stumbled in the road dropping all his loot, he tried to get it altogether but the creatures were close on his tail. Monique couldn’t stand there and watch him be mauled to death, so she charged in, blade raised high and stabbed the nearest one to the man.
“Come on get up, I can’t hold them off for long”.
The man looked amazed to see another survivor too but done as she said, then they both took off at a run as a whole horde of them chased them down the road, the creatures weren’t fast but there was a lot of them.
The man ran to an old Tudor style house and motioned for Monique to follow him inside, lucky for them the house had a rather sturdy metal fence and gate which he locked. It would hold them off, maybe not forever but long enough to come up with an escape plan. They rushed inside the house and the man double locked that door too, placing an old T.V unit in front like a small barricade.
“Thanks Kiddo”, the man smiled at her, “You really saved my ass back there”.
“No worries”, the words stung her as she had said that to Will not so long ago, “So what’s all the medical gear for?” she asked, intrigued but still weary keeping an eye out the window all the time.
The man decided to shut the curtains before speaking, “Well end of the world an all it’s the thing to do right, stock up and make sure one has enough stuff to survive”.
“Do you have food?” she asked feeling her tummy rumble.
“I do and I guess I owe you for saving my life but if you’re to stay here you need to earn the food you eat”, he replied.
“Oh, well thanks but I won’t be staying long, I’m headed to Brighton to find my family”.
“Well kiddo their probably already dead, not being nasty just, that’s what’s happened, everyone’s gone”.
“We’re not gone”, she replied.
“Not yet but give it time, we all meet out maker at some point whether it be today, tomorrow or a year from now, we all get it”.
She didn’t like the way the man was so negative but maybe he had lost people to this…war… to this strange acid rain.
Alone (Book 2): Lone Page 25