Ryder watched as she ducked and dove and evaded. He wanted to turn away, to walk away. This was none of his concern. He was no one. He didn’t give a damn about this woman, but his feet had other ideas.
She was doing good, moving fast, but it wasn’t enough, she needed to knock the fucker down. He just hoped she knew what she was doing, what she had let herself in for. Dammit, Ned and Fred needed to get their act together, letting a woman into the arena. It was just bad taste.
“Crazy girly,” a voice to his left said.
Ryder looked down to see a thinning head of hair and a face screwed up in concentration.
“She got the moves, the speed, light on her feet. Would make a hellavu fighter, with the right training of course.”
“And what would you know about training?” Ryder asked, his eyes still fixed on the woman’s face. He could see the calculation in her eyes. She was going to make her move.
“Used to be me bread and butter. I was the best before the fuckers took the planet. No use now, not with the bum leg and the bleeding cancer eating out my guts. I’ll be dead in a few months, if not sooner. Fanny be waiting for me though, good old Fanny.”
But Ryder wasn’t listening any longer because the woman had made her move—a jab to the eyes, a hard slam to the face. Good girl. Take out his fucking ear drum and yeah, the balls…fuck! Dead Eyes was quick to recover, too quick.
The woman was down and Dead Eyes was on top.
He was choking her. Killing her.
Once again Ryder’s feet did the thinking for him and he was flying into the arena, his hands grabbing Dead Eyes’ collar and hauling him up and off the woman.
Her eyes were closed.
Ryder almost lost it.
“What the fuck? You again?” Dead Eyes glared at him, chest heaving. Then his face broke into a grin. “No one to help you now is there?”
The woman moaned. Ryder took a step toward her, but was tackled to the ground by Dead Eyes. His head hit the ground, missing the track by less than an inch. Breath whooshed out his lungs as Dead Eyes sat on him, and then the world was filled with pain, his vision shattering.
“NO!” The woman’s scream cut through the silence.
Ryder lost it.
Rage exploded from his chest, molten, hot, hungry. He struggled to contain it, but the leash was gone, ripped away.
He wasn’t thinking anymore.
Chapter Eight
The world was going black and then it wasn’t. Air rushed back into her lungs, she coughed and gagged and rolled onto her side.
Fighting, she’d been fighting. Where was her opponent?
Then she saw them - the big guy, Ryder, from before, and Dead Eyes.
Dead Eyes had him pinned, battering him like a piston gone berserk.
Ryder had jumped in and helped her when no one else had cared. She couldn’t let this happen.
Pulling herself to her feet, she shook her head to clear it. “Stop!” Her voice was a croak and didn’t make a dent.
“Dammit, stop.” Oh god, Dead Eyes was going to kill Ryder, and Ryder wasn’t fighting back. What the hell was wrong with him?
She watched as Dead Eyes brought his fist up, high and tight for the killing blow. Her hand came up, an imploration, a silent demand and the word exploded from her, scraping past her raw throat and hitting the air like a tsumami.
“NO!”
Dead Eyes paused and Ryder bucked, flipping them so he was on top and then he began to pummel, to batter, to slam and, oh god, the blood was everywhere. The power in each blow was shocking. Around her people began to scream, to turn on each other. Fists flew, curses filled the air. It was a riot and in the centre of it all was Ryder, Dead Eyes and Star.
Dead Eyes was no longer moving, but everyone around them was.
She had to get out of there, before things got out of hand, but she couldn’t just walk away and leave this Ryder to deal when all he’d tried to do was help her.
Decision made, she approached the guy, reached for his shoulder, his back, any kind of contact to soothe him, to calm him.
In truth it was a bad idea. He was lost in a red haze, out of it. She should have known better, but she wasn’t thinking straight. Her fingers grazed his shoulder, taut and smooth, and then she was on her back, pinned to the ground like a bug, and she got to see his face properly for the first time.
Her blood froze in her veins, her chest tightened, squeezing her lungs painfully.
His face.
The face that had haunted her nightmares for the past twelve years.
The face of her most terrifying moment.
Star opened her mouth and screamed.
His unfocused eyes cleared, his fierce expression melted, his grip on her slackened.
Star didn’t wait for an invitation. She scrambled out from under him and ran.
She didn’t go home, couldn’t, not yet. She found an abandoned building and huddled inside, rocking back and forth, eyes burning, face wet with tears as attempted to hold herself together against the onslaught of memories.
It couldn’t be, it couldn’t be. It was over.
They were all gone.
But that face was etched into her mind. She didn’t want to remember, but the fracture was too deep, and the memories seeped in regardless.
Don’t go outside, mum had said. Not for anything. Maya and Star had been huddled in the abandoned Ford garage in the office that smelt of coffee and armpits.
The blinds were shut, door locked. Dad had gone out to look for medicine and Maya’s parents were scouting for food.
Mum was sick, feverish, in and out of sleep and Star was scared. Dad had been gone for hours and Maya’s parents too.
They were surrounded by silence.
Maybe the cold men were gone?
Maya thought they were robots, but Star knew better. They were aliens. They may look human, but they were way too big and their faces didn’t move, not really. They didn’t have to touch you to make you sick, or angry or crazy. They didn’t even have to touch you to make you dead and they were always spotted in groups of four.
Everything had begun with the meteor shower that hadn’t been a meteor shower. With the invaders that didn’t wait to be engaged, but strode into the towns as if they owned them.
Mum, dad and Maya’s parents had decided to get out of the city, and they’d been on their way when four of those men had shown up. The people on the street had gone crazy and they’d been forced to hide, but mum must have been too close because she was sick now.
Star bit down on her lower lip, blinking back tears. She would not cry, she’d promised mum that she would not cry. She was a big brave girl.
Maya had promised too, but she had broken the promise and was sobbing softly in the corner of the room, arms hugging her knees.
Star scooted closer. “It’s okay, they’ll be back soon.” She hoped she was right because she really needed a wee and there was no toilet in the room.
Maya sniffed. “My stomach hurts. I’m so hungry, Star.”
Star’s tummy rumbled as if on cue. Maya smiled shakily. Star looked toward the door. “There’s a snack machine out there.”
“We don’t have any money,” Maya said, but her eyes had lit up with hope.
Star gnawed on her lip and then stood shakily, heading over to the desk on the other side of the room. She yanked at the drawers, opening them one by one, rummaging inside for any loose change.
Aha! A couple of fifty pence pieces, several twenty pences and some tens. Great!
Maya pulled herself to her feet. “I’m coming with you.”
Star faltered for a second. Mum had made them promise not to leave the room, but they were only going onto the sales floor, to the machine, which was only a few feet from the office.
Maya clutched her stomach and groaned. That decided her.
They hadn’t eaten in two days. The provisions they’d packed had been lost in the chaos and now it was just them and the snack machine, which was b
ulging with stuff. She wondered why mum and dad hadn’t thought of it, but then she didn’t think the grownups were thinking straight.
Careful so as not to wake mum, Star unlocked the door which she had so dutifully locked behind her dad, and stepped out onto the sales floor.
She kept low to the ground. There were people out there, people who were crazed, sick, angry. She saw several pairs of legs move under the metal shutters dad had pulled three quarters of the way down. He hadn’t been able to get them to close though, which is why he’d locked them in the office, or asked them to lock him out.
Maya’s hand clutched the back of Star’s T-shirt and together they wound their way past the fancy cars, toward the machine that stood before them, beckoning them like a beacon of hope. The crisps and chocolate bars gleamed invitingly. Eat me, they said, come get me, I’m all yours.
Her stomach grumbled and she paused, heart hammering against her delicate ribcage, afraid that at any moment someone would hear, someone would come, but no one heard, no one came and they reached the snack machine without any trouble.
Star inserted the money and carefully made the selections—a chocolate bar each and a bag of crisps.
“We need a drink,” Maya said.
Star nodded. There was a kitchen round back. Dad had scoped it out. There wasn’t much left but there was a tap and sink. They could get some water. Star handed Maya the booty.
“Go back, lock yourself in and I’ll get some water.
Maya shook her head. “I’m coming with you.” Her expression was fierce, it said friends forever, and I’ve got your back, and all the corny things that meant so much.
Star’s throat tightened and she rolled her eyes to lighten the mood. “Fine.” Together they headed toward the other side of the sales floor and the kitchen.
They were almost there when something hit the side of the garage. There was a whoosh and a flare.
Maya and Star exchanged shocked glances. They cowered on the spot not knowing what to do and then the smell of smoke, the heat of fire, galvanised them into action.
“Mum!” Star ran toward the office. The fire was crawling under the shutters, hungry and eager.
“Mum!” Star shook her mum, but she wouldn’t wake, her skin was cold, lips pale.
Maya started to cry.
“No. No!” Star shook her harder. “Wake up, mum!” She cursed, hoping for a reaction, but none came. Mum lay cold and lifeless on the floor.
“Star, we have to go. We have to go now!” Maya tugged at her arm, hiccupping and sobbing.
Star stumbled back, tearing her eyes from mum, registering the heat from the fire. Mum was gone and she had to look after Maya now. She ran back to the office door and pulled it open. The fire roared at her, orange and furious. She slammed the door and ran to the small window.
“Quick, help me!” she urged Maya.
Together they pulled down the blind and pushed open the stiff window.
Star gave Maya a leg up and then crawled out after her. She had always been the more athletic of the two. Maya stood, back to the wall, eyes wide, staring at the world outside.
They’d been cloistered for two days and what had once been an ordered town was destroyed. Dead bodies littered the ground like confetti and those that were still standing beat at each other like Duracell bunnies.
“What do we do, Star? What do we do?” Maya said.
Star didn’t know, she was only eight and a half, she was only a child. She didn’t know and mum was dead and dad was gone and she didn’t know.
Maya slipped her hand into Star’s and squeezed. “You always have the best ideas, Star.” Her voice trembled and it gave Star strength. Maya needed her. Maya needed her and she would protect her.
“Dad went to find medicine, right? So we go to find medicine, we go to the hospital. It’s not far. I think I can find it.” She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but it was the only idea she could think of. It seemed to work, though. Maya stood straighter and her lips stopped trembling.
They set off at a jog, holding hands, staying in the shadow of the buildings to avoid all the rioting.
They had barely cleared the street when it happened.
Star saw her dad running toward them. He was on the other side of the street under the canopy of the shops. Star called out to him, he faltered, saw her, raised his arm and then frowned as if realising that she was outside. He looked back up the street toward the garage, at the smoke coming from the building. His face crumpled and he began to cross the street to get to them. He stepped off the pavement into the road and a man appeared, huge, wide, a monster. Dad looked up and then his eyes glazed over and he grabbed a passerby and started pummelling them
“Dad! Dad!” Star was horrified. Maya was tugging on her hand and she realised they were here. The four were here.
“We have to run, Star! Now!”
She watched her dad go down, watched he blood spray, heard the bloodcurdling scream and then she ran.
They didn’t get far before they were caught in the centre of the riot. She tried to keep hold of Maya’s hand, but it was impossible. Their hands slipped and they were torn apart.
“Maya!”
“Star!”
They kept pushing through the crowd, trying to reach a clear spot, trying to reach each other and then Star caught the glint of metal. She saw Maya’s frightened face through a break in the crowd and then she heard the scream of pain.
“Maya!” She shoved and pushed and slipped through bodies, warding off blows and kicks and then she was free and Maya was there on her knees, her head bowed, curled in on herself.
“Maya?” Star’s insides shook.
Maya looked up, exposing her abdomen dark and wet, she held out her bloody hand. “Hurts.”
Star fell to the ground beside her friend, wanting to hold her, to help, to stop the pain. A shadow fell over them. Star looked up into the monster’s perfect face, into its icy eyes, and anger bloomed in her breast hot—sudden and all-encompassing. She threw herself at the monster, jumping up and slamming it with her tiny fists. It turned away, but she caught the small of its back with her fist and pain exploded in her hand.
The monster shuddered and froze and then it turned to look at her, really look at her. Its face twisted in an expression so fierce she almost peed herself.
“Star?” Maya called.
Star stumbled back to the ground and wrapped her arms around her friend. She began to cry. She was scared and Maya was hurt and then Maya was floppy and silent like mum.
She forgot about the monster looming above her and screamed at Maya to wake up.
“Please wake up…don’t die, please don’t die.”
Another shadow joined the first, blocking out the sun.
Star looked up at the new monster, this one with eyes so pale they were almost white and hair that was almost silver.
He reached for Maya and Star screamed. She clung to her friend, but the monster was too strong. He took Maya…they took Maya…
Star pulled herself from her memories, back to the present. The monster was back, it was here and it had just saved her life. What was she supposed to do with that?
Her mum looked up with a hopeful expression as Star entered the house. Her eyes widened when she saw her battered face.
“Star? Oh, baby girl!”
Star limped in, tears blurring her vision. She brushed them away angrily. She was supposed to be hard, dammit! A warrior, a rebel.
Mum wrapped her in her arms and she was no longer the big bad, she was just a young woman who needed her mummy.
“Why didn’t you tell me where you were going? I would never… Star, I love you just as much as Midge. I wouldn’t hurt one to save the other. Never!” Mum was sobbing into her hair and Star held her tighter, even though it hurt to do so, even though her ribs felt as if they were broken.
She deserved the pain because she’d failed. “I’m sorry… I didn’t get the money.”
Mum pulled back, her face
pinched with anger. “I don’t give a toss about the money. You’re safe, that’s all I care about.”
Star’s face crumpled and mum pulled her in for another hug. Star wanted to tell her about him, the monster, but to do so would bring back the terrible memory of Maya’s death. So what if mum wasn’t her biological mum? After Star had lost her family, Maya’s parents had taken her in, raised her and treated her as their own. Maya was a bond that connected them all, but a name that still hurt to utter even after all these years. It was why she’d joined the insiders, the hope that Maya was still alive somehow, trapped in City. Every visit she would scour the faces in the crowd, looking for that one that would jump out at her, but every visit she was mistaken.
She didn’t know if she would ever accept that Maya was gone.
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” Mum led her to the small bathroom and sat her on the edge of the tub.
She pulled out the small first aid box they had tucked away behind the cistern and laid out some iodine, and cotton.
“This will sting, baby.”
Star chuckled, wincing at the sharp sting in her lip. “Mum, if I can take being hit in the face by a grown man, I think I can take some iodine.”
Mum pressed her lips together, her eyes welling. “Promise me you won’t do that again.”
“What? Fight?”
“Go into the Under. That place is dangerous.”
Star closed her eyes and sighed. “I promise.”
Mum tipped the iodine bottle onto a wad of cotton until it was soaked. “You can stay here tonight and tomorrow night, but you need to be gone the next day. There are people that don’t agree with the insiders. They think it’s inciting more trouble with the settlers. They’re worried they’ll come out here, into our town, get revenge for insider activities. There’s been talk of bringing down the rebel groups. People just want to be left alone, they just want peace. The settlers are here now, they’re powerful and they’re not going anywhere so…you need to leave, okay?”
She pressed the cotton to Star’s lip and Star convinced herself that the tears that spilled from her eyes were from the sting.
Legends of the Damned: A Collection of Edgy Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 179