His fingers entwined within mine again. He turned away, pulling me down the street. I nearly collided with him as he turned suddenly and tugged me into the arched doorway of a store. My legs were shaking, my heart pounding as the rumbling noise grew closer. I could feel vibrations in the stoop beneath my feet. Whatever was hunting us, whatever was out there, it was getting closer.
A sense of urgency filled me as Cade opened the door and slid silently into the antiques store. I followed behind, biting on my lower lip as I fought back the scream welling within my throat. Cade slid the door shut, the soft click of the lock barely audible over the growing noise outside.
He turned slowly toward the shaded windows. Even his profile was perfect, I realized as I stared at his hard jaw and sculpted nose. His eyes narrowed slightly, his teeth clenched fiercely as he pulled me back a step. Seeing him now, hearing him now, I was suddenly struck by the memory of the last time we had spoken nearly a year ago.
I’d been standing on the street, watching with my mom and little sister as one of the massiv alien ships first arrived. It slid over top of us as it moved toward the city, blocking out the sun, and emitting a soft humming noise that had been barely discernible over the normal sounds of the day. I had clung to my mom and sister, my heart hammering, awe and fear filling me as we watched it move slowly onward.
In the movies UFO’s were usually depicted as silver and shiny, this was not. It was pitch black, dull, and cold in appearance. It was only later that we would learn it was black because it was powered by solar energy and the black helped to capture the powerful rays of the sun. It was tubular in design with two large engines attached to each side of it. Though there was a hazy disturbance trailing from the engines, it was clear enough that the sky beyond could be seen through the fumes. The ship was so quiet that it seemed impossible that the sizeable engines attached to it were actually powering it forward.
Twenty five alien ships had arrived that day. Five settled over the U.S., three over Canada, and four throughout central and South America. Five more moved in over Europe, five more over Asia, two over Africa, and one hovered above Australia. Their arrival had signaled a short period of chaos, fear, and uncertainty. But over time things had settled down as no imminent threat emerged to kill us all and the aliens repeatedly proclaimed peace.
As time passed this claim seemed more and more acceptable, especially once they began to share their greater technology and vastly superior medical advances with us. Incurable cancers were cured; diseases were brought under control, if not eradicated. They taught us to harvest solar power in new and far more effective ways that drastically reduced our reliance on fossil fuels and nearly eradicated air pollution. They introduced a new form of irrigation that allowed us to grow food in even the most arid of deserts, including Antarctica. Millions of starving people were suddenly fed, people were healthier, happier, and starting to rely upon the advances the aliens gave to us. Everything they did for us was an improvement; life became radically better for everyone throughout those first nine months.
But on that strange, frightening first day, Cade had been in my neighborhood. I never knew why, as he didn’t live close to us, but suddenly his car was stopping before me. He had leaned across the front seat of his beater car, his arm on the passenger side window as he leaned toward us. Toward me. He had been thinner then, lean and gangly, but never awkward. Cade had miraculously managed to skip all of the awkward stages that were involved with being a teenager and always been gorgeous, heartbreakingly so.
His midnight eyes appeared even darker as the sun disappeared behind the ship. He seemed far more intense as he pinned me with that unerring, fathomless gaze. I was unnerved, and yet strangely enchanted by his forceful stare, a stare that didn’t leave me, not even to watch the extraordinary new arrivals as they slid across the sky. I had to force my gaze away from his as I turned my attention back to our suddenly strange sky. Then the ship had moved past us. The sun had reappeared as it left the rural areas behind for Boston.
“Are you ok?”
My attention had been drawn back to Cade as he uttered the question. I couldn’t find words for him; I didn’t have any at the moment. I was terrified, fascinated, and completely stunned to realize that aliens actually did exist. And they were here. He continued to stare at me, expecting some kind of answer, but I couldn’t find one for him. I didn’t know if I was ok, I didn’t know if any of us would ever be ok again. Clenching my jaw tight, feeling like an idiot in the face of his confident aura, I had managed a small nod.
He gazed at me for a moment longer, a strange gleam in his dark eyes as he studied me intently. He appeared strangely torn, seemed as if he didn’t want to leave. But that made no sense, we barely knew each other, and we certainly weren’t friends. At least we weren’t friends anymore, we hadn’t been for years. Finally he had returned my nod, sat back in the driver’s seat, and drove away. I’d watched him go until he took a left and disappeared from sight. We hadn’t spoken again since then.
I blinked as I was torn from the memory of that day by the shaking of the building. My heart jumped in fear, but a strange thrill of excitement ran through me as I studied Cade with a growing sense of wonder and curiosity. Then, the quaking increased and I forgot all about him as my terror spiked high again. The glass in the windows began to rattle in the frames, vibrating with the force of whatever was coming toward us. I took an instinctive step back. Cade’s hand fell briefly against my back, stopping me from moving before his touch slipped away.
I watched in wide eyed fascination, and dread, as he moved slowly toward the window. I wanted to reach out and grab him, wanted to scream at him to stop, but I was unable to move as I gaped at his back. He eased down a slat on the blinds, barely moving it as he peered out the window. Drawn by curiosity, I crept toward him. Pressing against his back, I leaned forward to peer over his shoulder. He shot me a look but didn’t try to stop me.
The shaking increased, the noise level escalated as it echoed throughout the store. My eyebrows drew questioningly together, I searched for the source of the sound, but I couldn’t pinpoint it through the narrow gap in the blinds. I jumped slightly as a large thing suddenly loomed before us. And thing was the only word that could be used to describe it. I had no idea what it was; I’d never seen anything like it. But it was awful, disgusting, gross in ways that I had never begun to imagine gross.
Cade grabbed hold of my shoulder, holding me still as I instinctively took a frightened step back from the monstrosity outside. I nearly collided with a table containing fragile figurines that would have shattered on impact. The saying bull in a china shop flashed through my mind, and I knew that I would have to be careful. I was about as graceful as that bull. And there were far too many fragile things within this store, and too many hideous things outside that we had to avoid.
The thing moved slowly forward. It was smaller than a Mac truck but there was something about it that reminded me of a semi without its trailer. It crept forward on numerous legs that were arachnid in appearance, but swollen, red, and bloated like an overfed tick. The legs seemed to pulse and vibrate with some strange life force that I didn’t understand. I was confused, completely unable to understand what the hell it was doing. Unable to comprehend what the hell it could possibly be. My mind simply could not wrap around the hideousness of this atrocity before us.
It stopped next to a few of the frozen bodies, hovering above them as it lowered slightly to get closer to the people. I watched in fascinated horror as one of those legs curled up before snaking out from the disgusting creature. The tentacle like appendage moved with an eerie, rapid grace that was almost as captivating as it was repulsive. I found myself entranced by its slithering, snakelike movements. The tentacle was clear; it slithered over the ground before snagging hold of a man holding hands with a woman. My mouth dropped, my eyes widened, a scream tore up my throat. Before I could utter a sound, Cade swiftly slid his hand over my mouth. He pulled me against him, pressing my
back to his chest as he held me tight. My knees buckled as I found myself barely able to remain standing. Cade helped keep me up, but I could feel a tremor in his powerful, taut muscles.
The tentacle thingy slithered up the man’s leg before reaching his chest. It pulled back when it reached the man’s face like a cobra ready to strike. It remained there for a few moments before attacking with deadly, and startling, velocity. It sank into the man’s throat, burying itself deep within his body. The tentacle was clearly visible as it moved, slithering beneath the man’s skin as it made its way swiftly through his body. The clear tentacle began to fill with pulsating blood as the man suddenly, and violently, came back to life. Vomit rolled through me, and it was only the mortifying thought of throwing up on Cade’s hand that helped me suppress it.
The poor man thrashed against the thing moving through him, his arms flailed wildly against the brutal assault being waged on his body. He grasped at the woman beside him, but she remained still as stone, oblivious to his pain. The man’s fingers tore at the invader, trying to pull it free, but his efforts were useless and only caused more blood to spill from his already brutalized throat. I gagged, choked, nearly fell as every muscle in my body collapsed.
This time Cade was barely able to keep me up. I could feel the horror that filled his entire body as he clung to me. He took his hand away from my mouth, wrapping his arms around my waist he pulled me away from the window. I did not fight against him, there was no fight left within me. There was little of anything left within me besides fear and revulsion.
Cade led me swiftly through the store. He dodged the shelves, and delicate artifacts, with a graceful ease that even through my numbing shock and horror, I was able to admire. We passed by the counter. A gray haired man stood behind it, a duster was clasped in the hand above his head as he faced the shelves behind the register. His spectacles gleamed in the light of the lamps dangling from the ceiling above him. My heart went out to him. I moved toward him, wanting to do something, wanting to wake him if I could, needing to get him out of here before that awful thing came for him.
Cade’s hand tightened on mine, he shook his head at me as he continued to pull me rapidly forward. I wanted to fight against him, but I was ashamed to admit that I was too terrified to offer much of a protest. Cade opened a door in the back of the store and pulled me into the darkened stairwell. Closing the door behind us, he reached up to pull the string on a dim bulb. Light filled the narrow, steep stairway, but it did not reveal the bottom of the steps.
Cade bent close to me, pressing his lips against my ear. “Stay,” he breathed so quietly that I barely heard him over the loud rush of blood filling my ears.
I remained where I was. A strange, uncontrollable shaking was starting to take hold of my body. My knees were trembling; I could not hold my hands still no matter how hard I tried. I wrapped my arms around myself, but it did nothing to ease the chill that had crept into my quaking bones.
Even in this darkened stairwell, away from the street, I could still feel the vibrations the thing caused within the building. I could still vividly see the man struggling against the awful creature greedily pulling the blood from his body. I felt nauseous again, and devastated.
Another dim light switched on below. Cade was silhouetted within the shadows as he reappeared. He moved with unfailing silence back up the stairs to me. His hand was gentle upon my arm; he clicked the light off before guiding me down the steps. I was oddly aware of the fact that though he was silent, I was painfully not.
He led me through the basement, guiding me swiftly through the clutter of boxes. The basement was surprisingly clean; there was no dust, no cobwebs. Amongst the boxes were antiques that had already been unpacked, and set out in preparation of the move upstairs. Others had been stored away until their new owners could pick them up, something they would never do now. Cade led me to the back wall. I stood staring at it as he reached to the side and pushed on something that I couldn’t see. I frowned at him, and then at the wall as it began to creek and groan. In my hypersensitive, over stimulated state, I was barely able to keep myself from screaming in surprise and terror.
He led me into the small, musty smelling room that had been revealed by the hidden door in the back wall. A crushing sense of panic settled over me, I could not see the walls surrounding me, but I could feel their nearness as it pressed against me. I wanted to turn and bolt from the room, wanted to run into the streets screaming the whole way. But I somehow managed to keep myself under control, mainly because Cade’s hand was strong and reassuring on my elbow and I could not humiliate myself in front of him.
He pulled the door most of the way shut before tugging on another string. Light flooded into the room, which was about twelve by twelve feet wide. There were only a few boxes within it, one of which was taller than me and nearly twice as wide. I couldn’t help but wonder what treasures were hidden within these boxes, and stashed away in this secret room.
“Stay here.”
I whirled as Cade released me. “Wait!” I gasped, lunging for him. I could maybe stay in this room if he was here, but by myself…
By myself I would go crazy.
He grasped hold of my shoulders, surprisingly gentle as he held me back and shook his head at me. “I have to get him.”
I couldn’t form words. I couldn’t argue with him. He was right, that poor man couldn’t be left up there to be drained dry by that awful, bloodthirsty thing. But I couldn’t be left here either. I hated to be trapped within tight confines. It was a fear that had taken hold of me a long time ago, and it had never let me go. I didn’t think it ever would.
He was already shaking his head as I spoke again. “I’ll help you.”
“No Bethany. Stay here.”
“Cade…”
“It will be better if I go alone, quicker. Quieter.”
I wanted to protest, wanted to cling to him, wanted to make him understand that I was just as terrified of this room as I was of that damn thing out there. I didn’t do anything though. He was right, that man needed help; he could not die because of my fear. I couldn’t bring myself to look like a sniveling coward in front of him. Never in front of Cade.
I didn’t know what it was, but I had always found myself needing to appear less childlike, and more confident around him. But then again, I hadn’t been childlike in a very long time. My childhood had been cruelly ripped away from me years ago.
We had lived in this town together almost our entire lives, but we barely knew each other, and yet he gave me a sense of strength I had never known before. Even when we passed in the hallways, not speaking, not touching, I had always felt a strange sense of comfort just from knowing that he was there. There had always been a connection to him that I had neither understood nor tried to develop. I considered my feelings for him a silly crush, one that was rearing painfully, and inappropriately, back to life right now. All hell was breaking lose above us, and yet I found myself strangely lost to the magnificent force of his onyx gaze.
He most certainly did not feel anything for me, a dull, clumsy, shy girl that was as far off his radar as Jupiter. Though he was intimidating, and aloof, girls had still flocked to him. They had been drawn in by his dark good looks and the air of mystery that enshrouded him. However, I had never seen him with any of those girls, and as far as I knew he wasn’t dating anyone. I didn’t even know if he ever had dated anyone, no matter what the rumors said.
But even with his distant attitude, and seeming disinterest in everything and everyone, I had still found him watching me within the halls, or on the street. Sometimes I would look up and he would be staring at me with an intensity that never failed to make me shake and quiver inside. Staring at me in a way that made me feel he knew me better than anyone else, maybe even knew me better than I knew myself.
I knew his attention didn’t mean anything, that I just wanted it to, but whenever I found him watching me it always left me rattled and aching for something more. Something that I couldn�
�t begin to understand, but knew that I wanted desperately. Those were the few times I actually did feel like a silly child again, because there was no way that Cade Marshall could ever see anything even remotely interesting, or special, in me.
I was feeling that strange connection to him again now, and it was giving me an odd sense of security and warmth. I couldn’t turn into a blathering idiot in front of him. I just couldn’t. No matter how much I didn’t want to stay in this cramped room by myself.
My hand fell back to my side, my lips pinched tight as I managed to give him a brisk nod. He studied me for a moment longer, but I kept my face impassive, tried to keep my fear hidden from him. I wasn’t sure it was working though.
Finally he turned away from me and slipped silently out the door. It wasn’t until I heard the soft lock click into place that I realized I did not know how to escape the small room if he didn’t come back.
CHAPTER 3
I was shaking, damn close to tearing my hair out, and on the verge of screaming hysterically by the time that Cade returned. He had not been gone long, minutes only, but I was sweating so badly that my clothes were soaked and I was horrified by the realization that I was probably starting to smell worse than the dank room surrounding me. Though I tried to hide my distress and terror from him, tried to put on a brave front and prove that I wasn’t a weak idiot, I knew I failed miserably. There was no hiding my fear anymore.
He closed the door silently behind him. “The man?” I managed to choke out.
Cade raised a dark eyebrow, his head cocked slightly to the side as he watched me. My shaking had eased now that he was back, but my throat was still clogged with terror. I was humiliated by the fact that I was on the verge of tears. When I needed to be at my strongest, I was close to completely falling apart, and all because of four stupid walls and a damn door.
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