“No. It was yours,” Scarecrow says.
It’s too late. I try to reach up, but the gun blast has already echoed off the walls and blood has sprayed all over my face and the front of my shirt. I can’t even scream as Lucas’ dead body falls to the ground beside me, his eyes wide, staring into the open blue sky. Tears streak down my face as I stare at him. We had been through so much together.
I know it’s a dumb thing to do, but we’re dead anyway, so I reach out to him and lean over his body in full view of Scarecrow and the others. I shake him by the shirt as if it will somehow wake him up, but I know that it won’t. Blood has already trickled out the back of his head, forming a small puddle beside him.
Your promises to me are now pronounced lies. Did they mean nothing? You said we would survive this catastrophe together.
As I sit here, weeping over my love, my companion, I can hear the slow chuckle of Scarecrow behind me.
“I see it now,” he says. “He’s trying to protect you. Probably trying to save your honor. We raiders have a reputation of taking whatever we want from young girls like you.”
I stare straight ahead with my back to Scarecrow as his words crawl into my ears. No doubt their guns are pointed at me. No doubt I am about to die.
I turn my head to glare at him. His long, hooked nose and crooked smile add to the evil aura he carries about him. “We were just trying to pass through,” I say through sobs. “He did nothing to you.”
“There’s probably a couple o’ more,” Scarecrow says to his men. “Go check it out.” He looks up at me. “Don’t you worry. I’ll take care of you. Why don’t you just come over here? I’ll let you pass.” He and his men snicker at his words.
My hands are shaking as the two men approach. The hatchet is by my side, but I doubt Scarecrow or any of his men have seen it. Regardless, I doubt I have the strength to swing at them. Somehow I manage to look over at Gilbert and Ethan. Gilbert is red-faced and ready to fight and Ethan just stares at me. I hold his gaze for a long moment. It’s as though he’s trying to keep me focused on him so I don’t look down at Lucas’ body on the ground.
I could have stopped it, I think to myself. I saw it before it happened. I could have saved him!
I turn my head away from Ethan and stare up at the sky. I don’t want to look at the ground. I can’t look at the ground. I reach up to wipe a tear from my cheek only to see that it’s a red, thick liquid. Lucas’ blood.
“She’s a pretty one, boss,” one of the raiders says as they come closer. “Might want to keep her around!” The other raiders laugh stupidly.
I watch as Gilbert tightens his grip on his club. Just as the first one steps next to the dumpster, he jumps up and slams his club into the man’s stomach. The raider doubles over and Gilbert brings the club down on his head, no doubt killing him instantly. The other raider points his gun at Gilbert, but instinct takes over me as I grab my hatchet, let out a scream and swing it into the side of his knee. He falls back, shooting his gun in the air as he yells out in pain. Gilbert rushes toward him and swings his club down on his throat with a loud crunch, grabbing the man’s rifle in the process.
Bullets whiz past my head and I duck back behind the car as Gilbert scoots in close to me. He lifts the rifle over the trunk of the car and blind-fires three or four rounds. The raiders shout out for the others to take cover. I look at Ethan, and he already has the other dead raider’s gun in his hands. He dares to lift his head above the dumpster and take aim as Scarecrow and his men find cover behind the doors of their vehicles.
The bullets slam into the sides of the dumpster and car louder than if they were sledgehammers. I drop the hatchet and cover my ears. My eyes are magnetized to Lucas’ body on the ground and I can’t look away. The bullet hole in his forehead drools blood and I know it is my fault. I could have done something. I saw that this was going to happen.
For a moment, the firing ceases. We can hear the hurried voices of the raiders, but can’t understand a word they are saying. All of them start to scamper back into their vehicles. Each of us stands and looks over our cover to see them all in a rush. I hear one of them yell out something about greyskins.
Gilbert must have heard it too because he slams his fist against the car and swears loudly. “First the raiders, and now greyskins.”
“They must have been drawn in by the gunshots,” Ethan answers.
“Well, we’re not going to be running away on foot,” Gilbert says. He leans onto the trunk of the car and takes aim at one of the SUVs riding away. The first shot takes out the back window. I duck for cover as one of the raiders turns around and fires at us through the shards of broken glass. I know Gilbert’s next shot is true when I see the driver’s head split open. Blood covers the windshield and the SUV comes to a slow stop as the remaining raider tries to shove the dead driver out the door to take his spot. “Ethan,” Gilbert yells. “Follow me.”
Ethan doesn’t argue as he carries the rifle and follows closely behind Gilbert. The raider is struggling to get the driver out of the seat and take off. He fires a few random rounds at the two guys, but they don’t even come close to the mark. Gilbert and Ethan raise their guns and fire almost everything they have into the front cab until the man is lifeless.
Gilbert yells for me to follow them and get into the SUV. I can hear the grunts of the greyskins getting louder. Soon they will be filling the streets, eating whatever fresh blood they can get to. My knees are planted firmly on the ground as I kneel in front of Lucas’ body. Tears mixed with blood stream down my face and I’m not certain I have the strength to follow the others.
I hear them call out my name. I can hear the greyskins closing in around us. The hissing, the lust for flesh, the smell of death. Lucas had promised me that we would survive this catastrophe together. He told me that we would be a couple of the few that made it to their old age, and that someone would someday make a cure for this disease that plagued mankind. He promised that I would survive and that he would be by my side the entire way.
Lucas has broken his promises.
As the others call out my name, I can’t help but wonder if I should go along with Lucas. What would be the point in living without him? He was all that I had left. My family and all my friends from before the time of the greyskins are gone. What’s the point of living? Is there any purpose in merely existing in this rotten world?
I feel like the infected, once-human greyskins are on top of me. When a pair of hands grab my shoulders, I expect a set of teeth to sink into my neck and end my life where I sit.
But when I turn my head, it’s Ethan.
“Waverly!” he says. “I know what he meant to you, but we’ve got to go now!”
“I can’t leave him,” I say. “I could have saved him. I knew this was going to happen!”
“Waverly! Come on!”
Despite my resistance, Ethan reaches down and pulls my legs off the dirt, and carries me toward the SUV. Gilbert revs the engine, warning us to get in the vehicle or get eaten. The greyskins are closing in.
I should have saved Lucas. The warning was there. I saw his future.
Ethan shoves me into the back seat and yells for Gilbert to drive. If we had been seconds later, the greyskins would have torn us apart. I look out the back of the shattered window and see a herd of greyskins chasing the SUV, and all the others chasing the smell of blood.
After today, there will be nothing left of Lucas. In the same way, I feel there is nothing left of me.
Chapter 2 - Remi
“Remi,” Gabe calls out to me as I walk toward my apartment. The sound of his voice makes me grin, but I quickly make my lips fall into a straight line before I turn to look at him. I hate that my heart skips a beat when I see his face. It’s a feeling I don’t want or need, but it’s there regardless. He has shaggy, brown hair that falls down the sides of his cheeks. His strong jaws are covered by several days of stubble and it suits him. His blue eyes never leave mine as he walks toward me carrying a rifle slu
ng over his shoulder.
“You aren’t here to arrest me, are you?” I ask as he walks toward me. The sound of my voice comes across as flirtatious, but I don’t mean for it to. He is very handsome, but I decided a while ago that love was out of the question for me - at least until someone finds a cure for this greyskin problem.
“I don’t really have that power,” Gabe says.
“You have a gun,” I answer back to him as I start walking again. He keeps the slow pace next to me. “That’s already a lot more power than I have.”
“I guess,” he says. “But I’m not too sure Paxton would approve of me arresting people. He might take my gun away.”
“Just like he took mine,” I say. This time my tone is whatever the opposite of flirtatious is…angry? Turned off? It is still a sore subject with me even though I have been without a weapon for nearly three months.
I’ll never forget the feeling I had that day. The mixed emotions were like being on a roller coaster. First, the elation I felt at finding Crestwood nearly overwhelmed me. I had been through so much crap it was ridiculous. I know my story can’t be much different from a lot of people’s, and there are plenty of others with a worse history than mine, but it didn’t matter. Seeing the town felt like the best thing that had ever happened to me.
The guards let me in, but then they took my gun and knife away from me, and then frisked me. Gabe had been part of the welcoming committee and I remember hating him for it, but now I know he was just following the rules of Crestwood. Then there was the meeting with Paxton, Crestwood’s leader. You talk about a guy with an authority complex. I had already been questioned by the guards, but Paxton came in with some questions of his own.
I had been in some holding cell for the better part of the day. I didn’t complain, though. I was safe. Or at least I felt safe. There was a mirror on the wall across from me. My long, dark hair was in tangles, and my skin looked dark from being out in the sun so much. My green eyes looked paler than they had three years ago. Maybe that was because of the endless nights where I did nothing but cry for the first year. I used to think that my nose was too long and pointy, but such a dumb observation didn’t matter to me anymore. What struck me the most was how skinny I looked. My skin clung to my bones so tightly a small cut might have split me wide open. Just from seeing my reflection, I couldn’t imagine going back out into the world. My biggest fear was that someone was going to tell me that I couldn’t stay, and when Paxton finally came into the room, I just knew this would be the news.
He sat across from me with a folder and pen in his hands. He had a nicely trimmed, black beard and dark hair. I remember thinking he was so tall that he had probably not encountered too many people that were bigger than him. He wore a flannel shirt and jeans, so I hoped this meant he wouldn’t be a complete jerk.
He sat back and crossed one of his legs over the other, ignoring the folder and pen on the table in front of him. My eyes went to Gabe who stood next to the door, and then back to Paxton when he spoke to me.
“Your name is Remi?” Paxton asked me.
I nodded. His voice was deep and gravelly. I couldn’t help but notice the sweet smell of cologne. It must have been the first time I had smelled anything like it in three years.
“I’m guessing you don’t know much about Crestwood,” he said.
I shook my head. “I don’t know anything about it, but it looks safe.”
Paxton smiled.
“Is it?” I asked.
“Is it what?”
“Safe?”
“Of course it’s safe,” he said as his eyebrows lowered. It seemed like my question had somehow offended him, that it was preposterous to even ask such a thing. I already didn’t like this guy.
“Why are you alone?” he asked me.
“Just like I told him,” I said, nodding to Gabe, “I’ve been alone for the past year now. The group I was with is gone.”
“And you haven’t been looking to join with anyone else?” he asked.
“I’ve already answered these questions,” I said.
“Well, I’m asking you again.”
“I mean, I’ve come across a few people here and there, but most people are dangerous.”
“How old are you?”
“Your boy didn’t write it down in the file?” I said, again nodding toward Gabe.
“How old are you?” Paxton repeated. I was quickly losing any chance I might have had of getting to stay in the town. Paxton’s cheeks started to turn red, and I could tell he was getting agitated. But I was agitated too. I hadn’t eaten much in the past couple of days and I had just encountered a large group of greyskins only hours before. I was tired.
“Twenty-two,” I answered.
“Where are you originally from?”
I sighed. “Oakridge.”
Paxton shook his head. “But that’s only a two-hour drive north of here. How is it you just now learned about us?”
“A two-hour drive is a lot of space to cover on foot,” I said. “Besides, any town I’ve come across has been overridden with greyskins. And I wasn’t in Oakridge when the outbreak happened. I was at Elkhorn.”
Paxton’s face went from a uneasy look to an almost excited look. “Elkhorn?” he repeated. “The Epicenter.”
I lifted an eyebrow and nodded. I hated the fact that he was so interested. I usually kept that bit of information to myself when I came across someone because it always just brought up unwanted questions.
“That must have been interesting,” Paxton said.
“It was hell,” I said. “Imagine waking up in the morning, ready to go to class only to find that they’ve all been cancelled because people were eating other people.”
Paxton cleared his throat and looked down at the table. I remember noticing his eyes starting to water only briefly. “My daughter was in Elkhorn,” he said.
“Then I’m sure she’s told you all about it,” I said callously.
Paxton shook his head and leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “I haven’t seen my daughter in four years.”
I looked away from him, feeling uncomfortable. I hated it, but I didn’t care. All of us had been through crap, and from the looks of it, I had been through more crap than any of these people who sat comfortably behind their thick barricades.
“I just want a safe place to stay,” I said. “I’m able-bodied, so I can do my part here. And I’m tired of running.”
“Where did you go when you left Elkhorn?” he asked, ignoring my words.
I swallowed hard. “I tried to get back to Oakridge.” I could feel the lump in my throat forming. I hadn’t cried in such a long time, it would be stupid to start now. I clenched my jaw tightly and stared straight ahead. “Oakridge was just too overrun. There couldn’t have been anyone left. So, I met a group and started traveling to find a safe haven. But all we found were greyskins.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Everywhere,” I said. “To find a place like this seems…” I couldn’t find the words as I started to choke. I wouldn’t cry. I couldn’t do it. I had been strong for so long, now was not the time to give in to my emotions. “I just…I’m just happy I’ve found this place. If you will have me, I will pull my weight and do whatever it is you need me to do.”
Paxton sat for a moment, seemingly in deep thought. Sure, I didn’t like the guy. I felt like he had come in trying to bully me, but I didn’t care. There were far worse bullies outside these walls, and most of them were rotting as they walked.
“I have one more question for you,” he said. He sighed and cupped his hands together, resting his elbows on the table in front of him. His chin sat on his hands as his eyes bore deep into me. “Do you have any special abilities?”
I was too stunned to answer. There was no way he could know about that. I have only told one person about it. I could feel my breathing getting heavier and my pulse quickening. “What…what do you mean?”
“It’s a simple question that requires
a simple answer,” he said. “Do you have special abilities? Powers? Supernatural?”
Asking me this question couldn’t have been a coincidence. My special ability, as he called it, is something only I know about. I could hear things that no one else in the world could. Someone could be talking on the other side of town, and with determined focus, I would be able to hear every word. It’s not something I was born with, but it started happening to me about a year ago. Did Paxton have some way to detect it in me or something?
“Of course not,” I lied. And to try and add authenticity to the lie, I added, “What in the world kind of question is that?”
I wasn’t sure he was convinced that I was telling the truth, but I sat and stared at him with my mouth hanging open like I was an idiot. His eyes studied me for a few more moments, but then he dropped his hands and sat up straight.
“I’m going to let you in,” he said. “We have a room available for you and plenty of work we could use you for.” He stood from his seat and I did the same. He towered over me, but I wasn’t intimidated. Just thankful. He reached out his large right hand and nearly covered mine as we shook.
“Thank you so much,” I said.
“Don’t make me regret letting you stay here,” he said.
“Oh, I won’t,” I said. I felt like a beggar then, but thinking back on it now, I suppose that is what I was. “In fact, I will make you wish you had more people like me.” It sounded stupid when the words came out, but he nodded and smiled at me anyway.
I never got my weapons back, but Gabe told me that if I were ever to leave Crestwood for any reason, all my possessions would be returned to me. All my possessions. A gun, a knife, and a folded up, torn page from an atlas. Though I felt naked without those things during my first days in Crestwood, I quickly got used to it.
The idea of Gabe walking next to me as a friend is baffling when I think back on that day. He had initially scared me and made me think I might not be allowed to stay, but ever since I joined the town he has been a saint.
Anywhere But Here (The Starborn Ascension) Page 2