by E S Richards
“Close in, boys,” Giles heard the voice speak again, “ready…now!”
In the blink of an eye more lights came into focus around Giles, illuminating down small side streets and in the doorways of buildings. He spun around quickly, trying to focus on all the bodies that had just lit up but there were too many and Giles’s head was already spinning from exhaustion and the infection he carried. In that moment he knew there was only one thing he could do and so Giles dropped the bag he had been carrying from his shoulders and broke into a run, heading in the direction of his parents’ house as fast as he could physically move.
His legs felt like lead beneath him. His heart thumped against his ribcage with every step he took but Giles knew he couldn’t stop running. Adrenaline pumped through his veins in competition with whatever deadly bacteria swam through his blood, fighting for pole position and for once last chance to save himself. Giles could hear countless footsteps behind him. They were chasing him and, if that was the case, they would undoubtedly catch him. He used every trick left up his sleeve, darting down side streets and weaving around narrow corners in an attempt to lose his pursuers. After about five minutes of running he realized he wasn’t far from his parents’ house; if he could just make it there unseen, maybe he could get out of this situation alive.
Giles could feel his legs giving in as he pulled onto the street adjacent to where his parents lived. The sound of the people chasing him—gang members he could only assume—had not grown any quieter. They shouted to one another, teasing Giles and working to surround him. It was obvious that if he didn’t get inside quickly, he was not going to get away from them, and Giles desperately didn’t want to know what would happen if they caught him.
But running was too much for him now. His breath came in staggered gasps, his chest wheezing as if he had inhaled a room full of smoke. Giles’s vision spotted as he looked from side to side, trying to pick out the house that backed onto his parents’ yard. In the end he guessed blindly, stumbling forward as the shouts of gang members around him echoed off every wall, the taunting voices reminding him how close he was to being caught.
Desperation filled Giles, the knowledge that his parents were only a short walk away spurring him on, encouraging him to keep moving even though every muscle in his body protested. He just wanted to sit down; he wanted to close his eyes and rest, to deal with everything in the morning. But Giles knew if he did that, the morning would never come. He had to save himself now and he had to keep moving.
Almost without knowing where he was going, Giles tore through the side gate of one of the houses on the street, pushing through into their back garden. He was so close now, his childhood home loitering temptingly just on the other side of the fence. Clumsily he hoisted his aching body up and over it, landing with a thud on the grass on the other side.
“Mom!” Giles let out a strangled cry as he forced himself to his feet; he was so lightheaded now he could hardly see straight, guessing at which direction to walk from his memory. “Mom!” He cried again, hoping with all his might that his parents could hear him. “Mom! Dad! Let me in!”
All Giles could hear was his own blood pulsating in his ears. His own breathing was rapid and desperate now, each breath somehow sounding like it caused him more pain than relief. His legs were useless, Giles dropping to his knees after just a few steps and resorting to crawling across the ground. Still he couldn’t hear anything, he couldn’t see anything. The effort of his run through the city had used up every last bit of energy his body had left. He was living on borrowed time now and he knew it.
“Mom?” Giles let out a whisper one last time, all he could manage to bring his body to produce before his eyes drifted shut. He knew she wasn’t coming to save him; no one was coming to save him. Grand Rapids was a lost city now and Giles was about to be lost alongside it.
Chapter 15
“What’s going on?”
Panic laced Amy’s voice as she ran across the downstairs room of the small wood cabin and called back up the stairs toward Katie. James was awake now and by her side, his small frame quivering as he tried to figure out what was happening and why they’d all been woken up in the night.
“Just pack!” Katie yelled down from upstairs for the second time, the sound of her busying herself above and waking the two girls echoing down towards Amy. “I’ll explain when we get there!”
Amy didn’t like what was happening one bit. She’d spent several days living in the log cabin with Katie and Derek, but the vast majority of that time she’d been trapped in a grief spiral. Was there something sinister that she’d missed and that had now put both her and James in danger? Amy looked from her son to the door of the log cabin and considered grabbing him and running away, putting as much distance as possible between them and this place before everything was too late.
Katie was downstairs with Jessica and Sammy before Amy had time to make the decision though. Both Katie and Jessica carried bags, while Sammy looked on with a lost expression on her face. Surely there couldn’t be an ulterior motive to all of this if it involved dragging Sammy out of bed in the middle of the night. Amy tried to remind herself to trust Katie; she had been nothing but kind to her and she had looked after James these past few days when Amy couldn’t. If this was just another twist in the tale, Amy needed to roll with the punches and trust that Katie was doing what was best for her family. Exactly what Amy needed to do as well.
“Okay,” Amy sprang into action once she’d finally made her mind up about what to do, grabbing her bag from the floor and stuffing it with her and James’s belongings. “Where are we going?”
“To the hideaway,” Katie replied frantically, desperately trying to hurry Sammy along with her shoes. “Jessica, get the door and lead the way, will you? No light though, you’ll have to follow the string.”
“Okay Mom,” Jessica nodded resiliently, taking Katie’s bag as well, so her mother only had to deal with Sammy. “Follow me,” Jessica then said to Amy and James, pulling open the front door and striding confidently outside into the dark night.
“Are you not coming?” Amy said over her shoulder to Katie, watching as the woman tried desperately to keep her youngest daughter from crying. Amy could see the fear in Sammy’s eyes and couldn’t imagine what the young girl was going through. Looking to James, she saw her son watching the scene unfold as well and offered him her hand, pulling her only child toward her.
“I am,” Katie spoke without looking away from Sammy. “I’ll be right behind you. Go on, get out of here.”
“Come on,” Jessica urged from the doorway. “We need to go.”
Amy cast one last look at Katie and Sammy before throwing her small bag over her shoulder and tugging James out of the cabin behind Jessica. Although they all couldn’t have been asleep for more than an hour before Graham and the other men came banging on the door, the woods around them had fallen into complete darkness. The stairs down from the cabin were just about visible in the light that spilled out from the building, but beyond that Amy had no idea how they were going to find their way.
“Over here,” Jessica called from the bottom of the stairs, her hands scrambling around on the ground searching for something. “Got it!”
“What?” Amy questioned as she helped James move down the steps toward the teenage girl. “Where are we going?”
Jessica held up a thin piece of string in her right hand, barely visible in the dark and still probably possible to miss during daylight. “We need to hold hands,” she spoke, readjusting the bags on her back so both her hands were free. “I’ll follow the string and it’ll take us to the hideaway, okay?”
Amy couldn’t deny she was nervous about what was happening, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. “Okay,” she nodded, pushing James in front of her. “James, you go in the middle and hold onto Jessica with one hand and me with the other. Hold on tight and don’t let go, all right?”
“Yes, Mom,” James nodded and moved into the position she’d inst
ructed, reaching out and taking Jessica’s free hand. Once the two children were holding hands Amy reached out and took her son’s other one, gripping him firmly and holding on for dear life.
“Okay,” Jessica turned and faced forward in the darkness. “Don’t let go.”
Amy didn’t need to be told twice, already having to concentrate immensely hard on her footing as Jessica started walking forward. She led them quietly away from the faint light of the cabin and out into the unforgiving darkness of the forest, each step more dangerous than the last. All Amy could do was make sure she kept James’s hand in her own and keep as calm as possible, her ears alert for any sound that might start coming towards them.
They walked in silence and in darkness for about twenty minutes before Jessica stopped, causing James to slam into her back and, in turn, Amy to slam into James’s.
“We’re here,” Jessica whispered quietly. “Don’t let go just yet though.”
Amy squeezed James’s hand in hers for moral support and prayed whatever Jessica was doing wouldn’t take much longer. She felt disoriented and afraid and all she wanted to do was rediscover that feeling of safety that had danced fleetingly just out of her reach for several days now. She knew James must be feeling the same way and after how their last few days together had gone, Amy desperately wanted to make things up to her son.
“James,” Jessica’s voice came in the darkness once more. “I need you to let go of my hand for a second, okay? Just for a second and then we can get inside and be safe.”
Amy felt James’s grip tightenon her own hand at the question and she squeezed back once more reassuringly. “It’s okay, James,” Amy whispered to her son, “you can let go. You’ve got me here.”
“Good job, James,” Jessica spoke again a few seconds later, clearly reacting to James releasing her hand. A few bangs and scrapes echoed into the forest then, something that sounded like Jessica lifting a heavy door of some sort, her breathing becoming slightly heavier from exertion. “Okay,” she continued after another few seconds. “James, can you find my hand again? We’re going to walk down some stairs now.”
Amy listened for her son to reply but no sound came from his mouth. Instead a moment later she felt herself being pulled slightly forward, following her son and Jessica as they carefully walked down a set of shallow steps that lasted about a minute. When Amy’s feet finally felt flat ground she squinted further into the darkness, trying to figure out where they were and what had happened. She was about to speak when Jessica’s voice filled the air once more.
“Stay where you are,” the teenager spoke, “and don’t move. I’ll be back in a second.”
Amy opened her mouth to argue but quickly stopped herself, knowing that in the darkness there was very little she could do. She kept a tight grip on her son’s hand and listened as Jessica appeared to walk away from the two of them, climbing the shallow steps once more. The same scraping noise then came from slightly above them, which ended with a loud bang. In a sudden moment of panic Amy realized that must have been the door and Jessica had just trapped them inside. Had she escaped and left the two of them down there or was the teenage girl still with them?
Just as Amy was about to cry out, a soft light flooded the room they were now in, illuminating Jessica first as she lit an old gas lantern and then spreading out around the full area. Amy blinked a couple of times in the light, readjusting her vision before she let go of James’s hand and looked around the room. Instantly she felt ashamed of herself again for the doubt she had just felt towards Jessica. The room they had been led to—the hideaway—was a small, underground area, the walls carved out of mud but with various homey items scattered around to try and make it seem more comforting. Internally, Amy couldn’t believe she had doubted these people again, when once more they had proved to show her nothing but absolute kindness.
“Where are we?” Amy breathed, taking in more of the underground room and the items that lay within it.
There was a decent-sized crate of food and water, enough to last them about a week if Amy had to make a guess. A pile of blankets and pillows lay beside it, along with extra clothes that looked to mostly belong to Jessica and Sammy, though an old pair of walking boots in the corner looked to have definitely come from Derek. A few books were balanced up on a rudimentary shelf, a source of entertainment for when longer hours were spent underground. Several more of the gas lanterns like the one Jessica held were also stored together, carefully packaged and insulated so they stayed free from damp.
“This is the hideaway,” Jessica replied, opening her arms slightly to indicate to the small room they stood in. “We have to come down here sometimes when the bad people come.”
“The bad people?” Immediately Amy latched on the last words Jessica has spoken, remembering why they had been forced to flee from the log cabin but still not understanding exactly what the reason was. “Who are the bad people, Jessica? Why did we have to come here?”
Jessica shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other, trying to figure out what to say, when the sound of the underground door being opened filled the room again and all three of them froze.
“Kilo, Sierra,” a whisper came from above.
“Juliet, Alpha, Juliet,” Jessica whispered back. “Come down, Mom.”
Amy watched with a smile on her face as Katie climbed down into the underground room, a quiet Sammy trailing behind her. Immediately Jessica wrapped them both in a big hug, taking Sammy away from their mother and towards the pile of blankets so she could get comfortable. Amy felt a tug on her arm and looked down to see James looking over at the two girls longingly, hoping to go and join them. Amy gave him a small nod and allowed him to move off, knowing she still had a question or two that were unanswered and now that Katie was here, she could hopefully provide the answers.
“Are you okay?” Katie turned and spoke to Amy once she had caught her breath. “Jessica got you here all right?”
“Yes, we’re fine, thank you,” Amy replied. “Are you?”
“Yes, all good,” Katie nodded. “Hopefully Derek and the others will be along soon and we can head back. Better to take precautions though, you know?”
“Well, actually,” Amy prepared to ask her questions again. “I don’t really know. I was just about to ask Jessica, but perhaps you could explain what’s going on. Who are the bad people Jessica spoke about? And why did we have to come down here?”
“Ah,” Katie nodded in an understanding manner. “Why don’t we take a seat and I’ll explain things to you.”
Amy mumbled in agreement and followed Katie towards a long bench that ran the length of one of the walls, sitting down beside her on it and turning to give the woman her full attention. Katie cleared her throat and started talking, explaining that while they had managed to live fairly comfortably in the woods since they left Grand Rapids, there were people who had tried to take the properties on a couple of occasions. There weren’t many of them, but they were slowly growing in number as they learned more about how many cabins were in the woods and what a good resource they were to have with the clean stream and ample game that lived there.
Listening carefully, Amy realized that what was happening in the woods was the very same that had happened in her own home in South Haven. What had happened on that first day had changed people; most of them for the worst and this was now one of the sad facts of the world they lived in. Everywhere was dangerous and it seemed that no matter where she went, danger would always be following them.
“So how many times,” Amy asked once Katie had finished her explanation. “How many times have you had to come here since you moved out to the woods?”
“Three,” Katie replied. “Most recently was the night before we found you. That was why Derek and I were out in the woods. Dash heard a noise and we wondered if they’d come back already.”
“Oh,” Amy processed the information, realizing this attack on the wood cabins sounded like quite a frequent thing. “And what happens? When they
come I mean… Do you always get rid of them?”
“Not always,” Katie shook her head and looked down at the ground, regret filling her eyes as Amy’s question triggered a sad memory. “We’ve lost a few people, but we’ve been keeping on top of things so far. You saw Graham and his son, Marco, who came to the cabin earlier? Well, Marco used to have two brothers and Graham…” Katie paused and sniffed. “Graham used to have a wife. They all came out into the woods together but on the night of the very first attack things got out of control and, well…” Katie paused again, her eyes drifting up briefly to meet with Amy’s. “You get the idea.”
Amy nodded gravely, understanding what Katie was insinuating. All of a sudden, life in the woods didn’t sound as safe as she had thought it would be and the familiar itch of fear and worry started to creep into Amy’s head. So many things had delayed her on the journey toward Ellen and Maria’s lake house; each one seeming like it would be a safe refuge but then somehow turning out worse than the last. This was the final straw. Amy couldn’t keep putting James in more danger on the off chance they were going to find a new home. They had a home out there waiting for them and they needed to reach it.