One (Alone Book 3)

by Mercedes Prunty

  No one screamed, no one cried out, no one made any attempt to avenge the man. The fear was so solidly set in that the town knew it was safer to stay back and let him be strangled to death.

  “And that ladies and gentlemen is why you never get to ask for a vehicle, I am not stupid, I know what it is you will try and do and I will not have it. I have eyes everywhere and they see all. Like the girl that is standing behind the prison door watching thinking I don’t know”.

  My breath caught in my throat, I went to turn, to run back inside but a baseball bat swung, connecting with my skull, I just had enough time to be angry with myself that I had been so consumed with watching the show outside that I hadn’t sensed someone sneak up behind me… Then I was out.

  ~

  Kaley sat with Ruth, chained to the sofa in the mobile home that belonged to Drayton, a blind fold over her eyes so that she couldn’t see. They had both heard about Stacie’s arrival over Drayton’s walkie talkie.

  “Sir, there is a girl who has broken into the camp, do ya think it’s to do with the guys and dolls you picked up?”

  “I most certainly do”, Drayton said, “Where is she now?”

  “She broke into the prison block but I haven’t seen her come back out”.

  “Fine, she can witness how this place is run then”, He then turned to Kaley and smirked, even though she couldn’t see him smile she could hear the smile in his voice, he thought he was winning, “Bet you didn’t see that one coming”.

  She stayed silent.

  “I will deal with you two later but for now I have to deal with yet another trespasser”.

  “Not if she deals with you first”, Kaley snapped.

  “You think a silly little girl is a match for me?”

  She said nothing.

  “Is she like you?”

  Again nothing.

  “If she was she would have used it by now to help you, she isn’t is she?”

  Kaley turned away, “She doesn’t need to be like me to take you out”.

  He laughed, “We will see”. And he left, locking the door behind him.

  “Do you think she can?” Ruth asked.

  Kaley nodded and smiled to herself a ruthless grin, “I’ve seen it”.

  ~

  I woke up feeling my whole body supressed, a blindfold around my eyes and my hands chained to a wall.

  “Hello?” I said maybe a little more pissed off than I meant but it got the reaction I wanted.

  “Well hello, nice of you to finally join us”.

  “Where am I?”

  “Rue De Leff”, the voice answered, “My home and soon to be yours if you play along or it will become your grave”.

  “You should have killed me when you had the chance, this place will not become my grave”.

  “Why? You’re only a pathetic excuse for a woman”.

  “Why not let me see your face?” I asked.

  “Oh no the blind fold stays on, I’ve seen what your friend can do with her eyes, I’m taking no chances”.

  “Chicken shit”, I hissed.

  A burning slap hissed over my right cheek and I laughed.

  “You think your death is a laughing matter?”

  “No, I think yours is. But I take it life is a laughing matter to you on how you kill for fun.”

  “No I do not actually think that, life is precious and I can’t stand the fact that people force me to take life daily but in this world needs must”.

  “Life is precious to you? It didn’t look like it when you hung that guy just because he needed a vehicle to look further afield for supplies”.

  “He would have taken the vehicle, gone and never come back. I can’t allow that, he owes me”.

  “Owes you for what?”

  “Walking on my land, eating my food and breathing my air”.

  “I’m sorry but how is it your food if he found it for you?”

  “Because I kept him safe and alive here, it’s a form of payment”.

  “But he goes out scavenging alone and stays safe and brings it all back unscathed? He owes you nothing”.

  “My men keep an eye on them who go out, I have eyes everywhere, that’s how I knew you were coming” he smiled, “My men, they keep them safe. They kill the creatures before they get near them, he owed us, they all owe us, they all owe me because we keep them alive”.

  “They owe you nothing”, I repeated to him.

  “They owe me everything!”

  “They owe you…Nothing”, I said with a bit more of an authoritive tone, “And soon they won’t even remember your name”.

  “And why is that?” he asked.

  “Because I am going to kill you and I am going to liberate them so they can live a greater life in this world, a life that they actually want to live”.

  “Bring it bitch”, he snarled.

  With all my strength I pulled on the chains that bound me to the wall, I pulled and pulled until I heard the gentle snap and chink of the chain link giving way under the pressure. I felt him move just as the other chain link gave and using my sensors I felt for him in the room and flung out the chain length that was still attached to the main brace around my wrists and flicked them around his ankles and yanked him back. I heard him fall and a wicked crunch broke the silence as his nose broke on the hard floor.

  “You bitch”, he spat just as I lifted the blindfold off and watched him splutter blood over the floor.

  Loosening one of the chains I wrapped it around his neck and pulled hard until I could hear chocking noises coming from his desperate mouth.

  “I wasn’t born a bitch, oh no, the world and people like you made me this way”.

  “Let…me…g.g.goo”.

  “Why? So you can alert your men to our struggle? I thought you had eyes everywhere Drayton, surely you should have eyes watching your every move now? But oh no, Drayton thinks he’s better than just a normal, pathetic young woman…but that is where you are wrong…I am not a normal pathetic young woman…I’m a half breed, I’m infected…And I’m going to kill you”.

  “You’re…Infected?” He breathed and just to prove it I summoned my claws and let them elongate out in front of him.

  “Oh yes, I’m an infected strong young woman and you are a pathetic, normal excuse for a man”.

  He began to shake, “Please look take your people and go, you can leave. Just let me live, this place is my home, my life, I built it from nothing”.

  “I can’t go on and leave people suffering under your rule, I’m sorry, but you have to go”, I drew up a clawed hand and pierced it into his abdomen, he choked on the pain as I pulled on the chain to make his scream simmer into a squeal. I could feel him bleeding out, taste the coppery smell of his blood in the air. I licked my lips but kept control of myself, I lifted him to his knees using the chains like dogs leads and hauled him to the door, “Take me to my people”.

  “My home, my mobile home…The two girls…The men are…in…the…the other prison area”.

  “I looked there earlier there was no one there other than a dead man and my dead friend”.

  “There’s another one just over the other side, we don’t keep the men and women together when captured usually, they had to go somewhere we could contain them”.

  “And the young boy, is he still alive?”

  He nodded, “I only killed the man in the…room but he’s not one of yours and the woman in the street”.

  “And my friend, the one tied with rope, the one with red hair”, I helped him remember.

  He shook his head, “That wasn’t me, that was one of yours”.

  I tightened the chain and pulled him back, “What do you mean?”

  “The girl, with the power…She…she killed her?”

  “Why?”

  “Because my men…they were going to…”

  “Stop, I don’t need to know what your idiot lap dogs were going to do”.

  “So are you going to…reprimand your person?”

  “No, I
forgive her, she killed her to protect her from the horror and the pain of your sick people. But you I don’t forgive, you killed in cold blood and soon your blood will run cold to”.

  I opened the door and marched him out into the middle of the street, people gasped in shock as they watched puny little me drag a fully grown man into the street and force his head into a dirty, grime filled puddle. A group of Drayton’s men all piled out onto the street, guns and weapons raised at me.

  “I want my people and I want them now!”

  “Let him go and we won’t kill you”, the one nearest to me said.

  “Well that’s a lie because as soon as I drop him you would shoot me. Let’s play it my way”. I exposed my claws and stabbed it into his body again, my claws went right through his body and protruded out the other side, blood burst from where the tips sliced through and more dribbled down into the dirty puddle, “I want my people, or I do this to every single one of you”.

  BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!!!!

  Bullets flew at me from all angles, a few hit one of my arms but the rest hit Drayton as I used him as my human shield. The bullets soon stopped and I stood back up, throwing the now dead Drayton to the floor.

  “Like I said, I want my people”.

  “How the?” The nearest one to me asked just as he watched as the hole in my dad’s leather jacket showed him the bullet wound healing up.

  “I can’t die”, I smiled, “But you can, so why not just hand over my people so no one else has to?”

  “We own this place, you don’t, you don’t scare me”, a young man around my own age said, his face full of acne scars and grime. He lifted his gun again, aimed and shot but this time I didn’t have the weight of Drayton with me so I ran, swinging the chains that were still bound at my wrists around me and swiping some of the armed people out the way before diving through a window to a small wooden shack. The bullets kept coming tearing the wooden building apart but I was already at the other window and jumping through. The bullets stopped and there was an eerie silence in the air, the shooting left a strange ringing silence but I used it to my advantage and stealthily made my way back into the street. I snuck up behind the young man who had his back to me, the people of the town saw me coming but shouted no warning to him, they wanted him dead, they wanted them all dead, they wanted a new life to start over.

  “Boo!” I whispered in his ear.

  He jumped, let off a lone shot just as I twisted his neck and left him to fall to the floor.

  “Anyone else?”

  “Wait!” A man’s voice called out, he too was armed with a gun but he had it aimed low and nowhere near me, “Wait”.

  “I’m waiting”, I replied.

  He came up to me and held out his hand, “My name is Ricardo, I’m a Spanish national but I came here when I fled my home. Drayton took me in, at first I was like them”, he pointed to all the scared faces in the street, “But then I lied and pretended I was just as ruthless as him and he employed me to be on his thug team. It kept me alive, but also I have been able to help others here, keep them alive. Please give me a chance to make this place better and I will show you your friends”.

  “What about the others?” I asked motioning to Drayton’s other men but I now noticed how they all had their weapons holstered or lowered.

  “They are with me on this, they were dragged in to this life by Drayton, none of them wanted to do this”, he cried out, “But they will help me bring peace back to our small circle of the world”.

  I looked at all the people in the street, the air was calmer, their faces more relaxed. “And that guy?” I pointed to the one who I had just taken out.

  “He was Drayton’s sidekick, never left his side. I know these men aren’t like him”.

  “You better hope so, Ricardo”, I hissed, “Because if they are like him and they kill and harm more innocents I will be back for your head”.

  He nodded, “I understand but they are with me”.

  “So why didn’t you revolt before, take a stand and take him down? Why wait until an outsider comes in and does it?”

  “Because he honestly put the fear of god into us”, he told me, I knew it was the truth as his eyes told me as much, “The men out of fear would do whatever he asked, I knew full well that they didn’t want to but they had to if they wanted to live, they all have friends and family here and he would take them and torture them to keep us in check. Believe me when I say a few have tried before but failed and then he would hang them publically just to prove a point to make us all bow down”. He looked at the broken body of the man Wyatt before us, his body still swaying in the breeze, “And now you have freed us”.

  “Well hopefully you can all now just live with the fear of what is out there and not what is in here”, I said, “Now, where are my people?”

  He motioned to one of them, “Get them”.

  The man scurried off, whilst I waited Ricardo came closer to me, “How is it you are infected but not like the creatures out there?”

  I shrugged, “Unlucky I guess”.

  “Unlucky? Oh no I think luck was definitely there when this happened to you”.

  “Think what you want”, I said, “I just want my people”.

  “Of course, of course”.

  We waited, my heart hammering in my chest as I saw my small group walk towards me with people following close behind them. Cain’s face lit up when he saw me, “Stacie!” He ran and flung his arms around me, I hugged him back.

  “I’m never losing sight of you again”, I breathed as I held him.

  “Is he your boy?” Ricardo asked.

  “Yes…Yes he is”.

  Cain smiled up at me and turned to see all the others walking towards us. Kaley, Ruth, Dwayne, Kian, and Finally Damien who had a rather thick set black eye and a cut lip. They obviously hadn’t gotten round to battering the others yet.

  I hugged them all asking them if they were all ok, they all agreed they were, other than losing our friends. Lara and Kirsty, I could see it in their eyes, this journey was not going how they planned, how we had all planned but there was going to be the odd hiccup right?

  “Where is it you are going?” Ricardo asked.

  “Svalbard”.

  “Wow, that is a trek and you planned to walk it all?”

  I nodded, “We came from Britain we didn’t bring cars through the channel tunnel with us”. Sarcasm was in my voice but even to me I sounded tired.

  “Reg”, he pointed to one of the men, “Old dusty”.

  The guy called Reg nodded and handed Ricardo a set of keys, “Here take this, it’s at the least what we owe you and of course your things”. He looked at Reg and he took a group who came back with our bags, weapons and supplies.

  “What one is it? The vehicle”.

  “The rusty truck nearest the gate, got enough fuel for a few hundred miles, maybe 3 or 4 hundred but other than that I can’t spare anymore, fuel is getting really low”.

  “That would be perfect, thank you”, I said shaking his hand. “And isn’t this why this all happened? Due to fuel?”

  He agreed, “Yes it was, but we found some fuel tankers just outside of Germany. Looked like they had a huge supply kept for them. If your going through Germany I would be careful, it looks… Dead”.

  “Dead?”

  “Dunno how to explain it… It’s just dead”.

  “We’ll be careful”, I yawned.

  “You all can stay if you like? For a while. Recuperate, eat, sleep, make it so you feel refreshed on your journey”.

  “Thank you but no thanks”, I tried to say it politely but it came out kind of rude, “We are already behind our schedule”.

  He nodded, I think he got the fact that I didn’t want us to stay here longer than we had to, even if we were tired.

  An hour or so later after refuelling our own stomachs we were ready to set off. Kian offered to drive, I sat in the front passenger seat with Cain, Kaley and Ruth in the backseats. Damien sat in the bed of t
he truck with the guns at the ready.

  “Where’s Dwayne?” I asked calling out to Damien.

  He shrugged, jumped out the bed and went to find him, they both came back together but Dwayne was not ready to go.

  “What’s going on?” I asked him.

  “I don’t want to go”, he admitted, “I came to make the world better for my little girl but I now realise the further I go with you the more I will probably not see her again. At first I didn’t think it would bother me as I was doing it for her ya know? But I miss her. I don’t care if her mum went off with another guy, I’m her daddy and I should be there for her as she grows up”.

  I climbed out the truck and wrapped my arms around him, “It’s ok Dwayne, we fully understand. What will you do? Go back the way we came?”

  He nodded, “Ricardo said he would drop me to the tunnels entrance and give me some supplies to get me home. I know there’s a chance on my own that I may not make it back to her but I have to try. She’s my baby girl and I should never have left. I was just so angry at her mum for splitting us up”.

  “Please Dwayne go, you helped us get this far and we thank you for it. Get back to her, you deserve to”.

  “Thank you Stacie”, he sniffed wiping his nose on his sleeve, “I wish you all the luck when you get to Svalbard. Make sure you and Kaley kick some scientist butt ya”.

  “We sure will”, I said welling up, I really was going to miss Dwayne and I hoped for his daughters sake he did make it back in one piece.

  We said our goodbyes and I climbed back into the truck, Kian started the engine and began to pull away from the camp. I sighed and looked at Kaley, she smiled and said, “It doesn’t change anything if that’s what you are worrying about”, she said.

  “Will he get home?”

  She shrugged, “That I don’t know I only see what happens for us that go… but I hope so”.

  I felt bad as we drove off leaving him there with those strangers but he could take care of himself. As we drove off I didn’t see the smoking and wavering image of Tanya staring at me from the gate, she smiled warmly, like she knew something, like maybe some things would be ok in the end.