When They Saw (When They Came Book 2) Page 14

  It bayed.

  I sighed.

  Tasha’s rifle went off and the creature went down.

  “Hey,” the sniper said after lifting her head from her rifle. “You might just be my golden ticket to getting a kill count.”

  As I stared at the creature, which would lie and rot in the streets now that its companions were no longer present to drag it off, I began to wonder if I’d just discovered something I shouldn’t have.

  Then I realized, with cruel and utter dread, that Pandora’s Box had just been opened—and that the monster, deep inside, had just been released.

  In that moment, I realized something.

  Nothing good could come of this.

  Chapter 12

  It was the following afternoon, after I’d managed only a few hours of fitful sleep, that Dubois came to the door and requested that I follow her immediately.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked, afraid to meet the woman’s eyes for fear of what I might see.

  “Come,” was the only thing she said.

  I rose, then, from my place in bed, and dressed as quickly as possible, before making my way out the door, much to Asha’s concern.

  I could only make her face out briefly as I turned to close the door behind me.

  In her eyes was fear unlike anything I’d ever seen.

  It’ll be all right, I mouthed before closing the door.

  She didn’t seem convinced.

  Rather than dwell on how my friend might be feeling, I shifted my focus to my own survival and began to follow Dubois down the hall, past the rooms where the soldiers and other members of the militia slept and toward the skywalk that was explicitly off-limits to everyone.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “Building B,” Dubois replied.

  I wanted to question her—wanted, desperately, to find out why we were going to the prohibited section of the hospital and just what we would be doing there—but didn’t, knowing that unnecessary questions were only likely to get me in more trouble.

  With that in mind, I continued forward, only pausing briefly to allow her to open the door before we stepped onto the skywalk.

  Though only a few feet separated building A from B, those brief inches were enough to terrify me.

  We crossed them within moments, our hair stirred and then parted by the winds I undoubtedly knew were of change.

  Then we were in the shadow of building B, and awaiting whatever fate was to become of me.

  “Now,” Dubois said, staring at the building for several long seconds before turning to face me. “You’re probably wondering why I’ve dragged you out to a forbidden section of the complex.”

  I didn’t reply. I simply waited.

  “Tasha Stooges has recently made me aware of certain… talents you seem to have,” the commander said. “Ones that might be beneficial in purging the city of its current Coyote problem.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

  “Oh, but I think you do,” Dubois replied. “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “I want you to use your gifts to locate something for me,” she replied, drawing a handgun and then passing it over by the barrel. “A Feral, one who’s wandered into the building and made a home for itself.”

  “No,” I said.

  “No?” Dubois asked.

  I shook my head.

  She lowered the gun to her side and sighed. “Ana Mia,” she said. “Ana, Ana, Ana Mia. What makes you think that you are in any position to refuse me?”

  “I—”

  She extended the gun again. This time, however, her face was devoid of emotion, her eyes cold and remote like the surface of the Moon. Her gaze was enough to make me falter, and as I reached out to take the gun from her, I thought for one brief moment that she might turn the weapon around and shoot me, such was the hate in her eyes.

  The moment the gun entered my hand was the moment I knew that I couldn’t back down from this.

  “What do you want me to do?” I asked.

  “I want you to enter this building,” she said, drawing a key from the chain around her neck and inserting it into the lock, “and kill the Coyote. Mind you, I don’t know where it is, nor do I know what sort of state it’s in. For all we know, it could be mad with hunger, and might find you before you it.”

  “This isn’t funny, Dubois.”

  “No?” The woman smiled. “I didn’t think so either. We could use this building, Ana Mia, for our civilians, for our soldiers. Think of what we could provide if each of our inhabitants had homes of Their own.”

  I didn’t say anything. I merely looked down at the concrete separating us from the ten-foot drop below.

  Dubois opened the door, then, and waited for me to enter. “Go,” she said, “now, and find the creature and slay it.”

  I merely stared, into the darkened maw of building B, and waited for courage to strike me.

  When finally it did, I stepped forward, entered the building, and waited until the door closed behind me before turning and looking at Dubois.

  She pulled her hand away from the door at that moment, the key to my freedom held between thumb and forefinger.

  I was half-tempted to step forward and shoot her through the glass. Knowing that it would do nothing, however, and that it would only cause chaos to erupt within the small community, I turned and began to make my way down the darkened hallway.

  I thumbed the safety off the gun.

  I pressed my hand to the panoramic window to my left.

  I waited—listening, intently, for the sound of the ominous drone.

  When it didn’t come, and when I felt the silence too deafening for my ears, I stamped my foot three times to draw its attention.

  A presence touched my mind a short moment later.

  Found the girl, I felt it would say, had it any sense left within its shattered mind.

  It attempted to breach entry into my mind, my thoughts, my feelings, but I batted it away, raising storms and walls and barbed-wire fences to keep it at bay. It struggled at first, seemingly attempting to fight through the armada I’d set against it, then eventually stopped fighting altogether.

  I was just about to declare victory when I heard a thumping noise somewhere ahead of me.

  I immediately froze—convinced, beyond a doubt, that it would suddenly appear from one of the many cracked doorways and launch itself at me.

  When it didn’t, however, and when the thumping only continued to increase in pace, I took in a deep breath and lifted my gun.

  I imagined Dubois was watching me—waiting to see what I would do, attempting to sense what it was I was doing. A part of me wanted to hope that she wouldn’t let me die, but another told me that she didn’t care, not when my use had already expired.

  She’d no need for me now that I’d contacted Them, held a grudge against me after I’d exposed her daughter to a Coyote, had sentenced me to trial by combat against one of the most vicious creatures to ever walk the planet.

  I shivered, then—not out of chill but fear—and took a step forward

  Come out, I thought, extending my consciousness beyond my body and into the void that was the hallway in front of me. Come out now and—

  The thumping stopped.

  I swore.

  My attempts to make contact with it had worked.

  It pushed back at me, threatening to overwhelm my mind in but an instant—biting, scratching, gnawing at my subconscious like a dog would a chew toy. I cried out at the unexpected attack and raised my barriers anew, only to have them viciously batted down and a series of stabbing pains light the front of my skull.

  I heard panting, breathing, running.

  Then I saw the yellow eyes.

  I raised my gun and fired.

  The shot went wide and hit a window, causing teardrops of glass to rain onto the carpet in front of me.

  The alien ignored any sense
of pain as it trampled over the debris and headed straight toward me.

  Rather than risk missing yet another shot, I lifted the gun, waited until it was only a few feet away, and fired.

  The first shot hit it in the abdomen, the second in its chest.

  The third clipped it directly in the skull and sent its head askew as its neck was broken and several vertebrae shattered from the force of the shot.

  When it fell before me, the light in its eyes died away until I could see nothing but darkness.

  I grimaced, inhaled a breath full of quickly-freshening air, then turned and looked at the glass doorway that looked out onto the skywalk.

  Dubois wore a sinister grin upon her face.

  It didn’t take a genius to realize this wasn’t over.

  No.

  This was only the beginning.

  As I approached, and as the commander reached forward to unlock the door, I stepped out onto the skywalk, faced her head-on, and asked, in as neutral a voice as possible, “Are you happy?”

  “More than happy,” Dubois replied. “Thrilled, actually, beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

  I waited for her to deliver the punishment I knew was coming—the ultimatum that would either secure my place within the hospital or ensure that I or Asha would be severely punished.

  When she spoke, it was with words I’d expected but hadn’t wished to hear.

  She simply said, “You will go hunting. Tonight. And use your gifts to draw out the Ferals.”

  There was nothing more that could be said.

  For that reason, I turned and started for building A, all the while wondering what would happen come time night fell.

  We prepared ourselves for what the night would bring by arming ourselves with the best weapons and armor before stepping out of the hospital and into the night. With Asha, Captain Sin, Cindy Ramirez and Easton Wells accompanying me, I felt as safe as could be, but was still nervous over the possibility of what the night might bring.

  You will go hunting, Commander Dubois had said, and use your gifts to draw out the Ferals.

  Was it really a gift, though, so much as it was a curse? I couldn’t imagine having to use it in a situation where I could truly be killed—where, exposed and in the open, I could be descended upon in but an instant and slaughtered like my mother or sister.

  I drew in a deep breath and tried my hardest not to succumb to panic as we made our way through the streets of Austin—first from the hospital, then toward the area of the lake where Mary-Anne and I had been attacked by the Feral Coyote.

  “Do you sense anything?” Captain Sin asked.

  “No,” I said. “I don’t.”

  And that, perhaps, was the scariest thing. I didn’t feel a single thing upon the horizon, within the air or in the back of my mind. There was no static, there was no presence, there was no intrusion within my psyche. If anything, nerves were what I felt—gnawing at my person, eating at my insides, consuming any and all hope I could possibly have.

  I felt a hand touch my shoulder and tensed, immediately balling the muscles in my upper body into tight knots.

  “Sorry,” Asha said. “I just wanted to see if you were doing all right.”

  “I’m fine,” I lied. “Don’t worry about me.”

  I turned to look at my friend, and in the brief moment our eyes met, I knew that she knew I was lying. From the way her lips pulled down into a frown and her eyes softened with mercy, there was no denying it.

  Sighing, I reached up to push my lengthening hair out of my face and considered the empty road before me—which, flanked with decrepit businesses, appeared haunting in the light of the nearly-full moon.

  “You ready to try this?” Captain Sin asked.

  We were no more than a street away from where the community garden rested. Surely if there was anything, it would be here—in the tight and shadowed places of Austin’s eastern underbelly.

  “Yeah,” I replied. “I’m ready.”

  I closed my eyes, exhaled the breath I’d desperately drawn in, and extended my consciousness out to the world around me—willing, by way of parting waters and clear skies, my mind to open for anything that might be willing to accept it. I imagined waves crashing over the sands of the coastline and clouds drifting endlessly through the sky; air passing over my skin and breaths pooling from my lips.

  At first I felt nothing.

  Then, slowly, I began to feel one of Them.

  “I feel one,” I said, not bothering to open my eyes to look at my companions or my surroundings, less I curse the action and ruin the bridge I was building.

  “Where?” Easton Wells asked.

  “Somewhere nearby.”

  What sounded like a dumpster falling over entered my ears and jarred my consciousness from the vision.

  I opened my eyes.

  I saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes.

  Then a gun was fired and the creature went down.

  Almost immediately I sensed more creatures in the darkness.

  “There’s more,” I said, grimacing as They attempted to break entry into my mind. “They’re coming.”

  “From where?” Asha asked.

  “Every… where,” I managed.

  I spun, then, when I heard a wicked laugh sound from behind us, and watched as one of the creatures came loping forward on all fours. It rose after a moment’s hesitation and then bayed at us, which elicited more laughter from somewhere nearby.

  “They’ve got us surrounded,” Captain Sin said, disengaging the safety on his rifle as he scanned the perimeter. “Ana Mia—how many are there?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “I—”

  Cindy Ramirez fired.

  Something appeared out the edge of my peripheral.

  I had just enough time to turn my head before I saw a Coyote go slamming into Easton Wells.

  He screamed as he was ravaged—first after being bitten along the arm, then after he was dragged by the force of the creature’s advance and into the street. He attempted to fire his weapon as he was pushed to the ground, but was overpowered as the creature, with all its animal might, pounced upon and then began to tear him apart.

  First there was screams.

  Then there was blood.

  Then there was silence as his throat was torn out.

  Cindy Ramirez was attacked next, and brutally so by two of the creatures. Grabbed, forcefully, by both arms, I heard her shoulders pop out of their sockets and a high-pitched scream rise from her throat as she was dragged into a nearby alleyway.

  Asha, providing support fire for Captain Sin, screamed, “We have to get out of here!”

  “Abandon mission!” Captain Sin cried. “Abandon mission! Abandon—”

  The man was tackled.

  I drew my sidearm and fired.

  The shot clipped the creature in the side and stunned it just long enough for the man to draw his knife and slam it into the creature’s jaw. He struggled for several long moments before finally disengaging his knife from the thing’s face and kicking it square in the temple, permanently ending the light that streamed from its eyes.

  Spraying wide, Asha moved her gun side to side, providing cover for me as I crouched down and helped Captain Sin to his feet. He could barely see, what with the blood in his face, but I was able to take his hand and drag him down the street as Asha continued to retreat alongside us.

  “Come on!” I screamed to Asha.

  She turned and ran, not even bothering to stop as the last of Cindy Ramirez’ screams died out behind us. I instantly regretted not trying to help her, but there was nothing that could have been done. They’d dragged her into the alley—had begun to ravage her almost immediately. Had it only been one, I might’ve had a chance, but with two—

  I shook my head, then clawed at my skull as I felt the creatures tracking me.

  Girl, girl, girl, I heard in my head, then laughter through my ears.

  “Stop it!” I screamed. “Just stop it! Stop it!”

&nb
sp; “Ana!” Captain Sin screamed. “Get a hold of yourself!”

  He slapped the back of my head with an open hand, then took hold of my wrist before spinning me around so I could face him.

  His face looked like the very visage of death—caked in blood and resembling a gleaming skull in the light of the overhead moon.

  “I’m ok,” I managed through my hyperventilating.

  “Then shut the hell up and get moving.”

  He shoved me with enough force to push me into a run.

  Asha followed, Sin closely behind.

  We barreled our way down the street and toward the hospital where Tasha Stooges was on night duty just in time for a Coyote to come tearing down the street behind us.

  “Help!” Asha screamed. “Please! Somebody! Hel—”

  A sniper round tore through the night and permanently ended the life of the creature behind us.

  I breathed a bit easier shortly after we passed through the barricades.

  I spun to face the street and saw at least six pairs of yellow eyes looking back at us.

  “They tricked us,” Captain Sin managed. “The bastards tricked us.”

  “I’m sorry,” I managed. “I… I don’t—”

  I stumbled, and only managed to catch myself on Asha’s arm before I slumped to the ground, emotionally defeated and physically exhausted.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Asha said as I began to cry—as I buried my face into the crook of her neck and sobbed for the lives that had just been lost. “You couldn’t have done anything different.”

  “I know,” I managed. “I—”

  A third hand fell on my body.

  I blinked and looked up.

  Sin stared back at me through the sheen of blood on his face. “Come on, soldier,” he said. “Get up.”

  After taking a moment to compose myself, I did as he asked by standing, brushing the dirt off my thighs and butt, and following him into the hospital.

  There was no denying he needed medical treatment, and me something that would take the edge off of my nerves.

  I watched through a Xanax-induced haze as Doctor Kelly tended to the five-inch gash along Captain Sin’s temple. Still unable to fully process what had happened and only just beginning to lose the adrenaline that had coursed through my system, I held Asha’s hand as the doctor sutured our commanding officer’s wounds and tried, without success, to find peace in the fact that I was still alive.