Fear of God (Trials of Strength Book 1) (5 page)

‘
Look,’ Chris
shouted above the noise, and everyone quieted, ‘I understand your
frustration. But we cannot mount some rescue operation. It’s too
dangerous.’

He turned slowly, his
face blank, but commanding; a man used to leading.

‘
I won’t
sugar-coat it for you. The people you want to search for now fall
into two different categories: Dead, or one of
them
.’

Cries filled the air, but
he hushed them.

‘
What we do
now is simple. We can’t survive a search out there. We can’t do
much of anything. What we can do is get out while this is still
fresh. We need help, and that’s what we are going to do. Escape,
and bring it back,’ he said. ‘We leave first thing in the
morning.’

After a while of pleading
and crying, everything died down. Fear at going into the unknown
alone had won, and all of us were left with a crippling case of
guilt. Should I search for my family alone?

I’m too
afraid
.
They would
search for me, but I’m too much of a coward.

I sat next to Anna as she
brought over some food and a bottle of water. I ate and drank
without relish, even though I’d been unconscious for almost a day.
Once the food was done, a man in his early fifties wandered over,
leaving what looked like his wife and child a few feet
away.

‘
How are you?’
he asked. His eyes lingered on my head.

He had a warm, kind face,
and milky-brown eyes. His hair was the colour of ash, and laugh
lines wrinkled around his mouth and forehead. His glasses reflected
the low hanging lights above, and Anna smiled up at him.

‘
Lucas, this
is Dr Harris, he patched you up when Chris brought you down,’ she
said.

‘
Please, Anna,
it’s Terry. Now young man, let me see that head of yours,’ Terry
smiled.

He knelt next to me and
started removing the bandages I hadn’t even noticed were on my
head. They came away slightly bloody, and Terry started probing
around a throbbing lump.

‘
How does it
feel?’ he asked.

‘
Painful,’ I
muttered through clenched teeth. ‘But not as bad as the
headache.’

He nodded, apparently
happy, and started wrapping the fresh bandages in his hands in
place of the old.

‘
You hit it
pretty hard, but, you’re awake and mobile. Maybe a concussion, so
I’ll keep an eye on you, but hopefully you should be fine,’ he
said, finished with his task. ‘It’s the best I can do under the
circumstances, although I’m all out of painkillers. I was only able
to grab so much.’

‘
No, it’s
alright, thank you,’ I said.

He gave me a quick pat on
the shoulder and stood up. For a second he looked
conflicted.

‘
I heard about
your family, I’m sorry,’ he whispered.

I looked down at the
floor, trying to quell the uprising emotions.

‘
Do you know
my Dad? He’s a surgeon at Greystone Hospital?’ I asked,
hopeful.

‘
No,’ he
sighed. ‘I’m a… No, I
was
a GP at the local health centre. I didn’t work at
the hospital.’

He stepped back over to
the two women and Anna gave my shoulder a squeeze.

‘
Is that his
family?’ I asked.

‘
Yeah,’ Anna
said. ‘That’s his wife Amelia, and their daughter,
Hannah.’

I nodded and sighed, part
of me was happy for them, and another was jealous.

‘
I’m sorry I
panicked. I just don’t know what to do,’ I whispered. I could feel
my voice break.

‘
Don’t be,’
she said. ‘We’re all in this together. I’d be shocked if you didn’t
panic.’

‘
What about
you?’ I asked. ‘You’re calm. How are you managing it?’

‘
Hope,’ she
answered.

Is there
hope?

Anna turned her head to
look over my shoulder. I followed her eyes and saw that they stared
at Chris. An odd expression covered her face. Almost like
gratitude, but equally suspicion.

‘
You okay?’ I
said.

She turned back and
smiled, ‘Yeah, I’m alright, just thinking.’

‘
How did
everyone get here?’ I asked when we’d fell silent.

‘
Chris was
running around town, looking for people who hadn’t changed,
he
brought us here,’ Anna
replied.

I looked back over at
Chris. His face was scarred and wrinkled, making him seem a lot
older than he could be. He moved too fast and precise. I ranged him
at around mid-forties, his hair brown, but peppered with grey. His
eyes were like dark pits, a brown that was almost black. His face
was blank of any emotions, but his eyes gave away some. They
crinkled at the sides and I could see the gears that no doubt
turned in his head, thinking, planning.

‘
I better go
say hi,’ I told Anna. I stood and wiped the dust from my trousers.
‘Plus I owe him thanks.’

Anna nodded and gave a
weak smile. I made my way through the small group of people, noting
the faces I passed. Most were full of terror, and others were
blank, people who had given in to the desperate pull I’d felt
earlier and had shut the world out. Others had their mobiles out,
frantically trying to reach family members, but it didn’t look as
if they were having much luck.

‘
There’s no
point to that,’ I heard Chris say. ‘You won’t reach
anyone.’

‘
What about
phoning for help from outside the town?’ someone asked.

Chris just shook his head
and said, ‘I wouldn’t count on it.’

‘
Is anyone
getting a signal?’ a woman asked.

‘
Over here,
you get a little here,’ a man replied.

‘
Chris?’ I
said when I reached him.

He looked up, his eyes
staring right through me.

‘
It’s
Christopher, Christopher Ritchie,’ he said. ‘I’ve already said
we’re not mounting a suicide mission.’

That question went out
the window.

‘
I just wanted
to thank-’ I started, but he cut me off.

‘
Don’t thank
me, next time though you need to be ready. I can’t afford to carry
your arse everywhere, okay?’ he asked.

I nodded, surprised by
his bluntness, and part of me wanted to defend myself.

I lingered awkwardly, not
knowing where to go. Thankfully, Anna appeared at my side, her face
determined.

‘
So,
Chris,
’ she said as she
folded her arms, ‘you wanna spill your secrets?’

He looked up sharply, and
I admired Anna’s fearlessness.

‘
What do you
mean?’ he asked, answering her question with one of his
own.

‘
Tunnels
underground that no one knew about; the phones you say won’t work
or won’t reach anyone,’ she said, her eyes locked onto his. ‘You
brought us here, you had guns, something I’ve never seen close
before. You know your way around them, and you’re fast and
smart.’

Chris smiled
slightly.

‘
And you’re
observant,’ he replied.

‘
That doesn’t
answer my question,’ she hit back.

I had no idea what to do.
Anna was right, but Chris wasn’t backing down, he just waved his
hand and Anna flushed. She was about to try again when a sharp
ringing filled the room.

A man a few feet away
jumped to his feet, surprise and joy on his face. A phone was in
his hand, and the screen was alight with an incoming
call.

‘
Hello!’ he
answered. ‘Barbara?’

Someone replied but the
words were too quiet to hear. The man frowned and shook his head.
Not Barbara I guessed.

‘
What?’ he
said.

People gathered around,
some with hopeful faces, but a chill crawled up my neck, raising
hairs.

Chris moved and snatched
the phone from the man’s hands.

‘
Who is this?’
he said.

A voice replied and he
froze. He brought the phone from his ear and pressed a button on
the screen. A voice filled the room, ominously loud as it bounced
off the walls.

‘
Hello
everyone,’ a bright cheer came from the phone. It belonged to a
woman. ‘I hope everyone is comfortable.’

She waited as if for a
reply, but then spoke words that sliced through everyone like a
sharp knife.

‘
You better
be! Because you are never
ever
leaving!’ and with that, the call
ended.

The
Escape

Instantly after the call
people started screaming. They broke down into tears, confusion
plastered on every face. A lot of questions were fired at Chris,
with Anna at the forefront. He waved them off and told them not to
panic. Still calm and controlled. The plan would still go
forward.

No one argued. Whatever
way I’d expected them to act, it wasn’t like that. They were so
vacant, so passive and easily controlled. It might not have been
expected, but it wasn’t a surprise. I myself couldn’t form a
coherent thought, only that we needed out to find help, help to
find our families. So even I didn’t question Chris. Anna, however,
paced the room. She wanted those answers.

Eventually she came over
to where I’d sat with Terry and his family. She sat down, her gaze
never leaving Chris.

‘
Anna,’ Terry
whispered, ‘leave it be for now. Look at the people around us. If
we don’t get out now, they won’t be fit to move later, their hope
will be gone.’

‘
I know,’ she
sighed. ‘That’s why I’ve stopped pushing, but I don’t trust him.
There isn’t a town around for miles. We need supplies, routes and
a
plan.
’

Terry nodded but said,
‘First things first, we get out. We’re lucky those things haven’t
gotten down here yet, but they might and then what?’

No one really spoke. We
sat for hours, silent and afraid. Chris repeatedly checked his
watch, and once it hit midnight he urged us to get some sleep.
Well, to try at least. I couldn’t help but think of the call. Who
had that woman been? What was going on? The pain in my head
throbbed with every question, and there were a lot.

‘
Hey?’ Anna
said. ‘Get some sleep hmm?’

I shook my head. I knew
it would be futile to even try. Some people had fallen asleep, but
most of them woke periodically screaming. I moved back towards a
wall, a pipe dripped water, and the sound calmed me a
little.

If we’re under
the pipes and wires for the town, what are the ones here used
for?

I focused on the water,
and eventually, I drifted back to a land of nightmares.

*

Nothing had
changed. It never did. My wrists bled from struggling, tears
streaked from my eyes. There was no hope. Anna was wrong. There was
only ever fear and pain. I stopped moving, but the men never came.
My nightmare
had
changed. Instead, a phone began to ring, its high shrill notes
bouncing from wall to wall.

For what seemed an
eternity it rang, vibrating through my mind until I tried to scream
through the gag. And then it stopped, and a voice replaced
it.

You are
never
ever
leaving!

*

I screamed. Anna was
already awake, and she moved to my side.

‘
Lucas?’ she
whispered.

‘
I’m okay.
Sorry. Just a nightmare,’ I said.

A warm hand slid into
mine, and I looked down into wide brown eyes. Hannah, the Harris’s
twelve-year-old daughter, stared up at me.

‘
It’s okay, I
have bad dreams too,’ her small voice whispered. ‘It’ll be okay.
Everything will be okay.’

I swallowed the lump in
my throat and gave her hand a squeeze. I wasn’t going to be the one
to break her spirit. Was my spirit broken then?

‘
Yes, yes it
will,’ I replied, but my stomach shifted uncomfortably.

I looked back round at
Anna, and she smiled sadly at the little girl. All we could do was
hope.

‘
What time is
it?’ I asked, and Anna checked her own watch.

‘
Almost six in
the morning,’ she answered. ‘Chris is going around waking up anyone
who managed to sleep.’

She looked tired, and I
wondered whether she had slept, but she smiled and
stood.

‘
Alright
everyone,’ Chris shouted, shocking those still half-asleep awake,
‘I need you all to listen.’

He stood in the middle of
the room, and everyone moved to surround him. This was it. A few of
the people I’d saw fade from reality were back, eyes wide, hoping
that we’d be out of this mess and back to normality with our
families in no time. I shared their hope, but doubt clogged in my
stomach.