Fear of God (Trials of Strength Book 1) (8 page)

‘
I know you
don’t like thank you, but-’ He cut me off.

‘
Then don’t
say it,’ he remarked. ‘I would tell you to be ready next time, but
it might be lost on you.’

I winced.

‘
Any idea what
we do next?’ I asked, changing the subject. ‘I mean those things.
They’re different aren’t they? I’ve never seen anything with speed
like that, or as strong.’

Chris remained silent.
The gears in his head were probably working furiously.

‘
Do we try and
escape again?’ I said.

‘
No,’ he
replied. ‘Even if we could, I wouldn’t, not yet. People here are
hurt, and we’re unprepared and we know nothing.’

I doubted
we
all
knew
nothing, but I held my tongue. I wasn’t as brave as
Anna.

‘
So?’ I said.
‘What do we do?’

He thought for a few
moments and said, ‘Seeing as we won’t be going anywhere right now,
we need supplies, food and water. The works, it's more than what I
can do on my own. I need help.’

‘
I’ll help,’ I
said, and instantly regretted.

Would I help? Or hinder?
What had even made me ask, guilt?

Chris’s eyes flashed to
my wound and face as he judged my sincerity.

‘
Hey, Doc?’ he
shouted. ‘Is Lucas here alright to move?’

‘
If he doesn’t
pull any stitches, or have to run. Why?’ Terry replied.

Chris shook his head.
Half of me was glad I wouldn’t have to leave the relatively safe
confines of the tunnels, but another was disappointed. I could see
it in everyone’s eyes, apart from their suspicion and distrust.
They had put their faith and safety in me when Chris had handed me
that gun, and I’d failed, but he surprised me.

‘
I wasn’t
shaking my head at you, Lucas,’ he said. ‘The only way you’ll get
over whatever’s holding you back is to see it with your own
eyes.’

‘
What?’ I
asked.

‘
The way you
stood on that field,’ he replied. ‘You thought of that thing the
way you thought of them as before: As people. But, Lucas, they
aren’t anymore. It’s you or them, and you have to get that, or
you’ll die. Got it?’

I nodded
numbly, he was right, but letting go of the hope that things could
return to normal, that those people, no,
monsters
, could be as they were was
impossible. None of the past few days, the ones I’d been awake for,
made any sense. Reality had its downsides but, the things that had
happened couldn’t fit. Yet they did.

‘
I’ll come
with you too,’ Anna chimed as she appeared at my side. ‘I still
don’t trust you, and I want to see what you get up to when you’re
not here.’

Chris eyed her carefully,
his body tensed, and he said, ‘You won’t let this go will
you?’

‘
No,’ she
replied, unfazed.

I hated the rivalry and
suspicion. Chris had condemned secrets, but was reluctant to share
his own. Paul and Terry wanted someone to blame, someone to hurt,
no matter who or even if they deserved it. I had to stay calm. I
stood in a nest of snakes, any sudden movements and I was toast.
The rest of the group didn’t even look aware the majority of the
time, and even if they were, their suddenly passive natures could
swing either way.

They would help me, or
kill me.

Thinking like that hurt
my brain, we had enough problems. But fear was powerful, give their
rage a focus and they would tear both stranger and friend
apart.

Were we any different
from the monsters above?

*

Around an hour later we
were ready. Each of us had a black backpack Chris had picked up the
last time he was out, and we stopped at the rough hole in the wall
as he turned to face us. He looked at me first, hesitantly, gauging
my reaction as he brought out a gun. I couldn’t explain it, but the
black object sucked what dim light there was from the world and
instilled panic under my skin. I could feel the air becoming harder
to breathe, and faces flashed through my mind, Hannah and
Amelia.

No one said anything. I
wanted to scream, burst into tears and run, but part of me wanted
to prove myself, to ward off their suspicions. Luckily, Anna took
the gun from him, making no mention of the silence.

‘
Thanks,’ she
said.

‘
I wasn’t
giving it to you,’ he shot at her.

‘
You really
have a problem with girls and guns?’ she teased.

‘
No,’ Chris
laughed. ‘I just have a problem with
you
having gun. I don’t want to
be
accidentally
shot.’

‘
Well then,
don’t give me a reason to
accidentally
shoot you,’ she
said.

It passed between them
like a joke would friends. But I could tell the subtle threats in
both their voices. We left the room and everyone behind, and Chris
made his way through a different set of tunnels, practically
identical to the first. We were silent, the air and dimness pressed
in on me, and my chest started to itch.

It was a short journey
compared to our earlier venture, Chris stopped under another ladder
and offered Anna the chance to go first, but neither of them
budged. Against the feeling building in my stomach, I grabbed the
ladder and made my ascent. I pushed the cover from its place and
climbed onto Main Street.

I gasped. I’d noticed the
chaos when I’d stumbled through the empty streets, back when
everything had just started, but the destruction I saw was
terrifying. Cars lay on their sides, dented and broken, like dozens
of accidents had happened at once. I remembered that before going
underground, the cars weren’t like this, and I wondered who was
responsible; the monsters that used to own them or the people
responsible for said monsters’ creation. Glass lay strewn
everywhere, and blood coated the ground like a second
skin.

The sky finally fitted
the season as grey clouds blanketed it and a cold wind blew. I
thought of how lucky the tunnels were, with pipes that gave enough
heat to keep the place from turning into an ice box, when Anna and
Chris came through the hole. Chris pointed at some shops and
mouthed that we should stay together.

‘
Leave it,’ he
whispered to Anna, as she went about closing the hole in the
ground. ‘If we need a hasty retreat, we don’t have time to waste
opening it again.’

No one spoke as we
gathered food and water. We worked as fast as we could without
making much noise, and I constantly looked over my shoulder. I
wanted to ask Chris where all the creatures that attacked us were,
but I kept my mouth shut. It didn’t take long, twenty minutes and
we were packed and ready, when an alarm filled the air.

We all jumped, my heart
picked up speed and my chest ached. It was a car alarm, and we left
the shop fast. The car sat on its side not far from the hole, but
that wasn’t what struck us. Chris had left the hole to the tunnels
open and it was closed. I was almost positive that it couldn’t have
moved itself, but with reality being broken the way it was, I
wasn’t about to dismiss anything.

‘
Get to the-’
Chris started.

He never finished, raging
screams filled the air, screams that didn’t belong to people
anymore.

They
were close.

The
Choice

We ran. After the screams
erupted, one of the creatures turned the corner a few metres away,
looking around for the source of noise. Detached, I had found
myself marvelling over the man. Apart from the blood, he was
unremarkable. For all we called them monsters, some looked no
different from us, but their bloodlust, their sudden impulse to
kill; the strength and speed they possessed showed they weren’t the
people they used to be.

We turned corners as fast
as we could, but our hunters were gaining on us. Our speed was no
match for theirs, and soon they would be on top of us. A few caught
up, but Chris and Anna turned, and opened fire. They toppled to the
ground only to rise again. Shots flew into their legs, their
chests, and it became hauntingly clear they wouldn’t go down
easily. It bought enough time though, and we turned a few more
corners onto an empty street, the carnage there less.

Most of the houses had
sale signs in their gardens, newly renovated three bedroom houses
for those with the money to stay. We were out of sight for a
second, and Chris sprinted for one of the houses. Luckily, the door
was open, and we barrelled inside.

Apart from a shiny gleam,
Chris looked his usual calm self, but Anna and I could hardly
breathe. I clutched the stitch in my side and followed them
upstairs. The sounds of the creatures seemed endless outside, and
our hearts were in our mouths. I was also angry. I grew tired of
being and acting like a broken little boy. If it wasn’t for my two
companions, no doubt I would be dead.

‘
In here,’
Chris whispered as he ushered us into the farthest away bedroom and
closed the door.

He checked quickly around
the room. The walls were bare and white, the floor a soft
cream-coloured carpet. There were no windows bar the one on the
ceiling. It slanted with the roof and gazed out into the heavens.
Surprisingly, Chris pushed us into a small wardrobe and shut the
door. My instincts prickled, this was the worst place we could
hide.

My skin itched with
uncertainty as the screams grew louder and louder, until I was
ready to join them. But no sound echoed from the house. The three
of us crouched in anticipation and waited to see if we’d been seen.
Finally, they passed, and the blood chilling sounds receded into
the distance.

We all sighed in
unison.

‘
That,’ Chris
finally panted, ‘was close.’

Anna nodded.

I said, ‘Why is it we’re
followed whenever I’m out of the tunnels, because it
sucks.’

I also thought of the
closed entrance to the underground, the one Chris had made a point
of telling Anna not to close, the one that had been shut right
beside the car that had called Death. I kept my mouth shut. It
wasn’t the time or place for that discussion.

Chris opened the door,
gun drawn and ready. We slouched out and held our breaths, but the
room was empty still. Chris visibly relaxed.

‘
We’ll rest
for a bit, wait for them to drift further off, then-’ but he never
finished.

There was a crash like
thunder and Anna screamed. Chris was on the floor with a gash on
his head, unconscious. In his place, surrounded by shattered glass
from the skylight was a woman dressed in red. An angry growl etched
into her face. Anna raised her gun and fired. But she shot too
quickly, and the bullet lodged itself in the attacker’s thigh. In a
blink, the creature had crossed the room and shouldered Anna, who
lifted from the floor and hit the wall behind her with a sickening
crack. Two down.

The monster turned on me
and my stomach churned. Her dress wasn’t red. There were white
flecks here and there of its former colour, but blood had changed
it. So far she was the most monstrous former town’s person I had
seen. Blood dripped from an empty eye socket and her other eye was
wide and angry. That wasn’t the worst of it. The realization crept
up my spine: I knew the girl.

She charged and we hit
the floor, her on top. I screamed, and brought my hands up to push
her off. But she was stronger than me, her weight kept me pinned
and her hands lashed at my face. My chest burned while blood from
the girl stained my already soaked top.

‘
Claire!’ I
screamed her name. ‘Claire, it’s me, Lucas! Please!’

She ignored me and
punched my face. It felt like my head collapsed, my nose broke and
metallic tasting liquid filled my mouth. I choked, and in my daze,
Claire wrapped her hands around my neck. I tried to gasp, but
failed, my hands tried to pull her hands away, but the room was
fading.

I’m going to
die. I’m going to die
.

Tears streaked my cheeks
and I gave up trying to wrench her from my throat. My arms flailed
and fell on Chris’s fallen gun. I panicked and brought the heavy
metal up and slammed it against her head. Nothing, it only seemed
to anger her and bright spots burst into my vision. I could feel my
strength leaving, but I tried again and brought the gun back
around.

The pressure around my
throat lessened, and using my legs, I bucked her off. I gasped air
in painfully, my lungs on fire, and tried to crawl away. I’d barely
hurt her though, Claire rounded and stood. A cut on her forehead
was all I had managed to accomplish. I was going to die, unless I
acted against the screaming in my mind.

It’s you or
them.
You have to get that, or you’ll
die.

‘
I’m sorry,’ I
whispered.

Claire charged, I aimed
and fired.

The
Confession

I sat in the middle of
the room, the gun at my side and Claire in my arms. I couldn’t stop
the onslaught of salty tears that poured down my cheeks. My heart
broke. I had had enough of screams though, enough of their terror
becoming second nature. When I’d aimed the gun, it was as if a fog
had lifted from my brain, I knew what I had to do to survive, just
like Chris had said.