Taken Over (Book 2 The Ravening Series) (25 page)

   I supposed bombs or dynamite would be better, and one of the soldiers might know how to use them, but how did we get a hold of explosives? And even if we did get them, they would help with the creatures, but the aliens wouldn’t leave their ships. Or at least I didn’t think they had left them since this whole debacle had started. They probably wouldn’t until they felt it was safer
for them to come down here
. They were human in appearance,
though
they
didn’t have human
compassion or even an ounce of sympathy,
it would be easier for
our
bullets to take them down
and they were aware of that fact
.

   No, they would not come down here. They would leave their dirty work to the damn things stalking and destroying us
and taking from us
.
Was this it
then
? Was this all that we would ever have until they discovered us? Until they killed us?

   The body of the mangled boy flashed through my mind. What they had done to him had been brutal, violent, and spiteful. They had made him pay for
surviving
The Freezing
. They would make us pay even worse for fighting them.
What had they done to Cade?

   My head bowed beneath the weight of my thoughts. I couldn’t think about what they had done to him, couldn’t think about how awful his last moments must have been. I would snap if I did, I would lose my mind
, my sanity, if I allowed myself to think about it
him suffering
for too long.
I would shatter into a thousand different pieces, none of them fixable
if I did
.

   “Bethany?” I turned slightly
toward Bret, not fully able to meet his gaze. I was afraid he would see too much of my thoughts if I looked at him. And I didn’t want him to know just how desolate I felt right now. “Are you ok?”

   I managed a small nod. I wanted to offer him
a small smile, but I couldn’t bring
myself to do even that
.
He rested his hand on my shoulder as he came to stand beside me. I thought I should move away from his touch, but it felt good to have the comfort of another human being.
There weren’t many of us left.
“I miss Abby and Aiden.”

   Bret was silent for a long moment and then his hand tightened upon my shoulder. “And him.”

   I closed my eyes for a long moment before turning slowly back to him. Bret had always possessed a youthful air of optimism and innocence
that was both endearing and captivating
. In this moment he appeared far wearier, far more battle worn
than I had ever expected to see him
. He had aged
so much in the past month
. He was not the young boy who had been my boyfriend, not
even
the young man that had been my friend. It wasn’t just the dark circles under his eyes, but
also
the dark light that now haunted them. I wondered what I appeared like
to him
now, how haunted
,
beaten
, and aged
I
must seem
too
.

  
“
Yes, and him,
”
I breathed, the pain in my chest making it difficult to get the words out.

   I winced, hating myself as something shifted and changed within Bret’s eyes. Pain bloomed in his gaze, but there was something more, something else coming to life within his caring
eyes
. “I thought it was just a whim, just the heat of the moment, and the fear of death that brought
the two of
you together
.
B
ut it
was
more
,
wasn’t it?”

  
I was finding it hard to breathe.
“
Yes.
I never meant to hurt you Bret. I
never
wanted to hurt you. I love you.”

   “
I know that.
But not in the same way that you love him.”

   I didn’t want to respond to that, there wasn’t anything that I could say to make any of this better. We had all been hurt, all been wounded, I didn’t want the pain to continue, but it had only been a matter of time before we had this conversation, and it was
passed
time to get it over with. “No
,
it’s not.”

   “You’re not in love with me.”

  
“
No, I’m not.”

   “You never were.”

   “
I’m sorry Bret. You deserve better, you deserve someone who can give you what you need. And I can’t. That part of me is gone.”

   He was silent for a long moment. “It doesn’t have to be.”

   He pushed back a strand of my hair as it fell across my face.
His fingers lingered on my cheek for a long moment.
“Bret…”

   “
I’m not saying for
me Bethany
,” he assured me quickly.
“
I get that
it’s not going to be us
, I understand
that
now
. M
aybe one day you’ll be able to find someone that may not take his place, but that you
might
love again.”

   I couldn’t stop the single tear that slipped
free
. His words were reasonable, they made sense, but I knew they were wrong. I could live another fifty years
(
the way things were going it was unlikely
),
but
in those fifty years there would
n
ever
be
someone to take Cade’s place
. I didn’t have a heart left to give to someone
else
.

   “I am sorry Bret. I
do
love you.”

   He smiled wanly and stroked my cheek
one last time before letting me go.
“I know you do, and though I’m working on changing my view o
f
our relationship, I will always love you too.”

   I smiled as I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. He held me close for a long moment before releasing me. “I’m sorry you’re hurting so badly.”

   “I’m sorry I hurt you.” He
ran a hand through his ruffled blond locks
, trying to hide his chagrin at my words
. “Jenna is actually a really nice person.
She’s different than the way she used to be.
”

   Bret shrugged absently
, his eyes were distant
. “
S
he’s handling all this better than I
’
d thought she would.”
He was still obtuse to Jenna’s feelings for him but I thought with some gentle nudging
,
and a little time
,
he would eventually come around.
“We should wake the others; the sun’s going to be up soon.”

   I watched him as he walked back toward Jenna and Lloyd. I felt a little better
, a little lighter
as some of my burden was lifted
from my shoulders
. There were many others to
carry
still, but I was certain that we could
all
get through them together.

***

   “Bethany!” Abby squealed as she raced at me. She flung herself against me with enough force to knock me back a
good foot. Her small arms wrapped around my waist as she clung to m
e
, clinging with the tenacity of a burr
.

 
I inhaled a
pain filled breath. Before entering the
new
camp I had slipped Bret’s shirt on. It chafed and irritated as it rubbed against
my
barely healed burn, but I did not want Abby to see the wound. She would only become frightened, and I sure as hell didn’t want her to know how it
had come about. Unfortunately though, she couldn’t see that I was wounded, and took no care as she shook me. Hissing a pain filled
breath
from between my teeth,
I
managed to hu
g her back
. I
revel
ed
in the feel of her small body against mine.
Shifting slightly, I was able to ease some of the pressure she was putting on my wounded shoulder.
“I’m so glad you’re back!”

   “Me too
.
”

   “We were so wo
rried! You were gone for so long!”
   “I know, but we’re ok.”

   “You didn’t find any survivors?”

   I shook my head, trying not to think about the things we had found. “No, but Jenna’s family is still alive, or at least they were.”

   “How do you know that?”

   I untangled myself from her, but kept my
good
arm draped around her shoulder as we made our way toward the dilapidated barn the survivors had taken
up
residence in yesterday
. There was a small farmhouse beside it
,
and that was where Abby was steering
me
.
“I’ll explain later.”

   She wasn’t too upset about my delay in telling her anything. “You’ll love this place Bethy,
it has
hot water.”

   My heart leapt eagerly into my throat. “
It
do
es
?”

   “Yep, it’s great!”

   It was more than g
reat; it was the best thing I’d heard in days.
“Yes it is,” I agreed as she led me up the porch steps.

  
Aiden came bursting out the door as we
reached the
porch.
Relief filled his face as he embraced me tightly
also unaware of my injury
.
I tried to twist in his grasp but he held me tight as he lifted me slightly off the ground. I’d have to make sure he didn’t do it again, but I couldn’t tell him that in front of Abby.
“You had us worried for awhile there.”
   I smiled at him as I
finally managed to break free of his grasp and
removed the bag
gingerly
from my back. “We brought you some presents.”