The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) (41 page)

Jeremiah created the greyskins. He’s been searching for Starborns for who knows how many years. I just can’t seem to connect the two together. There clearly is a link as my dream from Evelyn pointed out. Perhaps the next one will provide more insight. 

I turn from Sadie and lean my head against the seat. Aaron glances over at me and I shut my eyes. It’s time fore another ‘nap’. This time I will try to keep from gripping the seat so hard. 

Connor and Danny are sneaking up the stairs, hatchet and club ready. The inside is dark and neither of them can see much. From the looks of it, they are still in building one, making their way to the top. 

“Looks like we got lucky. This place seems empty,” Danny says from behind Connor. 

“Never know,” Connor says. “We haven’t made it to the top yet.”

Old blood is smeared across the walls. The only light comes from the occasional hazy window as they pass another landing. When they finally reach the top of the stairs, they come to a door leading to the middle of the building. 

“We’ll find the bridge on the other side,” Connor says. 

Danny nods, gripping his club a little harder. 

Connor reaches for the door handle and takes one last look at Danny before opening it. “You ready? Could be a lot in there.”

“Are you?”

“Of course,” Connor says. 

He swings open the door, raising his hatchet to bury it into the first head he sees, but a surprised look spreads across his face when he sees that the room ahead of him is empty. In fact, except for the broken pieces of walls and occasional furniture throughout, the entire top floor is empty.

“Look, the bridge,” Danny says, pointing to the other side where a door hangs open. 

“Yes it is,” Connor says to himself as they move forward. 

They start jogging to the other side of the building. Danny holds his wristband up to his mouth. “Heather, you still doing okay?”

“
You two better at least be in building five by now, or I’m gonna be ticked
,” she says. 

“Yeah, almost there,” Danny lies. 

Connor gives him a sideways glance.

“Just keep doing what you’re doing,” he says. 

“
Can’t do it too much longer
,” she yells through the radio. of e r"2e
I’m running out of steam and places to go
.”

The two of them make it to the bridge. There is a normal concrete floor below their feet, but the wall and ceiling surrounding them is clear glass. On the other side of the bridge is a door. Looking out to their left, they can see the quick, blurred motions of Heather going back and forth, distracting the disoriented greyskins. She’s right, though. She’s running out of room fast and soon she’ll be backed into a corner that even she can’t run out of.

Connor and Danny sprint for the door on the other side of the bridge and without hesitation, Danny slams the door off its hinges. 

Bad idea.

The room in front of them is swarming with rotting greyskins. The new light at the end of the room grabs their attention like a beacon, drawing them to it. The first couple lunge after Connor, but a quick blast from Danny’s shotgun nearly blows them in half. 

Five of them run after Danny as he tries to let off another shell, but an aggressive greyskin swats the end of the barrel, perhaps thinking it was Danny’s limb. Danny grabs the greyskin by the neck and throws it into a group that was coming at them. 

The two of them are pushed back onto the glass-covered bridge as more greyskins pile in. Danny jumps in front of Connor, swinging his club with a force this world has never seen. Glass shatters as greyskins smash through it to a crushing fall below. At least ten stories in the air, any fall would be fatal, even for a greyskin.

 Wind blows hard between the buildings and the unexpected gust nearly knocks Connor over the side. 

Danny’s next swing breaks his club in half, sending three greyskins through more glass and over the side. He launches the broken end at another and the wood is imbedded into its brain.

But the greyskins keep coming. Connor can do nothing but bend down to a knee and shoot with his rifle. The sound of the blasts carries throughout the compound and more greyskins that had been distracted by Heather now make their way back toward building one. 

“Danny!” Connor yells out. “Get back to building one. Grab the door!”

Danny complies by running back with Connor, greyskins hot on their trail. Connor is back in building one first, and Danny grabs the door, ripping it from its hinges. With a mighty swing, he takes out the first wave of greyskins, sending them smashing through the glass and to the ground far below. 

Danny holds the door in front of him like a shield while Connor peeks around him with his rifle, shooting any greyskin head he can see. 

The undead lay motionless all around them and more are coming. 

“We can’t keep doing this!” Danny yells out. 

“We’ve got no choice,” Connor calls back to him. Just as the words come out of his mouth, he takes aim at another greyskin, but hears a familiar
click
of a gun trying to fire without ammo. He tosses the gun to the ground and pulls out his hatchet. 

Danny shakes his head. “A door and a hatchet, and fifty more of those things coming at us. This isn’t going to work.”

He lifts the metal door above his head and slams it into the concrete floor of the bridge. 

“What are you doing?” Connor calls out, but Danny ignores him. Over and over he hits the door into the concrete until the base begins to crumble beneath the spot. 

The door snaps in half and Danny sends both pieces sailing into the group of oncoming greyskins. He reaches up, balling his hand into a fist, pounding the crevice until a loud creaking noise sounds across thundnny sends e entire bridge. 

Blood trickles from his knuckles, but he hits the concrete again and again. The next slam breaks through into open air below the bridge. He reaches down into the newly made hole and pulls up with both his arms. His face looks as if it might burst as he lifts with all of his might. Steel support bars rip apart as Danny heaves and the bridge begins a slow collapse. With a mighty shove, he throws what pieces are left at the greyskins that seem oblivious to the gaping hole between them and their targets. Danny and Connor both fall to the concrete as the bridge begins to cave inward.

“Grab onto something!” Danny yells out as they fall. 

It doesn’t even seem as though Connor has his eyes open when he reaches out and grabs a steel bar, feet dangling in the air. The only thing keeping him from a ten-story fall is a single grip with his left hand. Danny also holds on for dear life only feet from Connor. 

The greyskins care nothing for holes or drops. They see two pieces of meat dangling over the side and it looks like an easy target. Over and over the greyskins lunge out to try and reach Connor or Danny and each time, they fall from a devastating height. 

They move without regard for themselves, almost as if each one is committing suicide. Some are better off than others. Some even try and make a jump. One of them actually lands next to Connor and tries to grab onto him, but Connor swings slightly and puts a boot into its chest, throwing it onto the growing pile of dead bodies below.

“Just hang on tight!” Danny yells out. He pulls himself up slightly to see if any more are coming. Nothing. “Can you reach me?”

“I’m losing my grip!”

A loud groan rumbles out from the other side of the bridge. 

“It’s going to collapse!” Danny yells. 

“
I’m
going to collapse!” Connor yells back. He looks over his shoulder probably assessing whether he can reach the other side or not, but the distance is at least ten feet. 

Connor tries to grab with both hands and pull himself up, but he has been hanging for too long. His grip is failing. 

Danny pulls himself up and shimmies his way above Connor. “I can’t reach you!” he says. “You’ve got to pull up a little!”

“I’m so tired,” Connor says faintly. 

“I’m very strong, but I can’t fly! Come on! Find the strength!”

Connor’s grip loosens a little more. Danny slaps the concrete in frustration. He sees a steel rod jutted from the side. Lowering himself down, he is still too far for Connor to reach. 

“Swing to your left!” Danny calls out. 

Connor grits his teeth, mustering the strength left within him to swing his arm within Danny’s grasp. He loses his grip as he swings out, but Danny grabs his wrist and the two dangle from the side of the bridge. Danny pulls Connor’s arm and throws him up onto the other side of the gaping hole. Connor rolls onto his side and watches as Danny pulls himself up onto the side of building one. 

“Connor, run! The bridge is about to collapse!”

Connor doesn’t hesitate and takes off for the door to building two. He looks over his shoulder and sees that Danny cleared the hole and is running quickly behind him. The groaning of the bridge grows louder and what’s left of the glass surrounding shatters to pieces. Connor and Danny both try to cover their heads with their arms as shards fall all around them.

Connor lets out a yell as he feels the bridge give way to total collapse. With one last desperate attempt to make it to building two, Connorng l al leaps from the bridge and through the door, leaving a falling Danny behind. The bridge crashes to the ground as loud as an explosion. Massive chunks of concrete shake the building as they smash into the base. After only a few seconds, all that can be heard is the grunts of pursuing greyskins down below. 

Connor places a hand on his chest, and lets out a deep breath. Blood streaks down the side of his head, and his bottom lip is split open. However, through the pain, he manages to crawl to the side of the building to look down for any sign of Danny.

A look of amazement spreads across his face as he sees Danny hanging on for dear life on the side of the building. 

“Are you okay?” Connor calls out to him. Danny is at least five stories below. Only a person with incredible strength could have held on like that. 

“I’ve been better,” Danny says. Connor looks past Danny to the ground and sees that greyskins are now pouring into the side of the building where the bridge has smashed a new entrance. Danny sees it too. “You better get over to building seven quick. You’re about to have company.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll catch up,” he says. “Pulling myself up is no problem, but if there’s nothing to grip onto, I’m in trouble. I’ll meet you there.”

“There’ll be a sea of greyskins between us if I don’t wait for you,” Connor says.

“There will be a sea of greyskins on top of us both if you don’t leave now!”

Connor gets the picture, though he also knows there isn’t a way to get the satellite receiver out on his own. It’s not a one-man job. This entire operation requires all three of them. If one of them dies, all of them die. From the looks of it, the mission might have been doomed from the start. There is a reason Garden’s Peak continues to be full of greyskins. People come here and they never leave. All of them think they will be the ones to make it out alive but they never do. That’s why Connor, Danny, and Heather have such a large herd to face.

Connor jogs over to the door of the stairwell. He opens it slightly and can already hear the sounds of the coming greyskins. They’re moving quickly. They’re hungry. Connor sprints through the middle of building two until he reaches the door to the next bridge. He opens it with only a slight hesitation, checking to make sure there isn’t another mob of man-eaters awaiting him. 

Nothing.

He slams the door shut behind him, knowing full well that a closed door will only delay them a few seconds. The next few buildings are the same. Somewhere in the middle of building four, Connor tries to contact Danny and Heather on his wristband. All he gets back is static. He swears, probably thinking that he may be the only one still alive.

In the middle of building four he hunches over his knees, sweaty and out of breath. Anyone in this situation knows that running is imperative, but he simply has to fill his lungs. After a moment, he stands straight, forcing himself to suck air in through his nose. He immediately hears the labored breathing of greyskins coming for him. Maybe they are following his scent. Maybe they just know there is someone on the run. Either way, they mean to finish Connor and they could do it in seconds. 

Without any more hesitation, he continues his sprint across the buildings. He doesn’t stop until he makes it to building six. The greyskins are louder behind him now.

As I sit in the truck, riding toward Springhill, I can’t help but feel scared for him, but most of all I feel guilty. I should be there to help him. I should be there to get him through to the next building. I know he fears for his life. In these moments, I wish I could tell Connor that I’m right there n rist of alext to him. Though it does no good, I wish it did. I wish I could at least comfort him. But he’s facing some of the fastest greyskins I’ve ever seen, and I’m sure they’re the fastest he’s ever seen too.

He crosses the last bridge to the seventh building. Even though he has almost made it to the destination, it doesn’t change the fact that he will have no place to go once he gets there. Unless Danny and Heather can make it to him, there’s no chance of them getting out.

As he nears the doorway into building seven, he can see the greyskins coming fast as they reach the last bridge. Connor’s eyes go wide at the sight of the undead sprinters. He swings the door open and slams it shut behind him as he finally enters building seven. This top floor is unlike all the others. Instead of a door to another bridge and door to the stairwell, there are three door
s. 

He looks at each of them frantically, not knowing which of them will lead to the roof. The one in the middle seems different from the others. It’s slightly open, but the door is much thicker than any Connor has run into so far. He looks over his shoulder, but he can’t hesitate. He sprints for the middle door.

The greyskins are in the seventh building. He slams the thick door, cursing because he knows the greyskins saw him. They’ve had no trouble with any of the other doors. Hopefully this one will be different.