Against The Darkness (Cimmerian Moon) (4 page)

He tilts his
head to the side. “Footsteps.”

I search for a
tree—a large one. “We have to hide.”

As I try to
turn away and make a run for it, he’s the one to stop me by grabbing onto my
arm. “They’re human.”

“How do you
know?” I’m scared and unsure, but I don’t try to get away from him.

He scowls,
lifting a brow. “I’m a hunter. I know the difference between animal sounds and
humans. Someone is running this way.”

“Should we hide?”

He thinks for
a minute as the steps come nearer. Whoever it is running, is doing it at full
speed.

“Get behind
the tree.”

That’s all I
need to hear. I rush to hide and he follows, putting himself in front of me.

We wait.

My breathing
is heavy and I try to control it by not taking in deep breaths. Before long my
chest begins to hurt as I strain. Standing at Wade’s back, I press against him
with my hands fisted in his shirt.

We both listen
to the approaching footsteps.

Closer and
closer they come. I hear the heavy breathing of someone—no, more than one
person.

“Oh, no.” Wade
takes a step forward. I don’t step with him and I don’t let him go. His shirt
stretches in my grasp. “MJ,” he calls out.

MJ?

I step from
behind the tree and see what he does. Ian, Mia, Shayla, MJ and Ms. Burgess are
ten feet from us. I don’t even know if they register who we are. Their eyes are
wild and scared. But not only that, they’re dirtier than before. Mia has paint
all over her. MJ and Shayla have grass and leaves stuck to them, like they’ve
been rolling around on the ground. Mud coats their already brown skin. Shayla
has twigs sticking out from her micro-braids. Ian, the normally nothing-bothers-me
type of guy, has a green tint to his face, making it almost the same color as
his eyes.

Something
is wrong.

I don’t know
why I know this, but maybe it’s the way Ms. Burgess is watching us. She’s normally
so composed. She has a thin and wiry build. Her hair is usually in a perfect
bob, but she’s been pulling at it, making parts of it stand up straight. Her
light brown eyes are darting from side to side, as if she’s afraid to focus on
just one thing. Her skin is so pale that it’s almost white.

Mia takes one
look at me and bursts out with a cry. “Sinta!” she screams. She runs at me full
speed and I see the same red paint splotches on her face that dot her clothes.

What the
hell did she get into?

I move past Wade.
Something is off but I can’t figure it out. She reaches me and grabs me in a
bear hug. I wrap my arms around her, feeling her body shake as she’s wracked
with tears.

“What are you
guys doing here?” I ask.

Her reply
consists of mumbles and cries.

“I can’t
understand you. Shh, it’s okay, you’re fine now,” I say, trying to console her.

The others
come to us, everyone talking at once. I can’t understand any of them any more
than I can understand Mia.

“One at a
time,” Wades says, but no one seems to be listening. Their voices only pick up,
they’re all talking and their sentences run together.

I rub Mia’s
back, trying my best to calm her down. The sooner she’s calm, the sooner we can
find out what is going on. “Mia, please. I don’t know what you’re talking
about.”

“They…they…they…”
she repeats on a bad loop.

I keep rubbing
her until my hand becomes wet and sticky. “What’s this all over you?” I pull it
away to inspect it. “It’s all over my hand.”

Mia’s crying borders
on hysteria now. “They’re dead! They’re all dead.”

“What…” I glance
to Ian for clarification. “What is she talking about?”

This
stuff…I can’t get it off.

Ian runs a
hand through his dark brown hair and hangs his head low. A sob breaks through
his lips. I look to Shayla and MJ. They’re hugging each other tight. Shayla has
her head buried in his chest. MJ’s arms are wrapped around her and he’s crying
on her shoulder.

Ms. Burgess
wipes tears from her eyes and takes a step forward. She holds out her shaking
hands. “We thought they got you too.”

I smile but my
lips quiver as I do. “Is that what has everyone upset? Wade sprung his ankle.”
I look to him, but he’s not smiling like I am. He’s staring at Ms. Burgess. His
skin is ashen. His face slack. “Tell them Wade. We’re fine.” A nervous chuckle
escapes me.

“That’s blood,
Sin,” Wade says, his voice flat and even.

I peer at my
hands. They’re painted in…

Blood?

My fingers are
stuck together from the…no not blood. As I try to separate them, they start to
shake. My body soon follows. My knees buckle from my weight. Mia yells again as
I slip from her grasp.

Before I hit
the ground an arm reaches around my waist, stopping me, holding me up. I close
my eyes and lean onto it for support. It’s the only thing saving me right now.
There’s crying around me but it sounds so distant—so far away, but I don’t
concentrate on that. I can only hear the blood rushing through my ears.

“Sin! Sin!” I
hear Wade calling my name. I open my mouth to respond, to tell him that he’s
mistaken. It’s not blood, it can’t be blood. If it was, whose blood would it
be?

I open my eyes
and focus on my hands.

It’s not
paint.

My stomach
churns and bile rises. Before I can stop it, vomit explodes up the back of my
throat. I have just enough time to turn to the side as it spills from my mouth.
My stomach convulses as I empty what little food I have in me onto the ground.

My hair is
being held away from my face, by who I don’t know. I can’t catch my breath, as
my stomach empties. My body can’t recover from what’s going on. I dry heave so forcefully
that my chest hurts.

“Oh, God,” I
cry out, when the vomiting finally stops.

Wade pulls me
to him. Since I don’t have control of my legs, I go willingly. I lie against him.
The tears don’t stop pouring down my face.

“What
happened?” Wade asks. His chest rumbles as he talks.

“They came for
us,” Ms. Burgess says, her voice shaking so much that I can only guess that she’s
crying too. “We didn’t see or hear them until it was too late.”

“Who? Who came
for you?” Wade asks.

“The goddamn
aliens!” Ian yells. I hear him kick or hit something. “Those motherfuckers
ambushed us!”

“Ian!” Ms.
Burgess snaps.

“What?” Ian
says. “Watch my language?” The laugh that he expels is devoid of humor. “I
think I earned the right to cuss.”

Wade doesn’t seem
to pay any attention to Ian’s smart retort to Ms. Burgess. “Is everyone dead?”

I cringe,
thinking of that possibility. Everyone in the band…gone. Their faces flash
across my mind.

“I
think—” Ms. Burgess starts to say.

“You can’t say
that!” MJ yells, seeming not to care about any aliens nearby. “Don’t you dare
say that.” In a calmer and lower voice he says, “We were split up, that’s all.”

I grip Wade’s
shirt. “There’s blood all over my hands,” I whisper. “I have blood all over
me.”

He runs a hand
down my back. “We’ll wash it off. We’ll go to a lake and wash it off,” he
promises.

I take a deep
breath and wipe the tears off on his shirt.

“We can’t
leave yet,” Shayla says in a panic. “We have to find the others.”

I turn around
and grab for Mia again. I don’t care what she’s covered in. I’m just happy to
have her safe with me.

“We don’t know
where they are,” MJ says gently to her.

“But maybe
they got away like we did. All we have to do is find someplace to hide until
the aliens go away and then go back for them,” Shayla says.

“Go away?
Hide?” Ian says with mock laughter in his voice. “We were
hiding
when
they found us. Where would we even go? Huh Shay?” He crosses his arms across
his chest. “Where do you propose we hide?”

MJ pushes away
from Shayla and heads for Ian. “You know what. I’m tired of your mouth!”

Shayla grabs
for MJ and holds him back. MJ struggles against her briefly before he finally
relents and steps back to her. “It’s not worth it,” she says.

Ian snorts and
turns away from them. “Whatever. I’m not delusional. I know what the hell is
going on.”

“Then tell
me,” I ask. I’m not trying to be smart-Alec-y. I really want to know what the hell
is going on.

“We were
attacked,” Ms. Burgess answers.

“No shit,
Sherlock,” Ian says sarcastically.

“Why did we
have to get stuck with this asshole?” MJ mutters to Shayla.

Ian whirls
around with his fists balled. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Stop!” Wade
yells out. Both guys turn to toward him. “We just want to know what happened.
That’s all.” Wade points at Ian. “We don’t care how you feel about MJ or about
how MJ feels about you.”

With a sniffle,
Mia lifts her chin to speak. “We were trying to get some rest, waiting for you
and Sin to come back and…out of nowhere…they came.” She gestured her hand
through the air wildly. “They were these big, green, scaly-looking reptiles,
just like the ones we saw on television. With fangs and large yellow eyes.”

A shudder runs
down my spine.

“We ran. We
scattered,” MJ says. “I grabbed Shayla and we ran.”

“They started
shooting anyone who ran, which was everyone,” Mia continues. “I was running
with Callie and they shot her. She went down and I tried to help her back up,
but Ian grabbed me and pulled me away. He saved me.”

“You left
her?” I ask in disbelief. Callie, the petite red-headed ninth grader who couldn’t
fend off a fly…they left her? I shook my head. “How could you—”

At my words
Mia leans away from me, as if in shame. Her brown eyes brimmed with tears.

Ian moves with
determination, stomping over to us and trying to pull Mia from my grasp, but I
won’t let her go. “What did you want her to do? Stay there and get caught or
killed?” he asks defensively.

I can’t
imagine either scenario, but I can’t imagine leaving Callie Smith behind to
those aliens.

“What about
them?” Ian waves a hand to MJ, Shayla and Ms. Burgess. “They left people behind
too. Ms. Burgess is a teacher and she ran just like the rest of us.” He turns
to Ms. Burgess. “Aren’t you just the good chaperone?” he sneers, as she recoils
from him.

Before I know
it, Wade is in front of Ian with his arm pulled back and, in a flash, lands a
fist on Ian’s nose, making a loud crack. Ian falls backward without so much as a
stumble.

As soon as he
hits the ground Mia unhitches from me and runs to his side, crouching next to
him. “Ian, Ian, are you okay, baby?”

MJ lets go of
Shayla and claps loudly. “Bravo. It’s about time somebody shut him up.”

“Did that
bitch hit me?” Ian asks Mia, slurring his words.

Wade moves forward,
but Ms. Burgess side-steps between him and Ian. “No, don’t. He’s right. I left
children behind. I left them screaming and crying. I left.” Her voice is
shaking so bad she can hardly form her words and I feel sorry for her.

“Ms. B,” MJ
starts, but she puts up her other hand to silence him.

“I saw
those…those…things and I just ran. I only bumped into these guys while I was
hiding in a tree. I don’t even know what happened to the other teachers.” She lowers
her eyes and tries to hide her face in a hand.

Ian lifts up
to rest on his elbows. “They’re dead. That’s what happened to them.”

MJ takes a
step forward, while Shayla holds onto his shirt, stretching it out. “Wade, man,
if you don’t shut him up again, I will.”

And I don’t
doubt it. Ian is a spoiled rich kid who’s used to hanging around guys who let
him walk all over them, while MJ is neither spoiled nor rich. He’s from the
low-income housing projects and has played football since he was seven. MJ has
an athlete’s body, trained to perfection, and not a high school athlete either.
He’s a got a body made for track and football.

He stands
six-foot-one and weighs a little under two hundred pounds. Wade talked about me
being the record holder in the one hundred meter dash of our school, but MJ is
the record holder of the one hundred meter dash in the state of Michigan. He
was offered a full ride scholarship to five big ten schools. The entire state
was anticipating his selection. I don’t doubt for a second he could shut Ian up
if he wanted to.

Ian snorts. A
sound that seriously gets on my nerves.

“It’s called
adrenaline, Ms. B,” I say. “You saw something that freaked you out and your fight-or-flight
response kicked in and you ran. It’s normal.” I look at Ian, meeting his eyes.
“That’s why you’re
all
here.”

Ian begins to lumber
to his feet. “And you know this because, what? Your mother is a poor people’s
nurse and you plan to follow in her footsteps?”

“Stop,” Mia warns.
“Don’t talk to her like that.”

Ian shakes Mia’s
hands off of him.

I lift my
chin. “My mother helps low-income families who wouldn’t normally be able to
afford health care and yes, if I’m half the woman she is, I’ll follow in her
footsteps.”

Ian raises a cocky
brow. “If you’re half the woman? Well you are Sinta. You’re half-black so you
are half the woman that she is…was.” He flicks a hand at Ms. Burgess. “And look
at that, you’re also half the woman Ms. Burgess is too.”

Ian was down
again. This time with me pinning him with my knees and raining blow after blow
on his face. “You son of a bitch,” I growl.

I can’t stop
hitting him. My knuckles ache with each blow I strike. Even as he tries to
shield his face from me I assault him. I want to hurt him…so very bad.

Wade pulls me
off with one hand. I don’t want to stop. I want to smash Ian’s face into the
ground. I kick, trying to connect my foot with Ian’s skull.

Wade holds me back.
I struggle against him, to no avail. “First things first,” Wade says to Ian.
“If you want to stay with us you’ll have to learn how to keep your mouth shut
and your opinions to yourself.”

Ian wipes his
mouth. “Stay with you? I don’t need you. Mia and I are better off on our own
than hanging around you losers.”

Mia
straightens and squares her shoulders. “I’m not leaving Sin,” she says. “Or Wade,
MJ, Shayla or Ms. Burgess.”

“What?” Ian glances
around nervously. “You would leave me for them?”

“I love you,
but you’re acting like an ass. And if it means staying alive and staying with
my friends, then that’s what I’ll do.”

I hold my hand
out to her and, seeing it, she grabs it and I pull her to me and Wade.

“We need to
stick together, Ian,” Mia says. “All of us.”

Everyone waits,
watching Ian, waiting for his next move. The smart thing for him to do would be
to apologize and suck it up. But this is Ian Harmon, who wouldn’t know the right
thing to do if it came up and bit him in the ass.

“
Pft
,
whatever.”

Ian wasn’t as
smart as he thought he was.

MJ rolls his
eyes and Wade lets out a heavy breath. Ms. Burgess nods and Mia holds out a
hand to him. Peering up at her hand, he curls his upper lip in a snarl. “We’re
through.”

A hurt sound
escapes Mia’s mouth, as she puts her hand down. I tighten my grip on her other hand.
I don’t want her to go begging to him, asking for his forgiveness like she’s
done so many times in the past. Ian’s an asshole. But Mia surprises me by not
trying to slip away from me. Instead she gives my hand a squeeze. She’s going
to be fine.

“You are some
kind of stupid,” MJ says. “The end of the world is a fine time to break up with
your girlfriend.”

Ms. Burgess puts
up both of her hands. “Enough. It’s agreed that we’re sticking together. With
that settled we need to figure out where we’re going to hunker down for the
next couple of days.”

“Couple of
days?” I ask. I want to go home—now.

“We need to
stay out of sight for a while, let the aliens leave the area. I agree with
Shayla’s idea. We need to stay close, just in case we can spot anyone else.”
She turns in a tight circle. “Wade and Sinta, you’ve scouted this area. Where’s
a good place to hide?”

Wade takes the
crumpled map from his back pocket and opens it. “Lanier Lake is just north of
here. It’s pretty large with plenty of places to hide.”

“Can we get
there without being seen?” Ms. Burgess asks warily.

Wade passes
the map to her. She studies the route he traces with his finger. “There are
some major roads, but it shouldn’t be a problem with just…” He cuts off his
words. There was no reason to continue. We all knew what he intended to say.