Mercy (The Last Army Book 1) (6 page)

“Oh God—run, run!” I screamed. We rushed down the street that led back to the park, the only gap left in the wall of demonic eyes surrounding us. The creatures leapt off the crumbling buildings, eager to cut us off. I could only catch a glimpse of them as they dashed into the murky crimson light of the eclipsed sun. It looked as if they were all made up of a grotesque mixture of animals.

Gunshots rang out behind us. I glanced over my shoulder. The school’s security guard lay flat on his back, firing wildly at the monsters swarming toward him. I looked away just before his screams pierced the air.

“Don’t look back—keep running!” Martin shouted.

The guard’s agonizing cries didn’t last long. Paws banged on car roofs, and hooves thundered on the pavement louder and louder as the infernal menagerie drew closer. Karla panted, thick beads of sweat dripping off her chin. Her bookish ways hadn't left much room for sports. We’d barely reached the end of the block when she started lagging behind.

“Come on—hurry up!” I grasped her sleeve.

The fabric stretched more and more with every stride I took. Martin ran five feet ahead of us, then ten, then twenty. Karla slowed me down, but I wouldn’t loosen my aching grip on her. I wasn’t thrilled to leave the security guard behind, but leaving my best friend to die under the storm of claws, fangs, and hoofs gaining on us… well, that just wasn’t happening. We’d all probably end up dying anyway. The beasts’ relentless pursuit showed no sign of abating. Their sulfuric stench hit me as they came closer.

“Turn right, right!” Martin frantically waved his right arm as we approached the corner. The tactic seemed pointless, but he’d saved my life once already, so I did as he said.

The intersection lit up with bursts of gunfire just as we turned the corner. I’d been so worried about Karla and the demons that I hadn’t spotted the soldiers charging toward us from the park, probably alerted by Martin’s shooting.

The crack of their firing was answered by the monsters’ booming wails and moans, but we didn’t dare slow down. The soldiers might’ve been able to buy us some time, but they fought a losing battle. Four or five guys—even armed with assault rifles—couldn’t resist the advance of at least a hundred demons, each one capable of taking thirty shots to the face before dying. I thought of the young soldier I’d met at the park, of the confusion etched on his boyish face. Tears rushed down my cheeks with every stride. I hadn’t even bothered to read the nametag on his uniform.

We managed to put four city blocks between the monsters and us by the time the soldiers’ rifles had been silenced. At the end of the fifth block, we saw a group of at least three hundred survivors fleeing eastwards. Their unhinged screams and the panic on their faces made it clear what they ran from. The monsters behind us weren’t the only ones around. The entire city could’ve been crawling with them as far as I knew.

“We’ve got to catch up to them!” I shouted, figuring our odds of making it out of there alive would improve within the fleeing crowd.

Martin looked back at me and nodded. He barreled straight through the crowd, heading for the center. I tried to stick close to him, pushing through the desperate mob. Karla clutched her sides. Her face twitched with pain and exhaustion as she staggered forward. Terrified wails and shrieks reached us from the back of the crowd as stragglers were picked off by the approaching demonic horde. The old, the weak, and the injured begged for help as they struggled to keep up with the rest of us. Most begged in vain.

“Come on, Lala, keep up!” I screamed, straining my arm to pull her forward.

Karla broke out in tears, her face flushed with exhaustion. “I… I can’t. Just go.”

“Screw that! Now run, or I’ll kill you myself.” I flung her arm across my shoulders.

My legs ached as Karla shifted her weight onto me, her body warm and moist as it rubbed against me, but we managed to keep up with the crowd. She huffed and grunted as she picked up the pace. Her cinnamon cheeks were still bathed in tears, but the scowl on her face displayed her new determination. Martin slowed down, after glancing back at us, and ran alongside Karla. She was too short to rest her arm on his shoulders, so he locked arms with her. Karla sped up even more. For a second, I thought we’d actually make it out of there alive.

Oh, Jesus… what the hell?

Demons bolted across the rooftops of the battered houses at either side of us. The gritty air cloaked their advance, but their demonic eyes left behind a blazing trail of crimson light as they dashed forward. Shrieks of pure terror rang out through the crowd as the monsters overtook us, dashing past the fastest runners at the front.

The demon at the head of their assault leapt off the roof and onto the street, vaulting to the opposite rooftop straight away. It clutched something between its massive jaws. An anguished sound—a man's wail—came from where the beast had landed. Two more demons rushed over to the spot, and between the three of them, they made short work of their prey. Their large, glowing eyes danced around the man’s corpse as blood and gore rained down onto the street below.

Another creature swooped straight into the panicked throng, just a few feet ahead of where I ran. A woman’s tortured cries rose. Martin pulled Karla and me toward the sidewalk as we ran, skirting the scene of the carnage. The woman’s cries for help were swiftly cut down, and the monster leapt to the opposite rooftop with her mangled remains between its jaws. We ran under the creature just as it sailed through the air, and a stream of warm blood hit my face, blinding me. I stumbled as I kept running, but Karla helped me regain my balance.

Some people who’d witnessed the scene froze in place, terror stricken, while those behind them kept pressing forward, desperate to escape from the demons still pursuing us from behind. Weak moans reached me as people were shoved to the pavement and trampled by the frenzied mob.

The demons on the rooftops kept pouncing on our helpless column, picking us off one by one while the monsters behind us massacred anyone left behind. After only a few blocks of brutal pursuit, at least two hundred people must’ve been slaughtered.

We’d just reached the Cross Island Parkway, right at the edge of Queens, when I felt an excruciating cramp in my right leg as if a snake had bitten me. I yelled as I crashed to the pavement. Karla collapsed next to me, slipping out of Martin’s grasp.

My clothes clung to my body, drenched in cold sweat. Black spots swam across my eyes. I curled up and rubbed my thigh, but the pain only increased. Martin rushed to our side, saving us from being trampled by the people who ran past us without even glancing our way.

“It’s okay; we’ll just hide inside the car. You should get out of here,” I said, looking at Martin, my voice strained from the pain.

“You’re right, I should,” he said. I raised my eyebrows in surprise but nodded in agreement. “I won’t, though.” He was leaning forward to help us back to our feet when a deafening roar shook the cars along the road, shattering their windows. The monsters had caught up with us.

A row of demons flocked behind the concrete barrier dividing the parkway, close enough that I could make out the blood splattered on their fur. Hundreds of unblinking, demonic eyes glared at us. The monsters growled and snarled but made no attempt to leap over the barrier.

The pain in my leg dissipated as my heart beat faster and faster, using the last of my adrenaline reserves. Karla squeezed her eyes shut and grabbed my hand. She made the sign of the cross as she muttered a prayer, interrupted only by her whimpering. I crossed myself, as well, but couldn’t pray. My mind was blanked out from fear. Martin slowly rose from his crouch, facing the demons. His Adam’s apple bobbed as his breathing became labored. His hands shook like a tree’s leaves against a stiff breeze.

A bear-like creature at the front of the demonic swarm stood on its hind legs. The beast measured at least twelve feet from the ground to the tip of the imposing antlers sticking out of its head, towering above its brethren. It pointed its snout to the sky and made a guttural howl that flared up its dark-red mane. A series of distant howls and roars answered his call, all of them coming from within the city.

The demon dropped its front paws onto the concrete barrier. I gasped. Martin took a step back. Karla kept praying, squeezing her eyes shut. The monstrous bear stared at us with its three fiery eyes, the third one right in the middle of its forehead. I didn’t dare move, didn’t dare breathe. The demon scraped its long black claws on the concrete while the other monsters kept an eerie silence. After a few endless seconds, the creature turned around and… strolled away. The hundreds of bright red orbs in front of us blinked out as the rest of the demons followed their leader.

Martin and I gawked at the retreating monsters until they disappeared behind the trees bordering the parkway. I swallowed the giant knot in my throat and exhaled the breath I’d been holding in. Martin sat in the pavement and rubbed his face with both hands, as if he were trying to wake up from a nightmare. I lightly tapped Karla’s cheek.

“Hey. Karla. Lala! Open your eyes. I think we’re okay.” A brief, nervous chuckle escaped my chest. “I think they’re gone.”

She opened her eyes and stared at me for a second, unwilling to believe me, but finally ventured to look in the direction in which the demons had left. She turned back to me, and I smiled, my eyes clouding up. We burst into tears as we hugged each other.

“But how?” Karla asked once her sobbing ceased.

“I don’t know—they just left.” I looked at Martin.

“Whatever it was, we should get going,” Martin said as he stood up. “Just in case they change their minds.”

***

We walked in silence for at least half an hour, finding little more than shattered timber and brick piles along the way—all that remained of the beautiful suburban homes destroyed during the earthquake. I peered into the gutted interior of the few houses left standing, expecting a cluster of demonic eyes to return my stare. None of us brought up the subject of the demons’ unexplainable retreat again, as if it would shatter the miracle that had saved our lives. I only knew that whatever happened back there, it was clear that these were no mindless monsters.

Martin walked a few steps ahead of Karla and me. He stomped on the broken pavement with his black boots, every stride full of confidence, but clearly didn’t have much of a plan. We pretty much just walked in a straight line away from the city. Karla dragged her feet next to me, her gaze fixed on the ground. Her enthusiasm over surviving the demons’ attack had extinguished sooner than I expected. She caught me staring at her every now and then. I smiled, trying to dispel some of the gloom in the air, but she looked away. I bit my lip and gathered my courage to finally break the silence.

“I’m sure they’re okay. Our parents, the guys from school… they’re okay. I can feel it.” I clutched the silver cross hanging on my neck, appealing to her religiousness. It stuck to my fingers from the dried blood clinging to it. Large, dark stains covered my red shirt.

Karla shook her head, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. She curled a few strands of her long black hair around a finger and pulled until they snapped off. Her gesture made me wince. She hadn’t done that since elementary school, around the time her mom left her.

“I’m not so sure,” she whispered.

Those words hit me like a bucket of cold water. I decided to keep my mouth shut until they felt ready to talk, even if my fears fed off the oppressive silence. I figured even Martin’s confident posturing could’ve been a coping mechanism. Everyone’s got a family, after all.

We ended up walking eastward for several hours, our conversations never amounting to more than, “Watch out for that hole,” or “Maybe there’s something to drink left over there,” as we passed the ruins of a convenience store. The sun’s bright-red halo began to set behind us, swallowed up by the thick smoke columns sprouting from the city’s jagged profile.

“We should rest for a while,” Martin said, halting his march. “We haven’t seen any of those things out here, so maybe it’s safe. I’ll stay up and keep a lookout just in case, though.”

“Yeah, okay,” I said. Karla just nodded.

***

I rubbed my cheek against a soft, warm surface. For a second, I thought I was back home with my face against my pillow—warm from the sunlight that slipped in through the window in the afternoon. I caressed it with the palm of my hand.

“Good morning, Becca,” Karla said.

I opened my eyes and found myself groping her breasts. I sat up, confused. I’d woken up in the back of a pickup truck, surrounded by destruction. It took a while for me to get my bearings. The sky still had its dreary red tint, only now the sun hung low in the east, rather than the west. It must’ve been early in the morning.

“Sorry, I was…” I couldn’t really think of a way to end that sentence.

“Don’t worry about it. Listen, Becca, I… I’m sorry for the way I behaved yesterday. I know you were just trying to help.”

Her eyes looked startlingly small over the dark, swollen bags hanging beneath them. She looked as though she hadn’t managed to sleep and had spent the night torturing herself over the events of the previous day. She smiled, but the contrast with her eyes gave her a slightly creepy look.

“It’s okay. I understand. I’m worried about my parents and the guys from school as well, you know?”

“Even Amy?” Karla was well aware of my troubled relationship with her.

I scoffed. “Yeah, even Amy… even her.” My smile faded away as I seriously considered that she could be dead. “We’ve got to stay strong, though, right?”

“Right.” She wrapped her arms around me. “We can’t lose faith.”

The warmth of her embrace made me realize just how cold the morning air felt, particularly for the middle of summer. The sun’s feeble rays barely warmed up my numbed fingers, and I could feel the cold from the truck’s sheet metal through my jeans. I felt some reluctance to end our hug, but it had already lasted far longer than what was socially acceptable. I rose to my aching feet—my entire body still felt sore from our terrifying escape—and after stretching for a few seconds, I climbed out of the truck. Karla started praying, so I looked for Martin in order to give her some privacy.

I spotted him strolling between the endless columns of abandoned cars along the expressway, his hands tucked in the pockets of a brown jacket. A large sports bag hung from his shoulder.

Someone’s been scavenging.

I felt a tinge of anger, seeing how he’d gone off to get himself a nice jacket, leaving us at the mercy of anyone—or anything—that might’ve come upon us. However, he produced a white blazer from the sports bag, which immediately extinguished any ill will I'd felt for him.

“Good morning. It got a bit chilly, so I went hunting for some warmer clothes.” He handed me the blazer. “I got us some breakfast, as well.”

“Oh. Hey, thanks.” I looked into his dark-brown eyes. He looked almost exhausted. “Thanks for everything, by the way. You saved our lives yesterday. You don’t even know us. It means a lot to me. Thanks.”

“Well… everything happened so fast I didn’t have time to think it through. You guys almost got me killed.” He grinned.

I blushed, so I turned my face away while I tried on the blazer. I realized that, even though he joked about it, we really had almost gotten him killed. And now, instead of cutting us loose once the danger had passed, he’d stayed up all night watching over us and getting us supplies. I felt so worthless…

“I’ve got some good news, though,” he said. “I came across a sign up ahead, urging people to gather at a town just over ten miles to the east, in Suffolk County. It’s worth a shot.”

“Sure. Let’s check it out.”