Roth (18 page)

Suddenly, the
ground below my feet begins to vibrate and there is a rustling of leaves in the distance.

“Is that what I think it is?” Mattie whispers
, and I don’t have the heart to tell her we’re about to be ambushed.

We
’ve just walked into a trap.

“Hank, I need a weapon now, something is coming
!” Mattie yells out to the others, stepping away from me.

“There is no way you or your freak are having a gun
,” Kane retorts, his anger from the situation bleeding into his response to Mattie.

“Just give me a fucking weapon, Kane!” she shrieks
.

I have to move quickly to stop her going at him. I would not put it passed him to hurt her, not even when he should be concerned about the fact the Claws are coming for us.

“We need to run!” I hiss at Mattie, willing to let the others face off with the Claws since all three have their guns out.

“You’ve got two guns
, man, just give her one,” Hank growls, his eyes keeping watch on our surroundings. The vibrations feel heavier, and I know they’re getting close. The lack of their screeching tells me they were hoping for a surprise attack.

“Here,” Kane relents, throwing a knife right at us. I quickly pull Mattie away, but it only lands softly on the ground at our feet.

“Seriously?” she yells at him, bending down to grab a hold of the knife.

“Let’s go.” I take her hand, jogging us only a few steps when a Claw appears just a short distance away.

“Shit!” Mattie cries.

I turn us around, trying for a different way
, but every direction we look there is a Claw blocking our path.

Ten in total.

“Fucking hell!” Hunter cries, taking aim and quickly shooting one of the Claws directly in the eye.

As soon as the Claw drops to the ground dead, they come at us all at once. Nine creatures leaping through the air, sharp claws at the ready, mouths salivating and teeth exposed.

Kane and Hank quickly join in on the shooting, taking down several more Claws before they have to duck for cover.

I watch Mattie frozen in place, panic and fear holding her hostage
, but then determination takes over. I dive and knock her to the ground as a Claw snaps at where her head had been. She pushes off me, stands up, and holds the knife behind her head and, as another Claw storms towards her, she throws it at the creature. It flips through the air and catches it straight through its eye, black blood oozing out.

It’s still running towards us, unseeingly this time
, and it takes out another creature as it snaps its claws out, hoping to catch its human prey.

A nearby branch collapsing catches me, knocking me over and Mattie helps roll it off my back in time for another Claw to come at us.
We leap away only to almost run into another one and quickly shift directions.

One of the others screams in pain, more gunshots sound
, and I curse the fact Kane wouldn’t give us more of a weapon than a measly knife.

With all the collapsed trees and branches falling all around us from the forceful attack of the Claws, I find a broken stick on the ground, pick it up just in time for a claw to come out of nowhere and it’s only Mattie yanking on my arm that prevents me from being cut in half.
Instead, the stick I’d been holding is cut cleanly and falls to the ground.

We fall back
to the forest floor and crawl backwards as the creature menacingly follows, screeching at us. Dripping saliva scatters everywhere, and I know we will be burned alive if it touches us. I open my mouth, about to call out for help, just as Hank shoots the creature in the head. Black blood spatters over our clothes and, disgustingly enough, over our faces.

When the dead creature hits the ground
, I look up and realise there is almost complete silence. The only sound is the heavy breathing all of us are doing. There are now ten dead creatures scattered about.

“Fuck!” Kane screams out in frustration. His arm is bleeding badly, his shirt is also covered in a deep red blood
, telling me he’s bleeding severely and losing blood fast. He has that black blood all over him as well.

Hank appears less injured, but he’s also covered in the black substance and looking pale. Hunter is dead on the ground by his feet, blood pooling around him and a severed arm and leg.

“Are you okay?” I turn to gaze over Mattie. Apart from the black ooze over her, I can’t find any injuries, though.

Kane stomps off, swearing loudly still
, and disappears from view. Hank rushes over to us and helps us stand.

“I… I’m…” Mattie looks dazed and
looks as though she’s going into shock.

“That was insane
! I mean, did you see how many there were? I thought we were dead for sure…” Hank speaks quickly. “I tried to help Hunter, but that… and then it snapped and… fault… I…” His words begin to blend together, and soon enough, I can’t make any sense of it.

“We have to get out of here.” Mattie squeezes Hank’s arm and he stops rambling.

“I’m out of bullets,” he states worriedly.

“So am I
, and we have bigger problems than what we just faced.” Kane’s voice echoes over us and we turn to stare at him.

He looks weak, his body
swaying slightly, and blood is dripping down his arm over his hands and onto the ground in a steady stream. The shirt he’s wearing is now saturated with blood. He’s only minutes from passing out.

“We’ll get out of here and get you medical help
,” Hank tells him, lying since we will never make it out in time. At least, not in time to help Kane.

“I’m not talking about me
. Take a look.” He nods to his left, indicating for us to move over that way to see what he’s talking about.

We all carefully find our way around the dead creatures and step on things I
refuse to even think about recognising for what they are. Along the way Mattie dry heaves twice, saying the smell is horrendous while it just smells a little foul to me.

When we see what Kane is talking about, I think my stomach actually drops out of my body and my heart decides to stop beating completely.

In front of us is a nest twice the size of anything we have seen, but worse than that, they are starting to hatch. Three of the eggs have cracked, and one is already falling apart, a small, miniature Claw making its way into our view.

“We don’t have time to get out of here to set the fire, and I’m out of bullets, too. We have no way to fight them
, and if we don’t kill these now, then for every creature we’ve killed, another fucking one will replace it!” Kane thunders, the strength in his voice causing his body to go slack as he is unable to keep himself standing tall.

“You want to start the fire now? We’ll burn alive!” Mattie shrieks, her panicked gaze finding mine.

“We have no choice. Besides, I’m dead anyway. Run. I’ll give you as much time as I can, but I can’t afford to pass out. It won’t be much.” Kane winces and touches his side, his hand already covered in blood. Minutes to live might be generous.

Hank rushes over to Hunter, grabbing his backpack and finding the remaining matches.
“With this heat, it won’t take much for it to catch fire,” he mutters as he hands them over to Kane.

“I know
. Now fuck off and try to make it out alive. If you do, make sure the bastards pay with their lives and you get Earth back.”

“I will. I won’t give up until we’re back on home soil
,” Hank promises, slapping Kane lightly on his shoulder, a gesture of appreciation and farewell.

“Thank you,” Mattie mutters to him.
I am sure she’s remembering all the hell Kane has put us through the past few days, yet she still manages to show her gratitude for his sacrifice.

“If Hank weren’t here
, I wouldn’t give you any time at all. As far as I’m concerned, a freak and a freak lover don’t deserve to see Earth again.”

I glare at him, ready to really give him a piece of my mind. Mattie doesn’t deserve his anger or
judgments; however Mattie pulls on my arm to stop me.

“I hope you find Charlotte and peace
,” she says to him. His gaze turns hopeful then. I don’t know what Mattie is talking about.

“We need to go, now
!” Hank yells at us, so I keep my questions to myself and we run. Not once do any of us look back.

W
hen I smell the smoke and feel the heat of the flames, I know Kane didn’t manage to give us enough time. We’re going to be burned alive in this forest.

Chapter 15

Mattie

We sprint through the crowded forest, dodging trees, bushes and fallen branches. Twigs scratch my face, arms and legs as I pass by them. Sweat is coating my entire body, and if I could look at myself in a mirror, I’d say I would be a mixture of bright red from how overheated my body is right now and black from the blood that I still feel coating me.

To my left side
, Marduke is running alongside of me. To my right, Hank is just a little farther ahead. I don’t spare them long because I can’t afford to trip over anything or slow down even a little bit.

There is only a slight breeze coming through, nothing strong enough to prevent the fire from chasing us and the smoke from surrounding us.

Heat feels as though it is radiating off me, only serving to make myself feel even worse. The air is thick and relentless and my mouth is dry, my lips cracked. It’s progressively getting worse, too. The waves of heat are moving closer and the snaps and crackles from the fire burning through the forest sound too close for comfort. It’s loud enough to feel like a roaring in my ears.

I’m in complete shock when a tree actually falls down beside me, its entire trunk alight in flames.
Marduke roughly grabs my arm and veers me to the left while we keep moving at an angle, one that Hank doesn’t see us moving in, and therefore, I quickly lose sight of him.

I might feel
panic, realising I’ve lost him, except right now, I can only focus on running. Marduke only releases my arm when we have to run along opposite sides of an oncoming tree. Having him next to me allows me to not let the panic and fear consume me. There is a big part of me that feels that, if he’s with me, I’ll be able to get through anything.

We run with the fire feeling like it is on our tails for an hour
. Five hours. I don’t know. I’m nowhere near as fit as I used to be, and right now, I am ready to collapse and give up. My feet ache from blisters and the rest of my body is in shock. I haven’t had to run like this since Earth, since the invasion.

It’s only my determination and stubbornness that keeps me from giving up. It used to serve me well during my endurance training for basketball. I was always pushing myself further, trying to do better than the last time. It’s part of what makes me so competitive and
is probably saving my life right now.

We thankfully don’t stumble upon any other nests or creatures. Hopefully
, none of the eggs had the chance to hatch and attack the camp. We need all of the creatures to be still here in this burning forest. Only once the forest is completely alight can the camp be safe.

There is a large clearing around the forest, one that is big enough
, hopefully, to prevent a fire from jumping across it to the camps. There is only ever a week of hot weather like this, so, once the cool weather comes, the air will change. At that point, there will most likely be rain and this fire should be easier to control.

There was a slight incline to the ground as we first started to run in this direction, which now begins to get steeper, making my calves throb with pain and my knees shake. Playing basketball isn’t great for knees and ankles, but I think the strain I
’ve put them through today might be worse than anything I have done in the past several years of playing.

The air clears the
farther up we go, and for a moment, I think that we’ll be okay. We might be able to get out of this. Then we reach the top of the incline where it levels off for a few meters and that is it. There is no more.

“Shit!” I gasp, barely able to catch my breath.
I crouch down, my hands on my knees, wheezing. I turn a little to the side, all I can manage to force myself to do at the moment, and see the thick smoke climbing with us. I can’t see any fire yet, however I know it must be close.

“We’re going to have to jump
,” Marduke says, leaning over the edge.

“What?” I rasp out, forcing myself to take the few steps to stand beside him and look over the edge with him.
I hope that maybe I’m wrong and the drop won’t be so bad, or maybe it’s climbable.

No such luck. The edge is straight down, definitely no way to climb down it, and the drop is easily fifty feet. Maybe more.

The one small piece of good news is the river running underneath. It’s the most amount of water I’ve seen since leaving Earth. It runs along the entire edge of this mountain, and it’s wide enough that I assume we could easily land in it.

“How deep is that water?” I ask Marduke, my breath slowly coming back to me.
I am dying of thirst, and if we had enough time, I would peel the backpack off my back and grab the bottle of water out. The material of the backpack is disgustingly stuck to my back right now.

“I don’t know.” He stares at me, his hands reaching out and taking both of mine into his much larger ones.

“We can’t jump; we’ll be killed,” I say, my voice shaking.

“We have two options. We stay here and we’ll definitely be killed by the fire, or we jump and possibly survive.”

“I’ll take option three; we go back in time and never, ever come here.” I sigh. I want to cry at our situation yet feel too tired to even muster that. Besides, I think my body is in the process of sweating out any potential tears I might have in me.

He smiles sadly at me, his hand moving to caress my face
. His expression breaks my heart. I think he’s about to say goodbye, just in case we don’t make it.

“Mattie, I don’t regret anything. I would go through this all again if it meant I got to meet you on Earth and have the chance to fall in—”

“Stop it, Marduke, please,” I beg him. “If we’re going to jump, I need to do it thinking we’re going to make it. If you say goodbye, this feels like a suicidal jump. I need this to feel like hope,” I explain.

He nods, his gaze shifting to the trees around the edge that have embers hitting them. The fire is almost on us, about to consume us.
It’s now or never.

He lets go of one of my hands, keeping a tight grip of the other
, then we both face the edge. I don’t look down; instead I look into the distance and try to feel free. We lean forward together, and suddenly, there is nothing under my feet. We’re dropping through the air quickly. I only have seconds before the water hits me.

Time feels like it stills
, and the air rushing past us as we drop is refreshing on my sweaty skin. My hair and clothes catch the breeze while there is an even more amazing feeling as air makes it way between my back and the backpack.

For a few moments
, I do feel hope. Then, I take a deep breath, and we hit the water. My hand loses Marduke’s, and while my feet never hit the bottom, I am aware I have shot through the water for a long way down. For me to get some much needed oxygen, I need to get back up to the surface.

There is no momentum for me going up
, though. I need to work my legs and arms fast to pull myself back to the top. My legs continue to burn from the effort and I’ve lost my backpack. There is a strong current running through the water, and for each stroke, I manage to pull myself farther up. I also feel myself drifting more to the side.

I see above me the water is lighter and know I’m close now. I blow out my remaining air, freeing my lungs and hoping to buy myself a tiny bit more time.
I am forced to breathe in water just before I reach the top, and I cough it out, my lungs burning and my throat feeling raw. I almost fall back under the water, but my legs kick out, keeping me afloat.

Arms pull me to the side
as I allow Marduke to swim us to the edge, finding relief when he lays me down over the embankment. My legs are still in the water, but the rest of me isn’t. I keep my eyes closed, my breathing heavy and hard.

“Are you okay?”
he asks, his hands touching me as he inspects me for any hidden injuries.

“No,” I pant, my heart beating erratically in my chest. I’m not sure
I will ever feel okay again after what we’ve just faced.

“Where are you hurt?”
At the desperation in his voice, I open my eyes, watching him as he again looks me over. His hand holds my arm and he touches along me from my hands to my shoulder, feeling for any tender area or a possible break. As soon as he’s satisfied, he moves to my other arm, leaning over me.

There is panic and concern in his gaze, but also something tender as he looks over me. His touch is gentle and feels loving to me. Every touch I feel is like he’s touching my heart. He’s becoming a part of me.

“Is it the baby? Is something wrong with the baby? Mattie, talk to me!” His gaze is wild and scared.

“I’m okay, I think. Help me sit up.”
When I hold out my arm, he takes my hand, pulling me up into a sitting position. “Are you okay?” I ask him, holding my head as my vision swims a little.

“Yes
. Come forward and drink some water.” He leans away from me and cups his hand into the water, bringing it to my mouth where I suck in every drop. He does this several times, even though I could easily do it myself, and each time, my eyes watch him.

The air turns electric, different from the thick air that is caused by the heat.
I don’t want to break this spell moving between us, the adrenaline still pumping through my body, making me feel more alive and turned on more than ever.

Unfortunately
, my mind doesn’t switch off like I need it to. Worries and fears bombard me and pull me away from the moment we’re sharing.

“What do we do now?”

He stares at me a little longer. I know he’s still stuck back in our moment, most likely disappointed that I’ve pulled him away from it and into our never ending problem.

“As much as I hate to leave the water, I think we might have no choice. If we stay here
, we might be trapped, and the water won’t protect us forever.” He looks at the tall, overhanging trees. The cliff might keep the fire stuck above us, but that doesn’t mean the fire won’t spread down here and be able to cross over the river.

“But what if there is another fire coming from that direction? We could be running straight to our deaths
,” I point out.

“I didn’t see smoke coming from this direction, however that’s not to say in a few hours the fire doesn’t consume this part of the forest
, too. If we decide to leave, we have to do it now.”

He’s right about that
. I’ve looked straight ahead as we fell. While I didn’t see any smoke or indication of a fire, I sure did see a hell of a lot of trees and greenery ahead of us. After the massive bout of exercise I’ve just been through, I’m not keen to repeat it.

“You think that’s our best option?”

“Yes.”

I know he would never put me or this baby in jeopardy, not more than
I have already managed to help get us into, anyway. Therefore, if he thinks going forward is our best option, then I have to trust him.

“Okay, let me just dip back in the water for a second.”

I didn’t exactly get to enjoy the feel of the water when I was almost drowning in it, so I slip back in, staying close to the embankment to avoid getting dragged away in the current. I sink under the water, wetting my hair and loving the feel of the cool water on my skin. It feels as good as any shower I am likely to get. I’m relieved to see the black gunk has washed away from my jumper and not stained it.

Not long after I get in,
Marduke joins me, also appearing to embrace the feel of the water. Soon, he’s pulling me close to him and wrapping his arms around me. He leans in and kisses me, gently at first, though quickly growing more demanding.

He waits for me to lose myself to him, until my legs are wrapped tightly around him and my mouth is a slave to him
, then he pulls away.

“If we had more time, I would not be saying this, but we need to go.” He frowns. I don’t think he’s frowning at me but at himself for the words he
’s just spoken. I can feel how turned on he is, and a small part of me wants to torture him a little for starting something he can’t finish.

Only Marduke can make me feel so hot, so wanted and so in need. It makes me love him even more. So focusing on my love for him and the fact that I know he’s making the right decision, I hold off torturing him. For now.

I send a silent prayer that we’ll make it out of this alive and will get the chance to finish what we’ve started.

I give him a quick
, chaste kiss, loving the smile he gives me in return and the small dimples that appear, and then I climb out of the water. I roll up my pant legs until they are sitting over my knees then pull the jumper and t-shirt off me so I only have on my vest. The heat is too hot to be wearing more layers, and with only Marduke here, it won’t matter who sees me wearing the vest.

The reminder that we’re alone knocks me back to the fact that Hank isn’t here.

“What happened to Hank?” I glance around us, hoping to just stumble upon him and find him uninjured from any fire or fall, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

“We lost him. I’m sorry
, Mattie, but we don’t have time to search for him, either. He is smart and strong; he’ll know to keep going until he makes it out of the forest. We’ll see him as soon as we make it out of here, too,” he says it confidently, and I take strength from his words.