Run To Earth (Power of Four) (3 page)

Sam reached into his pocket, fumbling with his phone. His hands were trembling as he called the emergency services. “I-I need an ambulance,” he said. “There’s been a-a car accident. Scottvale Street...”

“The...the ground?” Rose whispered, staring in shock. “How is this possible?”

“I don’t know,” Aaron replied, feeling his stomach clench and his fingers tingle.

“It doesn’t make sense.” Rose was shaking her head. “How–?”

“AARON!”

The piercing scream made Aaron jump. He looked over and immediately saw who was crying out his name with such terror.

“Mum?” he gasped in surprise.

Kate was running barefoot down the road, still dressed in her nightclothes. She jumped over the gap in the road like it was nothing, and threw her arms around Aaron.

“Oh thank God! Thank God!” she cried. She pulled away, her hands coming to rest on either side of his face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I-I’m fine,” Aaron stuttered. “How did you know I was here?”

She didn’t answer. She turned to stare at the car, as if noticing it for the first time.

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Oh, Aaron.”

Aaron’s stomach lurched horribly. It almost sounded as if she was
blaming
him. “Mum?”

Kate grabbed hold of him, her hands shaking badly. “We have to leave,” she said, still staring at the car. “Come on.”

“Leave?” Aaron asked. “But the ambulance–”

“We don’t have time! We have to go – now!” Kate yelled.

She pulled him away from the car and down the street. Aaron tried to protest, but was taken aback at how strong she was. She was dragging him with next to no problem.

“Mum, wait, wait. Sam–” Aaron pulled back, turning to look at the twins.

That’s when Kate saw them, standing awkwardly to the side of the road. Her eyes grew impossibly wide, her mouth twisting in anger.

“No!” she roared. “No! No! No!”

Aaron pulled back, a crippling fear rising inside him. He tried to let go of her hand but her grip only tightened. She whirled around to face him. “What were you doing with them?” she spat furiously. “I
told
you not to be around them!”

Aaron couldn’t find his voice to answer. Sheer terror stole his ability to speak.

“Mrs Adams, it wasn’t Aaron’s fault.” Rose hesitantly stepped forward. “
We
came to
him
. We–”

Kate held up a hand to silence her. Her gaze went past Rose, upwards into the sky. For a moment, she stood completely still, her mouth open.

A strange chill spread through Aaron. His heart started beating faster. His stomach clenched painfully and that strange tingle pricked at his fingertips again. He turned, following his mum’s stare and saw it. High up in the night sky, a strange white mist was gathering, like a wispy white cloud. It started to grow, doubling in size with every passing second, glittering against the night sky.

A heartbeat later, it was moving, coming straight at them.

2

Fleeing

The bruising grip on Aaron’s arm pulled him violently forward as his mum broke into a run.

“Come on!” she screamed at Sam and Rose.

They didn’t need telling twice. They ran after Kate and Aaron as fast as they could. The eerie white mist raced after them, gaining speed, closing the distance at an alarming rate. Kate raced back to their street but passed her house, heading further down the road.

“Mum, where...where are we going?” Aaron puffed, running so fast he could barely breathe.

His mum didn’t answer but kept on running, never letting go of his hand. A car swerved around the corner, heading straight at the mother and son. It stopped with a screech and the door was flung open.

“Kate! Aaron!” Chris cried, running out of his patrol car.

“Dad?” Aaron had never been so relieved to see his father but at the same time he was more confused than ever at his sudden appearance. He was supposed to be at work, doing a night shift. What was he doing back home?

Chris wrapped strong arms around his wife and son. It was only for a moment, though, before he pushed both Kate and Aaron behind him, facing the approaching mist that was thundering down the road straight at him.

“Get in the car. Get out of here. Now!” he instructed.

Kate pulled Aaron, opened the back door of the car and pushed him in. “Samuel, Rosalyn, get in.” She turned and it was then she realised that the twins weren’t there. “Samuel? Rosalyn?” she cried, searching the dark street. She spotted them, running in the direction of their home. They had reached the gate and were struggling to open it.

“No!” Chris bellowed, catching sight of them too. “Samuel! Rosalyn! Don’t go in there!” He shot after them.

“Dad!” Aaron made to get out of the car but his mum stopped him.

“Stay inside,” she ordered, slamming the door shut and standing in front of it.

Sam and Rose pushed past the gate and raced towards their home. The mist twisted around and changed direction, pouring into the Masons’ front garden, encircling the small house until it was barely visible through the thick, pulsing white fog. The windows smashed and t
he front door was ripped off its hinges.

Sam and Rose came to a standstill, frozen in terror. Figures materialised out of the mist, strange shapes that solidified into a group of dark-clothed men. They stared straight at Sam and Rose, a strange hunger growing in their expressions. Someone grabbed the twins and pulled them back, with such force that they fell onto the street. Looking up, they found it was Christopher Adams.

“Get in the car – now!” Chris instructed.

Sam and Rose clambered to their feet and ran. Chris turned to face the men, his eyes dark with rage as he met the glares of the twenty men standing before him. One of them, dark-haired with glittering blue eyes, stepped forward with a smirk. He gave a small nod and the swarm of men descended onto Chris.

Sam and Rose reached the police car and Kate quickly opened the door to let them in. Rose got in but Sam faltered. He turned to look back at their house, surrounded by the white fog.

“What’s going on?” he asked, breathing heavily. “Who are those-”

“Get in quickly!” Kate pushed him into the car and shut the door. She ran to the driver’s side, got in and turned the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life.

“Wait,” Sam said. “Wait for my mum and dad.”

Kate ignored him. Twisting the driving wheel, she turned the car around.

“Hey!” Sam slammed a hand against the steel mesh separating them from the front seats. “My parents are in there!” he yelled. “We can’t leave without them!”

“I’m sorry,” Kate replied, her voice thick with tears. “We can’t stay. We have to go.”

“What?” Sam cried. “No!” He turned and tried opening the door but, being a police car, it could only open from the outside. He slammed a hand against the window. “No! Mum! Dad! No!”

Rose was crying hard. “Please, Mrs Adams,” she sobbed. “Get them out. We can’t leave without them. Please!”

Kate didn’t say a word. She raced the car down the street.

“Mum, what about Dad?” Aaron asked, his blood running cold at the realisation that they were leaving him also behind. “Mum, no! Stop!”

But Kate didn’t stop. She drove past their house, fingers tight-knuckled around the wheel and her gaze stubbornly fixed to the road. Another police car came speeding down the street, almost hitting into them. It swerved and parked haphazardly in the middle of the road. Michael jumped out if it. His eyes met Kate’s just for a moment before he raced onto the pavement.

Kate pressed down on the accelerator, speeding away. Aaron turned to the back window to see his uncle Mike run full speed towards the Masons’ house. He caught a glimpse of something silver flash in his uncle’s hand before the car turned the corner, then the Masons’ house, the group attacking his dad, and his uncle disappeared from sight.

***

“Stop the car!” Sam smashed his hand against the mesh. “Stop!”

Kate kept driving.

“Let us out!” Sam screamed in rage, slamming his hand repeatedly against the metal criss-crossing of the back-seat barrier, but the reinforced steel didn’t budge. “Let us out! Stop the car! Stop!”

“Mrs Adams, please!” Rose sobbed. “We have to go back. We have to get my mum and dad!”

“I’m sorry,” Kate replied, “but we can’t go back. It’s not safe.”

Her words only enraged Sam, making him lean back and kick at the steel mesh with his feet. But Kate continued driving, not even turning around to tell him to stop.

Aaron didn’t understand what was happening. Nothing made sense; not what he saw, nor what he felt. It was like it all belonged in a horrifying nightmare. He closed his eyes tightly. Maybe he was dreaming. Maybe this
was
a nightmare. Maybe, in reality, he was still in his bed, and Sam and Rose had never come to see him. He had never crept out of his house and that freak accident had never happened. After all, the ground does
not
just split open of its own accord. Strange white clouds
don’t
drop out of the skies and chase you down the street. Men
don’t
materialise out of mist and start attacking your dad. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.

Aaron kept his eyes closed, hoping and praying he was dreaming. Maybe he would see that green-eyed boy again. That would prove he was dreaming. Aaron opened his eyes and stared out of the window, but all he saw were darkened houses and deserted streets whipping past him.

Kate continued driving into the dead of the night, until she pulled up outside a small white building with a sign advertising it as
The Pearl Inn, B&B
.

Kate turned off the engine and turned back in her seat to look at the three teenagers. “Wait here, and don’t speak a word until we get inside,” she warned before opening the door and stepping out.

“Wait! What’s going on?” Sam asked, but all he got in response was the slam of the door.

Aaron and the twins watched in mounting confusion as Kate hurried to the building. Sam pulled out his phone from his pocket.

“What are you doing?” Rose asked.

“I’m calling the police!” he spat. When he held up his phone, though, he saw the smashed screen. Sam cursed. He tried pushing the buttons but the screen stayed dark. Sam threw the broken phone at the window and turned to Rose. “Give me your phone.”

“I don’t have it,” Rose said. “Mum took it from me, remember?”

Sam cursed again, running both hands through his hair. He didn’t turn to Aaron. He already knew Aaron had left his battery-drained phone at home. The sound of Kate impatiently knocking at the house’s door drew their attention.

The door opened and an elderly man appeared, blinking sleep from his eyes. Aaron was not at all surprised at the man’s shock as he stared at the woman on his doorstep dressed in only a nightie, barefoot and shivering. His mum was saying something but the grey-haired man shook his head. Aaron watched as his mum turned to gesture to them. The man’s gaze darted to them sitting in the car before snapping back to Kate, but he resolutely shook his head. He stepped back, one hand on the door, ready to close it.

What happened next didn’t make sense to Aaron, much like the rest of the night so far. His mum reached out and pressed her hand against the man’s chest, halting him. Her other hand reached up to rest on his cheek, almost lovingly, with the tips of her fingers touching his temple. The man’s expression changed, morphing from shocked to serene. He nodded at her and moved away, gesturing for her to come in. Kate turned, hurrying back to the car. She opened the door, at last freeing them from the back seat of the police car. Sam leapt out enraged – red faced with blazing eyes.

“What’s going–!”

But Kate’s fierce glare quietened him. “Inside!” she hissed.

Aaron took Rose’s hand in one of his and Sam’s in the other, and pulled them across the pavement, following his mum into the building and past the now smiling grey-haired man.

***

The room was small with just one bed, a single dresser pushed into the far corner, a chair perched next to the window, and a door leading to a tiny cubicle of an en suite. The first thing Kate did after locking the door was draw the curtains. Sam and Rose were told to sit down so they perched at the very edge of the bed. Aaron sat down in the chair, his gaze following his mother’s irregular pacing. She was mumbling something under her breath, eyes closed, hands clutching at her stomach and sometimes at her chest.

“Mrs Adams?” Rose bravely raised her voice. “Shouldn’t...shouldn’t we do something? Call the police or...” She trailed off. The police were already there; Christopher Adams and Michael Williams were police officers.

Kate ignored her, keeping up her nervous pacing with her head dropped and lips mumbling quiet prayers.

“Will you tell us what’s going on?” Sam asked, a lot calmer this time, but anger still underlined his words.

Kate shook her head. “Just wait,” she said. “Wait until Chris and Mike come with your parents. Then we’ll talk.”

“How will they know where we are?” Rose asked.

“They know,” she said softly. “They’ll come.”

Aaron didn’t know how long he sat there staring at his mum. She seemed determined to wear the floor thin, walking up and down the length of the room. Suddenly she came to a standstill. Her eyes opened. She turned and darted to the door. Aaron rose to his feet, his heart twisting in his chest.

Kate’s hand was on the handle before the knock even happened. She pulled the door open with great haste to see both Chris and Michael. She threw herself into her exhausted husband’s arms. Chris looked over at Aaron with tired, bloodshot eyes. Aaron was staring at his dad too, taking in the sight of his injuries. A faint bruise was visible at his chin. Blood leaked from a cut on his cheek, but that seemed to be the extent of it. Aaron glanced at his uncle to see that he sported a cut just under his jawline but otherwise seemed unhurt. Chris pulled away from his wife and stepped towards Aaron, embracing him with strong arms.

“Thank God!” he breathed into Aaron’s hair. “You’re okay. Thank God, you’re okay.”

Sam and Rose got to their feet. They stared expectantly at the door, waiting for their parents to walk in and rush to embrace them in a flurry of tears. But the only one to follow behind Chris was Michael, who closed the door behind him.

“Mr Adams?” Rose spoke tentatively. “Where’s...where’s my mum and dad?”

Chris let go of Aaron and walked over to her and Sam, his expression one of tremendous grief. He came to a stop in front of Rose and reached out, cupping her cheek. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

Aaron’s breath caught in his chest.

“There was nothing we could do,” Chris said.

Rose shook her head, brown eyes wide. Beside her, Sam stepped forward, eyes narrowed and fists clenched.

“You’re lying,” he accused. “You’re lying!”

“Samuel–” Kate started.

“NO!” Sam bellowed. “What are you saying? That they’re – they’re...
dead
?” The word escaped him with difficulty. “How can they be dead? They can’t die! Why would anyone hurt them?”

“No.” Rose was shaking her head. Her chest heaved as panic built inside her. “No, no, NO!” she screamed.

Kate crossed the room and took the girl in her arms, whispering gently to her. Rose struggled at first, but as Kate’s soothing voice reached her, she crumpled in her embrace, sobbing.

Aaron wanted to go to her. He wanted to help, to offer some gesture of support, but his feet refused to move. It was as if he had lost control over his limbs and so was forced to just stand, staring at his friends as they struggled with their grief.

“What happened?” Sam asked, the words barely making it past his clenched teeth. “Who were those...those men? Did they...? Were they the ones who...?” He couldn’t finish the sentence but closed his eyes, struggling to keep control.

“Come on,” Michael said quietly, stepping towards Sam. “I’ve booked another room. We’ll go in there and talk.”

“No, we’ll talk
here
!” Sam was shaking now, though whether it was from anger or grief Aaron didn’t know. “Will someone just...just tell me what the hell is going on!” His voice rose; tears shone in his eyes but didn’t fall.