Bloodlines

by S. K. Gregory

  I froze at the mention of the word Fae. How did he know about them? Did he know about me? Was he working for Phillip?

  I shook him off, turning to run. As I did, something swooped down out of the sky above us. Some kind of huge lizard thing with wings.

  I was grabbed around the waist and dragged into a store doorway. The guy slapped a hand over my mouth. “Don’t make a sound,” he whispered.

  We watched as the creature stomped through the street, its head whipping back and forth. It was looking for someone. Maybe us.

  “It can’t see us, they’re blind,” the guy whispered in my ear. I wanted to rip his hand off my mouth, but I was scared that any movement would alert it. It may not be able to see, but it could probably hear and smell us.

  It moved past where we were hiding, and I froze. It let out a snort, head lolling in our direction.

  Please don’t eat us. Just keep moving.

  It gave another snort, then continued on down the street. I breathed a sigh of relief and the guy dropped his hand. I’d been free for like twenty minutes and I had almost been eaten twice!

  “What the hell is going on?” I whispered. “What is that thing? What is going on?”

  “Have you been living in a cave?”

  “No, I…I was locked away in a house.”

  “For how long?”

  “I don’t know. What’s the date?”

  “It’s late August. I think. Time really doesn’t have much meaning anymore.”

  Nearly three months.

  “The last I heard, there was something happening at Stonehenge. I saw the news report, some of it at least.”

  “Stonehenge? That was B.D.”

  “B.D?”

  “Before Doomsday. Stonehenge was when they all escaped.”

  “Who?”

  “The Fae. Thousands of them escaped into our world. They massacred us, there’s hardly anyone left. They own the world now.”

  What was he saying? They killed billions of people? No, that couldn’t be true. What about Roxy? Her family? They couldn’t be dead. It was a lie, all a lie. Phillip probably planted this guy here to watch me. This was all some kind of elaborate trick. It had to be.

  I took a step forward, my mind racing, then everything started spinning. My knees buckled and I collapsed.

  ***

  I awoke to the sound of whispered voices all around me. I jerked upright, arms flailing. A crowd had formed around me. The guy from the alley, a dark-haired girl in her early twenties, a boy of no more than ten and a boy in his mid-teens with glasses.

  “Where am I?” I said.

  We weren’t on the street. We seemed to be in a tunnel underground. It was dark and damp, lit only by a fire a few feet from me and a few hurricane lamps.

  “Old train tunnel,” the guy who rescued me said. He seemed bored all of a sudden, walking over to sit by the fire, his back to me. What did I do?

  “Who are you?” the girl asked.

  “Nova.”

  “I’m Lydia. This is Alwyn,” she said pointing to the guy with glasses. “That’s Rat.”

  I looked at the boy. “Rat?”

  He grinned at me, looking proud. “’Cause I can get in anywhere.”

  Judging by his tiny frame, I could believe it.

  I nodded to my rescuer. “What about him?”

  “That’s Enzo.”

  He raised a hand to wave, not bothering to turn around.

  I sat up, wincing when the pain flared in my back. I was relieved to see my coat was still on, I wasn’t eager for anyone to see the stumps.

  “Can someone please tell me what’s going on? He…Enzo said that the Fae have taken over the world. That isn’t true, is it?”

  Alwyn shook his head in disbelief. “Where have you been?” he muttered, leaving us to join Enzo at the fire.

  A real friendly bunch, aren’t they?

  Rat was staring at me, unblinking. It was a little unnerving. Lydia slapped him upside the head. “Go and see if you can find us some food.”

  Rubbing the back of his head, he took off down the tunnel.

  “The Fae were…too much. Before anyone knew what was happening, they took out the UK and most of mainland Europe. Within three weeks, we had fallen too. Hard to fight against creatures that aren’t supposed to exist. It took the Army too long to realize that conventional bullets don’t work. The only thing that can kill a Fae is iron.”

  That explained the poker Enzo was carrying. “Everyone is dead?”

  Lydia shrugged. “Most people, I guess. I know some were kept as slaves. The ones who did survive went underground. We don’t go out at night, that’s when most of them hunt. We always carry iron weapons, although those are getting hard to find.”

  “How could it have happened so fast,” I murmured.

  Lydia sat down beside me on the blankets I was lying on. “They have magic. Some of them can fly. They’re fast, organized. And they have one bitch of a leader. Or so we’ve heard.”

  The skeletal face that I saw at Stonehenge flashed in my mind. Her. I don’t know her name, but I know she’s the one in charge.

  “Who is she?”

  “No one knows her name. Early on, before they killed everyone, someone managed to live stream images of her court. I guess she’s the Queen or whatever. The guy was killed shortly after. It wasn’t long after that when cell phones stopped working. No internet, no news. We’re in the dark.”

  I wrapped my arms around my knees, pulling them against my chest. I suddenly felt very cold. I just wanted to be home in my room, in my bed. To wake up and realize that this was all a horrible nightmare.

  Rat returned, breaking me out of my thoughts. He grinned at me and dumped a Twinkie in my lap.

  “Thanks,” I muttered. I was starving, but it looked like this was all that was on the menu. I opened the wrapper and took a bite.

  “There’s blood on her back,” Rat said.

  “Yeah, we noticed that. Are you injured?” Lydia asked.

  I quickly shook my head. “No, I’m fine. A couple of minor cuts.”

  Lydia took me at my word and moved over to the fire. After a few minutes, I joined them. Only because I was cold. I didn’t get the feeling that I was very welcome in this group. Lydia seemed okay, but the others wouldn’t even look at me. Probably because they were going to throw me back on the streets the first chance they got. They didn’t need a stranger and another mouth to feed. That was fine with me. I wasn’t sticking around longer than I had to. I would set out at first light and see if I could get to Roxy’s house.

  Which reminded me, “Where are we?”

  “In what used to be part of LA.”

  LA? We lived in Michigan. There was no way I would make it there. Certainly not on foot.

  I could steal a car. The thought almost made me laugh. Suddenly I was a car jacker? Although was it even stealing if there were no humans around? I could drive during the day and hide out a night. How hard could it be?

  The heat from the fire was starting to warm me up. The others sat in silence, quietly eating the food that Rat had brought them. I looked at him with pity, he was just a little boy. Where were his parents? Dead?

  My mother’s face flashed into my mind. Was she dead? The thought brought tears to my eyes, which surprised me. Even after everything she had done to me, part of me still wanted her to come back and take care of me.

  Kinda pathetic considering you’re eighteen.

  I forced back tears, refusing to cry in front of any of them. “Um, is there somewhere I can sleep?” I asked. “I will leave in the morning, I don’t want to bother you any longer than I have to.”

  Rat’s eyes darted back and forth between me and Enzo. It was clear he was in charge and would have the final say in what happened.

  “Where will you go?” he asked.

  “I can try and find a car, maybe make my way home.”

  “Where’s home?” Rat asked.

  “Michigan.”

  Enzo sho
ok his head. “There’s no way you’d make it back there.”

  I felt anger rise in me. “I’m not helpless. I’m sure I can find my way…”

  He raised a hand to silence me. “It’s impossible because that section of the country is teeming with Fae. They’ve set up shop in that state and the ones surrounding it. I think they like the Lakes. No human would get past their defences.”

  I sighed in frustration. “Well, what am I supposed to do? My only family is there. I have no one.”

  “Welcome to the club,” he said coldly.

  I glared at him.

  “He’s right, Nova. At best you’d end up enslaved by them. At worst…well you don’t want to find out,” Lydia said.

  I nodded although I wasn’t agreeing with her. I would find my way to Michigan, I had to. For now, I wanted to avoid any arguments and hopefully get some sleep.

  Lydia led me back to the blankets on the floor. I never thought I’d miss the mattress in my cell, I thought. Scratch that, I’d sleep on a bed of nails before I’d go back there. To think that Phillip and Lurch were hiding this from me the whole time. They must have gotten out of England just in time.

  As I lay in the dark, with only the dying embers of the fire providing any light, I forced myself to only think of the positives, what there was of them. I was still alive. I had escaped Phillip. I had a shot, no matter how remote, of finding Roxy. I refused to think she was dead. She was sneaky, resourceful and a fighter. If anyone could survive the end of the world, it was her.

  I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 8

  “Wake up!” someone barked in my ear.

  Groaning, I flung my arm out and hit whoever it was in the face. I opened my eyes to see a very angry looking Enzo glaring at me. I remembered where I was and quickly sat up.

  “Sorry,” I muttered.

  “It’s dawn. We only have a few hours to collect supplies and a lot of ground to cover. You’re going to help out.”

  “I told you I was leaving.”

  He crossed his arms. “We gave you a bed for the night and fed you. You can repay us by helping out today. The more people we have, the faster it will go.”

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. My bed consisted of some rags on the floor and I was given one solitary Twinkie. The thought of it made my stomach growl. I was starving.

  Enzo moved off to order the others around. Lydia appeared with a backpack over her shoulder. She held out her hand to help me up.

  “We all have to eat. And maybe you can find yourself some new clothes.”

  I looked down at the raggedy clothes I was wearing. Some new clothes sounded good and some decent boots in case I had to do a lot of walking. I also wanted to ditch the rain coat and get something else to cover my back.

  “Okay. Where are we going?”

  “We’ve hit all the stores in a five-block radius, so we’ll need to go further afield. We move fast and quietly. We’re looking for any supplies we can use, food, bottled water, medical supplies. Just stick close to me.”

  I nodded. “What about weapons? Do I get one?”

  “We’re a little low on iron weapons, but you can use this.” She handed me a baseball bat with the end sharpened into a point. “Aim for the face. It probably won’t kill whatever it is, but it will certainly make it think twice.”

  “Thanks?” I said.

  She laughed. “Let’s go.”

  We followed the tunnel up to an exit. I was nearly blinded when I walked out into the sun after being in the dark for so long. Wincing, I covered my eyes, waiting for it to pass.

  Enzo gave the orders. He and Alwyn headed in one direction and Lydia, Rat and I in the other. We stayed close to the store fronts, with Lydia in the lead. We didn’t speak and every fifty feet or so, she would throw up a hand to stop us while she checked for any sign of the Fae. I wondered if she was military too or if she had been taught by Enzo.

  The streets were quiet. It didn’t look much better in the light of day. We passed a lot of cars, but I didn’t get the chance to check them for keys. There were a lot of roadblocks and debris in the streets. It would probably be different on the main roads and the interstate but trying to get a car out of here would be impossible.

  We reached a crossroads and Lydia stopped again. “Okay, we’re going to be out in the open until we get across, it seems quiet, but be vigilant. We’re heading for a clothing store down on the left and there is a restaurant further down the street.”

  We both nodded to show that we understood. Rat actually looked excited. I gave him a curious look.

  “I need new sneakers,” he said. I looked down at the ones on his feet, they were falling apart. I had to wonder if Rat had lived on the streets longer than the Fae had been around.

  “Ready? Go!” Lydia ordered.

  We moved in single formation across the street, looking both ways for any sign of critters. I spotted something moving to my right, much farther down the street. I said to Lydia once we reached the other side.

  “If it didn’t see us, then we keep moving.”

  We arrived at the clothes store, nothing name brand, but it would do. The front window had already been smashed, but I could see that there were still clothes inside. Maybe the Fae broke it. They probably weren’t too interested in the latest fashion. You mean the last fashion.

  That was a weird thought.

  We carefully climbed through the glass and scoped out the store. It was deserted.

  “What now?” I asked quietly.

  “Grab some clothes,” Lydia said. “I’ll grab some for the others. My advice? Something with a lot of pockets or places to stash weapons. And dark. The Fae like brightly colored things.”

  With that in mind, I moved through the store to look, while Rat kept lookout. Most of the clothes on offer were white or yellow. I guess that was popular. I ignored them and headed further in. At the back, I found a display for jeans, jeggings and cargo pants. I grabbed a pair of each of them and shoved them into a black purse that was hanging nearby. I found some black boots in my size, I was eager to get rid of the sneakers. I snagged a few black and grey t-shirts too, but I needed something that would cover my stumps. Which reminded me, I really needed to check them. I found a dark blue hoodie, it was big enough to cover them.

  There was a restroom in the back, but it was locked. Moving to the cashier point, I searched beneath it. I found a small lock box with a key inside. As I stood up, I noticed a first aid box too. Popping it open, I removed a roll of bandages.

  The key fit the lock for the restroom. “I’m going to change,” I said to Lydia. She gave me the thumbs up as she browsed a rack of men’s jeans. I wondered how she knew Enzo’s sizes.

  The bathroom was small, with a mirror over the sink. Light filtered in from a small window, high on the wall.

  Taking a deep breath, I stripped off my clothing, wincing as I removed my top. I turned to the side and checked the damage. They were no longer bleeding, but two stubs hung limply, jagged at the ends where they had been cut.

  I hate you, Phillip.

  I hoped some Fae had ripped his face off.

  Unrolling the bandage, I wrapped it around myself, covering the stumps and flattening them down. The pain wasn’t as bad now, but they still throbbed. Once they were covered, I pulled on the jeans and the hoodie. I was going to be sweltered out in this weather, but there was no way I was risking anyone seeing them. I stuffed the rest of the clothes in the bag and left the restroom.

  The second the door clicked closed behind me, I could feel it. We weren’t alone. Maybe my Fae sense was tingling or whatever, but something else was in here.

  I took a step forward, glancing around for the others. Lydia was in the far corner with her back to me, but Rat wasn’t at the window.

  When he appeared from behind one of the stands, I nearly screamed. He grinned at me, holding his foot up to show me the brand-new white sneakers he was sporting.

  “What do you think?” he asked.
>
  “They’re great, Rat. Are you sure nothing has come in the store?” I asked.

  His brow furrowed. “I’ve been keeping an eye on the window. Lydia said it was okay for me to grab some sneakers.”

  Poor kid thought I was criticizing him. “It’s okay, I just thought I heard something,” I said.

  He cocked his head to listen. The only sound was the low scrape of the hangers as Lydia sifted through the clothes.

  I shrugged. “Guess I’m just paranoid.”

  “What’s paranoid?” he asked.

  “Like when you think something’s after you, but there isn’t.”

  “Oh. Well there is usually something after us, so probably not paranoid.”

  I laughed softly. “True.”

  He jogged back to the window to continue his watch. At least he hadn’t lost his sense of humor, but who knew what he had lost.

  I headed for Lydia. She gave me the once over when I approached. “You’re going to be hot dressed like that.”

  I made a show of rubbing my arms. “Oh, I’m always cold. Besides, it will be cold in the tunnel.”

  She nodded. Lifting a black top off the rack, she held it against herself. “What do you think?”

  “It looks good.” She was really pretty, and super skinny, anything would look good on her.

  She draped it over her arm where several other items of clothing hung.

  “The restroom’s available, if you want to change,” I said.

  “Will you two be okay?” she said, glancing at Rat.

  “Yeah, of course.”

  “Okay, I’ll be two minutes.”

  She hurried back to the restroom and I joined Rat at the window. He was crouched low, his eyes darting everywhere, not missing a thing. He reminded me of a kid I used to babysit a few years back, for one of our neighbors. He was only eight, but he was smart, and he always begged me to play with him. He was an only child, so I’m sure he was lonely. I always wanted a brother or sister, at least then I wouldn’t have been alone in dealing with Mom.

  “See anything?” I asked.

  “No. They like to sleep during the day. Except some of the winged ones, I guess they can’t see to hunt at night if they’re flying above us.”