It was midday when the town came into view. But something was wrong, and it sent Kate’s blood surging through her veins.
Kate covered her mouth with her hand as she looked at the town that stretched out in front of her. Jet’s town had been smaller than Simon’s, but it had been set up nearly the same. There were homes and storage buildings that were supposed to be surrounded by a fence to keep everyone safe, but there was no fence. Somehow it had been destroyed.
Kate’s cheeks were still warm from having been so close to the fires that had swallowed what had once been Simon’s town. She’d led everyone here with a glimmer of hope that they’d have somewhere to stay, but Kate was seeing with her own eyes what a terrible idea that had been.
She swallowed hard, still tasting ash that felt as though it was stuck at the back of her tongue. Lengths of the chain link fence had been pulled to the ground. Other sections that were still standing were bent and cut through, leaving huge sections that would be unrepairable.
“This doesn’t look good,” Ethan said slowing his pace.
“No. No, it does not,” Kate mumbled, keeping her voice low so that the rest of the group wouldn’t hear.
Not that it had mattered because she could already hear the soft chorus of questions as they moved closer to the town. They didn’t hide their worry, their fear, or their gasps as they took in what they were seeing.
“Where is everyone?” Kate whispered to Ethan as her eyes scanned the town.
He shook his head and swallowed as he glanced in Kate’s direction.
“Who would have done that?” a woman named Bonnie asked. She was an older woman, maybe fifty, and she hadn’t kept it a secret that she hated being out in the open.
Kate looked back at the woman trying to connect with her eyes through her smudged glasses. She was tempted to walk back to her, pull the dirty glasses off of her face, and clean them on her shirt.
Ethan stepped closer to Kate, their shoulders touching and their backs to the crowd. “It couldn’t be Maya and her crew could it?”
Kate shook her head. They’d taken off to the north. It didn’t seem at all possible that they would have had the time to change directions and then destroy the fence. With the number of weeds that were wrapped around the fallen segments, Kate was almost positive that the fence had been down for a while.
“The Unholy?” Kate asked, but Ethan was already shaking his head.
“I don’t think they could do that to a fence.” Ethan gestured at one of the sections that was still mostly erect. There was a big slice down the middle as if someone had cut right through it. “Looks similar to what we’d found before the fire.”
Kate leaned closer to Ethan and raised her brow. “The one you thought Will was responsible for and were really wrong about?”
Ethan stared into Kate’s eyes without blinking for several seconds. “Yeah,” he said cocking his head to the side, “the one like that. The only way The Unholy could do that is if they recently learned how to use a wire cutter.”
“Someone wanted this town gone too, I guess,” Kate said slowing her pace. “Maybe we shouldn’t bother checking it out. It’s probably overrun with Unholy. Our people are unarmed.”
They were close enough that Kate could see down several of the nearby roads. There wasn’t any movement. No Unholy. No people. It was a ghost town.
It was almost as if the town or the people inside of it hadn’t ever existed. Of course, Kate knew that it had… it hadn’t been that long ago that she’d been inside of it witnessing the assassination of Simon’s sister Rosalie.
Kate looked up at the sky. There would be several hours of daylight left, but she knew without asking that the people in her group desperately needed to rest.
“We’ll pick a building, clear it, and figure out a plan,” Kate said bumping her elbow into Ethan lightly. She wanted his opinion before suggesting it to the others.
Ethan looked at her, but his eyes shifted, looking past her. It was like he had suddenly disappeared into another world. He blinked several times, and Kate eyed him as her nerves twitched.
“What’s wrong?” she asked crossing her arms.
“Nothing,” Ethan whispered. “I just know this isn’t what you want to be doing. Maybe I was thinking about just saying goodbye and taking you away from this.”
Before Kate could respond, Will popped up at her side and gestured at the town. He scrunched his nose a bit as if he was still smelling the smoke from Simon’s crispy town.
“What’s the plan?” Will asked rubbing the back of his neck when Ethan turned to look at him. Will jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “They’re wondering.”
The energy between Ethan and Will had changed slightly, but not nearly enough. Ethan wasn’t constantly being rude and accusing Will of dastardly deeds, but he did prefer to keep his distance. The dislike, no matter how much Kate wanted it to go away, was apparently mutual.
“What should I tell them?” Will asked leaning closer. His eyes darted toward the back of the group where the older folks were hobbling along, doing their best to keep up. “Ned’s limping.”
“We’re going to take a break,” Kate said.
“Here?” Ethan asked, his nose scrunching up as if he’d smelled a skunk.
Kate shot him a look before shaking her head slightly. “Were you even listening to me?”
Ethan shrugged.
“It’s temporary,” Kate said. “They need to rest. What choice do we have?”
Will smiled and started to back away. “I’ll tell everyone the good news then.”
Kate stepped over the knocked down fence, her hand hovering over her blade. She gestured at a body lying on the ground near one of the buildings. After scanning the area, she noticed more and more bodies sprinkled around.
“There must have been tons of them,” Kate said. Every single body on the ground had a hole in its head.
“They are all Unholy,” Ethan said as Nikki pushed her way between them.
Her fingertips dug into Kate’s arm. “Why are they all like this?”
“Turned? Probably because anyone that didn’t get away was swiftly infected,” Kate said. “The others that were bitten just walked away. Doesn’t look like Jet’s people put up a very good fight.”
“Where did they all go?” Nikki asked, and Kate could feel the shiver that radiated from Nikki’s arm. “The Unholy?”
Ethan looked around the corner of the nearest building as they stepped out onto the road that was familiar to Kate. It was the one that would take them to the building where Rosalie had been killed.
“Roaming around,” Ethan said. “That’s what they do. Only now it looks like there’s even more of them out there.”
“Didn’t anyone survive?” Nikki asked.
“No idea,” Kate said looking at the young woman. There were dark circles around her terror-filled eyes. “Where did you come from? Before you ran into our fence?”
Nikki bit her lip. “Not from here if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Okay, then where?” Kate asked as her eyes moved up and down the road. She thought she’d heard a noise, but there wasn’t anything around except for the wind which seemed to be picking up.
“My boyfriend and I had been to several places before he… he… died. I hate saying that out loud. None of the places we’d been were a… good fit and if we find them again, we should avoid them at all costs.” Nikki sniffed back a tear that threatened to escape out of the corner of her eye. “We’d been on our own for the last few months, Thank God.”
Nikki hugged herself around her middle. Kate tried to ignore the suspicion that rushed through her veins, chilling her body inch by inch. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe Nikki, she just couldn’t believe anyone. Except for Ethan.
“Everyone out there is a piece of shit,” Nikki said far too loudly. The others in the group definitely didn’t need to hear just how terrible things were. Nikki forced a smile as she let go of Kate’s arm. “Except y
ou guys, of course. At least so far you seem okay.”
Kate squeezed her eyebrows together and smiled awkwardly at her. She watched Nikki twist her necklace between her fingers before dropping it down her shirt.
“That was supposed to be a compliment,” Nikki said before dropping back to join the others.
Kate glanced back at the group over her shoulder. Nikki was shoulder to shoulder with Jasper, and he was wearing a big silly smile as he talked to her about something Kate couldn’t hear.
Ethan stopped in front of the building that had been Rosalie’s office. Kate stared at the door. It hadn’t been that long since she’d last been in that same spot. Nothing about the building hand changed as far as she could tell.
Kate squinted as she tried to look into the window in the top of the door, but the curtains had been closed. She wrapped her fingers around the doorknob, it rattled slightly as she tried to open it, but it barely budged.
“Locked,” Kate said leaning back against the exterior of the house next to the door.
Ethan knocked. “Anyone in there?”
All that answered him was more silence. Kate looked down the empty road and shivered when a cool wind blew past them, rustling the leaves in the nearby trees.
“Everyone’s gone,” Kate said with a heavy sigh.
Ethan’s eyes were fixed on the doorknob. “Maybe. But were they planning to come back?”
“What are you talking about?” Kate asked.
“I don’t know,” Ethan said chuckling to himself. “Why did they lock the door? In a hurry to get away from the diseased, yet they took the time to lock the door?”
Kate cocked her head to the side. “You think someone is inside?”
She looked at every building on the block feeling as though there were hundreds of eyes peering out of the windows at them. But she didn’t see anyone. The wind blew again, harder, causing the skin on Kate’s arms to prickle.
“If they are, I guess they don’t feel like answering,” Ethan said taking a step toward the road.
Kate’s eyes moved over the group of people she’d led to the ghost town. They stood around chattering to one another while wearing expressions that ranged from dread to terror. She’d brought them here with a false sense of hope. Unintentionally. They’d all thought they’d have somewhere to go after everything that had happened. She’d let them down, and worst of all, she didn’t know what to tell them.
Will looked at Kate from where he stood. It was a short distance, but she couldn’t read the look on his face. Maybe she’d let him down too.
Kate stretched her arms over her head and slowly raked her fingers through her snarled hair. At the end of her slow exhale, something slammed into the window behind her so hard the glass rattled.
It felt like Kate’s heart stopped as she jerked away from the window letting out a sharp gasp. She gripped her blade tightly, holding it up toward the window. Her lips were pressed together tightly so that she wouldn’t scream.
The curtain inside the building had been pulled to the sides. Two blood-covered hands pressed against the glass as a hungry, fully diseased Jet started out at Kate.
“God dammit,” Kate whispered seconds before Ethan grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away from the building. He looked frightened as if the creature could get her through the window.
“He locked himself inside,” Kate said inside a short breath. “Before he turned.”
Ethan shook his head. “Should I take care of him?”
“I don’t know.” Kate’s pulse quickened. “There could be more inside. Jesus! What happened here?”
She leaned forward placing her palms on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.
“Are we staying here?” the older woman, Bonnie, asked.
“It doesn’t seem very safe, or smart,” another woman chimed in. Kate looked up at her with frustration in her eyes. She tried to remember her name… Clair. Kate was tempted to hand her role over to Claire and be done with it.
“There isn’t anywhere that is safe,” Kate muttered as she straightened her spine. “Anyone have any smart ideas?”
The group shook their heads as Ethan placed his hand on Kate’s shoulder for a brief moment before facing the group. He ran his hand through his hair and gestured to the sky behind them.
“I think it would be smart if we found somewhere in town to stay for the night,” Ethan said.
The group turned one by one looking at the dark clouds that were moving at a rapid pace across the sky. He raised a brow and flashed the group an overly confident smile.
Ethan cocked his head to the side, and Kate knew his eyes were on Claire. “Which house should we check first?”
Chapter 2
The group walked through the town finding one reason or another to veto the various buildings. Some were too small. Others were too big. The truth of it was that everyone was afraid of what they might find inside any of them.
“How many of you were trained by Tommy and Wayne?” Kate asked as she faced the group.
Only about half of the group raised their hands. Kate bit her cheek as she held in her frustrated sigh.
“It’s not like we have any weapons anyway,” Claire said crossing her arms. “We were trained to use knives, not our bare hands. And we practiced in the air.”
“I still have my pen,” Will said grinning as he held it up. He’d taken a pen to defend himself with as they were fleeing the fires. It was mildly amusing that he was still carrying it.
Kate elbowed Ethan. “Might be weapons around town somewhere.”
“That very well could be the case, but I’m not sure I trust any of them with one of them.” His eyes darted up to the sky. “We need to find a place, and then I can go explore.”
Kate chuckled. “No, you won’t. At least not alone.”
“How about that one?” Jasper asked pointing at the last house on the block near the edge of town.
It was near a section of the fence that had been torn down, but it was a decent sized building that appeared as though it would accommodate Kate’s group. Everyone would fit inside comfortably, and maybe even Kate and Ethan could have their own room.
Kate watched Ethan as he studied the building. Only a few seconds passed before he turned to her and nodded. He pulled out his gun and placed his foot on the first step leading up to the porch.
“Wait here,” Ethan said.
“You’re not going in there alone,” Kate said taking a step closer.
“Someone needs to stay out here.” Ethan leaned closer to Kate so that the group couldn’t hear him. “To protect them.”
The air between them tightened. Kate knew he was right, but she couldn’t let him go into the building alone. If the building was filled with The Unholy, he’d need help to fight them off.
“I can help,” Will said taking a step forward, clicking the back of his pen.
Kate and Ethan’s eyes darted to his pen at the same time. She held up her hand and shook her head.
“I’m not afraid to use it,” Will said raising an eyebrow.
“I’ll go too,” Jasper said pulling out a pocket knife.
Kate opened her mouth to protest but then noticed all the worried faces looking back at her. The sooner the house was cleared the sooner she could get everyone off of the street.
“Fine,” Kate said grabbing Will’s hand. She pulled her knife out of its sheath and slapped the handle against his palm. Kate looked into Will’s eyes as she squeezed his fingers closed around the thick handle. “I want this back.”
“What if you need it?” Will asked.
Kate dropped his hand and looked at their surroundings. “I’ll see them coming. You might not.”
“All right, let’s do this,” Ethan said walking up to the front door. He glanced over his shoulder before reaching out to open the door.
Kate stood at the bottom of the stairs watching them, but they didn’t enter the house. Ethan didn’t need to tell her why they weren’t going inside… t
he door was locked just like Jet’s office had been.
“Should I break it down?” Ethan asked.
Kate chewed her fingernail and just as she was about to answer, she saw the curtain in the upstairs window swaying ever so slightly. Her eyes were focused on the window as she waved them back.
“There’s someone inside,” Kate whispered.
“Unholy?” Ethan asked as he stepped up beside her and followed her gaze to the window.
Kate shook her head. “Do Unholy hide? Whoever is in there is hiding.”
“Then all the more reason to knock down the door,” Ethan said walking away from her and back up the stairs.
“Ethan!” Kate whispered as she flapped her hand vigorously.
He stood in front of the door and pounded the side of his fist hard against the wood. The redness on his arm from the burns he’d suffered practically glowed. If it was painful, Ethan ignored it. Jasper and Will both inched their way closer as their eyes darted from window to window.
“We just want to talk,” Ethan shouted after halting his knocking. When there wasn’t a response, he started pounding again. Harder.
Kate watched as the window was jerked open not more than an inch. A shotgun barrel was pushed through the opening and aimed directly at Ethan.
He hadn’t seemed to notice. “Open up!” Ethan yelled. “We know you’re in there. I’ll knock down this door if I have to.”
“Ethan!” Kate said taking a step forward. Her eyes darted upward, and she noticed a second gun being aimed in her direction. “Shit.”
She stopped in her tracks and slowly raised her arms. Will stepped in front of her and held out his arms protectively.
“Ethan!” Will said with a sharpness that cut through his aggressive knocking.
“What?” Ethan said, whipping his head around. He squinted when he saw Will’s arm stretched out like eagle’s wings in front of Kate.
Will pointed at the window. “Gun.”
“Oh,” Ethan said, his hands dropping to his side. He was as still as a statue. “We don’t want any trouble. We just want to talk.”
Falling Darkness Series - A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller - Books 1-3 Page 34
