If everyone had survived the journey to this point, there’s no way we would’ve all fit into this tiny cave—and then I kind of hate myself for thinking of any positive side to their deaths. The perks of cannibalism.
It takes a while for everyone to shift and settle down. There are small pockets of conversation, a few reliving their gory tales of their fresh kills. Ellis’s eyes are flitting between them, and I know I don’t have to tell him what happened. He’s picking up on it all.
When everyone’s shifting settles down, all gazes turn to Ellis, and an air of anxiety settles over the cave. It’s so thick that it’s almost a tangible thing, a whole being of its own, here in the room with us. The cave isn’t getting too hot from the sun yet, but the air is stifling with no air current and plenty of warm bodies. It’s setting everyone even further on edge.
I haven’t known Ellis for very long, but I would like to believe that I know him better than anyone else here. They all see him as Major Hill, ball-busting asshole enforcer for Howell. They were afraid of him even when we were all human, and now that we’re not… well, they just seem to have even more reason to fear him. Me, on the other hand, I don’t feel even an ounce of fear for the man. He’s been kind toward me, patient. Maybe it’s just because he sees me as a civilian, someone to protect, rather than someone to keep in line. Or maybe I remind him of a little sister or something. Whatever the reason, I see Ellis in a different light.
And I can tell he’s nervous.
There’s a tightening around his eyes, a pinch to his mouth. And when he starts to speak, I swear his words are more clipped. “They left,” he says. Simple enough, but several Rippers are suddenly on their feet.
“What do you mean left?!” one says. Another just growls, as if we’ll understand what he means. The scary part is that I do. It loosely translates to a complete lack of trust, and I can tell that the sentiment is echoed in the other Rippers crammed into this cave.
When Trey stands, the others settle back into their seats, waiting to see what he’ll say. Because obviously he’ll stand up for them all, right?
Trey’s voice is calmer than I would have expected. He’s kind of good at this whole leadership thing. “I think what they mean to say is… gone where?”
Ellis’s body hunches in further. “A woman showed up—"
“A woman?!” someone interrupts, his voice like dripping acid. I look over and see a guy I vaguely recognize from Trey’s old crew. I think his name is Brutus, or something equally Neanderthal.
“Yes,” Ellis speaks louder. “A woman. She showed up just after dark. She said her name was Uki, and she took the others to their facility.”
There’s a long pause, but I don’t think it’s what you could call comfortable. It grates against me in every sense of the word. Finally, Brutus—or whatever his name is—rises up to tower over the rest of us. I glance over at Trey, but he’s wary. Leader he may be, but Brutus is massive. Trey is right to be cautious about him.
Brutus’s voice is low and deep, seething with hatred. “You’re trying to tell me that some woman just appeared, whisked the humans away to safety, and that you… what, just let them go?” He gives a shrug as if this were a casual conversation between friends, but not a single one of us is fooled.
“I have no reason to lie,” Ellis says simply.
“Unless, of course, you ate them.”
Heads are swiveling back and forth between the two males, waiting to see who comes out on top.
Ellis narrows his gaze. “Why the hell would I eat our only chance at a cure?” But there’s something there, behind his eyes. I know how much he’s struggling with the thirst. I know better than most how it can burn you from the inside out. None of these other Rippers have a clue what hunger really feels like, not when they give in so quickly, so easily. They’re always quick to rip apart the very citizens they’re sworn to protect, tear into the flesh of their own friends in order to slake a little tiny ripple of thirst.
No, they don’t understand the desperation that true hunger can cause. The irrational things it can make you do.
Ellis’s eyes dart over to mine, and I see it. Guilt. Did he actually eat them?
He takes too long to reply, and it’s answer enough for the soldiers in the cave. Almost as if they’re thinking as one, they surge to their feet, rippling like an ocean current, forcing Ellis back. He may be strong, but there’s no way that he can take them all on at once, not in such cramped quarters.
I hear a crack as Ellis’s body is slammed up against the rock wall, from the sheer force of their wave. But as the current of bodies undulates, I catch a glimpse of the wall behind him. It’s opened up a fissure in the rock, rather than in Ellis’s skull. He’s far too tough to be broken so easily.
Trey grabs my arm and pulls me out of the way, pressed to the back wall, before I can be trampled. Next, he snatches Mom’s arm, pulling her over, and Kelly steps back to join us. We’re a small collection of sane-minded people in the middle of a mob.
I refuse to get caught up in their irrational fury. They’re not thinking clearly. It’s like they’re feeding off each other’s rage, fueling years of frustration into a bonfire, and suddenly it’s like the ocean has changed into a flaming inferno. Fire and water, both elements hold the power to be destructive, and that is exactly what the group is doing. Destroying.
Back and forth, pushing and pulling, they’re rebounding and slamming against the walls. I can’t see Ellis, but I have no doubt that he’s somewhere in the middle of it all. I hold my breath, eyes peeled for a glimpse of his blond hair amongst the monsters’ scabby flesh.
With each sharp retort of a body being thrown against the rock, a small fissure opens in the smooth stone. A small dusting of dirt rains down on my head. When I look up, I see that the first crack has spiderwebbed its way up to the roof.
“Uh, Trey?”
He grunts, refusing to offer me his attention. I tug at his arm, but I might as well be a buzzing fly for how much bother I cause. Mom and Kelly are likewise distracted. How can none of them see?
“Trey? You need to stop them.”
His lip curls up in a sneer. “Yeah, right.” Does he think I’m joking? “Ellis will be fine.”
“No, Trey, it’s not that. Look up!” It isn’t until a small piece of rock the size of my head falls down into the center of our cave that Trey finally spares me a glance. He follows my pointed finger up to the ceiling. Kelly and Mom follow his gaze up to see what he’s looking at.
“Guys?” Kelly calls over to the soldiers tentatively.
Nothing. They don’t even blink, their uninhibited rage spilling out until I feel like I’m drowning in their testosterone.
“Hey, guys!” Trey tries, a new sense of panic rising in him. This isn’t just a matter of controlling tempers. This is life and death. As in, all our deaths.
A few heads turn in our direction, but their eyes are empty of all rational thought.
“Dammit,” Trey mutters, right before his muscles tense and he throws himself into the fray. He starts grabbing Rippers by whatever he can get a grip on. Shirts, arms, in one case, an ear. He starts tossing them back, as if they weigh nothing at all. He’s certainly efficient.
But he’s not fast enough. There’s no way. “Hurry!” I yell at him, and he glances up just once. His movements become frantic, so fast he’s almost a blur, but it’s impossible to predict the movements of the Rippers. They’re thrashing uncontrolled, and with a final crack, they surge to the right, slamming Ellis against the wall next to the cave entrance.
Just when I thought the fighting was loud, a deafening retort cuts through it all. As one, the Rippers halt, all eyes panning around to look for the source of the sound. They’re crouched, suddenly on high alert.
The problem with their protective crouches is the direction they’re facing. Looking for the new threat means they’re not facing Ellis. The predators are bent low, giving me a clear view of Ellis at the back of the pack. Not a scratch on him from what I can s
ee.
As if this is the moment he’s been waiting for, he moves his arm in an arc. It’s almost graceful, practically bored, the way he sweeps his limb.
I turn away; I can’t watch as the blood fans out across the cave. My breath catches in my throat when the miniscule droplets pattern my tongue.
“No!” Trey snarls. He takes just one step and then freezes. At first I think it’s because he realizes the futility of trying to go up against Ellis, but then the rumbling begins. I can feel it in the balls of my feet first. And when I place a hand against the rock wall, it vibrates up my spine and reverberates in my skull.
“Shit.” It’s all I can say before it reaches a fever pitch, like a fork struck against the edge of the cafeteria table. I slam my hands over my ears, and before I even have time to register what’s happening, I find myself being thrown onto the ground, a heavy weight pressing me into the dirt.
The air is filled with dust and dirt, and a searing heat against my leg has me drawing myself into a fetal ball. Even the most vicious predators have a survival instinct, and in this case, as much as I want to run far, far away, I know that it won’t do any good. Nothing to do but hide.
And pray, to whatever gods may be listening to a monster like me.
It feels like it will never end. The crashing, the shaking… the screaming… It goes on and on forever.
Until forever ends.
All I can hear in the aftermath is the light pattering of dust settling down onto the ground. It’s almost like a distant memory of rain. I cough once, trying to clear my lungs of the grit, but my breath only serves to kick up another little cloud of it.
I wriggle to turn my head away, and whatever is pushing me down shifts. Opening my eyes, I register all kinds of wrong. First off, I find it difficult to focus on anything. It’s because it’s far too bright in here for my sensitive eyes to adjust.
“Hey,” I say quietly. And then louder, “Hello? Everyone okay?” Yeah, I’m not holding my breath on that one. If that screaming was anything to judge by, I think it’s safe to say that everyone is very much not okay.
The weight against me shifts again, and it’s then that I realize it’s not actually rock. I mean, I just assumed… cave ceiling collapsing, obviously I’m being crushed by rocks. But as it rolls back off me, I see that it’s actually Trey.
“Trey? You… saved me?”
“Huh? Yeah, I guess I did.” He shrugs and seems to be just as shocked by his behavior as I am. He stands up and brushes dust from pants.
“Although,” I say, looking around at our corner of the cave, “I probably would’ve been fine. You didn’t save me from anything. In fact, you probably just gave me whiplash or something. Maybe a concussion. I could sue.”
He gives a dark chuckle. “I’ll be sure to hire a good lawyer.”
As if lawyers and courtrooms are something that we have any real idea about. It’s not like there was a lot of litigation in the bunker.
Trey offers me his hand to help me up. I don’t need his help; my legs are still strong from the bear’s blood, but I take his hand, nonetheless. And then, with reluctance, we turn toward the rest of the room. Mom is helping clear a rock that landed on Kelly, though they both seem fine. That’s about where fine ends.
Trey gives the longest sigh I’ve ever heard. “Well, shit.”
“What are the chances that everyone is okay?” Trey just glares at me, and I look sheepishly away. Yeah, chances aren’t good. A bit of movement along the back wall brings my attention to where a few of the Rippers are edging deeper into the shadows where it’s safe. Must be the guys Trey tossed out of the way. Lucky pricks.
The angle of the crack was just perfect… if its goal had been to bring the roof down on our heads. Mission accomplished. A huge section caved in, and thanks to the rising sun, we now have a skylight. Wasn’t that a selling feature on a house, once upon a time? Lots of south-facing windows, plenty of light?
“You break it, you buy it,” I mutter.
Trey snorts. “In that case, I want my money back.”
I sidle closer to where the edge of the sunlight is painted across the floor. I squint and hold a hand up to shade my eyes from the glare. It’s still early, but it’s hot enough to feel like I’m sticking my face into an oven.
“Careful,” Trey warns. He may have saved me once, but I don’t for one second think he’ll throw himself into the sun to save me a second time.
“Yeah, yeah.” I wave his concern away, even if it does make me feel a little nostalgic for old times. No, that’s not entirely accurate. He was never overly doting; I just wished he had been. “Ellis?” I call softly, angling myself left and right to see around the fallen rock.
A hand slowly rises out from the rubble. “Here,” he says.
My shoulders sag in relief. “You asshole,” I say.
The rocks shift as he clears a way out. “Gee, thanks. Glad you’re okay too.” His voice holds a smidgen of teasing, and I find myself smiling. It’s a good feeling.
As the boulders tumble clear, and Ellis stands to show that he is no worse for wear after having a few thousand pounds of rock dropped on his head, my smile is wiped straight off my face. “It burns!” someone cries.
Ellis looks down to where the scream issued. “Brutus?” he says. There’s a look on his face and it’s impossible to decipher. On the one hand, Brutus is most definitely the instigator of the fight, and is therefore entirely to blame for our current predicament, but on the other hand…
No, never mind. I don’t understand why Ellis would feel anything other than scorn. Brutus can fuck right off.
But then the scream starts up again, and it’s like a shard of ice being shoved straight into my brain. I want it to stop. “Ellis, do something!” I yell.
His eyes dart over to where I’m hovering at the edge of the sunlight. I’m powerless to do anything at all to help, but as the sun doesn’t seem to affect Ellis even a little, he is Brutus’s only hope. He tentatively reaches down to move a rock, but that only seems to make it worse.
“Ah! No! The sun, it burns!” A tiny movement catches my eye, and I see his foot flailing around under the edge of a rock. It’s fully exposed to the sun, and even from here I can see the skin beginning to blacken and peel.
I point with a finger, and then pull my hand back with a hiss when the sunlight catches my outstretched digit. “It’s his foot!” I yell instead, directing Ellis with my eyes.
He sees where I’m gesturing and nods. He stands directly above it so that his shadow can bring immediate relief. It’s not exactly a long-term solution, but it’s enough to bring a long sigh from somewhere beneath the pile. We all stand there for a moment, weighing our options. We could just stay in this holding pattern until nightfall, but it quickly becomes clear that this isn’t a valid option. The sun is beginning to shift through the cave, its full light coming straight down through our newly made skylight. I swear I can hear a sizzling sound as it begins to glance down through a different crack.
“Get me outta here!” Brutus yells.
Ellis glances down at the charred foot; he needs to make a decision. He can’t save the foot if he tries to save the man. I can’t even see the exact moment he makes the decision; he’s just suddenly a blur. He’s careful about where he’s throwing the rocks, but with speed comes force, and some of the rocks shatter against the cave wall. This only creates a new mini rockslide.
“Hey! Watch it!” My mom grabs my elbow and pulls me back to the wall where we’re less likely to get hit from falling debris.
I jerk my arm from her grip and move around the edge of the cave, trying to get a better view. The sounds are awful, wailing and pleading, but even worse, is the smell. I hate that it reminds me of that time we were given a can of spam and my dad cut it into slices and fried them up. For an entire week, our whole apartment smelled just like this.
My stomach gives a lurch, and I’m not sure if it’s repulsion… or hunger…
The cries die off bef
ore the body is even fully exposed. By the time the final boulder is shifted, Brutus’s movements have stilled. Ellis stares down at the corpse, his shoulders sagging.
There are two other bodies, Rippers whose heads were crushed by the rocks. Looks like we’re not so invulnerable after all. And for some reason, this thought actually comforts me. As if the proof of my mortality is a connection to my humanity.
I’m still me, I remind myself firmly. I’m not lost… yet.
On the far side of the cave, I hear the remaining soldiers muttering. They don’t trust Ellis, no doubt, but there’s nothing they can do about it, not while he’s standing in the sunlight. And let’s be honest, even when they had their hands directly on him, they weren’t even able to give him a tickle. I don’t know what they expect to be able to do.
And so, they’re powerless to stop him when he crouches down in front of the bodies. Ellis looks once over his shoulder at me, a look of guilt crossing his features.
“It’s okay,” I assure him softly.
He gives me a look of gratitude, but he still turns away, so I don’t have to watch him eat one of our own.
Although… are they our own? I don’t feel any connection to Brutus or the other soldiers. I barely feel like I’m the same species. And Ellis certainly is a creature of a different sort, so in my mind, him eating those bodies is the equivalent of me eating a cow… or a polar bear. Deep in my soul, I feel like I have more in common with Ellis—his compassion, his kind heart, his guilt—than I do to any of these other Rippers.
Trey crouches down beside me, a grim look on his face. “This isn’t right,” he mutters.
“You mean like how you let them kill anyone who was weaker than them?” I spear a look over to the soldiers along the far wall. They heard what I said, and I’m not even sorry. “Look around you, Trey. Nothing about this world is right.” I splay my hands out, but I’m not sure exactly what I’m gesturing to. All of it, I guess. “We’re in the middle of who knows where, trapped in a cave by the sun, and we’re literally eating each other to stay alive.
Trey just smirks. “What?” I snap. “Is this funny to you?”
The Shade Chronicles | Book 2 | Predator Page 15
