The Shade Chronicles | Book 2 | Predator

by Bradley, T. K.

  He shrugs. “Sorta, in a morbid kind of way. This isn’t the first time humans have turned to cannibalism for survival.”

  “We’re not human,” I remind him, and his face sags.

  “Then I guess that’s one more reason in our favor.”

  We are largely silent as we wait for Ellis to eat his fill. The slurping is awful, though expected. It’s the crunching I’m not prepared for. The sun has essentially burned the Rippers’ skin to the point of a hard outer layer, a shell to be peeled and split away. And then there’s the bones… I have to cover my ears as Ellis breaks the bones and sucks the marrow from the inside.

  I’m grateful that I’m full from my last feeding, because otherwise… I think the hunger I could’ve felt would have driven me mad.

  As it is, once Ellis is done, he glances up once at the soldiers across the cave, where they’re crouched and practically drooling, and tosses then a corpse. They descend on it with fervor, devouring his scraps. This is what I imagine a pack of hyenas would look like, tearing into a carcass. And it’s easier to think of the Ripper body as an animal… as meat. In comparison to their frenzy, Ellis was practically dainty in his feeding. If we had cutlery, I wonder if he would’ve sat down and eaten them with a knife and fork.

  He approaches us warily, keeping an eye on Trey to decide if he’s going to attack. Trey just shakes his head once. “I tried to stop them.”

  “Yeah, I saw how hard you tried.” Ellis raises an eyebrow, but Trey doesn’t seem overly concerned about not having Ellis’s trust. They’ve known each other for years, and I can tell theirs is an uneasy alliance. One of necessity, not respect.

  “So… what really happened to Kenzo and Howell?” Trey crosses his arms across his broad chest.

  I jab him with an elbow. “Ellis was starving. I think that’s evidence enough that he didn’t eat them.”

  Trey nods slowly, reluctant to admit that I have a point. Ellis, however, gives me a sad smile. “It was close, Lori. I almost broke.”

  I reach out and squeeze his arm. “You don’t have to explain it to me, Ellis. I understand; I’ve been there too. But you didn’t hurt them.” I try my best not to phrase that last statement as a question, but I very much need his confirmation that Kenzo is still alive and well.

  He fixes his solid-black eyes on mine and infuses his honesty into his words. “A woman came. She said she was from the research facility, that they were here to take us… but only the humans. She wouldn’t take me along, but she seemed very eager to study what was in my blood.”

  My breath comes out in tiny pants as I think about that. “Will they be back?” The conflicting emotions are tugging me back and forth; gratitude that Kenzo is somewhere safe, but panic is quickly edging into that comfort. How do I know if these people were safe?

  “They’ll be back,” Ellis says, and I can almost taste the certainty of his words at the back of my tongue. His emotions are like a physical force pushing against me. “This is why we came all this way. This was our goal.”

  I try to agree with him, really I do. But it’s hard to congratulate ourselves on a job well done when there’s a symphony of slurping overriding any sense of hope.

  16

  Kenzo

  “Forget it. No deal. I won’t go.” I have to shout to be heard over the crashing waves.

  The boat seems tiny in comparison to the size of the swell, the force of the water pummeling down onto the rocky shore. I try my best to look intimidating, or at the very least, determined. There are enough of them that they could force me to go if they really wanted to, but my hope lies in their humanity. They look… civilized.

  Uki narrows her eyes at me. Or at least I think she does; it’s kinda hard to tell in the sparse light from their flashlights. “It’s safe, I promise.” She speaks with the practiced tone of someone who is accustomed to making themselves heard over the constant rush of waves. I have no idea how she can possibly guarantee something like our safety. It wouldn’t take much for the boat to flip, and there’s no way we could survive outside of the craft.

  “You misunderstand my reluctance,” I tell her. “It’s not about that. You think I care about what happens to me?”

  She cocks her head, gauging my reaction. “You’re leaving someone behind.” It’s not a question.

  “No… I’m refusing to leave someone behind. It’s an important distinction.” I cross my arms across my chest and plant my feet. I know that if I get on that boat, they will have no reason to come back for Lori. She’ll be left behind, with no way to follow me. I won’t do it.

  “Human?” she asks.

  There’s no need for me to answer, since it’s more than obvious. My lack of answer says enough. “More human than most,” I say, trying to cushion the reality.

  “Out of the question. Now get in the boat.”

  I clench my jaw tight, my teeth clacking together. “You need me more than I need you.”

  We stare at each other, and I can feel everyone’s eyes darting back and forth between us. Bob gives a giddy giggle. He’s enjoying the show.

  Howell, on the other hand, doesn’t have any patience for this. His eyes are angled toward the horizon. “The clock is ticking,” he growls, pointing vaguely east. “The sun is going to come over that horizon, and then it won’t matter who’s staying and who’s going. Make a decision. My vote is we get the hell in the boat.”

  “Of course it is,” I snap.

  There’s no love lost between Uki and Howell. Even though they’ve never met before today, she took an immediate dislike to the general. I wonder if it’s because of what he represents—the military, the government who abandoned them up here—or maybe she’s just a really good judge of character. Because, let’s face it, Howell is a self-centered asshole.

  Locked as we are in this standoff, I’m actually kind of glad for the ocean’s racket. It somehow makes this less awkward. There’s no need to try to fill the silence as we both simmer with our thoughts.

  Finally, Uki gives a small nod, barely perceptible. “Okay, but we won’t be able to outrun the sun. Not to go all the way to the cave and then still make it back to the lab. It’s too far.”

  I think about the timeline, and something doesn’t add up. “How did you make it to the cave right as night fell? You have to have a shelter somewhere.”

  Uki doesn’t answer me, except to give a jerk of her head to her other crew members, and they grudgingly begin to unload the boat. I hesitate to call this crew soldiers, because they’re obviously not military. There are no uniforms, and they don’t have the posture for it. They’ve had some kind of training, though, that much is clear. They never take their hands off their weapons, and they’re vigilant, even though I’m not sure they consider us a serious threat. I mean, look at me. Hell, look at Bob. He looks like an electrocuted scarecrow. Howell would likely be the most dangerous of us, but even he is well outside of his prime. He’s gotten fat and lazy from sitting in his bunker, separate from the rest of us, gorging himself on the best food the apocalypse has to offer.

  The weapons they have, too, aren’t your standard-issue military gear. They’ve done what any scientist or engineer would do, given the time and resources and motivation; they’ve made them better. I’ve already seen how ineffective our bullets are against Shredders, but these new weapons don’t use bullets. They look almost like harpoon guns or something. They launch a narrow thin metal bolt, probably with the explosive force of a small rocket.

  “Decker, stay with the boat,” Uki orders. “We’ll be back by midnight.”

  We all shrug our packs back on. I feel like the bag has gotten heavier in just the last hour. My muscles ache, and all I want is to lie down right here and sleep for a week. Regardless of the burden, Uki doesn’t ask if we want to leave our supplies here. She knows better. I don’t think any of us are stupid enough to leave anything behind. Not when any number of unforeseen events could go wrong. We could be delayed by anything… or anyone… We might not make it back
at all.

  And how do I even know if Lori will even be there when we get back to the cave? They could have faced a delay as well. All they had to do was follow the tracks, but what if they didn’t make it to the cave on time? Ellis swore that he would wait for them and show them where they could wait out the daylight, but he wasn’t exactly in any right frame of mind, either. He was bordering on starvation, so what if he went hunting and didn’t find anything?

  I’m… unsettled. It’s not a perfect explanation of the feeling, but it’s the closest I can think of to describe this scratchy sensation. I feel this need to act, to do something, anything… and without any form of a plan, I’m left wanting to tear my own hair out, claw at my skin. I imagine this is a bit like how Lori’s felt since her transformation. Helpless… hopeless…

  We trudge, single file, back in the direction we came. I keep my eye on the back in front of me, in single-minded focus, and march. There’s no other word for it. It’s not a hard walk, it’s all pretty flat once we get past the craggy shoreline, but it’s relentless, monotonous. Slowly but surely, the sound of the ocean fades, until it’s nothing more than a shushing in the background.

  Bob jogs up beside me. He’s grinning like a fool. “Thank you,” he says softly.

  “For going back? For Kelly?” He nods. “I didn’t do it for you,” I admit.

  “I know. But that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it. You didn’t see me standing up to them.”

  I look at the spindly man. Howell thinks he’s crazy, with good reason, but there’s a certain intelligent glint to his eye. Bob is smarter than anyone gives him credit for. “You don’t seem like the kind of guy who gets pushed around. If you didn’t want to go, there’s no way you would’ve gotten on that boat.”

  He shrugs and offers a sheepish grin. “What can I say? I’m not a man who looks back. Nowhere to go from here but forward. I can’t deny that I am incredibly curious about that lab. Besides, Kelly has been doing just fine without me. I trust that she can handle herself.”

  Does that mean I don’t trust Lori? I think about who she is, who she used to be. Her determination, her desperation… her depression. She isn’t meant to be a monster. Anyone who looks at her can see that she’s fighting it, but I know that’s how she sees herself now, deep down. She’s slowly being dragged down into the darkness, and I can’t bear the thought of who—or what—she will become if I don’t throw her a lifeline.

  The sky is getting dangerously bright. We won’t make it back to the cave in time. “Uki?” I call up the line.

  She looks over her shoulder at me, then past me to the sky beyond. She gives a nod and says something to the man behind her. We stop walking, and the entire crew begins to unload their bags and settle in.

  “There’s nothing here,” I say to Bob, stating the obvious. We’re completely exposed here on the open tundra. There’s barely enough soil to cover the naked rock beneath my feet. “What the hell are they planning?”

  Bob gives a sneaky smile, as if he’s in on the joke and he’s just waiting to deliver the punchline. “Just wait and see,” he says with a high-pitched giggle.

  * * *

  What followed was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. I slept in a box. Well, sleep was a generous description for the ensuing day spent in the clutches of a claustrophobic panic. No light, no space to move around, and no air to breathe.

  Clearly, that’s a tiny bit of an exaggeration, but only barely.

  When Uki gave the nod to her team, they opened up their packs to reveal not food or water like any sane hiker would have, but interlocking panels. They fit together to create a low shelter, and then a lightproof sheet made from some space-age material was draped over the top. It was actually pretty ingenious. It wasn’t a permanent structure by any means, not to be used except in an emergency, and it obviously wouldn’t do a thing to protect us from Shredders, but from the sun, it did the trick.

  Bob clapped his hands and jumped into the box with glee. Howell grumbled and got on with it. Me… I believe my exact response was, “I would rather burn to death.”

  Nobody was more surprised than me when I gave in. It was like being buried alive, but above ground.

  I “wake” from my trembling version of slumber when Uki gives the all-clear. I’m hot, sweaty, and don’t feel even a little bit rested. That was easily the longest night of my life. The only consolation is that now that we’re farther north, the daylight hours have significantly shortened. The sun’s path was also lower in the sky, making the shadows longer and the overall strength weaker.

  Uki saw me assessing the twilit sky. “It’s a good thing you didn’t choose to make the trip in July.”

  We didn’t get to pick the time for our evacuation, but she’s very right. It could have been extremely unlucky, if we’d had to come when the sun was at its highest. This far north, the summer nights were nearly non-existent. We wouldn’t have been able to make the final walk from the train to the cave. We would’ve been stranded out there on the tundra, with no hope for reaching shelter.

  A loud groan pulls our attention over to where Bob is stretching his arms out, and I hate how bright-eyed and bushy-tailed he looks.

  “Good sleep?” I ask.

  He flashes me a toothy grin. “The best I’ve had since leaving home. I didn’t much like the train. The rocking movement kept me awake. The ground suits me just fine.” He lays a hand across his chest and give Uki a bow. “I appreciate your hospitality.”

  She chuckles and walks away, shaking her head. Nobody knows what to make of Bob. He’s quirky and eccentric, but also incredibly intelligent. He’s resourceful and clearly makes a good ally when running for your life. I like how grateful he is for even the smallest positive outcome, but… regardless of all those things, I can’t say I’ll ever be able to trust him fully. There’s a shadowy darkness behind his eyes, just out of reach. He lived on his own for too long, and other than Kelly, he wouldn’t hesitate to throw any of us to the wolves—or Shredders—if it meant his own survival.

  The crew breaks down camp with quick precision. I watch these guards of ours as they work. They don’t look particularly nervous, just… wary. They would no doubt rather be back at whatever constitutes as home for them. I try to engage the nearest man in conversation, but he just throws a blank stare at me and then plods away.

  “Don’t take it personally,” Uki says. “They’re under strict orders not to speak with you.”

  “What? Why?”

  “We don’t know you, Kenzo. And while you seem like a nice enough guy, we aren’t about to divulge all our secrets before you’ve earned our trust.”

  “Sure. Fair enough.” After living in my own bunker full of secret experiments, I can understand where she’s coming from, but at the same time, I’m also a little uncomfortable just galivanting off across an ocean with her—in a tiny boat to boot. I’m not exactly eager to jump into the next bunker just because it’s convenient, to become somebody else’s pawn all over again. “Trust goes both ways,” I remind her.

  “Fair enough,” she echoes in return.

  The sky deepens, the shadows bruising to a deep purple. Several members of our group carry flashlights, but the bright spots are just a tad obvious and paint too big a target on us, so we mostly walk through the night unassisted. It’s a good thing the landscape is mostly flat, but I stumble a few times, skinning my palms. Honestly, I feel like I might be getting used to all this darkness. I’ll never have the night-vision ability of Shredders, but my body is slowly adapting to the absence of light.

  “Not far now,” Uki says. As if in response to her call, the faint outline of the cliff face appears, a different shade of black cutting through the night sky ahead.

  “Lori,” I choke out. I pick up the pace, my feet slapping on the rock.

  “Hey! Wait up!” Bob shouts, jogging to keep up.

  Uki snorts out a warning, but her words fall on deaf ears. I couldn’t care less what she thinks right now.
Uki and her guards hang back. They’re not willing to risk their lives on this, and I can’t say I blame them.

  When I approach what I think is the cave opening, I see a flutter of movement. Bob brings up a flashlight, and suddenly the night is sliced through with a beam of glaring white. Lori holds a hand up to shade her eyes.

  “Lori!” I shout. I want to run to her, pull her into my arms and swing her around, but that’s a human reaction. You wouldn’t rush toward a tiger or a shark. I remind myself of her brittle self-restraint.

  She smiles, but it’s a pitiful replica of happiness. Bob lowers the flashlight, and when she pulls her hand away from her face, I gasp. She looks better than she did when I last saw her. Her skin is practically flush, the skin supple, though still thick and textured.

  “You’ve eaten,” I say, stating the obvious. As if she needs a reminder of what she had to go through.

  She gives a sharp nod.

  I go to say something else, some reassuring platitudes about how I came back for her and that everything will be okay, but Ellis emerges from the cave behind her, followed by Trey, Kelly, and Judith. Oh yeah. Them.

  Wow, I really didn’t think this whole thing through. I’m tempted to look over my shoulder at Uki, but I have a feeling I know exactly what look she’d give me. I told her I needed to come back for someone… not a whole group of someones. And I think it’s pretty safe to say that the rest of the Shredders aren’t going to simply smile and nod and say, “Yeah, okay, Kenzo. We completely understand. Please let us stay behind, possibly forever.”

  Shit. I’ve really stuck my foot straight in this giant pile of manure, haven’t I?

  No one else comes out of the cave, though. And by the grim expressions on their faces, I suspect that’s all there is.

  “What happened?” I ask. “Where’s everyone else?” I take in their appearances, and I notice that Lori isn’t the only one who’s looking better than when we parted ways. Sure, they’re dusty and tattered, but Judith, too, is looking flush. The difference to Ellis is the most pronounced, seeing as his skin texture is smoother.