Fear of God (Trials of Strength Book 1) (12 page)

‘
I’m still
going,’ I answered.

‘
What so now
you’re ready to face the world outside?’ Chris said, his voice
rising. ‘What? You’ve suddenly got over your overwhelming
cowardice?’

I flinched and rounded on
him, my eyes caught his and I wanted to punch him. Screw before, I
had no idea whether my family was alive or not. The picture had set
a fire ablaze in my stomach. I was still petrified, but my family
trumped that, I’d been too afraid to leave before, but I had no
idea where to start. The picture changed that, it looked like he’d
never been moved from the hospital. It was a trap, no doubt, but if
there was any chance…

‘
Fuck you,
Chris,’ I shouted. ‘Tell me, huh? If it was your wife, tell me you
wouldn’t go?’

Paul appeared and headed
toward us.

‘
What the hell
are you shouting about?’ he snarled.

‘
Nothing that
concerns you,’ I growled.

Chris had faltered at my
jab, and Anna stared at me critically. Jane looked stricken and had
no idea what to say. They understood what I was feeling, they knew
I had to go, but still they stood in my way.

‘
Lucas, we
just don’t want you to get hurt,’ Jane whispered. ‘We don’t want
anyone to get hurt.’

‘
I don’t want
them to either,’ I said. The painful throb in my head had returned.
‘I’ll go myself, that way if it is a trap, it’s only
me.’

I suddenly felt alone. I
knew they had good reasons, I knew how much of a bad idea it was,
but if I didn’t go the guilt would cripple me. There wasn’t any way
the situation would be a win for anyone, but even with the cowardly
voice in my brain, I couldn’t stay there and wonder. We lapsed into
silence again, war inside my head and selfishly, part of me wanted
to stay down in the tunnels, to stay safe, whatever that was
anymore. I turned away from them and headed for one of the holes in
the wall.

‘
Lucas,’ Chris
muttered.

I turned back.

‘
I’m sorry,
Chris,’ I said sadly. ‘Thank you for saving me. I know you didn’t
want to hear it, but thank you.’

His face fell and he
opened his mouth, but no words came out. I didn’t want to leave
them, in a way they had also become a sort of family, even if a bit
dysfunctional. Their faces gave away their fear though. Nothing
they could say would stop me. There was also that unspoken thought
between us that whoever had killed Terry wanted me at the hospital,
and if I didn’t go, who else would die to send me the message
again? Another thing I couldn’t bear to have on my conscience, I
had to go, and they knew it.

‘
Dammit,’ Anna
sighed. ‘I’m going with you.’

I was about to protest
when she stopped me.

‘
I’m not about
to let you walk into a trap on your own,’ she said. ‘And if you
think otherwise you’re an idiot.’

I swallowed the lump in
my throat and smiled my thanks. Paul stood there with his snarl
looking confused, I almost laughed at the sight. Chris stepped
forward and pulled a gun from his trousers, extending it towards
me. The light dimmed and part of me wanted to run, but I took the
cold, black metal into my hands and nodded at him.

‘
That’s not my
only gift,’ Chris said, resigned. ‘You two won’t make it far
without me, plus, I know a quick way to the hospital through some
abandoned factories.’

‘
You’re
leaving?’ Paul smiled.

‘
I’ll be back,
don’t worry,’ Chris replied. ‘Try and not shoot anyone while I’m
away, okay?’

The smile vanished from
his lips. I began to worry about everyone else, the group was
fragile and the last thing we needed was for someone like Paul to
start trouble. Luckily, Jane stepped forward and smiled like butter
wouldn’t melt at Paul.

‘
I’ll keep an
eye on things,’ she said. ‘We’ll be fine, won’t we,
Paul?’

Paul stared at her and
stuttered.

‘
Anyway, with
Terry’s death the group need a little hope,’ Jane continued. ‘Grace
seems to be sinking her teeth into it. She’s already started to try
and convince everyone they should take to the streets and beg for
mercy.’

I started to think no one
was stupid enough to fall for that, but I remembered the way they’d
been to start with, malleable and easily persuaded. Grace could
walk them straight to their deaths. I closed my eyes and sighed,
not only was there outside problems to contend with, there were
inside ones too. We all looked expectantly at Paul and he avoided
our gaze, reaching the same conclusion.

He muttered he would help
Jane take care of it, and she beamed at him. He blushed. So, Paul
had a sweet spot after all. Anna rolled her eyes and Jane
laughed.

‘
Good luck you
guys,’ Jane said. ‘Come back alive, okay?’

I nodded, and she and
Paul took their leave. They left us alone in the room we had found
Terry’s body. I wondered how well this would go down with the rest
of the group, but shut it from my mind. We needed to be cautious,
and we couldn’t let anything else take up our attention. Chris led
us through the dark tunnels, Anna behind him, and me bringing up
the rear.

I boiled with emotions.
My father could be alive and my heart warmed at the idea, but then
again, he might not be there at all, and like Chris and Anna had
said, it could be a trap to lure us out and kill us. I tried not to
dwell on the latter, focusing on the deadly weapon in my
hand.

I wasn’t comfortable with
killing someone, but as always Chris’s words drifted through my
mind. If I wanted to survive I had to conquer the fear, and accept
the guilt. It was us or them, there was no reasoning. I wished I
had the strength Anna did, or to be the way Chris could be: Cold
and clinical, finding the best way to stay alive.

After a while, maybe
forty-five minutes, Chris stopped beside a ladder. It looked no
different than the others we’d ascended, but then again, everything
down in the tunnels looked the same. Chris’s job had been to keep
people out, but the place was like a labyrinth, even if they had
gotten down, only by luck would they have gotten out. I shivered,
it was a good thing we had Chris’s knowledge, and it further
cemented the idea that each of us was placed down there for a
reason.

‘
Okay,’ Chris
whispered. ‘At the top of this ladder we should come out into an
old warehouse on an abandoned industrial site.’

I knew the place,
although I’d never been in it.

‘
How far from
the hospital is it?’ Anna asked.

‘
Not far,’
Chris replied. ‘I just don’t know what’s up there, so be
ready.’

He looked at me
hesitantly, and I couldn’t blame him.

‘
I’m with you,
Chris,’ I tried to sound sincere. ‘I can do this.’

He nodded and laid out a
rough idea about what we’d do. I was absorbed in my own thoughts
though. I shouldn’t have been, but what I’d said earlier drifted
through my mind. If they wanted me dead, the snipers could have
done to me what they’d done to others so easily. But they hadn’t.
They also had us blocked from leaving town, and wanted us down
there. None of the creatures up top had gotten down, so I assumed
if any got close, someone stopped them. I also assumed that if they
wanted me at the hospital, they’d make sure we got
there.

We climbed the ladders
and entered a small, empty building. The place was vacant, and
there was only one light left in the entire room that hadn’t been
destroyed. It swung in the middle of the room, eerily. Chris
started to move, but I froze. Déjà vu punched me in the gut, and my
brain pulsed in warning. What was I missing? I was missing
something!

The walls were cracked
and withered with age, and the floor was the same. There weren’t
any red stains like there were in my memory, but bolted to the
ground underneath the only whole light, was a chair. My breathing
turned ragged.

‘
Holy crap,’
Anna whispered. ‘What kinda crazy shit went down here?’

Chris turned to shrug,
but caught sight of me. He said my name, but it didn’t quite reach
my ears, which had filled with the thumping of my heart. I knew
this place. I visited it every time I slept. It was the place of
nightmares and pain. I clutched my chest.

I had never been there,
but I’d dreamt of it, which meant one thing.

My nightmares weren’t
dreams, they were real.

The
Trap

I fell to my knees and
clutched at my chest as Anna crouched beside me. She tried to calm
me down and squeeze something out of me. She sounded far away
though, and I couldn’t think straight. My nightmare was real, but
how? How could I forget something like that? I didn’t, the thought
shot through my mind. Chris searched the room quickly and came
back.

‘
Look I don’t
mean to sound insensitive, but can this wait?’ he asked
impatiently.

‘
Lucas?’ Anna
whispered. ‘What is it?’

Don’t tell
them, they’ll turn on you.

I could only look at her
and shake my head. Tears gathered and I wiped at them furiously
with my hands. Chris was right, there was no time for this, and we
had to move. I stood and gave myself a shake. I nodded at Chris and
Anna, and we started off again. A door stood in one of the corners,
engulfed in darkness. Dim light filtered through the broken
skylights above.

Think about
Dad,
we’re almost there.

It was enough to keep me
going, and with one last terrified glance at the room, we entered
the dull day. Outside was a mess, made worse by the gloom of
winter, although it was more from the fact the factories had shut
down years ago and weren’t being tended to, rather than the
horrific new reality. Empty containers littered the grounds, and
rusted ramps used by fork trucks long ago to move produce in and
out of the buildings were scattered around.

A crane loomed high above
us, its former white metal red with decay. It didn’t look entirely
stable, and part of me worried it would collapse on top of us, an
end that was almost anti-climactic. We made our way to the streets
outside the factory grounds and we held our breath, waiting for
signs of movement. There were none, and I knew it had less to do
with luck, and more to do with the mysterious force hell bent on us
reaching the hospital.

We half ran, half jogged
after Chris. I’d stayed in Greystone all my life, but even though
the town was small, I’d never needed to go to hospital. My Mum and
I had never visited my father at work either as he thought it a
waste of his time. We turned into the hospital carpark and gazed at
the short but wide building. Like everything in town it was empty
and damaged. The windows that weren’t smashed had splatters of red
on them, and to my horror, bodies lay around us.

I hadn’t seen many bodies
so far, and I’d thought even less about them. But then, there in
front of us, it was hard to ignore. Limbs were missing or lying a
few feet away, and our shoes walked through sticky blood on our way
to the hospital entrance. The automatic doors were shut and didn’t
move at our approach, but one of the glass panels was broken, and
we stepped inside.

The smell was
overwhelming, blood and death. It took me by surprise and I turned
and wretched. Anna’s face was paper white, but she didn’t throw up.
Chris had his game face on, and was deliberately ignoring the chaos
around him.

‘
Come on,’ he
whispered. ‘We do this fast.’

I staggered after them,
glass crunched under my feet and I slid on the bloody floors,
leaving imprints on scattered sheets of paper. We reached the
reception desk, and Chris groaned. I thought I knew what he was
thinking, that how would we find my father quickly, but I followed
his eyes. On the wall, someone had sprayed a black arrow, which
pointed to the stairs. I couldn’t help but shiver, without a doubt
we were wanted there, and we pushed open the door and entered the
stairway.

The arrows continued up
as we crawled up the stairs. Eventually they stopped, and pointed
to a sign next to a set of double doors.

Maternity
Ward.

Anna furrowed her brow,
but kept silent. Chris pushed the doors open and went first. The
mess wasn’t any better up there, and we reached a few rooms that
housed mothers after delivery. I couldn’t look inside them, and
Anna’s gasp confirmed I shouldn’t. We searched the floor, the
arrows gone, until we heard someone whimper.

‘
Dad?’ I
shouted, and all caution disappeared from my mind.

Chris swore as we ran to
what looked like a waiting room for women starting labour. There
were beds on either side of the long room, some were bloody, and
others held motionless women, but my eyes were pulled to the end of
the row of beds. They grew wide as I choked down a scream. We had
gone there to find my father, but instead, tied to chair, my mother
groaned loudly.

‘
Mum!’ I
whispered and ran towards her.

Rebecca Bishop’s head
shot up at the sound of my voice. The relief on her face broke my
heart, but as soon as it appeared, it was replaced with fear. Her
former luscious brown locks were damp with sweat and her face
glistened. She looked much older with her eyes wide and
bloodshot.