Fear of God (Trials of Strength Book 1) (19 page)

Anna let go of my hand
and turned, it was her job to watch our backs, so she didn’t have a
backpack. I focused on our task as the lock on the door grinded
loud with each turn. After what felt like an eternity the door
roared open and we all jumped. Chris nodded and we sprinted into a
square room, metal racks on all sides holding different sets of
weaponry. Large guns faced smaller ones, and across from the door
the light glinted off of blades taller than me.

Chris and Jane grabbed
boxes of ammo and extra guns. Chris had said only take the smaller
weapons, they were effective and wouldn’t slow us down as much as
some of the bigger ones would. I couldn’t help myself though, after
filling my bag with boxes that rattled, I ran to the blades and
grabbed one the size of my arm. A gun could only do so much, and
the creatures on the surface had proved that, if you didn’t get
their head, it didn’t seem to faze them.

A high pitched ringing
filled the air.

‘
Chris?’ Anna
shouted.

‘
We’re done!’
he replied. ‘Let’s go!’

We barrelled out of the
room and headed back in the direction we came. I was surprised by
the lack of resistance, but when we came back to the first
crossroad we had sneaked through, I saw why. Men and women sprinted
down the corridor where we had heard the voices before. When they
saw us, they lifted their weapons and fired.

I moved fast and grabbed
Anna, throwing us into the corridor we needed to go through. Chris
was already there, but I heard a gasp and Jane hit the wall beside
us. Blood blossomed on her shirt and she grimaced. Before we could
say anything, the shouts from our pursuers grew louder.

‘
You have to
go,’ Jane shouted as we stared in surprise.

She took her backpack and
handed it to Anna. Jane slipped something behind her back and
stared at us.

‘
No,’ I said,
coming to my senses. ‘We are not leaving you! Come on!’

She looked ready to
fight, but sighed and motioned us on. We ran down the corridor and
through the open door in the middle.

‘
I’m sorry,’
Jane shouted.

She had stayed behind the
threshold, her eyes glistened, and she held a round object in her
hands.

It was a
grenade.

I knew what she planned
to do, but I sprinted back anyway. I wasn’t fast enough, she
slammed the metal door in place and the wheel spun, locking it. I
hit the door and tried the handle. It wouldn’t budge and I could
just hear Jane from behind it.

‘
This is my
choice, Lucas,’ she cried and my heart pounded. ‘It’s my turn to
save all of you.’

I wanted to scream at her
that without her we would have never made it. Without her I would
never have been able to get to where I was, but the words froze in
my throat and tears stung my eyes.

‘
You have to
go,’ Jane shouted. ‘I’m going to give these guys an introduction to
the anger we feel, and you are gonna drive it home. Now
go!’

I turned and ran. We made
it a few tunnels down when everything tilted sideways and we hit
the floor. Dust rained from the ceiling, and a few lights crashed
to the ground as an explosion vibrated through the air.

We’d lost another, and it
was passed time we gave their sacrifices meaning.

The
Battle

When we returned,
everyone turned their hopeful expressions on us, but when Jane
didn’t appear, they looked away and returned to their tasks. It was
scary how used to loss we were, with everything going back to
business. There wasn’t time to waste though, the enemy would be
rattled by the explosion and it was the perfect time to strike.
Everyone gathered as we smoothed out a plan.

Our main problem was the
former residents of the town, fast and lethal killing machines that
would follow us even if we managed to clear a way out. Then again,
we couldn’t stand an assault from them and my father’s men, so we
needed a distraction to draw the latter away from the exit, but
only after we’d taken out the first threat, no easy feat. After an
hour we had a plan.

‘
You know what
you’ve got to do?’ Chris aimed his question at Paul.

He nodded and left,
taking his one remaining son and another man.

‘
Anna?’ Chris
said.

‘
I got it,’
she replied and slipped her gun by her waist.

She walked over to me,
her forehead crinkled and her eyes worried. I took her hands and
tried a smile.

‘
Be safe,’ she
whispered.

‘
Don’t worry
about me, just focus on keeping out of trouble and getting what you
need, okay?’ I said.

Anna nodded and I leaned
forward and placed my lips on hers. My heart pounded and before we
could stop, our lips were red and on fire. I placed my forehead
against hers and sighed, it would all be over soon. Either we would
be free, or dead. We separated and she left, heading out on her
own. My heart pulled to go with her and keep her safe, but I
reminded myself how capable she was.

‘
You ready?’
Chris asked.

Everyone had been armed,
men, women and children in some capacity or another. Everyone paced
back and forward in silence, switching from nervous to determined
and back again. We were as ready as we would ever be, and it was
time to honour the people who had died to keep us alive. I turned
to face the room and everyone stared at me expectantly.

‘
I know how
you feel,’ I said. ‘I’m scared too. No, I’m worse than that, I’m
terrified. None of us asked for this, to be thrust into a world
where the people we love are the enemies. None of us asked to be
ripped from ourselves, just to survive. To love, lose. To watch as
so many people lost their lives.’

I swallowed and started
to pace.

‘
But you know
what?’ I spat. ‘I’m tired. Tired of running, tired of hiding, I
am
tired.
I’m weak
on my own. All of us alone can’t survive, but together? Together we
can fight back. Together we can
win
and together, we can show these sick bastards
whose town Greystone really is.’

It wasn’t the most
motivational speech, but it seemed to do the trick, people nodded
and dipped their heads. We stood in the silence as we remembered
the people we’d lost, what we had lost in ourselves, and used it to
fuel our anger. We had gone through hell and it was time to share
it. Misery loves company, and we had the perfect partner for
ours.

We filed out of the room
and through the tunnels. My heart threatened to burst from my chest
and my hands were slick with sweat. Everyone took shallow breaths,
and when we reached the exit we needed, we stopped. I looked
everyone in their worried and tired eyes, sending a prayer to any
being willing to listen. Then we began to climb.

I reached the surface
first, breaking out onto a dull, horribly grey day that seemed to
befit the circumstances. The air was cold and sharp and I was
wondered if it would snow, but as everyone gathered behind Chris, I
pushed the thoughts and fear away. I had to focus on the task and
battle that would ensue.

Chris arranged our group
in a misshapen line across Main Street, from shop window to the
almost identical street mirroring it. Most had guns and others had
smaller sharp weapons like the silver blade I’d taken for myself. I
held that blade, a gun tucked at my waist in case. If they got
close, the guns would almost be useless, they were too
fast.

‘
You ready?’
Chris asked, white mist hanging in front his mouth as he
spoke.

My grip tightened on the
handle of the blade, relaxing and tensing, trying to shift the
sweat that made it slip. I breathed in and out choked breaths and
closed my eyes.

Do it for the
people you’ve lost. For Mum, for all she did to protect
me.

The anger I was becoming
hauntingly familiar with sparked back to life and filled me with
fire. I nodded to Chris, and he pulled a small can with what looked
like a funnel on the end. It was a horn, one that would call Death.
I looked down the line to see the terrified faces of our
group.

Here we
go.

Chris pressed the can and
a painful sound flooded into the air. One second, two, four, seven,
I counted ten seconds and Chris dropped the can, cocked his gun and
took a shuddering breath. At first nothing happened, the air still
and peaceful. Then one turned the corner.

It was a man, unharmed
and could have passed for one of us, well, if it hadn’t been for
the wide eyes, the unsteady walk and guttural scream, anyway. My
heart jumped, and the rest flooded the street in a wave of sound
and speed. They barrelled towards us, ready to kill, but I reminded
myself before that first man hit our lines: We were ready
too.

Gunfire filled the air,
and I rushed forward. I focused, moved fast, brought the blade
down, and up, and down. I sliced, and killed, and pushed back. As
suspected though, some of our own bolted, and in their retreat,
they were caught by the creatures that flew at us from
behind.

‘
Chris!’ I
shouted through the noise.

He turned, looked behind
him and cursed. It wasn’t a surprise, although we had hoped they
would come from one direction, the hopeless optimists we were. I
turned and raced through the steadily increasing mounds of corpses.
I caught one of the creatures at the neck with my blade, his head
coming off clean before he could snap the woman’s leg he had been
twisting. I dragged her to her feet and ordered her to grab a few
others and focus on the new group of enemies.

A scream filled the air
and I turned to see a boy no older that seven being dragged into a
nearby shop. The boy’s mother was pulled down by two creatures. I
charged, reaching her before she hit the ground and drove the tip
of my sword through one of her attacker’s eyes. He fell, taking the
blade with him as my hand grabbed my gun. I swung round and shot
the other before she could throw herself at me.

‘
My son!’ the
mother screamed as she jumped to her feet.

‘
I’ll get
him!’ I shouted back, placing the gun in her hand. ‘Help the
rest!’

For a second it looked
like she would ignore me, but I wrenched my blade from the body I
had sank it in and dove into the building. I heard the boy’s cries,
and as I sped towards it, a shrieking woman came at me from a
doorway leading upstairs. She ducked my slice through the air and
knocked my feet from below. I hit the ground and rolled, spun and
brought my fist against her cheek. She lifted from the ground and
crashed into a nearby food stand, but I was already on her, driving
my sword through her heart.

I didn’t hesitate or
stop. I made it to the stairs in time to stop the boy’s head being
torn off. I took one down effortlessly, but the other knocked the
blade from my hands and his foot connected with my stomach, pushing
me back. I gasped and ducked as he pounced from the top step. I
turned as he landed, and with my newfound strength, buried my fist
through his stomach and out his back until he was halfway up my
arm. I slid him off and retrieved my blade.

The boy glared wide-eyed
between the creature’s body and the blood I was drenched in. I
grabbed him and moved back the way I’d entered. Five blood soaked
monsters burst into the shop. I turned, lifted the boy and took the
stairs up two at a time. When I reached the landing, we were
greeted with a thin hallway, two doors opposite each other on the
walls, living arrangements for the owners. A floor-to-ceiling glass
window lay at the end of the hall.

‘
Hang on,’ I
told the shivering figure in my arms.

I sprinted for the
window, turned as I reached it and jumped through it backwards.
There was a moment of nothing, of air being dragged out of my lungs
and then my back hit the metal of a car.

‘
Oh,’ I
muttered standing up, the boy was unharmed.

There was a small sliver
of pain, but it wasn’t much, I’d gasped more out of reflex. The
mother saw us and ran for her son and I scanned the war being
waged. Our group had suffered more than the enemy. I watched
helplessly as the woman I’d helped earlier was torn apart by three
creatures, and another man flew through the air and landed with the
sound of breaking bones. He didn’t get up.

Chris was nowhere to be
seen and there were maybe fifteen of us left, while more and more
of the vacant shells who used to mean something to us appeared
round corners.

Come on, come
on, come on…

I moved through the
fight, helping where I could. I searched for Chris and found him
trying to push a man who had his fingers round his throat. I
grabbed the man’s head and twisted, he dropped dead.

‘
We can’t keep
this up!’ Chris gasped as he got to his feet.

‘
At least we
know we don’t just need to aim for their heads,’ I said. ‘Major
things like their hearts and necks kill them. Anywhere else though
and they’re tough SOBs.’

But he was right, we
couldn’t keep up our momentum.