Shudder (Stitch Trilogy, Book 2) (2 page)

The crowd roared in response, spitting
hisses and jeers in her direction. She could only imagine how much
difficulty he was having suppressing his smile.

The venomous gruff of his
voice filled her head once more, unnaturally blocking out all other
sound; she would tear off her own ears if only it would bar the
invasion of his voice. “She was caught scaling the walls,
attempting to leave the compound and with full intention of coming
back in. If she had succeeded, there is no doubt that she would
have brought the virus with her, putting
all
of us at risk.”

Her ears burned, but she remained
staid. She had done no such thing, and he knew it. But the crowd
didn’t. And the people of Paragon were incensed.

“
What we must decide today
is her fate. Should this woman be forgiven her transgression, and
be allowed to take her place among us once more?”

He paused, a menacing silence buzzing
across the mob, the tension growing ever thicker as no one dared to
speak. She pressed her shoulders back once more and gulped down her
fear. These were her people – reasonable, normal, everyday people,
people who had banded together to survive an apocalypse, who had
vowed to start fresh together and leave the worst of the old world
behind. Surely, they would have mercy. Surely, they would give one
of their own another chance. Surely, they would renounce the
barbarism of a public execution, at the least. Someone would come
forth, someone would save her.

Paragon was better than
this.

But no one spoke. In a
harsh whisper, he put the final nail in her coffin, slowly and
deliberately taking pleasure as his mouth formed each solitary
syllable: “Or should she be
punished
?”

The crowd replied with a deafening
roar of condemnation, snarling and howling like a rabid animal just
itching for blood. As the mob whipped itself into a frenzy, she
could feel his wry smile branding itself into her back. His job was
done – now all he had to do was watch.

Finally the tears came, a single drop
of heartache snaking its way down her cheek. So that was his plan –
he would use her to draw out the allies of the resistance, and if
they didn’t save her from the wrath of the mob, so be it – one less
rebel to deal with. She was glad then that her face was covered,
that they could not see her break.

Because someone did come forth then,
but not the savior she’d been holding out for. No, on the contrary
– someone had cast the first stone.

A stinging sensation buried itself in
her shoulder. And then another, in her gut. And another, on her
thigh.

And then she was nothing but pain,
every inch of her body pounding with the impact of each jagged
rock. She tried to stand tall, to fight through the agony, but it
was too much. The blows ripped the air from her lungs and she
doubled over, trying in vain to shield herself.

Her mind shut off, all conscious
thought leaving her body as the crippling ache took over, and some
distant part of her prayed quietly for the torture to
end.

And then one violent strike connected
with her temple, and she was gone.

2. DISQUIET

Again. What
was
that?

Alessa whipped her head around in the
direction of the movement and stood motionless, peering through the
sparse underbrush. But despite what she was sure she’d seen from
the corner of her eye, nothing was there… just like the last two
times. Alessa swallowed back the alarm slowly welling in her gut,
but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that someone – or something
– was toying with her.

It was hard to sense much of anything
with the wind howling through the trees and the heavy snowfall
adamantly slicing across her field of view. She cursed the storm
and reluctantly went back to piling brush on the makeshift shelter
to ward against the arctic weather.

How much time had passed since Isaac
had left? It felt like hours, but she knew that couldn’t
be.

Something just didn’t feel right to
Alessa. A fleeting sense of panic had been mounting in her chest
ever since he’d set out to scavenge, but she couldn’t make sense of
why. Well, except for the mysterious movement she kept just missing
in her peripheral vision. That was certainly reason enough to
worry.

But it was more than that,
too – she felt
confused
almost, and frustrated and scared. What she
didn’t understand was
why
.

It’d been days since they’d escaped
from Paragon, and she and Isaac had been splitting up regularly
without issue. Between the frigid weather and their minimal
supplies, it was all they could do to stay alive, and neither of
them had had any anxiety about leaving the other alone for a few
moments; Alessa was as confident in her own abilities as she was in
Isaac’s, and vice versa. So why all of a sudden had that changed
for her?

Then again, Isaac should really have
been back by now. The snow had just begun to fall when he’d set
out, an ill-omened stillness settling over the woods, no sound
breaking the silence except the gentle pattering of heavy
snowflakes against the frozen ground. It’d been clear that a storm
was coming, but their food stocks were mostly depleted. So Isaac
had gone out to forage for whatever he could, promising to return
before the weather got dangerous.

But the weather was dangerous now.
Alessa could barely see ten feet in front of her with the angry
cloud of white pelting her face in the twilight, and with every
minute the blizzard was only getting worse. The sense of
disorientation she’d been feeling earlier only compounding with the
fury of the storm, she pulled her hood tighter against the icy air
and stopped for the first time to consider the chilling question
that she’d been stubbornly pushing out of her head all afternoon:
what would she do if Isaac didn’t return?

Before the bleak implications of that
thought could settle through Alessa, another dash of movement from
the other side of the clearing caught her eye.

She froze – her heart pounding in her
ears – and took a deep breath. She was done with this
game.

Throwing down the bundle of branches
in her arms, she withdrew the knife from her side and concentrated
through narrowed eyes on the stand of trees a few yards to her
right. She listened closely, hoping without avail for a break in
the savage moan of the wind. But with or without the storm’s
cooperation, she was not about to drop her guard again.

Waiting, Alessa watched the forest,
ignoring the snowflakes gathering on her eyelashes and the stinging
of the frozen shards scouring her face. With a slow, deliberate
movement she raised the knife to her shoulder, coiling to
strike.

Remembering her stealth training with
the rebels, she waited with bated breath for the opportunity to
come. A flash of darkness between two snow-covered trunks was all
the signal she needed; one flick of her wrist sent the knife
hurtling through the darkened sky, intent on its target.

A bloodcurdling shriek – part howl,
part yelp – rang out through the wood, chilling Alessa to the bone.
A desperate wave of pain washed through her as she struggled to
place the sound – almost human, but not quite. And the perplexing
confusion she’d been feeling earlier came back, this time tumbled
with grim despair.

What just happened?
Fighting through the sharp jumble of emotions and
physical pain assailing her body, Alessa stumbled determinedly in
the direction of the wail. Clutching at the tree trunks for
support, she raked the forest for the source of the cry, hoping
beyond hope that she’d incapacitated who or whatever had been
stalking her.

But to her dismay, all that remained
was her bloodied knife abandoned on the snowy ground. She scanned
the floor for a trail – drops of blood, footprints, anything – but
the swirling blizzard had quickly devoured any signs of the
intruder.

Gathering up her knife, Alessa prayed
that she had at least scared it – and she was fairly certain now
that it was indeed an “it” – off. She caught her breath against the
nearest tree as the startling pain and dismay she’d felt moments
earlier faded, until she realized she could finally think with some
clarity again.

She didn’t understand what
she was feeling, but she would have plenty of time to think about
that later. If there was to
be
a later, she needed to get back to that
shelter
now
.

Shaking the snow and muddled thoughts
from her head, she pocketed the knife and felt her way into the
clearing once more, burying her nagging worries about Isaac. First
things first, she reminded herself – she was no use to Isaac dead.
By this point she could barely see her own hands stretched out in
front of her, but she combed the landscape searching for the warm
glow of the fire burning at the edge of their shelter and made her
way toward it inch by inch.

She’d almost reached the sanctuary of
the lean-to when she was shaken with an overwhelming sense of not
being alone. She could feel a presence behind her – the creature –
and she didn’t hesitate. The blood pounding through her temples,
with one swift motion she turned around and swung the knife down as
hard as she could, an involuntary snarl issuing from her
throat.

But she didn’t connect – the monster
had caught her wrist mid-swing and held her tight. She ripped her
arm from its grip and prepared to strike once more.

“
Whoa there,
tiger!”

Alessa dropped the knife and brought
her hand to her hammering heart as he released her. “Isaac!” she
gasped.

Gently cupping her
shoulders, Isaac bent forward, scooting his face up under the
furred edge of her hood with a grin. “I know I took longer than
expected, but I didn’t think you’d be
that
mad.”

Still catching her breath, Alessa
loosed a small giggle, her body now shaking in an almost pleasant
sort of way from the aftereffects of the adrenaline. But her
contentment was quickly snatched away as a thought occurred to her.
“Oh my God, I didn’t – are you hurt?” she implored, frantically
checking him for wounds from the knife she’d thrown.

Grabbing her arms, Isaac held her
still reassuringly. “No, no, I’m completely fine. Just a little
cold. What’s gotten into you, Less?”

Sighing deeply, Alessa collapsed into
his arms as relief flooded her once more. Isaac was back, and it
was going to be okay. “Let’s get inside and I’ll fill you
in.”

3. CLATTER

Snuggling in the cozy shelter with
Isaac, the storm suddenly felt far away and Alessa’s disquiet faded
into the distance as she recounted what had happened that
afternoon.

“
I’m not sure what it was,
Isaac. But
something
was keeping tabs on me while you were gone.”

Isaac took a moment to digest that
comment, the unease evident on his face. “What do you mean,
‘something?’ What exactly did you see?”

“
It’s not what I
saw
exactly…” She
paused, eyeing him uncertainly. “I didn’t see much, just glimpses
from the corner of my eye. It’s what I heard,” she clarified, “and…
what I
felt
.”

She watched for his reaction in the
tangerine glow of the firelight, wondering if she could explain
this in a way that made sense. She doubted it – she couldn’t even
explain it to herself.

Isaac furrowed his brow. “What do you
mean?”

Alessa decided to start
with the easier part – the howl. “At one point I threw my knife at
it, and I think I hit it, because it cried out with this
wail
…”

“
Was it an animal? Or a
person?”

Alessa considered. “It
didn’t really sound… like either. Or I guess it was almost
like
both
. I
don’t know, Isaac. It was inhuman, that much I’m sure of – like a
cross between a howl and a shriek, but raspy almost,” she shook her
head. “It’s hard to describe. But I’ve never heard anything like
it.”

“
Maybe it was a wolf? Or a
mountain lion or something? One time when I was little I
accidentally closed my cat in a door – the scream that came out of
him was like a
banshee
. Animals can make some strange noises when they’re
hurt…”

“
It didn’t –” Alessa
hesitated before responding. This was going to be the difficult
part. “–
feel
like an animal, though. It felt vaguely… human.”

The wind howled outside as Alessa
waited for Isaac to reply. The moment dragged as he visibly
considered how to respond to this revelation.

“
You
felt
it?” Isaac raised his
eyebrows.

Alessa shrugged, a slight
grimace crossing her face. “I can’t really explain it – and I know
that doesn’t help – but the closest thing I can think of is when I
used to see you, as a ghost, when we were back on the drama. I
would get flooded with all these weird emotions, which I later
figured out were feelings that I associated with seeing
you
, but for a while I
wondered if they weren’t some sort of projection from the ‘ghost.’
It was kind of like that.”