Shudder (Stitch Trilogy, Book 2) (4 page)

Alessa didn’t know how to respond. She
was glad to see Isaac so positive, especially given his maddening
tendency to blame himself for every bad thing that befell the
world. But at the same time, she just didn’t quite share his sunny
outlook.

She
wanted
to help, that was for
certain. She was
angry
about what the Ruling Class had done, and she wanted them to
pay. But sometimes she still didn’t really believe that she’d
gotten herself caught up in all this. It was surreal, almost, to
think that she – just a normal person like anyone else in Paragon –
was playing this pivotal role in changing the only world they had
left. What if she screwed it up? What if she failed?

Alessa’s gloomy thoughts were
interrupted as she stumbled forward, her foot kicking something
with a clank. Stopping, her eyes struggled to focus through the
dusk at the ground before her. She couldn’t quite place the sound.
Had she clattered some old cans together? Maybe wooden dowels? Her
brain struggled to resolve the source of the noise.

And that’s when she saw.

It wasn’t cans or dowels she’d kicked,
but bones. Hundreds of bones in all shapes and sizes, littering the
ground in every direction, picked dry and gleaming in the cold blue
of the early moonlight.

Some primal intuition inside her
kicked in, the panic coursing through her body and strangling the
air from her throat.

She managed to choke out two words
before instinct took over: “Isaac, run.”

4. DASH

Isaac knew Alessa well
enough to recognize the warning in her voice. He wasn’t sure what
she’d seen or heard – or maybe
felt
– but he didn’t need an explanation. She wasn’t
kidding, that much he knew.

His body jumped into overdrive as
Alessa took off ahead of him, his heart pounding and his breaths
coming short and fast. Adrenaline tingled through his limbs and
then he was off.

Alessa’s tall form cut a swift path
through the trees, her shiny dark bob of hair gleaming in the
moonlight behind her. She looked back once to make sure Isaac was
following and he caught a glimpse of the urgency in her emerald
eyes. Even at a time like this, Isaac couldn’t help but think how
radiant she was against the snowy backdrop of the
forest.

She ran, he knew, not because she was
afraid, but because she knew it was sometimes better to run than
fight. He loved that about her – her decisiveness and intuition. He
always knew he could trust her instincts.

The icy air was a shard of glass in
his throat, but he pressed on, pumping his legs as fast as they
would go. He had caught up to Alessa now and ran immediately behind
her, their long strides in unison as they dashed away from whatever
threat she’d perceived.

Just as Isaac began to wonder if the
danger had passed, he heard branches snapping to his right, rapidly
coming up from behind. He risked a quick glance over his shoulder
and was startled to catch sight of something big tearing through
the trees maybe ten yards away. In the growing darkness, he
couldn’t tell what it was. But it was fast – too fast to be
human.

His heart racing, he urged his body to
pick up speed. He could see Alessa slowing, obviously tired from
their mad sprint after the day’s long hike. But now was not the
time to give in to exhaustion, and the thought of losing Alessa to
whatever was pursuing them made his heart clench in his
throat.

“
Go, go, GO!” he panted,
the alarm evident in his voice. His entreaty worked to spur her –
Alessa picked up the pace.

Whatever was moving on his right was
still gaining on them, though. Concentrating on lengthening his
stride, he caught wind of thumping footsteps and cracking brush
coming up on the other side. A quick glance over his left shoulder
told him they were being surrounded.

All conscious thought left Isaac’s
brain as instinct hijacked his system – the pain in his chest, the
hunger in his gut, the aching fatigue in his legs, all faded away
to the buzzing of the raging fear in his head. His vision narrowed
until there was nothing left except the woman darting ahead of him
and the impossibly loud crashing to either side. They ran, he
recognized, for their lives.

Just then a shrieking roar pierced the
night, coming from his right side, followed by the thud of bodies
hitting the ground. Isaac ran faster, pressing Alessa forward ahead
of him, until he realized the sounds of pursuit on the right had
dropped off.

He looked back quickly over his right
shoulder and no longer saw movement through the trees on that side.
Were their assailants falling back?

Before he could consider, he found
himself flat out on his back, the world around him spinning
impossibly. He could hear Alessa calling his name, but she sounded
far away – so far away. The left side of his face was tingling
oddly, and when he pressed his hand to it, sharp pains shot through
him. He dropped his hand, the ache in his face subsiding, and tried
to concentrate on Alessa’s voice.

“
Isaac, get up!” He could
barely hear her through the ringing in his ears. The world was a
blur of trees and starlight and snow – cold, cold snow. He rested
his throbbing left side against the frozen powder and relief washed
through him.

But why was he lying here? Hadn’t he
just been running?

Dazed, he tried to remember how he’d
ended up on the ground.

And then from somewhere behind him and
to his left, whatever had been chasing them finally caught up. A
blur of movement leapt towards him, a vicious snarl ringing out
from its throat. Time slowed, but in his muddled state, Isaac
couldn’t think of what to do, couldn’t react. The menacing mass of
sinew descending over him, he felt alarm bells ringing somewhere in
his gut, but couldn’t remember what they meant.

In that same instant, as Isaac lay
helpless, another form flew from his right, tackling the first in
mid-air as they crumpled to the ground in a tussle of growls and
yelps. His first thought was Alessa, but he could still hear her
calling his name from the opposite direction.

And then someone had grabbed his hand
and he was pulled upright, and suddenly his feet were moving and he
was running again. Alessa looked back at him, her face
pleading.

“
How did you manage to run
into a tree at a time like this, Isaac? I know it hurts, but we
need to get away while they’re distracted. Just a bit longer – keep
moving.”

His head ached, but Isaac complied,
not knowing what else to do. Holding Alessa’s hand tightly, he
followed her into the darkness.

The hearty scent of sautéed onions and
the sharp light of a new day roused Isaac from his stupor. Rolling
onto his left side to better appreciate the fire warming his back,
he was shocked by a smarting sensation as the side of his face
touched the blanket bunched beneath him. “Owww,” he
moaned.

Alessa quickly scooted to his side and
slipped a plastic bag filled with snow in between his head and the
blanket he was using as a pillow. Her face was racked with concern.
“How are you feeling? Do you remember anything?”

Isaac took a moment for the cold to
seep into his face and the pain to subside. “I remember running.”
His voice felt hoarse when he spoke. “My throat burning from the
cold. And then I remember being on the ground.”

Alessa smirked, “You ran straight into
a tree, love. Like head on, at top speed.” She was clearly trying
to suppress her laughter.

Isaac just groaned.

“
I only caught it because
I looked back when there was all that commotion on the right – and
then BOOM! You were down.”

Isaac got a mental picture of what he
must have looked like and chuckled, bringing a fresh wave of agony
to his head. “Argh. It hurts to laugh.”

Alessa grinned. “I guess we probably
shouldn’t be laughing about it, anyway…” She shrugged. “I don’t
know what was following us, but I’m pretty sure we almost
died.”

Massaging the snow bag
into the aching side of his face, Isaac replied, “Are you sure
I
didn’t
die?”

Alessa smiled brightly and planted a
long, playful kiss on the right side of his lips, away from his
injuries. “Does that feel dead to you?”

His eyes still closed, Isaac leaned
back and smiled. “Hmm… it feels like I might have died and gone to
heaven.”

Alessa laughed heartily.
“Well I’m glad to see your injury hasn’t affected you
too
badly.”

“
We’ll see about that,” he
groaned, sitting up and dropping the cold compress.

Alessa grimaced. “Your face looks
horrible.”

“
Thanks,” Isaac
muttered.

She laughed gently. “I’m
sorry, I mean your
injury
looks horrible – it’s bright red and shiny,
probably from all the ice.”

“
It does feel kind of
numb.”

Reaching toward the fire, Alessa came
back with a can full of food. “Here. You need to eat
something.”

“
Onions and
acorns?”

“
Onions and
acorns.”

Isaac swallowed a few big mouthfuls
gratefully; it did help to have something hot in his stomach. He
could feel the meal revitalizing him from the inside out, the heat
slowly radiating from his core. The throbbing in his head lessened
as he took in his surroundings. They were sitting in a shallow
outcropping of rock, a small weather-worn cave that was just large
enough for the two of them and a small fire. Isaac
yawned.

“
I’m so
tired
.”

“
That
might
be because I woke you up every
hour last night to make sure you were alive.”

“
You did?”

Alessa yawned too. “Yup. You don’t
remember?”

“
Not really. I remember
getting up right after getting hit but everything between now and
then is a blank.”

Alessa gently laid her fingers on his
face, searching his eyes. “I’m pretty sure you got a
concussion.”

Gingerly rubbing his head, Isaac
concurred. “Sounds about right.”

“
So I guess that means you
didn’t get a good look at whatever was following us?”

Isaac sighed and shook his
head.

“
I was hoping you might
have seen them when you were on the ground maybe…?” she
prompted.

“
Everything I saw was a
blur, babe. Sorry.”

“
Damn. I was a little
ahead of you and the trees were in the way. And then when I came
over to grab you, all I heard was a bunch of snarling in the
underbrush – I couldn’t see anything, unfortunately.”

“
How did we manage to get
away? Last I remember they were gaining on us…”

Alessa shook her head. “I’m not sure –
they just stopped coming after us. It seemed like maybe they got in
a fight or something?”

“
Weird. What do you think
it was? Wolves?”

“
Wolves? Do wolves pile
the bones of their kills in one spot?”

“
I dunno. Is that what you
saw when you took off?”

Alessa shuddered. “Yeah – we were
standing in the middle of a graveyard. I didn’t realize it until I
tripped over some kind of clean-picked carcass, and something in me
just snapped.”

“
Well, I’m glad it did –
we probably wouldn’t be here otherwise.” Isaac thought for a
moment. “Do you think this was the same pack that was stalking you
the other night? Did you…
feel
anything this time?”

Alessa shrugged. “I
felt
something
,
but it wasn’t quite the same. It was more primal than last time. I
felt… I’m not sure how to describe it.” She paused, her face
scrunched in thought. “Like bloodthirstiness. A sense of predator
and prey. Fury. But that all might just have been my
fight-or-flight response, right? I don’t know, maybe I’m making
this whole thing up. It was probably just the adrenaline both
times.”

Isaac didn’t doubt that Alessa had
experienced some kind of heightened emotions the past few days, but
the logical side of him still thought that there must be a rational
explanation. Between the blizzard and the previous night’s
excitement – and their constant dull hunger and exhaustion – he
wouldn’t doubt that Alessa was feeling a little out of sorts. He
just wished he could have gotten a better look at whatever had been
pursuing them so that he’d know for sure what they were up
against.

Packing up their belongings, Isaac and
Alessa prepared to set out for another long day of trudging. He
felt a little wobbly on his feet, but it was nothing that would
impede their progress significantly. Slinging his pack over his
shoulder, Isaac stumbled a bit and caught his balance on the edge
of the boulder that marked the entrance to the cave. Alessa rushed
to his side.

“
Are you okay? Are you
sure you don’t want to stay put for a day or two?”