Find a good place to lay low for the day, and get some rest. We cant get to the gas station without running across the highway; were better off doing that at night. And we cant keep going without some rest, Cade said.
We slipped further into the woods, moving swiftly through the underbrush. Im so happy, Abby said as she looped her arm back through mine.
Me too, I agreed, though it felt odd to be happy in this horrible situation. People had just died, many other lives had been lost, but we still had Aiden and Bret. We began to climb as the woods started sweeping gently upward. It was full morning now; the day was already beginning to heat up. I just wanted to sit for a little bit, maybe close my eyes. I wanted to get off my damn feet. Recently my main mode of transportation had been my feet, as had many other peoples, but I was not prepared for this much walking, and running. I was pretty sure my blisters were growing blisters.
Cade stopped as we came across an old rock wall splitting the woods in half. If we keep going were going to come across the paintball course, I said.
Cade nodded as he studied the wall, and then the hill. His eyes were narrowed, and then, slowly, his head tilted back. My heart seemed to stop; I stiffened as a blast of terror tore through me. Before I could tilt my head
back to see what had caught his attention, he grabbed hold of me and shoved me against the rough bark of a locust tree. My breath was momentarily knocked from me.
Stay, he hissed.
I was too stunned to move anyway. He had been so fast, so rapid, and I watched in amazement as he used that speed to grab hold of Abby and Jenna. He pulled them back, sheltering them beneath the leafy bowers of a large oak. The three of them flattened against the trunk of the tree as the small ship that had somehow caught Cades attention moved swiftly through the sky over a hundred yards away.
Fear constricted my chest; I glanced back down the hill we had climbed as I began to pray silently. Aiden, Bret, and Molly had been lucky before, I could only hope that luck held out. They were sitting ducks if they didnt find some sort of shelter. Even if it was just a tree. Bethany!
I turned at Cades hissed whisper. Hed stepped from the shadows of the tree; his hand was outstretched to me. My attention was drawn back to the ship as it settled over the area of the bridge; I waited, breathlessly to see what it was going to do. Bethany we have to go!
A door in the bottom of the ship slid open. I froze, my heart hammering, my eyes widening as something dropped out of the ship. It was small, round. At first I had the insane notion that it was a cannonball, but right before it dropped below the tree line, legs unfolded. Another one dropped from the ship as the first one disappeared. They were the size of a grown dog, perhaps a shepard, but it was hard to tell from this distance.
What were they?
I gasped, nearly jumping out of my skin as Cade grasped hold of my arm. We have to go!
What are they? I breathed. He stared at me for a long moment. Horror circled through me, my toes curled in my shoes. Those things. But theyre so small.
That means theyre probably faster.
They come in different sizes? I asked in disbelief.
They havent fed yet.
I was going to vomit, I was going to deny his words, but they were right, he was right. I knew it the minute he said it, he was telling the truth. They were small because they were not blotted with the blood of people. As they fed, they would get bigger.
And we may be all they had to feed on.
We have to run Bethany. Now.
He didnt have to tell me twice, his hand slid into mine as he pulled me up the hill. We struggled, slipped, and slid as we frantically climbed upward. I grasped hold of the thin vegetation, pulling myself up with straggling bayberries, ilexes, and seedlings. Cade released my hand to help Abby as she struggled up a steep section. Urgency filled me, my heart lumbered painfully. Though I knew it wasnt true, I thought I could hear them scurrying through the trees behind us, gaining on us.
But perhaps I was right.
I chanced a glance over my shoulder. The awkward movement caused me to go slightly off balance. My foot landed awkwardly, I was thrown off balance as my ankle twisted out from under me. A startled cry escaped me as I pitched forward, slipping back down the hill. Cade reached out, snagging hold of my wrist before I fell to far. He held me for a long moment, his eyes blazing into mine as my mouth parted slightly.
Youre clumsy, he muttered.
Youre fast, I retorted as he helped pull me back to my feet.
His hand tightened upon me or a brief moment before he started pulling me forward again. Abby and Jenna had stopped to wait for us but as we started back up the hill again they turned and fled onward up the hill. They suddenly disappeared over the top. Panic filled me as my sister disappeared, but then Cade pulled me to the top and over the brink. It was briefly downhill before the ground leveled out and we became enclosed by the paintball course.