Darkness Fades

  She nods and I turn around, putting my back towards her. She reaches around my neck with her good arm and grasps onto me, her grip weak.

  "Now make sure you hold on tight, okay?" I sense how scared she is and how much pain she's in. I can also feel her starting to fade. I put my hands behind my back so I can hold onto her legs then freeze when I see movement in front of us.

  A group of vampires, salivating from the mouth and bleeding from the eyes, creep out of the shadows of the rocks around us. Their flesh is peeling, their eyes hungry as they snap their teeth, surrounding us. I need to get out of here. Now.

  "Hold on tightly," I tell Maci and then, with one swift spring on my toes, I launch myself onto the rock, only letting her go at the last second.

  She grips onto me, but I can feel her grip loosening as her arm begins to slide from around my neck. I dig one set of my fingers deep into the rock, feeling it scrape at my flesh, but I don't feel pain since I quickly heal. Then I push my boots against the surface, baring my weight on them, before I move my other arm around my back to hold onto her legs tightly. The vampires shriek, overlapping the sounds of thudding as they ram their bodies against the cliff side. One of their teeth grazes my boots and I lose my balance. We start to slip back down the hill, however I plunge my fingers and toes deeper into the rock and manage to get us to a stop just before we reach the vampires. I begin to scale up again when one of their rotten hands wraps around my ankle. I slam my boot into its face, but it continues to keep hold of me, dragging me downward, sniffing the air with the scent of Maci's blood. It won't let go.

  I search frantically for an escape; some way out of this where they won't devour Maci. There's a lip on the rock nearby and I start to claw sideways towards it, while the vampire works to pull me down, using my body like a tug-o-war rope, but I get my top half over there.

  "Maci, climb on it," I shout.

  She shakes her head, holding onto me tighter. "No, I'm too scared."

  The vampire jerks on my leg again, but I keep ahold of the rock. "Maci, please. I know your brave and I need you to do this for me, otherwise this is going to end badly."

  She pauses then I feel her hold loosen. She shifts and begins rolling onto the lip. I hear her groan, but I don't have time to see if she's okay. It's time to kill, so I let go.

  Falling into the midst of the howls and decaying flesh, I land gracefully on my feet, and with one swift movement, I retrieve Nichelle's knife that she's given me. I waste no time, slicing the face of the first one I come across. It howls out into the night and then the rest of them start to hover away, my scent frightening them as they deliberate whether to flee or feed. They inhale the air, blood dripping from their wounds. Their backs are hunched over and one of them dares to take a nip at me. I realize the scent of Maci's blood is overriding their fear, and without much more hesitation, they charge.

  Their eyes bleed as they snap their jaws at me. A rounded, tall one with bulging eyes dives at me with its teeth out. I drop kick it in the face effortlessly and slam it into the ground, quickly sticking my knife into its body. It explodes into dust. The other ones are hesitant again as they watch. I bare my fangs, snapping my teeth at them. They pace around me as I spin in a circle with the knife out in front of me. Then they start to cower back towards the sand stretching across the land which is blanketed with darkness.

  I start to relax when Maci's scream pierces the night. I quickly spin around and look up. Two vampires are mere inches away from her, crawling up the side, heading towards the lip in the cliff. I sprint over to the cliff and, with a spring, lunge upward, crashing into one of them. Holding onto their back, I reach around as it bites at me and plunge the knife into its chest. It bursts into dust and I quickly reach out to grab hold of the cliff's side as the other one continues to scale up towards Maci. I grab hold of its foot and jerk on its leg, forcing it downward. Then I let go and watch it fall and splatter against the rocks below.

  I begin to breathe freely again when I notice shadows below me. At least a dozen vampires have returned. Blood rivers from their eyes and bits and pieces of flesh hang loosely off their bodies. They start to climb up the rock, filled with excitement as they stare at Maci. Drops of blood drip down from their mouths, dribbling from their chins as they focus solely on feeding. I use myself as a barricade in front of Maci as they swiftly reach us and then slash one by one with the knife, cutting flesh, nicking bone, spilling blood.

  I try to protect her, but slowly, I begin to become overrun by them. They're everywhere. It seems as if there is no end to them. I continue to hold my knife, though, stabbing each of them in their hearts, spreading dust everywhere, refusing to go down without a fight. Their teeth nip toward my body, trying to rip into my flesh, but they always pull away at the last second when they get a whiff of my scent. I throw my leg out and push them back, watching them stumble over each other as they fall to the ground, yet more keep coming up; climbing and climbing, hungry, seeking blood.

  They start to cover my bottom half, coating my legs with bites. I've always had confidence in my fighting ability, but I fear this may be the end. Poor Maci, she'll die with me.

  As darkness and bites cover over me, I hear rocks tumbling down the hill from above. I try to flip around, ready to stab the predator, however my hand stops in mid-air when I see the figure of someone I know.

  Aiden.

  He pauses on the cliff just above us and grabs onto my wrist. "Relax, it's just me." He holds onto my hand as he looks at the piles of vampires below me, hanging onto me, covering the rocks around us and the land. "What do you think? Can we take them all?" he tries to joke

  I shake my head as my body is jerked down. I turn around to see a nasty vampire, scaling up my body towards my face. It's missing half of its face and its eyes are full of hunger. Aiden retrieves his knife, ready to slash it when suddenly the vampire takes a whiff of the air. It freezes, looking straight at Aiden, and then it throws its head back and cries out.

  The rest of them freeze and then together cry out.

  I tense inside at the sight of it. Sheer terror on the faces that were just causing sheer terror.

  The vampires quickly turn away from us, releasing my body and then flinging themselves to the ground, fleeing into the night while trampling over one another.

  Once the land is cleared out, I gape up at Aiden who is staring at me, confused.

  "What the hell just happened?" he asks, holding onto the cliff face with one hand as he gawks out at the land.

  I stare at him in disbelief, my jaw hanging open. "I think you just scared them off."

  He scratches his head, but doesn't look fazed. "Huh, who would have thought?"

  I shake my head, still stunned. Aiden can walk with the vampires, just like me.

  Chapter 9

  "Monarch must have made you like me," I tell him, but I'm not sure if that's right or not. I'm only guessing, just like I have with everything else.

  "You think?" he asks with a crook of his brow.

  My shoulders rise and fall as I shrug. "I'm not sure... I wish I had better answers, but I don't, and I don't know how to get them. Hopefully, this new colony will." I rotate towards Maci, who's resting on the lip of the rock, and maneuver my way over to her.

  Once I get up there, I lean down and scan her over for bite marks. "Are you okay? You didn't get bit, did you?"

  She's curled in a ball and looks terrified to death with her arms cradled against her. She shakes her head, a faint smile on her face. "No bites. You kept them all away, Kayla; you saved me just like I knew you would."

  I smile back at her, but it's difficult after what happened, not just with the vampires, but also with Aiden.

  Aiden starts to climbs over to me and then lands beside us on the ledge. "Is she okay?"

  I nod. "Yeah, for now."

  "We should get going in case they come back." His voice is full of confusion as he stares out at the dark, silent land in front of us. I remember the first time the vampires
ran away from me and I felt the same way. That something had to be wrong and they'd come back at any moment to finish me off.

  I move to let Maci hop up on my back, but Aiden gently pushes me out of the way. "Let me carry her up."

  I shake my head. "No, you don't have any of her blood on you. I'll carry her in case any vampires come back. At least your scent may chase them off."

  He runs his fingers through his dark hair, sweeping strands out of his face, frustrated, then moves away and nods. "Okay, but I'm not sure if I really believe it's me that sent them running, just so you know, so don't blame me if they come back and decide they want to eat us."

  "Okay," I say and then turn so Maci can crawl up on my back. She does so with a struggle, although she does manage to get on and hold tightly.

  Aiden grows quiet as he gets lost in his own thoughts and turns in the direction the vampires ran away. Then, looking torn, he returns to the cliff's side and starts to climb up. I follow, moving a little slower, though I make it up to the top then move Maci to my arms and carry her so she doesn't have to hold her weight. Aiden leads us through the darkness down the trail that dips into the rocks, leading us toward the cave.

  It's silent the entire way, but I'm edgy at every shadow and movement. Eventually we arrive at a cluster of large rocks blocking the path and Aiden climbs up and then drops down. I follow, landing a little loudly. There's rocks surrounding the area and Aiden rolls the largest rock out of the way, revealing a cave nestled behind it. I carry Maci inside. There isn't much room and when we enter it, it makes the fit even tighter, yet we somehow manage and Aiden seals us in with the rock.

  I hear footsteps and spot Greyson and Nichelle moving up towards us as I set Maci down upon the floor.

  "Is Maci okay? Is she hurt?" Greyson asks, flipping on a flashlight.

  "She'll be all right, I think," I reply, though I'm not so sure. "Her arm's broken, and she has some cuts and gashes." I pause then glance at Aiden who's leaning against the cave wall. "We were attacked by a herd of vampires."

  Greyson gapes as he shines the light onto Maci, curled up on her side with her hair blocking her face. "Did she get bitten?"

  "No," I reply and look back at Aiden, wondering what he's thinking, wondering how he knew to come back to us. "But if Aiden hadn't shown up when he did then... well, I don't think we would have made it back."

  He looks back at me with a confident grin on his face. "Only because I'm a badass." His weird behavior instantly returns, leaving me again wondering what's causing it. If it's just the Day Taker blood in him or maybe something else.

  Chapter 10

  We manage to make it through the rest of the night without any more vampire incidents, but for some reason, I feel like something bad is waiting for us in the near future. I can't figure out what, though. Maybe it's because I have trust issues. Or that every new place I've gone to something bad has happened. Like Cell 7. I was trapped. Sylas was bitten. God, Sylas.

  It hurts to even think about him being out there either dead or running around with his flesh rotting off. I promised I'd kill him before it happened, but I didn't. I failed him.

  Small slivers of light gleam through the cracks in the cave, announcing morning breaking through. Aiden removes the rock and light pours into our small hideout. Everyone is tired and hungry, and I know we need to get to the colony soon.

  I glance at Maci, her eyes are still closed and she keeps moaning in her sleep.

  "We should get going," I say as Nichelle picks up her pack.

  "I agree, the sooner we get there, the quicker Maci will get the help that she needs," she says as she crawls out of the hole with her fingers hitched through her pack.

  I place my hands underneath Maci's body and pick her up in my arms. Her eyes don't open and another moan escapes from her lips as I carry her out of the cave and into the light.

  "How's she doing?" Nichelle asks as she places a light kiss on Maci's cheek. "She feels kind of warm. Are you sure she didn't get bitten?"

  "I'm sure," I answer as Greyson and Aiden walk out behind us. Greyson stretches his arms above his head and yawns. Aiden has his hood over his head and his hands tucked up into his sleeves, watching me like a hawk for some reason. "I checked her over and there are only the cuts and a broken arm."

  For some reason it looks like she doesn't believe me, however she still leads the way downhill and back to the main trail we were on the night before while the rest of us follow her. We hike down the curvy path for an hour or two until I finally see the small area that looks like a town off in the distance hidden in desert hills. There are buildings as well as paths, and I can see people moving around the border of it. I think, up until now, I wasn't one hundred percent convinced it really exists. Yet there it is; all green in the center of a lot of brown sand and below the hazy sky, although it does seem less hazy.

  As we get nearer, I notice that there are a few bits and pieces of green popping up through the ground. I find it fascinating. I haven't seen any signs of life for a long time. At least I can't remember seeing any, but there it is, right in front of me, so different from the town my colony is hidden underneath.

  Aiden watches me while I trek up the trail with my eyes fixed on the scenery. "You know you could let me carry her for a while." He nods his head at Maci in my arms. "I won't bite her or anything."

  "I know you wouldn't bite her," I tell him, "She's not heavy. Besides, she saved me once and I promised myself I'd do everything I could to protect her."

  His eyes soften from below his hood. "You really care for her, don't you?"

  "If caring means that I feel responsible, then yeah, I do." I jump over a rock in the path, landing on top and then leaping down while continuing to be careful not to drop Maci.

  Aiden catches up with me, flying above for a few seconds as he jumps to the ground. He lands in the dirt effortlessly then glances over at Greyson and Nichelle just in front of us. In a lowered voice, he says, "So have you mentioned what happened last night to them?" He nods his head towards Greyson and Nichelle.

  "You mean how the vampires were afraid of you?" I keep my eyes on the ground as the trail rises to a slope that ascends over a hill while bending my knees and keeping my balance.

  "Yeah... I'm not sure I want to tell anyone until we can figure out why or if Monarch made me this way," he whispers, seeming uneasy.

  "Don't worry, I haven't told them anything, but I'm pretty sure Monarch made you this way. It had to be him."

  "What makes you so sure? They may have just left because they fear you, like they usually do."

  I hesitate for a moment, deciding whether I want to share my memory with him, and finally decide that he needs to know what Monarch told me about him. "Because of a memory I had about Monarch. I remember him telling me that you were the only other one like me, except--you were broken."

  "Broken?" As his voice rises, Nichelle and Greyson glance back at us. He smiles at them as they look away puzzled then he leans in and lowers his voice. "What do you mean, broken?"

  "He never told me how you were broken or why," I answer, working to keep my steps light at I walk around a few small rocks in the way. "He just said that you were."

  "Well, that's great," he mutters. "I'm broken, but you don't know how."

  "Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have told you."

  "Yeah, maybe... or maybe not... I don't know."

  "You don't know what?"

  He shrugs. "I don't know anything anymore. Everything's changed--I've changed. And it makes figuring out what I want hard."

  I'm not sure what to say, so I turn my head and look ahead, focusing on getting to the colony. Suddenly, though, I realize that Greyson and Nichelle have stopped and I just about walk into the back of them.

  I look up, ready to ask what's wrong, but then I see Nichelle's apologetic face. Something's wrong, but before I can set Maci down and get my knife, a net is thrown over the top of Aiden and I. Seconds later, a needle is jabbed into the side of my neck. I
let out a gasp as my arms go limp, my body falling, falling, falling. Everything begins to blur and the last thing I see are a set of pale eyes peering down at me.

  A Higher.

  Chapter 11

  My eyes are heavy and I struggle to open them. It feels like I'm moving, although I can't remember why. Then it all starts to come back to me in bits and pieces until suddenly I remember that I was betrayed.

  I jerk my eyes open, panicking as I realize I'm lying on a cot in a room surrounded by brick walls. I slowly lift up my arms, wanting to move, but they feel like lead.

  I glance around. There are no windows anywhere; only a large, metal door on the wall farthest from me and a pile of bricks in the corner, the ceiling is leaking something grimy.

  Aching from head to toe, I sit up and stumble out of the cot then walk over to the door and try to pry it open.

  Locked, of course.

  Dammit. What is going on?

  I'm pretty sure that I saw a Higher before I was sedated. But why? I know Nichelle wasn't lying to me earlier when she told me her story about why I needed to come with her. So why do they have me locked up and where are the others being kept?

  Pacing back and forth, I feel the tension inside me begin to coil, knowing I need to get out of this. I glance over at the door and center all of my strength on it, backing up and then running forward, ramming my body into it as hard as I can. Pain shoots throughout my body and the door doesn't budge. The only visible damage is a small dent from where my shoulder connected with it.

  I rub my shoulder and let out a frustrated sigh, smashing my fist into the brick wall over and over again until bits and pieces crumble. Then I stomp back over to the cot and flop onto it. Folding my arms across my chest as I silently wait to see what will come next because it feels like everything is out of my hands now. I'm supposed to save the world, yet I can't even control what's going on around me.

  A few minutes tick by and then I hear the lock on the door click. Nichelle enters wearing black pants and a shirt with her hair pulled back. She looks like she's cleaned up, smiling at me as she shuts the door.