“Thank you,” I exhaled, trying to stay calm.
A pained scream, followed by a horrifying growl sounded from the front of the chopper. I froze, trying not to breathe or draw any attention, although I was practically gift wrapped for the Arvies.
“Help,” the pilot screamed as he struggled. “Help me!” Howls of pain and loud snaps and growls reverberated around us.
My heart was racing in panic, and it was almost impossible to keep my breathing quiet.
Oh God. Help me.
They’d left me, alone, blindfolded, with my hands tied behind my back. An Arvy or Arvies were inside, and I couldn’t cover my ears from the sounds of tearing flesh, followed by gut-wrenching cries of pain, and finally the gurgle of his last breath.
They were eating the pilot.
Ignorant assholes! Tears of anguish and hate burned my darkened eyes. It was only a matter of time before I was next. My emotions, mixed with the inability move, see, and hardly breathe were keeping my focus from Venge. I needed to find her. This was not how I wanted to die.
“Abi, Chase and I are coming to get you. Stay put.” Dr. Simon’s voice flooded my mind, offering a tiny ray of hope.
“Hurry. I smell gas.” I had no idea what the situation was beyond the blindfold. For all I knew, the chopper would explode at any moment, or the hundreds of Arvies would overcome the small task force and eat us.
A loud gunshot made my ears ring. The disgusting noises of the Arvy feasting on the pilot stopped. Had it spotted me? Would Dr. Simon be too late?
I heard more noises in the chopper, and before I knew it, I was being pulled out and away from the Arvies. My hands were cut free, and as I lifted the blindfold and turned to my rescuer, I sighed in relief.
“Thank you, Chase,” I said, hugging him.
“No problem,” he said, hugging me back. “I don’t know why you left us. Being topside sucks even more than being in the bunker.”
“We were prisoners, Chase. All of us. They would have kept pumping shit into me until I died.” I tried to turn but winced at the shooting pain in my shoulder.
“What’s the matter?” His eyes narrowed in concern.
“My shoulder. It feels like I’ve dislocated it.”
Dr. Simon stepped to the side of me. He took off my jacket and lifted my sleeve. The furrow in his brow confirmed it before he spoke. “It’s dislocated.”
“Great.” I sighed. “You’ll have to pop it back in.”
I wouldn’t be able to do anything until it was reset. I’d dislocated the same shoulder a few years back during a wrestling exercise, and Dr. Banks had popped it right back in. It hurt like hell.
Clenching my teeth, he held my hand in one on his, and with the other, grabbed my elbow. I heard my shoulder pop back into place and yelped in pain. Within seconds, I sagged in relief as the agonizing pain was gone. Dr. Simon moved it around a bit. It still hurt, but it was a heck of a lot more bearable.
“Shit, Souza is gone,” one of the soldiers said glancing through the blood splattered windshield of the chopper. He reached into the passenger door and grabbed the tags off his neck.
“We have to go,” I urged, watching the soldiers taking down the Arvies. The chopper, with the blades torn off, was no longer an option for us. I didn't even know if any of the other soldiers could pilot it if it was operational.
“There’s a slight problem,” Chase said, lifting his pant legs. His ankles were shackled together by thick metal anklets. “We can’t get far with these things on.”
“What in the hell?” I cursed, turning to Dr. Simon. He shook his head and as I glanced down, noticed his ankles were also shackled.
He sadly smiled. “I guess they thought the old man would make a run for it.”
I shook my head. “They treat us like damn cattle.”
“They’re two hundred yards away!” A soldier hollered.
The horde of Arvies was almost here, and there was no way I was leaving Dr. Simon or Chase. Besides, without the chopper, they weren’t taking us back to the bunker.
Hundreds of Arvy voices were echoing in my head, ear-splitting and deafening. I tried as best I could to block them out, but could barely think, surprised I hadn’t passed out yet.
As I glanced out over the sea of white sand, their advancing bodies were like a wave of death, coming to swallow us whole.
Within the chaos, the soldiers missed one of the front running mutants. It jumped over the wall, tackling one of the soldiers from the side.
“Carter! Someone help Carter!”
It happened so fast no one could save him.
The soldier lost his gun and was struggling to keep the Arvies teeth from his neck. The monster sunk his infected teeth into his hand, biting his middle finger off. The soldier screamed, losing focus, which allowed the Arvy to push forward and tear into the soft flesh of his neck.
The sergeant ran to his aid, aimed and shot the Arvy.
Blood spurted from the soldier’s carotid artery; his shrieks of pain bellowed above the war cries.
The sergeant’s next shot was into the screaming soldier’s forehead.
My stomach wrenched, bile rising in my throat. He was gone.
My heart ached for the family he’d most likely left behind.
“Dammit, Carter,” the sergeant exhaled with a pained look in his eyes. He kicked the Arvy off the soldier’s body and snapped the tags off his neck. “Wrap it up! We need to get the hell out of here!”
“There is no way we can outrun them, Sarge. We have to fight,” Stevens responded.
“We don’t have enough ammo,” another panicked voice yelled. “We’re gonna die!”
I turned as Dr. Simon grabbed my arm, and smiled at me.
“You can do it,” he said with a glint in his eye. “I have faith in you.”
I was glad someone did. I wasn’t sure if I believed in myself. There were hundreds of pissed off Arvies coming to rip the flesh from our bones. With every second I hesitated, they were getting closer.
As the Arvies bounded forward, I gathered whatever courage I harbored inside, and stepped out from beyond the wall.
“What the hell is she doing?” the sergeant yelled. “Get her behind the wall!”
“If you want to live, let her go,” Dr. Simon said firmly. “She’s our only hope.”
The sergeant’s face was firm. “Cover her,” were his next orders.
My eyes focused on the sea of mutants. I gathered myself, trying to block out the pandemonium and focus.
“Venge, I need you to be extra strong and save us. I don’t want to die today.”
My brain started tingling, and then a surge of electricity shot through my cells, making my entire body buzz. I took in a deep breath, opened my eyes, and raised my arms out in front of me. The ground around me quaked, then moved as if a giant serpent was swimming just under the surface. Then every stone within ten yards of me lifted from the sand and hovered in the air.
With every ounce of power I could muster, I sent them toward the oncoming Arvies, focusing on their upper bodies. The stones shot forward like bullets, and in seconds, the front half of the horde dropped to the ground. My head was throbbing from the cacophony of their death cries.
“Holy shit, did you see that?” a soldier yelled.
“Keep your focus and protect her!” The sergeant ordered.
With at least a hundred down, the second group paused for a brief moment. Their growls of rage and vengeance littered the air. They wanted me dead and charged forward at an even greater speed.
With no stones around me, I focused on the only unlimited resource.
Sand.
I stretched my arms outward and focused on the earth around me. The ground began to vibrate, and in seconds, a wall of dust shot up into the air in front of us. Like a tidal wave, ten feet high. I sent it barreling forward toward the Arvies. Holding my focus, I watched it crash on them, devouring them alive.
“Go, go, go! Take out any survivors,” the sergeant
yelled, hopping over the wall and sprinting forward. As an Arvy crawled out of the sand he shot it in its forehead, moving on to the next.
Most of the Arvies had been buried under at least five feet of sand. But there were a few dozen who managed to dig themselves out. I dropped my arms as the rest of the soldiers ran forward, shooting the Arvies as they crawled out of the sand.
Blood was pouring from my nose, and my world was spinning. Two Arvies escaped their sandy graves and charged toward me. One of the soldiers shot the first one, but his gun jammed as he tried to shoot the second.
Just as the Arvy pounced, I raised Hellfire and shot it in the eye. It dropped like a sack of concrete at my feet. She never fails me.
Weak and exhausted, my legs buckled and I fell to the ground.
Dr. Simon and Chase came to my side.
“Help!” Chase screamed.
I looked up to see a muscular dude with tattoos bend over and gather me in his arms, lifting me easily. I had overexerted my power, and the corners of my eyes were darkening, and head lolling to the side.
“Quickly, bring here,” Dr. Simon’s voice urged, leading us.
“Thank you,” I whispered before the world around me went black.
MY EYES ACHED AS SOON as I opened them. My vision was blurry, as I blinked and tried to focus on my surroundings.
“Where am I?” My words came out in a whisper.
I tried to sit up, but the room was spinning.
“Hey, not so fast.” Dr. Simon laid a hand on my shoulder. My head felt like it’d been jackhammered, and everything was throbbing.
We were inside of a building. The flames of a small fire sat directly in the center of the room, illuminating the faces of the soldiers sitting around it. They all looked tired and dirty. As I scanned the area, the last face to come into view was Chase, sitting on the other side of Dr. Simon.
“We’re still in the town,” the sergeant said. “Our radio’s been damaged, so we can’t call for help.”
Dr. Simon reached over to his left side and grabbed a canteen. From his pocket, he pulled two small pills and handed them to me. “These are aspirin,” he whispered. “How are you feeling?”
“Like hell,” I groaned, holding the sides of my head to keep it from exploding.
I tried to move my legs, but their movement was restricted. “What the hell?” I snapped, looking at the cuffs around my ankles.
“I’m sorry. We have orders,” the sergeant said.
“Bullshit! We aren’t prisoners. We’re survivors like you.” My temper was flaring.
“You aren’t like us,” the sergeant replied. “You might not be prisoners, but you have a gift that can save us. It’s a precaution to make sure we don’t lose you.”
“Screw you,” I spat. I could see his name embroidered on his right chest. Hawkins.
Dr. Simon placed his hand on my shoulder. “Abi, you’ve become so much stronger since the demonstration. How—”
“I don’t know. I’m just as shocked.” I shrugged. “I didn’t know I could move things with my mind until a few hours ago.”
“I have no idea what kind of crap they pumped into you,” Sergeant Hawkins said, “but you alone are a weapon of mass destruction. You saved us. By yourself. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it. It’s no wonder the government wants you back so desperately.”
I smirked. “You’ll have to kill me first. I’m not going back to that place to be a caged rat for the rest of my life. I’m done. I will fight to remain free until my dying breath.”
I had to breathe deeply to calm myself. Having a short temper seemed like a side effect of the serum. I found myself getting angry too quickly. It was hard to control.
“Whoa, settle down,” the sergeant said raising his hands. “We’ve all been given particular talents; gifts we are strong enough to handle. To run and hide from your purpose would be pointless. Think of all the innocents who’ve taken shelter underground for the past thirteen years. In a matter of time, they’ll all be dead or mutated because we are outnumbered. The power you possess can save lives. Look around you. Every one of us is sitting here because of you.”
“She’s more powerful than anyone I know,” Chase noted, glancing over at me with a grin.
“I agree,” the sergeant said. “If she hadn’t stepped forward, we would have all been dead.”
“But there’s a cost for everything. Every time I use that power, it drains me.” I closed my eyes and slowly exhaled. “I don’t know what it’s doing to me. I could be dying.”
“We’re all dying,” Sergeant Hawkins replied. “From the moment we are born, we begin our journey toward eminent death. All that matters is what we do with the time and gifts we’ve been given.”
But that’s where you’re wrong. “I wasn’t given this gift. It was forced on me. The only gift I had was hearing the mutants in my mind, which was more of a curse than a gift.” Yes, their untested and administered serum was responsible for Venge, but that didn’t give them ownership over me. My mind was the key, but it was mine. I wasn’t their property. “I’m not going back to the bunker alive. Like I told you before, you’ll have to kill me first.”
“We aren’t going to kill you,” the sergeant replied. “We were ordered to bring you back alive.”
“I won’t let you,” I said firmly.
Sergeant Hawkins shook his head and took another swig of the alcohol. “You don’t have a choice.”
I glared at him “Everyone has a choice.”
“Hey, you,” the soldier with the blond hair and blue eyes said pointing at me. “You did something to me, using your mind, didn’t you? The last thing I remember was looking at you under one of the buildings. Then, I blinked and I was standing at the other end of the town.”
“Stevens, right?”
His mouth dropped open. “How’d you know?”
“She can read your mind, idiot,” the one sitting next to him said, punching his shoulder.
I shook my head. “I heard the sergeant call your name the first time I saw you.”
“Ahhh,” he said with wide eyes and raised brows. “Digging around in my mind might not be a good thing. It’s kind of a complicated place to be.”
The soldier next to Stevens spoke. “I don’t know man. Your mind seems pretty hollow to me,”
“Screw you, Jimenez.” Stevens sucker punched his arm.
“You don’t have to worry about me,” I sighed. “I don’t enter anyone’s mind unless I have to. I have enough crap going on in my own.”
“Yeah, well remind me never to get on your bad side,” Stevens laughed, then tossed something into the fire. He was trying hard to keep from making direct eye contact with me. They must have been given the don’t look into the freaks eyes warning.
But I couldn’t give a damn right now. I was so weak even Venge was quiet. I was Dr. Jekyll and Hyde was hibernating.
“So, I have a question,” Stevens added. “If you could erase an entire hour from my mind, input whatever you wanted into it and send me away, why couldn’t you just tell the Arvies to go away too?”
“Telling them to go away wouldn’t solve our problems,” Chase answered. “They have to be destroyed. Those things want to wipe us out, and they won’t stop until they do.”
“Yeah,” another soldier butted in. “Those rat bastard mutants need to die if we have any chance of surviving topside. They’ve killed too many of us.”
Stevens looked at me. “So your name is Abigail?”
“Abi,” I replied.
“Abi,” Jimenez repeated. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
“I have a fiancé.”
Their eyes widened, looking at me.
“At such a young age?” the sergeant asked.
“We aren’t promised a tomorrow,” I replied. “Besides, there is no one on Earth I trust more with my life. He’s never let me down.”
The sergeant shrugged. “What about your parents? Are they still alive?”
/>
I figured they must have been briefed on my entire situation. Did they think I was an idiot? I would never give them any information. It was none of their damn business.
I looked down, keeping a somber face. “I don’t know. We were separated after we left the bunker. I’m praying I’ll run into them again…if I survive.”
“Let’s hope we all survive,” he said.
There were eight of us left—the five soldiers, Chase, Dr. Simon, and me. The soldiers looked to be in their mid-twenties, early thirties, except for the sergeant, who looked to be in his forties.
Sergeant Hawkins stood somberly, holding out the tags taken from the soldiers who died. “Let’s say a prayer for our fallen brothers: Johnston, Souza, Carter, and Daniels,” he said.
Everyone bowed their heads and remained silent for a few moments.
Death.
Those four men had been young, still figuring out what they’d wanted in life and making plans for their future. Then, the Arvies came and took it all away from them, and the only thing done for them was a few moments of silence.
What a shitty way to go out. But better than becoming one of them.
The topside sucked, the Arvies sucked, horrible deaths and blind rage sucked. If Finn weren't in my life, then mine would have sucked too. In the short time I’d been topside, it was clear…life is what you make of it. If you take a moment to appreciate the gifts you’re given, you might just find that beautiful sunset in the midst of chaos. I knew what I was fighting for—making the topside livable and safe for future generations. That maybe, we could live happy terror-free lives. One day.
“Hey Sarge, what about you? You seem like you’ve lived longer than any of us. Tell us about your life before the apocalypse,” a soldier asked. He also looked in his mid-twenties.
“You like pushing your luck, Jones?” Stevens laughed.
Jones was tall and muscular, with beautiful, cocoa colored skin like Dr. Banks. His hair and eyes were raven black.
“At least I’m not as bad as Keanu,” Jones turned to the guy who’d carried me in. He was tanned, with a lot more muscles than the others, and covered in tribal tattoos.