"I"m sorry," I murmured as I felt my way out, my hands being blistered every time I touched a burning object. But I didn"t care. "Is anyone here?" I whispered one last time as the door came into view. "Please, I don"t want to have to do this. But I will."
I knew they couldn"t hear me even if they were. But for some reason I felt like they weren"t. I felt like they had abandoned this place as fast as they could. Maybe they did. I hoped so, so badly that they did.
The minute I got to the door I gasped, filling my lungs with somewhat clean air. As clean as it"ll ever get. I looked up into the hazy sky, searching for any signs of hope. I can"t see the sun or moon, nor can I tell if it"s day or night. This scared me more than anything. How can I have any hope if the sky keeps darkening?
"Raven!"
The voice split the thin night air, clinging to me, comforting. I never thought I"d hear that voice again. My head snapped up, my eyes darting. There. A few feet in front of me was one of the people I hoped I"d see again. A huge grin spread across my lips as I staggered towards him. He caught me as I tripped over my own feet, smiling down at me. "Raven," he whispered, as if my name"s a secret. The way he was looking at me scared me.
"What?" I asked, clutching his arm for balance, though his arms were still wrapped around me.
"I just can"t believe you"re here."
"Where are the others?" I suddenly demanded, remembering them. For a moment he seemed surprised, as if he was dumbfounded. I stared at him, waiting for his answer. Surely he knows. "Well?"
"Dead," he finally said. "Mom and Dad refused to go with them. Kaitlyn had no choice."
"So they killed them?"
"Yes," he said softly. "Except Kaitlyn."
"Where is she then?"
"Like I said they have her."
"Could we possibly save her?" I asked desperately, a sudden plan beginning to spin in my mind. "Is there any way?"
"I don"t think so, Raven. She"s gone to us."
"No," I breathed. "She can"t be."
He didn"t say anything to that. Honestly, what is there to say anyways? My parents were dead, my sister gone. My hope was slowly disappearing.
"Come on," Ricky said after a few moments of silence. "We need to get out of the open."
"There"s nowhere to go," I replied instantly.
He met my gaze and I saw the defeat there. I saw that all of his hope was already lost.
"We need to try and find somewhere. Otherwise we"ll have to join them."
"Join who?"
"Our invaders."
I just looked at him, my confusion rising and sinking at the same time. I knew what he was talking about, but I also didn"t know what.
"And who"s that?"
"I don"t know. I didn"t exactly stare at them while I was being held as a prisoner. I was just worried about getting free so I could find and warn you."
"Warn me about what?" I asked slowly, unsure if I want to know the answer to that.
Instead of answering he gestured all around us. I once again took in the smoking houses, the deep grey sky, the people screaming, running as fast as they could. Except it wasn"t enough. Some of them were caught by something that I couldn"t exactly make out. All I know is that it was chubby and didn"t look normal at all.
"What are they?" I murmured, pointing at one of them as it grabbed for a child.
"I don"t know. That"s why I wanted to warn you. They killed our parents for not joining them, and I know that if you refused they"d kill you as well."
They killed our parents. What kind of creature would do this? My heart twisted as I thought of my parents, as their faces came into view. The last time I had seen them was this morning and now I will never get to again. I won"t hear them laugh, my dad telling all kinds of lame but funny jokes. I won"t have parents to watch me grow up. I won"t have anybody except Ricky.
A few tears slipped down my cheeks, biting its warmth into my flesh. I didn"t bother wiping it away. What was the point? I was just told the hardest thing ever. Why should I hide what I"m truly feeling?
"Do you know where they took Kaitlyn?"
A few long minutes went by before he finally spoke. "No. I wished I did, but I don"t. Raven, I want to save her as bad as you, trust me, but we can"t. It"s best to look at her as gone."
"I don"t think it is. I think it"s the worst way to look at someone."
"In this situation it"s best as gone."
I flicker my eyes towards him, trying to read my brother. But I couldn"t, like always. I sighed, knowing he was right. There"s no point in hoping someone will come back when you know they won"t be. It"s like wishing someone who was dead back. It"ll never happen.
"Raven."
I felt Ricky"s body go tense as he stared at something behind me. His lips were in a straight line, his expression hard. His entire language said something was wrong. I tried to turn around but he grabbed me by the shoulders, making me stay put, his gaze never wavering.
"Don"t."
That one word held so much power. I stiffened, watching my brother"s face. His eyes reflected the firelight and the shadows but not of anything behind me. I began to get nervous the longer he didn"t say anything.
"What is it?" I asked in a low voice.
"Danger," he responded in an equally low voice. "Shh, don"t move."
I swallowed, hating how he was acting. His fingers still gripped my shoulders but now they were tightening as if his anger couldn"t be left inside him. It had to be taken out on someone else, the closest person.
I averted my gaze, hating what I was seeing in his. How had he become so cold in the last five hours or so? When I last saw him he was so caring and playful, but I didn"t see that in him now. What happened?
"Okay, Raven. Listen to me and listen carefully. When I tell you to you need to run as far and quick as you can. Don"t look back. Don"t worry about me. Got it?"
"But..."
"No. No buts. If you hesitate, you"ll die." His teeth were now clenched as he spoke.
"Understand?"
"What about you?"
"I can take care of myself."
"Ricky, you"re my only family left. I don"t want to lose you."
"That"s why you need to run. I don"t want you to be killed like Mom and Dad. I don"t want you to die."
"But...you"ll be risking your own life."
"Don"t think of it like that."
"Then how should I think of it?" I snapped.
He sighed, just barely glancing at me before settling his gaze again. "You shouldn"t see it as anything. Please, R. Please just run when I say."
"How will I know you"re alive?" I asked, defeated.
"You won"t," he said briskly. "Trust me, it"s for the best."
"I don"t believe that. You"re my brother after all. I love you."
He dropped his hands to his sides, taking a step backwards as he did so. My heart lurched as I realized what he was doing.
"Remember, run as fast and hard as you can. Don"t look back." I watched his chest rise and fall gently, took in my brother for one last time, knowing I"ll have to separate from him soon.
Ricky was a tan-skinned, blue-eyed kind of boy who was always gentle with everyone - especially those he cares about. His hair color matched mine - black as a moonless night. We had similar high cheekbones and a well-built frame. Our color choices in clothes are about the same as well - we could be twins except that Ricky is a few years older than me. We were about the same height but Ricky was just a few inches taller.
I was jealous of that. Now it seemed pointless.
He seemed to be looking through me, which was creepy. His lips formed his commanding word but he wasn"t fast enough. Something knocked into him and me at the exact same time, knocking us to the ground.
"Raven!" he yelled, panic shivering in his voice. "Leave her alone!"
I gasped as cool slime seeped into my flesh. I began to writhe under the weight that held me down but it was useless. I was trapped.
"Ricky!" I called, wanting to hear his voice so bad.
A scream wretched its way free as something bit down deeply into my shoulder. I felt my consciousness slipping instantly.
"Go to sleep, little girl," a fuzzy voice hissed into my ear, filling my head with its wish.
"No. Don"t!"
Ricky. His voice shattered the spell I was being put under, waking up my senses. My eyes snapped opened, taking in the blurry image of a slime-green creature pinning me to the hard ground. I began to struggle again as it roared in fury, showing his gleaming fangs. They looked wicked, jagged and extremely sharp. I gulped, suddenly feeling blood pump out of my shoulder, racing down my arm, pooling underneath me. I watched in horror as the creature froze, smelling the blood. It leaned closer to me, smelling my shoulder. I stared at it, afraid to move a single inch.
"Leave her alone!"
The shout rang out all around us, freezing the monster in place. I risked a peek at my brother but couldn"t see him. I sighed, closing my eyes. What is this thing? What does it want with me, a scrawny fourteen-year-old?
Once it met my gaze, I couldn"t look away. No matter how much I wanted to. Its eyes were almost like gla.s.s with a tint of green. Its face was oval and strange looking.
I felt my breathing fade, my vision blurring the longer I stared at it. I was growing tired, my mind beginning to tune everything out - my brother screaming for me, the sirens shrilling, giving out a warning - none of that mattered anymore. My lips tried to pull up into the ghost of a smile, but I was too weak for it to do so.
My entire body began to shake, my stomach flipping. My head was pounding, causing a red haze to flit across my vision repeatedly. My shoulder throbbed consistently, making my eyes close tightly.
Suddenly the heavy weight was gone, leaving me breathless as I gasped for some. Tears slid down my cheeks, more likely staining them, rubbing away the smoke that stained my flesh. I heard a small cry and then silence.
"Raven?" I froze mid-breath. "Open your eyes. Look at me." I did as I was told, opening them to reveal my brother crouching over me, a worried look plastered to his face. "Are you okay?" he demanded, his eyes searching.
"Yeah I"m fine. No need to freak."
"There is a need." His eyes landed on my injured shoulder as he said this. He lightly probed it with his fingers. "Good," he said after a few moments. "Doesn"t seem that you have a tracker in you."
"A t-tracker?" I stuttered, my eyes widening. "What"s that?"
"A device they put in their prey for hunting later. Or if they get away."
"That"s why it bit me?"
"Yes," he answered slowly. "That"s why. If I hadn"t interrupted, you"d be trackable right now."
"Are you sure I"m not?"
"I"m positive."
"What was that anyways?"
"An alien."
"A what?"
"You heard me. Those things aren"t something you should play with either. That one could have killed you."
"But-" It didn"t. I swallowed those two words, knowing they were useless. It could have. Just because it didn"t doesn"t mean anything. The silence hung heavily between us, growing more and more uncomfortable. The minutes pa.s.sed by and I shifted my weight.
"Look, you have to get out of here to save yourself," he said finally. "I can"t protect you any more than I can myself."
"Wha-what do you mean? You can"t protect me?"
"That"s exactly what I mean. I can"t look after you and myself at the same time. Only one or the other."
"And you"re choosing the other."
"Yes," he murmured, his voice as low as a whisper.
I never thought how much one word could hurt, but that felt like a slap in the face. I stared at him, wondering if he was just joking. How could I protect myself when I don"t even know how to? My jaw dropped opened and I snapped my mouth closed, wrapping my arms around myself despite the sharp pain it caused my shoulder and the blood that instantly started pouring down my arm, stinging my flesh. It was hot and began to stain my clothes.
"Here, let me help you with that," Ricky said when he realized that I was bleeding again. He grabbed a hold of the hem of his shirt and tore a strip long and big enough for my wound. Then he gently placed it against my injury, pressing lightly. I flinched away from him, the cloth dropping to the ground.
"You want me to survive on my own," I said as calmly as I could. "Then that"s exactly what I"m going to do. I don"t need your help. Now or ever."