A loud clatter overhead caused her to jump in surprise; Devon jerked her hard against him. The box slipped from her grasp as he pinned her against the wall with his body. Everyone braced themselves for the battle, but the hall remained silent, eerily so. “We need to get out of here,” Julian hissed.
“They’re stalking us,” Devon said softly.
“They?” Cassie asked in a choked whisper.
He nodded, his black hair falling across his forehead, his emerald eyes hard as he scanned the ceiling and hallway. “Yes.”
A shiver ran down Cassie’s back. She caught Chris’s eye over Devon’s shoulder, they needed to get out of here, all of them. “Devon we have to move,” Cassie whispered.
He nodded slowly, bending to retrieve her box as he moved cautiously away from her. Cassie took her box back from him as he bent to retrieve his own. “Let’s go,” Julian said gruffly.
Cassie pulled her crossbow from her back, grasping hold of it with one hand as she juggled the box under her arm. They had found a cache of weapons in the room. Aside from stakes it had held more crossbows, a long bow, more guns, and a nifty little thing that appeared to be a flame thrower when assembled. “You need to give us some weapons,” Joey said, his voice tight with a hint of panic.
“Like hell,” Julian grumbled.
“You’re going to need our help against them. We have a right to protect ourselves in here!”
“You have no rights as far as I’m concerned!” Julian snapped ferociously back.
Joey stared at him in startled disbelief; Dani remained silent as she moved steadily forward, her head bowed in resignation. “Monsters,” her father muttered.
“I think you’re the monster,” Cassie retorted. “You’re the one that created this mess. You’re the reason we are being stalked right now. You’re why we’re all here. You’re the monster!”
She was shaking with fury by the time she was done talking. Tears of frustration and anger burned her eyes. Her father stared coldly back at her, hatred evident in his twisted features. She had so often dreamed about what her father had been like, imagined that he had miraculously survived The Slaughter, but this man was nothing like what she had pictured. This man was an atrocity who had been twisted by hate and violence, a cruel stranger she wished had never come back into her life.
“You might want to stop looking at her like that,” Devon growled. “You’re not getting a weapon, and if it wasn’t for your DNA I would have ripped your throat out already.”
Her father’s eyes widened slightly before he turned away from them, his shoulders set tight, his jaw clenched. “Devon,” Cassie said softly.
He shook his head at her, silencing her instantly. She knew that Devon was telling the truth, it was simply the fact that Derek was her father that had allowed him to make it this far. Devon would not hesitate to kill him though, especially not if he felt that it would help keep her safe. Cassie thought she should be more upset by that notion, but at the moment she couldn’t bring herself to care. Even if he was her father, she didn’t know the man, and a very big part of her hated him right now.
Devon pushed her slightly back in front of him again, using his body to shield her from anything that might attack from the back. Cassie wanted to protest, she didn’t want him in danger, but arguing would be futile. He would not back down from this, not when her safety was involved. “I meant what I said. Stay close to me Cassie, they’ll attack soon.”
It was not the threat of attack that made her shudder, but the fact that she was very aware that Devon would kill any threat to her, no matter who or what it was. He wrapped his hand gently around her neck, keeping her close to him as they moved slowly down the hall. Though she could not hear the creatures, she knew they were shuffling through the shadows, stalking their progress. Her hand tightened on her crossbow as terror flooded her.
“Almost there,” Dani said softly, hope evident in her voice.
Cassie swallowed heavily, she wanted out of here in the worst possible way. Her nose and skin were desperate for fresh air. She wanted to see the night sky and the moon. She wanted to inhale air that didn’t reek of the dead and see something outside of this horrid place. She wanted to be free and alive and away from the monsters silently stalking them.
Cassie held her breath as they reached the double doors and Julian pulled them slowly open. He poked his head out, glancing into the stairwell before nodding. He disappeared through the door, holding it open for everyone else to follow. Cassie was almost through when she saw it coming. It leapt easily down the hall in long graceful strides that swiftly ate up the distance between them. Cassie threw her box through the door, grabbing hold of Chris she spun slightly, bouncing him off of Devon as she shoved him out of the hallway. Devon and Chris were both knocked backwards, tripping over each other as they fell through the doorway.
She didn’t have time to register the fact that it was the most ungraceful she had ever seen Devon. She only had a split second to react, a brief moment to swing up her crossbow, and no time to aim before pulling the trigger. The arrow slammed into the things shoulder, jerking him back momentarily, barely slowing its rapid pace and most certainly not stopping it. She didn’t have time to grab another arrow and reload the weapon before the thing was upon her. Grasping the crossbow in two hands, she slammed it into the creatures chin, snapping its head back as it seized hold of her.
Devon bellowed her name, shoving past Chris as he scrambled to get to her. Cassie lifted the crossbow again, smashing it against the monsters face. Its/his cheekbone caved beneath the blow, leaving a gaping wound that would have left a human helpless, and would have staggered a vampire, but did nothing to ward off this monster.
Its hands dug into her skin, leaving painful bruises across her arms as it tried to get closer. Its teeth snapped eagerly as it attempted to rip her throat out, attempted to mutilate and destroy her. She could smell its fetid breath; its lingering stench of death engulfed her. Panic swamped Cassie, this thing was crazed, irrational, and driven only by its desire to see her dead. She snapped the crossbow down, shoving it into its chest in attempt to further block its attack.
Teeth snapped inches from her cheek; she turned her head to avoid it, trying hard to hold it off as she regained her bearings. A loud roar enveloped her. Devon grabbed hold of the thing by the back of the neck, flinging it off of her with one mighty heave. Cassie staggered forward, nearly falling as the weight was pulled off of her.
The monster screamed as Devon grasped hold of her, shoving her toward the double doors. “Go!” he hissed.
Chris reached for her, but she shook him off, unwilling to leave Devon alone with the creature. She turned as another creature came barreling out of the darkness, leaping over its downed friend and slamming hard into Devon. Cassie gasped as the woman tore at him, slashing her long fingernails down his side, shredding his shirt and spilling his blood.
Cassie raced toward him as he grabbed hold of the woman’s throat, pulling her off of him and holding her at arm’s length. The woman spit and clawed, hissing loudly as she swung violently at Devon. Cassie’s heart leapt into her throat, her fingers trembled as she struggled to pull another arrow free.
She loaded it into the crossbow, taking aim at the man that had regained his feet and was coming back at them. Pulling the trigger, Cassie took satisfaction as the bolt slammed into his chest, knocking him ass over tea kettle as he bounced down the hall. It writhed upon the ground, clawing at its chest, its breath heaved in and out in a rattling whistle. It would not be long before it died.
She raced toward Devon as Julian burst back into the hall, overtaking her in his rush to get to Devon’s side. Devon seized hold of the woman’s head, twisting it violently around with a sickening snap that made Cassie’s stomach lurch. He shoved the disfigured creature away from him, slamming his fist into the back of its twisted head. The woman, no the thing, staggered forward a few steps before falling to her knees. Cassie felt as if she was watching a grotesque movie as the woman’s head lulled around on her broken neck, but she did not die.
Cassie took a staggering step backward, nausea twisted through her as she stumbled into the door. “Get out of here!” Devon bellowed at her.
Julian had stopped running; disgust twisted his features as he watched the creature crawl blindly around. Cassie took a small step back, unable to stand watching anymore. Chris grabbed hold of her arm, trying to draw her back, trying to pull her free of the horror in the hallway. Chris froze, his eyes bulging from his head as he gaped at the creature in dismay. Julian and Devon remained unmoving for a moment, before bursting into action again.
Julian spun toward her, shoving her through the double doors so roughly that she fell over Chris, both of them staggering into the stairs. Cassie’s palms and knees screamed in protest as she landed roughly on the concrete steps. Dani was still in the hallway, her eyes wide with shock and disgust, but Cassie’s father and Joey had taken the distraction as an opportunity to flee.
Cassie glanced up the stairway, spotting them two flights above. Cursing loudly, Cassie untangled herself from Chris as Devon and Julian burst into the stairwell. “Give me the keys!” Julian demanded of Dani.
Her hands shook as she tossed him the keys that fell a few feet short. They clattered to the floor as the woman slammed into the door, and then something else slammed into it. Dani screamed as Devon threw himself against the door, holding it closed as the creatures screamed and howled on the other side. “We have to stop them!” Cassie hissed to Chris, bounding back to her feet.
Cassie leapt onto the stairs as Devon and Julian struggled to keep the doors closed against the monster inside. Dani grabbed the keys, rushing over to help them get the doors locked again. Forgoing the weapons and supplies they had gathered, Cassie raced up the stairs. She took them two at a time, in great leaping bounds as she sprinted to catch up with her father and Joey.
She could not let the two of them get away; they could not be free to reign down more terror on some other unsuspecting town and its inhabitants. They could not get away without some type of punishment, and they had to explain what the hell they had done to these creatures, and how many there really were.
“Cassie!” Devon roared after her.
She ignored him as she jumped up the stairs, pushing herself harder, faster. She had to get to them before they got to the top, they could easily disappear into the darkened hallways, and the night if she didn’t. Joey’s head appeared over the side of the banister, his eyes widened as he caught sight of her just a flight beneath them now.
Cassie grasped hold of the railing, using it to pull herself faster, using it to guide her along. “Hurry!” Joey gasped.
Anger and fear fueling her, she poured on the speed, gathering on her vast reserves of power as she bounded swiftly forward. Her father had reached the mangled door as she hit the top of the stairs. “No!” she cried, rage propelling as if she had wings.
Slamming into him, she pulled him backward, shoving him into Joey, and the wall. She fell against the one good door, slumping slightly as she tried to catch her breath. Her father’s furious eyes blazed into hers. He grabbed hold of her, trying to pull her away, but she shoved him off refusing to let him near the door again. “No,” she hissed again. “You will not get away that easy.”
“You have no right!”
“I have every right!” she snapped back, smacking his hand away when he reached for her again. “You have no right to be free! Look at what you have done here, the atrocity that you have created. This world is far better without you roaming it!”
He shrank back slightly, and then hatred and fury blazed forth in his eyes. “You have no right to judge me you traitorous bitch!” he spat. “You’ve turned against your own kind. You’re an abomination, a monstrosity. A nothing!”
Cassie felt as if she had been slapped, she recoiled from him, pressing tighter against the door. She wanted to cower from his words, wanted to deny them, but there would be no reaching him, no reasoning with him. He believed what he believed, and he always would, no matter what her relation to him was. Before she could say anything more, he reached out and slapped her with the full force of his might. Cassie gasped her hand flying to her cheek as her head snapped to the side. Tears of shock and pain flooded her eyes, but she blinked them rapidly back as she gazed hatefully back at the stranger across from her. Because no matter what he said, he was not her father, he was a stranger.
Straightening away from the door, Cassie glared hatefully back at him. “Think what you want about me, I don’t care because you are nothing to me also. But you will not leave here, and you will not be set free in this world again. This nothing will make damn sure of that!” she snarled.
