Nodding, the tall man said, “Yep.”
“What the fuck is it?”
Frowning, Tom scratched his temple with a shaking hand. “A pentagram.”
“A pentagram?”
Tom’s eyes were glazed as if he’d retreated into his mind. “It’s a spiritual symbol.”
Not sure he wanted the answer, Jake lifted a shrug. “A good one?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether it’s pointing up or down. Down is for the devil.”
Just the thought of the question turned Jake’s blood cold. “And which way is it pointing?”
Nodding at the symbols on either side of them, Jake suddenly saw what they were when Tom gulped. “Well, by looking at those pitch forks, I’d say it was pointing down.”
Before Jake could reply, Tom had set off, avoiding the lines of rubble like he was running an army assault course.
Looking around, Jake bounced on the balls of his feet and then followed his friend. Picking an equally cautious path through the symbol, he lifted his legs high as if something were nipping at his heels.
It didn’t matter how far or fast they ran away. They weren’t getting away.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The pair had been walking all day, and all Jake could think about was the pentagram. When Tom moved over to a pile of rubble, Jake stopped. “What is it?”
As Tom pulled lumps of concrete and debris away, Jake walked over to stand next to him. With his damaged hand, he didn’t try to help.
The more hardcore Tom pulled away, the quicker he started clearing a hole. Then Jake saw it—a small, round piece of blue plastic. When Tom grabbed it, it crackled as he wiggled it free.
Looking at Tom’s prize, Jake swallowed an arid gulp. “Water.”
Breaking the seal on the large bottle, Tom handed it to Jake first.
Lifting it up to what little light there was in the sky, the clear liquid seemingly uncontaminated, Jake looked back at his friend. “You’re letting me have it first? Shouldn’t you go first? You found it.”
“Stop being soft, Jake. Just take a bloody sip.”
When Jake lifted the bottle to his lips, the cool liquid filled his mouth. Although his body craved the quench of the water, he took a small taste and passed it back. “Slow and steady so we don’t throw it up.”
Watching his friend drink, phlegm sticking in his throat, Jake couldn’t take the bottle back quickly enough when Tom returned it.
After they were done, the water swilling in Jake’s guts, he sat down on a nearby rock and looked at his hand. “You didn’t answer me before, Tom.”
“About what?”
“How long have I got before my hand turns septic? Seriously, how long would you give it?”
“I don’t know, Jake. Maybe your body will fight against the infection and you’ll be all right.”
“You don’t sound sure.”
“I’m not. I just don’t know. I’m sorry.”
Looking at the dirty bandages wrapping his hands, Jake sighed.
With the conversation dying, Jake sat on his rock and looked at what little he could see around him. When his eyes caught some movement on the brow of a small ridge, his heart jumped. Staring at it for a moment longer, he saw that his eyes weren’t deceiving him. The ground was lifting up slowly as if something was crawling beneath it.
Standing up, Jake stretched to the sky, trying to be as casual as possible. “Okay, I’m ready to set off again.”
Frowning up at him, Tom remained seated, his long body folded over in a slump. “I thought you wanted a rest?”
“I do. I did. I’m fine now. That water’s worked wonders.”
When Tom looked down at the floor, Jake glanced over at the raising rubble again. It was still lifting, slowly crawling towards them. “Come on, man. If we’ve only got a few days left together, we may as well cover as much ground as possible.”
Tutting, Tom stood up with a long groan. The heavy wind rocked the tall man where he stood. “You’re so bloody contrary, Jake.”
Raising his eyebrows, Jake simply shrugged. “Come on, let’s go.”
Moving as if every joint ached, Tom took Jake’s lead and followed him directly away from the thing. With the memory of the bloody eyes sat in his mind, Jake powered up the next hill and waited at the top for his friend.
Arriving a minute or so later, red-faced from the effort, Tom shook his head and continued down the other side.
Just before Jake followed him, he looked back. The raised line of rubble suddenly closed the gap between them at a sprint, and Jake flinched when it stopped just meters away from him, rocks and debris spraying up.
Staring at it for a moment, his heart beating in his neck, Jake waited to see if it would move again. When it didn’t, he spun around and headed after Tom.
As Jake stared at the slim back of his tall friend, his mouth dried and his stomach was gripped tight. No matter how fast they travelled, the thing was quicker. The only reason it hadn’t caught them was because it had chosen not to.
It was toying with them.
Why was he protecting Tom? She didn’t want to kill Jake, despite her orders, but he was making it hard for her. Why didn’t he just let the tall idiot go?
With her eyes burning and a shake running through her, she watched on. Five days was too long. It couldn’t go on like this. With shot nerves and a stabbing headache, she rubbed her face.
Five days was far too long.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Whenever Jake looked around, he saw the rubble following them. It lurked in the dust storm, just at the edge of his vision. Was that why Tom hadn’t seen it? Maybe the sunglasses offered Jake a longer line of sight. No matter the reason, he wasn’t about to tell Tom. The last thing his maudlin friend needed was another excuse to put on a headset.
Trying to stay positive, Jake turned to Tom as they climbed the next hill. “This is it. When we get to the top of this hill, we’re going to see a forest stretching out before us. No more bricks and rubble and twisted metal. We’re going to see lush greenery filling the distance.”
Holding his breath, Jake took the last step to the top of the hill.
Releasing a long and deflating sigh, he shook his head as he looked below him. Lying in the next crater was more rubble, more bricks, and more twisted metal. Although this time, stretched across their path was a huge electricity pylon that covered the ground like the skeleton of a dinosaur.
When Tom appeared next to him, he looked down and then raised an eyebrow at Jake.
Returning his focus to the pylon, Jake watched a mangy fox with a gammy back leg winding in and out of the metal structure. In this world of scavengers, he was no better than the flea-bitten canid. Even the concept of a food chain was now obsolete. Other than gamers, all that was left were scavengers and the dead. He looked behind again at the raised rubble. And then there were the things.
The strong winds prevented the fox from detecting their presence. Putting a finger to his veiled lips, Jake bent down and retrieved a small rock. With his stomach rumbling, he allowed the weight of it to settle in the palm of his left hand. Pausing for a moment as he visualized the rock connecting with the fox’s head, he pulled his arm back and hurled it.
The clang of the rock hitting the electricity pylon made the fox look up, its ears pricked. For the briefest moment, Jake and the fox stared at each other. The golden eyes of the mangy creature were wide but not petrified. It was almost as if the fox was assessing the threat posed to him by these two weak men. The fox then jogged away from them in the opposite direction.