“Jake Weston.”
How did it know his name? Turning his back on the spire, Jake broke into a run, his brittle legs aching as if the bones would crumble beneath him.
The voice remained the same volume despite the distance he was putting between them. “Jake Weston. Jake Weston.” It was a dark and unique accent like the creature came from a secluded corner of a distant rainforest. It sounded like it was speaking English for the first time. It nestled in his memories next to the bloody eyes. It started to complete the picture of the monster. It was more cunning, more brutal, more ruthless than he could ever be. It was also clearly comfortable on a terrain that bipeds weren’t ever meant to thrive on. To fight it was foolish.
Looking back over his shoulder as he ran away, the floor suddenly gave way beneath Jake and he fell. Landing across a bar on his way down, his back made a tearing crack like splintering wood, and he was enveloped by a fireball of agony.
The fall was about six feet, and as Jake lay on his back, staring up at the hole he’d made, debris falling in on him, dust swirling in the stale air, he groaned.
Then his world went dark.
As she watched on, her frame sagged. Balling her right fist, she punched her left hand. “Fuck it!” All he had to do was leave Birmingham. After that, she was sure he’d have seen the potential for a positive existence.
But no, not Jake Weston. Too bloody curious that man.
Didn’t he know it wasn’t nice to throw rocks? As she watched him, out cold as he lay on his back, she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Jake, but this has to end now.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Opening his eyes, Jake saw dust swirling in the air above him as if he’d only just fallen. Maybe he had. It was hard to tell.
Bang! The sound was like a horse kicking a stable door.
Adrenaline surged through Jake, but his limbs were lead and his back ached. Riding the rush, he took quick breaths and stared up at hole he’d fallen through. The wind above raged as fiercely as before, but inside there was a musty stillness. It was like he’d fallen into a tomb—perhaps his own.
Bang!
“Fuck.” Lifting his head, Jake pulled air through his clenched teeth. It felt like his vertebrae were being separated with hot knives. Was his back broken? He wiggled his toes. No.
Bang!
Taking huge gulps of the musty air, Jake sat up, wincing with every millimeter of movement. He was on a bus. What the hell? It was a double-decker, and he was riding on the top deck. The top always afforded the best view of the city, although all he saw through this bus’s windows was rubble. Were it not for the hole he’d created, then it would be pitch black inside.
Bang! Bang!
The bus shook and Jake grabbed on, his damaged right hand screaming from the movement. Finding a rock on the floor, Jake picked it up and got to his feet.
Bang!
The sound was coming from the rear of the bus. Hunched over, Jake stared in the direction of the noise.
Bang!
This had to end now. Stepping forwards and straightening his back, Jake nearly vomited before he got his words out. “Show yourself, you coward.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A thick cloud of dust rose into the air, and Jake stopped still. Looking at the rock in his hand, he dropped it on the wooden floor. Who was he kidding? There was no way he could stand toe to toe with it.
Bang!
The entire bus shook again, and Jake thrust his arms out for balance.
Bang!
Retreating a step, a line of tension riding from his left hip to beneath his right shoulder blade, Jake kept his eyes on the back corner of the bus. When he bumped into one of the old seats, it rocked on its rusty hinges. If the inside was ruined, what was the outside of the bus like? How long would it be before the thing burst through the rusty shell?
There was a scrabbling sound and the rubble along the bottom of the large back window shifted.
The dust in the air got into Jake’s throat, and it itched when he swallowed a sandy gulp. Jake looked up. He was directly beneath the hole he’d fallen through.
More rubble shifted on the other side of the back window. When Jake saw a hand, he froze. “What the fuck?” It looked human, but where the fingernails should have been were black crusts of dried blood. A life underground seemed to have no need of them.
The hole above seemed impossibly out of reach.
After pulling some more rubble away, an arm rubbed along the back window. Its movements were frantic as it fought the environment to get to its prey. The pallid appendage had dark veins running along it as if it had oil for blood. The creature hissed.
Gritting his teeth, Jake lifted one of his legs, the base of his spine feeling like it was about to click out of place. When he raised it high enough to get onto the seat, he stepped up, a wobble shaking his entire body.
Using his left hand, Jake grabbed the handrail above. Grinding his jaw, he stretched a leg across and straddled the aisle, a foot on the back of each chair. The seats rocked beneath him and sent ripples up his spine that made the muscles in his back spasm. If he didn’t hurry up, the seats would tear free of their bolts and throw him back down to where he’d come from.
Long dark hair appeared at the window. Below it was a pale forehead. It was a little girl. Squirming, she slithered up the rubble. Using her head, she cleared a path.
Taking several deep breaths of the musty air, Jake bent his atrophied legs.
Then he saw the little girl’s face. She was no more than eight years old. The grease in her hair made it thick. Nestled in sunken sockets were the bloody eyes he’d seen in the house. A glazing of deep red sat where irises and retinas should have been.
Three, two, one. Jake pushed for the hole.
Rising out of it, he brought his elbows crashing down on the outside of the bus, but there was nothing to latch onto. Slipping, his legs kicking, he fell backwards into the hole and hit the ground with a thud.
Writhing on the floor, his body contorting, Jake chased the dusty air to fill his winded lungs.
Looking up at the window, he saw the girl lying diagonally across it. A lizard on a hot tile. With her bloody eyes locked at him, she hissed, banged on the window and snapped her jaws.
The hiss rang in Jake’s ears as he sat up again, his winded body slow to cooperate. Standing up, he lifted his leg and stood up on the seats. The rusty bolts groaned under his weight for a second time.
Clenching a fist, she banged it against the window.
Stretching his damaged arm to the sky, Jake reached for the lip of the hole. Some of the rust at the edges crumpled like ash, but then he found a piece that he thought would support his weight and grabbed it, a burn running down his arm. “Ow.”
Bang!
Raising his left hand, he found a place to grab opposite his right. With sweat running into his eyes, he glanced back at the girl. Hatred twisted her evil features.
Bang! A crack appeared on the back window.
Jake’s right foot slipped off the seat. Clinging onto the lip of the hole with his left hand, he prevented his fall, his back cracking as his body jarred.
Bang! The window creaked as the crack stretched.
Looking down at his dangling feet, Jake found the backs of the seats again.
Bang!
Just as he found his footing, the window popped with a whoosh! A solid thud as she hit the floor was accompanied by tingling glass and crashing rubble.
Bending his knees, his strength having all but vanished from his legs, Jake looked up out of the hole.