I blinked in surprise as he brought up his nickname from school. “You knew they called you the dark devil?”
His grin widened. “The devil knows all.”
“You’re not funny,” I muttered.
“I’m not trying to be.” He kissed me softly on the forehead before releasing me and taking a step back. “You will get them through this Bethany. No matter what, I know you will.”
Though I appreciated his unwavering faith in me, I wanted to grab hold of him, wanted to plead with him to stay, wanted to tell him I loved him but the words stuck in my throat. It was obvious that he was set on this course of action, and I was not going to be able to stop him.
“Be safe.”
He flashed that amazing cocky grin that caused my heart to melt and my toes to curl. “Always.”
Before I could say another word he darted away from me, bolted across the road, and disappeared into the shelter of the median with startling speed and grace. I was left gaping after him, my heart hammering wildly as a cold sweat broke out on my body. I had never seen anyone move like that. I took a small step after him, torn between wanting to follow, and needing to stay with my sister.
My gaze went slowly back to Abby. She and Jenna had crept closer, but still hung back a good five feet. I could see the fear in their faces, a fear that caused me to straighten my shoulders and tilt my chin up. Cade was right, I would find some way to get them out of this. No matter what it took, I would get them out of here, even if I had to do it without him. That thought made me want to vomit.
A soft rustle of the leaves was the only thing that alerted me to the fact that Cade was making his way across the other side of the highway. I held my breath, counting silently to myself. I thought he should at least be back in the median by a hundred. At two hundred I was beginning to panic. At three hundred, I could barely breathe through the tight constriction of terror encircling my chest. I was shaking, tears burned my eyes, but I refused to shed them, refused to let my terror show to either Jenna or Abby.
I counted to five hundred. My throat was burning, I was barely breathing anymore. Five fifty. I didn’t know how long we should stay here for. How long we should wait for him to return. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to get my feet to move away from here if the time came. There was no bright light, no crashing bangs echoing throughout the forest signaling the creature’s arrival, but when I hit eight hundred I was beginning to fear that Cade was not going to return.
We didn’t know what other kinds of weapons these aliens possessed, didn’t know what they were capable of. Just because they had always announced their arrival with noise and light before didn’t mean that they always had to. The noise and lights could just be a fear tactic, one that worked really well as far as I was concerned. Maybe they had taken Cade. Maybe they knew we were here and were just waiting for us to expose ourselves.
I took a step back from the roadside, losing count as I began to search the night around us. Were they out there? Hunting us, stalking us? Were they narrowing in on us even now? I didn’t want to leave Cade, but he had been gone for far longer than he should have been, and he had faith in me that I would continue on, that I would get them to safety.
“Bethany…”
“Five more minutes,” I whispered.
“But he’s been gone…”
“Five more minutes Abby.”
“Look, I get that you don’t want to leave your lover behind, but they could be closing in on us even now,” Jenna said.
I shot Jenna a furious look, my hands fisting at my sides. “Five more minutes!” I snarled.
She glared at me as she shifted angrily. I turned back to the road, starting to count again. One more time to two hundred, and then we would have to go. We would havetoo. Fifty six… fifty seven… fifty ei… Movement rustled the trees in the median.
My breath froze, I took a swift step forward as hope exploded through me, and then Cade was emerging from the shadows. My legs shook as relief flooded me; I was able to take my first real breath since he had left. Cade knelt by the side of the road, his hand resting lightly on the ground as he searched for us. I stepped slightly forward, barely exposing myself to the dim moonlight that illuminated the road. He lifted his hand, gesturing for us to come over.
“Let’s go,” I said softly.
“Wait!” Jenna hissed in surprise.
“We have to go now, well it’s still safe.”
“Out there?” she croaked.
I decided to take a page from Cade’s book. “Then stay here. Let’s go Abby, now.”
Jenna’s eyes widened, her gaze darted wildly around, but she offered no further protest as Abby came slowly toward me. I heaved the duffel bag onto my shoulder, bowing slightly beneath its weight. It was far heavier than I had expected considering the ease with which Cade moved with it. I straightened my shoulders and burst onto the road with Abby close at my heels and Jenna following reluctantly behind.
CHAPTER 15
We trudged slowly through the woods. Though we had managed to get some sleep, it had done little to ease the exhaustion that clung to us all. Jenna had been bitchier than usual for the first hour of our walk. She had finally, and thankfully, grown silent.
“How much further do you think it is?” Abby asked softly.
“Mile, maybe two,” Cade answered absently.
It wasn’t that far, I kept telling myself. An hour at the most, and that was only ifthe terrain became rough, which I didn’t think it would. Or I hoped it wouldn’t anyway. There weren’t any dumps between us and the gas station at least. I kept my head down, my feet ached, my legs were weak but I could make it. We all could.
Though the trees mostly blocked the sun, the heat of the day was growing oppressive. The light filtering through them was bright, and hot. I was sweltering, which I found oddly surprising. The heat rarely bothered me. Only when it was over a hundred did I truly dislike it. To me, anything under seventy was chilly. But today was at most eighty degrees, and though sweat coated me it wasn’t that humid out. There was a light sea breeze filtering through the leaves, shaking them gently.
Perhaps it was my exhaustion that was making it feel as if it were a hundred and twenty. Or maybe I had caught something from tromping through all of that disgusting garbage and sliding through sludge. I rarely got sick, but I couldn’t even begin to imagine the amount of germs we had been exposed to, and none of us had eaten or drank much in the past few days.
Whatever it was, I felt like hell and I didn’t like it.
I was so ensnared by my misery that I didn’t notice Cade had stopped until I bumped into him. He reached back with his arm, pushing me behind him as he studied the woods. His eyes were narrowed; his body tight with tension. I frowned, glancing swiftly around. There were a couple of squirrels sitting in the trees so I didn’t think the aliens were near, but something had caught Cade’s attention.
The sharp snap of a twig caused me to jump in surprise. Jenna and Abby huddled closer to us. A squirrel darted through the branches of a tree, causing a small raucous as it leapt into another one before disappearing into the woods. Was it fleeing from approaching aliens or from some other unseen thing?