Ravenous (The Ravening #1)(37)
Author: Erica Stevens

Cade nodded as he studied the wall, and then the woods. Then, slowly, his head tilted back. My heart seemed to stop; I stiffened as my heart leapt into my throat. Before I could tilt my head back to see what had caught his attention, he grabbed hold of me and shoved me against the rough bark of a locust tree. My breath was momentarily knocked from me.

“Stay,” he ordered.

I was too astonished to move anyway. He had been so fast, so rapid, and I watched in amazement as he used that speed to grab hold of Abby and Jenna. He pulled them back, sheltering them beneath the leafy bowers of a large oak. The three of them flattened against the trunk of the tree as the small ship that had somehow caught Cade’s attention, moved across the sky over a hundred yards away.

I could feel the boogeyman breathing down my neck as my thoughts turned to the others. Aiden, Bret, and Molly had been lucky before, I could only hope that luck would hold out. They were sitting ducks if they didn’t find some sort of shelter. Even if it was just a tree.

“Bethany!” I turned at Cade’s harsh whisper. He’d stepped from the shadows of the tree; his hand was outstretched to me. My attention was drawn back to the ship as it settled over the area of the bridge; I waited, breathlessly to see what it was going to do. “Bethany, we have to go!”

A door in the bottom of the ship slid open. My heart started playing the drums as something dropped out of the ship. It was small and round. At first I had the insane notion that it was a cannonball, but right before it dropped below the tree line, legs unfolded. Another one dropped from the ship as the first one disappeared. They were the size of a grown dog, perhaps a Shepherd, but it was impossible to tell from this distance.

What were they?

CHAPTER 18

I nearly jumped out of my skin as Cade grasped hold of my arm. “We have to go!”

“What are they?” I breathed. He stared relentlessly at me. Knowledge trickled through me as my toes curled in my shoes. “Those things that drain people, but they’re so small.”

“That means they’re probably faster.”

“They come in different sizes?” I squeaked.

“They haven’t fed yet.”

I was going to deny his words, but they were right, he was right. I knew it the minute he said it, he was telling the truth. They were small because they weren’t bloated with the blood of people. As they fed, they would get bigger.

We may be what they fed on.

“We have to run Bethany. Now.”

His hand slid into mine as he pulled me up the hill. We slipped and slid as we frantically climbed upward. I grasped hold of the thin vegetation, pulling myself up with straggling bayberries, rhododendrons, and seedlings. Cade released my hand to help Abby as she floundered up a steep section. Though I knew it wasn’t true, I thought I could hear them scurrying through the trees behind us, gaining on us.

But perhaps I was right.

I chanced a glance over my shoulder. The twisting movement caused my foot to land awkwardly; I was thrown off balance as my ankle turned out from under me. A startled cry escaped me as I pitched forward and slipped back down the hill. Cade snagged hold of my wrist before I fell too far. His eyes blazed into mine as my mouth parted.

“You’re clumsy,” he muttered.

“You’re fast,” I retorted as he helped pull me back to my feet.

Abby and Jenna had stopped to wait for us but as we started up the hill again they turned and fled again. Panic filled me as my sister disappeared over top of the hill, but then Cade pulled me to the top and over the brink. It was briefly downhill before the ground leveled out and we became enclosed by the paintball course.

We raced past walls covered in myriad colors of paint. Cade took the lead, dodging tires, sacks of sand, and ramshackle buildings with ease. My legs were beginning to burn, Jenna was starting to lag, and Abby was struggling to keep up. The three of us were winded but Cade seemed as if he could go for miles, even with the guns strapped to his back. I hadn’t thought he was much of an athlete apparently I’d been completely wrong.

He disappeared around a corner before quickly reappearing. I stopped before him, laboring for breath as I bent over to rest my hands on my knees. “We have to keep moving.”

I took a deep breath and forced myself to move. Abby’s hair was matted to her face with sweat and grime; her doe eyes were red rimmed and swollen as she panted for breath. I thought Jenna was going to complain but she remained unspoken as she wiped the tangled hair from her face and continued on.

Cade pulled a gun from the waistband of his pants. His black eyes were intense as he handed it to me. My hand trembled with exhaustion as I took it from him; it was the same gun I had used before. “Do not fire unless it becomes absolutely necessary.” I frowned as my attention turned from the deadly weapon, to him. “It will only bring more of them.”

“More?” I breathed as Abby stepped closer to me. His attention turned toward the woods. A shiver crept up my spine, the hair on my neck rose as I turned to survey the hushed forest. They were out there. My skin crawled with the realization as I took an involuntary step back. Cade seized hold of my hand and wrapped it around the gun as he squeezed it in order to infuse me with his unwavering strength.

“This way,” he whispered.

We followed him as he moved with relative ease through the course. A sign, painted in different colors, read JUNGLE COURSE and had an arrow pointing down a path. This area of the woods had been transformed into a forest that wasn’t from the northeast. Moss was draped from the trees; I brushed it out of my way as it enshrouded the path with an air of mystery. Vines hung from limbs and crawled over the trees lining the small path. Some of them were as thick as my calf, others were small and thin. Ivy grew over the pathway and covered the dirt before disappearing into the woods.

Fake birds and monkeys were propped up in the trees; I spotted a couple of jaguars, a few boas and other snakes hidden within the landscape. I had never been here before, but I was fascinated by the atmosphere they had created. I probably would have been shot instantly if I had played as I would have been far more preoccupied with trying to find the things hidden along the pathway, and in the woods.

Cade suddenly stepped off the trail and plunged into the woods. He pushed aside vines and moss as he moved. We followed behind, trying to stay as quiet as possible as we moved as swiftly through the dense woods as we could. Cade stopped near a large locust tree; his eyes narrowed as he surveyed the woods. I didn’t know what he was doing, but he seemed certain of something as he turned to the right and started walking again.