Ravenous (The Ravening #1)(38)
Author: Erica Stevens

A twig snapped behind me. I jumped, instinctively raising my gun as I spun toward the source of the sound. I saw nothing amongst the vegetation and trees, but something was there, I knew it. I could feel it in the marrow of my bones as every primitive instinct I had screamed at me to run. Cade was at my side, his hand tender on my arm as he pushed it down. He placed a finger against his lips as he gestured for me to remain silent.

He led me forward, searching the forest as we moved. He halted me at the base of three intersecting pines that had nearly grown together in the dense woods. He bent; grabbed hold of something and lifted it up. I watched in amazement as he pulled the forest floor into the air. It took me a second to realize that he was actually holding a large piece of plywood that had been convincingly covered with dirt, leaves, pine needles, and sticks.

“In,” he whispered gesturing to Abby.

She stared at him in disbelief before bending low and climbing into the small hole the plywood had covered. Jenna followed but I hesitated, unwilling to climb under the wood. Cade shook his head at me when I took a step forward.

"Stay in here until I come for you." He lowered the wood noiselessly over them. Turning to me, his jaw clenched as he pointed at the tree behind me. I glanced at the large maple, understanding what it was that he would like for me to do.

‘You?’ I mouthed.

He shook his head and pulled a honed, wicked looking knife from the holster at his side. I remained unmoving, uncertain. I shook my head as he pointed at the tree again. I couldn’t leave him down here, unprotected, vulnerable to the things hunting us in the shadows of the forest. He was beside me suddenly, his hand on me waist as he pushed me toward the tree. “Climb.”

“You can’t stay down here.”

He grasped hold of my hips and lifted me up. I didn’t have time to protest or fight him. “Climb Bethany. Now.”

I swallowed heavily as I grabbed hold of the tree and began to pull myself up. I looked back to find Cade watching me from the ground before he turned away. I almost jumped back out of the tree, almost threw myself from the leafy bowers, but I grasped hold of the limb and pulled myself up. I would have a better shot from up here anyway if I had to take it.

Halfway up the tree I shimmied out to the end of a thick branch and flattened myself against it in order to blend in with the thick foliage surrounding me. I searched rapidly for Cade but he seemed to have vanished within the thick “jungle” surrounding us. My heart hammered, my head spun, where had he gone? How had he disappeared so rapidly and soundlessly into the wilderness surrounding us?

I was about to move forward when that thing crept into the clearing. Bark bit under my fingernails as my fingers curled into the limb. Horror and fear tore through me in equal waves that left me shaken and on the edge of falling out of the tree. It was a combination of every nightmare I’d ever had, yet I’d never in my life imagined something so appalling could exist.

It was not overbearing and cumbersome like its bigger brothers. No this was the size of a small Great Dane. It was oval in shape, its legs arachnid in appearance as it crept cautiously forward before taking a small step back. It’s chelicerae like mouth clicked as it took another step forward. Unlike its older brothers, it didn’t look like a bloated tick and it was opaque in color. But it was not opaque enough that I couldn’t see the throbbing pulse of what I assumed was the hideous creature’s heart. Strange, twisted things were wrapped in circles close to the monstrosity’s hideous mouth. They contained a black, viscous material that seemed to sift and flow within the vein-like circles but didn’t move out through its body.

It made me sick to look at it but I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

It seemed to be looking everywhere at once but I didn’t know where its eyes were. Perhaps it didn’t have any, perhaps it could smell us, or even hear the rapid beat of my heart. It somehow seemed to know that we were close though as it edged closer to where Jenna and Abby were hiding. My hand tensed on the gun, I aimed it at the thing. I knew Cade was right, firing the gun would only bring more of them here, but I would destroy that thing before it ever got a hold of my sister.

That was when I saw Cade. He was kneeling at the edge of the woods, the knife clasped within his right hand as he pressed it against the ground. Shadows played over him, making him nearly imperceptible in the shade of the trees. An unnerving air of calmness surrounded him and I was reminded a lion before they pounced. I was mesmerized by him; I couldn’t look away as he rose and disappeared from view.

I blinked as I searched for him, but he was no longer visible in the shadows. My attention was drawn back to the thing still creeping toward where Jenna and Abby were hidden. Cade reemerged like a ghost from a wall. He moved with startling speed as he raced from the woods. A scream rose in my throat, I choked on it as the creature spun toward him. It took a startled step back before raising on its hind legs in preparation of Cade’s attack.

A strange squeal escaped the monster as Cade slammed into it. Dread flooded me, I couldn’t stay here; I couldn’t remain useless. I scurried back, moving as quickly as I could down the tree as I was filled with the driving urgency to get to Cade, to help him. He couldn’t take on that thing by himself, he simply couldn’t. I leapt out of the tree when I was still ten feet from the ground. My ankles protested the action but I didn’t care as I raced through the forest to him. I didn’t know what I was going to do against that thing but I didn’t care.

I had lost sight of Cade when I dropped out of the tree, but as I plunged through some thick underbrush, he came into view again. I was nearly brought up short, nearly undone by the spectacle that greeted me. I was struck by the fact that the battle had become oddly hushed after that initial squeal. It had also become far more violent and bloody. I stumbled forward and nearly fell as Cade lifted the knife over his head and plunged it into the already staggering creature.

It wasn’t the awful bluish black blood that covered him, and the creature, or even the tentacle that had emerged from the underbelly of the beast and now flopped on the ground that caused me to halt. It was the utter calm façade that Cade still possessed. He didn’t seem winded, didn’t even seem fazed as the creature crumpled beneath him. He ripped the knife free and wiped the blackened blade on a handful of leaves he snagged from the ground.

I remained unmoving, my breath trapped in my chest as he finally lifted his gaze to me. He was as still as stone as he watched me. I didn’t know what to do, what to say. I didn’t know what I had just witnessed and I was uncertain as to who exactly this person standing across from me was. I’d known him nearly my whole life, even when we hadn’t spoken he’d always been a presence in my world. Now he was standing there, covered in that repugnant blood and staring at me with a look that both broke my heart and terrified me.