Ravenous (The Ravening #1)(43)
Author: Erica Stevens

Cade was grabbing for the knob when the ground beneath our feet began to shake. My breath froze, a scream strangled in my throat as sweat beaded my forehead. Cade pushed Abby’s hand down on the switch. It didn’t matter if there were no windows in this room; it was a relief to be plunged into darkness again. At least for them it was, it gave them a false sense of security. It gave me almost instantaneous heart palpitations. With the lights out, it felt as if the walls were creeping steadily closer to me once more. No matter how irrational the thought was, I couldn’t shake it.

The water in the toilet began to splash against the sides as the ground shook with a forceful, wrenching motion. A scream would have erupted from me if Cade hadn’t slammed his hand over my mouth to stifle it. “Stay calm Bethy. It’s only going to get worse, and you are going to have to handle it if you are going to survive, if your sister is going to survive.”

I managed a small nod, and though I thought he was going to release me right away his arms remained strong and secure around me. It was the first time I sensed his uncertainty as to whether or not we would make it out of this alive. If we were going to die, he was going to hug me one more time, and I was going to return it. I didn’t feel guilt as I took solace in his strong embrace.

He reluctantly released me as a loud crash rebounded through the building and shook it on its foundation. It sounded as if something had just smashed into the large garage door. “They know we’re in here,” Abby whispered.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Cade responded. “They may have picked up our scent recently, but they would have caught up to us already if they’d been tracking us since yesterday. Either way, we can’t stay here.”

“What are we going to do?” Jenna squeaked.

I was thinking the same exact thing as a small light flared into the tiny room. Cade was kneeling down, a penlight in his hand as he examined the drain. My heart plummeted, my head spun, and for a frightening moment I actually thought I might pass out. Instead, I remained standing, my legs trembling as I struggled not to vomit.

Cade placed the penlight between his teeth as he started to feel around the edges of the drain. “Are you out of your mind?” Jenna inquired shakily. “We don’t even know where that goes. I’m not crawling through sewage.”

Cade lifted the beam to something I hadn’t noticed before. There was a shower head sticking out of the wall with two knobs beneath it. I forgot all about the danger we faced as my fingers itched to turn on that water and plunge beneath the refreshing spray. I didn’t care if it was freezing cold, it would be heaven. There was a dwindling bar of blue soap settled onto a metal dish. I craved it as badly as an alcoholic craved alcohol.

“It’s a water drain. It’s not sewage,” Cade stated.

“You don’t know that,” Jenna breathed.

“I know that if we stay here, we’re dead.” As if to reinforce his words, the sound of twisting metal echoed through the air. I was pretty sure that the garage doors were starting to give out. “This is a town facility, there’s a possibility it might lead straight to the water treatment center.”

“You don’t know if it leads anywhere at all. You don’t know if it just dead ends. You don’t know if it doesn’t become so narrow that we can’t fit through it.” Jenna was becoming somewhat hysterical and her rushed words were doing nothing to ease my rising panic.

“No, I don’t, but I do know that we have to try.”

I agreed that we had to try, or at least they did, but I was fairly certain that I wasn’t going in that awful thing. Cade grabbed hold of the grate and pulled it free with surprising ease. It rattled as he placed it on the ground. Cade shone the beam into the hole as he leaned forward to peer into. I wrapped my arms around myself, but I failed to ease the shaking that was starting to take me over.

A wrenching screech echoed throughout the building. I half expected something to come barging through the door as I glanced nervously behind me. I didn’t have to see them to know that the bay doors had just given way. Those things were now in the building, and it wouldn’t take them long to make their way here. “It goes straight down about ten feet before making a turn. Jenna…”

“No,” she whispered.

Cade lifted his head to stare at her. There was a lack of empathy in his gaze that left me rattled and numb. “Then you will stay here and die. The choice is yours, but we will not stay here with you.”

Abby’s mouth dropped. Jenna’s bottom lip trembled, tears brimmed in her eyes. She turned toward me but I couldn’t meet her gaze. Instead, I remained focused upon that hole, that thing that I was dreading crawling into too. I was fairly certain I might fracture like broken glass and go crazy if I did.

“I’ll go first.”

Cade and Abby’s eyebrows shot into their hairlines as they turned to me. I was also shocked that the words had just popped out of my mouth. But I was certain that if I didn’t jump into that hole and get it over and done with, I never would. If I was in between two people, I would feel even more trapped, and I couldn’t handle that. Not right now anyway. If I didn’t get in that hole right now I’d be dead, and so would Abby as she wouldn’t leave me here.

Apparently Cade might though. I shuddered at the thought, but I’d seen the ferociousness in his gaze, the callousness he’d directed at Jenna. I didn’t want that turned on me; I couldn’t deal with his scorn right now. I had to do this, it was the only way. I had to stop being a coward, even if it drove me mad.

“Bethany…”

“It’s ok Abby, I’ll be fine, but I have to go first. I have to.”

I stepped up to the hole. It had a three foot diameter, but it looked about the same as three inches would to me right now. I didn’t realize I was shaking uncontrollably until my teeth began to chatter. I clenched my jaw as I tried to make them stop, but a trembling was working its way through every bone in my body. I was certain that it wasn’t going to stop until I made it to the end of the pipe, or simply went bonkers. I wasn’t sure which one would happen first.

“Can I take the light?” I inquired tremulously.

Another loud crash resounded from outside of the room. They were getting closer. Cade’s raven colored eyes were caring and warm as he handed the light over. I wondered if he would have left me behind if I’d refused to do this. For some reason I didn’t think he would have, but I wasn’t going to ask.

Taking a deep breath, I dropped to my knees. Cade seized hold of my arm, I blinked as I tried to bring him into focus. His eyes blazed into mine, I could feel the determination that he was trying to instill in me. His thumb stroked over my skin before he finally released me.