Fear of God (Trials of Strength Book 1) (13 page)

‘
No,’ she
whispered. ‘No, Lucas, you can’t be here! You shouldn’t have
come!’

I ignored her, and tucked
the gun at my waist as I started to untie her
restraints.

‘
NO!’ she
screamed, and I jumped, startled.

The relief coursing
through me cut off, and I stared at her. Tears formed in her eyes
and I hadn’t noticed how she shuddered. Heat emanated from her in
waves, and suddenly she shrieked in agony.

‘
Mum?’ I
shouted, helpless.

‘
It’s a trap,’
she gasped between breaths. ‘You have to go, please honey, you have
to go.’

‘
What’s
happening?’ I asked. ‘Where’s Dad?’

She couldn’t breathe
though, she wheezed air in and out, tried to form words, but she
broke into another blood chilling scream and Anna pulled me back.
Anna’s eyes were terrified. Chris raised his gun without a word and
aimed it at my mother.

‘
What the fuck
are you doing!?’ I screamed, trying to rush towards him, but Anna
held me back.

‘
She’s
turning, Lucas,’ he whispered sadly. ‘There’s nothing you can
do.’

‘
What?’ I
cried.

‘
He’s… He’s
right… Lucas,’ my mother gasped painfully. ‘It’s too
late.’

I shook my head. ‘No,
it’s not too late. We’re going to get you out of here. It’s going
to be fine.’

I freed myself from Anna
and tried to undo her restraints again, but she pleaded with me to
stop. Chris grabbed me tight.

‘
GET OFF OF
ME!’ I bellowed.

‘
Take him
away, please,’ my mother begged Chris. ‘I don’t want him to see
this. I don’t want to hurt him.’

Tears cascaded from her
eyes and she looked resigned. I knew without a doubt what was
happening, but I couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t happen, I begged
the Gods not to let it. My beautiful mother screamed again, and in
sharp gasps, it sounded like she growled. Chris started to drag me
away.

‘
Wait,’ she
said. ‘Lucas, honey, your father, he…’

She doubled over in the
chair.

‘
I tried to
stop them… But I… I…’ my mother couldn’t finish. Her face became
expressionless before she returned. ‘Go, now!’

I tried to break free of
Chris’s grip, Anna was crying but she ran too. I screamed, my
mother screamed. I couldn’t save her, soon she would be gone. I
felt empty, as if my heart had stopped. My energy left me and just
as we reached the corner, I took one last glance at the one person
I loved most in the world. She smiled, tears glistened in her eyes
and she mouthed one of the last things I’d heard her
say.

No matter
what, I love you.

‘
MUM!!’ I
cried, and she was gone.

The
Betrayal

Chris had my arm in a
vice-like grip as we descended the hospital’s stairs. My mother’s
screams followed us down, a crashing sound echoed after us and I
knew she was free. Fear and sorrow gripped my heart, which thumped
almost as loud as the footsteps that chased after us. It was too
much. I wanted to rip free of Chris and collapse against the wall,
let the monsters take me. My mother was gone. She was gone, and
they had my father.

We reached the reception
desk where we had spotted the first black arrow and I wondered why
I had been brought there in the first place. What was the point? To
see my mother change? To ruin the world for me so irrevocably that
I would cease to function? I had no idea. We cleared the front
doors and sprinted through the river of bodies for the factories in
the distance.

Our path was still clear,
and it looked like we had lost the creature that pursued us. I
dragged my feet. Chris swore, but his grip didn’t lessen. We
entered the place of my nightmares and descended into the darkness
of our new home. We walked silently till we reached the room Terry
had been hung in, Chris let go, and I fell.

Anna dropped beside me,
and I saw tears in her own eyes. Chris looked back at us, his face
trying to stay composed, but sadness pulled down the corners of his
mouth. He mumbled something about checking on the group, and left
us. I let go and silent tears turned to sobs and then bone
shattering screams. Anna held me tight, never speaking, and we
stayed there for what seemed like hours.

*

Someone materialised from
the darkness across from where I sat against the wall, and Jane
slouched into the room. Anna sat slightly to my left, her hand on
my knee. I’d no more tears, no more hope. I was truly empty, and
part of me wanted those creatures to flood the tunnels, to kill us
all and finish whatever game we had become pawns in. Jane settled
on her knees and sadly stared at my face.

‘
I can’t do
this anymore,’ I whispered as I rocked back and forth. ‘I don’t
want to do this anymore.’

Anna squeezed my knee,
but even she didn’t know what to say.

‘
I am so sorry
sweetie,’ Jane choked. ‘There’s nothing we can say that will help,
but I’m so sorry.’

‘
Amelia,
Hannah, Terry, Paul’s son, Claire, my mother,’ I winced. ‘All of
them are gone, and it’s my fault.’

I clutched my chest, the
pain inside was overwhelming and I gasped.

‘
It’s not your
fault, Lucas, it-’ Anna started, but I cut her off.

‘
It is my
fault,’ I cried. ‘They want me, no?’

Anna fell silent and I
stood.

‘
WHAT IS IT
YOU WANT!?’ I screamed at the walls. ‘HOW DARE YOU TAKE MY MOTHER!!
HOW DARE YOU!!’

I roared. My fist lashed
out at the nearest wall, I didn’t stop, just kept punching, over
and over till my arm ached and all the fight had left me. I
slouched to the ground, my knuckles on fire and bleeding, and
resumed rocking back and forth. The hollow feeling inside grew, and
I thought about before the visit to the hospital. It was worse.
Suspecting something and watching it come to pass were two
completely different things. The light in the world had been taken,
and I envisioned the people behind it laughing at my
sorrow.

It angered me like
nothing I’d ever felt before.

‘
They have to
pay,’ I growled through clenched teeth.

Anna looked at me and
Jane put a hand on my shoulder. She looked ready to say something,
when a soft melody filled the room. We turned to Anna as she pulled
out a mobile phone, her face white with terror.

‘
I thought all
the phones were dead?’ Jane asked confused.

‘
They are,’
Anna whispered. ‘I’ve been keeping mine off and turning it on every
now and again in the hope I might reach someone.’

I took it from her
trembling hands and answered, hitting the loudspeaker so all of us
could listen together.

‘
Ahhh,’ the
woman who had called before sighed, ‘I am
so
glad you are all okay.’

‘
Who is this?’
I gritted my teeth.

‘
Never you
mind love,’ she said brightly. ‘Now, how was your trip to hospital?
Not too serious I hope?’

‘
You bitch,’ I
said. ‘How dare you!? What is it that you want from
me!?’

‘
All in good
time young man,’ she cheered. ‘Now, I would love to help you, but I
only called to tell you one thing.’

No one spoke, but she
continued without being prompted.

‘
It’s time,’
she chimed, and then the phone went dark.

*

We found Chris in deep
discussion with Paul, and both looked worried. They filled us in,
and we found out Grace had amassed quite a following. She was
steadily convincing them that they should leave and ‘step into the
sun, beg the monsters for forgiveness and mercy’. Paul and Jane had
tried to defuse them, but Grace had turned hostile. One of the men
backing her had even broken Paul’s nose. That man was lucky Paul
hadn’t shot him, but Jane explained how she had calmed both
down.

We filled Chris in on
what the woman had said. He stiffened and shook his
head.

‘
What does
that mean?’ Paul sneered.

‘
Nothing
good,’ Chris replied.

I didn’t care. I was done
with everything. I was tired of being scared, of feeling guilty and
helpless. I wanted them all to burn for what they had done. Things
finally felt like they were going to come to a head. We couldn’t
hope to win, but I was finished with their games.

‘
What does it
matter?’ I asked. ‘Let them come and we’ll play them at their own
game.’

‘
Lucas, we
can’t beat them,’ Chris said. ‘Our best hope is to just wait, and
find a way out of town.’

‘
There is no
way out!’ I said. ‘We’re stuck here! Stuck in their maze like rats,
we’re their playthings!’

‘
But why?’
Jane asked. ‘What do they want from you Lucas, that they would go
to this much trouble to get?’

My mind whirled with the
same questions, but I had no idea. My life before had been simple
and uneventful. My family was well off, but not rolling in cash,
and what would a rogue science division want with an unremarkable
guy from an unremarkable town?

‘
That doesn’t
matter now,’ Chris said. ‘We need to stop Grace.’

I looked over at the
group of people sitting cross-legged around her. She spoke
animatedly, and her hands reached for the ceiling. I counted ten
around her feet, and half that who weren’t. Adding us made almost
two dozen survivors. A good amount if the time came and we had to
make a stand. Even the thought made me shiver, but I was too angry
to dwell on it.

Chris, Paul, and Jane
continued to talk about what they could do to calm down the group.
I had to walk away before I cracked at them, as if not an hour ago
my mother had turned into one of the things we were hiding from. I
made my way back to the quiet of the room we had found Terry. The
place should have given me pause, but it was better than listening
to anyone. Anna followed me like a shadow, and when I slid to sit
with my back to the wall, she knelt in front of me.

She looked tired, dark
rings lined her eyes, red with tears. For a second she opened her
mouth to say something, but stopped and closed it. There was
nothing she could say, nothing to fix what was broken in the world.
I was glad, I didn’t think I could take any more sympathy, I had to
hold onto the fire in my stomach or I would lose myself to
grief.

Eventually, she looked
into my eyes, and I was taken aback by the brilliant blue of hers.
We stayed that way for a few seconds, and instead of talking, she
leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine. The initial surprise
passed, and I found myself leaning in. I wanted it, needed it like
she did. Anna had always been there, defended and looked after me.
She was the only one who understood, the only one down there to put
me before everyone else.

The kiss became more
heated, and I ran my hands through her hair, hers gripped my
t-shirt tight. It felt too soon when she pulled away. I was
confused, and gave her a quizzical look.

‘
That was a
mistake,’ she whispered out of breath. ‘I’m sorry I
can’t.’

‘
Anna?’ I
said.

‘
Lucas, I’m…
I’m…’ she flustered, but she stopped and left.

I blinked. I couldn’t
comprehend what had just happened, but I didn’t move. One hour
passed, then another, and another. Some shouting echoed through
from the other room, but I tried to ignore it. Eventually, Jane
appeared, and took up the position left by Anna. She had white
cotton balls in her hand, and something to clean my knuckles with.
It stung as she dabbed at them and I winced. She smiled
apologetically as she wrapped bandages around them.

I wondered if I should
ask for more for my bullet wounds, but I couldn’t find the energy,
and after a while of silence, the question seemed unimportant.
Instead I asked about the situation with Grace and her
cult.

Jane sighed,
‘They’re done, Lucas. Those people have given up, with those
creatures being their former friends and family. The deaths, and
this
FOG
group
pulling the strings, they’re willing to believe
anything.’

‘
They’re not
serious about going topside and offering themselves on a platter
are they?’ I asked sceptically.

‘
I don’t
know,’ she grimaced. ‘That bitch has got her claws in them. Now
she’s trying to convince them that going out will reunite them with
their families. What she’s kindly leaving out is that to do that,
she’d have them killed.’

I shook my head. We
couldn’t touch her to stop her. It would give her voice more clout,
and cement her group against us. Fear had destroyed everything,
especially common sense.

‘
Get some
sleep, don’t worry about it,’ Jane smiled tapping my knee
lightly.

She took her leave and I
laughed at the notion of sleep. Adrenaline still coursed through my
veins, making my body twitch. My mind whirled with constant
questions, the faces of the dead making various appearances
throughout. If only I knew what they wanted from me, I would have
given them it in a heartbeat. That time had passed. I wanted
revenge, and nothing would get in my way. It was with dark thoughts
that I drifted off.