Run (10 page)

In the morning, Brion and Eryn stay behind with the kids while Kyl, Jae, Dyanne, Shulin and I go downstairs to destroy the Eaters. We have told Dyanne and Shulin about how they can smell younger children, and we all agree that the kids should be kept as far away from the Eaters as possible.

We figure fire will be the best way to do it. Jae has two boxes of matches while Kyl has found lots of old boxes that will serve well as kindling. We edge towards the pool cautiously. It is so quiet.

“Are they sleeping?” I whisper to Jae.

“I hope so,” Jae says.

He places his hand on my back. It is the only thing anchoring me to reality. When we reach the pit, we freeze in shock. The Eaters are gone.

Well, not totally gone. There are only two Eaters left. And they are eating each other. All that's left in the pit are bones.

I try desperately to suck in the breaths I need.

“Zee? Calm down. Shh. It'll be okay.” Jae rubs my back and leads me away.

I look up at the balcony and see the horrified look on the kids' faces. They shouldn't be seeing this! Kyl waves at them to go inside, but they don't move. They are looking at something else in the distance. They look even more horrified than before.

“Oh no, not more of them,” I say to Jae.

We run to the balcony on the second level to have a better view.

It is a small group of teenagers and children. They are all on skateboards, fleeing from a horde of Eaters. I see a boy with white hair jump over a trash bin and whip his skateboard from under his feet, hitting an Eater in the face before landing and skating away.

I see an Asian-looking boy do a tricky manoeuvre over a curb. He whips his legs around and kicks three Eaters down. Another boy jumps into the air and kicks an Eater away, clutching his board with his right hand before landing and zooming off. A red-haired girl leaps into the air and lands on one of the Eaters. Even the younger kids jump onto cars with their boards and skate out of danger.

There is something familiar about the way the white-haired boy moves, though I don't know why. Once, he looks like he is going to crash right into a car. Instead, he leaps from his skateboard, flies over the roof of the car, and lands back on his skateboard which has travelled to the other side. It is very, very cool.

We all watch in amazement as they get closer and closer to our condo. The kids stop right outside the compound of the condo and look up. We duck down behind the balcony wall and hope that those on the eighth floor do the same.

“Why are we hiding?” I point out.

Dyanne glares at me. “More people means more mouths. Do you see them carrying food?”

“But they look normal! We have to meet them! Strength in numbers! Don't you think we would survive better as a bigger group?” I point out.

“Look at how much trouble just one of you has brought us. We were happy until you came,” Dyanne says. “You have brought us nothing but bad luck.”

“Hey!” Jae steps in. “She's also helped us. You can't blame what happened with the Eaters on her! Without her, we could all be dead!”

There is a scream and we all stand up to look. One of the children in that group has been taken by an Eater. It is a girl and she looks so small in the arms of a huge Eater.

“Let me go,” she screams.

The others all turn around to help. But they don't see what we see. Coming from a side street, hidden from their view, is a group of about 20 Eaters. In addition to the Eaters coming down towards them from the other direction, I estimate there must be 50 of them. Against eight kids. It doesn't seem fair.

I gape at Jae. “We have to help them! Please!”

Jae nods. “I'll come with you.”

As we rush towards the stairs, I stop at a pile of construction junk and pick out two wooden poles. Someone follows behind me. It is Kyl. Dyanne and Shulin follow suit. I look at them gratefully.

“You don't have to do this if you don't want to,” I say.

I just get stony faces from Dyanne and Shulin. Kyl shrugs.

Jae lays his hand on my shoulder. “Let's go.”

We sprint down the stairs, taking three at a time. When we reach them, we can see only five kids. The two guys – the white-haired one and the Asian-looking one – are fending off the Eaters while the girl with the flaming red hair is protecting two kids who look no older than eight.

I thought kids that young didn't survive. I'm pretty shocked. I don't know whether to be happy or sad. Jae and Kyl jump in to help right away. The newcomers look at us with some surprise, but there is no time for words. There are too many Eaters.

Jae effortlessly knocks down two Eaters with his pole. Left, right. I didn't realise what a good fighter he is. He jumps into the air and whips his stick around so that all four Eaters advancing towards us fall.

“Go look for the others. Kyl and I can take care of these ones here. There are only a few left.”

A few? My eyes widen.

“Are you crazy?” I yell as I jab my stick into an Eater's head. “I'm not leaving you here.”

“There were three more kids! You have to find them!”

Then what he does surprises me. He grabs my shoulders and kisses me. Sparks fly as his lips press against mine. I swear my heart literally stops beating. I realise what's happening and kiss him back. Time slows around us and it's just the two of us. No one trying to eat us, no problems, no confusion. We break apart and I stare into his amazingly beautiful green eyes.

“Go, please,” he whispers.

He is right. I reluctantly let him go and peer around to see where the other three have gone. I smack three Eaters out of the way easily and run to where I can see down the side street. I see a different crowd of Eaters dragging three kids away – two of them look my age. The third child is the girl who had first gotten caught. She is screaming. I count almost 20 Eaters.

“Dyanne! Shulin! Over here!”

As I sprint towards the Eaters, I scream to get their attention. The Eaters turn towards me. I feel that familiar tingle. This time, it starts in my fingertips and travels all the way up my arms, spreading down my belly and up my spine. I relax into the sensation and let instincts take over.

My hands spin the pole. Faster and faster it goes. It confuses the Eaters. A quick flick brings down an Eater to the right and another to the left. I spin the pole over my head and bring it sweeping down over three more. Their heads crunch under the weight of the pole. They growl in agony. Five down, how many more to go?

I see Dyanne and Shulin fending off one each. They are both clumsy and unused to fighting. Thankfully, the Eaters are slow-moving and dull. Dyanne punches one right in the nose, which sort of disintegrates.

“Ew! Ew!” she yells as she pulls her hand back. It is covered with slime.

Shulin is struggling with her Eater. She kicks at it, but it is such a feeble kick. The Eater grabs her neck and pulls her head to his mouth. She screams.

Dyanne looks over in horror. She runs over but is blocked by two Eaters.

“Shulin! Shulin!” The dread in her voice goes right to my heart. The Eater opens its mouth to bite.

I race over, knowing I won't be able to reach her in time. Grasping my pole like a javelin, I aim and release. The pole flies in an arc, landing right in the Eater's eye. Its head snaps back and it falls over. Shulin falls over too, landing on it. I run over to help her up.

“Are you okay?” My voice is high-pitched and loud.

She nods.

“Stay with me,” I order her. I can't leave her alone if she can't fight. She'll be dead meat, literally.

I grab Shulin's hand and head back to the group of Eaters shambling slowly away with the three kids. I scream again to get their attention.

“Hey, you stupids! Come and get me!” I shout.

They don't seem to care. They are fixated on the smell of the young girl. I need to find something they want more. Something that will make them let go of the child. I slide a small knife out from my pocket. I close my eyes, grit my teeth and slash down hard along the side of my arm. The pain is instant. I scream.

Holding up my bleeding arm, I shout, “How about this! Want some of this blood?”

Behind me, Shulin says, “Are you crazy?”

Am I? Probably.

In any case, it works. The smell of my blood energises the Eaters. They drop the girl and the two others, and lurch towards me. Their movements are jerky and awkward, but they are motivated. By my blood. I turn around and push Shulin away from me. She is safe, now that all they want is me.

I smile as I twirl my pole. I am so ready for them. Again, my body takes over and I watch my arms and legs move of their own accord. I sweep the pole, knocking two Eaters off their feet. Two more reach out for me, but they each get a blow to their throats and they fall down.

Left, right, twirl, smash. Double twirl, tap, tap. They fall down one by one. But they keep coming. I am getting tired. I pause for a breath and see Jae, Kyl and the five new kids running my way. Thank goodness. I can do with some help. I am surrounded by the Eaters, and the only thing holding them back is my pole.

The white-haired boy is screaming a strange battle cry, “Kay! Kay! Kay!” The others in his group join in. What a bunch of weirdos.

Then the white-haired boy throws his skateboard on the ground and jumps on it, propelling himself towards me.

“Kay!” he yells. “Vee!”

Huh? Is this the time for some alphabet game? What does he mean?

There is panic on his face when I don't respond.

“Vee! Vee!” he yells at me. “V position!”

My arms move on their own. I swing the pole one more time, making a swinging circle that keeps the Eaters away. Then, even though I don't know why, I plant the pole vertically down on the ground and brace it against my right shoulder. My legs are bent, ready to take the impact.

Just in time.

The boy kicks the back of his skateboard and launches himself into the air, over the heads of the Eaters.

“Incoming!” he yells as he reaches for my pole.

I feel his weight as he grabs my pole to swing himself around. He is going so fast the momentum swings him around once, twice, three times. Each time he goes around, I hear sickening sounds – crunching and splattering. At last, he lands next to me. I straighten up and look around me. All the Eaters are down, either dead or dying.

I gape at him in shock. I hear a ringing in my ears and the world seems to be contracting. Something is squeezing my brain.

I blink and try to ask for help, but I can't get the words out. He looks at me in alarm and reaches out to catch me as I fall. What beautiful green eyes he has…

“Kayla, wake up! Wake up! Please hurry! Hurry! They're coming! You have to go.”

Around me is smoke, the building is on fire. I choke on smoke and my eyes water. I blink rapidly, trying to clear my eyes. I spot Dev and Lily dragging the kids out while Connor is shaking me.

“They're after you, Kayla. RUN.” He tries to pull me out from under the cupboard.

“Come on!” he shouts, before coughing. I yank my arm out from underneath and scream as I scrape my wrist.

“Come on! You can do it,” he screams. I notice he is crying. “Please.”

Part of the ceiling collapses next to me and I look up at Connor fearfully. More debris falls, this time on my head.

“Go on without me,” I rasp.

Images rush through my head. I scream and jolt awake. I am breathing heavily. Jae is standing over me and is looking at me with concern.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

I look at my hand and see the fading scar of a scrape on my wrist. I look at Jae. I look past him to all the young survivors forming a circle around me. The ones from our group, and the eight new ones. We are all back in the apartment on the eighth floor. Everyone has crowded into the living room, worry in their eyes.

I straighten up, struggling to get air into my lungs. I look up at Jae fearfully.

“What's going on?” I ask.

“It's okay. We are all okay,” he says.

“Who are they?” I ask, pointing at the new kids.

The red-haired girl looks amazed. “Is that really you? What happened? How did you get out? We thought you were dead!”

I frown. I feel a tingle, stronger than ever. But I push it away.

Get out? Get out from where?

The white-haired boy says nothing. He just walks forward and hugs me. I hug him back awkwardly for, like, a second, before pushing him away. Jae sits down protectively next to me.

I look into the white-haired boy's eyes and I jerk away in shock. Those green eyes.

“I've missed you so much,” he says. He is struggling not to cry.

I gasp and back away, knocking into Jae. He slides an arm around my waist. I am so confused.

“You don't remember me?” the boy with the white hair asks, his face hardening.

“I-I don't know. I don't remember anything,” I stammer.

Jae tightens his grip on me.

“You were one of us. Don't you remember? I'm Connor, that's Dev and she's Lily.”

Dev? Connor? Lily? I was one of them?

“I-I-I don't know what you're talking about.” I shake my head. “I really don't. I'm sorry.”

“Nothing? At all? Do you remember the fire?” It is the red-haired girl, Lily.

“The fire? You mean that was real?” I look at the scar on my wrist again.

Jae snaps his head at me. “What fire?”

“That fire was real,” Connor says, looking at Jae's arm around my waist. “I-I-I… I tried to get you out, but the fire was too big. We tried to get help, but by the time we came back, the fire had burnt out, and you were gone. We thought they took you away. We looked for you for days…”

“It's true. We looked everywhere, but you were gone,” Dev joins in. “Kay, how could you forget us? How could you forget Connor?”

I suddenly reach forward and touch Connor's face on impulse. Then I yank my hand away, eyes wide.

“It's late. She remembers nothing. You should stop interrogating her. Let's get some rest.” It is Dyanne that comes to my rescue.

I smile gratefully at her.

“She's right,” Jae says. “Let's get some rest.” He stands up and pulls me to him. I lean into him, but my feelings are all jumbled and confused.

Lily marches up to me and puts both hands on my shoulders.

“Kay, please. We've missed you so much. Connor especially. Can't you tell? His beautiful black hair has turned white!” she says.

I stare at Connor in shock. His hair used to be black? Connor glances back at me wearily.

I feel a sharp pain at the back of my head. I smell smoke and start to gasp for breath. Connor looks at me. There are tears in his green eyes.

“Please, Kayla,” Connor says.

I look up at Jae. I look into his green eyes. I look at Connor again.

There's that squeezing sensation in my head again and my world contracts. I close my eyes. A memory bubbles up and I literally hear a pop in my head.

My eyes fly open.

Finally, finally, I remember everything.

TO BE CONTINUED…