Scattered (3 page)

Leaning against the rough bricks of an old storefront, I stood, panting. The adrenaline had left my system and I was running on fumes.

“Annie, I’m tired
,
” Dustin said, his hand squeezing mine. I looked down at him, really looked instead of just acknowledging that he was still there and not snagged by a Nevermore.
B
ags under his haunted
blue
eyes, skin an ugly
sallow
pallor, his brows drawn into what looked like a permanent frown.
He did not look fourteen.

I gave him a half hearted smile and nodded because I was too damn tired to even say a simple yes.

There were lots of buildings, but I wanted one that afforded a little more protection and I had one in particular in mind. Down near the harbour front, where all the boats docked
,
were several hotels. I’d dated one of the bellhops from the Dorchester and he’d shown me how to get in through the back door with the key the employees kept hidden for when they locked themselves out.
We could sleep a little
,
then grab a boat and get out of here.

I prayed that no Nevermores would pop out while we headed that way, because at the point I was at, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t just lie down and l
et them kill me. My feet stumbled
, Dustin’s head drooped and we pretty much dragged our asses to the hotel.

The key was still where my ex had shown me it was
,
and then we tried the door. I knew why the employees struggled with
getting locked out. The door was incredibly heavy and the second we stepped through into the semi dark hotel, it slammed shut behind us. Neither of us even jumped.

Being old school, the Dorchester didn’t have those fancy key cards, but instead still had rows of keys lined up behind the concierge’s desk. I grabbed #208 and we headed for the second floor.

As soon as we were in the room, we dropped onto the king size bed, curled up around each other and fell asleep.

Something shook the bed. Not hard, just a vibration that I felt through my whole body. I opened my eyes and took a deep breath. I felt better, rested. Another vibration with a distant boom. What was that? I stood and stretched as I walked to the window.

“Holy Crap!” I yelped. The harbour was in flames and even as I watched, a boat exploded. What the hell was going on? Below me
,
there was movement and I stared in shock as men in army fatigues ran past, guns held loosely
in their arms. One of them held up his
fist
and the group paused. The leader glanced over
his shoulder
, straight at me. I froze, our eyes making contact and
a
shiver of anticipation ran through me.
I
t wasn’t all together bad. He frowned and took a step toward the hotel when one of the other men grabbed his
arm,
stopping him. Heart pounding and blood flowing to areas I’d thought were long asleep, I placed my hand on the glass.

He lifted his hand in return, then spun and led the group,
disappear
ing
around the block, heading south.

“What is it?” Dustin mumbled from the bed.

I took a sharp breath in and tried to settle my suddenly raging hormones. What the hell was that all about? The last thing we needed was to get involved with more gun
-
toting humans. Look
at
what happened with the last one.

“I don’t know,
” I said, “
but I think we’d better get out of here.
”
No point sticking around if the boats
were
all gone.

He grumbled
,
but got up. His muttering made me smile
. T
hat was more like the teenage
r
I was used to.
It didn’t take us long to pack our meagre belongings
,
and though Dustin wanted to dawdle, I hurried him along. I had a really bad feeling about all these vibrations that felt like earthquakes but weren’t.

We ran downstairs and out the back door just as the earth shook and a massive boom filled the air. I looked up to see the Co
ast Bastion Hotel sway above us, all twenty five stories of it.

Oh shit, this was not good, not good at all!

We spun and ran deeper into town, heading
n
orth, our eyes on the water’s edge as we searched for a boat.
There was nothing but the rumbling booms behind us and the empty road in front.

“Why would they blow the ships up?” Dustin asked.

I shook my head. “I have no idea. There were men with
guns;
maybe they were fighting over territory or something.
Maybe they were the ones setting off the bombs.
”

The faint sound of a vehicle reached my ears and I put a hand on Dustin to stop him. “Listen.”

“Wait here.” I patted his shoulder and ran down one of the side streets
, pacing the Jeep.

The driver was a woman, her long dark hair tousled
; her
eyes
focused on the road, and then scanning over me
.
I leapt out of the side street, nearly colliding with the Jeep. The woman started, slamming on the brakes as she sucked in a gasp and turned to me, her
dark brown
eyes wide.

“I’m sorry
,
” I said
.
“I just was so excited to see you and I thought you saw me too. You looked right at me.”

She let out a big breath before answering. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “My name is Annie, my brother Dustin is just over there, I was wondering . . .” I got a good look inside the Jeep. There was a large man, no,
Nevermore
passed out in the passenge
r
’
s side. What the hell was she thinking?

I backed away from the Jeep, my eyes wide, my jaw dropping open. “You’re crazy. He’s going to eat you!” I yelped as I spun on my heel and sprinted away from them.

Dustin grabbed me as I leaped around the corner.

“No good?”

I shook my head. “No.”

We started back out, eating the cereal and peanut butter
as we walked
.
I tightened the
back
pack
.
Walking, we made it to the far end of Nanaimo by evening, stopping only to search for water bottles coming up with three in total.
It was better than nothing, but not by much.

Along the water’s edge there wasn’t a single boat left behind. Damn.

Dustin spoke my thoughts out loud without knowing it. “They’ve taken all the boats and now we’re stuck here.”

Even though inwardly I agreed with him, I snorted. “We aren’t stuck here. We’ll find a boat.”

Behind us came a sharp
,
short
,
howl. It was a scout
from a Nevermore pack. We lunged
into a flat out run without a word between us, careening down the rocky beach. From our left came another howl and the crashing of bodies running through the bush as they kept pace with us. A quick glance over my shoulder showed me four Nevermores about twenty feet behind us. This was not good.

The beach took a wide corner around a point and we skidded around it
;
stumbl
ing
to a stop. The Nevermores had herded us
into a trap. Waiting on the beach ahead of u
s was a huge group of them
all focused on one thing.

Us.

I did the only thing I could think of. I ran into the water
, propelling Dustin ahead of me, despite his screech of fear.

The Nevermores ran t
oward us
.

“Faster!” I
yelled
,
the water now up to our knees and slowing us down. But there was no splashing behind us. I turned to face
them;
surely they would be right on top of us.

The entire pack, which looked to be about forty or so Nevermores, was standing on the beach, jumping away every time a wave splashed toward them. They were afraid of the water.

“Wait
,
” I said, putting my hand on Dustin’s shoulder.

He spun and fell into the water, dousing himself completely.
The pack screamed as a unit and flailed away from the ocean as if it was them who’d fallen in and not Dustin.

He stood up sputtering. “Why aren’t they chasing us?”

“They’re afraid of the water. This is
good buddy
.”
I said
,
grinning at him. He didn’t get it right away, why this was so good. But as we walked parallel with the shoreline, the Nevermores didn’t make a single move other than to match our pace on shore.
Dustin quickly grasped what I meant. As long as we stayed in the water, we were safe.

An hour slid by
,
and then another and another. The sun
started its descent,
and what I’d thought was a
g
odsend was now looking to be a very large problem. We couldn’t walk forever, we’d gone through two of our three water bottles and the food would run out
soon
too. I had no doubt that the pack would pace us until we broke and had to come in.

Dustin seemed to sense my mood as
it
sunk
with the sun and he refrained from asking me anymore questions.

I stumbled on a rock and went to my knees which soaked me almost to my waist.

“Son of a bitch!” I yelled, venting my frustration. I picked up a rock and threw it at the Nevermores, scattering them. Dustin took my lead and we threw rocks, hitting a few of the pack members, but mostly missing.

I bit down on the tears that
crept
forward;
a sob long buried busting out of me before I could stop it. Dustin didn’t say a word, just wrapped his arms around me as I choked back the fear and grief that threatened to overwhelm me.

“It’
ll be okay
,
Annie. I just know it
,
”
h
e said, taking my hand in his and leading the way. I let him, seeing the man he could become if we could get off this rock.

I gripped his fingers, gave them a squeeze
,
and he looked back and smiled.

“You’ll see
,
Annie. I’ve got a
good feeling about this. I bet you a jar of jam
there’s a boat around the next corner
,
”
h
e said, his eyes lighting up with belief
in what I thought was impossible
.

But
I nodded and smiled back.
“You’re on.”

I could only hope he was right.