Taken Over (Book 2 The Ravening Series) (27 page)

   I breathed deeply, closing my eyes as my fingers curled into the soft ground beneath me.
It was wondrous this world of different sights and smells and freedom. That was why the
aliens
had come to take it from us. They understood the wonder
of th
e
world
that we had forgotten. They wanted what was ours, our planet, our
blood; our lives. They wanted it, and they were slowly and surely wresting it from us.
There had to be a way to stop t
hem
.

   But that wasn’t what I wanted to think about, not here, not now. Now I simply wanted to lie upon the ground and forget about everything except for the magical world surrounding me. Wanted to forget about everything except for the
calm steal
ing
through
my soul.

   The forest came slowly to life around me. Creatures began to move through the woods, creeping out of their holes and dens as they searched
for food. I remained unmoving for a long time, inhaling the scents, listening to the sounds, and taking solace in the healing ointment that the world had to offer.
So many scents, so many sounds. Far more than I had ever noticed before, but then I had never taken the time to
just
enjoy the
world I had been blessed with
. To simply listen, and see, the beauty it had to offer.
I took the time to do so now.

 
I knew I had to return eventually, knew I had to go back to everyone, but I didn’t want to.
Not yet anyway.

   For now I wanted to be alone. For now I wanted this quiet, this solitude.

   I had placed myself in
danger by coming out here by myself
. There was safety in numbers, alone I was far more vulnerable, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about that right now.
I didn’t want to die, didn’t want to get hurt again, that wasn’t what
being here
was about. This was about
just
being
alive, about discovering joy where there had been none
. This was about trying to find the girl that had been buried by the woman with the oddly
c
old eyes, and strange face.

  
Even if I couldn’t
get
her back completely, I wanted just a small piece of that girl again.
I just wasn’t sure I would ever be able to find even that small piece of her again.
I couldn’t have my home back, couldn’t have my mom back. I couldn’t have Cade back. But this,
this
I
could have
. I flipped onto my back, still breathing heavily as I stared at the spatter of stars sparkling through the thick canopy of trees.

   I lay there for a long time, breathing in the scents, the sounds, the night. If something came now I would be vulnerable, defenseless if I could
n’t
get to my guns in time. But I didn’t care. It didn’t hurt so much here, I was able to breathe a little easier. Here, there was a small sliver of
serenity
that I wasn’t ready to relinquish.

   And
somewhere
in th
e
forest
I
finally
found
a dreamless
sleep.

***

  
“Have you discovered anything?”

   Bishop lifted his head from the microscope. He
a
ppear
ed
confused by my sudden appearance
as he blinked rapidly at me
. “I uh, I’m not sure.”  

   I frowned at him as I stepped
down
onto the porch. “What do you mean you’re
not sure?”

   He shook his head, shoving his glasses up as he took a step away from the microscope. “Maybe it’s because the blood is old.”
   “
I don’t understand; y
ou need a fresh sample?”

   “Yes, yes that must be it. A fresh sample will solve everything.”

   “Solve everything?”

   I was completely confused by what he was saying, but he didn’t seem to notice as he wandered around in search of something. He was speaking so low that it took me a moment to realize that he was talking to himself.
His mutters made me frown and a spike of fear t
o
r
e
through me. What the hell was wrong with h
im
?
What was wrong with the blood? What was wrong with
me
?

   “Bishop?”
   He lifted a syringe into the air, the sharp needle at the end gleamed eerily in the light.
His eyebrows were drawn tightly together as he looked over the needle to me. “It’s nothing to worry about Bethy, I’m sure the samples
were
just contaminated somehow. They have been moved around a lot, and I haven’t been able to keep them stored as properly as I would have liked. I’m sure that’s the reason for the abnormalities.”

   I frowned fiercely at him, not liking his choice of words at all. “Abnormalities?”
I croaked.

   “It’s nothing a new sample w
on’t
clear
right
up.”

  
“Bishop what the
hell
are you talking about?” I demanded.

   His attention had already been diverted b
ack to his machines; he seemed to have simply forgotten the syringe in his hand. A cold chill crept down my spine, the hair on the nape of my neck stood on end. I had been so detached lately, so cold, and unfeeling. What if there was something wrong with me?
Was it somehow because of the
wound I had received
on the beach
, on some strange germ
the thing had given me
perhaps
?
I had been deadened since Cade had died; I had blamed my
detachment
on his loss, but w
as there something
wrong
with me?

   My heart pounded rapidly in my chest, my hands were shaking as I shoved them into the pockets of my jeans. I had to fight the urge to turn and flee, to bolt into the woods and bury myself in the solace that they offered. Not now, not during the day I to
ld myself fiercely. But tonight I could run and run, and then maybe I could sleep for a little while again. It had been amazing to
sleep the sleep of the dead
for the past
five
nights.
There
had been
no dreams, no nightmares to plague me within the woods.

  
Maybe it was the running that did it. Maybe I was just so exhausted by the time I collapsed that
it was nearly impossible for me to dream. I didn’t think it was that though, I thought it was the simple pleasure of being able to do something freeing, something wild
.
S
omething that the girl I had once been would have
been too afraid to do
,
and the strange woman I had become would never enjoy. And yet not only did I do it, I also
relished in
it.

   And in that simple realization I found myself
slowly
becoming someone new.
B
ecoming s
omeone that was not driven by fear as
the
girl
had been
, and someone that was not driven by anger and hurt as the strange woman
had been
.
The
person
that
was emerging was new, uncertain to me, but I found I was beginning to like her.
And I had not liked myself in a very long time.
She was a combination of the
girl and the hardened woman.
She had
some of the same strengths
,
and some of the same weaknesses, but she had learned
and she was wiser
.
I
was wiser
.

 
I was developing new ways to handle things,
finding
new things to enjoy and take pleasure in, and new ways to take care of myself
.
The ice encasing me was melting; I was beginning to understand that loss was not an exc
use to
hide from people, and love
.
Not an excuse to withdraw from the world.
Grief
was something to endure,
it was something
to
grow
and learn
from, and I was starting to realize this
.

   Those hours in the woods had soothed some of the ragged edges of my frayed soul
and had finally allowed me to come back to life, even
if only
a little.
But slowly
,
day by day, that little was beginning to grow.

   But
now I could feel the panic tearing at me
again
, shredding my insides, trying to climb out of me as Bishop placed the syringe between his teeth and hit a few keys on the computer he had set up.
There was no internet, the aliens had banned it and dismantled it months before they had unleashed their unholy attack
, but Bishop kept all of his notes on his laptop
.
I watched
Bishop
as he frowned, shook his head, and pulled the syringe from between his lips.
He seemed to have completely forgotten that I was even here, or what the syringe was for.
I understood
this strange quirk about Bishop, understood
people who lived mainly within their own worlds. Aiden
lived within the walls of science and math; my father had also been a dreamer
who had spent many hours
locked away
writing
.

   But Bishop was driving me nuts right now
, and
at this moment
I had no patience for it
.