The Farm (30 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Lily

It was five steps from the church door to the van and five steps back. Times six trips to carry all our stuff out and load it into the van. Divided by the three of us who were able to carry heavy loads. Twenty steps.

That might not seem like an eternity, but it was.

Twenty steps with only the van’s interior dome light pressing against the darkness. Twenty steps with my ears tuned to every sound. The swoosh of the wind through the trees at the edge of the parking lot. The skittering of some creature’s claws on the pavement. The rustle of something moving through the bushes.

Those were all normal sounds. Nighttime sounds. Innocent.

I wasn’t afraid until my second trip. I’d just dropped off my load of bags in the back of the van when I noticed it. Silence. I stopped still. Carter, behind me, must have noticed it, too. I felt his hand on my back.

He leaned forward and whispered, “Move slowly. Maybe it’s nothing.”

But my heart was pounding, because it didn’t feel like nothing. I crept forward, not even breathing until I crossed the threshold into the church. I expected Carter to be right behind me. He wasn’t.

Joe was on his way out and I held up a hand to stop him.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It’s too quiet out there.” I looked out the window beside the door, searching the darkness for Carter. It didn’t take long to spot him. Standing at the back of the van, he held his Maglite at eye level and was shining it out at the tree line. I didn’t see whatever spooked him, but a second later, he slammed the van door closed and dashed for the door. I held it open for him, throwing the bolt the second he was inside. A second later, the door shook as the Tick slammed into it.

I jumped back at the sound, nearly tripping over Joe and McKenna. My breath caught in my chest. An instant later, another Tick hit the door. Its misshapen hand thumped the glass. Then it pressed its face to the window.

“Holy crap!” McKenna gasped.

“Turn off the light,” I said even as Carter was hitting the switch.

I didn’t know how its vision was, but I instinctively didn’t want it to have a good view of us. There was another thud on the door. Either a third Tick or one of the first two hitting it again.

“Back to the sanctuary,” Carter ordered.

He didn’t have to say it twice. He grabbed the last two duffel bags and we piled through the door, to huddle in the center of the room near the pulpit. Carter flicked the Maglite back on. We’d already blown out all the candles.

“What the hell?” Joe asked, wrapping a protective arm around McKenna. “I thought they couldn’t come on holy ground.”

“It’s not that they can’t,” I reminded him. “It’s that they usually don’t.”

Carter shoved a hand through his hair. “It’s probably the chips. Either they followed us here or the blood from the chips attracted the attention of another pack.”

“What do we do?” McKenna’s voice trembled as she spoke and I didn’t need the light to know she was starting to cry.

Carter blew out a sigh. “Just give me a minute to think.”

“We can wait, right?” I said. “We just scrap the plan to sneak up on the Dean. We can wait until after dawn to leave.”

I thought of Mel, alone with that monster, and had to swallow back my fear. At least she was okay. For now. The Dean might be evil, but he’d do everything in his power to keep himself safe. So that meant she was safe, too. Unless things got really desperate and he fed her to the Ticks to save himself. . . . No, I couldn’t let myself think like that.

“Will that work?” McKenna asked, her voice high-pitched with fear.

“Will it?” I repeated, purposely blowing out a breath to calm myself. Not that I believed I was mucking with anyone’s emotions. But there was no point in risking it. I found myself wondering if it would be easier to fight my panic if Mel was around. If I was focused on keeping her relaxed, would all the others chill out, too? When we were together, was I calm because I spent so much energy keeping her that way, or was the opposite true? Did I calm her down or did she calm me?

Carter frowned. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” I asked, watching him carefully. “This isn’t the time to tiptoe around the truth. If you think it’ll work, tell us. If you don’t, we’ll find another plan.”

Carter’s silence made my stomach flip over.

“Be honest,” I said.

“Dude, if it’s the chips that’s driving them crazy,” Joe interrupted, “can’t we just smash the chips?”

We all glanced over to where the four bloody chips sat in the collection bowl on one of the benches.

“I don’t know,” Carter admitted. “The chips probably attracted them, but now they’ve caught our scent. If they’re hungry, destroying the chips won’t make them go away.”

And they were probably hungry. He didn’t have to say it. We all remembered the Tick eating the Collab out on the highway. If they were hungry enough they were here to stay.

“But they’ll leave at dawn, right?” McKenna asked.

“Maybe,” Carter said. Then he shook his head. “I don’t think we should wait that long. The logical thing would be for me to take the chips and try to draw them away from the rest of you.”

“That’s not logical!” I protested. “That’s insane.”

“No. It makes sense. Think about it. That old Impala is sitting in the parking lot. I drive away slowly enough that they chase me. Then the rest of you head for the van and go get Mel.”

“No. Absolutely not.” I may be pissed as hell at him, but I didn’t want him dead.

Carter met my gaze. “If it saves Mel—”

“Mel is fine for now. We still have other options.”

“For now—” he started to protest.

“Yes,” I said firmly. “Until we’re out of options, no one’s going out there.”

For the first time I actually hoped I was an
abductura
. I desperately wanted to persuade them all to wait. As if in response to my statement, another crash came from the back door, followed by a blood-chilling howl. It sounded way too close.

Panic skittered up my spine. I swallowed it down. “I don’t think this church spent enough on insulation.”

Carter went to the side door and looked out into the hall. He turned back around and gave his head a little shake to indicate the door was holding. But for how long? Did we even have until morning?

I licked my lips and asked, “How many weapons do we have?”

“You still have your bow and arrows, right?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded toward the bags he’d dumped on a bench on the way in. The shotgun he’d taken from Uncle Rodney’s was strapped to the outside of one of them. “And I have my pistol. Joe, what do you have?”

“Just my nine-millimeter.” Joe stuttered a bit over the word “my.” I’d given it to him at Uncle Rodney’s even though neither of us could really imagine him using a gun. Joe just didn’t seem like the type.

But seeing the protective arm he kept around McKenna, I knew he would try. He would be what she needed him to be.

I swallowed. “We won’t need the weapons. We’ll wait. Mel will be okay until dawn. That’s what the Dean said. We’ll wait and see what the Ticks do.”

Joe and McKenna both nodded. Carter clenched his jaw, but finally gave a terse nod also.

Then he hefted one side of the nearest bench, testing to see how easy they were to lift. To Joe he said, “Help me move this.”

They moved benches in front of each door while the sounds of the Ticks throwing themselves at the doors continued. And spread. They kept up the attacks on the side door and another group started in on the front door. I checked the time on my phone too often. The minutes crawled toward dawn while I counted the thumps the Ticks made against the doors, trying to estimate how many were out there. It was thump-thump-thump on the side door and thump-thump on the front. I guessed five, but knew it was only a guess. Then I heard a sound that made my pulse race. The skittering of nails on glass. Nearby.

I checked the time on my phone again. The sun would be up about seven. It wasn’t five yet. Shit.

Only then did I let myself turn toward the floor-to-ceiling stained-glass window at the end of the sanctuary. The screech of nails on glass echoed through the room. McKenna whimpered. I closed my eyes, unable to look at it again.

I couldn’t watch, which was why I heard Carter stand up rather than saw him.

“Screw it. I’m not waiting for one of those things to break in here.”

“Carter—” I popped up to my feet. I’d lost Mel already tonight. I didn’t want to lose him as well. I couldn’t.

“Look, I can do this. I can draw them away from the rest of you and you’ll have a fighting chance.” He dug the keys to the Impala out of his pocket and gave them a little shake.

“No.” Joe and I said the word at the same time and it took me a second to realize he’d spoken, too. I turned to see him standing, McKenna’s hand in his.

“No, dude. It should be me.”

McKenna let loose a sob and buried her face in his shoulder. But she didn’t question him or beg him not to go. It was like they’d done that silent communication thing again when I hadn’t been looking. I felt another stab of envy for what I didn’t have with Carter and for a moment that longing made me miss part of the conversation.

“I have a better chance of making it,” Carter was saying.

“Which is why you’re the one who should be with McKenna and Lily. Dude, if they’re going to make it to Canada, it’s going to be with you. You can get them out of this church and to safety. I might could do it, but you definitely can.”

Carter was silent, like he wanted to argue.

He shot me a look, but I couldn’t read it at all. There seemed to be regret there, but over what?

“Besides,” Joe added, “you can cover me on the way to the car. You might actually hit something. If I tried to cover you, I wouldn’t hit jack.”

Finally, Carter nodded, but it looked like it took all his willpower to make himself do it. Even though I couldn’t read his expression, I got the gist of it. It wasn’t in his nature to let someone else fall on the sword for him.

But once the decision was made, he morphed back into the Carter I knew. The competent, in-control guy with a plan. I silently thanked God he had one, ’cause I sure as hell didn’t.

“Okay, we’re going to move fast. The Impala is parked in front, so Joe, you’ll go out the main doors. McKenna and Lily, I want you waiting by the back door ready to run for the van on my signal, okay?”

“Okay,” I said for both of us, because McKenna was crying too hard to speak for herself.

Carter scooped the chips out of the collection bowl but then stood there, looking around like he didn’t know what to do with them.

I reached into the pocket of my hoodie and pulled out the empty Altoids tin and held it out to him.

He met my gaze. For the first time since he’d tried to kiss me. His expression looked so sad it made my heart ache.

Of course he was sad. He was sending Joe out into a night full of Ticks. He was sending a buddy out to his possible death. Joe was right. He was the logical choice, but all the logic in the world wouldn’t make this right.

But Joe was volunteering. He was doing it for the woman he loved and the baby he’d made.

What was Carter doing this for?

Me. A girl he’d been forced to care about. Against his nature. Against his will.

Carter took the tin from my hand and poured the chips into it before snapping it closed.

“Keep these close,” he told Joe. “If you get out to that car and you can’t get it started, you leave the chips in the car and you get your ass back to the church. I’ll be covering you the whole time. Drive slow enough to keep them on your tail, but don’t let them catch you, you understand?”

Joe nodded, taking the tin like it was a life preserver. Maybe it was. Maybe it was the thing that would preserve the life of his child.

I felt Carter’s hand on my elbow and realized numbly that he was guiding me away from Joe and McKenna so they could have a chance to say good-bye. I looked at them only once before letting him lead me away. Joe had dropped to his knees before McKenna. He was speaking to her belly.

I wanted to take it all back. To refuse to let him out of the church. To pretend that the horrible scratching of nails on glass meant nothing. But of course, it meant everything. Holy ground meant nothing to that Tick clawing at the stained-glass window. Just our luck to be attacked by Ticks who must have been atheists in the Before.

So I let Carter guide me over to the door leading out into the side hall.

Once I thought we were out of earshot, I said, “Maybe I should stay with you. I have my bow and arrows. I could provide additional coverage.”

He shook his head, his gaze on Joe and McKenna. “No. McKenna’s going to need you to calm her down. If you can keep her from freaking out and get her into the van when the time comes, that’ll be help enough.”

I didn’t argue. This was a hell of a time to try out my skills as an
abductura
.

Carter gestured to the bench. “Can you get the other side?”

I rounded the bench and squatted to lift it up. The oak bench was frickin’ heavy. With all my strength, I could barely get it a centimeter off the ground. My muscles screamed that I wasn’t strong enough to do this. But Carter had thought I was strong enough. And he was on the other side, depending on me to pull my own weight, so I dug deep and lifted. Even while my heart was breaking.

**

McKenna also was stronger than I’d thought. She let Joe go without a whimper of complaint, but once he was gone, she clenched my hand so tight I could feel my bones rubbing, but I might have clenched back just as hard. Waiting by the church door, we’d heard the concussive blast of Carter’s shotgun twice in rapid succession and then twice more. The sound of the ancient Impala’s V8 engine roaring to life seemed to meld with the frustrated howls of the Ticks as they gave chase.

Carter yelled for us and as McKenna and I ran those few short steps to the van, I prayed that Impala had a full tank of gas and that Joe would outpace the Ticks. We weren’t that far from Canada. Maybe he’d make it there, even if he was traveling alone.

Once Carter, McKenna, and I were in the van, we were quiet except for McKenna’s almost silent tears.