Beasts and Savages (The Beastly Series Book 1) (39 page)

“No. If you won’t get them, I will.” I backed away from him.

Striker and Miller exchanged glances before Striker spoke up. “I’ll take her to Anderson’s. Go ahead and get the rest of them in the woods.” He gave me a long look. “You know she won’t stop until she gets her way.”

“Fine, but hurry up. Any that can’t walk stay behind, got it?”

He nodded to Miller. “We’ll be right behind you.” I didn’t wait to hear anymore. I bolted down the path and around the circle in the center of the village. I didn’t stop running until I stood at Anderson’s door.

“Wait up!” Striker breathed as he came down the path. I stood motionless on the doorstep until he got to the stairs. He pushed past me and flung open the door.  The house was dark, but still warm. The basement door was unlocked. I couldn’t get down the stairs fast enough.

A few girls milled around the bottom of the steps, looking dazed.  I explained to them that we were leaving and to get shoes and anything warm and go outside and wait for me there.

“You’re getting us out of here!” One girl exclaimed.

“I promised I would.” I searched the room for Beth.

“Then what’s he doing here?” the twin asked.

“Helping,” I replied, not bothering to look at her or Striker.

Beth was propped up in a bed. I rushed to her. “Beth! Get up! We have to go!”

She coughed loudly and rasped, “Lea? Where did you go?”

I knelt down next to her and brushed her cheek. She had a fever. I spun and took in the room. Two other girls were lying in bed, pale with red cheeks like Beth’s.  There were a few trays of old food and the water bottles were empty. The fire in the stove had gone out.

“When was the last time someone checked on you?” I demanded to the closest girl.

“What? I don’t know, maybe three or four days ago? Why?” She shrugged as if it were a common occurrence. A wave of guilt rolled over me, almost knocking me off of my feet.  It had been a month since I'd been here and it didn’t appear that they had been taken care of properly since.

“Striker? Can you fill up the water bottles while the girls finish getting ready?” I handed him two bottles.

“You have five minutes, Lea. Then I’m going to drag you out of here, kicking and screaming, if it comes to that.” He started for the stairs.

“Beth honey, we have to go. It’s not safe here. Can you stand?” I pulled the blankets off her.  She was wearing a short sleeved tee and no pants. “Where are your clothes? It’s cold outside.”

“It’s warm here, leave me here. I’m too sick to move.” She batted at my hands weakly.

I pulled her up with her arms and leaned her against me until she was mostly upright. When I reached for the pants draped over the end of her bed, she let go of me and crumpled back down.

“Please. Let me sleep.” She coughed another long, rattling cough.

I examined the room once more. The twin and two other girls were by the stairwell, taking in the scene.  The two in bed appeared as weak as Beth, and had slept through the entire ordeal.

“Lea! Now!” Striker called from the top of the stairs.

“Coming!” I motioned to the girls to go up to Striker. I took a long look at Beth and sighed.  Even if I got her dressed and moving, there was no way she would survive the walk in the cold.

“Alright, Beth. I’ll leave you here.” I searched the room until I found her a chunk of stale bread and a half bottle of water. I tucked them close to her pillow. She snuggled back down into her blankets and looked up at me, smiling.

“Lea!” Striker stomped down the stairs.

“I’ll come back for you, okay? Stay strong until I do.” My voice caught.

“Thank you, Lea.” she coughed again. “I will.”

I squeezed her hand. “I promise. I'll be back to get you.” She smiled and closed her eyes. She looked so tired, so weak. A part of me wanted to throw myself over her, protect her from whatever loomed in the future. My heart tightened as I imagined coming back for her, finding a cold corpse where I left my friend. I shook the thought away, replacing it with a vibrant, healthy Beth. A girl sitting in her mother’s garden, opening baby shower gifts as her favorite rock band played live in the background. A slow smile played at the corners of my mouth. “I promise.”

I turned to Striker just as he yelled, “I said let’s go!”

Tears blurred my vision as I sprinted past him, up the stairs, and out the door. I heard him swear when the door swung shut and hit him. The girls were huddle in a group, walking slowly away from the house. I darted past them and ran until I was back on the path.

Striker caught up to me easily. “What was that about?” He pulled my shoulders until I faced him.

“My friend's too sick to move,” I blubbered.

“Hey. We can come back for the sick ones. Right now let’s just get into the woods until we know what's going to happen.” He squeezed my shoulder reassuringly.

I didn’t answer him. I was too busy watching the shapes in the sky behind him. The shapes grew steadily, and were followed by a hum. As they grew closer, I recognized them as planes. They were exactly like the planes in the movies depicting The Woman’s War.

“Bombers!” the twin screeched, “Run!”  She hiked up her blanket and blurred past us.  The others followed her.

“They won’t bomb their own girls will they?” One yelled as she passed.

I could only stare and nod.  They were too high up. They wouldn’t be able to tell the girls from the boys and they didn’t know where we were being kept. The women weren’t on a rescue mission. They were sending a message to the men.  What was one village if it were an example to all the others? If one village of two hundred men was insignificant, there was no loss in eighteen girls.

Striker turned to face the sky. The center plane dropped something as it flew overhead. There was a low whistle as the object grew. Everything on the ground was eerily still and quiet.

“Bomb,” I whispered, still too shocked to move.

Striker looked at me wide eyed before he tugged me off of the path and behind a woodpile. He pushed me to the ground hard and threw himself over me. I laughed aloud as the ground shook with the force of the explosion. A woodpile wasn’t going to save us. There was a thunderous roar followed by silence.  I closed my eyes and waited. I knew we were going to die. Stacked wood could no more protect us than if we were still in Anderson’s basement.

As soon as the thought entered my mind, I felt a blow to my heart. Beth was still in the basement. I wriggled under Striker’s weight, trying to get out from under him. He pushed down harder and hissed at me to stay still. I elbowed him in the ribs and he jerked away. I took the chance and crawled to the end of woodpile, peeking around it.

The planes were gone. There was a crater cut into half of Anderson’s house and the entire yard behind it.  Flames licked what was left. I buried my face in the dirt and screamed Beth’s name. A hand grasped my ankle and I kicked hard, turning as I did. Striker yelled something, but I couldn’t hear him over the ringing in my ears.

Adrenaline coursed through my body. I ran toward the house, picking my way through the ruble. Fire hadn’t reached the door yet. With every step I called out, “Beth! I’m coming! I promised!”

A shadow moved in the corner of eye. I sped up, knowing I could outrun Striker. I jumped over a bush just as it collided with me. The world spun as we toppled over each other. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed me to him as we rolled. I closed my eyes to fight the dizziness, preparing myself to fight him as soon as we stopped.

We both exhaled “oomph” as we finally landed: him on top of me, his face so close I could feel his breath.  His hands were pinned under me. I opened my eyes. Green eyes flashed anger and pity.

“Tanner,” I breathed. “Beth needs me!”

“I can’t let you run into a burning building, Lea.” Somehow, he pushed down with more weight.

“Beth's in there! I promised I would come back for her! Beth!” I screamed.

“I’m sorry.” He lifted himself up enough to pull his arms out from under me. I rolled to my stomach and dug at the grass, pulling myself away from him. In one swift motion he picked me up by my waist and stood, holding my back against him. I lurched forward, causing him to stumble, but he righted himself quickly. I kicked and clawed at his arms. He held tight, refusing to let me go.

Tanner bent his head and whispered in my ear. “Beth’s already gone. You can’t save her. I can’t let you go. I’m sorry.”

“No! Beth! No!” I was hysterical. I thrashed one last time before I blacked out.

Chapter 23

~ Freedom ~

A sharp pain in my abdomen roused me from sleep. I moaned and clutched my stomach. Something warm and heavy was draped across my body. I was warm all over, no longer in the winter cold. I opened my eyes and was surrounded by familiarity. I was back in my room, Locke's room.

“No, no, no, no!” I cinched my eyes shut and covered them. All of the emotions I had held back came crashing against me, sitting like lead on my chest. I let the tears slide down my face as sobs racked my body.

“It's okay, let it out.” Tanner stroked my hair. I hadn't registered he was in the room.

“It's not okay Tanner!” I took my hands off my face long enough to glare at him. “Beth's gone. I promised her I would come back for her. I didn’t and now she’s dead.”

“You'd be dead, too if I hadn’t stopped you! Don’t you care about that? She was already gone. There was nothing you could do for her. You understand that right?” He held my wrists and pulled my hands down.

I refused to look at him. “I don’t know.”

“Lea, I couldn’t let you die.” His eyes gleamed with tears. “I’m sorry about Beth. Striker told me how sick she was. You were right to leave her there. She wouldn’t have survived the walk to the bunker.”

“I left her there to die alone.” I wailed. “I was supposed to come back for her.”

“And I would've helped you. We didn’t know. The women killed her, and they almost killed you.” There was an angry edge to his voice, and it startled me. I took the time to look him over, take him in.  His clothes were torn and filthy, and his face and arms were smudged with ash and dirt. His hair stuck up in every direction and purple circled his eyes.