Chapter 28
“What’s going on?” Travis asks. His eyes squint as he stares past Heather at me.
“We’ll talk about it in private.” I reply without taking my eyes off the red headed girl. “Come on, let’s go.”
“No. I’m not going anywhere with you two.” She replies angrily.
I turn and grab the gun from Katie’s hand. When I spin around, I point the gun at her head. With the barrel pressed against her forehead I say, “Yes, you are. Now move.”
Heather hesitantly follows Katie and me up the tunnel. We leave the whispering crowd of survivors behind us as we walk towards the empty Bullseye Room. When we step up to the ladder, I find Lilly with the surviving children, including Ty, standing outside the Fire Room. He’s grasping onto a bow and arrow with Allie by his side. I want to run over to check on him, but we don’t have a lot of time.
We only allow Colonel Kirk Samuels, Travis, and Jace into the empty warehouse with us. We need to get the facts straight before involving anybody else. Heather nervously sits down at a table while Katie locks the hatch door. Everyone waits quietly for someone to say something.
After a few seconds, the Colonel breaks the silence. “Can somebody tell me what is going on?”
“I told you, she’s crazy.” She replies casually, glaring up at Katie. Her brown eyes look more golden in the natural lighting. I hadn’t noticed that before. I step forward to get a better look at her eyes but am cut off when Katie speeds past me. Heather blocks her face when she storms up to her with clenched fists. I expect Katie to hit her again, but she doesn’t. Instead, she stands silently at her feet.
Unsteadily, she asks, “What happened in that room?”
Katie swings her fist at her face. Caught off guard, Heather doesn’t have time to block the hit. Her head swings to the side when Katie’s fist connects with her cheek. Before she can throw another punch Travis pulls her back.
“Crazy bitch.” Heather mutters while holding her hand over her reddened cheek.
“What’re you hiding?” Katie screams at her. Travis remains calm as he continues to hold her back. Her brown eyes fill with tears waiting to fall down her cheeks.
When the Colonel walks over to her, she relaxes a little. She looks him in the eyes and cries, “I have to know that he died with honor.” Colonel Kirk Samuels wraps his arms around her small frame and pulls her in for a hug.
While Katie cries heavily in the Colonel’s chest, I glance back at Heather. She’s sitting still in the steel chair. Her red hair falls over her face as she stares at the floor, not saying a word. I’m about to look away when she looks up from the ground with a subtle smile on her thin lips. When her brown eyes lock with mine she quickly looks away.
What if Heather did have something to do with Chris’s death? But, if she were in the room when Chris died then how did she survive? The Grey One would’ve killed her too. There are so many questions. And only one person alive can give us those answers.
I slide the gun in the back of my waistband and walk towards Heather. With a hand pressed against her cheek, she moves her jaw around. Katie actually got her pretty good. There’s still no blood, but the bruises on her body are visible now, along with the large knot on her forehead. I underestimated Katie and her small form. Apparently, so did Heather.
When she sees me coming, she mutters, “I told you. I didn’t do anything.”
“Where were you?” I ask, standing in front of her.
“When?”
“When the Grey One escaped. Where were you?”
She nervously looks around the room before replying, “I took you guys to Billy.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t come in with us. Where did you go?”
“Nowhere. I was standing in the doorway watching you guys talk on the radio the whole time.” She quickly shifts her eyes back down at the floor, avoiding eye contact with me.
“I don’t believe you. What’re you hiding?” I reply, my eyes focused on her.
When she looks back up at me, she has a wide grin. She locks eyes with me, her eyes becoming more golden by the second. With a sinister laugh she replies, “It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s too late now.”
A bloodcurdling scream rings out in the streets. The scream is followed by more within seconds. Travis immediately runs to the warehouse door. As he opens the door enough to peek through, we all wait silently for him to update us on what’s happening out there.
Still peering out the crack he says, “They’re coming. There’s a whole pack.”
“How are they outside right now? I’ve never seen them in daytime before.” Jace replies, panicked. He runs over to Travis and peeks over his shoulder. “The damn rain clouds must have given them enough coverage from the sun.”
Travis shuts the door quietly and locks it. As he walks back towards me, and says, “They’re sniffing around the buildings down the street. Are any of those connected to the tunnel?”
“No. Everything is sealed off besides the warehouse and the restaurant.” Katie replies, still focused on Heather.
Behind me, Colonel Kirk Samuels whispers urgently, “We need to move everyone out of the tunnel, now.”
“There’s too many of us.” I reply quickly. I turn around to face him and say, “We have a better chance of pulling a team together to lead the Grey Ones away from here.”
“And then what are you going to do? You don’t know how to kill them. None of you do.” Heather taunts.
I pull the lucky dagger from my thigh holster and wrap my hand around it tightly. With my fingers biting into my palm, I storm at her. Her golden brown eyes shift down at the sharpened blade in my hand. With a smirk, she rolls her eyes, “What do you think you’re going to do with that?”
I press the blade against her neck and speak through gritted teeth, “Tell us everything.”
“No.” She replies calmly. “You all deserve to die. They may get mad at me for not taking the healthy ones but I don’t care anymore. I’m done here.”
“They? Who are you talking about?” I ask pressing the sharp blade deeper into her skin. A dark drop of blood drips down her neck, but she doesn’t budge.
“Tick-tock, Isabelle.” She says, then begins clicking her tongue at me like a clock.
It takes a few seconds for me to pull my blade away from her throat. I want to kill her right now, but she’s the only one with answers.
As I pace back and forth, I begin mumbling under my breath. “What do we know about them? Water can’t be their weakness, since the imprisoned one escaped through the river. Bullets can only stun them for a moment or two, if we’re lucky and are able to hit them in the soft spots. What else could it be?”
In the corner of my eye, I see Katie. I can feel the gun slipping out from my waistband, but I don’t stop her. I turn and watch her point it directly at Heather. In a calm voice, she says, “Tell us what you know.”
“No.”
The gun makes a loud POP sound that echoes through the warehouse. Heather doesn’t scream or budge when the bullet pierces into her kneecap. We all watch in horror as dark blood drips down her leg. The dark blood looks black… like the Grey Ones’.
“Ow.” She says, looking down at her knee. When she raises her head her eyes have changed completely. They’re light gold inside of a black circle. The pupil has become a vertical line straight down the middle. Around her eyes, her once pale skin has turned green, black, and scaly; like a snake or alligator. When she blinks her skin returns to the pasty color it was before, and her eyes are dark brown once again. With a smile she states, “There’s no point in that.”
Within seconds the bleeding stops. We all watch as the wound starts to heal at an incredible speed. It only takes a few seconds for it to scab over.
“What the hell are you?” Jace shouts.
In an innocent tone, she replies, “What do you mean Jace? I’m one of you.”
“No, you’re not.” He replies, staring at her confused.
Her voice softens as sh
e says flirtatiously, “Let me prove it to you.”
“No thanks. I’m not into other species.” He says. Disgusted, his nose scrunches up.
“You seemed to have liked me plenty before you found out what I am.”
“What is that exactly?” Travis cuts in.
“Come here and I’ll let you find out.” She says with a wink.
My hands begin to shake with anger as she attempts to seduce him. I understand that she’s only doing it to avoid answering the question, but even so I’ve had enough of her and these games. My eyes dart around the basement, looking for something to restrain her. When I find the extra rope from the obstacle course sitting on the table, I slip away to snatch it off the folding table. I’m not one for tying up another human being to restrain them against their will. But, I don’t think she’s human. In fact, I think she’s a whole different thing entirely.
Another scream erupts outside. It sounds louder, closer. Like it’s only a few buildings up the street from us.
“They must’ve heard the gunshot.” I whisper, staring at the door.
While we’re all distracted by the heart stopping sound, Heather leaps from the chair and makes a run for it. I’m the first to notice her sprinting for the door. With my hand grasped firmly on the rope I dart after her. She makes it a few yards away from the entrance before I slam my shoulder into her back, tackling her onto the dirty cement floor. As she lies face down she kicks and screams, resembling a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. I flip her over onto her back while another alien screams out; this time it’s even closer than before.
“Cover her mouth!” Katie shouts.
Before I can, Heather screams out, “Adsum! Hic situs est!”
She’s speaking Latin. It all hits me at once. From the first time hearing it on the radio, to my dream about the voice saying, “Ignis”, to the people speaking in the tunnel. It was her in the tunnel. She was the woman’s voice. But who was the man?
When she draws another breath to scream, I use both hands to cover her open mouth. Hopefully the creatures outside can no longer hear her muffled screams beneath my palms. We listen in silence while the monstrous aliens knock things around outside of the Bullseye Room. There isn’t much time left.
“Who’s with you?” I whisper angrily.
She stops trying to scream and smiles. Her brown eyes shift from me, to the closed hatch door. I open my mouth to ask again and then remember. There was only one person who knew her before this. One person who spends all their time on the radios, like her.
Billy.
“Billy! Someone go grab Billy!” I whisper urgently.
“What, why?” Jace asks.
“I think Heather and Billy are working together.” I reply while looking her in the eye. The way her eyes widen at his name, I know that I’m right.
“I’ll find him.” Jace says angrily. His feet stomp the entire way to the hatch door.
As he disappears down the ladder and into the tunnel, Travis runs over to me with a dirty towel in his hand. He wraps the stained cloth around her mouth, careful not to let her screams escape. Once he has her restrained, I stand back up and walk over to the chair she tipped over during her attempted escape. With Heather thrown over his shoulder he steps up to me. He takes the rope from my hand and uses it to tie her up to the seat.
While he’s preoccupied with our new prisoner, I begin going over things in my head. In the tunnel at home someone said, “Ignis”, which translates to ‘fire’. Could fire be their weakness? My eyes shift over to the restrained girl. I know now there’s no point in trying to get information from her; she isn’t going to tell us anything. And since she can heal herself, we can’t threaten her with violence. There is another find out way though.
“Nobody’s seen him since the Grey One got loose.” Jace says, stepping back up into the warehouse.
“Set loose.” Katie corrects him. Her brown eyes are narrowed in on Heather, filled with anger.
I step quickly to Heather. As I stand in front of her I have the sudden urge to tear her apart. I restrain myself and rip the walkie-talkie from her waistband. With the towel wrapped over half her face all I can see are her brown eyes. Her brown eyes that keep flickering gold. It must be something she can control.
I pull the black walkie-talkie to my lips and whisper, “Isabelle to Kay, do you copy? Do you have a radio on you?”
If she can hear me, then maybe she can round up a team with Leon and Justin.
That is if there are still enough survivors who are willing to fight back.
After a few seconds of static Kay responds, “I have one now.” In the background Justin and Leon are talking over one another to somebody else. The unrecognizable voice yells something about them stealing his radio. Sounds like something they would do.
“Hey, I need you to round up a team. Have them armed with guns, incendiary grenades, and flamethrowers.” I look over at Heather and realize I may be onto something with the fire. Her eyebrows knit closely together, and even though I can’t see half her face I can tell she’s mad. I tilt my head at her, my lips forming a half smile. When I return to Kay, I continue, “And make sure that everyone has a radio on channel five to communicate. Anyone who wants to stay behind will be going with Lilly. Tell her to take the survivors somewhere safe, away from here, and listen for us on the walkie-talkies.”
“Consider it done. But Isabelle, what am I going to tell everyone for a plan. Where should we all meet?” She asks. She has a strength in her voice I recognize as a bit of pride, mixed with a lot of courage.
Claws scratching at the outside of the warehouse causes us all to freeze. Besides the soft grunts and muffled screams coming from Heather, the room is silent. We all exchange looks with one another while the monstrous being screams out on the other side of the entrance. Its scream is ear piercing, like the one we had captured earlier. I spin the knob, turning the radio all the way down. With how many are out there searching for us if even one is able to get inside we’ll all die.
I wait a full minute after the scraping has stopped before whispering into the radio again, “Everyone but you, Justin, and Leon need to get on the main level of these buildings and start fighting back. Tell them to use fire. I think that is their weakness.”
“What about us? What’re we going to do?”
The image of free running away from the aliens in my dream flashes through my mind. If we can get them to follow us up onto the rooftops, then we can lead them to a trap to kill these vicious creatures. But if I’m wrong about their weakness and fire doesn’t kill them, then hopefully it will at least give the other survivors the time that they need to escape. Either way, we have to try.
I hold down the button on the side and say, “I need you and Justin to meet me on the rooftops. Tell Leon he’ll be going to the courtyard to set up a trap for the Grey Ones.”
“Okay, we’ll do it.” Kay replies. In the background, Justin and Leon yell, “Yeah, let’s kill these damn things. This is our city!”
Locking eyes with Heather, I say, “And Kay, tell Leon he’s going to need a flamethrower and lots of gas. I have a plan.”