Rage

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

DAVEY

“ S he’s bleeding. I won’t know why until I can examine her. Help me bring her back to the camp.” My heart twists into knots as she trots away from me, throwing off every alarm bell my body can muster.

“No. Davey, wait!” But she doesn’t wait. She falls into her role as a doctor, so I have to fall into my role as a killer, as a protector, because something isn’t right.

Carefully so that my footfalls are less audible, I slip further away. Everything inside me screams to run toward her, but I have to use my brain. So, I slink away and try to approach the girl from the other side.

There’s little cover, but there are boulders scattered in this area that will help. As my feet glide over the barren land, I reach the closest outcropping and catch my breath. I can keep an eye on them from here and see if anyone tries to ambush us. That way, they won’t have the upper hand.

Just as I regain my bearings and turn to Davey as she crouches near the girl, all sane thoughts vanish from my mind, leaking from my ears like warm blood, making me delirious.

Beasts.

Two Beasts. One brown haired and the other a sandy blond; tall, slim, haggard.

As they get closer to Davey, all my nightmares come rushing back to the surface.

They’ll take her, they’ll rape her. They’ll break her.

“Well, well, well, what have we here? Looks like we’ve caught ourselves a new whore.”

My feet carry me forward, and dirt kicks up in the wake of my footfalls. Even after three years of hunting, I’m still disturbed by their singular focus on wrecking the world around them. I’ll never understand their incessant need to conquer, destroy, and sully everything in their path.

I can’t remember grabbing the blade strapped to my thigh, but its cold weight in my hand is a balm to my nerves. Davey stumbles away from the girl but not fast enough. Her beautiful hair is twisted around a bony fist, and her head whips to the side as a fist collides with her jaw.

“No!” I lunge forward to the nearest Beast, the one not holding Davey, and jump onto his back. The element of surprise works in my favor as I bring my blade to the front of his neck and, with practiced precision, slide the steel against the Beast’s throat faster than he can shake me off.

Blood runs in a river down his throat, coating my hand, but there’s no time to waste. I hop off the collapsing body underneath me and wipe my hand across my clothes in an effort to re-grip my weapon.

“What the fuck!?” the one holding Davey screeches. They had to have known there was two of us. It’s not my fault they’re incapable of intelligent thought.

His beady eyes dart between the two of us, then to the sky. The sun is lower, and night is approaching fast.

“Let her go, and I won’t kill you.” It’s a lie, but he doesn’t need to know that.

For a brief moment, I make eye contact with Davey, on her knees, head wrenched to the side in pain. Yeah, I am going to enjoy seeing the light go out of those black eyes. Her eyes widen in fear, true fear, that she may not make it through the night. I try and convey that I have things under control, but there is only so much silent communication you can have with someone in a situation this dire.

If we had more time, I’d do more than tell her she’s safe. I’d tell her she’ll always be safe with me as long as she stays by my side.

Weighing his options, the Beast’s eyes land on his companion, lying in a pool of his own blood, face permanently stuck in a mask of shock. There’s a slight tremor in his hands as he comes to terms with the situation he’s caused.

“You’ll let me go?” he asks with false bravado. What a fucking coward. Just die like the scumbag you are and move on. I need to talk to my girl, the pent up feelings I have for Davey springing forward, unable to be held back any longer.

“Only if you let her go and let her walk over to me right now. I won’t ask twice.” I stretch out my hand and lock eyes with Davey. Giving her the briefest of nods, I train my eyes on my next target.

Using the fist in her hair, he throws her forward onto her knees, and I take off to catch him before he can run away. Hurdling over Davey, I wrap my arms around the Beast’s waist and bring him to the ground.

“You lying bitch!” he roars.

Dirt and dust coat my bloody clothes and my face. My fist connects with his jaw, a little payback for Davey. As a red haze floats over my vision, I pummel his face and body. I feel a kick or punch to my ribs that forces a scream from my lungs. With a better grip, I roll on top of the Beast and plunge my knife into his chest. I won’t stop until he’s dead. I won’t let him hurt my people. I won’t let him take Davey from me.

“Lenora! Lenora!” Distantly, I hear a voice drifting through the fog of my brain. If the Beast is alive, I can’t let her near it.

The crunch of bone fills the air, and I can feel the slip of his warm blood around me from head to toe. There’s no more resistance to my blade as it punches down into the bloody grave that was once his chest cavity.

Warm arms envelope me, and my downward strikes stop. After a few breaths, the world around me slowly comes into focus, like a lens shifting on reality.

“He’s dead. He’s dead, Lenora. It’s okay.” Why is she comforting me when they were going to take her?

Looking down at the Beast brings me to my feet. Gone are his beady eyes and gaunt face. In their place is an empty cavern filled with blood and bone, a macabre soup of the Beast he once was.

My heart aches at the what-ifs of the night, and I throw my arms around the only person who can bring me back from the brink of my bloodlust.

“Are you alright?” Holding her at arm’s length, I check her over. A rustle of feet catch my attention, and my head snaps to the small girl who helped these Beasts attack Davey. With my sight focused on her, she freezes, tears tracing down the soft planes of her dirty face.

“Thank you,” she whispers before fainting in the dirt.

“What the fuck was that?” Davey asks.

“A trap. They used her as bait,” I answer.

“We have to bring her back with us. She’s just a kid. If they had her, it couldn’t have been of her own free will,” Davey pleads. I breathe out through my nose and try to center myself.

“We can’t just bring her to the camp and expect everyone to welcome her with open arms. She could be a sympathizer. What if I just killed her father, brother, or worse: her lover?” Bile rises in my throat at the idea of this young girl having a lover in one of the Beasts laying lifeless around us.

“We can quarantine her and have Antonia or Jones keep watch, just until she can tell us what the hell this was all about. Don’t you want to know how they got this close?” Fuck. She has a good point. Part of survival is knowing when to collect intelligence. If they have a base somewhere nearby, we may have a problem. If they were the last alive, we could scavenge and find supplies. But by the looks of their frail bodies, it doesn’t seem like they had a continuous supply of food.

“Fine, I’ll carry her. You just follow me.” As I bend to pick up the girl, a sharp pain lances my side, and I scream out. “Oh, fuck!” My knees hit the dirt, and I try to breathe through the pain on all fours.

“Lenora? Lenora! What’s wrong?” Davey is at my side, but her face spins in my vision. I push my hand against the pain, and she snatches it, bringing it to her face.

“Blood. Lenora, you’re bleeding.” Her eyes dart around and land on the Beast behind us. “He had a knife, Lenora! Oh my God, it’s a stab wound. We have to get you back.” Her voice is growing hazy and distant.

“Give me a minute. I’ll get up in a second.” It’s harder and harder to breathe through the pain. Her face swims in my vision.

“Lenora! Stay with me! I’ll get us back.”

At least, that’s what I think she said before the darkness swallows me whole.