Surrounds (Bonds) Page 5

  "Am I supposed to follow him?" She whispers under her breath, testing incline with a pointed foot. Alasa looks up again, finding Wolf already a small figure yards away. Alasa starts down the hill, its steep incline causing the action to be a lot be upsettingly difficult.

  Alasa makes it to the bottom of the valley and smiles proudly, sticking a tongue out childishly in Wolf’s retreating figure.

  "I didn’t need your help anyway." She huffs and starts off after him. "Stupid animal…" What were they even doing anyway?

  A caw, bone-chilling and soul breaking, sends an artic chill down Alasa back and instantly looking to her left and up. Something was flying above her, shielded by the glow of the overhead sun until its massive body swooped low, revealing something large and red. A bird. A very big bird.

  No.

  If Alasa was being honest with herself, there was no way that was a bird.

  It was much too large and shaped like a lizard. She could see it, even from at least a hundred yards away its bright crimson scales and long claws. It was a hellish looking beast, truly frightening. Worse of all, it was heading her away. Fast, with quick, powerful flaps of red-orange waxy wings.

  A scream began climbing up her stiff throat as if trying to escape its own beast. Wolf was beside her with breath taking movement, a throaty growl, his arms around her waist, Wolf leaps.

  Like that they both are back at the top of the hill in front of the cave’s opening once more. Alasa’s being shoved into the cave’s mouth with stomach churning speed, her body smashing into opposite wall. Her body bounces off and she falls onto her back onto the ground.

  A growl. A caw. Blood, warm and wet hits her face.

  Alasa stiffen, breath stuck inside of her, flinching as she witness Wolf’s body go flying by the cave’s opening, followed by the flying monsters larger form. A cry. Dirt and dust begin rain down on her when the cave begins a frightening series of trembles.

  Alasa backs up, still on her behind, blue eyes wide. The flying beast’s body flies by the mouth again, smashing into the ground Wolf’s bloodied form follows.

  A sob escapes her and she wraps her arms around herself.

  "I’m dreaming…" All of this was simply a dream. A really long nightmare. How else was any of this going to make any sense? Flying monsters? Growling animal men?

  Alasa thought it had been hours, but in reality it had only been a couple of minutes, Wolf staggers into the cave. Alasa watches him, shocked at the amount of wounds on his body, his whole upper body was a bloody mess. Long gashes spread out across his shoulder blades and down his back. It was horrible, Alasa couldn’t comprehend how he was still walking.

  Wolf leans against the cave wall a few feet from her, glancing over his shoulder at Alasa’s unmoving form. A weak growl presses against his bloody lips.

  ‘Come on’ He was saying.

  Alasa looks at the ground, at Wolf’s bloody footprints following his movements down the tunnel before looking back up at his sagged shoulders and bloody back. He wasn’t human. If she wasn’t certain before, it was very clear now.

  He had saved her.

  (O)

  Chapter 17

  Lacey

  He had been gone way too long. Lacey peers into the blackened insides of the building before glancing behind her again at the quickly lowering sun. Her shoulder blades ache and she unshoulders her backpack before bending over it and searching through its small pockets for her one and only blade. Her fingers finds her small switch blade, which she was sure wouldn’t have any effect at all on one of those crazy men from before nor any of those flying monkey things, but it was something.

  She frowns into the hall. She unhooks her flashlight from her waist and hesitates before clicking it open and lighting the hall with it. The object flickers and sputters off after a few seconds, prompting Lacey to smash an open hand against it. Once again light appears, strong and unblinking.

  "Alright…" The girl whispers under her breath, "Let’s go."

  She takes a step and another into the narrow hall, driven only by her worry for Henderson. It wasn’t as if she could abandon him, not after how many times he had saved her. Saving his ass from whatever was holding him up would surely take care of her debt.

  The thin girl nods, flashing the light along the walls, seeing awards and a picture of the employee of the month, smiling with two missing teeth. Lacey stops in front of it, her light brightening the framed photo and smiling face.

  Now, how was she going to save him if he was honestly in trouble? Her fingers slowly tighten around her switch blade.

  "I’ve never been one to plan anything out anyway." Lacey whispers under her breath, turning away and starting off again. She was more take action first, think about it only if it bites you in the butt.

  The air grows muggy as she finds herself inside of a break room, an odor she instantly recognizes brushing against her nose. Worry kicks her in the gut. Blood. She’ll always remember it, that odor. Her stomach twists. She’s usually use to the quiet that has become her life but it was suddenly too ‘loud’. No voices, no hum of electricity, no birds, simply her own breathing and an occasional rat. Worse of all, she couldn’t ‘hear’ Henderson.

  Biting her abused lip, she flashes her light across a broken vending machine, finding the contents missing. The glass broken in front of it, the flakes crunching horribly loud under her booted feet. Her light eventually lands on an open door, which she assumes leads out of the break room.

  Another hallway awaits her, wider, but the floor is littered with paper. She finds a piece with a footprint on it, which she assumes must be Henderson’s, leading to her left. Without hesitation, she turns and heads left, wanting nothing else then to get out of there as soon as possible.

  Her pace now quickened, she finds herself exiting through a pair of swinging yellow doors in no time. The blood smell only grows louder, mixing in with the odor of spoiled food. She’s greeted by a wide, black room filled with tilted over displays, a glass and food littered floor.

  Fear pricks at her back when she identifies how the uncomfortable quiet has been shattered, now replaced by low keening noises. Her mouth dries, hair stands up on her neck. She begins lifting her light, taking in the color red splattered along the tilted display stands and floor with hazed amazement. Her light is almost above her, almost brushing the inky ceiling when a heavy, calloused hand lands on top of hers, pushing it quickly down. Another hand finds her face, tightening over her mouth, successfully muffling her yelp of panic.

  "It’s me…" Henderson whispers breathlessly, "you do not want to do that."

  Her body relaxes a little but her fear only intensifies. Its dark, but her flashlight is just barely giving her light enough to make out the hundreds of tiny shadowed figures perched along the iron beams above them. One thought wiggled into her mind – not bats…

  Fear hits her hard in the chest, nearly suffocating her, stealing her air. Her legs buckle, Henderson holds her up, by wrapping his now free arm under hers. Silently he begins pulling her out.

  In her fear, Lacey disremembers the blade in her hands and it falls from her fingers, clinging against the iron siding of a display. Henderson freezes and once again that awful silence wiggles its way back into her life again. Henderson’s head bends back, dark brown eyes on the ceiling. She cannot even bring herself to breathe, let alone look her end in the eye.

  Barks, loud and shrill begin. Air inside the mammoth room grows stifling and burning, something bursts inside of her ears, and something shatters. She’s being yanked out by Henderson a second later, both of them bolting out and slamming into the opposite wall as a body slams into her back.

  Her flashlight is gone, lost now, sinking them into darkness and scary chaos. Henderson cries out and something sinks its fangs into her right arm, painfully hot. Henderson pulling her again and she’s slipping and sliding on things she cannot even see.

  Another body slams into her, sending her flying through the inky darkness, her fingers
slipping from Henderson, her body slams into the floor.

  "Lacey…" A gurgled hiss reaches her and Henderson’s panicked yelp.

  Something lands on top of her, a second later something sharp and begins clawing at her neck and arms. She hits with her hands, screaming, tugging at oily flesh, digging her own blunt nails into it. Then the weight on her neck is gone and she’s being yanked onto her feet.

  Henderson haggard wet breathing, barks, bodies slamming into the walls and wings flapping are the only things she hears. She has no idea how he manages it, but Henderson finds his way to the backroom, sunlight filtering through open backdoors.

  Dangerous hope begins filling her upon seeing the light. Her fingers grips, with renewed vigor, Henderson’s, ignoring the wetness of his flesh. When they reach the opening, Henderson helps her down, only for a swarm of the tiny black monsters to hit him off the opening, covering his whole body completely.

  All she can do is stare at first from her position on the ground after falling, staring at the black, gray and white creatures, hairless, with oily leathery skin and long bat ears. Bodies withering as all of them attacking Henderson.

  Lacey only snaps out of it only when Henderson cries out in pain, an arm, covered with the creatures appears from underneath the herd, batting them away fruitlessly. Blood was pooling around him.

  He was being eaten. They were going to kill Henderson.

  Lacey hit her peck of fear at the thought. "No…" Utter panic built up inside of her as she bolted forward without thinking, hands scooping up Henderson’s discarded machete and began batting the creatures away.

  No flashing light, not even spiritual glow happened, but there was something that without a doubt happened. Ash, her hands pricked and began to tingle, ever single creature that came in contact with the blade turned into black ash.

  Lacey continues batting away the creatures until all of them were gone from Henderson’s body, leaving the boy covered in blood, wounds, and ash. More barks reached her hearing and she quickly turns around holding the weapon out in front of her and Henderson, she comes face to face with a sea of bloody eyes.

  Hundreds of the tiny creatures floated inside the open doorway, staring at her, glaring at her, unmoving. They weren’t attacking. A whisper begins up like a wave in itself. They were talking to one another… in a language without a doubt not human.

  She can only stare back, breathing haggard, and body shaking. They eyed her and her weapon.

  They are afraid, if not that, then uncertain, she quickly realizes. It was why they weren’t attacking, they were afraid she would reduce them to ash as well. She would, if she can figure out how again.

  Lacey begin backing up, keeping her brown eyes locked on the monsters. She bends over Henderson’s still form, never removing her gaze from the creatures before her, she awkwardly places her arms underneath Henderson’s, being careful with the machete in fear of adding more injuries.

  She begins pulling him back, away from the herd of tiny creatures.

  Sweat has drenched her and she can no longer feel her left foot when it comes plainly palpable that they weren’t being followed. Her head aches and her brown eyes burn with exhaustion from staring for so long. Her back is sore, throbbing with pain.

  It’s dark when she finds a house which she can drag Henderson into.

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  Chapter 18

  Lacey

  Lacey rings out a rag into a small yellow bowl, wiping the blood from Henderson’s scratched and bleeding upper half. Deep wounds ran up and down his body, from tiny bite marks up into deep gaping bloody messes. It wasn’t at all looking good.

  Both of their packs had been lost back at the hellish grocery store and she only had what was inside the abandoned house to work with. She had did a quick search when they had first gotten there after laying Henderson down onto the floor. It hadn’t been easy considering her lack of light, but a candle found in the home’s kitchen drawer saved her from fumbling around blindly.

  She had only found half a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a couple of semi-clean rags, working water, and a couple of shirts she was using as bandages.

  Finishing wrapping up what was worse of Henderson’s wounds, Lacey cleans up her mess in an attempt to keep busy, guided by the flickering candle light. It was already mostly gone, wax seeping off the tiny plate it was sitting. Soon, it would vanish and both of them would be engulfed in darkness.

  She glares at the flickering flame instead of Henderson, unhappily, the candle leaked onto the hardwood floor in response. A low wheeze from Henderson startles her into crawling to him again, peering into his scrunched up face worriedly. His face was flushed and sweaty, his breathing haggard and quick.

  Her fingers find his forehead, nearly crying out when she felt the heat he was emitting.

  "Oh, Henderson…" She whispers under her breath, slowly taking her hand back. Sitting back, she bring her legs against her, hugging them. She would have to look for something to help him in the morning. She only hoped he would survive the night.

  Her blunt teeth sunk into her lip, harshly chewing and watching Henderson’s face.

  "You have to be alright…" Her voice cracks as she continues speaking to the unconscious boy. "It’s your fault were in this mess. You can’t give up yet…"

  A frown settles on her lips. It wasn’t his fault at all. It was hers. She went in to save him but only ended up being saved by him again and being the very reason he was hurt anyway. "Some hero I am…" She quietly says. "What on earth would I do without you, Hender? Huh?" She questioned his silent form. "I’m way too dependent on you, Henderson. That’s your fault… I… I… I don’t even have a clue how to get to Mexico and find my dad." She thinks of those creatures and how they had been turned into dust. "It was weird… your machete turned all of them to dust, then the others were afraid of it." Her fingers find one of the two water bottles she has left and wets a rag, gently placing it onto his forehead. She honestly didn’t think it was Henderson’s machete that had did it, but the truth made even less sense. "You ha-have to wake up… because I’m really confused and you’re a smarty pants… You can explain all of this and stuff… and…" She falters, staring at his washed out features and hollow cheeks. He’s silent. "I’m afraid." She yells desperately, unable to look at Henderson anymore, her face finds her legs. "So you can’t… vanish on me… I won’t if you won’t." Her voice is muffled by her pants. "It’s a promise."

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  Chapter 19

  Alasa

  She thought he was alright at first, but now it’s now obvious Wolf is not alright.

  Alasa's adrenalin found her once they were back at the main cave, forcing the girl onto her feet and into pacing the length of the cave. Her mind works over-time, attempting to work out what was going on, trying to make any sense to what happened. But none of it was fitting, none of it was making sense.

  She even considered it hadn’t happened at all, she considered her mind her finally snapped after being taken hostage by this man…thing…

  But there was no way she could ignore the odor of Wolf’s blood, which is red – she had been expecting black. Hey, why not? It wouldn’t be the oddest thing to happen around here. It became impossible to ignore when Wolf began wheezing softly and whimpering like a wounded animal.

  Alasa stops her pacing and stares at his form against the cave’s wall, bloody and shivering.

  He had saved her.

  Alasa bites her lip before nodding a little. "I can do this…" She forces her hands still before walking to the bucket which held her water and strips of her ruined shirt. Wetting a few strips before her bravery could fail her, she quietly sinks onto the floor and slowly moves forward with them clutched against her.

  Wolf doesn’t notice when she takes a seat beside him, barely a foot away. She ignores her dry mouth. Alasa sets her strips into her lap, bringing one up, barely touching his face with it before he loudly snarls, grabbing her wrist in a bone-crushing hold.

  S
he whimpers weakly, eyes going wide and meeting his. Blue clashes against black as a stare off begins and an apprehensive quiet in born.

  "I…" Alasa whimpers again, "I’m only trying to help." She quietly says. "See…" She waves her strips of shirt a little, wincing. "I’m not going to hurt you." She tries making her voice appear calming. "I want to thank you for saving me."

  Her fingers begin to tingle and seep red and purple underneath her skin when Wolf finally lets her go, still watching her with pitch black, unreadable eyes. Gooseflesh springs up across her arms and legs and she thinks he may attack her if she hurts him.

  She tries remembering how any of this was a good idea.

  Carefully, slowly, she brings her still aching wrist up, damp rag, lightly pressing against the bloody wound on his shoulder. It was deep, and stiches were obviously going to be needed, if the amount of blood pooling around her and him was any indication.

  She glares down at the tiny rag gripped in her dirty hands. It wasn't enough. Wolf would bleed out. Her rag wasn't going to be enough to stop it. Her hand stopped moving.

  He would bleed out and she would be alone, finally free of her kidnapper, but, also, she would be alone. Alone in a cave hidden deep into some forest which was swarming with... monsters? Alasa shakes her head, a chill runs down her stiff back as a flash of the flying beast blinks across her mind.

  She forces herself to look up at Wolf, finding the man-beast watching her still. His face finally finding an emotion and its... curiosity. Like a dog, maybe even a young child, Wolf watches her, his head leaning in an angle, curious.

  She bites her lip, unsure what exactly his look was for. She breaks her gaze from his and settles into on the bloody floor, watching as his long black hair brushes against his own blood. She frowns.

  Alasa realizes keeping him alive, that it's important to her and not only because if he were gone, then she would be alone. He had saved her life. Yes, when she had first woken up here in side this horrible cave, he had beaten her, hurt her, desperately and harshly inserted his dominance over her, but, he had saved her.

  But there wasn't anything she could do. The thought had her oddly spiking up in panic and she found herself looking back at Wolf quickly, to see if he understood she couldn't help him. Her insides squirmed, he was simply still watching her. Waiting.