End of Days: The Hunted

Chapter 15

Matt stopped at the side of the path, trying to get his breath. "What happened?" he asked randomly.

"They blew up the car." said Tom.

Matt looked at him dazed, "But how?"

"I don't know. It happened so fast." Tom replied.

Timothy came up to them with Rachel, "Did you kill him?" he asked Luke.

Luke looked down at his hands, "I don't know."

Rebecca touched his shoulder, "It's okay. They were trying to kill us."

"I know. I just didn't know what else to do. I just reacted."

Tom walked up to him, "You did good, Luke. If we are to survive, we need to fight back. Don't let it get to you."

"We should keep moving." Mary stated, "They're probably on our trail now."

"I agree." said Matt, "But can we just get a breath for a moment?"

"Sure, but we better be off fast."

The sky grew darker than it was before. Black clouds formed as rain began pour down hard. "We need to get out of this!" Luke cried over the heavy pattering of rain.

"Try for the trees!" yelled Matt.

They all tried to find cover under the thick branches of the pine trees, but they did little to protect. "This isn't going to do!" Mary cried.

A flash of lightning cracked across the sky and Rachel noticed a small cave forming over by a giant hill. She tugged on Tim's hand and pointed toward the sanctuary of hope. "Hey!" Tim yelled, "There's a cave over there!"

They all looked and spotted it. "Let's go!" said Mary.

Rachel led the way to the small cave and they all followed behind. Underneath the shelter from the rain, each of them tried to dry their clothes. "I'm tired of this!" Matt finally said after a long moment of silence.

"We all are." said Tom.

Mat sat down against the cave wall, "I just wish this would never have happened. I want to go home."

"Soon enough we will be. Jesus is coming. I just know it." said Tom hopeful.

"He isn't coming! He's not real! We're just all gonna die!" yelled Matt.

"Why don't you just leave then. Why are you here?"

"Because Mary's here. That's the only reason. But all of this Christian bull..."

"Shut up!" yelled Tom, "Just stop. You can leave if you like. We're not keeping you here. We never asked you to come. You're just here! So just shut up!"

Matt lunged at Tom, screaming and punching. Tom fought back and they were caught in a vicious onslaught of fists. Tom threw a heavy right smacking Matt's cheek, throwing him back and he countered with a quick left to Tom's nose.

Luke jumped in and broke it up. "Stop!"

Tom and Matt, not separated, felt the pain of the fight. Matt's cheek was swollen, but Tom's nose was gushing blood.

"Just quit. We need to work together. We can't keep fighting like this." said Luke.

Mary checked Tom's nose, "It's broken."

"Oh just great!" cried Tom through his blood-filled mouth.

Mary nursed his nose until the bleeding stopped, "Matt, we need to talk."

She walked him outside of the cave, "You can't keep doing this. I know you don't believe as we do, but you can't keep doing this."

"I'm sorry." Matt said shamefully.

"If you were, we wouldn't be talking right now." she paused, "Just please, try for me. No matter how you believe, no matter how we believe, please try to just work with us."

"I'll try. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Matt. It's okay. We just need to stick together."

"I'm just tired." he began to cry, "I hate this. I just want life to go back to normal."

She wiped a tear from his cheek, "We all do."