Annihilation - Book Three

Chapter 33

"Where are they?" I murmur, looking at Adriam, trying not to look startled by his appearance. He's naked; his body is covered in his and Victor's blood. His hair is a tangled mess; his eyes are bloodshot and puffy from crying. 

He's lost Victor, precisely what he had feared would happen if they came along with us. 

"Adriam..." I don't know what to say, sorry feels almost insulting. 

The French man shuts his eyes, balling his hands up into fists. 

I prepare for the blame, for the onslaught of I told you so's but he doesn't, he breaks and wraps his arms around himself with a heavy sob. Something in me doesn't allow me to cry; maybe it's the rage of knowing that our friends died for no reason other than their species. I couldn't fathom it; I'd gotten a small taste of losing the man I cared about and knew that I couldn't live through it again.

 Hugging him as tightly as I can manage, he clings to me in the same way. The chill sets in as Reid limps over to us, Tomas rests across his back and Fergus walks alongside to help keep him stable. There aren't many of us left now, a few strays of what was a great force. 

"Nic, what is going on?" Haryek demands. 

We have a small gathering of party-goers standing, gaping at us. 

Us and them.

It's always us and them. How do I begin? 

How do I tell everyone it was my sister who did all of this? If Alpha had succeeded in killing off my entire family, I can't help but feel as though this would be over by now. There's a heavy silence as the snow begins to flurry from the sky, a reminder that the world will continue to turn with or without us. 

 My body feels numb, I have no energy left to delve into my inner thoughts on why this is happening to us. Every time I think I have anything of merit to utter, my mind goes blank, and I find I'm dead on my feet. Verando is gone, Penelope is gone, and I'm expected to assure them that this was all a part of some plan. 

 As I parted my lips to speak, a low growl rolled from Reid's throat. 

"What?" I ask him. 

Adriam's hands clench against my tattered clothes. 

"Death," Reid growls.

 I turn and see the multiple sets of eyes, looking at us from the woods. 

"Get to the castle!" I yell, though the roar of the infected emerging from the trees almost makes it soundless. "Go, everyone, go!" I usher the people to run as the screams of terror from the royal staff and capital sweethearts drive the beasts to run at us.

 "Haryek, get these guards on cover fire," I tell him firmly as I try to help Reid deliver Tomas to Fergus but the donkey doesn't want any part in that. He dances around and shakes his head before he is no longer the form of a donkey but stands before us as a unicorn. 

His horn glows bright and casts a light over the courtyard. 

The creatures scream and recoil, flipping over themselves and avoiding the light at all costs, a mass of limbs and fangs as they hit the light barrier with a ferocity that terrifies me. 

Haryek commands the guards to help hold the infected back, but we are dangerously low on arrows. "Make it count, boys; you aren't coming inside with that filth on you if you get bit!" 

 I'm so tired and drained that my body is on its last reserves. Adriam is now helping me walk as we stumble back toward the castle, the last safe holding, and perhaps our final resting place if the infected manage to get inside. We can't look at the bodies of those we lost, there would be no time to mourn or collect them.