New Eden- The New Eden series book#1 (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 3 "NO FREAKING WAY!"

  The force of the hit sent Brandon tumbling out the door. I almost made it out right after him. Almost. My head hit the top of the door. I felt the sharp pain and my vision bloomed white. I swore curses and rolled the rest of the way out.

What hit us? Another car? I don't know. Didn't see, cause the fleeing crowd suddenly met us. Brandon grabbed me up and pulled me along. We dashed between cars. The chorus of shouts and screams rising around us.

I stomped on something kinda soft. I glanced back. Did you just run over someone, Brad? Can't study that now, man.

I was trying to keep Brandon and Kay in sight, something that was proving down right difficult to do. Mr. Fletcher was already nowhere to be seen in the mess. Shit, man! Was I slowing down, or everyone else speeding up?

"KAY!!" I shouted. Please don't leave me behind. Suddenly the guy next to me did a jump, bumped me. I paused for a fraction of a second and was shoved from behind, right into the side mirror of a car.

I spun off, was hit again. Someone stepped on my feet, and down I went. I pushed off the ground to get up and was kicked in the head. My face smacked the asphalt and I tasted blood. I was pinned down. Feet stomped all around me. If it wasn't for my backpack my spine would've been crushed.

C'mon, Bradley! Get up, crawl! Do something! Eventually, there was a break in the chaos and I was able to crawl on my hands and knees behind a car.

What the hell was really going on? What was everyone running from? But I got my answer a second later when something like a bug, but three feet long, with huge, wicked looking mandibles, leapfrogged over a car and onto a guy running past. The guy went sprawling and he screamed a terrible cry as the bug bit into his shoulder.

That was all the motivation I needed. I was up and running. Sprinting like Hell and all it's demons were on my heels. No way! NO FREAKING WAY! I wasn't going to end up dead like that guy. That is, if he was dead. But getting bit from something that size, losing so much blood...surviving from that would be slimmer than winning the lottery.

I pushed, shoved, jumped. Never before had I been more of an athlete. Suddenly a guy rounded the corner ahead yelling his head off. Then a couple other people. Bugs were chasing them too. I paused, looked around. The alley to my left was clear. I wasted no time sliding over the hood of a car and dodging in. I was almost out the other end when a Bug appeared. It saw me. It let loose a shrill cry and hurriedly came after me.

I skidded in a back pedal, almost falling. I ran back to a door that I passed. Please be unlocked. Please.

It was. I slipped inside and pulled the door closed behind me. Without waiting to see if the door had locked I dashed on. I noticed that I had stumbled into the back entrance of a clothing store. The front of the store was a mess. The double glass doors were shattered and racks over turned. The place hace been looted.

I left the store and continued running. I had to find someplace safe. Without realizing it I had run all the way back to school. But that didn't make any more safe than the streets. Blood stained the walls and walkway as I cautiously advanced.

The Bugs were here too. Or was this something else? I was thinking to call out to see if anyone was close by, but thought better. I didn't want any Bugs knowing I was close by.

Besides, I don't think I could've raised my voice beyond a whisper. The rush of the adrenaline was wearing off and I felt my asthma kicking in. I inhaled and felt a painful stab in my back right through to my chest. Oh God, it hurt like hell. Maybe I had broken something?

"Hey!" someone shouted. I spun around. It was a guy from our school. What was his name again? John? Jeff? And a girl was with him. They were coming around the side of the main building, a smile on his face like I was the first person he'd seen all week. A smile that quickly disappeared when a shrill cry echoed from behind them. Bugs came scuttling up the hallway after them.

Y'see why I didn't want to shout. I took off running again. Jeff and the girl were trailing a couple of meters behind. I tried the first class I came to, shoving open the door. The Bug that was there raised it's head from the bloody corpse it was chomping on. I did a one-eighty and continued down the hallway and dashed into the next class. Suddenly Leroy was coming at me with a chair held over his head.

I dove just as he slammed the chair in front of the door, blocking it. He turned to me, panic clear in his eyes.

"Don't just sit there! Freaking help me!" he pointed to the chair next to me. I scrambled up, grabbed a chair and stacked it next to the one put down. Next we dragged tables. And although I heard the yelling and pounding on the door as Jeff and the girl I didn't know begged to be let in, I wasn't going to open the door. Because I also heard the excited cries of the Bugs as they found them. Then I heard the screams, the crying and the ripping of flesh. And still I stacked tables and chairs.

Eventually we stopped when the door was completely blocked and all was quiet. And then it hit me. I had just let two people die. No. It was more than that. In not letting them in I, in a way, had caused them to die. I killed them. Oh God. A moan escaped my lips and I felt weak. I couldn't stand anymore. I dropped to my knees. With everything happening so suddenly, the fear, the rush of adrenaline, the panic, I had gone and done something terrible.

My chest burned and I remembered my asthma. I couldn't breathe! I tried to suck in air and got nothing but a strangled wheeze.

No no no! A new panic hit me as I tried to get my bag off my back. I had to get my inhaler. A numbing pain was growing in my temples and the corners of my vision were already getting dark. I was about to pass out. I flung the bag off and dug in the pockets for the medication. Two seconds passed before I got it.

Quickly I uncapped it and went through a routine I knew by heart. I put it to my lips, squeezed, inhaled as deeply as I could and counted off three seconds. Three of the most painful seconds of my life. Exhale. Repeat. Press. Inhale. One. Two. Three. Exhale. I did it one more time and finally felt a small whisper of oxygen reach my starving lungs.

Oh thank God! I collapsed, coughing, but slowly regaining my breath. I could finally rest. I was safe in the class. The door was blocked and shutters closed. I had just killed two people, but I was safe. Safe. The word echoed in my mind as I passed out from exhaustion.