A Nameless Dark

Chapter 13

Thaddeus pivoted toward us in an animal-like movement. His form dissolved like shredded cloth, melting into the dark, and a moment later he was gone. In his place stood a particularly grotesque Wasted.

The creature was bigger than the others we'd seen and most of its ragged clothing had rotted away, exposing long ashen limbs corded with sinewy, rope-like muscle. Its face was a scabbed-over mass of shapeless flesh, cut through with a single ragged red gash of an eye. Its muscled back hunched in heaping mounds above its bulbous head, and its massive jaw hung open revealing a gaping, grave-like mouth set with oddly spaced rows of jagged teeth.   

    We ran.

    Samuel screamed in anger and fear, calling up Light from within himself as he ran. Instantly his entire upper body ignited into coiling blue flame, burning the night like a raging star. He thrust his arm into the air behind us, hurling a column of fire at the creature and engulfing it in a furnace of white-hot fury. Lara was half a second behind Samuel. She joined him in attempting to cover our escape, throwing flashes of light at the monster, like diamonds streaking through the dark. I was a few steps behind them, moving a little slower as I concentrated. On instinct, I threw my senses out into the night, searching the area in all directions with as much precision as I could manage while running. I found what I was looking for and shouted for Samuel and Lara to follow my lead.

    We took off into the empty landscape with as much speed as we could manage, leaving the creature that wasn't Thaddeus to burn. I could hear its furious cries scraping through the nighttime sky like nails across a blackboard. It wasn't dead. I wasn't even sure we'd hurt it.

    My frantic search had revealed a structure of some kind half a mile to our east. I had no idea what kind of building was out there, but I figured any protection at all would be better than nothing. I headed straight for it, sprinting across the barren countryside.

    I caught flickers of movement from the left and right. The Wasted were boxing us in, just like they had done in Pittsburgh.

    I ran faster. My lungs burned with the effort and my arms and legs grew numb except for a prickling tingle in my fingers and toes. I wished desperately that Aaron was here to fight alongside us. Or that he had at least taught us how to use the Light against creatures such as these.

    Samuel and Lara caught up to me, out-pacing my fastest sprint. I sensed a warm glow of Light emitting from both of them. Taking a cue from my siblings, I called up a spark of power from inside me, holding its gentle burn in the center of my chest and allowing it to spread throughout my body. Strength flooded into my limbs and breath into my lungs. I felt as if I could run forever. I leapt ahead with a surge of enhanced speed, overtaking my brother and sister, and reveling in the thrill of power as Light coursed through my body. I was unstoppable, tearing through the night like a force of nature. The darkness was my wings, propelling me forward with ferocious strength. At the same time, I once again experienced a heightening of my senses, just as I had while stalking Trent at the Snake River Bridge. I could feel the pulse of the night air around me like the breath of a living thing. As my eyesight sharpened, I saw clearly the rambling barn-like structure I had found in my search moments before. Our frenzied run carried us toward the front of the abandoned building. For a moment I believed we could actually reach it before our pursuers caught up with us.

    That thought lasted only a heartbeat before the ground in front of us erupted like a meteor striking the Earth.

    Dirt and rock shot into the air in a massive, billowing cloud, raining down on the three of us as we came to a sudden skidding halt. The dust cleared and crouching in front of us, like a mountain of blackened hell, was the Wasted that had taken Thaddeus's form and lured us into this trap. What remained of its tattered clothes had been burned away, leaving exposed its elongated limbs and torso caked with heaps of ashen flesh. I suddenly regretted my heightened eyesight.