Ashes (Of the Earth Series)

Chapter 17.2

"What?" my head whipped around. Amanda stood, dumbfounded, staring at the ground.

Safety forgotten, I abandoned the bag of weapons without taking one and rushed towards her.

As I ran, the scene before Amanda came into closer and closer view, and with each pound of my feet against the pavement, I grew more horrified. I skidded to a stop beside her and gaped at what remained of my brother's body.

Beside him lay the remains of three prowlers, blown to pieces and covered in burns. But they were not what drew my attention.

A Driller had the upper half of Alec's torso, pulsing and slowly digging its horrible ripping claws into his back. He bucked and trembled beneath it, muscles straining. Hatred boiled in my gut once more as I realized that he was only alive because of pain and the natural drugs the fucking thing was pumping into him.

I took Amanda's gun from her hands and mouthed a silent prayer before shooting it in the head, the gunshot echoing loudly in the suddenly quiet air.

"Oh God..." Lilly breathed as she joined us, her shotgun hanging limply at her side.

I dropped my gun, not caring as it slammed into the concrete before bending down and grasping Alec's shoulders, calling over to Finn.

Finn ran up and stared, his face a mask of anger that slowly turned to something akin to pride. "Took those fuckers out with him," he said. "Look at all these things. Half dead, the bastard found the nest and blew them all to hell. Hold on, buddy, we're gonna send you right there behind them to terrorize them here in just a minute. I gotchu."

He set to work prying at the dead Driller. The thing clung to him like glue, tearing away strips of flesh with every tug and pull Finn made. With a grunt, Finn pulled his knife from his pocket, slid it into Alec's skin underneath the legs of the Driller, and began to cut, his face grim as he tugged and sawed through his friend's flesh. Alec gasped, but as the creature lifted away from him piece by piece, he sighed in relief.

"No, no, no," I said as I shook him desperately, somehow hoping for another miracle, but the chill in his skin and the weakening of his movements told me it was too late. Tears streamed down my face as Finn finally managed to pry him from the monster's grip, revealing a horrifying sight as we rolled him onto his back.

His torso was mangled and covered in deep claw marks. Half of his face was missing with exposed flesh and bone glistening in the dim firelight - one eye socket was empty, the lid tattered and torn, hanging loose. The other eye rolled wildly, looking at us each in turn as if begging for help. His mouth moved soundlessly, teeth clicking together in a grotesque rhythm.

I could barely process what I was seeing- his hand and most of his right arm were gone, replaced by a bloody stump. His clothes were torn and burned, leaving him almost naked except for tattered shreds of fabric clinging to his body. The right side of his body was peppered with shrapnel wounds, and I could now see the deep gash across his side that he had been hiding during the battle. My stomach churned at the sight of his exposed ribs and the deep gouges from the Prowler's claws.

Feeling sick with despair, I cradled my brother's broken body in my arms, hoping against hope that he could still be saved - as if I could shield him from death itself. But as I looked up at my companions, Lilly and Amanda looked as lost as I felt, Finn was staring in shock- I knew that there was nothing we could do to bring him back from this horror.

My voice came out in a desperate, raspy whisper. "We have to get him out of here," I said.

The weight of Alec's limp body in my arms was suffocating, his blood seeping through my shirt, staining it a deep crimson. Lilly knelt beside me and gently took him from me, cradling his head in her lap, and ran her fingers through what was left of his hair. His face was contorted in pain and she stroked his unmarred cheek with a tenderness that brought tears to my eyes.