David prodded me forward. He didn’t speak but he didn’t need words to convey the urgency. There were countless people in various stages of the change that passed us, all running the opposite direction, toward the attack. One I recognized as Ellie’s father.
It set all the tiny hairs on my neck and arms on end to see people who were connected to my friends, people who didn’t know me personally, racing to the fight. They were fighting on my behalf and I was running away, to cower in a basement, safe from danger.
In the distance I could see the Johnson Twins. They, like the others were running towards danger. The thought of Kyle with his fatherly voice fighting my battles made my stomach feel like it was full of worms. I turned my head but only acid came up.
They were yelling something but I couldn’t hear it through all the commotion.
“Move. Move. Move,” Christopher yelled as they surrounded David and I. He then swooped me up in his arms and hoisted me over his shoulder. I yelped at the suddenness of it but with so many people running into harms way to protect me, I didn’t think it was very gracious of me to argue.
“We need to get her below. The Lifers are hitting, too,” the brother below me said.
“They have a sixth sense for this crap,” Kyle, the other Johnson brother said, looking at me.
“Lifers?” I asked, and the one word was hard enough to get out with a shoulder in my stomach, I left it at that. But from my new vantage point I noticed people changing direction and running the opposite way.
David yanked open the back door and motioned us in, following after us. Inside the house I swear their pace picked up. I was getting rattled and bumped so much I thought I’d walk with sea legs when Christopher finally set me down. My questions about the Lifers got lost in the bustle.
We headed down a dark stairway. I could only see the stairs directly under me, and they seemed to go on forever. I was starting to feel nostalgic for the run through the hallway.
Finally we leveled off and I heard springs creaking and something scraping the cement floor. I tried to lift up and turn to see what was going on and cracked my head on a support beam.
“Crap,” I yelped, my eyes watering.
“Careful, Mati will kill me if I don’t return you to him in the condition he left you in,” Christopher said. I tried to laugh but just then he flopped me back over and set me down on my feet, taking my breath away.
David flipped on the light while one of the brothers heaved the door shut and barricaded us in. I spun around, taking in the ‘basement’.
“Holy crap! This is the basement?” My voice sounded a little hysterical. I took a breath to bring it back in. “This isn’t a basement. It’s a bunker!”
David laughed but he looked like he was standing a little taller and was a bit puffed up.
“Please tell me this wasn’t really made just for me?” I sunk onto the floor and dusted my fingers across the rough concrete. David pulled me up and steered me to a couch that was covered by a sheet. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
“I know this is a lot to take in, Case. But put yourself in Mati’s place.” He bumped my shoulder with his. His words didn’t make me feel better. The Johnson twins looked just as uncomfortable.
YOU ARE READING
A Tail of Stars
FantasyThere is nothing average or ordinary about Casey Miller's life. She has no illusions about that. She's been having visions since she was six. At seventeen these waking dreams have become so intense and overpowering they have put her in danger, lu...
