Chapter Four: Exerpt

Another choked scream, it was definitely getting closer. The three of them stood in a tight circle, facing outwards. Cerys brandished her gun, feeling stupid as she knew in her heart of hearts that she wouldn’t bring herself to fire it. Arluin was holding the knife that he had given Cerys, that Cerys had now given back to him now she had a gun and Eli had his gun held out in front of him. Closer and closer the screaming came, the bloodcurdling gurgling shrieks.

“We’ve faced these before,” Eli spoke in a very low voice “You know how I told you before that the creatures that you read about in your books were real?”

Cerys gulped and nodded.

“I wasn’t lying.”

There was a large bang with made Cerys jump. She was shaking so hard that she almost let go of her gun, and she had too try hard to blink the tears of fear away from her eyes. She had no clue what was going on, and she didn’t really want to stick around and find out. The shrieks were right at the door now. Three slow bangs sounded within a few seconds of each other, as if someone were knocking. A high pitched ominous noise rung through the house, which Cerys thought sounded quite like a wicked giggle. The front door creaked slowly open and a cold gust blew inside the house, chilling Cerys to the core.

“Come out come out wherever you are,” the voice was high, yet incredibly raspy as if they found it really hard to get a breath and breathing out made a disgusting gargling growl in the back of their throat.

She entered the room, if Cerys could even call the monstrosity a she. It had raw pink skin which looked stretched, as if she didn’t have enough to cover her whole body. Her veins were swelling to the surface of her skin, giving her skin a bluish tinge. She had straggly black strands of hair hanging in front of her face and a lot of her hair had fallen out. She was naked and had a huge bloated swollen stomach with blue popping veins running along it like snakes. Her skin was cracked in many places, as if it had been pulled so tight that it had ripped. Cerys looked on in horror as she gave them a grin, cracking her lips open in the process and showing them a mouth full of jagged razor sharp teeth, some pointing at strange angles. Blood pumped from her lips and dribbled down her chin, dripping onto her grotesque distended belly.

                Eli had his gun aimed right at her, but she didn’t look fazed in the slightest. What the hell was she? This wasn’t normal, none of it was and Cerys wanted to run for the hills away from that thing. There was a shuffling noise and in followed another one of the hideous creatures. A few seconds later and another one was in, this one being male. Cerys glanced over to Eli wanting to ask him what they were, but she was too afraid to even make a sound. The three monstrous beings stood in a line, eyeing the three of them up. Everyone was stock still, nobody wanted to make the first move. For at least thirty seconds, they stood staring at each other, but one screech from the first creature broke the silence, and the three beings shot forward, arms extended, long nails clawing towards them. Cerys screamed and shot blindly, squeezing the trigger of her gun. It fired with such force which Cerys wasn’t expecting and she stumbled backwards, she lost her balance and fell to the floor. She had managed to graze the creature she was aiming for on the arm, but nothing to really hurt it.

“Cerys!” Eli shouted, above all the confusion “It’s not human! If you kill it you can’t feel guilty! Shoot them!”

As Cerys was about to get up from the floor, one of the things came at her, clawing at her face. Cerys scream, alerting Arluin who turned and saw that she was in trouble. Without hesitation, he charged to the woman slashing at Cerys’ face and drew his knife across its neck, slitting its throat. The woman fell backwards, gulping and gargling for air, clawing at her throat, blood was dripping all over her hands and through her fingers. Thick red blood. The woman’s eyes were wide, bulging as she grasped her bleeding neck. Arluin offered Cerys a hand which she grabbed and he pulled her up from the floor. Eli was struggling to fight off the man who had hold of his wrist and was twisting it in order for Eli to let go of the gun. Before he got the gun out of Eli’s hand, Eli was able to squeeze the trigger, shooting the man square between the eyes. He dropped to the floor like a stone. Two down, three to go. Or so Cerys thought.

Chapter Three: Exerpt

Cerys opened up the freezer and took a look at what was inside for her to eat for dinner. She pulled out some microwavable chicken curry, read the instructions, and stuck it in the microwave. She was feeling surprisingly hungry, probably due to the fact that she had barely eaten all day. Just as she was about to open the microwave and check on her dinner, there was a frantic knocking at the door. Cerys hoped it was her dad back home from work so was eager to answer it. Undoing the locks on the door, she opened it expecting to see her dad, but instead Arluin stood at her doorstep. He entered quickly and shut the door behind him. Cerys gave him a rather perplexed look but he just raised a finger to his lips.

“Shhh.”

Cerys did as she was told and quietly followed Arluin into the kitchen. He pulled out a gun, much to Cerys’ surprise and pointed it into every corner of the kitchen, then did the same in the living room, checking behind the sofas. After doing so, he lifted a walkie-talkie up to his mouth.

“Safe,” he said, and almost instantaneously there was another knock at the door.

Cerys looked over at Arluin, who nodded, as if to tell her that it was okay to open the door. Cerys went into the entrance and opened the door just a crack, so she could take a small peek outside and see who it was. Thankfully it was Eli and she let him in. If it had been her dad she would have had to do some explaining about why there was a random guy in their living room, and if it were any members of the Organisation Cerys wouldn’t have been able to stand a chance.

“What’s going on?” she asked him, but Eli just raised a finger to his lips and pulled out a gun as Arluin did.

Eli joined Arluin in the living room and they shared a look which Cerys couldn’t read. Eli turned to Cerys and stooped over so he was at her level.

“There’s somebody in your house,” he whispered softly in her ear, and when her hands shot up to her mouth Eli again raised a finger to his lips, silencing her.

Cerys heart was beating frantically and all she could hear was blood pumping fast around her body. Eli motioned to Arluin to come upstairs with him and mouthed ‘stay put’ to Cerys. Cerys did as she was told but as soon as she was alone in the living room she began to feel even more scared. What if the person was in the living room and they hadn’t seen him, and he was just waiting for the right moment to pounce on Cerys? She was alone, standing defenceless in the middle of the room. She was vulnerable, and could be attacked at all angles. Taking a deep breath, she decided to disregard Eli’s order and went upstairs to find the two of them. As soon as Eli saw her he came right over to her with a look of pure anger on his face.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing you stupid girl!” he spat in a loud whisper “This is not a game! You have no weapon and no training, you will get yourself killed!”

“I was scared,” she replied quietly.

“You idiot,” Eli looked disgusted, then turned away aimed his gun in front of him as he entered Cerys’ dad’s room.

Cerys stood on the landing by herself like a complete fool. What had she been thinking? If she was going to be part of their team she needed to buck her ideas up, and fast, otherwise she would forever be the useless and terrified third wheel.

                Suddenly, a rather large bang sounded from Cerys’ bedroom and Eli pushed past Cerys to see what was going on. Arluin was on his back, a member of the Organisation on top of him punching him repeatedly in the face. Eli aimed a shot at the man but he was too fast and got out of the way, leaving a bullet embedded into Cerys’ bedroom wall. Cerys’ had expected a loud gunshot like she heard in movies, but it was relatively quiet as she realised his gun had a silencer on it, as did Arluin’s. Arluin got to his feet and rounded on the Organisation member. There was nowhere for him to go, but out of the doorway.

“Cerys!” Eli reached into his pocket and pulled out another, smaller gun “You guard that doorway with your life! Understand!?”

Cerys nodded, suddenly feeling as if she was going to throw up. She stared down at her hand holding the killing machine and realised how utterly powerful the weapon was. She didn’t think she was ever going to see a real gun in her lifetime never mind hold one in her hand. She didn’t even know how to use it, so she wasn’t going to be of any help. Eli and Arluin had their guns pointed straight at the man in Cerys’ bedroom. He gave them a smug smirk before he made a break for it, running as fast as he could towards the door. Cerys screamed and aimed the gun at him, screwing her eyes shut. Arluin turned with quick reflexes and before the man could get to Cerys Arluin squeezed the trigger of his gun and shot the man straight through the head without even flinching. The man was very close to Cerys when he was shot, so all down Cerys’ front was spattered with flecks of blood. Shaking, she handed the gun she was holding back to Eli, who flipped the man over to see what damage had been done.

“Yep,” said Eli, staring straight through a hole in his head “Definitely dead.”

Chapter Two: Exerpt

Cerys screamed again but Eli put a forced hand on her mouth.

“Be quiet or they’ll get us!” he hissed “Now come with me!”

“What about your friend?” Cerys asked as they began running again.

“Don’t worry, he’ll hold them off. He’ll catch up with us soon.”

The two of them skidded around a corner, bumping into an elderly couple and not even stopping to say sorry. Cerys looked back over her shoulder and saw that there were no cars driving erratically towards them or no people running after them. Perhaps Eli’s friend had fought them off, or maybe they were just stalling.

“Right, I knew I parked it here somewhere,” Eli said, looking around as they slowed to a jog.

Cerys couldn’t even ask what because her chest hurt so much from running that she felt like she was being jabbed by a million tiny needles. Her lungs felt like they were going to explode. Her legs were burning. Her head was spinning.

“Ah!” Eli exclaimed “There it is!”

Cerys slowly inched after him, the pains in her chest were almost unbearable. Trailing after him, Cerys followed his line of sight to look at what they were heading towards and her jaw dropped. A motorbike. A huge purple motorbike. If there was one thing in her life that Cerys told herself she would never do, it was get on a motorbike. They were death-traps. But then again Cerys didn’t expect to get hunted down and then saved by a guy with abnormal strength. Eli got onto the motorbike with great ease and looked completely in his element. He seemed to gaze at the machine with admiration. Cerys gazed at it with terror.

“Cerys, if you don’t get on right now, I swear they’re going to shoot you,” Eli said to her, looking at her dead in the eye.

Cerys looked down the street, to the motorbike and back again. She didn’t have to be told twice. Taking a deep breath, she clambered onto the motorbike and held on to Eli for dear life.

“Hold on,” Eli warned her “If we get chased I may have to break a few speed limits.”

Eli flicked her a wicked smile and started up the engine. Cerys felt nauseous at the sound of the engine whirring to life. Within seconds they sped off with Cerys screaming. The feeling was terrifying. It felt completely bizarre tearing down the street on a vehicle that meant that you were not boxed in to something, or strapped down, so anything could happen. Furthermore, the two of them didn’t have helmets. What if the police caught them? Cerys’ heart was in her mouth and she screamed until her throat was raw, getting unusual stares from onlookers. Suddenly, with no warning, a strange white blur went zipping past them. It slowed down and the motorbike caught up with it. Cerys looked at this strange object and her eyes widened. It wasn’t just a blur, now that it had slowed down Cerys could see that it seemed to have two arms and two legs. And a white hoodie. The figure pointed behind them.

“Company.”

Cerys turned and saw two cars racing towards them. Eli cursed under his breath and slowed down the motorbike, much to Cerys’ surprise.

“Arluin!” Eli called over the noise “Grab the handles!”

Eli let go and Arluin grabbed the handles instantaneously. Eli looked over his shoulder at the cars, judging the distance. Eli stood up and did something Cerys never expected, he jumped onto the car behind.

                Faster than Cerys could blink, Arluin was sitting in front of her on the motorbike. There was something strange going on. First Eli pounded a car into junk and then she met a guy who could run at incomprehensible speeds. Was she dreaming? It had to be a dream. It just had to. Soon she’d open her eyes ad everything would be back to normal.

                Cerys turned to see what Eli was doing. He crouched down on the bonnet of one of the cars and punched his fist through the windscreen. It shattered and Eli stuck his arms inside the car, grabbing the driver and chucking him out. Eli gave a wink to the passenger who had pulled out his gun, but was too late as the car had already begun swerving out of control and he was jolted this way and that. Eli stood up and ran across the roof of the car, jumping onto the one behind. This time, when he jumped the impact flattened the area he was standing as thin as a pancake. Eli leapt off fast as the rear end of the car was sent flying into the air. The car began flipping end over end and eventually stopped upside down when the end had hit a tree. The first car had swerved into a building and crashed into the front of it. Eli smiled fiendishly and grabbed his walkie-talkie.

“Arluin, slow down. I’ve taken care of the problem.”

                Arluin pulled over at the side of the street and waited for Eli to catch up with them. When he got there, they changed positions so Eli was again sitting at the front of the motorbike.

“You just run along beside us, it’s not gonna be far so you won’t tire out.”

Arluin nodded but before Eli could start up the motorbike again, Cerys interjected.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Steady on there!” she exclaimed, holding her palms out in front of her “Does somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on first!?”

“Look, Cerys,” Eli looked over his shoulder at her “We have to get out of this area as fast as they can otherwise more will find us. Now, are you willing to come with us to somewhere safe, away from this mess and we will tell you everything? Even if you say no I’m going to take you anyway.”

Cerys raised an eyebrow, feeling anger take over the fear “You better tell me everything or I swear to God-“

“Good,” Eli cut her off “That settles it then.”

He started up the motorbike and they sped off again, Arluin following impossibly beside them. 

Chapter One: Exerpt

When the school bell struck for home time, Cerys felt like throwing up. None of her friends lived near where she did and had to get a bus to their homes, whereas Cerys lived so close to the school that she just had a ten minute walk. But that ten minute walk stretched out in front of her like it lasted ten years. She kept telling herself that ten minutes wasn’t a long time and that she’d be home in no time at all as she walked out of the school, but she highly doubted it in her head. However, about three minutes into the walk, she began to relax as nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Perhaps it was all in her head, perhaps they weren’t following her and she was just making a big deal out of it.

Cerys wished she was right.

That sensation was back. That unyielding sensation of being watched set the hairs on the back of Cerys’ neck on end. She didn’t dare look behind her. Just keep walking, Cerys told herself over and over in her head. If she concentrated on walking and didn’t acknowledge their presence, then maybe they’d go away. But what if it was her paranoid mind playing tricks on her? What if when she turned around they’d be nobody there and her mind was just making it up? She’d be home in no time without a care in the world. The only things she’d have to worry about were the words that Eli said to her, ‘All I can tell you now really, is that you are special. Way better beyond what you give yourself credit for’.

                Cerys couldn’t help herself. She had to know if there was anybody behind her.  She stopped in the middle of the pavement and turned her head to look behind her. There they were. The two men from that morning. There they were, as plain as day. All of the air escaped Cerys’ lungs in pure shock as she stood watching them. But then they did something that they had not done that morning, they began walking towards Cerys. She had to try and stop herself from screaming in terror. Turning back, she shot off running, no matter how painful her knee was feeling. She had to get away from those people, and fast. She bumped into someone in the street and sent them flying without even a second glance. She kept her eyes on the street ahead of her, well aware that the men behind had started running after her as she could hear their footsteps hitting the ground hard, fast approaching. Cerys had never been so terrified, nothing like this had ever happened to her before. She was just boring old Cerys and she lived a boring normal average reclusive teenage girl’s life, never did she ever think she’d be stalked around the streets she walked almost every day.

                Cerys sped out into the road without even looking, cars honking their horns and people shouting angrily at her filled her ears bit she didn’t care. She had to get away. Why was nobody stopping this? Wasn’t it obvious that she was being chased? Cerys was panting hard, she couldn’t keep this up for much longer, her legs and lungs were burning as if they’d just been subjected to a vat of acid, but she had to keep on running. Just a little further then she’d be at her house. As Cerys was about to hastily cross another road, a black car sped down the street and straight towards her, not caring that she was on the pavement. Could this be more of them? The two men were gaining on her and all Cerys could see and hear was the bright headlights and the screeching of car tyres. She closed her eyes. She couldn’t run any longer.

                Without warning somebody ran into her, knocking her against a hedgerow which was growing by the pavement. Cerys’ eyes snapped open and what she saw next she was not expecting. Eli had pushed her out of the way of the oncoming car, to save her life. The two men following her had stopped to see what he was doing but it was too late for them to stop him. Eli stood in the road, the car barrelling towards him, he was only inches away from being hit full force and being almost instantly killed. But what happened next shocked Cerys half to death. Eli raised his hands and slammed them down on the car bonnet, which crumpled and ripped under the pressure into a useless piece of scrap metal. The car wheels were raised in the air by the force Eli was exerting on the car, so it could not move towards him. The engine died and the car wheels stopped turning. With one mighty kick, Eli shot the car spinning end over end across the other end of the street. Cerys’ mouth was wide open in shock. Had she really just witnessed this? But there was no time to think as the two men were on the move again and were coming straight towards Cerys. Eli grabbed Cerys by the wrist and looked her dead in the eyes.

“Run.”

Prologue

She shivered in the cold, her breath making a misty fog in front of her but she did not want to give in. The excruciating pain that she felt was practically blinding but she was under orders to do this, she could not let emotions get the better of her duty.

The girl lay still, wrapping up tightly to hopefully warm herself up. Coiling herself into a sort of human cocoon she waited for the signal. Her breath was caught up in her lungs as if she was so anxious she could barely breathe. She found it essential to carry out this assignment, whatever the cost. Even if it meant sacrificing her own life.

She hadn’t had a scrap of food in days and her body was constantly craving it. She had a flask of water which she had rationed but yet only had a cap-full left. What was more troubling was that she hadn’t had any medical attention since the motorbike blew up, so the gaping agonising hole in her thigh could have become easily infected.

She knew what would happen if she carried out the task, but cared not. But if her new friends hadn’t got out of the building on time she wouldn’t be able to bear the strain of them being gone from her life forever. If that did happen, Cuthbert would have been so disappointed in her; he probably wouldn’t ever let her see the light of day again.

The girl dreaded the thought. Her life, her hopeless insignificant life, had been leading up to this moment. She bit her lip and stared out of the broken window, waiting for that dreaded signal, if it came.

Suddenly there was a great shaft of light being beamed from the highest window of the tower she had been staring at for days. The girl abruptly realised.

It was the signal.

She managed to crawl painfully over to the switch that had been laying only metres away from her. She touched the cold metal and flinched, as if it were white hot. She prayed with all of her heart that those courageous friends of hers had gotten out of the tower and saved themselves before it was too late. Her head was spinning; one single flick of the switch and it would all be over. Holding her breath and closing her eyes tightly she flicked that dreadful switch. The tower and the room that she had been lying in for days were suddenly engulfed in an eerie purple light.

It was never supposed to end like this.