A faint rustle of the leaves was the only thing that alerted me to the fact that Cade was making his way across the other side of the highway. I held my breath as I counted to myself. I thought he should at least be back in the median by the time I made it to a hundred. At two hundred I was beginning to panic. At three hundred, I could barely breathe through the constriction encircling my chest.
At five hundred my throat was beginning to burn and I was barely breathing anymore. Five fifty...
I didn’t know how long we should stay here for. How long we should wait for him to return. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to get my feet to move away from here if the time came. There was no dazzling light, no crashing bangs echoing throughout the forest signaling the creature’s arrival, but when I hit eight hundred I was becoming increasingly certain that Cade wasn't going to return.
We didn’t know what other kinds of weapons these aliens possessed, didn’t know what they were capable of. Just because they'd always announced their arrival with noise and light before didn’t mean that they always had to. The noise and lights could just be a scare tactic, one that worked really well as far as I was concerned. Maybe they had taken Cade. Maybe they knew we were here and were just waiting for us to expose ourselves.
I took a step back from the roadside, losing count as I began to search the night around us. Were they out there? Hunting us, stalking us? Were they closing in on us even now? I hadn't planned to leave Cade, but he had been gone far longer than he should have been, and he had faith in me that I would continue on, that I would get them to safety.
“Bethany…” Abby started.
“Five more minutes,” I whispered.
“But he’s been gone…”
“Five more minutes Abby.”
“Look, I get that you don’t want to leave your lover behind, but they could be closing in on us even now,” Jenna grumbled.
I shot Jenna a furious look, my hands fisted at my sides. “Five more minutes!” I snarled.
She glared at me as she shifted her stance. I turned back to the road and started to count again. One more time to two hundred, and then we would have to go. We would have to. Fifty six… fifty seven… fifty ei… Movement rustled the trees in the median.
My breath froze; I took a quick step forward as hope exploded through me. Everything went still again and then Cade was emerging from the shadows. My legs shook as relief flooded me; I was able to take my first real breath since he'd left. Cade knelt by the side of the road, his hand rested on the ground as he searched for us. I stepped forward enough to expose myself to him in the dim moonlight that illuminated the road. He lifted his hand and gestured for us to come over.
“Let’s go,” I breathed.
“Wait!” Jenna blurted.
“We have to go now, while it’s still safe.”
“Out there?” she croaked.
I decided to take a page from Cade’s book. “Then stay here. Let’s go Abby, now.”
Jenna’s gaze flitted frantically around, but she offered no further protest as Abby came toward me. I bowed beneath the weight of the duffel bag as I heaved it onto my shoulder. It was far heavier than I had expected considering the ease with which Cade moved with it. I straightened my shoulders and burst onto the road with Abby close at my heels and Jenna following reluctantly behind.
CHAPTER 24
We trudged through the woods with our heads bent and our shoulders slumped. I had more bug bites on me than freckles now and I'd given up on trying slapping them away. We had managed to get some sleep, but not much. Jenna had been bitchier than usual for the first hour of our walk. She had finally, and thankfully, grown silent.
“How much further do you think it is?” Abby asked.
“Mile, maybe two,” Cade answered absently.
It wasn’t that far, I kept telling myself. An hour at the most, and that was only if the terrain became rough, which I didn’t think it would. Or I hoped it wouldn’t anyway. There weren’t any dumps between us and the gas station at least. I kept my head down, my feet throbbed, my legs were weak but I could make it. We all could.
Though the trees mostly blocked the sun, the heat of the day had grown oppressive. I was beginning to feel like a wilted dandelion even though a sea breeze stirred the leaves in the trees.
I was so focused on my misery that I didn’t notice Cade had stopped until I bumped into him. He pushed me behind him with his arm as he studied the woods. His body was as taut as a bow string as it vibrated with tension. I frowned as I glanced around. There were a couple of squirrels sitting in the trees so I didn’t think the aliens were near, but something had caught Cade’s attention.
The distinct crack of a twig caused me to jump. Jenna and Abby huddled closer to us. A squirrel dashed through the branches of a tree, creating a small raucous as it leapt into another one before disappearing into the woods. Was it fleeing from approaching aliens or from some other unseen thing?
“Abby? Bethany?”
I spun in the direction the voice had come from. “Aiden?” I croaked.
He stared at us like we were a band of circus performers out for a Sunday stroll in our underwear. I knew we looked awful. Our clothes were caked with muck; Abby’s delicate features were streaked with dirt and slime. Her coffee brown hair was now black, and a tangled rats nest. Jenna’s strawberry hair was also far darker; she’d placed it into a braid before going into the dump so it wasn't the tangled mess that Abby’s and mine was. My own honey hued hair was now a snarled, filthy brown.
No wonder Aiden was having a tough time recognizing us beneath the layers of grime.
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread over my face at the blessed sight of him. He still appeared a little singed, or shocked, from whatever had happened to him on the bridge. His fair hair was standing on end, and burn marks marred the pale skin of his arms, neck and face. But he was cleaner than we were, and I was certain he smelled far better.
Abby let out a delighted cry and raced toward him. Aiden grinned as he held out his arms to receive her. I followed behind her, but by the time I got to them Aiden's nose was already wrinkled and his lip curled as he pulled back. “Holy crap Abby you smell awful!” he cried.
I halted in midstride, unable to stop the burst of laughter that bubbled out of me. He turned toward me and held his arms out. “I don’t smell any better,” I assured him.
“I don’t care.”
My laughter ceased as I stepped into his welcoming embrace. Though he was brave enough to hug me, it didn't last long, and Abby and I left a sludge mark on the front of his shirt. “Are you ok?” I asked.