One (Alone Book 3) Page 5

  “Yeah but, I dunno I just have a funny feeling about him ya know?”

  “We’ll just keep an eye on him. Don’t worry we will keep your little family safe”, I smiled.

  “I know”, but his voice sounded low.

  “Dwayne?”

  “She’s left me”.

  “Who?”

  “Jaz, she’s left me for another punk in the camp. Said I was too violent and blood thirsty and never home enough to give her and me girl attention”.

  “Violent and blood thirsty? What because you’re on watch and have to shoot the stragglers?”

  He nodded, “Yup, left me for some white trash”.

  “Not Neil?” I knew exactly who he meant by white trash, he was a gypsy and had a certain charm to him but he also was a thief and a womaniser.

  “Yup, Neil”.

  “Oh Dwayne I’m so sorry”, I said giving him a pat on the shoulder for reassurance, “Do you need somewhere to stay?”

  “I made myself a bed up there, so I can keep watch all the time”. He motioned to the roofed part of the gate post lookout.

  “You need sleep”, I told him. “Proper sleep”.

  “Yeah but with my broken heart I ain’t sleeping anyhow”.

  “Come and kip on my sofa, Ollie and Kaley have their own room”.

  “You sure?”

  “What are friends for if we can’t help one another out in times of need”.

  “Cheers Stacie mate I mean it, I won’t be no trouble. Just till one of the houses is spare”.

  There were already some empty and spare houses, many had become empty since the fight with Christian but no one wanted to tread on broken egg shells on moving in them.

  “I’ll speak to everyone and see what we can do, they can’t just sit there and go to waste”.

  He nodded, “Yeah I just didn’t wanna seem…Unsympathetic ya know”.

  “I know”.

  He left me and wondered off back to the gate to keep watch. It felt weird knowing his Jaz had gone off with another man, even in this new world people still broke people’s hearts the old fashioned way.

  I turned to walk back to my own home to fix my bow and arrow when I had the uneasy feeling I was being watched. Looking around the darkness of the camp at night I couldn’t see anything but I could still feel a pair of eyes burning into my skull. Knowing no one else was around I pretended to drop my twine from my pocket to the ground, as I touched the ground I sent my feelers out and explored all around me until I felt the heat signature that was watching from behind a house just down the street. Picking up my twine I then walked to the house in front of me, walked down it’s driveway and jumped the fence and waited. Just as I expected whoever it was followed like a cat to the cream, I could hear their breathing on the other side of the fence, I could sense their eyes searching. A few moments later a dark silhouetted figure jumped the fence and landed a few feet from me, before they had a chance to spot me I strolled behind them, pulled my knife from my pocket and held it to their neck.

  “Hi Kian, just fancied a late night stroll did we?” I spoke into his ear.

  He shifted on his feet obviously not happy he had been caught, “Stacie you can put the knife down, I’m not going to hurt you”.

  His words almost made me laugh, him hurt me? “Why are you following and spying on me?” I said to him not bothering to lower the knife from his neck, I could feel his heart race but his voice came out calm.

  “Why do they all look up to you? Most even seem to fear you? Why? You are just a young girl, what around twenty or something? What is it about you that makes you the one in charge, the one that is so dangerous?”

  “I’ve been through a lot and have learnt to take care of myself and my people”, I told him which wasn’t a lie, it was kinda true.

  “I don’t believe that. There are older people in the camp with more life experience and gumption to them, yet they have a group of youngsters looking after them, I don’t buy it”.

  “You don’t have to, it’s our camp and we don’t have to explain our reasons to you”.

  I felt his muscles flex before he moved and I let him do it, something inside told me to not let on how strong I was just yet. He pinned me to the back wall of the house, his grey eyes blinding into mine. He could only have been in his early to mid-thirties anyway and to moan I was young.

  He breathed in a long breath and then spoke, “I feel something about you, something you’re not telling me”.

  “A girl never reveals all her secrets”, I joked sarcastically.

  “Why you though, you look… Weedy, weak… Easy to break”.

  I leaned into his face, “Not everyone who’s strong shows it Kian”.

  He pinned me back harder, forcing my head to hit the brickwork. I felt anger rise up in my inside, I wanted to reveal myself to him, my full fury and my claws but I bit my tongue and held it in.

  He then laughed and pulled back, “You’re not strong Stacie your weak, your walls are crumbling around you, I can see in your eyes, even you don’t believe yourself”.

  I was about to give him a burst of my strength and push him away when Ollie’s voice called out, “Stacie, you ok?”

  I looked up at the fence to see Ollie and Kaley jump over and I knew what had happened instantly, she had tried to locate me for some reason.

  “Fine. This idiot doesn’t know who he is dealing with yet”, I snapped.

  “Why not?” Kaley asked looking confused.

  “Because I don’t trust him with that information yet”, and as Kian pushed off me I walked away and jumped the fence more fluidly than I planned.

  “You ever touch her again you’re a dead man”, Ollie snarled at Kian as I landed the other side.

  “Like to see you try kiddo”, Kian taunted.

  “It’s not me you’d have to worry about”, Ollie taunted back.

  Then they both followed me over and left Kian standing in the garden alone wondering what it was we were all hinting at.

  “What is it you both wanted me for?” I asked them as we rounded the driveway and entered the street.

  “Kaley…”

  Kaley cut Ollie off, “I wanted to arrange a meeting, in the morning to see who is willing to go on this journey or not. Things have moved on and we need to go as soon as possible”.

  I turned to look at them both, their body language and tone was off but they seemed determined now was the right time to get ready to leave. I nodded, “Fine, I’ll get Dwayne to pass the message around”.

  “Can’t you?” Ollie asked.

  “There’s someone I need to see”.

  I stood outside of Chantelle’s home that she shared with Cain. Since it turned out I was staying and living here in the camp Cain had asked to be able to live with me. I think it hurt Chantelle’s feelings at first but I was the only blood relative he had left and I think he saw me as the only channel to his mum, my sister, Tanya. His asking had freaked me out and I had said no, not till I felt ready. I think I only felt freaked out by how unstable I sometimes felt and I never wanted to hurt him or scare him.

  I knew our conversation today wasn’t going to go down well either, I had to tell him that I would be leaving again soon with Kaley to Svalbard. I knew he was going to get upset because all I seemed to do was leave him but I always promised to come back and for the most part I did, just not for very long.

  Knocking on the door I waited and heard Chantelle’s feet coming along the hallway, she unlocked it and opened it.

  “Stacie, what a lovely surprise”.

  “Is it ok to come in and see him?”

  She nodded, “Come on in, he’s in his room”.

  I walked up the staircase to where Cain’s room was and watched as he and another little boy sat playing together with some toys, I noticed how Cain’s rabbit and lucky rabbit foot which he kept inside the zip pouch were always by his side.

  “Stacie”, he called out when he spotted me in the doorway, running over to me he flung
his arms around my waist.

  “Hey Cain, what you playing?”

  He grinned, “Well it’s a zombie board game, whoever kills the most wins, we made it up”.

  I smiled and nodded, “That’s great”.

  He looked at me dead in the eyes, “What’s wrong, you only ever have that look when somethings wrong?”

  I shook my head, “Nothing’s wrong Cain”.

  “Then tell me”.

  His abruptness took me a little by surprise but I went ahead and told him, “You know that thing I told you about, what me and Kaley have to do?”

  He nodded, “Yeah”.

  “Well we know where it is we have to go”.

  “The guy from the helicopter told you?”

  It was my turn to nod, “Yes, and we have to leave as soon as possible to make sure we have a chance of stopping some very nasty people from destroying the world even more”.

  “Ok, I’ll get my bag ready”, he rushed over to his bed and leant underneath it pulling out a blue rucksack, running to his chest of drawers he shoved in some clean clothes and his rabbit.

  “Cain…You can’t come”.

  He paused in the room and looked at his friend who was sat watching this unfold, “Can you go, I’ll play later”.

  His friend said nothing and gathered up the board game and fled.

  “Cain…I…”

  He cut me off, “No I’m coming I’m not just some little kid! You can’t leave me not again, every time we get close and I get to know you, you leave me. Not again, your my mu…m…Aunt”, he shook off the mistake, “And I need you”.

  “And you will have me, I will come back, I always do”.

  “Yes, but for how long will I have to wait this time? Another five years?”

  I looked out the window and watched as the half- moon glowed rising high in the sky, I couldn’t let him come he was just a kid, he could get killed! I had made a promise to Tanya and this was surely the best way to keep it, to keep him away from me whilst we went to destroy the enemy.

  “Cain I’m sorry but you ‘are’ just a kid, this isn’t like your board game you don’t get to start over if something goes wrong. You might get hurt or die, I can’t have that”.

  “Well you’re wrong, I might only be five but I can handle my own, I took out a creature the other day all by myself”.

  “What?”

  “That’s right, see you can’t keep tabs on me all the time, I snuck out, I wanted to know I could do it, I found one caught in a bush. So I used gun and killed it”.

  “Whose gun?”

  “Chantelle’s, she left it in her room when she went to do the cooking so I took it”, he huffed, “I can do it”.

  I shook my head, “Killing one is one thing Cain but what if we encounter a whole horde of them?”

  “Then you and Kaley can look after me”.

  “And if we can’t, if something happens to us?”

  “Then I will run and hide”.

  I sighed, “Cain…I’m sorry…”

  “Screw you, you ain’t my mum you can’t tell me what to do”, and with that he got up and took off down the stairs and out the front door. I would have chased him but he had hit me square inside, I felt too numb to move. He was right I wasn’t his mum. Sending out my feelers I chased after him that way, he was at the playpark, he was angry but he was safe.

  When the numbness subsided a little I left Chantelle’s house and went to find him, I noticed he was no longer in the park but I had an idea where he was and as if on cue Ollie opened the door with Cain by his side.

  “We need to talk”, Ollie commanded, a look on his young but coming of age manly features telling me I was wrong on so many levels.

  “He’s my nephew and I need to keep him safe”.

  “And you will Stacie I know you, you managed to keep me safe”.

  “I wasn’t in the camp with you, I was…”

  “Hiding in the woods and in nearby towns killing everything that came near me and Cain for all those years. But what you forget is what you taught me all those years before. You said to Sian that I had to know what it was like to fight, to know what the real world was about, how to stay alive and you did. Yes you stopped me in the camp at Brighton from helping but you let me help in London and with Dr Demetri you had no choice but to take my help when I killed him before he killed you. I was not much older than him”, he pointed to Cain.

  “You were ten, he is five. A big difference Ollie”, I said sternly.

  “He’s nearly six”, He stated, “Even if we win, we still have to find a way back and that could take months, you could miss out on another birthday, more of him growing up. When you could just experience all that with him on the road”.

  I rolled my eyes, “I couldn’t help all those years Ollie I was a mess, I couldn’t contain it properly”.

  “Yes but you can now, you control it and own it. He needs to be with you, this could be the last thing we all do together and doesn’t he at least deserve to choose to be with you till the end”.

  “No, he’s a child, he needs to be safe, I’m the adult, I should choose what’s best for him”.

  “And you will keep him safe, I know it”, he started to raise his voice which for Ollie was a rarity, “He isn’t stupid Stacie, I’ve been training him, he knows how to handle himself”.

  “What?” I stared him in the eyes, “You’ve been what?”

  “Training him, I knew this day would come so I’ve taught him a few basics, he knows how to shoot a gun and he can use a knife to stab. He’s prepared”.

  “Prepared? You’ve prepared him to kill himself?” I spat.

  “No I’m giving him a chance Stacie, which was what you gave me. Even if he was to stay here we don’t know if something were to happen or not, he might get into trouble and need to fight. I think you are being pig headed, he deserves this”.

  “To die”, I said throwing my hands up, “He deserves to die is that what you are telling me!”

  Ollie looked away, “No, he deserves to get to know you”.

  “And he can when we come back”.

  “We aren’t coming back, don’t you get it!”

  “What do you mean?” My blood ran cold.

  He shook his head, “I can’t tell you”.

  “Yes you can, what has she seen?”

  “Ask her yourself”, he hissed.

  “If she knows we are all going to die then he definitely isn’t coming”.

  “Not all of us Stacie”, he said, “Only some”.

  “Some of us will die, who?” I asked.

  He nodded, “She won’t tell me who or when but she said some of us, when Cain came in telling us what happened she just looked at me and smiled, he won’t die Stacie I know it. She would say so”.

  “But destiny can change Ollie, she might see glimpses but she doesn’t see it all, she never has”.

  “They are getting stronger, the visions, she has seen deeper into the facility we need to go to”, he replied, “She has seen, people there”.

  I shook my head, “This changes nothing, he can’t come with us”.

  “Yes he can”, Kaley’s voice rang out in the night air.

  I turned to look at her anger fully in my veins, “Don’t lie to me Kaley, I can’t lose him”.

  “You will lose him if he stays here”.

  “Lose him? What on Earth do you mean?” I demanded to know.

  She shrugged, “Like you said I get glimpses not all of it but I do know that if he stays and you go it will be the last you see of him and you won’t be able to save him”.

  “Save him? Do we die together is that it Kaley and that’s how I get to save him because we are together?”

  “Something like that but different”, she sighed.

  “No”, I ran to her and pulled her shirt, twisting my rage filled face into hers, “No, if he lives here then he stays here, I won’t let you twist things… You are not making sense”.

  “Twist things?”<
br />
  “I don’t want him to come just so we can just die together”.

  “I never said that, you did”.

  “Stop playing games Kaley you said it was something like that, I can’t let him die”.

  “You won’t if he comes, that’s what I’m telling you”, she said looking me deep in the eyes, those eyes, her eyes, Tanya’s eyes.

  I shook them away, “Show me, show me what it is you mean”.

  She looked me deadpan in the eyes, “You will see what I mean soon enough”.

  “What? What will I see?”

  “Your destiny, his destiny too but not yet”.

  “Bullshit”, I said and threw her to the ground a little harder than I anticipated, I felt the ripple in the air because she caused chaos to erupt around me, she tore up the ground around my feet sending bits of pavement and chunks of mud into my face, she span me up into the air with a howling wind before letting me drop. I landed on my backside painfully.

  “I could just make you accept it, to let him come and there would be nothing you could do to stop me”, she implied there was something amiss in her eyes, something dangerous that I couldn’t quite place.

  “Stacie, I want to come, I can handle myself”, Cain whispered from beside Ollie.

  I stared at Kaley, “If he dies Kaley, it’s on you, both of you”, I turned to Ollie as I said it, before I stood up and left.

  “What about dinner? We made some for you and Cain” Ollie called after me as I ran for the gate.

  “Screw dinner”, I whispered to myself and I launched myself over the gate not even waiting for them to open it. I only asked them normally out of curtesy and not to scare the camp mates but I was so angry and I could feel it, the creature bubbling below the surface, it needed to be free. Reaching the woodland entrance I howled and vanished into the night, tearing up tree roots and plant life as the speed took over my body.

  ~

  Kaley watched as Stacie jumped the gate and howled into the forest. Sometimes she wondered whether a full moon had some control over her friend, her moods lately had got worse and the button to flip between human and creature was normally on the latter switch more often than not but just to prove her theory wrong she looked up at the glowing moon to see a crescent moon and nothing more.