Ravenous

   They were playing with us, toying with us, and they were enjoying every minute of it. For the first time I became certain that we would not escape this, that we would not make it of this house. I gripped the plywood tightly ignoring the bite the weight of it caused my wounded palms. I kicked aside the broken bits of the table I had knocked over earlier. There may be no chance that we were going to escape this, but I was not going to give up easily. They were going to get one hell of a fight out of me.

   “Go Abby.” Her dark eyes were wide and terrified as she stared at me with a trembling bottom lip. “Move.”

   Abby stared at the window in wide eyed horror, but she began to move slowly down the hall toward the stairs. There was no sound, no movement as she turned into the stairwell, making her way backwards down the steps. She watched me the entire time, tears brimming in her gaze, but she did not complain, she did not break down, and she did not cry. She reached the bottom of the stairs and turned the corner. Light was still blazing through the windows, illuminating our way as we shuffled through the downstairs.

   “What are they doing?” Abby asked softly. I shook my head; I had no answer for that. There was none. “They’re going to kill us.”

   I agreed. I just wasn’t going to tell her that. We were almost to the kitchen when the backdoor flew open. I accidently slammed the board into Abby, nearly knocking her over, as she stopped abruptly. My heart lurched in my chest, my throat went instantly dry. I was certain that this was the end, we were going to die. I wanted to grab Abby, wanted to throw her behind me, wanted to keep her safe for as long as possible but I couldn’t reach her with the plywood between us.

   And then someone stepped into the kitchen. I blinked rapidly, trying to get my eyes to focus on the person that was highlighted by the harsh wave of light. Abby was shaking so hard that the board was rattling. Was it one of the aliens? Had they actually come down in order to start retrieving us? “Abby?”

   “Aiden?” she croaked. My heart lurched; my whole body sagged with relief. “Aiden?”

   He stepped further into the room, coming into better view. “Mom?” he whispered.

   “You shouldn’t have come Aiden,” I breathed. Heartbreak and horror filled me as I realized that he was now trapped with us.

   “Bethany…”

   “You shouldn’t have come Aiden,” I repeated fighting hard to get the words out around the lump of tears clogging my throat.

   “I had to.”

   “We’re going to die.”

   I had feared that it might be true, but saying the words aloud made it a completely devastating reality. It wastrue. The three of us would not make it out of this house alive. “Bethy…”

   My gaze slid slowly past Aiden, my heart plummeted even further as Bret stepped into the room behind him. “Oh Bret,” I whispered, despair filling me. Not Bret too, I didn’t think I could handle it. He was a part of our family; he was a part of me. He was Aiden’s best friend, Abby’s second brother, and he was here because he loved me unconditionally, and with everything he had. He was going to die because of me, and I had kissed another man just an hour ago. I had never hated myself more. “You shouldn’t have come.”

   He frowned at me, his head tilting to the side. Like Aiden and I, he was fair, but his hair was a much darker blond than ours. “I had to,” he said simply. And it wasthat simple for him. I felt like a horrible person, guilt churned within me, self hatred momentarily swamped me. I was suddenly grateful that I didn’t have much longer to despise myself.

   “Hurry,” Aiden urged.

   I didn’t say it didn’t matter if we hurried or not. I’d already expressed my opinion on this whole situation. I didn’t need to bring them down any further with my pessimism. And I personally didn’t want to hear the words again, even if I was the one that had uttered them first. “What is going on?” Bret asked softly, his gaze darting toward the well lit front of the house.

   “We pissed them off,” I muttered. “And now they’re toying with us.”

   Aiden came forward, gently nudging Abby aside as he grabbed the plywood. His gaze locked on our mother, sadness filled his eyes as his head tilted slightly to the side. “Mom,” he murmured. The heartache and misery in his voice was almost more than I could bear.

   “Aiden please, we have to move. Abby by the door there are some bags of food, you need to grab them.” I didn’t think we would make it far, but we would need food if we did, and we had to do something other than stand here. I had to think about something other than our impending demise.

   “Why are you covered in blood?” Aiden demanded sharply.

   I shook my head, not wanting to get into all of the gory details right now. There was no need. If Aiden hadn’t seen those awful sucking tentacles yet, I was pretty sure he was about to. “Go Abby, please,” I pleaded softly.

   She nodded as she released the plywood to Aiden. His gaze was back on our mom, his eyes swamped with misery. Abby grabbed the bags by the door; she turned expectantly back to us. Bret came to me, but thankfully I could not release the plywood to hug him, I could barely stand the small kiss he dropped on my cheek. It just made me feel even more disloyal and hideous.

   He was so trusting, so good and honest and wonderful. I had known for a few years how he’d felt about me, but up until this year I had warded off his advances. I loved him, deeply, but I’d never been sure if it was as anything more than a friend. Four months ago I finally relented to his pursuit. I’d reasoned that the only way I could ever know how I truly felt about him was to stop pushing him away, and treating him like a brother. Perhaps I could fall in love with him then.

   Things were good between us, sweet and caring, and wonderful. We never fought, never even bickered. But our relationship did not possess any of the passion, or rightness, that I felt with Cade. It was rare when we kissed, and I still found it awkward and uncomfortable. Bret was patient with me, certain that I would eventually come to feel more for him, and it was impossible not to put faith in anything that Bret said. Where Cade was an enigma, always had been, and always would be, Bret was an open book of honesty, hope, and love.

   They were completely different people, and I was actually rather glad I was not going to live long enough to have to choose between them. Bret’s hand lingered on my cheek, brushing aside some of the drying blood that clung to me and the wound the thing had caused. “Are you ok?”

   “No,” I answered honestly. “I am not ok. We need to get the hell out of here, now.”

   “Yes.” He grasped hold of the plywood, his hand brushing briefly against mine. He was bigger than Cade, taller and broader. He was exceptionally handsome in a bright, unguarded way that was the exact opposite of Cade’s darkness. Bret had been the quarterback on the football team, the star athlete. He could have had a full ride to any college he wanted but that hope had been squashed by the aliens. People no longer traveled anywhere, never mind to college in order to better themselves. The aliens did not want us smarter. They had claimed that under their society everyone would be equal, and that there was no need for higher education. There would be no more starvation, no more illness and premature death. It had never surprised me that so many people had fallen for their lies, it was easy to believe in something when it was wanted badly enough.

   Bret had been mister popularity, the golden boy that the girls had chased around, and yet, for some reason, he had wanted me. I should have been flattered by this; all of my friends had told me so. They had been jealous when he’d started asking me out. They had also been extremely incredulous, and angry, when I had continued to turn him down. They had not been any happier when I finally relented and said yes to him. They simply hadn’t understood how I felt about Bret; they still didn’t, and in all honesty, neither did I.