Ravenous

   I refused to look at Je

***

   I was relieved, and exhausted, when we finally came across the highway. The sun was begi

   I numbly accepted the bag of chips and half full bottle of water that Cade handed to me. I was starving, so hungry my head hurt yet I ate the chips slowly, and barely tasted them. “We’ll have to move quickly,” Cade said softly.

   I studied the two lane highway. We would have to dart across it before reaching the median, which was dotted with trees and scrub brush. It would be ten feet of refuge before we would have to run across two more lanes in order to reach the safety of more woods. Though those woods were nowhere near as thick as some of the ones we had traversed earlier.

   Cade handed me the duffel bag containing our supplies. I frowned at him as he turned away, making his way to the edge of the woods. I snapped out of my strange stupor to hurry after him. “What are you doing?” I hissed.

   “I’m going to go out there first. Make sure it’s safe.”

   “Like hell!” I retorted sharply.

   He glanced back at me, his face half hidden in the shadows of the woods as he knelt down to study the road. “Do you want another replay of the bridge?”

   I froze, my mouth parting slightly as the horrifying reminder of those events slammed into me. I glanced back at the open expanse of highway. Unlike the bridge there were no lights to illuminate the road, but after the events at the dump I could almost feel the aliens lying in wait, hovering over us, and setting a trap to take us down. “We’ll find another way.”

  “There is no other way.”

   “I’ll go with you.”

   He was already shaking his head. His gaze drifted to Abby. “You don’t want to leave her alone.”

   “Stop using her against me!”

   His jaw clenched for a moment; then he sighed softly and relaxed slightly. “I’m not using her against you; I just need you to stay here Bethany. I’ll be back. I promise.”

   I wanted to find solace in his words, I couldn’t. “You can’t promise that.”

   “No, I can’t.” I frowned at him. I had expected some kind of reassurance, some more false promises even. I was slightly taken aback by his blunt admission. “But if you come with me, and something happens, these two will be left alone. They need someone to lead them.”

   I shifted slightly, glancing over my shoulder to make sure that I was out of earshot. “I’m the one that has completely collapsed in this situation Cade, not them. They’re holding up far better than I.”

   He rose slowly to his full height, moving subtly closer to me. I could feel the heat of his body against mine. “That may be true, but you are still stronger than them Bethany. You reached a snapping point today, but many would have reached theirs years ago if they had carried the same burdens as you. You will not reach it again, I know that…”

   “You can’t know that,” I interrupted.

   “Of course I can, I know you. You’ll get them through this, because you have to. If they lose us both, they won’t make it. Trust me on that.”

   I bit my bottom lip as I continued to frown fiercely at him. I wanted to believe him, but a part of me believed he was just feeding me a line of bull in order to get me to stay behind while he tested the waters. I could almost see the gears turning in his head, the thoughts bouncing rapidly through his brain as he tried to think of some other way to dissuade me.

   “Without you?”

   “What?” he asked blinking in surprise, thrown off by my questioning him instead of arguing further.

   “Do you honestly believe that I will be able to keep it together without you?”

   He shifted nervously, I could tell he was hesitant to say his next words, but say them he did. “You kept it together after your father died, untilme. You kept it together today, untilme. I’m the reason you fall apart Bethany.”

   “That’s not true!” I protested vehemently.

   He glanced over my shoulder; his jaw clenched tight, a muscle jumped in his cheek. “It is true, without me you will make it through this…”

   “That’s awful of you to say! Especially after everything that has happened!” I hissed, growing infuriated with his words and the absolute belief he had in them. “How could you believe that I’m stronger withoutyou!?”

   He grabbed hold of my shoulders, pulling me a step closer to him. “I neversaid that. When I am not around, you bury your fear, your hurt, your pain, your emotions because you don’t trust anyone else with them, but…”

   “But for some reason I trust you.”

   A small smile quirked the corner of his full mouth, his black eyes twinkled mischievously. “Yes, for some reason you trust the devil with your fears, and your pain.”

   I blinked in surprise as he brought up his nickname from school. “You knew they called you the dark devil?”

   His grin widened. “The devil knows all.”

   “You’re not fu

   “I’m not trying to be.” He kissed me softly on the forehead before releasing me and taking a step back. “You will get them through this Bethany. No matter what, I know you will.”

   Though I appreciated his unwavering faith in me, I wanted to grab hold of him, wanted to plead with him to stay, wanted to tell him I loved him but the words stuck in my throat. It was obvious that he was set on this course of action, and I was not going to be able to stop him.

   “Be safe.”

   He flashed that amazing cocky grin that caused my heart to melt and my toes to curl. “Always.”

   Before I could say another word he darted away from me, bolted across the road, and disappeared into the shelter of the median with startling speed and grace. I was left gaping after him, my heart hammering wildly as a cold sweat broke out on my body. I had never seen anyone move like that. I took a small step after him, torn between wanting to follow, and needing to stay with my sister.

   My gaze went slowly back to Abby. She and Je

   A soft 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, counting silently to myself. I thought he should at least be back in the median by a hundred. At two hundred I was begi

   I counted to five hundred. My throat was burning, 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 bright light, no crashing bangs echoing throughout the forest signaling the creature’s arrival, but when I hit eight hundred I was begi